Lol, I hadn't realized the numbers lined up like that. That is correct though.

 

Hard truth: Of all the countries in the world who don't need to pretend to be sensitive about 9/11.... well Japan is probably at the top of that list.

 

You know, we seem to have this tendency to start seasonal discussions in the Animeeshon threads, and then halfway switch it to the anime recommendation thread... =\


But yeah, absolutely loving this season. I'm only following 4 anime, but there's plenty more I'd love to go back and watch.

Aldnoah Zero - as coleam said, a bit generic. Urobuchi's quality only seems to be avoiding implementing any negative elements to the anime, but at the same time I've always been of the opinion that for war/scifi anime you really need it to beGundam-long. It's only with length that you can really have interesting changes to the political landscape, build characters, build sides to the conflict, etc. It certainly feels like the anime is coming to a conclusion soon and won't have a second season, so I guess this will never become anything great. But it was still fun - in a way that every anime that has a Sawano Hiroyuki OST does.

Zankyou no Terror - Will second Khaaaan's recc on this. It is executed in a way more reminiscent of unique arthousey anime movies rather than typical series - well, ones not made by Shinichiro Watanabe - from the art style and animation, the very non-anime like OST and how it's used, the cinematography, and certain narrative techniques. The story is a hard one to pull off as well in a way that doesn't feel silly. I was initially worried it'd be one of those anime that you feel is technically good, but can't derive any enjoyment from, however I've been loving this so far.

SAO II - Was the main surprise of the season. As I've mentioned before, was very let down by season 1. Came into season 2 with no expectations and have been loving it. Technically executed well - art, music, fight scenes, etc. The biggest thing for me though is it has been exploring those themes that the first season completely ignored (ie, any and all aftereffects of the SAO incident). Sinon and her trauma are also a pretty interesting (at least, compared to all the other girls in Shirou's harem), though she's becoming a bit of a damsel in distress now.

Fate Kaleid Prisma Illya 2wei is something I've been enjoying a lot more than I thought I would. Season 1 was basically everything you'd expect - going out of their way to satisfy every magical girl trope in existence, with fan service wherever possible. The only redeeming feature were the spectacular fight scenes (and they were spectacular). Season 2, while still having elements of a very over the top mahou shoujo arc and even more in your face fanservice, has a lot more plot twists that are harder to expect. The antagonists have all been humans instead of monsters (servants) with no real sentience. I'm loving the way it's working in other elements of the Nasu-verse in as well - while Ilya's home life, friends and powers are very much the embodiment of mahou shoujo positiivity, the rest of the world we're slowly seeing seems to be a lot darker.

And also watching One Piece, Hunter X Hunter 2011, Baby Steps.

 

Pretty sure I read somewhere that it's already confirmed for a second season.

 

If I remember right second season is scheduled for the Winter anime season. Similar to how Fate/Zero was done.

 

Oh okay, my bad. That's good then.

End of the last episode kinda felt like a "beginning of the end" type scene, so assumed they was going to be it.

 

O mighty people of the forum. I pray to you in hope of you recommending me some good anime. (Please assume that I have seen all the obvious choices) I'm looking for some fantasy/slice of life/ real romance(not that anime harem bullshit), with these together or seperate. Thank you in advance.

 

That encompasses an incredibly broad category and the ones I'd rec off the top of my head are all relatively mainstream. Maybe go to ANN, use the encyclopedia genre search, find some titles that interest you, then come back and ask if they're worth watching?

 

Yeah, that's my problem. I probably have seen all the mainstream ones, so I was hoping some individual reccs from people. Also I like stuff with magic and swords. Shiny.

 

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. (funniest show this season, so you might have seen it.)
Those Who Hunt Elves. (Title pretty much explains itself.)
Patlabor (the TV show hits the slice of life better than the movies, but the movies are the superior production...so just go watch the whole damn thing. It's worth it.)
Nichijou. (A more recent show, so again you might have seen it already. If not, it's Azumanga Daioh, but weird)

 

It would really help to know what you have seen (and liked) because what may be obvious to one person may not even be on someone else's radar.

Off the top of my head, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki kun fits the SoL and romance genres (as long as you're fine with no resolution to the romance) and just finished airing, so you may not have seen it. You've probably seen Log Horizon, which is one of the better recent fantasy anime (and is getting S2 this fall). And that's all I've got that isn't blatantly obvious.

 

I'm not sure how obvious "obvious" is but I'll give it a try.
Fantasy:
-Zetsuen no Tempest: Interesting world, characters, mysteries. Really enjoyable.
-Gargantia: Trials of a guy who found himself in a strange world, can't talk to anyone. But is as strong as a God to them. Gen Urobuchi wrote it.

Slice of Life:
-Hyouka: The best thing KyoAni have ever done. (and by the looks of it, will ever do)
-Kokoro Connect: Forced drama aplenty. But it makes the show interesting. Also features best girl ever.
-Hataraku Mao Sama: Absurd and hilarious.
-Servant x Service: Character driven comedy. Has proper romance too.
-Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: Never unfunny. AOTS for me.
-My Teen Rom Com SNAFU: MC is the realest guy ever and doesn't fuck around.
-Tonari no Seki Kun: A series of shorts. 7 mins each. 2 Characters, 1 Doesn't talk. Really funny.
-Chihayafuru: Not enough people know about this masterpiece.
-Mikakunin de Shinkoukei: Funny. Bit of romance.

Romance:
-Golden Time: Toradora's lesser sibling. Still was enjoyable and the romance wasn't stupid like the norm.
-Ano natsu de Matteru: Great characters, great plot, great romance.

I'm bad at short recommendations. Feel free to ask more about them.

 

Some frequently overlooked non-harem fantasy/romance that I personally enjoyed: Chrome-shelled Regios, Valkyria Chronicles (basically the game plot turned into an anime), romeo x juliet -yes it's tragedy, tower of druaga, any of the .hacks, and Pandora Hearts.

 

Holy Macaroni, I watch too much anime. So what can you tell me about these?

 

Kokoro Connect is really quite excellent. Basically an unseen god conducts weird supernatural experiments on a group of friends in order to see how they react. For science. Romance is very genuine and feelgood. 8/10

Hyouka is a slow and dialog heavy story about a literature club whose members occasionally decide to debunk urban legends ... but chitanda is so ridiculously lovable you forget about how boring it is. 7/10



Golden Time is about a dude who lost his memory. He falls in love with an adult taiga lookalike, starts a relationship with her, but then he starts regaining his memories and feelings for the childhood friend he used to crush on. Romance is forced and uninspiring. Not at all what youd expect from the toradora writer. 6.5/10

 

Alright so:

Zetsuen no Tempest: I originally picked it up because I like things with shiny magic and it seemed to fit the bill. It has interesting characters with distinct motivations that you as the audience won't know until the right time. Everything, and I mean everything, in the show is affected by 2 central mysteries. And this keeps tensions high from the beginning to the end, where you get your answers and then an appropriate climax to tie everything up. AND its done by studio bones so animation quality and music is superb.

Hyouka: The basic plot is that the main girl loves mysteries, and the main dude is super good at solving them. In a show about mysteries, some of the stories we get fall a bit flat and that's a shame, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Hyouka is amazing. The characters and the character interactions are the best thing here. Well written, well expressed through animation and voice work. As is the norm from KyoAni, the scenery and animations are beautiful.

Kokoro Connect: A group of friends get cursed by some supernatural entity that forces them to go under weird stuff. For example: Switch bodies at random times. And thats what I mean by forced drama. It is literally forced unto them. Luckily their own issues and problems get dragged out of them due to this and we get an interesting Slice of Life/Drama. There's also a love triangle that's not badly done. The show is basically about people coming in terms with themselves and also recognizing their problems and trying to become better people. Also has one of the best girls ever who will steal the show.

Golden Time: Since it was written by ToraDora's author, and made by the ToraDora production crew expectations were high. Unfortunately it's not as good. The characters aren't as interesting or well written. Still though if you want a good proper romance this has it. Of course it's a love triangle but there's a somewhat unique twist in how that works.

 

In SAO first season that romance in the part was almost perfect. I want something like that. Is that so much to ask?

 

I keep recommending Silver Spoon to my friends who like SoL/ comedy/ romance stories with amazing characters. It's a bit lighter on the romance-side (crush developing into something much more on both characters parts).

It's definitely not something I'd usually have watched either.

From wiki:

"Yugo Hachiken is a mild mannered academic who chooses to move away from his suburban lifestyle and enroll at the Yezo Agricultural High School in the country because of strained relations with his family. He soon finds himself slowly getting used to his new environment with a short learning curve and grows into an empathetic and compassionate individual as he struggles to understand the world of agriculture and how it affects the lives of his new friends."

The plot isn't really much deeper than that. The show's strength is in it's very 'real' characters and in watching them grow.

I love it. Highly recommended.

 

There are so many animes with better romance than SAO. Very few fantasies meet that criteria though. Most are shounen and harem due to the target demographic being young dudes.

 

Silver Spoon was amazing, tho the ending hit me hard. I like the SAO like romance because it's simple yet effective. Like Persol. Also I don't really have to think about it and so makes it nice for relaxation.