Is it just the dub or are the Japanese releases expensive, too?

 

Pricing in Japan is based on demand and supply, not supply and demand. They also never got rid of rental pricing. Combined, those two make for a devastating combo to purchasers wallets.

 

For example Aldnoah;Zero is something like 60-70 dollars per volume right now on Amazon Japan.

 

Piracy in Japan is less of a thing and is viewed as culturally unacceptable by most. Being an anime otaku there suddenly becomes an expensive hobby, but the studios don't need to compete with rips/fansubs, so can keep prices high.

It would also make sense that you'd get a very wide distribution on DVD/BD sales, as people are only willing to fork out money on their favourites.

Manga is a different story, which are cheap and sold in very large quantities, which is why some anime often are used as advertisement for the manga.

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. A rose among the lilies this season I must say. Color me surprised when I gave it a shot and was very impressed with the character development. It's a Slice of Life genre but if you're expecting the generic Slice of Life that's been coming around lately, you're in for a awakening. It's more in the genre of Clannad or Kanon actually.

Very sweet and dare I say, bittersweet? If you're in for that mood and have gotten tired of watching Fantasy (Akame ga Kill, Grisia etc.) watch this. I highly recommend it. Might be AOTs for me except UBW kinda stole it by a hairsbreadth.

 

And people keep paying the ludicrous prices. I get the feeling that if otaku would not buy physical media, even for their most favorite shows, at such a price point it would eventually trend down, or the company would go out of business - that's basically what happened in the US.

Manga is a different beast entirely. Everyone reads manga. Anime is a niche medium outside of the mega-popular hits like Doreamon, Sazae-san, Detective Conan, and One Piece.

 

QFT. Also, in my opinion it has the best opening this season.

 

This season is seriously stacked. I'm watching 11 shows, all of which I would consider good to great (possible exception of Akame - how they handle the original ending will be the deciding factor), and there are few that I'm not watching that are supposed to be good as well.

 

I dont watch a lot of anime but I've been told to give Black Bullet a go.

So from anyone who watched it, is it worth it?

 

No, not really. =/

Unless you like cute lolis. Then there's some appeal in it, I guess.

 

I just want some good action with a somewhat decent setting. Not an anime that takes 5 episodes to give you 5 minutes of action (*cough* Sword Art Online *cough*), no matter how awesome that action is.

It is why I liked anime like The Irregular at Magic High School and Magical Warfare. The plot is shit-arse weak in these anime, but I enjoyed the action so I watched the series anyway and overall thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a fan of supernatural and mecha, although I have pretty much exhausted all mecha anime atm yet I really haven't dealt into much supernatural at all beyond google searches of 'top 10 anime 'insert criteria'...'. If it's not on crunchyroll chances are I probably haven't heard of it unless its mainstream.

So any recommendations? I've watched Attack on Titan, easily my favorite anime so far bar none, but some kick arse supernatural/magic anime wouldn't go amiss. I know about Fate/Zero etc, I just haven't got around to watching it, and I'm not really interested in Fairy Tail. Similar themes to Attack on Titan and Black Bullet where humanity is nearing extinction would be a plus, for some reason that gets my blood pumping.

Give me some recs.

 

I'm pretty sure they have an entire genre of what you are looking for... it tends to be called mecha. Some post apocalypse ones would be Turn A Gundam, Gundam X, Getter Robo Armageddon and Gurren Lagann. Also most anything written by Tomino might as well be considered for close to extinction for named characters. Well except for a small number of them like Overman King Gainer.

Edit: On second thought, going to de-rec Turn A Gundam for you, as there tends to be a bit of a gap between fights. You might like G Gundam though.

 

Cheers for the recs, but I've pretty much seen most of the good mechas, and 90% of gundam doesn't interest me. More interested in the supernatural anime atm if you got any recs.

 

Darker than Black is the first anime that comes to mind if you want both a supernatural setting and lots of action.

Other possibilities:
Kaze no Stigma
Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (2012)
Kill la Kill

Of these, I enjoyed Kill la Kill the most, but it's also one of the anime I'm most hesitant about recommending. Fanservice is abundant, and while it actually has a place in the plot, if it's going to bother you regardless, you should forget about this rec.

Also, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is very good. It's longer (64 episodes) and probably has less action per episode, but I'd still highly recommend it.

In general, I've found that every single anime recommendation deserves a YMMV warning, but you can look at the synopses on the pages I linked. If one sounds interesting, give it a try.

 

Not really the right thread for this, but anyway.

Would second Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood as a good rec. It's got all the good elements you look for in a lengthy, epic shounen minus the padding and stupidity. A great plot which is executed really well.

Only good Gundam I've seen is Gundam Wing. But it's getting pretty dated now.

Another good mecha if you haven't watched it already, another great mecha is Full Metal Panic and its sequels and spin offs. Great action, good story and great comedy. Doesn't feel too dated either, despite being over a decade old now.

Code Geass is a third mecha recc. There's a lot of things wrong with it, particularly in the second season, but first is still really good. Most of my issues with it only really popped up years after I saw it anyway - while watching it, it's awesome.

Gurren Lagann is another good rec I'll second, though you gotta be ready for something that doesn't take itself seriously. You may find yourself watching the first few episodes like its crack, but like most anime, once you get eased into the world, it does become very epic.

Black Lagoon if you want a straight up, violent gun slinging action without too much serious story. Most of the story is more about the subtle character development.

Samurai Champloo is like a samurai equivalent of Black Lagoon. Fun, very action filled and lighthearted in a dark and violent way.

Edit:

Thought I'd add Death Note too. Not strictly action, but for people who are just getting into anime or aren't into it, it seems to be the most well received. A plot that most non-anime watchers find interesting, fantastic characters that don't have manners that many non-anime fans would find irritating (I mean, Misa does a little bit but it doesn't play a huge part) and yet has some of the things we love about anime like complete over-dramatization of every scene in the battle of wits.

 

Akatsuki no Yona has been excellent so far. Really solid characters and character development. Loving it right now. Have also caught up on the manga until chapter 55 which is the current translated limit, although apparently, there are around a 100 chapters out. The manga is also really good until now, so, am expecting a lot of things from this anime.

 

Stopped watchin Akame ga Kill. Too full of the usual shonen garbage to watch.

 

Got up to date in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. It's fantastic. Very different to Nodame Cantible, despite the similar content of classical music. Great soundtrack (both the BGM as well as the piano/violin playing), great animation, good story pacing and interesting characters. Highly recommend it.

Psycho Pass 2 has been fantastic so far.

Spoiler

I was initially a bit skeptical about how it'd be without Kougami, or more importantly, without Makishima Shougo, who completely made the first season awesome. Kamui feels like a bit of a pale imitation, but the highlight of the second season is actually Akane. Everything she experienced and learned in the first season has made her a pretty interesting character. Also enjoying Shimotsuki as an interesting contrast to Akane.

Dropped Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji by the fourth episode. Characters were too much of the shoujo stereotypes and forced.

Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken remains fun and cute.

SAOII....meh. Once GGO arc was done, interest has completely disappeared. I'm many episodes behind.

UBW will join Fate Zero as one of my top 10 anime at the rate it's going. But there's enough of that in the other thread.

Akame ga Kill is just as shitty as it was at the start, but remains somewhat enjoyable (mainly because of the Jaegars and Esdeath really. That's what drew me in and that's what is keeping me there.)

 

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is almost certainly going to be my anime of the season for fall. It's hard to say whether the same would be true if I wasn't already familiar with the UBW story, but as it is I'm enjoying Shigatsu a lot more every week.

Parasyte and UBW definitely hold spots two and three. Objectively, UBW is probably better, but I'm enjoying Parasyte a bit more weekly. (story is new to me)

Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de and Amagi Brilliant Park are the two best comedy anime this season, and also hold spots four and five respectively on my favorites list.

Below that, my list goes something like:

6. Sword Art Online II
7. Nanatsu no Taizai
8. Akatsuki no Yona
9. Shingeki no Bahamut
10. Grisaia no Kajitsu
11. Akame ga Kill
12. Trinity Seven
13. World Trigger
14. Donten ni Warau (Droped Ep 3)
15. Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji (Dropped Ep 3)
16. Denki-gai no Honya-san (Dropped Ep 4)
16. Sora no Method (Dropped Ep 4)

Are there any gems this season I missed all together? I know about Psycho Pass S2, and Log Horizon S2, but I still need to get around to watching the first seasons for those shows.

@Jarik In my opinion, the current arc of SAO is the best since the original Aincrad arc. If you made it all the way through the GGO arc, I'd recommend trying to keep going. Although I will say that Kirito is basically a side character in this arc, so if you're enjoyment is mostly linked to him being the main character, you may want to give it a pass.

 

Waiting for the whole season to air before watching Your Lie in April.

Regarding Grisaia - they're fucking it up beyond believe. Grisaia was always a very good story, but you cannot adapt a 50+ hour long Visual Novel into a 6 hour long anime season and expect it to come good. You cannot.

I would recommend to anyone who feels even remotely interested in the story to try out the VN. It's far better than the shit that is the anime. Even Steins;Gate - whose anime adaptation is regarded as one of the best anime there is - is even better as a VN.