Huh. I did actually know that, I wonder why I typed "seen" instead of "read". Just ignore that.

 

Just finished watching Genshiken and Welcome to the NHK and they've got me craving more. Does anyone have any recommendations for anime that is similar to either of these two. I really enjoy their pseudo-physcological slice of life feel.

 

NHK is awesome and ridiculously original, so there isn't much like it, but I've seen quite a few shows that fit into the dark psychological SoL genre.

Firstly, ChäoS;HEAd. It turns into a shitty Harem anime, but it definitely fucks with your brain.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is for the most part a comedy, but it deals with some heavy issues.

And finally Serial Experiments Lain, which is awesome overall, but relatively boring on a per-episode basis.

 

Yeah, Chaos:Head starts as a hikkikomori anime at first.

But actually I can't remember anything resembling NHK. If you crave for more, I suggest to read the manga and the light novel. They are slightly different, especially the manga in portraying the girl.

 

Try out Psycho Pass for those that haven't yet. Pretty new anime, and I've been liking it a lot. It has a more futuristic setting and shows how the police captures latent criminals identified through their mental state by a super program/computer.

 

Any recommendations for this seasons' anime (aside from Psycho Pass)? Still following SAO and the new HxH, but so far nothing from this season has really captured my attention.

 

I don't think it really qualifies as "this seasons' anime," but JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is currently running, and it is goddamn incredible.

Also, check out Space Brothers if you haven't already.

 

Not sure about this season but still airing anime I'm keeping up with:

Btooom - SAO meets Battle Royale by way of explosives.

Jormungand - Has a similar feel to Black Lagoon, on the second season right now (Perfect Order)

Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai - I really shouldn't like this one, it's a bit like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It's basically about a high school kid who used to be a mental but now isn't and a girl he meets who's still a mental. Nothing much happens but it's still kind of entertaining.

Gintama - episodes are pretty hit and miss but it has some of the funniest moments in anime.

 

Zetsubo-sensei I thought was good for the first half of the first season, then got horrid. The dark humour was fluid and natural at the start, but towards the end it just felt forced and silly.

Space Brothers, and Psycho Pass have been on my list. Really gotta watch them.


From this season, so far I have been watching: Zetsuen no Tempest, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Magi, Shinsekai Yori, Sukitte Ii Na Yo, Robotics Notes, Jormungand Season 2, Code Breaker (recently dropped), Little Busters (On hold until my friends force me to finish it).

Out of those I'd recommend:

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun - Not a typical shoujo. What makes it good are the two main characters who are very unlike protagonists in this genre. The boy is a blunt, utterly random, occassionally violent, and completely socially retarded guy. The girl is a cold, emotionless and blunt person who just wants to focus on academics. The interaction between them every episode is interesting and hilarious - there's none of those shy blushes, and cheesy drama. Honestly, probably my favorite of this season.

Shinsekai Yori - It's honestly such a weird anime. It seems to be less of a cohesive plot, and more of an exploration into the bizarre universe that seems to have been created. Which usually isn't my type of anime - and yet, every week I can't wait to see the next episode.

Zetsuen no Tempest - The basic plot seems fairly stereotypical of a end of the world magical shounen, but what makes it are the characters. Mahiro is someone with many issues - focused purely on getting vengeance for his sister's murder and not caring if the rest of the world burns. As you get further in, you begin to realize that even his feelings for his sister may be messed up. Yoshino, the main character, initially seems a bit dull in comparison. But as you begin to see, he may be quiet, but in his head he's a really pensieve guy and he's very good at analysing situations and people. He knows Mahiro very well, and hence keeps the fact that up until her death, he was dating Mahiro's sister. The way the series deals with the events that are happening at the moment, and flashing back to the history between the three of them is done really well.

Jormungand - Pretty much a continuation from season 1, but I felt the arcs were all a lot better. It's similar to Black Lagoon but not as good.

 

Rather late to the party, but felt like giving some general thoughts on the season. Currently watching: Btooom, Chuunibyou, Girls und Panzer, Jojo, K, Magi, Psycho-Pass, Robotics;Notes, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, Shin Sekai Yori and Zetsuen no Tempest.

Chuunibyou: If you've seen almost anything from KyoAni (and who hasn't?), you'll have a good idea of what to expect going in. The central premise which everything revolves around, chuunibyou, is very relatable to I expect most people. Focuses on comedy early on, later transitioning into more romance and drama, though the comedy is definitely still there. Probably one of the better shows this season, assuming they stick the landing. It could go very wrong in these last couple of episodes with where it's gone.

Girls und Panzer: Easily the surprise of the season for me. Cute girls...driving tanks. Rather odd premise. Picked it up for the hell of it in the beginning of the season, but it's actually been legitimately good. I expected it to focus more on general moe, but it's actually been more of a traditional sports shounen. The girls are cute, but the tank battles are great as well. First episode was a bit week, but each episode just gets better and better from the previous. Has been by far the best selling anime this season in Japan, actually.

K: Not sure if I'd recommend. It has started to get good, but considering it's a one cour series it just took a bit too long to really get interesting.

Sakurasou: Has probably been my favorite show this season so far, but it's a tricky recommendation. The basic premise is probably offputting to some, having a clearly autistic girl as the main female character in a romance show. That whole dynamic has been handled pretty well so far. The ensemble's general interactions and dialogue have been really enjoyable for me, and is probably the highlight of the show so far. The show tends to switch between comedy and drama fairly often. Can be a bit predictable at times and the main character could stand to relax a bit more, but it's been the show I've found myself looking forward most each week.

Magi: Fantastic setting, easily it's strongest point I feel. Has been a very solid shounen so far.

Psycho-Pass has been very good so far. Robotics;Notes has been okay-ish, but I expect it to pick more in the second half. Btooom started off shaky, and has gotten better but at the end of the day, nothing really special. Jojo's been entertaining, I love the general artstyle direction. Tempest has been surprisingly entertaining so far, but it's still nothing amazing. It is 2 cour though, so that could change. I'm actually several episodes behind with Shin Sekai Yori, but I do intend to catch up. Started off strong, but the Queerat war arc dragged out a bit too long for me. Fell behind a few episodes on Little Busters as well, but I just have no interest in catching up there. It's just...dull. I know the VN is more interesting, I have spoiled myself on a few key plot points, but I don't think I'm coming back unless I start hearing that it actually did get as good as apparently it's supposed to be.

 

Saw this the other day which led me to this which led me to Nichijou. It's far too entertaining.

 

Watched Kuro Nekomonogatari, the continuing story of Araragi Koyomi. It's by SHAFT and Shinbo, so the anime direction is ahead of the curve by miles.

It's also very much talky talky and very little action so if you can't sit through 1.5 hrs of talking, you won't like it. But the animation really gives it a nice ambience and moves enough to keep you from being bored.

Also, I read Shiro Nekomonogatari and Koyomi/Hanekawa/Senjougahara just became my OTP(which is also hinted at in canon).

 

Finished the Kokoro Connect OVA that came out a few weeks ago (if you can really call it an OVA. Really, it's just the last 4 episodes of the series that didn't really air).

A nice wrap up to a *great* series. Probably my favorite anime drama I've seen so far - a good execution of a hard to implement concept, with really natural feeling characters (which is rare in anime like this).

Spoiler

This final arc was definitely better than the previous one for sure. Some great moments here. And I'm not just saying that because he ended up with Inaba in the end (yay). Iori's voice acting once again awes me.

I didn't like the whole Inaba getting kidnapped bit in the last episode - it felt very contrived and cheap. I also thought it was kinda stupid that after all Iori's talk about her putting up a facade of her ideal person, and eventually deciding to be herself, she basically acts the same as she did before. Kinda ruined all that character development she got.

Apart from that though, loved it.

I know a few of you other guys were watching Kokoro Connect. What did you think of the last arc?

 

Suisei no Gargantia is the new mecha on the block. It's shockingly good so far. The animation is gorgeous too.

Basically, at the end of the world, humanity diverged. One group went into deep space, the other remained behind. It's been thousands of years and the two groups have all but forgotten about each other. The space population has been waging a war against aliens and are extremely technologically advanced, whereas the population that remained on earth has modern/near-future tech with a post-apocalyptic spin. The earth itself is all but ocean, and its peeps live on massive communal tanker fleets made from a mishmash of salvage dredged from the ocean floor.

I'm really digging this show. It just has a really nice feel to it.

 

Suisei no Gargantia is my #1 this season. The show contains mechs that aren't piloted by teenage schoolgirls or crybaby boys, an interesting plot and cast, dystopian undercurrents, and stellar art and animation. And it's only two episodes in. I'm only disappointed it's slated for 12 episodes instead of more.

Shingeki no Kyojin I'm only watching to see what all the hype is about. And so far, I'm not that impressed or thrilled about it's future. Maybe I'll gain an appreciation for it as I keep watching it, but I'm not really feeling it so far.

I watched Kakumeiki Valvrave at 5x speed to get a general feel for it (and to see if it was as bad as others say). This one's a toss-up. At first, it seems a little too teenage-angsty for my tastes, but the brutal ending of the first episode made me curious. I'll probably go back and watch it normally.

Other than those, Hen'neko is amusingly meh, OreImo is good, and Oregairu is unexpectedly entertaining (even if the MC can get annoying).

 

Hey guys, so I've got a question. I haven't watched Anime since I was 17 or 18, I've got a bit of a boring time ahead of me, and I was wondering if any of you could recommend me some good series to watch.

I'm not really sure what I'm after, I've always thought that Anime could be a fantastic way to do fantasy/sci fi on a lowish budget. However, I'm not really particular about what I watch, as long as it's good. I guess I want the norm, compelling characters, good story, well written etc etc.

I absolutely cannot stand shows which involve lots of embarrassment/awkwardness though, so keep this in mind.

I've watched NGE, Death Note and various others, and enjoyed them all.

What have you got for me DLP? I know I've heard about Fate/Stay Night quite a bit, is that a good place to start?

 

Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Code Geass, Berserk, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Planetes, and various Gundam series may all be things you'd be interested in.

It's not exactly anime, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is a good fantasy series, though oriental in flavour. Also not very mature in tone.

I guess Naruto would count as a type of fantasy/sci-fi anime as well, but doesn't seem to match the style of anime you've already watched and enjoyed.

 

No, don't bother watching the Fate/Stay Night anime. In truth, it is rather terrible (the visual novel is where the good stuff is, and why FSN is popular imo). Although, if you want to watch something from that verse, Fate/Zero is definitely a great anime.

Anyways, do you simply want some general great animes or stuff that is brand new from this year?

Great animes on my top favorite list includes:

Code Geass
Bakuman
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Cross Game (If you like slice of life/sports anime)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Those five are somewhat longer than normal, around 50 episodes. There are tons of shorter animes too that are great:

Steins Gate
Mirai Nikki
Eden of the East
Another

Of course, there's always the typical long shounen animes, but I personally don't recommend watching them unless you have too much time on your hands.

-Fairy Tail
-Bleach/Naruto/One Piece (Seriously, don't bother with these three if you aren't already following them)
-Hunter x Hunter 2011

 

I'm definitely after the best of the best. I have seen very little, and I expect there's a lot out that that I'd love. I've actually started watching Avatar, but as mentioned, it really isn't intended at a mature audience. As such I'll probably put it on the backburner for now.

Code Geass looks quite interesting, as does Full Metal Alchemist and Steins:Gate.

I'll start with those I guess. Code Geass first, then Steins.

 

Black Lagoon is a must watch if you're after the best.