An amazing anime. It is also so different in story and style to most of the things that come out of Japan. Being set in Eastern Europe post-Soviet Union collapse is just so different to what you usually see in anime.

I liked the start of Yowapeda but lost interest quite a bit toward the end of their training camp. As Quick Ben said, the main character became annoying really quick. He seems to lack any sort of competitiveness and idolizes the other guys, yet somehow is portrayed as being super determine - doesn't quite work. It'd have been much more interesting if it was about Imaizumi.

But yeah, it's a good example of shounen sports - ridiculously catchy, and high in energy. It's often driven by several 'epic' characters mixed in with an underdog protagonist.


Definitely agree with Risen in Giant Killing rec. It's one of the best sports anime I've seen. It's a bit different in atmosphere due to it being focused around adults in a low level professional team, and takes a more mature look on many of the issues surrounding their team, but still has that addictive, high energy sports anime feel.

If we don't keep it strictly to sports, one of the best anime of this type is Hikaru no Go. It's about go - the Japanese 'chess'. Not really a sport, but has a lot of the themes and style of a shounen sports anime - except everything is done perfectly. In terms of more typical sports anime, I think this is the best of its type.

Another great sports anime is Cross Game, recommended earlier in this thread. It's quite different in its style. Has a more calm, slice of life kinda feel (characters aren't quite as exaggerated in their personalities basically), and yet still manages to feel energetic and epic at points.

Since you liked Yowapeda, another cycling anime is Over Drive. It is kinda interesting the way it's set out - first 10 eps are about the main character being introduced to bicycle racing, and then the next 14 episodes are a single race, pretty much done in real time, which was pretty epic. I wouldn't rate it that highly critically speaking, but it's really enjoyable while you're watching.

Some others that are good are Hajime no Ippo (boxing - a pretty well done anime, with a pretty dull protagonist and some hilarious humour), Kuroko's Basketball (basketball - I found season 1 to be really catchy and energetic, though found season 2 to be pretty poorly executed in comparison) and Yakitate Japan (another non strictly sport anime, but it's a parody on this style of anime. And none the less, really addictive and fun. It's about bakers. Yes, you read that right...)

 

In case y'all didn't hear, new Shinichiro Watanabe / Yoko Kanno / Kazuto Nakagawa collaboration to hit late summer.

Terror in Tokyo.

Also, trailer.

I'm excited.

 

I'm more excited for Aldnoah.Zero.

The writer (Gen Urobuchi) behind Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and Psycho Pass is writing it.

The Director also did Fate/Zero and a Kara no Kyoukai film.

And the Music is done by the dude who made the music for Attack on Titan, Guilty Crown and Kill la Kill.

And this is the trailer.

 

I don't have hardcore feels about that one the way I have hardcore feels about products of the Bebop/Champloo crew, but yeah, it does look neat.

 

Crimson campaign and sworn in steel both came out the other day. I really liked both of them.

 

Finding good anime every season is getting harder and harder for me.

Watched 1.5 episodes of Black Bullet, but had to stop. Crazy, masked antagonist while half the cast is filled with 'moe' superpowered lolis.

... No thanks.

 

Try No Game No Life. It's probably my favorite anime this season, so far.

 

Sell it to me.

 

You want stuff to watch, try it out. Or not.

Edit: Less dickish - Good humor that's not as forced as most anime. Self-aware protagonists that aren't idiots. Wonderful art. Premise that's kinda... hard to phrase this.

You know how some anime are "self-aware" and mock the genre? I feel like No Game No Life is self-aware, and then turns around and still takes it seriously in an intelligent way.

 

Watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure if you haven't already.

If you have, good!

 

Jojo is the best anime this season. Kuroko No Basket 2 flowed... pretty badly this season imo. Weird ending point too, hopefully they restart it soon.

 

I'm watching Knights of Sidonia, and enjoying it.
Its predictable, but it takes itself seriously anyway.

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic setting, one of the few seed ships to escape earth after an alien attack continues to fly through space. Our protagonist is a skilled pilot who has a mysterious past, and several interpersonal conflicts and mysterious military leadership to investigate.
Pros- this is Hard sci fi. Photosynthesis gene-mods, biological recycling, higgs-boson particle collection (ok, so semi-hard), fairly dangerous high G turns in space, the dangers of child soldiers, military dictatoriships. It really feels like a well thought out world, and you want to explore and learn more about why things are the way they are.
Cons- You'll see most plot twists coming two episodes early, the art style is wonky hybrid of cg and drawing that is just strange, and then there is the strange things: Talking bears, 3 genders, hyggs (higgs?) particle cannons, enemies having armor called a placenta, tentacle monsters.

I recommend if you are looking for something with a serious tone this season.

Also, No Game No Life is awesome.

 

On the second ep of NGNL now, the art and lighting is really stylised and beautiful while i constantly chuckle through the eps.

Steph smashing her face constantly as the cracks grow bigger... Lol

 

Actually Black Bullet gets pretty good. It's really dark, and the whole loli-cutsie thing doesn't go away, but it gets more bearable when you consider how they're treated as a group. I mean it's still pretty stupid, and a lot of deus ex, but the action's still cool. Also, the stakes are still high.

 

Pacing seems ridiculous, though. @_@

Victory! \o/

 

NGNL is good. Didn't hold out much hope for it but colour me surprised.

Also watched the latest arc of shippuden - Kakashi: Shadow of the anbu black ops. Gave up on the anime way back but this was really well done. If you've ever been into Naruto I can't recommend this enough.

Looking for something new to watch and I'm in the mood for something pretty. Been meaning to watch monogatari for a while but heard pretty mixed reviews. Any thoughts?

 

NGNL is my favorite so far of the season. Other new shows I picked up:

Baby Steps: similar premise as Yowapedal, but with tennis. Slower pacing though, at least in terms of skill progression. Nothing like Prince of Tennis, with its "special moves" and instawin shots.

Brynhildr in the Darkness: made by the same people who did Elfen Lied. Very similar, but maybe a tiny bit less dark. If you liked Elfen Lied, you'll like it. If you hated Elfen Lied, you'll hate it. Also has a pretty awesome OP.

Captain Earth: not sold on this one yet; my brother the mechaholic convinced me to try it last weekend. He claims that it references Midsummer Night's Dream a lot, but so far, it's mainly been beating me over the head with really bad sexual innuendo. I'll at least get caught up with it before I decide whether to drop it or not.

Edit:

The Monogatari series is great (order is Bake, Nise, Neko, Second Season). The two groups of people that generally pan it are those who watch it too early in their anime-watching careers and those who primarily watch dubs. In both cases, you can trace the complaints back to the dialogue. All of the shows are very dialogue-heavy, and there are no (and probably never will be) any dubs available due to the dialogue complexity and the number of idiomatic jokes. Since people in both groups usually aren't used to reading subtitles, the relatively (to other anime) meaty subtitles and the occasional quickness with which they pass can make the dialogue hard to follow. Also, people in the first group may not get all of the genre-savvy jokes that pop up. If you've been watching anime for a while and are comfortable with reading subtitles fairly quickly, you shouldn't have a problem with it.

 

Big question about this, is the bitch still a bitch and does she figure prominently into the story?

I quit after the first episode where she fucked up his books and was all, oh oops, cute me, sorry and the guy who obviously cares about it just laughs it off. I just couldn't stand that nonsense.

 

She does figure prominently in the story, but that was probably her worst moment. I definitely wouldn't characterize her as a bitch in general.

 

Ok at least tell me she profusely apologized for it.

I know its a weird thing to get hang up on but anime's are too used to this casual abuse shit that it just completely takes me out of the story