I've seen the synopsis for that one, it sounds pretty intense. The friendships/bonds in Slam Dunk was the best part about that one to me, so yeah I can imagine this guy can do deeper/serious things very well if that's what Real and Vagabond are like.

Almost done with GTO, and saw Nyan Koi! and KissxSis in between. NK has become one of my favorites, while KxS just gets me horned up.

Been watching the Bleach series from the very beginning (300 plus episodes), and while it's most certainly entertaining, there are some episodes which are somewhat tedious. The constant need to break away from the main story arc can also be frustrating at times, even if some of these offshoots are watchable. The obligatory humour throughout most of this is quite good though, and there's enough in the storyline to keep me coming back. Even if it's only out a completist mentality now.

So... I'm at the Garlic Jr saga/arc, and I can't help but think that I've missed something. Who the hell is Garlic and what is the "Dead Zone" they keep mentioning? And what is this about Goku and Gohan previously thwarting his plan to seize the throne of Kami anyway? I don't recall seeing any of this before.

I got this one.

This arc is actually a continuation from one of the Dragon Ball movies (specifically Dead Zone). The movies are various levels of decent (usually because they have a bigger budget for the fight scenes so that they look cool), but I believe this is the only instance when one of the movies directly ties into the television story arc (though it is worth mentioning that the movies and the Garlic Jr. saga aren't in the original manga). I personally find the Garlic Jr. Saga kind of terrible, but fortunately, it's also short. I believe you jump right into Androids after that.

It's also worth mentioning that there are two television specials, one about Bardock, the Father of Goku, and the other about Trunks, who you're going to be meeting soon enough. They aren't necessary, but they're also pretty cool. Especially you find and watch the older dub of the History of Trunks, as they use a bunch of Dream Theater songs. No, really!



Oh, fine! Take the easy way out!

Thanks ^, on another note the Freeza/Namek saga was great. The power leveling throughout was crazy and the fights were pretty consistently good as well. Though with Freeza defeated I can only imagine how ridiculously powerful the next set of enemies will be.

I'm going to say that the Asgard Saga in Saint Seiya is hands down the best shounen filler arc ever (anyone here who can agree with that?), but yeah Garlic Jr... okay it's a stretch to praise it that much, but I think it's pretty fun for filler. Get to see teen Gohan and Piccolo kick some major ass and the setting was pretty cool. Wasn't one of the guys Vinegar? haha. My only gripe with the arc is the placement, I think it would've worked a lot better being before the Namek/Freeza stuff, they just all feel like bitches in comparison to everything that happened there.

@TheOldOne: Wait, have you not seen DBZ before or something? Whoa. I'd say the Saiyan -> Freeza stuff is when it was at its darkest, but shit is still pretty serious in the next stuff, Android/Cell. Wow, to go into these parts fresh... should blow you away. Lots of sweet twists and turns. With the Majin/Buu stuff I'd say the series comes full circle and falls a bit back on what made DB fun and all, so it's pretty fitting. I love the whole package, but yeah the Freeza stuff is the peak to me and he's definitely my favorite villain, but Cell is pretty much #2 in all of anime for me. Especially when you understand how every bit of him... makes him who he is, but I'll stop there until you've seen it.

Totally check out those specials though, they are for the most part pretty much canon and better than most of the movies in my book (only ones I think legit are Bojack and Fusion Reborn with Gogeta, my friend and I always talk how these two probably would've made cool full arcs in the series. Jenemba's design was badass).

Just can't beat Toriyama's villains in my book. I watch and dig a lot of shounen out there, but nothing touches this stuff. He had a far more iconic approach to his characters. Obviously the plot isn't a big deal in DB/Z, and rather the plot is... the characters, and it does it well. The way Freeza goes down is just all too perfect. DEFEAT would've been worse than death to him. He was the most ruthless, arrogant villain in the universe and NEVER once gave up or kneeled to Goku. He wasn't having that. And thus, he pretty much kills himself by his own hatred. You don't get more evil than that.

Yep, never seen it. I've known a little bit about it for some time but I've never actually watched it until now, but I reckon I get a better deal out of it than many since I started with Dragon Ball and am viewing the uncut versions in original audio (Thanks largely to your recommendation).



Yeah I loved him as villain and his defeat was definitely very fitting. He was so composed and confident in his own power and then he just... lost it and was entirely responsible for his own demise.

Ever since I stopped watching anything DB related, my enthusiasm for the show just died. I would have been the first one to jump in with a post when OldOne semi-revived the thread. However, for the sake of keeping the show from getting super-redundant and uninteresting, I had to stop watching it. Used to be for the last 2 years I wouldn't go without seeing even one scene from the show(s) for more than 3 days.

Anyone else watch "moe" slice of life anime? Lucky Star, Yuru Yuri, Hidamari Sketch, etc.? Seriously, I feel like a pussy skimming through this thread and reading about Berserk and DBZ...

Yeah, sometimes I just get tired of blood, guts, rape and despair so I pussy out, turn my brains off and watch some yuru yuri or whatever. There is this series that started airing recently, Joshiraku, that is pretty enterntaining too. It was written by same dude who made Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and hase his trademark humor which is pretty cool.

I tend to stick with the light-hearted, cute girls doing nothing sort of series since I usually watch anime to relax and not get mind fucked. Joshiraku did pique my interest, but unfortunately my computer's suffering from a system 32 infection so my anime is limited only to what the crunchyroll iPhone app has to offer.

I enjoy a good slice-of-life show, but I can't stand ones where absolutely nothing happens. Exceptions: Haruhi, Azumanga Daioh and the first CLANNAD series.

And some good story-driven-slice-of-life-if-that-makes-any-sense series I like are CLANNAD ~After Story~, Fruits Basket, and Midori Days.

Azumanga Daioh rules. Also I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Haruhi slice-of-life

On an unrelated note, I started reading Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. I didn't even finished the first volume but I already hate the shit out of Dio Brando.

As crazy as the show is, it DOES follow Kyon in his everyday attempts to keep Haruhi amused.

Guess so. It's a slice of a really fucking weird life.

It's only going to get worse. I've only read through the first arc, but he gets really hateable as the series goes on. I'm also under the impression that he never really dies throughout the series, as he is the reoccurring big badguy for the franchise.

Regarding the moe/slice-of-life stuff, I admit that I haven't seen much of it, but very little of it appeals to me. However, I think the big problem is that they tend to focus on middle or high school students and I am so sick of Japanese school settings. Even if they're fancy, Hogwarts-esque schools, I've seen enough classrooms filled with blazing burnt ambers from a setting sun to last me a lifetime. I mean, if they ever do an anime adaptation of Yotsuba, I'd watch that to death! (Why isn't there a Yotsuba anime?) I'd probably watch slice-of-life series if they took place somewhere unique or had a unique character (and by "unique" I mean "not high school, again").

K-On! is the cutest thing ever. That is all.

Anime about high school kids in a band?

BECK did it better.

I went on an SOL binge to get my mind off action animes. Had watched those strictly for a while until I mellowed out again.

Not enough moemoe~

I'll admit, it can get a bit tiresome. Especially since all school related anime basically follows the same formula (summer vacation(beach episode), Christmas, Valentine's Day, White Day, school festival).

I love Yotsuba. It was the first manga I ever read, and despite having read each volume at least four times, it still makes me laugh.

I don't doubt it. He is a real asshole.
I'm starting to enjoy this series a lot more now that it stopped being torture porn with Jonathan as the victim. Also, SPEEDWAGON.

Regarding moe/SOL series, yeah I'm fed up with always the same school settings too. Get some creativity you fuckers.

Is it really much to assume that slice of life animes / mangas are going to be the same most of the time, considering that they're takes on life in general? There isn't going to be much out of the ordinary stuff going on. Not to say that there aren't moments like that, and these are works of fiction (so they should at least come up with something to keep the shows fresh and entertaining), but it's stretching it to hope for something so diverse in this genre.

I just wish they would change the setting sometimes, like Joshiraku did. It's nothing mindblowing or revolutionary, but it's a nice change.

I think we understand that slice-of-life dramas are supposed to be more subtle and less action-packed, but it could take place in all sorts of places, not just schools. We could have a story about a guy trying to start up his own business, or about the unglamorous life of roadies and technicians on a music tour, or the trials of being a female politician. Thanks to anime and manga, I know too much about Japan's school system, but next to nothing about their government. (BTW, who remembers the obscure manga The First President of Japan from Raijin Comics. Weird, but fascinating, stuff.)

It doesn't even have to take in Japan. Check out series like Emma and A Bride's Story. Sure, they're more like historical fiction, but they're just as much slice-of-life. I think the major problem is that most of the stuff that reaches audiences outside of Japan is the more mainstream successes of anime and manga, so they're "safe" to a certain degree, and the Japanese high school has proven itself to be a very "safe" setting.

Speaking of anime, what is your favorite opening/ending/soundtrack to anime?
My favorites are: "The Legend Comes to Life" by John Loeffler, "The Power of One" by Donna Summer which are the songs in Pokémon 2000 - also my favorite anime movie Lugia's song is one of the best melodies I've ever heard in music and it really touched me!
Another one is "Wrapped Up in Light" which is the song in Pokémon 4Ever - it's really one of the best anime songs ever!
Pokémon is the best anime ever for me, I'm very touched, when I was younger I didn't understand the great message of this anime but when I re-watched it recently - my feelings was opened.

PUT YOUR GRASSES ON NOTHING WEEL BE WOUNG
best opening ever

i can't remember all my favorites tracks, but Serial Experiments Lain opening song is one of the most memorable to me for some reason https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDAeOatiooM

also, Mononoke Hime ending song, Berserk's Forces and this bit from Samurai Champloo

that's all remember for now

Greatest opening of all time. If you disagree, you're wrong. The rest of the Spice and Wolf soundtrack is brilliant aswell. Also,Welcome to The NHK opening.

Endings: Episode 7 of Hanamaru Kindergarten and Moonlight love from Pani Poni Dash.

You're all wrong. This is the greatest anime opening ever, and probably the only supremely good thing about the series.

*nods*

I'm 41 episodes in currently. It's as awesome as I've always heard it is.

Hard to go wrong with that one. Here are a couple of others that come to mind:

Another classic.
A personal favorite.
Nobuo Uematsu doing anime. No really!
Another personal favorite, despite the fact that's it's ripping off Queen.
Proof that American music works, too.
This one with that groovy, sexy riff.
Gotta have some Gundam.
I'm a sucker for bass synth like this.
A final, personal favorite.

Sorry if you feel that I posted too many. I don't know if I could pick a favorite (Ht is REALLY high, though).

As for soundtracks in general, I quite like Gurren Lagann, Fairy Tail (FOLK METAL!), Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, any Gundam soundtrack, and Naruto (NOT the opening/ending songs; the ACTUAL soundtrack!)

I'm about to start Sword Art Online. Anyone seen it? The premise seems... kind of interesting (trapped in a virtual game to the DEATH!!!), see how it goes eh?

im in the middle of Another, and Bakemonogatari and don't have the attention span to finish them both atm ;A;

oh shit we talking about ops and osts?
you guys seen PMMM? fucking brilliant anime with brilliant music
op - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lR-HUYwSAU
ed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFEpJLhA ... re=related
fav track from ost - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0L7fOPMqS8 <- perfect shit right there

I watched Another while it was airing, but I didn't manage to follow it until the end, too boring. Bakemonogatari was fine.




Madoka has a really good ost, I have the whole thing downloaded. I need to rewatch this show btw.


And I forgot to mention in my previous post, but the Texhnolyze ost has some really good songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=994OnlTR ... re=related