Favourites & Recommendations: Anime and Cartoons

I recommend The Simpsons. The newer episodes arn't great, but it's a really good series overall.

Well, I've just finished watching the first season of Code Geass (Legally streamed onto YouTube by Bandai, no less, so go check it out.) and am impressed.

For those not in the know: Code Geass is a "Real Robot" anime (ala Gundam or Macross, the polar opposite of the "giant robot" genre from Gurren Lagann.) with a bit of a twist added by mystical powers called "geasses".

But first, the background: Eight years ago the Britannian Empire invaded Japan and easily overwhelmed it's defences. The Britannians then moved all native Japanese citizens into ghettos and installed themselves as a ruling class.

Fast forward to the present. Japanese citizens continue to be crushed underfoot by the Britannians, with their rebellions small nuisances at best. However, they continue trying and, at the start of the first episode, have accquired a supply of a toxic gas, which they plan on releasing into Tokyo.

The protagonist of the show (Lelouch) gets caught up in the terrorist attack and, in the process of trying to get out alive, finds a strange girl named "C.C." who makes a contract with him: If he'll do some unnamed task for her, she'll give him power. He agrees, and then things get interesting.

The power he has acquired is a "Geass" (probably meant to be "Geas") which allows him to compel anyone he can make eye contact with into obeying any order he gives them.

He promptly decides to use this power to help the Japanese citizens by staging a true rebellion and freeing Japan. (I'm simplifying his motives here, to avoid spoilers.)

In an odd twist of fate, his best friend from before the war ends up working for the Britannian military (as an ace pilot) who also vows to end the suffering of Japanese citizens, though he intends to do so by fixing the military from within.


I think that's enough setup, really.

The show has excellent pacing (with maybe one episode that could count as filler, and even that had some important stuff in it.), excellent animation, a decent soundtrack, and compelling characters and story.

It doesn't have many huge twists, per se, but it's still quite gripping because, with protagonists on every side of the conflict, it's never certain who will win, or how.


Definitely highly recommended for anyone who likes action shows.


Just a note, though, only the first season is available legally on YouTube, and it ends on a hell of a cliffhanger, so be prepared for that. (Also, of course, if you love the show then buy the DVDs)

Originally Posted by John

The show has excellent pacing (with maybe one episode that could count as filler, and even that had some important stuff in it.), excellent animation, a decent soundtrack, and compelling characters and story.

It doesn't have many huge twists, per se, but it's still quite gripping because, with protagonists on every side of the conflict, it's never certain who will win, or how.

There's plenty of pretty big twists, but the main "twist" is that not much actually turns out the way you might expect it to since the usual plot-roles of mecha shows are reversed in Code Geass - the "guy who works for the usual authority figure who's disillusioned with the system but thinks that a new system would be even worse and is basically just a tool for most of the series before wisening up but still resisting" is an antagonist rather than a protagonist, and the "leader of the rebellion and general terrorist figurehead" is the protagonist.

I'd have to say that my two favorite animes are Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. Both have a space western feel to them, but they still feel quite unique when compared to each other. The character of Vash from Trigun is quite different from other heroes you see in a lot of mainstream anime nowadays. He's got so many different sides to him, and you'll enjoy them all, whether it's his peaceful, won't fight attitude or his serious, don't mess with me attitude.

Trigun also brings up some interesting philosophical questions, such as when is it okay to take the life of another.

Really? No one's mentioned these yet? Hm.

1.) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

This anime is told from the view of a typical high school student in Japan nicknamed Kyon (far left). He had given up on his old beliefs about the supernatural such as time travelers, espers, and aliens before coming to high school.

Then came Haruhi.

Haruhi Suzumiya (one over from the left) is anything BUT normal. She firmly believes in that which Kyon had given up on and is extremely, to quote the show, eccentric. She is at the top of the class and is among the greatest in every sport. However, she finds all the sports and clubs in the school to be boring.

After talking with Kyon over time, he eventually gives her the idea to make her own club. She follows up on the idea and creates the Spreading Excitement all Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade, also known as the SOS Brigade.

The story takes off from there and Mikuru Asahina (center), Itsuki Koizumi (one over from right), and Yuki Nagato (far right) are soon introduced. None of them are quite normal either, but I don't want to spoil anything.

I'll just say that it's a very original, mostly lighthearted, and for whatever reason highly entertaining anime. I recommend it to all people.




2.) Death Note

Light Yagami (center) is a top-of-the-class high school student who is fed up with the evil that consumes the world in the form of crime. A god of death (or shinigami) named Ryuk (right) is bored because there's nothing to do in the world he lives in. These two brought together? Something's gonna happen.

Shinigami have what are known as Death Notes; a notebook that has the power to kill people. If a person's name is written in the notebook while the user has the victim's face in mind, that person will die. Each Shinigami has one, but Ryuk was able to obtain a second. He decided to drop it in the human world, where Light picks it up. He takes it upon himself to clean up the world by killing criminals using the note.

This is a fantastic anime for two reasons: one, the story. Though it may sound odd at first, the story is pulled off very well. Two, and probably the better reason: mindgames. Light is a genius. He tackles every situation he comes across using extremely clever tactics, including deceit and trickery. I truly find it extraordinary that someone came up with all of this.




Both spectacular animes in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Fenix Down

[IMG]Birdy the Mighty: Decode (Tetsuwan Birdy Decode). Two seasons, 12 eps each (2008-09). [/URL]

Have you scene the origional 4 episode OVA?

Now I had a review for Tenchi muyo but I accidentally push back space while not in typing mode and lost everything so if you haven't scene it I would recomend that you watch all three different series of the show and the movies. I would also recomend watching "Voices of a Distant Star", "The Place Promised In Our Early Days", and "5 Centimeters Per Second". All three movies are Directed by Makoto Shinkai who some has called the next Miyazaki. The first Movie "Voices of a Distant Star" was made entirely by Shinkai him self. All three movies have great stories, centered around love, and they have amazing visuals.

Now and Then, Here and There.

Man, where to start? Now and Then, Here and There is one of the more emotionally intense shows I've watched, and I'm only about half-way through it's 13 episode run. (I'll post a full review in the review thread after I finish it.) It's a show on war, and what it does to children.

The first episode opens with the protagonist (Shu) doing typical anime pre-teen things: having breakfast, going to a kendo tournament, etc. Towards the end of his day, he sees a strange girl atop a smokestack. He climbs up to talk to her, and finds out she's named LaLa Ru. Shortly after learning this, three robots appear and kidnap her, teleporting out again, and accidentally taking Shu along with them. He wakes up in a strange building, and tries to escape with Lala Ru. In the process she loses a pendant she was wearing and ends up re-captured, while Shu ends up hiding out inside the massive war-fortress that they've been "beamed" into, called Hellywood.

This sounds pretty cliche, especially to anyone who's ever seen Vision of Escaflowne, which had a similar opening in many ways (albeit gender reversed.)

But then things get dark. Fast. Shu gets captured and the insane leader of Hellywood, King Hamdo, orders him tortured until he reveals the location of the pendant (which he lost while trying to evade capture). The show doesn't pull any punches here, either. It doesn't dwell on the torture, and it's not graphic, but you do see Shu get whipped, beaten, and left unable to move from the injuries he's suffered.

He shares his cell with a girl named Sara, who was abducted after she was mistaken for Lala Ru. She, unfortunately, ends up with a worse fate than Shu. She ends up being raped so as to help mother the next generation for Hellywood. Fortunately, again, nothing graphic, but that doesn't particularly matter, since the trauma she endures can be read on her face and in her voice without you ever having to see it.

Saying anything more would ruin the plot, but sufficed to say that Shu and Sara are not the only children in Hellywood, and that things don't even begin to start improving until half-way through.

All this is made even more wrong feeling by the animation direction, which makes it look more like Dragonball than a serious, intense, story.

The music is excellent, and both the sub and dub voices are superb.

Further, my above synopsis gives slightly the wrong impression. While this is an emtionally intense show with nicely nuanced characters and a brutally realistic look at child soldiers and war in general (apparently it was inspired by stories of what warlords were doing in Rwanda) it's not depressing. It's sad, but there is a difference. Shu has yet to give up hope. He gets beaten down repeatedly, but keeps standing back up, and while the situation keeps getting worse, he keeps on persevering. There's a message of hope, even in the early episodes, and while I don't know how it ends, I suspect it won't be on a down note, even if it likely will be bitter sweet.