TV You're Watching

[Jayne]

my favourite anime is Moribito: http://myanimelist.net/anime/1827/Seirei_no_Moribito.

Hmm, not familiar with this one. So you recommend it?

I had some misgivings before watching since the main character is a female warrior and these are often associated with feminist themes (Western tv shows Buffy and, more recently, Supergirl are good examples), but Moribito was not like that.  The hero is given a back story to explain her fighting abilities which are recognized as unusual and even problematic for a woman.  She ends up as the protector of a child and develops maternal feelings for him.

It is a fantasy setting so there are spiritual beings involved in the story.  This does not bother me in fiction set in alternate universes, but it might be a problem for some.

[Cesar_Augustus]

Hmm... maybe I need to start watching anime.  Any suggestions on some starter series'?

Edited to add:
Rewatching Babylon 5

As far as movies go, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are great. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is great as is Summer Wars. A lot of people recommend Akira and Ghost in the Shell as starter movies but I think they're not that great an introduction to anime.

For series, FMA:Brotherhood is the best introduction IMO along with something like Death Note, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan and Cowboy Bepop.

The thing is there is a lot of anime, and a lot of different types. You need to watch a few to decide what you like in the genre. Slice of life, romance, comedy, sport, thriller, weird/philosophy, shonen, seinen... etc.

I don't know what weeaboo means,

http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Becoming-a-Weeaboo

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/weeaboo

Yes, Akira and GiTS are not that good for starter anime.  Also, as a warning there is some nudity in both of them.

About Gurren Lagann, while I agree that Death Note and Cowboy Bebop work well as introductory anime, that one doesn't seem to be like that, from what I've read (I haven't watched the entire series). Warning: the clothings of the girl protagonist are very immodest.

[Cesar_Augustus]

My favorite anime movies of all time:
The Wind Rises -- best Miyazaki movie, in my opinion. Loved the symbolism, motifs, character development, artwork, abstract concepts, musical score... Just a brilliant piece of film.

Hotarubi no Mori e (Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light) -- short anime movie. Not as well known, but I guarantee that it's worth watching. The beauty and simplicity of the animation and story were very heartwarming and bittersweet. Really loved this one. Makes you miss your childhood and the blissful simplicity of things like running around in the grass with a mind full of imagination.

Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal -- prequel to the TV series. The action, drama, story, character development, and MOOD are awesome if you want something more intense. I really liked the animation style in this; very dark compared to the anime series, and I thought it brought out the bloody historical era very well. It also shows Kenshin as much more human and vulnerable than in the TV series.

Honorable mentions:
Wolf Children
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
5 Cm. per Second
Kakurenbo

As for anime series, my favorite of all time has got to be:
Steins;Gate (dubbed). Dubs usually suck, but the dub for Steins;Gate, in my opinion, was better than the sub, mainly because the dub took a bit more freedom in translation, causing the English to flow better and be more poetic and the jokes to be more clever. The script is probably the strongest element of this anime, and I really, really liked the dub. The sub, for me, was too literal. Translating word for word often doesn't come out right in English, and because of that, I found the sub quite stale. The humor, drama, plot, and romance in this anime was perfect. I am rarely impressed by humor in animes, but I thought the humor in this series was very witty. And rarely do animes make me feel emotional, but this one definitely did in the latter half and upon finish... it's actually one of those animes that you can't get off your mind for a few days after finishing. WARNING: there is some fan service, a tranny character, and some sexual jokes (not recommended for watching with children)...annoying, because otherwise it would have been the perfect anime in my opinion. It starts off a bit slow but definitely gets more fast-paced and intense as the series goes on.

Others:
Clannad: After Story (Season Two to Clannad) is also pretty good. Teared up a bit. However, I didn't like a lot of the side characters (and even to some extent the main female character). I found them a bit cheesy and unbelievable/one-dimensional. You have to watch the First Season to understand the characters' backgrounds, and I found the First Season quite boring. But the second half of After Story was still very good. Season Two is the anime during which a lot of people say they couldn't stop crying.

Attack on Titan started out really good, but as the series went on...filler, filler, filler...(!) and the pace slowed down to unbearable levels. Still enjoyed it though, very fun to watch (albeit traumatizing)...and have been waiting for Season 2 since forever.

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series -- a parody series, made by LittleKuriboh on YouTube. Very hilarious if you watched the real series as a kid. Things that you thought were so COOL and never questioned as a kid are shown to be utterly ridiculous. Best anime satire out there. This series has me cracking up to this very day. Episodes are roughly 4-5 minutes long, so you can binge watch 'em pretty easily.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood -- just a good, well-rounded story overall. I agree with Basilios that FMA is probably one of the best anime series (if not the best anime series) in terms of having every element: action, plot, character development, etc., going for it. However, I still put it as #2 after Steins;Gate, because while Steins;Gate isn't as perfect in checking off all the boxes, it evoked much stronger emotions in me. Perhaps this is because I had already watched the original FMA so Brotherhood wasn't as unpredictable...who knows.

-----------------------------------------------------

If there are any other ones (aside from the obvious Miyazaki movies) that I forgot about which I really liked, I'll post them.

On a tangent, I recently watched Akira, which is supposedly considered by critics the best anime movie of all time. I thought it was freaking weird. And so did my fiance. It seriously made no sense. It reminded me of modern art, where "experts" are all crowded around praising how original and brilliant it is, when it's just a bunch of paint randomly splattered on a piece of paper. Then again, I could be wrong. I'm no film expert or anything, so maybe I'm missing the revolutionary creativity of the movie.

I think one of the reasons that Akira is considered good, has to do with that movie being one of the first ones that was known in the west, also, because it was different from the anime series imported in these years.

[Jacob]

I think one of the reasons that Akira is considered good, has to do with that movie being one of the first ones that was known in the west, also, because it was different from the anime series imported in these years.

This is worth keeping in mind, absolutely.  Another thing about Akira is that it is based on the manga Akira, which is like twelve big thick volumes long.  There was no way they were ever going to cram all the stuff in the manga into the anime movie.  And without all that detail, the movie is rather disjointed in places.

But as Cesar said, it was one of the first real movies known in the West and it was definitely far and away more sophisticated than Voltron or any of the other robot/mecha series imported during the 70s and 80s.

[erin is nice]

[/u]Clannad: After Story (Season Two to Clannad) is also pretty good. Teared up a bit. However, I didn't like a lot of the side characters (and even to some extent the main female character). I found them a bit cheesy and unbelievable/one-dimensional. You have to watch the First Season to understand the characters' backgrounds, and I found the First Season quite boring. But the second half of After Story was still very good. Season Two is the anime during which a lot of people say they couldn't stop crying.

The only part that has really made me cry is in the first season when everyone starts to forget Fuko. For some reason that really got to me and I was bawling 

[Ulrich Von Lichtenstein]

The only part that has really made me cry is in the first season when everyone starts to forget Fuko. For some reason that really got to me and I was bawling 

Nowadays everybody wants to talk like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their lips just a bunch of gibberish and mothertruckers act like they forgot about Fuko.

[Maximilian]

[/u]Clannad: After Story (Season Two to Clannad) is also pretty good. Teared up a bit. However, I didn't like a lot of the side characters (and even to some extent the main female character). I found them a bit cheesy and unbelievable/one-dimensional. You have to watch the First Season to understand the characters' backgrounds, and I found the First Season quite boring. But the second half of After Story was still very good. Season Two is the anime during which a lot of people say they couldn't stop crying.

The only part that has really made me cry is in the first season when everyone starts to forget Fuko. For some reason that really got to me and I was bawling 

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

[erin is nice]

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

It's very real. My real life is kind of like cosplay 

[VeraeFidei]

NHL playoffs

[Bernadette]

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

It's very real. My real life is kind of like cosplay 

I really liked the blue hair.

[Prayerful]

Purple innit? Maybe I'm colour blind. Mary Beard's documentary on the Romans, shown last Wednesday, watched yesterday.

[erin is nice]

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

It's very real. My real life is kind of like cosplay 

I really liked the blue hair.

Blue was fun too, but purple is really perfect with my green eyes 

I finished the AOT parody specials last night-- so funny if you've watched the whole first season.

[Greg]

I saw a mini series on the plane called Tyrant, on the FX channel.  Pretty engaging stuff.

[red solo cup]

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

It's very real. My real life is kind of like cosplay 

I really liked the blue hair.

Blue was fun too, but purple is really perfect with my green eyes 

I finished the AOT parody specials last night-- so funny if you've watched the whole first season.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/warning

[maryslittlegarden]

What? New photo, but your hair is still purple?

Is that for real? Since you're posting on an anime thread, it almost looks like cosplay.

It's very real. My real life is kind of like cosplay 

I really liked the blue hair.

Blue was fun too, but purple is really perfect with my green eyes 

I finished the AOT parody specials last night-- so funny if you've watched the whole first season.

Love the purple.