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Folktale from Japan and Project Buta (not sure if it's a series)

So far, 2 are standing out: Nisemonogatari - a pretentious as well as beautifully animated, written and directed series about the notion of fake/fraud (and way better than its prequel Bakemonogatari)- and Mononoke - 12 episode, 4 ghost/mystery stories.

I can't get much information on the first two, though it seems like Folktales from Japan is very recent to the out of japan releases. As far as I can tell it's about japanase fairy tales? It is on CrunchyRoll so I may check it out though I am somewhat put off by the animation.

For me animation is a key part of making me feel comfortable with what's going on and I do expect it to reflect the themes set out in the show. For instance I like scifi to remain vibrant throughout the scene while historical anime to contain muted colours for backgrounds, focusing on character costumes and fluency in movement. I suppose this only counts for historical Japanese periods but it always works for me as the tradition comes out greatly in the nuances between individuals movements based on the castes and background.

Folktales from japan looks to have that animation that was mostly used for younger children, which I guess could work in context of fairytales though I'm not sure how mature the fairytales are meant to be.

I did like the sound of Mononoke, though it doesn't seem to be available to me at the moment. Will keep it in mind for the future, thanks for the info.

Then again, I've interacted with people who claim to not like music - at all - so what do I know.

That truly sounds very alien to me.

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I loved Bakemonogatari and I was told its sequel was NOT good in comparison.BUH

Depending on what you enjoyed out of Bakemonogatari, it can be a valid criticism. The two series are significantly different after all : the 'mystery solving' aspect of the first series is traded for a 'branch out on weird topics' in the second; so, if that's the only reason you liked Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari won't satisfy you.

To be fair, I understand why people would dislike the series : it's fairly pretentious, it goes along at an odd pace, doesn't really have an overall point, it contains a lot of long-winded rhetorical dialogs, it's somewhat self-aware and has a 'post modern' quality in its use of Japanese icons and fringe anime culture trope... I usually can't really stand series with those elements, but this one worked for me. The writing and artistic craft behind it as well as the commitment to have the tom-foolery and inside jokes somehwat lead back to interesting territory made it work.

To me, it's the only recent anime series that plays the medium on its strengths to put forward a unique vision. So :tup:

Folktales from japan looks to have that animation that was mostly used for younger children, which I guess could work in context of fairytales though I'm not sure how mature the fairytales are meant to be.

"Folktales ..." is clearly a show for kids and sadly, only a few tales get a proper artistic direction treatment (the animation remains super cheap anyway, but I think that's less of an issue). Quite a few years ago, for a literature class, I undertook a work of comparison of fairy tales across several european and african ethnies. Since then, I take any chance I can get to keep exploring that, and since this series offers that for Japan and didn't modernize it's material; it's gold to me.

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Forgot to mention this a while ago. So I haven't really watched anything anime related in years but about a month or so back I decided to watch The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was really good, imo. I really liked that is was serious, in the sense that it wasn't tons of cutesy stuff with a ton of rediculous stuff going on. There was still the supernatural aspect to the premise, but it still felt really... normal? Are there any other things like this, either movies, shows or OVAs?

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Depending on what you enjoyed out of Bakemonogatari, it can be a valid criticism. The two series are significantly different after all : the 'mystery solving' aspect of the first series is traded for a 'branch out on weird topics' in the second; so, if that's the only reason you liked Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari won't satisfy you.

To be fair, I understand why people would dislike the series : it's fairly pretentious, it goes along at an odd pace, doesn't really have an overall point, it contains a lot of long-winded rhetorical dialogs, it's somewhat self-aware and has a 'post modern' quality in its use of Japanese icons and fringe anime culture trope... I usually can't really stand series with those elements, but this one worked for me. The writing and artistic craft behind it as well as the commitment to have the tom-foolery and inside jokes somehwat lead back to interesting territory made it work.

To me, it's the only recent anime series that plays the medium on its strengths to put forward a unique vision. So :tup:

I also enjoyed both shows, for what it's worth. So i guess that's another vote in its favor.

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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Are there any other things like this, either movies, shows or OVAs?

I also liked that film, though my fiancee described it as a coming of age SciFi film. Guess she was right in a way, but it maintained a perfect level of cool, mystery, comedy and sci-fi to keep me watching where a run of the mill teen film wouldn't get me past the opening scene. And when I say run of the mill I am a sucker for the "Clueless" and "Mallrats" variety.

I'd definitely say that Eden of the East maintains those same values that were portrayed in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, but that is a show. Film wise I can recommend Wings of Honneamise. It shares the same flow as The Girl Who Leapt, in part it is another coming of age film, has the occasional comedy and is sci-fi based so it may match your tastes very well.

The film is about the first launch into space by one nation on the brink of war with their neighbours, and overcoming the adversity that is involved technologically and physically with achieving that goal. It focusses on one young man who doesn't really have any particular goals in life, but ends up joining the crew as a potential astronaut. It's very enjoyable all in all, a little dark in places but it lends well to the situational basis and the stress that all involved would have been dealing with.

Bare in mind it is very old now so animation isn't in the same vane as The Girl Who Leapt, but still amazing nontheless.

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I'd like to mention ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ プラネテス [PLANETES] from a few years ago. It's a decent attempt at hard SF. With lots of suspense, humour, and even some heartfelt moments (for big softies like me).

planetes.jpg

PLANETES follows a space station's colourful debris-removal team. The future's equivalent of garbage collectors. The small department is grossly under funded, under staffed, but requires a high level of skill from the pilots, and the astronauts who do the EVA work. A series with a surprising climax which comes out of nowhere (caught me by surprise at least). I can't recommend this series enough.

I picked up the original Japanese VODs back when it originally aired. Then hunted down fan-subbed versions so I could show my friends. I has since been released on DVD in NA. Look it up if you haven't seen it yet.

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I'd like to mention ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ プラネテス [PLANETES] f

I get behind that; probably one of the best anime series out there.:tup:

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I also just recently finished watching Gurren Lagaan..... yeah that's an easy one, I can't really recommend this to anyone. I wouldn't actually say it was bad but it is too saturday morning kids show to say it was good. Still I don't really go in for anything Mecha with exceptions being Full Metal Panic and Escaflowne but those are greatly due to the story, so it did well to make it past the first episode. What was strange is that it started out very humourous and then after around the 10th episode went kind of dark and very serious. Again I can't recommend it but I did watch it while playing Kingdoms of Amalur, so if you need background noise go wild.

TTGL really is the "lets-cool-off-a-bit" counterbalance to Neon Genesis Evangelion. While the story is easily dismissable I would still recommend it to most, as it is a very well crafted series because of it's awesome music and incredible animation (seriously, TTGL is a technical masterpiece).

I've recently finished Death Note and Madoka Magica, which were both pretty good. The first half of Death Note, in particular, is immensely thrilling.

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TTGL is amazing and I recommend it to everybody. U:

The story is dumb but it knows it's dumb and it embraces being dumb to the fullest extent. It's not like Evangelion where it thinks it's actually a good story. (I hate Eva.)

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The Rebuild series for Evangelion is worth a look if you want a more focused and condensed version of the story with plot alterations.

Personally though (I have yet to find an actual reason why), I love Eva.

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I saw Redline recently. While pretty and very well animated, I really couldn't or did not care to follow what was going on. Plot was way behind everything else going on in there. Gratuitous anime but not in the digusting way, and extremely stylish.

I think it would have worked so much better if it were 40 minutes like Dead Leaves honestly. Someone told me they spent 7 years making this thing though? Put in that perspective it sort of seems like a waste of time.

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My last post mentionned Hyouka as a possibly interesting anime. It now jumped to the "season favorite" spot: yes, it's presented as a contemporary high-school mystery anime :tdown: , but the first 5 episodes revolve around the main cast excavating the less romantic aspects of student activism in the 60's.

How cool is that ?

It doesn't hurt that Kyoto Animation is producing it: the direction is bold but quietly so and the art/animation is excellent. :tup:

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Redline was really cool. Its length was fine, I didn't find it grating especially. It had so much enjoyable stuff going on, lots of jokes and great, great animation. Love is oozing from this thing.

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My last post mentionned Hyouka as a possibly interesting anime. It now jumped to the "season favorite" spot: yes, it's presented as a contemporary high-school mystery anime :tdown: , but the first 5 episodes revolve around the main cast excavating the less romantic aspects of student activism in the 60's.

How cool is that ?

It doesn't hurt that Kyoto Animation is producing it: the direction is bold but quietly so and the art/animation is excellent. :tup:

I was interested by the art style but before I downloaded the episode I read the description which included reference to obscure Japanese poetry which the show is apparently inspired by/based on. That put me off.

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For any fans of Hiroyuki Imaishi (of FLCL, Diebuster, Dead Leaves, Re:Cutie Honey, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann... fame)

Stumbled on this recently. I don't know how I missed it considering its from Gainax.

Clearly insipired by North American cartoons, but with the usual Imaishi fan service, and toilet humour.

It's like Power Puff Girls meets Dead Leaves. So yeah... Awesome.

Panty & Stocking (2010) Probably NSFW for some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNJ5lglvd0

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Panty & Stocking is good fun, especially if seen with a crowd of enthusiastic people.

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I... what.

Man, I don't know if I'm getting older or if it's the lack of sleep or what but more and more when I see something like that, particularly when it's Japanese, my brain just sort of flicks into a "don't even try to understand this, just enjoy the pretty colours" mode.

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<p>Madoka Magica, anyone?</p>

If you can get through the first half of the series, you will be rewarded with some neat twists in Madoka Magica. Overall it's a bit slow and at some parts silly but it is definitely worth watching.

If you want a shorter and more intense Sci-fi series I would recommend watching Freedom. It's about the surviving parts of humanity and the life of a young boy, Takeru. He goes on to discover something that the leaders of the moon colony are trying to hide... (dun dun dun)

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I'm bringing this up exactly because it's the sort of anime that'll never be recommended, but everyone who likes period dramas should check out House of Five Leaves (I think it's Saraiya Gorou in Japanese).

Saraiya.jpg

It's a beautiful, meditative piece with an arresting art style about a shy samurai looking for answers and the sinister characters he falls in with while searching for them. There's little action, little spectacle, even little plot, yet it captures a sense of place almost perfectly. I think it may be the best thing I've seen since I rewatched Gunbuster a year ago (which I also recommend, if only because it actually faces the personal implications of FTL combat).

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I've been reading the House of Five Leaves manga. It's a quaint experience but hasn't really managed to capture me. I don't think it's the lack of plot that makes it difficult to read for me, but rather the opaque storytelling. It's more about atmosphere than about story, which is fine. I wonder if it works better as an anime, where sound and motion can make a big difference in exactly this sort of story.

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I watched House of Five Leaves a few weeks ago because the character design fascinated me and I'd say that, like Mushishi, it does work better as an anime: the consistently good direction and subtle animation really help presenting the stillness of the world in an appealing way. However, the series ultimately disappointed me because all aspects of the narration were eventually driven by the will to tie all characters together in a single web of stories and to give them all a likeable quality. This homogeneity worked against the up-in-the-air moral ambiguity and behavior, that the beginning of the series established.

Because of that, the 6 first episode were way more appealing to me than the rest - the final arc cimented part of the shady background and knowing those elements for sure ruined the potency of most of the characters.

That being said, since the series is quite short and a bit unique, I would recommend giving it a try.

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Mushishi

Now that's a good anime. Man, it's probably my favorite.

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I watched House of Five Leaves a few weeks ago because the character design fascinated me and I'd say that, like Mushishi, it does work better as an anime: the consistently good direction and subtle animation really help presenting the stillness of the world in an appealing way. However, the series ultimately disappointed me because all aspects of the narration were eventually driven by the will to tie all characters together in a single web of stories and to give them all a likeable quality. This homogeneity worked against the up-in-the-air moral ambiguity and behavior, that the beginning of the series established.

Because of that, the 6 first episode were way more appealing to me than the rest - the final arc cimented part of the shady background and knowing those elements for sure ruined the potency of most of the characters.

That being said, since the series is quite short and a bit unique, I would recommend giving it a try.

Yeah, it's not that it's perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it's really unique, both in art style and how there is more a series of revelations about how the characters relate than a traditional plot. At twelve episodes, that makes it an unconditional recommendation for me.

Also, I thought the naive viewpoint character was meant to set the audience up for learning that everyone has good, even sympathetic reasons for the things they do. Granted, it would have been a stronger theme if Yaichi and the others had appeared as more menacing in the first few episodes, but maybe I'm just missing out on some visual cues, not being even remotely Japanese myself.

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Yeah so I started watching Mushishi after seeing it in this thread (two posts up) and it's great. I've only seen the first 8 or so episodes and so far each of them is a self contained story with (basically) no threads connecting them, I don't know if that changes later on, and I don't really care. It's so relaxing to watch, it's so different from anything I've seen before. I'd recommend everyone watch it, both the dub and the subbed versions are on Youtube (I'm personally watching the subbed version)

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