It Feels Like Hawaii; Anime

[mindstalk]

Warm, light rain... kind of nice. I'm leaving my A/C on though, since without the rain it's just muggy. And of course there's a lower probability of a rainbow and a higher probability of a raging thunderstorm.

I feel like listing the anime, or cartoons in general, I've liked.

Childhood Saturday morning cartoons:
Robotech (anime-inspired) >> Transformers > everything else. I really liked that things happened on Robotech, there was a plot and drama, people changed, even died. Transformers, I dunno, there was a hint of change, and I liked the ambiguity between "Robots in Disguise" and "Robots in the Skies" as Decepticons flew over.

Strong liking, usually meaning I stayed to watch:
Scrapped Princess (would consider purchase)
Record of Lodoss War (purchased)
Noein (want to re-watch)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Mahou Shojoutai (Magical Girl Squad Alice)
Gankutsuou (Count of Monte Cristo -- in SPAAACE)
Witch Hunter Robin
Karin the Blood-Giving Vampire
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu
Kimagure Orange Road (liked long ago, never saw the whole thing)
Mai-HiME
Hikaru no Go
Robotech (back in childhood)

Limited exposure but intriguing:
Last Exile
Maria-sama ma Giteru Spring (came in late)
Air (intriguing opener)
Chrno Crusade (came in late)
Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase- (only saw beginning, intriguing

Series liked somewhat but triaged for time:
Genshiken
Saber Marionette J
You're Under Arrest

Rejected (not just triaged but actively fled):
Ai Yori Aoishi (seemed cool at first, quickly devolved into harem cycle)
School Rumble
Azumanga Daioh
Midori no Hibi
Full Metal Panic
Tenchi Muyo GXP
Beat-down angel Dokoru-chan (eww)

Ambiguous:
Uta-kata (could have watched, didn't, don't remember anything)
Bleach (seemed fun at first, then got dragged out)
Ah! My Goddess (suspect I would triage but it's between Noein and Mahou)

Movies (liked most of them):
Lupin 3: Castle Cagliostro
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell 2 (not so good)
Tokyo Godfathers
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Final Fantasy (fled quickly)

Comments

[boco.livejournal.com]

If you want to borrow all of Maria-sama ga Miteru (and you really should start at the beginning - Spring is the much-weaker second season), it's a really good show and I have all of it. I also have Air (and Kanon) if you're interested in that kind of thing.

Anyway why don't you like Azumanga?

[boco.livejournal.com]

I also have extended remastered Robotech and two of the three source series.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've actually got both Marias as fansubs; haven't gotten around to watching them. Haven't heard of Kanon. Anyway, I'll keep in mind that you have stuff.

I came in late for School Rumble and Azumanga and it was a while back, but my impression is that they just seemed silly and uninteresting. And simple art, at least with Azumanga. The trend I note in what I like is SF/F drama with good art. Alternatively, really good character studies with good art, like Maria-sama, can work. OTOH Full Metal Panic's SF drama lost out to my boredom with extended fight scenes, but Fumoffu's pure humor worked for me.

FWIW, that "Giraffes? Giraffes!" book got stale for me really quickly; that kind of humor doesn't work well for me, and I have a vague idea that Azumanga's silliness might be related. But Scrapped Princess had multiple laugh-out-loud moments.

For the record, I can now say that Mahou Shojoutai's ending was a big fizzle. It's 20 episodes, so it strongly seems like they ran out of money and had to make an abrupt early wrapup. Still a fun series, though.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Update: I've seen all of Maria-sama ga Miteru, and Maria-sama ga Miteru (Spring). I liked them. Why? I'm not sure -- it's very different than the usual fantasy/SF dramas I go for. But it feels a lot like an emotional tone painting, in anime. Very manipulative, and you can see where it's going, and it's almost too much, but it ends up feeling very well done, at least for me.

No point to saying more, no one's likely to ever see this. Stupid LJ format.