Anime Recommendation and Suggestion Query

[Buffalobiian]

My turn this time

I'm looking for ~3-5 shows from this ("Winter 2009") season. Ones that starting airing ~1.5 months ago.

Requirement:
-New shows, no sequels (manga or novel pre/sequels/adaptations etc are fine.)

I've currently got my eyes set on Maria+Holic, White Album and Asu no Yoichi!. Depending on my quota, I might get 6-7 MAX on top of what I'm watching now.

So feel free to give your opinions on the above 3, and recommend perhaps 5 titles (including the above 3), as well as perhaps 2 others to fall back on, or that I might like to pick up if I have more dload quota to spare.

As for what I've watched, what I liked, and what I'm watching now, here you go :

Ah! My Goddess S1 (+)
Ah! My Goddess S2- Sorezore no Tsubasa (+)
Fate/Stay Night (++++)
Melody of Oblivion (/)
Naruto S1(+++) (filler = -)
Final Fantasy VII- Advent Children (++)
Final Fantasy VII- Last Order (/)
FF7 Dirge of Cerebus CG Movies (+)
Ah! My Goddess movie 2000 (+)
Black Blood Brothers (++)
Appleseed Movie (2004) (++)
Howl's Moving Castle (+)
Laputa- Castle in the Sky (+++)
Space Symphony Maetel (/)
Sousei no Aquarion (++)
Aquarion OVA- Wings of Betrayal (/)
Shakugan no Shana (++)
Claymore (++++)
Devil May Cry (-)
Darker than Black (+++)
Ergo Proxy (++)
Myself ; Yourself (+)
ef - a tale of memories (+++)
Kyou Kara Maou Season 1-2 (++)
Ah! My Goddess Tatakau Tsubasa 1+2 (+)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (++++)
El Cazador de la Bruja (+) (Ending = ++ +)
Rosario + Vampire Season 1(-)
H2O - Footprints in the Sand (/)
Spice and Wolf (++)
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi (++)
Clannad (++)
Gundam 00 Season 1(++)
Shakugan no Shana Second (+)
Appleseed: EX Machina (2007) (+++)
Vampire Knight (++)
Druaga_no_To_-_the_Aegis_of_Uruk (a.k.a. Tower of Druaga) (+)
Persona ~Trinity Soul~ (/) (about 5 eps through = -)
Galaxy Railways II (++)
Kaze no Stigma (++)
Death Note (++++)
Bamboo Blade (+++)
Byousoku 5cm - 5 centimeters per second - a chain of short stories about their distance (+++)
Shakugan no Shana - Fumina Konoe Strikes Back (/)
Tsubasa Tokyo Relevations OVA 1-3 (+++)
Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi 1-6 (+)
Macross Frontier (+++)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (++) Ending = ++++
Special A (++)
Kamen no Maid Guy (++)
Sekirei (+)
Nogazika Haruka no Himitsu (++)
Koihime+Musou (/)
Chocolate Underground (++)
Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo (++)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (movie) (+)
Vampire Knight - Guilty (+)&(/)
Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka (++)
Ga-Rei Zero (+++)
Chaos;Head (++)
Xam'd Lost Memories (++)
Allison to Lillia (+++)
Beyond the Clouds - Our Promised Place (++)
Voice of a Distant Star (++ -)
Tsubasa Chronicles (+/-)
Tenge Toppa Gurren Lagann (++++)
Heroic Age (+++)
Sword of the Stranger (+++)
Patlabor movies 1,2,3 (+)











Currently Watching:


Naruto Shippuuden
Ghost Hound
Soul Eater
Narabi no Ou
Blade of the Immortal
Kara no Kyoukai
Candy Boy
Gundam 00 Season 2
Clannad ~After Story~
ef - a tale of melodies
Toaru Majutsu no Index
EVE_no_Jikan

An analysis of what type of stuff I like is welcome too (I like lots of stuff, I know )

[Munsu]

RideBack

[animus]

You'd definitely like White Albumn and Maria+Holic, for sure. Asu no Yoichi, maybe. It's not that spectacular but it's a decently "fun" series.

Since you seem to have no problem with CG series or even like them. I recommend RideBack from this season as well. It's not full CG, just the RideBacks, but it's a bit unique and might turn out to be very good.

Hajime no Ippo had a new season starting this winter season. The first season if you haven't watched it, you should. It's a very strong, well developed manga and later anime. However, the first season is not new to this season, but I felt the need to recommend the first season since this new season is coming along strongly as well.
(Disregard this, didn't see the requirement part, heh.)

[Ryllharu]

For the first three:
Maria+Holic: This will be a series that you'll either love, or totally hate. M+H is unquestionably a SHAFT series. The only series you have on there that they've done is ef, and ef...isn't a SHAFT series. They produced and animated it, but when you call something a SHAFT series, you explicitly mean three titles. Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, PaniPoni Dash!, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. If you liked those series, I can guarantee that you will love Maria+Holic. You do have Kamen no Maid Guy on your list, so if you haven't seen these three series, it is a fairly good estimate. Aside from that indicator, the series is hopelessly random (stuff going on in the backgrounds), crazy plot points, clearly mentally unbalanced characters, and otherwise just absolutely strange. The art is SHAFT-y too (soft colors, ridiculously elaborate backgrounds at random points) much of what you are familiar with from ef. But where ef has an even flow in storytelling (albeit segmented intentionally) Maria+Holic will be all over the place.

White Album: This series has been shaping up as an absolutely superb drama. I cannot more highly recommend this series for this season. A lot of people viewing it have actually likened it to a jdrama rather than an anime. The plot is somewhat slow, but things shape up over the course of several episodes and more and more becomes clear as we are clued in. Not because we're seeing all sorts of information they are not, but because the characters themselves are finally starting to realize these developments. The audience is taken along that thought process. Another thing this features is incredibly realistic characters. I've thought this before with characters from other romance series like Bokura ga Ita, but the fact that we are clued in to the inner thoughts of characters, often opposed to their dialogue, adds to this effect. They aren't believable as characters, they are believable as people. There is also an interesting window in how much simpler our lives have gotten through technology. There are all too many developments that the audience would think could be totally solved with a cell phone. Too bad this takes place in 1986. Cast is phenomenal too. The two main girls are voiced by two seiyuu who are singers themselves (Mizuki Nana as the more experienced one and Aya Hirano as the budding starlet) and the rest of the cast is well done as well. The only downside is that the series does start out a little slow.

Asu no Yoichi!: As a huge fan of the manga, I was really looking forward to this series. It does a great job at catering to any number of niche fetishes (has one of the best tsundere characters of all time in my opinion) and it's a standard harem series. The anime adaptation has begun to fall a little flat for me lately. Aside from things I can't really complain about (cut material, rushed pace at times, etc) because they are fairly common in manga-to-anime adaptations, the series feels very rushed and unfocused. I wonder if they are rushing forward to get at the meat of the series and away from character introductions, but I've just been a little disappointed. Cast is great, very well chosen for their respective characters. It's standard light fare. You will undoubtedly get to see a fetish you are into along the way, and you don't really need to think about it too much.
(I'm probably going back to the manga though. There is a little more focus on my particular favorite.)

----------------------------------------------
There are not really a wealth of series that are "new" this season.

Akikan! - Another totally light fare series. It's funny enough, but it wasn't for me. There's nothing to think about in this series. Cans of soda turn into girls. The main character or others "kisses" a can, and they turn into girls. I can't say too much more about it because I only watched the first episode and it didn't appeal to me. Perhaps others still watching it can elaborate.

Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo - Sunrise space opera (surprise!) series that I can't say too much about EDIT( because I didn't watch it for more than one episode ) (Another I never picked up.)

Kurokami the Animation - Another series I am a fan of the manga of, and the anime has a few deal breakers for me. A couple of shifts in character (college grad -> high school) in order to appeal to the anime watching audience more, and other minor issues here and there. The premise is still solid (partnering with mystical beings) in order to mutually gain power and dopplegangers play a huge role. A pretty standard shonen series, not unlike Sekirei, but tone down the ecchi and increase the violence.

RIDEBACK - This has been one of the surprises this season. I read the first volume of the manga, and while there are changes I at first questioned, there really hasn't been any loss to the series. The direction they've taken it is a little more mainstream, but very pleasant. While there are initial things like a ballet artist discovering motorcycle racing with undertones of politics, the series has shown an excellent balance of character development and good action sequences. The soundtrack (techno mostly) has fit in very nicely, I barely notice it, and the cast is good as well. A nice mix of veterans and a few newer seiyuu I haven't heard before, or often enough. You have both Appleseed films on there. You will definitely enjoy this.

Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (Munto TV) - I've been told that the first three episode are an exact rip of the original OVAs converted to widescreen, so it may be too early to say how the animation holds up, but this series has been a mix of pure eye candy and more classical animation. Fans of ef or Kanon/Clannad/AIR (since this is also done by KyoAni) won't be disappointed. A good romance element has been initiated, some excellent combat with more to come, and some surprisingly deep issues have been approached in character development. If you've liked any of the KyoAni series previously, but want a little bit more action and perhaps the same depth in characters, this would be an obvious choice.

I don't watch Kemono no Souja Erin, Regios, or Hetalia Axis Powers, so you'll need input from others on those.

[shinta|hikari]

Regios is a relatively interesting alternate world shounen superpower battle anime. Some appealing characters, and a main character who is very powerful, but hesitant to use his powers for reasons yet to be unveiled. It can be quite confusing though. Also if you hate Engrish, you might want to skip this, or at least the first 2 minutes of each episode.

Kemono no Souja Erin is about a girl named Erin (duh) who is the daughter of a village "doctor" who takes care of Toudas (giant lizards used for war). She eventually takes interest and talent in her mother's work. A nice relaxing series, but the art is very simple.

I watch both of these and enjoy them thoroughly.

[Kraco]

Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo - Sunrise space opera (surprise!) series that I can't say too much about other than the pacing is off. It's rapid fire, and only now are things beginning to clarify themselves. (Another I never picked up.)

How can you evaluate a show you never picked up, eh?

I actually like this show. I had absolutely no idea what's going on after the first episode, but that's only because the show is that sort of an action comedy. Hardly unique these days, and falls into the company of many fine shows in that respect. After the second episode you start to get many of the important points already, though the plot is kept a bit hidden for its own benefit (I hope). In short this is a show about fast paced action and a crazy AI voice acted by Lelouch's VA.

Oh, and the pacing isn't off. I don't know where Ryllharu got that one.

[Ryllharu]

...I had absolutely no idea what's going on after the first episode
...After the second episode you start to get many of the important points already
...the plot is kept a bit hidden for its own benefit (I hope).

In short this is a show about fast paced action and a crazy AI voice acted by Lelouch's VA.

Oh, and the pacing isn't off. I don't know where Ryllharu got that one.

I don't know, that sound indicative of pacing issues as far as I am concerned, and what I saw of it illustrated the same. Who said I didn't watch it? I said I didn't pick it up.

[Kraco]

Uhhuh. Then how did you watch it if you didn't pick it up? Happened to see all the eps so far when visiting your brother, or something? If you are watching a show, then you did pick it up. As simple as that.

I still disagree about the pacing statement. Saying pacing is off indicates the creators failed to create the kind of pacing they were aiming for or they had no aim to begin with (which only happens with terrible scripts/shows). Saying the pacing is off in a style that intentionally is confusing to a degree equals to saying the art is off in cubism...

[Buffalobiian]

Hmm, thanks guys. I think I'll start off with Maria Holic, White Album and Rideback.

If I've got room, I'll take a stab at Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai and Regios.

@animus: I'm grabbing this new season with the original run from a friend when it's all finished

[shinta|hikari]

Good choices, I think.

[gos27]

the best anime imo are : major, capeta, one piece, initial d, naruto, kekkaishi, trigun, samarai champloo and black cat.

[Idealistic]

Well I checked out Honey and Clover. Only finished season 1. It's an ok series. Has it's funny moments like with Morita, but other than that it's actually a little boring.

Then I moved onto Lovely Complex...... and..... WOW!! This was an awesome series. Loved everything about it. Best romance anime in my book. Well, romance/comedy.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm greatly surprised that you liked Lovely Complex better than HnC. Don't get me wrong, LC was fine, and I quite liked it when it was airing, but HnC for me is still one of the best romance anime out there. I find the second season to be more compact (less boring for you maybe) but it has more drama as well. If you dislked the drama from S1, then you may be right in not going into S2.

If you liked Lovely Complex, try Kami-sama Kazoku. For some reason, I get reminded of that when I think of LC.

[MFauli]

Aw, i just went through the whole list of animesuki.com, but im incapable of finding myself something.

Basically, im looking for an adventure-anime, the longer the better. I´ll try to list most of what i already know:

- Scrapped Princess (really liked that one, great atmosphere)
- Utawarerumono (nice premise, but a bit too generic in the end)
- Fantastic Children (best anime every imo)
- Eureka Seven (probably my best "modern" long-running adventure anime)
- Now and then, here and there (2nd best anime ever ^^)
- Vision of Escaflowne (didnt like it in the beginning, then grew to love it)
- Towards the Terra (sometimes slow and..."difficult" to watch, nonethelss on the better side)
- Tytania (still watching, nothing special, but theres nothing else)
- Age no Hero (or what it was called, with that boy, that could transform into a super-strong monster) (interesting in the beginng, but it was a chore to watch it to the end)
- Naruto (well, still watching)
- One Piece (following the manga, but dont really like it anymore due to overdone sillyness)
- HXH (great)
- Claymore (also great)
- Death Note (not THE adventure anime, but the lenght of the show made me mention it. And awsome anime, of course)
- Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (older stuff, but this is great)
- Dragonball (if only it had never ended...but then again GT...meh)
- NGE (awsome, but i wouldnt want a show thats even more on the psychological side)
- Record of Lodoss War (awsome back then, now its a bit dated imo)
- Code Geass 1 and 2 (well, season 1 rocked, season 2 felt rushed)
- Pumpkin Scissors (im still surprised that theres no season 2, the story of season 1 rather ended "small", small as in "we dont know any more of what is going on")
- Cowboy Bebop (not a CRAZY fan of it, but its good)
- Kiba (definition of generic adventure anime.)
- Monster (I prefer fantasy, but this show went into so much detail, it was awsome)
- Ergo Proxy (stopped watching at around ep10, just too...i dont even know what)
- Souko no Strain (kind of good, but felt generic at the end)
- Digimon (first two seasons are superb, season 3 still good, then it goes to complete crap)
- Noein (GREAT show)

And so on, im sure i missed a lot, but i cant remember everything.
Based on the above list, is there something you could recommend to me?

EDIT:

Thanks you two, added three series you mentioned and i already saw. I think ill start with Regios, then start Serei no Moribito.
Ryllharu, you mentioned how i have quite a lot of high quality series in my list...do you know any series that is in the same league of, say, NGE, Naruto, Digimon (or Scrapped Princess), that you say is an absolute must-see? You already recommended a few series, but i dont have the impression that all of these are must-sees (but are still good).

[Ryllharu]

You've got some high quality series listed there. Not all of mine will live up to it.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Short, just 13 episodes, but it's high on the comedy, and it's a very high-quality series. While the setting doesn't fundamentally change, it's more like Sliders meets Excel Saga meets some buddy/romance flick. AniDB

Digimon Adventure - Yeah, it's a kids show, but it kicked way more ass than Pokemon. At 54 episodes for just the original series not including the spinoffs, it has a lot of material. Kids get stuck in an alternate reality, so adventure is covered right there. Toss in a pretty decent English dub too. AniDB

Fushigi Yuugi - If there was a hardcore shoujo version Inuyasha with a reverse harem, this is the definitive one. (It predates it though.) Look no further than here to find an angsty, long (54 episodes and 3 OVAs), and fairly satisfying series of a girl trapped in a world inside a book, and then everything sort of goes to shit. Betrayal, lies, tears, the works. Perhaps the anime is toned down a bit, but the manga sure wasn't. AniDB

Galaxy Express 999 - You don't seem too averted to older titles, and at 113 episodes starting from 1979, there's a lot of material. This is one of those "classic" series that everyone talks about when they think of anime, and CrunchyRoll was airing some of these from the beginning, I don't know how far along they are now. AniDB

Outlaw Star - Headstrong male lead character, close combat spaceship dogfights, strong side characters, a space adventure series that's more of a shonen version of Bebop. 26 episodes. AniDB

Grenadier: Hohoemi no Senshi - It's an adventure series with over the top gunslingers, over the top boobs, and over the top fanservice otherwise. It's light fare, but it's not bad when you are bored. Not long though, just 12 episodes. It doesn't feel rushed though, and the pacing is pretty good. AniDB

Seirei no Moribito - Someone (more likely many) in the forums would crucify me if I forgot this one. Wasn't to my taste, but it's incredibly high quality. 26 episodes. AniDB

Slayers [franchise] - Slayers, Slayers NEXT (the best one), Slayers TRY, a slew of OVAs and movies, and new series still coming out. Magic, comedy, idiot characters, pretty good combat, and just one adventure after another. More material than worth counting. AniDB.
You can even watch it in space!


Lastly, I will toss out Chrome Shelled Regios, which is currently airing. They don't particularly go anywhere like a standard adventure, but it absolutely has the feel of an adventure series. 24 episodes total, some kickass combat (potentially even better later on), and that's all I can really say. (Felli is the best character).
AniDB

[Kraco]

Allison to Lillia, Druaga, Erementar Gerad, Ergo Proxy (if you liked Death Note and Code Geass, you might also understand this), Outlaw Star, Seirei no Moribito, Soukou no Strain, The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shoujo, Vandread.

I tried to pick some that contain people moving around from my list.

Edit: Ryll beat me to it by 2.4 seconds, or so. I'm not gonna remove the few duplicates, but I strongly agree on Regios so far.

[MFauli]

Wow, why have i never heard of this anime?
I hereby recommend everyone UNINHABITED PLANET SURVIVE.

It´s pure adventure, so enjoyable. Heres a summary:

In the future, most of mankind lives in artificial space colonies, climate-controlled and completely safe. The orphan girl Luna, selected to receive a scholarship at the prestigious Soria Academy, finds herself in quite different circumstances. An excursion gone terribly awry leads to Luna and her classmates being stranded on an uninhabited planet. Without any experience of untamed nature, the motley crew is faced with a challenging struggle to stay alive until rescue comes. If it comes...

Basically, a bunch of kids is alone on an island and tries to survive. So far it doesnt feature any of all the modern goofyness, and i especially love the monster-design, they´re not cartoony but rather realistic and i feel honestly scared by the look of some of them exactly because of that.
And most importantly, this is not another "young children rule the world"-anime, in this series, children are children, even if some may have more experience than others.

Im at episode 8, there are 52 in total.

[Kraco]

Is it adapted from Lord of the Flies?

[Ryllharu]

It seems more like a Robinson Crusoe anime, but you'll probably like the "Lord of the Flies IN SPACE" anime, better known as Infinite Ryvius. A series I have regrettably not been able to see (but really want to).



Sorry for the delay on this one, didn't see the edit.

Ryllharu, you mentioned how i have quite a lot of high quality series in my list...do you know any series that is in the same league of, say, NGE, Naruto, Digimon (or Scrapped Princess), that you say is an absolute must-see? You already recommended a few series, but i dont have the impression that all of these are must-sees (but are still good).

This kind of question really depends on the viewer. Some might say that a particular series is an absolute must see, while others might not. I would like to say that Nanoha A's is a must-see, but as a shonen magical girl series, that only applies to people who watched Dragonball and Sailor Moon Sunday mornings at 6am.

If you're mentioning NGE, Naruto, and Scrapped Princess, I'd have to respond with series like Dragonball (the original) and RahXephon.

Dragonball because it's...well...Dragonball.

RahXephon because it is a slightly less angsty (not by much), more polished version of NGE. While NGE might be the penultimate in angsty psychological mecha, RahXephon is a little more mysterious where NGE is overt, but no less shy to tragedies.

Scrapped Princess is more of a problem. I find it so unique, there is a lot of difficulty finding something comparable. It's medieval, swordplay, magic (all common), but tied in with absolutely fantastic characters and storytelling that it's impossible to find something similar. Mogudan's unique character design and art just makes it that much tougher to find something alike. It comes down to a stylistic basis, or something else with a unique style that can compete. I find that series like Last Exile and Chrno Crusade are only some of the few must-see titles that can live up to it.

Last Exile possesses this awesome steampunk and bush pilot aesthetic to it, some decent character development (it's been a while, so I forget some). Villains that you immediately loathe on first sight, and a lot of excellent visual and character design. Range Murata provides the particular styling that makes it all stand out.

Chrno Crusade is similar in that way. Take heavy doses of Christanity, demonology, the 1920s, and anime archetypes and smash them all together. A lot of it is just a series of tragedies all bound together through nefarious design or maybe mere coincidence, but it has a style all its own, something only recently re-achieved by series like Baccano or Trinity Blood. Chrno Crusade would be on a must-see list for anything, and while comparing it to Scrapped Princess isn't an ideal, it is one of the first series I think of when trying to compare it.

[Idealistic]

Wow, why have i never heard of this anime?
I hereby recommend everyone UNINHABITED PLANET SURVIVE.

It´s pure adventure, so enjoyable.

I'm on episode 15 now. I want to continue but I need to finish writing this paper first.

This anime is awesome man. As soon as I read the description it sparked an interest in me. Always fun to see how people get stranded and survive.