Anime, anyone?

[Jade]

I'm not sure how many of you are anime fans, because I know a lot of Japanese learners that just aren't at all and then I know some that love it so I figured why not, but here's a thread for it anyway. 

Recently I've gotten into Kyokai no Kanata (summary from MyAnimeList):
The dark fantasy follows a high school sophomore named Akihito Kanbara. Although the boy appears human, he is half youmu and invulnerable to wounds because he can heal quickly. One day, Akihito meets freshman Mirai Kuriyama when it seems she is about to jump from the school rooftop. Mirai is isolated because of her ability to manipulate blood, which is unique even among members of the spirit world. Disturbing events begin to unfold after Akihito saves Mirai.

Not so sure the summary does it justice, though tbh I do think some of the show is pretty dumb, but it's a fun show to watch♥ It's also not as angst-filled (or dark) as the summary makes it sound, it tries to be I guess, but it doesn't seem to get there.

Anyway, anyone else has an anime they like/have been watching recently/etc?

[Jembru]

You know Japanese learners who don't watch anime? Really? Where are they hiding? Lol, just kidding, but honestly, so far both of the non-native speaking members of my conversation group that have met us face-to-face have liked anime, as did ALL of Miki-sensei's students when I met them! These people also all have pretty good Japanese, especially considering how long they'd been studying, so it's taught me that the stereotype of anime fans thinking using words like kawaii and yatta and believing they're practically fluent in Japanese, while dressing and acting like an anime character,is exactly that: a stereotype. Everytime I meet these awesome Japanese speaking anime fans, it makes me more and more jealous that I don't have that extra amo in my battle for fluency. ^^

Come to think of it, I think Anna is honestly the only Japanese learner I've ever come across, who wasn't interested in anime. She's such a rare gem!

There is only one series I've seen that I genuinely loved. I'm still looking for a genre I can get into enough to enjoy beyond it being background noise when there's nothing on the TV, but if I could find more like this...

I watched Welcome to the NHK, purely because it is set in Ikuta, the otherwise little-known kanagawan town where I lived while in Japan. I just wanted to see the old landmarks and whatnot, to begin with. I was sucked into the story very quickly though. It pretty much had me at 'purupurupururin'. Or was it when he started arguing with his fridge?

As I'd previously thought all anime was like Pokemon and moonphase, I was quite surprised by the depth of the story and well.. the fact that it so candidly portrayed some of the uglier aspects of Japanese society. I can't deny that I was pleasantly surprised by this one!

[wes1378]

I never watched Anime untill very recently. Miyazakisan drew me in.
I enjoyed Welcome to the NHK too. It was really raw and sometimes it seemed to be appealing to a very small group, the people who can relate to extreme social withdrawal and a little psychosis. After I finished all of Miyazakisan brilliant productions I have found a few other Anime I really enjoyed like
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, KenIchi, Ghost Hunt, and Hero Tales.

[Jembru]

Oh yeah, Wes, that makes 2 Japanese learners I've met who didn't watch anime! I forgot about that. Also, until June/July this year, when he moved to London, we had another non-native group member, who'd studied an intensive course of Japanese in Japan. I don't think he ever mentioned if he liked anime or not. It just never came up. So okay, I've met 3. They're still the minority.

I hope I can find another series to get really into like I did for NHK. I really pick up a lot of cool words and phrases when I do watch anime (I realise some are obscure, but I do always check). As a lazy/enjoyable way to bulk out your vocabulary, it's so cool.

[Jade]

Nov 11, 2013 15:17:36 GMT Jembru said:

You know Japanese learners who don't watch anime? Really? Where are they hiding?

My uni class in first year had a few people who hated it (one of them actually hated all Japanese pop culture and was more interested in the history and religion than anything). It was mainly me and another girl that actually watched anime that year. Also some of the 留学生 at Chubu didn't watch anime either. 

I've seen the first couple of episodes of Welcome to the NHK, but not much more than that. At the time I think I was more into shojo anime than anything, so I guess I must've switched to something else. 

Umm, for quite a long time I was into Code Geass, Gasaraki, Reborn!, Natsume Yuujinchou, Samurai Champloo... I'm kind of tempted to put Nabari no Ou in this list, but I liked the manga much better.

[MidoriAbby]

Kyoukai no Kanata... I've kind of been wanting to check that out. I like all sorts of anime. My primary genre is romantic comedy/drama/ realistic fiction type anime. My absolute favorite in that sort of genre are:
Kimi ni Todoke
Hanasaku Iroha
Ano Hana
Ano natsu de matteru
Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai
Hana Yori Dango (yes, it had to be mentioned, I love that show)
Angel Beats
K-ON

[Bokusenou]

Yay, an anime thread. Some of my favorites are Kino no Tabi, Chihayafuru, Hikaru no Go, Steins;Gate,  Spice and Wolf, XXXHOLiC, Natsume Yuujinchou, Mononoke Hime, Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki, Clannad, Fruits Basket, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Shiki.

I'm currently watching the Yozakura Quartet remake, Samurai Flamenco, Tokyo Ravens & Kyousougiga.
None are good enough for me to recommend so far, but that may change later on.


Jade
Does Kyoukai no Kanata get darker? I dropped it after ep 3 after it didn't get dark enough for me.

Jembru
What I usually do is go to anime-planet.com and look for a series I like, like NHK ni Youkoso you mentioned (which I'm also a fan of^^), and scroll down to the recommendations and look for a series which looks interesting, and then go to the reviews for that one to see if people rated it high. There are other sites, but that's the one I've found best for recommendations and reviews.

Also, on Japanese learners, some of the people in Japanese classes I took hated anime. They usually began learning the language because of either samurai movies, or had a Japanese girlfriend, and spent the whole time picking on the people who liked anime/video games. They weren't very pleasant to be around...but they did exist.

[Jade]

Bokusenou
Not that I've noticed? Like they tried a little with

SPOILER: Click to show

Mirai killing her childhood best friend, and Akihito basically being out of control and will kill anyone in demon form (and maybe Sakura being manipulated by a man much older than her into making a weapon (a weapon that hurts her when she uses it) could also count towards it trying to be dark)

but it's not dark at all imo. It's kind of a let down lol

[Jembru]

Isn't 'My Neighbour Totoro' a dark anime? My friend from the conversation group was talking about it last time I saw her, and she was commenting on how a lot of people outside of Japan, don't appreciate the darkness behind the story (that Totoro is actually a shinagami and thus only visible to those who are fated to die soon). Does this count as dark? I mean, death in infancy is hardly a fluffy subject, right?


Edit: I should probably point out I've seen this once, almost 10 years ago, in Japanese with no subs, so I don't exactly know the story. I just remember the mother was in hospital in the city far away, there was a cool cat-bus, and a lot of angled shots that looked up the kids skirts just for a second (they did this in Kiki's delivery service too, I noticed when I watched part of it at work recently: is anyone at studio Ghibli NOT a pervert?).  

Which reminds me actually. I tend to forget that Studio Ghibli stuff counts as anime, because my brain categorises them in the 'movie and thus too long to watch' category. I actually really like two movies by them. Princess Mononoke (or I guess I should say mononoke hime, because apparently anime fans like to use the original Japanese titles. I think for the same reason so many Japanese songs and anime use English words. Foreign words just sound cooler. So now I'm cool too ^^), and pompoko. I love that I like pompoko because when I say this to anime fans who like Ghibli stuff, they look at me like I've grown an extra head. It looks very lame from the cover and I think this puts a lot of people off from even watching it, but like mononoke hime, it is a touching (and saddening) tale of man's domination and destruction of nature. I'm a bit of a hippy nature lover, and a pagan (many paths of which have a surprising amount of similarities to Shintoism), so I think that's why I enjoyed those two movies. 

[Jacob]

I just finished sword art online and I highly reccomend this to angel beats lovers!

[MidoriAbby]

Jacob
Sword Art Online is the best! I'm now reading the manga.

[Jacob]

I know I loved it so much I tricked my phone out do it looks like the menu when I do a swipe down from the top of my screen. IIIITTTT is amazing I hope there is a season two

[Bokusenou]

Anyone passing on watching any of new anime season shows?

Jade
Oh well, I guess I'll pass it up. I guess even when KyoAni tries to make a dark series it ends up being slice of life.^^;

Jembru Wasn't the Totoro thing an urban legend? Like the one which says Ponyo and Sousuke (from the Ponyo movie) grew up to run the bakery in Kiki's Delivery Service?
I really loved Princess Mononoke, though I haven't seen Pompoko. It's one of the few Ghibli flims I haven't seen. It's that good?

[Jembru]

Dec 5, 2013 4:02:48 GMT Bokusenou said:

Jembru Wasn't the Totoro thing an urban legend? Like the one which says Ponyo and Sousuke (from the Ponyo movie) grew up to run the bakery in Kiki's Delivery Service?
I really loved Princess Mononoke, though I haven't seen Pompoko. It's one of the few Ghibli flims I haven't seen. It's that good?

I couldn't tell you. I was just passing on what I heard on the train ride back from the recent Teikyou festival. 

Well I honestly think pompoko is a masterpiece. Some of the visuals are breathtaking.. there are funny scenes and sometimes downright disturbing scenes. The tanuki use their testicles as weapons and they're visible pretty much all the time, but it stops being so distracting after a while (in the English dub, they translate it as 'raccoon pouch' lol). The soundtrack too is very good. I love the music that plays when it is springtime... you'll know it when you hear it.. 

There are lots of nods to Japanese culture too. The whole thing is just... oh just watch it already ^^

[魔]

Yakitate Japan is a good anime to watch if you want to learn about baking bread.

I'm watching Naruto at the moment(currently at episode 66)
The only current anime I watch is One piece(after getting to the latest episode).