Anime

[bookgirl]

http://www.animefreak.tv/ suits almost all my anime and manga needs... though i would recommend checking to make sure they have everything - they're missing the second season of Ah! My goddess

I liked the Ranma 1/2 dub better - but i haven't tried the Ah! My goddess dub.

Well if you decide to try the A!MG dub, just google it. There are a few websites that have both seasons. As well as the movie and OAV.

[Kathy Li]

Um... guys... perhaps sharing of the pirate linkies out in the clear not such a great idea? Wouldn't want to get DD sued or nuthin'. Just saying.

[bookgirl]

Um... guys... perhaps sharing of the pirate linkies out in the clear not such a great idea? Wouldn't want to get DD sued or nuthin'. Just saying.

Ah, good point. Sorry about that. I edited my post.

[bookgirl]

Has anyone here watched "Fruits Basket"? I just finished watching the anime today, I LOVED it!

[araine]

Fruits Basket is a lovely series, although the anime ends much sooner than the manga does. (The manga's end, though sweet, has some issues, but I will not spoil you. It is well worth reading. Lots of libraries carry manga, so you can probably find the series there. It's all been officially translated by now I think.) The manga introduces a lot more twists and several new characters (including one of my favorites).

I loved the anime, though. It is in mixtures sweet, funny, and heartbreaking, and Tohru is just so genuine. (I do have to admit, her Japanese voice grates on me though. One of rare instances where I prefer the English dub.)

[Kathy Li]

I'm probably the only one who cares, but having gone all the way through the classical-music-gifted-middle-school series, La Corda d'Oro (Primo Passo and Secondo Passo), and having exhausted all the episodes of Black Jack (kind of an anime House with a rogue unlicensed surgeon of genius as the hero), I am now moving on to a pastry-baking-gifted-middle-school series, Yumeiro Patissiere.

It is extremely silly, but I'm loving it. The heroine is a girl who feels overshadowed by her musical prodigy younger sister, but while at a cake show, pigging down, she's spotted by a famous patissier who recognizes that she has an amazing palate. He inspires he to join the St. Marie Academy, where her own patissiere grandmother trained.

I am also watching another incredibly silly show on the Anime Network On-Demand, Alice Academy (US site is down, so I'm linking to the UK one). I'm not sure I can recommend it to anyone, but being someone who read waaaay too many X-Men comics as a kid, an academy of supers just amuses me.

[SilveredBlue]

Hehe, Kathy, now I'm addicted to Yumerio Patissere. It's so...cute. *sings* Happy happy macaroon, happiness made go!!
Yeah, that's actually part of the theme song. The only thing I don't like is the voice of the heroine, Ichigo, (it's in Japanese and sub-titled) because it's really high pitched. *shakes ringing ears* But it's really funny. I love the way their eyes can go from huge to tiny in an instant.

[Kathy Li]

I really wish they'd fix that subtitle. I'm pretty sure it's "macaron" not "macaroon". I keep waiting for Hanabusa to make a Pierre Herme "ispahan" (a big macaron flavored with rose, lychee, and raspberry).

[SilveredBlue]

Ohhh...I found the BEST ANIME ever. It's so beautiful, I fell in love with it. It's called Natsume Yujincho, and it's just gorgeous. It's about a boy who can see yuokai, which are Japanese mythical creatures. Really, it reminds me of something from Studio Ghibli. (sp?)

I'm totally addicted. I shooould be doing schoolwork...:P

Kathy: Macaron? That's funny. heh, and one of the subtitles said, 'a big harsh" rather than "a bit harsh".

Hey, I think I'm picking up some Japanese! I feel like Carmela. *grin*

EDIT: Oops. I didn't read the first page, where 'Natsume' is right up there. :P

[bookgirl]

So I'm watching Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, (which I'm really enjoying so far, btw) and I know that it has a bunch of cross over characters from other clamp stories. What other animes should I watch that are related to TRC? I've already watched CCS.

[Kathy Li]

Ohhh...I found the BEST ANIME ever. It's so beautiful, I fell in love with it. It's called Natsume Yujincho, and it's just gorgeous....
EDIT: Oops. I didn't read the first page, where 'Natsume' is right up there. :P

No worries. I'm just happy somebody else likes it! I love that show. It reminded me a lot of some of the monsters that Miyazaki's created in his films. I particularly loved that Natsume's "Sensei" comes in two sizes.

Should I plug Skip Beat! again?

[SilveredBlue]

I particularly loved that Natsume's "Sensei" comes in two sizes.

lol, THREE sizes. The [SPOILER] fat, drunken (hah!) cat the huge, deadly, magnificant....uh...beast or something, and the girl. [SPOILER] I love that, even though it's about monsters, there's still something so gentle about it- although there's a few genuinely CREEPY bits. I do have to say, though, that the music for the first few episodes is better than the one they switched to.

My favorite episode (barely: they're all good) was the one with the sparrow-girl. So sweet. *sniff*

Should I plug Skip Beat! again?

Hah, Skip Beat! is HILARIOUS. Kyoko spends half the time wreathed in flames and the other half chibified. And there's so many great one-liners. "Is this hallway cursed?!" The ending song is addictive, too. I'm grinning just thinking about it...

Hmm, I've watched all through the animes you've recommended and loved them all. (Although La Corda D'Oro never got really FINISHED, so that was kinda frustrating.) Got any more?

[Priellan]

I've only watched two episodes of Spice and Wolf (only the first two dubbed are on the Funimation website/youtube from what I know) but I enjoyed them. The only problem I had was its overwhelming vehemence in places against the Christian church - it's like Phillip Pullman, randomly pulling a great story off the side of the road to take a completely unneccessary and kind of offensive detour. :/ I want to watch the rest of it because apparently there's good economic theory discussions, which might help me with my econ class... If you want to watch it, Holo sometimes goes naked but she looks like a Barbie doll, so i t's not really anything to worry about.

[SilveredBlue]

Thanks for the recommendation! I think I'll skip it though, since I'm really not at all wild about Christian-bashing. Also, I prefer the lighter anime- school stuff, funny stuff, sappy stuff. I can read violence and suspence with nary a shiver, but somehow watching it is on a totally different level. I mean, I had to stop watching the first Indiana Jones at the guys-catching-on-fire-in-the-pub scene, even though it looked fake, because I just couldn't watch it. Yeah, I'm a wimp.

lol, barbie doll. I used to love them (when I was REALLY little), but now they sorta creep me out.....

[Kathy Li]

...Hmm, I've watched all through the animes you've recommended and loved them all. (Although La Corda D'Oro never got really FINISHED, so that was kinda frustrating.) Got any more?

Not really, as long as you made it through Chi (you can find the first series of Chi's Sweet Home on Youtube).

I can only offer up a few links to the classics: Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, and Black Jack. And Sherlock Hound (sorry, dubbed). But those might be an older style than you'd like.

Oh, wait. I enjoyed the hell out of Angelic Layer. I watched that on cable, though, so I keep forgetting crunchyroll has it, too. And a friend of mine who's completely addicted to the Cirque du Soleil loves the Kaleido Star series.

In terms of series on DVD, I like Princess Nine, and Marmalade Boy.

And, of course, anything by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli. The Disney DVD versions of these are actually really good. Miyazaki non-Ghibli, if you can find Future Boy Conan, it's a lot like Laputa, and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is well worth the effort to find.

On more note, while the anime for Skip Beat! ended, the manga's still ongoing. The anime ended around ch. 66 (vol. 11). I think it's up to something like chapter 150.