Himuro said:
Can someone please tell me which recent anime series I should check out? I've been out of the loop for half a year (almost a year now really).
I'm currently dling 1-13 of Eureka 7 and all of Honey and Clover.
You haven't missed a whole helluva lot. Highlights from the past year or so:
Gallery Fake is a quirky "occupational" series, about a guy who deals in art counterfiets and occasionally the real thing, using his ninja art restoration and historical skills. Three episodes are out from Live-eviL.
Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan is amusing in small doses; fortunatly, there are only 8 episodes total. It's about a teenage boy and the angel who comes to visit him, at which point everything goes straight to hell. Astonishingly over the top, watch at least one episode.
Victorian Romance Emma - My pick for the best anime of 2005, a wonderful period drama set in Victorian London about a young nobleman who falls in love with a maid. No, it's not a maid show. Yes, it's completely fucking amazing. Iichan has translated everything Emma related in sight, including the manga. It all kicks ass.
Kamichu! - One morning a middle school girl wakes up and realizes that she's a god. Unfortunatly, the details elude her, so she and her friends try to figure everything out. The story is played completely straight and is rather clever, with lots of fun riffs on Shinto and nature spirits in general. Charming, wonderfully detailed, and with a definate Ghibli vibe to the whole proceedings. Iichan is chugging away at the TV series with three episodes down and more on the way.
Honey and Clover - Starving Art Students In Love: The Animated Series. Wonderful romantic comedy aimed at a older shoujo audience. Josei? Marketing termonlogy aside, it's top notch stuff.
Paradise Kiss - Like Honey and Clover but with fashion design students and likewise highly recommended.
Eureka 7 - The latest Bones series has the lavish production values you'd expect. With 52 episodes planned and only four under my belt, I haven't seen to the point where things really pick up but I'm told the picking up is definately underway. It's a coming of age story about a young man and the sky-surfing giant robots he can pilot, along with a misfit crew of sky-surfer mercenaries. It's stylish as hell and scripter Dai Sato is providing tons of musical in-joke references. I mean, the jobber robots are called KLFs and in the episode Ill Communication there's a reference to the King Adrock. Oh, and Halcali provides the third ending theme. Hell yeah that's a show you want to download.
The first Zeta Gundam movie was excellent, recapping the first 1/3 of the series with a fair amount of new animation. Top notch mecha porn. Also, I'm told that Gundam Seed Destiny was a solid continuiation of the first series.
Angel Heart is a continuation of the City Hunter storyline, starring the ever lecherous Ryo Saeba as a gun for hire in Shinjuku and introducing a mysterious woman with a connection to Saeba. More serious overall than City Hunter and one of the better action shows to come down the pike in ages, all with a retro feel to it. Probably the highlight of the last season.
Finally, the live-action Gokusen series was better than most of the anime released last year, and was certainly miles better than the anime version. It's about a brand new teacher who isn't fazed by her thug students as she's the granddaughter of a yakuza boss. Wacky hijinx ensue.
FnordChan
