What anime / manga are you into right now?

[Discordia]

I'm a bit of a sucker for anime series where emotional growth is a central aspect of the story, so it won't really come as much of a surprise to learn that Honey and Clover, or Hachimitsu to Kurōbā, is one of my favourite series. Sadly, I haven't yet read the manga series by Chika Umino, but I plan on doing so in the future.

The story centres around the lives of a small group of art students as they work towards graduating and particularly on the nature of the relationships that develop between them over the course of several years and explores the myriad forms that love can take. Of all of the anime that I have so far watched this is by far the most satisfying and yet heart-rending coming-of-age story. The simplicity of the storyline allows you to engage fully with the emotional journey of each of the characters, allowing you to view the evolving situations from multiple viewpoints.

The story is concluded in Honey and Clover II and isn't your typical unrealistic ending but rather builds gradually to decisions that seem to have been somehow destined from the beginning, even if they were painful to reach.

The music that features in this anime is beautiful and inspiring and lends an added poignancy to the events depicted.

If you haven't already caught this one, I urge you to see it at the next available opportunity, you won't be disappointed.

[WiizerFanboy]

I'm currently reading the manga ' 666 Satan', and also the Metal Gear Solid Graphic novel ( when I'm not playing the game ). The MGS comic has more indepth details not apparent in the game, so it's interesting. Not really watching/reading much else in the anime/manga department.

[Richie]

Alison and I are into something called Vampire Knight, currently airing in JP. It's based around a grade school with one class of humans, and one of vampires, as the first step towards getting both species to live together in peace. Then there's all the good anime drama; love triangles, family revelations, ect.

If you're into vampires, give it a spin.

[WiizerFanboy]

anything that involves Vampires automatically makes the needle on my Care-o-meter spike.

[Verence]

I'm into too many to list, as I always am.

I was a staff member on a manga scanslation site for a long time, so I have 60+ gigabytes of manga. If anyone ever needs something they can't find, I probably have it.

Currently I'm MOST into:

Claymore (By Norihiro Yagi, same as one of my other favorites, Angel Densetsu).
Ares (A Manhwa, technically).
Hanma Baki : Son of Ogre
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
Elfen Lied
Fullmetal Alchemist (The manga is RADICALLY different from the anime)
Gokusen
Vinland Saga
Pluto (Naoki Urasawa is a genius, even if his stories are a bit overly complicated sometimes. And yes, I know the original story for Pluto is Tezuka's)

That's the short list.

It may be hard to tell from that list, but more Shoujo/Romantic manga are my favorite. It's just that I haven't found any new good ones lately. My all-time favorite manga list reads more like this...

Mars
Hana Yori Dango
Peach Girl
Othello
Ichigo 100%
Aishiteruze Baby
Onegai Teacher

[WiizerFanboy]

Verence, would you say the Full metal Alchemist manga is better than the anime?

[RurouniQ]

Currently the only thing I'm watching is One Piece, the good Japanese versions, not the shitty english version. I'm trying to get caught up on it since I'm running a D&D4E game set in the One Piece world right now.

Once I get back to watching lots of anime, I'll get caught up on Bleach, Naruto, Code Geass, and probably Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei.

[Verence]

I'm running a D&D4E game set in the One Piece world right now.

Nerd.

...

Can I play?

Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei.

Zetsubou! Zetsuboushita!

I like the series, but it's one of those cool interesting series where nothing really happens. Like Cromartie, except less nonsensical.

Verence, would you say the Full metal Alchemist manga is better than the anime?

I will not be able to say for sure until I read the whole thing, which is not available yet, and may not be for some time.

Even the basic principles of alchemy, the origin of the homunculi, ALL completely different. It's weird...

[Verence]

Heh, I just read the first volume of Hachimitsu no Koroba. I think I have an inkling of one reason Discordia might like it so much.

[Shur*tugal]

When I was in high school I watched Yu-Gi-Oh, but since then I not watched any anime. I really liked the story of the origanol series, especially when Yami was trying to discover who he was. The best battle was Marick vs Yami/Yugi.

Any advice on something new to try?

[WiizerFanboy]

I only watched/played with the cards of the first season of Yu-gi-oh when I was in about 8th grade or so. After the fight against pegasus was over, the show immediately went straight down hill for me. And this new crap on Cartoon network doesn't even star Yugi.

[Shur*tugal]

I only watched/played with the cards of the first season of Yu-gi-oh when I was in about 8th grade or so. After the fight against pegasus was over, the show immediately went straight down hill for me. And this new crap on Cartoon network doesn't even star Yugi.

That's why I stoped watching, they took a decent cartoon and made crap.

[WiizerFanboy]

anime I'm currently into:

Blue Submarine No. 6
Last Exile
(Both drawn by Range Murata)

Serial Experiments Lain

[Verence]

The only thing I like about Lain is the OP.

I am falling, I am fading, I am...

Good stuff.

[WiizerFanboy]

I like the intro too! If you haven't already, you should get the Cyberia Mix soundtrack. It has Duvet (Original and remixed) and all the other music that plays in the Cyberia club that lain goes to.

I finished Episode 4. It's still kinda confusing, maybe everything will be explained later on?