daldaren

Okies, so I trolled through some other threads and really didn't find many suggestions that fit me. School schedule has settled, and now I'm finding myself with the need to find something to watch. I went all over the net to see what came out recently, and good lord.. there is just too much to pick through. So, with that thought in mind, I'm looking for some suggestions on what to watch next. Also keep in mind, my preferences lie heavily with Slice of Life/Romantic Comedy, middle-range interest in Action/Drama, near none in Horror. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'm sorry to burden the forum with another 'suggestions' thread, but this is just about the best place for advice I've found. At the bottom is a list of 'what I've seen'... It's pretty much accurate, however.. if I listed one series, chances are I've seen the sequel or other seasons (I.E. School Rumble.. I've seen both seasons, and the OVAs..) Loves (Top 5 *recently seen*): 1: School Rumble 2: Ouran High School Host Club 3: Mai-Otome 4: Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 5: D.Gray-man Dislikes: 1: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - to the fans, I'm sorry... I just couldn't watch more than like 6 episodes. 2: DNAngel - Another one.. I got about 1/2 way through it, and it just didn't keep me interested - at all. 3: Nabari no Ou - I'm not far into it.. maybe 7 episodes. It hasn't caught me yet, can't say I dislike or like it. Ah, My Goddess Ai Yori Aoshi Air Gear Air TV Azumanga Daioh Basilisk Beck Berserk Bleach Blood+ Chobits Chrono Crusade Clannad Code Geass Cowbow Bebop D.Gray-man DearS Death Note Elfen Lied Eureka 7 Evangelion Flame of Recca Full Metal Panic Full metal Alchemist Getbackers Girls Bravo! Ghost In the Shell Gun X Sword He Is My Master Hellsing Inuyasha Itazura na Kiss Jinki: Extend Kiddy Grade Last Exile Love Hina Lovely Complex Lucky Star Mahoromatic Mai-Hime Mai-Otome Minami-ke Moribito Naruto Nabari no Ou Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Onegai Teacher Ouran High School Host Club Outlaw Star Read or Die Rurouni Kenshin Saiyuki Sailor Moon Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Samurai Champloo Samurai Deeper Kyo School Rumble Scrapped Princess Tenchi Muyo The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Tokko The Third Trigun Trinity Blood Utawarerumono Wolf's Rain

Three Albums I couldn't live without.. Hrm. 1st: Timeless - UVERworld By far my favorite album by any band - ever. It shows an incredible range of modern music styles, performing top notch in each of the genres it explores. UVERworld is truly a band worthy of being called musicians in a time where many 'musicians' aren't. 2nd: Axis: Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix This one is pretty self explanatory. Anyone who has heard Hendrix, particularly songs like "One Rainy Wish", "Castles Made of Sand", and "Bold As Love" knows why this album is one that I just can't be without. 3rd: Hall of the Mountain King - Savatage My introduction to metal began with Savatage, and still to this day.. there is nothing more 'metal' than Jon and Criss Oliva together. If you've no idea what I'm talking about, get a hold of this album.. and take a listen to "Beyond the Doors of the Dark" or Devastation. Either one will give it away quickly.

Whenever I do dream of anime, it typically involves a female character, and me not remembering the rest of the dream. Waking up, feeling more attached to the character than before, it's often how my addiction to certain series becomes solidified. Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo was the first I believe, and of the ones I can remember.. Asuka from Eva and Eureka from E7 are the most reoccuring. Though, lately I recall Hinata Hyuuga and Soifon being in the same one... Oddly enough, these 5 are easily my top 5 favorite characters of all time, maybe because of these dreams. No, these arent dirty dreams... most of the time.

There were of course dozens of others, but these ones in particular totally choked me up. Very few times in my life have I cried from deaths in any other media (tv, books, etc), heck.. the last time I remember coming to tears was when Michael Moorcock's "Corum" [spoiler] bit the dust to the woman he loved...or when Elric killed his best friend, and then was immediately killed by his own sword.. [/spoiler] Deaths that totally had me choked up: Mahoromatic - [spoiler] Mahoro dying, even though she eventually came back, not only had me in tears, but almost made it so I couldn't watch the end. One of the most loving characters. [/spoiler] Air TV - [spoiler] Misuzu dying... made me have to turn off my PC/TV, walk away, and take a long nap. I was so choked up, not because I liked the character, but just the pure raw sadness of her situation and end. [/spoiler] Basilisk - How come nobody has mentioned this? Seriously?! [spoiler] When Gennosuke and Oboro died... I couldn't stop myself from crying. I mean, seriously, that was the most beautiful but sad ending to any anime I've encountered yet. [/spoiler] Utawarerumono - [spoiler] Let alone the main character's death, Yuzuha finally passing away made me QQ for quite a few days. [/spoiler] Evangelion - [spoiler] Even though she's realistically alive again, anytime ANYTHING negative happens to Asuka I feel sad, angry, and violent. She's easily one of my favorite anime characters/personalities... so it was almost too much. [/spoiler] Nobody cares about Rei. D.Gray-man - [spoiler] Suman... Died.... after Allen tried so hard. Please kill Tyki now. [/spoiler] Wolf's Rain - [spoiler] I mean, come on everyone died. [/spoiler]

Ok, I'm getting bored again.. break before fall classes is coming up, so I am looking for a few more suggestions. I've found myself stuck to romantic comedies more-so than before.. as well as teen-school comedy. Keep in mind, solid female characters are a plus. I've recently picked up watching Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu whenever fansubs are released, as well as Itazura na Kiss, both of which I enjoy quite a bit. I've also taken quite a bit to D.Gray-man. Chrno Crusade was interesting, but kind of... lacking... I've also found myself watching more and more Subs than Dubs. If you're familiar with a fan-sub group that covers your suggestion, feel free to name or PM me the groups name. I know AniDB has a good list for each one, however, some people prefer a specific groups translations, so the opinions are helpful. :) Currently coming via Mail/Download: School Rumble DNAngel Mai-HiME Clannad Updated List (Seen / Watching): *Rated 1 (worst) to 5 (best)* Ah, My Goddess - 4 Ai Yori Aoshi - 5 Air Gear - 3.5 Air TV - 3.5 Azumanga Daioh - 5 Basilisk - 4 Beck - 4 Berserk - 3 Bleach - 4 Blood+ - 3.5 Chobits - 4.5 Chrno Crusade - 3 Code Geass - 3.5 Cowbow Bebop - 3 DearS - 3 Death Note - 3.5 D.Gray-man - 4.5 Elfen Lied - 4 Eureka 7 - 5 Evangelion - 3 Flame of Recca - 2 Full Metal Panic - 5 Full metal Alchemist - 4 Getbackers - 1.5 Ghost In the Shell - 3 Gun X Sword - 3 He Is my Master - 4.5 Hellsing - 4 Inuyasha - 4 Itazura na Kiss - 4 Jinki: Extend - 1 Kiddy Grade - 3.5 Last Exile - 4.5 Love Hina - 4.5 Lovely Complex - 3 Lucky Star - 5 Mahoromatic - 5 Minami-ke - 3.5 Naruto - 4 Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - 4 Onegai teacher - 3.5 Outlaw Star - 5 Ouran High School Host Club - 5 Pani Poni Dash! - 3.5 Read or Die - 4 Rurouni Kenshin - 5 Saiyuki - 3.5 Sailor Moon - 2.5 Samurai Champloo - 4 Samurai Deeper Kyo - 3.5 Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - 3.5 Scrapped Princess - 4 Tenchi Muyo - 5 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - 4.5 Tokko - 2.5 The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shōjo - 4 Trigun - 3.5 Trinity Blood - 3.5 Utawarerumono - 4 Wolf's Rain - 3.5

The only problem is calling Funimation 'professionals', considering the general standpoint amongst the anime community on Dub scripts/Voice Actors.. I'm actually a fan of many dubs, but there is no denying the loss in translation that a lot of dubs offer. But the fact remains that both sides will have to provide valid points to convince the community or their opposition of their standpoint being the correct one.

"OMG A FREAKIN' ZOMBIE WALL!!1" What he said. I saw the game play trailer when they announced it on the World of Warcraft website, and had to clean my pants (both front and back) moments later in pure nerdage bliss. The new game play is *EXACTLY* what Diablo needed to go from a stale remake of D2/D1 to a Unique game piece. The only thing I can forsee becoming an issue is devouting time to D3 AND WoW. With Wrath of the Lich King, Diablo 3, and Starcraft 2 all on the horizon, Blizzard is on the thresh hold of taking their dominance of the gaming world to a whole new level.

She don't need porn to get her jollies... [IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/Daldaren/Nel.JPG[/IMG]

While trolling through my list of fansub sites checking for new releases, I ran across some interesting News from Dattebayo. "Join Dattebayo, along with Live-Evil and other fansubbers, as we engage in a new format panel at Otakon 2008 in Baltimore this weekend. This year, representatives of Dattebayo, along with staff from several other fansubbing groups, will engage in a live, moderated discussion with anime industry staff Lance Heiskell, Director of Marketing at FUNimation, and John Sirabella, CEO of Media Blasters, about fansubbing. This new format panel will be the one of the only times industry personnel and fansubbing staff have engaged in a public discussion about anime. We think it will be interesting and well worth your time at the convention. The panel takes place at Otakon 2008 on Saturday August 9 at 5:30 PM in panel room 4 and is scheduled to run an hour and a half. There will be a period of time allotted for questions and answers." --- Ok! So, this definately sounds like it could be interesting. For a long time the moral debate among anime fans has raged in the English/Spanish community over whether or not fansub groups hurt or help the industry. Some argue that providing the Fansubs generates fans who are willing to purchase merchandise/DVDs, while others claim that it gives people an incentive *not* to pay. I honestly side with the first conclusion, due to my own personal experience. I, of course, cannot provide any proof to back up my claims. Dattebayo is currently holding a poll which includes several questions along these lines. I'm fairly certain they'll use this data at said panel to argue the case for Fansub groups. I truly hope that this discussion is video taped and slapped on a website so people who cannot make it to Baltimore (yay for poor west coasters, woot woot) can have a chance to see what kind of situation unfolds. Any opinions on what they might cover, what kinds of debates they will bring up, and key points that each side should provide would be good discussion points in this thread, so feel free to state them. However, seeing as it's a 'friendly' forums, please keep the comments 'friendly' as well. :p

After seeing this thread I checked it out, definately have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised. Not only is the romantic atmosphere nearly perfect, but the comedy is both direct and subtle, keeping me laughing through each of the four episodes that are out at the moment. Who can say no to a show with 14-year old girl panty shots and chain-saw wielding maids? Does that sound as bad as I think it does? Oh well, I think I was already damned to hell after buying the Mahoromatic DVD set in all it's loli-sento glory.

[quote name='Altorin'] ... Kamelot ... Nightwish (And No, Nightwish Without Tarja IS NOT NIGHTWISH!) ... [/QUOTE] Two notes before my list. One, Kamelot rules... Youngblood and Khan can have me. Maybe Casey too. Second, Nightwish *was* great with Tarja.. however, I've found myself questioning whether she was that great. For example.. The Poet and the Pendulum is by far my favorite Nightwish song, with Nemo as a second. While - YES - the new singer is not the same style.. Tarja's vocals always agitated me in one way or another... and while her replacement isn't totally perfect, she's also new to the band.. Give her time, see what kind of creative changes the band makes. They have to do something different then the same generic "nightwish" sound eventually, or you might as well just listen to the old stuff. Now, for my favorites.. from first to fifth. #1: UVERworld - I don't know why, but I just get pumped listening to them. Their music has an incredible drive and feel to it that most modern music is lacking. #2: Kamelot - While I didn't take up Kamelot until the Epica/Black Halo era, going back and listening to their older music was just as fun now as it would have been back then. I absolutely love their storytelling skills; they can create a mood and fill your ears with every emotion they feel like portraying. Best metal band since Savatage. #3: Dream Evil - As cheesy as they are, they do pump out true metal style. No band comes even close in raw metal passion as Dream Evil. While they've stuck on similar themes in every song, the mixture of the incredible vocal work and blaring guitar riffs is enough to make up for it. #4: Epica - Similar to Nightwish, yet far different. Simone is by far the hottest female vocalist of our time, but she sometimes gets a little 'too' into her opera-tic style and diverges from a solid sound. Songs like "Never Enough", "Mother of Light", and "Sensorium" provide perfect examples of fitting your voice into the style of the song. Not overboard, not underpowered.. just perfect. #5: Savatage - If you have no idea who Savatage is... get your hands on "The Hall of the Mountain King" (album).. Songs of theirs, like.. "Beyond the Doors of the Dark", "Somewhere in Time / Believe", and "Devastation" bring out the absolute best side to epic-metal. They tell their stories so flawlessly, Oliva's voice just annihilates any modern metal vocalist in every single way shape and form. Nobody can invoke emotion with the depth of their voice like him. Yeah.

[quote name='CrimsonKnight'][COLOR="Red"]*sighs* I'm biting my tounge so hard not to say something smart. I'm going to be [I]very [/I]upfront: 1)Don't call me "squirt." 2) I'm smarter than you think. 3)I know what "dude" means, okay? 4) I'm not being a dweeb, provided I don't even know what a "dweeb" is. 5) Don't talk to me like that, if you please. Again, I'm not trying to be a smartmouth, but I really don't like being talked to like that. :animeswea I'm scared out of my wits right now. Leave me be.:animedepr[/COLOR][/QUOTE] I feel like I've died and gone to world of warcraft forums. Next, can you tell me 'dud im srs u wuld lick spngbob if u wachd it"? Please, just for me? Anyways, I agree that it's ok to watch something if it makes you feel good. Hell, I occasionally watch some things that I normally wouldn't simply because it puts me in a better mood. However, to say that this rule applies to everyone, let alone for the same shows, is just plain silly. Yes, you may get happy watching spongebob, on the other hand.. it makes me want to kill someone. However, you turn that around.. many people wont like the same 'comfort' shows that I like. Hell, when I want to get 'happy' from watching something on TV... I watch reruns of Tremors (1 & 2). Some people hate them, some people love them. I am one that loves them. As far as your "I'm smarter than you think" statement... you've not only introduced yourself to the deepest concepts of Irony, but contracted yourself at the same exact time. I'm no jeaneus but I'm not the one arguing that for everyone to be happy they have to watch spongebob. NOTE! If you ask why I spelled it jeaneus instead of genius, and feel smart for noticing my error.. please feel free to make a post correcting me. I'd really appreciate it.

A couple short ones that come to mind.. that are still very solid.. : Basilisk - Touching ninja story, incredible ending, and solid action. Worth much more than the time invested watching it. Trinity Blood - Ultimate in catho-fanatic holy-war nut fantasy-fiction. Vampires and the church, with futuristic weapons. Huzzah. Samurai Deeper Kyo - I find very few reasons to recommend this, but still do. Decent story line - if not a little jumpy/space-y - but still worth watching I guess. Elfen Lied - Very good action/story, touching and gruesome at the same time. BECK - Words can't express it's awesomeness. Oh wait, they just did. Anyways, it's a very 'cool' rock-band story, and very inspiring. Outlaw Star - For reasons stated by others. Slightly Longer but not insane-o naruto/bleach/inuyasha long.. : Fullmetal Alchemist - See other posts above. Air Gear - This series is just flat out fun, and the characters are awesome. It 'can' be dramatic, but not really. Saiyuki - One thing to note about this series it its poor dubbing. It's a fairly fun series that reminded me *alot* of the feel of shows like Inuyasha and Bleach, but without spending 6 episodes to tell one episodes worth of plot; both a positive and negative.

Particular songs.. Hrm. The ones in particular that dragged me into total and complete fan-dom would be... Edit: LOL@Wall-of-text, sorry. :p [B]March of Mephisto - by Kamelot[/B] Reason: This song provides all the sinister feeling of death/goth metal, with the sophistication of true storytelling. It's easy to find yourself drawn into it, expressing *perfectly* the scene the band was trying to convey. Info: Before this song, I really had no interest in music produced internationally. While Kamelot is originally a U.S. band, and english speaking at that, I'd never heard of them. I caught a clip of this song during a car ride with a friend, and was instantly hooked. It was all I was looking for in metal, and the only band to provide it since Savatage. A year later, and I have purchased every album the band has ever put out and listen to them on a regularly basis. If you enjoy this song, check out some of their other songs.. such as [B]The Human Stain[/B], [B]Soul Society[/B], and [B]When The Lights are Down[/B]. [B]The Chosen Ones - by Dream Evil[/B] Reason: This song is very easy to get hooked on. It has awesome vocal work, incredible guitar riffs, and total epic feeling - in a simplistic way. Truly a masterpiece, and a classic of the metal Genre. Info: Admittedly the cheesiest, corniest, and out of date/repetitive band on the face of the earth, I still find Dream Evil to be a very good listen. Much like Dragonforce, their songs get stuck on similar themes; however, unlike Dragonforce each song has at least some semblance to a unique sound. The Chosen Ones is an early work of theirs, however it carries true 'depth' as a metal-masterpiece. Other songs by Dream Evil worth the time: [B]Evilized[/B], [B]Into The Moonlight[/B], and [B]The End[/B]. [B]Dress - COVERED by Abingdon Boys School[/B] Reason AND Info: Yes, it's a cover of a BUCK-TICK song; however, while searching through youtube for Innocent Sorrow (D.Gray-man OP1) guitar covers by the same band, I ran into this little gem. They took a classic buck-tick song, and made it so much more. They added a heavy sound that buck-tick was missing, drove the vocals through the roof, and took my heart with them. Other songs by a.b.s worth listening to: [B]Lost Reason (Feat. MICRO from HMK)[/B], [B]Innocent Sorrow[/B], and [B]Nephilim[/B]. One more, more of a guilty pleasure and personal favorite.... [B]Discord - by UVERworld[/B] Reason: Discord combines rock, metal, pop, and hiphop style all into one tight little package, and delivers on all fronts. I got hooked on this song, and still to date find myself throwing it on no matter what mood I'm in; it just makes you feel good. Info: I originally started listening to UVERworld just after I caught Colors of the Heart on the opening of Blood+ and Dtechno-life on Bleach; but it wasn't until I got my hands on Discord that I truly took a liking, a love, and a favoritism to UVERworld's music. The way they combined pop, rock, metal, and complete unique style made them quickly my favorite above *any* other artist I had ever heard. Other songs by UVERworld that flat out own: [B]Colors of the Heart[/B], [B]Sora[/B], [B]Ukiyo Crossing[/B] and [B]Tobira[/B]. Oh, and [B]Gekidou[/B] / [B]Just Break the Limit![/B]. Yeah. I hope this helps a little bit. Sometimes finding these bands on iTunes blows chunks, but there are always 'other' methods.

oh, aren't you tough.. selling yourself to little girls. [IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/Daldaren/kagami.JPG[/IMG]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'] [COLOR=#503f86]Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to see an entire series of something at once. But you still have to wait every week for the episodes to be released on download anyway, so how different is it, really? :P[/COLOR] [COLOR=#503F86]I feel I have to fight this corner at least a little considering I want to work in the creative industry (writing, acting, etc). I'd be livid if my work was being illegally distributed. But you have to resign yourself to knowing that it's virtually impossible to have a leak-free production line.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] Well yeah, that's true. However, it's on... episode 66? If I had to start over from the beginning just to get to 67+, it'd be a real hassle. As far as the industry goes, I 100% support *paying* for an available release (within reason). For Example, I'm purchasing the releases of Lucky Star as they come out (disk one and two so far), and plan on purchasing Ouran AND D.Gray-man when they're released.. however, I have all three already in complete fan-sub Hi-Res AVI -> DVD glory. I wont pay for something like *all* god-knows-how-many disks of Rurouni Kenshin, but if I have some spare cash and I see a season on the shelf at a local DVD store, I'll buy it in order to help the sales of the genre. It's a lot like music... if I find a band that I enjoy I'll go out and buy their CD's, but only after I've downloaded said CD's and seen if they're something I'd enjoy. Same thing goes for DVDs in my case; I rent many of them, but in most cases, I download them before purchasing them. Drifted off topic, but oh well.

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503f86]Or you could, you know, wait for the official, licensed episodes to be released like I've resigned myself to doing because I don't like illegal downloads or watching anime on the computer, especially via streaming sites. Or buy the Japanese DVDs if you're incredibly desperate. The manga comes out often enough for me to get the canon story fix.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] While true, I find this post drifting slightly Off-topic. I was asking for opinions on alternative fansubbing groups. :) The problem is, I'm a very impatient person. I want to see them asap, and I don't feel like waiting for Cartoon Network to get their hands on them and roll them out one at a time from the beginning one episode a week.

I find myself going through phases. As I watch various anime I pick up on bands that have a sound I enjoy, meanwhile I explore completely unrelated music on the side. Current Playlist includes the bands.. *note* Format: Band :: Songs *note* Asian Kung-fu Generation :: Compass, Kimi to iu Hana, After Dark Dream Evil :: Evilized, Into the Moonlight, The Prophecy Epica :: Chasing the Dragon, Sancta Terra, Consign to Oblivion HYDE (with or W/o L'arc en Ciel) :: Mission, As One, Jojojoushi Jinn :: Colors of the Four Seasons, Raion, Yotaka Kamelot :: The Human Stain, Pendulous Fall, A Feast for the Vain Nightwish :: The Poet and the Pendulum, Nemo, Whoever Brings the Night Nocturnal Rites :: Something Undefined, Pain & Pleasure, Still Alive Savatage :: Beyond the Doors of the Dark, Devastation, Somewhere In Time/Believe UVERworld - *Personal Favorite* :: Gekidou, ENERGY, Tobira, Ukiyo Crossing, --Shamrock -- Also, various OP/ED's for some anime.. Including, but not limited to.. Motteke! Serafuku (Lucky Star), Storywriter (Eureka seveN), Brightdown (D.Gray-man), Sakura Kiss (Ouran), San Francisco (Samurai Champloo) and Zetsubo Billy (Death Note). So.. Goth Metal, JRock/Pop, CheesyMetal (as I call Dream Evil/Savatage), and random awesome that is UVERworld.

Howdy! So, I just found out (kind of late) that DB has 'permanently' 'dropped' the Naruto Shippuden project completely. They 'hint hinted' that the reason behind this was the continued upload of their work to streaming video sites, which increases the pressure on them as a fansubbing group in keeping themselves safe from legal trouble. My question is: without linking anything that could get someone in trouble, is anyone aware of any other groups which currently fansub Naruto Shippuden in high quality? Hints or PMs are welcome, but if possible I'd prefer this to stay as an open discussion. With this and the late 07 incident, DB has some fairly shaky and temper mental credibility in current projects and future endeavors, which makes me question: if not DB, who? I don't feel it's my place to link to their news section of the site, so if you're curious and you know what I'm talking about, go check it out. If you're completely lost, PM or don't bother worrying. :) Edit: To mention this for anyone unfamiliar with DB's practices - they often say such things on weeks that a new Naruto is not airing to panic the fans into thinking their Naruto is gone. However, next new episode is posted the date that it airs like nothing has happened. The point of this thread isn't to go "OH NO NO DB" but more to say "they aren't worth this back-and-fourth, who else shall we look to?".

Ok. Even in context this was dirty, but made me lol very much. Fyi it's a banana, don't get excited. [IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/Daldaren/banana04.jpg[/IMG]

I'm curious to see if Adult Swim pick up D.Gray-man now that it's being licensed to Funimation. I see either AS or Cartoon Network picking it up to replace one of their primetime anime series after it runs dry (i.e. Naruto Dubs run their course, unless CNetwork is picking up the Shippuden, no idea though). I'd watch it. Again.

I second the 'rewatch the classics' idea. I'm currently burning through Rurouni Kenshin for the first time in a while on a wim. I've also got it in mind to rewatch my FMA dvds as well. However, the only 'release' hope I see is the future prospect of D.Gray-man and Ouran Dubs via Funimation. Outside of that, I'm stuck with Naruto Shippuden and D.Gray-man Subs for exciting 'new episodes!'. Seeing as DB hasn't put out jack for Dennou Coil. I also - randomly - picked up the first 2-3 volumes of Death Note's manga form.. as I saw them at a used book store for like $2.50. Haven't broken into them yet, but it'll be interesting to see the same story from the same exact perspective yet feel much nerdier doing so. :p

Two interpretations of the question: The first anime to ever capture my attention was Tenchi Muyo (back when Cartoon Network took it on). That being said... The first one to *keep* my attention was Outlaw Star (also Cartoon Network showings). Outlaw Star's characters just sucked me right in emotionally. The story was easy to follow, with a good bit of action and plot to keep the viewer interested. To this day I still prefer its Dub to its Sub. Second: An anime in particular that captivated my attention right from the beginning was D.Gray-man. Allen Walker - out of all the main characters of any anime I've ever encounters - captured all the aspects of a fantasy character that I could've imagined in one tight package. The mixture of his characters physical traits (cursed left eye, white hair), personality (up beat, leveled, caring), as well as his random psychotic traits (i.e. when he thinks back to his days with his 'master'..) made him an ideal character for my affection. On top of all of that, the first few mini-plots to come along and pull you into the series are amazingly well done, ex. being Lala (episodes 3-5) the 'Ghost of Mateel' section, at the very beginning had such a dramatic feel to it that I couldn't help but be sucked in. I'll admit though, the only reason I started watching D.Gray-man at all was because Gekidou by UVERworld was chosen as its 3rd OP. All hail UVERworld OPs .

If it's pain you want... it's pain you'll get... [IMG]http://usera.imagecave.com/Daldaren/osakaknife.JPG[/IMG]

Wow, I don't know why but my mind is drawing a blank as well. I've been blowing through a ton of different anime and have noticed *many* similarities between characters from one series or another, and I actually thought about it at the time. However, now I can't think of any good ones. If I do I'll get back to you. The best - so far - I could come up with, with no pix to defend it, was Konata Izumi (Lucky Star) and Kaname Chidori (Full Metal Panic). There are of course dozens of Better examples, but I cannot for the life of me remember them.