Anime Not Quite Your Favorite, But Still Great!

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]When someone thinks about the shows they like, they don't always have to think of their absolute favorites. After all, there's a whole range of feelings toward a show beyond 'love' or 'hate'. Rather than place focus on the 9s and 10s like happens so often, I wanna concentrate more on the 7s and 8s.

Basically, instead of talking about your absolute favorite anime of all time, I'd also like to hear about some that you really liked, just not to the same extent.

My reason for this topic is that when I think of typing a post for my favorite anime, I want to trot in with a mile-long list of anime I love, but in the end, not all of those are equal. I know that my three favorite anime of all time ([B]Neon Genesis Evangelion[/B], [B]Welcome to the NHK[/B], and the [B]Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya[/B]) deserve credit, but I still have to credit all those other great, deserving shows.

So, here are some of the shows that I love, but not in that way XD

1. [B]Simoun[/B] - Not just for the yuri! This show is an excellent portrayal of a completely unique universe and a deep, character driven story being played together. The two biggest reasons I dislike sci-fi and fantasy stories is that they tend to focus on the expansive universe while leaving shallow characters about, and all to often they are overly similar. While it's themes are familiar, I've really never seen anything quite like Simoun in terms of setting.

It's got a very steam-punk feel with the fact that it appears to be low-tech and high-tech at once, but the machines and their secrets as well as the way they are operated sets it apart. Rather than fight with guns, the Simoun draw giant figures in the sky that cause different kinds of attacks or shields. Plus the story combines religious and political elements in as well, which is not uncommon, but done particularly well in the sense that in most of these stories it's got that whole 'everyone is evil but the party' feel while this one is more wide-scale.

The best part, though, is of course the character relations, and this show's got a big cast to show off. Really, it's amazing how much they accomplish in just 26 episodes, and the relationships have the sort of realistic complications that you don't see too much - the characters feel very human. It's also very maure.

Oh. and did I mention the yuri?

>_> Will edit/post again. I didn't expect to go on about Simoun like that, lol. Also, there is no number restriction, post about as many as you want. I'm also hoping to learn from this.[/COLOR]

[Panache]

Hmm aight

[B]Neon Genesis Evangalion[/B]-Well mecha isn't my favorite genre. Also this isn't my favorite mecha. But I have to give it props. It had really great fight scenes an a very well made story. It also had pretty good(if whiny) characters. I could sorta kinda understand all of their reactions. It would be in my top 20 if it wasn't for the ending. Nuff said about that.

[B]Happy Lesson[/B]-This is what Love hina should have been like in my opinion. Jokes that were actually funny. Characters that developed. Events I could actually care about. It had a lot of sillyness but it had a lot of heart too. What keeps it from being the best is it's length. It was fairly short and could have been twice as long.

[Sazumechan]

[B]Witch Hunter Robin-While its not my favorite,it is still a great anime.Highly adictive because the plot does not completely unfold until the very last episode.I have the complete series too!

Yu Yu Hakusho-Really good fights and an awsome story line.Oh another reason I like it a lot is the fact that it has sooooooooo many episodes and so many lovable characters.[/B]

[Dagger]

I think [b]Nadia[/b] would be in my top ten were it not for the awful middle (island & Africa) episodes. The rest of it is so wonderful that it's in my top twenty despite the filler. It's also interesting to look out for Evangelion parallels as you make your way through it (for instance, Electra & Ritsuko). Its themes and epic scope make it feel much like Castle in the Sky.

The "sequel" movie is beyond atrocious. I choose not to acknowledge its existence.

~Dagger~

[Laborpilot86]

While my favorite series are mostly sci-fi and mecha like Macross and Ghost in the Shell SAC, I don't ignore the good stuff from other genres. Escaflowne is beautifully crafted high fantasy with some truly heart-wrenching and superb moments, plus Kanno Yoko's great music. Paradise Kiss is another series that falls outside my usual anime tastes, but wins a place in my collection for its brilliant characters, especially the designs.

[Illusion Knight]

Well, there's quite a few like that, but I'd have to say Kare Kano. I'm not really a fan of romantic stuff, but the comedy parts were great, such as...

1. The entire first episode. I was practically rolling on the floor laughing.

2. In Episode 5, Miyazawa's response to Asaba [spoiler]threatening to take Arima from her.[/spoiler] And this exchange near the end of the episode:
Arima: [spoiler]SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP![/spoiler]
Miyazawa: [spoiler]We've made a new friend![/spoiler]

3: In Episode 10, when Miyazawa [spoiler]becomes almost demonic and chases Tsubasa around the school.[/spoiler] Also, the scene with the picture of Arima, and the scene near the end when Miyazawa [spoiler] teaches Maho the 'proper technique'.[/spoiler]

4. In Episode 13, when Tsubasa gets angry. I'm not saying more than that - if you've seen it you know exactly what I mean...

[Udon]

[FONT="Arial"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="YellowGreen"]I realy liked the series Neon Genisis Evangelion, I didnt like it as much as I thought I would. But part of the blame was because I got the whole series a few years ago, when I only prefered the action of a anime over the plot. So I realy didnt understand the ending or a few other parts. Plus Im a bit too lazy to watch the whole thing over again just to under stand the story. But it was a very good series, I just didnt understand the story when it got very deep.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[joshdude89]

1) Inuyasha: It used to be my favorite, but has been pushed back a lot lately by newer animes.

2)Initial D: One of my favorite series, but still only in the 3rd or so spot.

3)Excel Saga: Probably 2nd favorite, but definitely up there.

[Rachmaninoff]

For this I would have to say the [B]Harlock Saga[/B]. It's the only anime that had me hooked withing thirty seconds of the opening starting. As it says at wiki: [I]Harlock Saga is a six-part anime miniseries (three hours in total length) by Leiji Matsumoto. An adaptation of Der Ring des Nibelungen, it tells the story of space pirate Captain Harlock and his crew as they try to stop a man who has stolen gold from the center of the galaxy and forged it into a powerful ring.[/I]

The part that pulled me into this was the music, I love how it uses the music from the opera Der Ring des Nibelungen written by Richard Wagner. They even used the performance of the music done by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra for the show. It really sets the mood for the anime perfectly.

Obviously the anime doesn't even come close to being as rich as the original opera is, but I was fun to watch and though it's isn't my favorite it was still great. :)