I know we've tried seperate forums for anime/manga and such, so I figure we try putting everything related to anime/manga into one topic, like what the pavilion does.

As far as anime TV goes, I've been watching Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm on season three and the Dark Tournament just finished.


It's a pretty fun show, similiar to Dragonball Z, so I'm enjoying it. The next TV series I'm planning on picking up is either Samurai Champloo or Fruits Basket.

As far as anime movies, I've been viewing many different Studio Ghibli films. Starting with Spirited Away, I've also seen Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro. I am thinking of picking up Princess Monomoke and Castle in the Sky soon. You guys have any suggestions?

I'm so glad Grave of the Fireflies got rereleased this month, and I was so psyched to watch it, since it's been on my "must-watch" list for a long time. And I'll fully admit, I cried at the ending. It was a very good and powerful film.

Feel free to post whatever you're watching, enjoying (or enjoyed), or anything related.

I've been watching no anime, but as for manga:

Liar Game
Faster than a Kiss
Gantz
Naruto
One Piece
Monkey High
Claymore
Tenjou Tenge

I've been watching the first Ghost in the Shell TV series from the netflix instant cue via XBOX Live for free because my girlfriend has Netflix. Nice benefit. I've always wanted to watch GITS but could never catch them in order but now I can. I like anime but I'm not a big fan or anything. Just nice to be able to enjoy this show.

I'm currently watching:

Bakemonogatari
Phantom
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Canaan
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 2009
Aoi Hana
Eve no Jikan
Higurashi no Naku koro ni Rei

Garouden
Grappler Baki: Son of Ogre
One Piece
Death Note
Claymore
Dragon Hunter(It's decent)

Yu Yu Hakusho's quality just seems to decline after the Dark Tournament. Really couldn't go back to the series after that. Especially since the awful GBA game engraved it's annoyingly catching music into my brain.

I think you're right there Duel, because the series goes into this whole "use your mind as well!" thing that rubs me the wrong way. I'm watching this show to see people kick the shiz out of each other, so why are we slowing that down with mind games? Makes no sense. Stick with what you're good at.

I can't believe you guys are not enjoying the story arc after the Dark Tournament. That's where the series starts getting interesting. Thinking outside the box and not becoming just a DBZ freaking clone.

Yu Yu was never about combat. What drives it is the characters, and the setting. Not the battles. If you want to see battles, stop watching because the battles become scarce and vague. If you want to see great characters and compelling plot twists, keep watching. The series only gets better after the Dark Tournament.

Naruto is all about mind games, and people seem to enjoy it, so the problem isn't about the mind games. Also they are necessary because not everyone has deus ex machinas like senzu beans and one-year-in-one-day and 100000G machines to suddenly become stronger. How do you defeat an opponent who is stronger without mind games?
The whole "FRIENDSHIP!!11!" thing only goes so far.

You're probably just disappointed the author did something creative with the story instead of making up an even more powerful villain that no one had heard of until now and now the heroes must train to defeat. Like, oh I dunno, every other gosh darn action anime.

Yu Yu is not an action anime.

What do you expect from a fighting anime? ACTION. How can you possibly say otherwise?

All the characterization and plot doesn't help in a fighting anime if the action sucks. And, rest assured, the action in YuYu is great. So why isn't there any?

Maybe it's too early to tell. I already own all the season boxsets, but haven't seen them all yet, so time will tell.

The action in Yu Yu never really interested me, when I was watching it with some kids I was looking after. And when it did, it was because the show had a nifty way of linking its characters to the action, of having the action stem from, or be part and parcel to the evolution of, the characters.
When you boil the action down, however, it's a trumped up combination of previously explored formulas, that only sustains interest because of its connection to the supernatural. DBZ + Sailor Moon + Ghosts doesn't sustain a show, and Yu Yu is a show which somehow manages to sustain itself, despite its flaws, which are numerous.
One must at this point ask how exactly it does so. Like it or not, the show is (wisely, to my mind) going to involve itself in business apart from cracking skulls as it progresses.

Lately someone's got me watching Gilgamesh, and has a few other shows he wants to pass on to me. I've never really had the time or inclination to explore Anime seriously, so I have to rely on the helping opinions of others to wade through the buckets of sh*t the genre dumps out (this would be your invitation to lend some helpful opinions to me, should you have them to lend).
So far Gilgamesh could go either way. I've noticed Anime has a real problem with endings.

Bo - Is Ghost In The Shell worth it, so far? That's one of the big boys (ie, major enough that I would know more than cursory amounts about it) that I never got around to watching.
I get the same netflix benefits through my girl, too, so I might weigh into that one next chance I get.

@N.L.Y.

I might be the wrong person to ask as I never read the manga nor have much anime background as a basis of comparison. I did however through the netflix instant que also first watch the actual movie that came out years earlier to get introduced to the world and its characters but the movie and the tv series seem to go off in different directions and only be somewhat related.

So in other words, with respect to the manga, the movie, or anime in general I couldn't tell you, but on its own, I love the artwork, like the premise, and enjoy the episodes.

Well, I'm not watching any anime now, but I'd like to watch the new FMA (since they say it will follow the manga story) and Fairy Tail (Not sure if it's out already or still on production though)

As for manga, I'm reading a couple of them...
Bleach
Naruto
One Piece
Fairy Tail
Claymore
Soul Eater
Liar Game
Full Metal Alchemist
Dragon Ball
Cyber Grandpa G
Deadman Wondeland
1/2 Prince
Zatch Bell
Tribal 12
And I just added Inuyasha to the list

Thing is, Yu Yu is not an action series.
The manga starts out pretty blatantly a romantic comedy. That part was severely cut from the anime, because, you know, action sells and the story of a delinquent boy trying to resurrect doesn't. The intentions of the author are pretty explicit in the manga. The Dark Tournament part is clearly an experiment in action manga, and the author tires of it shortly afterward.

What sustains Yu Yu, in my opinion, is that it's a story. A real one, with a beginning, a middle and an end. And it's good because it feels organic, it feels as if someone's telling you the story of this guy who died and resurrected and what happened to him after that. And when there's no reason to fight, then there's no fights.

The ending of Yu Yu is marvelous (at least in the manga).

Gnasher, you just convinced me to try Yu Yu Hakusho again. (I tried reading it, but didn't get pass the first chapter)