Marry me!samael_morningstar said:I did warn you I was a snob. "Mental capacity of a twelve year old" might be harsh, but I am really sick of the prevalence and dominant popularity of these mass-produced, serialized and overall uninteresting anime, and yes I have watched each one I've claimed to be such.
Anime I would defend? Death Note was clever but unfortunately I found Yagami Light really annoying as a character. Code Geass I liked for its revolutionary politics, though I haven't watched Season 2 yet. Full Metal Alchemist had both heart and darkness, elements which I really appreciated, and that goes double for Brotherhood, I might not watch the first series again due to the epicness of Brotherhood.
Other Anime I would defend and recommend are: Lain, Texhnolyze, Mushi-shi, Withch Hunter Robin, Ergo Proxy, Gankutsuou, Last Exile, anything of Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Wolf's Rain, Speed Grapher, Beck, Fooly Cooly, Infinite Ryvius, Crest of the Stars, Haibane Renmei, Patlabor 1 & 2, Sky Crawlers, Jin-Roh, Eureka 7, His and Her Circumstances, Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars.
All of these are top notch anime in my opinion (though admittedly in no particular order). Take your pick
Oh, and no, the fact that Naruto starts off at age 12 means nothing to me. There are plenty of narratives both animated and otherwise that are directed at audiences that include 12 year olds that don't suck! (ie: anything by Miyazaki!)
Though I'm curious as to what you liked about Crest/Banner of the Stars. I watched it (albeit a while ago now) and thought to myself... a bit too ponderous, but the rest (that I've seen, esp Infinite Ryvius, GitS, all the Gonzo stuff, all the Manglobe stuff and Sky Crawlers, spot on, and anything with Yoshitoshi ABe). Can't really add anything to that list, since they cover a broad spectrum of genres within anime and a lot of them cannot be compared with each other. Anyone who thinks that FLCL and Grave of the Fireflies can be compared needs their head rewired.
Therefore, I will give my personal best list as follows:
Action: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (took a while to get into it because of the change in cast, but was a brilliant ride, action never let up long enough for you to stop wanting more)
Cerebral drama: Ergo Proxy (I'm a sucker for intellectual references)
Comedy: Nodame Cantabile (all three, the choice of music was... well, perfect regardless of what type of 'classical' you're into, though be careful when re-watching it, the character design quality changes a bit from season 1 to 2, all good though)
Sci-Fi: Sky Crawlers (you need to watch this at least twice to realise exactly what the film wants to tell you, and what it tells you is a very clever poke at the modern entertainment industry)
Drama: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (perhaps inappropriate at the moment given what's just happened, but it took a lot of effort for me - a man's man
- not to cry, a sincere and touching story)Tragedy: Grave of the Fireflies (*sniff*)
Slice of Life: Aria (prefer the manga, actually, but it's good to watch when you want to relax/calm down, since each episode is 20 mins of plenty of nothing happening).
Honourable mention: Hourou Musuko (or the Wandering Son)... it's not finished its run yet, but it's looking like the best new anime I've watched in three years (ish). Junior high schoolers cross dressing pretty much sums it up, but you need to watch it to see how tactfully it comes across.
Uh, that's what's come to mind, for now...
