It seems like Cakey pretty much listed the entire anime catalog for the US, so I'll just pick up anything remaining that I've seen:
Dr. Cakey said:
Haven't Seen:
B Gata H Kei - Yamada's First Time
I didn't see this on Netflix so I'm not sure what level of censorship they have on it...but I'm going to guess "high". A comedy about a high school girl trying to lose her virginity while sorting out her feelings about the guy she wants to bone. I feel like they could have made a more serious and probing (heh) show out of this premise (a la
Kare Kano), but it does alright with the comedy route.
Blade of the Phantom Master
I really liked this one, a one-off movie based on a Korean-animated show. At one point there was a powerful kingdom who employed spiritualists to regulate the actions of tyrannical nobles, but that kingdom was defeated and the spiritualists are now free agents. The plot follows one of them as he tries to figure out what to do next. I loved the animation style and the tone of the story, plus the English voice actors did a damn good job.
I watched the dub of this show when I was a kid and it was on Saturday morning cartoons, so it will always have a place in my heart and on my shelf. That said, I've heard that the dub substantially changed quite a bit of the plot and characters, but having never seen the original I have no comment there. A group of children get taken out of summer camp and thrown into the Digimon world in a dimensional anomaly, each is paired with their own 'mon, and they try to get back home. I liked it, but it was more of a kids' show (the dub was anyway).
Ugh...no. Just no. Save your time, don't bother. Generic shounen crapola poorly executed in animation, voice acting, pacing, and plot. Just garbage.
Hulk Vs. (oh yeah, this is that Madhouse/Marvel/Funimation team-up thing, right?)
It's alright, just Hulk fighting a bunch of Marvel universe people split into 2 half-movies. I liked it, just a bit of dumb fun not to be taken too seriously.
...speaking of "dumb fun", holy shit this was great! It's a spin-off movie of Mazinkaiser, which was itself a spin-off of Mazinger-Z. Picture what would happen if someone dumped Heavy Metal, Guren Lagann, and a ton of 80's hair metal bands into a blender and hit the "pulse" button. I'm sure it would have made more sense after seeing the rest of its source material, but fuck it: it's great right out of the tin if you're into any of the component parts and has a cool aesthetic regardless.
Okami-san and her Seven Companions
Ehh...take it or leave it, it's a slice of life about a high school club that is basically the school's Mafia: they help you out with whatever problem you bring them, they expect a favor at some unspecified point in the future. The main plot is about an awkward dude who sacks up over the course of the story and gets the girl at the end.
Ouran Highschool Host Club
A reverse-harem situation with a lot of good-quality humor. If you're looking for something light and humorous, highly recommended. Otherwise, stay well clear.
Samurai Champloo (you should probably watch this)
Agreed, you should probably watch this. From the same studio as Cowboy Beebop, a story of a girl trying to find a particular samurai in feudal Japan with two samurai accompanying her. Just as Beebop was jazz-influenced, this is influenced by hip-hop. The art and aesthetic are great, the soundtrack is wonderful...but it's just not quite as good as Beebop was. Definitely watch it once, any subsequent viewings are dealer's choice.
I watched the first few episodes of this as it was being made, but then lost interest. I think it's somewhat based on an actual war in Japanese history, but my weeaboo cred isn't sufficient to say much more than that. Otherwise it's a feudal military anime following two opposing generals who remind me a bit of Mugen and Jin from Champloo. Not much more to say about this one, if you like goofy, brolic action then it might be worth a look.
Admittedly I do have a taste for light, humorous shows, and it definitely comes out here: I. Loved. This. Show. It's funny, the characters are just goofy as shit, the theme song is hilarious (first one anyway), and it's just an all-around fun watch. A squidgirl (they never really get into it, just roll with it) washes up on a Japanese beach one day and becomes friends with the staff a boardwalk short-order restaurant. She states that her goal is to dominate the surface world, but she never really makes much progress on that. Either way, very funny and I recommend it (subtitled version anyway, no idea about the dub).
I've seen a good number of anime in my day, but this absolutely sailed to the higher echelons of my favorites list on the first viewing. A socially-withdrawn 20-something shut-in (a
hikikimori, for the weeaboo-inclined among us) tries to relearn how to interact with the world through the intervention of a high school girl that takes an interest in him. This show really gets the mass of neurotic insecurities, self-doubt, paranoia, and general fucked-upness of someone who is an absolute loser in high school and never really recovers from that, in addition to giving a very accurate look at the inner workings of the mind of someone in that position. As a warning though: if the above doesn't describe you at some point in your life, you probably won't get very much out of it. I call it the "Evangellion effect", where someone watching the show who hasn't been seriously depressed at some point in their life just isn't going to get it and won't enjoy it very much.
