Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

@themcnoisy: You can't go wrong with Cowboy Bebop both the series and movie. Other than that, I'd would also recommend Basilisk and Mushishi (Season 1). The latter being one of my favorite animes of all time.

As for movies, you could try Sword of the Stranger. If you like Studio Ghibli animes, Princess Mononoke's, Grave of Fireflies and Nausicaa are the ones that have slightly more serious themes.

If want something about vampires, I would recommend Blood: The Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Hellsing. I do have to say that the animation quality for Hellsing is pretty average though.

@themcnoisy,

I'll always campaign for InuYasha (and InuYasha: the Final Act if you like the first series). Other than that, Eureka 7, Rurouni Kenshin, and Cowboy Bebop are good picks.

As for films, Summer Wars & the Girl Who Leaped Through Time are great.

I don't follow the live-action Supernatural TV series but the studio that developed DeathNote - Madhouse also did a 20+ episodes animation/anime for it called Supernatural the Animation. I thought it was pretty good.

I also forgotten to recommend Samurai Champloo.

@Jaz007: @WanderingBullet: @RR529: Psycho-pass, Mushishi and Inuyasha it is!!! Thanks team. Now to prive these bad boys up.

@themcnoisy: Did you ever finish Death Note? What did you think of the ending? Also, just so you know, Inuyasha is supposed to be one of those long, slow-paced (read: ridiculously drawn out) animes.

Massive Spoilers for Deathnote Do not read if you are planning to watch it

@Jaz007: Got to episode 28. Didn't like the new L people, they just step in and boom Lights in the frame straight away yet again. The first 10 episodes were excellent but the writers put themselves in a hole with L getting close to light and knowing its him far too quickly. Also the continual nauseating bluffs, double bluffs, triple bluffs and that went on continually right until L has his heart attack. I thought it was over (never bought vol 5) and would of been happy with a quick resolution but episodes 26-28 were really weak and didn't make me want to continue unfortunately.

@themcnoisy: It's a shame you aren't finishing, but use this (extra) scene as your resolution then. http://youtu.be/bDeMxPiDft8

@themcnoisy, yeah as @Jaz007 says, InuYasha is a longer series, so if that's not the kind of thing you're looking for right now, you may want to skip it this time.

Still, I'd still recommend trying it if you don't mind the longer length, and to be fair it's not absurdly long like something like Bleach, Naruto, or the Dragon Ball saga. The first series is 167 episodes long, and the second 26 episodes.

There's also One Piece as well which I think should be the longest running anime series since its currently at episode 700+. O_o

Lol no. Detective Conan (Case Closed in the west) is over 1500 episodes, I believe.

Both the anime & the manga it's based on have been running since the 80's.

EDIT: I'm so wrong on almost all of that

Detective Conan is longer than One Piece, but not by much. The DC manga started in 1994, while the OP manga started in 1998.

As for anime length, according to Wikipedia, DC is at 793 episodes, while OP is at 714 I think (not sure how up to date it is about either series). The 1500+ number I came up with is probably chapter count.

I watched The Count of Monte Cristo. It was a great anime. I'm not sure how I felt about the ending though. It was a quality ending either way though. It had a really interesting art style too. A lot of the clothes looked like they were reflecting a larger pattern - so when someone's sleeve would move, a different part of the design showed.

I watched the first two episodes of the Devil May Cry anime; it's awesome so far. Definitely look into it if your a fan of the series.

It's Toonami Saturday night!

DBZ Kai - Missed it.

Akame ga Kill - Missed it.

Parasyte: the Maxim - I just love Migi's emotionless, almost computer like, view of the world. Other than that, I'm finding the regular life of the characters much more enjoyable than anything. The show has much more humor than I thought it would, and it's helping it a lot.

Michiko & Hatchin - A so so episode, I suppose. They were in a "Chinatown", which was a nice change of scenery.

Naruto Shippuden - Oh wow! It's the talking pug from Men in Black! So this is what he's been up to these days, lol. Seriously though, Shikimaru continues to be cool.

One Piece - A somewhat humorous episode, where they attempted to force Franky into the crew by... stealing his underwear, lol.

Also, they're going to have an Akame ga Kill marathon next Saturday for Halloween, and the week after that they're going to start up the Invader II special event (the Toonami mobile app will be launched in conjunction with the event).

Hmm all this talk of Death Note makes me want to watch the series again. It's so good. I actually watched the live action films first. If anyone hasn't seen them, they are quite excellent.

The most recent anime things I've seen are The Wind Rises and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which were on offer in HMV. The latter was quite beautiful. I love Studio Ghibli's films and make a point of watching one on my birthday every year.

I love the theme tune to that!

@mookysam: They're both great, I liked The Wind Rises art style but I preferred Princess Kaguya's story better. I also love The Wind Rises ending theme (Vapour Trail) as well. Sadly, When Marnie Was There is Studio Ghibli's last movie…

@WanderingBullet: I appreciated the thematic link between the two films - beauty corrupted by man. Kaguya particularly highlighted some rather nasty aspects of humanity. The Wind Rises offered an interesting perspective of the planes as beautiful aesthetic objects rather than just killing machines.
So sad that When Marnie was There will be their last film. What's your favourite Ghibli movie? Mine is Spirited Away. It's so magical.

I've really enjoyed Mamoro Hosoda's films so far. I thought Wolf Children was really good and Summer Wars was such an adventure.

@mookysam: My favorite Studio Ghibli film? I can't decide between Porco Rosso, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle because I love all three of them.

Oh, I've watched both Summer Wars and Wolf Children. Though I can't recall what Summer Wars was about apart from remembering that it had a rabbit guy in it and me liking the end theme song by Tatsuro Yamashita. As for Wolf Children, I quite enjoyed it and without giving away any spoilers I feel kinda sad for Hana at the end of the movie.

So I watched the first season of Noragami. It was pretty good, the idea of the Japanese gods being real and following a minor god fallen on hared times is a great one. Definitely look into it if it sounds interesting.

I watched the first 5 episodes of Code: Breaker and it's great so far. It's about a government assassin with strange powers, who of course, gets intertwined with a high school girl, but I like how it's done and it done't feel too cliched. The anime isn't about them falling in love either lol. Light spoiler ahead. I quite like how he kills all the evil people he comes across. I find it mirrors a lot of my thoughts. When the girl (can't remember her name) was talking to the protagonist about killing, I liked how he replied by saying they would have just killed and injured a lot more people if he hasn't.

Anyone else looking forward season three of Black Butler? I can't wait until the entire third season is dubbed.

It's Toonami Saturday night!

This week they just had an Akame ga Kill marathon for Halloween. Due to Halloween stuff, I was only able to watch the last half, but that's fine since it was all repeats.

I missed last week's episode though, so it was nice to get a second chance to see it. They faced off against one of the enemy's elites, a scientist who was pretty much a poor man's version of Bleach's Mayuri, though he pulled a JRPG final boss at the end & absorbed his subordinates to transform.

It's Toonami Saturday night!

• DBZ Kai - The epic Goku VS Frieza fight continues on, and it's getting close to a very iconic, "transformative" moment!
• Akame ga Kill - We get to know the two newest members of the group. They should be a nice addition.
• Parasyte: the Maxim - Whoa, I was not expecting that! Hope they eventually find a way to turn things around.
• Michiko & Hatchin - They're still looking for Hiroshi, and have hit yet another dead end. I'm really hoping for a happy conclusion for Michiko.
• Naruto Shippuden - Naruto finally took charge, and I'll admit, his new ability was pretty cool.
• One Piece - Just another episode of them trying to convince Franky to join the crew, with a joke I'm quite surprised they pulled.

Also, they had the first part of their Invasion II event. It's pretty cool that the block is doing well enough for them to have resources for these kinds of extras.

Bought Psycho-pass, it was £22 for the first season new. Not bad. Should be watching that very soon!!