4/13/08 - Top 5 hybrid anime

[Cetonis]

This week's category is admittedly vague, but hopefully it'll work itself out. We'll be voting for the top 5 hybrid anime.

There are a bunch of series out in anime-land that have tried to take two or more elements/genres that don't normally go together, and attempt to combine them into one anime. A lot of times the result is a mess, but every now and again a series comes along that surprises us and ties everything together nicely. Which ones come to your mind?

Lots of gray area here, so try not to pick at others' selections too much. So long as no one's claiming something like ecchi/comedy to be an unusual pair it should be fine.

Happy Voting ^_^

***Voting Closed***

This week's top 5:

Escaflowne
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Gungrave
Martian Successor Nadesico
Welcome to the NHK!

Thanks for voting!

[ParaParaJMo]

1. Nadesico
-Mech, harem, comedy

2. Full Metal Panic
-Comedy, Mech

3. Ranma 1/2
-Comedy, martial arts, harem

4. Macross
-Romance, harem, mech, musical

5. Escaflowne
-Gear mech, midevil stuff, tense romance

can't think of anything else

[elricbro15]

Escaflowne (fantasy, mech, alternate world)
Scrapped Princess (fantasy, scifi)
Magic Knight Rayearth (fantasy, mech, magical girl, alternate world)
Utena (shoujo drama, magical girl, strong visual aspects, mystery)


This is a pretty hard one... I really tried to go with the most successful and drastically hybridic shows that I can think of.

[Escaflowne]

flcl
escaflowne
cowboy bebop(action,drama)
trigun(sci-fi,comedy,drama)

[ForgottenSon]

Cowboy Bebop
Code Geass
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Elfen Lied
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

[purplemo]

Goin' down my top 30 for the best examples . . .


Kiddy Grade - ecchi, shounen action, mystery, drama, etc
Full Moon wo Sagashite - shoujo fluff, slapstick comedy, tragedy, drama
Jubei Chan: Revenge of the Siberia Yagyu - slapstick comedy, tragedy, shounen action (yeah I know a lot of shounen have this, but this is way better)
Futakoi Alternative - every damned thing
Divergence Eve - ecchi, scifi, horror, mystery, action (yes I know this isn't in the top 30)

[Deus ex Digital Boy]

Purple, Full Moon? Seriously?

1. Futakoi Alternative - This show basically puts every kind of story possible in a blender.
2. Yamamoto Yohko - Slife-of-life and sci-fi with every kind of appeal (or lack thereof) possible.
3. Gunslinger Girl - Hardcore dark action mixed with a somber slice-of-life tone. It's pretty much indescribable, cuz nothing else is quite like it.
4. The Legend of Black Heaven - Like FutaAlt it has everything. Epic sci-fi, slice of life, music, comedy, action - EVERYTHING.
5. Revolutionary Girl Utena - The ultimate clash of shoujo and seinen, action and drama, romance and comedy, to the point that you can't really say it's anything except simply 'Utena.'

[Cetonis]

Figure 17
Futakoi Alternative
Idolmaster Xenoglossia
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's
Nadesico

I thought I was going to have trouble finding five, not narrowing it down...

explanations for those who like to read them (not spoilers):

Figure 17: Slice-of-life and sci-fi action? Considering how these two are basically polar opposites, it's rather impressive the way Figure 17 got them to actually work together.

Futakoi Alternative: Despite swinging wildly between hyper-random comedy, peaceful slice-of-life and heavy drama/romance, it still felt like a relatively coherent piece - and a quality one at that.

Xenoglossia: Schoolgirl drama/romances and mecha generally don't mix very well, and then IX goes and takes it even further by making the romance be with said mecha. This series had no business working as well as it did.

Nanoha: Mahou shoujo shows are supposed to bubbly fantasy/romances, not sci-fi/action series with political conspiracies about. Turns out the latter method results in much better anime than the former usually turns out.

Nadesico: Mecha/comedy isn't really all that rare, but usually it's more like "mecha with a dash of comedy on the side," or vice-versa. Nadesico does both aspects at full strength, and the result is something that is somehow both very funny and dead serious at the same time.

[Deus ex Digital Boy]

dammit, how'd I forget to mention Figure 17 and Nadesico entirely? well hopefully they'll be well represented enough without my help anyway.

[purplemo]

Originally Posted by Deus ex Digital Boy

Purple, Full Moon? Seriously?

You should already be aware my tastes are all over the map from my top anime and manga list (unlike someone with 3 mecha in their top 5 . . . :p), despite the fact that I have almost every genre listed as a genre I hate (including shoujo fluff). Yes, I enjoyed FMWS. And yes, I considered it varied enough to put it on this list. And if you notice, I went straight down from 1-30, and I left GSG off.