Daily Anime Thoughts

[Teinouji]

DAT: I'm going to be broke again... damn anime!

[LinkSword]

Originally Posted by Marius2000

Right now I'm into on a high stakes game/psychological anime kick. Should I watch Bokurano
or Akagi next?

I personally liked Akagi better (you can expect something totally on the Kaiji line, though with mahjong and a less polished thriller vibe). Bokurano has one of the most interesting storylines ever, but it wasn't developed that well (the kids just don't feel credible enough, and that pretty much kills half the enjoyment). I still loved it to a degree, though.

P.S. I see you liked One Outs, too. Nice! =)

[MugiwaraMarius]

Originally Posted by LinkSword

I personally liked Akagi better (you can expect something totally on the Kaiji line, though with mahjong and a less polished thriller vibe). Bokurano has one of the most interesting storylines ever, but it wasn't developed that well (the kids just don't feel credible enough, and that pretty much kills half the enjoyment). I still loved it to a degree, though.

P.S. I see you liked One Outs, too. Nice! =)

How much do I need to know about Mahjong to watch Akagi? Does the show expect me to know the rules?

[valondar]

Akagi expects a knowledge of mahjong but it's not essential to follow the series. To this day I have no idea how mahjong is played and yet I still considered myself sufficiently qualified to write a review (I am arrogant like that).

It's definitely an excellent show for Kaiji fans.

Bokurano is a good series overall and has some good arcs, but it suffers the problem I have with a fair few psychological mecha titles is that people aren't breaking down enough... in general. It's never a series fully committed to depicting the sort of frayed collapse of social cohesion and mental breakdowns that would likely result from its scenario; the best stretches of the series focus on the most screwed up mecha pilots.

That said I'd say Bokurano is a better series then Akagi, but that's because Bokurano doesn't go to hell in a handbasket like Akagi does in its final arc. Ignore the last third of Akagi and I'd probably give a very different verdict.

[LinkSword]

As valondar said, mahjong knowledge is not really necessary for Akagi, though I'm sure it would reinforce the experience greatly. In my case I read a very brief guide about Mahjong prior to starting the show, which didn't particularly help at all except for knowing what kind of tiles there were and stuff, and then I sort of caught up with the way it's played as I kept watching. I think I could play a game of Mahjong, even though I would most likely suck at building my hands. =P

[coffeebreath]

I've played loads of mahjong but for some reason I keep skipping Akagi on my want to watch list when looking for something new. I imagine it might actually be lot more exciting if you watch it without being able to predict what will happen because you don't recognise what's going on, or how the characters are trying to play. Or something.

[LinkSword]

The manga author mainly drew this for people who can play, so I don't think you'd lose much in enjoyment. I am a n00b at mahjong, but I believe the manga and anime wouldn't have had as much repercusion as it had in Japan if it was actually that predictable.

I say try it for a size.

[SeiyaManG]

I watched Akagi and basically learned the basics of Mahjong with it. The only thing that may annoy you is how constantly they'll talk about the possibility of different hands and if you don't have the tiles, or value of hands down, you'll be left at the mercy of the characters reactions to know what is good and bad in terms of what's happening. Also, I watched it with some heavy translator notes that also explained things pretty well.

[LinkSword]

Yeah, if you're going to watch Akagi I suggest The Triad's subs. Their notes will be a great help for getting into the game.

[Funkgun]

I wish to call anime A-Nem-I just to sound all weird and stuff.