I accidentally got into anime about a decade ago. Before that I made a point of avoiding it at all cost. [Adult Swim] would change all that.
My first significant exposure was Fullmetal Alchemist. My goodness, the addiction I experiencd during that time. Until I finished the entire series I wanted to do nothing else with my life. Torrenting every episode from beginning to end, I soon became an anime convert. Moreover, due to the difficulty in finding dubbed versions at the time, I quickly developed a preference for subbed anime.
But this passion was relatively short-lived. With no friends who shared my new found interest, and few tools at my disposal, I found it difficult to track down another anime capable of meeting the expectations set by FMA. But as I continued to watch [AS], I was exposed to a handful of interesting and at least semi-adequate substitutes. To make a long (and boring) story short, I gradually accumulated a small collection of anime series which remain near and dear to my heart until this very day.
I ended up here at Anime-Planet because of one series in particular: Steins;Gate. It would be an understatement to say that I love S;G, and this anime has reignited that passion I once knew so many years ago. Of course, this feeling won't last forever, and I'm tragically aware of this fact. However, that doesn't mean I'm simply going to lie down and give up: I has the interwebs! Thus began my search for a list of the most popular and highly rated animes of all time. A-P was the first hit I got, and it has proved invaluable in finding more quality series to watch. I haven't yet come across anything able to surpass my infatuation with S;G, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself.
All anime specific subject matter aside:
I'm a casual musician. I play guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, bass (anything with strings really), harmonica, melodica, piano (a little), and anything else I can get my hands on. I don't listen to much music these days, but I love to arrange songs from video games for the guitar; especially songs composed by Nobuo Uematsu. I occasionally arrange for other instruments as well, but not often. My favorite music is from games I grew up playing, and I would raher play and listen to this kind of music than anything they play on the radio.
I used to be an avid gamer, but life has gotten in the way of that. These days I'm content to casually partake in the classics I grew up with. Hearthstone and TF2 are the current exceptions, but generally speaking, I am more than disappointed with the games of this graphics-driven generation. I'm aware that this opinion comes from the old man in me, and I've comfortably come to terms with that.
I'm a husband and a father. My son is almost a year old, and my wife also loves anime. If it weren't for her I never would have bothered with Soul Eater. Fortunately she made me watch it with her, and it's become one of my favorites. It's flawed, yes, and I didn't care much for the ending, but I love it nonetheless. She also got me to watch Death Note, which is easily one of the most thrilling shows I've ever seen. Sadly the ending is utter garbage; this is the only reason it doesn't get a higher rating from me.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say about that.
El Psy Congroo
Life on anime
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Anime list
727 total episodes
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Brief Black Butler note: your wife is right, you should at least try it. Not 5-star stuff, to me, but lots of amusement and entertainment value. Watched the first two seasons with a friend, and rewatched them with my sister, and with my sis we are moving on to third season. Both friend and sis have also really enjoyed this series. So do your wife the favor and check it out!
\r\nClannad and Afterstory: I enjoyed Afterstory more than I liked Clannad; that being said, I didn't think either one was everything they are hyped up to be. The "tragedy" was mostly contrived and predictable. Still, I admit that I -did- get a bit moist-eyed at one point, although these anime didn't make me cry nor feel especially emotionally invested in either the story or the characters. To others, Clannad and Afterstory are big romance anime. It didn't feel "romance" to me, although there were several romance stories. To me, these stories are better described as Alternate Reality anime, and things work better to me that way.
\r\n*****SPOILER*****
\r\nThe fact that the ending to the main story is totally invalidated, and there are lots of "specials" with alternative romance options for Tomoya spoiled any good "romance" vibe I might've gotten from the main story.
\r\n***** END SPOILER*****
\r\nSo, if you are asking if one needs to see Clannad in order to watch Afterstory... I don't think it's required, but it helps a lot towards understanding the main two characters and their motivations and explains how they are tied/bonded together. I think you would be missing a lot of character understanding and empathy to them and the side characters if you didn't watch Clannad first. I really would recommend sitting through Clannad before watching Afterstory so that Afterstory will have more impact.
\r\nBlast of Tempest: You know, anime that shift their focus mid-way through are generally not successful at either focal point in the end (the original focus nor the changed focus). So it doesn't surprise me that you found this less than satisfying if it suddenly changes from shounen drama to rom-com... even though the two genres are closely related.
\r\nShakespeare: hmmmm, maybe learning Shakespeare is a required part of a typical Japanese student's curriculum? Kind of like studying English is required of them. They don't have to actually LEARN English, but they are all required to take courses in it. So they all have a shared history of some basic English lessons. If all the characters are spouting Shakespeare references, perhaps the anime is tapping into some sort of Japanese required learning history to promote viewer empathy and create emotional investment ties to the characters?
\r\nYou want some emotional anime to watch? Check out Angel Beats! which wasn't quite as emotionally grabbing as I'd heard, but still has plenty of "feelz" and also Hotarubi no Mori e, one of my favorite anime movies. It gets me every time I watch it. Or maybe try Hal another emotive anime movie that's pretty good.
Yeah I enjoyed it because it was so into this logic thing and everything had to make sence, but in reality the anime did not make so much sence at all... XP
Yo, liked your review of zetsuen no tempest ^_^ I agree with most of what you say, only difference is that I kinda enjoyed the thing since I thought it was so funny how the characters were so ehm inconsistant and the show had no use for them :P
Thank you! Am now following you! Keep in touch and leave me a comment on my profile page any time - I'd love to hear from you!
Rixonomic says... Anyway, I just thought since you took the time to communicate with me the least I could do is communicate back :) I know you're the founder of the A-P Welcoming Committee and all, so it's like your job (in a way), but I appreciate it anyway.
\r\nJust wanted to explain that although WECO (a-p Welcoming Committee) stuff is a voluntary "job" I gave to myself, I feel no obligation to leave long commentary to people as part of that job, so my comments to you were not at all about me doing my WECO "job" - more about me being a naturally chatty person who found someone interesting I'd like to befriend and get to know on the site. You did a great job with your profile!
\r\nThanks for the recommend of Sword of the Stranger - I was unfamiliar with this title. It sounds like it might be a good samurai era adventure; it's now on my WtW list. I don't usually pay a lot of attention to the studios that make the anime so I don't have a list of favorite and disliked studios. I keep telling myself it is something I'm going to pay more attention to in future. It'd be nice to know which studios tend to make stuff I like!
\r\nI also don't know Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 nor Blast of Tempest. I'll be curious to see what you think of these when you have completed them...
\r\nMe, I just finished Clannad After Story, which I'd long heard was quite emotive (along with Angel Beats! is one of the top "emotional" anime I hear) but which I'd put off watching for a long time since I wasn't as impressed with the original Clannad as it was hyped. I've also just finished the first two seasons of Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) which turned out to be more fun than I'd supposed. I'm rewatching the second season with my sister now (I got her involved with it!) and we will watch third season together when we finish second. I'll continue with other anime I have in progress, but will now pick up a new title (as yet undetermined) as a reward for finishing Clannad and related anime.