hey

don't listen to these guys okay



actually freedom looks sort of cool but did you ever see kemonozume?  bort told me about it, though i think he only watched a couple episodes of it, but anyway it's made by the guy who made mindgame, which i assume you've seen (if you haven't just go get this instead).  it's just this 13-episode series and it is VERY VERY GOOD as far as anime goes, and actually gets pretty ridiculous/trippy at the end, which seems like it's the only way any anime ever has a good ending.  it's got a pretty interesting/atypical visual aesthetic, too, which is also cool.  as far as tone goes i'd say it's fairly mature for what it is.  it doesn't watch like naruto or anything, at least.

so yeah watch that.

ohhhh man then forget kemonozume (actually dont do that just watch it after mindgame) because mindgame is easily just like the BEST THING japan will probably ever make.  it might be on the zoo, but if it's not i still have it so i can upload it for you.  visually and thematically and even in terms of the writing/dialogue/plotting it is just a huge step above pretty much every other anime ever.

yeah, it WAS really weird.  i wish more weird things would come out of japan, honestly, and not just teenage-girl-getting-fucked-by-tentacles weird, either.  there's too much of that kind of weird!  people champion boring shit like PAPRIKA as being indicative of japan being at the top of the animation world, but i watched that shit and HIGH PRODUCTION VALUES but it was pretty boring.  the sex scene on the boat in the whale was one of the coolest pieces of animation i've ever seen, though.  that was maybe my fave part of the movie as far as visual stuff goes.

unfortunately kemonozume doesn't do as much in the ways of weird bells and whistles but the animation style is still atypical (often a complete lack of shading, like in mindgame).  if you look at the wiki it shows character portraits that give you a pretty good idea of the style.

samurai champloo is OKAY i guess.  the first episode was actually pretty good but after that it tapered off a lot.  it's got STYLE but there's very little substance and the characters are pretty wooden and uninteresting, which ultimately made me not really want to finish the series.  also it is very meandering and episodic and doesn't really feel like it's going anywhere.  bebop was this way too, to some extent, but the subplots and characters were all a lot better so you actually gave a shit what was going on.  it's sort of disappointing because i liked cowboy bebop a lot and it was kind of lauded as being the next version of that (samurais and hiphop instead of space cowboys and jazz!), but where bebop was style with some amount of substance attached, champloo is mostly just style.  there is this one ep in the middle of the series tho where the cleaner looking dude falls in love with a prostitute and it was pretty good!  it's not really a series worth watching, though.

You really should try watching Kemonozume. I've just recently started watching and I love the visual style. Try checking out Kaiba too. It's made by the same guy, though the series hasn't finished yet.

I also suggest watching Paranoia Agent. It's only 13 episodes long and it's great.

oh shit, yuasa directed kaiba?  i'd been meaning to check it out ever since i saw jeff's topic because it honestly looks okay, but now i really need to see it!

also yeah paranoia agent is gr9 if you haven't seen it already.  it's been a while since i saw it but now and then, here and there is also good and pretty short (13 eps i think).  you could also check out like... OVAs or whatever because they tend to have higher production values and they're usually no more than 4-6 episodes.  i like read or die a lot as far as FLUFF/ACTION shit goes and hitsuji no uta was okay too!  i think chainer swears by 3x3 eyes which i downloaded but never watched, but chainer also liked MABURAHO i think so idk take that with a grain of salt.

Death Note got crappy during the second half, but the ending made up for it.

Anyways, watch Monster. Or Berserk. Or Esacaflowne. Or Full Metal Alchemist. Or Paranoia Agent. It doesn't matter. From the sound of it, you just like anything that's good, and those are.

yeah monster is good but VERY LONG so maybe not that.  also not fma because it's overrated and not escaflowne because it's really gay and made for teenage girls.

yeah monster is good but VERY LONG so maybe not that.  also not fma because it's overrated and not escaflowne because it's really gay and made for teenage girls.

Overrated? Let the guy watch it himself and determine whether it's good or not. Personally I thought it was rather entertaining, which is why I'm suggesting it.

Also, you didn't like Escaflowne?