(Part 3) Top products from r/Animesuggest

Many "cute girls doing cute things" are actually seinen. The aforementioned K-on is one of the earliest and most major in this boom. Many other entries published under Manga Time Kirara also fit your request, so look through its catalog.

Other examples of this phenomenon include, but are not limited to...

• {Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha} -- Think Card Captor Sakura with designs and fighting styles inspired by Gundam. This is especially true of the later seasons and entries into the franchise.
  
  
• {Yuki Yuna is a Hero} -- Not just her, but her 3 friends (later 4) beat the crap out of literal alien monsters from another dimension. This franchise is extremely notable for sharing the same music composers as Nier and Nier Automata.
  
  
• {Love Live} and its sequel series {Love Live Sunshine} -- Each of these shows has a main cast of nine girls, so yeah...
  
  
• {Sakura Quest} -- Surprisingly mature show with mature themes and a main cast of beautiful young-adult ladies? Yes, please!
  
  Shonen examples:
  
  
• {Kotoura-san} is a rare romantic comedy where the titular girl is the protagonist of her own story. This is a change from the manga, and the anime solidifies this change by giving her an original (and heavily detailed) backstory. Said backstory is the first half of the first episode.
  
  
• {Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight} -- This titular girl might as well be Kamina as a school-girl despite the lack of any mecha or fighting in general. The conflict is just as admirable though. This show is one of Studio Ufotable's unknown greats, so excellent art and direction are to be expected.
  
  
• {Strawberry Marshmallow} -- The funniest thing about this show meta-wise is that some Amazon editor thought this was a Shoujo series! He's very wrong especially considering that this show has plenty of slapstick and off-color humor.
  
  
• {Scrapped Princess} -- Cute title; terrifying premise. The whole plot is literally out to kill her despite being innocent.

On the other side of the coin, anime can have its place in language study. So, to answer your question, check out http://kitsunekko.net where you can find Japanese subtitles for many shows. They're of course written in Japanese, so be sure to study your kana and kanji.

But don't expect that to be enough to learn the language. Language learning needs lots of practice interacting with others. It's also more difficult to learn the grammar rules from passive listening.

I'd recommend looking for a place that holds Japanese lessons in your area. One possibility if you have the time are universities or community colleges, where you may be able to sit in on classes for no credit, for a small fee (which is called auditing). My old university charges $50 for non-students, which is pretty cheap for a several month-long language course. Other universities may be cheaper or more expensive. Granted, the class times might be difficult if you're still in K-12 or working.

If you can't find any classes, at least invest in some proper course books. The universities I studied at used either Minna no Nihongo (main book in Japanese only, need the English, or your native language, supplement), Genki (starts out all in English/romaji, and gradually introduces kana and kanji), or one other I don't recall the name of. For supplementals, I had found the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar set useful. A good electronic dictionary is helpful as well, which will give you many example sentences. http://jisho.org is so/so as well, and free.

Good luck!

Heidi is great.

I also recommend

Panda Go! Panda http://www.amazon.com/Panda-Go-Geneon-Signature-Series/dp/B00012QLUU SO FREAKING CUTE I LOVE IT.

>just as manga is literally just comic books

The split is growing in Japan, classifying comics different from manga. Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san's (an autobio of working at a Japanese bookstore) episode 2 talks about the differences of comics vs manga, as well as the differences between Japanese comics vs foreign comics. Marvel/DC stuff is called "kaigai comics" which means "overseas comics". There's even a convention dedicated to kaigai comics. Episode 3 they even had the real Frederic Toutlemonde voice himself in the show. He pretty much single handedly created the French comics culture in Japan and facilitates the licensing of French material in Japan. Without him, we'd never have the Radiant anime. Radiant is released under the designation of "Euro manga".

Within Japan, "manga" is losing its catch-all terminology as Japanese manga and Japanese comics are growing in differentiation among Japanese fans. And likewise, Western comics (#bless hollywood superhero films) and Western manga is is cutting out their own names. Language changes with time and with fandoms so Japan will eventually have different names for different things as commonplace as we have in English with anime, manga, cartoons, manhwa, manhua, webtoon, OEL, graphic novels, and comic books in our everyday vernacular.

There's the original DS games

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

Game 5



And another, extremely rare/expensive crossover ace attorney game on 3DS (it can only be imported from japan)


The games are effectively a cross between anime and visual novel.

Ratings on MAL = Hype/or Nostalgia.

If you truly enjoyed it you should support it.

Valkyria Chronicles is not only an amazing PS3 game, which the first in the series was brought over to the West, but the anime is quite good too and it even keeps the art style of the game.

It is quite cheap on Amazon right now.

EDIT: It got a 9/10 from IGN.

Yeah I also found this old thread it seems to suggest the only published version of the dub was on a Japanese R2 DVD that is out of print. I found this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laputa-Castle-Sky-Anna-Paquin/dp/B00005R5J4/ref=sr_1_13?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1526218960&sr=1-13&keywords=laputa+castle+in+the+sky But i'm not sure if its the same as this http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VWDZ-8014 which the guy in that thread suggests was the version I'm looking for. The first link says its the Anne Paquine version but that wasn't released until 2003, but the amazon links two disk image looks like the 2002 version I'm looking for. I'm confused!

Sasameki Koto is pretty decent (the ending is little rushed). I recommend you avoid Aoi Hana, since the ending is sort of terrible.

Some other titles I've read and enjoyed:

Voiceful

Sorairo Girlfriend

Sisterism

Kono Negai ga Kanau nara

Husky and Medley

Hoshikawa Ginza Yonchoume

Kashimashi

Tokimeki Mononoke Jogakkou

When ADV originally released Evangelion on DVD, it looked really crappy due to bad transfer. Then in 2005 they released the platinum edition that looked much better due to a better transfer. This edition also had director cuts for 4 episodes that help explain things/feed into the End of Evangelion Movie. Sadly the Evangelion Platinum edition is rare, and very expensive. New its going for about 400, and used 100. I would check craigslist, I picked up my box set a few months ago for 30 bucks. Otherwise, I would just probably download it. Also, while the new movies are good, I would recommend that you watch the TV series first, then the End of Evangelion movie, then the new movies.

My recommended "optimal" order is as follows-

Bake^1 > Kizu^2 > Neko> Nise> Second Season> Hana> Tsuki> Owari> Koyomi

--------------------------
^1 Note: Crunchyroll is missing episodes and is poor quality, don't watch it there.

^2 Note: only Kizu Part 1 of 3 is as of yet available to watch, so you have to read the (fantastic) novel. If you dont want to read the novel, just watch Kizu: part 1 anytime after Bake. Or dont. It won't have much effect since you won't know the conclusion. But knowing the whole story will definitely change your perspective on much of the show.

I saw an old comment that this link is supposed to have two English dubs in it? Maybe one is the one you need, though the thread it was on is over 10 years old and the item listing may have changed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B000CBEWYW/ref=s9_asin_image_1/203-0243712-9074339

http://www.onlineghibli.com/tavern/thread.php?threadid=1269&boardid=4

http://www.amazon.com/Satoshi-Kons-Paranoia-Agent-Collection/dp/B0009RQS7I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416110791&sr=8-2&keywords=paranoia+agent

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Blood-1-Masasumi-Kakizaki/dp/2355925496

I would wait on Excel Saga. It's not bad, but you are correct in that it relies heavily on parody for humor. This will be a problem not only because you're just getting into anime, but also because all of the references will be at least thirteen years old. The Imperfect Collection had a subtitle track that explained all of them, but even if you are able find it I would suggest waiting on this one.

Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Anime) - MAL | Hummingbird | Crunchyroll | Trailer

Black Lagoon (Anime) - MAL | Hummingbird | ADN (FR) | Animax (UK) | Funimation | Hulu | Youtube | Trailer


Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Anime) - MAL | Hummingbird | Crunchyroll 480p | Hulu | Netflix | Trailer


Tokyo Ghoul (Anime) - Funimation

>Season 1 - MAL | Hummingbird |

>Upcoming Season 2 - √A - MAL | Hummingbird | Trailer


Naruto (Anime series) | Trailer

>Part 1 - MAL | Hummingbird | Hulu | Prime

>Part 2 - Shippuuden - MAL | Hummingbird | Hulu

Thanks god I'm french then :\^) 1, 2, 3, but sadly no remaster to be found (I don't have the stuff needed to watch bluray/4K anyways :V)

I think that his statement is taken out of context, yes.

Just because the author is trying to cordially forewarn readers of the nature of the product they are buying--probably out of goodwill to the consumer--that is not a reason to take statements out of context to dictate to new fans a sub optimal, borderline nonsensical viewing order for the anime adaptations. Especially when anyone who has been around this community realizes the vast majority of us initially got into the Fate franchise through Fate/Zero. Not everyone, mind you, but most of us did. (This statement is supported by the data analytics of MAL, which has about 300k more ratings associated with Fate/Zero than Fate/Stay Night.) Statistically, for us to then turn around and say to new viewers no, go read the visual novel or go watch this worse anime adaptation that follows the publishing order, is just plain hypocrisy. Fate/Zero is what brought acclaim to the franchise as far as this anime community is concerned. That's where we should point and refer new viewers.

Furthermore, if you ever happen read any fiction, you'd realize that you see prefaces/statements like the one Gen Urobuchi made all the time. Patrick Rothfuss did so in his interquel novella for Kingkiller Chronicles. George R.R. Martin did the same exact thing with the preface to his Takes of Dunk and Egg prequel series, warning readers that the novels were nothing like A Song of Ice and Fire. Steven King does this as well in his second edition of The Stand, warning that he significantly changed and expanded the story from the original release, "while you are a safe distance away from the cash register". You can't use prefaces as the basis for recommended view orders because the context of these statements were not made to address issues related to various adaptations of these authors' work. Instead, you'd have to refer to interviews where these issues are specifically addressed by the content creators in order to form a definitive consensus. (Which are not always available, mind you.) In this case, Gen's statement has nothing to do with the Ufotable anime adaptations released since 2011. As such, it shouldn't continually be used as the basis for a view-order.

Edit: Let me address your final criticism...For posterity's sake.

>Furthermore, nobody makes the argument that you need Fate/Stay Night to understand Fate/Zero, but rather that Fate/Zero has massive spoilers for Fate/Stay Night. Your interview with Aoki has no mention of this problem.

I have spent countless hours attempting to contextualize this statement. It's what most fans immediately claim but it's only semi-true because the main spoilers are not related to Fate/Stay Night, but rather, Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel. (The third route of Fate/Stay Night.) Where the conspiracies and background of the families fighting for the Holy Grail are finally revealed to audiences. The problem with this argument is that the spoilers go both ways, and nobody ever mentions a compiled list of spoilers for Fate/Zero by following up on this recommendation. You can find a list of spoilers related to this recommendation here, but really, the biggest loss by following this recommendation is knowing who the protagonist and antagonists are in Fate/Zero, and who wins in their conflict...which is not initially clear unless you are coming from Fate/Stay Night. The story functions as an incredibly suspenseful third person conflict, (usually in anime we have a clearly-defined hero who we see the story from their perspective.) and is one of the only examples in all of anime where this is true. It's a very sad thing to just casually disregard and throw away for the sake of preserving the sanctity of a spoiler-free experience of Fate/Stay Night.