Thoughts on these anime titles

[Hitokiri]

K, I plan on trying out some new anime and I was wondering how good thing titles are:

Noir
Someday's Dreamers
Last Exile
Gungrave
Haibane Renmai
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Oh my Goddess

Thanks ^_^

[Nate]

I will only comment on the title I have seen, Ah! My Goddess.

Sexual content: In the first episode, Keiichi thinks about what could possibly happen with him and Belldandy living alone, and pictures her in a nightgown, but quickly dismisses the thought as "Who knows what would happen if I tried something like that?" In the final episode, Belldandy is briefly nude as she changes to her goddess clothing, but it is not explicit and is only for a second or two (no worse than a Barbie doll, to put it simply).

Violence: None to speak of, really.

Language: I think "d" and "h" show up a couple of times, but nothing beyond that that I can recall.

Bad religion: Now, you may have noticed that I keep referring to the "goddesses." Now, they aren't really "goddesses," more like angels I guess you could say. They're born (in fact in the final episode you see Belldandy as a child), and their powers are limited by the license they hold (ex: Belldandy is a goddes first class, while Urd is a second class limited). It's actually fairly innocent, nothing that should offend you too deeply.

It is five episodes long, with one movie, and the movie is FANTASTIC. I highly recommend it. It was the first anime I watched after "Akira" got me interested in the genre, and it greatly strengthened my interest in the art form.

[Mangafanatic]

Noir: I've seen the first 3 volumes and I LOVE this series. The fight scenes are enough to make you drool (and sometimes gag). AS far as content goes, there is one woman-to-woman kiss, but it's a Judas style seal of death and not a sexual display. That really weirded my sister out, but, if you just remind yourself that the same thing happened in the Bible, you really should get too hung up over it.

Also, Mireille and Kirika kill alot of people. Luckily, I haven't see any gushing blood or anything. Honestly, I haven't really see any blood. I don't remember who said it, but it was one said of Noir that the only thing "gratuitous" about it is the number of bullet casings we see. Also, the ladies sometimes get a little creative with their weapons of choice and use things like [spoiler]forks and glasses[/spoiler] to knock people off. Furthermore, there's a review in our review section and that can cover what I missed (apparently there's a pond and shower scene later in the series, unfortuneately.)

Last Exile-- I haven't gotten the last two volumes, but this is one rockin' story. There's next to no fanservice in this anime, and the wealth of background in the Last Exile world is incredible. ( As far as fan service goes, there is one tiny little incident where we get a "Claus Cam" of a lady's rather busty top, but it's only a couple seconds long.)

Hope that helps.

[agasfas]

Noir: is fairly good. GOod story plot and animation. ALso the music is pretty darn good. Though let me advice, if you're not in to violence, then you may want to skip this one. Though I really enjoyed this title.

Someday's Dreamers: I"ve just finished watching vol. 2. It's about a girl who is in training to become a licensed mage. SO far there has only been one filler episode, which isn't too bad. Also, I found myself becoming attached to some of the characters. Oh, and the animation is superb . This isn't a fast paced anime like noir, but it does has it audience. It's a nice light hearted story with a good plot. I never found an episode that seemed to drag. Personally, at first I didn't think it was going to be that good, but I decided to take a chance on this title. I'm quite impressed. I would rate Someday's Dreamser 8/10.

[Hitokiri]

Thanks..I'm also thinking of trying Fruits Basket but I know what that i slike already ::looks around at all the Fruits Basket topics on CAA::

[Kaori]

I would highly recommend Haibane Renmei. There are a few things that don’t quite line up with Christianity—like the Haibane themselves, which aren’t angels in the Christian sense, just people who happen to have halos and wings. Other than that, it’s a great series. The director said that he drew from his subconscious when writing the story; possibly because of this, there are a number of elements to it that could be viewed as being highly symbolic. The characters are all, in my opinion, very likeable, and it’s the human element of the story more than anything that makes it interesting. There’s also a rather quirky sense of humor present in much of the series, although it fades out some towards the end as the plot becomes increasingly more serious. The only thing I disliked about it was the ending.

[spoiler=Haibane Renmei]The personality of one of the characters, Reki, completely reverses in the last two episodes. Also, the narrative style changes drastically in the final episodes. Aside from a few supernatural things, the laws of physics are mostly in effect in the beginning of the series, but that is not the case at the end. It’s comparable to an author switching from conventional third-person narrative to stream-of-consciousness.[/spoiler]

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

I also would highly recommend Haibane Renmei, if you are into drama - because the series moves quite slowly. It is a title that leads the viewer to a lot of thinking, and is quite clean, minus the use of the alleged "D..." word.

There is also a review of this one, written by PotBelliedCow, in the reviews section - she did a good summary.

[CDLviking]

Noir:AS far as content goes, there is one woman-to-woman kiss, but it's a Judas style seal of death and not a sexual display. That really weirded my sister out, but, if you just remind yourself that the same thing happened in the Bible, you really should get too hung up over it.

There is another girl-to-girl kiss later on in the show that is not Judas style. Major spoiler warning... [spoiler] In the last volume Kirika and the other young assassin girl undergo a cleansing ritual and must bathe together, at which point the other girl takes it upon herself to kiss Kirika, who stands there in a catatonic state. [/spoiler]
Many people have the impression that the same sex kiss warning is referring to the kiss of death, but it is not.

[mitsuki lover]

I only have the manga for Oh My Goddess! but it is pretty hilarious.
However keep in mind that Belldandy and her sisters,Urd and Skuld
are loosely based on the Norns of Norse mythology.

Last Exile,the first half isn't as violent as the second half.Towards the
end there are scenes where one of the main characters is being tortured and another scene that depicts a bloody Roman style gladiator game.
Also plenty of battle sequences throughout.

Gungrave,keep in mind that this series deals with mafia style gangsters.
The hero is a former hit man and there are plenty of shootings.One
episode even depicts a gangland power struggle using man made
zombies.

[Chaps]

Noir- I would definitely recommend this. a great plot, interesting story, nice action scenes.
Gungrave- Another major recomendation. By the makers of Trigun, if that means anything...(if you haven't seen Trigun, then see that too!)...another nice action series with a swell story (but you'll need to tolerate a good chunk of flashback in the beginning).
Haibane Renmei- I haven't watched this series yet, but I've heard a lot of good reviews....if you're expecting an action packed fight anime, then you'll be disapointed... this is a more serious drama anime (like said earlier), filled with a lot of psychological-intriguing themes and symbolism...in-depth stuff like that.

I'd also recomend Ah My Goddess, it's a real sweet (but too short) romance anime...

Samurai Deeper Kyo- Okay, this is the only thing on the list I wouldn't reccomend... If you like some action and a kinda nifty story, who knows, you might like it. But I think this series biggest weakness was the animation....simply terrible. A lot of stills (still pictures moving accross the screen with those "movement lines" in the background used basically as the cheapest form of animation- laziness) and other animation short cuts that can be easily pointed out. But if you aren't that much of a critic and aren't picky like that, you might find this a bit enjoyable.

[TrigunX89]

The only one of those series which I have seen through in its entirety is Noir.

A pretty good plot. The story unravels a bit slow, and flashbacks get a little repetitive, but the cool action makes up for that easily. After the third volume or so, the story really picks up. I'd say it's a really good anime.

As for violence - a lot of people get killed... Let me say that again - a lot of people get killed. But it's all very stylistic and there is almost NO blood in the series, except for some lying on the ground in flashbacks.

As for nudity/sexuality, there was only one scene that really bothered me. Sure, there was the 'kiss of death' but there was also the scene that CDLviking mentioned in the spoiler tag. I thought it was completely unnecessary and sorta ruined a little bit of the show for me. Other than that, it's pretty clean. Not much fanservice. There were two other shower/bath scenes, I believe, but nothing is shown.

Anyways, there is a review for many of these in the review section. Check it out.

[ClosetOtaku]

I am a huge fan of Haibane Renmei, and consider it the best 'thinking' anime ever produced. It is still on Anime News Network's Top 10 list (but will probably fall off that once Howl's Moving Castle is widely available).

Kaori, you and I will have to agree to disagree on the ending, which I thought was thoroughly consistent with the rest of the series (both in a narrative and theological sense).

Anyways, I highly recommend the following for maximum viewing pleasure: (a) Stay away from spoilers, including the backs of the DVD cases; (b) watch in Japanese -- the dub is probably one of the better ones, but I find the Japanese voice actresses much more convincing; (c) don't marathon it; (d) be patient, it starts out slow, almost comatose, but that will change.

I certainly hope you get a chance to watch it and ponder. If you're really hooked, I can suggest a particular website where we've gotten into some very deep discussions on theology and symbolism, among other things.

[termyt]

I could get into a lot of trouble for saying this, but I really didn't care for Noir. It is visually stunning and it has a great soundtrack - one of my favorites - but I had a hard time with the plot of the show. I'm just not sure that being a hitman is ever justifiable, and, even though they typically only accept jobs on "evil people" who "deserve to die," a couple of their jobs definitely had me wondering. (As if anyone save God and His ordained governments have the right to determine who deserves to die.) The fact is, none of the characters has any kind of moral fiber I find redeeming.

Oh, My Goddess also has some disturbing things about it, but these are mostly superficial. Belldandy and her sisters are called “goddessesâ€