7th Station ~TV, movies, games~

[Starra]

I only watched Eva a couple of years ago... I didn't enjoy it that much, lol. I mean, I get that it was influential and it wasn't bad but eh. I didn't care about any of the characters (people hate on Shinji too much though)...

Though it is one of those series that I feel like people should watch -- same with GitS. Other series that are "essential" imo are SnK (it's actually decent though), Clannad, Lucky☆Star (it got lots of people into anime) and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. And probably others, like maybe Gundam, but that's long as fuck. Same with Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.

Also everyone should watch Kuroko no Basket even though it's not "essential" because it's a really good series. Like, REALLY good. Not just enjoyable... it's super solid. It's about basketball, sure, but it's sooooooooo good. Please. Please watch it.

[Denki]

Out of that list, only SnK and Haruhi are the only ones I like. I'm not a fan of Clannad, but Iove Clannad After Story.

I should try out Kuroko no Basket one of these days...

[Celedam]

And probably others, like maybe Gundam, but that's long as fuck.

For Gundam, I recommend that people start with the self-contained, 13-episode 0083: Stardust Memory. It's starting to show its age, but it still feels relatively modern and mature. It's also a classic and very representative Gundam story that references the rest of the Universal Century (UC) timeline without getting bogged down by the Amuro-Char rivalry, the Federation-Zion politics, or the Newtype silliness. (Of course, many fans say those things are what classic Gundam is all about, so… *shrug*)

I can't keep up with the more recent Gundam series. They keep the archetypes and just rewrite the setting over and over again. It's like a string of parallel worlds, and in almost every one, it's a replay of Amuro versus Char. Yeah, 0083 did it too, but it was the first to do it. It had not yet become a trope.

[Zunu]

Speaking of GitS, I watched Appleseed Alpha recently. The CG quality is pretty stunning. The main characters are a beautiful yet tough and fearless mercenary named Deunan and her cyborg comrade Briarios. The main flaw with this animation are that they just aren't very interesting people. They're kind of wounded and moody in a very formulaic manner. The ostensibly human Deunan is in all manner of gunfights, explosions, and falls from incredible heights yet emerges with nary a scratch. It's as if she were a Ferrari in one of those old racing sims where the cars weren't allowed to incur any visible damage. Meanwhile her cyborg buddy gets plenty of scrapes and dings but I guess it's okay since he can be repaired. It was still a decent movie, but don't expect to feel even the slightest emotional investment in the characters. There's a kind of sexy, curvy, evil cyborg adversary if you're into that kind of thing.

[JonCC]

I can't keep up with the more recent Gundam series..

As someone who has kept up, I'd actually recommend Gundam 00 for someone wanting to get into a Gundam series but who has never watched one before

For the following reasons:
- A self-contained story, not connected to the Universal Century, so there's no backstory to learn or many references missed.
- Fluid, gorgeous animation (not Unicorn level but it get's pretty close at times).
- Primary characters are decent enough but it's the secondary characters that are particularly well executed.
- Great sound design.
- Actual humor. As in the bits that are supposed to be funny, actually are.
- Some of the best designed 'grunt mobile suits' in the whole Gundam metaverse (at least to me).
- Sublime space battles (with asteroids, atmosphere fights, space elevators,... you name it)
- A hilarious commentary track with the voice-actors & producer.

There are two seasons, leading up to a movie.
I have put off watching the film for now because (see spoiler)...

Spoiler: show

...it introduces aliens in the Gundam universe which seems a bit iffy to me, but i'll get around to it eventually...

...but both seasons are quite enjoyable on their own. without the movie.

Watch 00, and then start the whole UC timeline.
Just avoid ZZ. That series I find at times to be quite unwatcheable (the whole Moon-Moon arc is just weird and pretty terrible).
Calling After War Gundam X the so called 'black sheep' of the franchise is quite unfair given that ZZ exists.
Go read a wiki if you want the story instead.
3/4 of the episodes don't even advance the plot in any meaningful manner anyway.

And yeah, Stardust Memory is great. Some wonderful moments in that.
Until the release of Unicorn that was to me the highlight of the UC timeline.

I'm actually working my way through Victory right now.
It's.. pretty grim, to say the least.

[Mirai]

I can't keep up with the more recent Gundam series.

Last one I watched was Gundam AGE, and I had hard time really getting into it. I know that there's some off shoots people were really enjoying, like Gundam Builders, but I basically got a point where I realized that the new Gundam stuff wasn't being catered my liking anymore, and I'll just stick to my old favorites.

Just avoid ZZ. That series I find at times to be quite unwatcheable (the whole Moon-Moon arc is just weird and pretty terrible).

Oh god, the Moon-Moon arc was... yeah. I found some parts of ZZ really funny, but some parts were just like... uh what??

[Denki]

As for someone not into mecha anime, Gundam 00 is definitely one of the few to catch my attention. It is also a great anime to recommend to a person of the female gender since it has significant amount of female fans.

Gundam SEED is also popular with the ladies, but it was bad anime and it's sequel is even worse.

[JonCC]

Oh and one more thing in Gundam 00's favor.

I rest my case.

[stam4o]

Also everyone should watch Kuroko no Basket even though it's not "essential" because it's a really good series. Like, REALLY good. Not just enjoyable... it's super solid. It's about basketball, sure, but it's sooooooooo good. Please. Please watch it.

SLAM DUNK
Manga.

I'm just gonna go on and affirm with all my might that Takehiko Inoue is not only one of the best mangakas to ever exist but also, as an artist in general, he's already demonstrated by his versatility and works of all kind that he's on the top. And it's a given, his manga works show it completely.

So... I've heard really wonderful critiques about Kuroko, in fact I'm gonna read/watch it too someday, but Slam Dunk is "essential".

[Starra]

I've been meaning to Slam Dunk at some point. People say Kurobas copied some things from it, but eh. Always on the lookout for more good sports anime.

I don't care about sports or boys, but give me an anime with boys playing sports and I'll most likely love it. (Kurobas, Free!, Haikyuu!...)

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My problem with things like Gundam is that I feel the need for speed to watch series from beginning to end -- in chronological order. And I can't skip anything. So if I started Gundam, I'd have to start with the first series and work my way up to the most recent incarnation.

I'd also have to watch all the OVAs/movies/specials and the like, too.

God damn completionist brain .