Favorite Anime

[Loki]

I know a lot some of you have been coming to UPN on and off for almost 10 years now. And in that time, we've all been exposed to the Japanese animation they call anime. We've all seen at least a few series and I hope we all know what we like by now.

So what's your favorite anime series since... birth?

Now, don't just give a series name. If this anime series really is your favorite anime ever, you should be able to write some details as to why you fell in love with that series, be it the strong plot, the compelling characters, the intense action, the humorous tones, the colorful colors, or the bouncing boobies; you have your reasons and you should state it.

Don't choose rashly either. Really think about it. If it's an older series, do you think you can watch it right now and not find anything so off putting about the series that you will change your mind about it? If it's a newer series, do you think you could look back in five years and still consider that series one of your favorites of all time?

I really do want to understand how you think when making this choice. But if you feel uncomfortable with this, please feel free to abstain from answering. But with this, I hope we can find common ground in our tastes in anime and elsewhere. We can more easily know one another at least in some way that doesn't involve us screaming at each other in the debate forums.

My choice, which I've stated in the past, is Code Geass. I'll post an in-depth explanation later. It's 3AM here.

[Lady Kuno]

Favorite is hard to define for me. It might be easier for me to go with like "most influential". It would probably be both Ranma 1/2 and Gurren Lagann. I'd probably also squeeze Homestuck in there but it's not an anime. Damn you Loki.

For all of these it was mostly the timing. Ranma came at a time where I was always moving, and had the same effect on me as Pokemon (which influenced more game wise than anime wise cause the anime was blargh). I also really liked the story (manga), characters, humor, action, etc. It had it all.

Gurren Lagann also had a pretty big effect on me. I watched it on a day I was feeling particularly depressed (I watched it all that day). I also had no job or direction in life at that point and it's pretty complicated but I'm now a better person now cause of it.


I can go into more detail if anyone cares but I doubt anyone really does. XP

[Doppleganger]

Like Kuno I can't pick a favourite and would have to go with most influential. By that logic, Fate/stay night, Akagi, Kaiji, Ranma 1/2 and One Piece - all early relative to my internet watching career - were pivotal first directions for where my ultimate taste in ideas went.

On-air stuff, pretty much anything Toonami in the late 1990's early 2000's.

[Char]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

On-air stuff, pretty much anything Toonami in the late 1990's early 2000's.

Yup.

Manga has probably influenced my life more than anime, and I like it more overall. My favorite anime...Hikaru no Go and Code Geass. One Piece gets an honorable mention.

For Hikaru no Go, I'm not really sure. It's quite inspirational, and the character development really gets to me. I'm a fan of the sports line of manga/anime (if they're done well of course).

I can relate to Lelouch, and one of my best friends is more of a Suzaku type, so our philosophical debates sometimes have stemmed from Code Geass.

Ledouche.

[Tyranidos]

Code Geass is the best I've seen, but my favorite is probably DB/DBZ. I used to watch it all the time as a kid and have recently rewatched all the episodes. Good times.

[Loki]

I can understand. Putting something as a favorite of all time isn't an easy decision to make for some people. There are probably millions of factors that people can potentially take into account when making decisions like this.

Well, time to explain my decision: Code Geass. Note that there are a lot of spoilers, but this is a 5+ year old series, so I'm not going to push how many spoiler tags I put into this. WATCH THE DAMN SERIES ALREADY GDI!

Code Geass has a lot of key elements I like in any medium, be it gaming, TV, or books. It has a strong plot, well defined characters, great action sequences, drama, suspense, laughs, and a fast pace.

PLOT:

Spoiler: show

The plot is driven forward by the protagonist, Lelouch, lost prince of Britainnia seeking revenge upon his homeland for the murder of his mother and the crippling of his sister. Because of those events, Lelouch has learned to despite authority and nobility, which is ironic in a sense because of Lelouch's geass and the eventual position of power he takes. Still, Lelouch is the series primary focus. His intellect makes him a master strategist, which allows him to to be extremely successful in the Japanese rebellion.

At the beginning of the series, he meets C.C., a supernatural being who grants him the power of geass. With this, Lelouch is finally able to move forward with his plan and thus, drives the plot of the series.

THEMES:

Spoiler: show

Aside from Lelouch, there are two other key characters: Suzaku and Kallen. These two represent opposing philosophies and themes within the plot. Both seek similar goals, but go about it in vastly different approaches.

Suzaku wishes to create peace by gaining authority within the system and finding peaceful solutions when possible. Kallen wishes to free Japan through rebellion and even resorting to terrorism. Suzaku representing a submission to authority while Kallen represented free-will. Both clashed philosophically and physically in combat and neither side every truly defeating the other. As both Suzaku and Kallen are a very large part of Lelouch's life, both have a strong influence on him.

DRAMA:

Spoiler: show

Another influence on Lelouch and theme of the show is loss. Before the series, he lost his mother. Because of this, he works extremely hard to protect his only remaining family, his younger sister Nunally. But Lelouch is a man in a war he started, and so he loses much more. Showing how he deals with his loss is also a driving force of the plot.

At the ending of the first season, Lelouch gives up his rebellion and seceded to Euphemia, his half-sister and still Royal Princess of Britainnia, who devises a peaceful solution to the Japanese Rebellion. Unfortunately, this is ruined by Lelouch's uncontrolled geass and Lelouch accidentally drives her insane. Lelouch is forced to murder Euphemia, a girl he claims was his first love to stop her rampage.

The death of this character marked something quite important. Firstly, the series showed it was willing to allow characters to die, not just nameless, faceless, unknown grunt soldiers. Real characters the audience had developed feelings for (be they good or bad).

This large loss is pushed again during the second season when Rolo murders Shirley. Shirley was pushed heavily as a love interest for Lelouch, but it was not until second season that Lelouch and Shirley really got anywhere. Then, Shirley finally accepts Lelouch as both her beloved Lulu and Zero, the man who caused killed her father in battle, she was taken away. This moment devastates Lelouch and pushes him even further to end Britainnia and the Geass Code.

This second death does something else though. It also creates more drama. It shows that absolutely no character is protected from possible death. Every moment when a character is in a near death scenario, the audience really felt that they could likely die.

This caused the detonation of FLEIJA (a nuclear bomb) in Tokyo to really feel like many of the characters we believed to be killed were in fact killed. Nunally included as she was believed to be caught in the blast.

This ultimately leads Lelouch down the path of almost madness. Driven out of the Black Knights, the sacrifice of Rolo (whom he hated prior to this and an additional loss), and the apparent loss of Nunally, Lelouch submits to undermining Britainnia by abusing his geass. He continues all the way to the top, making himself the new Emperor of Britainnia.

Because of the loss of so many characters already, when it is finally revealed that Nunally is alive later on, it becomes more powerful a surprise. Having lost so much, the loss of Nunally felt real. When she is revealed alive, it has more impact on the audience.

Now, loss isn't unique to Code Geass. There are many series which uses loss as a tool, but Code Geass does it well. In the series My-HiME, the story shows the death of several key characters, but the show is ruined when on the final episode, they're all brought back to life by some miracle. This really ruined it for me with My-HiME. Code Geass didn't do this.

While Nunally did come back, it didn't exactly end as a happy reunion with a happy ending. But was a tool of surprise and creating a moral dilemma for Lelouch. Now forced to go directly against his sister, Lelouch could either surrender to her and fail his final objective (which was originally all for her!) or he could fight her. This showed a great conflict of character for Lelouch. Another obstacle.

CHARACTERS:

While Lelouch, Suzaku, and Kallen are easily the most important characters, there is still a much larger cast on Code Geass. These characters are all from classmates of Lelouch, members of the Black Knights, members of Royal Britainnian Empire, and so on.

Despite all the large cast, many are still given at least some development, but not so much as to bog the show down with unimportant events. Series like Naruto and Bleach flood their audience with so many characters and so many stories for each one, it drifts away from the focus of the story. Code Geass doesn't do that.

ACTION:

Code Geass employs mecha battles for the primary form of battle. This is a common thing used to substitute real fighting. While people still die in the series, watching war with real people has it's limits. Firstly, depicting such violence can be disturbing to viewers, thus mecha are used to curb the graphic nature. At the same time, it can show super-human abilities without using actual super-human abilities, now substituted with different high powered mecha and piloting skills.

With that explained, the action in Code Geass is really high up there. Violence and all that cool shiny super laser powers and such. In addition, as I mentioned in the drama section, death feels like a real possibility. Several characters die. This increases tension and makes action scenes more exciting.

FUN:

In the typical anime/manga story build, a series will start with fun, happy episodes to make audiences love their characters. Then follow with dark, dramatic, plot heavy scenes in the latter half.

Code Geass doesn't really break from this mold. But it's still very enjoyable. Lelouch and all of his schoolmates are still teenagers and so having fun is still a part of life, even if you are secretly running a rebellion.

Many of the great dramatic moments are because the fun moments were so well done. Audiences are easily able to develop a relationship with the various characters and so once something bad happens, the audience will feel for them.

IN CONCLUSION:

I started this with a grade A headache and have been working since I got on the computer around 2PM until about now to get it written up. I've probably lost all objectivity and am lost into the details. So I need to close up.

Code Geass is an extremely well done show. It balances fun, humor, action, drama, strong themes and a powerful plot into one big package. It never sidetracks itself with filler and doesn't ruin itself with some major bullshit moment.

[Doppleganger]

I never would have dreamed what Loki brought up - Suzaku-Kallen, in how their perpetual ties paralleled their clashing beliefs and how one isn't absolutely better than the other. Suzaku winning suggesting he's right sometimes, Kallen winning suggesting she's right in other instances.

You really should talk more with us Loki. :V

[nerubi]

For now, Gintama )