But did you read the manga version first? Most American anime fans that have seen (at least some of) the Endless Eight didn't, nor do they understand the significance of the #8 in Japanese culture. If Japan had the same perspective on numbers that I do, (which is that there's nothing special about them) then I would agree with about 3 or so, rather than 8.
To be fair, I haven't really gone into what I don't like on a clear level; compared to what I don't like and why, I have still been quite vague.
Also, based off of the title of this thread, and the first few posts in here, it was my impression that we were to discuss the latest anime and what we thought of it. I gave my two cents about that, which is that what I know is uninteresting and that I can wait for these "great" shows to be easier for me to access at a future date (which that last part I didn't make too clear on).
I like shows that are comical, depending on the style used. Ranma 1/2, for example, was zany and creative, while throwing in a lot of cultural elements that made me pick up a book and research what certain things were and meant to the Japanese (and sometimes Chinese) people. Also, how many anime titles before 1988 mentioned the Amazons and a possible theory to what happened to them?
Blue Seed is another that I really like; in fact, that is the series that lead me to becoming an American otaku (and yes, there is a difference between our perceived definition of that word and what the Japanese see in that term). Blue Seed had plenty of humor, while having a great deal of monster-based action and a s*** ton of Japanese cultural elements to it. I also read the manga just about a year ago; it is one of the few cases in which the anime was CLEARLY better than the manga (even though the manga did have something cool happen in it that I wish was in the anime...).
The final show that I will mention is The Slayers, both the TV series and the OVAs. This was based off of a DnD game, from what I understand, which essentially means that it's sort of a European-esque world done from an Asian perspective. From other anime titles that I've seen that was like this from that time period (such as Record of Lodoss War and Dragon Half), The Slayers was the most comical while still being the "most accurate" with pre-Renaissance Europe. Many of Lina's adventures were weird and zany (there's that word again...), but every now and then we see great feats that shouldn't be done by mere mortals, such as kicking "the devil's" butt TWICE!
...gotta go again; my son needs me.
