Contemporary Anime/Manga in the vein of Gundam/Macross?

[Whizzer]

Well if you like more classic space opera without any crazy mecha stuff, there is Tytania. Its a very recent anime and has more Trekish Space Battles i.e. big Spaceships and no snub-fighters ala Star Wars. And so far no incredibly gifted teenaged space pilots which is a big plus in my book...

 

[firehawk12]

Ah, that sounds cool too. I'm going to run out of time, especially since I can't run an anime in the background like I do with other media.

 

[CorporalClegg]

What would you put in yours?

Well, seeing has how I've probably only seen about half as many series or so as you, as a "top 100" I suppose mine would look pretty much the same with a few changes. There three or four in that list I haven't seen, and a couple more I can't stand, plus I'd have to make a few additions.

For comparison's sake, I highlighted my top 20.

.hack//SIGN
Ah! My Goddess (TV & OVA)
AIR TV
Aishiteruze Baby
Ai Yori Aoshi & Enishi
Armitage
Azumanga Daioh
Beck
Berserk
Bleach
Blue Gender
Blue Seed
BGC T2040
Blood+
Boogiepop
Clanned
Claymore
Chobits
Chrono Crusade
Code Geass
Cowboy Bebop
Crescent Love
Death Note
D.N.Angel
Elfen Lied
Escaflowne
Eureka 7
Evangelion
Excel Saga
Fate Stay Night
FLCL
Fruits Basket
Fullmetal Alchemist
Full Metal Panic
Full Moon wo Sagashite
Galaxy Angel
Ghost in the Shell
Grave of the Fireflies
Green Green
GTO
Gundam (SEED being my favorite )
Gungrave
Gunslinger Girl
Hayate no Gotoku! (Never laughed so hard in my life!)
Hellsing
Hikaru no Go
His and Her Circumstances
Honey and Clover
Hunter x Hunter
Ichigo 100%
Ichigo Mashimaro
Kannazuki no Miko
Kanon06
Kaze no Stigma
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
KimiKiss
Koi Kaze
Last Exile
Love Hina
Love Love
Lovely Complex
Lunar Legend Tsukihime
Macross
Maison Ikkoku
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya
Midori no Hibi
Minami-ke (Haven't seen season 3 yet)
Mushishi
My-Otome/Hime
Myself, Yourself
Nadesico
Nodame Cantabile
Noir
Onegai Teacher/Twins
One Piece
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Ouran High School Host Club
Outlaw Star
Planet ES
Princess Mononoke
Read or Die
Rurouni Kenshin
Ryoko's Case Files
Sakura Wars
Samurai Champloo
School Days
School Rumble!
Scrapped Princess
Shuffle
Spirited Away
Starship Operators
Strawberry Egg
Strawberry Panic!
Suzuka
Tenchi OVAs
Trigun
Witch Hunter Robin
Wolf's Rain
Vandread
Xenosaga anime

 

[zakkrusz]

Well for the record all the stuff on my list is basically what I rated as 10 (Masterpiece), 9 (Excellent), and maybe a few 8s (Very Good) if I ran out of those respectively so there really isn't much difference in how much I liked them all. I do kind of tend to favor series which were well balanced. What I mean by that is series that I enjoyed but also those which were exceptional in area of production. Things like character development, story quality, music I liked, exceptional visuals/animation, and whether it was conclusive and resolved all plot threads that I cared about.

 

[clint g]

Well for the record all the stuff on my list is basically what I rated as 10 (Masterpiece), 9 (Excellent), and maybe a few 8s (Very Good) if I ran out of those respectively so there really isn't much difference in how much I liked them all. I do kind of tend to favor series which were well balanced. What I mean by that is series that I enjoyed but also those which were exceptional in area of production. Things like character development, story quality, music I liked, exceptional visuals/animation, and whether it was conclusive and resolved all plot threads that I cared about.

looking at your list, it looks like we enjoy almost all the same stuff; I'm especially glad to see another Suzuka fan out there. I thought I was the only one

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
Nonsense. It's one of the better romances out there. It's much more realistic than a lot of anime romances. For instance, Yamato isn't completely clueless like most shonen of this genre are.

 

[Emher]

I mean the actual ending though, where they don't resolve the love triangle. That way ALL the shippers are happy.

Ah THAT end. I thought it was kind of a copout, but I went with it since there's going to be an OVA ecentually and a movie is in the works. Sheryl is by far the best of the girls in my opinion though. Ranka just started rubbing me the wrong way towards the end of the series.

Ranka was creepy because looks like she's 12. It's only when they said she was 16 at some point that I was kind of relieved.

She's not actually, she's 15, Alto's 16, and Sheryl is 17. Yes ages are a bit odd. And Ranka looking like 12 is totally within the bounds of the anime cute girls thingy. The real odd one is Klein Klan who becomes a loli when she micronises

 

[clint g]

^
Nonsense. It's one of the better romances out there. It's much more realistic than a lot of anime romances. For instance, Yamato isn't completely clueless like most shonen of this genre are.

Indeed, which is one of the reasons why I liked it so much. Through my browsing on the internet though, it would seem as if Suzuka caught alot of flack for the title character being a bitch and Yamato being a jerk at times. I, on the other hand, saw quite a few similarities to relationships I had in high school so I guess I was more forgiving of the 2 characters

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
Yeah. I think most of the people who wrote that stuff didn't have girlfriends in high school. That's the way relationships were.

Suzuka wasn't a bitch, she was just unsure of herself and sad. Girls at that age aren't always the best with their feelings.

As far as Yamato, yeah he was kind of an asshole to Honoka, but boys tend to act that way with the first girl who shows any interest in them. They get so caught up at the prospect of "having a girlfriend" that they don't really think things through. I think his actions in "Gift" are pretty normal for a boy his age.

 

[Leroy]

CorporalClegg wrote:
Gundam (SEED being my favorite )

What is your opinion of SEED Destiny?

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
I think it sucks.

 

[miraclefan]

Hey Leroy, thanks for the article ''finaly'' read it. My opinion overall after reading it is rather ''mixed'' I understand why they would want to avoid ''Nukes'' after what happend to them, yet at the same time I find it funny (in a dark way) that they go thru all that trouble to come up with a ''Nuclear'' bomb substitute!? If you don't mind me asking, What is your opinion on all this?

 

[zakkrusz]

Well for the record all the stuff on my list is basically what I rated as 10 (Masterpiece), 9 (Excellent), and maybe a few 8s (Very Good) if I ran out of those respectively so there really isn't much difference in how much I liked them all. I do kind of tend to favor series which were well balanced. What I mean by that is series that I enjoyed but also those which were exceptional in area of production. Things like character development, story quality, music I liked, exceptional visuals/animation, and whether it was conclusive and resolved all plot threads that I cared about.

looking at your list, it looks like we enjoy almost all the same stuff; I'm especially glad to see another Suzuka fan out there. I thought I was the only one

If you enjoyed the anime I suggest reading the manga as well. It continues on past the point where the anime stopped. I'll just say...a lot of stuff happens.

Also yeah there aren't many anime romance series that are actually mostly serious like this one and aren't harem series. I personally was rooting for Honoka, though. A couple in a relationship that can't stop fighting whenever they're together is not a good match in my opinion. Suzuka wasn't a bitch, no, but she's definitely at fault for sending off such skitzophrenic mixed signals. Her transformations from cute and likable to cold, angry, and sometimes vindictive were sometimes really annoying.

Spoiler: stuff

One scene in particular really made me seriously angry at her. It was played down in the anime, but it's the scene with the fireflies. Suzuka asks him to show her how he was going to confess to that random girl and so he does the trick with the firefly and the bell flower. She then proceeds to mess with Yamato's feelings by "agreeing" to date him and then tearing him down and making fun of him. I felt this was extremely cruel at this point because she knew exactly how he felt about her and that it would hurt him. At this point I would have loved for him to hit her or at least be outraged and tell her off but it didn't happen.

However, I thought the anime did indeed work very nicely after they resolved some things. They did a good job in both incarnations in making her actions understandable if not justifiable to the point where I didn't mind her.

I think it sucks.

So do a lot of people. But a lot of their reasoning for toting Seed Destiny as gargage never made any sense to me. The only problems I had with it was all the reused stock footage and the overabundance of recap episodes.

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
Well, for one thing I found Shinn to be the most obnoxious character since B5's Byron. He was just so annoying. But, really, non of the new characters worked. And the whole Minerva crew really didn't inspire much audience reaction. I think that was the problem.

The overall plot of the show was an erratic mess and really seemed to lack focus. I think a lot of that though, was because the writers felt the new crew/characters just weren't working. It almost seemed as if, half way through the show, the new characters were dumped and the old ones brought back in an attempt to save the series. There's like this complete shift in perspective.

All the while, there's this big tangled ball of plot threads that, instead trying to untangle them, they just took out the scissors, chopped them all up into pieces and did there best to glue them back together. The result was what is perhaps the single worst ending to an anime I've ever seen.

And did I mention how much I hate Shinn? I really wish Kira would've kicked his ass.

 

[cylkoth]

^
Well, for one thing I found Shinn to be the most obnoxious character since B5's Byron. He was just so annoying. But, really, non of the new characters worked. And the whole Minerva crew really didn't inspire much audience reaction. I think that was the problem.

The overall plot of the show was an erratic mess and really seemed to lack focus. I think a lot of that though, was because the writers felt the new crew/characters just weren't working. It almost seemed as if, half way through the show, the new characters were dumped and the old ones brought back in an attempt to save the series. There's like this complete shift in perspective.

All the while, there's this big tangled ball of plot threads that, instead trying to untangle them, they just took out the scissors, chopped them all up into pieces and did there best to glue them back together. The result was what is perhaps the single worst ending to an anime I've ever seen.

Agreed, ditto, and QFT. I felt it started off solid, but things just fell apart early on, even before the halfway point, and they simply didn't-couldn't, pick up and run with the plotline. Or do anything. I still haven't seen the final 4 episodes-Netflix didn't have the last disc, and it's not bothering me in the slightest.

And did I mention how much I hate Shinn? I really wish Kira would've kicked his ass.

Join the Pimp Slap Shinn Asuka Club![tm] I'm a charter member. Dear sweet Gundan Freedom, the guy just would not get a clue. I kept wishing someone would blow him up real good. Alas, we don't always get what we want...

 

[zakkrusz]

I don't know, I thought it was really interesting to see ZAFT's side of things. I liked the Minerva's captain and Lunamaria Hawk. I also found the story entertaining enough (was never bored except during the recaps which I just skipped over on the DVDs: problem solved) and the mecha action was cool. As for the Minerva taking a backseat in the second half why would that be a bad thing if you didn't like them? You could have had a good time rooting for Orb to blow them up instead like I did when they were arround. As for the ending I've seen way worse, at least it ended with a positive resolution. That's more than other series get. The Final Plus OVA was a better alternative ending. But yeah, Shin was anoying, but he melloed. At any rate not a flawless series but not garbage either (That would be SD Gundam Force), it's watchable. There's better Gundam series out there though like 0083, 8th MS Team, 00, X, Zeta, etc.

 

[Saul]

The king of anime Space Opera? That would be "The legend of Galactic Heroes".

Yeah, but he wants space opera; not full on soap opera - there's a LOT of long winded dialogue in LoGH

That's what I am afraid of. I kind of want to watch it...but its long....very long...and I'm not sure if i have the energy for such a project. And thats not considering all of the OVAs and movies and spin off series.

Noname I think we both have different views on what Space Opera is because I think LOGH is space opera in the truest sense of the word. The relationships and characters are built up slowly over time, aren't shallow and if these people die you actually care. The space battles which model themself on Navy battles are the most intelligent kind, actually using strategy, not the drug induced battle frenzy of most other anime.

Clint, do you like B5, NBSG? Do you like a long story arc? Do you like Lord of the Rings type scale of story? This is it. If you watch it, stick with it and it will pay off big time. It sets up a lot of characters and pieces. I don't think the dialogue is long and winded but more of a debate between two systems of thinking, government. Certainly thought provoking. I like the fact that while the two main characters are on opposing sides they actually respect each other. Even having never met or seen the other. They believe they could even be friends in another life. Reminds me of ST:TOS Balance of Terror.

 

[firehawk12]

Wow, yeah... 110 episodes. That's a full US series!

 

[Leroy]

miraclefan wrote:
Hey Leroy, thanks for the article ''finaly'' read it. My opinion overall after reading it is rather ''mixed'' I understand why they would want to avoid ''Nukes'' after what happend to them, yet at the same time I find it funny (in a dark way) that they go thru all that trouble to come up with a ''Nuclear'' bomb substitute!? If you don't mind me asking, What is your opinion on all this?

Personally I'd rather issues like nuclear weapons be dealt in an intelligent manner as opposed to dancing around the subject and pretending it doesn't exist. I remember Cartoon Network used the excuse that a show with a war atmosphere was innappropriate afer 9/11 in order to cancel the original Gundam (I know it was BS it was really becuse of low ratings) with everyone screaming and beating thier chests for some kind of war to get revenge.

As for SEED Destiny after seeing the whole thing I think it's probably the worst Gundam show ever made (I don't count SD since that's for kids anyway) the first part was fine I had no problem with the new ship and characters. Then halfway through the series they switch focus from Shinn to Kira and Athrun only to do nothing with them, they stayed the same and didn't develop add in some recap and flashback episodes to kill the pacing and you get the picture. I also wish people in CE would stay dead when thier suit explodes they shouldn't be brought back to life with a small scar on their face. I can't beleive this show was as popular as it was in Japan, it's an example of how producers should stick to their guns and not cave in to whiny internet complaints.

 

[miraclefan]

^Exactly how I feel, I wish people would stop danceing around such serius topics, and just act like ''ADULTS'' And ya I always thought it funny when cartoon network pulled gundam off the air and gave that lame excuse about how it (GUNDAM) was NOW inappropriate after 9/11 ( Okay let me get this straght, WAR is fun during ''peace'' time, but WAR is bad ''DURING'' war time? wtf) But after it wasn't! Wow! Talk about conflicting messeges! And yah!I never did understand why Gundam 00 was ( still IS!) as populer in japan!?! it was not the ''Best'' of the franchise.