Anime. Opinion and recommendations.

[Lovely Mixture]

It's a Deconstruction of the "Magical Girl" Genre.

I'll recommend Madoka as much as you, but can we please stop this "it's a deconstruction." It doesn't really add anything when recommending the series.

 

[o_d]

Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop

...all you need.

 

[DeltaEdge]

I find the lack of Fairy Tail, Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Beelzebub in this thread...disturbing!

Well, Fairy Tail sucks. Beelzebub isn't much better. I actually find comforting the lack of those

Oh opinions, such wonderful things!

All you mentioned were shounens, you're almost 20...
I mean, I love some shounens, but the ones you mentioned are kind of the worst ones.
Naruto, one piece, D Gray Man, FMA, Gintama, HunterxHunter are so so much better than those.
PS: excluding fillers, Naruto fillers are terrible.

(Sorry for my late reply, my internet is wretched)

As I said, opinions!

For example, while I did like Naruto, I couldn't seriously keep reading to be honest, after 550 chapters, it really did just become drivel after...honestly, I think the series went downhill when it started Shipudden.

Spoiler: Post Sasuke Vs Itachi spoilers

We learn the truth of Itachi, it was fine reading that, now all Sasuke has to do is kill Danzo and the councilman/woman...but no, he throws a hissy fit and wants to destroy all of Konoha because...um...no reason? Sasuke literally fuvked the series over for me, even during the ninja war, we focused on good villains (Tobi and Kabuto) But we are drawn back to the whiny pus bucket...also, why was Sakura even there? What did she do at all? Even after she got her cool power up, she still cried like an idiot because she couldn't hurt Sasuke

As for One Piece, fight scenes are drawn out (The fight with CP9 is a prime example) Regardless, I really love One Piece.

I also really like D Gray Man and FMA, but have never read Gintama or Hunter X Hunter.

I have not met a single person who has read Naruto from start to present and is still enjoying it. We're all just waiting for it to end to justify the time we spent on it. Any writing talent Kishimoto had evaporated during the Pein Arc.

Kubo (Bleach) is joining him, though he hit rock bottom a while back by entirely recycling a plot with a few characters switched, the egregious DBZ villain, and blowing the chance for a halfway decent ending for the sake of money. He pulled himself up a little bit until recently, when he plunged back to the bottom and began digging furiously.

For all of their fans, the Big Three (Naruto, One Piece, Bleach) really need to die in a hole. They've gone on far too long, and stagnated to the point that they barely get new fans, and lose old ones by the droves.

I definitely agree with you on Bleach needing to end, but I don't know if I can say the same about Naruto and One Piece. Naruto, well it will be ending soon probably, and although my interest in Naruto fizzled out after the Pain Arc and I read it only out of habit, I feel that lately it has actually become rather interesting. I don't know if I'd say that I love it, and I don't think I will ever love it the way that I used to, but I do think that it is starting to wrap up nicely and it certainly doesn't feel to me like they are just continuing to write the story just for the sake of continuing it. I do think that if it does go on after this arc though, it will become absolutely terrible like Bleach so I can agree that it needs to end, but I don't think it needs to "die in a hole" like Bleach does.
I can't, however, agree on One Piece needing to die. I can't say that I have been following One Piece for as long as most others (it's only 3 years younger than I am) but I began to watch it regularly in middle school(when it aired on Toonami), and finally started reading it in the 10th grade, and eventually stopped regularly watching the anime and picked up reading the manga. While I do agree that it can be a bit painful to watch the anime at times due to the massive amounts of episode padding to avoid entire filler episodes, I certainly don't think it has gone on for too long.
The main thing that I think One Piece has over Naruto and Bleach would definitely have to be the pacing, something which most lengthy anime tend to do poorly. Usually, in a poorly paced story, the main character will become stronger than everyone in the world, or even the universe, often times within just a year or so, and it pretty much completely shits all over invalidates all of the hard work that all their rival have put into their training. One Piece doesn't do that. If a foe is too strong, they will lose, or it will be an incredibly hard fought victory. The series has been going for 15 years, and they still are not even strong enough to take on the big dogs like Akainu or Mihawk. The series is clearly taking its time and not trying to rush to the finish line, while still taking the time to tell the story of their adventures while not just getting permanently lost and losing sight of the premise. (Oda says that apparently he already has the ending in mind, and plans for it to be extremely exciting, and that it will make the Marineford war look like nothing, and this helps him keep writing for One Piece)
Those are my feeling on the matter anyways. I think it's fine if you don't like the series, but I would have to highly disagree with saying that it's gone on for too long. I'd say that it still has about a good decade left in it before the story is complete.
But I do respect your opinion and I know that mine is no where near perfect so feel free to correct me if you feel that what I have said is wrong.

 

[Kontarek]

For any Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo fans out there wondering where the director of those two great shows disappeared to, fear not.

Shinichiro Watanabe's latest show is called Sakamichi no Apollon or Kids on the Slope, and aired from April to June of this year in Japan.

The basic premise is that it follows these high school kids who really like jazz in 1960s Japan.

But most importantly, the show also reunites him with composer Yoko Kanno (responsible for Cowboy Bebop's kickass soundtrack as well as other animes like Ghost in the Shell), with the show featuring a crazy good jazz-based soundtrack.

Even if you don't care for the whole high school-based plot I would still highly recommend the show to anyone who loves Cowboy Bebop's soundtrack or jazz in general.

 

[brom0220]

Gurren Lagann, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Darker Than Black are all pretty good (Darker Than Black actually sounds like it might be up your alley and if you enjoyed Code Geass, you will likely enjoy Death Note, if only for the intellectual battles). Toradora is also very good. So is Spice and Wolf if you're looking for something different but refreshingly so. I would also recommend Sword Art Online for something more recent. If you are looking for good cartoons in general and not just things from Japan (I mention this because Boondocks is actually American made), Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra are both great. Young Justice is also good, Sym-Bionic Titan (short-lived as it was) is good, and Wakfu is definitely worth watching.

Spoiler: Hopefully you can read the titles. I still haven't seen even half of these.