Well that was much better than expected.

[[Kira Must Die]]

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia:

When I first watched the first episode, I didn't see it as anything special or worth picking up, so I didn't bother watching it when it was airing. I decided to pick it back up after it finished airing just to pass the time, and it ended up being the best anime I've seen that year, with an interesting plot and mystery, stylish visuals, and a great soundtrack.

Girls Und Panzer:

I expected to be more juvenile and gimmicky, but it really did end up being rather tame, being more about tanks than it was about cute-girls-doing-cute-thing-and-there's-tanks-somewhere-too. Also, despite no one dying, the tank fights were surprisingly intense. It was just a fun watch.

Chihayafuru:

The only reason I watched this was because it looked pretty. I'm not into sports or card game anime, but I loved the hell out of this one. It has one of the most likable female leads I've seen in an anime, and the karuta games more intense than any moment in Attack on Titan (Which I do like, by the way.)

Oblivion Island:

I'm not a fan of CGI anime, like, at all, and the only reason I really watched this was because Christine Marie Cabanos was in the dub and I find her insanely adorable. What I got was a fun, innocent little movie that was surprisingly touching at parts. The CGI, while wasn't Pixar or Dreamworks quality, was very colorful and fairly creative. There was even a character that I grew so attached to that I literally screamed at my screen when something happen to him (Not spoiling what, though.) If a movie can get that sort of reaction out of me, it's a sign of a good movie.

 

[Fox12]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it other than @Legion had an avatar came from it. They have pretty good taste in anime so I stuck with it, even though the first two episodes were... not very appealing.

Boy am I glad that I did. If you're an anime fan, or even if you're not, I highly recommend it. It's basically the Neon Genesis Evangelion of the magical girl genre, but better.

Damn, what's with the Japanese having to turn everything into psychological horror?

You know what Sailor Moon needs? Psychological horror.

Gundam is great and all, but do you know what it could use? Some psychological horror.

You know what Pokemon needs? You guessed it. Psychological horror!
Reminds me of Narutaru. The beginning is slow as dirt, but holy cow does the book get good. Basically Pokemon, of all things, meets Neon Genesis. Only more depressing.

In any case, I may try this out, is at least has me curious.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Berserk

Happened over time. I read the first 3 volumes and thought it to be the stupidest, most juvenile and macho overblown "PHWOAAARRR!!!" power fantasy manga I'd ever read. But when I read it and then read it for the second time I started to see all the layers beneath all the gore and tits, and now I consider it to be up there with ASOIAF as one of the best fantasy works I've seen. I still think the first story arc is the very worst the series has to offer though.

It's used to set the stage, and as an appetizer for the story that is to come. Whenever I re-read the series I always see it as a warm-up act.

And no, the worst thing this series has to offer is the Berserk armor.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Berserk

Happened over time. I read the first 3 volumes and thought it to be the stupidest, most juvenile and macho overblown "PHWOAAARRR!!!" power fantasy manga I'd ever read. But when I read it and then read it for the second time I started to see all the layers beneath all the gore and tits, and now I consider it to be up there with ASOIAF as one of the best fantasy works I've seen. I still think the first story arc is the very worst the series has to offer though.

It's used to set the stage, and as an appetizer for the story that is to come. Whenever I re-read the series I always see it as a warm-up act.

And no, the worst thing this series has to offer is the Berserk armor.

Apples and oranges, but I really don't think the warm-up act needed to go on for nearly 3 volumes. Especially since everything it establishes is basically re-established during the Golden Age arc: the Behelit, the Apostles, the violent nature of the world, the Brand of Sacrifice, Guts' violent temper etc. There's only so many times you can show Guts slaying dozens of enemies on his own and people being awestruck by his fighting abilities before the reader starts going "YEAH I GET IT!"

 

[Scarim Coral]

Two animes that come to my mind-

Gundam Build Fighter- When I originally read the synopis I expect it to be the Bayblade or children card game of Gundam and fan service which the latter is true.
Sure it's still is one big ads to sell their models but it's not as overally kiddy as I expect it to be and I actually do enjoyed watching it. I think it's because it's a welcome change from the whole war drama that Gundam franchise is usually associated and it's funny seeing the characters doing the image emotion (e.g. the sweatdrop) than just express it.
Granted I do wish they did make fun of itself a littlebit (like someone complain the expensive cost of the Gunpla or have a character that mention the war drama aspect of the series).

Tiger and Bunny- Also when I read the synopic, I thought I would hated it cos the idea of having a gameshow based of sponsor wearing superheroes made me put off on my ideology of superheroes (a superhero should do good for truth and justice well for what is right) so I was expecting them to be quite vain and reading the buddy cops thing make me think of the cliche cop films of the 80's.
When I finally did watched it, it was far more better than I expected to the point that I consider that anime to be in my top 10 favourite animes of all time. The reason why I liked it so much was that it felt more like a Western show then it did as Eastern (no big boob girl, most of the characters look more Western and the setting is US looking too) and I grew to liked the characters too.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Apples and oranges, but I really don't think the warm-up act needed to go on for nearly 3 volumes. Especially since everything it establishes is basically re-established during the Golden Age arc: the Behelit, the Apostles, the violent nature of the world, the Brand of Sacrifice, Guts' violent temper etc. There's only so many times you can show Guts slaying dozens of enemies on his own and people being awestruck by his fighting abilities before the reader starts going "YEAH I GET IT!"

Well the thing is, the reason the Golden Age arc works as well as it does, is because we already kinda know what happens. We know Griffith is going to betray Guts, we know the Behelit is the key to the Godhand, and we know of the existence of the Apostles. We see the Behelit and the Apostles in the Golden Age arc, but within that storyline they're never explained. It's because of the Black Swordsman arc that we have prior knowledge, which the following arc plays with brilliantly.

The first time Griffith shows Guts the Behelit they treat it as nothing more but a rather peculiar necklace, but we as the audience already know what dark fate hides behind it. All the companions Guts makes during this period weren't there in the first 2 and a half volumes, so what happened to them? Are they all going to die, or will some of them survive? The entire arc is filled with this kind of foreshadowing, where the story is playing with us untill it finally delivers the coup de grace.

The Black Swordsman arc is the platter on which the magnificence that is the Golden Age arc is presented to us.

However, I will say that the first two or so pages of volume one are probably one of the stupidest thing about the story. But I guess at that point Miura probably didn't have a real story behind Guts' character yet. Because if there's anyone who wouldn't take sex lightly, it's Guts. Especially post-Eclipse Guts.

 

[DEV1ANTGAMER]

Tips for watching Madoka Magica

1. Be sure to make it past the first 2 episodes. Actually, the first 3. This seems like alot for a series that's only 12 episodes long, but it IS worth it.

2. Watch it in Japanese with subtitles, the English voice actors are TERRIBLE and don't convey nearly the same level of emotion. Yes, its sad that the actors speaking a DIFFERENT LANGUAGE convey the message better, but they DO.

3. Do NOT watch the movie versions until you've seen the originals. They cut out alot of small details that really have an impact later on for the sake of cramming the whole thing into movie run-times. (IMO, the music in the original is alot better too.)

4. Go in as blind as possible. The plot loses alot of impact if you see the twists coming. (The art styles are still amazing and worth watching it for though, even if you have had the plot spoiled)

5. Do not go into this expecting standard "fight anime" rules. While there are some fights, the fights aren't the point of the show at all, and things like "balancing" all the powers of explaining them in technical terms like Naruto does just don't happen.

6. Do not go into this anime expecting something happy and cheerful, despite the cover art, first 2 episodes, and super happy opening theme. Narratively, this is a TRADGEDY in the Shakespearean sense. That doesn't necessarily mean it's trying to be as grimdark as Death Note, or even that ending is gonna be Bioshock depressing... but it does mean the show has themes of reality conquering ideals, cause and effect without fairness, characters being destroyed by their own flaws, and basically the entire series is a deconstruction that takes it's premise and goes "OK, what if we followed all these ideas out to their logical conclusions?" rather than being a DRAMA in which the hero overcoming all these things. Circumstance and context is honestly a bigger antagonist in this series than the actual antagonist "actors".

7. Watch 11 and 12 together. (Also recommend 9 and 10 together)

8. The next-episode previews are useless. If you really want spoilers, pay attention to the episode titles. Each title ends up being something somebody says over the course of that episode.

9. If you end up hating Homura and thinking she's a generic "quiet type" Mary Sue, don't worry, I felt the same way until towards the end, it's totally worth it.

10. The important cast of this show the consists 99.9% of female characters, so don't go into this expecting shonen heroes. That being said, this anime still has some of the best female characters I've seen since Avatar the Last Airbender.

---

A mostly spoiler-free review if you want to know more, but I'd recommend listening to just the audio, as the visuals are pretty betraying: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/jo/jar/36398-madoka-magica (Just try not to cringe too much at the horrible english dialogue/voice actors. It's honestly MUCH better with subtitles)

If you live in the United States, the anime is hosted legally and free on Youtube, crunchyroll, and even a few Xbox Live streaming services.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Tips for watching Madoka Magica

1. Be sure to make it past the first 2 episodes. Actually, the first 3. This seems like alot for a series that's only 12 episodes long, but it IS worth it.

2. Watch it in Japanese with subtitles, the English voice actors are TERRIBLE and don't convey nearly the same level of emotion. Yes, its sad that the actors speaking a DIFFERENT LANGUAGE convey the message better, but they DO.

3. Do NOT watch the movie versions until you've seen the originals. They cut out alot of small details that really have an impact later on for the sake of cramming the whole thing into movie run-times. (IMO, the music in the original is alot better too.)

4. Go in as blind as possible. The plot loses alot of impact if you see the twists coming. (The art styles are still amazing and worth watching it for though, even if you have had the plot spoiled)

5. Do not go into this expecting standard "fight anime" rules. While there are some fights, the fights aren't the point of the show at all, and things like "balancing" all the powers of explaining them in technical terms like Naruto does just don't happen.

6. Do not go into this anime expecting something happy and cheerful, despite the cover art, first 2 episodes, and super happy opening theme. Narratively, this is a TRADGEDY in the Shakespearean sense. That doesn't necessarily mean it's trying to be as grimdark as Death Note, or even that ending is gonna be Bioshock depressing... but it does mean the show has themes of reality conquering ideals, cause and effect without fairness, characters being destroyed by their own flaws, and basically the entire series is a deconstruction that takes it's premise and goes "OK, what if we followed all these ideas out to their logical conclusions?" rather than being a DRAMA in which the hero overcoming all these things. Circumstance and context is honestly a bigger antagonist in this series than the actual antagonist "actors".

7. Watch 11 and 12 together. (Also recommend 9 and 10 together)

8. The next-episode previews are useless. If you really want spoilers, pay attention to the episode titles. Each title ends up being something somebody says over the course of that episode.

9. If you end up hating Homura and thinking she's a generic "quiet type" Mary Sue, don't worry, I felt the same way until towards the end, it's totally worth it.

10. The important cast of this show the consists 99.9% of female characters, so don't go into this expecting shonen heroes. That being said, this anime still has some of the best female characters I've seen since Avatar the Last Airbender.

---

A mostly spoiler-free review if you want to know more, but I'd recommend listening to just the audio, as the visuals are pretty betraying: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/jo/jar/36398-madoka-magica (Just try not to cringe too much at the horrible english dialogue/voice actors. It's honestly MUCH better with subtitles)

If you live in the United States, the anime is hosted legally and free on Youtube, crunchyroll, and even a few Xbox Live streaming services.

I thought the dub was fine. Honestly to people who hasn't seen it yet I doubt you'll lose anything from watching either dub or sub, and this is coming from a huge Madoka fanboy who've seen the anime countless times.

I agree with everything else, though, although if people do plan on seeing it blind they should also refrain from reading this : P

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Hmmm... let me think
Many things i found distasteful and stupid before testing them for signs of legitimacy
Adventure Time, Mass Effect, The Walking Dead, Oblivion, World OF Warcraft, Deus Ex Revolutonings, and i suppose Dead Space is all right despite the horrid camera