Anime

My Short List of Must Watch Comedies

Charlotte

I will be having a nice little block of time in a couple of weeks and I want to relax and just have some fun. And since I have this draw to comedy I thought I would make it a comedy vacation. Here is my showerlist:

  1. Golden Boy
  2. Seitokai no Ichizon
  3. Mayo Chiki!
  4. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
  5. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
  6. Morita-san ha Mukuchi
  7. Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi
  8. Detroit Metal City
  9. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
  10. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
  11. Kore ha Zombie Desuka
  12. Natsu no Arashi
  13. Hayate no Gotoku
  14. Seitokai no Ichizon
  15. Magical Witch Punie-chan
  16. Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan
  17. Ouran High School Host Club
  18. Wagnaria (I want to finish with Working! It's good but a bit silly from time to time)

Some of them I have watched a couple of times, while others will be new to me.

Anime

The Anime Movie List

Charlotte

You might find something that doesn't suit your taste on the list because it is pretty broad and there are some loved/hated works in there as well as a couple of older ones that have been told time and time again. If you encounter one that just doesn't work for you watch it anyway, they often change up and come at the topic from a different perspecitve when you least expect it.

Sci-fi

  • Akira (Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Military)
  • Ghost in the Shell (Mecha, Sci-Fi, Police, Psychological)
  • Redline (Action, Cars, Sci-Fi, Sports)
  • The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi)
  • Jin-Roh (Drama, Romance, Military, Police, Psychological)
  • Memories (Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Psychological)

Fantasy

  • Wolf Children (Fantasy, Slice of Life)
  • Princess Mononoke (Action, Adventure, Fantasy)
  • Howl's Moving Castle (Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance)
  • Nausicaä (Adventure, Fantasy)

Mixed

  • Paprika (Mystery, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Thriller)
  • Castle in the Sky (Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi)

Other

  • Saint☆Young Men (Comedy, Slice of Life)
  • Spirited Away (Adventure, Drama, Romance, Supernatural)
  • Summer Wars (Comedy, Sci-Fi)
  • Sword of the Stranger (Action, Historical, Samurai)
  • Tekkon Kinkreet (Adventure, Psychological)
  • Tokyo Godfathers (Comedy, Drama)
  • Colorful (Drama, Slice of Life, Supernatural)
  • Grave of the Fireflies (Drama, Historical)
  • Kara no Kyoukai (Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Thriller)
  • Perfect Blue (Drama, Horror, Psychological)
Manga

The Shoujo Genre

Charlotte

Shoujo, Shounen, Josei, Seinen, etc.. For the most part I don't really care about the genre as long as the story is good.

Having said that I do avoid some genres because I am not interested in them.

But Shoujo tends to be my favorite.

Shoujo Isn't Tropes

Rivals are well-established tropes in shoujo. The same way that losing and leveling up is a well-established trope for most battle/fighting manga.

Some manga that I think don't have any asshole/bitchy characters:

  • High School Debut
  • Hirunaka no Ryuusei
    • The best shoujo artwork i've seen as well
  • Hanatsukihime
  • Hana Kimi
  • Dangan Honey
  • Karakuri Odette

Pretty oneshot collections by Andou Yuki.

Most of Shimotsuki Kayoko's works are different from the normal conventions. Stuffs made by the mangaka of Natsume Yuujinchou.

I think it's a matter of you finding the right ones to read. Demographics doesn't necessarily equate to content. But anyway, it's not like I'm arguing or anything. It's generally correct but not necessarily true for all. One of the fluffiest and cutest series I've read, even by shoujo manga standards. If you don't like it, too bad.

I have plenty of favorites and also reading at the moment, but Koukou Debut, Strobe Edge, and Akatsuki no Yona are definitely just a few of the best I have read.

Manga

Top Ten Manga of All Time

Charlotte

I was a little shy of the idea of making an all-time list. Not because I didn't think that it was possible, but because a lot of it is subjective. And it really is a personal jounrey which needs to be made.

For me, I first got into the manga that I could relate to and then branched from thete. It was manga that made an impression on me at the time. But my list will not be your all-time list. A good way to go about these things is looking it up by demographic:

  1. Shōnen
    • Manga aimed at a young male audience. Shōnen manga is the most popular form of manga.
  2. Seinen
    • Manga marketed toward adolescent boys and men old enough to read kanji. Seinen manga can focus on action, politics, science fiction, fantasy, relationships, sports, or comedy
  3. Shojo
    • Shojo is a Japanese word for "girl" and is often romanized as either shojo (without a macron) or shoujo. shojo manga is manga aimed at a teenage female readership. This type of manga focuses on many subjects in a variety of narrative styles, from historical drama to science fiction, often with a focus on romantic relationships or emotions.
  4. Josei
    • Josei are manga comics for women in their late teens on into adulthood. The subject matter tends to be both more sexually explicit and contain more mature storytelling, although that is not always true either.

Now look up the top 10 best sellers of each group.

If they've sold so well, there's probably a correlation to that and how fun or interesting they are as experiences.

The List

Must Reads

I will be honest, I did not like all of these the first time I read them (Berserk, you know I am talking about you) but they have all grown on me and are often considered "the cassic manga" works.

  • Berserk
  • Full Metal Alchamist
  • One Piece
  • Hunter × Hunter

On the Radar

  • Shokugeki no soma
  • Koe no katachi
  • My Hero Academia

Great Not Classic

  • Ore ga Doutei wo Sutetara Shinu Ken ni Tsuite
  • Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku
  • Umerareta Yami to Shōjo

If you like those you may find the following title interesting to checkout:

  • 20th Century Boys (or Pluto or Monster)
  • Berserk
  • Yotsuba
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
  • Akira
  • Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō
  • Oyasumi Punpun
  • Lone Wolf and Cub
Anime

Fun for the Whole Family

Charlotte

Humor is key so I picked out a couple of comedies that may make a good point of introduction for anime noobs.

Lucky Star

First we have Lucky Star which is a natural fit for this.

It's very family friendly, no bad language, no real fanservice, and is really funny. The problem is that most of the humor comes from the references to other anime, especially Haruhi and other 80s-early 00s anime.

It's still funny even without that, but many of the jokes are a lot funnier if the context is known.

Cromartie High School

Cromartie High School is very funny and has no nudity, very little violence, and a moderately low amount of swearing if I suggest you watch it first to see if it's something that would be okay for your family though.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is often overlooked as a comedy.

It has a fairly small amount of fanservice and is a great introduction to the rest of the world of anime.

I can only really think of a few problematic scenes that may make this an uncomfortable anime to watch. However, I will say that they are all extremely short and don't really show much.

My Bride is a Mermaid

My Bride is a Mermaid is a great rom-com with very light fanservice (again, just a couple of scenes that aren't very long at all) and has compelling characters and a decent dub.

I know that some people say that My Bride is a Mermaid's dub is bad, but I think that it is wonderful if not fantastic.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is a fantastic fit for this, but it isn't dubbed yet. The dub was announced not too long ago. It might be worth picking up once it does get dubbed.

And to conclude our list, anything staring Crispin Freeman. He has just enough snark to make anything really a fun, humorous option that is really well dubed. Yay, Crispin!

Anime

Baka and Test

Charlotte

Baka and Test is one of my favorite comedy anime, and I know that this will not be popular with some of the fans. Only in the dub. The english dub is so good, if not for only the sole reason that is the English narrator who actually has a bigger role in the anime. The narrator gag is well, awesome, the placement was spot on and it adds that little extra to the show that you might not expect from a show like this.

One thing that makes Baka and Test more appealing is that they smash the fourth wall frequently and this doesn't even take you out of the show. Acttually much the opposite, it draws you further in.

This show I honestly one of the most hilarious anime I have ever seen.

It plays with the dead horse jokes that any fan has seen and makes them fresh and letting you laugh at them from a different perspective. But as I said, if you watch this, I would definitely watch the dub. I know why people like watching it subbed, for one, the voice acting is fantastic and you can tell they really had fun recording the episodes. I read that they added some of their own great jokes and that is a good sign that they got into the roles and were able to have some great take aways from working on it.

Anime

100 Years of Anime

Charlotte

In celebration of 100 years of anime 30 critics voted on the top anima of all time. Each critcis was asked to vote for what they consider the best anime ever as well as the best director from the last 100 years (the complete history of anime).

The list is repritined here:

Best Anime of All Time

1st: Neon Genesis Evangelion（1995） – 14 votes

2nd: Mobile Suit Gundam（1979）– 11 votes

3rd: Space Battleship Yamato（1974） – 9 votes

4th: AKIRA（1988） – 8 votes

5th Place – 7 votes

  • Kumo to Tulip（1943）
  • Astro Boy（1963）
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind （1984）
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica（2011）
  • In This Corner of the World（2016）

6th Place – 6 votes

  • Castle in the Sky（1986）
  • GHOST IN THE SHELL（1995）

7th Place – 5 votes

  • Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer（1984）
  • Grave of the Fireflies（1988）
  • Your Name（2016）

8th Place – 4 votes

  • Legend of the White Snake（1958）
  • Space Runaway Ideon（1982）
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena（1997）
  • The End of Evangelion（1997）
  • Spirited Away（2001）
  • Voices of a Distant Star（2002）

9th Place – 3 votes

  • Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji（1963）
  • The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots（1969）
  • Heidi, Girl of the Alps（1974）
  • Future Boy Conan（1978）
  • My Neighbor Totoro（1988）
  • Patlabor 2: The Movie （1993）
  • Mind Game（2004）
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya（2013）

Best Director

1位 / 38票

  • Hayao Miyazaki（Spirited Away, Nausicaa）

2位 / 20票

  • Isao Takahata（Grave of the Fireflies）
  • Yoshiyuki Tomino（Mobile Suit Gundam）
  • Hideaki Anno（Neon Genesis Evangelion）

5位 / 19票

  • Mamoru Oshii（Ghost in The Shell）

6位 / 10票

  • Kenzō Masaoka（Kumo to Tulip）
  • Leiji Matsumoto（Space Battleship Yamato ）
  • Makoto Shinkai（Kimi no Na wa, Hoshi no Koe）

9位 / 9票

  • Sunao Katabuchi（In This Corner of the World）
  • Akiyuki Shinbo（Madoka）

11位 / 8票

  • Katsuhiro Otomo（AKIRA、MEMORIES）

12位 / 7票

  • Osamu Tezuka（Astro Boy、Black Jack）

13位 / 6票

  • Gisaburō Sugii
  • Masaaki Yuasa（Mind Game）

15位

  • Taiji Yabushita
  • Osamu Dezaki
  • Kunihiko Ikuhara（Revolution Girl Utena, Sailor Moon）

18位 / 3票

  • Yugo Serikawa
  • Kon Satoshi（The Perfect Blue, Paprika）
  • Kimio Yabuki
  • Mamoru Hosoda（Wolf Children, The girl who leapt through time）
  • Masaaki Ōsumi（Lupin III）
Anime

Hataraku Maou-sama!

Charlotte

Translated it actually means "The Devil is a Part-Timer" which makes sense when you learn about the shows gag:

The Demon Lord Satan Jacob seeks to conquer the world of Ente Isla by annexing its four continents with the help of his demon generals Alciel, Lucifer, Malacoda, and Adramelech.

After being confronted by the hero Emilia Justina and her companions after they killed Malacoda and Adramelech, Satan Jacob and Alciel escape the world of Ente Isla through a gate to modern Tokyo, Japan. However, due to the lack of magic in the modern contemporary world, both Satan Jacob and Alciel change into forms representing what they would look like if they were human. In order to survive, Satan Jacob takes a part-time job in a fast food restaurant named MgRonald while Alciel serves as his houseman.

One day, Satan Jacob, who now goes by Sadao Maō, meets a girl who is actually Emilia in the form of Emi Yusa. The story then unfolds and explores the personalities of each of the characters and their moral values. More characters show up from Ente Isla and they too face the new world dilemmas, often comically.

When you actually sit down and watch the show you will see that it tends to read more like a sitcom – great play on fantasy-meets-real-world cliche, and such dry, situational humor.

Manga

Pick Up Some Shojo

Charlotte

Are you looking for something a little more, well, appealing to women? I know, most of the stuff that we get here in America is mostly targeted at a the boys. But there are still some nice Shojo that you can pickup.

Many discussions online are lacking in this context, since, while you will find plenty of diverse anime, manga still seems to be a boys range here.

Skip Beat!

The series is about a girl who decides to get revenge on a guy who used her to become a singer by entering show business herself and becoming more famous than him.

She starts her journey as an actress and the roles that she plays reveals more about her character and her identity as she goes through her career.

The character development is phenomenal, the romance is wonderfully slow and quite realistic, and the comedy is a like thick coating of sugar on an intense story.

Cat Street

This story focuses on a girl who's a shut-in, who stopped caring about herself and stopped interacting with the world.

She enters a weird school for weird people like her and makes some weird friends.

This is a story about how she deals with her apathy and finds worth in herself and gains the motivation to make something of herself.

Anime, Manga

From the Start: Made in Abyss

Charlotte

I will be honest, Made in Abyss hooked me from the very first episode. I mean, the worldbuilding, the music, the gorgeous scenery, everything about it was wonderfully directed and it really draws the viewer in and puts them on the edge of their seat.

One reason is is so good is because it takes every effort to draw you in with a show don't tell approach that I feel a lot of shows just ignore. Everything about it makes you want to know more. No matter if it is a tidbit abot their world or finding out how the protagonist continues their adventures.

I would really like to say that this is "the" new series, but it is still new. It will be hard to say if Made in Abyss will continue on, but it definitely has an amazing first episode.