Thanks for the link Measure, I subscribed over the weekend. I’ve been with RentAnime for years and I agree, their service is slowly declining.
WordMan, whether you or your son like Code Geass or not, I would value your opinion. Just curious if my recommendation met your request.
I also think Code Geass is excellent. It is one of the most interesting meditations on terrorism in any anime I have ever seen. I have been watching it via Amazon DVD, so I can’t give you much help on seeing it streaming.
Methyl, thanks for the recommendation - unfortunately, it may be a few weeks. While I was trying to figure out what anime to watch, I went ahead and bought discs for Cowboy Bebop and Akira, since I know they are classics. Akira, I feel bad saying, was only kinda meh - I get the impression its impact back in the day was bigger that the impact it delivers today. We are a few eps into Cowboy Bebop, however, and love it.
We’re away for Spring Break for over a week and will finish CB and figure things out from there. If we go after Geass, I will report back.
**Maeglin **- thanks for the additional review.
Along those lines, avoid the “Classic” movie Ninja Scrolls. This five star feature is worse than meh, IMHO.
I saw Akira some years after its heyday and enjoyed it vicariously as it were. Meaning, I felt that I would have thought it awesome when it came out. I find it remarkable how much anime and manga have advanced: I think we’re truly living in a Golden Age. I’d place the start date in 1995 with the initial release of Evangelion.
Yes. It was also a terrific melodrama: LaLouche’s histronics were rather entertaining. The show worked on a lot of levels, though that was partly a result of the creators kitchen-sink approach to their project.
I should concede that I’m a manga/anime enthusiast though. There are a number of shows that I liked better than Code Geass.
WordMan, I loved Cowboy Beebop. Once you’re done with the CB series, don’t forget to follow it with Cowboy Beebop, The Movie. It was also well received by the fans.
Totally agree with you on Akira. I saw it over a decade ago. I just don’t get it’s popularity in anime culture.
Hell, while I’m posting, I might as well highly recommend you and your son watch Soul Eater (hopefully it’s streaming). Funny much of the time, serious when it needs to. It’s in my top ten list of anime series’. And I’m Old School: watching anime since the 1980’s.
This is just my two cents. YMMV.
Cool. Have heard mixed reviews about the CB movie but I don’t see us not watching simply because we are digging the show.
Soul Eater. Got it. Thank you!
I think both Akira and Ninja Scroll (neither of which I particularly enjoy) are “popular” due to what I call the “FF7 Effect” - they were a LOT of people’s first experience with medium (“serious anime” in the case, or “non-terrible JRPGs” in FF7s case) and people were stunned that stuff like this actually existed. Don’t underestimate the power of “OMG! Violence, blood and boobs in a cartoon!” on the high-school set. In its defense, Akira was excellent on a technical level when it came out, but is much less impressive today.
Humorously, I’m a big anime fan, and Akira was my first anime experience and truthfully, I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t get into the hobby until someone who really knew about the stuff (instead of someone who basically liked Akira for the aforementioned violence, blood and boobs) showed me Nausicaa and Bubblegum Crisis. 
In terms of recommendations, I suggest Vision of Escaflowne (old, by now) and Last Exile (also far from new) as some of my personal favorites.
Yup, don’t let someone pressure you into something by saying ‘it’s anime, you have to like it!’. Some people will watch every anime and love it because it’s Japanese, but anime is a medium, not a genre. There’s plenty of series I love that my friends dislike and vice versa.
No, really. My favourites are Lodoss, Escaflowne, Utena, old school CLAMP and Tytania. I’m pretty sure Gurren Lagann, Haruhi and Elfen Lied are not up my alley. Also, you can stop asking if I’ve seen Full Metal Alchemist. It’s like the new default.
Fullmetal Alchemist isn’t even that good - I’m sorry, I refuse to forgive them for their sharkjumping ending.
They redid it as FMA: Brotherhood after the manga ended in part because of the crappy anime ending. From what I understand, the two anime are pretty much the same until the original deviated from the manga and the second one continued it.
Anyone watching Mawaru Penguindrum? I’m about 8 episodes in and I’m really getting into how freakin’ strange it is.
However, the presentation of events differ between the two shows. I preferred Brotherhood; I think it had a bigger budget, and I preferred the manga’s plot over the first anime’s plot.
I’ve been watching it. I’m at episode 14 now. The beginning was so confusing I couldn’t figure out if I liked it or not. I’ve decided that at this point the only thing keeping me going with it is wondering how it all ties together (I really, really hope it does) and the voice of Himari. It’s strangely appealing to me.
I’m not sure I can be bothered to watch…pretty much the same thing again. I mean, it was entertaining, but it didn’t really IMPRESS me in the way that would make me want to go back and watch it again.
I’ve watched the entire series and found it confusing and underwhelming. And the big reveal of what the Penguindrum actually is just made me go “So that’s it?”
Death Note, Code Geass, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are all excellent anime as other people noted.
You may also want to check out Steins;Gate which deals with a somewhat crazy lead protagonist, his experiments with time travel (his time machine is a combination phone/microwave!), and the unintended consequences of making selective changes to the past.