So, Anime You Like Lately

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 7:09 am

There's Slayers, which is a Heroic Fantasy parody. Many seasons, dubbed. Can't speak for the quality of the dub, since I watched it with subtitles, but Funimation is usually pretty good with dubs.

Unfortunately, I think it's only available free on Hulu, and well, Hulu ads. It's on Funimation's site but only as an embed from Hulu.

Pixels · Post by **Pixels** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:44 pm

Yeah, Slayers is the anime that plays the sword and sorcery tropes most straightfoward. The dub is alright, except for that bit in Slayers Next when they try to sing. You'll know it when you hear it.

I'll put a word in for Scrapped Princess. It is the story of a brother (a swordsman) and a sister (a magician) protecting their adopted little sister from just about everybody. There was a prophesy that she will destroy the world when she turns 16 you see, and most people aren't willing to take that sort of chance. It has sword and sorcery goodness and a great dub, but never gets enough love. As far as I know the DVDs are out of print and nobody is offering it for streaming. Bandai's license expired in 2011. I would pirate it without guilt.

Pretty much all of the "people get stuck in an MMO" series are sword and sorcery affairs. Sword Art Online is the popular flavor of the last few years. I know the first season is dubbed, but I've never listened to it and I can't access Crunchyroll right now to see if they have it. I personally rate Log Horizon above Sword Art Online, but it is more focused on the MMO aspects than the fantasy, and I don't know if it has been dubbed yet.

Fullmetal Alchemist (original or Brotherhood) is basically a sorcery-focused dark fantasy where casters are all transmuters rather than evokers. It's early-mid 20th century tech level rather than medieval though. Excellent dub.

I'll also mention Mushishi, even though it is fantasy mystery or fantasy horror rather than a hero fantasy. A wandering mystical doctor named Ginko travels around medieval Japan and solves troubles that pop up due to the interaction between people and mushi, which are spiritual creatures that can cause all sorts of interesting or unpleasant things to occur. It's really gorgeous. The first series at least is dubbed.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:47 pm

Yeah, Mushishi isn't exactly what you're asking for, but my Anime club has offically declared it the classiest of animes. You should watch it.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 7:19 pm

While waiting for responses I started watching Legend of the Legendary Heroes. Dumb name, not a bad anime.

edited for clarity

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:16 pm

Yeah, I've seen part of that. Was pretty good.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:38 pm

The early face-fault-heaviness of it was a bit off-putting, but it got better. I really don't get why anime so frequently makes heavy use of facefaults and the like.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:21 am

Prak wrote:Ok, so I'm wondering if people can recommend an anime to me- I'm looking for good sword and sorcery type stuff I can watch while I work on Midgard, so basically, I want something Sword and Sorcery/Heroic Fantasy, that's been dubbed*, and I can find online to watch free.

*I prefer subs, but it's hard to work and read subs at the same time

I tried the Fantasy tag on a wiki.

http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... m_Earthsea
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title=Katanagatari
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... o_Moribito
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... e_Kingdoms
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... Escaflowne
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... d_Princess
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title ... 7s_Journey
http://www.adtrwiki.com/index.php?title=Fairy_Tail

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:35 am

Vision of Escaflowne was the first anime I ever really bought. Watched the sub-titled boxed set on boxing day in 2000 or 2001. Cost me $200 at the time.

Escaflowne has cool giant robots, lots of fight scenes, along with all the drama you can expect from a shoujo. Definitely recommend.

I also recommend the mecha anime "Dai Guard". Years ago a giant monster was ravaging Japan, and a giant robot called Dai Guard was built to fight it. Unfortunately, the monster got killed by a totallynotanuke and the robot was sold to a security company and used as a advertising gimmick ever since.

Of course, one day the heterodyne monsters came back and now the only thing that can stop them is Dai Guard, an ill-maintained robot with part-timer pilots and funded by a penny-pinching bureaucratic hellhole of a company. Office workers, saving the world.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 7:16 am

While Slayers is basically "this is what D&D ends up like", Record of Lodoss War is actually based on a D&D (or D&D-like) campaign.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 7:26 pm

If you're looking for Western sword and sorcery, Record of Lodoss War and Morbito are your best bets. Twelve Kingdoms is probably what you're looking for, too. If you can find it, Rune Soldier Louie is a lighthearted sister series to Lodoss. Log Horizon is Logistics and Dragons, MMO style. Slayers is a classic, but Gourry (the fighter dude) doesn't get nice things. Fairy Tali is probably too anime for what you're aiming for with Midgard. Kino's Journey and FMA are too modern for Tolkien nuthugging.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:08 am

I watched the first season of Knights of Sidonia a couple of days ago.

It tricks you into thinking it's going to be about kids piloting space mecha; then you realize that the author of the manga also wrote the nihilist dyson sphere epic "Blame!"; and you realize that the series is going to have some undercurrents of darkness and intrigue.

Also, a fair amount of hard science.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:54 pm

What about Berserk?
A bit heavy maybe.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:02 am

Bererk is seinin(sp?); the manga is so much deeper and darker than the where the anime leaves off. Yes, Griffith had become a demon-prince; but his army of giant demon knights are fighting an invasion from a giant Persian imperial army.

I've also read Knights of Sidonia in order to get a better feel for how the anime is differing, and conforming, with the manga. I'm not sure which is better; because the subtlest aspect (who/where/what is Ochiai?) changes quickly; and is different in both serials.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:08 am

Well, I'm not looking for source material so much as just things I can watch while working that are generally thematic.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 4:31 am

Today on Fate/Stay Night Rin takes her girlfriend and Shirou out on a date.

I think my favorite part of the date scene was that in every stage of the montage Saber was eating something, and then Rin and Shirou were getting into one of their argument/flirting things while Saber ate all of the sandwiches. And it went entirely without comment.

We also got to see Kotomine break out the Black Keys.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:45 pm

Shirou/Rin/Saber diaily interactions are adorable.

MGuy · Post by **MGuy** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 5:02 am

name_here wrote:Today on Fate/Stay Night Rin takes her girlfriend and Shirou out on a date.

I think my favorite part of the date scene was that in every stage of the montage Saber was eating something, and then Rin and Shirou were getting into one of their argument/flirting things while Saber ate all of the sandwiches. And it went entirely without comment.

We also got to see Kotomine break out the Black Keys.

I noticed that too. I thought it was a cute little aside. I just wish that Shirou wasn't so dim. It got almost frustrating to watch.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:18 am

The protagonist in an eroge, unless it's just straight about sex, is generally clueless about these kinds of things. Shirou also thinks Rin is way out of his league (and has other issues, but that'd be a spoiler), so his actions are understandable.

infected slut princess · Fri Jan 02, 2015 7:34 pm

The Slayers anime is fucking amazing. But the dub is absolute shit. Anyone who watches the dub for Slayers is a loser. DO NOT WATCH SLAYERS DUBBED.

Hiram McDaniels · Post by **Hiram McDaniels** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:37 am

Puella Magi Madoka Magicka is a favorite. Just rewatched it recently.

I've been enjoying Maoyu, Bryhildr in the Darkness, Yona of the Dawn and Rage of Bahamut.

On my list of anime to watch are: Steins Gate, Fate/Stay Night (2015), Chaika the Coffin Princess, Magi and Shin Sekai Yori.

And I just had a fangasm because I just found out that:

1 - Durara season 2 starts streaming next week.
2 - Heroic Legend of Arislan is getting a tv series in the spring. No Yoshitaki Amano designs this time around (boo!), this time the character designs are by Hiromu Arakawa (yay!).

Edit: Oh yeah...and Sword Art Online

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:18 am

Just say no to Coffin Princess and Magi. Don't have too many opinions on the rest, but those are both garbage.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:35 am

Watch Coffin Princess. Both seasons.

TOZ · Post by **TOZ** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:28 am

Yes. Be fucking upset about the derailed train wreck ending of Chaika, but watch it.

Hiram McDaniels · Post by **Hiram McDaniels** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 2:20 am

Kaelik wrote:Just say no to Coffin Princess and Magi. Don't have too many opinions on the rest, but those are both garbage.

Okay. Are there any series that you can recommend?

Mask_De_H wrote: Log Horizon is Logistics and Dragons, MMO style.

Maoyu is like that, but without the mmo plot devices.

The anime starts where most jrpg's end, and then goes full-on L&D.

To quote my fiancee: "Why the fuck is that anime guy talking about manipulating wheat futures???"

Hiram McDaniels · Post by **Hiram McDaniels** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 2:27 am

Prak wrote:Ok, so I'm wondering if people can recommend an anime to me- I'm looking for good sword and sorcery type stuff I can watch while I work on Midgard, so basically, I want something Sword and Sorcery/Heroic Fantasy, that's been dubbed*, and I can find online to watch free.

*I prefer subs, but it's hard to work and read subs at the same time

Heroic Legend of Arislan. It's a bit dated, and is unfinished, but still a pretty good'n and the dub is decent.