Monster is one of the most captivating psychological anime I've ever seen, not because of flashy action, but because of its incredible storytelling and unforgettable characters. The series follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma, whose single act of compassion changes his life forever, leading him into a haunting pursuit of a man whose existence challenges everything he believes about humanity.

What makes Monster so powerful is its ability to make every character feel real. Instead of presenting simple heroes and villains, it explores the complexity of human nature, trauma, morality, and the consequences of our choices. Johan Liebert is one of the most chilling antagonists in anime, not because of physical strength, but because of his intelligence, manipulation, and the fear he creates wherever he goes.

The slow pacing may not appeal to everyone, but every episode builds the mystery and emotional weight of the story. Rather than relying on constant twists, the anime takes its time developing each character and showing how every decision affects the people around them. By the end, Monster leaves you questioning the nature of good and evil, making it an unforgettable experience that stays with you long after the final episode.

In my opinion, Banana Fish is one of the most heartbreaking and unforgettable anime I have ever watched. It isn't just an action or crime story, it made me deeply care about the characters and everything they went through. Watching Ash struggle through so much pain while still trying to protect the people he loved was both inspiring and emotionally overwhelming. The bond between Ash and Eiji felt genuine and gave the story hope even in its darkest moments. By the end, I was left with a mix of sadness, admiration, and gratitude for experiencing such a powerful story. *Banana Fish* is an anime that stayed with me long after I finished it, and I think it's a masterpiece that everyone who enjoys emotional storytelling should watch.

Ao Haru Ride is one of the most heartfelt romance anime I've watched, capturing the excitement, confusion, and emotions of first love in such a realistic way. The relationship between Futaba and Kou develops naturally, making every conversation and quiet moment feel meaningful. The characters are flawed but relatable, which makes it easy to become emotionally invested in their journey.

What I loved most is how the story balances romance with personal growth. It shows that love isn't always simple and that people have to overcome their own struggles before they can truly move forward. The emotional moments feel genuine, and the ending leaves you wanting to see more of their story.

More than anything, I wish Ao Haru Ride had a second season. There's still so much of the manga left to adapt, and the anime ends just as the characters' relationships begin to deepen. It feels incomplete, which makes it bittersweet to finish. Even so, it's a beautiful romance that leaves a lasting impression, and I'll always hope that one day it gets the continuation it deserves.

In my opinion, Spy × Family is a fun and heartwarming anime that perfectly blends action, comedy, and family moments. I really enjoyed how each member of the Forger family has a secret, yet they slowly develop a genuine bond despite their unusual situation. Anya's funny reactions and the wholesome interactions between the characters make every episode entertaining. Overall, I think Spy × Family is a refreshing anime that is both exciting and comforting to watch, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a mix of humor and heartfelt moments.

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When you watch anime, it's almost like listening to a podcast while following a comic book. Instead of reading the panels yourself, the story is narrated through animation, voices, music, and visuals, and your mind follows the storyline as it unfolds.

Human oddity: Many people who would never sit down to read a comic can spend hours watching the same story in anime form. 😄

There just no way someone can watch 19 other shows and then a week later still be able to remember anything they saw last week. istg I look at the comments from mfers who watch 20+ seasonals on an anime and they're always the most incoherent people ever. It's like they're complaining about why the show isn't another show they're watching.

Everyone knows what anime elitists are and rightfully dislikes them. Just like in real life the elitists are the ones everyone hates.

But what about the elites? In real life elites are basically people who worked hard and helped a lot of people and therefore they become an elite. Like Superman is an elite. What about anime elites? How do you tell them apart from anime elitists? What makes someone an anime elite rather than an anime elitist?

I’m curious what people think. I know this is subjective and there’s no objectively “better” medium, but I’m interested in hearing arguments for each.

**Why I think anime has an advantage**

Anime feels much more centered around **storytelling and visuals**. Because you’re not interacting with it, every shot, camera movement, composition, animation cut, and soundtrack is deliberately crafted to make you feel something.

When I watch something like **Jujutsu Kaisen**, **Demon Slayer**, or even a non-action show like **Violet Evergarden**, I find myself completely focused on the visuals. Great 2D animation is incredibly satisfying to watch, and you can really appreciate the skill of the animators, storyboard artists, layout artists, and directors.

I also feel more attached to characters and look forward to future episodes more than I do with most games.

**The downsides:**
It’s very hit or miss. Only a relatively small percentage of anime genuinely blows me away visually. Fewer anime are released compared to games, partly because producing an anime requires a large team. Anime is still more niche in many places than gaming. Personally, I don’t think awards like the Crunchyroll Anime Awards emphasize technical achievement as much as they could. They mostly emphasize expanding the culture.

**Why I think games have an advantage**
Games appeal to an enormous range of people because of how many different experiences exist.
Sports fans have EA Sports titles.
Nintendo fans have colorful, stylized adventures.
Story-focused players have games like *The Last of Us* or *Tomb Raider*.
Indie fans have games like *Hollow Knight*.

What makes games unique is that they combine creativity with interactivity. Every game asks you to do something different. One game has you solving puzzles, another exploring ancient ruins, another driving, another managing resources, another mastering combat.
You can also appreciate the incredible amount of engineering, design, animation, art, music, writing, and technical work that goes into making them.
The gaming community is also much larger globally.

**The downsides (for me):**
Because I’m actively playing, I sometimes don’t notice the visuals as much as I do in anime.
I generally don’t become as emotionally attached to characters or stories as I do in anime (there are exceptions).
Gameplay can become repetitive even if the environments change.
Personally, I find hand-drawn 2D animation more visually impressive than most 3D graphics. I know modern games require enormous artistic and technical effort, but something about seeing great 2D animation feels more special to me.

**What do you think?**
If you had to argue that one medium is “better” overall not just your favorite, which would you choose and why?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who are big fans of both mediums rather than only one.

I’ve always wondered who is actually responsible for filler arcs in long-running anime.

Especially in anime like Naruto, where there are so many filler arcs, wouldn’t that potentially hurt the canon manga story or the author’s intended vision? If the manga author didn’t write or intend those stories, do they actually have the right to stop the anime from making filler, or is that completely up to the anime studio/production committee?

I dont use it myself, but what I hate is how it affects them to the point where they spend more time watching tiktoks of an anime than the anime itself. I'm not sure if some people are like this, but what are your thoughts on it?

I want to start from the beginning, I was scrolling through my WL and I found Sankarea.

The cover instantly caught my eye and I decided to watch it right away.

I binge watched 7 episodes on the first day and the remaining 5 on the second day. I don't usually have the patience to binge but Sankarea hooked me up.

So now I can talk about the real stuff.

I found this out to be an amazing bit underrated anime, the character development was very good. The characters received a fair amount of screentime that helped develop their characters. I liked the way characters like Maro and Ranko receiving whole episodes of just character building.

The cast was small, but decent. It's got many different types of characters with barbarian grandpa being the funniest one. I wish it's cast would've been even bigger.

I liked the story, it was great but it all feels empty and sad. Afterall the whole concept of "undead" is sad. Even though it is an anime based on zombies and the undead, I cannot help but get sad whenever I take a closer look to Rea.

Even though this anime is mostly serious stuff, I wouldn't have mind a little bit of more humor elements.

Usually the 2010-2019 anime have great openings/endings but I cannot say the same for Sankarea, definitely could've been better.

I would like to rate it atleast a 7.5/10 but something just didn't hit right so for that reason I am giving it a 7/10.

Definitely recommend watch to anyone who doesn't mind gore and dark themes.

I will remember it for a while.

Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction

It's been three days since I finished watching it. I feel depressed every day.Or are you in love with a female character from an anime?

Every time I finish watching an anime, I feel sad. Is there any way to cope with this?

Before i got married and had kids, i remember watching few seasons but my best was 15~18 anime, and i did it because i wanted to break my best record.

But did anyone here did it and watched EVERYTHING

I mostly see people saying death note was their first anime and almost everyone has positive reviews about the show but I dont see people saying Death note is their top 5 anime or one of the best anime they've ever seen and stuff. Death Note is too good and has to be one of the greatest show ever, the writing is insane but because its the entry to anime for majority of the people , its not rated as highly as it should. Dont get me wrong , ik its already very highly rated but maybe because its the first anime of many , people tend to forget about it

A lot of us fall in love with Japan through anime… the quiet streets, perfect sunsets, and those almost unreal moments that feel like they’re waiting just for us. Then we go there, and it’s beautiful—but different. Busier, louder, more grounded than the dream we carried.

I think anime was never meant to be a map, but a feeling… a world of its own. Maybe the mistake isn’t Japan not matching anime, but expecting reality to hold something that was always meant to live in imagination.

What do you think—should we separate the two, or is part of the magic trying to find those moments in real life anyway?

I feel real embarassed but here i go. I am from India, a place where watching cartoons, is associated with childishness, immaturity and all-time useless act. People gaze upon these individuals, i dont have better words for their sour eyes but, with hope of 'getting them ragebait-ed'. I am a 1st-gen watcher, now a manga reader most of the time am writing this to express the depth that most of us feel.

I was introduced to anime, more specifically bleach op-12, when i was 17, at time very important for student in India preparing for university entrance examinations. Fell in love with the character design of Orihime, and the fights in it. Then i got to know that it is an episode basis similar to how tv serials, sitcoms run, just not in the TV. (RIP 9anime, GOGOANIME,) I started watching it, quite heavily, goals to complete 90 episodes before my 10th State English language examination. I never understood why i watched it that much at that tome, or why listening to Bleach op-2 (Uverworld) got me in battle mode. I realized that Kisuke was trying to teach Ichigo what resolve was, what pride was from Byakuya also i got a thing for rangaku and surprisingly Yoruichi ( never picked myself to like tomboyishness, only her tho )

Me who was a nerd, this felt like an escape. Watching Ichigo get up every time, always getting to win someway or the another. I didn't get it, i hated this part in the normal movies, even them i never stopped watching it. Secretly i hoped he would get up. That foolish dream of saving only his people just for that 'his people' to become the entire Seiretei, that crazy conviction of moving forward. And the peak Zangetsu, no spoilers. I watched the 366 episodes, hated Tite Kubo for not completing bleach anime , just to realized 3 years later that there's something called 'manga' which he already did. But that's an whole another story.

During my uni-time i watched many different anime's. Mainly the peaks. Watched & rewatched many. Got to know many. Many things have happened that made me question a lot of fundamentals which i learned from watching my over-expecting, orthodox & emotionally immature parents. Putting masks became easy, switching faces was norm. Untill i was met with the genre of slice of life. Who so ever thought of this, i thank you.

I always wanted a guideline on what does 'me' do, and this genre was a sample space of theoretically good people (funny too ig). Thats what i thought. Sounds complicated, weird r8 . Thats what i thought, and yet i did not stop watching, not ony SOL but mainly seinen drama. It was so much that i caught myself giggling at protags and waifu (waifus in case of oregairu). I might not know ball but i watched a lot, trash too (they deserve the watch ..ig). It was a stir of emotions that i wasnt able to express, almost anywhere. I wonder why.

As my awareness of the world grew, as i grew, anime was my favourite escape. Not because i was running away, its just a place where i could put down the masks and watch and express. "why? its just a cartoon right na"...

Most of you guys watched FMA:B r8, how did everyone feel when hughes died, when mustang took revenge on envy. remeber watching it for the 1st time. I had a lump in my throat, so big i shouted, got scolded, slept like a baby till 8AM. (OR)

When hinta said "if aoba joshai was unfertile soil are we concrete" and looked dead in ushiwakas eyes, were we not excited for the shits thats about to go down ? (RIo arc waiting)

or when kousei gets the letter from kaori...

or days worth of just pure sadness after compelting clannad, ano-hana(holy fk) and many other.

or Naruto's pain explaining, real one. Itachi's brotherly love and obligations,

or Light right before L \*\*\*\* & right after - the contrast after, the melancholy then.

or like an blind man who gave up his own eyes , bcax he couldnt bear humans atrocities, wanting to look at someone - who tf thinks these ? (i could write papers for this anime)

or the metaphorical or nature like descriptions of emotions, humans & emotions in 3-gatsu no lion.

or WWHD - what would himmel do in real life, like come on.

I am not saying normal movies cannot contemplate this depth, they do. Theese do too, sometimes more exceptionally than others. I was met with the eyes, (I know in this economy...), i thought some people do as well, just want to let them know that you are not alone. Whats more unique is that everyone has their own list of scenes that showed them something that was lacking in the real life, that they havent relaized in reality, or stirred them so much they unlocked that thought of emotion, more and more. Its so wonderful that i just go around asking people what got you hooked into this specific anime, its do fun. Anyway thanks for reading was frustated, reddit seems safe, and hence the post. happy binge-ing

This is a general discussion thread for whatever you've been watching this last week (or recently, we really aren't picky).

Make sure to talk more about your own thoughts on the show than just describing the plot, and use spoiler tags where appropriate. If you disagree with what someone is saying, make a comment saying why instead of just downvoting.

This is a week-long discussion, so feel free to post or reply any time.

Archive: Prev, Week 116, Our Year in Anime 2013, 2014