Now, many people might not know this but I love anime. It's something that I've loved since I was a child and have recently been getting into again and now..I crave it like there's no tomorrow.
Now, a lot of people may be super reluctant to watch/read these. I know I was super reluctant to read manga because comics have never drawn my attention to most of the time, I do it out of necessity. Why? Because usually when animes end, mangas are still going on and I must continue to feed my obsession. ANYWAY, I call upon you, my faithful readers, to recommend to me some mangas/anime and in return, I shall recommend three to you!
(these are of course not all the animes I've seen in my lifetime, I watched a lot of things when I was young, haha. But these are the recent ones!)
(IMPORTANT! The manga is only currently out in the US up to Chapter 35 but it is being translated on MangaReader considering the Japanese version is already on Chapter 100. It updates every month with the new chapter!)
Set in the Shinigami (The Grim Reaper/Death) technical school for weapon meisters, the series revolves around 3 groups of each a weapon meister and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the Shinigami, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and 1 witch.
Now, this is the reason why my anime obsession came back, to be totally honest. I was browsing Netflix one day and this popped up in my "recommendations". I read the description and guys, can't you agree that it sounds amazing? And so, I started watching! The first three episodes are the "prologue", which means they're introducing the characters, but after that: Shit. Gets. Real. I absolutely love this anime because it's funny, the characters are amazing, and the plot is consistent and it's SUCH A GOOD CONCEPT.
Now, I've watched and read this series so I'm going to let you know: if you watch the anime first, like I did, start the manga on The Battle For Brew. The anime follows the manga to a T but once you hit that episode, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT. On the bright side, the manga is still ongoing even if the anime is over!
I actually caught up to the manga this morning and let me tell you...it's amazing. I absolutely love this series.
Fruits Basket(this one is COMPLETELY out in the USA in English so you won't have a problem.)
Tohru Honda is 16 year old orphaned girl who gets invited to live in the house of her classmate, the handsome boy Sohma Yuki, and his cousins, 16 year old Kyo and 27 year old Shigure. However, these young men and parts of the rest of their family (both close and distant) hold a curse; if they are hugged by the opposite gender, they transform into animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Everyday is an adventure for sweet Tohru, as she gets to know everyone in the large family better (especially Yuki and Kyo), in both common and bizarre situations. But, the Sohma Family curse is certainly no laughing matter... it also holds horrible cruelity and heartbreak.
Here we have the calmest anime of the bunch, haha. Fruits Basket is about a girl who stumbles upon a family and ends up learning about a curse that was placed upon them that makes them turn into the twelve members of the Chinese zodiac when touched by the opposite sex. But, gah, it's pretty freaking amazing. Each character is layered and fantastic and tortured in their own way, especially the main zodiac members of the novel, the rat and the cat (yes, the cat is not a zodiac member, it's explained early in the series that happened with him)
The manga, by the way, is a lot darker than the anime but seriously, the anime is dark in it's own way. I really commend watching it, it's only 26 episodes and the manga is about 136 chapters.
(this is not a manga, only an anime.)
Italy, once home of the strongest empire in the world, has changed. This is the story of Italy, now a cowardly pasta-loving fool, and his friends (other personified countries of the world) as they live through strange moments in world history.Honestly, probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen. EVER. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER. Hetalia: Axis Powers is what happens when every country in the world is TURNED INTO A PERSON. Now, just a warning, this show plays on every simple racial stereotype that exists on this Earth.
And it's hilarious because of it.
Each episode is only five minutes long so it's very fast-paced but each character manages to stand out in their own way. Season One is basically World War I and World War II and you can tell because of the "groups" that form among the countries. You also...learn, kind of, haha! At least it teaches you a bit along the way with it's crude humor and amazing portrayal of different countries (America...you'll see. You'll just see).
And now, recommend some to me! If you don't watch anime, why don't you go ahead and explain why in the comments? Anything is awesome!
Happy Reading!
p.s I watch all of us in Dub. If you don't know what that means, it means I watch it in English instead of in Japanese with subtitles. Soul Eater's dub is REALLY well done as well as Fruit's Basket (funny enough, Maka and Tohru, the main characters in both, are voiced by the same person) and Hetalia's dub is the best of the bunch because the jokes are so much funnier.
