What Wood is Watching: Anime Shows

Alright, this is the newest genre in types of shows I watch. Since high school, I had friends through mutual interests who watched anime shows while I was watching The Office, Community and other comedy sitcom series. I was in the mindset partially of "It's cartoons just for adults. That could be terrible and more immature than Family Guy and just be terrible." But guys....I was so very wrong. While some anime, like shows that get cancelled on NBC often, can be terrible and irredeemable but when it's done well, it is the biggest binge worthy genre around.

Now what do you get in anime? Remember, most anime is produced, written and intended for Japanese audiences so the culture and some of the characters are very different than characters you would find in typical American shows you might enjoy currently. Anime is also much more violent. The best comparison I have to the level of violence is Game of Thrones and it's also much darker overall. The beauty of it though is the struggle and resolution of the characters that are on the journey, mission, adventure or life they are living and as you watch, you really feel something for these drawings the same way you did when you watched Kim Possible or Avatar: The Last Airbender (which is on this list). So what shows have I watched that you might take a gander at?**

Note**: Since the shows are produced in Japan, I will specify if I watched the show Dubbed in English, or Subbed (Subtitles in English, Japanese Voice Actors)

(Dubbed) Dimension W:

This is the newest anime on list as I am watching as it is just airing now statewise and I hadn't heard of it before Toonami on Cartoon Network started promoting that it was taking over the time spot of a recently finished show. Only 3 episodes have aired stateside, so I can only sum up the show based off of the first 3 episodes. In the year 2036, the 4th dimension is discovered and named dimension w and has unlimited renewable energy. The world, searching for a new form of energy decides to tap into this dimension and contain it through the use of devices called coils. In 2071, the organization "New Tesla" is in charge of making sure the coils function all throughout the world as they place giant power convertors This anime follows Kyōma Mabuchi, a veteran of a special forces group that fought against androids to win a war by not using coils. He now is known as a "collector" someone who retrieves illegal coils, coils that are too powerful that can cause problems for our world if used improperly. The key difference with Mabuchi as to everyone else is that he doesn't use any coils, and drives a gas powered car making him an outsider. On a mission he finds a specialized android named Mira, who claims that her "father" was the creator of the coils, and the founder of New Tesla. When he died, Mira was told that she needed to follow the illegal coils to make sense of the corruption in this new world and she starts work as a collector and must now work with Mabuchi, reluctant to be near an android. It airs on Saturday nights at 11:30pm Saturday nights CENTRAL TIME on Toonami on Cartoon Network. If you have cable, you can watch it the day after on adultswim,com/toonami/ by logging into your cable provider.

(Subbed) Attack on Titan:

Attack on Titan was my introduction to the genre in general. My friend pestered me all of Summer 2014 to start watching this show and after Season 3 of Game of Thrones  I was hooked. Giant man-eating flesh monsters called Titans, appeared all of a sudden and started to wipe out humanity 100 years before this show's current time period. The remaining bit of humanity lives behind three enormous concentric walls: the outermost Wall Maria, the middle Wall Rose  and the innermost Wall Sheena. Titans have not been able to get through the Outer Wall...until what is known as the Armored Titan (seen above) penetrates and breaks down a portion of Wall Maria. Now, people who have never seen Titans before, are being devoured brutally and mercilessly as people flee further into the city as the Armored Titan vanishes and lesser Titans swarm the walls. It is up to the military's Eren Yeager, the protagonist (also seen above) and his squad mates to help the military push back and solve how to once and for all defeat the Titans.

This is an extremely dark, sad, and all around twisty turny show that will make your head spin but it is a must watch on my list. On top of a phenomenal soundtrack, the voice actors are not over dramatic and truly are inspiring to listen to even as you read what they are saying. For the most part, it doesn't matter what language you watch anime in as English voice actors have started to get better at acting in these roles, but Attack on Titan must be watched with English subtitles. One season has only been developed but Season 2 is due next year and should be just as phenomenal. You can find the season available to stream on netflix. 

(Dubbed or Subbed) The Seven Deadly Sins:

"This is a tale of ancient times. An era before the human and non-human worlds were forever divided!" Holy Knights, humans, use magic to fight wars and defend the world against demons. However a group of these Holy Knights betrayed the trust of the kingdom and became known as the Seven Deadly Sins, brutal warriors led by the knight Meliodas and dangerous to anyone in the realm. The daughter of the king Elizabeth, seeks out the knights because she doesn't believe the stories of them being the cause of the new war taking shape and that the Holy Knights betrayed them. She needs the help of the Sins in rescuing her father, the king, from the Holy Knights as she is being pursued by them. 

Again, another brutal, very sexualized anime that blends humor, story, emotions and immaturity all into one. The characters feel human. The characters act human, and half of them are mythical creatures or have strayed far from humanity that they can't be considered humans. The show isn't cerebral and is just in a word, fun. This was my anime I finished over Winter Break as there are 24 episodes in again only 1 season available on Netflix to stream as a Netflix original so some really good acting and production value went into it.

(Dubbed)Akame Ga Kill

Akame Ga Kill was the anime I finished before starting Dimension W. It follows a warrior named Tatsumi (second from left) who leaves his village to earn fame and fortune in the capital for his ailing town. What he finds is a corrupt, abusive system that leaves everyone in poverty and pain as the rich use the poor in whatever way they see fit. Tatsumi fed up with what he sees and after enduring a great loss joins Akame (First from left) and Night Raid (everyone else above) to strike at the military and free the people of this corrupt nation. To fight Night Raid, a special task force is formed.

 

Enter the Jaegers, military assassins under the command of General Esdeath (blue haired woman in center) to hunt down and stop Night Raid. The struggle between these two teams leads to glorious battles, heartbreaking wins/defeats and revelations, as well as truly beautiful trash talk that no other shows come close to.

This anime is brutally sad. Do not get attached to anyplace, anyone or anything as the creators of this show are very much the George R.R. Martin of Japan but in a much more satisfying manner. Each character has a defined past that resonates with you quickly.This show can be watched on Hulu in it's entirety as there is only yet again one season available.

(Dubbed) Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Two boys Edward and Alphonse Elric are alchemists, people who can transmute basic materials into things if they apply to the law of equivelant exchange, that is trading of something of equal value. The boys become really good and live with just their mother as their father left them when they were young. When their mother dies of illness, Edward and Alphonse try to bring her back through alchemy performing the banned Human Transmutation. They gather all the ingredients of a human body and attempt to bring her back by adding some of their own blood. What they didn't count on however was the lack of a soul and the law of equivelant exchange demands one. As they perform the transmutation, a portal to another realm opens and starts to drag Alphonse into it. Edward in a panic, makes an exchange to keep Alphonse's soul, attaching it to a suit of armor in the room with them. Edward loses his right arm and leg in the process as part of the exchange, but their mother is not brought back and they witness a horror they created that dies upon summoning before Edward passes out from the blood loss. When the boys awake, they are determined to set things right and get back their bodies. To get past the law of equivelant exchange they need a Philosopher's Stone, and so they search for it but find more people want it as well and for much more sinister reasons. 

This is by far my favorite anime and I am devoting a podcast to it. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you listen further as to why you should watch Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.