What anime has recently stood out for you and why?

[BronyBradyBuddyKiller]

The main reason I'm making this is because whilst I have plenty of anime on my waiting list, it's ever so slowly decreasing bit by bit. Plus, I think it's good to see people different opinions from across the forum.

I'll go first.

The one that's stood out to me most is 'Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'.

Just...wow.

It's unbelievable. It leaves Studio Deen's 2006 adaption in the dust for numerous reasons.

For one, the story is executed much, much better. It explains the plot as a whole extremely well and keeps the story moving at a steady pace. The 2006 adaptation felt rushed and as a result of that often forced scenes on the viewer that were either too sudden or too late.

The animation is breathtaking. If you and/or your computer can handle it, watch it in it's gorgeous HD glory. It's unlike anything I've seen before and it's mostly awesome because the fight scenes feature lots of colours creating for a ton of eye candy.

The music and sound gets an A* from me. The songs that play in the background always seem to match what's currently happening, and there's something so satisfying about the sound effects, mostly the sound of the ground shattering and blades clashing.

In Deen's defense, 'Fate/stay night' & 'Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works' are two different stories due to them being from different routes based off of the VN, and you expect the animation to be better 8 years later, of course.

Does that mean you should skip Deen's 'Fate/stay night'? No, of course not! It's a brilliant show on it's own but just lacks several qualities that the new UBW has. Besides, it's the only way that you can watch the Fate route from the VN, so you kind of don't have a choice if you want the best Fate experience.

One thing UFO's adaptation lacks from Deen's adaptation, is the way that the 3 main characters are represented: Emiya Shirou, Tohsaka Rin, and Saber.

It lacks the interesting protagonists 'Fate/Zero' and 'Fate/stay night' had. In this adaptation, Shiro is the guy who spouts naive ideals and rushes headfirst into unwinnable battles only to be saved by plot armor, and his goal is to become a hero of justice. Whilst that sounds a lot like his previous representations, he is much more reckless in UBW and whenever they encounter a new opponent, he does the same thing every time and charges at them just to get sideswiped and get, like I said, saved by the almighty plot armor. This wouldn't be that much of a bother, however it happens so often that it just loses whatever effect it had on you, if any.. That's about it for this protagonist.

Rin is a ton better in comparison. She works exactly how she was intended to be and more. To be honest, I felt myself enjoying Rin's scenes a LOT more than Shiro's as I feel that Shiro was either very misinterpreted or an extremely bland character. He was much more interesting in 'Fate/stay night'. I, honestly, feel like the show could have done with a lot less of Shiro and more of Saber, but that can't be done as this is based off of the route from the official VN.
Luckily though, from episode 10+ of season 1 and beyond, Shiro's character improved a lot by being a bit more useful and just, well... less grozit, and was made a much better character.

Nothing to say about Saber really, she's the same as in 'Fate/Zero' & 'Fate/ stay night' except she hardly gets any screen time past episodes 5-8 of season 1.

I've given 'Fate/stay night' a 7/10 and 'Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'
(season 1) a 10/10. Season2 is currently airing, on episode 9/13. But, if it keeps going the way it's going, it'll be getting a 10/10 also.

I personally recommend both shows, however Unlimited Blade Works is just better in every single way. Also, if you watch 'Fate/stay night' first, then for a few episodes UBW will just seem like a HD remake. It's not. Give it some time because after about 5 episodes or so the story changes completely.

If you plan on watching the Fate series, it can be confusing. Therefore, I've made an order for you:

Air Date:
Fate/stay night
Fate/Zero
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works Season 2
Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel (movie, not aired yet)

PLEASE READ!!!!

Stay the hell AWAY from the 'Fate/stay night' movie and the 'Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works' movie. There is no need to watch this trash. They both try to fit around 8 hours of footage into a nearly 2 hour film. There's absolutely no need for it and you're better off watching the anime. Think of it as all of the 'Naruto' and 'Naruto Shippuden' episodes being crammed into a 2 hour film. Not a good idea, is it?

If you want the BEST possible order for the Fate experience, it's:

The Fate VN (be warned, I've heard it has one or two sex scenes in it)
Fate/stay night
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (season 2)
Fate/Zero
Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel

Fate/Zero is near the bottom since it is a prequel set 10 years before the event of both 'Fate/stay night' & 'Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'. Whatever you do,

DO NOT WATCH 'FATE/ZERO' FIRST!

It will spoil most of the plot twists and surprises from the other shows, so watch it after 'Fate/stay night'.

Honestly, I highly recommend you watch this anime series. It is unbelievable. And in the end, this turned out to be more of a review than anything else. Heh.

As a comparison example, I'll be leaving this clip from YouTube which takes key moments from both shows (e.g. Archer's summoning) and compares them. This way, you can really see how Ufotable's adaption pretty much stomps Deen's. If you want my advice, skip the boring part and skip to what you're pretty much watching the show for. The fight scenes. 2:52 all the way to 10:15 provides good examples between the two shows. The scenes will be the same (e.g. Lancer attacks Rin, the Archer and Lancer fight) but both done differently, with Ufotable doing it better.

So what's caught your eye recently? I look forward to hearing from you guys

[YOUTUBE]

[Metaphasic]

That was a huge write-up for such a simple question. =)

I really enjoyed Elfen Lied. There are parts of me that really identified with the duality of Lucy and Nyu.

[Haluviel]

Tokyo Ghoul. There's just so many conflicts in the plot.
Kaneki's battle against his "Ghoul" self (which I really love, man vs. himself).
The main goal of creating harmony between ghouls and humans (which I think they failed to do).
Also, the friendship between Hide and Kaneki. They carried each other, although it seemed like Kaneki disconnected from Hide altogether to protect him, Hide refused to do so, and in the end, he even saved Kaneki and died for him. THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER.

The vague ending was also very thought-provoking! No traces of Hide nor Kaneki, with Arima's sword stuck on the ground, and a final frame with his white hair flowing with the wind.

TOKYO GHOUL is <3

[BronyBradyBuddyKiller]

That was a huge write-up for such a simple question. =)

I really enjoyed Elfen Lied. There are parts of me that really identified with the duality of Lucy and Nyu.

Yeah, I ended up getting carried away

[Anime Forum]

Recently I'd say "Romeo no Aoi Sora". Its a 33 episode anime from 1995 and is really fun.