I personally was blown away by Death Note. The story was so amazingly written, and followed the basics of story so well. Not to mention that the psychology of it was amazing. Even if it was a little dark, I absolutely loved following Light's tragedy (and it definitely is a tragedy). I guess part of the reason is that criminal psychology has always fascinated me, and the idea of

really got to me. And yes, I know it wasn't really that bloody, but I had a more sensitive audience in mind, since this is supposed to be a "family-friendly" forum.

And yes, Warrior, I'll admit, The Last Airbender can't be called true anime. But, you gotta love it anyways. I'm a fan of the series, my favorite character being Zuko.

Not to mention the series is absolutely hilarious. And it was another example of an amazing storyline. I have to admit, the Asians are so much better at the art of story than us Americans...

As for Detective Conan, Warrior, I'm not exactly sure it falls under any other genre than murder mystery.... I mean, it's got a little bit of humor in it, but most of it is suspense, action, and murder mystery. I have to say my favorite character is Kaito Kid, the phantom thief. But I won't spoil it for you.... Just to warn you, though, if you do end up watching it, and you watch the dubs, they only go for about 130 episodes, and they Americanize all of the names, so that Kudo Shinichi becomes Jimmy Kudo and Fuji-san becomes Mt. Frederick (I know, it's pretty pathetic). Just a warning...

Btw, love the potato chip quote!

L, do you know Shinigami love apples? -Death Note
What? I said I'd rather kiss you than die!! It's a compliment! -Avatar: The Last Airbender
Here's another curse for you...may all your bacon burn. -Howl's Moving Castle

Meltintalle: Is the Emma manga you mentioned the same as Emma: A Victorian Romance anime?
Aravis Narnia: I loved Rose of Versailles! It was very sad though...
Fire Fairy: I love Detective Conan too! Have you watched the movies as well?

1. Favorite manga and/or anime?
Detective Conan (Case Closed)
Giant Killing
Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup)
Bamboo Blade

2. Favorite style?
Pretty much anything that isn't too crazy. Not a big fan of weird hair colors. I guess my favorite would be more the Korean manwha style.

3. Anime/manga that you have seen/read before
Anne of Green Gables
Bamboo Blade
Candy Candy
Cooking Master Boy
Daddy Long-Legs
Detective Conan
Dog of Flanders
Emma: A Victorian Romance
Eyeshield 21
Giant Killing
Jang Geum's Dream
Les Miserables Shojo Cosette
Major
Memories of Teardrops
Nodame Cantible
Ookiku Furikabutte
One Outs
Rose of Versailles
Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)
Sherlock Hound
The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island
Sword of the Stranger
Whistle!

4. Who got you interested, or did you start watching/reading anime/manga by yourself?

I've watch anime since I was little...my mom is Korean so we watched a lot of Asian stuff growing up.

5. Favorite quotes?

"There is only one truth!" -Kudo Shinichi, Detective Conan

Meltintalle: Is the Emma manga you mentioned the same as Emma: A Victorian Romance anime?

Yep, looks like it.

I was just wondering about the Anne of Green Gables one because I saw a reference to it in passing... and Daddy Long Legs Swiss Family Robinson, Sword of the Stranger, and Dog of Flanders all sound interesting as well. Are they available in book form?

Meltintalle: Cool! I loved Emma--it was very sweet. I think Dog of Flanders, Anne of Green Gables, Daddy Long-Legs, Swiss Family Robinson, and Sword of the Stranger are all anime-only ones.

I haven't seen Ann of Green Gables (anything but a few clips on YouTube) but it's only available in anime form at the moment, and only in Japanese (I don't know if there are English subtitles or just dubs). I've heard from many Green Gables fans that the anime is very true to the book (18+ hours in length!) and done with great respect and talent. By today's standards it looks dated but the anime series is a much better adaptation than the live-action versions. Those who've seen it claim it's the ultimate adaptation and it's even enjoyed by some boys and men.

Additional information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Gr ... 28anime%29

Fire Fairy: I love Detective Conan too! Have you watched the movies as well?

Yup! I've seen them all at least twice. Now I'm eagerly awaiting Movie 15: Quarter of Silence. I think my favorites have to be Movie 10, Movie 13 and Movie 14. I have to say that Detective Conan is my absolute favorite! I'm rewatching the entire series right now (I'm on episode 32). In fact, right this minute I'm listening to the music used for the openings and endings of the series (opening 22 at the moment, one of my favorites)! That just goes to show how big of a fan I am....

Btw, Aravis Autarkeia, I think it was your sig that got me interested in Detective Conan! Isn't that crazy, or what? I think it was one of Ran and it said "Magic of the Smile" on it. I remember I asked about it, and when I was told where it was from, I checked out the series, and have loved it ever since! Thanks!

Meltintalle: What anime are your avy and sig from? It looks interesting!

Warrior 4 Jesus: I can't remember if there were any subs either...I actually watched the Korean dub...

Fire Fairy: I'm super excited about Movie 15 too! (have you watched the Magic file that goes with it?) My favorite movie is probably Move 5 (Countdown to Heaven) but I really love them all. I love opening 22! Its super cool especially since Vermouth is in the video. That is really crazy! You're welcome! Detective Conan is definitely one of my favorite animes. My mom and sisters love it too which is nice. I've rewatched it several times too. I might go back and rewatch some of the Black Organization arcs soon. Conan just never gets old.

Okay, I did more research. The only English dubs there are of Anne of Green Gables are fansubs. I'm not sure if fansubs are legal though. Thanks

Warrior, thanks for looking that up! True to the book warms me to the cockles of my heart. I'm going to be a bit dense here, but an English dub is when the dialogue is in English, and a fansub is when fans have gone through and done subtitles? Or...?

Fire Fairy, I'm spreading the lure of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood around NWeb. Izumi Curtis is one of the major/minor characters. She's... intimidating.

No worries. True. You can fit much more into an 18+ hour series than a movie that's a few hours long. Yes, an English dub is where something has used English voice-acting in place of the original language track. Fansubs are where fans have created subtitles for unreleased (at least in the English language) TV seres and/or movies.
You might be able to find the series somewhere on the Internet. If not, it shouldn't be too long until they officially release the series.

Fansubs are technically illegal, but most companies don't pursue lawsuits for them if the show isn't licensed for an English-language release. For some shows, fansubs are considered "free publicity" towards a non-native audience; for other shows, their prospects for being licensed for English-language release is near zero anyways, so fansubs are the only way to watch them without learning Japanese and importing the DVDs. Thus, most anime watchers don't have significant moral problems with watching fansubs.

Some, like me, have a particular rule in which if they watch through a show with fansubs and the show is licensed for an English-language DVD release later on, they will buy the DVDs as a statement of support for the anime industry or whatnot. I have a number of DVDs I've bought for this reason. Some are top-quality series I would have probably bought on DVD anyways, and there is a certain sense of joy when a series you particularly liked while watching it on fansubs gets licensed, since there is something special about owning a DVD copy. Not to mention the fact that the show can be seen by more people.

I should mention one of those shows: it's a show called Living For The Day After Tomorrow. It's a very low-key show about interpersonal relationships and what happens when you wish to be older/younger... and you actually get that wish. (Though, with far fewer wacky hijinks and more of the emotional impact of such.) Very good series, but one I never thought would be licensed since very few people know about it, so I was very pleasantly surprised when it was. Anyways, you'll have to find it online; the whole series is available for $40, with many places selling it for cheaper. Subtitles only, though (dubs are costly and the licensing company figured this title probably wouldn't sell enough to make up for dubbing costs). Very little inappropriate stuff worth noting; really, just a flashback scene where an unmarried couple is implied to not hold to abstinence (you might be able to see it coming).

Well, that's my recommendation for now.

1. Favorite manga and/or anime?

Rurouni Kenshin is my all-time favorite. It's also where my user name comes from. Current favorite is Naruto.

2. Favorite style?

If you mean drawing or animation styles, I don't know enough to have a preference. But if you mean shoujo or shonen, then shonen by a country mile.

3. Anime/manga that you have seen/read before

Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, Lupin III, Voltron for a little bit of old-school, Dragon Ball Z (not the entire series), Samurai Champloo, currently in the middle of Naruto (anime only, but manga readers have given me plenty o' spoilers), and I started One Piece but lost my place, and resolve to come back to it some day. For individual movies, I like the works of Miyazaki (Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky) and Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue, and will see Paranoia Agent as soon as I find it).

4. Who got you interested, or did you start watching/reading anime/manga by yourself?

I watched Voltron, Lupin III, and some of Dragon Ball Z on my own in high school, but my roommate in college turned me on to most of the others, then I got into Naruto later on.

5. Favorite quotes?

Nothing off the top of my head.

I'm super excited about Movie 15 too! (have you watched the Magic file that goes with it?)

There's a magic file for Movie 15?? I haven't checked the magic files on animecrazy, where I watch anime, since before the movie came out, so I didn't realize they had it. I'll have to watch it!

I just watched Lupin III vs. Detective Conan, though, and that was pretty interesting. The only other thing I've seen with Lupin in it was Castle of Cagliostro, since Hayao Miyazaki worked on it, so I'm not sure about it. It wasn't really a "vs." movie, since Conan and Lupin end up working together! Still was a lot of fun, though. I'll have to check out the Lupin III series. Looks interesting.

Fire Fairy, I'm spreading the lure of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood around NWeb. Izumi Curtis is one of the major/minor characters. She's... intimidating.

Ah, I see. I saw a little bit of Fullmetal Alchemist, but I haven't seen Brotherhood. Thanks!

About the whole dubs/subs discussion, I'm really curious. What does everybody prefer? I used to prefer dubs, but lately I've been watching subs-only, because I really enjoy learning the Japanese bit by bit as I watch. I also was a little put-out by the changes they made to the Detective Conan dub. They tried to "Americanize" everything, and it just didn't work. I like the original Japanese names better than the American counterparts they came up with. Not to mention it made things a little confusing when part of the mystery was solved using Japanese kanji/hiragana/katakana. They had to change some of the storyline to make it fit. Anyways, I think the dubs sometimes come across as a little cheesy. The only dubs I almost like better than the original versions are probably the Miyazaki movies, since Disney did such a great job with them (especially Howl's Moving Castle. Billy Crystal was a much better Calcifer!!).

I generally prefer subs. This is partially since I've picked up a fair amount of Japanese from subs that I can pick up on small inflections of meaning from the original language that get lost while translated. (Most notably, the usage of honorifics like -san, -chan, -kun, -sama, etc.) Also partially because, having grown up in an Asian family, the Japanese language generally sounds more... natural to me. Also, even with dubs that are better-localized (i.e. less Americanized), the quality of the voice acting can vary greatly.

I do like watching dubs of shows I've already seen subs for, if only to compare and see how a different set of voices changes things. Also, dubs are more conducive to having the show run in the background while I'm doing something else, since I don't have to be watching the screen for the subtitles all the time.

Fire Fairy: I watched Lupin vs Conan too. It was interesting...kinda weird with the two different drawing styles. lol. I definitely like the subs waaay better. I feel like the anime loses its Asian feel when its dubbed. The dubs for Detective Conan were horrible...

I generally prefer subs. This is partially since I've picked up a fair amount of Japanese from subs that I can pick up on small inflections of meaning from the original language that get lost while translated. (Most notably, the usage of honorifics like -san, -chan, -kun, -sama, etc.) Also partially because, having grown up in an Asian family, the Japanese language generally sounds more... natural to me. Also, even with dubs that are better-localized (i.e. less Americanized), the quality of the voice acting can vary greatly.

I like listening to the Japanese too. I would have to agree that knowing another Asian language and understanding Asian culture definitely helps when watching anime. ^_^ If the translators didn't do quite an accurate translation, I can generally figure out what they really mean.