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Old 2012-08-13, 03:00   Link #1
vashhybrid
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Question Anime with quality animation

Hello all. I imagine this question has been asked dozens of times, but please bear with me. I recently started watching anime again after many, many years of being out of the loop, and while I found many different series, there are certain parts that stick out in my mind. I'm mainly looking for shows that have quality animation, as the subject suggests.

What prompted this was my completion of the series Mahoromatic. While overall there wasn't anything particularly special about it, some of the action scenes were incredibly well done. They had a nice, detailed feel to them, they conveyed the intensity and drama of the moment extremely well, and overall they just left me very impressed.

Here is said scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O73o6tGe_gI

Sorry if it doesn't live up to anyone else's expectations, but that scene just really left a mark on me.

I've generally tried to avoid older anime because I felt that the animation quality would feel old, stale and just plain shitty. However this scene and others within the show showed me that, when they didn't have to worry about making everything high definition, shiny, glossy, and pretty, they were actually able to give life to the characters themselves. I enjoy the attention to detail when the movement of a character is fluid and they capture that character's essence and personality by really using body language to convey their emotions, and especially when they put a good focus on a character's facial animations (which surprisingly seems to be missing a lot these days).

I haven't seen them in a while, but other series that come to mind when I think of quality animation are Xamd, Cowboy Bebop , Samurai Champloo , Gurren Lagann and probably others as well. I watched Highschool DxD a while back and the opening scene where the main character had been impaled and was dying was extremely well done and gave me high hopes for the series...unfortunately, that didn't last long. It wasn't a bad series, I enjoyed it, but it didn't match the opening scene at all. I know all of the Miyazaki movies are extremely well animated, but beyond that my knowledge of anime movies is very limited.

So please, I beg of you, assist me. Share with me what anime series (and movies as well I suppose) you feel have top tier animation. I'm not talking about CG eye candy, I'm talking about smooth, hand drawn goodness that really brings out the characters and allows you to immerse yourself in the show.

Good character development would be a plus, but it's not required. I have plenty of suggestions to seek but I can't do them all at once.

Thank you for reading all of this is you made it this far, and I would appreciate any help in my search!

Also, sorry if there are any random words or grammatical errors, I typed all of this out on a phone.

Last edited by vashhybrid; 2012-08-13 at 13:16. Reason: Bolded anime titles
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Old 2012-08-13, 03:07   Link #2
Om Nerabdator
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well that Denpa had great animation but i couldnt get into it
boku wa tomodachi was pretty damn good.
I loved whisper of the heart (done by some guy miyazaki was grooming to take over for him but he died)
Tales of earth sea was pretty good too
Porco rosso (best anime of all time lol)

and i always really like highschool of the dead, especially the girls!! ive never seen hotter girls ^^
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Old 2012-08-13, 03:28   Link #3
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Here's what I have.

In terms of great animation for anime with great story added, I can recommend Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Hanasaku Iroha, Fate/Zero, and Sora no Woto.

As for anime movies there's 5cm Per Second and Loups=Garous.

So what you think?
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Old 2012-08-13, 04:36   Link #4
vashhybrid
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Thanks for all the anime you kind folks have listed so far! I'm going to be checking out the ones listed in the morning, it will take a bit of time though. I don't have a computer anymore, so I end up researching anime on my phone and then watching it in the PS3 browser hooked up to my HDTV. I usually just check AniDB to see if it sounds interesting, but in this case I'll need to look up some clips on YouTube to get a feel for the animation and style of the show.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Om Nerabdator View Post
well that Denpa had great animation but i couldnt get into it
boku wa tomodachi was pretty damn good.
I loved whisper of the heart (done by some guy miyazaki was grooming to take over for him but he died)
Tales of earth sea was pretty good too
Porco rosso (best anime of all time lol)

and i always really like highschool of the dead, especially the girls!! ive never seen hotter girls ^^
I've seen Boku wa Tomodachi and loved it, can't wait for thNoe sequel to come out. I don't remember the animation standing out to me, but it's an excuse to take a peek at it again.

I want to go back and watch Highschool of the Dead again someone, but pointless fan service always bugs me (the only part I remember from that really is when the guy was sniping and the shots were going through the katana chicks breasts as she was jumping around and fighting)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirito View Post
Here's what I have.

In terms of great animation for anime with great story added, I can recommend Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Hanasaku Iroha, Fate/Zero, and Sora no Woto.

As for anime movies there's 5cm Per Second and Loups=Garous.

So what you think?
I've heard the names of a few of the other listed ones before (5cm per second and Fate/Zero), but I know them in name only. I haven't heard of any of the other ones, but I'm going to do a wee bit of researching and see what I can find.

Thanks again for the suggestions, the more the better!

Last edited by vashhybrid; 2012-08-13 at 15:14. Reason: Quotes
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Old 2012-08-13, 05:55   Link #5
SeijiSensei
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Fire up that PS3 and install the Crunchyroll application, then watch Seirei no Moribito. You won't be disappointed.
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Old 2012-08-13, 05:59   Link #6
Obelisk ze Tormentor
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vashhybrid View Post
I enjoy the attention to detail when the movement of a character is fluid and they capture that character's essence and personality by really using body language to convey their emotions, and especially when they put a good focus on a character's facial animations (which surprisingly seems to be missing a lot these days).
Maybe you can try Hyouka which is still on-going. That series has detailed & smooth hand-drawn animation especially for the character’s facial expressions. If you don't mind a slice-of-life and pseudo mistery anime, Hyouka will be the show for you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vashhybrid View Post
I'm not talking about CG eye candy, I'm talking about smooth, hand drawn goodness that really brings out the characters and allows you to immerse yourself in the show.
Unfortunately Fate/Zero fell under that “CG eye candy” category. Yes, the CG in this anime is more prevalent than the actual hand-drawn animation/movement. Not to mention there’re many scenes where the characters didn’t move at all. No offense to you Kirito (the one who suggest Fate/Zero)

edit: Still, don't let my comment made you turned down Fate/Zero completely. It's a good suggestion if you like fantasy-action anime.
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Last edited by Obelisk ze Tormentor; 2012-08-13 at 06:19.
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Old 2012-08-13, 06:18   Link #7
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood had high quality animation.

Katanagatari as well, though some people don't like the style.
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Old 2012-08-13, 06:58   Link #8
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I'm not quite sure about this but, perhaps Akira could be what you are looking for.
A bit more recent(compared to Akira) would be Origins - Spirits of the Past.

Seeing that you enjoyed the animation of Samurai Champloo, you would probably enjoy Baccano too - i.e IF you haven't already seen it.
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Old 2012-08-13, 07:44   Link #9
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Well here's a few things that come to mind,I tried linking trailers but some were hard to find,not all are subbed but I figure you'd be interested in the visuals.

Redline is in HD,shiny and 100% hand drawn,no real plot here though,it's all about the animation.
I'd recommend Hosoda movies such as Summer Wars and The girl who leapt through time
I'll second Akira as well
For a TV show there's Dennou Coil (sorry,only vid I could find) and Sakamichi no apollon
I'll second Hyouka and Seirei no Moribito.
Airing this fall it looks like K looks like it'll have some nice action fights.

Yeah fate/Zero is more about the CGI eye candy (though it's not 100% CGI at all),still if you're a CGI doubter I'd recomend watching it to see what it can do when used right.
5cm/second is more about pretty backrounds as well so not sure it can fit the bill.
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Last edited by totoum; 2012-08-13 at 08:17.
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Old 2012-08-13, 09:54   Link #10
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Try the Kara no Kyoukai movies. High budget and every frame is wallpaper worthy...
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Old 2012-08-13, 12:12   Link #11
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I recommend watch Vandread and it's second season. It does have cgi in it, but the hand drawn stuff is good too. Imo despite having cgi, it actually suits the the anime pretty well.
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Old 2012-08-13, 12:27   Link #12
vashhybrid
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Man, you guys are fantastic. I never imagined I'd get this many responses, let alone all these suggestions! I certainly have my work cut out for me! I was hoping to give individual responses, but a general summary of what I have and haven't seen will have to suffice. Sorry for being so impersonal when you all are taking the time to offer all these wonderful suggestions.

I've seen most of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I watched all the episodes they had on Netflix earlier this year. I actually try to keep an eye out for work by BONES, they also did Xamd which I think has fantastic animation. I was looking for the intro from the first part of the series, but this one works too. (I'm going to try posting the link in an edit because I don't want to risk losing everything I've typed with a random page refresh after getting the link from YouTube.)

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyJJpk-uuXM
(It's a good thing I did this in an edit. I went to the YouTube app to copy the URL from the video and when I came back the page refreshed. It just happened to go to the original version of the page that I loaded up, which didn't have this post. My heart jumped into my throat for a moment before I thought of refreshing!)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eragon View Post
Seeing that you enjoyed the animation of Samurai Champloo, you would probably enjoy Baccano too - i.e IF you haven't already seen it.
I've seen Baccano as well and loved it, Durarara as well. I stumbled upon that one in the Crackle app for Xbox a couple months back.

Speaking of Crackle, I remember that I watched Occult Academy on there and, from what I recall, they did a good job on the animation in that one.

I also just started watching Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko today and think they did a pretty good job on the animation in that. I also recall Kannagi and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san both did a really good job on their animation, especially Kannagi. There were plenty of times I had to rewind the show just because I was awe struck by the personality that the animation gave the characters.

I watched Origin a long time ago but completely forgot about it until it was mentioned, I'll needed to look up some clips to remember what the animation was like. It wasn't until recently that I started keeping an eye out for that. And if anyone wants to offer feedback or critique the anime I have listed so far, I'd love to hear it. I'd really like to improve my eye in spotting quality animation and the best way is to get feedback from those in the know.

I've had my eye on The Girl Who Kept Through Time for a while now, and after doing some Google searches asking this question (surprisingly, not a lot of people look for this kind of thing!), I stumbled across a video showing off the animation in different scenes and I was very impressed. I plan to watch it very soon!

Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei View Post
Fire up that PS3 and install the Crunchyroll application, then watch Seirei no Moribito. You won't be disappointed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by totoum View Post
I'll second Hyouka and Seirei no Moribito.
And I keep seeing the Moribito series listed again and again. I tried watching a couple episodes many years ago when it was on Adult Swim and just couldn't get into the show. Maybe I need to go back and take another look.

And again, very sorry I can't respond to all of your wonderful posts more in depth. It's a pain in the butt typing all of this out on my phone. Thank God for Swype, it makes this at least a little bit manageable! Although I'm scared to death I'm going to hit back too many times and lose everything I've typed. I would cry. :/

By the way, the bolding of the anime titles, is that done automatically for other users or do you have to do that manually? EDIT: It's a shame it doesn't auto bold, I went back and bolded the anime titles to make it easier for those reading.

Last edited by vashhybrid; 2012-08-13 at 15:22. Reason: Phoooooone.
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Old 2012-08-13, 12:31   Link #13
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That would be a nice suggestion for the forums if it auto-bolded anime...naw, we gotta do it ourselves :'(
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Old 2012-08-13, 12:57   Link #14
SeijiSensei
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This thread over at ANN has some good suggestions for shows on Crunchyroll. I'd add Chihayafuru to those lists, but less because of the quality of animation than the quality of the story.

As for Dennou Coil, there are a few people still seeding the Ureshii fansub here. The links on the AS page for Coil died when the Scarywater tracker site was discontinued a couple years back. GHDpro hosted a back up of Scarywater here for a while, but the Dennou Coil entries all point to the dead tracker. There is also a Coalgirls fansub based on the Japanese BD releases and the Ureshii scripts, but I can't point you to that site since the tracker hosts licensed content.

One other show I'll recommend for its production quality is Ghost Hound. It combines both beautiful graphics and a remarkable soundtrack. Ghost Hound is by Shirow Masamune of Ghost in the Shell fame. He also directed another show for Production I.G called Real Drive that has excellent animation quality.

In general I'd suggest looking into shows from Production I.G and Madhouse if you're looking for high-quality animation. Brains-Base and Satelight are two other excellent studios.

If you're looking for stunning artwork, there's no better choice than "Bakeneko," the third installment of Ayakashi Samurai Horror Tales, and its unlicensed sequel Mononoke.

Last edited by SeijiSensei; 2012-08-13 at 13:28.
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Old 2012-08-13, 12:58   Link #15
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Here's an oldie but goodie:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MXsvfAAVr8&sns=em
Bubblegum Crisis the original!
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Old 2012-08-13, 13:17   Link #16
Eragon
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What about Akira? Have you seen it?

I just thought of another one, Saiunkoku Monogatari
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Old 2012-08-13, 13:40   Link #17
vashhybrid
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eragon View Post
What about Akira? Have you seen it?
I saw Akira years and years and years ago, I remember almost nothing about it. I do remember it being very impressive visually despite looking very old though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scanner View Post
I recommend watch Vandread and it's second season. It does have cgi in it, but the hand drawn stuff is good too. Imo despite having cgi, it actually suits the the anime pretty well.
I watched Vandread a couple of years ago, but from what I remember the animation didn't seem that great. I remember the whole thing feeling kind of cheap and being the kind of anime you just watch when you're extremely bored and can't think of anything else you can possibly do. The character designs were generic and the animation was sub par to standard at best. Was there anything in particular that made it good? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just want to hear your opinion and get a better understanding of your thoughts and of animation quality in general.

Disclaimer: I have a terrible, horrible, very bad memory, so my opinions could be slightly skewed. Please take no offense!

Last edited by vashhybrid; 2012-08-13 at 14:09. Reason: Added quotes
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Old 2012-08-13, 13:50   Link #18
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No one has ever mentionned Mardock Scramble : I haven't seen myself but for what I have seen in a anime-focused documentary, the animation is more than impressive and has excessively well-done fight scenes. Considering you have a bad memory of remembering everything, I highly recommend you to create a MyAnimeList account to list everything you have watched.
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Old 2012-08-13, 13:54   Link #19
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Old 2012-08-13, 14:01   Link #20
vashhybrid
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor View Post
Maybe you can try Hyouka which is still on-going. That series has detailed & smooth hand-drawn animation especially for the character’s facial expressions. If you don't mind a slice-of-life and pseudo mistery anime, Hyouka will be the show for you.
Hand drawn, smooth animation? Slice of life? Even some mystery thrown in? I might have to check that out! Pretty much all I've been watching recently are slice of life anime, but that's for another suggestion thread.

Depending on how far it is into it, I might just wait for it to finish airing. I like watching entire series in one shot. It's almost to the point where I'm finishing one series a day (for 12-13 episode anime that is), that's why I finally decided to make an account here and find some more shows! I've been browsing this site for one or two months now, taking a peek whenever my list of series to watch runs dry. It was actually thanks to this site that I found some of my new favorite anime (Toradora, Mayo Chiki , Kannagi and others as well), but I'm seeing so many of the same titles again and again in threads that it feels like the time to get more active in my search and ask about specific elements that I have been searching for for a long time (that's a topic for another thread too though!)
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