Seeking TV/Movie Recommendations Thread 📽📺

Japanese Watching
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my right away instinct is that I don’t see Petite Princess Yucie there so I definitely recommend that

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ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！ | L27 and BanG Dream! | L21 come to mind. NEW GAME! | L22 maybe? (kinda like Shirobako but for game design/development)

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That one looks pretty interesting. I couldn’t find any jp subs for it though which I’d prefer to use for now but I’ll add it on my ptw list for later.

I watched MyGo! and thought it was decent (I plan on watching Ave Mujica later since all my favorite characters are main in that one) but avoided the original series since it seems like I need to be familiar with the game for that?

New Game seems good and I like the author’s other work, I might go with that. Thanks for the suggestions.

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For S1 not at all. For S2, familiarity with the bands or game may help you connect with the chars more - since the first half is mostly oneshots for each band, but it’s definitely not necessary. I wasn’t into MyGO (tho my comprehension was a bit iffy, so I’ll eventually give it another shot), but it’s in some ways a reboot of Bandori, and I wish I’d watched the original first. OG Bandori is much less toxic and depressing - not that it’s conflict free or anything.

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That’s good to know, I always thought the OG series assumed you played the game. I saw most people rec’ing MyGo as a good intro into the franchise. I’m normally not into shows that try to be super depressing like MyGo but it ended up being kind of charming to me even though it had some faults. Sounds like I might like the OG more if its a more upbeat vibe.

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Looking to see if anyone can recommend something fantasy for me to watch approx Lv18-21?

I only have access through legit means and currently only Disney+ or Netflix (though you can suggest other stuff and I can try to get in on DVD).

I’ve been trying to find something a bit easier to comprehend (I think my max comprehension level is around 20 for listening) but that holds my interest and isn’t Ghibli or standard cut and paste slice of life stuff. Preferably fantasy or leaning that way though (not stuff like Pokémon or sailor moon style stuff though as I either can’t access it in Japanese or it’s not really what I’m looking for). And I’m kinda burning out on the wee kids stuff that is more comprehensible :sweat_smile:

More recently I have tried watching Frieren and Dungeon meishi but they do seem a bit more difficult than what I can cope with.

Edit: UK based

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カードキャプターさくら | L21 (but that might count as Sailor Moon kinda stuff?) or ふらいんぐうぃっち | L19 (tho that’s very SoL/iyashikei, but atypical as SoL goes)

Here’s what’s tagged fantasy at that level - not a ton, but it’s possible there’s untagged too

For non-fantasy:

It might help to mention country, if you want ppl to take streaming availability into account… Tho if you have VPN, that might not matter as much

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I didn’t think to add that, edited and added at the bottom of the post now. UK based. I don’t have VPN access but can usually get DVDs of stuff if I can’t stream it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Flying which I have on DVD so could try that again since I roughly know the story.

トモちゃん I can get on DVD so might check that out and ひげを剃る I have the light novels for but didn’t think there was an anime. Maybe that’s a good shout to search for stuff I have light novels for.

I’ll take another look through the list as well, a lot of it gave me “magical girl” vibes which I might enjoy but I was never really into stuff like Sailor moon or similar when I was younger (though it did arrive over here when I was already mid to late teens so maybe that’s why).

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Most of the easier fantasy kicks in around 23-24, unfortunately, and does tend to be Magical Girl/very shojo.

If SoL/school romance is in the table, I quite enjoyed 可愛いだけじゃない式守さん S1 | L19 (my review). It’s got some similar themes to トモちゃんは女の子！ S1 | L21 that makes it less copy and paste than the average SoL. It’s only on CR here in Canada, so I don’t know if you’ll have access to it on Netflix/D+ in the UK.

I personally noped out of ひげを剃る。そして女子高生を拾う。 S1 | L21, but I also started it after I had read the books and decided that I wanted to leave it a in my imagination story only. @暁のルナ’s review hits on all of my issues with the story. Fwiw, I did enjoy the books, but I think I wasn’t interested in revisiting the story as a show after I had read it.

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Urban fantasy, SoL: 社畜さんは幼女幽霊に癒されたい。 S1 | L20, きのこいぬ S1 | L21

SF-ish, urban fantasy: 東京マグニチュード8.0 S1 | L20

Romance, SoL: 久保さんは僕を許さない S1 | L20 (少年), 俺物語!! S1 | L21 (少女)

No idea though, whether you can get them.

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Np, I’ll need to work on that then.

I’m getting the impression that the anime series is worse than the books (I haven’t read them either but was under the impression it was decent in how it dealt with certain things) so maybe I should avoid the series and just read the books instead.

Might try this out (will need to get it on DVD I think):blush:

Might need them on DVD but will check them out if I can, thanks :blush:

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It is. If you’re going to do one of the two, I’d definitely recommend the books over the anime. They have audiobooks as well, but note that the book difficulty is L26. That said, I only recommended it since the pickings for shows here were slim.

Which thing(s) are you worried about specifically?

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Books it is then since I’ve the whole series and the reviews I could find for those made it out to be less risky than it seemed from the title.

TBH, not sure exactly what to worry about with the anime but I don’t really want to watch something that may put me off continuing with the series if it does seem to deal with things in a less tactful(?) way than the books do. I could try to find the audio books and use those along side the Light novels for listening practice instead.

Edit: can’t get the audio books in the UK it seems but never mind. :slight_smile:

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I need to start another small stockpile of shows to check out at some point in the future in between audio books and whatnot, so I wanted to ask you guys: what are some good anime originals or anime adaptions (or dramas, doesn’t need to be anime) that are typically considered better than the source material? Opinions will vary, I know, but sometimes I’ll start watching a show, realize it’s an adaption, then think to myself, “man, I’d rather be reading than watching”, which is just a me habit, so I’d like to find some stuff where I don’t feel as torn about watching vs. reading.

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日常 | L26 is often considered better suited for anime than its original manga… but having not read it before and only a few episodes into the show I can’t really comment. I’d have to think harder about what I’ve watched/read before to come up with any of my own…

I’ve found that in general dramas tend to take a less direct from the source material philosophy than anime does, so it’s not retreading the exact same plot if you end up reading it also. Similarly with anime based on LN instead of manga, but ymmv there since I’ve also seen some pretty one to one adaptations. I personally don’t mind watching and reading the same thing though… I often use one medium (usually watching bc it’s easier for me) to decide if it’s worth also doing the other.

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This one’s kinda hard for me, cuz a lot of stuff is "better at Thing A, but not at Thing B). But here’s a list of stuff I’d say is at least as good as the text version:

There’s also stuff like ガールズバンドクライ S1 | L26 which doesn’t have a manga, or リコリス・リコイル S1 | L28 which is originally anime, and while hard I found it less cumbersome than trying the manga

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There aren’t too many works where I’ve read both the book and watched the anime, but I can give you my opinion on which adaption I liked the best for each.

氷属性男子とクールな同僚女子

https://learnnatively.com/season/bb78ab02ee/
https://learnnatively.com/series/1aca2d0979/

Winner: Anime

The manga feels like a disparate collection of random little mini-episodes between the characters. It reminds me of the kind of mini comic strips at the end of newspapers. On the other hand, the anime took all those disconnected fragments and wove them all in one naturally flowing thread. For more details, I’ve written a review: Vie's review of 氷属性男子とクールな同僚女子 S1 | Natively

東京喰種トーキョーグール

https://learnnatively.com/season/91fc4ca4bf/
https://learnnatively.com/book/2da7d7683d/
(volume 7 because I started reading the manga from where the anime ended)

Winner: Anime

Tokyo Ghoul is action but the action panels in the manga were drawn so weirdly, I couldn’t even understand what I was looking at. Where is the character? Who am I looking at? Is that a punch or a kick? No clue. They tried so hard to transmit motion in a motionless medium but it all turned into a confusing blur. When it comes to action and fighting scenes, animation is a better medium in my opinion.

進撃の巨人

https://learnnatively.com/season/d272ba4a8e/
https://learnnatively.com/series/7b6589f108/

Winner: Anime

My previous comment about action in manga vs anime also applies but most importantly in the case of SNK is really the art style of the manga. It is so rough, I couldn’t bear it. At least, it goes to show that a good enough story can elevate a manga with so-so art style to legendary status.

日常

https://learnnatively.com/season/49d28b1015/
https://learnnatively.com/book/f8a4621c3f/

Winner: Anime

The anime is waaay better than the source manga here. They pulled off such a fantastic use of the animation medium. The manga just didn’t hit the same. The anime certainly made me laugh more.

聲の形

https://learnnatively.com/movie/658020954f/
https://learnnatively.com/book/e78a6d06a2/

Winner: Anime

Until now, there has always been a clear winner in my mind but in the case of 聲の形, I am bit more conflicted. Both versions are so great, I love them. However, the movie is just so damn well done that it has to win, even though the manga goes on for longer and is consequently more in-depth.

君の名は。

https://learnnatively.com/movie/ffee6e682a/
https://learnnatively.com/book/3da0b63c54/

Winner: Anime

I haven’t read the novel so I’ll compare the movie with the manga adaptation.

This is a particular case where the manga was released after the movie if I recall correctly and, honestly, it shows. The manga felt very much like a copy-paste of the movie scenes but in black and white stills, so it just felt like a downgrade from the beautiful colored animation in the movie.

I think the conclusion we can make is that I might just prefer the animation medium over the manga medium… That said, it has to be noted that I’ve always first watched the animation and then read the written work, and never the other way around.

There are many mangas I’ve read without ever looking at their anime adaptation (for example, 見える子ちゃん, うずまき, シャドーハウス, …) and also novels (ティアムーン帝国物語~断頭台から始まる、姫の転生逆転ストーリー~, 京都寺町三条のホームズ) but in those cases, I’ve never felt compelled to watch the visual adaptation.

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Thanks for all the good recommendations, guys!

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There are a few things that are clearer in the manga tho (or that just weren’t in the film). I read it well before and would have been kinda confused otherwise. I like both versions, personally

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Ah, can’t believe I forgot my own usual recommendation: K-Project K | L30??. This is anime-original, I believe, and it’s one of my top shows. I’m not quite at the point where I can watch it without subs, unfortunately, but one day!

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