This is where I'll be putting my top recommendations for several things - music, anime, movies, tv shows, games, fanfics, websites, etc. Be warned - I'm not an expert on any of these fields and these are just personal opinions. Click on any of the categories below to see my faves for each:
Tenkuu no Escaflowne / The Vision of Escaflowne
This 26-episode masterpiece was aired more than 10 years ago (1996 to be exact) but it continues to amaze
me how it has stood the test of time to be one of my all-time favorite animes.
For those of you who do not know of this series, The Vision of Esacflowne is about a girl with psychic abilities who gets myseriously sucked into a new world called Gaea, a place where she can see the Earth from the sky. Hitomi soon finds out that Gaea is a beautiful planet tainted by wars, political intrigue, and deception, and that she has the power to bring peace to this planet.
I've watched this series for over 5 times already, and the premise of the show is still interesting. The whole "get sucked into the world" may be overused already, but the context of it in this show, how Hitomi discovers the secrets of the planet, and how her presence inexplicably changes the lives of those around her make the premise forgiveable.
One of the things I love about this anime (and perhaps one of my most important criteria in liking a show) is how vividly the characters are portrayed. Hitomi realizes over the course of the show the importance of believing in herself, and believing in others, and explores her feelings towards her long-time crush Amano, the knight in shining armor known as Allen, and Van. Van is a stubborn young king of a small kingdom called Fanelia, who must deal with many demons in his past, as well as face his fears of killing. The knight in shining armor is a man with a perfect noble exterior, but deep down, he harbors a strong resentment against a father who abandoned his family.
Even the antagonists are explored. They are given a humane face that allow you to understand that the world is never black and white. We have Folken, a man who believes that the end justifies the means in order to fully realize the peaceful world he wants Gaea to be. Dilandau, a bloodthirsty warrior, knows of nothing but killing, and has bouts of loneliness that trigger uncovered past memories - memories that a group of sorcerers have ripped out from him.
All of these details, aside from the kick ass action sequences, the shiny Escaflowne and other Guymelefs (mechas), plot twists, and the lure of the mystery behind tarot card reading and visions, make a very jampacked, memorable anime that is sure to make you cry and cringe and be at the edge of your seats.
Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X
This anime needs no introduction whatever. Anyone who has watched at least one anime in his/her lifetime is probably
referring to this epic anime about an ex-assassin-turned-pacifist-wanderer with a distinct cross on his cheek. Like
most animes, this show combines drama, romance, action and humor. The other characters in the show, with their
different personalities and demons, all contribute to the oomph of this series.
I believe that among all the action anime series I've watched, this show is probably the most gripping one, and the drama is quite intense in several parts. The movie and OVA 2 are both tear-jerking works of art, and OVA 1 is a darker spin centering on Kenshin's complex past.
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Set in a Chinese theme, this show focuses on Kou Shuurei, a common girl striving to become the best woman she could be.
She is given the perfect chance to give something back to her country when she is unknowingly recruited as the emperor's
cohort, in an attempt to wake His Majesty up from his stupor and lackadaisical behavior. This marks her journey towards
the political scene, where her dream of becoming an official slowly comes into fruition.
What amazes me about this show is how each of the many main characters in the anime are properly explored. All of them have different personalities and demons they need to face, and yet their lives are inexplicably intertwined with each other in some way. Surprisingly, I also find that the love polygon to be an interesting one. I normally find it annoying when most of the guys in the show fall in love with the central character but in this case, I support each of the ships, and I can't decide which ship stands above the others.
Vampire Knight
This is one vampire anime flick you have to watch. The story revolves around Cross Academy, an experimental ground
to forge friendship between the vampires and the humans - the night class students and the day class students. Cross Yuki
and Kiryu Zero, adopted children of the academy's headmaster, are responsible for preserving the peace, by making sure
the day class students don't come snooping at night to look at the very attractive night students.
Despite the intended separation between human and bloodsucker, however, the lives of Kiryu Zero, Cross Yuki, and the night class students are intertwined with one another as Cross Yuki recalls her first memory of her life, 10 years ago, when Kuran Kaname, the highest-ranking vampire, saved her from a class E vampire (the lowest-ranked vampire). Yuki continues to battle with her feelings towards her savior, amidst the impossibility of a relationship between a human and a vampire. Later on, she also comes to find out about her past, and realizes that her life is much more connected to the vampires as she thought.
On the other hand, Zero is a man born from a vampire hunter clan, who abhors these bloodsuckers for massacring his family when he was young. As the story progresses, however, he realizes that his hate is going to cause many complicated matters when he battles with a creeping force within him.
WANTED
This is a 3-chapter one-shot manga that has yet to be made into an anime, but I'm crossing my fingers that it will
be expanded into a full-length anime in the near future.
Created by the same manga artist of Vampire Knight, WANTED, as expected, is chock-full of action, romance, and personality. In the span of 3 chapters, the manga successfully makes you relate to Armelia, a girl in search of her first love, Luce, who got kidnapped by pirates 8 years ago. Now, dressed as a boy pirate, she joins the ranks of the legendary Captain Scar to look for him. Instead, she finds much more than she bargained for, and starts to enjoy the life of a pirate and the company of Captain Scar, an attypical pirate who is hiding something.
I do believe this has GREAT potential to becoming a popular, addictive anime because first and foremost, it revolves around pirates, a group of people everybody adores (case in point: Pirates of the Carribean's box office success). The main characters all have great personality to work on, and the romance is just absolutely adorable! Captain Scar is one helluva charming, kick-arse guy - he's a tasteful mix of charming, adorable, stubborn, cocky, and "pirate-y".
