Other Anime

The off-topic forum was looking lonely and people had been talking about non-Simoun anime in the introduction thread, so here's a thread specifically for it.

Most of the anime I've liked in the last couple of years are either in the yuri genre or heterosexual high school romances. Romance is my genre of choice but I don't tend to watch BL/yaoi (....um....don't look at me like that after noticing my obvious Simoun OTP XD).

Yuri shows I like and my favorite characters:
Aoi Hana (Akira, Fumi, Kyouko)
Maria-sama ga Miteru (Shimako <3333, Noriko, Touko)
Blue Drop (No clear favorite character, but I like MarixHagino)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (Utena, Juri, Anthy)

Non-yuri high school romances:
Clannad (No clear favorite character, but I like TomoyaxNagisa)
Kimi ni Todoke (ALSO no clear favorite character but I like KazehayaxSawako and RyuxChizuru)
Toradora (Minori)

I also have a fondness for the first season of Pokemon.
I haven't been into any of the above series as intensely as Simoun, but I did enjoy them.

So, what shows does everyone else like/dislike?

Well...I have quite a few series that I enjoy. I've not seen many yuri series and I just haven't felt like it. I've gotta be sparked at the right time. So I suppose I'll split my interests as well.

Yuri:

Strawberry Panic- I enjoy this for the cheesy soap drama that it is. Toward the end, that bit with Amane, that was the cheesiest. I think I like the light novels better though, but only because of the scene with Amane and Hikari.

Maria Watches Over Us- Okay so I've only watched the first season of this. I'd heard it was good and bought the first season before watching it. A risk, but worth it. Wasn't pulled in by the first few eps, but as it went on, I got pulled in. At this point, I rather enjoy Rei, but we'll see. I'm hoping to pick up the second season cheaper at Otakon than I can get online. I never pay full price for my anime (Well, except Simoun, but that was worth it!)

So we'll go with non-yuri series now. Here's where things get a bit stranger. I love laughing and comedy so I like some pretty pointless series. I also love action and a good story, so I have some interesting choices there. My top favorites though that I enjoy:

Crayon Shin-chan: Japanese or English, I love the perverted 5 year old. I have no idea why but Shin's adorable. I even have a tiny plush of him from last year's Otakon.

Sgt. Frog: This is the first series I've bought as it was released. I've not seen it subbed yet, even though the DVDs are subbed. I've only seen dub and I really enjoy it. My favorite character is Koyuki, the ninja girl with Dororo. Secretly, I'd love to ship Natsumi with Koyuki...too adorable. I also love clueless yet destructive Angol Mois. I love her VA, Carrie. She's wonderful in person and so funny. She always comes to Tekkoshocon and now KuroKiiro.

Lucky Star: I love pointless randomness and I don't get all the jokes, but I find it amusing. I have started watching it for a second time and am happy to say that I get some of the stuff I didn't understand the first time. Minami is my favorite, and pretty much the only character I collect from this series.

Finally, I'll through in my favorite action piece- Fate/stay night. This was the series that got me back into anime and it's thanks to my friend who I get along with 50/50 of the time. I loved the twists in this series and I've played through part of the visual novel associated with it. The thing I like best is how many "routes" get put into the thing. The anime follows the Fate route mainly. I read the manga and that follows the Unlimited Blade Works route so it's sometimes difficult to keep everything straight and separate.

There is one series I love but I've never finished it. It's a hard series to find and I think my copy of it is bootleg, but it's Akage no Anne, which is the anime series that was produced in the 70's by the studio produces all of Miyazaki's stuff (I'm not sure if it was Ghibli at that time). From what I've seen so far, it really does follow the book and I like that. It seems to be a pretty good and beautifully drawn series.