Anime and Gaming

[Nomadic]

Ah yes Bebop was a wonderful series and it does avoid over the top fairly well to where you could develop an RPG directly from it. I am also a fan of FMA, the storyline made it a truly fascinating series beyond all doubt.

While typing this up I had the scary thought of what an Azumanga Daioh (or Cromartie High) RPG would look like. Playing it would probably drive any mortal insane.

[Jharviss]

Full Metal Alchemist is interesting.  It's certainly true that the series is one of the best to garner inspiration from, but I would argue that the manga is much better for it.  I'm guessing that a lot of y'all haven't read the manga, so I'll just say that the manga is still going on and that there isn't any world-switching in the manga.  The world-switching was entirely in the anime.

The anime and the manga for Full Metal Alchemist are very different, but they're both good.  It's the first anime I've seen that departed drastically from the manga but still wrapped up well.

Have to confess I was less a fan of the ending of Claymore. Not gonna spoil it.

The ending in the anime was atrocious, absolutely atrocious.  I recommend reading the manga which keeps going.  The manga gets into some really awesome stuff and makes that ending look illogical.

(Berserk also gained a bad reputation for its ending, but it did the same thing.  Berserk and Claymore really are quite similar.)

[Higgs Boson]

Neon Genesis Evangelion. Watch it. Skip the last two episodes and watch End of Evangelion. Death and Rebirth is just a series recap and the first half of End, so you can skip that too.

I knew it! I love that series, though I haven't seen most of it. It was a long time ago, and I think I only got up to when Shinji is transformed back into promordial suop.[/spoiler]

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

In my opinion what I like about animé is that it doesn't seem as retrained as other possible sources.  I've watched fantasy animé where it's more like a sit-com.  Very rarely have I ever seen anything other than animé (or possibly a cartoon) where the people making it realized that they could do something completely different.

I wouldn't say it directly inspires anything, but this one aspect always makes me feel like I'm not required to do the same old thing.

[lionrampant]

I like some anime shows/movies (and abhor some anime shows/movies), but I can't say it has really influenced my gaming, except in one area: music.  Many anime shows/movies have very good or excellent soundtracks, and I am always trying to figure out how to get good music into my RPGs, generally with less-than-stellar results.

[Pellanor]

I've watched so much anime that I know its going to be an influence, however small, in any work I do.

Two of the big inspirations for my current system are Bleach and Claymore.
I like the way they do "Magic Items" in Bleach. They're all unique and very personalized.
I really liked the way combat worked in Claymore. It had a really cool feel to it, with fancy signature moves, and very deadly attacks. In particular I really enjoyed the story arc "The Slashers".

Noein is another series I've been watching recently which may end up influencing how some of my temporal magic works.

[Kindling]

Has anyone seen an anime called Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann?

I'm making my way through the episodes at the moment, it's good fun. Much silliness, and epic battles with big robots.

Also, Ikki Tousen? I thoroughly loved that, Lol. People brutally and yet very stylishly beating the shit out of each other for absolutely rubbish reasons and many women in very revealing outfits... but then as the series went on it ended up having this vastly complex plot, which ended up having me watching the last couple of episodes with my jaw basically on the floor the whole time, Lol.

[lionrampant]

Didn't Gurren Lagann just release, like, a week ago domestically?

[Kindling]

No idea, I found it subbed online. Besides, "domestically" means in whatever country you live in, not necessarily the same as me...

[lionrampant]

[blockquote Kindling]Besides, "domestically" means in whatever country you live in, not necessarily the same as me...[/blockquote]

An excellent point, I made an assumption that may or may not correct.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I have to say that I really like Tenchi Muyo's approach to the style of things, like the wooden spaceships of Jurai.  Those are the sorts of things I mean when I say that animé seems a bit more "unrestrained".

[SDragon]

I think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

[limetom]

I think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

I'd say it was more like, "Dude, wouldn't it be awesome to have a harem?"  

But, yeah, you're take is pretty much right on too.

[SDragon]

I think the idea behind Tenchi was, "well, why can't we have a sci-fi-fantasy-action-adventure-romance-comedy-drama?"

It's that blending of genres that I liked about it.

Well, there's that too, but I'm not sure if that's all that unique in anime. I believe the hapless-loser-fending-off-a-harem-of-beautiful-women thing is actually a little cliche in anime, isn't it?

[limetom]

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