Animes That I Do Not Watch But Everyone Else Does (and their mangas)

[rubah]

A quote:

Anyway, so I'm only 3 volumes into Bleach, but I'm ready to list the reasons why it's better than Naruto (of which I read ~32 volumes):

-- The narrative pacing is actual...narrative pacing.
-- Girls do things other than whine about Sasuke
-- It's a personal preference, but I like the art style more
-- A single fight does not take 6 volumes to reach its conclusion
-- Characters do not spend entire fights explaining the flow of their chakra, or explaining in great detail how their SEKRIT ULTIMATE MOVE works. I like this. I don't care about the schemantics behind somebody's bad-ass fight move. I care about who gets hit, who hit them, how cool it looks, and who dies afterward.
-- It's actually funny, when it tries to be funny
-- The characterization that protagonist Ichigo gets in volume 3 makes me care about him a lot more than I ever cared about the protagonist of Naruto.

Now this is related to the manga, but would you say this was accurate?

I know very little about naruto and absolutely nothing about bleach, so uh, ITT you try to teach me about them

[The Unknown Guru]

Why on Earth would you possibly want to learn about Naruto?

[Tavrobel]

inb4narutard and who said that everyone else reads/watches that stuff?

From what I have seen, Bleach does try harder and comes off as plain better. But the fangirls love Sasuke because he is emo and a jerk and shiz. The general manga required character, of course.

Also, inb4 narutosuxihasntwatcheditlol.

[Moon Rabbits]

Naruto sucks, save yourself and don't even start it.

I know nothing about Bleach, but I've heard it's good. Generally I like to go for anime / manga that is short and to the point, not drawn out over ridiculous lengths.

My recommendations:

• Loveless
• Azumanga Daioh
• Angel Sanctuary
• Cowboy Bebop
• Codename: Sailor V
• FLCL
• Shakugan no Shana
• Glass Mask
• Hell Teacher Nube
• Honey x Honey Drops
• The Rose of Versailles

Bolded for extra awesome.

And, the grandmother of all shojo and super team manga:


There, I saved you from reading 200 volume bland uninspired Naruto/Bleach drabness.

EDIT: Did I mention Naruto sucks? Naruto sucks.

[Shoeberto]

Naruto seems more kid friendly and Bleach seems more adult. But in the end they're both just neverending fight fight fight fight shows that get old as crap after a while, like DBZ, except without any nolstalgia factor for me.

[TyphoonThaReapa]

Why on Earth would you possibly want to learn about Naruto?

Seriously, Naruto sucks bigtime...And Bleach tries WAY too hard. But I would watch Bleach nonetheless because it's really the only good anime on lately...

[DMKA]

And, the grandmother of all shojo and super team manga:

The only animu you will ever need.

EVER.

[TyphoonThaReapa]

And, the grandmother of all shojo and super team manga:

The only animu you will ever need.

EVER.

God please stop...XD...I rather destroy my mind senseless watching ALL of DBZ knowing they will stall the series with fights, explanations, and horrible comedy which is one of the best anime's I've even seen...XD

[Roto13]

The little I have seen of both failed miserably to impress me.

[Momiji]

Everyone here already knows my opinion on Naruto. But for those who don't: On MyAnimeList.net, my list of anime I voluntarily watched rarely drops below a 7 out of 10. Most of the stuff I watch gets an 8, 9, or 10. However, I have 2 low scores, under my 'Dropped' list. The first one is Peach Girl, which I thought was going to be a cutesy moe anime, but it ended up being the most god-awful afternoon high school drama queen drivel I have ever seen. I gave it a 1 out of 10. The other is Naruto. I would give it lower than a 1 if I could, but 1 has to suffice.

As for Bleach, I haven't seen much of the anime, but I've read a couple volumes of the manga, and found it to be decent. Not good enough that I'd go out of my way to watch it, but decent. Definitely better than Naruto if you ask me.

As for recommendations (put in alphabetical order of mostly everything I've recorded on my list-- for simplicity, *s add emphasis on ones that I find particularly exceptional):
Air*
Chobits*
Fruits Basket
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni*
Ichigo Mashimaro*
Kanokon
Kare Kano (US name: His and Her Circumstances)
Kodomo no Jikan* (rather controversial, watch at your own risk)
Mahoromatic*
Mahou Sensei Negima!
Rozen Maiden*
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
School Days* (do not let the first half of the series turn you off, it gets so much better in the end)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann*
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya*
Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-*

[edczxcvbnm]

I would say the description of bleach is accurate although it starts off fast due to the weak initial challenges and the lower character count. As soon as the challenge level rises the number of characters shoot through the roof as well...then it gets slow but they explain and give most of the characters back stories.

It is up to issue 350 or something crazy like that and I think it has slowed down too much. Mainly because the enemies are just are not interesting.

I don't know. It is a fight fight fight thing but oh well. The characters are what kept it interesting to me as the story moves too slowly to really grip you due to the nature of these fight fight fight things XP

[JKTrix]

I think it's important to keep the demographics of the material in mind. Naruto, Bleach, DBZ, Yu Gi Oh, etc... they are all aimed at the same general audience of young boys, generally low teens and younger. Older people can certainly enjoy them, but you can't really bash them for being simplistic or repetitive because of who they're targeted at.

For what they are, when it gets down to the core of it, Naruto and Bleach are pretty good.

But for a lot of people like me who are older or just plain tired of the genre, there are a lot more things out there. I get the impression that rubah is both female *and* over the age of 13, so she's a little ways out of the target demographic. There are far more fulfilling things out there to get 'educated' on in the world of anime/manga.

Also,

...it's really the only good anime on lately...

I'll assume you're talking about US broadcast anime, and not anime you can either buy or watch through digital fansubs. An easy assumption to make, but the mere presence of Gurren Lagann on SciFi defies that statement.

There's some other worthwhile stuff broadcasting now too. Bleach on Adult Swim is flanked by 3 pretty decent anime. Shin Chan which comes before it is pretty darn funny if you can stomach its brand of humour. Code Geass, while not exactly highly intellectual, is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I was incredibly surprised to suddenly see Seirei no Moribito playing on adult swim one recent late night. I've mentioned the show a few times here, but in this linked thread I give a little more detail (and so does Spatvark!)

Look around. There's a lot of good stuff that isn't too hard to find.

[Wolf Kanno]

Both series have their strengths and their faults. I'm going to be fair with you. The first priority is that if you decide to watch either or both. Do it by yourself and make sure you have a few episodes in a row that you can watch. Both series are painfully slow to start. In fact overall, I feel Naruto has a stronger start since its not cliche "monster of the week" garbage. Both series have obnoxious fanbases and I advise not watching them with fans...

Naruto has a better pace when it comes to introducing characters and making you like them. In fact Naruto's supporting cast is generally more interesting and endearing than the main cast. Bleach starts off really slow introducing characters to you and then it starts massive character dumps. Seriously, the cast almost triples when the Soul Society arc begins. The author likes introducing 20 or 30 characters at a time with long stretches of nothing in-between. He does a better job in the Espada/Hueco Mundo arc but at times the plot gets rather confusing cause you're just trying to figure out who is who.

As for the main casts, Naruto is likable in the Japanese version or manga version. Sasuke is a bit whiny and selfish but he actually starts off somewhat likable and becomes more of an asshole as the story goes on. Sakura is annoying and obnoxious, she gets slightly better later...much much later I'm afraid. Luckily her story segments are unimportant and can be skipped. Kakashi is pretty awesome though. Seriously you watch the series for everyone else.

For Bleach, Ichigo is atypical Shonen main character. He has a bit of Yusuke (of Yu Yu Hakusho fame) in him but is unable to really move past the cliche's I'm afraid. Orihime is awesome in the beginning and eventually becomes just as obnoxious as Sakura I'm afraid. Chad is awesome but gets quickly overshadowed by other characters, Rukia is a nice change of pace for female heroines but regretfully goes off duty for a large part of the series (I think she caught emo) where you occasionally check in and listen to her drone on about how worthless she is. She gets better but not for awhile I'm afraid. Uryu is pretty cool but like many characters in Bleach, he gets quickly overshadowed by other newer characters introduced.

The fighting aspect in both is about equal. Both try to shy away from "DBZ all out brawls" but both succumb and generally more often than you think. Luckily both also have enough characters with unusual abilities that make for more thought provoking battles. The type that are more about brains than brawn and luckily these are also used more often than you think.

Story-wise Naruto started off really strong but eventually falls to pieces about the time the story jumps 2 years into the future. The Jump for the most part feels like the author is rushing through tying up all the loose ends rather and finishing the series off instead of a continuation.

Bleach is long winded. Its story arcs are pretty long and mostly spent on trying to introduce you to the swarms of new characters introduced. Outside of pacing the plot is good but for the most part feels like its always just promising "something good" later on. Even from where I am up to it feels like everything is just leading up to some glorious plot twist that will tear the whole story asunder. Basically, the story keeps feeling like something good is about to happen around the corner. Never mind its almost the same length in volumes as Naruto which is finally finishing up.

As for which medium to enjoy them. The Naruto anime is quite exceptional if only cause its soundtrack is amazing. Also, a really good animation team comes in and does the really memorable battles from the series and they are easily the best I've seen in uber long serialized series. Though if you do watch the anime, do Japanese. Not because the english is outright terrible but only cause most subs don't bother with Naruto's obnoxious catch phrase.

As for Bleach, read the manga, the anime does no justice for the manga especially concerning the battles which feel like they are all battling in invisible molasses in the anime. The soundtrack is also terrible. Its been a long time since I've watched an anime that has a soundtrack that detracts from the story.

Also, I second going through Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. Though in its case. Watch the first three seasons and then go through the whole manga. The manga is as usual better.

[qwertysaur]

Naruto is a very long, average series.

Also, if you say the newer bleach characters are boring, you have not seen Charlotte Cuulhorne. Here is a picture of him. Bleach 320 page 19 | One Manga

Bleach is a series that follows Ichigo Kurosaki, a teenage boy who can see and communicate with ghosts. It follows his story as he has a run in with Shinigami Rukia Kuchiki, and learns of the existance of bad spirits called hollows. When Rukia is injured, Ichigo takes up her job in defeating hollows before they cause damage.

The series starts off average, but I find that it picks up really quickly at the Soul Society Arc. Also, the end of the Soul Society arc has a HUGE plot twist that is completely unexpected.

Bleach is popular because it is a very well written series

[*ETERNAL FANTASY*]

i only saw the anime for bleach (and naruto...which i still like)...but its really good started a little slow and then the pace just picked up....unfortunatley it got to the fillers at a really bad time and i stopped watching after the bounto story...even im wondering if its bounced back!