Sakura of DOOM

RahXephon, maybe? The anime, not the movie. Some people have called it a ripoff of NGE, and it does have a lot of similarities, but it takes a much different and less nihilistic approach. I liked it more than Evangelion because the incomprehensibility felt less tacked-on, but YMMV.

Also Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. This is a little slow-moving, but it's gorgeously animated and the protagonist is an awesome spear-wielding warrior woman, and IIRC there's no skeevy fanservice at all.

Twelve Kingdoms is really, really good--the first series arc has one of my favorite female protagonists ever, though you have to put up with her being a bit spineless during first few episodes--but unfortunately the series as a whole is unfinished because the original novel author has hared off onto other projects.

I would second the Black Lagoon rec, because almost all of the women in it are seriously kick-ass, except that I thought it got extremely depressing, grim, and slightly gory in the second season.

Posted by

oyceter

Hrm, how bloody and/or violent and/or depressing do you think Black Lagoon and RahXephon are?

Oooh, Twelve Kingdoms on my list now, as is Moribito, except it looks like it's not available on Netflix yet.

Posted by

yeloson.livejournal.com

RahXephon was pretty blah to me - it read very much as an Evangelion rip-off, including pointless boy emo, weird Oedipus complex stuff, and even less sense to it's aliens attack to end the world plot. I have a bunch of the episodes if you want to borrow it sometime.

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For Black Lagoon...hmm. While there's lots of action-y gun violence in the first season, I don't remember it being too bad in terms of blood and grimness. The second season, though, gets very, very dark in terms of Horrible Things happening to people. Some of it's just hinted/implied and it's less in terms of gore and more in the way of serious existential bleakness, but there was enough there to send me scrambling for something lighthearted afterwards. (Which is not a condemnation--I like the series a lot, but it can be rough on the emotions.) The first season does stand alone, so you wouldn't be left completely without and ending if you to try it.

My memory's less clear on specifics in RahXephon, but while it does have its emotionally wrought and sad moments and occasional deaths, I didn't find it to be depressing as a whole. It is very much a love-it-or-hate-it series, though, just as a warning; if you really loved NGE, you may find it to be too similar.

Ack, sorry--Moribito's currently running on Adult Swim, so I thought for sure Netflix would at least have the first DVD by now. Hopefully it'll show up soon!

Posted by

the-willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)

Guardian of the Sacred Spirit DOES INDEED ROCK. And I only didn't mention it in my recs because Netflix doesn't have it yet either. But you can save it for when they get it.

And yay! Twelve Kingdoms is already on your list!

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SOMEONE ELSE WHO COUNTS YOKO AS A FAVORITE!!!

*cough*

Sorry.

But yeah, Yoko at the beginning is pathetic and kind of annoying. Ok, more than kind of, but i'm incredibly biased in her favor. But it just makes how awesome she becomes stand out that much more. Ditto for Shoukei.

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How widely does the anime deviate from the novels--or is this a spoiler for the novels I don't want to know? I've seen the first 5-6 anime episodes and read the two novels Tokyopop put out, and prose!Yoko is 100% bottled awesome from the beginning.

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Storywise, they stick pretty close, as far as the two books that have been published stateside go. The main difference is the 2 classmates, and that, not being 100% from Yoko's perspective, we get to see more of ~~Shoryu and Enki~~ what's going on in the world, which Yoko only hears about secondhand in the books. Unfortunately, not being first person POV, we don't get to see how incredibly awesome Yoko is from the start in the anime. They tried to compensate with the classmates, but it isn't quite the same.

This does not prevent Yoko from being awesomeawesomeawesome beyond words after the first bit of the anime, though. And she is even more awesome after the first arc.

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Yes yes yes, I adore Yoko! I was so glad someone had told me to hang on through those first few episodes/chapters, because she really does become incredible once she gets her feet under her. (Plus, it added a whole other layer of realism to her character--there's an annoying amount of protagonists who go through the same situation with minimal trouble, so to see a character that finally hit a decent balance between 'extended shock' and 'rapid adjustment' was amazing.)

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I didn't have anyone to tell me she got better, I just stuck it out because I was in love with the world and mythology, so it was wonderful to see it happen. And yes, Yoko feels so much more real than most of these characters do, which makes watching her grow that much better.

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I am so pissed to learn that Fuyumi Ono has stopped writing 12 Kingdoms on top of Tokyopop dropping the novels. I've only seen about 5 episodes of the anime (and liked them), but I've read the first two novels and seriously need more.

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They...they...they've officially dropped the novels?

I have to go be depressed now.

I only waited five years for someone to license them, and then had to wait a year between releases.

Posted by

tatterpunk.livejournal.com

*mourns with you*

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I will double-check at the book distributor websites at work tomorrow, but I am pretty sure I read news of it somewhere...albeit probably in a read-on-former-staffer's-LJ type news source.

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*clings to no-doubt futile hope*

If nothing else, maybe they'll go "hmm...a PB distrubution may sell better than HC..."

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I'm crossing my fingers, but with most of their other novel/light novel series being canceled...sigh. A book series at least is not as lost a cause as manga, in that there are zillions of companies that publish translated novels and not just the 3.5 that translate comic books.

P.S. ZOMG Apothecarius Argentum icon with babyprotagonist cuteness!!!

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I thought, for some reason, that the 12k light novels were doing well.

Apothecarius Argentum's mangaka wins forever for getting to do the eternal angst of "my blood and skin are poison so we can never touch and I can only protect yyyooouuuuu" but making him an apothecary(in addition to an assassin...) so that when she does get carried away and kiss him at any age he can dramatically save her with a potion and have her wake up to him staring angstily at her. This is just as good with baby versions as it is with adult version. The mangaka is genius.

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I based my assumption off the news that the Chibi Vampire novels were canceled despite Chibi Vampire the manga being a big seller. BUT I see listings for 12 Kingdoms 3, so maybe it's not canceled after all! MAYBE. Curse you, internet rumors and speculation and Tokyopop keeping your mouth shut!

I get sooooo much long-delayed Rogue/Gambit-touching sweet sweet gratification from Primula/Argent, it makes me curl up in happiness. Much less angst! Much more UST!

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*crosses fingers*

I get the Rogue/Gambit thing, too. Except...while I like Rogue/Gambit and I like reading about Gambit, I've never really liked Gambit very much, and he's always been so big on keeping secrets and lying that I may be slightly more in favor of Rogue finding someone a bit more honest and Gambit angsting attractively for eternity. Gambit makes me go "yes, that's fine. Go angst over there now and think about whether or not it was really necessary to not be completely honest with her the last 20 times." Argent, OTOH, makes me want to love him and pet him and help him make a potion that will let him make non-poisonous-babies with Primula without killing her.

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