Attack on Titan

[Archdemon Stu]

http://www.crunchyroll.com/attack-on-titan/episode-1-to-you-2000-years-in-the-future-the-fall-of-zhiganshina-1-623251

For those who have been starved of a good anime for a very long time, I hope this is as much of a breath of fresh for you as it has been for me.

The setting and premise is very interesting, and in many ways, the ideas are fresh.  It's one of the few shows that can make me blurt out, "Oh, shit." while watching, and gives me an actual emotional response to the events that occur due to proper build up and/or the element of surprise.  And while many shows try to give me a feeling of the impending demise of the human race... none make it feel more convincing than this one.

Just check out the first episode.   Free and commercial free on the first one in the link given above.

[Soul Reaver]

I've heard good things about this as well... but I'm reluctant to watch it.

The reason?  The manga it's based on is still ongoing, so it's safe to say there won't be a conclusion to this anytime soon.

In the best-case scenario they'll stay dedicated to it, stop at a logical point, and made another season once enough manga volumes are out to justify it.

But more likely we'll end up with a worse-case scenario where they either stop at a completely unresolved cliffhanger (like "Berserk") or start to diverge from the manga so they can put their own non-canon ending in (like "Claymore") or simply make up stuff once they start running out of manga volumes (like the original "Fullmetal Alchemist" and a whole bunch of others).  For some reason, those really annoy me, and I can't see this one going any other way, especially if the original manga story is actually very good (which Attack on Titan seems to be).

[Archdemon Stu]

Very legitimate fears.  I saw Claymore as an anime before I started reading the manga, and I have to say, the anime made the tone change completely those last couple of episodes.  Wasn't happy about that.  As for Berzerk, leaving out Skull Knight was just... blah.

I'm hoping they do what they did with Hajime no Ippo.  They cover what material is available, stop at a reasonable place, and return a few years later with even better quality and more funding, and return to the material that is now available.  And who knows?  Maybe the manga won't go on too long.

We'll see though.  For the time being, I find it most enjoyable.

[Radobe]

I always read the manga before (if at all) I watch the anime. It doesnt feel right the other way arround.

[Archdemon Stu]

I often find that one is higher quality than the other.  Claymore, for example, I find somewhat lackluster as a manga.  The only thing I disliked about the anime was the ending which I could clearly tell was not canon even without having read the manga first, as it almost entirely lacked a theme, point, or advancement of characters.

Attack on Titan is another instance where I'm fairly unimpressed with the drawings in the manga (aside from a few drawings of Mikasa and a few action scenes).

With shonen I almost always prefer the manga.  The anime is always blasted with filler, and they save all of their funding for climactic battles while utterly neglecting anything otherwise, limiting animation to basic mouth movements (without the jaw).

[Soul Reaver]

I intend to take a 'wait and see' approach.  Once the manage and anime are both finished I'll decide if I think it's worth watching/reading.

Firstly I don't want to be left hanging, waiting for a story to conclude.  And secondly there's just a crushing feeling of disappointment when something starts great but goes out with a whimper (Evangelion 3.33 seems to be doing its best to make that series go that way), so really want to avoid that.