NOTE: Please don't read if you hate spoilers! So, if you would like to get an idea for anime shows and movies to watch, here's the list:
1. Peach Girl
2. Ouran High School Host Club
3. Fruits Basket
4. Howl's Moving Castle
5. Spirited Away
However, if you do want to know what's so good about these shows/movies, read on!
I always had a thing for reverse harems and comedy/romance in anime. And I really favor characters who are realistic-appearing and act their age for the plot. For those of you who are searching for the same kind of shows to watch, here's my top and ONLY list:
1. Peach Girl
What I really liked about this show, though I'm really upset it had to end with only 25 episodes), was how the main characters (Kairi & Momo) do end up together in the end! And this is exactly why I'm making it my first and most favorite show. It's an awesome love triangle between two gorgeously handsome boys and, of course, a beautiful girl. Obviously, this isn't just another Fifty Shades of Grey story (no plot, which I hate), but rather an actual meaningful show with motives and intentions in it. I guarantee, if you're a romantic like me, you'll like this anime.
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Here's the summary:
Momo Adachi is a former member of the high school swim team. She tans easily and her hair is bleached out; unfortunately, she is stereotyped by her ignorant classmates and is forced to endure rumors about being an "easy girl" who has had many sexual relationships. Her only friend is Sae, who is actually responsible for spreading the nasty gossip due to her jealousy of Momo. Momo is in love with Toji, a taciturn baseball player, but the scheming Sae also has her sights set on the boy. Momo's life is further complicated with the introduction of Kairi Okayasu, a wise-cracking playboy who is determined to make her his. He reveals to Momo that she had saved him from drowning the summer before high school started.
Things become even more complicated when Sae, in an attempt to make Momo miserable, spreads rumors about Momo and Kairi making out. The rumor about the kiss between the two is true, but it was Kairi who initiated it while Momo remained stunned by the interaction. When Toji is hospitalized, Sae convinces Toji to break up with Momo. Thanks to Kairi, he finds out about all the lies and rumors Sae has made up. Toji saves Momo from being bullied (thanks to Sae's lies again) and tells the truth about him and Momo, resulting in the students apologizing to Momo and hating Sae. Toji and Momo get back together, but Sae later tries to complicate their relationship again by threatening to discredit Momo with her newly acquired access to the mass media. Though Toji is initially defiant, he reluctantly breaks up with Momo to protect her. Momo is heartbroken at first, particularly due to not knowing that it is part of Sae's schemes. However, she eventually begins dating Kairi, whom she had previously considered annoying, and soon begins to fall in love with him. When it is revealed to Momo why Toji broke up with her, Momo is left to choose between Toji and Kairi. More problems arise and the love triangle intensifies.
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But the most beautiful part of this is that the anime doesn't really "end." If you liked Sae, the author made a story just for her! Although it's not made into an anime show, it's still a manga, and well, it's better than nothing right? Personally, I wasn't too fond of the manga or the plot for the matter. I'm more centered on the key characters, and for me, that just doesn't include Sae. Of course, I'm not saying she's not needed. After all, Sae's the one who gave this anime a good conflict!
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Here's the summary of the manga:
In "Sae's Story", Sae is left back a year, for she was always skipping classes. She is too stubborn so she goes to Momo's and Kairi's university every day. Toji goes to a good university by himself. Sae then meets one of her childhood sweethearts, Kanji (or Monkey Boy), who left for Malaysia when they were young, and promised to marry Sae when he was back. In love with Sae, Kanji follows her around, trying to win her over. He takes care of Sae's dog, Sora, when her parents would no longer let her keep it. The dog walks with a little limp; one day when Sora tried to follow Sae, she threw a rock at its paw and injured it. Sae starts modeling and pretends she goes to college with Momo, when she is really still in high school. She meets Honda and works for CC as a model. She meets a guy named Takuma, and he later turns her down. Sae meets another guy named Shinji but realizes he never really liked her. All these ups and downs make Sae realize that Momo, Kairi, and Kanji are the only people who care for her.
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2. Ouran High School Host Club
My second favorite has to be Ouran High School Host Club. The reason I made this second on the list is because well, the anime ended so suddenly with only 26 episodes! I wanted to see something happening between the characters! It's obvious Tamaki and Hikaru has a thing for Haruhi, and it is implied Kaoru and Kyoya has a crush on Haruhi as well. So, what is taking so long? For the whole season I'm just screaming for Haruhi to stop being oblivious. Luckily, for those who likes to read manga, you really get a kick out of the ending by, well, reading! There's no more episodes after 26 but the manga revolves around how Haruhi finally decided to go for Tamaki.
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Here's the summary:
Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at the prestigious Ouran Academy, a fictitious high school located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, a place where the Ouran Academy Host Club, a group of six male students, gathers to entertain female "clients." During their initial encounter, Haruhi accidentally knocks over and breaks an antique vase valued at ¥8,000,000 (U.S. $80,000 in the U.S. English manga) and is told to repay the cost in service to the club as an errand boy. Haruhi's short hair, slouching attire and gender-ambiguous face cause her to be mistaken by the hosts for a male student. After a brief run as such, the Hosts soon realize that she's a "natural" in entertaining girls and promote her to full-Host status. She agrees since Hosting will help her pay off her debt more quickly. The members of the club discover her true gender one by one, but they keep this fact a secret.
Ouran Elite Academy encompasses pre-school through high school and has an attached university program. Most students come from elite families, but a scholarship is annually awarded to the top scorer on a rigorous entrance examination. Haruhi is such a student for her grade level. The school's unofficial motto is "Lineage counts first, wealth a close second," meaning students with stellar family backgrounds but low socioeconomic status may be given top priority over those from rich families with lesser pedigrees.
Other than Haruhi, the other members of the Host Club include President Tamaki Suoh, Vice-president and "Shadow King" Kyoya Ootori; Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, identical 1st-year twins; Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka and his cousin Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka. Tamaki is the charming, beautiful hafu and top draw of the club with a 70% request rate, thus earning him the title of "King." Kyoya, however, is the "Shadow King," the true director who runs the show from behind the scenes with a charming facade and gracious manners. The Hitachiin twins, who share classes with Haruhi, are mischievous imps who utilize a devised incestuous-homoerotic angle on their relationship to captivate their guests. Honey is from a distinguished martial arts family, but plays the role of a "boy Lolita" who has a great passion for stuffed animals and sweets while Mori is his tall, quiet protector with a fierce appearance and soft heart. All the characters are parodies of shojo manga characters, with Haruhi serving as the "natural" type, Tamaki as the "princely" type, Kyoya as the "cool" type, the Hitachiin twins as the "little devils", Honey as the "cute shotacon" type, and Mori as the "strong, silent or stoic type."
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3. Fruits Basket
Lastly, I really enjoyed watching Fruits Basket. The love triangle between Kyo & Yuki & Tohru is just adorable! And the way the author related this to the Chinese zodiac signs are also a plus! Again, the episodes ended really quickly, which is another reason why I didn't tie this to Peach Girl, which actually had a good ending in the anime, well, at least, to me.
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So here's the summary:
When high school student Tohru Honda's mother dies in a car crash on her way to work, she decides to live with her grandfather. Renovations on the house cause her to move out of her grandfather's house temporarily, and since she has nowhere else to go, Tohru begins living in a tent and supporting herself. That is, until she finds a home in the least likely of places, inhabited by her popular classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousins Shigure and Kyo. The Sohmas however, live with a curse. Twelve (not including Kyo, who is the cat) members of the family are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac and turn into their zodiac animal when they are weak, under stress, or when hugged by someone of the opposite gender.
When Tohru discovers the Sohmas' secret, she promises not to tell and is allowed to keep living with them. Although the Sohmas' curse is deeper and darker than Tohru realized, her presence and her acceptance of them soon becomes a large, positive influence on those possessed by the zodiac. She sets out to break the curse, and on the way, meets and discovers each of the Sohma's vengeful zodiac spirits. Each has a different personality, just like the animals in the Chinese zodiac. Tohru's existence changes the Sohma clan's lives forever.
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As for favorite anime movies, I only have one, and that's:
1. Howl's Moving Castle:
I actually would tie this to Peach Girl. Both end exactly in the romantic-way I pictured and well, was just beautiful.
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Here's the summary:
Sophie, an eighteen-year old hatter, is a responsible young woman who encounters a mysterious and tremendously powerful wizard named Howl while on her way to visit her younger sister Lettie. The Witch of the Waste, who romantically pursues Howl, comes to the hat shop and curses Sophie who refuses to serve her by transforming Sophie into a ninety-year old woman. Seeking a cure for the transformation spell, Sophie travels into the Wastes but instead finds a cursed living scarecrow whom she calls "Turnip Head", who takes her to Howl's castle. Here, Sophie meets Howl's young apprentice, Markl; and the fire-demon Calcifer, who is the source of all of the castle's energy and magical power. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie's help in breaking the spell he's under, which keeps Calcifer bound to the house. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle's new cleaning lady hired by Calcifer.
At the same time, Sophie's country is caught up in the beginning of a war with its neighboring country, following the mysterious disappearance of the other country's Crown Prince. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. However, Howl comes up with an idea to send Sophie, under the guise of being his mother, to the King to profess the cowardice of one of Howl's two aliases. Before leaving the castle, Howl gives to Sophie a magic charm (ring), which connects her to Calcifer and will guarantee her safe return. He also assures her that he will follow her to the palace in disguise. At the palace, Sophie runs into an asthmatic dog, Heen, who she thinks is Howl undercover. She also meets the Witch of the Waste, who Suliman, the king's magic advisor, punishes by draining all of her power, causing her to regress into a harmless old woman. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, the Witch's spell temporarily weakens revealing Sophie's true form due to the passion in her words. Suliman realizes Sophie's true relation to Howl and her purely intense romantic feelings towards him. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie under the guise of the King. Suliman tries to trap Howl but with the help of Sophie, they manage to escape, taking Heen and the former Witch of the Waste with them.
Sophie learns that Howl transforms into a bird-like creature in order to interfere in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Sophie fears that Howl is preparing to leave them, as his remaining time as a human is limited, he returns to interfering in the war. Sophie's mother—under Suliman's control—arrives and leaves behind a bag containing a "peeping bug" under her orders. The former Witch of the Waste discovers it and promptly destroys the bug by tossing it into Calcifer. Unfortunately, Calcifer gets sick after eating the bug, rendering him unable to protect the castle from being discovered due to his weakened state. Sophie's mother says Sophie can live with her again, but Sophie says she will stay with her new family.
A few hours later, Sophie returns to her young form just as the city is carpet bombed by enemy aircraft. Suliman's henchmen invade the flower shop Howl made for Sophie. After protecting the flower shop from the bombing, Howl draws the guards away just after healing Calcifer. He tells Sophie he is not going to run away anymore because he has something he wants to protect - Sophie. Afterwards, he takes his leave. Deducing that Howl is trying to protect the castle and everyone inside it, Sophie moves everyone out and removes Calcifer from the fireplace, and destroys the castle. She offers Calcifer her braid, allowing him to power a portion of the remaining castle. They head toward Howl, in order to let him know that they are not attached to the castle anymore when the former Witch of the Waste realizes that Howl has given his heart to Calcifer, just like Sophie did with her hair. The Witch takes Calcifer and refuses to let go of him although it is burning her. A panicked Sophie pours water onto the Witch of the Waste, which douses Calcifer, making him lose his magical strength and power. The castle is split in two; Sophie and Heen fall down a chasm, while Markl, the Witch of the Waste and Calcifer continue traveling on the disintegrating castle.
Making her way toward Howl's heart with the ring that Howl gave her as a protective charm, Sophie enters through the broken door of the castle into the black region and discovers a recollection of how Howl and Calcifer met: as a boy, Howl took pity on a falling (dying) star—Calcifer—and gave it his heart. The act bound Calcifer to Howl indefinitely; however, by losing his heart, Howl was emotionally trapped in adolescence.
Sophie finds Howl, having now lost his human consciousness in bird form. They head back to Calcifer, accompanied by the Witch of the Waste and Markl who are on a plain wooden platform, the only remaining part of the former castle, moving on the edge of a cliff. Sophie asks the Witch for Howl's heart. She gives it to her and Sophie places the heart back inside Howl, returning him to life, and freeing Calcifer. With Calcifer gone, the remaining platform collapses and starts falling down the mountain. Turnip-head saves the plaftorm by putting his pole against the falling platform. Sophie warmly kisses Turnip-head on the cheek as thanks, which breaks his curse revealing that he is actually the missing prince from the neighboring country and was trapped in the form of a scarecrow until he received a true love's kiss. Although Calcifer is now free, he returns to his former company. Heen shows the scene of the happy end and the discovery of the missing prince to Suliman, and Suliman decides to put an end to the war. Howl, Sophie, and the others are seen high above the bomber planes upon a new flying castle, while the bombers return from the war.
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Actually, the only exception I would like to make is Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away since it IS another great and touching movie. The reason why I'm making it an exception is because, well, I'm an addict to romance and there didn't seem to end with any. Maybe there's care and friendliness involved, but not really an indication the characters (Haku & Chihiro) will date/marry in the future.
But other than that, all anime have their own specialties. And I know not everyone is a fan of romance and reverse harems. So, what I can say to you is to watch them all! You're bound to find something you will fall in love with.
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