IIRC and SciFi Channel (no SyFy, ugh bad change, bad!) interview YEARS ago asked this question and the answer was (paraphrasing here)
Yes to all, you (us) the viewers are also taken along the journey to experience and live with them. How you see them, be it wolf, or human is correct. What they mean to you is how you will relate to them from beginning to end.
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They were wolves. The human stuff was them in disguise.
And the flower girl was a human / flower made through alchemy
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This was always on my radar but I never watched it. I’m familiar with the premise and everything but I don’t know why I always skipped it. I may have to just buy the bluray.
I agree DxD is actually quite good for what it is. It lost me at season 3 though, and got way too into the ultra-melodramatic giga-powerup shounen tropes (which is hilarious considering the episode where Issei goes to that otakus house to make a pact and they start nerding out over “Dragonboy Z” lol). I could only listen to him screaming Asia’s name so many times before I had to give up. Also why the fudge is her name Asia Argento? That’s a real person!
Agent Aika is something else though, if you’ve never seen that. I’m pretty sure it has the highest ppm (panties per minute) of any anime ever, lol. The art style is great though and it could’ve been more of a real show if it wasn’t so deliberately and absurdly fanservice-y.
Same with Queen’s Blade. That show has some legitimately really good characters, design and story, but leans way too heavily into being a boob-fest rather than a real show. I still love it though. Fantastic fantasy soundtrack too.
That 2nd one goes hard at 1:40. “Epic” has become such an overused term in the past several years, but I can’t think of a more appropriate word for that soundtrack.
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Hey, at least it isn’t Keijo… lol
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Oh gawd. Supposedly Portugal wanted to make that into a real sport, lmao. It’s like somebody played Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and was like “you know what would be really great…”
OMG Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 has a Keijo crossover!!! The swimsuits are based on that anime LOL.
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Kinda numb to fan service from an early start though. Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura (bless Rumiko for slamming out her three big hitters that stayed close to the grandfather of shonen and the big three lol), Outlaw Star (Milfina in a way due to being the ship, sorta kinda and mostly Lenore Zann nearly always in the buff. A lot.) and the early Tenchi Muyo episodes (Ryoko often shared what she bared a lot in the early eps lol.)
Oh and cant forget the granddaddy of fan service parody. Space Dandy!
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This is such a classic though. I love the film Beautiful Dreamer, it’s so good. Cutie Honey is great too, I think we talked about that in a different thread.
Also a classic.
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Yeah sorta remember. Don’t really think of Fan Service with Cutie Honey as her transformations often are direct to the situation and the animation is clearly styled to have that 80s action flix focus be the highlight. And with fast action, body parts will be in frame during said action.
Also, could be wrong, think Excel Saga and Cutie Honey where the pioneers for how today’s modern shonen have their fights take place versus the impact frames seen in DB/DBZ.
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I deal with fan service more when its more equal. If its just girls getting it then I’m bored.
Least with recent stuff like Dungeon Meshi you get Dwarf panty shots and occasional thigh shots from the men lol. ( theres still some girl fan service stuff there but spoilers )
“Oh but you like Jojo!” and? There’s still the occasional woman there. Araki knows what he likes to draw.
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Thanks everyone for the great conversations. I learned a bit, (though head is exploding with info!),but have a lot of jumping off points to google and learn more. And also found some possible great titles/themes that might suit my tastes. It’s been a really fun read. 
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I agree there is currently an over saturation of isekai at the moment it stems from the popularity of 2 isekai that are really good.
Overlord and Reincarnated as a slime.
I said it earlier in the thread and I’ll say it again if you like fantasy watch Frieren it really is that good.
Also for you romance fans sign of affection is gold tier.
Also recommend Horimiya for romance but that one you have to pay attention too or you will misinterpret some things about the main characters.
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Same. But i kind of got into some of them during the plandemic. I have a few off the top of my head i quite enjoy(ed).
Sadly my Mezzo Forte and Kite DvDs and Lunch Box died in an accident while moving decade ago. The only thing that survived of those two was a promotional shirt (with the generic signature from the creator faded off sadly) from so long ago, 1999 (which is worth about $400.00 atm for its current condition, cause yes I still wear it, cause it still fits my scrawny bones and to see who knows, really knows out in the real world lol.)
If I remember correctly, I got it along with all my JTHM goodies same day just before leaving Hot Topics cause of School / Work schedule started to conflict and them nerfing their employee discount from 35% down to 15% in 2000 lol.
Edit:
Another good one, which awkwardly wholesome and the best bait and switch intro there is:
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I’m Not the Demon Lord
The main, if I remember correctly from a tidbit before Funimation was bought out by CrunchyRoll, they had a snip-it from the creator saying the Main Character was inspired by Daria and wanted to do an isekai with a truly deadpan hero.
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I think I was talking about Re: Cutie Honey now that I think of it, which is a bit more over the top than the original series.
That is really freaking cool. The only anime apparel I have is an Evangelion EVA-01 keychain for my car keys.
Maaan I know it gets a lot of crap but Hot Topic was great in the 90s. I used to pick up their ~$5 Cleopatra & Metropolis Records compilation cds all the time, still have a bunch. One of my friends in Highschool was super into JTHM. I just like Happy Noodle Boy. 
side note - I just ordered season 1 of Ikki Tousen on dvd because it was on sale for $12 on Amazon, lol. Wish me luck. 
Definitely post an update with your thoughts if you decide to watch anything, I’m always interested in opinions about anime, good or bad (as long as it has a bit more nuance than “lol weeb trash”).
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Speaking of dubs, ever watch Black Lagoon?
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WoW is cartoony.
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I have the complete series including the Roberta’s Blood Trail OVAs on bluray. One of my favs. IIRC, the creators said something about the characters being designed with an English dub in mind. It’s an intense show, particularly those OVAs about Roberta. She and some of the other minor characters (namely Sawyer and Shenhua) are some of my favorites in the series.
Some parts are very hard to watch (the Hansel and Gretel episodes, the yakuza boss’s daughter episodes), but it’s really great overall. Definitely recommend for people looking for an adult anime with plenty of action and interesting characters.
Madhouse is my favorite animation studio. I love their art style, pretty much everything they’re involved with is top-tier.
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As far as style goes, I enjoy how MAPPA’s lines look in their flagship shows of the season. They do 3D well too. Sometimes it’s a bit jank, but im happy to let those animators get more experience and feedback. Hell, that generic 3D horse we see in every studio has gotten better over the years.
I like Bones for the showing alternative styles, like how they handle facial expressions FMA:B. I think they’re sound design is pretty awesome too.
There are some animators who you can recognize, which I think is good and bad for different reasons. Shingo Yamashlta, for example, has made a lot of great work. I think he does “moving clothing” super good, you can feel more immersed in his work and the scene.
I’ve not watched any of their stuff, but I’m familiar with their art for shows like Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen. Makes sense that it would be good, as that company was founded by Masao Murayama (co-founder of Madhouse).
Agree, I like the art style of Soul Eater.
Well, not sure what ‘weeb trash’ is but I did start Frieren and really like it so far. Also we’ve gotten addicted to Attack on Titan; it’s one of those you can’t stop watching. I’m really impressed. What type of animation? Who does it? I’m reading your replies to one another and there are some answers in there, but it’s getting all mashed up in my head (or mushed up! lol!).
I need a little help here with terms and definitions of words and animators, and different kind of anime. I’m not sure how it works with subsets and the different animators. What are the art/animation styles? Are animators and creators the same thing? What are different studio’s - do they make a difference? Manga, Japanese, chinese…american. Oh and ONA or OVA?
Is isekai a subset of something? How does it all work? What do I pay attention to on credits? Is there other criteria I should be paying attention to? Though I already pay attention to directing, writing, editing, and music just from being a movie junkie.
I’m guessing ‘slime’ is bad and an opinion - not a definition.
Though yesterday we ended up down the rabbit-hole on mostly normal shows based on anime. Alita:Battle Angel (watched it a few times after it first came out because I loved it. Saw Ghost in the Shell because I saw it mentioned earlier in the thread - it was a regular movie. Okay, but seemed like it was missing something - not sure what I mean. Also watched the movie Overlord and was genuinely surprised at how good it was. We have Perfect Blue on deck to watch, & again, a regular movie based on an anime, Sucker Punch(maybe) & Paprika. I was wondering about Dragon’s Dogma? Which Evangelinia?
Anyway, I know that’s a lot of questions. Mainly interested in terminology for different anime’s or animation (which one is correct to use?) and the studio or animators. I know some of this comes with time, just need to know what to look out for on these particulars, and make it easier to understand your conversations. I figure if I keep rereading them some of the info will stick.
It’s hard, too, with these 22 minute shows and 5 minutes of credits before and after! lol Okay, that’s my update.
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