Top Anime/Manga Tournament [Death Note Division] CLOSED

[Alchemy Time]

I'm going to be doing write-ups and showing clips for each show from now on. I'll try my best to avoid spoilers.

Death Note:

Genre: Supernatural, Dark, Crime/Psycological Drama

Death Note tells the story of Light Yagami, a young genius who finds the "Death Note", a notebook capable of killing anyone who's name is written in it. He decides to use it in a crusade to exterminate all criminals, leaving only those who he has judge to be honest and hardworking people.

This attracts the attention of the world famous detective "L". L begins to try and catch Light, or "Kira" as he is known publicly. Each vowing to defeat each other, they engage in a game of cat-and-mouse.

Death Note hold a 8.9/10 rating on IMDb, based on 45000 votes. It has been met with massive critical acclaim, and although Fullmetal Alchemist is my favourite anime, Death Note is the best anime I have ever seen.

Elfen Lied:

Genre: Dark, Violent, Psychological, Horror.

Elfen Lied revolves around the interactions, views, emotions, and differences between human beings and the Diclonii, a mutant species similar to humans in build but distinguishable by two horns on their heads and "vectors", transparent telekinetically controlled arms that have the power to manipulate and cut objects within their reach. The series is centered on the teenage Diclonius girl "Lucy" who was rejected by human beings and subsequently wants revenge.

Reception for the Elfen Lied anime series was generally mixed to positive. It has received praise for its story and technical excellence in production quality, animation and color. Due to the many scenes of nudity and gore in the series, it has drawn criticism as being "overly blatant" or "sad and forced". The over-the-top graphicness of the first nine minutes of the first episode has deterred some viewers and caused controversy upon its release.

The series drew criticism for having "sub-par voice acting", in both the original Japanese audio track and the English dub of the series. Another criticism is that "the series ends abruptly with some loose ends to the story that could leave viewers unsatisfied". Despite these criticisms, Western reviewers also describe the series as "really a genuinely good watch", "a horror series of exceptional merit", "certainly memorable" and "a very special show, good and bad parts taken into consideration".

WARNING GRAPHIC VIOLENCE/NUDITY

Code Geass:

Genre: Mecha, Alternate Universe, Action.

Code Geass is based around a alternate timeline where Britain won the American Revolutionary War, and went on to conquer almost the entire Earth, renaming themselves Britannia. The story focuses on Lelouch vi Britannia, a disowned prince of Britannia who lead a Japanese rebellion against Britannia in an attempt to create a better world for his sister Nunnally. He uses his power, the ability to control anyone by just making eye contact with them, known as Geass, to acheive his goals. The series raises many moral questions, and also teaches about how ones ideals corrode over time.

Since its premiere, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion has collected numerous awards and accolades. At the sixth annual Tokyo Anime Awards held at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair, Code Geass won the best TV anime series award. The second season also got the award of "Best Screenplay" in the 2009 Tokyo Anime Fair. In noted Japanese anime magazine Animage's 29th Annual Anime Grand Prix, Code Geass won the most popular series award, with Lelouch also being chosen as the most popular male character. In the 30th Annual Anime Grand Prix, Lelouch won first place again. At the first Seiyu Awards held in 2007, Jun Fukuyama won the award for best actor in a leading role for his performance as Lelouch in the series, while Ami Koshimizu won the award for best actress in a supporting role for her performance as Kallen Stadtfeld.

It has an 8.2/10 rating on IMDb based on over 7500 votes.

D. Gray-man:

Genre: Dark, Action, Supernatural, Humour

D.Gray-man follows the adventures of 15-year-old Allen Walker, whose left arm can transform into a monstrous claw and destroy Akuma, evolving machines created by the Millennium Earl to help him destroy humanity. As ordered by his master General Cross Marian, Allen becomes an Exorcist, people who can destroy Akuma, for the Black Order, an organization attempting to stop the Earl. He becomes a powerful asset for the Order because he can detect disguised Akuma with his left eye. Allen is sent to recover pieces of Innocence, a substance that gives the Exorcists the ability to destroy Akuma. The Earl decides to call together the Noah Family, superhuman descendants of Noah who can destroy Innocence. Both sides start the search for the Heart, the most powerful piece of Innocence that will ensure victory to the side that finds it.

The anime has received moderate-to-good critical reception.

A.E. Sparrow of IGN said that "Walker is a solid hero with a dark past, the Millenium Earl is a menacing villain you'll love to hate and the supporting cast shows enough potential to hold interest into future volumes". Mania.com commented that series becomes better as it continues, remarking that some elements seemed derivative but it has developed its own unique identity. However, they criticized several changes made in the Viz Media edition, such as the fact that the Japanese sound effects have been replaced by ones that make fans detract while viewing it and some translations of the names of the characters that the reviewer deemed awkward.

It holds a 7.7/10 rating on IMDb based on almost 2000 ratings.

Neon Genesis Evangelion:

Genre: Apocalyptic, Mecha, Psychological

Evangelion is set in a futuristic Tokyo fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm. The main story centers around Shinji, a teenage boy recruited by the shadowy organization NERV to pilot a giant bio-machine called an Evangelion in combat against monstrous beings known as Angels. The series also explores the experiences and emotions of other Evangelion pilots and members of NERV as they attempt to prevent another catastrophe, and religious symbolism and themes are featured prominently throughout.

Evangelion is one of most successful and critically acclaimed anime television series of the 1990s and has influenced many subsequent anime. Subsequent film, manga, home video and other products in its franchise have achieved record sales in Japan and strong sales in overseas markets, with revenues grossing over 150 billion yen by 2013.

Following its release, Neon Genesis Evangelion received a polarized reception from the public and critics, especially with regard to the final two episodes. The radically different and experimental style of the finale confused or alienated many fans and spawned debate and controversy, to the point that Hideaki Anno even received anonymous online death threats. The criticism particularly noted the lack of content and a conclusion to the plot of the series in the final two episodes, saying that they failed to resolve the storyline.

Despite this, it has an 8.4/10 rating on IMDb based on over 15500 ratings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmyZac41-w

Kaze no Stigma:

Genre: Action, Supernatural, Humour

This series is based around the adventures of Kazuma Yagami, a wind magic user, and Ren and Ayano Kannagi, two fire magic users, as they stop the destruction of the world multiple times.

It has been met with mixed to positive reviews, holding a 7/10 rating on IMDb. Sadly, the story was never finished, due to the manga's author dying before he could finish it.

(sorry for the bad sound quality)

Trigun:

Genre: Western, Future, Action, Humour

Trigun is about a man named "Vash the Stampede" and the two Insurance Society employees who follow him around in order to minimize the damage caused by his appearance. Most of the damage attributed to Vash is actually caused by bounty hunters in pursuit of the "$$60,000,000,000" (sixty billion "double dollars") bounty on Vash's head for the destruction of the city of July. However, he cannot remember the incident due to retrograde amnesia. Throughout his travels, Vash tries to save lives using non-lethal force.

As the series progresses, we learn more about Vash's mysterious history and the history of human civilization on the planet Gunsmoke. The series often employs comic relief and is mostly light-hearted although its tone shifts toward darker and more dramatic situations as the series draws to a conclusion. The story line also involves moral conflict pertaining to the morality of killing other living things.

The show initially failed to garner a large audience in Japan during its original showing in 1998, but gained a substantial fan base following its North American premiere on Cartoon Network in early 2003. Nightow has stated that due to the finality of the anime's ending, it was unlikely any continuation will be made. However a spinoff movie, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, was made in 2011.

I has a rating of 8.1/10 on IMBd based on over 7000 votes.

This is one of my favorite animes of all time.

Hetalia: Axis Powers:

Genre: Humour, Historical.

Hetalia: Axis Powers is an anime that personifies the countries involved in WW2 as people. It mostly follows the humourous exploits of of the main characters, Italy, Japan, and Germany.

It has a massive fanbase and is critically acclaimed for it's humour and historical knowledge.

It has a 7/10 rating on IMDb based on over 1000 ratings.

That took way too long to do. They'll be shorter next time.

[Where's Wellwood]

Lol. Canada. I found that really funny.

[Alchemy Time]

Lol. Canada. I found that really funny.

May be Canadian bias here but Canada is easily my favourite character. Wish they put him in more often, He usually shows up maybe once every 10 or so episodes.

[Baka]

Good work on the OP. I haven't watched a few of these myself and I found it helpful in general for future viewings myself voting aside. You do justice for an under-appreciated genre.

[Alchemy Time]

Good work on the OP. I haven't watched a few of these myself and I found it helpful in general for future viewings myself voting aside. You do justice for an under-appreciated genre.

gee thanks.

[Alchemy Time]

Once the tie is broken between Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kaze no Stigma, I will end this poll and start the next one.

[MikeyBoy44]

Sucky you had elfen leid and death note in the same vote. I had To go with death note as it was a great twist of turns. Elfen leid had a wicked story and the action was sweet. Two of my favorites by far.

[Alchemy Time]

This division is closed.

The winners are:

Death Note

Code Geass

Kaze no Stigma

Trigun