Ah, Maison Ikkoku. I forgot that one. Not really my genre, but it was good.
Japanese Anime
- Thread starter EmoBorg
- Start date
Just imagine if they added Casshern Sins to that pile. It's pretty and has some funny moments, but it's damn soul crushing.
Yikes! Anybody who starts with Grave of the Fireflies may kill themselves in a fit of depression before they can move on!
But the animation was simply gorgeous. The animator also did the first season of the new Saint Seiya.
Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo thread
Some great wacky gag series:
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, vivid, exquisitely directed hyperkinetic action thing with kinda sloppy scripts, of extreme juvenility and reveling on it, and sexy-ish Cartoon Network-esque character looks, and quite gross
Inferno Cop, 13*3 min, epic adventure made with manly spirit and passion, and seemingly no money of any kind at all, maybe in their spare time
Kill Me Baby, masochistic little girl annoys sadistic little girl endlessly while happy and carefree music loops, and all is very very cheap
Detroit Metal City, the unforgettable antics of the fictional heavy metal band, though it gets properly good only halfway through the 12*13 min
Great shows about depression:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, the second half is out to hurt you
Welcome to the NHK!, juggling heavy melancholy with manic comedy, hikikomori gets dragged into individually realistic if weird adventures
Some great wacky gag series:
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, vivid, exquisitely directed hyperkinetic action thing with kinda sloppy scripts, of extreme juvenility and reveling on it, and sexy-ish Cartoon Network-esque character looks, and quite gross
Inferno Cop, 13*3 min, epic adventure made with manly spirit and passion, and seemingly no money of any kind at all, maybe in their spare time
Kill Me Baby, masochistic little girl annoys sadistic little girl endlessly while happy and carefree music loops, and all is very very cheap
Detroit Metal City, the unforgettable antics of the fictional heavy metal band, though it gets properly good only halfway through the 12*13 min
Great shows about depression:
Neon Genesis Evangelion, the second half is out to hurt you
Welcome to the NHK!, juggling heavy melancholy with manic comedy, hikikomori gets dragged into individually realistic if weird adventures
Yeah, I had the same thought.
Yikes! Anybody who starts with Grave of the Fireflies may kill themselves in a fit of depression before they can move on!
one can get through GotF and just have a down couple of days, you MUST also watch NTHT to push yourself to suicide, and for good measure thow in the Nina Alexander episode of FMA and the Bro episode of Gurren Lagaan
I'd like to reinforce the recommendation of Ghost in the Shell, but with a caveat; I only recommend the original manga/comic.
The first movie is just a mashed-together version of some of the manga's chapters without a lot of the world-building the manga has and with some really out of character lines from Motoko thrown in to be a mouthpiece for Oshii trying to sound deep and meaningful. "Trying" being the operative word. The major in general is not the same character at all in that movie, and the puppeteer story seriously loses a lot by having everything crammed together so closely.
I think Oshii was perhaps a very poor choice for this project, too. I feel like his style clashes with the material, aside from the material being too dense to truncate into an anime movie runtime in a satisfactory manner. He does a really great job with Patlabor 2, though.
On that note, the first two Patlabor movies come heavily recommended from me.
EDIT: Rant mode engaged.
I'm a bigtime fan of mecha in general (mostly humanoid robots, as far as anime is concerned) and Gundam in particular. The newer shows are utter slop, and 00 and Unicorn are the worst variety. The type that are inane and self-important and go out of their way to remove or destroy anything they might introduce that is remotely interesting. 00, as trite as it is, at least has SOME original thoughts in its head if not any good ones, which is more than I can say for Unicorn. If you really have any interest at all in the franchise, watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The movie trilogy is probably the easiest way to digest it for a newcomer. Beyond that, either go in production order or just use a friggin' dartboard. Or some combination thereof. I'd post my favorites, but I feel like they have little value without context and it's not like you could ask for a favorite Gundam in a thread of enthusiasts without hearing conflicting replies to begin with. And I'm sure those are just as garbage to others for different reasons anyway. Don't mean this post as an attack on anyone, but I felt like I wanted to say something. Opinions and all that.
Basically, there's a lot of good in the franchise but start at the beginning. For the uninitiated, the original shows (created by Tomino, the brain behind the original show) are Mobile Suit Gundam -> Zeta Gundam -> Gundam ZZ -> Char's Counterattack -> Gundam F91 -> Victory Gundam. Otherwise it's all mix-and-match. May god have mercy on your soul if you decide to venture into it.
GunBuster is an interesting case also, I think. It's a 6-episode show about a teenage girl in a pilot academy (more or less) who goes from being unable to properly walk around in a trainer robot to saving the galaxy with the most powerful piece of technology mankind ever produces. And it's a believable journey is the crazy bit. It's also one of the few bits of sci-fi that tries to deal with time dilation (even if it doesn't get it quite right), and it has a pretty distinct 80s style to it with Haruhiko Mikimoto's art.
DieBuster, a sequel of sorts is very good as well, but VERY different. If you expect more of the same as GunBuster you WILL be disappointed. If you give it a shot as its own entity though, you might have fun. It's a lot harder to describe, but the best way I can think of to word it is that an android girl strives to be a hero despite having no real training for it. Not dynamic-sounding I know, but probably best to watch its predecessor first anyway, especially since you won't appreciate the ending without it.
Redline is a movie rec. Think F-Zero, Wacky Racers, with a slight dash of Fast and the Furious. It's VERY over-the-top, and very fun. It's all hand-drawn, but was released in 2009. It has a very unique soundtrack and a dinstinctive style with a lot of ink-style shading. Not very serious for the most part and pretty fun.
Madoka Magica is a show that I feel I would be remiss as an anime viewer if I did not mention. It's a beautiful breakdown of the magical girl genre and a well-told story on its own merits. Most things I can think to say to advertise it would spoil some good surprises, so definitely go check out at least the first few episodes sometime.
Code Geass is one that I must heartily endorse as well for the reasons Kelthaz states. The first season, at the very least. R2 kind of...leaps off the rails after a bit, honestly, but it DOES come back around for an EXTREMELY strong ending.
There's...a LOT more I could recommend, but I'm tired and these are what came into my head. Sorta funny since MOST of what I like seems to be 80s and 90s but I didn't mention much. Maybe I'll post again later.
The first movie is just a mashed-together version of some of the manga's chapters without a lot of the world-building the manga has and with some really out of character lines from Motoko thrown in to be a mouthpiece for Oshii trying to sound deep and meaningful. "Trying" being the operative word. The major in general is not the same character at all in that movie, and the puppeteer story seriously loses a lot by having everything crammed together so closely.
I think Oshii was perhaps a very poor choice for this project, too. I feel like his style clashes with the material, aside from the material being too dense to truncate into an anime movie runtime in a satisfactory manner. He does a really great job with Patlabor 2, though.
On that note, the first two Patlabor movies come heavily recommended from me.
EDIT: Rant mode engaged.
I'm a bigtime fan of mecha in general (mostly humanoid robots, as far as anime is concerned) and Gundam in particular. The newer shows are utter slop, and 00 and Unicorn are the worst variety. The type that are inane and self-important and go out of their way to remove or destroy anything they might introduce that is remotely interesting. 00, as trite as it is, at least has SOME original thoughts in its head if not any good ones, which is more than I can say for Unicorn. If you really have any interest at all in the franchise, watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The movie trilogy is probably the easiest way to digest it for a newcomer. Beyond that, either go in production order or just use a friggin' dartboard. Or some combination thereof. I'd post my favorites, but I feel like they have little value without context and it's not like you could ask for a favorite Gundam in a thread of enthusiasts without hearing conflicting replies to begin with. And I'm sure those are just as garbage to others for different reasons anyway. Don't mean this post as an attack on anyone, but I felt like I wanted to say something. Opinions and all that.
Basically, there's a lot of good in the franchise but start at the beginning. For the uninitiated, the original shows (created by Tomino, the brain behind the original show) are Mobile Suit Gundam -> Zeta Gundam -> Gundam ZZ -> Char's Counterattack -> Gundam F91 -> Victory Gundam. Otherwise it's all mix-and-match. May god have mercy on your soul if you decide to venture into it.
GunBuster is an interesting case also, I think. It's a 6-episode show about a teenage girl in a pilot academy (more or less) who goes from being unable to properly walk around in a trainer robot to saving the galaxy with the most powerful piece of technology mankind ever produces. And it's a believable journey is the crazy bit. It's also one of the few bits of sci-fi that tries to deal with time dilation (even if it doesn't get it quite right), and it has a pretty distinct 80s style to it with Haruhiko Mikimoto's art.
DieBuster, a sequel of sorts is very good as well, but VERY different. If you expect more of the same as GunBuster you WILL be disappointed. If you give it a shot as its own entity though, you might have fun. It's a lot harder to describe, but the best way I can think of to word it is that an android girl strives to be a hero despite having no real training for it. Not dynamic-sounding I know, but probably best to watch its predecessor first anyway, especially since you won't appreciate the ending without it.
Redline is a movie rec. Think F-Zero, Wacky Racers, with a slight dash of Fast and the Furious. It's VERY over-the-top, and very fun. It's all hand-drawn, but was released in 2009. It has a very unique soundtrack and a dinstinctive style with a lot of ink-style shading. Not very serious for the most part and pretty fun.
Madoka Magica is a show that I feel I would be remiss as an anime viewer if I did not mention. It's a beautiful breakdown of the magical girl genre and a well-told story on its own merits. Most things I can think to say to advertise it would spoil some good surprises, so definitely go check out at least the first few episodes sometime.
Code Geass is one that I must heartily endorse as well for the reasons Kelthaz states. The first season, at the very least. R2 kind of...leaps off the rails after a bit, honestly, but it DOES come back around for an EXTREMELY strong ending.
There's...a LOT more I could recommend, but I'm tired and these are what came into my head. Sorta funny since MOST of what I like seems to be 80s and 90s but I didn't mention much. Maybe I'll post again later.
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I would recommend Space Battleship Yamato 2199 if you want a current series. It is airing now in Japan.
It is, in some ways, superior to the original. Not only does it have modern animation and art, but also the producers know what happened after the orignal series and can incorperate the progression logically and fill in the plot holes, or adjust the plot holes or animation errors to make them logical in the story.
For instance, in the original the Gamilas were human colored from the start to episode 10, than shifted onscreen to blue skin which they kept for the remainder of the series. Well, in Yamato 2199, the Gamilas soldiers in the Sol System are still human skin toned, but are from a conquorer peoples that now serve the Greater Gamilas Empire as second class citizens. The blue skinned Gamilas are the first class citizens and rulers of the Empire. There are multiple races under the control of the Gamilas Empire. Those that serve can earn status as second class citizens, while other will be destroyed.
The Humans have been fighting Gamilas for 8 years. But they fought in previous interplanetary wars with their colony on Mars. These wars are the reason they had a large fleet of ships at the start to fight the Gamilas. This is also why the Earth already has underground cities, as the Martians would sometimes use Meteors to attack Earth.
They added another Iscandarian sister to Starsha who comes to Earth a year before events in the show. She's the one that delivers the plans for the Wave Motion Engine, so they have time to build Yamato as a Faster-than-Light starship. The Battle at Pluto is a diversionary tactic to pull the Gamilas sytem blockade to one spot so that the other Iscandarian sister can run the blockade to deliver a vital engine component to Earth. A piece Earth could not build themselves (or at least not in a reasonable amount of time with existing resources).
Yamato is no longer the reconstructed hulk of the Battlehip Yamato from 1945. It is a totally new ship built under the wrecks former location. The contruction site is camoflagued to look like the wreck from orbit so the Gamilas won't spot it. it is built near the surface away from cities because the humans really don't know what the Wave Motion Engine will do. Safety first. The ship is also larger than the old battleship. The new vessel (BBY-01) is 333 meters long. The same height as Tokyo Tower...or a Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier.
The ship's crew has 999 people. Most are Japanese due to the emergency nature of the plan, Earth's regions being isolated by the war, and that the several of the originally selected officers were killed before the launch. Thus the crew is mostly younger officers and enlisted in their early 20s or late teens (17-19). The several of the main cast (the characters from the original show) have been promoted to fill their positions. (Kodai for example was an Ensign before boarding Yamato, but was promoted to Lieutenant and placed in charge of the Tactical Department. The officer that was suppose to have that position is MIA). The crew is about 700 males and 300 females. No more is Yuki the only woman on the ship. There are five prominate female characters on Yamato. Most taking roles Yuki held in the old series (she did practically everything on that ship that wasn't combat oriented).
Lastly, the story expands on the Gamilas side of things. It makes them seem more real than the 1970s villains they were back then.
It is, in some ways, superior to the original. Not only does it have modern animation and art, but also the producers know what happened after the orignal series and can incorperate the progression logically and fill in the plot holes, or adjust the plot holes or animation errors to make them logical in the story.
For instance, in the original the Gamilas were human colored from the start to episode 10, than shifted onscreen to blue skin which they kept for the remainder of the series. Well, in Yamato 2199, the Gamilas soldiers in the Sol System are still human skin toned, but are from a conquorer peoples that now serve the Greater Gamilas Empire as second class citizens. The blue skinned Gamilas are the first class citizens and rulers of the Empire. There are multiple races under the control of the Gamilas Empire. Those that serve can earn status as second class citizens, while other will be destroyed.
The Humans have been fighting Gamilas for 8 years. But they fought in previous interplanetary wars with their colony on Mars. These wars are the reason they had a large fleet of ships at the start to fight the Gamilas. This is also why the Earth already has underground cities, as the Martians would sometimes use Meteors to attack Earth.
They added another Iscandarian sister to Starsha who comes to Earth a year before events in the show. She's the one that delivers the plans for the Wave Motion Engine, so they have time to build Yamato as a Faster-than-Light starship. The Battle at Pluto is a diversionary tactic to pull the Gamilas sytem blockade to one spot so that the other Iscandarian sister can run the blockade to deliver a vital engine component to Earth. A piece Earth could not build themselves (or at least not in a reasonable amount of time with existing resources).
Yamato is no longer the reconstructed hulk of the Battlehip Yamato from 1945. It is a totally new ship built under the wrecks former location. The contruction site is camoflagued to look like the wreck from orbit so the Gamilas won't spot it. it is built near the surface away from cities because the humans really don't know what the Wave Motion Engine will do. Safety first. The ship is also larger than the old battleship. The new vessel (BBY-01) is 333 meters long. The same height as Tokyo Tower...or a Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier.
The ship's crew has 999 people. Most are Japanese due to the emergency nature of the plan, Earth's regions being isolated by the war, and that the several of the originally selected officers were killed before the launch. Thus the crew is mostly younger officers and enlisted in their early 20s or late teens (17-19). The several of the main cast (the characters from the original show) have been promoted to fill their positions. (Kodai for example was an Ensign before boarding Yamato, but was promoted to Lieutenant and placed in charge of the Tactical Department. The officer that was suppose to have that position is MIA). The crew is about 700 males and 300 females. No more is Yuki the only woman on the ship. There are five prominate female characters on Yamato. Most taking roles Yuki held in the old series (she did practically everything on that ship that wasn't combat oriented).
Lastly, the story expands on the Gamilas side of things. It makes them seem more real than the 1970s villains they were back then.
Ah, thanks for the info, Ithekro. I might check it out if I get my hands on it. Sounds really interesting. And having the story expanded on the Gamilas side sounds like a treat. Desslar is the man.
I also enjoyed the live-action Space Battleship Yamato movie. Necessarily short, and heavily influenced by the new Battlestar Galactica, but still a fun ride. What do you think of it?
I also enjoyed the live-action Space Battleship Yamato movie. Necessarily short, and heavily influenced by the new Battlestar Galactica, but still a fun ride. What do you think of it?
I've just stared getting into anime the last couple years, and so far the shows I've enjoyed the most are:
Bleach: A highschooler accidentally gets the powers of a demon hunting Soul Reaper.
Naruto: This one is a little more juvenile than a lot of the stuff on the list, but I really enjoy it. Think Harry Potter with super powered Ninjas.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood: A pair of brothers who have been effected by a magical accident work for their government, while also trying to find a Philosopher's Stone to repair their damaged bodies.
Bleach: A highschooler accidentally gets the powers of a demon hunting Soul Reaper.
Naruto: This one is a little more juvenile than a lot of the stuff on the list, but I really enjoy it. Think Harry Potter with super powered Ninjas.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood: A pair of brothers who have been effected by a magical accident work for their government, while also trying to find a Philosopher's Stone to repair their damaged bodies.
It will probably be this if they decide to cover the Comet Empire and ect. Seeing as Earth had a fleet of wave motion engine equipped starships in those stories.
Which means they either reverse engineer the Wave Motion Core, or Iscandar given them a large amount to take home with Yamato.
Or they jack a bunch from Gamilas ships (if they have something similar in them).
One would assume they figure out how to make their own, or at least something reasonably similar. (but not as good as a real Iscandarian core, which is why Yamato remains superior to the other ships in the fleet that don't have Iscandarian cores).
Or they jack a bunch from Gamilas ships (if they have something similar in them).
One would assume they figure out how to make their own, or at least something reasonably similar. (but not as good as a real Iscandarian core, which is why Yamato remains superior to the other ships in the fleet that don't have Iscandarian cores).
There's some fantastic tips in this thread already, tbh, I find it difficult to add to them.
I'd back up recommendations for;
Legend of the Galactic Heroes - epic space opera
Cowboy Bebop - Tarantino does anime (it's not actually Tarantino, but very much that style)
Maison Ikkoku - long-running comedic romance
Last Exile - steampunk airship battles, awesome!
Miyazaki - Nausicaa, My Neighbour Totoro, Castle of Cagliostro.....actually, just watch them all!
I'd back up recommendations for;
Legend of the Galactic Heroes - epic space opera
Cowboy Bebop - Tarantino does anime (it's not actually Tarantino, but very much that style)
Maison Ikkoku - long-running comedic romance
Last Exile - steampunk airship battles, awesome!
Miyazaki - Nausicaa, My Neighbour Totoro, Castle of Cagliostro.....actually, just watch them all!
No love for the excellent Psycho Pass? 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Cowboy Bebop, Bubblegum Crisis, Ghost in the Shell, early Gundam, other Macross series you may not have seen - Macross Zero was pretty low on the list of good Macross, Record of Lodoss War.
Current stuff that's running now - Attack on Titan, Gargantia of the Verdurous planet
There's a lot more, but that's just a quick off the top of my head shot.
Current stuff that's running now - Attack on Titan, Gargantia of the Verdurous planet
There's a lot more, but that's just a quick off the top of my head shot.
Eh, that show (like Gargantia) revolves way too much around the message it's trying to convey, which means that there's tons of stupid shit happening so the writer can hammer in the whole "Sybil system bad" thing.
The Devil is a Part-Timer is great comedy. It's about a Demon Lord from a fantasy universe getting stuck in Tokyo after his kingdom fell and having to work in "MgRonald's" to survive. His ultimate goal? Climb to the top of the MgRonald's corporate hierarchy and retake his kingdom.
Honneamise
But your spelling was close enough, google finds it no matter what, I don't think many people know how to spell it, I had to look it up myself.
It depends on what generes you are most interested in. Anime is an entire medium so it has any genre under the sun you could want.
For starters I'll just mention a few of my personal favorites.
Monster- (medical/crime drama, mystery, action)
Planetes (science fiction, romance)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Science fiction, police drama)
Haibane Renmei (Drama, mustery, slice of life)
Rumbling Hearts (romantic drama)
Kurenai (martial arts, comedy, slice of life)
When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koroni) (supernatural, horror, mystery)
REC (romance, comedy)
Welcome to the NHK (drama, comedy, romance)
Baccano (action, comedy)
Kanon (2006) (drama, comedy)
Ergo Proxy (science fiction)
Rideback (science fiction, mecha)
Kemonozume (action, romance)
Cowboy Bebop (science fiction, action)
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (music, slice of life, romance)
Infinite Ryvius (science fiction)
Blue Gender (science fiction, horror)
Real Drive (science fiction)
Aquarian Age (supernatural, action)
As for some currently airing ones, I'm following:
A Certain Scientific Railgun S (Not recommended unless you've seen the first Railgun series)
Attack on Titan
Majestic Prince
Photo Kano
Red Data Girl
Samurai Bride (Not recommended unless you've watched Samurai Girls)
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Space Brothers
Most of these can be found here or here streaming legally.
For starters I'll just mention a few of my personal favorites.
Monster- (medical/crime drama, mystery, action)
Planetes (science fiction, romance)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Science fiction, police drama)
Haibane Renmei (Drama, mustery, slice of life)
Rumbling Hearts (romantic drama)
Kurenai (martial arts, comedy, slice of life)
When They Cry (Higurashi no Naku Koroni) (supernatural, horror, mystery)
REC (romance, comedy)
Welcome to the NHK (drama, comedy, romance)
Baccano (action, comedy)
Kanon (2006) (drama, comedy)
Ergo Proxy (science fiction)
Rideback (science fiction, mecha)
Kemonozume (action, romance)
Cowboy Bebop (science fiction, action)
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (music, slice of life, romance)
Infinite Ryvius (science fiction)
Blue Gender (science fiction, horror)
Real Drive (science fiction)
Aquarian Age (supernatural, action)
As for some currently airing ones, I'm following:
A Certain Scientific Railgun S (Not recommended unless you've seen the first Railgun series)
Attack on Titan
Majestic Prince
Photo Kano
Red Data Girl
Samurai Bride (Not recommended unless you've watched Samurai Girls)
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Space Brothers
Most of these can be found here or here streaming legally.
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I'll second the recommendations for Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Planetes, Haibane Renmei, and Evangelion.
I'm also a huge fan of the late Satoshi Kon, in particular his first two films Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, two films which play with reality and perception in service of entirely different stories. His third film Tokyo Godfathers is much more straightforward, but also brilliant - a great Christmas movie.
His series Paranoia Agent is also great, if not perfect (the layout of the story is a little weird).
Also a big fan of Masaaki Yuasa, who specialises in a very wild, chaotic, freeform animation style. He's to an acquired taste, but his work is definitely something you should experience for yourself at least once. Alas, most of his output - Mind Game, Kaiba - isn't easy to get hold of legally on region one or two, but his series The Tatami Galaxy is on DVD.
Personally, I prefer Mamoru Oshii's older stuff, prior to GitS - Angel's Egg, the two Patlabor movies, and especially, the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer. Even if you don't watch any other UY, trust me - it's fantastic.
Kino's Journey is a good, understated series about a traveling Girl and her talking motorcycle, who pass through various societies.
And finally, Serial Experiments Lain, a pioneering mind-screw series that will leave you baffled (and perhaps a little freaked).
I'm also a huge fan of the late Satoshi Kon, in particular his first two films Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, two films which play with reality and perception in service of entirely different stories. His third film Tokyo Godfathers is much more straightforward, but also brilliant - a great Christmas movie.
His series Paranoia Agent is also great, if not perfect (the layout of the story is a little weird).
Also a big fan of Masaaki Yuasa, who specialises in a very wild, chaotic, freeform animation style. He's to an acquired taste, but his work is definitely something you should experience for yourself at least once. Alas, most of his output - Mind Game, Kaiba - isn't easy to get hold of legally on region one or two, but his series The Tatami Galaxy is on DVD.
Personally, I prefer Mamoru Oshii's older stuff, prior to GitS - Angel's Egg, the two Patlabor movies, and especially, the second Urusei Yatsura movie, Beautiful Dreamer. Even if you don't watch any other UY, trust me - it's fantastic.
Kino's Journey is a good, understated series about a traveling Girl and her talking motorcycle, who pass through various societies.
And finally, Serial Experiments Lain, a pioneering mind-screw series that will leave you baffled (and perhaps a little freaked).
Honneamise
But your spelling was close enough, google finds it no matter what, I don't think many people know how to spell it, I had to look it up myself.
Every time I see that title I replace Honneamise with Mayonnaise. Because of that I just can't watch it...
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