The Anime and Manga Troping Club

The Anime and Manga Troping Club is a club devoted to getting anime and manga fans together to share hidden-gems of anime and manga as well as to develop their works pages here on TV Tropes. Oh, and having fun!

It was started in November of 2011 by Noir Grimoir, who is currently running it. It is open to all participants and currently operates in the Anime&Manga forum.

We are currently Troping: [Anime]] House of Five Leaves and [Manga] The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service!

Participation
No commitment is necessary. You aren't required to participate in reading/watching every anime or manga the club decides on, or complete the suggested quota. You can just do what you can, or after trying out the anime or manga, if you don't like it, there's no obligation to continue, and you can participate again when we move to a different work. All participants are however expected to make an effort to fill in the anime or manga's TV Tropes work page.

Applicable Anime and Manga Series
One anime and one manga will be chosen for each two week session, you may participate in either or both. It is preferred that the works TV Tropes Pages be under filled-in, we're looking for the 'under-loved' and 'hidden gems' of anime and manga that the casual anime watcher/manga reader wouldn't necessarily be exposed to. An example of an anime with an appropriate sized page to nominate is Pumpkin Scissors (note that it doesn't have a character page, either). Also, no Hentai please, but non-explicit yuri and yaoi is allowed.

Session Quotas
Each session lasts two weeks. If you find you cannot complete the quota you are encouraged to continue on your own with it and there will be no penalties. Links for watching and reading the anime online will be provided. Participants are free to watch either version of the anime, subbed or dubbed (if it has been dubbed), and in any language, in accordance with their preferences. Sessions will be made up of:
 * Roughly 13 episodes of an anime, or a full half-season anime OR 2 anime movies
 * Roughly 2 to 3 volumes of a manga, or fifteen chapters.

Anime and Manga Nominations
For the first few sessions, Nominations will be open to everyone. Once it's rolling, things may be changed to only allow nominations from tropers who have participated in at least one session in either manga or anime. Tropers are allowed to nominate one anime and one manga. If there are a lot of nominations, they may be capped at between 5-7, depending on how many participants. Nominations that do not win, may be renominated in the next session. Cases of borderline-length work pages require their nominations to be seconded, though this may be done by any participant, even if they've already made other nominations. To Nominate a work, write up a post in the forum with:
 * Name of work (also if it's an anime or manga)
 * Genres of the work:
 * Short description of the premise (between about one and three lines)
 * Short description of what makes it good/why it should be chosen. Pimping, basically (one or two lines)

How It's Chosen
The choice is made by voting. We are currently in the process of asking if we can use the TV Tropes page Action Crowners, but if not an alternative means of voting will be provided by a Zoomerang poll. Voting for multiple series will be enabled, but not multiple votes for the same series. Upon Calling the vote, the club leader (Noir Grimoir) will open a new thread in the Anime&Manga forum entitled: Anime Troping Club Session [date of session] - [name of anime]: were discussion and participation will be open. Upon the start of the session, nominations for the next session will be open.

'''[Nov. Mon. 14th] The results are in, so time to get troping!

 * Anime: Ano Hana vs. House of Five Leaves, both tied with 5. House of Five Leaves has the smaller page, so I'm dubbing it the winner! (Don't worry Ano Hana fans, we'll give it an automatic nomination for the next session.)

Here's our thread!


 * Manga: The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is the winner!

Here's the thread!

Also, Nominations for the Nov. Mon. 28 - Dec. Sun. 11 session are open until Friday at Midnight! I'm capping it smaller at five anime and five manga, discounting our bumped anime, via tie.

-

Anime Nominations
1. Ano Hana (Originally nominated by Pokenatic, nomination bump via tie.)


 * Genres: Drama, Slice of Life, Tragedy
 * Description: A few years after Menma's death, Jintan finds himself face to face with her ghost, asking him to help her fulfill her wish. Unfortunately, she does not remember what said wish is and they apparently need the whole gang to fulfill said wish, which, sadly, has grown apart.
 * Why recommended: This series is well written and quite heartwarming. Also, it's very relatable, as we've all had friends that we've gradually lost contact with.

Manga Nominations
-

Anime Nominations
1. Beet the Vandel Buster (Nominated by Crazysamaritan)


 * Genre: Shonen/Fighting/Comedy/Fantasy
 * Description: The world like a fantasy rpg. Monsters are some sort of alien race. Protagonist is your typical idiot hero who "will end the age of darkness".
 * Why it's good: Luck is a skill.

2. Mouryou no Hako (Nominated by Noir Grimoir)


 * Genre: Horror/Mystery/Supernatural
 * Description: A small detective agency investigates the appearances of boxes in the hills containing the severed heads and limbs of female victims, while a girl has gone missing and there's a man on a train with a box containing a severed head that talks.
 * Why it's good: Really nice animation, mind screwiness, interesting concept and smart plotting, a subtle hint of yuri for those who like that.

3. RahXephon (Nominated by Juancarlos, seconded by Thenamelesssamurai)


 * Genre: Mecha/Drama/Romance
 * Description: Ayato is sucked out from his normal life in Tokyo by a military organization called TERRA after he is discovered to be the only one who's able to pilot the RahXephon, a powerful mecha of unknown origin which the Mu (a race of aliens who have taken over Tokyo in secret) housed within their HQ. Ayato has to decide whether to fight his friends in Tokyo alongside TERRA or go back home and accept who he is.
 * Why it's good: While not particularly well written and suffering from anime's problem with exposition, it is an amazing experience, with beautiful art design and animation, and a very likeable, if uneven cast.

4. House of Five Leaves (Nominated by Thenamelesssamurai)


 * Genre: Jidai Geki (Period Drama)/ Samurai/ Action
 * Description: A skilled, but timid ronin named Akitsu Masanosuke is hired to be a bodyguard of a man named Yaichi, who is the leader of a group who kidnaps heirs of wealthy businessmen and hold them for ransom.
 * Why recommended: A distinctive art style, with an intricate plot and great characters. Also, the anime is 12 episodes long so we'll complete the whole thing in one session.

5. The World of Narue (Nominated by Jen Kunoichi 351)


 * Genre: Romance/Comedy/ Sci Fi
 * Description: It's a simple story about a boy named Kazuto and his first girlfriend, Narue, who happens to be an alien. Hilarity Ensues.
 * Why recommend: Although the series can be a giant Cliché Storm, the slow moving misadventures can often be very heartwarming and charming.

6. Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian (Nominated by Liberated Liberater)


 * Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
 * Description: Ex-pilot Huey receives a letter saying that he has inherited his recently-deceased grandfather's mansion. With this inheritance, he is also tasked to take care of the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian. Amid a ton of books in his grandfather's library, Huey finds Dalian, a girl with a large lock hanging before her. She says that she is the gateway to the Bibliotheca, and she has selected Huey to be her key-keeper.
 * Why recommend: It's not exactly Studio Gainax's usual fare, but it has a couple of things going for it. First, the main character's relationship with Dalian is a pretty refreshing change to the usual Hero-Shana Clone dynamic and averts the usual "pathetic every-dude who gets beaten up" cliche. It's also episodic in nature, managing to squeeze in several different stories involving the Phantom Books that the duo has been set out to collect. The art style is also rather visually pleasing.

7. Ano Hana (Nominated by Pokenatic)


 * Genres: Drama, Slice of Life, Tragedy
 * Description: A few years after Menma's death, Jintan finds himself face to face with her ghost, asking him to help her fulfill her wish. Unfortunately, she does not remember what said wish is and they apparently need the whole gang to fulfill said wish, which, sadly, has grown apart.
 * Why recommended: This series is well written and quite heartwarming. Also, it's very relatable, as we've all had friends that we've gradually lost contact with.

Manga Nominations
1. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Nominated by Ack Sed)


 * Genre: Horror/Supernatural
 * Description: 5 graduates at a Buddhist university, each with their own skill, go into business together when our everyman character reveals he can speak to the dead. Three guesses what they do for them.
 * Why it's good: The realism of the art is unique and the story mixes the sheer weirdness of modern-day Japan with Urban Fantasy to create something quite special.

2. Eternal Sabbath (Nominated by Noir Grimoir)


 * Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller/Drama
 * Description: A neurologist meets a genetically engineered human with dangerous telepathic abilities from a project to engineer people to live longer. But while he seems relatively ambivalent towards normal humans, the other creation from this project is a murderous psychopath who needs to be stopped at all costs.
 * Why it's good: Something for everyone! Romance, psychic mind-tampering, realistic presentation, psychic murders, a psychopathic child and it's completely finished!

3. Shoulder a Coffin Kuro (Nominated by Jen Kunoichi 351)


 * Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Seinen
 * Description: It is a Yonkoma about a girl named Kuro who seemingly travels around aimlessly and always shoulders a large coffin. She is accompanied by a large group of bats (which represents one individual) and is later joined by a pair of Creepy Twins. As the story goes on, the reader begin to discover the dark truths and origins about Kuro and company.
 * Why recommend: While beginning a bit light hearted, the series is full of Dark And Troubled pasts that make you care for the characters easily and the story gets pretty compelling (though very slow moving) the more we discover about Kuro.

4. Ane Doki (Nominated by Liberated Liberater)


 * Genre: Romantic comedy/slice-of-life
 * Description: From the author of Ichigo 100% and Hatsukoi Limited, this is the story of middle-school kid Kouta who ends up having a high-school student take care of him while his father is away.
 * Why recommend: I made the page some time ago and I figured that I could get more people to add to it. The ending is pretty predictable, but there's a whole lot of stuff that leads up to it, and it's both heartwarming and funny at the same time.

5. Shitsurakuen (Nominated by Pokenatic)


 * Genres: Action, Fantasy, Shoujo-ai
 * Description: Shitsurakuen follows the story of Himoto Sora, a transfer student with a sense of justice and dreams of becoming a knight. Upon arriving at Utopia Academy, she learns of a virtual reality-like game played by the male students in which they use girls as weapons in battles for status and treat them as commodities. Seeing one of these girls being abused, she steps in and unwittingly becomes the first female participant of the game.
 * Why recommended: Although the premise may seem very strange at first, the story starts out as a simple Knight In Shining Armour story, but becomes more complex as it progresses.

6. Beet The Vandel Buster Manga (Nominated by Crazysamaritan)


 * Genre: Shonen/Fighting/Comedy/Fantasy
 * Description: The world like a fantasy rpg. Monsters are some sort of alien race. Protagonist is your typical idiot hero who "will end the age of darkness".
 * Why it's good: Luck is a skill.

7. Apothecarius Argentum (Nominated by Ack Sed)


 * Genres': Fantasy, historical, Romance, Shojo,
 * Description: About drugs. And chemistry. A poison-taster becomes the playmate of a little princess. After divers alarums he earns his freedom. When the princess is grown, the poison-taster comes back into her life, having learned to be a mediaeval druggist. The only thing standing between their relationship is his poison-filled body.
 * Why it's good: It's a romance for the kind of geek who delights in science with his or her relationships.