Anime that best represent Exalted.

[krrackknut]

Dragon Tiger Gate (Long Hu Men): A Chinese comic-book movie, it features Kung-Fu Hustle-type martial arts and craziness.


Legacy: Published by AP Manga, Legacy is somewhat hard to find. It has supernatural martial arts, daiklaves, wyld mutants, Solar caste equivalents, and even the concept is similar: souls of ancient heroes give power and purpose in the bodies they reincarnate.


G Gundam: Kung-fu fighting giant robots!


Crossgen: Although out of print, the Crossgen series of comics features many titles that are about empowered mortals fighting an extra-dimensional threat, gods, and each other. Scion is probbably the most Exalted.


Rave Master: Lots and lots of Daiklaves. Also magic. And a dragon-man.


Busou Renkin: Artifacts and Dire Lances.


And let's not forget the original manhwa, Ragnarok; EVERYTHING from Abyssals to Wlyd Mutations! Too bad its on hiatus.

 

[Tedryn Nist]

I'm surprised some of these haven't been mentioned yet.


Saint Seiya: Powers and artifacts abound, the different types of saints have established power levels (bronze, silver, and gold), and you have gods and goddesses vying for control of the world. Very inspirational and definitely very Exalted.


Negima: Looking for examples of sorcery? Look no further than this. Later on they have a martial arts tournament that also showcases some terrestrial martial arts and at least one or two celestial ones.


Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple: It's not too Exalted in power level for the most part but it does give a good example of a character that goes from total wimp to competent martial artist through intense training and dedication. Very good inspiration for a herioc mortals game.


Noir: Assassins with obscene levels of skill? This one just screams Day and Night caste to me. In particular look at the character of Chloe for Exalted inspiration.


Matantei Loki Ragnarok: Gods on Earth with powerful artifacts, powerful monsters and spirits plus it's an anime focused on Norse religion, what's not to love? Fenris and Jormugandr are great examples of behemoths and Loki is the quintessential trickster.


Ranma 1/2: Funky martial arts from Terrestrial all the way to Sidereal. There's also one heck of a mutation/curse in the form of Jusenkyo. Some weird artifacts too if you look close enough. Finally it's great inspiration for a Dragon-Blooded school game.


Shakugan no Shana: Good martial arts if you can get past the incest and the rampant need of the characters to spout off ridiculous titles rather than names.


Bleach: Good for a heroic ghost or Abyssal game. Underworld references and artifacts abound.

 

[krrackknut]

Jumbor Barutronica/Jyuki Ningen Jumbor: A great story featuring humanoid Alchemical Exalted. Just replace "Earth" with "Autochton" and you're all set. Also, it's what I want to see when people make a martial arts style for Alchemicals. It's also utterly ridiculous and awesome.


Butsu Zone: Solars, celestial gods, and some sweet multi-armed armor.


The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: The best Night solar without actually being one.


Dr. Who: Same with above, but with the Twilight Caste.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

It's not technically an anime, but I have to agree with many others, now that I've seen most of it. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a wonderful example of Dragonblooded with elemental martial arts in action. Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagan is a perfect example of the power of stunts...the setting runs on them and the will to fight. Escaflowne is great for showing high level warstriders in combat, and even a scene of a single old man in powered armor standing and fighting against an entire force of them. It even requires something akin to heartstones to make the warstriders run. Ruroni Kenshin is a good example of terrestrial and celestial martial arts in action. Naruto is flat out where the entire idea for Five Fold Shadow Palm Style's creation.


For non-anime sources, you should look at a number of books, too. For a Gunzosha game, with Lookshy troops, you might consider Starship Troopers, the book, not the movie. The March Upcountry, March to the Sea, etc line by David Weber and John Ringo is another good read for a Lookshy game, particularly in showing troops who have far superior technology being forced to gear down as time goes on, and save their heavy gear for when they must have it, instead of relying on it all the time.

 

[cdi]

Last Exile: While the action might not be as over-the-top as one would expect in Exalted, the series has a very Shogunate-Era feel with the tech. Seriously, shyships and musketeers co-existing side-by-side.


-cdi

 

[greasy golem gunk]

Having only seen the first 2 or 3 episodes, I'm prepared to find out I'm very wrong. But watching it at an anime convention a few weeks back, D.Gray Man strikes me as a series to look at if you wanted to think about playing a Wyld Hunt campaign;


Chosen Humans being able to wield a magical substance (crafted into weapons or other objects?) to defeat Akuma (Souls twisted into evil, with their own magical substances to make weapons from), using expendable mortals to scout the world looking for the magical substance, or exposing Monster plots, so that the Chosen can just go straight to the action.


I was struck by the differences of opinion between the MAIN character & his superior on how expendable you can treat people (his superior doesn't care how many die, so long as they can finish their mission), and how far from his ideals he must have fallen to get to that outlook.


But if you can get through the "Japanese idea of a catholic monster hunting society" and still come through to a "Immaculate Orders monster hunting society", I think it's a pretty useful anime to get the point across on how you might play professional Wyld Hunt agents.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.Gray-man


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9644644360 <-- Opening sequence

 

[Nerrin]

"The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer" manga tends to make me think of Exalted -- at least, a low-powered version involving a relatively untrained Exalt and her followers taking on a much more experienced sorcerer and his golems, all from the perspective of one of the followers. The Princess Anima and the Mage Animus act very much like Celestial Exaltations, attaching themselves to new hosts and empowering them; the current Princess Anima is Asahina Sami, a teen girl who was once very sick and is now made absurdly strong and fast by the Anima choosing her. Most of the followers are themselves around the power of heroic mortals, if not enlightened mortals, and some might be considered close to Dragon-blooded in talent, particularly those who are talented martial artists. (Actually, the two main characters Sami and Yuuhi have given me an idea for a Slayer or maybe Malefactor caste Infernal, the "Saint of Destruction," and her Dragon-blooded akuma follower, as antagonists in a campaign.)


It's pretty funny for the most part, but with some darker moments (Yuuhi's childhood, for example), and I've probably gone through all of what's available maybe three or four times.


Also, show-within-a-show anime that they watch, and I would watch obsessively too: Little Witch Magical Mary. "Super magical... VIOLENCE GAUNTLET!"