Anime. Opinion and recommendations.

[Baneat]

I enjoy watching deliberately uncomplex anime (typically slice-of-life) like Yuru Yuri and Lucky Star. I even occasionally enjoy badly written anime that hits enough interest regardless (Sword Art Online 100%). I especially like YRYuru because it deconstructs its own devices for the purpose of humour (pantsu on head sister etc.).

But as an actual serious medium anime is absolutely terrible, I mean, really fucking awful. They're often marketing unapologetically to horny and lonely 18-25 demographics and insert intellectually insulting "fanservice" for absolutely no reason other than to gain viewership. Find me an anime that seriously deals with themes like Dexter (TV) does with serial killers, or any gay couple in anime whom they don't use for comedy and seriously explore. Black people in anime who are not a stereotype (I know of exactly one)? If I want pantyshots I can probably find it in google images, don't put them in unless they're relevant.

Fact is that will not happen because that is what sells.

So if you're not looking for humour the only anime I've seen that I can recommend at all is Welcome to the NHK because it is truly interesting and sympathetically sheds light on a growing phenomenon within Japan.

Monster is a fascinating insight into what makes a man a Monster, and it deals with a serial killer. Even a MIT professor (Junot Diaz) called it his favorite guilty pleasure and heartily recommends it.

Takako Shimura has plenty of works dealing with LGBT issues and is best known for Aoi Hana (about a lesbian couple) and Wandering Son(about a transgirl(or what's the correct term)).

Black Lagoon has a pretty cool black man that acts as the leader of the protagonists. Utena also has some non-stereotypical black characters. Though they may be from the India.

Welcome to The NHK is a great recommendation. Thought the manga and original novel are better than the anime.

EDIT: Most shows that have a lot of fanservice sell like crap in Japan.

Nice recommendations. That's more like what the medium should be.

Ecchi+/harem and gratuitous pervy sections absolutely do sell in japan otherwise they wouldn't be churning out sickening stuff like KissxSis and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san all the time. Or in SAO where every female character who comes into contact with the extremely flat and boring Kirito wants his dick for no reason (There's no end to his Gary Stu status, now even his sister lusts after him and she's got ridiculous big tits and she's said to be like 14 and she's his sister for fuck's sake, yuck) No reason to add a very long shot of each female character's hind quarters (And we have a painfully long scene where his sister bathes) at some point in the story other than to excite the demographic. Are you telling me SAO, whose characters all have quite sexual/elaborate outfits and more than a few fanservice moments isn't hugely popular right now? Even Hyouka which was a fun anime about people solving pointless mysteries has the occasional scene and that sold very well.

I'll watch all your recommendations, by the way.

PS. Also if you find any that actually address the themes of rape and paedophilia I want to know.

 

[ex275w]

I enjoy watching deliberately uncomplex anime (typically slice-of-life) like Yuru Yuri and Lucky Star. I even occasionally enjoy badly written anime that hits enough interest regardless (Sword Art Online 100%). I especially like YRYuru because it deconstructs its own devices for the purpose of humour (pantsu on head sister etc.).

But as an actual serious medium anime is absolutely terrible, I mean, really fucking awful. They're often marketing unapologetically to horny and lonely 18-25 demographics and insert intellectually insulting "fanservice" for absolutely no reason other than to gain viewership. Find me an anime that seriously deals with themes like Dexter (TV) does with serial killers, or any gay couple in anime whom they don't use for comedy and seriously explore. Black people in anime who are not a stereotype (I know of exactly one)? If I want pantyshots I can probably find it in google images, don't put them in unless they're relevant.

Fact is that will not happen because that is what sells.

So if you're not looking for humour the only anime I've seen that I can recommend at all is Welcome to the NHK because it is truly interesting and sympathetically sheds light on a growing phenomenon within Japan.

Monster is a fascinating insight into what makes a man a Monster, and it deals with a serial killer. Even a MIT professor (Junot Diaz) called it his favorite guilty pleasure and heartily recommends it.

Takako Shimura has plenty of works dealing with LGBT issues and is best known for Aoi Hana (about a lesbian couple) and Wandering Son(about a transgirl(or what's the correct term)).

Black Lagoon has a pretty cool black man that acts as the leader of the protagonists. Utena also has some non-stereotypical black characters. Though they may be from the India.

Welcome to The NHK is a great recommendation. Thought the manga and original novel are better than the anime.

EDIT: Most shows that have a lot of fanservice sell like crap in Japan.

Nice recommendations. That's more like what the medium should be.

Ecchi+/harem and gratuitous pervy sections absolutely do sell in japan otherwise they wouldn't be churning out sickening stuff like KissxSis and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san all the time. Or in SAO where every female character who comes into contact with the extremely flat and boring Kirito wants his dick for no reason (There's no end to his Gary Stu status, now even his sister lusts after him and she's got ridiculous big tits and she's said to be like 14 and she's his sister for fuck's sake, yuck) No reason to add a very long shot of each female character's hind quarters (And we have a painfully long scene where his sister bathes) at some point in the story other than to excite the demographic. Are you telling me SAO, whose characters all have quite sexual/elaborate outfits and more than a few fanservice moments isn't hugely popular right now? Even Hyouka which was a fun anime about people solving pointless mysteries has the occasional scene and that sold very well.

I said most fanservice shows, not all of them... and sure they are "popular", but it can barely make up for the budget of the show. the only really successful recent harem series is to-LOVE-Ru.

Most of the incestuous series are "popular" because of the controversy surrounding the content, but people aren't lining up to buy all the DVDs.

Also, would you consider something like Gurren Lagann Ecchi? Cause if you do I can see why you think everything has fanservice.

What is SAO?

Also I would reccomend Planetes for you, no fanservice, a little bit of filler, hard sci-fi but it's a fascinating look at the Space Race that includes themes of environmentalism, class warfare and the dangers of exploring space.

I guess I'm good at finding series with no fanservice or something.

Paranoia Agent has a subplot about a father selling videos about his teen daughter. So I guess that's about pedophilia.
Bitter Virgin is basically the manga version of Precious.
Perfect Blue also deals with an actress being harassed and almost getting raped.

Why did I actually have to remember this stuff... ugh.

 

[Baneat]

I said most fanservice shows, not all of them... and sure they are "popular", but it can barely make up for the budget of the show. the only really successful recent harem series is to-LOVE-Ru.

Most of the incestuous series are "popular" because of the controversy surrounding the content, but people aren't lining up to buy all the DVDs.

Also, would you consider something like Gurren Lagann Ecchi? Cause if you do I can see why you think everything has fanservice.

What is SAO?

Also I would reccomend Planetes for you, no fanservice, a little bit of filler, hard sci-fi but it's a fascinating look at the Space Race that includes themes of environmentalism, class warfare and the dangers of exploring space.

I guess I'm good at finding series with no fanservice or something.

Sword Art Online. I play World of Warcraft and if you play games a lot that's really enough of a draw to make you watch it and continue to watch it. It's hugely popular and I used to watch it with my younger brother sometimes because it was basically an adventure anime until they added this painfully creepy incest subplot in an anime about exploring online worlds and now I can't, simple. It's based on a teenager's writing (I think as a fan-fiction?) and the most hilarious part of it was the passage in volume 16.5 of which (Thankfully they decided NOT to include this at the relevant point of the anime.

"Two years' worth of semen made a glopping noise as it flowed endlessly into Asuna"

Gurren Lagann? I have no interest in mecha as a whole.

Here's a good challenge. An anime where the romance is between characters who are deliberately unattractive - romance that deals with feelings instead of visuality. if the protagonist is unattractive his partner must not be either, otherwise it'd be like pulling what they do in Accel World and make a self-insert character.

 

[MammothBlade]

But that doesn't explain why Code Geass,, Elfen Lied, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, Trigun, Ouran High School Host Club, and Berserk are still among my most-cited examples of good storytelling.

Higurashi: There's a line I have to draw in the sand when it comes to the idea of fucked up stuff. I got physically ill watching this.

Odd. What's not "f**ked up" about Berserk and Elfen Lied as compared to Higurashi? How did you get physically ill? My perception is probably warped, but none of that makes me physically sick. Not the torture and brutal murder in Higurashi. Not Elfen Lied's supernatural dismemberment, and not the abominations and rape in Berserk. No, it's all fascinating. How does one cross lines that the others don't?

EDIT: I'm looking for a specific anime. To give you an idea of my tastes, I enjoyed the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, the Tolkein books, Jurassic Park, Chronicle, Watchmen, The Ronin, The Invisible Man, Dracula, The Wolfman, and Dragon Age Origins.

Try Mirai Nikki (Future Diary). It has all the trappings of a great survival thriller.

 

[Alaster Angelo]

Every form of media is capable of being amazing. Anime? I fucking loved Full Metal Alchemist. Manga? Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is one of the manliest things I've ever read. Comics? I actually cried at the end of Kieron Gillen's Journey into Mystery. Cartoons? Hello Earth's Mightiest Heroes and DC Animation in general.

Just go out there and watch anything. If it doesn't interest you within the second episode then move on. We can throw our recommendations out all you like but only you know exactly what you're going to like.

 

[bladester1]

The best anime ever is Steins;Gate. That is simple fact. The setting, the plot, and above all, the characters, they just work so well. It is brilliant.

This so much this. I just wish the second half of it was out in english.

 

[bladester1]

The best anime ever is Steins;Gate. That is simple fact. The setting, the plot, and above all, the characters, they just work so well. It is brilliant.

This so much this. I just wish the second half of it was out in english.

 

[ex275w]

I said most fanservice shows, not all of them... and sure they are "popular", but it can barely make up for the budget of the show. the only really successful recent harem series is to-LOVE-Ru.

Most of the incestuous series are "popular" because of the controversy surrounding the content, but people aren't lining up to buy all the DVDs.

Also, would you consider something like Gurren Lagann Ecchi? Cause if you do I can see why you think everything has fanservice.

What is SAO?

Also I would reccomend Planetes for you, no fanservice, a little bit of filler, hard sci-fi but it's a fascinating look at the Space Race that includes themes of environmentalism, class warfare and the dangers of exploring space.

I guess I'm good at finding series with no fanservice or something.

Sword Art Online. I play World of Warcraft and if you play games a lot that's really enough of a draw to make you watch it and continue to watch it. It's hugely popular and I used to watch it with my younger brother sometimes because it was basically an adventure anime until they added this painfully creepy incest subplot in an anime about exploring online worlds and now I can't, simple. It's based on a teenager's writing (I think as a fan-fiction?) and the most hilarious part of it was the passage in volume 16.5 of which (Thankfully they decided NOT to include this at the relevant point of the anime.

"Two years' worth of semen made a glopping noise as it flowed endlessly into Asuna"

Gurren Lagann? I have no interest in mecha as a whole.

Here's a good challenge. An anime where the romance is between characters who are deliberately unattractive - romance that deals with feelings instead of visuality. if the protagonist is unattractive his partner must not be either, otherwise it'd be like pulling what they do in Accel World and make a self-insert character.

The only animes that dealt with incest and showed it was bad is Revolutionary Girl Utena, which I would recommend but it's a huge mindfuck. Mononoke shows it's negative side during one of its storylines.

Well the protagonists of Planetes have romance midways in the series and they are plain-looking. So I dunno, does that fit the bill of your challenge?

Also I was asking if you thought Gurren Lagann was an ecchi show... Guess I wrote that wrong.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Hellsing: Alucard is not meant to be related it is just supposed to be violent and killing shit. I didn't go into Demolition Man expecting a great thought provoking movie neither should anything like that be expected here.
High School of the Dead: Honestly, what did you go into this expecting? I don't mean to come across badly but I really want to know what you thought you were getting here. I'm actually genuinely curious to what you thought you were getting and how told you otherwise? Same for Hellsing actually.

Here's a tip next time you look for an anime and it says ecchi [http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/highschool-dead-online] don't watch it unless you want fanservice.

Right that said I'll give you suggestions if you give me some stuff that you do like as in movies genres and etc. I mean there's no point in me saying go watch Big O it's pretty good if you don't like sci-fi noir stuff.

I disliked Hellsing and Highschool of the Dead because they were content to wallow in their genre rather than be anything else. Berserk was a competent drama and philosophical piece, along with being incredibly violent and sexualized. Alucard was a big boring white dude who growled absolutely terrible one liners, and the fact that Crispin Freeman is a great voice actor angers me because he deserves a better script.
High School of the Dead could be okay if it didn't embody that frankly scary nerd fantasy that the zombie apocalypse would be cool, along with treating women like objects. It was...objectionable. Even for me, and I watch Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.

Big O does sound very interesting to me, I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

That is kinda my point though that is all they are meant to be. You shouldn't have expected anything more out of those two animes. To go back to another example you don't go into a Stephen Seagal movie expecting anything other than a Stephen Seagal movie. Now that said it doesn't excuse stagnating and just being that but that is all they are meant to be they were never meant to push the envelop or be extraordinary.

Although more important if you give me some likes and dislikes from other media like TV and books you like I can give you more animes that may seem interesting you to.

Deliberately dumb series or should actually try to push the envelope and try to be extraordinary. If not, they are starting to stagnate, which you said, isn't a very good idea. Even a Transformers movie should try to be the best movie it can be. Saying something shouldn't push the envelope and not be extraordinary is self-defeating, both for the audience and for the creator.

Also OP, do give us your favorite stuff form other media.

Maybe I'm not saying what I mean properly but I what mean is that High school of the Dead has been out a good while now. What is should be easily known or easy to find out. Whether it is good or not you know what you're getting with CoD and Fifa every year and you know(or should know) what you're getting into with such shows.

Although, on another one of your posts Highschool DxD is a currently "successful" ecchi anime. As it is already gotten its second season so far is on par with To Love Ru and has many light novels from which to get episodes. I'm not saying you're wrong in that argument just that you are downplaying how popular certain ecchi shows can be.

 

[Ditzydoo]

Well, I can only comment on one of the flame baits, Elfen Lied, and really, I would have been able to take it seriously, like it wants to, if there wasn't tits all over the first episode, seriously, I've seen hentais with less tit air time than Elfen Lied, only Sekerei beats it, and thats a mental comedy anime, not a dark n broody, ultra violent psychological anime.

But yeah, my personal anime list:
Azumanga Daioh
Fruits Basket
Bamboo Blade
Hetalia
Gundam
Zeta Gundam
Gundam OO
Gundam SEED
Gundam SEED Destiny (u mad "true" gundam brahs?)
Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (It has David Hayter in fcs!)
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hellsing
Devil May Cry
FLCL
Gundam: The 08th MS Team
After War: Gundam X
Full Metal Panic!
Onegai Sensei
Escaflowne

Thats about it, that I can think off of the top of my head.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Have never enjoyed any anime except for Ghost in the Shell. That was probably more to do with the cyberpunk setting than anything, really.

 

[ex275w]

Hellsing: Alucard is not meant to be related it is just supposed to be violent and killing shit. I didn't go into Demolition Man expecting a great thought provoking movie neither should anything like that be expected here.
High School of the Dead: Honestly, what did you go into this expecting? I don't mean to come across badly but I really want to know what you thought you were getting here. I'm actually genuinely curious to what you thought you were getting and how told you otherwise? Same for Hellsing actually.

Here's a tip next time you look for an anime and it says ecchi [http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/highschool-dead-online] don't watch it unless you want fanservice.

Right that said I'll give you suggestions if you give me some stuff that you do like as in movies genres and etc. I mean there's no point in me saying go watch Big O it's pretty good if you don't like sci-fi noir stuff.

I disliked Hellsing and Highschool of the Dead because they were content to wallow in their genre rather than be anything else. Berserk was a competent drama and philosophical piece, along with being incredibly violent and sexualized. Alucard was a big boring white dude who growled absolutely terrible one liners, and the fact that Crispin Freeman is a great voice actor angers me because he deserves a better script.
High School of the Dead could be okay if it didn't embody that frankly scary nerd fantasy that the zombie apocalypse would be cool, along with treating women like objects. It was...objectionable. Even for me, and I watch Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.

Big O does sound very interesting to me, I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

That is kinda my point though that is all they are meant to be. You shouldn't have expected anything more out of those two animes. To go back to another example you don't go into a Stephen Seagal movie expecting anything other than a Stephen Seagal movie. Now that said it doesn't excuse stagnating and just being that but that is all they are meant to be they were never meant to push the envelop or be extraordinary.

Although more important if you give me some likes and dislikes from other media like TV and books you like I can give you more animes that may seem interesting you to.

Deliberately dumb series or should actually try to push the envelope and try to be extraordinary. If not, they are starting to stagnate, which you said, isn't a very good idea. Even a Transformers movie should try to be the best movie it can be. Saying something shouldn't push the envelope and not be extraordinary is self-defeating, both for the audience and for the creator.

Also OP, do give us your favorite stuff form other media.

Maybe I'm not saying what I mean properly but I what mean is that High school of the Dead has been out a good while now. What is should be easily known or easy to find out. Whether it is good or not you know what you're getting with CoD and Fifa every year and you know(or should know) what you're getting into with such shows.

Although, on another one of your posts Highschool DxD is a currently "successful" ecchi anime. As it is already gotten its second season so far is on par with To Love Ru and has many light novels from which to get episodes. I'm not saying you're wrong in that argument just that you are downplaying how popular certain ecchi shows can be.

I may be downplaying it somewhat, but for an analogy, ecchi shows rarely reach the top 10 most popular shows per season. They do reach the top 20 frequently, and a lot of what is released per season does qualify as ecchi, but most of them get forgotten soon after they finish. Only stuff like Strike Witches, Highschool of the Dead, To-LOVE-Ru tends to be more popular, but they still account to a small percentage of what the genre releases yearly.

 

[Ninjasander]

Since, you've already got a ton of reccommendations already. I'll suggest you watch Psycho-Pass
[sub](Death Note (1st season) is really good, and so is Steins;Gate; although I'm probably a bit too biased towards that one.)[/sub]

Psycho-Pass started airing a couple of weeks ago and is looking really promising. The story takes place in the future where technology is so advanced that a person's mental state can be scanned and measured. The story revolves around a newly appointed Inspector that works with so called "Enforcers", people working for the police that are deemed mentally unstable, to solve crimes.

So far it's turning out to be a really interesting show. Showing us how a society where you're always under surveillance could be. That "1984" big brother feeling, the book even makes a cameo. And then there's this gun:


I have high hopes for this series! Just hope it can stay good all the way to the end

 

[Scarim Coral]

Wait, you think Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt has good story? Now hold on I love Panty and Stocking too and I guess the story is somewhat interesting if you can pass the adult material that's covering the anime.

Let see-
Cowboy Bebeop since it's a classic and Samurai Champloo is just as good.

Tiger and Bunny. The show itself is somewhat more akin to Western Superheroes and location is Western too. Heck in my view, the main character is quite indept (inspired to do good by the hero he admired as a kid, a father to a daughter who he loved deeply despite she doesn't feel the same at first and etc).

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's quite a complex anime and not all can get into but you can try.

Lastly, who said High School of the Dead is great to begin it? All I saw was just lots and lots of fan services.

 

[chaser5000]

I have to recommend Heroic age. a great sci fi anime based off the twelve labors of Hercules.

 

[Ninjasander]

The best anime ever is Steins;Gate. That is simple fact. The setting, the plot, and above all, the characters, they just work so well. It is brilliant.

Yeah, no.

Voice of some characters were annoying. The ending sucked balls, there was always the feeling of happiness and that everything would end well, which it did.

It was one of the best animes of 2011, but those things annoyed me enough to give it a max of 8.5
Of that year Usagi Drop was also great, but my favourite goes to Madoka Magika.

Got to love opinions, eh?