UnknownGunslinger said:
I know I'm going to regret this but...
Can anyone recommend me an Anime?
First I'm not the greatest fan of animes, mostly because of the art styles, but also because of the sometimes bat-shit weirdness.
Yet I have seen some very good ones, that managed to be amazing enough to make me wonder what else I might be missing?
Then I ask around some friends, specifiably telling what I've liked before only to wound up watching some effeminate boy whining about his high-school crush with his random pikachu side-kick and, oh yeah giant Mechas everywhere
Anyway this is what I?ve seen that I liked:
Best series I've seen so far would be Death Note up until the middle, then it went down hill fast!
Also Hellsing was pretty decent.
From movies I loved the two Ghost & the Shell films, Akira and the two Vampire Hunter D.
Perfect Blue was amazing, also Whisper of the Heart and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
I created an account just to post a reply to this thread. Be thankful dammit! As a longtime fan of Japanese animation (having seen over 408 anime according to my anidb profile), I feel like I can field this one. At least, better than the guy who's only seen five anime and is going to recommend something like
Bleach
Okay, let me begin by saying this:
"anime" is NOT a genre! It's a medium, which means it can be as weird or normal as the director wants to make it, and it can have any kind of art style. Simply put, "anime" is any 2D animation from Japan made for a Japanese audience. Actually, this would be the perfect time to post a YouTube series I made, it's a whole bunch of clips from different anime that show off styles, themes, settings, character types etc that people don't think of when they think of "anime":
<youtube=2yJGAQ17abg>
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Let's begin with your first point: art styles. As I've said, "anime" being a medium and not a genre can have any art style the director wants to use. Here's some examples of anime that don't share the common "anime style". And yes, they count as "anime" since they're animation from Japan made for a Japanese auidence:
Dead Leaves
The Tatami Galaxy
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Cat Soup
Tekkonkinkreet
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
FLAG
Redline
There's many more examples I could post (and that's not even going into "looks kinda like traditional anime, but not quite" ie
Lucky Star, Bakemonogatari, Kino's Journey, Ristorante Paradiso, Tiger & Bunny, House of Five Leaves, Honey and Clover, Wandering Son etc etc) but I don't want to murder the connections of anyone on slower internet
Now then, on to your next point, "bat-shit weirdness". As the "slice-of-life" genre is one of my favorites, here's but a few examples of not bat-shit weird anime:
- Usagi Drop - Drama series about an unmarried man man in his thirties who adopts his grandfather's illegitimate child and discovers the difficulties of parenthood.
Working!! - Comedy series about the the everyday lives of the staff at a family restaurant.
Monster - Murder mystery series about a talented Japanese neurosurgeon living in Germany. When he's framed for the murder of his colleagues, he travels all over Europe chasing down the real murderer.
Animation Runner Kuromi-chan - Series about a woman who has just joined an animation studio as their new "runner" (someone who's job it is to collect the animator's work).
Hataraki-Man - The daily life of a workaholic 28-year-old magazine editor, and her uneasy relationship with her equally workaholic boyfriend.
Genshiken - Comedy series about the members of a university's combined anime/manga/games club and the various things they get up to.
Victorian Romance Emma - Jane Austin style romance set in Victorian London about the forbidden love between a maid an the son of an upper-class noble.
Welcome to the NHK! - Dark comedy/drama about a paranoid social shut-in who believes that his crappy life is due to a conspiracy perpetrated an organization he calls the "N.H.K"
Tetsuko's Travels - The story of a manga artist who has been tasked with making a documentary-style manga about the travels of a train-loving nerd. For research, she must join him in his travels along Japan's various train lines, all the while subject to his obsession with trains.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Drama series about survival in the wake of a massive 8.0 scale earthquake (eerily enough, this series was made before the recent Japan earthquake)
Sasameki Koto - The everyday lives of two high school girls, one of whom is in love with the other. Lucky, her crush is gay too, but unfortunately, the type of girls she likes is the opposite to what she is.
Yugo The Negotiator - Drama series about a Japanese man named Yugo who is hired to negotiate with various terrorist leaders.
Princess Jellyfish - Comedy series about a group of nerdy girls who all live in the same housing complex and their crippling fear of social interaction with "normal" people.
Rainbow: The Criminal Seven of Compound Two, Cell Six - Prison drama about a group of young inmates who become friends and their struggles with a corrupt, sadistic prison guard.
Nana - Drama series about two women, both named Nana, who move to Tokyo of different reasons (one to be with her boyfriend and the other to re-form her band) and their lives there.
Koe de Oshigoto! The Animation - Comedy series about a high school girl, who on her 16th birthday is asked by her sister to do voice work at her game studio for pornographic games.
These are just a few examples, there are many many more!
As to what you might like, well, it's hard to say. Personally, I just keep an eye out for series that sound interesting and give the first few episodes a look. But since you liked
Perfect Blue, I strongly recommend you check out Satoshi Kon's other works:
Millennium Actress
Tokyo Godfathers (not psychological like his other works, but still one of my favorites)
Paranoia Agent
Paprika (which was part of the inspiration for the movie
Inception did you know!)
And since you liked
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I suggest you should check out
Summer Wars since it's by the same director and studio. These would be my best guesses at what you might enjoy, I'd probably need more information (i.e favorite movies, genres, styles etc) to make further recommendations
