I need first time anime recommendations.
- Thread starter EboMan7x
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Seconded emphatically, though I also give props to Death Note (I'm not finished with it but it's really good so far).Haydyn said:
Dude, I'm right with you. Just got into them. Let me give you four to start you off.EboMan7x said:
First, "Spirited Away" by Studio Ghibli. Beautiful art direction and great story.
Second, "Grave of the Fireflies". One of my favorite films of all time. Period.
Third, "Hetalia". Imagine if the Axis and Allie countries during WWI-WWII were personified. Hilarious if not a little controversial, especially due to usage of stereotypes for humor.
Forth, "Baccano!!". Gangster influences and a cool intertwining storyline.
Other recommendations would be "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", "Elfen Lied", and really anything in the Studio Ghibli collection. Try "Shin-Chan" as well for teh lulz.
Akira (one of the best animated films of it's time... and a decade later, easily)
Cowboy Bebop (took a bit to get into it, but by the third episode I was hooked)
Samurai Champloo (I'll admit that I watched a VERY high quality fansub, so my experience is a bit slanted by all of the additional info popups that explained the setting and goings on... but I was hooked in the first episode and never looked back)
After these, I can honestly say that I've had a hard time (read: IMPOSSIBLE) watching Fullmetal Alchemist, Gurren Lagaan, or most anime series that I've had recommended. The above are spot-on untouchable.
Cowboy Bebop (took a bit to get into it, but by the third episode I was hooked)
Samurai Champloo (I'll admit that I watched a VERY high quality fansub, so my experience is a bit slanted by all of the additional info popups that explained the setting and goings on... but I was hooked in the first episode and never looked back)
After these, I can honestly say that I've had a hard time (read: IMPOSSIBLE) watching Fullmetal Alchemist, Gurren Lagaan, or most anime series that I've had recommended. The above are spot-on untouchable.
Shows that are distinctly not stereotypical anime.
Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood, too.)
Trigun
Black Lagoon
Outlaw Star (skip the fan service episode near the end)
Cowboy Beebop
Big O
Just about everything with Miyazaki's name attached to it.
Most of these have good English dubbing, sometimes even beating the Japanese dubbing. I'd watch Black Lagoon with the English subs because the dub makes a lot of scenes awkward and confusing (IE: Ok, so we have a character that is supposed to be a Chinese / American who now lives in South Asia, but they always just speak in Japanese to keep things not confusing, and then suddenly they have a job in Japan so suddenly she cuts over to Engrish. So when you have the Japanese dub having that language confusion as a plot device, and then the English dub just axing it altogether, you can see where things get confusing...)
Shows that are decidedly Japanese, but still make good starter shows-
Foolie Coolie (FLCL)- Fast, fun, and zany but it actually rewards you with a deeper story than its less-than-ten episodes would suggest if you're willing to look for it. Even if you end up not liking it at least it's incredibly short.
Gurren Lagan- It's on the long side, but it's still good. Fun to watch, and once you get past the first few episodes it picks up the pace.
Ghost in the Shell- not so much in the artistic style, but Japanese in the sense that they decide to have discussions of philosophy on the side. The movies tend to be a bit more brainy (I feel asleep watching the second one the first time around, second time around it just gave me a massive migraine) than the series (Stand Alone Complex) though don't worry if you don't watch the movies, or the series. Both are set up so that you don't really need to understand the other to grasp what's going on.
Hellsing Ultimate- Don't watch the original series, it's only so - so. Still, it's stylish, and makes for a strong starter for the gory anime. Oh, and Nazis, bad ass non-sparkly vampires, and vampire nazis. How can you loose?
Eureka 7 / Xam'd: The Lost Memories- because both shows follow similar formulas (and were made by the same studio for that matter) I put them both together. Personally I like Xam'd a lot more simply because it doesn't have these annoying mood swings as the series progresses.
Fate / Stay Night- very popular visual novel turned series.
EDIT:
ADVANCED VIEWING: Not for the light of heart. These are the shows that are more famous (or, rather, notorious) for their content.
Neon Genesis Evangellion- Credited for plunging the mecha genre as a whole into a brooding, depressive slumber that it didn't wake up from for about a decade. If you watch it be prepared to watch the series, and then the movies. You don't need to watch the recap movie (Yes, they did a recap movie) though the rest of it actually resolves the series with a non-shitty ending. Mecha genre series that uses three adolescent children (13-year olds) to explore the human condition. Oh, and don't binge on it. Most people who watch it like that report brooding depression after watching it too quickly, and I'll confirm that after watching it in just two sittings I was out of whack for about two weeks.
Ergo Proxy- Either deep, or lol deep depending on how you want to approach it. I couldn't really wrap my head around it either way, and every time it got close to getting somewhere it just lost it for me.
Elfen Leid- Another lol deep show. Lot of potential piddled away by poor directing. Manga mocked the deep aspect with fan service and a laughable plot line. Anime decided that it needed to be deep and fuck the light hearted part. Ends up being a train wreck, but a lot of people still liked it for some reason.
Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood, too.)
Trigun
Black Lagoon
Outlaw Star (skip the fan service episode near the end)
Cowboy Beebop
Big O
Just about everything with Miyazaki's name attached to it.
Most of these have good English dubbing, sometimes even beating the Japanese dubbing. I'd watch Black Lagoon with the English subs because the dub makes a lot of scenes awkward and confusing (IE: Ok, so we have a character that is supposed to be a Chinese / American who now lives in South Asia, but they always just speak in Japanese to keep things not confusing, and then suddenly they have a job in Japan so suddenly she cuts over to Engrish. So when you have the Japanese dub having that language confusion as a plot device, and then the English dub just axing it altogether, you can see where things get confusing...)
Shows that are decidedly Japanese, but still make good starter shows-
Foolie Coolie (FLCL)- Fast, fun, and zany but it actually rewards you with a deeper story than its less-than-ten episodes would suggest if you're willing to look for it. Even if you end up not liking it at least it's incredibly short.
Gurren Lagan- It's on the long side, but it's still good. Fun to watch, and once you get past the first few episodes it picks up the pace.
Ghost in the Shell- not so much in the artistic style, but Japanese in the sense that they decide to have discussions of philosophy on the side. The movies tend to be a bit more brainy (I feel asleep watching the second one the first time around, second time around it just gave me a massive migraine) than the series (Stand Alone Complex) though don't worry if you don't watch the movies, or the series. Both are set up so that you don't really need to understand the other to grasp what's going on.
Hellsing Ultimate- Don't watch the original series, it's only so - so. Still, it's stylish, and makes for a strong starter for the gory anime. Oh, and Nazis, bad ass non-sparkly vampires, and vampire nazis. How can you loose?
Eureka 7 / Xam'd: The Lost Memories- because both shows follow similar formulas (and were made by the same studio for that matter) I put them both together. Personally I like Xam'd a lot more simply because it doesn't have these annoying mood swings as the series progresses.
Fate / Stay Night- very popular visual novel turned series.
EDIT:
ADVANCED VIEWING: Not for the light of heart. These are the shows that are more famous (or, rather, notorious) for their content.
Neon Genesis Evangellion- Credited for plunging the mecha genre as a whole into a brooding, depressive slumber that it didn't wake up from for about a decade. If you watch it be prepared to watch the series, and then the movies. You don't need to watch the recap movie (Yes, they did a recap movie) though the rest of it actually resolves the series with a non-shitty ending. Mecha genre series that uses three adolescent children (13-year olds) to explore the human condition. Oh, and don't binge on it. Most people who watch it like that report brooding depression after watching it too quickly, and I'll confirm that after watching it in just two sittings I was out of whack for about two weeks.
Ergo Proxy- Either deep, or lol deep depending on how you want to approach it. I couldn't really wrap my head around it either way, and every time it got close to getting somewhere it just lost it for me.
Elfen Leid- Another lol deep show. Lot of potential piddled away by poor directing. Manga mocked the deep aspect with fan service and a laughable plot line. Anime decided that it needed to be deep and fuck the light hearted part. Ends up being a train wreck, but a lot of people still liked it for some reason.
Honestly, I like Lucky Star, but uh, that's really Japanish. In fact, I feel it is a guilty hobby myself. After watching it I need something a little more concrete...like studying physics for a good few hours.
First of all I would like to recommend you against starting out by watching any longer series or flavor-of-the-month shows of the moment like some that have been suggested. Not to say that you might not enjoy them, but they aren't good starting points if you want to discover what anime has to offer. Also, someone suggested Witch Blade. Don't listen to them. You'll thank me later.
I'll agree with all the people who said Cowboy Bebop, it's a great show, it has some really funny episodes and it has almost no Japanese culture in it.
If you want something shorter I'd recommend you start with a movie. Miyazaki's earlier work, like Castle of Cagliostro and Porco Rosso are both great films you sound like you'd enjoy. A few people have already suggested Ghost in the Shell, which is great if you're okay with something that doesn't have any comedy at all (the TV series has more than the movies, but still not much. You don't need to have seen one to watch the other as they're separate continuities).
A short series (7 one hour episodes) that has just about everything is Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still. Don't be turned off by the title, you don't have to like robots to enjoy it (you do, however, need to be down with almost John Woo-esque levels of melodrama). It's beautifully animated, has great fight scenes, memorable characters, a good story with plenty of twists, and is just generally a good time for everyone.
Also, no way do those last three belong in the same category as the rest of that list (the first is also debatable, but it's definitely a good entry series).
I'll agree with all the people who said Cowboy Bebop, it's a great show, it has some really funny episodes and it has almost no Japanese culture in it.
If you want something shorter I'd recommend you start with a movie. Miyazaki's earlier work, like Castle of Cagliostro and Porco Rosso are both great films you sound like you'd enjoy. A few people have already suggested Ghost in the Shell, which is great if you're okay with something that doesn't have any comedy at all (the TV series has more than the movies, but still not much. You don't need to have seen one to watch the other as they're separate continuities).
A short series (7 one hour episodes) that has just about everything is Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still. Don't be turned off by the title, you don't have to like robots to enjoy it (you do, however, need to be down with almost John Woo-esque levels of melodrama). It's beautifully animated, has great fight scenes, memorable characters, a good story with plenty of twists, and is just generally a good time for everyone.
You just suggested Now and Then Here and There (excellent taste, by the way) to someone asking for something "funny". Are you mad?Zekkykins said:
Also, no way do those last three belong in the same category as the rest of that list (the first is also debatable, but it's definitely a good entry series).
Ghost in the Shell is my favourite anime, though it's almost hard to call it anime since it lacks pretty much all the stupid, annoying tropes that seem to define anime more than the fact that it's made in japan.
It makes me sad to know that they're doing to do a live-action of it, because you know it's going to be GitS in nothing except name. Fukken hollywood.
Full Metal Alchemist is pretty good too, though it does suffer from some of the annoying anime tropes. Both the series are okay, though the first half of "Brotherhood" is pretty redundant.
I also enjoy Hellsing: Ultimate, if only for its banality. The entire series seems to be a veichle for showing Alucard killing things... everything in this series is taken to the outmost extreme, from the absurdly bloody deaths to something as bizzare as the main antagonist's speech -
...and then they catapult vampire nazis from their doom zeppelins into an unsuspecting London.
I also really liked Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, and Eureka Seven.
It makes me sad to know that they're doing to do a live-action of it, because you know it's going to be GitS in nothing except name. Fukken hollywood.
Full Metal Alchemist is pretty good too, though it does suffer from some of the annoying anime tropes. Both the series are okay, though the first half of "Brotherhood" is pretty redundant.
I also enjoy Hellsing: Ultimate, if only for its banality. The entire series seems to be a veichle for showing Alucard killing things... everything in this series is taken to the outmost extreme, from the absurdly bloody deaths to something as bizzare as the main antagonist's speech -
...and then they catapult vampire nazis from their doom zeppelins into an unsuspecting London.
I also really liked Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit, and Eureka Seven.
Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. It's stupid and fun.
Yakitake!Japan is also great. It's a show all about making bread!
Yakitake!Japan is also great. It's a show all about making bread!
There is a disturbing lack of Gundam on this list.
Start with Gundam 0079, you can find it on YouTube.
Sure the animation is REALLY old; like 70's animation, but you're not in Gundam so much for the animation as you are the story.
Once the animation hits into the 90's you'll get some insanely good action sequences.
(08th MS team is my favorite).
If you want funny go with Cromartie High School or Lucky Star.
Cromartie High is one of the few instances where the dubs are better than the subs.
Start with Gundam 0079, you can find it on YouTube.
Sure the animation is REALLY old; like 70's animation, but you're not in Gundam so much for the animation as you are the story.
Once the animation hits into the 90's you'll get some insanely good action sequences.
(08th MS team is my favorite).
If you want funny go with Cromartie High School or Lucky Star.
Cromartie High is one of the few instances where the dubs are better than the subs.
My advice:
Don't pay attention to the overly-Japanese parts (notably opening themes). They're just there to scare you.
Give everything a chance.
Laughing is occasionally expected at serious parts.
Try DBZ first, if you're unsure.
My recommendations:
<spoiler=Deathnote><youtube=OhzikdFMv7Y>
<spoiler=Cowboy Bebop><youtube=X4zcaRssOSk>
<spoiler=Hellsing Ultimate><youtube=MRs-qWORKj0>
Don't pay attention to the overly-Japanese parts (notably opening themes). They're just there to scare you.
Give everything a chance.
Laughing is occasionally expected at serious parts.
Try DBZ first, if you're unsure.
My recommendations:
<spoiler=Deathnote><youtube=OhzikdFMv7Y>
<spoiler=Cowboy Bebop><youtube=X4zcaRssOSk>
<spoiler=Hellsing Ultimate><youtube=MRs-qWORKj0>