Anime Recommendation and Suggestion Query

[XanBcoo]

If you must go for a series, well, it depends on what she likes. I liked Ghost in the Shell (sci-fi, more adult/complex themes) or Kare Kano for a good romantic comedy or Paranoia Agent for sheer weirdness.

Good God. Those are the exact same 3 series I was going to suggest after I read the first post. How eerie.

Ghost in the Shell and Paranoia Agent are akin to American live-action thrillers (one a cop show, the other a psychological whodunnit), so she'll be able to enjoy it without being "into anime". They're stylistically similar to any drama you'd find on American TV, in my opinion.

Kare Kano is a godly shoujo series (and actually my favorite anime series ever). It's got a great mix of comedy and drama, so it might be enjoyable to a teenage girl. The first episode isn't too heavy on Japanese cultural references or the viewer's knowledge of anime cliches, so it's a good gamble to start with that.


You can also never go wrong with Bebop. It requires little knowledge of Japanese culture, and is pretty realistic. That is to say, it's not too "out there" for a Sci-Fi series. It's perfect for anyone just starting to watch anime. Like others have suggested, any anime with emphasis on story instead of weird gimmicks would be great choice. I've only seen one episode of Monster, and I agree it seems OK.

Stay away from series with obscure Japanese cultural references like Azumanga Daioh (however funny it might be, I had to read a fuckton of info before I understood even half of the jokes). Those will bore her out of her mind. Stay away from anything an over-the-top Otaku would watch (laden with anime in-jokes or anything that would require an open mind to watch - Excel Saga, any Mecha series, Haruhi Suzumiya, any Magical Girl series, or any "Harem" series like Sister Princess, Love Hina, Tenchi, Maho Sensei Negima, etc) Also stay away from stuff that might freak her the fuck out, like Perfect Blue or Evangelion.

Good luck. I'm actually interested in what you end up picking.

[Brunor10]

I read her the plot outline for Death Note she thought it was interesting , and I will be showing her the first episode tonite. Thanks for all of your inoputs gotwoot community rocks!

[masamuneehs]

i'm glad you came to a resolution...

but this thread is quite repetitive, seeing as how there's a Stickied thread for exactly this kind of thing. I'm merging this thread with that one and suggest you read the rules. Consider this a verbal warning.

Merged

[Board of Command]

Stay away from anything an over-the-top Otaku would watch (laden with anime in-jokes or anything that would require an open mind to watch - Excel Saga, any Mecha series, Haruhi Suzumiya, any Magical Girl series, or any "Harem" series like Sister Princess, Love Hina, Tenchi, Maho Sensei Negima, etc)

This is the first time I've seen someone advice against Haruhi. It's not an "otaku series" by any means.

[Munsu]

You have to see the context of his post... he's posting towards the person that wants to show something to his girlfriend who doesn't like anime, and for sure Haruhi is not something I would recommend for those purposes. Only people that really enjoy anime and such would enjoy something like Haruhi.

And sorry, but Haruhi is indeed something for Otaku galore... it plays off on many of their "fetishes" and stereotype.

[Ryllharu]

Too bad I didn't see these sooner. There is absolutely no series safer for introducing anime to girlfriends or family members than the Slayers franchise. Good quality dub, no ecchi, nothing really confusing about it. Simple, stupid humor with some good action mixed in.

Oh well, what's done is done.

[animus]

The Slayers manga has quite a bit of ecchi in it if I recall.

[Ryllharu]

Well, if you only look at the main series (Slayers, Next, Try) and exclude any of the movies/OVAs with Naga in them, they are extraordinarily clean. Some blood here and there, but it's relatively late in the series.

[el_boss]

What are some classic animes that you "should" have seen. I'm tired of the action type animes like Naruto, Bleach and so on. I recently watched GTO wich I really liked and I went through Hajime no Ippo right after that wich I also loved. I very much enjoy the well done "real life" parts of these shows, if you can call it that. Also I can't stand mecha animes.

btw are there any sites where you can look up an anime and it displays similar shows to that one?

[Kraco]

Well, there are certainly shows that are better seen for a good anime education, and fortunately great many of them solidly occupy positions in any top ### lists found here and there, for example at AnimeNfo top 200, or you can sort Anidb anime database based on ranking to get an equivalent result, only with differences of the individual positions.

Anidb also lets you seek for similar shows, when you look at the genre field of any anime, there's the option. Sometimes it even works.

[Ryllharu]

Now this is an interesting one.

Slayers, definitely. All of it. (Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers: The Movie, Slayers: Book of Spells, Slayers TRY, and then the other OVAs) Great adventure series, suitable for all ages and generally just a lot of simple fun.

Cowboy Bebop Often cited as Yoko Kanno's best work as a composer, the music to this sci-fi/space western fits flawlessly. Good characters, better story, a dub better than the original japanese track, a must see for sure.

Scrapped Princess Another fantasy/sci-fi adventure, a deposed princess is being hunted around the world because she's been prophesied to destroy it on her 16th birthday. Gets a little slow around the middle, but it has superb animation, a good design style, and a nice story as well.

Stellvia: A slice-of-life sci-fi space series. There's no evil villain or aliens here, the children that go up to learn and train on each of these space stations are learning to protect the earth from the natural forces in space that will destroy all life as we know it. Drama between the students, a little childhood romance too, and comedy mixed in for good measure.

Infinite Ryvius Another space series, similar to Stellvia, one I haven't seen myself, and I'm constantly being told I should.

Card Captor Sakura This one doesn't sound like it belongs on here, but I think it's one of CLAMPs best work and certainly one of the better magical girl series out there. Don't watch the cut up and edited American version. It's a little "card of the week", but along the way, it develops the characters phenomenally, and seeing a different costume design every week is also somewhat of a nice treat.

Excel Saga The original incredibly strange reference series. Before Pani Poni Dash and Lucky Star, there was Excel Saga. It often exceeds those two in strangeness, each episode usually fit to a specific style of anime.

[Yukimura]

btw are there any sites where you can look up an anime and it displays similar shows to that one?

For what you're looking for the best place I've found is here. The anime recommendation database. It's user driven so it's not as comprehensive as one might like, but it does give a sense of what shows people thought appealed to similar interests.

[Munsu]

Adding to the classics list:

Kaze no Yojimbo
Ranma 1/2
Gunslinger Girls
Twelve Kingdoms
Shadow Skill
Licensed by Royal
Rahxephon
Blue Gender
Twin Spica
Slam Dunk
Touch
Urusei Yatsura
Hunter X Hunter
VanDread
Green Green
Golden Boy
Trigun

I haven't seen all of them, so just go read some of the descriptions and see if any of those look like something you might be interested in.

My sister needs some recommendations and I'm pretty clueless on the one's I've already suggested. She has watched FMA, and thought it was OK, Naruto and stopped during the fillers. She's a really big fan of Hunter X Hunter, and has watched the whole TV series, OVA and the current manga scanlations. She wants more along the Hunter X Hunter drift, and says she really was in love with the friendship between Gon and Killua as it seemed really realistic. She's not into shounen ai however, so anybody wanna lend a helping hand with a recommendation or two? I suggested her One Piece but she got bored of it after 4-5 episodes, and I told her it gets a ton better but she says she'll probably give it another chance in the future, just not yet.

Aside from the ones comp recommended, I would try Get Backers, it at least has some of that friendship your sister seems to enjoy.

[chambers]

i was wondering if anyone would like to step up and reccomend me an anime series thats easily obtained atm for me to watch, currently im watching the usual big three (bleach naruto OP) in the past i have watched and enjoyed;
samurai champloo
last exile
FMA
black lagoon

and others im sure i cant remeber right now, im not liking films so please dont reccomend me any of those, i prefer somthign that lets the character develop more.

im also watching gantz atm which now the protagonist has gotten out of his "bitch" namesake is actually getting good ( and i beleive its only 24 eps long or somthing ..... just as its getting good too). so yeah, please roccomend me a series that i can watch now, and if you can go one step further and link me a 1st ep torrent i would be very greatfull. also if the series is long, or is finished then thats a big boost to me too!

[Ryllharu]

Readily accessible, hmm.

-Pumpkin Scissors just recently ended. Subbed by Eclipse. It's a post-war series with a good mix of action, plot, and character development.

-Utawarerumono is from a season or two ago, also heavily action oriented, most of the characters are what I'd call "beast-men" (not furries), so if that really turns you off, you might want to stay away from it. A period series more like Champloo. yesy subbed this one. Lots of development all around.

-Another series just started this season may interest you if you liked some of the serious parts of Champloo. Seirei no Moribito being subbed by Anime-Kraze, is a period series about spear wielding bodyguard who reminds me a lot of the blind woman from Champloo.

-El Cazador de la Bruja just started as well. No idea how it will turn out, but your preferences seem to give me the impression you might like this. Our very own AonE subs this.

-If you're not averted towards mecha, now would be the ideal time to catch up on Code Geass which just reached a season break in its story. Huge character development in this series. gg has the best subs for this series.

-Busou Renkin just ended. Kyuu subbed that. There's some good character development for the two main characters, and even the lead villain gets a lot. It's a series that pokes a lot of fun at itself (of the genre of Bleach, Naruto, other shonen series in general).

[Munsu]

Well if you haven't already, you should check out the shounen Hunter X Hunter.

Watch the TV series, then the 3 OVAs, there should be plenty of torrents around.

The new spring series is really good, so you should check out some... like Seirei no Moribito, Claymore, Darker than Black, Gurren-Lagann, Romeo X Juliet.

[aisamo]

''AFRO samurai'' watch that one

[animus]

I watched like 3 episodes of that, and was thoroughly bored.

[DarkArcher101]

ok like no 1 has said anything in like 3 years so ill say it watch Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho dude ill give u a summary cuz is that good XD (but Fate/stay night the best XD)

Plot Summary: In the night of Tokyo, mysterious deaths involving the 'Reborn Dead' occur. Mysterious transfer student, Tatsuma Hiyuu, and delinquent student, Kyouichi Houraiji, fight these undead every night. They, along with the rest of their group, soon realize that a greater threat, that involves even more powerful demons, is near.

there people how read this watch the show and BY THE HEAVENS IF U HAVENT WATCHED FATE/STAY NIGHT U ARE COMMITING A SIN !!!!AND SHALL BURN IN THE FIRES OF HELL!!!!!!(lol maybe im exaggerating but watch it! )NOW!!!!!

[el_boss]

I'm not really in the mood for sci-fi, but LOTGH, Stellvia and Last Exile seem interesting. I agree that Cowboy Bebop is great.

@Munsu: Great stuff man, most of those seem to be exactly what I'm looking for. Hope I can find most of them.