Official Anime Recommendation Thread
By
Aether_Crash,
Posted on: 2009-10-04 18:33 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Just finished watching When They Cry (Higurashi) last night and I give that a plus 1. Actually, I would give it more. But whatever.
Other recommendations
Samurai 7 (+1)
Trigun (+1)
Rumbling Hearts (+1) (Drama / Romance)
Ergo Proxy (+1)
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They have 5 and 6 up there now.
| Thanks for link. Will watch the 4 eps and see if they get me hooked. |
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I got hooked by episode 3, so I ordered the series.
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Originally Posted by Greenykins
Just finished watching When They Cry (Higurashi) last night and I give that a plus 1. Actually, I would give it more. But whatever.
Other recommendations Samurai 7 (+1) Trigun (+1) Rumbling Hearts (+1) (Drama / Romance) Ergo Proxy (+1) They have 5 and 6 up there now. |
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Ah, When They Cry is a great series. The first season has its lulls though, but by time the end comes around it had me hooked for the second season. It'll be worth checking out Uminkeo no Naku koro ni when in comes around.
So picked up Evangelion 1.01 You are (not) alone, it took a while for me to get into but it is a good movie. I guess my nitpick is that the 1st part follows the original series 1st episode very, and I mean very, closely. Kept wondering if I got vol. 1 to the series by mistake.
An interesting test I did was to see if this movie would some how change my brother's view on this series so I invited him over to watch it. Unfortunately it didn't but seeing him rant and rave and his reaction was humorous.
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Some of my recommendations:
Hajime no Ippo and its more recent follow up series Hajime no Ippo: The New Challenger. I think the American retitle is Fighting Spirit. It's a boxing anime with very good fights and characters.
Shijo Saikyo no Desshi Kenichi (History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi/Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple) - hilarious fight anime with great characters.
The Wallflower - an upside down and backwards harem anime about an "ugly" anti-social girl who is inflicted upon a household of stereotypical anime pretty-boys who are blackmailed into attempting to turn her into a beautiful and proper woman.
Miyagami Academy Maximum Authority Wielding Best Student Council AKA Best Student Council - this anime started out slightly odd and amusing and continued to get weirder throughout but surprised me by pulling all the weirdness into a coherent and somewhat touching story.
And as I'm sure has already been suggested: anything Miyazaki is worth a look. My personal favourites are Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Porco Rosso.
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
Dang it.
I knew I was forgetting something. >.<
I'll get this updated Soon(TM). Hopefully this weekend, but I have a run at Vidmaster: Endure tomorrow.
I just started watching Cowboy Bebop a couple of days ago, planning to watch a couple of episodes per day. It's very good, though not yet on par with my favourite anime - Ghost in the Shell: SAC - but then I'm starting to give up hope that I'll ever find an anime as good as that.
I think my biggest disappointment with Bebop so far is the lack of an overarching narrative - something to tie the whole series together - because for the most part it seems very episodic - but then I'm not far into it so maybe that will change. I do find Bebop very amusing and with quite a "feelgood vibe" (it does put a smile on my face when I watch it - I love the fact that the main characters fail so much in their contracts - a bit of a Firefly vibe) - plus it has music by Yoko Kanno so that's always a big plus - but I do yearn for a bit more intrigue, poignancy and deeper plotting, even though the characters are very good/likeable - I guess there's time yet.
Currently my Amazon wishlist has on it the complete collections of: Trigun, Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Death Note and Mobile Suit Gundam 00. I'll leave deciding which one to purchase next until I get close to finishing Cowboy Bebop.
There are things that tie the series together.
1) Julia
2) Vicious
3) The Triads
You have to look for it though.
Movies
Akira- Started it all for me. Blew my mind in 1986 at the International Film series in a large lecture hall at CU-Boulder. I think I annoyed people talking about it so much.
Rurouni Kenshin Movie – Samurai X The Movie: Awesome,
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children: What it lacks in story diection it more than makes up for in technical and choreographic excellence (japanese dub is recomended)
Ghost in the Shell: Iconic, and powerful.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Metropolis: A beautiful adaptation of the sci-fi classic
Tekkon Kinkreet: ** ATTENTION ** ok, did I get your attention. Check this bad boy out! The art style grows on you very quickly and the characters are very well developed. The protagonists are a couple of homeless kids, fighting corrupt city development in their neighborhood, but that doesn't begin to hint at the action of the story.
Kiki’s Delivery Service: It's Miyazaki. 'Nuff said
Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door: A Bebop movie done right. Very Spike centric.
Blood: The Last Vampire. A short movie, that tells a small intense, gory story with great art.
Tokyo Godfathers – The Movie: A fun holiday film. Feel good. Fun characters.
Afro Samurai: Fun movie. Great art style. Sam Jackson doing fun voicework, though a bit over the top.
Afro Samurai Resurrection : Not as good as the first, but still a fun watch, w/ audacious action
Steamboy; Best seen on the biggest screen available. By the Akira director, Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Grave of the Fireflies: Whoa. Be ready for some serious stuff.
Spriggan Movie: A little talky at the end, but a great super-agent actioner. Clean, well produced.
Appleseed : CGI/cell hybrid animation, and it really works. Good story, great climax.
My Neighbor Totoro: One of Myazaki's weider ones in my opinion.
Ninja Scroll: Very violent, imaginative character design. A spearhead of ninja anime.
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind:Miyazaki Hayao. One of the most laughably (in a good way) unflappable action-girl protagonists in anime. Fun stuff.
Spirited Away:Miyazaki Hayao's perfect film and my favorite piece of anime EVAR.
Jin Roh, the Wolf Brigade: Man. This one is heavy. Very good... but heavy. US dub is very well done.
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea:Miyazaki Hayao. Recently in a theatrical release in the US. Fun kids story. The US release voice actors I think did a good job.
Paprika:WATCH THIS movie!. Seriously. click on the link. You want this.
Roujin Z: This is great. An odd story. Very poignant, with great humor, characters, art and ESCALATING action! Trailer Japanese audio is recommended.
Most of these can be streamed HERE btw. 
Series:
My top 10: 50 eps or less.
Cowboy Bebop: Brilliant in so many ways.
Samurai Champloo: Shinichirô Watanabe's Bebop followup. Lightning strikes twice.
Avatar, the Last Airbender: It is great. One of the most polished series ever. Great writing, voicework, story, increasingly epic artwork and scale of action. And more fun than you have any right to expect from a Nickelodeon "kids show".
Last Exile: One of the best looking anime series I've seen. Huge airship battles, great dogfights, likeable cast. A unique vision.
R.O.D. the TV: Great characters. Great action. Paper-based martial arts! Very imaginative.
Fullmetal Panic: Hilarious! Teen super soldier goes to high school undercover, "fish out of water" thing. The English voice actors do a great job. Endearing characters, fun mecha action (not an emphasis), and di I mention funny?
Ghost in the Shell (all seasons, counting as one choice): Complex, compelling stories in an intriguing and very fleshed out cyberpunk setting. Great action, music, and production values. Fun quirky extras involving the bizarrely appealing Tachikomas (battle robots with goofy AI's)
Outlaw Star: Endearing characters, sweeping story, and audacious action. Interesting tech vs. magic thing going on too.
FLCL: 4 episodes of psychedelic mind-fornicating, that you will want to watch more than once. Yes, yES, YES!
Samurai 7: A very enjoyable and remarkably faithful sci-fi adaptation of Akira Kurasawa's The Seven Samurai. Trailer
Planetes: Opening. An unexpected gem. Very impressive animation. Great characters and setting, weaves an impressively rich story with no throwaway characters, and great human lessons.
Ok. That's eleven. (many viewable Here.
All of the above, get the Chazz's Anime-lover Seal of Awesomeness.
+1 for Burst Angel. I just love this anime. 
Own it as well (plus the 3 volume manga prequel of it).
+1 Gundam Wing. This still stands as my favorite Gundam series (though from posts on the forums, it doesn't seem to have many fans at times).
+1 Naruto for the non filler episodes. Yes, it has a few non filler episodes I think are great, but for the majority of them...*sigh* Just seem terrible.
+1 Cowboy Beebop.
+1 Silent Mobius. Now I love this series. I love the characters. Loved the manga (which might skew my view on the anime).
+1 Kiddy Grade. Starts slow, gets better.
+1 Full Metal Alchemist. Love it. Love the movie. Really I wish it didn't end the way it did. :/ Haven't checked out the second go of it however.
+1 Neon Genesis Evangelion. This series, except for the last two episodes, was greatly done imo. I enjoyed it all. And while I still watch the last 2 episodes, it boggles my mind.
+1 Tenchi Muyo/Tenchi Muyo in Tokyo. I believe I got the right ones. Didn't care for, I think it was Tenchi Muyo GPX, but the original OVA and the (i believe) second series of it, I loved.
Personally, I can't recommend Fist of the North Star. I know it's one of the originals Anime's to come to America. But, the art. Most of the anime, I just found myself "meh" to. It had a few good characters, but over all...I just didn't care for it.
+1 Battle Angel Alita. The art, the story, all good imo. I just wish there was more to it (or if there was, I've only seen it up to a certain point).
There's of course more to mentioned, but sadly, I think alot of the one's I'd recommend, would usually get a +1...but I tend to just buy my anime if I don't see it on TV, so before I buy it, I try to get alot of info on it first, before I buy it, to make sure I'm not wasting my money on something I might be disappointed in.
There's also one that is shown on I think Encore, that I'd -1 if I could just remember the name. It was some ecchi/fanservice anime, I just found sooo "OMG I can't believe someone made this. Couldn't they pick a better anime to put on?!"
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
You can't mean Tenchi in Tokyo.
That was just plain horrible and should be stricken from the universe.
The only Tenchi series that were, are Tenchi Muyo (the original 12 ep OVA), Tenchi Universe (the 26 ep tv series), Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki (the follow up to Tenchi Muyo), and Tenchi Muyo: GXP (another 26 ep series following Seina Yamada set in the Tenchi-verse).
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Eiken?
| There's also one that is shown on I think Encore, that I'd -1 if I could just remember the name. It was some ecchi/fanservice anime, I just found sooo "OMG I can't believe someone made this. Couldn't they pick a better anime to put on?!" |
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Wasn't a big fan of Tenchi in Tokyo myself, however I know some people that enjoy the series. Fortunately, Tenchi in Tokyo is set in its own universe. So that story has no impact on the cannon and story of the other series.
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Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
You can't mean Tenchi in Tokyo.
That was just plain horrible and should be stricken from the universe. |
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I'd have to rewatch them to remember for sure. It's been awhile since I've seen the Tenchi series, to know which is which. I enjoyed all the Tenchi movies (and own them), havent seen the Tnechi series yet to buy them.|
Originally Posted by Dark_One_NA
You can't mean Tenchi in Tokyo.
That was just plain horrible and should be stricken from the universe. The only Tenchi series that were, are Tenchi Muyo (the original 12 ep OVA), Tenchi Universe (the 26 ep tv series), Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki (the follow up to Tenchi Muyo), and Tenchi Muyo: GXP (another 26 ep series following Seina Yamada set in the Tenchi-verse). Eiken? |
And yes...Eiken. That's it. *sighs* Waste of time.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
I have to add my +1s and new suggestions. First, the +1s:
Gurren Lagann
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Gunbuster
Fullmetal Panic! (including Fumoffu and Second Raid)
Trigun
Kiddy Grade
Death Note
Kino's Journey
Ergo Proxy
Last Exile
FLCL
Excel Saga
The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Otaku No Video
Princess Tutu
Welcome to the NHK
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Azumanga Diaoh!
Read or Die OVA (so much better than The TV)
Macross
Voices of a Distant Star
Second, things I've not seen mentioned:
Shigofumi (drama) - an interesting tale about interesting things. I don't know how else to describe it, really : /
Shakugan no Shana (action/drama) - awesome fun for the whole family! Second season is disappointingly more sappy.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (more action/drama than anything) - more awesome fun for the whole family!
Gankutsuou (action/drama) - The Count of Monte Christo...IN SPACE! An excellent retelling from the perspective of Albert Morcef.
Mahoromatic (comedy) - shameless Gainax comedy!
Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro Chan (comedy) - as violent as it is hilarious.
Cat Soup (art, it goes into no other category) - artistic art!
right now I am digging Gintama
+1 for anything by Studio Ghibli. I just picked up most of them on DVD to replace my old VHS tapes.
+1 for The Slayers and Escaflowne.
I didn't have time to read all the replies, but I'll add Gunslinger Girl and Armitage The III as well, +1 if someone already mentioned.
*Eyes the suggested watch list. Sees naruto, Neon Genesis, Death Note, Trigun, Read or die, Outlaw star... stops reading list. Cries for humanity. *
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Ok, Why don't you elevate us with your otaku insights?
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Originally Posted by Tokyo
*Eyes the suggested watch list. Sees naruto, Neon Genesis, Death Note, Trigun, Read or die, Outlaw star... stops reading list. Cries for humanity. *
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Otaku is a derogatory term. I don't like being insulted.|
Originally Posted by Chazzmatazz
Ok, Why don't you elevate us with your otaku insights?
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I like your list though.
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Hold on, what's wrong with the bolded ones?|
Originally Posted by Tokyo
*Eyes the suggested watch list. Sees naruto, Neon Genesis, Death Note, Trigun, Read or die, Outlaw star... stops reading list. Cries for humanity. *
|
They're good anime (well, Deathnote's good until LADIES, but still). Just because they're "mainstream" or something doesn't make them bad, nor does liking them mean I can't enjoy things like Kino's Journey or Princess Tutu as well.
Go push your judgment on other people. We don't want it.
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Bah, of course we want it. |
Originally Posted by MrQuizzles
Go push your judgment on other people. We don't want it.
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We just want it from someone who actually would bother to go and -1 the things they don't like (as I did with Death Note) instead of just coming and making statements that seem intended largely to garner attention.
MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
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Fist of the Northstar+++1 isn't on this list, why? It's an Anime classic. if you are going to recommend anime to watch lets start by recommending the classics. Fist of the northstar is a MUST watch for anyone who claims to be a serious anime fan. |
Originally Posted by Oliin
Bah, of course we want it.
We just want it from someone who actually would bother to go and -1 the things they don't like (as I did with Death Note) instead of just coming and making statements that seem intended largely to garner attention. |
Mobile Suit Gundam++1
Berserk++1
Royal Space Force++1
Gunbuster++1
Star Blazers the quest for Iscandar++1
Wicked City+++1 isn't on this list either, another classic.
Violence Jack++1 Classic
Project A-ko++1, Classic
I didn't see Ninja-scroll++++1
Vampire Hunter D+++1
Macross Plus++1
Serial experiement Lain++1
DNA2++1
Bunch more but it's too early for me to think at the moment. Thank-you for mentioning Patlabor and Appleseed.
D.O.A., Naruto, Death Note, blood+ aren't anime in my opinion..it's pop-culture pandering. They all get
-100
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It's been mentioned several times actually as 'Fist of the North Star'. As for Wicked City though, I believe we're trying to shy away from 'adult' anime.
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Originally Posted by Tokyo
Fist of the Northstar+++1 isn't on this list, why? It's an Anime classic. if you are going to recommend anime to watch lets start by recommending the classics. Fist of the northstar is a MUST watch for anyone who claims to be a serious anime fan.
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MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Oliin
It's been mentioned several times actually as 'Fist of the North Star'. As for Wicked City though, I believe we're trying to shy away from 'adult' anime.
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It's a classic.
Ghost in the shell has a rating of (0) Are we nuts?
+5 everything that is ghost in the shell. Amazing writing, incredible music composition, great story, beautifully detailed artwork both in movies and series.
I have a question, if a series has multiple seasons but those seasons have "different titles" do we list those separately? Like some one just posted Slayers and Slayers Try.
If yes
School Rumble 2nd Semester (+1)
Naruto Shippuden (+1)
I've only seen the first 4 episodes, and I enjoyed them. I bought it and the set is sitting next to me. Going to be watching it pretty soon.
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