Cowboy Bebop once again.. fourth'd? I lost count of how many people have agreed with this recommendation.
And since there hasn't been a lot of love for films in this thread:
Summer Wars
Tokyo Godfathers
Castle in the Sky
Castle of Cagliostro
And if you feel like crying while you're sweating on the treadmill,
Grave of the Fireflies.
If anyone asks about the tears, you should be able to convince them it's just sweat from your intense workout. But I'll know the truth. We'll all know.
Alrighty guys, I got myself a list of anime I'd love to recommend.
1) Magical Arcade Abenobashi- It's about two kids who are cast into multiple imaginary worlds, some include classic RPG, scifi anime and more. It's GAINAX (Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, FLCL) and pretty damn hilarious I must say. It's fairly short too, like 13 episodes?
2) Eden of the East- Akira Akizawa wakes up naked with a gun and a cellphone in front of the White House. You can't tell me that alone doesn't intrigue you! But seriously, it's a short series (about 12-13 episodes) and several films.
3) Golden Boy- Kentaro Oe is a freeder trying to learn about the world around him. He's brilliant but a big dork so he gets himself in trouble a lot, especially with the ladies. It's absolutely hilarious. This is 17+, but only 6 episodes long.
4) Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro- my favorite Lupin film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It has the whimsical fun of Miyazaki with the fast pace excitement of Lupin. His perversion is toned back for this film, which is kind of one of the reasons I love it.
5) Tokyo Godfathers- three homeless people find a lost baby. Directed by Satoshi Kon. That alone should sway you.
6) Perfect Blue- Also a Satoshi Kon film.
7) Millennium Actress- same as 5-6.
8) Summer Wars- AMAZING.
9) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya- Once you get past the weirdness of episode 1 and 2, it turns into quite an interesting story.
10) Lucky Star- I know, I know, it's got that "weird stuff" but I personally like it for the nerdy conversations about food and anime. Also, look up the Anime Tenchou, tell me that isn't funny.
11)Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone- While I would recommend just seeing the original series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, 1.0 is a remake/retelling of the first few episodes of the series in a quick 80-90 minute film.
12) Evangelion 2.0: You Cannot Advance- It's amazing and possibly my favorite movie ever. The animation and story are a step up from the original series and really just terrific. Also, Funimation did an amazing job dubbing it.
13) Ouran High School Host Club- It's a hilarious satire of shoujo (girl) anime. I recommend the dub because the acting is just too hysterical.
14) Honey and Clover- It's a slice of life story of trying to find your place in the world. I eat this kind of stuff up, so I'm unsure if this is your thing. The comedy is solid though. It even made my non-anime friends laugh.
15) Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt- It should be getting a US release this year. It's a hilarious satire of rude and vulgar American cartoons.
hahaha it can't be said enough times: Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop. it really is the golden standard of anime.
Madoka Magica is also a really damn good series. super stylish animation, great music, and a story line that'll get you hooked for sure.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
Oh, I forgot this one, but it's pretty fantastic:
Genshiken
Slice of life anime about geeky dudes/gals. Doesn't completely overdo it like Welcome to the NHK, nor is it overserious; just a great testament to all the different sorts of nerds.
It is old but I enjoyed Now and Then, Here and There. 13 episodes available on hulu with an average quality dub and like $20-$60 on amazon, hopeful message in a crappy world. It can be kinda slow at times though and includes child soldiers, murder and rape (not shown) though so... not for everyone.
He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
GitS: SAC (rad with deep questions about the nature of humanity)
Bebop (rad+)
Trigun (rad)
Black Lagoon (rad with lots (and lots) of guns and profanity - I HATED the english dub SO MUCH though)
Gurren Lagann (excellent fun, very engaging despite the well timed ridiculousness, and super rad)
Samurai Champloo (rad samurai swordfights and some intrigue/mystery - excellent)
Record of Lodoss War (dungeons and dragons adaptation. rad+)
Seirei no Moribito / Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (rad with roughly equal parts conspiracy, sword battles and reflection)
Samurai 7 (samurai and giant robots.... how can this go wrong? it cannot. rad+ )
Things I have not seen mentioned (but my reading comprehension is terrible after 3 hours of sleep so who knows) also no one said Escaflowne?
Escaflowne. (Tied for the raddest world a teenage girl ever got magically transported to so she could adventure in/save. rad+)
PlanetES (rad space drama, hard scifi about people cleaning trash in space. some romance, some drama, some really cool space stuff. It is even more rad than it sounds!)
Infinite Ryvius (Kids in space by accident - epic space battles, lots of emo protaganist, still rad)
Crest/Banner of the Stars (more space - space is rad. Epic space drama with epic space battles and epic romance and generally epic shit everywhere rad+)
The Twelve Kingdoms (Tied for the raddest world a teenage girl ever got magically transported to so she could adventure in/take over. rad+ )
Black Cat (Older but good. genetically modifed little girl killing machines and assassins and other rad stuff)
Witch Hunter Robin (rad witches and the hunting thereof. Some conspiracy, decent drama, neat witch battles)
Last Exile (steam punk kids race weird planes (but planes have wings!) for $$, validation, and to save the world. Also rad.)
I admittedly don't know if any of this stuff is on hulu/netflix/crunchy, but you should investigate, because I rather enjoyed all of these, as they are rad.
Hmm... having trouble coming up with short series that haven't already been mentioned.
I'd recommend Yu Yu Hakusho. That's what mainly got me into anime in the first place.
Hunter x Hunter is also pretty good. They recently rebooted the series, so you can pace yourself with that.
As for the ones you were asking about earlier:
D.Gray-man: Excellent premise, boring execution. I don't know what happened, but the series is SLOW!
Neuro: This show rubbed me the wrong way. I think it was how they (literally) demonized the culprits. Which, especially compared to Detective Conan (great show, WAY too long for what you're looking for), I found off-putting.
That show is composed almost entirely of McGuffin's and Deus Ex Machinas. And it's AWESOME because of it. If you can deal with things being kind of silly and kick ass seemingly just for the sake of being kick ass, its a perfect experience. Giant robots that scale up exponentially until
the final showdown where they're standing on the god damn Milky Way hurling mother fucking galaxies at each other.
It's so cool it'll make you 100% manlier with every episode you watch.
And I guess some of the quintessentials that merit mentioning are Evangelion, Akira, and Cowboy Bebop. Oh, and most anything of Miyazaki's older stuff.
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Last Exile is on Watch Instantly, the dub anyway. Planetes is not. I've wanting to watch it for years.
That's too bad, I watched the original TV broadcast and it was most fantastic. The manga too.
I'm currently watching the sequel to Last Exile on Hulu. It took a little bit of research to realize why the start was so confusing was because there's a not well know manga linking the two.
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acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
If you haven't seen Cowboy Bebop yet, then that should be your first target. It is simply one of the best out there.
I would also throw my vote in for gurren lagann. The build up and story in that show is really awesome. It gets better with every episode. It is an anime I have watched multiple times.
Other great series that have been mentioned on here that I thought were great:
Black Lagoon - Awesome action and Characters.
Samurai Champloo - Right up there with Bebop and Gurren Lagann for me
G.T.O. - a bit older, but the show is awesome.
FLCL - 6 episodes, pretty awesome
Beck - Story focuses around a nerdy guy with low self esteem who joins a band. The show's characters are great and it is strangely addicting.
Densha Otoko - It is not Anime but it is a Japanese television series. I can honestly say that it was an awesome story and really hit home with my nerdy self. I found myself relating to the main character in a lot of ways. I also liked this series because it was based on a (supposedly) true story.
are you me?
Also Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, GITS, and Black Lagoon are required watches.
GT: Acidboogie PSNid: AcidLacedPenguiN
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
It JUST started, but Medaka Box is a very funny genre shifting show that sort of mocks all the major shonen genres. It's on Crunchyroll.
Medaka Box is a show with a walking talking Mary Sue with gag boobs. If you're a fan of Nisio Oisin's other works (Bakemonogatari etc.) you will be massively disappointed.
Anime I'd pretty much recommend to (almost) anyone with little hesitation:
Baccano!
Big O
Black Lagoon
Captain Harlock: The Endless Odyssey
Dai-Guard
Darker Than Black
Dennou Coil
Eden of the East
FLCL
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Gaogaigar: King of Braves
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost Hound
Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Gunbuster
Gunslinger Girl
Gurren Lagann
Haibane Renmei
Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners
Karas
Kino's Journey
Kurou: Phantom Memory
Last Exile
Le Chevalier D'eon
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Magic User's Club
Mawaru Penguindrum
Memories
Millenium Actress
Mononoke
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Now and Then, Here and There
Paranoia Agent
Patlabor: The Mobile Police
Perfect Blue
Princess Tutu
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Rahxephon
Read or Die
Rebuild of Evangelion
Redline
Revolutionary Girl Utena
R.O.D. the TV
Roujin Z
Redline
Samurai Champloo
Scrapped Princess
Serial Experiments Lain
Summer Wars
Sword of the Stranger
Texhnolyze
They Were Eleven
Tokyo Godfathers
Twelve Kingdoms
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust
Vision of Escaflowne
Wolf's Rain
X (TV Series)
Xam'd: Lost Memories
You're basically just recommending "anime, as a genre" with a list that long. Although I would say that everyone who knows The Count of Monte Cristo should watch Gankutsuo. It's like TCMC, but from the perspective of the younger generation, so they're all hanging out while
SPOILERS FOR THE PLOT OF COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
the mysterious Count picks off their parents one by one.
and the Count is a vampire from outer space,
and he rides around in a batmobile drawn by robotic horses.
Also, all the next episode previews are in French, as delivered by a Japanese man--so that's an experience.
Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Gurren Lagann, are all sort of my standard recommendations. Watch an episode of each and see what you think.
I really love Madoka. Its fantastic. I am at a loss for words for how good it is.
I have been watching Dennou Coil recently and its pretty awesome in its own right.
There was some talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender earlier in the thread, and while not technically anime, it is a thoroughly excellent show that deserves a good watchin'.
Posts
And since there hasn't been a lot of love for films in this thread:
Summer Wars
Tokyo Godfathers
Castle in the Sky
Castle of Cagliostro
And if you feel like crying while you're sweating on the treadmill,
Grave of the Fireflies.
If anyone asks about the tears, you should be able to convince them it's just sweat from your intense workout. But I'll know the truth. We'll all know.
1) Magical Arcade Abenobashi- It's about two kids who are cast into multiple imaginary worlds, some include classic RPG, scifi anime and more. It's GAINAX (Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, FLCL) and pretty damn hilarious I must say. It's fairly short too, like 13 episodes?
2) Eden of the East- Akira Akizawa wakes up naked with a gun and a cellphone in front of the White House. You can't tell me that alone doesn't intrigue you!
3) Golden Boy- Kentaro Oe is a freeder trying to learn about the world around him. He's brilliant but a big dork so he gets himself in trouble a lot, especially with the ladies. It's absolutely hilarious. This is 17+, but only 6 episodes long.
4) Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro- my favorite Lupin film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It has the whimsical fun of Miyazaki with the fast pace excitement of Lupin. His perversion is toned back for this film, which is kind of one of the reasons I love it.
5) Tokyo Godfathers- three homeless people find a lost baby. Directed by Satoshi Kon. That alone should sway you.
6) Perfect Blue- Also a Satoshi Kon film.
7) Millennium Actress- same as 5-6.
8) Summer Wars- AMAZING.
9) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya- Once you get past the weirdness of episode 1 and 2, it turns into quite an interesting story.
10) Lucky Star- I know, I know, it's got that "weird stuff" but I personally like it for the nerdy conversations about food and anime. Also, look up the Anime Tenchou, tell me that isn't funny.
11)Evangelion 1.0: You Are Not Alone- While I would recommend just seeing the original series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, 1.0 is a remake/retelling of the first few episodes of the series in a quick 80-90 minute film.
12) Evangelion 2.0: You Cannot Advance- It's amazing and possibly my favorite movie ever. The animation and story are a step up from the original series and really just terrific. Also, Funimation did an amazing job dubbing it.
13) Ouran High School Host Club- It's a hilarious satire of shoujo (girl) anime. I recommend the dub because the acting is just too hysterical.
14) Honey and Clover- It's a slice of life story of trying to find your place in the world. I eat this kind of stuff up, so I'm unsure if this is your thing. The comedy is solid though. It even made my non-anime friends laugh.
15) Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt- It should be getting a US release this year. It's a hilarious satire of rude and vulgar American cartoons.
That's all I've got so far! Hahaha.
Lighter than Heir- Military, drama, flying girls. 3 days a week.
Madoka Magica is also a really damn good series. super stylish animation, great music, and a story line that'll get you hooked for sure.
Genshiken
Slice of life anime about geeky dudes/gals. Doesn't completely overdo it like Welcome to the NHK, nor is it overserious; just a great testament to all the different sorts of nerds.
I watched the first episode and it's pretty great.
STEAM
Netflix does, or at least did have PA on disc. Watched it with my wife and some friends a few years back.
GitS: SAC (rad with deep questions about the nature of humanity)
Bebop (rad+)
Trigun (rad)
Black Lagoon (rad with lots (and lots) of guns and profanity - I HATED the english dub SO MUCH though)
Gurren Lagann (excellent fun, very engaging despite the well timed ridiculousness, and super rad)
Samurai Champloo (rad samurai swordfights and some intrigue/mystery - excellent)
Record of Lodoss War (dungeons and dragons adaptation. rad+)
Seirei no Moribito / Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (rad with roughly equal parts conspiracy, sword battles and reflection)
Samurai 7 (samurai and giant robots.... how can this go wrong? it cannot. rad+ )
Things I have not seen mentioned (but my reading comprehension is terrible after 3 hours of sleep so who knows) also no one said Escaflowne?
Escaflowne. (Tied for the raddest world a teenage girl ever got magically transported to so she could adventure in/save. rad+)
PlanetES (rad space drama, hard scifi about people cleaning trash in space. some romance, some drama, some really cool space stuff. It is even more rad than it sounds!)
Infinite Ryvius (Kids in space by accident - epic space battles, lots of emo protaganist, still rad)
Crest/Banner of the Stars (more space - space is rad. Epic space drama with epic space battles and epic romance and generally epic shit everywhere rad+)
The Twelve Kingdoms (Tied for the raddest world a teenage girl ever got magically transported to so she could adventure in/take over. rad+ )
Black Cat (Older but good. genetically modifed little girl killing machines and assassins and other rad stuff)
Witch Hunter Robin (rad witches and the hunting thereof. Some conspiracy, decent drama, neat witch battles)
Last Exile (steam punk kids race weird planes (but planes have wings!) for $$, validation, and to save the world. Also rad.)
I admittedly don't know if any of this stuff is on hulu/netflix/crunchy, but you should investigate, because I rather enjoyed all of these, as they are rad.
I'd recommend Yu Yu Hakusho. That's what mainly got me into anime in the first place.
Hunter x Hunter is also pretty good. They recently rebooted the series, so you can pace yourself with that.
As for the ones you were asking about earlier:
D.Gray-man: Excellent premise, boring execution. I don't know what happened, but the series is SLOW!
Neuro: This show rubbed me the wrong way. I think it was how they (literally) demonized the culprits. Which, especially compared to Detective Conan (great show, WAY too long for what you're looking for), I found off-putting.
I'll post again if I think of anything else.
Steam: pazython
That show is composed almost entirely of McGuffin's and Deus Ex Machinas. And it's AWESOME because of it. If you can deal with things being kind of silly and kick ass seemingly just for the sake of being kick ass, its a perfect experience. Giant robots that scale up exponentially until
And I guess some of the quintessentials that merit mentioning are Evangelion, Akira, and Cowboy Bebop. Oh, and most anything of Miyazaki's older stuff.
I'm currently watching the sequel to Last Exile on Hulu. It took a little bit of research to realize why the start was so confusing was because there's a not well know manga linking the two.
are you me?
Also Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, GITS, and Black Lagoon are required watches.
Medaka Box is a show with a walking talking Mary Sue with gag boobs. If you're a fan of Nisio Oisin's other works (Bakemonogatari etc.) you will be massively disappointed.
STEAM
Baccano!
Big O
Black Lagoon
Captain Harlock: The Endless Odyssey
Dai-Guard
Darker Than Black
Dennou Coil
Eden of the East
FLCL
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Gaogaigar: King of Braves
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost Hound
Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Gunbuster
Gunslinger Girl
Gurren Lagann
Haibane Renmei
Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners
Karas
Kino's Journey
Kurou: Phantom Memory
Last Exile
Le Chevalier D'eon
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Magic User's Club
Mawaru Penguindrum
Memories
Millenium Actress
Mononoke
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Now and Then, Here and There
Paranoia Agent
Patlabor: The Mobile Police
Perfect Blue
Princess Tutu
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Rahxephon
Read or Die
Rebuild of Evangelion
Redline
Revolutionary Girl Utena
R.O.D. the TV
Roujin Z
Redline
Samurai Champloo
Scrapped Princess
Serial Experiments Lain
Summer Wars
Sword of the Stranger
Texhnolyze
They Were Eleven
Tokyo Godfathers
Twelve Kingdoms
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust
Vision of Escaflowne
Wolf's Rain
X (TV Series)
Xam'd: Lost Memories
SPOILERS FOR THE PLOT OF COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
and the Count is a vampire from outer space,
and he rides around in a batmobile drawn by robotic horses.
Also, all the next episode previews are in French, as delivered by a Japanese man--so that's an experience.
I really love Madoka. Its fantastic. I am at a loss for words for how good it is.
I have been watching Dennou Coil recently and its pretty awesome in its own right.
There was some talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender earlier in the thread, and while not technically anime, it is a thoroughly excellent show that deserves a good watchin'.
Let's Plays of Japanese Games