Anime Recommendation and Suggestion Query

[masamuneehs]

I recommend Black Lagoon. Action, humor, awesome gangster drama. Also check out Gungrave if you liked Trigun, it being my favorite gangster anime.

Oh, and try Gundam 8th MS Team, just cuz I don't see too many mecha up there on your list and 8th Team is a short, but awesome one.

[poopdeville]

I recommend Black Lagoon. Action, humor, awesome gangster drama. Also check out Gungrave if you liked Trigun, it being my favorite gangster anime.

Oh, and try Gundam 8th MS Team, just cuz I don't see too many mecha up there on your list and 8th Team is a short, but awesome one.

Thanks! I already saw Gungrave, and it is indeed a favorite. Dunno why I forgot about it. I'll definitly check out the others you mentioned.

[animus]

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.

[complich8]

So, what you're saying is she's sort of a lukewarm shounen action/adventure genre fan?

Hunter X Hunter is a fairly unique series as far as it goes, so I can't really say you'll ever find something really very much like it. At least, in the literally hundreds (maybe thousands by now) of series I've watched, I've never run across one that gave me exactly the same vibe.

The next closest thing I can think to the HxH feel would be Dragon Ball. That's the old Dragon Ball, not DBZ or DBZ-GT (though Z tries to use Gohan, Goten and Kururin to recapture some of that at various points). It has a similar sense of adventure, similar main character motifs (mysteriously strong, very determined young boy with a completely pure heart and impeccable motives departing on an adventure). Lots of people overlook that series or rag on it because it's aimed at a younger audience, but you can really see Toriyama's influence in Togashi's work, almost to the extent you can see Journey to the West's influence pervading Toriyama's.


The production values of the first 15 or so worth of Dragon Ball are sort of ... not quite there, and the last arcs (the Piccolo Daimao and Piccolo Junior arcs) sort of lose the sense of plausibility and end up bordering on DBZ-land... but other than that, it's good times.


If you're looking for other shounen action exemplars, Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho are also good starting points.

[Ryllharu]

That's a hard recommendation. A light hearted shonen series with serious undertones...

I second complich8's choice on the Original Dragonball, it's perfect for that. Yu Yu Hakusho as well. However, I can't recommend Bleach. Initially, Bleach is perfect, the arcs in the city fit very well. After they go to Soul Society, Bleach drops the less serious feel that it's premise had, and falls into power-leveling sequences, over and over.

Instead, I'd recommend something like Busou Renkin. It has some moments where it tries to be serious, but it's consistently so over the top and makes fun at shonen stereotypes. From the moronic best friends and relatives down onto the excessively flamboyant villain. Mysterious heroine appears out of nowhere? All of the hero's friends just assume she is his girlfriend, much to her dismay.

Another worth a shot is anything from the Slayers franchise. Yeah, it's another series aimed at younger viewers, but it's also one of my favorite.

I also toss in Chrno Crusade because it definitely has the serious element to the story you're looking for, and Nanoha (and then A's and StrikerS) because it's shonen disguised as mahou shoujo, and this image describes it perfectly.

[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.

[masamuneehs]

Cowboy Bebop Yes. Watch it.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes 2 out of 2 Moderators and anime junkies highly recommend it!
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread...tic#post264805
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread...tic#post264876

Gungrave "Wat up gangasta?" Friendship, big dreams, the mob, violence, covetousness, treachery, revenge. And freaky-deeky bio-engineered zombies towards the end. I consider this anime to be like 'The Godfather' of anime.

Akira OK, perhaps this is the classic gangster anime. Motorcycle gang faces off against evil Neo-Tokyo government when one of their own is taken off to become a lab rat.

Last Exile is a good one that I recommend to just about everyone. Good animation, memorable characters and freakin' planes! Up to a taciturn captain and his crew to go against the oppressive Guild, a boy's quest to realize his father's dream.

Rurouni Kenshin is one I consider to be 'classic', even if it does revolve around action and fighting. At least watch the 'Trust and Betrayal' OAV.

Princess Mononoke I didn't think it was that great, but it's two hours of your time and one of the more recognized anime films.

"classic" mecha-heavy shows. (not for you bag, but)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Much trounced, but it's still a classic by many standards. Get your emo on, maybe save the world.

Visions of Escaflowne: Shoujo adventure with mecha? Unpossible! It's worth it just for Dilandau and the cool Tarot references (if that's your bag). Not a bad love story either.

edit- added two more.

[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.

[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.

[Yukimura]

I'd second the GetBackers recommendation for a girl. I know a little coven of female anime fans and they all swear by Get Backers.

[Death BOO Z]

add wolf's rain to that.
the girls go crazy for those leather wearing dogs.
though, i met a girl who didn't watch it since the "STRAY!" part of the openning scared her.

[Foomanchew24]

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.

Have her try Hikaru no go, great anime, has the rival buddy thing going and some good emotioal parts to it as well.

[David75]

Hi,
I probably missed the threads speaking about it, but I was seeking anime targeted at a more adult audience.
I do not mean ecchi and so on.

The anime I've seen that are almost in this category :
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Maison Ikkoku (when you focus on the atmosphere, on the true problems behind humor)
Honey and Clover (same as Maison Ikkoku)
Death Note in it"s way
Ayakashi (some very nice stories)
Kurau Phanthom memory

I admitt I have difficulties explaining clearly what I seek.
It's just that high school anime aren't really my cup of tea, as they tend to copy one another, and evolve in a quite childish world.

The anime I've mentioned are more in the age from late teenagehood to adulthood...
I wonder if there are quality anime taking place in the adult world

Thanks for any input

[neflight86]

Thankfully for you and people like you (myself included), there has been a trend in the last few years in anime to more seriously explore mature themes. The best example of this to my mind would be Monster. That should be very entertaining to you, given what you are looking for. I would reccomend you start with that. I also notice Cowboy Bebop is not on your list of anime. That's a shame. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (~when the cicadas cry~) should also have some appeal as a more mature piece, if you can get past the "childish" art style. Hope this helps!

[David75]

Thankfully for you and people like you (myself included), there has been a trend in the last few years in anime to more seriously explore mature themes. The best example of this to my mind would be Monster. That should be very entertaining to you, given what you are looking for. I would reccomend you start with that. I also notice Cowboy Bebop is not on your list of anime. That's a shame. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (~when the cicadas cry~) should also have some appeal as a more mature piece, if you can get past the "childish" art style. Hope this helps!

I guess this trend is following the audience, that grew up... Although we may sometimes consider the vintage Captain Harlock show wasn't really for kids.

You're right for Higurashi, the childish characters may be a problem.
Cowboy Bebop isn't my type of anime, but I may give it a try... since when something is really good, it may surpass it's classification and interrest me.

Monster? I've seen some eps in my native language, I have to say I was quite interrested. I may also give it a try.

Thanks a lot for your inputs, that helps opening my mind

c u

[masamuneehs]

There is a distinction in the business between Shouenen and Seinen (Boy and Man) and between Shoujo and Josei (Girl and Woman). In manga, intrestingly enough, a good part of this distinction is drawn on whether or not Furigana (sp?), reading aids, are presented to help readers deal with complicated or vague Kanji.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinen

I think one problem is what you mean by 'targeted' towards adults. Surely some shows like Bokurano (see my sig), Now and Then Here and There, and others have a more 'serious' tone to them.... But where would a show like Gundam SEED fall? (More violence than previous Gundam series, but disposed to fanservice and focus on high-octane battles). A show like Evangelion also blurs the lines.

although, if this is a trend or not, who knows? One thing is for sure, and it's that the most watched animes in Japan are almost all shows clearly targeted for children (Shin Chan, Pokemon, etc). This strongly suggests, to me, that MORE anime will be created targeted toward younger audiences. Also, alot of the anime that is popular on this board appear in obscure, seldomly viewed time slots (Death Note airing at 1am in Japan while many here considered it a 'prime' anime of the season).

[Munsu]

Here are some:

Boogiepop Phantom
Serial Experiments Lain
Now and Then, Here and There
Ghost in the Shell
Speed Grapher
Hellsing
Blood+
Trinity Blood
Darker than Black
Project ARMS
Twelve Kingdoms
Last Exile
Ergo Proxy
Monster
Berserk
Claymore
Bokura Ga Ita (since you mentioned Honey and Clover)
Key the Metal Idol
Gunslinger Girls
Saikano
Blue Gender
BECK
Black Lagoon
Noein
Kemonozume
Night Head Genesis
Red Garden
Legend of Galactic Heroes

I think that's plenty.