There's lots of anime's to watch from, depends on what genre you like. Truth be told, the last 5-6 years or so we've been blessed with a few really great anime's. So it's whether you want Mecha's, comedy, adventure, etc etc.
Some I really recommend is Vandread, Read or Die (The movie, then the series), Last Exile, Full Metal Panic 1, Fumoffu & season 2, Gundam Seed , Full Metal Alchemist.
I personally found Experiment Lain draggy and boring.Not my type. I don't like melancholy psychothrillers.
Rurouni Kenshin is a must! Also grab Yu Yu Hakusho too
Don't forget about Rurouni Kenshin (with Samurai X ova's preferably after the Kyoto arc, and Seisouhen ova preferably after you're done with the whole series), Berserk (also a good series to expand your horizons into manga-reading ... the anime covers I think 8 or 9 volumes of manga, and there's currently something like 27 volumes of manga out), Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (aka KareKano, aka "His and Her Circumstances", this one is surprisingly influential on the styles and themes of a LOT of later series, and an all around excellent show), all three seasons of Slayers (Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try). If you get through more than about half of those and the others mentioned in this thread so far (Eva, Bebop, Tenchi, Macross), you'd get enough the references and jokes in Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi (short, insane, a great parody of everything that came before it), and Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai to get a kick out of them.
Also, a lot of people like to hate on DBZ because it's popular among young kids since it aired on cartoon network, but the DragonBall/DBZ series is actually pretty worthwhile (the original Dragon Ball series is particularly outstanding), and you can see its influence in just about every shounen action series that came after it.
Really, though, it's all about exploring, finding what genres you really like. All of the series that have been mentioned so far have definite merits. I'd say, try to find as many as you can of those, give each of them a couple episodes worth of time (maybe a DVD's worth -- I know that every series listed here except for the latest fmp stuff is out on r1 dvd by now), see if they catch your eye.
There's some newer stuff than those above that I'd also recommend, but that branches out so widely you'd really have to have an idea of what you're looking for.
My recommended must sample list would definitely include Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, Karekano, Slayers, the Read or Die OVAs, and Berserk. If you can pick up (netflix? local rental place? find some dvd-rip torrents?) the first disk or so worth of each of those series, you'd definitely be off to a good start.
Also, a lot of good stuff has been done on the movie side. Nausicaa and Mononoke Hime from Ghibli (many other Ghibli films are also great, but I think those two stand out as particularly memorable), Ghost in the Shell and Akira are all also definitely must-see films that influenced whole genres after them.
*edit: damn my long, thought-out posts... beaten to the Kenshin punch ... *
This past month I've found a lot of older series that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, genre is very important so I'm not sure I can really recommend a whole lot of these older series. The best thing I can say is that you really just try everything. Give a series about 3 eps and see if you like it (some require 5, but that's very rare, most get me hooked within the first 15 minutes).
But I'll give some choice titles that haven't been listed already (since all of them are good choices). Perfect Blue is a great psycho thriller film. Anything and everything from Makoto Shinkai. Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe) and The Place Promised in Our Early Days (Beyond the Clouds or Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho). Those two films are absolutely stunning in terms of visuals and he is an unparalleled master of lighting effects. The stories are a bit on the deep side, but amazing films. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien if you can find it (coming out on dvd soon as Rumbling Hearts) is perhaps the pinnacle of romance anime since Kare Kano (possibly even better than Kare Kano). No one has recommended FLCL yet, so I will. It's a basically nonsensical 6 eps series, but it does boast the single best dub ever created (Cowboy Bebop's is a very close second).
That's it for the essentials that weren't already listed.
I'm putting a huge emphasis on just trying everything. I just finished Rizelmine and Hyper Police, two fairly underrated series in my opinion, and thought they were great. Download, rent, whatever, just give a series roughly 3 eps to see if you like it or not. You'll find a lot of great series that way.
EDIT: I forgot Air Master. Surpringly more recent despite it's appearance, is one of the best street fighting series I've seen. Incredibly brutal feeling bouts.
Last edited by Ryllharu; Thu, 06-29-2006 at 06:18 AM.
Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust is a must watch in my opinion, great movie. If you want to go really old school the first Vampire Hunter D movie is good too, it doesn't have the polish of modern animation but still worth a watch.
Can't believe you guys left this out:
Hunter X Hunter, there a 64 episode season, 2 8 episode OVA and 1 14 episode OVA you can probably find them all at www.boxtorrents.com
Great Teacher Onizuka, Great comedy series and it doesn't really use much anime reference you should find it fairly easy to understand.
I would argue that HxH is a spiritual successor to Dragon Ball, and having a background in Toriyama's work at very least sheds interesting insight on his prevalent influence in Togashi's. That said, I'd also argue that both make good background material for Naruto -- Kishimoto's art draws from the same wells as Toriyama and Togashi.Originally Posted by Dark Dragon
GTO is certainly good. However, I don't think it has the same sort of relevance that those other greats have. It didn't change paradigms, and it's not a strong exemplar of any particular type either. In fact, the story's progress is closer to that of an h-game-turned-anime like Kanon (where the characters are all introduced, and then one-by-one the protaganist knocks down their problems, winning them each over in turn, until there's not a whole lot left to deal with... then it ends).
Don't get me wrong, GTO is a good show and certainly worth watching. But it's just not influential enough for me to put it next to those others.
Hey I was wondering does any one know more animes like GTO? I heard there's some thing 'live action" that has something to do with the GTO anime if so where can I download it ?
Thanks.
Why don't you check this thread I merged you with
image fail!
I have been watching series like DB/DBZ/DBGT, Gundam seed, initial d, Naruto, inuyasha, Vandread, . And I can't figure out what other series I should take a look at. Seeing what I have been watching, what would you recommend for other series for me watch.
Thanks to whoever replies.
Thread merged and Stickied -MOD
Last edited by Deadfire; Thu, 08-24-2006 at 08:37 AM.
Considering how this is a general anime section, you got a TON of choices to choose from. Just simply read the first message of a topic and you should be able to get some information as well as some links. Plus, if you read further, you can see what we think of the series.
As for answering your question, off the top of my head, you can go with:
- Blood+
- Fate/stay Night
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
There's a lot more that you might like, but you gotta do the research.
Check my sig for recommendations.
lmao b.o.c every time i like go on a break from forums and anime, i always look for your sig to update myself on what to watch...rofl
it is always the darkest before the dawn...
Great idea for a thread. I'm just about to run out of things I wanted to watch. I hope you guys can help me out.
I'm really not sure what genre of anime I like most, though I tend to stay away from anything featuring huge robots or a kid traveling the countryside with a big sword. I haven't been watching anime for long; maybe a year or so. I'm always up for something with mature drama or interesting concepts, as long as it doesn't get preachy or go overboard with loosely-related metaphysical concepts. Violence or dark themes don't phase me and I actually prefer them when it's not completely angsty or gratuitous for its own sake. Some series I've watched are:
Fullmetal Alchemist - 4/5 (very unique & fascinating story)
Neon Genesis Evangelion - 3/5 (kind of cool, but the cast is hateable)
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien - 4/5 (melodrama probably won't get much better than this)
Ah! My Goddess - 4/5 (really fun series, even though not much happens)
Bleach - 3/5 (another "kid with big sword" series, but I got sucked in)
Elfen Lied - 5/5 (great setting, drama, cast, everything)
Vision of Escaflowne - 3/5 (interesting, but somehow awkward)
Mahoromatic - 3/5 (OK series, but what's up with that ending?)
Fruits Basket - 2/5 (good, but every episode was basically the same)
Excel Saga - 4/5 (hilarious!)
Wolf's Rain - 3/5 (would be much better if it didn't drag on)
Studio Ghibli Movies - 5/5 (let's just assume I'll watch them all eventually)
Cowboy Bebop - 2/5 (well done; didn't finish, lost interest)
Trigun - 3/5 (same as above)
I've watched quite a few others, but I don't want to go on typing forever. Any suggestions?
If you read the thread you would find tons of suggestions. My suggestions are:
Gankutsuou
Berserk (read the manga too)
Planetes
Hikaru no Go
Bucket, from your description of what you're looking for, I think you'd really enjoy Monster. It made it onto my all-time favourite anime list. There's so much depth to the story and the characters, and the plot is full of conspiracies and hidden mysteries. There's quite a lot of violence and death, as one of the themes of the show deals with the nature of evil. It explores the factors that contribute to making a person into a monster. Definitely worth watching.
On a side note, I just finished watching 12 Kingdoms and it was alright, but felt too scattered and lost focus after the first story arc. So now I'm in need of something new as well. I want to watch a series that makes me say, "That was fantastic! I'm so glad I watched that!" Rather than, "Meh". I really like coherent plot (watched Serial Experiments Lain this summer and it was a tiny bit too weird for me) but things that have depth and layers to them, that make you keep coming back to them in your mind and thinking about them. I also like some good character development. I don't like cartoony drawing styles, like One Piece. I just can't get into that series because I find it so visually unappealing. So yes, suggest away!
Last edited by KitKat; Fri, 09-01-2006 at 02:10 AM.
You make it hard to suggest anything to you, KitKat. "coherent plot but things that have depth and layers to them, that make you keep coming back to them in your mind and thinking about them" is quite a requirement.
You might have already watched them as they are quite visible and obvious shows, but I'll throw a few anyway:
Ghost in the Shell series (coherent but not evident and altogether obvious plot. Surprisingly lots of really meaningful dialogue, especially for an action series).
Gungrave. At least for me the ""That was fantastic! I'm so glad I watched that!" Rather than, "Meh"" requirement was fulfilled. An excellent ending, at least.
Shingetsutan Tsukihime. Well, ok, maybe I added this mainly because I love this show, but still I think this fulfills all the requirements, character development included.
Of course I could also suggest Gankutsuou. As it's based on The Count of Monte Cristo, it should offer a good enough plot. The art is really original, though. Not cartoony, but... Well, you will see if you have a look.
Chances are you have already watched all of these. But it's awfully hard to keep track on what everybody has seen here... Hard enough to remember everything I've seen myself...
I personally like Kurau Phantom Memory alot, I think you'll enjoy it, plus I love the music.
Fantastic Children has a wonderful story also, given, the character designs are pretty bad, but I think the story more than makes up for it.
Go check my reviews in the 30 second review thread for more info on these series.
Planet ES is also a great series, though the good portion of the story doesn't start until episode 10 or so.
Of course, you can always go for a fun series like Great Teacher Onizuka if you haven't seen it yet, lots of character development there.
Any genre you like specifically, any anime you have seen you would like it similar to?
I'll second bud's suggestion of Kurau Phantom Memory, it was really good. I watched it after reading his review waaay back and it had a pretty engaging plot. The characters were also pretty interesting.
Kraco, I had to make it challenging for you! It's kinda useless to get people to suggest anime without laying out specific criteria because anime comes in so many varied forms and everyone likes different series and aspects. I learned to be specific about articulating what I like after a friend told me FLCL was one of the best series ever, and I ended up hating it when I watched it. An no, I haven't seen any of those series you suggested. You've probably been watching anime a lot longer than I have. I finished some of the must-see classics this summer like Kenshin, but I still have quite a bit that I haven't seen.
I think I'll start off watching Kurau Phantom Memory next week, and maybe try Ghost in the Shell after that. I have the GitS:SAC sound track and I like it a lot (I <3 Origa). Then if I like those, I'll continue down the list of ones you guys recommended. Now that I'm working instead of in school, I can watch anime at a much faster pace. Thanks for taking the time to recommend some stuff! I'm sure I'll be back here once I get through these.
Reply With Quote
