Recommend Anime

[TheCrippler]

Ok, I'm mildly interested in Anime, but am in no way a fanboy so try and keep the reccomendations fairly mainstream so I can find them.

I own and enjoy Akira, Ghost in The Shell, Metropolis and Cowboy Bebop, I've also owned at one point Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D and various others that I dont remember the names of which I sold on ebay when i had a big clean out. So I'm not looking to buy any of these again.

I tend to prefer the sci-fi cyberpunk kind of stuff (Akira/Ghost in the Shell style), so anything in that kind of mould would be awesome, and preferably it should be available on Play.com or Amazon.

So yeah, resident Anime buffs, reccomend away!

[Guest Tequilla Rockin' Bird]

I don't really know of any sci-fi based anime, but I'd recomend Fist Of The North Star and the Street Fighter series if you're interested in that kinda thing.

[stokeriño]

I wouldn't recommend the Street Fighter series because, well, let's just say the quality is poor. If you know what I mean.

Not sure about other sci-fi steampunk (the one that immediately springs to mind is 'Bubblegum Crisis', but you might find that a bit 80s and camp. Look it up at least, or try its decidedly-less-80s remake 'Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040'). Another series that fits in well with your others listed would be 'Trigun'. You might also want to look up the film 'Steamboy' since it's from the same director as Akira, though it's Victorian steampunk rather than futuristic steampunk.

Edited October 16, 2006 by stokeriño

[figos]

Try, Trigun. It is set in a Futuristic Western, so you'll probably enjoy it.

[Jukeboksi]

Yeah, Trigun! Then follow that up with another anime like Naruto or One Piece, that everyone's seen or watches 'cause nobody will watch anything else but the same shit ones!

Why do I even care, I haven't watched anime in years now :E

HAIDESUUUUUU

[MalaCloudy Black]

Gokusen

[GoGo Yubari]

Concurring with Trigun. It meshes with your list perfectly. Fullmetal Alchemist might work too. And if you liked Cowboy Bebop you should also check out Samurai Champloo.

Since I haven't done an all-purpose list of anime recommendations and I've seen some newer stuff, I might as well give some general suggestions.

- Naruto is... uh. It has an amazingly irritating fanbase and the plot really isn't anything special, but Kishimoto DOES write fantastic fight scenes and some of his characters are awesome (primarily Shikamaru and Rock Lee). And despite the DBZ comparisons, there are only a couple of fights that stretch beyond three episodes and those ones usually aren't very good, as opposed to DBZ where every fight of importance lasts ten episodes at least.

- Bleach, once it gets going, is more or less the inverse of Naruto. The fights aren't great for the most part (though there are gems here and there) but the plot, once you get past the first ten or so episodes, is very strong.

- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is absolutely cracktackular, except in a much subtler way than your usual cracktackular anime. And it has one of the best first episodes of any anime series ever (to be fair, most first episodes of anime are fairly weak and it's kind of not technically the first episode anyway).

- Ouran High School Host Club is... well. You're either going to love it or it's not going to appeal to you at all, and I doubt almost anyone on EWB would care much for it since it's essentially a giant stab at harem anime and dating sims, but it really is one of the funniest things I've seen all year.

[stokeriño]

Ouran High School Host Club is absolute genius. It's not mocking dating sims/harem animes, but rather it's mocking fangirls (and I know some AWFUL fangirls). Essentially, if anyone has seen Fruits Basket and EITHER - adored it, or found the comedy bits great but thought they were weighed down with too much emotion and angst, then Ouran is perfect for them. Hilarious, hilarious stuff.

And given that my avatar title was "S.O.S. Brigade Lieutenant" for a while, I don't think my thoughts on Haruhi Suzumiya need to be repeated.

Even people who like Naruto are getting pissed at it now. In the manga they skip two years where the characters are 'training' and then return to full on action, whereas the anime has decided "You know what? Instead of skipping those two years we're going to make up stuff to go in them, that's ONE HUNDRED EPISODES OF FILLER, and that should stretch out our DVD/merchandise sales a good chunk". I didn't even like the series when it was 'good', but ugh.

Bleach...yeah. Awful pacing problems. An anime can handle awful pacing if it only lasts for maybe half of a 26 episode run, but when it lasts for 70+ episodes I can't help but think I have better things to be doing with my time.

Edited October 17, 2006 by stokeriño

[GoGo Yubari]

It's not mocking dating sims/harem animes, but rather it's mocking fangirls (and I know some AWFUL fangirls).

Yeah, that too. But I've always thought of Ouran as being your quintessential stab at dating sim bullshit, even if admittedly in retrospect a lot of that ties in to fangirls (and this was before I saw the episode where Renge shows up).

And Naruto's fillers... yeah. Oh god. There have been like seventy of them in a row and maybe twelve to fifteen of them are even decent. And then you get episodes like "hey, this character is really stoic so LET'S HAVE HIM LAUGH A LOT AND THAT'S TOTALLY A GREAT IDEA FOR AN EPISODE." Nngh.

[Momo]

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040

Voices of A Distant Star

Appleseed

Sorceress Stabber Orphen (Dunno if you'd like it but it's listed anyway)

.hack

[stokeriño]

Voices of A Distant Star

Excellent little 30 minute piece, though I'm not sure it really ties in with the sort of things he likes. The fact that you can watch this and think "yeah, aside from the voice recordings, every part of this anime was made by ONE guy at home on his laptop" makes it worthwhile, although his next full-length movie, 'The Place Promised In Our Early Days' (aka Beyond The Clouds), is a lot better. Not to mention So. Damn. Pretty.

Edited October 17, 2006 by stokeriño

[TheCrippler]

Trigun does actually sound awesome, I might have to look into that.

For whoever said Street fighter and Fist of The North Star, I've seen them both (I actually own Street fighter, but forgot to mention it) and enjoyed them both to be honest. Street Fighter was dodgy as fuck but still awesome purely for the fact that it's Street Fighter.

I've been meaning to watch Steamboy for a while actually, so cheers to Stokerino for reminding me of that.

I think I'm also gonna check out Bubblegum Crisis and Samurai Champloo too.

Cheers for the reccomendations guys, keep em coming if you can think of anymore?

EDIT: Also, while I'm here, I know I mentioned Play and Amazon as 2 sites I use but does anybody know of any other good sites to get stuff like this from?

Edited October 17, 2006 by TheCrippler

[stokeriño]

Street Fighter was dodgy as fuck but still awesome purely for the fact that it's Street Fighter.

I think that's the primary reason why anyone likes it.

For some reason Samurai Champloo had slipped my mind when I first posted, so I wholeheartedly endorse that one as well.

And hell, I'll just recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion because it's obligatory.

Play's probably the best place for DVD prices really, unless you should happen to stroll into high street shop with a convenient sale on

EDIT: Oh, and is it wrong for me to want to recommend you watch Elfen Lied? Because it is awesome. You might come out of it emotionally scarred, but other than that you'd like it. >_>

Edited October 17, 2006 by stokeriño

[Bushmeister]

If we are talking about emotionally scarred and brainfucked, then we should be able to mention Paranoia Agent, Serial Experiments Lain and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. If you are not afraid of a little thinking and following a plot, then these three titles are excellent choices that should not disappoint.

[stokeriño]

I was intregued by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni at first, and was willing to let its really subpar animation slide in light of its baffling alternate realities and severe fuckedupness. However once I got to the end and realised "oh, it was just Groundhog Day...with blood" it lost what interest it previously had. I was expecting something a little more off the wall, really.

Paranoia Agent and LAIN are good ones. Though frankly, I think Saikano outdoes all of these for emotional brain death by a country mile.

For those of you that are getting the newest anime series via download, anyone want to recommend me a series that has just started and looks good so far? Ever since Ouran High School, Higurashi, and the second season of School Rumble finished I haven't got anything else to watch, and from what I can see all the new series look shit.

Edited October 17, 2006 by stokeriño

[sirdavinator]

Death Note, I guess? It's now only at episode 2, but the manga's already finished. It's just a chance to see the manga in real-time.

[Bushmeister]

I have no idea where the Death Note anime will end, but if it ends at about halfway through the manga, it is a good thing. If it goes beyond that, it will start to blow.

Similarly, I'd read the Death Note manga up until about halfway through (you'll know when you hit the halfway point when the first storyarc ends) and then forget with the rest as it just destroys the mood and story of the first half.

EDIT: And concerning Higurashi, the actual franchise is so much larger than the anime that the full story won't play out by just watching the series. I'm waiting for more groups to get into translating the anime, and someone was actually working on translating the final Higurashi game into English (or dunno about final, but it is going to be the first "happy ending" out of all the Higurashi arcs)

Edited October 17, 2006 by Bushmeister

[stokeriño]

Hmm, possibly. When I look at Death Note I thought "well, my girlfriend will like that", since it sounds more accustomed to her tastes. I haven't read the mangas, so I may at least download the first episode and see.

Oh, and the fact that there is a new series of Karon - more than that, not actually a new series but rather a REMAKE of the first series of Karon - and it was for THIS that the production company cut Haruhi Suzumiya down to 14 episodes continues to make me sick. Alright, so its merchandise sales will no doubt be through the roof, AGAIN, but it's still a derivative harem anime based off an H-game. Eugh.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya remains the frontrunner for the best anime of 2006 in my opinion, and frankly someone would have to pull one hell of a rabbit out of their hat to outdo its quality in both production, humour and originality.

Edited October 17, 2006 by stokeriño

[sirdavinator]

Yeah, I had the same thought too when I read the manga. I was thinking, 'Alright, it's just getting fucking boring now' at around the halfway point and never read it again. There are 37 episodes for the anime, so I'm not too sure how it'll turn out.

[Bushmeister]

Goddamn it, so they're going to stretch the anime too beyond the point of excellence. I swear, I have NEVER seen such a good premise and suspense be destroyed so completely in anime or manga, after it has been succesfully implemented for half of the series. It just boggles my mind.