Anime Recommendations (Version 2.0)

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Evil Sadistic Bastard
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Post by Evil Sadistic Bastard »

Jin-Roh

A very serious anime dealing with themes of love, loss and regret, set against a very dark backdrop of an urban dystopia. The last scene is really, really touching.

Gensomaden Saiyuki

IMO the best anime ever. This series was authored by Minekura Kazuya, and thus drips with Shoujo-ish themes. However, every character is three-dimensional - there is a lot of depth to the four main heroes, their antithetical antagonists, and the three gods who set out to oppose them, as well as most of the other supporting cast. Also contains s0me of the most kickass opening music ever. Watch it.

Slam Dunk

This anime actually inspired me to get off my lazy ass and play basketball seriously. About a red-headed guy, Hanamichi Sakuragi, who hates basketball at first but eventually turns out to be Michael Jordan No. 2. At once funny and inspiring, and quite possibly the longest anime in existence.
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Post by Shadowhawk »

Serial Experiments Lain - An introverted girl, an uber-internet, God, and their bizarre connections.

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro; Spirited Away) - An insecure 10-year-old girl enters indentured servitude to a witch who runs a bathhouse for gods to save her parents, turned into pigs, from becoming dinner. Miyazaki film.

Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) - The epic battle between nature and technology comes to a head when a greedy human decides it wants the head of the God of the Forest, and the Warthog God goes to crush the humans destroying their forests. A man infected by a demon befriends a girl raised by the Wolf God, and together, they must stop the war before it destroys everything. Miyazaki film.

Nausicaa of the Valley of Winds (Not released in US yet; only available as a mangled dub as 'Warriors of the Wind'. Perfect Collection manga is available, and it's the best manga ever. Period) - A war rages between the Dorok and Tourmekian Empires, fighting over the remnants of land that have become poisoned by toxic fungal forests after the Seven Days of Fire, in which the world was decimated a thousand years prior. One side has an insidious plan to use unstoppable creatures from the forest to trample the other side, and a nature-loving girl, daughter of the king of the Valley of Winds, discovers secrets unknown to most, and must try to end a war that could render all of humanity extinct. Miyazaki film.

Excel Saga - Madcap humor and parody of anime of all types.

Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo (His and Her Circumstances) - Excellent story about falling in love. The characters are well-done and realistic. Series ends poorly--it was clearly designed for two or more seasons, and had to hurry an ending when the 2nd season never materialized.

Aa! Megami-sama (Ah! My Goddess) - A college student accidentally calls the Goddess Help Line while trying to call for some delivery lunch. A beautiful goddess arrives via a mirror and offers him one wish. He wishes to be with a goddess like her forever. Hijinks ensue, and they wind up living together with her two sisters. Sweet stories, and has about a dozen manga volumes released in the US--only 5 episodes and a movie have been animated.

That should be enough for now.
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Post by SylasGaunt »

Excel Saga: All out wackiness, spoofs.... everything.

Hellsing: Big guns, vampires, and a psychotic catholic priest as one of the villains, what more could you ask for?

Jubei-Chan- The Ninja Girl: It's like a magical girl anime turned upside down with a nice dose of looney tunes thrown in. Hard to describe but it certainly makes you wonder what the creator was smoking.. oh the sword duels are pretty cool to.
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Post by Yogi »

All of you have taken most of my would-be reccomendations. However, I would also like to suggest

Voices of a Distant Star
Noir
Fruits Basket
Saikano (The only anime to ever get sadder than Grave of the Fireflies)
Scryed

Note, that all the anime above except for Fruits Basket are not released in Anerica yet, so you'll have to either download the fansubs or buy the Hong Kong DVD. Fruits Basket has been released, by Funimation. Therefore pirating is not necessary, but encouraged.
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Post by VF5SS »

Soooooooooouuuul Taker! Its a very cool Super hero style show.
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ロボットが好き。
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Post by HemlockGrey »

Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) - The epic battle between nature and technology comes to a head when a greedy human decides it wants the head of the God of the Forest, and the Warthog God goes to crush the humans destroying their forests. A man infected by a demon befriends a girl raised by the Wolf God, and together, they must stop the war before it destroys everything. Miyazaki film
.

What...the...fuck?
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Post by VF5SS »

I wouldn't recommend Princess Mononoke.
プロジェクトゾハルとは何ですか?
ロボットが好き。
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Post by Andrew J. »

Excel Saga. It's funnier than A-ko, more action-packed than Dragonball, sadder than Graveyard of the Fireflies, more romantic than Love Hina, has more sex than Urutsuko-however you spell it, and has more fourth wall-breaking than Rocky and Bullwinkle!

(The above is all lies, except for the funnier than A-ko and, possibly, Rocky and Bullwinkle parts.)
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Post by Damaramu »

Super Dimesional Fortress Macross
Macross Plus
Metropolis
Arjuna
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Bubblegum Crisis (the original, not 2040)
Dirty Pair (TV show and movies/ova's)

and

Plastic Little :twisted:
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Post by Sriad »

I'd recommend:

Trigun- Sci-fi/Western/Comedy/Drama. On the struggling colony world Gunsmoke, Vash the Stampede is a man so destructive that he has a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head, and Bernedelli's Insurance sends two of it's workers to try and get him to please not blow up any more cities. What they find is rather suprising.
A quite funny show that sometimes reaches remarkable dramatic depth. It completely deserves its success in my book.

Hellsing- Some fine character driven horror, w/big guns and sweet music. Check it out.

Excel Saga when you have a good grip on anime and/or Japanese culture in general. If you watch it without, 75% of the good jokes will go over your head.

(warning, sort of mech related, but not so much as the title would have you believe)Giant Robo- This is a special anime; you'll either love it or hate it. The visual style is nostalgic, but the characters are great, and so are the production values. Rent the first tape (in Japanese, the dub is okay, but there are significant amounts of material cut) after that you'll know if you should keep watching. Note- this anime does battle scenes -right-, it has some of my favorites.

Everything related to Hayao Miyazaki- Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, etc. His work has a few detractors, but most folks think it's great. Shadow Hawk's summary of Mononoke, while technically correct, doesn't really do a very good job of describing the movie.

I'd also recommend that you avoid Clamp like the plauge, but that's just me.
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Post by weemadando »

Dragon Half,
All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku-Nuku,
Grave of the Fireflies,
Wings of Honneamise,
Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses,
The Lupin III movies,
Love Hina,
Hellsing,
Boogiepop Phantom,
Lain,

many, many, many more.
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Post by consequences »

Curse you weemadando for mentioning Dragon Half and Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses before I could! :evil:

Oh well, Gotta recommend:
Mezzoforte
Weiss Kreusz(Knght Hunters)
Ranma 1/2
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Slayers
DragonBall(the original only)
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Post by Kuja »

INUYASHA!
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JADAFETWA
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Post by Kuja »

IG-88E wrote:INUYASHA!
and Yu-Yu Hakusho.
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Post by Mr. Mister »

I can't say anything about the ova/movie, but consequences is right about Revolutionary Girl Utena. An entertaining, convoluted one, more than a little on the surreal side. A pity that it's not fully available over here (America, the big fish-shaped country) on DVD yet (the highest I've seen for sale is episodes 14-16, out of 39, though specialty stores might have more access - that was at Media Play).

As for Serial Experiments Lain, I've only seen 3 episodes. But, it was the most surrealistic non-Spanish film or television I've ever seen (Dalí's "Andalucian Dog" is the most surreal thing I've ever encountered, and "Spirit of the Beehive" is pretty whacked out, too).
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Post by consequences »

The movie is an entirely separate universe from the TV show continuity, and if anything is even more weird and fucked up.
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Post by SAMAS »

The Big O.

This is apparently some Japanese Producer's homage to Batman: the Animated Series, with the occasional Giant Super Robot/Monster fight thrown in for variety. It's a great series, made in much the same style as B: tAS, but almost didn't make it to a second season, until it was shown on Toonami to rave reviews.
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Post by The Dark »

Did they ever do an anime to the manga (don't remember the title) with the main character Bolt Crank?
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Post by The Dark »

OK, I think the title's Eatman, but I'm not sure, and it just popped in my head right as I clicked submit on the last one.
Stanley Hauerwas wrote:[W]hy is it that no one is angry at the inequality of income in this country? I mean, the inequality of income is unbelievable. Unbelievable. Why isn’t that ever an issue of politics? Because you don’t live in a democracy. You live in a plutocracy. Money rules.
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Post by Lagmonster »

I have seen maybe one movie that would qualify as anime...can't remember the name...something like Warriors of the Wind, I think. Anyway, I actually liked the hell out of it.

MY problem is plot.

I would be interested, as Stormbringer is, in seeing more neat Japanese cartoon movies, but I need something where the plot isn't so bizarre as most of them seem to be.

Can anyone suggest a title that has really intelligent and sensibly-developed plots and characters...and as little strange character interaction as possible. I cannot stand it when characters make completely baffling tactical or relationship choices.
Note: I'm semi-retired from the board, so if you need something, please be patient.
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Post by Mayhem »

Let's see...

Hellsing - Guns, vampires, carnage... lotsa fun all around.

Trigun - Guns, Guns, and more guns. Great Characters too.

Princess Mononoke - Done by Miyazaki, therefore it is good.

Ghost In The Shell - Great peice of cyberpunk, and one of the flicks that helped to inspire the Matrix and it's visuals.

El Hazard - Funny, great characters, great story, and it's got Fujisawa Sensei. :D

Inu Yasha - Rumko Takahashi's latest work, and it's very well done even by her standards.


Warning, the following has Mecha in it, but despite that has little to no "fanboy wankage" in it at all. (No signifigant fanservice, no calling out of attacks, no SD stuff, no learning of new attacks as plot points, no villan of the week syndrome, etc...)

Escaflowne - Absolutely incredible story, great art and animation, characters that you can actually sympathize with, bad guys who you hate, and love.

It's honestly morea fantasy than anything else, but with odd bit's of tech thrown in for flavor.
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Post by Mayhem »

I have seen maybe one movie that would qualify as anime...can't remember the name...something like Warriors of the Wind, I think. Anyway, I actually liked the hell out of it.
Nausicaa, and if you like that , the director, Miyazaki does great work in general...

Specifically I'd reccommend Princess Mononoke and Laputa, Castle In The Sky.

Can anyone suggest a title that has really intelligent and sensibly-developed plots and characters...and as little strange character interaction as possible. I cannot stand it when characters make completely baffling tactical or relationship choices
Well aside from the above...

Escaflowne is a great title.

Trigun

Macross Plus

Inu Yasha other than some frustrating relationship misunderstandings between the two mains, fits your requests really well... but be warned, it's LONG... and as of yet not fully released in the States.

El Hazard

El Hazard OAV's
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Post by Sokar »

Hmm for that Id have to go with "Perfect Blue", its basically a pshcho-thriller with very real and three dimensional characters very very good.

The anime that is imported to the states is only a mere fraction of what is avaialiable over in Japan, espeially in printed 'manga' form. Anything and everything is avaliable from the realistic and pure to the most perverted and distrurbing stuff you've ever read, and Im not talking about mere tentacle porn here eiether, thats the tame stuff. In the states we tend to get the mid-level kid, male young adult level of movies and manga. Not that these are bad , but we just get a skewed view of what anime is in Japan

Hmmm.....other serious anime.......
Grave of the Fireflies - have tissues handy, but it also a great film, even if it did make me cry

Patlabor 1 & 2 - excellent political and social commentary, only mildly sci-fi , that even then it only window dressing and not the focus of the movie *coughgundamgcough*

Cowboy Bebop - I know , "it on Cartoon Network so how can it be serious" I can hear you saying it. All I can say is go rent it all on DVD's and watch the Subtitled version. I found the whole series, funny, insightful with some of the best characters and villans in recent memory. Plus when it gets serious , its deep , really deep, but it also has lighthearted moments, go watch it.

Wings of Honnieamese : Royal Space Force - excellent story about the space race just set in a world diffrent, but very much like our own. Real characters and real dangers plus a lot of human drama. You'll like this one.
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Post by Shadowhawk »

Hemlock Grey wrote:
What...the...fuck?
What, haven't you ever seen Mononoke?
My description is pretty accurate, while avoiding spoilers.
Shadow Hawk's summary of Mononoke, while technically correct, doesn't really do a very good job of describing the movie.
It's a classic Man versus Nature movie at heart, with Nature being a bit more actively involved (and less 'pure-hearted') than is typical in such stories.
I'd also recommend that you avoid Clamp like the plauge, but that's just me.
Bah. Clamp produces some great stories. They just happen to be a women's manga group that writes manga geared mostly towards pre-adolescent girls.

Yogi: Ah, yes, Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star) was a good one. Even more impressive when you realize it was almost entirely done by one guy. :)
I have seen maybe one movie that would qualify as anime...can't remember the name...something like Warriors of the Wind, I think. Anyway, I actually liked the hell out of it.
That would most likely be the mangled dub of Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind.
I would be interested, as Stormbringer is, in seeing more neat Japanese cartoon movies, but I need something where the plot isn't so bizarre as most of them seem to be.
Can anyone suggest a title that has really intelligent and sensibly-developed plots and characters...and as little strange character interaction as possible. I cannot stand it when characters make completely baffling tactical or relationship choices.
...You say this like you haven't described most American movies.
Virtually everything we've described has sensibly-developed plots and characters. You say you don't want strange interaction, but that depends entirely on your definition of strange. When the circumstances become strange, you certainly can't expect normal interaction.

And to add another to the list:
Escaflowne the Movie - A girl who despairs over her lack of direction in life is suddenly transported to Earth's hidden sister world, Gaea, where she is the Wing Goddess. Prophesized to wake the legendary Dragon Armor, Escaflowne, capable of reducing the world to ruin...if the Wing Goddess so chooses.
Shadowhawk
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Post by Mr. Mister »

When I watched Ghost in the Shell, my first thought was, "Somebody's been reading Dick." My second thought was to wonder if Japanese people love Robocop.
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