I can't believe I'm about to ask this...

[katster]

Allright. All y'all anime fanboys (yeah, yeah, I know, you're otaku. Deal.) can be of useful help for once. ;) [Also, for the record, I am using fanboys in its generic 'human being who is a fan' sense, so the females of the species can answer the question as well.]

So, if there were theoretically to be a human on the planet who has had very little exposure to anime and wanted to get some idea of what might be interesting and fun to watch without getting in too deep right away, what would you suggest? (I've seen a few eps of Ranma, which was okay, and bits and pieces of a few Miyazaki movies -- sitting down and watching Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky from beginning to end is one of the things on my todo over the next week.)

Those of you who know my tastes (you know who you are) are doubly encouraged to respond.

[And yes, I'm aware of just how much there is in the world that fen geek out to that I simply have no effing clue about. I'm a latecomer to this fandom thing, okay? My folks are 'danes for heaven's sake.]

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Cardcaptor Sakura. Make sure it is the SUBTITLED version, because the dub (usually titled "Cardcaptors") is a thing of evil and perversion and makes the heroine's best friend a snide, whiny git instead of the slightly manic sweetie that the original has.

Angelic Layer is nifty.

CLAMP School Detectives is cute.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (or Tyler) is cool. You may need at least a vague knowledge of Star Blazers/Space Cruiser Yamoto (Yamamoto?) to get all of the in-jokes; it starts out as something of a SF parody of SF anime, and develops depth. Also, for the In Nomine minded? Tylor is Eli. Totally. And his first mate is a Laurencian, poor man.

El Hazard OAVs are nice. Avoid the television series, because while it has some amusing bits, the first OAV series is SO MUCH BETTER. Ifurita should not be a ditz.

Tenchi Muyo OAV series -- the original one, and not all the other alternate universe versions like Tenchi in Tokyo, the TV series, etc.

Inu-Yasha is cool, if you like Ranma. It's less totally whacked than Ranma...

All the Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movies you can get your hands on.

Outlaw Star, which is the adventures of a bunch of player characters. I mean, not really, but they are so very much like a bunch of PCs in a space game.

Slayers (the Slayers?), the story of a thief-robbing sorceress with a penchant for overkill and her dumb-as-a-brick, good-hearted swordsman buddy. In the first series (which is the best), they battle one of The Coolest Bad Guys. And I mean that in the way of "I add him to my harem because he is competent and nifty (in the confines of being in mostly-comedy universe) and needs cuddles."

and about a half-dozen others which I will only remember after I click "post."

[nvdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

"Yamato," as in the WWII battleship which was raised from the sea and converted into an interstellar warship. :-) (Yamamoto was a famous admiral of that same period. Easily mixed up.)

OAV = Released directly on video. Remember that many anime already have a thriving life in manga, so that audience is known.

Otherwise I second all of these, and toss in "Those Who Hunt Elves" (first series, haven't seen second)... Anime News Network encyclopedia blurb: "An actor, a martial artist, a gun-crazy high school student, and their tank are transported from earth to a world of elves and magic. However, the spell to return them home was botched resulting in fragments of the spell being magicly imprinted onto [the skin of random elves around the world]. Their solution: run around looking for elves and stripping them whereever they find them."

Anime News Network's Encyclopedia and Anime Cafe's Parents Guide are good resources.

[ladycalliope.livejournal.com]

Huh, I thought "otaku" was some kind of horrendous insult. People actually call themselves that?

Anyway, I dated an anime fan about 12 years ago, and as a non-anime fan, the only one that didn't put me to sleep was a movie whose title translated to "A Wind Named Amnesia," which I thought was pretty cool.

[malakim.livejournal.com]

I also give praise for Angelic Layer.

Azumanga Daioh is a fun series, and is done as a bunch of short stories for those of us with the shorter attention spans. :D Usually something like three stories per episode. Wraps up everything in the end, though, really sweetly.

Fullmetal Alchemist I like, but it's 13 DVDs worth of episodes, so not something I'd recommend for 'light watching'. I'd suggest renting the first disc or two to see how you like it.

ROD (Read or Die) OVAs are interesting. All three on one DVD, so it won't take long to get the whole story.

Everything else I tend to like are the heavy psychological things like Lain, RahXephon, etc. Not things I would recommend for the new viewer. :D

Here we go...

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

You would love Read or Die. See the OAVs first--they are on one disk. The music is awesome as well.

Escaflowne is a great TV series. It still holds it's ground against all but the best of the more recent anime. However, avoid the movie.

I think you would really enjoy Serial Experiments: Lain, as well as Haibane Renmei, both by Yoshitoshi aBE. (no, that's not a typo). Both require real thinking on the part of the viewer. Lain has a lot to say about the barriers between technology and the soul; Haibane Renmei is about the need for self-awareness and self-forgetfulness.

And, if you don't mind a whole hell of a lot of sexy, sexy violence, Ghost in the Shell, both the original movie and the GitS: Stand Alone Complex series are very good.

Finally, if you're in the mood for sweet, mellow, and not too much thinking required, I recommend both Azumanga Daioh! and Kamichu!

And for a story that's ALMOST as good as Escaflowne and animiation that's quite a bit better, try Last Exile.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

About the only one I've gone out of my way to watch in the last several years was Cowboy Bebop.

[nekoneko.livejournal.com]

El Hazard Magnificent World (a fun, silly series)
Chobits (a future robots-look-like-pretty-girls series)
FLCL (aka Fooly Cooly)(A WTF?! series)
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (A sad chick flick romance)
Yakitate_Japan (Think Iron Chef... but completely about bread. It is more entertaining than it sounds.)

I have all of these on my computer, so I could burn them onto discs and send them via snail-mail if you'd like.

[leto-bucher.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what Zibbs said. Cowboy Bebop is an excellent series and the music is fantastic. Monster is also a good series, but it's 74 eps or so, and is more like a modern western pyschological thriller, and very gloomy at that...hmmm

Rozen Maiden is pretty good, My-Hime and Mai-Otome as well (no doubt you've heard others comment on them ;), also series that have good music to them. Full Metal Alchemist is good, but a longer series as well, and a bit more darker in tone though it does have very silly moments.

Ask NickM about some more light hearted shows, those are the only ones I've seen that I can recall off the top of my head that are any good :)

[pussreboots.livejournal.com]

Find anime from whatever genre your newbie likes and show him that comes close. Since I don't know this person I won't recommend specific titles.

[jennkitty.livejournal.com]

the Ranma 1/2 series, which you mentioned you've seen some of, is very awesome, and one of Ry and my faves. That said, Inu Yasha is from the same source. Now personally, I'm not a subtitle purist. what I love is to get dubbed and put on close captioning, as the captioning is usually closer to the original context. funny stuff.

we also enjoy Hellsing. It's a bit gory (ok, a lot gory) but well done with a good plot. Vampire stuff.

Also Ry likes Robotech/Macross genre. He's mentioned it's very much like a futuristic soap opera in the character depiction.

Have fun! Feel free to veto stuff! Netflix is your friend.

[maruchan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I didn't like Ranma very much either. But I would second Slayers for its character-driven humour. I personally liked Trigun as well, for the same.

I see that SF is on your interest list...one other drama-SF series I might suggest is Neon Genesis Evangelion...IF you have the tolerance for a backstory so complicated that the company issues you a little manual to figure it out, comical scientific misappropriation (there's contamination in the Pribnow box!!!), and possibly a lack-of-drama-letdown at the end of the series. Oh, and it starts off a bit slowly. But honestly, it's one of my favorites.

I also think you would like Lain. Its pacing is very slow, though.

I don't actually watch much anime anymore, and I seriously thought that Pokemon was a great, funny show, so feel free to ignore whatever I suggest. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/killjoy_/]

Bah, I'm a fanboy. Otaku, in the original usage of the word, has some connotatons that are... undesireable. ;)

Anyway, two that I more or less have to reccomend to anyone are Cowboy Bebop and Azumanga Daioh. Bebop is one of the new standards; exceptionally stylish story of space age bounty hunters with great background soundtrack and... well, just pretty uniformly excellent actioney standard. Azumanga Daioh on the other hand, is a comedy about a group of high school girls. No, they don't have special powers, nor are there giant monsters or any of the rest. It's hilarious, and sweet and... well.

Serial Experiments: Lain, and Haibane Renmei are, as have been mentioned, both excellent, but a lot less straight-forwards, in ways that aren't necessecarily related to the medium. Kino's Journey is kind of in the same vein; it's going and telling a series of stories to sort of examine people.

I quite like Last Exile too... though maybe because of lack of caffiene I'm having trouble describing it. Sort of the "young adults thrown into the middle of some greater conflict" pulp-adventurey thing. *shrug*

[inflection.livejournal.com]

A lot of this will depend on what source you intend to get your anime from, and how much time you have to watch. Intent is also important; yours, if I understand correctly, is to see what anime is like in general. Since I don't know how much time you have available, I will try to keep selections short, generic, and readily available for rent or purchase.

Your two choices of Hayao Miyazaki make an excellent start. The original Ghost in the Shell movie is also a good classic, probably available in any movie rental outlet. There is a very enjoyable anime remake of Metropolis.

For a longer series, I also concur on the recommendation of Azumanga Daioh, the number of nominations of which I imagine is beginning to make an impression. ^_^ "Oh! My Goddess" is a short, romantic high-fantasy 5-VHS series (boy meets goddess). I have these sets available if you'd like, and could mail them to you for viewing over the holiday season.

If you like what you see there, the next level of "sampling" involves choices of genre, and starts multiplying quickly, so you'll need to pick and choose. Hellsing is an excellent short series, mildly horror. Cowboy BeBop is noir-ish future-tech. Haibane Renmei is psychodrama set in fable. Bubblegum Crisis, if available, is a classic sci-fi series of the explodey kind. GTO is modern-day drama, following a teacher and his career. Niea_7 is an amusing short series about an alien. Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth, or El Hazard: the Magnificent World all deal with high schoolers thrust into fantasy realms. Neon Genesis Evangelion may be available; you've doubtless heard us speak of this series' powerful emotional impact, though, and may be wary of it.

[primis.livejournal.com]

Cowboy Bebop should be madatory viewing for one and all, as it's simply a great show, period. It's merely coincidence that it also happens to be anime...

Trigun can also be fun, although not in the same way. There's a very serious storyline underneath a goofy exterior there, and it's actually quite dark towards the end. I like it though and there are some VERY good episodes in it.

Wolf's Rain is very well-done by the same folks as Bebop, but is incredibly confusing (and it's not due ot translation issues, but storylines). It's still a good story though with above average music.

I can't and won't recommend GITS because I haven't actually seen the movie(s). The GITS:SAC series can be brilliant at times though.


-- Primis.

[millenia.livejournal.com]

I have five seconds to comment while I am on interweb vacation.

I would caution AGAINST Slayers, simply because there's too many anime cliches involved and thus it's less accessible for newbies. I'd say go with Fruits Basket. It's light in tone, has universal themes (acceptance and family, love, etc.), is comic on occasion, but has enough anime elements to keep it from being another cartoon with a Japanese theme.

[kowh.livejournal.com]

Here are my recommendations for a variety of anime that are also accessible to newcomers:

Most of Studio Ghibli's films. Apart from the already mentioned Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, I recommend My Neighbour Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke. Grave of the Fireflies is also a good movie, but be warned it's one of the most depressing movies out there.

Azumanga Daioh (Highschool girls being silly in very funny ways)
Cowboy Bebop (Very good drama about space bounty hunters)
Coyote Ragtime Show ("Retired" space pirate and crew races to dig up buried treasure before the planet it's on is nuked)
Fruits Basket (Comedy about a house whose members turn into the animals of the zodiac)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Drama about two brothers who can convert matter through alchemy)
Ghost in the Shell (Higher brow Sci-Fi drama set in the near future where everyone's partly cybernetic. Stand Alone Complex is probably the most accessible, but the first movie's also good)
GTO (Comedy about a former motorcycle gang member who becomes a teacher)
Hellsing (Anti-vampire organization's trump card is... a vampire.)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor (Comedy about a (seemingly a) fool placed in command of a battleship)
Last Exile (Drama set in the future that channels the same atmosphere as Sky Captain, but more story and less campy)
Lupin the Third (Comedies about a world renowned thief with a heart of gold. Many movies, but they're mostly self contained so you can pick and choose among them)
Monster (Longer running cerebral drama about the strange interactions of a world class neurosurgeon and the boy he saved who turns out to be a sociopath produced by the cold war. One of the few stories that happens to be animated but could work as well in live action.)
Mushishi (About a sort of traveling doctor, follows the style of Japanese folklore)
Oh! My Goddess (Boy accidentally summons Goddess, comedy ensues)
Outlaw Star (Sort of a space western, Firefly seems to share many of the same plot elements)
Planetes (Drama set in the near future about the crews who deal with space junk, which has become a large issue)
Read Or Die (About people who have super powers related to books. Start with the OVAs, then the TV series)
Samurai Champloo (By the same people as Cowboy Bebop, Comedy/Adventure about two wandering samurai who agree to help a waitress find a samurai who smells of sunflowers, after they burn down her employment because of a duel)
Slayers (Very much a parody of fantasy anime and RPGs. While there are some in-jokes, it's still fairly accessible)
Trigun (Sci-fi Comedy about a gunman with the largest bounty in the universe on his head)

Diamond Engagement Rings

[(Anonymous)]

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