Lol dont worry, i have my pages for free anime and manga
Lol dont worry, i have my pages for free anime and manga
Last edited by Aerith's Knight; 04-11-2008 at 02:54 AM.
---Edit: I would suggest that you keep the locations of where to find this stuff to PMs, rather than open in the thread.
I have *lots* of stuff I could recommend. Depends how open you are to the various genres. I will not be recommending anything like Galaxy Angel or Hand Maid May, because those really ain't my style.
If you can tolerate mecha/robots: (The first 3 shows I'm not going to describe, because I would go into a major rant about how much I love them and such. They're good.)
-RahXephon
-Eureka 7 (beware: 50 episodes)
-Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
-Macross Frontier is something that's just started airing in Japan, and so far it's pretty spiffy. 2 episodes aired so far, one translated. Yoko Kanno's Music.
-I can somewhat begrudgingly recommend Code Geass, which is starting on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim next weekend. While I don't like it nearly as much as most things on my list, it's easy to get into and of pretty high quality. So don't download it, watch it either on TV or on Adult Swim's site when it starts up.
-Something a little older, Mobile Police Patlabor. Incredibly dated when it comes to its looks, but it's good stuff.
-Another oldie, but classic, Aim for the Top/Gunbuster. If you do watch that, might as well follow it up with the much more recent Aim for the Top 2/Gunbuster 2/Diebuster (which is not as good, but the ending...). But definitely watch the original first.
Science Fiction
-Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Space Opera. EPIC. Old, but EPIC. May be a little hard to get into if you don't like to watch/read people talking. There are 110 episodes (plus a mandatory prequel movie) in the main series, with even more episodes in various sidestories. THE best soundtrack of any show, mostly because every piece of music outside of the opening and ending themes are known pieces of classical music from people like Beethoven and Mozart and stuff. There are 110 episodes in the main series, and in the 30 I've watched so far I don't think I've heard the same song twice. A lot of the time, 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' seems less like an 'anime', so much 'less' that I'm not sure if your average anime fan would be able to put up with it. But sci-fi lovers will have a blast. Watch the movie, My Conquest is the Sea of Stars first.
-Planetes. About a group of people who clean up space debris. Not really the best way to sell the show, but it is truly great. If you want some more serious drama with an involving story that doesn't get too intense, this is one you should check out.
-Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Well known, high quality series. Also another one where people talk a lot, but there's a good bit of action and everything looks pretty. 52 episodes between the two season 'Gigs', and a follow-up movie.
-Dennou Coil. Another very recent show that really impressed me. Kids living in a word where all they have to do to access the internet (and many, many other things) is put on a special pair of glasses. Very creative stuff.
-Crest of the Stars/Banner of the Stars series. Another 'space opera', but this one definitely fits more into the 'anime' feel than Galactic Heroes does. It's also considerably shorter.
-Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. This just about fits into the SciFi category. If there wasn't so much space travel and other stuff, it would have been in general Drama. Based off a french book. Don't let the strangeness of the art style put you off, if you can get used to it I doubt you'll be disappointed with the show (unless you're a diehard fan of the original book.)
Comedy:
-Ouran High School Host Club. Funny, funny stuff. I hadn't seriously laughed at an anime since Azumanga Daioh, which was 4 years before this.
-Nodame Cantabile. A more mature take on the 'romantic comedy' and pulls it off to great effect. Similar to Legend of the Galactic Heroes, many of the key pieces of the show's soundtrack are from Classical pieces, as the characters are in a music university.
-Minami-ke (though less of Okawari): Probably the closest to the 'cute girls doing cute things' category on my list, though it doesn't quite fit in there. Has some similarities to Azumanga Daioh and Strawberry Marshmallow, but it not nearly as crazy as the former and not as loli as the latter. Generally easygoing when it comes to the 3 sisters, but there are a few over-the-top secondary characters that make the show something special.
Sports is a genre I generally don't enjoy watching in anime, but Hajime no Ippo/Fighting Spirit (boxing) and Ookiku Furikabutte (baseball) are two exceptional shows. What I like about these are that they are fairly realistic while giving the characters a genuine warmth. No ridiculous 'super moves' like you see in other shows (i.e. Prince of Tennis), and no particular 'bad guy teams/fighters' that are evil just because. In both shows, the characters are fleshed out enough that you are able to sympathize with both sides of the match. And when one of them wins, you know it was through real effort and not a magic super move.
General Action/Fantasy:
-Baccano!: I'll let Behold the Void describe it.
-The Twelve Kingdoms. Excellent story that gets cut unfortunately short in the anime version. The novels that the anime are based on are being released slowly in English, the 2nd book just came out last month.
-Princess Tutu: another one of my pleasant surprises. Kind of hard to describe, but the story generally takes place across several fairytales. But it gets pretty dark and twisted and I wasn't expecting that from something that looked like such a little girl's show (which it otherwise is). Good stuff.
-R.O.D. OVA and 26 episode TV series. Girls who can manipulate paper save the world. Simple premise, excellent execution. Has a particularly horrifying scene (if you like books a lot).
-Darker Than Black: I'm kind of split on this one. It starts out really well, and is very appealing to watch, but somewhere along the line it just seems to lose its path. But it remains a very good looking, well animated show.
-I'll also reinforce the earlier recommendations of Scrapped Princess and Cowboy Bebop.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (while currently *my* favourite) is the only show on here that I feel may be harder to get into than usual, and can accept without offense if you just don't feel it. The rest should be fairly easy to decide whether or not you'll like them after watching the first episode. There are more quality shows I could recommend, but they're not as accessible to non-japanese as the ones I've listed.
I saw a few episodes of RahXephon
I think it was the most impressive of all of the ZOMGBIGROBOT animes I've seen!
(Though it is an Eureka 7 bag I use for my school things, not a RahXephon bag.)
it certainly says something.
This may sound completely random but have you watched the Fire Emblem or F-Zero anime before?
its not random if its an anime.. and no
The F-Zero anime came on American TV for a short while. I was pretty impressed that it made it over, but I guess that was around the time when there were a few Nintendo game adaptations (Kirby, Viewtiful Joe) trying to jump on the bandwagon.
I saw the Fire Emblem anime several years ago at a friend's house during the formulative years of my fandom. I think it was actually a few days before Smash Bros Melee came out when I saw it.
I don't really remember much of either of them. For F-Zero, I think I was either between 'wtf where is Capt. Falcon' and 'wtf these characters are ugly' for the 2 episodes I watched. Didn't like 'it, didn't stick with it for too long. Enjoyed the GBA game it was linked to though :P I do remember Fire Emblem was only 2 or 3 episodes, so if it was bad it didn't last very long.
I'm going to second JKTrix's suggestions for Eureka 7 and Minami-ke. I haven't seen all of either of them, but they are pretty enjoyable.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (aka the only anime I'd ever recommend to people who don't like anime [other than Cowboy Bebop, which is alright])
equal to bebop huh? this thread turned out very useful
saw that one already