Hopping in. Train me, Sensei!

[TheMidnightSnack]

My dear community.
I need your wisdom.
Ever since I've started watching Anime, newer titles always detracted me.
But when I found older titles, I always felt like there was more soul behind them.
Just a special feeling.
I try my best, but I'm still behind.
So, recommend me some titles. Throw me in the right direction.
Thanks.

[Valand]

Welcome!
I know how you feel. It would probably be a good idea to let us know what anime you're fond of already as otherwise people will probably default to their favorites.

Taking a hint from your avatar, you could check out Kingyo Chuuiho!. It's pretty much the same team who did Sailor Moon. You will both recognize the watercolor backgrounds and the character designs, the director is the same as well. It's a somewhat hysterical comedy and the characters are superdeformed more often than not. I just watched the first episode of the TV series yesterday and while I laughed a few times, I mainly recommend it for the curiosity of its obvious visual likeness to the Sailor Moon anime.

There's also Junkers Come Here. Once again the same director, but overall a very serious movie although with plenty of comedy still. It's about an unhappy girl whose parents rarely are home and are considering a divorce. She also has a talking dog. The backgrounds are there once again, but the character line art is semi-realistic although with the stylistical choice of no shading.

[SteveH]

First up, Welcome, mysterious stranger! This is a safe haven for the lovers of old school anime, here resides a frankly insane amount of collective knowledge.

Saying that, you've given us nothing on which to base recommendations on. No real clues on which to metaphorically hang our hats on. A journey begins with a single step but you gotta take that first step.

So, what do you like? What's your 'catalyst' anime, the show that took you from a passive TV watcher to an avid anime fan? What do you avoid like the plague (and if that was long ago maybe your tastes or knowlege has changed and might be worth revisiting after some discussion.) ?

Discuss!

[mbanu]

I'm guessing from your user pic that you like Sailor Moon S? If so, you might also enjoy Revolutionary Girl Utena if you haven't seen it -- same director. (^_^) Nozomi Entertainment has a low-def stream on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TQFlVcPyUA Not sure if they've licensed a hi-def stream somewhere else, or if they're saving that for their discs.

[mbanu]

It occurs to me that Utena might be a little too new... I think the current working definition of "Old School" is pre-Toonami? Which would be March 1997, while Utena started in April.

So I guess instead of recommending other stuff by Kunihiko Ikuhara, since Sailor Moon was sort of his start, the better option would be to recommend things from the director who inspired him, Osamu Dezaki.

I think you can see a lot of glimmers of Sailor Moon in things like Aim for the Ace!, The Rose of Versailles, and Brother, Dear Brother; those might be a few to try. The Rose of Versailles might be the easiest place to start, as it has a legal stream through Crunchyroll: http://www.crunchyroll.com/the-rose-of-versailles

Dezaki took over directing after episode 18 (the original director died unexpectedly).

[DKop]

You must understand these simple rules of this forum, in the manner of Cobra Kai:

Strike First
Strike Hard
No Mercy

After mastering these rules, you will be ready. Oh wait, this is about anime than karate... oh well, same rules apply.

Welcome to the forums, there are plenty of sensei's to pick from, so listen and learn well. Thanks for joining!

[TheMidnightSnack]

I guess I left you guys with nothing but my profile pic.

What's your 'catalyst' anime, the show that took you from a passive TV watcher to an avid anime fan? What do you avoid like the plague (and if that was long ago maybe your tastes or knowledge has changed and might be worth revisiting after some discussion.) ?

For me, Oh! My Goddess was the series that got me into anime/manga.
Thanks to Fujishima, all I watch nowadays is Magical-Comedy type shows.
I try to avoid shows with too much filler or ones that have generic, reused elements.
But, i'll watch anything funny. Anything.
(Also, My profile pic was the only image I had that fit within the size restrictions. I do love Sailor Moons artstyle though.)

[Fvlminatvs]

Hey, welcome aboard.

Do you have a MAL so I can see at a glance your stats and completion list? That might help figuring out where your tastes are and what to recommend.

Aside from that, I'll give you the immediate run-down of films we always used in my circles back in the mid-to-late 90s to introduce new fans:

THE BIG THREE
Ninja Scroll
Ghost in the Shell
Akira

ADDITIONAL ESSENTIALS
Vampire Hunter D
Wicked City
Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (Good luck finding this legally--you're probably going to have to find a bootleg DVD or torrent it or something.)
Fist of the North Star
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer
The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind

Give these a watch while you're at it. We also had a bunch of OVAs but usually people had already decided whether or not anime was their thing after watching the big three and maybe one or two of the other "essentials." If they stuck with it, this list became more of a "crash course" introduction to the hobby, along with the OVAs we had recommended.

[mbanu]

For me, Oh! My Goddess was the series that got me into anime/manga.
Thanks to Fujishima, all I watch nowadays is Magical-Comedy type shows.

If you are a Fujishima fan, I'm guessing you've seen You're Under Arrest! then? If not, you might enjoy the TV show; there's a stream available through HIDIVE: https://www.hidive.com/tv/youre-under-arrest (I think they used to have the OAVs too, not sure who ended up with them...)

[Akage]

(Also, My profile pic was the only image I had that fit within the size restrictions. I do love Sailor Moons artstyle though.)

Same here. I've met a couple of the animators in person. Totally love Miho Shimogasa. Suuuper nice.

I recommend Oniisama e... (Dear Brother). It's like the ol' school version of 'Mean Girls'. Although I thought the ending could have really have been done better. It felt very rushed and contrived to me.