The Anime Recommendations Thread

[Daniel]

Recommend anime for others to watch

-or-

Ask for any good recommendations on things to watch

[robodaz]

I make no distinction between Old and New Schools. With that in mind...

1: Tokyo Godfathers (of all Satoshi Kon's work, this one has all needed to open up any mind)
2: There's no Miyazaki movie I would not recommend.
3: Cowboy Bebop, of course.
4: Macross
5: Yamato and Yamato 2199
6: Tenchimuyou (OAVs)
7: Urusei Yatsura (for those who can handle their anime)
8: The Jungle Was Fine, Then Along Came Guu.
9: Lupin III (especially the recent Woman Named Mine Fujiko)
10: Patlabor
11: Giant Robo (and GR Giant Robo)
12: The Big O
13: Secret of Blue Water
14: Cutey Honey (1973)
15: Fruits basket
16: Black Butler
17: Hellsing
18: Emma
19: One Year War (or even UC Era) Gundam
20: Galaxy Express 999

[llj]

Everyone here probably knows most of the older anime, so I might pop in here every now and again to recommend some newer ones since a lot of people seem to have stopped watching anime made after 1998...

[PinkAppleJam]

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Gurren Lagann. True "burning passion" shonen work by Gainax with likeable protagonists, interesting twists and satisfying ending. It's basically two series in 24 episodes or so, so I think it's value for money as well.

Mawaru Penguindrum, I just finished watching recently. It's a fuzzy, ethereal kind of surreal shojo anime, quite sad in many places, but worth following through. It's animated beautifully (for a TV anime budget) with some excellent character designs and funny lines. But ultimately it is a dream-like journey.

[llj]

I'm looking forward to watching Penguindrum one day. I'm a big fan of Utena, and I think Ikuhara is a legit "auteur", even if he's overly obvious about his eccentricities at times.

Here's some anime within the last 13 or so years I dug:

Twelve Kingdoms--This richly realized fantasy series is ambitious and slightly haphazard at times, but the end result is quite entertaining. Although this series seems to point to a larger scope with some characters needing their stories told, the main character's story of this anime is quite satisfactory and complete. Greg, if you haven't seen this one, I think you'd like it, based on what I've seen of your tastes.

Princess Tutu--I've mentioned before that I think this is one of the great anime of the 2000s. Yes, it has ballet (although why some people consider this a turnoff is beyond me. Ballet is a very valid artform). Yes, it has a magical girl. And yet, it combines those elements and turns it into its own fairy tale, while acknowledging the influence of many other classic fairy tales.

009-1--This Shotaro Ishinomori adaptation of a manga about a super-sexy cybernetic spy in a fictional Cold War setting sort of fell through the cracks when it came out, and didn't kick up much fuss in the U.S. It is not related to Cyborg 009, although it does feature a cyborg.

Broken Blade--A throwback to mecha OVA series of yore, this should please those looking for some old fashioned war and mecha series. And just like old-school OVAs, it feels slightly unfinished at the end!

Towanoquon--Not exactly Great Art, this X-Men rip-off is nonetheless a good "gateway" anime in an era where anime is getting less and less friendly for newcomers. Great action, animation, and sound design. A true "blockbuster" type anime series (this anime is actually 6 fifty minute to one-hour movies--like Broken Blade--so it is in fact a theatrical series). Get the BD to impress your friends on your home theatre.

Welcome to NHK--This series is not for everyone, but it's one of the first to touch on the hikikomori syndrome in a relatively sober manner. The animation and art is not great, but its content is quite compelling at times.

Read or Die OVA--I know this might surprise some people who've seen it and view it as just fluff, but I actually think this is one of the great action anime of the past 13 years. It's got really creative action sequences that are also well animated and choreographed, and it tells a pretty complete and exciting story in just 3 episodes (90 minutes). It spawned a TV series "sequel", which is also quite entertaining, but the original ROD OVA is just a nice, short, blast of action that's surprisingly well paced for just 90 minutes and packs a lot of explosions, plot twists and death-defying sequences in such a short timeframe. There are many longer OVAs and TV series out there that don't get in half as much story and action in 4x the length. Like Towanoquon, it's not High Art, but it is great fun.

[davemerrill]

The newer series I've enjoyed have been Flowers of Evil, Woman Named Fujiko Mine, Yamato 2199, and Unicorn Gundam. We saw the new Re: Cyborg 009 film and I'm still trying to figure out if it's brilliant or flawed. There's a plot point at the end that may or may not work.

[usamimi]

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Gurren Lagann. True "burning passion" shonen work by Gainax with likeable protagonists, interesting twists and satisfying ending. It's basically two series in 24 episodes or so, so I think it's value for money as well.

Mawaru Penguindrum, I just finished watching recently. It's a fuzzy, ethereal kind of surreal shojo anime, quite sad in many places, but worth following through. It's animated beautifully (for a TV anime budget) with some excellent character designs and funny lines. But ultimately it is a dream-like journey.

Gurren Lagann seems to share a lot of "feelings" from parts of Gunbuster to me. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it, too!

Penguindrum was also excellent. I recommend it to anyone who liked Utena, or even to people who thought Utena was a little "too shoujo" for them. Ikuhara really knows how to mess with your head and heart sometimes.

I've praised Woman Called Fujiko Mine before, and I'll do it again--a great series. While at times you wish it were longer and times it rambles on a bit too long, for a Lupin spin-off, it was quite fantastic. It made me think of Cowboy Bebop mixed with Utena, at times.

Flowers of Evil is a very strange, compelling series. I recommend the manga as well, as it's going much further than the anime did. (I joke with people sometimes that the anime is almost like one long commercial for the manga. )

I think people on this forum would enjoy Watamote. I know myself and a couple of people talked about it in the "watching" thread, but it's about a young, anti-social anime female anime fan in high school. It makes a lot of references to old anime and geek culture in general...it's funny, but it also reminds me of when I was a kid and thought that the reason I didn't have many friends was because "I'm just so cool, no one understands how awesome anime & games are but ME, HAHA, LOOK AT ALL THESE LOSERS!" (thank god I grew out of that in high school, oh, man. xD)

I've also recommended it before, but Attack on Titan is genuinely one of the most creative and unique series to come out recently. If you like stuff like Berserk or Claymore, you'd probably enjoy this one.

One series I've been watching recently that caught me by surprise is Kaiji (or Ultimate Survivor Kaiji). It came out in 07 I think? But Crunchyroll only just recently added the whole series. A ton of people I followed on Twitter praised it and urged people to check it out, and I gotta say, so far I'm enjoying it. It's the story of a down-and-out guy with lots of debt who gets invited to a high-stakes mystery gambling cruise for a chance to wipe away his debt...and the strange journey that starts from there. It's a unique story (not to mention art style, which I'm sure might turn some people off, but I actually found it quite refreshing in this era of most anime looking the same) and highly suspenseful (especially as the series progresses). It's a little long (2 series with 26 eps each)...I'm almost done with the first series though, and I'm really digging it.

Also loved Sakamichi no Apollon (aka Kids on the Slope), directed by Shiniriro Watanabe with Yoko Kanno music. (I mean, what's not to love about that?!) It's almost like a typical Kimagure Orange Road-style love triangle, but set in the 60s and revolving around music and Jazz. (With a more satisfying ending, too.)

I've been wanting to watch Michiko to Hacchin, since a lot of friends have been raving about it. Anyone seen that?

[llj]

I'll be blind buying the Michiko to Hatchin BDs, so I'll get back to you on this show in about a month or so...

[greg]

Crest of the Stars and its several sequel series of Banner of the Stars. I completely love this show and enjoyed the novels. I was a member of the abhnation.com forum back in the day, but that eventually went away.