Recommend Me a Good Anime (Samkiud's "to Watch" List)
" true forgot Samurai Champloo pretty hilarious. | |
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Also enjoyed Terra formars! The censorship was just utterly ridiculous but they've remade the first 2 or 3 episodes and its completely fine now.
A peek at how ridiculous it was.
Spoiler
Spoiler
 Ugh effort
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censorship has been pretty obnoxious on a large number of anime these days. hell even tokyo ghoul was completely under cut by the level of censorship.
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" Meh, I put up with TG's censorship. It wasnt That bad. Ugh effort
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" I suppose it is just jaring when you watch something like Attack on Titan where people are getting pasted , crushed , maimed , ripped in half and eaten ... and rendered tastefully without the need for censorship and then you have perfectly reasonable anime like TG or TF covering half their screens with black bars and camera smudges. just odd. also did anyone mention JoJo's bizarre adventure? , that show was crazy . |
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Havent watched that one, dunno if i ever will.
Ugh effort
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Note: I tried to stick to the OP's request in that everything here (IMO) either deals with/has:
-Existential subjects, such as soul and fate. Not necessarily religious matter. -Mind games and plot twists as in Death Note. Of course, not everyone will agree with every assessment, and some people like/dislike certain genres/subgenres, so I've divided them by some sort of logical subject matter, and given them a (usually useful) description. as an old-school otaku who rarely has time for such things nowadays, most of these are older, and while several have already been mentioned in this thread, a good number may be fairly obscure (and don't quote me that they're all released in the USA). also, I'm using the English title where available. this isn't exhaustive, just off the top of my head and my (needs to be updated) A-P list. KEY: while IMHO as a rule of thumb, the manga is generally better, with entries marked with an *, the manga significantly diverges/expands far from/beyond the anime and is a must-read if you like (or are confused by) the anime. absolute top recommendations are in italics. finally, series with underlines have Evangelion-style arcs -- that is, they start out VERY differently than they end, so stick with them. The case exemplar is Shadow Star, which starts out as a light-hearted Pokemon-esque children's series, and spirals into the SINGLE MOST DISTURBING THING THAT I'VE EVER SEEN, involving both (MINOR SPOILERS) sexual attacks on a minor and mass murder. Love-centric despair: basically, these are "love" stories, but look at it more philosophically and often in quite a depressing manner 5 Centimeters per Second: a tale of young love over a distance His and Her Circumstances: the closest anything in this post comes to slice-of-life -- a normal high school relationship She, The Ultimate Weapon (AKA Saikano AKA The Last Love Song on This Little Planet): The saddest, most heart-wrenchingly depressing thing ever thunged. Full stop. Voices of a Distant Star: basically, The Forever War with teenagers Camaraderie: explore the relationship between people engaged in a common goal, most often military/mercenary or criminal enterprises, but not always Black Cat*: ex-assassin-turned-bounty-hunter teams up with a precog, a thief, and an engineered bioweapon child. things ensue. Black Lagoon: mercenaries being mercenary. Cowboy Bebop: space cowboy and shipmates ply the stars to a jazz soundtrack. additionally, one of the coolest things ever. Get Backers: ex-gangbanger and partner with superpowers team up and fight other dudes with superpowers to retrieve things. Gungrave: 2 bros join crime syndicate until one kills the other. flash forward 13 years, and dead dude gets zombied into a killing machine to seek revenge. Planetes: the bottom of the barrel of astronauts is scraped to form a team in charge of picking up space trash. On humanity: explores what it means to be human, most often through the reverse lens of a robot/android, but not always Battle Angel Alita*: genius scientist finds scrapped android in trash heap and rebuilds her. lacking her memories, she fights to uncover her origins. Blade of the Immortal*: bad dude gets cursed to live forever, until he kills a thousand bad guys after getting his sister killed. finds chick that reminds him of his sister, and travels with her, dispensing justice along the way. (NOTE: he wears a *manji* not a *swastika* -- wiki it if you're confused, please don't confuse them!) Bokurano: saving the world is good, right? well, what if it requires sacrificing children? Ergo Proxy: basically 1984, the anime Flag: yes, it has mecha. but it's a story about war, from the POV of a camera-journalist, and often told through her camera lens. Ghost in the Shell*: one of the 2 big anime movies to break through to the mainstream internationally. explores what it is to be human, and whether machines can achieve it. Grave of the Fireflies: Japan is understandably reluctant to produce stories involving WW2, however this heartwrenching story about a young boy and his baby sister's travels after their home is firebombed, killing their mother, is guaranteed to make you cry. unless you're a robot. just kidding, even robots cry at this movie. Gunslinger Girl: italian orphan girls are turned into cyborg assassins. understandably, they begin to lose their humanity. Fighting spirit: looks into the aspect of humanity that encourages us to strive for greatness, most often in martial arts, but not always Air Master: in addition to having probably the coolest fight scenes ever created, it's a story about an ex-gymnast who strives to become the best street fighter (not to be confused with Street Fighter) in the world. Moonlight Mile: two adrenaline junkie friends decide that Everest wasn't high enough and decide to climb their way to the stars. but who will make it first!?!?!?! Space Brothers: two brothers see a UFO and decide that space is cool. unlike the previous series, one makes it and one doesn't, but years later, the failure gets a second chance! Mystery/detective: similar to Death Note, they focus on a mystery but use it to dig into peoples' personalities and interactions Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon: intriguing mysteries, solved by... a puppeteer and his sentient(?) puppet. no, seriously. it's good. Monster: Japanese doctor living in Germany puts his his career on the line to save a young boy, only to (years later) be framed for murder by him. Now on the run, he must track down his elusive prey (and discover how he became such a Monster). Probably the best mystery anime/manga, possibly the best in any media. BONUS: if (ha!) you like it, the author of the manga (off which the anime was based) next wrote another nearly-as-compelling mystery series, 20th (and later 21st) Century Boys; while it wasn't made into an anime, you can check out the manga or the (solid, though not stellar) live-action movie trilogy. Spiral: arguably (but probably IMO) served, at least in part, as a basis for Death Note. no shinigami here, but the same sort of mind-games prevail, albeit in a somewhat more light-hearted atmosphere. When They Cry: specifically the first series, but they're all good. while the quality of the story ranges from good to mediocre, and thus it wouldn't normally make this list, what makes it unique is that it essentially tells the SAME EXACT MYSTERY/STORY from multiple viewpoints, with different killers (6 different arcs in the first season alone). it's based upon the manga, based on the drama CDs, based on the "video games" (actually of the subgenre 'visual novel'). also of note is that it *supposedly* inspired a real-life murder while the 2nd anime series was airing in Japan, which led to it being pulled off the air for a while. All of the feels: emotion-based anime, be it good or bad Gokusen: daughter of a yakuza boss just wants to be a teacher. she becomes the female Onizuka (see below) Great Teacher Onizuka: ex-gangbanger becomes a teacher. despite being immature, an ex-gang member (definitely not allowed for teachers in Japan), and a pervert, he connects with the problem students that everyone else gives up on and becomes Great Teacher Onizuka. Jigoku Shoujo: a tale of revenge, pure and simple. get pissed off enough at someone, and you can send them straight to hell; the catch (there's always a catch, it is hell after all) is that you have to follow them there when you die. Beautiful: not in terms of the animation, there is just something beautiful and moving about these Mushishi: funky 'doctor' cures people of ailments from supernatural bugs Samurai Champloo: funky 'samurai' beat people up to a rap soundtrack. unsurprisingly, created by the same director as Cowboy Bebop. Texhnolyze: probably would have made the list under any of several other categories, but the truly amazing thing about this series is the SOUND. seriously, I can just turn off the screen and LISTEN to this and it's beautiful. Psychological: in plot, as well as theme. differs from the next category in that they DO make sense, if you look deep enough into them. Boogiepop Phantom: a Lain-esque series that tells its main plot through the eyes of different characters every episode; it's up to the viewer to piece together what's happening when you see scenes from multiple viewpoints, and at different points in time. Sci-fi Harry: dude discovers he has awesomesauce psychic powers. dude discovers that every time he uses them, someone around him dies. oh noes! people come after dude to use his powers for themselves. dilemmas ensue. Serial Experiments Lain: impossible to explain without major spoilers, but suffice it to say that teenage girl has existential crisis, develops MPD, and reality becomes... both confusing and questionable. Mindf*ck: weird. very weird. and strange. but somehow deep. just watch them. Akira*: the other of the two big animes to break into the western mainstream. it involves psychic powers, but is total WTFBBQSAUCE. reading the manga allows it to make a lot more sense. seriously, read the manga -- it's a masterpiece at over 2,000 pages of incredibly beautiful artwork, largely drawn by the author with minimal use of assistants, and the anime only covers roughly 300 pages worth of material. Berserk*: Badass McBeatuperson beats up people like a badass. seriously, Guts (yes, his name is Guts) is the ultimate badass. like if they made a liveaction movie, Samuel L. Jackson couldn't even play him. anyways, despite this, and the series' well-deserved reputation for action and ultraviolence, there really are several(!) deep storylines, explored along at least 3 different timeframes, all interwoven. unfortunately, even more than Akira, it cuts the manga short -- the anime only covers the events of about 8-9 volumes, with maybe 3 volumes of content due to cuts (not to be confused with Guts)... out of (currently) 38 volumes; heck, the anime was made in 97-98, 8 years after the manga started -- and it's STILL GOING, nearing its 25th anniversary. so while the anime is good, it's almost more of a teaser for the manga. (I promise, that's the last time I'll tell you to read a manga [in this post]) FLCL: teenage life, as told by Salvadore Dali. Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: asks the question "Where is home?" through the lens of an epic parody of anime as a whole. Neon Genesis Evangelion: yes, another Gainax series -- but undoubtedly their most popular, and probably their best. i could describe it, but there's no point. if you haven't seen it, just watch it. beyond its (significant) inherent worth, it was (at the time it was made) a serious critique, deconstruction, and essentially dramatic parody of most of the anime that came before it, probably the deepest anime up to that point (and possibly to this point), and probably the single most influential anime of all time. it's also got the most complicated production history of all time. immediately following the end of the tv series, the fanbase was so outraged that Gainax decided to release a movie. while it was in production, they released a PRE-MOVIE that consisted of a bunch of footage from the TV show mixed in with additional, unaired (cut) footage, followed by the first 27 minutes of the new film (which was "overwriting" the last 2 episodes of the tv series). which went on to be one of the biggest box-office hits of the year. they then released the ACTUAL movie, and then later went back and re-edited the pre-movie not once, but TWICE before finally releasing a version with both of them (again) re-edited and spliced together. but wait, there's more. TEN YEARS after the tv show aired, they decided that they still weren't happy with it, and announced plans to redo the whole thing in a series of 4 movies, titled, I shit you not, "Rebuild of Evangelion" -- which, incidentally, is taking almost a decade to finish, meaning that a SINGLE SEASON anime show will finally be finished 2 decades after it aired. oh yeah, and it turns out that the manga (which was explicitly intended to generate interest in the upcoming (original) tv series) completely diverges from both the original and all of the revised tv/movie stuff and itself finished just 2 years ago, having taken 18 years to produce. but seriously, the ORIGINAL tv series is amazing. watch it. Perfect Blue: crazy(?) actress is stalked(?) into an existential(?) crisis(?)? notice all the question marks. there's a reason for that. Shadow Star Narutaru*: as mentioned in the key, this is completely messed up. try to get the uncensored version, though note that it may be ILLEGAL in your locality and you should definitely check that out beforehand! while it's listed as an absolute top recommendation, that only applies if you are not offended by stuff. because, despite the many warnings I have given you, your body is not ready. also note that even the uncensored anime version cut the most disturbing parts from the manga -- you've been warned! Welcome to the NHK!: paranoid-delusional hikkikomori dude gets saved by pseudo-creepy random girl... look, if I could explain it easily, it wouldn't be in this category, would it? Does not compute: for those which don't fit into any other category or strongly match multiple categories Cheeky Angel: ok, bear with me here. it's an action-love-supernatural-mystery-slice-of-life series, where the main character is a tomboy who is convinced that she is actually a boy who was transformed into a girl by a magical book (the only instance of supernatural stuff in the series). unfortunately, his (her? its?) penchant for fighting draws the admiration of a group of rowdy boys who fall in love with her (him? it?). gender-bendering ensues as there are romantic tensions between the main character and his (her) female best friend, who also happens to be the only other person in the world who remembers that she (he) used to be a boy [girl-girl(boy)], the group of young ruffians [boy-girl(boy)], etc. all the while, we have different viewpoints on what the truth is -- did he (she) really used to be a boy? should she (he) change back if he (she) was? is it even possible? is this a genre? Zipang*: another one of the rare instances of WWII showing up, a modern SDF (Japanese Self-Defense Force, the Japanese pseudo-military used for defensive purposes only) warship finds itself to have traveled back in time to WWII. moral dilemmas ensue -- do they join the IJN and fight the Allies? do they help the allies defeat their own country which through their hindsight they know is in the wrong? do they sit out the war? can they get home? should they go home even if they can? Uninhabited Planet Survive: Lost with elementary school kids. seriously, I'd bet money that the producers of Lost Kimba'd this shit. granted, this involves space and an alien planet, and certainly there are major differences in the plot... but there are too many specific similarities for me to dismiss the possibility. regardless, it's a bit Lost, a bit Lord of the Flies, and a bit (ok, a LOT) Tunnel in the Sky. IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson Last edited by tsftd on Apr 3, 2015, 2:56:38 PM
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Spoiler
 Ugh effort Last edited by aStrayGami on Apr 3, 2015, 3:25:03 PM
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" I could have, but in a way it doesn't matter -- good anime is good anime -- and it can be difficult to really classify some stuff -- 5 Centimeters per Second being a perfect example. it's only 60 minutes, and consists of 3 shorts (one of which is titled 5 Centimeters per second; the other two are still good but that's the one I was specifically referencing). some people would balk at calling that a "movie." This is compounded by the fact that it officially meets the criteria of an OVA -- it was first released on home video (via streaming), then had a very limited theatrical release. " actually, a lot of these have interesting connections -- for instance, 5 Centimeters per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, and the nearly-missed-the-list The Place Promised in our Early Days were all created by the same guy. that aside, Anno Hideaki largely developed (and redeveloped) the plot of Evangelion as well as directing it, but he adapted an existing manga as the director for Kare Kano -- and famously quit halfway through the series in frustration at his lack of control, handing it over to Kazuya Tsurumaki, who not only finished Kare Kano, but also created the original FLCL, also on my list, as well as directing the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. " i would agree that anyone who isn't a fan of the genre has probably gotten everything important out of it at the end of the second season and can disregard the later ones. in fact technically i'd say the first season plus the last part of the 2nd (Fujiyama Paradise and on) and skip the earlier part of the 2nd is perfectly fine. " correct, there was a movie (as well as 2 games, and 2 manga series), but though it was good, the movie doesn't really fit the criteria for the list, it's more a love letter to fans of the series. also correct, in that this is the pinnacle of Yoko Kanno's stellar career. as for your concerns, you're right, but backwards. what makes the series great IS the non-arc episodes. while the arc is good and all, it's the other episodes that make it great. the feel, the pacing, the atmosphere, the space-cowboy-jazz mashup, the exploration of existentialism, ennui, loneliness, camaraderie, whether or not you can ever really know another human being... this is the meat of the series, the actual "story arc" is the fluff ;p " agreed on the manga -- for the covers, the artist uses WATERCOLORS ON CANVAS AND OMG IT'S SO AMAZING. i wouldn't say my absolute favorite, but certainly my favorite action, and definitely my favorite art. that said, you're also correct that the anime was sub-par. and perhaps my love for the manga made me overlook some of it, and it wouldn't work for someone who hasn't read the manga first. but i think that the story is worthy of being seen, and for someone who's just beginning to dabble in anime, a (long) manga series is a hard sell. " the fact that you're referencing a manga started in 1973 which is almost half set after the war, a 1972 manga decidedly set after the war and focusing on the issues that the country went through in Reconstruction, a 1983 manga which is specifically set before the war (and additionally focusing on Germany rather than Japan), a 1989 movie again largely set after the war (though dealing with the aftereffects of the bomb), and a (modern) anime yet again set well before the war (with a brief ending that takes place after the war -- in fact, it specifically skips from 1935 to post-surrender 1945 just to avoid portraying the war)... tells me that it is reluctant to produce WW2 stories. in fact, the ONLY Japanese media that I can think of that looks seriously at WW2 (and not just the afteraffects of specific events that happened during it) apart from the listed Zipang is Hetalia -- and that has to do it through a silly, slapstick filter. seriously, this is such a big issue in Japan that Hayao Miyazaki came under fire for the aforementioned The Wind Rises from BOTH political parties -- the 'left wing' for glorifying the life of a man who designed warplanes, and the 'right wing' because they thought that it portrayed pre-war Japan in a negative light (at a time that they're trying to change the constitution to allow the SDF to deploy overseas)... oh, and China and Korea chimed in because they allege (correctly) that Chinese and Korean slave labor was used in the manufacture of the planes designed by the guy (years after the movie was set). look, I've got a master's degree in Japanese history, with a major focus on the WW2 period, I live in Japan, and I teach Japanese ES/JHS students, as well as being a major fan of anime/manga. I can name 5 American WW2 movies off the top of my head for every year... well at least in the past couple of decades. and we're struggling to come up with a handful of anime/manga even set AROUND WW2. there's absolutely a dearth of Japanese material dealing with it. granted, there are reasons -- not only is it politically sensitive in Japan, but China and Korea also jump in every time it comes up. but it's just not even talked about over here, let alone depicted in mass media (with very few exceptions). that said, we both agree that it's a moving film, and should be watched, even though it won't be enjoyed. " eh it's a complicated subject, but you're largely right in that one of its themes dealt with the failures of the educational system/society. on that note, Gokusen and GTO are quite interesting to contrast. as a schoolteacher in japan, I can say that there are certainly benefits and drawbacks to the Japanese system -- just like in any country. " I prefer to recommend lain over .hack for two reasons -- one being that I think that, while it has a higher barrier to entry, it's a better series, and especially for someone who specifically requested psychologically challenging series, that makes it more appropriate. the other reason is that .hack is much more niche. yes, it does explore some broader themes, but it is specifically looking at what you could call "net existentialism" whereas lain deals with not only more broader themes, but the much broader "technological existentialism" at its base. as an aside, if you like .hack, check out the 1993 novel "Killobyte" by Piers Anthony, upon which .hack was almost certainly based. as for "far far fewer wtf moments"... well, that's why it's in the WTF category ;p -- some people prefer something that they can't really quite completely grasp to something that's totally comprehensible. " his first, and certainly his best -- I almost included any number of his other works (Paprika being the closest to making it), and almost put in a huge spiel about Kon IGN Stuns_McNutshot | Ichimans_McIchimans | Balls_McCritterson Last edited by tsftd on Apr 4, 2015, 12:39:53 AM
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I'll bite.
No particular order ...
Spoiler
Rurouni Kenshin (The OVA)
Darker Than Black Witch Hunter Robin Fullmetal Alchemist (I haven't watched brotherhood yet.) Mardock Scramble (All 3 Movies) Ergo Proxy Code Geass (Season 1 & 2) Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 Cowboy Bebop Outlaw Star Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Samurai Champloo Psycho-Pass (This is probably more to your taste OP) Eureka Seven Xam'd: Lost Memories Other Anime
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Kimi ga Nozomu Eien - Slice of life Drama. One of my all time favorites.
Welcome to the N.H.K. 5 Centimeters per Second (Movie) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Movie) Lamune True Tears Rec Elfen Lied (Warning, Gore) Might edit later. Sleepy. @.@ "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."
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SO BAD 
