Tip-toeing my way into the world of Anime...

I've always disliked anime. The way that animations were so choppy on purpose always annoyed me. I disliked how most characters in anime look identical except for their haircuts. I never enjoyed the over the top voice acting I'd seen on the few animes I'd looked at.

However, I'd realized I hadn't seen to many animes, so maybe the ones I had looked at were just garbage and not representative of the entire genre. I also was told that in general English dubs are terrible, and yea the voice acting was a huge thing that annoyed me before.

My friend suggested I watch Cowboy Bebop and I had downloaded it and had it sitting on my hard drive for months. Finally started it a couple weeks ago and wow I really really like it. The story, dialogue, and voice acting are all really good. It could pretty much not be an anime, all the stereotypical anime things that normally bother me are missing in this show or are toned down to the point where they don't bother me. I really enjoy the setting as well. Watching space bounty hunters is always cool. Show has a good sense of humor too.

I also watched the movie Spirited Away. I liked it, but at the same time it annoyed me because it had a lot of the typical anime things that bothered me. Thought the voice acting was decent, but annoying sometimes, especially the main character. As beautiful as the art style was in that movie, the animations were really choppy and it bothered me. I know that is supposedly the style of Anime, but just seems lazy to me to have such choppy animations. But overall, I liked the movie for its weirdness and cool visuals. It was targeted at younger audiences too, so I probably enjoy Cowboy Bebop much more since its for adults.

I've always disliked anime. The way that animations were so choppy on purpose always annoyed me. I disliked how most characters in anime look identical except for their haircuts. I never enjoyed the over the top voice acting I'd seen on the few animes I'd looked at.

However, I'd realized I hadn't seen to many animes, so maybe the ones I had looked at were just garbage and not representative of the entire genre. I also was told that in general English dubs are terrible, and yea the voice acting was a huge thing that annoyed me before.

My friend suggested I watch Cowboy Bebop and I had downloaded it and had it sitting on my hard drive for months. Finally started it a couple weeks ago and wow I really really like it. The story, dialogue, and voice acting are all really good. It could pretty much not be an anime, all the stereotypical anime things that normally bother me are missing in this show or are toned down to the point where they don't bother me. I really enjoy the setting as well. Watching space bounty hunters is always cool. Show has a good sense of humor too.

I also watched the movie Spirited Away. I liked it, but at the same time it annoyed me because it had a lot of the typical anime things that bothered me. Thought the voice acting was decent, but annoying sometimes, especially the main character. As beautiful as the art style was in that movie, the animations were really choppy and it bothered me. I know that is supposedly the style of Anime, but just seems lazy to me to have such choppy animations. But overall, I liked the movie for its weirdness and cool visuals. It was targeted at younger audiences too, so I probably enjoy Cowboy Bebop much more since its for adults.

I really liked Inuyasha. Check that out as well

If you're looking for animes that don't look/feel like anime, check out Monster.

I think Black Lagoon is kinda good.

Boku no Pico

If you liked Cowboy Bebop you should try Samurai Champloo

Thanks for the suggestions. I am taking note of them.

Cowboy Bebop is amazing. Neon Genesis Evangelion is good but it's pretty weird and might be off-putting because of it. Darker than Black is pretty awesome, as are Baccano!, Code Geass, FLCL (aka Fooly Cooly), Samurai Champloo, Wolf's Rain, Last Exile, and Mushi-Shi. Really though, I think Cowboy Bebop is the best, so if you're like me, you might have trouble finding another anime that quite clicks like Bebop does.

Watch Baccano, which is perhaps one of the cleverest and most inventive things I've ever seen. Things about it aren't always clear but they slowly start to form a big picture of how all those characters and storylines are interrelated and by the end, you'll see what two idiot thieves in California have to do with a no-good thug in New York. It's still amazing after several watches.

And of course I can't make this post without recommending Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. If you like darker and more adult, watch the original first. If you prefer charming, idealistic, and lighthearted, watch Brotherhood first. Both have their moments of cynicism and idealism, but the first one definitely leans more toward the former and Brotherhood definitely leans more toward the latter. To explain the difference between the two: the original anime caught up to the manga and, instead of making tons of filler, they finished it with a completely different storyline. Brotherhood was started when the manga was almost finished so it pretty faithfully adapts to the manga. It's worth noting that I found Brotherhood's humor a little annoying at first but it gets way, way, way better and you'll love it by the end. Also, skip the first movie.

EDIT: Also watch Yu Yu Hakusho. It's not particularly smart but it makes up for that by having a lot of heart put into it. And watch the dub for this one - the dub was known for being one of the first good ones because the team that dubbed it were determined to have fun with it and see what they could do, so it's still the same story and characters but the dialogue was made more interesting. From what I've heard, the original Japanese was fairly bland Shonen dialogue.

But above all, watch Baccano first. Really, it's amazing. EDIT: Also, watch the dub of Baccano. FMA's dub and sub are both pretty good, but Baccano is set in America and is based on a lot of American stuff, plus the dub for it is really, really, really good anyway, so it only makes sense to watch it dubbed unless you're a real purist about that sort of thing.

Based on everything you said I'd recommend samurai champloo, outlaw star and baccono

@Drakoji said:

If you liked Cowboy Bebop you should try Samurai Champloo

What he said, I'm a big fan of both of those shows, and I recently started watching Lupin the 3rd which is really old school anime, but it's really good and no one ever recommends it. Other than that, you could check out Ghost in the Shell which is neat too.

@lazyhoboguy: Another vote for Samurai Champloo.

@psylah said:

Boku no Pico

Don't watch this.

Oh and Full Metal alchemist of course!

I was in a similar situation. I used to (think that I) hate Anime. The other kids were into Dragonball Z, Yu-gi-oh, Monster Rancher etc, and I never liked any of that shit.  I watched the subbed Persona 4 Animation out of curiosity, and actually really liked it, and found myself wanting more. I watched Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, some Ghost in the Shell... I've liked it all so far- but I haven't really had time to just sit down and watch old TV lately, so there's plenty more I want to watch. I'm not really sure if I consider myself a fan of the genre... but it's not all bad.

@lazyhoboguy said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I am taking note of them.

For the record - you want to skip Boku no Pico. Why? Well, read this. I'd actually recommend not reading that and just taking my word for it, but there you go.

@Snipper138 said:

@psylah said:

Boku no Pico

Don't watch this.

See, I'm not the only one that says so.

@lazyhoboguy said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I am taking note of them.

Don't take note of Boku no Pico. That's gay hentai. I'm not being sarcastic. That's what it is.

Anime varies quite a lot in terms of both looks and genre, I'll give you a short list. (And it's not even gonna include mecha outside of one. I'd be throwing a book at you if I opened that can of fun)

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - A long ass 100+ episode space opera that's like Romance of the Three Kings in space. It was created in the late 80s and the character designs are very western. Considered one of the three pillars of sci-fi anime.

Big O - What if Batman had a giant robot, robin was an android, and Alfred knew how to use heavy weapons? The plot makes zero sense as you get to the end of the series, but it is pretty amazing. It looks very much like a western cartoon as well.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - As the name implies, the show revolves around a hypothetical (though many geologists consider inevitable) massive earthquake happening centered in Tokyo. The story follows two children as they try to find their way home.

Usagi Drops - Daikichi is a thirty year-old salary man. His grandfather dies, and it is revealed that he eloped with his housekeeper and had a child. None of his other family members wishes to take her in, causing Daikichi to take it upon himself to raise Rin. I know that sounds like the prelude to a dumb comedy. Instead, it is an amazing drama focused on the parent/child relationship.

Here's four shows with varying lengths, genres, art styles, and age. Have fun, and come back if you want some more.

To be honest, you started at the best anime, so from here it's only downhill. With that said, Mushishi. That should be your next one, without a doubt.

I'm more for fantasy type anime. The gateway anime I usually recommend, is Death Note. Then Full metal alchemist brotherhood. If you have patience then start Naruto, its hands down the best anime ever, but there's alot of wasted episodes and its very long. Also my second favourite is Code Geass.

@believer258 said:

@lazyhoboguy said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I am taking note of them.

For the record - you want to skip Boku no Pico. Why? Well, read this. I'd actually recommend not reading that and just taking my word for it, but there you go.

@Snipper138 said:

@psylah said:

Boku no Pico

Don't watch this.

See, I'm not the only one that says so.

Yea deleted that from my list hah.

@Salabrin said:

To be honest, you started at the best anime, so from here it's only downhill. With that said, Mushishi. That should be your next one, without a doubt.

Despite the fact that Mushishi and Bebop are vastly different in both genre, art style, pacing, and plot?

Cowboy Bepop still is my favorite. Ghost in the Shell SAC is up there, though. If/once you've seen some mecha anime, I'd recommend Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It's pretty goofy, and it pokes fun at a lot of the tropes of the genre, but that just makes the few tragic moments extra crushing.

Good on you for looking past the stereotypes and seeing that there's some quality stories out there to be told in anime. I can't think of any recommendations for you off the top of my head since I'm less into shounen and more into drama/slice of life stuff, but stick at it.

Also, I don't think I've ever heard anyone criticise the animation in a Studio Ghibli film. Hmm.

@Turambar said:

Usagi Drops - Daikichi is a thirty year-old salary man. His grandfather dies, and it is revealed that he eloped with his housekeeper and had a child. None of his other family members wishes to take her in, causing Daikichi to take it upon himself to raise Rin. I know that sounds like the prelude to a dumb comedy. Instead, it is an amazing drama focused on the parent/child relationship.

Usagi Drop is great, just don't read up on how the manga ends. It'll put you off everything ever.

@Turambar said:

@Salabrin said:

To be honest, you started at the best anime, so from here it's only downhill. With that said, Mushishi. That should be your next one, without a doubt.

Despite the fact that Mushishi and Bebop are vastly different in both genre, art style, pacing, and plot?

It's just that Bebop is my favorite and Mushishi is a close second, more than anything, so maybe you're right. Cowboy Bebop is rather unique though, so I think anything similar will be pale in comparison, maybe a different type of anime that has great character and story design - like Mushishi - might serve better than, say, Samurai Champloo. I just know I highly recommend it, anyway.

Samurai Champloo is worth a watch as well.

You're walking into a deep, dark hole my friend.

@lazyhoboguy: If you liked Cowboy Bebop you should check out Macross Plus, It's made by the Cowboy Bebop people and it's basically Top Gun: The Anime (stand alone story; no need to know anything about the Macross universe)

[edit] Also Bryan Cranston (Walter White of Breaking Bad) did the english dub voice for the lead character which i only just learned moments ago.

Monster by Naoki Urasawa is pretty great.

@Sin4profit: Huh that does interest me a lot then. I am a big fan of Bryan Cranston on Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad so will be neat to see him in anime.

@Sin4profit said:

@lazyhoboguy: If you liked Cowboy Bebop you should check out Macross Plus, It's made by the Cowboy Bebop people and it's basically Top Gun: The Anime (stand alone story; no need to know anything about the Macross universe)

Aww come on, if you're gonna draw the staff connect between the two games, you might as well use an AMV that includes Yoko Kanno's music.

Edit: Wait, games? What? I meant anime.

full metal alchemist(original or brotherhood I prefer brotherhood) and boccano.

Baccano, Evangelion, .Hack//sign, and Durarara.

thats all i can think of right now.

@ShadowConqueror: Your avatar from an Agalloch album? If so, awesome. I love them.

@psylah said:

Boku no Pico

What is this, 4Chan?

If the fluidity of the animation is a concern of yours, you'll probably want to stay away from most series. TV series have to be cranked out pretty fast so the quality is lower. OVAs (original video animation) have a higher quality and movies generally have the best. There are exceptions to these rules in all cases. For example, movies spun off of TV series generally have a frame rate only slightly higher than the TV version.

However, having said all that a few shows you might want to investigate are: (links lead to trailers)

1. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo - unique retelling of the classic story
2. Last Exile - a steampunk adventure about a pair of pilots caught between warring factions.
3. Witch Hunter Robin - a gothic/mystical mystery about a unit that captures magic-using criminals
4. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt - an insane hyperactive raunchy comedy based off American TV cartoons. - This one is funnier in Japanese, but an English dub is available.
5. Broken Blade - (OVA series) A giant robot series that breaks away from the traditional
6. Redline - (Movie) a future racer with shades of Deathrace in it. Very memorable visuals.
7. Princess Mononoke (Movie) - a boy searches for a cure while a war erupts during his journey.

If you're willing hunt around, then look for these Japanese language-only with English subtitles shows:

1. Katanagatari - (OVA series) Two people are hired by the Emperor to recover some mystical swords. The best show made in recent memory, in my opinion.
2. Macross Zero - (OVA series) A prequel to the Macross saga which some may know better as Robotech. Excellent flight combat scenes.

And if you don't like any of these, don't give up on the medium. There's probably something out there that will catch your eye just as Cowboy Bebop did.

My top three anime's are:

1. One Piece
2. Inuyasha
3. Full Metal Alchemist

All three of those offer something a bit different. One Piece is all around badass with really likeable characters and just an amazing story. Inuyasha is more action/romance/comedy and Full Metal Alchemist is sort of moody.

@PenguinDust: I wouldn't say Broken Blade does any such thing.

@gamefreak9 said:

I'm more for fantasy type anime. The gateway anime I usually recommend, is Death Note. Then Full metal alchemist brotherhood. If you have patience then start Naruto, its hands down the best anime ever, but there's alot of wasted episodes and its very long. Also my second favourite is Code Geass.

Naruto had potential to be the best anime, but it really heavily squandered it with just way way way too many filler episodes. Every Shonen has filler, but Naruto approaches Dragonball Z levels of fluff sometimes. I still really like it, but One Piece is hands down the best Shonen anime in my opinion. Even the few fillers that One Piece has are all entertaining, where as in Naruto, I would be like "god just move it along already..."

Ping Pong Club, it does use a lot of that jerky anime animation style but it does so in jest. It's sort of the Beavis & Butthead of anime. If you can forgive its animeness and see it for what it is the humor usually works out pretty well.

The old Lupin the 3rd anime is pretty atypical when it comes to the genre. I also recommend Golgo 13.

It's awesome that you gave it another chance instead of just dismissing it. If you ever have any questions or anything check out the Anime Discussion Thread.

@LiquidPrince said:

@gamefreak9 said:

I'm more for fantasy type anime. The gateway anime I usually recommend, is Death Note. Then Full metal alchemist brotherhood. If you have patience then start Naruto, its hands down the best anime ever, but there's alot of wasted episodes and its very long. Also my second favourite is Code Geass.

Naruto had potential to be the best anime, but it really heavily squandered it with just way way way too many filler episodes. Every Shonen has filler, but Naruto approaches Dragonball Z levels of fluff sometimes. I still really like it, but One Piece is hands down the best Shonen anime in my opinion. Even the few fillers that One Piece has are all entertaining, where as in Naruto, I would be like "god just move it along already..."

I mean i understand your frustration with fillers, which is why I skip them, theres sites that tell you which are fillers. Is one piece really that good? It doesn't seem as engrossing, tell me about it.

Princess Mononoke is a Miyazaki movie that's not aimed at kids, so I'd give that a shot and Samurai Champloo since you liked Bebop.

The original Fullmetal Alchemist was great, I also loved Wolf's Rain and RahXephon though I think I'm in the minority there.

Cowboy Bebop is sort of the epitome of anime for people who don't like anime so it's hard to know how far to go with recommendations.

Phatcat's Legit Anime:

1. Cowboy Beebop (good on your friend suggesting that)
2. Ghost In the Shell : Stand Alone Complex & 2nd Gig (two seasons)
   Cyberpunk, Espionage, Detective work, Noir, Interesting ideas about the future of the internet.
3. Azumanga Daioh (one season)
   Light Hearted, something you can just pick up and watch, internationally funny
4. Samurai Champloo: (One Season)
   Easy to pick up, fun fights, interesting mix of hiphop & samurai.
5. Spirited Away: (Movie)
   Japanese version of never-ending story.
6. RedLine (Movie)
   Cars, Rad music, insane plot, stunning visuals.
7. FLCL (mini-series)
   trippy coming of age story, good music.

Phatcat's upity list of anime you should watch but may not like.

1. Now and Then, Here and There
   story of a middle school kid teleported into a post-apocalyptic future where water is scarce. despite the cruelty around him, he always tries to do the right thing.
2. Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise
   Story of a fictitious world like ours, trying to build its first space program, and the "hero" who would be the first man in space.

I'm not a huge anime fan either, but there are a few that are weird in an interesting way and not in a 'WTF Japan' way.

Bebop is certainly one of the most popular here in the US. The friend who introduced me to that also had a couple other shows of the same length that were kinda cool at the time, Outlaw Star , which is another show about spaceship shenanigans, and Trigun, which is a futuristic Western (I was 13 when I watched them, though, so I dunno how well they hold up).

People have already mentioned Baccano!, which is fucking nuts but in a kind of interesting way, so long as you're ok with copious amounts of blood.

The people that make Spirited Away have done a few other really good movies, Princess Mononoke being my favorite. The other big anime movies that get mentioned a lot are Akira, which is weird but I think it's worth watching so long as you can get past the fact that literally every single character looks like they have Down Syndrome. Ghost in the Shell is another movie that gets mentioned a lot, and it's ok but honestly Blade Runner does the same thing better ( It's also a TV show, dunno anything about it though).

@MarkWahlberg said:

Ghost in the Shell is another movie that gets mentioned a lot, and it's ok but honestly Blade Runner does the same thing better ( It's also a TV show, dunno anything about it though).

The TV show is way better than the movie.

It feels like someone mixed a cop drama with metal gear solid.

@gamefreak9 said:

@LiquidPrince said:

@gamefreak9 said:

I'm more for fantasy type anime. The gateway anime I usually recommend, is Death Note. Then Full metal alchemist brotherhood. If you have patience then start Naruto, its hands down the best anime ever, but there's alot of wasted episodes and its very long. Also my second favourite is Code Geass.

Naruto had potential to be the best anime, but it really heavily squandered it with just way way way too many filler episodes. Every Shonen has filler, but Naruto approaches Dragonball Z levels of fluff sometimes. I still really like it, but One Piece is hands down the best Shonen anime in my opinion. Even the few fillers that One Piece has are all entertaining, where as in Naruto, I would be like "god just move it along already..."

I mean i understand your frustration with fillers, which is why I skip them, theres sites that tell you which are fillers. Is one piece really that good? It doesn't seem as engrossing, tell me about it.

It's fantastic. I can see how the zany character designs may turn some people off at first glance, but after watching a certain number of episodes you will love it. It's one of the few anime's were the majority of the characters look very distinct as opposed to just hair and face swaps. But that isn't why the show is great. I like my anime to have touching or engrossing stories where you care about the characters. I used to think Naruto had a really touching story until I watched One Piece. Then it made me realize the flaw in Naruto. I care about Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Itachi and maybe a few more characters, but mainly team 7 out of the huge cast of characters that Naruto has. But in One Piece I care about almost everyone. Pretty much every character has a super engrossing story and I can't think of anyone who doesn't like everyone of the strawhats.

Aside from that, from a pure action stand point the story gets more and more badass as the show progresses.

People have given some really good suggestions of the more serious stuff, and I'd gladly offer more if I didn't have such a terrible memory.

However, on the offchance that in the future you might be up for watching something you wouldn't necessarily be into now, I'd recommend Nichijou. It's a slice of life/comedy show revolving around a group of high school girls (yes, but not in a lame way), a human looking robot and a child genius who created the robot. Not always amazing, but there were some scenes that had me cracking up. Good stuff overall, and great animation quality (though not life like in any sense of the word.)

I heard that Nichijou was weird a hell.

If only we had a thre-

@Hunter5024 said:

It's awesome that you gave it another chance instead of just dismissing it. If you ever have any questions or anything check out the Anime Discussion Thread.

...

Yeah, that one.

Go see Akira if you haven't already.