@Morrow: There's Kids on the Slope, Space Brothers and plenty of hard sci-fi in that category. I don't know why people insist on having Cowboy Bebop as some kind of shining light of anime appealing to western audiences.
One Piece. If you can get over the initial goofiness of the show and stick with it for a while, you will become emotionally invested in the characters like no show before. Somewhere around episode 50 you should be hooked for life. That's not to say you need to watch 50 episodes before it gets good, but that by that point you will have known whether it's for you or not. Near the climax of the Arlong/Nami arc.
50 Episodes to get hooked? You got 3 episodes for me with most TV shows. So no you aren't hooked, you are just so invested into something that you feel you must continue.
One Piece. If you can get over the initial goofiness of the show and stick with it for a while, you will become emotionally invested in the characters like no show before. Somewhere around episode 50 you should be hooked for life. That's not to say you need to watch 50 episodes before it gets good, but that by that point you will have known whether it's for you or not. Near the climax of the Arlong/Nami arc.
50 Episodes to get hooked? You got 3 episodes for me with most TV shows. So no you aren't hooked, you are just so invested into something that you feel you must continue.
I say 50 because that's when what I feel is the first extremely emotionally engaging arc reaches its climax. Fifty because he isn't a fan of regular Anime to begin with so One Piece's goofy aesthetic may throw him off in the initial episodes. Also don't tell me whether I am or am not hooked. Keep your sage advice to yourself. I was hooked from the first manga chapter I read way back in 2002. I don't need you to tell me what I feel with regards to the shows I watch.
Might as well throw in Roberta's Blood Trail OVA after you're done with the first two seasons. I've also heard good things about Jormungand from a friend, i'll pick it up whenever it comes out on blu ray in NA.
One Piece. If you can get over the initial goofiness of the show and stick with it for a while, you will become emotionally invested in the characters like no show before. Somewhere around episode 50 you should be hooked for life. That's not to say you need to watch 50 episodes before it gets good, but that by that point you will have known whether it's for you or not. Near the climax of the Arlong/Nami arc.
50 Episodes to get hooked? You got 3 episodes for me with most TV shows. So no you aren't hooked, you are just so invested into something that you feel you must continue.
I say 50 because that's when what I feel is the first extremely emotionally engaging arc reaches its climax. Fifty because he isn't a fan of regular Anime to begin with so One Piece's goofy aesthetic may throw him off in the initial episodes. Also don't tell me whether I am or am not hooked. Keep your sage advice to yourself. I was hooked from the first manga chapter I read way back in 2002. I don't need you to tell me what I feel with regards to the shows I watch.
Investing 20 hours into something to get hooked, means you are looking to get hooked. It wasn't literally meant to be YOU. It was a general statement due to your high number. Enjoy your show, manga, whatever but telling someone it's going to take 50 episodes of some show before they get hooked means they simply won't watch it.
If I said you'd get hooked on Game of Thrones after 1 episode you'd be willing to put in an hour to give it a shot, but if i said oh yeah Game of Thrones is good but it doesn't start getting good til episode 9 you'll be more hesitant.
@Subject2Change: Actually ..saying "its not till episode 9 out of 26 episodes it gets good." is not as bad as "Wait till episode 50 out of 250 till it gets good if the weird visuals and characters dont throw you off on episode 1".
Intact most anime as a trope dont get good till about episode 9, since the main trope is introduce yout o characters and get you used to them and the world. Come Ep 9 you introduce the serious over arching story. Then go back to silly one off eps. Till about episode 18 were things get super seriouse all the characters become dark and the final climax of usually sadness.
Thats for a 26 ep series. for something like One piece its just silly until someone gets board writing silly and decides to do something else....E.G episode 50.
Out of all the anime to suggest someone who says "I dont like things being too Japanese and characters I can invest in." One piece is nooooooooooot that. So for the guy to suggest that is bonkers. Id say Bleach matches his tastes better and I still think that is a stupid suggestion.
One Piece. If you can get over the initial goofiness of the show and stick with it for a while, you will become emotionally invested in the characters like no show before. Somewhere around episode 50 you should be hooked for life. That's not to say you need to watch 50 episodes before it gets good, but that by that point you will have known whether it's for you or not. Near the climax of the Arlong/Nami arc.
50 Episodes to get hooked? You got 3 episodes for me with most TV shows. So no you aren't hooked, you are just so invested into something that you feel you must continue.
I say 50 because that's when what I feel is the first extremely emotionally engaging arc reaches its climax. Fifty because he isn't a fan of regular Anime to begin with so One Piece's goofy aesthetic may throw him off in the initial episodes. Also don't tell me whether I am or am not hooked. Keep your sage advice to yourself. I was hooked from the first manga chapter I read way back in 2002. I don't need you to tell me what I feel with regards to the shows I watch.
Investing 20 hours into something to get hooked, means you are looking to get hooked. It wasn't literally meant to be YOU. It was a general statement due to your high number. Enjoy your show, manga, whatever but telling someone it's going to take 50 episodes of some show before they get hooked means they simply won't watch it.
If I said you'd get hooked on Game of Thrones after 1 episode you'd be willing to put in an hour to give it a shot, but if i said oh yeah Game of Thrones is good but it doesn't start getting good til episode 9 you'll be more hesitant.
That's just it. I never said it wasn't good from episode one. My recommendation for watching up to episode 50 came because he said he isn't generally a fan of Anime and so I thought that the goofiness of One Piece may throw him off. Considering One Piece is one of the most popular, if not THE most popular anime's in the world, obviously I feel like it hooks from episode one. But he isn't someone who is as of yet in the anime community who watches a wide variety of stuff. So I thought I would give him a sort of point in which I feel would demonstrate some of the best One Piece has to offer and if he liked it by that point then he could stick with it. Also 50 episodes is like nothing. I rewatched the entirety of the series last summer on my days off and would go through like 10-20 episodes a night. It saves a lot of time when you cut out the openings and recap.
Taboo Charming Mother and Bible Black. Those are what @Pepsiman recommended to me when I asked him the same question, and look at me I'm a changed man!
At one point I was providing content for Anime Vice!
Zombie XD
Yeah those were great shows! GREAT!
These two speak the truth. These are statements I once made and will continue to stand by. As the site's local Japanese speaker, of course you can trust me on my word.
I was going to say Cowboy Bebop, since I just started watching it and I'm in a similar situation to you. If you haven't seen it, Gurren Lagann is a great jumping off point for crazy awesome robot anime that doesn't take itself too seriously. It works.
@LiquidPrince: You seem to forget that other people are not you.
This is asinine. Obviously I didn't forget that, or I wouldn't have recommended he watch until episode 50. If he WAS me, he would be hooked from episode one. Thanks for the lame attempt at being clever though.
I haven't watched anime in around 8 years which was when I was watching stuff like Naruto and Bleach. Recently, however, I decided to see if Cowboy Bebop was any good and I ended up loving it. In part, perhaps, because it isn't that much like an anime. Many of the things that I can't stand about the medium are absent from it, making it feel more western.
Now I'm willing to give some other anime a chance. I prefer story-focused as opposed to action-focused stuff, with good characters that you can grow attached to, but nothing melodramatic and nothing for kids. Bebop hit a good balance on this front. I much prefer the mystery/neo-noir/cyberpunk-theme over the samurai stuff, but that isn't necessary.
Any help is appreciated.
You might have to reconsider what your preconceptions on what "anime" is. Afterall, a Japanese person couldn't very well swear off of Hollywood movies because they disliked The Avengers. The bredth of anime is just as broad, aside from the fact that if it comes from Japan, they will be culturally Japanese. If that stuff gets you, there's likely no getting around it.
Hmm, maybe something like Black Lagoon. It has the feel of an American action movie. I like Witch Hunter Robin a lot; no kids, lots of story, paranormal mysteries. Another good one might be Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. It has some very unique art styles. Something more low-key is Usagi Drop. It does have kids in it, though but not in the cliche way.
I think the most important thing for a new-comer is to experiment. There's lots of free (and legal) anime on the web. Check out Hulu, Funimation, Crunchyroll and even YouTube.
I'm like you in that I don't like a lot of lame anime stereotypes like fan service etc, but there loads of great mature shows that you should check out. Some of my favorites are Monster, Death Note, Gankutsuou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Darker Than Black, Code Geass and Serial Experiments Lain.
Gundam's pretty cool, the original 1979 series is really awesome once you make it past the dated animation. Zeta Gundam makes it so worth it.
I wholly agree with this. The original is a surprisingly great and realistic war story. Also it explains why a group of teenager is fighting in war far better then any other series. Also Zeta Gundam is soo good and also sooo dark.
I would also like to recommend Steins;Gate. It's eccentric college kid, who believes himself to be a mad scientist, who accidentally creates a time machine (but not in the way you think) and mystery and intrigue ensue. It's really really good. The only problem is I don't think the dub is finished so you would have to go for a sub. Which conveniently is available for free on hulu if you're in the States.
I always thought Death Note was a good anime to get newbies to watch. I recommended it to some people a couple years ago and now they are quite the anime fans.
@scalpel: I recommend Sword Art Online. It's a newer anime but if you like video games and especially if you have ever played an MMO whether you liked it or not you will probably get enjoyment out of it. It's an anime about how an MMO is released in the year 2022 and they use virtual reality helmets for all MMO's. They soon find out that the log out button is missing and the creator makes it so anyone who dies in the game dies in real life. Not only that but if someone outside removed your helmet then you also die. Also the creator then forces that all players now look like what they do in reality.
My favorite part is that the world works as an MMO would so they discuss HP, loot, Player Killing, Leveling up, skills, guilds, updates, patch notes, server maintenance Not showing these things off in terms of just having them to relate to gamers but having them as essential and unexplained plot points. I'm certain that someone who has never played a game would probably be lost on half of the dialogue while in the same moment someone who has played an MMO or at least an RPG would be tearing up and/or cheering.
Wanna watch the most shockingly amazing anime I've ever seen? One that is completely set in reality and yet still manages to leave you breathless? One that is unexpectedly hilarious one moment and seriously emotional in another?
Then strap yourself in and get a load of Hajime no Ippo! Yes, it sounds dumb at first (an anime about boxing? *snore*), but if you give the first few episodes a shot and aren't hooked, I'll eat my hat!
I think it really helps something not seem like anime when they manage to avoid excessive internal monologue. It's one of the most jarring things when you're not used to it. It makes a little more sense if the genre is known for narration (film noir or something), but otherwise it is one of the things people always find weird when I used to show them anime. It works better in manga, but it can be a little much in anime.
Taboo Charming Mother and Bible Black. Those are what @Pepsiman recommended to me when I asked him the same question, and look at me I'm a changed man!
At one point I was providing content for Anime Vice!
Bible Black......
Oh god....the memories are coming back.
I had no clue what an inflation fetish or futanari (DO NOT GOOGLE) was until I watched this. I feel like a part of my soul died that day.
Berserk is a pretty good, non anime cliched show. I say watch either the movies, or the series. Both will get you about the same material. I personally like the show better. If you like midevil times. Like Braveheart? I'd try berserk. First episode starts crazy. 2nd starts the tone.
Both vampire hunter d movies, especially the 2nd, feel better than most anime. The 2nd movie, is still one of the best animated things you'll ever see.
Really depends on how crazy can you go. The original hellsing series, and the recently concluded 10 episode ova series are both rather amazing. I'd start with the series first episode. See if you like it.
I don't think I could ever be called an anime fan but I really enjoyed two, one of them being Cowboy Bebop, I don't see how anyone can not like it. The other is Darker Than Black, was recommend it by a friend and did not regret watching it. I highly recommend it.
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