Recommend me some anime

So I've been watching the first season of attack on titan for the second time in less than a week and I really need something to take my mind off of that for the next 12-18 months. I haven't watched a whole lot of anime but I kinda know what I like and don't like. Here's my general appreciation of stuff I've watched:

Death Note: very good, some fun characters, good pacing and thrilling plot.

Cowboy Bebop: only watched 5-10 episodes before I got bored to tears. The main theme is great, some of the characters are cool but it's a ''caper of the week'' type of show and nothing matters in any of the episodes I've watched. No continuity, no stakes, fucking cat people for no reason. It's not that funny, or thrilling, or actiony so there's nothing to keep my attention. What's up with the reverence for this show?

The newest evengelion movies: I... Um... Hish... Ah... What the fuck just happened?

Naruto: stopped watching a few years ago. I can't stand those shows clearly meant to run for a few seasons but stretched for decades. The made up bullshit was too much at some point and overcame my desire to see the cool-ish fights.

Bleach: same thing + way to much filler. Enjoyed the unique style though.

Ghost in the shell first movie: really good. Cool characters and world. Way easier to follow than arise and that terrible second movie. Not too heavy on the philosophical stuff but almost.

Ghost in the shell second movie: Way, way too far up its own ass. Half the goddamn dialogue is just characters quoting great thinkers and philosophers.

Ghost in the shell arise: back to the cool world and characters. It's kinda too dense and hard to follow with multiple bearly introduced competing factions.

Gurren Lagann: Fun ride in a super ridiculous sort of way. That last fight is so ludacris.

One piece: I have a soft spot for this one. I like the characters when they're not being scandered (*cough* Ussop *cough*). I enjoy the world building and sense of continuity unparralled by any media I'm aware of. Been following the show for years now even though the recent arcs have been nothing but disapointment after disapointment.

Attack on titan: Hands down my favorite. Great pacing, great direction, interesting world, awesome characters, outstanding score, untold amounts of intriguing mysteries. I am foaming at the mouth for season 2.

So yeah, any suggestions based on that? I can handle some amount of ''animeness'' but not too much. For exemple, I'll steer clear of fanservicy series. Characters with cleavage is fine but a whole show about girls changing into half naked battle suits? No thank you.

FLCL.

Polar Bear Cafe.

Both nice slice of life animayz if you are into that.

Cowboy Bebop gets better btw.

im glad someone else is with me on bebop not being any good.as for recommendations i would say code geass and Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin would be a great start.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's brilliant and there's no fanservice at all.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is fabulous and is the best shounen show ever.

I've recently been watching Parasyte. A show about (alien?) parasites discreetly taking over humans by invading their bodies and gaining control of their minds. The main character finds himself in a unique scenario where one of the creature's fails to invade his brain, but instead ends up in his right hand. I'm on episode 11 (It's currently aired 14 episodes of an eventual 24) and I'm really liking it so far. It has horror elements, similar to attack on titan, and features plenty of action. Definitely one of the standouts I've watched in recent memory.

Here's a trailer.

You couldn't appreciate Cowboy Bebop so just quit now, cause you won't be able to appreciate any of the good shows around. Obviously you have no soul.

Samurai Flamenco. It's on Netflix. If you have access to Crunchyroll, give Madoka Magica a shot. There's a lot of better stuff out there than Attack on Titan.

The last few arcs have been fucking amazing. I do recommend that you try not to watch on a week to week basis though. The arcs seem much more entertaining when you can sit down and plow through a ton of episodes back to back.

I haven't seen any of the ones you listed, I watched Haganai first season, I liked all the meta humor on video games, their take on monster hunter was pretty funny.

Have you ever watched Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the second season, 2nd Gig? I'd probably give them an 8/10?

Baccano! is pretty fucking amazing; it's set in 1930s Manhattan and features a mafia gang-war story involving immortals, and a quest to make an elixir of immortality. The characters are fantastic, the music is great, and the dub is really good. 9.5/10

I have a soft spot for Darker Than Black, an anime about life after all the stars disappeared, replaced by fake ones that represent the lives of Contractors, humans with supernatural powers and how the governments and criminal organizations use them. It's done by Bones, the studio behind Fullmetal Alchemist's anime, so the animation is really good. It's more Ghost in the Shell in style, although not sci-fi. 7.5/10

Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, FMA and FMA: Brotherhood are both really good. FMA is an adaptation of the manga that diverges for the last half to tell a pretty different ending. Brotherhood follows the manga from start to end. If you're only going to watch one, I would go for Brotherhood, but if you don't mind watching both, start with FMA, then watch Brotherhood and skip the first few episodes (the first few are exactly the same as FMA's, save for the animation and some dialogue). 8/10

My last recommendation is Steins;Gate. It's an anime about time-travelling, but more specifically the act of time-travelling, i.e. the quest to create a way to do it and the consequences. The characters and writing are incredible, I rather like the music, and it's got a good style to it. If you don't outright refuse to watch anime subbed, watch this subbed as the main character's Japanese voice actor is one of the best voice actors I've ever seen in any language, hands down. It's only 24 episodes long; almost everyone I tell to watch it has the same reactions: for the first 6 or so episodes, nothing really seems to happen and people either stop watching, or joke about it with friends. After that, until about the halfway point, they will think "Oh, okay, this is getting interesting now". For the last half of the show, it really comes down to "...Fuck." 9.5/10

This. This. One thousand times this.

PMMM is the one anime I will recommend to anyone, whether they love or hate or don't know jack about the medium. Well, except for Dan Ryckert, maybe. Not many cool action guys here.

Do yourself a favor and watch the 12 episode series, preferably the blu-ray release. Don't watch the 2 movies re-telling the series unless you feel like it'd be fun after seeing the show - which it could be, as there are a lot of things you will almost certainly miss until your second viewing. They have better visuals and an expanded soundtrack, but cut out some scenes I consider to be important. The 3rd movie, Rebellion, is the sequel to the series.

Given your expressed taste, and if you're willing to put up with some mediocre moments for an awesome overall experience, I'd also suggest Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and the second season, HNNKN Kai. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but there are some things it just does better than pretty much anything else out there.

Hunter X Hunter (2011 version)

You might think it's boring, especially since it takes awhile to start being great, but man, when it gets there it's so fucking good. It's like Naruto but smart.

@pyrodactyl:

• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (26 episodes, 25 minutes each)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig (26 episodes, 25 minutes each)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society (105 minute film)

SAC is superior to the films and Arise as far as I'm concerned.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. One of the most beautifully animated and perfectly voice acted anime movies I have ever seen. Amazing stuff.

Although if you cannot appreciate Cowboy Bebop, I don't know what to say... It is not just an incredible anime, it's a towering achievement of storytelling and world building. There are reasons why so many people adore it so much.

Also, are you sure you saw Cowboy Bebop and not Outlaw Star? I don't remember any cat people in Bebop.

Come on. A one piece arc without any threatening antogonist is always terrible. Up until the time skip I think the one on Chopper's island has been the only one were the antagonist was terrible. After the time skip, the first 2 arcs had horrible villains. That fishman guy was a second rate arlong and his crew were a bunch of losers who couldn't put up a decent fight even on magic steroids.

The gas guy was also a dumb gimmick vilain who turned into a joke character in the Dressrosa arc. Sure, the fishmen island and punk hazard arcs were cool from a world building perspective and I can recall a couple of great scenes from both arcs but a couple of great scenes in like 2 years is a real bummer.

They've also got into a terrible habit of resolving fights off screen recently. Perfectly good fights too. It's been fucking years since the time skip and no one in the main crew had their abilities tested by a good antagonist on screen except maybe Luffy and those were average/gimmick fights against weak foes.

Now we've been in an arc against a compeling vilain for a while now but bearly anything has happened. They just recently spent a entire episode showing Ussop hasen't grown as a character since they first met him more than 600 episodes ago. Wait, no, they actually showed he's more dim witted and cowardly than he ever was.

What they're doing with the world and secondary characters is still pretty good and enough to keep me going but the main through line, the goings on with the main crew has been nothing but disapointment after disapointment for YEARS.

Haven't gotten past episode 16 on Bebop for the same reasons. I want to finish it eventually though.

Some fave anime picks:

• Samurai Champloo
• FMA Brotherhood or Original FMA
• Welcome to the NHK
• Tatami Galaxy
• Rainbow
• Kill la Kill

Yeah, I watched like half of the first episode and it didn't grab me. Maybe I'll give it another chance.

@pyrodactyl: i didnt really love steins gate,but the second half is pretty cool,so i think its worth a watch till the end.if you do give it another shot and finish it,then you need to watch the ova.the ova ends the show really well and i think it should be required when watching the series.

Or just read the original VN.

Sword Art Online

Persona 4 The Golden Animation

No Game No Life

Psycho-Pass

Kuroko's Basketball (I know its sports but it's more similar to a Bleach or Naruto with special moves and getting more powerful)

The Irregular at Magic High School

Witch Craft Works

@corevi: got some questions about the VN.how is the VN compared to the anime?does it have a slow start like the anime did?is there any changes in plot or anything?

It's slower and has a signficant amount of scenes that are just character moments without really advancing the story but it's basically the same. The main difference is that the VN has 6 routes/endings while the anime obviously only has one.

@corevi: reason i asked was because you recommended the VN,so i thought maybe you liked it better than the anime.just wondered if or why that was since i never read the VN.

I do prefer it. First reason is that I just really like the VN format and find it much more relaxing than watching an anime. Second is that some of those character moments are really good.

Psycho-Pass. It took too long to mention Psycho-Pass.

@corevi: hmm,the other endings is probably pretty cool,but im not going to read the VN just to get them.ill probably just look up the other endings so i know the other ways the anime could have went.thx for the info.

I second Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Code Geass. Probably my two favorite shows.

Yeah I was more recommending it as if you haven't seen the anime you should probably read the VN instead. There's enough that was cut that makes the VN superior but not enough to warrant retreading everything.

If you have seen the Fate/Stay Night anime I do recommend reading the VN though because the routes are completely different and the anime only covered one of them.

I'll recommend you some real anime unlike some of the people here.

Tokyo Ghoul

Berserk

Fist of the North Star

Psycho pass

One Piece

Vampire Hunter D (Manga is preferable because Yoshitaka Amano is a god)

@turtlebird95: Yorknew City and Chimera Ant was phenomenal until they got to the palace and started that bore fest narration.

i didnt watch fate/stay night.people said it wasnt so great and unlimited blade works was coming,so i waited for that to come out.so im not interested in the original fate stay anime or its VN that much.

The VN is great. The original Fate/Stay Night anime was not a very good adaptation and the ending was a complete mess because they tried to pull various bits from all three paths. The new anime, Unlimited Blade Works, is amazing.

I also recommend Bakemonogatari as the best written anime I've ever seen. It is, however, very fanservice heavy and probably not for beginners. Katanagatari is by the same author and less fanservicy, though the art style might bother some people.

Bacanno! and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood both make my top five anime of all time. Madoka Magica doesn't quite make that list, but it was really good.

@gnosislord: ive heard of Bakemonogatari but i never got around to watching it.you got me to look up some info on it,and there is a TON of shows connected to this anime its insane.they must have cared about the anime series alot to do all those animes.im interested,but ill need to watch this series when ive finished what ive been watching.

I understand that that's a commonly held view, but personally the narration and pacing didn't bother me at all. I felt like it was all quite deliberate and well-written and added to the tension.

So by now probably the must seen may have been suggested already so i will sugest you some smaller titles that are good and unique in a way.... these are found in Crunchyroll:

Another : a horror 12 episode anime

Skip beat :at least watch the first 3 episodes to see if you like it

Kuroko No basuke: its a sports anime with its 3 season going on about now but it is fast paced and it does not linger in games for more that 2 episodes , which is fats for this genre

Silver Spoon: ending in 2 seasons it is a differnet type of anime about a farming school , believe you me is worth watching

Servant x Service: you would never figured out that public servants can be fun to watch

All of these titles are short have 0 fan service and with the exception of another no violence etc. so it could be a nice change of pace for the usual stuff that is in anime.

i really dug Trigun (24eps). Serial Experimental Lain is ok if you wanna dabble in some pretentiousness. only 12 eps.

I came here to recommend Bebop and I'm surprised by your take on it. Maybe it just hasn't aged that well and all our opinions on it are dated. I think I'd rather go on believing it's the best thing ever.

Bebop is outstanding, and if you're not able to appreciate it, maybe something by 4Kids would be more your style.

Yep, I'll be sure to watch 4Kids's rendition of attack on titan.

Seriously though, no one has ever been able to explain to me why they think Cowboy Bebop is so great. Maybe it gets better later on but judging by the first few episodes, it has a good theme music, a few good main characters and that's about it. The world they create is very cool and interesting in spots. In other spots it's really bad. Cat people for no reason in one episode, never to be heard from again. A cool space drug in the first episode, never to be heard from again. No continuity between episodes and zero interesting, meangfull characters outside the main cast. How can I care about anything happening when I know all the secondary characters are disposable and almost everything that's happening in any given episode is pointless? I can watch that kind of show if it has some other hook. Like I said, Bebop wasn't particularly funny, thrilling or actiony. It didn't make me think on deeper level about anything. It's just the random goofy hijinks of some anime space truckers.

@pyrodactyl: we are in the same boat,except ive seen the whole show.the second half is just more of the first half,the good and the bad.everything you say is on the money and is shared by me and others.i guess we are doomed to 4 kids shows for the rest of our lives.

I was pretty much going to say something similar.

@pyrodactyl: i can't tell you you're wrong cause that's your opinion but no one explains why cowboy bebop is good because no one has to. what's great about it is always on display. the show juggles comedy and drama effortlessly. it has a lovable cast of characters. the script is well written, the dialogue is snappy, and it's delivered pitch perfect. the show is well paced with no usual anime pretentiousness and it's presented with style. simply put it's cool. what's not to like? on the other hand, everyone seems to love attack on titan and i'm have trouble with it, so each to his own...

Full Metal Alchemist

That's almost too much action anime! :P

I'm more into psychological and shorter stuff that is max 26 episodes like Paranoia Agent (anything Satoshi Kon), Welcome to NHK, Evangelion (which you've seen).

Flowers of Evil (Aku No Hana; 13 episodes) was the most recent anime that got me back, it's well-earned teen angst and existential stuff with a wee bit romance plus it's got a realistic rotoscoping look. The off-kilter theme music will get stuck in your head.

I'm wracking my brain, but I can't remember any cat people. Does anyone know which episode this is referring to, because it's really bugging me. I may just need to rewatch the series.Anyway, I consider Cowboy Bebop to be one of the classics, but it did have some particularly weak episodes. I won't condemn you for not liking it.

Also I forgot to recommend The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It's a school comedy sci-fi romance mystery parody I've run out of genres. Some warnings: The first episode (episode 0) will make no sense and may turn some people off. Push through it. If possible, watch the episodes in broadcast order instead of DVD order. The DVDs arrange the episodes chronologically, but ruin the pacing. Also probably a good idea to skip the Endless Eight arc in season 2. Just trust me on this one.

Kara no Kyoukai isn't a series, but 7 movies written by the author of Fate/Stay Night and adapted by the studio who is making Unlimited Blade Works and Fate Zero. Highly recommended. It rivals Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni for my favorite horror anime.

Kino no Tabi is a slow paced series that is probably the most thoughtful show I've ever seen.

Lastly K-On! is probably the slice of life comedy to watch.

@gnosislord: Haruhi is the best anime around, for real.

Even the half season where it's just the same episode 8 times with minor changes?

I just wanted to let you know, after I saw you post something about this show in the "looking for a mature anime" thread a few days ago, I decided to give this show a shot. Man oh man was it great. I finished it in two days, and I almost never watch shows that fast. Thanks for the recommendation!

Bebop isn't that great. I'm not a fan of episodes not continuing off each other, just felt like filler to me. I can however really respect it for what it did for anime and i think people love it so much because of the nostalgic factor, it was the first big English voiced anime state side. P.S Last two episodes are anime GOLD though.