Anime for Beginners

[ddvmor]

Ok, so I saw Akira and Ghost in the Machine years ago, and more recently I've seen Metropolis which was also pretty good. But I've never really got into Anime big-time because there seems to be an awful lot of pornographic elements to it - and it's hard to tell from the covers which ones are gonna be good and which are just T*t-flicks (not that I particularly object to seeing a bit of flesh, but I like a decent plot, too...). Can anyone recommend some good stuff for me to watch?

 

[Laurel]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for and it is kind of lengthy, but the Record of Lodoss War IMO is awesome.
I tend to recommend this one a lot, and so far everyone has seemed to enjoy it.

 

[Derren]

Depending on how serious you want it try Cowboy Bebop (serie about some bounty hunters in the future) and Trigun (Less serious the most time. Serie about the life of a gunslinger in a western like desert world)

I reccomend both.

 

[jarlaxlecq]

I agree with Cowboy and to a lesser degree Trigun. I'd also add Ninja Scroll to the list. Macross Plus is good too. Neo Genesis Evangelian is good too (though that ones is a love it or hate it kind of show)

 

[jarlaxlecq]

I agree with Cowboy and to a lesser degree Trigun. I'd also add Ninja Scroll to the list. Macross Plus is good too. Neo Genesis Evangelian is good too (though that ones is a love it or hate it kind of show)

 

[SubMensa]

It sounds like you have watched some serious anime in the past. What I've come to realize is that in Japan anime has the same range as TV does here in the states. There is alot of comedy out there as well. My recommendation is to frequent your local video rental place as they sometimes have the more popular titles in stock.

My personal recommendations are:

Trigun - Comedy/Drama. A mixture of comedy and cowboys on a far off planet. Alot of social undertones regarding pacifism.

Cowboy Bebop - Action. Bounty hunters in space! Another one of my favorites, unfortunately I'm too poor to go out and buy the DVD boxed set to see the episodes I've missed.

Ranma 1/2 - Romantic comedy. Cursed to turn into a beautiful girl whenever he gets wet, Ranma returns to japan to find out that his father has arranged a marriage for him to a girl he doesn't get along with. One of the longest running anime out there with multiple Seasons worth of episodes and several movies.

Tenchi Muyo - Romantic comedy. Tenchi awakens a female demon who wants to kill him in a cave nearby. After that open several women enter Tenchi's life. A royal princess, a galactic policewoman, and Washoo the galaxy's foremost genius.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Action/Drama. 15 years after a global disaster that killed half of the world's population Shinji is called by his father to pilot the one thing that stands between mankind and total destruction.

EDIT; almost forgot, you can check out seried synopsis here http://www.animeinfo.org/quickieg.html

 

[Benben]

I'd also add Ninja Scroll to the list.

There's some hardcore sexual elements to Ninja Scroll. It's certainly not hentai, and one of my favorite animes, but the original poster gave some misgivings about the pornographic elements of some anime.

Anyway here are some more great anime:

The comple works of Hiyao Miyazaki: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and many more. These can be watched with family, or dates, or just about anybody. His studio has done others, many others, and they're all great.

Grave of the Fireflies: Watch this when you start to think that anime is swords, panty shots, big robots, and Tokyo exploding. It's a stark, serious view of life in Japan during World War II.

Samurai X the OVA collection is also splendid.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Welcome to the world of anime, ddymor. Just as with any other medium, there's good anime out there, and really bad anime out there.

My recommendations...

Record of Lodoss War: This anime has a very D&Dish feel to as, and it should considering that it's based on the creator's D&D campaign he ran while in high school. Lots of fun, especially if you're a fan of fantasy RPGs. The characters tend to adhere to classic D&D archaetypes (such as the dwarf fighter and the wisecracking thief), but are memorable nonetheless. And, even though I don't usually drool over anime girls, I can say with complete honesty that Pirotess, the evil dark elf woman, is one of the sexist female character designs I've ever seen.

Cowboy Bebop: This series is just plain fantastic. It's a space opera that combines elements from noir and 1970s blaxploitation films, with memorable characters and an absolutely fantastic soundtrack. Truly a must-see!

Tenchi Muyo: A rather strange series where a Japanese high school student awakens a demoness (who looks like a beautiful woman, of course) from a cave near his home, which sets into motion a chain of events that results in him sharing a house with several woman from across the galaxy. Despite the strange premise, the series manages to remain enjoyable due to the memorable characters and great comedic moments. 13 episodes were produced for this series back in the early 1990s, and only recently the series has started up again. However, I reccomend that you stick with the original 13 episodes, because the new episodes are disappointing and fail to capture what made the original episodes so special.

Berserk: I haven't seen this series all the way through yet, but what I have seen was absolutely awesome. This is another series set in a fantasy medieval Europe-type setting, but it's a very dark and violent series (I've heard it described as Record of Lodoss War meets Conan the Barbarian). The series revolves around a guy named Gatts, a mercenary swordsman who is a muscle-bound, scarred, ugly lump of a man (a big departure from the effeminate pretty-boy heroes found in many other anime series) and his adventures in a brutal, war-torn world. I hope to see the rest of the series soon.

I'm going to go against the above poster, however, and recommend against Neon Genesis Evangelion; I decided to watch that series just to see what all the hubub was about, and found it to be pretentious, confusing, and self-indulgent. You couldn't pay me to watch it again.

 

[jarlaxlecq]

ouch how'd i forget Princess Mononoke, Also comes HIGHLY recommended

 

[reanjr]

Ok, so I saw Akira and Ghost in the Machine years ago, and more recently I've seen Metropolis which was also pretty good. But I've never really got into Anime big-time because there seems to be an awful lot of pornographic elements to it - and it's hard to tell from the covers which ones are gonna be good and which are just T*t-flicks (not that I particularly object to seeing a bit of flesh, but I like a decent plot, too...). Can anyone recommend some good stuff for me to watch?

I generally dislike anime. So you can take me recommending an anime as either very useful or completely useless. But the following are great: Record of Lodoss War, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion. Especially Cowboy Bebop. Record of Lodoss War is straight-up D&D. Suffered from poor production in some of the later episodes, though.