Anime for Beginners

[Dark Jezter]

Here are some anime movies (not series) that are recommended...

Princess Mononoke: Truly a masterpiece of animation. Beautiful design, and a unique concept make this one of the most memorable animated films of all time.

Spirited Away: The first time I saw this movie, I didn't think I'd like it. Boy, was I wrong! This movie is strange, but at the same time manages to be very, very cool. Of course, what did you expect from the same guy who made Princess Mononoke?

Ninja Scroll: Rent this movie and see why ninjas are the Real Ultimate Power! Not a classic like the other two I mentioned, but still a fun action movie with boatloads of gory violence and a cool main character.

 

[Elemental]

Series' I liked, and why:

Hellsing: A secret paramilitary organisation that has battled vampires for centuries, has to contend against a wave of artificially created undead, with the aid of Alucard (think about it), an ancient and fearsomely powerful true vampire. It's slick, and very cartoony-violent, and also has something of a gun fetish, but it's fun at the same time, with an interesting unfolding plot and memorably weird characters. Only strike against it is the low ratio of episodes per DVD disc.

Excel Saga: You might want to watch some other anime before this as it is first and foremost, a merciless piss-take of other genres. The plot, such as it is, revolves around a hyperactive teenage girl (Excel), who works for an organisation called ACROSS, with vague goals of overthrowing corrupt modern government, but that's really just a framing device for parodies of other genres, including horror, survival alien invasion, and sports drama. I found the first episode confusing and not especially funny, but everything after that is pure gold.

I've seen some of Berserk, and really liked it (it has some great battle scenes), but be warned that the ending, which I've not seen, pisses quite a lot of other fans off.

Second for Trigun. It's a mix of sci-fi and Western, focusing around a mysterious wandering gunman who's acquired a reputation as a walking disaster area and death incarnate when he's actually a nice guy, and a pacifist to boot. It's good for the start, though the goofiness might be a bit offputting, it's worth sticking with--a few episodes in, the tone becomes a little more serious, the sci-fi elements are expanded on, and we start finding out about the backstory, and I found it incredible.

Evangelion really is a love it or hate it show--it has a massively intricate backstory, and you have to do a lot of conjecture to put it together. There are also two endings, both of which are loved and hated in equal measure. Some great giant robot battles though.

Read or Die: Supposedly a series, but more like a feature film broken up into three parts, this is about a nerdy, mild-mannered librarian, who happens to have incredible paper-related powers, who works with her partner (who can become intangible) for a international librarians task force, to combat cloned historical geniuses with incredible steampunk technology, called the I-Jin. It's as quirky as it sounds, but it I found it wonderful. Also, for the price-conscious you only need to buy one DVD.

 

[Haradim]

Read or Die: Supposedly a series, but more like a feature film broken up into three parts, this is about a nerdy, mild-mannered librarian, who happens to have incredible paper-related powers, who works with her partner (who can become intangible) for a international librarians task force, to combat cloned historical geniuses with incredible steampunk technology, called the I-Jin. It's as quirky as it sounds, but it I found it wonderful. Also, for the price-conscious you only need to buy one DVD.

There is also a TV series (26 episodes I believe) that occurs a number of years in the future (with a manga series in between the two). Mostly a different cast though. I know the first DVD is available on this side of the ocean, and the second might be as well.

I'll throw my vote in for Vision of Escaflowne (TV series). Something along the lines of drama/medieval mecha/action/romance. An Earth girl ends up on the world of Gaia, a seemingly invisible world not far from Earth, that is on the brink of war. A powerful empire seeks to unlock an ancient and forbidden power, but she and the prince she accompanies throw their predictions and plans off; the prince with his ancient mecha and lineage, and the girl with her ability to see the future and locate the deceptive enemies that come for them. Has nice artwork, no particularly annoying characters, entertaining action scenes, romance and bloodshed, and cool villains

Another show I've been enjoying is X (TV), a rather dark drama/action show about the end of the world. I haven't had a chance to watch all of it though.

If you are feeling adventurous, you might also try FLCL. It's an action/chaos kind of show, only 6 episodes long, but with memorable (and strange) characters and situations. Mixes humor and oddity with full-out action. The plot isn't too bad, either, if kinda compressed and hard to get ahold of. You definitely need to be paying attention, though, because there is a fairly high speed to this hold series.

That's my input anyway

 

[Derren]

Here are some anime movies (not series) that are recommended...

Princess Mononoke: Truly a masterpiece of animation. Beautiful design, and a unique concept make this one of the most memorable animated films of all time.

And screening tomorrow in german TV

 

[Velenne]

I'll also throw in my votes for Cowboy Bebop, Ninja Scroll, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Berserk, Trigun, Record of Lodoss War, and Read or Die, in that order.

I'm also a fan of Scrapped Princess and Full Metal Panic.

 

[Smokingmonkee]

A few others I enjoy are

Now and Then, Here and There
Big O
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Robotech
Witch Hunter Robin
GTO
Full Metal Panic
Inu Yasha
Full Metal Alchemist
Noir
Serial Experiment Lain
Kenshin
Bastard

 

[atra2]

I know the purists will scream at me, but consider Robotech (at least the first series, though the other two are cool too) and an oldie but goodie: Star Blazers.

Oh, on Ranma, a few (3 or less) of the very early episodes mix in comedy scenes at the shower, with some brief nudity, as the other characters learn that for Ranma, hot water = stay boy or return to boy form, and cold water = stay girl or return to girl form. The producers quickly leave the "naked 3 stooges humor" behind, and the next zillion episodes don't use that comedy device, or at least provide convenient scenery.

Ranma is well-written, though be cautious about showing anyone the first 6 episodes. It's kinda sad, because the first few episodes explain the story, but you can't exactly show a 10-year old them, even though the majority of 70+ episodes have no such situations. Again, not porn, just 3-stooges female nudity.

Record of Lodoss war is indeed good, though keep in mind most people are referring to the 2-dvd set original to video, not the 4-dvd set that is ~24 episodes of a tv series done to treat the 2nd dvd of the first set correctly. (IE, they started running low on money, so had to compress 24 eps each 22min into 1 DVD, so the 2-dvd set is missing some story elements, things are compressed, etc. However, the TV series had poorer animation, so it's ok if you skip the 4-dvd set ($90 at amazon) in favor of the 2-dvd set (<$40) and you won't even know what you were missing.

Here's another hint: cartoon network shows some anime (dragonball z and stuff) during the daylight hours, but some stuff (a bit more adult, but not nudity/sex stuff) late at night, like midnight. Just look in your tv guide, and the series titles will tell you by their airtime what's more adult, what's more kiddie, or at least safe.

Sadly, Anime on DVD has no ratings system here, though stuff that would be NC-17 is at least set aside in a "mature" section. Still, at suncoast movies and other dvd stores, anime with serious gore is alphabetized right along with pokemon and dragonball Z.

I suggest you find people in your city who are big anime fans, take them down to a suncoast or indy anime dealer, and have them grab the first 5-10 dvds they see that aren't skinfests, and show you the top 2 or 3 based on quality and your genre interests.

This is the equivalent of having an "anime librarian." Librarians become far more useful
when the bookstores don't helpfully separate things by genre, though you can miss
out on a lot of genre-mixing authors that way. (Many of Isaac Asimov's sci-fi books
are more properly detective stories set in the future, and really belong in the Mystery
section, for example.)

 

[Tsyr]

A few others that have yet to be mentioned, but which I would suggest:

Crest of the Stars, and the later series Banner of the Stars (I think htose are they titles they got released over here as). Not a comedy at all... Its a very good, serious space drama type show, with some interesting philosophical questions behind it too. Very low key. Its about the people, the places, and the events... Its not a sci-fi special-effects shebang. If your expecting wild space dogfights and laser-gun-fights, you arent going to get a whole lot of it here. But its very good.

Last Exile: An odd, pseduo-mystical, pseudo-WWI/WWII tech-level setting, of a shattered world of floating islands and giant airships. Its got a nice military feel too it in places, and in others, its a nice drama/adventure story. I think this is (or was) showing on TechTV for a while too, if you wanted to try to catch it that way.

Vampire Princess Miyu. The OAVs, particularly. A little disturbing for the wrong age groups maybe, but its an interesting mystery, low-key horror (Its just the concepts sometimes that are pretty sad and horrible when you think about them, not that its shock, or splatterpunk), drama type show.

Captain Herlock. Hard to give a summary, but its a space action/drama thats pretty good. A bit of comedy here and there. And its got Space Pirates!

 

[ddvmor]

Wow! Got a lot of replies there. Thanks guys.

Common themes seem to be Cowboy Bebop, Trigun and Princess Mononoke (which I note has Neil Gaiman in the credits - did I read somewhere that he did the translation or something?), so I'll start with them and work down the (now extensive) list! I think I'll visit the video shop this weekend (since its a bank holiday over here in the UK).

I remember catching an episode or two of Escaflowne on one of the cartoon channels (I don't remember which one) a year or so ago - I was reasonably impressed, although utterly lost plot-wise!

 

[JoeGKushner]

Always glad to see another person checking out the anime. One thing to keep in mind is that if you'rei ntrigued by the anime, check out the manga. In some cases like Berserk and Hellsing, the manga is much better and provides a lot of details that are missing from the anime due to time constraints.

Some of my own faves include:

Berserk: Still one of my favorites. A serious sword and sorcery style anime that doesn't rely on ninja and samuaria.

Heroic Chronicles/Lodoss War: Not quite as series but good nonthless.

Outlaw Star: A bit corny but I like the characters and the fact that they aren't perfect. It reminds me of a shinier version of Cowboy Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop: Great stuff here all around. Good characters and background, great music.

Big O: Loved it except for that last episode. Giant Robots and a guy whose like Brurce Wayne with an Alfred that kickcs butt! The manga once again goes into a bit more detail here than the anime.

There are others. I like Escaflowne because it's got power armor in a fantasy setting. Tough stuff there. Like Ninja Scroll. Like Ghost in the Shell. So many options! I'm glad that DVD has been good to anime. In the past it was kinda of difficult to get ahold of anime but that's changed big time!