Anime Recommendations

[Hime]

Erm....I would recommend Yakitate!! Japan(both anime and manga). The series is mostly about history of bread and the strive of a young boy named Azuma Kazuma, creating new bread called Ja-pan. It's quite good and funny at the same time.

[Avaitor]

I haven't heard of it before checking it out on MAL. It sounds fairly original.

Any specific qualities regarding it that makes it worth checking out? I'm always up for new things.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've actually had the series recommended to me quite a few times before on different forums. Perhaps I should get around to it after I finish the next few anime on my backlog of stuff to watch.

[Angus]

Dunno about the anime for X/1999 but the manga's kind of confusing so I lost interest early.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I was wondering if Desensitized or anyone else had any good shonen series recommendations. I'd prefer to get into something that is not a currently running series, but that has finished its run. I'm sure you all know what I like by now. Either a traditional style battle-shonen that contains all of the main tropes but excels at great delivery and writing and characters, or a shonen that follows maybe some of the typical conventions but also diverges into its own style with perhaps a more complex plot than most other shonen series (Hunter X Hunter is a good example of this).

I'd be all for a shorter, more deep and complex series, but I'd like to save watching stuff like that for the Summer when I don't have to wrack by brain doing lots of thinking in regards to studying for exams and writing papers. So for now I don't mind the brainless stuff.

I would consider some shojo series as well if anyone has any good recommendations of those.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Hmmm, I've been thinking of some. But for length, I'm assuming you want ones under 26 episodes?

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, of course. I'm not sure if you get the same mileage out of it if you're not as in to music, but hell it's so good that I'm not sure it matters. If you like the anime, then you can check out the manga at a later date. I think both Foggle and Avaitor would love that one too.

Martian Successor Nadesico is a sci-fi space opera that both pokes fun at cliches and is just a barrel of fun. I wish they still made anime like this.

Bastard!... I'm not going to say anything else, I just want to see if anyone here is going to look into it on their own. I'm not sure if anyone here would like it, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Thanks for the recommendations. As for Beck, I remember trying to watch the sub of it a few years back but the "Engrish" played a hand in pulling me out of the experience (though I only watched the first couple of episodes). After watching JO's review on it and seeing how infinitely superior the English dub is, I think that may just do the trick in allowing me to enjoy the series for what it is. So, I'll probably check out Beck next. Incidentally, I've actually seen the mangaka for Beck in person (in fact he's the only mangaka who I've ever seen), at the only time I ever went to an anime-con.

I'll also look into your other 2 recommendations later on. Well, I do know about Bastard!, myself, but I never actually tried getting into it before.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Bastard!! seems like more of a Foggle thing, so I wasn't sure if he'd already mentioned it or not.

But yeah, the other two are some of my favorites. But definitely watch the dub of Beck, it kind of skirts the language barrier thing a bit, but it gets the same basic thing across.

[Angus]

I agree with Beck and MSN. Beck has the Funimation cast going for it as well.

It's longer than the other ones (51 episodes), but I'd say Soul Eater. It plays a bit like Naruto (school bakas) and Bleach (shinigami), but it has Chuck Huber voicing a major character, finally.

[gunswordfist]

Man, an English dub for music anime sounds confusing.

Anyway, watch the new Guyver series and Sword Of The Stranger for me. I'm not sure if I have to tell you what The Guyver is about but Sword Of The Stranger is a gorey samurai anme that was nominated for an Oscar. Need I say more? Since my library doesn't have either on DVD, I need you to review them for me. Thanks. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Man, an English dub for music anime sounds confusing.

It's not really that confusing because the band sings in english anyway. It just sounds more consistent in the english dub.

But seriously, I'm so disappointed they didn't continue the anime after the point it ends at. The material the anime covered was actually superior to the manga's efforts, so it would have been nice to see how it would have improved on the west.

The manga succeeds in being very shonen despite the different way the story works. I know one of my friends who isn't really in to music loved it.

[gunswordfist]

Oh 

[Avaitor]

So on JesuOtaku's FormSpring, she was asked what would be five good gateway anime titles, and here is what she came up with.

1. Three Ghibli films, from different five-year timespans.
2. Gundam Wing followed by Gundam 00 for comparison
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion
4. Cowboy Bebop
5. Fullmetal Alchemist

What do you guys think of these, and would you come up with a different list? As for me, I think she has good choices, but I'm not sure if I would go with these five.

Miyazaki/Ghibli is a very good choice, for one. I know we're not all huge Ghibli fans, but at the same time, guys like EK, Foggle, and GSF who aren't big on their work are more in the minority with anime fans, and the studio's range is so wide, that if you pick any three films, it's hard to think that whoever watches them won't enjoy at least one. My answer would probably vary depending on the person I'm recommending these to in question, but in general, I'd probably go with Castle of Cagliostro, Grave of the Fireflies, and Spirited Away. Hell, maybe I named one that you like as well.

The Gundam one I definitely don't agree with. If you want to get someone into mecha, the Gundam franchise would probably be the best place to start, but that's only if you're interested in using that. Maybe keep 00 in for comparison's sake, but I'd replace Wing with the original. Even though MSG predates Wing by a good 15 years, Wing has aged even worse than it, and just isn't a very good watch. MSG contains just about every trope you can expect in mecha, and while it isn't perfect, would be a much better choice for beginners. Especially if you use the movies, if you want to cut things down a little.

I wouldn't mind adding in some Gundam and Evangelion, since Eva isn't much of a mecha series. It starts off as one, but the deeper you get into it, the more of a psychological drama it becomes. A damn effective, if imperfect one, too. This is a bit of a hard sell, since it's a bit divided in the fanbase, but I would consider adding it to my list, since NGE was the first anime I've seen that wasn't on TV, and my 13 or 14-year-old mind was blown away when I first watched it. I even got a lot of the series at that age as well, so it might work for some.

Bebop, absolutely. As JO said it herself, it is THE gateway drug. So close for everyone.

FMA, maybe. I like the idea of adding a shounen on there, but I'm not a super huge fan of the series. I wouldn't want to name a long-running series like DB, YYH, or OP though, since it's such a commitment, and part of the fun might be lost watching multiple episodes at a time rather than on a daily basis, like when I watched some of these on Toonami. That happens for me, at least, but I'd rather go with a shorter running series regardless. Death Note, maybe? It seems to work for a lot of different fans, and it got me interested in anime again. FMA works too, but either would be fine.

What do you guys think? I'll try to make something similar for the general animation board in a sec.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Eva is extremely polarizing, I don't think I would recommend that. But mostly it depends on the tastes of the person I was trying to get into it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, Ghibli's deifnitely something that can hook newcomers in.

While Gundam Wing wasn't great by any means, it has multiple demographic appeal (robot battles for guys, eyecandy for girls), something that 00 shares. I just think MSG would be difficult for casual fans to get into due to dated animation and tropes that have been since worn out.

Eva's polarizing, that's for sure. While it'd be a pretty good sell for those looking into cerebral stories, I wouldn't recommend it as a gateway title unless they know what they're getting into.

Not liking Bebop is like not liking The Godfather. If watching this show doesn't get you interested in the slightest, you need to have your head checked.

I agree with FMA, mostly since it lacks some culture-specific tropes that would confuse newcomers.