Anime Recommendation Thread

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#55

Ouran Highschool Host Club (Humour)

Ouran is an elite exclusive highschool for the sons and daughters of rich people. Haruhi is the only student there to attend on a scholarship. One day while looking for a quite place to study, she stumbles onto the school’s Host Club, based out of the unused Music Room 3. At first she’s mistaken for a boy because of her short hair and school clothes (pants , shirt and sweater since she can’t afford the girl’s uniform). After accidentally destroying an expensive vase, she’s made to work off her debt by being the club’s lapdog.

Eventually all the members figure out she’s a girl but keep up the facade that she’s a boy anyway just to see what everyone else will do around her.

This anime is just about the guys in the club flexing their playa muscles and getting as many girls to like them as they can. Eventually you’ll have the storyarc where all the guys in the club come to like Haruhi for some reason or another and compete for her.

All in all, it’s Love Hina, except with guys. This anime is good for when you want to watch some mindless TV. Or become a 13 year old girl.

The Twelve Kingdoms ( fantasy, medieval, alternate universe)

Youko and her friends are ordinary highschool students. One day they are taken to [another land] through a [giant whirlpool]. Upon arriving in this strange land Youko’s appearance and voice changes. They must overcome a language barrier, giant animals that want to kill them and a king with a secret agenda.

The plot flows well with an engaging storyline. All the token plot devices are accounted for, such as flying animals, summoners and magic. A negative point for anyone starting this series is the vocabulary one has to remember. Words like kaikyaku, taiho and youma are thrown around so much it’s like the creators assumed everyone would know them. That’s why I put brackets around the terms above. I forgot what they call it in the anime. A positive point is the opening theme. It sets up the feel of an ancient era nicely, sort of easing the transition between the viewer’s world and [the world this anime takes place in].

There are 45 episiodes in the series. I’m not even close to half done, but I like what I see.

#56

Sorry for the double-post, but I’d like to add to Cless’s review of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien since I just finished it.

This has got to be the only anime I’ve seen where the plot focuses on the emotional development of the characters rather than using situations to move them along. It has a serious tone that’s kinda offset by the 30 second skits after the ending theme. Even the ending theme itself tugs at the heartstrings.

If you get bored with how the anime progresses, I recommend you stick it out until the end where it at least gives some emotional closure.

At the end I found myself asking a rather odd question, “What is the legal working age in Japan?”

#57

Since Gunbuster was mentioned, here’s the obligatory mention of it’s sequel, Diebuster.

Genre: Super Robot, Science-Fiction

I didn’t like it when I watched it at first… I felt it didn’t live up to Gunbuster. I gave it another chance, and I ended up enjoying it.

It takes place several thousand years after Gunbuster and starts off with the “main character” (I still feel as if Lark is the lead…) Nono and her dream of becoming a space pilot. Everyone around her disses her dream, and she starts to doubt herself too. “Events” (avoiding spoilers :p) occur, and she eventually does get to space… and that’s where things really begin.

It’s a pretty stylish series, Sadamoto provided some rather outlandish designs into the series’ cast, and it becomes part of the charm of the series. Super robot fans will be pleased by the presence of HOT BLOODED shouting and fight sequences. :suckah:

It’s complete, having recently ended with episode 6 airing a week ago.

#58

I have not see anyone say Record of the Lodoss War. It’s seriously good!

#59

So why don’t you tell. Us. About. It?

#60

Sorry.

Genre: Fantasy

There are thirteen episodes, and though it takes a long time to get into, because at there is a good deal of back tracking in the first three episodes, the action gets pretty good after word.

The story line basically goes, during the very last war of the Gods of Light, and the Gods of mayhem, the last Goddess of Light, and Goddess of Destruction met in a giagantic clash, which devestated the land,. and cut a piece of it off, creating the cursed island of Lodoss.

Thousands of years later, two kings, who at one time were best friends, became engulfed in warfare between their two nations, not realizing that there’s a darker power trying to reawaken the Goddess of Destruction. Typical of this genre, a group of heroes, including a boy with a misterious path, an Elf, a swarf, a thief, a priest of the Sun God, and a mage go out to help the good king, discovering that a cursed mask, has taken over a certain young woman, in an attempt to claim power for the dark witch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_of_the_Lodoss_War, Eh this link will tell you a lot more, because after the defeat of the dark witch, there’s a new enemy, and then the mask possess the thief, while the evil king’s high priest kinda stabs everyone in the back in his quest to reqawaken the goddess of destruction.

There are at least two other series based on this name, but the one I’m talking about is Record of the Lodos War the Black Witch.

#61

Sorry.

Genre: Fantasy

There are thirteen episodes, and though it takes a long time to get into, because at there is a good deal of back tracking in the first three episodes, the action gets pretty good after word.

The story line basically goes, during the very last war of the Gods of Light, and the Gods of mayhem, the last Goddess of Light, and Goddess of Destruction met in a giagantic clash, which devestated the land,. and cut a piece of it off, creating the cursed island of Lodoss.

Thousands of years later, two kings, who at one time were best friends, became engulfed in warfare between their two nations, not realizing that there’s a darker power trying to reawaken the Goddess of Destruction. Typical of this genre, a group of heroes, including a boy with a misterious path, an Elf, a swarf, a thief, a priest of the Sun God, and a mage go out to help the good king, discovering that a cursed mask, has taken over a certain young woman, in an attempt to claim power for the dark witch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_of_the_Lodoss_War, Eh this link will tell you a lot more, because after the defeat of the dark witch, there’s a new enemy, and then the mask possess the thief, while the evil king’s high priest kinda stabs everyone in the back in his quest to reqawaken the goddess of destruction.

There are at least two other series based on this name, but the one I’m talking about is Record of the Lodos War the Black Witch.

#62

[b]xxxHolic

Genre: Supernatural[/b]

Despite what the title suggests, it’s got no XXX material in it. Watanuki is an ordinary highschool student; except he can see spirits. They follow him everywhere and attach onto him. One day he passes by a shop and is compelled to go in. The proprietor, Yuko, tells him that she grants wishes to those who need one granted. Watanuki wishes that the spirits stop bothering him. Yuko tells him that the price of his wish is so high that he’d have to work off the debt before it’s granted.

Thus, the series starts. With his power to attract spirits, Watanuki inadvertantly draws those afflicted by them to himself. In each episode Yuko and Watanuki try to help those who can’t seem to help themselves. The series is fairly light-hearted. Watanuki’s comedic relief antics can get annoying at times and sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s supposed to be his inner dialogue speaking or if people just ignore him when he’s in this state. Along for the ride are standard cute role-fillers Mokono, Maru and Moro. The first being a black Kirby and the last two being Yuko’s helpers but spend the entire time repeating things in a cute voice.

I can’t complain about the music. It’s not bad and it sets the mood just right.

#63

Blood Trinity

Genre: Vampire, Sci-Fi

This series takes place after humans nearly wipe themselves out during the last world war, and vampires take a step to control what is left of the land. The Vatican takes control of the remaining humans, and creates an army to battle these Vampires. Their main weapon is Fr. Abel (can’t remember his last name) who turns out to be a vampire who drinks the blood of the vampires.) Unfortunately he’s a nut, like Vash the Stampede. He’s a goofball until something serious comes along, and even then is reluctant to kill his opponents.

What no one realizes is there is a third group, pitting the New Human Empire (vampires) against Ax (The Vampires). Certain Cardinals try to control the youthful pope into declaring war, as certain vampires try to force a war by decieving and control their wars for control.

#64

Kodocha (AKA Kodomo no Omacha AKA Child’s Toy)
Genre: Comedy, Drama

Kurata Sana is a hyperactive 6th grade girl who also happens to be a child TV star. She lives with her mother, Misato, an award-winning author with bizzarre constantly changing hairstyles and a squirrel (Maro) living on her head; Sagami Rei, Sana’s manager/chauffer/pimp (Sana doesn’t know what pimp really means); and their housekeeper, Shimura.

Sana’s class at school is mayhem because a boy named Hayama Akito has managed to blackmail the teachers into letting him do whatever he wants, so Sana decides to take action to put a stop to the madness. When Sana finds out exactly why Akito is such a troublemaker, she makes it her mission to fix Akito’s situation.

Kodocha finds an interesting balance of high energy comedy and serious dramatic moments. The humor is hyper without being tiring, and the drama isn’t just typical school-age romance (which is done without excessive angst), but also issues (that I can’t really go into without revealing significant spoilers) like divorce, being an adopted child, teenage pregnancy, death.
The one fault I have with the series is the New York arc, because it seperates Sana from the majority of the cast half-way through the series and the first several episodes of the arc are frustratingly devoid of plot advancement and the series’ typical humor. That’s about a half-dozen episodes of the series out of just over 100 that were are less than great.

#65

Gunslinger Girl

genre: drama, action

An agency takes young girls who have suffered severe emotional trauma, physical injury or debilitating illness and gives them a new life. The only catch is they’re trained as assassins for the agency.

This is a high action, well developed anime that makes the viewer think about the ethical issues surrounding humans and the use of technology.

That explains a lot of the plot without giving away too details like why they use young girls, how they’re rehabilitated and such; which should really be seen first hand.

#66

Koi Kaze
Genre: Romance
13 episodes

As the story begins, Koushirou, a 27-year old living with his divorced father, has recently been dumped by his girlfriend because he was not capable of providing her with the emotional intimacy she sought. After meeting a young schoolgirl, Nanoka, new feelings emerge in Koushirou. The twist is that she is his 15-year old sister who will be moving in with Koushirou and their father to attend a new high school.

If you can overcome the incest and 12-year age disparity, you will be rewarded with a beautiful story and characters that act the way you might expect real people to act. While there is comic relief (particularly from a coworker of Koushirou’s who desires a relationship with a schoolgirl) the series is definately not a comedy.

Negima!?
Genre: comedy, action
currently airing in Japan, 26 episodes?

Note: Not to be confused with Xebec’s Negima! which was painfully uninspired and horribly animated; Studio SHAFT’s Negima!? (with a question mark) is less like the Ken Akamatsu manga on which it’s based and more like Pani Poni Dash, but not on as much crack.

Child genius Negi Springfield has just graduated wizard school and is assigned to teach English at an all-girls high school in Japan as his continuing training in magic. After the first three episodes wrap up an encounter with a vampire-mage who happens to be a student of his, it is revealed that a powerful magical item called the star crystal has been lost and is now in Japan, and Negi and his ever-growing group of partners must find it while dealing with others who desire its power.

The humor of the series is similar to another of SHAFT’s series, PPD, with random humor like the afro on an anatomical dummy or the school track resembling Najca line drawings, and references to various anime and video games (Azumanga Daioh, Legend of Zelda, etc.). There is also an unexplainable Chupacabra obsession.

The style of the animation tends to change at times, possibly related to the current mood, but can generally be described as “odd”. Battle sequences are beautifully done and magic effects are typically created with sparkly CG goodness. Remarkably absent from the series is the fanservicey nudity typical of a Ken Akamatsu series (e.g. Love Hina), but if anything, that makes for an improvement in quality. The closest you get is the magical girl-esque transformation sequences when a pactio is invoked, although this fails on occasion, producing instead a chibi-fied character in an animal costume.

#67

<b>Code Geass: Lelouche of the Rebellion</b>

Genre: Sci-fi/suspense/drama/stuff
13 episodes.

So, somehow, in the future Britannia has again become a worldwide empire (that’s right…a country full of Piersons is taking over the world). Part of its counquered territory is Japan, otherwise known as “Zone 11.” Some terrorists attack a military convoy, an arisocratic schoolboy gets caught up in it and gains the Geass power (read: geis - not ge-ass, which you might be tempted to describe this series as at first. It picks up in the second episode) which allows him to compel a person to do something once per individual, and they forget about it afterwords. So this particular guy ends up as something of a Light Yagami from Death Note, but less clever and more bishounen. What should attract you to this series is its sense of drama - the way Lelouche presents himself for the first time to the public is a little corny but all the more awesome because everyone involved KNOWS its corny (as does Lelouche), but that’s all part of the plan in the first place, and it actually works. Give it a watch - by the second episode, at least, you should be hooked.

…for a better review, http://agora.rpgclassics.com/showthread.php?t=27740

#68

Martian Successor Nadesico
Synopsis
Mars has been overrun by an unknown alien force from Jupiter, known only as the Jovian Lizards. Abandoned by Earth, Mars is left to the mercy of the invaders. One private defense manufacturer, Nergal, refuses to abandon the people of Mars, and commissions its own space battleship and crew to survey what remains of humanity on Mars. They do get the best of the best - with all mental instability included. The captain, Misumaru Yurika, an admiral’s daughter, is a tactical wizard and excellent captain in the heat of battle, but her silver-spoon upbringing has left her with less-than-desirable social skills. The helmsman, Hoshino Ruri, is a eleven-year-old supragenius with an acid wit and holier-than-thou attitude. And the cook/backup pilot is a Martian refugee named Tenkawa Akito, who is not only a childhood friend of Yurika, but a protege of the ship’s star pilot, Daigouji Gai, who himself is an incorrigible anime otaku. (We mean otaku.)

Will this ship of misfits be able to survive the onslaught of the unknown? And what exactly will they find once they get to outer space? (If they even get there…)

MY 2 CENTS!!
Nadisco is fun and lots of it, thats what I think Anime should be. The plot grips you and you fall in love with the characters. This anime will make you laugh and leave you with inside jokes between your friends! It’s original and yet at the same time it’s almost like watching a spoof. C’mon the ship is run by an of Otaku!!..Before you know it you’ll be crying and singing the Gekigangar theme-song along with the ship-crew and your closest friends!!:victoly:

#69

Kaze no Yojimbo Mystery/Action 9/10
This anime was based on Kurosawa’s 1961 film Yojimbo. The series follows George Kodama, who arrives in the small town of Kimujuku to investigate a strange incident that happened there 15 years ago. It takes a bit of patience to watch everything unravel, but it’s definately worth it.

Gun Sword Sci Fi/Action 8/10
Van, a lone swordsman, wanders a desolate planet called Endless Illusion in search of the man who murdered his wife. What makes Van unique is that he has access to a powerful suit of robot armor. It may sound like a typical robo-armor anime, but what makes this series different are the characters. They are engrossing and moved by real human motivations.

Kino’s Journey Adventure 9/10
This series was adapted from Keiichi Sigsawa’s novels. It follows the adventures of young Kino and his talking motorcycle Hermes, who travel the world, spending exactly three days at each of their stops. The series is sometimes contemplative, and sometimes brutal. It’s very thought provoking.

Saiyuki Action/Adventure 9/10
A renegade priest, the monkey king, a lecherous water sprite and a sympathetic demon team up to stop the resurrection an ancient monster. This Anime is based on “Journey to the West”, and is the ultimate road-trip. What makes it so watchable is the interaction between the characters, who have wildly divergent personalities and often end up fighting eachother.

#70

Dragon B- gets shot :stuck_out_tongue:

Ahem. Seriously now:

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (multi-genre, 13 episodes)

Sasshi and Arumi are a boy and a girl who live in the shopping district of Osaka. They’re sad because they’re lifelong friends but her family is moving away, meaning they won’t see each other ever again. Suddenly, they find themselves transported to an alternate version of the neighborhood, one that seems based on RPGs! In fact, in every episode they are transported to another reality based on some popular entertainment genre. As they try to get back to the real world, clues as to what is going on slowly appear.

Abenobashi starts quite wacky, but eventually turns serious and even existentialist. Without giving too much away, the mystery involves a tragic love triangle, an ancient magic spell and how some people live in denial of reality. It’s pretty entertaining as long as you keep in mind that the tone changes greatly from start to finish. The series also contains a ton of references and homages to pop culture, both Japanese and American.

Warnings: contains some crass humor -one episode is all about Arumi’s stolen panties :hahaha; - and the ending is kind of confusing in that it seems to contradict the message of the series… but watch it and decide by yourself.

#71

Mirage of Blaze (Twelve episodes, OVA. Manly romance. Well… sort of romance.)

Oh my God.

Granted, it was more than a year since Jing and I watched it, but I can still recall the horrible, horrible dub. For some reason we couldn’t get the translated text to show up with the original voice acting, so we were stuck with… not very inspired people.

Having the text there would also have been helpful because several characters have two names (or more!) and are called different things by different people.

The real problem is that they tried to stuff the plot of eight novels into twelve half hour anime episodes, with predictable results.

Ghosts, stupid women, stupid men, sexual tension that has gone unresolved for the last 400 years (and it takes just about as long in real-time before it’s resolved too, as I understand it), the Original Bishie™ - that is, Ranmaru Moori - demons, more ghosts, ninjas, a dragon named Lord Hojo (ha!), and an old warlord named Lord Kenshin (haw!), existental questions and people getting possessed and stuck in trees.

It is very, very confusing. In a nutshell it’s about a group of ghost hunters who have been living on through rebirth and possession since the Japanese feudal wars. Their leader (originally Kagetora Uesugi) has been living a normal life as a young man named Takaya Ohgi after his last death went down so badly that he suppressed his memories. The second in command of sorts, Naoe, calls him back to battle as other reborns and possessors with Bad Intentions are on the move.

Naoe seems to be the level headed of the troop of bad morale, but he eventually turns out to have some serious issues as well.

The “romance” (“I’ll imprison our souls in this mirror so that you never can get away from me again no matter how much you fight and scream!”) is left unresolved in the series (never watched the OVA, but it’s more of the same as I understand). From what I’ve gathered, in the novels they finally get together in book 24 or so, when they’re alone in a cave and Takaya is too beaten up to move. Uuuhright.

It’s not “good” per se, but it’s fun to watch in with somebody else who likes to make sarcastic comments about all the WTF. This series takes itself 100% seriously and fails to deliver.

Black Cat (drama, humor, action)
“STOP IT WITH THE ROSES!” - Jing and I during watching.

This series contains at least one horrible Mary Sue, but she’s so nutty that you can forgive it.

This is sort of an inverted Trigun - where Trigun starts out goofy and turns serious, this one starts serious and depressing, then turns goofy and goes back to a milder case of serious.

You will be hard pressed to find a series with sillier names for the characters. The hero is named Train Heartnet, who works as an assassin for an organization with their control freak eyes set on the world. Through friendship with a “Sweeper” (bounty hunters who doesn’t kill their prey but catches dangerous people to make life easier for those who can’t defend themselves) he goes from callous assassin to more human.

There’s a whole lot of character interaction and humor, but the blazing star of this one is really one of the main antagonists, Creed Diskenth.

Batshit doesn’t even start with this guy. He makes baby Kefka cry, ya rly. He kills a bunch of people like any ho-hum villain, but what makes him special is his mildly put crazy obsession with Train. It really has to be seen in action, and you’ll never look at roses the same way again.

This one is also fun if you’ve watched Get Backers, because nearly all the Japanese voice actors from that one are also in Black Cat - with characters that are rather similar to their GB characters.

#72

Well I have a couple to add this this list, that I’m kinda surprised no one has added yet.

First:
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Action, 27 episodes)
Basic plot. The people of earth have been forced to live underground in isolated villages, having no contact with the surface, for generations. Most are happy living like this, except for one Kamina, who wishes to go to the surface. After another failed attempted with younger villager Simon (main protagonist) a giant mecha crashes through into their village. Kamina, Simon and new friend Yoko, pilot a mini mecha and defeat it before reaching the surface.

Once on the surface they find there are more giant mechs piloted by “beastmen”, who wish to keep the humans underground. After capturing a mech from the beastmen, Simon’s mini mech (Lagann) can enhance Kamina’s mech (Gurren) into the Gurren Lagann. They then set out to defeat the beastmen and free the human from underground. And any other threats that may show up to hold back the Spiral energy of the human race.

Great anime. Good fight scenes, brilliant animation, and great comedy moment too. Especially with lines like “Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in me, who believes in you.” And also how can you beat having a drill (or several huge drills) as the signature weapon of the series. Much more unique than your standard giant mech anime.

Second:
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Mystery, horror, 26+24 episodes, two series) (Based on series of computer games)
Is set in the small village of Hinamizawa, in June 1983. The main character Keichi Maebara has recently moved there, and has befriended Rena Ryugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude and Satoko Hojo. Everything is going well until the night of the Watanagashi Festival, where a local curse strikes again, killing one person and making another disappear.
In each arcs of the anime, one of the group ends up losing it due to paranoia and comits a crime. Which usually involves killing one (if not more of the rest of the group).

The anime is split into two types of arc. Question arcs, and answer arcs. In questions you usually on see one side, and it leaves you with many questions (hence the name), the answer arcs are usually retelling of the equivalent question, in a new manner to see what is really going on in this small village.

Great anime to watch. Really interesting story, and feels great once you watch the second season, and think, of that is what was really going on.

Well anyway there are my two. Hope you enjoy.

#73

Princess Tutu (magical girl, 26 episodes)

Listing Princess Tutu as a magical girl show is somewhat misleading, as the story frequently resembles a European fairy tale. This is emphasized by the use of music and plotlines taken from classical ballet.

A girl named Duck has fallen in love with an upperclassman at her ballet school named Mytho (sounds like mute-oh), but his heart has been shattered and scattered, and the clumsy Duck must use a magical necklace to transform into the legendary Princess Tutu to return the heart shards.

While some of the early episodes look like a heart-shard-of-the-week format, the plot and characters quickly develop into more complex things. For example: the typically energetic Duck morosely wondering if she’s doing the right thing in returning Mytho’s heart if the emotions returning are only those like loneliness, fear, and sorrow. There’s also a slight air of mystery as to the motives of Mytho’s girlfriend, the popular and perfect Rue (whom Duck attempts to befriend and support rather than become a rival to), and Fakir, Mytho’s no-nonsense friend and apparent bodyguard.

The second half of the series takes a slightly darker turn after the apparent happy ending of episode 13, and all the major characters attempt to fight the fate the supposedly deceased Drosselmeyer set for them.

Even if you have no interest in magical girl series, this one is worth a look.

#74

i love naruto!