Anime Recommendation Thread

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#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!

#75

This is sound interesting… Do you know where can I download this anime? :mwahaha:

#76

I really like the Dragonball series.
A young boy finds he has a natural inclination towards martial arts, and with friends he picks up along the way he grows as a martial artist and helps track down the dragon balls when they are needed. Really classic.

#77

Fullmetal Alchemist - alternate reality, action

Really surprised this wasn’t mentioned earlier, especially since the remake is out. There is already a thread about the remake, but people new to the series can watch the original first. Because it’s so awesome you’ll want to watch it again.

Fullmetal Alchemist takes place in a world where alchemy developed as an established science. The main rule is in order to create something, you have to present something else of equivalent value.

The series follows Edward and Alphonse Elric, two talented State Alchemists through their journey to recover their original bodies. That is all I’m willing to say since the way the series weaves the themes and storyline together is really intricate.

The series explores the the uses of science and the ethics surrounding it. The viewer soon questions whether everything in this world really does have its price, and would they be able to pay it. If not, is there a situation where they would?

Despite the sombre tone this sets, there are some light hearted episodes and the comic relief that revolve around Edward’s height issues.

#78

I’ve been recently addicted to K-on! You’ll like it if you’vel liked (sorted by similarity to K-on!):

Lucky Star
Azumanga Daioh
Pani Poni Dash!

#79

Shin Mazinger: SHOUGEKI! Z-Hen (Super robot, 26 episodes)

A tribute to Go Nagai’s career and the show that made him a house hold name internationally: Mazinger Z. Directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa (Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still, G Gundam).

A super robot show with a decent plot and a lot of character development. Starts off simple enough: Kouji Kabuto’s mad scientist grandpa, Juuzo Kabuto, is killed by Dr. Hell’s minions and leaves Kouji his life’s work, Mazinger Z. Mazinger Z is easily the strongest robot in the world thanks to its unique power source and armor. Kouji gets taken in by Nishikiori Tsubasa, proprietor of a local inn that Juuzo liked to hang out at and apparently armed for the coming struggle. The next dozen episodes consist of Kouji coming to the slow realization that even with Mazinger Z he can’t take revenge for his grandpa alone while Dr. Hell and Tsubasa keep plotting and counterplotting against each other.

Baron Asura becomes a central character, no longer relegated to being an incompetent underling of Dr. Hell. It becomes Kouji’s main rival and often acts counter to Dr. Hell’s plans as the plot unfolds.

Pretty much the entire cast starts with a level or 2 in bad ass (including the ladies and the NARRATOR, who may well beat Kouji in the hotblood department) and take a few more over the course. In an early episode they turn what used to be pew pew eye lasers into a freaking war crime that creates its own weather.

On the downside, the pacing is a bit odd. The first episode is essentially a trailer for the second half of the series and thus makes no sense to anyone who doesn’t have prior knowledge of older Go Nagai works. The first half dozen episodes cover roughly one night (personally I think they were just milking Juuzo’s screen time, he’s the best mad scientist ever). The story picks up pretty quickly from there and the monsters of the week are few and far between, with the show preferring instead 2-5 episode story arcs.

#80

Saber Marionette J
genre: Sci-fi with humanoid robots.

It’s what got me hooked on anime over 10 years ago.

It takes place on Terra II, a planet that was colonized by the survivors of a space-crash using cloning technology. But lacking any female survivors or gene samples their entire population is male.

They’ve developed humanoid robots and call them marionettes, they have primitive AIs and are emotionless. The main character discovers a marionette that’s full of emotion and considerably more powerful then even the standard combat models. Within the first few episodes he finds a second one like it, and then the shogun awakens a third and gives it to him.

That might not sound like much, but it’s definately better then it sounds. Nearly every aspect of the series is perfect. The storyline has depth, excellent characters, great villians, top-notch voice acting (however, I DO NOT recommend the dub on this one). It’s funny, it’s dramatic, and it’s one of the very few shows to ever make me cry.

#81

Ouran High School Host Club

After commoner honors student Haruhi Fujioka stumbles into music room #3, she is flung into a whole new world in the already unfamiliar environment of Ouran Academy, a ritzy academy for the children of the rich upperclass families of Japan. In music room #3, she discovers the school host club, a group of beautiful boys who spend their afternoons entertaining the ladies of the academy. Upon her meeting this group, in a startled attempt to leave she knocks over a priceless vase and finds herself in debt to the host club.

#82

I know this thread hasn’t been posted in for ages, but I thought I’d add a series I’ve liked that hasn’t been mentioned here:

Ergo Proxy 2006 (Sci-fi/Crime, Complete) Link: IMDB

Set in a post-apocalyptic future where humans and androids live together in isolated societies (referred to as domes if I remember correctly). This particular series builds upon a series of murders that leads the protagonist on journey to better understand the society in which she lives, those she meets and herself as well. This anime takes on a very dark (gothic) style which really attracted me; much like the original FMA and Batman: the animated series. It has thriller elements (keeping you guessing a lot of the time), beautiful artwork and highly in depth character development. On top of all that, the theme song is awesome! I love the intro video heaps! All in all, I believe it’s a must see. It’s different from the mainstream anime that’s all bright and colourful. It’s a nice change and something that you have to try! :stuck_out_tongue:

#83

Darker Than Black 2007 (Sci-fi/Fantasy/Action) Link: IMDB

This anime also adopts a relatively dark tone. It’s about a strange gate and these superhuman beings that begin to appear as a result of it. There is so much plot development that you have to watch it to understand it. The second season takes it even further to explain the story and unfolding events. What drew me to this anime was the similarities in concepts to that of the Bourne Trilogy. Those of you that liked the Bourne series and don’t mind the whole animated/sci-fi twist to create this… will really enjoy the series. Again character development is good; plot develops thoroughly. Has good comic elements in between to give the story breathing room whilst maintaining the flow. It’s another must watch by me. :slight_smile: