Anime for Beginners

[BigNorm]

i'm kinda new to the anime/manga scene and i need to get into something new.

i was big into Ghost in the Shell. the movie and 2 shows on Adult Swim, also seen almost every episode of Big O (miss that show, whatever happened to it?)

not really into Inuyasha for some reason. Saw an episode of Witch Hunter Robin, but Adult Swim pulled it before i could watch more.

now that i have some extra cash to get some anime or manga, i'd like to get into it more. I like lotsa action and comedy, and something more for adults.

on a side note: i recently got a manga for Hellgate: London and loved it. is there any mangas out there for any other video games i might have missed? ...a manga for Half-Life would kick sooooo much ass...

anywho, thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Bashiku]

Rosario + Vampire is interesting manga/anime. Claymore is good, Berserk, Black Cat, Mahou Sensei Negima are also great... you will need anime for experts before you talk with Tobi about this matter 😛

 

[BigNorm]

i'll look those up, thanks. also wanna check out Battle Angel, since it looks good, and JAmes Cameron is making a film about it in Summer of '09.

 

[cosqui1]

if u enjoyed ghost in the shell you may like ergo proxy, evangelion, akira, death note (this one is pretty popular right now), rahxephon...

 

[BigNorm]

*takes notes*

uh huh... gotcha

 

[cosqui1]

i'll look those up, thanks. also wanna check out Battle Angel, since it looks good, and JAmes Cameron is making a film about it in Summer of '09.

yes, battle angel alita (aka gunnm) is cool... so it's true that James Cameron is gonna make the movie? I can't wait

 

[Bashiku]

MyHime is also good, I don't recommend One piece for some reasons, Basilisk is great, Immortal Regis, Angel Sanctuary, High School Of Undead YEAH!
Appleseed is also good, I don't know if there is Robotech manga anymore... I miss that one... Love Hina is a classic, Kingdom heart is also good... unfortunately I never saw Sephiroth there... I might have missed him... oh well...

 

[cyclypse]

Anything from ADV or Funimation will usually be fantastic quality dubbed or subbed when it comes to anime. If your looking for action/comedy more for adults (And are into giant robots) i would definatley check out Godannar.
It's been out for a couple years, and If you have a Fry's or Best Buy near you, you can get the entire series in a thin pack for anywhere from 25 to 35 bucks.

If your looking for pure insane comedy with adult humor (and various other humors) mixed in with action, romance, and...pretty much any genre you can think of check out Excel Saga. It's also an older title, but if your looking for something more recent you can check out the Director of Excel Saga (Shinichi Watanabe AKA Nabeshin)'s latest show "The Wallflower". It's an insane comedy as well with little bits of action here and there, but at it's core it's comedic romance.

I don't dabble in manga very often, but Tokyo Pop and Del Rey have been putting out some great stuff these days. As far as video game manga's go i know that Tokyo Pop has a pretty awesome World of Warcraft manga out.

Hope that helps =)

 

[TKLVR181]

Kai loves Evangelion for actiony weird mythology stuff, though I've never gotten into it---we both really like Death Note as well, and that is a short series afaik. DN is really heavy, and also really REALLY entrancing. You can't see/read one epi and not want to see the next😉

On a lighter note, we also both enjoy Love Hina, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds A girl--not sure if she's the same ONE though😉 It's an excellent funny one. Kai also tells me good things about Excel Saga ^__^

And on a slightly more embarrassing note, I LOVE Sailor Moon 😱 It's a total "good guys always win feel good" series😀

~K

 

[cyclypse]

Silly me. I forgot to mention.

In case stuff that leans more towards comedy isn't exactly your cup of tea, there are some amazing action titles that border on being disturbing when it comes to the level of gore and psychological mind f*cks the characters go through.

Two prime examples would be Gantz and Elfen Lied. (HIGHLY recommend Gantz)

If your looking for something a little less gorey, check out Speed Grapher (which is currently running on IFC). It replaces the gore factor of Gantz with something a little more fetish oriented but that's as far as i'll go into that. =)

As for one of the questions in your first post about whatever happened to Big O. I'm not sure. I don't think sunrise had the chance to finish it because of money issues.

In fact, right now the anime industry world wide is in major trouble financially. All but 3 of the animation studios in japan are close to bankruptcy and we only have 3 or 4 distributors left in the US. One of the major factors causing this is that many (some say the majority) of anime fans download bittorrents and scanlations of their anime/manga, so no money goes back to the industry so they can make more shows. Sad situation that hopefully will eventually be fixed.

But, until then, it's up to fans like us to just keep buying the things we like when we can afford to. =) If you have any other questions about certain shows or genres sent me a PM and i'll give you whatever info i can =).

 

[Jaynin]

I'm going to throw in my two cents here because this is kind of a personal hobbyhorse;

Anime 316's point about the industry is well taken because I personally know a lot of people who pay for almost none of the anime they watch. When I ask people about it, they say, "Oh, well I'm too poor to actually buy it." This might be true, but if you don't have enough money to buy a TV and you walk out of Wal-Mart with it, then that's stealing. No different than it is with anime.

Now imagine that this Wal-Mart just has people stealing everything they want and just walking out with it. This store couldn't stay open for long, because it's making no money. And for those people who say that VAs are lazy and don't do a good job and it doesn't really matter if the studios don't get any money...

...well, look at the man whose job you'd be taking away.

Just my two cents. ^_~

 

[TKLVR181]

Oh my nan (Brit slang I got from Senshi😀), I nearly forgot to recommend Azumanga Dioh for funny and Tenchi Muyo for humor and general awesome alienness :ggrin:

~K

 

[Duke Diablo]

Hmm... interesting how nobody mentioned Hellsing so far.
Also, Battle Royale manga was very good to me... interesting to see bunch of teenagers going postal just because of a reality show. Also, it gets you in touch with your inner hypocrite: most of the people feel sorry for those kids and probably think how reality shows like that should never be made. They probably also think that they wouldn't watch it. And yet they buy manga/watch the movie (yes, there's a movie, with some of the nicest death scenes I've ever seen) about that reality show😀.

 

[topless_ticklee]

Fullmetal Alchemist. One of the best *grins*

 

[mercenary]

When first mentioned "anime" the two words that came up to my mind were

"Cowboy bebop" =P

If you like, Good quality Music , Like Jazz, Blues , Bebop and Hard bop ,
Well designed Characters, space trips, Guns and you're a bit old fashioned you would like this one

HIGHLY RECOMENDED
-Kanon 2006
-Air Tv


Another good one If you like Vampires , "Hellsing (Ovas)" It's a good Start
Involves , political and Religious subjetcs , nice design of Characters, good music and really cool animation


As anime 3:16 explained Before , Elfen lied is a Great One

 

[polakyyyy]

Well since you liked Ghost in The Shell try out Cowboy Bebop. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a classic as well as Gunbuster. If you liked Gunbuster try Diebuster (Gunbuster 2 in english). If you liked Evangelion try out Elfen Lied. Also look up Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann, some good moments in that show. Death Note is entertaining too. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for some light comedy. Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei is good but it makes many references to anime so you should only watch it after you've watched alot. If anything watch Eva first and try to stay away from any anime that has more than 50 episodes, they tend to suck.

 

[cyclypse]

When first mentioned "anime" the two words that came up to my mind were

"Cowboy bebop" =P

If you like, Good quality Music , Like Jazz, Blues , Bebop and Hard bop ,
Well designed Characters, space trips, Guns and you're a bit old fashioned you would like this one

HIGHLY RECOMENDED
-Kanon 2006
-Air Tv


Another good one If you like Vampires , "Hellsing (Ovas)" It's a good Start
Involves , political and Religious subjetcs , nice design of Characters, good music and really cool animation


As anime 3:16 explained Before , Elfen lied is a Great One

Ooo yeah Kanon and Air are great.

Also, look into "Guyver: Bio Boosted Armor" for some more good action fun, or there's a brand new series coming out next week called "Shattered Angels" that's sort of an unofficial sequel to Steel Angel Kurumi (Which i'd highly recommend checking out as well).

 

[BigNorm]

Fullmetal Alchemist. One of the best *grins*

oh ya, i do love full metal alchemist, that i'm definitely gonna get. also gonna check on hellsing, sounds like it's up my alley. also will check out all those other ones mentioned. Death Note and Cowboy Bebop especially. What about Trigun? i see it everywhere. is it any good?

 

[Timewarp]

Okay people, we got anime you like...but how about some anime to avoid?

 

[Senshi1]

Okay people, we got anime you like...but how about some anime to avoid?

I don't like to name names, but personally I'm not keen on the overly-long ones. Twenty-something episodes is more than enough for a good season IMHO. Sometimes, when one single one-on-one fight lasts three or four episodes, it tends to feel like filler.

 

[Bashiku]

Anime316 is right about industry problem, but the nations like Tobi's is in no situation or opportunity to get anime or manga in any way legally. So Tobi wants to apologies for ruining the manga and anime industry by downloading his favorite titles the only way he can 🙁

 

[TKLVR181]

I don't like to name names, but personally I'm not keen on the overly-long ones. Twenty-something episodes is more than enough for a good season IMHO. Sometimes, when one single one-on-one fight lasts three or four episodes, it tends to feel like filler.

coughcoughcoughDRAGONBALLcoughcoughcoughYUGIOHcoughcoughcoughNARUTO!!😀😀😀

Don't get me wrong, I was a fan of the Yugi until GX ruined it 😀 And for fans of the third, I mean no offense, the chars are great....it just gets monotenous! XD

~K

 

[Duke Diablo]

Oh, yeah, about fights... if you really enjoy good fights with extraordinary abilities, I'd recommend:
Ninja Scroll
Basilisk

Great animes... cool drawing style, great fights, loads of gore, nice stories (Basilisk's one was even based on hystorical event... though it's really altered of course 🙂 ), great and fleshed-out characters (especially in Ninja Scroll, where both sides even fight internally).

 

[P[a]pi]

***series***

Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, X, Neon Genesis Evangelion, four series around 25 episodes each, get Cowboy Bebop: The Movie as well, but watch it between episodes 22 and 23

*Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal Director's Cut
*Rurouni Kenshin, episodes 1 to 66 are true to the manga, don't go pass episode 66
*Samurai X: Reflection
(All of the above is the whole Rurouni Kenshin story in order, the OVAs are just called Samurai X)

Dragon Ball Z, start at the Cell Saga with Trunks showing up all the way to the end of the Buu Saga, movies 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 12 and 13 are good too (DB is old, DBGT is crap)


***movies/OVAs***

Akira
Armitage III OVA
Blood: The Last Vampire
Ghost in the Shell (1 and 2)
Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade
Kite (I recommend the edited version)
Perfect Blue

 

[GRM13]

Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop are great choices. I haven't really seen much animes in a long time (concentrating more on mangas) but Yuyu hakusho Is probably one of the few animes that kept getting better and better even though it was longer than most feel comfortable with. now for mangas to see, that's another topic 😛.