Celtic_Emperor said:
I think you should do some more research before you make any kind of commitment to anything or anyone.
Good advice. Figure out what you like first. There are a lot of different genres available in the big sea of anime, so first figure out what you like best. Here's some brief info on the genres available...
Romance: This one should be pretty self-explanatory. There are a lot of romance anime out there. Some are serious, a lot are mixed with comedy, ranging from light to...well, insane. Romance is
usually thrown into a lot of anime titles anyway -- usually those aimed at teenagers, of course. If you like romance, I recommend Ranma ½, Tenchi Muyo, Ah! My Goddess and Kare Kano.
Sci-fi: Anime if known for sci-fi, really. The Japanese just love to design big mecha. Sci-fi usually involves mecha in robot form, and is
usually more action oriented -- not much like Star Trek and other such things. If you like sci-fi, I recommend Tenchi Muyo (it's one of my favourites you know. Comedy, sci-fi and romance all at once), Neon Genesis Evangelion (possibly one of the greatest anime of all time) and Cowboy Bebop (not one of my personal favourites, but admittedly good).
Comedy: Comedy is often mixed into a lot of anime titles, but if you just like pure, insane, nonsensical comedy, there are several titles that cater. Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi and Bobobo~bo Bo~bobo are some of these. Nothing's sacred in these titles, and they make fun of a lot of common anime things, never taking themselves seriously at all. Of course, you might have to get used to anime before you really get the humour they use.
😛
Shoujo: Anime aimed at girls. Despite this fact, many others and I like a lot of shoujo titles. These shows usually involve a lot of cute female characters, and emotional stories. There can be action, but it's never the focal point. Be warned though, some are sickeningly cute. One of my favourite shoujo anime titles is Kiki's Delivery Service, a classic from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.
Shounen: Anime aimed at boys. These shows generally involve lots of fighting and explosions, but don't let that fool you, the good ones have some plot in there too.
😉 The most known shounen titles are Dragonball (and all its continuations), Naruto, One Piece and Rurouni Kenshin.
Cyberpunk: Another form of sci-fi. Cyberpunk series often take place in a futuristic, corrupt city. There are usually gangs, who are usually on motorcycles. There are often robots and cyborgs, and they usually have a dark theme about them. The most famous cyberpunk anime is Akira, which is a great film even though it isn't one of my favourites. My favourite cyberpunk series of all is Bubblegum Crisis (specifically the OAVs).
Maho Shoujo: Another form of shoujo anime. While shoujo alone means girl, Maho Shoujo means Magical Girl. These shows usually involve young, normal girl acquiring incredible magical powers somehow, usually involving a cute talking animal. They use their powers to transform into a secret identity (which often looks exactly the same as they always do, but the magical mysteriously stops anyone from recognising them), and they save the world from evil with the powers of truth and love. Most known title is probably Sailor Moon. Puni Puni Poemi is a total spoof of this genre. My favourite of all is probably Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, which is also a spoof, but has really become part of the genre over the years.
Exotic Girlfriend: A genre where (usually) an ordinary guy, who's terrible with the opposite sex and always has been, suddenly finds himself surrounded with exotic girls. These girls can be aliens, robots, time travellers, demons, magicians -- whatever! The guy usually ends up with all of these cute girls in love with him, and hilarity ensues. I won't lie, these anime are usually made and aimed at guys who can relate to the main character, and would enjoy the fact that suddenly all these hot women want him. Still, titles under this genre (such as Tenchi Muyo, and the Love Hina manga) are usually great fun.
Fantasy: Good old fantasy. Dragons and fireballs and mini-quests and swords. These anime often involve adventure, action, and a lot of the time some good comedy. If you like Lord of the Rings, you'll probably like titles like Slayers. If you like fantasy RPGs, like...well...Final Fantasy, then you might like something like Mahoujin Guruguru, which is a fantasy comedy which pokes fun at old console RPGs.
Shounen-ai: Stories about boy love, aka boys falling in love with boys. People sometimes refer to this as yaoi, but yaoi is more sexually explicit. A lot of girls are shoujo-ai fans nowadays (including my girlfriend
🙄 ), and even I'll admit that some of them have some great stories with deep emotions. I haven't seen many, but Gravitation is pretty good.
Shoujo-ai: Stories about girl love, aka girls falling in love with girls. People sometimes refer to this as yuri, but yuri is more sexually explicit. A lot of guys
and girls are shoujo-ai fans. These stories have been said to be a way of seeing relationships from a totally female view. Once again, I haven't seen many from this genre... The best I could recommend would be Utena, 2 x 2 = Shinobuden (which only has very light shoujo-ai tones really) and Project A-ko (also pretty light).
Supernatural: Anime involving demons and priests and stuff. These quite often involve miko, aka shrine maidens -- and a lot of these titles provide a window into eastern religions like Shintoism and Buddhism. Some of the best titles I've seen are 3x3 Eyes, Blue Seed and Zenki.
Well, that's all for now! I hope this was helpful, and please feel free to ask me anything else.
