Looking for Recommendations

magicmaximus

Hit a spot where I don't know what to watch next and there is tons to choose from.

My top anime series that I have seen are Code Geass, Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, Eureka Seven and several others to a slightly lesser extent. Movies pretty much the miyazaki films. I typically like to watch anime straight through so ongoing series I don't tend to watch till their finished. Only exceptions being Naruto and Bleach although bleach has went way downhill since the soul society arc and I find it really hard to watch now.

I'm waiting a little longer for the Dub's of moribito to finish then I will probably watch it. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, I've watch a lot of anime but there is several times more that I haven't so most likely any suggestions will lead to something I haven't seen.

albac

your taste is close to mine I think :)

I would say try samurai 7 like all the above said and
-Gurren Lagann(must see!!)
-bounen no xamdou (it's from the creator of eureka seven)
-bakemonogatari (ongoing, but if you like tsunderes you might want to try it out)
-bokurano(great story, a little dark, but still good)
-macross frontier
-basilisk
-bakumatsu

welovehina

samurai 7 and cowboy bebop are great choices.

ken akamatsu has several romantic comedies if that so intrigues you

as a starter, read (there is no anime for this) A.I. Love You. His shortest work (only 8 books).
after that, Love Hina, the anime and manga are both fantastic, and by far my favorite series ever.
then negima, a great (albiet somewhat long and incomplete at the moment). the manga is far better then the anime, but the anime is also good.

if romantic comidies are not your style, try gunslinger girl. good action and builds characters that one truly begins to care about.

another one to try is samurai shamploo. i own all the manga and the dvd box set. the anime is better, but the manga is also good. great action in 1700's japan, with a hip hop beat.

and before i go, do not read the cowboy bebop manga, it is horrible...

welovehina

oh! another one i forgot is lupin the third.
a very classic anime. funny at correct times, but still has all the action.
another classic anime is pokemon (only the first season was any good, but that fist season was awesome).
and, although arguably not anime because it is an american show, is avatar the last air bender. this is by far one of the best animes (if you will consider it to be one) because the story and action are fantastic, the characters are people you grow attached to, and for a "kids" show, the humor is sophisticated. however, many people find this show great, even though they gear it towards kids.

magicmaximus

Thanks for the suggestions though turns out you reminded me of the one on my list I was forgetting, final one of my top five was Ghost in the Shell SAC, however I haven't seen solid state society yet, will have to look that up.

I mostly prefer serious anime or really involved stories, complexity really isn't an issue for me. I've seen most of the gundams, they are hit or miss, think Seed and the original 0079 were my favorites. I've seen ones like tengou tenge, sekirei, kenichi and ikkitousen, all ok but didn't really stand out. I have seen AKira as well as the Ghost in the Shell movies, Ninja Scroll and Armitage III.

Worst anime I remember are probably S-Cry-Ed, didn't care much for fooly cooly, or abenobashi other than some good animation at times.

I'm also waiting on watching FMA brotherhood till it gets completed, on edge with it since the original FMA for a while was my top choice so I'm hoping brotherhood doesn't hurt the other version for me.

magicmaximus

I've seen Cowboy Bebop but it didn't quite hook me the same as others, probably more by theme than anything, I just couldn't associate myself with the general feel of the anime somehow. Still I thought it was good and definitely was impressed with some of the directing during certain scenes, was very unique views at times.

I'm currently watching Samurai 7, pretty good so far, very odd theme, mech and samurai is something I never thought could mix but someone found a way to make it happen.

Gurren Lagann, I seen a episode or two but there seem to be quite a bit of sillyness in it, kind of turned me away, might you tell me the real draw of the anime, is it worth looking past the sillyness, same kinda thing turned me a way from one piece.

Seen part of samurai shamploo while it was airing on adult swim, never seen the rest of it, may pick it back up at some point. Also watched a few episode of Love HIna but didn't grab me right away, I've heard a lot about it just sometimes anime don't start off too strong and I second guess watching it.

I'll have to look up some of the others as I don't recognize them, thanks for the suggestions.

magicmaximus

I did watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and liked it, not sure I could rate it in my favorites though I am kinda on the fence with it. I liked the animation, story had good points, directing was top notch for many episodes, I think real problem came down to linearity. The original episodes could actually be watched in two different sequences, it's a very odd thing. To me that anime can't be compared to any other really, it is unique all the way so I haven't any idea where to place it among my favorites. I've not heard good things about the expanded series though, endless 8 seems be a trouble point for people. I haven't watched the epsidoes yet though so I can't judge them.

It isn't that I don't like funny stuff in anime, I mean FMA has it's joke moments, but I tend to like it contained a bit and actually funny not just annoying. Example of silliness I don't care for is say Team Rocket in Pokemon, or the 2 oddball arrancar in Bleach that seemed to ruin every serious moment for an entire season or more, or Hercule "Mr. Satan" in Dragonball Z, etc. they ruin serious scenes, they aren't funny just in the way and unrealistically place and full of pointless japanese humor such as Ichigo chasing those arrancar around when we know good and well he could of used shinpo at any time and caught them at that moment.

magicmaximus

Thanks for all the suggestions, I ended up watching Samurai 7, Bounen No Xamdou, and Gurren Lagann.

Samurai 7 was quite good though the ending left a lot to be desired. Animation was quite well done, overall though fell a bit short of my top anime list, I can only call it good but not great.

Xam'd, fell a bit short of Eureka seven but still wasn't bad, the whole intro to the show can be quite misleading compared to how the show really plays out. Also after just watching Samurai 7, the whole self sacrifice thing was getting a bit stale at this point.

Gurren Lagann, not sure how to describe this, it's like a great writer teamed up with someone who is constantly completely wasted. It's true that it is every anime sterotype thrown right at your face wanting you to just hate on the stupidity, yet you keep going just because certain characters really make you want to see how things turn out. The ending still kinda sucked though. I would like one order of ending that you could feel good about please... Final comments on this, despite how big something is, there is always something bigger and finally "pig mole".

Watching through Haruhi again now with season 2 eps included. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm sure I'll need more in the not too distant future, unfortunatly so far none of these have broken into my top anime list but some anime are just hard to match I guess.

Zanzibak

Some direction of what you prefer or what you don't like would be helpful in making some suggestions on what to view next. For example in my experience, I've considered Akira a must-watch anime, but can be a turn off for people who were raised on US dubs of Voltron and Macross. (gah I feel old now)

Anyhow, you seem to list a lot of anime thats been English dubbed. An example of a series with superior english voice work is Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Not to say the original Japanese actors were not good but the English ensemble provide a broader range of voices. Batou feels more natural with an actor from Colorado playing him and you'll likely recognize one of the voice actors from Code Geass.

Recommended viewing order:
Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex and then GITS:SAC 2nd GIG then the GITS:SAC movie Solid State Society. You can skip the Laughing Man and Individual 11 boxsets, they are only specific parts of the series. You can skip the original Ghost In Shell movie (still a good watch though, try the 2.0 version) and its (not as good) sequel GITS: Innocence. They do not follow the series continuity.

Zanzibak

I'm interpreting from your reply that you are looking for series with a bit more gravitas. Even a series like Pokemon can get deep with the environmental themes, but its harder to take it seriously with all the fluffy merchandising on screen.

SERIES
Cowboy Bebop
(Recommended ->Cowboy Bebop: Remix Collection followed by the OVA Knocking on Heavens Door)
Samurai 7

Cowboy Bebop has one of the finest anime soundtracks ever made and the Remix DVD's remastered all 26 episodes' audio and video with extras. Samurai 7, on the other hand, has the most consistently intricate animation I've seen on a series yet. Cowboy Bebop episodes have a standalone feel compared to the tighter storyline of Samurai 7.

MOVIES( from personal really good to best):
Sky Crawlers
Blood: The Last Vampire (NOT The live action one)
Sword of the Stranger

All these movies have amazing animation and explore thought provoking themes.I enjoyed Sword of the Stranger the most because it balanced the intellectual storytelling, character development (love that dog) and visceral action the best out of the three, while doing each element very well.

Not to say I don't enjoy more light hearted fare. I just finished and liked Zero no Tsukaima (The Familiar of Zero). Sometimes I want steak, sometimes I want candy.

ps. Look in the Fullmetal Alchemist 2 thread on this forum to see my writeup on Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood

Zanzibak

@[deleted]

Take a whole bunch of anime conventions - giant robots, anime babes, unassuming hero, brash tough guys, cartoon humor , tragic misunderstood bad guys, etc etc - and put it all together in an eventually epic in scale story with top notch animation. Thats Gurren Lagann. Definitely watch this series in episode order or you lose out on the story progression and the evolution of the characters. I think this is also better watched in Japanese because the original voices are better caricatures of anime tropes. Its an anime stereotype stew with suprising depth in its themes and symbolism. If you are a fan of all different types of anime, then Gurren Lagann is a well crafted mash-up treat.

There is some silly stuff especially early on but its tempered with poignant sequences and heartbreaking moments. Gurren Lagann is a little bit of everything so the pieces you don't like can affect your appreciation for the series as a whole. Wacky anime humor or Japanese "slice-of-life" stuff probably isn't your thing. Nothing wrong with that - you know what you like. But I think you won't appreciate The Familiar of Zero and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as much as I did.

So add to your list of "serious" anime, I'm thinking I'd also throw in
Golgo 13 The TV Series (I didn't really enjoy any of the movies)
Gantz
The Last Exile

Zanzibak

In regards to the 2nd season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, its basically new episodes mixed into the chronological order (termed "Haruhi" by the way she numbers the episode during the coming attractions) of the first season. You heard correctly, the "Endless 8" arc is a disappointment in terms of how many episodes it went through to tell its story. However, season 2 was not a total loss. The "Sigh of Haruhi" arc chronicled the SOS brigade making their movie. The gem was "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody". It returned the series to its mind-bending story roots and finally set a proper platform for Mikuru's special ability. I'm also not ashamed to say I think Mikuru 2.0 is so hot and an episode giving her more screen time works for me.

So if I was recommending The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya to someone I'd say watch 1st Season in original broadcast order(termed "Kyon" when he argues with Haruhi in the coming attractions and refers to the episode by this number). Then the complete series (1st and 2nd season) in chronological order but you only need to watch the 1st,4th and 8th episodes of "Endless 8" to get the main idea of this arc. The "Haruhi" order allows one to follow the story easier, but I wish when the third installment comes out it brings back the better buildup and climactic payoff the "Kyon" order had.

xxx

I totally get where you are coming from in terms of humor in anime. Team Rocket's bumbling I felt was ok in terms of Pokemon's target audience, but when its there for silliness' sake in more serious fare its not. Its one flaw of Fullmetal Alchemist. Stuff like shorty tirades and Strongarm flaunting got stale and Roy's speech on dogs was so out of character. Still. there were moments - Riza's method of housetraining was easily one of the best lighthearted scenes of the entire show.

It brings up another reason why I liked Gurren Lagann. The humorous bits are well placed, have context to when they occur and suit the characters who deliver them. Even one of the show's bad guys got a crack at funny, but when he did, it made sense for him. The supporting cast has its share of anime caricatures, but they are given moments to shine dramatically too. The silliness had substance, and added to the overall balance of the series.

hyper_shadow

Here's one for you matey if you fancy an old classic.

Outlaw Star. Have to say that this is one of my all time favourites. I don't think it's everyones cup of tea, but then again that doesn't take from the fact that it is a classic. The story starts fairly lightly and within a short time allows you to warm to the core characters and general plot. It's got everything you want. Space ships, gun fighting, magic, massive integalactic power struggles, hot samurai chicks and the obligatory hot springs episode.

If you haven't seen it, give it a try.