I enjoy reviewing animated shows in this blog, like LPS and Miraculous Ladybug.  I'd like to talk about anime as well, but it's too overwhelming to try to write a separate blog about every show I watch.  It's too many, and let's be honest--who the hell wants to read all that anyway?  That's why I've decided to lump it all together into one entry where I list my anime recommendations with just a couple of spoiler-free tidbits about each one.  This blog will be on-going.  I will periodically update it with more recs as I watch more shows.

But first a short introduction.  My history with anime is interesting.  I've always loved it, but I wasn't really able to actualize my love of it until pretty recently.  See, in jr high and high school, I loved the idea of anime, but I never really found any that I liked.  Some of my friends were massive anime fans.  One was a total weeb.  They watched anime constantly and I kinda got forced into it when we were all together, but I hated it because all the animes they wanted to watch were either nothing but over-the-top, action-packed action with zero character development, or ridiculous, off-the-wall, zany, asinine slapstick, both of which I don't care for in anime.  It was really difficult to find anything I liked because there wasn't any streaming at the time, and physical media of that variety was also hard to come by.  No Amazon or other easy online places to order anything you want.  No Crunchyroll, either.  So, it was mostly what was on tv, which mostly sucked.  It put me off for a long time, but I always wanted to get back into anime, or rather get into it properly for the first time.  Netflix has tons of anime, and after years of trying and failing to make the time, I finally started getting into it and I'm having a blast.  I'm finally finding the type of stuff I always wanted--real, emotional character development with poignant, useful messages and morals.

Before I get into my recs, I want to define a term I frequently use--anime distortion, or sometimes just distortion for short.  What I don't care for is when the animation and art style changes wildly depending on the character's emotions, and they draw them in silly, wacky ways.  Like, so, for example, a character gets startled, and their face suddenly loses all detail, their eyes become black dashes, their mouth gapes open and takes up half their head, and giant, disembodied sweat drops fall down beside their head.  Or maybe they get excited and their eyes and mouth turn into tiny triangles or something, or they turn into a little starfish person with tiny points for arms and legs and they fly around the room with flashing colored backgrounds or something, or they turn bright red and scream and their head turns ginormous or something.  It's a little hard to describe, but if you watch anime, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.  In fact, you're probably doing the Drache meme grin and point right now.

So, yeah, not a big fan of that stuff.  I prefer the characters to stay realistic and maintain plausible shapes to their faces and bodies despite the emotions.  I refer to this as having a law of conservation of shape.  No starfish people, please.  But I'll tolerate a little of the anime distortion if the story and characters are good enough.

So, my recs.  Here we go.

• The Shape of Voice (film) - called "A Silent Voice" on Netflix for some stupid reason.  Probably the best anime thing of any kind that I've ever seen, and one of the best movies I've ever seen, period.  Takes itself very seriously--zero anime distortion.
• March Comes in Like a Lion (series) - A little more of the distortion than I'd prefer, but it's tolerable, and the story and characters are incredible.  Some of the most poignant, intense, gut-wrenching, and hard hitting themes I've ever seen in a cartoon.  Masterpiece.  Every child on Earth should see this when they're old enough to understand it, but before it's too late to make a difference.  You'll understand what I mean.
• Welcome to the NHK (series) - A smidgen of anime distortion, but not bad.  Worth it for the wild roller coaster ride of emotions.  My personal favorite anime of all time.
• Cowboy Bebop (series + movie) - I'm sure you're already familiar with it.  Who isn't?  No distortions.  Sci-fi masterpiece.
• A Lull in the Sea (series) - Now, this one is really interesting.  It's part real life, and a bit whimsical fantasy, and a most unexpected gem.  I was on the fence for the first few episodes, and it's a bit contrived and sappy at times, and a little soapy as well, but I ended up being blown away by how deeply emotional it was.  It's not gonna be for everyone, though.  If you're put off by a little melodrama and teen romance, then you probably won't like it.  One of the most beautiful art styles I've seen in a cartoon.  Zero distortions.
• Children of the Sea (film) - one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen in my life... but not in a bad way.  Hard to follow the plot, but it's probably the most gorgeous art style and animation I've ever seen.  The detail packed into every frame is just mindblowing.  It's just simply one of the most joyous sights to behold that I've ever seen in animation.  Zero distortion.  As far from stereotypical distortion anime as you can get.
• Toradora! (series) - A high school romance, but not as contrived or melodramatic as Lull.  Great, interesting characters.  A touch of distortion, but not bad at all.
• Violet Evergarden (series + 2 movies) - one of the best things I've ever seen in my life, of any kind.  It's incredible.  I can't recommend it enough.  I haven't one bad thing to say about it.  It even has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in anything.  I won't say anything about it because it's better to just let it all be a surprise, but I will say that I shed more tears during this than anything I've ever seen.  Zero distortion.
• Vinland Saga (series) - An intense, hardcore, extremely brutal show set in the time of the vikings.  No distortions.
• Ouran High School Host Club (series) - this was a most unexpected and pleasant surprise for me.  It's a lighthearted and funny show sprinkled with sweet, touching moments.  It's extremely heavy on the anime distortions, however, but what surprised me is that I actually didn't mind!  I kinda grew to like it, in fact!  It's the first and only case of anime distortion that I've liked.  Maybe I'm not as allergic to it as I thought.  Maybe I just didn't like the distortion I saw back in high school because the characters sucked.  Maybe I actually like some distortion once in awhile if the characters are good and funny.  The Host Club characters are funny and charming, but dynamic and deep enough that I actually cared about them.  Omg--I loved the distortions of the club leader, Tamaki.  He was hysterical.