movies/tv Anime: Which show should I start off with?

[Raiden_Opsaidoun 23]

I'm a begginer too! If it wasn't for my anime club I wouldnt be a brony! Here's my personal list of animes I would recommend, even though I have seen 6 of them

Naruto

Keroro gunsou (SGT frog)

Higurashi no naku koro ni (when the cicadas cry)

Hetalia (all the series and the movie)

Gintama (WHY HAS NOPONY MENTIONED THIS??!!)

Attack on titan

Bleach

The melancholy of Haruhi

Gurren Lagann

Death Note

Soul Eater

Fairy Tale

Death note

One Peice

Cowboy Bebop

High School of the Dead

Chi's sweet home (not recommended unless you want to see something kawaii)

Bobobobobobobo

Full metal alchemist

Dragonball (don't know which series But I am trying to watch Z)

Sailor moon

Fate/stay night (my mom got me this one on DVD but havent watched it yet)

Edited July 27, 2013 by Raiden_Opsaidoun

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

I started with Naruto myself but honestly Bleach is pretty good, though I had only read the first three seasons of the anime.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I'm going to second Yu Yu Hakusho, it manages to be action-packed while still maintaining pretty complex characters and a emotional and engaging story. Rouroni Kenshin as well. 

 

If you like stuff like Tenchi Muyo, Saber Marionette J may be something to look into. It's similar but the writing is a little tighter and more complex. 

 

Also, there's this one called Gatekeepers 21 I got at a Dollar General(go figure) but it's pretty short, only 6 episodes total(yet was still stretched out over two DVD releases for some reason)

Edited July 27, 2013 by Shoboni

[YAMIWOLFOFDARKNESS 8]

I would recommend Azumanga Daioh for beginners because its an easy story to follow. If you want to try to follow a harder such a the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. If you want a good story but very sad watch either Air, Kanon, Clannad, or Angle Beats. If you like horror HOTD, Higurashi, or Umineko. Remember Azumanga Daioh is where you should start because all the rest are kinda of confusing.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Actually they like Cowboy Bebop, it was mentioned after I started typing my post. It should be considered many of the more vocal users like the loli anime. I don't understand it, I guess they really like cute.

 

Sounds to me like the kind of board I would avoid, many of what's be listed here is pretty respected on some level(Yu Yu Hakusho, Rouroni Kenshin), 

[Obsolete 681]

I'm kind of a rookie in the world of anime myself, and I don't really know what you're looking for, but I'll try:

 

Gunbuster might be a decent start, and for one good reason - it's short. At 6 episodes you could watch the whole thing in about 2-3 hours. Just keep in mind that it starts off rough and doesn't actually become good until episode 3. It also contains some completely unwarranted nudity, but depending on the viewer this may not be an issue.  

 

I'll also second everyone who said Cowboy Bebop. Everything about it is practically designed to achieve maximum appeal for western audiences, so check it out. 

 

Other favorites of mine are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I'm not sure I'd recommend these to beginners since they can be very unconventional and demanding. But if you're the adventurous type then jump right in. 

Edited December 8, 2014 by Rudes

[Throwaway19573639385 764]

ALL THA ANIME

 

There are a few musts out there everyone should' have watched:

 

Death Note, the very incarnation why anime differs from cartoons.

 

Code Geass for when you want something with more action than Death Note. 'Dat season 2 ending, brrr...

 

Cowboy Bebop, words cannot describe this world wonder.

 

Samurai Champloo, music, animation and style formed into one piece of badass. Plus samurais. Yea, it's that great.

 

Soul Eater. The battle scenes are just super amazing. The whole set-up is perfect and the style is woah.

 

--

 

For a bit less known animes that are really, really good:

 

Steins;Gate. Best voice acting, wonderful animation, time travelling bananas and best tsundere character ever. Beware of the special ops mad scientist super spy. Need I say more?

 

Paranoia Agent. One small dude with a golden bat starts beating up random people, keeps changing appearance and everything starts to become completely messed up.

 

Now and Then, Here and There. Absolutely horrifying. Kid prostitution, child soldiers, slavery and one messed-up tyrant in search of the most precious resource on earth, water.

 

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, don't get distracted by the cute style, this anime is real dark and 100% awesome.

[Discordian 6,015]

Here's the thing with anime: There is no 'beginner' stuff. There's kids stuff, there's adult-oriented (NOT talking about hentai/porn), male-oriented (shonen), female-oriented (shoujo), stuff that's heavily steeped in Japanese culture or viewpoints, stuff that's wild and crazy, stuff that's extremely reliant on cutesy visuals..... you just gotta find something and stick with it if you like it. There's many different styles with many different genres.

 

Stuff I started with when I really got into anime:

 

Love Hina

Ranma 1/2

Ah My Goddess (still one of my favorite anime of all time)

Blade of the Immortal (though never finished it)

Jing: King of Bandits (HIGHLY recommended based on it's unique world and characters alone)

 

Edit: Sorry, somehow posted before I finished!

 

I was also gonna say that these are things I started with so they may not all work for you and they range from heavily influenced by Japanese culture to not as well as going from humble to totally wacky hijinx.

 

Another series that is a good start for anyone is Azumanga Daioh though. It's very light in Japanese culture, doesn't play to some of the more overused stereotypes and is generally more about the funny than anything else so you don't have to worry about oversexualization (a common anime trope) getting in the way.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Tenchi Muyo yet.  It's not only one of the first Animes I ever saw, it is a great series to get any upcoming fan of Japanese animation started.  Plus, the animation was done by the same people that did the animation for the PSX and Saturn ports of Lunar.  If you like Anime where you don't have to take things too seriously, check this one out.

 

And one more thing...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy6ZKWq9Yug

 

Someone make a PMV with this song.  It's long overdue.

This show was once aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami block though my memory of it is fuzzy and they probably cut out some of the more explicit content but I do highly recommend this series. It's a little..."everywhere" though. There's the main series that was split into two or three seasons, a manga that counts as the end of it, two spinoff/alternate universes in totally different series' and a few movies as well. You gotta really invest in the series to see it in full but it was the inspiration of many of today's anime.

 

Ayeka was always my favorite. Just sayin'.

I would also like to mention that it would be wise to start with shorter anime that are easier to find as a whole. Anime like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece (the big ones of the last four or five years) are well over several hundred episodes long and it's a long trek.

 

Though if you do want to venture into a longer series you might want to check out Rurouni Kenshin. The final season kinda threw out the entire final story arc of the manga and replaced it with sorta half-assed material (though some of it is still good, don't count it out completely!) but the first two seasons will blow you away. Kenshin was the badass of the decade back in the 90s.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Discordian

[Moog the Kvlt 1,460]

The one anime series that got me into watching it was Sgt. Frog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyJW_n-GY3E

I used to watch 5 episodes of it daily when I first saw it a while ago, it's quite addicting.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Moog

[Toa of Ponies 259]

I don't like violent anime very much either.Well as so many of my friends say, I only like "Boring anime", as in  I only like Quite different genres to the norm, like Slice of Life.

 

But I do recommend

 

K-On!

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukanai/haganai

Lucky star

Azumanga Daiho <-- That ones a bit weird though

[Mr. Changeling 132]

I recommend attack on titan. That is all. Im not a big anime fan at all, but i watch it because it is a freaking awesome show, thar so happens to be an anime

[Kbblender 122]

How about you watch Neon Genesis: evangelion? (hehe... He'll be scarred for life with all the gore in that suggestion!  HAHA!)  Ignore that.  I don't know where it came from.

[akalink 163]

How about you watch Neon Genesis: evangelion? (hehe... He'll be scarred for life with all the gore in that suggestion!  HAHA!)  Ignore that.  I don't know where it came from.

NOooooooo!!!!

 

That show is way overrated. Friends of mine who say its their favorite show say its overrated. Pretty much avoid this until you get become more callus then you can watch. The first half of the show is really good but then it starts trying to be too deep. Just make sure you watch FLCL after EVO, FLCL brought the studio out of the Eva sized depression that EVO created.

 

Here is the flow chart. Evo with orginal ending (bad end) go to FLCL. Evo with fixed ending (God incest ending) then go to FLCL

[MVC NVMXD JVRXD 2,406]

 

 

Seriously? Cowboy Bebop is considered tripe? Don't take offense to this but the people on that forum sound like dicks, which super harcore anime fans can be sometimes. It's all subjective, with the exception of Cowboy Bebop which is undeniably amazing.

Cowboy bebop is almost completely pandering to western audiences actually. It's relatively simple, relying on an episode to episode basis for plots, instead of a continuous storyline that *better* animes share. There are tons of older anime that have way better plots/characters/everything, but since bebop is so accessible, it's the most popular. It's almost on the level of shit like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto.

 

 

Black Lagoon - "realistic" fiction about a team of mercenary smugglers in the south pacific, crime-action, adult, lots of violence, dark stories)

watching this, it's pretty nice.

 

If I had to recommend one, it'd be Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm biased towards it since it's probably my favorite anime, but whatever.

It has the action that many people who first get into anime like (out of everything it is, it's a meccha, after all. :V), but it also combines it with a complex storyline filled with depression and angst that goes together to teach one simple moral. It was actually one of the most popular anime in Japan for a while, but that doesn't mean that this anime is "easy to get". Most people who seriously watch anime will probably have a strong opinion towards NGE, so it's a good idea to watch this at one time or another.

 

 

That show is way overrated. Friends of mine who say its their favorite show say its overrated. Pretty much avoid this until you get become more callus then you can watch. The first half of the show is really good but then it starts trying to be too deep. Just make sure you watch FLCL after EVO, FLCL brought the studio out of the Eva sized depression that EVO created.

How does it try to be too deep? Neon Genesis actually doesn't have a lot of the stereotypical shortcuts that other animes, like angel beats, have. Like, that anime just made the characters be fun and shit for the whole anime, but now I'm supposed to feel bad and cry about it because the devs had to rush together a half-assed ending? NGE is deep because of it's unique character developments and interactions that are apparent throughout the series. It seems that you just couldn't understand what NGE was really about.

[akalink 163]

Cowboy bebop is almost completely pandering to western audiences actually. It's relatively simple, relying on an episode to episode basis for plots, instead of a continuous storyline that *better* animes share. There are tons of older anime that have way better plots/characters/everything, but since bebop is so accessible, it's the most popular. It's almost on the level of shit like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto.

 

 

watching this, it's pretty nice.

 

If I had to recommend one, it'd be Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm biased towards it since it's probably my favorite anime, but whatever.

It has the action that many people who first get into anime like (out of everything it is, it's a meccha, after all. :V), but it also combines it with a complex storyline filled with depression and angst that goes together to teach one simple moral. It was actually one of the most popular anime in Japan for a while, but that doesn't mean that this anime is "easy to get". Most people who seriously watch anime will probably have a strong opinion towards NGE, so it's a good idea to watch this at one time or another.

 

 

How does it try to be too deep? Neon Genesis actually doesn't have a lot of the stereotypical shortcuts that other animes, like angel beats, have. Like, that anime just made the characters be fun and shit for the whole anime, but now I'm supposed to feel bad and cry about it because the devs had to rush together a half-assed ending? NGE is deep because of it's unique character developments and interactions that are apparent throughout the series. It seems that you just couldn't understand what NGE was really about.

Quite the opposite. NGE uses a lot of Biblical reference, a subject that I've studied. Whenever they insterted some deep reference to Judo-Christian mythos I knew where they where from and what their context was originally. The way NGE used these references was cringe worthy when compared to the original context. Though I will admit the whole brain computer thing was kind of cool.

[MVC NVMXD JVRXD 2,406]

 

 

Quite the opposite. NGE uses a lot of Biblical reference, a subject that I've studied. Whenever they insterted some deep reference to Judo-Christian mythos I knew where they where from and what their context was originally. The way NGE used these references was cringe worthy when compared to the original context. Though I will admit the whole brain computer thing was kind of cool.

But it's not about Christian references at all. The Christian references were part of the plot, but again, it's not actually the main point.

 

 

The main point was that it was necessary to move on despite the pain that one endures because of the people around them, and to live for yourself. That's what Shinji was basically bitching about the duration of the series, and the entire length of EoE. It was a complex story meant to relay a simple message.

 

 

[James 302]

Cowboy bebop is almost completely pandering to western audiences actually. It's relatively simple, relying on an episode to episode basis for plots, instead of a continuous storyline that *better* animes share. There are tons of older anime that have way better plots/characters/everything, but since bebop is so accessible, it's the most popular. It's almost on the level of shit like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto.

 

Pandering to a certain audience and being accessible is a bad thing? Individual plots for episodes are a bad thing too? I never knew that, when did that happen?

 

Here's a shocking fact for you; not every anime is made for super-hardcore anime fans.

[Misty Rose 3,216]

I don't really watch alot of anime but I do know that some of the ones I have read are shows.

My cousin is trying to get me into One Piece and he says it's really good so I guess I would recommend it since lots of people have mentioned it here too. Some action for you

I like Ouran High School Host Club from what I've read so you should watch it if you want some comedy.

Higurashi is an amime I LOVE!! It's quite bloody though, and it does deal with themes like abuse and pretty brutal deaths.

I've heard Bleach is pretty good too so this is just my list

[Bardock 139]

Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Kai (not the original Z, because the pacing would probably irritate you) would be good for beginners.

 

The series gets a lot of hate, mainly from the more hardcore anime fans, but I still really like it, even if that makes me the minority on this site.