A lotta anime passes through my field of vision, but I generally let it pass on through without pursuit. Early on, I watched a couple as they appeared on American television, particuarly “Dragon Ball Z,” but I got fed up with the endless one-on-one tournament battles the characters indulged in.
You’ve literally missed worlds. So many I’m wracking my brain trying to think of only one “gateway” anime. DO NOT start with Anohana! Unless you just like your heart ripped out of your chest and smashed to tears.
@CaptNerd? WORLDS? Solar Systems Galaxies even, there are some 60-80 anime series produced NEW each year. that’s not including shows that NEVER die like Naruto/Boruto, and One Piece or (gag blegh Pwhtewwie Gah I’m sorry I even have to mention it) JoJo’s bizarre advaneture) and Hunter by Hunter, or Fairy Tale…
Fairly sure “Transformers” and “Inspector Gadget” aren’t anime
Sailor Moon is a good choice, get the manga is you can (incidentally, Sailor Venus was actually active for at least a year or two before any of the others, including Moon, and is collected in the “Codename: Sailor V” books)
Cowboy bebop, yes: “No, Ein, these mushrooms are _not_ good for eating.”
Anything from Studio Ghibli, yes.
Ranma 1/2, yes.
Dirty Pair, yes.
Slayers!, yes.
Those who hunt Elves, yes.
If you check out the Anime America YouTube channel, they have a top ten list of gateway anime that covers a wide variety of genres so you can pick something most suited to your interests.
A “where to start” would be with “pick a genre”. Does one like Sports? Robots? Dancing? High fantasy? Politics? Rom Coms?
Everyone’s gateway can be different. Although among early 80s/90s adopters there’s more commonality since the selection in Western markets was more limited. If one didn’t particularly like those shows, I can understand being put off other media sharing the “anime” label. I have two examples to show folks that anime is a method/style of animation and story telling, not a genre to itself.
1930s prohibition era US, mafia, train heist, and 1700s alchemy. These are the quick tags of “Baccano!” Yes the exclamation mark is in the title. It can be a little obtuse on first watching because it’s presented chronologically out of order.
Alt reality 1910s/30s post Great War style armistice and depression. The story follows a squad of soldiers doing “war recover”work in their country, the “Pumpkin Scissors”. It’s not as overtly dark as the subject matter would suggest, although the opening episode involves chemical weapon deployment on civilians. PG-13 style, not Michael Bay’s “The Rock”.
While not on my example list, “A Place Further than the Universe” is adorable. Also possibly relevant to folks who like “coming of age” type stories.
Yes, that ^
Pick a subject you like, there will be an anime about it
Main point is, there is ‘anime’ and there is ‘animated shows’, do not be fooled (or ‘conditioned’) into believing ‘cartoons are for kids’ (much in the same way as ‘comics are just for little kids’), ‘anime’ is a medium used to tell stories, just like ‘regular’ movies, and, just like ‘regular’ movies, there are as many genre (some of them are most decidedly NOT for children)
I can second Baccano! And Pumpkin Scissors. Both are wonderful, and lack ‘Endless one-on-one tournament battles’
In Baccano! There are 4 relevant time periods/Locations that they switch between, so it can be somewhat dense, but they never focus on episode-long battles, instead focusing on interpersonal events, with occasional violence. Somewhat bloody.
Pumpkin Scissors is strictly linear, and I can only think of one ‘sortie’ that wasn’t resolved in less than the span of one episode.
As for recommendations of my own: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is ABSOLUTELY focused on battles, but those fights are generally single episode affairs, and while they tend to be one-on-one, they are generally engineered to be so by the villian, rather than the good guys succumbing to DBZ Syndrome (I must fight him alone because of my Saiyan Pride!) The series is long-running, tries to tie up loose plot points frequently (though there are always dangling) and stays fresh by swapping out most of the cast each “part”. The longest stretch a single character has had in my viewing so far sees him go from hot-blooded youth, through a 40 year timeskip to eventually serve as a guide to his grandson on a quest to save his daughter/his grandson’s mother. Jojo also shakes it up by ‘battles’ occasionally being decided by card games, bar wagers and video games, and the commentary remains exactly as overwrought. The author has a predeliction of dogs dying to quickly establish villains as Capital-B Bad.
Nichijou. Take the big budget and occasional Lovingly detail-rendered fight sequences of a shonen action animé, and pour it into a slice-of-life comedy about a pre-teen inventor, her wind-up AI who goes to middle school WITHOUT her creator, and the AI’s classmates. key moments include: A barking dog scares the schoolgirls, while doing her homework, one of the classmates accidentally jams her thumb into the writing end of a mechanical pencil while trying to advance the lead to start writing, resulting in a comical fantasy sequence in which she shoots the moon with a sound-based laser. The same girl, while standing outside of class as punishment watches the principal wrestle an aggressive deer in the quad . No one believes her.
Aggrestuko: A simply-animated story by Sanrio, creators of Hello Kitty. the artstyle is exactly as cute as you’d think. Restuko is an anthropomorphic red panda who works in a trading firm’s accounting department. She has grown disillusioned, and her only outlet is death metal karaoke. She occasionally has to sing her heart out in the bathroom stall.
There is even anime that gets intensive about cooking. No joke. They have made an entire serious hyping up cooking. So if you have an interest, you can probably find anime that matches it to some degree
I’ll make a personal recommendation. Dorje did a good job with “A Place Further Than the Universe”, I’ll follow it up with Kimi Ni Todoke (from me to you) a nice series encompassing high school life and awkward interactions all in all a nice feel good type of series.
It is best to think of anime as a medium rather than a genre.
My gateway anime was .Hack//Sign, although that may be more a me thing – it was just very novel to watch a show which was comfortable to have characters discussing a seemingly impossible situation and how to resolve it for 26 episodes (a person trapped in an mmo). It didn’t have monsters of the day, instead focusing on character development. These days contiguous plots is increasingly staple for western tv series, but back then most shows I saw maintained a very strong status quo episode to episode.
Some anime I would recommend would be…
Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure – this a big damn heroes anime with lots of fighting, but there is a cleverness to it as well. It also has an interesting art style. Can be a bit horrifying though.
Boogiepop Phantom – A supernatural mystery anime, each episode follows the same general period of time from the perspective of a different character as it follows the events following a mysterious column of light that appeared in tokyo one night. Rewards observant viewing.
Azumanga Daioh! – Slice of Life, Comedy following the everyday life of 6 high school girls.
Yakitate Japan – Competitive bread baking! Crazy pun-based reactions! (Food Wars is a similar but more recent competitive food anime)
I’ve never seen this anime, but the saddest that I’ve seen is Grave of the Fireflies, by Studio Ghibli. I consider this to be the saddest movie of any type that I’ve ever seen:
It HAD to premier with My Neighbor Totoro! And, if you ever feel like watching it, it is a must that you have to watch MNT afterwards! MNT is requisite to not losing all hope and faith in the world, and your will to continue living. Only pure joy can sooth one’s existential crisis for the world to continue existing, and to just be depressed for a day or two.
My favorite starter-anime to introduce people to the genre with is Mushi-Shi. It’s slightly supernatural horror-ish, a bit meditative and slow, but also weird and inventive enough to still be interesting.
That isn’t good anime. Those are good stories period. Like you said tho they can be a bit slow. A good gate way drug…um anime I can think of is the Tenchi OVA’s, Cowboy Bebop, SAO, Record of the Lodoss War, Gate, Ghost in the Shell:SAC or most Studio Ghibli stuff.
Ranma 1/2?
Anime isn’t a genre; it’s a medium, within witch are dozens of genres. What you’d recommend to start someone on should probably be related to their interests. Then, if they’re impressed with how the Japanese tell their favourite types of stories, then it’s probably time to see how open they are to new genres.
Also, I think anything from Studio Ghilbi makes for a good general introduction to anime (provided they’re willing to commit to feature-film length experimentation, of course.) Those movies are masterworks!
I can agree with those pics except I wouldn’t want to start someone off with Tenchi OVAs, only because I don’t think fanservice and wierd visual humor like the stress-foreheads and sweat drops are a good place to start someone who is uninitiated. But that could just be me losing interest over the years in hyperactive arm-flailing.
Well it kind of depends on the Age and (not the same thing) Maturity of the Initiate…
nausica of the Valley of the Winds is both Anime and Cinematic, good intro while still being ‘old school’ enough to represent ‘more modern stuff will follow’.
Anything from Studio Ghibli is a good start for introducing somebody to anime, though there are a few where having a box of tissues nearby is highly recommended.
My cable co has TOKU channel on it, and I’ve been DVRing some of it and watching periodically. I think I decided I liked “Juden Chen” (Charger Girls), enough that I bothered to purchase the DVD of it. I might also suggest “Saber Rider & the Star Sheriffs” — they’re a bit more action-adventure. (Or are these not anime enough?)
If you are going with “Saber Rider”, you have to include “Galaxy Rangers” as well
They may not be officially ‘anime’ (believe they are a join US/Europe production), butt they are good enough of an ‘introduction’ to bridge typical ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon’ shows and true ‘anime’
Another good series, is “The Mysterious Cities of Gold”, use to watch that in the late 80’s or early 90’s, and it’s available on DVD (or it was, not sure if it’s still possible to get) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5Y_ogiyi0
Agreed. I wouldn’t say any animation from Saban or Nelvana was anime, however, their works from the late-70s to early-90s were to an extent influenced by the style.
Contrasting that with DIC’s anime output, which were mostly just redubbed Japanese series.
Maison Ikkoku is a classic, engrossing story of community and family, told over years. Full of heart, and free of anime wackiness.
Golden Boy is hilarious, classic style and moderate levels of shenanigans.
Cowboy Bebop is one of the great stories of the last century, in any format.
Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) is a sweet nerd-love story full of laughs, with enough modern anime visual tics to make it a good transition to more mainstream anime…
And Sekirei is THE perfect magical-battle-girl-romance-harem show. Fight me.
@Steve If you redefine battle as against each other and sometimes dragging in the main character then there is Monster Musume. Of course it is definitely Ecchi….. Personally while I like the harem idea I was never a fan of the main guy being a floor mat….
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is a character driven political thriller set in Europe after the fall of Communism. This travelogue follows a Japanese doctor thru Germany & the surrounding countries as he attempts to discover if a patient that he saved has become a serial killer.
Durarara is a drama set in modern Tokyo, which follows a collection of inter connected characters & the effect that Celtic mythology has on their lives.
Deadman Wonderland is a horror show that follows a schoolboy framed for murder as he is incarcerated in a prison that operates as a theme park.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is a martial arts story about an average high school student that becomes the student at the dojo of 7 Grand Masters.
Hikaru no Go is a “sports” anime about a kid that inherits a haunted Go board from his grandfather. The ghost of the board teaches him to play the game.
Durarara Is a Quentin Tarantino movie spread out over 5 Half season arcs. 8 or 10 Points of view stories all cris crossing and overlapping and threading through each other. with a great soundtrack.
“Sorry, due to licensing limitations, videos are unavailable in your region.”
Well typical, though I’ve been looking at getting a VPN so I guess I can just bookmark it until then
Good job, Pickle. Nobody should get away with mentioning anime and “Teen Titans Go” in the same sentence, unless to say they’re definatelt not the same thing.
Actually Guesticus, “anime” is short for “animation”. Outside of Japan the word refers to the specific Japanese style, but here in Japan anything animated is called “anime”. “Manga” likewise means any comic or graphic-novel format, but outside of Japan it’s used to refer to Japanese graphic novels (the Korean word is “manhwa”). Here in Japan we would refer to DC and Marvel as “Western manga” and Disney movies as “Western anime”, same as how in America and Europe call Shuesha and Kodansha “Japanese graphic novels” and Studio Ghibli is “Japanese animation”.
Like said, anime and manga are specific styles, most people outside Japan, when hearing those terms, know they are not referring to ‘Bambi’ or ‘Superman’
I see. I only clarified because you had appeared to be disagreeing with MerchManDan’s statement that TTG would be called “anime” in Japan, which is true.
17 comments in and nobody has mentioned Akira yet? It’s classic cyberpunk science fiction with gangs, drugs, psionics, advanced military hardware, and the obligatory destruction of Tokyo.
For science fiction that doesn’t level cities, try Paprika. It has beautifully-rendered dreamscapes and deep dives into the human psyche.
In Serial Experiments Lain, the boundaries of the physical world and the virtual world begin to blur after a young girl starts connecting to her world’s version of the internet.
For way-out-there raunchy silliness, try Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt. It’s not pornographic, but it’s definitely not for children. Two fallen angels must earn their way back into Heaven by defeating demonic/ghostly monsters. They’re usually too distracted by hot guys and chocolate to bother, so a deranged priest has to browbeat them into fulfilling their duties.
I got the English dubbed version recently and while I’m not a prude and as an Ex-Navy man when it comes to not being offended by swearing, but OMG I still couldn’t even watch the first episode for all the swearing in practically EVERY sentence!! i mean i don’t think there was a single complete sentence that did NOT have a swear word or two in it… i just took it out of the drive, put it away, and promptly forgot that i bought it…
Akira, the movie, basically sucks. Visually is looks great and the soundtrack is wonderful; however, the story is horrid. It is typical of most anime movies in that it expects the audience to already be familiar with the story.
In the order I’ve probably seen them, my experience with anime:
Speed Racer
Marine Boy
Kimba the White Lion
Battle of the Planets
Star Blazers
Rurouni Kenshin
Inuyasha
Spice and Wolf
not saying they’re the best introduction, but they’re what I know of anime.
@pyjamapartymonster HEY! there is some GREAT isekai stuff out there. I admit its kinda trendy right now but there is some good in it.
Gate is a good one, Problem children are coming from another world is another. Isekai izakaya is pretty good if you like cooking anime (and I personally do)
Where have you been, Centaur? Cas chided herself for trying to get her mind off of the “Am I into girls?’ question by reading a yuri. Kinda telling that she skipped over shojo-ai and went straight for the yuri.
By the way, I hope nobody would actually judge anime by “Teen Titans Go.” The current version is just awful…and awful is the way to describe how the Cartoon Network has it on all day long…
One of the first true ‘anime’ movies for me, was “Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend”, seriously would not recommend that to anyone without reading up on it first
Personally got it because was intrigued by the subject matter at the time (yeah, was a warped kid before watching it :P)
Another one was the “Ninja Scroll” movie
Hmm, come to think of it, haven’t really seen that many ‘normal’ anime, a couple of the Ghibli Studio works, butt even those weren’t really the ‘family viewing’ ones (unless your family was The Addams’ :P)
As someone who had grown up on the animation styles of Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, MGM, Terrytoons and the Fleischer Studios I was very disappointed when the jerky, stop-motion style of Japanimation first came on American TV in the form of Astro Boy and Gigantor. I watched them but IMO they just weren’t as well done as anything from the American studios mentioned. I’ve never really lost that negative attitude towards anime in all the subsequent decades. The only series that I’ve found I could watch repeatedly were Sailor Moon and Samurai Pizza Cats. I think it was the Paul Lynde impression for the voice of the Big Cheese in SPC that drew me in on that one, and for some reason I really enjoyed the transformation sequence and music in SM. I’ve tried watching other anime shows and just can’t get past the shoddy animation.
Okay, let me just start by asking what genres you like in TV shows and movies?
Its been over 50 years since Astro Boy was released in Japan. Also, most Disney products look pretty odd when you dub them into a new language. It really bothers most people when the voices don’t match up with the mouth movements.
while i am personally unfamiliar with those two titles and note that they are VERY old in comparison, that MAY have been just the editing that the American TV stations did to them in order to make it get past what censorship we had as well as their attempts to make it fit the American cartoon styles that we were used to, and what they thought we “had” to have spoon-fed to us in order to have the ratings that would allow them to get more episodes vs what the anime studios ACTUALLY produced. That said, if you look at some of the newer anime now, their production values across all categories has risen tremendously vs way back then, so you might be pleasantly surprised if you start watching again…
Okay, (dusts off his Crunchyroll queue) Here are some recommendations, based on genre:
Military: “Gate”. A portal opens up between a medieval world and downtown Tokyo, through which an army on horse and dragon-back comes into Ginza and starts killing people, until the Japan Self Defense Force rallies to drive them back. The Japanese government decides to send the JSDF through the Gate and sets up military actions against the “empire” on the other side.
Slice of life comedy: “Servant x Service”, “Wagnaria”, “Amagi Brilliant Park” (trust me)
Romantic comedy: “Toradora”, “My Love Story”, “Wotakoi” (ditto, the latter is on Amazon Prime)
Mystery: “Beautiful Bones” – a shut-in woman with a penchant for bones and forensics solves mysteries with the help of a young neighbor
“Monster” (if you can find it) a Japanese doctor saves a young boy ahead of a Japanese government official, ruining his career, only to find out years later that the boy was a serial killer, who the doctor tracks down all over post-Cold War Eastern Europe.
“Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex” and “GitS: 2nd Gig” (forget the movie)
Just plain relaxing: “Laid-back Camp”
You should be able to find something there to start with, trust me, they ain’t Hanna-Barbera!
CaptNerd Gate is awesome, Servant by service good show and ahem fanservice boobies!, wAGNARIA (ALL 3 SEASONS) EXCELLENT,
Toradora excellent never heard of the last two will check them out.
Beautiful bones EXCELLENT even my non anime loving gf loves it Monster is excellent
Ghost in the Shell (any of the movies or series ) are seminal works of cyberpunk.
Laidback camp ive never heard of)
But I will add one more to your laid back Cute/Funny/at times heart breaking… Polar Bear Café.
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Toradora, I loved that one. And I second Gate, that is a very interesting series, the fanservice doesn’t hurt either. Surprised I didn’t see any mention of any of Key’s stuff; Canon, Clannad and Air are all excellent, also would suggest anything by Ken Akamatsu, such as Love Hina, as others have mentioned. How about newer stuff, like To Love Ru and Monster Musume?
My introduction to anime was Akira, Evangelion, Space Battleship Yamato, Chobits and Desert Punk, I couldn’t stand Astro Boy however. What got me initially interested in Japanese video was the old Ultraman live action series I watched as a kid in the early 70s (I lived in northern Alberta and didn’t have cable, so only had whatever crap cartoons and shows the local station carried, which consisted of endless repeats of Flintstones, Spiderman, Rocket Robin Hood and Hercules). I got my daughter watching Sailor Moon when it was new, she is still a fan. I lean more strongly towards manga than anime lately, and am currently on a historical binge, reading old stuff from the 80s, currently working through Rumiko Takahashi various series.
hanna Barbara used the same animation style as most animes of the time Static background moving characters. for what its worth… as for GREAT visuals… you cant beat some of the work done in Cowboy Bebop.
I got started with Robotech and Tenchi Muyo!
I had no inkling if the truly massive body of work in anime, with whole genres dedicated to age and subdivided into sexual orientation as well as subject.
The Japanese have been working on their story telling in print and illustration for centuries (they lay claim to the first novel “The Tale of Genji” 11th century)and they have projected it into their anime with gusto.
One can get lost in this forest of entertainment, and I for one enjoy being lost from time to time. 🙂
If you want something slow & relaxed: Haibane Renmei
Do you prefer action? Hellsing Ultimate, Fate-stay Night
Maybe some Romcom/Harem? Love Hina
Comedy-Action, borderlining on silly? Samurai Champloo, Full Metal Panic, Chrno Crusade
Enemy of the week, slowly transitioning into overarcing story? Witch Hunter Robin
Something for the children? Card Captor Sakura
Do you prefer adult stuff (called hentai)? Bible Black
Other notable series, in no particular order, which could be interesting (serving different tastes): Full Metal Alchemist, Mai HiME, Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, Death Note, Ai Yori Aoshi, Ikkitousen, Rahxephon, Chobits
If anime was a pustulant mass of filth and corruption, then maybe…just MAYBE…it would be a little like Teen Titans Go.
Teen Titans Go is the travesty that happened because CalArts students couldn’t understand the actual Teen Titans. So they made a chibi cartoon based on the show “Friends” instead.
My first few anime that i distinctly remember being ones that i watched were Akira, El Hazard (the magnificent world), Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Evangelion (the original), and even though i’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as an anime: Ralph Bashki’s: Wizards… I’ve got a bunch more now-days.
Yeah Wizards! Saw it on it’s theatrical release. A creative writing adjunct instructor of mine was involved with Bashki right after Wizards and exposed us to it. (Grin)
But CowBoy BeBop is what dragged me into Anime. Middle daughter was and is consumed by anime, likes to watch unDubbed versions because she has learned broken Japanese from watching so many subtitled anime. I don’t watch as much as I used to.
My father took me to that when I was young. He had no idea what it was about, but thought it’d be okay because it was “a cartoon”. Boy, was HE surprised! We watched the whole thing, though. My dad was cheap as hell, and would never walk out of a movie because he PAID for it, dangit!
I love Wizards. It’s cheesy as hell and the rotoscope style didn’t catch on for a REASON, but it’s still total entertainment. I still play that song, “Only Time Will Tell” from time to time. It really grabs you by the boo-boo.
I like some pretty odd animes, ones the “purists” think are terrible for some reason.
I like “The Irregular at Magic High School” so much I’ve rewatched the entire thing several times. To let you know how weird my taste in anime is, I CRY at the ending. I wish they’d done more, too. They left so much set up for future seasons.
I know some people really despise “Sword Art Online” for some reason, but I really loved it. I haven’t seen the most recent series yet, but up to Mother’s Rosario really worked for me. I cried at a lot of the episodes.
When I’m in a bad mood, I watch “Claymore”. It’s one of the more vicious shows, a bit of the ol’ Ultra-Violence, but there’s little nuggets of redemption in it that makes it worth it for me.
“Cowboy Bebop” is sheer magnificence. Once again, there were tears.
I don’t always cry when I watch anime. I love “Keijo”, but it’s not a tear-jerker for me.
Heck, I started playing Go because of “Hikaru No Go”, and yeah, tears in a couple of spots.
“Aldnoah Zero” bothered me. The ending was really jarring, and there was too much Japanese angst in it. But it was a decent series, mostly.
But I don’t like some of the animes that people say are “must watch” — I liked some of “Fairy Tail”, but got tired of it. I can’t watch “One Piece”, it annoys me, as does “Pokemon”, and “Sailor Moon” just bores me. I tried to watch “Pretear”, but it was the English dub…the sub might be better. The dub really annoyed the hell out of me, and I only lasted a few episodes. They took the double entendres a little far, into the creepy zone…but some people like that part.
There’s a lot of other animes I like, but I like to rewatch them more than I like finding new ones to watch. I’m the same way about books. It takes a lot for me to invest the time and energy into a new book or a new anime these days. Maybe I’m just getting old.
Just for giggles, since you’re all here, something I’ve sort of wondered about:
Is “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” sort of a funky attempt at a live action retelling of what could have been anime or manga? Or does it just feel like it could have been?
Seemed like it was the proposed start of a franchise, or at least leading in to the TV series (quite a few series around that tie started off with a movie-length first episode: “Buck Rogers” and “Battlestar” both started with a movie, that could have worked out just as well as being a stand-alone if the series didn’t get the green-light)
When I was a kid, my shows were;
Astro Boy
Speed Racer
Kimba The White Lion
The Amazing Three.
My wife liked “Tobor, the 8th Man,” a series you will NEVER see again outside of YouTube as it was in Black and White and the hero/robot used to recharged by using batteries that were disguised as cigarettes!
😔We couldn’t afford a VCR during th few years I spent in Japan while growing up, so you can imagin how frustrating it was wanting (and being unable) to share, with my 6th &7th grade classmates when I returned to the `States in 1981, some of the anime I enjoyed from japanese TV.😩
I’m talking stuff like:
¹》th ^original^ broadcast of th FIRST Gundam series
²》Doraemon
³》Sally The Witch (for really, ^really^ OLD-school Magical Girl anime)
⁴》Space Battleship Yamato (NOT that ^accursed^ “Star Blazers” bastardization)
A lotta anime passes through my field of vision, but I generally let it pass on through without pursuit. Early on, I watched a couple as they appeared on American television, particuarly “Dragon Ball Z,” but I got fed up with the endless one-on-one tournament battles the characters indulged in.
Probably I’ve missed plenty, right?
You’ve literally missed worlds. So many I’m wracking my brain trying to think of only one “gateway” anime. DO NOT start with Anohana! Unless you just like your heart ripped out of your chest and smashed to tears.
@CaptNerd? WORLDS? Solar Systems Galaxies even, there are some 60-80 anime series produced NEW each year. that’s not including shows that NEVER die like Naruto/Boruto, and One Piece or (gag blegh Pwhtewwie Gah I’m sorry I even have to mention it) JoJo’s bizarre advaneture) and Hunter by Hunter, or Fairy Tale…
Uhm, Fairy Tale is actually in its final season right now…sorry.
Transformers G1, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Sailor Moon, Inspector Gadget (original run), Digimon Adventure.
Fairly sure “Transformers” and “Inspector Gadget” aren’t anime
Sailor Moon is a good choice, get the manga is you can (incidentally, Sailor Venus was actually active for at least a year or two before any of the others, including Moon, and is collected in the “Codename: Sailor V” books)
@Gavote, I know I just dislike the series intensely.
Gateway?
Bleach, for a singular instance. Others?
Cowboy bebop, yes: “No, Ein, these mushrooms are _not_ good for eating.”
Anything from Studio Ghibli, yes.
Ranma 1/2, yes.
Dirty Pair, yes.
Slayers!, yes.
Those who hunt Elves, yes.
That’s right! Start with ElVen Lied and tell her that the woman in the brown dress is the most important character!!
If you check out the Anime America YouTube channel, they have a top ten list of gateway anime that covers a wide variety of genres so you can pick something most suited to your interests.
A “where to start” would be with “pick a genre”. Does one like Sports? Robots? Dancing? High fantasy? Politics? Rom Coms?
Everyone’s gateway can be different. Although among early 80s/90s adopters there’s more commonality since the selection in Western markets was more limited. If one didn’t particularly like those shows, I can understand being put off other media sharing the “anime” label. I have two examples to show folks that anime is a method/style of animation and story telling, not a genre to itself.
1930s prohibition era US, mafia, train heist, and 1700s alchemy. These are the quick tags of “Baccano!” Yes the exclamation mark is in the title. It can be a little obtuse on first watching because it’s presented chronologically out of order.
Alt reality 1910s/30s post Great War style armistice and depression. The story follows a squad of soldiers doing “war recover”work in their country, the “Pumpkin Scissors”. It’s not as overtly dark as the subject matter would suggest, although the opening episode involves chemical weapon deployment on civilians. PG-13 style, not Michael Bay’s “The Rock”.
While not on my example list, “A Place Further than the Universe” is adorable. Also possibly relevant to folks who like “coming of age” type stories.
Yes, that ^
Pick a subject you like, there will be an anime about it
Main point is, there is ‘anime’ and there is ‘animated shows’, do not be fooled (or ‘conditioned’) into believing ‘cartoons are for kids’ (much in the same way as ‘comics are just for little kids’), ‘anime’ is a medium used to tell stories, just like ‘regular’ movies, and, just like ‘regular’ movies, there are as many genre (some of them are most decidedly NOT for children)
I can second Baccano! And Pumpkin Scissors. Both are wonderful, and lack ‘Endless one-on-one tournament battles’
In Baccano! There are 4 relevant time periods/Locations that they switch between, so it can be somewhat dense, but they never focus on episode-long battles, instead focusing on interpersonal events, with occasional violence. Somewhat bloody.
Pumpkin Scissors is strictly linear, and I can only think of one ‘sortie’ that wasn’t resolved in less than the span of one episode.
As for recommendations of my own: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is ABSOLUTELY focused on battles, but those fights are generally single episode affairs, and while they tend to be one-on-one, they are generally engineered to be so by the villian, rather than the good guys succumbing to DBZ Syndrome (I must fight him alone because of my Saiyan Pride!) The series is long-running, tries to tie up loose plot points frequently (though there are always dangling) and stays fresh by swapping out most of the cast each “part”. The longest stretch a single character has had in my viewing so far sees him go from hot-blooded youth, through a 40 year timeskip to eventually serve as a guide to his grandson on a quest to save his daughter/his grandson’s mother. Jojo also shakes it up by ‘battles’ occasionally being decided by card games, bar wagers and video games, and the commentary remains exactly as overwrought. The author has a predeliction of dogs dying to quickly establish villains as Capital-B Bad.
Nichijou. Take the big budget and occasional Lovingly detail-rendered fight sequences of a shonen action animé, and pour it into a slice-of-life comedy about a pre-teen inventor, her wind-up AI who goes to middle school WITHOUT her creator, and the AI’s classmates. key moments include: A barking dog scares the schoolgirls, while doing her homework, one of the classmates accidentally jams her thumb into the writing end of a mechanical pencil while trying to advance the lead to start writing, resulting in a comical fantasy sequence in which she shoots the moon with a sound-based laser. The same girl, while standing outside of class as punishment watches the principal wrestle an aggressive deer in the quad . No one believes her.
Aggrestuko: A simply-animated story by Sanrio, creators of Hello Kitty. the artstyle is exactly as cute as you’d think. Restuko is an anthropomorphic red panda who works in a trading firm’s accounting department. She has grown disillusioned, and her only outlet is death metal karaoke. She occasionally has to sing her heart out in the bathroom stall.
Strictly speaking, tear gas is a chemical weapon. As are mace and pepper spray.
There is even anime that gets intensive about cooking. No joke. They have made an entire serious hyping up cooking. So if you have an interest, you can probably find anime that matches it to some degree
I’ll make a personal recommendation. Dorje did a good job with “A Place Further Than the Universe”, I’ll follow it up with Kimi Ni Todoke (from me to you) a nice series encompassing high school life and awkward interactions all in all a nice feel good type of series.
It is best to think of anime as a medium rather than a genre.
My gateway anime was .Hack//Sign, although that may be more a me thing – it was just very novel to watch a show which was comfortable to have characters discussing a seemingly impossible situation and how to resolve it for 26 episodes (a person trapped in an mmo). It didn’t have monsters of the day, instead focusing on character development. These days contiguous plots is increasingly staple for western tv series, but back then most shows I saw maintained a very strong status quo episode to episode.
Some anime I would recommend would be…
Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure – this a big damn heroes anime with lots of fighting, but there is a cleverness to it as well. It also has an interesting art style. Can be a bit horrifying though.
Boogiepop Phantom – A supernatural mystery anime, each episode follows the same general period of time from the perspective of a different character as it follows the events following a mysterious column of light that appeared in tokyo one night. Rewards observant viewing.
Azumanga Daioh! – Slice of Life, Comedy following the everyday life of 6 high school girls.
Yakitate Japan – Competitive bread baking! Crazy pun-based reactions! (Food Wars is a similar but more recent competitive food anime)
You definitely prove your “anime as a medium” point, each of those series is completely different from the others.
sweet Christ shes dumping anicrack right up the nose of the poor girl… At least start her off with something less Rip your heart.
If you want Teen Angst. and slice of Life, Say I Love You… is really great.
oh man, TTG that’s… eugh. ~<3
“Introvention”? Sounds as if Castela is upset enough that she needs a sedagive.
Good idea, Igor. Just don’t tell Frau Blucher.
and in the background you hear “Neigh!!!”
not exactly sure how to phonetically spell out the sound of a terrified horse…
I’ve never seen this anime, but the saddest that I’ve seen is Grave of the Fireflies, by Studio Ghibli. I consider this to be the saddest movie of any type that I’ve ever seen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies is very much worth watching once… and only once, unless you have a really hard heart or actually enjoy being severely sad.
I am still amazed that it premiered in theaters as part of a double-feature with My Neighbor Totoro
It HAD to premier with My Neighbor Totoro! And, if you ever feel like watching it, it is a must that you have to watch MNT afterwards! MNT is requisite to not losing all hope and faith in the world, and your will to continue living. Only pure joy can sooth one’s existential crisis for the world to continue existing, and to just be depressed for a day or two.
My favorite starter-anime to introduce people to the genre with is Mushi-Shi. It’s slightly supernatural horror-ish, a bit meditative and slow, but also weird and inventive enough to still be interesting.
That isn’t good anime. Those are good stories period. Like you said tho they can be a bit slow. A good gate way drug…um anime I can think of is the Tenchi OVA’s, Cowboy Bebop, SAO, Record of the Lodoss War, Gate, Ghost in the Shell:SAC or most Studio Ghibli stuff.
Ranma 1/2?
Anime isn’t a genre; it’s a medium, within witch are dozens of genres. What you’d recommend to start someone on should probably be related to their interests. Then, if they’re impressed with how the Japanese tell their favourite types of stories, then it’s probably time to see how open they are to new genres.
Also, I think anything from Studio Ghilbi makes for a good general introduction to anime (provided they’re willing to commit to feature-film length experimentation, of course.) Those movies are masterworks!
I can agree with those pics except I wouldn’t want to start someone off with Tenchi OVAs, only because I don’t think fanservice and wierd visual humor like the stress-foreheads and sweat drops are a good place to start someone who is uninitiated. But that could just be me losing interest over the years in hyperactive arm-flailing.
desperate times demand desperate measures!
Well it kind of depends on the Age and (not the same thing) Maturity of the Initiate…
nausica of the Valley of the Winds is both Anime and Cinematic, good intro while still being ‘old school’ enough to represent ‘more modern stuff will follow’.
The animation has held up surprisingly well, considering it was released in 1984. Still one of my favorites.
I always forget that Nausica is older than I am. One of my favorites as well.
Anything from Studio Ghibli is a good start for introducing somebody to anime, though there are a few where having a box of tissues nearby is highly recommended.
My cable co has TOKU channel on it, and I’ve been DVRing some of it and watching periodically. I think I decided I liked “Juden Chen” (Charger Girls), enough that I bothered to purchase the DVD of it. I might also suggest “Saber Rider & the Star Sheriffs” — they’re a bit more action-adventure. (Or are these not anime enough?)
If you are going with “Saber Rider”, you have to include “Galaxy Rangers” as well
They may not be officially ‘anime’ (believe they are a join US/Europe production), butt they are good enough of an ‘introduction’ to bridge typical ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon’ shows and true ‘anime’
Another good series, is “The Mysterious Cities of Gold”, use to watch that in the late 80’s or early 90’s, and it’s available on DVD (or it was, not sure if it’s still possible to get)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5Y_ogiyi0
Agreed. I wouldn’t say any animation from Saban or Nelvana was anime, however, their works from the late-70s to early-90s were to an extent influenced by the style.
Contrasting that with DIC’s anime output, which were mostly just redubbed Japanese series.
*cracks knuckles*
Maison Ikkoku is a classic, engrossing story of community and family, told over years. Full of heart, and free of anime wackiness.
Golden Boy is hilarious, classic style and moderate levels of shenanigans.
Cowboy Bebop is one of the great stories of the last century, in any format.
Princess Jellyfish (Kuragehime) is a sweet nerd-love story full of laughs, with enough modern anime visual tics to make it a good transition to more mainstream anime…
And Sekirei is THE perfect magical-battle-girl-romance-harem show. Fight me.
Steve, Sekirei is borderline Ecchi… And I say this as a proper Hentaido. I have the uncensored version around here somewhere.
I would defend Sekirei as a good story with a lot of ‘jiggle physics.” Now, Freezing on the other hand…
@Steve If you redefine battle as against each other and sometimes dragging in the main character then there is Monster Musume. Of course it is definitely Ecchi….. Personally while I like the harem idea I was never a fan of the main guy being a floor mat….
*wraps belt around knuckles*
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is a character driven political thriller set in Europe after the fall of Communism. This travelogue follows a Japanese doctor thru Germany & the surrounding countries as he attempts to discover if a patient that he saved has become a serial killer.
Durarara is a drama set in modern Tokyo, which follows a collection of inter connected characters & the effect that Celtic mythology has on their lives.
Deadman Wonderland is a horror show that follows a schoolboy framed for murder as he is incarcerated in a prison that operates as a theme park.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is a martial arts story about an average high school student that becomes the student at the dojo of 7 Grand Masters.
Hikaru no Go is a “sports” anime about a kid that inherits a haunted Go board from his grandfather. The ghost of the board teaches him to play the game.
Durarara Is a Quentin Tarantino movie spread out over 5 Half season arcs. 8 or 10 Points of view stories all cris crossing and overlapping and threading through each other. with a great soundtrack.
And if you are into getting your heart torn out, with classical music competitions, there is a good Rom/Dramedy called “My Lie in April”
Dude even I cried at that one…
YUUNA!
And yeah, for that dance tissues are mandatory
“Sorry, due to licensing limitations, videos are unavailable in your region.”
Well typical, though I’ve been looking at getting a VPN so I guess I can just bookmark it until then
Crunchyroll.com has it..
Good job, Pickle. Nobody should get away with mentioning anime and “Teen Titans Go” in the same sentence, unless to say they’re definatelt not the same thing.
*definitely
Except in Japan, where TTG would be called anime because literally anything that’s animated – from Disney to Dreamworks – is called anime.
No, ‘anime’ is a specific style, originating in Japan or Korea
Just like ‘manga’ is a specific form of comic
Actually Guesticus, “anime” is short for “animation”. Outside of Japan the word refers to the specific Japanese style, but here in Japan anything animated is called “anime”. “Manga” likewise means any comic or graphic-novel format, but outside of Japan it’s used to refer to Japanese graphic novels (the Korean word is “manhwa”). Here in Japan we would refer to DC and Marvel as “Western manga” and Disney movies as “Western anime”, same as how in America and Europe call Shuesha and Kodansha “Japanese graphic novels” and Studio Ghibli is “Japanese animation”.
Like said, anime and manga are specific styles, most people outside Japan, when hearing those terms, know they are not referring to ‘Bambi’ or ‘Superman’
I see. I only clarified because you had appeared to be disagreeing with MerchManDan’s statement that TTG would be called “anime” in Japan, which is true.
17 comments in and nobody has mentioned Akira yet? It’s classic cyberpunk science fiction with gangs, drugs, psionics, advanced military hardware, and the obligatory destruction of Tokyo.
For science fiction that doesn’t level cities, try Paprika. It has beautifully-rendered dreamscapes and deep dives into the human psyche.
In Serial Experiments Lain, the boundaries of the physical world and the virtual world begin to blur after a young girl starts connecting to her world’s version of the internet.
For way-out-there raunchy silliness, try Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt. It’s not pornographic, but it’s definitely not for children. Two fallen angels must earn their way back into Heaven by defeating demonic/ghostly monsters. They’re usually too distracted by hot guys and chocolate to bother, so a deranged priest has to browbeat them into fulfilling their duties.
Definitely NSFW!!!!
I got the English dubbed version recently and while I’m not a prude and as an Ex-Navy man when it comes to not being offended by swearing, but OMG I still couldn’t even watch the first episode for all the swearing in practically EVERY sentence!! i mean i don’t think there was a single complete sentence that did NOT have a swear word or two in it… i just took it out of the drive, put it away, and promptly forgot that i bought it…
Akira, the movie, basically sucks. Visually is looks great and the soundtrack is wonderful; however, the story is horrid. It is typical of most anime movies in that it expects the audience to already be familiar with the story.
In the order I’ve probably seen them, my experience with anime:
Speed Racer
Marine Boy
Kimba the White Lion
Battle of the Planets
Star Blazers
Rurouni Kenshin
Inuyasha
Spice and Wolf
not saying they’re the best introduction, but they’re what I know of anime.
You have some true classics in that list.
Pretty good list! I would add Monster, and Durarara. Unfortunately, all I am watching right now is isekai trash.
@pyjamapartymonster HEY! there is some GREAT isekai stuff out there. I admit its kinda trendy right now but there is some good in it.
Gate is a good one, Problem children are coming from another world is another. Isekai izakaya is pretty good if you like cooking anime (and I personally do)
WOW! Who knew Castle was such a mangaphile?
She also orders clothes from Japan and goes to anime conventions.
Where have you been, Centaur? Cas chided herself for trying to get her mind off of the “Am I into girls?’ question by reading a yuri. Kinda telling that she skipped over shojo-ai and went straight for the yuri.
By the way, I hope nobody would actually judge anime by “Teen Titans Go.” The current version is just awful…and awful is the way to describe how the Cartoon Network has it on all day long…
It’s on the same (sub sub, as in ‘subterranean’) level as ‘Thundercats ROAR!’
Both shows are insults to children and the original shows!!
Well said Sir or Madam!
One of the first true ‘anime’ movies for me, was “Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend”, seriously would not recommend that to anyone without reading up on it first
Personally got it because was intrigued by the subject matter at the time (yeah, was a warped kid before watching it :P)
Another one was the “Ninja Scroll” movie
Hmm, come to think of it, haven’t really seen that many ‘normal’ anime, a couple of the Ghibli Studio works, butt even those weren’t really the ‘family viewing’ ones (unless your family was The Addams’ :P)
“Is anime kinda like Teen Titans Go?”
Wars have started for less. Just saiyan.
That’s not inaccurate. Is that a TFS reference?
As someone who had grown up on the animation styles of Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, MGM, Terrytoons and the Fleischer Studios I was very disappointed when the jerky, stop-motion style of Japanimation first came on American TV in the form of Astro Boy and Gigantor. I watched them but IMO they just weren’t as well done as anything from the American studios mentioned. I’ve never really lost that negative attitude towards anime in all the subsequent decades. The only series that I’ve found I could watch repeatedly were Sailor Moon and Samurai Pizza Cats. I think it was the Paul Lynde impression for the voice of the Big Cheese in SPC that drew me in on that one, and for some reason I really enjoyed the transformation sequence and music in SM. I’ve tried watching other anime shows and just can’t get past the shoddy animation.
Okay, let me just start by asking what genres you like in TV shows and movies?
Its been over 50 years since Astro Boy was released in Japan. Also, most Disney products look pretty odd when you dub them into a new language. It really bothers most people when the voices don’t match up with the mouth movements.
while i am personally unfamiliar with those two titles and note that they are VERY old in comparison, that MAY have been just the editing that the American TV stations did to them in order to make it get past what censorship we had as well as their attempts to make it fit the American cartoon styles that we were used to, and what they thought we “had” to have spoon-fed to us in order to have the ratings that would allow them to get more episodes vs what the anime studios ACTUALLY produced. That said, if you look at some of the newer anime now, their production values across all categories has risen tremendously vs way back then, so you might be pleasantly surprised if you start watching again…
Okay, (dusts off his Crunchyroll queue) Here are some recommendations, based on genre:
Military: “Gate”. A portal opens up between a medieval world and downtown Tokyo, through which an army on horse and dragon-back comes into Ginza and starts killing people, until the Japan Self Defense Force rallies to drive them back. The Japanese government decides to send the JSDF through the Gate and sets up military actions against the “empire” on the other side.
Slice of life comedy: “Servant x Service”, “Wagnaria”, “Amagi Brilliant Park” (trust me)
Romantic comedy: “Toradora”, “My Love Story”, “Wotakoi” (ditto, the latter is on Amazon Prime)
Mystery: “Beautiful Bones” – a shut-in woman with a penchant for bones and forensics solves mysteries with the help of a young neighbor
“Monster” (if you can find it) a Japanese doctor saves a young boy ahead of a Japanese government official, ruining his career, only to find out years later that the boy was a serial killer, who the doctor tracks down all over post-Cold War Eastern Europe.
“Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex” and “GitS: 2nd Gig” (forget the movie)
Just plain relaxing: “Laid-back Camp”
You should be able to find something there to start with, trust me, they ain’t Hanna-Barbera!
CaptNerd Gate is awesome, Servant by service good show and ahem fanservice boobies!, wAGNARIA (ALL 3 SEASONS) EXCELLENT,
Toradora excellent never heard of the last two will check them out.
Beautiful bones EXCELLENT even my non anime loving gf loves it Monster is excellent
Ghost in the Shell (any of the movies or series ) are seminal works of cyberpunk.
Laidback camp ive never heard of)
But I will add one more to your laid back Cute/Funny/at times heart breaking… Polar Bear Café.
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Toradora, I loved that one. And I second Gate, that is a very interesting series, the fanservice doesn’t hurt either. Surprised I didn’t see any mention of any of Key’s stuff; Canon, Clannad and Air are all excellent, also would suggest anything by Ken Akamatsu, such as Love Hina, as others have mentioned. How about newer stuff, like To Love Ru and Monster Musume?
My introduction to anime was Akira, Evangelion, Space Battleship Yamato, Chobits and Desert Punk, I couldn’t stand Astro Boy however. What got me initially interested in Japanese video was the old Ultraman live action series I watched as a kid in the early 70s (I lived in northern Alberta and didn’t have cable, so only had whatever crap cartoons and shows the local station carried, which consisted of endless repeats of Flintstones, Spiderman, Rocket Robin Hood and Hercules). I got my daughter watching Sailor Moon when it was new, she is still a fan. I lean more strongly towards manga than anime lately, and am currently on a historical binge, reading old stuff from the 80s, currently working through Rumiko Takahashi various series.
Darn, forgot to mention Gurenn Lagann and Kill La Kill.
hanna Barbara used the same animation style as most animes of the time Static background moving characters. for what its worth… as for GREAT visuals… you cant beat some of the work done in Cowboy Bebop.
I got started with Robotech and Tenchi Muyo!
I had no inkling if the truly massive body of work in anime, with whole genres dedicated to age and subdivided into sexual orientation as well as subject.
The Japanese have been working on their story telling in print and illustration for centuries (they lay claim to the first novel “The Tale of Genji” 11th century)and they have projected it into their anime with gusto.
One can get lost in this forest of entertainment, and I for one enjoy being lost from time to time. 🙂
If you want something slow & relaxed: Haibane Renmei
Do you prefer action? Hellsing Ultimate, Fate-stay Night
Maybe some Romcom/Harem? Love Hina
Comedy-Action, borderlining on silly? Samurai Champloo, Full Metal Panic, Chrno Crusade
Enemy of the week, slowly transitioning into overarcing story? Witch Hunter Robin
Something for the children? Card Captor Sakura
Do you prefer adult stuff (called hentai)? Bible Black
Other notable series, in no particular order, which could be interesting (serving different tastes): Full Metal Alchemist, Mai HiME, Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, Death Note, Ai Yori Aoshi, Ikkitousen, Rahxephon, Chobits
If anime was a pustulant mass of filth and corruption, then maybe…just MAYBE…it would be a little like Teen Titans Go.
Teen Titans Go is the travesty that happened because CalArts students couldn’t understand the actual Teen Titans. So they made a chibi cartoon based on the show “Friends” instead.
Well put!
My first few anime that i distinctly remember being ones that i watched were Akira, El Hazard (the magnificent world), Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Evangelion (the original), and even though i’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as an anime: Ralph Bashki’s: Wizards… I’ve got a bunch more now-days.
Yeah Wizards! Saw it on it’s theatrical release. A creative writing adjunct instructor of mine was involved with Bashki right after Wizards and exposed us to it. (Grin)
But CowBoy BeBop is what dragged me into Anime. Middle daughter was and is consumed by anime, likes to watch unDubbed versions because she has learned broken Japanese from watching so many subtitled anime. I don’t watch as much as I used to.
My father took me to that when I was young. He had no idea what it was about, but thought it’d be okay because it was “a cartoon”. Boy, was HE surprised! We watched the whole thing, though. My dad was cheap as hell, and would never walk out of a movie because he PAID for it, dangit!
I love Wizards. It’s cheesy as hell and the rotoscope style didn’t catch on for a REASON, but it’s still total entertainment. I still play that song, “Only Time Will Tell” from time to time. It really grabs you by the boo-boo.
I like some pretty odd animes, ones the “purists” think are terrible for some reason.
I like “The Irregular at Magic High School” so much I’ve rewatched the entire thing several times. To let you know how weird my taste in anime is, I CRY at the ending. I wish they’d done more, too. They left so much set up for future seasons.
I know some people really despise “Sword Art Online” for some reason, but I really loved it. I haven’t seen the most recent series yet, but up to Mother’s Rosario really worked for me. I cried at a lot of the episodes.
When I’m in a bad mood, I watch “Claymore”. It’s one of the more vicious shows, a bit of the ol’ Ultra-Violence, but there’s little nuggets of redemption in it that makes it worth it for me.
“Cowboy Bebop” is sheer magnificence. Once again, there were tears.
I don’t always cry when I watch anime. I love “Keijo”, but it’s not a tear-jerker for me.
Heck, I started playing Go because of “Hikaru No Go”, and yeah, tears in a couple of spots.
“Aldnoah Zero” bothered me. The ending was really jarring, and there was too much Japanese angst in it. But it was a decent series, mostly.
But I don’t like some of the animes that people say are “must watch” — I liked some of “Fairy Tail”, but got tired of it. I can’t watch “One Piece”, it annoys me, as does “Pokemon”, and “Sailor Moon” just bores me. I tried to watch “Pretear”, but it was the English dub…the sub might be better. The dub really annoyed the hell out of me, and I only lasted a few episodes. They took the double entendres a little far, into the creepy zone…but some people like that part.
There’s a lot of other animes I like, but I like to rewatch them more than I like finding new ones to watch. I’m the same way about books. It takes a lot for me to invest the time and energy into a new book or a new anime these days. Maybe I’m just getting old.
Also also…when they went on an antiques store crawl…did they visit Shelly’s antique store?
I think you mean Georgette and Monica’s Antique Store… and good question.
If they did, M wasn’t there and I don’t know if Pickle knows Jet yet, or it was only the help there today.
Right. Been so long since I’ve seen it. Or Monica.
And thus, an new Otaku was born!
Just for giggles, since you’re all here, something I’ve sort of wondered about:
Is “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” sort of a funky attempt at a live action retelling of what could have been anime or manga? Or does it just feel like it could have been?
Seemed like it was the proposed start of a franchise, or at least leading in to the TV series (quite a few series around that tie started off with a movie-length first episode: “Buck Rogers” and “Battlestar” both started with a movie, that could have worked out just as well as being a stand-alone if the series didn’t get the green-light)
I was always so disappointed they never followed up on Buckaroo Banzai, either with more movies or a tv series.
When I was a kid, my shows were;
Astro Boy
Speed Racer
Kimba The White Lion
The Amazing Three.
My wife liked “Tobor, the 8th Man,” a series you will NEVER see again outside of YouTube as it was in Black and White and the hero/robot used to recharged by using batteries that were disguised as cigarettes!
😔We couldn’t afford a VCR during th few years I spent in Japan while growing up, so you can imagin how frustrating it was wanting (and being unable) to share, with my 6th &7th grade classmates when I returned to the `States in 1981, some of the anime I enjoyed from japanese TV.😩
I’m talking stuff like:
¹》th ^original^ broadcast of th FIRST Gundam series
²》Doraemon
³》Sally The Witch (for really, ^really^ OLD-school Magical Girl anime)
⁴》Space Battleship Yamato (NOT that ^accursed^ “Star Blazers” bastardization)