Topic: Anime shopping list

[CHEN]

Hi, first let me tell a brief background story. I hope you don't mind.

I started watching anime about fifteen years ago. My first ever anime was if I remember correctly Dragon Ball (don't laugh, it was pretty good at that time.) But my interest died thereafter since there weren't any shows that interested me. Video tapes weren't of great quality back then. And they won't last for an eternity. DVD's and VCD's solve this problem today.

My situation is that I'm going to Hong Kong next month for the holiday. And this time I have money to spare. These past years my interest has rekindled and I'm willing to spend cash to watch animes. I'm not overly familiar with animes, so I'd like some help compiling a list.

I've watched a couple of animes these few years. Pita Ten, Galaxy Angel, Gundam Seed, Cowboy Bebop, You're Under Arrest and a few others I can't remember right now. I haven't watched all the episodes except for Cowboy Bebop, so let me know if the above ones are good or not. All of the above shows I watched were either Japanese or Chinese Cantonese dubs. I mostly don't like English dubbing. I hope you understand it. And yes, I'm Chinese if you wanted to know.

My taste is as you can see pretty broad. I like anime with silly (boy-girl) humor, mech action, shows with a lot of imagination (fantasy, future setting) with a rich (but not overly confusing) story. Dark animes are interesting too. All in all, You can suggest just about everything that is well drawn and well animated (not too much CG).

So any (recent) animes that I must see? Anime movies are welcome too, since they're a lot less expensive than a thirty episode box. I'll write it down and hopefully I can buy all of them! Thanks in advance, I'd appreciate it a lot.

Some anime people recommended are:
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- FLCL
- Azumanga Daioh
- Fruits Basket
- Full Metal Panic
- Trigun
- Macross Plus
- Last Exile
- Hellsing
- Happy Lesson
- Gundam Seed
- Full Metal Alchemist
- Love Hina
- Zone of the Enders
- Berserk
- Excel Saga
- Naruto

As for movies:
- Jin-Roh
- NG Evangelion The End of Evangelion + Death & Rebirth
- Spirited Away
- Cowboy Bebop Knockin' on Heaven's Door
(Can't think of more)

Any recommendations?

[mouse_clicker]

I'm not much one for anime, as anyone can tell you, but there are 4 anime shows I love, one of which you already have listed (Fooly Cooly). Here's the other 3:

-Abenobashi (Magical Shopping Arcade): It's a show from the same creator of FLCL and at least 10 times more messed up. It also pokes pun at a lot of RPG's.

-Lupin the Third: I guess I like it so much becase it's more western than most other animes. None of that mech or ki crap here, just good old fashioned misadventuring- doesn't get much better.

-Kikaider: My absolute favorite anime, and indeed one of my favorite cartoons ever (although most other anime fans will strongly disagree with me on both those points). It's based on an old Japanese manga about a robot that has a computer chip designed to replicate real emotions as closely as possible, and he has to deal with the strain on learning whether he's man or machine. The emotional struggle depicted in the show was just incredible, in my opinion, and really delved into what makes us human. The artwork and animation is incredible, and the script is wonderful, even dubbed (I'm sure the original Japanese dialogue is much better, though). It may not be all that original, but it's damn good if you ask me.

Also, I know it's technically not an anime, although it does take a lot of inspiration from it, but I'd heavily suggest you watch Samurai Jack. It is easily the most beautiful, atmospheric, and entertaining action/adventure cartoon I have ever seen, rivaled only by Batman: The Animated Series and the aforementioned Kikaider. You'd really be missing out on a lot if you skipped it.  

[Caillan]

I am definately not an anime expert, but I can whole-heartedly recommend Evangaleon. I don't like most TV, and I don't know why, just that it extends to films as well. Being a bit of a geek though, I thought I should take exception to something as hyped as Evangelion, and began watching when it started playing in my country.

I watched it, and loved it only towards the end. Most people I have spoken to (who, being from my country, aren't likely to be animie experts), said they thought the beginning and end of the series were weak. I can see how they thought that: there's quite a distinct trend near the middle of the series to a slightly different cinemographic balance. I didn't care for such things, but put up with it for a long time. Towards the end, the plot deepened considerably, and it began to catch my attention more and more.

The end of the series was (although unliked by many around me) the best thing I've ever seen on TV. I'd explain more, but I'd feel like I was giving spoilers. Just let me say this: to me, it displayed the originality and genius I felt TV had lacked for a long time. Most of my friends didn't feel this way, and no doubt people here on these forums will be able to rip my poor meek opinions to pieces, but Evangelion is a show loved by many many people a lot it, even if for differing reasons.

If you get it, and are disapointed by the first few episodes, I implore you to keep on watching anyway; I think you'll find it to be worth it.  

[CHEN]

Thanks. Someone recommended Magical Arcade Abenoboshi too. I at least need one anime where I can laugh my ass off. One for my mecha fetish, another one in a post-modern fantasy setting with a well-written script. And an anime thriller/horror that emphasizes murder, corruption, war and the likes without making the violence too senseless. I'll sooner or later make groups divided in genres, so you can vote for your favorite in each group. Thanks again.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

In addition to what you've already listed, you must see Great Teacher Onizuka.

- Love Hina:  Silly boy-girl romance humor.
- Azumanga Daioh:  Sillier all-girl cast *cute beyond comprehension* humor.
- Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO): CRAZY MIND-FORKING HUMOR with serious, legit drama with well-setup problem/solutions.  Simply put, the main character helps others (changes people for the better) while doing the impossible (you'll see).  It's touching.

[Hostile Creation]

Cowboy Bebop is my favorite, so I strongly recommend the movie.  Spirited Away is also very good, including any other Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke and even My Neighbor Totoro (heh)).  Akira was pretty good, though I didn't personally think it was as grand as everyone made it out to be.
I second Lupin the Third.  Like Cowboy Bebop, it's very western, but with a bit more comedy (or at least more obvious comedy) than Cowboy Bebop.  Not as good as Bebop, in my opinion, but still a very good show.  There are also movies.  A multitude thereof, actually.

[Bill Aurion]

I say that's a pretty decent list...FMA, Abenobashi, Full Metal Panic, Trigun, and FLCL are my closest favorites...

[Metaphysical Spirit]

My favorites have and always will be Cowboy Bebop. The show and the movie. I used to hate Trigun, How? I've been actually giving it a humble chance and watch the whole session through on Adult Swim, and yeah I loved it. FLCL is cool, just wierd. I like the old school anime's like Akira and Fist of the North Star (The movie, not series). Though a movie I strongly recommend, is Vampire Hunter D. With this movie, there are 2 versions. The original, and Bloodlust. I hear people take both sides of the movie, I personally don't know what one I like better. A lot of anime's already mention are top notch, most of them in my opinion that is. Spirited Away was really cool. LoL! Someone said Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). That show is wierd but I laugh a lot watching it. It is touching! Hrm, I know I mentioned this in another Anime Forum Entry on here, but Riegn the Conquer was good. It really isn't "Anime" but it's like an american anime. To complex to be just a regular cartoon. I'm also a fan on Inuyasha series, though can easy get corny sometimes. I also though Guyver was a good anime series on top of that one. Man, so many good anime to list all at once. There's my picks though.  

[Famicom]

A pretty solid list you have overall.  Although personally, Happy Lesson and Hellsing really cross over into the "meh" side of things (for different reasons though). I'd also skip Evangelion Death+Rebirth, since if you plan on watching the TV series and the movie it has nothing new to offer you, with half of it being a recap of the series (in general) and the other half being the first third of the movie. Very very small differences in it, but....really not worth the time. I'll also note that Naruto would be a huge investment of time/money/whatever, given that it's currently over 80 episodes and still going strong. DB is also long, but Naruto has more in common with DBZ then that series, so be wary of that.

If you like sci-fi, there's not much out there better anime wise than Infinite Ryvius and the Seikai/Stars series. Crest of the Stars/Battleflag of the Stars/Battleflag of the Stars II is easily some of the best sci-fi material the anime medium has ever churned out. Infinite Ryvius is a show about a large group of people struggling to get out of a jam (simply put), but is very well done. As far as fantasy goes, 12 Kingdoms is one of the best. All of the series I just mentioned are quite heavy on dialogue, but all are animated very well, and have some intense mental action going on.

Some other generally good stuff to watch for fun would be Rurouni Kenshin, Hajime no Ippo (or Fighting Spirit here in the US), Read or Die, One Piece (another very long but fun series), Hunter X Hunter, Scrapped Princess, and Ghost In The Shell (as well as the Stand Alone Complex TV series). For movies, you really can't go wrong with any Ghibli film (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Laputa, Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, etc.). While most of them are more "family friendly" than your average anime, they are all classics.

This is really only scratching the surface though. You could probably get a more in depth answer on these forums in the recommendations section (I think you have to register first though).

I'd also recommend any of the stuff mentioned in this post so far to anyone else interested.

[Syl]

I'm a large fan of anime myself, Though if your going to be in hongkong, i can't really say that its best to support the pirating industry >_>.

Either way, I'm not that large of a fan of Eva myself, Its worth watching, but i don't think its anything special.  The more anime i watch the more i realize that show is not anywhere near everything people make it out to be.  If you like it though, I highly suggest RahXephon, its very similar to eva in theory, but overall it was far better presented, made, and the antagonists are much more interesting than that faceless "Angel" crap.

Fooly Cooly(FLCL) is one of the best, without a doubt.  Everyones always talking about it for a good reason.

You have a lot of great animes on that list, I definately reccomend Bebop, Trigun and Last Exile above most things on it.  Last Exile is one of my personal favorites and i'll be buying that once its all released in america.  Aside from being absolutely gourgeous, its mainly on airships!  (Oh, and the plot and everything is great as well, i just have a thing for airships)

Full Metal Panic! (and Fumoffu) I have mixed feelings about, I think that the first 6 episodes of full metal panic are some of the best anime i've ever seen.  After that, it just sorta doesn't go anywhere or do anything new.  Really depressed me, as i had very high hopes after those first episodes.

Great Teacher Onizuka(GTO) Is one of my current faves, I finished buying all the DVD's about 2 weeks ago, came out to around $170 total.  Not bad at all for a 43 episode anime, espicially one as absolutely hilarious as GTO was.  I'm very glad that I bought the first box set on a whim, I don't regret it in any way.  Very masterful mixing of Drama and absurd comedy.

I'm a large fan of Yoshitoba ABe's work, Lain, NieA_7, Haibane Renmei and Texhnolyze.  His stuff is rather unique though, very little in the way of plot, it almost all deals about the same general idea, and all of it is fill with symbolism to the max.  
Lain is a strange work about the merging of the "wired" (internet) and the real world.  Unique.
NieA_7 is the normal daily life of a nearly starving student, who happens to have a energetic and annoying alien living in her closet.
Haibane Renmei is one of my overall favorites, its purely drama, no action at all.  But The tale about the haibane Rakka and Reki just struck the right chord with me, its an amazingly beautiful experience overall.
Texhnolyze, his newest work... I finished downloading and watching this not too long ago, I don't know what to think really, its easily without a doubt the most dark and depressing work i've ever seen, there isn't even a glimmer of hope the entire damn show.  The atmosphere of hopelessness is absolutely perfect with this title, and the underground town of Lux is amazingly well concieved.  The plot has a ton to do with different govermental factions and a war going on between them... at least, thats what it its about to begin with.  It was definately worth the watch, but the ending has me more confused than any other show i've ever seen.

Boogiepop Phantom is another favorite of mine, its another really dark show that is one of the more...difficult plots to piece together (The show has no chronological order in its presentation.. you have to figure that out yourself, which isn't as bad as it sounds) It mainly deals with a bunch of high school students and how they were all affected by the "mysterious pillar of light" that happened a month ago.. Giving some of them special powers.. reading minds, "removing useless things" merging of reality and fiction...  It all makes a ton more sense if you see the "Boogiepop and others" live action movie that the show is a sequel too.. Though, because of the way the show is.  I highly suggest you watch the movie last.

Read or Die + R.O.D -The TV- are really cool anime, some of the most interesting combat i've ever seen, espicially considering the main weapon is PAPER.  Read or die OVA doesn't contain nearly as much plot, but considering its only 3 episodes it did quite well.  R.O.D-The TV- is a direct sequel to it, and is a full 26 episode series.  It starts off a bit slow, but everything from like episode 7-24 is absolutely great.  The final episode is horrendous, but getting there is all the fun.

Movie wise:
Most things from studio ghibli or miyazaki, Nausicaa(personal fave), Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Grave of the Fireflies, Spirited away. etc.  All of them are great, I highly suggest you wait for the Disney DVD edition of miyazaki's work, they pull off amazing dubs.

Wings of Honneanimaise is an incredible movie as well... It was the first work by Gainax, though its not anywhere near as strange as the later movies they did.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is immensely entertaining, i really need to see that again.
Millenium Actress is a new movie thats very entertaining, Its about an interview with an old lady who used to be a famous actress....but she can't seem to tell the fact from the movies..

There are more I could go on about, but those are the ones that I can think of at the moment (I've been awake more than 50 hours, so i'm sorry for any sort of errors in the post...random note: NieaA_7 and ABe, the extra capitalization is supposed to be there, hes wierd like that)

If you would like to hear anything else about the rest of th stuff i've seen, just ask.  I have a list of every show i've seen at my house..  I'm not there at the moment though.

I love you radish.....

[ruby_onix]

I'd add Slayers to the list (the TV seasons before the movies). Medieval mayhem at it's best. Lots of comedy. Lots of cute characters. Lots of giant explosions. Loads of fun.

And maybe Record of Lodoss War. Very rich story. Very Lord-of-the-Rings-esque (although many people are tired of that comparison, especially since the movies came out). And the first season isn't really all that big. I've got it on a two-DVD set. It's "Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" sequel was even better than the original, IMO (watch the first season first anyways), but try to avoid it's other sequels.

Fushigi Yuugi is also really good. At first, it seems really cute and fun (and it is), but then it gets all deep and gripping. It's use of "comic relief" in tense situations is also really nicely done.

Card Captor Sakura is amazingly cute and fun and well done, even though it seems like it's "only for 10-year-old girls", but once you get yourself past that, it's extremely enjoyable.

You can combine your Miyazaki and Lupin choices by going for Castle of Cagliorstro. It's a Lupin movie made by Miyazaki. And stay away from Miyazaki's Grave of the Fireflies, unless you want to cry. You've been warned.

Oh yeah and, Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura or anything else by Rumiko Takahashi is good. Those particular ones are classics of the romance/comedy (and fun-yet-innocent levels of fanservice) genre.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Read or Die TV is very nice.  Animation quailty is high, it's not action packed, but seeing Paper used more stylishly than Magento uses metals is very interesting.  A lot of cute/sweet moments too, since the main characters have a pretty strong bond.  Maggie-chan is funny.

That's 3 votes for GTO now.  That show put a smile on my face and changed my life.  I need to buy those box sets, pronto.

Iwata-san:  "ROR!"

[MysticGohan24]

Quote
Originally posted by: Metaphysical Spirit
My favorites have and always will be Cowboy Bebop. The show and the movie. I used to hate Trigun, How? I've been actually giving it a humble chance and watch the whole session through on Adult Swim, and yeah I loved it. FLCL is cool, just wierd. I like the old school anime's like Akira and Fist of the North Star (The movie, not series). Though a movie I strongly recommend, is Vampire Hunter D. With this movie, there are 2 versions. The original, and Bloodlust. I hear people take both sides of the movie, I personally don't know what one I like better. A lot of anime's already mention are top notch, most of them in my opinion that is. Spirited Away was really cool. LoL! Someone said Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). That show is wierd but I laugh a lot watching it. It is touching! Hrm, I know I mentioned this in another Anime Forum Entry on here, but Riegn the Conquer was good. It really isn't "Anime" but it's like an american anime. To complex to be just a regular cartoon. I'm also a fan on Inuyasha series, though can easy get corny sometimes. I also though Guyver was a good anime series on top of that one. Man, so many good anime to list all at once. There's my picks though.

About Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D: Blood Lust.

Neither are different versions of the 1st, rather Blood Lust is a Sequel to D.

Just to clear that up

[S-U-P-E-R]

I'm posting some oldschool Ranma post

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Rock on with your Ranma post.

~~~~~

I just saw a 'tentacle' in S-U-P-E-R's avatar.
It's time I looked at "other kinds" of anime...

[CHEN]

Wait, wait, I'm confused with Ghost in the Shell now. There's a movie, a normal serie and a standalone TV serie?

Wow, I'm flattered to see such great responses. You guys rock. The groups are going to get assembled soon. Just have some patience. I have a number of 50+ right now. And Syl, I tried to avoid piracy at all cost and buy in the big stores like FHM or specialised anime stores, where the chance of piracy is almost nil.

I think I'll drop Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist since they're huge, still airing and aren't officially released as DVD's yet.

Thanks a lot, guys. I really appreciate it.

[odifiend]

I'd recommend GANTZ.  Kind of mind provoking but kick ass.  I don't think it is on DVD officially yet.  Does that stop pirates?

[evil intentions]

My top 4 Anime:

1. Love Hina (of course )
2. Cowboy Bebop
3. Full Metal Panic
4. Gundum Speed

My sister seems to enjoy Card Captor Sakura. I'm not sure what it's about though.

[ruby_onix]

Quote
Wait, wait, I'm confused with Ghost in the Shell now. There's a movie, a normal serie and a standalone TV serie?

For Ghost in the Shell, first there was a manga (comic book) series made by Masamune Shirow. It was really something else. Unique. Inventive. Detailed.

Then it got animated as a big-budget film. But, for all of it's big-name people and flashy effects, I didn't think it was all that good. Just a pale shadow of the first couple chapters of the manga. (IMO, of course.)

There's a sequel manga that recently came out called "Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface". It's completely loaded with computer artwork that Shirow apparently learned how to make. I haven't finished reading it. The computer effects mostly just get in the way. The original series in plain black-and-white was better than this. But this is still better than the movie.

(BTW: Both manga stories had some major hentai scenes in them in Japan, but Shirow keeps saying "maybe I went too far with that?" and cutting them out of his foreign releases.)

Now, apparently there's a new TV series called "Stand Alone Complex" which is supposed to be based on the original manga, and people say it's awesome, but I haven't looked into it much.

[Famicom]

::This Mac I'm on currently isn't letting me copy/paste or quote text, so I'm answering CHEN's question about Ghost In The Shell::

Just to clarify, there's two movies, Ghost In The Shell and Ghost In The Shell: Innocence, the latter just being released in Japan this year, and is due in American theaters sometime in the fall. Neither are related storywise. Then there's also two series/seasons of Ghost In The Shell TV; the first season being called Stand Alone Complex, the second called 2nd GIG. They are also unrelated to the movies. DVDs for the first season are due early July here in the states, and should be out already (legally) in the R3 market (select asian countries).

[Syl]

Because someone mentioned buying GTO:
I highly suggest you buy the first box set (episodes 1-24) at BestBuy, It cost me $70 and came with a T-shirt.  Amazingly awesome deal.
After that, I got lucky and www.rightstuf.com was having a sale on Tokyopop products, 40% off.  I was able to convince my mom to buy me boxsets 6-9 that way, and I paid her back shortly after.  That was another $70.

Annoyingly, because the series is 10 disks long and i foolishly only owned 1-9, I ended up breaking down and buying disk 10 at a local store for the full price of $30..which i still feel is a ripoff.  Thats how my total came to $170.  

Its possible to find each individual disk of GTO at around $20 if you look hard enough, but nothing has compared to the season one price of $70 at bestbuy, that is one of the best deals i've seen for ANY anime.

[Syl]

ahh, now that i'm back home. random listing of all anime i've seen.

Akira
Berserk
Blue Sub 6
Boogiepop Phantom
Cat Returns, The
Comedy
CowBoy Bebop, Movie
Escaflowne
Evangelion, Death and Rebirth, End of
FLCL
Full Metal Panic!, Fumoffu
GoldenBoy
Grave of the Fireflies
Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO)
Haibane Renmei
His and Her Circumstances
Jin-Roh : The Wolf Brigade
Kenshin OVA's
Last Exile
Love Hina ,Winter Special, Spring Special, Again
Millenium Actress
Nausicaa
NieA_7
Ninja Scroll
Outlaw Star
Pet Shop of Horrors
Princess Mononoke
RahXephon
Read or Die
Scrapped Princess
Serial Experiments Lain
Shingetsutan Tsukihime
Spirited Away
Spriggan
Texhnolyze
Tokyo Babylon
Trigun
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Wings of Honneamise
Wonderful Days
X (TV)

[evil intentions]

Last night I was watching t.v. on adult swim, and there was some show called Case Closed at 11:30. I watched it and it was about this kid and he's some detective or something. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It was kind of dumb.

[Famicom]

Quote
Originally posted by: evil intentions
Last night I was watching t.v. on adult swim, and there was some show called Case Closed at 11:30. I watched it and it was about this kid and he's some detective or something. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It was kind of dumb.

That would be one of the new animes FUNimation just acquired recently, Case Closed. Detective Conan is its original name (changed for copyright issues I believe). It's a fairly light show, but the kid solves some grizzly murder cases, so it can't really be shown on a kids block. In Japan, Detective Conan is well over 300 episodes and still going.

[Metaphysical Spirit]

Has anyone else besides me liked Fist of the North Star? Heh. I hear you on the Case Closed evil intentions. I watch Adult Swim everyday.. Remind you that, that's the ONLY time I watch TV. I was really disappointed that they took off Inuyasha for Case Closed, though I know they still have it the un-aired (On Adult Swim) on Saturdays and waiting for the next season or whatever. It's a good idea for a show, and I can see how it can be good.. but ehh, I just don't like it. For Adult Swim, I thought it was weak.