zippypinhead said:
I'm currently watching Samurai Champloo. Again. But the last time I was really into anime was at least fifteen years ago. I'm trying to get back into it. Been looking up the old stuff I used to like and adding some shows to my Netflix queue.
In my opinion (and the same seems to be true for a lot of older anime fans) anime has gone downhill, likely due to a lot of problems within the industry like high budgets vs low profits, things only being signed on for 12 eps, or bad adaptions of VNs and manga (because established franchise = more exposure which = more money). Not to discourage you from getting back into it, just don't expect quality to have gone up or even stayed as-is over the years.
I watched the first two episodes of Cowboy Bebop today. I was told to hold my opinion though, because it apparently gets amazing. lol
Bebop is one of the most amazing shows out there. The fact that there are people who hate anime but love this show is a huge testament to how well written and directed it is. The soundtrack by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts is pretty great too.
I JUST got into Anime! I'm following the things my husband and friend are showing me for now.
They started me on Fooly Cooly, and never let me watch an episode while not high out of my mind. That was....interesting. I have no idea what I actually had just seen..
Then I watched some of Hetalia also while high.
Lux actually had me watch some of Mudoka Magica. She also stopped watching it with me as soon as I feel in love with it.
I wanted to be introduced to good ecchi and watched the first season of Freezing. During the fan service episode, I realized I was definitely going to enjoy my new fap material for awhile.
There's a lot of series that have that "I need to be high to tolerate this" feel. Gainax has another series called Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi that's even worse (in a good sense) than FLCL.
Fortunately Madoka only has 12 episodes so it's easier to marathon than some of those 50ep series. It's great for such a short episode list.
As for ecchi, Ikki Tousen is probably one of the most well known series but the manga is superior to the anime, and don't even bother with the shite first season, Dragon Destiny is probably the best. Ikki Tousen is closely followed by High School DxD and Queen's Blade. I enjoyed the latter more though, but that's likely because of the fantasy setting and non-uniform character designs.
Love Hina is a classic harem though the ecchi isn't quite as blatant as what we see these days.
Asobi Ni Iku Yo (I don't like to acknowledge the dub title Cat Planet Cuties) is another great one with cat alien cat girls.
DearS is another alien one, but I've only read the manga.
Sora no Otoshimono/Heaven's Lost property is the funniest one I've seen.
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue wasn't that well written but I enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure because I liked the concept of a world that's almost entirely water.
Gravion and Gravion Zwei are titties in space
And honourable mention for Najica and Eiken because there's so many panty shots in Najica if you made a drinking game out of it you could kill a bear, and Eiken's boobs are like the size of trucks.
I haven't watched many anime shows. Though I'm thinking of giving Bleach or Naruto a try.
The only ones I can think of are:
Pokémon
Dragon Ball Z
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Digimon
The most "anime" I think I've watched is Gantz and Highschool of the Dead.
Oh dear, you're free to give Naruto and Bleach a shot but they're reeeeeeeally long and heavily over-rated. Not worth the time it'd take to watch it all imo.
I could try to list all the series I'd personally recommend, but these charts would take less time. Some of these are huge so I'm just going to link them.
Assorted anime list
Comments:
Do not watch Outlaw Star dubbed. Aisha's English voice is like nails on a chalkboard.
Nana starts off very, very slow with a lot of recap, Clannad is also terribly slow. I couldn't stand either of them but they're popular so maybe they pick up.
Elfen Lied tries way too hard to be edgy. It's a huge hit or miss depending on who you talk to.
Cardcaptor Sakura was one of the anime picked up for children's tv by 4kids. They're known for absolutely butchering series with oversensetivity and murdering the Japanese language with mispronunciations. Avoid the dub at all cost.
Categorized anime list
Comments:
Excel Saga also suffers from "obscenely obnoxious dub VA". Go for the sub.
"Moe" is absolute cancer, but since people who are new to anime likely don't know what it means, it's basically just cute high school girls doing cute things. There's no action, hardly any story, it's basically just internet cat videos but replace cats with anime schoolgirls.
I would also add Nichijou to the comedy section. It's another school comedy like Azumanga, but funnier and more stylized and quality animation.
Also, Speed Grapher deserves mention. Probably throw that one in either drama or psychological.
Movies
Comments:
Nothing specific, but anime movies usually blow tv anime out of the water due to a much higher budget. I assume this chart is old, as I'd definitely add Redline to it.
Mecha series
Comments:
None, really. This chart is specifically for mecha (giant robot) series.
Series that excel in... (pt1)
Series that excel in... (pt2)
Comments:
A very specific list of series, OVAs, manga, and movies that are probably the best in their category at the time these charts were made. A lot of these are repeats but categorized by a trait rather than genre which will hopefully help you narrow down what to watch (or read if you're interested in manga too)