Can you recommend an anime for a non-anime lover?

[Poppy JR.]

Here's some backstory: last week, I made a claim that anime was horrible, which I immediately regretted. I know that generalizing a genre like that is shorts sited and wrong, so I decided to create "Give anime a chance week 2014"! I immediately got to work, watching a movie whenever I could. I've now seen three anime, and I'd like to continue. So far I've seen Akira, Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I liked the first two, but I absolutely loved TGWLTT. The characterization was excellent and the story was much more mature than I thought it would be.

Anyway, does anyone have a recommendation for a good anime? It doesn't necessarily have to be a certain genre. Thanks!

 

[madwarper]

Well, the obvious thing to do is for you to say what about previous anime you've seen that you didn't like to make you think it was all horrible...

Anyway, I'd suggest the following;

Princess Mononoke - A young warrior gets cursed while killing a spirit that became a demon.
Ghost in the Shell - Cyberpunk future, where the first AI escapes and tries to seek asylum.
Cowboy Bebop - A group of bounty hunters traveling from planet to planet trying to scrape by.
Samurai Champloo - Two ronin take a job of escorting a girl to find a "Samurai who smells of sunflowers".
The Big O - Film noir (same people that made BTAS) about a city with amnesia and giant mechs.
Monster - It's The Fugitive, but in pre/post Berlin Wall Eastern Europe.

 

[Queen Michael]

Tokyo Godfathers.

Three homeless people find a baby on New Year's Eve. That's all you need to know. Very popular. Very good.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

(two threads)

If you liked Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, how about trying some of the other Studio Ghibli films?

-I would suggest Princess Mononoke or Castle in the Sky, those are at least the most similar to Nausicca IMO, but you can't really go wrong with Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle or The Cat Returns.

-My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service might be a little sugary for some people.

-Grave of the Fireflies is depressing, if you're going to watch it, watch My Neighbor Totoro immediately afterward.

-Porco Rosso might feel a little slow, it's a little more "grounded" than Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away.
Arrietty is also pretty grounded.

-Pom Poko is.... interesting.

-Give Tales from Earthsea a pass
------

Aside from all the Studio Ghibli, try Trigun, which is also Madhouse [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhouse_(company)] (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)

 

[Casual Shinji]

Tokyo Godfathers.

Three homeless people find a baby on New Year's Eve. That's all you need to know. Very popular. Very good.

Yep, this one. One of the most non-anime animes out there. It's basically a live-action movie, but on a big animation budget.

Satoshi Kon's other work, Perfect Blue, Paprika, and Paranoia Agent are worth a look, too.

Also check out Neo Tokyo Labyrinth, Robot Carnival, and Katsuhiro Otomo's Memories. Great compilations of short stories.

 

[Elfgore]

Well, the obvious thing to do is for you to say what about previous anime you've seen that you didn't like to make you think it was all horrible...

If he was like me at all he didn't really watch any and just assumed anime was terrible because... reasons.

Anyway I have a couple that I think could get you interested.

Attack on Titan- Great action, Great music, Some Great characters and some really bad ones as well, and a great story.

Code Geass- This is just an awesome show. You have politics, military tactics, drama, and some really awesome action all thrown into a fifty episode series.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood- Just one of the best anime series ever released.

Baka and Test- This is a good 'ole fashion comedy with a little romance and action thrown in.

 

[Ratty]

I've found myself mentioning it a strangely large number of times lately but, sturgeon's law, 90% of everything is horrible. In any genre and in any medium. So 90% of anime sucks but the same is true for everything else.

Something that almost entirely does away with cutsey anime conventions and is great though, is Berserk.


The manga is better, but the movies are good. (I wouldn't bother with the older TV series adaptation, a lot of people swear by it but that's largely nostalgia.) Be warned though, if you want to talk "Dark Fantasy" Berserk makes A Game of Thrones look like baby's first dragon adventure.

 

[Auron225]

Cowboy Bebop is a pretty good one to start with. Barely any of the common anime tropes that usually drive people nuts but it's very very good with both story and characters.

A potential downside is that a lot of other things will just disappoint you afterwards if you're expecting Bebops level of awesome.

 

[Weaver]

If you're eying more The Girl Who Lept Through Time style stuff, you might want to look into the slice of life genre. Something like Kids on the Slope might fit you well. Stay away from Shonen if you don't like it. That designates the kind of action shows for teens (ie, the "stereotypical" anime).

You might also want to take a look at 5 Centimeters Per Second. You might like it!
Worst case, it's absolutely beautiful to look at.

Lastly, checkout Grave of the Fireflies and Clannad. The first is a movie, the second is a series.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Great to hear you liked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time! It's such a great movie. You should then check the director's other movies too: Summer Wars and Wolf Children. I haven't seen the former, but I've yet to hear a single bad thing about it, so it's got to have some merit. Wolf Children is a really sweet and quite mature family story, but requires a mindset for slow-paced, small drama, but I recommend it highly nonetheless.

Any Studio Ghibli movies, though I'd recommend starting with the more conventional fare like My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky before moving to the more outlandish ones like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle.

Paprika is certainly worth checking out, but I'll say that it is bizarre and then some, even by anime standards. Still, it's a visual treat if nothing else.

And last the one I always put into these threads, though it's a series: The Vision of Escaflowne. It was one of the first anime series I ever saw, and I still love it to pieces. If you can look past the bit dated animation, you're in for a great fantasy adventure. And it's only 26 episodes, so you won't have to rearrange your weekly schedule to watch it.

 

[Mr Dizazta]

Cowboy Behop, Trigun, and The Big O are all anime that I would recommend for a non anime lover mostly because they are the most western feeling anime and as a result don't frighten newcomers.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

My first ones were Code Geass, Steins Gate, Claymore and Black Lagoon, which all turned out to be surprisingly good choices.

 

[Palademon]

Death Note is usually what I poke people with.
Although despite all response being "that was great", it didn't seem to be a sticking point for them. I suppose they assumed they'd watched the one exception that proves the rule.

If they'd had continued I'd recommend Code Geass to follow up, as it is pretty much the same concept, but with way more tropes. With some of them handled really well. I show this to people to try to demonstrate that whilst something may have all the tropes they thought they'd hate, it can still be a good, gripping story. And maybe even grow to like the tropes attached to it.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Black Lagoon. Seriously, just watch Black Lagoon. Sub or dub, it doesn't matter, they're both great.

 

[Mrkillhappy]

I would go with Cowboy Bebop as this is the easiest to get into due to it's lack of the tropes that drive people away from anime and the art is amazing as well as having great voice acting and a great soundtrack. This was the anime that got me back into liking anime. Also Trigun is another good place to continue onto.

 

[DrOswald]

Trigun is a very good anime that I often start people off on.

 

[loc978]

Given your focus on characterization, I'll second(third?) Tokyo Godfathers... Which is funny, I came in here to recommend Black Lagoon (which is basically a top-notch episodic gangster action film) and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (which is political/action/existential cyberpunk at its best). In terms of character development, though... Black Lagoon is merely good, while GitS:SAC is pretty poor.

I suppose I could also offer a halfhearted recommendation for Death Note as well. If you can get past the premise and the cliche anime characters, it's a very smartly written series... at least through the first season. Second season was still fairly smart, just... less so.

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

Go for Elfen Lied, not much of the typical anime Clichés.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Well actually Anime is a medium, not a genre. Anyway Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is cyberpunk greatness. The 1995, not so much. But it has nothing to do with SAC, It's in a different continuity so you don't have to see it to see SAC.

 

[timeformime]

What a great thread to stumble on! I've just gotten back into anime after not having watched it for a few years.

The most action-heavy, badass anime I've seen is Black Lagoon (I'm finishing up the last few episodes now). If you like its style of John Woo-esque action in the first few episodes stick with it, because the action doesn't let up and the story only gets darker and more interesting. The entire series is only 24 episodes.

You'll hear about Cowboy Bebop a lot because it has its own unique style and just oozes cool - especially if you like noir and smooth jazz. It's a stir-fry of American movie tropes. Samurai Champloo is another to check out if you like Bebop.