I want to get into anime.

[ashikoto]

If your into comedy then i have some good suggestions

Nerima Daikon Brothers- A musical sex comedy anime (yeah really)

School-rumble- A comedy about 40 different love triangles

Lucky star- A comedy about 4 high school girls.

And

Ninja Nonsense the legend of Shinobu- Just.... just a great thing.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

I dislike Naruto/Bleach/One Piece the episodes are fun and all but it just never ends. Death Note and Full Metal Alchemist have a good ending and that is it. Naruto just keeps going on and on and on and it never seems to end.

 

[NLS]

I don't know, it's like saying "I wan't to get into TV-Series".
There's just so many of them, covering so many different themes and settings and just about everything. What is liked by someone may be hated by someone else and vice versa. Style, audience, and execution is so vast that I can't really recommend something good for you.

 

[Kagim]

Excactly what it says. It's a side of nerddom that I have ignored for too long. You may reccommend me shows, sites, articles and anything else that you think will help me get into anime. Just keep in mind that I have absolutely zero knowledge of anime so when you recommend me a series, please don't make it something that requires me to have seen the twenty sequels before it.

Discuss below!

Ps. Please excuse my poor English, I am not a native speaker.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/

Go there, free, legal, tons of anime. I would suggest you some but honestly? It's more fun to click and watch and find something you love on accident. Jumping into an anime with no expectations can make the experience so much better. My advice? Click that link, browse whichever genre interests you, or just browse all of them, and watch whatever looks cool to you. You'll find stinkers(as with all things) but you'll find something awesome, and it will be so much better if you stumble upon it.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

If you like other forms of animation, i.e Futurama or South Park, I'd recommend starting with something that has all of the aesthetic trappings of an anime, but with a very Western way of doing things: The Boondocks.

It's not an anime per se, but you wouldn't be able to tell me that if you just looked at some screenshots. And it's a lot funner to watch than some of the "proper" animes that you may have suggested to you.

 

[Dr_Cuddles]

A lot of pretty bad suggestion IMO. Some of those anime's are just not very good examples of solid animation. Although it really depends on what genres you like. For new watchers I would recommend.

Full Metal Alchemist + Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
Code Geass
Death Note
Gurren Laagan

Although before getting into a series, I would recommend watching a few anime one-shot movies first. Anything by Studio Ghibli really.

You really don't need to bother with crap like Yugioh or Pokemon. Long-running animes like Bleach/Naruto/One Piece are not a good idea to get into to be honest, unless your down for sitting through 200+ episodes. Id easily recommended reading the manga over watching the shows.

 

[Syntax Error]

For something that's really really crazy that it must have been made while the creators are high, go see Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Equal parts awesome and WTF.

 

[lazinesslord]

Animes to look at:
Darker Than Black
Cowboy Bebop- This one especially, it is my favorite anime of all time.
Gurren Lagann
Full Metal Alchemist- Both the original and Brotherhood are good but in my opinion Brotherhood is better
Fooly Cooly
Dragon Ball Z Kai- The original was a flawed master piece, this version fix all those problems
Samurai Champloo- If you like Cowboy Bebop you'll like this one

Hope this helps.

 

[DrOswald]

Trigun is the best. I have never shown it to a geek who hasn't liked it. Start there.

After that, branch out into different genre's, take a spin on the first few episodes of different anime. I recommend Baccano, The Black Blood Brothers, R.O.D., Azumanga Daioh, and Please Teacher (not Please Twins!)

You can also check out some of the higher rated animes on this list:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/ratings-anime.php?top50=best_bayesian

Do not start with Naruto, Bleach, One Peice, Dragonball Z or any of those style of shows! you will burn out. The time required to get a real payoff from watching these shows is enormous, they are not good starting points. Basically, avoid any anime with more than 52 episodes. If you like anime, consider these shows later.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to recommend Gurren Lagann! Great show, add it to the list of things to check out after Trigun. The first 13 episodes (I think, before the time skip is what is important) are amazing, and the after time skip episodes are pretty good too.

 

[DrOswald]

Two Words
Studio Ghibli
but beware it is know that there is no human who will not cry watching "Grave of the Fireflies"
Princess Mononoke is one of my favorites.

My friend did not cry when watching Grave of the Fireflies. He has no soul.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

When I first started getting into Anime, I just went to the video store and just picked out anime videos at random, whichever ones looked interesting, and started watching. I'd suggest doing that. Find a website that allows you to watch anime for free, pick out something that sounds interesting and go nuts.

 

[w00tage]

Excactly what it says. It's a side of nerddom that I have ignored for too long. You may reccommend me shows, sites, articles and anything else that you think will help me get into anime. Just keep in mind that I have absolutely zero knowledge of anime so when you recommend me a series, please don't make it something that requires me to have seen the twenty sequels before it.

Discuss below!

Ps. Please excuse my poor English, I am not a native speaker.

Your English is much better than the people who apparently learned it reading Youtube comments and Myspace pages, so no worries there!

If you're new to it, pick a big hit as you won't be disappointed.

For a fantasy story, try Full Metal Alchemist (both original and Brotherhood are great, long-running stories, but be aware that both go a bit over the top at the end. When will they learn ).

For hardcore sci-fi, try Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex 1. Good multilayered story with a political thriller slant and I love the sci-fi myself.

If you want something modern-day, there's another long running series called Hajime No Ippo (The Fighting in English) which is a story of a meek, nice kid learning that he has a surprising love and talent for boxing and rising through the ranks to become the Japanese Featherweight Champion. One of my favorite stories for the great characters and down-to-earth, day-to-day journey style of it.

For a dramatic historical tale, try the Samurai X movies 1, 2 and 4 (3 is ok but totally different in the characterization, it doesn't even look like part of the same series).

Almost forgot this one! Avatar the Last Airbender is for a younger audience, but a top-notch production with a story that's very watchable by adults.

 

[Lordmurdalot]

Hellsing Ultimate. Very awesome show

 

[w00tage]

Anime frightens me some times due to the fact what it can turn into... and what fans can become... just be aware...

If you think anime has a bad effect on people, look at sports. Fans destroying friggin' cities, omg.

 

[Asti]

The great four: Death Note, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun

My personal favourites are

Katanagatari (Almost western flash-style aesthetics)
Bakemonogatari (Based on a novel and awesome style of animation)
Toradora! (Awesome if somewhat weird story about friendship and romance)
Durarara!! (Simply... great. The characters are awesome.)
Kimi ni Todoke (Super sweet and gentle romance)
Wallflower - Perfect Girl Evolution (Pure comedy GOLD and everything you need to know about how the Japanese ideal man is different from western expectations. XD)

I watch on otakucenter.com

 

[Comando96]

Anime frightens me some times due to the fact what it can turn into... and what fans can become... just be aware...

If you think anime has a bad effect on people, look at sports. Fans destroying friggin' cities, omg.

Key word, can [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95937-This-Is-the-Best-Trailer-for-a-Japanese-Porn-Game-Ever]. Its not it has a bad effect on people... people have a bad affect on it... and personally... I don't want it shared :s

Also if I had my way I'd have a Russian scale anti-fan police methods to maintain order. They brought 2000 riot police "just in-case" to a match with English fans. Well it stopped any possible riots xD No one did a thing.

 

[Pinkamena]

I never liked anime, but a friend of mine who are really, REALLY into anime, got me watching Death Note. Now I watch anime every now and then, but it still haven't grown on me completely Also watching Cowboy Bebop, but that's the only animes I've ever watched.

 

[Ascarus]

Well, first of all: I don't watch anime. So no worries about the sequel thingiemagicker.

I'd recommend Death Note. One of the two animes I've watched, it's a series that has been finished and it's great.

relevant:

not sure why, but that empty grocery isle is quite unnerving.

 

[Racecarlock]

Battletech. Not only is it a giant robot anime with politics and such, but it ties in with the mechwarrior games on the PC. It's only 12 episodes, but that's because the games took most of the narrative I guess.

 

[Matt Dellar]

There are just too many animes out there with too many target audiences to suggest one be-all, end-all. Like non-Japanese shows, anime is split into different categories, and among those categories, a thousand sub-categories. I'd recommend doing a Google search on whichever genre you prefer (action, romance, comedy, all three, etc), and then typing the word "anime" after that. You'll get plenty of results.

Personally, the show that got me into anime was Naruto (action), when I was around 13. By now, it's probably too long to commit to unless you already know the story, and I don't even watch it anymore (I quit after the main storyline ended).

My current favorite is Higurashi, a bloody, psychological horror anime with a pretty art style and good, flawed characters. Of course, they're all completely beautiful, but that's a given in anime.

I warn you now, though, that there is a ton of anime out there that just isn't all that great, from a critical standpoint. Even Higurashi has one gigantic flaw and is sometimes hated on for its art style and characters, and Death Note (actually quite good) gets extremely over-dramatic at times (I'll take a potato chip . . . AND EAT IT!!).