Is there any good anime left?

[galaktar]

I've spent a good chunk of my free time these past years watching the animes that caught my attention. At first it was refreshing to see new ideas, settings, and plots explored. As time went on though, I started actively searching for new things to watch. I stumbled upon a few hidden gems, but things progressed, the pickins got slimmer. I'm sick of the cliches. I'm sick of the stereotypical characters. I'm sick of the wasted storytelling opportunities that Japanese animation revels in.

I've seen too many to list here, but I want to ask if the internet has any other recommendations before I swear off the medium entirely. Is there anything left for a jaded anime fan?

 

[evilneko]

I've probably been watching anime a lot longer than you. There are plenty of good ones, and I'm still finding them.

Your preferences would help greatly in getting useful suggestions. Just a thought.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Watch Baccano, if you haven't already. FLCL? Excel Saga? What about Paranoia Agent? Why not something older? I find shows like Haijame No Ippo have a certain charm to them.

Try looking outside your normal tastes, into some different genres. There are anime about everything from race car drivers to space bounty hunters. Certainly you can find something that gets you going.

 

[cerealnmuffin]

I'm a lot like you in that I got tired of the same drivel in anime time and again. Here are a couple recommendations that really showed me what this genre can achieve.

I recommend Naoki Urasawa's Monster. There are no super powers, no brightly colored zany characters, but there is a dark and kind of realistic story. A doctor saves a kid who grows up to be a charismatic serial killer. The doctor is blamed for the murders and he makes it his mission to stop the killer as he feels guilty for saving his life when he was little. Almost every episode ends on a cliff hanger and it is very compelling. The story takes place in post fall of Berlin Wall in Eastern Germany which is definitely a unique setting. It also has a very satisfying finale after countless twists and turns of the plot.

Welcome to the NHK is another anime I highly recommend. It is definately different as it focuses on hikkomori (nerds who are obsessed with anime who hide themselves off from the world). It follows his story as a girl tries to help him come out of his shell while his nerdy friend tries to pull him deeper in by convincing him to make an eroge visual novel. It actually has a lot of depth to the characters as the series goes on and has a lot of funny moments (poking fun at pyramid schemes, falling for someone in an mmo, trials of game development).

Also this isn't an anime but I love love love Katawa Shoujo, the visual novel. When I first heard the idea, I was like 'I'm not going anywhere near that', but it turned out to be one of the most emotional experiences from a piece of media in a long time. Sure some of the girls follow archetypes, but they have a lot of depth that goes beyond the shallow at first image of them and how they deal with their disabilities add an extra dimension to them. Also the music is wonderful. I've already learned 4 pieces on piano and have a stack of the OST sheet music waiting to be learned.

There is also Hourou Musoko which is a transgendered anime that tries to look at how it is like to be a transsexual from a realistic perspective (no magic waking up in different body nonsense). It is very slice of life, but on a topic that most anime shies away from treating with respect.

 

[Verzin]

For Anime that's aired recently, I'd suggest Deadman Wonderland, that is, if you don't mind a dark, cynical, and moar dark, though exceedingly well written plot.
EDIT: and violence.

 

[Tanis]

Look at 'Studio Ghibli'...great stuff.

 

[ImBigBob]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I've been watching a lot of the anime on Netflix, and it's either hard to watch or flat out boring. And yet people eat all this up?

 

[Ariyura]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I've been watching a lot of the anime on Netflix, and it's either hard to watch or flat out boring. And yet people eat all this up?

Anime on Netflix is rather lacking truthfully. I was very disappointed with the quality and the quantity it had. There are some good ones to be found elsewhere though.If you visit the Funimation website they have a lot of their back catalog available for free streaming.

 

[Worgen]

Have you seen Spice and Wolf, eden of the east, xam'd?

 

[oddball250]

Hellsing Ultimate
One Piece

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

You can't be serious... I don't even like or watch anime, but have you even glimpsed at the 'Anime' section in a JB-HiFi? The selection is monstrous, and they're not even a specialty store! There MUST be something that merits 'Good' in your own personal subjective opinion.

EDIT: Ps. I really don't care if you swear off the medium, I'm not going to defend it because I love it or any of that nonsense. If you've lost interest, you've lost interest, and frankly, I don't know why you're asking for other people to restore your faith in it. Now's just a good opportunity to find something else that interests you. -shrug-

 

[wooty]

I'm going back to some of the old/semi-old animes while I wait for new updates for current show. Watching Higurashi again alongside Clannad, so I get to be freaked out by Rena and then go back to balling my eyes out over Nagisa.

I dont mind the new stuff, some of it is rather good, Fate/Zero, Shana III, Nichijou, Persona 4. Just waiting on the new episodes to get subbed is a pain in the bum-bum.

 

[Sonicron]

I recently watched "Romeo x Juliet" as part of a university project, and I can recommend it.
(Make sure you've read the original drama beforehand, you'll get more out of the watching experience.)

 

[anthony87]

When I'm looking for a new anime to watch I check the manga sites to see if there's any interesting looking ones. If I see one that looks interesting, I'll read a few chapters. If I like those chapters, I'll see if the manga has an anime adaptation.

Hell, you may end up enjoying the manga more.

Never lets me down.

 

[Akimoto]

Look at 'Studio Ghibli'...great stuff.

Chop, stamped and guaranteed. If you can, also try the oldies like You're Under Arrest, Ghost In The Shell, Last Exile, Mahoraba: Heartful Days, El Hazard and Love Hina. Kaibutsu Oujo and Idolmaster (not Xenoglassia) are so-so but worth a peek.

EDIT: Nichijou. WATCH Nichijou!

 

[Matt King]

highschool of the dead is pretty good and soul eater is awesome

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I used to be a big anime fan, but like you I eventually got to the point where most anime was so repugnantly repetitive that I couldn't even force myself through it. Stuff like Soul Eater, D Grey Man, Bleach... I can't take it. It's all so horribly done it's like the sound of screeching chalk, only on my eyes instead of a chalkboard.

That said, I do every now and again run across something genuinely interesting and original. The kind of series where you can tell that a mature writer sat down with a team of people who knew what they were doing, and in the end it shows.

My favorite of these to suggest is Ghost Hound (not Ghost Hunt). Considering the BIG names that are behind this one, and how good it is, I'm actually really surprised about how infrequently I hear anyone talking about it. But perhaps it's just a little too complex for the same crowd that made Naruto popular (and thusly have I delivered my cynical jab for the day). It was written by Masamune Shirow (the author of Ghost in the Shell [the manga from which the rest of the incarnations have been derived]), and directed by the same guy who directed Serial Experiments Lain and Kino's Journey (two other series I would definitely suggest to the jaded anime fan). Ghost Hound has this crazy interesting plot which blends fringe elements from the worlds of psychology and quantum physics with some more traditional folklore for the sort of unique story that is so rare these days. I'd definitely suggest watching it, because you're not going to find anything else quite like it out there.

I will also re-suggest Serial Experiments Lain and Kino's Journey, as well as Mushishi (for those quieter and more contemplative among us).

 

[infinity_turtles]

Depends on if you watch subs or dubs. There's pretty much always something interesting out in japan, but it can be a bit of a hassle to find a sub group who you like who is subbing something you like.

As for dubs, not too many come out. It's fairly likely that if that's what you were watching you ran through a lot of the backlog of good dubbed anime. That said, ever since the bigger names like Funimation and Viz-Media started streaming subs, they've been releasing less dubbed anime and a good deal of it has been pretty crap.

If you want suggestions, might be a good idea to say whether you prefer subs or dubs and list some titles you liked.