For dubs even though it isn't the greatest anime ever the Bleach dubs are quite good I think. Interesting that Nero from DMC4 does Ichigo. Just be sure to skip all the filler.
This thread should have stopped when someone surgested Death note, since it is the single best anime of all time, and nothing will ever be able to surpass it[/fanboy].
Other than that I would say Bleach if you want some epic action, and some awesome characters (Stick with it untill season 2), Ergo Proxy if you want something that's... Well diffrent is the only thing I can say since I simply can't describe Ergo Proxy*, and Air Gear if you're twelve and have a desperate need to lose brain cells.
Anime is pretty much like jumping into an ocean which you don't know is inhabbitet by.
Sometimes you Jump down and find boring, stupid fish, but when you "swim" deeper you find something great and Epic (Bleach). That kind of ocean is paticulairly dangerous, since you way to often swim deeper only to find shit, but the ocean know as "Bleach" is you at least owe a very careful look.
Other times the ocean is just weird and you don't know what to think, but regardless of this you feel awestruck (Ergo Proxy).
And other times theocean is fully of imature fish who act like twats, and who just abandon you with no resolution what so ever (Air Gear).
Anime is weird, it's diffrent, so my honest surgestion is that you just jump!
Any Miyazaki film (Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke etc...)
Cowboy Bebop (fun, great music)
Lupin (humor)
Basalisk (samurai and ninja combined with the plot of Romeo&Juliet
Samurai Champloo (funky, cool soundtrack as well)
NeoGenesis Evangelion (great great stuff, but a bit of mind fuckery)
Akira (the one that started the anime explosion in the US)
Ghost in the Shell (Matrix, before Matrix)
Serial Experiments Lain (what a huh?)
I also appreciate the older ones from my childhood:
Gundam
StarBlazers
Robotech
Force Five
Im sure there are others that are great as well.
AVOID:
Dragon Ball Z (imo its pure crap, don't be fooled by popularity and marketing)
Gurren Lagann is concentrated awesome. Except the fourth episode, obviously. In all fairness, though, it didn't pick up for me right away.
Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best modern shonen series out there.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is great after the first 5 episodes, but it's advised that you like anime tropes and conventions, since it's full of those, and also be tolerant of some anime female behaviors (especially the high-pitched impressed "ah" sound). And yes, it's a magical girl show, but it's a magical girl show with Gundam-ish designs for manly men.
And I'll probably get flamed for this, but Haruhi. It's a fun series with a good plot running through it (though in all honesty, the plot will probably really develop in the second season and possible third season), and the characters are just wonderful. I can't really quite explain why it's so great, there's just something to it.
Oh, and Code Geass is pretty good. And don't forget Death Note.
Agreed to an extent, the best anime's are of shorter length's (13-26 episodes). They have more well-made plots for the most part, and they're easier to get into (there are probably several series I haven't bothered with because of their length, Monster being one of them).
Something short to start with. Cowboy Bepop and Trigun are good ones. Ghost in the Shell is pretty good too, although it's a bit longer. After you kinda get into it, I'd say Sayonara Zetsubo-Sensei, Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL.
G Gundam, hands down. If you like action stuff, there's enough in G Gundam to make even a Gurren Lagann fan's head explode.
The best part about it is that it is deliberately corny, cartoony, and insanely over-the-top, to the point where they don't just shout their attack names, they have an entire speech to go along with them.
And yet... it's precisely because of all this that G Gundam is face-meltingly awesome. It goes so far over the top, so completely past cheesy, that it becomes epic. It's just the absolute pinnacle of pure action anime.
Hell, they make the main character's eventual confession of LOVE into one of the most epic scenes ever... followed by the single most epic attack of all time.
Alternately, Rurouni Kenshin has been and remains today among my absolute favorite anime. It's not really action at all- there are a lot of romantic comedy elements in it, and the storyline is absolutely amazing. Skip everything after episode 62, though. The rest is filler that was made to try and buy the creator time to finish the manga's final arc, but he didn't succeed until after the series was cancelled after 95 episodes. (That's total, not 95 fillers.) It's also set against a historical background that's never obtrusive but manages to make itself felt throughout; RuroKen really is a tale of the Meiji Restoration.
And, if you're looking for a story-driven anime that doesn't have or need much in the way of epic battles and action, I'd suggest either .hack//SIGN or Saikano. The former is a cult favorite that's been my absolute favorite anime for a very long time, and the latter is one of the most beautiful, tear-jerking stories you're ever going to see. They take epic global war and make it incredibly personal and emotional... despite the fact that the first episode is insanely cute and just plain funny right up until the last five minutes.
One last one would be The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, an adventure anime blended somewhat with highschool- though no highschool any normal anime character has to deal with. It's incredibly upbeat and fun, and Haruhi is one of the most energetic and funny characters I've seen in a long time.
(As others have suggested, give the films of Hayao Miyazaki a look too. They're truly works of art.)
Edit: Forgot about the subtitle thing... Thankfully, G Gundam is amazingly well dubbed, especially Mark Gatha, voice of the lead character Domon. Rurouni Kenshin also has a pretty good dub, with some minor exceptions. (Hoji, learn to pronounce Japanese words or don't go babbling attack names...) Haruhi was... less spectacular, but it's all right. Aya Hirano (the Japanese VA for Haruhi) did a much better job than her American counterpart, though.
And unfortunately I don't know anything about the dubs of .hack//SIGN and Saikano. Haven't watched either, although I do have the DVDs of Saikano.
Edit2: Am I seriously the ONLY one who's suggested G Gundam so far? Saikano isn't well known, I can understand that one (and I promise if you watch episode 9 without crying, you have no soul), and .hack's more of a cult following, but G Gundam? Why is Shining Finger getting no love?
one piece
death note
naruto
bleach
fullmetal alchemist
big O
code geass
ghost in the shell
hellsing
cowboy bebop
any(or all)gundam series
tengen toppa gurren lagann
trigun
samurai champloo
darker than black
yu yu hakusho
eureka 7
full metal panic
initial D
dragon ball series
fooly cooly
bobobo-bo bo-bobo
EDIT:
burst angel
desert punk
gunslinger girl
neon genesis evangelion
samurai 7
trinity blood
xam'd:lost memories(only on PS3)
I'd recommend Hellsing, because it's awesome but also because it has great english dubbing, integra and seras are a bit overdone, but i think many sound better than the original japanese voices (anderson springs to mind first)
G Gundam, hands down. If you like action stuff, there's enough in G Gundam to make even a Gurren Lagann fan's head explode.
The best part about it is that it is deliberately corny, cartoony, and insanely over-the-top, to the point where they don't just shout their attack names, they have an entire speech to go along with them.
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