Anime Recommendation List

[DDQFPlusKick]

Well I've seen a lot of anime and notice a lot of shows not on the list. However there are some great shows here

.hack//Sign - Computer RPG mixed in with a who done it style plot. The story revolves around a mysterious player name Tsukasa who apperently displays abilities never before seen. The plot thickens are rogue characters, newly aquinted friend, and the RPG fuzz all become involved in Tsukasa predicament.
Ai Yori Aoshi - Harem series. Nothing too special about it. Two people put in an arrange marriage meet years later and fall in love again only to find the arrangment has been cancelled. Zany characters, mostly female, make up the rest of the cast.
Air Master - Fight Anime. Maki Aikawa is a street fighter known for her powerful ariel attacks. Most of the story follows her ordeals with her various challengers. However many supporting characters get a lot of spotlight preventing this from become a boring champion/challenger fight anime
Azumanga Daioh - Slice of life between a group of individually unique Japanese school girls. It really was a show about nothing.
His and Hers Circumstances - Romance Story. Yukino and Soichiro are two of the best student in high school,but their public images are lies and when both discover the truth the real romance begins. The plot focus on the inner turmoil each of them face in the light of their relationship. Great supporting characters overall.
Magical shopping arcade Aminobashi - ??? -A square beg in a round hole. A multi-verse hopping duo wind up in one dimension world. The truth of it all isn't understood until the finale.
Voices of a Distant Star - The shortest sci-fi anime I ever saw. When aliens attack a young woman goes to war as a space fighter. She leaves her boyfriend behind and due to near light travel ends up remaining 16 while her boyfried ages. Stories focuses on the hardships of war from a space persective.

[bagheadinc]

DBZ: Abridged

[FireAza]

"Cadaver-riffic!"

[Jirin]

I have trouble finding anime I like. The anime I do like I've thought was really great, but most of the anime I see I hate.

Here's a list of a few animes I've really liked:
Noir, Berserk, FLCL, Perfect Blue, Paprika, Monster, the Spike episodes of Cowboy Bebop

Here's a list of things that will make me hate an anime:
-Blatant fanservice
-Hyper little kids screaming a lot
-Stuff that tries to be deep by using a lot of religious references but really is just superficially deep by being vague about cause and effect
-Over the top evil villains
-Simplistically good natured, aloof heroes
-Villains who try to destroy humanity 'to save it' and give sanctimonious speeches about humanity being evil
-Kiddiness in general

Those exclusion criteria just happen to narrow it down to like 1% of the anime that gets written, and most of that 1% never gets licensed in the US (Like Monster).

Anyone know where I can find more of the sort of anime I like without using bittorrent or other shady trading sites that will probably lead to my computer getting viruses?

[FireAza]

Here's a list of a few animes I've really liked:
Noir, Berserk, FLCL, Perfect Blue, Paprika, Monster, the Spike episodes of Cowboy Bebop

Considering you've listed two Satoshi Kon films, methinks you should see the rest of his works, which would be Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress and Paranoia Agent.

Here's a list of things that will make me hate an anime:
-Blatant fanservice
-Hyper little kids screaming a lot
-Stuff that tries to be deep by using a lot of religious references but really is just superficially deep by being vague about cause and effect
-Over the top evil villains
-Simplistically good natured, aloof heroes
-Villains who try to destroy humanity 'to save it' and give sanctimonious speeches about humanity being evil
-Kiddiness in general

Those exclusion criteria just happen to narrow it down to like 1% of the anime that gets written, and most of that 1% never gets licensed in the US (Like Monster).

Anyone know where I can find more of the sort of anime I like without using bittorrent or other shady trading sites that will probably lead to my computer getting viruses?

For starters, there's nothing wrong with Bittorrent, provided you're going to the right places. In fact, most fansub groups these days distribute solely through Bittorrent.

Hall-righty then, the criteria you've listed hardly excludes all but 1% of all Japanese animation, but obviously you're going to have to look deeper You've chosen criteria I find very interesting, so here's my suggestions that also don't contain your peeves:

Death Note - Supernatural thriller about Light, a very intelligent collage student who finds a notebook that's able to kill anyone who's name is written in it. Being the idealistic sort that he is, he's going to make a crime-free paradise by killing off all the criminals. This attracts the attention of the police, and by extension a genius detective known as "L", who vows to catch Light and put a stop to his murder-spree, which begins a really exciting game of cat-and-mouse.

Kino's Journey - Story about a young girl who travels around a fantasy world on her motorcycle, visiting different countries and experiencing their unique culture and customs.

FLAG - Political series about a war photographer stationed in the Middle East, documenting the uneasy peace process.

Yugo the Negotiator - Similar to FLAG, it's about a negotiator who travels to unstable regions of the world.

Mushishi - Fantasy series about a Ginko, a "Mushishi", someone who studies "Mushi", these strange organisms that are life in it's purest form. Ginko travels around an ancient fantasy Japan and meets people who's lives have been effected by mushi. It's a difficult show to describe, but it's fascinating to watch.

Serial Experiments Lain - Psychological thriller/sci-fi series about computers and the internet. It's about a young girl named Lain who upon getting a new computer, discovers that the line between the real world and the internet are rapidly blurring and that she's somehow involved.

Welcome to the NHK! - Series about a "hikkokomori" (someone who shuts themselves inside their home and never leaves). The series is largely about current social issues in Japan (i.e hikkokomori, suicide, paedophilia, internet addiction) and I find very fascinating to watch.

Gunslinger Girl - Similar to Noir. It's about young girls who are kidnapped from hospitals and brain-washed into becoming assassins by the Italian government. Sad as all hell.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - Roughly translated "Farewell Mr. Despair". Despite it's often light-hearted and silly nature, the series is quite dark (the main character frequently tries to kill himself) and looks into various social issues.

When They Cry - Higurashi - Murder mystery series with a very fragmented plot. Basic story is about these series of murders in a small mountain village and how they're all connected to the residents of the village. Despite being visually cute and often comical, the series can be very disturbing and violent at times.

Grave of the Fireflies - War film about two siblings trying to survive on their own after the rest of their family dies in the American fire-bombing of their hometown. Infamous for being a real tear-jerker.

Barefoot Gen - Similar to Grave of the Fireflies, but about the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima.

Bartender - A series about a bartender who's able to make really good drinks. Basic plot is a customer will come into his bar, and he will mix them up a drink that's related their situation and tell the customer the history of the drink and why it's suited to them.

Human Crossing - Series which looks into the everyday lives of ordinary people, from a defeated boxer to a father who's having trouble understanding his son's generation.

Honey and Clover - Drama series about the lives of a bunch of collage students. Very simple, but very enjoyable.

Little Pet Shop of Horrors - Horror series about this mysterious pet shop in Chinatown which sells a variety of exotic animals, and what happens to the buyers who don't follow the owner's advice.

Planetes - Hard sci-fi series (so hard, the Japanese space agency was the technical consultant for the series, and NASA themselves took interest in the series) about life in space. Plot revolves around the employees of a space debris collection agency.

Genshiken - Unflattering comedy series about a combined anime, manga and video games club, and it's members. A lot of the focus is on anime/manga/video game fandom so knowledge in these areas is a must to understand the jokes.

I'm sure there's more I've forgotten, but these will do for now.

[gravity]

Welcome to the NHK! - Series about a "hikkokomori" (someone who shuts themselves inside their home and never leaves). The series is largely about current social issues in Japan (i.e hikkokomori, suicide, paedophilia, internet addiction) and I find very fascinating to watch.

NHK wasn't about a hikkokomori, it was about an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic that no one recognized suffering as such, and just wrote him off as 'weird' because he watched anime. He seemed to be very, very afraid of getting any form of help from anyone to the point he faked his life to everyone around him in order to avoid admitting that he needed help. The way they play it off as him just being 'weird' and an 'anime watcher' was actually very, very disturbing to me. The guy didn't need to stop watching anime, he needed to go see a doctor.

Higurashi, well, that's just plain f*cked up. It tells the same story over and over and over again from different points of view, and gets more and more horrifying and bloody each time. There's a story there, but it seems to change from demons to psychosis to just plain bad luck. If you watch it, watch it in small parts, and give yourself plenty of breathing room. Two years later and I still won't watch the final thirteen episodes.

[FireAza]

NHK wasn't about a hikkokomori, it was about an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic that no one recognized suffering as such, and just wrote him off as 'weird' because he watched anime. He seemed to be very, very afraid of getting any form of help from anyone to the point he faked his life to everyone around him in order to avoid admitting that he needed help. The way they play it off as him just being 'weird' and an 'anime watcher' was actually very, very disturbing to me. The guy didn't need to stop watching anime, he needed to go see a doctor.

Right, like I said, a hikikomori

[gravity]

NHK wasn't about a hikkokomori, it was about an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic that no one recognized suffering as such, and just wrote him off as 'weird' because he watched anime. He seemed to be very, very afraid of getting any form of help from anyone to the point he faked his life to everyone around him in order to avoid admitting that he needed help. The way they play it off as him just being 'weird' and an 'anime watcher' was actually very, very disturbing to me. The guy didn't need to stop watching anime, he needed to go see a doctor.

Right, like I said, a hikikomori

A hikikomori isn't a paranoid schizophrenic, it's a person who chooses that they would rather spend all of their time watching anime, or playing video games, rather than go out into the real world. Though yes, they're usually mentally unstable in some form or another. They way they play it up in NHK as being his fault, and nothing else, just paints a revolting picture of the views of society over there. That, and the plot line is so outlandish that it's hard to watch at times because it's just... flat.

[FireAza]

I think the fact that the show can inspire conversation like this makes it and ideal recommendation

[gravity]

I think the fact that the show can inspire conversation like this makes it and ideal recommendation

I got half way through before I had to quit out of pure annoyance. The preachy religious wanna-be girl was too much for me.

On the plus side, though, I did watch 12 Kingdoms. It's actually really, really good. It's set in a fantastical realm that is very much like feudal China, and how a teenager from this world becomes empress in that world. There are actually four arcs to the story that don't really cross each other all that much.

There's the main arc about Youko becoming empress and dealing with a new world, there's the adorable arc about a little boy/mystical unicorn child growing up into responsibility, a third arc about Youko dealing with being empress and the responsibilities that entails, and a short final arc about the emperor of En and the rebellion he put down in his kingdom.

The series, while having a few issues (one arc is never finished at all, though it is in the novels it is based on), ties together nicely and it holds up a solid plot with solid characters.

[FireAza]

I think the fact that the show can inspire conversation like this makes it and ideal recommendation

I got half way through before I had to quit out of pure annoyance. The preachy religious wanna-be girl was too much for me.

Ah, it's a shame you didn't stick around, there was a nice twist there regarding her motivation at the end of the series.

While on a similar topic, you might enjoy Chaos;Head, the protagonist in this one is even more delusional than NHK's, to the point he thinks "3D women" are evil and out to make him suffer (there's a brilliant little twist in a early episode on this topic that I was blind-sided by) and and he thinks that a character from an anime lives with him and cares for him.

[Gechmir]

The opening post is severely lacking in "Touch" =o Old-school love-triangle anime with a wonderful baseball subplot. It doesn't go off in to the typical OMG SUPER POWERS realm that sports anime is wont to do. If you enjoyed LoGH, you'd enjoy this. Are their genres similar? Not in the slightest. But they are both unique, and huge hits. Not mainstreamed, unfortunately If you enjoyed Maison Ikkoku, Touch is up your alley.

If baseball is noticeably your thing after this, there are two awesome series you could look in to:

Major, being the first of these two, follows the main character from when he is a child all the way up until his adult years. He goes from kiddy-league baseball all the way through his baseball career. Typically consists of the main character being a general badass and a one-man-team quite often. Manga and anime are still going o'course. Season 1 & 3 are absolute dynamite. 2 is okay. 4 falls pretty short in my opinion. 5 is rolling out right now, though.

Big Windup/Swing Big is the second one. I honestly can't recall the damn name of it (Japanese one, that is). I'll tack it on later. It's a much more realistic baseball anime unlike Major. Major doesn't hit on super powers, but it consists largely of the protagonist doing 90% of the winning. This consists of a tightly-knit team in which most of its members are quite useful. Anime will continue its second season soon, evidently.

I loathe baseball, yet these three have a special place in my black, twisted heart

If not those, at least look up Nodame Cantabile. It follows a girl who is a natural piano genius with a disregard for playing rules (and hygiene at times...), as well as a young man who is a rising star in the conducting world. It's an awesome comedy series which will probably chug out a third season given its praise in Japan. They're probably giving the manga time to get ahead.

[Miv]

a wonderful baseball subplot

Does that even exist? I'm confused. Since when has any anime based on sports been more than mediocre? I'm a whore for romance-y shows, but the sports thing just makes me angry.

... Nonetheless, I'll probably give it a chance :X

[Seir]

. Since when has any anime based on sports been more than mediocre?

Hajime No Ippo, a series about boxing, has 90 (and counting) episodes while the manga itself has 842 chapters (still ongoing as well).

[gravity]

Eden of the East: this is a very new anime by Production IG, only one episode has been released so far, last I checked, but it's worth checking out simply because of the ending credits. The anime itself is about a Japanese girl who nearly gets arrested trying to throw coins into the fountain in front of the White House, and is saved by a naked man with a gun and a cell phone.

They team up, there's actually a hilarious wacky adventure of the student trying to find the naked man again because she had given him her jacket... with her passport still in the front pocket. Everyone who isn't Japanese (all but the two main characters) speak English, though I am confused why they all suddenly understand Japanese fluently, but that doesn't matter as, by the end of the first episode, they are shifted back to Japan via airplane.

The naked man, Akira, has no memory, it was voluntarily wiped (though there is no clue as to why), mysterious numbers as contacts on his phone, and an apartment just full of weapons and explosives.

The animators seem to be the same ones who did FLCL, though the style isn't nearly as overdone here as it was there, and it's fun to watch the characters play through their scenes. It looks to be a promising anime, and hopefully it will continue to stay as well made as the first episode was.