I'm sure you get at least a dozen threads like this every day /wsr/, but if you'll have the patience to hear me out, my situation is this:
I haven't watched any anime. Ever. Well, I do remember watching some Pokémon, Dragon Ball and possibly other stuff when I was very young, but I can only remember disjointed scenes now.
I would like to try out some anime shows, possibly avoiding the ones that are outright crap, to see if I like them. I've flicked through some recommendation charts on the /a/ wiki, but there's so much stuff it's quite hard for me to make a choice given that it's a field I know next to nothing about.
I vaguely understand that things like Evangelion or Madoka are supposed to be good, but I don't know by which standard, or if they're any good for a beginner.
Here are some general guidelines for things I might like, but don't feel too tied down by them:
1- Ideas: I'd like something with imaginative sci-fi and/or fantasy concepts that inspire sense of wonder. Bonus points for interesting settings and compelling internal mythologies.
2- Characters: Well-developed characters are always good. I don't care if the cast is predominantly male or female or whatever, as long as the characters are interesting and empathetic, and evolve over the course of the show.
3- Plot: Something with a good strong plot is always appreciated. It would be nice to avoid shows that have really unsatisfactory endings or leave dozens of loose ends dangling (the 2000s version of Battlestar Galactica is a good example of a show that I mostly enjoyed, but whose ending I really hated).
Thanks in advance.
>>129988
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's something that I feel is basically the best for anyone that's just coming into anime and it fits all three of your "guidelines". It's 64 episodes long, but it's got everything from great animation to a loveable cast of characters to great world-building. Highly recommend it above all else.
If you don't want to jump in head-first into a 64-episode show, definitely watch some of the Ghibli movies. Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa, Spirited Away, The Cat Returns, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, and others are all fantastic watches. They all have really interesting worlds and great characters. They're basically the Japanese equivalent of Disney.
Evangelion and Madoka have deeper and more symbolic ways of telling its story and its characters, but if you've watched more than a few movies in your lifetime (and not the Michael Bay kind), then you should be fine watching either of them.
Some general recommendations that are good, but might not be "newcomer friendly" that I don't want to write a paragraph about (I love them all though). The ones that are probably newcomer friendly even though all of them probably are, I'll star just for convenience:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Steins;Gate
Cowboy Bebop*
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Specifically Bloodlust, the first movie's not so good.)
Steamboy
Tokyo Godfathers*
Gurren Lagann*
Code Geass
Redline*
Sword of the Stranger* (This one's pretty violent.)
Enjoy.
>>129988
just start by watching naruto
>>129988
>something with imaginative sci-fi and/or fantasy concepts interesting settings and compelling internal mythologies.
always a good start is Neon Genesis Evangelion and after that watch the movie The End of Evangelion.
more sci-fi classics
Akira (movie post-apocalyptic)
Ghost in the Shell (movie sci-fi future & artificial intelligence)
Cowboy Bebop (futuristic bounty hunters tv series + movie)
Samurai Champloo (hip-hop style + feudal japan samurais from the director of bebop)
although i started watching anime series that most people consider "crap" (stuff like elfen lied, amagami ss, claymore, etc) i still think that was very clever since once you get into the "high-quality" series it gets difficult to enjoy the low-tier ones.
> I've flicked through some recommendation charts on the /a/ wiki, but there's so much stuff it's quite hard for me to make a choice given that it's a field I know next to nothing about.
Nobody knows your taste better than you do and it's impossible to to give specific recommendation based on such vague guidelines. You might not even like anime.
Those charts are there to give you options. All the "outright crap" has already been filtered out for you and now it's up to you to try something. So you like sci-fi? Why don't you just download a few sci-fi anime that are recommended in the charts and see if you like them.
I wouldn't consider Eva worth your time if you're this new to anime. If you plan on making anime a hobby then watching it is basically mandatory, but for an anime tourist who's just seeing the sights there's plenty of other more accessible stuff you can watch. That's not to say you can't enjoy Eva but you won't get as much out of it. It's very much an anime made by an otaku, for otaku, to critique otaku. Otaku means "obsessive fan" and in this context refers to obsessive anime fans. This otaku culture started getting big in the 80s around mecha shows and by the 90s otaku had become the main consumer of anime, making up the bulk of video sales in Japan. Today a huge chunk of the anime industry is dedicated to courting the otaku audience, so as a result a majority of anime is extremely niche and not accessible even to most Japanese people, let alone westerners who find even regular Japanese culture weird.
With all that in mind, the kind of shows you're going to be recommended and will probably have the most luck latching onto are shows with lots of western appeal. FMA:B and Cowboy Bebop are fairly standard, but so is Trigun, Outlaw Star, Hellsing, Black Lagoon, and Ghost in the Shell.
The reason I'm explaining this to you is to make it clear that even if you like these shows, don't expect this to be par for the course for anime. What you're being recommended are more like exceptions.
Madoka
Firstly, make a MAL. It's a meme on /a/ but it seriously helps keep track of shows and find new ones.
I'm also getting a feeling you're also willing to find some alternative anime newcomers usually wouldn't like.
Neon Genesis : Evangelion
>Just watch it. And then watch it again. Dub is fine, but this show is seriously good once you rewatch it. Look at analysis on youtube too.
Madoka Magica
>Gritty Magical Girls
Gurren Lagann
>Badass stylish mecha
Cowboy Bebop
>Space cowboy classic
Welcome to the NHK
>Psychological and comfy
Spice and Wolf
>Good romance
Ghost in the shell : Stand alone complex
>cyberpunk special forces in Japan
FLCL
>Watch this high, good music
Baccano
>Gangster series with magical myths
Steins;gate
>Romance Sci-FI Drama timetravelling
ALSO
Look up /a/ recommendations. It's got everything you need for anime recs, how to get and watch anime etc.
>>130015
>All the "outright crap" has already been filtered out for you
That's not true, I see several anime charts with Claymore on them.
>>130049
>What you're being recommended are more like exceptions.
Yeah, this is pretty accurate. A lot of "beginner anime" have, like this anon said, a lot of western appeal.
Usually what sets them apart is the setting and the characters. They're pretty much all set outside of Japan or even our world and usually have non-Japanese characters with only slight Japanese values.
So definitely keep what he said in mind. There are many anime that aren't exactly made for westerners, but still incredibly entertaining to watch whether it be for shallow reasons or deep emotional reasons. Plus, there's enough diversity in plots, premises, and themes, that you won't run out of things to watch for a while.
Does it astonish anyone else that there may be an anon out there with possibly hundreds of thousands of neatly organized images within very specifically labelled folders
>>130049
I went from Ghibli into Evangelion and loved it. I hated it at first because I thought it was corny, but my opinion changed after over the course of the series.
I know now that it's an otaku creation originally aimed at otaku, but look at its incredible popularity in Japan. The themes are applicable enough, everyone has some form of escapism.Granted, Japan has more depressed people than the Western nations. The #1 and #2 best selling books in Japan both deal with depression and suicide (those novels being Kokoro and No Longer Human). The cultural conditions which made NGE popular doesn't exist to the same extent in any Western nation. however in the niche of 4chan I think it would make sense to recommend it, even to a beginner.
>>130060
>Firstly, make a MAL. It's a meme on /a/ but it seriously helps keep track of shows and find new ones.
I was actually wondering if there was some kind of IMDb for anime. Looks useful.
>I'm also getting a feeling you're also willing to find some alternative anime newcomers usually wouldn't like.
I welcome a little variety in style and experimentation. Thanks for the recs.
>>130049
>>130071
>>130105
Hmm, that's interesting. I'll have to keep it in mind.
>>130105
That's fair I guess. I just zeroed in on the fact that he was a total newbie to anime without factoring in the fact that he browses 4chan.
>>130131
The main thing about getting into anime is learning to put up with and even enjoy cliches. Since you're new a lot of the established anime cliches will be new to you, but if you keep watching it won't be long before you start noticing repetitions.
Just watch King of the Hill on AdultSwim. It's the best American Anime ever made.
