Anime Recommendations Thread

[minakichan]

So, question.

Koihime Musou.

Just by looking at it and hearing the premise (anime based on eroge where the warriors in Romance of the Three Kingdoms are represented by moe animu girls, except the anime has even less plot) should tip me off that this anime is horrible, but has anyone seen it, and if so, has anyone liked it?

I'm asking because the character design is so hot that I'm seriously considering subjecting myself to banal oppai fanservice just so I can watch these cute girls with fabulous costumes and pretty, pretty eyes.

[MasterDias]

So, question.

Koihime Musou.

Just by looking at it and hearing the premise (anime based on eroge where the warriors in Romance of the Three Kingdoms are represented by moe animu girls, except the anime has even less plot) should tip me off that this anime is horrible, but has anyone seen it, and if so, has anyone liked it?

I think I watched like one episode of this. It didn't seem very worthwhile to me. Although, it's not my type of show.

[S.M.O.G.]

Any good martial arts anime like DBZ?

[jadeTheshade]

i'm looking for something with lots of action (sword fights highly appriciated^^) maybe a little drama. fantasy or something involving ninja would be cool...
i really liked Tsubasa RESERVoire CHRoNiCle...

here's the catch: no nudity, no sexual situations, no launguage more extream than somebody calling someone else a jerk. period. i'd prefer to avoid most romace too...
i don't mind vilolence and a reasonable amount of blood is ok...
does the series i'm looking for even exist?

[coffeehubby]

I like winsome easy going stuff. No nudity/mild language.
Being a dad to a young teen daughter I enjoyed "Whisper Of The Heart".
I liked Princess Monocle(sp?)/ Castle In The Sky/ the Cat Returns and Spirited Away.

I'd like to find stuff that is less about spirits or alternative religion. I want to watch a nice film withoutfeeling I'm being preached at.

I'm wanting to become an animator eventually so I purchase films to study their techniques, even if I don't care for the story. I love Miyazaki's work. I want to work backgrounds/cityscapes.

What do you recommend?
I like your avatar Magnafanatic and wonder what character she is/ what films?

I am VERY NEW to this genre and so I apologize I don't even know how to frame my questions!

[That Dude]

I like winsome easy going stuff. No nudity/mild language.
Being a dad to a young teen daughter I enjoyed "Whisper Of The Heart".
I liked Princess Monocle(sp?)/ Castle In The Sky/ the Cat Returns and Spirited Away.

I'd like to find stuff that is less about spirits or alternative religion. I want to watch a nice film withoutfeeling I'm being preached at.

I'm wanting to become an animator eventually so I purchase films to study their techniques, even if I don't care for the story. I love Miyazaki's work. I want to work backgrounds/cityscapes.

What do you recommend?
I like your avatar Magnafanatic and wonder what character she is/ what films?

I am VERY NEW to this genre and so I apologize I don't even know how to frame my questions!

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time"
A very fun and surprisingly moving tale of a girl who literally leaps through time. If I had a teen daughter I'd totally watch this one with her, actually I plan on showing to my little sis.

"Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle"
There's a little violence and language, but overall it's surprisingly clean. Enjoyable and surprisingly deep at times.

"Witch Hunter Robin"
If you're looking for a good and relatively clean (it has a few standard tv cuss words each ep) action anime this would be a great start.

"DNAngel"
Has some magic, but overall a very enjoyable light hearted series.

Hope this helps and welcome to CAA!

[EricTheFred]

I like winsome easy going stuff. No nudity/mild language.
Being a dad to a young teen daughter I enjoyed "Whisper Of The Heart".
I liked Princess Monocle(sp?)/ Castle In The Sky/ the Cat Returns and Spirited Away.

Welcome!

Look into two earlier CLAMP offerings, "Angelic Layer" and "Magic Knight Rayearth". These will probably appeal to both your daughter and yourself.

You definitely need to check out "Azumanga Daioh". Except please be aware that it takes a little while to grow on some people.

The "You're Under Arrest" series is greatness, but be warned of one very confused transvestite character. He isn't one of the major characters but he's in a lot of episodes.

Another older series, "Patlabor", has mecha, comedy, good stories, and plenty of appeal.

A number of animes that don't fit your desire for no foreign religious content strike me as being good candidates for you anyway:

"Kamichu!" is aimed at your daughter's demographic but fits the bill, and is highly enjoyable. I've described it before as what Miyazaki (the guy that created all the films you named) would come up with if he did a TV series. It is definitely Shinto-based, but in the way Miyazaki's spirits are, as a plot device rather than a religion.

"Fruits Basket" may work as well, and is usually appealing to girls your daughter's age as well.

"Oh, My Goddess" (aka "Ah, My Goddess") is pretty much continuous fun. There is a mishmash of religious symbology from Norse and Greek mythology, mixed up with modern Western and Eastern religions, but again it is a plot device.

Getting away from the pink and frilly stuff, I suggest you check out "Mushishi". It is a very adult (in the sense of thoughtfulness, not sexual content) series. It definitely fails in your concern about avoiding alternative religion, but it is a very good example of what something rooted in another religion can teach without preaching.

[EricTheFred]

Any good martial arts anime like DBZ?

Tons of them, but they run a very wide gamut in nature. If I named 'Baki the Grappler', 'Tokyo Majin', and 'Fighting Beauty Wulong' I've can legitimately claim to have given you three martial arts anime, but they are all wildly different (and different than DBZ.)

On the other hand, there isn't really anything 'like' DBZ. It's pretty unique in some ways.

So the question is, what do you like in your anime, other than the martial arts?

[Roz]

@ jadeTheshade:
Have you seen any Hayao Miyazaki films? Howls Moving Castle and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind has some action in it and I don't think there's any swear words if you watch them in English (although I prefer Japanese, at least for Nausicaa). That's about the cleanest I can think of at this point with action still in it. If you want to know more details on the Miyazaki films feel free to pm me, I'll help all I can.

@ S.M.O.G.:
I think the best martial arts anime I have ever seen is Shura no toki.

[Maokun]

I am looking for a few good anime movies. Here is what I've seen and/or own. Howl's moving castle, Porco Rosso, Girl who leapt through time, Castle in the sky, Spirited away, most Miyazaki movies. Though I wish they would release Tales from Earthsea in the USA and Ponyo comes out soon so I may see it when it comes out. Well, I hope that helps. I prefer more modern movies that is those that were made recently not 1990's or younger unless it's really good. It's just the styling that I don't like that's all. Hope that helps. Those aren't all the ones I own just a few. By the way, don't mention the Naruto movies, I saw the first one and I liked it so I'm sure the others will be good too(regardless of what others say I like the series).

Just in case you haven't seen Nausicaä]Any good martial arts anime like DBZ?[/quote]

Yu Yu Hakusho, Flame of Recca, Hunter x Hunter. They are all good. Oh and Saint Seiya.

i'm looking for something with lots of action (sword fights highly appriciated^^) maybe a little drama. fantasy or something involving ninja would be cool...
i really liked Tsubasa RESERVoire CHRoNiCle...

here's the catch: no nudity, no sexual situations, no launguage more extream than somebody calling someone else a jerk. period. i'd prefer to avoid most romace too...
i don't mind vilolence and a reasonable amount of blood is ok...
does the series i'm looking for even exist?

Uh, yeah a bit difficult heh. I guess you already watched Rurouni Kenshin? That would be the poster kid for what you want. Most of the real good swordplay is found in not totally wholesome series such as Afro Samurai and Basilisk. You can try Peace Maker Kurogane. It is quite clean, set in the same time period that Kenshin and though the swordplay is second to the character development, is quite good. The only stain on it would be a lot of inuendo of homosexuality, but is only for comedy purposes and never actually build upon. Last one that comes to mind is s-Cryed, and though it has no swords the action is really good and the series is remarkably clean. I'd reccomend The Vision of Escaflowne, but that one can get rather sappy at moments.

I like winsome easy going stuff. No nudity/mild language.
Being a dad to a young teen daughter I enjoyed "Whisper Of The Heart".
I liked Princess Monocle(sp?)/ Castle In The Sky/ the Cat Returns and Spirited Away.

I'd like to find stuff that is less about spirits or alternative religion. I want to watch a nice film withoutfeeling I'm being preached at.

I'm wanting to become an animator eventually so I purchase films to study their techniques, even if I don't care for the story. I love Miyazaki's work. I want to work backgrounds/cityscapes.

What do you recommend?
I like your avatar Magnafanatic and wonder what character she is/ what films?

I am VERY NEW to this genre and so I apologize I don't even know how to frame my questions!

Try My Neighbor Totoro, by the same director of Castle in the Sky and Mononoke Hime. Also, let me second the suggestion of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, it is a modern classic. And since mangafanatic is not around, I'll take the liberty of answering in her stead: The girl is Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, another anime I'm sure you and your daughter will enjoy.

[coffeehubby]

Thank you. I watched Porko Russo and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I loved them both, I really enjoyed that pig in Porko Russo!

Thanks for the suggestions. The library here is going to add many of those titles to it's collection soon based on your suggestions. Thanks!

[Wyntre Rose]

Has anyone seen Otogi Zoshi? Would you recommend it? I can deal with violence, if it's tastefully dealt with, but would prefer sexual situations/nudity at a minimum if at all. Would it fit those parameters?

Thanks!

[That Dude]

Has anyone seen Otogi Zoshi? Would you recommend it? I can deal with violence, if it's tastefully dealt with, but would prefer sexual situations/nudity at a minimum if at all. Would it fit those parameters?

Thanks!

Otogi Zoshi is quite clean as far as the sexual stuff goes. Some implied, but nothing shown.

[Wyntre Rose]

Wow, that was quick.

Great, thank you so much!

[impact777]

hey,

I'm an absolute greenhorn concerning anime and don't know much about diverse series. Could anybody give me just 1 or 2 sentences about air and school rumble? Is there some "bad religion" in them? I didn't find the reviews about them here at caa. It would assist me greatly.

[EricTheFred]

Copied in from closed thread:

hey,

I'm an absolute greenhorn concerning anime and don't know much about diverse series. Could anybody give me just 1 or 2 sentences about air and school rumble? Is there some "bad religion" in them? I didn't find the reviews about them here at caa. It would assist me greatly.

Welcome to CAA, Imp!

For "Air" I defer to those that have watched more than 1 episode.

"School Rumble", on the other hand, is one of my favorites. It's actually a better manga than anime (this is not uncommon) but the anime is fine.

Bad religion, the only things I can think of are the very commonplace Japanese life scenes such as praying at shrines to a local god for guidance, luck, etc. If that bothers you, than a whole lot of series are going to bother you. Such scenes don't come up much. By and large, it is a clean series (there is somewhat frequent 'fan service', to be expected in a series that was originally aimed at a male audience, but of the swimsuit or details-obscured-by-bathwater variety, not explicit. (and, incidentally, the series is one with a lot of fans of both genders). There is some cussing, but not above average in frequency.

Most importantly, it is a hilarious series. Some of the jokes won't work on people not already familiar with Japanese pop culture, but most of the humor translates just fine. Actually, this is probably a good series to begin learning some of the pop culture references through.

I cite as an example of its broad appeal the fact that my wife (the only non-anime-fan/non-manga-fan/non-otaku-of-any-sort in the house) even enjoys this series.

Hope it helped!!

[impact777]

Wow! Thanks for the quick answer! I think, I will try school rumble out. Hmmm....ok, and do you have perhaps some tips for me concerning what anime I should have a look at?

I saw and I like last exile, gits sac, yukikaze, initial d, martian successor nadesico, noir and gunslinger girl. fmp was also very good. Only the fanservice at the end of the first season botherd me a little. Oh, and I LOVE everything from Makoto Shinkai. But I don't like when there is too much magic or things like that in the anime.

Thanks a lot for your answer(s).

[EricTheFred]

That's quite a range to choose from.

Okay the first thing that jumps out at me is that with these titles, you probably would be do well with Bleach. I'm also thinking that Noir's sister series Madlax should work for you.

Make sure you've seen both the first season FMP and FMP:Fumoffu. FMP:TSR is okay, but the first two are essential.

Noein is more serious and involved, but first-rate science fiction.

A few more ideas;
Tokyo Underground (but hopefully it stays below your 'too much magic' concern.)
Gundam anything (there is a whole lot of seasons to choose from here. Most of them are good.)
Macross
Trigun
Crest of the Stars / Banner of the Stars

[blkmage]

Air is a drama about a wandering puppeteer who befriends a bunch of girls in this town he's wandering through and helps them out with their problems. Out of the Key game adaptations, Air definitely has the most and heaviest fantasy and magical elements. If you want something like Air, but with a lot less of that, there's Kanon and Clannad.

[Reon]

I definitely agree with That Dude for this movie.

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time"
A very fun and surprisingly moving tale of a girl who literally leaps through time. If I had a teen daughter I'd totally watch this one with her, actually I plan on showing to my little sis.

[Maokun]

I have to agree that School Rumble is surprisingly clean for a series with so many schoolgirls. Despite the very short skirts of the uniform, the animators resisted the very cheap tentation of adding panty-shoots. Truly remarkable for this genre. Also, it was extremelly funny

Wow! Thanks for the quick answer! I think, I will try school rumble out. Hmmm....ok, and do you have perhaps some tips for me concerning what anime I should have a look at?

If you haven't watched Cowboy Bebop please do so. If magic is a no-no, maybe you could try something more slice-of-life-y? Haibane Renmei would be a good place to start.

[impact777]

Thank you for nice and fast answers. =)

I think I'll try school rumble, haibane renmei, kanon, clannad, cowboy bebop and Crest of the Stars as a start. And perhaps gundam..., but I'm always open for your recommendations. Thanks a lot. =) Oh, what does "slice-of-life-y" mean? I've looked it up in all my dictionaries, but I think they are little bit out of date.

[EricTheFred]

"Slice-of-life" is a writer's term. It means anything that is driven by day-to-day life rather than a plot goal. In adventure, romance, mystery, etc. there's a goal and the story is about reaching it. In "slice-of-life" there's no goal beyond the normal life-goals of the characters. Generally you only use the term as a genre if no other genre really applies (i.e., if it isn't science fiction, fantasy, historic drama, comedy, etc.) but you can still use it to describe the nature of the story, which is what Mao-kun was doing (Hanbane Renmei is fantasy, but it's a fair description of the story. Most fantasies are quest-driven.)

Many American TV dramas fall into this category.

[impact777]

"Slice-of-life" is a writer's term. It means anything that is driven by day-to-day life rather than a plot goal. In adventure, romance, mystery, etc. there's a goal and the story is about reaching it. In "slice-of-life" there's no goal beyond the normal life-goals of the characters. Generally you only use the term as a genre if no other genre really applies (i.e., if it isn't science fiction, fantasy, historic drama, comedy, etc.) but you can still use it to describe the nature of the story, which is what Mao-kun was doing (Hanbane Renmei is fantasy, but it's a fair description of the story. Most fantasies are quest-driven.)

Many American TV dramas fall into this category.

Allright, I understand.

[S.M.O.G.]

As I've only actually been getting anime the past couple years, I want to find a good anime from about same the time as DBZ and Pokemon. There's just somthing about anime from ten years ago, know what I mean?

[EricTheFred]

That was a good time for anime. What genres interest you?

[That Dude]

As I've only actually been getting anime the past couple years, I want to find a good anime from about same the time as DBZ and Pokemon. There's just somthing about anime from ten years ago, know what I mean?

Some good ones from that era off the top of my head would be, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Escaflowne, Outlaw Star...

[Roz]

I'm thinking about starting Noir, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the relationships of the characters involved is at all inappropriate (lesbian), as this will decided whether I watch it or not. I have read the review here but I just want to be sure.

Thanks a bazillion!

[That Dude]

I'm thinking about starting Noir, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the relationships of the characters involved is at all inappropriate (lesbian), as this will decided whether I watch it or not. I have read the review here but I just want to be sure.

Thanks a bazillion!

Very good series...And yes there are two or three minor instances of lesbian activities...One is another assassin girl kissing one of the others on the lips (it's meant as some sorta weird challenge to a duel or something along those lines) and then if I remember correctly there's one other similar scene later. All in all though there is some and it's annoying it's pretty toned down.

[EricTheFred]

Concerning Noir (one of my favorites, BTW.):
[spoiler]The lesbian angle you've heard about is not in the relationship between the primary characters (the heroine and her friend.) They are never shown as anything more than close friends or surrogate sisters. It is between one of these two characters and a supporting character. It should also be mentioned that this is suggested rather than presented during most of the time that it appears at all, with the most extreme being the two aforementioned kisses. Also, it is not presented in a positive light, and is probably more properly seen as a trial for the character rather than as a romantic focus.
I've had considerably more concern over the lesbianism occasionally shown in the personal life of the primary heroine in Ghost in the Shell. Now that's annoying, especially considering it is completely irrelevant to the story. In the case of Noir, it is actually a factor in the plot, so it has a reason to exist.[/spoiler]