Anime beginner, looking for good starting points... (1 Viewer)

[Brian_L_Kleis]

OK, as I start this thread, please no huge lists of everything anime under the sun here... While now at 430 DVDs, I lack one catagory almost entirely - Anime.
In the past, much that I've seen via the box has looked very shallow without much thought put into it. I've seen about four films (Akira, Perfect Blue, Ghost in the Shell, and Princess Mononoke). I've really enjoyed the very limited amount that I've seen and been really pleasantly surprised by the good, in-depth storylines of the above titles. I'm not really interested in the "fluff" of what I think is all the Dragonball-type stuff, but real ambitious films.
Any great suggestions for beginners looking for well-done anime titles?
Thanx,
Brian
[email protected]
[email protected]

 

[TheLongshot]

In addition to what you've mentioned so far, I'd add Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Metropolis to that list. Both are quite good.
Assuming you are not just sticking to movies, I can also put out recommendations for Cowboy Bebop and Serial Experiments: Lain.
For more research, go to Anime On DVD. They have a "recomended" section written up by the users and will give you good descriptions of what is being recommended. (I've personally written the ones for Princess Mononoke and Jubei-Chan.)
Jason

 

[James D]

Some of the better anime titles that I have, besides the titles that you have already mentioned, are:
Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis:Evangelion, Lain:Serial Experiments- all of these titles are box sets of a series
Jin-Roh:The Wolf Brigade-Excellent
Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust-Very good Goth/Vampire flick
Metropolis-Great disc
Ah, My Goddess-The Movie-a surprisingly good romantic anime
Spriggan-Good action scenes
I hope that this helps.

 

[Wallace Mason]

I recommend Grave of the Fireflies. The only movie that has ever made me cry. It's also the number one rated anime film on IMDB.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

There have been a thousand threads on this, just do a search

 

[Peter Overduin]

Brian, if you type in "anime" in this forum's (Software) search mode, you will get pages of some really good threads. One of my fav, esp for newbies (like me) and I hope this one gets archived, is this:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ighlight=Anime

 

[Dustin D]

What, no one stands up for Cardcaptor Sakura? It's one of my favorites.

 

[Kong Chang]

Although Cardcaptor Sakura is cute and by CLAMP and is a shoujo serise, it's not for everyone and definitely not for newbies who don't understand anime. Plus, with 72 episodes in the series (and 18 volumes on DVD, for both the R2 and R1 DVD), this is definitely not something you want newbies to start investing in until they get a feel for this type of genre.
As for recommendations, read the other anime posts. I have listed my usual recommendation on that official anime post.

 

[Ted Lee]

you're gonna be sorry you asked...
these three threads alone should keep you busy for a while.
just what the heck is anime?
advanced anime discussion - part 1
advanced anime discussion - part 2
otherwise (like jeff said), do a search. you'll be amazed...

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

OF course, the problem with those threads, is that it feels like they do list "everything anime under the sun" which is why it puts me off... Every title somebody has liked eventually gets listed, and then it started to defeat it's own purpose at least to someone like me that was just looking for some good starting points... (even though I certainly appreciate the effort)

But I've read throught the recommended section on animeondvd.com and thought it was great. Definitively the sort of list I was looking for, and what I would assume Brian was looking for as well.

 

[Eric T]

I don't know much about anime, but I liked Ninja Scroll.

 

[Martin G]

Escaflowne is one of the truly great 26 episode series.

I would also recomend Grave of Fireflies and Mononoke Hime, and basicly anything else by Studio Ghibli.

Cowboy Bebop isn't really a very artistic series, but it is very entertaining. Same with Trigun.

A great new series to check out is Hellsing. I believe that release date for that is July 24th.

 

[LDfan]

The Robotech series is incredible. Rather lengthy and it's divided up into 3 different generations.

Jeff

 

[Steve Kramzer]

watch robotech, then watch macross, mosepdia and southern cross (the 3 different series robotech is made up of) and realize how badly robotech really chopped things up.

 

[felix_suwarno]

try to find "they were eleven". it is really good.

 

[StephenA]

Princess Mononoke, Akira, Perfect Blue, and Ghost in the Shell are definately ones to pick up, if you haven't already, since you like them.

I also reccommend:

Grave of the Fireflies

Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Ninja Scroll

Black Jack

 

[Cary T]

Of all the anime I have, the Ghibli Studio box set is the one I treasure the most. Can't really find this in regular stores because it's a hong kong release. But you can find it on ebay. It contains all of Miyazaki's films done with studio ghibli, for the exception of the recent Spirit Away. It also has non-Miyazaki films, but his are the ones to watch first; like Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa. The other movies people here recommend are alright, but Miyazaki stuff are magical and inspiring.
As for OVA and TV series: Cowboy Bebop and Trigun is a good place to start because it doesn't touch or don't touch too much on japanese culture.

A great new series to check out is Hellsing. I believe that release date for that is July 24th.

I saw a few episodes of Hellsing, didn't really like it.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Of all the anime I have, the Ghibli Studio box set is the one I treasure the most. Can't really find this in regular stores because it's a hong kong release. But you can find it on ebay

Since you find it magical and inspiring, I recommend that you toss those bootlegs and buy the legit Japanese (or legit HK releases)

There is NO Ghibli DVD box licensed anywhere in the world, and we have that DIRECT from Tokuma Shoten. Anything from Anime Cartoon International (or Manga International as they seem to be going by these days) is a bootleg

 

[Cary T]

I have the set because it'll take quite a long time for Ghibli to release their entire category. I have the R2 double disc of Kiki and Totoro. Ocean Waves should be coming soon since it's the next in line.

 

[SeanMc]

I can't believe noone has given any love to Record Of Lodoss War those 2 box sets rule!!