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

[Leila Dougan]

Everyone's got good suggestions and I agree with them for the most part.
I will say, however, that you should watch them in Japanese w/ English subtitles. For the bigger titles, such as Princess Mononoke and Ghost in the Shell, the English dub is quite good. Some of the lesser known anime, however, has some pretty bad dubbing. I find the anime much more entertaining when I get to hear the original and intended acting.
In any case, it certainly won't hurt to rent some anime first. I started off renting Serial Experiments: Lain because I was not sure what to expect. It turns out that I love this series and have since bought all the disks. The thing that helped me the most when I first got into anime was browsing the disks available for rent and getting the ones *I* thought were interesting. While certainly the ones mentioned in this thread are good, it also helps if you like the storyline and don't just go solely off what someone else recommends.

 

[Brian_L_Kleis]

Wow, I'm wonderfully surprised at the amount of ideas you've already given me...
One earlier poster on this thread really hit the nail on the head - Just searching through "anime" can lead to every single title that's ever been released being mentioned and loved by somebody. It's a bit too overwhelming for a novice in this new arena of film.
I've noticed a good reputation among friends of mine, local video store employees whom I trust, and these HTF responses for the Lain series, Metropolis, Vampire Hunter D and Grave of the Fireflies, so I'm going to take my first few rentals from these titles, and move on from there...
I really appreciate the attention you've all given to my little quest to get into anime. It's always been evident by the huge dedication to the format by its fans that there was something I was probably 'not getting' about it. Hopefully after some exposure, I'll be able to get in there and understand the obvious passion for it all...
Thanx,
Brian
[email protected]

 

[Ken Stuart]

Brian -
You can get into anime in two ways:
(1) Just to see the anime films and series who excellence "crosses boundaries" in the sense that you don't have to be an anime fan to enjoy them. I would include in this category in order from best on down:
Akira
Serial Experiment: Lain
Princess Mononoke (there are a number of things I dislike about this film, but nevertheless it is excellent.)
Ninja Scroll
Ghost in the Shell (flawed, but what is there hints at what it could have been)
( I actually have Vampire Hunter D, but have yet to see it due to all of the TV series winding down at the moment. )
Some of the other anime I have seen I consider overrated, such as Firelies and Perfect Blue, both of which seem to make no use of the animated format. Lodoss is okay, but seems extremely derivative, sort of a very pale imitation LoTR. I enjoy Escaflowne, I'm partway through, but don't consider it any great work of art or genius.
(2) The other way of watching anime is to look for series and films that reinforce one's sense of personal identity and one's way of looking at the world. After spending many hours watching anime and reading threads, I strongly believe that most anime viewing falls into that category. If this is you, then you are going to spend thousands of dollars and hours....

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I am going to reccommend Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are my two favorite anime series and I am deeply in love with both. The NGE movies (Death & Rebirth (TRUE)^2 and The End of Evangelion) are coming out this year (hopefully, Manga Ent. has delated them MANY times) and the CB movie should be out this year.

 

[Dave E H]

No love for Lupin?? Man...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Lupin is fantastic!

But I'd say it's for the little more advanced viewer, since it's "Old"