Manga & Anime Recommendations

@Mattonymy:

Has your friend seen Legend Of Galactic Heroes yet? If he has, what does he think of it? If, not, maybe you should try to get him to watch it, as it is the anime of choice for elitists.

Apart from that, Rose Of Versailles, one of my all-time favourite series and is generally well liked among the LOGH crowd too.

Add in a couple of Yoshitoshi Abe / Chiaki Konaka series like Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei and I think that will be enough recommendations for now.

Finally, I'm seconding Princess Tutu, because it's a great mahou shoujo series.

Is your friend some kind of hipster?

Well whatever, I know I always wheel this out, but here: Obscure and Artsy◊

I'd recommend The Tatami Galaxy. And in any case, I liked it after it was popular. Isn't that ironic?

edited 29th Apr '12 3:16:07 AM by UltimatelySubjective

Given the things they've seen, I don't think they really count as an entirely mainstream fan

Probably the most obscure thing I'm willing to rec would be Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (OVA). For other stuff... I think I'll suggest Mononoke, Haibane Renmei, and sola, which all qualify as both good and reasonably obscure

edited 29th Apr '12 3:25:08 AM by Hylarn

Seconding Le Portrait De Petite Cossette and Haibane Renmei. My own recs would be Noir and Kobato. I also hear good things about Top Wo Nerae / Gunbuster (an OVA).

Legend Of Galactic Heroes is always good.

As for whoever asked about this season's anime, definitely Tsuritama and Apollo Of The Hillside.

Thanks for all the recommendations guys! Have to check out some of these myself (Legend Of Galactic Heroes and Rose Of Versailles sound interesting)

Here's the list I also got from my anime club so far:

• ClanAdd
• Kara No Kyoukai
• Code Geass
• Darker Than Black
• Casshern Sins
• Serial Experiments Lain
• Appleseed
• Gankutsuou
• Fractale

edited 29th Apr '12 12:42:28 PM by Mattonymy

I've heard nothing but good things about Ganketsuou. I imagine your friend will be entertained in a negative sort of way by Code Geass, though.

CLANNAD, you mean. I'd be a bit wary about Kara No Kyoukai and Fractale, as well

Is Element Hunters any good?

@Mattonymy: Two questions on your friend.

Exactly what sort of anime has he enjoyed in the past? Do they tend to be things significantly different from typical anime, or polished, well-executed works? Does he have pet genres? Is he a hipstery "I only like anime nobody's ever heard of before" sort?

Has he seen Baccano?

Series-pimping aside, I'm thinking Monster, Dennou Coil, and Irresponsible Captain Tylor - quality things that don't generally resemble the majority of anime. Alternatively, you could go the arthouse mindfuck direction and go with Boogiepop Phantom, Angels Egg, and Paranoia Agent.

Don't know if he likes romance anime or not, but if he does (or at least is open to it), I would highly recommend Maison Ikkoku, one of the best and sweetest pieces of character development in anime I have seen. It's also from the 80s, so it's under the radar for many new anime fans.

Wings Of Honneamise is also a good, solid anime film that I don't think gets shown all that much anymore. Maybe he'd like it?

I wouldn't recommend Kara No Kyoukai unless you have prior experience with the rest of the Nasuverse. Oh, and seconding Baccano, too, but I thought that might be a bit mainstream.

Although if he didn't like Durarara, Baccano might not be his cup of tea either.

His complaint about DRRR was that it falls apart during the second part; Baccano didn't really have that issue since it's only one-cour.

Also, no filler and much more dense.

Also seconding Monster.

Maybe find out what he thinks of Last Exile?

edited 1st May '12 6:06:54 PM by Noaqiyeum

Slightly different—I'm helping compile a list of recommendations for an Anime 101 panel at this year's =Con Vergence= and would like to tap into the hive mind.

For this one, we're looking for anime that is newbie-friendly, good of its kind, and readily available in the US. (It is, after all, a North American convention.) So, nothing that's going to bounce the complexity-shy in the first episode, or has a really slow start but gets brilliant later on, or is only available via fansubs and/or e-bay.

Preferred format—

• Name
• Genre, subgenre or special features
• How it's available in the US
• Basic plotline
• Why it's good for newbies
• Caveats (The sort of thing that might upset certain people, so they should know ahead of time.)

As an example—

• Shinryaku Ika Musume "Squid Girl"
• Light comedy with fantasy elements, some "moe."
• In-print DV Ds, Crunchyroll
• Squid Girl, who looks almost human but has tentacles and other squid powers, attempts to conquer the surface dwellers. She gets no further than a beachfront restaurant, after she damages it, the owning family makes her work there to pay for repairs.
• As a newcomer to Japanese society and the surface world, Squid Girl is introduced to new cultural concepts that new viewers of anime may also be curious about. There's surprisingly little gratuitous fanservice given the beach setting.
• A couple of the supporting characters stalk and harass Squid Girl, and this is played for laughs.

"Plot With Heavy Violence" and "Plot With Heavy Male-Oriented Fanservice" are two categories that will need representation, if we can find shows that are otherwise suitable for newcomers.

• Name: Baccano
• Genre: Urban historical fantasy action heist mystery thriller
• Availability: DVDs, You Tube, Funimation website, I think I've heard Hulu and Netflix
• Plot: Isaac and Miria Unintentionally Spread Happiness Wherever They Go. SRS ANSWER
  It's Prohibition-Era New York. The Martillo and Gandor families accidentally acquire the elixir of immortality, disguised as bootleg liquor, and fall into trouble with the alchemist who made it. A cult, a Mafia family, and a gang of delinquents all try to hijack the same transcontinental passenger train. A Mafia Princess and an information brokerage attempt to find her missing brother.
• Pros: Fast-paced. Relentlessly light-hearted. Unique and engaging characters. Fantastic translation.
• Cons: Violent. Loads And Loads Of Characters with Gray-and-Grey Morality.

edited 2nd May '12 7:59:01 PM by Noaqiyeum

• Name: Monster
• Genre: Historical fiction, psychological thriller
• Availability: DVDs, You Tube, Hulu and Netflix (reportedly)
• Plot: Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a successful neurosurgeon in Cold War Germany. After a personal ethical crisis, he defies orders and operates on a young boy saved from the scene of a murder (instead of a political and financial supporter of the hospital), which his superiors reward with an indefinite dead-end position; in thanks, the boy, Johann Liebert, kills everyone standing in the way of Tenma's promotion and runs away with his twin sister. Ten years later, Johann returns as a serial killer, and Tenma leaves the hospital in order to hunt him down and kill him while himself pursued by the police.
• Pros: Easy to get into and follow along despite slowly multiplying plot threads. Dr. Tenma's dilemma is easy to sympathise with. *
  I successfully introduced it to Mother of Mine, who is extremely selective about what she watches and has a special distaste for anime. She is currently the biggest fan in our family. :P
• Cons: Long, and very... deliberately-paced.

• Name: Eureka Seven
• Genre: sci-fi, action, romance, drama, coming-of-age
• Availability: DV Ds, and I've heard that Crunchyroll has it. Dunno about other places. Series has been dubbed.
• Plot: Boy meets strange girl, falls in love, and joins a resistance group to be with her. Lots and lots of stuff happens as he tries to build a relationship and the group fights to save the world, and along the way, the boy grows up. Oh, sky surfing and sky surfing mecha are involved. 50 episodes.
• Pros: Very strong focus on character development. Deeply emotional. Has great soundtrack, between symphonic richness by Naoki Sato and electronica tracks by various artists. And when it gets epic, it really gets epic. As for the dub, I quite enjoyed the dub.
• Cons: Slow pacing in first half of series. Less focus on side characters (including a pair of fan-favorite foil characters). The ending does leave a few questions unanswered or not answered clearly.

edited 3rd May '12 9:14:17 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

You forgot to mention Baccano's giggest con there, and that is that the story is told in Anachronic Order, which might make it confusing for first-timers to follow.

Anyway, here's mine

• Name: Princess Tutu
• Genre: Magical Girl series with fairy tale and ballet themes
• Availability in the US: I'm pretty sure that new DV Ds are available. I also believe that it can also be streamed from The Anime Network website if you have a subscription. I don't live in the US, though, so you want to confirm this for yourself.
• Plot: Once upon a time, there was a duck who wanted to be human so that she could be with the brave prince Mytho and live happily ever after. However, Mytho's heart has to be shattered into pieces and Ahiru must find and restore the pieces of Mytho's heart with the powers of a gem given to her by the mysterious Drosselmeyer which allows her to transform into the titular Princess Tutu. Better Than It Sounds. MUCH Better Than It Sounds
• Pros: Has no references to Japanese culture at all, its plot is based off fairytales, which is a story type that is strongly associated with animation in general thanks to Disney. The plot is easy to follow, yet subversive enough to freshen up the formula, not to mention awesome enough to get a male following and the Fan Nickname "guitar ninjas"
• Cons: Apart from the obvious, the first few episodes are kind of slow*
  I believe that Princess Tutu starts getting good from abou episode 5-6
  and there is some Anime Anatomy when Duck (that's her name) transforms from a duck into a human.

edited 3rd May '12 5:14:40 AM by flygon250

I'll recommend stuff for that anime 101 panel in a bit, but..

I'm just curious if there are any good slice-of-life series that I may not have heard of?

My favorite ones are Aria and Hidamari Sketch but I also like things like Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh.

Uh, try Yotsuba&!

edited 3rd May '12 3:17:30 PM by OrangeSpider

Yotsuba is lovely, yes.

flygon - I considered that a pro, actually, but I left it off because I knew someone would disagree with me. :P

And it's not as though you need to follow the plot to enjoy it... :P

Kobato. Well, it's mostly slice of life with a little magic.