After 31 years, I've finally given anime a fair chance

Even though I love epic battles and superheroes, I never watched Dragon Ball Z or any other anime (beyond a few scenes here and there, of course). To me, it just felt too out there and overly dramatic, so that was immediately off-putting. So, I kept a narrow view and never really gave the action focused anime shows an honest chance, and I certainly never judged others for liking it, either. I kept a "to each their own" mentality.

Not too long ago, I decided to challenge my own opinions and forced myself to watch several episodes of Attack on Titan - I heard that was the most popular one at the moment. Well, I watched the entire series over the course of one weekend. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was the next show I decided to watch that I truly fell in love with: One Punch Man. The way it plays on tropes is hilarious and I can't get enough of it - I even have the series on Blu-ray despite it currently streaming on Netflix. I enjoyed it so much that I just had to own it. I even started watching My Hero Academia and I think the second season has been amazing. I'm now giving Death Note a shot as well. This has inspired me to pick up manga, too. I've collected all of One Punch Man and I'm slowly collecting all of My Hero Academia.

What's the point of all this babbling, you ask? I don't know, I guess there's probably two points behind this. The first is simply to talk about anime and manga on the site since - aside from saying "I don't know about that character" - I don't think I have before. Secondly, I'm hoping it may inspire someone out there to keep an open mind and try something new - it just may bring some extra joy to their life.

I'd love to create some battles with these characters, but I imagine they're ridiculously tough to balance properly. I'm so tempted to make some fun scenarios though, like how long would the My Hero Academia characters survive in the world of Attack on Titan? Or maybe that's been done? I don't know.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope we can have a good discussion in here. And yes, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in the Shell have been recommended to me.

Good for you, for discovering something you like. That's rare as one gets older.

Well now that the anime hooks are in you & you seem to like shonen. I would suggest Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood & Hunter x Hunter 2011.

You have got good taste in your shows. +1 to give Hunter x Hunter a watch (mind you the first impression might not be the best but it's absolutely worth watching).

One of the things that appeal to me from anime is inner dialogue, for some reason almost no media outside of anime/manga makes use of it but I think it gives a really cool atmosphere when done right (comics are the only one where it's used often but it never makes it in the adaptations).

I'd recommend Samurai champloo

Netflix has done so well in making anime fans out of people, who'd never really been interested in it.

@gotoucanario: Probably just a culture thing

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works has some of the best fights I Can remember

I used to watch anime when I was a kid and as a teenager, but at around 2006 or 2007 it stopped playing regularly on television, and I never cared about it enough to look it up.

Awesome. A lot of people who haven't seen anime think this way, just give it a shot maybe you will like it (and not just one show sinc they differ a lot from show to show).

@k4tzm4n: animes i recommended are Stein's gate black lagoon samurai champloo or parasyte

My first experience with anime (either Pokemon or Digimon) left such a bad taste in my mouth I didn't touch that crap for another decade (except for the Ani-Matrix). Not to mention my friends kept pestering me to watch some show called Yu-Gi-Oh, kept blathering on about something called "Dragonsballz" and the Poke/Digi-mania was insane at the time. I used to watch Godzilla movies on this site called Joost (a Hulu precursor), which kept recommending some wack anime crap named Naruto Shippuden and Bleach.

So finally I gave in. I watched 10 minutes of Naruto Shippuden Episode 1. Some dumb blonde guy running in the dark towards some lady named Sasuke. I cut it off after realizing this was a sequel series. Started with Episode 2 of classic Naruto and INSTANTANEOUSLY fell in love with the show. On the very first night I watched at least 3 or 4 episodes. Keep in mind I had no idea about how massively popular this show was at the time until I joined a message board a year later. Anyways, next I tried Bleach. I liked it, not as much as Naruto, but it was a good back up show. I only really started getting into Bleach when Yourichi <3 showed up.

I remembered that Dragonballz thing, and looked it up. First thing I watched was the brutal, merciless, bloody battle between Goku, Piccolo & Raditz. I was blown away that the seeming hero of the show was easily beaten and then killed. I really connected with Gohan and wanted to see how he would develop. I searched for full episodes, wanting to know the exact context behind the fight and again was blown away. I became a die hard Dragon Ball fan since that first video. Obsessively bought all the Funimation DVD sets, all the movies and then I read Dragon Ball from its true start via the manga. Speaking of the manga I bought all the manga, from start to finish as well.

So Bleach fell off for me, but I was still insanely obsessed with Naruto. I wanted to see what inspired Naruto so I started reading things that Masashi Kishimoto noted as inspirations (AKIRA, Slam Dunk, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter). I became a big time fan of Slam Dunk, even though i'm only moderately interested in Basketball irl. I also became a huge fan of AKIRA & Yu Yu Hakusho.

Finally, after much reluctance, I got into One Piece. Found it to be amazing. Around this time I was getting into more seinen stuff, like Lupin the III, Cowboy Bebop, Eden: It's an Endless World (omg nostalgia D:) ect. so Naruto fell off for me. Eventually Anime/Manga fell for me as whole, despite sampling 100's of series.

Now i'm just a guy testing the waters of DC...

@k4tzm4n: I have a bunch of anime recommendations for new ppl.

And manga is good too.

In case anyone's curious I decided to follow-up on that AoT vs MHA idea :)

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/battles-7/attack-on-titan-vs-my-hero-academia-anime-versions-1890173/

Also, thank you all for the suggestions. I'm going to bed now but I'll be sure to read them tomorrow.

@k4tzm4n: I could never get into Attack on Titan. The slow moments in between the action were painfully dull for me. It's kind of like anime Walking Dead.

But I ADORE One Punch Man. It's the best anime I've seen in years. Give Death Note a try, and Samurai Champloo. My top two favorites.

I would also recommend Black Lagoon and Afro Samurai for action.

@k4tzm4n: To begin with,

Nice to see that more and more former western comic book only reading people are being more open to comic books and animated shows from other parts of the world.

Second, Would you mind if I give you some recommendations that seem to be up your alley based on your preferences?

- Hunter X Hunter (2011) : First three arcs (38 episodes) are a bit of a slow burn and seems to be lighthearted at first but everything that comes afterwards are generally considered by the majority of the anime community to be some of the best story-lines in anime (We go from "make new friends" in the first arc of the series to stories about corruption and genocide in one of the last arcs of the series) What makes the story so good is the fact that each arc of the show is really diverse (one arc has adventure, another arc is a crime thriller, one is about a secret war etc.) with the development of the characters being the glue that sticks it all together. The fact that it has Madhouse, one of the best animation studios in Japan, producing it is also a plus.

- Neon Genesis Evangelion + End of Evangelion and The Rebuild Of Evangelion movies : Giant robots fighting giant monsters which also discusses philosophy & religion. It's sometimes a bit of a headache to deal with all the elements in the story, though and nearly everyone in the show has ... issues but the show is considered to be one of the best animated series ever made by most anime fans. The Rebuild series is more of a retelling of the original series with updated animation and storytelling until it takes a different turn halfway through the second movie.

- Eden Of The East: Political thriller series with a refreshing take on the genre and a big scope of ideas that's executed well because of it's characters. Plenty of movie references too.

Welcome to the club.

Here we have a anime for everyone.

Code Geass

Magi

Seven Deadly Sins

Owari no Seraph

Youjo Senki

Prison School

would recommend

Jojo's bizarre adventures (trust me on this)

Code geass

Ghost in a shell (movie didn't even come close to doing it justice)

Kingdom

Hunter x Hunter

FMA: brotherhood

Nanatsu no taizai

Shokugeki no soma

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (it's a romance comedy but seriously worth checking out)

Gintama

Tokyo ghoul

nearly everything below is on crunchyroll, and I can recommend every last series, try out some different genres.

Tanya of the evil a recent anime that gets a recommendation for me. (waiting on a second season please.)

shokugeki no soma if you would like to watch a battle shounen except with cooking instead of battles.

The Eccentric Familyis an anime about a family of Tanuki from Japanese folklore, and is generally an amazing anime with both style and depth.

Baka To Test nearly broke me with full body belly laughs.

Miss Kobayashis Dragon Maid is a light watch and is just a pleasure.

The World God only knows transcends the usually trash genre of harem and is something to behold.

The Monagatori series is in my opinion the best anime in existence, but may be a bit difficult for new comers.

The flowers of evil will deeply disturb you in a truly profound way.

barakamon is a heartwarming story that features a self important man, who meets a little girl and becomes friends with her.

A certain Magical index, and A certain scientific Railgun, great setting, featuring a scrawny whiny kid that is terrifying, and his plot arch, oh and I guess the main characters have stories of their own and stuff.

Gurren lagann something that seems vain but is actually deep, featuring some hilarious mecha action.

Welcome to the NHK Not on crunchyroll, required watching anyway Warning this anime is depressing.

Inukami!This anime is trash, but it embraces trash and is an hilarious light anime about perverts and a hilarious demonic wife . (Not on crunchyroll) Highly recommended to anyone. I don't care if you don't like trash eat it anyway.

The fruits of Grasia,Do yourself a favor and get the unrated version of both of the translated visual novels, After you complete makina's route and before you play labrynth of Grasia make sure you watch the anime only ending for the makina route, It will make you happy. (Don't be a filthy causal and ruin a masterpiece for yourself.)

a side note, if you watch Code Geass dubbed you you lose your right to complain about how overrated the series is.

frankly the American voice actor for lelouch is a big steaming pile in comparison to the original voice actor.

If you want to laugh hard, Hajime no Ippo. Such a great anime and Manga.

@k4tzm4n: Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal.

Oh yay we have another one.

I recommend Evangelion and Fate/Zero. Also Trigun but you have to watch it in the winter.

I'd love to help with battles but I'm leaving soon and won't be available for a few weeks. The one thing I can say is the anime usually isn't reliable for those and you need to source material unless you specify otherwise.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

and a really funny one that ended up with a great connective story is Durarara, it was on Netflix last I checked

HOW DARE YOU BETRAY YOUR COMIC BOOK FANDOM TO BECOME A WEEB! SHUN THE ANIME FAN!

But seriously glad you're enjoying anime. I only watch a few shows like Dragon Ball, One Punch Man and technically Pokemon/Digimon I guess. As for battle threads with anime, I recommend staying away from Naruto, DB and OPM, they're the unholy trinity of battle boards when done poorly.

Studio Ghibli Movies

World Masterpiece Theater Collection

If anyone besides K4tz made this thread I wouldn't care. But it is glorious to see someone of such grace fall to the dark side.

You're only on the super entry level stuff, man. This rabbit hole goes waaay too far.

Soon you'll be on episode 98 of Legend of the Galactic Heroes at 4:00 AM wondering where it all went wrong.

this

was about to say it :)

animes have much better presentation of emotions than western comics/series imo

code geass, re:zero, jojos are good too

@k4tzm4n:

Oh very interessting, well there are so many but let's just start with these here(not including the rly big ones like Naruto and DBZ, also divided into different genres).

Special(clearly more than 1 important genre, and more unique series):

• Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Pretty old, but imo an absolute masterpiece. Mixes scifi, politics, war, psychodrama and several other themes/genres. Here a short video as first impression(no real spoiles):

Seems like the video uploader is completely broken, so here the links insted:

And here the link to myanimelist(great database for all anime), for more informations:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/820/Ginga_Eiyuu_Densetsu?q=legend%20if%20the%20ga

• Neon Genesis Evangelion

Also old and one of the anime classics. Mixes mecha/scifi, action, coming of age, psychodrama and more. Here the original trailer(sry for the quality, couldn't find a better version):

https://myanimelist.net/anime/30/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion?q=neo

• Gintama

In general a parody/comedy series(knowledge about anime and japan is helpful, but not necessary), but contains also more serious story arcs(these are absloutely amazing and mix action, fantasy, scifi, drama and even things like hardboiled/film noir). One Punch Man reminded me actually a lot on Gintama, so that could be rly something for you. But 2 warnings:

1. Start with episode 3, you can watch 1 and 2 later on.

2. The series has a slow start, ca. the first 50 episodes(it has over 300 all in all XD, but it's more than worth it) are actually character and world introduction.

This time 2 longer videos(the first for comedy, the second for the serious parts):

https://myanimelist.net/anime/918/Gintama?q=gint

Action(as clear main genre):

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

There is also an older version, but you should watch Brotherhood. Amazing story, interessting setting, amazing characters and more, sometimes cringeworthy comedy but the rest makes more than up for that.

And the video:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/5114/Fullmetal_Alchemist__Brotherhood?q=full

• Fate

There are several versions, but you should simply start with Fate/Zero imo. Great animations, interessting characters and a nice story.

Here the video for first impressions:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/10087/Fate_Zero?q=fate

• Hellsing Ultimate

There would be again an older version, but this is clearly better. Bloody and absolutely epic vampire action, enough said XD.

The video:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/777/Hellsing_Ultimate?q=hellsi

Drama(as clear main genre):

• Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal

Would also fit under action, but the drama part is a bit more important. An absolutely amazing Samurai drama, it's also followed by a pretty long series but the difference is extreme(and the main series not rly a drama).

Here the trailer:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/44/Rurouni_Kenshin__Meiji_Kenkaku_Romantan_-_Tsuioku-hen?q=ruro

• Usagi Drop

Well an absolute fantastic slice of life drama, unique design and great characters. I don't know what else to say, but i highly recommend to at least try it.

The video:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/10162/Usagi_Drop?q=usagi

• Welcome to the NHK

A very special psychodrama, you can learn a lot about the otaku(hardcore anime fans) culture in Japan. It has great characters, an interessting setting and a good story.

The video:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/1210/NHK_ni_Youkoso?q=welcome%20

I hope that can help :D

Another has been converted

@foxerdes: Why?

@foxerdes: Have you already watched all the anime from my post(just NGE has the cliches rly, cause it made most of them popular in the first place)?

Always good to hear about another convert, I mean "fan".

Glad to hear it!. Its always great to try new stuff and grow

You should watch Full metal alchemist brotherhood

@foxerdes:

I dropped Full Metal Alchemist after few episodes.

The 2003 version or Brotherhood, cause i did actually the same with the 2003 version?

Brotherhood rushes through the slow start and gets pretty quick to the rly good part.

To be honest Usagi Drop looks really interesting, I'll check it out.

That's great :D

Would you recommend Fate?

Depends on your taste, it's no masterpiece(like some others in my post imo) but a pretty good series with amazing visuals.

@foxerdes: Yeah I get annoyed too sometimes but only if the character is only a cliche, a lot of them are cliche but have character. Did you drop FMA or FMAB?

(This is probably OOT though)

@foxerdes said:

I find Fate quite mediocre specially if you're pretty much exposed to these types of Visual Novels.

Legend of the Galactic hero is quite epic albeit old anime. Its pretty good but i could say that the genre, themes, and style isn't for everyone. But if you like it Kingdom would probably up your alley as well.

I recommend 12 Kingdoms, but it has a painfully cliched introduction (for todays standards - its an old anime) and an MC that you may find very annoying and unlikable.

but if you stick long enough it will (probably) reward you with some tangible character development and an epic (imho) second (or was it third?) arc.... it is left unfinished though.

If you like Hayao Miyazaki, slice of life, and western juvenile novels (eg: Anne of Green Gables, Tom Sawyer, Les Miserables etc) ... you might enjoy World Masterpiece Theater... i think they are one of the best adaptations of classic western novels and they have that Studio Ghibli art-style.

@foxerdes: Try FMAB, it is way better, has very few cliches and the world around it reminds me of Avatar in a lot of ways, it is funny and serious when it wants to be.

@itachus17: Great list. I'll go check out Welcome to the NHK.

As people said Fate is eh, I mean Fate/Zero is great, but Fate Unlimited has a boring main character.

Yeah there plenty of anime, some might be renown and turn out to be duds like Psycho Pass, and some of them can be Masterpiece like Madoka Rebellion IMO. Is basically no different from comic books, there plenty of genre and variety, and not all of them would be good, but there will be some good one out there.

Also since nobody recommended it yet, Darker than Black is fantastic. Think X-men, except the mutant work for the government and the main character, is basically an assassin.

I am glad that you discovered Anime, there's some good ones out there.

31!? Ahahahaha, old man! >:D

I never watched Dragon Ball Z

As someone who grew up with, and loves the series... you're not missing anything. Dragon Ball on the other hand is a lot of fun

I even started watching My Hero Academia and I think the second season has been amazing.

Yes!!!!!!!!

Also congrats, that series has every Shonen trope ever, but unlike other series it doesn't dwell on them for 50 episodes

Here's a few recommendations

In the mid 2000's there was an anime so bad, the Japanese told the dubbing company "Do whatever you want, just make some money" and we got this gem:

They take a boring lame series and turn it into one of the funniest things you've ever seen

Also on the list, what if you could see a Silver AGe comic animated and brought to life in the most shameless over the top way possible, to the point where it makes Batman Brave and the Bold look ordinary by comparison?

A series that's been going on for over 30 years, and just recently got a (good) anime adaption, from cyborg Nazi's fighting an army of vampires to punching plates of spaghetti, JoJo's Bizzare Adventure.... well, the title says enough. It follow's various individuals named JOJO as they fight various supernatural threats, each story differing in tone, characters, and setting, from 19th century England, to Egypt in the 80's, to the 2010's in a Florida women's prison, all offering top notch action, and references to at least one song, band or album you love

I honestly can't sum up the series in a few clips, so here's one of the openings

I recommend subbed

As for my favorite anime, it has to be Hajime no Ippo

The story of a small town boy who works to become a pro boxer in the Japanese circuit. Great animation, amazing fights, some of the most memorable and best characters in any series I've ever watched, and some of the absolute best comedy too. This one I defiantly recommend watching subbed, the dub isn't great, the extra Japanese setting loans itself better to the native language, and the original voice cast just hits the mark too perfectly. You'll have to look around for a good site that has the subs, because other than looking for DVDs, I don't think there's currently a good way to get official subs

@foxerdes:

A yes... i forgot to mention Satoshi Kons movies. I specially like Tokyo Godfather

There is also this weirdly animated slice of life anime movie called Hana to Alice.