New to Anime & Manga? Just looking for some recommendations? Search no further!

Konata

Threads for Anime/Manga recommendations for newbies and fans alike are always popping up on this forum, so I thought I'd make one handy thread that contains all this information.

First off, for the newbies:

What is Anime?

Anime is, quite simply, animation that originates in Japan. Anime is generally considered to be a medium that is made up of many genres. Anime is very easily distinguished from other types of animation due to it's visual characteristics.
The most common misconception of anime is that it is "just for kids". This is simply not true. Yes, there are plenty of series aimed solely at kids but the great thing about anime is there is something for everyone. Many series contain much darker, adult themes.

What is the difference between a "dub" and a "sub"?

Anime series are either dubbed or subbed for English speaking viewers. Dubbed means that the original Japanese dialogue has been replaced with English dialogue by English speaking voice actors. Subbed refers to anime that retains it's original Japanese dialogue and is subtitled in English.

What is Manga?

Manga are the Japanese version of comics. Like anime, there are many genres of manga and all age groups and interests are catered for. Manga are often adopted into anime series and less often, anime is adopted into a manga series.



Recommendations

A common question that arises in this forum is: "I'm new to anime, what would you recommend me to watch as an introduction to the medium?"

Well this all depends on what you're into of course. However, there are some series/films that many people recommend to newbies. Have a look at the articles I've linked to (they contain a synopsis and reviews of the series) and pick one your interested in.

Series:
- Dragonball Z/ Dragonball Kai
- Bleach
- Naruto
- Death Note
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Cowboy Bebop

Films:
- Any of the Studio Ghibli films
- Akira
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- Rebuild of Evangelion films


So you've found an anime you love and are interested in watching something similiar or in the same genre. Well, make sure you check out this site as it lists anime by genre and is very useful (NOTE: After clicking on the genre you are interested in make sure you click on the ANIME tab to see the list - there is also a manga tab).
Another incredibly useful site is MyAnimeList. Here you can keep track of anime that you have watched/ are watching, read reviews, check out personalized recommendations and view high scoring animes.

Finally, here's a quick run down of anime/manga that are commonly recommended by users of this forum:

- Clannad
- Ghost in the Shell: SAC
- Elfen Lied
- Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Gundam
- Tenchi Muyo
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Baccano
- Sailor Moon
- Code Geass
- FLCL
- Haruhi Suziyama

Remember, there are many, many different anime series and films out there so if you don't like one - try another!

Also, if anyone would like to add to this or has any other information to share please feel free to do so!

Another excellent resource site is the Anime & Manga Portal on Wikipedia. Very concise!

cherryghost

Nice simple beginners guide. Would be handy to sticky this

D4RK ONION

That's a great guide, Hotaru recommended Akira to me recently, and as a first time Anime watcher, I freaking loved it! I'll take a look at that recommendation site, thanks for the link!

Vanolder

D4RK ONION wrote: »

That's a great guide, Hotaru recommended Akira to me recently, and as a first time Anime watcher, I freaking loved it! I'll take a look at that recommendation site, thanks for the link!

I am surprised you have time to be watching this inbetween bouts of street fighter.. have you not cv's to be sending off :P

Novella

Great thread, Hotaru. I love The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, my absolute favourite.

Jamie Starr

D4RK ONION wrote: »

That's a great guide, Hotaru recommended Akira to me recently, and as a first time Anime watcher, I freaking loved it! I'll take a look at that recommendation site, thanks for the link!

And to think I used to talk to you...

Cowboy Bebop - amazing. There's some nice remastered/PAL versions out at the mo which I must get my mits on. Also, seeing Dragonball Z up there makes me all nostalgic.

I didn't see Macross Plus or Patlabor on the list, they're pretty accessible serieseseses/movies. Also, there's a movie called Metropolis, released in 2001, which I thought was excellent.

It's a pity Cartoon Network doesn't show its late-night anime anymore, that's what started me off.

This list will definately get the ball rolling for people new to the stuff, good job!

Et3rnalMo0nlite

Excellent thread/sticky Death Note forever

Craguls

Excellent thread! About time someone decided to put some time into this forum!

Craguls

Allow me to recommend Outlaw Star. It was one of the first series I ever watched back when Toonami used to show anime at night. Link provides a much better synopsis than I can presently give :P
Opening music kicks serious ass too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jIvQ0EX4VA

The Big O is also worth a look in. Think Batman meets Gigantor meets the Truman Show in terms of concept. It wins on style alone.

.Hack//SIGN as well as the other entries in .Hack franchise as a whole are another bunch of series that are worth getting into but often suffer pacing issues despite their merits. All deal with a MMORPG called the World and a suspicious incident leading to the players ending up in comas and suffering from physical and psychological truama as a result.
Also has pretty catchy music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43O7Dyd3QtU

Timeline Anime wise it goes SIGN-> DUSK-> ROOTS
ROOTS wins on style. Manages to capture what the series is like best through atmosphere the best too

Craguls

Oh! 5 cm per second is so very very pretty it merits watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57__B-Ug0ec

/hates self for posting an amv

Varik

For anyone who took Craguls suggestion and wants to watch .hack here is the order to watch them chronologically as there seems to be a lot of confusion on this that i found when trying to move on from //SIGN. this include the ova and the official name of dusk.

1) .hack//SIGN
2) .hack//INFECTION / .hack//LIMINALITY OVA1
3) .hack//MUTATION / .hack//LIMINALITY OVA2
4) .hack//OUTBREAK / .hack//LIMINALITY OVA3
5) .hack//QUARANTINE / .hack//LIMINALITY OVA4
6) .hack//LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT (dusk)
7) .hack//ROOTS

BmanHamo

Nice tread. i recomened Inital D but you will be waiting for the last sage if you get into it.
The best suspence one i wached was Perfect Blue really messed with my head.

Funky

Doesn't seem to be many manga recommendations here so I'll suggest a few of my favourites:

Berserk - dark medieval/fantasy story, awesome art and characters. Not for the faint of heart. Only bad thing about it is it's not finished and the releases are pretty slow these days.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer - Seems a generic heroes chosen to save the world story but it has a twist to it. Some of the best characters I've read in a manga. Don't let the weird name put you off 8)

20th Century Boys - mystery story full of twists and turns. Hard to explain what it's all about without writing an essay on it but it's a great read.

Varik

yankee-kun to megane-chan (manga) it's the manga i look forward to.

reccakeys

I like most of your choice. I would like also to add a recommendation:... This is one of my favorite anime in the present. I really like it

Hope you like it also
You can watch the preview here:

ussjtrunks

looking for an anime in the same style as clannad and toradora.

gearoidof

Yo, Kanon and Air are very similar to Clannad (All by Key), so if you like one, you like all.

If you're just looking for a bit of rom-com, try:
Honey and Clover Which is about Art school students
Nodame Cantibile Which is about Music school students

Edit: Surely he's better off asking in a specific topic seeing as he's not looking for an introduction to anime, but for specific anime similar to anime he's already seen and like?

Funky

Not exactly the same but similar in drama would be ef - a tale of memories too. Great show in my opinion, especially if you like SHAFT's style of animation.

Numina

Funky wrote: »

Not exactly the same but similar in drama would be ef - a tale of memories too. Great show in my opinion, especially if you like SHAFT's style of animation.

Exactly this. It's styled as a dream world just like Clannad was, the vibrancy of background colours used reminds me of Makoto Shinkai's (5cm Per Second, Voices of a Distant Star) work. The music is done by Tenmon, who has also done the music for Shinkai's works. Also the innovation of design in some scenes really does remind me of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, but it's Shaft, so it makes sense that it would.

Konata

Hey ussjtrunks!

If you're looking for anime recommendations please use the sticky at the top of the forum

I'm merging this thread with the sticky cause there are some more great recommendations here.

Happy watching!

ussjtrunks

I started watching kanon and plan to watch ef, air and school rumble in the future.

I like kanon very much despite how much of a clannad feeling I get from it which is a good thing , ~uguu~

kneesandghouls

Has anyone seen The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? I haven't gotten into any series for a while and I was wondering if it's worth watching?

Cy_Revenant

I watched the original and thought it was great at the time. Best when seen in it's airing sequence.

Haven't seen the new season. I gather it caused some amount of pain and misery.

Varik

anyone seen Origin: Spirits Of The Past i saw it for €10 on bluray so was curious.

ussjtrunks

Origin is quite a good film , Its amazing on bluray though the pq and animation are fantastic.. for €10 you cant really go wrong

Cy_Revenant

Origin?

Great animation and music.

Story is alright, I guess? Feels like Nausica, similar to King of Thorn in ways. It's an alright film overall. Nothing special.

UnionOfV

First off, please don't flame me, I hate these kinds of threads as much as you do! :pac: I discovered manga about 2 weeks ago and fell in love with GG, so I'm looking for something similar - a serious thought-out manga exploring deeper issues. Anime-Planet didn't give me any help and I'm leaving Paris in a few days so I don't have an amazing amount of time to both research and buy! I haven't watched much animé but that would be cool too

Thanks in advance.

Konata

Hey UnionOfV! Great to hear you're getting into manga

We have a sticky for recommendations so I'm merging your post with that thread which can be found here.

I've never read Gunslinger Girls but hopefully someone else will be able to assist you!

Varik

Didn't think it was worth making thread for this but i have forgotten the name of a manga i intended to buy while away, it's not out here yet and need the name soon.

The Mangaka is not Japanese he's American or Latin American or both, and he's done other stuff too but don't know the names.

the manga is about a young guy who goes to Japan thinking it'll be like manga and anime with the manga itself named after the fictional anime he's likes that no one there seems to know, the manga also is about a young Japanese model who think America is the best place in the world and it turns out she's obviously wrong.

Any help be good.

Varik

Just seen the first of six of the Broken blade movie(Break Blade is the original name and it's more feature length ova), it's good. Plan on watching the second movie and the third when it comes out in November/October.

it's starts out kinda like Gurren Lagann in that there was advanced ancient people and now there's not, the people now only use their magic power to control quarts and as this advanced all other technology disappeared or had done already. The quarts move vehicles, the golems(mechs) and powers all weapons. The current steam punk with out the steam world is similar to The Vision of Escaflowne and it's mechs.

The main character

The main character is rare in that he's unable to use magic but that does mean he's similar to the ancients and can use their technology, which is more Gundam than Golem.

Enemy captain

The story has a similarity to code geass in that the main character and one of the enemy captains were friends before the war, and in so far as they don't know the other is there.

Cy_Revenant

I'm enjoying Broken Blade. Sometimes it feels like it's setting out to subvert common tropes though.

Several times we see a typical set up, but the outcome is the opposite of what you would normally expect.

A lone woman in a unique golden mech faces off against a group of boring looking inferior mechs piloted by faceless goons.

The goons are the good guys.

hello932

Ive just finished watching welcome to the nhk and i loved it!! Anyone know other anime titles that deal with otaku culture in a funnish way?

laurashambles

hello932 wrote: »

Ive just finished watching welcome to the nhk and i loved it!! Anyone know other anime titles that deal with otaku culture in a funnish way?

Genshiken would be right up your alley. It's good, but not as good as NHK. There's Otaku No Video as well but I haven't seen that one.

hello932

Im in the middle of watching claymore-what other stuff is like this?

Cy_Revenant

hello932 wrote: »

Im in the middle of watching claymore-what other stuff is like this?

Nothing.

Berserk is kinda similar at first glance but is really very different at its core.

Butterscotch

laurashambles wrote: »

There's Otaku No Video as well but I haven't seen that one.

Otaku No Video is good and fun. I have been meaning to watch it again.:P

hello932

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

Nothing.

Berserk is kinda similar at first glance but is really very different at its core.

I dont suppose a second series of claymore will be made will it?

Cy_Revenant

hello932 wrote: »

I dont suppose a second series of claymore will be made will it?

Highly doubtful.

The manga it was based on is still going on, but the storyline in the anime around the War in the North was changed so significantly from what happened in the manga that they can't continue from there.

A new anime would have to either retell the War in the North or start over from episode one.

You should probably check out Berserk anyway, it's apparently great. Do they do similar things to the original story to end it in one season.

hello932

Ok so will check beserk...

just finished watching high school of the dead-ending was bit crap-i was hoping they would barricade themselves in the mansion and have a giant last fight like they do in most zombie type situations. Speaking of which are there other zombie type anime i should know about?

nudist

Does anyone else think that the ending in death note was a bit lame?

-it would have been nice to see Light as the leader of a somewhat oppressive but morally right world order.

A bit disappointing to be honest.

Cy_Revenant

nudist wrote: »

Does anyone else think that the ending in death note was a bit lame?

-it would have been nice to see Light as the leader of a somewhat oppressive but morally right world order.

A bit disappointing to be honest.

I didn't like the anime ending at all.

The manga ending is better, but it's not radically different.

Light dies as a pathetic wretch screaming in a puddle while all the detectives look on in disgust.

Konata

nudist, please use spoiler tags in future for this sort of thing - some of us haven't gotten to the end yet.

nudist

Hotaru wrote: »

nudist, please use spoiler tags in future for this sort of thing - some of us haven't gotten to the end yet.

Sorry i didnt know how to do this-what button do i have to press that makes text covered in grey?

While on the topic-what other series are in the same genre as death note?

Varik

nudist wrote: »

Sorry i didnt know how to do this-what button do i have to press that makes text covered in grey?

When making a post use the full reply not the quick reply one at the bottom, or click on the Go Advanced at the bottom of the thread. The icon is on the top on the far right and says spoiler with white letters in a black background.

Funky

nudist wrote: »

While on the topic-what other series are in the same genre as death note?

Check out Code Geass, it's like Death Note with occasional giant robot action

Varik

Funky wrote: »

Check out Code Geass, it's like Death Note with occasional giant robot action

And pizza instead of apples.

Paul P Byrne

Picked up the first two parts of battle royale and part one of lady snowblood yesterday, really good stuff will definitely get more along this line.

thefinalstage

Paul P Byrne wrote: »

Picked up the first two parts of battle royale and part one of lady snowblood yesterday, really good stuff will definitely get more along this line.

The manga? It's really quite good, they seem to expand each character a lot more then the novel. Watch out for the Bruce Lee rip off .

Shybookwormy

Those were some nice suggestions however, if I were to write a list I would include Yu-gi-oh (the original series only. GX and 5d's are just rubbish) and Shaman King...

Generic_name01

nudist wrote: »

Does anyone else think that the ending in death note was a bit lame?

Never saw the end. Gave up on it somewhere around the 20th episode.

Loved the 1st season because it was like an anime of infernal affairs but

the business men having the deathnote

just got abit silly for me. If I had to suggest a thriller anime or manga, it would be MONSTER or 20th century boys. the latter only has a manga but its all finshed up now so you wont have to wait and the anime of MONSTER is stellar.

Konata

If I had to watch one of these, which would people advise?

1. Umineko no Naku Koro ni

OR

2. Code Geass

Choices, choices, choices!