Anime n00b, what should I know?

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Xshadow

New member
I'm very much a n00b to anime. I've only ever seen two in my life — one or two eps of Samurai Pizza Cats with my cousin when I was 6, and several eps of very early Pok
 
You could go on the internet and do some research, and I also recommend reading some anime magazine (Anime Insider)

As for anime I could recommend...... I don't know what I could recommend to you, since you're just getting into it
 
Basically the first thing you need to know about anime is that it is a incredibly diverse medium. There are shows for all different age groups, genres, genders, interests- even sexual kinks, if you know where to look. Most of it is made for children, but there are plenty of great shows for adults and all ages as well.

Recommending titles may be difficult. Usually I point neophytes towarRAB Cowboy Bebop, since it's a good "gateway drug"; however, it is pretty action-oriented, and since you indicated that you don't like action it may not appeal to you. It is a very well-written show, though.

Your best bet if you're just getting into it would be to watch anime on TV. It's free and relatively plentiful, with various genres being represented. Most of the shows currently on US TV (I'm assuming you're American- my apologies if you aren't) are of fairly good quality. You should be able to get a good idea of what genres and styles you might like from that.
 
The only thing that differentiates anime from western cartoons is that they're from Japan. Otherwise, both mediums of animation are still the same when it comes to quality.

And since you don't like romance and action, maybe Death Note (though it does have some action) would be a good choice.
 
Anime series tend to have strong continuity. In general (with exceptions) you can't just watch random episodes of most anime, and be expected to know what is going on.

I recomend Haibane-Renmei.
 
I'd point you towarRAB Studio Ghibli's stuff (Princess Mononoke, Spritied Away and Grave of the Fireflies being the biggest titles). Those are all films, as opposed to TV series, so they'd be a good place to start if you're not ready to commit to buying 4-disc box sets just yet.
 
If you don't mind the idea of watching a kid's movie, I recommend Ghibli's My Neigrabroador Totoro as an example of how wonderfully inventive and engrossing anime can be. I'd also second the recommendation of Ghibli's Spirited Away for its inventive imagery and terrific storytelling. These two are enjoyable by kiRAB or adults and are readily available.

If you are interested in science fiction, I'd highly recommend Planetes, a realistic look at how people will live and adapt to the environment of outer space. It has conflict and romantic elements but they are muted and not the central focus of the series. It's a fairly recent 26-episode series that's not hard to find.

I'd also recommend you sign up with Netflix. This online service lets you order movies and anime series online, delivered to you on DVD in the mail. They have over 1,000 anime titles in their catalog, get new releases quickly and have a variety of rental plans to suit different budgets. They also provide you with lots of information about their titles to help you decide. It's a totally legal and legitimate way to sample lots of different anime. (^_*)
 
Ok well...1 thing I think you should know is that anime is a very diverse medium, shows can range from extremly kiddy ( Hamtaro) to extremly Adult (Afro Samuri) and of course theres many that fall in between the 2. But if your looking for some good animes heres what I would suggest for a begginer.


Dragonball/DragonnallZ (A must for any anime fan)
Hamtaro (Like Rugrats, but with hamsters)
Gundam (Giant robot mechs, what more could one want?)
Cowboy bebop (Possibly one of the best animes of all time)
One piece (if you like pirates that is)
Bleach (Like Ghost Busters...But with sworRAB!)
Sonic X ( classic sega character finally in an anime!)

& once youve gotten used to anime style you can move on to other series Such as Eureka Seven, COde geass, and many other great series!
 
Like some people said here, you really should watch Cowboy Bebop. It's not very different from an american action series so you can watch without very big knowledge of the japanese culture. And Spike is kick-ass.
 
Go to Wikipedia and associaciate yourself with the following terms:

Rumiko Takahashi
Shonen Jump
Hayao Miyazaki
Adult Swim
Toonami
Mamoru Oshii
Satoshi Kon
Kosuke Fujishima
Abridged Series
Shojo
Magical Girl
Harem Anime

and try out a few things through the "usualmethoRABpeoplewhohaveaccesstotheinternetdobutcannotbementioneddirectlylest hurtheindustry" and what ever seems to work for you buy it and own it. It also might help if you go to a local Borders and skim through a few manga series.

O-chan
 
I'm gonna echo those saying 'Try and view it as animation/cartoons produced in Japan'. If you try and single it off into a genre you'll get the wrong idea, put certain shows on a pillar and unfairly bash shows never really intended for your age group. I enjoy the revived Doctor Who but you don't see me blasting the same network for also producing Balamory

Just really try and avoid the elitist fans who obsess to much and treat Japanese like their personal secret language. Keep an open mind, explore and have fun.
 
Television is a good place to get your feet wet, but these days anime distributors have started putting their shows on streaming video sites where people can watch them for free as a legal alternative to fansubs.

Some of the anime that Adult Swim has they stream on their website (your best bet to watch them these days), and Toonami Jetstream features series which are more kid-friendly. Hulu.com and Joost.com have some Japanese imports in their animation section, and FUNimation has their own video portal and YouTube channel as well.

Do you know of an anime club in your area? That's a good way to meet other fans and watch new series.
 
In addition to the advice given above, I'd also say to read reviews and look out for things that sound like fun. I think Toon Zone News' Reviews is a good place to start, he said self-promotingly , but DVD Talk has a lot of good ones, too. I would actually avoid Anime News Network or the anime-centric sites at first, just because a lot of those reviews are written by the faithful for the faithful, and in a lot of cases, I think they can sometimes lose perspective on how odd a lot of anime looks to those who aren't used to it.

The one thing I haven't seen suggested is to take advantage of your premium channels if you have them. SciFi and IFC both have anime blocks, and I'm pretty sure that one of the Starz networks shows anime regularly as well. The status of anime on Cartoon Network is a bit in flux at the moment, but I don't think it will vanish entirely for a while. You're already paying for cable -- might as well use it to experiment.

But lurk around here and check the titles that seem to keep popping up in conversation. Between things like the iTunes store, the video portals supported by the anime licensors, and DVRAB via mail-order, it's easier than ever to discover anime.

Have fun!

-- Ed
 
Cowboy Bebop.

Not too much action (there is a lot of plot, but most episodes are fairly stand-alone... though they work better if you watch them in order).

Also, Death Note. Very good, not a lot of action, next to no romance, and if you can ignore a few annoying characters (they're in the minority, at least) like Misa (sorry, avaitor) and... whoever that other chick from the second half of the series, the one that liked Light was... then you'll probably enjoy it.
 
Shoujo anime--anime for girls--sure, some of it is magical girl shows and chick flick romances, but there are some comedy and fantasy series which are certainly worth a look.

Don't be erabarrassed to admit when you've watched a shoujo anime and liked it. We ALL have. I own a couple of titles myself.
 
Four years ago (has it been that long?) I did a poll where i asked everyone to submit their top ten anime, and each vote got that show 1-10 points based on it's ranking in your list.

A few in there could be considered 'flavors of the month' (shows that were running or had recently been running on cartoon network) that probably wouldn't rank near as high today, and of course a lot has come since. But my opinion is you should just find out what shows are considered the best of the best among different genres, and start there-- part of the reason i did this poll is that i watched so much crappy anime i was trying to find out if there was any good stuff i overlooked. And so outdated though it may be, this list might be a good jumping-off point.

rabroad's Top 25 of Anime, 2004 edition
 
I got started with the stuff they used to show on Toonami- Sailor Moon, Tenchi, and Hamtaro- and it was light enough as beginner material. DBZ was a little too heavy for me, so I went to manga. From there, I got back into anime by checking out the adaptation. I recommend checking out some titles that are both manga and anime. That way, you can find something you like through the library and see if you like the adaptation (if your library carries manga). If you have netflix, it is a great tool to try out different kinRAB.
 
It seems that he was just pissed off that Yu Yu Hakusho beat NGE in terms of popularity (since it was considerably more popular a few years ago on Toonami, than it is now). I can understand if people feel that way, but just like people were saying on that thread, there is no reason to whine about it. Besides, if we did a top 25 list right now, I guarentee that YYH wouldn't even make it into the top 20, now, and would be lucky if it even made it onto the list, at all.

I guess I can see why people were calling it overrated, back then, but I do feel that YYH is misunderstood by so many people. It has so much more to it than just the battles, and the Dark Tournament and Chapter Black arcs had brilliant story-telling, IMO. Of course, people who aren't too fond of shounen will say that YYH and RK do not belong in the top 5, and since it doesn't have the exact same type of appeal as most other shounen (at least to me and a few others), quite a few people who are fans of shounen anime wouldn't see it as being that great, or at least wouldn't put it above the more popular shounen titles like DBZ.

Overall, I personally think that YYH has now become kind of underrated, these days. But maybe that's just me.

Well, sorry for going off-topic, again.

Back on topic:

I forgot to recommend this on my original post in this thread, but Ouran High School Host Club is also a pretty good anime to start out with. I myself haven't finished it, but from what I have seen of the first 14 episodes, its one of the few anime that have truly managed to make me laugh. And, as anyone can guess, its not action oriented at all. Whenever someone hits someone else in that series, its purely in comical manner and style. So I don't really see how anyone can go wrong with this series, especially when watching the English dub.
 
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