I have a standing anime/movie night with several friends (if you’re local, remember: it’s Friday nights, and we don’t always do anime, so you’re welcome to join in and we’ll decide the week before what we’ll watch the next week; email me for details).
We’ve watched a lot of great stuff in the last year or so–the stuff coming out in the last few years is just plain brilliant:
- Vampire Knight (if you liked Twilight, you’ll LOVE VK–6 or 7 volumes of the manga is out here in the States, and the anime just got licensed)
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Saiunkoku (OH so good–I would really love to be the one to bring over the light novels through Tu Publishing, but if someone got there first, I’d be all over getting them; I wish I could find the full second season on DVD)
- Gundam 00
- Ouran High School Host Club (very fun, and a great look at gender roles)
- Fruits Basket
- Code Geass
- Witch Hunter Robin (this stands out among a bunch of standouts–so good)
- Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
- Emma: A Victorian Romance
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumya
- Kuroshitsuji (we have to finish this one sometime) (also: this one is very hard to pronounce!)
- Wolf’s Rain (good, but very sad ending)
- Twelve Kingdoms (80s cheese, including a very whiny main character at first, but if you stick with it, it’s pretty fun)
- Cele-something (dang, forgot the name; helpful, aren’t I?)
- Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit (wow, what a show. And there’s a great book it’s based on, edited by Cheryl Klein)
… and many others that I’m forgetting. I should make a complete list to help me remember & help lead me to ones I like.
This has led me to many a good anime on my own (including older ones that I never saw when they were new), often because the friend who hosted anime night–who sadly just moved away–is so in touch with it and makes great recommendations:
- Tsubasa
- Samurai 7
- xxxHolic
- Last Exile
- The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye (so good I want to add this one to my collection)
- Ghost Hunt
- Trigun
- .hack//SIGN (and just as I got into it somehow all the discs became unavailable)
- Death Note
- Scrapped Princess
- Noein
- R.O.D the TV
- Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play (90s cheese, but fun)
- Read or Die
…and so on.
Anyway, I make this list right now because I want to eventually break it down and review some of them, and also because I’d like to hear if any of you have suggestions–given that I’ve liked pretty much all of this list, and given that if you’re a reader of this blog you probably know the kind of fantasy and science fiction I’m into (there are some great YA-oriented school stories on there, too, that aren’t speculative at all, but absolutely entertaining, like Ouran), perhaps you’ll be able to recommend some I haven’t heard of. What am I missing? You can probably tell that my tastes tend to run shojo–I love the bishis, when it’s not too overdone!–but I’m also open to brilliant stories that aren’t terribly violent.
What would you guys recommend? What new anime coming out is a must-see?
**Oh, and a few I want to see but haven’t gotten to yet:
- Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
- Shonen Onmyoji
- Darker than Black
You’re a lot more in-the-know than I am; I haven’t heard of a fair amount of those, but it seems whenever I sit down to watch an anime I always remember why I like it so much.
I’ve heard Cowboy Bebop is good but I tried sitting through an ep a few years ago and just got bored. Another oldie-but-goodie is Outlaw Star. I’d watch that again.
Can’t really give you any new titles, but wanted to second Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai 7!!
My husband also loves One Piece, the pirate cartoon. I think it’s kind of dumb, but to each his own.
Do you know about Anime News Network? It’s a great resource.
Recommendations:
Cardcaptor Sakura
Angelic Layer
Figure 17
Haibane Renmei
Mushishi
Dai Guard
Blood+
Inuyasha
Rurouni Kenshin
A Little Snow Fairy Sugar
Kaleido Star
Azumanga Daioh
Bleach
Stellvia
Stratos 4
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure
Kamichu
Gankutsuo (a Count of Monte Cristo retelling)
D.Gray-man
Chance Pop Session
Most anything from Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, etc.)
There are a couple of others that are really good character-wise but may be over the top for either explicitness or violence. These titles feature exceptional stories, but will will also stretch some viewers’ limits of propriety. Blood+, Chobits, Gunslinger Girl.
And now I realize I confused you with the Marnie that runs Kindling Words–sorry, Marny! But I still appreciate the great recommendations.
Wow, Marny, you’re awesome. I had no idea you were into anime. Bleach and Inuyasha I’ve seen a little bit of, but not much, and I’ve been meaning to check them out from the beginning. The rest of them are a mix of ones I’ve heard of and ones I haven’t. I tried to get Cardcaptor Sakura from Netflix after watching Tsubasa, but the first three discs are unavailable, which makes it frustrating!
Great list, thanks!
No problem. 🙂
We finally downloaded Cardcaptor Sakura from anime-eden.com since it’s so expensive to buy on DVD because it is so popular.
My daughter said to recommend anything by CLAMP. She has very similar tastes to yours and wants to be an editor.
OMG, you listed some of my all time favourites too!!
I absolutely adore the following:
Rurouni Kenshin
A Little Snow Fairy Sugar
Kaleido Star
Azumanga Daioh
Bleach
:o)
I’ve been dabbling a little in anime over the past few years myself. I was initially drawn in when I watched a few Miyazaki movies on the recommendation of some friends, and was entranced. So I’ve been occasionally watching some anime series, and have generally been rather impressed. Like you, I really enjoyed _Wolf’s Rain_ and _Fullmetal Alchemist_. Another couple I liked were _Neon Genesis: Evangelion_, a very surreal “super robot” series, and _Trinity Blood_, a rather interesting twist on the vampire genre.
(I’ll admit, the geek fanboy inside who remembers loving _G-Force_ and _Robotech_ as a child occasionally wants to try some of the Gundam series, but so far I’ve resisted…)