Once upon a time, when I was a child, I had dinner at a friend’s house. I don’t remember the friend. All I remember is that their parents served up something they called goulash, but was in reality a distressing mixture of greasy noodles, watery sloppy joe mix and, perhaps, a can of stewed tomatoes. It was disgusting. I hated it. It wasn’t like I was a picky eater or a pint-sized gourmand! We ate very cheap and unfancy foods in my family. This particular meal was especially terrible.
Although I didn’t know it at the time—this is important—it bore no resemblance whatsoever to actual goulash. There was no paprika anywhere near that meal. Not even the wispiest ghost of old Hungary had ever haunted its presence.
But for many years, I heard the word goulash, remembered that meal, and knew, without a doubt, that all goulash was terrible. I was well into adulthood before I saw a recipe for proper goulash and thought, “Huh. Maybe those people were just appallingly shitty cooks.”
The point is: I have a history of this sort of behavior, and it explains why I didn’t start watching anime until I was in my forties.
People have been trying to get me to watch anime my entire life. I’m a geek who has lived a geek life surrounded by geeks, after all. I never hated the idea of anime or anything, but somebody once made me watch some gross schoolgirl harem thing that was so terrible it scared me off for years.1 Because of that show, when people recommended anime to me, I always replied, “I tried it. I didn’t like it. It’s not for me.”
It didn’t help that it all seemed like a lot to deal with. Not the language difference—I actually prefer non-English shows because reading subtitles makes me pay attention rather than pretend to multitask—but the hugeness of it all. Anime is a vast media landscape that spans every possible genre, style, tone, and subject matter. A lot (but not all) is adapted from manga or light novels, and sometimes there are multiple adaptations and series and movies that span decades. Fans argue about all of these versions constantly: read the manga, don’t read the manga, read it in Japanese, don’t watch that version, no, don’t watch that version, skip those episodes, stop before that season, and so on.
It’s very daunting! When somebody says, “Watch my favorite anime!” they might be referring to a show about mecha, or ninja school2, or high school romance. Or a blood-splattered gorefest filled with sociopathic schoolkids killing each other violently. Or a pleasant slice-of-life where anthropomorphic animals make Japanese dad jokes in a twee café. Or One Piece, which has nearly one thousand episodes and who the hell has time to watch one thousand episodes of anything?
When we get right down to it, it’s easy to find excuses to avoid trying A New Thing in our media and entertainment. We assume that if we didn’t like before, we won’t like it again, and that’s that. And there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this! Nobody is under any obligation to like—or even try—anything, even beloved and wildly popular things. Life is too stupid and full of pain to endure entertainment that doesn’t bring us joy.
But.
Sometimes we’re wrong.
We can change our minds. Our tastes evolve. We might have ridiculous reasons for avoiding something in the first place. Sometimes we have absolutely no idea what we’re talking about but believe it so fervently it becomes a foundational part of how we interact with pop culture. Maybe our friends wear us down, or the world wears us down, or we just want something different.
So I was having my morning coffee the other day, pretending to start work but actually fucking around on the internet, when I saw the recent post with the first pictures of the live-action Cowboy Bebop. I clicked on it. I oohed and aahed. I agreed when my friends expressed worry about the adaptation on our group text. I started making mental arguments in columns of “why it will suck” and “why it won’t suck.”
And some time later, long after my coffee had gone cold, I realized that I had finally, in the year of our ceaseless misery two thousand and twenty-one, at forty-two years old, become the kind of person who has really strong and heartfelt expectations for live-action adaptations of anime classics.
And maybe has some anime figurines on her shelves. Carefully posed in character.
And maybe, you know… Keychains. Stickers. Favorite theme songs. Opinions about the art styles of different animation studios.
It would have made sense if it had started with Cowboy Bebop. Over the years approximately one million people have said to me, “Hey, you’re a sci-fi fan who likes stories about ragtag groups of misfits in space, so you should watch Cowboy Bebop.” And I said, “Nah.” They persisted. I said, “Nah.” They valiantly did not give up. I kept saying, “Nah.”
Until finally I said, “Fine,” and my friends get the last laugh, because they were right.
So how do you get your most irrationally stubborn friend into anime? Well, I’m not sure, because what worked for me won’t work for everyone. The thing is, my rapid descent into anime did not, in fact, start with Cowboy Bebop; I was already well down the rabbit hole by then. Exploring a new realm of media and art is never an exact science. For all that our lives are webbed with inexplicable algorithms that tell us to watch The Bachelor because we watched Unsolved Mysteries, it’s not always easy to predict what’s going to be the right story for us at the right time. Sometimes the stories that dig their claws in deepest are the ones we least expect.
But if you want to start somewhere, you can try what my friends did, which was to declare, “We’re having anime night, and you’re making the drinks,” and let me mindlessly agree before I thought better of it, which is how they got me to watch Attack on Titan.
Look, this isn’t for everyone. It’s about traumatized and tormented young people surviving in a corrupt, hopeless society while giant monsters try to eat them, and usually succeed. The monsters succeed at the eating, I mean. The people don’t usually succeed at the surviving. Sure, there’s a lot more going on than that, but the spoiler-free premise is that giant monsters try to eat people. It’s bleak as hell, relentlessly violent, and wildly divisive, with deeply pessimistic views on structures of authority, governments and society, and human nature as whole. (Plus it has a super alarming fanbase!) Beloved characters die all the time. Sometimes you want to pause and scold the characters, “Doesn’t anybody remember that genocide is bad? Anybody? Hello?”
The pilot episode hits like a punch in the face, even if you have consumed enough alcohol to make the world a bit blurry around the edges3, and leaves you thinking, “What the fuck…?” And then, “Did they just really…?” Then, “I have to find out what happens next.” Because if you don’t always want things to be nice, the bleakness, the batshit worldbuilding, the propulsive plot, and the nonstop and really incredibly cool action can pull you right in. It worked on me.
I’m not even sure I like Attack on Titan. But I find it engaging and fascinating, and it was the first anime I watched that made me desperate to know what happens next, and sometimes that’s all it takes.
***
But sometimes you don’t want to be reminded that everything is terrible. Sometimes you want to believe that good people can get nice things. And that brings us to Yuri!!! on Ice.
Also known as “oh, right, that gay figure skating anime, I’ve heard of that,” Yuri!!! on Ice4 is a note-perfect romantic comedy in twelve flawless episodes full of laughs and food innuendo and figure skating. Watching it is like cozying up by a fire with your most cherished loved ones to sip cocoa and chat about happy things while snow falls gently outside.
My friends (shout out to Leah and Lynnea, you jerks) put it on one day while we were getting ready to do something else, and they’ve been laughing ever since about how easily it drew me in. I’ve always liked romance novels, and this is a romance novel in anime form. It’s about two figure skaters—one after his career has crashed and burned, another at the top of their sport and growing bored with it—who become skater and coach, and friends, and find joy in their sport once again, and mentor a small angry Russian teenager, and fall in love. Everything about it is charming and smart and delightful, as well as very funny and beautifully animated. (The figure skating animation especially is so, so good.)
I watched Yuri!!! on Ice from beginning to end all in a rush, then turned around and watched it all over again immediately, because it was the first show that made me think, “Oh, oh, that’s why anime sometimes gives people stars in their eyes and fluttering in their hearts. I get it now.”
***
Then sometimes your friends recommend something to you, and you think, “Yes, that’s nice, I can see the appeal,” but you still don’t really know what you’re getting into until it’s too late to escape, which is how I binged my way through Mushishi.
It’s hard to imagine a story like Mushishi really working outside of manga and anime. It’s the story of a man who wanders around the Japanese countryside in some unspecified pre-industrial era, helping people deal with encounters with strange and unsettling little critters called mushi. The effects these mushi have appear to be supernatural, but the lore is clear that they are simply a part of the natural world that people don’t know how to interact with. A stranger shows up to help them, then he leaves again.
Every episode of the anime plays out the same way. There’s almost nothing connecting the episodes except the man and the mushi. The stories are often melancholy and strange, full of people baffled and grieving in situations they don’t understand, but it’s never bleak or bitter. We learn a little bit about the main character over the course of two seasons, but not much. There are maybe two or three other briefly recurring characters. We rarely see any of the world outside of small mountain villages. The art is gorgeous, awash with greenery and nature, to the point where watching can feel a bit like getting lost in a heavy, humid forest because you just stepped off the path for a bit, and now the path is nowhere to be found.
I’ve never seen anything quite like Mushishi, because I’ve never seen anything else that commits so fully to actually being what it’s ostensibly about: a meditative meander through a strange world, meeting people only through glancing encounters, with no purpose except the journey itself.
***
But, of course, sometimes you don’t want an untethered ramble through misty mountains. Sometimes you want characters and plot so well-crafted and tightly woven that it makes you weep with jealousy, and that’s how you end up watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Consult any internet list on the topic of Best Anime Ever and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is probably very high on it. I know that sort of praise can be off-putting. We all have kneejerk reactions to avoid something wildly popular and acclaimed because we want to be contrary, or we don’t think it will live up to the hype, or we don’t want to risk liking or disliking things that other people feel very strongly about. It’s a common response. I understand. In this case, it’s stupid. I’m glad I got over it.
So this is the story of two teenage brothers trying very hard to fix a tragic mistake they made out of grief and desperation. It’s also the story of traumatized veterans acknowledging that they fought on the wrong side of a horrific war and resolving to do something about it. It’s about tearing down a fascist government. About the lies people tell in history, politics, religion, and war. About magic being both wondrous and gruesome. About fucked-up families and found families. It has a huge cast of fantastic characters—good and bad and everywhere in-between. It has both a serial killer and a tiny baby panda and sometimes they are in the same scene and it makes perfect sense.
I’m mad that I can’t write a story this good. That’s really the highest praise I can give it. I’m mad! How dare you, Hiromu Arakawa! How dare. While I was watching I spent a lot of time clenching my fist and grumbling, “Fine, fine, you were all right, this is great, it’s the best, ugh,” even though I was alone in my apartment with only judgmental cats for company.
***
Now it’s time for a confession. All of those shows appeal to my pre-existing taste in stories. But none of them were what got me into anime.
We live in a mysterious and chaotic universe, where happenstance and serendipity laugh at our mortal cravings for predictable order. In the face of such feckless cosmic whimsy, sometimes the only thing you can do is give up and admit you have no idea what you like after all, which is how I ended up as wildly proselytizing superfan of Haikyu!!
Two years ago, I would have agreed that I would probably like shows about monsters and magic and romance, even if I wouldn’t have actually watched them. But if you had said to me, “You’ll love a show about sports,” I would have laughed in your face. I don’t care about sports and never will. There are some things that stretch our willingness to experience new pop culture just a shade too far.
Remember: Sometimes we are wrong.
To be clear, I still don’t care about real-life sports. But, much to my surprise, I care very deeply about fictional Japanese boys’ high school volleyball. That’s what Haikyu!! is about. That’s all it’s about. Not “volleyball, but really teenage angst.” Not “volleyball, but really players’ home lives.” Not “volleyball, but really school and dating.” It’s volleyball. Every episode, every scene, every plot development, it’s all volleyball. The basic premise is that a very short but very determined bundle of human sunshine joins his high school volleyball club, where he has to learn to play well with a very talented but very grumpy teammate, but that description—while accurate—can’t even begin to capture why Haikyu!!, out of all the anime in the universe, was the one that finally sucked me in.
Over the course of the seasons, you get to know a huge number of players on numerous teams, and never once do you feel like anybody’s entire world is on the line. Because it’s high school volleyball. There are disappointments, setbacks, and disagreements, but they get over them. Nobody has to change who they are or learn bitter lessons; they just figure out how to be better versions of their weird, wonderful selves. The worst that happens is that somebody misses a serve, or jams a finger, or loses a match. None of it is forced to stand in for some kind of fraught metaphor for the larger social issues in teenage life. You can’t like Haikyu!! ironically or with cool detachment. That doesn’t work. It’s cute and it’s earnest and it’s about volleyball.
And yet. And yet.
It’s a bit of a truism that good writing can make any story engaging, and that is certainly true here. (I could write many pages about how well Haikyu!! manages escalating tension in an ensemble cast without ever utilizing angst or trauma. I won’t! But I could.) But there’s something else going on as well.
Over the past couple of years, there’s been a lot of talk in pop culture about stakes in fiction, specifically about the sort of apocalypse fatigue so many readers and viewers experience when it feels like every story is about the end of the world, but none of those stories actually mean anything. The abundance of superhero movies has certainly brought it into greater focus, but they were following trends that already existed. The fate of the world is always hanging in the balance. Even if it isn’t, in a more intimate story, the fate of a character’s entire world must be. Fictional detectives can’t just solve crimes; they have to solve this time it’s personal crimes. Decades of demanding higher stakes, higher stakes, higher stakes in every writing class have finally caught up to us, and now we all must come to terms with the fact that we have seriously wondered if Thanos erased half of our gut bacteria and athlete’s foot too.
I’m as guilty of stakes inflation in my writing as anyone, but I still feel the fatigue that comes with altogether too much world-shaking peril. In real life, alas, we don’t get the option of turning off the show to escape the peril. That has certainly affected our relationship with fiction, with how we create it, how we experience it, and the expectations we have for it.
On the one hand, I am glad that there is space in fiction for us to wrangle with our very big problems; I would not change that for anything. But on the other hand, I often find it difficult to find the emotional energy to care about escalating fictional stakes when the real stakes of real actions are constantly outpacing our ability to handle them in horrifying ways. I don’t know all of what it does to us to live in a reality that surrounds us, at all times, with terrible and complicated problems that we cannot stop caring about but also cannot individually solve. I only know that it makes us tired. So very, very tired.
And in that exhaustion, I’ve found, it can be a balm to care about something that has very low stakes in the grand scheme of things. To get into a story about something small—because small is not the same as insignificant or meaningless. Something that only matters as much as we allow, so we can let the emotions tied to it be as big as they need to be. Something that can be a gentle reminder that our capacity for caring might be exhausted, but that’s not the same as being completely numbed.
For me that reminder came in the form of shōnen sports anime, which served as the unlikeliest and most wholesome gateway drug into a new realm. I never would have considered it possible two years ago. But let’s be honest: There are a lot of things I never would have considered possible two years ago, and most of those things are very definitely on the “oh gosh wow I wish I didn’t know I have to worry about people being that terrible yet here we are!” side of the scale. Compared to all that, getting over an idiotic hang-up and finally giving a fair chance to a type of media I previously avoided turned out to be laughably easy. Why on earth did I spend so much time scorning something that can add a little joy to this bleak life? I don’t know. It was really quite ridiculous of me. I’ve learned my lesson.
So go ahead and tell me what to watch next. I’ll try to fit it in before the end of the world.
Kali Wallace studied geology and earned a PhD in geophysics before she realized she enjoyed inventing imaginary worlds more than she liked researching the real one. She is the author of science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels for children, teens, and adults. Her most recent novel is the science fiction thriller Dead Space. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, F&SF, Asimov’s, Tor.com, and other speculative fiction magazines.
[1]I genuinely do not remember which godawfully offensive schoolgirl harem thing gave me icky vibes so strong it took years to shed them. If I did remember, I would happily name and shame it. All I remember is so many boobs. Like, so many. So many.
[2]A friend likes to play a game where she asks me what I think certain anime are about based on the title alone, because I was shocked to learn that “Naruto” is about ninja school. Other shows with premises I completely failed to guess from the title include “Kill la Kill,” “Sword Art Online,” and “Steins;Gate.”
[3]It was a green tea variation on Regent's Punch. Brandy, rum, Batavia-Arrack, maraschino liqueur, and champagne, plus green tea, lemon juice, orange juice, and pineapple. We all had regrets the next day.
[4]I promise I am not making up any of the anime title punctuation choices in this article.
If you enjoyed the sports anime, you might try Hikaru no Go, which is a sports anime where the sport is the ancient board game Go.
I would recommend ‘Legend of Galactic Heroes’ down the line. I found this series to be the epitome of storytelling, imagine LOTR, GOT, Babylon 5, West Wing all rolled up into one
I can’t remember in which order, but my gateway drugs were Sword Art Online (I’m still obsessed with Kirito, still watching), Your Lie in April (so, so gorgeous!), Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (such a lovely story), and Ruroni Kenshin (I’m also still obsessed with Kenshin, and really like the live-action version).
Chihahafuru got me completely engaged in a competitive card game based on ancient Japanese poetry—so cool!
Great post: great point about small stakes. I’ve noticed a lot of posts about “favourite books in which nothing bad happens,” and anime certainly has lots to offer in that category. Proof that the world is still a good place and people aren’t all bad.
I also don’t care about watching sports, but I liked kuroko no basuke (basketball).
This thread is my new gold mine of inspiration :)
The first anime ever that I saw was “Princess Mononoke”, and I thought it rather good, but very weird. Then I got a few years older and really discovered anime for me and now I find it brilliant. I am very fond of anime, though have to admit that I have mainly watched the full movies, not the series. I think my favourite is “Your name” (Kimi no na wa), but the one that left the strongest impression is probably a sweet little thing named “To the Forest of Firefly Lights” (Hotarubi no mori e).
I have postponed watching “Cowboy Bepop” for some reason, but it seems I will really have to pick it up now, and also give “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” a try. I have seen “Yury!!! On Ice”, it was delightful. And I loved “Banana Fish”. I found it exciting, thrilling, occasionally sweet, occasionally brutal, keeping me frantically grabbing one episode right after the other, and in the end made me wail with my tears flowing.
And what it’s worth, I also prefer to watch these in the original Japanese. It just gives that last extra touch.
3 years ago, James David Nicoll posted Six Stories That Find the Drama in Utopian Settings. One of the stories was Aria. Absolutely beautiful. I just finished my second viewing of the 3-series anime. Start with Aria the Animation, if it sounds like something you’d enjoy.
I too used to think anime was a dumb thing not for me, only difference is I was disabused of that notion much younger, at about 18. Naruto was what started it, through my one anime watching friend. From there it spread to Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Death Note, and Fullmetal Alchemist. (I have experienced the same angst regarding FMA, as in being angry that I couldn’t possibly write something so freaking good.)
For recommendations, definitely watch GitS:SAC if you’re into sci fi. Watch Death Note if you’re into complex games of cat and mouse with a supernatural twist. Watch Evangelion if you like the idea of a story that’s equal parts goofy action adventure and soul-crushing personal horror.
Those are all things that will be recommended all the time though. I’d also definitely suggest watching Moribito. It’s hard to describe, it’s a save the world story sort of, but tonally it’s so much more serene and thoughtful than most adventures. And the animation is astounding. You might also watch Berserk, (the original version that is) IF you don’t mind a totally crap ending that will make you angry for the wrong reasons. That’s another bleak and hyper-violent show but the characters and story are really good.
Also, I don’t know if you count this as anime because it’s American but some people group it in because of the style and tropes, but watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Kids shows, technically, but great shows by any measure.
Serial Experiments Lain: can a young school girl become a computing machine? Quite brilliant, chock full of references to the history of thinking machines. But also a poignant commentary on not fitting into Japanese youth culture. The Matrix but with smarts.
Try Iria: Zeiram the (Bounty Hunter) Animation. 6 episodes total, a tight well done story that deals with space monsters, technology, class warfare, rejection of societal norms, big business running worlds, and a big old dollop of found family. And it’s free on IMDB TV right now.
I’d also recommend Tenchi Muyo, but that can get complicated because they’ve done a few runs of it. The OVA is excellent if incomplete, and the movie Tenchi Muyo in Love is an great movie.
late night toonami was my exposure. so i watched what they had on: bleach, cowboy bebop, samurai champloo, etc. FLCL still confuses the hell out of me. but the one i really got hooked on was “wolf’s rain”. that was the only one i was not content to watch at the whims of a tv channel programmer (obviously, streaming has killed that concern), and went out and bought on DVD.
now i have a 14yr old, so i watch what he wants to share with me.
Some recommendations of great and generally acclaimed anime which are among my favorites:
1) Romantic comedy about music school: Nodame Cantabile. Unbelievable great!
2) Classical, sweet romantic comedy with some twists: Ore monogatari!! (My Love Story!!)
3) The anime which inspired Naruto and is my all-time favorite: Hunter x Hunter. There are two versions of this anime: the 1999 one (which I prefer, it has more sensitiveness), and the 2011 one (faster, more typical in its production), which is a reboot that goes further than the 1999 one (the manga upon which the anime is based is famous for going into long hiatuses, the 1999 version couldn’t recover from a long one). I recommend to watch the 1999 one complete, and take the 2011 version from that point but rewatching the last arc (the Greed Island arc).
4) As relentless and captivating as Attack on Titan, on a smaller scale: Basilisk.
5) As relentless and captivating as Attack on Titan, on a bigger scale: Code Geass.
6) Sports story for sport’s sake: Capeta (was cancelled)
7) Sports with underlying message: Ping Pong
8) The best supernatural mystery crime series ever: Death Note
9) Cute and rough science fiction: Uchuu no Stellvia
10) Powerful and depressing science fiction: Shinsekai yori (From the New World)
11) An unknown science fiction classic by Miyazaki and Takahashi before they founded Ghibli: Future Boy Conan
12) A mixture of feel-good and action series: Assassination Classroom
13) A must-see without any spoilers: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
—–
Regarding “fillers”, those anime episodes that are created with the sole purpose of buying time until the real story can be continued, you can always check the ultimate anime filler guide to evade them: https://www.animefillerlist.com/
We’re doing anime recs?!?
A random sampling:
OddTaxi: a middle-age taxi driver gets caught up in murder mysteries, mob schemes, aspiring idol singers, and failing comedians while making cogent observations about human nature. Also, everyone is an anthropomorphic animal.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken: a trio of anime nerds try to establish their own studio in a thinly-veiled adaptation of Studio Ghibli. This show is a beautiful love-letter to the creative passion, oddball misadventures, and found-family that go into anime as an art form.
Shirobako: a love-letter to the business of anime, this one is a slightly more realistic take on the ups and downs and loop-de-loops of a modern anime studio (and how one ass-clown Production Assistant can nearly kill an entire production).
Demon Slayer: the newest tightly-plotted beautifully-animated shonen fantasy blockbuster, about a young man in the Taisho era (just as western fashions and tech are starting to filter into traditional Japan) trying to save his sister before she transforms into a vampiric demon.
Zombieland Saga: a surreal idol comedy about the walking(singing/dancing) undead. Equally madcap and heartwarming, with surprisingly delicate representation (one of the girls is explicitly trans, and there’s a “non-lucid” zombie who is coded neurodivergent).
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun: the wacky hijinks of a group of awkward highschoolers dealing with first love (with, at best, a single functioning brain between them).
Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: one of the latest incarnations of the Gundam sci-fi meta-franchise, this one following a group of child-soldiers who escape their “employers” and try to save their own lives, only to get caught up in a revolution. This is one of those shows that will rip your heart out.
Silver Spoon: from Hiromu Arakawa, about a city boy who goes to a rural agricultural school to escape his domineering father. It’s basically all the “army” parts of Fullmetal Alchemist without the drama; the characters (students and teachers alike) are all well-meaning doofuses just trying to go about their business.
I also started watching in my 40s. I finally put aside my prejudices and picked up Spirited Away. And Hellsing. At that point I realized anime was not a genre, and started looking for things I’d like.
If you like Mushishi, I’d recommend Natsume Yuujincho. It’s a calm and soothing (for the most part) but very emotionally cathartic anime about a very lonely boy who can see yokai, and how through the love of a couple who adopts him and some courage, he begins to build a new family of humans and yokai alike. It’s my favorite over all the anime you listed above, and those are all in my top 10. Well, maybe not Attack on Titan.
If you want to try shoujo that lovingly pokes fun at shoujo, I’d recommend Ouran High Host Club. It’s incredibly funny while still be very warm and kind of romantic to boot.
If you want to try one of the best shoujo series ever, the reboot of Fruits Basket has been winning praises everywhere and for good reason. It just finished animating the entire story, and while some of the early notes are a little bland, it had the strongest 13 episode season finish that I’ve seen in years.
Ahhh these comments are a treasure trove of suggestions! I love the look at other people’s old and new favorites, some I’ve heard tons about and some I have never heard of at all. My to-watch list is never going to end, and I am completely okay with that. Thank you all!
6 – I’ve seen the first episode or two of Banana Fish and it’s *definitely* on the list, for when I feel emotionally prepared for it.
8 – I know I need to watch both Death Note and Evangelion at some point. The only part of Death Note I’ve seen is the “I take a chip and I eat it” scene and I somewhat enjoy extrapolating the entire show from that scene and pop culture osmosis. But I will watch it!
12 – Similarly, I know I must watch Madoka. My anime-loving friends will probably disown me if I don’t get around to it soon.
13 – I *just* watched the first ep of OddTaxi and I am into it! Love the noir vibes! (Also I love Demon Slayer unreservedly. It would have been in this post if I had watched it just a bit earlier in my anime evolution. The pilot episode was one of the earliest episodes I watched, and it’s a good one for drawing you in!)
Evangelion was my gateway back in 1999 when San Francisco’s KQED was airing the ADV dub on Sunday evenings.
I stumbled upon it completely by accident when I was in my early teens. This was before the Pokemon craze was just starting and while I knew of Japanese anime, seeing EVA blew my mind and the anime plunge was on.
(Ironically, while I’m grateful, I’m sick of the show now).
But if we’re doing recs…
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water: Gainax’s hit before EVA (and which ironically birthed EVA from Hideaki Anno’s mental breakdown during the production). EVA is the greater hit but, gun to my head, I like Nadia more. It’s a Japanese adaptation for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and based on a pitch by Hayao Miyazaki himself.
Le Cheavlier D’Eon: A Japanese retelling of the life and times of French spy/diplomat d’Éon de Beaumont. One of my favorite pieces of historical fiction from the 2000s.
Despite having lots of weeb friends in high school and college, I didn’t really get into anime until after doing a voice audition at Funimation in my late 20s. I thought one of the shows, Soul Eater, sounded interesting, and gave it a watch. It turned out to have the right blend of great art and comedy to hook me in. My current issue though is that I love JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and everything else pales in comparison.
Not to nitpick, but Naruto isn’t about ninja school. The show begins with Naruto graduating ninja school. The show is about professional ninjas (despite the fact that Naruto and his friends are kids).
I was aware of anime from an early age. I recall Speed Racer and even Gigantor, with faint memories of Kimba The White Lion, from the the late 60s and early 70s. Later on Space Battleship Yamato (or rather, Starblazers). Of course I saw Akira, and later the Ghibli movies. (Including Grave Of The Fireflies…that movie…damn…) But I didn’t really get into anime until a few years ago, in my *50s*, when I stumbled across a YT video extolling Log Horizon’s first season.
Log Horizon is of course one I would suggest, and I second Legend Of The Galactic Heroes. You might also want to check out Demi-Chan Wa Kataritai. You don’t often find anime addressing bias, discrimination, and disability while remaining wholesome…and Tetsuo is a strong candidate for Best Teacher Ever.
I have a great weakness for scenery porn so let me recommend the works of Makoto Shinkai in general and his Children Who Chase Lost Voices in particular.
Tracy S @19, “Grave Of The Fireflies” left me shaken to my core …
I got sucked into the world of Anime young and early. In Junior high in the 1990’s. There was a 5am cartoon block on my non cable tv where they played Thunderbirds 2086 and Astroboy. And rocket Robin Hood.
When I found a gaming store that also carried a half shelf of anime VHS tapes there went all of my money. Working three or four nights a week in order to afford a couple of tapes a month became my memories of school. Well that and table top war games, pen and paper rpgs and the hour long walk each weekend with my friends to spend half a day picking what to get.
So many of the anime I watched at that time don’t hold up now. Ranma 1/2 has… problems that prevent me from sharing with my own kids. So many others.
Akira was shared because so many things reference it but it wasn’t enjoyed.
All of the Ghibli outside of Grave of the fireflies, most of which were enjoyed. My daughter really took to the cat stories (whispers of the heart, the cat returns and became convinced that A whisker away was part of it) and watched them over and over during the winter.
I can’t say anything about my kids habits as by the time I was going to university in another city I moved over 400 VHS tapes. And then donated them to a local anime club rather than move them bad at the end of that time. Most had already been replaced by DVDs at that point.
I have a very similar history with you where I tried some underwhelming anime when I was younger and just thought it wasn’t for me. Now I get it. Some of my favourites are also AOT and Haikyuu. So I will recommend Fruits Basket (the newer adaption 2019-2021). It’s filled with traumatized characters, kids that have had to put up with things no one ever should, but also filled with amazing character growth that just makes you want to cry tears of both sadness and happiness!! Really picks up in S2 and S3.
I’ll recommend Twelve Kingdoms. It’s an early 2000’s anime about ancient Chinese mythology in general, and Eastern unicorns (qilin / kirin) in particular, and despite having been left incomplete, thus with several unresolved plot points, it’s considered by many anime fans as one of the few that can be considered full on masterpieces.
Also, there’s nothing fluffy or rainbow-y about it.
In Chinese mythology a good ruler, whose government is just and kind, is blessed by the people having sightings of qilin. When they disappear, that’s because the ruler became unjust, the government tyrannical, and the people are suffering, so it’s time to bring about the revolution, topple the government, and establish a better ruler in their place.
Twelve Kingdoms play with that concept in a very clever way. In it, qilin are divine envoys who, while kind and gentle, also can supernaturally sense who must rule a kingdom. Once they find a new ruler, they vow perfect obedience to him/her, granting the ruler eternal life for as long as their rule benefits the people. For rulers who stick to virtue that may mean centuries or even millennia of life, and correspondingly happy and prosperous populations. For rulers who depart from the path of virtue, the result is misery for their people, and their qilin suffering to the point of dying of regret, depression, and disappointment, followed by the ruler losing their immortality and dying shortly thereafter… if the population doesn’t revolt and kill both first. Then a new qilin is born, and years later finds a new ruler for that kingdom, restarting the cycle.
The anime is thus about the virtues and vices of government, about how the “chosen one” may fall given enough time, about how the movements of the powerful affect the weak, and about how even the best of intentions many times results in bad outcomes. Plus, there’s some horror in the mix thanks to the existence of many less-than-good supernatural beings around.
The anime has 3 of the originally planned 5 arcs, comprising 39 episodes, plus six additional episodes comprising what would have been the beginning of the 4th arc. For practical purposes it’s best to consider it as ending on episode 39, and then, at some point, to watch the remaining episodes and wonder what might have been had the series continued.
If these themes or Chinese mythology interest you, you’re definitely going to enjoy this series.
PS.: The anime is based on a series of ten light novels, of which the first four were animated. A few of those novels were officially translated and published in English, while most remain untranslated, although there are fan translations of a few additional volumes available online if one wants to know what happens after the end of the anime. AFAIK, though, not all of it has been fan translated.
Awesome post! It’s hard to talk to the uninitiated about anime when all they have in mind is shonen or other stereotypical genres. Then I mention Cowboy Bebop. I was destroyed for days after I finished that series, and it’s still my favorite anime. It showed me the seriousness and sincerity of the art form. I’ve been a fan ever since.
Count me in as another member of the “I never thought I’d like a sports anime but Haikyu!! is amazing” club. I think I binged the first season in an afternoon. It’s just a lovely series. It also meant I could explain what a libero is/does to my non-anime watching friend group during a discussion about Olympic volleyball this summer.
Also don’t give up on One Piece! the almost-1000 episode series is daunting, but it also means that it’ll also be there for you, so you can go watch a few arcs, then step away, then dive back into the series. I’m also a fan due to the sheer size and scope of that epic, it’s in very rare company.
@kim, Rurouni Kenshin was my first gateway into anime, and it still holds a special place in my heart.
Part of the problem is people treating “anime” as a genre. “Do you like anime?” is as absurd a question as “Do you like American television?”
i haven’t watched many shows – my kids had me watch Demon Slayer which is beautiful and pure despite all the bloodshed inside, and Promised Neverland which is not as nicely animated but a well done show with tense action sequences and fun characters (they make more sense if you pretend they’re 6 years older than they are though.)
The slice-of-life movies are my favourite though. From Up on Poppy Hill is probably one of my all time favourite films which is just a quiet story about some high school kids saving an old building on campus with a bit of romantic drama thrown in. Whisper of the Heart is another classic in the same vein.
Wow, I thoroughly enjoyed this article, thank you! Your descriptions are so elaborate and colorful. I am in my early 40’s and only recently started watching anime, mostly at my 12-yr old son’s recommendation. So I’ve watched a fair number of Naruto episodes and some One-Punch Man. And I second the recommendation of Avatar and Korra. I don’t watch much TV, but I now want to watch Cowboy Bebop and Full Metal Alchemist.
I watched my first ever anime in July at the age of 30. Binged all of the HunterXHunter on netflix in a matter of days and while I loved it I still don’t see myself watching a lot of anime going forward – mostly because I just don’t watch a lot of TV. I’ve looked into getting into One Piece (reading) recently but am a bit hesitant based on the time and money investments required to get caught up. There’s something ridiculous like 98 volumes plus omnibuses (or are the omnibuses made up of volumes?).
Quite a daunting task!
Ah, how relatable! I had a short exposure to yugioh and some pokemon as a grade schooler watching after school television and then dropped anime until getting into sword art online a few years ago.
Many of your favorites – attack on titan, Yuri on ice, haikyuu – are also my favorites, despite the difference in genre. Here’s my rec list: Given, Free!, Fairy Tail, Food Wars, Run with the wind, Rise of the shield hero. Happy watching!
I just loved this article. It struck all of the best points about why we enjoy it so much. While I watched anime in high school and early college, that was a long time ago. Fortunately, my two teenagers have immersed themselves in anime and dragged me back into the genre; interestingly enough with Attack on Titan. I could go on and on with the lists of anime I have now watched and gush about them. My daughter absolutely adores Haikyu, for all the reasons you have mentioned.
It really is the most interesting medium…simultaneously being crazy, wacky, tender, terrifying, and heartfelt. I have rarely seen another medium be able to pull that off with such panache.
But since you mentioned just loving to be in that small moment and enjoy (and that you like romance)…Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is great fun and had me giggling like I was back in high school.
If you want heart wrenching and gloriously beautiful art, consider Violet Evergarden.
I’ve seen that others have entered lists of what to watch, so I will stop there, because I can only nod at their recommendations.
Thank you for the article.
I really enjoyed the article and this thread. I haven’t watched much beyond the studio Ghibli movies and some odd bits and pieces but as you mentioned sports and the like, another feel-good series in that vein would be Ballroom e Yokoso / Welcome to the Ballroom. I did a bit of competitive ballroom dancing and I love feel-good films about dancing and this definitely fit the bill!
Interesting that no one mentions the few movies that made Anime explode in the US during the 80’s.
Akira – amazing visual and sound with cyber punk thrown in. You think some of the scenes were done in 3D but it was hand drawn.
Ghost in The Shell – another one with amazing visuals and story to keep you thinking.
It’s amazing that I’ve watched so much anime throughout my life and yet there are many recommendations on here that I’ve never seen. I’ve added them to my own list.
Here are some to consider watching:
Haibane Renmei – This slow-paced, beautiful story about the afterlife will stick with you forever. It’s unforgettable, heartwarming, and mysterious all at once.
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex – If you’re a fan of police procedurals, you’ll love this take on far-future crimefighting in an engrossing world full of politics, intrigue, and corruption. This is in the world of the movie Ghost in the Shell. A movie that is a must-watch if you haven’t seen that 1995 movie classic, often considered a masterpiece of Sci-fi of any medium. Nerdwriter explained very clearly in less than 10 minutes why Ghost In The Shell was an incredible movie and why it didn’t work as a live-action adaptation, which are excellent little youtube videos to watch for you writers out there to see what does and doesn’t work.
So I’m A Spider, So What? – This is an excellent example of the isekai trope: a person from our world gets reincarnated into another world–usually fantasy–to live as an overpowered character that can save their world. Except the main character in this one didn’t get so lucky and wound up getting reborn as a little spider in a deadly dungeon where everything wants to eat her instead of as a kawaii magical princess living in a castle. The very spunky, never-say-die main character is a joy to watch as she struggles to survive. Another fun one in the isekai genre is That Time I was Reincarnated As A Slime.
I’ll also happily endorse Madoka. It’s a unique take on the magical girl genre, just as One Punch Man did a great job making fun of overpowered anime like DragonballZ.
This text made me sooo happy, I am almost crying here (because of my happiness). I love anime since I was a child and I watch it until today because of it. Sometimes I watch a lot of them, other times I barely watch it. But they are part of me and my taste in some way. See someone fall in love with something I love is beautiful. So I do want to recommend some for you, if you don’t mind:
Ace of Diamond – If you liked “Haikyuu!!” and want to try more sport anime, I will recommend MY FAVORITE SPORT ANIME. I don’t know anything about baseball. I AM FROM BRAZIL, we don’t play baseball here. And yet, I just love Ace of Diamond SO MUCH. It is amazing (and loong), but I think you may like.
Tsuritama – This is anime shows how you can combine things totally different and have a great result. Aliens and fishing?? I am in. It is coloful, fun and I think you should try (and it is short, just 12 episodes)
Ouran High School Host Club – You said you like romance, so I will recommend this romcom. I love this story and Ouran is my 2nd favorite manga ever. It is fun and the characters are adorable. And the couple is so cuteee!!
I don’t have much space left, so my last recommendation is xxxHolic. CLAMP is my fave group of mangakas and I think this anime is a good place to start their stories.
I highly recommend CHIHAYAFURU, involving high schoolers playing competitive karuta (a card game involving the memorization of 100 classic poems, yet extremely physical during matches). I had started reading the manga first, but I think Season 3 (the latest to date, sigh) is an amazing artistic achievement on its own. It’s so rare to see teenagers (especially teen girls) rendered with complexity, each flawed yet very sympathetic. The subtle class differences are thought-provoking, the love triangle genuinely affecting, and the matches are so riveting that you won’t believe they’re card games! I yearn for a Season 4. I’m also loving the BL music series GIVEN, though I’m not seeing much difference in pace from the manga yet…
@Kali Wallace the question still remains… Did you ever watch Cowboy Bebop?!?
I’ll also put a vote in for Ghost in the Shell; the TV version is often more action oriented than the movies but all are good.
If you’re looking for an older obscure anime, “Witchhunter Robin” I quite enjoyed – others on the comments have touched on the genre quite well.
I found this article to be interesting and heartfelt. I was a young kid when my dad introduced me to anime and I have enjoyed the medium ever since. Also, all the anime you have listed in this article are great. I would recommend these anime to you: Gurren Lagann, Mob Psycho 100, FLCL, The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Eden of the East, Last Exile, Trigun, The Tower of Druaga, The Vision of Escaflowne, Vinland Saga, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, Lupin the 3rd, D-Frag!, Spice and Wolf, Hellsing Ultimate, Outlaw Star, Heroic Age, El Cazador de la Bruja, D.Gray-man, Samurai Champloo, SoltyRei, Bento, My Hero Academia, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, KonoSuba, Angel Beats!, Space Dandy, The Big O, Bleach, Deca-Dence, Appare-Ranman!, Black Lagoon, and Granblue Fantasy The Animation. All of these anime show the breath and depth of the medium. Remember the ancient words: “Not all who wander are lost”.
Gateway anime for me in no particular order: Slayers, Record of Lodoss War, Project A-Ko & FMA:B – after Kiki’s Delivery & Vampire Hunter D got me to try anime again a decade or so later after the severe NOPE out from Wicked City.
I loved reading this! Everyone has made wonderful recommendations, but I’ll throw in a couple anime movies that are required viewings (if you keep tissues with you!)
*A Silent Voice / Shape of Voice – a slice-of-life drama about an ex-bully with social anxiety and depression and a deaf girl whom the former had tormented when they were children. It’s about forgiveness (of others and of yourself), mental health, self-love and friendship. TW: attempted su*c*de.
*Maquia: When the Promised Flower Grows – I will never stop recommending this underrated gem. It’s breathtakingly beautiful in its animation, story, and characters, and it’s criminal that so few have heard of it. Set in a fantasy world on the brink of war, Maquia, a girl from a race of immortal beings, rescues a baby and raises him. The story mainly follows the pair as Maquia experiences motherhood, watching as her adopted son journeys through the various stages, joys, and tragedies of his mortal life.
I first started watching anime when I was still a toddler, with shows like Marine Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets. It wasn’t until I hit university that I started knowing watching and enjoying it, with then current shows like Ranma 1/2, Kimagure Orange Road, Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi (aka Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play), and Maison Ikoku.
Some of those have aged rather better than the others.
There’s so many good suggestions in this thread, both ones I adore, ones that just aren’t my taste and ones I haven’t gotten around to watching yet.
Mushishi, the Aria trilogy and Natsume Yuujinchou (aka Natsume’s Book of Friends) all come under the broad heading of iyashi-kei, or healing anime. There’s a bunch more, but it’s not a huge genre. If you’re in to mood for something gentle and soothing, then try those, or similar(ish) shows like Flying Witch, Super Cub, Tamako Market*, Hyouka*, Netojuu no Susume (aka Recovery of an MMO Junkie)*, Princess Connect! Re-Dive, Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume o Minai (aka Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai)*.
If you are up for something cyberpunk, kinda police-procedural political and can get violent (sometimes very) that also covers questions of ethics and such, then I recommend Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex (both seasons), or Psycho-Pass (have only seen the first seasons, but IMO it’s great). Of course, there’s also the phenomenal Akira, but that takes a commitment to thinking about it and possibly re-watching it a few times to get your head about the story.
If you are up for tear-jerkers (which may or may not completely rip your heart out several times), that also have excellent stories there’s the already mentioned Violet Evergarden, Fruits Basket* (all three seasons are not out, and between them they cover the entire run of the manga), Hibike! Euphonium (aka Sound! Euphonium), or Kanon*.
If you are looking for some military action and (anti-)war, you can try Gundam 08th MS Team, Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphan (aka Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans), Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Sidonia no Kishi (aka Knights of Sidonia), Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (aka Space Battleship Yamato 2199, which a remake of the early 70s show that Star Blazers was made from). All of these have multiple people killed over the course of the series, but some focus on just a few characters so you feel the impact more, while some are epic sweeping stories about a large war or campaign, so the absolute numbers are higher, but most are mooks/NPCs that you probably never get to know. Some do a bit of both. Violet Evergarden is barely post-extensive/horrific-war and there’s a lot of trauma there, so it’s certainly not pro-war.
Looking for something high energy and mostly silly? Check out Working!! (aka Wagnaria!!), Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! (aka Konosuba: God`s Blessing on This Wonderful World! usually just shortened to Konosuba), Slayers, Girls un Panzer. A standard ‘we must win this tournament or our school gets closed down’ sports anime, except the sport in question is ‘the traditional feminine sport of tank-fighting’. Yes, it’s a ridiculous premise, but it’s a whole lot of fun if you can just step over that bump and enjoy it for the high-action, adorable silliness it is. Speaking of extreme silly premises but a super amount of fun, there’s a Space Pirate version, Mouretsu Pirates (aka Bodacious Space Pirates), where the ‘piracy’ is actually more of an entertainment thing for wealthy travellers on high-class liners (all of which are insured specifically for this and generally hire the ‘pirates’ themselves). It’s not 100% fun and games though, and the ships have real guns for when they occasionally do get into real fights.
If you want some romance, all of the titles marked with an asterisk above have strong romance elements as well as their other themes. There’s also Marmalade Boy, a classic mid-90s MF love-polygon that is a forgotten masterpiece, Mahou Tsukai no Yome (aka The Ancient Magus` Bride), MF romance and recovery from trauma/slowly emerging from their shells, fantasy world MF prince and commoner romance Akagami no Shirayuki-hime (aka Snow White with the Red Hair), Yagate Kimi ni Naru (aka Bloom Into You), FF school life and first romance plus questioning orientation, Horimiya. MF school romance and growing out of the shells you use to hide your true self. There’s almost no will they/won’t they for the centre couple, which is deeply refreshing, plus it’s so very adorable. Adachi to Shimamura, (aka Adachi and Shimamura), FF school friendship that develops into romantic feelings on at least one side but they never quite get to confess. Slow, comfy, heartwarming and gentle watching. Otaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (aka Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku), Working adults in a office are all secret otaku and try to fit together work, nerding, hanging out as couples and romance. Makes a nice change from the school-romance vast majority. MF and MF. ReLIFE, a 27yr old man who crashed out of his company job and hasn’t been able to land a decent job since, nor keep the crappy ones he does get, is approached to take part in an experimental program for a year, where he will take a pill each day to make him look 10 years younger and redo his final year of high school again in the hopes of redirecting his life. Adorable and sweet, as long as you don’t look too closely at or think about just what the program is actually doing. Multiple MF romances (eventually). This title could also fit into the iyashi-kei category if it works for you and you can just appreciate the relationships without getting squicked by the bits the plot ignores.
I could ramble more, but I think I’ve done that enough, and that should keep any interested folks busy for quite some time.
I’m astounded no one has yet mentioned the late Satoshi Kon. In a brilliant career cut tragically short by cancer, this director created anime which is diverse and different even by the standards of anime: The Hitchcockian suspense movie Perfect Blue. The metafictional “documentary” Millennium Actress. Tokyo Godfathers, the Christmas miracle story about a homeless found family of a cishet bicyclist, a drag queen, and a teenage girl. Paranoia Agent, the deeply disturbing multi-episode examination of lies/fantasy/reality. Paprika, the dream-hacking movie which inspired Inception and beggars Inception at every turn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMc2EW6Pmkk C
In addition to the anime mentioned in the article: Clannad, Clannad Afterstory (makes me cry every time), Erased (great story and amazing music), Angel Beats, Bunny Senpai, The Flower We Saw That Day, Another, Blue Spring Ride, Bakuman, Bungou Stray Dogs, Chuunibyou, Hibike! Euphonium, Horarubi no Mori e, K-On, Kanon, Your Name, A Silent Voice, Madoka Magica, Your Lie in April, Tanaka-Kun is Always Listless, A Certain Scientific Railgun, Toradora, Yuru Camp, so many others!!!
Like the first commenter, my immediate suggestion based on how you talk about Haikyu!! would be Hikaru no Go, which is amazing and swept me up completely even though I have zero feelings about Go in any other context.
I’m pretty out of the loop on newer anime, to be honest, but a few of the stories that’ve really stuck with me are Revolutionary Girl Utena (my all-time favorite), Princess Tutu, and Trigun.
As for Fruits Basket, a million times YES to the recent reboot being worlds better than the 2001 anime, and well worth watching…but I’m still gonna put in a vote there for reading the manga if you have the chance.
Really? No one besides me cut their teeth on Excel Saga? Not even a slight reference to Pet Shop of Horrors?
Because of all the points I outlined in my previous comment, fan communities in the West are themselves toxic environments for girls and women (cf GamerGate, a not-unrelated phenomenon), which further drives the “disgusting incel otaku” impression that many people feel toward fans of anime.
@29 I know it’s probably late but if you are not adverse to yet another subscription shonen jump have an app. I find it is very cheaply priced for it’s catalog. It has all of One Piece(and updated with new chapters as they come out)
I ended up with it after I ran out of haikyuu anime and yeah…. Some really good stuff on there. Blue flag, Naruto, bleach, Jojo, deathnote etc.
Thanks to the author and the readers for contributing so many suggestions on anime to check out. As if I didn’t have enough in my queue already …. LoL.
I just watched the first episode of Yuri!!! on Ice, which I had not heard of before reading this article. Storyline seems a bit silly — as do most anime stories that seem to be aimed at the “teen-age crush/high school romance” crowd — but I agree wholeheartedly with the author’s point about the quality of the ice skating animation. I was impressed!
The thing with recommendations is that you need to fit into the other person’s taste. My favorite anime is Symphogear, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone with little to no knowledge of anime and Japanese media.
I think it would be remiss not to mention Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s not necessarily the story that hits everyone the same way, but it is a story that is just so deeply affecting towards everyone I know that’s watched it.
My other recommendation is one from just this past season, Odd Taxi. A 13-episode anime original that is some of the most tightly written shows I’ve ever seen, with deep characters who’s stories slowly begin to converge and wind together
I think it would be remiss not to mention Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s not necessarily the story that hits everyone the same way, but it is a story that is just so deeply affecting towards everyone I know that’s watched it.
Like I was saying earlier, it was the right show at the right time for those seeking gateway anime back in the late 1990s.
Like it or hate it, you don’t easily forget EVA and its themes and messages. I mean, I remember watching End of EVA for the first time 20 years ago and trying to comprehend what the f**k I’d just seen.
That being said, I don’t think Generation Z can truly understand that — and it’s not just because they’ve grown up in the post-anime import boom.
So much of what was innovative and groundbreaking about EVA has since faded in the 25 years since. More and more shows have tried (and failed) to emulate Anno.
And like I said, I’m still nostalgic for the show and the doors it opened. Having enjoyed EVA, I was interested in checking out Anno’s preceding work…and if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been introduced to Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’m just…not as fond of EVA as I used to be.
Alright, you have watched a wide enough variety of anime that I don’t feel like I’m throwing you into the deep end by suggesting FLCL (pronounced Fooly Cooly). It’s a six episode miniseries with amazing music, a frankly fantastic English dub, and a level of surrealness and energy that masks a really interesting coming-of-age story for the 12-year-old boy protagonist. Don’t let that age fool you. This is not a kid’s show. If you finish the last episode and wonder “What the heck did I just watch?”, that’s normal. Read something about the show and watch it again.
Its original English broadcast on Adult Swim in 2003 came at just the right moment for a lot of millennial anime fans, and for a time, it seemed like it was on everyone’s lists of favorites, including many people in the animation industry. Over the past 15 years or so, it has slipped out of most discourse, but its fingerprints on Western animation are still there once you know what you are looking for.
It’s been a while since I laughed aloud as much as I did when reading this article. So very true… so very amusing. Thanks for that.
Surprised nobody mentioned The Gokusen (TV – 2004) – they even made a live action movie out of the anime concept. It’s an excellent (to paraphrase the author) “low stakes balm” about the daughter of a yakuza boss whose first assignment as a young teacher is a group of troubled outcasts. 13 delightful episodes ensue, occasionally with objectionable content (thank goodness the yakuza lawyer tempts the teacher more than the students… and yes, boobs: the struggle is real, apparently) but it all works out and everyone learns valuable life lessons.
Thanks again for the laughs Kali!
Man, going through the comments today I’m reminded of several shows I watched that I’d totally forgotten about, which puts some things in weird perspective for me.
One show I have not seen recommended though that I just remembered is Baccano! It’s one of those stories told non-linearly with a big cast of disparate characters who are all interconnected, which becomes more complex and unlikely the more you watch. It’s got some fun characters and action, and it’s just a really good time in general.
Here’s a few that I enjoyed but haven’t seen mentioned yet:
Haibane Renmei
Rah Xephon
The Place Promised in Our Younger Days
X
Oh, and I second the mention of Satoshi Kon’s work above, and I’m glad you’ve already seen Mushishi.
This was an enjoyable article, thanks for writing it!
I’ve been sort of…anime-adjacent…for I guess a couple of decades — playing a lot of JRPGs from high school to the present day but never fully leaping into the television side of things, just a few scattered things (such as Ghibli films, or Cowboy Bebop, which unfortunately fell a bit flat for me due to over-hype).
2020 changed that, and I have a decent number of shows I could recommend now, but previous comments have covered most of them.
One I didn’t see mentioned that might actually make my top three (so far) is Kaguya-sama: Love is War, a romantic comedy about two high school students who like each other…but are determined not to admit it unless the other does first, resulting in cunning gambits and battles of will (and, sometimes, moments I found genuinely sweet).
What makes it hilarious to me is the narrator, who takes everything completely seriously and treats everyday school council business like an epic shonen fight.
Doesn’t anyone else like Summer Wars?