Anime Recommendations and Talk

[sabitsuki]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, and I don't think I've seen an anime thread around on this board yet, so I guess I'll start. You can discuss or recommend any anime series or movie you've watched recently here. It can be any genre, we don't judge, and we'll try to keep it as chill and civil as we can here.

 

Since the quarantine, I've been getting into lots of anime lately, and to keep up with the theme on the forums I'm recommending mostly action or crime anime below. They also have really great English dubs so if you're worried about reading subtitles (which I hope not), don't worry too much about it.

 

 

BLACK LAGOON

This one's essential action anime series viewing. When you put the cast of Kill Bill and Desperado and the grit of Metal Gear into an anime and combine it with a heavy dose of political satire, a wealth of weapons knowledge and a cast of gun-toting, bloodthirsty mercenaries and arms dealers, you get Black Lagoon. There's also plenty of badass female characters in this show that are good examples of how to write a good female action anti-hero without making them seem pandered or forced for the sake of pleasing/demonizing a demographic. If you're a fan of early 2000s Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, I highly recommend you to give this a watch.

 

 

HINAMATSURI

This one's probably the tamest one on my list, and it's a light-hearted slice-of-life comedy with crime and supernatural elements that came out in 2018. Hinamatsuri revolves around a Yakuza mobster, who, one day while he's at home chillin' by his sofa, gets knocked in the head by a giant capsule. The capsule opens up containing a girl from the future who happens to have telekinetic powers. She reveals herself to be a fugitive from the future, and wants this Yakuza mobster to take her up as his surrogate daughter as a way to go incognito. Lots of cool, sad and heartwarming stuff happens after this, including the defeat of an entire Yakuza clan with just the girl's powers, an arc involving the time travel of another girl from the future sent to hunt down this daughter, and her subsequent entrapment in 2010s Japan, and finally lots of Dadaist and absurdist jokes that you would probably enjoy. There's also plenty of cool references to films, such as the title cards of each episode being modeled after title cards of 1970s Yakuza films. I also like how there isn't really any fanservice in this, the premise alone is enough to get people interested, I guess.

 

If humor from shows like Gintama and Asobi Asobase, and the relaxing and cute moments of manga like Yotsuba&! are your thing, give this one a shot, you won't be disappointed.

 

 

91 DAYS

If you're a fan of Scorcese and De Palma, shows like Boardwalk Empire or the first Mafia game and are new to anime, I recommend starting with this. 91 Days is a revenge tale set in the city of Lawless, Illinois during Prohibition about a young man who, after witnessing his brother and parents get killed at their home during his early teens, seeks vengeance against the mafia family that wronged him. Although he manages to do this successfully, things don't turn out the way he expects, and lots of tragic events unfold after this. Let's just say that the ending is poignant and heartbreaking, and it will stay with you for a few days. 

 

 

BACCANO!

 

Another show set in Prohibition-era America, though now with much more supernatural and dark comedy elements. This is about as close as you can get to a Pulp Fiction anime, with its non-chronological narrative style, snappy dialogue, eccentric charcaters, ridiculous brand names, violence and time cards. It follows the story of several individuals, who after drinking a concoction known as the Grand Panacea, are cursed with immortality, and a big part of the storyline is set on a freight train known as the Flying Pussyfoot, where a confrontation between a band of thieves and the Mafia occurs. If you like shows like Black Lagoon or Samurai Champloo, you will definitely like this.

Edited April 11, 2020 by DownInTheHole

[The Time Ranger]

Most of the anime I watched was as a kid, stuff like Dragonball Z, Naruto, and Shaman King which was a big favourite of mine, as an adult I haven't watched much but I'd like to dip my toes into it some more, plenty of time these days.

 

I recently watched the live action Ghost in The Shell, it wasn't great compared to the original 1995 anime, so i'm going to watch the original again, I haven't seen it in a few years.  

 

I'm going to give Cowboy Bebop another go too, watched half the series once and then stopped, don't know why as I liked it, I have Netflix and Prime so i'l give a search to the stuff you mentioned above. 

[-l-]

I grew up with the anime of the 90s, and my favorite anime are Neon Evangelion Nemesis and Digimon.

 

I am outdated, but the last animes I saw were Death Note, One Piece, Full Alchemist Brotherhood, Hellsing and some episodes of Naruto, maybe I catch some days to see something you posted.

[Testarossa]

Not that much of an anime guy myself but I f*cking love Evangelion, the original series is so good and EoE is both amazing and terrifying at the same time. I've also watched Akira and Ghost in the Shell from what I can recall, which are also really good movies. As for other series I can't really seem to get into them in general since I'm not that much of a binge watcher, but I did watch Initial D up until Fourth Stage which is pretty good.

 

Oh and there's like a few episodes of Konosuba I watched with a few friends, they were pretty interesting.

[Badman_]

Anime movies:

- Akira (1988)

- Ghost In The Shell (1995)

- Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)

- A Silent Voice (2016)

 

Anime series:

- Dragon Ball Z

- Naruto 

- Death Note

- One Punch Man

 

Personal favorites of mine:

- Colorful (2010)

- Welcome To The NHK (NHK Ni Youkoso!)

- Aoi Bungaku

- Devilman Crybaby

Edited May 9, 2020 by The Wolf Man

[Zello]

Durarara

 

It's kind of a mix of Pulp fiction and The wire. It's also from the people who made Baccano. Just like Baccano it does go non chronological for a couple episodes and it doesn't really have a central protagonist like The wire. A lot of the main characters are high school aged but they do explore gangs and a bit of the criminal underworld too.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Zello

[WanteD1]

I highly recommend everyone to watch Grand Blue!