In a way they are considered the more accesible alternative, reboot, and own story, its the same world, but the story has changed dramatically.

A friend of mine said he fears becoming a weeaboo. I'm not that much into anime, I plan on looking into anime shows more at some point.

My own opinion is very similar to this guy, especially the last paragraph. I disliked most the medium's offerings, at least what I was exposed to. Once upon a time I sampled maybe around 20-25 shows which were regarded as substantial or noteworthy to the genre. My mileage varied; sometimes I watched a whole series, other times one episode. I don't remember many of them very well years on, though my impressions have still remained. Most of the ardent fans of anime I found to be a rather repellent bunch. This isn't a kind remark to make, but it was my experience.

If anything the anime I did like is even narrower than OneoftheLost's list, basically only Cowboy Bebop, which was an entertaining space-opera-ish romp with a snazzy jazz soundtrack I ended up liking almost more than the series, and Serial Experiments: LAIN. I think that one appealed because it seemed so UN-anime-esque, a cold, clinical, and ominous existential affair, like something David Lynch or Cronenberg might have created if they had been born in Japan and became animators. When I watched Richard Linklater's rotoscoped A Scanner, Darkly years on, a film I greatly loved, it reminded me thematically of LAIN.

Though I forgot To mention another Series i like is Golgo 13, i have only seen the first 12 or so episodes - but will be watching when the DVDs i bought for it arrive.

though there are two live actions film first with Ken Takakura and a second called Assignment Kowloon with Sonny Chiba

The animated ones are actually more adult Orientated than the Live action versions

It seems with time I became a lot more demanding towards anime quality. But in the recent years only Steins; Gate really caught my eye. Really awesome series.

http://myanimelist.net/anime/16498/Shingeki_no_Kyojin

Has anyone seen this? If so, how good is it? It looks quite good and something I may like.

Thanks for any input in advance.

I haven't watched it, but I have read the manga. It's pretty good, if you enjoy the "anyone can die" vibe.

If I watch ten shows a year, Anime will most likely be eight or nine of them. I would not say I like it, more that I seem to dislike it less than the options I have.

Unfortunately for me, Anime has so many "instant disconnects" to it that I rarely if ever finish any show. You would think that with such variety you could always find something different that can entertain you, but either that is not true or I am just far too old and grumpy to be entertained any more. I think the last Anime I watched all the way through was Kids on the Slope. Before that it would have been Honey And Clover.

I check Anime News Network News page several times a day. I rarely ever read anything beyond the headlines so I'm not sure why I do it. Bad Habit I can't break, I guess.

I love anime - pretty much all sorts, except a lot of the yaoi stuff (personal preference and all that) :) Recent(ish) favourites have been:

- K-On! :: A fun story of high school girls forming a rock band and hanging out with each other with none of the fan-service stereotypes that you might expect from such a proposal
- Darker Than Black :: noir superhero sci-fi political detective story.... pretty much covers everything there
- Psycho-Pass :: Cyberpunk cop show that dwells heavily upon the human condition
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica :: the antithesis to every magical-girl stereotype ever committed to cel
- Real Drive :: sci-fi / cyber-esque stories in a beautifully realised future
- Jormungand :: Sometimes gritty, sometimes flippant, this follows the fortunes of an arms-dealer and her entourage
- Sakamichi No Apollon :: Jazz music in 1960's Japan. Brilliant.
- Ano Hi Mita Hana No Namae Wo Bokutachi Wa Mada Shirinai :: Equal parts heart-warming and heart-breaking.
- The Last Exile :: Stunningly visualised steampunk-ish aerial combat with a heavy politcal story.

Access to a Japanese broadcast channel (and of course an understanding of Japanese!) is required for some of these, but most have a Western release (or are scheduled for one) and I'd be surprised if Psycho-Pass and Jormungand didn't get one too.

This is the best animu.

Everyone and their sister and their childhood best friend should watch it.

As many have pointed out this question is far too general to allow a simple answer. There are some anime that do not interest me either because they are too immature or too long-winded. Or both.

But there are also many that I like very much. Basically all the movies from Studio Ghibli (including Nausicaä, although that is officially not a Ghibli film) and series like Neon Genesis Evangelion. And then there is Ghost in the Shell. A movie that is a must for everybody who plays Shadowrun or Cyberpunk. And Ghost in the Shell 2 is interesting too, if you like philosophy (the movie is somewhat based on Kleist's essay "Über das Marionettentheater", which discusses consciousness and innocence.)

I have found my self watching more anime as of late. Mainly stuff that airs on toonami or i hear is good. That and most of the stuff on the magic box here, is stuff i have all ready seen and they keep rerunning it to death or shows i'm just not interested in watching. Which lead me on a quest for anime, which is not on as often as other things.
I do enjoy some of it and other stuff i find at least decent or ok enough to keep on watching.

Funny thing the other day, i was talking to someone about anime who has never watched a anime in their life. Yeah you have all sorts of interesting anime. you have action, adventure, story fous and with great character and many many other types of anime, its like normal tv shows only made on pieces of paper.

Now i'm going to listed one anime i was talked into watching.

Randomwerewolf: Yo dude. you should check this anime out its rather batty.

Me: Batty in a good way or bad?

Randomwerewolf: IN a *howling* good way. you see its called rosario + vampire and it has this vampire as a main character....

Me: A vampire as a main character you say? I'm sold!

And that how i came to end up watching it. When into watching it thinking it would be about a evil vampire living in a castle with a army of undead minions to call on at any time. Byt the dark bloody gods i was gravely wrong. I had not seen so much fanservice in my [un]life. Which i stopped caring about or noticing after the third episode. i ended up with a anime that does love telling you stuff about monster, you might even end up finding out about a new version of your favorite old class monsters. that also has action and its funny bits, if you like more animely humor. at the end of each season, brings in more plot and story stuff and finishes it by the end of the season.


One thing i did like was that one episode in season two. that had the funniest misunderstanding i have ever seen so far in my long long [un]life. Its so much fun to watch others suffer from pain and confuse, due to some poor choice of words or due to being at the wrong place at the wrong time. By the dark gods i love being evil. and it might not have totally evil vampires. Thankfully, they at least do stuff that does not ruined the fearful and mighty name of the vampire. you end up getting a bad ass vampire, blood sucking and lots of ass kicking to be had. Now to wrap this up. take it away captain.

Captain Death: Yip yip. In closing, most episodes put the characters in some sort of trouble or adventure for some reason or the other, along with more than your fair share of anime humor and action towards the end of each episode.

Witch: Hey boss. your large boxes of shows you hate just came in.

Me: FInally, i been watching for them to get here. Now i have something to use for target practice. On right before i forget, back to that anime show i was talking about. Its no way in the nine hells of blood, death and bats is not safe for work or family watching at all. Due to all that fanserive. Just keep that if you go and check out. also it tends to fall under a anime you will hate or love, from what i seen of others talking about it.

As for anime i found truly crappy or bad. I can;t think of any, not off the top of my head at least. I'm sure there is one i dislike or have yet to come across. Oh wait now i remember one. 4kids version of yu-gi-oh 5d. I loved watching that in subtitles. the 4kids version, i just didn't enjoy at all. took a dark interesting theme and made it more child and kid friendly. also you had some rather bad voice acting, most of it was ok from what i watched of it. with these two twins, having just perfect voices that fit the characters and the best in the shows. I'm just going to stop my self here, before i end up hating on 4kids dub version of 5d all day. Beside, i have better things to do. Like throwing fireballs at halfings and watching them nice. So i will leave you all with this picture of a vampire.

Oh, I forgot. Hellsing is also fun to watch.

I have seen 4 episodes so far, and it rocks imho, - this anime is well worth watching.

So uh... Is everybody pretty much sick of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann?

Myself, I watched it way after it was released and was ignorant of how popular it was on the internet so I did not know what to expect at all. Definitely one of my favorites, though, I'm sure my opinion would be different if I had been audience to the apparently obnoxious gushing.

My opinion on anime in general is along the lines of most here. It's just as diverse as other markets and so there is likely something for everybody. That said it does seem like anime has a greater tendency to actually have a complete story as opposed to American television's tendency to try and continue a series as long as profitable. Sometimes less is more. That's not to say it's immune of course, I don't watch these shows or others like it, but Bleach and Naruto would be prime examples of anime which never seem to end.

Other titles I love, which many of you have already mentioned and which are pretty popular anyway:

FMA, both Brotherhood and the first one. I thought the first series did a better job of characterizing Ed and Al's relationship while Brotherhood had the superior plot. I also enjoyed the various intro music to the first series a lot more than Brotherhood's.

Baccano!
Ghost in the Shell
Darker than Black (Where the hell is season 2, Netflix!?)
FLCL
Death Note
Trigun
Air Gear (who knew skating could be so epic? Probably too fanservice-y for most though)
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo

On my "to watch" or "need to finish" list:
Rurouni Kenshin
Pretty much all the Miyazaki films, 'cept Ponyo which is reputedly the weakest
Desert Punk
Claymore
Elfen Lied
and others.

Never did get into DBZ. The fights were awesome, sure, but they spend four episodes boasting at each other before they finally start to throw punches. Far too impatient for that noise.