Anime Recommendations Thread

[Cianter]

Hello all, long time no see ^_^ So, it's been quite some time since I've watched any anime, and I'm looking to get back into it. I'm looking for an anime in one of two categories. Either a super power/supernatural type anime with a deep story and amazing characters, or a sweet slice of life high school anime. I'm not looking for romance per se, just wanting one with friendships and what not, but romance is ok too As always no Yaoi or Yuri, no sex or too much sexual content, and not too much gore. For a reference, Shiki was too gory for me for those of you who have seen it. Sorry, I know this is kind of vague, but I'm at a loss as to what to watch at the moment. Thanks!

[WorldsTraveler]

Cianter,

I glanced through your MAL Plan to Watch. Based on your description of what you’re in the mood for, and the titles on your list I have seen, I suggest considering these:

Chihayafuru is a fun slice-of-life high school series about Japanese poetry. It’s a real gem. The storytelling is great and the heroine is delightful. The sweetness of the show really comes through in the leadership qualities of the main characters, and how they grow to take care of their team.

Hachimitsu to Clover (Honey and Clover) is college-based instead of high school, but it has the sweet, slice-of-life, friendships and budding love interests elements you mentioned. I just started watching it after another member’s suggestion, and I’m enjoying the charm of the series. It balances deep, character building moments with day-to-day comedy well.

Seirei no Moribito (Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit) has excellent characters, a story that unfolds in unpredictable and fascinating ways, and creative mythical elements. The supernatural part doesn’t come in for a while, but there’s a natural slice-of-life feel to the middle of the series. It’s quite unique for a fantasy story! Do note that the political intrigue takes a while to develop and slows the pace of the story, so watch with patience.

Though it’s not on your list, Dennou Coil would be a great bridge between the two concepts you mentioned. It’s part elementary school slice-of-life, and part sci-fi adventure. Wonderful characters, rich storyline, and great animation. I think you’ll especially enjoy the blend of action and humor.

There are lots more great titles on your lists to choose from, but those came to mind. If you give us more information about what you want (comedy or drama, for example), I can probably pin-point titles on your Plan to Watch list more efficiently.

[Davidizer13]

Xam'd: Lost Memories might fit the bill - while I wasn't as impressed with it as some members were, there were some good parts of it, like the way the characters gently play off of each other and the roughed-in biopunk fantasy look of the world as a whole. It keeps its rhythms slice-of-life-ish, with the story being set on a postal airship and focused around the characters there, even as the story takes big turns into the supernatural, the dramatic and the political. It's one of those shows that I wanted to like it more than I did; maybe you'll feel differently, though.

[ForeverInspired]

You might want to try "Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica" if you want a super power story with deep plot and good characters. It is rated R-17, but it didn't seem too violent to me - just really serious and deep.

[skreyola]

I'll second Xam'd, Honey & Clover (be sure to see both seasons), and Madoka Magica, and I'll add:
Tari-Tari - High school SoL about a singing club
Near misses to your criteria:
Nanaka 6/17 - Not exactly a SoL (It's about a girl who has memory regression and her childhood friend who takes care of her), but it was a lot of fun.
Space Brothers - I haven't finished it, but it's been clean so far, and very interesting, and some commenters at MAL have described it as SoL.

[GeneD]

@Cianter

"Either a supernatural type anime with a deep story and amazing characters": Tsuritama

"or a sweet slice of life high school anime": Hyouka, which has the added bonus of also having a great story and amazing characters.

Both are really clean in terms of content. While I'm not going to say too much else about them now, they were/are in the semi-final and final, respectively, of the Best of 2012 thread and you can go check that out to see why I and others would say they're definitely worth your time. Heck, I'd say barring Shin Sekai Yori (for content) all of the top 8 and most of the rest of the top 16 could fall into the categories of what you're looking for, with some even being a combination of both. Note that I'm not personally recommending them all since I can't speak for content in the ones I haven't seen.

I also second Dennou Coil and Xam'd.

[MangaRocks!]

^ Most definitely seconding Tsuritama and Hyouka (both are fantastic, and fit your requests quite nicely, as GeneD pointed out ); and also adding all four seasons (divided into two on Crunchyroll) of Natsume's Book Of Friends (another Best-of-2012-top-16 title), which also actually fulfills every single one of your requests (supernatural, excellent story and characters, sweet slice of life, set in high school, and friendships) all at once.

[Cianter]

So sorry it took me so long to respond! Life has been crazy, haha. Thank you all so much for all the amazing recommendations! I got a few new ones to add to my (already huge) plan to watch list, and I decided to go with Xam'd. I'm really enjoying it so far, though it is really weird watching anime again after so long. Thanks again, you guys are the best ^_^

[Ritzel]

Hello. Here's my MAL. As you can see most of anime i watched are shounes. What would you reccomend me?
Edit: I rated shows on my mal. And skreyola- thanks for your suggestions.

[skreyola]

Cianter: Excellent choice. I think you'll be pleased with it.
Ritzel: I'm not sure, because you didn't rate any of your titles (that would help a lot) and we haven't seen many of the same shows, but you may like:
Full Metal Panic!
Kenichi
Trigun Warning: Language

[faithb4sight]

Hey guys,
I'm looking for some new anime series for a friend of mine - she watches them pretty quickly and I'd love some fresh ideas!
She prefers dubbed over subbed, though does not mind starting a series that is not fully released in English and then watching the remainder in subbed (i.e. Fairy Tail).

She has seen and LOVED:
Fairy Tail (I think this is her favorite anime), Fullmetal Alchemist (both, but prefers Brotherhood), Princess TuTu, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Ouran High School, Sgt. Frog, Soul Eater, Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicles, Black Butler (I can't agree with her on this one, though...)

She sort-of liked:
Prétear, D.N.Angel, Fruits Basket (she adores the manga, though), Clannad

She is in-process of:
Black Cat, Ao No Exorcist (so far she's liked both but prefers Ao No Exorcist of the two)

No outright fanservice, please. Also, she's usually more interested in fantasy/action than slice of life so I do not think she'd like something like Honey and Clover. She probably wouldn't like something super-serious (i.e. Mushi-Shi) unless it had a randomly goofy character to make things less grim.

Any and all help appreciated!!!

Blessings.

[ClaecElric4God]

Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Kekkaishi, Hakuouki, Pandora Hearts (this one's subbed only, though), Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. Those are some good ones off the top of my head. Hope this helped a bit.

[GeneD]

@faithb4sight

Roughly in the order of how much I enjoyed them, except One Piece which I haven't seen much of. I'm not sure about the dubbed status of all of these though.

Eureka 7
Xam'd: Lost Memories
Blast of Tempest
Natsume's Book of Friends - might be too slice of life
Trigun
Durarara!!
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic - got some fanservice
Birdy the Mighty Decode - Birdy's uniform is a bit risqué
Code Geass - she'll deinitely run into some fanservice
Sword Art Online
Darker than Black
One Piece

[Atria35]

@ Faith - highly seconding One Piece, Magi, and Birdy the Mighty (outfit might be risqué but she herself is never ever used in a fan service way)

I also think that Soul Eater, Hunter x Hunter (original or remake would be fine), and Escaflowne would work.

[faithb4sight]

Thank you all for the ideas and for the details! I've decided to show her Xam'd, Hunter X Hunter, and Kekkaishi first. As I said she goes through them pretty quick so at that point I'll probably take a few more off of these lists. If anyone has any other suggestions I am happy to hear them.

Blessings.

[MisterDarcy]

Hi I'm new here, but I'm glad that there is a site where Christians can come together and talk about anime, and make reccomendations from a Christian perspective. I plan to become a filmmaker one day, and use anime to bring people of the US and Japan alike to Jesus.

I'm currently not watching anything. But I'd like to find an anime without demons or gods, fan service, yaoi of yuri, gore (moderate blood is ok), disturbing themes, or f words. My favorites are SAO, guilty crown, and rooster teeth's RWBY. I've watched fma brotherhood and fairy tail, but weren't as good because of weird spiritual things or dermons.
Thx 4 helping!

[MangaRocks!]

Okay, so I've been hearing about Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (or, as it's going to be called in the U.S., "Star Blazers 2199") for quite a while now, and literally everything that I've heard about it seems to be good. However, I know absolutely nothing about it other than these three facts: It's sci-fi, it's a remake of an old TV series, and it has been said to be even better than the original for a number of reasons. Other than that, I have no idea what this series even was/is, but I'm finally intrigued enough to ask those of you here who have seen it (and I know at least a couple of you have, judging by the support for it in the Best Anime Of 2012 thread ): Is this indeed as good as I'm hearing? And how's the content (violence/nudity/etc.)?

Thanks!

[AndrewinIce]

Hi I'm new here, but I'm glad that there is a site where Christians can come together and talk about anime, and make reccomendations from a Christian perspective. I plan to become a filmmaker one day, and use anime to bring people of the US and Japan alike to Jesus.

I'm currently not watching anything. But I'd like to find an anime without demons or gods, fan service, yaoi of yuri, gore (moderate blood is ok), disturbing themes, or f words. My favorites are SAO, guilty crown, and rooster teeth's RWBY. I've watched fma brotherhood and fairy tail, but weren't as good because of weird spiritual things or dermons.
Thx 4 helping!

Good ambition!

Hmm...Try Sengaku Basara and Mushi-shi. Both are very good, but very different. S.B. is historical action with tons of action and tons of awesome characters, and Mushi-shi is very somber and little to no action, with only two reoccurring characters, one of which only appears twice.
Also, Last Exile (Not one I particular enjoyed a lot but a lot of people do).

[KazeShiki]

Okay, so I've been hearing about Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (or, as it's going to be called in the U.S., "Star Blazers 2199") for quite a while now, and literally everything that I've heard about it seems to be good. However, I know absolutely nothing about it other than these three facts: It's sci-fi, it's a remake of an old TV series, and it has been said to be even better than the original for a number of reasons. Other than that, I have no idea what this series even was/is, but I'm finally intrigued enough to ask those of you here who have seen it (and I know at least a couple of you have, judging by the support for it in the Best Anime Of 2012 thread ): Is this indeed as good as I'm hearing? And how's the content (violence/nudity/etc.)?

Thanks!

It is definitely one of the best anime to come out in recent years. If I were to compare it to Kyousougiga (since we are both loving it atm), I would say Yamato is easily superior. Kyousougiga wins when it comes to developing its characters (as well as its emotional parts), but the two are very different genres. I admit, character depth is one area Yamato was lacking, but it also has a relatively large cast. Even so, Yamato has some very charismatic personalities even though they aren't necessarily developed.

Yamato's entirety is the journey of a single spaceship (named...no way, Yamato!) across thousands of light years to save humanity (I won't go into the details unless you're that curious). As such, there are a lot of space battles which are animated beautifully alongside a very fitting soundtrack. The sci-fi is also great and makes for some very interesting situations. I'm not a big sci-fi critic, but as a science person, I really liked some of the ideas that were used. I'd say what makes Yamato so great is each episode is interesting and exciting in its own way (well, there is 1 episode in particular I didn't like and the ending eps were slow) while maintaining superb production values. It doesn't rely on cliffhangers or crazy plot twists; it's simply solid episodes with high quality in all anime areas (animation, art, music, voicing). It does have its flaws, but as a whole, its execution of a fairly simple plot is pretty much perfect.

In terms of content, it is also very clean. The majority is either dialogue or battles. Most battles occur in space, so the only violence being done is to the ships. There are exceptions and some minor things, but compared to say, Monogatari, it's definitely cleaner. Also, if you do watch, make sure to watch the theatrical version not the TV version; the ending themes are different and superior.

[MangaRocks!]

^ Excellent! Thanks, KazeShiki!

[skreyola]

I'm currently not watching anything. But I'd like to find an anime without demons or gods, fan service, yaoi of yuri, gore (moderate blood is ok), disturbing themes, or f words.

Mushi-shi is very somber and little to no action, with only two reoccurring characters, one of which only appears twice.
Also, Last Exile (Not one I particular enjoyed a lot but a lot of people do).

Mushi-shi has a touch of horror, and may conflict with the criteria, since it is largely about nature spirits, though that depends on how tight those criteria are. I enjoyed it immensely.
Last Exile was also quite enjoyable, but it also centers around some plot points that some might find disturbing, and there are a few moments where it gets slightly gory.

I'll recommend Usagi Drop and Chance Pop Session.

[Atria35]

I'm currently not watching anything. But I'd like to find an anime without demons or gods, fan service, yaoi of yuri, gore (moderate blood is ok), disturbing themes, or f words.

Mushi-shi is very somber and little to no action, with only two reoccurring characters, one of which only appears twice.
Also, Last Exile (Not one I particular enjoyed a lot but a lot of people do).

Mushi-shi has a touch of horror, and may conflict with the criteria, since it is largely about nature spirits, though that depends on how tight those criteria are. I enjoyed it immensely.
Last Exile was also quite enjoyable, but it also centers around some plot points that some might find disturbing, and there are a few moments where it gets slightly gory.

I'll recommend Usagi Drop and Chance Pop Session.

I'm seconding these Usagi Drop and CPS. Definitely fill the criteria. Also, for that criteria it sounds like slice-of-life anime would be the best bet.

I also think that Beast Player Erin would work, excellent story (yes it's 'for kids' but is a magnificent anime).
A few others I would recommend are:
Summer Wars
Romeo x Juliet (it's a fantasy twist on the story)
Welcome to the Space Show
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Victorian Romance Emma
Dennou Coil
Gosick
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée
Kimi ni Todoke

[Mouse2010]

Okay, this might be a tough request, because it is for someone else, and I don't have as much information to give as I would if I were asking for myself.

My husband and I just finished watching the first season of Avatar: Legend of Korra, and it made my husband want to watch some anime again. (And yes, before anyone says anything, we both know that Avatar is not anime! But you can't deny that it is animesque. ATLA is actually what got us into anime in the first place.)

He particularly wants:
* anime with a big story arc; preferably a compelling one
* anime with action; preferably interesting fight scenes
* something available in a dub (I think this one is less important than the first two)

Shows he has liked include Tower of Druaga, Legend of Legendary Heroes, and Monster . I realize that's not much to go on.

[MangaRocks!]

^ Well, I'd say Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood fits all three of those requests perfectly.

[skreyola]

I can't comment as to the availability of dubs for these, because I don't watch dubs if I have a choice, but here are my recommendations:
I would say the first season (or two) of Bleach, Full Metal Panic, Gunslinger Girl, Madoka Magica, El Cazador de la Bruja, and (though I haven't finished watching it (still airing)) Space Brothers.
I'm more interested in story than fights, so YMMV with my recommendations, but there they are.

[Vii]

Okay, this might be a tough request, because it is for someone else, and I don't have as much information to give as I would if I were asking for myself.

My husband and I just finished watching the first season of Avatar: Legend of Korra, and it made my husband want to watch some anime again. (And yes, before anyone says anything, we both know that Avatar is not anime! But you can't deny that it is animesque. ATLA is actually what got us into anime in the first place.)

He particularly wants:
* anime with a big story arc; preferably a compelling one
* anime with action; preferably interesting fight scenes
* something available in a dub (I think this one is less important than the first two)

Shows he has liked include Tower of Druaga, Legend of Legendary Heroes, and Monster . I realize that's not much to go on.

Definitely FMA:B like MangaRocks said. Excellent story, fight scenes, and dub. The first FMA (2003) is also very good. If you're going to watch both, watch the 2003 then Brotherhood.

Soul Eater is a very good shonen series that has a good dub. Not sure about compelling big plot, but it's a solid shonen plot (sans the ending). The first three episodes have quite a bit of fanservice, if that's an issue for you, but it completely drops out after those initial episodes.

Sword of the Stranger is a movie with a fairly simple plot but amazing fight scenes and music score. Also it has a decent dub.

Princess Mononoke is a movie with a good dub, a grand plot, and some good fight scenes.

Death Note I personally have yet to finish, but it apparently has a pretty compelling plot, although very little action, and a good dub.

Attack on Titan has a lot of action and blood and exhilarating fight scenes, but does not yet have a dub. It's been licensed by Funimation and will probably be released sometime in 2014, where it will have a dub.

Blast of Tempest has an interesting plot, some good fight scenes (midst quite a bit of dialogue), but no dub.

Macross Frontier has some very cool aerial/space battles, a decent plot, but is unlicensed and thus has no dub.

Gurren Lagann has over the top everything, and also a dub. The plot is big, I'll grant that, and in some ways compelling perhaps? It's pretty absurd and illogical but it's a hella fun ride.

[skreyola]

Death Note starts out compelling but loses a lot of steam part-way through. However, a lot of people like the show, so your husband might, too.
I'll second Princess Mononoke for those who like movies, as well.

[MisterDarcy]

Hi I'm new here, but I'm glad that there is a site where Christians can come together and talk about anime, and make reccomendations from a Christian perspective. I plan to become a filmmaker one day, and use anime to bring people of the US and Japan alike to Jesus.

I'm currently not watching anything. But I'd like to find an anime without demons or gods, fan service, yaoi of yuri, gore (moderate blood is ok), disturbing themes, or f words. My favorites are SAO, guilty crown, and rooster teeth's RWBY. I've watched fma brotherhood and fairy tail, but weren't as good because of weird spiritual things or dermons.
Thx 4 helping!

Good ambition!

Hmm...Try Sengaku Basara and Mushi-shi. Both are very good, but very different. S.B. is historical action with tons of action and tons of awesome characters, and Mushi-shi is very somber and little to no action, with only two reoccurring characters, one of which only appears twice.
Also, Last Exile (Not one I particular enjoyed a lot but a lot of people do).

I watched a little Sengaku but the ninja lady's top was just way too fanservicey. But the characters were very creative. Any other reccomendations? Also, a shonen/action anime would be preferable.

[Mouse2010]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys! I'll add all this to the list and pass it along.

We did see Death Note together. I think we both found the last third of the series (after a certain character was gone) to be disappointing/anti-climactic.

[ClaecElric4God]

Seconding Soul Eater, Full Metal Panic, and Fullmetal Alchemist (though I'd recommend the original series). I'm gonna go ahead and throw in my default recommendation: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. I realize this one isn't very popular because it starts off kind of slow, but I urge you to give it a shot. It has action, plot, and length. Also, Sword Art Online (though SAO isn't very long). As far as I know these all have dubs.
And I'm gonna go ahead and be really surprised that no one has mentioned Fairy Tail yet. I mean, this show is the epitome of action, and has 80-something dubbed episodes and counting.