I should have specified the TV series, ha. Rebellion was... a thing. That exists. Eurrghhh.
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Other than Evangelion, what are the best anime series/films by general consensus?
- Thread starter ToddBonzalez
- Start date
I should have specified the TV series, ha. Rebellion was... a thing. That exists. Eurrghhh.
While I was being cheeky, that movie's existence is honestly the only reason I even recommend the series to people tbh
Even well before then, that they fridged her for most of the season made the second half of TTGL immediately lamer.
Your Name
Hunter x Hunter 2011
Yu Yu Hakusho
Konosuba
Log Horizon
March Comes In Like A Lion
Girlish Number
Madoka Magica
Psycho Pass Season 1
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Gunbuster 1 & 2
FLCL
Made in Abyss
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Kill La Kill
Kare Kano
Nichijou
Golden Boy
Escaflowne
Any of Satoshi Kon's films and Paranoia Agent
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi
Ghost Stories (Dub)
Princess Principal
Hunter x Hunter 2011
Yu Yu Hakusho
Konosuba
Log Horizon
March Comes In Like A Lion
Girlish Number
Madoka Magica
Psycho Pass Season 1
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Gunbuster 1 & 2
FLCL
Made in Abyss
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Kill La Kill
Kare Kano
Nichijou
Golden Boy
Escaflowne
Any of Satoshi Kon's films and Paranoia Agent
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi
Ghost Stories (Dub)
Princess Principal
I don't watch nearly as much anime as other poster but Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is my personal favorite anime series by a country mile. An amazing cast that's fully realized, great pacing with no filler/fat and a Cowboy Bebop-level English dub.
Movies:
Grave of the Fireflies
Akira
Princess Mononoke
Vampire Hunter D I and II
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away (Heck, every studio Ghibli movie)
Your Name
Paprika
Perfect Blue
Ghost in the Shell
Jin Roh
Shows:
Cowboy Bebop
Death Note
Berserk (the 90's show, not the newer one)
One Punch Man
Elfen Lied
Fullmetal Alchemist
Trigun
Hellsing
FLCL
Sword Art Online
Naruto
Hunter X Hunter
InuYasha
Ruroni Kenshin
Dragon Ball Z (this is probably the most popular of all time, it's been running for ages so I'd advise watching other shows before you delve into it because it will literally take years to go through it if not longer).
Grave of the Fireflies
Akira
Princess Mononoke
Vampire Hunter D I and II
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away (Heck, every studio Ghibli movie)
Your Name
Paprika
Perfect Blue
Ghost in the Shell
Jin Roh
Shows:
Cowboy Bebop
Death Note
Berserk (the 90's show, not the newer one)
One Punch Man
Elfen Lied
Fullmetal Alchemist
Trigun
Hellsing
FLCL
Sword Art Online
Naruto
Hunter X Hunter
InuYasha
Ruroni Kenshin
Dragon Ball Z (this is probably the most popular of all time, it's been running for ages so I'd advise watching other shows before you delve into it because it will literally take years to go through it if not longer).
OP
OP
I forgot to mention I've seen most of DBZ and bits of some of the other series that have aired on Toonami and Adult Swim, but haven't watched them since I was a kid.
TV shows: in my opinion, FMA: Brotherhood is pretty incredible from beginning to end. Some might not feel as strongly as I do, but I think the general consensus is that it's one of the best.
Movies: anything Studio Ghibli puts out is pure gold, they're simply legendary. I'd give the best-of-the-best award to Spirited Away, based solely on the fact that it won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Movies: anything Studio Ghibli puts out is pure gold, they're simply legendary. I'd give the best-of-the-best award to Spirited Away, based solely on the fact that it won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Movies:
Any from Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service...)
Paprika
Perfect Blue
Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Series:
One Piece (it's really long but worth it, reading the manga is faster)
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Monster
Cowboy Bebop
Death Note
Hunter x Hunter
Kaiji
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
JoJo
Mangas:
20th Century Boys
Berserk
Vagabond
Ashita no Joe
I use this site to get recommendations: https://myanimelist.net/
Any from Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service...)
Paprika
Perfect Blue
Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Series:
One Piece (it's really long but worth it, reading the manga is faster)
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Monster
Cowboy Bebop
Death Note
Hunter x Hunter
Kaiji
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
JoJo
Mangas:
20th Century Boys
Berserk
Vagabond
Ashita no Joe
I use this site to get recommendations: https://myanimelist.net/
Gonna list a few personal favorites not previously mentioned.
Outlaw Star (Admittedly a bit cliche but a great sci-fi western/space opera for the plain old dumb fun of it. I might also just be super nostalgic for the old Toonami promos)
Black Lagoon
GANGSTA
Outlaw Star (Admittedly a bit cliche but a great sci-fi western/space opera for the plain old dumb fun of it. I might also just be super nostalgic for the old Toonami promos)
Black Lagoon
GANGSTA
Tons of amazing stuff already recommended in this thread.
You are good people.Paranoia Agent
My Hero Academia is something I would consider to be a great starter anime. The battle shonen genre (eg Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, One Piece, etc) is exceptionally popular even if people might not consider any shonen show to be the best of the best. I would consider My Hero Academia to be the most well executed show in the genre, currently. It's not going to blow your socks off or anything, it's kind of like "oh hey it's like X-Men but they're in high school and also there's no racism themes here", but it's very entertaining to watch and it doesn't fall into the same traps of lots of other shonen anime of just being full of pointless filler or dumb plot contrivances or whatever.
Cowboy Bebop manages to hit a perfect balance of being very appealing to both anime and non-anime fans and so it ranks very highly amongst Western anime fans. I really can't find any significant faults with it. Another great starter anime, especially if you're maybe looking for something more mature or classic than My Hero Academia.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is my absolute favorite anime of all time. Incredibly well put together production. Cyberpunk is my favorite genre because of both the intellectual aspects of it and just the coolness factor, and Ghost in the Shell simply has the most well thought out and complete cyperpunk universe ever created. Lots of its initial ideas predate the modern internet and yet still this series has never aged a single day. You can watch the series casually and just appreciate the craftmanship and individual scenes or you can watch it paying close attention to everything and absorb every single second of its incredibly intricate story. I can watch this show again and again and again and again and never get tired of it. The series works on so many different layers and executes so well in every possible sense that it's almost beyond perfect, as pretentious as that sounds. I've watched shows and movies where I can freely admit that I wouldn't change a single thing about them and yet Stand Alone Complex still exceeds them. It won't be a show for everybody but if something like it is in your wheelhouse it has my overwhelming endorsement.
Trigun is noteworthy to me because of Vash the Stampede. I absolutely adore the character and lots of other people do too.
Death Note is a very cool spin on a murder mystery/detective drama story. The series wobbles a bit when trying to stick the landing but there's still a lot of great moments.
FLCL is just batshit crazy. It's an incredibly unique and stylish experience to watch but don't go into it expecting it to make any lick of sense.
Steins;Gate is an excellent time travel story, one of the absolute best, but it is also heavily steeped in Japanese Otaku culture. Probably worth watching later if you wind up turning into a big anime fan.
Cowboy Bebop manages to hit a perfect balance of being very appealing to both anime and non-anime fans and so it ranks very highly amongst Western anime fans. I really can't find any significant faults with it. Another great starter anime, especially if you're maybe looking for something more mature or classic than My Hero Academia.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is my absolute favorite anime of all time. Incredibly well put together production. Cyberpunk is my favorite genre because of both the intellectual aspects of it and just the coolness factor, and Ghost in the Shell simply has the most well thought out and complete cyperpunk universe ever created. Lots of its initial ideas predate the modern internet and yet still this series has never aged a single day. You can watch the series casually and just appreciate the craftmanship and individual scenes or you can watch it paying close attention to everything and absorb every single second of its incredibly intricate story. I can watch this show again and again and again and again and never get tired of it. The series works on so many different layers and executes so well in every possible sense that it's almost beyond perfect, as pretentious as that sounds. I've watched shows and movies where I can freely admit that I wouldn't change a single thing about them and yet Stand Alone Complex still exceeds them. It won't be a show for everybody but if something like it is in your wheelhouse it has my overwhelming endorsement.
Trigun is noteworthy to me because of Vash the Stampede. I absolutely adore the character and lots of other people do too.
Death Note is a very cool spin on a murder mystery/detective drama story. The series wobbles a bit when trying to stick the landing but there's still a lot of great moments.
FLCL is just batshit crazy. It's an incredibly unique and stylish experience to watch but don't go into it expecting it to make any lick of sense.
Steins;Gate is an excellent time travel story, one of the absolute best, but it is also heavily steeped in Japanese Otaku culture. Probably worth watching later if you wind up turning into a big anime fan.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Actually forgot to mention this one. You know when you were a kid and you got into a fight with another kid and you were like
"Screw you!"
"Screw you times two!"
"Screw you times ten!"
"Screw you times a thousand!"
"Screw you times a million!"
"Screw you times infinity!"
"Screw you times infinity plus one!"
"Screw you times infinity times infinity!"
That's Gurren Lagann.
Actually forgot to mention this one. You know when you were a kid and you got into a fight with another kid and you were like
"Screw you!"
"Screw you times two!"
"Screw you times ten!"
"Screw you times a thousand!"
"Screw you times a million!"
"Screw you times infinity!"
"Screw you times infinity plus one!"
"Screw you times infinity times infinity!"
That's Gurren Lagann.
This sums it up neatly. I go back to all of these a couple of times per year.
There may be a universe where Initial D is considered one of the great anime series. It isn't this universe, however.
Oh wait, you said general consensus:
https://myanimelist.net/topanime.php
Very useful. Mostly doesn't fit my own tastes, but it's not like the stuff that's there is bad.
https://myanimelist.net/topanime.php
Very useful. Mostly doesn't fit my own tastes, but it's not like the stuff that's there is bad.
Lots of good answers here, somebody at work asked a similar question:
"What anime show would you rank above Batman TAS?"
"What anime show would you rank above Batman TAS?"
Agree with the bolded. Eva is pretentious garbage.
Anyway, the answer is Kiki's Delivery Service. Ponyo as another mention.
And by far, my favorite, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In A Pocket. It's the only piece of media to ever make me actually cry at the end.
Mushi-shi
Serial Experiments Lain
Perfect Blue
Your Name
Mob Psycho 100
Erased
Kill-la-Kill
Osomatsu-san
Durarara
Yuri!! On Ice
Kids on a Slope
Your Lie in April
Space Patrol Luluco
Michiko & Hatchin
Psycho-Pass
Cowboy Bebop (duh)
... and Attack on Titan, for the sheer spectacle (but fuck Eren omg)
Serial Experiments Lain
Perfect Blue
Your Name
Mob Psycho 100
Erased
Kill-la-Kill
Osomatsu-san
Durarara
Yuri!! On Ice
Kids on a Slope
Your Lie in April
Space Patrol Luluco
Michiko & Hatchin
Psycho-Pass
Cowboy Bebop (duh)
... and Attack on Titan, for the sheer spectacle (but fuck Eren omg)
Cowboy Bebop (dub is a must), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (feel free to skip the '03 version), Yu Yu Hakusho (make sure to go with the dub with this one, too), Macross Plus, Baccano, Trigun, Blood Blockade Battlefront, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are some that come to mind. YMMV on ones like Witch Hunter Robin and Ergo Proxy, but I'd still like to recommend them (trying to stick with safer choices for the most part, so I'll stop here).
Hated Death Note, Gurren Lagann's ending was indeed a load of crap, was very disappointed in Michiko & Hatchin, and the Steins;Gate anime is nothing but a truncated and compromised version of the original visual novel's story omitting a great deal of the more interesting material. I'm liking Hunter x Hunter, but that didn't really get good until the Yorknew City arc.
Hated Death Note, Gurren Lagann's ending was indeed a load of crap, was very disappointed in Michiko & Hatchin, and the Steins;Gate anime is nothing but a truncated and compromised version of the original visual novel's story omitting a great deal of the more interesting material. I'm liking Hunter x Hunter, but that didn't really get good until the Yorknew City arc.
I couldn't stand how the show ended, but personally loved Rebellion.
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No Gintama mention?
Don't take any shit from folk who say it's just daft comedy, when it does serious and action it's right up there with the best of them. The comedy just helps you get invested and fond of the characters so the serious stuff has more impact when it does happen.
Don't take any shit from folk who say it's just daft comedy, when it does serious and action it's right up there with the best of them. The comedy just helps you get invested and fond of the characters so the serious stuff has more impact when it does happen.
On the flip side, it also gave us one of the best movie...
I'd echo the Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, The Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Your Name as my main recommendations.
Though my favorite anime is Gintama, its long as hell and kinda hard to get into, especially if you're not already into the medium.
Paranoia Agent
This times a hundred. Everything Satoshi Kon did before his death is magical, and Paranoia Agent is probably my favourite of his works.
I don't know if it makes too much sense to directly compare Batman TAS to an anime TV series:
- Appreciation of TAS is bolstered by people's fondness/nostalgia for Batman, a character and a universe that's been around for decades and who is known by millions of people. Most anime don't have that kind of built-in audience or 'nostalgia' factor
- Related to the above, TAS doesn't have to invest any time "explaining" who the characters/what the world of the show are. They're free to just tell stories in a fiction that all the viewers already understand and have internalized. This gives the writers of TAS freedom to tell almost any kind of story they want. The same is rarely true in an anime series
Any Yuasa show should fit the bill, i.e. Kaiba, Kemonozume, Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong and Devilman.
For movies I personally think Patlabor 2 is the de facto "this is an adult thing that deals with adult things in an adult way" anime movie.
For movies I personally think Patlabor 2 is the de facto "this is an adult thing that deals with adult things in an adult way" anime movie.
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Anything Studio Ghibli
Cowboy Bebop
Ninja Scroll
Dragon Ball
Afro Samurai
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Anything Studio Ghibli
Cowboy Bebop
Ninja Scroll
Dragon Ball
Afro Samurai
I've always thought Evangelion sucks, so I dunno how much my recommendations would be worth. But below are the ones that I liked and remember being generally liked:
Series:
Monster
Cowboy Bebop
Outlaw Star
The Big O
El Hazard (some dislike the wanderers though)
One Piece
Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water
Slam Dunk
Hajime no Ippo
Dragon Ball
Touch
Yawara!
GIntama
One Punch Man
Hunter X Hunter (1999 for me, a lot of people prefer the newer one though - I presume that has gotten further into the manga by now)
Maison Ikkoku - Rumiko Takahashi's other series (like Ranma, Urusei Yatsura) are all good, but some get pretty repetitive.
Is the 12ep Guyver series still looked at favourably? It used to be, but I don't hear anyone talk about it anymore.
Movies:
-pretty much all Ghibli stuff
Castle of Cagliostro
Ghost in the Shell
Series:
Monster
Cowboy Bebop
Outlaw Star
The Big O
El Hazard (some dislike the wanderers though)
One Piece
Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water
Slam Dunk
Hajime no Ippo
Dragon Ball
Touch
Yawara!
GIntama
One Punch Man
Hunter X Hunter (1999 for me, a lot of people prefer the newer one though - I presume that has gotten further into the manga by now)
Maison Ikkoku - Rumiko Takahashi's other series (like Ranma, Urusei Yatsura) are all good, but some get pretty repetitive.
Is the 12ep Guyver series still looked at favourably? It used to be, but I don't hear anyone talk about it anymore.
Movies:
-pretty much all Ghibli stuff
Castle of Cagliostro
Ghost in the Shell
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Evangelion is actually the best imo, but I do also love Akira and the tier of movies below those two.
I can stomach series anime when it's fantastic, like with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note (for a while), etc.
I can stomach series anime when it's fantastic, like with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note (for a while), etc.
