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what anime should I watch for a beginner

sports fan

sports fan

New member
uh.... so I kind of want to get into anime

but I don't know where to start. the only anime i've watched is like half of Death Note up to the part where L dies.

and yeah, so what are some good animes to watch?
 
First finish Death Note.

Bleach is really good for action/ fighting. Soul Eater is a nice dark comedy. And there's this high octane zombie apocalypse that's only 12 episodes long from 2010 called High School of the Dead.
 
Sengoku Basara for your feudal-era goodness. No one can forget Dragonball and Dragon Ball Z/GT. The latter is known for filler episodes. Gurren Lagann is also a good show filled with manly men doing manly things with robots. Then there's Zoids if you want a robot animal fight club, Azumanga Daioh if you want to watch cute high school girls get on with life in a funny way, Lucky Star if you want a similar situation that makes fun of anime in general, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya if you want that up to eleven.

justdubs has all you need.
 
If you're looking for insanity, Nichijou/My Ordinary Life is for you. Code Greass and Avatar: The Last Airbender are nice animes also. Elfen Lied is a short but dark and gory anime. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/Kai/Rei is a mix of violence and humor. It's definitely not as innocent as it appears to be. Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a similar anime. Air, Clannad, and Kanon are emotional and sad. One Piece is a nice adventure-and-action anime with humor as well. Hetalia and Ouran High School Host Club are all humor. Shugo Chara!/Doki/Doki Dokki is an adventure-and-humor mix, and it has a good amount of episodes.

That's all I can think of at the moment.
 
I'd recommend movies and OVAs (shorter series, usually 12 episodes at most*) for people who are unfamiliar with anime. It's less commitment, the production values are usually consistently better than series and they're cheaper than buying boxsets.

The Ghost in the Shell movies are good if you like sci-fi/thriller films, and they're a bit more serious in tone. You can't go wrong with Studio Ghibli films - though they're notionally "kids' films", they're such masterpieces that they can be enjoyed by anyone (my mother, who otherwise doesn't care for cartoons at all, particularly loves Spirited Away, and even my grandma enjoyed that film). Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa are among the most famous ones.

One of my favourite OVA series is Macross Plus. It has beautiful animation, interesting characters and some pretty good robot-on-robot fights. The musical score is also great. People say that it's like Top Gun, but I haven't seen that film so I wouldn't know how true that is.

If you're interested in a longer series, I would recommend Darker Than Black. I've heard people compare it to Heroes, and I think the comparison is a good one. Lots of action, grey morality and super-powered fights.

*Strictly speaking, there's no limit to how long an OVA can be. The technical definition is simply that the show was originally broadcast direct to video/DVD, rather than on TV or in cinemas. This means that gargantuan series like Legend of the Galactic Heroes (with 110 episodes!) are still technically OVAs. But usually, the rule is that OVAs = shorter.
 
For more short things, Voices of a Distant Star is only thirty minutes long, but it's the most emotional thirty minutes I've ever seen.

I have this feeling you have to at least give romantic comedies/harems a try if you want to experience this. I suggest Love Hina, as it is a classic in this field.

For giant robots, Gundam Wing is a good place to start. It's got sweet robot fighting action, but with a good story and strong characters.

Now, if you want both robots fighting stuff and a harem, then Vandread is great.

Now, your name implies that you are a, well, sports fan. If that's the case, and you like soccer/football, Captain Tsubasa might be right up your alley. If you enjoy street racing, then try Initial D.

Along with the already mentioned Spirited Away, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke, I also suggest Grave of the Fireflies as far as Studio Ghibli goes. Just be prepared for some pretty emotional stuff.

If you're going to watch Dragonball Z, then watch Dragonball Z Kai. It's the same thing without the filler, and thus makes watching it far less agonizing.

Among my favorite anime is the Aria series. It's a little long at three seasons (spanning 13, 26, and 13 episodes respectively), but a great show to simply relax with.

The third box at the bottom of my signature shows what I've been watching recently, if you want some more ideas.
 
Nyuu said:
sports fan: You haven't really said anything about what you like! Best I can do is to name a handful of things that I'd consider the best of their genre.
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okay, well like I said the only anime I've seen is Death Note, but as a kid I read a decent amount of manga, I read all of Dragon Ball Z, all of Rave Master, and a little Digimon. I liked the first two a lot (even though DBZ is pretty ridiculous and I would never get into it now as a more mature person, haha)

I've also seen a bunch of miyazaki films, Spirited Away is swagged out

as for what I like...... I like psychological/dreamy thrillers (Memento, Fight Club, Inception, Donnie Darko)

and I also like bro-comedies (Superbad, Pineapple Express, Harold and Kumar, The Stoned Age)

Thank you everybody for the suggestions.... I will definitely check them out!

edit: I should probably mention that I typically watch tv on one half of my computer screen while drawing in photoshop on the other half. I'm trying to work on my skills as an artist, but I have add and I get bored easily if I'm just drawing for a while and have nothing to stimulate me. I typically watch sitcoms because they're silly and don't require a lot of brainpower to comprehend/enjoy, but I'm kind of running out of sitcoms to watch.

anyway, what I'm saying is that slow paced, cheesy stuff is not necessarily bad for my tastes... in fact it might even be preferable to really beautiful, high-quality stuff like the miyazaki films.
 
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Well, for series I recommend? I like Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu is a comedy, and a pretty weird one, too... crazy and "random", but it works! If you like that, this is for you. Shinryaku: Ika Musume is great too, and is a funny and cute anime. Mushishi is a more calm and relaxed anime, but still very good.

Higurashi, Hetalia, Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Ghibli films: already mentioned, but they're all good.
 
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Since someone posted Avatar, I suggest Megas XLR. Bro comedy all the way with giant robots.
 
Nyuu said:
Berserk is supposed to be excellent as far as fighty bloodfests go!
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From what I've heard, Berserk also has a lot of rape scenes. Rape all over the place. All I know of Berserk I know from CFUD and TVTropes, buuuut yeah.


Princess Tutu is great if you get through the first three episodes. Don't skip any of it; it's just that it takes a bit to get hooked.

Slayers is an awesome Dungeons and Dragons-inspired 90s anime; it's got a bunch of OVAs and a movie and also five seasons. I haven't seen seasons 4 or 5 yet -- they were made about ten years after the rest of the series, so -- but it's pretty awesome. The main cast is theoretically heroic! Like, they pretty much all would have some form of Good alignment, but they're a hell of a lot better at destroying things than the villains are. Particularly OUR HERO Lina Inverse, an incredibly badass sorceress. I'd recommend watching the movie, some of the OVAs, or the second season first. (It does have a plotline and continuity and so on, but I found Slayers NEXT to be way funnier than the first season and having skipped the first season doesn't cause problems.)
 
sports fan said:
I like psychological/dreamy thrillers (Memento, Fight Club, Inception, Donnie Darko)
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Considering that "Japanese animated Inception" is a pretty accurate way to describe Paprika, I'd suggest watching that. Some scenes get really squicky, though.
 
Hm, I find Full Metal Alchemist to be a pretty good intro anime. It's got great animation (Studio Bones is awesome), fight scenes, an interesting plot, and interesting characters. Soul Eater is also a pretty good starting anime, but it's less serious than Full Metal Alchemist.

Don't watch Lucky Star unless you've watched a lot of anime already, or else it'll just seem kinda stupid. Also, don't watch Gundam. There's lots of better giant robot series out there.

Azumanga Dioh is good when you don't want to pay attention. It's also hilarious.

Gurren Lagann is less bro-comedy than MANLY MEN WHOSE DRILLS WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS, and I would suggest watching at least 10 episodes before you decide to drop it because it gets really, really awesome.

As for dreamy/psychological stuff... Seconding Kino no Tabi. It's not a thriller, but it definitely has the dreamy/psychological parts down. It's pretty slow though. Serial Experiments Lain is also good, as well as Paprika, but both of them contain a lot more mindscrew than Inception, especially the second one. Ghost in the Shell fits your dreamy/psychological/thriller part perfectly though, so you might want to watch that first.

If you like slow, dreamy stuff that also make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, try Haibane Reimei, Mushishi, or Natsume Yuujinchou. The first two are a lot more dreamy, and the last a lot more of the warm and fuzzy.
 
Also, don't watch Gundam. There's lots of better giant robot series out there.
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WHAT

...sadly, you're right. Gundam is not very newbie-friendly. It's also not that great when there's stuff like FLAG and Patlabor to be watched. But eh, I find the melodrama appealing.

Although Gundam 00 is a pretty good show on its own merits. Like Code Geass but with more space combat.

Also, First Gundam is pretty significant in anime history in the same way that Star Wars is for western film, although it hasn't aged nearly as well as the latter.
 
I know everybody's mentioned it already and even though it doesn't fit in with genres you've said you like, I still have to recommend Azumanga Daioh :)

I think GQ was right about films and OAVs being an excellent introduction to anime (my personal favourite is R.O.D/Read or Die (mostly because the top-secret organization who sends out spies all over the world is the British Library).).

And if you want mecha anime with a whole mess of psychology-thrillery stuff, look no further than Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 
As much as people complain about the show draging on, Naruto is a must.
Trigun is great for a giggle and I've always loved watching Soul Eater.
Try out that last one if you get the chance. It's an ace series to get into.
 
goldenquagsire said:
WHAT

...sadly, you're right. Gundam is not very newbie-friendly. It's also not that great when there's stuff like FLAG and Patlabor to be watched. But eh, I find the melodrama appealing.

Although Gundam 00 is a pretty good show on its own merits. Like Code Geass but with more space combat.

Also, First Gundam is pretty significant in anime history in the same way that Star Wars is for western film, although it hasn't aged nearly as well as the latter.
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Yeah, Gundam is not very friendly to beginners at all, especially since there's over 9000!!! different series that vary widely in quality, with most of them just average. And I kinda don't like melodrama so I might be biased on this front :p


Since Evangelion is a Decontruction of all the giant robot anime out there, it's probably a good idea to watch at least one giant robot anime (that's not Gurren Lagann) before watching Evangelion.
 
Yeah, Gundam is not very friendly to beginners at all, especially since there's over 9000!!! different series that vary widely in quality, with most of them just average.
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Mm, true. Especially since asking "which is a good first series to watch?" will get you about five or six wildly conflicting answers. :P

0080 is most definitely NOT average though. I'm tempted to call it best mecha series ever.

And I kinda don't like melodrama so I might be biased on this front :p
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Ah, but that's why I love it! :D

Since Evangelion is a Decontruction of all the giant robot anime out there, it's probably a good idea to watch at least one giant robot anime (that's not Gurren Lagann) before watching Evangelion.
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The problem is, most stuff that Eva (and GL for that matter) references is decades old and might not be enjoyable for anyone who isn't a total nerd enthusiast.

I also find that many people enjoy Eva without any background knowledge. It makes it more interesting to watch if you have it, but the plot is coherent without it. It's also often a springboard which gets people interested in other mecha anime (as does Gurren Lagann).

As much as people complain about the show draging on, Naruto is a must.
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Now, I'm not a rabid anti-Naruto person. I accept the show for what it is: entertaining kids' fare, aimed at roughly the same demographic as Pokemon. That's no reason to hate it, since most of what we've recommended in this thread are 'kids' shows' strictly speaking.

However, I don't think it's a good show to recommend to someone new to anime. It's a little too childish, and whilst that's not necessarily a bad thing (many people still enjoy the Pokemon show because of nostalgia) it might not be so appealing to someone who's never seen it before. Furthermore, the show is just too bloody long. ~450 episodes if you include Shippuden and a whole bunch of OVAs is too much.

If someone asked you to recommend comic books, you wouldn't simply say "read Batman". You'd suggest a particular arc (say, "No Man's Land"), which are usually fairly self-contained. I suppose you could try that with Naruto, but still.
 
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