Anime Recommendation Thread - Minor Plot Summaries

Cafe Society
1

Some of us were having a discussion on Death Note (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=795163) and the subject turned to recommending anime. Since I think many people who might be fans of anime might never go into that specific thread I thought I would start a new thread for discussing anime recommendations.

I need to give it some more thought as to what I would recommend, but I’ll get us started with:

Death Note - This is a crime thriller about Light Yagami who finds a note book that, if you write the name of a person while picturing their face, will kill that person. Light decides to make the world a better place by riding the world of criminals. I find the story to be very intense and intelligently written.

Sword Art Online - This is about a VR MMORPG where the creator makes it so that you can’t logout and if you die online you die in real life. The only way out is to clear the game. This one is a fun little fantasy adventure although it does some exploration of some deeper emotions.

2

Wings of Honneamise is a story about another world, or possibly an alternate history of our world, that’s just starting to take its first tentative steps into space. There’s no fantasy (or fantastic science fiction) elements at all, nor zany antics, just something like a fictional The Right Stuff.

3

Death Note is definitely in my top 3 anime series, the other two being:

Code: Geass - I mentioned this in the other thread, but I didn’t talk very much about it. Trying to put it as simply as possible, it is set in an alternate Earth where Great Britain and China seem to run everything (Wikipedia says Europe is a third superpower, which I forgot), and one kid is starting a revolution by using a special power (geass) he gained that allows him to dictate a person’s thoughts or actions chess-style (but only once per person, which is quite a limitation). As the series goes on, there are more characters that turn out to have different kinds of geass (including mind-reading, seeing the future, etc), so the cat-and-mouse aspect of Death Note is kind of included, but honestly there is a lot going on, so much so that I am not doing it justice. I haven’t even seen it in years so that is affecting my synopsis too, I am definitely going to watch again now that I am thinking about it…

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor - I guess this earns my top spot as favourite anime. Not necessarily similar to the other two, this is just a simple little story about the luckiest man in the universe (or is he the smartest man in the universe and just playing a fool?), who joins the space navy because he is looking for an easy life, ends up getting promoted to Captain within days, and then the real fun starts…

Also, reading the Death Note thread earlier got me thinking about anime again (it has been years since I’ve seen anything). There is a series out there called RahXephon which I always thought sounded interesting but I never got around to it. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth checking out?

4

I quite enjoyed Macros Zero

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5

Instead of a general recommendation thread, I used to do a season by season review of the shows I watched. But I’m lazy and a lurker by nature so I dropped doing it. Also, I haven’t been in as strong of love with anything since then. I’ll link to some of them and highlight some of my more favorite ones.

Winter - 2015
Summer - 2015

Shirobako - anime about making anime that’s funny, poignant, thrilling, cute, and more
**Parasyte **- popular manga from the 90’s made into awesome anime of 2015. Creatures invade humans controlling them except for 1 person who traps the creature in his hand
**Your lie in April **- great piano music, artwork, and tears. Lots of crying (mostly by me but some by the characters). Reclusive piano genius (only in junior high!) is drawn back into the world of music by a crush.
Silver Spoon - stressed city student decides to attend an agricultural high school. A classic fish out of water story. Written by the same author of Full Metal Alechmist. Funny, informative, and nice.

This season I’m watching:
[ul]
[li]Haven’t You Heard, I’m Sakamoto - A cool, no cooler, no coolest high schooler ever[/li][li]Kiznaiver - High schoolers have to share their pain (and later emotions) with each other through devices implanted in their body[/li][li]Re: ZERO - Starting life in a new world - A checkpoint time loop fantasy anime. The main character goes through Groundhog Day resets when he dies but every so often progresses far enough in the story to achieve a new “save state”.[/li][li]Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou - a Japanese teenager works at his dad’s Tonkatsu restaraunt by day and a DJ by night. This is a short form anime (approx. 10 minutes)[/li][/ul]

6

The best show from Winter 2016 was:

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - a master Rakugo recounts his growth during WW2 Japan and postwar. Fascinating. A masterwork of storytelling both in the show and the show itself.

7

Let’s see…

•Princess Arete.
I found this one by chance on Netflix instant, where it’s still up. Based “on Diana Coles’s 1983 story The Clever Princess,” I can best describe it as “Ghibli-like.” Gentle, whimsical, non-traditionally girl-empowering, etc. Can be a bit of a yawner, though.

•Attack on Titan
Think “‘Gormenghast’ meets ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ meets ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ with a binder of ‘Just Cause 2.’” I personally prefer the subtitled version, asI think the voice performances are more powerful—or at least carry the crazy a lot better.

Also, the enemy “Titans”—basically giant, maneating zombies—seem to have been styled after a ravenous historical medical curiosity. And the theme song goes with anything.

8

I’ve been exploring some anime titles on Netflix (it’s how I found Death Note), and also liked:

Attack on Titan - a post apocalyptic world wherein humanity (approx 1 million people) has been reduced to living in one massive stone walled city, fending off these rapacious giants that feed on humans. Is much, much, better than my lame description, which doesn’t do it justice at all. Look it up.

Black Butler - suffered from executive meddling, and the series chronology is a tad messy, but still pretty good.

Ajin - more recent series about paranormal humans, and society’s and the government’s reaction to and treatment of. Kind of like delving deeper and darker into the dark side of X-Men, and Magneto’s fears of what mutants would be treated like if they weren’t powerful or numerous enough.

Sword Art Online (as mentioned above)

Sword Art Online II - picks up shortly after SAO ended; the last dozen eps. or so are heart breakers; anvilicious emotional blackmail. Have tissues ready.

9

I’ve gotten hooked on Yowamushi Peddle – Small previously unathletic kid joins the high school bicycle racing team. He got good at biking because he’d save train money by biking to the anime shops – his mom purposely modified his bike to have a low gear (hoping to limit his distance) but that just made him a spinner (and great climber).

After the first few episodes it is mostly the inter-high 3 day race. I’m not sure I’d be interested if I wasn’t a cyclist (but not a racer). Some real bike stuff in there (gearing, drafting, sprinters vs climbers, etc) Some anime clichés but overall enjoyable.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/yowamushi-pedal

Brian

10

The OP doesn’t specify TV shows or comics, so I’ll recommend Castle in the Sky, my all-time favorite Miyazaki film: a funny, thrilling, heartwarming steampunkish adventure.

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A few I’ve watched recently on Netflix and enjoyed;

Knights of Sidonia. The setting is a colony ship which has been traveling through the galaxy at slower-than-light speed for a thousand years, after the Earth was destroyed by giant omnivorous space-faring organisms called the Gauna. The population of Sidonia has undergone extreme transhuman modification over the years to cope with population crises and lack of resources; most of them can photosynthesize, many are clones, there are bigendered people who can change from male to female based on who their mate is, and some of the leaders have become immortal. The main character is a teenage clone of one of the colony’s former leaders, who’s spent his life in isolation training to use the only weapons capable of permanently destroying a Gauna. For a mecha series it’s remarkably hard sci-fi, and it reminds me of Battlestar Galactica to an extent.

Aldnoah.Zero. Set in an alternate history where the remnants of an extinct Martian civilization were discovered on the Moon during the Apollo missions. This leads to the rapid colonization of Mars and the establishment of a feudal empire that uses Martian technology to gain the upper hand. A war between Earth and Mars in 1999 ends in an uneasy truce when the Moon itself is destroyed by a superweapon, cutting off the only means of rapid transport between Earth and Mars. The remnants of Mars’ military remain stranded in Earth orbit until 2014, when travel between the worlds becomes feasible again - and when the princess of Mars travels to Earth on a goodwill mission, they stage a false flag assassination attempt on her so they can have an excuse to pick up the war where it left off.

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I was looking at Knights of Sidonia last night on Netflix and was going to come and ask if anybody has seen it soooooooo good use of your psychic powers Smapti!

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An older one I watched on Adult Swim back in the day and can heartily recommend;

The Big O. The setting is Paradigm City, an urban metropolis that’s half New York City and half Asimov’s The Caves Of Steel. It’s isolated from the rest of the world for reasons unknown; 40 years before the events of the series, some sort of cataclysm occurred that cut off ties to the outside world and erased all records of what had come before, and every single person who was alive at the time has lost all memory of what happened before then. The main character is Roger Smith, a Bruce Wayne-ish “negotiator” who works in an informal role for the city and the corporations that govern it, solving problems that the law can’t touch - usually through wits, charisma, and money, and, when that doesn’t work, with the titular Big O, a giant mecha (referred to as a “megadeus”) that can be transported to his location via abandoned subway tunnels. He is assisted in his work by R. Dorothy Waynewright, a non-Three-Laws-compliant gynoid, as they deal with various troublemakers in the city and try to figure out the nature of the cataclysm that made things the way they are. Tone-wise the series is equal parts Asimov, Batman: The Animated Series, Gundam, and the Matrix. The final few episodes are a bit incoherent, as they were setting up for a third season that never got made, though it all makes sense if you take some time to think about it.

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I enjoyed the first season immensely. Inaho’s clever breakdown of enemy mech tactics were like mini puzzles grounded in science. Surprise traitors and plots were fun to watch. The growing rivalry/admiration between Inaho and Slaine provided character depth. Massive cliffhanger to end the season.

Second season was a huge disappointment.

Everybody lives! Super cyborg Inaho! Slaine controls the moon! Creepy wheelchair sister!

Normal people trapped in a fantasy/video game setting is a surprisingly good genre. Most famously .hack and Sword Art Online, but also:
[ul]
[li]Log Horizon (1st season is my favorite of this “trapped in game” bunch)[/li][li]Overlord[/li][li]Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash[/li][li]Konosuba[/li][li]RE:Zero (mentioned in earlier post)[/li][/ul]

Also, no anime recommendation list would be complete without One Punch Man. A comedy about a superhero that does it as a hobby is so overpowered he can beat anything with just one punch. It is a hilarious journey through the ridiculous superhero and anime tropes because he doesn’t even seem to notice. He’s mostly just bored.

15

I haven’t watched a lot of anime, but I will enthusiastically recommend Puella Magi Madoka Magica to nearly anybody. I find it difficult to give a compelling synopsis without spoiling things, but I’ll give it my best shot.

PMMM takes the standard tropes of a Magical Girl Warrior series (e.g. Sailor Moon) and adapts it for an adult audience. And to be clear, this is a show aimed solely at adult audiences; it’s not a show written for children that adults can enjoy. It’s only 12 half-hour episodes, so the investment is low, but it tells a wonderful story in that space. The show features one of the best characterized villains I’ve seen in any media, the artwork is fantastic, and I have no complaints about the quality of the voice acting in the dub.

The central premise is that Kyubey, a cat-like animal who fills the team pet/mentor archetype in the series, seeks out girls with magical potential and makes them an offer. He can grant them a wish, but in exchange they must take up magical powers and fight witches on behalf of humanity. Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki will discover that there’s a lot more to the world than the mundane lives they live.

I recommend going into this as unspoiled as possible(for the love of God, don’t google the series), but if that description doesn’t grab you, maybe the following will convince you to give it a try. If you’re already interested, skip it as it is a minor spoiler for an early plot point.

The show is a deconstruction of the magical girl warrior genre. It explores what would actually happen to middle-school girls who were responsible for battling terrible evil.

If you do start watching, make sure that you give it until the end of episode 3. The first couple of episodes lay a lot of important groundwork, but it’s not until the third episode that the story gets going.

The series was collected into a pair of movies, but I don’t recommend them. The first 8 episodes are compressed into a single 2 hour movie, and IMO compressing them like that throws off the pacing (which, other than the slow first two episodes, was very good). The last 4 episodes were expanded a bit to make up the second movie and I feel that the additional material was added in the wrong places and slowed down the pacing at parts where the original faster pace was superior.

There is a true sequel, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion, which is divisive but I really enjoyed.

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If you know the series is on Netflix please indicate that.
Thanks
Brian

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I watch most of my anime at Crunchyroll. If you don’t know, Crunchyroll is a legal streaming website (or app for most smart devices or game consoles) that uses the freemium model. Most shows are free a week after it is aired in Japan. If you subscribe, you can watch the shows simulcast with Japan in HD and access to all of their manga.

I have about 5 guest passes going to waste. If anybody wants one, send me a PM. You’ll be able to enjoy premium service for 48 hours. (This is not a solicitation. I get nothing out of the deal.)

18

I watch Yowamushi Peddle via crunchyroll (I live with ads, because I am cheap)

Brian

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**Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood **- 64 eps - Two brothers grow up in a land (similar to Europe) where instead of science, industry turned to alchemy. The brothers try to use forbidden alchemy techniques to bring back their mother, binding the younger brother to a suit of armor and costing the older nearly half his body. The two become military alchemists in order to find out what happened to them and maybe get their bods back.

Cowboy Bebop - 26 eps - The coolest anime ever. Amazing Jazz soundtrack, a philosophically coherent finale (I’m mostly looking at you, Neon Genesis Evangelion ,) memorable characters… A space bounty hunter builds his crew and tries to take the organized crime syndicate that he used to be a part of (but it’s so much more…)

**Samurai Champloo **- 26 eps - Two warriors reluctantly team up to help a girl find out what happened to her father, directed by the same Shinchihiro Watanabe as Bebop. Great hip hop soundtrack.

FLCL - 6 eps - a guitar is used as a baseball bat to protect the world from asteroids, as well as puberty. Basically an extended music video (the music is super funky.)

**Goldenboy **- 6 eps - A pervert tries his best. Older, hilarious.

Highschool of the Dead - 12 eps - Zombies and unrealistic boob physics. Don’t expect to be challenged by this one.

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Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Manic teen girl treats the universe like it revolves around her. Maybe it literally does… The first series is superb, the follow-up series hit and miss.

Elfen Lied - Killing machine that looks like a young girl grapples with self-awareness and choice, while still being an unpredictable killing machine. May contain disturbing ultra-violence and sex themes.

Haibane Renmei - A rewarding slow-paced unfolding mystery of an enclave of “angels” and the walled city that imprisons them.