If you are looking for anime on Netflix, and liked Yowamushi Pedal, you might like Haikyu (volleyball) or March comes in like a lion (Shogi - Japanese chess). (If you have Crunchyroll, I really liked Hikaru no Go, despite having only a vague idea of how Go is played, and also Chihayafuru, about karuta). Netflix currently doesn’t have anything I liked as much as Sword Art Online, but Inuyasha, Durarara, Bleach and Erased are pretty good.
Useless factoid-- the first person I saw playing shogi was Gary Gygax
On Crunchyroll instead of Netflix, but I really like Odd Taxi.
Netflix has released the first 12 episodes of a third and final season of Beastars, with 12 more coming in “early 2025”. (The second half of the manga run was much less good than the first, it remains to be seen how the rest of the anime will go.)
I watched half of the first season of Beastars but it was too creepy for me. “Hey, I know I violently attacked a teenage girl, but in my defence I’m just a nice guy who couldn’t help myself! And she’s also kind of a slut!”
FYI Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 starts Jan 16, 2025
Brian
Not on Netflix, but available free elsewhere:
Very strange…
On netflix:
Overlord - Similar (grossly) to SOA, with a protagonist (I do not say hero) who finds himself stuck as his avatar with his guildhall and NPCs in a world very similar to the online game he was playing. Full of much more detailed world building than most, a protagonist that is evil, but not for the evulz, and misunderstandings. Also, far fewer harem tropes since the protagonist is an undead. Good bit of gore, and lots of epically crazy people on all sides of the conflicts.
Blood of Zeus - Not a ‘traditional’ Japanese anime, but one that plays with the mythology of Greece. It’s on the surface, a very familiar pattern (avoiding spoilers) but with surprise surprise various gods and humans (and former humans) holding Zeus and others responsible for their actions of the past and present. Consequences, some far more complex characters than you’d expect, and a number of twists.
No, he isn’t. He’s very much the misunderstood good guy who just happens to be stuck in the form of a traditional bad guy (lich).
I think we have a strong disagreement, but that’s fine. Our OP can watch if they want and decide for themselves. IMHO, Ainz is Aberrant in terms of alignment, which is certainly better than any sort of truly diabolic individual, but far from “good”
Aberrant
- Always keeps his word of honor
- Lie & cheat those not worthy of his respect
- May or may not kill an unarmed foe
- Not kill an innocent particularly a child but will harm or kidnap
- Never kill for pleasure
- Not resort to inhumane treatment of prisoners, but torture, although distasteful, is necessary means of extracting info.
- Never torture for pleasure
- May or may not help someone in need
- work with others to attain his goals
- Respect honor and self-discipline
- Never betray a friend
For the record, IMHO there are a tiny, tiny handful of good guys in the whole series. They’re various flavors of selfish, evil, arrogant, crazy (clinically) and so forth.
I’m trying to think of a time when he doesn’t help someone in need. Or harms a child.
Now some of his underlings are what we’d consider “evil”, but given they were created that way by human players, not sure that counts. But Ainz certainly is shown to care about their wellbeing (and that of his new country’s citizens) not just himself.
I will take back what I said about “good guy”, though. More like neutral guy. Who remembers being a good guy.
No way he’s LE. LN, I’d say.
I watched thw first two episodes of Overlord (and the first two episodes of Children of The Whale - both I liked enough to continue)
So far, Momonga hasn’t done anything I would call evil, but there a lot of episodes to go.
Brian
I could go as far as LN (with evil tendencies). He’s an unabashed conqueror, and his pretenses in such cases are exactly that. His use of ulti’s in war are also what most would consider war crimes.
shrug
But it’s quibbling. I consider the Ainz from the first season arguably LN (with good tendencies) but he becomes much more pragmatic and, IMHO evil the longer he’s divorced from his humanity. Something that’s a touch more mentioned in the LN/WN than the anime.
Spoiler:
He himself is worried because almost all his strong emotion is being cancelled out by his current, undead state. Which is too his credit. But as such, he becomes ever more prone to amoral pragmatism, and the furtherance of his own goals at MAJOR costs to others who are certainly more “good” than he is.
I managed to finish the first season, but I’m afraid I agree with your assessment. I thought it was mostly pointless fight scenes (e.g. 10+ minutes of trading ineffectual punches with the bad guy) or unfunny humour.
There are some Netflix anime series that I have enjoyed, however:
- Komi Can’t Communicate: A beautiful high school girl with extreme social anxiety tries to make friends with the help of an “average Joe”. Kind of sweet and mostly inoffensive (e.g. only occasionally features jiggling breasts or leering perverts).
- Doctor Stone: A brilliant high school student tries to recreate society (with science!) 3700 years after everyone on Earth was mysteriously turned to stone. I’m a sucker for stories where someone tries to reinvent industry after a catastrophe.
- Dandadan: A geeky guy and a cool girl use their mystical powers to try to rescue his wiener and nuts from the clutches of aliens and monsters. Weird, wacky stuff.
- Delicious In Dungeon: I think this has been mentioned elsewhere, but it has a nice charm of its own (exploring a dungeon and solving problems with the power of cooking!).
- Tokyo Override: A girl joins a group of kind-hearted smugglers in a future Tokyo where all roads and vehicles are linked together with computers. Beautiful CG art and an interesting story.
I highly recommend Terminator Zero on Netflix! In fact, I think I want to watch it again over my two week Christmas break.
What would you guys recommend for a Father and Son program for us to watch? He’s eleven.
I am pretty new to anime and haven’t ventured far past the well known adult stuff like Ghost in The Shell and Akira, but I think he would like some if we found a good one.
If you are Ok with “anime-ish” shows - Avatar: The Last Airbender does have some deep aspects (ex: plight of refugees in war), but implemented in a way that an 11 year-old could handle I think.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts .mentioned above is pretty kid friendly at last as far as I have watched.
I don’t have kids so may not be the best judge.
Brian
Hard to say. There is a lot of difference between what Japanese society in general thinks is okay for an 11-year-old and what American society in general thinks is okay. (And of course it also depends on your own beliefs, and the interest of the kid.) Lots of it is too violent, or too sexual. Also slow “slice of life” he might be bored by. Or relationship/dating drama/humor he might not appreciate. Probably most of the stuff enjoyable to an 11-year-old is the sort of action/fighting shows that I don’t watch so can’t comment on.
But from ones mentioned in this thread
Delicious in Dungeon is probably a good choice. Lots of action but nothing too graphic or terrifying for a kid. And very little fan service except for of a middle-aged male dwarf.
Beastars is very well-done. Like Zootopia, but really leans into some of the problems of carnivore species attempting to live peacefully with herbivore species. (Devourings happen.) Some PG-13, CW-level sexuality.
Speaking of anthropomorphic animals, Oddtaxi I mentioned earlier is good, but might be boring for an 11-year-old because it is more adult drama themed.
As I said above, I found some of the messaging of Beastars (about violence towards women) very disturbing. YMMV, obviously.
I think Doctor Stone would be OK for a younger viewer.
Yeah you said that above. And you are free to make that interpretation if you wish. But I don’t think it is a correct one.