Yet another "recommend an Anime series to me" thread

Cafe Society
1

My best friend and I have diverse tastes, but it really seems to bother her that I have very little interest in Anime. Although I do tend to appricate non-anime animation more ( recently :Courage the Cowardly Dog. In the past: The Maxx; Daria; Rocko’s modern life) I’m willing to try to find an anime series that interests me- I did like Akira, Princess Monoke and Spirited Away after all, so the genre isn’t a complete turn off. But I don’t know what’s on! Well, there’s Cowboy Beebop and Hamtaro, but I already know I don’t like those. So…

In order to give a series a shot:

  • it must be “free.”
    I know there are tons of series on dvd, but I don’t intend to buy anything before I see it, I don’t do that with movie either. I think this limits this then to series on the cartoon network, Action and Wham then.

  • it can’t be about robots, robotic suits, or in space (although on
    another planet is ok, just not space-ship based).
    I have zero interest in anything of the sort, so I’m not going to try watching a cartoon series about it.

  • It has to be just starting or re-airing the pilot in the near future
    Given an anal streak in my personality, I can’t comfortably watch a tv show/movie series or read a book series in the middle. I have to start at the beginning. I realize this limits things even further. Suggestions of things currently airing in their final seasons are probably fine- as long as they’re not on once a week like that hack//sign show- since they’ll probably start over soon.

So, does anyone have any suggestions despite the limitations?

2

Rurouni Kenshin - airing on Cartoon Network. Some rough edges on the translation and dubbing, but not “make your ears bleed” bad.

Trigun - also on CN. Though, from what I hear, the dubbing is pretty bad.

Both starting out now. Trigun is probably on ep 4 or 5 by now, Kenshin, I dunno, 14 or so? (Show doesn’t really pick up until season 2, so don’t feel too bad about coming in late.)

3

I like the Trigun dubbing. Check it out, cuz this is one very good series.

You can also try Yu Yu Hakosho. Boy dies, boy meets girl, girl turns out to be th Shinto version of Death. Boy comes back to life and must karate-cize many demons as a new “Spirit Detective”/.
Pretty funny stuff, IMHO.

4

You aren’t going to have much luck with this. You’ll have to compromise, unless you want to limit yourself to one choice. Anyway, man series are quasi-episodic, so you won’t be spoiling much at all.

5

Don’t like Cowboy Bebop? Heresy!

Trigun reminds me much of Bebop, with the whole Old-West-on-another-planet theme, and the very much good artwork, and the cool music (did I read in another thread that Yokko Kanno did the music for this series, too?), but so far there haven’t been any space ships or deep space flight. I don’t know about future eps. Anyway, it’s 26 episodes long, and last night was ep. 8, so they’re already into it a bit, but, if CN reruns it like they have Bebop, it’ll be easy to calculate when it will restart. And you can watch it over and over and over.

Inu Yasha is also good. It’s about a girl named Kagome who is the reincarnation of an ancient priestess who was the guard of a jewel that is coveted by demons for the strength and power which it bestows on the possessor. The girl find herself transported back in time to the Feudal era and in possession of the jewel. Unfortunately, the jewel is fractured into hundreds of shards and scattered throughout the land. She embarks on a quest to collect the shards with the aid of a handsome if hot-tempered half-demon, half-human boy named Inu Yasha. Inu Yasha was in love with the dead priestess and they had planned to use the jewel to make him fully human. Now he claims he wants to use it to become fully demon. But of course romantic tension develops between Inu Yasha and Kagome. But does he love her for herself, or because he reminds her of his dead lover, or is he simply using her because she has the ability to detect the presence of jewel shards? So far CN has aired the first 36 eps. Right now they are rerunning the series, and last night was ep. 24. If they restart the series after ep. 36, then, again, it’d be easy to recalculate when it will start again.

6

Tonight on TechTV, they’re having a Silent Mobius marathon. I’ve never watched this series, so I don’t know what kind of robots it might have, but here’s a link with a plot summary and times:

http://www.techtv.com/animeunleashed/silentmobius/story/0,24330,3411402,00.html

7

Here is some more information: http://www.serc.rmit.edu.au/~ashelton/anime/html/silent_moebius_a1.html

It starts at 11:00 PM eastern (8:00 pacific).

8

Do not watch Trigun on CN. It is the worst dubbing I have ever heard, and it is definitely worth it to see the real version of the series.

Kenshin and Inu Yasha are your best bets on CN, they are both really good.

9

I think I can deal with having missed the first 45 minutes…thanks! :stuck_out_tongue:

10

I went to the Tech TV site to look up Gr8Kat’s suggestion, and it looks like there’s a show re-airing at the end of this month - until now I didn’t even know tech showed anything like this, although they do show Max Headroom- Crest Of The Stars. Anyone know anything about it? The description reminds me of Titan AE which I liked a lot, so I’m going to give it a shot; it doesn’t sound like it’s all on space ships, so…

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/supergeek/story/0,24330,3411643,00.html

11

“Crest Of The Stars. Anyone know anything about it?”
I liked Crest of the Stars quite a lot. Some of the episodes are based in space; others on a planet. You might find it a little slow-moving at first but it builds up the main characters and their relationship very nicely. However Gr8Kat told me that the dub wasn’t very good. (I saw the sub)

I know you want free stuff but if you are not averse to shelling out 3-4 dollars you might want to try renting some films at your local Blockbusters. I liked Jin-roh: Wolf-brigade, Ghost in the Shell and Metropolis all of which are available on DVD. There are some robots in the latter but most of the main characters are human..

This site has a nice collection of anime reviews which you might want to check out:
http://www.animejump.com/cgi-bin/go.cgi?=reviews-list

12

You should try Cowboy Bebop, even though it does involve space ships, it isn’t really a space travel type show. The last episode was just shown, so the first episode should be on monday night on cartoon network. It is on right after Inuyasha, wich is ok, but not near the beginning of the series.

13

I didn’t care a whole lot for Silent Mobius. Mostly I had a hard time getting passed the woman named Lebia (pronounced labia) :stuck_out_tongue:

If you have Showtime Beyond, they show Dirty Pair. Despite the name, it’s not a dirty show, though the outfits are a little risque and there’s some mild T&A. It’s about a pair of female “trouble consultants” codenamed the Lovely Angels but known familiarly as the Dirty Pair. The original series was from the 80’s, but Showtime also shows the newer Dirty Pair Flash from the 90’s. If you are interested in skantily clad cops getting into and out of improbable scrapes with lots of explosions and stuff, check it out.

14

Oh, and the dub for Trigun is horrible? It’s funny, if I’ve seen the dub first, it usually doesn’t bother me, unless the actors absolutely can’t act. In the case of Trigun, I think it’s all right. If I’d gotten those DVD’s from Netflix, though, I’d’ve watched them in Japanese and then I’d probably agree that the dub is painful. But I haven’t so I think it’s fine.

15

Well I know it already restarted but Tokyo Pig is another one worth watching. Basically it’s a wacky comedy revolving around a boy, his pig, and his insane friends and family.(It always give me a cheap laugh.)

16

What channel is that on?

17

It’s on a cable channel called “The Family Channel”. I think ABC actually owns that network.

18

I wish I had Tokyo TV here!! I know somewhere on those satellite network they have anime channels.

Anime ga diasuke desu ne!!!

I’m not a big fan of English Dubbing, but CowBoy Bebop is pretty good dubbed.

Kenshin is awesome only with the Shishio episodes. The OAV’s for it are awesome.
Initial D if you like street racing.
Amazunga Daioh for those who like comedy that makes little sense.
Witch Hunter Robin is awesome for suspense.
Neon Genesis Evangelion for those who like a good mind F***
Same for Serial Experiments Lain.
Wolf’s Rain is playing right now only up to episode 10.

I can name a crap load that are pretty much all “borrowed” from the internet. The best thing is that most of them are available because it’s not licensed in the US yet.

Oh and episodes like Hellsing you can get the DVD box set for $25 on EBay, I say that’s a deal. But I have it all on my server!! I’m an addict that can’t get enough:)

19

Ok, here’s a somewhat complete (I didn’t search out every showing of Pokemon, Digimon, and/or Yu-Gi-Oh out there) list of free anime out there. Times are Eastern (except for where they’re not). A * means there may be space travel. A # means there may be giant robots. An @@ means big-eyes cutie-pie cuddlebugs.

Cartoon Network:
Monday-Thursday:
6:30 a.m. Transformers Armada #
3:30 p.m. Hamtaro @@
5:00 p.m. G Gundam *#
5:30 p.m. Dragon Ball Z *
6:00 p.m. Yuyu Hakusho
6:30 p.m. Rurouni Kenshin
8:30 p.m. Pokemon @@
9:00 p.m. Pokemon @@
12:00 a.m. Trigun *
12:30 a.m. Inuyasha
1:00 a.m. Cowboy Bebop *
1:30 a.m. Reign: The Conqueror

Friday:
6:30 a.m. Transformers Armada #
3:30 p.m. Hamtaro @@
5:00 p.m. G Gundam #
5:30 p.m. Dragon Ball Z *
6:00 p.m. Yuyu Hakusho
6:30 p.m. Rurouni Kenshin
8:30 p.m. Pokemon @@
9:00 p.m. Pokemon @@

Saturday:
12:30 p.m. Transformers Armada #
7:00 p.m. Pokemon @@
8:30 p.m. Transformers Armada #
9:30 p.m. Yu-Gi-Oh

10:30 p.m. G Gundam *#
11:00 p.m. Dragon Ball
12:00 a.m. .Hack//SIGN
12:30 a.m. Gundam 0080 #

Sunday:
6:00 p.m. Hamtaro @@

TechTV:
Anime Unleashed (Currently airing Silent Mobius)
Tuesday - Thursday 1:00 a.m.
Friday 1:00 a.m., 11:00 p.m., 11:30 p.m.
Saturday 12:00 a.m.-2:30 a.m.

Showtime Beyond:
Dirty Pair *
Friday 7:00 pm, 7:30 pm
Sunday 3:10 pm, 3:40 pm
and Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Saturday, when and if they feel like it

ABC Family Channel
Tokyo Pig:
Saturday 8:00 am
Sunday 8:00 am

Miscellaneous movies:
“X” on Showtime Beyond: Monday the 14th, 9:00 AM, 5:20 PM; Saturday the 19th at 10:00 AM, 7:00 PM; Friday the 25th at 8:10 AM, 3:20 PM, 8:30 PM
“Metropolis” on Encore WAM: Saturday the 19th at 9:30 PM; Friday the 25th at 6:00 PM, 10:30 PM; Saturday the 26th at 4:00 PM
“Queen Esmereldas” * on Encore Action: Friday the 18th at 2:40 AM, 2:35 PM; Monday, 21 3:45 PM, 11:50 PM; Sunday, 27 12:30 PM, 9:00 PM