A few years ago I would have laughed at anime. I thought it was nothing more than Japanese kids cartoons with that anime girl artwork the "weird" girls drew when I was in high school. Was never into any sort of comics so didn't have exposure to that.
That's until I got bored with western stuff being just not good anymore. At the time I didn't hate it for the wokeness because I hadn't paid enough attention to that, but I just knew the shows were getting really shit. So I decided to give it anime a try. Here we are at the end of 2021 and I'm not sure I watched a single series of anything close to a modern Western fictional series the entire year.
I'm so reading JJK next year. The anime was so good for someone like me, who used to be into all the old 00s shounen shit. Like all that nostalgia, but it is actually good. :D
Watched the first couple AoT seasons, I just feel the answers were a lot lamer than the questions we started out with.
Made in Abyss looks so very good. Pedos can fuck off, they see something like that in everything.
My biggest problem with Demon Slayer is once I get into the groove of watching it there's never enough episodes. It's like fucking heroin. Watched all of them a few months ago and I was looking around for any info for more. The art style is so incredible.
Also, if AoT finally done? I thought they were finished, watched the whole series through the new season only to find out they split the "final season" into two and had serious blue balls so I've been giving it a wide birth to make sure they didn't come out with some shit after the finale to milk it a little more.
The "Final Season" as mentioned by DarkRooster is incomplete, there's still a lot to come and that's going to be in "part 2" of the 'Final Season'.
However the ending is... controversial to say the least and will cause a lot of discussion when the anime finally gets to it since that's what happened with the manga.
I've been trying to get into Re:Zero. Seems like something I'd like based on what I've read about it. I'm struggling to get interested because like you said it seems bland. I'll keep giving it a go at least through the first season maybe will grab me.
Theres some pretty great moments but i felt the same way about it tbh... I powered through the first season though and it gets better, theres some pretty fucking powerful scenes/moments but like... man. It does get better though but it feels like a whole lot of nothing happens for a while until it picks up.
I thought Arcane was really mediocre and the only reason people think it's good is because it's league and because it's not the normal dumpsterfire shit that western studios pump out these days.
One that I recommend to everyone is Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's a very political space opera. If you're here on KiA2 I feel you'll have enough knowledge and interest to get sucked in to the story. LoGH is also extremely based.
I love fantasy the most. Action-focused things, steampunk is always a plus. Not really into romance and harem and such.
I also generally love stories about historical/semi-historical people and events that are just odd and lesser known. I'm really excited about starting Golden Kamuy, if that makes it clearer what I mean.
Most of what I've watched is super-mainstream and/or old really but looks like others have you covered. I'm still really new into it and I play games and do other things a lot more than I watch TV.
Higurashi/umineko if you like a nice mix of slice of life/incredibly fucked up murder mystery. Higurashi specifically has 4 20+ episode seasons though... although 3 was more of a soft reboot of sorts until like... the last quarter. Space dandy is pretty fucking good. Rising of shield hero (although season 2 keeps getting fucking pushed back.) Uzaki was pretty good/has another season lined up. Assassination classroom was really good (don't know how far back you quit watching stuff tbh, just spitballing stuff here). Great pretender is actually really good for something netflix churned out. Dorohedoro was really good but really fucking weird... it works though, nice mix of comedy/mystery/action but holy hell is it weird. To your eternity is supposed to be fantastic, haven't watched it yet. Danmachi is really fucking good too. And tbh, i just got into anime this past year outside of basic toonami shit as a teenager... theres so much shit i'm sitting on i haven't watched yet, and most of the stuff i listed i've watched during the pandemic. A silent voice is a really good movie too.
Just saw someone mentioned konosuba/made in abyss, cannot reccomend those two highly enough, god damn. Combatants will be dispatched is from the guy behind konosuba if you enjoy that too, protag is basically a carbon copy of konosuba's but in space and he gets money for being a dickhead.
I keep googling stuff and I am realising how much of it I have seen before without context.
Space Dandy was made by the Bebop/Champloo dude, right?
Yeah, I am reading Chainsaw Man now, that could potentially lead into Dorohedoro when it comes to weird and just... ugh.
I think, i dunno. I'm a pleb when it comes to this stuff basically and get most of my recs from random shitposts/imageboards tbh. I know dandy is made by some "uber western" type guy, i remember that much which is why a lot of people say it works so good with the english dub... Just a goofy space bounty hunter trying to find new alien species and love along the way... and a pretty feels worthy episode in season 2. Pretty fucking funny show though.
What kind of stuff were you into back then? I might have some personalized recommendations for you.
Sometime I want to make a full post of my story of forsaking anime for about 6-7 years "cuz muhsoggyknees bad" until my friend happened to put on Kill La Kill at work just a few days before The Zoe Post hit in good old August '14.
Extremely fortunate timing for me. Somehow, getting directly berated and told that everything bad is my fault while watching a great story warning me about those kind of people cured me of Libstianity within a week...weird.
Anything Studio Trigger touches turns to gold, and it's no wonder given their prestigious lineage from massively successful studios past. (and yes, they clearly understand exactly what "Trigger" implies in contemporary Western politics)
In general, from Rooster's post I can second Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, from the same director, is also quite good), Konosuba, Arcane (gonna finish it today), and especially Made in Abyss.
...man, I really could go on all day. Weeb for life.
I love Tiger & Bunny, which nobody fucking knows, but hey. FMA is pretty much perfect storytelling to me, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, I really really liked Xam'd: Lost Memories, liked Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (even though the end resolution was fucking dumb), Mushishi is beautiful, Natsume Yuujinchou too, Gintama was hilariously dumb (stopped watching anime while it was still going, so nowhere near caught up), I did like Ouran High School Host Club as a teen, Baccano is fucking amazing.
I dislike Clamp's stuff (yes, that includes Codea Geass), Stein's Gate, TTGL and I cry VERY easily, so I am scared of trying Violet Evergarden, even though it looks so beautiful.
There are some I am already interested in, like Made in Abyss, Golden Kamuy, The Tatami Galaxy (one of my all time fave illustrators did the original character designs for it), etc.
You'll be happy to hear that years ago a friend introduced me to Tiger & Bunny as her very first recommendation. It didn't end up being my exact cup of tea, but rest assured there are those of us out there who know about it.
I'm just finishing up my first watch of FMA:Brotherhood (9 episodes left I think). It seems everyone loves it, myself most likely included. It took me this long because I found the ending of the 2003 adaptation very disappointing.
Bebop & Champloo, hell, what kind of bozo doesn't like those?
Then you've got a bunch of stuff that I haven't watched. I really should finish Zetsubou-sensei.
You don't like CLAMP????? HOW DARE YOU. xxxHolic is a masterpiece.
I just tried to sell a non-believer with Golden Kamuy elsewhere in this thread.
Seems like you've already got pretty varied taste. I'll just offer up three niche picks that you might enjoy:
-Death Parade
-Girl's last Tour
-Flip Flappers
One I'll always recommend for something that's just stupid fun is Girls und Panzer. I originally checked it out on a whim and it ended up my favorite anime.
It starts off a little slow with a heavier focus on the slice of life side of things, but after the first 2-3 episodes the balance swaps to be mostly focusing on the tank battles with a bit of slice of life separating them.
Plus the movie (and the ongoing Das Finale sequel OVAs, the third of which should have fansubs within a few days) are absolutely fantastic.
And if you like historical references, that enhances the show even more, since it's full of them.
Girls und Panzer is one of those things people mention when it comes to weird anime concepts. For the longest time I thought it was the same as Tanya the evil.
I got some mostly stale recs as someone else who doesn't keep up with anime very well. If you used to be into anime you probably know them, but if not then here's some sentimental slice-of-life flavoured offerings:
Uchoten Kazoku/The Eccentric Family - probably my favourite anime. On the surface level it's about 3 different factions in Kyoto based in Japanese folklore: tengu, tanuki and humans. On a deeper level (imo) each of these factions are metaphors for parts of the same human experience, and the whole show is about determining your role in the world, the inevitability of loss and death and the cosmic food chain. At the start it might seem like it's goofy and about nothing, but stick with it and you'll find it to be extremely character driven. The ears look weird at the start but you can probably get over them if I did.
Barakamon - anime about a snobbish city-born creative type (calligrapher) having to move to the country and find out exactly what makes life tick, with the help of cute kids. Unusually for this kind of setup, no surreptitious pedo undertones. Heartwarming.
Natsume Yuujincho/Natsume Book of Friends - a contender with Uchoten Kazoku for my favourite anime, but Natsume is shamelessly the more popcorn one. It's marketed under the 'shoujo' tag because it involves fat kitty and a cute sensitive boy whose main friend circle is boys - as my best guess - but really that yaoi bait is just a small sprinkling to keep the masses watching. It's about a teen who can see spirits and solves ghost problems (a la mushishi), but imo it's got more heart than mushishi which always zones me the fuck out. Extremely relaxing.
Erased/Boku dake ga inai machi('the town lacking only me') - quantum leap/time leap murder mystery setup. Guy becomes himself as a kid all over again to solve something that happened to someone else in his past. It falls into slice of life because it focuses a lot on the small details of what made him appreciate life as a kid. Better than most isekai because the threads of his present day life are not abandoned completely. Considered weak as a 'mystery' because the culprit is guessable very early, but to my mind it's not about that.
IMO Erased isn't something to be scared away from for fear of being put through the emotional wringer. There are some bleak and sad situations, but the main character's assertiveness gives the story a lot of momentum and positivity. But the scenes of childhood innocence may prick a tear duct.
It might be saccharine to the point of toxicity but I love Natsume. Nyanko-sensei is a great creation considering that cat-form is a larp which he becomes accustomed to, just as Natsume is initially a means to an end for him, but over time he comes to care about the noodle armed kid more than the book of friends (or so we can surmise - he never admits it).
I never laughed at it, but never got into it either. More often than not, co-workers at my lunch table talk about Anime. I just nod my head while I think about the interesting bits of actual history I learned from a book the day before.
Yeah, similar case here. Me and my mate few years back, we never even considered giving anime a try (probably would have not laugh at it, but it was too foreign/weird for us). We both watched a lot of western series, but our most favorite ones were usually quite old (e.g. ST:TOS, ST:TNG, Red Dwarf, Farscape, Star Gate). Nowadays we watch anime daily and very rarely anything from the west (for me probably just Orville which is currently the closest thing to the spirit of star trek). Personally, I consider most sequels/reboots (ST, SW, Doctor Who) as dead to me, they just changed so much, became racists, sexist, preachy, lore-breaking for no reason, with bland and characters and uninspired predictable story, simply boring. Effects alone cannot carry a movie/series if everything else is garbage.
Slightly off topic question - does anyone know about some site with "wokeness" meter or some other kind of such rating for movies/series/games? I don't watch many movies (a few per year, usually those which are lambasted by "critics" and praised by fans), but in games it's slowly getting worse and it looks like anime is the next target for the censorious crazies.
A few years ago I would have laughed at anime. I thought it was nothing more than Japanese kids cartoons with that anime girl artwork the "weird" girls drew when I was in high school. Was never into any sort of comics so didn't have exposure to that.
That's until I got bored with western stuff being just not good anymore. At the time I didn't hate it for the wokeness because I hadn't paid enough attention to that, but I just knew the shows were getting really shit. So I decided to give it anime a try. Here we are at the end of 2021 and I'm not sure I watched a single series of anything close to a modern Western fictional series the entire year.
Any anime you would recommend?
I used to be majorly into anime, but then shit happened and I'm out of the loop with current stuff.
I'm so reading JJK next year. The anime was so good for someone like me, who used to be into all the old 00s shounen shit. Like all that nostalgia, but it is actually good. :D
Watched the first couple AoT seasons, I just feel the answers were a lot lamer than the questions we started out with.
Made in Abyss looks so very good. Pedos can fuck off, they see something like that in everything.
My biggest problem with Demon Slayer is once I get into the groove of watching it there's never enough episodes. It's like fucking heroin. Watched all of them a few months ago and I was looking around for any info for more. The art style is so incredible.
Also, if AoT finally done? I thought they were finished, watched the whole series through the new season only to find out they split the "final season" into two and had serious blue balls so I've been giving it a wide birth to make sure they didn't come out with some shit after the finale to milk it a little more.
The "Final Season" as mentioned by DarkRooster is incomplete, there's still a lot to come and that's going to be in "part 2" of the 'Final Season'.
However the ending is... controversial to say the least and will cause a lot of discussion when the anime finally gets to it since that's what happened with the manga.
I've been trying to get into Re:Zero. Seems like something I'd like based on what I've read about it. I'm struggling to get interested because like you said it seems bland. I'll keep giving it a go at least through the first season maybe will grab me.
Theres some pretty great moments but i felt the same way about it tbh... I powered through the first season though and it gets better, theres some pretty fucking powerful scenes/moments but like... man. It does get better though but it feels like a whole lot of nothing happens for a while until it picks up.
I thought Arcane was really mediocre and the only reason people think it's good is because it's league and because it's not the normal dumpsterfire shit that western studios pump out these days.
What genres are you interested in?
Fantasy, scifi, historical, comedy, romance, etc?
One that I recommend to everyone is Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's a very political space opera. If you're here on KiA2 I feel you'll have enough knowledge and interest to get sucked in to the story. LoGH is also extremely based.
I love fantasy the most. Action-focused things, steampunk is always a plus. Not really into romance and harem and such.
I also generally love stories about historical/semi-historical people and events that are just odd and lesser known. I'm really excited about starting Golden Kamuy, if that makes it clearer what I mean.
Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou)
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maoujou de Oyasumi)
Princess Principal
To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e)
Dororo
Mieruko-chan looks interesting. I already feel for the poor girl lol.
Second mieruko-chan.
Most of what I've watched is super-mainstream and/or old really but looks like others have you covered. I'm still really new into it and I play games and do other things a lot more than I watch TV.
Higurashi/umineko if you like a nice mix of slice of life/incredibly fucked up murder mystery. Higurashi specifically has 4 20+ episode seasons though... although 3 was more of a soft reboot of sorts until like... the last quarter. Space dandy is pretty fucking good. Rising of shield hero (although season 2 keeps getting fucking pushed back.) Uzaki was pretty good/has another season lined up. Assassination classroom was really good (don't know how far back you quit watching stuff tbh, just spitballing stuff here). Great pretender is actually really good for something netflix churned out. Dorohedoro was really good but really fucking weird... it works though, nice mix of comedy/mystery/action but holy hell is it weird. To your eternity is supposed to be fantastic, haven't watched it yet. Danmachi is really fucking good too. And tbh, i just got into anime this past year outside of basic toonami shit as a teenager... theres so much shit i'm sitting on i haven't watched yet, and most of the stuff i listed i've watched during the pandemic. A silent voice is a really good movie too.
Just saw someone mentioned konosuba/made in abyss, cannot reccomend those two highly enough, god damn. Combatants will be dispatched is from the guy behind konosuba if you enjoy that too, protag is basically a carbon copy of konosuba's but in space and he gets money for being a dickhead.
I keep googling stuff and I am realising how much of it I have seen before without context.
Space Dandy was made by the Bebop/Champloo dude, right?
Yeah, I am reading Chainsaw Man now, that could potentially lead into Dorohedoro when it comes to weird and just... ugh.
I think, i dunno. I'm a pleb when it comes to this stuff basically and get most of my recs from random shitposts/imageboards tbh. I know dandy is made by some "uber western" type guy, i remember that much which is why a lot of people say it works so good with the english dub... Just a goofy space bounty hunter trying to find new alien species and love along the way... and a pretty feels worthy episode in season 2. Pretty fucking funny show though.
Neptunia
What kind of stuff were you into back then? I might have some personalized recommendations for you.
Sometime I want to make a full post of my story of forsaking anime for about 6-7 years "cuz muhsoggyknees bad" until my friend happened to put on Kill La Kill at work just a few days before The Zoe Post hit in good old August '14.
Extremely fortunate timing for me. Somehow, getting directly berated and told that everything bad is my fault while watching a great story warning me about those kind of people cured me of Libstianity within a week...weird.
Anything Studio Trigger touches turns to gold, and it's no wonder given their prestigious lineage from massively successful studios past. (and yes, they clearly understand exactly what "Trigger" implies in contemporary Western politics)
In general, from Rooster's post I can second Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, from the same director, is also quite good), Konosuba, Arcane (gonna finish it today), and especially Made in Abyss.
...man, I really could go on all day. Weeb for life.
I love Tiger & Bunny, which nobody fucking knows, but hey. FMA is pretty much perfect storytelling to me, Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, I really really liked Xam'd: Lost Memories, liked Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (even though the end resolution was fucking dumb), Mushishi is beautiful, Natsume Yuujinchou too, Gintama was hilariously dumb (stopped watching anime while it was still going, so nowhere near caught up), I did like Ouran High School Host Club as a teen, Baccano is fucking amazing.
I dislike Clamp's stuff (yes, that includes Codea Geass), Stein's Gate, TTGL and I cry VERY easily, so I am scared of trying Violet Evergarden, even though it looks so beautiful.
There are some I am already interested in, like Made in Abyss, Golden Kamuy, The Tatami Galaxy (one of my all time fave illustrators did the original character designs for it), etc.
You'll be happy to hear that years ago a friend introduced me to Tiger & Bunny as her very first recommendation. It didn't end up being my exact cup of tea, but rest assured there are those of us out there who know about it.
I'm just finishing up my first watch of FMA:Brotherhood (9 episodes left I think). It seems everyone loves it, myself most likely included. It took me this long because I found the ending of the 2003 adaptation very disappointing.
Bebop & Champloo, hell, what kind of bozo doesn't like those?
Then you've got a bunch of stuff that I haven't watched. I really should finish Zetsubou-sensei.
You don't like CLAMP????? HOW DARE YOU. xxxHolic is a masterpiece.
I just tried to sell a non-believer with Golden Kamuy elsewhere in this thread.
Seems like you've already got pretty varied taste. I'll just offer up three niche picks that you might enjoy: -Death Parade -Girl's last Tour -Flip Flappers
I'll recommend a classic: The Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 movies. That classic was Japan's Star Wars in terms of cultural impact.
One I'll always recommend for something that's just stupid fun is Girls und Panzer. I originally checked it out on a whim and it ended up my favorite anime.
It starts off a little slow with a heavier focus on the slice of life side of things, but after the first 2-3 episodes the balance swaps to be mostly focusing on the tank battles with a bit of slice of life separating them.
Plus the movie (and the ongoing Das Finale sequel OVAs, the third of which should have fansubs within a few days) are absolutely fantastic.
And if you like historical references, that enhances the show even more, since it's full of them.
Girls und Panzer is one of those things people mention when it comes to weird anime concepts. For the longest time I thought it was the same as Tanya the evil.
I got some mostly stale recs as someone else who doesn't keep up with anime very well. If you used to be into anime you probably know them, but if not then here's some sentimental slice-of-life flavoured offerings:
Uchoten Kazoku/The Eccentric Family - probably my favourite anime. On the surface level it's about 3 different factions in Kyoto based in Japanese folklore: tengu, tanuki and humans. On a deeper level (imo) each of these factions are metaphors for parts of the same human experience, and the whole show is about determining your role in the world, the inevitability of loss and death and the cosmic food chain. At the start it might seem like it's goofy and about nothing, but stick with it and you'll find it to be extremely character driven. The ears look weird at the start but you can probably get over them if I did.
Barakamon - anime about a snobbish city-born creative type (calligrapher) having to move to the country and find out exactly what makes life tick, with the help of cute kids. Unusually for this kind of setup, no surreptitious pedo undertones. Heartwarming.
Natsume Yuujincho/Natsume Book of Friends - a contender with Uchoten Kazoku for my favourite anime, but Natsume is shamelessly the more popcorn one. It's marketed under the 'shoujo' tag because it involves fat kitty and a cute sensitive boy whose main friend circle is boys - as my best guess - but really that yaoi bait is just a small sprinkling to keep the masses watching. It's about a teen who can see spirits and solves ghost problems (a la mushishi), but imo it's got more heart than mushishi which always zones me the fuck out. Extremely relaxing.
Erased/Boku dake ga inai machi('the town lacking only me') - quantum leap/time leap murder mystery setup. Guy becomes himself as a kid all over again to solve something that happened to someone else in his past. It falls into slice of life because it focuses a lot on the small details of what made him appreciate life as a kid. Better than most isekai because the threads of his present day life are not abandoned completely. Considered weak as a 'mystery' because the culprit is guessable very early, but to my mind it's not about that.
Natsume is so sweet. I used to have a keychain with the cat.
Erased scares me so much. Would I cry my eyes out? Most probable, though i love thrillers and true crime .
IMO Erased isn't something to be scared away from for fear of being put through the emotional wringer. There are some bleak and sad situations, but the main character's assertiveness gives the story a lot of momentum and positivity. But the scenes of childhood innocence may prick a tear duct.
It might be saccharine to the point of toxicity but I love Natsume. Nyanko-sensei is a great creation considering that cat-form is a larp which he becomes accustomed to, just as Natsume is initially a means to an end for him, but over time he comes to care about the noodle armed kid more than the book of friends (or so we can surmise - he never admits it).
I never laughed at it, but never got into it either. More often than not, co-workers at my lunch table talk about Anime. I just nod my head while I think about the interesting bits of actual history I learned from a book the day before.
Yeah, similar case here. Me and my mate few years back, we never even considered giving anime a try (probably would have not laugh at it, but it was too foreign/weird for us). We both watched a lot of western series, but our most favorite ones were usually quite old (e.g. ST:TOS, ST:TNG, Red Dwarf, Farscape, Star Gate). Nowadays we watch anime daily and very rarely anything from the west (for me probably just Orville which is currently the closest thing to the spirit of star trek). Personally, I consider most sequels/reboots (ST, SW, Doctor Who) as dead to me, they just changed so much, became racists, sexist, preachy, lore-breaking for no reason, with bland and characters and uninspired predictable story, simply boring. Effects alone cannot carry a movie/series if everything else is garbage.
Slightly off topic question - does anyone know about some site with "wokeness" meter or some other kind of such rating for movies/series/games? I don't watch many movies (a few per year, usually those which are lambasted by "critics" and praised by fans), but in games it's slowly getting worse and it looks like anime is the next target for the censorious crazies.