When I heard that the guy who played TC in the original Magnum P.I. died I watched some old reruns of the show. As an 80s baby I remember watching Magnum P.I., Night Rider, and A-Team with my dad when I was a kid. Thankfully in those days it was still ok to have shows that appealed to men. Of course plenty of women liked those shows generally to see the male leads, but that is what you want. As I call the James Bond appeal. Get men to watch for the action and women to watch for the handsome male lead. On the flip side, if you make a female led action movie with an attractive woman who isn't an annoying feminist (basically the opposite of that stupid Charlies Angels movie) I'd be inclined to watch.
But it further reinforced why I tend to watch stuff from 2014 and prior and really need some heavy recommendations to try shows that come out today. Also back then they had shows like Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing to appeal to women. Just makes me realize how entertainment would change overnight if they could simply acknowledge that men and women tend to enjoy different things or maybe they watch the same thing for different reasons. There is a reason as a kid my brother and I loved G.I. Joe and Thundercats while my sister was into Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.
Some anime recs for those who enjoy the types of shows OP mentioned:
Gunsmith Cats
Black Lagoon
Golgo 13
Cowboy Bebop
Cool thanks! Been trying to get into more anime. Still re watching Fist of the North Star. First anime I ever watched was Robotech. Cowboy Bebop was good but I haven’t seen it in years and need to rewatch. Can’t believe Netflix butchered it. I’ll check out the other ones. I enjoyed Sword Art Online. Any recommendations like that?
Sword Art Online is part of what I call the "Aniplex Trio", three big anime from Aniplex that dominated 2011. The other two were:
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Fate/Zero
Madoka looks cutesy but it gets dark. The movie's plot sucked, but it has one of the best gun fights in anime.
Fate/Zero combines the epic duels for the fate of the universe of Highlander with the plotting and backstabbing of Game of Thrones.
Also, for anime about people stuck in an online game:
It's more of a mystery anime than an action anime.
Patrician taste, but I'd not actually recommend it to many. It made the dubious decision to throw its plot to the nine winds and seven seas, and getting the whole story requires watching anime, playing video games, reading LNs, and reading manga, and none of them overlap or properly summarize information from the others.
Yeah, it's fairly linear so the "watch order" is obvious, but it's still far more complicated to fully view than most media, if you wind up liking the story.
It's got some great music though. Don't need a full understanding to enjoy that.
EDIT: Haseo >>> Kite or Tsukasa, but SIGN > G.U.
That's why I only recommended SIGN.
It's where .hack begins, so no knowledge of the rest of .hack is required.
And unlike Roots, it wraps up its main plot by the end.
I cannot recommend Fate Zero enough. It's probably the anime I watched the most because I love the story, the intrigue, the grandness of it all. I played the Fate VN way, way before somewhere around 2009, 2010 so when I saw Zero I was hyped.
Thanks!!!
If you're looking for ones about going to another world (isekai), some of the well known ones I've enjoyed are Rising of the Shield Hero, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Overlord, and Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest. None are perfect, but all are pretty damn enjoyable, in my opinion.
And if you want semi-parodies of the genre, I really enjoyed Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, and KonoSuba. Fun mix of humor and poking fun at the genre, while still also being that genre. Skeleton Knight in Another World is also pretty funny, and is basically a counterpoint to Overlord, which played it mostly straight.
And just general anime, Chivalry of a Failed Knight is one of my favorites. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon is alright and, while not an isekai, is still sort of similar to SAO, I'd say. The Magi series is also fun, although in my opinion it has a few stinker episodes too, and some of the characters are annoying, but it's still fun overall. Also, has some surprisingly based moments, like bankers trying to destroy countries with the evil of fiat currency...not even kidding.
Lastly, for something completely different, Spy X Family; it's an action comedy about a spy who needs to put together a fake family for his assignment, so it's part action, part wholesome family stuff. Pretty hilarious in places, too.
Thank you!
Anime has been fairly consistent in providing shows like that, I'd also add:
Megalobox (for soundtrack alone even though the story is great too)
Gunsmith Cats, just for the humor. "He's just seeing you in your underwear, you don't have to marry him."