Just found this website and looking for suggestions.

[PyroLord]

I'm sure a lot of threads like this get posted so I'll just say "I'm sorry. I am new. Please forgive me." and get down to business.

I enjoy action and comedy anime (just recently getting into comedy as action shows like DBZ seem to be more mainstream here). I confess to the sin of trying to watch dubbed versions over subtitled. No, I don't complain if subtitles are the only option I just prefer English if possible.

Here is a list of some good shows I enjoyed:
Serial Experiments Lain
Death Note
Crayon Shin Chan (FUNimation Dub)
SGT Frog
Cowboy Bebop
Full Metal Alchemist
Desert Punk
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)
Samurai Champloo
Lucky Star
Ghost Hunt (the dubbed version)
Witchblade
Yu Yu Hakashu
.hack// Sign
Basilisk
Paranoia Agent
Boogiepop Phantom

Here is a list of cliche shows that I enjoyed:
Dragon Ball (& DBZ, GT, etc)
Bleach
Inuyasha
Nurato (& Shippuden)
One Piece
Soul Eater
Gundam Wing

Here is a list of some shows I thought I would like but didn't:
Fairy Tail
Trinity Blood
Trigun
Hellsing
Outlaw Star
Berserk
Tenchi Muyo!
Witch Hunter Robin
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

Shows I plan on watching but (for whatever reason) haven't yet:
Darker than Black
xxxHolic
Fate/stay night
Elfen Lied
Full Metal Panic
Ergo Proxy
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Hikaru no Go

Wow... that is a long list of anime. I guess I'll stop for now. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: I just watched the first episode of Hikaru no Go. It seems like a Go version of Yugioh which is a bit disappointing but I love playing Go so I'll probably watch it anyway.

[ant900]

First of all lets get this out of the way:

School Days


Ok!  With that done I can suggest Gintama and Hajime no Ippo.  Both are long Shounen titles that you might like.

[DLTE]

Which Hellsing did you watch? Because IMHO, the TV series really sucked. The OVA is 150% better. Huge difference in quality. The OVA is basically a "retelling" of the TV series and strictly follows the manga storyline whereas the TV series changed course halfway.

[GoGeTa006]

Welcome to BakaBT
first off prioritize over everything
watch school days thats a MUST! and I mean it!

now . .

Great shows:


- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - this will blow your mind! amazing characters, this thing just gives me chills
- Evangelion - this is a religion bro
- Code geass - this is like Death note + mechas.
- FLCL - light comedy, quick watch (6 episodes only)
- Highschool of the dead - currently airing, awesomeness!

are you in the mood for something in particular (action/romance/comedy/gore)

[PyroLord]

Thanks for the quick replies!

First:
Yeah. School Days. I've barely read any of the posts on this forum and now I've seen it mentioned at least 10 times.  I will watch it soon.

Secondly:
I love comedy shows. Crayon Shin Chan is one of my favorite shows (anime or not). I know a lot of people just think it is just poop and fart jokes but I disagree. Yes it is a bit random and uses "shock humor" for cheap laughs but (imho) it could be much much worse... just look at Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.

Action shows are good too but they can be hit or miss with me.  I'm no expert but it seems that there are two types of Action Anime. The over the top fighters "I'm a super-awesome good guy and you're a super-awesome bad guy so let's fight! I win! Yay!" (DBZ) or action shows that secretly want to be dramas and manage to have a good storyline (Full Metal Alchemist). Sometimes I watch the senseless violence of DBZ and I'm entertained but I definitely prefer a well written plot that isn't black and white morality using fists as communicative tools.

Thirdly:
I don't know which version of Hellsing it was.  Probably not the OAV. I honestly didn't watch very much of it (and it was a while ago so I don't fully remember what I disliked about it). I more or less just viewed the first episode or two and gave it a big thumbs down.

Lastly:
Right now I consider myself intermediate anime viewer. I've seen a lot of anime shows (some of which are kind of rare) but I don't know a lot of basic things the more advanced fans do. I had to look up what "Shōnen" means and I am a little confused about OAVs. I've seen them mentioned many times but I'll have to look into what they are.

This is an awesome community and I look forward to learning more and watching some great anime.

[ant900]

OVA/OAV stands for Origional Video Animation/Origional Animation Video.  Basically a direct to video release like you would see with Disney sequels in the US.  However just because it is an OVA doesn't mean that it is a crappy sequel to an awesome movie.

Also I highly suggest giving the Hellsing OVAs a shot.  Chances are you watched the original TV release, which as said earlier is miles behind the OVAs.

[KyraMaverick]

Don't feel you have to subject yourself to School Days just because it was suggested....

OVA and OAD are roughly the same as both are direct to video releases.

Shounen category would represent "The over the top fighters "I'm a super-awesome good guy and you're a super-awesome bad guy so let's fight! I win! Yay!" (DBZ)" part of your action definition.

As for Hellsing, I agree the OVAs are more enjoyable, but if you didn't like the first half of the series you might not like the OVA.

If you're in the mood for over the top fight scenes, I would suggest Sengoku Basara. Comedy I would suggest Azumanga Daioh.

Edit: Also, have you seen any of FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood? Its a remake that follows the manga plot instead of making up its own storyline (much like the Hellsing OVAs). I highly recommend.

[SkybladeNox]

Somebody should set up a way to just auto-ban anyone that says School Days on this board.

Anyway.

Romance / Drama:
Clannad
Clannad After Story
Air TV
Saikano
ef - A Tale of Memorie
ef - A Tale of Melodies
True Tears

Action / Drama:
Kara no Kyoukai
Ga-Rei Zero
Mai-HiMe
Mai-OtoMe
Gunbuster and Daibuster
Mnemosyne
Read or Die the OVA
ROD the TV
Bounen no Xamdou

Romantic Comedy:
Toradora!
Zero no Tsukaima
Asu no Yoichi

Action / Adventure / Drama:
Pandora Hearts
Kiddy Grade (avoid Kiddy Girl ~and~ at all costs)

Psychological:
Monster
Texhnolyze

[PyroLord]

Full Metal Alchemist is great but I hadn't gotten around to watching Brotherhood (I assumed it was a sequel show like Nurato Shippuden). Currently I am in the middle of re-watching FMA because I couldn't remember the ending. I'll probably follow it up with Brotherhood.

Side note: I haven't read any manga dispite working in a bookstore for 3 years. I'm more of a comic book/D&D dork that also watches anime. So I'm not as thrown off by shows that don't follow the manga storyline.

Unless there is more to the writing/plot I'm not really interested in romance anime.  I know that you'll find some form of character love interest in just about any show but I certainly wouldn't want that to be the central theme. I also typically avoid the "slice of life" shows but Lucky Star snuck up on me. I watched the first episode rolling my eyes the entire time but the offbeat humor grew on me in episode 2.  Now I only feel mildly embarrassed for watching what (at first glance) appears to be a very girly show.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. Most of these are shows I've never heard of so I'm excited to try them.

[SkybladeNox]

Full Metal Alchemist is great but I hadn't gotten around to watching Brotherhood (I assumed it was a sequel show like Nurato Shippuden). Currently I am in the middle of re-watching FMA because I couldn't remember the ending. I'll probably follow it up with Brotherhood.

Side note: I haven't read any manga dispite working in a bookstore for 3 years. I'm more of a comic book/D&D dork that also watches anime. So I'm not as thrown off by shows that don't follow the manga storyline.

Unless there is more to the writing/plot I'm not really interested in romance anime.  I know that you'll find some form of character love interest in just about any show but I certainly wouldn't want that to be the central theme. I also typically avoid the "slice of life" shows but Lucky Star snuck up on me. I watched the first episode rolling my eyes the entire time but the offbeat humor grew on me in episode 2.  Now I only feel mildly embarrassed for watching what (at first glance) appears to be a very girly show.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. Most of these are shows I've never heard of so I'm excited to try them.

The shows I listed in the Romance / Drama aren't really like your typical school life romance plots with a tsundere love interest and all that overdone stuff. If you run out of other stuff to watch, take a look at some of the summaries for them. I'm normally not a huge fan of the romance genre either, but those have excellent stories that are told very well.

[Khundes]

Full Metal Alchemist is great but I hadn't gotten around to watching Brotherhood (I assumed it was a sequel show like Nurato Shippuden). Currently I am in the middle of re-watching FMA because I couldn't remember the ending. I'll probably follow it up with Brotherhood.

The thing with FMA is this: First series of FMA follows the manga for the first 25 episodes(but pitches in extra stuff, like Barry meeting Ed once before that research lab time, that never happened in the manga) and the other episodes split off from the manga into their own thing.

Brotherhood starts with a random prequel episode4 to FMA that I see more as fanservice, but it's not related to the manga at all. After that they rush to the part where the original anime split off from the manga(They really blaze through the original anime's coverage really fast) and past the split, as far as I've been told, it follows the manga pretty closely.

If you really rewatch the original first, episodes 2-9 of brotherhood will probably feel very redundant.


Also, +1 for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and +1/2 for Code Geass. TTGL is just sheer win, and CG has an amazing first season and a debatable second season(some liked, others didn't, I'm neutral, though I feel it didn't follow the first season as well as it could have)

I heard enough bad reviews of School Days to actually recommend you to avoid it, but I don't yet know if everyone hyping this series is a running gag of the forums or the show really has a lot of fans and reviews misrepresent it(I'm still new to this place myself)

[KyraMaverick]

[...]but I don't yet know if everyone hyping this series is a running gag of the forums[...]

This.

I'm not sure if you would consider GTO as slice of life, but it is a very enjoyable comedy.

[PyroLord]

Heh. When I looked at the synopsis for School Days my eyebrow raised.  I think I'll bypass it.

[fohfoh]

After you finish those, you should consider going back and checking out the true classics.

GTO
Yakitake Japan!
FLCL
Akira
etc.

Your list was missing some of them. Ask around if you don't know what some of the classics are.

[xfreidax]

Here are some general suggestions,

Fullmetal Panic
Seirei No Moribito
Juuni Kokki - Twelve Kingdoms
Darker Than Black
Eureka 7
Bounen no Xamdou
Black Lagoon
Scrapped Princess
Planetes
RahXephon
Blood+
Ergo Proxy

Good mixture of action/drama/fantasy in all of these. All have well written story/plot with great animation, strong production values.

[fohfoh]

Black lagoon has to be one of THE recent classics.

Haruhi is like that for many, but I never really understood why.

[PyroLord]

Is Akira a show as well as a movie? I've seen a lot of anime movies but I didn't list any of them. A lot of movies are good but I tend to prefer shows because I get attached to characters and always want to see more than 2 hours of material.

[Sosseres]

I suggest you watch hikaru no go from your list. That will give us a better basis to recommend from. If you like or dislike that has a large impact on what you would think of the sports section of animes.

[PyroLord]

I suggest you watch hikaru no go from your list. That will give us a better basis to recommend from. If you like or dislike that has a large impact on what you would think of the sports section of animes.

I am actively watching them right now (currently in the middle of episode 3). I like the show but only because I love Go.  I've commented that the show is basically Yugioh only with Go instead of a card game. I still enjoy it because Go is an amazing game that I am obsessed with. I actually learned something that will improve my game strategy from 1 sentence of dialogue in episode 2. But no... if this show had the exact same plot, characters, animation, and voice acting, but wasn't about Go I'd probably think it was crap after episode 1. I don't think the "sport" genre is for me.

[lStealtherl]

You've mostly said what you've liked, but saying what you didn't like would help equally as much when trying to pinning down your preferences.

If you don't know a regular toplist would be helpful, or an older post of mine.