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Is Attack on Titan a good start for someone new to anime?
- Thread starter Dawg
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Attack on Titan hasn't been resolved yet. I wouldn't recommend it for that reason alone. Just watch another show that has atleast a complete season.
What type of shows do you like to watch in general?
If you like comedy FLCL would be a good start.
If you like drama Full Metal Alchemist would be really good. Take note that you have to watch the original series which deviates from the manga, DO NOT WATCH Brotherhood FIRST. Brotherhood is a great show but its strength lies in world building and a vastly better realized villain. When it comes to drama though the original FMA hits so many notes correctly it's god tier.
If you like depressing shit watch Grave of the Fireflies.
If you like shonens like DBZ I recommend One Piece or Hunter Hunter. With One Piece I'm warning you now that you should stop watching the show after "Thriller Bark". The slide in quality is depressing. Technically you actually could keep on watching for much longer than that but "Thriller Bark" is a decent ending point that doesn't motivate you to hope this show turns things around. You will get sucker punched by everything that happens after "the War of the Best" and I want you to avoid that pain.
If you like romantic shows I strongly recommend Spice and Wolf. Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances) is worth experimenting with if you want more of that.
If you want a show that feels more like it was made by a western company "Cowboy Bebop" is a classic. "Big O" is solid as well. Planetes is my best anime in general.
If you like thrillers you must watch "Death Note", now. Monster will rock your world but the first episode is really and strangely rough.
If you are willing to break out of your comfort zone and watch something that is actually good even though it comes off very strange at first I strongly recommend "Madoka Magica".
What type of shows do you like to watch in general?
If you like comedy FLCL would be a good start.
If you like drama Full Metal Alchemist would be really good. Take note that you have to watch the original series which deviates from the manga, DO NOT WATCH Brotherhood FIRST. Brotherhood is a great show but its strength lies in world building and a vastly better realized villain. When it comes to drama though the original FMA hits so many notes correctly it's god tier.
If you like depressing shit watch Grave of the Fireflies.
If you like shonens like DBZ I recommend One Piece or Hunter Hunter. With One Piece I'm warning you now that you should stop watching the show after "Thriller Bark". The slide in quality is depressing. Technically you actually could keep on watching for much longer than that but "Thriller Bark" is a decent ending point that doesn't motivate you to hope this show turns things around. You will get sucker punched by everything that happens after "the War of the Best" and I want you to avoid that pain.
If you like romantic shows I strongly recommend Spice and Wolf. Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances) is worth experimenting with if you want more of that.
If you want a show that feels more like it was made by a western company "Cowboy Bebop" is a classic. "Big O" is solid as well. Planetes is my best anime in general.
If you like thrillers you must watch "Death Note", now. Monster will rock your world but the first episode is really and strangely rough.
If you are willing to break out of your comfort zone and watch something that is actually good even though it comes off very strange at first I strongly recommend "Madoka Magica".
Sho_Nuff82
Member
There are shows, movies, musical pieces, and yes, even sporting events, that can overwhelm, confuse, and straight up bore a first time user, souring the experience for them. Some things simply assume a level of user familiarity that just isn't there.
For example, I would never use FLCL to introduce a friend or a gf to anime. I would never use Dark Souls to introduce a child to gaming.
Can't say I agree. There are quite a few titles out that will leave you nonplussed if you don't know about certain classics, tropes, aspects of Japanese culture, etc (EDIT: as said right above... huh).
And from what I've seen, Shingeki no Kyojin tends to work pretty well for "newcomers" indeed.
There are a lot of gems to watch (and I mean a lot, if you are starting fresh).
It's a shame that new material is especially awash of fucking moe-harem turd shit. They'll happily adapt light novels worse than the fan-fiction I can shit out on a Sunday morning, but they won't actually animate any of the good stuff.
Smh.
It's a shame that new material is especially awash of fucking moe-harem turd shit. They'll happily adapt light novels worse than the fan-fiction I can shit out on a Sunday morning, but they won't actually animate any of the good stuff.
Smh.
If you prefer something with less of a fantasy setting then I recommend Hajime no Ippo. It is also not too heavy on the tropes.
Has some decent fight scenes in it without the need to go into crazy DBZ type fights. You do not need to be familiar with boxing at all as the series begins with Ippo, a school kid, joining the gym and learning it for himself.
Other good watches I would recommend have before Shingeki have mostly been suggested repeatedly.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Has some decent fight scenes in it without the need to go into crazy DBZ type fights. You do not need to be familiar with boxing at all as the series begins with Ippo, a school kid, joining the gym and learning it for himself.
Other good watches I would recommend have before Shingeki have mostly been suggested repeatedly.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
hey you suggested Code Geass.
it's been forever since I've watched FLCL but, if i recall correctly, there is tons of humor that is referential to classic anime (Gundam hammer joke comes to mind) and older Gainax shows. i'd imagine without a familiarity of the conventions of the medium, it wouldn't have some of its appeal.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Trigun
Ghost in the Shell
Death Note and Darker than Black are a little more mindless fun (in a good way). I've heard good things about Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Monster, Evangelion, and FLCL, to the point where I have them but haven't gotten around to them yet.
Cowboy Bebop is fucking good and like others have said it might sour you on everything else, but lt's a risk you have to take.
Samurai Champloo
Trigun
Ghost in the Shell
Death Note and Darker than Black are a little more mindless fun (in a good way). I've heard good things about Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Monster, Evangelion, and FLCL, to the point where I have them but haven't gotten around to them yet.
Cowboy Bebop is fucking good and like others have said it might sour you on everything else, but lt's a risk you have to take.
I am gonna disagree with this. I almost never watch anime anymore because of the tropes, and I could only make it 3 episodes into this show before I gave up. Silly shit.
Megidolaon
Member
Sure, there's nothing about it that I would say would be too offputting to someone who hasn't seen much anime.
The dub is coming out soon. Maybe you wanna wait for that?
The dub is coming out soon. Maybe you wanna wait for that?
But that's not a strength of anime, it's a weakness. Half of the reason I don't watch anime is because of the tropes and mannerisms. Those don't make anime good, they make it worse.
There are much worse starting points you could use (some poor soul new to anime wandered into the community thread and told us his friend recommended Sword Art Online as a great introduction to the medium!), but there are also better places to start. Attack on Titan has a great hook, some scattered great-looking moments, and it's bereft of the sexual tropes that cause some people to run the other direction. But it's still got its share of ugly shonen pacing and action tropes.
People have mentioned a lot of good starting points, like Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Baccano, and Space Battleship Yamato 2199. They're good because they're both high quality and fairly safe in terms of steering clear of a lot of alienating cultural baggage. But as long as it's a good show that sounds interesting to you, it can be the most inane thing in the world and it'll still probably be worth watching.
People have mentioned a lot of good starting points, like Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Baccano, and Space Battleship Yamato 2199. They're good because they're both high quality and fairly safe in terms of steering clear of a lot of alienating cultural baggage. But as long as it's a good show that sounds interesting to you, it can be the most inane thing in the world and it'll still probably be worth watching.
Surprised no one has "recommended" Boku no Pico.
Jex
Member
There's a strangely high (and by which I meant above zero) number of recommendations for super long running shows (a.k.a One Piece) which by their very nature are:
- Not finished, in many cases
- Super long, like, god damn they're long
- Incredibly uneven (filler, farmed out animation, filler, filler, poor production quality, filler)
- Aimed at a fairly young audience (e.g. young boys - teenagers).
I know why people recommend those shows, it's for all the reasons that their properties are popular, but it's not a good place to start. Like, nearly ever, unless you're actually a kid watching this stuff on TV.
If you must recommend people something just make it short and make it good. If you know their taste that helps a lot because you don't really "get people into anime" very often, you just want to introduce people to works in genres that they might enjoy. If you don't have the specific knowledge about their taste just stick to the above. Nearly any movie by Miyazaki fits the profile of short and good. There's no secret to why his films are popular, beyond their obvious high quality they're very accessible in that anyone of age can enjoy them and they aren't Japan-centric.
- Not finished, in many cases
- Super long, like, god damn they're long
- Incredibly uneven (filler, farmed out animation, filler, filler, poor production quality, filler)
- Aimed at a fairly young audience (e.g. young boys - teenagers).
I know why people recommend those shows, it's for all the reasons that their properties are popular, but it's not a good place to start. Like, nearly ever, unless you're actually a kid watching this stuff on TV.
If you must recommend people something just make it short and make it good. If you know their taste that helps a lot because you don't really "get people into anime" very often, you just want to introduce people to works in genres that they might enjoy. If you don't have the specific knowledge about their taste just stick to the above. Nearly any movie by Miyazaki fits the profile of short and good. There's no secret to why his films are popular, beyond their obvious high quality they're very accessible in that anyone of age can enjoy them and they aren't Japan-centric.
thequickandthedead
Member
So you wouldn't recommend LOGH to a newcomer?
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
As a newcomer to anime, I found Attack on Titan too overdramatic and pretty baffling, and the action scenes were really hard to follow.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
It's also, well, not good.
Nahh, it's actually pretty damn good.
MoonLightWave
Member
Definitely, it's good stuff.
Chezzymann
Member
Space Dandy
Jex
Member
Not really, no. It's over a hundred episodes and it's very, very dialogue heavy, not to mention being slow and dense. If I happened to know that they were into that kind of classic sci-fi space opera stuff then yes, I would recommend it. But only then.
Recommending shows to people is a fine, fine art and you can very easily turn people off an entire medium by fucking it up e.g. recommending Sword Art Online or some other dribble.
Also, flicking through early pages, I'm seeing a lot of stuff that people say when they got into anime e.g. Nina Scroll. Whatever Ninja Scroll's merits may be I don't really think I want to explain all the rape to a first time anime viewer. Kawajiri, why would you do that?
Sounds like you better retire, firehawk.
Shadow2222
Member
I suggest Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, as those are the only animes I have watched from start to finish. Well, other than the Zone of the Enders anime (which I highly enjoyed, but it seems that many people did not).
On a secondary note, I recommend Detective Conan (also called Case Closed). While it does have a storyline, it is a lot easier to jump into as it has mostly self-contained episodes like certain television series (Supernatural, etc.). It does have like 400 or 500 episodes with no end in sight, so I simply recommend watching some if you enjoy murder mysteries.
On a secondary note, I recommend Detective Conan (also called Case Closed). While it does have a storyline, it is a lot easier to jump into as it has mostly self-contained episodes like certain television series (Supernatural, etc.). It does have like 400 or 500 episodes with no end in sight, so I simply recommend watching some if you enjoy murder mysteries.
glaringradio
Member
Watch Gurren Lagann, it's fantastic and actually has a bit of soul to it, something which AoT completely and utterly lacks. You'll get to the end of TTGL and actually feel something, whereas all you're left with at the end of Titan is a shitty feeling of "that's it?"
I've seen very, very few animes and would generally describe myself as not a fan, though I'm not set against them either. My brother, who is a pretty big fan of anime recommended I watch attack on Titan, saying it would be a great show to get me interested in the genre.
I watched about 5 episodes, found it too heavy on melodrama and too light on interesting action scenes, and stopped. I would love to find an anime I enjoy, but the genre may simply not be for me.
I watched about 5 episodes, found it too heavy on melodrama and too light on interesting action scenes, and stopped. I would love to find an anime I enjoy, but the genre may simply not be for me.
Only 2 people recommended One Piece and I was one of them. The OP specifically mentioned watching nothing but shonens so why not recommend to him the creme of the crop stuff like One Piece and Hunter x Hunter?
He's already familiar with them so it is appropriate starting point. Besides I listed a bunch of anime and categorized them by genre.
Anime isn't a genre. Name genre's you like watching and I can recommend anime that fit those genres.
Jex
Member
I didn't mean in relation to the OP, just in general. As a response to the OP it makes sense.
Steiner_Zi
Member
That was my biggest gripe with Attack on the Titan as well. From the moment I started paying attention to how often whey would scream instead of normally talk to each other and realised how stupidly overperformed the voice acting is, the show had totally lost me. I endured 5 episodes, then dropped it. And this comes from a former Narutard who thinks that the first 100 episodes of the original Naruto are the best shonen arc ever. Of course, after battling so many years with fillers I dropped that one, too.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
You should watch something finished
first.
and actually good
PaulExcellent
Member
Gundam Build Fighters.
Persona 4: The Animation.
FLCL.
Persona 4: The Animation.
FLCL.
Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
Samurai Champloo and Trigun are great starts and both are on Netflix.
"Guys, is X good to start getting into anime? Please answer yes or no."
"No, Y is better. Also Z, which is my favorite and no one else likes, but it's better than X"
"Guys, I just wanted to know if X was-"
"Shut up, baka. X is the worst thing that could happen to the genre."
"G-Guys..."
NeoGAF: The
anime
"No, Y is better. Also Z, which is my favorite and no one else likes, but it's better than X"
"Guys, I just wanted to know if X was-"
"Shut up, baka. X is the worst thing that could happen to the genre."
"G-Guys..."
NeoGAF: The
shitty
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Obviously he should just watch Patlabor.
Endless Eight.
PaulExcellent
Member
The World God Only Knows.
It's not like I want you to watch a good show or anything...
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Are you mocking me sir
I have no idea what Palatbor is, actually. I just wanted to throw out the absolute worst suggestion possible.
Cowboy Bebop is definitely something I want to see now. I've seen it mentioned plenty of times in this thread and 9 out of 10 times it is the top recommendation. And it's supposed to be kinda sci-fi, right? I love watching stuff set in the future.
I'm thinking about getting this bluray set: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CBTN08C/
It's the first part of a two-part collection. But is there anything I should know? I've heard some anime boxsets are censored, have bad dubbing or something else. That collector's edition does look pretty sweet though.
It was a pretty bad suggestion because who suggests watching the second series of a show before the first?I have no idea what Palatbor is, actually. I just wanted to throw out the absolute worst suggestion possible.
Also the fact that Endless Eight is the peak of anime storytelling makes it an awful suggestion for first anime. Who wants to start with the absolute best making everything afterwards seem like absolute drivel in comparison?
OP, leave Endless Eight till later. Like a fine wine, you'll appreciate it for if you leave it to rest for a while.
Disaster hits a young boy's home town so he sets out on a quest to avenge it. Gee that doesn't sound like the beginning to every Japanese fantasy story out there.
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