I love that his job is being a panda at the zoo!
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Generally that the story was either absent or excessively slow-moving, and I didnât really care for the stop-motion animation effect.
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21 posts in and no mention of Akira?
Because everything else I could have mentioned was already mentioned and now I have a bunch of things to add to my queue that I havenât seen. Thanks a lot, guys. 
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Akiraâs beautiful but confusing. I love it but I wouldnât recommend it, much like Evangelion.
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Ajin might be something you like then. Itâs a linear fast paced story that hits the ground running and just continues to build intensity and move forward. First season is on Netflix. Second season is on the web on various anime web sites.
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A movie I really enjoyed and clearly is the inspiration for Inception is Paprika. And honestly if you want to get crazy with dreams and reality altering stuff, anime is a great genre to go wild.
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Then, boy howdy, do I have a show for you. The Game of Thrones of Anime⊠A show that will tear your heart out, dice it, sautee it with onions, and then feed it to you. I present: Akame ga Kill!
I also highly recommend Deadman Wonderland. Supremely messed up show that asks whether the point of prison is punishment or rehabilitation and asks serious questions about humanityâs bloodthirsty nature. The show ends all too soon. As itâs a Studio Madhouse production, it is highly unlikely to get a second season. So be prepared to either search for the manga or come to terms with never knowing the ultimate fate of the characters. Available on pirate hobbyist sites or on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
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Loved Deadman Wonderland.
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Weird question â does Ghibli count as âanimeâ?
I ask because every time I see a list of recommended anime, or someone in a get together says âIâve never really watched much anime, what should I start with?â and someone says âStudio Ghibli!â they get sort of waved aside, as if to say âwell, thatâs a given, letâs move on.â
If someone wanted to explore Japanese animation, Iâd point them towards Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Totoro as starting points, alongside Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, and Tokyo Godfathers. But I feel like recommending Ghibli is like recommending Disney to someone whoâs never seen Western animation â sort of a given.
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Anime shows and anime films tend to be whole different beasts, with wildly different pacing and tropes. Donât get me started on the shows that have film spinoffs (really, just extended episodesâŠ). I intend to get around to updating my earliest post with a breakdown by genre and medium.
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I grew up (I know, very funny) on old-school anime of the 1970s, such as the English-language dubs of Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets), Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers), Mazinger Z (Tranzor Z), Grendizer and Gaiking (Force Five).
In my adult years, I watched little television or video but was drawn back into anime through cinematic work such as Akira, Wings of HonnĂȘamise, and Momoru Oshiiâs movies such as Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, and Patlabor.
Over the past twenty years or so, I have been enjoying a few bits of anime that get my attention. In nearly chronological order:
Dominion Tank Police - What happens when there is widespread ecological and social disruption and you have the police use tanks? This is what happens.
Patlabor - Posits a society where giant robots are not mainly used for combat, but regular labor, such as construction and emergency services.
Memories - A gorgeous three-part anthology film.
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Much hyped, and I avoided watching it until a couple of years ago. Interesting update/subversion of the classic âchosen kids pilot battle-mechs to save the worldâ theme.
FLCL - Simple coming-of-age story told through a relentless barrage of weirdness and deconstruction of tropes.
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex/2nd Gig/Solid State Society - A complete continuity of political intrigue being investigated by cyborgs. Very deliberate, smart, and deep.
Planetes - Proles in spaaaace. Near-future extrapolation about workers clearing space debris from orbit. Great balance of story with human and SF elements.
Texhnolyze - How do the last humans handle the end of civilization? Very artful, but extremely dark and nihilistic. Beautiful yet depressing as hell.
Gunbuster/Diebuster - Two series with apparently the same continuity, made in the 80s and 00s, respectively. Mechs save the world again. But with a fair amount of weirdness. Hints at continuity with Gainaxâs Evangelion and FLCL.
Mind Game - Movie about the entirety of oneâs life. As if âEnter the Voidâ was actually a very funny, very creative philosophical cartoon instead of whatever it was.
Gatchaman Crowds / Gatchaman Crowds Insight - How do peopleâs motivations and biases come into play when a social network allows them to supplant many of the traditional roles of government?
Knights of Sidonia / Battle for Planet Nine - Far-future hard SF aboard one of the last human generation ships. A reclusive clone/misfit gets involved in the protracted struggle against a mysterious shape-shifting colony organism.
No doubt a few others will occur to me also.
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I canât believe One-punch Man has not been mentioned yet. Itâs a terrific satire of heros and gets deeper at times when it talks about what makes a real hero. The anime has great animation quality, but preserved the goofy qualities that made ONEâs manga so great. I think it is only available in subtitles.
My second recommendation for non-weed anime is the stuff by Trigger. On Netflix you can find Gurren Lagann takes an over the top mecha story and ends in a goofy exploration into what it means to be human, while Kill la Kill is a magical girl parody that is a goofy exploration into authoritarianism and parenthood. Both shows are inspired by the west, and move lightning fast with none of the filler episodes that bother me.
Oh, and Trigger produced Little Witch Academia which also has a sequel. Both are on Netflix and are very entertaining OVAs in a Harry Potter
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The second season of Attack on Titan is available now, didnât see it mentioned above.
If you are into sweet slice of life stories, Yuri on Ice.
Full Metal Alchemist is an oldie but goodie.
If you are looking for a fun flick, Iâd recommend Summer Wars. Really worth a watch.
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That reminds me â Iâd also recommend The Wolf Children by the same director as Summer Wars. Very Ghibli-esque, and made a grown man cry.
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Yes! I very much enjoyed that one.
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I canât believe I missed it. It just keeps getting better every episode. Strongly recommend.
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Paranoia Agent - Flawed but mind bending, Hello Kitty meets the apocolypse
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Samarai Champloo - Sort of a Samarai Cowboy Bebop with anachronistic elements
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Cromartie High School - Absurd take on tough guy High School tropes
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well same director.
I really like that one.
I am a lot of hit and miss for anime.
One I binged on last summer after hearing it mentioned on the GME - Anime funtime podcast was Flying Witch. No sweeping action, no great drama, just pure sweetness of kids in school one of whom just happens to be a witch.
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Big yes on Samarai Champloo.
Which also remind me about Afro Samurai.
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Seconding Yuri on Ice. I donât like anime most of the time (especially what weâre calling classic anime â the frame rate is wrong to my eye or something) and I really enjoyed it. I suggest the dubbed version rather than the subtitled, though â the voice acting for the dubbed version is very, very good.
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