If I were to school a newbie to anime...

[timepiececlock]

If I were to meet a person who has only just started anime and wanted to know what the best was, this is what I'd tell them to watch, and the order I'd tell them to watch it in.

Ultimate Anime Rec List:
or
How to go about educating someone into otakudom, through anime showings

1. Cowboy Bebop - I think this is one of the most accessible shows to watch from the perspective of an anime newbie or hopeful anime inductee. It's themes are more familiar and accessible to Western audiences, and it's character designs are stylish, and it's considerably less weird-scary than some other shows. And the music holds your attention until you've seen enough that you're convinced you want to stay.

2. Trigun - Because this is my favorite, and also because of the reasons above. It's a good show by which to introduce someone to the wackyness of anime and the drama, and to slowly get them used to the inherent sillyness too. Also introduces the philosophical element common in so many anime series.

3. Fruits Basket - Unlike the the other two, this would expose the viewer to the less action, more personal type of series out there. FB displays a stellar range of comedy and drama, and represents many of the most enjoyable elements of anime as a flexible art medium. Also, it proves that anime can do sitcoms, and do them damn well, so well you never want them to end. It teaches the lesson of anime humor and irony.

4. Naruto - Time to introduce the newbie to fighting anime! By now they should be used to action and comedy, drama and sillyness. Time to show them the best fighting anime out there. And teach them that anime is crack and that crack is called Naruto.

5. Neon Genesis Evangelion - now that you've got them exposed to all of the above, it's time to introduce them to the "weird & disturbing shit" category. Eva, what a way to start down that road. It also rounds out their education nicely with a very-frequently discussed title that is always good for strongly opinionated conversation-starters.

6. The Vision of Escaflowne - And here is where they get the culmination of everything they've seen before - perfect music, perfect character development, perfect plot, perfect writing, perfect romance, perfect drama, damn near perfect everything.


And now that your basic education is complete, time for the fun excursions. Like electives in high school.

7. Full Metal Alchemist - Angst. comedy. angst. action. angst. magic/alchemy. angst. brain-exploding plot that makes you wibble. And very very smartly interwoven.

8. Ranma 1/2 - Because Rumiko Takahashi is a household name for anime fans. And there's a reason for that, absurd as that reason may be.

9. FLCL - Best experienced when one is well and deeply into anime fandom already and are more emotionally prepared to deal with it's beautific and metaphoric psychotic randomness.

10. X, the movie - Because they need to know how bad the bad can be. It's a horrible experience they'll hate you for, but it's a harsh lesson that must be taught: some anime really sucks.

Comments

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

The last four or five episodes excluded, I'd rec Hellsing, too. Damn, if that isn't one of the most intense animes I've ever seen. 13 episodes left an impression on me that 26 episodes of other animes have not. Most people prefer the manga for Hellsing, but not I.

Everyone should see at least one episode of Witch Hunter Robin, too.

That reminds me, I need to find the rest of Evangelion. I was about a quarter of the way through it when I stopped watching. Interesting series, that's for sure.

Hey, I've been working on my Naruto characters, if you want to see some loose outlines of them/their abilities.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Hellsing would be good to represent the horror genre, that's true.

I think WHR is good and worth watching, but definitely goes under the suggested/necessary electives category, because it is made up of elements already represented in the first group.

tell me your naturo fic info!

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

Hellsing and Witch Hunter Robin as electives. That would work. God, I love those series'.

Hey, lookie at what I found - Gaara Plushie for 30 bucks! Okay, so it's not exactly cheap, but it's better than 60, right?

tell me your naturo fic info!

Since you've been giving me good input, I'll likely throw it all into an email and shoot it your way.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

so...tempting...

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

I would add Fushigi Yuugi to that list. No anime education is complete without it.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Fushigi Yuugi was loved by me for a long time, but that fantasy genre is sort of represented by Esca. Still, it takes melodrama to new heights/ And it is bizarrely addictive. Like, some shows are very good, like Eva or Esca or CB, but I don't need to see them all in a row, and I'm comfortable waiting for episodes and spacing them out. Other series, like Naruto, I want them NOW. When I was watching FY I felt like that. I spent soooo much money on that show.

[helga-b.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I'd have FY represent soapy shoujo more than fantasy, I think. Still, if you had to chose between Esca and FY, I'd go with Esca as well. I think I'd actually rank it as my all time favourite anime.

...And I get the addictive part. I don't buy anime, starving student that I am, but I occasionally allow myself to buy manga. And FY makes up a large part of that collection.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

FY represent soapy shoujo more than fantasy

There is quite a bit of fighting and bloodshed though, which makes it a little more action-oriented that most soapy shoujo. Though it's definitley soapy. Actually, the unrelenting soapiness takes away from parts of it in my mind. Esca has its melodrama, but it was always matched by the political/plot events going on. Whereas I got really tired of Miyaka/Tamahome having their constant "I love you"/"I can't be with you because..." stuff.

[d-irge.livejournal.com]

I really REALLY tried to watch Eva a while back, but it gave me horrible Gundam flashbacks.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I think I watched Eva when I had only started to watch Gundam Wing and DBZ and Fushigi Yuugi, and had already finished Sailor Moon-- Eva was actually one of the earlier anime series I watched. I recommend it. With this condition:

Watch it and take it for the great piece of morbid work it is, but whatever you do, skip the last two episodes. Just skip them and assume all the characters die in a fiery apocalypse. It's better that way.

I watched Eva spaced out over several months, as I waited on the waiting lists for the VHS subs from the local library. I think spacing out helped.

The only Gundam series I've ever really watched with attention and to completion is Gundam Wing. And Eva bears a faint similarity to that in that the pilots are young, but that's pretty much where it ends. The pilots in GW are treated like adults and are pretty unrealistic that way; the pilots in Eva are very much young teenagers. And the plot has nothing to do with Gundam stuff, since they're battling aliens and all. At times Eva was hard to watch. But it's worth it, and I think you would definitely have an experience if you finished it. But once you do, if you feel you have to shout about it to someone, feel free to com cuss at me. That show inspires cussing.

[spikespeigel.livejournal.com]

Replace Trigun with Rurouni Kenshin (just until after the Kyoto arc) and the Samurai X ovas. Replace Fruits Basket with Fushigi Yuugi. Replace Eva with RahXephon since it has the better ending. And you need Akira in there because that's where anime really started. For fun excursions, you need Spirited Away. Not sure about including FMA since it's incomplete (same with Naruto), but overall it's all good.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Replace Fruits Basket with Fushigi Yuugi.

You only say that because you haven't seen all of FB yet. Also, FY is a different kind of animal than FB... firstly it's an adventure/romance/fantasy story so it's not even in the same category. And as much as I love FY (I spent the early years and money of high school age on it so I know what it's like to love that show too), it's not quite as good as FB is. It's good, but not quite as good. Mostly though it's different, so it's hard to compare.

Replace Trigun with Rurouni Kenshin (just until after the Kyoto arc) and the Samurai X ovas.

I have not yet seen the OAVs, but I rate the tv-show of Kenshin at about the same place as I rate Inu Yasha. Fun, but I would put it way down on the list of what you need to watch before anything else.

Replace Eva with RahXephon since it has the better ending.

Well, I haven't seen RahXephon (Does RaXephon freak you out? Because parts of Eva seriously squicked and disturbed me), but I would still put Eva up anyway, for it's importance to anime fandom. It's a classic almost the way Akira is a classic. Any anime fan is *obligated* to watch Eva at some point, I believe. If I were king of the world, anyway, as my post infers I would be in order to make such a list in the first place.

I thought about Spirited Away, Perfect Blue, and Akira, but I left them off simply because I was too lazy to really get into movies, which are a whole nother basket in addition to tv shows. I only put the movie X up there because it's the worst anime I've ever watched. Weirdly, also one of the prettiest.

I put FMA up because until now I've thought Trigun had the highest angst factor of any decent anime I've seen... now FMA, as I watch, is getting very close to taking that title.

[spikespeigel.livejournal.com]

Trust me. Every anime fan has to see the Kyoto arc to know what real storytelling's all about. Shame the series went balls up after that though (never stray from the manga!!!). Alas, Naruto's about to do the same thing. Oh well.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Have you read the manga for Trigun? When Naruto gets about that far away, then I'll start reading further ahead on the manga than simultaneously like I am mostly right now.

[spikespeigel.livejournal.com]

That's not what I meant. What I meant was that Naruto's about to stray from the manga by introducing a new character not seen in the manga. Should coincide with the movie, I believe.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, I'm not too excited by the movie. Movies always stray from source material.

[mrthursday.livejournal.com]

Why not just hit them with Spirited Away?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

because I'm too lazy to make a movie list.

[mrthursday.livejournal.com]

Would you really need anything else on the list?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I would say my movie rec list would be thus:

Spirited Away
Perfect Blue (for shock educational value, not prettiness or pleasure)
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro

[octopedingenue]

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer! I only had about a 5-minute introduction to the universe before watching ("Okay, that girl with the funny hair is an alien princess, right? And, ummm, that lady is a priestess!") but it still bleeeeew my mind.

I watched a music video for Perfect Blue when I was really bored. Ummm. I think I'm going to stay far far away.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer! I only had about a 5-minute introduction to the universe before watching ("Okay, that girl with the funny hair is an alien princess, right? And, ummm, that lady is a priestess!") but it still bleeeeew my mind.

That is exactly how it happened to me. 5 minute intro from friend, then thrown into this bizarre movie with bizarre...stuff. But I liked it too. I watched it like 6 years ago... it'd be good to see it again.

[rainjewel.livejournal.com]

I'm hear via circe_tigana and just had to say--I'm so glad you have such a love for The Vision of Escaflowne. It's my favorite love of all time.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you have such a love for The Vision of Escaflowne. It's my favorite love of all time.

Trigun has my heart, but my brain I give to Escaflowne.

I think it is simply the best anime I've ever seen. Unlike most shows, even teh good ones, where they excel in some areas, and fail in others (Cowboy Bebop, for example, excels in characterization but falls short in continuity writing), Esca rules across the board. I just have so much amazing respect for that series.

It's kind of like Farscape for me, in that way. It was so good that I've never felt a need to write fanfic to fill up the in-between spaces. I don't even read Esca fic. Esca just remains this shiny untainted presence in the back of my mind against which I judge all other anime.

So...welcome to my LJ! I used to talk about Buffy all the time nonstop, but lately with a lack of either Buffy or Angel anymore I end up talking about anime a lot.

[rainjewel.livejournal.com]

Trigun has my heart, but my brain I give to Escaflowne.

I am currently in the throes of passion concerning Trigun. I think it's brilliant. Not without flaws, but the characterization and dialogue drive me wild (and in the good way).

I think it is simply the best anime I've ever seen. Unlike most shows, even teh good ones, where they excel in some areas, and fail in others (Cowboy Bebop, for example, excels in characterization but falls short in continuity writing), Esca rules across the board. I just have so much amazing respect for that series.

I couldn't have said it better.

So...welcome to my LJ! I used to talk about Buffy all the time nonstop, but lately with a lack of either Buffy or Angel anymore I end up talking about anime a lot.

It's all good! I'm glad I stumbled over here--your interests are very similar to mine.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Not without flaws, but the characterization and dialogue drive me wild

Yep. The main flaw I saw was the art... at times it could have used a bigger budget. But the characterization is so...ddaaaaaaamn.