I just finished watching all of Fullmetal Alchemist for the very first time thanks to streaming Netflix. Other than the fantastic movie "Spirited Away", this was really the first anime I've ever really decided to watch- and I LOVED it. The epilogue movie should arrive in the mail today, and then I'll be done with the original series.
After I finish that, I'm probably going to start watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the series that stays truer to the original manga.
My question is, when I'm all done with FMA (prob in a month or two), what other animes are worth my time? I'm a little worried that FMA was too good of a series and that most others will pale in comparison now or seem corny.
FMA original was above average. Brotherhood was great.
there's still better out there however. to pre-empt the rest of the board, Baccano! is a good one to try out even in between. it mostly depends on what you like genre-wise as there's pretty much an anime for it regardless of what you're looking for. not all of it can be found on netflix however.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Haruhi is my favorite series in the ever, so I must recommend it.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick
I get worried about that with the few anime I've gotten into as well. And you know... sometimes it happens too but I still wind up enjoying the show anyway to varying extents. And believe me -- I'm not the type to easily fall in love with really corny stuff. But the quality of a story or its characters can sometimes rise above that for me.
I'm probably not the go-to guy for this sort of stuff but I'll recommend you some things I've enjoyed. Feel free to read blurbs on them and whatnot but do try to avoid spoilers! Some of these shows really benefit from avoiding too much prior knowledge going into them.
Cowboy Bebop: More episodic than most things I get into but there is an overarching story here, it's just that a lot of that story is simply getting to know the characters and understanding their pasts and what makes them tick. It's 26 episodes and a movie from 1998 and it features one of the most amazing soundtracks in anything ever. Set in a fairly down-to-earth rendition of space life (yeah, I know what I just said) it's rather like Joss Whedon's Firefly in some ways. Rag-tag crew scraping the bottom of the barrel and all that. Great show.
Gundam 00: This is an enormous franchise you've almost certainly heard of at least a few times. I've chosen the most recent full-fledged television series because it's one of several spinoffs not related to the 'main' original universe and thus easier to get into on its own merits. Plus it's pretty damn good. Yeah, so there are giant robots and stuff but don't let that be a turn-off to the franchise immediately simply because you don't get the appeal (although watching giant superweapons blowing s*** up is pretty cool, believe me). It boils down to the characters and storyline being pretty above-average in the better Gundam renditions and 00 doesn't disappoint. It may take some getting used to but give it the time it deserves and you'll see what I mean.
Yu Yu Hakusho: An early 90s romp that's a pretty hefty 112 episodes long and rather entertaining. Yusuke Urameshi is a bit of an almost-dropout archetype who in a rare act of selflessness winds up dead -- and that's the first scene of the series. The show is about him taking up the reigns of "Spirit Detective" in the afterlife alongside some rather nifty allies and fighting demons and stuff. Sounds pretty corny maybe and sure, at its heart it probably is, but the cast and execution are really pretty great.
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"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png
I'd also recommend you check out Death Note and Ghost in the Shell just based on what little of each I've seen. The bad dialogue is kept at bare minimum and the storytelling seems strong.
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"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png
I'd steer clear of Monster until later, if / when you decide anime is more up your alley. It's unnecessarily long and drawn-out. Good show, and it breaks free from most bad anime cliches, but a serious investment.
The three I'd recommend are Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, and Gurren Lagann (which, unlike the overwhelming Gundam universe, is a palatable 26 episodes long).
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(which, unlike the overwhelming Gundam universe, is a palatable 26 episodes long).
Yeah, but... there are several spinoffs in the Gundam universe that have formed their own take on the franchise and none of them are ever longer than 50 episodes which shouldn't be considered terribly daunting. (Unless you count SEED having a sequel series but I hear Destiny sucks so bad that it shouldn't count.)
The Universal Century timeline, the original gig, is probably pretty formidable when looked-upon by new fans and all that. But G Gundam, Wing, After War X (this one's only 39! ...but that's because it was truncated), Turn A, SEED and 00 are all totally watchable with no prior knowledge.
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"Setsuna, you have to change. To make up for me... who didn't change." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png
If you like some outer space sci fi with good characters, check out Outlaw Star or Cowboy Bebop.
I'd also recommend Fullmetal Alchemist and FMA: Brotherhood.
What happened was the original followed the FMA manga up to a point and then broke off into its own story, which was all we had for a long time. Then they decided to redo it and got all the original voice actors together and made the entire series follow along with the manga, which somehow makes for an even better experience. They called that FMA: Brotherhood. Both series are about 51 episodes. The FMA movie goes after with the original series' ending.
I'd second Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Cowboy Bebop. If you like Bebop, you could probably add Samurai Champloo to that as well. Trigun isn't bad either, but it definitely pales in comparison to Bebop and GitS, IMO.
And yeah, while Monster is good, it is pretty long, so you might want to stay away from it in the short term. (Or not, totally up to you, I couldn't say it's a bad choice, by any means. Though I do think it suffers a bit from moving too slow at points, which is why I'd shy away from suggesting it right now.) Similarly, while Neon Genesis Evangelion is my personal favorite, it's pretty polarizing so I wouldn't list it as a suggestion at this point. Same with a couple of others as well, where I like them more than some of the ones I've mentioned, but I'm not sure they're good suggestions right now.
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Try not to watch anime adaptions of popular manga as well. Most of the time the manga saves you time. Thought Death Note is a good one, but stay away from Bleach/Naruto/One Piece anime adaptions.
GranzonEx posted... I haven't seen the FMA anime, but I have read the manga. It's really not that amazing >_>
Gee this will sure convince him that he shares your opinions on anime.
But yeah, the typical recommendations that are "universal" are Baccano, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagenn and Cowbow Bebop because they all have fairly widespread appeal among the western audience.
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Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! Like I said, I'm going to finish up the original FMA when I get around to watching the movie later tonight. After that, I probably will just head forward with Brotherhood.
I currently work part time, and I have one more year of school left starting in September, so those are obviously going to be time consuming priorities. That said, even with those obligations, I do my best to have as much "free time" as possible.
As far as viewing options go, yeah, I have Netflix (both streaming and discs) and cable. We're getting FiOS internet/TV soon so once that gets installed, downloading non-Netflix shows will also be a more feasible option. Right now, we're on DSL so downloading things can be a pain.
From: meisnewbie | #033 Gee this will sure convince him that he shares your opinions on anime.
But yeah, the typical recommendations that are "universal" are Baccano, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagenn and Cowbow Bebop because they all have fairly widespread appeal among the western audience.
I'm not trying to convince him we have similar tastes. Just trying to bring him up to date and broaden the kind of anime he is exposed to.
You have seen my favorite so see the rest of my top 10. I should however point out that Berserk's ending is one of those "read the manga to find out what happens next" type of endings and the Manga itself is still going on very slowly. Their are a trilogy of Movie remakes coming in 2012 however. The first being in January. Still Amazing and worth watching.
Considering how much I loved the series (FMA), the movie was kind of a letdown. Definitely the weakest part of the whole story. Oh well, hopefully Brotherhood will wrap things up better.
From: MechaKoopa5000 | #047 Considering how much I loved the series (FMA), the movie was kind of a letdown. Definitely the weakest part of the whole story. Oh well, hopefully Brotherhood will wrap things up better.