What anime..

[Setra]

Not gonna mince words.

I am BORED, and would like to watch an anime on youtube, or somesuch.

Problem: I can't think of one I want to see

Any suggestions?

Edit: What was I thinking.. it's almost 5AM.. by the time I get a response, I'll probably have thought of one... or settled on watching TV... or died of boredom.

Edit Edit: About 3 hours after my original post.. still bored... darnit..

[FdL]

Huh? Is there anime in YouTube? Didn't they remove that?

Anyway, good thread. Let's listen to recommendations.
Lately I've turned into a regular otaku. I'm enjoying Haruhi Suzumiya a lot, it sure is something to recommend to anybody. Unless you're into more action oriented or shallow stuff (Naruto it ain't). This has it all, the art, the plot, the dialogs, the characters...A sure winner.

Then it depends on your tastes and on what you've already watched. I'm going to watch Love Hina and also Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl (I realize it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I tend to like unusual stuff). I saw He Is My Master and it cracks me up, that series is sooooo funny, brilliant (but it's pretty sexual so it's not for everybody and not everybody will find it funny).

I have to finish watching FLCL, which is great. And recently saw Video Girl Ai, another classic, but I'm not sure if I liked it a lot, I just liked it and enjoyed it. Noir is great too.

Then the latest series I want to watch are Kiddy Grade, School Rumble and Ikkitousen. This last one looks especially nice for what I've seen.

I like anything with some humour and sexyness in it, I don't care that much for dramatic action emo sagas or big metal robots...:s Unless it's really good, I think I can actually enjoy every anime out there.

I know how difficult it is to choose an anime to watch. There are millions of them, and besides the true classics, everyone has its own opinion to what it's good (I mean, it might be bad but you can enjoy it). I use AniDB as a reference index, and there's also this page with a recommendations engine.

[Lemur]

I'm not sure about youtube, I usually get my fix from fansub torrents. Also, I like violence, and perhaps as I've heard it called, "burning spirit", so a lot of my suggestions may be weighted in that direction. I tend to be a bit wordy, and my descriptions probably don't do the shows justice in the first place, so you might just want to read the bold stuff. I won't hold it against you.

In any case, I'll second the call for Haruhi Suzumiya. Good stuff. Also School Rumble.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is turning out to be an interesting series. It's in a similar vein as FLCL (done by the same company, Gainax) except that it actually looks like it's not gonna stop after 6 episodes (already up to 11 so far, I think).

Wait, I just thought of a good anime that's on youtube. Ignore my previous comment, 'cause I'm not gonna bother rewriting it. Panda Z: the Robonimation is a fun anime about a robot panda that pilots a giant robot panda, and rock & roll. I don't see how anyone could say no to a title and concept like that, and the second episode is about eating batteries! Pure win. I think this guy has all of the episodes.

The anime for Black Cat is pretty different from the manga, but the animation is still good. Black Cat, an assassin who works for a global peacekeeping organizations decides he wants to stop killing people for the sake of world peace, and live a carefree style of life. Unfortunately, his best friend is killed by his violent psycho stalker who desperately wants to make shounen-ai with Black Cat. There's also a guy who's right eye can see the future, and a little girl with the ability to transform her arms and hair into knives. Good times for all.

Darker than Black is a current anime, and Speed Grapher is maybe a few years old. Both are sci-fi type anime that have people with unlikely powers trying to kill other people with unlikely powers. Elfen Leid is about girls with horns who can rip people to shreds with their minds, or something like that. Good shows if you like sci-fi, but don't watch them with your kid. Or if you're a kid, don't watch them with your parents in the room

Gankutsuo is a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo. Only this time around, the Count is a dark elf from outer space, and he has a mecha robot.

Claymore is another current anime about blonde women with two handed swords who go around killing carnivorous dopplegangers. Good if you like fantasy type stuff.

Berserk and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure are both older anime that you've probably heard of. Also, both of them only show a small part of the manga they're based on. Berserk is pretty much a must-see, or rather, must-read (get the manga) for anyone out there who isn't familiar with it yet. Jojo is fun for the internet references tied to it. Watch the OVAs if you want to understand the significance of "Za Warudo".

Hayate no Gotokou actually isn't about violence, despite its title (translation: Hayate the Combat Butler). It's a parody anime, so it's funnier depending on how much anime you watch.

Hmm, everything I've suggested so far has been either weird, violent, or both. If maybe that sort of thing doesn't suit you, I can suggest some, I suppose you would say, more shoujo type anime.

Nodame Cantabile is about a guy attending a music college, and the crazy pianist girl he has to put up with. Lovely Complex is a decent high school r- romantic comedy. There, I said it, happy? I don't usually spring for that kind of stuff, but it definitely has a certain charm to it. The characters strike me as being much more human than most anime, which is good in this case.

Ouran High School Host Club is another shoujo type about a girl who has to pretend to be a guy to pay off a debt to a bunch of crazy rich guys.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is about four bishounen who are assigned the task of turning a horror-obsessed recluse girl into a perfect lady. The show is worth it because of the direction it takes, since the guys start to accept her how she is instead of drastically changing her.

The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas is a fun anime with an overly formal talking statue with eye lasers, a hyper, violent little girl, and a colorful cast of characters who come around to harrass Gargoyle, our eye-lasered dog statue friend. I'd put this one in the category of "fun for the whole family," a term I might not be able to use on some earlier suggestions.

[lacesmcawesome]

I recommend:

Outlaw Star.

I love that series to death. it's kinda short, and I don't think you can find it on youtube (but check crunchyroll.com for it). It's only 26 episodes, about:

SPACE
PIRATES
and
MAGIC

There is really no better combination.

Full Metal Alchemist is always good too.

[Gavin Sage]

Watching anime on youtube endangers fansubbing as a whole. If its that easy it upsets the balance there is between legal and less then legal sources of anime. Either go torrent or buy the DVDs.

Though for some recomendations. Hmm, if you've never seen Slayers then I highly recomend it, comedy and fantasy for the win. Another classic that is my perennial all time favorite is The Vision of Escaflowne, mecha and fantasy. Some more recent goodies would include RahXephon, (Eva with a bigger budget) Wolf's Rain, and Full Metal Panic!. Then of course there are classics which never get old like Trigun, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and so on which are always good for another go.

[PlatinumJester]

Go on www.tv-links.co.uk

WATCH - GTO, SAMURAI CHAMPLOO AND AFRO SAMURAI.

[Matthew]

Afro Samurai was okay (a bit nonesensical), but RahXephon I can totally recommend. Full Metal Alchemist I have heard very good things about.

[jkdjr25]

Lets see.
Well Rurouni Kenshin is always good. Ronin Warriors, Gundam Wing (one of my favorites), season one of Big O, Record of Lodoss War (both OAV and TV series) is an absolute must see for any D&D fan. Slayers is great as is Ranma 1/2, Hellsing, Outlaw Star, Patlabor, Lupin 3rd, of course Cowboy Bebop, uhm Darkside Blues is kinda strange but still good.

[Attilargh]

Hellsing Ultimate. In case you don't know, it's about a vampire employed by a British organization that hunts other monsters of the night. It's got Nazis, and Alucard always makes me grin maniacally. A lot more action than in the original series, follows the original manga better, and looks pretty damn good.

Samurai Champloo. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of Cowboy Bebop, the series follow the adventures of two antagonistic swordsmen who have promised to help a girl find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers". Action, humour and sheer cool in one very nice package. Contains hip-hop and modern-day Japan references.

Cowboy Bebop. Bounty-hunters in space, with influences of cowboy movies, film noir and Hong Kong action. Very jazzy soundtrack. It's great, go watch it.

Fullmetal Alchemist. It's two words, dagnabit! Even though the protagonists are only 15 and 14, the series is not for kids. Lots of action, humour and interesting characters. This alchemy is not for fume-addled old men with chemistry kits, it's flashy and powerful and really shakes the western-ish setting. It's awesome, go watch, double-time!


What can I say, I just love watching action.

[Dispozition]

God knows if you'll find any of these on youtube (doubtful), but if you want I can send you the bittorrents...For most of them anyway...I actually own some *gasp*

FLCL: Funny, obscure and more than a little 'out there'. Just a good, light hearted watch.
Haibane Renmei: A very 'cute' anime, although it does get rather serious about half way through. One of the few animes I deemed good enough to buy the box set.
Cowboy Bebop: Serious, funny, guns! A great watch, almost essential really. The only other anime good enough to make my buy the box set.
Mahou Sensei Negima/Negima!?: Extremely funny, but it does manage to be serious at times. Ending of Mahou Sensei Negima is shocking and only 16 episodes of Neima!? have been released, but they're sensational. Almost tempted to buy them :P

Ummm...That's actually about it for me...Darn...I should have more >.<

[Tengu]

Hmm, tough call - most of my favorite anime series have been mentioned before (including my personal top 3: Evangelion, FMA and Trigun).
The anime I'm currently watching is Ergo Proxy - a dark cyberpunk, which reminds me of Blade Runner a bit. I've seen only several episodes so far, but it looks good - it's very plot-heavy, with little action and practically no humour (which is actually a small drawback, GiTS for example has shown that even a serious, dark anime can be funny at times).

[PlatinumJester]

Afro Samurai was okay (a bit nonesensical), but RahXephon I can totally recommend. Full Metal Alchemist I have heard very good things about.

Yes, because all animes are completely realistic. Seriously though Afro Samurai is kick arse and can be watched in less then a day as can Samurai Champloo (if you start at about 9.00am).

[FdL]

Seriously though Afro Samurai is kick arse and can be watched in less then a day as can Samurai Champloo (if you start at about 9.00am).

Is this a good point for an anime? :p

[Gavin Sage]

Samurai Champloo is a standard 26 episode length anime series, so by "watch it in a day" its devoting some nine hours or so to it.

[FdL]

Samurai Champloo is a standard 26 episode length anime series, so by "watch it in a day" its devoting some nine hours or so to it.

Sure, I personally don't see the point in watching 9 straight hours of anime in a day, especially an entire show that's worth watching with attention...But whatever...

[Matthew]

Yes, because all animes are completely realistic. Seriously though Afro Samurai is kick arse and can be watched in less then a day as can Samurai Champloo (if you start at about 9.00am).

Wha? Who said anything about lack of realism being a problem? I watched it, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't particularly good. It was so, so and a bit nonesensical (i.e. stupid). The animation quality was very high, but the story quality and dialogue was very average.

[Querzis]

Depend on what you want really. But whatever what happens dont watch the english version of an anime, its just really lame especially the english version of Naruto...he never even said «Believe it» in the japanese version! Anyway, if you want humour then I recommend Ranma, I find it really hilarious and sexy too but I gotta admit its one of those series that go downhill, the two last seasons are just dumb. Mabuaroha is also really cool. It manage to be really funny, sexy and sad at the same time!

If you want action then there is lots of choice but I recommend One piece, Bleach or Naruto. Those three got the best fights I ever saw. In Naruto, the characters are also really cool, they are so different that you are bound to have many favorites characters and some that you really hate (most of the time, thats Sasuke...there is not lots of people who like emo like him). But whatever what you do: Stay away from the fillers! I gotta say that One piece is the opposite of Ranma, the series keep getting better and better...but that also means that the old episode are kinda lame and have almost no action (it started more as a comedy then anything else) but its worth watching them just to understand the new episode. Bleach got great swordfight but once again: Stay away from the fillers!

Now if you are a fan of science-fiction then Trigun, Full Metal Alchemist and Gundam wings are must! I prefer Trigun, especially since I like Vash a lot, hes the greatest good guy ever. You can watch that series 4 or 5 times and it never gets old. Full Metal Alchemist is great because you never know which side you want to win. Pretty much everyone is evil, or as done evil, and you never know who is right and who is wrong until the very end. And gundam wings got giant robot and who doesnt like giant robot?

If you like horror movies, watch Hellsing...NOW! Enough said.

If you like an anime (or a webcomic ) because of the great characters then Inuyasha or Naruto (yes him again). They are both full of antihero, good guys, people you love to hate and well-developped characters. But the big problem I got with Inuyasha is that everyone seems invincible, cant they stay dead????

If you like romance with a bit of hentai, well, FDL already mentionned some of the best.

Cowboy Beebop and Record of lodoss war are also great.

[Eldpollard]

As has already been said, Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop are a must. Fantastically written, acted etc.

Ouran High School Host Club is also a must. It's a shoujo comedy. Basically it involves several males who are in a club to flirt with women. the premise sounds fairly absurd I will admit, but the character development and sheer comedy. I was laughing very loudly many times.

Bleach and Naruto have already been said. Whilst they are heavily action based the characters are still very likeable.

[Sornas]

Lets see, my personal picks would be:

Gensomaden Saiyuki: An anime adaption of the old story "Journey to the West." Funny, good action, very good drama. Stay away if you don't like anime that involves characters actually occasionally dealing with their pasts.

.HACK//SIGN or .HACK//Legend of the Twilight: Good if you like .HACK to begin with, but some people think it's a little too slow. SIGN is Drama/mystery/little bit of action, while Legend of the Twilight is similar, but less drama and more comedy. (I haven't seen both all the way through though, so if that suddenly changes in either, don't hold it against me.)

I second Ouran High School: [B]Very[B] funny. Only watch it if you like shoujo though, this isn't an anime with tons of explosions.

Fruits Basket: Rivals Saiyuki as my favorite Anime. A shoujo drama/comedy/Underlying Romance about a girl living with a family that are cursed to turn into the animals of the Chinese zodiac when they are embraced by a member of the opposite sex and how she helps them and everyone else around her deal with their own personal scars. Stay away if you don't like sweet (In the awww sense) anime, or anime with powerful emotions.

Ranma 1/2: The classic Action/Comedy. There is a reason this anime has been so popular for so long. Rumiko Takahashi doesn't get any better than this if you ask me. (No, I'm not huge on Inuyasha, it's ok, but not great in my opinion.) Stay away if you like hardcore, deadly, gory action. Or if you have young kiddies around, as there is lots of toplessness.

Anything by Hayao Miyazaki: Enough said.

More to look at but I'm too lazy to write things about:
Cowboy Bebop (Action/drama/bit of comedy)
Gundam Wing (Action/Drama)
Samurai Champloo (Action)
Naruto (Action/Bit of Drama)
Haibane Renmei (Drama)
Love Hina (Comedy/romance)
Full Metal Alchemist (Little bit of everything)
Gokusen (Action/Drama/Comedy)
Noir (Action/Drama)

[Artemician]

There's nothing more irriating than having your message being eaten by your browser. Bah.

Okay.. I guess i'll have to be brief. I originally wrote an enormous message, but it was eaten, and I don't feel like having to type it all over again *grumble*

Fate/Stay Night. It is fabulous. That is all. Nothing i can type can convey the absolute fabulousity of F/SN. Well.. maybe the main character is a bit annoying, but that's just because he's juxtaposed to some of the coolest characters i have ever seen.

Ouran High School Host Club Absolutely amazing, and ridiculously funny, with lots of rewatchability value. Contrary to what others have said, don't watch it if you like Shoujo Anime, because it will forever ruin them for you. Trust me. I can't watch Marimite without laughing out loud now, because I will inevitably recall some similiar humourous situation from Ouran.

Full Metal Alchemist Ignore the slow start and the horrible neck pains you will develop and watch it to the end. The best action sequences I have ever seen, great characters, great plot. This is also one of the few animes that I would recommend you watch in English, for the English dub is very well done.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Very funny, very good characters, lots of philosophizing of the meaning of life. Watch!

Kino's Journey Like SHnY, but without the humour and the characters. The result is like the Little Prince meets Gulliver's Travels meets Schindler's List. I don't really like it, but if you're into stuff that make you think, you might like it.

Kanon It's like a dream, pretty and fleeting. That's all I can say without spoiling it. Seriously, it's very into mystery and suspense, so spoilers are absolutely horrible.

Lucky Star is frankly, quite horrible. But it's good for destressing on Sundays. However, I find it amusing because I am very similiar to the main characters, so you might not. Steer clear of this if you want something with plot/meaning.

[0wca]

Anything Hayao Miyazaki!

Especially Mononoke-hime and Spirited Away!!

Oh, or BLEACH!!

[Dispozition]

Goddamn...Need multiquote!

Depend on what you want really. But whatever what happens dont watch the english version of an anime, its just really lame especially the english version of Naruto...he never even said «Believe it» in the japanese version!

Does...Dattebayo sound familiar? That's essentially what it is. Although the english meaning does vary, it generally represents believe it.

If you want action then there is lots of choice but I recommend One piece, Bleach or Naruto. Those three got the best fights I ever saw. In Naruto, the characters are also really cool, they are so different that you are bound to have many favorites characters and some that you really hate (most of the time, thats Sasuke...there is not lots of people who like emo like him). But whatever what you do: Stay away from the fillers! I gotta say that One piece is the opposite of Ranma, the series keep getting better and better...but that also means that the old episode are kinda lame but its worth watching them for the new episode. Bleach got great swordfight but once again: Stay away from the fillers!

Naruto, some good fight scenes, never seen bleach, One Piece...Are you kidding? From the 20 or so episodes I've seen, not a single good fight in them. Albiet my opiion might change after I read the (stupidly long) manga, but still...[/QUOTE]

Lets see, my personal picks would be:
Anything by Hayao Miyazaki: Enough said.

Couldn't be truer :P

Naruto (Action/Bit of Drama)
Haibane Renmei (Drama)

Naruto is also a comedy as such...And Haibane Renmei..Drama...I dunno...My local video store classifies it as horror, which I suppose for some bits could almost be true. But it's not a mainstream drama, that's for sure.

Fate/Stay Night. It is fabulous. That is all. Nothing i can type can convey the absolute fabulousity of F/SN. Well.. maybe the main character is a bit annoying, but that's just because he's juxtaposed to some of the coolest characters i have ever seen.

I've seen the first...6 or so episodes...It's not too bad, but it's certainly not the best things I've ever seen. The plot has a great idea, it's just not carried out all that well. But I'll wait until I've seen teh whole series to decide whether or not it's actually worth seeing...

[Raistlin1040]

Bleach. Naruto. YuYu Hakusho's good, if you can find it.

[Querzis]

Does...Dattebayo sound familiar? That's essentially what it is. Although the english meaning does vary, it generally represents believe it.

Uh sorry but no, it has no real meaning. Thats why the people who add subtitle to japanese version dont write anything when he say it.

http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=126391

Read Kaito article. Thats what it means: nothing. It SOUNDS cool, agressive, strong-willed, childish and even a bit rude but still doesnt mean anything. Its like Fred Flinstone «Yabadabadou», it sounds happy and funny...thats it. It doesnt mean anything. And what annoy me the most is that Naruto is far from the only character who say something at the end of his sentence, most of the characters in ALL anime do that since its just how the japanese talk, with a «Yabadabadou» kind of word that doesnt mean anything but usually match their personnality. So why «Believe it»? Most of the time, when he say it in the english version, it doesnt make any sense that he would say it at that moment. Naruto (the character) is just really annoying in the english version because of that and because of the crappy voice actor he got.

[FdL]

If you like romance with a bit of hentai, well, FDL already mentionned some of the best.

Yeah, that's my niche then :p
Actually I'd use the term ecchi instead of hentai. I've been researching hentai and was surprised to find good quality (ie, non-crap) things that are good on its own besides their portrayal of sex. Good animation and stories, and there's funny stuff too. But I'm guessing I couldn't talk about them here so forget I said it.

I'm going to check out that Fate/Stay Night...It's always good to have a thread like this one around.

On the "dattebayo" thing, it cannot mean "believe it" in every context that he uses it. Look at how he uses it in every mood and situation. It's more like a particle that in itself has no meaning but attaches meaning to the preceding sentence. It's like "desu".
It just doesn't translate like that, and that's the problem, as it's a formal feature of japanese language.

[Dispozition]

Well...My bad then :P

@FDL: Mahou Sensei Negima is like that...It's ecchi, but damn funny. And by ecchi, I mean the english translation, not the literal japanese one. Japanese ecchi = Western Hentai, Western Ecchi = Lewd/naughty kinda think.

I'm probably wrong, that's just my understanding of it. I don't speak Japanese, so....yeah... >.<

[FdL]

I dunno, I got more confused with your take :p
I simply draw the line regarding if it shows explicit sex. Which in itself is a classification that doesn't really say anything about the actual anime, as there's some stories that for example are romantic and have it small doses and as a natural progression of the story. Something like Pia Carrot 2.

Which is an interesting thing to say, because I watched Pia Carrot 2 DX first and that's a straight romantic comedy for all audiences (well, it's anime so I dunno :p). Then I found out that the Pia Carrot 2 series is an alternate story with roughly the exact same characters, but featuring explicitness (my grade of PC-ness with the vocabulary has me on the verge of puking).

(Needless to say it feels kinda weird to watch them both in that order :D) Of course, this is related to the fact that they're based on one of those eroge interactive games with multiple paths.

My point probably exceeds that of the current thread, but I found it interesting that what is shown about a relationship in a romantic comedy is deeply related to storytelling conventions and cliches than to actual limits/censorship issues (themselves a factor external to storytelling). But at the same time, those storytelling conventions have evolved from the story of the genre (Hollywood in the 50's and so on) (Example: In Pia Carrot 2 DX they even fade to white on a kiss before it takes place fully.)

Conversely, what they are willing to show actually conditions the storytelling too much. The other "2" series is the example for this.

Well, it's very interesting if you think this from an open minded perspective and not with torches in hand which considers every portrayal of sex as negative.

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

I strongly recommend:

Fullmetal Alchemist
Bleach
the Slayers (and send me some links if you can get them in order!)
Naruto
DNA2 (2 = squared)
Escaflowne
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
Eureka SeveN (I watched this entire series in one sitting, seriously 50 episodes straight. Allsdat I did was get up to use the facilities and get food).
EDIT: I also strongly recommend GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. Old-school hand drawn anime... totally fantastic. I did not like the way the anime ended.. was too sudden


I do not recommend Ikkitousen; just overall bad; unless you are looking for nothing but panty shots and cleavage. The story and background is interesting, if you can get past the constant fanservice. Some is good. That is not.

[FdL]

Yeah, DNA2 is quite good :) I've laughed my ass off to this one. It's from the same guy who made Video Girl Ai and I''s, IIRC, so he knows his stuff.
The anime loses it in the last part, and the ending is rushed (I think in the manga it's better developed but I haven't read it all yet).

[TheEmerged]

Huh? Is there anime in YouTube? Didn't they remove that?

Anyway, good thread. Let's listen to recommendations.
Lately I've turned into a regular otaku. I'm enjoying Haruhi Suzumiya a lot, it sure is something to recommend to anybody. Unless you're into more action oriented or shallow stuff (Naruto it ain't). This has it all, the art, the plot, the dialogs, the characters...A sure winner.

I'll second this one, although it's a little heavy on the fan-service (no actual nudity that I've noticed). You gotta pity the guy everyone calls Kyon...