Recommended Titles
Before I start, for those of you who are new to anime, or who have only seen a couple of series, or would like to introduce a friend to anime, I have a special list of recommended titles to start with. I don't recommend starting beginners off with subtitled anime. Most people don't like to read movies, so people will be more receptive to a good dubbed anime series or movie. Go to my "Beginner's Section" for my recommendations for anime newbies.
I have divided this section up into a few sections based on how good I feel a series is. "Ne Plus Ultra" is self explanatory (look it up). "Excellent" means that the series is an all time classic, or at least in that realm, and easily stands up to repeated viewing. "Very Good" means that it is a great series and you will most assuredly enjoy it. "Good" means just that, it's a good series—not great, but definitely worth seeing. "Worth Seeing" means that the series isn't anything special, but worth seeing once. "Bad" means anything from it's not worth seeing to it is so bad that it should be rolled over with a steamroller, burned, sealed in a drum of radioactive waste, and buried deep beneath the earth or thrown into space, preferably in the direction of the closest black hole (in other words, not fit for human consumption).
Some of these series are not available yet in the U.S. Also, I did not include such classic series as Battle of the Planets/G-Force/Gatchaman, Speed Racer/Mach Go-Go-Go, Star Blazers/Yamato, Astroboy, and Kimba the White Lion. Basically, these are old school classic anime series and definitely worth seeing if you can find them.
Ne
Plus Ultra
Akira
Macross (a.k.a. Super-Dimesnional Space Fortress: Macross)
Robotech (distinct from Macross, here for historical significance in the U.S.)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (a.k.a. Shoujo Kakumei Utena)
Otaku no Video*
Excellent
All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku
Battle Athletes (and Battle Athletes Victory)
Bubblegum Crisis/Crash (original series—haven't seen 2040 yet)
Burn Up W (Burn Up! isn't as good.)
Card Captor Sakura (they cut a lot of material out to make Cardcaptors, so get
the original)
Dirty Pair (original and Flash)
Fist of the Northstar (movie—haven't seen the TV series, but it's supposed
to be good too)
Fushigi Yuugi (a.k.a. The Mysterious Play)
Gunsmith Cats
Kiki's Delivery Service
Kimagure Orange Road
Love Hina
Maison Ikkoku
Marmalade Boy
Martian Successor Nadesico
Ninja Scroll
Oh! My Goddess! (a.k.a. Aa! Megami-sama! or Ah! My Goddess!)
Princess Mononoke (a.k.a. Mononoke Hime)
Ranma ½
Saber Marionette J (and J to X (not avial. in U.S.), but R isn't as good)
Slayers, The (all variants)
Tenchi Muyo! (all variants)
Urusei Yatsura (a.k.a. Those Obnoxious Aliens)
Video Girl Ai
You're Under Arrest!
Very
Good
Ayane's High Kick
Captain Harlock (a.k.a. Space Pirate Captain Harlock)
Castle of Cagliostro (any Lupin III, although this is the only one I've seen)
Digi Charat
Fatal Fury
Galaxy Express 999
Ghost in the Shell
Grappler Fighter Baki
Here is Greenwood
Panda! Go Panda! (for young children)
Ping Pong Club
Pokémon (a.k.a. Pocket Monsters)
Queen Emeraldas
Riding Bean
Sailor Moon
Sol Bianca
Street Fighter II (movie, V, and Street Fighter Alpha)
X
Yawara! The Fashionable Judo Girl
Good
Agent Aika
Armitage III
Battle Arena Toshinden
Birdy the Mighty
Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl
Megazone 23
Project A-ko
Super Deformed Double Feature (Ten Little Gall Force/Scramble Wars)
Worth
Seeing
Fancy LaLa
Galaxy Fraulein Yuna
Magical Girl Pretty Sammy
One Pound Gospel
Spirit of Wonder
Bad
Digimon
Don't Leave Me Alone Daisy
Dragon Ball
Monster Rancher
Wild Cardz
Try to match an anime with a genre of movie that you like (sci-fi, comedy, drama, etc.) This list is in alphabetical order. I'll start off with a list that would be okay for children. After that is a list for more adult people.
OKAY
FOR CHILDREN:
(not necessarily very young ones —
read the reviews and ratings)
Kiki's Delivery
Service
You may have seen this in the theaters or on video. It is a wonderful movie
made by the man some call the "Walt Disney of Japan". The animation
is incredible, at least as good as any Disney movie. The story is of a young
witch who moves to a new town (to be the new town witch) and starts a delivery
service (thus the name). The whole movie is just a big wonderful adventure that
I recommend for anyone of any age. This is rated either G or PG.
Pokémon
If you haven't heard of this anime, you've been living under a rock for the
past few years. It's on TV several times a day. There's books, video games,
toys, etc. Based on the super popular Nintendo Game Boy video game, it's the
story of a boy who trains Pokémon (Pocket Monsters in Japan), which are
animals with various powers and level ups. It's been so overexposed that I almost
hesitate to recommend this, but it's really a good series for kids to watch.
The anime and related games on some level teach critical thinking skills (which
Pokémon to fight against which, with what attack, etc.). There's a slew
of clones, including Digimon. If you can stand listening to the various
Pokémon, especially Pikachu, I recommend this series for you and/or children.
Princess Mononoke
For fans of fantasy/sci-fi movies. You might have seen this in the theaters.
This movie was made man some call the "Walt Disney of Japan" (just
like Kiki's Delivery Service above). The animation is incredible, at
least as good as any Disney movie. This is the story of man encroaching on a
forest full of creatures, and one girl who, with the help of the animals, tries
to stop the encroachment. Unlike Disney movies, however, the animals aren't
anthropomorphized (they don't talk like people, walk like people, etc.). The
movie is very dark and a little to violent for very young children, but I highly
recommend this to anyone of any age. Rated PG-13.
Robotech
For sci-fi/drama/romance fans. This is the series that made me and thousands
of others an anime fan!!! It was shown on TV in many cities in the mid '80s,
and was so unlike everything else (so much better in so many ways) on TV. It
was animated better, and had intelligent characters with intelligent story lines
that evoked emotional responses. Main characters die, a romantic triangle develops,
all in the background of a world-devistating holocaust. Robotech takes
place in the near future (I think the date is 1999, but the show was created
in the early '80s, so consider it the near future), when an alien space ship
crash lands on Earth. The human race is in the middle of a huge war (what else
is new?), but his news causes everyone to come together to form a united Earth
government. Scientists examine the alien technology and create weapons to fight
the potential alien attackers, who eventually show up and start an intergalactic
war with the Earth. The series explores concepts of war, love, duty, and many
other things. It's impossible to summarize this series in a few sentences. Just
watch the first couple of episodes, and you will be amazed (and hooked)! The
show has been on Cartoon Network on their Toonami lineup. I would rate this
PG to PG-13.
Sailor Moon
For sci-fi/romance/comedy fans. This series was shown on TV originally in the
early '90s. It is the definitive "magical girl" anime. It is the story
of a girl who discovers that she is really the Moon Princess and has special
powers to defeat the evil forces of the Negaverse. She eventualy discovers the
rest of her Sailor Scouts, and together they fight the forces of evil. They
do this by transforming from their everyday schoolgirl appearance to their respective
Sailor Scout alter ego, and using the power of the Moon (or Mercury or Mars
or whatever) and friendship and teamwork. Aimed at a mostly younger audience.
I would rate this more PG than G.
Tenchi Muyo!
For sci-fi/fantasy/comedy/romance/drama fans (I think that about covers it).
The story of young Tenchi Masaki, a typical Japanese teenager, who ends up embroiled
in an intergalactic battle. Along the way, a group of young women show up at
his house one by one, and he helps each one out, and they end up staying/falling
for him. Tenchi tries to balance things out so nobody gets mad at him, but some
of the women want him to decide which one he wants right now. This show was
shown on Cartoon Network on their Toonami lineup. It's rated at least PG-13,
although the Toonami version was cleaned up for TV (Toonami version is okay
for young kids, the unedited version is probably 15+, especially the OVA and
some of the movies).
Additional Possibilities for children:
These are not as good as the above titles, but are easily accessible (on TV).
For older
children:
FOR MORE ADULT PEOPLE:
Akira
For fans of hardcore science fiction. The original "cyberpunk" epic.
Troubled youths in a motorcycle gang in post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, one of them
gets mixed up in a secret government experiment in psychic powers and goes out
of control. Rated R for scenes of violence and gore.
Bubblegum Crisis
For sci-fi/action/drama fans. Very similar to Blade Runner in story and
style. The story of a group of 4 women in post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo who wear
special armored suits to fight against killer robots (think Terminator,
but more so) made by an evil mega-corporation. Somewhat dark and violent, but
with some comedy woven in. This is probably rated about PG-13.
Fist of the
Northstar
For sci-fi/martial arts/action fans. Think Conan the Barbarian. The world
is a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by powerful warlords. Only the true "Fist
of the Northstar" can save the world from evil. Ultra-violent martial arts
(not like DragonBall — this has real gore!) in a Conan-like world.
This is rated a hard R.
Gunsmith Cats
For action/comedy fans. Think intelligently written cop/action-hero movie, but
with young, intelligent, female lead characters. The story takes place in modern
day Chicago and is about two young women who run a gun shop and do some bounty
hunting on the side. They get involved in a big conspiracy and have to shoot/explode
their way out of it. There are shootouts, car chases, assasins, etc. More attention
to detail is paid in this anime than possibly anything ever animated before.
The guy who was in charge of making this is a gun and car freak. It's rated
15+, which is a little higher than PG-13.
Ninja Scroll
For martial arts/action fans. This is one of the violentest (to borrow and Itchy
& Scratchy word) videos around. Ninjas fighting eachother with swords hacking
and slashing off arms, legs, heads, etc. Lots of gore spattering all over, but
very well animated and with a good story line. It's a video that a lot of people
see that gets them to see more anime. It's almost a modern-day classic. Rated
very hard R.
Ranma ½
For romantic comedy/martial arts fans (although martial arts is a big part of
this series, it isn't like a Bruce Lee movie or anything). Ranma ½
is the story of Ranma, a teenage boy, who, while training with his father in
China, falls into a cursed spring that turns him into a girl whenever he's splashed
with cold water. Ranma is engaged to Akane, although neither want to be engaged
— it was their fathers' idea. Ranma also has several other fiancees that
his father didn't tell him about, along with several rivals. The anime is the
story of Ranma trying to perfect his martial art and strike a balance between
the fiancees and rivals without making Akane mad at him. He usually fails at
at least one of these. There is some nudity and sexual situations in this series,
so I would rate it about 15+ (a little harder than PG-13).
The Slayers
For fantasy/comedy fans. This is the story of Lina Inverse, a very powerful
(and young) sorceress, and her band of friends who travel the world looking
for rare treasures and usually saving the world from a great evil force. While
on their journey, many comedic situations occur due to the interaction of the
characters. Think of this as a comedy version of Dungeons & Dragons. One
of the funniest anime series around. I would rate this PG to PG-13.
List of series on my "to be seen" list.
* Otaku no Video
is only partially anime, but is a parody of the life of an otaku, a la
Trekkies, and is a must see for all true otaku!
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