To any manga/anime fans

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Samwise21

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I’ve been hooked on American comic books since childhood (mainly DC over Marvel) as well as mainly American animation, and my only journey into manga/anime territory has thus far been Lone Wolf and Cub, this excellent samurai epic, and a few episodes of Cowboy Bebop. I was wondering if there were any out there that you guys can recommend.

I mean, to be clear, I have dabbled in more than just those. I gave Death Note a shot but I found it to dabble a bit too much in atheism (will probably still watch the Netflix movie), and I hated One Piece.
 
I liked Berserk very much, I consider it a masterpiece. Very dark and extremely gory though, so if you’re squeemish I would hesitate. Definitely watch the subtitled version, because the dub is terrible. The manga is probably the best manga ever written and still going so I’d check that out if you finish it and want to know “the rest of the story”.

I also think Baccano is a very good one. Hard to follow because it is very fast-paced but a very interesting story and great characters. If you liked Bebop, I’d check this out. Dub is good, I haven’t seen the sub to compare. (I’ve heard dub is about as good)

A few other ones I enjoyed:

Full Metal Panic: This one is great. Comedy, action, love, pretty much everything you could want in an anime. Dub is good.

FLCL: I consider this to be the best coming-of-age story of all time, but it is extremely fast paced and pretty short (6 episodes), so it may take a few watches. I hated it the first time I saw it, fell in love when I rewatched it a few years later. Watch the dub. Like Bebop it is one of the few where the dub is actually better than the sub.

Hajime no Ippo: A boxing anime. Probably my favorite. Pretty long, 76 episodes, but by the time you finish you’ll wish you’d become a boxer! Dub is okay, but I prefer the subtitle. Also this manga is very good, so if you finish and want more, I’d check out the manga.

Boogiepop Phantom: I hesitate to add this one. VERY confusing. Does not tell a “complete” story and requires a LOT of paying attention, but I thought it was excellent.

Usagi Drop: One of the sweetest, most innocent, lovely things I’ve ever seen.
 
My main problem with Death Note is that the story puts forth this bit in the overall story about something called Mu, a state of absolute nothingness that all humans who die are sent to. In the first few episodes the character Ryuk makes it clear that in the world of Death Note, Heaven and Hell do not exist. Only oblivion. I don’t need the writer pushing this stuff on me when I’m trying to be entertained. Just made me feel uncomfortable.

Aside from that I like the character L who is pretty much an angsty teen version of Sherlock Holmes.
 
I was not a fan of Death Note, largely for the same reasons you say, but also because it just felt like the story became ridiculous at a certain point; Light was getting away with the most convoluted, over-the-top schemes that seemed to magically just work because the story needed them to work… I thought it started out strong (other than the obvious theological problems) but as it went on it just… blech…

I did like L though!
 
I came across One Piece during my hunt for good pirate fiction, but I was confounded at how stupidly over the top most of the stuff in it is.
 
Samwise21 said:
My main problem with Death Note is that the story puts forth this bit in the overall story about something called Mu, a state of absolute nothingness that all humans who die are sent to. In the first few episodes the character Ryuk makes it clear that in the world of Death Note, Heaven and Hell do not exist. Only oblivion. I don’t need the writer pushing this stuff on me when I’m trying to be entertained. Just made me feel uncomfortable.

Aside from that I like the character L who is pretty much an angsty teen version of Sherlock Holmes.
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Are you sure? I thought Ryuk said, “Heaven will be inaccessible to anyone who writes in the book” or something like that.

Anyways, I’d seriously recommend RWBY. That’s my favorite anime. I also remember watching (and loving) Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo when I was a kid.
 
Thom18 said:
Are you sure? I thought Ryuk said, “Heaven will be inaccessible to anyone who writes in the book” or something like that.
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This is from an interview with the writer Tsugumi Ohba:
What is your stance on justice? Do people have the right to take another life in the name of justice?
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I did not put much deep thought into subjects like “life and death” or “justice and evil”.
I wrote the story hoping that it would be good entertainment.
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**What is the meaning of Light’s last words, “There will be nowhere to go after death”? **
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One of my personal underlying theses in Death Note is that dead people cannot be resurrected and that there is nothing after Death.
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Were there any ideas that you specifically wanted to express through this project?
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No, there was nothing that I strongly wished to express.
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The basic underlying idea was that “Humans are not immortals and once they are dead, they do not come back alive again”. This is to indirectly say that we should all treasure the present and live our lives to the fullest. I never thought it was important to define Light as either good or evil. To me, Light is evil, L is slightly evil and only Soichiro is totally righteous.
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I find this incredibly disappointing because the writer seems to completely overlook how a story of a killer with a God complex could have been ripe with theological issues which could have added an extra layer of depth to the story, but it seems the writer wasn’t interested in anything more than what you get at face value to begin with as well as mixing in his own apparent atheism. Good entertainment is good entertainment, but a true artist goes beyond just what is at face value.
 
Samwise21 said:
I’ve been hooked on American comic books since childhood (mainly DC over Marvel) as well as mainly American animation, and my only journey into manga/anime territory has thus far been Lone Wolf and Cub, this excellent samurai epic, and a few episodes of Cowboy Bebop. I was wondering if there were any out there that you guys can recommend.

I mean, to be clear, I have dabbled in more than just those. I gave Death Note a shot but I found it to dabble a bit too much in atheism (will probably still watch the Netflix movie), and I hated One Piece.
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If you enjoy philosophy I’d recommend Legend Of The Galactic Hero’s.
 
You guys need to check out Lone Wolf and Cub. If you don’t mind bloody violence and occasional nudity, it’s a damn good story. A Shogunate executioner has his entire family slaughtered by a rival clan and is framed for wishing death upon the Shogun, so he flees with his only remaining son to become a wandering ronin, a killer for hire as he seeks revenge against the people who murdered his family.

And despite my overall disappointment with Death Note, I’ll probably still check out the Netflix movie.
 
Finish Cowboy Bebop.

Wolf’s Rain is meditative and poignant, also by Madhouse Studio.

Fullmetal Alchemist is wonderful! Read the manga, then watch the first anime (it diverges from the manga at about episode 30 and book 7), then watch FMA: Brotherhood. Don’t bother with the movies. The author, penname Hiromu Arakawa, also does the series Silver Spoon, which is set in an agricultural high school academy in the country region, Hokkaido, and it has taught me a whole lot about farming so that I appreciate it much more than before.

Trigun was written/illustrated by Yasuhiro Nighthow, a Catholic! Vash the Stampede, the main character, is my favorite exemplar of a pro-life hero.

I no longer recommend Fruits Basket because it’s a psychological drama that places all the blame for kids’ problems unproductively on caricatures of parents (a common fault in manga/anime because traumas have to come from somewhere). However, I recommend the manga by the same author, Hoshi wa Utau.

Sergeant Frog is a kids show in Japanese, but if you can find the English dub you will find a hilarious parody.

Kodocha, short for Kodomo no Omocha, is an oldie but definitely a goodie. I read it when I was little. It’s comedy/romance, but trust me when I say there is no comedy like it. Read the manga if you can and watch the anime in English.

Rumiko Takahashi is one of my favorite authors. She did Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha. She also did One Pound Gospel, in which she displays the stunning and insulting ignorance of Christianity common to Japanese culture, so stay away from that one. There are a lot of breasts in her illustrations but honestly it’s just for comedy. Think PG-13 Looney Tunes in the case of Ranma 1/2. Despite the risqué plots and situations she’s much more conservative in attitude toward sexual (aka gender) roles. Right now her series Rinne is ongoing, and although the character Tsubasa is again representative of willful Japanese ignorance of Christianity, it’s still freaking hilarious! I own most of the Inuyasha DVD sets 🙂 If you like running gags, Rumiko Takahashi’s works are great. I read the Ranma 1/2, Rinne, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku manga but watch Inuyasha.

Samurai Champloo is a really cool but weird anime. It is pretty offensive, though.

Noragami is an OT-rated supernatural manga with two seasons of anime. I like it a lot 🙂

Koe no Katachi/ A Silent Voice is a manga (with an award-winning movie) about a kid who bullied a deaf girl during elementary school and repents and makes friends with her in high school.

Yotsubato/Yotsuba&! is a comedy/slice of life manga-only series by Kiyohiko Azuma, the same author of Azumanga Daioh. It follows the day-to-day activities of Yotsuba, a preschooler who explores life with her neighbors. She’s odd, adorable and so funny you’ll cry.

Finally, the legendary movie director Miyazaki wrote and illustrated a seven-book series on which his movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was based. It’s reeeeally environmentalist and borderline nihilist, but it’s also beautiful, so just take what’s good and beware of Miyazaki’s prejudices (he was a young radical at the time of writing).

As for shounen…um, Tokyo Ghoul started out as an ok if sickening horror manga but fizzled out without a conclusion.

There’s also a very interesting psychological drama called After School Nightmare that seems to be sexually ambiguous but actually has a twist metaphor plot.
 
If you’d prefer something clean, there’s Chi’s Sweet Home (an example of Kawaii).

For something more austere but still clean, Samurai Jack.

I have never seen that Champloo fellow but am reliably informed by those who have, that Jack could kick him into next week. [/nerd]
 
Samwise21 said:
I came across One Piece during my hunt for good pirate fiction, but I was confounded at how stupidly over the top most of the stuff in it is.
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It’s important to keep in mind that Manga/Anime spans different age ranges and different topics. One Piece is what is called a “Gag” manga, which specializes in comedic, over-the-top characters and story lines. Also, most authors tend to be influenced by both Buddhist and Shinto beliefs (like what you saw in Death Note).

Seems like you would be more interested in the “Seinen” (College-aged Man/Young Adult) category more than the “Shonen” (Teenage Boy) category. I would recommend Naoki Urusawa’s “Monster,” Vampire Hunter D, RahXephon (If you like robots), Ghost in the Shell, Battle Royale, Initial D (if you like car racing), Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen, Hellsing, Hayao MIYAZAKI films, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Wolf’s Rain, and many others.
 
Sailor Moon (both the original series and the new Sailor Moon Crystal) - magical girls

Bubblegum Crisis (both the original and Tokyo 2040) - cyberpunk

Angel Cop - tough-cop anime with over-the-top violence and a telekinetic villain named Lucifer; known for its infamous UK English dub that added in a ton of gratuitous cursing - fun times!

Vision of Escaflowne (series and movie) - I grew up with the original English dub; having heard the new dub on the Blu-ray release, so I can’t comment on it

Vampire Hunter D - distant-future, post-apocalyptic movie; one of my first anime; see notes for Escaflowne above

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - much later pseudo-sequel

Mezzo Forte (movie) and Mezzo (series) - action girls; movie contains gratuitous sex scenes, so be warned
 
Here’s some of my favorites…

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

As the name implies, this series is strange. The only way I could begin to describe it, is that it begins a bit like Dragon Ball Z… If Dragon Ball Z was written by Bram Stoker on an acid trip. And from there, it just gets stranger.

It isn’t a deep series but boy, is it fun, and insanely quotable.

There’s a dub for the first two arcs’ anime adaption and it’s decent… But absolutely don’t watch the Stardust Crusaders arc dubbed.

Serial Experiments Lain

Another series that’s trippy, to say the least, but its a lot deeper and more psychological. While I wouldn’t call it a horror series, there’s been elements that are genuinely creepy and unsettling…

It’s another series I recommend not watching the dub.

Record of Lodoss Wars

If you’re a fan of traditional fantasy, you won’t find a better show than Record of Lodoss Wars. It’s basically a Dungeons & Dragons/Tolkien-inspired adventure of heroes and the like.

The Gundam Series

Particularly anything set in the Universal Century timeline, or the more recent Iron-Blood Orphans.

It’s basically a straight war story, with giant robots. Sometimes a bit melodramatic, but usually fairly good at showing that war isn’t something glamorous even when it is necessary. Gundam: The 08th Mobile Suit Squad, either of the two Unicorn series, or Iron-Blood Orphans are my favorite… Although the later has parts where it can get boring.

Watamote

This is a comedy series and its type of comedy might not be for everyone. It’s very cringy, sometimes crude… But if you ever felt like a social outcast or suffered social anxiety, you’ll likely be able to relate to it and find humor it it.

I’ll also second recommendations of Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
 
Go watch Kill la Kill

Congratulations, you have now watched all of anime
 
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