Howling's Moving Castle ftw
Howling's Moving Castle ftw
Evangelion movies & series, Ghost in the Shell movies & series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Code Geass, Break Blade movies, Mardock Scramble movies and TTGL movies & series fit your description pretty well.
Other personal recommendations: Hellsing Ultimate, Kaiji, Fate/Zero, Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Berserk, Kara no Kyoukai movies, Baccano!, Haruhi Suzumiya series and movie, Redline, Toaru Majutsu no Index (and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun), Steins;Gate, Shiki.
Classic anime and you ppl don't mention Starblazers(yamato), fail! before u watch the crap of the more current gundam shows, watch the original series, even the ovas up to and including Char's counterattack, then watch the non UC crap.
as to robotech, watch the unbutchered versions of Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada, much better stories.
and the demon puppet series, I can't remember the title of the show.
[ Recommendations ]
For simplicity, I'll be using the English/International titles, and not the original Japanese titles (unless there's no English title available).
5 Centimeters Per Second
Akira
Blood+
Blue Submarine No. 6
Claymore
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (takes place between episodes 21 and 22 of the series)
Death Note
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Eden of the East
Eden of the East: The King of Eden
Eve no Jikan
Excel Saga
Ghost in the Shell *(See notes below)*
Hellsing
Howl's Moving Castle
Last Exile
Millennium Actress
Mobile Suit Gundam *(See notes below)*
Neon Genesis Evangelion *(See notes below)*
Noir
Ouran High School Host Club
Outlaw Star
Paprika
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
The Prince of Tennis
Princess Mononoke
Samurai 7
Samurai Champloo
Spirited Away
Summer Wars
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Trigun
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Xam'd: Lost Memories
Yakitate!! Japan
Yu-Yu Hakusho
Zoids (either series, "chaotic century" is better though).
[ Some notes about Ghost in the Shell ]
The original started with the movie Ghost in the Shell. Following the movie comes Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and that's it. No more. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is an anime series based in the same universe as the original movie, but beyond this it has absolutely no direct connection (one is not a continuation of the other). Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG is essentially just the 2nd season to Stand Alone Complex. The Laughing Man and Individual Eleven "movies" are just chopped up compilation "movies" of the first and second seasons of Stand Alone Complex, respectively. Solid State Society is a movie that takes place after the events of 2nd GIG, a direct continuation of the Stand Alone Complex series continuity.
For continuity reference:
Original movie continuity:
- Ghost in the Shell
- Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Stand Alone Complex continuity:
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man (compilation movie)
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG: Individual Eleven (compilation movie)
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (post-2nd GIG)
[ Some notes on Neon Genesis Evangelion ]
It's a 26 episode series, that's it. However, it is followed by Death & Rebirth which replaces episode 26 and adds a new ending. Following that, there's the End of Evangelion movie which nullifies both the series ending (ep. 26) and Death & Rebirth, and provides a whole new ending (again), which is supposed to be the "true" ending of the Evangelion series. At least, until...
The REBUILD of Evangelion nullifies everything (the entire original series and it's movies) and completely remakes the entire story in a new way, intended to be the "definitive" version of Evangelion by series creator Hideaki Anno. This comes from Anno's desire to finally recreate Eva "as he wanted it to be" in the beginning, now that he is no longer constrained by technological and budget limitations. The Rebuild movies loosely adapt episodes from the series into the new format, and at points completely change the story entirely. The first movie retells roughly the first 6 episodes of the series in a manner that's relatively true to the original series. The second movie takes it from ep. 7 to ep. 19 of the original series, but the changes to the story make it an entirely new story that deviates greatly from the original series. Because of the changes in the second movie, the third movie ends up being a completely new story unrelated to the original series, ep.20 and beyond of the original series is essentially dead and gone. And the final film, 4.0, has not been released yet (even in Japan), so I can't say much here.
Original series continuity:
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (overwrites ep 26 of the series, + "ep 27")
- The End of Evangelion (overwrites Death & Rebirth entirely - the "true" ending)
The REBUILD of Evangelion:
- Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
- Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
- Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo
- Evangelion: Final
[ Some notes about the Gundam Metaseries ]
Now, Gundam is a bit tricky to start out with. Once you're hooked, I'd say watch them all for many various reasons, but to start out, that's the hard part.
Die-hard Gundam fans are almost always die-hard "Universal Century" (or "UC" for short) fans, which is to say that they're fans of the Gundam series, movies, etc - that are all a part of the original Gundam's timeline canon (the "Universal Century" if you will). Later, popular Gundam series like Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED, and Gundam 00 do not take place in the UC at all, and are in separate timelines. Gundam Wing is part of the "After Colony" timeline, Gundam SEED is in the "Cosmic Era" timeline, and "Gundam 00" is in the "Anno Domini" timeline. A series/movie/etc in one timeline, does not intersect or have any relation to a series/movie/etc in another timeline; it has to be in the same timeline to be directly related beyond being a "Gundam" series.
If you don't care where you start, and wouldn't mind watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979), I'd say start there. It's quite a good series if you don't mind the highly dated animation quality and dialogue. Otherwise, start on something a bit more modern and up to date like Gundam SEED, which is said by many (while not true) to be a remake of the classic Mobile Suit Gundam; or Gundam 00 which is said by some (while also not true) to be a remake of Gundam Wing.
Personally, I didn't quite care for Mobile Suit Gundam, but fell in love with practically all other Gundam series (including others in the Universal Century), and still consider SEED to be one of my favorites (which die-hard fans will claim as one of the worse in Gundam history).
It's all about personal preference really, but if you want an easy way in, go with SEED or 00.
[ The Gundam Timelines ]
Universal Century:
- Mobile Suit Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Gravity Front
- Mobile Suit Gundam The 08th MS Team
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
- Mobile Suit Gundam F91
- Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
Future Century:
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam
After Colony:
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
After War:
- After War Gundam X
Correct Century:
- ∀ Gundam (Turn A Gundam)
- ∀ Gundam I: Earth Light
- ∀ Gundam II: Moonlight Butterfly
Cosmic Era:
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV: Astray
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: The Movie
Anno Domini:
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Second Season
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer
Advanced Generation:
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Miscellaneous:
- Gundam Evolve
- SD Gundam
- SD Gundam Force
- SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors
- Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G
Last edited by Anshinritsumai; 2013-01-18 at 04:43 PM.
Ok I got a list of anime's you could watch you will like, but I will warn you that some might be a little hard to follow for some people, I added some little notes and bolded the ones a highly recommend to anyone:
Yu Yu Hakusho (oldy but goody)
Mushishi (not necessarily gritty but it is interesting)
Code Geass (excellent anime, mech)
Death Note (great anime)
Clannad/After Story (will admit to liking this anime, not gritty at all since it is a "slice of life" anime but I feel I need to always recommend it)
Monster (very dark anime, excellent, kinda long but so worth it)
Birdy the Mighty Decode
Rurouni Kenshin (classic, excellent anime)
School Rumble (all humor, not gritty, one of my favorites, can make anyone laugh)
Full Metal Panic/Fumoffu (all humor, not gritty, one of my favorites, can make anyone laugh)
Black Lagoon (excellent anime, overlooked by many)
Darker Than Black (good anime, dark, but only watch first season since second is garbage imo)
Basilisk (good anime)
Elfen Lied (excellent anime, dark, has a lot of nudity that seems excessive but you get used to it fyi)
Deadman Wonderland (good anime)
Hellsing (great anime, oldy but goody)
Gunslinger Girl (good anime, weird at times)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (classic must watch)
Blood+ (okay anime)
Afro Samurai (excellent anime)
the first 10 minutes of Elfen Lied is theh bloodiest scene ive eveer seen in an anime.