Cool anime recs

[timelinker14]

I've been on an anime spree lately as I'm wrapping up my studies for this year. Currently watching a whodunit called Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider, it's pretty awesome, and only 10 20-minute episodes.

What have y'all been watching, if at all?

 

[stance]

Subete ga F ni Naru is cool too. I recommend ODD TAXI -- despite hating anthro shit

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa is kino. watch that

I watch 5-20 shows each season so you can check out my list for shows I consider worth watching:

g83's Anime List - MyAnimeList.net

myanimelist.net

 

[fiveXdollars]

A guy I was talking to on here said his favourite is "My Daddy Long Legs". Got no clue what it's about, but it has a nice rating so it might be cool to check out.

 

[The Chibi One]

How did this thread sit stone cold dead for close to a year?

Anyway, off the top of my head:

Akira
Berserk 1997
Boogiepop Phantom
Galaxy Express
Hokuto No Ken
Kino's Journey
Memories
Monster
Mushishi
Serial Experiments Lain
Texhnolyze

 

[Pluto]

Sonny Boy is undoubted the best anime I've ever seen (and I've seen like 150+).
It's the only one* I can wholeheartedly say is good (and not "good, for an anime...", but legitimately an impressive piece of art).
Dense, extremely intelligent, thought-provoking, visually interesting. No stupid cliches, no typical anime archetypes.
It's confusing on a first watch, but as you keep going you realize the confusion and seemingly schizophrenic plot are very deliberate. It's part of the message. It's confusing nonsense where characters appear and disappear randomly because real life is a bunch of confusing nonsense where people come into and leave your life without any notice, and more often than not without real 'closure' to anything.
One of those things that you can and should 'analyze' after watching. And probably rewatch, too.
And that ending was
a nice little gut punch to cap it all off. Not even a 'fun' gut punch. Just a whimper. A very grounded "yes, this is how life actually is, there are no 'happy endings'. There are no real 'endings' at all."
I am also very very happy it didn't cop out and didn't ship the two main(?) characters by the end. It's very bittersweet. Everything's the same... but the protagonist evolved as a person. Not completely, just a little tiny bit. He's still the same person... but he learned something from the experience.

I dunno, I can (and did!) analyze that story for hours. It's amazing it came out in 2021. I didn't know the anime industry is still capable of putting out stuff like that. It's something you'd expect from that late 90s/early 00s era.




* EDIT: I suppose End of Evangelion and Studio Ghibli movies are also candidates. Other "great classics" like Haibane Renmei and Lain and Texhnolyze are great.... for anime. Sonny Boy transcends that in my opinion.

 

[Andy Kaufman]

Sonny Boy is undoubted the best anime I've ever seen (and I've seen like 150+).
It's the only one* I can wholeheartedly say is good (and not "good, for an anime...", but legitimately an impressive piece of art).
Dense, extremely intelligent, thought-provoking, visually interesting. No stupid cliches, no typical anime archetypes.
It's confusing on a first watch, but as you keep going you realize the confusion and seemingly schizophrenic plot are very deliberate. It's part of the message. It's confusing nonsense where characters appear and disappear randomly because real life is a bunch of confusing nonsense where people come into and leave your life without any notice, and more often than not without real 'closure' to anything.
One of those things that you can and should 'analyze' after watching. And probably rewatch, too.
And that ending was
a nice little gut punch to cap it all off. Not even a 'fun' gut punch. Just a whimper. A very grounded "yes, this is how life actually is, there are no 'happy endings'. There are no real 'endings' at all."
I am also very very happy it didn't cop out and didn't ship the two main(?) characters by the end. It's very bittersweet. Everything's the same... but the protagonist evolved as a person. Not completely, just a little tiny bit. He's still the same person... but he learned something from the experience.

I dunno, I can (and did!) analyze that story for hours. It's amazing it came out in 2021. I didn't know the anime industry is still capable of putting out stuff like that. It's something you'd expect from that late 90s/early 00s era.

View attachment 115780


* EDIT: I suppose End of Evangelion and Studio Ghibli movies are also candidates. Other "great classics" like Haibane Renmei and Lain and Texhnolyze are great.... for anime. Sonny Boy transcends that in my opinion.

3rd image reminded me of the Ico cover:

 

[Jodo_Fan]

3rd image reminded me of the Ico cover:

Which reminds me of Giorgio de Chirico.

 

[The Chibi One]

Anor Londo was also based on such works.

 

[Antogoos]

Just a few kino recommendations:

• Black Bullet
• Hajime no Ippo
• K-ON!
• Steins;Gate
• Kara no Kyoukai
• Yuru Camp
• Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included
• Kaiji
• Welcome to the NHK!
• Nichijou
• Eden of the East

Berserk 1997

P-peak...

 

[dirtydeedsdonedirtcheap]

Jojos Bizarre Adventure is peak

 

[Laivasse]

Check out Uchouten Kazoku aka The Eccentric Family. A very underrated anime with superb character exploration, deep metaphor about life and destiny hidden under seemingly whimsical Kyoto folklore. It's adapted from the works of the same author who wrote Tatami Galaxy and The Night is Short, Walk on Girl. Genuinely one of my lasting favourites.

Also it's technically not an anime but it feels very anime, I improved my life this year by discovering Thunderbolt Fantasy. It's a Taiwanese puppetry collaboration enacting a wu xia style fantasy storyline, although the language is Japanese and the stylings are all 100% anime. Long awaited 4th season is coming soon, good time to watch.

 

[Full Body Mods]

If you are fetishizing 90s style (late 80s) instead of peak kino early 2010s for some reason, Vampire Princess Miyu should probably be your next total waste of time. It's a 7/10 AT BEST, but it has "sovl". The plot is garbage. It goes like this: someone has degenerated into a state which is causing trouble for people -> they-ish are also a victim -> titular vampire sends them to the shadow realm anyway. Implied sex with an iguana is in the mix, which is black rifle coffee bold. So bold that you can only go one step further than that. Good enough. But seriously, it is exactly the thing that it should be, so in that sense it is perfect.

I also recently watched Renkin San-Kyuu Magical Pokaan. It's an airy light ecchi / creative slice of life with an atypical sense of humor. Very "delicate" feeling. It's constantly teasing fan service but pulling back in favor of highlighting some facet of a character's design/personality which may be equally attractive from an abstract standpoint. Definitely different, but nothing awe-inspiring. I will basically watch anything that looks like this (with that old-school jolly type feeling). Anyway, there are some really funny moments. In one episode the android girl starts glitching out due to some mold that has grown throughout her chassis, so two of the other characters take her apart completely, removing and spreading out all components as you would with a PC, then they blast everything with water and scrub down the parts in surgical outfits. They put her back together, turn her on, and she works, everything seems fine... because they just store all the stray components they keep finding away in the bed-side table. Must not be important! I kind of felt like I was filled with mold, after that.

Tatami Galaxy was mentioned, which made me think of Gankutsuou, because 1. its "deep" 2. unusual art direction. 3. I like it. I'd also recommend this to someone who wants something a little more linear and larger scope than the bullshit I just reviewed :D.