what anime could you recommend to a fella? - all the other threads are dead as fuck so im making a new one

Baccano!

The dub is pretty good. It’s a story about a train robbery involving a religious cult and a rogue mafia faction trying to kidnap the family of a US senator during the 1920’s. The other passengers on the train include a group of bootleggers, a couple of idiots, an immortal Hungarian, and an urban myth stalking the train. It juggles the character well and they all have a certain charisma to them.
 
Here are some of my favorites:

Konosuba is pretty hilarious. A boy is reincarnated and winds up forming an adventuring party full of lunatics/idiots. I would recommend the dub for this one, since it might lose something listening to it in a foreign language, although others might disagree.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 2 is the best part in my opinion. Joseph's trollish behavior and penchant for trickery are great. The ending also fits in with Joseph's behavior
(the ending basically trolls the audience
.

So I'm a Spider, So What follows someone reincarnated into a spider monster. She goes from weak to overpowered, and yet still constantly almost dies up until where they are in the anime. Her bubbly personality makes it great, but the parts with the humans are comparatively less interesting. The sub's spider voice acting is very good along with the aforementioned bubbly personality. I'm not sure how many people are familiar with it though.

The Rising of the Shield Hero follows a young man who is summoned to another world to fight the "Waves of Calamity." He is betrayed by royalty and falsely accused of sexually assaulting the princess, becoming an outcast. Since he initially can't fight on his own he buys a slave girl to fight for him, which results in some sweet interactions. There are also some pretty epic moments too. I found out about this since people were upset about it showing false sexual assault accusations and slavery, so that can be considered a bonus. The second season is weaker, but, from what I understand it adapted the weakest part of the story.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a good classic. Two alchemist brothers search for the legendary Philosopher's Stone to restore their bodies, but wind up involved in a centuries-long conspiracy that could result in the annihilation of their nation. It has good action, plot, and a fun magic system.
 
Watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, period, it's probably the best anime
Watch Beck! Mongolian Chop Squad if you're into music
Watch Redline if you're into animation
Watch Black Lagoon if you like Tarantino flicks
Watch Don't Bully Me, Miss Nagatoro or My Dress Up Darling if you're a foreveralone permavirgin.
EDIT:
Watch FLCL if you really want to experience a psychedelic trip without the required drugs. Also to jam to the Pillows.
 
I highly recommend getting some Osamu Tezuka in your system. Guy's reputation is usually as an innovator so people tend to forget he was also damn good.

Problem is, anime of his works tend to... not always suck but they're usually to a way lower standard than his manga. The 1980 Astro Boy anime is a decent introduction though, as are the 1980s Unico movies. From there though, read his manga--particularly Ayako, Message to Adolf, and Black Jack.

If you want something that's more on the "pure fun" front though:

Ranma 1/2 is the perennial favorite in my household. Manga is slightly better but the anime holds up well for a long while. It's one of those anime that isn't really that complicated, but will SOUND complicated if I try to sum it up because there's so many moving parts.

The Slayers (not to be confused with Demon Slayer or Goblin Slayer) is a must-see classic fantasy anime (that is not Isekai).

There's also an anime called Ruin Explorers which is kind of like a knock-off of the Slayers (and for some reason one of the characters is a dog who reminds me of Muttley from Wacky Races) but its still pretty fun, and only four episodes long.

Devil Hunter Yohko is fun.... its also only six episodes (and one of those is a skippable music video compilation, so really only five episodes). Best way I can describe it is "if Sailor Moon is Street Fighter II, Devil Hunter Yohko is Mortal Kombat." (though people who aren't boomers like me might not get that reference).

3x3 Eyes is a fun short-run OVA series.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is great, even if you've never played the games. You MUST watch it in Japanese with subtitles though--this is one of those cases where the English dub replaced the soundtrack with licensed music by bands like Alice in Chains, which might be cool if you're a fan of those bands, but it's not utilized well and totally ruins the drama of certain moments (most notably the final showdown with the dictator). Watch in Japanese.

Same goes for Yu-Gi-Oh, the English dub is painful to watch and I couldn't even stand it when it was new, but in Japanese the show is actually really good.

(I would argue that to an extent the opposite is true for Sailor Moon--the show is good either way but the DIC version is often more fun to watch and I feel its music fits way better. Sailor Moon in general is hard to recommend though as its fun on an "an episode a day" basis but can be horrible if you binge it).

Detective Conan is very good, but you have to be able to live with the fact the show is likely not going to end any time soon and most of the fun will be had in the one-off mysteries, though I do find some of the longer arcs are fun too.

LilyCAT is a nice anime movie that is clearly inspired by Alien but has its own twists. It's only available English Dubbed but thankfully the dub is actually pretty good.

Stand By Me Doraemon is worth it, though I've heard the film is more powerful if you have pre-existing familiarity with the characters.

I might post more recommendations later.
 
That anime started out so damn good but fell off really hard and fast, then was also left on a cliffhanger. I like it but it's difficult to recomend imo.
I thought it was fun. Shame the author died though. I couldn't tell you how many times I've enjoyed an anime/manga and wanted more, then found out the author died before they could finish.
 
I thought it was fun. Shame the author died though. I couldn't tell you how many times I've enjoyed an anime/manga and wanted more, then found out the author died before they could finish.
Like Log Horizon. Premise was interesting, but the creator went to prison or something
 
Macross Plus is probably my favorite movie in this genre. Monster is a good thriller series too. I actually like Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence more than the first movie; it's definitely more atmospheric than The Matrix.

Overall, I think this thread has given lots of good choices, so you're bound to find something you like.
 
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If you want real entertainment:
Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki- anime about a cute spherical cat (see my prof pic), his owner, and their neighbors. Dramatic comedic scenes aside, it is actually a very grounded and give actually useful info about how to raise pets, especially cats. No talking animals here.

Pui Pui Molcar- a gorgeous stop motion anime about cavy shaped cars and their antics. It has surprisingly solid world building, and actually moving forward despite the episodic nature. Things the main characters done in season 1 actually have consequences in season 2. One of the best anime I've watched recently just for the rewatchability.

Both of them have short episodes, just around 3 minutes. So you can watch and rewatch it anytime in short burst, and don't have to dedicate your time, just to stumble upon stupid plot twist or ending like many other anime.

Here's the first episode of Molcar. I hope you enjoy it.


Watch anything else if you want to feel depression, delusion, or become a coomer. Or even worse, developing pedophilia and weird fetishes.
 
I'd think a more appropriate idea would which anime should you not recommend towards anyone.

I'd probably start by saying anything made by Trigger.
 
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I'd think a more appropriate idea would which anime should you not recommend towards anyone.
Oh that's easy--anything made after like 2006 or so.

To be fair I have seen some decent things come out of that timeframe, but past that even the good anime was just "the hit of the season" rather than something that feels like it'll still be meaningful for you later on and that you'll want to come back to later. That's also when anime to me started developing this sense of "haven't I seen this before?" because everything felt like it was just a retread of Ranma 1/2, Dragonball Z, Robotech, or something else that I've already seen.

.........

Here's a free one: just watch Magic Knight Rayearth--BAM, you never have to watch another isekai ever again, you've already seen the best one.

Also, this is probably the most mainstream opinion I have, but Neon Genesis Evangelion really is worth seeing. You can skip the Death and Rebirth movie since its literally just a recap, and try to find it with the old ADV dub if you can (the final episodes are hard to watch subtitled for... reasons).

Also yeah, ignore what weebs say: Robotech is good... Weebs tend to use this as an example of a show getting hackjobbed by westerners, but in all honesty Robotech maintains the essential parts and actually improves on the source in some ways. It's kind of weird seeing Robotech still get shat on in a world where we had to live through the existence of 4Kids, who was way worse.

(That said, I personally think its best to hunt down the old ADV DVDs--the "Legacy Collections"--rather than accept modern releases or "Robotech Remastered," as I find CGI inserted into clearly a decades-old show rather distracting. Same reason I dislike the Star Wars Special Editions. But you might not be as bothered as I am).

Robotech will also introduce you to Captain Gloval, a character so awesome he keeps popping up in other media.
 
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