Anime For Newbies

[Ayanami Rei First Child]

Okay...I'm thinking about going to one of my classes and handing out a paper on different anime according to Genres. Do you guys have any suggestions?^^; Keep in mind none of them have watched anime before <.<;

[Makou]

Yes. Please, by all means, do this.
I think these would provide a different look into anime (given that they aren't on T.V. at the moment...)
Genres:

Philosophical (if this is a genre>_>): Kino's Journey.
Mystery: Lain or Haibane Renmei.
Romance: Saikano.
Horror: No idea. I'd like Higurashi, but I doubt you could show them that.
Comedy: Cromartie High. It's so ludicrous that I'm sure your friends will laugh.
Action: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh... I'm bad with action.
Yaoi: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. I'm bad with Yaoi.
Yuri: Don't make me say this again T_T.

Good luck!

[G.I.R]

Horror / Suspense:  Perfect Blue
Comedy:  Excel Saga, Azumang Daioh
Action:  Naruto
Mystery: Paranoia Agent
The Down-right Weird:  Dead Leaves

[SohmaYuki]

Uhhh... all those suggestions(except for Kino's) is sorta bad for people just getting into JP cartoons to watch. Since they're full of cultural nuances that US people won't understand(especially Lain and Haibane).

Kino's isn't really philosophical... persay.

Uhm, A good list of things.

Do you want English categories, or Japanese categories?

If you go by JP,

First the major branch of Shounen and Shoujo...

Shounen-
Fighting-Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Bleach
Comedy- Almost all comedy series aren't for people just getting into JP cartoons. All of them are far too cultural and/or random for most people to even attempt to get. I suggest starting off with romantic comedy stuff first
Romantic Comedy- Ah My Goddess, Shuffle, Video Girl Ai, DNA^2, Abenobashi
Action-Black Lagoon, GITS, City Hunter
Mecha-Gundam... all of them, Eureka Seven, Mazinger, Getta Robo
Horror- Monster, Jigoku Shoujo(though this will go over a lot of people's heads if they don't know much about Japanese culture and mentallity)
and then the big "other"- Mushishi(which was probably one of the best, if not best series of 2006),

Shoujo-
Magical Girl-Sailor Moon, Wedding Peach, Hime-Chan no Ribbon, etc.
Romance-Fruits Basket, Alice Gakuen(one of my favorite series)
Comedy- Again... not good to start with comedy but... Gals!(Super Gals), Joushikousei
Action/Other-Yami No Matsui, Petshop of Horrors, Angel Sanctuary

I could give better lists and examples, but these are just off the top of my head that I could think of real fast that isn't too culturally based for US readers.

And HISTORICAL \o/
Gantkutsuoi, Victorian Romance Emma and the such.

[LordKefka]

Sci-Fi - Infinite Ryvius
Mecha - G-Gundam
Harem - Shuffle!
Fantasy/Adventure - Twelve Kingdoms
Mystery: Gankutsou
Romance: Bokura Ga Ita
Slice of Life: Junkers Come Here (YOON-KERS TBH)
Drama - Honey and Clover 2
Horror: Pet Shop of Horror
Comedy: Welcome to NHK
Action: Black Lagoon
Super Robot: GaoGaiGar

[Makou]

Uhhh... all those suggestions(except for Kino's) is sorta bad for people just getting into JP cartoons to watch. Since they're full of cultural nuances that US people won't understand(especially Lain and Haibane).

Haibane has cultural nuances? Care to give an example?
Well, whether you name one or not, I'd advocate Haibane because of its unique premise, namely, amnesiacs who wake up in a sort of afterlife. Makes  the viewer think about symbology, if you ask me.

[LordKefka]

Uhhh... all those suggestions(except for Kino's) is sorta bad for people just getting into JP cartoons to watch. Since they're full of cultural nuances that US people won't understand(especially Lain and Haibane).

Kino's isn't really philosophical... persay.

Uhm, A good list of things.

Do you want English categories, or Japanese categories?

If you go by JP,

First the major branch of Shounen and Shoujo...

Shounen-
Fighting-Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Bleach
Comedy- Almost all comedy series aren't for people just getting into JP cartoons. All of them are far too cultural and/or random for most people to even attempt to get. I suggest starting off with romantic comedy stuff first
Romantic Comedy- Ah My Goddess, Shuffle, Video Girl Ai, DNA^2, Abenobashi
Action-Black Lagoon, GITS, City Hunter
Mecha-Gundam... all of them, Eureka Seven, Mazinger, Getta Robo
Horror- Monster, Jigoku Shoujo(though this will go over a lot of people's heads if they don't know much about Japanese culture and mentallity)
and then the big "other"- Mushishi(which was probably one of the best, if not best series of 2006),

Shoujo-
Magical Girl-Sailor Moon, Wedding Peach, Hime-Chan no Ribbon, etc.
Romance-Fruits Basket, Alice Gakuen(one of my favorite series)
Comedy- Again... not good to start with comedy but... Gals!(Super Gals), Joushikousei
Action/Other-Yami No Matsui, Petshop of Horrors, Angel Sanctuary

I could give better lists and examples, but these are just off the top of my head that I could think of real fast that isn't too culturally based for US readers.

And HISTORICAL \o/
Gantkutsuoi, Victorian Romance Emma and the such.

I'd like to say that I do not think Mushishi  is a horror....at all. I do not remember any episode to be "horror like". Maybe to little kids but I think Mushishi would be somewhere in the "Adventure" genre.

Pet Shop of Horror also has no real action to make it be part of the Action genre. I think it belongs more in the Horror and Mystery genre.

I think some of the stuff needs to be catagorized better but whatever. I don't think you completely grasp the concept of what a genre is. Not tyring to break you down but it seems you have no clue what you are talking about.

[SohmaYuki]

JP categories...

Or did you miss that part?

Also the word "Other"...

...

or did you miss those too?

[LordKefka]

And comedy is perfect for people who are just getting into Anime. Personally, watching something that is carefree is perfect for someone who doesn't know how to experience this sub-culture first hand. I don't recommend people jumping into Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze, or Boogiepop Phantom for their first Anime....

[LordKefka]

JP categories...

Or did you miss that part?

Also the word "Other"...

...

or did you miss those too?

Well, I don't give what jp says since I'm an Anime reviewer and I KNOW those are not what they should be. ANN and AnimeNFO or even Wikipedia will have random people add whatever genre they want when they have no clue what they are talking about. For example, ANN has about 75% of everything shonen. Now tell me.. huh?

[SohmaYuki]

Most comedies are written for Japanese watchers, so not understanding Japanese culture would mean missing out on a huge majority of the jokes.

PaniPoniDash, I myself only understood about 60% of the jokes... at best. Shows like Excel Saga and PuniPuniPoemi are very parody filled, so without understanding the original basis understanding the parody is near impossible. Like... how many of you understood the joke of Excel Saga whenever they killed the cute animal things they'd spit out purple blood and their faces changed... that it was a parody from a series in the 70's?

Sure, people will understand the blantent slapstick parts... but most comedies are funny because they're based on something in real life that can be reflected on and taken in light.

That's why I didn't list any of those series you listed. I purposely tried to pick out series that were generally easy to understand and follow no matter what your background is. I could name plenty of "better" series, but most of them would go over people's heads.

Well, I don't give what jp says since I'm an Anime reviewer and I KNOW those are not what they should be. ANN and AnimeNFO or even Wikipedia will have random people add whatever genre they want when they have no clue what they are talking about. For example, ANN has about 75% of everything shonen. Now tell me.. huh?

I honestly don't understand what you're trying to say here.

You're saying, you don't care about what Japanese people categorize things as... because since you are an Anime reviewer(for which magazine might I ask?). Most comics are shounen... the majority of comics are shounen. Go into any book store, and the shounen section is usually 3 times bigger than the shoujo section. Wikipedia... is fanmade, and I don't trust US wiki for anything Japanese, just like I don't trust JP wiki for anything that's American.

Tell you huh?

Huh?

what?

Am I supposed to state "huh?" to you? I'm not understanding.

[SuperKawaiiNeko]

Just because something has a lot of cultural referances doesnt mean it isnt accessable. When it comes to dramatic series, many of the themes are more or less universal. Look at something like...say.... InuYasha. InuYasha, as a series, is VERY Japanese. Its full of referances to Japanese myths and legends. Its also stupidly popular. How many of its american fans do you think get 100%, or even 50%, of the cultural referances? Not many. But a lot of the themes of those stories are universal. Just because one isnt familiar with every last little nuance of the source doesnt mean one cannot appreciate result. It might sound a little...er...sappy, but Japanese are human, too. And humanity is the essance of drama.

As for comedy, most of the best comedies are multilayered. You just want to laugh....you dont have to laugh at ALL the jokes to laugh at some of them. Just because one hasnt seen or heard of that anime (or whatever it is) with the purple blood and the face changing doesnt mean that cute things being killed with crazy faces and purple blood isnt damn funny in it's own right. Fred Gallagher (the Megatokyo Piro one, not...the other one) once wrote "The trick is to provide humor on several levels so that even if you don't get all of the references, it's still funny." This is very true, and most of the best comedies reflect it.

Lets look at an american example. The Toy Story movies are insanely popular among americans of all ages. From kids under the age of ten to the elderly over the age of 70 love those movies. One of my personal favourite parts where I laughed really hard was in the second one, where the toys climb into the old beat up pizza delivery truck, and on the tailgate it says "YO"

I laughed really hard when I saw that. How many kids under the age of ten understand what that means? And of the ones who do, how many understand why they didnt put the whole thing on there? My guess is "not many." How many of them got the joke when Zerg told Buzz "I am your father!"? Again...guessing not many. And yet its still really popular in that age group. Why? Because theres more to comedy than just getting all the jokes. Just because someone doesnt understand why it might have any effect on the weather doesnt change the fact that hanging Chiyo-chan upside down from the window is really funny.

[SohmaYuki]

Just because something has a lot of cultural referances doesnt mean it isnt accessable. When it comes to dramatic series, many of the themes are more or less universal. Look at something like...say.... InuYasha. InuYasha, as a series, is VERY Japanese. Its full of referances to Japanese myths and legends. Its also stupidly popular. How many of its american fans do you think get 100%, or even 50%, of the cultural referances? Not many. But a lot of the themes of those stories are universal. Just because one isnt familiar with every last little nuance of the source doesnt mean one cannot appreciate result. It might sound a little...er...sappy, but Japanese are human, too. And humanity is the essance of drama.

Inuyasha, the references are not important at all. Inuyasha has an ankle deep plot. Which is why it makes a good series for newer people to start with. When cultural understandings are very important to the plot then it's a whole 'nother matter. Jigoku Shoujo plays very much on the understanding of Japanese culture. I played experimentational fun games with this series and showed it to some friends of mine just to see what they though about it. They all said generally the same thing. "This show is so stupid, why would you have some girl kill someone for you instead of just slap them in the face? If you're that pissed at someone, why not do something about it?" Japanese culture has a very different point of view on it, and you have to understand how Japanese culture, and tiers work on their level to understand the series.

As for comedy, most of the best comedies are multilayered. You just want to laugh....you dont have to laugh at ALL the jokes to laugh at some of them. Just because one hasnt seen or heard of that anime (or whatever it is) with the purple blood and the face changing doesnt mean that cute things being killed with crazy faces and purple blood isnt damn funny in it's own right.

Because it's slapstick. But Japanese comedies go beyond that. When you're laughing at things, and not understanding why you're laughing, it's not a good thing. Comedians make fun of people like this and in general think that they're idiots. If you watch Excel you'll only be understanding about 1/5th of the series at best if you don't get the parodies and what it's trying to make fun of. Sure, you won't get all the jokes(rarely do people catch every joke in a series) but to even have a general understanding of where the series is coming from, you need quite a bit of background knowledge. Excel parodies every single genre(which I left a few out... like sports) So not understanding that would be huge on knowing why the series is funny. Some people will laugh regardless, I call these people "idiots".

Fred Gallagher (the Megatokyo Piro one, not...the other one) once wrote "The trick is to provide humor on several levels so that even if you don't get all of the references, it's still funny." This is very true, and most of the best comedies reflect it.

I HAD to quote this one specifically. Piro and I... have... a small history. I trash on this man, quite a bit, but he knows it's true... It bothers him that it is, and he wished I didn't. Piro doesn't really even have a good understanding of Japanese culture. He has a small amount, and a lot of good friends he can ask(who happen to be my friends as well), but when he doesn't run things by them first, he usually makes a lot of big mistakes.

Lets look at an american example. The Toy Story movies are insanely popular among americans of all ages. From kids under the age of ten to the elderly over the age of 70 love those movies. One of my personal favourite parts where I laughed really hard was in the second one, where the toys climb into the old beat up pizza delivery truck, and on the tailgate it says "YO"

Okay... that's one joke. Think of it like this. If a Japanese person watched family guy, do you think he/she would find it funny? He might laugh at a few things, like Peter falling on the ground and going "Suuuuuuuu ahhhhh" for an entire minute, but he wouldn't get about 80% of the series. Family Guy is almost completely based on US pop culture from the past 25 years. It's not about getting "ALL OF" the jokes, but understanding the majority of the jokes and how they apply.

Just because someone doesnt understand why it might have any effect on the weather doesnt change the fact that hanging Chiyo-chan upside down from the window is really funny.

Since you like the whole "kid thing" let's use that one. Kids watching the Simpsons or Family Guy again. I remember listening to Kevin and Bean one morning in jr. high and he was talking about how he loved the show, but he was confused about a lot of things. He was watching the show along with his 8 year old son. And a really complicated joke came on, and his son started laughing. He knew there was no way his son understood the joke so he asked his son why he was laughing. His son said "Because I'm supposed to, it's funny!" He asked his son "Do you know why it's funny?" His son said "NOPE, but it's supposed to be a funny part!".

I've been to a few SFU anime club meetings. It was amazing. I would watch the audience laughing at things when they had no clue why they were supposed to laugh, and you could tell because it's a totally different laugh. Slap stick would come on and people would geniuinely laugh because they thought it was funny... (they were watching PaniPoniDash), like when Ichijou stands up and raises her hand just to go "I'm standing!" or the "HAUHAU!" parts. But there was a reference joke to an old 70's series and then Becky turns around is like "what is that?" in a shocked voice, and Ichijou says a line from the series, and the entire room gave out this half-assed laugh. Obviously... they didn't get it, but there was an obvious setup and an obvious punchline there... so they started laughing.

How is showing something like that, to a person whose just starting anime/manga going to be beneficial to them. It's basically stating "here's a bunch of crap you won't understand LIKE IT!"

A good show with a lot of complicated nuances is BAD for someone starting out. A bad show with little nuances is better for a new comer. A good show without them is better.

Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, GTO, Dragon Ball, Ah My Goddess, most people started with these shows, but as they watch more and more a lot of people start looking down on them. Why? Because their tastes became more refined over time. Dragon Ball espeicially. Most people watch Dragon Ball or shows like it first and they LOVE IT. But as time goes by they talk down to Dragon Ball fans and act like Dragon Ball is a travesty of a series. Why is that? Because tastes become more refined. But why did they like it in the first place? Because it was simple. It is easy to understand, it is easy to follow, and it is easy to enjoy. Inu Yasha is the same thing. It is not deep, there is no having to understand that culture thinks so and so actions are bad, so when x character does it, she is then shunned from her family.

A lot of newer people to the genre think KareKano is a stupid series. Why? Because they don't understand why things are the way they are. Everyone loves her at first, but how come everyone is against her and doing mean things to her?

Or how some kids commit suicide or attempt to when they get bullied. Because bullying in Japan is very different than how kids are bullied in the US. Someone who doesn't know that wouldn't get certain stories. And since these things are critical to understanding the plot and the characters' emotions, the series would go over their head.

Comedies that are basically purely slap stick can be shown to new comers, but more complicated ones cannot. The majority of comedy series' are more complicated.New comers no nothing of the culture(for the most part) so the point is to ease them in to learn basic nuances beyond "They take their shoes off at the door" and "they eat a lot of rice". After they watch more series they'll pick up on things, and they'll start getting more about how the culture works. Because sure, they might laugh, but they won't get the point of Azumanga if it's one of the first series' they watch(though AzuDai isn't a purely comical series, and is more of a life series).

[LordKefka]

I'm gonna say this to people who are thinking about responding to this joker to re-think if they really do that... not because he's right, but because he thinks he's right when he sounds like someone who does not know what he is talking about. Yes, I'll be the first one to say you are an idiot SohmaYuki and you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I'm probably not just speaking for myself but for the people who aren't as open to say what I'm saying.

This response isn't meant for the half a brained trolly to respond to again should he/she chooses to respond for who cares whatever reason... no it certainly is not... it's telling people to not waste their time.

[G.I.R]

I'm gonna say this to people who are thinking about responding to this joker to re-think if they really do that... not because he's right, but because he thinks he's right when he sounds like someone who does not know what he is talking about. Yes, I'll be the first one to say you are an idiot SohmaYuki and you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I'm probably not just speaking for myself but for the people who aren't as open to say what I'm saying.

This response isn't meant for the half a brained trolly to respond to again should he/she chooses to respond for who cares whatever reason... no it certainly is not... it's telling people to not waste their time.

100% in agreement here. :)  And so what if there are cultureal nuances in most of the titles?  That makes them a good primer to learn about another culture.  This is why I wish shows like "Chibi Maruko Chan" were available just to enlighten people.

Anyways, getting back to the subject...

Fantasy:  Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar.
Sci-Fi /Speculative \Fiction: Planetes
Parody:  Maho Shoujo Pretty Sami (aka Magical Project S  :x )
Family:  Cat-napped / Kiki's delivery Service

[zoupzuop2]

If one can get over the gender issues and nudity, Ranma ½ is a pretty good "n00b" anime for dub or sub lovers. It was my second, only so to Pokémon (like every OTHER good kid living in Mountain View about to move to Scotts Valley).

[Ayanami Rei First Child]

Geeze and I thought I got off-topic. I didn't mean to start a flame war here! I just wanted some grouping of anime that'd be safe for newbies of Anime ^^;

Thanks for the warning about Ergo Proxy...and now that I think about it you're probably right. It's dark and bleak...I could see a lot of people getting turned off after watching it...

[SuperKawaiiNeko]

Well, he's not entirely right...

But he's not entirely wrong, either.

But, whatever. We're obviously disturbing the thread.

[SohmaYuki]

I'm gonna say this to people who are thinking about responding to this joker to re-think if they really do that... not because he's right, but because he thinks he's right when he sounds like someone who does not know what he is talking about. Yes, I'll be the first one to say you are an idiot SohmaYuki and you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I'm probably not just speaking for myself but for the people who aren't as open to say what I'm saying.

This response isn't meant for the half a brained trolly to respond to again should he/she chooses to respond for who cares whatever reason... no it certainly is not... it's telling people to not waste their time.

And... you... prove this how? By not explaining anything at all? All you've done so far is go "I AM RIGHT, I REVIEW ANIME, SO I DEFINITELY KNOW MORE!"

Please, what a joke. I explain reasoning as to why I say the things I do.

Chibi Maruko-Chan XD It matters the age group, but it's goooooooooooooooooood for young kids. Most adults would just look at it and go... "what the hell am I watching?" Same with Anpan-man and Doraemon. I loved those when I was younger.

For the most part, a lot of the big name staples are good for people to start out with. Cowboy Bebop, Ranma, Inu Yasha, even Eva.

With Eva, let me explain though, most people think it's bad to start out with but it's not really. Eva is quite a shallow, simplistic series(please please please if you're going to argue this, I beg of you to really know the series and about it's history and existance. I don't want you to spout off things about symbolism and religion that you might have heard over the net), that has a lot of pretty stuff and a lot of action. There's a lot better series out there, but starting out with Eva is good because it prepares and puts down a staple for other series to be watched and to sorta compare(not to say that Eva is super good and all others are to be compared to it, but to be compared to as an accepted staple, a median I would say).

The common point though, is that these shows are very straightforward and simple. There's no really a complicated underlying plot with very subtle undertones, or small cultural things that people won't understand. Even cliche anime, Slayers, Love Hina, and the such are good for new comers... because they do not know the cliches yet. They do not know that every shounen fanservicey romance comedy has cliches like a bath house, and overly violent girl that beats up on the pathetic loser crap of a main character.

Things you would show a new person are very different than what you'd show a person that was asking for "something good". Half the shows I recommend to my friends, I would never think of showing to someone who was new into JP cartoons. I would never show Nadesico to a new watcher because they wouldn't get the point of the series. I would never tell a new watcher to watch/read Hand Maid May, because there are so many better series in that genre that he could be watching or reading.

So what exactly don't I know what I'm talking about? Or are you going to use the same falicy and say because you are a anime reviewer for some fan site(BTW I read some of the reviews on that site, and showed a few of them to people and we agreed on that *some* of those reviews were god awful terrible, some were okay, but none of them were really *good*) therefore that means you know more than others.

[Chun]

Chibi Maruko-Chan XD It matters the age group, but it's goooooooooooooooooood for young kids. Most adults would just look at it and go... "what the hell am I watching?" Same with Anpan-man and Doraemon. I loved those when I was younger.

No Tonde Buurin?

~Chun