what are some good anime recommendations?

i just got finished watching steins;gate and welcome to the nhk, and i'm looking for a new series to watch. what are some good anime that i can watch? preferably one that's a bit on the darker side, kinda like madoka magica (thank you essel for having your avatar lead me to watch the show).

also, can it NOT have characters with plot armor or forced romances?

sorry if i'm asking too much, but i just really wanna watch something new, ya know? all suggestion are appreciated!

edit: also i'm thinking of watching k-on or love live, i know they're not dark (they're cutesy and stuff), but are they any good?

Cory in the House

TheMionicDonut said:

Cory in the House

lol seriously? that again? all the time, people say this, and i really don't get it. why would you recommend cory in the house when seinfeld is obviously a far superior anime?

roadworx said:

preferably one that's a bit on the darker side, kinda like madoka magica (thank you essel for having your avatar lead me to watch the show).

Awesome! Madoka is my favorite show of all time, so I'm really glad to have inadvertently caused someone else to watch it :)

If you liked Madoka, you might also enjoy Psycho-Pass, which was written by the same author, Gen Urobuchi. It's a dystopian sci-fi crime procedural that delves into some pretty heavy stuff. (I'd recommend skipping Psycho-Pass 2, though, as it was written by someone else, who managed to miss the show's message entirely and just wrote a bunch of aimless trashy miserygore.)

What did you think of Steins;Gate and Welcome to the NHK?

Love Live is fun, it's pretty much just a goofy as hell musical comedy. I didn't care as much for K-On, personally, but along those lines I'd suggest Sound! Euphonium (if you're looking for band drama and gorgeous Kyoto Animation visuals) or Hidamari Sketch (if you're looking for fluffy slice-of-life about students).

Recommendations from a noob:

Full Metal Alchemist
Berzerk
Cowboy Beebop
One Punch Man
The Boondocks

Sick Bow said:

Full Metal Alchemist

I would also recommend this. Full Metal Alchemist is the 2003 rendition, that doesn't follow the source material after a certain point; however it's still good in it's own right.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is a more modern rendition from 2009, and follows the source material pretty faithfully. It's honestly a masterpiece, and if you haven't watched it yet, do it ASAP.

In fact, if there is anyone out there who wants to try and watch anime, FMA:BH is the first thing I will tell them to watch; it's just that good.

You. I like you. Welcome to the NHK and Steins Gate are two of my favorite anime of all time, they are pretty damn amazing in my opinion. So I wanna make some recs too, hopefully not to overwhelm but give you food for thought.

A very dramatic and artistic in terms of writing and storytelling series is Mawaru Penguindrum. It's hard to even describe what this show is actually about, just know that there is always more to characters and the story than you think at first. The plot unfolds like a wondrous flower into something truly unique to behold.

Another is Erased. I am reluctant to spoil the plot for this one, even for the first episode. Basically there is a very normal real world show with a strange power that rarely occurs for the main character that gets the plot moving. It's about using the very little means at your disposal to overcome almost insurmountable circumstance and odds to prevent children from falling to a predator. The main character definitely doesn't have plot armor in this one.

And last i'll toss Evangelion into the mix here. You've probably heard of it, even if you haven't I'd rather not describe it much. It is, underneath the facade of a standard mecha and school show, a profound character study and breakdown of the human condition from multiple angle amidst a plot that is so involving and mysterious that people are literally still trying to figure out aspects of it. Very very often has been imitated and referenced but had so much more to offer than those others realized or served up themselves. You'll need to add the movie End of Evangelion at the end btw.

Check these out, really! Oh and uh if you want a comedy too Nichijou. It's incredible.

I'm not a anime fan, I generally choose to assume any anime will make me cringe. Well all do at some point, some more than others.

However I have a friend who had me watch quite a few animes. Coming from someone who isn't a fan of Japanese cartoon series I must admit:
- Full Metal Alchemist is good (I prefer the modern version)
- Berzerk is probably my favourite (again modern version preference)
- Cowboy Beepop is quite fun
- At some moments... Hellsing but there is a lot I don't like about it as well

holy purple eisenhower this is a long post

lol i'm just gonna condense it into a spoiler

time to get out excel and start organizing this list

NHK is kind of a tragicomedy, I think. Some of the drama in it really affected me, but there were lots of hilarious parts too.

roadworx said:

what are some good anime that i can watch? preferably one that's a bit on the darker side,

Street Fighter Alpha:

Vampire hunter D, Bloodlust or 1985 adaptation. Samurai Shamploo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423731/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
outlaw star: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266171/?ref_=nv_sr_1
memories http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113799/?ref_=tt_rec_tti
Darker Then Black: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995941/?ref_=tt_rec_tti
Afro Samurai: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465316/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Trigun: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251439/?ref_=tt_rec_tti
Baccano!: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334722/?ref_=tt_rec_tti
Devil man:

I'm not an anime fan by any means, but I liked Elfen Lied and Ergo Proxy a bit.

Black Lagoon is my favorite.

Check out Akira.

Texhnolyze
Serial Experiments Lain
Rurouni Kenshin
Ergo Proxy
Higurashi no naku koro ni (don`t let anime cover to fool you)
Neon Genesis Evangelion

I liked them all,it`s so hard to choose the best one to recommend.

The only one option that I would recommend from japanese animations is those animated films by none other than the director Hayao Miyazaki. Other than that, I don't like anime.

Rayzik said:

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Come to think of it, I watched this series when I was on military service. And It was not bad, to be honest. Yeah, I can recommend that one, too.

What's that modern Anime where there are giant humanoids consuming people on the masses? That's quite dark imo, roadworx should like that.

Chezza said:

What's that modern Anime where there are giant humanoids consuming people on the masses? That's quite dark imo, roadworx should like that.

That would be Attack on Titan.

Here are my recommendations.

Films:
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Ninja Scroll
Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust
Devilman 1-3

Series:
Spawn
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Helsing
Full Metal Alchemist
Berzerk

You should check out JOJOs bizzare adventure which is my favorite anime and manga of all time and part 5 is going to be animated soon so you should check all the other seasons out.You should also watch the Devil Man OVAs and then continue to the manga because their did not adapt the final story arc which is one of the greatest finales of all time

Sick Bow said:

The Boondocks

Technically, that's a cartoon, not an anime...

I'm not really sure Attack on Titan would be up roadworx's alley, given that they explicitly mention "no plot armor" and AoT takes plot armor to ridiculous levels. If you're a named character, you're not going to die in that universe. Well, unless you're a bad guy I guess.

Anyways, I'll second the recommendations of evangelion and mawaru penguindrum. Penguindrum definitely isn't super dark overall, but it's interesting, that's for sure. I've seen it melt the cold cold heart of some of the coldest and harshest people I've ever seen. Evangelion has a lot of polarizing feelings, but there are plenty of people who really like its story. I'd probably advice staying way from Rebuild at first though, I believe that wasn't considered as good by evangelion fans as the original

(also, if you actually get into idoltrash stuff, i definitely must throw in the recommendation for im@s and im@s cinderella girls)

Devilman 1 and 2, along with Amon:The Apocalypse of Devilman, New Cutie Honey, Hokuto no Ken and the 1986 movie, Shin Hokuto no Ken, the 4 modern HnK movies, Berserk, Vampire Hunter D, Afro Samurai and it's movie Afro Samurai:Resurrection, Hellsing, Violence Jack 1, 2 and 3, Baki the Grappler, both the OVA and the anime series.
And lastly Genocyber, beware though, it's known for having extreme graphic violence and gore, so if you have a weak stomach, you better not watch Genocyber.

InsanityBringer said:

I'm not really sure Attack on Titan would be up roadworx's alley, given that they explicitly mention "no plot armor" and AoT takes plot armor to ridiculous levels.

I did watch part of Shingeki no Kyojin (personally, I like the Japanese name a lot better...) a year ago, and TBQH, I really didn't care for it.


I second MrGlide's recommendation of Samurai Chanpurû, it's a great one.

A list of things i'd recommend:

-JoJo's, obviously.
-Coppelion.
-Hokuto no Ken Raoh Gaiden Ovas and Movies (Or the classy anime, if you don't mind that pre-2k cheese).
-The Idolm@ster for cutesy stuff.
-Nichijou for epic laughs.
-Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou for epic laughs and male-oriented jokes.
-Ajin, fuck 2d crusaders.
-God Eater, same as above, the art is gorgeous don't listen to the "anime otakus" that tell you otherwise.

lol i'm not used to having posts this big

i'm never gonna be able to watch all of these, but thanks everybody! i didn't expect such a great response :)

A couple of friends at work kept asking me for anime recommendations, so I ended up making a giant list a while back: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Idg8BDBp9nrlrTHCno-2G0-WHcpzrIq40uvy40tt7GU/edit?usp=sharing

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
Gunsmith Cats OVA
Legend of The Galactic Heroes
Trigun
Code Geass
Gun X Sword
Redline
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
Nichijou
Outlaw Star
Darker Than Black
Riding Bean OVA
Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Baccano
Durarara
Berserk (1997)
Hellsing Ultimate
Magnetic Rose (From the Memories Collection)
Monster
Gakkougurashi! (School-Live!)
Ghost in the Shell
Serial Experiments Lain
Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Paprika
Paranoia Agent
Howl’s Moving Castle
R.O.D. OVA/Series
Eureka Seven

Piper Maru said:

Check out Akira.

This

I'll add Jojo and GITS to my list as well.

antares031 said:

Come to think of it, I watched this series when I was on military service. And It was not bad, to be honest. Yeah, I can recommend that one, too.

Now that I think about it, same. One of my buddies in the barracks had the DVDs. Life saver.

HavoX said:

Technically, that's a cartoon, not an anime...

Technically anime in Japan just means animated show. Cartoon generally has the connotation that it is for kids. While I was half-joking about the Boondocks, the show does use an anime animation style, and minus being about black americans still follows many tropes of Japanese style anime shows.

https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=651289

MrDeAD1313 said:

This

That.