I enjoy some anime more than most other visual media, but I seem to be super picky about what I like and havent figured out what that is well enough to be able to search for new content effectively. Thus, I was hoping to get some recommendations from the community based on what I have enjoyed so far, if possible.
My favorite by far is Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and I have also really loved My Hero Academia, Bebop & Champloo, PsychoPass, S-Cry-Ed, Beserk, Inuyasha, and Bleach (to a certain extent, it has some things that are borderline tolerable but always offset it with more badass shit).
If anyone has anything that comes to mind from this list, I’d love to hear it! Thanks and happy new year
Re:zero is entertaining. It’s got some layers to it. I wouldn’t say it has time travel, but time is an important aspect of the story, which does lead to some “time travel” adjacent shenanigans.
Steins gate is good, that one has actual time travel, but there is a romantic overarching story.
Attack on Titan has almost that great, government is behind something shady and the protagonist is in the military so has the resources to find out the state’s secrets that FMA has.
None of your other animes really focus on romance, but if you’re feeling adventurous Clannad and it’s followup Clannad: After Story are fantastic. Toradora is also pretty cute.
Excellent, thank you! I will add these to the list, im gonna try some out next day off
Hunter x Hunter
People at work all seem to have various Hunter X Hunter shirts and talk about it with a lot of love so I will definitely check this out.
In terms of worldbuilding and characters, One Piece is amazing. I also recommend Attack on Titan, Steins;Gate and Gintama. Gintama is mostly a comedy show, but certain serious arcs rival best action anime has to offer.
One Piece and Gintama definitely hit that FMAB thing of establishing a whole universe and getting you invested in ALL the characters.
I tackled Gintama over lockdown, and I have avoided One Piece forever due to the volume of material, but I’m almost caught up on the manga after only starting like 4 months ago, and I am wellllll into adulthood, but EVERYTHING about it has had me hooked since the first chapter and it is hard to stop reading it. I’m up to EP 200ish in the anime and I only started that after getting far in the manga. I’ve been watching anime for over 20 years, and One Piece has exceeded all expectations.
Gintama, I would say is funnier and deeper in the feels, Steins;Gate is a better story, but One Piece makes me feel like I’m on the adventure with the characters. I can only imagine how passionate I would be about it if I had followed it all these years.
I’m also going to plug Golden Kamuy every chance I get. That story rocks, has an awesome story and cast, and that really got me into reading manga because I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. Great stuff.
Lol I think im just intimidated by the size of One Piece, Ive heard its SUPER long. At the same time, if I do enjoy it then that is a BIG plus side. Thanks!
Well I’m seven episodes in and definitely on board, this is excellent
You are ready. Watch JoJo
Actiony:
- Jujutsu Kaisen: probably the raddest one coming out right now in my opinion. Beautiful art and fight scenes. Great story.
- One Punch Man: Love it. Very goofy. Again great art and fight scenes. Just be ready to have watched everything out and still no 3rd season.
- Blue Exorcist: Classic boy finds out he has powers. Goes to a cool high school to train. I thought it was fun, plus I’m a sucker for supernatural stuff.
- Code Geass: Great story with some political intrigue. I think this is on a lot of people’s top 10s.
- All of Gundam: If you want to get sucked into a whole world with tons of series get into Gundam.
- Deathnote: Fun cat and mouse thriller. Reminds me very much of Sherlock and Moriarty style cat and mouse games.
- K: First season is great. Unfortunately I couldn’t get through the first episode of the second season. Maybe I’ll try it out some other time.
- Castlevania: Follows the storylines similar to the video games. Just brutal vampire shit. It’s great.
- Megalo Box: This one is amazing. Lofi hiphop vibes and a great underdog rocky style boxing story. Really gave me Bebop/Champloo vibes.
- Assassination Classroom: Weird concept. I didn’t think I would like it but came to love it. Kids have to learn to kill their alien teacher by learning to be assassins.
Some non-actiony animes if you are looking to branch out that i’ve enjoyed are Saiki K, Food Wars (so fan servicey but a really fun story if you ever liked Iron Chef), Zom100 (I guess this is kinda actiony, but more fun), Mashle (again actiony, but more goofy).
I could probably list a million more but my list is getting really long. I also second the recommendations in the other replies.
Jujutsu kaisen is good, I’ll second that one. If you liked that one, you’ll probably also like chainsaw man. It’s a bit more gore-y and the supporting cast are great
Oh ya another great one! I’m excited to see how it shapes up but I’ve heard good things from people who read the manga.
Wow lots of good suggestions, thank you! I keep eyeing Jujutsu Kaisen so that’s probably gonna be top of my list to try out. Ive actually done some gundam-ing, I watched the first two series on crunchyroll and ive seen wing and some other somewhat later ones but I always get mad I canr watch them in order because I just cant find them all. One day Ill just buy them 🤷♂️. I should have had DeathNote on my list, absolutely amazing show, I just somehow forget about it sometimes.
Since the live action was recently released, might I suggest a classic? YuYu Hakusho is one of my favorites. Great characters and great story arcs. The Toguro and Sensui arcs are great. I think you’d be better off watching the anime before the live action though. It’s the same author as Hunter x Hunter. You’ll also notice how a lot of manga authors took inspiration from YuYu Hakusho (note the black hair, green outfit styles of the protagonist).
I almost edited my post to include YYH as it somehow escaped my mind when I was listing, it was maybe the first anime I was exposed to as a kid, or maybe inuyasha. Kuwabara is my boy.
Two that just ended that I thought were exceptional are Frieren and Apothecary Daires. The latter better be anime of the year. I don’t think either are considered Shonen, if that matters to you.
Frieren is really chill and explores the little time we have with the people we care about. The first episode tells how an elf spends 10 years with a party to defeat the demon lord. But now they split ways and time moved differently for our elf protagonist since elves live thousands of years.
The second is a masterpiece of a story. A girl raised an apothecary (someone who deals with poisons and medicine) is kidnapped and sold to the palace to take care of the emperor’s concubines. She is so intelligent and is a problem solver. I don’t want to give more away. I hope more animes have story telling like this in the future.
My favorites in general are Bleach, Yuyu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter (2011) and FMA:B.
Edit: Sorry, I was looking for new communities and I didn’t notice this thread is months old.
hell yeah, never too late for recs!
Probably not what OP is looking for, but I really enjoyed the Sand Land series’ first season. Maybe I’m a sucker for that Akira Toriyama (RIP) style. I recommend it.
Gurren Lagann
If you liked Inuyasha, check out Dororo
Your list of anime tells me are into adventure anime or with heavy action.
First thing I thought of was Katanagatari, where our heroes go on a journey to collect 12 legendary swords.
Something with heavy action: Black Lagoon- businessman gets abandoned on a pirate island and joins them
something more adult: Vinland Saga- viking epic following a young boy on a quest for revenge
From recent ones I can recommend “Jujutsu kaisen” and “Chainsaw man”
I’m surprised no-one suggested Demon Slayer! I think it fits perfectly in your list!. If you liked MHA, I guess you should enjoy Naruto ( if you didn’t already)
I also definitely second suggestions like Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen (just started but already hooked up).
Other stuff slightly less adherent to your list: In terms of “grand well prepared” storylines, I really liked 7 Deadly Sins
If you like braniacs like Death Note, I strongly suggest Code Geass and season 1 of Promised Neverland (unfortunately season 2 goes to hell, but imo season 1 is still worth it)
Finally, in terms of world/atmosphere building, Made in Abyss is a jewel (but pretty intense)
