Alright, magical girl show time.

[gsilver]

What's a good one to watch next?

I generally prefer magical girl shows of the shoujo variety to the shounen/seinen ones (like Nanoha and Madoka; nevermind the signature ) and non-combat focused ones (like Doremi and Comet) to fighting-based ones (like Precure). Though I've never really cared for magical girl shows in which the characters transform into pop idols.

I've already seen:
Pretty Cure (most of the series), CCS, Madoka, Nanoha, Doremi, Akazukin Chacha, Sugar Sugar Rune, Hime-Chan's Ribbon, Comet-San, Animal Detectives Kiruminzoo, Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Princess Tutu

Of those, Doremi and Comet are my favorites. In those, the magic is of the "anything can happen" variety, which I find the most entertaining.

Well, Utena is my favorite show of all time, and it's vaguely magical girl-esque, but that's stretching the definition a bit far.

Also, if there are some good manga that fit my criteria, that would be great.

[Kirito]

Why don't you give My-Hime, Shugo Chara, and Nanatsuiro Drops a try.

[jedinat]

Have you not seen Full Moon o Sagashite? You say you don't care for for that type of mahou shoujo... but it's a very good anime regardless.

[Darthtabby]

I'm not a huge fan of, nor am I very familiar with the magical girl genre as a whole. That being said I absolutely love Mai-HiME, in fact it's pretty much my all time favorite anime series. It's considered shounen, but while cool fight scenes are part of its appeal its actually very character focused. The character's feelings and motivations are what really drive the series. This is especially notable during the final third of the series' run, which really milks the gradual character development that took place earlier in the series.

A lot of people don't like the ending though. Also while the series isn't a total fan service fest you are going to need to be able to tolerate some ecchi hijinks, particularly during the notorious fourth episode.

Also FYI the Mai-HiME anime and manga are massively different -I'm recommending the anime, not the manga. Additionally, the very different alternate universe pseudo-sequel Mai-Otome is known as My-Z-HiME in some markets, so make sure you're getting the right series!

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

I'm not a huge fan of, nor am I very familiar with the magical girl genre as a whole. That being said I absolutely love Mai-HiME,

Not shocking considering Mai-HiME isn't a magical girl show.

[SeijiSensei]

I'll mention two other shows that might appeal even though they are not representative of the traditional magical-girl genre. One is Mahou Shoujotai Arusu, a story about a girl named Alice who gets a magical book from her father and is one day transported to a world where magic exists. Though Alice wants magic to be a force for good and happiness, in the magical world it can also be a force for evil and oppression.

In Windy Tales a couple of middle-school girls, and some cats, discover how to manipulate the wind. No real battles here; it's more of a slice-of-life show if I recall correctly.

[xxanimefan4_ever]

Gakuen Alice and kodocha. Kodocha doesn't have a magical girl but I don't see why u wouldn't enjoy it

Slayers next - episodes are on Hulu so check it out

[Sky Knight]

Originally Posted by Kirito

Why don't you give My-Hime, Shugo Chara, and Nanatsuiro Drops a try.

Originally Posted by jedinat

Have you not seen Full Moon o Sagashite? You say you don't care for for that type of mahou shoujo... but it's a very good anime regardless.

I second these ^.^
Also Ill Throw in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch

[The Bloodlust Kid]

I also second Mai-Hime but that's more on the shounen side.

[VampirePaladin]

I would recommend Umi Monogatari. It is by the same director that did Princess Tutu. It is a sort of a take on the Little Mermaid. It does have combat but it feels very relaxed at the same time.

[gsilver]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll look into these over the weekend.

[gsilver]

Even though a lot of these looked kind of far from what I was asking for, I gave the first episodes a shot:

Shugo Chara - This one was rather enjoyable, and the premise is appealing. While the main character came across as a bit too Jekyl and Hyde-ish. While the way they handled it was a bit shaky, I can see a lot of good directions that they can take it (and what I've read of it online seems very positive), so it seems worth looking further into.

Slayers Next - Not really what I'm looking for. The first episode was far into goofy shounen territory, and well, not that funny. I'm still way behind on One Piece (I'm just now starting Skypeia), and one show of this type is really all I want to be watching.

My Hime - Also the wrong genre entirely, but it seemed like a good action series. The tired fanservice jokes were annoying, though. Not what I'm looking for at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind when I want a good action show.

Sea Story - Those outfits... Also really fanservicey (beyond the outfits, they sure came up with a lot of excuses for those characters to bend over...) It seemed interesting enough, though not a whole lot happened in the first episode.

Seven-Colored Drops - My tolerance for moe anime isn't very high, and I found this episode to be really hard to get through. The whole "really high voice, weird squeals, really dumb, and crybaby" main character was particularly annoying, and the humor fell flat. Not interested.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch - This was a good first episode. While I found Shugo Chara more interesting, this was a promising start. I'm still not a fan of Jpop, but that's OK.

Gakuen Alice - The first episode of this was OK. It really tried to be goofy and high energy, and it did work, but it didn't seem like anything special.

Searching for a Full Moon - This was an enjoyable first episode. The premise starting with the certianty of death was an interesting way to start, and the fact that Mitsuki takes it seriously does give the characterization more weight. I'm sufficiently intrigued by this episode.


So out of everything, Shugo Chara looks the most interesting, followed by Full Moon. Some of the others seemed pretty good, too.

Thanks.

[totoum]

The shugo chara anime is full of fillers though (since very little manga material was available when it started airing) so if those bother you you might want to go with the manga.

If you don't mind oldschool there's always Minky Momo

Magical girl and moe go hand in hand together,Sakura from CCS was the first saimoe winner

[ninryu]

I have to disagree about Mermaid Melody. Maybe it's because I watched it dubbed, but I find it to be pure shit.

[Darthtabby]

Originally Posted by gsilver

My Hime - Also the wrong genre entirely, but it seemed like a good action series. The tired fanservice jokes were annoying, though. Not what I'm looking for at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind when I want a good action show.

Hopefully you'll be able to make it through the fourth episode okay. That one stands out as probably the most ecchi episode in the entire series. Although IMO it is also pretty hilarious. It may be an ecchi hijinks episode but it's also a good example of how to do an ecchi hijinks episode right.

As for the genre, I actually think it's more of a drama than an action series. One thing you might want to be aware of is that there is a major shift in tone around the two thirds mark in the series. Depending on your perspective what happens afterwards may make the series great or completely ruin it.

[mecharobot]

Well, you've seen pretty much all I've seen. Maybe try out Magic Knight Rayearth, although it is kind of half mahou shoujo/fantasy/mecha hybrid. There's combat, but I thought it was worth the watch anyway. Likable characters, a few unexpected twists and a complete story.