Must See Anime

[Deus ex Digital Boy]

Must See?

Serial Experiments Lain (deepest anime ever by default)
Earth Maiden Arjuna (important message)
ef ~a tale of memories~ (beautiful experience)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (EPIC)
Eureka Seven (perfect character development)
Martian Successor Nadesico (best of the nineties)
Baccano! (most badass anime)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (if you even want to be able to call yourself an anime fan)

[Shirozakii]

Originally Posted by anime ronin

must see school days cuz thers nuthin else out their like it

Yea...because of the sweet ending right? I recommend this to all those yet to be traumatized children or highschool boys who think they can handle not only two girl friends, but 5 - 6.

But for me, i recommend
Mushi-Shi
Great teacher onizuka
Samurai champloo
those three were special to me. Mostly onizuka and champloo, but i recommend mushi-shi because i'd put of watching it for a long time, and when i did watch it, i sat stunned for 5 minutes after each episodic episode. Its deep and captivating. Something all animes should achieve.

[risingstar3110]

I found it's confusing when people recommended me a list of tons animes. So i will just put one to weight my words

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi

It is the one that make me drop my " Rank 1" of School Rumble series (anime+manga) to second, and have remain there till now. You will either really like it or hate it after watching the series in Aired order(but pls finish Ep 1).

PS

Spoiler for Deathnote:

I also stopped reading seriously (the rest was skipped mostly to see the ending) after L's death

[SeijiSensei]

Here's a list of "must-see" anime in the sense that they present unusual stories or impressive animations.

horror
Mononoke and "Bakeneko" (last arc of Ayakashi Samurai Horror Tales)
Hakaba Kitaro

dramas/slice-of-life
Bartender
Seirei no Moribito
Kure-nai
Dennou Coil
Shion no Ou
Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu ("Tweeny Witches")

comedies
Moyashimon
Oh! Edo Rocket
Chi's Sweet Home
Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu

I'd obviously second anything in my graphical signature like Monster, Noein, Junni Kokki or Baccano! I'll mention Nodame Cantabile specifically since no one else has yet done so.

[EternalChaos]

Ok I've seen some really bad anime listed in these suggestions and some really good one, but here is my list after seeing so much anime your mind will explode lol. These are listed in no particular order but ill try to do abc order. But these definitely come to mind when I think of kickass anime. Message me if you want any other suggestions.

Angel Sanctuary, Bartender, Berserk, Bleach, Blood+, Claymore, Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, D. Gray-Man, Deathnote, FLCL, Ghost In the Shell, Kino's Journey, Macross Frontier, Nabari No Ou, Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Ninja Scroll, Outlaw Star, Ranma 1/2, Rurouni Kenshin, S-Cry-Ed, Samurai Champloo, Tenchi, Macross Series, The Vision of Escaflowne, Trigun, Seirei no Moribito, Wolfs Rain, X/1999, Lain, oh ya and Gundam Wing lol even some of you may laugh at my gundam selection by I actually really liked that one

I know there is a ton more great animes I left off the list but i guess some of you will have to discover them yourself, because thats the best way to see if you like something anyways.

[felix]

• Seto no Hanayome
  pure comedy
  
  
• Naruto, season 1 (and 2, perhaps)
  comedy, and ninjas
  
  
• Bleach, season 1
  life as a shinigami
  
  
• Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
  horror fiction
  
  
• School Days
  alternative school anime
  
  
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
  alternative school anime
  
  
• Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, season 1 & 2
  magical girl parody
  
  
• Air
  classic tearjerker
  
  
• Kanon (2006 remake)
  classic harem mini-drama
  
  
• Eureka SeveN
  classic 52 episode mecha series
  
  
• Death Note, until a certain point in time
  classic evil hero
  
  
• Mushishi
  classic slow-pace storytelling
  
  
• Samurai Champloo
  retro samurai
  
  
• Claymore
  classic medieval, bloody, monsters
  
  
• True Tears
  romance

Not bad anime, on the contrary they're great,
...but IMHO bad candidates as a must-watch:

• Evangelion
• Cowboy Beabop
• Full Metal Panic, Full Metal Panic Fummofufu
• Full Metal Alchemist
• Mai Hime
• Denou Coil
• Clannad
• Zegapain
• Gungrave
• Code Geass
• Seirei no Moribito
• Fruits Basket (the manga is a must-read)
• Rurouni Kenshin
• Hayate no Gotoku
• Vandread
• Spice and Wolf
• Da Capo
• Black Lagoon
• ef ~a tale of memories~
• NHK ni Youkoso!
• Lucky Star
• Macross
• Gundam
• Inuyasha
  
  ...just to list the obvious ones that come to mind

My opinion is they are either...

• rooted into otaku culture, which defeats the purpose of being must-watch, unless you have some agenda of becoming a geek, in which case for a lot of them there are other shows you should watch before going into them.
  
  
• have somewhat iffy appeal, present this and that and have a chance of leave you either dissapointed up to a sertain point or dissapointed after a certain point; or otherwise hanging in mid-air as you move forward with no real great enjoyment in some places.
  
  
• are uniqueness driven, with a lot of arguments falling short of the full sentence, whereas you hear: "it's so unique, you won't see anything else like it" instead of "It's so good/briliant/perfect/enjoyable and so unique, you won't see anything else like it"
  
  
• are great feats of production, with great voice actors, great directors, animators, story, source material etc. Again, being a must-"watch" has no generic purpose; for a lot of these shows the plot can be very hardcore philosophical, very often. They also give out a phylosophical premise to watch them, and usually request you watch them to the end to understand them.
  
  The fact of the mater, they have a high chance of becoming a waste of time; if your own phylosophical beliefs on the subject differ from that of the show, and you don't give in to they're alternative view, either that or, you don't awknoledge the problem presented (meaning you take it in as random gobbledygook) and end up just watching pretty pictures.
  
  
• generic, repetitive or just very long plot. Not saying their not handling it well, but how can it be must-watch if I have to spend 30 days and 30 nights to even get thought half of it. Then there's also the very common generation/evolution syndrom where the plot doesn't move much but everything around changes, only to change back later with a slight revarsal in roles and new names. In short, they presume so much free time unless you're overly intrested and a little geeky they're not exactly "must-watch".
  
  
• not popular enough, have sufered a fair share of harsh critique, in later parts can (still) be considered to have borowed/copied a lot of concept from certain 3rd party material

...feel free to think otherwise.

[ArtCp]

Whatever you do, DON'T see School Days..WARNING

[AceD]

Originally Posted by ArtCp

Whatever you do, DON'T see School Days..WARNING

down to taste isnt it? i think school days is one of the best ''school'' animes, if not the best one!

some will like stuff such as school rumble or lucky star, which is to kiddy for me really

[yma981]

Well the must - see anime in my opinion

No Particular order (As they come to my mind)

- Twelve Kingdoms
- Berserk
- Death Note
- Last Exile
- Mai Otome
- Ai Yori Aoshi (The Main Series - Not Enishi)
- Claymore

Spoiler for Claymore:

Eventhough it is unfinished and the story is cut in the middle - Teresa Wow that's a character. You can find in this anime one of the best anime action seens ever (That resulted in Teresa's death)

- Code Geass ( haven't seen the S2 yet)
- Grave of the fireflies (Movie)
- Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (OAV)

[tetsuo]

Baccano! - Just f-ing brilliant
Monster - Best thiller i've ever seen.
Honey and Clover+II - Best shojo i've ever seen...even though its sad...still the best!
School Rumble - Probably the best comedy, nothing can compare in my eyes
Black Lagoon - Cause even though it took an old idea, it still made it new and awesome
Code Geass - Non stop twists and turns seriously
Ergo Proxy - Just really great characters and concepts, and above all unique
Air Gear - Its just one of those animes that you can't stop watching from the beginning, and everything about it just feels good.
Hajime no Ippo - Probably the best sports anime i've ever watched, 76 eps of pure greatness.
School Days - I wouldn't call it the best school anime but its pretty dang crazy thats for sure.
<.< and thats all I can think of at the moment.

[yma981]

if you are into romance and traditional Chinese heritage you can see Saiunkoku Monogatari S1 & S2

[BetoJR]

Originally Posted by Voracious Hollow

down to taste isnt it? i think school days is one of the best ''school'' animes, if not the best one!

Couldn't agree more. Love School Days, myself.

As for my recommendations on Must-Watch animes, here goes, in no particular order:

Series:
Cowboy Bebop (I don't think you really need a degree in geekology to enjoy this)
SDF Macross (the original is just too good, and even the movie Do You Remember Love captures most of the magic)
Macross Plus (beautifully realized story and great music)
Full Metal Alchemist (dark and fun, even if the ending left something to be desired)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (fun discussion fodder)
Serial Experiments Lain (very good anime for computer geeks and philosophers)
Tenchi Muyo Ryooh-ki (the original OVA's are just TOO good)

I'd throw in Berserk, Slam Dunk, Death Note, Seirei No Moribito and Kanon in too, but I guess it's good enough for a start, already.

As for Movies, I'd recommend:
Grave of the Fireflies (I dare anyone not to get emotional with this one)
Nausicäa of The Valley of The Wind (great old-school sci-fi)
My Neighbor Totoro (beautiful story)
Ghost in The Shell (coolness squared)
5 Centimeters per Second (great slice of life movie)
Tenchi Muyo - Tenchi in Love (perhaps the most emotional time I've had with an anime, because of the previous investment with the characters)