Looking for something... good.

[Venthed]

Hey all... it's been a really long time since I've come across an anime I've found to be really good, seems like there's just a ton of 'decent story lines in-between the hordes of filler episodes' types out there. I don't mind the filler if the main story itself is captivating and the filler isn't obnoxiously long.

So.. onto my list of likes and don't likes...

Favorite Anime:

Hunter X Hunter - Loved the character development, the whole nen system, and the antagonists throughout. Hisoka is definitely a favorite villain.

Death Note - Just a brilliant and compelling battle of the minds that was just really captivating all throughout.

Samurai X - Watched it after watching the series, was a really amazing OAV.

Berserk - Pure badassery, too bad it was cancelled.. still reading the manga.

Rurouni Kenshin - Loved the characters, the story, and the ties into japanese history and culture.

Trigun - Funny and Badass, was a great watch all the way through.

Bleach - Main story and concept is amazing, characters are awesome.. those two things gave me the strength to sit through the hundred or so hours of retarded filler episodes that took away from the story (although I almost did give up on it several times during the particularly long filler arcs)

Naruto (same with the filler as above) - I actually really loved the anime early on, but the endless filler and side stories just took too much out of it for me .. I dropped it shortly into shuppoden.

Ninja Scroll - One of the first anime I ever saw.. not sure if that's the only reason it's on here or not, but I still believe it to be a pretty solid badass choice



Stuff I wasn't a fan of:

Full Metal Alchemist - Decent concept, hated almost all the characters, passionately. Sadly I saw the dubbed version, and I'm sure that factors into it.. but just could never give it another shot.

Samurai Deeper Kyo - Characters were cool, concept was alright, story started off strong and then dribbled off... got bored with it half way through.

Chobits - Don't know how someone suggested it to me or why, but I watched a good 10 minutes of the first episode and ... yeah. Wow.

Read or Die - Couldn't get into it.. heard people raving about it for the longest time.. watched a few epiosdes several times trying to get into it and it just never appealed to me.

DBZ - Couldn't get into the whole "one fight lasts 30 episodes" bit, character development would just happen instantly, there wasn't a lot of reason or point to any of it - imo.

Cowboy Beebop - another one that people were telling me endlessly that I would like and HAD to see, and just never could get into it.. didn't like the characters and didn't care about their story..

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I've been given a lot of suggestions from friends and such that I couldn't really get into after watching 3-4 episodes, I guess it's difficult when you aren't tied into a particular genre and your main criteria is it being 'good' as that's extremely point of view based - but I don't know how to better categorize it I'm afraid.

What I can say is that I've been turned off by artwork style a lot (unfortunately a lot of older anime I just can't bring myself to get into due to the artwork), stories that don't have much direction, massive filler, or just go all over the place (bleach started to be like that for me and I almost dropped it halfway through the bount arc, but they pulled it back just before I gave up).

Not sure if any of this helps in determining good suggestions for me but it's the best I could come up with.. I thank anyone who gives me something to try

Thanks for reading!

[SilverSyko]

I'll say give One Piece a try. I can't guarantee you'll like it but judging from what you've enjoyed it certainly seems possible. It's character development is fantastic, keeps a delicate balance between wacky humor and heart-wrenching drama, the world it's set in is very deep, and it has so many diverse characters there's bound to be one you'd love among the bunch.

Don't let the artwork keep you away from it. That's the biggest problem the series has for getting more readers/watchers. It's very sad that such a excellent series gets the "judge a book by it's cover" treatment so often. If you just push forward you'll get used to it eventually.

I'd reccomend the manga, but if you're willing to sit through filler arcs (which vary in quality) then you can watch the anime.

[JRendell]

Originally Posted by Venthed

Ninja Scroll - One of the first anime I ever saw.. not sure if that's the only reason it's on here or not, but I still believe it to be a pretty solid badass choice

High 5. Ninja Scroll is one the very first anime I saw too; and I still think it's brilliant.
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Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ - a great set of characters, some high quality animation and a really interesting plot, with great twists. (26 eps)

[kitten320]

From longer series I would recommend Fairy Tail. No real fillers so far, if only one or two episodes somewhere in between.

Can't believe that you didn't like FMA... which season did you watch? For me it is otherwie, FMA rules but Bleach sucks... not in character area but in story since Bleach is just lame with how good guys don't die... =/

Ok back on topic.
If you liked Bleach then I would recommend D.Gray Man (though don't expect it to be damn exciting right from the start, real fun starts when Noa come into picture). For me series are similar since in Bleach we have hollows while in D.Gray Man we have Akumas. Shinigami kill hollows=exsorsists kill akumas... of course as in both series there is more to it. You coul say that Noah are almost same Espadas there.

Didn't watch Berserk myself but a lot of people say that Claymore is very similar.

Code Geass would be similar to Death Not because of mind battles.
More on a comedy side you can try Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai, main character is dating game freak and without realization had signed the contract with demon. Now he has to use different kind of tactics to conquer girls in real life unless he wants to lose his head. But as I said it is a comedy.

And just some other stuff:
Soul Eater
Baccano - first episode looks a bit boring but later series pick up. Basicly we have a train robbery and a lot of things are happening. But eventually we get the view on the whole mess from almost each character prespective. Some things might seem unrelated but later all the dots are connected.
Fate/Stay Night
Inuyasha
Toaru Majutsu no Index

[Akito Kinomoto]

If you happen to like Baccano! I would also suggest Durarara!!, except it functions more like an urban drama (actually, I haven't seen the first one but both are penned by the same author.). At any rate, you seem to like action-oriented stuff, so I'll direct you to Fist of the North Star. Yes, it's incredibly 1980's and every bit as cheesy as the title sounds, but the staggering amount of male chauvinism present in the show can cause manly tears. I'm not kidding. The only thing you have to watch out for is Part 1 (FotNS has 4 parts)--which is somewhat lacking on its own but can be seen in such a better light when you take a look at its part in the story as a whole--and recap episodes, which there are only several or so of but can be skipped without consequence (minus the final event of Part 2).