anime suggestions for an anime noob

[negativeone]

hello everybody im new in the forum and im also new in the anime industry, and well i really dont know anything about anime.

about two months ago, one friday, after coming home from a sick party i decied to hit the couch and watch some tv. i was goin througth the channels, when i saw this cartoon about these guys that could surf in the air and could drive giant robots. however i only got to watch five minutes of it, because it ended. i decided to go and google eureka 7 and then a youtube link showed up, i clicked it and there it was every single episode from 1- 50. that nigth i didnt go to sleep at all, i just couldn't stop watching it. i finished watching all of the episodes on monday morning. i went to school and joined the "ASIAN CLUB" full of people who watched cartoons aimed to adults and teens or in other words anime. once agoin i googled ANIME and there was a wikipedia link i clicked it and there were thousands of diffiretn anime series, movies, i never thougth there would be so many even yu gi ohh was in there and zoids. since then i've been trying to watch anime but there are so many i don't know what is good and what is not. that is why i want to ask the experts.

i read the first post and it says that i have to tell you guys of stuff i've seen and stuff i've liked, however i cannot do that because i'ven't seen enough anime. but i do have a list of anime i've heard and i would like to see but i want to know if they are any good first, because i dont want to waste my time watching something that is no good.

AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?)
WHEN CICADAS CRY (higurashi blah blah blah i have no idea how to spell the rest)
KINO'S JOURNEY
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM
NOIR
MONSTER
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME
FANTASTIC CHILDREN
KEMONODZUME
CAT SOUP
PUMPKIN SICISSORS
DEAD LEAVES
CHEVALIER D'EON
NARUTARU
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that)
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA
WELCOME TO NHK
THE THIRD
UTAWARERUMONO (is this any good, 'cause it doesn't look like it)
TWELVE KINGDOMS
BLAME
MIND GAME
AYAKASHI
GANKUTSUOU
BLUE GENDER
ROZEN MAIDEN (this is about dolls that figth, rigth???..wtf, is it any good)
INFINITE RYVUS
XXXHOLIC(any good?)
LAST EXILE
MADLAX
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO
G.I.T.S
BLACK LAGOON
BASILISK
DESERT PUNK
GUNSLINGER GIRL
FRUITS BASKET
HELLSING
MARIA-SAMA (is this better than strawberry panic, or is it worst??)
RAHXEPHON

EDIT: ohh also i've seen some episodes of the following anime:

ERGO PROXY (sickest anime i've seen so far)
ONEGAI TEACHER (not funny, but i like it and i dont even know why)
KARIN(not funny, but kindda of cute i guess)
ELFEN LIED (wow!!!)
FLCL (lol...wtf)
FIGURE 17 (cute *cries*)
KURAU(the greatest anime so far every episode is just perfect)
INNOCENT VENUS (not bad)
BERSERK (wow)
GANTZ (wow)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YAMIBOU (wtf)
STRAWBERRY PANIC (not bad)
MUSHISHI (most beatiful anime i've seen)
NARUTO (crap)
BLEACH (crap)
GUNDAM SEED (crap)
ZATCH BELL (crap)
INUYASHA (crap)
GENSHIKEN(funny as hell)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
.HACK//SIGN (interesting) i've seen some episodes from the squels but they look like crap
Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (*cries*)
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu (*cries even more*)
BLOOD+ (not bad)
CODE GEASS (omg this is awsome)
AFRO SAMURAI (not bad)
CREST/BANNER OF STARS (nice)
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto (nice)
TRINITY BLOOD (wtf..crap, nice character design though)
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION (mind rape, love it)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PARANOIA AGENT (mind rape times two, i love it)
NOEIN (not bad)
CHOBITS (chi si so f**king cute)
DEARS (crap)
DEATH NOTE (it was good but after episode 15 i stopped watching it 'cause it sucked)
D. GRAY- MAN (the anime is not as good as the comic book)
DEMONBANE (sucked)
RED GARDEN (nice)
SPEED GRAPHER (cool, not bad)
WITCH HUNTER ROBIN (not bad)
5 CM PER SECOND (so beatiful, nice backgrounds, nice sweet little love story every frame is just perfect)
MELODY OF OBLIVION (not as good as i thougth it would be)
Kannazuki no Miko (*cries*)
KYOSHIRO TO TOWA NO SORA (i liked it but is not as good as KNM, and i hate Kyoshiro for not liking setsuna)
REC (awsome lol)

OK that's the list of the stuff i have seen and by the way sorry for my english, i suck at it.

EDIT: I would also like some suggestions, like i said before i haven't watched enough anime to know what i do like and what i don't like. however one thing is for sure i don't like shonen (did i spell that rigth) anime or harem anime, and not to mention echi anime (unless is hillarious).

thanks for your help and im really looking foward for some good suggestions.

[jedinat]

AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?) - never seen it, because I know I will hate it
WHEN CICADAS CRY - I started it but didn't like it
KINO'S JOURNEY - great anime
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM - looks mediocre/never watched it
NOIR - great anime
MONSTER - not my thing/never finished it
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME - good anime, a bit depressing
FANTASTIC CHILDREN - not my kind of anime/never finished it
KEMONODZUME - okay, but still i never finished it
CAT SOUP - really short, kind of interesting
PUMPKIN SICISSORS - dropped it
DEAD LEAVES - crazy, worth a look i guess
CHEVALIER D'EON - never got past the first episode
NARUTARU - stopped watching it, because i felt I'd regret it (i can't handle depressing crap)
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that) - too dated for me, though it seems to get rave reviews
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA - decent ecchi/fantasy anime
WELCOME TO NHK - i couldn't stand the constant relapse of the main character and dropped it
THE THIRD - pretty good anime
UTAWARERUMONO - worth a watch if you dont have anythign better to do
TWELVE KINGDOMS - one of my favorite anime of all time, MUST watch
BLAME - never seen it, btu the manga was pretty nice
MIND GAME - started watching it, but stopped (not my thing)
AYAKASHI - the last arc (Bakeneko) was great
GANKUTSUOU - it was okay I guess, but I was pretty disappointed by it
BLUE GENDER - decent, but kind of boring
ROZEN MAIDEN - pretty good watch
INFINITE RYVUS - really depressing anime, with a happy ending... i didn't like it so much
XXXHOLIC - great anime
LAST EXILE - quite good, worth a look
MADLAX - I loved Noir, but couldn't get into this one (seemed kind of cheesy by comparison)
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO - worth watching if only for the style/animation
G.I.T.S - maybe my attention span is too short, but I could never get into it (tried watching it like 3 times) too much talking and boring political mumbo jumbo
BLACK LAGOON - pretty good, I didnt really like the second season
BASILISK - never seen it
DESERT PUNK - never seen it
GUNSLINGER GIRL - couldn't get into it
FRUITS BASKET - very good anime
HELLSING - personal favorite, alucard is great
MARIA-SAMA - its good (actually better than Strawberry Panic, but doesn't have the explicit yuri content... you can never really tell what kind of love is going on between the soeurs)
RAHXEPHON - really good mecha anime

[shiro83]

Those with no comments means that I have not seen the series.

AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?) - yes, this is a touching story
WHEN CICADAS CRY (higurashi blah blah blah i have no idea how to spell the rest) - higurashi no naku koro ni, lots of blood and murder and suspense
KINO'S JOURNEY
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM
NOIR
MONSTER
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME - nice
FANTASTIC CHILDREN
KEMONODZUME
CAT SOUP
PUMPKIN SICISSORS - military anime, about the divide between the rich and the poor
DEAD LEAVES
CHEVALIER D'EON
NARUTARU
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that)
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA - comedy, romance
WELCOME TO NHK - slice of life, don't play too much games, it ruins your life
THE THIRD - fantasy, about a girl who travels the desert with her combat tank
UTAWARERUMONO (is this any good, 'cause it doesn't look like it) - stopped halfway, didn't finish the series
TWELVE KINGDOMS
BLAME
MIND GAME
AYAKASHI
GANKUTSUOU
BLUE GENDER
ROZEN MAIDEN (this is about dolls that figth, rigth???..wtf, is it any good) - it is good! there are 7 dolls in all, they fight each other to win the Alice game
INFINITE RYVUS
XXXHOLIC(any good?) - stopped halfway
LAST EXILE
MADLAX
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO
G.I.T.S
BLACK LAGOON - actionpacked, some blood, good stuff
BASILISK
DESERT PUNK
GUNSLINGER GIRL - okay, girls with enhanced bodies with guns
FRUITS BASKET - romance, touching story
HELLSING - good, actionpacked, it is about vampires
MARIA-SAMA (is this better than strawberry panic, or is it worst??) - I think this is more 'chaste' than Strawberry Panic...
RAHXEPHON - action, mecha

[Skyfall]

AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?) - Yes it is. Probably the most touching story i have seen. One of the classical tearjerkers. A very good show.
WHEN CICADAS CRY (higurashi blah blah blah i have no idea how to spell the rest) - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Excellent horror/mystery. My no2 anime.
KINO'S JOURNEY - watched 2 eps, didn't like it.
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM - haven't seen it, hardly ever see it being mentioned...meaning - probably not very good.
NOIR - no idea
MONSTER - haven't watched it yet, but lots of good references.
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME - a pretty good watch.
FANTASTIC CHILDREN - quite impressed by it. Hardly anything bad to say about it. My 3rd favorite anime.
KEMONODZUME - art style not my thing, so never got around to watch it.
CAT SOUP - never heard of it
PUMPKIN SICISSORS - not worth the time...pretty crappy. Dropped it.
DEAD LEAVES - no idea.
CHEVALIER D'EON - kinda ok i guess... but it never grabbed my atention, so i dropped it.
NARUTARU - dropped after 7 episodes... i simply got bored with it.
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that) - haven't seen it.
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA - a pretty nice comedy/romance/fantasy. Well worth the watch.
WELCOME TO NHK - seems to get loads of positive reviews, but somehow not my cup of tea.
THE THIRD - good action/adventure in a post-apocalyptic world.
UTAWARERUMONO (is this any good, 'cause it doesn't look like it) - pretty good, worth watching.
TWELVE KINGDOMS - every one keeps raving left, right and center about it, but i didn't like it that much. Still a decent watch i guess...
BLAME - no idea
MIND GAME - no idea
AYAKASHI - no idea
GANKUTSUOU - no idea.
BLUE GENDER - decent, but not particularly exciting.
ROZEN MAIDEN (this is about dolls that figth, rigth???..wtf, is it any good) - yes, pretty good.
INFINITE RYVUS - haven't seen it, but plan to in near future.
XXXHOLIC(any good?) - haven't seen it yet, but gets a lot of good references.
LAST EXILE - pretty damn good.
MADLAX - no idea.
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO - not my thing
G.I.T.S - no idea
BLACK LAGOON - pretty decent action.
BASILISK - not my thing
DESERT PUNK - haven't heard of it
GUNSLINGER GIRL - watched a bit, then dropped. Once i run out of things to watch (which doesn't seem to be in any near future) i might finish it.
FRUITS BASKET - quite good.
HELLSING - pretty bad@ss anime
MARIA-SAMA (is this better than strawberry panic, or is it worst??) - no idea, not my kind of thing.
RAHXEPHON - pretty good for a mindfuck

Since you like Iriya no Sora and Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, i urge you to go ahead and watch Air. After that - Kanon - drama/romance/mystery(?)
Crest of the Stars (and the sequels) - my personal no1.
Fullmetal Alchemist - adventure/fantasy/drama/action
Scrapped Princess - action/adventure/fantasy ... one of my favorites.
Ghost Hunt - horror(not too scary)/mystery.


Death Note has picked up steam once again

[SeijiSensei]

First, before I take on your list, might I recommend renting a couple of Miyazaki movies? I'd start with Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Since they're distributed by Disney in much of the world now, they're pretty easy to come by.

Now, given your reactions to what you've seen, here are a few comments on your other list:

Monster - one of my top five; a serious meditation on the nature of evil

Twelve Kingdoms - another top-five; make sure you hang in for a half-dozen episodes or so (wait for the character Rakujun to appear); if you like this, you'll probably like the currently airing Saiunkoku Monogatari as well

Welcome to the NHK - another of my top shows; beneath the surface hilarity hides a much more serious psychological story

Rahxephon - one of the better mecha shows I've seen; better than Neon Genesis Evangelion to my mind

Mind Game and Dead Leaves remind me of FLCL, wacky and often nonsensical; DL is ecchi; both were less appealing to me than FLCL

Noir and Madlax are typical examples of the "girls with guns" genre; Noir is a bit better, but I'd skip these and go straight to Black Lagoon. I agree with jedinat that season two generally isn't as good as the first, but the final story arc of season two (starting at ep 19) is one of the best

Narutaru is one of the most disturbing animes I've watched. Skyfall quit before the meaty stuff kicks in.

Aim for the Top (aka Gunbuster) is an okay sci-fi show, not so good as Crest of the Stars; if you like sci-fi you should give Planetes a shot

Gankutsuou - Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo transferred to a future time and place; I found the unusual art style off-putting and didn't watch very far

xxxHolic is a pretty good show, but I liked the manga better. Some key concepts in the manga aren't really discussed enough in the anime. The drawing style in the anime is weird. Another CLAMP show like Chobits. If you like their work, take a look at Angelic Layer.

Desert Punk is a weird show - samurai warriors in the American old west. It's really a story about racism with Japanese samurai as stand-ins for native Americans. Has some good episodes but not a top-ranked series.

And, here's a few others to add to your list based on what you said you liked:

Boogiepop Phantom - strange and dark; if you liked Paranoia Agent, you'll probably like this
Nodame Cantabile - if you liked REC, as did I, you'll probably like this; romantic comedy set in a music academy
Jungle wa Itsumo Hale noche Guu - one of the most hilarious animes ever made
Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade - another GAINAX show in the style of FLCL; somewhat ecchi at times, it's a parody of various anime genres, flim noir, Hollywood, fighting movies, etc., and often very funny

Oops, almost forgot School Rumble, perhaps the funniest high-school show ever; I like it better than the very entertaining Azumanga Daioh because it has both boys and girls

[Navel]

You'll find as many different recommendations as there are anime viewers. ^^ Just pick what you like most.

From what you said you enjoyed, I'd say these ones will be similar:

RahXephon (for mecha action and deep underlying theme, as well as romance)

Last EXILE (all in all, a great job with beautiful character design and flying action)

Dead Leaves, Trava - Fist Planet ep 1 (for the wtf effect)

Gunbuster & Diebuster (Aim for the top) for wtf and great directing

Gankutsusou (for a well done drama, great music, animation and "acting")

Narutaru (for wtf and mind torture)

Infinite Ryvius (for the most painful display of real human behaviors in crysis situations - you'll want to kill some of the characters yourself)

Kemonozume (for wtf drawing style; there's an interesting mature love story there as well)

Welcome to the NHK! (you'll want to see this after anime becomes too addictive to you; shows what dangers lie in this kind of life style)

Hellsing (well, the story is crap, but Alucard is higher than life)

Twelve Kingdoms (it's addictive after the first episodes; can't explain why)

Other great ones, at least in my opinion:

any studio Ghibli movie
Monster
Kare Kano
Bokura ga ita
Argento Soma
Big O
Cowboy Bebop
Full Metal Alchemist
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
Ouran Koukou Host Club
PlanetES
Paradise Kiss
Perfect Blue
Tokyo Godfathers
Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen (Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal) (it's actually a dramatic romance)
Sentou Yousei Yukikaze

...and others

[negativeone]

alrigth thanks for the help now my lists looks a lot shorter, there are some series i dropped and othe that are in hold. and some i already finished watching.

btw, can you suggest some good romance anime and some phycological, dark looking, mystery anime.

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by negativeone

btw, can you suggest some good romance anime

Full Moon wo Sagashite
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
Midori no Hibi
Kanon (2006)
Gunparade March
Lamune
Hachimitsu to Clover

Originally Posted by negativeone

and some phycological, dark looking, mystery anime.

Serial Experiments Lain

[Jordus]

all those animes are ones you should at least try, but here a few I personally recommend as good animes. (Basilisk was added because of the fact that you liked Gantz)

KINO'S JOURNEY
NOIR
TWELVE KINGDOMS
LAST EXILE
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO
BLACK LAGOON
GUNSLINGER GIRL
HELLSING
BASILISK

Seriously though, do not stop yourself from watching an anime because someone says it is bad, or even if the little description or cover art sucks. There have been many animes I had skipped over initially because of this that I found to be quite good later on when I actually tried them out.

[ibreatheanime]

That is quite the list... however I cant judge because I have a pretty long list of animes to watch too. I recomend
Gunslinger Girl
Welcom to the NHK
Hellsing
fruits basket
Samuari Champloo
Blood + and blood:the last vampire (the movie that started it)
Paradise kiss
and while your at try some of the older series like Trigun, and Cowboy Bebop <classic>

[gencbiba]

Kenshin
Hunter X Hunter
Claymore (female version of Guts, even though she still isn't as kick-ass)
Full Metal Panic! (1st season and 3rd season; you can try the second one but it's basically slice of life)
Fullmetal Alchemist

You should still give shounen a try.

[negativeone]

yea people told me about hunter x hunter, but it looks lame and it has like a billion episodes not my kind of thing.

i've seen claymore and i loved it(but nothing like berserk), as well as full metal panic.

fullmetal alchemist is good but for some reason i don't really like it maybe because i was watching it at the same time i was watching eureka 7 and well i lost interest, i migth give it another try though.

what is shonen anyways???
according to me, i think is like anime for younger boys, im i rigth???

[cangri23_]

you can try out some good ones here

Suzuka
Busou Renkin

[Edgewalker]

No comment = I havent seen


AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?) -excellent, but requires you pay attention.
WHEN CICADAS CRY -Good and suspensefull but you have to put up with pauses
KINO'S JOURNEY -Excellent slice of life anime. Highly reccomend
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM
NOIR - Decent
MONSTER
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME
FANTASTIC CHILDREN
KEMONODZUME
CAT SOUP
PUMPKIN SICISSORS
DEAD LEAVES
CHEVALIER D'EON
NARUTARU
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that)
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA Funny and heartwarming, but overall very average.
WELCOME TO NHK
THE THIRD
UTAWARERUMONO (is this any good, 'cause it doesn't look like it)
TWELVE KINGDOMS -Excellent fantasy anime. Highly reccomend
BLAME
MIND GAME
AYAKASHI
GANKUTSUOU
BLUE GENDER
ROZEN MAIDEN Overrated
INFINITE RYVUS
XXXHOLIC(any good?) Underrated. Great anime but not for everyone
LAST EXILE Average characters, but excellent art and good plot. original setting too.
MADLAX
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO One of the better sword fighting anime out their, definatly good for begginers.
G.I.T.S Epic. One of the Best anime in existance, but its not for the impatient.
BLACK LAGOON
BASILISK
DESERT PUNK Average
GUNSLINGER GIRL Slightly above average, a darker slice of life anime thats not quite as good as kinos journey
FRUITS BASKET
HELLSING Very good. Watch the OVA as well if you can
MARIA-SAMA (is this better than strawberry panic, or is it worst??)
RAHXEPHON Above average. People will accuse it of being a evangelion clone, which is true. But honestly rahxephon is better then eva IMO.

[UGPnam]

AIR (i heard is depressing but is it true?) - depressing? no; touching? Very, it's a very very sad story. Great anime, also check out any other series made by Key/Visual Arts.
WHEN CICADAS CRY (higurashi blah blah blah i have no idea how to spell the rest)
KINO'S JOURNEY
GENESIS OF AQUARIUM
NOIR
MONSTER
LUNAR LEGEND TSUKIHIME
FANTASTIC CHILDREN
KEMONODZUME
CAT SOUP
PUMPKIN SCISSORS - post-war anime, rich/poor differences, good amount of action, good story. I like the characters a lot though.
DEAD LEAVES
CHEVALIER D'EON
NARUTARU
AIM FOR THE TOP ova(or something like that)
ZERO NO tSUKAIMA
WELCOME TO NHK - Highly recommend this one, super-funny, about hikikomori(s)
THE THIRD
UTAWARERUMONO (is this any good, 'cause it doesn't look like it)
TWELVE KINGDOMS
BLAME
MIND GAME
AYAKASHI
GANKUTSUOU
BLUE GENDER
ROZEN MAIDEN (this is about dolls that figth, rigth???..wtf, is it any good)
INFINITE RYVUS
XXXHOLIC(any good?) - I haven't watched the anime, but read the anime, the story is very unique and good.
LAST EXILE
MADLAX
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO - hip-hop style samurai anime, tons of action & funny
G.I.T.S
BLACK LAGOON
BASILISK
DESERT PUNK
GUNSLINGER GIRL - good stuff
FRUITS BASKET - this as well.
HELLSING
MARIA-SAMA (is this better than strawberry panic, or is it worst??)
RAHXEPHON