Help with Anime Club reccomendations

[Vampt Vo]

I am the President and founder of my high school's recently created anime club, and due to problems the school administration has with the club, we have not been allowed to recieve free promo DVDs from anime companies. We are resorting to fansubs now. However, since I usually watch licensed anime, I am not familiar with which fansubbed anime is both school appropriate and an actually good series.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for anime that I can screen in my club?

[Zu Ra]

This thread is more suited in Suggestions section of Animesuki :Suggestion Section

For school

- D Gray Man

- Bosou Renkin

- Black Blood Brothers

I am trying to keep the anime selection pg13 Its hard

[Nergol]

Red Garden would be good

Rozen Maiden and sequels too

Karin is an excellent choice

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is very funny, and a good choice so far as I can see.

Hanada Shounen-shi is funny and underrated, and probably a top choice.

Mushishi may be a bit slow for a high school audience, but nothing objectionable is in it.

[MamoruUsagi]

Try romance series where the couple is dating and boyfriend and girlfriend during the series and gets married.

Fushigi Yuugi Fushigi Yugi manga is much longer

Bokura ga Ita

Sailor Moon The couple is boyfriend/girlfriend and dating during the series and gets married and has a child

Marmalade Boy

Kare Kano

etc.

[miaka]

yakitate japan -- non violent and funny.
Shounen onmyouji -- currently ongoing with some action/romance in japanese historical setting
Ghost Hunt -- if you prefer mystery and its currently ongoing.
Twin Spica

[kayos]

do you have any suggestions on what type of anime you would like to screen at your club?

action, drama, comedy, romance, a slice of life or a mix of all perhaps

[Vampt Vo]

Preferrably a mix of all different genres. We have a lot of guys who want to watch FLCL and Evangelion and girls who want to see Fushigi Yuugi and such, so I want to screen a wide variety. (and hopefully get the two genders to actually try out each other's shows)

[kayos]

Try

xxxHOLIC: it has action, romance, mystery, comedy and great characters, what'd you expect from the famous CLAMP

Ergo Proxy: haven't seen the whole series but from the first couple of eps it looks good for a dark theme

Ouran High School Host Club: it was very entertaining with unique characters

Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: what can I say majority rules and alot of people really like this anime

Futakoi Alternative: it was pretty funny and entertaining

By the way I have no clue which of the series I listed have been licensed or not. It's just my recommendation, you know you should try anime movies for your club instead. Don't get me wrong some series are good, it's just that the quality of movies are way better. The cinematography, the story are more captivating like Princess Mononoke and Ninja Scroll.

Any way that's how it was in my club, series were too long and not everyone was at the same pace. It's best to go with movies, last up to 1 to 3 hours max and called it a day and everyone that was there would know the entire story without missing a part.

Edit:
I can't remember which but someone informed me awhile back that Futakoi Alternative had the same producer or director of FLCL, so expect the same wackiness as FLCL.

[capture]

I second Haruhi ~ Just like they've said....they really like it..(yup including me)

Ouran High School Host Club ~ Just like Haruhi it's funny either......

Another nice anime is School Rumble and SR Nigakki

[SeijiSensei]

I think the earlier suggestion of watching movies when possible is a good one, and I'd nominate Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime (link below) from Studio Ghibli as one of your first. If your club has any purpose other than simple entertainment, there are a lot of deep issues in this movie about the relationship between humans and nature, and about the nature of "progress," that would provide grist for a good post-viewing discussion. You could easily spend an hour discussing whether the female "villanness" is really a villain at all. There are also both strong male and female characters, which I'd think is important if you want to appeal to both young men and young women.

In fact, you could spend a semester just watching Studio Ghibli movies. No school administration could possibly complain about an all-Ghibli program since nearly all of them say "Disney" on the box in Region 1. Make sure you include Grave of the Fireflies by Miyazaki's collaborator Takahata Isao. I'd wait until later in the semester when you're ready to take on something serious.

A good 2-3 hour session might consist of a couple of episodes of a comedy like School Rumble (link below) or Azumanga Daioh followed by a movie. SR has a better mixture of male and female characters, and a better portrayal of teachers, than AD, so it might have more appeal to a mixed audience, and to the school administration. Fan service in School Rumble never gets much past seeing the girls in bikinis or references to their brassiere cup sizes.

What if you want to follow a long-form series instead of watching movies?

If you decide to watch one about about high-school relationships, I'd also endorse His and Her Circumstances ("Kare Kano"). There's one, fairly muted, sex scene, but most of the show concerns issues of adolescence. Tell the boys it's by the same people who made Evangelion (Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax). I think the style of animation in Kare Kano is far more interesting than in Evangelion and find the story much more compelling because of its realism. There are 26 episodes of this series which makes it reasonable to watch over the span of four or five weekly sessions.

Another good comedy, though the characters are a bit older (20 or so) is REC, about a young woman who wants to be a seiyuu (voice actor) who ends up living with a young salaryman after her lodgings burn down. Nice, non-ecchi romantic comedy with only ten episodes.

If you want a show with some "action" that might still appeal to mixed group of teenagers, consider Junni Kokki (link below). The main character is a teen-aged girl, but the story concerns war and politics in a fantasy version of ancient China. Though women are the focus of most arcs, there are also some strong male characters like my avatar, the Emperor of En. I'll warn you that the series is incomplete, but the first 39 episodes form a complete arc making it a bigger commitment than Kare Kano.

As for Haruhi, I know a number of teen-aged girls who have watched it and didn't like the character of Haruhi very much (nor did I). I'd also mark this one more like 16+ because it has more fanservice than either School Rumble or Azumanga Daioh. FLCL is closer to Haruhi in fanservice even though no one disrobes.

I don't think Ergo Proxy would be a hit. It's very slow at times and demands a lot of commitment from the viewer. Episode 1 might be worth sampling if you're interested in discussing animation styles, but I don't think the plot will hold the attention of people with only a moderate interest in anime across 20+ episodes.

I'd like xxxHoLic more without the hyper-thin character models that Production I.G. chose to use here. Plus I get tired of the lead character; he's just too whiny and loud. If I were going to pick a CLAMP series, I might choose Angelic Layer, even though the primary character is a 12 year-old girl. It's about kids who compete in a futuristic fighting competition using mentally-controlled dolls and might appeal to boys as well as girls. (I'm male, and I liked it.) I haven't watched CardCaptor Sakura past the first dozen episodes or so, but I suspect it appeals to an audience younger than high-schoolers. Chobits is more age-appropriate, but it's too ecchi to be shown under school auspices. I also haven't watched, and thus can't comment on, CLAMP's Tsubasa Chronicle. It might be a good show for both sexes since it's a romantic adventure story, though I didn't like the manga as much as xxxHoLic.

Another possibility in the romantic adventure genre might be Scrapped Princess, an unusual blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements with, again, strong male and female characters.

Of the series I've mentioned, I believe only REC is not licensed in Region 1.

One other thought.... If your public library stocks DVDs perhaps your club could work with the librarians there to include some anime titles in their collection. That way neither you nor the school need purchase them, and they'll constitute a permanent addition to the library's offerings. If you pursue this, make sure you show the librarians this guide.

[Theowne]

Originally Posted by Vampt Vo

Preferrably a mix of all different genres. We have a lot of guys who want to watch FLCL and Evangelion and girls who want to see Fushigi Yuugi and such, so I want to screen a wide variety. (and hopefully get the two genders to actually try out each other's shows)

Shows like Ouran HSHC and Suzumiya Haruhi would appeal to both, I think (well any anime can potentially appeal to both, depending on the kind of person), those are both comedic and entertaining. If you want to get a bit more serious, you might try Honey and Clover, which again, though is labelled josei (women's) series, doesn't really do anything to push it towards being a male or female oriented series. And it has enough light hearted moments to appeal to everyone. Of course Kare Kano is something I second if your group doesn't have a problem with romance-only series.

I don't know much about action anime so I can't really help there. Perhaps something like Death Note would be something they would both be interested in.