Anime like Needless
 

I believe it's into its 6th episode now. I kinda didn't think I would like it, but gave it a chance and Needless became a favourite of mine. Now I'm trying too find similar stuff to Needless, so any recommendations?

Preferable genres: Action, Comedy, Science Fiction.

http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/soul-eater

soul eater absolutely destroys needless imo

Alright then, velvet nightmare. The link is helpful and I'll maybe consider Soul Eater if people second it.

Open to more recommendations.

I'll have to second Soul Eater, it's an interesting anime.

Yeah, it does look interesting. Then I'll add Soul Eater to my list of anime to watch.

Excluding Soul Eater, I'm open to a couple more recommendations.

Tengen-Toppa Gurren-Laggan has similair character designs and some of the same bombastic GAR-driven combat. They seem similar and the link is often made, though as you watch (or read) more of Needless you realize that they're quite different in most ways. Nevertheless I do feel they're "first cousins", if you will.

I like Soul Eater, though it's nowhere near as funny as Needless and takes itself much more seriously.

One of the reasons I took to Needless was because of the comdey. The fight sequences are also favourable for me since I enjoy some shounen.

Tengen-Toppa Gurren-Laggan is great, i second it..
BTW i watched 2 episodes of needless but didnt like it, does it get better?

Either it gets better or it melts your brain enough so that you start to enjoy it more - I don't know which. All I can say is that I like it more every week, and judging by the manga I expect that trend to continue. Yes, it's dumb - but that's why I love it. It's smart enough not to try and be smart.

maybe shaman king?

it trades a bit of the comedy for a better story, so it's worth looking into, it's one of the classic shounen anime

And the ED continues to be awesome every episode.

I'll third Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan. First episode of Needless made me think of this series.

Needless is basically a carbon copy of Scryed, but with more 'comedy' (in quotes as I didn't find it funny at all, heh). There's a ton of series out there with the same sotr of plot - another is E's Otherwise (though it's not nearly as good as Scryed, and also not funny)

And while not a very easy rec to quantify, I think Shadow Skill TV is a good choice.

Needless rips off Guren LAgann liberally and Scryed is a lot int hte same area, as others said. I also suggest Shin Getter Robo.

It's only fair to mention that Needless (manga) was well underway before TTGL existed.

As I mentioned, the deeper you get into Needless the more you realize it's way different from TTGL. The resemblances are skin-deep.

the manga existing beforehand doesn't mean that the anime producers didn't flavor it to be like GL, and it's silly to say that they wouldn't . Ever since GL, manly shows are 'in' so it's no surprise. Madhouse producer Masao Maruyama even confirmed the fact that manly shows were 'in' at his panel at otakon, which is why they produced Souten Kouro as well.

It's also to silly to say it "rips off liberally".

So? And it doesn't mean that the theme of the manga isn't like what we are shown in the anime either. Though personally, saying crap like "x ripped off y" is redundant and causes unnecessary friction. Try "x is similar to y" instead.

I don't really think Scryed has much in common with needless though other than the fact they feature people fighting with special powers. It lacked the comedy and the flare.

Though I can't really say I recall any other series like Needless being similar to anything else other than Gurren Lagann.

Maybe Busou Renkin is another option for consideration.

IT's not like I'm insulting the show by saying it rips off gurren lagann, I like Needless a lot for precisely that reaon, and it's no stretch at all to call it truth. It's smart to rip off a good thing and do it well, that's just good marketing, and Needless does it with tongue fully in cheek to make it that much easier to appreciate. But saying ti doesn't is like saying GL didn't rip off Go Nagai and Ashita no Joe, which is a flat-out lie. "influence' sure is a less harsh term, but I don't think that matters.

And scryed has easily the amount of flair and comedy needless does, I don't know if maybe you didn't finish it or what.........

Take away the drill, the guy who looks like Kamina (Blade) and the one who looks like Kittan (Momiji) and where exactly is the ripoff? All those things were in the manga, which pre-dates TTGL. Is having a shota hero a ripoff? Magical lolis? To the extent that everything influences everything and everyone rips off everyone, sure - and maybe TTGL is the one that ripped off Needless. But if you set aside those three very obvious similarities - all of which are demonstrably and factually older than TTGL - there's not much to this so-called ripoff.

Listen, I like TTGL - I love it, in fact. As much fun as Needless is I can't imagine I'll ever end up ranking it on a par with TTGL, or even close. But it doesn't deserve to be ripped for something it didn't do. But to the OP's question, yes - I think he'll like TTGL. It was clearly heavily influenced by Needless. :heh:

Aside from the "ripping off" and "which anime is better" discussions, I'll say that if you want something that's closest to Needless, then Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Soul Eater are your anime, period. I'm posting to third? fourth? those anime because they should be watched first.