Should I be watching all the well known animes?

[xMythycle]

First of all: I'm not sure where to post this exactly but I decided to post it here, if this isn't the right place please delete this thread and notify me, I did safe this whole post so I can post it relatively easy

Now, on to my problem.
I started watching anime last summer and I'm really enjoying it, right now I like romance, fantasy and action based animes the most. Of course I have come across some of the really well known and popular animes, such as Bleach, Naruto and some animes I really really would like to see. The problem is that I keep thinking to myself that if I watch all the animes I'm sure to absolutely love I might run out of animes like that. So I was wondering if any of you had any experience with this rather strange problem, or if anyone just has some useful tips for a newbie like me. Here's my question: Should I not be watching all the (in my eyes) amazing animes so that I will be able to always have at least one anime I'm sure to love?

You should note that I have up to now enjoyed every single anime I've watched, except for The Sacred Blacksmith which ended absolutely horrible in my eyes.

Animes I have seen so far
- Ah! My Goddes (season 1 and 2)
- Clannad
- Fate / Stay Night
- Fate / Zero
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Pandora Hearts
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (very very nice)
- The Sacred Blacksmith
- Noir (currently Watching)
- Mirai Nikki (currently watching)
- Bleach (first two seasons)
- Claymore
- Elven Lied

Things I'd like to watch but want to safe for later (unless you advice against it)
- Air
- Angel Beats
- Bleach
- Blue Exorcist
- Code Geass
- Fairy Tail
- Guilty Crown
- Mushishi
- Naruto
- Tsubasa Chronicle
For the full list look me up on Anime-Planet (same name as on these forums)

Thanks for taking your time to help me

P.S. If my English fails, I'm sorry, I'm Dutch

[hyl]

- Air - a nice watch if you liked Clannad
- Angel Beats- some people liked it, some people think it was a train wreck. So it depends. The music and visuals were very nice though.
- Bleach- only if you really like shounen action animes. Also the anime original filers are usually quite bad.
- Blue Exorcist- Also a hit or miss anime, depending on what you expect. The first episode suggest it's dark, but the rest of the episodes it isn't. Also the last few episodes feels rushed, because the anime went for an original ending because the manga wasn't finished.
- Code Geass- the first season was very good, the 2nd season was much worse but still enjoyable (the writing was sometimes so bad, it was unintentionally funny)
- Fairy Tail- Same reasons as bleach, but there are very few fillers
- Guilty Crown- It is still ongoing, but it's also a hit or miss title for most people. Some people complain about the bad or poor writing. Also some people enjoy the 2nd half of the series, while others have dropped this serie because of it's change.
- Mushishi- didn't watch it
- Naruto- same reasons as with bleach, but with even more fillers
- Tsubasa Chronicle- personally i didn't like the anime as much as the manga. I liked the music though, but the pacing was worse than the manga, so if you really want to check this title out i recommend the manga instead.

so in short, i surely recommend code geass and Air. You can try Angel Beats and Guilty crown for a few episodes to see if you like it and if it was me i might hold off the other titles you listed for something else.

[jedinat]

All the mainstream, extremely well known anime like Naruto and Bleach are not the best anime. Not even close... Honestly, there's tons of good anime to watch; just watch whatever you feel like and don't worry about saving or spreading them out or whatever... Really, those you've listed are an extremely small portion of what is out there... and not even a really good list IMHO.

[Flower]

Hmm ... maybe an approach to take for the moment only would be to narrow down the series that you have enjoyed, see if there are common links to them and then to check out similar series that are "popular" in those similar areas something like 2/3 of the time, while 1/3 of the time trying other series that are "outside" of your common areas of interest?

[Stealther]

Just watch what you feel like. It's not like you will run out of good animes anytime soon. And your taste will most likely change over time as well, so what might not interest you right now might in future.

[SeijiSensei]

Just to broaden your horizons, here a list of less well-known shows I compiled recently for another posting in this forum: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...18#post3965118

I'd add Twelve Kingdoms, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, House of Five Leaves, Claymore, Level E, and Kemono no Sou-ja Erin to that list. Twelve Kingdoms and Claymore are pretty well-known in that bunch; the others, not so much.

These shows range broadly across genres.

[xMythycle]

Thank you guys very much, I was already expecting and hoping for answers like these, it's just that for some reason this really troubled me. I do actually realize that my horizon should really broaden and I'm working on it very hard, guess I'll be following your advice and just watch whatever I feel like watching and try something out of my comfort zone too.
Thanks!

[frubam]

Indeed, if that's all you've watched, you've only hit the tip of the iceburg =03. Like jedinat said, even when it comes to the higher-tier well-known shows, it'll be a LONG while before you can finish everything. After a while, you'd probably lessen restrictions on what you like/don't like, which will open the door to even mediocre, less-known animes.

[Paranoid Android]

Yes watch all of it while you can still tolerate half of that crap! O:

After watching too many, anime can get really dull and irritating from so many repetitive elements and fan-service oriented.

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by Stealther

And your taste will most likely change over time as well, so what might not interest you right now might in future.

Originally Posted by frubam

After a while, you'd probably lessen restrictions on what you like/don't like, which will open the door to even mediocre, less-known animes.

Yeah, this. I started out watching all the popular shounen action anime and that branched out into peculiar directions, lol... depends on the person though; a friend of mine who started about the same time still loves the mainstream shounen stuff to this day.

I don't know if you read manga TC, but that is another direction to branch to once you start exhausting anime... and there's way more manga than anime. The medium is at least as good once you get used to it.

[kitten320]

Throw Bleach out of your vocabulary!
I used to like it, especially SS arc and beginning of Arrancar arc but everything beyond that just became a bunch of crap. Series lost a lot of fans by now. Fillers became 10 times better than original manga story! 0_0

You have a nice list but you still are missing bunch of great series so I see no problem with you watching all of that. You should find some cool series later on. Also you shouldn't go only for top ones, there are some really good series which are known to smaller public.

If I have to choose the best from your plan list it will be the following:
- Air
- Angel Beats
- Code Geass

Fairy Tail is a nice shounen so if you want to see some good ones, it is a good choice. But it is not a must just like Ao No Exorcist. Only if you are interested in shounen.

Didn't get to watch, Mushishi and Tsubasa Chronicle yet so can't say much about those.


Going through your planet list here are the shows that I encourage to watch the most of all your planned ones:
Baccano! - great action and very unique story telling

Inuyasha just because it is classic. Though D.Gray man is not bad either. However, if you really want to see a good shounen then FMA is a must. There are two seasons and each with alternative reality. Everyone has their own fave but I suggest to watch both since none of them will really dissapoint you.

Madoka Magica is a very unique magical girl show that deserves to be checked out.


Now talking about myself, Love Hine and Mai HiME have a special spot for me.
Love Hina was my real first anime and the one that brought me into anime world so just because of that I do recommend it. However, manga is SO much better.

Mai HiME was my first all time favorite show. Right now I see a lot of flows in it but I still like it and it had a very interesting cast of characters. So just because of that I also will encourage you to take a look.

That's the ones I thought I would highlight. Others shows are good too though. But you still are missing a whole bunch of great titles so don't worry of watching all the best stuff, you still have long way to go

If you want, I can list the shows that I still consider to be good and worth a watch.

[Dist]

Originally Posted by frubam

Indeed, if that's all you've watched, you've only hit the tip of the iceburg =03. Like jedinat said, even when it comes to the higher-tier well-known shows, it'll be a LONG while before you can finish everything. After a while, you'd probably lessen restrictions on what you like/don't like, which will open the door to even mediocre, less-known animes.

Or quite the opposite. When you've seen all the great stuff, watching the lesser great stuff feels just stupid because they're well.. boring. When I started anime I used to watch everything I could just find but slowly and surely got more and more picky and restrictive.

Still, for OP I'd say to just watch anything you see and like .. I mean, why wouldn't you? Whatever you'll do, you'll eventually run out of the excellent series. Still, there are hundreds of good series so depending on your watching speed, they could last you years. And then you got the weekly series .. 10+ episodes per week from the currently airing ones.

[xMythycle]

I guess I like all of these animes because I'm still a newb and I'm still in the phase of being amazed by absolutely anything, but I guess I'll be working on broadening this shallow view from now on.

Originally Posted by kitten320

That's the ones I thought I would highlight. Others shows are good too though. But you still are missing a whole bunch of great titles so don't worry of watching all the best stuff, you still have long way to go

If you want, I can list the shows that I still consider to be good and worth a watch.

I'd love to see some suggestions of what you guys think are good animes, it will be a good way for me to figure out what I really love

[Flower]

Hmm ... okay.

I should begin by saying that my preferences in anime series tend to: slice-of-life, coming-of-age, historical drama, romance and some comedy. Sci fi or fantasy settings are fine. I am not as fond of mecha or ecchi and horror is at the bottom of my likes.

Someone recently asked me a similar question, so I will just copy my reply into this thread.

1. From 2011

I guess a good place to begin would be to copy my top 10 for last year here for immediate access - maybe you have already seen some of them? 1. Ikoku Meirio no Croise, 2. Usagi Drop, 3. Tamayura Hitotose, 4. The iDOLM@STER, 5. Kimi ni Todoke S2, 6. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, 7. The World God Only Knows S2, 8. Mashiro-Iro Symphony, 9. Mahou Shoujou Madoka Magica, 10. Gosick

2. Other series

Other than the immediate context of last year ... hmm. A few series come to mind off the bat - of course you prolly have already seen some (or even most?) them, but here goes: Clannad series (Clannad and Clannad: After Story - imo you can skip the movies), Aria series (3 seasons and an OVA), Marimite series (3 seasons and a group of 5 long OVAs that some consider a season on its own), Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Kanon, Kimi ni Todoke series (2 seasons), Mokke, the Natsume Yuuchinjou series (3 seasons and 1 season now airing), The Twelve Kingdoms, most any work by World Masterpiece Theatre and Kemono no Soujo Erin. Recently I have been watching Kino no Tabi - an older 14 ep series that is an excellent example of subdued, reserved and subtlety in terms of artistic content that I enjoy. I would also add Sketchbook - full color'S to the list.

3. Movies

Finally, I generally find I enjoy anything by Ghibli productions. (Way too many to list.) As for non Ghibli movies, some that immediately come to mind include: Oji-san no Lamp, Beyond the Clouds - the Promised Place, Bungaku Shoujo, Yobi the 5 tailed fox, Tokyo Godfather, Eve no Jikan, Colorful, 5 centimeters per second, Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, Kumo no You ni, Kaze no You ni and Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen o Mahou.

4. General OVA's (single and multiple)

As for OVAs: Kowarekake no Orgel, Tamayura, Hiyokoi, Hoshi no Umi Amuri, Iriya no Sora: UFO no Natsu and Shinigami no Ballad.

[MisaoFan]

You should try Black Rock Shooter : it's a well-known 2010 single OVA sets in two parallel worlds : the former has highschool girl named Mato who meet a young girl named Yomi and they become friends then. The latter has a action girl named Black Rock Shooter seeking revenge towards her betrayed friend Dead Master. However, some people love it while others dislike it due to pacing problems.

[Dist]

^Of course you failed to mention that there is an anime series as well.

[MisaoFan]

Originally Posted by Dist

^Of course you failed to mention that there is an anime series as well.

I know there's anime adaptation to this, but it's ongoing with only the first episode released.

[DonQuigleone]

At the beginning pretty much any old thing will "amaze" you. As you watch more you will get more picky.

I wouldn't bother trying to save things for later, if you're concerned about "running out of things to watch" bear in mind that there's almost always at least 1 top notch show every 1 or 2 seasons. For instance, last year people might cite Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Mawaru Penguindrum. It's because of new interesting Anime like those that I maintain the faith.

At this stage, just watch whatever appeals. If you like the first episode, watch the whole thing! Eventually you'll start getting pickier, and might want to come here for more precise suggestions.

The only thing I'd be careful of is watching the more satirical/parody anime, while these are usually enjoyable on their own, their usually even more so enjoyable when you have a firm grounding on Anime tropes and clichés. Don't be afraid of watching the Clichéd stuff, this is probably the only time you'll enjoy them, may as well make it last...

My view is that a cliché is only bad when you're familiar with it. There's a lot of stuff I watched in my "younger" days that I wouldn't touch now. That's just how it is.

Using the various anime lists, like the ANN top 50 or the MAL "Top Anime" is a pretty good way to start. Don't take it as an actual indicator of quality though. There's a lot of fanboying that goes on with those lists, but if you're not familiar with the titles that are out there, and what's well known, it's a very good place to start.

Start at the top, work your way down. Be willing to try stuff you may not consider within your "zone", you may surprise yourself.

Later on you'll have a better grasp of what you like, and don't like. But I still sometimes browse those lists, but I often use filters.

[FlavorOfLife]

The well known animes are well known for a reason. Unlike some, i take the position that the mainstream anime is popular for a reason and mainstream does not mean its bad, in fact most have some reason for being popular in the first place.

From your list you're heavy on the romance comedies. As such i would recommend Skip Beat! and Kaichou wa Maid Sama which should be up your alley. Another that you can try is K-ON!, which has no romance but you may like the atmosphere/comedy/lightheartedness.

On the heavy side, since Fate/Zero and Elven Lied is on the list, i would recommend Bokurano and Madoka Magica. Both are slide into being pretty heavy shows.

Since Bleach and Claymore is to your liking, you can try Gurren Laagan which also does the fight against the odds stuff while being a nobody.

As for Clannad being on your list, you can try Grave of the Fireflies and 5 cm/second. Both are much shorter than Clannad and tend to be quite saddening.

If you want to move out of the comfort zone, try School Rumble, Steins Gate and Gundam: War in the Pocket. The first is an absurdist comedy romance, the second is a sci-fi comedy then drama while the third is a realistic depiction of a mecha war story.

Theres a lot of good older animes story wise but i find that a lot don't like the less detailed animation/backgrounds for those.

[MisaoFan]

If you like Code Geass, you should try Guilty Crown. The 2011 22-episode (only 15 are released out so it's ongoing) TV anime sets in a futuristic world contamined by the powerful crystallized virus. Shu, a 17-years old highschool boy, possess a ability by stealing others' weapons contained inside, in order to rid out the virus. It has good (if not great) animation and excellent music, but the plot was filled of pacing problems (despite its unique concept), clichéd and one-dimenssional characters, ridiculous (but less numerous) fanservice and terrible (but decent) CG. In order to not be dissapointed, watch this before giving Code Geass a shot.