I've been watching alot of Naruto recently. It has become my religion. I even form hand seals in my sleep. I'm trying to persuade my pet frogs to form a summoning pact with me, but they don't even seem to notice. I'm also about to start watching Bleach, and have watched some Tenchu Tenge and the Samurai X films.

I'd like to progress to reading the manga when I can. Can anyone recommed some good anime/manga for me to watch/read next? I like historical stuff if possible but any suggestions would be useful. I think a comprehensive list could benefit lots of people here too.



EDIT: Title should say 'recommended'

Ok...

Read or watch whatever interests you. Search "anime/manga [genre]"

Yes, while helpful I was hoping for something more specific. There are hundreds of anime and thousands of manga in any given genre. I expect there are people here who have watched enormous amounts of anime and can suggest those titles which they liked the most.

Not accurate, of course, but a good starting point:

http://myanimelist.net/topanime.php

Definitely check out Samurai Champloo. Apart from that, those ones you mentioned esp. Naruto are super popular, so even though popular does not always = good it might be worth checking out a top 10 (shounen) titles list. One Piece comes to mind, and I can definitely recommend that. No idea why it isn't on that myanimelist page because it's massive in Japan. From that list I can recommend Fullmetal Alchemist and Monster, although neither are your genre.

Edit: Like pretty much any series these all come in both manga and anime forms. For Samurai Champloo the anime is a must but for the rest take your pick.

Anime fan reporting in.

I suggest not confining yourself to the big 3 shounen series, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece because they are all indefinitely long and the quality rises and falls inconsistently. There are just so many other great series out there that you would really be limiting yourself if you stuck to the Big 3 or even shounen in general. I'll just go out on a limb and recommend a few of my favorites that come to mind at the moment.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
-Incredibly popular shounen show of the better part of 2007. It's a super robot show with many twists that I think you would enjoy.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
-A dark psychological mystery type story set in a rural town in Japan. On the surface it seems like a lighthearted show featuring school kids and their daily lives, but don't be fooled. It gets intense pretty fast. If you do watch this, be prepared to be confused and for the love of god DON'T ASK QUESTIONS until you finish season two of the series. Spoilers really kill this series.

Code Geass
-A show about a kid who wants revenge on the oppressive Empire nation that has taken over the nation of Japan as well as 1/3 of the world. He gets a power to give a single absolute command, which he uses to advance his plot against the Empire. The plot is rather deep and complex, with a strong cast of characters. I would argue that this is the most popular show that is currently airing among western anime fans. "Geass Sunday" has become almost an observed holiday where anime forums are bombarded with Code Geass discussion topics and the like to discuss the newest episode.

Since you like Naruto, it's possible that our anime preferences are too diametrically opposed for my suggestions to be of any use, but then again, you may turn out to be an omnivore. Here goes:

さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
【俗】さよなら絶望先生 (Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
The single best comedy anime/manga ever, in my humble opinion. The main character is a teacher with suicidal tendencies and an overall dark and depressing view on life. He teaches a class consisting of a number of students whose personalities are stereotypes taken to their logical extremes.

君が望む永遠 (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien; Rumbling Hearts)
A romantic drama about... betrayal and its consequences, pretty much. If you do watch it, don't dismiss it as a run-of-the-mill highschool romance series until you've watched at least three episodes or so.

Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon: Second Barrage
This may be a bit closer to Naruto in that it has a fair amount of action. A Japanese salaryman is being hold hostage by a bunch of criminals, and ends up joining them for various reasons. Plenty of gunplay in a city controlled by the mafia. The thing they do with the helicopter in one of the first episodes still cracks me up.

Berserk
Not one of my personal favorites, but it does have a pretty large fanbase. This, too, is an action-packed anime/manga series about a legendary swordsman chopping up people and demons in a medieval setting.

This is looking good thanks guys.

I will definitely check out Samurai Champloo, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and 君が望む永遠 straight away, but all the ones suggested so far sound like promising concepts.

Like a couple others mentioned, Samurai Champloo is great. If you really like it you could also check out Cowboy Bebop and Black Lagoon, all from the same people.

Although I haven't watched the anime for Great Teacher Onizuka, if it is anything like the dorama, then I would have to recommend that one, not as a historic, but just a really really good story.

Scryed! That and Read Or Die are my 2 favorite series. Scryed is heavily action-oriented, and ROD has action but is more plot-oriented.

Full Metal Alchemist is another good action one.

One Piece has lots of action and plot and is quite addictive. Plus, you won't run out of episodes for a long, long time.

If you're up for a laugh, Minami-ke has me laughing every single episode.

Well if we have to stay in that genre I suggest
Samurai Champloo,
Eureka 7 (!!),
Gurren Lagann,
maybe Fullmetal Alchemist (though I don't love it)
and Full Metal Panic.

Oh and FLCL and Diebuster, if you like wacky stuff.

As for manga Naruto is good, but I haven't yet read (in Japanese) any other titles of the genre you ask for.

EDIT: in case you don't know it I like http://anidb.net to look at anime reviews. By the way, does anyone know of a similar database site in Japanese?

Death Note

shakkun Wrote:No idea why it isn't on that myanimelist page because it's massive in Japan.

That list is ranked by (user) ratings, not by popularity.
One Piece appears on the third page (position #80).

Some of my recommendations:

Slice of Life: Aria, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (manga)
Comedy: Sketchbook Full Colors, Azumanga Daioh, Yotsubato (manga, easy to read in japanese)
Satire: Lucky Star, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Fantasy: Kino no Tabi, Kamichu
Sci-Fi: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Dennou Coil
Action: Samurai Champloo, Noir
Romance/Drama: Clannad
Philosophy: Serial Experiments Lain

Evangelion. That's the only anime that matters

Here goes some of my favorites (kind of grouped by genre and in no particular order):

Big hits worth checking out:
Death Note; The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya; Neon Genesis Evangelion; Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion

Romantic and funny:
Love Hina; Chobits; School Rumble.

Samurai shounen:
Rurouni Kenshin (a.k.a. Samurai X).

Slice of life comedy:
Azumanga Daioh; Golden Boy.

Hard to categorize:
Elfen Lied - very violent but great plot; Excel Saga - extremely funny; FLCL - totally crazy and fun.

Shounen fun:
Fullmetal Alchemist; Chrno Crusade.

Oh god, not 君が望む永遠. Anything but that.
Actually, it was a really amazing series, but it was kindof soul-crushing. I found it so utterly depressing that I was depressed for weeks afterward. I still can't really think about that series

Then again, I get emotionally involved in anime far too easily. Even asatte no houkou and Kanon 2006 (recommend both, btw) left me a little off-kilter. Why I generally avoid anime drama these days.

kimi ga nozomu eien sure is awesome.
same for hotaru no haka and saikano.

All you guys do is list mainstream ones. What about the cool ones nobody's ever heard of?

RahXphon
Gilgamesh
Hellsing
Serial Experiments Lain
Darkside blues
Texhnolyze
Noir
Lupin the 3rd
Bubblegum crisis

I rarely watch anime over 26 episodes. I think it's the perfect length. It's just irritating to keep track of all the crap that goes on in the overly long ones.

I'm totally hooked on Initial D (頭文字D). It's about cars - specifically drift racing - so a lot of the vocabulary is repeated, making it pretty easy to catch on to some new words and phrases. For a series that's nominally about racing, there's a surprising amount of character development, introspection and interpersonal relationships (romantic and otherwise). The soundtrack is another plus.

Initial D was originally a manga by Shigeno Shuichi (しげの 秀一), so there's potential for reading practice as well. (Sasuga bookstore stocks it.) The manga has more background on the characters and is very beautifully drawn. No furigana, though. Don't bother with the English translation - it's a very loose interpretation of the original, so it's nothing like a parallel text and is no help in translating the original Japanese. (Trust me, I tried.)

Neon Genesis Evangelion also has a manga (which was created after the anime) - oddly enough, it has furigana for all the kanji. Do little kids really read that?

hagaren199 Wrote:Anime fan reporting in.


Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
-A dark psychological mystery type story set in a rural town in Japan. On the surface it seems like a lighthearted show featuring school kids and their daily lives, but don't be fooled. It gets intense pretty fast. If you do watch this, be prepared to be confused and for the love of god DON'T ASK QUESTIONS until you finish season two of the series. Spoilers really kill this series.

Ahh yes. I second this one. Very intense, confusing, and slightly creepy.

alyks Wrote:All you guys do is list mainstream ones. What about the cool ones nobody's ever heard of?

Hellsing
Serial Experiments Lain
Lupin the 3rd

Those are pretty mainstream, especially Lupin...