I'm currently looking for new Doramas or Anime to follow. My problem is that I find many series to be too "silly" or too just strange for my taste. All to often I find myself seeing the first episode and giving it up. Instead of going through all first episodes of the series out there I'm gonna list a couple doramas and anime I really liked and then hope some of you guys have any good suggestions for current series that might fit my taste.

Dorama
Kareinaru Ichizoku (great story)
Tokyo Tower

Anime
GITS: Stand alone complex
Monster (most def the best ever)
Ergo Proxy
Blood+

Thanks for any suggestions!

You might check out this list:

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=4005

Judging from your anime viewing habits it looks like you like dark, flashy, action anime.

.... Maybe Kara no Kyoukai? It has a lot of new vocab though...
You might also find the Read or Die OVA an interesting watch...

I really enjoyed Dennou Coil, but it is set in a school and the protagonists are 6th graders, so I don't know if it would fit your tastes or not. It has some scifi in it which you may like, but maybe the plot wouldn't really grab you...

Maybe you can see who the director was for the shows you liked, or look up the name of a voice actor you adore, and chase after the shows they've worked on.

You might like casshern sins. It came out end of 2008 and was probably the best anime of the season. I thought it was brilliant.

One of my favorite dramas that was on TV in Japan earlier this year was "Bloody Monday"

It's about a terrorist group trying to kill people with a new virus.

It has its ups and downs, but it keeps you on your toes and stays interesting for the most part.

You'll definitely like Mushishi

And lol Delina, I Had a look at that drama ranking list, seeing densha otoko #1 I laughed.

gagge_tah Wrote:Anime
GITS: Stand alone complex
Monster (most def the best ever)
Ergo Proxy
Blood+

Two of my favorites on there: Ergo Proxy and GITS. Good taste.

I recommend:
Darker than Black
Full Metal Panic (all seasons, particularly The Second Raid though)
Black Lagoon
Baccano! (amazing series, not sure how easy it'd be to follow though, depending on your level).

I'm looking for dorama suggestions myself. I'm having a hard time stomaching the ones I've tried so far.

Wow, Monster was good, but way, way, way too stretched-out. I considered giving up on it about halfway through. Definitely -not- the best ever.

Anime
Read or Die OVA (TV is good, but not as good.)
Scryed
Fullmetal Alchemist (Watch the new one, it's better and the first ~15 eps are the same anyhow.)
Mushishi was good, but slow. You have to like drama for this one.

Drama
Mr. Brain. Like CSI/House/Mentalist/Life/etc? This is the Japanese version.

ケイタイ捜査官７ is awesome. Any show with phones that can walk around, talk, fight and solve crimes is awesome in my book.

As for anime however, I'm not sure (I haven't seen any on your list) but have you checked what's airing this season? http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2009/09/...9-preview/

I don't know if you'll like this one or not (it might be too "silly") but I'm going to recommend そらのおとしもの anyway since it's so damn hilarious. I think this says it all: http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2009/09/...9-preview/ (slightly nsfw)

wccrawford Wrote:Drama
Mr. Brain. Like CSI/House/Mentalist/Life/etc? This is the Japanese version.

Ah, I'm watching this at the moment too =D

I'd second Mr. Brain.

Was recently given the box set as a present. About halfway through and quite enjoying it - I turn the japanese subs on or off depending on what mood i'm in.

(I've seen that seperate japanese sub files are available online as well)

I recommend:

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor *usually just called Kaiji*
Baccano! *don't let the first few episodes confuse you, it makes a lot more sense later on*
Akagi *I only suggest this if you know how to play Mahjong.*

I also recommend you to not judge a series by 1 episode alone. I was really confused the first time I saw Baccano! but I'm glad I ended up watching the whole series, by the end everything makes sense *plus it only has 13 episodes*. Read or Die is pretty strange but I also enjoyed it.

Tomnook Wrote:I also recommend you to not judge a series by 1 episode alone. I was really confused the first time I saw Baccano!

Yay, another Baccano lover. The first few episodes confused the living daylights out of me, and I actually thought I had started somewhere in the middle of the series by mistake. Makes a lot more sense once you watch a few of them though.

Hey gagge_tah, so I haven't seen any of the anime you mention, but if "dark", "action" and "not silly" is the criterion, you might like Gunslinger Girl and Noir, provided that you don't mind female protagonists.

It's been a while since I watched it, but you might also like "X" (I seem to recall it has a lot of story-telling); it's more mystic/fantasy genre-wise though.

[Edit] P.S.: I love Read or Die (both OVA and TV), but even though it's in the "serious/dramatic action" genre, it lives off the cuteness of its characters, which might not be what the OP is looking for.