So I feel the need to exploit my netflix account as much as possible. I want some good anime.

Take into account that I love the following animes
Hellsing
Cowboy Bebop
Full Metal Alchemist
Deathnote
Yu Yu Hakusho
Big O

I hate trigun and Naruto.

I'm not just an "Adult swim" anime watcher. I saw Bebop, FMA, Death Note, and Yu Yu before I saw them on CN, so I guess I'm saying don't limit me in that way.

Black Lagoon.

Burst Angel
Kidde Grade
Outlaw Star

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Seconded.

EDIT - Just adding some clarification after looking at your list of favs again. Black Lagoon has a lot of similarities to Hellsing and Cowboy Bebop, so you should love it.

Giant Robo: The Animation.

Thirded on Black Lagoon. A truly epic shout-out to Hollywood pulp action flicks. Violent, action-packed, filled the dark humour and surprisingly thought-provoking. The dub on this one comes very highly recommended. Due to the setting and material, the English voices feel much more natural, and there's a lot more "oomph" to the script (and a lot more "colorful" language. Never heard so many creative F-bombs in my life...).

If you enjoyed Death Note, then Code Geass is worth a shot. Similar mindgame/chessmaster "intellectualism", except longer, with a greater variety of characters, and giant robot combat.

Read or Die (OVAs, then TV series) feels very similar in tone to Fullmetal Alchemist, especially in the TV series, where a major theme is the bonds of sisterhood. Also a bit like James Bond, if the agents were X-Men instead of gadget-laden. Greatly endearing characters (especially Anita and Nenene, hoo boy), and the action sequences are nothing short of spectacular.


As for some of my personal favourites, I highly recommend RahXephon and Eureka SeveN.

RahXephon is oft compared to Evangelion, as a successor of the "mindscrew" subgenre of mecha anime, especially with a number of superficially similar elements. However, I personally find it superior in almost every way to its predecessor, with a much more endearing and enjoyable cast of characters, a stronger sense of direction (in that it stays consistent throughout its run, instead of changing flavours at the whims - or psychoses... - of its director), and an epic puzzle of a plot that lays the pieces out masterfully, committing to one of the most beautifully poetic endings I've ever seen in anime.

Eureka SeveN, by contrast, is much more straight forward, a coming of age story as a boy confronts his adolescent feelings of first love, his heroes, and the nature of the world. Oh, and some of the highest quality giant robot combat I've ever seen in a TV series. The production values on this one are simply mindblowing, with consistantly high-quality animation, dizzying aerial combat sequences, and a top-notch soundtrack (with some of the most epic and memorable BGM I've ever heard, and the catchiest collection of theme songs) for its entire 50 episode run. A number of people find the first half of the series quite slow, plot-wise, but in this time, it does its job well of fleshing out its very large (and often quirky) ensemble cast, and illustrating the workings of its somewhat alien world. Then by the second half, now that you know how the characters work and what makes them tick, then the plot ratchets up several degrees of awesome.


Between its adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist, and its original productions of RahXephon and Eureka SeveN, as well as its Sunrise lineage with Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne, Bones has firmly cemented itself as my favourite animation studio in Japan. Apart from some of its shakier earlier works (Scrapped Princess, for example, although it has its share of warranted fans as well), they've consistently pumped out hit after hit, with seemingly no end in sight (newer productions like Darker than Black and Soul Eater have been very well received).


If you're willing to dip into the more "emotionally engaging" side of anime, then I've got a whole other host of recommendations there as well.

Gurren Lagann. Simply put, its the best anime that I have seen in years. Watch the English dubbed version as the Dub is just beyond excellent.

You want a Bond like anime you need
009-1

second on burst angel

Here's my List:

Fullmetal Alchemist
Ah My Goddess
Love Hina
Bleach
Big O
Hellsing Ultimate(Much Closer to the book)


that's about it for now.

Who the HELL do you think we are?

Guyver- The Bio Boosted Armor

Also, go for some classics like Ninja Scroll, Appleseed, MD Geist, etc...

I also agree with the recommendation for Code Geass.

damnit, why did I forget that? I have that.

It's pretty weird, but I liked "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya".

A lot of people do. Uncommonly witty, with a knockout script that pirouettes on slice-of-life comedy, straight up parody, and poignant drama about as naturally as breathing. Superb production values from renowned Kyoto Animation make it a vibrant, lively romp, and the knockout hit of 2006.

If you do some casual research on it, you may find that during its TV run, it was purposefully aired out of order. Unfortunately, all of the DVD releases (North American or Japanese, it's all the same) put the series into proper order. Do NOT watch it in proper order your first time through. It spoils a lot of the mystery and the fun of the series, and I honestly can't understand what possessed the Japanese licensor to mandate this. In proper order, the main plot of the series finishes by the sixth episode (seventh if you consider it surreal introductory episode), and becomes an exercise in random hijinx afterwards, killing the story's momentum, IMO. In the TV broadcast order, this plot was spread across the entire run of the series, properly climaxing at the final episode of its run, with the non-plot episodes strategically interspersed in such a way as to cheekily drop hints and pique curiosity as to the story's true nature.

Both dubs are of exceptional quality, although the edge has to be given to the Japanese, as Aya Hirano in the lead role of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite hard to match in terms of her infectious energy.



On that note, though, I'd highly recommend you at least sample each of the series produced by Kyoto Animation, as there work is second to none (I only rank Studio Bones slightly higher in my book simply because their usual forte more closely adheres to my personal tastes).

Of more general appeal would be there work on Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu!? and Full Metal Panic! Second Raid. Taking over after Studio Gonzo's somewhat above average work on the first season, the fandom highly rates the two sequel series ahead of its predecessor, owing to Kyoto's punchier scripting and gorgeous animation. A mix of heavy-hitting mecha combat and slice-of-life comedy, it follows supersoldier child Sousuke Sagara as he's forced to play bodyguard to energetic schoolgirl Chidori Kaname. One can only imagine the hilarity that ensues as a trained-from-birth soldier tries to "blend" into everyday society...

Following Haruhi's otaku-appeal demographic came Lucky Star, another slice-of-life school comedy with hardcore anime fangirl Konata Izumi as its lead. Imagine Seinfeld, if you will, and its ability to take ordinary life situations and conversations and expand them into pure hilarity, then place it against the backdrop of cute schoolgirls and a heavy anime bent, and you have the gist of Lucky Star. It works best if you have at least cursory experience with other anime that Kyoto has produced (and almost intimate knowledge of Haruhi), as the series contains vast shout-outs to the entire medium, in untold numbers of visual and verbal gags. It's not really a "laugh out loud" comedy (although there are a few big moments), but more of a "grin ear-to-ear through the entire episode and brighten your day" sort of show.

And then there's Kyoto's trilogy of ero-game adaptations from Key Visual Works; Air, Kanon, and Clannad. Widely praised games in Japan for their emotionally dramatic plotlines (as opposed to the sexual material, in which "clean" versions of the games without any explicit material were eventually released. In Clannad's case, it was always clean), it was seen fit to produce animated versions of the dating sims/visual novels. Although firmly planted in the semi-controversial "Moe" subgenre of anime, Kyoto's high animation standards and penchant for witty scripts may help to bridge the gap to anime fans not so enamored of the "cute".

The series just get better and better with each new adaptation, as Kyoto learned things from the previous series. Air is their archetypical baseplate (although it was Key's second game, after Kanon), emotionally poignant but a bit rough around the edges. At only twelve episodes (14 if you count the two special episodes that expand on the backstory. 15 if you count the wholly pointless clip episode that summarizes the entire series), it's a decent litmus test to tell whether or not you can stomach this type of series. Ride it through to the end, though. The first half of the series doesn't nearly give the full scope of what the series achieves by its end.

Kanon was their second work based on Key's visual novels, and its evolution from their work on Air shows. At twice the series length, it has much more time to explore and realize its warm and endearing cast, and even though the cast is much larger, you get a much better feel for each of the girls that the stories revolve around, so that each one of their respective closures in the story are infinitely more emotional and poignant. The humour is more involved and punchier (with a few more Haruhi shout-outs in the early episodes, owing to the fact that the leading man in both Kanon and Haruhi is voiced by Sugita Tomokazu in Japanese), and again, Kyoto's vibrant animation never fails to impress. The final outcome of the series is much more rewarding than Air.

I've yet to seen Clannad, although the general opinion seems to be that it's yet again better than Kanon. Doubling the series length yet again (splitting it into the two series Clannad and Clannad - After Story), and shaking off the ero-game aftertaste (since there is none), the character relationships are more involved and complex, and the plot doesn't rely heavily (or at all) on the supernatural elements that permeate Air and Kanon, instead relying on the strength of its characters alone.


I highly warn you though. If you've got an ounce of sentiment in your soul, do not watch these three series back-to-back, or you may be rendered a blubbering emotional lump for quite some time. The series flip from energetic comedy to soul-crushing tragedy on a dime. Air left me in a slight fuzz after finishing it. Kanon had my heart in a vicegrip as it neared its finale, and left me in an emotional buzz for several days thereafter. I can't even anticipate how much damage Clannad might do...

I'm sorry but, HATES TRIGUN!

I have nothing for you.

Peace and Love!

Heres some recommendations

Berserk
The Big O
Basilisk
Death Note
Lucky Star
Gungrave
Robotech
Hellsing (both TV & OVA)
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040
Gundam Wing
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Martian Successor Nadesico
Dirty Pair Flash

etc....

I tried to like Kanon, I really did, but I have to go with basso profundo Mike Toole on this one: Kanon was incredibly un-entertaining.



As for good anime? Giant Robo. The robots move like Big O, it's got an epic storyline with a twist you'd never see coming, the animation is fantastic, the music is fully orchestrated, and the box set is 20 bucks. You cannot go wrong with Giant Robo.

To throw out some good ones not yet mentioned:

Urusei Yatsura
Kimagure Orange Road
Dual!
Eureka Seven

We can see who has taste here!

TechTV and G4 early on had some good choices in its anime. Besides Dual!, there's Betterman, Abenobashi, Gad Guard... let's see, ROD TV was already mentioned, and Crest/Banner of The Stars struck me as kind of dry and dialogue heavy in the bad way... Silent Mobius was okay, though I never could follow the ending, really.

Vision of Escaflowne - Imagine what it'd be like if Tolkien did a giant robot series. The plot centers around a teenage girl named Hitomi who is inadvertently brought to a planet known as Gaia when Van, a prince from one of the planet's smaller nations, chases a dragon from there to Earth. After Van's kingdom is obliterated in a sneak attack, she, Van, and Van's childhood friend Merryl (both versions render it as "Merle" due to a goof on the Japanese writer's part) find themselves having to navigate an increasingly dangerous world in which friend and foe are the same while trying to find a way to stop an army intent on conquering the planet.

Soul Taker - 16-year-old Kyouske Date was a normal teenager until the day his mother tried to murder him on the alter of the church where she worked. Despite sustaining what should have been a fatal injury, Kyouske found himself possessing bizarre new powers. It turns out that shortly before he was born, the last surviving member of an alien race made contact with the head of the Kirihara Medical Group and proposed a deal: if she could successfully clone a female member of his race, he'd show her how to revive her dead boyfriend.

The head decided to do the cloning attempt by deliberately infecting the entire populace of the moon with alien DNA. The end result was that in time, a pair of male and female twins were born that were more alien than human: Kyouske and a sister named Rena (who Kyouske only vaguely remembers). His mother chose to split the two up, her taking care of Rena while her best friend took Kyouske, in the hopes of keeping Kirihara from finding out. What no one realized was that Kyouske's own father was the doctor who Kirihara used to infect everyone with the DNA, and so it was only a matter of time. Kyouske's foster mother tried to kill him in an effort to force his powers to activate, but was herself killed before she could teach him what to do. Thus, Kyouske must make use of powers he doesn't understand and two allies who have radically different agendas in order to both find his sister and shut down Kirihara.

Note that the series features intense violence, female nudity (including an episode where a clone of Rena tries to cock-tease Kyouske out of his mission), and religious imagery and subject matter that some might find borderline blasphemous. You also need to watch each episode through to the end of the credits, as the animators often include extra material at the end that's critical to the set-up of the next episode (such as rather hilarious sequence in which the character Konmugi Nakahara - who wound up being the most popular character in the series - tenders her letter of resignation).

I'm not too into Anime myself, so my experience with it is pretty scarce.

But I do know that Ghost In A Shell and Casshern were two great movies that I enjoyed a lot. GIAS is often a very "typical" suggestion when it comes to anime, though.

Then there is the things like Zoids and Gundam etc.

Out of curiosity, what about it did you find un-entertaining. Because as slice-of-life comedies go, its material was top-notch. If all the pranking and reverse-pranking with Makoto in the first arc doesn't get you, then damn. Or maybe it's all the "moe moe" that gets you rolling your eyes.

Eh, whatever. Not everything's for everybody. But personally, I was alternately laughing hysterically at Yuuichi's sardonic wit, or crying buckets (well, not really. I've never actually cried at anything onscreen, although Kanon tried its damned hardest to force something, and only barely failed).

Or maybe you mistakenly watched Toei's adaptation, instead of Kyoto's much superior version?

Was Toei's version released in the US by ADV?

Then no.

'Kay then. Just not your cup of tea.

But honestly, you didn't find this the least bit entertaining?

nice

That video pretty much proves my point, thank you.

Then there's definitely no hope for you.

Why was that guy trying to traumatize a little girl? D:

No it was to show her how adult she really was
And to prove a point

Isn't Japan all about traumatizing little girls?

Misconseption its the boys that are by thorowing thim is big gaint robots and onto a battle feild

THIS X 10000

Add my vote to the Gurren Lagann pile.

Other than that I'd have to recommend Oban: Star Racers, interesting story, great alien designs, nearly seamless blend of 3D and traditional animation. I couldn't recommend it more.

This thread needs moar KARAS!

Well, to be honest all the shows you've mentioned liking are ones I've never gotten around to seeing. But we both hate Naruto so I'll second Burst Angel as long as you understand it's just great action, a fantastic soundtrack, and good animation. The storyline gets dumber the more that's revealed and none of the characters have any real depth. If you can live with that definitely rent it.

Irresponsible Captain Tylor is a sci fi comedy about a misfit who joins the space navy for an easy life with the bad timing of doing so just before humanity and the Raalgon Empire are coming to the brink of war. As the titular character inexplicably lucks his way to greater glory the series ponders whether he's a lucky moron or a misunderstood genius. It's got a great cast of characters and spoiled me on English dub performances because it's much better quality than most. It's a hilarious series and surprisingly touching at times.

The Legend of Black Heaven is about an office drone who's been dulled by a dead-end job and the boredom of married life. Once the frontman of an 80's metal cover band he is recruited by aliens who want to use his music to power their ultimate weapon in an intergalactic war. Again, very funny and at times surprisingly touching as the main character more or less becomes revitalized by his return to music.

Noir is my second-favorite anime, about a world class assassin named Mireille who teams up with an amnesiac girl named Kirika who has no memories of her past but is a flawless killing machine. As they set out to learn the mystery of their shared past they come up against a mysterious organization called the Soldats hell bent on seeing them killed.

I suggest reading up on them a little as what I've typed is poorly written and rushed. Other series I enjoy but can't say with any certainty you'd like them -

.hack//SIGN, Elfen Lied, Avenger, Arc The Lad, Noein, Madlax, and Dai Mahou Touge.

If you're also looking for anime films definitely check out Nausicaa and Galaxy Express 999.

I really wanna see 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.'


Can't find it anywhere though.

Oddly enough, the public library in my neighborhood has a copy of it.

Because Makoto "hates" him. When they first met, she tried (and failed hilariously) to beat him up. And then she winds up moving in with him (or his aunt, technically), and even then she's endlessly trying to pull some fairly mean-spirited pranks on him (but again, fails to absolutely hysterical results).

Yuuichi's not a bad guy (truthfully, he'd be a heckuva guy to chum around with. There's a party scene in the latter half of the series that will attest to this). He's just trying to teach her life's lessons and get her to act more maturely, but just in his own sardonic matter that tends to benefit his sense of amusement (and the viewer's) in the process.

Kanon's a hilarious, heartwarming, and often heartbreaking show. Again, I highly recommend it to anyone (err...to everyone that isn't Sprock Obama) that can at least partially stomach the moe genre. I think Key's deft manipulation of human emotions in the presentation of its stories should be experienced at least once.

I loved Kanon. It warmed my horrid little heart.

Gurren Lagann is a must-watch, obviously.

I'll throw in something a little obscure: Planetes.

It's set in the near-future, and it's about a ragtag crew of garbage people.

No, really.

But it's SPACE Garbage, a real concern by the good folks at various space agencies. It's a really good watch once you get into it.

Also, give Fantastic Children a try. It's got one of the best stories written in the past decade. It rivals even my love of Gurren Lagann's story. Just don't let the art style ruin it for you.

Of course, watch them subtitled. I find their dubs to be almost unbearable.

http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmg...tem/81418/4/0/0

Its backordered, but they still will let you order and will ship it to you when they get more in.

And I will add again to the Gurren Lagann pile. Watched it all over the past week (but can't find every episode in english dub, lots of the beginning, a couple in the middle, and the last...7 or so) wonderfully done. It has a simple formula for its fights: Enemy shows up, Simon discovers something that makes his mecha more powerful, victory, repeat. This goes on through the whole series until you have a person piloting a giant robot, piloting a gianter robot, piloting an enormous robot (there's a "Yo Dawg" joke in there somewhere). The end may be a little hard to follow, but digest it and you'll go "AWESOME!"

we herd u liek robots so we put a robot in your robot so you can pilot while you pilot?

or fight anti-spirals while you fight anti-spirals...something like that. OR pierce the heavens with your drill while you pierce the heavens with your drill.

Akira.
Ghost in The Shell 1 & 2.
Cowboy Bebop & Cowboy Bebop The Movie.
Tenchi.
Dragonball and Dragonball Z.
Sailor Moon (Uncut versions and hot chicks galore).
Grave of the Fireflies.
My Neighbor Totoro.
Wicked City.
Fist of the North Star.
The Professional: Golgo 13.
Revolutionary Girl Utena. (Hot girls abound)
Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend. (Definitely not for the weak hearted)
Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
Hack//Sign.
Speed Racer.
Ichi The Killer: The Anime.
Nausicca: Valley of the Winds.
Perfect Blue.
Spriggan.
Metropolis.
Castle in the Sky.

If anything, wait until the upcoming Dragonball: Kai which is supposed to not only remaster the series, but recut and repace it to more closely match the manga, cutting its once 300+ episode length to a "mere" 100.

I've been waiting for them to do this for ages. Dragonball Z had a good number of entertaining moments, and some decent stories as far a fight anime go, but it was ruined by horrible, horrible pacing. Eliminate the "powering-up" filler episodes where all 22 minutes are consumed by constipated groaning and people staring agape, and some of the drawn out combat sequences filled with repetitive actions, and the series could be quite fun, and not the total bore it is in its current state.

Only watch this if you want to get really depressed.

Gurren Lagann is like GaoGaiGar without all the slow parts and more goofiness--i.e., distilled super robot goodness that doesn't take itself too seriously (usually)

Code Geass is like Death Note meets Gundam

Ah My Goddess is a recent anime based on a manga that has been going on since the 80's--and it's not as girly as the art, name, etc. make it seem; Basically, it's the original "lucky loser guy gets hot live-in chick" story

Great Teacher Onizuka is a classic--it's ridiculously entertaining, about a former teenage bad-ass who decides to go straight and somehow becomes a teacher and solves kids' problems using his bad-assness; after the TV show ends, pick up the manga half-way through. It picks up right around where the TV show stopped.

If you are interested in picking up a manga, you should try Negima. It's really entertaining, and the TV shows don't do it justice. GTO: The Early Years is also really good (but don't let the art style of the first couple chapters deter you; it improves exponentially by the end of the first volume).

What about "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend"? anyone seen that one?

Yeaaaah No.

Aaaand I just got myself hooked on Lovely Complex.

Yeah, it's a romantic comedy, but it actually succeeds in being both romantic and comedic.

Koizumi is a giantess, and Otani has the stature of Ed Elric. They're both utter goofballs and bickering best friends, and everyone except them can see that they're meant for each other (assuming they don't kill each other first).