Do you watch anime? Then check this out!

[Perfect Chaos Zero]

So this is a topic for people who watch anime and are well, interested in it. If you're not interested in anime or don't watch it, please don't waste everyone's time, including your own, by crying about how much you hate anime. No one cares.

That said, the reason for this topic is because I wanted to share with you all a particular internet location that is downright amazing. I don't know if everyone is aware of this insanely awesome gem of the internet, but it has an insanely large catalog of anime available for streaming and goes by the name Anime Crazy.

It's all full episodes, they even have later seasons of Sonic X in japanese instead of that french crap, as well as a couple hundred other series. Most anime episodes have multiple mirrors listed as well, so if it doesn't play, you can select a different anime crazy mirror and watch it anyway. But even more importantly, is that the streaming is high quality. Rarely have a I seen an episode be grainy or hard to watch, yet the mirrors are fast enough that buffering is a rarity. That said, here's the link:

http://www.animecrazy.net

(Note, if you want to see anime that isn't a "currently ongoing series this season, scroll down a bit and click "anime list" on the sidebar on the right to check out their full catalog. It's huge.)

Also, Wesker pointed out a similar site:

http://www.watchanimeon.com

So in the interest of giving this topic a little more purpose other than plugging an excellent site that should be very useful to many who visit here, what kind of series do you guys love and hate? What do you guys recommend in particular? Don't suggest anything already on Adult Swim or Cartoon Network please, everyone already knows about those. Naruto, Bleach, etc. are freaking everywhere, it's not a mystery that they're popular (whether they're actually GOOD is another discussion). Let's say, try give off a list of 5 anime that you think a lot of people may not of seen, that happen to be pretty damn good. But if you got less than 5 or more or whatever, that's fine too. Give it a whirl folks.

Maybe we could consider a community "viewing" of a particular series for us all to discuss as a group? That could also be interesting as well. Might be hard to get off the ground though, so I'm throwing that out there to see if there's an real support for the idea before I seriously attempt to organize something like that. Point is, there's a lot of good shit out there that people know nothing about, so I figure this is a good opportunity to really engage some people in new stuff.

That said, here's my list of things you should be watching:

1. Katanagatari - Fucking amazing. Stars a swordsman that doesn't use swords. Not entirely finished though, there will be a total of 12 episodes, 1 per month. It's up to episode 9, but each ep is an hour long and there's no cliff hangars, so even one episode is very "satisfying".

2. Buso Renkin - Kinda weird at first, but develops into one of the most impressive anime series I have ever seen. Real brutal later on and loaded with highly impressive character development and classic YAAHH PFFGGGHHH! explosive type action.

3. Cromartie High School - This anime is straaannngggee. Bunch of punks beating the crap out of each other in an environment filled with more freaky stuff than Jersey on a Friday night. Has robots and shit.

4. Fate/Stay Night - Magic, swords, explosions, a quest for immortality and old school romance. What else could you ask for?

5. King of Braves: GaoGaiGar - The king of Giant Robot anime. This series is possibly one of the greatest epics of all time in any format of story telling ever. Well, most of it is. Sadly the one draw back to it is that the first, meh, I'm gonna say 15-20 episodes are so are rather average. Sure they're somewhat important as they set up the story and introduce the characters, but it's just not all that great at first. After wards however, the series explodes into a level of epic awesomeness that ought to be downright impossible considering how the show starts out. There's a reason it's so celebrated in /m/ over on 4chan. (eww 4chan)

I could go on and on, but the reason I said 5 as the recommended number is because I could go on all day and I'd probably "use up" a lot of the ones someone else might want to list.

Edit: Adding some other places that people have recommended for finding anime at:

I don't really care about streaming, as the quality compared to the original thing is bad. That said, I'd mention #news for IRC XDCC downloads. Also, Bakabt(private tracker) and Tokyo Toshokan for torrents.

I get mines from here.

http://www.animetake.com/

Edit 2: As I say in a post below, try and add a short description to what you recommend to give everyone an idea of what they're gonna be looking at or at least listing genre

[Duckboy]

i liked when goku fought vegeta and then vegeta got defeated but he came back but got mad becuase goku became super sonic first

[wesker]

I've been watching Dragon Ball Kai on watchanimeon.com

EDIT: Also if you like Cromartie, check out the live action movie lolz

[LarkSS]

You mistyped the hyperlink PC0, haha. (animie)

Anywho, it's been ages since I've actively watched anime. The only one that really comes to mind to recommend is Full Metal Panic! if you haven't seen it already. The spinoff season was really good and I would definitely suggest watching at least that if you don't care for the main plot.

iirc Kaze no Stigma was a decent watch too. Both have action!

www.anime-sub.com seems to be a good site too btw.

[Perfect Chaos Zero]

I've been watching Dragon Ball Kai on watchanimeon.com

EDIT: Also if you like Cromartie, check out the live action movie lolz

Oooo, I didn't know about that site! Adding that to the topic!

Also, thx Lark. Fixed now.

i liked when goku fought vegeta and then vegeta got defeated but he came back but got mad becuase goku became super sonic first

- sums up my response to that

[Zenor]

I don't really care about streaming, as the quality compared to the original thing is bad. That said, I'd mention #news for IRC XDCC downloads. Also, Bakabt(private tracker) and Tokyo Toshokan for torrents.

As for favorites and recommendations, Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster, Mushishi, Terra e..., Gankutsuou, Planetes, Kino's Journey, Bartender, ... To be honest, it's not very easy to point out my "absolutely" favorite anime. I prefer to spend my time with manga - Urasawa's works (such as 20th Century Boys), Berserk, Dorohedoro, Aria, Yotsuba&!, Vinland Saga and so on.

[Rawr]

X'amd : Lost Memories is ace, I like Heroman, Hellsing Ultimate, Trigun, DEAD LEAVES <<<< OMGYES I WISH IT WAS A SERIES THOUGH, Gurren Lagann, Gun X Sword. DEAD LEAVES. Of course people have probably all seen Cowboy Bebop which is brilliant, and Samurai Champloo which is really awesome as well.

There are more I am missing haha. But if I had to highly recommend two things to watch I'd recommend X'amd and Dead Leaves...and I guess Hellsing Ultimate too

As for any that I am looking forward to - Redline (it's an anime movie that has been in production forever but looks sweet) and Trigun: Badlands Rumble look really ace too.

[Scarletdark]

Oh my goodness I found an Anime I've been looking for on animecrazy!

Thank you so much! PCZ. Rep +

D.N. Angel is a great watch.

Kinda supernatural, teen, with a little bit of action and stuff (not hardcore action like cut your head off your body with blood everywhere action).

[Asuma]

I get mines from here.

http://www.animetake.com/

I usually watch comedy, action-comedy, mahou shoujo (shut up), and maybe a few drama themed animes.

Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo

Bamboo Blade

Pani Poni Dash!

Precure/Precure Max Heart

Yes! Go Precure 5

Fresh Precure

Precure Splash Star

Heart Catch PreCure!

Slayers (All series)

Nodame Cantabile

Mitsudomoe

K-ON! S1 and S2

Fairy Tail

Kemeko DX

Lucky Star

Bleach

Vandread

Seto no Hanayome

Potemayo

Ninja Nonsense

Minami-ke

Minami-ke Okawari

Minami-ke Okeri

Kanngi

Full Metal Panic

B Gata H Kei

My list is much bigger, but this just to name a few.

[DimensionWarped]

I haven't even watched half of the shit in my collection.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I kinda gave up on anime at the moment. It's really hit a slump hard and I don't know if it'll be digging itself out of this rut anytime soon. So much of it is either fetishes like moe or giant tits, or just shows with bland story and bland characters. K-On's the big shit everyone's freaking out over in Japan right now, which speaks volumes for the rest of the industry...

The last show that really had any kind of impression on me was Bakemonogatari, and that was mostly for style. Excluding that, I haven't really dug an anime since I watched Baccano sometime post-Gurren Lagann Movie 1.

Thanks for the links though. I'll keep them saved if anything pops out at me next season.

EDIT: The new Pokemon anime started and everyone looks hideous. Also Pikachu got reset again. For some reason that always upsets me, but now I'm too focused on Ash's dilated eyes and Officer Jenny looking...awful...that I'm over it. Not that Pokemon is a shining beacon of Japanese animation, I just wanted to complain about ugly cartoons.

[Perfect Chaos Zero]

I added this to the topic above as well but, try and add a short description to what you recommend to give everyone an idea of what they're gonna be looking at or at least listing genre. Some of the ones suggested aren't my "flavor" but I can't say they're not "good" for what they are. Anime is diverse, so it's always good to let people know what they're looking at.

Also, HAH-HAH, Asuma watches magical girl anime. Lawl. (j/k)

Phoenix Gamma: Need something stylized, new and awesome? Try Katanagatari. Fuck K-On. Also I should mention Anime Crazy has high speed direct downloads for most of their stuff too!

[Asuma]

I watch for few reasons. There's little to no ecchi. Outside of magical girl anime (and American cartoons) there aren't many female lead roles.

[shadowgoten]

I haven't even watched half of the shit in my collection.

lol I'm glad I'm not the only one, my stockpile is huge >.>.

PC0 your taste in anime leads me to believe you'd LOVE sengoku basara. Basically it's dynasty warriors the anime, but extremely over the top and ridiculous the whole time.

is part of the intro, I mean... he is blazing in on a horse with motorcycle handlebars and exhausts, and is spouting the most nonsensical engrish ever. It's awesome trust me!

As for my top anime of the moment:

Gurren Laggan - one of the few animes out there that has actually been able to tug at the heart strings on a very very emotional level. What's it about? Robots with drills beating the shit out of each other, and they keep getting more and more ridiculous. Ok there's more to it, the characters are amazing, this is one of the few shows that gets me psyched about what's about to ensue, and I've watched it fully twice already. I feel it's time to watch it a 3rd time .

Sengoku basara - See above, 2nd season is airing right now in japan.

Fairy Tale - It's got an art style similar to one piece, though the show revolves around mages and the guilds they run. It's actually nuts, I've only watched a couple of eps, but liked what I saw so far.

Hajime no Ippo (1st and 2nd season ) - An anime about boxing, the fights hit a good balance between realistic and crazy anime. The main character is a bit of a dolt, but he is quite the badass when it comes to boxing.

and even though it's on cartoon network, I really think everyone needs to check out full metal alchemist brotherhood, it strays from the original anime pretty hardcore, and sticks more to the manga plotlines. This version actually manages to get you interested in the characters in ways the first show just couldn't achieve.

When it comes to anime, I enjoy shows that deal with good overcoming evil in extremely gloriously badass ways that get the watcher super pumped. Though I get tired of filler that gets strewn about the longer running anime like naruto and bleach (ew bleach filler...) so I stick with the manga on those.

I've actually watched about 5 eps of gaogaigar, and I loved it. I just need to pick out a day to blast through the show as much as possible. I also want to check out high school of the dead, I hear it's a good watch.

[Cyber Rat]

I haven't even watched half of the shit in my collection.

Don't remind me, I'm so backlogged with stuff, the only exception I made with not downloading new series was Sengoku Basara 2.

As for recommendations:

Texhnolyze - gritty depressing cyberpunk with 10 lines of dialogue in the first episode. If you think you can stomach it, go for it, it's amazing.

Princess Tutu - extremely well written "magical girl" series without any fetish bullscrap. Also, ninjas with guitars.

Sengoku Basara 1 - it's like the God Hand of anime. So fucking amazing. Goes to 11 and beyond. TTGL ain't got shit on it. (EDIT: just saw that SG mentioned it.)

[Strife]

I watch for few reasons. There's little to no ecchi. Outside of magical girl anime (and American cartoons) there aren't many female lead roles.

That's always bothered me to some extent too. xD Nothing says that a female has to be a magical girl in order to lead, so I'm surprised we don't see more of it. The U.S. is doing it right with stuff like Kim Possible and the latest Avatar series.

[shadowgoten]

Fate/stay is pretty fucking cool, I saw that last year and was very pleased with it

I've seen a few "magical girl" anime that tried to keep things as close to non fanservice as possible. The first one is the magical lyrical nanoha series (which is just crazy) and the other one is Mai-Hime, both of which are excellent to watch. Hime can be very vague at times, but I think that's just how magical girl shows roll.

[tentril]

I don't know if its just me, but I found Sengoku Basara to be really boring. There didn't really seem to be a point and the action wasn't as amazing as everyone made it sound.

[Cyber Rat]

I'm gone for a few weeks and tentril loses his coolness? ;_; I'm sorry, tentril, I never should have left

@SG: If you can watch stuff from the magical girl genre, you should give Tutu a shot. It has a silly premise but I'll be damned if it doesn't subvert every single trope by the end of the series.

[wesker]

Recommendation: Check out Basquash

[Rawr]

Recommendation: Check out Basquash

Oh yeah, I made it quite a few episodes in and never finished it haha. Thanks for reminding me to pick that up again. I kind of got sidetracked.

[tentril]

I'm gone for a few weeks and tentril loses his coolness? ;_; I'm sorry, tentril, I never should have left

I'm sorry man. I tried to like it. Everyone on here was talking about how awesome it was, but it just didn't have the awesome feeling I got from TTGL.

[Smidge204]

Fate/stay is pretty fucking cool, I saw that last year and was very pleased with it

I've seen a few "magical girl" anime that tried to keep things as close to non fanservice as possible. The first one is the magical lyrical nanoha series (which is just crazy) and the other one is Mai-Hime, both of which are excellent to watch. Hime can be very vague at times, but I think that's just how magical girl shows roll.

I'd recommend "Kamichu!" if you haven't seen it already. It's a complete subversion of the "Magical Girl" genre, has a unique art style and has a nice easy-going pace.

For everyone else, give The Tatami Galaxy a try - assuming you can keep up with it. LOTS of dialog and even though it's not particularly action-oriented it's very fast paced with lots of jokes and easter eggs you'll miss on the first time through.

=Smidge=

[sonicyoda]

Neon Genesis Evangelion just does it for me. As series go, I don't think it'll be topped. The new 4 film re-imagining is turning out rather tasty as well. The 1st 2 are already out (waiting on a DVD release in the UK for the 2nd one) and while the first film played out almost exactly the same as the series, the 2nd takes it in a completely different direction and was amazing to watch in the cinema. Easily my favourite film in ages.

Speaking of films, I'm usually more of an anime film buff than a series fan. Akira is my favourite film of all time. Took me ages to actually 'get it' but when it sunk in I was in heaven. Every time I watch it I get something else out of it.

If you haven't seen Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell Innocence then I recommend them as well. As sci-fi goes, these are probably 2 of the most thoughtful and downright beautiful films ever made.

I'm also currently working my way through the original Fullmetal Alchemist series and my word is that good. Can't wait to finish it.

[shadowgoten]

I'm also currently working my way through the original Fullmetal Alchemist series and my word is that good. Can't wait to finish it.

Well if you like the original the new one is probably going to make you even happier.

As for all the recommendations, thanks guys I'll be tearing into this list of anime now.