More recommendations!

[telophase]

This time for anime! puppleball asks me:

I have a friend who wants some anime recommendations to watch. All he's told
me is:
He loves Naruto for the characters and story and wants to watch more anime
with characters and stories he can get into.

Aside from anime we chatted a bit on live action, which he's seen a bit of,
mentioning specifically versus for the fight scenes (versus is yakuza vs.
werewolves) that mimicked streetfighter action more than the US movie did.
Jap Horror was mentioned, he likes that too.

Woodchuck recommended Cowboy Beebop as a starting point, but I wanted to
give him more options. WC mentioned something else, but I'm drawing a blank.

Any recommendations for him?

I do not know if he wants only US releases or if he's OK with downloaded fansubs, so recommend both but make a note of what's available for rent and what isn't.

Comments

[homasse.livejournal.com]

It's rather on the serious side, but how about "Monster"? The plot is complex like whoa and the story is great. So far, Monster is a fansub, but the manga is being translated and I'm sure it'll be offical release soon.

There's also the standard Gundams, since all guys seem to like those. If he likes fighting anime, the original "Fist of the North Star" might be good--seriously, all my guy friends into anime in America loved it, and most of the guys I know over here get that same fanboy glee if you mention it.

"The Vision of Escalaflowne" also is a perinneal favorite. It's got something for everyone.

Oh! And how could I forget "Trigun"?

[llamameeljueves.livejournal.com]

Monster has been already released by VIZ :D I already have the first two books. One of my favorite Mangas ever.

[chibi-nasu.livejournal.com]

If he liked Naruto, he should like Hunter x Hunter.

[forvrin.livejournal.com]

My wife is like seriously hardcore for that anime. Even my brother in law got into it. I'm still on the periphery, and leery of delving further in.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Hm. Assuming he is mostly looking for action/drama series that aren't too shoujo and are easy to get into:

Fullmetal Alchemist, natch. Bleach might appeal to him a lot, but as far as I know it's not yet available and would have to be downloaded.

What else? We're currently watching Gunslinger Girl, and it's pretty easy to get into and entertaining. Read or Die the series was fun. Slayers is great if you don't mind a little campy cheesiness. All three can be rented.

And who wouldn't like Samurai Champloo?

[nazmo.livejournal.com]

I'll second Bleach. Lots of characters, lots of individual stories to be told, not unlike Naruto in that respect.

I believed it would be one of my all-time favorites until the recent filler arc.

[cicer.livejournal.com]

Mmm....pretty much the ones everyone else said. The Vision of Escaflowne is a truly awesome series. It starts off a bit shoujo-ish though, so you have to stick with it until you hit the middle bits when it really starts getting good. Samurai Champloo is fantastic, and he might also like Bleach. Then of course there's all the 'obvious', like the Gundam series (Gundam Wing is a personal favorite of mine for the mix of good characters, cool mech fighting, and politics) and Dragonball Z, which people seem to either love or hate, but is such a popular series he ought to give it a try just to see what he thinks. Aaaand...I can't really think of anything more at the moment. Definitely he should see Cowboy Bebop, though. So good.

[tirwen.livejournal.com]

Gundam Wing seems to fall into the love or hate camp, too... I think maybe it's a Cartoon Network thing or something (yes, I love it)

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I second FMA, Monster, and Trigun. ^^ Bearing in mind that I haven't actually seen Naruto and therefore can't really come up with similar titles, the shows I usually recommend to people are Utena, Excel Saga for insanity, Haibane Renmei, SaiKano for a good melancholy story (although watching a lot of it at once may be hazardous to one's emotional health), Evangelion, and Kino's Journey. AFAIK those are all available domestically.

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

"Samurai 7" is a retelling of Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" in episodic format and set in an anime future (i.e., swords and giant robots). I've watched the first three disks so far, and have bought the others. I recommend it.

I also recommend "Samurai Champloo." He might find "Hellsing" to his liking, if he likes horror. I would recommend "Read or Die," but he probably should watch the three-part OAV first, to see if it's to his liking. If so, then he should check out the "R.O.D. TV" series.

[the_rck]

If he likes Naruto, he might like Rurouni Kenshin, even with the silly filler episodes. InuYasha's another good one for action and characterization.

[tirwen.livejournal.com]

GetBackers, Last Exile, Chrono Crusade... fairly good characters, some fighting. Oh! Macross Plus (just 4 OAVS/ 2 DVDs). Monster is another good character driven anime (fan-subs only)

[llamameeljueves.livejournal.com]

Rurouni Kenshin without a doubt!!! Also Samurai Champloo.

and...heck why not: Fruits Basket! Who does not like Fruits Basket???

[marith.livejournal.com]

I actually have a friend who does not care for Fruits Basket.

The pod-person tests came out negative, but that was the first thing we thought of.

[tirwen.livejournal.com]

Fruits Basket is awesome! I didn't recommend it because I thought it might be too shoujo, although my husband loves it too ;)

[akemi-art.livejournal.com]

Tenjou Tenge has the same depth of character and story as Naruto. He should watch that too if he likes Naruto.

[joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com]

Oh. I definetly second this one. TenTen is a fighting manga with characters that have rich and complex backstories.

It does totally fall into the gratutious T&A category though as almost all female characters end up naked at some point in time.

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Gungrave (though if he watches it, make sure to tell him that if he had weird feelings over the 1st eps, KEEP WATCHING. It starts off much better in eps.2), Full Metal Panic!, Black Lagoon (ongoing series right now).

[yankeerose69.livejournal.com]

Oooh and I forgot GUNxSWORD. The first disc just came out on dvd by Geneon but I have the fansubs since I'm sure they are harder to find now in its COMPLETE form. Not many groups picked this one up and Shinsen quit subbing it I think after #16 or so.

I 2nd the vote on One Piece, sub of course.

[joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com]

... Wow... okay, I'm surprised no one has said this before.

One Piece.

The American Dub really doesn't do the show justice but it's a lot like Naruto but with drama instead of the teenage wangst, so to speak. It's about pirates, has awesome fight sequences, cool and intriguing villians, moments of hilarity and just all around rocks.

I'd definetly second and third and fourth the vote for Bleach as it has the heavy action but heavy on plot and character interactions as well.

And really, anything published by Shonen Jump he'd probably enjoy enough to watch once or twice.

Anime Recommendations

[amberley.livejournal.com]

Versus is Yakuza vs. Zombies, and very cool. For live-action films I'd recommend Aragami by the same director, and probably Azumi although I haven't seen that yet myself.

Here's my list of Anime with characters and story, available in the US on DVD, that I'd recommend trying to a fan of Naruto:

Fullmetal Alchemist (10 discs out now, all 13 plus movie will be out by the end of September).
Twelve Kingdoms
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
RahXephon (which I think of as Evangelion done right)
R.o.D. OAV (and if he likes that, the TV series too)
Samurai Champloo
Rurouni Kenshin
Crest of the Stars (and its sequels, Banner of the Stars and BotS II)
Fruits Basket
Azumanga Daioh
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (5 discs out so far)
Haibene Renmei
Kino's Journey

And the usual suspects: Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

If it's the fights and strange ninja powers he likes, I'd add Ninja Scroll (both the movie and series), Shura no Toki, and the upcoming Basilisk series.

Gundam in its 101 flavors is a mystery to me -- I don't understand the appeal but those who like it seem to like it a lot, so he may want to check into it.

I'd put Bleach at the top of the list except it's in that sad fansub limbo between the announcement of a license and actually starting to come out on DVD. No doubt it still lurks in corners of the Internet. Likewise Blood+.

I've only seen 8 of the 74 fansubbed episodes of Monster but would add that to the recommended list on the strength of those and the 3 volumes of manga that are out. Then again, by the time he finishes watching all the good stuff available on DVD, it may be out on DVD too.

[obviouslyanon.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head: Bleach, Rurouni Kenshin and Fullmetal Alchemist. But I don't know that many live action series.

[m00nface.livejournal.com]

Planetes (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2654), Planetes (http://www.planet-es.net/TECHNORA/index_archive.html), Planetes (http://planetes.bandai-ent.com/). Though the links should give you a fair idea of how it is (with the exception of the trailer, which doesn't do it justice), I can't recommend this show highly enough. Character-driven, high-quality story set in space of the near future. Neither utopian nor dystopian, no tope in sight, just stories and characters that are grounded enough (i.e. romance is believable and non-sappy, angst is minimal and realistically justified) that you become more absorbed than certainly I expected for a sci-fi series. I find this show entertaining and intriguing on every level, and my boyfriend, the aerospace geek, loves the sheer accuracy and plausibility of it all.

My one reservation is if your recommendee wants something with primarily fight scenes, as Planetes is an action series of a different kind. If he wants the great characters, story and tension that Naruto offers, it's there in spades, but the action is primarily non-combat until later on in the series. Still, even if you don't recommend it, I hope that you, and anyone else reading this who loves animation, will give it a try. I was engaged from episode one.

[janneia.livejournal.com]

How about Ranma 1/2?

Very silly in some places but never dull, it's always interesting. And lots and lots of martial arts, with magic and love... squares? (polygons?) Plenty of rivalries abound and real estate prices dropping as a result...

Although I'm not sure how deep the anime delves into characterisations...

---

And how about Bubblegum Crisis/Crash, Tokyo 2032/3/40: KnightSabers (variation in names due to one being OVAs and the other the original but somewhat a retelling)? I find the characters intriguing and there's lots of action and machine/mech things! (Boomers). Humans vs Boomers... And then there's the whole darker side to it than what the government makes it out to be (coverups) and everything. And then there's all the philosophical questions towards the middle/end.

Sorry for my cr*ppy descriptions ^^;

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Fullmetal Alchemist and most importantly Samurai X/Ruroni Kenshin.