Anime Recommendations

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Amaranthe

Guest
Original poster
Just throw whatever you recommend at me! Also, let me know if the anime is on Netflix! That's where I usually watch them. I miss the old days of watching anime and want to start again. I do have preferences but for this, I'm giving everyone the right to state whatever their favorite and/or recommended anime is! I'd love a small brief summary of the anime and/or main genres as well.
 
I think there are a few threads with this exact title if you punched it into the search bar.

Keeps people from having to repeat themselves since this seems a common topic.
 
Anime recommendations without any genre limits or list of things you've already seen, eh? Alright. Odds are decent you've already watched some of these, because I'm gonna be suggesting mostly popular great ones instead of niche stuff. Also, I'll give the common English titles instead of the ridiculous long ones some of them have, because ease of access.

Monster - Mystery/Drama. A highly skilled surgeon makes a choice to defy orders and operates to save the life of an unimportant young boy instead of a rich guy, then the kid ends up being a monster. He has to deal with the moral conundrum of knowing that he's technically responsible for everything the guy does, because if not for his choice then none of the bad things would have happened. Lots of psychological shenanigans ensue.

Gurren Lagann - Action/Comedy. Humans have been forced to live underground because of plot reasons. A kid finds a strange robot while digging, then a giant robot busts through the ceiling of the cave colony he lives in, and a girl follows it and helps them fight it. The kid and his awesome bro help with the fight, then they go to the surface and start fighting against the oppressive forces that drove humans underground. Shit gets real crazy. It's on Netflix.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Action/Adventure/Drama. Alchemy (transforming one object into something else) exists, and the main character is an alchemist. He does something stupid with alchemy and ends up losing an arm and a leg, nearly kills his brother by destroying his body, and ends up having to stick the brother's soul into a suit of armor. They go on a quest to find a way to restore their bodies by acquiring the fabled Philosopher's Stone, and they get caught up in all sorts of problems and dangerous secrets along the way. It isn't on Netflix, but the first anime series made based on the manga (just called Fullmetal Alchemist) is on there; they start off rather similarly, but after the first couple minor story arcs they diverge dramatically and end up in extremely different places. I happen to prefer Brotherhood, but plain old Fullmetal Alchemist is also great.

Death Note - Mystery/Thriller. A guy gets a Death Note: a notebook that has the power to kill anyone if you write their name in it while picturing their face. He goes a little bit crazy in using it to change the world as he sees fit and ends up having to contend with the police and a skilled investigator who is actually a match for his rather skilled scheming mind. It's on Netflix.

Madoka Magica - Drama/Thriller. It looks like a cute anime for little girls, but no, no it's not. It's got all sorts of fucked up shit going on in it, with a lot of psychological and philosophical themes woven into it. It's honestly less of a little girl anime than most of the other things on this list, despite the looks. It's on Netflix.

Kill la Kill - Action/Comedy. First off, if you're not into gratuitous panty shots and similar, this is probably not the anime for you because it has tooooooons of fan service. That said, it's a ridiculous over the top fighting anime where the premise is that clothing made with a special material confers superhuman powers on the people who wear such garments. It's all about hype and having fun, not so much anything deep and intellectually stimulating (even though they try for some complex themes that don't really hit the mark). It's on Netflix.

Fate/Zero - Action. Where the above is pretty much an empty fun fighting anime, Fate/Zero has great plot and characters stuff going on as well. It's about an event called the Holy Grail War, in which seven magi each summon a legendary hero from the past to battle each other and decide who gets the Holy Grail, which will grant the wish of its bearer. Also, the animation quality is amazing; I'm usually not picky about it, but holy crap it's great and makes me sad that other anime don't look so pretty. It's on Netflix.
 
@Jorick Actually, I haven't seen any of them except for a couple episodes with Death Note! Thank you for the suggestions!

@Windsong I didn't punch the title in the search bar.
 
@Jorick Actually, I haven't seen any of them except for a couple episodes with Death Note! Thank you for the suggestions!

@Windsong I didn't punch the title in the search bar.
You should is what I was saying. This threads happened before and has so many recommendations you'll never finish them all.

I'd suggest giving it a look.