Anime is currently getting the flack that most people reserve for comics in that it’s labeled as cartoons for children. Sure, there are animes or anime influenced cartoons out there strictly geared toward children, but let me ask you this – How often have YOU caught yourself singing the Pokemon theme song? Didn’t you cry watching Avatar: The Last Airbender series finale? The characters may be drawn, but anime is a medium that has the potential to touch people in a lot of different ways. In no particular order, here are ten anime titles that are great places to start if you’re new to the genre!
DRAGON BALL Z
Goku and his son Gohan have to deal with the all the trials of life in addition to various alien enemies and Goku handles the everyday issue of becoming comfortable in one’s skin VERY well. Dragon Ball Z because it’s iconic and easily recognizable by all. It’s goofy and utterly charming throughout its 250+ episodes so start at the beginning and get lost in the adventure!
AKIRA
Set in futuristic Tokyo, an experiment (a child) escapes and becomes involved with motorcycle gang member Tetsuo who is turn captured and experimented on. It’s frightening and thrilling to watch. Akira is the only entry on my list that is a movie and not a series but I think a series would have been too much for the visual hurricane that is Akira.
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD
This series follows two brothers trying to make amends after breaking the rules of alchemy. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood really excels at painting the horrors of actions and their inevitable repercussions. Make sure you watch Brotherhood and not the original series, as Brotherhood follows more closely to the original manga.
NANA
A story of the friendship between two girls who meet by chance on a train with the same name. These women are at two different ends of the spectrum but find a way to help each other through their hardships. Nana is touching, complex, and covers a friendship in the most realistic way. Truly one of my favorites.
NARUTO
A lengthy adventure following a young ninja who is ostracized by his village for unknowingly saving it. Whilst you moan and groan, please take into account that I mean the Japanese version. As with any anime, there is dubious amounts of filler past episode 200 but some of it is enjoyable. The American voice acting can be grating at times and a lot of stuff is omitted from the story. Watch the Japanese uncut version if you have access to it.
DEATH NOTE
Death Note revolves around Ryuk, a bored shinigami (god of death or “death spirit”) who drops his notebook to Earth where an intelligent teen picks it up and begins to use it. When a name is written in this particular notebook, the person dies. This leads to a clever game of mental chess between the teen (Light) and the young detective bent on catching him (L). Great concept, a lot of thrill, definitely worth at LEAST a one time viewing.
SAILOR MOON
Usagi (or Serena, depending on which language you watch it in) is the reincarnation of the Moon Princess and therefore must triumph over evil along with her besties, the Sailor Scouts. Classic and fantasy anime at its absolutely best, Sailor Moon is good throughout the ages. My adolescence is tinged in Sailor Moon goodness so at the very least, its nostalgic value alone makes it a special anime for me. Lengthy but oh, so worth it.
TEKKAMAN BLADE
Futuristic Earth is under attack from the Radam and their Tekkaman leaders and it’s up to the Space Knights to thwart it. The arrival of a strange boy, dubbed D-Boy, who can transform into a Tekkaman puzzles them all. For many, Tekkaman Blade was their first foray into mecha anime and the tormented and mysterious story of Blade is something that sucks you in immediately.
BECK: MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD
Koyuki is a normal teenager whose life changes after saving the dog of a guitarist named Kyuusuke. After seeing Kyuusuke’s band play live, Koyuki is given a guitar and the anime follows his life as the band gets popular. Another great slice of life tale of a boy finding out who he is and experiencing love for the first time.
BIBLE BLACK
A teenage boy finds a book of magic and begins practicing the spells inside not knowing his school is the base for a coven of witches. I included this… risque anime purely because it’s ridiculous. If it’s your first foray into anime, it would be remiss to not include a hentai title for the experience alone. Seeing it once puts everything hentai in one bag so you can experience it all including a fairly decent plot. This is not for kids AT ALL (hell, I’m hesitant on saying it’s for adults at all) and it will most likely make you say “Goodness me!” and clutch your pearls. You have been warned.
What would you include in your Intro to Anime?
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Yeah, I think I only agree with Akira, but then i’m not really into Anime anymore.
which is completely fine! akira is one that i think will last throughout the ages!
Very mainstream list, some of the titles are dead giveaways but I give it a thumbs up for the Beck love
they ARE mainstream, which is why i mainly chose them. a lot of peers tend to disregard the newer anime based purely on the fact that they’re mainstream or popular or new. i’m hoping this will get some people to give them a chance.
btw, i fucking LOVE beck <3
in no particular order
10)Dragon Ball
9) Berserk
8)Record of Lodoss War
7)Vampire Hunter D
6) Ghost in the Shell
5)Akira
4)Ninja Scroll
3) Gundam Wing
2) Cowboy Bebop
1) Samuari Champloo (FOR THE WIN EVERY TIME FOREVER)
i have to watch champloo. it’s on my queue so i don’t have a valid opinion of it yet. i’ve loved vampire hunter d for forever and the only reason it didn’t make it on my list was because everyone i know and talk to HAS seen it :D
Champloo is on netflix instant… just sayin’
it sure is! it’s on my queue <3
not including samurai champloo is a mistake. if i was cursed to watch samcham on a loop and never watch another anime, it’d be a-okay with me.
lmao,i appreciate your comment XD
Confining it to a top 10 is hard, but this would probably be mine:
1. Akira
2. Neon Genesis Evangelion
3. Cowboy Bebop
4. Hellsing
5. Demon City Shinjuku
6. Samurai X
7. Vampire Hunter D
8. Golgo 13
9. Saiyuki
10. Love Hina
ah, i do love hellsing but love hina? really? that was the crappiest of all anime i’ve ever seen, INCLUDING some really shitty hentai!! but to each their own, i won’t judge ya ;)
It’s hilarious. That’s why I liked it.
if you ever get a chance, read the manga. it’s compleeeeetely different from the anime but pretty decent.
Totally disagree that Akira should not have been made a series. It has an amazing and in-depth source manga to draw on. I would love to have seen an Akira animated series, but the only person who could have done it justice (Satoshi Kon) is dead.
You started your article stating that a lot of people think anime is just for kids, and then listed a bunch of anime that mostly is targeted towards adolecents and children. Not sure what you were trying to say with this list.
My top 10 anime everyone should see:
1. Akira – for classic amazingness, animation, sci fi and good characters
2. Millenium Actress – for gorgeous animation, creative concept and for making me cry
3. Mermaid Scar (90s version) – for being an unknown gem of violence and melodrama from Rumiko Takahashi
4. Project A-ko – for being weirder, wackier, and funnier than all the Ourans and and Hetalias ever and for exposing every anime cliche ever on purpose
5. Berserk – for being a kickass anime for grownups, and having some decent action, and a really hilarious bunch of outakes from the English dub. (YouTube ’em)
6. Battle Angel Alita – a manga that I put next to Berserk for being cool and touching at the same time. . Battle Angel the anime is a 2shot OAV but I think it is a good introduction to the manga series.
7. Princess Jellyfish – Funny modern anime about socially awkward nerd ladies living in an apartment complex together. I highly reccomend it.
8. Spirited Away – Miyazaki. Amazing. Period.
10. The first season of Ranma 1/2 (the only season with decent animation) – classic and funny weirdness.
honestly I had a hard time thinking of any anime serieses that I would reccomend to “everyone”. Long series take way more patience than a lot of people have, myself included. Too many times has a fellow anime nerd told me to “give it a chance, it gets good 15 episodes in!” Yeahhh no.
Haha anyway, sorry I went off there. Thanks or writing an article that made me think. I may give FML: Brotherhood a try. The first series was way too silly for me.
i wasn’t trying to base any of these anime by their manga counterparts because, again, that would be an entirely different list. if i went by the manga, of course akira would need to be a series!
and true, i did state anime is written off as for children and i might have needed to elaborate more. let’s take naruto as an example. i came across it at age 15 and disregarded it until i was around 19. it certainly starts off as a child’s story and the american anime definitely gives that impression. as the story stands, in no way is naruto a children’s cartoon. my only point is, something like anime that was written off as a child’s interest is incorrect since the themes and story vary in depth and those truly touching stories can only touch an adult. i mainly watched these series in their uncut japanese form and a lot of times, language, sexual undertone, etc are not meant for children. that’s all!
i would have definitely included miyazaki films in this list instead of bible black but i did was this list to be eclectic and by including them, it truly would have been more of a favorites list.
berserk was excellent but i much prefer the manga :3
Thought Bible Black was Hentai!!! No Samurai Shamploo? Tenga toppa guren laggen?? Hunter X Hunter?? Yakatate Japan?? :( Decent list though
bible black is indeed hentai! i stated that, didn’t it, lol? guren laggen is a recent watch for me, hunter x hunter is SO MUCH BETTER when it’s in manga form and i have not seen yakatate japan.
I think a lot of people aren’t happy, because their favorite anime isn’t necessarily a “must-see”, but I support the list for the most part. I’m as big a fan of Samurai Champloo (mostly due to animation and music) and TTGL (mostly because Kamina kicks so much ass that his foot stinks) as anyone, but must-see? Let’s be real here. I might agree if there were a top 12 list.
One thing that I could probably go on a rant about (but won’t) is: I’m not really a big fan of Akira. The animation is amazing, but the story, as far as an anime-along perspective goes, was not to my liking. I will agree that’s it’s so iconic that everyone who claims to be an anime-lover should probably at least check it out at some point for reference purposes at the very least, but if you’re anything like me, and I know I am, it’ll leave you scratching your head as to why it has so much critical praise.
Anyway, as far as essential animes to see to actually consider yourself an anime viewer go, I definitely have to say that I agree. Mainstream is a good thing here. As far as personal recommendations go, Death Note in particular is my favorite anime of all time. I have never seen a story, realistic-or-not, that had such an amazing back-and-forth dynamic like that between Kira and L.
very true. again, these are not my list of my personal favorites. that list would be MUCH MUCH different and much longer. this was a list meant to suggest a varied list of titles that would hopefully to appeal to everyone. judging purely from these comments, one of these titles appealed to each person. that’s all i hoped to do with this list. that said, i agree with what you said about akira. i think akira is all around good but all around overrated. i definitely had to rewatch it a couple of times, was definitely frightened a couple of times, and even now, it’s definitely not the first anime that pops into my head when i want to watch something fantastic (that goes to vampire hunter d).
i thoroughly enjoyed deathnote even though the bajillions of cosplayers (L mostly) have since killed it for me. it was definitely one that made you think and sit back and appreciate the interaction between L and light.
10. G-Gundam
9. One Piece
8. Welcome to the NHK
7. Dragon Ball Z
6. Tsubasa
5. xxxHolic
4. Dragon Ball
3. Baccano!
2. Claymore
1. Nodame Cantabile
I lied. Changes
6. Tenchi Universe
5. Cross Game
omgggg, welcome to the nhk was so sad to me. i haven’t finished claymore though cause i’m all caught in souleater right now. can’t stand one piece tho, for reals.
Welcome to the NHK is amazing
I’m not even sure why I put One Piece there. I don’t hate it, especially the new dub which actually does a good job of portraying it, however…it’s not really worthy of being on the list. I’d replace it with…!!!!!! I forgot one! Everything gets bumped up one except Nodame. THE GET BACKERS!!!! TOTALLY NUMBER 2.
couldn’t get into get backers :/
1. Bleach
2. Fariy Tale
3. DeathNote
4. Familiar of Zero
5. One Pice
6. Naruto
7. Soul Eater
8.Phantom
9.High school of the Dead
10. Rosario + Vampire
i’m smack dab in the middle of soul eater and i’m very much enjoying it! rosario+vampire, fairy tale, and bleach are on my list. (i’ve read a LOT of bleach but it got kind of stale which is why it’s taken so long to watch)