Anime Recommendations Thread

[S.M.O.G.]

Thanks, I'll be sure to check that out. Is it normal for me to look for anime based on the soundtrack? (Well, I guess it is for me, but is it normal in general?)

[CrimsonRyu17]

Is it normal for me to look for anime based on the soundtrack? (Well, I guess it is for me, but is it normal in general?)

It's usually a good idea to watch something that's pleasant to you while listening to something that's pleasant to you. Ensuring that the music is music-to-your-ears before watching it... well, is a good idea and a lot quicker. Normal? Iunno.

[S.M.O.G.]

And I just like soundtracks. Actually, I think God is calling me to become a video game composer, So it would be nice to know what a good soundtrack sounds like. :p

[EricTheFred]

Some of Yuki Kajiura's best work are in the .hack//Sign and .hack//Liminality soundtracks, and in the series Noir. I think these may have been while she was still a member of See-Saw, but they are mostly her work.

[steenajack]

Can anyone recomend me an anime that I can watch with my family? We really love Hikaru no Go and most of the Miyazaki films (except Princess Mononoke due to violence), and as far as content goes anything along the same lines as the ones I've just mentioned. I really want to test out a comedy/slice of life type thing, and any help would be great.

anime we've seen/enjoyed (no particular order):
Howl's moving Castle
Castle in the Sky
Kiki's Delivery Service
Spirited Away
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
The Cat Returns
Whispers of the Heart
Porco Rosso
My Neighbor Totoro
Hikaru no Go
Haibane Renmai
Millenium Actress-I liked this but my family might not like it so much
Avatar: The last Airbender

Here's a list of titles we did not like:
Grave of the Fireflies-this one was pointlessly sad
My Neighbors the Yamadas-it was a bit too boring and the humor was very...dry
Pom Poko- kinda depressing...and weird
Princess Mononoke- wwwwaaaaayyy too violent for us...at least for my yonger siblings. I didn't want to take a chance with it since I knew it was so violent.
A Promised Place Beyond the Clouds-We didn't understand this one so well
Piano:Melody of a young girl's heart- The dub wasn't so great and it was boring for my family

Here are some anime I would like to test out, but am wondering if it would be appropriate for my family:
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Someday's Dreamers
A Little Snow Fairy Sugar
Figure 17
Sakura Wars
Dragonball Z
Blue Dragon
Tales of Earthsea

That's all I can think of at the moment.
Content Guidlines:
No Sexual content such as fanservice, perverted humor, love scenes, or homosexuality. If any at all keep it at MINOR innuendos. But nothing to do with yaio or yuri at all.
Nudity-Minor if any, but none of the sexual sort (ex:Haibane Renmai)
Language: Mild. Nothing above the d or h or a words. We can handle the Spider-man movies and the tv show "Monk" wich has the occasional "bi" word in it, but even that is kinda pushing it.
Violence: As I've said before, we can't handle princess mononoke, but we can watch Nausicaa of the valley of the wind without feeling "squeemish". Myself and my parents could handle a more, but I personally don't like seeing animated blood painted on the wall....or anthing overly bloody. We all could handle Lord of the Rings...mabey with the exception of fast-forwarding a scene or two.
Bad Religion: Nothing occultic or conflicting heavily with the christian faith, but we can handle Avatar: The last Airbender, Haibane Renmai and whatever titles I've listed in the seen/enjoyed section above.
I know these are strict guidlines, but still any help would be great and I'd really appreciate it.

[Tancos]

Sugar, a Tiny Snow Fairy — nothing problematic, and highly recommended. The "Bear Pianist" arc is essential viewing for anyone with musical talent.

Someday's Dreamers — There's a subtle hint in one episode that one of the characters is gay, but otherwise there's nothing objectionable. It's another favorite of mine.

Ponyo — Miyazaki's political and ecological attitudes partly spoiled the movie for me, but there's nothing to scandalize youngsters and what's good is very good. It's worth a family trip to the theater.

I couldn't get past the first episode of Sakura Wars, though I gather it gets better. The others in your list I haven't seen.

A few others to consider:

Angelic Layer — the one CLAMP-based anime I can unreserevedly recommend
Mao-chan — very silly; best taken in small doses to avoid cute overload
Moribito — an excellent adventure show, outstanding in every respect
Shingu — complicated, sometimes dramatic, sometimes very funny science fiction
Denno Coil — imagine cyberpunk as Miyazaki would do it. The best show since Haibane Renmei. It's still unlicensed, which is a scandal.

[steenajack]

Thank You very MUCH Tancos! I'll be sure to check these out. (*frantically searches house for pen and paper*)

[caramellmusic]

I like comedy and fantasy animes with little or no explicit content.... here's some I've watched and loved:
Chi's Sweet Home
Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar
Azumanga Daioh
Lucky Star
Full Moon wo Sagashite
Bottle Fairy
...and a few more.... are there any others in that genre?

[blkmage]

Chi's Sweet Home
Azumanga Daioh
Lucky Star

Hidamari Sketch: four girls in art school, features wideface and SHAFT-style
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!: five girls try to revive their school festival, set in the future, by ufotable, features inspiring MASSUGU GO.
Aria: a bunch of girls are gondoliers-in-training on Mars, which has been terraformed to be like Venice, learn to appreciate life, one of the best shows ever
Minami-ke: a family of three girls and their daily lives, excellent comedy
K-ON!: four girls try and form a band club, arguably the most popular show of the Spring 09 season, by Kyoto Animation
Sketchbook ~full color'S~: a bunch of classmates in art club, very slow-paced and relaxing
GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class: a bunch of girls in a special class for arts, the anti-Sketchbook, high-speed 4-koma pacing

[Maokun]

Although I like Dragonball Z, I cannot recommend it to you in good conscience due the amount of violence, which is actually one of the hooks of this kind of series. Sakura Wars can get quite a bit violent at times too.

Besides that I can reccomend you these:

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: What would you do if you were given a Ctrl+Z for real life? You can find it in this beautifully animated light sci-fi movie that stresses values such as taking responsability for your acts and consider others' feelings before your own.

One Piece: This is a shounen anime in the vein of Dragonball, if you want to spice up you anime viewing with some action, but is much more wholesome than DB and though there's lots of violence (once again, the hook of an action series) it is quite less in-your-face and less bloodier than it. A young boy takes to the seas dreaming to become the pirate king. His courage and ability to make loyal friends even from old enemies and lone wolfs will help him in his way.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tirelessly energetic and opinionated highschooler Haruhi Suzumiya, gains control over the whole reality without being aware of it. Her friends must try to control the damage that her whims and moods unwitedly could cause to reality while trying to keep pace with her endless thirst for adventures as she blasts her way through what she believes a well-lived adolescence should be.

[MasterDias]

Haruhi Suzumiya has way too much innuendo to recommend. I have some reservations about recommending One Piece as it might be too bloody, although there isn't any actual gore.
I can't speak for Sakura Wars.

I would throw out Scrapped Princess and Last Exile as possible recommendations if you want to try them out, but they do have blood and violence at points, and might be rather intense in places.
I suppose you could try Case Closed if you think your family might like a mystery series, but again, it does have its violent bits.

[steenajack]

WoW Thank You guys for all the recomendations.

[Sheol777]

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: What would you do if you were given a Ctrl+Z for real life? You can find it in this beautifully animated light sci-fi movie that stresstes values such as taking responsability for your acts and consider other's feelings before your own ones.

I second this. It is exactly what you are looking for.

[Maokun]

Haruhi Suzumiya has way too much innuendo to recommend. I have some reservations about recommending One Piece as it might be too bloody, although there isn't any actual gore.
I can't speak for Sakura Wars.

Have I been calloused by anime? I find the innuendo and fanservice in TMoHS totally negligible for the norm of most other series. I cannot recall even a single scene that sticks as potentially offensive.

[MasterDias]

Have I been calloused by anime? I find the innuendo and fanservice in TMoHS totally negligible for the norm of most other series. I cannot recall even a single scene that sticks as potentially offensive.

Haruhi randomly groping Mikuru? Or Haruhi's way of blackmailing the computer club? Admittedly, I have yet to actually watch the rest of the series past the first few episodes, but that's not really what I would consider general family viewing. At least not to anyone who is expecting around Miyazaki levels of content. It earns it's PG-13 rating, I think.

[Radical Dreamer]

Have I been calloused by anime? I find the innuendo and fanservice in TMoHS totally negligible for the norm of most other series. I cannot recall even a single scene that sticks as potentially offensive.

Yeah, while the fanservice is comparatively not that bad, I still wouldn't show it to a family that's used to things like Miyazaki that have practically no innuendo at all. I think any scene where Haruhi is trying to undress Mikuru or the computer lab scene in general might be a bit much for a family with younger children to watch.

[impact777]

Hey guys!
Does anybody know the anime "E's Otherwise"? I've found nothing here on caa about this one. Would you recommend it? Thanks a lot!

[steenajack]

I've never seen or heard of the anime, but if you go to the sight Anime News Network (just type that into google if you want to look it up) you can type in any anime you want and they'll give you info about it. They rate it for both content and quality and even have reviews. But as for the series itself, I can't give any comments on it. It got 121 votes as a "good" anime, but that's basically all I can say. I wish I could offer more help.

[Tsukuyomi]

Ooh, this sounds pretty good ^^ I just looked it up and I may check it out myself ^^

E's Otherwise ^^

[steenajack]

I've got a question. On here, someone recommended to me Moribito, and I'm just wondering if there is ANY content that I would be concerned about. I heard it used to come on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim." Is there a reason for that? (recap: we can't handle excessive bloody/gory violence)

[Yamamaya]

Adult swim shows animes that aren't targeted to a child audience. Most of their animes are targeted towards teens and older.

I can't tell you about that series since I have never watched it.

[MasterDias]

That's not completely correct.
Moribito is, in fact, based on the first novel in a children's fantasy series, albeit one that has quite a number of fans outside that demographic.
I watched the first four episodes or so. It had fighting, and while people do get injured, I don't remember it being very bloody at all. However, someone who's seen the whole series can chime in with a better opinion.

[uc pseudonym]

I've got a question. On here, someone recommended to me Moribito, and I'm just wondering if there is ANY content that I would be concerned about. I heard it used to come on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim." Is there a reason for that? (recap: we can't handle excessive bloody/gory violence)

There is a small amount of blood during the fighting, but most of the episodes are quiet character development ones. No real drug content, no offensive sexual content, a growing degree mysticism of the usual variety. If I recall correctly, it's essentially family friendly.

[steenajack]

SWEET! Thank you guys so much for the help. I'll be sure to check this out.

[AngelicTotoro]

I have a small question.
Is Moribito spiritually offensive in anyway? I'm considering watching it,
but my parents wouldn't want me watching anything with a bunch of spirit world visits and things like that.
(And to be honest, neither do I. ^^;)

[That Dude]

I've only seen the first ten episodes of Moribito so I can't tell you for sure, but so far the spirituality is at about the same level as a Miyazaki movie. Prevalent but not offensive.

[Dr.Faust]

trying to get my 5 and 3 year old cusens in to anime what do you sdujest

[AngelicTotoro]

TD: Thanks for the your imput, which Miyazaki film would you compare it to with the spiritual stuff?

Dr.Faust:

I made a small list that I'll post for you. (This is just from my point of view btw, plus I'm pretty careful about what I let younger kids watch.)
Are either of them girls? A few of these might appeal more if they are.

Most of these are available on DVD, but you can watch them online pretty easily too.

My Neighbor Totoro
Kaitou Saint Tail
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Hamtaro
Sonic X
Princess Tutu.

Edit:
You should watch most of them subbed, but MCOG, MNT, SX, and Hamtaro are all pretty good dubbed. (BUT, if you find Sonic X subbed, then by all means, have them watch it that way.)

[DignifiedSoul]

Well I just recently started watching anime a few months ago.
I watched:Chance Pop Session,Best Student Council,Fruits Basket
I'm Currently Watching:Shugo Chara,Hayate no Gotoku!,Pita Ten
I Plan To Watch:Kodocha,Vampire Knight,Azumanga Daioh,Ouran High School Host Club,Daa Daa Daa,and Rozen Maiden
I only want to watch clean,appropriate,and decent anime...although I know unfortunately there would be cursing in most.But I literally don't want any perverted anime.Yes I know Shugo Chara has some perverted stuff but at least it doesn't go too far.So can you please recommend what I'm looking for?I'd be really thankful. :3

[Maokun]

Hmmm, judging by your list and your requeriments I'd recommend you:

Ashita no Nadja: An orphaned girl joins a traveling circus after the orphanage she was living in was burned down. She makes many friends, has many adventures, falls in love and slowly learns the truth about her origin. Absolutely wholesome.

Card Captor Sakura: Sakura Kinomoto accidentally frees several magic beings from the cards where a powerful wizard created them and now she must hunt them and catch them again with the help of her firends.

And probably you'd want to scratch Azumanga from your list. It is really funny but it has lots of innuendo (though probably just on par with Shugo Chara, I haven't completely seen that one)