Hello anime lovers!

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Hello, sir hedgehog, and welcome to the forums. Looking at your first post, and your age, you seem to be interested in the more maturely-written stories in anime, just as I am. I live in the US, and I am even farther towards the older end of anime viewing; I'll be 60 this year, and a die-hard anime fan for only the last 10 years, my two daughters getting me into anime when they were in their early/mid teens. Now I don't even watch live action movies anymore, I find Japanese anime to be far more engaging than most of the crap Hollywood puts out anymore.

I like a good, serious action/drama anime, and dark or psychological is a plus. So if you haven't yet seen any of these, I would definitely recommend them, some of my favorites - Psycho Pass, Ajin, Noir, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Jormungand, Black Lagoon, Appleseed, Darker than Black, Gunslinger Girl, Ergo Proxy, Rahxephon, Monster, Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Death Parade, Eden of the East, Blood+, FMA: Brotherhood, Flag, From the New World, Now and Then Here and There, and Gargantia on the Verduous Planet. That's enough for now, those should keep you busy for a while, lol. Keep having fun with your anime hobby!

Thank you kindly dear sir and a very happy birthday in advance (not much of the year left now so I'm guessing it's soon)! Very good to hear from you and I'm liking your list a lot: have seen a few and loved them, most of the others already on my watchlist (which only ever seems to expand these days regardless of how much I watch!), and now a few more to add to it! I have watched an inordinate amount of TV shows & film and am generally a fan of the better ones (as an example just to name a couple of recent favourites: arrival & a monster calls) but like you, these days I mainly watch anime as everything else seems mostly hackneyed & unimaginative. You're lucky with the availability of anime in the US though some seem extortionately priced! Fortunately the UK is not doing too badly overall.

I went a bit anime crazy since the last year or two, though have always been a fan over the years. As I mentioned, my main fix of the inimitable Japanese imagination and empathy laden storytelling throughout my life, were video games especially RPGs. Busy life means it's a lot harder to play those games now, and probably why I rediscovered anime in their succinct & bite sized 20+min average time episodes! Also probably an element of living vicariously through the younger protagonists whilst going through a mid life crisis heh, as I do really enjoy a well written high school romcom/drama. Though I do wish there would be a bit more anime with older protagonists. Regardless, the themes one deals with in life don't really change whether you're a young adult or an old grump, just our perspective heh.

Happy anime watching to you as well and I also hope to watch them with my toddler when she is older heh.

 

[Girls with Guns]

Ha, well I meant to say I'll be 60 this coming year, so it's a few months off yet. And I guess maybe because of my age, I just am not much of a fan of comedy, it's hard for me to even tolerate it - I do like romance anime, but definitely prefer RomDrams over RomComs. I actually like shojo anime because the stories are usually a little more mature and generally have more drama than comedy. I just started an older shojo RomDram anime earlier today, and it has been pretty dang good in the first 4 episodes - Hanasakeru Seishonen, I would highly recommend it.

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[Geriatric hedgehog]

Ha, well I meant to say I'll be 60 this coming year, so it's a few months off yet. And I guess maybe because of my age, I just am not much of a fan of comedy, it's hard for me to even tolerate it - I do like romance anime, but definitely prefer RomDrams over RomComs. I actually like shojo anime because the stories are usually a little more mature and generally have more drama than comedy. I just started an older shojo RomDram anime earlier today, and it has been pretty dang good in the first 4 episodes - Hanasakeru Seishonen, I would highly recommend it.

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Thanks for the tip, definitely adding that to my list then.

Presumably you would have seen scum's wish? Really well done drama and probably an exception for me that even though I didn't like any of the characters at all, I still really liked the anime enough to add to my collection. The fantastic artwork and music did help I guess.

I would have thought that romdram would be my default preference though I do love the Japanese sense of humour in the romcoms or comedies/satires/spoofs even though it's generally repetitive. My wife didn't get it all when I tried to show her one punch man and saiki k, rolling her eyes whilst I chuckled away like a nutter heheh.

 

[Girls with Guns]

Yes, I have Scum's wish, and Domestic Girlfriend too. Those are kind of similar. One of my favorite RomDrams is A Lull in the Sea, actually more a melodrama with a love polygon, but still perhaps a bit on the lighter side.

Yeah, unlike you I just can't handle anime comedy, it is mostly a huge turn-off for me, and I find Chibi characters horrifying, lol. Run Away! Run Away!

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Yup Lull on the Sea is also already on my list, so will hopefully get around to that one too. I saw the trailers for domestic girlfriend and didn't realise it was a serious drama, so you would recommend that then? Would be another to add then (gosh how much further has my watchlist already expanded in a few posts?!)

 

[Neil.T]

My wife didn't get it all when I tried to show her one punch man

Ehhh??! No!

I've got Kaze's DVD of season 1, and one of my favourite bits is where Genos has been studying Saitama's strength and stamina, and Genos tells him: "Lately, I have become interested in your body."

Saitama looks at him with that classic blank expression and says flatly: "I'm not into dudes."

 

[RadFemHedonist]

I very much recommend A Lull in the Sea, didn't much care for the dub though, so I recommend watching subbed. It does have the odd slightly cringe moment but on the whole I really enjoyed it, and found it to be a worthy companion piece to the Key/Kyoani trilogy of Air, Kanon and Clannad (all of which I love, yes I know not everyone likes them and that's fine but they're some of my all time favourite anime) I've actually seen a lot of the stuff that Girls With Guns recommended I think? checks list the ones I haven't seen all of are:

Psycho Pass - but I have seen the entire first season at least which is supposed to be the best one tbf.
Ajin
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Appleseed
Darker than Black - another case of never got around to watching the second season cuz everyone said it was rubbish.
Gunslinger Girl - same deal with Il Teatrino
Monster - but I have read the entire manga so I didn't see the point in watching the anime as well.
Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Death Parade
Flag
From the New World - only cuz the UK Blu-rays screwed up the audio
Gargantia on the Verduous Planet - I have actually seen about half of this and it is on my list of things to finish.

Sorry if I'm muscling in on the thread!

 

[Girls with Guns]

I very much recommend A Lull in the Sea, didn't much care for the dub though, so I recommend watching subbed. It does have the odd slightly cringe moment but on the whole I really enjoyed it...

I don't know what hedgehog's preferences of dubs or subs are, but I myself am a strict subber-only, as I feel the same for all English dubs, not just for A Lull in the Sea. I am unable to stomach anime in English; even without knowing any Japanese language, I can so easily tell the difference in realistic inflections, sincerity of feelings, timing, and professionalism - not to mention rampant localization and translation liberties - so a dub majorly detracts from my enjoyment of the show. Plus, I deeply feel that anime in English simply destroys the whole cultural aspect of experiencing Japanese anime, making them more like just watching yet another Western cartoon.

That all being said, I show a LOT of anime to my neighbors and friends in my theater, and I always will use an English dub for my guests, since many of them are unable to keep up with subtitles. So it's not like I totally avoid dubs - it's only when I am watching anime on my own that they are strictly taboo, lol.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Saitama looks at him with that classic blank expression

That was brilliant indeed and I also love that blank expression!! It is absolutely hilarious - had me hooked from his first encounter in the first episode and I just couldn't believe my wife didn't find that funny. Ah well, anime is clearly not her thing, I've only managed to make her watched Erased which she did like but it clearly didn't get her into anime as I'd hoped heh.

Sorry if I'm muscling in on the thread!

Not at all, I live for recommendations to catch up on the decade or more of great anime I've missed. And I loved Clannad as well, especially down to the fantastic afterstory second half, in my top ten list heh. Regardless of the criticisms, I think it celebrates the concept of family better than any other anime I've seen and I loved the fact that Nagisa's parents were actual lovingly involved characters in the anime - I find it a real shame that anime never focus on parents (I get the feeling they're always portrayed as never-seen naysayers & always away at work - former probably to pander to the teenage target audience and the latter probably a true exaggeration of the Japanese work culture).

anime in English simply destroys the whole cultural aspect of experiencing Japanese anime

I fully agree with you there, exactly of the same opinion, though I can understand for those who don't have the patience for subs. But yes, I also think a lot is lost in translation (pun intended I think?) from the cultural viewpoint and also I would have thought no direct direction from the original creator. Like you, I am happy to do dubs if it means I can convince others to watch anime heh. I tried some Ghibli movies in horrific dub (just my opinion for those who like dubs!) to entice my toddler but Frozen has clearly gripped her. One day I will show her:



I had to watch dubs in order to be able to see kill la kill & gurren Lagaan (only available in English Dub unfortunately for streaming in UK on 4od) though I've ordered the blu ray boxset for the latter so look forward to re-watching that with subs.