Anime for not weebs

[JZStudios]

I'm the same way. Western TV shows are completely aimless and go on way too long. Outside of Psych, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, and How I met your Mother I haven't really watched entire series of Western TV.

A lot of anime is just tropes that are entertaining at first, but after about 5 series it's just completely based around trope predictions. At this point it's more just something to watch before I fall asleep, so as long a it's mildly entertaining I'll watch it and immediately forget about it. Thus, there's only a few I would recommend. Apparently 11 out of the vast amount I've seen.

• 91 Days - A mob/mafia story. It's a tad cliche in some places, but more of for the mafia style than anime tropes. The ending was also really good and left it open for interpretation.
• Assassination Classroom - Hard to describe, a super mutant is forced to become a teacher while he threatens to destroy the world. The class needs to kill him before then. If anything it subverts a lot of expectations and tropes.
• Dororo - Set in feudal Japan, a lord makes a deal with demons for his land to prosper. The demons steal almost every organ from his newborn son who years later becomes a demon hunter. Watch the new version, not the 1970's one.
• Durarara - Some people don't like it because it has a slow start, but it's a very intricate story with a lot of intersecting threads. Everyone has a story, a secret, and knows someone else. As it goes on these all unfold and each episode is a different characters viewpoint. It manages to constantly remember who knows who, and who knows what about who.
• Ancient Magus' Bride - Beautiful animation with a deep world and what I'm told is a very emotional story, but I'm a heartless cynic. Still enjoyable. It's kind of like Miyazaki films where you're dropped into a new world with intricate rules you don't really understand.
• Kino's Journey - A highly philosophical show where each episode takes place in a new "country" with laws, rules, and a way of life as the character navigates through with her talking motorcycle. Of which I'm 90% sure the talking motorcycle is a plot device to get the character to talk with a companion and express thoughts without actually having a second companion or monologuing to herself. There's an old version and a new one, both are worth watching. There's a few episodes that are the same, but it's mostly different.
• Food Wars - Sheer absurdity with a light dash of intense cooking, mostly recommended if you like cooking at all.
• Bungo Stray Dogs - literal representations of literary authors form a detective agency and mafia group. It's bizarre, it's rad, it's a good time.
• Goblin Slayer - A realistic fantasy world where the biggest problem is goblins, so DOOM slayer destroys them. Complete with metal music. Violent, gory, unflinchingly brutal yet still has moments of humor and charm.
• Erased - A man has anime time powers that let him prevent bad things from happening, like a kid crossing the road getting hit by a truck. One day he transports back to elementary to find the identity of a man that kidnapped a young girl. Apparently the ending was a bit rushed since it wasn't enough to necessitate a new season, so had to be wrapped up in 1 episode. I still enjoyed it. There's a manga.
• (I just like these 2) Barakamon and Handa-Kun. These have the same main character, a calligrapher that in Barakamon (The original series) is disgraced after attacking a critic of his work. He's sent to a small island to work his life out and runs into the locals he eventually becomes friends with... It's better than it sounds. Handa-Kun shows the same character in a high school comedy. He thinks everyone hates him as they lavish him with praise. It's a comedy, with a dope ass opening song. The first half of the first episode is fucking trash and I almost quit. Watch the first 2 episodes.

There's probably a few more I'm forgetting, but if I forgot they probably weren't that great anyways.

[JZStudios]

14 hours ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

snip

He asked for stuff that isn't Weeby.

16 hours ago, vong said:

Demon Slayer is something recent that you may enjoy.

I disagree. It starts okay, but after the pig faced guy and the orange hair guy joined it was exceptionally irritating.

 

12 hours ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

snip

Wolf Children and the Wind rises are really good. Wish I had them. Otherwise my favorite childhood anime has to be Loony Toons and Scooby Doo. Another good movie is The Beast and his Boy.

[Kawaii Koneko]

@JZStudiosWhat? You think all that anime I recommended is weeby?

[Dr0y]

Saw durarara mentioned and just to say it's worth watching. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to continue. 

 

We watch the animes on watchcartoononline ... there's a lot of old stuff along with newer stuff.  Image and sound quality are often medium to low but we can do with it.  We started with the letter A and watched them in order and now we're at the letter W after some 9 or 10 years of watching.  We will surely have to restart from the beginning cause there's a lot of new stuff that has been released since we started. 

[JZStudios]

1 hour ago, Dr0y said:

We watch the animes on watchcartoononline ... there's a lot of old stuff along with newer stuff.  Image and sound quality are often medium to low but we can do with it.  We started with the letter A and watched them in order and now we're at the letter W after some 9 or 10 years of watching.  We will surely have to restart from the beginning cause there's a lot of new stuff that has been released since we started. 

Don't mention that, you'll get bad boy points. Just like I just did. I hate this forum.

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, Bitter said:

If you've not seen and aren't familiar with those tropes then they're not really jokes that you'll get so I don't categorize One Punch Man as a good starter anime.

I look at it this way: if you're knowledgeable enough to know what weebs are, you'll probably enjoy One Punch Man.  

[Nena Trinity]

First mobile suit Gundam is mobile suit Gundam you can watch it in order of release or by timeline, timeline might be best solution.

https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Universal_Century

 

Edit: Actually origin is a prequel made recently so if in chronological order then Origin is go to.

 

[Letgomyleghoe.]

8 minutes ago, TheBritishVillain said:

 

Dunno but when I was watching Death Note I remember there being a moment when I was like eh and quit watching it. So in my opinion Code geass is superior but still love the recommendations of anime like it.

[Letgomyleghoe.]

Just now, TheBritishVillain said:

A lot of people stop watching at episode 26, however they miss out on the Mikami arc and the actual ending. The final speech at the end is one of the greatest voice acting dubs I have ever seen and has made me cry ever time I watch it. 

 

The anime is truly brilliant in every way. - However, I would understand though why some people might prefer Code Geass over Death Note with it being more 'action' and fighting, where as Death Note is more slice of life (to an extent.)

Spoiler

Was that the episode where Light died right? 

Also I watch my anime in Russian so a lot of times the voice actor is the same for Lelouch as Light and etc. so about the greatest dub i'm skeptical.

[Guest]

Hunter x Hunter first episode review (I thought I added Code Geoss first but guess not. I'll look for it later. 6~ people said it was good.)

Spoiler

Best part: They got into the plot without wasting much time. I think 2 minutes after the intro I got what tf the show is about.

Anime isms:

1. Big ass fish

2. Big ass wave

3. Crew is scared but captain is like "nah, this is where the fun begins!"

4. the blonde girl (or boy) is overly protective cuz "I hAVE a dArK PasT" then overly exposition dumps.

5. The sailor they saved comes running back whilst the 2 feud kids are yelling at the protaganist to say thanks so the 2 immature contestants apologise & grow up.

6. Idk what the thing is called but when a commercial break was supposed to happen, they're all "Hunter vocabulary!" That had no relevance to the story imo, prolly some japanese quirk with selling a toy ig.

7. Protaganist is overly perfect.

 

It was decent however & I will give it a fair watch. There's nothing glaringly wrong, the show is okay so far. It's all in Japanese with english subtitles but that's not really a problem idc that much.

 

I like that the show just starts, the characters are very visually distinct from one another as well as the protaganist being very different from any other anime protaganist I've seen aside from Yu Gi Oh but even then they're still very different.

Good recommendation so far. But with anime there's a few anime isms which I can deal with. There were  only 7 & very throw away incidents.

Protaganist being overly perfect will probably be explained further with him having some supernatural thing with his bloodline. His father was touched on a little so he's prolly the boss or really talented.

Solid 65% thus far. Some foreshadowing, decent story, got started quickly. A lot of shows just don't start for a long time. I expect this show to get better in the subsequent episodes, it has a good setup.

 

Jay Z studio

Spoiler

Spoiler

6 hours ago, JZStudios said:

I'm the same way. Western TV shows are completely aimless and go on way too long.

Ever since TWD, every TV show and their mother needed an endless story series...

Quote

Outside of Psych, Malcolm in the Middle, Monk, and How I met your Mother I haven't really watched entire series of Western TV.

Season 1 of stranger things is decent if you go into it knowing Season 2 & 3 are bad.

Generation Kill is a true story that's funny & informative of the invasion on iraq.

The Mandalorian is the last good show I can really recommend that's like Western Live action & whatnot. I didn't see all of breaking bad but it was cool.

Quote

A lot of anime is just tropes that are entertaining at first, but after about 5 series it's just completely based around trope predictions.

Are you me from the future?

Quote

• Assassination Classroom

Didn't like. I thought it was kinda dumb. The alien thing talked too much. I got like 3~5 episodes in.

Quote

• 91 Days
• Dororo
• Durarara
• Ancient Magus' Bride
• Kino's Journey
• Food Wars
• Bungo Stray Dogs
• Goblin Slayer
• Erased
• (I just like these 2) Barakamon and Handa-Kun.

I'll check these out. Dororo and barakamon were recomended by some other guys.

4 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Don't mention that, you'll get bad boy points. Just like I just did. I hate this forum.

I'm fine with it. Most regulars get the "nudge nudge wink wink."

British Villain

Spoiler

Spoiler

2 hours ago, TheBritishVillain said:

Firstly, let me just start by saying that i'm one of the biggest Death Note fans there is. 

 

I have watched it about 5 times and watch it every year in December. I have also read the manga, including the subsequent stories that don't involve Light Yagami. I don't think an anime will ever come close to the greatness that is Death Note. - If someone IRL said they could officially erase Death Note from my memory for £5000, just so I could watch it for the first time again; I would happily do it (I'm serious too). However, I still get a buzz every time I watch it. 

I saw it about as many times. I loved it when I first saw it. I kinda already know everything so it's not as good when you've seen it like 6 times in 2~ years. Aside from Misa Amane on re-watches, it's pretty good. She's kinda a brick wall when she gets introduced for me.

Quote

 

Now ever since I watched Death Note 7 or so years ago, I have searched the anime land for similar anime where it involves such genius, planning, unthinkable strategy and a main character with a Godly psyche. Let me tell you that if you are looking for a Death Note replica, unfortunately you will never find it. There is a reason Death Note is the number 1 greatest anime of all time on the majority of top anime lists on the web (and usually it's within the top 3 if not 1st).

Quote

1.) Kaiji: Ultimiate Survior

2.) Code Geass

3.) One Outs

-Monster

-Psycho Pass

Mirai Nikki. (But still a good watch.)

I'll check those out! Thanks

1 hour ago, TheBritishVillain said:

A lot of people stop watching at episode 26, however they miss out on the Mikami arc and the actual ending.

L is the best antaganist. The rest is just to finish the story. You can't change my mind.

Quote

The anime is truly brilliant in every way. - However, I would understand though why some people might prefer Code Geass over Death Note with it being more 'action' and fighting, where as Death Note is more slice of life (to an extent.)

I've gotten over action sequences so action is neither here nor there for me. If it makes sense to the story, yeah sure that's cool. There was a cool battle in Death Note when the dad dies.

But having action sequences just to have action sequences is annoying to me. The only over the top action movies I sorta like is the Marvel movies because the graphics are cutting edge. Warcraft in Imax is going to stomp your 2d fight scene every day of the week.

 

1 hour ago, Gundar said:

Also I watch my anime in Russian so a lot of times the voice actor is the same for Lelouch as Light and etc. so about the greatest dub i'm skeptical.

I've seen some non-anime with shared voice actors & that is very confusing/annoying. Put it in a random language like French & throw on subtitles.

 

I don't remember a Lelouch, so I'm guessing he's from the other show. If that's the case, I definitely get your tedium.

Any action movie with Arnold Schwartzenegger... I don't know the character's name unless it's Arnold as I just see him as Arnold or The Terminator.

[Bitter]

Escaflowne anyone? Or really...Escaflonase.

[Bitter]

3 hours ago, Nena360 said:

First mobile suit Gundam is mobile suit Gundam you can watch it in order of release or by timeline, timeline might be best solution.

https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Universal_Century

 

Edit: Actually origin is a prequel made recently so if in chronological order then Origin is go to.

 

Origin was really nicely done, top notch animation and great character building back story.

Spoiler

The gassed colony got to me a bit though.

 

[vong]

6 hours ago, JZStudios said:

I disagree. It starts okay, but after the pig faced guy and the orange hair guy joined it was exceptionally irritating.

OP may as well start it as the following season/s will be much better. I'm saying there's no BS, basically straight to action right to the end.

[divito]

 

Ignore the obvious bleh stuff, like Bleach, Naruto, DBZ, etc.... Of my picture, I'd recommend:

- Beck 
- Initial D 
- KIBA
- Samurai Champloo
 

As for others people have recommended:

- Blood+ and Ergo Proxy are okay, but might get a bit dry.
- Rurouni Kenshin - Tsuiokuhen is solid all-around. As stated before, ignore the main series.
- I dislike anything mech outside of Eva (and Eva itself is polarizing for anime fans), so your mileage may vary.
- Most of @JZStudios list has been on my own massive list of series to start watching for what it's worth. I've just always been short on time to start anything new. (As one can tell from what I own, it's pretty much all old).

If MAL was currently working, I'd have more options to recommend outside of what I currently own, my memory isn't helping me out on what I've seen that would be good to recommend.

[JZStudios]

7 hours ago, Commodus said:

I look at it this way: if you're knowledgeable enough to know what weebs are, you'll probably enjoy One Punch Man.  

I casually watch anime and I still don't really know what weebs are. I think they're wannabe Japanese nerds or something.

 

2 hours ago, fpo said:

Ever since TWD, every TV show and their mother needed an endless story series...

Season 1 of stranger things is decent if you go into it knowing Season 2 & 3 are bad.

Generation Kill is a true story that's funny & informative of the invasion on iraq.

The Mandalorian is the last good show I can really recommend that's like Western Live action & whatnot. I didn't see all of breaking bad but it was cool.

Shows have been like that for a LONG time, the only difference is things like LOST and TWD pretended like they had a story or a point that was going somewhere and never did. I saw Stranger Things, and it was good. Then I saw season 2 and thought... why? Then we cancelled our Netflix subscription. Generation Kill would interest me, except I don't have an easy way to watch it. Not really interested in Star War.

2 hours ago, fpo said:

Are you me from the future?

Maybe? I don't know. I literally just go through the list of shows on Crunchyroll or whatever and try out the first episode before I go to sleep. There's only so many times you can see the same thing before just looking at it and saying "Nerdy kid no one likes is going to walk around the corner and bump into hot girl, his face will then be firmly in her gooch while his hands magnetize towards her boobs, wherein she will exclaim "I hate you! Keep doing it! Idiot!" Then it happens and I turn it off and move on to the next. Legitimately 95% of anime is just pure trope. It's fun the first couple times for the sheer absurdity, but it happens every fucking show.

2 hours ago, fpo said:

Didn't like. I thought it was kinda dumb. The alien thing talked too much. I got like 3~5 episodes in.

Yeah, it takes a little while, but I think it gets better as it goes on. There's a lot of unique characters that all have their arcs and character growth.

Another cautious recommendation would be My Bride is a Mermaid. I haven't watched it since I was new to anime so it could be full of tropes, but I remember it being a pretty slapstick comedy I enjoyed, kind of like Airplane!! or Naked Gun. Basic plot is a guy sees a mermaid, but she's the daughter of a mermaid mafia godfather, so he's forced to marry her or be executed. It's fucking dumb, but it was funny at the time.

2 hours ago, fpo said:

I'll check these out. Dororo and barakamon were recomended by some other guys.

Dororo is 100% a recommend. It's rad. I'm rewatching it now. Barakamon is a slower burn.

[Aereldor]

Lmao this thread literally got saturated in the weebiest shit, Code Geass, Clannad, HunterxHunter, Kekkai Sensen, Another, Bakemonogatari, Attack on Titan. I saw someone recommend Prison School ffs. Why would you even do that? Also who's out here recommending mindless giant robot junk like Gundam? Smh

The literal only right answer to this thread is 

• Cowboy Bebop (English Dub)  [~24 episodes]
• Tatami Galaxy (more of an original concept, literally zero anime cliches)  [11 episodes]
• Tokyo Godfathers [movie, 90 mins]
• Rurouni Kenshin - Tsuiokuhen [4 episodes, really dark Samurai story. Do not watch the shitty main series]

No anime cliches, amazing concepts, and thank fuck, NO HIGH SCHOOL

 

Monster and Legend of the Galactic Heroes are good, but too long to recommend.

[GenericFanboy]

Bungou stray dogs, Steins gate. Both anime with smart people. Sometimes a bit over the top. But always an amazing story. I cant watch enough of it.

[Aereldor]

10 hours ago, JZStudios said:

literal representations of literary authors

Fuck I was hoping for a show about encyclopedia authors

[xAcid9]

Ayaya unite!  

 

Btw what is your definition of "weebs" anime? Is it your typical shounen anime like dbz, naruto, bleach, >9000 others similar anime? Or cutesy slice of life like video  above?

Or both?
 

A lot of anime that i want to recommend already listed by others so i'm not going to repeat it.

Eyeshield 21 - Shounen/Football

YuYu Hakusho - Shounen/Isekai

Gungrave - Mystery/Action

Switch - Mystery/Action

Ergo Proxy - Mystery/Sci-Fi/Gore

[Haro]

6 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

 

Oh that looks like it's Japanese from start to finish 

What ?!?! Is that ?!?!?

[Beerzerker]

6 hours ago, JZStudios said:

I casually watch anime and I still don't really know what weebs are. I think they're wannabe Japanese nerds or something.

 

Maybe? I don't know. I literally just go through the list of shows on Crunchyroll or whatever and try out the first episode before I go to sleep. There's only so many times you can see the same thing before just looking at it and saying "Nerdy kid no one likes is going to walk around the corner and bump into hot girl, his face will then be firmly in her gooch while his hands magnetize towards her boobs, wherein she will exclaim "I hate you! Keep doing it! Idiot!" Then it happens and I turn it off and move on to the next. Legitimately 95% of anime is just pure trope. It's fun the first couple times for the sheer absurdity, but it happens every fucking show.

 

Pretty much sums it up for me.

 

I too am not a habitual viewer by any means, just when something catches my eye and then hope it's not going to disappoint.

All the standard cliche's in play with most I've ever seen but at least I do understand "Why" it's like that. It's when I run across one that's of a different vein is when I take interest and then hope it's good.

 

There are a few that touch on the standard tropes but never bother to really go into it because the theme of what it's about just isn't "That" if you will, one example I've seen before (Overlord) does touch on it in a few instances but in limited fashion overall, note I said overall but not that it doesn't in a few ways at least.
At least you don't see the usual harem in play.... Or do you?

Even that one has a few instances of the usual too, such as wearing a simple mask and no other change being able to hide someone's identity from other characters. 

Even if wearing the same exact outfit and it's a simple mask that just covers the face and no more, the other characters still don't see it and cannot figure out the obvious.

Also the reason it all began was based on a theme that was common at the time it started, about players getting trapped in a VR situation. That one has been used more than once you know.

I guess that's why it's called a standard trope.

 

Others are all about it period, like it was with every other horror movie once upon a time being about college co-ed's getting slaughtered in various ways by various monsters and villans and so on, more or less a different serving of the same old stuff.

 

For me - There is a standard formula most of them seem to follow, it's the ones that break away from it and manage to be good or even great are the ones I like to see but those are indeed few and far between.

 

 

 

[Zando_]

7 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Giant Robot/Mech/Robots is fine, and not all of it is bad.  Gundam, some of Zoids, and Go Nagi versions are fine.  It's more when you get into Astro Boy, Gigantor, NGE, and others where it becomes super weebish.  OP seems to want to avoid feeling like a high school kid, too too much non comedy fan service, and some other weebier stuff like K-On.  They don't mind some stuff with cliches, like High School of the Dead.  They seem to be interested in darker animes, gore, and good story plus comedy that has fan service.  They implied so in their responses.

Vinland Saga would likely be solid too. Gritty, no real fan service shit and good story .

[divito]

13 hours ago, TheBritishVillain said:

A lot of people stop watching at episode 26, however they miss out on the Mikami arc and the actual ending. The final speech at the end is one of the greatest voice acting dubs I have ever seen and has made me cry ever time I watch it. 

Dubs meh...

 

Death Note's only real flaw is turning Light into someone he isn't by the end of it. Making mistakes, and becoming that hysterical shell of what he was, was the absolute worst ending to the show. He should have won, period. But it's still one of my favorite animes.

[Zodiark1593]

25 minutes ago, divito said:

Dubs meh...

 

Death Note's only real flaw is turning Light into someone he isn't by the end of it. Making mistakes, and becoming that hysterical shell of what he was, was the absolute worst ending to the show. He should have won, period. But it's still one of my favorite animes.

I felt the ending to be fairly plausible. It was by an extremely narrow margin that Light lost in the end. Toward the end, Light was so absolutely certain of his victory that any other outcome was inconceivable, especially losing to someone decidedly inferior to L. 
 

However, while Light was always careful to scrutinize his own actions, he neglected to do the same of Mikami. 

My opinion of course. 

 

[divito]

2 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

I felt the ending to be fairly plausible. It was by an extremely narrow margin that Light lost in the end. Toward the end, Light was so absolutely certain of his victory that any other outcome was inconceivable, especially losing to someone decidedly inferior to L. 
 

However, while Light was always careful to scrutinize his own actions, he neglected to do the same of Mikami. 

My opinion of course. 

 

Oh, don't get me wrong, there's nothing outlandish about how they played the ending.

However, in how they showcased Light and built him up, and when I viewed the series when it came out, I think they did a disservice to him in that oversight resulting in his loss, and at his mental breakdown at the end. It rang as disingenuous when I watched it, and actually tilted me quite a bit.