Recommend some non-perverted anime

[Infernal King]

Thank you for more recommendations, everyone! I've been watching trailers, etc., on YouTube and reading up on all these titles and will let you guys know which, if any, I decide to check out!

Originally Posted by KillerJuan77

By the way... Kite is actually pretty good. It's ultra violent revenge and even Quentin Tarantino asked an actress from Kill Bill to watch it, mostly because it's pretty damn good. However... it also has hentai (And rape, to an underage woman). Most visual novels have the exact same problem, the ultra explicit sex scenes don't match with the story and sadly Kite suffers from that problem. However, find a version without the tacked on sex scenes and it's pretty damn good.

Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies. Do you know which actress QT asked to watch Kite?

"Ultra explicit sex scenes", "hentai", and "rape to an underage woman" are pretty huge hurdles for me to overcome, even for a "pretty damn good" story...

Originally Posted by EricJ

And yeah, they all were besieged with fanboys trying to make the poor victim subject himself to Evangelion, Kite and Cowboy Bebop back then, too. Lord, it's like being in a time loop.)

No. You shouldn't. It's 2013. There is no longer any reason to watch Ghost in the Shell 1 OR 2 (the latter of which even the Japanese hated), Grave of the Fireflies (does it sound cheery?...), Akira, or anything Sony ever released in US arthouse theaters, against your will.
Fans have been in their own plastic bubble of auto-recommending those since 1999, and for FOUR-TEEN YEARS we've had the Plastic-Bubbled Leading the Plastic-Bubbled. Break the cycle of tragedy.

(C'mon, if we're going to run through all the 90's fanboy-recommendation cliche's, can we at least do the one about getting him to watch Princess Tutu, even though he's dreading what he thinks the show is from the title? That old trope's always fun, it's more up to date, and a little more constructive.)

So you would not recommend Ghost in the Shell, Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop? It seems like you're saying (in this quote and the one below) that those titles are among the most well-known (along with Akira) and therefore are just automatically recommended, regardless of their subject matter/content. I want to hear every viewpoint so please elaborate.

And no matter how many times I'm told Grave of the Fireflies (from Studio Ghibli) is a must-watch, I'm almost never in the mood for super-depressing stories, be they animated or live-action.

I'm guessing Princess Tutu is another troll title?

Originally Posted by EricJ

Bebop gets (auto-)recommended for A) its cool theme, B) its hip characters, C) its noir-ish look, but mostly D) it played on Cartoon Network in the 90's, which gave it mainstream "credibility" in fans' eyes, as they could recommend newbies to watch the good English dub for free...Back then.
(Now you see how most of these work. )

Skull Man? Um....never heard of it. Or Redline either, sad to say.
(As for theatricals: Keep in mind that most anime directors who've gone to the big time are "embarrassed" to do commercial TV work, and when they get their art feature break, pull out all the Great Serious Artistic stops, to prove they're not mere TV directors. In a country where they think Abstract Ambiguity is really, really cool and thought-provoking.
For that reason, outside of Ghibli, I can't think of a single theatrical feature I'd recommend that isn't a TV-series adaptation. And not always all of those.
Given that most mainstream critics saw the big artistic imports Sony distributed in the US, but didn't delve into many of the TV series, we used to have a rule about arthouse theatricals, especially the Satoshi Kons, called the Ebert List: "If Roger Ebert likes it, FLEE for your life. ")

I'm very curious, why is Ebert's approval a bad thing when it comes to anime? I don't know anything about his thoughts on the medium.

[KillerJuan77]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies. Do you know which actress QT asked to watch Kite?

"Ultra explicit sex scenes", "hentai", and "rape to an underage woman" are pretty huge hurdles for me to overcome, even for a "pretty damn good" story..

There's a cut version WITHOUT all those things.

Tarantino asked Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo Yubari) to watch Kite to prepare for her role. Hell, there's a No Doubt video that lifts entire scenes from Kite.

[jala12]

So you would not recommend Ghost in the Shell, Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop? It seems like you're saying (in this quote and the one below) that those titles are among the most well-known (along with Akira) and therefore are just automatically recommended, regardless of their subject matter/content. I want to hear every viewpoint so please elaborate.

By that he means don't watch the first two Ghost in the Shell movies. The first one is available on blu ray but labeled 2.0 which edits the film unnecessarily. The second movie with the subtitle 'Innocence' is considered to be not so good.

So with all that said, watch the actual TV series as well as Evangelion, Bebop, etc.

[jala12]

Princess Mononoke (the second-most depressing Ghibli ever made)

When did this become a thing? The movie ends on a good note and there are other Ghibli movies that are more 'depressing'.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by jala12

When did this become a thing? The movie ends on a good note and there are other Ghibli movies that are more 'depressing'.

Old grudges: We WANTED Ghibli movies to catch on, after we'd heard Disney bought them all--But the Japanese studio insisted that Mononoke be shown in theaters, for bragging rights and...even if you like the movie, you'd agree, this is definitely not the first Miyazaki movie you'd show to first time audiences who maybe knew him only for the cute upbeat Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service.
Which, at the time, ESPECIALLY included Disney.

Disney was literally that close to dropping all Ghibli sales in the US after the dim arthouse reaction to the movie, and if it hadn't been for their curiosity to give Spirited Away a release to see if it would be just as successful in the US, Ghibli's bacon in the US would've been cooked right there and then.
Thus, although Mononoke gets a lot of 90's-mainstream-tradition press for being something fans say you "should" see, we do rather carry a grudge, portray it as Spirited and Nausicaa's red-headed stepchild, and tell first-timers, "Don't worry, they're not all like that..."

[gpn]

All these posts and no one's mentioned Escaflowne yet? Shame on you people. Stay away from the movie unless you only want to watch it for the animation, but the TV series is great stuff.

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by gpn

All these posts and no one's mentioned Escaflowne yet? Shame on you people. Stay away from the movie unless you only want to watch it for the animation, but the TV series is great stuff.

I second this 150%. In my opinion, hands down one of the very best series of the 90s.

[DesertFoxGoggles]

-Urotsukidoji (It's a beautiful story about two lovers torn in a world full of darkness and weird stuff).
-Violence Jack (It's about a lonely soul named Jack, who must travel the world protecting women from men who look silly).
-Devilman (It's about a lonely devilman who beats up other devilmen and protects women from men who look silly).
-Ninja Scroll (It's about a lonely samurai who protects a woman from men (andsometimeswomen) who look silly).
-Wicked City (It's about a man and a woman who protect other women from demons who look silly).
-Night Shift Nurses (How can you say you love her if you wont eat her poop? - A question we've all asked).
-Boku No Sexual Harassment (It's about a lonely young man who really wants to make it big in his cooperation).
-Ai No Kusabi (It's about two lonely men who like bikers and Jupiter and shit Idfk).
-Sensitive Pornograph (It's about well it says in the title I think).
-Ninja Resurrection (It's about religion, and ninjas, and resurrection and stuff!)
-Golden Boy (It's about literally a golden boy).
-GOOSH GOOSH (Just type that into Youtube).
-Enzai: Falsely Accused (Someone gets falsely accused).

You can thank me later, sweetie.

[KillerJuan77]

Originally Posted by DesertFoxGoggles

-Urotsukidoji (It's a beautiful story about two lovers torn in a world full of darkness and weird stuff).
-Violence Jack (It's about a lonely soul named Jack, who must travel the world protecting women from men who look silly).
-Devilman (It's about a lonely devilman who beats up other devilmen and protects women from men who look silly).
-Ninja Scroll (It's about a lonely samurai who protects a woman from men (andsometimeswomen) who look silly).
-Wicked City (It's about a man and a woman who protect other women from demons who look silly).
-Night Shift Nurses (How can you say you love her if you wont eat her poop? - A question we've all asked).
-Boku No Sexual Harassment (It's about a lonely young man who really wants to make it big in his cooperation).
-Ai No Kusabi (It's about two lonely men who like bikers and Jupiter and shit Idfk).
-Sensitive Pornograph (It's about well it says in the title I think).
-Ninja Resurrection (It's about religion, and ninjas, and resurrection and stuff!)
-Golden Boy (It's about literally a golden boy).
-GOOSH GOOSH (Just type that into Youtube).
-Enzai: Falsely Accused (Someone gets falsely accused).

You can thank me later, sweetie.

Ninja Scroll is actually pretty good, Wicked City is a very GUILTY pleasure. Other than that your post is hilarious , particularly that bolded part.

[Ugly Pig]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Roger Ebert was supporting "good" animation in the 90's, and wanted everyone to go see Princess Mononoke (the second-most depressing Ghibli ever made), way back two years before Spirited Away got us all hooked on Miyazaki. To make people aware of it, he wrote many essays about the new Anime Invasion, but it was clear he had never personally seen any of the good mainstream TV series.

Which shouldn't be surprising, considering Ebert was a film critic and not a television critic. And why does it even matter? He liked what he saw.

[K i r a]

Originally Posted by DesertFoxGoggles

-Urotsukidoji (It's a beautiful story about two lovers torn in a world full of darkness and weird stuff).
-Violence Jack (It's about a lonely soul named Jack, who must travel the world protecting women from men who look silly).
-Devilman (It's about a lonely devilman who beats up other devilmen and protects women from men who look silly).
-Ninja Scroll (It's about a lonely samurai who protects a woman from men (andsometimeswomen) who look silly).
-Wicked City (It's about a man and a woman who protect other women from demons who look silly).
-Night Shift Nurses (How can you say you love her if you wont eat her poop? - A question we've all asked).
-Boku No Sexual Harassment (It's about a lonely young man who really wants to make it big in his cooperation).
-Ai No Kusabi (It's about two lonely men who like bikers and Jupiter and shit Idfk).
-Sensitive Pornograph (It's about well it says in the title I think).
-Ninja Resurrection (It's about religion, and ninjas, and resurrection and stuff!)
-Golden Boy (It's about literally a golden boy).
-GOOSH GOOSH (Just type that into Youtube).
-Enzai: Falsely Accused (Someone gets falsely accused).

You can thank me later, sweetie.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ugly Pig

Which shouldn't be surprising, considering Ebert was a film critic and not a television critic. And why does it even matter? He liked what he saw.

Because he didn't know better. Which is most of the reason Tezuka's Metropolis gets good reviews in the first place.

(If he was going to be the self-appointed mainstream champion, it wouldn't have killed him to be a little TV-curious on his own time...)

[Talyn]

I think everyone's got some good lists.... I'm going to add a few that I didn't see mentioned, one of these may have but I didn't see it, that are very worthwhile.

Gungrave - If you like mob/mafia stories....this is the one you want with a little dose of science-fiction tossed in. It's an amazing show.

Berserk - It's Game of Thrones on crack... amazing fantasy title. The movies are great at adapting the manga, but the tv series is great....

Gilgamesh - Depressing, moody and twisted. If you like darker shows where everything is a shade of grey and the designs are different....look no further.

Ergo Proxy - Mentioned for sure, but this is a fabulous series. Pino is cute...

Darker Than Black - James Bond with a bit of psychotic break with some interesting powers and storylines involved.

Outlaw Star - See where Joss Whedon got the idea for Firefly/Serenity.

The Big O - Stupid name, catchy theme but I assure you....if you liked Batman the Animated Series....you will LOVE this!

That is all for now....if you want more we're all happy to add more.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Talyn

Outlaw Star - See where Joss Whedon got the idea for Firefly/Serenity.

The Big O - Stupid name, catchy theme but I assure you....if you liked Batman the Animated Series....you will LOVE this!

Both get a little too much recommendation from '99-'00 Cartoon Network hypnotism, but Outlaw Star's a lot of fun (and yes, VERY proto-Firefly familiar), if you can still find it anywhere in the 10's--
The similarity to Cowboy Bebop's spacers-for-hire was getting all the fan (and CN) attention, but Outlaw's comic-book adventure goes down a lot easier than Bebop's dour stylized attempts at noir.

(And rent Flash Gordon with the Queen credits, and see where Big O got the idea for their catchy theme. )

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

LOL

Not much, truth be told. At least not much anime in its entirety. I don't recall a lot of the names off the top of my head but I remember gratuitous fanservice/harem/fap material appearing in shows/movies that I otherwise might have continued watching. Most of the time though, my main problem is just finding something I'll actually be interested in checking out.

sahhhhhhhhh, you just described everything that I love in an Anime show

[JavaJulien]

Baccano is a great anime without any T&A.

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Because he didn't know better. Which is most of the reason Tezuka's Metropolis gets good reviews in the first place.

(If he was going to be the self-appointed mainstream champion, it wouldn't have killed him to be a little TV-curious on his own time...)

Well, Ebert had implied in numerous reviews and columns that he didn't really watch much television in general, so I'd give him a pass on that.

[SeaFox]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Well, Ebert had implied in numerous reviews and columns that he didn't really watch much television in general, so I'd give him a pass on that.

I don't blame him. Sometimes I wonder if he ever looked back on his life and considered how much of it he had spent sitting in darkened theaters passively watching a giant screen.

[Ugly Pig]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Because he didn't know better. Which is most of the reason Tezuka's Metropolis gets good reviews in the first place.

(If he was going to be the self-appointed mainstream champion, it wouldn't have killed him to be a little TV-curious on his own time...)

I still don't see how him having limited exposure to anime makes his recommendations something to avoid.

[Tiberius]

Originally Posted by Ugly Pig

I still don't see how him having limited exposure to anime makes his recommendations something to avoid.

Yes, it comes across as though Western theories of film criticism are worth less than the idiosyncrasies of otaku fetishism.