Rec me anime!

[oyceter]

Currently I have no kdramas except Gourmet on my list, and I'm caught up with most of the shows I want to watch. Also, I'm in the mood for short episodes. So, rec me anime (but please read the qualifications first)!

• Available on Netflix
• Not too bloody
• Have cool women. I don't mind if they aren't the protagonists or if they don't physically kick ass

Comments

[lnhammer]

You might consider Kino's Journey.

More of a stretch is the 6-part OVA of Please Save My Earth.

ETA: Okay, so maybe that wasn't an original idea ...

---L.

[oyceter]

Hee, Kino's Journey is now on my list.

Is Please Save My Earth available on Netflix? Or am I just searching under the wrong name? I think I'd actually like to watch it... maybe it will help my recollection of what happens in the manga!

[lnhammer]

Okay, it looks like Netflix doesn't have it -- coulda sworn it did. Hmph.

The anime is very good, but the last espisode tries to cram in the events of like five volumes of the manga, then cap it with an invented ending that's their best guess of how it'll turn out, ten volumes later.

---L.

[thomasyan]

Netflix did have it at one point. I had recced it to a friend, who found it wasn't to his taste when he rented it from Netflix. But I love PSME, both the anime and the manga.

[keelieinblack]

RahXephon, maybe? The anime, not the movie. Some people have called it a ripoff of NGE, and it does have a lot of similarities, but it takes a much different and less nihilistic approach. I liked it more than Evangelion because the incomprehensibility felt less tacked-on, but YMMV.

Also Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. This is a little slow-moving, but it's gorgeously animated and the protagonist is an awesome spear-wielding warrior woman, and IIRC there's no skeevy fanservice at all.

Twelve Kingdoms is really, really good--the first series arc has one of my favorite female protagonists ever, though you have to put up with her being a bit spineless during first few episodes--but unfortunately the series as a whole is unfinished because the original novel author has hared off onto other projects.

I would second the Black Lagoon rec, because almost all of the women in it are seriously kick-ass, except that I thought it got extremely depressing, grim, and slightly gory in the second season.

[oyceter]

Hrm, how bloody and/or violent and/or depressing do you think Black Lagoon and RahXephon are?

Oooh, Twelve Kingdoms on my list now, as is Moribito, except it looks like it's not available on Netflix yet.

[yeloson]

RahXephon was pretty blah to me - it read very much as an Evangelion rip-off, including pointless boy emo, weird Oedipus complex stuff, and even less sense to it's aliens attack to end the world plot. I have a bunch of the episodes if you want to borrow it sometime.

[keelieinblack]

For Black Lagoon...hmm. While there's lots of action-y gun violence in the first season, I don't remember it being too bad in terms of blood and grimness. The second season, though, gets very, very dark in terms of Horrible Things happening to people. Some of it's just hinted/implied and it's less in terms of gore and more in the way of serious existential bleakness, but there was enough there to send me scrambling for something lighthearted afterwards. (Which is not a condemnation--I like the series a lot, but it can be rough on the emotions.) The first season does stand alone, so you wouldn't be left completely without and ending if you to try it

[oyceter]

I would love Love*Com! I keep almost tachyomi-ing it because of your rec!

Hrm. How bloody is Claymore? I couldn't make it through the second volume of the manga because of all the monster bisections and organs and blood.

[oyceter]

Hrm... the bits about women's bodies and violence sound interesting enough to brave decapitations and spouts of blood, although maybe I will wait until I am in a somewhat better mood to check it out. Still! I encourage your writing that thesis!

[rachelmanija]

Gundam SEED qualifies; it takes a while to get going, but though it has sporky elements and it's not one of my all-time favorite series, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It's basically an angsty anti-war space opera with giant robots and some truly hilarious cracktastic moments. I was very surprised by who my favorite female character ended up being.

[oyceter]

Hrm, I may try that, though right now I seem to be more in the mood for smaller-scale things? On the other hand, watching it means I can read your and Rilina's posts...

[rilina]

We could even watch it together! I am always up for rewatching Gundam Seed. Except it starts so slowly--and takes about 25 episodes to get to the really good stuff.

I liked Kino's Journey as well, though I don't rank it with my favorite anime.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is very much on crack. It has important female characters, not limited to the title characters; one is frequently objectified, thanks to the built-in fan service, but I wouldn't say that's the female characters only role in the series at all. The first season is 13 episodes long and licensed; it doesn't have an ending, per se, since there are more light novels, but it also isn't a series that requires a neat ending to wrap up the main story. Anyway, maybe a possibility?

[thomasyan]

Oh yeah, wow, I love Melancholy. But I watched the start of the first episode and didn't realize what was going on, and thus wrote off the whole series. Then I was convinced to try it again, and loved it.

If you do watch it, make sure to watch it in broadcast order, not chronological order, for the best effect.

[la_vie_noire]

Hmmm, seeing the list of things you disliked, I'm wary of recommending you this, but. XDD

Mononoke was a very interesting anime for me. It only has 12 episodes, and has a gorgeous and unique animation style.

It's horror and psycho drama set in Edo's Japan. It has some problematic things, the first act specially (a racist depiction of a black man, and... well, spoilers), but it gets... better. At least it did for me. It uses allegories and symbolism in a very Utena-like way. I liked it a lot.

[telophase]

Yes. Unfortunately, not Netflixable, except for the three-part story that inspired the 12-ep spinoff series, which is the third disc in the Ayakashi Samurai Horror Tales series ("the Goblin Cat").

[la_vie_noire]

Damn, that's too bad. Maybe for the future then?

[telophase]

I hope it's licensed soon. I ahem'd the series, and would gladly pay money for it. :D