Anime Recommendations

I doubt I'd have time (or the attention span) to watch one, but hey, if there's one open, then I'd like to at least try giving anime a shot again after a brief resurgence of not watching it after like, 6 years.

Favorite genre(s): Fantasy, Comedy, and Action are favorites of mine, but I'm willing to try anything except Horror and Psychological. Two episodes of Higurashi was all I needed to be like "NOPE, I'm done".
Previously-liked anime, manga, or movies: I previously liked Slice of Life comedies like Lucky Star and Azumanga, but Shakugan no Shana was really my first venture into anime with any sort of action.
Specifics you're looking for: I liked Attack on Titan...but only the action part of it. The drama just felt way too drawn out, so action without gaps of 4 episodes between segments is definitely something I'd be interested in. I like the idea of relationships in anime: nothing like "I hope this classmate notices my feelings" or anything super obvious like that, but more subtle and developed over time, like the primary relationship developed in Shakugan no Shana.
Desired length: 22~26 episodes.
Anime you've already seen: Azumanga, Haruhi, K-On, Lucky Star, Shakugan no Shana 1+2, probably like 3 others I forgot I watched 6 years ago, and 22 episodes of Attack on Titan (not going back to that). And most of the Ghibli movies made after 1990.
Anything else?: I've been recommended Dance in the Vampire Bund and Railwars. Are they any good?
You might like Kill la kil there's always action once every episode and the plot gets really interesting a few episodes in. People either hate it or love it, I loved it because you have to get a few episodes in to see how awesome it is.
 
Kill La Kill is to shoujo what Gurren Lagann is to mecha. Made by some of the same people, even. It's amazing.
 
Favourite genre(s): Action, Drama/psychological screw yous (like Death Note), Anime that can make me feel emotion like Angel Beats *cries*
Previously-liked anime, manga, or movies: AoT, Kill la Kill, SAO (season two is awesome!), Over lord (Catatonia plays in my head) *repeats Over Lord 20k times down this page* FMAB, CODE GEASS
Specifics you're looking for: I'm looking for a show with action that has a decent female lead and can pass the Bechtel (I think that's how you spell it) test, which is where the main female character either has 1/3 lines of dialogue be about a man or can be replaced in most scenes by a lamp in a dress. And hopefully one with decent LGBT representation unlike Log Horizon. (you get to see that rant later on) And with decent theme song music like Log Horizon, Over Lord, Code Geass, or FMAB (Golden Time Love does not count as that is a crime against humanity)
Desired length: 13-28 Episodes I need something that I can binge watch in a short amount of time as I'm busy with Community College and Standardized tests, I need the show to feel complete with the ending like Code Geass.
Anime you've already seen:
List of anime that Empoleon has watched:



Attack on Titan 9/10 NO CLOSURE

Sword Art Online 9/10 not enough main characters died

SAO 2/season 2 so far 10/10 (spoilers) They actually had characters die, deal with a realistic version of PTSD and how it can be present in some forms and not present in others. Also they gave a character AIDS and a sad future where they know they will not live, this made me die a little inside and at the same time be very happy as the writers are now cool with offing more than 1-2 characters in the middle of a season.

Blue Exorcist 7/10 no one died past the first episode, but still good.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 10/10 I listen to this show’s opening and ending music for hours and it was just pure amazing. I also refuse to watch regular Full Metal Alchemist because it sucked from what I watched. As no 5 year old should be talking in “baby talk” unless their parents hate them and seriously want to give them a speech impediment for the rest of their lives.

No Game No Life 9/10 Holy Miltank I nearly cried with in the first 30 seconds of the show laughing at Shiro kicking so much butt by using her feet to play MMOs.

Code Geass 8796879875646493493493/10 This show truly changed my life and will stick with me forever, if it didn’t have a full ending with no loose ends I would demand a 50th season when I become president. And if it didn’t have 56 episodes in it I would rewatch all of it right now. I have most of the theme songs on my ipod, and why they can’t put Orange Range on itunes is beyond me.

Death Note 9/10 Light is alive, Light is Alive and NOTHING EVER happened past season 1, NOTHING AT ALL!

Cowboy Bebeop 9.5/10 Truly amazing with a great sound track.

Baka and Test. 10/10 I haven’t finished the second season yet as I only watch it when I am having a bad day and need to laugh.

Nyan Koi 7/10 some episodes so far are a bit dry but it is quite funny.

Eureka 7 Butt/10 (I’m MATURE! : D) I couldn’t get past 15 episodes because I was so tired of nothing happening…really slowly and HOW THE PLOT BARELY MOVED!

Soul Eater 9.75/10 THIS WAS AWESOME. I listen to Resonance (first opening) on 10 hr loops most days and am listening to it right now. The music was amazing and I still have it stuck in my head. But sadly no main characters EVER died making it kind of predictable half way through.

Gantz -5/10 I couldn’t get past 2 episodes of it because it was too violent, people cursed WAAY too much and I wanted to slap the main character in the face with a chair, made out of metal…that has spikes on it.

Kill la Kill 10/10 Excellent writing, main characters died, lost things they held dear, and could be really funny at any given moment.

The Future Diary 15/10 It was so screwed up with Yono, so, so screwed up. But they had awesome representation of an LGBT character, Kosuka (I think that’s how you spell it), were NOT afraid to off main characters, YAAAAY! And the ending made me everything inside *cries while rocking back and forth in a chair*

Angel Beats 25475872537455799789897875465 Sad puppies/10 *You hear massive sobbing sounds and then a news report that half of the US is flooding with the tears of an Otaku, whahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!*

Log Horizon 6/10 The plot was good and Akatski was an awesome female lead because all you had to do was say the word “fight” and shivs would just appear in her hands while holding a hatchet in the other. It seriously lost 2 points because their only representation of an LGBT character was the definition of a stereotype that the show would have lost NOTHING had said character not existed, but instead we get the most stereotyped stereotype that ever stereotyped a stereotype with easter purple lipstick and hair and sounded like a 30 yr old trying to impersonate a sexist, negative stereotype teenage girl who’s dialogue was basically limited to “you go girl friend!”

/end rant
 
I would totally suggest Sailor Moon if it weren't for the fact that it's 200 episodes long. But it definitely fits your other specifics: almost all the main characters are female, lesbian relationship between main characters, awesome music, plus action, drama, and romance! :p

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
might be a better fit, though. Major Kusanagi is one of the prime examples of an awesome female lead in anime. The show itself is sci-fi/cyberpunk with action and drama. It's 2 seasons long, each season in 26 eps; I think the second season is better, but they're both good. And the music is Yoko Kanno so you know its amazing.

Also, if you liked SAO, you might want to check out an older anime with a very similar premise, .hack//SIGN. While I never saw SAO, I know people who have watched both and compare them on a lot of different fronts. I didn't actually care all too much for .hack myself, but it does have really amazing music (Yuki Kajiura <3 <3 <3). The original series was only 26 episodes, but there are related series and OVAs and even games and stuff if you find out you like it. Or you could also just download the sountrack.
 
I would totally suggest Sailor Moon if it weren't for the fact that it's 200 episodes long. But it definitely fits your other specifics: almost all the main characters are female, lesbian relationship between main characters, awesome music, plus action, drama, and romance! :p

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
might be a better fit, though. Major Kusanagi is one of the prime examples of an awesome female lead in anime. The show itself is sci-fi/cyberpunk with action and drama. It's 2 seasons long, each season in 26 eps; I think the second season is better, but they're both good. And the music is Yoko Kanno so you know its amazing.

Also, if you liked SAO, you might want to check out an older anime with a very similar premise, .hack//SIGN. While I never saw SAO, I know people who have watched both and compare them on a lot of different fronts. I didn't actually care all too much for .hack myself, but it does have really amazing music (Yuki Kajiura <3 <3 <3). The original series was only 26 episodes, but there are related series and OVAs and even games and stuff if you find out you like it. Or you could also just download the sountrack.
Ghahh somehow didn't put .hack season 1 on the list. I didn't watch the second last episode because the video didn't work. Also I heard Hetalia had decent characters in it but I don't know the reviews on it asides from that.
 
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I need to kill some time before the Fall TV season gets into full swing, so let's try this.

Favourite genre(s): mecha, sci-fi, psychological, action

Previously-liked anime, manga, or movies: Akira (yes, I'm that old), Gundam 0083, Infinite Ryvius, Vandread, Death Note, Valvrave the Liberator, Kill la Kill, SAO, AoT

Specifics you're looking for: Short, concise story, requires a bit of thinking, preferably newer (within the last five years)

Desired length: Nothing long-running, maybe 26 episodes tops. Episode length doesn't matter

Anime you've already seen: (older) Anything ever shown on Toonami, Escaflowne, Gurren Lagann, RahXephon, Neon Genesis, Avatar, Hunter x Hunter, anything Gundam (newer) Tokyo Ghoul, C, Tiger and Bunny, Psycho-Pass, Accel World, Legend of Korra

Anything else? One of my coworkers suggested Magica Madoka, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. If the series starts off with a strong story-arc and tries to shoe-horn another arc into the last couple of episodes (Gurren Lagann, SAO, AoT, Tiger and Bunny, etc.), just give me a heads up.
Madoka, Geass, and From the New World/Shin Seaki Yori seem like things you'd like, although Geass is from 07.
I doubt I'd have time (or the attention span) to watch one, but hey, if there's one open, then I'd like to at least try giving anime a shot again after a brief resurgence of not watching it after like, 6 years.

Favorite genre(s): Fantasy, Comedy, and Action are favorites of mine, but I'm willing to try anything except Horror and Psychological. Two episodes of Higurashi was all I needed to be like "NOPE, I'm done".
Previously-liked anime, manga, or movies: I previously liked Slice of Life comedies like Lucky Star and Azumanga, but Shakugan no Shana was really my first venture into anime with any sort of action.
Specifics you're looking for: I liked Attack on Titan...but only the action part of it. The drama just felt way too drawn out, so action without gaps of 4 episodes between segments is definitely something I'd be interested in. I like the idea of relationships in anime: nothing like "I hope this classmate notices my feelings" or anything super obvious like that, but more subtle and developed over time, like the primary relationship developed in Shakugan no Shana.
Desired length: 22~26 episodes.
Anime you've already seen: Azumanga, Haruhi, K-On, Lucky Star, Shakugan no Shana 1+2, probably like 3 others I forgot I watched 6 years ago, and 22 episodes of Attack on Titan (not going back to that). And most of the Ghibli movies made after 1990.
Anything else?: I've been recommended Dance in the Vampire Bund and Railwars. Are they any good?
I've heard Vampire Bund and Rail Wars are pretty bad. You might enjoy Gurren Lagann and various comedy/sol/romance such as: Spice and Wolf, Nichijou, Detroit Metal City, Non Non Biyori, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Azumanga Daioh, Aria (the one about gondolas, not scarlet ammo), Kimi Ni Todoke, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Humanity Has Declined, Sayonari Zetsubo Sensei, Bakemonogatari, Cross Game, Nodame Cantabile, Gintama, Toradora, Time of Eve, Silver Spoon, Genshiken, Hidamari Sketch, Bunny Drop, Jellyfish Princess, Squid Girl, Eccentric Family, and Honey and Clover.
Favourite genre(s): Action, Drama/psychological screw yous (like Death Note), Anime that can make me feel emotion like Angel Beats *cries*
Previously-liked anime, manga, or movies: AoT, Kill la Kill, SAO (season two is awesome!), Over lord (Catatonia plays in my head) *repeats Over Lord 20k times down this page* FMAB, CODE GEASS
Specifics you're looking for:
I'm looking for a show with action that has a decent female lead and can pass the Bechtel (I think that's how you spell it) test, which is where the main female character either has 1/3 lines of dialogue be about a man or can be replaced in most scenes by a lamp in a dress. And hopefully one with decent LGBT representation unlike Log Horizon. (you get to see that rant later on) And with decent theme song music like Log Horizon, Over Lord, Code Geass, or FMAB (Golden Time Love does not count as that is a crime against humanity)
Desired length: 13-28 Episodes I need something that I can binge watch in a short amount of time as I'm busy with Community College and Standardized tests, I need the show to feel complete with the ending like Code Geass.
Anime you've already seen:
List of anime that Empoleon has watched:



Attack on Titan 9/10 NO CLOSURE

Sword Art Online 9/10 not enough main characters died

SAO 2/season 2 so far 10/10 (spoilers) They actually had characters die, deal with a realistic version of PTSD and how it can be present in some forms and not present in others. Also they gave a character AIDS and a sad future where they know they will not live, this made me die a little inside and at the same time be very happy as the writers are now cool with offing more than 1-2 characters in the middle of a season.

Blue Exorcist 7/10 no one died past the first episode, but still good.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood 10/10 I listen to this show’s opening and ending music for hours and it was just pure amazing. I also refuse to watch regular Full Metal Alchemist because it sucked from what I watched. As no 5 year old should be talking in “baby talk” unless their parents hate them and seriously want to give them a speech impediment for the rest of their lives.

No Game No Life 9/10 Holy Miltank I nearly cried with in the first 30 seconds of the show laughing at Shiro kicking so much butt by using her feet to play MMOs.

Code Geass 8796879875646493493493/10 This show truly changed my life and will stick with me forever, if it didn’t have a full ending with no loose ends I would demand a 50th season when I become president. And if it didn’t have 56 episodes in it I would rewatch all of it right now. I have most of the theme songs on my ipod, and why they can’t put Orange Range on itunes is beyond me.

Death Note 9/10 Light is alive, Light is Alive and NOTHING EVER happened past season 1, NOTHING AT ALL!

Cowboy Bebeop 9.5/10 Truly amazing with a great sound track.

Baka and Test. 10/10 I haven’t finished the second season yet as I only watch it when I am having a bad day and need to laugh.

Nyan Koi 7/10 some episodes so far are a bit dry but it is quite funny.

Eureka 7 Butt/10 (I’m MATURE! : D) I couldn’t get past 15 episodes because I was so tired of nothing happening…really slowly and HOW THE PLOT BARELY MOVED!

Soul Eater 9.75/10 THIS WAS AWESOME. I listen to Resonance (first opening) on 10 hr loops most days and am listening to it right now. The music was amazing and I still have it stuck in my head. But sadly no main characters EVER died making it kind of predictable half way through.

Gantz -5/10 I couldn’t get past 2 episodes of it because it was too violent, people cursed WAAY too much and I wanted to slap the main character in the face with a chair, made out of metal…that has spikes on it.

Kill la Kill 10/10 Excellent writing, main characters died, lost things they held dear, and could be really funny at any given moment.

The Future Diary 15/10 It was so screwed up with Yono, so, so screwed up. But they had awesome representation of an LGBT character, Kosuka (I think that’s how you spell it), were NOT afraid to off main characters, YAAAAY! And the ending made me everything inside *cries while rocking back and forth in a chair*

Angel Beats 25475872537455799789897875465 Sad puppies/10 *You hear massive sobbing sounds and then a news report that half of the US is flooding with the tears of an Otaku, whahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!*

Log Horizon 6/10 The plot was good and Akatski was an awesome female lead because all you had to do was say the word “fight” and shivs would just appear in her hands while holding a hatchet in the other. It seriously lost 2 points because their only representation of an LGBT character was the definition of a stereotype that the show would have lost NOTHING had said character not existed, but instead we get the most stereotyped stereotype that ever stereotyped a stereotype with easter purple lipstick and hair and sounded like a 30 yr old trying to impersonate a sexist, negative stereotype teenage girl who’s dialogue was basically limited to “you go girl friend!”

/end rant
Kara no Kyoukai is an action movie series with a female lead. Revolutionary Girl Utena has action and LGBT stuff, but it's a bit long/old/weird so it may not be your thing. Wandering Son/Horou Musuko is about LGBT issues, but it's not an action series. I'm sure there are Ghibli movies I haven't seen with a strong female lead like Princess Mononoke. Kemono no Souja Erin has a female lead and I hear it's good, but it's on the long side and I don't know how much action is in it due to not having seen it.

You should consider making a profile on Myanimelist or something so you don't need to have a word document to keep track of everything you've seen. I'd advise against using the Bechdel test as a metric of quality for individual titles. Gravity and Boys Don't Cry fail it while 50 Shades of Gray does. It was invented in a 1985 comic strip as a joke bout the poor representation of women in films as a whole and really isn't suited for being a judge of quality/feminism in every work. A movie that consists of only two female characters who talk about nothing but stereotypes such as shopping and make-up would pass.
 
Madoka, Geass, and From the New World/Shin Seaki Yori seem like things you'd like, although Geass is from 07.

I've heard Vampire Bund and Rail Wars are pretty bad. You might enjoy Gurren Lagann and various comedy/sol/romance such as: Spice and Wolf, Nichijou, Detroit Metal City, Non Non Biyori, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Azumanga Daioh, Aria (the one about gondolas, not scarlet ammo), Kimi Ni Todoke, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Humanity Has Declined, Sayonari Zetsubo Sensei, Bakemonogatari, Cross Game, Nodame Cantabile, Gintama, Toradora, Time of Eve, Silver Spoon, Genshiken, Hidamari Sketch, Bunny Drop, Jellyfish Princess, Squid Girl, Eccentric Family, and Honey and Clover.
Kara no Kyoukai is an action movie series with a female lead. Revolutionary Girl Utena has action and LGBT stuff, but it's a bit long/old/weird so it may not be your thing. Wandering Son/Horou Musuko is about LGBT issues, but it's not an action series. I'm sure there are Ghibli movies I haven't seen with a strong female lead like Princess Mononoke. Kemono no Souja Erin has a female lead and I hear it's good, but it's on the long side and I don't know how much action is in it due to not having seen it.

You should consider making a profile on Myanimelist or something so you don't need to have a word document to keep track of everything you've seen. I'd advise against using the Bechdel test as a metric of quality for individual titles. Gravity and Boys Don't Cry fail it while 50 Shades of Gray does. It was invented in a 1985 comic strip as a joke bout the poor representation of women in films as a whole and really isn't suited for being a judge of quality/feminism in every work. A movie that consists of only two female characters who talk about nothing but stereotypes such as shopping and make-up would pass.
Thank you for the reccomenations. But I have to say that 50 shades not only fails the test harder than you can imagine as nearly every sentence is about a man and she gets abused beyond the point where she should kick him, but still goes back to him in the end. /end rant
Also is Hetalia good? I need opinions on it as from what I've heard it has awesome political stuff and LGBT characters in it.
 
Irrelevant to the topic at hand, but if you check, you'll see that Fifty Shades passes. Many disagree, but... yeah, it's a bad world.

I'll back Athena and suggest Ghost in the Shell... and maybe Black Lagoon, although the latter is more of a personal preference and doesn't fit the bill that much. But if you're looking for a good female lead, you can't get much better than Kusanagi.
 
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Madoka, Geass, and From the New World/Shin Seaki Yori seem like things you'd like, although Geass is from 07.

I've heard Vampire Bund and Rail Wars are pretty bad. You might enjoy Gurren Lagann and various comedy/sol/romance such as: Spice and Wolf, Nichijou, Detroit Metal City, Non Non Biyori, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Azumanga Daioh, Aria (the one about gondolas, not scarlet ammo), Kimi Ni Todoke, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Humanity Has Declined, Sayonari Zetsubo Sensei, Bakemonogatari, Cross Game, Nodame Cantabile, Gintama, Toradora, Time of Eve, Silver Spoon, Genshiken, Hidamari Sketch, Bunny Drop, Jellyfish Princess, Squid Girl, Eccentric Family, and Honey and Clover.
Kara no Kyoukai is an action movie series with a female lead. Revolutionary Girl Utena has action and LGBT stuff, but it's a bit long/old/weird so it may not be your thing. Wandering Son/Horou Musuko is about LGBT issues, but it's not an action series. I'm sure there are Ghibli movies I haven't seen with a strong female lead like Princess Mononoke. Kemono no Souja Erin has a female lead and I hear it's good, but it's on the long side and I don't know how much action is in it due to not having seen it.

You should consider making a profile on Myanimelist or something so you don't need to have a word document to keep track of everything you've seen. I'd advise against using the Bechdel test as a metric of quality for individual titles. Gravity and Boys Don't Cry fail it while 50 Shades of Gray does. It was invented in a 1985 comic strip as a joke bout the poor representation of women in films as a whole and really isn't suited for being a judge of quality/feminism in every work. A movie that consists of only two female characters who talk about nothing but stereotypes such as shopping and make-up would pass.
Ok one episode of Wandering Son was enough, it's too freaking depressing considering I have a Female to Male transgender friend. Time to try out Revolutionary girl Utena and Kusanagi.
 
I'll be very interested to see what you think of Utena. It's one of my favourite shows but I'm loathe to recommend it to anyone that doesn't like 90s shoujo stuff and melodrama, since it has a lot of both. If you do find yourself liking it though, then I would highly recommend my personal favourite anime: The Rose of Versailles, which has very similar style, themes, and concepts, just taking place in 18th Century Paris, France and having been made in the 70s.
 
I'll be very interested to see what you think of Utena. It's one of my favourite shows but I'm loathe to recommend it to anyone that doesn't like 90s shoujo stuff and melodrama, since it has a lot of both. If you do find yourself liking it though, then I would highly recommend my personal favourite anime: The Rose of Versailles, which has very similar style, themes, and concepts, just taking place in 18th Century Paris, France and having been made in the 70s.
I have to ask this, what anime is your avatar from?
 
It's not actually an anime, it's a fanart picture of the character Pieri from the game Fire Emblem: Fates.
 
Okay fam. What you got to do is that you got to go on Funimation, and watch the good stuff. Treat yourself to some Cowboy Bebop, or Trigun. Because you are all beautiful, and you are all worth it. :D
 
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