Anime for People Who “Hate Anime”: Part 2 of 3

For those of you returning from Part 1, welcome! For people that didn’t read Part 1, fear not! You don’t need to have read that to read this one.

In Part 1, I covered the “Soft Start” to finding anime that has the potential to hold the interest of even the most anime-avoidant viewer, focusing on three spectacular films (Tokyo Godfathers, Spirited Away, and Metropolis) and one spectacular show (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

So in this one, I’ll cover “classic” anime, which for this list I’m defining as having aired in or before 2005. I also stuck with my guidelines from Part 1, only including shows around 60 episodes or less, and avoided the seriously strange ones (even though my heart wanted to include titles like Paranoia Agent).

In this section, I will also include notes on which series were approved by My Wife, That Hates Anime. I feel like any series that can impress her, is worth noting. She has extremely high standards when it comes to art and storytelling, so she’s probably a good gauge when it comes to assessing a non-anime fan’s tastes.

-> Classics

There is a certain nostalgia factor to these titles, and that is probably why so many anime fans will recommend them. A lot of them are quite old, with an art style that may or may not have aged well, but there is a reason people still talk about these. They helped lay the foundation for future titles, and helped sparked the Western popularity of Japanese animation.

I’m not a super anime scholar, but these are the basic ones that tend to always come up. I tried to select ones that would also interest a modern audience with no background in watching anime as a kid, and still withstand the test of time (so, I won’t be doing Sailor Moon or Dragonball, sorry, guys).

Cowboy Bebop

Image Source: Hulu.com

Universally loved and critically adored, Cowboy Bebop has been a standout anime since its initial airing back in 1998. It’s considered to be one of the greatest anime of all time, both by past and modern audiences alike. Praised for its style, mood, writing, jazzy soundtrack and amazing characters, I’d be remiss to omit it from this list, even though I have not personally watched very much of it.

Dubbed a ‘sci-fi western’, Cowboy Bebop is full of rich, developed characters to fall in love with, an imaginative setting, plenty of action, and a depth of emotion that seems to be rarer in anime that you’d think. Bright colors, ingenious music, and badass bounty hunters in space? There’s a reason people love this title so much – and it has wonderfully strong ladies in it, to boot.

As a bonus, this one gets a resounding approval from My Wife, That Hates Anime. I asked her to describe what she liked about it and what made it good, and she started gushing praise. Quite the compliment, I’d say.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Image Source: Anime News Network

Forever remembered for its captivating opening songs/sequences and its inspiration for The Matrix, the entire Ghost in the Shell franchise is wildly popular and respected.

I chose Stand Alone Complex because it seems to … stand out (cough) from its sister titles in terms of depth, animation, and storytelling. I have personally only caught a couple episodes of this show, but I recognize its importance to the entire science fiction genre as a whole.

The bare bones of the story is that Ghost in the Shell takes place in a futuristic society where robots/androids/etc. are a commonplace occurrence. The main character, a strong, skilled, smart android babe, works for a special division of the police force handling tech-related crimes. Specialized, dangerous, and admittedly pretty dang hot, she cleans up the city’s mess in a typically bad-ass fashion.

Called “disturbing plausible” in its vision of the future, Ghost in the Shell is violent, psychological, and fantastical, all at once. It receives consistently high ratings online and praise from avid fans. Its serious tone may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s considered a masterpiece by a very wide audience.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Image Source: Wallpaper Abyss

Few anime are as notorious (and iconic) as Neon Genesis Evangelion.

It’s violent. It’s wild. It’s psychologically taxing … to the point where there are half-hour YouTube videos explaining it’s thick-as-molasses-in-winter plot. It’s also known for its bizarre series of unsatisfying, mind-twisting ending episodes, but let me explain why it’s earned its place here on this list of recommendations for people who aren’t even into anime in the first place.

While there are a lot of entries on the list of anime featuring giant robots and their child pilots, Evangelion was one of the forerunners. It originally debuted back in 1995, paving the way for many similarly-themed titles to follow it into the Western market (including a personal favorite of mine, which also has an article here on SG – Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet).

One word I would use to describe this show: chilling. This show is an absolute horror to behold. You’ve got a planet that has survived multiple apocalypse scenarios, and humanity is hanging on by a thread as it tries to defend itself from the massive, destructive creatures called ‘angels’ that roam the Earth, killing all humans they possibly can.

And the fate of the world rests on a 14-year-old’s shoulders. His brain holds up about as well as you’d think, given the situation. (Read: it collapses, okay, he’s fourteen.)

So if you are in the market for a show to cleave your brain with a spiked baseball bat, No Fun Allowed, everyone is dying oh god MAKE IT STOP, catch the first episode of this wonder of anime.

Alternatively, instead of watching the original 1995 series, its studio has been graciously blessing us with a series of full-length movies that hammer out all the issues of the television anime. More accurate to the original story of the comic and much easier to follow, the first three exist already for your viewing pleasure, with one more scheduled to come.

Did I sell this show? I promise it’s good, if psychological drama is what you are into. You may want to murder half the cast, but you’ll never be bored.

Samurai Champloo

Image Source: Funimation

What do you get when you combine low-fi hip hop, impeccable animation, and edo-period samurai? This show right here, of course! Even the opening theme is mesmerizing – and really gives you a solid feel for the tone of the show.

Watch it here:

Impossibly stylish and slick, this expertly crafted show has a very broad range of appeal to maximize its audience. Don’t care for samurai shows? Doesn’t matter. Neither do I. But there is something captivating about Samurai Champloo that left a craving deep inside of me. There really isn’t anything quite like it.

In short, it’s the tale of two samurai and a waitress that are thrown together by wild circumstances, who then travel together on a shared quest to find the supposed greatest samurai in existence. That might not sound particularly interesting, but the charm of this show lies in its three lead characters and their (admittedly bizarre) chemistry, and the weird situations they keep finding themselves in.

To call this show ‘eccentric’, would be putting it lightly. It’s one of a kind, beautifully animated, and perfectly executed in terms of music and art direction. It was one that as a teenager, I didn’t really appreciate. As an adult, however, I was able to appreciate the pure craft of its art.

It’s smart, it’s funny, and holds a special place in a lot of anime fans’ hearts.

Mushishi

Image Source: Hulu.com

Mushishi is such a gem, I’ve already written an entire article to itself (which you can find here on SG under the ‘anime’ tag!). Words really do not express my love and admiration for this show, but I’ll sum it up here again because I don’t think I’ll ever really tire of singing its praises.

Visually beautiful beyond words. Emotional depth. Expert writing. Zero fanservice, all storytelling.

Like Samurai Champloo, this series takes place in the Edo period of Japan. But instead of action and swords and babes, you’ve got a fantasy twist on the old traveling healer story. The main character, Gin, roams from village to village in Japan helping people that have encountered the magical spirits of the world that live among us (the titular ‘mushi’).

Sometimes the answer is straightforward, but other times … well, it can get dicey.

Part horror, part fantasy, part surrealist dream, Mushishi is a truly one of a kind anime. I described previously that watching it is like slipping into a warm bath, and I still stand by that. There is a comfort is its quietness and its imaginativeness. It wakes my soul and my mind.

My Wife, That Hates Anime watched an episode and really liked it. She’s agreed to watch more, which is a good first step, I’d say. :’)

Gantz

Image Source: Netflix.com

I’m taking a gamble including this one, but it’s one worth taking, I think. People either love it or hate it, but I personally adore this show.

To summarize Gantz, it’s a pure sci-fi/action anime about recently-deceased people that are brought back to be given a second chance … so long as they participate in the strange, video game-like war on aliens that they have been drafted into by the mysterious black ball known only as Gantz.

It is OVER THE TOP in both violence and sexuality. Its psychology is simultaneously fascinating, and dark as charred black coffee. There is non-stop blood, graphic (and creative) gore, equal-opportunity nudity/fanservice, full-on explicit sex, and characters with a complete lack of morals. And, some, with golden morals.

Hard to watch? Possibly. Utterly amazing? Also possibly.

It also possesses dissertation on human nature/psychology, which I love. It boasts a realism that is hard to find in other media, in the way that it shows how real, normal people would react in a situation such as this one – being handed a gun and told to kill aliens with no other explanation.

Spoiler (but not actually): a LOT of people don’t make it past their first round.

Feeling brave? Feeling curious? Ready to see the darkness, and utter strength, that lies within human hearts? Try Gantz on for size, but don’t say I didn’t warn you! It’s jarring, to say the least, but worthwhile all the same.

This one is also lovingly approved by My Wife, That Hates Anime. But she’s also really into horror movies. Her gore tolerance is through the roof.

Fullmetal Alchemist (Original 2003 Series)

Image Source: Funimation

And, of course, I saved the best for last. (And don’t worry, I’ll be covering its remake, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in the next segment as a separate entry!)

If you only give one a chance on this list, pick this one. Seriously.

Very few flawless works exist. This is one of them.

Set in its own fictional world, it is, on the surface, a tale of two brothers that try to cheat death and bring their mother back to life using the magical science of alchemy, this world’s power source. After failing spectacularly (and losing limbs/whole bodies in the process), the brothers now travel the world searching for the fabled Philosopher’s Stone, which they believe may be the answer to restoring their bodies after their botched attempt at necromancy.

Bitingly funny and heartbreakingly profound, Fullmetal Alchemist handles many tricky issues including living with disabilities, government corruption/conspiracies, human desperation, ingrained racism, unjustified violence … man, you name it.

And to top it all off, it was written by a woman. That would explain why the series is chock-full of deep, developed female characters, all of whom are so real it almost hurts. This show goes out of its way to say that a ‘strong woman’ isn’t one that never struggles, or never cries, or is always in bad-ass mode. These are real people, not cartoon characters.

Naturally, this one is immensely approved by My Wife, That Hates Anime. She’d watched it before we even met. This show really does set the bar, in every single way.

*A note:

There are two versions of this show, this one being the first, and the remake being Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. FMA:B is considered the better of the two, as it follows the original story of the comic much more faithfully than this one does, but this one has its own merits.

Stylistically, it is much more serious than Brotherhood, and even the colors are darker. This one takes itself more seriously, and I appreciate it on its own without having a preference between the two. However, if you are only going to try one or the other, I’d have to recommend Brotherhood.

So there you have it!

I hope you found a few of these interesting enough to give it a try! I’d be very interested in any feedback, even if it’s just to chew me out for omitting Sailor Moon.

Do you hate anime, but like one of these? Do you love anime, and absolutely hate one of these? If so … I bet it was Evangelion. :’)

So that was Part 2! The last segment, Part 3, will deal with post-2005 anime that might strike your fancy. Have any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Guesses? Feel free to drop a comment!

See you next time!

Ready to give one of these anime a try? Shop our Amazon affiliate links here: Cowboy Bebop, Stand Alone Complex, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Samurai Champloo, Mushishi, and Fullmetal Alchemist!