Intro to Anime

[Jon Miller]

cowboy bebop was ok dubbed

as was perfect blue

as was princess mononoke

Jon Miller

[monolith94]

Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke would also be good places to start, in addition to Metropolis..

[Boris Godunov]

I can count the Anime I've seen on one hand, but I have seen Akira, and actually own it. I think it's terrific.

[raghar]

If he will look at Utena why not try NGE afterwards?
I'd rather recommend to start with Ranma 1/2 or with Dragonhalf.
Slayers OAV are nice too. Then again for VERY interesting story I'd recommend Nadeshiko.

Excel is nice. Do you know Menchi?

[Wraith]

--"The disease is spreading..."

No, no no... not disease, addiction.

--"Wraith: What's your opinion of Lupin III?"

I've only seen Castle of Cagliostro, and it was good. Just keep in mind that a number of different creative teams have been involved in that franchise, so the quality varies from series to series.

--"Don't expect perfect physics or believable plots - anime ain't for you if these are important."

As opposed to the perfect physics and believable plots in US live action movies where they fly the space shuttle out to asteroids to plant bombs to blow it up, you mean? ^_^

It varies, as always. Some of the shows go far further out than others. Stuff like Jin-Roh does have perfect physics and a quite believable plot.

--"If he will look at Utena why not try NGE afterwards?"

Yeah, it's about the same category as Utena for a starter show. If you like action and arty movies, it'd be a decent one to check out.
Of course, if you get in to anime at all you'll have to see this series. It's one of the major titles.

Ranma is another Takahashi work, so same comment as Inu Yasha.
Dragon Half might be good if you really like off-the-wall comedy, but I'm not sure that something that makes such heavy use of the super-deformed style would be a good starter piece.

Wraith
"Man fears the darkness, and so he scrapes away at the edges of it with fire."
-- Rei Ayanami ("Neon Genesis Evangelion")

[RGBVideo]

No, no no... not disease, addiction.

What's the difference?

[Rasbelin]

Hmm... for some reason I didn't notice this thread previously. None the less, my suggestion is NGE, if you have been opressed (sorry, had to ) by Ari and Kassi to see it, but indeed it's a worthy starter. However maybe something like Hellsing could be a good one too, as it has more action than e.g. Lain.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
Lain seems like it might be good (but I am confused about it)

If you are not confused after watching Serial Experiments Lain there's probably something badly wrong with you...

[Wraith]

--"What's the difference?"

Cost.

Wraith
Anime: Drugs would be cheaper.

[SnowFire]

On the contrary Ari. Lain is unusual because it manages to tie things up so neatly while still having an intricate plot. My roommate actually slightly complained that everything was settled so well in it!

Not that you can't be confused of course, but Lain is unusually cohesive. I've actually been rewatching it again recently; good stuff.

Btw, as regards to "believable plots:" hard to say what you're getting at with this, but while some animes do indeed have the standard crazy nonsensical "And now let's do this!" going for it, there are plenty of shows that are at least self-consistent. Also, many of the shows with the zanier plots are comedies anyway, so it's less of an issue. That said, there certainly are a few "serious" animes with plots that the series creators seem to think are wonderful that are collander-like in the holes they have (cough, Gasaraki, cough).

[ixnay]

Here's what my gf and I say.

Good ones to start with:

Akira
Chobits
Love Hina
Gunsmith Cats
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Lupin III
Inu Yasha
any of the Gundams
Evangelion (though it gets confusing towards the end)
Outlaw Star
Slayers
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Castle in the Sky (done by Studio Ghibli, as well)
Sonic X (if only for Cream )

Ones NOT to start with:
Lain (seconding what Ari Rahikkala about it)
Excel Saga (it makes fun of cliches and such, so you won't get them unless you've watched a fair share of anime)

Ones you could watch, but really rather suck:
Dragonball Z
Sailor Moon (though Sailor Moon S was probably the best of the series)
Tenchi in Tokyo (Tenchi OVA is much better)

[Q Classic]

lighter fare tends or more stylish series seem to work better, imho, in introducing people to it: love hina, cowboy bebop, trigun, martian successor nadesico, ranma, maison ikokku, fruits basket, or hellsing, for instance.
movies all tend to be good at bringing people in, provided they're good movies. generally, anything by miyazaki is great to start with, and then both akira and jin-roh also work well. ghost in the shell is nice too.
one thing to watch out for, however, is that what you see is not going to be the same as the manga series, so if you're interested in those, be slightly aware of that.

generally, you'll get enough of a taste of the different genres of anime that way, and then you can start moving in on ones that you really might like.

i would, however, suggest you stay away from lain and evangelion to start off with. both are a bit too confusing to try to work through at first, imho, if you're not familiar with the medium. i didn't like lain the first time i saw it. key the metal idol is the same way.
excel is also one with that issue; it's quite hilarious and humorous, but the humor might often go way over your head because a lot of it is parodies of most every single anime around.