Anime 101

[Jon Miller]

generally hentai is much more perverted than standard porn, because it is animated they can do a lot more than regular porn

JM

[loinburger]

yeah, it's pretty difficult to do a good live-action tentacle demon using the meager budget allocated to most porn flicks.

[Japher]

If only porn had a bigger budget... (why am I still looking in this thread?)

[DanS]

I second Berserk. It's pretty hard core, though. Lots of blood and even somewhat disturbing.

[loinburger]

I liked Berserk, but I didn't like that they're not finishing the series.

Come to think of it, you might want to give Key: The Metal Idol a shot. I'd say it qualifies as more of a fantasy series than a sci-fi series.

If you're more after grittiness or suspense or whatever, then Perfect Blue and Jin-Roh are good choices. In my experience they're also more likely to be stocked at local video stores than are a lot of other titles. (If you're using Netflix then this is less of an issue.)

[Jon Miller]

Perfect Blue and Jin-Roh

both great movies

JM

[Theben]

How did I know that as soon as this thread was started, Wraith would show up?

I swear you don't see him for months at a time and as soon as the word 'anime' appears in a title *poof* he's here.

[chequita guevara]

Still haven't seen Jin-Roh,

[Q Classic]

I'd like to mention the following:

Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Read or Die, Trigun, and definitely, Azumanga Daioh.

Of those, maybe the first four would fit best with a sort of sci-fi/fantasy leaning deal. The last one, well, is just an amazingly funny series.

[Modo44]

My personal choices:

Ghost in the Shell - very, very impressive piece of art
Metropolis - loosely based on the original movie from 1926
Akira - based on the classic Manga
Hellsing - vampires galore; very cool sense of humor; bloody
Mononoke Hime - ...


Other "Miyazaki movies" I liked:

Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
Tenku no shiro Rapyuta (Laputa: Castle in the Sky)

Spirited Away kinda missed my brain's fun centre.

[Wraith]

--"I liked Berserk, but I didn't like that they're not finishing the series."

Have you been getting the manga? It's still ongoing in Japan, of course (think they're on 26 or 27), but Dark Horse is up to 5 on the translation.

--"you might want to give Key: The Metal Idol a shot."

The problem with this, and most of the other suggestions, is that they don't really fit the "deep mythological world" dv8ed mentioned. Key, Perfect Blue, and Azumanga are all modern-day Japan, for instance.
Jin-Roh is alternate history, with Japan occupied by Germany at the end of WWII.
Cowboy Bebop is in the future, but it has a fairly standard sci-fi universe set up. And so on.

Of course, if he'd give us more than just Gargoyles to go on... ^_^

I'd almost recommend Fushigi Yuugi, except that I couldn't stand it. However, it does have the whole mythological world thing going for it, and it seems incredibly popular among the fangirls. I just can't figure out why.

--"I swear you don't see him for months at a time and as soon as the word 'anime' appears in a title *poof* he's here."

It's my kumo-kun senses.

But seriously, it was pure luck. I've been in a somewhat boring training class this week, so I stopped by to see what was up. Saw the title, clicked, and Bob's your uncle.

--"Mononoke Mime - ..."

Think you mean Mononoke Hime, but he already mentioned that she's seen it.

Edit:
Hmm, now that I think about it, you might want to consider Texhnolyze. It's got quite a good world set up, although it's definitely on the sci-fi side of things. It's very, very dark, though. Basically a ganster (Yakuza) series with sci-fi.

Wraith
"Could you stop eating my gun?"
- Mihoshi ("Tenchi Muyo")

[Q Classic]

Jin-Roh is alternate history, with Japan occupied by Germany at the end of WWII.

That's not what I remember... No occupation, just that Japan turned into an authoritarian police state...

Hmm, now that I think about it, you might want to consider Texhnolyze. It's got quite a good world set up, although it's definitely on the sci-fi side of things. It's very, very dark, though. Basically a ganster (Yakuza) series with sci-fi.

Texhnolyze I've heard good things about, but I haven't seen it yet. The people behind it are the same ones that did Serial Experiments Lain, which is also a good anime... but not very accessible, and so probably not something to start off on.

[Kassiopeia]

Yup, in Jin-Roh Japan was not occupied and after a brutal civil war or somesuch it developed into an authoritarian police state. (The Allied powers apparently had nothing to object in this. )

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Modo44
Metropolis - loosely based on the original movie from 1926

It's not based on it very much at all. It's based on post-war Japanese manga.

[St Leo]

Just rented and watched Ghost in the Shell and Akira with a friend.

GitS is great. Art-house movie quality. Very beautiful and meditative. Makes you wonder why they still bother making live-action stuff.

Akira is meh. The characters are distasteful and the science is crap. Explosions are kinda cool.