I always wanted to get into anime.

[09373472]

I sorta was, at one point -- I had a lot of friends who I would watch anime with. Well, due to moving and having no money, I abandoned anime/manga at all a few years ago (I hate streaming video or downloading 8GB+ for a single series).

Fast forward to today... I've had Neon Genesis Evangelion on a drive for years but never got around to watching it until... yesterday, and holy shit. 26 eps+End of Evangelion, my mind is blown. Fantastic! I can't believe I had put off watching it so long. Having watched that, it's relighted the desire in me to watch anime/manga.

I'm lost as to where to go from here. A few favourites of the past were normal fare -- Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, FLCL, Rurouni Kenshin. I think I also watched like... Chobits, Fruits Basket, Cardcaptor Sakura. Also, for manga: Elfen Lied (superb), a lot of Naruto (so-so, stopped reading around chapter 300), some Bleach (not too enjoyable).

So I guess what I'm looking for are suggestions for both anime and manga. Movies, series. I'd prefer something quality, shorter -- for example, NGE had 26 eps, Cowboy Bebop 26 too I think, and that's all they needed: They were outstanding enough to stand and say what they needed on their own without 200 episodes.

Tl;dr: High quality anime/manga recommendations please. Thanks.

(Side note: Neon Genesis Evangelion is ridiculously amazing, any thoughts on the Rebuild of Evangelion movies?)

Edit: Also, I am reading around the forums for suggestions. Just looking for sort of outstanding/quality works you'd suggest. Not really sure what are really considered 'genre-defining' for anime, though I'm looking for them -- that's sort of what I'm looking for.

[Headspin]

Cool man. So, some quality shows for your liking... well since you didn't specify the genre you enjoy watchign I take it you'll watch anything you think is good.

I am just finishing up this series called Blassreiter. Its pretty sick, very mature themed (good amount of gore/violence/cursing/etc). Others you should watch include Samurai X (three avi's), the two new NGE movies (1.0 and 2.0, they are incredible) and maybe try the Cowboy Bebop movie.

[Cammie]

Serial Experiments Lain.

And...hmmmm.

Outlaw Star?

[09373472]

Originally Posted by w1zard

Cool man. So, some quality shows for your liking... well since you didn't specify the genre you enjoy watchign I take it you'll watch anything you think is good.

I am just finishing up this series called Blassreiter. Its pretty sick, very mature themed (good amount of gore/violence/cursing/etc). Others you should watch include Samurai X (three avi's), the two new NGE movies (1.0 and 2.0, they are incredible) and maybe try the Cowboy Bebop movie.

Never got a chance to watch the Cowboy Bebop movie, completely forgot about it until now -- thanks, will definitely check it out, as well as the others (Samurai X is like... Kenshin when he was all assassin-y, right?).

Thanks for the suggestions.

Genres: Anything, really. If it's good I'll probably enjoy it. As mentioned, I'm looking for really quality series/movies/manga -- sorta genre-defining, or, at least, outstanding series. I've enjoyed Trigun (western-y, sorta), Record of the Lodoss War (very high fantasy), NGE (mechas and futuristic and such), Elfen Lied, Ranma 1/2, Cowboy Bebop; my likes are all over the place and not limited to specific genres.

Originally Posted by Cammie

Serial Experiments Lain.

And...hmmmm.

Outlaw Star?

Never heard of the first -- will look into it! And I've heard of Outlaw Star and never seen it, will look into that as well.

Thanks!

[Headspin]

Oh man, Serial experiments Lain FTW.

Go watch that first.