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I know I’m late to the party but I absolutely had to come here to BEG you guys to watch Attack On Titan!!! The storytelling and character development in this show is insane. It’s not too long and the last season comes out this year, just in time for you guys to participate on the discussion :D I’m not a huge anime fan but I swear this is one of the best shows (animated or live action) I’ve ever watched, and in terms of storytelling you’d definitely have a lot to discuss!

Ohh great choices :)

Hi! I’ve never commented on something like this before but it seems fun ☺️ so anyways I feel Trisha for sure with the adult cartoons and I pretty much only like Steven universe (I know that’s more of a kids show) and bobs burgers because it doesn’t have much violence in it. I was really curious if anyone from the team has seen / thoughts on these animated movies :) ? I’d be so interested to hear if anyone has time to answer (I don’t know how these things work) - anything by Hayo Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli (princess Mononoke or Nausïca) - anything by Tomm Moore (wolf walkers , song of the sea, breadwinner , or the secret of kells)? Mahalo for your work ! I’ve learned so much :)

I feel Trisha very much, I just do not enjoy the deliberate unaesthetic look of adult cartoons. I don't mind them being used for adult themes, but I feel like they are too often reduced to being crass. Which is why I highly recommend Bojack. It really is incredible. As for anime (speaking as someone who likes anime but is not by any means a huge afficionado, so I usually only watch the smaller things), I will always recommend Your Name by Makoto Shinkai. I'm kinda sure you guys have seen it but if not, go watch it. It's one of the few perfect films in my opinion. When it comes to anime series, I really love Food Wars (Shokugeki no Soma), which is just the most epic version of a cook-off you'll ever see, and it's highly engaging. You have to get over the fanservice though. I also recommend Ms Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, which is just the sweetest, very quickly binged slice of life fluff you'll find. If you want something really dark, go watch Hellsing (Original or Unlimited). It is very gritty and violent, but it is SO engaging and there are some of the beste monologues in there I have ever heard. Plus Alucard is the ONLY vampire you'll take seriously from then on.

Oh and I can't watch Big Mouth, something about the proportions of the characters, can't watch it

This is perhaps the only movie I regret not seeing in 3D in cinemas (although you mentioned that there was a 3D Coraline, so now there's two!) So refreshing and a movie I'll watch time and time again

Great choices, these are perfect for getting someone into the anime spectrum

Jawaun Reid

Everyone has already made fantastic anime suggestions, and I especially recommend Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - though it is a longer series at around 60 episodes, there are few other examples with as fine a pay-off for the time invested. For a shorter series that partners well with The Good Place, might I offer a plate of Death Parade - only 12 episodes.

Mortegris

Oh, and in case anyone reading this wants some recommendations for Western animations, give Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall a try. Gravity Falls is like Stranger Things for pre-teens, it has great humor and it is filled with codes and secret messages that the creator included in the episodes for fun. When first airing, fans would rewatch episodes over and over again to try and catch all of the codes and then they would try to decipher it together. Over the Garden Wall is a 10 episodes mini series that is about two hours long, if all that if you watch it all at once. It’s very atmospheric and great to watch during the fall, as it has this very American folk tale vibe. Both are available on Hulu, and Gravity Falls is also on Disney+, if I’m not mistaken. Naturally, Avatar The Last Airbender goes without saying.

Bel

Sorry for any typos, by the way. I wrote this on my phone

Bel

Oh boy. I love Anime. Though not technically anime, I’ve recommended Avatar already, so I won’t do it again (especially since people already did here). Other than Cowboy Bebop, Death Note, NGE and FMA, here are some of my other favorites: Psycho-Pass has a similar premise as Minority Report, so that would be an interesting analysis. I personally like Psycho-Pass a lot better, and find the antagonist of the first season fascinating. The first season can work as a stand-alone, so you wouldn’t need to watch anything else besides it unless you wanted to. Durarara!! and Baccano! both have ensemble casts and a very different approach to storytelling. They were based on light novels by the same author, and they have a really chaotic feel, one where things don’t start to make sense until you are well into the series. Baccano! has less episodes and it is more extreme at doing that than Durarara!!, but I think the licensing expired a while back, so it might be harder to find a legal version of it to watch. Durarara!! is more popular, has an amazingly unique sociopath of an antagonist, but it has a lot more episodes. The first seasons is pretty self-contained, though, so you could watch just that (the sequel didn’t come out until years and years later). I will say, these are not series that are easy to watch casually (Baccano! especially), as you can miss a lot of important stuff even if paying close attention to it. Baccano! involves alchemy during 1920s/30s America, and Durarara!! Involves gang wars and urban legends in modern day Japan. They are technically part of the same universe. Erased is a great self-contained 12 episode mystery that involves time travel. Highly recommend it!! I haven’t watched it, but drama wise I hear Your Lie in April is a proper tearjerker. It’s a romantic story, more slice of life. It’s been on my to-watch list for forever. One of my favorite mangas, Fruits Basket, recently got a reboot. It has heavy elements of romance and comedy, but also a lot heartbreaking backstories. Even though there’s one big supernatural element to it, it is more slice-of-life and deals heavily with themes of trauma and abuse. I’m not going to recommend Tolyo Ghoul, because even though I love it, it’s horror and gory, so I wouldn’t blame someone for not being able to stomach it. Some of the things that happen in it are pretty messed up. I’m going to mention it, though, in case anyone reading the comments is interested in trying some new animes and is okay with horror. No. 6 is an interesting sci-fi one that I hardly ever see a lot of buzz around. It’s only about 12 episodes long or so. Dystopia, and the main/only romantic couple is a gay one, which was amazing when I first watched it. If you want to dive into the Sports Anime genre, Free!! And Yuri no Ice are good options. Free!! has multiple seasons, but the first one is pretty self-contained (to be honest, I never bothered finishing the second). The animation quality is not as great and the art style is a bit different, but my absolute favorite thriller ever (in any media, be it books, movies, TV series) is Monster, based on Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. It’s set in late 80s/early 90s Germany and Europe. It’s one of those stories I wish I could forget so I could experience it for the first time again. I can not recommend it enough, and I’m pretty sure you can find all the episodes on YouTube (another one where licensing expired already). The manga won awards and I consider it a master piece. Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance) is a great 12 episode one that I think is very accessible to non-Anime watchers. And I wish I could recommend one of the Anime adaptations of Black Butler, my favorite manga. It’s set in Victorian England and it involves a 12 year old boy making a Faustian deal with a demon. However, the only adaptation I believe does the story justice (Black Butler: Book of Circus) is not a good introduction to the story or its characters, and the first Anime versions of it butchered characterization to the point I find it unwatchable. I think that gives a good range of some Anime that are easy to find and can be incredibly entertaining even for non-Anime fans. I didn’t recommend a lot of horror or on-going series, so everything here is complete or have a first season that can be treated as stand-alone.

Bel

I agree with all before me who have already said that Cowboy Bebop and Avatar are great shows. I also liked Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I watched the dubbed version on Netflix and enjoyed it immensely. It's more of a commitment than the other two shows but worth the investment

I can only agree, both Death Note and Avatar: The Last Airbender are amazing shows! My ex introduced me to Death Note and it’s the only thing that made that relationship worth it.

I haven’t watched a whole lot of anime but of what I have seen, I highly recommend Neon Genesis Evangelion. It isn’t only my favorite anime, it’s one of my all time favorite shows and favorite pieces of filmmaking. It’s only 26 episodes plus a movie and on Netflix. Also Avatar: The Last Airbender is absolutely incredible. First season can be a little slow but it’s still one of the best tv shows ever made.

Thanks, Chris!

Brian Bitner

In regards to the anime one-and-done suggestions, I don't think you can go wrong with Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. As for the movie side, Akira and Ghost in The Shell are 2 classics that are great places to give anime another chance if you guys haven't already!