Anime Guide

Okay, this post is pure Otaku geekiness, so watch out.

I read a question on the Facebook Anime Q & A which foolishly asked something like "What are the best anime series, or which ones have you seen? List them all." so I took that as a challenge and present to you a list of anime that you should see in your lifetime.... This is just shows mind you, there are movies besides this, and I also couldn't remember everything:

Cowboy Bebop*, Neon Genesis Evangelion*, FLCL, Full Metal Panic (and Fumoffu), Escaflowne, Love Hina, Excel Saga, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Along Complex*, Fullmetal Alchemist (I used to think it wasn't, but its actually got a lot of the deepness of shorter series that long series tend to lack), Nana*, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Ranma 1/2, Mushi-Shi, Death Note, Monster* (Which I haven't seen, but its on ANN's top 10 and I've heard is good), Chobits* (Heard of the book "Love+Sex With Robots"? This anime/manga was way ahead of them), Lupin III (Great Classic, plus a lot of anime's reference it) Mobile Suit Gundam (Not necessarily one of the best, but its something you should see at least some of), Galaxy Express 999 (Or at least Queen Emeraldas), Tenchi Muyo and Universe, Trigun, Fist of the North Star* (Like, four random episodes, then you'll get pretty much any reference) Cardcaptor Sakura (Possibly the best magical girl anime), Sailor Moon (At least some, just because its so popular), Dragonball and Dragonball Z (At least some of each, again, because its so popular), Azumanga Daioh, Paniponi Dash, Slayers (all three of the main 26 eps. series and some of the movies and OVAs), and since I'm getting tired of this, I'll finish it with Martian Successor: Nadesico.

Those are the lifetime ESSENTIALS that I could think of for anyone who hopes to consider themselves any sort of true anime fan in my book. If you wanted to just get by in the world of anime the list would be shorter, but it would contain stuff from that list. Note none of that funky Naruto or Pokemon is up there, why? Not essential and, out of anything, thats what you've probably seen or heard of anyway. Some other recommendations I have are: Mai-HiME, Witch Hunter Robin, Serial Experiment Lain*, Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Champloo*, Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Lucky Star, AIR, Kanon, Baccano*, Ichigo 100%, Denno Coil,Paranoia Agent*, Karin, Claymore*, Elfen Lied (Though that last one is definitely rated MA 17+)

(* denotes a especially violent or otherwise more mature series series)

As to movies, heck, probably a fair number I haven't seen yet, but I know Akira, Ghost in the Shell, anything by Hayao Miyazaki, Steamboy, End of Evangelion... I dunno, most anime movies I've heard of are pretty dang good, I guess because if they bother giving an anime artist a movie budget he's pretty big in the industry. Oh, aside from the Miyazaki films and Steamboy (which most anyone could watch), those other three range from fairly to really quite graphic, definitely R.