Immediately Satisfying Anime (for teens)

[Kenshin_sama]

Great news, everybody! After years of failed attempts at convincing someone in my family to try it, my sister is finally watching anime. What truly surprised me is that she's watching it with subtitles too, which should make recommendations a lot easier.

Anyways, the anime she started out with is Death Parade. She is apparently enjoying the game aspect of the anime, but I'm not sure if there are any others that I could safely recommend since something like NGNL would run the risk of her never talking to me, lol. I brought up Angel Beats after glancing over the recommendations on MAL, and she seemed to be somewhat interested, so I think it's alright to stray from the genre a little bit as long as it's at least somewhat exciting.

One thing she made very clear is that it has to be enjoyable from the first episode. Other than AB (and probably Death Note too), I'm not too sure what else would fit the bill. Most of my favorites are ones that usually need at least a few episodes of buildup. It's been a while since I watched it, and I'm not sure if it qualifies or not, but would Code Geass work at all?

[Silvz]

Hmm I'm just saying what comes to my head. I may elaborate in the future.

Madoka Magica - it's one of my favorite and simply all my friends who watched it (even who don't like animes at all) loved it.

Selector Infected WIXOSS - Very similar to Madoka (girls battling for their wishes, but with consequences). It is kind of a Yu-gi-oh meets Kyubey.

Little Witch Academia is very good, but I suggest watching the OVAs first, as they set the tone for the series (the show is great, but starts pretty slow).

If she's into heavy stuff, you could show her Attack on Titan, Mirai Nikki and Another - all of them are violent. Sword Art Online, although it is not good, it has a huge legion of fans around the world, and it is enjoyable.

AnoHana for drama, I think it is a good one. If she's into Girls Love (nothing explicit), you and her should definetely watch Shoujo Kakumei Utena (in Blu Ray!), as it is one of the best anime ever made to this date.

 

[Kenshin_sama]

1 hour ago, Silvz said:

Hmm I'm just saying what comes to my head. I may elaborate in the future.

Madoka Magica - it's one of my favorite and simply all my friends who watched it (even who don't like animes at all) loved it.

Hmm, I might have to rethink that a little. I was a little unsure about Madoka since it does need a couple episodes to build up, but that might not necessarily be a deterrent.

Selector Infected WIXOSS - Very similar to Madoka (girls battling for their wishes, but with consequences). It is kind of a Yu-gi-oh meets Kyubey.

Eh, that might be a bit heavy, and I'm not so sure it's ideal for an early anime viewer.

Little Witch Academia is very good, but I suggest watching the OVAs first, as they set the tone for the series (the show is great, but starts pretty slow).

If it was a fantasy action series, maybe. I'm not even really sure if pure fantasy is popular among teens.

If she's into heavy stuff, you could show her Attack on Titan, Mirai Nikki and Another - all of them are violent. Sword Art Online, although it is not good, it has a huge legion of fans around the world, and it is enjoyable.

AoT would be a great idea, actually. It has an excellent hype factor, is massively popular, and it's pretty gripping off the bat.

I think it'd be best to hold off on Mirai Nikki for the time being, as Yuno might be a bit too strong of a weird personality, lol. Well, maybe.

Not so sure about Another. I remember there being a number of boring episodes, and the exciting parts are a bit too few in between for it to be recommendable to a teenager.

I did enjoy SAO, but I'm not so sure how she'd react to the fanservice. Plus, it does start off kinda slow.

AnoHana for drama, I think it is a good one. If she's into Girls Love (nothing explicit), you and her should definetely watch Shoujo Kakumei Utena (in Blu Ray!), as it is one of the best anime ever made to this date.

I think she's a little too young to appreciate drama. Hmm, I haven't even watched Utena yet. It's been a while since I've watched anything from the 90s, so I think I'll give it a shot. If my sister doesn't mind the dated animation, I'll try and get her to watch it with me.

Responses in bold.

[Akshay]

Recommendations in bold ~

Psycho-Pass Has similar themes to death parade (psychological in nature). Starts up reasonably fast. Has female protagonist.

Death Note Both mature and psychological ,however does have mature themes and some form of fanservice (misa-misa). However most of the fanservice is only towards the mid-end and its not very much. She will probably be invested in it and not care too much if she does see it later.

Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler A classic. Action, psychological themes, this show has quite a lot of this stuff. One of my first animes. Told in interesting story arcs, with some problems similar to the ones viewed in death parade.

Steins;Gate After she has watched a couple anime. Starts a little slow

Youjuu Senki Another female (maybe?) protagonist. Very fast paced, very interesting concept. Not too long (12 ep) and very good visuals.

Gundam 00 A really awesome fast paced anime. Very fun and despite the action, feels more mature than most shounen.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Really nice romance with very interesting theme/story.

The thing in common with this list is it is full of safe choices, that can identify her taste. If she likes the Mayuri loop, in Steins;gate, then she will probably enjoy angst, so you could get her into things like Anohana or clannad. If she likes death note and gundam, code geass becomes a much safer bet despite the amount of fanservice it has. (Code Geass is very interesting but has too much early fan service. Stay away from this till she is more invested in anime.)  Another thing that you can try is to show her a few episodes of Mushishi, the storytelling style is similar to death parade. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is probably one of the best first romance-type anime to watch, it can get you into the genre, still go over the others on the list first. If she really likes gundam, guran lagan and Gundam Wing are viable options

Avoid SAO. Not only is it garbage, It is also a harem.

 
 

 

[Beichuuka]

Hyouka - I don't quite remember what ep 1 was like for it, but I remember it picked up quite quickly.

One Punch Man - Can't get much faster than that in terms of action.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - I hate how they skip over the first few episodes, but it does make it go faster overall.

Kuroko no Baske - ep 1 is enough of a hook, I think.

Baccano! and DRRR! - I remember showing these to teenagers a while back and they love it.

Magi - I would actually suggest watching ep1 of season 2 first. That got me pretty interested in the series.

Ookami to Koushinryou - aside from minor nudity should be fairly interesting

Reservoir Chronicles Tsubasa - not the best anime adaptation, but hey

Nodame Cantabile - I can't actually remember how it started but I know I enjoyed the entire series.

Gin no Saji - Again, not sure where it picks up, but is interesting from ep1

Moyashimon - If anything ep1 was probably the most interesting.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun - This was hilarious from start to finish.

Hikaru no Go - Is slow to pick up so goes against the requirements, but I'd still recommend this.

Kami-sama no Memo-chou - Being able to introduce a bunch of interesting characters in one episode is good

Edited October 28, 2017 by Beichuuka

[PapaRabbi]

1 minute ago, Akshay said:

Recommendations in bold ~

Psycho-Pass Has similar themes to death parade (psychological in nature). Starts up reasonably fast. Has female protagonist.

Death Note Both mature and psychological ,however does have mature themes and some form of fanservice (misa-misa). However most of the fanservice is only towards the mid-end and its not very much. She will probably be invested in it and not care too much if she does see it later.

Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler A classic. Action, psychological themes, this show has quite a lot of this stuff. One of my first animes. Told in interesting story arcs, with some problems similar to the ones viewed in death parade.

Steins;Gate After she has watched a couple anime. Starts a little slow

Youjuu Senki Another female (maybe?) protagonist. Very fast paced, very interesting concept. Not too long (12 ep) and very good visuals.

Gundam 00 A really awesome fast paced anime. Very fun and despite the action, feels more mature than most shounen.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Really nice romance with very interesting theme/story.

The thing in common with this list is it is full of safe choices, that can identify her taste. If she likes the Mayuri loop, in Steins;gate, then she will probably enjoy angst, so you could get her into things like Anohana or clannad. If she likes death note and gundam, code geass becomes a much safer bet despite the amount of fanservice it has. (Code Geass is very interesting but has too much early fan service. Stay away from this till she is more invested in anime.)  Another thing that you can try is to show her a few episodes of Mushishi, the storytelling style is similar to death parade. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is probably one of the best first romance-type anime to watch, it can get you into the genre, still go over the others on the list first. If she really likes gundam, guran lagan and Gundam Wing are viable options

Avoid SAO. Not only is it garbage, It is also a harem.

 
 

 

Seconding Psycho Pass

[pik3rob]

Well, there's not that many anime I can 100% say are good from episode one, and I assume you want something that is more conventional so I'm going with safe picks here

Gurren Lagann - an obvious pick to recommend. It's just incredibly fun from the very start and is easy to get hooked on.

Usagi Drop - fantastic anime that everybody should watch, and is amazing the whole way through. Only thing wrong is that it doesn't have an ending, but it doesn't matter too much with the type of story it is.

Hanayamata - If you want her to watch any CGDCT anime, then this is the one to give her. Very well done drama, well written characters, and it doesn't really have fanservice of any kind from what I remember.

Gakkou Gurashi - Most of the first episode sucks, but by the end of it, she'll be hooked.

Flying Witch - In the case of SOL/iyashikei, Flying Witch is probably the best introduction along with Usagi Drop. Has a fantastic first episode and the rest is harmless and charming.

[Funyarinpa]

Sakamoto Desu Ga? It's comedy but it's fucking HILARIOUS from the get go.

[mitchhamilton]

elfen lied.

 

jk, try say i love you. someone recommended usagi drop and i gotta second that one. just tell her not to read the manga if she ever gets the urge.

[Clephas]

Overlord

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

One Punch Man

Macademi Wasshoi (though you might consider filtering this one out, since I just picked it for being hilarious from day one... and it is kind of excessively ecchi/harem)

Drifters

Gundam 00 (just for the hell of it, see if she can get into it, lol)

Shakugan no Shana (Maybe?  It does get off on the right foot, even if the second season is slow)

FSN UBW (Comes out strong from the beginning, exciting right until the end... if you can stand Shirou)

Fate/Zero

Seto no Hanayome (extremely humorous series)

 

[URV]

Two titles I would definitely recommend to people new to anime are Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu and Boku dake ga Inai Machi. I believe they lack the various factors that might discourage newcomers from watching any more anime, and might also be appealing to people more used to western movies and TV shows. I would also throw in Kokoro Connect and Hyouka for good measure, though it's been a while and do not recall how strong they start off or maintain the pace—and do note that these two also have a fair amount of Slice of Life, which can get a bit boring for some.

Another thing that might be in favour of Rakugo would be that it is a Josei anime, meaning that it is aimed at women in their late teens on into adulthood (though as a man, I have to say it is one of my favourite anime overall, so the target audience shouldn't necessarily be taken to heart). I'm not sure how young your sister is or what she's like, but I believe that she might enjoy it better due to that. Another Josei anime I would definitely recommend is Sakamichi no Apollon, though I think it has much slower pacing than Rakugo. Alternatively, for even younger women (Shoujo anime), I recall I found Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun fairly enjoyable.

Additionally, you could always consider showing her some movies such as Kimi no Na wa or Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo.

Edited October 28, 2017 by URV

[Akshay]

36 minutes ago, Clephas said:

 

FSN UBW (Comes out strong from the beginning, exciting right until the end... if you can stand Shirou)

 

 

Did you hate shirou in general, or just the butchering of his character in the anime.

Edited October 28, 2017 by Akshay

[Clephas]

1 minute ago, Akshay said:

Did you hate shirou in general, or just the butchering of his character in the anime.

I disliked that 'women must be protected' BS that came out of him even when the female characters were so obviously infinitely stronger and more capable of him.  That was worse in the Fate arc, but it showed up in all of them.

[Akshay]

Just now, Clephas said:

I disliked that 'women must be protected' BS that came out of him even when the female characters were so obviously infinitely stronger and more capable of him.  That was worse in the Fate arc, but it showed up in all of them.

He was incredibly sexist. Somewhere in the middle of UBW and heaven's feel most of that vanished (save the occasional reference).

The shirou that walks the path of EMIYA must have got that bullshit beaten out of him.

[Clephas]

As a side note... you might want to advise your sister to clearly figure out which genres she prefers.  After she's sampled some of the best, she should have a good idea of what to look for, and you can just let her find her own way from there.  Finding your own niche, even if it is with help, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the psychological mutation that renders you an otaku.

[Akshay]

1 hour ago, Clephas said:

As a side note... you might want to advise your sister to clearly figure out which genres she prefers.  After she's sampled some of the best, she should have a good idea of what to look for, and you can just let her find her own way from there.  Finding your own niche, even if it is with help, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the psychological mutation that renders you an otaku.

Exactly. Though it is always nice to have someone to advise you a bit.

Watching the grisaia anime before the VN is in my top 10 regrets. That and watching school days....

[Fiddle]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure immediately satisfied me, especially in my nether regions.

[Kenshin_sama]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys; I think I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go from here. For anyone that hasn't commented yet, feel free to keep throwing out recommendations.

7 hours ago, Clephas said:

As a side note... you might want to advise your sister to clearly figure out which genres she prefers.  After she's sampled some of the best, she should have a good idea of what to look for, and you can just let her find her own way from there.  Finding your own niche, even if it is with help, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the psychological mutation that renders you an otaku.

That's a good idea. I do want to start her off with some safe picks based on what she likes right now, and I'm hoping she'll be hooked enough by the time she goes through through them all to branch out to other genres.

[Thyndd]

Asking for anime that starts strong from the beggining kinda narrows your options, since most good ones take their time to build up the story and characters and don't pick up until past the first quarter of even half  It also reduces in great measure the variety of genres since you won't find, say, a drama anime that keeps you on the edge of your seat from the get-go. 

So maybe my recommendation is to show her some good action anime first, like AoT, Fullmetal alchemist, Inuyasha maybe for a classic? Also a good one could be Akatsuki no Yona, since it has a really strong and badass female lead. Then I would try to convince her to watch some more slow and plot heavy ones, in order to make her appreciate the good story-telling. I would suggest steins;gate and shinsekai yori. 

These of course are merely generic recommendations, it would help to know her taste in other mediums like movies and literature. If I recall correctly my first animes were Death Note, Elfen Lied, Higurashi, Code Geass. So, edgy stuff, and here I am enjoying my Non non biyori slice of life whose maxim is cute girls doing cute things 

Bad joke of the day: show her oreimo. Sorry, I could not help it. 

Edited November 4, 2017 by Thyndd

[Kenshin_sama]

56 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Asking for anime that starts strong from the beggining kinda narrows your options, since most good ones take their time to build up the story and characters and don't pick up until past the first quarter of even half  It also reduces in great measure the variety of genres since you won't find, say, a drama anime that keeps you on the edge of your seat from the get-go. 

Damn right it does, lol. That's why I had to make this thread since most of what I watch either requires some form of buildup or it's not really suitable for her tastes. But what I'm hoping to do is give her a very strong impression of anime at the beginning in hopes that it sparks greater interest later on down the road. And if I'm lucky enough to get her into drama from watching Angel Beats, my recommendations list will grow drastically.

56 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

These of course are merely generic recommendations, it would help to know her taste in other mediums like movies and literature.

Super hero movies, comedy, western cartoons (she likes the 90s stuff more than newer ones), horror, and Disney/Disney-inspired films (hmm, maybe I should introduce her to Ghibli). There might be other categories she likes, but the ones I mentioned are what she mostly talks about.

She kinda broke the mold with Death Parade, which is why I'm thinking general recommendations would be for the best for now.

56 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

These of course are merely generic recommendations, it would help to know her taste in other mediums like movies and literature. If I recall correctly my first animes were Death Note, Elfen Lied, Higurashi, Code Geass. So, edgy stuff, and here I am enjoying my Non non biyori slice of life whose maxim is cute girls doing cute things 

True, lol, but I remember it taking a while for me to appreciate cute anime girls, myself. When I rewatched Rurouni Kenshin as an adult, I was much more attracted to Kaoru than I was initially.

Edited November 4, 2017 by Kenshin_sama

[Thyndd]

Being a fellow Rem enthusiast, have you considered Re:Zero? lol, if she is into horror and fantasy settings I think it kinda suits, doesn't it? Also the start is not terribly slow, nor terrible frantic either, but if she could put up with it the rest of the show is pretty damn thrilling.

 

Edited November 4, 2017 by Thyndd

[Kenshin_sama]

27 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Being a fellow Rem enthusiast, have you considered Re:Zero? lol, if she is into horror and fantasy settings I think it kinda suits, doesn't it? Also the start is not terribly slow, nor terrible frantic either, but if she could put up with it the rest of the show is pretty damn thrilling.

It's something I'd consider down the road, but not right now. Re:Zero is a psychological thriller series, not horror. And yeah, unfortunately it doesn't meet the requirement of being immediately satisfying. But, again, the goal here is to get her hooked off the bat so that she's more likely to sit through the slower stuff.

Despite her love for MCU, I couldn't get her to watch more of Agents of Shield because she didn't like the 1st episode (which, I'll admit, doesn't have the most compelling buildup phase). That's why strong starts are important.

Edited November 4, 2017 by Kenshin_sama

[PrincessOfFinch]

What about Parasyte? It starts off pretty good and I was instantly gripped by it - it's one of my favourites

Edit: But if she's not into horror then I wouldn't recommend it to her lol

Edited February 20, 2019 by PrincessOfFinch

[Kenshin_sama]

7 hours ago, PrincessOfFinch said:

Edit: But if she's not into horror then I wouldn't recommend it to her lol

She was able to sit through It in theaters (I am so proud of her), I think she can handle horror.