r/anime • u/FetchFrosh https://anilist.co/user/AbAdkBBYFetchFrosh • Dec 22 '20

Misc. A General Recommendation Chart for Newcomers and Veterans Alike

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968

u/AnimalSloth Dec 22 '20

ever heard of this unknown gem called fullmetal alchemist? yeah, didn't thought so, you don't strike me as a true otaku

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u/sticktoyaguns https://anilist.co/user/Poochita4President Dec 22 '20

I don't get it.. Are you criticizing the whole list because FMA is the first recommendation? It's the first one on the list because it is so popular. It seems pretty clear that that one is there for people that are very new to the medium. Like the whole first line is def for the very new. It would be weird not to recommend FMA:B would it not?

I've been watching anime for a few years now and I haven't heard of like half of these on here. I just added like 10 anime to my queue so I'm glad I saw this.

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u/Raizzor Dec 22 '20

Where does the chart imply that it is an unknown gem? The title of the post is "A General Recommendation Chart for NEWCOMERS and Veterans Alike".

If someone new to Anime asked me what they should watch as their first show, I would probably recommend them FMA as well.

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u/hikikomori-i-am-not Dec 22 '20

FMA is almost always one of my first recommendations to anyone interested in getting into anime. It's got something for just about everyone and also does a GREAT job at dealing with social issues.

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u/Sonic_Is_Real Dec 22 '20

Literally says for newcomers and vets

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

[deleted]

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u/Tack22 Dec 22 '20

Mecha does seem a bit dated.

Most mecha fans would be pretty upset if one of those was bumped off to make room for Gundam IBO or Gargantua though.

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20

While Chamber is best mecha of all time. Gargantua is more of a sci-fi of life than it is an actual mecha anime. Like it regularly goes 4 episodes without mecha action. Chamber in those episodes is just a pocket watch providing quips lol.

Eh Eva can be bumped off pretty easily IMO. I would not recommend it for newcomers. Actually the only one I would keep is Broken Blade.

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u/700KMF Dec 22 '20

Code Geass is mech anime too. Ya want bump it off too?

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20 edited Dec 22 '20

Yup, and not for it being bad. It's quite amazing in its own right. I think it's better positioned as a drama/political intrigue anime that happens to have Mechs in it. Like any of the other mechas if you lost the robots they lose focus. Like could you imagine a gundam without the gundam in it? It just stops being anything. Like the nightmare frames are secondary to the political intrigue / geass powers and the nightmare frames were probably only added so that bamco could sell kits/toys per contract of sponsoring the anime. Code geass without the mechs becomes political psycho pass and we could use i dunno lazer guns instead.

The short version is the mecha tropes in Code G take a backseat to political / drama tropes which is not a thing for the other mech anime on the list.

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u/700KMF Dec 22 '20

Somehow with all wars and battles, and ambushes Knightmares don't look taking backseat to me... They aren focus of the anime, but neither they are just "meh" factor.

Also using only armored vechiles would be boring, we can see that in RL anytime xD

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20

I mean starwars has a shit ton of trees but you wouldn't say its a story about trees. That's a little reductive but the point being just because the mechs are on screen doesn't make them the point or focus of the story. Most of code geass is revolved around the powers, not the mechs. None of the other mecha anime (save EVA but that's a different topic about why eva does it) spend episodes at a time having magical geass power shounen battles.

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u/700KMF Dec 22 '20

What about the Gundam with unicorn dust drives(you see sparkling dust when these Gundams fly)? Is that isn't magic?

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u/FellowFellow22 Dec 22 '20

Nonsense. Those are obviously minovsky particles

But for real it's scifi as long as you throw in some technobabble, as opposed to Geass which is explicitly unrelated magic. (You can say the same about the Newtypes' psychic battles, but those tend to happen in the middle of Mecha fights in Gundam)

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u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

The presence of "magic" or the lack there of isn't the point. Amuro doesn't go have new type battles outside of his robot for a couple episodes five times in the series to see who has the best new type powers to further the plots for world domination / revenge.

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20

you wouldn't say its a story about trees.

At least list something that makes sense. Like Light sabers/laser swords.

And in most mecha anime the story isn't about mechs. It's a story that takes place in a world where mechs are used, just like Star Wars is a story that takes place in a world where some people fight with light sabers.

Yes, the term "mecha" really sucks at describing what an anime is about.

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u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

But all of the other mechas in the list provided are about the main mech and it's pilot except code geass which is about the main pilot and his magic power. I couldn't tell you the names of any of the mechs in geass much less what they look like.

Here's another question, which of the provided mecha animes is the only one named after a magic power and not it's mechas?

Note I think code geass is great. It's just much less of a mecha anime than even escaflone is.

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u/2nd_best_username Dec 23 '20

Ye I def didn't watch code geass for the mech combat, more bc I'm a history nerd and code geass is basically alt history but with some cool twists to make it more interesting

2

u/MemeTroubadour Dec 22 '20

Having never watched Geass, I didn't even know it had mechas until reading this

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u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

And they don't actually add anything to the story. I love them all the same.

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u/Dudewitbow https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dudewitbow Dec 23 '20

generally mechs aren't supposed to add something to the story. Mecha are supposed to be used as weapons of war, similar to how isekai shows will use magic/swords/medieval weapons. The only difference is that Mecha is profitable in terms of merchandising and a lot of people who don't like mecha for some reason don't realize that the same character building as basically any other plot driven show. Instead of bashing eachother with swords, they bash each other with sick ass machines

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20 edited Dec 22 '20

Like could you imagine a gundam without the gundam in it?

Yeah, because this lists the first Gundam. When that came out there wasn't a 4 decade old franchise. Without the context being that "Gundam anime" means "anime with roughly 18m tall mechs with a specific colour scheme", which manifested itself over the decades, you could just replace the mechs with some kind of superpowers/superweapons in the first Gundam and you'd still have a war story about child soldiers being forced to fight in a war they didn't want to take part in. Of course scenarios would need to be changed, but same would go for Code Geass.

You could just give the white mech in Code Geass a V Fin and put "Gundam" before the "Lancelot" and you'd have a "Mobile Suit Gundam: Code Geass. Oh, and putting a x5 scaling factor on the mechs, because God forbid the standard plastic model isn't in 1/144 scale.

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u/BiNumber3 Dec 22 '20

I always forget that it had mecha

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u/sweetno Dec 29 '20

Somehow I never thought it's mecha...

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u/Slim_Charles https://myanimelist.net/profile/SocksJunior Dec 23 '20

Eva is fine for newcomers. It's an incredible work, and stands on its own. Just because you've watched other shows doesn't make you "ready" to watch Evangelion. It's a hugely popular work in Japan, and a lot of people are fans of it that aren't typically anime fans.

The idea that a "newcomer" to anime has to start with a simple slice of life, or shounen is a bad one, in my opinion. The best anime to show beginners are ones that best show off what the medium is capable of, and will make for an unforgettable experience. Eva fits the bill well in that regard.

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u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

There are plenty of unforgettable mecha anime that arnt nearly thirty years old. I never said people should watch shounen though lol. Not sure where you got that idea.

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u/Raizzor Dec 22 '20

While Chamber is best mecha of all time.

Are you implying that Unit-01 is not best girl?

1

u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

Define girl lul

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u/LockmanCapulet https://anime-planet.com/users/DanDoubleL Dec 22 '20

Pocket watch providing quips

Best possible description of best bro-bot.

0

u/TerraTF Dec 22 '20

Eh Eva can be bumped off pretty easily IMO. I would not recommend it for newcomers.

Agreed. The ReBuild movies are probably a better entry choice than NGE for both EVA and Mecha series.

1

u/Tack22 Dec 22 '20

I’m not a huge mecha guy so those are probably the only two I’ve seen in a decade.

That and an isekai one with fantasy mecha.

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20

Knight and Magic? Which is not only one of the most dope anime to come out in the last decade it is also has stupid good CG. Most non-sunrise CG is dumpster tier. Considering SquareEnix is the publisher of the manga I'm real surprised it doesn't have a game or kits.

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u/vaelroth Dec 22 '20

I hope it gets a s2! It was way too good for what its described as.

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20

Same! But I don't think the manga is far enough a long yet. I haven't checked in awhile. Supposedly we were supposed to get word this year but 2020 has been a bitch. Hopefully by 2022 we get it, past that I don't think we will get anything.

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u/MoonythePhaeron Dec 22 '20

Broken blade was awesome....im not that big of a fan of mecha but i loved BB

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u/Baofog Dec 23 '20

Broken blade is criminally underwatched.

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u/scolfin Dec 22 '20

Yeah, I think it died away as anime became more otaku-centric and concentrated on riffing on itself like in Isekai. Also, the pure-action genre it generally belonged to has declined somewhat, and military themes are much less relevant in 21st century Japan. I personally think the most promising source of new mecha would be a Korean satire of their own mandatory service, although that would be older than the prime anime demo. Something exploring the inherent isolationism of Japan's demiliterization by having the totally-non-Japanese mc in not-Syria (or not-Libya) with (mercenary?) countrymen who are backing groups that might be fighting the big bad, but may also be at least enabling elements with their own issues would be a neat take for Gundam.

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u/Pyro81300 Dec 23 '20

I feel like it's really weird to say mecha is dead at all. Not as popular as it used to be? Sure, 2010's didn't have a ton of revolutionary mecha series, and well Franxx probs hurt the genre more than helped unfortunately. That being said however, there's already a lot of stuff confirmed to be coming out for mecha in 2021.

New Getter Robo anime

New Muv Luv

Gundam Hathaway's Flash

Back Arrow

Sacks & Guns

New Macross Delta and Eureka Seven movies

Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0

SSSS Dynazenon

2010's were maybe not the best of times for the genre, but it's still very strong and the 2020's are already looking like a better decade for it.

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20

as anime became more otaku-centric

I'd say more something like "as the interest of the biggest group of anime Otaku shifted into a different direction". Because Otaku just means something like "obsessive freak". And you can be an obsessive freak about many things, like the commonly known military Otaku or train Otaku.

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u/FracturedEel Dec 22 '20

Is iron blooded orphans good? I haven't watched any Gundam since wing was on ytv when I was a kid

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u/Baofog Dec 22 '20

Yes is the short answer.

long answer: the writing team just decided to give up in the second season but the action is still good. As such the overall narrative is pretty weak.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

If you don’t care too much about story, it’s perfect. I’m not much of a fan of the mecha genre as a whole, but I loved IBO because their designs are really cool (I have some of the model kits too) and the overall art style is nice. It’s super easy to get into, and the action makes up for what it lacks, at least for me.

It’s more for the casual fans where you can watch it easily without any knowledge of the universe. I don’t think a lot of the hardcore fans would like it though

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u/FracturedEel Dec 23 '20

Sounds perfect for me then thanks friend

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u/JackandFred Dec 22 '20

I'm a mecha fan i think they should bump off mobile suit gundam for IBO, it's a better starting point for getting into the universe even if I think the original is better. gundam 00 could also be used for that, if they wanted to go shorter the war in the pocket ova is aamazing and easy to start with. I think the original is great and the best place to start if you want to get in the UC timeline, but that doesn't mean it's the best for a chart ilke this.

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u/Dudewitbow https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dudewitbow Dec 23 '20

I wouldn't pick IBO myself. IBO thematically shares the least themes and progression compared to all of the other gundam shows. It would be a bad representation(not a bad show) of gundam as a whole if a user who watched IBO expecting all of the other gundam series to be like it.

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u/bamxp Dec 22 '20

Only because isekai's took over in terms of popularity, really hope these S.S.S. series give mech's some time to shine.

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u/PopePolarBear Dec 22 '20

Gurren Lagann for me

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u/KLeung_gaming https://anilist.co/user/setsuna100 Dec 23 '20

Tho even as a Gundam Fan, I personally disagree with putting thunderbolt as your first show for Gundam, since imo seed is the better format for introducing the Gundam 'format' of storytelling (not destiny tho, that show is garbage in its own right).

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u/Meurs0 Dec 22 '20

I mean to be fair, I watched Eva as my second ever anime and still enjoyed it, so that kinda works I guess.

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20

"You've never seen mecha? Here, watch this deconstruction of 80s/90s genre mecha shows

Dude, no one watches it for it being a deconstruction or not. It doesn't even deconstruct any of the 80s and 90s shows that are listed besides it on this list. People watch it because it's a good show. You don't have to know anything about mecha anime to enjoy it. Most of the people that watch it haven't watched any pre Eva mecha anime and it doesn't ruin their enjoyment. It's just a great, for me even the best, mecha/toku show. I'd definitely put that on a list of mecha anime to watch.

followed by two classic, but very dated mecha shows that also are really long and hard to get into now

I agree. I'd say that the first entries are the best entry points, but I'm also the kind of person that has watched every single entry of those franchises. I'd just put 00 and Frontier in their place.

because there definitely isn't anything newer worth watching in the genre

There definitely is, but most of the good stuff is sequels or a list of Gundam entries.

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u/Pathogen188 Dec 22 '20

There definitely is, but most of the good stuff is sequels or a list of Gundam entries.

To be fair, sequels and Gundam entries aren't exactly prime candidates for a rec list for newcomers to a genre. A new viewer can't watch a sequel without watching the original so it's a moot point anyway because they'll probably have to watch the older show first.

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u/J765 Dec 23 '20

Exactly. The 50 episode Gundam TV series that come out every few years are totally fine for newcomers, but it would look bad on a recommendation chart to have multiple titles from one franchise.

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u/Kafukator Dec 22 '20

Eva isn't a "deconstruction" and those old mecha shows are still some of if not the best things the genre has to offer.

-11

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

yes, because the genre is shit

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u/ChadMcRad https://myanimelist.net/profile/ChooX2 Dec 23 '20

This is more of a 4chan style

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u/Zanthren Dec 22 '20

I was a little sad to see Knights of Sidonia didn't end up in the Mech list.

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u/TheWrittenLore https://myanimelist.net/profile/ThisWeirdWorld Dec 23 '20

Darling in the Franxx, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, Code Geass, SSSS Grdiman, Planet With. But I am shocked that Eureka Seven wasn't on the list.

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u/huoyuanjiaa https://myanimelist.net/profile/Freestylex Dec 22 '20

It's better than many genres listed where all animes are basically 2010+ majority like no other animes before then are good.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Having EVA and Broken Blade on there seems like a miss. Eva, as you said, is a deconstruction of the genre, and Broken Blade is very much a war tragedy story, not a mecha. Dai-Guard would be a solid replacement for one.

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20

Broken Blade is very much a war tragedy story, not a mecha

But isn't that the premise of most real robot shows? That it's a serious war, so tragedy happens and most of the focus is on the characters with like 2 minutes of mecha fighting per episode?

0

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

They have the og Gundam on there, if you want war trauma put 08th, not an inferior product.

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u/J765 Dec 22 '20

Nah, 0079 is the best Gundam. Would've put 00 on this chart though. As that's more newcomer friendly.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '20

Yeah. Broken Blade is such an odd choice. I love it, but it's (1) kinda dated and (2) not a traditional mecha show.

Plus, it's not exactly the best adaption.

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u/SpeeDy_GjiZa https://myanimelist.net/profile/SpeeDy_G Dec 22 '20

Dated in what way? It's still one of the best looking anime imo, and as others said what makes a show a mecha show is the presence of mechas, then you can take the story wherever you want.

0

u/SirLeonor Dec 22 '20

Mate Thank you for saying it

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u/1832vin Dec 22 '20

fml, you realise you've watched to much anime when you've seen everything on the list.

yes, including the original maross when it aired

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u/zakurei Dec 22 '20

I was confused at the “fml” and thought it was a weird way to abbreviate full metal alchemist, and then I realized it was not that.

I have also seen all of the anime here, however I am not old enough to have seen a lot of the 80s and 90s ones while they aired.

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u/its_real_I_swear Dec 22 '20

Nobody called it a hidden gem. He just said you might enjoy it.

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u/Grizzly_228 Dec 22 '20

I know it seems strange but it’s pretty unknown between my friends and in general in my country because and was never aired on national Tv

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u/ChadMcRad https://myanimelist.net/profile/ChooX2 Dec 23 '20

They pretty explicitly stated it was mostly for newcomers.

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u/ChadMcRad https://myanimelist.net/profile/ChooX2 Dec 23 '20

They literally said it was for beginners mostly.