Anime newbie looking for suggestions

I watched “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” a few weeks ago which is probably my first proper anime (not counting the odd episode of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon or OnePiece I caught on TV as a child) and I really enjoyed it.

Especially the slow but deep character build up and general world building and exploration themes were really captivating. So I’m looking for something similar with focus on these aspects.

So far I found “Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina”, which was ok but didn’t quite live up to Frieren and wasn’t nearly as captivating.

So does anyone know similar shows or at least shows that focus on the aspects of story telling I mentioned avove?

wjs018,

Well, you picked a hell of a show to start. A couple that I think are similar in feel to Frieren would be:

  • Kino’s Journey - there are two versions of this show as it had a remake done in 2013(?) I think. In any case, for somebody just starting their anime journey, you can stick to the more recent, less VHS-grainy looking version.
  • Mushishi
  • Violet Evergarden - I haven’t personally watched this one yet, but it is brought up a lot in comparison to Frieren.
tobogganablaze,

Kino’s Journey

Already looked into that one and have both versions prepared.

Thanks!

SatouKazuma,
@SatouKazuma@lemmy.world avatar

OP, I just want to STRONGLY second Violet Evergarden. The individual episodes don’t really connect to one another except through Violet, which is definitely a change from Frieren. But one wrinkle. There’s a movie that sits in between episodes 4 and 5, chronologically, and then there’s a movie that sits at the end of all of it. Go in blind, though. Trust me, you’ll really appreciate having done so.

tobogganablaze,

Mushishi

So I’m almost through Season 1 now and this is a really strange one. It wasn’t really what I was looking for but it’s so strangly calming and while very episodical it still feels like you want to see what comes next.

It’s definitly not as gripping so I didn’t really binge it, just watching a couple of episodes here and there. But now that I’m finishing the first season I have to say I quite enjoyed it overall. Even if it was for different reasons then I looked for.

Thanks for the suggestion.

wjs018,

Watching an episode or two at a time is just right for Mushishi. It definitely is one that benefits from some time to reflect on each episode. Glad you have enjoyed it! Plenty of other suggestions already in this thread on where you could go next (if not season 2 of Mushishi). Good luck on your anime journey!

Even_Adder,

Check out Sandland. The characters are great.

Thade780,

I personally highly recommend Mushoku Tensei. It has some controversial points, and I feel that during the course of the story (particularly in the LN) they were straightened out since the main character stopped identifying himself as his pre reincarnation person and fully went in as Rudeus.

The art, animation, and music are all gorgeous. The world building is there, quite in depth too. Also, the first four of the first season has some of the best intros and outros I have ever seen in 40+ years of watching anime.

I may a bit biased. 😅

mo_lave,

Mushoku Tensei is a good show to watch if you’re in a mood for philosophical questions. Like in the case of Rudeus, is he an adult in a child’s body? Or is he a child with an adult’s memories? Same also holds with Oshi no Ko.

Thade780,

The way I interpreted it while reading the light novel was that he started as an adult in a child’s body, and slowly became the child while retaining his memories. In the process he (other than worshipping panties…) became a better person than he ever was in his first life. Not that it took too much, considering what kind of lowlife he was. 🤷‍♀️

ReluctantZen,

Maybe something like Shinsekai Yori?

alphacyberranger,
@alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works avatar

Apothecary Diaries Stein’s Gate Violet Evergarden Odd Taxi

or some classics like

Legend of the Galactic Heros Initial D

VelvetStorm,

Blue eye samurai was so dam good.

It’s not anime but the silent voice manga was super good with good personal growth

yogurt,

Ancient Magus’ Bride has a similar kind of mood with a super old wizard and girl apprentice doing emotional side quests.

mo_lave,

Spy x Family

Land of the Lustrous

Yuru Camp

One Piece

Madoka Magica

Nichijou

A Place Further Than The Universe

Vivy

Violet Evergarden

Welcome to the NHK

Fullmetal Alchemist

shani66,

Spice and Wolf is an anime about a traveling merchant, i couldn’t recommend it enough. Although there is a new anime of it coming out soon if you want to wait

Made in Abyss is a horror anime about kids exploring what has affectionately been called “Uncle Lovecraft’s fun time murder hole”

Girls Last Tour is an anime about two girls exploring the apocalypse. The music is literally addicting, i typed the name and it’s stuck in my head. You will cry.

Those all hit an exploration Itch, i recommend going to myanimelist.net to help keep track of what you might want to watch.

SatouKazuma,
@SatouKazuma@lemmy.world avatar

Look, I love Made in Abyss more than basically anyone on Earth. But I struggle to think it’s a good recommendation for a gateway anime. The other two you rec’d are absolutely perfect, though, so I can’t argue entirely. But I’m going to go ahead and suggest AniList for list tracking.

shani66,

I mean, i could have recommended boku no pico

SatouKazuma,
@SatouKazuma@lemmy.world avatar

Okay, and…your point is? There can be more than one bad recommendation.

shani66,

Everyone needs these kinds of recommendations when starting out, my guy, hazing is great. Especially when the recommendation is actually good (meaning mia, not the other one).

SatouKazuma,
@SatouKazuma@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t disagree it’s a good show. I just don’t know that I think OP would much like anime anymore if that’s one of their first.

Breezy,

They could have recommend school days. Its fucked up but damn did dude get what he deseved. I dont think that one is an anime deal breaker like made in the abyss is.

Toes,

I would suggest Magical Index.

It has a pretty broad spectrum of themes and characters.

The spinoff series Scientific Railgun tells a similar story from a different perspective. That is also quite enjoyable. You can decide if you want to watch one or the other or both.

tobogganablaze,

Thank you!

DoucheBagMcSwag,

Sci-fi and crime: Psycho Pass (Season 1 only)

MentalEdge, (edited )
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

Hello! Lots of good suggestions here already.

But I am here to shill for my favourite manga, now being adapted into an anime, Dungeon Meshi.

The first 12 episodes are on netflix and so far the execution has been stellar. I’m running a community for it here: !dungeonmeshi

You mention the slow character build up and detailed world building of Frieren being enjoyable, and Dungeon Meshi excels at those same things. Personally I’d even dare say it keeps up the quality of that stuff, while it eventually kind falls off a bit in Frieren in favor of focusing on arcs that can feel like B-plots. That’s not even a criticism, it’s simply a different kind of story, and the anime hasn’t gotten to that point.

Dungeon Meshi in comparison is fairly short (I currently estimate it will wrap up in 48 episodes, after a second season), but it is a deep and complex story featuring far more than one character worth focusing on, set in a world with a rich history. Its rate of publishing was a single chapter every other month, which I think resulted in a level of attention to detail few weekly published mangas can achieve.

It merely masquerades as a simple comedy/cooking story with a fantasy gimmick.

And now we are getting an anime adaptation of that masterpiece, by none other than Studio Trigger!

If you give it a chance, pay attention to the details, as it starts to set things up from episode one, that will come together only much later.

tobogganablaze,

Sounds great, I’m going to check it out!

w_tree,

Mushi-shi and Violet Evergarden have been recommended by others and I also highly recommend them.

Other shows which have exploration theme with character build up

A group of four girls travelling to the Antarctica.

A shut-in jobless man reincarnated into a fantasy world. Try his best to conquer his previous traumatic past in new world.

Due to a mysterious beam, all the world population turn into stone. After thousands of year, a boy reawakens and tries to rebuild the civilization.

Following her mother trait, a girl and her friend dive down the abyss where they will meet all sort of mysterious ceratures.

SatouKazuma,
@SatouKazuma@lemmy.world avatar

A Place Further Than The Universe is fucking spectacular. It actually got so popular(wording?) that the New York Times ran an article on it.

glilimith,

I would NOT recommend mushoku tensei to an anime newbie, as it requires an extremely high tolerance for anime bullshit (particularly creepy sex stuff)

Also, made in abyss needs to come with a heavy content warning, as it is a horror/gore anime despite its cutesy artstyle. Not to say it’s a bad recommendation, just it’s not for everyone.

w_tree,

Agree. Better keep those in PTW list for now and watch those later after getting familiar with anime troops.

the_post_of_tom_joad,

Wolfs rain is an overlooked gem about wolves and a girl at the end of the world. It was the next project the storyboard director from evangelion went on to work on iirc, one of studio bones first projects and fantastic music by yoko kanno throughout. Every character in it both good and “bad” has a motive, has a reason for their actions, and is wonderfully fleshed out. It plays a bit with character archetypes and how they break down when they are actually real people, reminiscent of EVA. Wolf’s Rain is also on my short-list of great animes that also finish well.

You will cry through. Oh yes.

Imma go watch it again

tobogganablaze,

Great description, I’ll look into it.

the_post_of_tom_joad, (edited )

Ok! Oh boy I’m excited! I would love to hear what you think, i don’t get to talk to anyone about wolfs rain… It has the greatest OP in the world (and you think you know what i mean by that, but you don’t)…

cyberic,
@cyberic@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Angel Beats for a good cry

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