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Anime recommendations for beginners (without fan service and similar cringy stuff)

mid83

Member
Other than watching a few episodes of Attack on Titan, I’ve always avoided anime. I recently had a coworker get into anime and had convinced me there is way more than the cringy fan service that has always kept me away from this medium.

So my question is what are some good anime recommendations for somebody new to anime that avoid fan service. Another way of putting it, I’m looking for shows that I shouldn’t feel embarrassed to watch in my front of my wife.

Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks for all the excellent recommendations!
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
Bleach and One Piece come to mind.
Sure there is the occasional busty woman, but we are not talking about cringy stuff like „Onee-chan“ trying to seduce „Nii-san“, plus the stories are great.
If you want something more mature then try Ghost in the Shell. Yes there is nudity, but the whole movie is like Cyberpunk 2077 complete with blood and gore.

Apart from that, if you want wholesomeness rather than action, watch all the Studio Ghibli movies. You cant get better than that really. There is nothing sexual whatsoever and some of them give you feels. Those you should even consider watching together with your wife.
 
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Nankatsu

Gold Member
Without fan service...that's a tough one, because you'll always find a tiny bit of fan service in anime. Either way, right of the bat:

Death note
Steins Gate
Psycho Pass
Monster
Erased
Ao Ashi
 
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Kamina

Golden Boy
Nankatsu said:
latest
 
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Fbh

Member
game_journalist_covering_eyes_to_not_see_sexy_women_in_yakuza.jpg

Anyway more serious stuff without (that much) cringe:
Monster
Mushishi
Fate Zero (mostly)
Ping Pong
FMA Brotherhood
Death Parade (mostly)
Psycho Pass
Parasyte
Mob Psycho (more comedic, but as far as I recall I doesn't have fan service)
Baccano (I think? Has been a while since I watched it)
Vinland Saga
 
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Jaybe

Member
I keep meaning to give the genre a try. I hear Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Arcane are excelled and both on Netflix I’d you have that.
 
Steins Gate
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Fruits Basket
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Your Lie in April
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Welcome To The Ballroom
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From The New World
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Saiki K
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Fate/Zero
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Hinamatsuri
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Violet Evergarden
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Hoppa

Member
Watching this thread with special interest, I like anime fine but there are so many common things and character mannerisms that turn me right off. I’d recommend One Punch Man, it’s campy and a bit satirical but it has some of the most well animated stylistic fight sequences I’ve seen. My mate suggested I watch Mob Psycho but haven’t got around to it yet
 

SirTerry-T

Member
Other than watching a few episodes of Attack on Titan, I’ve always avoided anime. I recently had a coworker get into anime and had convinced me there is way more than the cringy fan service that has always kept me away from this medium.

So my question is what are some good anime recommendations for somebody new to anime that avoid fan service. Another way of putting it, I’m looking for shows that I shouldn’t feel embarrassed to watch in my front of my wife.

Thanks!
Get your wife to watch this...great show and the lead female v.a does an awesome job.

 

Ulysses 31

Member
pokemon has underage girls, so you want to avoid that.

You might also want to avoid Spy x Family, Doraemon, Gintama, Lucky Star, Full Metal Panic, or any of the Ghibli films. They all have little girls in them.
He better avoid a lot of Studio Ghibli movies too!
 

Batiman

Banned
Ranking of kings

osama_ranking-457561732-large.jpg

Very light hearted but gets pretty dark. Reminds me a bit of game of throne.

Gurren lagann


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Great silly over the top mech shit. Love it. Has fan service though

HunterxHunter


images
 
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When I was a kid I saw a lot of anime. Then anything now looks like garbage to me, last one I saw was Tengen toppa gurren Lagan (10 years ago?).

I did watch cyberpunk because dahmer was too heavy. Could finish 10 minutes of one episode. So I recommend that cyberpunk stuff 😂

From my young age

FLCL (the old one!)
Serial experiment lain
Cowboy bebop
Wolf rain
Witchhunter robin
Ergo proxy
Lady Oscar
Scawflone ??

Don’t remember
 
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flying_sq

Member
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Samurai Champloo
Baccano!
Ghost In the Shell Stand Alone Complex
Dragonball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Gundam 08th MS Team
FLCL

I haven't watched anime since 2010 or earlier, so all my picks are dated but I think pretty good. I would start with Bebop if you want something that can really show you what anime can do.
 
Im guessing by cringy and fan service you mean animes that dont have the same generic tropes like huge boobs, acting stupid. campy, funny random stuff, fillers, and all that right? which means popular animes like One Piece, Naruto,and whatever else has been recommended here ARE 100% NOT for you. I would recommend Bleach but it has a ton of garbage fillers and if you are not generally into animes and know what to look/skip it'll prolly ruin your mood.

Here are some actual serious animes:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/13601/Psycho-Pass
https://myanimelist.net/anime/467/Koukaku_Kidoutai__Stand_Alone_Complex (besides the stupid robots which show up at the end or very rarely, everything else should be safe from cringy shit)


Now if you don't mind some cringy/campy/humours/fan service'ish(but in a mature way) stuff and you'd like to see the best animes have to offer:

 
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Hugare

Member
Ping Pong

No fan service, great story and characters, 11 episodes long. I rewatch it every 6 months or so, its that good. And it's not really about ping pong, its just used as a device.

Hajime no Ippo

Its about boxing, so it may not be your cup of tea, BUT, characters are freaking amazing, the anime is hilarious and 0 fan service.

And seriously, PING PONG
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Thunderbolt Fantasy
Created byGen Urobuchi
Written byGen Urobuchi



Deserves much more love. Terrific story, characters, action, visuals, setting and music. Gen's finest.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Other than watching a few episodes of Attack on Titan, I’ve always avoided anime. I recently had a coworker get into anime and had convinced me there is way more than the cringy fan service that has always kept me away from this medium.

So my question is what are some good anime recommendations for somebody new to anime that avoid fan service. Another way of putting it, I’m looking for shows that I shouldn’t feel embarrassed to watch in my front of my wife.

Thanks!
- Bastard!! OVA
- Berserk 97'
- Fist of the North Star TV
- Yu Yu Hakusho TV
- El Hazard: The Magnificent World
- Vampire Hunter D & it's sequel Bloodlust

Fan service can be found in nearly everything as it has a broad definition. My wife watches anime with me and she rather liked all of the above. If there's fan service in any of those...nothing too extreme. Just gave some gutsy ones.
-
 

dolfiend

Neo Member
I haven't watched much anime for the past decade, but here are some that haven't been listed (I highlighted a couple songs in spoilers):

Rurouni Kenshin - A good action-comedy show that, like Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai, highlights the transition period in Meiji era Japan between katana and gun. It's a pretty long series; you could stop after season 2 with Shishio if you want (62 episodes). The OVA movies "Trust & Betrayal" and "Reflection" are also worth watching after the series.




Basilisk - An action drama set in Feudal Japan between two rival ninja clans. It's a straightforward Romeo and Juliet story that's decently done. If you don't mind a slower paced story, it's worth a watch. Only 24 episodes. I always had a fondness for its art direction and soundtrack.




Big-O - A mecha-noir story that I underappreciated as a kid watching Toonami; I preferred the others like Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, and Dragon Ball Z. If you like detective stories, it's good. 26 episodes.




For movies, I recommend Satoshi Kon works. Great stories, music, and animation. Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, Perfect Blue, and Millennium Actress. His series Paranoia Agent is only 13 episodes long. Another good movie is A Silent Voice.
For guilty pleasure movies that aren't necessarily strong storywise but fun to watch and great music, I recommend Karas (2 movies) and Escaflowne. I remember liking Origin: Spirits of the Past, but I don't remember the story at all.
 

Amiga

Member
Seinen Anime is what you want (Shōjo may interest your wife).

Psycho Pass/Ghost in the Shell - Sci-Fi, cyberpunk
Mushishi - supernatural mystery
Parasyte - Horror action
Monster - thriller
Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor - thriller (squid game like)
Planetes - Sci-Fi drama
Blade of the Immortal - violent samurai action with a bit of supernatural
Erased - Time travel mystery thriller
 

SJRB

Gold Member
iu



It's short, sweet, zero filler, no cringe shit, looks great, sounds great, cool story, has amazing action sequences, awesome characters.

Hardcore M rating though, so expect insane violence and a couple of hardcore sex scenes [maybe 15 seconds in total in the entire show].
 
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