OK. I cut my teeth on anime in the days when Robotech had barely broken out – actually earlier on Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets (aka Ninja Science Team Gatchaman) – when the only practical way for a kid to get a lot of movies was to trade tapes, blanks, or copies, with other people or pick up horribly overpriced laswedisks at the occasional con. Saw some offbeat stuff, including Megazone23 1&2, Urusei Yatsura, Iczer One, Bubblegum Crisis, Gundam, of course, Golgo13, the Area88 vids, Vampire Hunter D, Project A-Ko, Arion, Wicked City, Honneamise, and Akira.
Some of the above is even worthwhile, despite showing its age.
Either way, The Didact has drummed up a quick list of worthwhile anime at his site. While I question his commenter’s taste (Death Note? Really? It’s about as pointlessly overhyped and dark as Attack on Titan), the work I’m familiar with is certainly worth watching. I’m shocked that – knowing he’s a fan of the show – Didact missed that Gurren Lagann is on Netflix.
I’d also add, to the Netflix-only list, Blame!, which was recently released. It’s tight, interesting characters, solid animation of the type used in Sidonia, and there are some serious “oh shit” moments when you realize everything’s gone straight to hell. The opener is claustrophobic, a small pack of humans hunting for scraps through a giant technological maze, but with a less downer outlook than Great Sky River and the related Benford books that have a similar “humans living like rats in the walls, mostly unnoticed, until they’re not” feel.
I’ll also mention, for those who may find them on Hulu or other sources, it’s damn well worth watching My Hero Academia, and the first season of Psycho-Pass. I’d recommend the latter enough to blow a month on Hulu or another legal source for it.
