Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [Week 3]
Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [Week 3]
Hi everybody! It is time for what I am sure is everybody's favorite thread of the week, the weekly general thread! How have things been going for you with the winter season this past week? I have seen a lot of new faces in this community over tha past week (it's anybody's guess as to why), so if you have recently joined us, feel free to introduce yourself in this thread as well! If you are searching for something to say, here are some example discussion starters to inspire you:
- Is High Card about how to register for your medical marijuana card?
- I feel lied to by Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! I was waiting in the snow for a train that was late the other day, and no gals started talking to me. Instead, I just got literal cold feet.
- I wonder if that little robot bird from Metallic Rouge was also running linux like its forebear, the Ingenuity copter?
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
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This is still be kind of a rant so bare with me. I've been reading SpyXFamily and was thinking of showing my partner the anime, even though she never watches anime. It was so wholesome that I felt like it was the kind of show she'd love (we watch a lot of Bob's Burgers, Great North, Great British Bake Off, etc over and over, she also enjoys Ted Lasso).
But then I reached the chapter where Yuri had dinner with them and I reached a speed bump. I just finished the chapter where he helped Anya study and hit it again. She'd 100% find the character gross. His constant thinking of his sister when Anya read his mind, his crazed jealousy over her kissing her husband instead of saving a kiss for him, his dislike of a little girl, his obsession is too much for me reading the manga, and it's probably worse when you have to hear it out loud in the anime. It's not even funny to me, and it wouldn't be for her, either. I've seen people defend it as being an anime trope but that doesn't help when trying to get other people into the hobby or seeming weird if you're new to it. (Same thing with lolicon or fan service in other anime.) Which is too bad because it's otherwise a great show I think she'd love. She already complains about the "pedo tropes" of anime she's heard of, so I don't want to enforce her expectations of anime being all like that with characters like that. At least he doesn't show up until a bit in.
Idk, I haven't finished Haikyuu yet, I got up to the end of the Hulu seasons, but I'm hoping that will maybe work instead. It's not too anime trope-y, at least none of the gross tropes, just a couple of OP main characters and a classic Shonen underdog, but that's not an anime only thing. Everyone loves underdogs in sports stories.
I saw a good comment on Reddit by a user named NozakiMufasa that reflected my feelings well I'm just going to quote it here:
I'm speaking mainly as a bit of an older fan. But I'm so damn tired of anime having to be like this. Yall know what I'm talking about. Yall know its an open secret. It's like no anime is allowed to be 100 percent wholesome or 100 percent just a slick well made show. So many anime throw in weird or taboo elements that are just so uneeded and unwarranted.
Spy x Family was a legit wholesome show. It felt less like a weird anime and moreso a genuinely good cartoon you could show the whole world. One you could show a family and it be an enjoyable watch. Anya, Loid, & Yor are genuinely sweet and well written characters and their hidden backgrounds gives off a feel of classic shows like I Dream of Genie or Bewitched.
But no. Anime has to be weird. Let's make one of the characters love their sister. Fuck this. We were so damn close. An anime that was trying to be good.
If anyone has any other suggestions of wholesome anime I, an older Shonen fan and Cowboy Bebop and Trigun fan, and her, an anime newbie, would both enjoy without being too slice-of-life to bore me and not too weird anime tropes in it to freak her out, let me know. I'm going to keep reading SpyXFamily by myself, I guess, and just push through and endure the chapters with Yuri in it. Maybe one day, if his appearances are rare enough, I can show her the anime.
But then I reached the chapter where Yuri had dinner with them and I reached a speed bump. I just finished the chapter where he helped Anya study and hit it again. She'd 100% find the character gross.
In a similar notion of strange things in a overall good show: There's an episode in season 2 that is surprisingly gory considering the show was fairly kid friendly up until that point.
Not that I mind but I definitely wouldn't recommend the show for kids anymore.
I relate to this pretty hard. I am lucky enough that my wife is fairly tolerant of anime weirdness since she is an old school anime fan as well (though not as tolerant as I am). However, friends that have asked me for recommendations in the past have been turned off by things that hadn't even phased as weird at the time. It has caused me to think about these kinds of things a bit differently. Like your partner, I am also a big fan of Bob's Burgers, GBBO, and Ted Lasso, so here are a couple that come to my mind with what you have written in mind. I also marked the ones that I watched together with my wife and she liked them.
- Usagi Drop (wife approved) - A story about a salaryman that finds himself having to adopt a young girl after a death in the family. It deals with the realities of being a single parent in the harsh working culture of Japan as well as how to handle caring for and connecting with a newfound daughter. I wrote about this series in a recent clip post I made. This might be a bit of a controversial pick because the manga continues the story and it becomes less wholesome. However, as an anime-only, it is incredibly wholesome.
- Tonikaku Kawaii - This is a romance about two people that have what seems like a fated meeting and end up married quite suddenly. The show follows their daily lives as they figure out how to have a relationship. Despite the sudden marriage plot point, the romance is entirely wholesome and neither character ever regrets or second guesses the choice. It is mostly SOL, so it might end up a bit on the boring side, but incredibly wholesome.
- I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years - This is an isekai about a woman that is so overworked in her first life that she dies. She is reborn as an immortal witch and decides to live in a cottage in the countryside, killing slimes occasionally to provide enough income for her needs. Turns out that if you do that long enough, you become super strong. Super comfy fantasy story that isn't too boring imo.
- Campfire Cooking - Another isekai that has a strong focus on cooking food. I really like cooking and do it a lot, so your experience with this show might differ. When I was watching this one as it aired, I ended up making a lot of Japanese food to eat (so many tonkatsu) because it always made me hungry. There is an overall plot, so it isn't just a story about camping out and cooking, so it should hopefully not be too boring.
- Natsume's Book of Friends (wife approved) - A story about a boy that is able to see yokai thanks to an ability he inherited from his grandmother. This series is mostly structured as a yokai-of-the-week series with each episode being a mostly self-contained story. There is an overall arc and cast of characters, but nothing too dramatic and very little anime weirdness that would turn people off. The only anime weirdness I can think of is humor around the partner yokai's love of sake.
There are a couple others that I see recommended as wholesome quite often that I have not seen, so it might be worth checking others' opinions first: Yuru Camp, A Place Further Than the Universe, Non Non Biyori, Flying Witch.
Good luck!
A Place Further than the Universe is goated. Its story is simple but a masterclass in execution.
Yuru Camp is one of the wholest-some anime out there.
Thanks for relating. It's hard to explain to people who know only anime fans. I wouldn't have felt comfortable posting that in the Reddit anime community because people would've just told me to tell my partner to get over it or some thinks just the culture, but Lemmy felt nice enough that I felt comfortable to do so.
And apparently I came to the right place for suggestions. These all sound great! I can't wait to watch them.
It’s hard to explain to people who know only anime fans.
Hating anime because of questionable content is like hating books because The Anarchist Cookbook or Mein Kampf exists. Anime is a medium that houses multiple genres, including ones you don't want to see. They may have greater freedom/available audience that are willing to watch "those" things, so they exist.
reddit is an enormous community, for better and for worse. I think a lot of people in that community have only ever known anime after it has had broad popularity and there have been forums (like reddit) in which like-minded people can talk about it. Glad to have you here and have fun!
Since your initial post, my brain did come up with another recommendation that doesn't feature anime weirdness, but is not necessarily wholesome. This one is my-wife approved as well:
- Mushishi - This is an anthology cataloging the travels of a person named Ginko, who is something like a doctor. However, instead of treating people, he helps them deal with the effects of creatures that most people can't see called mushi. The series is exceedingly melancholic, deliberate, and sometimes dark, but it is probably my favorite anime of all time. Also, it is the subject of my favorite anime video essay of all time.
Yuru Camp, A Place Further Than the Universe, Non Non Biyori, Flying Witch.
I watched and recommend all of them:
- Yuru Camp: cute girls camping with some good comedy. You get to see a lot of real locations (mostly in Yamanashi Prefecture) and food that will make you hungry. There are 2 seasons and a non-canon spin-off movie, the third season will come out in spring.
- Sora yori mo Tooi Basho: a group of girls going to Antarctica. Each one has her own motivation and is trying to find a place to belong.
- Non Non Biyori: cute girls having fun and growing up in an imaginary small town in the countryside. Very nostalgic and the backgrounds are amazing.
- Flying Witch: a wholesome slice of life with witches in rural Japan. A great example of a modern iyashikei.
Some more recommendations:
- 3-gatsu no Lion: a young shogi prodigy orphan has grown up in a family where he feels like a stranger and is tormented by his past, but finds a new family and everything slowly improves. Lots of memorable characters and top tier animation by Shaft.
- Hachimitsu to Clover: a josei by Chica Umino, the same author of 3-gastu no Lion. This one is about romance between students in an art university and finding your place in the world.
- Tamako Market: you can't go wrong with Kyoani + Yamada. Slice of life about a girl and the shopping district where she lives. The sequel movie, Tamako Love Story, is even better.
- Sakura Quest, Hanasaku Iroha and Shiroi Suna no Aquatope: the "girls working" series of original anime by P.A. Works. Imo Hanasaku Iroha > Sakura Quest > Aquatope. I love Shirobako but wouldn't recommend it to someone who never watches anime.
- Skip to Loafer: high school romance done well. Probably the best animation quality from P.A. Works yet.
- Barakamon: a calligraphy artist is "exiled" by is father to a remote island, where he changes his personality thanks to his new lifestyle and friends. The prequel Handa-kun is completely different, a bad high school comedy.
These all sound great and very appropriate, too! Thanks! Definitely bookmarking this comment for future reference lol.
As for suggestions:
I wouldn't think of Cowboy Bebop as wholesome, but watch the movie if you haven't.
Kaguya-sama
Bocchi the Rock
Mob Psycho
Jujutsu Kaisen
Komi Can't Communicate
Blue Lock
Fullmetal Alchemist
Spirited Away
Call of the Night
Howl's Moving Castle
It's kind of hard for to recommend wholesome anime without too much anime tropes, maybe Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun ? But it's very much slice-of-lifey.
If you don't mind non-wholesome ones, my recommendations be: Attack on Titan, Death Note, Erased/Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Hunter X Hunter, Gangsta, Death Parade, Ookami to Koushinryou, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Initial D, AnoHana.
Also, those tropes are very much what comprises most anime, maybe anime is just not for your partner ¯\(ツ)/¯