I keep trying to get into manga/anime...


The-Max765's avatar
I keep trying, but I can't. I need advice. HELP.

I like fantasy, BUT...

I loathe shipping with a burning passion. I'm sick and tired of sex shit. I hate super-edgy depressionfests. And I hate stereotypical fantasy bullshit where dark=evil (or worse, emo and edgy), strange=evil, religious zealot=good, magic=black vs white, etc...

And so far, every single anime and anime fandom I've seen has just disgusted me more and more.

I need recommendations. PLEASE.

Just for being more specific, here are some things I like and why...

I like Bayonetta because the villains are angels. Biblically accurate angels. They're holy, they're rigidly hierarchical, and they're a batshit insane army of puritanical drones coming to bring the Apocalypse and wipe out vile, sinful humanity. The protagonist is a shadow-aligned witch-dominatrix-lady that quadruple-wields arcane handguns, swords, and DRAGON CHAINSAWS... who's actually kind, protective, and a deeper character than the vast majority of other protagonists who hangs out with Jeanne, her childhood best friend from witch training and a seven-foot wall of eldritch muscle named Rodin, who looks like Laurence Fishburne plus Mike Tyson, who's actually a huge nerd who loves music, literature, and geeky pop culture, and he forges Bayonetta's weapons from the souls of archdemons he personally kicks the asses of.

I like it when the smart people are the heroes instead of the villains, I like abnormal protagonists...


I need help. Anyone. Have any suggestions?

Comments92
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Plumli's avatar
Kill la Kill?

Girl's father is killed, wants to avenge him, finds a sentient school uniform that doubles as a battle suit. Family secrets, sisterly bonds, friendship is awesome. And weirdly despite being about girls in skimpy battle outfits, the fanbase isn't very shippy. I won't say there isn't ships, but there's no clear romantic lead for any of the characters. And the lesson to most episodes is just be confident and be yourself. Which you might like since Bayonetta herself is a very unapologetic character.


Jojo's Bizarre Adventures (2012)

It's based on an older manga and has 8 parts. So far parts 1-3 has an anime and 4 is coming out soon. 3 has an old anime from the 90's which isn't as good as the recent one but still a ride.

If you like the overtop fabulousness and sisterhood that is Bayonetta, Jojo is basically if Bayonetta was a man. The plot goes the Joestar family which is cursed with having very eventful lives. Every part is about a different guy nicknamed Jojo from the Joestar family (Jonathan Joestar, Joseph Joestar, etc...) who has to do battle with evil. Every Jojo is really different from the last. So far we got:

Part 1: Is like a Victorian gothic horror. Completely with vampire, dick bag orphans, and a main character with the heart of a noble and resolve of a knight.

Part 2: The underdog of the Joestar family finds himself in a battle of brawn and wits against a great and powerful ancient evil threatening to eradicate humanity. Knowing himself not to be as strong he often uses wit and his enemies own weakness against them. More like a martial arts series.

Part 3: A full blow Shonen, tough dude goes on adventures, fights a bunch of dudes, ultimate bad guy. But I swear, some of these villains this guy fights, are fucking hilarious and every episode leaves you with "Ho shit...did HE JUST DO THAT?!" kinda excitment.
Ego-Man25's avatar
Check out One Piece.  None of that romantic BS, just all really good story telling, action, humor, and legit emotions.
NemoTheGoblin's avatar
Looking through the replies there doesn't seem to actually be much you like in general when it comes to entertainment.
Perhaps giving more examples of something you like (tv show, novel) could help.


As for shipping, is it just the fandom you dislike or just the work having any romance? 
Because if it's fandom you'll just have to ignore it, people ship EVERYTHING and anything. If something has fans someone is shipping something. Though if the work isn't very well known you won't see too much of it.
AdmiralDoenitz's avatar
I like reverse roles sometimes. I have stories where Nazis are the good guys and Americans are evil.
blackbook668's avatar
I know exactly what you mean. Anime and manga for the most part is soul crushingly derivative slop so I'm not surprised you're having difficulty getting into it. The only anime studio I've come across that's really worth a damn is Studio Ghibli. They have this really special way of crafting a film that is both gentle and yet emotionally powerful. For example, their latest offering, When Marnie Was There. Haven't watched it but it looks really good.
The-Max765's avatar
Their stuff sounds... Really boring. I dunno.
blackbook668's avatar
It's something you'll have to watch and see for yourself. It has a slower pace which is really refreshing to watch compared to the chock-a-block asinine action stuffed into films nowadays. If you can't get into their films then I think there's pretty much no anime you can get into.
Masked-Guy's avatar
One Punch Man is the series you want.

One Piece
, has no romance, no real suggeted pairings, it mostly just super powered fighting. Once you get past few introductionary things. Say when the main guy gets his first crewmate, it get better after that.
The-Max765's avatar
mysterydragnet's avatar
One Punch Man is the only anime I truly like. But I like parody stuff, so...
ElleeChan's avatar
I agree so much. I can't STAND boys love stuff, gratuitous jiggling booby fan service and constant upskirt shots, and sickly sappy shipping shit. Makes me wanna vom. Which limits my anime options greatly. But there are still TONS of stuff that is not like that 
have you seen these yet?
Tokyo Ghoul
Attack on Titan
Parasyte
Psycho Pass
Hellsing
Vampire Hunter D
Akira
Karas
Blue Exorcist
Ergo Proxy
Dragonaut: The Resonance
Afro Samurai
Samurai Champloo
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin
Beserk
07 Ghost
Naoki Kurasawa's Monster
Bakemonogatari
Gantz
Wolfs Rain
The-Max765's avatar
But what ARE these?! I want to know about them. Berserk is just NO. It's a soul-crushing marathon of despair and depression. Also, Hellsing is built on fantasy cliches that I hate with the burning passion of a supernova from Hell.
ElleeChan's avatar
If I made you want to know about them then i've already done my job :D

berserk....i didn't see that at all. what i saw would be described more like a medeival fantasy action story with a magical subplot that gives it a ton of intrigue and makes me suspect that there is gonna be BIG trouble down the line. When I find out what Griffith is really up to, what he's hiding, and what the nature of that pendant is.....ooooooh i can't wait! Its gonna be explosive. I feel conflicted, like Guts is gonna be betrayed by Griffith but I also feel that Griffith actually IS his friend. I don't get it yet, but I'm willing to keep reading/watching to find out. lol So thats what i saw, but everyone will interpret a story differently depending on what they pay attention to in it

Hellsing? Fantasy cliches? I don't know, I was really into it but it was years ago that i watched it so i cant remember specifically what I really loved about it. I think I found it mysterious and I sympathized a lot with Alucard and I also found it visually appealing and was intrigued by the mystery and backstory. I also think he had a cursed hand too? And I loved the cursed hand? I don't remember, I just know it was iconic

You know, you sound a lot like I used to be. I hated everything. It is true that most things have elements in them that you COULD hate. But being really judgmental about what you'll approve can easily get out of control and put you in a position where you can't enjoy anything. I feel that it's imperative in life, entertainment, and art, to look first for what is being done RIGHT instead of wrong.

Now, don't get me wrong, there will always be cause for complaint and there will always be things that you just can't stand. But when the list of things you can't stand encompasses nearly everything that's when you might be doing yourself a disservice. Anything can be appreciated at least somewhat if given enough of a chance.

With the list of anime I gave you, i'm not promising you that they're all gonna be perfect and nothing about them bother you or piss you off or run afoul of your sensibilities, because nothing in life is like that. All I'm saying is that I feel, based on the very good impression/experience i received from them, they are worth the effort of looking into and giving a fair chance. And I'm not gonna do all the work for you either. That's not only part of the enjoyment but part of figuring out what really interests you about things. That's how you find the good stuff. You learn about things and learn why they are that way, and sometimes you still have to try them out a little bit on top of that in order to really see what they're like. Some things can't be put into words. And a good experience is not something someone can just hand to you on command.

In order to find the good things in life, the things worth experiencing and the things that are really impactful, sometimes you gotta take a little risk. You gotta suffer a little bit, too, through some things you may not like as much. But you learn through that. About art, about anime, and about yourself. 
Devils-n-Dusts's avatar
the easiest one to get...dragon ball...i mean, it's fantasy with martial arts based on journey to the west...childish but lots of fun
The-Max765's avatar
The only good things the entire Dragon Ball series gave us are a good example for explaining the person-over-MacGuffin trope, memes, and the Abridged Series.
Devils-n-Dusts's avatar
you're thinking about dragon ball z. i was talking about dragon ball. two different things, only with some of the same characters
Rose-Em's avatar
I think you might want to venture into the more mythological stories. I 've personally been enjoying Mushishi and Natsume Yuujinchou this year. They're both quite light, and spend more time focused on the fantasy than the light novel tropes that you don't like. 


Mushishi: (Honestly the manga was adapted so well is practically identical to the anime, so you have choices there. I love them both, though!)

"Mushishi is set in an imaginary time between the Edo and Meiji periods, featuring some 19th-century technology but with Japan still as a "closed country".[3]The story features ubiquitous creatures called Mushi (?) that often display what appear as supernatural powers. The series is an episodic anthology in which the only common elements among episodes are Ginko and the various types of Mushi. There is no overarching plotline." 


Natsume's Book of Friends: (I haven't read the manga yet, but it is still ongoing. The anime is on haitus at four seasons, but is extremely good.)

"For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has had the ability to see spirits, inheriting the power from his grandmother Reiko. Upon her death, Reiko bequeaths to her grandson her Book of Friends, a book containing the names of spirits Reiko had bullied into servitude. The Book of Friends is a highly prized item in the spirit world, and spirits haunt Takashi constantly. Whereas Reiko formed the contracts, however, Takashi spends his time dissolving the contracts and releasing the various spirits that come to him for help." 


Kyo Kara Maoh!:
This one is definitely a light novel, but is still a lovely, lovely show. It's pretty well respected from the 2000's era it came from - which is where a lot of my favourites come from - and I think is just a lovely little adventure. Fun formula with a bit of traditional fantasy to the formula. It's worth a look at least. Heart 


Also, I'm not a fan of mega huge series, so these shows/manga aren't god-forsakenly long like Naruto or anything. 
The-Max765's avatar
Natsume's Book of Friend is categorized as shojo... It sounds likeable, but how much stupid romantic/sexual shippy bullshit is in it? :(
Rose-Em's avatar
I can't recall there being any real relationships or romantic tension in the show. There's only one scene I can think of, but I'm pretty certain it was written as a joke on how for being a shoujo it has none of that going on. The relationships in the show tend to only be on the emotion side with the youkai and the stories that they share with Natsume. Most of the show is focusing on his psychology and how he as a person changes his view on the world, so they never really give the plot an opening for sexual or romantic tension. It's rather innocent in that way, and it likes to press more stress on the desire of companionship rather than love, which I enjoy because I totally get your feeling of not liking the fanfare-ship-fest. 
Serazimei's avatar
i don't know if you still need any more suggestions, but if you do here are a few:

Durarara: I don't know about the manga but the anime is pretty awesome. Yes there is a wee bit of romance in it but not overly so. The way the story is portrayed is unique even thought it's a bit confusing at first. It's a mix of many genres and fantasy is in it too. I think if you like non whiny protagonists this one is for you.

And One Punch Man: There again I only just got started with watching this one, but it's really awesome. It's about superheroes but not in the traditional way. The protagonist is awesome and there is no romance in it (at least as far as I got ><) Then again its not exactly fantasy but kinda supernatural and mostly a parody.

Soul Eater would probably be one for you too. I don't usually like female protagonists but this one is awesome~

There are also Karneval and Natsumes book of friends (thought Natsume is a bit whiny at the start I guess)
The-Max765's avatar
What is Durarara about? And Soul Eater seems like Slutty Halloween Costumes: the Anime. :(
Serazimei's avatar
It's about a townpart of Tokyo: Ikebukuro and his inhabitants. The Anime actually starts with a boy coming from a small village to town to go to high school with his best friend, but the story soon shifts its focus. There are various gangs (colour gangs) who are opposed to each othe, there is a celtic fairy who is in search for her head, an info broker who loves to observe people etc.
There are many characters and everyone has a story. Each episode  is told from another point of view and it's fascinating how piece by piece every story thread connects to make a whole picture.

XD I've never seen Soul Eater that way, but I guess in Anime/Manga you get used to outfits like that >< But don't worry I hate Ecchi so Soul Eater isn't that bad in that departement^^ It's mostly the characters that are fun to watch^^
The-Max765's avatar
I gave up at "high school". 

Goddamn, I feel so alienated. And if you're alienated HERE... you're irreversibly a loser.
Serazimei's avatar
The high school really isn't that big of a part of the show. Actually you only see it once or twice maybe XD

You're fine the way you are :) Don't push yourself to do or watch something you don't want to just because you want to join in somewhere, that's just going to demotivate you ><
Why do you want to start with Anime/Manga, anyway? If I may ask you that ><