Anime anyone?

Kiki's Delivery Service
Metropolis (okay, it isn't anime, but it is an essential movie)
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke

 

Please Save My Earth
Gunbuster
Vision of Escaflowne
Fushigi Yuugi
anything Gundam (I like Gundam Wing these days)
Marmalade Boy
Vampire Hunter D
X (not as good as the Manga, but beautiful animation)
Tenchi Muyo
Neo Genesis Evangelion (still confused by the ending...)
Record of Lodoss War
anything Macross

That's all right now.

 

I'm a casual anime user, so I have a pretty limited range, but a few I'd recommend are:

Trigun. One of my favorite series, above even Cowboy Bebop. Started out silly but built naturally into a serious flick.

Maybe Evangelion - a true classic, but the ending is comically random (endings, there are movies that were basically made to try to give a real ending or, arguably, to give the finger to fans demanding a more comprehensible ending). To this day, to describe a series that has an incomprehensible, unsatisfying ending without giving away spoilers I just warn people It has an Evangelion type ending. Watch it strictly to appreciate the artwork and earn the right to complain about it's random story line with friends.

For a bit of nostalgia, Starblazers can be fun. Same with early Transformers. Seriously.

Hack//sign. Great music, but a bit of an odd concept. The whole story takes place in an online video game world. The real world is very rarely seen, but it is there. The concept has grown on me as I've seen how friends take to things like World of Warcraft.

On the non-classic front:
Eureka Seven. There is a sci-fi story in there if you can get over the surfing motif wince factor (if the first ep doesn't drive you nuts, it's worth watching the rest). It was a fun series that came to a tight conclusion.

Outlaw Star. Same flavor as Cowboy Bebop, I think its the same folks. A little stronger big story arc and much stronger mystical component than Bebop.

Witch Hunter Robin. A bit of the Ghost in the Shell grit, but with magic worked in a semi-scientific fashion.

If you want to branch into the samurai motif, I was addicted to Bleach through its first arc. I have friends who swear by Naruto, which has amazing popularity. Both have 100+ eps, although I felt Bleach has a natural stopping point in the 60's. I have heard the second arc is also very good, but it goes a bit blah in the third. Naruto actually started another series recently.

Ones on my to-see list that I have yet to go through:
Dual. Classic parallel universe and big robots series.
Gundam. There are a billion series here, and I feel almost anime-illiterate for never have seen any THE mecha franchise.
Lain. (serial experiments Lain maybe) This may most closely match your cybernoir objective but I haven't seen it. I do have a friend who regularly dresses up as a teddybear in homage.

 

Lupin III at the Castle of Cagliostro

It's like James Bond, only cooler.

 

Tentacle porn?
.
_H*

 

Is it possible that you haven't watched Akira? I see that it isn't on your initial list. That's about as classic as they get. Bubblegum crisis. Definitely , absolutely, if you haven't watched it already. Also “classicâ€. These are some of the really significant anime from the late 1980s, which I think really helped to get widespread interest in anime going, and they meet your Sci-Fi criteria.



I've always liked Cyber City Oedo 808. I always thought it was under appreciated.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mad Hatter @ Sep 30 2007, 02:48 PM) [snapback]519512[/snapback]</div>

I knew I forgot to include something! I loved Bubblegum Crisis/Crash!

I should also mention Patlabor. It wasn't one of my favorites, but a lot of other people seemed to love it. Also, Nausicaa was a good one. Actually, anything by Miyazaki would be a winner - Rae Vynn listed a few of them, including my favorite, Kiki's Delivery Service.

 

Not a huge anime fan, here's a few that I like...

Sci-fi/futuristics:
Macross Zero
Gundam Seed
Both had great plots and amazing graphics

Dramatic/a little futuristic:
Death Note
This one can get VERY addictive due to its suspense. A little disappointed at the ending tho. Fans had draw up alternate endings that I like much more. If you ever got to watch this and want to see alternate endings, PM me.

Currently watching Heroic Age

 

I second the vote for Heroic Age. Awesome story that isn't all about meaningless destruction and the music is awesome.
Oh and it has The. Best. Lasers. Ever. Animated.


If you into 3D CGI, I highly recommend Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One-Year War and it's sequel Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079

Gundam Seed is also one of the best. Highly recommended.

I also recommend Banner of the Stars and it's sequels.

As well as the below:
Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind
Laputa: The Castle in the Sky

Another anime that just FINISHED airing in Japan is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann awesome story that is action packed and thrilling... sure to give you that rush of adrenaline

 

A lot of the anime mentioned above, I have seen and loved (the rest I've not seen yet).

Not mentioned above since it's not cyber-anything, but still pretty good is Wolf's Rain. It's kind of an alternate reality/future where we've hunted wolves to extinction, and they are believed gone forever (though still hugely feared). A few still remain, however, and they (telepathically?) cause us to see them as human. A small group of them find eachother and begin a search for a Wolf Paradise where humans can nolonger hunt them. Journey is full of peril, of course.

The art is very good, the story sad, and the ending sadder.

Another you might enjoy if you like ninjas is Naruto. It's pretty hilarious, actually. The Japanese w/English subtitles is better than the English dubbed version.

It's about a group of kids from various villages that aspire to be ninjas (and in the case of Naruto himself, village Hokkoge [pls excuse horrible spelling!] ). It follows their lessons in "ninja school" and the social relationships between them as they learn to deal with eachother and become a good team.

Ruroni Kenshin/Samuri X are another samuri anime that is very good too. Takes place back in the midevil times, and follows Ruroni Kenshin through his travels.


I'm trying to remember the others I've seen, but am not having any luck with their titles....grrr! There's one about a futuristic submarine and "Island of Dr. Moreau" type characters, Blue 6 or something. Saw it once on Adult Swim. Been a long time, so can't really remember the plot.

Do you like Vampire stories? There's a few gothic future scifi vampire animes I can think of, including Van Helsing.

 

Yes, Blue Submarine 6! Ah, I knew I couldn't have been too far off on the title. Yeah, be sure to watch that one, and Wolf's Rain. Read up on the Japanese folk history on the wolf-human transition thing as well. I know of it, but have yet to actually read up on it....I'm sure it will give some good insight into the story and it's characters if you have a good background knowledge the concept.

Vampire animes:
Vampire Hunter D
Helsing

...there's another, but I have to confirm the correct title with my friend first......will get back to you on that one.


LOL, just wait til you find yourself collecting manga (book form of anime)....good lord each series is huge! :lol: There's often a lot more in the manga than what is shown on the anime (due to time constraints, or editing for US audiences, etc). So yeah....a particular anime could have, say, 10 episodes, but 30 mangas! :blink: And then there's mangas that have never been adapted to anime form, so you've got these beautifully drawn books with great stories within them that you might otherwise have never known.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Froley @ Oct 5 2007, 03:29 PM) [snapback]521973[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Starbug @ Oct 6 2007, 02:26 AM) [snapback]522104[/snapback]</div>

I don't know if this is the one you were thinking of, but Vampire Princess Miyu is another one. I never saw the whole thing, so I have no idea if it's any good or not. There was another one that I just can't remember. Maybe that's the one you are thinking of... I have all of my random anime (fansubs and demo tapes from my days as an anime distributor) packed away. I really should go through it all and refresh my memory.

 

I have not seen Vamprire Princess Miyu yet. I'll have to check it out.

The one I was thinking of is not about vampires (I forgot!), but it is still very interesting. The art is unlike the other animes, very unique. It's called the Count of Monte Cristo.