I watched “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End” a few weeks ago which is probably my first proper anime (not counting the odd episode of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon or OnePiece I caught on TV as a child) and I really enjoyed it.
Especially the slow but deep character build up and general world building and exploration themes were really captivating. So I’m looking for something similar with focus on these aspects.
So far I found “Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina”, which was ok but didn’t quite live up to Frieren and wasn’t nearly as captivating.
So does anyone know similar shows or at least shows that focus on the aspects of story telling I mentioned avove?
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood might interest you. Thinking about interesting character studies - if you like stories with horror elements, Monster is great. Cowboy Bebop is a classic sci fi story. I was personally a big fan of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit.
Thanks!
What’s fun about getting into an old but new for you thing is having a huge backlog of classics to experience for the first time. Sometimes I’ll get into a new genre of music and it’s the best going through top 10 album lists and so on. I hope you have a great experience!
Well, you picked a hell of a show to start. A couple that I think are similar in feel to Frieren would be:
- Kino’s Journey - there are two versions of this show as it had a remake done in 2013(?) I think. In any case, for somebody just starting their anime journey, you can stick to the more recent, less VHS-grainy looking version.
- Mushishi
- Violet Evergarden - I haven’t personally watched this one yet, but it is brought up a lot in comparison to Frieren.
Kino’s Journey
Already looked into that one and have both versions prepared.
Thanks!
OP, I just want to STRONGLY second Violet Evergarden. The individual episodes don’t really connect to one another except through Violet, which is definitely a change from Frieren. But one wrinkle. There’s a movie that sits in between episodes 4 and 5, chronologically, and then there’s a movie that sits at the end of all of it. Go in blind, though. Trust me, you’ll really appreciate having done so.
Mushishi
So I’m almost through Season 1 now and this is a really strange one. It wasn’t really what I was looking for but it’s so strangly calming and while very episodical it still feels like you want to see what comes next.
It’s definitly not as gripping so I didn’t really binge it, just watching a couple of episodes here and there. But now that I’m finishing the first season I have to say I quite enjoyed it overall. Even if it was for different reasons then I looked for.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Watching an episode or two at a time is just right for Mushishi. It definitely is one that benefits from some time to reflect on each episode. Glad you have enjoyed it! Plenty of other suggestions already in this thread on where you could go next (if not season 2 of Mushishi). Good luck on your anime journey!
I would say the closest to Frieren in both quality of the writing and animation (and even surpassing the animation by a mile) is Violet Evergarden. It’s on Netflix so you probably already have access to it. It’s just as emotional as Frieren and shares some of the same core concepts of the story by exploring what it means to have basic human emotions though the lens of someone who is struggling with them. I cannot recommend Violet Evergarden enough.
Yeah, a few people have mentioned it. I guess Violet Evergarden goes to the top if the list. Thanks!
Initially the early 20th century setting but with the advanced robot hands but also with the automemory dolls because most people can’t write, took some getting used to.
I think the worldbuilding was a bit meh, they explained very little of what was actually going on.
But the character development and general story telling where really good and I basically binged the last half. I cried quite a bit. Very much enjoyed it, thanks for the great recommendation.
There’s already quite a lot of good recommendations here. I’ll just add another voice recommending Kino’s Journey and To Your Eternity.
Also, I’d say don’t expect Frieren levels of polish and awesomeness with the recommendations given, as Frieren is just a different level altogether (with lots of deserved hype).
As for my own recommendations? Let’s see:
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Aria the Animation, Natural, and Origination — this is but one anime series with three seasons of varying length. Every episode is more or less self-contained, but the characters develop slowly over the span of a lot of episodes (I counted 72 for all three seasons, could be wrong though). In a way, the character growth and exploration here is more comparable to real life. The pacing might be a bit too slow for a lot of people though. and the overall tone might be a bit too sweet for some. There’s some world-building here, but it’s really subtle at times—with the episodes focusing instead on the everyday and sometimes, the supernatural goings-on around the city the characters live in.
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Natsume Yuujinchou [Nastume’s Book of Friends] — six seasons of varying lengths. This is also mostly episodic with some character growth happening but the kind that you’d easily miss just watching the episodes. This one, however, has more supernatural themes, but also touches on how the youkai (non-human entities–to put things simply) differ from humans not only in mindset, but also in their perception of time.
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Mushishi — I haven’t yet watched this one in its entirety, but this is favorably compared to Natsume Yuujinchou, and so it might hit the same notes as that one.
Mushishi was fantastic! I definitely also rec that one.
Mushishi thirded. It’s slow pace and human characterizations, patient world building… Exceptional.
@megane_kun@lemm.ee, @celeste@kbin.social
Thanks for the Mushishi suggestions!
Definitely! The only reason I put it on hold is that it got so raw and close to home that I had to stop watching for a while. Kinda embarrassing, but in a way, a statement to how good it is.
The best shows can be so hard to watch because they’re so good at hitting where it hurts
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I’ve not watched shows that you mentioned yet so this might be a little out of left field. But anyway here’s some top anime i’d recommend:
Beautiful world that gets bigger and bigger, loved watching the main character train up to a crazy level of power. Your idea of that character will change over the time you’re watching, the writer does a good job at putting us in the shoes of his friends who also watch him grow.
This one is if you’re looking for the type of character development that you’d find in a war movie, Innocent characters learn the gruesome horrors of their life and lose their innocence. The story of the world is well built and the lore is deep. Be warned, it pretty depressive to watch, i kinda lost hope with the characters while watching it does a good job at pulling you into the characters mindset.
Others to consider (i.e. anime starter kit): My Hero Academia | Neon Genesis Evangelion | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | Tokyo Ghoul | Sword Art Online (S1) | Does Avatar the last airbender count?
Does Avatar the last airbender count?
I don’t think it does. I’ve read and forgot about why it’s not an anime. But that one I watched more than 27 times. It’s the best show there is, across all categories.
The strictest definition says Anime must be a Japanese production. Avatar was created in America.
Still it’s fantastic.
The strictest definition says Anime must be a Japanese production. Avatar was created in America.
That sounds about right from what I heard, Personally I don’t really care. Not even about anime or live action or cartoon. I just like good story telling, character development and that kind of stuff.
As much as i agree anime is Japanese made, anime sites have decided to allow Chinese and Korean anime for whatever reason. Which is unfair to avatar.
I think avatar shouldve just been grandfathered into the anime community. I believe most anime lovers would agree it is definitely an american made anime. Is that a slippery slope to other american shows being grouped in? I think not, because there are no other beloved american animes other than avatar.
Spice and Wolf is an anime about a traveling merchant, i couldn’t recommend it enough. Although there is a new anime of it coming out soon if you want to wait
Made in Abyss is a horror anime about kids exploring what has affectionately been called “Uncle Lovecraft’s fun time murder hole”
Girls Last Tour is an anime about two girls exploring the apocalypse. The music is literally addicting, i typed the name and it’s stuck in my head. You will cry.
Those all hit an exploration Itch, i recommend going to myanimelist.net to help keep track of what you might want to watch.
Look, I love Made in Abyss more than basically anyone on Earth. But I struggle to think it’s a good recommendation for a gateway anime. The other two you rec’d are absolutely perfect, though, so I can’t argue entirely. But I’m going to go ahead and suggest AniList for list tracking.
I mean, i could have recommended boku no pico
Okay, and…your point is? There can be more than one bad recommendation.
Everyone needs these kinds of recommendations when starting out, my guy, hazing is great. Especially when the recommendation is actually good (meaning mia, not the other one).
I don’t disagree it’s a good show. I just don’t know that I think OP would much like anime anymore if that’s one of their first.
They could have recommend school days. Its fucked up but damn did dude get what he deseved. I dont think that one is an anime deal breaker like made in the abyss is.
Hello! Lots of good suggestions here already.
But I am here to shill for my favourite manga, now being adapted into an anime, Dungeon Meshi.
The first 12 episodes are on netflix and so far the execution has been stellar. I’m running a community for it here: !dungeonmeshi@ani.social
You mention the slow character build up and detailed world building of Frieren being enjoyable, and Dungeon Meshi excels at those same things. Personally I’d even dare say it keeps up the quality of that stuff, while it eventually kind falls off a bit in Frieren in favor of focusing on arcs that can feel like B-plots. That’s not even a criticism, it’s simply a different kind of story, and the anime hasn’t gotten to that point.
Dungeon Meshi in comparison is fairly short (I currently estimate it will wrap up in 48 episodes, after a second season), but it is a deep and complex story featuring far more than one character worth focusing on, set in a world with a rich history. Its rate of publishing was a single chapter every other month, which I think resulted in a level of attention to detail few weekly published mangas can achieve.
It merely masquerades as a simple comedy/cooking story with a fantasy gimmick.
And now we are getting an anime adaptation of that masterpiece, by none other than Studio Trigger!
If you give it a chance, pay attention to the details, as it starts to set things up from episode one, that will come together only much later.
Sounds great, I’m going to check it out!
Spy x Family
Land of the Lustrous
Yuru Camp
One Piece
Madoka Magica
Nichijou
A Place Further Than The Universe
Vivy
Violet Evergarden
Welcome to the NHK
Fullmetal Alchemist
I personally highly recommend Mushoku Tensei. It has some controversial points, and I feel that during the course of the story (particularly in the LN) they were straightened out since the main character stopped identifying himself as his pre reincarnation person and fully went in as Rudeus.
The art, animation, and music are all gorgeous. The world building is there, quite in depth too. Also, the first four of the first season has some of the best intros and outros I have ever seen in 40+ years of watching anime.
I may a bit biased. 😅
Mushoku Tensei is a good show to watch if you’re in a mood for philosophical questions. Like in the case of Rudeus, is he an adult in a child’s body? Or is he a child with an adult’s memories? Same also holds with Oshi no Ko.
The way I interpreted it while reading the light novel was that he started as an adult in a child’s body, and slowly became the child while retaining his memories. In the process he (other than worshipping panties…) became a better person than he ever was in his first life. Not that it took too much, considering what kind of lowlife he was. 🤷♀️
Kino’s journey, Mushishi, Violet Evergarden are all excellent shows but I would add: girl’s last tour
And if you have time for more: 86
I was watching Apothecary Diaries alongside Frieren so I gotta recommend that one.
Mushi-shi and Violet Evergarden have been recommended by others and I also highly recommend them.
Other shows which have exploration theme with character build up
A group of four girls travelling to the Antarctica.
A shut-in jobless man reincarnated into a fantasy world. Try his best to conquer his previous traumatic past in new world.
Due to a mysterious beam, all the world population turn into stone. After thousands of year, a boy reawakens and tries to rebuild the civilization.
Following her mother trait, a girl and her friend dive down the abyss where they will meet all sort of mysterious ceratures.
I would NOT recommend mushoku tensei to an anime newbie, as it requires an extremely high tolerance for anime bullshit (particularly creepy sex stuff)
Also, made in abyss needs to come with a heavy content warning, as it is a horror/gore anime despite its cutesy artstyle. Not to say it’s a bad recommendation, just it’s not for everyone.
Agree. Better keep those in PTW list for now and watch those later after getting familiar with anime troops.
A Place Further Than The Universe is fucking spectacular. It actually got so popular(wording?) that the New York Times ran an article on it.
It’s hard to live up to expectations after Frieren but here are some that were memorable for me:
- Fate Zero - it’s a battle royal with magic, the story isn’t the focus but the characters and fights are great
- Spice and Wolf - this is about a merchant’s journey with an unusual companion (there is a new (re)adaptation coming next season, but the old version is also quite good)
- A Certain Scientific Railgun - a sci-fi city and it’s secrets, I think it does well in the would building
Ancient Magus’ Bride has a similar kind of mood with a super old wizard and girl apprentice doing emotional side quests.
Sci-fi and crime: Psycho Pass (Season 1 only)
