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If you were asked to recommend a couple animes to "curious" friends...

Flawed, but safe outside of a couple disturbing scenes and entertaining to follow for someone that likes action/adventure.

I was definitely entertained by a lot of the scenes and even some of the dialogue was decent - I just felt that the premise of the holy grail war was so poorly conceived and executed (even for a shounen series) that it could never deliver something great but it is entertaining enough as is Unlimited Blade Works. I like shounen series and I'm a fan of similar live action genre like kung fu movies and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if it's also conveyed that it's a genre that follows a particular pattern and tropes that might have a more narrow appeal than broader series.
 
Last Exile and Wolf's Rain.

Throw in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig.

These are good anime with good storytelling and are good journeys to get into.
 
Black Bullet (Some may disagree but I liked it) - I'm not sure what I like about this but for some reason it reminds me of maybe another anime I might have watched when I was younger and enjoyed.

No Game No Life - The two main characters are weird but I like their wits.

If you think these are recommendable to general audiences, you need to take a step back and consider how they would look to the average moviegoer.
 
Can someone clarify "Moe"

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Fate/Zero:
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For the friend that must have some action/adventure of blood lust, I recommend them this to watch. It has a good balance of story, and action to keep them interested, and the characters are interesting and engaging. While parts of this can be bloody and pretty intense, itÂ’s well worth the recommendation to friends to watch if they are really into action based films.
I can't understand the love for Fate/Zero. When it looks pretty, it looks damn pretty. When it takes this pretty and mixes it with terrible, terribly out-of-place computer generated models I feel like throwing up.

If I had to recommend a show, I'd just go with stereotypical Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, or FLCL.
 
Assuming these are friends my age, I would be curious as to why they are curious, because they should already have had much exposure to anime, and they know how to use the internet.

If they were to ask what I enjoy watching, I would just tell them the shows that I am watching this season.
 
Baccano Dub.

I don't try to get people into anime, or watch it if they don't want to or anything, but I have literally a 100% success ratio for that show.
Watched this for this for the first time a month or two ago. It's a bit violent, but my god it was amazing.
 
Baccano, but I try to get everyone to watch Baccano.

Cowboy Beebop or Samurai Champloo, I personally prefer Beebop but also think Champloo is great and some people I know would prefer it.

Steins;Gate it's pretty good and pretty accessible.
 
Death Note (To break that stereotype some of my freinds have about anime)
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood ( Really solid plot, plenty of twist and turns with great action scenes)
One Punch Man

I would generally recommend short anime that are well paced with decent animation.

Few other I thought of.
Attack on Titan
Hunter X Hunter (wouldn't recommend this straightaway)

I guess it depends on the freind though, I know a freind that would love the fan service in Fairy Tail.
 
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Mushishi
One Punch Man
Death Note
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I'm not that much into anime but I don't have anything against it. Those are some of the shows I liked so I think anyone new would like them.
 
Though its a copout answer it depends on what kinds of stories they like.

I mean I could easily recommend Bunny Drop, but that kind of story wont appeal to everyone. Not everyone would like a story about a single guy raising a young relative whose parents have died/vanished.

I was coming in here to recommend this. My wife loved it. It is just a great heartwarming story that is accessible to everyone. But yeah, people who are looking for badass stuff or action stuff won't find it here.
 
I thought the purpose was to get them INTO anime, and not repel them forever? FLCL is hands down, one of the worst animesI have ever seen... and I have seen SO MUCH shit.
You know, I never would've thought in a million years to show FLCL to anyone, but I've had surprising results from friends who happen to be in the room when I'm watching it. My girlfriend as well. They all don't like anime, but something about the over-the-top craziness of FLCL was enough for them to go "What the fuck?" and get glued to the shennanigans happening onscreen. Then at some point they just...kept watching. And like it. I can't explain it. For your point of not liking it though, I can completely understand. It's one of my favorites, but when someone tells me they don't like FLCL I nod and go "Yep." It isn't everyone's cup of crazy tea.
 
Cowboy Bebop

Do I even have to say anything about this one? It doesn't fall into a lot of the trappings that clings to modern anime and has more in common with western films than anime, actually. Mostly self-contained episodes, but with overarching character exploration and development.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

As with Bebop, this is about the characters first and foremost, but is a much more serialized journey about a pair of brothers that embark on a quest of redemption for their past sins. The supporting cast around the Elric brothers are incredibly well developed in this iteration compared to the original 2003 adaptation of the successful manga. Great world building, history, and an underlying conspiracy of grand proportions are to be found as well.
 
Baccano Dub.

I don't try to get people into anime, or watch it if they don't want to or anything, but I have literally a 100% success ratio for that show.
My friends all hate it, none of them having watched it at my recommendation because I feel like it shits the bed really badly as soon as they're off the train, but the first 9 episodes are quite good.
 
I've recommended Samurai Champloo to a couple people that had never watched anime before and now they're hooked. I think it's a good one to recommend because the art style isn't anything that's too is, the action is stylish but not super over-the-top, the humor is well done, and the storylines are generally more serious and well thought out.

Basically doesn't have anything that would scare someone away from anime, IMO.
 
Most of Ghibli, FLCL, Macross: DYRL, Azumanga, maybe Cowboy Bebop I guess. You would mainly want shorter stuff that's reasonably self contained.

Then I'll scare them away for good:

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if they're still my friend we can watch votoms and gunbuster or something idk
if i don't want them to be my friend we'll watch pom poko
 
There is quite a few, but I'll go with a classic:

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A problem I see when recommending anime is that people usually go for their current favorites (That they got to after developing a taste) than the ones that actually got them into anime. So, Ranma 1/2 was the series that got me into anime and the first one to watch all the way to the end, so its the one I recommend. I usually recommend a dubbed version since its censored, and believe it or not that sometimes can be a good thing, there is such a thing as cultural shock.

In case I know the person might not like the whole romance part of it OR the length of the series might be a turn-off, my other go-to series to recommend is Cowboy Bebop, since its so easy to get into. Sometimes I recommend they watch both at the same time.

After that, I recommend either Hunter x Hunter, Monster, Fullmetal Alchemist, Evangelion or Death Note (Even if I am not a big fan of this last two), taking into account their reaction and what they liked the most about their first two.

Once they are ready I can recommend the GOAT Gintama.
 
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