Pretty much anything with any easy to follow story plot, and not too many references to Japanese culture are good.
I got my dad to stop thinking that all anime was an excuse for panty shots by showing him Steam Boy.

Seconding Bluesky... try to avoid anything with too much over-the-top exaggerated Super-deformed nonsense, and squeaky voices or prolonged powering up or screaming dialogues.  I'm a long time anime fan, and too much of this annoys me still today, nomatter how 'used' to it I am. 

One of the biggest barriers against anime is the idea that it's made for children -so chose titles that are a little more mature in content and mood.  Go for shows that utilize the style in an artistically beautiful manner.

Off the top of my head, I would say:

Cowboy Bebop : Spike may be a bit cheesey at times, but the music tributes are familiar, the art is gorgeous and the episodic nature works -it cuts a lot of melodrama out and doesn't demand that the viewer understand every little smidgen of backstory.  Emotion and depth is there, but it's a natural part of the ride.

From that, move to Samurai Champloo:  Once again, the music is the connecting thread to what they are already familiar with, with gorgeous animation and a little bit more anime humour, sex, and action than Cowboy Bebop.

Now show how emotionally gripping anime can be.  Try Now and Then, Here and There, which is only 13 episodes long.  For the same emotion but maybe a bit less political drama, Wolf's Rain.  WR is especially good for a religious friend, since it's an interpretation of Revelations. Trigun makes a good transfer from this pool to the next...

Now to heal the soul.  Slayers:  Don't show this series first, maybe wait a little until after the person has gotten used to anime.  Make this their first action/comedy series for the SAKE of action/comedy. 

Maybe now you can mindrape them?  FLCL, Utena, Boogiepop Phantom.  All good.


Overall, the best thing you can do is KNOW about anime when you show your friend, because they are going to have a lot of questions and if you can't answer them with much more than a SQUEE or LOL, then they are just going to find it weird instead of entertaining.  Know about the genres, the styles, the reflection of Japanese culture.  Be able to give some anime a critical and unbiased look - don't just fawn over every single bit of it - fanboying is enough to turn anybody off of anything.

Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (01-29-2010 12:40:33 PM)

I've had several teachers that loved Cowboy Bebop and didn't know what anime is. I've never seen it myself, but hey.


I've actually gotten a fair amount of people to watch Adolescence Apocalypse. They all found it interesting in a "So... they're magical lesbians?" way. Also, the hair colour makes it easy to explain.

No see, pink is pretending to be a dude, and she meets purple and they hit it off. But pink is sorta in love with red, and purple is a witch.

Agree with much posted above, but I would also add Monster to the list. The character designs are incredibly realistic, the story doesn't contain any far-out fantasy that tends to scare off non-anime fans, and the plot is gripping and suspenseful.

I also know quite a few people who enjoyed Death Note but aren't really anime fans.

Last edited by halleftw (01-29-2010 07:15:59 PM)

I like to go straight for the heart wrenching Grave of the Fireflies... it's a cinematic masterpiece in all it's anime glory... followed closely by Princess Mononoke and Kiki's Delivery Service...

I've gotten a lot of people into manga, but that was usually more individualized... Let's just say I have a storeroom of random manga titles... Nana was definitely one that caused a lot of intrigue... so did Ah!(Oh!) My Goddess, Princess Ai (Although I wonder why) and Magic Knight Rayearth...those last two probably because I have them in box sets each with three manga, and I'm just like, "here, read this, it's short" and then they get interested...

I have two words for you: Spirited Away.
It's a beautiful story even non-otaku will love. My father said he didn't understand my passion for anime until he saw it, and I'm so happy.

For sci-fi kids, Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex