Although most if not all of the articles on this site are intended to suggest anime that people might like based on the series they like, the genres they frequent, or the super specific elements that entice them, the best way to get anime recommendations is usually from a friend. This is especially true for people who have never watched any anime.
People who are new to anime don’t know what they like and often don’t know where to start. This makes potential Google searches difficult, if not ineffective.
However, if you have a friend who wants to get into anime or has already sampled anime and wants to taste more, let me – someone who has written over 1,000 articles giving anime recommendations – show you how to give Make good anime recommendations for those who are unfamiliar.
How to give anime recommendations
Consider humans
This is the most important thing to keep in mind when introducing anime to someone interested in anime. You want to choose something they will like, not necessarily something you actually like.
A common example of this going somewhat wrong is a boyfriend trying to bring his girlfriend into the world of anime. He introduced Naruto/Jujutsu Kaisen/Demon Slayer/ect to her.
In many cases, those girlfriends love those series. Many of these shounen fighters have broad audience appeal – more on that later – and it attracted her as it attracted many others. However, usually, girls like elements of those movies but don’t really “like” them because they focus more on epic, exciting action scenes.
In that example, the boyfriend showed his girlfriend a shounen anime, which is a big action anime aimed at a young male audience. Nowadays, any gender can enjoy shounen anime, but it’s important to note that perhaps, if you’re recommending anime to someone, you should recommend shows according to their demographic. Surname.
Anime demographic genre:
Shounen – Anime marketed towards a young male audienceSeinen – Anime marketed towards an older male audience with darker action elements and a more mature narrativeShoujo – Anime marketed towards a young female audienceJosei – Anime marketed towards an older female audience with a more mature and often older storytelling focus on drama.
Take advantage of one’s interests
While broad gender can be helpful in picking out anime recommendations for a person, it’s not the only thing to consider about a person. Anime today is a vast medium and has many stories to tell. When choosing anime recommendations, consider what other areas your target audience is interested in.
If one is regularly invested in sports, then sports anime might be something to consider. If someone invests in their band, music anime might have something to offer. If they like reading books, choose an anime series with a detailed and engaging plot.
Choose Anime based on their other media interests
Choosing anime recommendations based on one’s preferences is quite obvious. However, often the better option is to consider other media they enjoy. What TV shows (other than anime) do they really like? What games do they often play?
Call of Duty fans may be more invested in popular action-packed shounen anime series. A Game of Thrones fan might enjoy something medieval that focuses on manipulation, politics, and bloody revenge. Story-focused RPG players may enjoy an anime series with a detailed, engaging plot. Anyone who has watched every horror movie ever made probably won’t find the slice-of-life anime Cute Girls Doing Cute Things appealing unless the girls mysteriously start dying.
Review the content
When I was a teenager, I had a friend who wanted to try watching anime. I went back and forth on what to show her based on what I owned, since this was a time before anime streaming when you bought DVDs and gambled on whether it was a good series or not. . I went for the Bastard OVA because it’s dark, brutal, and you can enjoy it without having to watch a lot of episodes to build up the plot. It was when Dark Schneider was carrying Princess Sheila up the ladder, wriggling her crotch on the horns of his shoulder guard and moaning sensually that I knew I had screwed up.
The lesson learned from that scary story of my youth is that anything with ecchi suggested in anime is an inappropriate choice. Unless you’re absolutely certain that the person you’re introducing anime to is a degenerate, they’ll probably find the fanservice very strange. Even then, avoid ecchi if you watch it with them. That’s when things got awkward.
Things to avoid when choosing Anime to recommend:
EcchiBlatant fan service Very graphic violence Sexual violence Morally questionable relationships used casually or for comedy (Adulthood upset the void, slavery , coercion, etc.)
Unless you’re sure they’re border lords, it’s best to avoid anything Twitter might make a fuss about. So there is no Healer rework or even unemployment rebirth. I don’t care how good the animation, world-building, and action are, the sexual moments are weird and uncomfortable for a lot of people.
Make sure you watch it
This is really just quality assurance. Any idiot on the internet can tell a series is good. A five-minute clip can show you the good parts even when everything else is bad. However, you’ll never know for sure unless you see for yourself.
As an anime fan, you can make recommendations based on what others say or from clips you’ve watched. However, you want someone who hasn’t seen any anime to have a good first experience. A new TV series you haven’t seen yet is a gamble for you but a first impression of the genre for them.
In short, only recommend what you’ve seen, even if it doesn’t fit the criteria above. If you recommend something you haven’t seen yet, you should probably also include that disclaimer when recommending it.
When in doubt, consider appealing to a broad audience
While there is a particularly vocal community of elitists and opponents within the anime community who love to hate them, the thing about popular anime is that they are popular anime. there is a reason. They have appeal to a wide audience, they boast both quality and interest for many people, and they are often quite good stories. Furthermore, always remember that even if it is filled with clichés and cliches, a new anime fan has not yet been exposed to those sayings enough to know that they have been overused.
Basically, if you have nothing else to go on, recommend what’s popular or well-received. However, keep in mind all the things I mentioned above.
Some people really have no interest in shounen fighters, but maybe they like the ship baiting often used in them. In that case, maybe a romantic action movie or just a simple romantic anime might be something they will love.
Maybe they loved the brutal, brutal battles in Demon Slayer, but wished the characters weren’t so wacky. In that case, perhaps a darker seinen anime where they keep the brutality and tone down the characters is for them.
Overall, my biggest advice when giving anime recommendations to an individual is to consider them as individuals and not just try to squeeze them into a series that you actually enjoy. Ideally, you want a series that appeals to them as a person, but that you also enjoy. That’s the interesting point.
A good first introduction to anime can create a lifelong love of anime. So it’s important to lay a good foundation. What advice would you give to people making anime recommendations for new fans or just making anime recommendations in general? Let fans know in the comments below.