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I am looking for anime recommendations. Anybody?
Yeah, I know that's like asking "what wine should I drink?", so let's narrow it down a bit. First, I'll list anime I've seen, whether or not I liked it, and why I did or didn't. Then, I'll list the parameters of what I think I'm looking for--my tastes are fairly eclectic, but not all-encompassing.
Anime I've seen:
Akira: I didn't care for this, but it's been so long since I watched it that I can't remember why, or in fact remember many details about it at all.
Amazing Nurse Nanako: I mostly enjoyed this. The apparent emotional abuse of the main character bothered me, and I'm not sure the eventual revelation of the reasons made up for it, but outside of that, I enjoyed the humor, much of the action, and the background plot that gave the silliness of the foreground stories some depth. I also liked the art style and, um, character designs. Well, one character design in particular.
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: I enjoyed this. Nice blend of action and story, interesting characters (if not very deep or all that intelligent). Attractive character design.
Can Can Bunny: I have enjoyed this so far, have not watched all six episodes. This seems like a good example of the kind of hentai I'm willing to watch: attractive character designs, consensual and fun sex, just enough story to make the show watchable.
Cowboy Bebop: I loved this. I will own it someday. Good action, great stories, good worldbuilding, engaging characters. I hate that it ended the way it did, but mostly because there's obviously more story to be told and _I can't see it!_ Faye Valentine is one of my top three favorite female anime characters.
Cutey Honey (2000): I enjoyed this. I admit, I checked it out for the transformation sequences, but I continued watching it for the okay story, which is a good thing because the transformation sequences turned out to be not as big a deal as I'd been hoping. Still, I liked the animation and character designs, and the action was pretty good. It annoyed me that the DVDs gave out before the story ended; I hope that someday more episodes will make their way to the US.
Cutey Honey (1973): I tracked this down and watched it because I understood the 2000 series was a remake, so I thought I could at least find out what happened at the end. Turns out "remake" is only broadly true, and the earlier series ends in the middle of its own storyline as well. Animation is bad, character designs are not very good. I liked the fact that the girl is the hero, and is constantly rescuing her various love-struck male costars. I would watch more of it if I could find it, but I wouldn't put a lot of effort into the search.
Dirty Pair: I liked this. Touted as the "classic girls with guns anime", I picked it up more for the girls than the guns, but I enjoyed the stories and action quite a bit. Once again, an appealing sense of humor and a pleasantly snarky attitude raises the experience from "merely okay" to "pretty good."
Eichen: I hated this. The humor fell flat, the story was not engaging, the characters were barely even one-dimensional. And, surprising as this was for me to discover, there is an upper size limit to attractive breasts, and Eichen exceeded it. By a significant margin.
Excel Saga: I enjoyed this a lot. It helped that "Menchi-vision" explained most of the jokes, as many of them would have gone right by me. Excel Saga is all about the humor, and doesn't bring much else to the table, but that's okay.
Full Metal Alchemist: Best. Anime. EVAR. The story, the characters, the action, the blending of humor and drama, the multi-leveled conflicts, the redemptions, the whatever-the-opposite-of-redemption-is. Even the cliffhanger ending works--after the end of the final episode, I just sat staring open-mouthed at the TV for, like, minutes. Holy crap. Got to get the movie when it comes out. OK, I got kind of tired about how over-the-top Ed is about his height sensitivity.
Ghost in the Shell (2 movies):
Ghost in the Shell SAC: I enjoyed these a lot. Great action, solid stories, great characters. Not as awe-inspiring as FMA, but right up there with Cowboy Bebop in the upper echelons.
Golden Boy: I didn't care for this. Beautiful character designs, but the stories fell flat, and the title character just flat sucked. I was hoping for something a lot more like _Mouse_.
Justice League/JLU (Cartoon Network): I know these probably aren't technically anime, but they are an example of animation that I like a lot. Solid plots, good action, occasional humor, nice character designs, likable (and despicable) characters. These aren't the _Superfriends_ of my childhood. Also, these iterations of Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman are two of my three favorite female American animated characters (the third is Jessica Rabbit). There's nothing magical about the number three, it just happens that when I think of hot anime chicks and hot American animated chicks, I come up with three of each.
Lupin III: I love Lupin. Lupin is kind of a genre all by himself, what with the hundreds of episodes and dozens of movies. Lupin got me started watching anime. Actually, Fujiko Mine (the second of my three favorite female anime characters) got me started watching anime. I'm still waiting for a really good nude scene with Fujiko, but I'm definitely enjoying the wait. Great humor, great characters, and decent stories more than make up for the sub-par animation. (Which is not to say that there isn't good animation in the Lupin milieu--Castle of Cagliostro is very pretty.) The problem with Lupin is I can never decide whom I want to be when I grow up--Lupin himself, Jigen, or Goemon? Maybe "grow up" is not the best choice of words. :)
Mahoromatic 1-2 + summer special: I liked this quite a bit. Another show I got for the (again, kind of disappointing) cheesecake factor but kept for the story and characters. Good humor, well-balanced with the more serious overarching plotlines. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the second season. Nice character design and animation. I thought the Summer Special was a nice addition.
Metropolis: I ended up ambivalent about this one. It drew me in with a very interesting premise, and did a good job of building tension, but I felt let down by the disappointing predictability of the ending. The characters were on the flat side and did not develop--. I haven't seen Fritz Lang's _Metropolis_, so I don't know how closely the anime follows the plot of the original. I'd watch more shows like this, if the payoff were better.
Mouse: I liked this, purely for the cheesecake. The stories and characters are passable at best, but I love the character designs and enjoyed the humor.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: I hated this. I watched it to the end because I figured anything that took itself that seriously had to be going somewhere, but in the end, it was just a bunch of defective people inflicting their personal miseries on each other, set against a backdrop of self-important, badly-bastardized religious themes. No thank you.
One Piece (Kaizoku-Fansubs version): I love this. "Romp" is the word that keeps coming to my mind. Plenty of humor, lots of action, engaging characters with depth when they need it, conflicts that matter to the characters, all without taking itself too seriously (when the bad-ass swordsman has invented a *three*-sword combat style, and holds the third sword in his *mouth*, you know that we're not talking high drama here). The slightly-stylized character designs work very well with the sometimes frenetic pace of the anime. Just a lot of fun all around. And Nami rounds out my top-three female anime characters, both for her obvious physical charms and for her constantly-warring impulses for greed, cowardice, and loyalty to her friends.
Princess Mononoke: I was ambivalent about this one. M. really liked it, but it didn't draw me in, and I'm not sure why.
Project A-ko (3 movies): These were okay. Nice cheesecake, passable stories and characters. I think I liked the reinvention of the characters in the third movie better than the first two. but they were all watchable.
Ranma 1/2: I'm enjoying these a lot. They're formulaic, but I like the formula, and the characters have _just_ enough depth that I'm not tired of them yet, even after four TV seasons' worth of episodes. Silly, done properly, _can_ carry a series.
Robotech: I'm mostly enjoying this. I've seen two seasons (I think), one where they originally go out to space and are fighting all the Zentratti, the second after their return to Earth, where there are a mix of cooperative and rogue Zentratti. Decent plot, decent characters, acceptable character design considering the time period. I _am_ getting kind of tired of the whiny romantic triangle, which is part of why Robotech has slid down my Netflix queue in favor of new (to me) episodes of Lupin.
Speed Racer: I was surprised at how bad this was. I totally remember Speed Racer being the height of cool, when I was...eight. OK, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But with no plot, flat and kind-of-offensive-in-this-day-and-age characters, mediocre action at best, and totally inconceivable plot points (how the hell can Speed take literally _days_ off in the middle of a race to deal with the bad guys AND THEN WIN THE RACE ANYWAY? Seriously, how does that work?), I don't even know what they were thinking.
Star Blazers Series 1: I really liked this. It was a little bit of work seeing the greatness past the awful bowdlerization of the storyline (and the truly _appalling_ science), but it was in there. A fine coming-of-age story, and a fine if simplified discussion of the effects of war on those who wage it. Unlike Speed Racer, Star Blazers lived up to my childhood memories nicely--there was a lot _more_ going on than I remembered, instead of a lot _less_. However, I broke the three series out to discuss separately for a reason.
Star Blazers Series 2 (The Comet Empire): This was okay. The return of Desslock was nicely done, particularly the final confrontation, and the new threat was, if not credible, at least internally consistent. The constant repetition of the "Oh, the Star Force beat you because you _suck_, but now I'm in charge and because I do not _suck_, there is no need for me to actually study the Star Force's tactics to see if maybe they're actually clever and I should maybe have a fallback plan if my initial, all-out assault does not pan out" attitude begins to wear in this series, but it's still very watchable, and as I say, the end resolution of the Desslock problem is very nice.
Star Blazers Series 3: This sucked (Which is different from my opinion of Evangelion--I can see why some people might like Evangelion, it's just not to my taste, but SB3 is _bad_). The bowdlerization of the storyline goes so far beyond the pale in this series that I couldn't stand to finish it. Also, Desslock is back. Again. Which completely ruins the ending of the Comet Empire series. Screw that. Just as with the Highlander sequels, this series does not exist for me. Unlike the Highlander sequels, I wish I could see this series with a new, faithful translation.
Trigun: I loved this. Great action, good humor, an infinitely cool main character, and a solid overarching plotline. Nice animation and character designs. Again, problems that really matter to the characters and their world, and an excellent job done of making those problems matter to the viewer. Choices with real consequences, and characters who make the right choices, and pay the consequences with their eyes wide open and without complaint. Which reminds me of an issue I have with some of the other anime I've seen--characters who pay the ultimate price to help the heroes achieve their goals, and then we find out later that they didn't die after all. One Piece is particularly bad about this. I mean, sure, it's nice to not die, but if nobody is ever "really most sincerely dead (one point)", then the value of sacrifice is removed. I'm not going to stop watching One Piece, but I'm not going to get all teary-eyed when someone shoves their daughter out of harm's way and then takes a 200,000,000-volt lightning bolt to the head either, no matter how many times they replay the moment in slow motion.
Wolf's Rain: I loved this. Stylish, cool, good characters, good character design. An interesting story, effectively told. I missed the first episode, so I fear the final episode lost a bit of its impact for me. Someday, I'll watch it again, this time getting it from Netflix. I do get tired of the cuts Cartoon Network has to make in order to keep the FCC off their backs.
It would be nice if I could watch your suggested series without purchasing it. Netflix would be ideal, but I can grab torrents if necessary
(English subtitles or dubbing are a must, subs preferred), and if the work is not otherwise available in English (as a sometime professional photographer who currently contracts for the USDOJ, IP rights are near and dear to my heart). I'd kind of rather not tape stuff off Cartoon Network unless it hasn't been cut or edited much, but I can do that too if necessary.
I note that, while I have watched and enjoyed a lot of anime for the cheesecake, the ones that really leave me panting for more are the ones with strong stories and characters. A scifi or fantasy (or both) setting doesn't hurt, either.
I appear not to like series that take themselves too seriously. (I hated _The Matrix_, too.)
Plot matters. Details may or may not matter--I complained no end about Star Blazers thinking that Mars was multiple *light-years* from Earth, but I kept watching. On the other hand, if details are not at least internally consistent, I can't help but be distracted.
Cheesecake is good, but is not sufficient to carry a series in itself, and will not distract me from an anime that is otherwise flawed (Golden Boy). But I will happily watch a no-more-than-passable story with great cheesecake (Mouse).
Action is important. Many different styles of action appeal to me--it's hard to compare One Piece with Full Metal Alchemist with Trigun with Lupin, but I love them all.
Pure drama wears me out (Evangelion). Solid drama leavened with humor will keep me coming back (Trigun, Full Metal Alchemist). Solid humor with occasional drama (Lupin, One Piece) makes me a happy happy guy.
Nudity and sex do not turn me off. Far from it, in fact. But sex _must_ be consensual, and not in the "I'm raping you but by the end you're enjoying it" sense of consensual. Seeing sex with kid-like "adults" makes me ill. And there must be enough story and characterization to carry the series without the sex and/or nudity. I have no interest in male-male sex. I feel I should make some sort of qualifying statement there to prove I'm not a homophobe, but the hell with that. I'm not. I just don't find guys attractive, and sex that doesn't involve people I find attractive doesn't interest me. Character design can be important here, but doesn't have to be particularly realistic. Again, internal consistency is a requirement. I do prefer my women on the top-heavy side (Faye, Fujiko, Nami, M.), but this can be taken too far (Eiken).
So now you know more about my anime habits (and probably about me) than you're probably comfortable with. If you made it this far, do you have any suggestions?
I'd be interested in intelligent discussion of anime and animation as well, though I tend to have (apparently) weird opinions (Evangelion).
Thanks much!
Yeah, I know that's like asking "what wine should I drink?", so let's narrow it down a bit. First, I'll list anime I've seen, whether or not I liked it, and why I did or didn't. Then, I'll list the parameters of what I think I'm looking for--my tastes are fairly eclectic, but not all-encompassing.
Anime I've seen:
Akira: I didn't care for this, but it's been so long since I watched it that I can't remember why, or in fact remember many details about it at all.
Amazing Nurse Nanako: I mostly enjoyed this. The apparent emotional abuse of the main character bothered me, and I'm not sure the eventual revelation of the reasons made up for it, but outside of that, I enjoyed the humor, much of the action, and the background plot that gave the silliness of the foreground stories some depth. I also liked the art style and, um, character designs. Well, one character design in particular.
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: I enjoyed this. Nice blend of action and story, interesting characters (if not very deep or all that intelligent). Attractive character design.
Can Can Bunny: I have enjoyed this so far, have not watched all six episodes. This seems like a good example of the kind of hentai I'm willing to watch: attractive character designs, consensual and fun sex, just enough story to make the show watchable.
Cowboy Bebop: I loved this. I will own it someday. Good action, great stories, good worldbuilding, engaging characters. I hate that it ended the way it did, but mostly because there's obviously more story to be told and _I can't see it!_ Faye Valentine is one of my top three favorite female anime characters.
Cutey Honey (2000): I enjoyed this. I admit, I checked it out for the transformation sequences, but I continued watching it for the okay story, which is a good thing because the transformation sequences turned out to be not as big a deal as I'd been hoping. Still, I liked the animation and character designs, and the action was pretty good. It annoyed me that the DVDs gave out before the story ended; I hope that someday more episodes will make their way to the US.
Cutey Honey (1973): I tracked this down and watched it because I understood the 2000 series was a remake, so I thought I could at least find out what happened at the end. Turns out "remake" is only broadly true, and the earlier series ends in the middle of its own storyline as well. Animation is bad, character designs are not very good. I liked the fact that the girl is the hero, and is constantly rescuing her various love-struck male costars. I would watch more of it if I could find it, but I wouldn't put a lot of effort into the search.
Dirty Pair: I liked this. Touted as the "classic girls with guns anime", I picked it up more for the girls than the guns, but I enjoyed the stories and action quite a bit. Once again, an appealing sense of humor and a pleasantly snarky attitude raises the experience from "merely okay" to "pretty good."
Eichen: I hated this. The humor fell flat, the story was not engaging, the characters were barely even one-dimensional. And, surprising as this was for me to discover, there is an upper size limit to attractive breasts, and Eichen exceeded it. By a significant margin.
Excel Saga: I enjoyed this a lot. It helped that "Menchi-vision" explained most of the jokes, as many of them would have gone right by me. Excel Saga is all about the humor, and doesn't bring much else to the table, but that's okay.
Full Metal Alchemist: Best. Anime. EVAR. The story, the characters, the action, the blending of humor and drama, the multi-leveled conflicts, the redemptions, the whatever-the-opposite-of-redemption-is. Even the cliffhanger ending works--after the end of the final episode, I just sat staring open-mouthed at the TV for, like, minutes. Holy crap. Got to get the movie when it comes out. OK, I got kind of tired about how over-the-top Ed is about his height sensitivity.
Ghost in the Shell (2 movies):
Ghost in the Shell SAC: I enjoyed these a lot. Great action, solid stories, great characters. Not as awe-inspiring as FMA, but right up there with Cowboy Bebop in the upper echelons.
Golden Boy: I didn't care for this. Beautiful character designs, but the stories fell flat, and the title character just flat sucked. I was hoping for something a lot more like _Mouse_.
Justice League/JLU (Cartoon Network): I know these probably aren't technically anime, but they are an example of animation that I like a lot. Solid plots, good action, occasional humor, nice character designs, likable (and despicable) characters. These aren't the _Superfriends_ of my childhood. Also, these iterations of Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman are two of my three favorite female American animated characters (the third is Jessica Rabbit). There's nothing magical about the number three, it just happens that when I think of hot anime chicks and hot American animated chicks, I come up with three of each.
Lupin III: I love Lupin. Lupin is kind of a genre all by himself, what with the hundreds of episodes and dozens of movies. Lupin got me started watching anime. Actually, Fujiko Mine (the second of my three favorite female anime characters) got me started watching anime. I'm still waiting for a really good nude scene with Fujiko, but I'm definitely enjoying the wait. Great humor, great characters, and decent stories more than make up for the sub-par animation. (Which is not to say that there isn't good animation in the Lupin milieu--Castle of Cagliostro is very pretty.) The problem with Lupin is I can never decide whom I want to be when I grow up--Lupin himself, Jigen, or Goemon? Maybe "grow up" is not the best choice of words. :)
Mahoromatic 1-2 + summer special: I liked this quite a bit. Another show I got for the (again, kind of disappointing) cheesecake factor but kept for the story and characters. Good humor, well-balanced with the more serious overarching plotlines. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the second season. Nice character design and animation. I thought the Summer Special was a nice addition.
Metropolis: I ended up ambivalent about this one. It drew me in with a very interesting premise, and did a good job of building tension, but I felt let down by the disappointing predictability of the ending. The characters were on the flat side and did not develop--. I haven't seen Fritz Lang's _Metropolis_, so I don't know how closely the anime follows the plot of the original. I'd watch more shows like this, if the payoff were better.
Mouse: I liked this, purely for the cheesecake. The stories and characters are passable at best, but I love the character designs and enjoyed the humor.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: I hated this. I watched it to the end because I figured anything that took itself that seriously had to be going somewhere, but in the end, it was just a bunch of defective people inflicting their personal miseries on each other, set against a backdrop of self-important, badly-bastardized religious themes. No thank you.
One Piece (Kaizoku-Fansubs version): I love this. "Romp" is the word that keeps coming to my mind. Plenty of humor, lots of action, engaging characters with depth when they need it, conflicts that matter to the characters, all without taking itself too seriously (when the bad-ass swordsman has invented a *three*-sword combat style, and holds the third sword in his *mouth*, you know that we're not talking high drama here). The slightly-stylized character designs work very well with the sometimes frenetic pace of the anime. Just a lot of fun all around. And Nami rounds out my top-three female anime characters, both for her obvious physical charms and for her constantly-warring impulses for greed, cowardice, and loyalty to her friends.
Princess Mononoke: I was ambivalent about this one. M. really liked it, but it didn't draw me in, and I'm not sure why.
Project A-ko (3 movies): These were okay. Nice cheesecake, passable stories and characters. I think I liked the reinvention of the characters in the third movie better than the first two. but they were all watchable.
Ranma 1/2: I'm enjoying these a lot. They're formulaic, but I like the formula, and the characters have _just_ enough depth that I'm not tired of them yet, even after four TV seasons' worth of episodes. Silly, done properly, _can_ carry a series.
Robotech: I'm mostly enjoying this. I've seen two seasons (I think), one where they originally go out to space and are fighting all the Zentratti, the second after their return to Earth, where there are a mix of cooperative and rogue Zentratti. Decent plot, decent characters, acceptable character design considering the time period. I _am_ getting kind of tired of the whiny romantic triangle, which is part of why Robotech has slid down my Netflix queue in favor of new (to me) episodes of Lupin.
Speed Racer: I was surprised at how bad this was. I totally remember Speed Racer being the height of cool, when I was...eight. OK, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But with no plot, flat and kind-of-offensive-in-this-day-and-age characters, mediocre action at best, and totally inconceivable plot points (how the hell can Speed take literally _days_ off in the middle of a race to deal with the bad guys AND THEN WIN THE RACE ANYWAY? Seriously, how does that work?), I don't even know what they were thinking.
Star Blazers Series 1: I really liked this. It was a little bit of work seeing the greatness past the awful bowdlerization of the storyline (and the truly _appalling_ science), but it was in there. A fine coming-of-age story, and a fine if simplified discussion of the effects of war on those who wage it. Unlike Speed Racer, Star Blazers lived up to my childhood memories nicely--there was a lot _more_ going on than I remembered, instead of a lot _less_. However, I broke the three series out to discuss separately for a reason.
Star Blazers Series 2 (The Comet Empire): This was okay. The return of Desslock was nicely done, particularly the final confrontation, and the new threat was, if not credible, at least internally consistent. The constant repetition of the "Oh, the Star Force beat you because you _suck_, but now I'm in charge and because I do not _suck_, there is no need for me to actually study the Star Force's tactics to see if maybe they're actually clever and I should maybe have a fallback plan if my initial, all-out assault does not pan out" attitude begins to wear in this series, but it's still very watchable, and as I say, the end resolution of the Desslock problem is very nice.
Star Blazers Series 3: This sucked (Which is different from my opinion of Evangelion--I can see why some people might like Evangelion, it's just not to my taste, but SB3 is _bad_). The bowdlerization of the storyline goes so far beyond the pale in this series that I couldn't stand to finish it. Also, Desslock is back. Again. Which completely ruins the ending of the Comet Empire series. Screw that. Just as with the Highlander sequels, this series does not exist for me. Unlike the Highlander sequels, I wish I could see this series with a new, faithful translation.
Trigun: I loved this. Great action, good humor, an infinitely cool main character, and a solid overarching plotline. Nice animation and character designs. Again, problems that really matter to the characters and their world, and an excellent job done of making those problems matter to the viewer. Choices with real consequences, and characters who make the right choices, and pay the consequences with their eyes wide open and without complaint. Which reminds me of an issue I have with some of the other anime I've seen--characters who pay the ultimate price to help the heroes achieve their goals, and then we find out later that they didn't die after all. One Piece is particularly bad about this. I mean, sure, it's nice to not die, but if nobody is ever "really most sincerely dead (one point)", then the value of sacrifice is removed. I'm not going to stop watching One Piece, but I'm not going to get all teary-eyed when someone shoves their daughter out of harm's way and then takes a 200,000,000-volt lightning bolt to the head either, no matter how many times they replay the moment in slow motion.
Wolf's Rain: I loved this. Stylish, cool, good characters, good character design. An interesting story, effectively told. I missed the first episode, so I fear the final episode lost a bit of its impact for me. Someday, I'll watch it again, this time getting it from Netflix. I do get tired of the cuts Cartoon Network has to make in order to keep the FCC off their backs.
It would be nice if I could watch your suggested series without purchasing it. Netflix would be ideal, but I can grab torrents if necessary
(English subtitles or dubbing are a must, subs preferred), and if the work is not otherwise available in English (as a sometime professional photographer who currently contracts for the USDOJ, IP rights are near and dear to my heart). I'd kind of rather not tape stuff off Cartoon Network unless it hasn't been cut or edited much, but I can do that too if necessary.
I note that, while I have watched and enjoyed a lot of anime for the cheesecake, the ones that really leave me panting for more are the ones with strong stories and characters. A scifi or fantasy (or both) setting doesn't hurt, either.
I appear not to like series that take themselves too seriously. (I hated _The Matrix_, too.)
Plot matters. Details may or may not matter--I complained no end about Star Blazers thinking that Mars was multiple *light-years* from Earth, but I kept watching. On the other hand, if details are not at least internally consistent, I can't help but be distracted.
Cheesecake is good, but is not sufficient to carry a series in itself, and will not distract me from an anime that is otherwise flawed (Golden Boy). But I will happily watch a no-more-than-passable story with great cheesecake (Mouse).
Action is important. Many different styles of action appeal to me--it's hard to compare One Piece with Full Metal Alchemist with Trigun with Lupin, but I love them all.
Pure drama wears me out (Evangelion). Solid drama leavened with humor will keep me coming back (Trigun, Full Metal Alchemist). Solid humor with occasional drama (Lupin, One Piece) makes me a happy happy guy.
Nudity and sex do not turn me off. Far from it, in fact. But sex _must_ be consensual, and not in the "I'm raping you but by the end you're enjoying it" sense of consensual. Seeing sex with kid-like "adults" makes me ill. And there must be enough story and characterization to carry the series without the sex and/or nudity. I have no interest in male-male sex. I feel I should make some sort of qualifying statement there to prove I'm not a homophobe, but the hell with that. I'm not. I just don't find guys attractive, and sex that doesn't involve people I find attractive doesn't interest me. Character design can be important here, but doesn't have to be particularly realistic. Again, internal consistency is a requirement. I do prefer my women on the top-heavy side (Faye, Fujiko, Nami, M.), but this can be taken too far (Eiken).
So now you know more about my anime habits (and probably about me) than you're probably comfortable with. If you made it this far, do you have any suggestions?
I'd be interested in intelligent discussion of anime and animation as well, though I tend to have (apparently) weird opinions (Evangelion).
Thanks much!