The world of anime, if you’re just venturing out, is a big, scary looking mess of animation. There’s all these colourful looking cover arts and genres named in an – often – unfamiliar language.
Last week, I introduced this new segment – Anime For All. Each week I’ll be giving three recommendations on anime that I think everyone should see at least once. Last week, I focused on action anime and you can go back and read the post here.
This week, I’m going to be focusing on adventure series!
Adventure and action quite often go hand-in-hand, but that’s not always the case! “Adventure” itself is such a vague term and it can mean absolutely anything – after all, anything can be an adventure, right? For instance, Fullmetal Alchemist – a show I mentioned in last week’s post – is considered adventure as it follows Edward and Alphonse go on a journey to get to the Philosopher’s Stone. However, some of the examples in this week post are perhaps a little more obscure.
Saying that, adventure anime seem to be quite story-driven with some amazing character development, making them pretty easy for new people to get into. This week, I’m going to be recommending Hunter x Hunter, Seven Deadly Sins and the Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbor Totoro.
The two TV shows are available on the following streaming sites:
- Crunchyroll
- Hulu
- Netflix
Whilst My Neighbor Totoro isn’t available to stream anywhere, you can buy it on DVD and Blu-Ray on Amazon.
Hunter x Hunter follows the story of 12 year-old Gon Freecss in his mission to become the best Hunter he can be, hoping to find his father who had long ago abandoned his son. Although Gon’s journey is much more difficult than he ever imagined, his determination to continue remains and he befriends the lively Leorio, the vengeful Kurapika and Killua – a former assassin. Together, they begin the journey of taking the Hunter’s Exam – known for it’s low pass rates and high probablity of death – experiencing many hardships and struggles as they meet a variety of different creatures and characters along the way. Hunter x Hunter is a long show, standing at 148 episodes in the 2011 series’ case, but it’s definitely an action-packed, heartwarming adventure to follow! Approximate time to complete: 57 hours
The Seven Deadly Sins focuses on a group of former Holy Knights called The Seven Deadly Sins. The Holy Knights themselves have since performed a coup d’etat on the kingdom thus the series follows the Sins and Princess Elizabeth as they attempt to take back the kingdom of Britannia from the Holy Knight. The Seven Deadly Sins is certainly a favourite amongst those new to anime and is a common that people start with due to the comedic lines and the action scenes within the show. A relatively short show in comparison to other examples of the adventure genre. Approximate time to finish: 9.6 hours
The final feature of this week’s Anime For All isn’t a series, but a movie. Although a lot of Studio Ghibli movies are good examples of the adventure genre (Spirited Away, Ponyo, for example), I’ve picked My Neighbor Totoro for I believe it takes a different prospective on ‘adventure’. There’s no fighting, just two little girls, Satsuki and Mei, who learn to become acquainted with rural life as the family move to the countryside to be closer to their sick mother. After Mei meets a small bunny-like creature, she meets Totoro and, along with her sister Satsuki, begins to have loads of different magical adventures. My Neighbor Totoro is most certainly a masterpiece and is one to watch if you haven’t already. Duration: 1 hour and 26 minutes
Hopefully, again, you enjoyed reading this and hopefully you found a new anime to watch! If you’ve already seen one of these shows (or all of them!), let me know what you think of them below in the comments!
It appeared that you all liked my first installment of Anime For All last week, so I’m definitely planning to continue this segment! As always, feel free to share these posts with anyone who you think will benefit from them!
Until next time!
– Amelia xo
P.S. Do you realise how hard it was to omit the u from ‘neighbour’? It was so difficult! D:
I’m so happy to see Hunter x Hunter here! It was one of my very first anime, and though the length is daunting, it’s so worth it. Though…you definitely can’t smile again. ;-;
Awesome post, looks like I’ll be watching the 7 Deadly Sins next.
I’m glad you appreciated it! Admittedly, I need to kick myself into gear and start watching HxH again, but I knew it was definitely worth sharing with people!
This is a great series that you are doing here. It’s a great service to both long time anime fans and newbies. I still definitely consider myself a newbie, despite the fact that I have seen quite a few things. My Neighbour Totoro has been on my to watch list for ages. I have an anime theme month coming up in March on my blog, so hopefully I can finally see it then. The two animeseries also look cool, but the enormous amount of episodes for Hunter X Hunter …I just don’t know where I would be able to find the time.
I really enjoyed reading this post. Keep up the great work! 😀😀
Ahh, thank you, Raistlin! That means a lot! ^-^
I agree that it’s also helpful for newbies and veterans alike – that’s the whole point of it! ^-^ You should definitely try to see Totoro at some point, though! Personally, it’s one of my favourite Ghibli films! And, well, concerning HxH – I’m nowhere near finishing the show myself! I do plan on finishing it soon, though, and I still felt as if it needed a mention here!
Yeah the longer series I usually give a pass, not that I don’t like them, but I just know I will never be able to finish them.
But, My neighbour Totoro is definitely a movie that I plan on watching. I’m also a very big Ghibli fan, having seen quite a few films, so this one I just need to see lol 😊😊
Have you reached the Chimera ant Arc? It’s worth the wait! one of the greatest anime arcs ever. If you like Ghibli films you might like Mushi Shi