Welcome back to another Limelight 'Where To Start' guide. This month we are focusing on… ANIME!
Many of us may have dabbled in the Manga video years, being blown away by the likes of Ninja Scroll, Urotsukidoji, Vampire Hunter D… whatever had a cool cover in the video shop, and a lot of playground buzz, but have since fallen off the bandwagon, beyond rewatching the classic features like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Perfect Blue.
Well, if you want back in, it is not too late, and also a great time to rekindle that interest. Not only is there currently a ridiculous wealth of incredible titles out there, about pretty much anything you can imagine, but there is also currently an Ani-May promotion – shameless plug – that will get you these titles for even less!!
We are going to start off with more popular and well-known titles and then gently eeease you into the more obscure, wackier, and even saucier titles as we go along. Sound good? Let’s go!
STEAMBOY
Steamboy is directed by Katsuhiro Ôtomo, and, if that name sounds familiar, it is because he is also the director of Akira! Yep, we’re starting off in safe hands.
This steampunk sci-fi-action-adventure, set in Victorian England, sees a young inventor, Ray Steam, use a new form of energy to fight evil, redeem his family, and save London from destruction!
ATTACK ON TITAN
From a familiar director to a familiar title: Attack on Titan. The cultural impact that this show has had is gargantuan. So, even if you have never seen it, you are bound to have heard of it, or glimpsed some merch somewhere along the line.
100 years ago, enormous, terrifying human-shaped monsters called Titans suddenly appeared. With human civilisation on the brink of collapse, we built enormous walls to protect ourselves from these Titans. But now… the Titans are breaching the walls and all of humanity is once again in danger of being wiped out, and only a crack squad can save us.
DEVIL MAY CRY
You may have heard of this one before, too, as it based on a big video game: Devil May Cry.
The animated series based on the Capcom computer game follows the misadventures of Dante, a superhuman son of a powerful demon and a human woman, who runs an "odd-job" agency and fights the forces of darkness.
Stylish and gory, with good jokes and great fights, if you loved those aforementioned Manga titles in the 90s, Devil May Cry will deffo scratch that itch.
HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD
Want something that is Day of the Dead meets Battle Royale? No problemo. Check out High School of the Dead, in which a group of students and their school nurse find themselves thrust into a zombie apocalypse and are now fighting for their lives, not their grades!
Breathlessly paced with tons of incredible zombie fighting scenes, you will have a blast with High School of the Dead, but, heads up, it can (and does) get frequently risque…
PANTY & STOCKING WITH GARTER BELT
Fancy an anime that looks like a Powerpuff Girls-era Cartoon Network show, but is VERY naughty and EXTREMELY foul-mouthed? Then watch Panty & Stocking with Garter Belt!
Panty and Stocking are nasty angels who were banished from the pearly gates for being foul-mouthed bad girls! Now they spend their days hunting ghosts in the lecherous abyss between Heaven and Earth. Panty likes sex, Stocking likes sweets, and their afro-sporting main man Garter Belt has a fetish we can’t mention…
Wanna get weirder? Sure. Let’s look at...
DOG & SCISSORS
When Kazuhito, a young bookworm, gets killed in a cafe stick-up, he finds himself reincarnated as a dog that belongs to his favourite author! Unfortunately, as a dachshund, now he can’t read, and more worryingly, his new mistress is a sadist with a penchant for snipping with scissors, and a hefty dose of writer’s block. If Kazuhito can’t somehow help her complete her next book, she is going to chop him up into little pieces!
A twisted tail with a novel twist, Dog & Scissors will test your limits, but not as much as…
PRISON SCHOOL
Prison School. Yep. The Provocative Title factory strikes again. And with good reason. This one is not rated 18 for nothing!
An all-girls school becomes a co-ed, allowing male students to enrol. However, the five young men who join Machimitsu Academy immediately get caught peeping on their female classmates. Taking the boys’ punishment into their own hands, the student council sentences them to a month in the campus prison.
Enduring long and hard days of forced manual labour is bad enough, but the academy’s ladies also have a secret agenda. One that involves A LOT of cleavage, stiletto heels and a riding crop!
A REALLY raunchy comedy, that is also smarter and more lighthearted than you might expect, Prison School is an OTT eccentric fan favourite that goes hard and will leave you begging for more.
All the titles featured are currently discounted as part of our Ani-May promotion.