Seeing frequent posts in threads asking for suggestions so I thought I'd make a list. These aren't guaranteed to be leftist in their politics, or even politically driven, but these are anime that always get suggested whenever anyone asks a leftist what anime they should watch. Feel free to add to it.
The following anime I have seen and also recommend:
- Ghost in the Shell 1995 film
- Ghost in the Shell Innocence
- Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (2002) & 2nd Gig (2004)
- Jin Roh
- Patlabor films 1 & 2
- Angel's Egg
- Cowboy Bebop (series & film)
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988-1997 OVAs)
- Serial Experiments Lain
- Haibane Renmei
- Texhnolyze
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Berserk (1997)
- Mushishi (all series & films)
- Evangelion (all series & films)
- Death Note
- Satoshi Kon films (Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika)
- Paranoia Agent
- Planetes
- Kino's Journey (2003)
- All the famous Studio Ghibli films
- FLCL (2000)
- Akira
- Steins; Gate (2011)
- Little Witch Academia
- Kaiba (not Yu-gi-oh)
These are anime that I have seen and personally would not recommend, but they frequently come up as suggestions and are very popular:
- Madoka Magica
- Gurren Lagann
- Psycho Pass (except season 2)
- Shinsekai Yori
- Monster
- Trigun
- Ergo Proxy
- Code Geass
The following are anime that I have not seen but are also frequently suggested:
- Gundam (I haven't seen any so I can't say which series or films are recommended)
- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Hunter x Hunter
- The Rose of Versailles
- Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
- Ranma 1/2
- Sailor Moon
- Mob Psycho 100
That's about as far as it goes for anime that leftists regularly recommend for others to watch from my experience, but I'm sure I'm forgetting some, especially older anime.
I'm happy to suggest anime that I would recommend that don't fall in this list as well, especially for romance/comedy since they rarely get talked about in leftist groups.
Not so much a leftist thing, but two of my recent favourites that don't seem to get much attention are Dorohedoro and Golden Kamuy.
Golden Kamuy deals with a lot of colonialism and struggle for national liberation in NE Asia.
Ranma 1/2 was good for questioning some gender ideas and how physical manifestations might change behavior (or not) and how society fucks with you in any case.
I've always wondered why I never see leftists talking about Ranma 1/2 when its one of the few anime that focuses on gender roles. Maybe its just because it never took off in the west, I mean I have only seen a few episodes myself.
Because it is constantly rapey after the Grandpa/Master character shows up. Thats about where I decided to check out anyways.
Is this the character you're talking about? I never got far enough to see him but...
"His only real weakness is his perverted nature. Happosai would leap in front of a speeding train for a pair of girl's panties. Often times he is foiled by a well placed bra, and if he cannot lech onto some poor, unsuspecting girl, or Ranma, he goes into an addict's withdrawl syndrome. His power comes entirely from his lust, and can be easily defeated by denying it. "
:yikes-1: :yikes-2: :yikes-3:
That's the one.
There's also the constant issues with consent between most of the characters, that are done for a joke but it happens so often that its was getting harder to look past as well.
Otherwise, Ranma 1/2 had me interested for the first 50~60 episodes that I watched.
Yeah that is a good point. Think at some point I stopped watching new episodes.
Original intro music is the BEST. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBUZ7w6zxTw
I wish it was animated better. Absolutely love it and strive to be that someday
This isn't a list of "my favourite anime" or "top anime ever" or anything, just a list of what is commonly suggested when people make a "I'm new to anime, what anime should I watch" thread, so people can be re-directed to this list to make it easier for them. It takes no effort to be more pleasant and just say "here's some anime that I think are popular in leftist spaces" and then write what you think should be on the list, but instead you've gotta be all comic book guy about it. I have seen most of what you've listed there, but have never seen a single person talk about them in leftist spaces, so I did not mention them. Fuck me right?
Hunter x Hunter is super weird, I watched the whole show and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The morality of the characters is super gray but I'm not sure what the show is trying to say with that. Gon and Killua are awesome characters but idk why they team up with the pedo murder clown to win a video game
It does showcase a lot of settler mentality, in which the world is a place to explore, exploit and discover, disregarding anything else. Hunters in many cases are barely anything but very specialized extractors of wealth. That's about the only moral throughline i can find in it.
I think that show is more interested in exploring anime tropes and vibes than anything else. Its kind of just playing in the genre sandbox.
It's a mixed bag I think. Most of the time I'm enjoying my show about the craziest 2 kids to ever exist but certain plot points make me curious about the author's intentions. At least it has the guts to take risks, I'd take it over a generic isekai any day
plot points make me curious about the author’s intentions.
I'd like to see what you mean by this! I haven't watched it in a long time, and to be honest i just watched it as a fun watch which made me turn off my criticism brain.
Haha it's been awhile since that post so I don't have my full argument prepared, but I get weird vibes about how "might makes right" the world is. Like Kurapika giving up on fighting the Phantom Troupe through some weird truce, Gon justifying his dad's death game, the main characters teaming up with the killer clown
It's mostly just weird that the protagonists don't really care about saving the world or fighting injustice, they only wanna fulfill their own goals (which isn't entirely bad, just gives weird vibes)
If I wanted to be an angry communist about it I could get mad at their portrayal of North Korea but i didn't really expect the author to be pro-juche anyway
Lol gotcha, i'm kind of on the same boat. Since i'm coming from a more agroecological and rural perspective i find the fact that the figure of the hunter is pretty much a wealth/resource extractor with zero regard for ecological connection to people or land, which it's a big no-no. So yeah, we can be angry communists at a whole bunch of things.
Doesn't have to do with leftism, but has anyone else seen Promised Neverland?
spoiler
The first season was amazing, the horror and POV was amazing, and all of that totally disappeared in season 2
I was reading the manga and knew what was coming, so I told my partner to basically treat the first season as a self-contained story.
Amazing how it crashed so hard. Goldy Pond was fine, but after that the manga turned dogshit.
To Your Eternity slaps. I dunno if you could call it leftist but it is absolutely more mature than the average anime. Would recommend all day long.
Odd Taxi is definitely great. I liked Zombieland Saga as well
feel good time
Can second this. Zombieland Saga not only made me realize i could enjoy Idol Anime, but it also warmed up my cold, cynical heart for a beat.
Is it alright if you could expand on how they're based? I'm yet to see any leftist takes on any of those shows, except for Oddtaxi, so I'd be keen to hear about them.
Space Dandy and Samurai Champloo are made by the same animators as Bebop and have a lot of style. Konosuba is a parody of the isekai genre, which portrays all the failures of a chud being transposed into a fantasy world
No show more funky than Space Dandy
I didn't put down Dandy or Champloo because every time I see suggestion threads I always see Bebop first. I would have thought Konosuba would be more popular amongst leftists, especially with its meme potential, but I never see anyone mention it except for one time where they were annoyed that it was still wish fulfillment where the guy is surrounded by women.
It's funny he has all his wishes and still isn't happy because he doesn't actually know what he wants or needs.
I had to listen to some music from Dandy, fuck if that isnt my favorite anime. I watched it when I was at a low point, and everything about it just clicked with me in a really cosmic way. Go with the flow baby!
I remember a lot of people talking about this show in the mid 2010s, then it kind of fell off, but its definitely one I should have had on the list
I had to read the manga because some of the audio cues were kind of jarring. It is a masterpiece of psychological thriller, though.
Y'all zoomers seriously missed recommending Revolutionary Girl Utena!?!?
C'mon, it's in the name.
I watched Speed Racer as a kid, then completely forgot about it until youtube suggested this video to me
