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.

  • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    hunter x hunter is anti-communist, not very based but the Dark Continent arc is awesome. Code Geass is great, helped radicalize me and I'm confused you didn't like it. I can't in good faith recommend Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid because of the weird relationship with children in that show, but a character did try and start a union and it talks about how work sucks and bosses are abusive. Re: Zero is the best Isekai by a mile, hard to explain why briefly but lots of psychological horror(and regular gore) combined with a struggle against fate and personal growth. Jujutsu Kaisen is pretty based, There's a lot of indictment against modern Japanese culture and the incredible levels of suffering it produces. Also just a fun show with a lot of interesting fights. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is just fun, lots of wacky characters and weird abilities with a lot of heart. Not too many anime are explicitly based because of modern culture and Japanese culture, but anti-work sentiment crops up often enough.

    • ABigguhPizzahPieh [none/use name,any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      its been ages since is watched HxH, what makes it anti-communist? I don't remember much except the weird pedo clown guy. Also why does Evangelion have so much weird pedo fan service. Its really odd.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        East Gorteau is basically how chuds describe North Korea. There's also just the whole weird "no laws apply to hunter and they have infinite money" thing that feels libertarian.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        He's only an absolute pigheaded jerk for about 6 out of 24 episodes, from

        spoiler

        the return to the capital to the attack on the white whale.

        that's halfway through the first season, so you understand he is just being stupid and not actively trying to hurt people. He still does weird stuff before that, but not in concentrated doses. He also is immediately punished for all the pain he causes, and has to make up for it. So yeah, it's not for everyone, but you are overstating how much time he spends being a jerk.

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I disagree with your reading. I'm doing my second watch through right now, and I get more the vibe that this is him getting cocky, so the worse elements shine through harder. He wasn't acting so outrageously bad at the capital because he was a fundamentally bad person. He did actually care about Emilia, and wanted to see her succeed. He's gotten used to just taking the most efficient route through situations he became used to, so he tried that in a new situation and screwed everything up bad. He realised he was out of his depth but was too full of himself to try to convince anyone to help him, he just tried to bully them into it, which didn't work out. He was humbled through this, and worked with people to get the help he needed and save Emilia. As far as punishment, I think watching his friends die and marching through corpses trying to figure everything out while being constantly reminded it was happening because of his slothfulness is a pretty powerful punishment. I also don't get what your final point is supposed to mean. He was only in the capital in the first place to heal his gate, Emilia wouldn't have allowed him otherwise.

              • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I'll address your last two points first, as those will be easier. If he wasn't a jerk and had done as Emilia asked of him in the capital, he would have had an easier time getting help. Basically everyone hated him, and looked down on Emilia even harder, because of his actions. He was also too busy stewing to pick up on anything going on around him the first time. Assuming he had to stay in the capital anyway, his healing would have gone faster because he wouldn't have used up all his strength and damaged his gate more in the fight with Julius. And when he went to try to convince Emilia to leave, he wouldn't be so far out of her trust from all the broken promises. It also wouldn't have been his fault to the same degree, he was separated from Emilia because of his own actions, so every time he failed to save her was because he caused a physical and emotional distance. This also ties in to the next point, that the deaths are his fault now and a punishment for that reason. He kept trying to fulfill his desires as quickly as possible, and this made his situation in trying to save Emilia and the village almost impossible through burning all his bridges. If he were better behaved, he would still have died once or twive, but he then would have figured out what was wrong and been able to get everyone else clear of danger quickly, and then waited for Roswal to clear out the cult(or some other allies, if Roswal doesn't care too.) This wouldn't be as good of a story, as him dealing with the guilt and improving himself accordingly is the core of Re:Zero. As for your last point, how long the gate needed is kinda left up in the air. He may have needed to stay with Felix anyway, it's unclear. If he didn't need it healed, Emilia wasn't going to let him go to the capital in the first place, because she was getting tired of him going all-out all the time.

                Anyway, now for your main point. Going from the anime, it's clear Subaru loves, or at least greatly cares for, Emilia. It is a very selfish love, where he wants to do everything for her, and doesn't let her set boundaries. This kind of makes sense as a response to seeing her die multiple times, but it is also a result of his own fear of failure and inability to separate her from the version of her in his head. It's exacerbated by his separate flow of time from everyone else, but he does forget to respect her as a person in the way a lot of young people with crushes/in love do. I think that's why Rem's quiet, unselfish love is such a good counterpoint. She allows him to make mistakes and be boarish, because she loves the real him and not the delusion she might see. The inner life of Subaru will feel different based on the viewer, and I guess it would be quite different in every different version of the story, but that is most of what I got from the story. I would say that the Subaru from the capital would not allow himself to break down in front of Emilia the same way he did in the lap-pillow scene, because he was too proud at focused on looking strong in front of Emilia. He always had some of that selfishness, helping Emilia because it made him feel good even if she didn't ask for the help. His pride just allowed him to become lazy and forget the difference between heloing her and doing whatever he wanted around her(sort of a lose sense of this phrase, sorry if it doesn't make sense.)

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        East Gorteau is chud's view of North Korea. There's also the constant view that people only ever look out for themselves.