Seeking Anime Recs

[laceblade]

Am in need of feeling cheerful, so please rec me shojo (or shojo-ish) anime, or I guess what I want is anime with a not!male protagnoist.

I'm using a loose definition here, like I would classify K-ON! as shojo.
Basically: I want to watch some anime that isn't necessarily mindless, but stuff that isn't emotionally draining.

I keep holding off on continuing Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica or rewatching Utena or Evangelion because I'm afraid it's going to agitate some issues going on right now.

Things I've seen that are in the vein of what I mean:
Ouran High School Host Club
Honey & Clover
Fruits Basket
Love*Com
K-ON!
Azumanga Daioh
Saiounkouku Monogatari
Victorian Romance Emma
Super GALS!
Gokinjo Monogatari [If anyone knows where/how to find this, let me know! I can't move past episode 3.]

Shoujo-ish things I've watched or tried but don't care for:
Stellvia of the Universe
Pretear

An exhaustive list of All Anime I've Ever Seen (no really) is here.


Bonus points if the anime is available in the U.S. - I like using Netflix/the library if I can - but that is not required.
If you've recced something before, it's okay to do so again, :)
Series need not be brand new - there are a lot of older/classic series I've never seen.

ETA: For DW'ers also seeking similar recs, there are more recommendations at the LJ mirror of this post.

Comments

[reika]

Princess Jellyfish: http://www.hulu.com/princess-jellyfish

[laceblade]

Ahh! I have heard of this one!

[reika]

i thought it was very sweet. i generally like how all the girls are self-professed otaku, although not necessarily the 'expected' kind of otaku.

[littlebutfierce]

There's a bit of lol!crossdressing in this one, alas. :/ I was a little conflicted about the show (SO WAS HIROMI GOTO, ahem).

Re: the LJ mirror recs--I have recced you Taishou Yakyuu Musume before, hee. I hated Sasameki Koto & couldn't finish it--I felt like it wanted to be Aoi Hana (which is by the same person as Hourou Musuko) but I didn't care about either of the main characters & there's horrible lol!crossdressing stuff (of the "I'm such a cute boy my sister forces me to crossdress" type, including a COFFEE CREAMER BUKKAKE MOMENT, which is when we stopped watching).

You might like Otome Youkai Zakuro, or Hanasaku Iroha (the latter is currently airing; episode 3 was super-faily-ridic but it seems to have gotten better from there).

& YOU COULD TOTES WATCH THE ANIME VERSION OF KIMI NI TODOKE TOO, mwahahaha.

Any interest in keeping on w/Shugo Chara?

[tdwf]

Oh my, Stellvia. I'm not sure how I watched that one twice.

The Bunny Drop anime starts soon! It will be awesome.

But really I came here to see what others were reccing.

[laceblade]

DISAPPOINTMENT with Princess Jellyfish. I watched the first half of the first episode (after two recs) and liked it a lot! Especially the OP, bwahaha. I might keep watching just to form an opinion? I find the protag interesting. [And I want to watch lots of anime set in Tokyo before I go there, *cough*]

WTF BUKKAKE MOMENT. I didn't know the same person who did Hourou Musuko did Aoi Hana! I think I might be able to get Aoi Hana via Netflix, :O
Is the Taishou one the 1920 girls' baseball one?? I still want to see that one a lot!

Kimi ni Todoke! Now that my library has the manga, I want to try that first?! Lately I like manga lots and lots, I'm not sure what's changed.

I do have interest in Shugo Chara, but I am daunted by the # of episodes. I think with Shugo Chara, I'm going to try the manga because it'll go faster for me and I'm almost positive my library has it. I have volumes 1 and 2 which I had originally bought for my niece, but decided some things were a little rapey!sexual, which I might write about once I've read them and can discuss in detail!

[I ALSO STILL NEED TO FINISH K-ON!! But I really don't like finishing good series unless I can turn to something else right afterward, lol.]

[littlebutfierce]

I kept watching Kuragehime until the end, so... obviously whatever qualms I had weren't enough to stop me. There were interesting things to say about female geeks (& geeks who have different geekly obsessions!) at some point. Some people thought it got a bit makeover-y / now you will be pretty, but I actually didn't, & appreciated the cynical real-world nod to how shitty urban planning can be -- augh, this will make more sense when you've seen more, & then I can explicate further, ahahaha.

Aoi Hana is totally sweet & soothing & lovely. I think Sasameki Koto (the anime: not sure of the dates for the manga in either case) came out the season afterwards, or at least after we'd seen Aoi Hana, & clearly trying to tap into the same audience, but... NO UGH NO.

& yeah, Taishou Yakyuu Musume is the adorable baseball one, hee.

I am reading more manga than ever before but I still prefer anime overall, heh. That's partly cuz I have real trouble parsing motion (esp. fights: good thing I don't read more shonen, altho the motion thing comes up not infrequently w/sports series!) in drawn form. I think if you do like the KnT manga you will like the anime, too, should you decide to watch it.

Shugo Chara IS dauntingly long! I kind of want to rewatch it but we started that a while ago & Phredd felt bored & yeah, so long. I think I need to go look up episode summaries & just rewatch selectively when I need a "be yourself! yaaaaay!" shot. Or ummmm a catboy shot. There's also a trans character in there (of sorts?) that I don't think was handled too heinously, but I would like to rewatch it & look again (I brought this up at pre-panel lunch & was like, augh, I think laceblade is the only one I know who's seen this at all, but she hasn't gotten that far yet!).

& yeah, I hate finishing series & then being at loose ends! Right now we're only watching things that are currently airing, so there are days when there is nothing to watch. ;_; Though I think I just committed to doing a Natsume anime rewatch in the Natsume comm (3rd season starts next month!) so my ass is going to be busy.