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butterflydreamingRecently, Hulu.com has been running anime that is currently running in Japan or is otherwise so recent that I can't even buy it. But I can watch it streaming!
Otome Youkai Zakuro, or just plain Zakuro, is a very good introductory anime. I know because I tested it on D and he wasn't lost. Set in the early 1900s, when Japan started to westernize, it tells a story full of folklore and pretty costumes. (The art is beautiful.) It's more accessible to a western audience than Spirited Away. The title character is part fox spirit, and what that means is explained in the story. At the same time, there is plenty on a higher context level: one of her mentors is a baku, and Zakuro fights with a branch of cherry blossom while her sister yokai sing a song of enchantment. (That is so completely badass that I was in awe at the first fight scene.)
The full series is currently on Hulu (US) and just recently became available for purchase.
The other show is The Devil is a Part Timer!, or Hataraku Mao-Sama. This comedy is clever and cute with characters that develop beyond their comic roles as the show goes on. In this story, the devil is trapped in our world as an average-seeming young man and gets the only job he can: working at "MgRonald's." The show manages a large cast by introducing them briefly in the prologue and then bringing them back into the story at a realistic pace. The tropes are divine. I'm laughing so much at this show. Nothing else has tickled my funny bone so well in a while. Still, there have been genuine moments, like when one of the human characters talks about the pity she gets when she reveals that she is from Kobe, because of the earthquake.
This show is in progress. The richness of the comedy may require familiarity with anime tropes, but the basic story is smartly paced and easy to follow. The character design is more standard, but effective and still quite pretty at times.
Otome Youkai Zakuro, or just plain Zakuro, is a very good introductory anime. I know because I tested it on D and he wasn't lost. Set in the early 1900s, when Japan started to westernize, it tells a story full of folklore and pretty costumes. (The art is beautiful.) It's more accessible to a western audience than Spirited Away. The title character is part fox spirit, and what that means is explained in the story. At the same time, there is plenty on a higher context level: one of her mentors is a baku, and Zakuro fights with a branch of cherry blossom while her sister yokai sing a song of enchantment. (That is so completely badass that I was in awe at the first fight scene.)
The full series is currently on Hulu (US) and just recently became available for purchase.
The other show is The Devil is a Part Timer!, or Hataraku Mao-Sama. This comedy is clever and cute with characters that develop beyond their comic roles as the show goes on. In this story, the devil is trapped in our world as an average-seeming young man and gets the only job he can: working at "MgRonald's." The show manages a large cast by introducing them briefly in the prologue and then bringing them back into the story at a realistic pace. The tropes are divine. I'm laughing so much at this show. Nothing else has tickled my funny bone so well in a while. Still, there have been genuine moments, like when one of the human characters talks about the pity she gets when she reveals that she is from Kobe, because of the earthquake.
This show is in progress. The richness of the comedy may require familiarity with anime tropes, but the basic story is smartly paced and easy to follow. The character design is more standard, but effective and still quite pretty at times.