Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

Maxite · 2010-01-17 06:48:11

Looking for some resources to help you determine what series might be good? Look no further than here, your friendly guide to the goodness of anime series. Note that some of the information contained may contain spoilers. I will note what sources are likely to contain spoilers.

The first thing you'll want to do is know what series are available. This is done with help from only two parts: Fansubwiki, and Chartfag(sorry if anyone is offended, but that is the actual name of the site). These are divided into Seasons: Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. Both resources are good for picking out different kinds of information. Fansubwiki will tell you who likely subbed the series (you won't get information on whether or not it was completed from them), as well as a general listing of the animes. Chartfag gives you a picture of the series and a brief description. With these two, you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect.

So you find a few series that intrigue you? Well, next up on the list is the AnimeNewsNetwork Encyclopedia. For finished series, this will give you an episode count, as well as more detailed information about the series (through related news articles and the like). It can also give you a quick look at how people liked the series, but we'll get to that part in a moment.

Third, you'll want to know: I have a series in mind, and I know it's the right length. But has it been done? There are three resources I use here to investigate.
AnimeSuki: A nice anime torrent tracking site. It has a large listing of UNLICENSED series, and you can use it to see *who* actually subbed the series, and what episodes were done. If it's unlicensed and you see all the episodes, then odds are you are good to go. Should the series be licensed, then there are two other resources you'll want to investigate.
TokyoTosho: A torrent site dedicated to anime and related stuff. Type in the series name, and you'll get a lot of torrents, whether it's licensed or not.
NyaaTorrents: Another torrent site dedicated to anime and related stuff. Do the same as with TokyoTosho to get a really good idea on if the series has been done or not.

OPTIONAL: If you want to compare how the various subbing groups compare, try Ji-Hi. They don't do every series, but they will cover a nice variety.

Next, you'll want some information on how other people rated some series. For this, I like using a few sources. Fair warning, the following may contain spoilers. One of my favorites is Random Curiousity's "Best of Anime <Year>" awards. Here we have some from 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005. MyAnimeList is also good for getting feedback on series as well. As mentioned earlier, AnimeNewsNetwork has some ratings as well, but a quick Google for "<anime title> ratings" or "<anime title> review" will yield useful information.

Now comes the question of: How will I download all of this? If you know how, the downloading part gets a lot less tricky.
Above, I mentioned three resources that will link you to torrents. That is one possible method. The following are my favored methods of downloading anime (some require registration):
Lolipower: No registration needed, but they offer limited selection of the newer series, and the anime is from their servers.
Da-Anime: A good selection, and they offer space-saving formats. Their downloads are usually posted on Megaupload, so be aware of that.
AnimeTake: A good selection, and they work with many fansubbing groups to get their works out ASAP. Anime isn't on their server, but on sites like Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc...
Anime-Eden: Fairly nice selection. Registration is required, but they have a private server that you download the anime from.
AnimeSheep: Sign up here and you are also signed up for Gendou.com which offers free anime music downloads. Registration is required to download, but it's from a private server.

If you can't find the series you are wanting from those sites, then you can either use Google to try and find direct downloads, or use the torrents.

Thank you for taking time to read this guide, and have a great day.

JessJezzz · 2010-01-20 21:49:18

Topic has been moved to Tatsujin's House of Anime n' Manga for appropriateness.

Thanks for the comprehensive guide! Baka-Updates is also a good resource for finding out if a series has been subbed and, if it has, which group or groups did it. A note to students living on campus: do not download anime using the torrent method. The campus frowns upon it as it eats up a lot of bandwidth, not to mention the fact that the limited bandwidth they provide to students makes the process extremely slow for you. However, if you live off campus, torrents can be a great way to download anime, as they can be much faster than direct downloads if they have a lot of participants. For a guide on downloading torrents, see this thread.

Karuto · 2010-01-21 22:07:32

There's also a great number of sites that have streaming anime to avoid a lot of the legal ramifications. Some offer premium memberships if you want total security. Here's a site that compiles all of them: http://www.ovguide.com/anime.html

JessJezzz · 2010-06-13 15:13:06

If you are having trouble finding a torrent for a show, the previously mentioned My Anime List has a section at the bottom of the page for each show that lists the reccomended fansubber for that show or movie - I have found this very helpful when I am having trouble finding a download for something.

JessJezzz · 2010-08-29 09:32:06

Anime-Planet is essentially a review site, so if you aren't sure if you want to watch a show or just aren't sure what to watch next, I would recommend this site.

NIAA

Announcement

#1 2010-01-17 06:48:11

Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

#2 2010-01-20 21:49:18

Re: Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

#3 2010-01-21 22:07:32

Re: Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

#4 2010-06-13 15:13:06

Re: Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

#5 2010-08-29 09:32:06

Re: Guide to Finding Anime Series to Watch

Board footer