The medium of anime, much like every other type of entertainment, is vast and varied. So with so many series and genres to choose from, where does one start when trying to get into the medium? In this article I will give some entry-point anime I feel would be good places to start for newcomers.

I’ll represent several genres to cover a wide array of possible interests. 

Action: Gurren Lagann

For fans of action series, there’s no better place to start than a series about two brothers, fueled by pure willpower, that operate a giant robot fighting against humanity’s oppressors. 

In Gurren Lagann, humanity has been forced to live underground by a race of half-human/half-animal beings known as Beastmen, beings that possess superior technology in the form of mechs known as Gunmen. One day, brothers Simon and Kmaina find a discarded, but still operable Gunman underground, and they use this mech they name “Gurren” to fight the power that oppresses humanity. Gurren eventually combined with a second Gunman they obtain, named “Lagann” which becomes the titular Gurren Lagann, a giant mech they both operate that gains size and power with every enemy defeated. 

This is a story about willpower, brotherhood and the indomitable spirit of humanity. Wrapped together with an amazing voice cast in English and Japanese, amazing visual style and animation and a phenomenal soundtrack, it is a truly one of a kind blend of hype, rising action and strong emotional core themes. The series is 27 episodes long and available to watch on Netflix. Gurren Lagann is also represented in the form of a few movies if you’d like to try it that way instead. 

Sci-fi: Steins;Gate

For sci-fi fans, nothing is better than a classic time-travel story. Steins;Gate, a series based on the visual novel with the same name, is a story about a scientist named Okabe Rintaro. A self-declared mad scientist who uses the pseudonym Hououin Kyoma, he desires to invent time travel. At first, all he aspires to do is send messages to the past. But like most time-travel tales, this plan goes awry and his actions begin altering the present and future once he learns he can send his own consciousness back into his past self. 

Okabe is accompanied by his fellow scientists and peers Makise Kurisu, a strait-laced and reserved scientist, who is often put off by his mad scientist performance, Itaru Hashida, his tech-savvy best friend who keeps him safe, and Mayuri Shiina, a non-scientist friend of Okabe who helps him with the non-science aspects of his life he isn’t as proficient in. 

Steins;Gate is a story about the consequences and tragedies of time travel, and not just in damaging the timeline, but also how harmful seeing so many different timelines can be on the travelers psyche. Steins;Gate is a 24 episode series available on Funimation and Hulu, and for those craving more, you can watch its accompanying series Steins;Gate 0, which acts not as a full-on sequel or prequel, but something that expands upon a stretch of time in the original series. 

Mystery: Death Note

Mystery fans and especially fans of detective or serial killer stories will enjoy Death Note. A classic and acclaimed mystery anime that is about Light Yagami, who is a seemingly normal and well-off highschool student in Japan, but when he comes into contact with a strange note called the Death Note, his world begins to change, at his command. 

The Death Note, is given to Light by Ryuk, a Shinigami or “God of Death” in order to see what a human would do with it. The Note has a few rules: the name of any person written in the pages of it dies, provided you know their true full name and know what they look like. Light. after discovering this ability, begins to experiment with its limits. After using it a few times on death row inmates, he decides that he can use it to enact his own brand of justice, by personally ridding the world of its criminals. However, this sudden wave of mysterious deaths attracts the attention of the authorities, namely the world’s greatest detective, L. 

The series primarily focuses on the rivalry between Light, whose serial killer alias is “Kira” and L. The two of them try to out-play each other and bring the other down. Light, does not know L’s real name so he cannot kill hi. L, who, despite his detective skills, struggles with the mystical nature of the Death Note, which prevents him from acquiring actionable evidence against Light. The series is 37 episodes long and available on Netflix. 

Comedy: Spy x Family

A recently released anime, Spy x Family is a great series for those looking for comedy and just an overall fun time. This story involves two warring nations and a secret organization that enacts a long-term plan to get close to one of the nations leaders. This plan is called Operation Strix, enacted by world class superspy Twilight, a master of disguise and espionage. 

But this case is a little different than what he’s used to, as he has to get close to an important political figure. The only way to do that is to have his child enroll in the same school as the politician’s son, but Twilight has no wife or child. So Twilight, now using the alias Loid Forger, has to find a family quickly to complete his mission. At a local orphanage he adopts a girl named Anya, someone with no background so the spy agency can have no issue altering her past. Anya happily accepts him as her new father, but what Loid doesn’t know is that Anya has the ability to read minds, leading to her immediately realizing her new father is actually a spy. However, she never reveals that she knows his secret. 

Now all Loid needs is a wife. Luckily for Loid (but not so luckily for single women), in this country and time of espionage and brewing war, unmarried women are deemed suspicious by the secret police. Yor Briar, a polite civil servant, comes to Loid’s rescue and accepts his sudden proposal as it will benefit her. But not purely for the reason Loid thinksit will, as Yor is secretly an assassin known as the Thorn Princess, and she married Loid so the police won’t investigate her life to discover this. 

So now this family is all together, a spy and an assassin, both unaware of the other’s true identity. Now married, they have adventures with their mind-reading daughter who constantly gets wrapped up in her parents’ issues as they complete their missions, while also struggling with her school life as per Loid’s wish to get close to the politician’s son. 

This series is a fun and hilarious romp of chaotic romance, and is a high quality adaptation in terms of animation and designs. It currently has one 13-episode season available to watch on Crunchyroll.