(Part 2) Top products from r/Animesuggest

On the other side of the coin, anime can have its place in language study. So, to answer your question, check out http://kitsunekko.net where you can find Japanese subtitles for many shows. They're of course written in Japanese, so be sure to study your kana and kanji.

But don't expect that to be enough to learn the language. Language learning needs lots of practice interacting with others. It's also more difficult to learn the grammar rules from passive listening.

I'd recommend looking for a place that holds Japanese lessons in your area. One possibility if you have the time are universities or community colleges, where you may be able to sit in on classes for no credit, for a small fee (which is called auditing). My old university charges $50 for non-students, which is pretty cheap for a several month-long language course. Other universities may be cheaper or more expensive. Granted, the class times might be difficult if you're still in K-12 or working.

If you can't find any classes, at least invest in some proper course books. The universities I studied at used either Minna no Nihongo (main book in Japanese only, need the English, or your native language, supplement), Genki (starts out all in English/romaji, and gradually introduces kana and kanji), or one other I don't recall the name of. For supplementals, I had found the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar set useful. A good electronic dictionary is helpful as well, which will give you many example sentences. http://jisho.org is so/so as well, and free.

Good luck!

This isn't anime, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway since this theme is so specific. If you like the idea of an immortal MC, you should check out the novel "All Men Are Mortal" by Simone De Beauvoir. It's about a man who is cursed to live forever and an actress who becomes obsessed with him for a variety of reasons.

A good deal of the book explains his history (he's been around since the late 13th century), but the first 70 pages or so, where you meet this guy, and you see how he handles eternity and how this actress reacts to him, I can't explain why but there's just something magical about it. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

You can read some snippets of the first part of the book in the link, and if you're interested in reading the whole thing you can pick up a used copy on amazon for dirt cheap. Also your local library will probably have a copy.

Heidi is great.

I also recommend

Panda Go! Panda http://www.amazon.com/Panda-Go-Geneon-Signature-Series/dp/B00012QLUU SO FREAKING CUTE I LOVE IT.

>just as manga is literally just comic books

The split is growing in Japan, classifying comics different from manga. Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san's (an autobio of working at a Japanese bookstore) episode 2 talks about the differences of comics vs manga, as well as the differences between Japanese comics vs foreign comics. Marvel/DC stuff is called "kaigai comics" which means "overseas comics". There's even a convention dedicated to kaigai comics. Episode 3 they even had the real Frederic Toutlemonde voice himself in the show. He pretty much single handedly created the French comics culture in Japan and facilitates the licensing of French material in Japan. Without him, we'd never have the Radiant anime. Radiant is released under the designation of "Euro manga".

Within Japan, "manga" is losing its catch-all terminology as Japanese manga and Japanese comics are growing in differentiation among Japanese fans. And likewise, Western comics (#bless hollywood superhero films) and Western manga is is cutting out their own names. Language changes with time and with fandoms so Japan will eventually have different names for different things as commonplace as we have in English with anime, manga, cartoons, manhwa, manhua, webtoon, OEL, graphic novels, and comic books in our everyday vernacular.

The cheapest complete series I highly recommend watching is Samurai Champloo. For ~$25, it's a relatively good deal.

If you liked the movie, you should check out the light novel. It goes into greater detail of what happened with the secondary characters during the movie's events.

No such beast exists. Sorry.

A few shows that have a setting in the United States (in part or in full):

Baccano

Heroman

Major

Miami Guns

Gunsmith Cats

Supernatural

Red Garden

Batman: Gotham Knight

Scifi Harry

Not really what you are looking for -- I can't really think of an anime that is sort of a travelogue/observation of American life through Japanese eyes. There might be some in the world of manga, right off the top of my head I'm thinking of The Four Immigrants Manga.

Yeah I also found this old thread it seems to suggest the only published version of the dub was on a Japanese R2 DVD that is out of print. I found this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laputa-Castle-Sky-Anna-Paquin/dp/B00005R5J4/ref=sr_1_13?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1526218960&sr=1-13&keywords=laputa+castle+in+the+sky But i'm not sure if its the same as this http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/VWDZ-8014 which the guy in that thread suggests was the version I'm looking for. The first link says its the Anne Paquine version but that wasn't released until 2003, but the amazon links two disk image looks like the 2002 version I'm looking for. I'm confused!

Sasameki Koto is pretty decent (the ending is little rushed). I recommend you avoid Aoi Hana, since the ending is sort of terrible.

Some other titles I've read and enjoyed:

Voiceful

Sorairo Girlfriend

Sisterism

Kono Negai ga Kanau nara

Husky and Medley

Hoshikawa Ginza Yonchoume

Kashimashi

Tokimeki Mononoke Jogakkou

My recommended "optimal" order is as follows-

Bake^1 > Kizu^2 > Neko> Nise> Second Season> Hana> Tsuki> Owari> Koyomi

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^1 Note: Crunchyroll is missing episodes and is poor quality, don't watch it there.

^2 Note: only Kizu Part 1 of 3 is as of yet available to watch, so you have to read the (fantastic) novel. If you dont want to read the novel, just watch Kizu: part 1 anytime after Bake. Or dont. It won't have much effect since you won't know the conclusion. But knowing the whole story will definitely change your perspective on much of the show.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Blood-1-Masasumi-Kakizaki/dp/2355925496

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506711987/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_CPiQDb3RWKQTW

Now that I understand what you're looking for, I'm reminded of a story arc in the book The Incarnations about two concubines in the Emperor's harem. Aside from that I'm afraid I haven't seen any anime with that theme.

http://www.amazon.com/Satoshi-Kons-Paranoia-Agent-Collection/dp/B0009RQS7I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416110791&sr=8-2&keywords=paranoia+agent

All 3 season available from Discotek: https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Rancher-Complete-English-Blu-ray/dp/B07BSWNC93/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=monster+rancher+dvd+discotek&qid=1569894324&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Uses BD player but all video are in SD (480)

> So I quite liked Accel World anime, but I'm almost 100% sure there won't be another season...

fyi, the studio behind it said (during a panel at a AX) that they want to make another season of Accel World and more Horizon. But they've been busy as hell making Love Live! in it's many forms so they just didn't have a lot of time. An Accel World season 2 would appear later next year at the earliest, but I imagine you don't wanna wait that long.

For reading the light novels, they have been licensed in the US (Volume 2 comes out in November, Volume 3 in March) Here is a site for fan-translations though I don't know how far it is and I can't vouch for the quality. Also, from what I gather, stay away from the manga adaptations (it's LN original) unless you really want to read them. I don't think any translations (manga or LN) are farther than the anime though, so be prepared to read stuff that you'd already seen.

I would wait on Excel Saga. It's not bad, but you are correct in that it relies heavily on parody for humor. This will be a problem not only because you're just getting into anime, but also because all of the references will be at least thirteen years old. The Imperfect Collection had a subtitle track that explained all of them, but even if you are able find it I would suggest waiting on this one.

Thanks god I'm french then :\^) 1, 2, 3, but sadly no remaster to be found (I don't have the stuff needed to watch bluray/4K anyways :V)