Title Recommendations based on Tetsuo Shima
Arsene Lupin III is the grandson of the master thief Arsene Lupin. With his cohorts Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII and his love interest Fujiko Mine, he pulls off the greatest heists of all time while always escaping the grasp of Inspector Koichi Zenigata.
Onizuka is an ex-biker and gang leader who has one goal: to become the greatest teacher. He learns of the power and respect possible as an intern teacher, using his strength and connections to get his students to respect him. Now, graduated, he gets a job at a prestigious private school to handle their 'problem class' that made the past few teachers quit. He must handle a different sort of trouble when the trouble makers include some of the smartest kids in Japan who prefer a more cerebral approach to torturing their teacher. Onizuka must slowly win his students over and deal with their mistrust of teachers while handling the distrust of his fellow teachers.
When a newly developed teleportation device malfunctions at the Millennial Fair, young Crono must travel through time to rescue his misfortunate companion from an intricate web of past and present perils. The swashbuckling adventure that ensues soon unveils an evil force set to destroy the world, triggering Crono's race against time to change the course of history and bring about a brighter future.
Rose of Versailles is set in France on the brink of upheaval. Poverty racks the streets, the peasants are grossly overtaxed, and the nobles are indifferent. Princess Marie Antoinette has just arrived in Paris, and Oscar Jarjayes's job is to protect her. Born a female but raised as a male because her parents wanted a boy, Oscar is uniquely suited to care for the Princess.
Mima Kirigoe is a singer who leaves her trio to become an actress, a career move that angers her fans, who prefer to see her as the pop idol. Plagued by self-doubt and tormented by humiliating compromises, she begins to be stalked. In her waking and sleeping moments, she faces her alter ego who claims to be "the real Mima."
Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.
One day, 14-year-old Yusuke Urameshi suddenly finds himself dead, having died pushing a child out of the way of oncoming traffic. Since he has such a bad personality, even the Spirit World was caught by surprise that he would sacrifice himself. Yusuke soon finds out he wasn't supposed to die and has a chance for resurrection and bringing his body back to life. After being resurrected, Yusuke becomes a Spirit Detective, along with his comrades, and one adventure after another happens, whether it be an investigation or a fighting tournament.
FLCL follows Naota Nandaba, who lives in a small, dusty Japanese town where "nothing amazing happens" and "everything is ordinary." Ordinary, that is, until the day self-proclaimed alien Haruko Haruhara rides in on her Vespa and hits Naota with her guitar. From there on, things only get stranger, and the giant robots spouting from his forehead soon become the least of Naota's worries.
Moritaka Mashiro, a junior high school student, content to live out a relatively normal life as any other does, is persuaded by his classmate, Akito Takagi, to become an aspiring mangaka when the latter realizes his natural talent as an artist. However, Moritaka is reluctant to pursue his dream as his uncle, once a mangaka with his own serializations, died from overwork trying to regain his lost status. With Akito's help, Takagi gets another classmate and his school crush, Azuki Miho, who is an aspiring voice actress, to voice in the anime adaptation of their future manga once it is completed. However, Mashiro also proposes to Azuki, who surprisingly accepts only on the condition she will marry him when both of them have achieved their dreams. With a goal set before him, Mashiro begins a long and struggling path to become a famous mangaka.
Chappelle's Show is shocking, smart, and completely fresh. Dave Chappelle's breakthrough project showed him tackling the most serious issues in the most laugh-out-loud funny ways possible. His iconic characters include the lovable crackhead Tyrone Biggums and the blind black white supremacist Clayton Bigsby.
Serial Experiments Lain focuses on Lain Iwakura, an adolescent girl living in suburban Japan, and her introduction to the Wired, a global communications network similar to the Internet. Lain lives with her middle-class family, which consists of her inexpressive older sister Mika, her cold mother, and her computer-obsessed father. The first ripple on the pond of Lain's lonely life appears when she learns that girls from her school have received an e-mail from Chisa Yomoda, a schoolmate who had committed suicide. When Lain receives the message at home, Chisa tells her that she is not dead, but has merely "abandoned her physical body and flesh", and is alive deep within the virtual reality-world of the Wired itself and that she has found the almighty and divine god there. From then on, Lain is bound to a path which will take her ever deeper into both the network and her own subconscious thoughts and sensations.
Focusing on the attempts of hikikomori recluse Tatsuhiro Sato to reintegrate into normal society, Welcome to the NHK is one part slice-of-life adventures, another part dark comedy. Dealing seriously with themes like social anxiety and depression, Welcome to the NHK can be a heavy series to watch. But with its self-aware humor and satiric view of Japanese fan culture, the show manages to be deeply funny.
Porco Rosso follows an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. He has been given a curse that changed his head to that of a pig. Once called Marco Pagot, he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso," Italian for "Red Pig."
Laugh to hide your tears. He's rude. He's crass. He's unbelievably obnoxious, and he's the star of this train wreck. From superhero sell-outs, hotties and half-tards to bunny abuse and dirty old men, Shin chan's packed with sweet dead piggy goodness.
