Recommended Anime and Manga?

Manga:

D.gray-man

Set during the end of a fictional nineteenth century on Earth, D.Gray-man mostly centers around 15-year-old Allen Walker. In his childhood Allen was abandoned by his parents due to a 'deformed' left arm and was adopted by a man called Mana Walker. At some moment Mana died and Allen tried to revive him with the help of a person called Millennium Earl. Allen revives him but Mana reappears as a creature called Akuma that is ordered by the Millennium Earl to kill him. During that moment Allen is gifted with the ability to control a weaponized form of a divine substance from ages past, called Innocence and accidentally kills Mana. Before Mana dies, he curses Allen's left eye, which later gives him the ability to see Akuma's souls. After that Allen discovers that the Millennium Earl turns to trick those who have lost loved ones to turn their deads' souls into Akuma and decides to train himself in order to stop him. Soon he becomes an Exorcist from the Black Order, a secretive organization which aims to stop the plan set in motion by the Millennium Earl and try to seal all the Akuma. However, the Earl has raised an army of Akuma, created by taking advantage of grief over a loved one's death, and summons the direct descendants of Noah himself, the 13-strong Noah Clan, to aid him in his second attempt. Because of the Akuma's ability to wear a human's skin, they are nearly undetectable by any human. Allen proves to be a powerful asset as his 'cursed' left eye is able to detect the Akuma.

Also check out the anime for this as well, the animation isn't like uber fantastic but its consistent.

Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket follows the life of high-school student Tohru Honda, who was recently orphaned when her mother, Kyoko Honda, died in a car accident. After that, Tohru lived with her grandfather, but when his house needs remodeling, Tohru resorts to living in a tent in a forest and holds down a job to support herself. Despite suffering many hardships, Tohru remains optimistic.
One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the forest that is the home of her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin Shigure Sohma. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is living in a tent, they are quite surprised by her inner strength. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru asks to be allowed to stay in her tent (affectionately dubbed "her castle"). Feeling sorry for her and desperate to end their bachelor days of filthy living conditions, the Sohmas offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. After a landslide buries her tent, including her mother's picture and school clothes, she has no option but to accept. Soon after she moves in, Kyo Sohma comes to challenge Yuki.
Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and secretive at school: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac (jyūnishi in Japanese) plus the spirit of the cat who was, according to legend, left out of the Zodiac. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite sex or when put under a great deal of emotional or physical stress (such as being sick). When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not "Inside" the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.
The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family. Soon, after living with the Sohma family she began to like, then love, all of the Sohmas, and sets out to break the zodiac curse.

The anime is ok, but the Manga is better.

Katekyō Hitman Reborn!

The Reborn! story revolves around a boy named Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada, who is chosen to become the Vongola Family's boss due to him being the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss, who had moved to Japan from Italy during his time. Also, the other candidates for the position of the head of the Vongola Family died. For these reasons, Tsuna is the only remaining heir. As such, Timoteo a.k.a. "Vongola IX," the current head of the family, sends Reborn, an infant hitman from Italy, to train Tsuna. Tsuna then unwillingly undergoes training from Reborn. Reborn's main method of teaching Tsuna is the "Dying Will Bullet" ("Deathperation Shot" in Viz Media's translation of the manga), which will make the person be "reborn" with a stronger self intent on fulfilling his dying will. Through his experiences, Tsuna unconsciously becomes stronger and more confident, which ultimately makes him better suited as the Vongola Family's boss despite continuing to reject his Mafia inheritance.
Tsuna goes through many predicaments in his progress of becoming the Vongola boss including fighting against escaped Mafia convicts posing as Kokuyo Junior High students. Later, The Varia, a rival group of Vongola assassins, claim the right for their boss to be the true Vongola boss, and start a competition to decide it. To defeat the Varia, Reborn recruits most of Tsuna's schoolmates to become the Vongola guardians: Hayato Gokudera, a dynamite expert who wishes to be his right-hand man, Takeshi Yamamoto, a baseball player who thinks the Mafia is a game, Ryohei Sasagawa, the energetic captain of the school boxing club, and Kyoya Hibari, the deadly head prefect. Lambo, an infant assasin who came to kill Reborn and Chrome Dokuro, a girl who is sometimes possessed by the criminal Mukuro Rokudo, joins them as well. After defeating the Varia, Tsuna and his friends are accidentally transported to the future where they must face the Millefiore Family, which is annihilating the Vongola.

Haven't watched the anime yet and only on chapter 23, but its interested me so far =)

Although this may sound generic, Naruto the manga is excellent. There are plenty of plot twists later on that have been carefully planned. People who watch only the Anime don't usually see how well thought out it is. You won't see stories like Obito and Kakashi in the Anime. It's only in the Manga.

Mangas:
Bleach (My god, it's getting goooood)
Shaman King
Trinity Blood
One Piece
Fullmetal Alchemist
Naruto (The manga is better than the anime)


Anime:
Trinity Blood
Saikano (She, The Ultimate Weapon)
Shaman King (Though they didnt end it where they were meant to)
Bleach (Censoring is getting awful though, so I dunno)
Ergo Proxy
Ghost in the Shell
One Piece
Grenadier
Azumanga Daioh
Excel Saga
Paniponi Dash
Noein, To your other self
Serial Experiments, Lain

I can recommend tonnes more but i;d be here all night lol XD

There's in internet manga (that'll soon become an anime) that've spread world wide just recently, Axis Power Hetalia. It's a bunch of short comics with the countries of the world personified, the story is comical versions of different historical things (like war and crisis and such).
It's really interesting and funny because all the countries are such stereotypes! (except for Japan cuz the mangaka is japanese). And it's free-standing so you can just start to read anywhere you want.

Here's an example

http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/14586.html

Oh yes, I should have mentioned Bleach as well. It's an awesome manga too :D

You up to date on it?
I got to rub it in so many people's faces that I was right about Stark (One of the Espada)
His name gives it away in the least.

You up to date on it?
I got to rub it in so many people's faces that I was right about Stark (One of the Espada)
His name gives it away in the least.

Nooooooooooo I'm not up to date yet! Pleassee have mercy!!!

How dare you not be up to date on the 23498130498948248029958258 episodes/chapters of Bleach!!!!!!!1oneone!!

But seriously, I've only seen the Bleach dub on tv. So far why does every arc drag on and on and on and then there's the trap of where they make the very end of the episode exciting so you'd watch moar?!?! (^q^)



I've got too many shows I can rec, but lately I just started watching After War Gundam X. I'm only two episodes in but I love the interaction between the main character and his love interest. Gosh I'm a dork. Plus I'm digging the mechs but that's only because I love mecha anime.

Another good show, I think is Nodame Cantabile. It's rather lighthearted and hilarious for the most part. You can watch the episodes over on cruchyroll. <3 The story has to do with the meeting of two students from the same music academy who are polar opposites. <3

D: Why the heck am I typing hearts? Apparently I'm getting dumber as I type but anyway, yeah. Nodame is awesome, although I really haven't explain much. There's also a live action version of it on Crunchy, too. They're both dandy.

[edit]Due to extreme prejudice laziness I slapped on a link to their wiki pages for those that are curious about what they're about.

@Crisis: Ahhhh you know Nodame? YEAAH! Your one of the very few people I know that has even heard of the show! Everybody I talk to whenever I mention Nodame they reply with "Huh? Wha?" so I'm always happy when I see others have seen the show. Admittedly I haven't seen it ALL, I keep getting distracted by other anime/Jdramas. I think I'll try and finish the Jdrama first, simply because it's shorter haha! Still I agree it's a brilliant, very funny light-hearted show. I recommend it too! ^_^ Graphics aren't "OMG SO AMAZING" which is probably why it's not all that popular.

... I'll shut up about Nodame now ._.;

@CrookedCat: I've read some chapters of the main storyline. It's hilarious! I've really enjoyed reading Hetalia, although I'm a bit "meh" about the anime, I don't know why it's just that I have mixed feelings on the anime! I'll still check it out though ^_^

Argh, Bleach! I reeeally need to play major catch-up with the series. I am waaaay behind all other fans, no seriously xD. Same with Naruto Shippuden, I'm probably only on episode 20 last time I checked! I just... couldn't keep up any longer xD; The fighting dragged on, but I want to catch up again just to see what's up now. I enjoyed Naruto despite how long it was, Shippuden I just cracked and stopped watching though xD;; I can never handle uber long animes >_>;

Shaman King! Yes yes I recommend Shaman King, I love the show.

Now if your into Bleach, Naruto, etc please please check out Rurouni Kenshin. Bleach revolves around shinigamis and Naruto revolves around ninjas. Well Rurouni Kenshin revolves around samurais, a nice, friendly samurai who used to be a killer. It's older than the mainstream animes but it's still good, I was addicted to this as a kid! I still need the final boxset but it sold out on the site I used to get them from so I never did get to finish the series, but I loved what I watched and definitely recommend it.

I think I've found my favorite Anime of all time right now.

Full Metal Alchemist.

I highly recommend reading the manga and watching the show. The dub is actually quite good. The story is as capturing as Death Note I would say.

Full metal alchemist is one of the best animes I've ever watched.

I have a new recommendation people:
Tokko

Started watching it because I bought the box set (for £16, cheap as hell).
and my god it's good, I stay up watching it because they leave every episode on a cliffhanger XD

Oh yeah, I started watching Cowboy Bebop, and man I'm being overwhelmed by these animes.

Watch Code Geass it's the sh*t.

I would recommend:

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Bleach
Fullmetal Alchemist
Ghost in the Shell
Death Note
Beyblade (haha, you knew that one...)
Elfin Lied (not for the faint of heart)

and the anime movie:
Akira

I can recomend anime: Ouran's Host club, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Fushigi Yuugi.

Also "Mars" is very good manga.