no subject

[snarp]

Having finished Utena, I now need another anime to watch while I use the treadmill. Suggestions?

("Go outside" does not count. It's muddy.)

Stuff I've seen all the way through:

Princess Tutu - ****
Haibane Renmei - ****
Baccano! - ****
Excel Saga - *** 1/2
Darker Than Black - ***
Requiem from the Darkness - ***
Serial Experiments Lain - ***
Last Exile - ***
Gankutsuou - ***
Ouran High School Host Club - ** 1/2 (sorry, but for me, it will always fall short in comparison to the manga)
Fruits Basket - ** 1/2 (same)
RahXephon - ** 1/2
El Hazard - *
Descendants of Darkness - I DON'T KNOW
X - My feelings about it are colored too deeply by my dysfunctional relationship with CLAMP's work as a whole for any useful evaluation to be possible.
Now and Then, Here and There - This is one of the most unrelentingly cruel narratives I've ever consumed in any format. For what it is, it's well done - I just hate what it is.

Stuff I've watched a little of before stopping:

Fullmetal Alchemist (1st series) - Yeah, yeah, I know.
Mushishi
NeiA_7
E'S Otherwise - THIS IS SO TERRIBLE. Though I might finish it to see just how much it eventually ends up ripping from X.

Stuff I refuse to watch:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - I watched the first episode, searched for synopses, discovered that my predictions were basically accurate, and decided against it. I've already watched Now and Then, Here and There once; I don't need to see the shoujo version.
Saiunkoku Monogatari - Shan't!

Edited to add a couple things I'd forgotten.

Comments

[esmenet]

Nurarihyon no Mago! Well, okay, I've only read the manga, but I've heard good things about the anime. On the surface, it's straight generic shounen -- boy decides to be greatest ____ ever, even greater than his grandfather, boy has to reconcile different sides of his heritage, boy makes friends and fights a lot. But it feels a lot more like a seinen—or even a josei— manga; maybe it's the youkai, maybe it's the way the different parts of Rikuo's life are set up, maybe it's the fact that he won't kill if he doesn't have to, but if he has to he won't even hesitate—no technical pacifism here. Or maybe it's that his Sekrit Identity isn't actually all that secret.

The other one I would really recommend—the one I'm absolutely positive you would like—is Natsume Yuujinchou. littlebutfierce wrote a rec post for it that says all I could and more, but basically it is the nuanced dealing-with-feelings slice-of-life plot-tastic friendshippy shoujo you always wanted. With bonus awesome.