Approved Anime
This is a list of /tg/ approved anime, organized loosely into genres.
Add important details (e.g. tv series or OVA, number of episodes or movies) in brackets.
Before you add anything...READ THIS
/tg/ likes its anime, but if we listed every single one that could be interpreted as being /tg/-related this article would be large enough to be its own wiki. So before you add in a new title, ask yourself these questions:
- Is it a licensed material from a traditional game? (If yes, add it right now, no questions asked. And homebrews don't count- it has to be a real, established game.)
- Does it feature traditional gaming? (If it's an important part of the show, add it.)
- Is it fantasy or sci-fi? (We have a huge boner for that, but explain how it's relevant first.)
- Does it cater to our demographic? Fa/tg/uys tend to be males in their 20s. (Again, see if it fits the other criteria well enough.)
- Does /tg/ talk about it a lot, or does it have some historical relevance to /tg/? (Like the one directly above, it's not enough on its own, but it might get a pass if it fits more criteria.)
- Is this just /a/'s flavor of the month bleeding over into /tg/? (NO. Your addition will likely be reverted, so don't bother.)
Science Fiction
- Cowboy Bebop: Animu fans will argue forever if this is the best anime or not, but it is probably one of the best space-westerns anybody has made ever. An astounding look into one of the best parties a campaign could ever have. [tv series: season 1 - 26 episodes; 1 movie]
- Related games: Traveller, GURPS Space, Diaspora
- Ghost in the Shell: /k/ makes a show about cyborgs and politics. The two movies and TV series take place in different continuities, and have very different feels. You may love one but hate the other. [2 movies; tv series: season 1 - 26 episodes, season 2 - 26 episodes, 1 made-for-TV movie]
- Related games: Eclipse Phase and Shadowrun
- Serial Experiments Lain: The trippiest philosophy class you will ever take. A near-future anime set around 2020 or so, diverging around 1990. A must-watch for cyberpunk and conspiracy fans, as well as existentialists.
- Related games:Shadowrun, Eclipse Phase, and maybe Paranoia and Server Crash.
- The Big O: Batman meets mechs meets Japanese monster movies in a post-apocalyptic world where nobody remembers anything prior to forty years ago and advanced androids walk the streets of an otherwise 1920s-era city dominated by glass domes. One of the biggest contenders for "Most Confusing Ending" award, it is otherwise well-regarded by the anime community and it's lack of a third season to answer all the questions is much-lamented. That said, the director had originally been given two seasons to plot out his story, had it cut to one, then had a second season greenlit thanks to it's performance in the US, only to give us another season of questions.
- Related games: Mekton, Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron, Spirit of the Century
- Trigun: An impossibly skilled and improbably young outlaw (Arbitrator) roams a barren Wild West planet helping people out with his skill at shooting people, aided by a somewhat faithful party of well-armed priests (Clerics) and insurance agents (Adepts). Replete with pseudo-religious symbolism and Metal Gear-worthy antagonists.
- Related games: Dark Heresy, Deadlands
- Armored Trooper VOTOMS: A Mecha pilot of few words and fewer expressions seeks revenge on those who framed him, uncovering an ancient conspiracy along a way. One of the grittier and "realest" entries of the real robot genre without going into the hard sci-fi. Inspired Heavy Gear, which the japanese described as "The Votoms mecha in the Dougram setting", the latter referring to Fang of the Sun Dougram, VOTOMS creator's earlier real robot series.
- Related games: Heavy Gear
Action
- Fist of the North Star: The singular manliest show ever made.
- Related games: Street Fighter the RPG (by White Wolf)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan: The singular Orkiest show ever made. [TV Series: 30 episodes; 2 movies]
Gaming anime
- Girls und Panzer: Just what it says on the title. WWII Tank warfare for sport, done by schoolgirls. You will make a Ōarai Girls' Academy themed Leman Russ tank company after watching it. The anime is now officially associated with World of Tanks.
- Related games: hexmap historical war simulations, too fucking many quests
- The Legend of Koizumi: The world leaders all play Mahjong to determent the fate of the planet. Later on a team of Koizumi, The Bushes, The Pope, Putin, and Yulia Tymoshenko fight Hitler who took over the Moon.
- Related Games: Mahjong
Horror, Grimdark & Mindfuckery
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: A philosophical character drama and Lovecraftian Horror Mindrape that pretends to be a mecha anime for its first half. Either one the greatest anime ever produced, or an overrated piece of tripe that collapsed under the weight of its own pretentiousness, depending on who you ask; there is no middle ground. Inspiration for Adeptus Evangelion. Obviously. [TV series: 26 episodes; 5 and counting movies]
- Related games: Adeptus Evangelion, CthulhuTech
- Now and Then, Here and There: A young Japanese boy and American girl are transported through time and space to a dying world orbiting a dying star, and are forced to fight as a child soldier for/raped and bred by evil men while the humans of the planet slowly fight themselves to extinction over water. Not for the faint of heart, or for anyone who thinks Warhammer 40k is as grimdark as humanly possible. This is true, hardcore grimdark.
- Related games: Dark Sun so very much, FATAL, Gamma World
Fantasy
- Berserk: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: The Anime. Guts, a brutal and unstoppable swordsman, walks the land of grimdark as he recounts his impossibly bad-assed past. Noted for being GUTS HUEG because HUEG GUTS has HUEG GUTS.
- Related games: Warhammer Fantasy
- Record of Loads of War: Some anime producers made a cartoon out of their D&D campaign.
- Related games: Dungeons & Dragons
- (The) Slayers: AD&D 2nd edition: The Animation. Known for being a significantly more realistic take on what tabletop roleplay is like than the previous, despite not actually being based off on actual campaign. Loads of War has been described as being the campaign the DM planned, whereas Slayers has been described as the campaign the players ended up playing.
- Related games: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
- Spice and Wolf: A show about Horo, wolf-girl pagan goddess of the harvest (Often mistaken for Leman Russ,) and also economics. Proof that not all medieval fantasy has to be sword-and-sorcery to be interesting.
- Related games: Settlers of Catan, GURPS Fantasy Setting
- Maoyuu Maou Yuusha: (Geopolitical Economic Theories in My D&D?): An anime in which the brave Hero (named Hero coincidentally) enters the Demon Realm in an attempt to kill the evil Demon Lord. In retaliation the Demon Lord (named Demon Queen/Lord) diplomances him into submission, explains how the economy works, then proceeds to dominate the southern human realm with basic human rights, intelligent farming methods and smart business strategies. Originated as a webnovel published on 2chan's text boards, and matriculated into the spiritual successor Spice and Wolf.
- Related games: Settlers of Catan, GURPS Fantasy Setting, Ironclaw, Road to Enlightenment, Deus Vult: Wargaming in the Time of the Crusades, Reign
- Strike Witches: (Little Girls in Panties): WWII flying aces redrawn as loli airplane machines which zap aliens while flying around without pants. Not really beloved by /tg/, but someone thought something about the show would make a good homebrew.
- Related games: Axis & Allies, Axis and Allies Angels 20, Ace of Aces, a metric fuckton of quests
Comedy
- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san: It's one of those wacky highschool comedy bits that Japan shits out every season, except starring Nyarlathotep. Yes seriously. Pop culture references, /d/eviance, Sanity loss (complete with Call of Cthulhu character sheets), and gratuitous rape of canon ensue. "She's an Eldritch Abomination, not your waifu!"
- Related games: Call of Cthulhu (barely), Maid RPG
Things Which Aren't Anime, But People Think Are
- Touhou, which is not actually an anime or manga but is frequently confused as such by those unfamiliar with it. It has however, received several official manga spinoffs.
- Related games: /v/ stuff, shmups, D&D 4th edition (that's a joke, a joke someone made terrifyingly real)
- Wakfu: A French cartoon about a kid named Yugo who discovers he is part of a long-lost race of people with the ability to create portals. A fun world with fun characters and a surprisingly deep Big Bad. Not to be confused with your waifu.
- Related games: /v/ stuff, generic mid-Europe fantasy setting, and apparently has its own RPG rules in France.
- Related games: Exalted, Legends of the Wulin