Inu X Boku SS - on the one hand, it's silly romance. On the other hand, it has some of the most self-aware characters I've encountered in anime, and knows how to both use the classic romance tropes and laugh at them at the same time, without getting nasty about it. 13 episodes, I think it's still available on Crunchyroll - I do suggest watching the sub if possible, as the dub is terrible.
Sword Art Online - full immersion MMO, yay cool - wait, what do you mean we can't log out? And if we die here, we die in real life? Like InuBoku, it handles its cliches well. I admit that Asuna is one of my favorite anime characters, so there's that. Sub still available on Crunchyroll, dub coming out, uh, not soon enough.
Darker Than Black - I'm recommending the first series only, as I haven't seen the second and have heard seriously mixed things about it. I loved the first for its intelligent supernatural spy action: at no time was anyone required to carry the Idiot Ball. (One of the main characters is a female police detective. I am jaded and wary about these things.) Haven't seen the dub, so I can't comment on its quality.
no subject
Inu X Boku SS - on the one hand, it's silly romance. On the other hand, it has some of the most self-aware characters I've encountered in anime, and knows how to both use the classic romance tropes and laugh at them at the same time, without getting nasty about it. 13 episodes, I think it's still available on Crunchyroll - I do suggest watching the sub if possible, as the dub is terrible.
Sword Art Online - full immersion MMO, yay cool - wait, what do you mean we can't log out? And if we die here, we die in real life? Like InuBoku, it handles its cliches well. I admit that Asuna is one of my favorite anime characters, so there's that. Sub still available on Crunchyroll, dub coming out, uh, not soon enough.
Darker Than Black - I'm recommending the first series only, as I haven't seen the second and have heard seriously mixed things about it. I loved the first for its intelligent supernatural spy action: at no time was anyone required to carry the Idiot Ball. (One of the main characters is a female police detective. I am jaded and wary about these things.) Haven't seen the dub, so I can't comment on its quality.