Anime Content Guide Index
Looking for anime with that special something in it?
Got a mecha jones and looking for something new? Cyberpunk fan who doesn't know what to watch next? Only interested in anime with ninjas? This is the place for you. Pick your poison from our category list to get started browsing the reviews.
Oh, and if you think we've overlooked a category that should be here, tell us.
- Ace Pilots and Dogfights
Ace pilots, high-G maneuvers, deadly speed, and dogfights--the technology may differ, the place can range from the skies of earth to distant worlds, but these anime all have the things that aircraft aficionados love.
- Airships
Who doesn't love giant, aerodynamically impossible flying machines?
- Alternate World
These anime feature fanciful-yet-realistic places that could be real, even though they're not.
- Awkward Romance
You know those nice guys who meet nice girls in the most improbable ways, hit it off, then just can't seem to work up the courage to develop a proper relationship? These anime would be about them. Expect frequent nosebleeds, unintentional bath walk-ins, blushing hand holding, and meddling friends and relatives.
- Babes in Battlesuits
What do you get when you put attractive females and power armor together? Drooling fanboys, and the anime listed here.
- Blu-Ray
Sony's awkwardly-named format won the underwhelming hi-def wars, so of course AAW had to jump on board with it. These are the anime available on Blu-ray that we've viewed and reviewed on said discs.
For those that care what hardware the reviews were done with (we, frankly, usually don't), we view Blu-ray discs on a 37" 1080p Sharp Aquos (LC37D62U) connected to a PS3 (with latest firmware) via HDMI; audio is an Onkyo HT-R667 7.1-channel receiver with audio over HDMI (note that, because the PS3 will not output bitstream audio for the highest-end audio formats, the PS3 is set to handle the decoding, with the receiver playing the raw PCM stream). TV was calibrated using a calibration disc and appropriate blue filter, though with anime color accuracy isn't a particularly significant issue; audio calibrated using the system's microphone at appropriate listening points.
- Brawling
People hitting each other. 'Nuff said.
- Children
The main characters in these are unusually young, even by anime standards, though the target audience may or may not be quite so young.
- Classic Fantasy
Old-school, Tolkien-style, Dungeons & Dragons-like fantasy--if you're looking for pointy-eared elves, stocky dwarves, bearded wizards, and heroic swordsmen, these anime should be at the top of your list.
- Classic Sci-Fi
This science fiction is the real deal--science that makes sense, technical plans, what-if scenarios, and a sense of adventure.
- Cool Teachers
Sometimes its not all about youth; these anime feature teachers doing some important stuff, too.
- Costumed Superheroes
These shows feature costumed crusaders for justice, usually equipped with a variety of amazing powers and more often than not a secret identity (capes are optional).
- Cyberpunk
It's cyber, it's punk, it's that favorite destination for fans of the technologically drenched dark future: Cyberpunk.
- Extreme Action
There's action and then there's action. These anime feature action that doesn't technically defy the laws of physics but comes darn close. Do not try this at home.
- Game-Based
The relationship between video games and anime goes way back, and swings both ways. These anime started life as a video game, and may or may not tie directly into the story of said game(s).
- Gender Benders
Sometimes you end up in school pretending you're a boy when you're not. Other times some freak accident has you swapping genders every time you sneeze. Or maybe a mean-spirited magician has you stuck in the wrong body. If that sort of gender-bending situation is your thing, give these anime a shot.
- Ghost Stories
Ghosts, spirits, and otherworldly specters are sometimes scary, sometimes helpful, and sometimes silly. Whatever the form of the non-corporeal beings, these anime guarantee the temptation of a Sixth Sense reference.
- Go for Go Nagai
Go Nagai isn't known for good taste or quality anime, but he sure is prolific, and you can generally count on low-brow fun of one sort or another. These are all based on Nagai series.
- Gundam-mania
Yes, the grand-daddy of giant robot anime, there are so many Gundam series , spin-offs, and alternate storylines it's hard to count. Here are the ones we have reviews of.
- Guns Galore
Guns and anime are old friends, but these shows take their weapon-love to a higher level.
- Heroic Transplants
Everybody knows that the second-best way of becoming a hero is to be walking along, minding your own business, when some otherworldly force or random dimensional gate sucks you into a different time, planet, or universe. You suddenly have no idea what's going on, but it's pretty much guaranteed that you're going to be expected to save wherever it is you just ended up.
- Japanese Fantasy
The West has Tolkien ripoffs; Japan has its own collection of demons, spirits, monsters, and sword-swingers inhabiting their own version of feudal Japan, give or take a few centuries.
- Mages and Magic
Cool spells and the spellcasters who cast them. Here's anime that will satisfy your mystical jones.
- Magical Girls
That classic staple of girl-targeted anime: Girls who, though one means or another, can transform from their everyday appearance into super-powered (and flashily-costumed) defenders of justice.
- Mass Destruction
Tracts of land blowing up, burning down, or otherwise becoming rubble--big time. Tokyo is the stock location, but any population center or planet will qualify the anime for this list.
- Mecha
Anime staple #2: Big, cool robots with people in 'em. They slice, they dice, they're a gearhead's dream come true, and they're featured prominently in these shows.
- Ninjas
Yeah, ninjas. They sneak, they slice, they dice, they julienne, they flip out, they hate pirates, and they're in these anime.
- Old School
These anime are either old-school shows from the early years, or hearken back to those simpler days of colorful giant robots and saving the earth melodramatically.
- Paramilitary
They've got the firepower of a small army and the training to use it, but these soldiers are freelance.
- Parody
You know what these are--classic genres or specific stories you know and love, given a satirical tweak to make them sillier, and funnier, than the original.
- Post Apocalypse
Yeah, the world has come to an end, but that doesn't mean there aren't people still going about their business. But watch your step--the vacuum left by civilization has been known to be dangerous.
- Retro Future
When is the future kinda like the past? In these anime, anyway.
- Retro Remakes
Sure, these anime were made recently, but they're a retro flashback to series from way back when.
- Revisionist History
It sure looks like the Earth you know, but these anime tell a story rather different from what you read about in history textbooks or see on the news.
- Salarymen
The hero isn't always a fresh-faced youth; these shows are about folks working the daily grind for a salary to pay the bills, with maybe some heroics on the side.
- School Days
Ah, the misadventures that befall anime youths while going to school.
- Science Fantasy
Is it technology? Is it magic? Maybe some of both? That's the sort of imaginative worlds you'll find in these anime.
- Shoujo-riffic
Originally designed as girls' stories, these series may cover a broad range of genres, but you can count on an emphasis on relationships, drama, tragedy, romance, and frequently also pretty boys, skinny people, and flowers.
- Slice of Life
Anime that features people just doing their everyday, ordinary thing. Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most, you know.
- Space Opera
Sure, it's high tech, but logic and realism are optional: What counts is flying around in space, big drama, and big adventure.
- Splatterfest
Sometimes, you just want to sit back, kick your feet up, and watch people's heads explode. These are for you.
- Sports
That anime classic, the sports story: Young people with hidden talents experiencing the lows and highs of friendly competition, character-building, and come-from-behind victories.
- Steampunk
Steampunk is that marvelous thing that you get when you cross primitive technology with giant robots and give it a good dose of Jules Verne. Find your steam-powered mecha and clockwork robots in these shows.
- Swordswinging
These anime offer an ample supply of guys and gals with big, shiny, often-magical swords and the skills to swing them about dramatically.
- That's Not Right!
Here is some anime with things that are just plain wrong in them--sometimes a few scenes, sometimes the whole concept. Might be darned funny, but the normal need not apply.
- Time Travel
Back to the future, ahead to the past, whichever direction you're going you can expect paradoxes, confusing circular logic, and probably some awkward relationships.
- Tragedy
These are stories of that oldest of themes, tragedy--tales of exquisite emotional pain as cruel fate conspires against hope.
- Vampires
Check out these anime for plenty of those sexy bloodsuckers everybody seems to love.
- War Stories
Epic battles, personal tragedy, indiscriminate destruction, and the individual being swept up in the tide of nations clashing--the horrors of war play a central role in these anime.
- Yaoi
Very pretty guys who are attracted to other very pretty guys--you know you love to watch. These anime don't let traditional gender pairings get in the way of love.
- Yuri
Ahh, yuri, tales of girls who are a little closer to other girls than just friends. These anime span the range from light yuri--friends with something more--to unequivocal lesbian relationships.