Sci Fi and Fantasy Recs for n00bs

[Selena]

So I'm writing up a panel for a science fiction convention I'm going to in a few months, and I need anime that I can recommend to people who don't know anything about anime.

Some things I'm trying to find newbie recs for people who like:

Time Travel
Robots (I'd like a giant and a not-giant)
Cool tech
Space
Ghosts
Super Heroes
Swords & Sorcery
World Building

Any thoughts?

[Terrence]

Steins;Gate? That's one of my favorite time travel stories. There are some dull parts early, but when it picks up it really picks up and doesn't let you go until the end.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a great Shounen with Sorcery to introduce people to. The two heroes, the Elric Brothers, use magic to manipulate the world around them and defeat other nefarious magicians while simultaneously uncovering some seedy hidden truths of their world in the process.

For World Building, maybe go with one of the commerce twins in Maoyuu or Spice + Wolf? World Building is definitely tricky for anime where they're so character or immediate plot centric.

For sword and sorcery, Akame Ga Kill is a decent one.

There's lots of good Mecha (giant robots). I think something like Aldnoah Zero would be a good starter Mecha to warm people up to the genre, then hit them with Gurren Laggan and Evangelion.

Gargantia on the Verdorous Planet is a nice one too, the main guy flying his mech accidentally through a wormhole after defeat to a race of alien squid, then winding up on a planet that's all ocean and people live on oil tankers. It's really beautiful looking.

For ghosts / supernatural, something like Dusk Maiden of Amnesia or Sanakarea would be a good introduction to supernatural romance.

Shiki is a really good traditional horror anime for people who like the classics of old time Vampire and Zombie tales. And it's got one of the coolest protagonists ever in it, a smart older doctor!

For Superheroes, gotta be One Punch Man. I don't even love that show, but it oozes superhero (though it is also a parody show). Samurai Flamenco is another good superhero show about an average dude who wants to fight crime in spandex. Parasyte the Maxim is a good anime for Spiderman fans who like a bit of horror in their superhero tales.

For cool tech, maybe look at Attack On Titan's gear. The creator consulted with someone who knew their stuff to come up with schematics and everything for this fictional mobility tech to make it seem functional.

[Selena]

(facepalm) I totally forgot about FMA. That would be a great one for newbies. The original was so many people's first anime.

While I liked Dusk Maiden and Sankarea, I'm not sure those would make good newbie anime. There are a lot of anime tropes and stuff in there that might make a casual uncomfortable. Guess I would call them more "Intermediate" anime lol

I haven't seen much of One Punch Man, which is probably why I didn't think of it. That would probably be a good one since it's a total parody of US Super heroes and well known DBZ type anime. :)

And great minds think alike. Steins;Gate was one of the first things on the list lol

Thanks for the recs. :)

[Terrence]

I don't think this has an anime, but that's the sweetest ghost romance thing I've read... And it's still messed up. xD

I think Psycho Pass is a good hard SciFi anime. I don't know what to file it under (it's a futuristic detective story with guns that tell you a person's crime coefficient number so you know if they're over the "taser" Limit and into the "vaporize" category when the wep's limiter goes off).

[Selena]

I have Psycho Pass on the list already. :) I think I put it under "world building", since it's such an interesting dystopian series.