The following will be a semi-full guide on Anime and Manga. Everything from recommendations, where to find the stuff, the best ways to watch/read, and how to figure out the original anime an image came from. I will show you things to seek and avoid, and explain a lot of internet anime jargon. I will update this guide at my whim or on request. Feel free to leave suggestions and feedback.

"terminology" | +

Terminology/Jargon- The internet practically has it's own language when discussing Anime and Manga. Here's an urban dictionary on a few terms

Animu/Chinese Cartoons - Slang for Anime
Mango - Slang for Manga

Tsundere - A character archetype. A character who is normally cold or down right mean, but slowly warms up to the other characters over time. Sometimes a tsundere will go full dere(loosely means lovey dovey) and rarely revert to tsun(loosely means hate or cold). Examples: Taiga from Toradora, Asuka from Neon Genesis, Evangelion, Gin from Majikoi

Kuudere - A character archetype. A character who is emotionless and quiet, but sometimes opens up and shows signs of affection. Examples: Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nagato Yuki from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Yandere - A character archetype. A character who is so in love with another character that it drives them crazy(literally). They will stalk their love interest, display abnormal amounts of interest in them, and will neglect their own health and personal life in their pursuit of their lovers attention. This character will sometimes be violent, willing to injure and kill anyone who trys to: 1. hurt their love, 2. displays affection towards their love. Sometimes it gets to the point where the yandere will kidnap their love interest and keep them locked up. If pushed far enough, a yandere will kill their love rather than let anyone else have them. Examples: Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki, Rin from Higurashi, The main girls in School Days
Waifu/Husbando - A fantasy wife or girlfriend. One selects an anime character and pretends they are in a relationship with said character. Normally a joke, rarely serious.
Daughteru - Similar to waifu, one selects a child like anime character and pretends that character is their daughter

Mahou Shoujo - magical girl. A popular theme where a young girl ends up in a situation where she is given magical powers and can transform at will.

3dpd - 3d pig disgusting, A satirical acronym that refers to real people.
2d - simply refers to the world of anime, manga, video games, ect. Anything you'd find only on a screen.

Doujinshi - A fan created manga. Can either be a fan fic or original content. Sometimes they are sexually explicit.
Hentai - Anime/manga porn
Ecchi - Basically means perverted. Anime/manga that is riske. The characters are drawn barely clothed, performing suggestive acts, and the details are over-sexualized.

Yuri - anime/manga pairing of lesbians
Yaoi - Anime/manga pairing of homosexual males

Shounen - Anime and manga aimed at young males ages 12 and up. Often contains a lot of action and simple themes of good vs evil.
Shoujo - Anime and manga aimed at young girls ages 12 and up. Often contains romance and more feminine art.
Seinen - Anime and manga aimed at men young and old. The themes and concepts vary greatly, but often times are a bit more mature than your average anime/manga
SoL - Slice of Life. A laid back genre depicting the everyday lives of characters. Usually comedies, romance, or both at once.
Harem - A genre where one character essentially courts several other characters at once.

OP/ED - opening/ending. Anime have opening and ending theme songs, thus what this refers to.
OVA - Original Video Animation. An additional or stand alone episode of an anime not part of a season/series. Often higher quality than normal.
Season - A set of episodes released weekly for a set amount of time(3 to 6 months on average, depending on the number of episodes.) An anime normally has only 1 or 2 seasons.
subs/subbed - Anime in the original language with subtitles
sub group - the group that translated the anime and made the subtitles for it. There are lots of them, and they are normally voluntary and depend on donations to get funding.
dub - Anime with voice acting not in the original Japanese. Usually subpar compared to their Japanese counter parts. there are rare exceptions.

If there are any terms I didn't include you'd like me to add, or don't know the meaning of one, please let me know.

"Anime recommendations" | +

Sleeping Knight's recommendations! If I don't specifically say it, you're best off watching it with Japanese voices and English subtitles. Why? because then the voice acting is normally subpar and takes away from the emotions and personality of the characters. Or the company that dubbed it just got the translations plain wrong. The following list is anime only. Keep in mind that sometimes, there is both an anime and manga for a series. If one is good, it does not always mean the other is. Feel free to suggest more shows, or dispute the section I put each show in.

I have literally never seen an anime from start to finish - Entry level stuff. Entry level doesn't mean bad, just a decent for introducing people to Anime.

Full metal alchemist original/Brotherhood - watch it in English
Soul Eater - English
Cowboy Bebop - English
Trigun
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Toradora
Full metal Panic!
Symphogear - magical girl show(technically). Even if you don't like the mahout shoujo genre, give this a try. It's badass.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Angel Beats
Card Captor Sakura - Magical girl show
Magical Lyrical Nanoha - Magical girl show
Tenshi Muyo! - The original Harem show.
Seitokai Yakunidomo(It's a show about a highschool student council telling hilariously bad sex jokes. It's not ecchi, there's no fanservice. It's just ranchy humor.)
Kokoro Connect

I've seen a few series - A bit more ecchi, more anime specific themes. Some are more plot intensive or down right metaphoric.
Medaka box - A series that makes fun of shounen tropes. Has some very memorable characters
Code Geass - Watch it in English or Japanese, both are fantastic
Eureka Seven - English or Japanese
Phantom requiem for the Phantom
Fate/stay night: UBW
Fate/Zero
Demon king Daimo
Fooly cooly(Also known as just FLCL)
Houka
S-Cry-Ed
Steins;Gate
Darker than Black
Black Lagoon - They swear in the English version...a lot.
Psycho Pass
Zetsuo no Tempest

What's with all that entry level crap? So you you're fairly comfortable with anime now and want to see some good stuff. Nudity, sexual themes, and gore may be involved. The plots are generally difficult to understand if you don't think about them and pay attention.

Neon genesis Evangelion - The grand daddy of all anime. Deconstruction of the mecha genre, the forerunner of most tropes and character archetypes seen in anime today. Not for the faint of heart, as it has intense psychological themes and gore.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Don't watch this until you've seen a couple other magical girl shows. it's a deconstruction of the genre and is not for a younger audience.
Elfen Lied - Lots of gore
Mirai Nikki - gore
Cross Ange - gore
Berserk - rape, gore, and every other explicit theme you can think of.
Parasyte - gore

I am horny and want to watch some shameless ecchi harem crap - There are a lot of shows like this. Some are actually decent.
To-Love-Ru
highschool DxD
Kampfer
Queen's blade
Strike Witches
Monster Musume(Not uh...not average. Give it a try though.)

Dude, give me the weirdest stuff you got. Let's jump down the rabbit hole - Watch at the risk of your sanity.
Serial Experiments lain
End of Evangelion(Watch NGE first)
Yotsuga no Sora (Warning...incest)
Aki x Sora (INCEST)
Kodomo no Jikan (A loli trys to blackmail her teacher into having a sexual relationship with him. There is no nudity or sex, but it's still creepy)
Inferno Cop
Boku no Pico (AHAHAHA)

I want some cute stuff - SoL cute girls doing cute things. Normally also a comedy.
Shinryaku Ika musume
Sakura trick
K-on - The mascot of SoL cute girls doing cute things. It has 3 seasons
Clannad - Be warned, this is chock full of feels. It's long(48 episodes total). Almost guaranteed to make you cry at some point.

Dude, I just want action. Give me epic fights and explosions - Battle shounen and over the top action. Keep in mind that some of these have hundreds of episodes.

Naruto
Bleach
One Piece
Fairy Tail
Dragonball Z
Ben-to - A short series about people beating the crap out of each other for half priced lunch boxes. Ridiculous and fun to watch.
History's strongest disciple Kenichi
Buso Renkin - pretty much the perfect shounen

Sleeping Knight's Personal Favorites - Just my top rated anime. It's all opinionated, take it as you will.

Code Geass - Anime of the year, 2006(debatable, but almost universally agreed upon). it has EVERYTHING. giant robot fights, powers, political tensions, military power struggles, romance, a little bit of fan service, amazing characters(Designed by CLAMP!), lots of character progression, plot twists everywhere. Very well written. Just good all around and has something for everyone.

Zetsuo no Tempest - anime of the year, 2012(debatable). An epic tragedy in vein with the works of William Shakespear. Action, adventure, mystery, romance, magic, end of the world scenario. They spent a decent chunk of the entire show on one scene, where 3 of the characters are trying to out bullshit one another.

Toradora - My favorite Romance anime. It was cute and angsty and dramatic and had plenty of scenes that hit you right in the feels

Nichijo - A SoL with a ridiculous amount of animation. The studio was clearly showing off when they made this. It's one of the funniest I've seen. Some of the humor requires you to have an understanding of Japanese culture, however.

Mirai Nikki - Some argue this show was bad. It had a lot of flaws, this I admit. But it had one thing no other show has. Gasai Yuno. The craziest yandere of all time. 10/10 would marry.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - The pre-curser to a lot of anime troupes and stereotypes today(like tsundere, kuudere, among other things) . On the surface it looks like your average mecha show. However it is extremely metaphorical and full of symbolism and philosophical themes. NGE is something you have to really think about and pay attention to in order to understand. (The trick is to come up with your own meaning behind everything). Has a movie that gives it an alternate ending, and there are a series of movies out that completely retell the entire story and give it a new plot. The final movie is currently in production.

"Manga Recommendations" | +

Sleeping Knight's manga recommendations! As a general rule, the manga is normally better than the anime. There are exceptions, of course. I'll try to avoid the extremely popular series(The big 3, fairy tail, that vein of things)

Shounen:
Medaka box
Tower of God - Not actually a manga. It's a Korean comic called a manwa. Basically a web cartoon.
Girl's of the Wilds - Manwa
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu/Assassination Classroom
Jitsu wa Watashi wa - Rom com
Yamada and the 7 witches - Rom com
Battle Angel Alita - The best Sci-fi dystopia. A live action movie is currently in the works
Arachnid
Tokyo ESP
Renai Boukun - Rom Com
Special Martial Arts Extreme Hell Private Highschool - hilarious comedy/action manga
Dragons Rioting - Ecchi battle shounen
MxO - It was canceled, so the ending is rushed. However, it was still pretty good.
Great Teacher Onizuka - A classic
Psyren
Chobits - CLAMP
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles - I would suggest reading this after you've read a few other works by CLAMP. Read xxxHolic along side this.
xxxHolic - CLAMP. Technically, this is a seinen. I'm putting it here because it is meant to be read along side Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.

Shoujo - I am somewhat lacking in Shoujo knowledge. What I do know, is that CLAMP are the queens of Shoujo.
Angelic Layer - CLAMP
Vampire Knight - CLAMP
Card Captor Sakura - CLAMP
Clover - CLAMP
Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
Usagi Drop
Alice in the kingdom of heart

Seinen
Hoshi no Samidare - Also known as the devil and the biscuit hammer. Highly recommended, one of the best coming of age stories I've ever read.

Yumekui Merry - Dream eater Merry. Ongoing

Oyasumi Pun-Pun - Not for the faint of heart. It's a brutally realistic tale of a man's life from child to adult. Tragedy is abundant, as is symbolism and metaphors. Mature themes. There is nudity and sex in this, but it is tasteful and adds to the story.

One-punch man - Ongoing

Mahou Shoujo of the end - survivor horror story. Still ongoing. Lots of gore and sexual themes.

Trash - Gore, sexual themes

Boku Girl - Genderbender, lots of ecchi. A funny light hearted SoL

Berserk - Highly acclaimed. Influenced the Dark souls video game series. Contains gore, violence, rape, mass murder, dark themes, psychological themes, nudity, magic, demons, massive battles, ect.

Ecchi Harem smut - I just heard about these, I didn't read them myself, I swear
Ore Tama - Actually has a very nice romance
Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari
Minamoto-kun no Monogatari
Monster Musume
To-Love-Ru

Sleeping Knight's favorites - Again, just some of my favorites.

Hoshi no Samidare - THE coming of age story. Plot twists are mindbreaking and the feels are like a railgun to the heart.

Onani Master Kurosawa - If you read one manga out of this entire list, make it this one. an amazing story of love, loss, self redemption, and personal growth.

Molester man - The title is misleading. It's a true story told by a guy on 2chan. Pretty awesome real life romance.

Tsuabsa Reservoir Chronicles

Negima! - Starts out as a harem comedy, quickly becomes one of the best battle shounen of all time.
UQ Holder - Sequel to Negima. I bite my fingers waiting for new chapters.

Oyasumi Pun-Pun

Tower of God

Battle Angel Alita - It just gets literally better every damn chapter. James Cameron has plans to make a live action movie about it in a couple of years.

Chobits - A story about what it means to be human, and the concept of love. One of CLAMP's only male targeted stories

Berserk - They finally got off the boat after so many years.

"How to get Anime" | +

So, you have no idea how to actually get a hold of anime or manga? Wondering if there might be a better way compared to how you do it now? There are several sources on the internet. Let's explore a few options.

Torrents - Objectively the best way to go about it. This requires you devote some hard drive space and a little bit of time.
Pros:
-High quality video
-Can be watched offline
-You can pick your sub group
-free
-no advertisements
-You can switch between dubbed and subbed with the press of a button
-You can stream the show as you download with no loss in quality
-No waiting for a buffer
-You won't get viruses from questionable websites

Cons:
-Requires you dedicate some hard drive space. Based on the quality, a single show can range from 2GB to 30GB.
-Requires a torrent client and a little bit of knowledge on where to find the torrents
-Downloads can sometimes be a little slow, depending on seeds/peer to leech ratio.

Streaming - Streaming is quicker and can be done on public computers.
Pros:
-Fast, all you need to do is load an online video
-No downloads, no hard drive space necessary
-doesn't need a torrent client

Cons:
-Lower quality video(though some shows are actually offered in 1080p these days)
-requires an internet connection
-advertisements
-buffer waits
-can't choose your sub group
-Some websites will try to scam you, possibly give you a virus
-missing episodes, or some episodes are only subbed in Spanish for some strange reason

The last option I will talk about is Crunchy Roll. It's a paid service that offers high quality video streams. I would deter you from using this service. Paying CR doesn't support the industry, they only have a limited number of shows available, and there is a sub group called Horrible Subs that takes their subs and offers them in higher quality torrents for free. If you feel you NEED to pay for anime, donate to a good sub group or buy the BluRay disks for your favorite shows.

What is a torrent client, and how do I get one? - A torrent client is just software that allows you to download torrents. I would suggest getting Qbittorrent. A simple google search will net you the download. Torrents are pretty straight forward to use, but if you need help I would suggest googling a separate guide specifically for torrents.

So where do I download anime torrents? - There are plenty of sites for this. Nyaa.se and BakaBT are probably the best sites to get anime. Search for an anime you want on the site. Anime will either come in batches(the whole season) or single episodes. You will normally be given the option to download in 480p, 720p, or 1080p. Quality and torrent size increases with each.

I see letters in brackets next to the anime titles. What is this? - Example: [gg], [HS], [Commie]. These are sub groups. Each group has their own translation style. Try them out and see which suits you. HS(horrible subs) releases the fastest, and covers a wide variety of shows. Their translations are decent, but not necessarily the best.

Some of the vidoes I've downloaded won't play on windows media player. Help! - The encoding for anime can actually be kinda complicated. WMP isn't suited for it. Get MPC-HC with the k-lite codecs pack. It's probably the best video player out there. A good alternative is VLC.

"How to get manga" | +

How to get manga - Getting your hands on manga is slightly different. But only slightly.

First, we're going to talk about scanlation groups. These are volunteer groups that scan a manga, translate it, transcript, edit, and redraw manga from Japanese to English. Depending on the manga, it can be a lot of work. Most Scanlation groups have their own websites you can view, or sometimes download, the manga they are scanlating at.

Manga viewing sites - There are a lot of these. My personal favorite is MangaTown. Manga viewing sites will sometimes steal a scanlation groups work, watermark it, and give them no credit. They also upload these manga with poorer quality than the original scanlation group did. Batoto is a site dedicated to high quality uploads and giving the scanlation groups due credit.

Streaming sites - The best one I've seen is hands down Kissanime.

torrents - You can torrent manga too! I highly suggest using BakaBT for this. If you don't want to register to bakabt, you can still search the site by googling "[manga name] bakabt"

Manga viewing software - If you don't want to use your computes stock image viewing software, there are plenty of alternatives. I personally use Irfan, but there are better alternatives. Find one that works for you.

"Finding the name of an anime with just an image" | +

Finding the name of an anime or manga with nothing but an image - If you've ever seen a really cool picture of a manga or anime and wanted to know what it was, there are ways to go about it without begging the internet to tell you.

Reverse image search - google and Tineye are your friends
Google - Go to google. Drag your image into the search bar. You can download a web browser app to make this easier.
Tineye - An alternative to google

Lurk - This refers to reading posts, but not posting yourself. Simply reading a string of conversation where the image originated from can often time yield the answer. Also, check the image's file name, that can contain hints. If you are on Youtube, check the video description, the uploader usually puts the anime used in their videos there.

"Places to discuss Anime and Manga" | +

There are plenty of sites to discuss Anime and Manga. Here are just a few.

4chan - 4chan's anime board, /a/, is one of the oldest places still running to post and discuss anime. The community has been around since 2003, and has a **** ton of subculture to it. DISCLAIMER: /a/ has the best and the worst of the anime community. There are assholes everywhere, and the community there is fairly toxic to new members. Lurk for a while before posting. Never ask for recommendations. Once you are used to the board, it's one of the best places to get information and discuss currently airing shows.

Reddit - There are lots of subreddits dedicated to anime and manga

Forums - There are endless anime and manga forums. Endless. Find one you like with a simple google search.

"Things to avoid" | +

Anime is a tentative thing. There are trolls abundant around the community, and some of the material is...well, yeah.

Boku no Pico - If you ask for a recommendation, or sauce on a series, often times trolls will reply with this. Boku no Pico is a Shoutacon(basically means sexualized little boys) anime. It has...cross dressing little boys doing strange things and it is simply something no one should watch(unless you're into that sort of thing.)

Notably bad series - Just...don't watch/read these. They are objectively bad, avoid at all costs.
Eiko - Just no. It was canceled after 2 episodes.
BL - "Boys Love". Basically yaoi series made shoujo style. There are billions of them and most are poor quality and poorly written. There are exceptions, but...they are very few and far betwee. Notable examples worth watching/reading: Loveless, Gravitation
Boku no Pico
Kotoura-san - Started out excellent, fell flat half-way through.
Upotte!(manga) - The anime is decent, but the manga is...lacking. Especially the art.

In all honesty, this list is subjective and I probably shouldn't include it. However, if you wish to add to it, feel free.

I feel the guide is fairly complete. I will add more recommendations from time to time. Please feel free to add suggestions.

I'm sure someone is eventually gonna jump in and suggest SAO, so I'll spare everyone and say that if they go for it, don't even bother with anything past the first season. Season 2 is absolute garbage and it isn't worth your time. not that it's very good in the first place. There are much better 'oh no i am trapped in an MMORPG' type shows out there. For one, Overlord. It's fun, doesn't bother with drama about being stuck in a virtual world, and takes the **** out of both the genre of anime and MMORPGs themselves in a lighthearted fashion. And the main character is a skeleton, so you know it gets my approval.

Space Patrol Luluco is also great, but basically requires that you already be a fan of Studio Trigger's shows to get a good 50% of the references. It's short and sweet, only about an hour for all its episodes put together, and is one hell of a fun ride.

If you like vampires and don't mind some silly anime tropes, Hellsing Ultimate is your friend. It's a high-octane action-horror series of OVAs that spans ten episodes of about an hour length each, with memorably over-the-top characters. Also, watch it in English; the dub is one of the most high quality ones out there, with good acting and location-appropriate accents. The Hellsing TV anime is also worth consideration if you really like the series; it diverges from the manga/OVA plot quite a lot after the second or so episode, instead making something original. It's got a moodier, more serious atmosphere and isn't quite as violent, but its OST is smooth as hell.

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On a sort of opposite end of the spectrum, Log Horizon is more about the social, tactical, and logistic sides to MMOs.

I love that you have an appreciation for Trigger <3

Trigger is so good, man.

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Slightly disappointed that you recommend staying away from bl which is btw just the english term for yaoi/shounen-ai, sure some people can't handle watching romantic relationships between men but others like me are quite a fan of it. Surely enough I want to point out that I personally do not like shotacon very much either. Nevertheless there are some great recommendations missing from your list and I have this great need to get you a huge list

absolute favourites:
Hellsing: vampires, blood, Alucard, no need to say more ^^
Trinity Blood: vampires, church, just great
Loveless: heavy, cute, cat-ears, shounen-ai/yaoi
Ghost in the Shell: I specially like Stand Alone Complex, technology on the next level, very complicated storyline
CLAMP: a group of artists that put out xxxHolic, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Card Captor Sakura, Tokyo Babylon, a special note needs to be made about X (yes the name is just the letter X) it is a series, movie and manga you will be just fine doing the series and the movie and stuff but under no circumstances should you read the manga! it was dropped and stops at the worst cliffhanger I have ever encountered, you can still hear my "NOOOoooooo....." echoing through the universe, a lot of their work is interlinked so you would often meet characters from before.
other great watch:
Durarara: just awesome, supernatural, urban, headless lady on a motorcycle, throwing vending machines
Chaos;Head: nice and weird, total delusions
Princess Princess: dives in the shounen-ai genre for a bit but is mostly shoujo, crossdressing pretty boys in school ^^ very funny
Monochrome Factor: weird story but very interesting, also leans towards shounen ai
Darker than Black: supernatural, weird, tends to get complicated sometimes, a good one
Junjou Romantica: yaoi, fluffy, cute
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: mecha, weirdness, funny and serious
07-Ghost: it's awesome, death gods, demons, friendship, funny, really good
Serial experiments lain was already mentioned I believe: nice and complicated high tech story
Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto: magical boy combined with mecha
Black Butler: it is popular for a reason
RahXephon: mecha, aliens, sometimes the storyline gets a little complicated or weird but it definetely is a good watch
Rental Magica: magic, nice storyline
Jyu-Oh-Sei: don't remember why I liked this one
.//Hack: before sao was even a thing this bunch of interlinked series already grabbed my attention, finding the right order is quite complicated and the genres per series also greatly divide, also has manga's and videogames included
Gilgamesh: belongs in the messed up and adults categories
Candidate for goddess: the manga got canceled, it is quite old, but I like it alot, mecha, outher space, alien attack combined with school life
D.N.Angel: supernatural, cute, serious, magical, romantic
Love Stage: shounen-ai, cute fluffy
Monster: messed up, adult only, murder, psychopath, weirdness, can be boring because every conversation is compeltely lined out, still captivating though
Sailormoon: Mother of all magical girls series and completely owns the genre
Slayers: a witch with personality problems tries to be awesome
Dragonball: who doesn't know this?
Gantz: very graphic as in not suited for underage both in terms of gore and adult content, weird
Sekirei: one of the better hentai/ecchi/harem ones out there
gravitation: shounen-ai/yaoi cute

that's my little overview for now, I could put some more together but I think this covers a great deal of what I liked to watch in the last few months plus my favourites

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here is my Resume<-do read it for better understanding

I've been viewing on http://www.animefrost.tv/ alot lately and been watching a few of the newer series. Some are really amazing.

- One Punch Man: Link - Superhero type series with satirical content. funny as hell and great.
- RE:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Link - Amazing anime. A little gory. Sort of like "The day after tomorrow" movie meets fantasy, "other world" type anime
- Boku no Hero Academia: Link - If you liked one punch man, this one you will love.

There are honestly a few new Anime shows that have come out with such a similar plotline/device that I get them mixed up with each other. All are school setting/mecha/superpower types where the main protagonist is admitted into a school where the students compete/train to defend the world with meca/armor/ weapons, activated by something small like a stone or accessory. Its eerie how similar they are in my opinion. Still all great ones:

- Hundred: Link
- Gakusen Toshi Asterisk: Link
- Infinite Stratos: Link

Another favorite of mine is Rideback: Link, and Black Lagoon: Link

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