I thought I should write something about the animes that I mentioned. I don't think that everyone her is familiar with all of them.
The Twelve Kingdoms - Is about a Japanese girl, Yoko, who was transported to another kingdom and finds out that she is actually the queen of the kingdom of Kei. There are several other countries in the alternate world and she makes friends with many of the people already there while overcoming the difficulties that she is faced with when it comes to ruling a kingdom.
There's plenty of magic, mystical, shape-shifting creatures, and adventure in The Twelve Kingdoms. It contains some great plot twists and, overall, this is a great anime. I especially like the soundtrack too.
I don't know if a lot of children would really pay attention to this anime, unless they like fantasy stories and curious about things like how to rule a kingdom, and it deals with some complex issues so I wouldn't recommend this anime for children.
The Count of Monte Cristo Gankutsuou - This story is set in the 51st century. The characters Albert and Franz meet on Luna (Rome). Albert meets the Counto of Monte Cristo and the Count promises to visit him in Paris. As the anime progresses, the Count's back-story is pieced together and many side-plots unfold.
There are a lot of supernatural elements, plenty of mystery and some complex issues addressed in this anime. If you don't mind the art style (which is very colorful and I like it), this anime will definitely keep you attention, because you're always wondering what will happen next. I thought that the actions of the characters and what the count said during the execution scene to be interesting. This is a great anime, but is definitely not for children.
Iria - Iria's other brother and his partner are bounty hunters who go on a rescue mission on a hijacked spaceship. They find that the hijacker is a seemingly indestructible alien called Zeiram that broke out of the cargo hold and started to massacre the crew. Bob is critically wounded while evacuating survivors and Gren is lost while attempting to kill Zeiram by destroying the Karma (something on the alien's head that keeps it alive). When Iria returns the planet Myce, she is targeted by assassins working for a corporation owned by Karma. She discovers a covered-up plot to control and use Zeiram as a weapon and escapes with the help Fujikuro. She is, then, reunited with Bob who has had is mind downloaded into a computer program because he never recovered from his injuries. Next, they continue to investigate rumors of Zeiram appearing on Myce, and try to find out what happened to Gren.
Iria is action-packed that has a great story. The relationships between the characters are well-developed and presented. As the anime approaches the end, the story becomes more fantastic. This is not likely to be an anime that children would like, but teenagers, older people, especially sci-fi fans, would probably really enjoy it.
Metropolis - Metropolis is pretty popular and it was aired on Adult Swim, so I wouldn't be surprised if plenty of anime fans have heard of it. It's rated PG-13 for violence, so it's not for small kids, but teens can watch it.
It's set in an industrial tri-level world where Duke Red is a powerful leader who plans to unveil a highly advanced robot named Tima. However, his violent son Rock doesn't trust robots, and tries to find and destroy Tima. In this world there is a lot of tension between humans and robots. Tima is lost in a labyrinth beneath Metropolis, and has made friends with the nephew of a Japanese detective, but when the two of them are separated by the Duke, Tima's life is in danger along with the fate of the universe.
This is a sweet and dynamic story that deals with issues of poverty, trust, power struggles, insanity, friendship, love, and war. It's enjoyable to watch, but I doubt that children would understand it even though the main characters are a child and a robot. I'm not sure about whether or not it's real popular among teens either, unless they're sci-fi fans.
Macross Plus - This anime has already been recommended in this thread by other people. Most people have heard of Macross Plus, so I'm not going to add a description. I would just like to add that it has an awesome soundtrack and that Yoko Kanno is one of my favorite singers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thdb0hDj ... Jfy-Giw-hQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFGBFq2v ... TJaLINjtWM
Hellsing - A secret war in which humanity is the pawn, is going on. The Hellsing organization is a secret organization that protects the mortal world from vampirs. Artificial vampires start to appear so the organization is forced to call on a rogue vampire named Alacard to help. He changes the dying Seras Victoria into a vampire and the fight against an undead army while she learns to control her hunger. Next, the organization is faced with a traitor leaking classified information to a reporter and the Valentine Brothers leading their undead army on a raid against the Hellsing headquarters. Next the helsing organizations war agains the undead intensifies and they suffer major losses. Alucard hs to confron a deadly Paladin and then the original undead, Incognito, as Integra fights for her life against her sister (?). Alacard is faced with confronting the traitor and Incognito while at the same time protecting the Queen and Intergra's life. Seras has to make a choice about what she has become and Integra's connection with Alacard is revealed.
this was a fun series to watch, a great vampire story. Children shouldn't watch this series because of all of the violence, but, unfortunately, I don't think that a lot of people really monitor that kind of thing, especially with how popular the vampire story fad is these days. There aren't any sparkling, emo, vampires in this series, so maybe that's why it hasn't caught on so well, but it is still fun to watch even if you aren't a complete vampire fanatic. It's reminiscent of the classic Dracula story.
Vision of Escaflowne - Hitomi Kanzaki is transported to the world of Gaea, a planet where she can see Earth and the moon in the sky. Hitomi's latent psychic powers are enhanced on Gaea and she plays a big role in a conflict between the Zaibach Empire and many peaceful surrounding countries. The conflicts occur because the Zaibach empire is trying to revive the legendary power of the ancient city of Atlantis. As the story progresses, the characters' pasts, motivations, and the history of Atlantis and the true nature of Gaea are revealed.
The series and the movie are both great. The animation in the movie is better than the series, but I think that the plot and character development is much better in the series. I don't think that kids would like this series, but I'm sure that a lot of teens would because it has a lot of dramatic scenes.
Moribito - Balsa is a spear wielding warrior woman, who saves peoples lives in atonement for a past sin. She happens to save a prince and ends up with the task of becoming his bodyguard. It gets to where she is required to protect the prince because, his father, the emperor wants him dead even though he's only a boy.
Balsa is my hero. The animation is great and the story has many memorable characters and plenty of great fight scenes. This anime was clearly not written for kids, but I think that a lot of young women who are into anime would really enjoy watching it.
Shura No Toki - This series is about a brave warrior, Yakumo Mitsu, from the mysterious Mutsu clan whose deadly art made them able to defeat any samurai. At the beginning of the series Musashi Miyamoto, the great samurai, meets a young nobleman who he saves, but does not wish to become a body guard. Instead he recommends that a passerby whom he senses has great potential. That passerby is is Yakumo! The adventures continue in this exciting martial arts anime from there.
If you like martial arts animes with some light-hearted best friends moments in it, this is the series for you. The fight scenes are exciting, but this isn't what I would call a real intense anime. It's mainly just fun to watch. Teens and adults who are into martial arts animes that aren't goofy like Ranma would like this series, kids wouldn't.
