Sath gonna Sath.
Is it specifically action anime or does it need to have mechs in it? I'm also not savvy on what CR has to offer so I'm just gonna list shit.
Star Driver is probably the next closest thing I can think of. Bokurano though that's more thriller than pure action. I'm pretty sure you've seen Evangelion and Code Geass, but more obvious shit Gundam Thunderbolt, Iron Blooded Orphans, Eureka Seven and Gurren Lagann.
When you say action do you want a in general or was your example meant to be you specifically like samurais and kids being told to get into the damn robot?
I'm sure it exists, but I can't think of any other instance of literal samurais + mechs in the same anime. I'm 110% sure they exist though.
Anyway, just watch Black Lagoon and call it a day.
Yeah my bad. Should've been more specific. Samurais and/or Mechs lol. I'll check out Black Lagoon and the other suggestions.
For samurais just watch Samurai Champloo.
Seen it. Samurai 7 was legit as fuck too. The music alone kept me coming back for more.
Let's see stuff I've liked that haven't been suggested yet
Samurai: Shigurui: Death Frenzy, Drifters, Ronin Warriors (sort of?), Rurouni Kenshin,
Mecha: Aldnoah.Zero , Full Metal Panic!, IS: Infinite Stratos (Depends on if you are fine with the harem/ecchi side), Sidonia no Kishi, Bokurano, RahXephon, Schwarzesmarken, Scrapped Princess (sort of spoilers I guess), Break Blade, Blue Gender, Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen,
Gonna echo Elcura here for Mecha, if you haven't seen them, Iron Blooded Orphans and especially Gurren Lagann are fucking amazing. Eureka Seven I really love nostalgia wise (it's where my avatar is from >_>) and it was the first anime to actually get me into looking into what anime was, but that was a long ass time ago and I dunno how well it aged. But it's definitely worth checking out still.
And before people ask questions, I did see shit like DBZ and Gundam Wing growing up but E7 was the first to make me look online into the show and see what it was about and discovering the JP dub and streaming and DLing and looking into other animes and etc.
For Samurai, GINTAMA!!!!! Get on that shit. Love it, live it, enjoy it and join the wait for the next anime iteration.
Since a lot of what I would recommend has already been recommended, I'd definitely add Katanagatari to the list. Not a ton of episodes, but I think the episodes were longer than normal shows.
I don't think it's on Crunchy Roll but Escaflowne is pretty good, if a bit old.
Okay, so I started reading Gintama a year or so ago and gave it up. Is there eventually an overall story arc that presents itself? I don't know where I stopped reading, but it never really grabbed my attention. I keep seeing it talked up here. Should I just power through the first year or two of content?
There are story arcs in Gintama but overall the first...third or so it just random shit introducing all the characters and getting used to them. Later on there are more focused arcs and the last stuff is basically all story arc (which made me miss some of the random shit) but yeah.
The show starts off basic just doing anime parodies and crazy shit, but it gets there eventually.
I can't speak for the manga, but the first story arcs in the anime don't start until episode 30 or so. They're usually like 2 or 3 episode long arcs but there is continuity and eventually the more intense arcs do get put in and those are like 4 or 5 episodes each.
What makes Gintama great is that it has the ability to be ridiculously silly but then get incredibly heartfelt and emotional too. And within the same story arc too, sometimes even the same episode.
Edit: I'm also speaking of watching the anime mostly. The VO work is phenomenal and the adaption from manga to anime is stellar. Elcura is right though, the last few cours on TV have been longer more intense arcs with less silliness. But that's like around episode
300 so you have lots of fun content to get through before then
So I randomly watched K-ON for the first time through over the last couple weeks. It was surprisingly good. The first season is a little too happy-go-lucky and everything is fluffy and perfect and etc, but the second season raises the stakes nicely (in the context of the show of course) and adds some overlaying drama with the entire season focusing on the band's senior members being in their 3rd year and the cast constantly being reminded that the end of their school life is eventually creeping up on them. And the last episode (especially paired with the additional story added from the movie) really punches you in the gut. Shed plenty of tears throughout the final song performance, it really hits you lol.
I don't think I watched it when it initially came out because I was more seriously into music back then and liked animes like Beck:MCS and etc, etc that focused on the music a lot more intensely, where as the first season of K-ON was a little too slice of lifey for me. But nearly a decade later it was a pretty enjoyable watch.
K-On is alright for a slice of life, everything is so sterile and harmless that you can't really get offended. And they're cute without going overboard for the most part so it's not bad by any stretch. I think the only thing that actually pissed me off was the ED songs, because they were 150% better than any of the songs the girls sang normally or even in the intro and it was sad to see them do something like that but not explore that music or side in the show.
Dunno if that changes in the movie, haven't seen it yet.