I've recently got the anime bug back after years of just poking at a series every now and then. I used to be an addict in high school, watching anime pretty much every free minute I had. Since then my priorities have changed and I don't have the time (or as much interest as) I used to. However, since I'm trying to write MG fantasy with heavy doses of anime flavor I figure it's about time to dive back in.
I'm looking to dive into some really long shonen battle series, since I figure those would line up most with the feel and age group I'm trying to write for. I've seen all the big ones... Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, Bleach, DBZ, One Piece, so now I'm trying to go off the beaten path and look for some others to try out. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Right now I'm just looking through big lists of shounen anime trying to blindly pick some, but I'd rather take some on recommendation (especially if I'm spending 100+ episodes with these shows).
This is perhaps the genre I'm least familiar with. I don't tend to watch long running shows, and I'm usually quitting early if I start. About the only show I've watched for 100+ episodes would be
Hunter X Hunter, which was great fun and varied genres during its arcs, keeping things fresh.
One show I'd heartily recommend, even though it's only around 52 episodes long, is
Kekkaishi, a story about the son of a family of exorcists family specialising in putting up barriers, who has extreme power but poor control, and who isn't really motivate to get better, because he'd rather be a patessier. It's pretty good.
The currently running
Twin Star Exorcists seems to have a quite interesting story, but the anime looses steam quickly. There's a lot of pointless filler, and an extremely annoying mascot character which, I'm told, is anime only. The manga might be worth a look, but I'd cross the anime off your list.
The recently finished
World Trigger I found fun until I dropped it (when they went anime original). So far there are 50+ episodes (60 - 70?). Whether there'll ever be more I don't know. Quality-wise it's not the best, and it takes a while to get going, but I found the characters to have a certain charm, so why not? Watch no more than one episode. If it clicks, stick with it, if not drop it. It does get better later on, but not enough to merit the investment if you don't like the early episodes.
Only 26 episodes so far and next to no chance for more, but I really love
Mushibugyou. It's about an Edo magistrate set up to fight giant insects (with teeth?). Things get weird later. It's greatest strength is style, and a relentless optimism on the background of a fairly sinister setting. You'll have to be fine with some mild ecchi fanservice, though (not so mild if you include the OVAs).
I'm hearing good things about D-Grey Man, which is currently being either continued or rebooted (I don't know which), but I haven't watched it.
Another good 52 episoder is
Soul Eater, which is very off-beat in its style, and contains multiple references to David Lynch's oeuvre (of all people) - I noticed
Twin Peaks and
Mullholland Drive. Basically, you have duos fighting, where one's the fighter and the other is the weapon (seriously). Highly recommended.
As I said, I'm not into the longer running shows, so I can't be of much help, beyond that. My prime recommendations are
Kekkaishi and
Soul Eater. Everything else is secondary.
Sleepy Ash the best (probably because I am the oldest sibling of my family, and probably because I can be kind of lazy or lethargic, too, lol).