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Read Majikoi. The friendship dynamic there is really great and heartwarming

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure immediately satisfied me, especially in my nether regions.

I also second Majikoi, it sounds like a perfect fit for what you're looking for.

Well, there's not that many anime I can 100% say are good from episode one, and I assume you want something that is more conventional so I'm going with safe picks here Gurren Lagann - an obvious pick to recommend. It's just incredibly fun from the very start and is easy to get hooked on. Usagi Drop - fantastic anime that everybody should watch, and is amazing the whole way through. Only thing wrong is that it doesn't have an ending, but it doesn't matter too much with the type of story it is. Hanayamata - If you want her to watch any CGDCT anime, then this is the one to give her. Very well done drama, well written characters, and it doesn't really have fanservice of any kind from what I remember. Gakkou Gurashi - Most of the first episode sucks, but by the end of it, she'll be hooked. Flying Witch - In the case of SOL/iyashikei, Flying Witch is probably the best introduction along with Usagi Drop. Has a fantastic first episode and the rest is harmless and charming.

Let's see. You want a strong cast of likeable characters? And genre doesn't matter? In no particular order, there is Chrono Clock, Kindred Spirits, Steins;Gate (and the sequel S;G 0), Persona 3-4, Demonbane, Koihime Musou, Littlewitch Romanesque, Tokyo Babel, Princess Evangile (Konomi and Ruriko by themselves ought to work out well, some of the others are kind of bland), Chou Dengeki Stryker, and A Kiss For The Petals New Gen. Oh, and if you like RPGs, then you should also check out Recettear and the Trails series (Trails in the Sky / Trails of Cold Steel - 1st 3, and 1st game of 3rd arc, are on Steam).

Seconding this

Yes. A lot of the VN's h-content can be very abrupt. This is exceptionally bad in key VN's (Kanon, Air) works, where they can be talking about furniture, and then randomly compare the spilt water on the floor to the beauty of a girl, and then have random sex. It actually kills the mood. Thankfully, most Key releases, nowadays are without H. The first and only censoring I am grateful for. Majikoi's h has a lot more buildup and is better than most as far as h goes. The protag has a certain fetish however. In grisaia some of the h is actually relevant to the plot. Overall I liked grisaia more, but that's mostly because I'm a sucker for that kind of plot. I like deep psychological issues, and the writing is really good. Majikoi undoubtedly has the better world though. And the slice of lifey interactions, and friendship based themes are also far stronger here, They are both unbelievably excellent VN's, so check out both of them. The order doesn't really matter. Personally I thought, Persona 3 had the best story. (Minato ftw). If you haven't played it but liked the other two I strongly recommend you check it out.

Steins;Gate is pretty much exactly what you said you wanted: great characters that you'll really get to know over the course of the game. H-scenes are a thing, though. Of the VNs that I listed, Steins;Gate is all-ages (I mean, it's on Playstation). Tokyo Babel is also all-ages. All the others, except 3, are h-games, but also have a non-H version available. Koihime Musou is a huge game, so even though H is a pretty small part of it overall, there's still a lot of it. Kindred Spirits is so tame that it could be put on Steam 100% as-is with no censorship, but it's technically adult. And Demonbane is really low on H as well. Those are the 3 I mentioned that don't have a non-H version. I have no idea if that matters to you or not.

Overlord Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei One Punch Man Macademi Wasshoi (though you might consider filtering this one out, since I just picked it for being hilarious from day one... and it is kind of excessively ecchi/harem) Drifters Gundam 00 (just for the hell of it, see if she can get into it, lol) Shakugan no Shana (Maybe? It does get off on the right foot, even if the second season is slow) FSN UBW (Comes out strong from the beginning, exciting right until the end... if you can stand Shirou) Fate/Zero Seto no Hanayome (extremely humorous series)

I would also recommend Little Busters! Some other Key titles such as Clannad and Rewrite might also work, though do note that all of these might reportedly make you a little bit sad at some points.

Thank you all very much for your time and effort, i really appriciate this! @Nandemonai i played persona 4 and 5 and loved them didnt come to my mind that they could be VNs though. I have Steins:gate for ps3 lyring around somewhere... maybe thats a good start for a more exciting VN. @Akshay Thank you very much. You put very much effort and thought into your post I dont really mind the H scenes, from time to time it seems "weird" to me that a lot of VN seem to be pure and then have H scenes, but who am i to judge. i can still skip them if i dont like. So many people here recommended Majokoi, but Grisaia sounds REALLY interesting, too. I think ill choose between these two for now thanks again <3

All recommendations are in bold~ You have only read two vn's both which are not very traditional nor long. And neither have h-content. Since you liked phoenix wright with its game play elements, fast pacing, and you want somewhat good development, try anything made by spike chuunisoft i.e. Danganronpa, 999 (These are NOT heartwarming, nor do they combat loneliness, but as someone who enjoyed the phoenix wright series, this is something that you will probably enjoy.) You liked doki doki, which was pretty unique among VN's If you want some heart warming sweet stories (that are also reasonably short), go for nekopara, and corona blossom (both which can be played without h-content) If you don't mind the h-content, and a VN quite a bit longer (easily 50+ hrs if you are just starting out) you must definitely try the above mentioned Majikoi (some of the best world building, immersive experiences). If you don't mind psychological problems, (though far far more developed than doki doki, try Grisaia (No matter the situation, I cannot recommend the non-h version) If you want something more casual (slice of life/mostly happy),other than majikoi you could also check out Princess Evangelion (its not great to be honest though). If you don't mind a steam-punk type world, check out liar-soft titles like Gahkthun of the golden lightning (it is Dark, but there are several really nice moments. One of my favorite couples is from here) Overdrive games try to blend a good amount of comedy and characters. Kirari's cuteness will take your loneliness away! Try Kirakira or Deardrops. Dengeki Stryker is awesome as well. If you are new to VN's, try to start with the smaller, more casual ones at first. When you are more comfortable with them as a whole move on to the bigger ones. While you may be unnerved by the h-content in these VN's. (Assuming you didn't find VN's from ecchi anime/hentai). You will find that a lot of these are unbelievably good stories, so give them a chance regardless.

elfen lied. jk, try say i love you. someone recommended usagi drop and i gotta second that one. just tell her not to read the manga if she ever gets the urge.

katawa shoujo. its about a young man sent away to a new school after months of feeling completely alone and discovers love and friends in the new environment. the art is nice, the writing is great and so is the music. the music is very soothing to the ears.

Agree with Majikoi. Maybe Da Capo III could also fit, taking: Although you may not understand part of the story (which is very good regardless) without reading Da Capo I and II beforehand.

Sakamoto Desu Ga? It's comedy but it's fucking HILARIOUS from the get go.

Actually, I was convinced they had. But reading this announcement closely, I don't think that's right anymore. Here's what they actually said. They gave it a "Winter 2017" window. Except because "Winter 2017" runs from 12/21/2017 to 3/20/2018, realistically, they're releasing sometime in the first quarter of 2018. (I very much doubt they'll be shipping the game out over Christmas, after all.)

Seconding Psycho Pass

Hyouka - I don't quite remember what ep 1 was like for it, but I remember it picked up quite quickly. One Punch Man - Can't get much faster than that in terms of action. Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - I hate how they skip over the first few episodes, but it does make it go faster overall. Kuroko no Baske - ep 1 is enough of a hook, I think. Baccano! and DRRR! - I remember showing these to teenagers a while back and they love it. Magi - I would actually suggest watching ep1 of season 2 first. That got me pretty interested in the series. Ookami to Koushinryou - aside from minor nudity should be fairly interesting Reservoir Chronicles Tsubasa - not the best anime adaptation, but hey Nodame Cantabile - I can't actually remember how it started but I know I enjoyed the entire series. Gin no Saji - Again, not sure where it picks up, but is interesting from ep1 Moyashimon - If anything ep1 was probably the most interesting. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun - This was hilarious from start to finish. Hikaru no Go - Is slow to pick up so goes against the requirements, but I'd still recommend this. Kami-sama no Memo-chou - Being able to introduce a bunch of interesting characters in one episode is good

Recommendations in bold ~ Psycho-Pass Has similar themes to death parade (psychological in nature). Starts up reasonably fast. Has female protagonist. Death Note Both mature and psychological ,however does have mature themes and some form of fanservice (misa-misa). However most of the fanservice is only towards the mid-end and its not very much. She will probably be invested in it and not care too much if she does see it later. Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler A classic. Action, psychological themes, this show has quite a lot of this stuff. One of my first animes. Told in interesting story arcs, with some problems similar to the ones viewed in death parade. Steins;Gate After she has watched a couple anime. Starts a little slow Youjuu Senki Another female (maybe?) protagonist. Very fast paced, very interesting concept. Not too long (12 ep) and very good visuals. Gundam 00 A really awesome fast paced anime. Very fun and despite the action, feels more mature than most shounen. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Really nice romance with very interesting theme/story. The thing in common with this list is it is full of safe choices, that can identify her taste. If she likes the Mayuri loop, in Steins;gate, then she will probably enjoy angst, so you could get her into things like Anohana or clannad. If she likes death note and gundam, code geass becomes a much safer bet despite the amount of fanservice it has. (Code Geass is very interesting but has too much early fan service. Stay away from this till she is more invested in anime.) Another thing that you can try is to show her a few episodes of Mushishi, the storytelling style is similar to death parade. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is probably one of the best first romance-type anime to watch, it can get you into the genre, still go over the others on the list first. If she really likes gundam, guran lagan and Gundam Wing are viable options Avoid SAO. Not only is it garbage, It is also a harem.

The year's still not over! The claim was Eiyuu Senki in Summer, Princess X in Fall, Flowers in Winter, and Katahane early next year. JAST is actually releasing Princess X in fall like they claimed, so who knows. Maybe we'll see a December Flowers release or something.

Hmm I'm just saying what comes to my head. I may elaborate in the future. Madoka Magica - it's one of my favorite and simply all my friends who watched it (even who don't like animes at all) loved it. Selector Infected WIXOSS - Very similar to Madoka (girls battling for their wishes, but with consequences). It is kind of a Yu-gi-oh meets Kyubey. Little Witch Academia is very good, but I suggest watching the OVAs first, as they set the tone for the series (the show is great, but starts pretty slow). If she's into heavy stuff, you could show her Attack on Titan, Mirai Nikki and Another - all of them are violent. Sword Art Online, although it is not good, it has a huge legion of fans around the world, and it is enjoyable. AnoHana for drama, I think it is a good one. If she's into Girls Love (nothing explicit), you and her should definetely watch Shoujo Kakumei Utena (in Blu Ray!), as it is one of the best anime ever made to this date.

I equate our current position in time in the VN development world to that period in anime propagation when fansubs started having a massive decline and official localisations started rising in number quite abruptly. Not long after that we had official localisations for the bulk of the anime being produced and even simulcasts of the material. This to me was when we had succeeded in our fandom for creating a market where there wasn't one before through the efforts of fansubs to show there was a niche market and the businesses came to fill it. Fansubs have persisted after that stage but to me they're redundant and they became the raison d'etre instead of filling a missing niche which would inspire markets to create official localisations. They've become more about e-penis. We used to go to great pains to point out that our translation was free and that should an official localisation come out we stopped all distribution of our subs and encouraged people to buy that instead. VNs probably will never get to the popularity in the west that anime has seen due to a whole swag of reasons that has been discussed to death in other threads but nonetheless we are now finally getting what we wanted in the VN world with lots more localisations but some are continuing to fan translate things that are already being, or have been localised, because "we can do it better". As far as I'm concerned the fan translation scene for VNs has succeeded since we are now seeing a plethora of new translations appearing (compared to the JAST days @Clephas mentioned.) Unlike anime though, there will be thousands times more VNs available than those being translated so I can't see the worth for fansubs going away any time soon for more fringe works (leave the stuff that's obviously going to be translated to the official groups.) I'd never partake in a fan retranslation of an official localisation for so many many reasons...

I'm really tolerant if it comes to translations and barely complain about them, but even I think the translation of Chrono Clock was a mess, or at least certain parts of it. The top offender is D.D's translation. She's a supposedly British girl who constantly throws English words in when she speaks Japanese. The translator therefore thought it would be a great idea to give the English readers the same 'feeling' by inverting the whole language and let her constantly throw in Japanese words when she speaks English. Too bad that an English speaking girl that constantly uses Japanese words will appear JAPANESE and not British!!! And since its clear from the whole context that she's British her whole dialog doesn't make sense anymore. It's beyond me how a translator could loose his complete common sense in such a way and come up with such a dumb idea. Besides that, I disliked the crude translation of the protagonists narrative. He used the F-word so often that you could almost got the idea that the protagonist did grow up in the slums. Granted, I can't prove that the original Japanese text wasn't that way either, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I highly doubt it since he was more of a spoiled rich-kid. The rest was okay though, it's just the protagonist and D.D. that really got on my nerves.

To me it seems like you just have very different ideas of what a good translation is, no real need to bite people. Though maybe I'm even on your side, I didn't play SakuSaku or ChCl but I did get annoyed at times when Himawari's translation straight up added literal wordy interpretations of the simple japanese phrases that I didn't even agree with when I looked at the immediate context.

Got a new translator to translate Eris' chapter (Chapter 2), so progress is still on track. Also, I'm more than halfway through translating Fione's chapter (Chapter 1) Still going to take a while before the partial patch is released though (editing and QA still to come).

EDIT: Nevermind, it was indeed painfully obvious. I gave up on the "Illya's castle" game back then, I don't know why I found the third stage difficult. No new events, no exclamation marks, am I missing a painfully obvious way to access the Einzbern Castle?