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Ah, anime, the ever changing genre with unlimited purchasing possibilities. How to tell the good from the bad, the one time watches from the beauties you’ll watch over and over again? Here are three titles that you should bump to the top of your Amazon Wish List.

Hagumi doesn’t look like a college student; she’s tiny, the size of a mythical creature. She barely speaks. But what makes Hagumi utterly amazing is her incredible artistic skill, and it’s at a Tokyo art college that she meets Takemoto and Shinobu, who both immediately become fascinated with her. And then there’s Takumi, who is in love with an older woman with a tragic past, his ex girlfriend, Ayumi, is still hopelessly in love with him. This is the story of Honey and Clover, two love triangles involving five friends and their lives at art school. While a certain vampire book that doesn’t require naming has proved that love triangles are endlessly fascinating, Viz‘s Honey and Clover volume one proves that if you put love triangles against beautiful, dreamy, almost watercolor-esque art, you get something that is both compelling and utterly beautiful. The gorgeous art of the show goes well with the art school background, and the characters are everyday enough (while having wonderful quirks that make you wish they were your friends) to be compelling and immediately empathetic.

The first volume (three discs, thirteen episodes) covers a wide array of time, and it is interesting to watch the change the characters undergo with the passing of time. One of the really fun things about this series is the cultural stuff you’ll pick up just from watching (and the DVD even comes with a handy cultural guide for some more obscure stuff that the average anime\manga fan won’t know). Beautiful to look at, fun to watch, Honey and Clover is a must, must have.

Two girls named Nana sit next to each other on a train bound for Tokyo. They are as different as can be, but over the course of one snowy night they become fast friends, and then roommates. This is the premise of Nana, a manga that’s nearing twenty volumes and a huge fan base. Nana K is a girl who falls in love over and over again. When she swears off boys, she meets Shoji, who seems like he could be the one. Problem: Shoji’s off to Tokyo to attend art school, and Nana wants to tag along, but it takes a bit to get her stuff together. Nana O is the lead singer of a rock band, and she’s I love with Ren, the bassist. Ren gets an offer to join a band about to hit it big in Tokyo, and he leaves. Nana wants to follow, but she’s stubborn and very independent. It isn’t until much later that she goes to Tokyo, and it isn’t to follow Ren - it’s to become a rock star in her own right.

The two Nanas are as different as night and day, and yet their friendship is the stuff of greatness. Whether you’re a fan of Nana O or Nana K, these two girls will win you over and make you root for them both throughout their trials in the city, in their love lives, in everything. Thirteen episodes on three discs, Viz’s Nana comes with very few bonus features (director interview, Japanese and English audio and art gallery), but it really doesn’t matter. I dug Nana from the very first manga, and the show is just fantastic (it even features an episode of Junko’s musings). I can’t wait for volume two, and after watching volume one, you won’t be able to, either.

Six discs with twenty-six episodes; two twenty-four page booklets; commentary, interviews, commercials - this is the stuff box sets are made of. Claymore: the Complete Series is beautiful, action-packed and one of the best damn shows out there.

Clare is a Claymore - a half-human, half-monster hybrid built to battle the monsters that kill mercilessly and devour their prey: yoma. Yoma have hideous abilities; they can shape shift into human form, they have great strength and no conscious. Only the Claymores can kill them, women who take their title from the swords they carry into battle. But not everything is as it seems within the ranks of the Claymore, something Clare begins to understand after taking a young boy named Raki under her wing.

Claymore is a show about action, about vicious battles between beautiful women and oftentimes even more beautiful creatures. The world of the series is a washed out watercolor scenery - very like Alan Lee’s artwork for Lord of the Rings. The true color in Claymore - and therefore, the true beauty - is in the battle, in the violently colored blood, fire, monsters. The anime follows the manga for the most part, only breaking away from the manga’s story in order to come to an end. The part of this anime that you’ll love best is the part of any action anime that you’ll love best: who are the players? What are their powers? How will they power up? How bad are the bad guys? Who will survive? Believe me, Claymore doesn’t leave you hanging.

Three animes, three styles, three box sets you can’t live without.

(Amanda Rush is one of popsyndicate.com’s resident animavens. Follow her on Twitter: @BrokenAmanda)