Anime

Every sunday night (from my perspective in Mountain Time anyways) there's a discussion thread posted to /c/anime where people talk about what they're watching and whether they're liking it. You can go there and post a comment or reply to someone else. Of course you can do the same in other threads as well, but I bring it up as a good place to start.

As for what to watch, there are a few ways to find stuff. One option is to just look at the highest rated stuff out there and just pick some random thing that looks interesting. Another option, especially if you want to keep up-to-date with stuff that's being currently discussed, is to watch videos from channels like Mother's Basement and Gigguk. Right now at the start of a new season a bunch of new shows are just starting to air, and so in a week or two both of those channels will have videos out pitching their favorites to viewers.

If you just want something to watch without needing to do any research here are my favorites:

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood for action/adventure
• Kaguya-sama: Love is War for romcom
• Redline for a sick movie about a deadly car-racing tournament on alien worlds
• LOOK BACK or Journal with Witch for something more emotional

Definitions, according to me:
isekai - someone, usually the protagonist, got transferred to another world
trash isekai - there are about a dozen of extremely similar anime released each year, each being isekai or adjacent
if you watch one, you've seen all of them
their defining traits are:

• nice protagonist with "useless" power that is actually overpowered that they unleash when angry
• (hyperbole) protagonist is the greatest, noblest, and fairest creature walking on that world, everyone else is wrong or evil
• harem of archetypes (authors don't even try to make their characters different) the protagonist is usually not be aware of
• plot where protagonist solves problems on his own in max three episodes
• (often) rpg mechanics that just go "his power is over 9000" with no people planning builds or significant effects on the world or...

Examples include: Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu, Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki
While they are called this way, I know a person who watches them because they don't have to focus and still have some dumb fun.

battler - anime focused on battles, I'm pretty sure Dragon Ball: Z falls into this territory, but I'm basing that on two random episodes I've seen and everything I've heard over the years
season - most anime air in 12 or 24 episode parts, 1 episode per week, starting and ending within 2 weeks of each other, hence they are grouped into 4 seasons per year
VN - visual novel, basically a book with pictures and sound; you'd be surprised how many get adapted

I'll begin with where NOT to start:

• Gintama - it's a parody referring a lot to anime, manga, and japanese culture from its age, although it has a Donald Zuramp joke too; well worth trying once you get to know some classics, don't even need to finish them
• KonoSuba, Isekai Ojisan, Meikyuu Black Company, Shinchou Yuusha - they parody specifically trash isekai, watch one or two before jumping in
• Mushoku Tensei - perverted 40 year old mind in child's body, even I had problems watching the first two seasons with over 150 titles (counting seasons individually) watched back then

Decent starts:

• Black Clover - good, long battler (170 episodes and counting); share my pain of waiting for continuation
• Dr. Stone - finished last season, mostly kept the same level throughout, but over time we got less science stuff; whole thing is about speedrunning from stone age to space age
• Dungeon Meshi - extremely good worldbuilding and the story gets better over time
• Helck - comedy and dark fantasy
• Shiguang Dailiren - the best anime about time travel
• Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor - two seasons of extreme gambling, CW: self-harm, torture
• Re: Zero - going back in time after you die isn't the most pleasant experience when you have no other powers; CW: gore
• Ansatsu Kyoushitsu - comedy with good plot, some action and drama
• Initial D - fear not the ass 3D and potato faces, for you come for the music and racing, then stay for the story
• Mairimashita! Iruma-kun - good for calming yourself down, 4th season currently on air
• Paripi Koumei - grand strategist acts like a grand strategist to help a random girl with her musical career

Comedies, the weirder the better:

• parodies from the first section
• Asobi Asobase - you'd think that it's a slice of life; what a fool you are
• Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu - the vampire dies in no time, then comes back to life, then dies again because a dog barked too loud
• Mattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara - just watch the trailer; slight focus on parodying detective stories, unless I'm an ignorant and missed too many jokes
• Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan - super powers are such a hassle to have
• Seto no Hanayome - my bride is a mermaid, and her mafia family wants me dead
• Youkai Gakkou no Sensei Hajimemashita! - guy who is scared of mere thought of human hooligans is forced to teach in a ghost school
• Detroit Metal City - Metalocalypse: Deathclock, but anime; very american adult cartoon humor, budget of a 6-pack of instant noodles per episode

Other recommendations:

• Mob Psycho 100 - three seasons of absolute cinema where super powers don't make you super happy; give me back the evil kazoo theme
• One Punch Man - as above, it's even by the same author, but uhh... hope for a remake of the third season... and maybe second (I like them anyway, 'cause I'm a fanboy). First is the best it could be, though.
• Hellsing Ultimate - BLOOD
• Teogonia - battler with an interesting world, isekai element shoved in to justify protag's overpowered ability
• Steins;Gate - another good anime about time travel; I've played the remake, but anime is generally praised; avoid Chaos;Child like fire, once again only played the VN, but others say anime is bad compared to VN, and I say VN is shit for all the unnecessary gore and annoying protagonist, even if the concept itself was interesting
• Undead Unluck - once again a battler with an interesting world, this time without isekai
• Sonny Boy - you watch an episode, then spend a week trying to understand WTF did you just see
• JoJo - it really is its own thing among battlers, personally didn't like it, but it's popular for a reason
• Under Ninja - battler where weapons are actually lethal
• Ragna Crimson - high highs and low lows, battler with interesting pair of main characters
• Monster - it's similar to western media, even the events start in Germany
• The Fable - assassin needs to hide for some time, goes to work for the lowest wage, problems arise in the neighborhood; very well paced, has some really tense moments
• Gachiakuta, Jigokuraku Jujutsu Kaisen, Kimetsu no Yaiba - good battlers
• Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu - best attempt at fantasy grand politics I've seen to date; still too simplified
• Code Geass - best grand politics I know, this one is deeper, only watched the main series consisting of two seasons

As a newer anime fan myself, I figured I'd throw my two cents in here. What started my interest in anime was actually going to an anime convention with some friends a couple of years ago. From there I began watching YouTube reviews like Mothers Basement and Glass Reflections and took their recommendations to find new stuff to watch. I eventually found that I actually prefer watching the seasonals as they come out, so I began doing that as well (and in doing so have really upped my number of watched shows). Beyond YouTube, I also listen to several podcasts (Anime out of Context and Quest for the Best, for example). I've hopped into several Discord servers, though I don't comment very often, if at all. I think there's no real wrong way to be "in the anime community". Just find the stuff you like to participate in and do that, though don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. You just might find another part of the community that you really like.

Other than weekly discussion, and episode releases there are couple type of post that you could make.

1. Looking for recommendations - self explanatory. You provide what genre of a show you are looking for and people will recommend the best ones. (More abstract and crazy requirements it's more fun to interact with)
2. Reviews - If you watched the show and you have opinions you could share them as a post
3. Hosting/participate in a rewatch - If you want to (re)watch a show that isn't airing currently you could make a chain of posts for each episode, and invite people to watch with you. Usually host prepares some deeper episode analysis but that's not required.

There isn't really much ettiquette that would be nonstandard (such as be nice to people). But not everyone follows it anyway.

Its unclear what exactly you want from this. "Joining the community" is very vague and kind of not possible. There isn't just one anime community. There are many groups, and while they may all share anime in common that doesn't mean they all get along with each other. For example, some language groups don't like others (and sometimes it's justified, sometimes its not the language groups fault because the translators did a bad job or changed words from the original creator's work usually without them explicitly knowing, etc). Its kinda like saying you want to join the Lemmy community. What exactly do you mean by that, or better, what are you looking for? Some instances dont get along, some communities on the same instance dont get along, some people in the same community dont get along and form their own on the same or different instance.

So what is it you want? You say to "discover anime and get more into the trends, etc." Well the first part is simple enough, but what does the second part mean? You want to know what the current trends are? Past trends? You just want a sampler suggestion of different kinds of anime that showcase different trends? This is unclear.

I am happy to make suggestions (though my suggestions skew older and more cultured than modern offerings tend to have, but I do like some modern stuff), but without clarity on what you want I wouldn't want to offer something you don't need or care about.

I'm a huge fan of isekai - anime where the protagonist is transported to another world to become a hero, or at least live a more important life than the one he had in the "real world"

Examples include:

• Overlord
• Saga of Tanya the Evil
• GATE
• Mushoku Tensei
• Ascension of a Bookworm
• The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious
• Konosuba
• So I'm a Spider, So What?
• Re: Zero
• How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

There are lots of others, too. Give a few of them a watch and maybe you find out if you like them. A lot of people don't and think isekai are slop, and that's fine. I can't get enough of them.

Sadly, the community died a long time ago. Nowadays there are just isolated camps throwing shit at each other and normie tourists

Just stay away from the isekai trash or anything that has title longer than 3 words and you'll do fine.