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What are your favorite animes and what do you like about them?
Noticed that we didn't have a topic for what people's favorite animes are. So I created one! Leave a comment down below with what animes you really enjoy, what you like about them, who you'd recommend them to, what you think about other people favorites, etc. Be sure to tag any spoilers in a details tag.
Not technically a manga, but I've been following Tower of God for more than 10 years now. Came for the art, stayed for the great plots, all the side arcs -- and the sheer improvement in the author's art skills over time. It ended up actually being a formative influence on how I live my life in more than one way (and, I should, say, not always for the better haha).
I really enjoyed the anime that was made for it! I didn't end up getting to read the manhua because I just didn't have a good idea of where to go for it, but I might take a look and see if I can get a hold of it because it has a really cool concept!
It's a webtoon, so it's available online for free (it was designed for scrolling rather than paging, so the website is the best experience anyway)
Tower of God
I watched the anime, I really enjoyed it! One of the things I thought was really cool was how they recorded the OP in Japanese, Korean and English, and they all sound good. I can't speak for the Korean, or Japanese, but the English pronunciation and general lyric structure were basically native like! I'm eager awaiting the 2nd season (IIRC there hasn't been much news on that front for quite some time). I've heard that you can read it for free on the web, but I haven't looked into it too much. I'm not a huge fan of reading, I prefer viewing anime just because it's easier to consume and I think voice acting and OST's really enhance the experience. I also have mixed thoughts about reading ahead (especially when there an anime on the horizon) and I've only done it with Attack on Titan (after Season 4 part 2), and Sword Art Online. I got into reading SAO because my college had bandwidth limits at the time, so when I ran out of bandwidth to watch, I'd start reading. I ended up getting really into it, so I continued to read afterwards to slow down my bandwidth consumption for other anime I watched afterwards.
They announced that season two is in production a few months ago, but that's it. Honestly, I'm just glad it's happening. I loved the first season. Brought the blu-ray the day I saw it in the store to support it.
Tower of God is one of those stories that I love, I read whenever a chapter comes out, but godamn if I can follow the plot. There's such a huge number of characters that I can barely keep up. Part of it too is that all my years of reading manga have given my brain a basic understanding of Japanese (ish) names suffixes, set phrases, etc. A problem I'm having with manwa in general is that I feel that I'm missing something in not having this same intrinsic understanding of (parts of the) culture.
I enjoyed ToG until I just couldn't keep up anymore. Now, although I'm tempted to return, I have no idea what's going on and I have to read 10 years of content to catch up, so I guess I'll just have to watch from the fringe.
I think that the artist has an intuitive understanding of what makes magic and power cool. Though the power scaling can be a bit wacky sometimes, seeing the ultra-powerful characters rain hell (that panel...) is so cool, in a way a lot of comics fail to show.
Hmm, in the last few years I’ve been watching a lot more anime, there’s been quite a few standouts, but I’ll throw ODDTAXI into the ring. It’s about a walrus who drives a taxi in a modern day Japan inhabited by anthropomorphic animal people. The absurdity of the concept is expertly played off what is at its core an exceptionally charming character driven storyline.
My inner pedant is screaming right now because there's an inaccuracy in your description but I can't correct it because it's a spoiler!
Love ODDTAXI! Definitely a wild ride and such a unique show.
I watched it on a whim, it was supposed to be an 'in between, filler' anime. It's one of the most interesting/creative ones I've seen in a while. Does tildes allow editing comments, I'd suggest editing part of yours to remove a hint.
Erased. It's like the Butterfly Effect, but the main character can't control it. It's got me hooked right now.
Well hey, we're starting our community watchthrough of Erased tomorrow! Hopefully you'll join us.
I'll start. My favorite anime is Re:Zero. I love how interconnected everything is. There's so many character details that are present before they're ever explicitly acknowledged, which makes rewatching a joy, since there's so much to reinterpret and little things that you pick up on more after you know more about the characters. Re:Zero is a master of hiding information in plain sight. I've watched probably 30 reactors watch Re:Zero and it never ceases to surprise me, when people forgot about things that were explicitly mentioned a bunch of episodes ago.
Re:Zero Season 2 spoilers
The one that comes to mind is everyone forgetting that Otto can speak to animals when his named episode comes around, despite him telling Subaru that as well as being an essential part of the plot in Episode 25 of Season 1!I love the voice acting in Re:Zero, they manage to capture so much emotion in their voices and it really enhances the experience. The OST is great, I love when they play the ED over the final scenes, and the insert songs are mostly sung by the relevant voice actors and still sound good, really elevating some scenes. I love how the plot manipulates the viewers emotions even though their sometimes negative. I love the storytelling mechanic, which allows a fairly unique look at the characters. I love how many cliffhangers / cliffbottoms there are, and how I just want to keep watching more. I love how the characters act in their own self interests and it really feels like each character exists in the world independent of the story going on, and how their background and experiences affect their decisions, despite those generally being expanded on in side stories.
I also really like Attack on Titan. The OST is top notch. The visuals (at least the first 3 seasons) are incredible. Lots of tension throughout, and loved how it expanded it's scope in the later seasons. I'm looking forward to the last part of it airing (I read the manga after finishing Season 4 Part 2).
I also really like Hunter x Hunter. The OST is great, the magic system is so well designed. The characters are pretty great too. The ant arc was really incredible, though I wasn't a huge fan the first time I watched it (I thought it was only gonna be like 10-20 episodes like the other arcs). I really hope that Togashi feels better and can finish this incredible series someday.
See, I just can't love Re:Zero. It's not bad at all, I just can't ever stick to it - which really disappoints me. I think part of it is the hype that it got, and the constant aggression I got from fans when I said I didn't love it as much as they did.
I really enjoyed season 1, but it didn't blow me away and that apparently wasn't good enough.
I don't think it's bad at all though, and while I couldn't really get into season 2, I do hope it clicks for me at some point so I can finish it in peace.
I can understand not liking it. You really have to be able to put yourself into the protagonist's shoes, and although the anime does a pretty good job at hiding it, he's actually really shitty; a lot of the plot is the world basically calling him out on his bad traits. The entire death-reset mechanic is basically used to explain how his actions lead to terrible things for the people around him.
I could go into more detail, but that's spoiler territory and it's really better to experience for yourself (though I wouldn't ask you to watch if you saw the entire first season and didn't like it).
Thats fine, you don't have to like Re:Zero. It certainly not for everyone.
Yeah that's something that tends to happen, even for me on occasion. I try to be respectful and mostly keep my comments to understanding what they didn't like and if there are any parts I could clarify, since most people either hate Subaru early on, or aren't really interested in dialogue heavy anime. But some people just have really poorly constructed takes. It's a pet peeve when people claim both that theres too much dialogue and then they claim it sucks because they don't know whats going on. Like it's fine to not be into an anime because it has too much dialogue for your taste, I just wouldn't claim that its a bad anime because more or less you don't understand whats going on because you didn't pay attention when the characters were discussing what was going on.
I heard Season 3 will be more action oriented and could be more attractive to the sorts of people who thought the actions parts of Season 1 were the best parts.
Honestly it's not even the dialogue that lost me with it, I am no stranger to dialogue laden anime and I enjoy it when it's good!
For me it was just a perfectly fine show, didn't really have many complaints, but I didn't have a ton to laud about it - it was above average, but not mind blowing (to me personally). I just really was disappointed by folks in the community - but I still don't hold that against the show itself.
Like I said hopefully I'll get back into the swing for season 2 because I do want to give it a real chance. Since it's finished it should be much easier to actually just binge it anyway!
Fair enough. Some people have difficult realizing that other people have different view and likes and such, and I'm sure that Re:Zero has a ton of "if you just understood everything you'd love it too", which certainly would be annoying to receive when you don't want to invest the effort to analyze everything (and even if you did maybe you still wouldn't love it).
I think I enjoyed Season 2 Part 2 the most out of the 4 cours, but there were S tier moments for me as well in Season 2 Part 1 and the 2nd cour of Season .
Just to be clear the story is far from done. The end of Season 2 is about 25% of the story, so don't go in expecting most things to be tied up by the end. Hope you enjoy Season 2 when you get around to it.
Oh I just meant season 2 is finished so I could binge that :)
I see, I much prefer binging as well. Though I'm thinking about watching Mushoku Tensei seasonally. I've always just waited until they were finished airing before binging them.
I really enjoyed Mushoku Tensei, enough so that I binged the manga (which apparently has no real basis in the light novel, so I may need to read that). I enjoyed it but it's not light-hearted at all.
I watched re:zero on this user's suggestion on another forum :) and now it's one of my favorites!
I'll say this about re:zero...it has "sat" really well. what I mean is that some shows are good, but they don't really embed themselves in my psyche. a random example would be akudama drive...I think it's a well done show, I think while not perfect it has its theme and it executes on it, etc etc. but it isn't the sort of show that like...I think about long after it is done (for various reasons). but re:zero has definitely embedded itself in there, it's a show where like...the memory of watching it is really pleasant. and the odds of me rewatching it are really high. some shows sort of "age" nicely in your psyche after watching them and for me, re:zero is definitely one of them
I get what you mean. I remember being impressed watching Akudama Drive, too, but I honestly can't remember much about it now - a group of people were stealing something and they were sending kids to the moon or something?
Re:Zero is easily one of my top picks for the isekai genre. They all tend to focus on power fantasies, harems, satire, and/or gimmicks (e.g. "I have a smart phone", "I have a walk skill that makes me super OP", "I am somehow the only person in the world who knows how to cook"), and eventually devolve into pretty bland and generic stories. Re:Zero is just like a breath of fresh air for having a largely average person as the protagonist, whose only advantage is return by death. Which he demonstrates is an awful power at times thanks to all the sudden PTSD. Of all the isekai protagonists I've seen, Subaru's the one who I feel like had to put in the most effort to advance and win. We seriously need more series like it.
The Nen system in Hunter x Hunter is my absolute favorite power system I've encountered to date. It's just so incredibly well defined and detailed with clear-cut rules, yet allows for near infinite possibilities. And of course the story itself is incredible too, managing to consistently subvert my expectations from how shonen manga usually advance. Gon might be the protagonist, but he rarely beats the big bad of the arcs himself. The series acknowledges he's special without making him magically better than all the other more experienced characters.
I really, really hope Togashi is able to finish it. From what I've read, the poor man can't even sit normally anymore and had to come up with some special way of sitting to work on the manga. His health issues seem to be permanent, but he also seems to have the drive to see the series to the end. Just hope it doesn't make his health worse, either. At the very least though, we got a near-perfect ending point already with the 2011 anime.
Well put. Subaru really has to work for his victories, which makes them all the sweeter when he gets them.
Nen is probably my favorite magic system. Like you said, its so well defined, while allowing basically anything you can imagine.
I feel so bad about Togashi's health, he gave his body for manga, and now he's in constant pain so I hear.
I love stories where the gimmick is used as a tool to develop characters and investigate intangible concepts. The best time travel stories are not the ones that say "I've got a time machine, let's dick around in history," but the ones that explore the importance of memories and actions, or how people can create unbreakable connections. To be honest, it's one of the reasons why most fantasy genre stuff doesn't work for me; I don't want an escape from reality, I want a stark portrait of reality!
Gimmicks can be useful for that, but usually I see them used to just give the protagonist some huge advantage or make the story "easy" for them. I enjoy escapism a lot, but I also like stories to be grounded in reality and have some real stakes to them. What I want is a balance where the characters have to put in effort or be clever to win, but don't spend the entire time suffering and slogging through each day.
I avoided watching Mushishi for years because I somehow convinced myself that it was probably overrated, and then I actually sat down to watch it and it immediately became my all time favourite. It's hard to sum it up briefly, but the thing that it does better than maybe any other show I've ever seen is atmosphere. Each episode being mostly its own self-contained story means that there isn't a ton of time for character development or a plot that builds in some huge way, but that suits the structure of the show perfectly. We encounter these events, often affecting no more than a handful of people, and find ourselves brought into their world to deal with it.
I really admire the way that we're expected to meet these surreal situations on their own level — there's little to no questioning of why something might work a certain way. I think that if there was more of an emphasis on understanding things on a deeper or less abstract level, that we would lose some of Mushishi's dreaminess and singularity. We're visitors in a strange and occasionally harmful world, but rarely an outright hostile one. We learn, adapt, and accept. There's not a lot of media that strikes that balance at all, let alone as well as Mushishi does. I return to the show more than any other, anime or otherwise.
Mushishi is a celebration of life, the mundane, and living in harmony, but without being a new-age hippie caricature (not every solution is a win-win for everyone). I think what you wrote:
Is an excellent summary of the anime.
Well said. If I remember correctly, there are rarely any villains (if you watch any episode long enough) or themes of domination. I'd chalk it up to the stories being written with deep empathy for all things, human or non-human. No one does harm for the sake of being evil, and any harms caused by mushi are not intentional as they are not conscious beings. The ultimate goal is always balance.
I wonder how well this kind of setup would work if it was set in modern times instead of Edo period Japan?
I think it would still work well. Japan still has a strong animistic tradition and folklore thanks to the Shinto religion. In fact I though it was so in the very first episode (the boy may very well be in holiday in a rural region).
My neighbor Totoro could very well be a Mushi story and is set in modern Japan.
While researching for stuff for thus post I stumbled upon Neko ga Nishi Mukiya by the same author, which is described as "Mushishi in modern times". Reading the first two chapters it certainly seems to be the case !
Overlord, Lookism, Ascendence of a Bookworm, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
Overlord is just a really interesting power fantasy. In some ways it reminds me of the Rome Sweet Rome short story.
Lookism was just filled with unexpected and fun elements.
I loved the history tidbits in Bookworm. I’m a sucker for Isekai + using advanced knowledge from original world. Gate was a lot of fun with this too.
Legend of Galactic Heroes is just a great story with great characters. I want more.
Overlord is so much fun to watch sometimes. I definitely need to be in the mood for it, but I enjoy that world and those characters way more than I thought I would at the onset.
Someone else watched Lookism! I have heard so little about it from others that I was suspecting I was the only one.
It honestly blows me away that it's a domestic Korean production simply because it's way different from the stuff I've seen from them in the past. The plot and animation are also way better than the others I have seen.
After I watched it I started reading through the webcomic, and I have to say that the animation does the story a whole lot better. The less stylized character designs actually help a lot to make the characters more relatable.
If I were the type to have an anime husbando, it would be Vasco. He's just such an innocent and good-natured knucklehead.
I was never able to get into the original run of Legend of Galactic Heroes, but I have been greatly enjoying Die Neue These. I put it on pause when I realized I was running up to the latest episodes quite a while ago, so I'm overdue for a catch-up.
I enjoyed Overlord. I haven't seen Season 4 yet, and I've been meaning to rewatch from the beginning. There are just so many other shows that I need to catch up on.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes I think I'd really enjoy. My only reservations are that it's quite old, and I'm not as big of a fan of older animation styles and it's quite long. Theres also the remakes, which I haven't taken the time to see if they're actually good or if I should be watching the original series.
I tried Bookworm a while back, I wasn't in the mood for it though. I know it's good so I'll watch it eventually, I just need to be in the right mood.
Bookworm is relatively slow / calm so far. There are moments of excitement but it’s not action packed compared to some of my other favorites.
You might enjoy the manga version of Bookworm more than the anime. I mainly read that and watched a couple episodes once I reached the end of the available chapters. Surprisingly, I found the tone to be a bit different between the two since the anime focuses on the softer and "slice of life" aspects. While it's definitely a lighter story, it still has some more tense and serious moments dealing with politics and discrimination and such, and it felt like the anime missed the mark on a couple scenes I saw.
Specifically, it often played what felt like "shenanigan" music. It's the kind of soundtrack I'd expect for some kid planning a prank or other mischief. It created some tonal dissonance for me, especially one scene with an adult threatening and even hurting the protagonist. That particular scene just felt totally wrong with that music, it felt like it underplayed the severity of the situation.
My absolute favorite anime? Nisekoi.
It hit me at the right time, and the art in its animation blows me away every time I see it. It just feels like what I want in an anime, and that's highly context dependant on what I was looking for in an anime when I found it.
I've got a spreadsheet of hundreds of anime that I've watched and could probably give you a favorite of any particular genre - but above them all, it's Nisekoi.
Single frame gags with characters, charming visual and sound design, a cute but crazy story surrounding a mystery - it's a great package on its own. One of the things that blew me away though was that after a cliffhanger episode, the next episode started with repeating the previous cliffhanger - except it was entirely re-animated with new colors, angles, and expressions. They didn't just let it replay like you just saw it.
I've heard a lot of flak go to the studio that made it (Studio Shaft - responsible for other anime like the Monogatari series, Dance in the Vampire Bund, and Arakawa Under the Bridge) for a variety of things - but there's no doubt that they had a talented crew.
I could probably gush about this show episode by episode but I'll leave it be. Highly recommend even if it's not for everybody.
Dude I loved Nisekoi. I watched it well after the manga finished so once I finished season 1 I switched to the manga. As unhappy as I was with the ending (not the couple, but just how the last chapter was written), I still really enjoyed it as a whole.
The last chapter was definitely a disappointment exclusively because it felt rushed. I loved how it ended up, but damn if it didn't feel like a, "Alright, I'm tired, let's finish this up!"
So glad I've got another Nisekoi fan here though, almost nobody ever gives it the credit I think it deserves!
I think it really helps that I was able to binge it. Reading week to week would have been painful.
The last chapter just felt weird, like they were super close by the end, had already confessed, and then you see them on the morning of their wedding day and they're in exactly the same place in their relationship that they were before the epilogue. It really bugged me. That series definitely deserves a better final chapter/epilogue.
Oh I was in the same boat.
I chose to write off that awkwardness as pre-wedding jitters but it was extremely jarring. I still loved the series as a whole but you're absolutely right, it deserves better.
I have a love/hate relationship with SHAFT. They come up with some really beautiful visuals, and I enjoy that they do a good amount of original work, but I find most of their stories so boring! On the other hand I don't think that Puella Magi Madoka Magica would have been anywhere near as good if it weren't for their talents. The same goes for Maria Holic, take that for what you will.
That's an incredibly fair viewpoint. I appreciate art in all things if I can, and I think that's why I'm drawn to studios like SHAFT. They may not be perfect, but at least (in most cases) it feels like they tried to make art.
Plus there aren't many studios that I can identify on sight like them - that SHAFT head tilt is literally iconic.
Is your spreadsheet something you'd be willing to share with an anime newb? Assuming it's more than just a list?
It's definitely more than that - it's a list of the anime, their genre, a synopsis I write up, if I enjoy it, if I completed it, if it's rewatchable, if I'd recommend it, what studio made it, and its rating 1-5.
I would ordinarily love to share it, but it's actually just on my personal Google account and I don't really want to give that information out - but if you have a decent place you can think of to share a spreadsheet I can work on porting it over in another program to share!
Part of why I made it is because I just have fun watching shows and talking about them and I didn't want to forget all about them. It's all my personal assessments so it's not gospel or anything of course, but I love getting to share stuff like this. Usually it's just in person so it's not a big deal though - so please do let me know if you can think of anything!
I can set up a public google sheet that anyone can edit and you could copy and paste the relevant cells, if that works for you? It'd be great to have some curated guidance. I've waded in and anime is extremely hit or miss without having a lot of background knowledge.
Absolutely, that works for me!
Obviously it's all my personal preference, so you may or may not like it at all, but if it helps you to at least have something of note in there, then that sounds good!
I've got a bunch of favourite anime, but it's mostly based on nostalgia and because they were the first anime I've started watching. My first anime was Naruto and that one stuck with me until they ended the franchise. I played the games and read the manga. I've never experienced and loved a show this much in a very long time. I then started watching the must-watches like Death Note and Attack on Titan. I really enjoyed and loved them too.
Obviously Naruto will always have a special place for me, because it reminds me of the first night I decided to watch it because of my friend. I understand why some people don't like it as much, but it means the world to me. I always thought Ninjas were badass, so that was a plus from the start. I loved the character designs and especially Zabuza's design and story. Everything felt so awesome to me with the fights, the powers and knowing anything can happen during battles. Teenage me was blown away. When I found out about the videogames, I was having even more fun and that made me want to watch more and more.
I would recommend Naruto to people who are into Shonen and have time for it. I used to recommend it to people new to anime, but I think Naruto might be too much for them. I don't really have an opinion on other people's favourites anymore. If people enjoy a show and want me to watch it, I'll check it out and vice versa. I'm not into anime debates like I used to be anymore
Honestly I look at Naruto like potato chips.
It's not really awful junk food, but it's kinda junk food. Like it's not the healthiest thing you can consume but it's really delicious if you are the type to enjoy it.
I can attribute my getting into anime to Naruto as well, and I watched the live Simulcast of the last episode, as well as finding early cracks of the Boruto movie so I could watch it ASAP.
I wouldn't say it's amazing in terms of story or character necessarily, but it's definitely cool and the world building was tremendous. I would never hate on anyone for enjoying it or calling it their favorite - it's a classic for a reason.
Yeah that's very well said man. I understand it's not the best, but it's a classic and I enjoyed it a lot, and it played a big role for me when growing up
I'd say you hit the nail on the head with describing it. As a long-time Naruto fan, at this point the biggest selling point I'd give new people is the fan works. The world-building is great and the cast is cool, but neither are really utilized to their fullest extent in the actual series. It provides a lot of material for awesome takes and spins by fan writers and artists, the different takes are almost endless.
Has anyone here seen Eureka Seven? That series resonated with me so much growing up, it's probably my favorite anime. I still rewatch it every few years and it definitely holds up even though it's nearly 20 years old now. I mean, its got giant hoverboarding robots, what more could you want?
That show is kind of weird. It was clearly made for kids but at the same time I don't think the themes are things that really appeal to them.
I watched a bit of the movie which contains a very condensed summary of the show - which is probably how I'd recommend anyone new to get into it - and that was made me realize this. I watched it while I was about the age Renten was, and I remember thinking that a lot of the episodes were boring and pointless. But watching those exact same "boring" scenes as an adult, I can see those emotional bonds that I couldn't see when I was young, and those scenes are probably some of the best ones.
Needless to say, the animation and aesthetic designs are through the roof. Bones was my favorite studio at the time precisely because they could make anime that looked like that, and I was very unironically into that Disco-esque opening theme song and almost painfully earnest ending theme song. To this day I think it's their most impressive productions (though Soul Eater comes really close, and you can't forget they also worked on Space Dandy).
Which movie did you watch? Because none of the movies have anything to do with the show, and in most fans' opinions the movies are all garbage. The sequel series was also a huge let down.
Agreed that the show is kind of weird at first. The first 10-11 episodes are much more childish, but they do let you get to know the characters. After that it really starts to get more mature and handle more serious themes. And all the OPs and EDs are bangers. The second ED and the 4th OP are my favorites as a whole, but the second OP song has lived on my Spotify playlist for a long time.
Honestly it was too long ago to say. Like I mentioned, I only saw a bit of the movie, so maybe saying I recommend it wasn't terribly meaningful!
I remember it was really confusing because it had this very long action sequence where humanity was fighting the coralians, and given that it was so long since I had seen the series it was very hard to follow. It was also whiplash seeing the start of the anime series immediately after.
The sequel series was a real disappointment. That really felt like nothing ever happened; I lost interest pretty quickly.
If it was a long time ago then it was probably the first movie, which threw out everything to do with the original series and was a completely new story with the same character designs. The characters have the same names, but some of them are wildly different than they were in the series. It's a complete alternate universe.
Then they made a trilogy of movies a few years ago which are...weird. The first has a little bit of new animation at the beginning that completely rewrites how the "summer of love" tragedy happened in the show, but after that it was entirely recycled animation from the show with a new story and new voice acting. It was weird and got pretty poor reviews. I didn't bother with the second or third in the trilogy, but I heard that while they were decent movies on their own, they weren't at all what fans of Eureka Seven wanted. A leading theory in the fanbase is that the director is still bitter that his original ending for the series was rewritten, so every other piece of media he makes for the series continues the tragic tone of his original ending.
I was actually a mod of the subreddit for the sequel series. We were all so hopeful and then we got...that lol. It started out so strong and then just got weird. The plot was all over the place and nothing made sense.
I watched the original series when I was about 14 and seeing Renton mature over the course of the show just really clicked with me. I definitely have a biased view of the series, but everyone I've recommended it to has really enjoyed it once they get past the first 10-11 episodes. The "cave arc" is where it starts to pick up.
I haven't watched it but it has a banging soundtrack
Sarazanmai in addition to everything Kunihiko Ikuhara has ever made. But Sarazanmai in particular was one of the most personally touching things I have ever seen. If you haven't heard of it, consider it to be something of a Magical Girl series that centers around boys instead. Like Ikuhara's previous series (Yurikuma Arashii), it's full of social commentary, especially regarding queer people. The overarching theme of the show is the difficulty of maintaining connections with others, and it has a very heartwarming conclusion. I will warn you that you shouldn't binge it; the cliffhangers at the end are not only there to entice you to watch the next episode, they're there to make you stop and think about things.
Vivy - Twilight Eyes Song has some thematic simelarites to Sarazanmai but it's a bit more universal in nature, with the main characters being robots and AIs. It's honestly really hard to summarize, but I will say that it ends in a fantastic climax that will make you happy for all the things that have happened in your life, even if they were tragic. The art, animation, and music are seriously top-knotch so I would recommend this to anyone even if they don't care about the deep inner meanings.
Violet Evergarden - By all means, it's just a drama, but I'm 100% serious when I say that this is one of the best productions to have ever been made. I honestly do not have words to express how incredible these shows are. Every single frame is a fantastic work of art. The animation is done with so much care that I honestly don't think that real people could even begin to compete. If you could only watch 30 minutes of anything Kyoto Animation has ever produced, you should pick one of the episodes from the series. In the series I cried in every episode. The specials were no less strong. And then the movie - oh my god the movie - there is a scene where two people stand in the ocean for something like five minutes without talking but you won't be able to see any of it because you'll be crying too hard. You need to see it!
I could also recommend just about everything Kyoto Animation has ever done, honestly.
I'm a big sucker for slice of life anime, especially when it intersects with magical realism. I'm also big into hobby anime, especially those with tournament arcs. I love emotional, introspective, thoughtful stories. I get a whole lot of my recs from AnimeFeminist, a wonderful wonderful website. Put all this together, and here are my favorites:
5/5
4.5/5
(want to write more but this post is long enough!)
the final episode has a scene (you know the one) that is just so hauntingly beautiful. still sends chills down my spine just thinking about it. one of my favorite scenes in anime.
You like a lot of my favorite niche stuff! It's a shame most people haven't seen The Heike Story. It's by the same director who did A Silent Voice, so it's a pretty easy sell.
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju and Kabukibu are great. The thing I really loved about it is that these are about performing artforms that are extremely niche and the audience for them are dying off. To see these young people devote so much of their time and effort into these underappreciated arts for the sheer love of the art just speaks for itself.
My favorite anime are currently:
Gintama: It's a show that combines comedy, action, heartfelt interactions between people, character development, aliens, and sci-fi all into one. It used to be the highest rated show on MAL, and even now it is in the top 5 or 10. It starts out with a bunch of hilarious slice of life episodes that involve comedy or helping someone (usually both), then a serious arc starts around episode 53. The world is at stake and there is great fighting and characters coming together to fight the big bad. Then it goes to comedy episodes again and repeats. It's a truly wonderful show.
Clannad: It's a truly sad anime once you finish it and the second season (called "After Story").
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: I loved the entire plot and seeing Ed & Al unravel a mystery and fight the greatest evil in the world while making allies along the way. A great story with well-written characters and good fights. Seems to parallel real world political aspects IMO.
Dragon Ball Z: Need I say more? Anyone who grew up when the Funimation dub aired in 1998 or 1999 will know why this is on the lit
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Angel Beats!
My Hero Academia
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin
I'll second Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Such an incredible story and absolutely loved watching it with my daughters. 12 years later we still sometimes just say "Edward" in the dog voice and watch the horror wash over faces.
This, and the subsequent EOE movie, are possibly my all-time favorite anime. For years I avoided it thinking it was just another "mecha" anime. Then the pandemic hit and and I found myself stuck at home, alone, for weeks. Netflix just released the redubbed versions and I, having depleted every other watchlist, decided to give it a shot. The first 5 or 6 episodes washed over me like any other well produced monster-of-the-week series. Then the show started turning inward, and the characters' deteriorating psyche became the focus, and by episode 16 I was sold completely. No anime has struck a nerve as profoundly as Evangelion did for me. I've watched the series twice now (once dubbed and the other subbed) and left both viewings feeling mentally and emotionally drained. I love it.
I kind of liked the original Fullmetal Alchemist a little bit more. To be honest it's probably just because of the time it came out, but I liked the pacing and at the time I appreciated that the studio wrote a pretty good ending, especially given most anime productions based on continuing manga usually don't have endings at all. But I'm still very glad Brotherhood got produced because the story was A+ material.
I was touched by Your Lie in April. Death Note is a great supernatural mystery/cop show. Aggretsuko is kind of like the Office. I had fun with Log Horizon and sword art online, but I used to be into dungeons and dragons, so I could relate to the story.
I really love Durarara! There is a huge cast of characters, most of whom are doing their own thing, and then their stories begin to interweave more and more as the story progresses. There are about 10 or so "main" characters around whom the story revolves, each involved with one (or more) of the various factions and gangs throughout Ikebukuro.
I would suggest watching Baccano! if you haven't already, it's from the same author as Durarara and it's really good.
I'll go old-school here: Rurouni Kenshin. While the writer has a scummy past, the anime was phenomenal and was my big jump off point into Anime in the early 2000's when it was on Toonami.
Additionally, FLCL. While the sequels are alright in their own regard, the original is an absolute masterpiece, especially at 6 episodes long.
Really long and interesting FLCL video. It's pretty interesting if you have an hour to kill.
Cowboy Bebop. The fluid animation, the understated world building, the music, the characters, the self contained story. I may be biased because of how and when I caught it on TV, but to me everything about it is perfect.
The English dub is fantastic. It's quite old, so might seem cliché to modern audiences, but Watanabe probably created those tropes.
The movie is actually one of my all-time favorite animated films. The opening sequence alone is incredible. I honestly don't know how they managed to get the funding to make it. If you look at the ending credits, you can see that practically everyone in the nation of Japan worked on that film, and the worksmanship really shows though.
Psycho Pass is just an extremely solid noir/thriller/dystopia piece as long as you stop at the first season.
Chainsaw man is a manga that really has some of the best scenes of the genre and does a lot of interesting stuff starting with a shallow protag.
The Patlabor movies were just a major part of my childhood and hold up insanely well.
JJK/MHA are just about everything I want from a shounen and are up there with FMA:Brotherhood in that they're just solid stories with great scenes.
My top five:
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Basic, I know. But it's just such an incredibly well told and cohesive story with a massive cast of well-developed characters. Genuinely one of the greatest stories told in any medium, imo. I also appreciate that it doesn't fall prey to so many common tropes in most other anime, like overpowered protagonists and hypersexualized women.
Steins;Gate
Really fun spin on the typical time travel story. The characters are all very fun and believable, and the dialog is so witty and full of sarcasm that feels natural and realistic. I love that you can really feel how much all the characters care for each other.
Psycho-Pass
Mostly the first season. The other seasons are good, but the first one is the only one that feels really exceptional. I love the strong focus on the philosophical and moral questions that the implications of the Sybil system bring to the surface throughout the series.
Made In Abyss
Easily one of the most imaginative stories I've ever experienced in my lifetime. Every new layer of the abyss they reach has such new and interesting things to discover, and I love the contagious optimism that Rico embodies even in the most dire and depressing situations. I feel like it really well portrays the importance of meaningful relationships during the hardships of everyday life, but through the lens of a child's adventures.
March Comes In Like A Lion
Where do I even start with this one? For an anime about a professional shogi player, I was not expecting this show to tackle so many heavy themes. Watching can mc grapple with childhood trauma and relentless self-loathing can be hard to stomach at times, but seeing his growth over the entire series is incredibly cathartic. The heavier moments are always well balanced by the wholesome and heartfelt interactions he has with his loving, supportive friends. I can't recommend this one enough.
I loved watching Made in Abyss. The art was fantastic and the story and worldbuilding were so incredibly intreaguing.
And then I watched the follow-up movie and it was just too dark and depressing.
Yeah, the movie gets really heavy. Season 2 gets pretty hard to watch too, but its visuals are so bright and colorful that it feels less depressing than the movie, somehow.
I have no idea why this is the case, and I've gotten laughed at for saying so before, but I'll do it anyways because this place seems a lot calmer than other forums.
There's something magical to me about Demon Slayer. It came, stole Japan by storm, and then... ended. Sure, the ending might not have been everyone's cup of tea, but I feel it fits the show/manga perfectly. Wani is not afraid to evoke tropes and stereotypes in her story, but she writes them (and draws them) in such an endearing and simple way that I get enamored - that, and I think her magic system is super elegant.
Story Spoilers
Demon Slayer isn't afraid of failure. The chosen ones usually fail even if they have everything going for them. Everytime you think Tanjirou is going to suddenly defeat an Upper Moon using the power of memories/friendship/anger, he fails (see Daki, Hantengu). The moments in the series where Tanjirou uses his protagonist powers come almost exclusively when others help him, sometimes tying a story together (Mui throwing the sword comes into mind). I guess Akaza is an exception, but the fight is done so well it doesn't even matter. A show that comes, tells a simple and elegant message about human life and the value of others, and knows when to end is a rare breed in anime.Honorable Mentions:
Serial Experiments Lain totally captured me a few weeks ago. One of the best Sci-Fi series I've ever seen. Its themes are timeless and tastefully understated. Its atmospheric, dark at times, funny at others. Really a work of art unlike any anime I've ever seen.
I definitely remember this. In the early 90s it used to come on right when I got home from school. There was a similar one that was based on the little mermaid, but I'm not sure if it was from the same company.
Looks like full episodes are on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmL2n63FKe8
It wasn’t a masterpiece or anything but the one that really resonated with me was Soul Eater (manga more so than anime).
I remember being underwhelmed by the anime's ending, but the art style and animation has always been unique even by today's standard. OP1 is also insanely iconic and catchy.
I was happy when Fire Force revealed itself to be an official prequel to Soul Eater. That was cool- it ignited a lot of [young] people's interest in a fairly old series.
I was not aware of this! Excuse me I have a new series to binge (and thank you!!)
Hajime no Ippo is one of the best ones I've watched. Incredible boxing anime where the only liberty George Morikawa really took with portraying the sport is the Dempsey Roll, a move which is very little like how it was portrayed in the anime.
Unfortunately, there's a few downsides to following it:
It's fallen in the One Punch Man territory of having barely any anime adaptations. This is because the first two seasons were produced by Madhouse and Madhouse have a reputation for only making one really good anime season and never touching a series again. Third season was made by MAPPA (a studio of former Madhouse employees.) HNI is one of those rare series that they actually did go back to.
There is no streaming service in the UK where you can legally watch the Champion Road OVA, Kimura vs Mashiba OVA, or Season 2 (New Challenger.) First season is on Netflix, third season is on Crunchyroll. Other than that you're shit outta luck and have to sail the high seas to catch up.
Only about 44% of the manga has been adapted into anime. If you want to catch up, prepare to read another 800 chapters.
Would also recommend Girls und Panzer as another series to watch, which is on Crunchyroll (OVA's included.) The plot is what you'd expect: Japanese schoolgirls driving tanks and battling against one another.
Friend got me into it and it's shocking how much research the creators did on WW2-era tanks.
there are a lot of shows I really like, but if I'm going to choose a favorite...
Symphogear! I don't think it is the best show in that I think there are other shows that are better paced, or more thematically or aesthetically "successful," or have better executed character arcs...
...but I think some shows end up being more than the sum of their parts. and of course, if certain aspects resonate deeply with you, then the imperfections don't matter as much.
Symphogear just embodies everything I love about music. Lesbians who sing while fighting (and the fights are very hype, I love hype action), lots of enemies to friends arcs, the power of love and friendship and justice...the show can be wildly inconsistent, but for me it just comes together in a way that few shows do.
Also the soundtrack is fucking amazing.
I think tied for favorite would be Kill la Kill, but nobody mentioned Symphogear so I wanted to talk about Symphogear :P KLK is probably the "better" show in that it has a lot fewer flaws than Symphogear (and also has some amazing music!), but well, enough words for now ;P
Black Lagoon is my absolute favorite! It's just such a fun watch, with some great action, humor, and character development. The animation style "clicks" with me, the writing is top tier, and Revy is my hero. It's about a low level businessman that gets kidnapped by a mercenary group and ends up turning to a life of being a mercenary when he realizes how dead end his life was and how much is really out there. It's set in a fictional city in the South China Sea and has some amazing action.
If you watch it, just don't huff the hopium that there will ever be a season 3/4 (depending on how you count Roberta episodes). The manga is still being written, so it's possible, but the show was made from 2006 to 2011, so I'm guessing it's pretty unlikely it gets picked up again, even if the manga does get enough material for someone to make another show from it.
If anybody has any recommendations along the same vein, I'm all ears! I did watch Jormungand, which hits some similar notes, but it's nowhere near as good, IMO.
Black Lagoon does some stuff quite well, but try as I might, I couldn't get past Revy, and in particular her English dub voice actress. She came across as really tryhard and it just killed my suspension of disbelief throughout.
I actually loved her dub. To me, the over the top edgy voice added to the whole persona that Revy is edge personified, but with a soft core that she doesn't want to acknowledge. But I also have yet to rewatch it, so maybe I was just enthralled the first time around.
I'm not a huge anime buff or anything, but I think it would be hard to argue that the original season 1 of FLCL is anything short of a masterpiece. I think that would probably be my favorite if I had to pick just one.
The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya would probably come in second place for me.
One Punch Man season 1 would probably come in third, but I could be convinced to put something else in that spot I'm sure.
I love the Haruhi Suzumiya series. Only watched the anime because 4chan was obsessed with it, but got hooked and read all the fan translated light novels that were available at the time. I kinda forgot about it then during the pandemic I rewatched the whole thing plus The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I didn't see back in the day, it still stands up. Even the repetitive S2, which was painful to watch as it aired was good on a rewatch.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is pretty different but has a very similar feel, and features some surprisingly mature relationships for anime.
One Punch Man S1 animation was phenomenal. S2 was a huge disappointment in comparison, under a different studio, but it was still entertaining and nice to see more of the characters without reading the manga.
I'll have to check out FLCL based on your taste. :)
Your adventure with The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya sounds almost exactly like mine haha. I watched it in high school when only season 1 was out, then during the pandemic decided to rewatched it, but to my delight there were more episodes and a movie, so I watched those.
Definitely check out FLCL. You won't regret it. Might be one of the best English dubs I've ever seen as well. I know some people will die on the hill that subs are better or whatever, but if a dub is good enough, I prefer it.
If you liked one punch man, I would definitely reccomend watching Mob Psycho 100. Same animation studio as s1 of one punch man, based on a manga made by the creator of one punch man. Super good as well. One of the episodes has the best setup and punchline to a joke I've ever seen in any medium.
A Certain Scientific Railgun, while hardly the best series, is still my personal favorite because it's what got me into the medium in the first place. The Sisters arc specifically is still my favorite storyline in anime since I started watching.
Minor Railgun S Spoilers
I've always had strong feelings about artificial personhood, so the validation of the sisters as real people was really compelling
But for shows that I recommend for others, here's a couple:
Violet Evergarden made me cry, a lot. It centers on a child soldier struggling to understand how to feel, when she was raised only to fight. It's good, you should watch it and cry with me
From The New World is set in a distant future in which humans developed psychic powers, and live in ostensibly perfect utopian communes. It's about a group of children growing up and learning their place in this world, and grappling with the idea of trading freedom for safety. It's hard to talk about it without spoiling it, but I've never engaged in as much discussion about any other show as I did this one. Unlike most other shows, there's no clear and obvious moral this one is trying to sell you on. It really forces you to pay attention, and form your own opinions and ideas about the world and the society they live in.
From The New World Spoilers
Squealer did nothing wrongEven at the age of 26, Gurren Lagann was a formative experience. It's about a group of children using giant fighting robots to lead a rebellion against an authoritarian dictator. Then, halfway through the show, the actual plot starts. What I love so much about it is its relentless optimism. Throughout the entire show, someone is trying to make people give up hope, live underground, and give up their freedom for the sake of safety, to keep persisting in a world without truly experiencing it–that achieving anything of value is impossible. And throughout the entire show, the main cast tells their authoritarian dictators where they can shove it. At the age of 26, seeing Gurren Lagann for the first time is what convinced me to start working out.
Your Lie In April is about a piano prodigy who lost his will to play piano when his mom died, and found a new will to play it when he met a certain violinist. The show made me cry a lot. Like a lot a lot. Blubbering, ugly crying. You should watch it and cry with me!
Nichijou is about... nothing, really. Part of why I love it so much is that it doesn't have any kind of overarching plot, it's the slice-of-lifest slice-of-life show I've seen yet, made up of short skits mostly featuring the main cast. Every episode felt like it was 5 minutes long. You can search youtube for Nichijou and find no end of clips that are largely without context even in the show. It's unlike anything else I've seen, and I loved every minute of watching it.
I like entertainment that respect the viewer's maturity, has clever writing, and especially things that challenge/allow me to see things from different perspectives. A couple of my picks have already been mentioned, like Cowboy Bebop, Eve no Jikan, and Mushishi. Here are a few more, keeping in mind that these are favorites and not all necessarily "best."
1. Mugen no Juunin: Immortal/Blade of the Immortal (2019) 10/10
A swordsman cursed with immortality, now seeking to save lives to atone for his past killings, protects a young woman out to avenge her family.
Pound for pound, this is the best anime I've ever seen. Tense, brutal, philosophical, melancholic, insightful, graphic, tender. My initial skepticism (there's a three-headed human villain in the first episode) gave way to disbelief and eventual admiration... every subsequent episode left me wanting more as the story and characters unfolded. Wonderful style, masterful direction, probably the best fight choreography I've ever seen animated, and enough hints in the details signaling the unsaid to not make scrutinizing the subtext discouragingly painful. There are flaws here and there - occasionally questionable art, the second arc feels maybe a touch contrived, and those familiar with the manga would have wanted the entire thing adapted - but overall, this series hits such consistently high quality that it's just too hard to deny. Only 10 I've ever scored. It's also a spiritual successor of sorts to the next entry below.
2. Shigurui: Death Frenzy 9/10
At the beginning of the Edo era, a tournament is held for the best swordsmen to duel. Contradicting the prevailing rules of the day, it allows the use of real swords. A one-armed samurai and a blind, lame swordsman face off for the final time in their bloody, intertwined history.
This is how I like my samurai. Done by the same director as above, it's a warts-and-all examination of bushido - violent, gory, callous, but not without food for thought. It's almost the perfect show, and has exactly one flaw:
SPOILER
The absolute worst cliffhanger in the entirety of anime!!!3. Aku no Hana/Flowers of Evil 9/10
A bookworm teen steals his crush's used gym shorts, but is unknowingly witnessed by the class outcast. A story of emotional blackmail and obsession unfolds as he pursues his crush and she pursues a fellow "pervert."
The main reason this show has low scores online is because the animation is rotoscoped. If you can't look past that, you will miss what is probably the best psychological anime around. In some ways, it's what Neon Genesis Evangelion dreamed it could be.
4. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen/Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal 9/10
A classic that really should need no introduction. The only reason I'd recommend someone watch any of the TV series is so they're prepared to watch this.
5. Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa/Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise 8/10
In an alternate world, the kingdom of Honneamise shocks its own people by embarking on a space race. Despite his country's international reputation as a hopeless laughingstock and his own inadequacy, one cadet resolves to be the first man in space.
I enjoy learning about foreign cultures, languages, etc. The fictional country this story is set in is SO well fleshed out culturally - clothing, architecture, customs, technology - I love the effort put into making the setting distinctly foreign yet believable, with echoes of influences from our world throughout. In addition, the animation itself is worth drooling over, with top-notch, late '80s hand-drawn animation that is gloriously detailed. The plot is simple, though deceptively so (really, I totally missed a whole layer of meaning because I misunderstood one scene). Still, it's fascinating to just watch; visually it holds up well more than 35 years later.
6. Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei/The Tatami Galaxy 8/10
A college junior, ruing the time he's lost thus far and encouraged by a friend of dubious morality, struggles to pursue his crush and realize unfulfilled dreams of university romance.
I have a lot of time for Masaaki Yuasa and IMO this is his best work overall. It's also based on a novel by Morimi Tomihiko, whose zany style of magical realism seems to translate well to anime... at least without having actually read any of his books.
7. Uchouten Kazoku/The Eccentric Family 8/10
A family of shapeshifting tanuki deal with the aftermath of the patriarch's death after he was captured for use in a tasty ritual stew enjoyed by humans.
This one's also based on a Tomihiko book (although watching it kinda reminded me of reading a Tanizaki novel, in a kind of richly bittersweet way). It's a fun ride with an enjoyable cast of supernatural characters, with enough subtlety and resonance to give you pause along the way to think about your own family at various moments. Poignant and comforting.
8. Juuni Kokuki/Twelve Kingdoms 8/10
A self-doubting high school honor student is whisked away, along with two of her classmates, to another dimension where she faces supernatural dangers, mistreatment, and her own assumptions. Soon, she comes to learn that she was brought to this land for a very important reason.
Based on a fantasy novel series, this is the best-written multi-season plot I've seen in anime. The main character is dropped into a world of 12 culturally distinct, interdependent nations. There are no editors' notes provided to you as the viewer, so you are often puzzling out unfamiliar creatures, traditions, titles, lingo, etc. right along with our MC, Youko. Beyond the simple fantasy premise, this show is an engrossing look at leadership through both Taoist and Confucian lenses. There is a lull in the second arc, and one or two ill-defined character motivations, but despite that it feels like a genuine page-turner, with credible character development and rich lore. Sadly, the director has passed away so we are unlikely to ever see it completed, but I'd still recommend it to just about anyone.
9. Hidamari no Ki/Tree In The Sun 7/10
A historical drama that follows a doctor and a samurai during the social upheaval of the Bakumatsu.
At turns wistful, fun, tragic, and sobering. The emotional tone is just right and I definitely enjoyed this show more than the score suggests.
10. Kaiba 7/10
A sci-fi love story set in a world where digitization of memory made physical death obsolete.
Another work from Yuasa, but this one is original. I love the commitment to creating an unfamiliar, alien universe here, and it goes perfectly with Yuasa's style of going against the grain and thinking outside of the box. It's probably unlike anything else you've watched, and it's got heart.
I liked Saki so much that I learned how to play riichi mahjong, and I've been almost obsessed with it ever since. I didn't know anything about mahjong before watching it, but now I love it.
Moyashimon - cute take on spirits and farming, funny characters
Basilisk - ninjas with powers version of romeo and juliet
Eve no jikan - interesting series on AI and androids
This is the second time someone has brought up an anime that I've never heard anyone else talk about! Time of Eve is fantastic; it presents it's ideas in such an earnest way.
I'm a fan of writer/director Yasuhiro Yoshiura, and if you haven't seen his other works I would strongly recommend them. Patima Inverted is also well worth a watch if you haven't already.
Yoshiura and stuff like Eve no Jikan are among the few reasons I still watch any anime at all. I really wish he did more work.
Now that I think about it, I think I've had this conversation with you sometime in the past!
On my mind now:
Gin Tama is where Hyperdimension Neptunia got it's sense of humor, set in a world a bit like Urusei Yatsura, it references the cultural forms and styles of the Tokugawa shogunate but feels more like American animation such as The Simpsons or Family Guy than almost any anime.
Psycho Pass and Sword Art Online for science fiction about this posthuman age.
Futari wa Pretty Cure and Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart for a religious education aimed at Japanese children disguised as a magical girl anime, the first season covers your relationship with nature and your community (Shinto) and the other about work and obligation (Confucianism)