Tuturu~ One of the most popular anime. At the same time enjoyed by elitists. Time travel that is more internally consistent than most stories that try to use it. The characters are all quite unique and memorable. Both inside and outside the show. A must watch. El Psy Kongroo.
Full name is Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! which roughly translates to What a nice world have I reincarnated in. Which tells you it’s going to another isekai. If you are not familiar with this world you may not like it that much. I think part of its success is being a breath of fresh air and a subversion of an already popular genre of getting reincarnated in another world.
But I do think the comedy relies more on its characters. More than characters I would consider them caricatures. A loose collection of character defects (origin of quote). It is a simple show designed to make you laugh. And it does that perfectly. Nothing more, nothing less.
The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is probably one of my personal favourite anime. It is just an ordinary highschool club that does nothing. Except there is an alien, a time traveler, an esper and sometimes a talking cat. Nowadays it may not be as popular but it is known by everyone who at that time watched anime in the west. Apart from the greatness of the show there are other things that made it deeply ingrained in the anime fan culture.
First it is the first series TV broadcast order. I did not watch it in that order but I might try it in the future. It looks confusing as fuck. If you haven’t watched it yet maybe try it too? (not sure if I can recommend this).
This has actually led to the so-called Haruhi Problem. If you wanted to watch it in every possible order (permutation) and did not care about overlap, how many episodes would you have to watch? Some anon on 4chan solved it. His solution was better than contemporary mathematicians. And now there is a paper with an anonymous 4chan poster as a coauthor.
Second thing is the airing of the second season. Imagine waiting years for the second season and you get one normal episode and then Endless eight. It is only eight. But it indeed feels endless. Must have been a thing to experience when the show aired. Nothing like it.
When it comes to late 90s anime many would recommend a more popular Cowboy Bebop. But I do think Trigun is a hidden gem. Its a western mixed with scifi. Also mixing comedy and drama well. But sometimes at a speed that I haven’t seen outside of anime. The first half is rather slow (but not as much as Cowboy Bebop) and goofy. It introduces us to character. The main character is Vash a pacifist with a bounty of 100 million double dollars on his head.
I rewatched it with dub and it is pretty ok. Also the soundtrack is great (I am listening to it right now). With many unique tracks from across many genres. LOVE AND PEACE.
One of the best and coolest fight animations I know of. Accompanied by a solid soundtrack. Also pretty great comedy. Subversion or parody of the superhero genre.
One of the most popular anime series ever. It is well known even outside of anime fan circles I would say. And for a good reason. It mixes detective elements with psychological drama. And puts very clever characters against each other. That eliminates characters doing stupid things for plot convenience. A must watch.
Its unique setting allows for unusual plot and comedy. Relatively large cast of characters for such a short show. But each of them manages to stand out. Towards the end the comedic atmosphere changes to a more serious one. Among my favourite anime.
Present day, present time it is an internet cult classic. Despite its age you will see it pop up in the online anime communities from time to time. For example if you browse neocities you may find several popular sites. This may be because it deals with the rise of the internet (in the show wired) and the consequences on society. Everywhere you go people are connected.
It is also a mystery with a very unique plot, art and sound. The appropriate term may be Avant Garde. It might not be the most enjoyable or fun anime but I am very glad I watched it. Let’s all love Lain.
Every list has to have its cute girls doing cute things. But I haven’t seen the shows linked so my pick is a little unusual. It is still cute girls doing cute stuff. But everything else would be a spoiler… Just watch it!
Except it is the zombie apocalypse. And that is revealed relatively early on. There is another very surprising (and very SPOILER) thing (at least for me).In like the middle of the series one of the main characters was actually a hallucination of one of the characters. Wtf it is messed up.
Drop 2 NEET siblings into a world with rules like a game. They are both incredible geniuses that dominate every game they have ever played. Add pretty colors (one of the most colorfull anime I have ever seen) and levels of fanservice that some would consider unacceptable. And you have one of the most popular anime.
But I would say that unlike Death Note it is not popular outside of anime fans. It may be due to copius fanservice, usage of common anime tropes and references to popular anime (for example JoJo) or games. Which may not be understood well outside the anime fandom.
This may be a more “serious” pick. Recent airing of popular Spy X Family reminded me of this. Spy X Family is about a family where everyone has a secret identity. Spy, assassin and esper. And despite all the action it is in its core (imo) a family slice of life anime.
Usagi Drop has no great action, no overarching plot and not the funniest jokes that will make you lol out loud. Yet I think it overshadows Spy X Family when it comes to showing the joys of raising children. It is a simple down to earth anime. Yet it reigns supreme among the slice of life genre for it is genuinely heartwarming.
Medieval merchant meets a wolf deity named Holo. He agrees to take her north. She accompanies him in his travels and trades. She helps him. Eats his apples in exchange. And together they struggle through many hardships.
Second season setbacks some of the character and relationship progression but it is still great. Lot of the plot and dialog is centered around the trade. So it can be looked at as microeconomics 101. Despite not being that popular nowadays it has still many proponents that consider it the best anime ever (e.g. Holofan4Life).
While relatively popular it is not widely considered as great. But there are many reasons to like it. It is original (not an adaptation) self-contained story. The beginning is more lighthearted and fun. The main character Yuu uses his new found ability to take over the body of another person to cheat on exams. But he is soon caught by Nao Tomori. She recruits him to use his ability to help people.
Their interactions are great and the side characters are also quite good. And we actually see him develop as a character. But the story takes a more serious if not tragic tone towards the end. And it actually covers quite a lot of story in such a short series. Awesome anime in my opinion.
Noragami is hard to put into some sort of category. It has action but also a lot of fantasy or mythology elements and it is set in modern day Japan. The story follows Yato a “delivery god”. He has no followers and does things for 5 yen. And to to add insult to injury his weapon leaves him because she is fed up with him.
Then in a car accident, he is involved in, a girl’s soul becomes disconnected from her body. He agrees to fix her if she helps him find a new weapon.
A mixture of fantasy slice of life and a supernatural action anime. Akihito is surprised when a new girl, Mirai, tries to kill him because he is part youmu. Luckily he is immortal. So she has to give up but still has to find some actual youmu as her income depends on her warrior skills. He helps her and an unlikely friendship forms.
I watched it quite a long time ago but I remember I liked it a lot. I rewatched some clips from the show and realized how explicit it was. Not in an echi kind of way. The animation (which is great btw) is in a slice of life style. But some character rants about how glasses are awesome with almost religious fanaticism.
This anime popularized the term Yandere and made it common knowledge. There were Yanderes before. And after. But if you asked random anime fan to give an example of yandere they would probably point you at Future diary.
As the name suggests some people possess Future diaries that allow them to see into the future. And they use it to fight in a battle royale until only one winner remains. Yukki! (might have spoilers)
Yet another classic. A little bit avant garde. And it influenced a lot of newer anime. Giant mechas called Evas operated by mentally unstable children. And they protect the world against equally enormous angels with sometimes weird abilities. Get in the robot Shinji!
I feel like some highschool romcom should be on the list. And this one is great in both departments. Some people have the stage in their childhood when they believe they have special abilities. It is called Chuunibyou. It is an embarrassing past to look back to. At least for our main character. He is prepared to leave his embarrassing past behind and start over at a new school. However that plan is interrupted when Takanisha Rikka falls into his balcony and claims to be the vessel of the “Wicked eye”.
Another popular subgenre of anime are magical girls. I have watched almost nothing from this subgenre. Probably because their prime was before I started watching anime. Or maybe because they just don’t appeal to me that much. This is definitely not a representative piece for magical girls. But it is very much worth it. It is hard to describe why without spoilers. Watch at least the first ~6 episodes. Do not search anything about this show. Just watch it.
To 3D or to not 3D that is the question. I have only watched a few other 3D anime. And this one is quite good. The setting is very unique. The characters are gems - Phosphophyllite, Diamond, Cinnabar etc. And they have to defend against attacks from the moon people. We follow Phosphophyllite who is quite weak and she seeks to become more strong and useful to other gems.
When it comes to purely comedy anime the most popular would probably be Gintama but after watching a few episodes I did not stick around (although the first episodes are considered the weakest). Instead I would recommend a coffee jelly loving psychic - Saiki. Every person in this show is an idiot. Saiki’s life goals are to not get involved in their stupidity and keep his psychic powers a secret. Although on mal it lists 120 episodes they are 5 minutes long so it is quite short in reality. Comedy is quite individual. Try a few episodes and you will see.
Towards the end I decided to put something more recent. And I have trouble selling this one. Maybe because it is not that great, only good or OK. But the idea is brilliant. It is essentially an inverted detective story. You do not seek truth but some believable. The main character Iwanaga Kotoko. And she is great. She makes dialog with other characters fun and enjoyable. She kind of carries the show when it comes to characters and their interactions.
The issue I have are the overly long explanations of the mystery. And the act of solving it. It was just too slow. Or I do not know. It just lacked something. It just seems a little boring. But since I binge watched I liked it a lot.
Sword art online’s cooler older brother. People get stuck in their favourite MMO. And they start to discover that it is now a real fantasy world. While trying to uncover the mysteries of what happened and how (if possible) get back to earth. We follow Shiroe and his friends. He does not swing huge sword like most heroes. Nor has some super op magic.
He is a master strategist. His greatest strength is watching the battle and seeing when, where and what ought his comrades in arms do in order to sway the odds of winning the battle in their favour. And he is very cunning even outside battle. Some character comments that he would make a terrifying villain.
Speaking of SAO, it can never be mentioned without someone bringing up the abridged series. And it is well deserved. Abridged series is a (typically funny) rewrite and redubb of the series. But Something Witty Entertainment takes it a step further. Cutting entire arks. Adding their own. New visual effects. New characters.
But it is highly praised for rewriting characters so that it is actually a better show than the original. SAO became very popular and was enjoyed by many. Then a bunch of youtubers decided to shit talk it. And yes it was deserved. SAO is not that great. But it paved the way for many better anime that came afterwards.
So I think the best way to enjoy SAO was watching the original. Then the countless critiques on YouTube. And then finally the abridged. I recommend you give SAO a try. You might end up liking it. If not, drop it. And watch the abridged.
I would give RWBY the title of honorary anime. Because there is nothing you can compare RWBY to. It is a 3D animation with an anime aesthetic. It has one of the best fight scenes. It is published for free to watch on YouTube (Well it used to… But reuploads exist). And it has a phenomenal soundtrack.
The one issue is writing. I personally recommend watching the 4 trailers and 3 volumes. Some would say only 2 volumes. And if you want you can watch more, its free and you are free to do it. The writing and the fight scenes just are not that great anymore. Yes in the first few volumes the writing was also not that great. But that is one of its charms. It has soul. Or maybe that is just nostalgia.
Do you love vampires, gore a and blood everywhere? Than Hellsing Ultimate is the show for you! It has quite a serious tone. And its main appeal is probably the bloody and gruesome action. It has vampire, nazis, crusades and a cute vampire nazi catboy (or catgirl?) Schroedinger.
But if you wanted a more comedic version the abridged version is great as well. Unlike SAOA the fans of abridged like original and vice versa. They just differ in which version they enjoy more. So I recommend
And another abridged series. I have not seen the original yet. But I have forgotten enough from the abridged to watch the original without spoilers so I might watch the original now. The most famous scene is the soup store. It is kind of weird to watch it now because it has 2010s internet humour. But it has one of the funniest dialog I have seen. Especially thanks to Suzaku.
While writing this I realized how little I remember from the ~120 anime I have watched. And sure some of it was forgettable highschool/echi/romcom/harem/isekai trash. But even the great anime. The details in my memory are a little fuzzy. Then why write this?
Well to help me remember. I made a list of +-all the anime I had ever seen. It made me a little nostalgic for some and made me want to rewatch them. And indifferent about others. This is probably what separates the great from the average. Also I said to a friend that I would do this. So I did. (Remember this gif?)
Maybe there are shows that I could have omitted. And probably some that I should have included. But it is finished now. Maybe I will revise it once I have watched more shows. Not unlikely. It happens from time to time that I get hooked back into anime.
I thought about adding pictures to each entry. But I realised I run out of cool ideas after like 3 of them. But I have done it anyway! Adding styling was more time consuming than I thought. But after like 3 days this list is finally finished. Hope you liked it.