Anime series everyone should watch at least once!

Similarly to my last blog, I'll be giving some recommendations, but this time anime ones. I won't list OVA/OAV/movie-exclusive anime though, as those are for another blog (I have a LOT of them)! This time, I'm focusing more on lesser known (or almost completely unknown) anime series that are a good or great watch, but will list some more recent ones that went completely under the radar.


Aoi Sekai no Chuushin De
Starting with a pretty average one, but for people on this forum it can prove to be a fun watch. Imagine a medieval world with two kingdoms based on Nintendo and Sega fighting for supremacy, with characters being based on characters from the respective company's games and having superpowers, with the added bonus of seeing hotties getting their clothes blasted away every so often!:P

.hack//Roots , .hack//SIGN , .hack//Versus - The Thanatos Report , .hack//Liminality , .hack//Gift , .hack//G.U. Returner , .hack//Legend of the Twilight , .hack//Quantum
Yeah yeah, I know, expected considering it was in my last blog (hell, if I make a game suggestion blog you can expect these to be in there:rofl2:), but as a huge fan of the series that started almost as many cliches as Akira, it's a must watch for everyone who's interested in game-based anime or anime that blend computers with the real world! If you aren't feeling like watching them all, give SIGN, Liminality and Roots a try in that order. Expect some of the most amazing music you will ever get to hear in an anime when watching these too, so fitting ("GOD Diva" for example is EPIC)!

Grenadier
Sexy busty blonde chick kicks ass with a revolver in a medieval-Japan-like world AND has kinda interesting characters and plot, so what else could you ask for?

Bokurano
Fight to save the Earth from getting cleansed with different Earths getting pitted against one another and being represented by a giant mecha, with home and away fights. While the main premise isn't that interesting, DEFINITELY give this a watch, as it has some of the best character development out of all anime out there, despite having a huge variety of characters with deep backgrounds! This anime mainly revolves around a certain group of early-teen kids, with greatly varying backstories and can get pretty damn dark at times!

K (aka K Project)
Plenty people know of this, but most of the new generation of weebs doesn't know it, so give it a watch. It's edginess overload, with interesting characters and a sort of comical hook which keeps you along until the very end. I'm referring to the original series though, not the second one (which is decent at best).

Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi (aka RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne)
First off, heads up, this is an R-rated show as it contains a pretty damn nice amount of nudity, but also it can get VERY gruesome! This anime takes place around 1990 (but can vary a LOT throughout), in a real world-like place, but one where angels exist among the population. Angels are created from regular people seemingly randomly, with female ones gaining immortality (lucky them... except for all the torture in this show, lol:rofl2:), while males one gain immense strength and other abilities but can only live for a single week. The show follows the stories of two females and can get really interesting!

Rinne no Lagrange
A classic story that takes elements from mecha shows like Evangelion, about a schoolgirl ending up piloting a mecha and protecting her city against enormous aliens, so really cliche, but this one is good! And while this isn't a comedy or anything, whatever humor it has in it is actually funny compared to the cringey humor other shows like it have. On top of everything, it has some beautiful visuals if you are into that kind of anime watching, with a touch of fanservice...

Rozen Maiden (Seasons 1-3 and Zurückspulen)
A show about dolls that have been imbued with life by their creator for the purpose of finding a master to draw power from and fight until only one remains, who will turn into a girl that goes by the name of "Alice", a supposedly perfect girl that their creator has been longing for. A really fun show to watch, an interesting plot, beautiful visuals despite being outdated, AMAZING soundtracks (all 3 openings and especially "Kamp":bow: among others) and the two most important dolls being gorgeous, especially the "evil ones" (with Suigintou being by far one of my favorite characters of all time)!

Togainu no Chi
Here we have an anime with everything it needed to be epic, but falling really short because of bad production. However, it's still a great watch, despite the bad character development and even worse animation! It's about a guy getting framed for something and as means out, he gets sent to a secluded city of undesirables, where people murder one another without a second thought and tries to find a way out of it all. If you decide to watch this series, watch it through to the end, even if it starts losing you, as the towards the climax you will see that awesome powers can make even a badly animated series look incredible!:P

__________________________________________________________________________________
Welp, I'm tired, so I'll leave it at this for now... I mainly got tired trying to decide what series to recommend as I have HUNDREDS of them I want to, but I'm too lazy to write descriptions of...;-; I'll probably make a part 2 sometime soon, but don't count on it, may instead do the OVA/OAV/movie one first! Anyway, let me know what you think about these recommendation blogs of mine down in the comments and also whether you have watched these or what you thought of them after you watched them due to this blog!
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people

Comments

I feel like stuff that fits the widest audience is never truly good. Most stuff is watchable to the end and good as a time waster, some are good and you really enjoy them, some are bad and you need to drop it, and some are great and you wish everyone in the world would see it. All of those change based on the person.

Maybe you should do a "If you like these genres, try this one!"
 
Not the best of the best in some cases but variety. When I'm burned out on anime I like to watch something different. Crest of the Stars helped me with that case in particular.

Record of Lodoss War

Crest of the Stars

House of Five Leaves

Mind Games

Tegami Bachi

Dead Leaves
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
@leonmagnus99 D.Gray Man is amazing, both the anime and the manga, too bad it didn't get a real second series and instead only got a short one barely covering a few chapters from the manga... If only we could get another 103 episodes of awesomeness it would be great! I LOVE that scene in the China branch where Alen is fighting the lv3 demon and he awakens Crown Clown!:bow:

@Daggot Pretty nice ones you got there, have seen almost all of them and they were good watches!

@GameSystem I can EASILY give you 5 or even 10 anime (movies or series) that have an extremely large audience and are amazing!:P Let's see...
1) Hanasaku Iroha (girl gets sent to work at her grandma's inn in the countryside, INCREDIBLE humor, gorgeous visuals, fun and relatable characters and one of the VERY few shows deserving an objective 9+/10) [EDIT: and I almost forgot the opening critical hitting you in the feels in the first episode]
2) Allison to Lillia (has a loose military theme with two kingdoms being at war [but not really because of a pseudo-treaty], kinda "old" visuals but stunning nonetheless, beautiful world, fun and rich characters with some very moving moments and spans a long time period)
3) Mardock Scramble [3 movies, "The First Compression", "The Second Combustion" and "The Third Exhaust"] (more for adults or generally older audiences, contains nudity, rape and other things, but not really gruesome, with small cast, getting extremely dark at times and having really innovative ideas regarding technology/gadgets/genetic engineering/etc.)
4) Summer Wars (welp, nothing to say here, epic movie, definitely watch it, giving a synopsis isn't good enough, it's too amazing to summarize successfully)
5) Zetsuen no Tempest - The Civilization Blaster (probably the most perfect female character in ANY anime and one you will badly start wishing was real so you could date her, interesting characters, simple but effective plot, EPIC fights/events, an extremely unique version of "magic" and a LOT of Shakespeare:P )

And here's a honorable mention:
C - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Out of those you just listed, I only saw Summer Wars. Looks like I have 5 more to check. Luckily/Unluckily, this season doesn't have a lot of good stuff, so I have a ton of free time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
I know, I'm disappointed at this season, besides Mahoutsukai no Yome (continuing from last season), there's nothing decent to watch...

Let me know what you thought of the ones I listed, currently rewatching Hanasaku Iroha myself for the feels!
 
@MiguelinCrafter Already been mentioned in the comments, but as I said back then, it's as famous as Mirai Nikki, so not exactly a "hidden" or overlooked show:P
 
None. Anime is for antisocial neckbeards who have horrid social skills, and think every lady out there is a "bitch" for ignoring their very creepy advances.
 
@HaloEliteLegend

Naw anything anime. Like even the emotes are overexaggerated, childish and cringeworthy.



The movement is so cringy and exaggerated, the acting of the gasps for example are so bad, and that's not exclusive to any anime, or a language... it's like it's all bad. The "Gha-haaaah!" gasp, and the acting is so bad... whether in japanese or english.

It's just such a cringy genre of animation
 
@Thirty3Three I mean, that's just the style, and if you don't like the style, there's nothing much I can say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
It's not just the style, the sounds they make are different to those in other countries because of language. You can't expect two people from different countries, speaking completely different languages to gasp the same way! Even animals sound different depending on region and country (a famous example is frogs making more of a "ribbit" in US but "kero" in Japan), so why can't humans be the same too?
 
ThoD, read that again. It happens regardless of language. There's the "Gaaah-aah!" gasp voice acting, the silly childlike expressions that are completely overexaggerated, etc. It's so cringy.



2:47, for example.



And then look at 1:09 and onward. The way Legato's eye goes big from being closed. Followed by Vash going, "gahh! gaah... gghh.. chh...." It's so cringe-worthy. Those aren't normal reactions. And then if you watch it in the japanese sub:


Same shit.

It's so overly exaggerated and cringe-worthy. It's so geeky in a really uncomfortable way.
 


"Hey there... Vash" - nobody speaks that way, nobody turns around like that, holding their arm up like that. Like, that stupid stereotypical anime thing where the person is standing with their back to you and their arm straight out to the side, thumbs down. It just looks so stupid.

Also look at the voice acting of all of these clips. They're so cringy.

And right after Knives says, "You're still a good-for-nothing PATHETIC WIMP!" - and then you hear Vash go, "Gha-haaa!"

NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT. It's like seeing the 10th doctor limp while walking to his TARDIS before he regenerates. It's so overly dramatic and looks fake AF. It's cringy.
 
@Thirty3Three But it's the norm somewhere else in the world. I get that you don't like it, and that's totally fine, but I hope you don't seriously believe everyone who watches it are basement-dwelling neckbeards. Most people who watch it are normal people, like me and you, with normal lives, and normal jobs, and maybe a significant other, and hobbies.
 
No, the vast, vast majority aren't. Point me in the direction of someone like that, because I've never met anyone who comes even close. You'll be very hard pressed to find someone matching that description. "Weebs" reached popular meme status, but don't let that color your thinking of the actual people who consume this content. It's just that -- a meme. Overblown. For laughs. A running gag.
 
@HaloEliteLegend
Not sure it is the norm anywhere. It is more of stylistic actually.

You could say those are some "conventions" and (better said) cliches that are usually attached to most anime.

Those cliches are mostly predominant anyway on anime produced for the shonen or shojo demographics, so you could say they are specially liked by young anime fans, perhaps that is the reason they persist.

I am quite sure there is way less overacting in anime directed towards general public (eg. Ghibli films), or anime produced for seinen/josei demographic (eg. Monster, Space Brothers, etc.)... but those probably have their own set of cliches.

In the end, it is something that somebody could like, tolerate, or abhor. I would myself say that I perhaps tolerate them more than like them, but it all depends, if they are there for comedic reasons I like them, but if the overacting feels out of place (mostly on shonen), I also cringe, but not enough to make me not able to enjoy the rest of the show (in case the show is good).

@Thirty3Three

Regarding people that watch anime being "basement-dwelling neckbeards", that is a weird generalization, but I understand most people that are annoying, pushing, or idiots commenting bullshit on forums (to the real weeb level) are the ones most visible, so you may reach that (imho quite wrong) conclusion out of that.

But by the same generalization one could say people that play video games are either stupid kids that shout and curse CoD fanatic style all over the internet like if they mattered, or psychotic adults that behave like such a kid. Sure that would also be the wrong conclusion, but also that group is quite visible from the outside, visible, pushing and annoying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
It's as @sarkwalvein said to be honest... Also, @Thirty3Three, such "reactions" and "expressions" stopped being in anime more than a decade ago with the exception of SOME shows in genres like shounen. If you go watch quality series, you will hardly see anything like that and in most cases they can be EXTREMELY realistic, even if the art style may not allow perfect realism.
 

Blog entry information

Author
ThoD
Views
1,771
Comments
306
Last update

More entries in Personal Blogs

  • I WON
    "ALPHADREAM IS DEAD SO NO MORE MARIO AND LUIGI GAMES (insert nerd emoji...
  • 4: Reddit
    Finally, number 4! Never thought this day would come, did you? Uhh...
  • books
    1. I am cool as hell, have one million dollars 2. I am banned from...
  • Syncthing is fun!
    Having been kinda active in an Android forum I quickly got sick about...
  • Feeling at home here
    Not much to say this time. I'm depressed. Like almost always. Trying to...

More entries from ThoD

Share this entry

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    AncientBoi's minding his own business.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Ancientboi is the one in the middle of that old grandpa photo
    +1
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Meatspin is Kens desktop background lol
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Yes uremum didn't tell me about her transition and begged me to make it my background
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I couldn't hurt his or hers feelings
  • TechieSaru tempBOT:
    TechieSaru has joined the room.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @K3Nv2, Don't ask him where to get lemonade. ;)
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Psi fondles big red lemons to make lemonaides
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Always wanting my lemons he can't have them
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Jeb stole bigonyas pants
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Jokes on you, I don't have any on.... "Cause I'm free.... Free ballin'"
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @BigOnYa, Sounds like you and AncientBoi get along together TOO well.
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Thank God we are 20 states away from each tho. Kenny's almost neighbors with him.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I live in kc you dingus
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Ok still closer to him than me, perv boi
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Not to mention you guys share the same last name.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I thought you were Mrs.bigboi
    +2
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Nuh twice divorced, I took my maiden name
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Mrs. bigancientboi?
    +2
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Ms. now, We divorced.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I'd keep the Mrs. He's got more years on you
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    The end of this game, in the house, is like Texas chainsaw massacre house, is crazy. I just gotta find Chris n kill him.
    BigOnYa @ BigOnYa: The end of this game, in the house, is like Texas chainsaw massacre house, is crazy. I just...