Recently, Frieren. I see it everywhere because it’s obviously popular but was never really interested enough to watch it. My wife started watching it and I just happened to watch along. Turns out it’s actually as good as people say it is. I’m currently halfway through the first season.
I see it everywhere because it’s obviously popular but was never really interested enough to watch it.
Me too, but with basically every popular / top-rated anime. That’s how I ended up with lot’s of catching up to do 😭
Nowadays, my go-to method for finding new anime to watch is to go down the list of top-rated anime instead of asking for recommendations.
I tried watching both demon slayer and solo leveling due to their popularity but bounced off after 1 season.
Definitely Gundam Build Fighters. I went in expecting a soulless ad for gunpla, but was met with one of the most charming shows I’d ever seen. It really just felt like the writers loved the whole Gundam franchise.
For those who don’t know, it’s a show about people building gunpla, and then using technomagic “plavsky particles” to fight their gunpla against each other in tournaments.
For those who don’t know, it’s a show about people building gunpla, and then using technomagic “plavsky particles” to fight their gunpla against each other in tournaments.
My interest is piqued.
Just don’t watch the English dub! It sucks the soul out of one of the main characters.
Dorohedoro. I mean, the name literally mean “Filthy vomit”.
It is amazing.
Most recently, Sentenced To Be A Hero.
The synopsis didn’t appeal to me at all - it sounded like just another one of those tedious shounen action perpetual motion machines that, if you look past the superficial differences between one enemy and another, are just repeating the same basic arc over and over and over again.
I finally gave in and tried it because it ended up with a much better reputation than it seemed it should deserve. But although it was stylistically very impressive, I still couldn’t initially see it, since it not only did seem to be broadly predictable and repetitive, but the characters were basically just walking stereotypes.
Except not quite. There were little hints from the start that that wasn’t quite what it was, and as it went on it kept introducing more and more things that defied the stereotypes and the formulas until it had somehow morphed into something entirely its own, with an actual story that appears to actually be heading toward a conclusion rather than just a contrived framework on which to hang an endless series of battle arcs, and characters who are surprisingly complex and conflicted rather than just unchallenging cliches.
So I ended up going from half-heartedly giving it a shot to binging the rest of the first season, and now looking forward to the second.
Stein’s;Gate—talk about a slow starter (and I was watching it when it first came out, meaning I was waiting a week between episodes). I came pretty close to dropping it before it finally picked up the pace.
I’m in an anime club and we replicated this.
It was such a slow burn that when we told a new member to watch the show before we all started Stein’s;Gate 0, all the old members kept insisting it was worth watching, but were very clear that they wouldn’t start seeing any payoff until roughly the middle of the show.
But what a payoff!
One Piece. After 20 years, I’ve begun to watch it.
Most of them TBH, but starting with Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.
It reminded me not to judge books by their cover, and kickstarted my (relatively) recent interest in anime.
Nowadays, I would pick an anime up if it is decently popular / highly-rated, even if its premise doesn’t resonate with me.
Nowadays, I would pick an anime up if it is decently popular / highly-rated, even if its premise doesn’t resonate with me.
It’s all about the execution.
If you liked: Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
You may also like: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Yeah I’ve heard about the similarities.
Thanks anyway.
I start the season super pessimistic on must of the anime based on title and then end up heavily invested. Generally, it’s a romance.
Warrior Princess and Barbaric King. It’s not bad, but I feel like they are too focused on world building to tell the titular characters.
Watari-Kun’s ******* is About To Explode. I was pleased by how well the characters developed.
Pass the Monster Meat. It was not exactly what I expected.
Overlord. Its such a tropish thing but I think its the way the characters is actually affected by the transition mentally and emotionally.
- Eureka Seven, I’m not a mech fan
- Hikaru no Go
Eureka Seven is just cool. What a great time.
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We went through a brief anime vampire phase, with Call of the Night, The Vampire Dies In No Time, Mayonaka Punch, a couple others.
I thought Mayonaka Punch was going to be a lightweight puff piece compared to Call of the Night but it really held its own and impressed me.
I’m sure there’s more, but I was l suuuper put off by the first few episodes of A Certain Scientific Railgun… I was not going to be able to handle Kuroko being as over the top as she was initially. So glad I eye rolled through the first half of season 1!
A more recent one was Days with My Stepsister. I had assumptions about what it would be about and initially didn’t start it during the season it aired, but I kept seeing each week’s episodes rated fairly high and a lot of discussion around them. I picked it up maybe 5 episodes late in the season and ended up really enjoying the story and overall production.
Dr. Stone. A generic fantasy trope that lets someone create futuristic inventions out of nowhere turns me off a lot of the time, but actually going out of their way to describe that journey in detail changed my view.
Beastars
