Anyone have one or two anime that they watched and were surprised it wasn’t more popular?
9d 22h ago by ani.social/u/amnesiaftw in anime@ani.social from ani.social
So recently I had an anime watch party and we were browsing anime to watch and I came across Pluto. Admittedly I’m only 2 episodes in but so far it’s SO solid. And I’m just surprised I had never heard of it and it came out 3 years ago. Especially since it’s a reimagining of Astroboy and everyone’s heard of that…
Another one I had surprisingly never heard of but so far seems solid is Level E written by Yoshihiro Togashi. My favorite anime is YYH and I loved HxH so how come I hadn’t heard of Level E until now? Again, only 2 episodes in but seems legitimately good and it’s by a wildly successful creator.
What’s an anime you didn’t expect much of because it seems lesser known, but turns out to be very good? I mean like, not only do u like it but ur surprised the general public - casual anime fans aren’t aware of it.
Big O
It’s showtime!
I used to make fun of Big O for being bad when it was on adult swim (I literally never watched it). Maybe I should finally give it a shot.
the ending was rushed but make sure to watch all two seasons. the show is inspired heavily by Batman the animated series
it was show about giant mechs, and living in a biodome, due to "nuclear winter outside"
I read Pluto and really enjoyed it, will try to watch it in the near future for sure. It's kind of stupid but "I parry everything" was excellent if you can get past the gag that the MC is just clueless.
I do hate when MC’s are clueless but I suppose it CAN be funny if done right.
Flip Flappers!
I'm still reeling from that twist.
Sounds silly lol. Not a watcher of magical girl anime typically but perhaps I’ll choose this when I’m in the mood for it.
Pluto was great! Have fun watching it and enjoy the plot unfolding and twisting :)
Dennoh Coil (2007), it's basically if Studio Ghibli did Sci-Fi. Won a bunch of awards in Japan, but never got mainstream.
That’s good enough for me to look into it
Seconding it. And its spiritual successor The Orbital Children.
I thought YuYu Hakusho was way more popular than it actually was.
It WAS super popular when it came out as well as when it was on Toonami around 2003. I’d consider it mainstream. But lately, aside from the live action hype, it’s overshadowed more than it should be.
Yeah, like if you ask most people about the best OG shows of that era, it’s usually Dragonball, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and Gundam. Even Hunter x Hunter ended up becoming more well known.
FWIW, its getting the TFS abridged treatment, so maybe that'll boost its popularity a little bit.
Oh that’s right. I hope it helps it out a bit. Honestly it would be amazing if YYH got the HxH treatment
seems like it got overshadowed by naruto/ bleach,,,etc.
Shoutout for Pluto!
DEAD DEAD DEMONS DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION
This and Pluto are the best scifi anime we had in recent years.
Nice, This is actually on my anilist “plan to watch” already. So I’ll get to it eventually!
crunchyroll fumbled the marketing for this (i.e. there was none) and fucked up the subs. i fucking hate crunchyroll.
dint they start using AI translations.
I'm watching Hell's Paradise right now. It's clearly done on a decent budget, but the animators are pretty good at knowing where they need to focus that cash. Meanwhile, the story is actually pretty good. For something like a Shonen-style power-system story, there's a lot more going on than just flashy martial arts. I'm enjoying this one, and am surprised I haven't heard of it before last month.
Great show. I finished that a few months ago. Definitely underrated. I’ve seen it recommended on Reddit a few times so not underground at all, but definitely a bit under appreciated. Animation is gorgeous for most of it and the whole thing is so eerie.
I second Hell’s Paradise! Season 2 was fantastic.
Angel Beats was great but apparently not good enough to go mainstream. Only single season of like 13 episodes. I've watched it a few times. It's funny and I recommend.
It was mainstream for its time. But yeah, great stuff!
Yeah, Angel Beats was very popular for a while when it aired. Previous commenter probably watched it much later
What more could they have done with that story? Ended kinda definitively, no?
Pretty much. I just enjoyed it and wanted more.
Definitely heard of angel beats, but never got around to watching it.
I think Angel Beats lost some of its cultural momentum when every following Maeda Jun project turned out to be a flop.
It was THE show everybody talked about when it aired. It even leaked into non-anime discourse. Ichbiban no takaramono hit the heavy rotation on JP radio stations and sold like hotcakes. The show was everywhere at the time. It was story-complete, though, so that's why there is no second season.
It wasn't completely ignored, but I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder that Apocalypse Hotel didn't get way more recognition than it got. Should've won all the awards.
Going back a little deeper, I can't pretend to be surprised that Akagi isn't mainstream, but Kaiji by the same mangaka deserves more popularity. It's a tragedy that the anime ends at part 2 when part 3 was the peak.
Added them to my watchlist but I’m gonna be honest that art style for akagi/kaiji is unappealing to me
Maybe it's just because it hit me the right way at the right time, but besides the deau meme, rozen maiden's first season hit me so hard I'm surprised it wasn't way more popular
Added it. There seems to be a bunch of them?
Yeah, but it's one of those shows where the further you get from the original, the more you wish you'd just watched the first season and left it there.
Warning, these are titty animes, so feel free to judge me if you want.
I have literally never heard anyone else talk about Sin: Nanatsu no Taiza/Seven Mortal Sins (this is NOT the Seven Deadly Sins show from Netflix), but I think it's incredible and incredibly deep. It doesn't totally beat you over the head with the themes, but it's an excellent take on the message of automony, free will, and determinism, with Lucifer the falling angel taking center stage.
Beyond that, I think Sekirei is probably one of my overall top favorite anime, with some truly fascinating world-building. It's Pokemon but big tiddy babes instead of little pocket monsters! That being said, there is one character that almost ruins the show with weird pedo bait and god I wish so very very much that character and her storyline just fully did not exist (Kuu).
Titty anime definitely used to be offputting for me tbh. But the older and lonelier I get, the more I can deal with it. So I’ll add them to my watchlist.
I just watched Pluto in the last few months, one of the best Anime I've ever seen.
planetes... enjoyed the heck out of it. I've only met one other person irl who's watched it... :|
The Toy Box is in my list of favorite fictional ships, right next to the Silvana and the Bebop
The Toy Box
yussss. so functional, something tells me we'll see something like it one day.
There's quite a few that I'm surprised I've never seen anyone talk about outside of dedicated forums.
Akudama Drive ruled start to finish. It's worth watching for the animation alone.
Xam'd: Lost Memories feels like it's only a few years old, but it came out less than a year after Gurren Lagann. In 2008. Bones makes real pretty shows.
Speaking of Bones, Carole and Tuesday was solid. My only issue was that it didn't take a hard enough stance against AI, but also it came out before ChatGPT and long before AI generated music was a real issue so I can't really blame them.
Fire Force. I got god damn hooked on that show a few years ago. And I'm someone who general just watches anime films, ovas, or limited series. favourites being Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and Second Gig, FLCL, Cowboy Bebop, etc. so generally nothing that has multiple seasons.
So Fire Force really isn't the type of anime I'm into. I'm not huge on the goofy fan service type of stuff that takes place over multiple seasons. hell I've never watched One Piece. But this show for whatever reason just hooked me. I had reminders set for when new episodes would come out. I can't quite put my finger on why I liked it but I just did. It's fun.
Other than that I don't know how popular it is but Psycho Pass. that one is more up my ally. I enjoyed that and the theme song is a real banger.
I’d say fire force is pretty popular! I watched the first season but never continued after that. Not sure why but it just didn’t hooked me. Same exact situation with psychopass. Didn’t hate them, just didn’t have the urge to continue. I guess we just have very different tastes (I’m not a fan of bebop or FLCL either).
Terminator Anime. It is surprisingly good but it had been cancelled because it wasn't popular enough.
i heard the sarah conner chronicles was good to, and canceled for the same reason.
Freedom (2006)
Wave, Listen to Me! (2020)
Added these to my watchlist.
Outlaw Star
These are my submissions
Katanagatari (Bumping OST and cool fights with Nisio Isin writing)
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (vibing isekai too busy surviving to care)
Ben-to (Stupid premise combat anime that lives rent free in my head)
Ben-To is peak. The premise is too silly, though, to get normies into it. I tried. It's like Keijo!!!!!!!! in that regard and deserves more love.
Grimgar deserves to be forgotten. Ranta is unsufferable and Haruhiro is whiny and moping around for most of the anime adaptation. I've read the light novels further than what was adapted in the anime and by the point I dropped it I couldn't stand a single character anymore. Even Yume-butt can't save this. It was incredibly pretty, though. It's a shame the background artists died.
Now and Then, Here and There, a very heavy anime, I guess it's heaviness is the reason why it never became super popular, but still, I think it still had what it takes to become an anime of cult.
Shiki, also deserves more recognition than what it has.
Kemono no Souja Erin, I didn't finish this one, but the first half is amazing, unless the second half looses quality this one should have been popular too.
Also, it's worth to mention Gunslinger Girl.
All these shows are kinda dark, so maybe that's why they never got the recognition they deserve.
BLUE gender, an odd show at late night, shows a bunch of bugs suddenly show up on earth out of nowhere after they did some experiments with DNA(sounds very familiar to evangelion if not the same story/premise).
the fun thing about the bugs was thier ability to evolve against human machinery, and consume both organic and inorganic matter like metal and concrete for energy, which made them the perfect weapon against humans. very evangelion like. by the end of the series the earth sent a signal to cause the bugs to go extinct, and the ones on the space station too. but left the scattered survivors. they were very obscure as to the origin of the bugs, and the strange guinan origin of bugs and the structure energy beam.
the OG full metal alchemist, i dont think it has much viewership as brotherhood. because it was on late night.
also Ghost in the shell, convoluted and hard to follow but i did get the jist of it by the end.
inuyasha seems wierdly geared towards night audiences,. evangelion. its not as popular as bleach, naruto, onepiece, brotherhood/or og alchemist.(im guessing the latter 2 are too short of a series and the time between final season, or series is staggeringly long. rather than having season by season each year. inuyasha had a horrendous amount of time between the official last season to final act which showed signs it was clearly rushed for just one final season, like 4-5years, AOT level of ridiculousness.
Inuyasha was one of the most popular shows back when I was in middle school. Around when anime first started becoming more accessible in the US via Toonami and Adult Swim. I watched a little bit but didn’t stay up late enough to watch it continuously. I’ve been meaning to finish it.
the FINAL act was super rushed, basically they jammed like 50-100episodes into 25 to finish off the whole series, its still good, but they definitely couldved milked some of the stories more. spoilers, killed off hakudoshi so fast, as was kaguara, and then KIKYO. one of inuyasha new sword abilities is dragon scaled, he barely used through the final part and only specific instances, it seems like an extremely powerful ability against any demon(minus the ones he cant overpower or see like naraku hiding his aura with a magical orb.) and it can trap spirits as well.
i assume you are aware of the "spinoff" its basically sesshoramu with rin. but fans thought it was an odd series because it seems too "groomy", marrying and siring children with the person you took care of/companion through her childhood.
Moriarty The Patriot: genuinely blows my mind that this one isn't more well known. Sherlock yaoi + murdering rich bastards feels like such a slam dunk, and despite delivering plenty on both I don't think I've ever seen a thing about this anime.
Blood Blockade Battlefront: This one is honestly just okay, but the animation is solid and the VAs have some pedigree. Idk if it just came out at a bad time or if people didn't vibe with some of the episode plots, but it always surprised me that it only managed two seasons and then kinda faded out completely.
The Fable, for sure, especially since people loved Sakamoto Days which is basically the same anime — except for the comedy.
I’ve heard great things about sakamoto days. So the fable sounds promising
Yu Yu Hakusho, maybe? I got into it originally because I confused it for Bleach, which was super popular at the time. Loved it more than Bleach. Though I do see it brought up a lot more now a days than back when it originally aired, which I chalk up to being overshadowed a bit by Bleach. They're very similar.
YYH was my favorite anime until AoT came out. When it first released it was crazy popular. Then Toonami brought it back and it was successful. But you’re correct that it was overshadowed by the big 3.
Charlotte - story about a guy with a weak power to take control of people for just a few seconds. Since it's weak he uses it ro cheat on tests and convince his crush to like him. Others with powers find him to make him not to abuse his power. Its a subtle slice of life anime the builds into a great story with some of the best character growth I've seen.
Heavenly delusion - horror anime aboutbtwonkids in the aftermath of an apocalypse where monsters roam, and they're trying to find an old school. At the same time there's a strange school with mutated kids all being taught by robots and doctors watch them constantly. Its very interesting sci-fi based on this Buddhist idea that heaven exists right in front of your nose, but disappears if you look elsewhere. Does have a scene of SA. Im waiting for the second season.
Perhaps not my time to watch it, but I found it boring and too long.
Beserk memorial edition the 13 episodes so good
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The OG BanG Dream series. Born too late to define the CGDCT genre (that went to K-On). Born too early to radicalize it (that went to Bocchi the Rock). MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, fortunately, capitalized on the post-Bocchi surge of girls band genre.
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Perrine Monogatari. I find this the superior series to Ie Naki Ko. Both overlapped in the seasons they aired.
Saving... I'm going to try Pluto.
Children of the Whales, also on Netflix. Pretty sure it flopped, cause it was years ago, and I haven't seen a second season.
Yeah not sure I heard of this one. Netflix is weird with its anime marketing.
Deadman Wonderland
What the hell happened? They even had an original OST for the intro in English. Studio Manglobe wanted this to go places....and It just. Failed.
Stumbled upon it in ~2023 while I was away from my PC, nothing on my phone, and borrowing the family TV and their Netflix. A real hidden gem.
I made the mistake of trying to watch Pluto very soon after reading the series for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a masterpiece. But I got through two episodes and felt like the adaptation was so 1:1 that I did not feel like I was gaining anything new. It also felt kinda slow to me for some reason. Anyway, probably would enjoy it more if I try again in a few years.
Two shows I adore that I don’t think got a ton of attention are Rock is a Lady’s Modesty and Akiba Maid War.
Good for me then lol. I don’t really read manga so I usually miss out on a lot of stuff that gets omitted for the adaptation. I’ll add these other two to my watchlist. :)
Akiba Maid War suffered in the west from only being on Hidive. That site barely even functions.
This is true, Hidive is terrible. Like I’m not opposed to competition in the streaming market but the Hidive app is incredibly broken.
Yeah... I'm not a huge fan of Netflix or Crunchyroll but at least they have essential features like "a next episode button that consistently navigates to the next episode" or "a video player that consistently plays videos". It's honestly surprising that Hidive is still around.
"One Punch Man" and "Vash the Stampede" (Trigun?).
Trigun and One Punch Man are good recommendations but I feel like both are super popular and highly rated. I will say that I think Trigun is better than Bebop though.
One punch man is extremely popular, what are you talking about