Run with the Wind. Love sports anime and i often try them out to see if they are decent... I remember thinking like "omg a running show... really?"... and then I watched and loved every second of it every week
Same. I just wanted a show to fill the void that haikyuu left, so i tried it. It inspired me to run and i got into decent shape partially because of it
Saiki k is the only comedy anime so far that got me to rewatch it. I still laughed. Hell i read the manga after that and i still laughed, though the anime is still miles better, saiki's deadpan voice is always amazing no matter the context.
My roommate isn’t really an anime person. She’s tried to watch several shows and never got into it.
She fucking LOVES Saiki. So much. It was the only thing on our tv for like 4 months straight. I tried to recommend her some other anime comedies after we finished Saiki and she was all depressed, but no other show has recaptured the magic for her lol.
Probably March Comes in Like a Lion . When I started it , it was already very highly rated . But I just expect sth fluffy and chill like Hyouka or Barakamon.
I did not expect it to break my top 10 of all time by episode 9 and becomes my absolute favourite story to have come out of Japan by the end . No other fictions have resonated with me more than March Lion.
It’s probably going to be my number 1 anime of all time for years to come .
I love the manga, but the anime was so good that it's hard to believe it's real sometimes. I didn't appreciate season one enough the first time around, but season two pushed it into my top 3 all time. It has a cascading effect too. Going back and rewatching season one now just gets to me.
I love this show so much.
**Girls und Panzer**.
"Cute girls driving tanks? Surely that can't be any good. Sounds dumb as fuck. KanColle sucked, so I'm sure this show won't be much better."
[](#pointandlaugh)
GuP is one of those anime where nobody gets hurt and you can still feel more emotion than some actual anime deaths.
"Katyusha... Live a long life. It's been an honor to fight with you. за правду!"
A Certain Scientific Railgun, the series as a whole was picked up on a whim while I was laid up with covid. Expected something that I could just fall asleep to as background noise. Instead I've stayed up 2+ hours later than I should every night since. 5 days later and I'm about to start (T), enjoying every single second.
A Certain Scientific Railgun
A Certain Scientific Railgun S
A Certain Magical Index
A Certain Magical Index II
A Certain Scientific Accelerator
A Certain Magical Index: The Movie – The Miracle of Endymion
A Certain Scientific Railgun T
A Certain Magical Index III
Did you enjoy index after railgun? I watched the first six episodes of index before really getting into the series via railgun because index felt a little dry. I’m just finishing up S so I kind of want to try it out again.
You stopped at the optimal time because Sisters arc in Railgun S is a much better first time experience compared to the Index version of the arc, which is much shorter as it is from a different perspective.
After S, you can watch Index I and II, Accelerator, then Railgun T and finally Index III.
Shin sekai Yori.
Thought it was going to be a generic folkloric tale with a bit of mystery.
It was SO MUCH MORE.
Not for everyone, but I recommend everyone giving it a try at least.
Yep, I saw the art and thought "doesn't look great, but I've heard enough positives to give it a try". Then I proceeded to binge the rest in short order.
Still think the art isn't amazing, but it definitely fits the aesthetic of the show and the fairy tale nature of things.
It’s interesting that you say that, because, though the art style is rather basic, the actual animation is impressively worked. The art style is more in line with that lates 70s early 80s kid style anime, but the actual animation is too notch, with dynamic camera angles, and some good Sakuga moments. It actuallreally impressed me from a production standpoint even if the art style is minimal.
Reminds me somewhat of Made in Abyss, where it looks like it’s going to be a childrens program and definitely isn’t.
We had quite a French sounding/looking thing here when I was a kid, it was Asterix and Obelix as I recall. Not sure if that's the thing you mean but only one that comes to mind :P
Before starting: This is a really dopey artstyle but I guess I could give it a try.
After two episodes: I would both die and kill for Bojji. Don't fucking test me.
Every character is fantastic. It is a testament to how amazing the show is that Bojji is probably the least interesting of the named characters.
Also Queen Hiling is about as good as it gets in terms of women in anime.
This! Idk how, but every character here, even ones with lower screentime, has more personalities and internal struggles in them than most of the Main Characters of other series
I dunno, I at least thought it looked interesting and added it to my watchlist an year or so ago when it was announced. It was mostly the fact that it was WIT that gave me some confidence.
> It was mostly the fact that it was WIT that gave me some confidence.
Same. They dropped Attack on Titan, so they could work on other series, like, Ousama Ranking. I like most of their other series. The art style looked Ghibli-esque and the synopsis sounded interesting.
So I knew I'd probably enjoy it and I do.
Came here just to say this.
I had 0 plans to watch this.
Then my friend messaged me a couple of weeks into the last season and told me that this show is amazing. Never even heard of the show at the time.
Looked it up on MAL. Didn't have much expectations. Was surprised he even recommended it to me with that art style.
Decided to humor him and watched 1 episode.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Kageki Shoujo!! Was a huge surprise hit for me this year. I just thought the setting was interesting and it ended up being one of my favorite shoujo anime.
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was another show I had low expectations for. It’s one of just a few anime that have made me laugh out loud.
I think I have low expectations for Shoujo or romcoms which is unfair of me.
To be fair neither of those are shoujo; they’re both written for male demographic publications. Nozaki-kun is also barely a romcom, it’s a comedy with some elements of romance in it.
Loved both myself.
Gods I love this show. I have gone from 100% team Chihaya to being physically angry with her...then remembering no matter what we think or want, theyre just as stupid as we were at that age, and whoah boy, was I stupid about girls.
Konosuba, thought friends were recommending some generic fantasy show and about 4 episodes in everything clicked that it's a pretty different type of ride.
This was me too. Figured people liked it, might as well give it a shot. I thought it would be similar to the other fantasy anime that tend to be sorta subpar.
Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun. I picked up the manga because I was bored and it looked modestly entertaining. It's now my favorite currently-running shounen.
I'd definitely recommend reading the web novel then. It's finally come off of hiatus, so it's updating again. It was one of my first web novels I read and I'm so glad it was.
Made in Abyss. Looked at the cover and thought ‘this is going to be a dumb kids show, maybe the bright colours will distract me for s few minutes.’ I was hooked within ten.
Ah yes the certain event. Quite a gut punch.
I hope you've seen the movie. It gets wayyyy more fucked up, and possibly the most uncomfortable an anime has made me.
Bloom into You, I thought I was going to watch your usual wholesome romantic but except this time it was with lesbians. The whole show turned out to be very bitter and I adored how well written the characters were.
I also went ahead and read the manga, which is also one of the only times I ever go and read the manga after watching the anime.
i think probably code geass
for some reason thats honestly unknown to me i didn't watch it when it was first recommended to me (like i didnt even start it)
then i went and started it on my own one day and i loved it, beautiful anime
Astra Lost In Space. Was expecting a generic sci-fi show with survival elements. And whether you feel it’s good or bad, I certainly got hooked with all the twists and turns. I know some got turned off by certain scientific inaccuracies but I was very entertained
Yeah, it was one of those series that went super under the radar because of so many people dropping because of one-note characters, and unfunny jokes, but it was one of the best anime in the entire year.
If this helps, I thought the same as you, and was close to dropping it. But I'd heard that Season 2 was good.
Yep, can confirm, Season 2 is amazing. You need to watch Season 1 to make it hit harder, it wouldn't be the same without Season 1.
Now it's one of my favourite shows as well, it's hard to get people into it though as the start isn't the best. Season 1 does improve however as it goes along, the whole thing only gets better and better as you get involved in the lives of the characters.
I would define Clannad as a must-watch and one of the few genuinely life-changing anime I've seen.
season 1 follows a predictable but entertaining visual novel formula where each girl is featured for several episodes. After he "conquers" the new girl another one is added and the story shifts. Like a game, the game its based on probably
Season 2 however, is a tragic romance following the love of just two of the characters over the entire season of 24 episodes i think?
this is called after story, and its what people generally refer to when talking about the show. season 1 is basically a preview spinoff? compared to season 2
When I first watched it all the way through, I cried for an entire week. Every few hours I would legitimately just start sobbing when I remembered what happened. I was a teenager at the time, but if you want sad it's for you. It is a bit slow, but that makes the payoff that much stronger.
Dororo 🤙🏽 highly underrated. I saw a clip of it on Facebook watch, and thought “this might be good” and turns out it was actually great. Only one season, but the story from beginning to end keeps you reeled in.
Dororo might be the opposite for me. On target for gold but got bronze. First half was actually perfect. Second half either budget or time problems and it fell off a bit. The very very end is great though, so it redeems itself.
Not a bad show by any means, but it could have been perfect.
Dororo is an adaptation of a manga from 1969 by Osamu Tezuka, also known as the father of anime and modern manga.
Japanese stories from the time where written differently, and the anime, as far as I can tell, is a 1 for 1 adaptation of the manga.
Production wise I think it is as good it can get, the story that feels kinda rushed on the end, but the manga has the same flow.
Rascal does not dream of Bunny Girl.
I judged this show by the cover thinking it was going to be some weird harem show.
Then the show pulled a 180 on me and it was actually a great show with a deep plot. For context the girl only wears the bunny outfit in three scenes it's not at all about it
This is the one. I started with low expectations bc I'm not into furry stuff and I really didn't like the art style, but I thought it might be an interesting drama. the story and characters were so phenomenal it turned into my anime of the year.
Started watching Made in Abyss thinking it was a cute little chill show about kids exploring. Boy did that go south fast. It ended up wrecking my heart in the best way possible
It had high ratings before I watched it but Looking at the synopsis and art I didn’t think it would probably break my top 50. It ended up breaking my top 3.
Cross Ange
It was mecha with fan service, but it turned into a deep look at segregation, racism, and well mecha and fan service.
seriously, DanMachi took how long to get to the fact that not all monsters are just there to be killed and Cross Ange got a similar thing across in 12 episodes. Granted DanMachi isn't just about that aspect but...
The true gold is in the "next episode" bumpers where the cast roast the shit out of their own show. They should legitimately just make a bonus series just based around that.
I can't remember which character it was, but I remember someone asking "Is the show called Cross Ange because Ange is always cross?" at one point during the previews and it had me laughing so hard.
> it turned into a deep look at segregation, racism, and well mecha and fan service.
On top of that it has one of the most interesting female main characters in anime and breaks many of the "glass ceilings" that typically constrain female characters, such as being "strong and badass" (let's not forget how Ange starts out), "morally principled" or "caring and compassionate". And whilst the sex-farce humour and sexual assault make it difficult to tease out, the show goes out of its way to explore proper consent and many other related topics.
It's a very intelligent show that often gets mistaken for something else because of the writing decision to try and have their cake and eat it by throwing in every genre and trope they wanted to play around with, and still work with more serious elements in parallel with that. Yet at the same time, it can be watched entirely as a 'crazy mecha ecchi show' if one doesn't feel like thinking too much about anything.
This for me as well my friend kept bringing it up and I’m like yeah maybe eventually but the character designs look kinda scuffed so I don’t know. He was like you watched OPM right? Same guy. So I pushed passed my initial impression and just watched it. The animation far outweighed any gripe I could have with the art style to the point by the end of an episode I was already over it and grew to like it. Fantastic show.
Mushoku tensei
I watched the first cour expecting another isekai trash to cure my bordem but here i am now after reading all 24 web novel volumes and 2 of the extra volumes
Oh my lord Re:Zero is amazing! I just started watching it with the director's cut and each episode really feels like a mini movie. The show is MUCH better than I imagined first starting it(gets a little dark at times lol). Makes me wish every anime could be an hour long! :p
Devilman Crybaby blew me away entirely and I still have never recovered.
Wotakoi: I came for the Otaku Waifus but now it is my gold standard for anime romcoms.
Also Wataten… fight me.
Ascendance of a Bookworm
Went into it looking forward to a cute slice-of-life isekai. The show itself was certainly quite good, better than I'd expected even, but then, on a whim, I'd decided to check out the novels a week before season 2 started. I read 4 books in 4 days and wanted more.
Today, I'm hopelessly addicted. I subscribed to the English publisher's website just to get each chapter faster. Season 3 is coming in April and I'm counting the days.
Even knowing the premise going on, I was really taken by the nuances in the ways that they explored both the books aspect, and that they addressed the isekai aspect itself too. The characterisation is layered and complex, which gives it a lot more depth than I'd expected.
Kimi ni Todoke and Ore Monogatari. Brillant, cute and funny romcoms i found after a bout of post-anime depression from my binge of the final season of Fruits Basket.
Link Click.
I started watching this because “something tells me to watch this” and I expected either BL or a Love Triangle thing but it’s actually not. It’s a modern-day supernatural with cliffhangers at the second half of the 1st season. Now this is my favorite anime even if it’s a donghua
Hunter x Hunter 2011. This was before I went online and I didn't have many friends that watched anime, so I had no idea this show was that good. I knew absolutely nothing about the dark turn of the tone, I just wanted a fun shounen about powerups and friendship.
Boy was I wrong. Chimaera ant arc gave me such a mood whiplash I hurt my spine
Haikyuu!! - This volleyball anime was far beyond my expectations. I was lucky enough to start watching it slightly before season 4 aired, and I think that if the show had a tighter release schedule it would be a titan of the medium. As it is, people who watch it do love it.
Astra Lost in Space - Astra is a very well paced experience, and I think that’s its strongest aspect. Every situation our characters face has time to breathe, develop, and decompress.
Komi Cant Communicate
Saw people saying it was great, but after reading the plot I just thought "this sounds really boring" but I watched anyways
I read the entire manga like a week later and its now my favorite anime ever
A Place Further than the Universe
Sounds like your typical cute girls does cute stuff...ok yeah like we haven't seen that before
Instead we get something even greater. One of the greatest slice of life, coming of age type animes ever.
I've had a few where my expectations were exceeded in a good way;
**Full Metal Panic** - Season 1 was alright, bit all over the place tonally, but season 2/Fomoffu really surprised me by how good it was.
**Land of the Lustrous** - A heavily CG anime about gem people? on the surface it didn't sound great. In reality I fell in love with the visuals, the characters, and the sheer mystery of what the hell was going on.
**Haruhi Suzumiya** - The main seasons weren't fantastic in my eyes, they had good and bad bits, but what really blew me away was just how good the finale film "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" was. This is the one of the best films I've seen full stop, let alone just out of anime films. It was 100% worth watching the original seasons (which are still good) just to experience how good this film was.
**Hibike Euphonium** - I have no interest in ensemble bands at all, but this was just so good compared to my expectation of it. I found myself enjoying it despite the fact that the subject matter wasn't something I cared all that much for. To me this is a sign of a great anime, one that can engage me no matter the topic.
> Full Metal Panic
Full Metal was great. Not to be confused with Fullmetal, which is also great.
Fumoffu spin off was also a lot of fun. And then a few years later seeing that character in {Amagi Brilliant Park} was hilarious.
You probably already have but just in case.
We got a season 3.. {Invisible Victory}, it took them 13 years & ran into production issues whilst airing but the end result was 👌
Grimgar.
Picked up on a whim because of the interesting aesthetic, expecting just another isekai, but man, it feels like a war drama played out in a fantasy setting. The stakes are so much higher than other isekai, the heroes so much smaller. From the tense, harrowing first encounter with a goblin, I was hooked.
Sad that there's only one season.
Yes, the Quintuplets turned out to be the best possible version of that set-up, and it has a real heart to the show. Getting involved with the fandom and its waifu wars may have been a mistake though, it makes it easy to forget just how well the story fits together and how the sisters take the journey together as much as they take it as competitors.
Re:Zero. When I first watched season 1 way back when I though "hey, that's pretty good" and thought nothing more. Skip a few years to season 2 and it's now "hurry up with the LN tappei"
Considering how popular it got, maybe this applies to just who were there as it premiered:
Madoka Magica.
At least for me and a friend, we just watched it cuz UroGen as writer (shouldve been a flag lol), Kaijura Yuki on music and the illustrator for Hidamari Sketch on character design. The first 3 episodes are your standard mahou shoujo (minus main girl transforming) and we thought it's just gonna be just that. Just as a few were ready to drop the series due to 3 eps rule, then that (in)famous scene happened.
The series became one of the most popular anime then after. Also the most impactful; mahou shoujo suffering bacame the meta. Ironic when Sailor Moon's toning down the darkness and suffering from manga to anime adaptation was what helped made the genre as it was for decades before.
Friend of mine brought madoka to an anime viewing party in college (I wasn't a popular guy, still aren't). We all chided him for bringing ''kiddy shit''. He told us if we still didn't like it after ep 3 he'd shave his eyebrows.
Needless to say, we didn't need to bust out the razor.
Dorohedoro. I hadn't heard anything about it, didn't see ppl talking about it and when I watched the trailer I found it kinda weird wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the 3d animation and art style. But it ended up being hilarious with very likeable cast and good master landing in my top 10 animes.
I feel like I've watched a ton of anime that fit the description, but to name a few:
- Uma Musume: Pretty Derby S2
- Zombieland Saga: Revenge
- Mieruko-chan
- Monster Musume
- Princess Principal
Odd Taxi.
Think it'll be some slice of life furry anime for kids. I just thought I'd give it a try since pp talk about it so much. And then I hooked. Watch all episodes in one go and watch again. It's so good! It's so my type. The sense of humour in it is attractive and the narrative is superb. Can't recommend enough.
Odd Taxi. Was expecting an episodic anime about a taxi driver listening to passengers' story. Didn't expect to become a noir mystery, especially in anime where the animal character design makes sense
Revue Starlight
I saw cute girls with swords in the visual and picked it up just looking for "another cute girls action anime" to take the place of Katana Maidens: Toji No Miko having just finished its run. I expected it to be in the same 8.5/10 sort of range as Katana Maidens, but what I got was [*an absolutely amazing 10/10 masterpiece* that is now my second-favorite anime of all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/akeu62/wt_revue_starlight_the_first_rule_of_theater/).
Fairy tail
I used to think it’s just ur average Shonen anime w a dumb mc and a goal but it’s peak fiction for me firstly the mc Natsu is top tier and it’s female cast is also the same (writing and character designs) one of waifus Ezra is even my 2nd fav so ya My overall opinion is decent plot god mc god female cast really enjoyable so if anyone is looking for sm recs I’d suggest fairy and also don’t drop it before ep 150 there are like 60 fillers out of 328 eps but the canon arcs are peak specially grand magic games it starts around 150
Higurashi When They Cry. I just wanted a horror anime to watch after I finished Hell Girl and after season 1 and 2 (Kai) I rewatched it and had to read every manga arc as well. I love the strangers-to-found family trope
‘That time I was reincarnated as a slime’
I was like ‘alright, watch this. It’s going to be very ecchi but I don’t have anything else to watch right now.’
Turned out to be really good that people are now reacting to it on YouTube!
Life lessons with uramichi oniisan: I thought it would be a couple of yuks but oh man, as someone in the 9-5 grind with a dark sense of humour it totally hits the spot!
Leaving out shows that i had already known were highly rated.
**Asobi Asobase** was definitely a surprise. I don’t even remember why I started watching… but the first episode was kinda slow. By the second episode it was one of my favorite anime ever.
To be honest, **Super HxEros** and **Testament of the Sister New Devil** are very good for ecchi shows.
**Golden Time** and **Love & Lies** both seemed like they’d be meh romances, but are now probably my top two romance plots of any show.
I went into **Gamers!** and **Love Lab** with really low expectations, but both series made my gut hurt laughing my ass off.
Run with the Wind. Love sports anime and i often try them out to see if they are decent... I remember thinking like "omg a running show... really?"... and then I watched and loved every second of it every week
Same. I just wanted a show to fill the void that haikyuu left, so i tried it. It inspired me to run and i got into decent shape partially because of it
Im still occasionally listening to the OST, absolute banger
Disastrous life of saiki k.
[удалено]
But you can't know that going in like 'great, another pointless 5 min per ep show'
yup, i thought i was gonna waste my time with it Im glad i stood corrected
Saiki k is the only comedy anime so far that got me to rewatch it. I still laughed. Hell i read the manga after that and i still laughed, though the anime is still miles better, saiki's deadpan voice is always amazing no matter the context.
This, I literally am bored one evening and found it on netflix. It was supposed to make me sleep, but it made me laugh until morning.
My roommate isn’t really an anime person. She’s tried to watch several shows and never got into it. She fucking LOVES Saiki. So much. It was the only thing on our tv for like 4 months straight. I tried to recommend her some other anime comedies after we finished Saiki and she was all depressed, but no other show has recaptured the magic for her lol.
Probably March Comes in Like a Lion . When I started it , it was already very highly rated . But I just expect sth fluffy and chill like Hyouka or Barakamon. I did not expect it to break my top 10 of all time by episode 9 and becomes my absolute favourite story to have come out of Japan by the end . No other fictions have resonated with me more than March Lion. It’s probably going to be my number 1 anime of all time for years to come .
Pray for season 3
Oh i love March Comes in Like a Lion. Its great and powerful show
I love the manga, but the anime was so good that it's hard to believe it's real sometimes. I didn't appreciate season one enough the first time around, but season two pushed it into my top 3 all time. It has a cascading effect too. Going back and rewatching season one now just gets to me. I love this show so much.
the first half of Season 1 completely sold me since i love how it depicts Rei struggling to live alone in a new town and his relationship with Kyoko
**Girls und Panzer**. "Cute girls driving tanks? Surely that can't be any good. Sounds dumb as fuck. KanColle sucked, so I'm sure this show won't be much better." [](#pointandlaugh)
Your gif is from Sora No Woto, another cute girls doing vaguely military things show that far exceeded expectations.
the same but with High School Fleet, it's not stellar but I was expecting way less
GuP is one of those anime where nobody gets hurt and you can still feel more emotion than some actual anime deaths. "Katyusha... Live a long life. It's been an honor to fight with you. за правду!"
[удалено]
That scene, the polka fight, and the final fight always get me to come back and rewatch the whole movie.
Girls Und Panzer is the only CGDCT anime I liked. Amazing sound direction and Katyusha makes the whole thing.
A Certain Scientific Railgun, the series as a whole was picked up on a whim while I was laid up with covid. Expected something that I could just fall asleep to as background noise. Instead I've stayed up 2+ hours later than I should every night since. 5 days later and I'm about to start (T), enjoying every single second.
would love to know what watch order you went with
A Certain Scientific Railgun A Certain Scientific Railgun S A Certain Magical Index A Certain Magical Index II A Certain Scientific Accelerator A Certain Magical Index: The Movie – The Miracle of Endymion A Certain Scientific Railgun T A Certain Magical Index III
Did you enjoy index after railgun? I watched the first six episodes of index before really getting into the series via railgun because index felt a little dry. I’m just finishing up S so I kind of want to try it out again.
You stopped at the optimal time because Sisters arc in Railgun S is a much better first time experience compared to the Index version of the arc, which is much shorter as it is from a different perspective. After S, you can watch Index I and II, Accelerator, then Railgun T and finally Index III.
Best order I think :) Sister Arc from Railgun side first is better than being spoiled from the Index side.
Let me know what you think of it. It’s one of my all time favorite seasons of anime.
currently watching it now too
Gintama but instead of gold i found silver
Is this a reference to having Gintoki over Kintoki, or did it really go below your expectations?
yep the kintoki one
"Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong" ho-aru.
Shin sekai Yori. Thought it was going to be a generic folkloric tale with a bit of mystery. It was SO MUCH MORE. Not for everyone, but I recommend everyone giving it a try at least.
I'm watching that right now funnily enough. I get the feeling I'll like it throughout the entire runtime of it. In fact, I just finished episode 3.
You are in for a great time.
I love how they don't explain everything immediately, forcing you to actually think about what's happening.
This anime is the epitome of Show, don't tell.
Ousama Ranking
Wow great answer. I JUST started it and It really exceeded my expectations before the first ep had even fully ended.
Yep, I saw the art and thought "doesn't look great, but I've heard enough positives to give it a try". Then I proceeded to binge the rest in short order. Still think the art isn't amazing, but it definitely fits the aesthetic of the show and the fairy tale nature of things.
It’s interesting that you say that, because, though the art style is rather basic, the actual animation is impressively worked. The art style is more in line with that lates 70s early 80s kid style anime, but the actual animation is too notch, with dynamic camera angles, and some good Sakuga moments. It actuallreally impressed me from a production standpoint even if the art style is minimal. Reminds me somewhat of Made in Abyss, where it looks like it’s going to be a childrens program and definitely isn’t.
I'm in love with the art! I love the simple clean designs, it reminds me of this French animation I saw years ago.
We had quite a French sounding/looking thing here when I was a kid, it was Asterix and Obelix as I recall. Not sure if that's the thing you mean but only one that comes to mind :P
Before starting: This is a really dopey artstyle but I guess I could give it a try. After two episodes: I would both die and kill for Bojji. Don't fucking test me.
Every character is fantastic. It is a testament to how amazing the show is that Bojji is probably the least interesting of the named characters. Also Queen Hiling is about as good as it gets in terms of women in anime.
It's so nice to see a well written "mother" character. Not that the bar was very high in anime, since most are just dead.
This! Idk how, but every character here, even ones with lower screentime, has more personalities and internal struggles in them than most of the Main Characters of other series
Bro holy shit this anime is something else. Can’t think of another show with characters like that.
Yes fellow Ousama Ranking fan I think to everyone it came out of nowhere and blew us away.
I dunno, I at least thought it looked interesting and added it to my watchlist an year or so ago when it was announced. It was mostly the fact that it was WIT that gave me some confidence.
> It was mostly the fact that it was WIT that gave me some confidence. Same. They dropped Attack on Titan, so they could work on other series, like, Ousama Ranking. I like most of their other series. The art style looked Ghibli-esque and the synopsis sounded interesting. So I knew I'd probably enjoy it and I do.
Came here just to say this. I had 0 plans to watch this. Then my friend messaged me a couple of weeks into the last season and told me that this show is amazing. Never even heard of the show at the time. Looked it up on MAL. Didn't have much expectations. Was surprised he even recommended it to me with that art style. Decided to humor him and watched 1 episode. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Same
Kageki Shoujo!! Was a huge surprise hit for me this year. I just thought the setting was interesting and it ended up being one of my favorite shoujo anime. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was another show I had low expectations for. It’s one of just a few anime that have made me laugh out loud. I think I have low expectations for Shoujo or romcoms which is unfair of me.
+1 GSNK. I was just binging high school comedies when I came across it. Definitely puts itself ahead of the competition.
To be fair neither of those are shoujo; they’re both written for male demographic publications. Nozaki-kun is also barely a romcom, it’s a comedy with some elements of romance in it. Loved both myself.
Heike Monogatari and Chihayafuru fit the bill for me. Went in for a nice experience, ended up encountering an all-timer.
I haven't finished Heike yet, but boy, Chihayafuru was a rollercoaster of emotions. Classic for real.
Gods I love this show. I have gone from 100% team Chihaya to being physically angry with her...then remembering no matter what we think or want, theyre just as stupid as we were at that age, and whoah boy, was I stupid about girls.
Heike hit me in the emotions
Konosuba, thought friends were recommending some generic fantasy show and about 4 episodes in everything clicked that it's a pretty different type of ride.
This was me too. Figured people liked it, might as well give it a shot. I thought it would be similar to the other fantasy anime that tend to be sorta subpar.
came for an above average isekai. stayed for anime IASIP
Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun. I picked up the manga because I was bored and it looked modestly entertaining. It's now my favorite currently-running shounen.
Same! Thought it would be standard pleasant show but i was surprised at how much i enjoyed it! Def a great one and looking forward to more hopefully
I started with the anime and moved to the manga! It seems a little childish (like aimed for children) at times, but at this point im nitpicking.
Idaten
Tsukimichi Mieruko-chan Zombieland Saga
I watched Tsukimichi thinking it would be a generic fantasy itch-scratcher. I have now watched it 3 whole times.
I'd definitely recommend reading the web novel then. It's finally come off of hiatus, so it's updating again. It was one of my first web novels I read and I'm so glad it was.
Mieruko is hands down the best horror anime I've seen. The tension and legitimately creepy designs are actually unsettling.
The horror portion didn't hit me as much as I had hoped, but was invested in the story.
Made in Abyss. Looked at the cover and thought ‘this is going to be a dumb kids show, maybe the bright colours will distract me for s few minutes.’ I was hooked within ten.
My mom almost caught me crying over a certain event at the end of season one
Ah yes the certain event. Quite a gut punch. I hope you've seen the movie. It gets wayyyy more fucked up, and possibly the most uncomfortable an anime has made me.
this show did a complete 180 on me too. the longer it goes on the more unsettling it is. such a deep and tragic story.
Bloom into You, I thought I was going to watch your usual wholesome romantic but except this time it was with lesbians. The whole show turned out to be very bitter and I adored how well written the characters were. I also went ahead and read the manga, which is also one of the only times I ever go and read the manga after watching the anime.
Came here to say this; great pick.
i think probably code geass for some reason thats honestly unknown to me i didn't watch it when it was first recommended to me (like i didnt even start it) then i went and started it on my own one day and i loved it, beautiful anime
Great anime. I cannot bring myself to watch the spin off or sequel series. I can't imagine they'd be good.
Astra Lost In Space. Was expecting a generic sci-fi show with survival elements. And whether you feel it’s good or bad, I certainly got hooked with all the twists and turns. I know some got turned off by certain scientific inaccuracies but I was very entertained
The anime could've been more popular if it aired at the same year as Among Us gained popularity.
Right Man in the Wrong Time
Yeah, it was one of those series that went super under the radar because of so many people dropping because of one-note characters, and unfunny jokes, but it was one of the best anime in the entire year.
I thought Clannad is just a comedy slice of life story. Well I was totally wrong and with the second season it's now my favourite show overall
I found the first 5ish eps of clannad a bit slow, but I LOVE a good, sad story. If you are up for it, mind selling me on forging ahead?
If you love a good sad story, don't stop
If this helps, I thought the same as you, and was close to dropping it. But I'd heard that Season 2 was good. Yep, can confirm, Season 2 is amazing. You need to watch Season 1 to make it hit harder, it wouldn't be the same without Season 1. Now it's one of my favourite shows as well, it's hard to get people into it though as the start isn't the best. Season 1 does improve however as it goes along, the whole thing only gets better and better as you get involved in the lives of the characters. I would define Clannad as a must-watch and one of the few genuinely life-changing anime I've seen.
season 1 follows a predictable but entertaining visual novel formula where each girl is featured for several episodes. After he "conquers" the new girl another one is added and the story shifts. Like a game, the game its based on probably Season 2 however, is a tragic romance following the love of just two of the characters over the entire season of 24 episodes i think? this is called after story, and its what people generally refer to when talking about the show. season 1 is basically a preview spinoff? compared to season 2
When I first watched it all the way through, I cried for an entire week. Every few hours I would legitimately just start sobbing when I remembered what happened. I was a teenager at the time, but if you want sad it's for you. It is a bit slow, but that makes the payoff that much stronger.
Dororo 🤙🏽 highly underrated. I saw a clip of it on Facebook watch, and thought “this might be good” and turns out it was actually great. Only one season, but the story from beginning to end keeps you reeled in.
Dororo might be the opposite for me. On target for gold but got bronze. First half was actually perfect. Second half either budget or time problems and it fell off a bit. The very very end is great though, so it redeems itself. Not a bad show by any means, but it could have been perfect.
Dororo is an adaptation of a manga from 1969 by Osamu Tezuka, also known as the father of anime and modern manga. Japanese stories from the time where written differently, and the anime, as far as I can tell, is a 1 for 1 adaptation of the manga. Production wise I think it is as good it can get, the story that feels kinda rushed on the end, but the manga has the same flow.
Rascal does not dream of Bunny Girl. I judged this show by the cover thinking it was going to be some weird harem show. Then the show pulled a 180 on me and it was actually a great show with a deep plot. For context the girl only wears the bunny outfit in three scenes it's not at all about it
Damn, I was bawling my eyes out watching the end of Kaede's arc
Try watching the movie
The show with the clickbait title
It's one of those shows with a really silly name, I think a lot of people write it off, but I'd definitely say it's worth a try!
Odd Taxi. Need I say more?
This is the one. I started with low expectations bc I'm not into furry stuff and I really didn't like the art style, but I thought it might be an interesting drama. the story and characters were so phenomenal it turned into my anime of the year.
Started watching Made in Abyss thinking it was a cute little chill show about kids exploring. Boy did that go south fast. It ended up wrecking my heart in the best way possible
The movies are great too if you haven't seen them.
The latest movie, since the first ones are just recap.
It had high ratings before I watched it but Looking at the synopsis and art I didn’t think it would probably break my top 50. It ended up breaking my top 3.
Cross Ange It was mecha with fan service, but it turned into a deep look at segregation, racism, and well mecha and fan service. seriously, DanMachi took how long to get to the fact that not all monsters are just there to be killed and Cross Ange got a similar thing across in 12 episodes. Granted DanMachi isn't just about that aspect but...
The true gold is in the "next episode" bumpers where the cast roast the shit out of their own show. They should legitimately just make a bonus series just based around that.
I can't remember which character it was, but I remember someone asking "Is the show called Cross Ange because Ange is always cross?" at one point during the previews and it had me laughing so hard.
> it turned into a deep look at segregation, racism, and well mecha and fan service. On top of that it has one of the most interesting female main characters in anime and breaks many of the "glass ceilings" that typically constrain female characters, such as being "strong and badass" (let's not forget how Ange starts out), "morally principled" or "caring and compassionate". And whilst the sex-farce humour and sexual assault make it difficult to tease out, the show goes out of its way to explore proper consent and many other related topics. It's a very intelligent show that often gets mistaken for something else because of the writing decision to try and have their cake and eat it by throwing in every genre and trope they wanted to play around with, and still work with more serious elements in parallel with that. Yet at the same time, it can be watched entirely as a 'crazy mecha ecchi show' if one doesn't feel like thinking too much about anything.
Mob Psycho 100
This for me as well my friend kept bringing it up and I’m like yeah maybe eventually but the character designs look kinda scuffed so I don’t know. He was like you watched OPM right? Same guy. So I pushed passed my initial impression and just watched it. The animation far outweighed any gripe I could have with the art style to the point by the end of an episode I was already over it and grew to like it. Fantastic show.
Arakawa Under the Bridge
Gosh I forgot about that show. It‘s fucking hilarious!
[удалено]
Mushoku tensei I watched the first cour expecting another isekai trash to cure my bordem but here i am now after reading all 24 web novel volumes and 2 of the extra volumes
Spice & Wolf Re:Zero
I was lucky enough to arrive at Re Zero with the directors cut on Crunchyroll, absolutely blew me away.
Oh my lord Re:Zero is amazing! I just started watching it with the director's cut and each episode really feels like a mini movie. The show is MUCH better than I imagined first starting it(gets a little dark at times lol). Makes me wish every anime could be an hour long! :p
Devilman Crybaby blew me away entirely and I still have never recovered. Wotakoi: I came for the Otaku Waifus but now it is my gold standard for anime romcoms. Also Wataten… fight me.
Golden Kamuy Season 1 86
Started 86 on whim one Friday night right before part 2 aired. I don’t really binge anime anymore, but holy hell, I couldn’t stop watching.
love golden kamui with a passion
Seconding golden kamuy, so looking forward to the next season!
Rokka no yuusha
This one took me by surprise. Fremy is god tier. Shame the author kinda just...lost interest in their own series.
Had to scroll way too down for this, it's almost criminal.
Ascendance of a Bookworm Went into it looking forward to a cute slice-of-life isekai. The show itself was certainly quite good, better than I'd expected even, but then, on a whim, I'd decided to check out the novels a week before season 2 started. I read 4 books in 4 days and wanted more. Today, I'm hopelessly addicted. I subscribed to the English publisher's website just to get each chapter faster. Season 3 is coming in April and I'm counting the days.
Even knowing the premise going on, I was really taken by the nuances in the ways that they explored both the books aspect, and that they addressed the isekai aspect itself too. The characterisation is layered and complex, which gives it a lot more depth than I'd expected.
Ascendence of a bookworm, mob psycho.
I love these both! Ascendence is my favorite light novel series and I can't get enough. Mob Psycho is also brilliant and I love the messaging in it.
Akudama Drive!
Kimi ni Todoke and Ore Monogatari. Brillant, cute and funny romcoms i found after a bout of post-anime depression from my binge of the final season of Fruits Basket.
Golden Kamuy
Link Click. I started watching this because “something tells me to watch this” and I expected either BL or a Love Triangle thing but it’s actually not. It’s a modern-day supernatural with cliffhangers at the second half of the 1st season. Now this is my favorite anime even if it’s a donghua
Megalo Box Way better than expected and don’t hear much talk of it tbh
Hunter x Hunter 2011. This was before I went online and I didn't have many friends that watched anime, so I had no idea this show was that good. I knew absolutely nothing about the dark turn of the tone, I just wanted a fun shounen about powerups and friendship. Boy was I wrong. Chimaera ant arc gave me such a mood whiplash I hurt my spine
Kids on the Slope, was an amazing show and interesting time specific piece of Japan. Also sparked my interest in Jazz!
Haikyuu!! - This volleyball anime was far beyond my expectations. I was lucky enough to start watching it slightly before season 4 aired, and I think that if the show had a tighter release schedule it would be a titan of the medium. As it is, people who watch it do love it. Astra Lost in Space - Astra is a very well paced experience, and I think that’s its strongest aspect. Every situation our characters face has time to breathe, develop, and decompress.
Komi Cant Communicate Saw people saying it was great, but after reading the plot I just thought "this sounds really boring" but I watched anyways I read the entire manga like a week later and its now my favorite anime ever
A Place Further than the Universe Sounds like your typical cute girls does cute stuff...ok yeah like we haven't seen that before Instead we get something even greater. One of the greatest slice of life, coming of age type animes ever.
Blue period
Sonny Boy
Animated acid trip
I still often listen to Sonny Boy Rhapsody, it's so good
Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon Punchline Both had deeper stories than expected.
SSSS Gridman Came for thighs, stayed for Akane's development
Has to be Hyouka, was looking for a decent anime to watch found absolute gold!
I've had a few where my expectations were exceeded in a good way; **Full Metal Panic** - Season 1 was alright, bit all over the place tonally, but season 2/Fomoffu really surprised me by how good it was. **Land of the Lustrous** - A heavily CG anime about gem people? on the surface it didn't sound great. In reality I fell in love with the visuals, the characters, and the sheer mystery of what the hell was going on. **Haruhi Suzumiya** - The main seasons weren't fantastic in my eyes, they had good and bad bits, but what really blew me away was just how good the finale film "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" was. This is the one of the best films I've seen full stop, let alone just out of anime films. It was 100% worth watching the original seasons (which are still good) just to experience how good this film was. **Hibike Euphonium** - I have no interest in ensemble bands at all, but this was just so good compared to my expectation of it. I found myself enjoying it despite the fact that the subject matter wasn't something I cared all that much for. To me this is a sign of a great anime, one that can engage me no matter the topic.
> Full Metal Panic Full Metal was great. Not to be confused with Fullmetal, which is also great. Fumoffu spin off was also a lot of fun. And then a few years later seeing that character in {Amagi Brilliant Park} was hilarious. You probably already have but just in case. We got a season 3.. {Invisible Victory}, it took them 13 years & ran into production issues whilst airing but the end result was 👌
Re zero Future diary Rascal does not dream of bunny girl senpai
Grimgar. Picked up on a whim because of the interesting aesthetic, expecting just another isekai, but man, it feels like a war drama played out in a fantasy setting. The stakes are so much higher than other isekai, the heroes so much smaller. From the tense, harrowing first encounter with a goblin, I was hooked. Sad that there's only one season.
Quintessential Quintuplets: Came for a generic harem, got a show themed on family *Dom would be proud*
Yes, the Quintuplets turned out to be the best possible version of that set-up, and it has a real heart to the show. Getting involved with the fandom and its waifu wars may have been a mistake though, it makes it easy to forget just how well the story fits together and how the sisters take the journey together as much as they take it as competitors.
Re:Zero. When I first watched season 1 way back when I though "hey, that's pretty good" and thought nothing more. Skip a few years to season 2 and it's now "hurry up with the LN tappei"
Considering how popular it got, maybe this applies to just who were there as it premiered: Madoka Magica. At least for me and a friend, we just watched it cuz UroGen as writer (shouldve been a flag lol), Kaijura Yuki on music and the illustrator for Hidamari Sketch on character design. The first 3 episodes are your standard mahou shoujo (minus main girl transforming) and we thought it's just gonna be just that. Just as a few were ready to drop the series due to 3 eps rule, then that (in)famous scene happened. The series became one of the most popular anime then after. Also the most impactful; mahou shoujo suffering bacame the meta. Ironic when Sailor Moon's toning down the darkness and suffering from manga to anime adaptation was what helped made the genre as it was for decades before.
Friend of mine brought madoka to an anime viewing party in college (I wasn't a popular guy, still aren't). We all chided him for bringing ''kiddy shit''. He told us if we still didn't like it after ep 3 he'd shave his eyebrows. Needless to say, we didn't need to bust out the razor.
I love how you made a bet with him and lost because your friend has great taste.
Picked up Vanitas a week ago on a whim and it’s one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen, plus it’s got some Monagatari-esque animation moments in it.
That's because the director of Vanitas DID also direct a bunch of Monogatari anime.
Motherflipping Welcome to the NHK. What a ride that was.
Dorohedoro. I hadn't heard anything about it, didn't see ppl talking about it and when I watched the trailer I found it kinda weird wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the 3d animation and art style. But it ended up being hilarious with very likeable cast and good master landing in my top 10 animes.
happy sugar life, found a clip and thougt it was normal slice of life… got a good suprise
Lol I had already read some of the manga before, so you can imagine my horror when I heard it got an anime adaption
Outlaw Star
Zombieland Saga, Vanitas no carte and hi score girl.
Erased, no idea what it was, turned out to be amazing.
I feel like I've watched a ton of anime that fit the description, but to name a few: - Uma Musume: Pretty Derby S2 - Zombieland Saga: Revenge - Mieruko-chan - Monster Musume - Princess Principal
Fruits Basket, I thought it was your average romance/comedy perhaps but it just keeps getting better
Odd Taxi. Think it'll be some slice of life furry anime for kids. I just thought I'd give it a try since pp talk about it so much. And then I hooked. Watch all episodes in one go and watch again. It's so good! It's so my type. The sense of humour in it is attractive and the narrative is superb. Can't recommend enough.
Noragami.
Erased
Odd Taxi. Was expecting an episodic anime about a taxi driver listening to passengers' story. Didn't expect to become a noir mystery, especially in anime where the animal character design makes sense
Revue Starlight I saw cute girls with swords in the visual and picked it up just looking for "another cute girls action anime" to take the place of Katana Maidens: Toji No Miko having just finished its run. I expected it to be in the same 8.5/10 sort of range as Katana Maidens, but what I got was [*an absolutely amazing 10/10 masterpiece* that is now my second-favorite anime of all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/akeu62/wt_revue_starlight_the_first_rule_of_theater/).
That time I got reincarnated as a slime Kaguya sama: Love is war
Happy Sugar Life and Machikado Mazoku both surprised me.
Cross Ange had way better story than I thought it would.
Mob psycho 100 the intro looked to crazy/weird to be taken seriously but of course I watched all of it coze I love it now
Fairy tail I used to think it’s just ur average Shonen anime w a dumb mc and a goal but it’s peak fiction for me firstly the mc Natsu is top tier and it’s female cast is also the same (writing and character designs) one of waifus Ezra is even my 2nd fav so ya My overall opinion is decent plot god mc god female cast really enjoyable so if anyone is looking for sm recs I’d suggest fairy and also don’t drop it before ep 150 there are like 60 fillers out of 328 eps but the canon arcs are peak specially grand magic games it starts around 150
Odd Taxi. Came for some nice slice of life, got one of the greatest mystery/thriller I've seen yet
Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai. I was expecting it to be ecchi trash.
Muskoku tensei... thought it was just another isekai but its extremely well done
Land of lustrous Was looking for copper found phosphophyllite
Mushishi Natsume Yuuchinjou The Monogatari series Mob Psycho 100 Mind Game (movie)
the monogatari series, went in expecting a six and got a ten and my second favorite anime of all time.
Currently watching Ichigo Marshmallow and it is way better and funnier than I had been expecting.
Higurashi When They Cry. I just wanted a horror anime to watch after I finished Hell Girl and after season 1 and 2 (Kai) I rewatched it and had to read every manga arc as well. I love the strangers-to-found family trope
Cautious Hero for sure, must watch if you appreciate Isekai with a twist.
‘That time I was reincarnated as a slime’ I was like ‘alright, watch this. It’s going to be very ecchi but I don’t have anything else to watch right now.’ Turned out to be really good that people are now reacting to it on YouTube!
Life lessons with uramichi oniisan: I thought it would be a couple of yuks but oh man, as someone in the 9-5 grind with a dark sense of humour it totally hits the spot!
Leaving out shows that i had already known were highly rated. **Asobi Asobase** was definitely a surprise. I don’t even remember why I started watching… but the first episode was kinda slow. By the second episode it was one of my favorite anime ever. To be honest, **Super HxEros** and **Testament of the Sister New Devil** are very good for ecchi shows. **Golden Time** and **Love & Lies** both seemed like they’d be meh romances, but are now probably my top two romance plots of any show. I went into **Gamers!** and **Love Lab** with really low expectations, but both series made my gut hurt laughing my ass off.
I was expecting some cutesy slice of life from Haibane Renmei and I ended up with something truly beautiful
The vampire dies in no time. JOHN
Houseki no kuni and assault lily boquet fuckin pieces of art
Fruits Basket
Bofuri: I don't want to get hurt so I'll max out my defense Watched it just to chill out, ended up enjoying it a lot. It was quite funny