ゴーストハント

(Ghost hunt)

Ghost hunt was one of the first animes I ever watched as a kid. I was really into horror growing up so when I came across an anime where the premise is ghost hunting I was estatic. I've rewatched this series more than I can count and it's never gotten old despite it being a pretty dated anime. The shining aspect of this anime would be its scooby-doo like approach to ghost hunting, some specters are real and some are easily explained, making the watcher have to use clues to guess which one it is each episode. The banter and relationships between the characters has held up as some of the best i've ever seen to date, very few animes actually nail organic feeling realistic relationships between its characters. At some points it feels like ghost hunt has more characters than needed, but they always find a way to make themselves useful to the plot or to the other characters there making their inclusion feel not only justified but needed for extra context/characterization. Only downside is that the anime will never get a second season, which i'm still sad about Ghost hunt is a hidden gem worth your watch (I've been trying to preach this to everyone I know to not let the anime die)

苺ましまろ

(ichigo mashimaro)

I watched this one pretty recently and it's already in my favorites list! usually I hate the type of animes that are just "cute girls doing cute things", they bore me to the point where I end up dropping them (for example i've only been able to get half way through lucky star) but this cute girl anime defies expectations. This is no usual tale of cute girls doing cute things, its one of the most realistic depictions of young girls living out their childhood. They get into trouble, fight, pick on eachother, and also have some really heartwarming moments. Another thing that worries me about animes that revolve around cute girls is the awkward/forced sexualization of them and im so happy to say that ichigo mashimaro contains none of that! The characters are in no way sexualized (which again is sadly rare for these types) which made the anime all the more endearing to me. It really felt like the creator just wanted to make something actual young girls could also enjoy. This anime is worth your watch if you're looking for a wholesome anime that wont bore you to death. I enjoyed the anime so much I ended up buying the entire manga series on ebay and they're some of my most prized possesions.

阿波連さんははかれない

(Aharen-san wa Hakarenai)

Aharen-san how I love thee.. yet another case of "this character is so obviously autistic coded but because japan doesn't like autism we can't say it's autism but it so obviously is". I'll take what I can get i'm desperate for these girls. Aharen is cute, autistic coded, and raido's over-concern with her mysterious and sometimes confusing signals is heartwarming. This anime doesn't get nearly the amount of hype it deserves. I read the manga and it's in a format suited for short burst jokes like old comic strips, the anime formats these in a much better way and translates it in a way I find more enjoyable to watch. Only thing I dislike about this anime was the fidget spinner jokes, not funny and I think it dates it. Other from that this is a great rom com, there's a high chance you'll relate if you're an autistic female. Too close, too far, too quiet, too mysterious. Raido seems to enjoy her nonetheless. I know a lot of people will not enjoy a lead female character that smiles maybe once or twice the entire show, but I find that the most relatable bit of the anime. I feel when the smiles are so rare, they become even more genuine and important when they do happen. People misreading a relaxed face to mean 1000 things. Worth the watch and i'm hoping for a second season to resume their cute and unconventional romance.

ドロヘドロ

(dorohedoro)

This is one of the best anime i've ever watched. "But.. it's 3d animation mixed with 2d... I don't like cgi anime.." If this is you then you will suffer 100 years by my curse. Jokes aside yes its CGI and it's the very best use of CGI in anime i've ever seen. It's still mixed with 2d to give it that manga-drawn look it has. I'll be honest, first time I watched this anime I was extremely high and the visuals actually made me scared. After one video I shut it off and was pretty freaked out. I got sober the next day and decided to watch it over and was blown away, glad I did. The anime is just as awesome as the manga, I watched it fully before reading the whole manga. I've been praying for a season two and recently netflix announced the production of the second season! The anime is very loyal to the manga and it translates over effortlessly. Female author = amazing female characters, the males are awesome too. The ED's for this anime are great too I saved them on my spotify. The world is wacky and wonderful and at the same time disgustingly interesting. Don't be fooled by the goofs, it can be serious and gorey when it wants to be. It's everything i've ever wanted from an anime. Why do the characters have so much drip? I dunno but it's awesome right? Shin and ebisu have to be some of my favorites but let's be honest I loved every "hero", "villain", and side character here. Watch this anime or the curse will come true..

ちょびっツ

(chobits)

This is the anime that inspired me to create a whole diary entry about the main character, chii. I see this anime and chii get so much hate. Yes it's basically a vintage anime at this point and it shows. It has a couple pointless episodes where nothing happens and it has the forsaken "recap episodes" where it only exists for people back in the day to remember old episodes due to it only being accessable to watch on tv broadcast. I hate them BUT it's very much so a product of it's time. People love to hate chii because it's easy to look at her from an outsiders perspective and see her only as a sex doll or mindless girl to cater to hideki but I disagree. She often inconveniences him and their dynamic is moreso of a parental/caretaking one to the point where the man himself who was a bit of a man-whore didn't look at her as an actual romance/sexual option until nearing the end of the series. I view this series as a profession of unconditional love. Chii provides little to nothing for hideki. In the beginning she is a burden on his already nonexistent finances, the man who barely can take care of himself now has to take care of another being. He still chooses to care for her and spends what little money he has on her. It's not until later that chii even learns to cook or finds a job, something she chose for herself. The purest type of love is love that is unconditional. If you'd like to see my observations on how chii can be relatable to autistic women check out my diary entries. This series may not be widely loved but it's coming back into popularity and I see more and more people enjoy it as time goes on. This deserves your watch, just skip the recaps and maybe even the filler episodes. This is a unique romance and premise worth keeping alive.

ひぐらしのなく頃に

(Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)

To clarify, I've only watched the animes released 2006 and 2007, I haven't watched the most recent 2020 release. My perspective is coming from someone that's never played the visual novel but I do eventually plan on playing it. I love the gore and violence higurashi brings to the table. It's absolutely brutal. I'm a fan of corpse party but I think in some aspects higurashi sells the brutality a little more, something about seeing the actions animated that makes it all the more real in a way a manga lacks. A downside to this series is that the lore gets a bit muddled after a bit. I love solving lore but higurashi had me to the point where I wondered if it was just making stuff up at a certain point for the fun of it. To this day i've read countless articles and even asked a friend I know to explain the lore and I STILL have no clue after a certain point. I hope this is something the visual novel can help with but it's disapointing it's not more clear in the anime but perhaps that's something that has been solved with the 2020 one. You do not need to know all of the lore to enjoy this, you can get by with what the anime does tell you and still enjoy every bit of whats going on. Campy horror gore that's well written. When the character is going insane, you really do feel it with him. You can easily get sucked up into the story yourself and go along with the ride, this is what cements this as one of my favorite animes.

黒執事

(Black butler)

This anime gives me my fix when I need gothic baroque elements with a hint of sherlock-esq mysteries to solve. This anime is slept on because it's old, much like many of the other works in my list. I've rewatched this series so many times over the years, it's another gem I watched when I was a kid at emo sleepovers. Last time I watched it was about four years ago, and I've been craving another watch. Forget everything else, the first two seasons are what I love the most. I heard a new season recently released but I have some aversions to it due to the drastic change in artstyle (sebastian looks so bad imo..) but I think I'll give it a shot. The lore is good, the mysteries are intriguing, the fight scenes are well animated. All the characters are nice, I especially love the phantomhive house attendants they're a much needed comedic relief in an an otherwise sad tale. I love the supernatural aspects of this world and how they turn well known folktales into mysteries to solve or characters to interact with. If you enjoy lolita fashion you'll love their outfits, vintage maid uniforms of the housekeepers, the butlers suits, and ciels ouija fashion are unique and pleasing to see. Give this old anime a shot and you'll instantly relive your old hot topic emo kid phase.

ダンジョン飯

(Dungeon Meshi)

"I'm so tired of fanservice anime. They always target the young girls with bouncing chests and panty shots. How come this never happens to the male characters?" What if I told you, this anime has multiple man grundle flashes at the screen? I was hooked too this shit is awesome! I'm not a huge fan of these types of fantasy anime, I often find them too boring but I took a chance on dungeon meshi purely because I was looking for a new anime to watch over dinners and it was the only one on the list that looked remotely interesting. I'm glad I took the chance. This is probably the newest anime to come out on my favorites list. It's gotten much praise for good reason. Your typical fantasy world but the characters are unique in their personalities and the aspect of cooking the creatures of the dungeon are added. I love cooking! I really enjoyed the aspect of fantasy recipes you get to see them describe and enjoy. This is one of the few ones I don't need to sell you on, the rest of the internet can do that for you as it's widely loved at the moment. I wasn't lying, you really do get dwarven grundle shots. The characters have very modern personalities which contrast with a very old premise and setting, it's refreshing to say the least. The characters have a ton of comedic moments together. I plan on watching the second season when it releases. I recommend the watch, I think this is the type of anime that anyone will enjoy despite what their usual favorites are.

N・H・Kにようこそ！

(Welcome to the N.H.K)

I watched this anime purely because it's about a mentally ill neet and I was ready to do some introspection. The anime version is good, not the best but a good watch worth it if you're a neet. I won't touch the manga with a ten foot pole after hearing it's majorly changed the story to that of a yandere fetish for the guy who wrote it. The true original written story is the best way to digest welcome to the nhk and I highly recommend you read it. The story has so much the anime wasn't able to include like censorship of drugs and heavier topics. You wont like the main charater in the anime until you're nearing the end but you'll understand him throughout the entirety of the original book. If you're sensitive to certain topics I wouldn't watch the anime as it handles the disgusting and undigestable sides of being mentally ill. This is not an anime you can tell twitter you enjoyed. I think men can relate to the anime heavily, not in the sense of being a neet but in the way the main character truly does not improve his life until he has someone else depending on him, someone who needs him. Giving purpose to a young man to encourage him to grow and mature as a person (albiet slowly). Here is a link to a pdf of the original story. https://lightnovelshere.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/welcome-to-the-nhk.pdf

テないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い!

(Watamote)

In my manga list I detail how I only like up to a certain part of the manga because I feel like it becomes no longer relatable, it's anime counterpart eliminates this dilemma entirely! The watamote anime covers such a tiny amount of the manga it's really a shame there's not another season. I feel like it didn't get the love it deserved until years down the line and by then talks of a second season were out of the question. This is a classic anime for weirdos, infact I think the anime has a stronger cringe affect on people than the manga itself. There's nothing bad to say about this anime, it's faithful to the source material and theres no filler episodes or recaps. Tomoko is just as pathetically loveable in the anime as she is in the manga. The outro for watamote is hands down my favorite ED to date. Since the manga and anime are so similar, if you'd like a more in-depth take on this anime I would recommend reading my thoughts on it in the manga list.