Forget all the mainstream crap that even the normies will rave about like it's the second coming. I want to know about the most obscure titles I've probably never heard of or are so old people don't even realise they exist but are actually all really good.
Three picks of mine that might have not made their way on peoples' radars.
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/heavy-object
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/jormungand
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/tytania
I love serious sci-fi a lot or stuff that borders on it, bonus points if it's got good animation with proper battles, these three anime fit the bill for me. Jormungand is more of a military style anime but I often find these anime that fly under the radar often tend to be the better quality ones rather than the more heavily advertised mainstream titles and isekai trash.
Aldnoah Zero
S2 sucked ass
Honestly I only watched the first
Don't waste your time with S2 then.
Totally agree on Jormungand. I was especially surprised at how well it actually handled the guns, where guns have realistic handling and bullet physics (like a character surviving a "Shot through the scope" thing because modern scopes has so many layers of glass it is virtually impossible to go all the way through). I think my only major complain is that I thoroughly disagree with the ending of the anime and dont think the plan would actually work as they want it to. But still, very good.
As for me, I really enjoyed Eighty-Six: 86. Essentially, it is the usual "AI is created and then tries to kill all the humans" story at the start, but the main nation shown in the show claims they are fighting the AI (known as Legion) using "ethical warfare" means of pilots remote controlling drones to ensure minimal loss of life. In reality, the "drones" are crewed by those known as the "Eighty-Six", who are those who were left behind outside the walls and condemned to die to the Legion, and offered a chance to become a citizen if they survive a tour of duty......assuming they make it past their suicide mission they are always sent on before the time is up.
It handles the top of discrimination in a way Hollywood and the SJW's WISH they were capable of. The 86 are shown to be just as racist toward the people of the city, even when they want to help (like the new handler of the main characters squadron), as well as being more than willing to attack fellow 86 for having the audacity of "being nice to the 'White Pigs'". But it also shows that the people of the city are not good either and are more than willing to put racism before reason, even when the main characters start finding evidence that some of the methods used by the city are actively making the Legion more powerful.
Definitely recommend, and I think it is still ongoing with new seasons at the moment.
86 was a really cool premise, and it was good enough that I saw it through, but I felt like it kinda got nonsensical as it went on. Like late season Tokyo ghoul unraveling.
Gungrave, I see almost nobody talk about it, but its genuinely fantastic.
Its like modern/sci-fi Berserk if it actually ended and the ending was good.
Yakitate!! Japan is a hilarious and fun show about competitive bread baking of all things, but its great. It is far, far better than Food Wars, thoroughly enjoyable and pretty damn obscure.
Kaiji isn't that obscure, but its underrated enough that I'll recommend it because its great.
Grand Blue is a great college comedy that doesn't get that much attention afaik.
Bokurano is a tragic anime but well-told.
Gurren Lagann isn't obscure by any means, but I will call it underrated until literally every anime enjoyer watches it, because its the GOAT and it deserves more attention than it has.
Giga!
DRILL...
BREAKUH!!!
I'm finishing up Yakitate Japan right now and it's a much watch. All the good stuff in Food Wars with none of the bad.
If you start Kaiji you will be hooked until you see how each game ends. I can't believe how many episodes I watched about playing a pachinko machine.
Gurren is mandatory viewing. No excuses.
I know I'm the one who started the underrated anime thread but lol I did actually enjoy food wars, what I didn't like is how they clearly forced an extra season out of the anime for the sake of extra life when it should have ended the way it did. Seemed like a classic case of meddling from the higher ups to me.
Some mainstream stuff I do enjoy which is unusual for me but it shows you what a medium can do when it's not infested with leftists. I do agree though that when an anime floats under the radar it doesn't have the usual trappings stuff that gets popular does when they try to appeal to the widest possible audience.
Gungrave is my all time number 1
Bokurano hits you like a fucking truck. It is a criminally underrated work. I would say more but I really want people to experience it for themselves.
Bokurano is a classic case of adaptation decay. Every one of these anime should first be checked for a manga version because adaptations are almost always worse - read the books.
If it's an original series made for anime it's typically a lot better than nearly every adapted show.
Nah, the OG manga's ending fucking sucked by comparison, the director did a much better job, otherwise it would've just been a meaningless nihilism/despair circlejerk.
I'll push back on that and say that there was one episode in particular that was handled far better in the anime than its counterpart in the manga, specifically the episode with the fat kid and how he handled himself.
Do people know about Redline (2009)?
If not I highly recommend it. Great flick and I never see people discuss it. God do I want a 4k version of it.
Not sure that would be considered obscure or not.
Soundtrack alone is worth listening to:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=doEwWzMz99A
I LOVE Redline. Probably also one of the better dubs I can think of out there too.
Redline was the one movie I've ever watched that left me with the distinct understanding of what sensory overload was. Goddamn brilliant film. Seven years in production but it absolutely shows in the best way possible.
Definitely Gankutsuou or the Count of Monte Cristo. Let's take one of the most famous revenge stories from french literature but have the director do the sort of drugs that result in something like the DeLorean from Back to the Future. The result is setting it in the year 3,000, where France is a space spanning empire and the Count himself is possessed by a space demon after getting betrayed by his crew. It's a slow revenge build up story driven by an idiot protagonist, but it's really good.
Jormungand's second season kinda sucks with the whole "crash the sky" plot. I didn't much care for it.
I also plan on rewatching Twelve Kingdoms sometime soon. This was isekai a decade before the genre even existed and it's good. A schoolgirl meets her Kirin and is transported back. She has the magic sword to learn the language but her friends that got sucked in too don't. Imagine being Isekaied without knowing the language or having access to modern technology. I also wanna rewatch Dennou Coil and Moribito at some point.
Obscure Sci-fi would be Z.O.E Dolores, I. Half the series is just trying to get from Earth to Mars while the family is being chased by authorities. Decent English dub. And if you haven't seen Yamato, you should.
The original Count has a much better storyline than Gankutsuou. I checked out early but on reviewing the plot and ending later, I'm glad I got out early.
Holy shit, I thought I was the only one who watched Dennou Coil. It sits in that weird design space adjacent to Digimon and .Hack.
Tytania isn't under-rated, it's just store brand Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Store-brand LotGH is probably better than a lot of stuff out there tbf.
That's the thing, perhaps this tells you how jaded I am but even an average space opera these days is great for watching. I liked Tytania, even though it was clearly low budget because they duplicated the ships to make their fleets they still had a more consistent design and storytelling than most stuff out there.
I've ranted about this before in regards to art anime studios put out, but there's isekai trash, which has at least acceptable levels of silliness with their art in it but still entertaining enough to watch through. Then there's isekai garbage where they spend most of their time designing oversized 3D monsters and low effort low FPS characters because they can't be bothered hand drawing anything in which case you should have gone and made it a full 3D scene so you had more to work with.
Tytania didn't do that with their stuff and the 3D worked because it was spaceships so it wasn't jarring when they switched to hand drawn scenes. I think I only caught them doing the old slideshow trick twice in the whole series.
That's just me looking at it from an art perspective though it's refreshing lol.
Amagi Brilliant Park.
Especially after its director and many of its animators were murdered in the KyoAni arson.
That anime made me want to read the books...but they are not available in English. Anywhere.
these? https://nyaa.si/view/1239398
Normally I always try to support the official release, like I did with the Devil is a Part-Timer books.
However, in this case, there is NO official release...so this will do. Thank you.
Either Trigun or Apocalypse Zero. Granted I haven’t really watched much Anime but I really do think Trigun doesn’t get nearly as much love as it should.
Trigun is a good one, I like Desert Punk too.
Thunderbolt fantasy
Fuck you its anime
Also zoids, like all of it
Thunderbolt Fantasy is so freaking awesome. The fights in this puppet show are better than anything you'll find on Western TV.
That looks like a wuxia team America and now I'm just imagining a dub that is just 100% "Ching chang qi, cultivate qi, wang shadong"
nah it reminds me more of classic captain scarlet or thunderbirds. Also this show is made in taiwan
Depends what you consider to be mainstream. Shin Sekai Yori is awesome, but might be mainstream enough? Depends if you mean mainstream among normies or mainstream among people who watch a lot of anime.
If you mean the latter, I enjoyed Tsukuyomi Moon Phase recently. The vast majority probably won't really like it, but I went in with sub zero expectations and the atmosphere it created was something I liked to the point where it's gotten me to read the manga, so that's gotta be worth something.
I would also recommend Shin Sekai Yori.
Anything over a decade old that isn't cash-cow shonen will already elude 50% of the casual audience. Casual consumers only annoy me because web searches for recommendations are worse than 15 years ago (SEO robot spam indirectly imitates what search engines think normies want).
Eden of the East, Monster, and season 1 Log Horizon come to mind.
Kino's Journey (both the 2003 original and 2017 "remake", which has enough new content it may as well be a second season).
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/kinos-journey
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/kinos-journey-the-beautiful-world-the-animated-series
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/beck-mongolian-chop-squad
Check out my anime iceberg from a while back and see how many series you can recognize (full list is in comments):
https://communities.win/c/KotakuInAction2/p/16aAIYAOFV/while-the-world-burns-heres-an-a/c
Demon City Shinjuku
It features adults, instead of screaming adolescents, which gives it an immediate plus. The art style is infinitely superior than the cheap hand-me-down North Korean factory garbage from the pre-CGI era after the golden age of anime, but the pacing is pretty awful, let's face it.
It also has great ideas that are presented fairly well. The problem is the pacing I agree.
I've noticed especially now anime has a major pacing problem in some cases and you're kind of better off waiting until all the anime episodes have mostly finished airing for the season so you can watch it uninterrupted. I blame normies and television for that, television needs to die to get rid of that awful formatting.
Ninja Scroll
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust
Highlander
Cyber City Oedo 808
Goku: Midnight Eye
Angel Cop
Dominion Tank Police
All of these are flawed but have stellar animation.
Dominion Tank Police really skips a lot of the manga lore. I only found out this year the cat girls are meant to be robots that can change their sizes by functioning like water ballasts.
Still, I loved the design for the mobile weapon platform that Bonapart has to fight in the later episodes. Far more streamline that GitS Tachikomas but still retaining an overall insect design as many anime exosuits often end up being based on.
Does that count as underrated? I thought it was generally pretty well revered.
Though the spinoff serial is pretty much nonsensical meh.
Fist of the North Star
All go with the following, some are still highly rates but under watched I'd guess: https://myanimelist.net/anime/182/Tenkuu_no_Escaflowne
https://myanimelist.net/anime/202/Wolfs_Rain
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1210/NHK_ni_Youkoso
https://myanimelist.net/anime/31771/Amanchu
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37105/Grand_Blue
https://myanimelist.net/anime/168/sCRYed
https://myanimelist.net/anime/180/Vandread
https://myanimelist.net/anime/339/Serial_Experiments_Lain
https://myanimelist.net/anime/569/Musekinin_Kanchou_Tylor
https://myanimelist.net/anime/650/Gunsmith_Cats
I'd put in more, seen too much o.0
Wolf's Rain and Escaflowne are underrated? Man I feel old now.
If anything escaflowne was overrated during it's time - the music, setting and robot design are great but the plot and characters are dumbfuck retarded shoujo cliches.
You damn whippersnappers. I watched Record Of Lodoss War back 30 years ago, and that was quality entertainment back then.
The art's beautiful to this day, really. The animation is, predictably, jank... but the art is still stunning.
Not something I've watched(because it isn't out yet beyond a trailer), but I'm really chomping at the bit for Naked Peak to be coming out, as it's going to be a an anime adaption of Lovecraft's Mountain of Madness, with all the autistic obsessive Japanese attention to detail that implies.
My god how did I miss this?
It's a manga but im saying it anyway because I can't beleive its not an anime. Akumetsu.
Ten times the overdone edginess of death note but with an actually interesting and pseudo-realistic plotline - instead of going after inmates, this mass murderer goes after the corrupt government and all the evil shit the elites do. Also why it will never get an anime.
If you're on this site you'll probably enjoy it. Don't read the later work by that artist though it's terrible.
This shit is still almost unknown in the West and I'm angry about it.
I'd rather Patlabor, and others, remain unknown lest they get the "live action adaptation" treatment.
Acceptable.
Fang of the Sun Dougram https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fang_of_the_Sun_Dougram
It's from the very early 80's and the animation is typical of the time, but the story is about the revolt and secession of an Earth colony in the future. It's got mecha like Gundam, but presents them fairly realistically and it takes a stab at real military tactics.
People die and politicians scheme and betray everyone. It's probably way too long and slow for modern audiences, but I can imagine it blowing the mind of a 12 year old of it's time.
I think you'd like the movie Patema Inverted. Hardly discussed but it's gone over extremely well with everyone I've shown it to. It's a wild movie about two factions living on a planet with gravity affecting them in opposite ways. If you're not careful you could fly right off into the sky.
I actually thought if I was REALLY underrated, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, it was actually a good series with a likable cast, an mc you could root for and relationship that just happened than dragged it out. Shame still no offical word on a season 2 yet, only rumours.
I also like with Jormungand is in the same universe as Black Lagoon as those were both great series for being shades of grey morally.
X'amd - it's like a mix between Eureka 7 and Nausicaa
Last Exile - Another Ghibli-esque anime reminiscent of Castle in the Sky
Transformers Armada - Starscream's best character arc ever.
Neo Tokyo - Anthology anime with a couple different storylines. Old 80s/90s animation that you won't see today outside of a Ghibli film.
Desert Punk - Post apocalyptic libertarian paradise.
Black Lagoon - Libertarian paradise that isn't post apocalyptic.
Some I was going to mention already were, but I'll second Chivalry of a Failed Knight and Log Horizon. Chivalry is excellent.
Also, mostly these probably aren't terribly obscure, but I do think they deserve more attention. For ones I haven't seen mentioned yet: Record of Grancrest War, Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Alderamin on the Sky, Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, takt op.Destiny, Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren't They?, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, and Ya Boy Kongming! The last is quite recent, but fun and distinct.
I have forgotten more of these than most people but let me dig out a few for folks.
The first anime that came to mind was Oh Edo Rocket. A lovely anachronistic period piece set in feudal Japan involving aliens crash landing on the planet and one madman's quest to build a rocket. It's mostly a lighthearted comedy with a little bit of adventure thrown in. It's one of a handful of shows I've got back to watch more than once. I don't know if I'd call it great, but it was definitely fun and something that falls through the cracks.
Next up is a show I still haven't got around to finishing even all these years later: Ghost Hound. This one's in the paranormal phenomenon genre. I actually cant' vouch for the story, but this one made an impression for it's distinctly meticulous sound design. Seriously, watch it with some good headphones. That's really all I remember it for.
The last two I have might not be underrated so much as they just don't have the level of visibility they really deserve.
Bokurano. Kids pilot giant robots. Anything beyond that is spoilers but I promise you that it's good and that you should go into it completely blind for best results. Seriously, don't look it up, just go find the first couple episodes and watch it. You should check it out even if mech animes aren't your thing (they certainly aren't my cup of tea).
Baccano. Fragmented storytelling at its best. Set in the 1920s with a jazzy soundtrack to match, follow a colorful cast of characters through their organized crime antics and let a supernatural mystery unravel. There's just a lot of really good onscreen chemistry between all the various characters and enough action to keep you hooked while you try to figure out what's happening and in what order. It's a very difficult approach to storytelling to pull off but this is pretty much the only example I've seen of it being done right and to great effect. This is one where if the opening credits/song catch your interest you can safely assume you'll enjoy what the show has to offer. Highly recommended if you need a break from the standard cookie cutter shows that get rolled out every season.
MM! kek
But seriously I liked Hidan no Aria the novel got to an insane number of volumes but there was never a season 2.
I don't watch much anime, but if you'll let me throw in a few manga:
ib-Instant Bullet. The original work of the guy behind Kaguya, and by his own admission his actual magnum opus that was unfortunately cancelled due to his inexperience leading to eh sales. Which means that unfortunately the final act is so rushed it gives you whiplash just to make sure he got the ending in.
But its a near masterful subversion of the "antihero turns good by the power of friendship and love" cliche you see so often. The protag opens the story by claiming that he is the villain, and he is then forced on a journey of love, friends, and all that gay shit. Only to find that it makes him hate the world more, because he finally has a taste for what he was denied for so long and is enraged that the world kept it from him. Its a very short read and the lore itself falls flat due to the aforementioned rushed finale, but I find that single "character arc" quite compelling. Unfortunately Kaguya shambled on for so long that his promise to revisit it is unlikely at this point.
Rosen Garten Saga. Unironically the funniest manga I've read in a long time. What starts out as a pretty bland ecchi comedy in the first few chapters quickly spirals into actual insanity as the rest of the cast fills out. The action is absurdly well done for what you'd expect to be a comedy and actually syncs incredibly well with the comedic and perverted aspects.
Its also just a fucking cornucopia of legendary heroes all represented in absurd ways. Alibaba is a bomb throwing lunatic on a motorcycle (because his "genie" was a smartphone that gave him advanced tech). King Arthur is a trap idol with enough strength to literally break reality. Beowulf uses a three sword style, but the third sword is his massive dong. Yamato Takeru is an actual madman whose brain only seems to understand murder and pleasing his father. Atilla the Hun is an ultra rich mastermind who is able to literally manipulate everyone at all times with setups going back 30+ chapters while also being a goofy idiot.
Probably not the kind of recommendations you'd want based on what you brought to the table, but if I can interest even one person I know they'd absolutely love Rosen Garten.
The early 2000s version of Hunter x Hunter. I just LOVE the artstyle of it, the music, the whole feel of it. The 2011 version is great..but the old one just hits Hunter x Hunter a lot better and I feel everyone disregards the older version "cuz it's old". Especially the York New arc is probably one of the best in whole of Anime, hands down.
And another one of my all time favorites that does get talked about a bit but not nearly enough: Shiki. I cannot really talk about it much without spoiling it. All I'll say is don't read up much about it. It's about a small town with people moving there and suddenly people get ill and die. The story's phenomenal, I've watched it probably 5 times by now. The immersion of the show is just out of this world, if I had to name my all time favorite Anime it's probably this one.
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/genocidal-organ
The end reveal really brought home current 'culture'. Don't want to say anymore so as not to spoil it.