Well in what regards is an anime 'underrated'? If in sales in the west only they yeah it's underrated, sports anime does not sell well in the west. But if in the opinions of the handful of people who have seen it then it isn't.DJ_DEnM said:
8 Underrated Anime Series You Should Have Watched
- Thread starter Encaen
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I missed the boat on RahXephon and I've never had the time to try and watch it again, but every instinct I has is telling me I should.Zontar said:
Full Metal Panic? Hajime no Ippo? Underrated? Am I still in the same universe?
No offense, they aren't bad series, there is much worse stuff out there, but a lot of people watched them.
If you want to talk about underrated how about Legend of the Galactic Heroes? Shoujo Kakumei Utena? Gankutsuou? Katanagatari? Level E? All of these are highly rated yet I never met a single person who watched them.
No offense, they aren't bad series, there is much worse stuff out there, but a lot of people watched them.
If you want to talk about underrated how about Legend of the Galactic Heroes? Shoujo Kakumei Utena? Gankutsuou? Katanagatari? Level E? All of these are highly rated yet I never met a single person who watched them.
Perhaps obscure would have been a better adjective to use than underrated. Anyway, from the list, I've only seen Last Exile and Hajime no Ippo. Last Exile was alright, but it never really sucked me in. I loved Ippo at the start, but I ended up dropping Rising after watching him fight Mako fucking Tsunami
It's terrifying how many of these I have either seen or are on my list. All but Ergo Proxy, which I didn't like the look of.
Wolfs Rain is more underrated than most of these. But I might have to get into Tokyo Ravens though
I loved Escaflowne when I was in high school and even had all the VHS. But, you know, I also watched soap operas in high school, and if Guiding Light had giant robots that turned into dragons, it would basically be Escaflowne with a hospital. I seem to recall a big chunk in the middle that dealt mostly with the Hitomi-Vann-Blondie love triangle instead of blowing things up.
I can't even tell what people watch these days. Still, I am of the opinion that too many folks give me blank stares when I mention Black Lagoon. Also, not enough people have watched the original Bubblegum Crisis, but I don't know that the series is underrated- it might just be a pain to find these days.
I can't even tell what people watch these days. Still, I am of the opinion that too many folks give me blank stares when I mention Black Lagoon. Also, not enough people have watched the original Bubblegum Crisis, but I don't know that the series is underrated- it might just be a pain to find these days.
From this list i haven't seen Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode, Gunslinger girl and Tokyo ravens and i don't watch anime all that often.. I wasn't aware that Hajime no Ippo was underrated, actually i thought it was wildly popular, at least the manga has a billion chapters already and is still going strong, that wouldn't happen if people didn't like it.
Only one I've seen was FMP and I can't really say it's underrated or a "should see". It's first season was pretty good but it had a very weak/rushed 2nd season. It's best moments were in Fumoffu which I loved only because they took the series' strongest aspect(wacky comedy) and discarded just about everything else the series was supposed to be about, which only highlights how not great those things were. As a whole it's a fairly average anime that will get some laughs if you're into the silliness they do(it's not for everyone) but I wouldn't put it on anyone's "should see" list.
You're right that it may not have sold well in the west, considering that the extent of its release there was one season over 10 years ago. That said, it's not underrated just because it didn't do well in the West. Otherwise we could say, in the case of a completely hypothetical example, that Frank Herbert's Dune was underrated because it didn't do well in Japan (No idea if it actually did, hence the example being somewhat random).P-89 Scorpion said:
When you have a manga in serialization for over 20 years, with three different anime releases totaling over 110 episodes, you're definitely not "underrated".
Out of the list, I only know three of them (Last Eciles, Gunslinger Girls and Full Metal Panic!). I really should watch Last Exiles at some point.
Guess I'll check out Tokyo Ravens and maybe Birdy and Gunslinger Girl out of that list. Also, reading the thread reminded me I still have SoGH on my backlog *shame*
That being said, I've got to agree with the commonly voiced opinion, that regardless of their quality, it's hard to consider titles like Hajime no Ippo or Ergo Proxy underrated. Next I'll hear One Piece is "obscure" or something.
Far as my own picks, not necessarily for underrated anime, but definitely good series I don't hear mentioned often:
Natsume Yuujinchou
A mortal boy in modern Japan happens to be one of the few people remaining, who are able to interact with folk spirits. As he moves back into the town where his grandmother came from, it turns out she was similarily gifted and became something of a supernatural celebrity, partly by binding spirit names into a book, that the lad inherited. And so, the protagonist who in the past suffered greatly for his abilities and grew to detest them, gets a chance to reconcile himself with his own nature and to learn to balance the spiritual and mortal parts of his heritage.
The anime generally keeps a fairly light, upbeat tone despite dealing with a couple nasty adult fears which, coupled with a relaxed pacing and a likeable protagonist makes it IMO quite charming.
Planetes:
Trash collection... In Spaaaace! An unusual anime in that it goes to great lenghts to portray near future space travel as accurately as possible. The main cast mostly works as cleaning crew, keeping Earth's orbit clear of hazardous debris, but that's mostly an excuse for oldschool scifi within a character driven narrative.
Flag:
A young photojournalist covers a middle-eastern conflict and the use of a new weapons platform (mecha!) therein, where she takes an uplifting photo, that quickly gains a lot of symbolic value. The anime vastly overestimates the value of propaganda IMO, but it's well made, it's serious about the whole "war" business rather than showing it as a one big party with XXL sized fireworks and it offers an interesting angle on the psychological effects of singlehandedly driving an advanced warmachine. Also, rare example of a modern anime belonging to the "real robot" subgenre of mecha anime.
Usagi Drop:
Adult protagonist discovers, during his grandfather's funeral, that said grandfather had a daughter with a mistress a few years ago. Now that the grandfather's dead though, and the mother isn't willing to take care of the child, the guy's half-aunt is about to be left alone. So, he takes her in and we have a bachelor living with a kid and it's all sorts of cute, but also all sorts of sad (but not Clannad level sad, luckily. Afterstory made me bawl my eyes out), given the circumstances.
Cromartie Highschool:
On one hand, I recall this being referred to as a classic, on the other it really doesn't pop up that often... All in all, I'm not sure if it belongs here, but it's an anime, that has Freddie Mercury, Norio Wakamoto as a robot (and later on, a
) and there's gorillas and um, like... Go see it if you hadn't already, 'kay? Sense of humour is generally something that can be hard to explain, but that thing is just bloody hilarious.
I dunno, there's more stuff out there I really like I don't often see mentioned, but I've already gotten excessively verbose again. Maybe I just have low standards after all...? *scuttles away*
Edit: Also Michiko to Hatchin. I've meant to end the list, but I really can't skip that one, two girls set out together on a journey to find a man they thought would be close to them only to learn, in the end, that
All that happens in the beatiful yet dangerous not-Brazil with its pervasive poverty, flimsy favelas and greedy gangs, lending a vibrant environment to a well written story.
That being said, I've got to agree with the commonly voiced opinion, that regardless of their quality, it's hard to consider titles like Hajime no Ippo or Ergo Proxy underrated. Next I'll hear One Piece is "obscure" or something.
Far as my own picks, not necessarily for underrated anime, but definitely good series I don't hear mentioned often:
Natsume Yuujinchou
A mortal boy in modern Japan happens to be one of the few people remaining, who are able to interact with folk spirits. As he moves back into the town where his grandmother came from, it turns out she was similarily gifted and became something of a supernatural celebrity, partly by binding spirit names into a book, that the lad inherited. And so, the protagonist who in the past suffered greatly for his abilities and grew to detest them, gets a chance to reconcile himself with his own nature and to learn to balance the spiritual and mortal parts of his heritage.
The anime generally keeps a fairly light, upbeat tone despite dealing with a couple nasty adult fears which, coupled with a relaxed pacing and a likeable protagonist makes it IMO quite charming.
Planetes:
Trash collection... In Spaaaace! An unusual anime in that it goes to great lenghts to portray near future space travel as accurately as possible. The main cast mostly works as cleaning crew, keeping Earth's orbit clear of hazardous debris, but that's mostly an excuse for oldschool scifi within a character driven narrative.
Flag:
A young photojournalist covers a middle-eastern conflict and the use of a new weapons platform (mecha!) therein, where she takes an uplifting photo, that quickly gains a lot of symbolic value. The anime vastly overestimates the value of propaganda IMO, but it's well made, it's serious about the whole "war" business rather than showing it as a one big party with XXL sized fireworks and it offers an interesting angle on the psychological effects of singlehandedly driving an advanced warmachine. Also, rare example of a modern anime belonging to the "real robot" subgenre of mecha anime.
Usagi Drop:
Adult protagonist discovers, during his grandfather's funeral, that said grandfather had a daughter with a mistress a few years ago. Now that the grandfather's dead though, and the mother isn't willing to take care of the child, the guy's half-aunt is about to be left alone. So, he takes her in and we have a bachelor living with a kid and it's all sorts of cute, but also all sorts of sad (but not Clannad level sad, luckily. Afterstory made me bawl my eyes out), given the circumstances.
Cromartie Highschool:
On one hand, I recall this being referred to as a classic, on the other it really doesn't pop up that often... All in all, I'm not sure if it belongs here, but it's an anime, that has Freddie Mercury, Norio Wakamoto as a robot (and later on, a
motorcycle
I dunno, there's more stuff out there I really like I don't often see mentioned, but I've already gotten excessively verbose again. Maybe I just have low standards after all...? *scuttles away*
Edit: Also Michiko to Hatchin. I've meant to end the list, but I really can't skip that one, two girls set out together on a journey to find a man they thought would be close to them only to learn, in the end, that
all they needed was each other. Obviously. No, it's nothing dirty like the stuff you're probably imagining just now.
I'm pretty into anime and have seen most of the series listed. Solid list though! I particularly like Birdy the Mighty Decode and Last Exile's first season - the 2nd was bad in my opinion.
And since we're talking underrated anime, I can't pass up another opportunity to bring up Haibane Renmei. Such a sweet, atmospheric little series.
And since we're talking underrated anime, I can't pass up another opportunity to bring up Haibane Renmei. Such a sweet, atmospheric little series.