Good evening, all.
A fairly old thread (with recent posts, anyway) had that grand old question 'what's your favourite anime' and the number of times I saw Naruto/Bleach/One Piece/Death Note/Fullmetal Alchemist (and so on and so on) got me thinking about the arthouse animes out there that few people watch, let alone like. For example, I loved Fuujin Monogatari, but when I tell people that, they give me o_0' because they've never heard of it.
Therefore, I'm sure there are many out there who liked lesser known releases that weren't really publicised (that I've never heard of, probably). Also, there are some series that are just plain underrated (or at least I think so).
So, what series have you watched that when you speak to your anime-addicted acquaintances they give you funny looks?
I'll start (and please give justification for liking the series beyond 'just 'cos'):
Fuujin Monogatari (Windy Tales) - the art style is an acquired taste, but it was refreshingly simple, and the story was quaintly charming, about a village of 'wind-users'. There's a recurring theme of photography, a romantic subplot that's very well executed given the context, oh, and flying cats!
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - I got this purely on its premise (i.e. an earthquake... well, the title says it all) but didn't watch it for a while. When I did, it was well worth it. It's a very personal story and a brilliantly performed piece of work, especially considering the protagonists, which makes all the companionship and bonding feel very real (along with the unfortunate delusion that takes over for the final third of the series).
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi (Miss Wolf & her Seven Companions) - I'm including this because I've seen it a total of zero times on Escapist forums (I might have missed something there). But this is an amusing take on children's stories and folktales (Western and Japanese) with a high school setting. Well worth the watch, if only for Ookami's meowing boxing gloves.
And here are a couple of series that I reckon are very underrated:
Gankutsuou - I've never seen this on anyone's top-# lists. However, I think it's one of the best (and very faithful at that, except for the ending, but it still pulls it off admirably) adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo. The voice cast is full of well-known names and it lives up to the billing, and yet reviewers considered it mediocre at best for hashed story-telling and OTT visuals. To me, neither were a problem (the story is complicated at the best of the times, but I'm a fan of the book, which is even more complicated, so maybe it's just me) and the animation and art style give the series a uniqueness sorely lacking in a lot of series these days.
Kurau Phantom Memory - I think this fits both criteria. Released in 2007, it's a sci-fi/alien/superpower story that's really just an unorthodox love story (unorthodox in both a 'love' sense and 'love story' sense) that's just so difficult to explain and yet it niggles at you for nine hours. It's one of those series that is impossible to pigeonhole into a genre because it involves a conspiracy, quite a lot of action, along with some very banal periods (as well as the sci-fi etc.), and yet for once it all fits together very well.
Anyway, enough from me, are there any series that you think didn't receive enough attention? Or you think were unduly trashed? Or, if you agree/disagree with my choices, discuss.
I'll probably mention a couple others along the way.
A fairly old thread (with recent posts, anyway) had that grand old question 'what's your favourite anime' and the number of times I saw Naruto/Bleach/One Piece/Death Note/Fullmetal Alchemist (and so on and so on) got me thinking about the arthouse animes out there that few people watch, let alone like. For example, I loved Fuujin Monogatari, but when I tell people that, they give me o_0' because they've never heard of it.
Therefore, I'm sure there are many out there who liked lesser known releases that weren't really publicised (that I've never heard of, probably). Also, there are some series that are just plain underrated (or at least I think so).
So, what series have you watched that when you speak to your anime-addicted acquaintances they give you funny looks?
I'll start (and please give justification for liking the series beyond 'just 'cos'):
Fuujin Monogatari (Windy Tales) - the art style is an acquired taste, but it was refreshingly simple, and the story was quaintly charming, about a village of 'wind-users'. There's a recurring theme of photography, a romantic subplot that's very well executed given the context, oh, and flying cats!
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - I got this purely on its premise (i.e. an earthquake... well, the title says it all) but didn't watch it for a while. When I did, it was well worth it. It's a very personal story and a brilliantly performed piece of work, especially considering the protagonists, which makes all the companionship and bonding feel very real (along with the unfortunate delusion that takes over for the final third of the series).
Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi (Miss Wolf & her Seven Companions) - I'm including this because I've seen it a total of zero times on Escapist forums (I might have missed something there). But this is an amusing take on children's stories and folktales (Western and Japanese) with a high school setting. Well worth the watch, if only for Ookami's meowing boxing gloves.
And here are a couple of series that I reckon are very underrated:
Gankutsuou - I've never seen this on anyone's top-# lists. However, I think it's one of the best (and very faithful at that, except for the ending, but it still pulls it off admirably) adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo. The voice cast is full of well-known names and it lives up to the billing, and yet reviewers considered it mediocre at best for hashed story-telling and OTT visuals. To me, neither were a problem (the story is complicated at the best of the times, but I'm a fan of the book, which is even more complicated, so maybe it's just me) and the animation and art style give the series a uniqueness sorely lacking in a lot of series these days.
Kurau Phantom Memory - I think this fits both criteria. Released in 2007, it's a sci-fi/alien/superpower story that's really just an unorthodox love story (unorthodox in both a 'love' sense and 'love story' sense) that's just so difficult to explain and yet it niggles at you for nine hours. It's one of those series that is impossible to pigeonhole into a genre because it involves a conspiracy, quite a lot of action, along with some very banal periods (as well as the sci-fi etc.), and yet for once it all fits together very well.
Anyway, enough from me, are there any series that you think didn't receive enough attention? Or you think were unduly trashed? Or, if you agree/disagree with my choices, discuss.
I'll probably mention a couple others along the way.