So recently I had an anime watch party and we were browsing anime to watch and I came across Pluto. Admittedly I’m only 2 episodes in but so far it’s SO solid. And I’m just surprised I had never heard of it and it came out 3 years ago. Especially since it’s a reimagining of Astroboy and everyone’s heard of that…

Another one I had surprisingly never heard of but so far seems solid is Level E written by Yoshihiro Togashi. My favorite anime is YYH and I loved HxH so how come I hadn’t heard of Level E until now? Again, only 2 episodes in but seems legitimately good and it’s by a wildly successful creator.

What’s an anime you didn’t expect much of because it seems lesser known, but turns out to be very good? I mean like, not only do u like it but ur surprised the general public - casual anime fans aren’t aware of it.

  • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    6 hours ago

    Moriarty The Patriot: genuinely blows my mind that this one isn’t more well known. Sherlock yaoi + murdering rich bastards feels like such a slam dunk, and despite delivering plenty on both I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thing about this anime.

    Blood Blockade Battlefront: This one is honestly just okay, but the animation is solid and the VAs have some pedigree. Idk if it just came out at a bad time or if people didn’t vibe with some of the episode plots, but it always surprised me that it only managed two seasons and then kinda faded out completely.

  • Seefra 1@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    10 hours ago

    Now and Then, Here and There, a very heavy anime, I guess it’s heaviness is the reason why it never became super popular, but still, I think it still had what it takes to become an anime of cult.

    Shiki, also deserves more recognition than what it has.

    Kemono no Souja Erin, I didn’t finish this one, but the first half is amazing, unless the second half looses quality this one should have been popular too.

    Also, it’s worth to mention Gunslinger Girl.

    All these shows are kinda dark, so maybe that’s why they never got the recognition they deserve.

  • subverted_per@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    2·
    10 hours ago

    Charlotte - story about a guy with a weak power to take control of people for just a few seconds. Since it’s weak he uses it ro cheat on tests and convince his crush to like him. Others with powers find him to make him not to abuse his power. Its a subtle slice of life anime the builds into a great story with some of the best character growth I’ve seen.

    Heavenly delusion - horror anime aboutbtwonkids in the aftermath of an apocalypse where monsters roam, and they’re trying to find an old school. At the same time there’s a strange school with mutated kids all being taught by robots and doctors watch them constantly. Its very interesting sci-fi based on this Buddhist idea that heaven exists right in front of your nose, but disappears if you look elsewhere. Does have a scene of SA. Im waiting for the second season.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
    3·
    15 hours ago

    BLUE gender, an odd show at late night, shows a bunch of bugs suddenly show up on earth out of nowhere after they did some experiments with DNA(sounds very familiar to evangelion if not the same story/premise).

    the fun thing about the bugs was thier ability to evolve against human machinery, and consume both organic and inorganic matter like metal and concrete for energy, which made them the perfect weapon against humans. very evangelion like. by the end of the series the earth sent a signal to cause the bugs to go extinct, and the ones on the space station too. but left the scattered survivors. they were very obscure as to the origin of the bugs, and the strange guinan origin of bugs and the structure energy beam.

    the OG full metal alchemist, i dont think it has much viewership as brotherhood. because it was on late night.

    also Ghost in the shell, convoluted and hard to follow but i did get the jist of it by the end.

  • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    21 hours ago

    There’s quite a few that I’m surprised I’ve never seen anyone talk about outside of dedicated forums.

    Akudama Drive ruled start to finish. It’s worth watching for the animation alone.

    Xam’d: Lost Memories feels like it’s only a few years old, but it came out less than a year after Gurren Lagann. In 2008. Bones makes real pretty shows.

    Speaking of Bones, Carole and Tuesday was solid. My only issue was that it didn’t take a hard enough stance against AI, but also it came out before ChatGPT and long before AI generated music was a real issue so I can’t really blame them.

  • Lupo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    22 hours ago

    These are my submissions

    Katanagatari (Bumping OST and cool fights with Nisio Isin writing)

    Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (vibing isekai too busy surviving to care)

    Ben-to (Stupid premise combat anime that lives rent free in my head)

    • NineSwords@ani.socialEnglish
      1·
      17 hours ago

      Ben-To is peak. The premise is too silly, though, to get normies into it. I tried. It’s like Keijo!!! in that regard and deserves more love.

      Grimgar deserves to be forgotten. Ranta is unsufferable and Haruhiro is whiny and moping around for most of the anime adaptation. I’ve read the light novels further than what was adapted in the anime and by the point I dropped it I couldn’t stand a single character anymore. Even Yume-butt can’t save this. It was incredibly pretty, though. It’s a shame the background artists died.

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    1 day ago

    I’m watching Hell’s Paradise right now. It’s clearly done on a decent budget, but the animators are pretty good at knowing where they need to focus that cash. Meanwhile, the story is actually pretty good. For something like a Shonen-style power-system story, there’s a lot more going on than just flashy martial arts. I’m enjoying this one, and am surprised I haven’t heard of it before last month.

    • amnesiaftw@ani.socialOPEnglish
      3·
      23 hours ago

      Great show. I finished that a few months ago. Definitely underrated. I’ve seen it recommended on Reddit a few times so not underground at all, but definitely a bit under appreciated. Animation is gorgeous for most of it and the whole thing is so eerie.