I know a Dark Souls adaptation initially sounds like a terrible idea, but it could be great if it focuses on some of the interesting characters in the lore and does not touch the player characters. I always thought a prequel to Dark Souls 2 would be perfect for a series, with Vendrick and Aldia and all that stuff.

My ideal would be a movie covering the backstory of Lautrec from the original Dark Souls. What did that guy get up to before he got imprisoned in the Undead Church?
Might also give some insight into why he does the strange things he does in the game

Monogatari series, especially when you get to Owarimonogatari. A few years ago I put together a custom watch order for the series here to increase the mystery. I’m biased but I highly recommend it; there’s one or two parts that might seem a little awkward, but I think it’s overall a big improvement.

The Tatami Galaxy. The overall plot is probably pretty obvious after the first couple episodes but connecting all the details is really interesting and not something you’d necessarily pick up on the first time you watch it.

Higueashi no Naku Koro ni is similar. You figure out pretty early how the show is structured, but finding out the details is where it gets interesting.

Kare Kano

It’s directed by Hideaki Anno, so it’s kinda similar to Evangelion, only without the fighting mechas. Everything about the show is perfect but I especially like the character Tsubasa Shibahime who has an arc around the middle of the show.

If you liked Eva, this one is a must-watch. The Anno characterization works so much better for me in a more realistic setting. And it has an amazing soundtrack by Shirou Sagisu

There’s a really good short video (4 minutes) from The Bellman about some of the differences in the demographics between shounen and seinen. https://youtu.be/o0Ts5_q6sMc

TL;DR is that a lot of it is the dialogue complexity. Frieren might appeal to an older audience, but it is written in a simple way that children can understand. Maybe it uses more common words, more furigana, or less kanji. It’s hard to notice, and maybe comes across even less in translated subtitles/dubbings.

Another thing to keep in mind is that anime databases like MAL usually categorize demographics entirely based on the magazine in which the source manga was published. Anime originals and light-novel-source anime don’t have demographic tags. [Though it seems that with consensus/community tags on AniList, this isn’t necessarily true.]
If it was published in a shoujo magazine, it’s technically a shoujo. Even if it’s something like Nana that has themes about contraception, pregnancy, and rape, it’s a shoujo because it was published in Cookie.

I’m personally not really a fan of these demographic categories since they are kinda arbitrary and useless, especially for western anime-watchers who won’t even notice or care if the dialogue of the source manga had more furigana (reading/pronunciation guides) or not.
And as an adult male who accepts shoujo manga as easily the greatest of any of these categories, I think I can also acknowledge that the demographics themselves don’t really apply to me.

But to just literally answer your question, it’s Nana. Like WOW, it’s pretty heavy for something ostensibly oriented towards children. Also featuring drugs, underaged prostitution, and a character who is a porn actress.

Code Geass is structured around having huge twists every 5-10 episodes. My favorite is the one from

Jaw-dropping, gasping for air, falling out of your chair kinda plot twist

Internet search shows me this website: https://anistats.kluge-it.tech/

But I’m not sure if it includes score differences stats

Christmas in January is probably one of my favorite movies ever, but it only has a 5.57 on MAL. It’s only 46 minutes and it’s the most densely good anime I’ve ever seen. As in like, it’s the best anime ever per-minute.

If you have a MAL account, you can plug in your username to anime.plus and you can view a bunch of stats including what your biggest score differences are. Here’s everything that I have rated around +2 points higher than the average score:

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009)	10	7.24	+2.76
Paniponi Dash!	10	7.44	+2.56
1-gatsu ni wa Christmas	8	5.57	+2.43
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou	10	7.60	+2.40
Gamers!	9	6.72	+2.28
B-gata H-kei	9	6.82	+2.18
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu	10	7.82	+2.18
Hibike! Euphonium	10	8.03	+1.97

All of these I would say are quite underrated, though Kare Kano and Hibike! Euphonium are pretty well-renowned. Haruhi is also very popular.

The first season of Golden Kamuy was amazing but I took a break after the first episode or two of the second season and totally forgot the plot. It’s pretty dense and has a lot of characters so it’s easy to forget exactly what was going on last.

I gotta get back into it at some point

It’s funny how before you are familiar with something, you can mentally place it in the same category as something it’s totally distinct from. Like if I ever heard of people talking about Love Live or idolM@ster, I kinda just placed all that information into the same box.

I had always put Prison School and High School of the Dead in the same box. Both some kind of trashy ecchi with a surface-level heavy theme. But actually, they are SO different.

Prison School is so creative, the stakes and tension feel so real. The silliness and seriousness blend together perfectly. It’s truly amazing and there’s nothing else like it. Also, the soundtrack is among the greatest of all time.

The anime and manga kinda suffer from their own problems. The anime is just a little too short to cover the parts of the manga that were truly jaw-dropping, like the room full of snakes or the futon scene. On the other hand, the manga suffers from the INFAMOUSLY long and boring and just awful “cavalry battle” arc which is just as bad or worse than its reputation would imply. Some people also really dislike the very end but I actually quite like how it ended and can’t really imagine there being a more sensible ending.

Trying to think of more objective ones rather than “Gamers! is really underrated” or “you should watch Galaxy Angel”…

• the first 5 stages of Initial D were done by a different studio every time
• Hideaki Anno, director of Evangelion, voices the main character in The Wind Rises
• Hideaki Anno also animated the god warrior scene from Nausicaa
• the story and characters of Hibike! Euphonium closely mirror Ace wo Nerae!
• Azumanga Daioh was the first in the “cute girls doing cute things” genre and is super influential
• Likewise, Urusei Yatsura was one of the most influential anime of all time

I feel like the intuitive answer is that:

• The OP changes the pace/mood, so postponing it establishes the entire first episode as an introduction, much like the introductory pre-OP segments of any other episode.
• Suspense for people who are excited to hear the new theme
• More time for exposition if you only have 1.5 minutes dedicated to theme songs instead of 3 minutes
• Ends the episode on a high note to give a good first impression, since OP is usually higher priority/focus than the ED or have popular artists

I will definitely check this out because I was not a fan of the vibe in the movie or SAC.

Gankutsuou / Monte Cristo anime definitely uses it as a stylistic choice. It kinda gives it a stained glass look, where each “panel” has its own complex 2D pattern.

In general though it’s kinda a middle ground where you get characters who wear textured clothing more interesting than a single color without requiring a ton of time and effort to create. I can’t really bring myself to complain about it when it would take 10x the effort to make it look 1.5x as good (though I do appreciate it when they DO take the time and effort to make animated textured clothing)

Like most Oshii movies imo, the Sky Crawlers was really boring. But, in a way I didn’t really mind; it was a good kind of boring, like 5 Centimeters Per Second or Christmas in January

What’s the one right center?

Excited for Mahou no Shimai Lulutto Lilly. The first anime-original Pierrot magical girl show since the 90s. It’ll also be a new entry in the mostly dead-ended evolutionary branch of magical girl shows that aren’t about fighting bad guys, but about being magical idols. In fact, this show looks SO similar to Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami that I’d almost call it a remake, based on the trailer. They even have the same familiars: a blue cat with pink eyes + a pink cat with blue eyes.

I would recommend Mushishi to anybody from age 5 to 105. I just finished rewatching it with my mom.
It’s kinda like Pokemon but instead of animals the “Pokemon” are usually fungi or diseases or natural phenomena. The series takes place from the point of view of a traveling doctor / scientist who uses his knowledge to help people.

While I do think it’s appropriate for any age group and I think I would have liked it as a kid, it might be scary or boring for a little kid.

The first episode is pretty uncharacteristic of the rest of the series, so if you check it out I’d recommend judging it based on episode 2.

I haven’t read it in a few months but I’ve generally kept up with the manga for the last four years. It’s mostly interesting in a meta way, where you see how long they can keep up the stupid premise.

There was an author interview that was translated and included in one chapter of the manga where the author revealed that although he had planned all 100 girlfriends from the beginning, some of the prospective characters had already started to overlap with existing ones and will have to be reworked. Is it really possible to write 100 good unique characters?

Practically, no. I think the manga falls off really hard after the 23rd girlfriend (currently it’s at #36).
I’m hoping that the 100th girlfriend is a girl who already has 99 boyfriends and I’m like 95% convinced that doing anything else would be sexism.

Long rant:

tl;dr, FMA 2003 is pretty good, too. It’s kinda misleading to call it non-canon when it was the original completed story. I’d also argue that the 2003 version had better production value in terms of visual style/animation. It’s definitely worth watching, at least.

Hmm, I’ve been reading the manga since it started and I’m not super confident in its quality. But I am pretty confident about Kyoani. I wonder who will direct it…