Anime: Five Underrated Animes You May Be Sleeping On
If you’re looking for a new anime to watch, these five underrated gems will steal your heart and a few hours of your time.
There’s too much anime out there to watch all of it. We can do our best, but there are only so many hours in the day. So it’s easy to overlook some absolute gems in preference of something a little more well-known that you know you’ll enjoy. But if you’re looking for a new anime to dive into, one of these underrated shows may have flown under your radar the first time around.
WataMote
This is one of those shows I probably wouldn’t have discovered it it hadn’t seen it in an AMV at a con and been immediately intrigued. It’s also one of those shows that’s so relatable that it feels like the manga may have been stalking some of us through high school.
Tomoko is the quintessential weird girl. No, however weird you’re thinking, multiply that by five. Naturally she has a hard time making friends or talking to boys or really existing in social situations at all.
WataMote is weird and hilarious and just a little bit cringy, but in a laughing-at-yourself sort of way.
Yakitate!! Japan
In case it’s not immediately obvious by the art, Yakitate!! Japan is an anime about baking bread. No really, that’s the whole thing.
Azuma has a heart of gold and slightly warmer hands than normal and is on a mission to create “Ja-pan,” a national bread for Japan. Get it? Pan? It’s a bread pun? You get it.
Like other cooking and sports shows, Yakitate!! Japan is low stakes fun and weirdly addictive. I get why this one is underrated and often overlooked, but one of the most popular things on TV is the Great British Baking Show, so now may be the perfect time for Yakitate!! Japan to make a comeback.
Eden of the East
This one is real weird and deserves more views. Twelve people known as “Selecao” are given ten billion yen each to save Japan from missile strikes. But once the money is used up or used at all for selfish purposes, the secret twelfth member of the group will eliminate them.
Nothing is off limits, and this show will leave you wanting to know what happens next after every single episode. Luckily there are three movies that take place after the show.
Hamatora
Hamatora is a little bit superheroes, a little bit mystery, and a little supernatural thriller. Nice and Mursaki are private investigators who use special powers to help solve their cases. Likeable characters and a plot that’s easy to get caught up in drive the show in equal measure.
And, if you’re interested the anime takes place after the manga, so there is so much more original content than you may thing at first. The manga isn’t necessary to understanding the anime, but they’re both great.
Ranking of Kings
To be fair, I understand why Ranking of Kings is as underrated as it is. The animation style does it no favors, and it can be hard to convince people that this may seriously be one of the best new animes of the year. Mob Psycho has a similar issue, and that’s one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen.
Bojji is a prince who is deaf-mute and terribly naïve. But he’s about to ascend to the throne and dreams of becoming a great king. This show has some of the most heart I’ve ever seen in an anime, and once you get into it the animation is fitting an endearing.
What is your favorite underrated anime? Have you seen our picks? Will any of them make it onto your watch list? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
