Forum - View topicAnime Titles that you think are obscure and/or underrated.
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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louis6578--
Is this the "MaR Heaven" that that you were writing about? |
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Boomer
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Madlax, also produced by Bee Train, is a much more thoughtful and generally better series than Noir in my opinion. I found both the story and the animation quality to be a vast improvement over its predecessor. |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1876 |
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People have seen it, yes. But I'm wondering if that's for the incomplete dub that used to be on Netflix and Jetstream (back in my Great-Great-Grandfather's time, Toonami Jetstream was still a thing). As for Madlax, Boomer... I disagree. Animation-wise, it's a step up from the static Noir, but I personally thought Noir was the strongest Girls with Guns show of the trilogy. It takes until episode 10 to get going, but the story is interesting enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, and the mystery was great. Madlax... eh. Maybe I should rewatch it soon to see if I agree with you or not. |
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Boomer
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It's been a while since I have watched either series, especially Noir although I have watched Madlax several times. The main thing I remember about Noir is that it had a more linear plot. Maybe I need to check it out again and see if I missed something the first and only time I've seen it. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1876 |
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To be even fairer, I've seen Madlax a few years ago, and I just got off my first ever watch of Noir. Anyway, speaking of underrated titles, why does Guilty Crown get so much hate. It's no masterpiece, and there's a lot of questionable writing, but I hear people say some nasty things about it. I went in expecting a decent action show and came out having seen a pretty damned ambitious show that gave me goosebumps. I just don't get why this show is so hated, yet Future Diary was so popular back in the day. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@louis6578
Allow me to answer to the best of my abilities, having only seen Future Diary at this point in time. I personally believe that if the character of Yuno Gasai didn't exist, then her parent anime would have been long forgotten and banished to the pit. She's the big selling point of the original manga, after all. Heck, when you think of "yandere waifu", you think of Yuno. Never mind that Higurashi did it first and better. With Guilty Crown, I heard it got a HUGE amount of hype before it's release. It had a lot of talent behind it (Tetsuro Araki, Hiroyuki Yoshino, and Hiroyuki Sawano? You got me!), and it aired on the prestigious noitaminA block. So when the show premiered, a whole lot of people were let down. To this day, it's one of the most divisive anime series you're going to find. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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I'd like to throw one out there for Dear Brother...
Based on a Riyoko Ikeda manga (Rose of Versailles author). The show is dramatic shoujo at its best. There's such good characterizations and it delves into some pretty dark places. It's on Hulu now streaming. Another one I liked was Le Chevelair D'eon. It has the feel of a Hollywood movie and the animation is great. If you enjoy historical fiction esp. of the French revolution era, this one's for you.
For me El Cazador de la Bruja just slightly edges it out for me. I felt it had a more satisfying ending, plus I loved that it was set in Mexico / Central America. I still really enjoyed Noir though and need to get those Blu Rays. Although I don't recall Noir being obscure or underrated. In the early 2000s it was pretty popular. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1876 |
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This is why I personally believe in this saying "Hype doesn't ruin anything, your perception of it does." If you let hype affect what you'll think of a show, you'll be let down so hard. Sometimes, nothing really lives up to your expectations. Future Diary though, you're right. Without Yuno being Yandere personified (and nothing else, mind you. She's annoyingly static) the show would either be forgotten, or, more likely, hated for the main character being so annoying. I never understood the hate for Shinji Ikari, probably because I saw Future Diary first and Yukiteru was way worse. As for Guilty Crown, I was just listening to Podtaku when they said that the action made it the most addictive thing ever. I shrugged and went like "Sure" since the DVDs were at my local Best Buy and I felt like buying something. After watching it with the mindset of "This'll kill an hour of my time. Whatevs," I found that after the initial episodes, the show was amazingly fun to watch. This, however, was after hearing very little about it, so I wasn't hyped or anything. I also only knew Tetsuro Araki's name, so I expected "something" but not a masterpiece. Admittedly, the writing is iffy and generic, but I didn't care. The scene where spoiler[Hare died] got a strong emotional reaction from me because of the passion that the actors and animators had for it. Plus, this sort of spoiler[Hero turned anti-hero/villain protagonist] turn was far more compelling than Yukiteru's when his dad spoiler[was killed in front of him.] I should say, I don't think Future Diary had a bad idea. The premise was solid, and if the main character was a Light/Lelouch-esque evil genius, it'd be great. Also, if instead of making diary owners die every 2-3 episodes without much to learn about them, they should have pulled a Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero and kept everyone, or most people, alive for the first half to explore each Battle Royale participant equally, rather than making it the Yuki and Yuno show. If there's an anime that I think should be remade (or a manga that I think should be rewritten), it's Future Diary. Great ideas, poor payoff. |
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kookykonata
Posts: 31 |
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Obscure:
Nerima Daikon Brothers- This show really caught me by surprise when I first saw it. It is an anime musical, believe it or not, about 3 cousins who are trying to gain enough cash to turn their daikon (radish) farm into a performance stadium. However, just like most anime, random hijinks occurs and lots of weird stuff happens. It's pretty funny though, and the English dub of it has some hilarious songs. (Just Youtube "Narima Daikon money song" and you'll see what I mean) Excel Saga- I am pretty sure that this show is made by the same creator as Nerima Daikon Brothers, because it has a lot of the same types of comedy. It's a really hard show to explain, mainly because it's so hard to follow. The show is literally all over the place. You will have a weird emotional connection to the dog, or "emergency food supply", by the end of the show, though! Underrated: Acchi Kocchi- Now call me a softy, but I absolutely adore this show. It is a slice of life romantic comedy that is a bit lacking on the beauty department in terms of artwork, but it really makes up for it with the relationship between the two main characters. You really find yourself rooting for them to get together as the episodes go on. The show is really funny, too. However, I will caution anyone that doesn't like cute things or situations, because this anime is almost 100% that. Listen to Me Girls, I am Your Father!- This anime is a bit of a hard pill to swallow. It falls under the same vein as other shows like Clannad and Kannon do. In other words, it's fairly sad. But it is amazing. It follows a guy who, because of certain events I won't divulge, winds up adopting his sister's 3 daughters to live with him in his one-bedroom apartment. Yes, it does sound like it could be one of those stereotypical types of anime, but it actually takes a different curve. A much more realistic one. The guy realizes that he can't support them on his pay alone, that girls need a certain amount of space and materials, and so on. It's really good. Just check it out! |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3972 |
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[quote="kookykonata"]Obscure:
Excel Saga- I am pretty sure that this show is made by the same creator as Nerima Daikon Brothers, because it has a lot of the same types of comedy. It's a really hard show to explain, mainly because it's so hard to follow. The show is literally all over the place. You will have a weird emotional connection to the dog, or "emergency food supply", by the end of the show, though! Both shows do have the same director, however the manga that the two shows are based on are written by two totally different manga artists. |
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phia_one
Posts: 1661 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I'm happy that someone already beat me to Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Princess Tutu, Le Chevalier D'eon, and Acchi Kocchi.
As for my picks, these I'd say would be both obscure and underrated. Oh! Edo Rocket-In 1842, the Edo government issues a decree that bans all luxuries (plays, performances, inventions, etc.). The story centers around Seikichi, a young fireworks guru that lives in a row house with some colorful characters. One day, he is approached by a girl named Sora who asks that he build a rocket that can reach the moon. There's a bit more to the set up, but then I would be going into spoilers. Even though the show is set in 1842, it has a habit of retro TV's and even a computer appearing. It also loves to break the fourth wall. While it is definitely a comedy, it also handles drama and story very well. It's not gorgeously animated or anything, but it's not an eye sore. This series is in my top 10. The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye-Set on Earth after the Great War, most of the world is a desert and technology has regressed. This is because a group, known as the Third due to having a third red eye in the center of the forehead, can control technology and have issued a Techno Taboo in order to prevent another Great War from occurring. This is the backdrop for our heroine Honoka, who is a jack of all trades that gets the job done due to her unique abilities and her talking battle tank named Bogey. She has a firm policy of not killing people, which the show handles pretty well in the middle of the series. Early on, she meets a mysterious young man named Eks who has an extensive knowledge of things relating to the Great War and the world in general. The series is sort of slice of life detailing Honoka's adventures, but it also has a plot. The show covers a lot about life and death, but I'd say that the bigger theme/message would be rebirth. It's also based on a LN, which I'd love to read. It has a great balance of characterization, humor, and drama with animation that was pretty standard in the mid 2000s. I have a few more, but my post is already kind of tl;dr |
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Gatherum
 Posts: 773 Location: Aurora CO |
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I think I'll throw Ergo Proxy into the ring. It's one of my personal favourites ever, and one of the few shows I ever watched that not only looked good before I even saw it (Gothic aesthetics, deep philosophical mindtrips, and one of the coolest titles I've ever seen? fudge yeah!), but, as I came to find, is good. It often contends with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for my top spot.
Yet, I have met very few people personally who also enjoyed it. My girlfriend couldn't get into it; at least two of my friends voiced a mild disliking of it; and yet another started on it, yet never got around to finishing it. On top of that, much as Funimation decided out of good will to licence-rescue it from Geneon and put it out on DVD as part of their classic line, they didn't bother to give it a proper blu-ray release--not even following the release of the out-of-print and now-ridiculously-expensive Japanese BD box. No other country has followed suit either. On ANN, it currently holds a Bayesian ranking of #371, based on 3838 ratings. Such a ranking, out of 4835, is really quite respectable. Not only that, but it seems it's one of the most widely-seen anime on this site, "in whole or in part" by 6857, making it the 79th most-watched show on ANN (out of 6334). Yet, oddly enough, it just doesn't seem to be very well-regarded or cherished--as if one watches it once, rates it highly for what it is, and then casts it aside. It's perplexing, really. |
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lesterf1020
 Subscriber Posts: 295 Location: Trinidad and Tobago |
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I agree. Ergo Proxy is one of my favorites as well but the stats on it are baffling. Statistically and financially it seems quite popular and successful. It is rated well and yet it is rare that you see a positive review of the show or find anyone who likes it. A great frustration for someone like me who loves discussing the show and its themes.
The only other show I have discovered with an even worse anomaly is another favorite of mine Kaze no Stigma. There are no positive reviews of this show at all only venom and yet its ratings and the number of reprints of it by Funimation tell a very different story. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Mine, too. Once I saw that recommendation I knew had to watch this:
I have a couple of the usual complaints about this show, the excessive use of narration in particular, but it's really quite engrossing. Honoka is a bit overpowered, but it turns out her swordplay and chi powers are not the most important things about her. The scenes in the tank with Honoka, Iks, and Millie had that same unusual family vibe that you get with Re'l, Vincent and Pino in Ergo Proxy, or Balsa, Tanda, and Chagum in Seirei no Moribito. I also wondered as episode 24 began how they would be able to conclude so many plot threads in a single episode, but the writers carried it off convincingly. I'm off to add a copy to my rather limited collection. |
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phia_one
Posts: 1661 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Ergo Proxy was going to be one of my other suggestions. I feel like a lot of people don't like it because they don't understand it. I'm not saying I understand it 100%, it just happens to be a show where you have to do some extra research, especially with the philosophy imo. I'm fine with this since I love learning. I find it to be a show with a lot of rewatch value, since I get something new out of it every time I watch it.
yuna49, Always nice to see another Oh! Edo Rocket Fan and I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed The Third. |
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