Hi, it’s been a while since I posted about anime. The thing is that I watched more anime that I just couldn’t make time to write :p Well, I’ve got a list of anime that I’ve watched, but I kinda want to put anime with similar themes in the same post, but then I always get confused which anime should belong together. LoL So, well, I decided to just write about anime that perhaps are “underrated.” And for this one, I’m posting about anime series (with some episodes), not anime movie like usual. [For my other posts about anime, go here].
Disclaimer: I know I use “underrated,” but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they just aren’t talked enough. Or maybe they’re talked about a lot but I’ve been living in my bubble so I didn’t know about them. What I am trying to say is that, if you’re fans of the anime that I mention here and you think they’re actually not underrated, my sincere apologies. I really don’t mean to underestimate them. Quite the contrary, I put them here because I love them and I think they deserve more recognition, i.e. more people should watch them, especially if you’re a fan of such genres. They really are interesting and I didn’t get bored watching them 😉
Alright, without further ado, here are some “underrated” anime that you should watch:
1. Dororo
One season. 24 episodes. This anime is such a gem! Summary: A leader of a country (region?) made a deal with the demons to make his country properous and free his people from pandemics, famine, and such. In exchange, he told the demons and they could take anything from him. At the time, his wife was expecting their first kid. Long story short, when the baby was born, the devils were trying to take him. The baby lost his limbs and almost all parts of his body. The leader/father instructed the midwife to get rid of the baby, but the midwife felt sorry for him and just couldn’t kill him. Somehow, someone found the baby and he survived and grew up despite not having his body parts (well, it’s fiction, ok?). One day, he accidentally fought and killed a demon, and miraculously he got one of his body part back. Hence, he decided to set on adventurous journeys to find and kill the demons until he got back all of his body parts. And this anime is about his adventure of getting back his body parts. Would he get them back? Watch the anime to find the answers^^
But it’s actually deeper than that. Watching this anime is such an emotional rollercoaster. I actually made a poll on my Instagram asking whether my friends would be willing to sacrifice their innocent baby to save the country and the people (will you?). [Spoiler:] Years passed, the father realized that his first son was still alive as his country got poor and was in danger from some threats like wars, diseases, famine, drought, etc. He believed it’s because his deal with the demons wasn’t fulfilled (since the son didn’t die). The father and everyone in the country then agreed that he should be killed so that they could keep the deal with the demons, hoping their country would be prosperous again. So fucked up and sad 😢💔😔
2. Samurai Champloo
One season. 26 episodes. Another gem! Summary: A girl somehow managed to get two samurais with two different sword-fighting styles to join and help her in search for someone who she remembered smelling like sunflowers. The two samurais somehow followed her. They went on a journey experiencing various kinds of challenges and adventures.
I think (as you might guess already) I love such stories. Something that involves traveling, a journey, an adventure, you name it. (Maybe this is also why I love One Piece-and Dororo! Haha) But I mean, such stories are really interesting. How they meet various kinds of people, face various kinds of problems, learn a lot from them and grow. It’s really intriguing. I never got bored watching each episode, ’cause it made me want to watch the next one, curious about what would happen and how the story would continue before it ended. It’s great. And it’s entertaining too since it has the comedic side too 😂😊
3. 91 Days
One season. 12 episodes. Plus 1eps special. It’s a bit serious and grim, but it’s interesting all the way to the end. Summary: One boy witnessed his whole family murdered by a group of mafia. He escaped and years later he got a letter telling him about the murderers. He decided to take revenge.
The suspense in this drama is so great. Because he was trying to get closer to the mafia that killed his family, right? He also went undercover and used an alias. So it’s kinda dreading to watch each episode, wondering if he would be found out and get killed instead, curious about what he would do to keep his identity hidden, and so forth. It’s superb!🔥
4. Megalo Box
Two seasons. 13 episodes each. Summary: An underground boxer encountered a “professional” boxer and was then determined to get into a prestigious mega boxing competition so that he could get to fight him again. Problems are that he didn’t have an ID to enter the competition and he really had a very short time to get selected and advance to the finals, in which he could fight the champion, the very boxer he wanted to fight in the ring. Would he be able to fight the famous boxer he once encountered? Watch this anime to find out for yourself^^😉
This is an anime that makes me think that sometimes we really just need to take a chance in watching an anime, ’cause I watched this anime wondering what else to watch (you bet I was uninterested in other options I had at the time), and I decided to watch this one. Both seasons are not disappointing. I really love it because they really focused on a certain goal while presenting other problems and challenges. They didn’t go astray. And usually I wasn’t as satisfied watching season 2 of an anime especially if the first season is really good (often times I had too high expectation for the next seasons and ended up getting disappointed. LoL). But this anime isn’t like that. Both seasons are really great! I love how they were so obsessed about winning, made great efforts for it, but still accepted their defeat like a true man they were and move on gracefully. So cool!❤🔥
5. Zankyou no Terror [Terror in Resonance]
One season. 11 episodes. Summary: Two boys identifying themselves as Sphinx 1 and Sphinx 2 planted bombs at different places. They uploaded videos challenging the police to solve the riddles in order to find the location of the planted bombs and prevent them from exploding. The two boys named Nine and Twelve were soon considered terrorists. A police detective thought the two boys were trying to send a message or telling them something. What message is that? Again, watch the anime yourself to find out 😁😆✌
I love how the anime is actually serious and there’s a lot of “violence” but the delivery and story-telling is quite “light”, i.e. it didn’t make me feel tired or exhausted. On the contrary, it kept me engrossed in the story.
6. Nanbaka
Two seasons. Season 1-13 episodes. Season 2-12 episodes. Plus 1eps special. Okay, this is legit a comedy anime🤣👍🔥💕💖❤ Summary: Four inmates were imprisoned in the most secure and hardest-to-break-out-from prison called Nanba. They were imprisoned in the same cell of the same building in the prison. The four inmates were sent there because they always succeeded in escaping from their previous prisons so they were sent to Nanba, in which they were expected to be unable to escape since the prison was guarded by the strongest guards with the best security. Would they be able to escape from this prison? Watch the anime to find out 😂🙈✌
Like I said, this anime is comedy. It’s so hilarious, but they stick with a story and make it quite “mysterious”, which is really entertaining and at the same time keeps us curious that we just want to keep watching it. Some things that make it funny are 1) the narrator kept saying that it’s a comedy anime, 2) they presented the story as if they were not in the anime, so they often commented something like, “Ah, it’s like in the anime.” I was like, “LoL You guys are anime! 🤣😂🙈”, 3) They bleeped and censored their own scenes, so there would be some occassions where the subtitle would say something like “bleep, bleep, bleep.” Hilarious! 4) there’s a little “romance” here, in which the warden was in love with one of the guards but the guard was so dense and the warden couldn’t express herself well so there’s always a misunderstanding 🤣👍 5) The rivalry between the guards! 6) The friendship between the inmates! Etc.
Gosh, I really want to write more, but it’s already been so long. (My friend said it’s better to keep it not too long 😅✌). But I really recommend this anime. Both seasons are really entertaining, interesting, and great! And you might think I’ve given some spoilers but actually not really because I didn’t say anything about the main and real “mystery” regarding the inmates and the prison history. So I hope more people can watch it. But unfortunately, the story didn’t finish in the two seasons + 1 eps special, so I might start reading the manga 😌The anime left off at around Chapter 103 in case you want to read the manga after the anime, by the way🤗
Alright, I guess that’s all. I still have some anime I want to share. But I’m just not sure how I should manage my blog ’cause I don’t want it to be the same thing every time I post. Or, will that be okay? I kinda want my blog to comprise various kinds of things, though. Sigh. Anyway, I hope you can find the anime you like 😊❤
PS: I wrote part II here, and basically my posts about anime are here.
