Some “Underrated” Anime to Watch (Part II)

Hello, I’ll try to make it quick this time. For the first part, here. And I’ll repeat my disclaimer there: 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 the anime.

1. Runway de Waratte (Smile Down the Runway!)
One season. 12 episodes. Not sure if there’ll be Season 2. Summary: The story revolves around 2 high school students: Chiyuki and Ikuto. Chiyuki is the daughter of a modelling agency’s owner, and she dreamed of being a supermodel who someday could join Paris Fashion Week. She’s got everything it takes to be a model, except for the height. She’s practiced a lot since she’s little, but due to her lacking height, she kept being rejected when applying to be a model. Meanwhile, Ikuto loved making dresses but due to his familial and financial circumstances, he forgot that he once dreamed of becoming a designer. After his encounter with Chiyuki, that dream somehow sparked again. Together, they were fighting for their dreams. Despite the hurdles and the hardship they had to face, they tried their best to make their dreams come true.

I really love this anime. Each episode is great, it made me want to immediately watch the next episodes. It’s really interesting. I hope there’s another season because I really want the main characters to achieve their dreams. It has a comedic side too so it’s pretty entertaining. In short, it is not boring🥰💖

2. Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine (The Royal Tutor)
One season. 12 episodes. This anime is great too! It’s really interesting. Summary: A tutor was hired to privately tutor four princes, the four siblings to succeed the king. The previous tutors couldn’t stay for long. They usually quit as they couldn’t stand the princes’ mischief. This time too the four princes were trying to chase away the tutor but this time the tutor was different. He persisted and focused on being a worthy teacher. Somehow he managed to win the hearts of the four “rebellious” princes gradually. He finally gained their trust and made them want to learn more from him. They also came to love and respect the tutor. However, the journey was not easy because “someone” was trying to make the tutoring program “unsuccessful” as they didn’t want the princes to be fit as the successor of the throne.

I love this anime. Maybe because I’m a teacher myself so I’m craving to learn how to deal with various kinds of students. And the tutor here was really amazing. He’s such a genius! I’m not sure how to describe it. Like, he’s not playing around. He’s not trying to be funny or something. You know, the kind of teachers that students like and get close to? Quite the contrary, he’s really strict and grim. He’s seriously doing his job in his own way. But we can see that he cares for his students. How should I say it? Like, it doesn’t seem like anything personal, and it looks like business as usual, but somehow we can see why the princes were grateful for him, lucky to have him, and came to love and respect him. It’s a highly recommended anime especially if you’re a teacher👍🔥❤

3. Shounen Maid
One season. 12 episodes. This one is hella hilarious. I really love it. Summary: Soon after the passing of his mother, Chihiro, an elementary school kid, met someone who came to pick him up to live with him. He claimed to be his uncle, the brother of his late mother. Chihiro, who had always lived with his Mom only, had no idea that his Mom had a family. Due to his Mom’s teaching, he also found it hard to accept his uncle’s offer. He didn’t think he could live with him for free so he made a deal: he would live with his uncle if he let him clean the house, cook, etc. basically becoming “a maid” as a way to “pay” for rent and everything. His uncle, not wanting Chihiro to be alone, agreed to the terms as he just wanted to take care of his nephew. (Even though actually, it’s the other way around🤣🙈😅).

By the way, before you think of this as a form of child abuse, no it’s not. It doesn’t romanticize such a thing. Chihiro really loved doing housework; it made him happy. Like, for example, when asked about what he wanted, he chose to get vacuum cleaner and such. The things that excited him are like that. It’s funny. And the supporting characters made the anime more alive as well. Chihiro’s friends, his uncle’s allergy to cats despite him loving cats (HAHAHAHA!) Well, it’s light and heartwarming 🥰😊💖

4. Akame ga Kill!
One season. 24 episodes. I LOVE THIS ANIME! Summary: Tatsumi was a country boy trying his luck in the capital so he could send money back to people back in his village. However, he got tricked and his money was taken, and he was then invited by a cute girl to stay at her place, but he found that the whole family was corrupted. Somehow he ran into Night Raid members, a special unit who killed corrupted officers/politicians. He was then recruited to be a member of Night Raid. He learned that the capital was such a rotten place and that the poverty in many regions was caused by the corrupted Prime Minister and people who supported him. Night Raid aimed to kill the Prime Minister and build a new nation, a better nation, one that’s not corrupted and could make the people happy and prosper. However, there were strong people around the Prime Minister so their fight wasn’t easy. Would Tatsumi join them even though they would turn into a murderer–one that killed for justice?

You might wonder why I talked about Tatsumi when the title clearly says Akame 🤣 But the story really followed Tatsumi’s journey, the people he encountered, and the people that finally became fond of him, etc. whose relation was quite intertwined in the story. It’s really interesting. Maybe because my country kinda sucks too? The leaders only care about making themselves richer. They don’t care about people’s suffering. In fact, they’ve made people suffer more. It’s infuriating. In this story too, spoiler: the king thought that he’d been doing the right things for the people, when actually he was manipulated by the Prime Minister and unconsciously became his puppet. It’s frustrating. But I really love the story. They had goals right from the start. And they solved the problem as the series came to an end, so it’s “satisfactory.” They didn’t try too hard to make everyone stay alive either. The flow feels so natural and great. It’s amazing 👍🔥❤ (It also has a lot of comedy so it’s really entertaining 🤣👍🔥💖)

5. Psycho-Pass
Three seasons. Season 1: 22 episodes. I especially recommend Season 1. This one is hella hilarious. I really love it. Summary: Set in an era when technology became so advanced that everything was decided by “machines.” (Ok, I forgot the terms as I watched this quite a while ago, so I’m sorry if I used the wrong terms. I just remember the story and how I felt about it.) In short, there was a system called Sybil. It got to detect people’s level of “danger.” It could determine which job people should take, if they had the potential to be a criminal, what kind of talent they had, etc. But, the problem: there were some cases in which crimes happened and they just couldn’t catch the criminal ’cause they weren’t detected by the system. How come? That’s the question to which you want an answer in this anime.

Well, Season 1 is highly recommended, but personally, I won’t recommend Season 2 and 3. I don’t know, maybe because I loved Season 1 so much so when I started watching Season 2, I kinda had high expectations, and you know expectations lead to disappointment, and that’s exactly what happened with Season 2. It’s just a no for me. Season 3 was worse. I don’t know, I feel like they’re trying too hard to continue 😐✌The storyline was a mess somehow it felt like jumping from one point to another without being properly connected. Well, it’s just how I felt, though. Some people might think differently. BUT, I do have a complaint, and I find it ridiculous and upsetting. My complaint is: The officers answered to a chief that handled the sophisticated system. And I was angry because: How could they present something as advanced and sophisticated but disregard the basic principle: “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” How could nobody question the chief and always do as instructed? It’s so ridiculous.

6. KuroKami
One season. 23 episodes. This is hella serious, almost no humor. Summary: Keita’s Mom died after she met someone that looked exactly like her. Years passed, he met Kuro, a girl who’s trying to escape from people who tried to catch/kill her. Keita then learned about Doppeliner system, in which it’s told that there were 3 people who looked exactly like each other, one “master” and two “roots.” If they met each other, the roots would somehow die, and the luck would go to the master. It looked like someone or an organization was trying to get rid of the roots by purposefully finding people who look exactly like one another and letting them meet so the roots would die and only the masters remained. Somehow this disturbed the balance. Keita somehow made a pack with Kuro. Together with the power they gained by synchronizing, they tried to fight the evil people. Would they succeed? What actually happened?

Well, my summary might be different from other reviews. LoL But if I had to use specific terms used in the anime, I would have to write longer ’cause it would be too confusing to understand without contexts and further explanation, and now I simply don’t have the time or the space left to write a longer post. (Isn’t this post getting too long already?! Almost 2k words! 😭✌🙏) Well, this anime is interesting, but, again, it’s so serious, so sometimes it can be tiring.

Alright, I guess that’s all for today. Hope you find something that you like 😉

PS: Not sure if you noticed, but somehow I started taking screenshots of the anime (+drama+movie) I watched. I’ve got lots of them. I usually upload them onto my Instagram story and put them on highlights. Now I’ve got three highlights comprising such “quotes” (and each highlight is about 150 stories, meaning 150 quotes!) but I still have lots that I haven’t posted 🙈😅✌