ANIME FAVS

BEASTARS

OWF OWF OWF AWOOOOGA it's that furry anime babey!! im actually a Manga OG (don't mean to brag 😏) and while i find the manga's art to be very charming, i really enjoyed this adaptation! it's a fun high school drama with funny animal people. watching this show is just constantly being like “wahoo! that's such a fun direction to take the story in!!” did i mention Fun. also Louis' such a funny character, i love whatever's wrong with him

while the second half of the story isn't my favorite,
i quite enjoyed the first half! the whole high school arc is a fantastic time

Bocchi the Rock!

Cute Girls Doing Cute Things is the powerhouse anime genre, made all the more potent when mixed with a heaping helping of Debilitating Social Anxiety

one of my favorite aspects of the show is how wacky and zany the animators get with visually representing Bocchi's crushing social anxiety. each of Bocchi's spirals is unique and hilarious, making you feel for her while also reveling in the ridiculousness of her brain's extreme panic in any social situation

honestly all of the characters are great and fun to watch goofing around together!!

Cardcaptor Sakura

constantly shocked that i somehow didn't become aggressively obsessed with this show as a kid.
it's like, the ultimate Young Girl Wish Fulfillment Show!! you got a cute girl who is bestowed with a cute magical staff that has cute magical powers that she uses with the help of her cute animal partner and cute collectible card friends, featuring cute outfits personally tailored by her bestie. how was i immune to this as a kid!! i don't understand!!!

i haven't watched that many magical girl shows, but out of the few i've seen this is probably my top one? watching it made me happy :^)

Chihayafuru

okay so, this is a show about competitively playing a traditional japanese card game where you match a card, which has half of a poem written on it, to its corresponding full poem that is read aloud and hey wait don't leave yet!! this anime is such a headache to describe in a way that doesn't sound like the most tedious boring endeavor to air on television, but i swear to god it's such a good show. this is a sports anime for people who usually don't like sports animes (me)

sure, the action solely consists of sweaty people hunched over cards to slap them at mach speeds but that action is INTENSE, i can't tell you how many times this show had me on the edge of my seat

Flip Flappers

i'll admit that i haven't seen this magical girls anime in a while and i've forgotten like 99% of what happens in it, BUT what has always stuck in my mind are the cool world designs

now, does this show weirdly sexualize middle school girls? yes
am i also not a fan of the ending? yeah

BUT!!! Wow That Art Direction Can Look Cool.
this show is purely an aesthetic favorite of mine, sometimes i simply want to stan something for being eye candy

Gatchaman Crowds

first things first: the OST rips. Please Listen.
anyways i've always been like, fascinated by this show's writing? mostly bc it was my first experience with "main character doesn't have her own character arc but she is the catalyst for everyone else's arcs" and that had me so like :OOO!!! when i first watched this show, bc one of the big rules of writing you usually learn is "your main character NEEDS to grow throughout the story or it SUCKS!!!" but our MC is out here with her third eye open gently guiding everyone else to their own self-discoveries

the show also explores some interesting themes involving social media, the masses, and the role of heroes that i find really intriguing in a like, thought experiment kind of way

Kageki Shoujo!!

for the girlies who watched a takarazuka musical and were like "god i wanna go to school for that"

young women, all carrying their baggage and lofty aspirations on their backs, struggle towards their chance to become musical theater stars at takarazuka school. everyone has a wonderful amount of depth and will drag you along thru all their ups and downs. plus: it's interesting to learn more about takarazuka and other related theatrical/musical arts!

there is some heavy stuff in this story so def look up content warnings if you need to

Kaiba

Yuasa's sort of like, a contentious anime director for me? some of the stuff he's directed fall a bit flat in my humble opinion, but others absolutely rip

Kaiba is one that Mostly Rips—it delves into a really interesting sci-fi dystopian exploration of the relationship between Body and Memories, and what capitalism would love to do if you could separate those two. a lot of the show is me going "darn, that sucks :(" but that's balanced out by its really cute Tezuka-esque art style :^)

Kakegurui

finally, a show on this list that is impossible to recommend to other people. yes, this is in fact the Horny Lesbian Gambling Anime, and YES, i thoroughly enjoyed it. i always love a setting where people are obsessed about One Specific Thing and the whole world is built around that One Thing.
these rich horny girls LOVE to gamble and they will do whatever it takes to get in a good ol' fashioned wager. honestly the main appeal for me is that every single character is a freak, someone will be like "Jabami couldn't possibly agree to a super obviously rigged gamble like that!!" and she's sitting there like
":^) I Need To Gamble Right Now Or So Help Me God"

you'll have to judge for yourself if you can survive the egregious amounts of Anime Horny

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

I LOVE ANIMATION I LOVE ANIMATION I LOVE ANIMATION!!!! this show is such a joyous celebration of the entire art form of animation!! witness these teenagers start an animation club and get swept away with their passion for the craft!! god, watching this show was like watching the sun smile upon me,
i love stories where people are so genuinely passionate about something and i love watching good animation and i love! this show!! that's like, as coherent as i can write about it lmao the whole time i was watching it i was just like "woag...... I Love Animation"

also genuinely appreciate the Producer Representation, Kanamori was the only girly holding their whole project together

Kino's Journey (2003)

awesome episodic adventure with tastey vibes.
Kino loves to go vroom vroom on their talking motorcycle Hermes as they tool around various countries, acting as a (mostly) passive observer of unique brands of Messed Up Cultures. the show's core concept is a great excuse to come up with a lot of weird lands for this funky little traveler to visit just to witness social norms beyond moral comprehension

im a sucker for episodic animes that got contemplative vibes, so Kino's Journey was a huge delight when i finally got around to watching it

Laid-Back Camp

snuggle yourself deeper into your blanket cocoon. take a deep breath as crisp winter air fills your lungs. sip your hot cocoa. lean back. relax.

this show is such a wonderful, calming, beautiful healing tonic.......

never would i have thought that anything could make winter camping look appealing, but this show made me desperately wish i was out there with those Camping Girls, taking in the beauty of winter nature, cooking at a campfire, sharing a quiet moment as we stare up at the stars. plus you get to learn all about camping gear and camping uh-ohs to avoid

Land of the Lustrous

LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!! im a huge fan of both the anime and the manga, and the anime does SUCH a good job as an adaptation. the manga's got such good compositions and vibes, but the action can become a bit indecipherable in parts. the anime blows all the fight scenes out of the water with the zestiest camera shots i've perhaps ever witnessed in an anime, taking full advantage of this being a 3D Anime with a 3D Camera

i love having an excuse to sit down and once again experience emotional devastation at the hands of these these miserable little gem people

March Comes in Like a Lion

Fun Fact: Shogi Makes Me Really Sad And Also Cry

so, Rei Kiriyama is a loner loser whose only importance in the world is being a high school shogi prodigy. BUT he's such a good boy!! i root for him so hard!! like yeah, you work thru those emotional traumas! you work thru your fear of opening up to others and stive to forge strong bonds! you put yourself out there and get hurt and grow!! any show that's got a shy young lad who's a genuinely good person that's trying to work thru his emotional turmoil just gets to me 😭

Mawaru Penguindrum

another Big Fav of mine, im enamored with director Ikuhara's style of kinda goofy surreal/magical realist storytelling. he takes his stories seriously but doesn't seem to take himself too overly serious, y'know?

this whole show is a japanese critique of japanese society in the early 2010s and im not fully equipped to analyze all the nuances that lie within. it's a symbolic reckoning with societal anxieties surrounding the economic crash known as the Lost Decades and how those anxieties culminated into a personal listlessness amongst the youth and younger adults of that era, which further evolved into extreme events such as [HUGE SPOILER REAL LIFE EVENT]. the show starts off pretty lighthearted, but once it dives into the meat of the story it's utterly captivating

Mob Psycho 100

MOB! MOB! WHAT DO YOU WANT!
MOB! MOB! WHY DO YOU WANT!

weewoo weewoo it's another Good Boy alert!! Mob is yet another shy awkward loser loner who's a genuinely good kid trying his best to better himself 😭 he's got super strong psychic powers but! he doesn't want to depend on his powers to prove his worth as a person! he wants to work on himself and understand his own feelings better!! i believe in you Mob!!! i believe in the power of your kindness!!!

the Body Improvement Club is objectively the best squad of dudes, i am shaking all of their hands

also the animation RULES this show looks amazing

Mononoke

first time i watched this show my jaw clattered to the floor bc *chef kiss chef kiss* the aesthetic is unrivaled

an episodic-ish horror buffet with one of the most visually stunning presentations i've ever been blessed to witness in my life. this is another aesthetic fav of mine so i don't have much of substance to add beyond that lmao just watch it

this show Does Not respect your time, so the pacing may be boring for some people but not for me!!

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

god tier rom-com! smth smth Art Is My Passion!
wow he just like me fr!

hapless protagonist Chiyo musters up the courage to ask out her crush Nozaki but... wacky misunderstandings ensue and now she works for him as his manga assistant?!!! it's a very charming and genuinely funny show!! makes me laugh!!

when poor Nozaki is suffering from a cold and he's like "don't worry, i can still draw... my body remembers" and proceeds to produce the most scribbled garbage drawing the world has ever seen.
i felt that in my soul

Mushi-shi

Sublime Vibes: The Show

Ginko travels thru nature as he researches a basic form of life called mushi. a haunting calm permeates his episodic journey as he witnesses the beauty and horror of these indifferent entities

it's been a while since i first watched this show, but i remember liking the first season slightly more than the second. iirc the second season felt like it tried a little too hard to make the cinematography feel more grand than the first season?? which doesn't really fit with a show as contemplative and grounded as this. but that's a relatively minor gripe, second season's still good

My Love Story!!

I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH,,,,, perhaps my ultimate Mood Booster Rom-Com

witness the superior dynamic of Uwa Kyaa Awaa~!! Girl and Biggest Himbo On Earth, PLUS Kindest Bestie Of All Time Suna. the main couple doesn't waste any time with actually starting dating, so you get to enjoy them being cute with each other without all that drawn out will-they-won't-they nonsense that bogs down a few too many romances (stares directly at Kimi ni Todoke). and it's FUNNY, this show always got me laughing every time i watch it. plus! once again Suna is such an MVP, it's so nice to have a romance story where the main character has a friend who genuinely roots for him and has his back

Natsume's Book of Friends

could it be...? a third show about an awkward loner loser lad who's a genuinely good kid trying his best out there? You Bet I Can't Get Enough Of This Specific Flavor Of Anime!

so this show is basically if Mushi-shi focused more on character development. you got a high school kid who can see yokai, embarking on episodic adventures dealing with both yokai and human shenanigans, thru which he grows and learns more about himself and opens up to others. i already easily cry to certain types of shows but jesus christ this one had me bawling like every other episode bc im just sitting there like "uggghhhgghhh...... my son boy........................"

Nichijou

comedies are always hard to recommend bc like, even if you got a similar sense of humor to someone else, the kinds of shows you think are the funniest gold you've ever seen might not even get so much as a chuckle from them. but i personally think that Nichijou is some of the funniest shenaningans i've ever seen and i have good taste so my opinion is correct

it's a good over-the-top everyday type comedy!!
the characters are fun and they make funny faces!! what more could you possibly ask for!!

ODDTAXI

humble walrus taxi driver. cat/dog idol group.
hippo who needs to touch grass. puma gacha whale. all these characters (and more!) are available to you in this tightly woven missing person mystery thriller!!

idk what more i can even say without spoilers, this is the kind of show where it will inevitably come up in conversations with friends and i'll hold them at gunpoint to watch it but alas..... nobody listens 😔 but you could be better than those losers. you can listen to my recommendation and you can sit down and watch one of the best animes to come out in recent years

Ouran High School Host Club

Nostalgia Classic Time Babey!!

Ouran is such a fun satire on (now kinda old) shoujo tropes where the character writing is GOOD.
look, im sure certain aspects of this show haven't aged well (the riffs on twincest and shotacon would def get torn apart if this anime came out today), but it's such a delightful time capsule poking fun at what was popular back in the 2000s

Haruhi is GNC Queen and, like all of the cast, she's written with a surprising depth that brings more substance to this story than just shallow parody

Ping Pong the Animation

sports anime for people who don't like sports animes (me)!! EXTREMELY stylish show, the cinnamontography is a dynamic feast for the eyes

youths duke it out in heated ping pong battle! back and forth conversations of passion and self-doubts! the weight of competition! self-actualization! blood tastes like iron!

it's a pretty typical Sports Anime Coming of Age Story, but the visual storytelling, symbolism, and character depth made it into something that i could really get invested in

Pop Team Epic

anime is finally giving the people what they want: lesbian yaoi 😤

Pop Team Epic is the most powerful culmination of sketch comedy shows: frenetic meme energy,
an obtuse amount of japanese nerd humor, and a frankly awe inspiring amount of creative freedom that shines thru its wild amount of collaborations. even if not every single joke hits, im always greatly amused by whatever off-the-wall baloney they manage to cram into each episode

i wanna see more shows like this. let the people go bonkers

Princess Tutu

didn't grow up watching this one but i wish i did!!
this humble little ducky just wants to be a real ballerina girl u,n,u

once upon a time, a duck was granted the powers of the talented Princess Tutu, whose sick moves could heal that which woes people and piece together the broken heart of her beloved prince. but, no matter how much the characters may resent it, this is a story, and thus the strings of fate have already been written for everyone

pleasantly nuanced, this is a fun and heartfelt deconstruction of an archetypical fairy tale

Revolutionary Girl Utena

the OG Ikuhara anime babey!! look, it's got that Surreal Metaphorical Storytelling that i aggressively gobble up, i simply cannot resist

Utena desperately strives to embody the noble qualities of the prince who once cheered her up in her deepest childhood despair. she luckily gets her perfect stage when she attends Ootori Academy!

there, the world of Duelists rapidly entangles her, but oh! poor Anthy! these Duelists, they fight over her ownership! what nasty objectification! Utena will wield her noble grace to save Anthy and save the day!

Serial Experiments Lain

another one of those shows that i haven't watched in forever so i don't really remember much of what actually happened, just the general vibes that linger. which lemme tell you: Immaculate Vibes. the show feels almost... hazy? the powerline buzz is etched into the fabric of my brain. bright, abyssal skies. static. disquiet. realities converging

we will take all of our late 90s anxieties about the rising influence of the internet and inject them into this one young girl. she'll probably turn out fine

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

one of the best pieces of dramatic storytelling i've ever experienced in my life. immerse yourself in the world of rakugo, a traditional form of japanese one-man comedy

i will admit that the first season is kind of a slog, but for me that's mostly bc i truly hate Sukeroku with every fiber of my being LMAO, i genuinely hate him as a person so much that i can't even enjoy the dynamics that he brings to the story as a character. absolute miserable garbage excuse of a human being, only capable of baffling levels of selfishness and negative growth.
however the second season rocks and is absolutely worth it, once again genuinely one of the best dramas i've ever witnessed

Silver Spoon

i grew up in a Pretty Freaken Rural area, so i was basically surrounded by farmland as a kid. there was a cornfield down the road, a whole herd of cows as my next-door neighbors, farmers' kids as my classmates. so having a show in which its whole conceit is "kids attend an agricultural highschool to learn how to be better farmers" you know that it's gonna get to me

farmers do so much for us!! babes, there ain't no way you're feeding yourselves without them. oh, you don't like to think about where your deli meats come from? learn to embrace it. show gratitude toward the somber gift of sustenance that our animal brethren provide us. cry ugly tears over Yuugo's pig

Sonny Boy

adolescence, am i right? [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]

i love me a good Metaphorical Surreal Story, and this whole anime is just that babey!! a bunch of middle schoolers get tossed into the void alongside their school building and they gotta figure what the heck is going on. they also get a bunch of random abilities and a handful are way more OP than the others. some kids don't like that :(

WARNING! WARNING! the fourth episode is one of the most boring dull dry pieces of media i've ever suffered thru but the rest of the show is really good i promise

Yurikuma Arashi

what if we had bears but they were lesbians and also had guns

another Ikuhara Adventure that's one big critique on japanese homophobia. these girls go to an all-girls' school but all they can think about is who they wanna ostracize next smh

it's a heartfelt (and kinda horny) story of young girls who wish to express their love in a world that readily punishes them for it, who desperately scramble to hide their love at all costs, who will travel far and wide to rediscover love they lost long ago. all told thru a world where a meteor shower rained on the earth and caused all bears on earth to rise up and start eating humans

Zombieland Saga

sometimes i just wanna sit back and watch some zombie girls struggle to succeed in the idol world

this show isn't perfect, but it's got a fun premise and charming characters that i always enjoyed coming back to. the first few episodes were a bit more hype than the rest simply bc it started off with these zombie idol girls doing stuff like Heavy Metal and Rap and i thought that they were gonna play around with a lot of different genres, but once the story got going they eased into Just Idol Music. which was still fun for me! love to watch their goofy hijinks! and there's some good character development tossed in there every once in a while too!