(Sorry for the long post)
Oh and try to keep it on the more obscure level. i.e. no BLEACH, DEATH NOTE, NARUTO etc.
HERE GOES:
Mine was Planetes. I was at a used record store trying to find something new to watch. Everything was pretty much sold out, when I stumbled on this box set of Planetes. The cover wasn't much to look at, and the "Anime Legends" heading made it look even worse. The cover was some guy in an orange spacesuit desperately trying to grab a floating screw in space. I thought to myself at the time "That looks stupid."
I turned it over and read the back, which revealed it's an anime about "space garbage men." "Even more stupid." I chuckled to myself. However, I was desperate so I gave it a chance, and bought it. I took it home, and started to watch it, lo, and behold, IT became one of my most favorite anime EVER!
The story really posseses great drama and showcases humanistic love. It really posseses a message of anti discrimination (for any race, religion, etc.) without being preachy. What's amazing too is that they introduce a large number of characters, but each one is so thoroughly fleshed out, that they all even appear at the final climax. This show truly starts out as a story about space garbage men, and then surprisingly becomes something else much more deeper than that.
So yes, really it was such a HUGE surprise. So please respond, I would love to read ytour stories. Maybe we can share some anime together.
Ouran Host Club.
Yeah, there we have it. I made fun of the bishonen boys, the obvious fanservice plugged behind them. But as I start to watch it, I actually grew to understand and relate Haruhi more than ever.
I didn't expect it to have so many issues besides the crossdressing indifferent androgynous being.
I haven't read the manga- but I was surprised to how the anime entertained me.
Corny but yes
haha, well that sounds cool. It's always good whenever manga or anime becomes something much more than just entertainment. I'm going to have to check it out.
HIGURASHI
well, not really. But when I first started watching it it did.
Who'd expect such cute lolis to start mercilessly murdering each other? I think the lack of gore in the second season was more surprising than the first though.
Planetes is easily one of my favourite anime, but I realized recently that if I want people to believe me and give it a try I should probably stop describing it as being about "space trash collectors and the power of love", even if that is exactly what it's about.
Mine would probably be Black Lagoon. I kept getting told I should watch it but I thought it was just some shit over-the-top action show. Eventually I tried a couple of episodes when I was all out of other shows, and realized it's so over the top it passes back through to awesome again, which is probably exactly what it's aiming for, and that it's obviously fairly self aware, which always helps you feel less guilty about watching that kind of stuff.
Then I got a little further and saw that a lot of really awesome bits happen not during action scenes but when people are sitting around talking and moralizing, and it manages to pull this off while being neither too simplistic nor too pretentious, and I started to like it even more.
Also the cigarette "kiss" is really fucking cool.
Planetes truly is an amazing anime. Definitely a surprise for me, too, as I also was just looking for something to entertain me for a little while, but recieved something much more.
The anime that surprised me most, though, would be Hunter x Hunter. Normally I despise those types of anime: weak protagonist with a lot of potential goes through numerous trials and becomes strong, but this one seemed to just...grab hold of your heart and never let go. I couldn't stop watching, and eventually I ran out of episodes to watch. It didn't cater to the popular demand of shallow action mixed with romance, like Naruto and Bleach, which made you feel almost connected with the characters.
Also, Hisoka is just pure awesome. Just love his sadistic nature and witty humour.
>>5
Yeah I tried Black Lagoon, and I just couldn't into it after watching 4 episodes. Maybe I should give it another chance.
>>6
Hunter x Hunter is great. I watched a few downloaded episodes, and read some manga scans. However, I been trying to find a Good DVD of it so I can watch it on the big screen. It's just really hard to get out here, but I definitely need to check out more of it.
I'm so glad that more people than myself like Planetes. Everytime I mention to my friends out here, they don't know what I'm talking about. I showed it to my best friend, and he was just like "eh." Really though, it's cool that I'm not the only one.
>>7
Yeah, it's really too bad that there aren't many people who know about Planetes. I just wanted to add another anime that also surprised me quite a bit: Wolf and Spice. An anime that's mainly about economics being so fun and interesting? No way! But it's true. Though I'm admittedly more into it for the romance between the two main characters, the merchantry (awesomely made up word) is actually quite interesting. If you can get your hands on it, totally recommended!
>>8
Sweet! I absolutely love sharing good anime.
Here's another one for you that I thoroughly enjoyed and was a bit surprised.
Hataraki Man
which means "workaholic" in Japanese. The main character is a woman, and when I watched it, I was still 19, and really big into having a male as the lead. This anime is pretty much about work ethic, and the struggles of a job. It sounded super boring to me, but then again I soon realized it was something we can all relate to, because we all dread going to work everyday. SO definitely check it out.
>>9
Haha, that sounds like a fun one. I'll try that one out. Yeah, it's definitely fun to exchange favorite anime and maybe find a new favorite in the process.
I'll give you another: Great Teacher Onizuka. Too much fun to watch. Hilarious antics, great underlying messages, interesting romance plots (though not much romance, in general), and so much more. It's basically about a former gang leader who becomes a teacher of the most delinquent class in a private school, and his bizarre ways of reforming these kids. Great for laughs.
Staying on the humour note, Golden Boy is a real gut-buster. If you're not put off by the graunchy language used, it's definitely worth a watch; garunteed barrel of laughs. It's also short, so you don't have to commit much time to get the most out of it.
Angel's Egg taught me how much a very limited narrative could work
>>10
way ahead of u man. GTO was the first anime series and manga i actually collected with my own money 7yrs ago when i was 16! haha Onizuka was and will forever be my favorite character. Im so glad Tohru Fujisawa is revisiting the character with the spin-off/sequel GTO - Shonan 14 days!
and i remember watching golden boy on vhs back when i was 12. funny now as it is back then!
>>11
Angels Egg...gonna have to google it.
>>12
Yeah, I'm also currently reading Shonan 14 days; pretty good so far. His manga detailing Onizuka's younger days (Shounan Junai Gumi) is also quite good.
Just recently, I watched a movie called Mind Game. It was so crazy it transcended weirdness and became absolutely awesome. It's just...hard to define with words. Definitely worth a watch; it blew my mind away.
Elfen Lied is also quite good, if you don't mind intense gore; especially during the first few minutes.
Oooh, Maison Ikkoku! If you can't get your hands on the manga (which is better, imo) then watch the anime; it's a very well done romance done by none other then Rumiko Takahashi.
Tortov Roddle when I found out it was anime and not a western work
I must say School Days was probably the most surprising. Especially the last episode.
I mean, the first episodes were quite good, some simple love complex, etc. Good ol' ecchi. But towards the end everything just clashed together horribly.
Turned into some freaky slasher T_T. Certainly a twist nobody can expect from the start.
>>16 It's amazing that you didn't have it spoiled to you before watching it. I knew about the ending before I even knew what the series was called.
Shamanic Princess turned out to be better than one magic girl look
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. From what I heard from my friends who watched the dub, it was really bad, but I decided to watch the Japanese version since I already watched the original Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Past the first season, it was better than I thought it would be, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a fan.
Fantastic Children was more than I ever knew right after the start
Japanese Annime girl movie.
http://anicha.animax.co.jp/blog/anicha_00004/
It's my favorite amine blog.
双対粉体界面
dualgminterface.blog.shinobi.jp