Happy October everyone! It’s getting closer and closer to the end of the year as we speak. With NaNoWriMo around the corner, I’ve been writing more than reading, so I thought instead I’d share my favorite anime instead of manga. Coming up with this list was pretty hard to be honest, but I promise to explain why I like them all, so at least you’ll get an idea of what goes on in my mind, right? Anyway, let’s get started with my number one favorite!
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Phi Brain is a story surrounding puzzles, as the name implies. But the puzzles in Phi Brain aren’t simple- no, they’re quite dangerous in fact. In Phi Brain, Kaito the puzzle-solving genius is brought into the world of Philosopher’s Puzzles, puzzles that are large scale and can mean death if you fail to complete the puzzle or complete it in time. Meanwhile, he meets more geniuses, and they all end up working together to solve some of the toughest puzzles there are. A thing I really like besides the puzzles is the naming system: a lot of characters are named after mind games and puzzles, and the geniuses are given titles that are actual influential people in history, such as Kaito’s title of Einstein or Ana’s title of Da Vinci. Using two unique naming patterns was quite interesting to me.
Natsume’s Book of Friends
If you prefer modern fantasy over what’s essentially science fiction to me, I highly recommend Natsume Yuujinchou, otherwise known as Natsume’s Book of Friends. It has all the classic elements of a modern fantasy anime: and by that I just mean it has a lot of yokai. See, Natsume can see them while most people cannot, and the story involves him dealing with yokai in a variety of ways. He makes some great friends in the process, while definitely having some enemies, including human ones. Natsume Yuujinchou proves you can have a life both in the human world and the yokai world, and love them both evenly in the end.
Humanity Has Declined
This one is a total mind fuck, guys. Don’t mind my wording- it’s true. As the title has made clear, Humanity is no longer the dominant intelligent creature in the world- now, creepy, always smiling ‘fairies’ outnumber the humans by far. Our heroine, whose name is never revealed might I add, goes through all sorts of bizarre hijinks to better understand the fairies and to help bring them and the human population closer. I found it really interesting they kept certain names private the entire time- for example, the heroine and her unusual family situation. One person is literally named assistant. And with scenes like skinned chicken running a factory and a time loop involving banana peels, I think it’s pretty obvious… This anime is just out there.
Eden of the East
If you want another totally bizarre story, I vote you check out Eden of the East. Not to spoil it for you, but there’s a lot of fighting, death and weirdness in this show. I mean, it starts with the hero butt naked with nothing but a gun and a phone. And that’s just mildly mind-fucking compared to the rest of the series. I thought the bizarre storyline was really impressive and interesting. I also just really liked the ending theme video- it was done with paper art and… You just gotta see it, okay? Unless you’re sensitive to topics like terrorism, serial killers and things like that… then don’t, because they all have a spot in the show.
Acchi Kocchi
Acchi Kocchi, otherwise known as Here and There, is a gag comedy with adorably weird characters and even weirder, silly plots. From a genius making chocolates with frog parts in them for valentines day, or the heroine struggling to greet her crush early in the morning on the way to school, this anime is made of pure cute and silly behavior. Warning, there’s a lot of blood if you count the nosebleeds people get after Io says anything.
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
Yep, I’m back to a crazy antics anime, but this one has a neat twist. You see, Nyaruko is actually short for something: Nyarlathotep. You know, one of Lovecraft’s creepy creatures in his famous works? The show even explains the fact that the names are the same because the creatures are based on aliens Lovecraft met, such as the Nyarlathotep people. Add in a hero who’s oddly good at attracting aliens and throwing forks, Nyaruko’s childhood rival and various other bizarre characters, and you get this comedic love story. Comedic sci-fi at its best.
Inu x Boku SS
Taking a quick break from total insanity and instead bringing you a somewhat more serious anime, Inu x Boku follows the lives of people with yokai blood living in a special high-class apartment building. Each tenant has a secret service specialist, each of whom also has yokai blood. Put all these people with unique bloodlines together, and you get a heartwarming coming of age story that’s not quite human, yet as human as it can get.
Kill Me Baby
Okay, enough of the serious for now. Now we’re going back to gag comedies. Kill Me Baby focuses on a somewhat stupid girl and her classmate who just happens to be a professional assassin. This setup isn’t actually that uncommon as I found later in other manga, but this particular anime is just really enjoyable to me. The friendship that blossoms is quite nice, too.
Mushishi
Mushishi is a very serious anime, in my opinion. It focuses on Ginko, a man who can see ‘mushi’, which are creatures that are hard to describe, but can often cause unseen havoc for humans. This anime is very episodic, meaning you can watch any episode at a given time and you probably won’t have to look back much to understand what’s going on. Ginko’s travels are vast and interesting- I really like the unusual phenomenon the mushi cause, as well as Ginko, who is very standoffish, but understandably so once you get to know him.
Working!!
The last one I have to share with you is Working!! Working!! is about the daily lives of the staff at a family restaurant. Each of the characters has a notable quirk, ranging from a height complex to a complex of loving small things, especially children. Though it’s mostly a gag comedy, it also has a few romantic plotlines involved. The shenanigans are a hoot, and the characters are so quirky they go together perfectly. It makes me want to eat at the shop just to watch them in person! (Too bad it’s an anime, huh?)
So those are my ten recommendations. I have a lot of anime I love, but these were stand out ones on my long list of things I’ve seen. What about you guys? Do you have a favorite anime? Do any of the ones I talked about today intrigue you? Let me know in the comments- I love getting to know you guys better! Why else would I ask you all these questions?