‘Underrated’ is a difficult term to pin down.
In past years I’ve seen several lists of ‘underrated’ anime on various internet blogs and forums, and each of them has been referring to something different.
Some have been using the term to refer to anime that is well-known but not popular, while others have been discussing anime that are obscure despite their good quality.
Then there are those anime that have performed extremely well in Japan but have attracted little attention elsewhere, or anime that might have been more popular but were essentially a victim of the bad economy.
I believe all of these definitions have validity.
For this article, I’d like to try my hand at making my own list of what might be considered underrated televised anime.
All are titles that I judge to be ranging from pretty good to excellent in terms of overall quality (taking both production values and narrative into account), but that for whatever reason have slipped beneath the radar. None of these could be considered as being particularly niche anime – they are all relatively recent(ish) and mainstream titles that simply did not make as big an impression in the international fan community as they perhaps deserved.
While I imagine that any hardcore anime fans reading this (however you personally want to define ‘hardcore’) will have at least heard of some of these anime, I was quite surprised at the amount of fans who told me they hadn’t watched them.
Note: I have deliberately discounted any titles released from 2011 onwards, in part because it is possibly too soon to be able to tell how large an impact these have had, but also because I’ve fallen a bit behind on new releases.
Even so, this selection is only a very brief one to be viewed as a kind of rough shortlist – there are of course plenty of other anime out there that are worthy of more success than they achieved.
I’d like to invite people to comment with these if they feel so inclined.
Although this series was awarded an Excellence Prize at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival, and won top honours at the seventh annual Tokyo International Anime Fair as well as the Seiun Award at the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention the following year, it has attracted considerably less attention overseas.
Exactly why it has received such a comparatively low awareness in the Western anime industry and fanbase is a mystery to me – it’s intelligent, creative, and finely crafted, yet has taken nearly five years to be officially released in English. Whether or not you are a fan of anime science-fiction, Dennou Coil is one of those rare titles with the ability to charm an extremely wide audience. Following a group of children as they make use of illegal software tool and virtual pets to explore and manipulate the half-real, half-digital city in which they live, Dennou Coil presents a kind sophistication that is lacking in many of the more popular anime.
Mnemosyne
This series is unique in that it is made up of six 45-minute episodes rather than the standard half-hour sessions, and combines several genres – action, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, horror, yuri – into a stylishly dark anime.
Although it was licensed by Funimation just a year after its release in Japan, Mnemosyne seems far more obscure that it should be, especially considering the fact that it includes nearly everything adult viewers tend to appreciate about anime (hot chicks that kick arse, plenty of sex and violence, and smooth visuals). However, the show was broadcast on only one network (Japan’s AT-X channel, and then only one episode a month), and seems to have failed to reach a particularly large audience elsewhere.
A shame, given the originality and atmosphere of the story, which concerns a pair of immortal women running a private investigation agency.
Despite all the nudity and gore, Mnemosyne achieves a brilliant balance between plot and gritty ambiance, and somehow never seems as gratuitous as it sounds.
Moribito
This show was released in 2007 which meant that, like Dennou Coil, it was perhaps passed over for big-name titles and fan favourites like Baccano!, Gurren Lagann, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
And oddly enough, when Moribito went to air on Cartoon Network in 2008, it ran for only ten of its twenty-six episodes before being dropped from the schedule without explanation, to be re-aired in full the following year.
While Moribito does have its flaws, it also has some of the most fluid fight scenes ever to be seen in anime. Moreover, the main character is a self sufficient thirty-year old woman; an incredible rarity.
Better yet, Balsa is not oversexed, but rather a mature and quietly capable adult making a living as a spear-wielding bodyguard. The world in which she travels is both realistic and complex, with its own self-contained history and culture.
Although plenty of people seem at least aware of Moribito’s existence, the series does not get nearly as much credit as it deserves.
Mushishi
I’m not going to say that you’re not a true anime fan unless you’ve seen Mushishi, because that would be terribly elitist of me.
But seriously, if you haven’t seen Mushishi then you need to right now.
Although quite a few anime fans are aware of this masterpiece, it is astonishing to me that more people haven’t watched it. It’s won grand prizes at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, yet is far less well-known than it should be considering its stunning visuals and outstanding atmosphere – if Miyazaki ever created a moody supernatural series, it would probably look something like this.
A supernatural travelogue of a man who researches creatures called Mushi and aids people who are negatively affected by them, the anime has no overarching plot but remains compelling throughout each and every individual story.
The series was perhaps overshadowed by other new releases of the same year, such as the much-discussed gore-fest that was Elfen Lied or the tsundere-stuffed Shakugan no Shana, but is undoubtedly one of the finest anime titles ever released.
Rideback
There are a lot of people who don’t like this series, and I can understand why – it’s short, there’s a major shift in tone about halfway through, and for some, the genres of racing, mecha, and drama are incongruous, particularly with a female lead.
However, that’s part of the reason I enjoyed it; finally, a mecha show (sort of) about racing (sort of) that doesn’t involve giant robots in space or car drivers pretending to be cool. What really gripped me was the slightly unconventional yet appealing character designs, combined with the fact that it presented a sci-fi/racing story that didn’t depend on stereotypical mecha designs or a team of male teens to tell the story.
Also, the lack of panty shots pleased me.
I actually thought Rideback was relatively well known (I mean, it’s on the DVD shelf here in New Zealand so how obscure could it be?), but very few of my anime-watching friends knew what I was on about when I mentioned it.
I’d therefore like to encourage more people to at least give it a go.
A few other suggestions:
– Kino’s Journey. It reminds me a little of Mushishi in terms of the episodic layout and characterisation of the protagonist.
– Kimi ga Nozomu Eien/Rumbling Hearts. Possibly it gets passed up a lot because it’s based on a dating sim, but it’s surprisingly intelligent and well-told.
– Stellvia of the Universe. A classic example of an anime that doesn’t get watched as much as it should simply because it’s G-rated.
