I can’t remember the exact one, but the finale of Akebi’s Sailor Uniform continues to live rent-free in my head. The visual quality there is pure excellence.
Had no idea Kill a Kill was going to go as hard as it did by the ending arc.
Just one of those shows that starts strong and gets better with every passing episode.
It looks so innocent on the cover, but once you open it up you find it’s oozing with character. Absolutely recommend.
Apocalypse Hotel from last season.
A bit of a depressing start but pivots hard into ‘thinking’ comedy and philosophy. It’s got your over the top anime characters but the overall situation demands the thinking parts of your brain to activate.
Made in Abyss. It sounded cool, I knew it had its issues, but holy shit the worldbuilding is top-tier.
I don’t know that I would call Madoka a pleasant surprise. Actually in that vein Gushing over Magical Girls was pleasant.
I watched I’m in Love with the Villainess fully expecting trash, only to think “wait wtf I’m actually invested why is this good?”
Bocchi the Rock!
I don’t know who decided that a 4koma should get some of the most inventive and expressive animation of this decade, but they’re a fucking genius.
I only learned about it from seeing a webm of the Blender scene, and I thought “ok, this is kinda hilarious, I gotta give this a shot.” I was watching happily until episode 5, when I thought “wait, are they gonna play the whole song? They are aren’t they. Wait a minute, this song fucking rules.” And every single episode after that was banger after banger. One hilarious bit, stylish animation cut, and kickass song, one after another.
As an aside, I watched My Dress-Up Darling season 1 before Bocchi, and watching season 2 now, and you can tell how much Bocchi the Rock influenced Cloverworks. Season 1 had good animation, but it was fairly standard. Season 2 they’ve been much more experimental and it has been a joy to see it all.
Oh yeah, I’m only at episode one of MDD, but it has the fingerprints of BTR all over its animation. You could tell the BTR team is working on it. Likewise, from what I see of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, it builds upon the quality of Akebi.
It’s why I love Cloverworks so much as a studio.
There is precedent for a music-themed 4koma adaptation having great animation, full songs, and just being generally good. It’s called K-On.
Laid-Back Camp.
It surprised me because I was waiting for a Madoka Magica moment and…welll…never happened. My whole family loves the series.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/52619/Jidou_Hanbaiki_ni_Umarekawatta_Ore_wa_Meikyuu_wo_Samayou
This vending machine anime was the biggest suprise of my life.
I thought it was a joke. I put it on to have background noise while i engaged in other hobbies. Now im watching season 2 fully engaged and i can’t wait for the new episode each week
I did not know anything about to your eternity and was really blown away by how much I liked it. I also found cells at work as being surprisingly good considering how little kiddish it appeared.
My Dress Up Darling. There is no other anime that fills me with joy so much as that series does. I loved the manga too.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/32951/Rokudenashi_Majutsu_Koushi_to_Akashic_Records/
Went surprisingly technical for its magic system
I’ve seen plenty of great shows over the years but the most surprisingly great one would easily be Gundam Build Fighters. Since it’s a show about kids building plastic models and using sci-fi magic to fight them against each other I expected it to be little more than a soulless ad for Gunpla. What I found was an earnestly-written ode to the greatness of Gundam with some of the most charming characters I’ve ever seen. It actually ended up tying with Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin as my favorite Gundam show which is completely insane given how low my expectations were going in. I almost didn’t watch it.
FLCL: I thought it was Evangellion like.
It was inspired by NGE, and made by the same production company
Mushishi. All the pretty Japanese forest scenes. It felt like a nature doco meets x-files.
Probably Murai In Love
Pretty much all other anime in my top 10 / favourites and rest of my 10/10s either
- received high ratings, or
- have significant number of people talking about how good they are
While it was airing, Murai In Love’s rating did not even reach 60% on AniList.
Also, hardly anyone is singing its praises. Honestly, I have forgotten what got me to check it out in the first place.
But its slapstick comedy aligns perfectly with my sense of humour and got me to laugh one of the hardest while watching a show.