this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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What have your favorite underrated anime of the 2020's been so far? (collider.com)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I feel like the article is extremely subjective, so I figured it'd be more fun to post your own top 10 good/bads.

I'll start with mine.

  • Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
  • Dark Gathering
  • Ya Boy Kongming!
  • Great Pretender
  • Summertime Rendering
  • Miss Shachiku and the Little Baby Ghost
  • Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater
  • Uncle from Another World
  • Digimon Adventures (2020)
  • Muteking the Dancing Hero

I tried thinking of anime that I'd suggest to friends who are already fairly active watchers, but for some reason or another had them slip through the cracks.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

So far it's been the following:

  • Bang Brave Bang Bravern - Big gay robots. Hilarious show.
  • Skip and Loafer - Succeeds more than any anime I've seen at making the characters feel like people.
  • Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken - Fun story about making anime.
  • Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- - The only "robots rebel against humanity" anime I've ever liked.
  • ODDTAXI - An excellent story about a guy who gets wrapped up in some shady dealings he'd rather avoid.

There's been some other great stuff too of course but I wouldn't say that anything else I've seen that's been released since 2020 has been ~~overrated~~ underrated.

As for worst it's gonna be hard to beat The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel - Northern War and Ex-Arm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I've only seen oddtaxi from your list. I look forward to checking out the others.

As for worst.. I have one in mind but the name escapes me at this very moment. Oh right. Gibiate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As for worst… I have one in mind but the name escapes me at this very moment. Oh right. Gibiate.

Oh, $DEITY, that thing was such a train wreck! I watched it to the end thinking that it couldn't possibly get any worse.

It did.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

It was one I watched all the way through to see if they ever managed to even it out... They didn't. The pacing was terrible, the plot was worse, and the animation was somehow even worse than that. I think most ps1 games had smoother animations for their 3d models.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Bravern is top of my list as well. Hell, Mother's Basement made a whole video about how everybody slept on Bravern despite how much ass it kicked.

[–] anon6789 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
  • Supercub
  • Cestvs
  • Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated
  • Aharen Is Indecipherable
  • The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting
  • Do It Yourself
  • Tomo-chan Is a Girl
  • Trigun Stampede
  • Insomniacs After School (read it but havent watched the anime)
  • Love/Hate: Farming Life in Another World
    I'll agree with OP on Summertime Render and Days at the Breakwater as well!

.

If we're counting continued in the 20s:

  • Golden Kamuy
  • Ancient Magus Bride . .
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

+1 for Supercub

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I tried to split my list genres so there'd be a bit of everything, but I definitely agree with most of yours. My only gripe is trigun.

I understand how they took the source material and completely warped it to attempt to fit a new story and give it a whole new life of its own, and minute to minute the show is fine, it's when you look at the whole story being told at once that things start falling apart and giant plot holes start showing up. Particularly in the first half of the season. The makers wanted a spectacle more than anything else and they delivered on that.

[–] anon6789 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I haven't read the manga, which my understanding is what the reboot was following. I watched it now out of curiosity, due to the original anime being one of my main gateways to anime as a whole.

If I hadn't seen the original multiple times, I probably would have been lost at multiple points in the reboot. Characters seemed to pop up out of nowhere for unknown reasons.

My girlfriend had never seen the original, and she originally wasn't paying attention as I watched this on my own, but after a few episodes she got pulled into it as well, so it seemed to make enough sense to someone unfamiliar that they'd at least be curious.

I enjoyed it mainly because it got me to think so many new things about one of my early favorite anime universes. It filled in a few gaps I had, such as I liked how we got to spend more time with Project Seeds and learned more about the Plants species and Knives' overall goals.

It made my list because it exceeded my expectations as I was not looking forward to CGI animation and I was concerned about them "ruining" the story I had in my head, but the animation was beautiful, VA was great, and I think about the universe of the story more than I have in years.

It's totally subjective what anyone else will take away, but everything else on the list I went into blind, with no expectations. Trigun I came into very biased due to my love for the original, and expected eww to meh, but as a whole, it gave me a great time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

It definitely set out and met what it was attempting to do. I can't fault it for that. Watching it one episode spaced a week apart it is a glorious reboot. They definitely did more work on the world building aspects. It feels much more like a place that is alive more than the original which was more or less just barren wastes unless plot device.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

https://anilist.co/anime/111428/Sleepy-Princess-in-the-Demon-Castle/ is great

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not sure if its underrated but Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- was one that I didn't hear a whole lot of buzz about but is one of my favorites in the last few years!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

considering it's on three different peoples suggested so far, I daresay it's likely worth a watch.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is ODDTAXI underrated? If so, then that definitely. It's just quality all the way through.

And Estab-Life: Great Escape. Yeah - it's sort of contrived, but it has so much heart and tells a satisfying story. And Equa is wonderful.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Is **ODDTAXI** underrated?

IMO it is rated.

It's got a good rating, which it deserves. Perhaps it is underwatched though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

@Endmaker @Rottcodd This is legit a perfect explanation

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

That was more my impression, but I don't follow ratings or reviews much, so wasn't sure. I just know that I rarely see it discussed, but pretty much universally positively when it is.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Based on the difference between average score and my rating on AniList, some of my favourite underrated anime of 2020s are (sorted from largest to smallest delta):

number title year average score my rating delta
1 Cells at Work!! Season 2 2021 7.2 10 2.8
2 BELLE 2021 7.3 10 2.7
3 BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. 2020 7.4 10 2.6
4 Gushing Over Magical Girls 2024 7.4 10 2.6
5 Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 2024 7.4 10 2.6
6 The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 2023 7.7 10 2.3
7 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 1 2022 7.8 10 2.2
8 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2 2023 7.8 10 2.2
9 The Demon Girl Next Door Season 2 2022 7.8 10 2.2
10 TERMINATOR ZERO 2024 7.1 9 1.9

From what I observed, the higher the rating for a show, the more likely I am to like it (and give it a high score)

Not sure how to take popularity into account. How do we judge if a show is underwatched anyway?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bofuri is a good answer. That show was such goofy fun. Also, I am not surprised to see 100GF there. So many people will write off shows just for having a harem tag. So, when a show comes along that is the harem-iest of harems, they don't even give it a chance.

[–] GreyCat 2 points 1 month ago

I tried to read the nanga, I tried to watch the anine. I just don't like 100GF.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I did not expect to love VTuber Legend as much as I have this season. I only vaugley knew about Hololive culture beforehand, but I still loved (and will love for the next couple weeks) every joke that's come out of that show.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I generally watch the first episode of every new anime (and have been since the beginning of 2020).. The Vtuber one didn't especially catch me in that time, but it's not the first to slip through the cracks. I'll give it another go.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Easily Bocchi the Rock. All of its hype is during or after it aired.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago
  • The Angel next door spoils me rotten
  • The Dangers in my Heart
  • Akebis Sailor Uniform
  • Vivy
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I trawled through AniList for the 2020's and here are some I enjoyed that I don't seem to see people mention very much. Ten in no particular order:

  1. Brave Bang Bravern! - ridiculously fun show. Takes the piss out of every other mecha show that comes before it.
  2. Bofuri (and season 2) - a VRMMO-type show that never takes itself seriously with some really cute moments
  3. I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level - A "slow-life" isekai filled with cute characters that just struck the perfectly relaxing mood for me. Season 2 coming next year.
  4. Love After World Domination - A cute romcom between the red ranger and one of the evil organization's leaders. I will always lament the early cancellation of this manga, but the anime was great as well.
  5. Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill - Just a fun, laid-back isekai about cooking with zero stakes (and a really fun OP).
  6. Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon - Most people dismissed this show based on the title, but for those that actually watched it, it was surprisingly good. Not amazing...but definitely fits the underrated moniker.
  7. Endo and Kobayashi Live! - A villainess series that is just full of fluffy romance. If you like tsunderes, then this is right up your alley.
  8. Chillin' in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers - A series that starts with a painfully generic episode 1 before revealing in episode 2 that the actual genre of the show is romance instead of any kind of power fantasy with no harems allowed. A lot of people dropped it after just the first episode.
  9. TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- (and season 2) - Not sure how underrated this is, but I really enjoyed it, even as a source reader. I feel like this series has a small but dedicated fan base in the West.
  10. Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero - This is a very silly fantasy show about a hero that has let himself go in retirement. As the show goes, it builds to some real touching, emotional stuff, but you just need to get through some fan service on the way there. Way better than I thought it was going to be.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Ikuta no kita - underratted because it's avan-garde and my experience watching it was great. 6.39 vs my 9/10

As I have watched a bit more avan-gerde films like "mad god" and "Tetsuo: the iron man" I would not grade it the same.