What do you do when you’ve caught up with all the latest Anime? Personally I start searching my butt off for some that I haven’t seen yet. That’s why I decided to put together a list of some of the best must watch Anime! Hopefully the following series’ and films will scratch the itch that only the best Anime can reach. Just so you know, the following list isn’t ranked from best to worst or in any particular order.
Must Watch Anime
Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン)
SAO was a great Anime to lose yourself in. The concept was one that I’m sure a lot of gamers and Anime lovers alike fell in love with. Set in the future, the protagonist Kazuto Kirigaya dives into a brand new virtual reality game only to find he can’t log out. Not only that but if a player dies in the game, they die in real life. Now, when I say a lot of people will have fallen in love with the concept, I don’t mean the dying part! SAO mixes together fantasy, action and even a little bit of romance, so it’s an Anime that a lot of audiences can enjoy. The animation is detailed beautifully, monsters are well thought out and the story line keeps you craving more! Definitely an Anime that you can watch over and over again as well.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン)
This is probably the best mecha Anime to be made. No other series of film that involves humans piloting giant robots comes close to being as amazing as Neon Genesis Evangelion. It starts off seeming quite simple with the protagonist, Shinji Ikari, becoming a pilot of one of the giant robots known as an Eva. The Evas are tasked with defending against invading monsters called Angels. Even to this day I’m simply stunned by how amazing, creepy and disturbing the Angels are. Whoever came up with the designs for each Angel is either a genius or has an extraordinarily messed up imagination! The plot starts to thicken and get quite strange towards the middle half of the series so you’re not going to want to stop plowing through each and every episode with your eyes glued to the screen.
Death Note (デスノート)
Probably one of the only Anime I’d recommend only watching to the end once. Why is that? Simply because there are so many plot twists that watching it again will never have the same effect it did during the first watch through. Light Yagami comes across a notebook on the floor of his school with “Death Note” written on it’s cover. Instructions contained in the book state that if a human’s name is written down in the book, that human will die. Being fed up with the injustices of the world, Light takes it upon himself to rid the world of evil people and eventually rule over Earth as a God. Light meets a Shinigami named Ryuk who was the previous owner of the Death Note. All the strange and coincidental deaths end up being noticed by a master detective called L. What unfolds after this is a game of cat and mouse with L being the cat and Light being the mouse. However, Light is always trying to find out the real name of L so as to get rid of all obstructions on his path to being a God. Seriously, this Anime is a must watch for every lover of Japanese animation.
The Boy and the Beast (バケモノの子)
The latest animated film from Mamoru Hosoda, the creator of other Anime movies such as Summer Wars and Wolf Children (which are also included in this list). This film is a touching tale about a young boy named Ren who loses his mother in a car accident and his father is nowhere to be found. Ren runs away and gets lost in an alleyway, eventually finding himself in the beast realm of Shibuten. In this realm he meets a fierce yet anti-social warrior called Kumatetsu. From here on out, Kyuuta, formerly known as Ren and Kumatetsu form what seems to be an unbreakable bond. Both of them have a lot to learn from one another, but where these two are concerned, nothing is going to be easy. I nearly shed a few tears towards the end, I wonder if you will too!