When I was in college, I had a tendency to grab random series from an fserv in IRC. One day I got Kaleidostar not knowing what it was and proceeded to marathon the whole 50 something episodes. I told the homies I was in my room watching porn lest they know I’d secretly become invested in binging anime made for middle school girls.
Haha, I have watched a lot of Sailor Moon as a fully grown adult male, so I get it. Also, don’t even get me started on the amount of manga that I read intended for female readers.
Monster Musume. It’s far better than the premise would lead you to believe. Rachnera best girl, incidentally.
Ah. A fellow leg man.
It’s genuinely a fun series.
I think this depends on the intended audience. My answer would be different depending on if I am talking to somebody familiar with the anime landscape vs somebody not familiar with anime. Trying to keep things generally spoiler-free below…
For the anime-initiated
- Fullmetal Alchemist (not Brotherhood) - I know, this makes me a terrible person, but I actually like the anime-original ending of the first Fullmetal at a conceptual level. It raises a lot of questions about the nature of alchemy and how it is inseparable from violence. You can really read a lot into it and apply it to things irl.
- Usagi Drop - The manga has ruined this series for many, many folks in the greater anime community. However, just taking the anime as a standalone piece of media, Usagi Drop is a great series.
For casuals
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You - The title of this series makes people think that this is just some trashy, fan service filled, harem trash…which it kind of is. But, at the same time, it is actually hilarious and quite touching a lot of the time. The premise is ridiculous, but so is how much effort they put into making sure that it is executed to perfection.
- Reincarnated as a Vending Machine - Another series in which the title makes it sound incredibly stupid. However, I enjoyed this show a lot and it was way better than I had thought the premise would allow.
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - This is a series that I have recommended to people irl before and gotten some weird looks in return after they hear the title. In reality, this is a great series that uses supernatural occurrences to explore the insecurities and difficulties that arise as children grow up.
Bunny Girl Senpai was really great but yeah I thought it was ecchi when my bros suggested it
FMA is good. I’d still consider it a silver standard compared to Brotherhood which is now a gold standard.
There are a lot of little things that happen in FMA that don’t happen in FMA:B that are still referenced, and personally I always kind of took both series together as a bunch of adventures for the brothers. I do prefer the ending of Brotherhood though.
Also obligatory Olivier Mira Armstrong is best girl.
Brotherhood skipped a lot of stuff that was in FMA03 on the assumption that anyone watching Brotherhood at release would have also seen 03 and would know the divergence point, which does weaken Brotherhood to an extent as time passes and more people watch it without 03.
While I feel Brotherhood had a better ending, I still really like the ending of 03. The writers had to basically guess an ending based on an incomplete manga? And they went for a really personal, small stakes ending that lined up with the clues given and I think they did a really good job. Mangahood ended with a giant nationwide crisis and the intensity of the stakes at that point made it clear the home team would succeed. FMA03’s final conflict was so personal that you could believe the bad ending was a possibility, and in some minor ways I appreciate it
Onimai: I’m now your sister
It got looked down on as it involves a man being transformed into a little girl and making friends at school with other girls that age. But if you ignore the fact the younger sister was a man it’s just a story about an elder sister helping her little sister get out and make friends.
I didn’t have a thing for tights and stockings untill I saw Miru Tights. This anime made me appreciate stocking, tights and feet related stuffs after watching.
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma⭐Ilya. I swear I’m not a pedo. I just want Ilya to be happy.
All of them. I never talk about it in public, except giant robots. It’s the only socially acceptable version. I thank Transformers for this.
I dunno man, even when I talk about Gundams in public sometimes I get some strange looks.
Then again, that’s just what happens when I try to explain the UC timeline.
Yeah, I generally stick to what the average American finds OK. Transformers is good. Pacific Rim is older but OK. I don’t go into Macross too deep unless I know they’re cool with it.
Everyone loves cowboy bebop, and a lot of shounen anime has penetrated pretty far - DBZ, Naruto, One Piece, etc.
Mushoku Tensei because of the worldbuilding
yeah theres some ecchi but its great. not something im personally ashamed to admit tbh
Inukami!
It’s constantly lewd, silly, and is simultaneously an example of a harem anime and making fun of perverts. The series has moments that will make you cry from laughing so hard, and times when you get a little emotional, and then you’ll go “fuck yeah” as something cool happens. It sort of has the premise of ‘taming’ spirits and using them to battle bad spirits, but most of the time they end up fighting the over-aggressive nerd who gets a nosebleed around a girl.
Hmmm.
I don’t really have series I’m ashamed of liking. Perhaps one’s I know are trash… I try not to be a weeb in the company of most people, in order to respect their disinterest, but I don’t have anything that makes we wish I’d disappear if people found out.
I watched everything there was of Freezing, for the sole reason that HanaKana VAs a character that is thirsty as hell, which is somewhat embarrassing.
Yamada’s First Time. lol I don’t like ecchi, but I got into romance anime last summer and this one was just so funny, sex positive, and oddly sweet at times. It’s def kinda ecchi though.
Sakura Trick or Seitokai Yakuindomo maybe. But I don’t really talk about Anime with anyone so who cares ^^
Totally forgot about Seitokai, I really enjoyed it but caught up and forgot to stay current. Looks like the manga ended in 2021 so I’ll have to binge them again, thanks :)
The movie was also great and somehow really wholesome
I tend to believe that even if something is bad, it’s fine to be an unashamed fan of the parts that you like, and that you should wear your tastes with pride even if they’re unconventional. Because of that, I don’t think I have any anime I’m actually ashamed of liking.
Well, that’s what I’d like to say, but actually there is one, though it’s a manga rather than an anime. As someone with an extremely low tolerance for ecchi (I’m not attracted to ladies), my one shameful fave is Nana & Kaoru, which is basically softcore porn. I’m honestly not sure how I got through the first few chapters, but once you get into it holy shit the character depth and the way that the ecchi scenes inform and develop the relationship between our leads. It’s so well written, oh my god. But on the surface the whole manga is just boobs, butt, and bondage, and I swear that’s not what I’m there for, lol.
