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With the manga and anime industry becoming mainstream, the number of people who read manga or watch anime has drastically increased. Several anime have gained worldwide recognition in the last few years and have garnered a loyal and strong fandom. However, it was the anime industry of the 1990s and early 2000s that paved the way for today’s glory.
While the industry has gained popularity, most people only seem to know or watch the series that fall under a trend, or are getting recommended. Tons of great anime are often overshadowed and remain underrated just because they are either old or do not fall under an umbrella. The Sakuga implementation might be missing, but these anime provide great stories and character development that most lack. Here is a list of five underrated anime that people should definitely watch once in their lifetime.
1. Ping Pong The Animation
- Creator: Taiyo Matsumoto
- Number of Episodes: 11
- Where To Watch: Crunchyroll
- Animation Studio: Tatsunoko Production
The animation of Ping Pong The Animation may not be appealing to anime fans, yet the story that it serves might be one of the best they have ever experienced. While it is a sports anime, it explores the great depth of psychological factors that a person goes through.
Smile and Peco are friends, which often leads the former to purposefully lose to the latter in table tennis. However, when Peco loses to a Chinese student, he leaves the sport. Coach Jo persuades Smile to overcome his helping personality and play to win. With all the details Ping Pong The Animation provides, it remains one of the most underrated anime ever.
2. Link Click
- Creator: Li Haoling
- Number of Episodes: 23 + 7 (Specials)
- Where To Watch: Crunchyroll
- Animation Studio: Studio LAN
Link Click is a Chinese Donghua, which is itself an underrated industry, but is slowly coming out of its shell. With a unique plot and narrative, Link Click brings one of the best time-traveling anime. It follows the journey of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, who run a photo studio named Moment of Time. While it seems like a normal profession from above, their business runs deeper. Whenever someone visits them with a picture they have regrets about, Cheng and Lu try to resolve their regret by time-traveling and accessing their memories. With Time Travel being a part of almost every alternate anime, Link Click does it better, but somehow still stays in the shadows.
3. Kino’s Journey
- Creator: Keiichi Sigsawa, Kouhaku Kuroboshi
- Number of Episodes: 13
- Where To Watch: Crunchyroll
- Animation Studio: A.C.G.T, Genko
A female biker with a talking motorcycle may make people think of it as a weird anime, but it remains one of the best anime ever. As the name suggests, Kino’s Journey is about a young girl named Kino and her talking motorcycle, Hermes. Together, they venture through different countries, have new experiences, meet new people, and gain knowledge. She only spends a limited time in every place before moving on to another. The journey is not always peaceful, as Kino faces multiple threats, leading her to carry firearms. Kino’s Journey teaches a great deal about life by differentiating between being carefree and careful based on situations.
4. Monster
- Creator: Naoki Urasawa
- Number of Episodes: 74
- Where To Watch: Netflix
- Animation Studio: Madhouse
Monster is one of the greatest stories ever created, yet it remains underrated even two decades after its release. With just psychological and conversational triggers, it provides multiple jump scares, even though there are no supernatural elements in the anime.
Kenzo Tenma’s journey to find the psychopathic serial killer Johan Liebert will send chills down everyone’s spine. No one knows how the next scene plays out except for Johan. Monster has showcased multiple characters with their respective stories, but all connected through Kenzo Tenma and Johan Liebert. It is a frighteningly beautiful anime and forces the viewer to think about the experience of the 74 episodes.
5. Mushi-Shi
- Creator: Yuki Urushibara
- Number of Episodes: 46 + 3 (Specials)
- Where To Watch: Crunchyroll
- Animation Studio: Artland
Mushi-Shi has a simple plot with no over-the-top protagonist or larger-than-life scenarios. It falls under the supernatural genre, yet that too is not under world-saving circumstances. The anime is about Mushi, the most primitive life form of all. They can only be perceived by a handful of individuals, including the protagonist, Ginko. He travels to different places to aid people who were suffering because of Mushi. His motive was to solve the dispute so that both life forms could live a stable life without disturbing each other.
The great thing about Mushi-Shi is that, without the presence of an antagonist, it does not solely focus on the protagonist. Rather, Ginko acts as a catalyst to the two-way story, making it a more interesting story than it appears to be.
Also Read: The Best Romance Anime That Aren’t Just High School Love Stories
Priyanko is currently pursuing his Master’s in Economics. He loves to read manga or watch anime in his spare time. He is a massive fan of One Piece, Naruto, and Haikyu. Amidst the Great Pirating Era, he wishes to become the greatest Hokage, even though he is short.
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