Mushi-shi, a delightful and thoughtful show with a good "monster of the week" formula.
In a similar vein, Kino's Journey.
Serei no moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) might be my favorite, though. I like the character of Balsa and the mentoring role she takes over the young prince.
Bang Brave Bangern! is the gayest, and probably the most fun anime I've ever seen. Even the year it came out I didn't see very many people talking about it, so shoutout to the Mother's Basement youtube channel for making me aware of its existence.
Golden Kamuy is also excellent, but a lot of people got (understandably) turned off by how bad the bears looked in the first couple of episodes. They were rendered in 3d and composited in really poorly. It was not great. And tbh while the rest of the show doesn't have anything that bad later on the animation never really becomes what I'd call "great". That said, if you want to watch a bunch of crazy dudes kill each other over some gold in Taisho-era Hokkaido this show is an incredible time.
Edit: The Elusive Samurai is also an absolutely amazing watch. You just have to be okay with a show where one moment they're making silly jokes and then 30 seconds later people are being beheaded.
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife was the most adorable show I watched all year. I'm a sucker for positive representation.
Tonari no Yokai-san, a slice-of-life drama with mythological elements about supernatural beings and humans peacefully co-existing in the modern world. It's sad, and beautiful, and heartwarming; one of my favourite shows of 2024. People who liked Natsume's Book of Friends might enjoy this one as well.
I really liked Akudama Drive.
Anime original, and it’s only one cour, so easy to just watch in one or two sittings.
Metallic Rouge
so underrated director and whoknowswhoelse decided to give 12 chapters to a 24+ chapter plotline.
sobbing
Christmas in January is probably one of my favorite movies ever, but it only has a 5.57 on MAL. It's only 46 minutes and it's the most densely good anime I've ever seen. As in like, it's the best anime ever per-minute.
If you have a MAL account, you can plug in your username to anime.plus and you can view a bunch of stats including what your biggest score differences are. Here's everything that I have rated around +2 points higher than the average score:
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009) 10 7.24 +2.76
Paniponi Dash! 10 7.44 +2.56
1-gatsu ni wa Christmas 8 5.57 +2.43
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou 10 7.60 +2.40
Gamers! 9 6.72 +2.28
B-gata H-kei 9 6.82 +2.18
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 10 7.82 +2.18
Hibike! Euphonium 10 8.03 +1.97
All of these I would say are quite underrated, though Kare Kano and Hibike! Euphonium are pretty well-renowned. Haruhi is also very popular.
Would "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" count as underrated? I rarely see people commenting about it at least.
Idk if it's underrated but I never meet anyone, in person that likes Sgt Frog. That shit slapped and the English dub localized the jokes making it an absolute treasure.
Big O
If I had to pick one off the top of my head I'd probably say Koi Gaze. Yes the story is disturbing and uncomfortable, but that also makes it work.
Orbital Children https://anilist.co/anime/101705/Chikyuugai-Shounen-Shoujo/
I really enjoyed this story. It wasn't that popular with people and I think it gets a lot of hate for being a Netflix anime movie.
Murai in Love. Comedy is subjective, and this one happened to tickle my funny bone.
Certainly didn't expect to laugh this much from a shoujo romcom.
Chainsmoker Cat :3
Keijo!!!!!!!!
Ergo Proxy
Also in a similar spirit: Wolf's Rain
Kogepan. From 2001, ten very short episodes of about 3 minutes, 4 if you include the OP and ED. About a bread that is baked too long and is burned. Most other breads are pristine. A story about silly anthropomorphised breads but it's quite human. It is surprisingly touching, especially the last episode. Some say it is an allegory for being old in society, the burned breads being old and the nice breads being young. Personally I think it can be interpreted in many ways, and you can easily swap being old for your own way in which you are burned. I'd classify it as an SOL/Iyashikei anime. I like how the quotes roll in with the writing behind them. You can watch it on youtube.
Pumpkin Scissors. Almost entirely forgotten, possibly due to it having a case of Unfinished Manga Syndrome, but it's an entertaining not-exactly-a-war-story set in a world with WWI-level tech.
Golden Boy?
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