Spend Your Quarantine By Entering The Wonderful, Wild, And Erotic(?) World Of Anime
[Editor's Note:This is another guest blog from prospective Gaming blogger, @UnfilteredNerd, who knows his stuff and then some. Go and give him a follow.]
I’m a nerd. If that hasn’t been blatantly obvious to you up to this point, I don’t know what to tell you. I play video games for at least 40 hours a week, I own over 50 Funko POP’s, and now, I would officially declare that I am an anime stan. It started when I was a kid and I would watch Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon on Saturday mornings, and now it’s evolved into an uncontrollable beast. I’m literally watching an episode of Naruto Shippuden as we speak. So as we progress through this period of social distancing and quarantining, allow me to recommend a watch list for anyone else interested in trying anime out:
Start With One Punch Man, And If You Don’t Like It, Anime Is Probably Not For You
Even if you’ve never watched an episode of Dragon Ball Z in your life, you already know the pattern that the writers use. A villain appears, Goku is initially defeated, then the writers make him more powerful and give him a new hair color and he kicks the villain’s ass. That’s the entire story of Dragon Ball Z in a nutshell: villain, initial defeat, loud angry screaming, new hair color. Well, One Punch Man is a parody of that typical anime storyline. The main character, Saitama, can literally beat/kill any enemy with one punch. It’s hilarious. Every episode a new villain appears and monologues about how he’ll be the one to defeat Saitama, just to get punched once and die. It’s a comedic approach that I’d never seen in anime until One Punch Man pulled it off, and it’s addicting because you know eventually there will be a villain who he CAN’T defeat in one punch. It’s one of the most watched anime series of the last decade for a reason. Also, it’s only like 2 seasons that are only 8 episodes long, making it the shortest series I’m recommending you try.
Next Up, Become The Ultimate Shinobi With Naruto And Naruto Shippuden
This is kinda what got me back into anime as an adult. My friends and I were all talking about our personal top 5 favorite shows of all time and 3 of them said Naruto was 2nd behind Game of Thrones for them. Now I think that’s a drastic over exaggeration, but they accomplished their goal: I started watching Naruto and I haven’t looked back since. I have legitimately cried tears during this series. It’s pretty fucking good. Personally, I can’t stand angsty anime children, but I didn’t watch Naruto for the first series. I watched it so I could get to Shippuden, where the real shit goes down. I know it’s a very long series to commit to (over 800 episodes), but I promise you it’s worth it. Also, not every episode needs to be watched. This is the first series that I learned about “anime filler” and you can use a filler list online to see which episodes you can skip that are non-canon. Last word on Naruto, my top 3 characters are Sasuke, Kakashi, and Gaara. They are three of my favorite characters in all of television and I’m strongly considering having them tattooed on my body.
A SERIES FOR ADULTS ONLY (In A Non-Porn Way): Attack On Titan
What would you do if a giant skinless humanoid being just waltzed into your village and ATE YOUR MOM right in front of you? Welcome to the world of Attack on Titan. Seriously, this is one anime series that is NOT for kids. It’s got some very scary and dark moments that children should never have to witness until they understand the horrors of the real world. The animation is incredible, the story and setting are very unique, and again, it’s a relatively short series. You could probably catch up in like a week. If you aren’t a fan of the kiddy series, this one is definitely for you. Also, be prepared to ball your fucking eyes out because if some of the heartbreaking moments don’t make you cry you just have no soul whatsoever.
Get Real Fucking Evil And Dark With Death Note
Don’t watch the Netflix adaptation of this series. It’s a motherfucking joke. The premise of the series is simple: the main character finds an evil book that causes anyone who’s name is written on it’s pages to die. Here’s the catch tho: you have to know their name. Also, the book has an owner: a weird looking god of death named Ryuk, who assists the protagonist. The series is one of the most beloved anime series of all time in both Japanese and Western culture. It has this weird effect on you where you don’t know whether you should be rooting for the main character or against him because he does some really evil shit. The entire series is only 37 episodes long and they’re only 30 minute episodes, making this an easy watch as well.
And Finally, Laugh Your Ass Off At Mob Psycho 100
Even big time anime fans may not have heard of this one, but I’m glad I did. Again, it’s a shorter series that just wrapped up it’s 2nd season last year, but I think it might be my favorite anime so far. It follows a young psychic student named Mob who is extremely powerful but kinda wishes he wasn’t a psychic. So he suppresses his powers until he reaches 100% and fucking blows shit up. It’s got some of the best animation I’ve ever seen and there are great jokes trickled throughout the entire series that made me pause because I was laughing so hard. It kinda reminds me of Big Mouth to be honest; I have no idea why. But I highly recommend it.
What did I miss? Do you agree with my list? Are these the best 5 series to get started watching anime during a quarantine?