1.Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
Karen Kohiruimaki is a college student with a complex about her tall height, which she tries to escape from by fully immersing herself into a game where she can play as a cute, short avatar. Regardless of how you felt about its parent, the massively popular but also wildly divisive Sword Art Online, this spin-off is a beast of its own that deserves to be judged on its own merit.
And besides being set in the same virtual reality shooting game as the third arc in the original series and the occasional passing mention of some events, Gun Gale Online’s tone couldn’t be more different.
2.Sanrio Boys
What could have been one of the most disingenuous product placement series ended up being... a very soulful product placement series. The massive corporation Sanrio once again uses a property to promote their merchandise, but this time, the series is a platform to spread a lovely message.
Protagonist Kota Hasegawa is a bit of an insecure teenager who is so embarrassed about his fondness of the cutesy mascot Pompompurin that he rejects fond family memories tied to it, but his meeting with popular schoolmates Yu Mizuno and Shunsuke Yoshino, both huge fans of different Sanrio mascots, allows him to accept himself.
3.Free! Dive to the Future
It’d been four years since the latest TV iteration of this franchise, but it always feels right to have Free!’s passionate swimming adventures back for another summer. The cast we’ve been following since their high school days faces are now college students trying to figure out their future.
Some things have changed, like new director Eisaku Kawanami trading some of its irreverent humor for more dignified dramatic moments, but the core essentially remains the same: hot-blooded confrontations between guys, in and out of the pool, with such an obvious yaoi reading that it might as well be textual.
4.HANEBADO!
Sports anime is a healthy, popular subgenre, but rarely does it gravitate toward less glamorous disciplines like... badminton. If you believe that dealing with a minor sport would be an excuse for the anime staff to cut themselves some slack though, think twice. HANEBADO!'s depiction of badminton matches was carefully researched and made into a spectacular pseudo-rotoscoped affair with a tremendous sense of impact, intense character detail, and thrilling back-and-forths, all accompanied by very solemn direction and an elegant sense of grandeur to the framing of every moment.
5.Hinamatsuri
The hedonistic life of a greedy member of the yakuza takes a turn for the bizarre when an esper girl named Hina quite literally crashes into his home. Their already ridiculous coexistence is made even funnier by the enchanting rhythm of the animation and especially because of director Oikawa’s restraint when it comes to portraying all the outrageous events, which somehow fits how weirdly easygoing the majority of the cast ends up being.
And beyond how well it functions as an absurdist comedy, Hinamatsuri is elevated by how gracefully it combines that with genuinely heartfelt character moments; gags involving side characters in situations as precarious as homelessness don’t feel like punching down, because the show is as invested in making you laugh as it is in respectfully portraying their struggles and well-earned successes.
6.Violet Evergarden
Having lost the parental figure that meant the world to her, and dwelling on her single role as a tool of war, Violet finds herself with no purpose. Pushed into accepting a job as an "Auto Memory Doll," essentially a writer for hire gussied up with Victorian flair, her almost robotic self gradually grows to understand the power of communication and the many forms affection can take.
Although her development is slow and she’s not the most immediately compelling character, the show’s impact increases tenfold when it switches to episodic tales that sometimes have Violet as a mere spectator.
Her job takes her to different settings with palpable, distinct identities, but it stays thematically consistent, with each episode pushing her closer to the answer she seeks. It’s a sentimental series to the point of being cheesy, but it earns that grandeur through the masterful direction and obscenely lavish production.
7.Revue Starlight
Revue Starlight, a true multimedia franchise with beginnings as a musical, needs to be seen to be believed. The anime series taps into the history and grandeur of Japan's Takarazuka Revue, an all-female theater troupe that adapts mostly Westernized productions, but the unbelievable symbiosis between its themes and the anime’s creative team elevated the concept further than anticipated.
On a surface level, Revue Starlight is the tale of a group of girls competing to secure a spot as the lead performer. It’s cute, cheerful, and there’s a real sense of musicality to the daily life events… until all the pleasantries are tossed out the window and the fight for the top becomes very literal: The characters face each other in fantastical staged matches.
8.A Place Further Than the Universe
If we’re talking about proudly sentimental anime, A Place Further Than the Universe is also an excellent example of loud delivery of emotions not necessarily erasing their nuance -- a trademark of director Atsuko Ishizuka. High-schooler Tamaki Mari wants to achieve something big while she’s still at an age where distractions are allowed, but she’s always hesitated when it comes to taking the last step.
She’s quickly drawn to her schoolmate Shirase Kobuchizawa, who has a reputation of being a bit of a weirdo because of her dream to go to Antarctica. And that’s exactly where they’ll go, accompanied by two other very believable teenage characters with a bit of a tendency to get into amusing problems.
9.Record of Grancrest War
In a medieval fantasy land torn apart by human in-fighting and a demonic menace, the young Theo gets sidetracked from his goal to liberate his hometown to a grand quest to save the whole continent
. Although the awkward introduction could lead you to think this is yet another tired wish-fulfillment fantasy series where the hero gathers an entourage of beautiful girls who fall for him, that’s a misleading first impression; intentionally so even, since Siluca, the damsel in distress the protagonist "rescues," wasn’t in trouble in the first place, and definitely stands on her own as a powerful, wise magician.
Don’t get me wrong: Record of Grancrest War follows plenty of tropes, but if anything, it’s reminiscent of a straightforward yet compelling JRPG -- if you squint hard enough, you could even see a game UI indicating the current members of the hero’s party and their abilities.
10.Mitsuboshi Colors
Kotoha a game-loving child who, despite being very sharp, can't clear any video game with all the cheats in this world; Yui, a leader who might break into tears at any moment; Sacchan, a bright kid whose mind is filled with feces; together they’re the "Colors," a group of children beloved by their neighborhood but feared by the jerk of a policeman they love to annoy during their free time.
With just the right amount of exaggeration, Mitsuboshi Colors escalates their childlike behavior and ridiculous conversations in hilarious ways, and becomes even funnier when the adults jump in on their ridiculous game. Beyond all that fun hides a real sense of community, with plenty of incidental interactions that really make you feel all those side characters are neighbors.
