Underrated anime

[ParaParaJMo]

Just list anime that is underrated.

Even though the anime I'm going to list is super popular in Japan, it still hasn't gotten the attention it deserves in the U.S. or outside of Japan.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
My thoughts: I heard the game actually came to the U.S. (under a different title) to the arcades, PlayStation, and Dreamcast (I own the Japanese DC version). But the game and the anime are both based off the 3rd story arc of the manga (out of 6 story arcs that range across 75 volumes).

There is a mid-1990s anime that consists of the last 1/3 of the 3rd story arc, and a 2001 anime that consists of of first parts. The anime was more intended for hardcore fans of the manga which is why newbies will probably won't be able to understand some of it. Like how the main bad guy Dio came about.

The first story arc takes place in the 1880s, the second story arc takes place in the 1930s, and the anime takes place in the 1980s. The action and story is very original and the fighting itself is very innovating and unpredictable. Dio is pretty much the ultimate villian. I heard it's licenced in the U.S. but I could never find it.

I'll warn you that Jojo is really screwed up but it's scrwed up in a cool way.

Aura Battler Dunbine
My thoughts: I'm only halfway done with this series so far but I've seen enough to have a good impression. This is also made by Tomino Yoshiyuki, the original creator of Gundam. It's too bad Tomino's name is way too attached to Gundam to have Dunbine recognized. People who were involved with Macross and Escaflowne (I'm not sure if Kawamori Shoji was involved) also did this as well so it's like putting two great minds into one. I'm not sure how well this did in Japan, but 15 years after the end of it's broadcast, a sequel oav called Tales of Byston Well was made.

This anime is about how people from earth are stranded to another world (ie, Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, Inuyashas) to help the revolution of Drake Luft who wants to use technology of mechs called Aura Battlers to take over the world of Byston Well. Humans of earth have certain Aura powers that help their piloting ability (kind of like the newtype concept in Gundam). But the main character, Shou Zama, has a special power and when he meets the crew of Nie Given, he realizes the wrong he is doing and fights to save Byston Well.

But I believe some ideas from Escaflowne were tooken from this one somewhat. Like mixing mech anime with midevil times and the whole flying fortresses thing. I personally liked this more than Gundam first.

And if you are used to seeing anime where Americans and other nationalities can speak fluent Japanese, Aura Battler Dunbine actually has a logical explanation for it

Popolo Crois
My thoughts: Try to think of RPGs as if they were anime. Like experience points are applied and all that stuff. I tried playing the original RPG years ago, but problem was, I didn't know Japanese at the time and have yet to play it again. I know Kenshin fansubs back in the 90s would always have commecials for this game.

The main character is Pietro, a prince who has to save his mother and fight evil dragons. I've only seen the first 4 episodes. But I have friends who have seen the whole series in the past and told me it's really good. I probably won't be able to get the series until I go to Japan next year or so.

and other metions

Sexy Commando Masaru
Sakura Taisen
Patlabor

[Gold_Roger]

One Piece

Yes, I will be saying that one nearly every thread somehow! Be ready!

[小美ドクロchan]

Gakuen Alice is severely underrated! DX No one talks about eet!

[-Batman-]

One Piece

Yes, I will be saying that one nearly every thread somehow! Be ready!

what are you talking about, One Peice is one of the most popular anime/manga series out right now.

Anyway.

GUNMM (Battle Angel Alita in English)is pretty over-rated despite the fact that it's awsome.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[ParaParaJMo]

I bought all of GUNMM the manga while I was in Japan. I haven't seen the anime since like 5th or 6th grade or so.

[NovaStar]

I Quite enjoyed the Adaptation of Legend of Himiko(Himiko Den) to Anime which I think gets a huge underrated rep

Nightwalker was something I found in the Out of Print section of a website which was very cheap, but I'm suprised it was very very good

VIRUS Buster Serge was also alot of fun!

[小美ドクロchan]

Nightwalker was something I found in the Out of Print section of a website which was very cheap, but I'm suprised it was very very good

YES. Nightwalker is my favorite vampire/horror anime! <3

[GodOrDevil?]

One Piece

Yes, I will be saying that one nearly every thread somehow! Be ready!

Hhahahahahahaha, I wonder why. Anyway I think kenken is underated.

[Dark-Sasuke]

I'd say Saikano, it got high ratings in the media eye, yet it isn't well known in the public, which is sad because saikanos one of the best animes out there without a doubt

[unspun]

Wicked City. it's rated "R" though, and sometimes is looked at as a Hentai so it doesn't get much publicity but it's been my favorite anime movie since I was 15.

[lamentoes]

I wonder if MUSHISHI is well-know here?

It's really good Anime

[Kira712]

Cromartie High School, it's hilarious.

[NovaStar]

Ading to that. I'd also have to say The Saber Marionette Franchise. I rarely see it talked about at all.

[Twig Ee]

I remember in America, they never gave .hack sign a chance. Staeyd up til 1 am just to watch it and they canceled it. No one ever talked about it.

[NovaStar]

I remember in America, they never gave .hack sign a chance. Staeyd up til 1 am just to watch it and they canceled it. No one ever talked about it.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to tear you up on this one Twig, .Hack Sign is one of the most popular series ever released, the whole franchise took off over here like nothing you've ever seen before(generalization) .Hack is NOT underrated by any means, it is one the most popular series probably not even in America or Canada, but the world as well

.Hack has released a load of of series video games and manga, which are readily available.

.Hack Sign
.Hack DUSK/Legend Of The Twilight Bracelette
.Hack G.U.
.Hack: A New World
.Hack: Liminality
.Hack Roots

Also you have games

Which Include

Quarintine
Outbreak
Mutation
Infection: In Reverse Order.

Also In Japan, they've released .Hack Fragment Online<>Offline

So there is absolutely NO reason why .Hack or any of the .hack series should be underrated at all.

[Gjallarhorn]

For further reference, .hack isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as you claim it to be. That's why they never brought .hack//FRAGMENT to the U.S. There wasn't a large enough fanbase which they believed would get the game, and thus didn't feel the costs of setting up servers for was worth it. Not to mention that the servers were taken down in Japan in November. There may be a lot of media available for it, but that does not make it popular by any means.

Anyway, I'd say that One Piece is an underrated series. Perhaps not in Japan, where it has consistantly been one of the more popular series, but here in the U.S. and elsewhere, it really hasn't taken off like it could have due to 4kid's handling of it. I'm just hoping that some other company licenses it and re-dubs it now that 4kids has dropped it.

I also thought that BECK was underrated. While it did have a strong fanbase, it was rather small compared to many other series, and never got hugely popular, though I feel it was worthy of that. It came out in Canada recently, and is soon to be in the U.S., and I think that with all the good music in it, if it is dubbed well, it could do very well.

[NovaStar]

For further reference, .hack isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as you claim it to be. That's why they never brought .hack//FRAGMENT to the U.S. There wasn't a large enough fanbase which they believed would get the game, and thus didn't feel the costs of setting up servers for was worth it. Not to mention that the servers were taken down in Japan in November. There may be a lot of media available for it, but that does not make it popular by any means.

Anyway, I'd say that One Piece is an underrated series. Perhaps not in Japan, where it has consistantly been one of the more popular series, but here in the U.S. and elsewhere, it really hasn't taken off like it could have due to 4kid's handling of it. I'm just hoping that some other company licenses it and re-dubs it now that 4kids has dropped it.

I also thought that BECK was underrated. While it did have a strong fanbase, it was rather small compared to many other series, and never got hugely popular, though I feel it was worthy of that. It came out in Canada recently, and is soon to be in the U.S., and I think that with all the good music in it, if it is dubbed well, it could do very well.

As far as .Hack goes, we agree to disagree, I think .Hack is very popular, or at least is very popular where I am, secondly, BECK was done very well, it should have NO trouble finding success wherever it goes, if you have a love for music, this should definately be one to please.

[MomijiTMO]

Argentosoma -> no one knows it but it has a really good Evangelion-ish story.

[Capernicus]

I think Cyborg 009 was very underrated. It was pretty awesome in my opinion, I really liked the storyline. It seems tired out on the surface (ZOMG a team of super-human cyborgs!) but somehow the anime kept it really fresh and interesting. Too bad I never saw the ending...

[Regex]

As far as .Hack goes, we agree to disagree, I think .Hack is very popular, or at least is very popular where I am, secondly, BECK was done very well, it should have NO trouble finding success wherever it goes, if you have a love for music, this should definately be one to please.

It's hard to "agree to disagree" on something so cut and dry here. .hack may be popular in your circle of friends, as well as on any .hack communities you find. But in the big scheme of things, it's not a very popular series overall relative to the other more popular ones that aren't near as good.

[NovaStar]

It's hard to "agree to disagree" on something so cut and dry here. .hack may be popular in your circle of friends, as well as on any .hack communities you find. But in the big scheme of things, it's not a very popular series overall relative to the other more popular ones that aren't near as good.

Regex, this wasn't what I meant, circle of friends has nothing to do with this, if you look at Bandai, some of their major releases are vastly popular when it comes to their company.

.Hack when it first arrived on the scene was immensely popular, and in my neck of the woods, still is. that may imply "Circle of friends" but regardless of sales, it has nothing to do with the series being unpopular - The Fact is, Anything which warrents enough to get onto Mainstream TV(Cartoon Network/Toonami/YTV/Adult Swim what have you? Does warrent some popularity.

If it did not, they wouldn't have brought it over, It's the same thing right now with the channel Razer, they're broadcasting Samurai Seven, Basalisk and Trinity Blood in an attempt to gain them populaity.

In my eyes at least: if .Hack wasn't popular enough to be brought over and put on TV, that would also effect the games as well, they wouldn't have been translated, or brought over by any means.

So right there, with the fact that .hack is on TV, and was available in English in a Video Game Form (And even online a non .Hack version of "The World" called "The World" warrents to me that The Franchise itself, is not undderrated: This is all a matter of opinion. I'm not looking to start an issue here by any means.

[Gjallarhorn]

Simply because they are a popular company and have had popular releases in the past, that doesn't make .hack//SIGN popular.

.hack//SIGN warranted popularity in Japan, and as a result of this popularity it was licensed, and then Cartoon Network got the rights to air it on their Toonami block. It couldn't have warranted "enough to get onto mainstream TV" because it made it's first appearance in the U.S. on TV, as the DVDs were distributed 1-2 months after it's Cartoon Network premiere. As such, other than various reviews and articles which may have been written about it in a magazine or on the net, U.S. customers didn't have the means of knowing about it until its premiere, allowing it no time to build popularity through DVDs and so forth. Sure, the fact that it was on mainstream television did earn it popularity, but not as much as other shows airing at the time. Mind you, it is not only popularity which determines a series being underrated, but also the reviews of the fans and others. While many people may know about it, not many people would give it a fantastic rating, though I do believe that it deserved one. Most people would just say "it was a decent series", or you'd here a lot of criticism such as "it was so slow and boring", because let's face it, many fans just want quick action and violence and so forth. While it may be popular where you are, it isn't remotely popular around here (northeastern U.S.). Even on the internet, you can find communities of .hack fans, but in many areas it just isn't discussed.

[NovaStar]

Simply because they are a popular company and have had popular releases in the past, that doesn't make .hack//SIGN popular.

.hack//SIGN warranted popularity in Japan, and as a result of this popularity it was licensed, and then Cartoon Network got the rights to air it on their Toonami block. It couldn't have warranted "enough to get onto mainstream TV" because it made it's first appearance in the U.S. on TV, as the DVDs were distributed 1-2 months after it's Cartoon Network premiere. As such, other than various reviews and articles which may have been written about it in a magazine or on the net, U.S. customers didn't have the means of knowing about it until its premiere, allowing it no time to build popularity through DVDs and so forth. Sure, the fact that it was on mainstream television did earn it popularity, but not as much as other shows airing at the time. Mind you, it is not only popularity which determines a series being underrated, but also the reviews of the fans and others. While many people may know about it, not many people would give it a fantastic rating, though I do believe that it deserved one. Most people would just say "it was a decent series", or you'd here a lot of criticism such as "it was so slow and boring", because let's face it, many fans just want quick action and violence and so forth. While it may be popular where you are, it isn't remotely popular around here (northeastern U.S.). Even on the internet, you can find communities of .hack fans, but in many areas it just isn't discussed.

I'll agree on what you said about Anime Fans wanting quick violence, I agree and think a good 50% of anime fans do want that satisfaction of turning on a show and actually seeing someone die within the first few seconds

 

I Love Elfen Lied, because for anyone who catches the "Violence in seconds referance" should know to look here"

I took .Hack as a root assesement well (Sign anyway) when you refered to the post and said Sign didn't warrent popularity, you must take into account that after I read Twig Ee's post, that I listed pretty much the entire .hack franchise

Sign may not gain popularity, I still do believe the series is popular, and that popularity is what I believe doesn't make it underrated(no matter how small the populairty, I still have my own opinion)

Now that we're talking about Underrated Series: I'm gonna have to throw my hat back into the mix and say Spiral here, It was a good show, I don't know how many of you know of it, But I certainly enjoyed it. - I found the ending to be a Trainwreck which disapointed me, but the overall series was Very good.

[Batz]

Hataraki Man.

[███]

Trigun and Full Metal Panic.