Zankyou no Terror

Main-main MC unless there are 2 or more who equally share the spotlight. Will not add (yet) those I'm not certain of

Main-main MC unless there are 2 or more who equally share the spotlight. Will not add (yet) those I'm not certain of

Strange and unusual places that aren't your typical environments. No isekai. (probably)

i <3 weird anime (anime with unusual animation or concepts)

Featuring main characters that may a criminal, may have criminal connection or just corrupted.

if you like dark stories, unpredictable plots or plot twists, anime that affects the audience's emotions such as sadness, annoyance, hatred,
heart-wrenching tragic anime, you can watch this

Notes: I have definitely watched/read the anime/manga that I give a rating
I will not give a rating below 5, Rating 5 for me = 1, >8 = recommended
if it's not good for me, the status "Dropped" and no rating

Anime that will want you to watch more anime.

Mostly consist of 12 episodes, with some getting S2 but they make it worse.

Shounen genre with amazing plots

Pessimistic worldviews. For when you want to wallow in despair.
It doesn't matter if we all die.

DISCLAIMERS: If a show/movie has sequels then I'll just add the first entry. Sad endings aren't required.

Based on a letterboxd list

Original Soundtracks that will blow your mind and/or take your breath away.

Animes that you can watch even though you haven't watch a single one before.

These shows are all only one or two seasons/parts long, and they actually have an ending. 11-26 episodes each. Incomplete shows are a huge pet peeve of mine. If I could take back the hours from every show I've watched that never was completed, I would trade all memories of said shows in a heartbeat.

The stories of all of these shows are great in my humble opinion, though some better (and my recollection of some foggier) than others. I won't claim that all of these shows are masterpieces (NHK and Shinsekai Yori are masterpieces by my taste), but they all have really engaging stories that have clear authorial intention behind them.

There is no specific genre in this stack, but the likelihood of sci-fi, fantasy, psychological, and horror is very high due to my tendencies. I plan on updating this stack if I find more worthy inclusions. The tones of these shows tend to be more serious, even if some have a playful front on the surface. The shows will also tend to be "realistic" in the literary sense, not the literal sense.

Though my public list may say otherwise, I quickly grew to severely dislike fan service. Don't judge my past choices too hard...maybe judge them a little :) So any fan service, or "plot", that MIGHT be present in these shows was either greatly outweighed in my opinion by other aspects of the show, or actually felt like part of the story rather than deliberate unabashed fetish displays. This includes harems by the way.

The least important property of this stack, is that I personally find "cartoony" art style switching, such as chibification, as very immersion breaking and mood killing for most but certainly not every show. Pardon my not having a better word than "cartoony" to use. Most of these shows have a consistent artistic tone.

taken from his 'gigguk finds the best year in anime' stream from 26/12/23

in conclusion: 2018 goated year