| I'm not sure if there is a thread like this already, but with all the negatively in majority of the threads here it would be nice to have a thread about anime that you thought would probably suck, but surprised you and ended up actually being good. Okay so a few off the top of my head would have to be first Usagi Drop Honestly wasn't expecting much from this anime except some cute SoL, but it turned out being not only one of my favorite SoL titles of all time, but just one of my favorite anime in general and something that I would recommend to anyone despite their tastes. On a lesser scale I'm not really a huge fan of school comedy anime and have pretty much hated every one I've come across except for a few exceptions and these include FMP Fumoffu? School Rumble Baka to Test GTO Angel Beats Cromartie Highschool Shonan Junai Gumi and some more recent examples Haganai NEXT and Oreshura have been proving fairly enjoyable. So yeah what anime have exceeded your expectations? Mod Edit: Please explain your choices and/or discuss other choices. This is not a simple listing thread. |
LunaFeb 19, 2013 4:58 AM
 "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -Friedrich Nietzsche |
| Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai Do you think that otaku being harem lead would be suck? Hell no in this. |
 Kickstarter for Rokujouma is fully funded. Good work everyone. Lets wait for the result of our hard work together. |
| Sword Art Online. Expected it to be good at first and then get bad, turned out it was mediocre at first and got great at the end. |
| Seitokai no Ichizon - Mostly 'cause of Ken since I didn't expect him to be so alpha. Bartender - I love shows with unique premises, but I had no idea how this anime could had pulled off a show about the daily problems of various adults in a theatrical way. Natsu no Arashi - Didn't expect Shaft and Akiyuki Shinbou. It's why I love blind viewings. Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Same as Natsu no Arashi. Rec - I didn't even know this was made by Shaft since it wasn't weird or anything. It was really a nice and short show with an interesting romance. Level E - Didn't expect the trolling. Thermae Romae - Just try to find another show that has a naked ancient Roman architect falling head-over-heels in love with a Japanese shower cap. Dog Days - I honestly expected to hate it, but it was actually really fun with the crazy setting and the way the wars work. The Idolm@ster - Again, I watched it expecting to hate it. Suddenly my MP3 player is full of Idolmaster songs. What the hell. |
| Major (All Seasons) I don't like sports anime at all, yet Major became one of my favorite anime. |
| Level E: 1st episode-----thought it was shounen ai :( 2nd episode----thought it was shounen ai :( 3rd episode---- bursted a gut :) |
[url=http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Num1dad_Asura] [/url] Click Here for Sig source |
| Recently, Psycho-Pass and Shinsekai Yori both surprised me a lot. I didn't have that high hopes at all, so I never expected them to be this good. Yamato 2199 also surprised me, I usually take remakes with a pinch of salt, especially when they throw in a load of new sexy chicks like that, but golly, it's better than the original in every way. And of course, certain twists in LoGH were pretty damn surprising. |
| Usagi drop - so, would a story about a mid-30s guy looking after a hidden love child be interesting? I thought not but... Boy was i wrong Bakemonogatari - this show really surprised me with a quirky art/animation style and story that was at different times touching, tragic, hilarious, quirky and creepy. Yuriyuri - turned out like danshi koukousei no nichijou except girl version. My friend thought it would be hentai or something Steins;gate - at around episode 14... Massive plot-twist and mood-shift |
| i don't know everything i just know what i know... |
| I think the bigget surprise for me was (and is) Zetsuen no Tempest. It started out ok, not boring and not very interesting, but when it reached the climax of the first half, I was incredibly hooked. The flawed logic in this anime has really won me over together with the non-stop trolling <3 Other one is Saraiya Goyou. I watched it on a whim and I expected it to be only good and it started that way but I ended up loving it. I don't know exactly why but I just couldn't give it less than 9 (for me obviously). Katanagatari also. I didn't plan to watch it when I stumbled upon it but after a few accidental stumbles, I decided to give it a try and I fell in love with it. It's currently in my top 5 anime. Even though every epi is around an hour, it never felt any more than 20 minutes or even less. Time flew by! Nothing else really comes to mind but I'm sure there must be something else xD |
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| Steins;Gate - I have to admit I'm not fond of these series at first because of the slow pacing, then shit happens. Durarara - same as above Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei - Picked this up out of curiosity since this often get mentioned on most recs that I've read here (and I want to watch series which features college life) so I thought this might be a good series. I was confused and bored at first because of the fast dialogue and the bizarre art style, it took me a long while to get used to it. But after a few episodes, I was captivated by the series since I easily symphatized with the protagonist (we both have almost the same situation). Definitely one of my all time favorite series. Shinsekai Yori - The pacing was very slow at first, and there's that "scene" in episode 8. I thought at that time, "Just WTF are they trying to do here?". But still I didn't drop the series, which was a good thing, because after that, things are getting better and better with every episode, I hope the series end on a high note. And of course, Usagi Drop, for the reasons already mentioned. |
 My Youtube page: link |
| Steins;Gate - From the part of 2nd half of the series, that totally surprised me. Angel Beats - The first episode really got me which it really made me surprised and I continued to love every single episode of it until the end. |
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| Angel Beats surprised me too. Didn't expect it to be as good as it was based on how generic it appeared to be at the beginning. |
| Baccano! Didn't have high expectations for it, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. Toradora!, simply because I'm not big fan of the genre but it was really entertaining show |
| Rainbow nisha - This one is epic really epic ...... also this three Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei Steins Gate Ergo Proxy - Didn't expect a dark anime can be this good :) |
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| ZKC Hyoubu - At first thought it was gonna be some moeblob based on the previous series. But nope, finally an anime with a serious tone. Bout time. |
| Sword in hand, a warrior clutches stone to breast. In sword etched he his fading memories In stone, his tempered skill By sword attested, by stone revealed. Their tale can now be told |
| Tiger and Bunny I saw the picture and just assumed without reading the synopsis that this was another mecha anime that i didn't wanna watch. Then i found out that Hirata Hiroaki did the voice for one of the main characters and i tough, why not give this anime a chance just to listen to his voice. I was so WRONG. This anime was so funny and exciting that i ended up giving it a 9! Really enjoyed this anime :3 |
| Ano hana. Never expected it to be that good, manly tears are shed in this anime Fate/Zero. I kept on skipping this anime, i dont know why. The first episode is a long boring one so i dropped it at first, and after a few weeks i started it again. After finishing it, i am so hooked that i started to download my first visual novel, fate/stay night |
| Ergo Proxy: I honestly can't remember for the life of me of how I came across this anime, but I'm glad I did. It was a pretty slow and maybe even a 'boring' show, but that didn't bother me as I was deeply intrigued by the mystery, the confusion, the dark atmosphere, subtle references, and so on. The character interactions were quite humorous at times and then hostile at the next, loved that! But most of all, the ending really caught me off guard; solid, simple, and tied in well. Clannad/AS: I don't need to say much, this was before I had a MAL account last year and basically, I blindly just kept watching anime on YouTube of people I subscribed to. That was quite fun, wish I did that more often, but now MAL makes it harder for me to not research a bit and thus taking away any blind watches. So yeah, had zero knowledge of it being rather sad. As expected, cried and cried episode after episode. Mawaru Pengunidrum: My oh my, I didn't read much into this series besides the synopsis, which sounded weird to me, but I thought, "hey, why not?" Damn, I lost count of the plot-twists while watching it. Great drama, OST and even had me tearing up at the end. A mention for Steins;Gate I guess, however, I wasn't one of the ones that felt bored in the first half as I really enjoyed the characters and the unique personalities. But yes, after that certain episode, it totally caught me off guard in a good way obviously. |
 Just this once, I'll fulfill whatever your wish is. |
| Kaleido Star I remembered seeing it on TV when I was younger (though I didn't watch much of it), and later tried it out again. But I stopped rather early. When I finally decided to pick it up once again about a year ago, I was surprised at how hooked I got - It was actually really great! Despite being a shoujo, it had some of the things I like about shounen, and the drama didn't feel overdone. I also loved the storylines. Overall, it went from simply nostalgic to something surprisingly good. |
| Gintama - i'm glad of not drop this after the shitty beginning. |
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pralan said: Gintama - i'm glad of not drop this after the shitty beginning. How long did the "shitty beginning" last? School Days. |
dperolio said: pralan said: Gintama - i'm glad of not drop this after the shitty beginning. How long did the "shitty beginning" last? School Days. For me, 40-50 episodes. |
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| the most important one... school days :D god the shitload of hate it was getting :s and also from this i learned NEVER to trust the MAL comunity -_- if they think something is bad... oh god forbid nobody should like it!!! recently (and still) shinsakei yori people where put of with the shounen ai part (god where you people sleeping up untill then? you could see that one comming a mile away! also stop behaving like children and grow up) to keep it short... this show blew me away from early on and still going strong :) to those who dropped it... keep it that way, most likely you won't get it -_- |
| School Days was saved by the sheer sex appeal of Otome and Setsuna. Ones a loli and ones a whore. So good. |
| Kemono no Souja Erin Probably my most unexpected 10 as this kind of anime (SoL-ish and laid back) isn't my favorite stuff. But I was surprised by the beautiful storytelling and Erin's growth throughout the show. I think I'm more opened to SoL thanks to it. Book of Bantorra Bought the DVD at random, not something I usually do. But it had a pretty good plot, lots of suspense and one of most badass female characters ever. Ergo Proxy One of the first anime I saw after knowing what anime was. Picked because of the name (same goes for Elfen Lied) so I was definitely surprised how good it was (the atmosphere, how weird it can be at times). |
BatoKusanagiFeb 20, 2013 2:00 PM
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| Sakamichi no Apollon Just, WOW .. freaking beautiful |
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| my standard answer to most posts: Berserk I mean seriously who is this silly looking dude with a tree trunk neck? now: just one of my favorite characters and anime ever |
| Firstly, Code Geass and Darker Than Black. When I first watched them, I had nothing but hate for "Japanese Cartoons", mostly stemmed from an undeserved, hypocritical hate towards the ever-so-famous Naruto. But well, even Japanese Cartoons were better than studying, so I tried 'em and man, did I love 'em. I loved 'em so much I didn't study and failed my exams. Next would be One Piece. It wasn't long after the Code Geass and Darker Than Black exam-failing sessions of repeatedly watching the same episodes over and over again. I was in the computer lab, preparing the O'Level Project and my rather nerdy friend showed me the seventh movie. I copied it onto my USB stick and watched it first second I went home. For the love of me, I had no idea what was happening. I mean there was a guy who could stretch, a talking bear-thingy and a chick that could sprout hands. And there was a guy named Zoro. Plus, the character designs were rather lackluster compared to the designs of Code Geass and Darker Than Black, I thought I possibly couldn't like it. Three days later, I had completely caught up to the 470-something chapters of the manga. These three series are just the first of many pleasant surprises I've had along my 6-year long anime ride. |
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| mirai nikki at first i thought that it was going to be just another school/romance anime with the typical annoying main character and with some additions to make it more entertaining. despite having some chapters which i found a bit boring and with the protagonist just being useless most of the time(one thing i hate in anime is that the personality of the main chatacter does never really evolve completely and he has to relay always on others) i have to say that the last third of the series is a mindfuck .i watched the last 8 chapters in a row and did almost get no sleep that night xD. i just loved the unexpected twists of events at the end. |
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| Code Geass is the newest one. Went into it thinking that I might as well give it a go, even though I'm not a huge fan of mecha. And I was really suprised. It was really refreshing to see a series where all the main char are a shade of grey and not pure white or black. Ended yp really loving the series. Mawaru Penguin Drum and Gintama. Trieda few episodes of both and dropped both shows. Then I decided to give them another try and ended up loving both. |
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| The iDOLM@STER! I thought this anime was going to be the biggest pain to watch and the first episode was pretty hard to get through so it reassured me, but from then on it was entertaining, hilarious, cute and even emotional, with some great songs (Nemuri-hime <3) That was probably the biggest one. Also Bakuman, Hanasaku Iroha and Evangelion. |
| To LOVE Ru I was never a big fan of comedy tv series and didnt like the general idea of fanservice and ecchi. But after watching tlr i loved the brainless fun and over-the-top crazy comedy. An eye-opener for a genre i didnt ever think i would watch. The biggest positive suprise to me |
Candor said: I started liking it after ep 20, though i think the hit or miss aspect started to vanish after the 80's, yah occasionally there was a miss out of like 10 episodes but i would call 10:1 ratio hit or miss. Plus the show has yet to peak in quality(aka it keeps getting better)pralan said: For me episode 18 and 25 were where things got better, both were just great, and the series got better and better as it went on. The series is still a hit and miss for me, but the hits are more until where I reached (ep.143)dperolio said: pralan said: Gintama - i'm glad of not drop this after the shitty beginning. How long did the "shitty beginning" last? School Days. For me, 40-50 episodes. |
Immahnoob said: Jizzy, I know you have no idea how to argue for shit, tokiyashiro said: Jizzy as you would call yourself because youre a dick The most butthurt award goes to you And clearly you havent watched that many shows thats why you cant determine if a show is unique or not Or maybe you're just a child who likes common stuffs where hero saves the day and guys gets all the girls. Sad taste you have there kid you came up to me in the first place making you look more like a kid who got slapped without me even knowing it and start crying about it to me |
| Ro kyu Bu surprised me. I downloaded it expecting it to be loli shenanigans that I could feel guilty about possibly fapping to, but it turned out to be a pretty good story. |
| Sakamichi no Apollon- Eh never was a fan of music/romance genre but this is one of those surprise exceptions Spice and Wolf-Thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea but became one of my all time favorites. Best MCs ever Ergo Proxy- Acid Trip Mind Fuck. I still don't know what happened Mahou Shojo Madoka- Never liked Mahou Shojos at all but i this is not the typical Mahou Shojo. Love the animation, loved the story/characters. Just a surprising gem especially for 12 episode seires |
| GaoGaiGar, with its supporting robot cast. Especially when Mic Sounders the 13th blasted the two Zonder Angels in a way that reminded me of the climax of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. |
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| Mashiro-iro Symphony |
 "Only one with the courage to shoulder the burden of their own fate can be called a hero.." |
| the latest surprise for me was sukitte il na yo... i think that's how you say it 'say i love you' in English anyway, i have found myself not really getting into romance lately, apart from the odd one or two, but wanted to force myself to give it a try, and when i saw it was shoujo too i was like D: this is not going to go down well, ended up watching it in just two sittings which is very good for me, the characters were enjoyable and not annoying which is what i find is the case in most romance i have seen, the art was pretty, the story-line was decent enough (nothing special however) so this has taught me to give everything a chance and not expect romance to be boring, predictable and have annoying characters aha |
| Even though its been mentioned several times already, I'll have to agree with Usagi Drop. I went into it expecting an overload of cuteness, but I was quite surprised at just how utterly and completely heart-warming it was. I remember I went through the whole series in 2 days I enjoyed it so much, which is quite fast for me! xD ToraDora: I went into it expecting to find it too sappy of a romance anime for my tastes, but it drew me in pretty well with a great balance between its romance and comedy aspects. And more recently, Hyouka: When I heard of the general idea of the show, I was expecting it to be a cheap knock-off of the Haruhi Suzumiya series or something akin to that. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it had very likeable characters, interesting (And not very serious! xD) mysteries and a very relaxed, calm pace. |
| Psycho-Pass because of the Sibyl system Steins;Gate because of all the mind-f**ks I was going through |
| Psycho-Pass: The premise made me wary because there was the possibility that I would really hate it, depending on where it went, but I ended up quite liking it (at least so far). Chihayafuru: I'd heard it was good but the premise seemed somewhat uninteresting and I expected it to be ordinary. It turned out to be one of my favorites. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!: After reading the MAL description, I thought this would turn out to be something like Shakugan no Shana, but that turned out to not be the case at all. I didn't dislike Shakugan no Shana, but at the same time I was actually quite pleased with the direction Chuunibyou took. Mars of Destruction (for a given definition of 'good'): At first when I watched it, it was boring. Then I thought about and realized it had fucked up in LITERALLY EVERY POSSIBLE WAY, which made it entertaining. |
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| Chihayafuru - I thought it would be boring, but right from the start I knew I was completely wrong about it. It ended up being one of my most enjoyed series yet. Thermae Romae - I expected something like South Park or a different raunchy kind of show, but I was so pleasantly surprised with this one. It was hilarious and I loved it. Literally everything works together so well in this show.. the art and the music and the story. Princess Tutu - I can't remember why I started this other than it was really on a whim, but I expected it to make me feel like I was watching a show that I was far too old to be watching. But it like blew my mind and now it's my #1 favorite. Neon Genesis Evangelion - I'm not a fan of mecha so I didn't think I'd like it. But I'm liking it so far. I also liked Bokurano but these are also more psychological mechas.. I'm not sure if they're just exceptions, but I'm willing to try other mecha titles now. UtaKoi - I tried this because I liked Chihayafuru so much, but I still had less than great expectations of it. I haven't finished it or watched it in a long while, but I did like it. Miracle Train - I tried it because I was on a hunt for more reverse harems at the time. I didn't have bad expectations for it, but I didn't expect to really like it as much as I did. And it wasn't truly a reverse harem. It's a nice little series. Big Windup/Ookiku Furikabutte - For some reason I thought that I wouldn't like sports shows, despite that I actually like sports in real life. I thought it'd be boring, but it wasn't. It's one of my favorites. Upotte! - Moe and ecchi, two things I generally stay away from. Didn't think I'd like it, but it's actually a pretty funny/refreshing show. Same goes for A-Channel (minus the ecchi). Lots of surprises... I should be more optimistic. |
| Shuffle! Can't think of an anime that i've been so wrong on what girl he would choose at the end. |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| I thought Yuru Yuri would be dumb because it had no romance and was just random antics, and really just watched it for the akane scenes. Turned out I really liked it. |
| Fullmetal alchemist-yeah I was a noob... Darker than black season 2-Season 1 was mediocre,but I totally liked season 2. Oreimo-Showed me that I can like even SoL shows. Yuru Yuri-I thought it would be just a romance blob,luckily I was wrong. Kara no kyoukai-that artwork and sound moved me! |
| "Efficiency is not king, efficacy is." Post a comment on my profile. Profile comments are fun. |
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