There are many different genres in anime. My new favorite is slice of life. Basically, the genre takes a real life scenario, or story and puts them in an animated format. I’ve listed some of my favorites so far that are fairly easy to follow. Remember to keep an open mind about reading subtitles! You get used to reading them after awhile and learning different words and phrases in Japanese is fun.
This show follows two girls who were old elementary school friends as they enter their first year of highschool at separate all girl schools. A lot of things in their lives have changed during their time apart and now that they are both back in the same city, they reconnect and become close again. It starts as a soft cute story of friendship, and turns into a love story. Very LGBTQ+ friendly.
CONS: *tw* In the first episode in one of the first scenes, the girls get on the train to go to school, and a man gropes one of the girls. It doesn’t show on the screen what happens completely, but if that will make you extremely uncomfortable, remember to not watch the rest of the scene.
Arata Kaizaki is a 27 year old NEET, (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), who recently quit his job, of three months, for moral reasons. When he is at his lowest he is approached by the ReLIFE company, who want to offer him a job as long as he is willing to be in an experiment. He has to take a pill to make him look 10 years younger, and go back to highschool for a year.
CONS: None that I can see. It’s pure comedy.
Kaz Kaan, voiced by Jaden Smith, is a part time demon-slayer who is in love with fashion and keeping up with high society, in this netflix original. He uses his friends and butler robot to discover new things about himself and the city he loves. The great thing about this show is the sarcasm. Jaden Smith was a very good choice for the english dubbed version.
CONS: Because of Jaden’s nonchalant attitude towards everything, I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about there being no emotion in the show. It might come off as boring to some, but Kaz is really the only person to speak like this.
This show stars a group of high school boys that run a ‘host club’ which is basically a club where the girls of Ouran High spend money to sit and get lunch with the “most attractive boys in school.” During the first episode, the characters get a new member of the group and soon realize he is actually a girl. From this, she begins to identify as a boy so she can stay within the club. The show will instantly grab your attention because of the 4th wall breaks. I can only find this on netflix!
CONS: The show can be difficult to follow when the back stories of the characters come into play. Try to keep in mind that the boys put on a show when they are ‘hosting’.
This show is more of a sport anime, but because of its absolute beauty, I needed to add it to the list. Out of all the shows I have forced my friends to watch with me, lol shout out to apartment 201, this I would deem their favorite. It follows a Japanese male figure skater as his makes his way to nationals, again. Another LGBTQ+ friendly anime.