There was once a time in my life when I thought anime was boring and meaningless. It’s funny now, how much I want to kick my younger self for ever thinking such absurd thoughts! It wasn’t until my last year in high school that I started to watch anime, so I’m kind of a late comer. But hey, better late than never! I’ve watched many different anime since then, so I’ve decided to construct my top 5 favourites that I’ve seen thus far. There are so many that I haven’t watched yet, but here’s what I’ve got so far!
1. One Piece
This anime is by far number one for me. There’s so much that I could say about this incredible story, I could go on for an eternity. It’s very lengthy, but so very worth the watch. When I first started watching it, admittedly my first thought was, “This is going to take me forever to catch up on, it’s way too long!” By the time I caught up to it, as it turns out, it’s not long enough! One Piece turned out to be quite a complex and extremely well thought-out story, and there’s still so much we don’t know. It follows the story of a boy who’s in search of a legendary treasure known as the One Piece to become the King of the Pirates. In the beginning, it starts out very lighthearted and funny. But as the story progresses, it becomes increasingly dark and starts touching on very serious topics (racism, slavery, child abuse, death, etc). What I also love about this anime is the fact that each of the main characters in the pirate crew has their own individual heartbreaking stories and their own goals, each of them different but equally important. There isn’t one crew member who is more important than the other. And what’s great is as you keep watching, you don’t feel like you’re just someone watching an anime – you become part of the pirate crew. It just makes you want to set out to sea on an adventure! All in all, I 100% recommend watching this anime.
2. Naruto/Naruto Shippuden
I know, I know, so basic. But this anime holds a special place in my heart. After all, it was my very first one! Like One Piece, this anime starts off as lighthearted, and once again, becomes darker and more serious as the story progresses. It starts with a certain blond-haired ninja who longs to be acknowledged and wants to become the Hokage (the leader) of the Hidden Leaf Village. This anime has so much emotion, it becomes quite a tear-jerker! It’s so easy to become attached to the characters. I feel like there are a lot of life lessons to be learned from this story, most of which are taught by that goofy, unpredictable ninja, Naruto himself. I love that he is a flawed and relatable protagonist and the fact that his kindness is unwavering despite the hardships and obstacles that come his way. Not even just him, but several other characters who also have their own stories, their own pasts and pains. I love that we can feel and understand the pain of all the characters in the story, even the villains. This anime is a strong encouragement for me to never give up and to keep my head up high. It’s such an inspiring story that’ll make you feel so many things. This anime has its flaws, but it is such an amazing watch!
3. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
There are actually two versions of this anime! The earlier version, which was simply titled Fullmetal Alchemist, was more thorough in the beginning but strayed away from the manga since the manga was still unfinished at the time. The Brotherhood version follows the manga all the way through as far as I’m concerned. This anime is definitely special. It follows two brothers who became victims of a taboo alchemical experiment that went very wrong and are now in search of the legendary Philosopher’s Stone in order to restore what they broke. One thing that I adore about this version of the anime is that, unlike the earlier version, the two brothers become more trusting of their friends and allies around them, whereas in the earlier version, they mostly relied on each other. The story is more thorough and expanded in the Brotherhood version as well, which allows the viewer to enjoy so much more of it! This story explores the darkness behind death and the difficulties of losing someone you love. Furthermore, what’s great about the story is that we first find the older brother, Edward, to be cocky and arrogant when it comes to alchemy and using it to solve every problem. But as the story progresses, he becomes more humble and realizes that he is a flawed human being, and that’s okay. It’s kind of humbling watching this anime, because it explores the flaws of humanity and how imperfect humans are. But it also relays the message that even though we’re flawed, we still try our best and that’s the greatest thing humanity can offer. A beautifully executed story all in all.
4. Demon Slayer
When this anime first came out a couple years ago, it got so much hype. I couldn’t understand why at first. “It can’t be that good, can it?” I thought to myself. I assumed that it was overrated, but it also follows a genre that I particularly enjoy (fantasy, action, adventure), so I gave it a try. Now that I’ve watched it, I can easily say that it is indeed that good. It follows the story of a boy who lost his family to a violent demon attack, with only his sister left alive but transformed into a demon, a sister who he wants to turn back into a human. The animation, first of all, is beautiful, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What I find the most intriguing about this anime is how much we can sympathize with the demons. They’re supposed to be purely evil, but as it turns out, they have their own heartbreaking backstories. I love that there’s so much depth in even the villains of the story. What’s wonderful is that there’s always some sort of fear in the characters while they’re hunting down demons, but they overcome that fear which leads into amazing fights (well, some of them overcome that fear). Not to mention that the protagonist, Tanjiro, is literally the most pure-hearted character I’ve ever seen! The world doesn’t deserve him! Overall, this story exceeds expectations in my opinion.
5. Tokyo Revengers
The first season of this anime only came out a few months ago, so it is still very new. Like Demon Slayer, when it first came out, it was immediately popular. I literally saw memes of this anime everywhere; I couldn’t escape it! So once again, I was under the impression that it was an overrated anime. But last month, I decided to give it a go, and once again, I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. It follows a boy who travels back in time to his middle school days in order to save his first and only girlfriend from getting killed by a gang. I think shock value is a big factor in this anime, because I literally didn’t expect to find out that the leader of this gang was a kind boy who doesn’t fight just for the fun of it, but to solve his and his gang’s own problems. I also love the butterfly effect in this story – one mistake, one small detail, could change the entire future that the protagonist, Takemichi, is trying to save. If there’s one thing that I love the most about this anime, it’s the familial love that the gang leader, Mikey, has for the members of his organization despite his fighting nature. It’s clear that he cares deeply for them, which makes him an even more interesting character. That’s another amazing aspect of this story – a lot of the characters are well-thought-out and complex, especially Mikey, and if there’s one thing that I love about any story, it’s the complexity of a character! It’s such an amazing watch and I can’t wait for the second season.