Submitted 2 weeks ago by mo_lave@reddthat.com to anime@ani.social
I can’t remember the exact one, but the finale of Akebi’s Sailor Uniform continues to live rent-free in my head. The visual quality there is pure excellence.
Apocalypse Hotel from last season.
A bit of a depressing start but pivots hard into ‘thinking’ comedy and philosophy.
Made in Abyss. It sounded cool, I knew it had its issues, but holy shit the worldbuilding is top-tier.
I don’t know that I would call Madoka a pleasant surprise.
Bocchi the Rock!
I don't know who decided that a 4koma should get some of the most inventive and expressive animation of this decade, but they're a fucking genius.
I only learned about it from seeing a webm of the Blender scene, and I thought "ok, this is kinda hilarious, I gotta give this a shot." I was watching happily until episode 5, when I thought "wait, are they gonna play the whole song? They are aren't they. Wait a minute, this song fucking rules." And every single episode after that was banger after banger. One hilarious bit, stylish animation cut, and kickass song, one after another.
There is precedent for a music-themed 4koma adaptation having great animation, full songs, and just being generally good. It’s called K-On.
Oh yeah, I’m only at episode one of MDD, but it has the fingerprints of BTR all over its animation. You could tell the BTR team is working on it. Likewise, from what I see of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, it builds upon the quality of Akebi.
It’s why I love Cloverworks so much as a studio.
Laid-Back Camp.
It surprised me because I was waiting for a Madoka Magica moment and...welll....never happened. My whole family loves the series.
myanimelist.net/…/Jidou_Hanbaiki_ni_Umarekawatta_…
This vending machine anime was the biggest suprise of my life.
I thought it was a joke. I put it on to have background noise while i engaged in other hobbies. Now im watching season 2 fully engaged and i can’t wait for the new episode each week
I did not know anything about to your eternity and was really blown away by how much I liked it. I also found cells at work as being surprisingly good considering how little kiddish it appeared.
Probably Murai In Love
Pretty much all other anime in my top 10 / favourites and rest of my 10/10s either
While it was airing, Murai In Love’s rating did not even reach 60% on AniList.
Also, hardly anyone were talking about it IIRC. Honestly, I have forgotten what got me to check it out.
But its slapstick comedy aligns perfectly with my sense of humour and got me to laugh one of the hardests while watching a show.
I’ve seen plenty of great shows over the years but the most surprisingly great one would easily be Gundam Build Fighters. Since it’s a show about kids building plastic models and using sci-fi magic to fight them against each other I expected it to be little more than a soulless ad for Gunpla. What I found was an earnestly-written ode to the greatness of Gundam with some of the most charming characters I’ve ever seen. It actually ended up tying with Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin as my favorite Gundam show which is completely insane given how low my expectations were going in. I almost didn’t watch it.
myanimelist.net/…/Rokudenashi_Majutsu_Koushi_to_A…
Went surprisingly technical for its magic system
My Dress Up Darling. There is no other anime that fills me with joy so much as that series does. I loved the manga too.
Mushishi. All the pretty Japanese forest scenes. It felt like a nature doco meets x-files.
FLCL: I thought it was Evangellion like.
It was inspired by NGE, and made by the same production company
BanG Dream It’s MyGO. I’ve played the mobile game since around 2019 and have also seen the three original seasons before MyGO had come out. So I was familiar with the franchise, and while I enjoyed the 3 seasons, MyGO is way better! I was expecting more of the same, so I was pleasantly surprised.
The reason I’m not saying Ave Mujica as well is because, after MyGO, my expectations were raised, so Ave Mujica wasn’t a pleasant surprise, but rather, simply pleasant. It was no longer a surprise.
Also, to a lesser degree, this year’s Zenshuu was more fun that I expected.
Some of my favorite shows of the last few seasons have been unexpected. Off the top of my head right now the two I’m thinking of are Apocalypse Hotel and Snack Basue. I’ll maybe add some more later when I have time to look at my list to remind me.
Asobi Asobase, iykyk
Takopi Original Sin
The Dangers in my Heart. Went in for a time waster. Ended up rooting for those crazy kids.
Well, I think it’s probably edeon
Taxi Driver. Pretty low stakes as far as anime goes, several mundane stories intertwined over a murder mystery that’s being hushed, but they are shown in a very compelling manner.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Had no idea Kill a Kill was going to go as hard as it did by the ending arc.
Just one of those shows that starts strong and gets better with every passing episode.
ksigley@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It looks so innocent on the cover, but once you open it up you find it’s oozing with character. Absolutely recommend.