New article: The UK's most underrated anime

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
With all the anime that's coming out in the UK every month, it can be hard to keep up with everything that's worth watching. Everyone knows about Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto, but what about Kino's Journey and hell, even Riding Bean! This is where Anime UK News comes in; our new article is "The UK's most underrated anime" - in which each of our writing team picks out some great anime that is released on UK DVD but is, for whatever reason, under-seen and under-valued. Take a few minutes, have a read and perhaps check out some anime that you've overlooked in the past!
 
I should have put money on you saying that.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this article. Some real time and effort has gone into it. For one I've spent the last 3 hours writing and formatting it, and everyone else has done a great job in spotlighting some underrated anime :) What's your most underrated shows?

You know you all love Dead Leaves.
 
I get the feeling I know why a couple of them are 'underrated' maybe its cause most are not my cup of tea, but I have to agree on the Kino's Journey one though. No doubt also, Mushishi will be and underrated anime once it hits.
 
Some good choices on there, especially Dead Leaves and Riding Bean!

I prefer the original Tank Police over the New one, but maybe that's just me. Bubblegum Crisis and Kino's are safe picks and Escaflowne a great show.

The only one I wouldn't say is underrated it Voices of a Distant Star. (but then I've never liked that one so I'm probably biased :p )
 
Most underrated Anime in my opinion, Last exile.

Hardly anyone talks about it at a lot of other anime site. Last Exile is excellent and a good alternative from all the high pack action and unlimited fighting.
 
Eh, i'm a little surprised the original Bubblegum Crisis is on that list, it's been one of my favourites since it came out, ( I even have the RPG on my bookshelf and the soundtrack on my MP3 player ), and I was always under the impression it was really well know with a bit of a cult following. :?

Also surprised Planetes isn't listed as that really is a fantastic under rated series.
 
I din't catch Dead Leaves because the character designs 'erked' me a little. I suppose by reading the article, it's meant to, but still... erk!

I've heard of Voice.f.a.Distant Star, but I've not seen the package, advertisement or anything, so I wasn't interested.

I'm surprised to see the likes of Escaflone, Bublegum Crisis and Kino in there. Escaflone and B.Crisis have been on TV, one on Fox Kids and the other on Sci-Fi. I thought Escaflone was a great series, but I admit I haven't seen B.Crisis. But I thought it would get a lot of mention/fan base still.

The others I just never heard of.
 
Chaz said:
I'm surprised to see the likes of Escaflone, Bublegum Crisis and Kino in there. Escaflone and B.Crisis have been on TV, one on Fox Kids and the other on Sci-Fi. I thought Escaflone was a great series, but I admit I haven't seen B.Crisis. But I thought it would get a lot of mention/fan base still.
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I know, I was surprised as well.

Escaflowne is a brilliant series, just stay the hell away from the Fox Kids version as it was butchered.

I think they should have included Martian Successor Nadesico on there. I mean, everywhere I go, there is hardly any mention of this series. It pays great homages to landmark animes from the past, such as the Gundam series, Macross, hell, even Evangelion for that matter.

It's like Excel Saga, but with an actual working plot.
 
Obviously there's more than enough for us to create a second article; I'm hoping this will become a regular feature of the site, since a lot of anime really does get forgotten under the hype of everything that's new and shiny; I also love that this is completely centered on UK releases.

Haibane Renmei totally slipped my mind but needs more recommendations, not many have seen the bug hunting excellence that is Blue Gender, Crest of the Stars, Gungrave, Whisper of the Heart, Only Yesterday, Orguss 02 and Planetes. That's just a few that immediately come to mind.
 
Paul said:
Obviously there's more than enough for us to create a second article; I'm hoping this will become a regular feature of the site, since a lot of anime really does get forgotten under the hype of everything that's new and shiny; I also love that this is completely centered on UK releases.
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This better continue, it was fun doing it. However there are lots of series left for us to cover so look for your favourite in further articles.

If you search around you can get some great anime at brilliant prices these days due to the more flashier series getting all the attention.
 
Escaflowne? Underrated? To be honest, I've only actually seen the first disc of it, but I thought it was quite popular. Great show though.

Bubblegum Crisis is another one which whilst often appearing such lists doesn't really belong. Wasn't it really popular back in the early 90's? Although my perspective on BGC is skewed by the fact that I don't like it.

A quick look at my DVD shelves adds Gunslinger Girl, Dai Guard and Blue Gender to the list of underrated series and that's just the UK releases.
 
Noratav said:
Escaflowne? Underrated? To be honest, I've only actually seen the first disc of it, but I thought it was quite popular. Great show though.
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You bring up a very good point, as do others. Guys please remember this article is not about how popular an anime was or is. It's about how underrated they are in todays UK market and how many titles are simply being looked over by fans when there are lots of peices out there that many have not seen and given the chance many would like.

By all means an anime can be very popular but still be underrated.
 
Nyu said:
By all means an anime can be very popular but still be underrated.
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It depends what you mean by popular I myself haven't seen anything listed, though I always wanted to try out Kino's Journey, and Tank Police, seen Escaflowne years ago, didn't appreciate it back then, I'm sure I will now though, if I ever watch it.
 
Nyu said:
By all means an anime can be very popular but still be underrated.
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I would say that Perfect Blue lands under that category. People tend to overlook it because of the nudity and violence and that's a shame because it's a complex film that hits surprisingly hard. It makes you think.
 
Lupus Inu said:
Nyu said:
By all means an anime can be very popular but still be underrated.
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It depends what you mean by popular I myself haven't seen anything listed, though I always wanted to try out Kino's Journey, and Tank Police, seen Escaflowne years ago, didn't appreciate it back then, I'm sure I will now though, if I ever watch it.
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As Dave pointed out, there are films/series/OAV's out there that lots of people know about through word of mouth/forums etc etc but are generally overlooked these days through pre-misconceptions and what have you, or were over shadowed when they were released.

I would define popular as people know the series but haven't seen it, but still have an idea of the show. An example for me would be Ghost in the Shell, Naruto, One peice etc. I haven't seen the shows personally but i know the jist of it.

Noratav made a good point that series such as Bubblegum were popular when they were first released, but many new fans these days are missing out on some fantastic series that helped define an era and it's a shame if articles like this don't highlight them they will fall back into obscurity where they don't belong.
 
Animated FatCat said:
Gasaraki's another one, hardly no one seems to have seen it even though it was on tv a few years ago.
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Coincidentally, it was my initial choice but since it's dropped off ADV's catalogue I went for a title that is still currently available (as Nyu pointed out, BGC is an old fave but it's old enough to be forgotten by the newer generation of fans). Point taken though - I'm sure it'll find its way into a future article at some point!

Keep the feedback coming, guys. :)
 
Ah, Kino's Journey! It just so happens that a few months ago I bought all the DVDs but haven't watched the series yet for lack of time. I'm glad it's on that list, since I kind of purchased it at random hoping that I'd like it, something I don't normally do. Fingers crossed I enjoy watching it when the time comes. I've seen a little or all of the other anime listed on the page except for Riding Bean which I don't think I've ever even heard about until now.
 
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