5 Anime You’ve Never Heard Of (But Need To See)

You kids today with your Narutos and your Inuyashas. You don’t know anime fandom. Oh yeah, you think you’re all hardcore cause you know how to use Bit Torrent? Yeah well back in my day I’d spend an hour sitting on the floor of a video store, rummaging through the shelves trying to find at least one over-priced thirty dollar subtitled VHS of The Slayers. Back then, we actually had a reason to hate dubs, they were more atrocious and embarrassing to listen to than you could possibly imagine. And you wanna complain about the voices in Death Note? You can go to hell!

But before you fling yourself into eternal flames of torment at my behest, read this list I’ve compiled of a few anime you’ve never heard of but you really should see. And if you comment saying you’ve heard of them I’ll consider you obnoxious.

#1: Dragon Half

The Dragon Half OVA only has two episodes to its name but it is by far one of the funniest animes ever made. I’m not even exaggerating. In fact, recommend watching the dubbed version because its even funnier.

Dragon Half is… a little hard to explain. It’s just an incredibly silly fantasy series starring a girl named Mink who was the product of love between a dragon slayer and… the dragon he was supposed to slay. Although her parents are constantly fighting (often with fire and swords) Mink is a happy, normal girl. Except she has horns, wings and a scaley tail. Along with her two friends she embarks on a quest to get to a concert put on by her teen pop idol crush Dick Saucer, who is also a dragon slayer, who is hired to slay her by the king, and she’s completely oblivious to this as she vies for his affections. She also draws the ire of the king’s beautiful and deadly sorceress daughter Princess Veena… who happens to be the president of the Dick Saucer fan club.

Did you get all that? Well if you watch it or HAVE watched it and feel you’ve always wanted more the manga is even longer. And even more hilarious.

#2: Maho Tsukai Tai (Magic Users Club)

This is, in all honesty, one of my favorite animes ever. It’s original, its funny, the characters are all well-rounded and likable, and it’s just all and all an adorable series.

Maho Tsukai Tai is about a group of misfits who are members of the Magic Club at their school. The thing is, they really can do magic. The club was founded by Takeo, a somewhat perverted and girl-obsessed nerdy senior and his best friend Aya who is quite obviously gay and doesn’t even try to hide that he has the hots for him. The other members of the club are three girls: Sae, Nanaka and Akane. Despite actually having magic powers the club isn’t taken very seriously, their club space shared with and ever increasingly encroached upon by the Manga club. Takeo always fails to stand up for the Magic Club as the leader of the Manga Club is the arrogant primadonna Miyama who has bullied Takeo since they were children and always intimidates him with her *ahem* generous assets.

There’s an OVA which is pretty funny and has the Magic Club taking on a mysterious alien force that had invaded a year previously but remained dormant since (its not as dumb as it sounds.) But where the series really shines is in its 13 episode television incarnation. I would recommend seeing the OVA first, or the first episode of the television series will be rather confusing. However from there the series focuses mainly on hilarious hijinx, clever plotlines and character development and is quite enjoyable throughout.

#3: Twelve Kingdoms

I never heard of this series until I was commissioned to draw  one rather obscure minor character from it. In an effort to figure out more about the character I was drawing I decided to check the series out and… got pretty hooked.

Twelve Kingdoms is kind of weird and epic and hard to describe, it is, however, a fantasy for sure (I know, I know. I’m … I’m a huge fantasy nerd.) When it starts out the main character seems like a godawful Mary Sue, and certainly parts of the show are kind of cheesy, but around episode 4 it really starts to pick up and never loses that pace staying action-packed and plot-focused. Basically it starts with your typical schoolgirl gets spirited away to some alternate/ancient/fantasy world plotline (ala Fushigi Yugi, Inuyasha, Escaflowne etc. upon etc.) but its really the characters, character interaction and fleshed out fantasy world that makes this series stand out. And you do see alot of characters. Normally that bothers me but Twelve Kingdoms handles its robust cast of main and minor characters well, it ties up loose ends and never lets characters overstay their welcome or fails to give them enough screen time.

The only real problem is the series just… stops. With no ending. It was just abruptly cancelled it seems. Luckily, its only the last 5 episodes or so that leave you hanging, before that there’s an epic ending to a long story arc that could have easily just been the series’ ending anyway.

#4: Galaxy Express 999

An interesting film based on a manga series it follows a young man named Tetsuro who lives in a future time where, for a small fortune, people are able to transfer themselves to machine bodies, gaining immortality and leaving human weaknesses behind. Tetsuro’s mother had been gunned down by a man called Count Mecha who basically hunted organic humans for sport and ever since Tetsuro has been obsessed with getting a machine body himself, something his mother had wished as she was sure it could improve their lives.

After meeting a mysterious woman named Maetel who rather resembles his late mother he gets the opportunity to travel to a planet where he’s heard machine bodies can be acquired for free. Maetel gets him a ticket on the Galaxy Express 999, a train that can fly through space, under the condition that he be her traveling companion. Along the way Tetsuro learns alot about himself, the world around him, and the circumstances surrounding his mother’s death, and his outlook begins to change. If you watch this movie, you may notice the many influences its had on countless other series and films.

And just for an added sense of context: Galaxy Express 999 is related to the Captain Harlock series.

#5: Please Save My Earth

A paced, very character-driven series Please Save My Earth may not be for everyone, but if you like drama and good character development you’ll find it interesting. Alice is a young girl in high school who can “listen” to plantlife and feels a strong attachment to nature. She has an odd and turbulent relationship with her young neighbor, a seven year old boy named Rin, who suffers an accidental fall off a balcony after he upsets Alice one night while she’s babysitting him. After the accident Rin begins to behave strangely, and Alice is drawn into a group by a couple of her classmates who are all having shared dreams about being strange people living in a technologically advanced building on the moon observing the Earth. Things only get stranger for the Alice and the group from there.

It’s a very compelling, well-animated and gorgeous series. The only problem is the OVA is only 6 episodes and adapted from a very long manga series so it’s quite clear the anime makers had trouble giving the OVA a solid conclusion. However, the manic and cluttered ending aside, its still a great series to watch while it lasts.

Tune in next time and I’ll bring you 5 Mangas You’ve Never Heard Of (and if you point out you have I’ll hate you.)

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