WITH THE SHEER AMOUNT OF ANIME OUT THERE, IT'S EASY TO MISS A FEW GEMS. I'VE PUT TOGETHER A SMALL LIST BELOW OF SOME SHOWS FROM THE PAST 10 YEARS THAT I FEEL HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED. SOME OF THESE ARE AN ACQUIRED TASTE AND NOT EVERYONE'S CUP OF TEA BUT TRY GIVING THESE SHOWS A CHANCE, I THINK YOU WOULD BE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM MS IGLOO - THE HIDDEN ONE YEAR WAR - APOCALYPSE 0079 - THE GRAVITY FRONT: This is by far the most overlooked Gundam series to date, mainly due to its Bandai Museum exclusivity and extremely limited DVD release following. Unlike the other shows I'm covering in this article, I want to go into more detail in terms of MS IGLOO's story as this is not just any old Gundam side-story... MS IGLOO is a 3 part CG series set in the U.C. timeline during the One Year War. The first 2 OVAs, The Hidden One Year Warit plays heavily on Sengoku period history while at the same time being I guess you could call this a comedy but at the same time it packs some pretty heavy drama. After seeing countless adaptations of this period in history, I feel that Hyouge Mono has been the closest with its historical accuracy. That being said there are a few events which did differ from history as to steer the story towards the MC's favour...
To some people this show will seem very dull at first, which may be the reason it's so overlooked. But if you stick around you will be rewarded with I've experienced in anime and some of the in recent years. In Short, Hyouge Mono is a show aboutand . It may take a few serious turns here and there but it consistently returns to its comedy roots.
PLANETES: This is yet another Sunrise show that is criminally overlooked. Set in the year 2075, Planetes follows the crew of the DS-12 Toy Box, a small ship part of a larger space station owned by the Technora Corporation who are tasked with collecting various space debris to prevent collisions and such around the station's heavy traffic. For the most part, Planetes plays out like a slice-of-life in space, it's not until well into its second half that things start to get serious. The themes they cover in this second half is something that is very likely to happen to mankind at some point or another once space colonization starts. It mainly explores the topic of abandoning earth in terms of social & economic issues and a terrorist organization who acts on this injustice, primarily targeting the Technora Corporation's space station and the Fusion powered ship set for the first Jupiter exploration mission.
The DS-12 crew, who are looked down on as they're practically the garbage men of space, are quite an interesting bunch. A majority of them are quite reluctant to be in their current position and are aiming for bigger things, and throughout the series we learn bit-by-bit what these are, along with somethat provide several emotional sledgehammers to the face.
Normally, when a show is set in space it's going to be relatively action packed. But in Planetes' case there is very little, which may be one of the reasons why this show is omitted when discussingI give Sunrise a lot of credit here as the manga and anime differ quite a bit and the original content Sunrise created for this show was seamless, unlike a majority of anime-original endings. I watched Planetes for the first time back when I was still watching dubbed anime and I will admit, it has a decent dub and not one character seemed to be miscast. It's one of the few dubs that gets a thumbs up from me.
SENKOU NO NIGHT RAID: This was one of my favourite shows back in 2010 which unfortunately, during its airing went into subtitle limbo much like Hyouge Mono and we were left waiting months between episode releases. The wait was worth it however. Senkou no Night Raid oris quite a gem. Set in China, this 1 cour show follows the secret military spy organization called Sakurai and its 4 members who have various supernatural powers. These powers are quite run-of-the-mill but are used in some rather peculiar ways throughout the series which reflects the user's characteristics nicely.
If I were to compare Senkou no Night Raid to anything, it would be Darker than Black set in the 1930s. It may not be as action packed but it contains some very accurate depictions of events in China during the years leading up to World War II. For people unfamiliar with these events, a majority of the story may be lost on you without supplementary material which is why this show is often overlooked. If you plan on watching this, I highly recommend checking out the extra OVA episodes. Episode 0, which acts as a prologue and episode 14, which is a much needed epilogue to the rather abrupt ending in episode 13.
UP NEXT WILL BE MY FIRST VIDEO POST! AFTER RUNNING A QUICK TEST AND GETTING THE GO AHEAD FROM MY PEERS (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), I'VE DECIDED TO GIVE IT A TRY. SO IF YOU LIKE SMOKE RIDDLED IRISH ACCENTS AND ANIME BASED RETRO VIDEO GAMES, TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
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