31+ Shockingly UNDERRATED Anime (RANKED)

Updated on: July 25, 2022
by Ernie

Shounen and Seinen are two genres that are most popular among anime fans. The craze with One Piece, My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen often tend to overshadow some anime that should get the recognition they deserve. With that in mind, we will bring you some of the most shockingly underrated anime that you should watch at any cost.

Please understand that this list is completely subjective, and this is just my version of the shockingly UNDERRATED anime that you must watch. Now, let’s jump right into it!

33. Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
5/10	5/10	14/20	24/40

One fine day humans decide to venture into space and leave the devastated earth behind. But their plan fails and they reach back to the earth only to find out that other than Japan, the whole earth is inhabitable. This forces them to create pocket dimensions and re-enact the history of the earth.

But the pocket dimensions conquer Japan in 1413 and send the inhabitants travelling in a ship around the country. When the conquerors stop telling what will happen after 1648, it gives the original inhabitants a chance to reclaim their homeland.

32. Flip Flappers

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	6/10	14/20	26/40

Immerse yourself in a magical world of adventure as you meet the two energetic girls named Cocona and Papika. Cocona never had a goal in her life until she met Papika who took her to the Flip Flap organization. After getting sent to a weird world in pure Illusion, they are attacked by beasts which forces them to transform.

Cocona becomes Pure Blade while Papika becomes Pure Barrier. This is the perfect scenario for them as their powers are focused on offense and defense. Thus, just like a sword and shield, they must combine their powers in order to survive in that world.

31. Tamayura

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	6/10	14/20	26/40

If you are a budding photographer, you are bound to like this anime. This story is about Fuu who learned everything about photography from her father.

All of the memories that she had were locked away in those pictures. But after the sudden death of her father, she refused to touch them since it only served as a reminder of that painful loss.

After many years when Kou opened the album, Fuu became emotional, cherishing all the moments she had spent with her father. Thus, upon entering high school, she decides to take up photography once again and honour her father’s memories.

30. Angels of Death

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	5/10	15/20	26/40

Think about a scenario where someone who wants to die meets a murderer. Things can’t be better for them as both of them serve each other’s needs.

This is exactly what fate had in store for Rachel and Zack when they met each other in a strange building. Rachel had no idea how she landed there so she had to take the help of Zack to escape.

As they started going to the upper floors, Rachel met many people who seemed familiar to her. It brought up a lot of questions as to how Rachel reached that building in the first place and just who those people were.

29. Princess Principal

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
5/10	6/10	15/20	26/40

A substance called Cavorite was discovered in the 20th century which instead of benefitting the people, leads to war. The city of London gets divided by a wall as a silent war rages in the Commonwealth of Albion.

This is where the Queen’s Mayfaire school girls come in who work as undercover spies. I am pretty sure most of the students nowadays would love to have such thrilling jobs while being at school. Their group includes many talented girls whose only goal is to finish their mission.

28. Silver Spoon

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	6/10	15/20	27/40

This is an anime that most students can relate to. With the overburdening pressure and stress that students have nowadays, this anime perfectly depicts how it can be detrimental for kids.

Hachiken is one such student who decides to join an Agricultural High School as a means of escaping from his parents.

Upon reaching the countryside, it takes some time for him to adjust to his new surroundings as all the lessons are taken in the heart of nature and have practical uses in life. This is a breath of fresh air for Hachiken who may ultimately find the purpose in his life.

27. Rozen Maiden

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	6/10	16/20	28/40

Jun is a normal school student who spends his time at home ordering things online. He ensures to return them before the trial periods which sounds illegal to some extent.

One day, he mixes up his order with a note which sees him getting a doll delivered to his house.

This is no ordinary doll as it was created by a legendary dollmaker. Jun learns that the dolls must take part in a battle royale with a human and the winner turns into a real person and has the chance to meet their maker.

26. Shounen Maid

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	5/10	16/20	28/40

Shounen Maid is a wholesome anime that is highly underappreciated. The main character of the story is Chihiro who is depressed after the demise of his mother. Normally like any other story, there is the sudden appearance of a rich uncle who invites Chihiro to his house.

Upon entering the place, his OCD kicks in and he starts cleaning every corner of the house. Thus, begins his new life as a maid as he also gets to dress in a maid costume and receive a salary from his uncle.

25. Big Windup

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	6/10	16/20	29/40

In the popularity of Haikyuu, Slam Dunk and Hajime no Ippo, other sports anime often get lost. Big Windup is one such underrated anime that involves baseball.

The story is centred around Ren who was his middle school’s ace. His poor pitching and constant bullying from teammates led to a huge decrease in his confidence.

So when he entered his new school, he decided to stay as far away from baseball as possible. But he soon realises his new school has some amazing players who are willing to support him and bring out the best pitcher that is hiding inside Ren.

24. Kaiba

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	16/20	30/40

In Kaiba, we are brought into a world where you will not die even if your body dies. I know it sounds ridiculous but you can continue to live by transferring your memories through memory chips.

Naturally, the rich people exploit this system by buying memory chips while the poor people have to sell their bodies in order to survive.

In such a chaotic world, a man named Kaiba wakes up in a strange room with no memories. The only thing he has is the picture of an unknown woman. Thus, Kaiba sets out on his journey to find the woman’s identity as this anime teaches us the importance of memories.

23. School Rumble

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	6/10	17/20	30/40

School Rumble is the best anime for you to relive your high school romance days. This is a rom-com that highlights all the innocence and complications of high school. Our focus is on second-year student Tenma, who wants to confess his feelings to his crush.

Kenji is another student who is also in the same situation as him. They will soon learn that this task is not so easy as misunderstandings may further complicate the situation. So whether they are able to convey their feelings or not, you will be sure to have a great time watching this anime.

22. Hikaru's Go

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	7/10	17/20	30/40

One day, while rummaging through the attic, Hikaru finds his grandfather’s old go board. He hears a mysterious voice after touching it and falls unconscious. Upon regaining his senses, he learns that the voice belongs to Sai who is an ancient go expert.

He wants to play the game through Hikaru and invent a new master technique. Although Hikaru is reluctant at first, he soon finds a burning passion for go within him after playing against the prodigy, Akira. Now we will have to wait and see just how far this will push Hikaru to excel as a go player.

21. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	17/20	31/40

As you have probably guessed from the title by now, this anime shows the devastating effects of the earthquake on a city. Mirai is our main character who is frustrated with her family.

She has some destructive thoughts which get replicated through an earthquake. As a result, she and her brother get trapped while visiting a robot exhibition. A motorcyclist and a single mother decide to help the kids as they try to find their way home through the aftermath of a massive catastrophe.

20. Flying Witch

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	6/10	18/20	31/40

There is a tradition among witches that when someone turns 15 they have to leave their parents’ house and go away to study witchcraft. Similarly, Makoto also leaves her home and goes to Aomori to begin her new life. She takes a black cat with her too and starts living with her second cousins.

She starts going to school just like any other student and also gets involved in a lot of things. She crosses paths with an anthropomorphic dog, learns exciting lessons from her sister, and lives life to the fullest.

19. Tiger and Bunny

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	17/20	31/40

This story takes place in the city of Stern Bild where people have special abilities and are known as “NEXT”. They often appear on Hero TV to track down criminals and earn some nice hero points for themselves. Kotetsu is one such NEXT who goes by the name of Wild Tiger.

His performance has massively declined in recent times since he can’t work together with others. To make matters worse, he is teamed up with a hero named Bunny who is the polar opposite of him.

Despite this, the duo must come up with a solution to produce the best results and bring down the threats existing in their city.

18. Yakitate!! Japan

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
6/10	8/10	18/20	32/40

Japan is a country that lags behind in breadmaking. This fact bothers Azuma very much who is a prodigy in this art. He is determined to revolutionise the art of baking in his country with his naturally warm hands that are a huge advantage in his field.

To make his dream a reality, he enrolls himself in the Japanese bakery chain where he meets lots of talented bakers like himself. Will Azuma bake the perfect bread or will he get left behind by his rivals? Only time will tell.

17. Kaleido Star

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	18/20	32/40

Acrobatics is a beautiful sport that is the major attraction of the Kaleido Stage. It is a magical world that Sora also wants to be a part of. She decides to visit California in order to make her dream come true and audition for the role. However, seeing a dream and realizing them are miles apart.

She soon realises that her natural talent is not enough to captivate the audience and she has to train herself to the extreme to become the best acrobat. As Yami says in Black Clover, she needs to surpass her limits right there.

16. The 12 Kingdoms

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
8/10	7/10	18/20	33/40

Youko is a genius girl who has done everything in her school life from being the class president, to getting good grades. But she has trouble fitting in with the rest of her class as she often gets pushed away.

Her whole life changes one day when a strange man named Keiki comes into her classroom and says that she is supposed to sit on the throne of his kingdom.

They get interrupted by some beasts and escape to his realm where Youko finds himself with two of his classmates. Now, they have to find a way to survive and make sure they are not eaten by dangerous creatures.

15. Orange

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	19/20	33/40

This is another time travel anime that is bound to make you confused at the end of the story and maybe make you shed a tear or two. Naho’s ordinary life finds a fitting twist when she gets a letter from herself 10 years in the future. The letter has perfectly described the regrets that her future self has.

Now, Naho must make sure not to repeat those same mistakes in order to change her future. The biggest problem will be to act properly around the new student, Kakeru who is also involved in one such mistake made by Naho.

14. Death Parade

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	19/20	33/40

What if after you die, you go to neither heaven nor hell but you end up in a bar? It still sounds heavenly right? But the situation is not so simple as in this story. You have a chance to either reincarnate on earth or wander around oblivion.

In order to have a shot at another life, you must participate in a range of games that are hosted by the bar master. His rules are final and your chance of being reborn again lies in his hands.

13. Mononoke

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
8/10	8/10	18/20	34/40

You have already seen Demon Slayer. Now get ready for Spirit Slayer. A mysterious character named Medicine Seller hunts for spirits called Mononoke. But killing them is not so simple as he needs to learn about the Mononoke’s psychological aspects first before performing the exorcism.

This sounds somewhat like a therapist except they don’t kill you afterwards. In his journey, the Medicine Seller comes to take a rest in an Inn where he finds out a dangerous band of Mononoke is lurking in a pregnant woman’s room. Will he be able to learn its psychological aspects before the Mononoke strikes?

12. Anohana

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	7/10	20/20	34/40

Anohana is a beautiful and wholesome anime that can give you a blissful source of happiness. But just make sure to keep a box of tissues ready at the end.

Jinta is just like any other school kid who will rather spend his time playing video games at home than attend school. His peaceful life is disturbed by the sudden appearance of his childhood friend, Menma.

But wait, isn’t Menma dead? Jinta dismissed it at first as his own hallucination, but soon realised that there was more to it. As Menma’s spirit led to a reunion of all the childhood friends, big secrets from their past slowly started creeping out to the open.

11. Welcome to NHK

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
7/10	8/10	19/20	34/40

This particular anime is relatable on many levels for the viewers. We cast our eyes on Tatsuhiro Satou who is 22 years old and a hikikomori. Instead of trying to find a job and make his life better, Satou blames his NEET status on Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai or NHK.

According to him, it is an evil organization that is trying to keep all people like him bound in the hikikomori culture. The chance meeting with Misaki Nakahara may just turn the tide of fortune for him but at the cost of facing his big fear of society.

10. Hell Girl

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
8/10	8/10	19/20	35/40

Will you still want revenge on someone if you get the same punishment as them? Ai Enma and her group provide this exact service to the people who want revenge. But the catch is that while one person is sent to hell, the person wanting revenge is sent to the abyss.

As they go about their usual business every day, a mysterious girl named Kikuri is keeping a watch over them. Ai’s life comes to a halt on meeting a boy named Takuma who is dubbed as the Devil’s Child. This somehow motivates Ai to put an end to all this violence which she now considers senseless.

9. Ergo Proxy

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	7/10	19/20	35/40

After the planet was doomed many years ago by a global catastrophe, people have been forced to live in domes in the city of Romdeau. To make their lives a tiny bit easier, robots called AutoReivs have been created.

They are meant to help the people in their day-to-day life but a mysterious Cogito Virus leads them to have self-awareness. The responsibility of investigating this strange phenomenon falls on the shoulder of Re-I Mayer who takes her AutoReiv partner along with her.

8. Mushishi

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	7/10	19/20	35/40

The most basic form of life that doesn’t have any aim or purpose is called Mushi. Wait, that sounds like the majority of the population on earth. In this anime, they are beyond the categorisation of good or evil and can occur in any form.

But no one knows the exact meaning of Mushi as very few people know about them. This makes a Mushishi by the name of Ginko curious, who decides to chase behind clues and find their purpose in this world. After all, everything has a meaning and they are connected to their surroundings in the world.

7. Tsuritama

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	8/10	19/20	36/40

If you love to spend your weekends fishing then you are guaranteed to like this anime. The story is about Yuki Sanada who is an introvert and struggles to socialise. This is made worse by the fact that she travels from one town to the next with her grandma and never had a permanent place to settle.

But when they arrive in the seaside town of Enoshima, her life is made even more complicated by a new transfer student named Haru. In a wild mission of saving the world from danger lying in the ocean, the duo teams up together with another classmate as they go on a fun-filled adventure.

6. Hamatora

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	8/10	20/20	37/40

This story is set in a world where humans have the ability to create miracles. They are known as Minimum Holders and our focus will be on two of them named Nice and Murasaki. They are part of a detective agency named Hamatora who take up cases from their clients.

One day, they notice that all the tasks that they have received are connected to a serial killer. They are shocked to find out that all the murder victims have been Minimum Holders like themselves. Now the duo must race against time and catch the serial killer before falling prey themselves.

5. Samurai Flamenco

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	9/10	19/20	37/40

Masayoshi Hazama is our main character in this story who has loved superhero movies since his childhood. So after growing up, he lives in the day as a model and becomes a superhero at night.

He has to stick to solving petty crimes owing to not having any powers. One day, his identity is discovered by a policeman named Gotou who also ends up joining him later.

Thus, the duo starts their own adventure as they encounter some dangerous events which may hold the key to the fate of the world. Will Hazama and his new partners be able to stop it or will they fall short for not having any superpowers?

4. Eden of the East

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	9/10	20/20	38/40

When Japan was hit by a terrorist attack on November 22, 2010, it created panic among people. But they soon forget it since no one was harmed in the incident. Three months later, when Saki goes to America on a graduation trip, she gets her life saved by a strange man named Takizawa.

He has no memories of himself and has a cellphone in possession with lots of money as digital cash. Saki soon finds herself involved in a death game with other people like

Takizawa has a cellphone with them and suffers from amnesia. This may be the perfect chance for her to find out the reason behind the terrorist attack on Japan a few months ago.

3. Kids On The Slope

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	9/10	20/20	38/40

What happens when a classical pianist meets a delinquent? Get ready to find out in this anime, when Karou’s life takes a turn after meeting Sentarou.

Karou had initially thought his life was going to be boring as usual but Sentarou’s love for Jazz music enabled him to expand his horizon of music. He started playing the piano in a fellow student’s basement as a wholesome tale of friendship begins to blossom unexpectedly.

2. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
10/10	9/10	20/20	39/40

The empire of Shin Yogo is on the verge of famine and now they must come up with a way to save themselves. According to a legend, the famine was stopped many years ago by killing a water demon.

However, in the present, the water demon reincarnated himself in the emperor’s son, Chagum. Luckily, a mercenary named Balsa appears in the city who is commanded by Chagum’s mother to protect him.

Mei’s isolation is not limited to her school, but instead, it’s as though she doesn’t exist. Well then why can Koichi touch her? And when I mean touch, I mean the innocent, curious kind. You know, the touch to see whether or not she’s even alive?

Since I care about you all, I’m not going to say anything else. Just watch it. It’s Another Death Note. Did you catch my joke there? That one’s pretty clever if I do say so myself.

1. Monster

Storyline	Animation	Underappreciatedness	Total
9/10	10/10	20/20	40/40

A genius neurosurgeon and engaged to the daughter of the hospital director, things can’t be better for Dr. Tenma. But when he decides to follow his ideals and saves the life of a boy over the town mayor, he loses his social status and his marriage is called off.

The sudden death of the hospital director after some time also doesn’t help his case. Many years later, some mysterious killings forced Dr. Tenma to face his past and push him on a path where he needs to rectify his mistake.

Conclusion

Speedwagon Left So Just You Can Comment!

As we can see, there is a lot of underrated anime that doesn’t get talked about a lot. People don’t make memes with them and they don’t come under the trending pages. However, this does not mean that they are not good or not worth watching. These are some hidden gems that will captivate your attention perfectly and expand your watchlist.

Maybe you have some other underrated anime that wasn’t on this list. Share your thoughts and comment down below!

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