5 Underrated Anime That Deserve More Recognition

By Ayomide.

Welcome to The Josei's first blog post. We're an anime blog created by a group of black women hoping to abolish the stereotype that anime is "just a boy thing". We will be bringing you weekly refreshing content on all things Anime and Manga related.

Now let's get straight into it.

Now I'm sure many of you have heard or have even watched well-known popular anime such as Naruto, Attack on Titan, Bleach and Dragon Ball. Now, these are very good and heavily influential anime don't get me wrong, but there are numerous other anime that don't get enough recognition.

Anime as a whole is saturated with a variety of categories such as: Psychological, Samurai, Action, Shounen, Romance, Sci-Fi and Shoujo. So understandably it's hard to find quality anime with well-developed characters and story lines.

But that's where I come in.

The top 5 underrated anime that you need to put on your watch list.

Trigun

Trigun is based on a male character called "Vash the Stampede". Vash is supposedly a merciless criminal who causes death and destruction everywhere he goes, resulting a sixty billion double bounty on his head. However these rumors about him are completely wrong, in reality he is a kind hearted individual who tries to avoid violence at all costs. Vash is followed by two insurance agents - Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who attempt to minimize his impact to the public. Together they travel the wasteland planet Gunsmoke, encountering many life-or-death situations along with Vash's past being revealed.

I don't want to reveal too much of the anime, but just know that it is a solid 9/10 and I can promise you that it's definitely worth the watch.

Mob Psycho 100

Mob Psycho 100 is a supernatural comedy based on an eighth-grader, Shigeo Kageyama (nicknamed 'Mob') who has immense psychic powers. Mob realizes how dangerous his powers can be, so he chooses to suppress it. In order to do this he works as an assistant for Arataka Reigen, a con artist claiming to be psychic who uses mob's powers in exchange for money. Exorcising evil spirits has become a daily routine for Mob, but throughout the series Mob's power threatens to break through its limits due to his suppressed emotions.

The animation of Mob Psycho as a whole is amazing, especially during the fight scenes. With only 12 episodes to watch in the first season, there is no reason why you shouldn't add this anime to your watch list. Additionally, for those who like My Hero Academia, you'll definitely enjoy Mob Psycho 100.

Cowboy Bebop

Now I already know what some of may be thinking, Cowboy Bebop isn't underrated as it is a well-known popular and mainstream anime, but let me just explain.

Although its known for it's 90's anime aesthetics, the story line itself isn't appreciated enough. Cowboy Bebop is about a crew of bounty hunters living in the year of 2071, fifty years after an accident with the hyperspace making Earth uninhabitable, resulting in humans colonizing several planets and moons on the solar system. The original crew members were Spike Spiegel (an exiled former hit man) and Jet Black (a former ISSP officer), who were later joined by Faye Valentine (a con artist with amnesia), Edward Wong (a skilled hacker) and Ein (a genetically engineered intelligent welsh corgi). During the series the crew embark on a number of adventures while simultaneously being encountered with people from their past.

I urge anyone that hasn't watched it yet to do so soon, I guarantee you that it'll be the best decision that you've ever made (anime-wise). A few of you may disagree with me categorizing Cowboy Bebop as an underrated anime, but I just feel like it deserves more recognition.

Jorgmungand

Jormungand is an action anime that is focused on a child solider called Jonathan "Jonah" Mar who absolutely hates weapons. However, an international arms dealer Koko Hekmatyar hires Jonah to join her team of bodyguards, aiding to help her goal of world peace (which is pretty ironic). KoKo sells weapons under the company HCLI who deal with the international shipping of weapons. Her work is illegal under the law, so she is constantly trying to avoid legal and international authorities while doing business around the world with armies and private militaries.

Not only is the story of Jormungand highly intriguing, but the characters personalities are also interesting and during the series their past and previous struggles are revealed. For those who are into action anime, or anyone who wants to get into this genre, I really recommend this anime.

Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is based on a young woman named Fuu who worked as a waitress at a tea shop. She was harassed by a band of samurai before being saved by Mugen who single-handily defeats them all. However, Mugen decides to pick a fight with an unwilling ronin called Jin, in order to prove himself as a worth opponent.

They end up fighting, destroying the tea shop in the process as well as the local magistrate's son. Their punishment was to be executed but tea waitress Fuu jumps in to save them and hires them as bodyguards to help her find a certain samurai who smells of sunflowers. Both were unwilling to do so initially but eventually agree to embark on a series of adventures to find this samurai.

The story line of the anime does unravel slowly throughout the series, but I promise you that it's worth it. The art style of the anime, the characters and the infused hip-hop soundtrack really pulls everything together nicely. A 9/10 anime, truly *chefs kiss* .

Well this concludes the end of this post. Just a disclaimer: every point that I've made in this post are all based on my own personal opinions. However, please feel free to let us know on our social media accounts your own opinion on which anime you think are underrated and deserve more recognition.