Not all anime series start off with a bang. Certainly an exciting first episode is a good way to hook those new viewers, but many shows want to start off more nuanced – or just make bad first episodes because they want to establish crucial details. A slow pace can be effective at building an overall great show, but that doesn’t mean those initial episodes weren’t practically painful. If you are looking for anime series that are vetted as good, but maybe aren’t the most exciting in the beginning, then head on down below.
Best Slow Starting Anime
Steins;Gate
While the initial episodes of Steins;Gate has a couple good zingers to get your attention, it is dialogue heavy and not all of it is particularly interesting. It is a lot of reading for us and not a lot of anything interesting going on. You have to really commit to Steins;Gate in order to get to the good stuff, but there is good stuff as its enduring popularity should indicate.
Texhnolyze
Texhnolyze has the exact opposite problem of Steins;Gate. The initial episodes are very sparse on dialogue. In the first episode, it take about 10 minutes for the first line to be spoken, leaving you to wonder what is going on. However, this has an interesting would that explores a lot of great themes. You just need to stick with it.
Clannad
Clannad is an exploration of the emotionally damaged girls that are drawn to one guy like crazy. However, the series starts off with a mild exploration of what is easily the least damaged girl – Nagisa. The initial episodes are about them meeting and him helping her try to start up a club since she has been too sick to go to school. It is a lot of him just staring at some girl being lonely. The other stories are vastly more interesting, but a catalyst – the club and its recruitment – did need to be established first.
From the New World
This is the type of series that starts by posing a hundred questions. The nice thing is that it will slowly answer them over the course of the series. However, while the mystery established and the world itself can be intriguing to some, a series that is only giving you questions and no answers can be difficult to get into.
Gintama
The first episodes of Gintama are some of the very worst. In fact, they are essentially just celebratory victory laps that the series got an anime adaptation of the manga. It’s just not accessible for people who weren’t initially fans. However, Gintama has some top tier parody comedy for those that can get over the initial hurdles. The episodes are so bad that most Gintama watch orders recommend you skip them.
Hunter X Hunter
HunterXHunter is not your average shounen series. It is vicious and much darker with legendary arcs. However, it sure doesn’t look like it at the start. Certainly, every shounen series starts off with the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed main character, but Gon certainly isn’t very exciting in any respect. It just seems like it will be one of those fade into the background shounen battle series, but you’d be wrong.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
There is a whole sect of Jojo fans that recommend that you skip the first part of Jojo, Phantom Blood, despite the fact that it establishes the core family history of the Jojo’s. I don’t recommend you skip it, but it is pretty dry. Jonathan Joestar may be the ultimate gentleman, but he is dry and his life is…Kind of cheesy, to be honest. The first five episodes are practically a Victorian slice of life show, but the end of Phantom Blood is pretty interesting.
The general rule of Jojo is if you don’t like it by the second part, Battle Tendency, you aren’t going to get into it.
Lucky Star
This series is essentially the flagship of the cute girls doing nothing genre. While there is a lot of good comedy in the series, specifically for long time anime fans, they make you work for it. The first episode, for example, is about girls talking about cornettos. Who doesn’t love a cornetto, right? But still, girls talking about them is super boring.
Land of the Lustrous
Land of the Lustrous has an interesting world and even more interesting animation, but when it comes to the plot, well… The plot of the series, even for people who have finished it, can be really difficult to describe. With such plots, it can be difficult to get invested in the show, at least until the main character starts loosing parts of themselves.
Do you have any more anime series that start off slow, but then get good? Let fans know in the comments section below.
