Been away from anime for awhile? We understand. You go out and have your life, anime will always be waiting for you when you come back. They always come back. If you are finally coming back and stopped watching sometime in or before 2008, here are all the best anime series that you missed and definitely should go back and watch.
If you are looking to watch the best anime of 2008, then you definitely need to check out there anime recommendations.
Best Anime of 2008
Toradora
Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, but his thuggish face causes his fellow students to think him a delinquent. Taiga Aisaka is small and cute, but with an attitude as fierce as a tiger.
Both of these misunderstood students also harbor feelings for their crushes, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance to get their crushes to notice them.
While not everyone loves a tsundere, Toradora is a quintessential tsundere romance about two people that are sick of people labeling them based on how they look.
In truth, Toradora is a staple romance anime and one of the best anime of 2008 because of how it balances its likable main characters, relationship progression, and occasional drama. It is something all successful romance anime must do, but it is no less difficult.
Black Butler
Young Earl Ciel Phantomhive is a noble in the service of Queen Victoria of England. Not only does he handle the business affairs of his family’s toy business, but he travels around solving mysteries that irk Her Majesty’s kingdom. However, he doesn’t do it alone.
After the death of his parents and in his darkest hour, Ciel formed a pact with a demon to help him get revenge on those that wronged him in exchange for his soul afterwards. Now this demon poses as his butler, Sebastian, a man with superhuman abilities.
While most manga fans are upset with the amount of filler, Black Butler presents an interesting premise with unexpectedly dark undertones. While it sometimes struggles with what sort of series it wants to be, there is a lot for people to enjoy with its variety of interesting characters and endless supernatural mysteries.
Natsume’s Book of Friends
For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has been chased by spirits, but recently he discovered that the reason was because his deceased grandmother had passed on to him her “Book of Friends,” a book containing all the spirits she had brought under her control.
Now Natsume realizes that these spirits haunt him in hopes of gaining freedom. With few friends, no loving home, and constantly hunted by malicious spirits, Natsume looks for a place where he belongs.
Episodic and long-running, Natsume’s Book of Friends combines the joys of mellow anime with classic Japanese spirits and legends. It is the type of show that isn’t stuffed full of action, but rather tells poignant individual tales.
Spice and Wolf
For generations, Holo was a revered wolf deity that helped the local wheat harvest in exchange for tribute. However, as the villagers become more self-sufficient, they no longer need or even believe in her anymore.
During her annual festival, she sneaks into the cart of Kraft, a visiting merchant, hoping he will let her hitch a ride home.
Spice and Wolf is an interesting beast. It has a charming budding relationship between the two main characters, exploration of a rich and interesting world, and will teach you far more about medieval economics than you ever wanted to know.
While it has a bit of a slow and deliberate pace at first, you fall very much in love with the characters given time. Furthermore, each new town means they will become entangled in new, but fun, problems. It is the mature relationship and detailed world that make Spice and Wolf easily one of the best anime of 2008.
Rosario + Vampire
Due to his bad grades, Tsukune Aono was unable to get into any good high schools. However, at the last minute, he was accepted to Youkai Academy.
Unfortunately for him, it is a high school for werewolves, vampires, and other monsters.
With the help of a vampire and some other new girl friends that take a liking to him, Tsukune tries to hide his human status from his classmates.
A little ecchi, a little comedy, and a little romance – Rosario + Vampire dips its toes into many genres that, instead of being muddling, ends up being pretty enjoyable if you don’t go into it expecting something too serious.
It is a harem anime, but not a vastly naughty one, so that should tell you all you need to know as to if you will enjoy it.
Skip Beat
Although extremely bright, Kyouko Mogami’s naivety shines brighter as she toils endlessly to support her childhood friend and rising pop star, Shou Fuwa.
However, when she learns that all her hard work is like free servitude to her friend, she decides to get back at him by joining the ruthless world of entertainment herself.
Skip Beat is shoujo drama at its finest. There is friendship and betrayal, romance and melancholy, and it all takes place in show business. While, even in 2008, it had some older animation, Skip Beat still has so much drama packed into a small package.
Michiko and Hatchin
For the fourth time, hardened criminal Michiko breaks out of a South American prison in order to search for a man from her past.
This search leads her to the young Hana, a girl trapped under the thumb of her abusive foster family and daughter of the man Michiko is looking for.
Breaking her out to lure out her father, the unlikely pair set off on their search, only to be embroiled in everything from betrayal to gang warfare.
A Thelma and Louise-style buddy road trip across fictional South America between a life-long female criminal and the child who was willingly kidnapped to be used as bait to lure out her long-absent father is… New to anime.
However, while there are a few inconsistencies in the plot, Michiko and Hatchin tells a refreshing story about anime women that are not pure or cute.
Casshern Sins
With the world over and humanity gone, all that is left behind is sentient robots. They were supposed to live forever, but as they begin to rust and die, a rumor goes around that eating one called Casshern will stop their passing.
Casshern, the target of their intentions, knows nothing of his past, but leaves death everywhere he goes as he is constantly hunted.
Widely overlooked, Casshern Sins presents an interesting world where only robots are left and those robots are dying. This creates this sense of urgency among them as well as an interesting mystery as to why Casshern is targeted.
Watching the variety of ways that once-immortal beings approach the now-imminent threat of death is delight for food for pondering.
Soul Eater
Death City is home to a famous technical academy and ran by Lord Death himself.
At this academy, meisters train with their human weapons in order to evolve them into Death Scythes to be wielded by the Grim Reaper, Lord Death. Only by consuming 99 evils souls and the soul of one witch will a weapon be able to evolve.
This is the story of several students of the academy as they try to grow stronger and protect Death City in the process.
Most notable for its creative character designs, Soul Eater ends up a visual feast and a uniquely fun story.
That said, its unique story can be a bit manic and sometimes unfocused, but never not fun. There is a reason that Soul Eater, despite its problems, has been remembered fondly for this long. It presented something unique among shounen, and that’s why it is one of the best anime of 2008.
Birdy the Mighty: Decode
Federation investigator Birdy is chasing a space criminal called Geega through the universe until their game of cat and mouse lands them on Earth. Geega has disguised himself as a human in the entertainment industry, making Birdy’s search more difficult.
Unluckily for college student Senkawa, he gets used as a shield by Geega during one of their fights. Birdy saves his life, but the two now find their lives linked to each other.
Compared to modern animation, Birdy the Mighty isn’t anything special these days, but back in 2008, its fluid animation was a real stunner.
Outside of that, Birdy the Mighty tells what is essentially a sci-fi space cop drama. It builds intrigue and remains both fun an expansive.
Itazura na Kiss
Kotoko Aihara finally worked up the nerve to confess to her crush, Naoki Irie, only to be coldly shot down. Her bad luck continues when her newly built house is crumbling to the ground in an earthquake.
While her father gets an offer from a his old friend to come live with them while it is being rebuilt, her bad luck continues when that family turns out to be the home of Naoki Irie who just crushed her long-hidden love for him into the dirt.
Itazura na Kiss is one of those now-classic romance anime, but it also comes from an age where romance anime didn’t exactly portray the healthiest relationships.
Get ready for a girl that would literally do anything for a handsome guy that only really shows her any sort of affection when she considers giving up or a love rival is on deck. The series has its nice moments, but definitely don’t base your romantic expectations in life on it.
What did you think was the best anime of 2008? Let fans know in the comments section below.
