It is easy to forget sometimes that anime in and of itself is an art form, and art is an explosion! I mean, art is expression, and experimentation, exploration and, well, yes, an explosion sometimes! Yet, much of anime was made to appeal to a pretty big audience. Your shounen battlers. Your isekai harems shows. Your romantic comedies with basically the same plot every time. They are all meant to appeal to a large audience, but there are some anime series that were made and seem to appeal to no audience, but the one that came, watched, and enjoyed it. Those are the cult classics of anime.
Best Cult Classic Anime
Ranking of Kings
At a glance, Ranking of Kings has a young art style and it kind of seems like it will be a young plot. Sure, that’s fine for young anime watchers, but typically they don’t get a lot of attention from the fan base. Ranking of Kings differs by not going the way you expect it. It is not that they try the usual “cute art style juxtaposed with graphic violence” thing, but rather takes a simple fairy tale-esque plot and make it less predictable, more interesting, but still surprisingly wholesome.
The Heike Story
Now, I could be wrong, but something tells me that even in Japan, their classic literature isn’t something passionately embraced by most Japanese anime fans either. So when you have a series based on a classic Japanese literature novel, you already have probably a smaller initial audience. Still, even a mild interest in Japanese history or even the more broad interest in political intrigues can make this story enjoyable. However, remembering all the extremely, frustratingly similar names and putting them to character faces is a big bar for entry.
Kaiba
Kaiba is what one might call an “art” anime. Its not that its a masterpiece, but rather it is a series designed to be different than what you normally watch. It takes a standard amnesia plot and uses it to tell and emotional and ponderous tale, wielding the experimental animation that Masaaki Yuasa has come to be known for. It is a series absolutely made to be a cult classic.
Ping Pong the Animation
It’s an anime about ping pong, which even for sports anime fans might not be the most tempting. Furthermore, its sports anime about ping pong using an experimental (Masaaki Yuasa) art style. Yet, to its benefit it keeps the action raw and grounded rather than tries to be flashy and overly dramatic like Prince of Tennis. Perhaps the most charming thing about it is its ability to show raw emotion in its animation and direction. It’s a shame people glance at it and give it a past since it very well be one of the very best sports anime series.
The Tatami Galaxy
Tatami Galaxy is yet another Masaaki Yuasa creation, who, I swear, doesn’t just create cult classic things. However, this is on the more normal end of his spectrum despite still being strange enough to have a bar for entry. The story is essentially a Groundhog’s Day sort of affair, but done ponderously. If there is anything one can take away from anime series that are labeled “cult classics,” it is that most people don’t like to have to think about a lot of stuff in their show.
From the New World
It’s actually pretty difficult to find a person who has watched this series to the end and straight up just hated it. You know there is always that one elitist weeb out there, but I haven’t met them yet. The problem is getting to those hooks. From the New World piques curiosity by posing dark questions about what looks like a fine society that formed after some apocalypse, but the answers to those questions end up spectacular and sometimes very unexpected. However, the beginning of the series is slow and, to be candid, on occasion weird. It doesn’t have the flashy hooks early on to keep watchers unless you count bisexual love triangles, but it pays off for those who stick with it.
Serial Experiments Lain
Sometimes my job recommending anime is really easy. Got yourself a melancholic, minding-fucking, wildly confusing show? Slap a Serial Experiments Lain in the recommendations and call it day. However, while it is dangerous ground to look too deeply into Serial Experiments Lain’s flaws, I think we can all be honest with each other and admit it is a bit dry in the beginning. Deliberately slow moving and atmospherically quiet is indeed a mood, but it can be a boring one if you are not determined enough to get to the meat.
Haibane Renmei
Even if you are intrigued by the setup in Haibane Renmei, it is hard to get through. The series is actually really obvious with what it is trying to say, but the way it goes about everything makes it seem like something more is going on. Really, the entire thing is very melancholic, slow, and thought-provoking. However, while all those things can be done in interesting way, this sluggish slice of life show is probably not how you appeal to the masses with them.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
You could sell a certain crowd on Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei by saying it is a dark comedy about a teacher that is constantly trying to kill himself. And yes, those moments of comedy are abound, but the thing that makes it a little more unpalatable is that its not all comedy, and can get quite ponderous sometimes. It’s like Monogatari in that it is both incredibly creative, and sometimes a slog to get through.
Odd Taxi
This is one of the more recent ones. It is a show with simple animation, animal characters, and a synopsis that probably doesn’t do it justice. Everyone looked at it, passed on it, and it was only after being hyped by Gigguk and other prominent anime YouTubers did people start giving it a shot. It follows, long story extremely short, a Walrus taxi driver who find himself all caught up in a murder case. It is how the various characters intersect with each other and the unraveling of the mystery that cleverly draws you deep in.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
Maybe it is because Grimgar came out before the major wave of isekai series that people remember this short, relatively obscure anime quite positively. I like to think that, even back then when everything wasn’t done to death, it dared to do isekai things differently. For one, the focus of the series is legitimately trying to grow in strength when your power and personal affinity for battle are quite low. It makes the adventure seem like a legitimate and dangerous struggle unlike the standard OP isekai protagonist that is pitifully given all the power.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
A lot of old anime tends to fall into the “Well, it was good at the time” camp where the stories haven’t aged so well. You could say that about Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but that being said, they’ve still not been able to do a space opera any better than it. However, space opera isn’t for everyone, especially since this one is rather long and takes some time to hook you. It’s a classic, but not one people are really clamoring to watch anymore. Now I feel its is more about having watched it to have street cred since even interest in mecha series is near extinct, much less the more nuanced space opera.
Gunbuster
It’s a six-episode early mecha series, how much can people love it? A lot. It is Hideki Anno’s predecessor to Neon Genesis Evangelion, and really added a certain depth of emotion to the mecha genre. Furthermore, how can you not be inspired when she literally rips her shirt open in the middle of battle? It sounds stupid or even just comically lewd, but it really was one of those passionate anime moments that you remember forever. You have Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation and Noriko whipping out them tits. It is just anime moments you never forget.
Sonny Boy
Sonny Boy is one of those series that you have to watch to the very end in order to even have a chance at knowing what it was ultimately about. As someone who did watch it all the way to the end, let me tell you that even at the very end, its ending is up to interpretation. While there is no crime in being ponderous and Sonny Boy gets big points for creativity, everyone has a threshold for vagueness. I feel a lot of people began to be put off by the lack of clarity in plot and even in key themes after awhile.
Kemono no Souja Erin
It has always been kind of hard to sell this series. It’s not a fantasy series about tossing fireballs and looking cool. In fact, were it not for some of the creatures, it might not seem like a fantasy series at all. Instead, you get an interesting story told well, highlighting intricate emotions and motivations, while not so much focusing on action, which is a big selling point for most fantasy series.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Even as someone who had already watched a great amount of anime before watching Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, I could sit there and tell you it was kind of weird. It progresses in ways you can expect and has an older type of anime journey plot to it, at least earlier in the series, but everything in it is done so intensely. That has certainly put people off, and you know by about season 3 if Jojo is for you or not. It’s got a weird energy to it, a weird art style, a weird plot, and I guess it attracts a weird, extremely passionate fan base.
Do you have more anime series that you would call a cult classic for its limited appeal to watchers? Let fans know in the comments section below.
