There are some anime fans that watch a series and then move right onto the next. However, I dare say that every anime fan has at least one series they would and have rewatched several times. Obviously, if it is your favorite anime series, you will go back to it for some fond memories. However, to me, an anime series with good rewatch value is something that you can go back, rewatch, and notice something new every time. Maybe it is the tiniest little detail that makes something further down the line make sense or a little joke that you missed before. So, in that sense, what are some anime series that you should go back and watch again?
Best Anime to Rewatch
FLCL
This series is one of those that you might not quite understand the first time you watch it – or even the sixth. However, there is no denying that you sort it out a little bit more with each watch through. Furthermore, it is one of those anime series that has sort of a different meaning depending on the age you watch it. When you were young, it might have just seemed like an insane high-energy comedy, but if you watch it when you are a bit older, you might suddenly realize that its plot actually heavily mirrors the process of going through the uncontrollable changes to your body during puberty.
Nichijou
This series is so packed full of jokes and they are railed at you so quickly that you will miss a few. Rewatching Nichijou a second or even more times will only make it get better because you will undoubtedly spot something new with each rewatch. All that being said, the jokes you did get are the kind that aren’t worse the second time you see them. It is a show that never fails to leave you laughing, which is really the only reason you need to watch any comedy anime again.
The Fate/Stay Series
The Fate series is something to rewatch for sure if you are a fan because you won’t truly get the full scope of it until it is over. Because it is based on a visual novel, and they animated the three different paths, you need to make sense of those three different outcomes. It is something where you can watch and see exactly where those paths diverge leading to the different outcome. However, if you watch The Fate Franchise with a watch order, it can help keep things more concise.
The Monogatari Series
In the same vein as the above Fate series, because the Monogatari series is so vast and each series is several adapted light novels, there is much information to consume. Not only that, but you can watch Monogatari in its release order and in a chronological order that can help you make sense of the huge world and characters that it introduces.
Your Lie in April
You don’t know why you should rewatch Your Lie in April until you watch it the first time and get to the end. After that, you know why it merits at least one more watch through, because it leaves subtle clues to the outcome in the previous episodes. I mean, also you should rewatch it for its amazing soundtrack and fluid animation alone, but you know.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
You will find that wildly popular anime series like Sword Art Online or Attack on Titan are always on top of people’s rewatch lists. It’s not always because there is something new to discover within, however. Mostly it is just because people like them, and that’s not good enough reason to put them on this list. However, in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, once you watch it and rewatch it, you will discover there is a lot to ponder within. Is it right to kill? Do we have the right to resurrect? Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood brings up a lot of ethical quandaries, but it never spoon feeds you what it believes to be the right answers. You should rewatch this not only because you like it, but because it can be an exercise in philosophy.
Madoka Magica
Like FLCL, this isn’t a series you watch once and feel fulfilled by it. Once the darkness busts out, it is a real trip. By taking on a rewatch of this manageably short series, it allows you to watch it from a completely different perspective that gives even the happy parts a distinctly sad tone.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Like with the Monogatari series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is something you can watch in its original release order and manage the plot fine, or you can rewatch in chronological order to help make sense of things. As the main character is a reality-warping god, there is quite a lot to take in and a lot to try and make sense of. Just do your sanity a favor and probably skip the Endless Eight.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
If you’ve watched NGE, you understand why it needs to be rewatched. Because of the effect of Anno’s depression on the end of the series, things take a turn for the complicated by the end of the show. While you can also add the newer movies in to help give it a proper ending, like with some other shows, rewatching NGE lets you look at the whole series from a new perspective once you know how things turn out, and it is a fairly interesting one.
Higurashi: When They Cry
The reason to rewatch Higurashi is because of the way it is told. It is divided into several different paths from the visual novel which chops up the seasons to be…Less than cohesive and darn right complicated on the first watch. However, if you watch it again (even if you just want to see the brutality, which why I rewatch it) you can begin to put the story together a little better. It is certainly a series that you can rewatch a few times and still make new connections or find new hints to the mystery.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
The rewatch value in this series is kind of super ridiculous, and if you have seen the ending, you know exactly why. Being a show with multiple seasons, it has left a lot of breadcrumbs behind leading up to that surprisingly tripped out ending. Going back and finding all those subtle hints is an activity and a half.
Steins;Gate
This series is one that made things pretty easily digestible in one watch so you understand what is happening with all the time traveling business. However, when you rewatch it, there are a lot of other small intricate details, and particularly some foreshadowing, that you couldn’t pick up the first time unless you already know what is going to happen.
We most definitely missed a few good ones to rewatch, so if you have any recommendations for anime with the best rewatch value, whether you can learn something new from it or just like it a lot, tell us why it is a must to rewatch it for you in the comments section below.
