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 2009, 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 2009, then you definitely need to check out there anime recommendations.
Best Anime of 2009
Kimi ni Todoke
Quiet and relatively timid, Sawako Kuronuma is misunderstood by her classmates. Due to her long black hair and shyness, they have taken to calling her Sadako, the ghost girl from The Ring.
Longing to make friends, she is drawn to Kazehaya Shouta, the most popular boy in school and his refreshing personality. However, when Kazehaya starts talking to her, Sawako’s lonely world begins to open up.
While Kimi ni Todoke moves quite sluggishly as a romance anime, I think it is wrong to expect the series to be a romance anime. Kimi ni Todoke is a shoujo anime that is more about a misunderstood girl finally coming out of her shell and making meaningful connections with people.
Sure, you stick with it for the romance, but no one is displeased to see such a tender soul like Sawako finally be happy and have friends.
Fairy Tail
While looking to enhance her magic, celestial mage Lucy meets an energetic fire mage named Natsu. After finding out he is a member of the famous wizard guild Fairy Tail that she has long admired, the pair travel home so Lucy can join.
Together with her new guildmates, Lucy and Natsu embark on adventures to help people, make money, and explore their vast magical world.
Fairy Tail had all the earmarks of one of those shounen battlers that became very popular, and thus, seemed like the type of series that would go on forever as a money-printing machine. The sort of shounen battler that falls from popularity and still chugs along, even when it should just end it. To its credit, this shounen anime did actually know when enough was enough and had a pretty satisfying ending.
Like every popular shounen battler, what Fairy Tail does right is create unique and easy to like characters, then give them all manner of magnificent powers before letting them battle it out.
Bakemonogatari
After surviving a vampire attack, high school student Koyomi Araragi finds he has several supernatural side effects that remained after being cured including the ability to rapidly heal.
While trying to live a normal life after the event, he ends up catching a classmate, Hitagi Senjougahara, as she fell down some stairs. As he catches her, he discovers that she is near weightless after being inflicted with a curse.
After enlisting the help of the easy-going wandering Shinto priest that helped him with his vampirism, Araragi finds himself embroiled in not just Senjogahara’s issue but several different supernatural events afflicting those in his town.
Monogatari hides what is essentially a supernatural harem rom-com underneath a heavy blanket of dense dialogue and a wild surreal art style.
However, making something so common as a supernatural harem feel so unique is nothing short of an achievement. While Monogatari is remembered for how occasionally strange it is, it will always be one of the best anime of 2009.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Frustrated with her family, middle schooler Mirai Onozawa wishes to tear everything apart. Unfortunately, that wish comes true in an unexpected 8.0 earthquake while out shopping with her younger brother.
Suddenly, she and her younger brother find themselves surrounded by chaos in Odaiba. Single mother and motorcyclist Mari runs into these two scared kids and decides to help them get back home.
Japan has a long-standing national wound from its history with deadly earthquakes. In that respect, it is not too surprising that there are only a small handful of anime about earthquake disasters, and why all of them are just heart-breaking.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 tells a realistic, and yes, very heart-breaking story about two kids and a lady traveling through earthquake-ravaged Tokyo. It makes a quick trip across neighborhoods feel like the most difficult post-apocalyptic journey.
Cross Game
The Kitamura and Tsukishima families have always been close due to one owning a sports store and the other owning a batting center.
Being the same age, Kou Kitamura and Wakaba Tsukishima spend a lot of time together with Wakaba’s younger sister Aoba being jealous. However, this is a tale of these three friends and their deep foray into baseball.
Cross Game is one of those big iconic sports anime that served as a flagship for the sports genre, at least until wildly popular sports anime like Haikyuu firmly dethroned it.
While it is well overshadowed now, if baseball is more your speed, this is one of the best. Like some of the best sports anime, Cross Game isn’t necessarily carried by its depiction of the sport. In fact, it is the character stories that really keep you coming back.
Eden of the East
In an event known as “Careless Monday,” Japan was hit by a series of missiles in a terrorist act that fortunately did not harm anyone. Months later as the attacks are all but forgotten, Saki Morimi goes on a celebratory trip to America.
There, she falls into unexpected trouble with a man named Akira Takizawa, a man that appeared before her completely naked. Drawn into the mystery around him, Saki’s life is changed forever.
Nothing makes you want to solve a mystery more than starting with one of the main characters naked in Washington DC.
While that hook worked quite well, the likability of the main duo worked a little better. However, by the end, it was the increasingly complex web of intrigue that surrounded the main character and his amnesia that kept you fully engaged.
K-On
Upon entering high school, Yui is immediately entranced by the Light Music Club. The problem is, she can’t play an instrument.
Deciding to join the club anyway, the other club members, despite disappointment in her lack of musical knowledge, allow her to join to prevent the club’s disbandment.
Today begins Yui’s musical education!
While Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime has always been pretty popular, K-on was nothing short of a sensation for a long while.
As one of the best anime of 2009, K-on captured audiences with its potent combination of cute girls being cute and occasionally playing some pretty good songs. That doesn’t sound like anything to get too worked up over, but K-on did such a simple thing in a very fun and cute way.
Kemono no Souja Erin
In a nation that is threatened by civil war, Erin lives with her mother who tends to the Grand Duke’s powerful war-lizards as a doctor. However, after an incident with the Grand Duke’s favorite war-lizard, Erin’s mother is held responsible.
While trying to save her mother, Erin falls in a river and is swept away to a neighboring region. On her quest to get home, she encounters many different people and learns the harsh truths of her world.
It actually wasn’t until later that Kemono no Souja Erin became appreciated as an anime of quality. It is one of those underrated gems, and due in no small part to the fact that it is sometimes hard to find to even watch.
This series creates one of those memorable, but not overly action-heavy fantasy worlds. It then tells a coming-of-age story about a girl who essentially grows up in conflict.
If you enjoy anime because of the sometimes creative worlds that it can bring to like, Kemono no Souja Erin is as creative a fantasy world as any.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Talented in the art of alchemy, brothers Edward and Al Elric tried to bring their mother back from the dead, something that goes against all alchemic principles.
When things go horribly wrong, Edward loses his left leg and Al loses his whole body, only saved after his brother sacrifices an arm to bind his soul to a suit of armor.
Three years later, the brothers set out on a journey to find a mythical relic that may be able to return Al to his body once again. However, throughout their travels, the brothers find themselves pulled into a series of events that threaten everyone.
While just plain old Full Metal Alchemist came out years before this, it went a bit off the rails as it deviated from its source material. As it was based off a then unfinished manga, the original Fullmetal Alchemist had to make its own ending. Brotherhood is the official and canon adaptation of the FMA manga. What the original FMA laid the groundwork for, Brotherhood brought to life in full, the way a well-throughout, cohesive story that has conclusion often does.
In truth, Full Metal Alchemists’ legendary reputation often proceeds it. It is the near-flawless way that its melds together unique characters, strong world-building, and a unique, action-packed plot full of as many laughs as there are tears that make it, unequivocally, the best anime of 2009, if not all-time like it is for many.
What did you think was the best anime of 2009? Let fans know in the comments section below.
