What is your favorite obscure anime/show?

[Croconaw]

I thought it'd be fun to discuss our favorite obscure shows. Some of these are lesser known but there are probably great shows we are missing out on just not being aware they exist. Try to avoid spoilers or put the spoilers in a spoiler if you want to talk about it. What are some obscure shows that you watch that you would recommend?

An obscure anime that I like is Big Windup. It's a sports anime. It's a little wholesome for an anime in this genre but I still enjoyed it.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Highly doubt any of the very few anime that i watch counts as obscure, but probably Urusei Yatsura is the most obscure for me. The original came out in the mid-late 80s i think? And it just got a reboot which I haven't been able to see yet! But it's a pretty wacky show. Lum is the best, she comes from outer space.

Look at 'em go​

 

[Mimi Cheems]

Even though the hype has died down YEARS ago... Hetalia. It's so obscure now when it used to be super popular but it will always be something special to me.

 

[Midoriya]

Parasyte the maxim is my favorite anime and it's technically obscure, so that.

Shinichi Izumi is the main character and is who I'm most like in anime, plus the show just really shows how humanity can be sometimes. It's a very action-filled, but also feels-filled show.

 

[CylieDanny]

I'll just drop this here before talk cause I got two~

First is Paranoia Agent, which is very unexpected, and very VERY good. Its a horror anime, about a town, with a kid who goes around attacking people with his golden base ball bat. But there is alot more too it, and its honestly one of the best anime Ive seen along with the other im gonna talk about. I really recomend it, if you havent seen it, highly reccomend it. But it is s VERY mature anime, fair warning. But its very much worth it.

Heres the opening, if you wanted even more of a sense of how obscure this anime is. If you watch the series, ya'll understand why its absolutly perfect lol.
warning its very obscure,

Second is my all time favorite anime, Penguin Drum!
Incredibly underated which is so unfortunate. Penguin drum is hard to explain but its about two brother and their little sister. I dont want to say much, ive seen it like twice so im scared about putting spoliers in. its honestly amazing, its also based on a novel which is just as good. Since the opening is top notch, ill include it too

You wont regret watching either ^^
good luck recovering from that paranoia opening, i havent seen it in a while and its the weirdest opening ive ever seen)

 

[amemome]

I think Tsuritama is kinda obscure? I haven't heard that many people talking about it. I watched it a (long) while back and had a lot of fun. Not sure if it aged well, but hey.

It's a fishing anime! With a pet duck.

Another chill and fun one for me was Gal and Dino. About a dinosaur that lives with a gyaru. There were some live-action episodes mixed in which were less my jam but the animated ones were great and the entire show was wholesome.

 

[Kitsuragi]

Is it obscure if it's just old? I'm sure it was super popular before but I don't see many people talking about it anymore. Legends of the Galactic Heroes? I'm not done with it yet. But I like it a lot.

 

[Ichiban]

Fist of the North star. campy anime but has a great story actually, art in the manga is insane too

 

[Bluelady]

Not sure how obscure it is, but it is an old anime. Baccano! I’m still disappointed that there never was a season 2.

 

[Xara]

mine is the end of the ****ing world (mods please don’t come for me that’s literally what it’s called)! i’m not sure if it’s considered obscure or not, but i never see anyone talking about it, and it is definitely more unpopular than it should be. it was pretty popular for the first few months after season one came out on netflix, but i only got into it about a year later after most of the hype had died down.

it is hands down one of my favourite shows of all time! it is an incredible mixture of stupid, funny, concerning, gut-wrenching and heartwarming (especially the first season), and the episodes are each a bit less than half an hour long, so they were perfect for my short attention span-having self! the end of the ****ing world and waiting for the second season honestly got me through 2019, and i’ll forever love it. the second season didn’t have the same vibe or magic as the first did for me, but i still thought it was a great conclusion to the main characters’ stories

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Definitely The Oblongs. It has a small cult following but it still isn’t as popular as it could be. The whole premise of the show is that the wealthy live above the Valley where the poorer people live and the Valley citizens generally have deformities caused by the chemicals dumped down there by the Hills folk. The Hill people look down on those who live in the Valley. It has a lot of social commentary through the series and it isn’t shy about the deformities the Valley people have either. The main family are the Oblongs and the mom is a former Hills resident who became tired of how her former friends were acting and is now an outcast among them but she’s happy even with the hair loss and often tells her kids that money isn’t the answer to everything in life. There’s actually one episode where the youngest son creates a new energy drink that turns out to be drugs due to him using unwashed morphine bottles that he had gotten from the hospital dumpster.

 

[wrenbow]

Not sure if this counts since it technically doesn't exist yet, but a GL I really love is getting an animated adaptation soon.

It's about a girl who's raised as the prince of the grass plains for political reasons. Her tribe is wiped out by another kingdom so she infiltrates them in disguise to get revenge but ends up in an arranged marriage with the daughter of her enemy (not really a spoiler since all of this happens near the beginning of the book and it's in the trailer). It's a really long story but sooooo good. I'd recommend checking out the content warnings though.

 

[Flicky]

That's gotta be Kiba.

I loved this series when it was out, but it's still so obscure to this day, despite having a trading card game released for it (which is now extremely rare to find).

 

[Aniko]

Paranoia Agent, Penguindrum, Tsuritama are very good and in my favorite list too.

Not sure of what counts as obscure but what comes to my mind is: Rainbow #567

Rainbow is about a bunch of teenagers in the 50' detained and trying to survive in a reform school where guards abuse of them. It's rather dark and violent but also very good.

Another would be House of Five Leaves #2103

About a timid and gentle ronin involved with a gang named the Five Leaves. I saw this one a long time ago but I remember finding it kinda poetic and I liked the art. The relationship between the two main characters was interesting.

Another interesting relationship was the anime No.6 #505

In a futuristic and 'perfect' city the naive Shion lives carefree among the elites, one day he meets Nezumi (rat) who is a fugitive from outside the walls. Their encounter will change their views on life and the utopia city.

I had to look on MyAnimeList popularity list because there are plenty of anime that I feel people around me don't know much but their rank in popularity is high so...I will update the previous ones with their popularity rank as well.

Uchouten Kazoku #1358

I didn't feel like that one was that obscure but it's not as popular as I thought. It's about a family of tanuki and their tensed relationship with tengu and humans. It's a bit dark, because humans want to make stew with tanuki but also poetic. Sorry I'm not good with words.

 

[Psydye]

Not sure if it's considered obscure or not but I would say Gurren Lagann. I love how over the top the show becomes near the end of it lol.

 

[Belle T]

Hitohira isn't anything particularly revolutionary or anything, but it is just so impossibly cute and charming. At twelve episodes, it's an easy enough manga to recommend to any fans of the shoujo genre. If you like it, great! If you don't, then at least it's short.

 

[Zane]

Definitely The Oblongs. It has a small cult following but it still isn’t as popular as it could be. The whole premise of the show is that the wealthy live above the Valley where the poorer people live and the Valley citizens generally have deformities caused by the chemicals dumped down there by the Hills folk. The Hill people look down on those who live in the Valley. It has a lot of social commentary through the series and it isn’t shy about the deformities the Valley people have either. The main family are the Oblongs and the mom is a former Hills resident who became tired of how her former friends were acting and is now an outcast among them but she’s happy even with the hair loss and often tells her kids that money isn’t the answer to everything in life. There’s actually one episode where the youngest son creates a new energy drink that turns out to be drugs due to him using unwashed morphine bottles that he had gotten from the hospital dumpster.

I’m blown away anyone remembers this show, I used to watch it all the time. The Debbies.

 

[rocketspruggs]

To be honest, I actually have a LOT of favorite obscure cartoons, here are some of my favorites:

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
It had a cult following back in the mid 2000's, but since the show got cancelled after only 2 seasons, despite having high ratings, nobody remembers the show anymore...that was my most favorite show as a kid, and I will always remember it forever, no matter what.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
This is another obscure cartoon that used to be popular in the late 2000's, but nobody remembers it anymore as well, that was another favorite childhood show of mine.

Sushi Pack
When I was younger, I was super interested in this cartoon, titled, "Sushi Pack", and I tried to watch the short videos based on the cartoon shown on this now defunct website called AGKidZone, but for some reason, the videos wouldn't work at all. Years later, I suddenly remembered this show for some reason and I decided to watch episodes of the show on YouTube as an adult and I loved it!

Stickin' Around
This is another show I got into while I decided to start watching obscure shows on YouTube, the art style is super cute, and the character designs are funny looking!

Pucca
I'm not sure if this one is obscure or not, but I really loved this show when I was younger, and I still do. The titular character actually inspired me to give my Animal Crossing player, Hayley, some character design and personality.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I’m blown away anyone remembers this show, I used to watch it all the time. The Debbies.

“Debbie told me that she heard that Debbie doesn’t like Debbie as much as Debbie!”

 

[Drawdler]

I think The Tick (00’s live action show) and the first season of The Real Ghostbusters are fun.

The DKC cartoon is prime “so bad it’s good”, and has a few legitimately good songs to boot. It’s mostly shoddy but it has weird genuine quality/charm to it, and I like seeing the early series weirdness.

Is it bad I’ve heard of literally everything mentioned in this thread lol
+1 Oblongs

random obscure media addition: american psycho has a musical. I haven’t seen it but it belongs on my favorites list by default. /hj