When I have a busy schedule, I tend not to look for new - or new-to-me - anime to watch. Instead, I feel like watching old favorites. It’s like going for comfort food, something familiar, rather than drumming up the energy to try something new (and that I may not like).
I’ve had a busy schedule for the past few years actually. Nevertheless, I’ve made the effort to add new anime series to my current watchlist when I could.
I have a theory. When time is short and all you want to do is unwind, you don’t want to take the risk that something new might disappoint. If you’ve been an anime fan for years you already have a catalog of stuff that you’ve watched. You know your favorites, right down to which title would best suit the mood you’re in, so you choose that one.
And it’s not likely to be something heavy or depressing. I’ll give you an example using Hollywood movies.
Let’s say a couple is home from work. It’s Friday night. They’re too tired to go out but they want to relax and watch something after dinner.
There’s a reason why they’ll drag out their Indiana Jones DVD, or the first Star Wars movie, or Guardians of the Galaxy and watch it for the millionth time. They want to enjoy something familiar and easy to watch.
Here’s an example that clearly shows why the opposite isn’t true.
I remember when Schindler’s List came out. The critics called it brilliant and a masterpiece and some said it was the best movie ever made. It told the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German manufacturer who saved the lives of Jewish refugees during WWII. At the end of the movie, Schindler is overcome with emotion when he realizes that he could have saved more people than he did, though those that he did save express their gratitude to him.
It’s a powerful and memorable film. Whether it was the greatest movie ever made is debatable - but I’d say one thing about it is beyond debate: it’s not the kind of film you feel like watching every day. I mean, it’s not like that couple is going to order pizza in on Friday night and say “Let’s watch Schindler’s List again.”
My point is this. Nobody has to know which anime series you turn to when you just want to relax. It’s one of those personal things. You’re not trying to impress anybody.
So lately I’ve been fitting in episodes of some of my favorite anime series, just an episode or two here and there when I have the chance. And when you’re watching for enjoyment, it’s funny, but you don’t even have to think about what to watch. The choice is made for you as you reach for the DVD or click on the show on the streaming site.
So if I had the time to take a vacation and just watch anime, these would be my first picks.
K, aka K Project, is a perennial favorite of mine. I’ve written a lot about K in the past.
When I try to explain why I love this series so much, I feel like I can’t find the words. K is about a fictional modern-day Japan that is secretly controlled by a group of “kings,” each with their own supernatural powers. The origin of these powers lies in the Dresden Slate, an artifact dating from Nazi Germany, which relates to the Silver King - the first and original king.
Each king has his own signature color. The Blue King is the enforcer, the chief law enforcement officer who leads an elite police force. The Red King - the Blue King’s nemesis - is the punk-like leader of a clan of misfits and delinquents. The Green King is the villain of season two.
The Colorless King is, as you might guess, mysterious and an anomaly. The Gold King - an august and grand figure - is the hidden power behind Japan’s Prime Minister and government. And finally, the Gray King is introduced in season two. At first, he seems like a throwaway type of character, easy to overlook. Basically, he hides in plain sight.
Season one starts out with the murder of a Red King clansman and ends with the death of one of the kings. The next part of the story is told in a movie, K: Missing Kings, and the series concludes with season two, which reveals the mystery of the Dresden Slate and the disposition of all the kings.
The story strings you along with unanswered questions and mysteries piled on mysteries, as the music and beautiful character designs captivate your senses. The setting is the fictional “Shizume City” and it really feels like its own world, a perfectly rendered fantasy world of secret kings and their clans hidden within ordinary modern Japanese life.
It’s incredibly stylish. If you’ve been an anime fan for a minute, you’ve watched anime series that had tons of style but scrimped on the substance. The K universe has both style and substance in spades. The story is fascinating and keeps you engaged, while the gorgeous visuals give you everything you could want to gaze at.
The story told in season one is of two mysteries: who killed the Red King clansman, and who is Yashiro Isana, a white-haired boy who fell from the sky and onto the Ashinaka High School campus. He is suspected of the Red clansman’s murder at first; but his true identity is a much deeper mystery, one that - once solved - actually resolves all the mysteries.
I’m not sure that K is for everyone. It has a cult following among certain fans. I can only suggest that you give it a try. It has a unique atmosphere all its own and you may find yourself as enraptured with it as I am.
The second anime series I would rewatch in its entirety if I had the time is Kuroko’s Basketball (Kuroko no Basket).
I can’t believe it’s been ten years since the Kuroko’s Basketball anime began streaming. The series ran from 2012 to 2015 in the U.S.
Tetsuya Kuroko enrolls at Seiren High School with a secret mission. He joins the basketball team and befriends Taiga Kagami, a towering power forward. Behind Kuroko’s placid unreadable face is a history with certain players from his middle school known as Kiseki no Sedai, the “Generation of Miracles.”
This basketball team at Teiko Middle School consisted of a once-in-a-generation group of brilliant players, all of whom have names that are color-coded to their hair color: Kise, the blond; Midorima, the green-haired one; Aomine with the blue hair; Murasakibara, who has purple hair; and finally Akashi, the red-haired scary Svengali-like team leader.
Kuroko was the shadowy sixth man, the brilliant assist player that no one remembers but without whom the Kiseki no Sedai would have failed.
But Kuroko doesn’t want recognition. Towards the end, the Kiseki no Sedai became arrogant and complacent, seeking individual glory instead of playing for the joy of the game as they did when they started out. Kuroko wants to bring his old friends back to themselves, to have them drop their inflated egos and love the game and each other again.
As Seiren builds its fledgling team and goes out to battle the other high schools where the Kiseki no Sedai members currently play, Kuroko gets his chance to wake his old teammates up.
Kuroko’s Basketball is a perfectly crafted shonen story. It pushes all the right shonen story buttons and is a joy to watch.
If time was limited, I would at least rewatch the second Touou-Seiren game arc in season two, episodes 39-43. This was the arc where Kuroko and Kagami faced Daiki Aomine and Touou Academy for the second time. Among all of his Generation of Miracles teammates, Kuroko was closest to Aomine and vice-versa. It’s Aomine’s soul that Kuroko most wants to save, so to speak, which infuses this arc with more tension and drama than the other tournament game arcs.
Finally - Gundam 00. I’ve been wanting to rewatch this one for a few years now.
It’s the year 2307. The earth has been depleted of fossil fuels and so the planet is now powered through the use of solar energy collectors. Wars have broken out between various nations on the planet, so a private military force called Celestial Being is formed to intervene and eradicate “unjust” wars backed by the use of four Gundams.
Celestial Being itself is governed by Veda, a supercomputer that determines which targets the Gundams should attack based on its information and analysis.
You can probably see the problem already. A “perfect” solution of a powerful enforcement mechanism/team that stops wrongdoers and supposedly never makes mistakes... would at minimum fall prey to real world pressures, political and otherwise, and corruption would always be a possibility (not to mention the danger of some group or government outright stealing Celestial Being’s power and capabilities at some point). (And further - what gives Celestial Being the right to play God? A valid question, in my view.)
I was the copy editor for Bandai Entertainment’s Gundam 00: Novel 3 Fallen Angels. I remember how excited I was to be even a small part of the Gundam universe.
Gundam 00 is my favorite Gundam series. It resenbles Gundam Wing with its four bishonen Gundam pilot protagonists, but 00’s story is much more complex and interesting as it shows differing ideologies and various political factions vying for Celestial Being’s power, as well as all the arguments for and against its very existence. It’s this deep-ranging story involving politics and philosophy that makes Gundam 00 special among the Gundam series.
And this may sound trivial, but I’m a student of art and design and I’ve always loved Gundam 00’s use of color. A lot of anime series have beautiful color design (I would include K in this list), but even among them, Gundam 00 stands out.
The music is awesome, especially the opening and ending themes. This is Chiaki Ishikawa with the haunting third ending theme, “Prototype.”
Hopefully I’ll find more free time to rewatch these old favorites soon. I can’t believe it’s the end of February already. This year is moving quickly. I need to remember that, as the saying goes, How you spend your time is how you spend your life and simply watch more anime if it is indeed still that important to me - as with all activities that are important to me. There’s always enough time for what we truly want to do.
