Underrated Anime Gold

Grimgar

Grimgar, this is way underrated. Its one of the best fantasy anime since it takes a more realistic version of how it would be to awake in a fantasy world and has some really realistic fighting.

The characters are (mostly ) earnest & endearing. And the art is gorgeous. And you will quickly see that character development is what the show is about though with how everyone deals with living in this brutal world.

Grimgar also has some of the best music and art I've seen in an anime as well. The whole show looks like a watercolor painting.

Of course it has some slight flaws with pacing and a bit of fan service but apart from that its just pretty much perfect in my eyes.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

It's a quirky slice of life comedy about the people who frequent Seaside, a maid café that's really a coffee shop. The shop is owned by a grouchy old woman and the local girls who work goof-around there as part timers.

Made by the team behind Madoka and Bakemonogatari, it was one of the 5 or 6 shows SHAFT did in 2010, and got overshadowed by all the big Fall 2010 shows. It even competed against another oddball-comedy show from the same studio that fall, Arakawa Under the Bridge II.

It's got comedy, romance, music, it's got tragedy, and a lovable cast of misfits…no moe moe kyun here.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

I would definitely say Katekyo Hitman Reborn could make the list. And you know I am a huge KHR fan so it isn't a surprise that it appears

I know that's not so underrated in that it is , it was kinda popular in its days, but right now it's almost dead so I am including it as one of the underrated nuggets.

I know a lot of people that wanted to watch it, but they all were turned down by the same thing: first 20 episodes.

I agree that some of the first 20 episodes are annoying/boring at times, not each and every episode all the way through mind you, but they are for comedy purposes first since the creator wanted to make a comedy anime, but later on the creator decided that the main character has potential and transformed it into an action one. So, my advice is to watch it, it's one of the best from zero to hero anime and a good comedy. If you can't stand watching the first 20 episodes then watch the first and the 19th epsode so you can basically understand the plot/characters.

KHR: Varia

In this arc you are introduced to 2 things that are important to the KHR world.

The Vongola Rings and the fact just how spoileriffic the Openings get with showing Chromein direct connection to Mukuro, in my opinion the Varia Arc is the best arc of the series.

We learned a good bit more about the characters we grew to love during their training for the Ring Battles and the action in this arc was also some of the best during the entire series.

Xanxus was an interesting "villain" with a cool backstory and motivation. His Varia group wasn't any less interesting either.

With Squalo being probably the best of the bunch due to his weird sense of honor that still reflects what Yamamoto lives through very well. It was just kinda dumb how Chromes backstory was literally dropped on us the moment she got into her fight, but she does have a good backstory so I am not too mad.

Belphagor was a good opponent for Gokudera, Lussuria probably the best fight Ryohei ever had. Mammon was a key part later on and obviously the best choice for an opponent that Chrome/Mukuro could face…in general the Varia are just a good foil to Tsuna and his friends which I really liked. I was also very happy to see the Varia return later. Much Later in fact. 10 years later, and we have a segway into the next arc!

Katekyo Hitman Reborn Varia Arc Rewatch

KHR just keeps getting better. It started off with a fair amount of training, and then lead to some awesome fights. Just as I had hoped, the Varia arc continued the plot and character development that began in the Kokuyo arc. (Not a complaint perse) Making this is my overall favorite arc of the show so this isn't my first rewatch, but I have put somethings down that may improve your first rewatch.

34 The Varia Comes! ヴァリアー来る
35 The 7 Vongola Rings ボンゴレリング7つ
36 Katekyo, Start カテキョー、動く
37 Master and Disciple Combi, Set 師弟コンビ、揃う
38 The Disapperance of the Stubborn Fawn ワガママ子牛の失踪
39 The Unseen Enemy's Motive 見えざる敵の目的は
40 Fight for the Ring Begins! リング争奪戦、開始!
41 Feelings of the Protector 晴の守護者の思い
42 The Power to Rebound Adversity 逆境をはね返す力
43 Thunder Strike of 20 Years Later 20年後の雷撃
44 The Stolen Sky Ring 奪われた大空のリング
45 Storm Brewed by Angry Waves 怒涛の嵐戦
46 Reason to Fight 戦う理由
47 The Strongest Invincible School 最強無敵の流派
48 Namegata's Game 勝負の行方
49 Requiem of the Rain レクイエムの雨

I just love the entire premise of the arc. And I feel like it is the best implamented overall when compared to the Manga. There are some things here that you don't get, or get as much of in other arcs, especially when it comes to different group of people contesting to be the next Vongola X. I mean, really, at this point in the show, which viewer hasn't looked at Tsuna and thought "this kid is gonna be Vongola X?"

Still I am not without complaints, right now there are 2 things in the anime that are bother me, the biggest being that most of the female characters in the show are unbelievably dense. I hope they change or that more interesting and less dense female characters get introduced as the series progresses.

The other one is Tsuna's uniform, which now has wavy edges around the collar and shoulder for no apparent reason. This is a minor complaint, so it hasn't really affected my enjoyment of the show, but I can't excuse lazy animation.

As I have said, the fights, the fights. The fights are amazing. Tsuna saving Lambo at the cost of losing his sky ring! Wow, this showed how his character had developed thus far, which was nice.

Just like Gokudera's fight, Yamamoto vs. Squallo made great use of its surroundings – this time with a flooding destroyed building. Really fitted well with their fighting styles.

Rain

This is my favorite fight of the arc.

It combines action and intellect and has the best setup to the fight. The team now can't afford another loss AND Yamamoto's opponent is Squalo (my favorite member of the Varia from the beginning and someone who's showed that they're a good threat by beating all of the guardians including Yamamoto before) AND there's no "good" outcome to the battle.

I loved Squalo because of his design, VA, and funny personality but there was definitely a sad thought in my head that once Squalo lost the battle, he'd get killed by the Varia. So there's stakes in either outcome of the battle. Yes, you could argue that it's obvious Yamamoto's going to be the winner because we need to see the other battles (also, opening) but this fight is less about "who will win?" but more about "HOW will Yamamoto win?" and this fight completely delivers there.

The end to episode 48 feels so hopeless with Yamamoto being completely outclassed and now knows that Squalo has beaten the invincible style before.

My friend predicted here that there'd be "a secret 9th stance" cause that's what anime does, but KHR did it even better. It made it so there was a reason Squalo didn't know about the 8th stance and a reason for Yamamoto to create his own stance and subvert the style. I also loved how the writers didn't just have Squalo lose because he couldn't recognize the attacks–he still had his artificial hand that could've killed Yamamoto if the 9th stance didn't involve reflection.

It was a great end to an exhilarating battle and Squalo was never more entertaining during it.

I was thinking that the fight would end with Yamamoto winning and then bringing Squalo to the Vongola side and while I never truly believed Squalo was killed by the shark, I still liked the overall direction of his character

The Music of KHR

Hibari's Theme

Not exclusively used by Hibari later on, but it always serves as a reminder of how dangerous he is.

My favorite instance of it is when he's about to beat the shit out of Yamamoto (I think) for doing something suspicious, but is calmed down before he can let loose. So the piano part of his theme plays, but cuts off right before the rest of the orchestra can enter.

Nice story/music integration there.

Holy War

A more intense version of Hibari's Theme that's used a lot in and around the Varia arc. The band nerd in me loves the strong low brass here that adds a sense of urgency and seriousness that wasn't as strong before this arc.

Tsuna Awakens

It's very "Rocky"-esque, but with the orchestral flair that the KHR soundtrack does so well instead of 70s funk.

And the key modulation in the middle really adds to the energy. I just wish the whole thing was longer than like a minute and a half! The far and away best usage of this song was during the Tsuna vs Mukuro battle in Kokuyo, at the first appearance of Hyper Dying Will.

You can tell how pumped I was when I saw that, and the music did a lot of the work.

Smile For You

Okay, this is just a pet one that I like. It's cute, what can I say? Boo on me for not liking most of the OPs and EDs, but anything that captures the essence of Pretty Cure/Hamtaro/similar Japanese cuteness gets an A in my book.

KHR: Kokuyo

A whole lot happens in this arc, and by that I mean a whole lot of nothing till the end.

This is probably my least favorite arc to be honest.

We meet Lancia who is kinda relevant Later…we meet Chikusa who is kinda just there we meet M.M. who will not reappear for like ever until she just hops into the frame at the tail end of the anime and we meet Ken the resident Tsundere who apparently has a thing for the best girl but doesn't wanna admit it.

Oh somewhere before we also met BianchiGokuderas Sister … I didn't really realize that she was there most of the time which is pretty sad.

The only thing that REALLY was relevant in this arc to be honest is that Tsuna finally got his weapon but I woudln't call it a real arc because of that.

KHR: Daily Life

I like this Arc but a few certain things pissed me off. Reborn was the first thing. He was always such a dick for no reason.

The next thing was how quickly Gokudera turned around.

Especially since "Obviously not a bad guy that will turn into an ally. Kyoya Hibari was there as well to fulfill literally the same role just executed differently…

I liked Yamamoto however. In fact he is the only Character that i always liked and still do. He is not my favorite anymore though. This would be someone that you could totally not guess by my flair or anything. But she wouldn't be introduced till WAY later. Instead we get, Lambo …the opposite of Yamamoto. Who by the way is the only character I never liked and never will like, period.

in between we also see Kyoko and Haru somewhere but i don't give a shit about them until the future arc so idc where those two even are at this point.

Bonus Points for those people that know my favorite Fairy Tail Character and assumed because of that that I would like Haru because she is basically a non-combat Juvia … except she lacks all the qualities i see in Juvia so I hate Haru.

Also I-Pin and Dino.

I like the arc, it is fun, and the manga is worth reading if you have only seen the anime. But, outside of that there is not really anything that is worth discussing after that point in Daily Life.

KHR: Future Arc & Final Battle

I will just say it again! Future Arc!

Future Arc

I was not sure how to structure this but i decided to have it be 2 Segments. The Future Arc and the Final Battle arc. The Future Arc will discuss everything up until the end of Choice and the Final Battle Arc will discuss the inheritance Succession Arc and the Future Final Battle Arc.

The Search for the Guardians was generally a waste of time.

It was full of filler content that wasn't needed and could have been much shorter. The Training episodes were drawn out a bit too much too here. But the Powerups are great. So had they shortened the arc a bit.

By for example leaving out the pointless reunion of Hana and Past Kyoko that led to literally just one short moment as well as the I-Pin and Haru Story as well as the Lambo one (Or combined the 3 stories into at most 2 episodes) and not shown as much stuff as they did about everything i would have liked the arc more.

The Invasion Story was probably my favorite part about this segment.

Simply because Characters that needed it got to do shit and we didn't immediately get Past, Ryohei and Hibari so we actually got to see their future Versions fight properly before getting to see the real heroes adapt their abilities. The Reveal that Shoichi was a good guy all along was done pretty well imo and Spanner is a great character as well.

The Arcobaleno Trials Arc that was done better later. But it is still pure and unadulterated character development but executed kinda poorly. Though enjoyable for what it was at least.

We also were introduced to a few cool characters before this arc in the invasion and training but aside from Gamma nobody is worth Mentioning really except for characters I have already discussed. Of course there are a few key characters that are already introduced by now that I didn't talk about but that's because they are more relevant in the Choice Arc so I will talk about them there.

Final Battle

This arc starts with the Inheritance Succession Arc in all fairness is the Arcobaleno Trials in good.

We also see Primo and his Guardians in the arc and just how much they are like Tsuna and his guardians and how they differ from one another. We get Characterization up the ass for Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna (mostly just those because the other Characters don't change much) and we get awesome new powerups!

So let's go there because everything before was discussed.

The Final Battle.

Simply put Tsunas Guardians are not the strongest and this shows that with brilliant arc shows it. The Vongola have to assemble all the forces they can including the Varia just to somehow survive the fight against Byakurans guys. Which they barely do until Ghost shows up and is explained and he is some sort of major let down but I can deal with that since it's the final battle against Byakuran which as it turns out can only be won by Yuni and gamma sacrificing themselves to revive the other Arcobaleno resulting in the saddest scene in the entire Anime. I liked the fight against Byakuran and his Funeral Wreaths a lot.