2025.8.3

Context: https://x.com/TheSliceofAnime/status/1951619923358175664

I haven't talked about this, but Gushing Over Magical Girls is seriously one of the better animes I've seen over the years. The perversion of the main protagonist is shown in such a refreshing way, that all the actual sexual stuff feels like to me like they are merely the tiny bits of the extra moldy parts of a good piece of Roquefort cheese. Adolescent sexuality in anime has almost always been done in a very plastic manner (as to not offend people, I assume); it's either being performatively innocent, being treated as the butt (pun massively not intended) of jokes (e.g. Please Put Them On, Takamine-san and the more fabled Shimoneta), or genuinely sucks to look at (e.g. Sora no Otoshimono. I know it's from a different era, but I genuinely couldn't stand the male protagonist.) I know nothing about the team behind Gushing Over; but I'd imagine at least some of the key roles must be women and were actually writing their own experiences.

A few comments on the tweet recommended Eromanga Sensei, Yosuga no Sora and Imouto sae Ireba Ii. because "haha incest", but the last one is sincerely good (once you get past the absolute madness of the few minutes in the beginning, the rest of it is actually a great young adult slice-of-life show). The same thing cannot be said about Eromanga Sensei (the plot is just not that good) and probably not for Yosuga no Sora as well (I haven't watched it, but it's an galgame adaptation and galgame adaptations are generally not to be trusted; see my previous posts on Grisaia).

But - with that said, what actually are the ones that are good for beginners? It has to be acceptable by normies, able to break whatever kind of stigma in their head, and not to paint outside the very narrow normie lines so that we don't waste the great grace they've bestowed upon us lowly anime-watching weeaboos. I tried to think of the ones that (1) are short enough (should be only one season, unless it's good enough to justify a length longer than that) and (2) are distinct enough to show the media's potential without being too popular, and I think the following would be good choices:

• Hyouka. I shouldn't have to explain this one - come on, it's Hyouka! Actually, considering the tweet the context post has quoted listed Your Name under the "Anime for Beginners" category, I'd say Hyouka is just as fitting. It's strange no one talks about it these days - maybe it's because it has such a clean ending that killed off any possible further discussions. That said, I'd imagine band kids might enjoy Hibike! Euphonium more, although I haven't watched it myself and can't really be sure.

• Angel Beats!. I think Maeda Jun peaked in this work; Charlotte really isn't as good. Angel Beats! is not meme-able; characters may joke around from time to time, but the whole story is very serious (Maeda Jun's special flavour of seriousness), so serious in fact, that despite having watched it several times, I really can't think of a moment in the show that I can wholeheartedly make a meme out of.

• Re:Creators. Does your target like shounen battle scene? Make them watch this. If they didn't enjoy the show, they should at least appreciate the idea behind it; and if they didn't even do that, their future opinions on anime can be safely disregarded.

• Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (the newer version made in 2017). What Kino no Tabi is, is "fables for grown-ups". The original TV version is even more so, but modern human don't necessarily enjoy the old art style. Either way, watch it, it'd make you rethink a thing or two.

• Shirobako. (Secretly a Japanese TV drama in anime form?) This is good for people who believe that anime are all fantasies without a single bit of realism. "Not enough realism"? Well now you can have all the realism in the world, let's see how you like it.

• Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song. For people who like science fictions. For more machine-leaning, see 86 and even the Gundam series. For "softer" and more AI leaning, see Beatless. Vivy is a good compromise with a very good story.

• Princess Principal. This is not necessarily a good "beginner" choice (sometimes girls are too cute and people might not be able to handle that), I just listed it here because I really enjoyed it. It somehow became a sleeper, and I believe that Gigguk needs to be partially responsible for this because I've never heard him mentioned it in his videos.

A few shows that people might say it's good (and they are) but I think is not particularly suited for "beginners":

• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - Too strong of a shounen polish. No matter what people say, anime veterans will know it's very shounen deep down. If you're gonna do this, you want to move them away from the shounen stereotype, not towards it.

• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War - One of the best romcom anime in maybe ever, but my gut feelings tell me that while it's good for someone who's already seriously begun their weeb journey, it's not necessarily a good choice as someone's first anime (watching Dragonball Z and/or Naruto when you're a kid doesn't count). Sometimes anime has a particular storytelling style which I'd imagine stems from Japanese comedy, and it's something you have to ease people into gradually.

• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - This is actually a great choice if your target likes games but bizarrely doesn't like anime (it's okay we don't kink shame people here), but it's not very good if your target doesn't like any of the things shown in the show, so proceed with caution. Also, you absolutely have to get the version with Japanese voices; this issue in particular is unnegotiable.

• Samurai Champloo - The story is too Japanese. Some people might be extra closed-minded and will not appreciate that.

• Higashi no Eden - I'd imagine a lot of people don't like sophisticated plot with no big satisfactory resolution, but if your target claims that they're a movie connoisseur, this one (and Samurai Champloo) might work wonders.

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