Pure Anime Suggestions: the sequel

Japanese Language Resources
1

So a couple years back I made a post asking for some pure anime suggestions. Now clearly I let time get away from me because here we are two years later and I’m finally addressing this but you know what, that’s life. I by no means got anywhere near finishing the suggestion I received (for there were many) and I probably didn’t give enough time to those I didn’t finish, but voilà.

ANYWAY- I’ve created a list with every single suggestion I pulled out of the original thread (https://community.wanikani.com/t/pure-anime-suggestions/38996), and I’ve added comments on the ones I’ve personally seen since the original post. Heck, if you want to add your thoughts to it as well, go for it =)

INITIATE WALL OF TEXT!

Let’s start with the ones that I’ve seen since I originally posted, as well as what I’ve been watching just in general:

What I know:

Akagami no shirayukihime (Hulu) - Still probably my favorite anime by far to date (obviously since I haven’t swapped profile photos since two years ago when I first posted either XD) One bath scene, and one blood spatter, both very mild.

Little witch Academia (Netflix) - Cute, heartwarming, and gosh dang it why isn’t there more?

Special A (Hulu) - Embodies the over-the-topness that is anime. Kind of reminds me of an earlier version of Maid Sama

Honorable mentions - Maid Sama and Ouran High School Host Club (Netflix / Hulu) I don’t know how to quantify it, they’re pretty clean, just be wary of them at times.

What I tested:

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Netflix) - A close second for favorite anime of all time. This one made me laugh so hard at several points and still does to this day. Watch out for episode 7 - it’s not explicit, but it definitely is a little uncomfy

One Week Friends (Animelon) - MY HEART~ I loved this one- super cute, intriguing concept, and now I own the whole 7 book manga set and stumble my way through reading them to practice. Purest of the pure.

Recovery of an MMO junkie - This one was quite entertaining- basically an older, less fan service-y SAO. I feel like there was something that was a little uncomfy, but I can’t remember exactly what.

Flying witch - I watched, I got a little bored, I never finished. Intriguing concept though.

Princess Tutu (Amazon Prime) - Kind of slow (especially since I went in having expectations built off this amv I’d seen in my childhood Princess Tutu AMV - Hold Me Now (Warning: Spoilerific) - YouTube) but overall intriguing, The magical transformation was about on par with original Sailor Moon transformations.

Haikyuu (Netflix) - Eh. I’ve discovered I’m not super into sports anime, so overall meh. I know lots of people like it though.

Princess Jellyfish - Watched this one with my cousin. Meh.

Manabi Straight - This one was super goofy and I liked what little I’ve seen of it so far. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen too much of it because it’s so hard to find for some reason.

Natsume’s book of friends - Super cute, kind of slow, I couldn’t get into it for some reason. It has a lot of promise though.

Shiro Bako - I only watched a little of this, but there were a couple things that made me uncomfy =P

Now for the list of those I haven’t had a chance to investigate. Sigh the list is long, and I’m sad that after all this time I haven’t managed to watch more. C’est la vie I guess. I’ve organized them by genre gathered from a brief internet search (although there was a lot of overlap), so please correct me where I’m wrong.

Also, just to clarify, I haven’t seen any of the following animes really, so I can’t personally attest to their “pureness”

Yes it is alphabetized. You’re welcome. No, I don’t have a life, why do you ask?

Drama

A Place Further Than the Universe

Cells at Work

Flavours of Youth

Kids on the Slope

March Comes in Like a Lion

Nobody’s Boy Remi

She and her Cat

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (here, I admit, I started the first episode, then chickened out when the Netflix preview showed one of the characters with blood on their head =/)

Showa Genroku Rakugou Shinjuu

Romeo’s Blue Skies

The World in Colors

Romance

CLAMP School Detectives

Kimi ni todoke

My Love Story!!

Tsuki ga kirei

Sci Fi/Fantasy

Aria the Animation/Natural/Origination

Bottle Fairy

Card Captor Sakura

Gingitsune

Haibane Renmei

Hikaru no Go

Interviews with monster girls

Kaitou Saint Tail

A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

Modest Heroes

Mushishi

Nagi no Asukara

Orange

Petite Princess Yucie

Pretty Cure

Tsuritama

Slice of Life

Acchi Kocchi

Azumaga Daioh

Barakamon

Chihayafuru

Chii’s sweet home

Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class

Gin no Saji

Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka

Hanasaku Iroha

Hitoribocchi no marumaru seikatsu

Honobono Log

Kakukaku Shikajika

K-on

Non Non Biyori!

Sweetness and Lightning

Tamako Market!!!

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge

Tonari no Seki-kun

Usagi Drop

Yuru Camp

Sports

Cross Game

Eyeshield 21

Hinomaruzumou

Princess Nine

Tsurune

Yowamushi Pedal

6 Likes
2

Ah, I enjoyed that. (Did… did I suggest it last time?) But yeah, it’s curiously obscure, even though it came out roughly at the peak of the moeblob craze of the late 'oughts.

The initial “GA” is part of the show’s title. GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class. There’s a reason it has that name. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
3

for more recent options you might try Tonikawa/トニカクカワイイ :slight_smile:

3 Likes
4

Of those already on your list, I’d most recommend:

  • Aria the Animation/Natural/Origination (though the manga is better) - also note that this is much more slice of life than sci-fi
  • Chihayafuru
  • Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka
  • Usagi Drop

Also, I just finished Interviews with Monster Girls, and this is not a “pure” anime. While it’s not awful in this regard, I don’t think you’d like it for two reasons:

  1. It has harem-like elements. The entire main female cast likes the male main character to varying degrees. Three of the four female characters are high school students while the male character is their teacher.
  2. The remaining main female character (another teacher) is a succubus. Her whole thing is trying not to use her powers to take advantage of men, so again it’s not awful. But there are certainly “moments” that might make you uncomfortable.
2 Likes
5

For me, My Love Story!! (one I’d brought up on the original thread) was the perfect follow-up series to see after One Week Friends. It makes a great companion series, I think.

I don’t watch too many shows that focus on a couple dating, but I’m glad I made an exception for this one.

2 Likes
6

May I suggest the BanG Dream!/バンドリ！ anime? It’s one of those band anime, and for certain you won’t find anything that breaks one of your guidelines. It seems to have some similarities with K-ON, since I see people recommend the latter anime when I tell them I watched Bandori.

For some reason Crunchyroll only offers the first two seasons, but you’d probably be able to find season three somewhere out there.

7

I should probably watch that at some point. I like some of the music from that series.

1 Like
8

Duly noted and updated!

9

Also yes it was you who suggested Manabi Straight last time ^^

10

I will always recommend Re:Zero. My absolute favorite

Aside from that, some good ones I like are Land of the Lustrous, Durarara, Mob Psycho 100, Vinland Saga, Banana Fish, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Tower of God, Classroom of the Elite, Charlotte, Boogiepop and others, School-Live!, 91 days,

And a really underrated quick comedy anime: Servant x Service

That was quite a bit I recommended haha, sorry if I mentioned something you already watched. If you feel like you can’t watch all that, let me know what genre you like best and I’ll pick out a few of the must watches for you.

11

I’m… not sure that several of those meet the thread’s “pure anime” criterion. That is, anime that are filled with pure pureness, rather than anime that are purely anime. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
12

Ah I had a feeling that meant something. I still don’t quite understand, Orange was on their list which dealt with suicide so I wasn’t sure if you meant wholesome or something. Can you explain that a little to me so I can recommend something more like what you want?

13

Wha… years? I feel like it was two months ago…

Was it Purupuru tengoku? It was treated at the parody level, so I didn’t think too much about it, but in hindsight I see how it could be annoying.

1 Like
14

Similar thought crossed my mind when I first saw this thread, but apparently it was a year and a half ago…

3 Likes
15

Aggretsuko (アグレッシブ烈子) on Netflix is newer and worth a try! By pure you mean not perverted right? If so, I think it fits the criterion nicely. Very relatable if you’ve worked a desk job. You also don’t need to be a metal fan to like it. If you do like metal, then its some fun silly icing on the cake.

16

Charlotte is also really good, it’s like sci-fi / magic powers but with a slice if life / comedy vibe to it. Not sure what MAL specifies it as genre wise.

But it is a good show.

17

Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Squid Girl) is a cute anime. I also enjoyed an anime short called Okoshiyasu, Chitose-chan. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while is Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World). I can’t absolutely vouch for the movie, because I watched it without subtitles. (It is set in wartime).

18

Well, more to the point, it’s set in WWII Hiroshima Prefecture, which should give OP some idea of where it’s headed (though embarassingly, it took me far to long to spot it coming). So yeah, mostly pure, but… aha.

2 Likes
19

It isn’t on the list, but Aikatsu is the most adorable and comfy show possibly ever and I highly recommend it to anyone. Also the music is all amazing.

unfortunately I don’t think it’s officially available like, anywhere? The BN Pictures youtube channel is uploading them sequentially on semi-regular schedule (none-translated) but not keeping the old ones around, so I’d recommend Mezashite’s fansubs

(And if the question of “which Aikatsu” is a thing, the answer is yes. all of them.)

20

Have you tried Mitsuboshi Colors?

1 Like