The following list is composed of some of my personal favorites as well as simply wonderful anime. I included shorter anime that may appeal more to the masses since not everyone wants to watch 500 or 900 episodes, but please enjoy a collection of my favorites.
Romance/Wholesome Anime:
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
Length: 1 season 13 episodes Genre: Romance, Drama, Supernatural and Psychological
I very highly recommend this anime, as it is a cute romance anime with an exciting quest tied in, but also the movie, Rascal Does Not Dream of Dreaming Girl, is amazing to watch afterward. It is well written, animated well and adds more depth to the characters themselves.
5 Centimeters Per Second
Length: 1h 31m Genre: Romance
This anime movie is by far my favorite because it tells the story about a beautiful but sad love story. This movie focuses on the evolution of the two main character’s love stories throughout their lives and displays the pain of letting that love go. Even though it was a tearjerker, it showed the realities of falling in and out of love in a beautiful way—earning this anime’s title as one of my favorites.
Say “I Love You”
Length: 1 season 13 episodes
This is a very sweet anime about a love story between an introverted, awkward girl and a popular, easy-going guy. You can’t help but fall in love with the characters, and though marginally different, their love blossoms in this lovely anime.
Amazing 90’s Anime
Cowboy Bebop
Length: 1 season 27 episodes Genre: Action & Futuristic
This anime is my favorite anime of all time, and it’s the first anime I recommend to new anime watchers. It is set in a futuristic world where a group of easy-going bounty hunters embarks on adventures all over the galaxy. The character development and relations between each character are marvelous, and they cause the viewer to truly fall in love with the anime. All I have is bountiful praise for this anime, as I rewatch it every time, and an amazing addition is its wonderful jazzy soundtrack.
Fooly Cooly
Length: 1 season 6 episodes Genre: Comedy, Action, & Science Fiction
A young boy’s life is flipped on its head when a new girl arrives in his town, stirring up bizarre adventures during her fight against an otherworldly organization. This anime moves very quickly, and is very bizarre; however, it is a very fun anime to watch. After completing it, you begin to realize the complexities of not only the show but the characters themselves.
YuYu Hakusho
Length: 4 seasons Genre: Action and Fighting
This anime is another top recommendation, as I enjoy not only the animation style but also the characters. This anime is also filled to the brim with otherworldly adventures and awesome fight scenes, especially in the Dark Tournament arc.
Popular Anime:
Death Note
Length: 1 season 37 episodes Genre: Mystery, Thriller, and Psychological
This anime is another favorite as it was incredibly interesting and kept me binge-watching episodes. A highschooler stumbles across a notebook and is given the powerful, yet horrific power to kill anyone he chooses. This anime is quite gripping and very good.
Haikyuu
Length: 2 seasons 50 episodes Genre: Sport
This anime is a wonderful and exciting watch, as it is about a high school volleyball team. You fall in love quickly with all of the characters and can’t help but cheer them on when they play. It is one of the best sports anime I have seen and truly displays a wonderful message that anything is possible.
Assassination Classroom
Length: 2 seasons 47 episodes Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, and Comedy
This anime is based around the rejected class of misfits who are one day gifted with a daunting task—kill their teacher. They must kill their teacher in order to save the world from total destruction, and even though they are faced with this goal, the entire class becomes as close as family. As the characters begin to form an unbreakable bond, the viewer can’t help with falling in love with each and every one. Overall, this anime has comedy, action, unforgettable characters, a spectacular ending, so it is truly an anime that I will never forget because of how much I fell in love with all of the characters.
Psychological Anime:
Devilman Crybaby
Length: 1 season 10 episodes Genre: Dark and Psychological
This anime is quite disturbing and includes a lot of gore and blood. Yet the action is quite exhilarating, and even though it is very sad, that is one component that makes it a good anime. It is one anime that will mess with your mind as it is very deserving of the term dark and psychological, so it doesn’t always appeal to anyone. Therefore, if you do not mind gore, blood, heartbreaking sadness, and some twisted narratives, this anime might be a good watch for you.
Death Parade
Length: 1 season 12 episodes Genre: Psychological Thriller
This anime is about the judging process of people who have just died. Dead people are brought to this place and are judged by non-human human-looking people called arbiters. As complexities arise that disturb the main characters, the viewer is heavily wrapped in this confusing and very psychologically disturbing anime that is very good.