I’d classify a must watch as something everyone should see, not just fans of the genre.
The only must watch shows are FMA Brotherhood and Cowboy Bebop. As for movies, I’d really only list Ghibli films like Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away.
Agree all are gold
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Blood Blockade Battlefront
Wow BBB referenced! Idk if I'd put it on the same level as FMA:B, but it's a really fun modern fantasy setting.
Ayyyy I'm glad someone here also watched BBB!🥳
Plus for YuruYuri
Probably my favourite slice of life. It's such a comfy anime.
Neon Genesis Evangelion. I remember reading somewhere that every anime since NGE is just a spin-off of NGE lol
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I enjoyed the hell out of it decades before I "started" watching anime.
I agree with both @Unboxious@ani.social and @falidorn@lemmy.world regarding the definition of a must-watch anime. There's nothing that can please everyone, and yet there are some things everyone should have at least heard of. Hearing of something may be a low bar, but it is the precursor to attempt watching it.
To put it another way, this question is asking for the greatest (read: most popular) of all time for anime.
Wikipedia has lists of GOATs for various media:
- highest-grossing films
- highest-grossing Japanese films
- best-selling books
- best-selling manga
- highest-grossing media franchises
Some examples to save you some clicks:
- Mario
- Pokemon
- Star Wars
- Harry Potter
- Avengers / MCU
- The Lord of the Rings
Interestingly, even though we've got a list of best-selling manga, we don't have a list of top anime.
However, there are heuristics - we can reference the list of highest-grossing Japanese films and most popular anime on AniList (or myanimelist, etc)
Some picks are:
- any of the big 3 long running Shounen series: Bleach, Naruto, One Piece
- Pokemon
- Attack of Titan
- Demon Slayer
- Your Name
- Ghibli films
I suspect Frieren may join the ranks at some point.
Personally, I have not watch Bleach / Naruto / One Piece and dropped Demon Slayer.
I am not a newbie though.
I guess you just want personal recommendations then?
In that case here's my top 10:
Here are more of my top-rated anime that I can't fit in my top 10:
Note that I'm partial to:
- comedies
- Gundam-like shows
It's hard to call something a "must watch" because different people like different genres. If we define "must watch" as something every fan of the genre should watch, my list would be Redline, Gurren Lagann, LOOK BACK, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and Skip and Loafer.
Oh man, I'll give plenty of recommendations, where to start?
I think the best things to come out in the last year are Dungeon Meshi and DanDaDan. Both are at a level of quality and originality that I'd feel comfortable recommending them to anyone who likes anime. Neither are finished, but both come from animation studios with a very high pedigree who I trust to continue doing great work.
I'll also always recommend GOATs like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, and Evangelion* pretty freely. Evangelion comes with the asterisk because I warn everyone how heavy it is, but I'd still push anime fans to go through it once because of how great it is.
Lastly, there's a few I will recommend with many caveats. Stuff like JoJos Bizarre Adventure, One Piece, Panty + Stocking, Gurren Lagan, are all really, really great interesting and unique anime. They also have a lotta gooner bait in them. Sometimes it's because the show is trying to to satirize gooner bait, sometimes it's because the author is both a gooner and a talented mangaka, but I will give heavy warning beforehand and will usually only recommend these shows to people who watch a lotta anime.
I am gonna throw something random out there that I am watching rn since I don’t see it mentioned- Galaxy Express 999. It is episodic but has an over arching plot and the stories are really well written.
Mine would be anything directed by Yamada Naoko, this includes:
- Silent Voice
- Liz and the Blue Bird
- Tamako Love Story
- Kimi no Iro (if you live in USA, it'll be in theater on 25th Jan)
- K-On
- Heike Monogatari
- Modern Love Tokyo episode 7 (Modern Love Tokyo is an anthology of love story by various directors, most is a live action drama except episode 7, so you can jump straight to episode 7)
- Hibike Euphonium (Yamada was the series director for 1st & 2nd season, but give the 3rd a watch as well, it's cinematography best to none for me last year)
Also Look Back, if you're an artist
Hibike! Euphonium was directed by Ishihara Tatsuya, who has also done a bunch of other must-watch anime.
Kanon 2006, Clannad, Haruhi Suzumiya, Nichijou, Dragon Maid S, and of course Hibike! Euphonium.Yeah, should have made it clear, the main director for hibike was Ishihara, but Yamada was credited as series director
