Little Witch Academia

The Young Animator Training Project (若手アニメーター育成プロジェクト, Wakate Animator Ikusei Project) is an annual project launched in 2010, and funded by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs in order to support training animators. The project culminates in a series of anime shorts produced by various animation studios each year.

Project A, released in 2011
Anime Mirai (アニメミライ, Anime Future), released in 2012–2015
Anime Tamago (あにめたまご, Anime Egg), released in 2016-2020
Animenotane (あにめのたね, Anime's Seed), released since 2021

(Source: Wikipedia)

This is the kind of stuff you'll want to show to your older relatives or a friend / significant other who isn't into anime in particular but is open to new experiences. Not necessarily to hook them on anime but simply to share a good time together.

What helps an anime end up on this list:
* either subdued or distinctly avant-garde appearance that transcends common anime design sensibilities;
* mature, adult-life-related themes;
* well-crafted, compelling story and character interactions;
* fresh and daring ideas or their execution;
* being otherwise remarkable as an art piece;
* moderate length.

What DOESN'T help an anime end up on the list:
* referencing or pandering to otaku culture, incessant fan service, and all that crap;
* slow-burn slice-of-life narrative;
* overly random, absurdist, reference-heavy humor;
* being too long or narratively incomplete;
* being too tropey;
* not being very good in general (regrettably, this includes bad and mediocre adaptations of good manga/LNs, so no Berserk, My Home Hero, or Golden Kamuy on the list).

These aren't absolute rules but they're hard enough that I would only consider minor exceptions. There is most certainly not enough room for every single piece that fits the bill, so take this as my personal, heavily curated top-50. If there is a sequel or a side-story that also deserves attention (or, conversely, one you should skip), I will mention it in the annotations, so please watch them.

List is subject to revisions and reordering.

A list of magical girl shows released between 2007 and 2014. Made using this awesome tumblr post: https://chiibinomonodamon.tumblr.com/post/99031991319/there-you-go-every-fcking-magical-girl-from

"Anime was a mistake. But these ones that KoriGoji recommended are pretty good" - Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah, a lot of my favourites aren't on here because they're cheap thrills, but this ain't about that!

Animes about little witches doing magic and that kind of stuff, nothing really deep and serious, just them having fun and enjoying life.

These are the best works anime can offer.

Includes:
• Oscar nominated works/Award Winning Films
• Well perceived works by critics
• Works with well-crafted, compelling story and character interactions
• Well perceived avant-garde/daring works
-
Disclaimer: These works won't always be magnum opus.

Cute shows that make you feel happy and warm inside! Perfect for a pick-me-up watch! A few of these also have tear-jerking scenes for a cathartic cry, which I have marked out so you can decide what sort of heartwarming you’re looking to see for now!

These pieces have a harmony, uniqueness or just an x-factor to their overall aesthetic presence, to include music/sound design.

This is not to be confused with animation though. While the two intersect, if something is interesting only for its animation quality, hopefully it's not here.

Feel free to message me if you think I should check something out that could be here. And if you disagree or think there is a better representative of something, let's talk.

A compilation of anime that began airing during the month of March.

March is most notable for airing the entire original run of Sailor Moon tv series, Digimon Adventures as well as for the conclusion of the Rebuild of Evangelion Movies with Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice upon a time.


See Also:

January: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15005
February: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15006
April: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15029
May: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15033
June: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15041
July: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15044
August: ttps://myanimelist.net/stacks/15051
September: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15053
October: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15101
November: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15102
December: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15104

Anime that I am familiar with that I would recommend to asexuals or aspec. For those who are neutral or repulsed. Shows with very little to no adult content.

All the witches mangas themes that i found

This was a follow up video from YouTuber “Under the Scope” and details 30 more anime series he recommends. This list is ordered by release date.

Some cute animes!!

just some shorts that do cool things.

Movies from 2010-2019 that are standalone.
Other Movies:
Ninja Batman
Captain Harlock
I've Always Liked You
The Moment You Fall in Love
Cencoroll Connect
Towa no Quon 1: Utakata no Kben
Towa no Quon 2: Konton no Ranbu
Towa no Quon 3: Mugen no Renza
Towa no Quon 4: Guren no Shoushin
Towa no Quon 5: Souzetsu no Raifuku
Towa no Quon 6: Towa no Quon
Hakuouki Movie 1: Kyoto Ranbu
Hakuouki Movie 2: Shikon Soukyuu
The Princess and the Pilot

Includes all* anime on the Anime+/GRAPH mahou shoujo/magical girl achievement list

Notes:
If the anime is saved under a different name in the original list (and the ID matches), the listed title is added as a comment. The anime will keep its place according to the list - even if it will no longer be alphabetically correct according to its main title on MAL. This is to make the job of checking and updating these much easier for me.

*The main stacks do NOT include hentai. This is both for people who want to avoid it, and because including it will significantly limit the stack. Please proceed to the Hentai Edition™ in the list below if you're into that.

Links:
★ Club - https://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=67199
★ Original list - https://github.com/anime-plus/graph/blob/main/data/achievement/anime-mahou-shoujo.json
★ Watch order guides (you're gonna need them...) - https://chiaki.site/?/tools/watch_order

The whole series:
★ Part 01 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31473
★ Part 02 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31474
★ Part 03 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31475
★ Part 04 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31476
★ Part 05 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31477
★ Part 06 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31478 <== you are here
★ Part 07 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31479
★ Part 08 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31480
★ Part 09 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31481
★ Part 10 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31482
★ Part 11 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31483
★ Part 12 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31484
★ Part 13 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31485
★ Part 14 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31486
★ Hentai Edition for a) serious completionists and b) horny people - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/31496
★ Manga version - coming soon

Last updated: July 03, 2023
Feel free to let me know if something has been added and I haven't updated in a while, or if I've made a mistake somewhere! <3

A comprehensive list of my favorite Mahou Shoujo anime from its golden age in the 1990s to the genre's unfortunate fizzling out in the early 2010s.

Even though the genre can be traced all the way to the 1960s, it's hard to argue that those old works reach the necessary thematic or quality tresholds for inclusion as historical analysis isn't the sole focus of this list. Furthermore, I'm not particularly fond of various popular works such as Cardcaptor Sakura. Mahou Shoujo lists with all the usual suspects can be found elsewhere. A much wider net is being cast here.

As the landscape of anime changed, many elements of Mahou Shoujo bled into other genres. This, coupled with creative exhaustion within, lead to what can only be described as the death of the Mahou Shoujo in early 2010s. Latter Mahou Shoujo found itself forced to fit into one of two molds; Either a long-running, but creatively bankrupt franchise for small kids (eg. Jewlpets) or an "edgy" subversion with military elements and lots of suffering (eg. Magical Girl Raising Project). In general, neither succeeded at producing classics.

By the tail end of 2010s there were some attempts at reviving the classical formula, but these haven't yielded any notable critical nor popular success. As far as things appear now, the genre isn't coming back anytime soon, if ever.

Listed anime have been carefully considered and are a healthy mix of both popular and critical darlings and overlooked shows. Despite its high quality as a show, there will be no Madoka Magica on this list due to the part it played in the death of Mahou Shoujo. The ordering is somewhat arbitrary, driven by my own fondness.