Totsukuni no Shoujo (2022)

Visual presentation and exploration of romance or relationships.

A small collection of visually distinct anime to feast your eyes on.

Anime with a loner protagonist. Well, at least at the start since introducing new characters is unavoidable. I'm only including the ones where the solitary mindset has been somewhat emphasised.

This list consists of psychological titles, which helped me to accept inevitability and cope with fears, thus affected my personality above all others. Anime that makes you realise a lot about the meaning of human life and death, relationships, principles and most important: "self-concept".

Nearly all of them induce depressive thoughts, portray social problems that we face IRL, have biblical references and slow pacing. So be sure that you are in the right mood and prepared to face dark side of reality.

P.S. Despite the hopelessness and predestination you may feel while watching, these works of art still bestow warmth and hope through understanding the uniqueness of existence. The world is truly a cruel place and life is lacking meaning and purpose, yet we got the flustering chance to experience ourselves and the universe we share.

Anime with unique art-style/premise and or surreal/dreamlike sequences

Anime shows with Beaty and The Beast trope!

Anime with non-human, fantasy creatures and which are not isekai.

This list contains all movies that aren't related with any anime series.

Part 1: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/1255
Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/1267

Featuring little to no dialogue and/or characters and the experience is carried by the music and/or visual atmosphere.

Part 1 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/311
Part 2 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/5128
Part 3 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/8036
Part 4 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/8173
Part 5 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9135
Part 6 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9240
Part 7 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9448
Part 8 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9461
Part 9 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/20874

Includes regular anime series, movies, experimental shorts, and even music videos. Anything that can be considered unique in either its art style or method of animation. Probably not every entry in this list will be suited to one's taste, but as we all know, art is subjective.

Also, I've tried to limit the entries to one per style.

Works that aren't here on MAL:
- Our House, by Murata Caori

These are anime with unique settings and interesting world-building. Some of these are longer and have more time to flesh out the world-building, while others are shorter but very unique.

A series of anime where caring for someone younger contributes to character growth &/or advances the plot.

Don't have time? These are the anime for you! Anime with less than 6 episodes. Their stories are complete (you won't feel like it ended with a cliffhanger) and really enjoyable. For people who love anime but don't have too much time to watch them.
*Ayakashi includes 3 short horror stories (separate from each other). I recommend the 3rd one (episodes 9-11).
*Aoi Bungaku includes 6 short stories (separate from each other). You can watch either one and you will enjoy it.
*The Grimm Variations includes 6 short stories (separate from each other). You can't really go wrong with classic Grimm fairy tales.
*Anime classified as movies are less than 30 minutes long.
*All Itou Junji anime include smaller short horror stories (separate from each other). Most are of decent quality for a casual watch. (Also, give the World of Horror game a try, you'll be surprised)

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

The OVA market dried up as straight to video releases became a thing of the past, which is unfortunate because a lot of interesting and unique anime were released in this format. The point of the list is to feature worthwhile OVAs that are more than just fanservice or shoddy extras for TV series. Sigh, due to the explicit content warning feature, I've excluded Mezzo Forte, but it would be on here otherwise. I should also probably make room for Yukikaze at some point.

This collection of series, movies and shorts represent a specific mood, expressed within the anime media. Their pace is most likely slow, and are usually focused at the complex emotional web that surrounds the worlds and characters that are within them.

In each of them the feelings which are translated onto the viewer are those of comfort, but also anxiety, affection, as well as sorrow. The balance and the depth in which they are presented varies from show to show as well as from the personal perception and worldview that each viewer has. Their main unity point is that they tuck on our heartstrings and provokes our empathy towards the unwinding chaos and turmoil.

These selected series presents us relatable, even if based on fiction stories - which even within it's bleakness and darkness, holds a silver of hope and warmth or which conceals within their bright and vivid colors sublime, gentle, but ever present feelings of despair and sadness.