A long-winded list of anime to veg out to post-exam season
With this semester coming to a close, and exam season in full swing, many of us will be sleepwalking through our final weeks of the 2015-2016 school year. A fair number of students can be seen stumbling through these unseasonably cold April days stressed, poorly dressed, and maybe even borderline depressed. As of right now, if you are a student, you are probably procrastinating studying by reading this article. If so, don’t worry; I am also putting off studying by writing this article, scrolling through various social media newsfeeds, and watching dumb videos on the “weird” side of YouTube. (As one does when projects or tests of academic importance arise.)
If you are like me, instead of studying, perhaps you are also dreaming of all the places you can go with all of the time you’ll have once finals are over. Whether it’s outside and enjoying the heat of the sun on your skin as you relax on the not-so-clean beaches of Lake Ontario, becoming a bronzed weekend warrior by joining an athletic club at your local rec centre, or even working a nine to five job and making mad bank, there are a variety of things that you could do this summer.
Great outdoorsy activities aside, you and I both know that there’s a good chance that at some point during your summer break (if not for the entire duration) that you will have a serious case of the “lazies” and want to stay holed up indoors. So, for the sake of making your four month break a little more entertaining, I have prepared a not-so-short list of anime that may interest enthusiasts such as yourself this summer.
You may be tired and hardly inspired to do anything productive after going through the final exam ringer, so the following are animated series or movies (sorted by genre/interest) that you may wish to revisit, or watch if you haven’t done so already, while recharging your batteries after finals.
For those of you who are interested in anime that may or may not be 2spooky4u:
- Hell Girl
Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories- Corpse Party
If you’re into subject matter of a darker nature, but also like detectives:
- Ghost Hunt
- Death Note
- Psycho-Pass
- Case Closed (Detective Conan)
If you like lip-biting, stress-diarrhea inducing, action packed adventures with some gore and a heavier than you’d think plot line:
- Shingeki no Kyojin
- Deadman Wonderland
- Mirai Nikki (Future Diary)
- Tokyo Ghoul
Things to watch that will leave you questioning why you even bothered watching them because they just made you cry (or alternatively the reason why summertime sadness is a real thing):
- Grave of Fireflies
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
If you’ve got a really empty schedule, I’d recommend exploring what my brother and I refer to as the triforce of YTV’s Bionix:
- Naruto (and later Shippuden)
- Bleach
- Dragon Ball (and later DBZ)
These are incredibly long-winded stories (collectively 300+ episodes per franchise).
Other honorable middle-school and old-school classic mentions:
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- YuYu Hakusho
- One Piece
- Cowboy Bebop
- Inuyasha
If you’re looking for something easy to watch that’s amusing in a “Wow, what?” sort of laugh-inducing way:
- Saint Young Men
- One Punch Man
- Watamote
If you’re looking for an interesting storytelling and animation style:
- Bakemonogatari
- Samurai Champloo
Additionally, any of the movies directed or created by Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli: Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle) or Mamoru Hosoda (Madhouse: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children) will definitely be entirely worth your while.