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Art has long been a focus for the Encyclopedia of Pointless, considering how it serves no useful purpose other than defining humanity and making life worth living. Anime, despite protests to the contrary, is a form of art. Strictly speaking, it is animation developed and produced in the nation of Japan. Leniently speaking, it is any art inspired by and made to resemble the animation developed and produced in the nation of Japan. Many have tried to capture the spirit of Anime. Few have succeeded.

In the (extreme, distant) past the Encyclopedia was host to rankings of various subjects, because ranking things seemed like a good thing to do with the Internet. Today, I have less interest in ranking things and more interest in listing things accompanied by a few witty sentences related to that thing. To that end, here is a list of Anime that I find familiar and worth writing a few witty sentences about.

The Recent Additions

I have watched more anime over the last few months than I have in many years. Here is an accounting of them.

Frieren (2023)

You ever go on a long road trip that you didn't really think much of at the time, but then later you slowly realize that actually it's the defining event of your life? And the himbo you went on the trip with was totally into you and you were into him too but you were way too autistic to realize? You might not realize it until many years later when you retrace that trip with your adopted daughter and her boyfriend. It's good.

Delicious in Dungeon (2024)

Do you know how good it is to watch an fantasy-ass anime where nobody is un perdedor from our world, nobody is leveling up, nobody is opening context menus, nobody is proccing their ults? It's just a world where things are the way they are and there's no isekai or superfluous video game metaphors involved? Where a big himbo is super autistic about monsters and an elf girl that majored in forbidden dark magic uses her degree to win back her girlfriend? Also we have the world's most avuncular dwarf, what if Frodo was divorced, and no-purpose ninjutsu catgirl nuku-nuku? It's good.

Witch Hat Atelier (2026)

Long ago magic was freely used by everyone. This made a lot of people very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move. As punishment for their hubris, witches have to wear stupid hats and jealously guard the secrets of magic from everyone. Can one girl with more enthusiasm than brains upset this status quo? Can a yuri couple be two grown men? It's good.

Apocalypse Hotel (2025)

Years after the end of civilization, a humanoid robot lady hangs out in the ruins still maintaining her job in the hospitality business long after it makes any sense to do so. She makes some friends and acts as a mentor for a young girl who joins her in her hospitality job for a while before starting a family. She takes a break from her job for a while and goes on a long journey of self-discovery. She wonders why she was created and feels compelled to give her life purpose. A mysterious spaceship flies overhead holding answers she may never receive. It's good.

Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025)

A young lady with crippling social anxiety invents a whole new kind of magic just to graduate magic school without talking to anyone. She is rewarded with a position among the greatest mages of the land and also punished by being sent back to a different school to act as a secret bodyguard for the prince of the realm. They will probably kiss someday, but don't worry, it will be a closed-mouth kiss. It's fine.

The Beginning After the End (2025)

What if you were a tyrant king that was reborn into a new and unfamiliar world? Would you use the experience of your old life to make different choices in your new life? Or would you meditate so hard as a baby that you blow up your house? This is an anime based on a webtoon and it shows because it has the same awful pacing. Unlike the webtoon, however, it's also poorly animated. It's not good.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020)

Three young ladies, each autistic in their own special way, form an enterprise out of the most autistic art form of all: Animation! Can an extracurricular club also be an independent animation studio? Is it interesting to watch some high schoolers reenact authentic production meetings? It's fine.

Zenshu (2025)

You know that one anime you watched in the 90s that you didn't really understand but imprinted on your brain in ways that you'll definitely never understand? What if you were animator autistic and that anime drove you to pursue a career in animation and become a rising star of animation and then eat a magical poisoned clam bento that sends you into the world of that anime? And your magical (but not poison) animation pegbar gives you a chance to give that anime a better ending? Would you capture it or just let it slip? It's good.

Agents of the Four Seasons (2026)

What if the seasons only changed when special people chosen by the gods perform a ritual? And what if those special people were, for some reason, predominantly children? Would that be traumatic? What if we add the fact that thousands of faceless "insurgents" seek to kill or enslave these seasonal agents for vaguely defined reasons? Why, I could probably write an entire article just about how little this show respects the time and intelligence of its audience. It's not good.

Old Shows That I Still Remember

You may remember these shows too. Let us remember them together.

Cowboy Bebop (1998)

The quintessential "anime for people who don't like anime," which is a quality I have seen weaponized against it. Is it a show steeped in western and Western sensibilities? Sure. Should that be held against it? I don't think so. What do people come to anime for, is it a compelling story or is it weeb ass shit? Let's be honest, it's both. And Cowboy Bebop is kind of short on both. About half the show is made up of "filler" episodes that don't advance the overarching plot of the show. This is probably another western influence, since shows of this era were built to be shown out of order in syndication. Despite all that? It's good.

Trigun (1998)

It's deep space planet future gun action. If those are words that appeal to you, then this show is for you. Like Cowboy Bebop, it's another Western western anime, set on a desolate planet with a mysterious past. You know who else has a mysterious past? Every character in this show. You know who has a gun? Every character in this show. Most of these guns are real guns, so if you've never fired a gun before watch this show, see which one seems good to you, and go try Trigun's guns. It's good.

Vision of Escaflowne (1996)

Tell me if you've heard this before: Someone from our world is mysteriously whisked away on an adventure in a fantasy world. Actually don't tell me, I know. Approximately 95% of all Anime produced over the last decade has involved being whisked away to a fantasy world. But this show is from 1996. They didn't think of making the fantasy world literally a video game with experience levels and menus. They didn't think of making the main character a worthless loser in our world who becomes the coolest most specialest person in the new world. Here, our main character is an athletic high schooler who fares about as well as you'd expect an athletic high schoooler to fare in a fantasy world. She doesn't swing swords, she doesn't cast fireballs, and she isn't even used for fanservice. No, she is merely troubled by constant visions of a terrible future. This show is also the most Final Fantasy 6 any anime has ever been. It's good.

Gungrave (2003)

I have to admit. I watched this at exactly the right age. I can't be objective about it. It's a grounded mafia drama that abruptly turns into an undead science action anime. Does that sound cool to you? It sounds cool to me. It feels like it is fighting against the over the top nature of the character action PS2 game it is based on. It's good.

Green Legend Ran (1992)

This show was one of the ones on cable TV all the time in the 90s. That's where I saw it first, and as is often the case the imagery seared itself into my brain. For instance, a lot about the heroine of this OVA was poured into Natasha Winter. Years later I found it again and got it on DVD and it remains a treasured heirloom. Like all the other shows in this section I can't really be impartial about it. It's good.

The Forgotten Depths

I have watched a lot of anime that nobody else has thought about for many, many years. Here's a highly self-indulgent selection of these.

Fushigi Yuugi (1995)

Like Escaflowne, this is one of the progenitors of the world-hopping Isekai genre. Unlike Escaflowne, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone around to sing its praises thirty years later. Maybe this is because it's kind of forgettable? Twice as long, but less going on. More characters, but few of them are that interesting. It even has highly questionable "trans representation" just like Escaflowne. It probably deserves better than to be compared to another show I like better but this is my self-indulgent list dammit! It's fine.

S-CRY-ed (2001)

Tokyo is destroyed, as it so often is, and in the ruins rise young people with the power to summon amazing weapons. This has made a lot of people very unhappy and is generally regarded as a bad move. Looking back, this show very obviously rips off Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which is context I did not have at the time. It mostly attempts to make the Adventure less Bizarre and more Standard Shonen Battle Anime. It's not good.

Final Fantasy Unlimited (2001)

Two siblings travel to a weird world with their chaperone with the amazing name "Lisa Pacifist" probably to find their lost parents or something. Can't remember, doesn't matter. At the time, it was remarkable how much this show seemed to have almost nothing to do with Final Fantasy. In the intervening years it has become clear that the thing most associated with Final Fantasy is the attempt to have only the most superficial resemblance to anything else bearing the name. It has Chocobos and a moody guy with a weird weapon that shoots out summoned monsters. That easily makes it as Final Fantasy as FFXVI. It's not good.

RahXephon (2001)

No anime in history has wanted to be Neon Genesis Evangelion as badly as this anime. It seems to have been purpose built to take all the potent symbolism and mythology of NGE and distill out the manic dissolution. To that end, it is Neon Genesis Evangelion made by people who do not understand Neon Genesis Evangelion. It has strong musical themes and a soundtrack to back that up. It's fine.

Blue Seed (1994)

A seemingly ordinary girl gets caught up in a shadow war against demons and teams up with an older half demon bodyguard. It seems like half the hentai OVAs of the 90s were this sort of plot but this is not a hentai so all we have is routine jokes about this girl's underwear. It's not good.

Samurai Deeper Kyo (2002)

To be honest I remember almost nothing about this show. It's got a samurai, he's named Kyo, it's not that deep. He turns his katana into a lightsaber, which is pretty cool I guess, but there's a reason why this is not the samurai anime from this era that people still think about. It's not good.

Gun X Sword (2005)

Trigun and Cowboy Bebop were thrown in a blender along with a handful of Voltron and this is what poured out. Van is a guy that hates fighting but does it anyway with his robot's sword-shaped joystick. He has to call his robot down out of orbit every time he wants to use it and it's a huge pain to put it back so I understand why he doesn't like using it. I never could get the hang of thursdays. It's not good.

Infinite Ryvius (1999)

Aren't submarines cool? And aren't spaceships kind of like submarines, when you think about it? Except space isn't much like the ocean... unless... what if it was? And what if our cool space submarine was crewed by a bunch of high school students because it wouldn't be an anime unless high schoolers are involved? It's fine.

Anime