Obsucure anime/manga you enjoy? - After watching some classics like æon flux and The Big O, I figured I should try to see what you guys like.

[Arthur_Schopenhauer]

I don't know how obscure these are, some might be popular especially in Japan so apologies, but I never see them brought up.

Narutaru
Cute girl finds cute creature on a summer holiday and everything goes downhill from there. Cross between Pokemon and NGE. Unhinged.

Kasane
Thriller/Suspense. An incredibly ugly woman has dreams of becoming a famous actor. She discovers a magic lipstick left by her mother that lets her swap faces with anyone she kisses for 24 hours. Sounds retarded but it's great.

6000: Rokusen
Horror. A team of researchers head to a laboratory six kilometers under the sea after it was abandoned for three years due to the mysterious and gruesome deaths of the last team. Only 22 chapters.

Also this might be the thread to ask, I remember reading a manga years ago where a girl fights a shark monster with her sword. I think she cuts it in half. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It was really weird and not fully translated at the time. I've tried to find it again without any luck. I'm pretty sure it was gory, not a shonen.

RAAAAAH KITOH MORIOH MENTIONED WHAT THE FUCK IS A HAPPY ENDING WHERE KIDS DON'T END UP DEAD!!!!!!

Ok some recomendations:

Ultraheaven: drugs the manga, it's short and at some point the story stops being about a junkie trying all sorts of weird drugs and starts being about psychic powers like AKIRA. Ultraman appears in the last chapters.

Apocalypse zero: First of the north star has a kid with sentai series. Read the manga it's way better than the ova. The MC fights against his evil brother and his army of monsters in a depopulated wasteland where for some reason there is a still functioning japanese high school filled with kids to protect from the monsters. The MC uses a power armor moved by the souls of three million dead chinese from unit 731 (not making this shit up) and there is a car with legs the high school kids uses to move across the wasteland.

Shigurui: Made by the same guy who made apocalypse zero, with all the weird things and even better art. It's a story about the last duel in japan, a blind man against a guy with only a hand. The series is essentially telling the backstory of those two guys and why they hate each other, also feudal japan is one of the worst societies to ever exist and the samurai are rotten.

Jiro Matsumoto: everything this guy does.
Jigoku no alice (the best in my opinion) : a crazy (paranoid schizo in the literal sense of the word) kid lives in a desert wasteland with his robotic waifu, hilarity ensues, there are criticisms to japanese burocracy, crazy fuckers, good character development and the final battle of the manga is the battle of grozni from the first chechen war but with hippies fighting against the MC (no I kid you not, this is what happens and ends like you would expect)
Freesia: a veteran with (that is you to decide) either psychic powers or paranoia is recruited to fight for a merc agency that provides revenge by duel to victims of crimes. (japan has turned into a dictatorship and is in a forever war against either korea or china, the government solves crimes by forcing people to have duels, there is also a lot of political fuckery and tons of really weird characters you would not see in other series)

Keyman Hand of Judgement: A t-rex man and his human partner solves crimes around a super hero called keyman, lots of plot twists and good art.

Franken Fran: It's a parody of guro manga where a really nice and cute doctor tries to solve problems and ends up with gorefests or fates worse than death.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

World Fool News is about a news anchor getting transferred to a news program that is the equivalent of a tabloid and it airs late at night and has little ratings to begin with (so they're always at risk of getting pulled off the air), but the entire crew is eccentric af. Needs more love if you ask me.

 

[vanta pilled]

Joker Game. Set in the 1940s, the Japanese Imperial Army creates their own spy agency. It's an episodic anime that tells your traditional spy stories. Don't expect your James Bond spies, these spies don't really stand out.

 

[Strawb3rry]

Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Outlaw Star, Samurai Champloo: Goonerbait

If Outlaw Star is wrong I don't want to be right.

 

[Neurotypical Mantis]

Ver archivo adjunto 7303354

Joker Game. Set in the 1940s, the Japanese Imperial Army creates their own spy agency. It's an episodic anime that tells your traditional spy stories. Don't expect your James Bond spies, these spies don't really stand out.

i watched a single episode of this for the femboys

 

[Caligura]

Read Goth [2008] It's a very short read and its free on 'dex.

https://mangadex.org/title/53aba86a-ea26-4e7a-bba6-68b15bf76a0a/goth?tab=art

I'm not even going to bother explaining, its that short (but good). The manga vibe is good ol' 2000s edge crossed with this image (it'll make sense once you read it).


Another fave pick of an obscure manga is Ressentiment. Also on 'dex fully complete.

https://mangadex.org/title/b0d4592f-67b5-47bd-b7c9-c1ef2a7e07c5/ressentiment

Made by the guy who did I Am A Hero (haven't finished it nor all of the spin-offs) and Boys on the Run (also a fave pick of mine). The protagonist is basically a lolcow and its pretty funny in a gross black comedy way. This shit would've made for a great anime adaption...


And lastly, Virgin Extinction Island. Funniest manga I read recently.

https://mangadex.org/title/574b07c1-8094-47c5-b704-5d9b6b00bbc4/virgin-extinction-island

Good ol' Japanese schizophrenia.


Enjoy, my niggas. I'll come back later with more reccs I saved up.

 

[Kawaii Supremacy]

Might not be considered obscure by some users ITT, but one of my favorite anime films, by one of my favorite directors; Mamouro Oshii, is Angel's Egg (Tenshi no Tamago)

It's much more visual than narrative plot driven and a lot is open to interpretation, especially the ending. It's all about a girl's journey through a bizarre world in which she has to carry an egg to a specific location. It's kind of hard to describe. It's better just to see it. Check it out if you like 80's anime.

 

[Larry Poster]

Manga.

Freesia - A story about a war torn japan taking place in what I presume to be in the early 2000's. The legal system is insanely strained, and now court trials can be resolved via combat, with the defendants representing themselves and the state being represented by agents they hire. The fight is to the death.

The kicker is that the main protagonist has schizophrenia. You feel his doubts, his guilt, his insanity. You are put in the place of him as he meets and kills new people while working for the state. Strongly recommend, possibly my favorite manga of all time.

Ajin is not obscure but the Manga is really fucking good. Read Tokyo Ghoul as well. The animes are dog shit in comparison.

Yaijin Tensei is pretty good. It's an isekai without the SAO bullshit. A karate master gets transported into another world, and he's not exactly a good person. He's pretty evil, in fact. Very entertaining.

The Bugle Call. Berserk but with a gallon of grand conspiracy mixed in.

The Legend of Strongest Man Kurosawa. Honestly a personal favorite of mine. If you're older, chances are this manga will hit close to home.

 

[skykiii]

While the subject is brought up, anybody remember an anime about a hot-headed ninja/samurai kid set in feudal Japan (not the most unique), it played on one of those premium TV channels like Starz back in the mid/late 00's? Pretty sure it played on the same channel as Street Fighter II V.

There's two I can think of you might be thinking of, tho I can't confirm as one of them is "name I've heard before"--Shura no Toki, and Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Just gonna throw this out there, but its funny when people like @Space Police try to argue watching anime is "cringe" but then they themselves demonstrate that they've watched several of these shows.

A lot of good recommendations here. Anyone ever watch Record of Lodoss War. It essentially started as write-ups of a Dungeons and Dragons / Tunnels and Trolls campaign in a PC magazine that they animated. The art is gorgeous. Unfortunately it tries to pack a lot into 13 episodes and it really needed more than that to tell it's story.

Lodoss is one of those that when I was young, I didn't like it, but as I got older it grew on me.

One thing that's always amazing to me is its one of those where you find other anime/manga/novels and they turn out to be related. Like Legend of Crystania and Louie the Rune Soldier are both in the same world as Lodoss, tho I think on a different continent or something. Rune Solider especially I never thought was a Lodoss thing until I looked it up.

That said, Louie the Rune Solider is my favorite of the Lodoss-related anime I've seen.

 

[zzzten]

I remembered some other ones I found interesting

Onani master kurosawa: about a highschooler that jacks off into girls instruments in the bathroom. He gets caught and his life falls apart.
Obscure and not really my thing. but it's edgey enough that some of you retards might like it

(It's already been posted)Ressentiment: A fat balding middle aged man escapes into virtual reality where he stumbles across a sentient female AI someone had created. This is not an isekai. This is a story where you see societal failures escape into a virtual world while also having to live their real world lives. comedic in nature
again, not really my thing, but obscure and unique enough for me to remember it amongst the slop i've read

Dungeon Seeker: a highschool kid is betrayed by his girl and thrown into a pit where he's suppose to die. He comes across an extremely powerful monster and manages to kill it through sheer luck. He levels up, and puts all his points into agility.
This is a short generic isekai manga. There were enough good moments for it to be memorable, unfortunately it was axed.

The most notorious 'Talker' runs the world's greatest clan: Protagonist is the grandson of what was once the world's strongest warrior. Except he was born into a support class known as a "Talker" who's main attribute is the ability to buff others. His goal is to create the world's strongest clan and be their leader.
Pretty generic premise, but the fantasy aspect is grounded in a cynical realism. The focus of the story is focused on the psychological aspect of rising to the top, rather than your typical shonen dumb-as-a-rock protagonist. Still Mary-Sue-ish in some parts, but nowhere near as stupid as something like black clover or naruto. Good anti-hero manga

EDIT* ADDED SOME IMAGES
Out of these four, Most notorious talker is probably the best one

 

[Psyoptimus Primal]

Might not be considered obscure by some users ITT, but one of my favorite anime films, by one of my favorite directors; Mamouro Oshii, is Angel's Egg (Tenshi no Tamago)

Ver archivo adjunto 7307289

It's much more visual than narrative plot driven and a lot is open to interpretation, especially the ending. It's all about a girl's journey through a bizarre world in which she has to carry an egg to a specific location. It's kind of hard to describe. It's better just to see it. Check it out if you like 80's anime.

Ver archivo adjunto 7307297

Ver archivo adjunto 7307298

It made a little bit more sense to me when someone pointed out to me that it's inspired by Noah's Ark. Emphasis on the 'little bit.' I love how dream like surreal and unexplainable it is. The artist is Amano who did all the old Final Fantasy art too.

 

[jakeyfake]

Adolf's been dusting on my to-read list for awhile. Homunculus really is fucking peak, Netflix botched it to hell. Atleast the Ichi the Killer movie is good.
I'm not sure if it's really obscure anymore but whoever didn't read Ajin yet is doing a disservice to themselves. And the best part is made by a lolipedo manga illustrator of all people.

Also Joshi looks like tranny shit. Dudes in schoolgirl bodies with identity crisis?

nah, i wouldn't call joshi that, there's almost no real exploration of any kind of typical gender themes and the only character who does is a tragical comic relief continually going mad until he kills himself in the end. matsumoto said in an interview that he himself found the absurdity of the concept quite bizarre and uncomfortable, so that at least seems to be his intention for readers.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Gingitsune is a laidback slice-of-life series about a miko and her fox spirit companion who dwells at her family's Inari temple, and they help people who come to the temple to pray, even including other spirits who have distrust in people even though it's their duty to watch over them. Kinda surprised there's been no more seasons despite the manga finishing about a few years ago.

 

[Safir]

Read Tokyo Ghoul as well.

"The ghoul cries out in pain as it eats you"
Tokyo Ghoul is cuckery and rape (of you the reader). The big tweeest is that humanity is actually defenseless against ghouls and the monster-hunters are actually another faction of ghouls. It has several (3+) minor plots where a human woman gets into a "relationship" with a formerly male ghoul and is (unironically) portrayed as virtuous for her selflessness and tolerance for a marginalized minority. Its only appeal is to edgy otherkin/nazifur teenagers who say "sheeple" and like to pretend to have read Nietzsche.

---
thread tax

"I met that nice man before. He's good at drawing cats. Go save him."
Souboutei Must Be Destroyed (双亡亭壊すべし, Souboutei kowasu beshi) is at first glance a goffick haunted house horror story about creepy evil paintings but it's actually a shonen manga about shonen manga. Best part is when a human boy teaches omnibenevolent aliens how to hate. Nevertheless, if you're in for classic Junji Ito style weeb horror "aesthetics", it's got them.

Images: (1) v1 cover, (2) representative page.

Got taken off Mangadex. Available in the Death Toll Reader (chapters 41 to the end) and variously on the online.
Content warning for child murder (horror), child incest rape (horror), and (unrelated) underage tits (TITillating).
I made a longer effortpost here.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

Manga.

The Legend of Strongest Man Kurosawa. Honestly a personal favorite of mine. If you're older, chances are this manga will hit close to home.

I have never seen someone makes as literal a fictional lolcow as this guy. Both Kurosawa (and the sequel) and Hell Golfer are amazing.

Hell Golfer is a man that wants to become a professional golfer. At parts it almost feels like a sports manga.
And then he keeps failing the entrance test. And he just becomes older and older and older. But he wants to become a professional golfer so he just keeps going.

There are some hints of supernatural elements in it but those are a slow burn. Honestly if it was just one guy being an obsessed failure it'd still be interesting.

 

[Caligura]

I also recommend works by Hideshi Hino. He's like Junji Ito pre-gentrification by troons.

https://comick.io/comic/jigoku-no-komoriuta

 

[UtadaWasabi2]

"The ghoul cries out in pain as it eats you"
Tokyo Ghoul is cuckery and rape (of you the reader). The big tweeest is that humanity is actually defenseless against ghouls and the monster-hunters are actually another faction of ghouls. It has several (3+) minor plots where a human woman gets into a "relationship" with a formerly male ghoul and is (unironically) portrayed as virtuous for her selflessness and tolerance for a marginalized minority. Its only appeal is to edgy otherkin/nazifur teenagers who say "sheeple" and like to pretend to have read Nietzsche.

---
thread tax

"I met that nice man before. He's good at drawing cats. Go save him."
Souboutei Must Be Destroyed (双亡亭壊すべし, Souboutei kowasu beshi) is at first glance a goffick haunted house horror story about creepy evil paintings but it's actually a shonen manga about shonen manga. Best part is when a human boy teaches omnibenevolent aliens how to hate. Nevertheless, if you're in for classic Junji Ito style weeb horror "aesthetics", it's got them.
Ver archivo adjunto 7370590Ver archivo adjunto 7370594
Images: (1) v1 cover, (2) representative page.

Got taken off Mangadex. Available in the Death Toll Reader (chapters 41 to the end) and variously on the online.
Content warning for child murder (horror), child incest rape (horror), and (unrelated) underage tits (TITillating).
I made a longer effortpost here.

What do you think about Fujita new work "Silver Mountain"?
I'm looking forward to Fujia take on this isekai-esque/spirited away story.

 

[Forfeited Heroes]

Every few years I end up coming back to Akumetsu.

It's an over-the-top violent and political screed in the form of an action/thriller manga. The author asked himself the question of how he'd change his country for the better and answered he'd simply kill all of the self interested governmental and corporate figureheads. Many of the characters are actually parodies of existing Japanese politicians. It's definitely a fun power trip manga and it's one that has endeared itself to me over the years.

 

[Wilson The Ball]

I find myself watching anime reviewed by this fella more and more. He is dead, but his videos and taste is quite kino

https://youtube.com/@grumpyjiisan

 

[Sebben Crudele II]

Talking about manga here:

Ajin/Demihuman is like Chainsaw Man but cooler (and with zero female pedos), and the main villain is charismatic as hell.

Ranma 1/2 is a classic if you are from LatAm but it seems to be weirdly unknown in the anglosphere. It's a martial arts romantic comedy. The manga has made me chuckle out loud.

Aharen-san is Unfathomable is hilarious and adorable. Friendship and then romance between two perma deadpan faced characters is the best.

GOTH is giga 2000s teenage edgy but I find myself rereading it from time to time because it's a satisfying kind of edgy and the art is really cool.

Yakitate Japan is a really fun baking manga.

Punpun and the rest of Inio Asano's stuff is overrated but people praise it just because the guy draws really well. Everything he writes amounts to depression-porn and every single character always ends up being horrible, you can't root for anyone. He also has a manga about two fourteen year olds fucking and you're supposed to find it deep. Hard pass.

DOUBT is a cool mystery thriller. It's better if you go in blind.

Brutal is like Dexter but guy is just a charming psychopathic detective that stages elaborate deaths for criminals that cannot be prosecuted otherwise. There is no inner monologue or dark passenger, just catharsis.

MPD Psycho is a gruesome detective manga. Very cool and weird.

Demon Detective Nougami Neuro is another bizarre detective manga, this one is more formulaic. Baaically a mystery of the week thing. The artwork, however, is so weird and the characters are so wacky it's a lot of fun. Neuro himself is a mystery-eating demon, so he essentially drags a high schooler around with him (both figuratively and literally), and makes everything seem like she's the young prodigy that cracks the case (alla Detective Conan) when in reality he's the one solving everything in order to be able to eat the mystery.

Dice is a webtoon so it's one of those vertical korean manwha, crazy thriller about students playing a game on their phones that has effects IRL, specifically effects on themselves.

Last one off the top of my head: Tomodachi Game. A group of best friends are suddenly shoved into a game show where they are pitted against each other, all of them shouldered with giant debts they need to get rid of OR ELSE. Plot twists and insanity ensues.