The Most Underrated Anime Every Year From 2005-Present Day

Most Underrated: Honey and Clover

If you liked March Comes In Like A Lion, you should check out the anime adaptation of Chica Umino's other work, Honey and Clover. This emotional anime focuses on students facing their impending art school graduation and figuring out their next steps - plus dealing with romantic entanglements. 

Honorable Mention: Emma: A Victorian Romance

It's rare for anime to focus on 19th century England, which is why this unique anime is worth watching. It follows the romance between a hardworking maid named Emma and a young nobleman named William Jones. Thanks to their different social classes, it's not exactly easy for the two to be together - can love conquer all, or will they be forced to separate?

Most Underrated: Nana

Shojo is generally underrated, and since Nana isn't licensed for streaming in the USA, it's hard to actually watch it. But if you get the chance, you should watch Nana. Two young women with the same name and very different personalities form an unlikely friendship and support each other through heartbreak, the ups and downs of a musical career, and life in the big city.

Honorable Mention: Welcome to the NHK

Welcome to the NHK is a well-respected anime, but it came out the same year as Death Note and Code Geass, so it didn't get the attention it deserved. It follows a hikikomori named Tatsuhiro Sato who is desperately trying to figure out how to survive in a world that terrifies him. With help from his emotionally manipulative neighbor, he starts taking steps to leave his home, make some money, and find something like happiness. 

Most Underrated: Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit

Well-regarded in its time but rarely talked about now, Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit is a beautifully told story about a mercenary named Balsa who has dedicated herself to protecting Prince Chagum from his own father after a water demon manifests in his body. 

Honorable Mention: Moyashimon

Before there was Cells at Work, there was Moyashimon. Tadayasu Sawaki possesses the unique ability to see and communicate with microbes. He mostly uses this ability to get through agricultural school and brew sake. The story itself is more relaxing than high stakes, but the microbes themselves are so charming that that hardly matters.

Most Underrated: Shigofumi

In the afterlife, everyone gets the opportunity to send a letter - called a Shigofumi - to the people they left behind. Fumika is one of the people in charge of delivering these letters, but there's something strange about her. Most delivery people have already passed away themselves, but Fumika is still alive. Her mysterious, painful past is the beating heart of this underrated anime.

Honorable Mention: Kaiba

When people's memories can be uploaded into microchips, the rich can live forever by constant body-hopping, while the poor sell their bodies and upload their minds. Class division is further amplified by electrolytic cloud that drives poor people underground and lets the rich live amongst the heavens. A man named Kaiba wakes up in this sci-fi world with no memories and no clues about his identity except for a locket containing a mysterious woman's photo.

Most Underrated: Kobato

Kobato is a CLAMP anime that often gets overlooked because it looks almost cloyingly sweet. In some ways, it is - it's about a sweet but naive girl from another world who is trying to do enough good deeds to make her own wish come true. But with real-world elements like debt collectors and personal tragedy, the story feels genuine.

Honorable Mention: Pandora Hearts

If you like Black Butler, chances are high that Pandora Hearts will also be your vibe. Oz Vessalius' coming of age ceremony is interrupted by an attack from the Baskerville Clan, who want to send him to the bottom of the mysterious Abyss. There, he finds unexpected Alice in a "chain" named Alice, and a mysterious group called Pandora.

Most Underrated: Rainbow

Highly rated but rarely discussed, Rainbow is an anime you shouldn't skip out on. Set in 1955, it follows six teenagers who have all been arrested. With help from an older inmate and former boxer named Rokurota Sakuragi, they struggle to survive their painful circumstances and form bonds that will last a lifetime.  

Honorable Mention: Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan

Shonen anime is usually super popular, but this series never really got a lot of buzz. Rikuo Nura just wants to be an ordinary kid, but that's hard to do when you're 1/4 demon and transform into your demon self at night. This is especially if you hail from a powerful demon clan and your family expects you to be its next head.