anime drama | eclectic eel

As many of you know anime is one of my favorite things. Some of you out there might be closet anime fans like Brad Krack (oops, I think i just outed him) so I thought I’d do you all a favor and start a very awesome ANIME TOP 5 LIST!!! I’m going to divide it into three categories. Movies, action, and drama. To start… let’s do drama!

5. Welcome to the NHK!

Welcome to the NHK is an anime I just watched last month. It has a certain amount of charm to it. The main character is a NEET which stands for (No Education, Employment or Training). Kind of like me right now! Anyway, the girl in the picture to his immediate right tries to save him from his loserly ways.

4. Fruits Basket

I own the Fruits Basket DVDs and I lent them to someone once and she said, “Wow. Isn’t that kind of a girly anime?” Yes Naomi, it is a girly anime. And I happen to like it a lot. This one is about a girl whose mom dies and who becomes family to a bunch of people who turn into animals when they are hugged by the opposite sex. I know, it sounds strange and kind of uninteresting, but I tell you–this is good stuff! The soundtrack is awesome in this anime.

3. His and Her Circumstances

Also known as Kare Kano, this anime was an interesting find. It is produced by Gainax who is the company behind Evangelion and FLCL. For those of you who have seen Gainax’s other shows will know that Gainax is NUTS! They are certifiably crazy people and their craziness spilled over into their treatment of a typical boy meets girl high school anime, which makes this anime a ton of fun to watch. A downside of this being a Gainax production is that they didn’t manage their budget very well and towards the end of the series had to resort to paper cut outs of the characters attached to Popsicle sticks–I kid you not. Another downside is that this anime ended abruptly without a proper conclusion. The fact that I still rank this as #3 should tell you how good it is!

2. Mushishi

Wow. Mushishi is good. I am remembering how much fun I had watching this anime. What makes it so good are the storylines. Superb storylines that manage to wrap themselves up in about 20 minutes time. There is no other anime like Mushishi. I can’t compare it to anything else I have seen. The general plot is that the dude with white hair goes around and collects mushishi which are paranormal beings that tend to wreak havoc among humans. The mushishi are not malignant, they are just doing what they do. Kind of like viruses or bacteria. Anyway, you owe it to yourself to watch this anime.

1. NANA

NANA is my number one drama. The storyline revolves around two girls named NANA, one who is a typical girl and the other who is an aspiring rock star. It has a great storyline and deep characters. NANA has about 47 episodes total and it ends really abruptly. So if you’re the type who really needs to know how something ends, I might not recommend this anime. Or you could just read the manga. Regardless, NANA is a lot of fun and well worth your time.

In case you want to preview the animes by watching the intros… here you go!

Welcome to the NHK