Top 10 Animes You Must Simply Watch!

It's easy for the uninitiated to think that anime is nothing more than strange-looking cartoons reserved for children. In fact, that's what most people think, especially if they're adults. However, if you're willing to give them a chance it's likely you'll be surprised at the difference between the cartoons you expected and what they actually are.

What makes anime different from something like The Simpsons? While there are certainly shows that are focused on humour, where the genre really shines is in its more adult-themed animes. Usually the shows delve into heavy subjects like death, religion, sex, family, politics; much more darker topics that are usually reserved for shows like Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad in the West. While the creators don't hold back on plots or the characters, where anime truly shines and separates itself from any other animated genres is the way it is drawn.

Attack on Titan

Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by Titans. Titans are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of Titan.

Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a giant in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by the Colossal Titan that appeared out of thin air. As the smaller Titans flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Eren vows that he will murder every single giant and take revenge for all of mankind.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (NOT THE FIRST ONE)

In this world there exist alchemists, people who study and perform the art of alchemical transmutation - to manipulate objects and transform one object into another. They are bounded by the basic law of alchemy: in order to gain something you have to sacrifice something of the same value.

The main character is the famous alchemist Edward Elric - also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist - who almost lost his little brother, Alphonse, in an alchemical accident. Edward managed to attach his brother's soul to a large suit of armor. While he did manage to save his brother's life, he paid the terrible price of his limbs.

To get back what they've lost, the brothers embark on a journey to find the Philosopher's Stone that is said to amplify the powers of an alchemist enormously.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a re-telling of the story from the manga point of view.

Fate/Zero (There's Two Seasons To This)

Fate/Zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the "Holy Grail," which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences. 

Founded by the Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka families centuries ago, the Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three successive failures, no matter the cost. As a result, they have elected to bring the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary and a hitman who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals. Though Kiritsugu had once wanted to become a hero who could save everyone, he has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one person comes at the cost of another's life. For the sake of humanity, he will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of others. 

However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has found for his new family - his wife Irisviel and their daughter Illya - and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu's greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a priest who cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and sets his sights on Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.

Kill la Kill (Warning! Can Get A Bit Too Sexual)

In a high school where students possess uniforms that give them various powers and abilities, student council president Kiryuuin Satsuki rules by force. However, a transfer student named Matoi Ryuuko stands in her way, wielding a scissor sword and a superpowered school uniform.

Aldnoah Zero (Also Has A Second Season)

Season 1: In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission found a hypergate to Mars on the surface of the moon. Upon landing, astronauts discovered an enchanted utility later referred to as "Aldnoah," giving the astronauts a status of superiority. Soon, many humans have relocated to Mars, and have adapted to the name "Martians." After Princess Asseylum, a royal Martian princess, descends onto Earth in an attempt to create a treaty between both planets, a war breaks out between Earth and Mars, and Martian soldiers begin to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity.

Season 2: Seeking for revenge, Count Saazbaum, a Martian, attacked the Earth. Later on, the war between the Terrans and Martians ended with Earth's Terrans gaining the victory. However, nineteen months later, the battle between them continues. Martians still continues to invade the Earth and the Terrans to protect it.

Guilty Crown

The story takes place in Tokyo in 2039, after the outbreak of the "Apocalypse Virus" during what became known as the "Lost Christmas" of 2029. Since then, Japan has been under the control of the multinational organization called GHQ. 

Ouma Shu is a 17 year-old boy who mistakenly obtains a rare and great power. He can use this power, "The Right Hand of the King," to extract "voids," or tools/weapons that are the manifestations of peoples' hearts. 

He has been rather shy since a childhood tragedy, but both his personality and life change forever when he meets a girl named Yuzuriha Inori, a member of the rebel group called "Funerals Parlor," whose members seek the restoration of self-government in Japan via the ousting of GHQ.

Sword Art Online (Again, One With Two Season)

Season 1: In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called Nerve Gear. One day, players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if they die in the game, they die in real life. Their struggle for survival starts now...

Season 2: One year after the SAO incident, Kirito is approached by Seijiro Kikuoka from Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Department "VR Division" with a rather peculiar request.

That was an investigation on the "Death Gun" incident that occurred in the gun and steel filled VRMMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO). "Players who are shot by a mysterious avatar with a jet black gun lose their lives even in the real world..." Failing to turn down Kikuoka's bizarre request, Kirito logs in to GGO even though he is not completely convinced that the virtual world could physically affect the real world.

Kirito wanders in an unfamiliar world in order to gain any clues about the "Death Gun." Then, a female sniper named Sinon who owns a gigantic "Hecate II" rifle extends Kirito a helping hand. With Sinon's help, Kirito decides to enter the "Bullet of Bullets," a large tournament to choose the most powerful gunner within the realm of GGO, in hopes to become the target of the "Death Gun" and make direct contact with the mysterious avatar.

Ajin: Demi-Human

Where there is life, there is death... or is there? What would you do if you could never die? The possibilities are endless.

Seventeen years ago, the existence of a special species called Ajin was discovered in Africa. They are said to be immortal beings, with several supernatural abilities, that look just like any other human being. Are these Ajin just random phenomena of nature or were they purposely sent to Earth to destroy it?

Since their first discovery, several other Ajin appearances have been reported worldwide. For the majority of citizens though, these creatures are less reality and more of something you see every once in a while in a textbook or on the news. This is how it was for the young protagonist of the series, Kei. That was until a sudden turn of events changed his life forever...

Ajin is a supernatural anime full of complex ideas about life and death, as well as the dark side of human nature. What does it mean to truly be human?

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu)

Suddenly, high school student Subaru Natsuki has been summoned to another world on the way back from the convenience store. With the biggest crisis of his life being summoned to another world, and with no sign of the one who summoned him, things become even worse when he is attacked. But when he is saved by a mysterious, silver-haired girl with a fairy cat, Subaru attempts to return the favor by helping her track down something that was stolen from her. When they finally manage to get a clue, Subaru and the girl are attacked and killed by someone. Subaru then awakens in the place he was summoned and notices he gained the ability "Returns by Death" and has become a helpless boy that only has the ability to rewind time to a certain point by dying. Beyond the despair, can he save the girl from the fate of death?