10 Forgotten Anime Series That Have Aged Incredibly Well

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Published Jun 4, 2026, 2:14 PM EDT

Daniel Trock is a Contributor at DualShockers specializing in PC games, lists, and reviews. He has been writing professionally since 2018 and covering games since 2020, with previous work spanning guides, news, lists, and reviews across multiple publications.

Before joining DualShockers, Daniel contributed guides to GamerJournalist and lists to TheGamer. He currently covers tech topics for SlashGear and BGR. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Marist College and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing from Western Connecticut State University.

I’ve been watching anime fairly consistently for most of my life, from Toonami in my youth to my current bevy of streaming services. Throughout those many years, I’ve watched a lot of shows, too many to count, but I generally remember the ones that left an impression on me. Of course, since anime is such a broad medium, a show leaving an impression in its time doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to continue doing that decades later.

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There are more than a few shows that, despite being excellent both for their time and in the modern day, don’t seem to get talked about that much anymore outside the occasional “hey, remember this show” YouTube video. It’s not unreasonable, as there are always new and interesting shows coming out to monopolize your attention, and certainly, more than a few older shows haven’t aged spectacularly in terms of visuals or story. But if you’re in the mood to watch something that’s settled into the annals of history, consider watching one of these.

10 Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

There’s Nothing Fun About War

Anyone who has watched enough Gundam stuff can tell you that the purpose of the franchise is not the giant robot fights, but rather the drama of space warfare and politics. The giant robot fights just make a good framing device for that, but they don’t actually need to be a major presence in a Gundam show to carry a story. Case in point, we have the 1989 OVA series Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.

This six-episode OVA is set in the last days of the One-Year War between the Federation and Zeon from the original Gundam series. A prototype Gundam is hidden in a neutral space colony, and a Zeon soldier tries and fails to infiltrate and destroy it. He’s rescued by a little boy who is just a bit too stoked on the whole war thing, who swiftly realizes just how horrible warfare can really be.

It’s a very emotionally-impactful story about the true cost of armed conflict, which also happens to have a couple of pretty awesome mobile suit fights. If you have difficulty appreciating the more nuanced aspects of Gundam, 0080 will put it in very clear contrast for you.

9 His and Her Circumstances

Those Crazy Kids

When you think of Studio Gainax, at least at its peak, you probably think of bombastic series like Evangelion or Gurren Lagann. I love the wacky mech stuff as much as the next guy, but Gainax was also surprisingly capable when it came to more low-key concepts like romcoms, which we see in 1998’s His and Her Circumstances.

The series follows high schooler Yukino Miyazawa, who seems to be a perfect straight-A student on the surface, but she’s actually a total slob at home who only maintains her charade because it feeds her ego. Said charade is threatened by new student Soichiro Arima, whom she proclaims as her rival, but their silly interactions gradually blossom into friendship and, eventually, romance.

What I really like about this show is that, unlike a lot of romcom anime, it only dabbles in the annoying “will they, won’t they” stuff early on. Miyazawa and Arima do become a couple not that far into the series, and then it becomes more about young people exploring their feelings and understanding each other, which is a nice palate cleanser.

8 Air Gear

If Jet Set Radio Got an Anime

I’ve never been much for personal locomotion like skateboards or roller skates, at least not for lack of trying. There’s something undeniably cool about skating and its subculture, a certain kind of freedom and rebellion you see in games like Jet Set Radio. The closest anime I can think of to that particular subculture is 2006’s Air Gear.

In this Shounen sports anime, the youth of Japan are obsessed with Air Treks, or “ATs,” inline skates with powerful electric engines that let their wearers perform all manner of incredible acrobatic feats. Itsuki "Ikki" Minami is obsessed with ATs, and inadvertently finds himself drawn into the underground AT scene, where street gangs race through alleys and across rooftops in a battle for supremacy.

Air Gear is a bit saucy in spots, so it’s not great for kids, but if you’ve ever had dreams of achieving Tony Hawk-esque skating stardom, it’ll definitely strike a chord with you. It’s also got a mildly nonsensical Shounen power system which, as someone who gets way too into worldbuilding, I can’t help but get obsessed with.

7 Den-Noh Coil

After-School Cyberpunks

I’ve often heard it said that kids tend to adapt to new technology faster than adults do, which I guess is why every kid has a smartphone these days. I guess it stands to reason, then, that if augmented reality ever took off in earnest, the kids would be first on the scene, as we see in 2007’s Den-Noh Coil.

Set amusingly in the year 2026, Den-Noh Coil focuses on a world where augmented reality glasses have become a staple of global society, with work, play, and even pets all managed through a superimposed virtual world. Elementary schooler Yuko Okonogi moves from a major city to a smaller city, where local kids get up to all kinds of nonsense using their AR glasses. However, there’s something dark lurking in the realms between reality and cyberspace, and if you step outside the boundaries of the real world, you might just never come back.

Den-Noh Coil has a very interesting perspective on the intersection between kids and tech, with the show’s young cast getting into potentially life-threatening cyber investigations while their parents write it off as horseplay. It’s also a novel take on augmented reality and how it might look if it ever reached mass adoption.

6 Eden of the East

Playing the Long Game

If someone gave you ten billion dollars and told you, “use this money to improve your country,” how would you spend it? It’s a very interesting hypothetical, one that I, sadly, cannot take credit for coming up with. Rather, it comes to us courtesy of 2009’s Eden of the East.

While on a trip to America, college grad Saki Morimi encounters a butt-naked guy outside the White House with no idea where or who he is. The only thing on his person is a flip phone connected to a mysterious concierge, through which he can request just about anything using a digital budget of ten billion yen, up to and including making a politician say “uncle.” This man, who takes the name Akira Takizawa, is part of an experiment wherein 12 “Seleção” have each been given massive sums of money on the condition that they only use it to improve the country of Japan.

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I adore this show’s novel premise; there are mysteries, intrigue, character-building, and philosophy like crazy. You always want to see what extravagant purchase Akira is going to make next and wonder how it’s all going to tie together in the end.

5 Star Driver

Gleeful Mecha Madness

Studio

Genre

Release

Bones

Mecha

October 2010

Remember what I said before wacky mech stuff? One of the fun things about the mecha genre is that, with some creative thinking, giant robots can be molded to fit pretty much any sci-fi or fantasy circumstances. When it comes to mech shows that aren’t afraid to fly their freak flag, 2010’s Star Driver is an all-timer.

On a relatively tiny island off the coast of Japan, a young lad named Takuto washes up on the beach and promptly enrolls in its local high school. Underneath said school is a massive cavernous compound where ancient mechs called Cybodies slumber, only usable inside a parallel dimension. A group of masked weirdos is trying to break the island's seals so they can use the Cybodies for their nefarious purposes, but it just so happens that Takuto has a Cybody of his own, becoming its legendary pilot, the Galactic Pretty Boy. Yes, really.

As that premise probably tipped you off, Star Driver is completely and utterly insane. The funny thing about utter insanity, though, is that it ages pretty well! It was crazy back in 2010, and it’s crazy now, and if you like crazy, you’ll probably like this. It’s definitely one of those shows that you either bounce off of entirely or become obsessed with, but I still encourage everyone to try.

4 Squid Girl

Did Squid Kids Before it was Cool

Studio

Genre

Release

diomedea

Slice-of-Life

October 2010

For those who played the original Splatoon on the Wii U, you may recall a certain set of gear from a brand called “The SQUID GIRL,” most prominently a white hat with squid flaps on the side. If you weren’t aware, this was actually a collaboration with manga series Squid Girl, which also got an anime adaptation in 2010.

The titular Squid Girl, and yes, that is her name, is a humanoid squid thing who rises up from the depths of the ocean in order to punish humanity for its polluting ways. Unfortunately, she’s incompetent, and ends up trashing a beachside snack hut, prompting the owners to forcibly hire her until she can pay off her debt.

It’s your textbook silly episodic slice-of-life show, but Squid Girl herself is a pretty amusing character, with a variety of quasi-useful squid-based abilities like prehensile tentacles for hair. Don’t worry, despite the tentacles, this show’s all-ages and, at least to my recollection, was decently popular in its time. Popular enough to get that Splatoon collab, anyway, though I really wish they’d brought the gear back for Splatoon 2 and 3.

3 Humanity Has Declined

Dark Premise, Funny Show

Have you ever wondered about what’ll come after humanity as the dominant species? The Earth will almost certainly outlive us, so it’ll definitely be something, but what could it possibly be? Well, if 2012’s Humanity Has Declined is to be believed, it’s gonna be little fairy people dressed like the guys on the Rice Krispies box.

In the far, far future, humanity is on its way out, having gradually regressed to a pseudo-medieval state. Our unnamed protagonist is a mediator between what’s left of humanity and the Earth’s new dominant species, the whimsical and sweets-loving fairies. Said fairies get up to all kinds of assorted magical and technological shenanigans, creating seemingly impossible devices and situations that our young mediator needs to find a way to minimize the damage of.

If I had to categorize this show, I guess you’d call it an “absurdist dark comedy?” It’s the kind of show you watch with your hand on your chin and an occasional “huh.” It’s funny in a mystifying sort of way, and I can safely say there’s never been another show quite like it.

2 Tamako Market

One of KyoAni’s Quieter Works

Kyoto Animation is a studio that needs no introduction, with its legendary slice-of-life anime like K-On and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya still making the rounds in anime discussion to this day. However, not all of KyoAni’s slice-of-life shows maintain such bombastic reputations. 2013’s Tamako Market, for example, came and went with a quieter, yet still pleasant vibe.

Tamako Kitashirakawa is the eldest daughter of a mochi-maker in a small-town shopping district. She’s a nice young lady who enjoys spending time with her friends, practicing baton routines, and occasionally spending time with her childhood friend, whose father runs a competing mochi store across the street. Oh, also, a talking bird from a tropical island crashes into her home in search of a bride for his country’s prince, but you’d be surprised how little that matters.

Tamako Market marked a big boom in the iyashikei subgenre, or “healing,” slice-of-life anime that’s more about just being comfy and relaxing than introducing major stakes or plot developments. It’s the anime equivalent of a warm blanket and a cup of tea on a rainy day.

1 Samurai Flamenco

Everyone Wants to be a Hero

I’m an enormous sucker for tokusatsu, a genre of film and television focusing on practical effects and stuntwork. Power Rangers is the prominent western example, but shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai have been an institution in Japan for far longer. Every fan of these shows has dreams of being a masked hero, and it’s those dreams that 2013’s Samurai Flamenco is built upon.

Police officer Hidenori Goto, while on a nightly patrol, comes across a wannabe tokusatsu-styled hero, the self-proclaimed Samurai Flamenco. This guy, who’s actually a male model named Masayoshi Hazama, has dreamed since childhood of being a masked hero, and resolves to clean up the city streets even if he doesn’t have any superpowers or cybernetics.

I can’t, in good conscience, divulge anything else about Samurai Flamenco beyond the fact that anyone who’s seen it has an instinctive reaction upon seeing a gorilla. Bizarre as it gets, it’s still a pretty wild ride, and a consistent treat for tokusatsu fans. Samurai Flamenco walked so that Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider could run, to put it simply.