We often forget how important it is for a series to air when its genres are actually popular.
Some anime fail to become popular because they fail to attract viewers with its first episode. Some are subpar adaptations, and the hype from source readers quickly dies, leaving the series somewhat obscure.
But sometimes, you can do everything right and still fail — and in the case of these series, it’s because the audience wasn’t quite there (or wasn’t ready) yet.
Kaiba
Kaiba is often recommended as a great philosophical anime. It’s set in a dystopian future and comments on a lot of social issues — something that today’s viewers would greatly appreciate.
The audience of the late 00s wasn’t quite ready yet, however. The weird art style didn’t do the anime any favors either, but now it feels like there’s a decent subset of otaku who are willing to give series like this a try.
One Outs
One Outs combines the sports genre with a grim outlook on reality. It’s essentially a psychological study of people — and it often showcases the worst aspects of humanity. The protagonist himself is only in the sport for money, which did not sit well with people.
Now, it sometimes gets compared with Blue Lock, and for a good reason. Both provide a darker take on the genre — and perhaps in the 2020s One Outs would fare better than it originally did.
Canaan
Canaan is a curious case. While not exactly underappreciated — it was watched by quite a few people back when it aired — it quickly faded into obscurity. The anime itself is nothing special — it’s a decently entertaining action show with a cool cast of female characters.
What would make many people watch it now, however, is the fact that it’s set in the same universe as the visual novel 428: Shibuya Scramble — which is loosely related to the Fate series. And since Fate is much more popular now than it was in the late 00s, even a tangentially related anime would attract many viewers.
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!
Manabi Straight is a very good cute-girls-doing-cute-things show. The genre spawned in the early 00s with Azumanga Daioh, but wouldn’t become as popular as it is now until K-On! aired in 2009.
Manabi Straight aired in 2006, and ufotable actually made it — it’s not an action series, but it still looks great (although it’s in no way similar to Demon Slayer’s flashy colors). They weren’t, however, as big of a studio back then — and so the anime went largely unnoticed. If anything, it would be watched now for its genre and studio alone.
Nana was very popular, although at first not with the general audience. Many otaku dismissed it at first as yet another shoujo romance series — despite it providing a very mature take on the lives in the entertainment industry.
People would come around later, and the series would become way more loved in the longer run. However, it would probably be an instant hit if it aired nowadays, as otaku are more willing to watch different genres of anime. It’s just sad that the manga has been on hiatus for more than a decade, really.
Yakitate!! Japan
If Food Wars was popular, there’s no reason for Yakitate!! Japan should not be. The premise of making a series about baking bread might sound weird, yes, but the anime makes it entertaining. It also cares enough to educate the viewer about the process, something anime fans really appreciate.
The over-the-top reactions and absurd jokes only make the series more entertaining. And with the fact that we can now get better subtitles, the weird puns — arguably the biggest barrier to getting into the series — can be translated much better.
Tower of Druaga
Tower of Druaga (Druaga no Tou) is a good example of how you can do things right and still fail to reach your audience. Otaku don’t exactly like game adaptations usually — and it makes sense, because it’s really hard to translate game elements into anime.
Tower of Druaga is a good series, but with two 12-episode seasons and a somewhat obscure source material, it didn’t really stick with the fans back then, simply losing in popularity to other action anime airing at the time. Now, it has become very easy to watch anime on streaming services — who knows, maybe it wouldn’t be so underwatched if it aired recently?
Genshiken
Funnily enough, modern anime fans are enjoying anime about otaku culture a lot more than you’d expect. Even if they don’t understand all the references, they probably appreciate them — nostalgia and historical importance are very powerful forces.
Genshiken combines that with witty comedy and a fun cast of characters — it fell out of popularity a few years after Season 2 aired, but it would probably stick better now.
Noein: to your other self
Noein is unlike anything that is currently airing. That alone would make it popular: otaku love unique anime — just look at Odd Taxi, for example. It’s also a sci-fi series with very elaborate concepts of time manipulation, and the theme seems to be appreciated more now than it was back in the mid-00s.
The fact that it’s an original series is also doing it a favor — many anime originals nowadays become popular, if somewhat divisive: just look at Sonny Boy.
Beyond the Heavens
Beyond the Heavens (Souten Kouro) is an extremely odd series. Being adapted from yet another manga based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a classic Chinese literary work based on the historical period of the same name), it was overlooked by many back when it first aired, and is still overlooked now.
However, it retells the story from Cao Cao’s perspective, while clearly being inspired by JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure — with weird jokes and poses and a focus on manliness. It also feels like everyone in the anime has superpowers — if anything, this would be watched nowadays for how crazy it is.