Over-rated/Under-rated Animes

[penNpaper]

What is an anime series that you seem it is over-rated due to being popular?

Also what is an anime series that you seem to be under-rated by the shadows due to its propular cousins.

God Bless,
Drew

 

[DigiDigi]

• Overrated anime:
  

1. Bleach
2. One Piece
3. Naruto/Shippuden
4. DBZ Kai
5. Soul Eater
6. Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
7. D. Gray Man
8. Pokemon
9. Yugioh
10. Beyblade
11. K-ON!
    
12. Shuffle!
13. To-Love Ru
14. Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls
15. Rosario + Vampire

• Underrated:

1. Bacanno!
2. FLCL
3. Spice and Wolf
4. Summer Wars
5. True Tears
6. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
   
7. Mirai Nikki
8. Deadman Wonderland
9. Full Metal Panic
10. School Rumble
11. RomeoxJuliet
12. Metropolis
13. Eureka 7
14. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
15. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

A recently underrated anime that just recently recieved glory in the past couple months was Gintama, which is hilarious btw, and alot of overrated shows are ridiculous, everybody knows this fact because of the sheer amount of fillers (fillers can be considered whole arcs in Shonen anime btw). Nuff' said here, have fun trying to prove my list wrong you Narutards and you Bleach-haired shinigami and you ever-so-lost-pirates-of-the-seas.

 

[Qyöt27]

Overrated:
Hayao Miyazaki films
Makoto Shinkai films
GAINAX

Underrated:
Toradora!
Bakemonogatari
Tsukihime (ok, I'm referring to the visual novel here, because the anime doesn't exist, after all; also often extremely underrated when compared to the series Type Moon followed it up with)
Kara no Kyoukai


Now, just because I see something or someone as overrated doesn't mean I can't or won't enjoy the stuff. I largely ignore hype. If I enjoy something, I enjoy it, regardless of how over/under-rated it is. See: the fact that I have several GAINAX and Shinkai properties on my MAL list, highly scored too - but I'd be lying if I said they deserve all of the ridiculous amounts of praise and fan worship they get.

 

[DigiDigi]

Overrated:
Hayao Miyazaki films
Makoto Shinkai films
GAINAX

Underrated:
Toradora!
Bakemonogatari
Tsukihime (ok, I'm referring to the visual novel here, because the anime doesn't exist, after all; also often extremely underrated when compared to the series Type Moon followed it up with)
Kara no Kyoukai


Now, just because I see something or someone as overrated doesn't mean I can't or won't enjoy the stuff. I largely ignore hype. If I enjoy something, I enjoy it, regardless of how over/under-rated it is. See: the fact that I have several GAINAX and Shinkai properties on my MAL list, highly scored too - but I'd be lying if I said they deserve all of the ridiculous amounts of praise and fan worship they get.

Way to broaden your picks to entire production teams XD lol
I'd say all children-intended anime is overrated because of the child over-worship. Look how strong Pokemon is, its been going strong before I was even born lmao. I used to enjoy it, largely because of the RPG, but I grew out of it. That's largely what most anime fans do, they grow out of the majority of Shonen and then point it out as overrated. It's a bit contradicting yes, but it is what it is--overrated in the end.

 

[Azureknight 773]

For me, setting aside that overly long gotta catch them all anime known as Pokemon, the majority (or all) of the Shonen Jump titles as well as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and those that you mentioned out there my comrades in otakulania...


-Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a new king of Over-rated Animes that falls under the Humongous Mecha genre given as to how many humongous mecha fans reacted to it.
-As far as I am a Gundam fan, it (the series) has somehow become an "Over-rated" over the course of the times as the fandom takes it too much.
-Nanoha too but with a subversion considering the strategy that they made... Super Robots inside a Magical Girl/ Mahou Shoujo or like a loli version of the Super Robot Wars as exemplified by the very own star Nanoha who is the MG version of the RX78 Gundam and so on and so forth.
-Wait! "I ORDER YOU TO OBEY ME, WORLD!" Code Geass, my goodness! It even tempted me to scream "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA", and I did while watching it. A world full of ham eating people forces everybody down to the ground for each time, the scenes are almost always eaten.
-Fairy Tail is also heading its way to the O.R.A. division due to the building fanbase.

Under-rated-wise,
-SKULLMAN! For all of those who loves this, it sucks not to be recognized by the fandom in general. I mean, this absolutely is like a darker version of Kamen Rider Black, which in turn is already a darker version of the previous Kamen Rider shows which is awesome at the same time.
-The MARS anime. That's all.
-Princess Tutu
-Galaxy Angel (I think or so)
-Master of Mosquiton
-Touhou: Mussou Kakyou (fanime though) too became a victim because of the animation. (Fellow Gensokyo Land goers, please forgive me and spare me from the danmaku rage).
- Kaze No Stigma falls under this to some extent.
-I hope that I am not wrong but seriously that the Saber Marionette Series has become this over the time.

I do not know the fate of the current Mahou Shoujo Series known as Puella Magi Madoka Magica (my current focus) as of this moment, is in the middle, or is it?

 

[Rhamiel]

i would say that FLCL is over rated
it is a good show, but everyone I know who really knows anime talk about it like it is a masterpiece
i dunno, maybe it is, it is very good and an interesting show

 

[Sakura K]

Overrated:
All the super obvious stuff I don't believe needs to be said.
Bakemonogatari
K-ON
Cowboy Bebop
Spice and Wolf
Ghost in the Shell
Toradora
Geass
Nanoha
Pretty Cure
Madoka
Clannad
FLCL
Kimi ni Todoke
etc
There are too many to list.

Underrated:
Everything I like.

 

[penNpaper]

Over-rated:

Neon Genesis Evangelion (own, seen it)

One Piece (never seen - nor the desire to see)
Bleach (never seen - nor the desire to see)
Naruto (never seen - nor the desire to see)
Dragon Ball Z Anything (seen some on TV but never got into it)
Pokemon (seen most of the early stuff when I was growing up, own the season 1, but is it)
Yugioh - (seen some on TV but never got into it)

How many more stuff can they make with NGE. I don't hate it but I like Nadia far better and it is the same studio that did NGE. As to most of the never seen - I trend not to get into a series that is so popular and the series will never end type of series - nor do I desire to get into one. I tried to watch some here and there but I really don't have the desire to really get into a popular anime. I tend to like more under-rated anime series than the popular ones.
Under-rated:

Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (own it, seen it, my first anime)
Martian Successor Nadesico - (own it, seen it)
All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (own the whole series, seen it)

God Bless,
Drew

 

[MoonlessNight]

You guys have done a fine job hitting the overrated entries, so I'll stay away from that. The only one that I'm going to throw on the list is Gundam 0080. This show is often presented as "Gundam, but it's actually realistic and touching!" I find that annoying because 1.) it implies that the other Gundam series aren't serious and 2.) because Gundam 0080 is overly melodramatic, sappy, and contrived. It's sad because it engineers ridiculous situations for the express purpose of creating tragedy. I don't dislike the series, but I've seen it held up as the shining example of what Gundam should be one too many times. I have similar feelings about the 08th MS Team, but I don't think that one is quite as popular.

One big pick for underrated is definitely Brain Power(e)d (depending on whether you want the correct spelling or the official spelling). I'm not going to say that this show is exceptional (it certainly isn't Tomino's strongest work) but it had many interesting ideas, pretty good characters, and overall is worth seeing. It certainly has problems with pacing, animation, and a few other things. I'm calling it underrated because when I've seen anyone reference it at all, it has been to call it the worst anime of all time (mainly because it committed the cardinal sin of being a "Evangelion Ripoff" though the two series are quite different in everything but the most basic descriptions).

Captain Harlock would be an example of a show that isn't really underrated (since pretty much every one who has seen it liked it), but one that should be better known than it is.

I think that Outlaw Star has somewhat of an unfair reputation of "that space western that came out around the time of Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, but wasn't as good." It sets the tone of a fun pulp-ish sci-fi adventure, and stays true to that tone throughout. It's not as "serious" as the other series perhaps, but shows don't need to be serious to be good.

I should note that the question is difficult to answer precisely, since the anime community is so fragmented. What is well known among mecha fans may be unknown among shoujo fans and vice versa. And most series will be unknown to the public at large (even to nerds.) So (as we have seen on these lists already!) it's quite possible for a show to be simultaneously overrated and underrated as long as it is good, but not the pinnacle of all animation.