What is considered "good anime"? And why do people say my top picks are horrible?

When people in your friend circle judge you so much for basically nothing... that's horrible. The problem is not in your anime list.

You got a lot of guro in your highest rated, people has a natural aversion for that, even if it doesn't have people physically unable to shut up about how bad it is and hating ot its fanbase like other, let's say controversial, genres. It was super popular in the 2000s, though.

Either way, if you're going out of your way to avoid the mainstream stuff I don't think you should expect approval from others or care about what their opinions on the matter.

So as for the question list.

1. You're being too kind on chainslop man

Edit: Why would you watch the gup spinoff without watching the main story, wtf
2-. Do It Yourself
Dark Gathering
3-. dunno, not a fan of shorts
4-. I can think on hundreds of them, but I don't particularly care about it, the whole wave of puritans whining about it getting old.
5-. Depends on genre, but the main thing is having a good story with decent characters as opposed to just pretty colors and animation, for comedy, bad animation can even be used as a tool so I don't think it matters much.

Ratings are just for fun, nobody should take them seriously. And even if you rate the objectively best show a 1, it doesnt matter because maybe it just didnt suit your taste.

People pay too much importance to comparing shows, when it should be about enjoying them. Keep watching what you like and dont rate based on peer pressure.

• And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

For me, If it made me feel something then its a good show. Normal enjoyable shows are fine but i probably wont remember them in a few years, but you will always remember what you liked about the good show. At least thats my opinion, i dont really think much about it.

I think you're taking this too seriously. Something can be objectively 'good' and not resonate with you; there's no problems with that. That's just being a person and developing your own specific taste. Don't you want to find out what sort of things you like the most VS being the most 'well-versed' in animanga? Personally, I think it's more fun to talk with people who have their personal taste so dialed in and explored that they can recommend both good and bad things to me in microgenres I've never heard of instead of another person who just tells me they like whatever's popular this season. Plus, 'good' and 'bad' markers change a lot over time. There's animanga we hate now that will probably be considered classics at some point and vice versa (already happening with CSM and JJK really lol)

That said, we have similar-ish taste overlap and preferences. You might like some of these (I haven't seen all of them myself so bear this in mind, also I have no idea how to do the immediate link thingie so sorry about that)

Girls' Last Tour
Jormangund
Hellsing Ultimate
Black Lagoon (does sexualize Revy but she's a grown woman so it's not really annoying)
Claymore (I've heard the manga is better)
Haibane Renmei
Laid-back Camp
Mob Psycho 100
Devilman Crybaby (might be too 'abstract' for your taste)
Death Parade (I barely remember this one, it's been over a decade since I saw it)
PLUTO
Noragami maybe? I have no idea what the sexualization is like in this one

Let's get this out of the way first. There are no wrong or bad ratings. If you've thought about a show and given it a score, that score is correct no matter what other people's opinions are.

Also, I'd advise against avoiding mainstream things. Things become mainstream because lots of people enjoy them. Enjoying mainstream things is just agreeing with lots of people.

Having said that here's some weird things in slice of life and/or horror:
Theatre of Darkness Yamishibai
Electromagnetic Girlfriend
Black Rock Shooter
KOWLOON GENERIC ROMANCE
Haibane Renmei
Tonari no Yokaisan
(haven't seen but is almost the exact right thing)
Mierukochan

• If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?
To be honest, yeah. But it's not that you "rated anything way off", just ratings that I personally disagree with, specifically the rating for Tanya the Evil.

• Based on my preferences, what are some anime you’d recommend that aren’t super mainstream?
Not sure why you specifically feel like avoiding mainstream anime considering you do have plenty of mainstream stuff, but it's fine.

I would recommend this anime if you're looking for "not super mainstream slice of life anime"
NieA 7
I thought this one was fairly entertaining and cozy to watch. It's got a very chill atmosphere.

• Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?
Not that I know of, nah.

• Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?
Well, sure, but they are kind of mainstream stuff so, you know.

• And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?
I just watch the anime and come to my own conclusions. Unless I myself legitimately think I might have been wrong on a rating for something because maybe someone brought up a good point about it or so and so, I maintain my opinion pretty strongly on any anime I watch. That said, I do really try to think thoroughly if something is legitimately good rather than just enjoyable, whether that's by thinking about if the story was good, if the characters were good, the emotions I felt while watching the show, etc. Then again, I myself do not think I am very good when it comes to reviewing stuff in general and I do frequently have doubts on if whether my ratings are truly "correct" or not, so the best way I can achieve this is by simply discussing about it with other people and getting their views on a piece of fiction and then achieving a proper conclusion from there.

nothing particularly wrong with your list but maybe your ratings are really bold when it comes to stuff you didn't enjoy watching but it might be because you make the effort to list everything that u disliked that you cant bring yourself to rate them higher lol. like the rated 5 zone seems a bit controversial. but honestly, who cares? your friends are really weird for making fun of your taste or whatever, it's not that deep. you should watch what whatever you want.

Don't feel ashamed for liking what you do friendo.

Your scores are yours. There is no "correct" score. For example, I hate horror, so guess how far our scores on those would be.

If peer pressure is an issue for you, you can stop scoring and just leave notes about anime instead, or you can change the "Scoring System" in "Settings" → "Lists" into smileys — there are only three grades: "like", "dislike", and "neutral". They're harder to tease and argue against.

I don't know why you try to avoid popular and mainstream works if you have completed that little anime. Do not stop yourself because of their popularity (And - just my opinion - do not be that guy who praised the idea of star-crossed lovers from different feuding families as innovative and unique in some B-movie... just because he never wanted to open that "outdated dusty poetical work which is uselessly popular among boomers")

Hypersexualization often comes hand in hand with a lot of gore, but you can watch out for the genre "ecchi" — which basically means "we went all out with sexy innuendo". Probably not what you're looking for.

Look for "slice of life" with the tag "Cute Girls Doing Cute Things" (or cute boys, if you prefer) for non-sexualized stuff.

There is also the tag "Episodic", which means each episode tells a self-contained story. That might be easier to get into if you're looking for something shorter.

Screw them. It's your list based on your ratings and your enjoyment of the show! Keep what you like at the top, regardless of what others think of it. The scores you give are your opinions, there are no wrong ratings. To push it further, in my opinion, there's not even any reason to give shows that might be objectively good a high score if you yourself did not enjoy watching it. I mean, your profile's mean score is 57.12! That's much lower than most people. You know why people's mean score is not at exactly 50? Because people tend to watch more of the shows they enjoy, so their mean score gets higher. There's no reason to watch shows you don't enjoy, and no reason to take what people think of your scores personally, or at all.

There's also just no problem with only liking mainstream stuff, if that's what you like, obviously it's great to explore and try to find something you didn't even know you like, but there is no reason to just stay with the mainstream stuff.

Honestly, shows become mainstream for a reason. A lot of people will probably enjoy watching them.
Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai
Violet Evergarden
Chi Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite
These come to mind first when considering your list leans towards drama. Bunny girl senpai has supernatural aspects as well. And neither of which has any sexualization of the characters for the most part - bunny girl senpai has the clickbait 1st ep with the bunny suit.
Or maybe you'll like less recent ones
Shinsekai yori
Mushishi
MONSTER
And since you liked Josee and Silent Voice I'll just put this here as well
Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou

At the end of the day, everyone else can eat dirt. Watch what you want and what you enjoy, after anime is a form of entertainment <3

Recently I showed my AniList to some friends, and I got absolutely bombarded with criticism. Things like “you only like mainstream stuff,” “that’s a terrible pick,” or “how do you dislike this but like that.”

That's because out of your top 5, four of them are considered mainstream. But that's not a bad thing. These anime are objectively good for a reason. Just because your top 5 consists of mainstream anime does not make what you've watched overall 'basic' or 'mainstream'. out of the 55 completed anime, only 12-14 are considered mainstream. That's about 20-25% of the anime you've watched so far.

Bit of a side rant, you can can ignore if you want:
Who cares if all you've watched was mainstream stuff, anyway? Everyone wants to look for "hidden gems", but the reason why stuff becomes mainstream to begin with is because it has some type of redeeming quality, whether it be plot, animation style, etc. Hating on something for being mainstream has always been weird to me lol.

• If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

I loved Chainsaw Man. Seeing it ranked so low was painful, but I get it. Definitely not for everyone, but the reason why I enjoyed it and would personally rate it higher is because if you look past the horny teenager mindset that Denji has, bro had the most miserable life possible. He’s constantly searching for any reason to survive and find happiness in what he feels is an otherwise meaningless existence. He's never experienced 'normal' so he won't know what 'normal' means. I also have a bias because I read the manga, so there's that.

I also found the rating for “I Want To Eat Your Pancreas” to be a bit harsh. Her ‘annoying’ personality was essential for the plot development and contributed to the emotional depth of the story. Even if you disagree with that take, I believe that an anime capable of bringing tears to your eyes and leaving a lasting impact on the viewer deserves a higher rating in my opinion.

Based on my preferences, what are some anime you’d recommend that aren’t super mainstream?

My vote would go towards Kiznaiver. If you don't think you will like it, or want a different genre: Ranking of Kings or Deca-Dance would be my follow ups.

Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?

For horror: Deadman Wonderland, Charlotte, and Tokyo Ghoul.

For slice of life: Blue Period, Horimiya, Hyouka.

Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?

The ones I recommended lol.

And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

• I have to be willing to recommend the anime to others with high praise.
• No ugly CGI.
• I also prefer shorter a shorter series.
• It has to excel at something, whether it be animation style, action, adventure, mystery, horror etc. There has to be at least one category that it excels in vs all the other anime in its genre.
• Plot has to make sense. I hate watching stuff with weird plot holes that don't align with the story.
• Can't have questionable fan service moments.

Your ranking seems extremely reasonable to me.

Followed for your One Piece take

You gave one peace a 5 when its objectively like a 2 so yeah bad list

If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

I mean, it's your ratings. There are some I disagree with, but not really big of a deal. I just have one question - Why did you watch 1000 episodes of One Piece and then vent how much do you hate it? Are you okay? I couldn't imagine watching more than 25 episodes of a series I don't like, let alone that many.

Based on my preferences, what are some anime you’d recommend that aren’t super mainstream?

Can't quite grasp your taste tbh and most of your list are movies, which I rarely watch.

Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?

Horror for anime is tough. You didn't like my top1 pick, so doubt I would be any help. When it comes to SoL my top picks would be stuff like Girls Last Tour, A Day Before Us (Korean and super short) or even Haibane Renmei.

Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?

There's plenty, even one I'm watching currently, or the ones I recommended in the line reply above. Generally looking at Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl) anime is probably the best pick, since they don't have fanservice, and if they do... You can tell from the cover, very easily. Though unfortunetly they tend to be very dragged out, long and slow... Ojamajo Doremi for example, just a little above 200 episodes.

And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

A good one? Well, interesting and well developed characters; a story with fascinating themes, often times philosophical ones, but generally anything that makes me think and even impact my view on certain stuff.

Enjoyable? Not necceserily well written, but just fun characters that are enjoyable to watch, often goofy. Story-wise, I guess personally for me, powerfantasy are easiest to just turn my brain off and binge watch.

Here are some examples of animes i watched (or planning) i usually dont like horror animes or supernatural but these i think are good:

Horror:
Shiki
Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu
Omae Gotoki ga Maou ni Kateru to Omou na to Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou Sareta node Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai
Mirai Nikki
Watashi wo Tabetai Hitodenashi
Ajin Shoudou
Tenkuu Shinpan
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

Supernatural
9nine Shihaisha no Oukan
Champignon no Majo
Eris no Seihai
Fumetsu no Anata e
Hakuouki
Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi
Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai
NOBLESSE
sola
Kizumonogatari I Tekketsuhen
Guimi Zhi Zhu__

• If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

Won't repeat what others have said about ratings being subjective and all since I agree with that (though I'd say a work does have some objective criteria that can't be denied) + it doesn't really answer the question.

If we were to compare lists, we have Poupelle and Josee pretty much switched (found Poupelle breathtaking, while Josee had this infantilizing vibe for its lead + the forced "temporary handicap" part was simply terrible) and while I did rate the CSM manga the same as you did for the anime, I think Part I deserved a 7/8 for the sheer potential it had.

Also I'd call Pumpkin Scissors edgy garbage, even compared to bad gorefests. I'm surprised you have it that high since you talk about avoiding sexualizing shows, and iirc Pumpkin Scissors tries to sexualize its characters even when they're in gruesome situations.

You also watched a 4-koma Girls Und Panzer spin-off without seeing the actual show? Why? All your complaints for Motto Motto also are things that aren't present in GuP proper, so it really feels like you should just watch regular GuP.

• Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?

Do It Yourself for slice of life

I'm not huge on horror, but you could watch the Birth of Kitaro movie, a movie that's the origin story of a very popular franchise in Japan (Gegege no Kitaro), but can easily be watched without. Though I guess it's more mystery with some action than actual scares.

Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?

It's more common than you'd think. The current most mainstream example would probably be Dungeon Meshi, but a lot of Iyashikei (Non Non Biyori, Aria, etc.) also tend to have little to no fanservice. On average, adaptations of Josei will also not have fanservice at all. Magical girls show also tend to be exempt from it entirely.

I'd say you can safely know if it'll have this kind of content by simply looking it up most of the time.

• And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

Individual basis. Like sure, you can always say "story has to be logical, characters need to have depths, etc." but it's a pretty vague criteria.

For works that are "objectively good" but that i've personally not enjoyed that much, you can recognize a work's quality on a technical level (animation, for instance) even if you didn't like it.

Since you also mentioned "the community": general opinion can be an indicator of quality (and it's always nice to have more knowledgeable people point out what makes/made x anime important or interesting), but it's always just a suggestion. For each opinion you're bound to find at least half the amount of people with the exact opposite take on a show, character, etc.

I'm not going to bother retreading the comments about it being subjective.
BUT, if you are genuinely worried about people giving you grief for your list, consider the way you write the comments on the series.
A lot of the comments come of as abrasive at best and downright vitriolic at worst; they will certainly generate feelings one way or another in people.

I'm not telling you to change anything, you do you. but some of them do feel like they are inviting conflict.

Good anime is whatever you think is good, don't look at other people's opinions other than your own

I just saw your animelist by score. i didnt saw enything off, the people telling otherwise are narrowminded npcs. good list by the way, i love dorohedoro so derranged, just amazing.

The stuff on your list seems fine, at least the ones I recognise seem pretty accurate to be high up there.
I feel like there are a lot of bad slice of life out there, just because there is so much of it ,it can be pretty hit or miss ,though if you avoid heavily sexualising ones then you remove a lot of the bad ones.

Ratings are also weird, I know people that give anything they like a 10/10 while others like myself reserve a 10 for masterpieces. We might like a show evenly bit give it different scores because thats just how we score things

I'd say your fine, the things on your list i would disagree with is just personal preferences, I dont think you have bad taste (honestly i might add some of these shows like dorohedoro to my plan to watch)

For slice of life I'd recommend checking out and seeing if you vibe with :

Girls Band Cry
Peak slice of life band show, good music, a good cast and probably the only 3D show I love the look of.Im pretty sure this was pretty niche when it came out since it didnt even have an official translation until months after it came out

BARTENDER Glass of God
Honestly dont remember much of this one since its been a while (might be worth rewatching) , just really chill with nice character moments, not a 10/10 but might be worth seeing if you vibe with it.

Negative Positive Angler
This definitely isnt "super mainstream" , similar to bartender where the brief is "Make a chill show about X" X being fishing in this case. But it goes beyond that brief at most points with its character moments.

MAYONAKA PUNCH
I just like this one. It has the worst concept for a show, but its excecuted pretty well and i love the MC.

Ranma12 2024
I Love ranma and just about anything by rumiko takahashi, though this does toe that line of sexualization, I personally wouldnt consider it heavy though. Really funny,visually stunning and a nice takahashi romance.

What do you recommend? I need more slice of life and movies to watch

You should stop seeking validation. Just watch and rate things for yourself. Also, avoiding these circle jerks like fandoms and online groups is ideal. If you don't have a good grasp of the whole industry, it's a good idea to find somenone who has seen a lot of stuff and start picking things from their personal list. Lastly, please don't be afraid of giving low scores and expressing your negative feelings.

Whomever is criticizing your list for whatever you prefer is an absolute wanker.

Watch and love the media you want to love and don’t feel any type of way otherwise. Favourites and ratings are subjective for a reason.

Don’t fall for the trap of letting others influence or cloud your judgement. Be yourself, and you’ll find the light.

On the one hand, there is no such thing as objective good or objective bad. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, tastes and favorites.

On the other hand, if you're not prepared to defend these things, do not share them online, because people using the internet for anonymity can be straight up nasty about things they disagree with.

rating a music video 1 bc it is a mv is kinda wild lol

I usually avoid overly popular or mainstream shows

I will never understand this.

I'm assuming you're probably fairly young...which is probably why you're even asking this in the first place?

Media in general is entirely subjective. One man's trash is another man's treasure and so on and so forth. If your friends so heavily judge your takes, then don't talk to those friends about anime - find friends that DO share similar tastes as you.

Anyway, for your questions.

If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

Doesn't matter. What you like and what you dislike is your decision alone and shouldn't be influenced by what other say about it.

That said, I think you need to actually watch the beginning of a lot of the stuff you have arbitrarily watched sequel movies for. For example, you watched the Free! final stroke part1 movie without the series - that movie was the first part of the end of the long running series, which is why they didn't bother introducing any characters or their motivations.

Here's the beginning if you actually do want the Slice of LIfe/Coming of Age parts of the story AND the introduction to the characters, if you're so inclined.
anilist.co/anime/18507

I don't actually care that you rated the movie low - if I watched that movie without the series context, I would also think it's bad as well (I'm personally a big fan of Free!, but your opinions do not offend me or affect my personal enjoyment). But, this wasn't a movie made for people to watch without having watched all like...4 seasons of the TV series. You basically watched the equivalent of chapter 30 in a book of 35 chapters.

Also I think it's crazy that you hated ONE PIECE as much as you did and still watched 1000+ episodes of it. Buddy, I dropped that after 3 episodes when I realised I wasn't the target audience. Love yourself a little more. Drop more anime. Waste less time on stuff you don't like.

Recommendations based on your questions

I'm going to ignore your mainstream request, because looking at your list, I'm not even sure you fully understand what mainstream is - some of what you've watched and rated high is considered "mainstream", and most of the stuff you rated low aren't considered so.

Anyway, I personally am eh about these, but going off your ratings for romance/slice of life, I think you'll get a much higher enjoyment out of it than I ever did.
anilist.co/anime/181444
anilist.co/anime/101573
anilist.co/anime/126288

Other than that, here are some other suggestions
anilist.co/anime/126403
anilist.co/anime/2246
anilist.co/anime/20661
anilist.co/anime/4081
anilist.co/anime/177385
anilist.co/anime/141911
anilist.co/anime/21827
anilist.co/anime/12883
anilist.co/anime/9989

Also, I haven't watched the anime for The Summer Hikaru Dies, but I loved the manga, and I heard the anime adaptation is good.
anilist.co/anime/177689

And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

vibes

An enjoyable anime is not necessarily objectively good. If you think about it a lot after you watch it, then it's good in your books. Periodt.

For starters welcome back! As to your questions here are my answers.

If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

This is something neither I, nor really anyone for that matter, can answer because ratings are subjective. Everyone has their own criteria of what makes a good anime for them, and most people are not going to be judging the anime they watch the same way as professional critics judge media, because most people do not possess the knowledge of knowing how storytelling as a craft works, and are instead basing their judgements on how entertained or emotionally impacted they were watching an anime.

So I would say don’t be concerned about it, and don't let the people around around you dictate what your preferences should be as well.

Based on my preferences, what are some anime you’d recommend that aren’t super mainstream?

Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?

This could have been one question since you are basically asking the same thing. Since you mention slice of life is one of your favorite genres here are a couple of shows that are under this genre.

Azumanga Daioh
Do It Yourself
LaidBack Camp
Urawa no Usagichan
Food for the Soul
Pokmon Concierge

Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?

This in a way could have been a part of the top two questions as well but I am going to keep this one separate because instead I am going to share with you some pointers to keep in mind when picking an anime to watch.

Firstly, I have noticed that people such as yourself who typically complain about sexual fan service in anime and struggle to find anime that have little to no such sexual content tend to be ones who are constantly either turning to anime that are either currently trending, or older titles that are highly regarded in the otaku space, and many of those series tend to be adaptations of manga targeted towards teenage boys and light novels targeted towards young adult men. From there that should give you an idea of why these shows tend to have sexual content. So the best course of action would be to simply not watch those shows. Given what you mention under your general preferences you seem to be trying to do just that so that is a start. However, I would say you want to avoid specifically battle/harem/ecchi anime since those tend to be the kind of anime you are likely going to come across sexual fanservice.

Secondly, make use of the search feature on anilist. By clicking on the Browse section on the top of the website you are taken to a page in which you are given selections that would help narrow down your searches ranging from genres (which includes tags that should further help narrow down your searches), year, season, and format. Furthermore when you click on the square to your right you are given more options to help find shows that would align with your preferences.

Do this and I think you might have a better time watching anime.

overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

Hm~...well I think for me I simply judge it by how well I think an anime does with storytelling and then from their take into consideration how much I enjoy watching it before deciding on a verdict.

Hopefully what I have shared would be of help to you.

Personally I don't think a rating is ever 'wrong' . I might disagree but that's just personal preference. Everyone has their own favorites and the ones they hate.

but for recommendations these are some shorter ones/slice of life with out any unnecessary fan service (not much of a horror person):

Angel Beats
Takopis Original Sin
(the anime above) not really a slice of life or horror but definitely has a lot of dark topics and it's really short
Ouran High School Host Club
Devilman Crybaby
(the anime above) personaly I havent watched this one but it seems like it might be up your ally
Death Parade
Weathering With You
Blue Box
(the anime above) I read the manga and I really enjoy it
The Klutzy Class Monitor and the Girl with the Short Skirt
(the anime above) currently airing
The Summer Hikaru Died
Tokyo Ghoul

for ratings it's mostly just how did i enjoy it?
1 - why did I finish this
2-3 - that was bad
4-5 - would not recommend
6-7 - not my taste
8 - that was really good, would recommend
9 - couldn't stop watching
10 - that was amazing I loved it and want other to watch it

If I was to differentiate between what makes an anime 'good' vs 'enjoyable'. I would say that 'good' is how is the animation, story, are the charters well written, where there any plot holes and stuff like that. but for ‘enjoyable’ I would sum it up to 'did l like it?' and how fast it took me to watch if it's only 12 episodes and I watched the first half and haven't picked it back up in months, I didn't enjoy it that much but if i watch it in one sitting i probably enjoyed it a lot or couldn't look away from the burning fire.

I hope this helps or that the recommendations are good.

• If you’ve seen anything on my list, do you think I rated anything way off? Why?

its really up to you, but I think the more shows you watch the more you will get into knowing what is good and what isn't.

• Based on my preferences, what are some anime you’d recommend that aren’t super mainstream?

ig you haven't seen that dorohedoro season 2 is currently airing, you should start with that.
Dorohedoro Season 2

Here are also some more of my favourites
Mushishi
FLCL
Katanagatari
TEXHNOLYZE
Bokurano
• Are there any shorter series or movies that are especially good in slice of life or horror?
FLCL (only 6 episodes)

• Do you know any anime that avoid heavy fan service or sexualization entirely?
Mushishi

• And overall, how do you personally decide what makes an anime “good” vs just enjoyable?

If its unique and something that genuinely makes me think and say, "yea this is actually good and special". Not generic stuff ig and sometimes you just have that feeling in your gut.