Returning to Anime? The Best Anime Series of 2007 That You Missed

Been away from anime for awhile? We understand. You go out and have your life, anime will always be waiting for you when you come back. They always come back. If you are finally coming back and stopped watching sometime in or before 2007, here are all the best anime series that you missed and definitely should go back and watch.

Nodame Cantabile

Shinichi Chiaki is a first-rate musician that has dreams of playing among Europe’s elite. However, due to his fear of flying, he has remained firmly grounded in Japan. In his fourth year at Japan’s top music university, he meets Megumi Noda, or Nodame, as she prefers to be called. At first she seems unkempt and without direction, but when he hears her play, everything he thought he knew about her was wrong.

Both an excellent music anime and an excellent romance anime. The real big positive about it is that the characters aren’t overwhelmed with drama, but rather they support each other both professionally and emotionally.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Simon and Kamina were living boring lives in their deep underground village when, on an excavation dig, they find a mysterious object that turns out to be the ignition key to an ancient war machine. With their new weapon, the pair are able to fend off an attack from above, but upon catching a glimpse of the sky, they set off on an adventure that will take them out of this universe.

While a parody of the mecha genre at times and absolutely over the top with its machismo, fans learned to love the series in its own right. The extremeness of it really gave it a sort of unbeatable passion that is difficult to capture in anime.

Moyashimon

Tadayasu is a college freshmen at an Agricultural University with a special power –  he can talk to cute, chibified versions of bacteria and other microscopic organisms. While it sounds like fun, his special ability gets him into all kinds of trouble.

Nothing like cute bacteria to make you realize how gross the world is. That aside, it is one of those more educational series as well.

Ghost Hound

In the small village of Suiten, three boys with traumatic pasts learn how to let their souls travel in between the world they know and the mysterious Unseen World. The Unseen World is one of ghosts. However, the three boys aren’t the only things coming and going from this world. Ghosts are now also beginning to pass into the real world as well.

This is an often overlooked little paranormal mystery series. It is one of those shows that wrapped up its story in a single season, told a good one, but was sadly forgotten over time.

Moribito

It is said that a widespread drought is coming to the Shin Yogo Empire and in order to avoid famine, that the reincarnation of the water spirit must be sacrificed to prevent it. However, the water spirit is the emperor’s own son. However, his mother spirits the boy away with a mysterious female mercenary in order to save his life.

This series creates a culturally rich world, and then tells a story of how a young prince experiences the plight of the common people with a female mercenary as his shepherd and protector. Yet, that world doesn’t feel like a waste because you are learning about it with a very young and naive character. It is one of those series where you do wish there was more at the end though.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Nozomu Itoshiki is a high school teacher that is so pessimistic that even small misfortunes can send him spiraling into a pit of despair. Surrounded by increasingly insane students, Nozomu’s unique brand of despair has its own way of affecting them, often in a positive manner.

While initially Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei seems like just a playful black comedy, as it progresses through the seasons, it becomes much more psychological. You get real invested in the mystery of it, however.

Lovely Complex

Risa is very tall for a girl. Atsushi is very short for a boy. They are both in love with different people who actually end up dating each other. With both their loves taken, the two form an unlikely friendship that soon turns into something more.

What makes Lovely Complex a unique sort of romance is that the female realizes her feelings quite quickly, but the male character is more hesitant about it. Even while they are figuring things out though, they are still great friends, so that was nice.

Baccano

Baccano follows the seemingly unrelated events of a series of characters spanning different times and different places. However, it is ultimately part of a much larger story, one that tells the tales of alchemy, immortality, and survival.

Baccano has ten tons of characters to keep track of, but has an original and rewarding plot that utilizes them all. It’s a complicated affair, but it is a series clearly made for people that like their plots complicated.

Minami-ke

This is the story of three sisters: the responsible high school-aged Haruka, wild child middle schooler Kana, and the devious elementary school-aged Chiaki. They live together without their parents and go about their surprisingly average life. Helping each other get through everything from love confessions to cooking, this is the story of three average girls doing normal and slightly abnormal things.

Telling the story of three sisters who hit all the key ages, and mostly, how they interact with their friends. It is a fun little slice of life show that keeps things light for when you just want to chill.

Demon Detective Nougami Neuro

Neuro Nougami is a demon that feeds on mysteries and puzzles. However, as a demon who must remain unnoticed by humans, he pairs up with a human girl in order to solve mysteries, a job she hopes will help her solve her own personal mystery.

The best mystery series you’ve never heard of! The mysteries and premise are pretty unique and the show itself is a bit psychedelic.

Claymore

In Claymore, the world is overcome with demons called Yoma that constantly plague humanity. After Raki’s parents were killed by Yoma, he teams up with Claire, a Claymore, an order of powerful half-human, half-Yoma women that are shunned by society but fight to rid the world of Yoma. Together, each learns more about the each other and work towards their own goals.

While fans of the manga will find nothing but disappointment with the rushed filler ending, Claymore creates a pretty interesting world filled with…pretty much just suffering for the characters that live in it.

Clannad

Tomoya Okazaki is a delinquent who finds everything dull and believes he will never amount to anything, that is, until a girl named Nagisa catches his eye one day on his way to school. Suddenly, Tomoya begins to notice Nagisa more and more. She is sickly and weak, but she always tries her best in order to follow her dream of reviving the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help Nagisa, and along the way ends up helping several other girls and potential drama club members. However, as he learns more about the girls and helps them overcome their problems, he might just be able to overcome his own as well.

While not everyone’s cup of tea, Clannad is basically just finely distilled drama. Every girl (and character) has problems. The main character helps solve them, and they develop feelings for them. Luckily, it doesn’t end up your standard ecchi harem, but instead stays wholesome and makes the chosen waifu very clear.

Lucky Star

Lucky Star follows the average, but surprisingly eventful lives of four high school girls, lead by the short and lazy otaku Konata Izumi. Throughout their hijinks they discuss humorous observations about the world around them, ranging from everything from otaku culture to the correct way of eating foods.

While very moe, Lucky Star has some excellent otaku comedy shoved in there. Unfortunately, as it is a show about nothing, it can get drown out with monotony. It’s very much the moe Seinfeld of anime.

Shigurui

At the beginning of the Edo Era, a time of peace has descended over the land. The Lord Tokugawa Tadanaga, however, has decided to hold a fighting tournament with real steel instead of wooden swords. Within this tournament, the one-armed Gennosuke and blind Seigen are set to face off. As they were both disciples of Iwamoto Kogan, the greatest swordsman in all of Japan, both are determined to prove they are the rightful successor.

In the simplest terms, Shigurui draws you in because it starts with a blind samurai and a maimed samurai about to fight, and you likely want to know why. What follows is a tale of ferocity. This isn’t so much a show for people who can’t handle very much gore because there is a lot of it.

My Bride is a Mermaid

Michishio Nagasumi is living a normal life when he almost drowns on summer vacation. He is rescued by, of all things, a beautiful mermaid. Unfortunately, she is from a yakuza family that states if a human sees a mermaid, either the human or the mermaid must die. To save her life, Michishio agrees to marry the mermaid and become part of this crazy family.

Romantic comedies often tend to forget they are comedies too. Not this one. Sometimes it forgets it is a romance series, though. If you are in the mood to laugh, this show is great if you don’t take it very seriously.

Kaiji

Kaiji Itou is a thug in the truest sense. With his days spent drinking and stealing hubcaps, his world is turned upside down when a co-worker tricks him into taking on a huge debt. In order to pay it off, Kaiji takes up a shady offer to participate in illegal gambling on a cruise ship that is filled with even worse scumbags than him.

Off-putting pointy chins aside, Kaiji got people addicted on the idea of high stakes gambling anime series. You might say that this is a predecessor to shows like Kakegurui or No Game No Life where clever games are the highlight of the series.

Mononoke

Mononoke follows the story of a man simply known as the Medicine Seller. However, it is not medicine he sells, but rather he travels feudal Japan ridding villages of malevolent spirits called mononoke. However, in order to kill each spirit he encounters, he must first learn its Form, Truth, and it’s Reason.

Mononoke is a rather low-key, but visually gorgeous anime. It isn’t stuffed with action, but it is a series that is very driven by dialogue. It is one of those more ponderous series that leave you thinking about the individual investigations that happen in each episode.

Bokurano

During their summer vacation, 15 children are enjoying summer camp together. One day, they decide to go explore a cave by the sea, inside they meet a mysterious man named Kokopelli who is surrounded by high-tech equipment. Kokopelli claims to be a game developer and asks if the children would help him test it. Each child signs a contract, but instead of playing a game, they are actually piloting a giant mech to defend the earth from 15 different alien invasions.

There are few things more fun that watching young children try to futility survive a horrible situation. Bokurano is a mecha series that hits pretty hard more akin to the NGE, but less philosophical.

School Days

In a stroke of fate, Makoto Itou noticed Kotonoha Katsura on the train ride to school. Too shy to ask her out, he finds himself encouraged by his classmates Sekai Saionji who also has a crush on Makoto. What should have been blissful school days soon turns sour as love triangle cross and both women find themselves unable to live without Makoto.

School Days is, to be perfectly honest, trash. But it is the best kind of trash that is just so ridiculous at the end. You watch it because it is one of those quintessential experiences of the fandom. Although, the ending is gory, and that might be too much to handle for some viewers who were expecting a dramatic romance anime.

Dennou Coil

Yuuko Okonogi and her family move to Daikoku City, the technological center for the new augmented reality technology. There she joins an investigation agency with other children equipped with powerful virtual tools. Here she encounters a hacker named Yuuko Amasawa that seeks to unlock the mystery behind a computer virus that cut off a portion of the virtual world.

The frustrating thing about Denno Coil is that it starts slow. Many drop it because the beginning is rather boring. However, you get the payoff in the later end of the series. This is a really a fantastic show for those who want something quite deep and ponderous on technology and the human consciousness.

Myself; Yourself

Five years ago, Hidaka Sana moved to Tokyo with his parents, but now he has come back to his small village. However, a lot has changed over the years in both him and his childhood friends.

Sometimes you just want a series with some drama to it. Myself;Yourself has it in spades. Simple communication would clear up a lot of it, but it is still a treat to see how a lot of it goes down.