Returning to Anime? The Best Anime Series of 2008 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 2008, here are all the best anime series that you missed and definitely should go back and watch.

Toradora

Ryuuji Takasu is a gentle student with a passion for housework, however his thug face causes his fellow students to think him a delinquent. Taiga Aisaka is small and cute, but with an attitude as fierce as a tiger. Both of these misunderstood students have a crush two classmates, and after a series of misunderstandings of their own, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance.

Toradora is a classic to the romance genre. It is comical and Taiga is perhaps one of the most likable tsunderes in anime. If you like romance anime in any form and haven’t watched Toradora yet, you will love it.

Black Butler

In his darkest moments, the young Ciel Phantomhive formed a pact with a demon to exchange his soul for those who wronged him. Now this demon poses as his butler and Ciel strives for both success and vengeance in Victorian England.

While some manga fans are upset with certain deviations, Black Butler presents an interesting premise with unexpectedly dark undertones. While it sometimes struggles with what sort of series it wants to be, there is a lot for people to enjoy with its variety of interesting characters.

Natsume’s Book of Friends

For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has been chased by spirits, but recently he discovered that the reason was because his deceased grandmother had passed on to him her “Book of Friends,” a book containing all the spirits she had brought under her control. Now Natsume realizes that these spirits haunt him in hopes of gaining freedom. With few friends, no loving home, and constantly hunted by malicious spirits, Natsume looks for a place where he belongs.

Episodic and long-running, Natsume’s Book of Friends combines the joys of mellow anime with classic Japanese spirits and legends. It is the type of show that isn’t stuffed full of action, but rather tells poignant individual tales.

Spice and Wolf

For generations, Holo was a revered wolf deity that helped the local wheat harvest in exchange for tribute. However, as the villagers become more self-sufficient, they no longer need or even believe in her anymore. During her annual festival, she sneaks into the cart of Kraft, a visiting merchant, hoping he will let her hitch a ride home.

Spice and Wolf is an interesting beast. It has a charming budding relationship between the two main characters, exploration of a rich and interesting world, and will teach far more about medieval economics than you ever wanted to know. While it has a bit of a slow and deliberate pace at first, you fall very much in love with the characters given time.

Rosario + Vampire

Due to his bad grades, Tsukune Aono was unable to get into any good high schools. However, at the last minute, he was accepted to Youkai Academy. Unfortunately for him, it is a high school for werewolves, vampires, and other monsters. With the help of a vampire and some other new girl friends that take a liking to him, Tsukune tries to hide his human status from his classmates.

A little ecchi, a little comedy, and a little romance. Rosario + Vampire dips its toes into many genres that, instead of being muddling, ends up being pretty enjoyable if you don’t go into it expecting something too serious. It is a harem show but not a vastly naughty one, so that should tell you all you need to know as to if you will enjoy it.

Skip Beat

Although extremely bright, Kyouko Mogami’s naivety shines brighter as she toils endlessly to support her childhood friend and rising pop star Shou Fuwa. However, when she learns that all her hard work is like free servitude to her friend, she decides to get back at him by joining the ruthless world of entertainment herself.

Skip Beat is shoujo drama at its finest. There is friendship and betrayal, romance and melancholy, and it all takes place in show business. While even in 2008 it had some older animation, its got a twisty story to tell.

Junjo Romantica

Misaki is a regular high school student that is stressed about his university entrance exams. In order to do well, he accepts the help of his older brother’s friend, a famous author named Usami. However, he soon discovers that Usami is an author of a very naughty genre and it has awoken something new in Misaki as well.

Junjo Romantica is a staple in the shounen-ai / yaoi genre. Not just because it is a lengthy series, but because it focuses on more than one same sex couple. Essentially, you get a nice variety of romance stories within that keeps fans happy.

Michiko and Hatchin

For the fourth time, hardened criminal Michiko breaks out of South American prison in order to search for a man from her past. This search leads her to the young Hana, a girl trapped under the thumb of her abusive foster family. Breaking her out as a key in her search, the unlikely pair set off on their search, only to be embroiled in everything from betrayal to gang warfare.

Created by Shiniciro Wanatabe after the legendary Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, people had a lot of high hopes for this series. It likely let them down, but this series is still incredibly good. It tells a classic journey tale while turning a lot of tropes on its head. Furthermore, it is still one of the few anime series featuring characters of color in less offensive ways and in a main character role.

Casshern Sins

With the world over and humanity gone, all that is left is sentient robots. They were supposed to live forever, but as they begin to rust and die, a rumor goes around that eating one called Casshern will stop their passing. Casshern, the target of their intentions, knows nothing of his past, but leaves death everywhere he goes as he is constantly hunted.

Widely overlooked, Casshern Sins presents an interesting world where only robots are left and those robots are dying. This creates this sense of urgency among them as well as an interesting mystery as to why Casshern is targeted.

Soul Eater

Death City is home to a famous technical academy and ran by Lord Death himself. At this academy, meisters train with their human weapons in order to evolve them into Death Scythes to be wielded by the Grim Reaper, Lord Death. Only by consuming 99 evils souls and the soul of one witch will a weapon be able to evolve. This is the story of several students of the academy as they try to grow stronger and protect Death City in the process.

Most notable for its creative character designs, Soul Eater ends up a very visual feast. Unfortunately, many positive things can’t be said for the plot of the anime series. It can feel a little muddled where you need to piece together some things yourself sometimes and an ending that was nothing short of rushed.

Birdy the Mighty: Decode

Federation investigator Birdy is chasing a space criminal called Geega through the universe until their game of cat and mouse lands them on Earth. However, Geega has disguised himself as a human in the entertainment industry. Unluckily for college student Senkawa, he gets used as a shield by Geega during one of their fights. Birdy saves his life, but the two now find their lives linked to each other.

Now this here was an example of how beautiful animation was done in 2008. Birdy was a fluid series with a kind of odd alien plot, but damn was it fun to watch.

Itazura na Kiss

Kotoko Aihara finally works up the nerve to confess to her crush, only to be coldly shot down. Her bad luck continues when her new house is crumbled to the ground by an earthquake. While her father gets an offer from a friend to come live with them, her bad luck continues on when that family turns out ot be her crush that just crushed her long-hidden love for him into the dirt.

I have so many fundamental problems with the way the romantic relationship is presented in Itazura Kiss, but it is still one of those iconic romance series. One of the good parts about it is that the relationship, even if it does present a terrible example of what a healthy real romantic relationship looks like, does go beyond high school and into the college and adult years.