The popularity for anime really ramped up in 2015 as fans flocked to the once mocked fad. It even brought fans mangaka ONE’s first anime adaptation, One-Punch Man. With a surge in production and viewership, anime saw a period of prosperity when it came to this particular year. More shows, more merch, more hype. Heck, it even saw the record-highest number of anime shows airing on television with 340 series according to the Association of Japanese Animations.
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2015 was a great year for iconic characters, memorable storylines, and insane twists in anime. Whether it’s superheroes looking for challenges, high school students looking for love, or shut-ins looking for a snack, these shows are some nostalgic top picks that had hype that still holds up. Even after a decade, some of these shows and unforgettable characters still rival the artistry, comedy, and relatability of some anime of today.
One-Punch Man
Many kids dream of becoming a super hero when they grow up. After training so rigorously for three years straight to the point of losing his hair, Saitama managed to achieve that dream. Now that he’s so strong he can defeat anything with a single punch, challenges have become not so challenging. In fact, they’ve become so easy to conquer, his once beloved hobby has become a source of boredom. When nineteen year old cyborg Genos happens upon such a strong hero, he insists on becoming Saitama’s disciple and encourages him into joining the Hero Association together. With a renewed excitement for battle, Saitama faces new challenges one punch at a time.
One-Punch Man became an instant hit in 2015 with its quirky, unique take on a superhero with Saitama. Not only was the more minimalistic choices adding to the hilarity with Saitama’s expressions, but also with his surprising routine that gave him his superhuman abilities.
One-Punch Man can be streamed on Hulu.
Death Parade
Though most people expect to be sorted into either Heaven or Hell directly after death, to the special few who die in pairs, they make a pit stop in Quindecim, a sort of purgatory-like bar. With a mysterious man named Decim acting as bartender and arbiter, it is he who is in charge of the judgement that directs the mortals’ fates via games. Whether it’s darts, bowling, or an arcade fighter, these games determine who earns reincarnation and who’s to be sent to the void. Along with the guests’ souls being wagered, their true natures also come to light during these revealing lethal trials.
2015 didn’t only bring interesting takes on superheroes and school, but also on death itself. While typically death tends to be a scary and intimidating prospect for what horrors lie beyond, in Death Parade, it’s not Decim himself that is the scariest part of death, but the people themselves.
Death Parade can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
Souma Yukihira, working at his father Jouichirou’s restaurant, hones his skills as an ambitious chef developing his culinary expertise and wowing customers with new inventive dishes in the hopes to one day exceed even his renowned father’s culinary skills and, someday, head the restaurant himself. But when Jouichirou reveals that he’ll be closing up shop to move to New York on a new venture, Souma decides to enroll at the prestigious Tootsuki Culinary Academy, famous for its curriculum that’s just as competitive as its students. But if Souma wishes to surpass his father in the culinary arts, he’ll have to survive the bitter culinary battles and graduate.
Please be advised that the characters often find the cuisine to be a bit too to their liking, shall we say, and isn’t exactly a family friendly cooking show. Even so, as famous as anime is for displaying food as art itself, Food Wars! in particular upped the ante in 2015 with a transcendental 4K focus on its dishes.
Food Wars can be streamed on Hulu, HIDIVE, and Crunchyroll where available.
Assassination Classroom
Unlike their peers at the elite Kunugigaoka Junior High School, Class 3-E, a class of delinquents and dropouts, is banished to attend classes in a derelict building away from the main campus. With little hope for a bright future, an unexpected turn of events opens the door of opportunity when a new teacher arrives. But the new teacher doesn’t just want to give them lessons in arithmetic, he wants to teach the class how to kill. Namely him. Dubbed Koro-sensei, the new teacher is actually a super fast, super resilient octopus-like creature thought to be an alien who, after destroying the moon, threatens to destroy the earth by the end of the school year. That is, if no one destroys him first.
Although dead set on destroying the world come the end of the school year, Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom brought an interesting twist in 2015 to the the plot of an evil monster training assassins — genuine care and kindness towards his killer students.
Assassination Classroom can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
The Boy and the Beast
Ren, left with nowhere to go and no one to rely on, takes to hiding himself within the streets of Shibuya, eventually stumbling into Kumatetsu who leads the boy to the beast realm of Shibuten. Although skilled at combat and intimidating in stature, Kumatetsu has struggled to find an apprentice for those very reasons. But in finding Ren, Kumatetsu’s finally found his break to prove himself a worthy candidate to replace the lord of the realm and Ren, now known as Kyuuta, has found a potential place to belong. Although they each initially pursue different goals, as the years pass, the boy and the beast eventually learn that they may have more in common and more they can teach each other than they realized.
Released in 2015 by Mamoru Hosoda, the same director who brought audiences films like Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Boy and The Beast brought the fantasy isekai genres a refreshing story of a boy finding acceptance and belonging among the world of beasts.
The Boy and the Beast can be streamed on Crunchyroll where available.
[RELATED: Mamoru Hosoda’s Films Are Moving to GKIDS]
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Pretty, graceful, flawless, and over-achieving, Umaru Doma is the perfect high school student. Or at least until she gets home. Leaving all the housework to her older brother Taihei, once Umaru returns home from school and dons her hamster hoodie, all bets are off, save for her laziness. When she’s not hanging out with her friends friends Nana Ebina and Kirie Motoba or competing with her self-proclaimed rival Sylphinford Tachibana, Umaru can inevitably be found lazing her otaku self about eating junk food and playing video games.
Relaxing and relatable, Himouto! Umaru-chan was one of the best slice-of-life comedies 2015 had to offer. Although taking it a bit further into becoming a bit two-faced in Umaru’s case, who among us otakus don’t enjoy becoming an indulgent gremlin and letting it all hang out after all the day’s demands are said and done?
Himouto! Umaru-chan can be streamed on HIDIVE where available.
School-Live!
The cheerful Yuki Takeya absolutely loves her life at school so much that she enjoys attending the School Living Club. Sleeping in the classrooms, waking up to the cute mascot dog’s kisses, cooking up meals in the clubroom, being able to attend class a little too conveniently — these students seem to love school enough to make it their life focus. Headed by the supervising teacher, Megumi Sakura, and president Yuuri Wakasa, with members Kurumi Ebisuzawa, Miki Naoki, and club dog Taroumaru, the club strives to make the most out of life at school.
The less said about this anime, the better, as it’s highly advised to simply just jump straight into watching. With highly cute girls going about their lighthearted daily school life, School-Live! did not disappoint in its 2015 debut with its surprisingly high stakes.
School-Live! can be streamed on HIDIVE where available.
My Love Story!!
Takeo Gouda, a tall and intimidating but kind and pure high school freshman, may be renowned among his fellow male peers for his courage and chivalry, but he’s not exactly popular with the ladies. Unlike his cool and handsome best friend Makoto Sunakawa who’s constantly having girls confessing their love to him, Takeo feels he can only dream of having the kind of luck with the ladies Sunakawa does. But one day when he saves a cute girl from being groped by a creep on the train, it’s love at first sight for Takeo. Despite his suspicion that the girl would be more likely to catch feelings for Sunakawa, Takeo resolves to protect Rinko Yamato at all costs, totally ignorant to the fact that the infatuation is mutual.
While many romances (and anime in general) tend to feature handsome, pretty, and moe main characters, 2015’s My Love Story!! flips the shoujo tropes on their heads by giving a kindhearted character who wouldn’t necessarily be considered “traditionally attractive” a chance at love and the limelight.
My Love Story!! can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu where available.
Overlord
As support for the popular virtual reality “Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game”, or DMMO-RPG, Yggdrasil is nearing its end, Momonga the powerful wizard and master of the dark guild Ainz Ooal Gown spends his time savoring the game while he can before the servers shut down. But when the clock strikes midnight when the game should’ve ended, Momonga finds that he not only didn’t get kicked from the game, but it’s not a game anymore. Still conscious as his character in the fantasy world, he and his now equally conscious and full of freewill NPC followers investigate and endeavor to take control of this very real offline world.
Overlord isn’t just another video game-based isekai, but one that heightens the hype by making all gamer dreams come true by not only giving the player the satisfaction of attaining a high level and acquiring items, followers, and achievements, but then making all that virtual hard work tangible.
Overlord can be streamed on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
In the bustling, fantastical city of Orario where gods and humans may live and work together but struggle to see eye to eye and the Dungeon is filled with dangers for adventure seekers, Bell Cranel seeks his own destiny to become the most renowned adventurer ever. Humble and naïve yet brave and courageous, Bell, following a chance encounter, became a member of the Hestia Familia and gained the support of the lonely goddess Hestia. And so with Hestia by his side, Bell may just achieve his goal as his strong feelings towards others not only strengthens his kind and caring demeanor, but his physical strength and abilities as well.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, or often shortened to DanMachi, had many fans hyped in 2015 for this fun fantasy action-adventure anime. Not only did the adorably twin-tailed goddess Hestia garner a lot of attention, but, headed by the courageous hero Bell, the show as a whole had just as much heart as hardiness.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? can be streamed on Hulu or Crunchyroll.
What was your favorite anime from 2015? Let us know in the comments if there’s any memorable picks that still hold up to their original hype!
