Anime titles you didn't expect to like

[rocklobster]

I try not to judge a title before I watch it, but sometimes I have done so. And then the anime in question sometimes surprised me. Here are some titles that surprised me:
Azumanga Daioh--usually weird titles don't go well with me. But after five episodes, I laughed so much I had to see the rest
Big O--I saw a late episode and couldn't follow it. Then it was rebroadcast and I got hooked
Chrono Crusade--the negative-seeming review on CAA seemed like a bad one. But when I tried it out, I found it very enjoyable.
Now and Then--I was prepared to really hate this one, but its positive message made me change my mind
Neon Genesis Evangelion--I was kind of wary of this because it was banned here. But I saw it and liked it. Especially after I saw the second movie

[ShiroiHikari]

I honestly did not expect to like Princess Tutu.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Anime. In general.

Ouran High School Host Club and Gurren Lagann.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Never thought I'd like it but it ended up being pretty awesome and the movie remakes became my absolute favorite anime.

Ga-Rei -Zero- - I just checked this out on a whim. The first episode is very misleading, making you think this is some action-oriented crazy animu so I didn't expect to like it much. O how misleading it is. Probably the only anime to really make me hold back tears.

Kara no Kyoukai - I tried several times to try to watch this but due to lame internet I wasn't able to so I quit. I thought it wasn't worth the effort cause it probably wasn't all the great. Then I went back and watched it when I had good internet cause I was bored. Absolutely fricking fell in love with it.

[MightiMidget]

I am with Mr. Hat'n'Clogs and echo anime in general. Though particularly Full Metal Alchemist, RomeoxJuliet, Tsubasa RESERvoir Chronicles...

[Midori]

I honestly did not expect to like Princess Tutu.

I've only seen the first season of this but I agree completely. I expect to see this show mentioned much more on this thread.

I certainly didn't expect Stellvia to be so good, or Samurai Champloo, or Saber Marionette J. And Gurren Lagann.

[Nate]

I didn't expect to like Full Moon wo Sagashite as much as I did. Not that I thought the series was going to be bad or anything. I just didn't know how good it was going to get. Of course, you have to suffer through the first part of the show to get to that point (there's like 30 episodes of filler after the first five or six).

[the_wolfs_howl]

I never expected to like Kodocha. Come on - a silly, girly, romantic comedy type of show? So not my thing. But as I watched it, I discovered that the over-the-top, stupid humor was exactly the kind I love the most, and amongst all the silliness, it actually deals with deep issues at the core. I certainly never expected that show to make me cry, yet I did in episode 19.

[Falx]

I never thought I would ever like something that wasn't an action show.

Then one day I saved up a bunch of money and went to Comic-Con... and came back with a burning desire to see more Azumanga Daioh and Ichigo Mashimaro.

[Atria35]

Princess Tutu. This was a title that my friend had mentioned to me when she was busy showing me really bad titles to attempt to get me to watch more anime (she failed until I went out on my own to search out stuff). But since the other stuff she showed me was so bad, I dismissed it outright from the description. Then I went back a few years later and watched it after reading a good review, and.... well.

[Hohenheim]

I never thought I'd like a series that didn't involve fights in some way. But here I am, finding that I quite enjoy slice-of-life anime.

When I first saw an episode of Fullmetal Alchemist years ago (the original anime, some time back in '04 I think), I thought it was too bloody, and too depressing. But once I got older and understood what the themes and messages for it were, it became one of my absolute favorite anime series.

[Wyntre Rose]

I'm in the whole "anime in general" camp as well. But more specifically, I never thought I'd like Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Vampire Knight (I know, I know...it's a guilty pleasure, ok? lol) or xxxHolic. For just about all of them, I'd heard them raved about and thought, "Hmmm...doesn't sound like my thing, but I'm sort of curious to see if this lives up to the hype..." And in most cases, they did.

[Atria35]

I never thought I'd like a series that didn't involve fights in some way. But here I am, finding that I quite enjoy slice-of-life anime.

So, out of curiosity, what's your favorite slice-of-life?

EDIT: Oh, another title I didn't expect to like was Kanon. I'm not into harem-genre, which this does count as. I'm not into incredibly sappy/dramatic romances (Romeo x Juliet doesn't count!). But I ended up enjoying this, and even crying when the [spoiler]fox-girl died[/spoiler]

[Hohenheim]

So, out of curiosity, what's your favorite slice-of-life?

EDIT: Oh, another title I didn't expect to like was Kanon. I'm not into harem-genre, which this does count as. I'm not into incredibly sappy/dramatic romances (Romeo x Juliet doesn't count!). But I ended up enjoying this, and even crying when the [spoiler]fox-girl died[/spoiler]

It might not fit the strict qualifications, but I consider Durarara to be my favorite slice of life anime. I also plan in the future to take a look at the series 'Spice and Wolf', as people here have given it quite a bit of praise.

EDIT: I have been informed by some that Durarara!! is not a slice of life anime. That is a shame.

[Blitzkrieg1701]

I didn't expect to like Azumanga Daioh because I'd already read some of the manga and it did nothing for me. I still don't care much for the manga (4 koma in general just don't click with me), but in anime form, I think Azumanga is fantastic.

[Rocketshipper]

Wasn't really expecting too much out of "Full Metal Panic". The trailers didn't catch my interest that much, and the handful of episodes we watched once in anime club left me underwhelmed. But then came...Fumoffu!!!! Total concentrated Win and Awesome!!! Second Raid was great too.

I also seem to underestimate the more popular Shounen series. If you'd asked me back when I was in high school if I'd ever be interested in watching Dragon Ball or Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho, I'd have told you "no way!! they're too long and repetitive and generic". But I eventually got drawn into all three series, and now enjoy them quit a bit.

[wildpurplechild]

Naruto. I thought it looked terrible, and it was so popular, for some reason I thought i'd be lame, but now I really like it.
Death Note. The name made me think it would be violent, have a bad message, or something like that. Death Note is now one of my favorite series.

[NothingClever]

Ouran High School Host Club - I don't even remember why I eventually decided to watch it but somehow I had managed to confuse the gender confusion of the show to the point where I suspected it was yaoi. All the girls going fangirly (is that even a word ?) didn't help either. Regardless of whether it's supposed to be a comedy or a reverse harem drama/romance, I took it to be a comedy. My roommate still doubts my sanity I was laughing so much

Baccano! - I don't like gangster shows. I don't know if it's from the few episodes of Sopranos I saw when my roommates were watching it or just the way such shows tend to glorify crime but the whole gangster thing just irritates me. The constant raving of Baccano! fans here on CAA finally convinced me to overcome my prejudices and now I'm one of them . Go watch the show! (if you're old enough)

[Rusty Claymore]

Haha, I need to bookmark this thread for when I'm looking for a new series! The closest thing I can come up with that is according to the thread is the manga xxxHolic(which I started calling 'Yuukoxa-holic'... I don't know why, it just happened... XD). Due to the title I thought it was ecchi, but it turned out awsome!

@NothingCleve: Now I'm going to go watch Baccano!!. I am exactly the same way with gangster stuff, so if you liked it I'll give it a try. I'll have to balance it with some Trigun or Tsubasa. XD

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

@NothingCleve: Now I'm going to go watch Baccano!!. I am exactly the same way with gangster stuff, so if you liked it I'll give it a try. I'll have to balance it with some Trigun or Tsubasa. XD

Ryohgo Narita, which includes Baccano!, is the greatest anime ever. It needs no balancing.

And by the way, it's only one exclamation point for Baccano!, two for Durarara!!.

[Wolf-man]

The one I can really think of is Death Note. When I first heard of it I had a bad vibe. I thought it was some show about an evil guy, who was our protagonist, with a notebook that could kill and was followed around by a demon. I even watched a clip and ironically enough L disturbed me a bit.XD
Then a few years went by and here at college people kept telling me it was amazing. So I tried an episode and realized that I had not watched it in context before and did not understand what was going on. I realized that evil was not glorified in this show as I had originally thought. I was hooked on it since then and it is a contender for the top spot of my favorite anime.

[AnimeGirl]

Oh man, well there's...

Pokemon - When we were kids, my bro and I always thought this was a dumb show (but we never watched it!) and one day Mom was flipping through and got bored and said "Here, watch Pokemon" and we watched it, and loved it and watched it ever since (until like season 5 XD!).
Cardcaptors - I remember seeing the advertisement for the Time Card episode playing over and over again, I didn't think much about the series, until we finally watched it. Now this like like my all-time favorite.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles - When getting back into Cardcaptors again, and looking it up, I discovered this title, featuring the alternates of Li and Sakura. Now, I foudn the plot very weird and had nothing to do with the cards, then I discovered they were alternates, and that the anime was only rated PG, so I watched it, instantly fell in love. And I like the manga, too, especially the later volumes (even though it gets dark and sad).
xxxHOLiC - I wasn't interested in seeing this, even though it's where Yuuko came from in Tsubasa. But Mom wanted to see it when I told her Tsubasa crosses over with xxxHOLiC, 'cause she liked the concept of a wish granting shop. And so, I watched with her....and now this is like my ultimate faves, it's just so hilarious, and I even started reading the manga.

Wow, alot of my faves I didn't expect to like. XD!!!

[Nate]

Cardcaptors

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Sorry. It's just when I was younger, I read the manga of Cardcaptor Sakura and loved it to death. So when I heard it had been licensed and dubbed, I was eager to watch it...and was appalled. APPALLED at how butchered and destroyed the show was compared to the original.

Cardcaptors started on episode eight of Cardcaptor Sakura. EPISODE. EIGHT. THEY SKIPPED SEVEN ENTIRE EPISODES. Why? To introduce Li, of course! Because we all KNOW that shows for girls are stupid and dumb, no, we need to pretend that Li is equal to Sakura (he never was) and that he was a co-star of the show (he wasn't), otherwise we can't get boys to watch this show that was intended for girls.

Plus that awful, awful intro that was garbage compared to Catch You Catch Me. I can accept that the intro has to be changed for the dub (because of licensing music costs, and whatnot) but couldn't they at least have made a DECENT intro?

Fortunately Pioneer released the series unedited and subbed on DVD so I mean it's all good but still...sorry to go off on a tangent. I'm just a bitter Cardcaptor Sakura fan. >.>

[Atria35]

Fortunately Pioneer released the series unedited and subbed on DVD so I mean it's all good but still...sorry to go off on a tangent. I'm just a bitter Cardcaptor Sakura fan. >.>

I have my own reasons why I don't like Cardcaptors (some of which are the same as yours), but I agree. The licensed stuff pales to the original.

But now I'm still an embittered fan, because I can't get the whole original set for less than, oh, $500 because it's out-of-print.

[AnimeGirl]

Why am I always attacked just because I have a love for a show that introduced me to anime? Maybe I should just shut up then.... v_v

[Fish and Chips]

Ouran High School Host Club.

I hate Shoujo.

I think this is hilarious.

[Nate]

Why am I always attacked just because I have a love for a show that introduced me to anime? Maybe I should just shut up then.... v_v

I'm not attacking you! I'm attacking Nelvana. Unless...are you actually the President of Nelvana? :O

[AnimeGirl]

I'm not attacking you! I'm attacking Nelvana. Unless...are you actually the President of Nelvana? :O

No, but I just saw no point in it. I was just talking about anime I didn't expect to like, was all, I didn't expect any responses, especially like that. Though you may have not been attacking me, it still kinda hurts, that's all.

[Nate]

*shrug* Not much I can do about that, I suppose. Like I said, I was reading the Cardcaptor Sakura manga about...two years before the anime got dubbed? I dunno. I know I was reading the manga in '99 or so, because I had to go to a specialty comic shop to get the manga...and this'll probably tell you how old this is, because at the time they didn't sell manga in collected volumes like they do now. The CCS manga was released in single chapters, and were the same size as regular comic books. It was crazy. I do kinda miss the larger size though.

So yeah, like I said, I'm pretty opinionated because I was immediately aware of how badly Cardcaptors was handled by Nelvana. I had a similar experience to yours though, I was big into Sailor Moon as a kid. Heck, Sailor Moon was the show that got me into anime in the first place, and I liked it a lot. Then I found out how much DiC cut out and edited from the show and I was upset about it.

There's no shame in liking something that's bad though. :3 I love the movie Kung Pow. I love it. I can't get enough of it. And everyone says that movie sucks. But I don't care. I love it and it doesn't matter how bad it is I will always love it.

[Atria35]

Why am I always attacked just because I have a love for a show that introduced me to anime? Maybe I should just shut up then.... v_v

...I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to disparage your love of Cardcaptors- I have a special place in my heart for Cardcaptors, too. It's just that now that I've seen the original, and know how badly they chopped it up for American audiences, I feel disappointed that the people who brought it over didn't think that American audiences couldn't handle the original.