Since the commence of COVID and everyone had to be quarantined, there was a huge amount of people all over the internet starting to get interested into anime. There are a lot of streaming platforms where you can enjoy these shows, for example: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Hulu, etc. As time goes by, anime has grown an insane amount of viewership since people from all over the world find interest to these animated stories with any imaginable genre. This will be a list of a few most watched animes that should be in your watchlist.

Fruits Basket

To start off, Fruits Basket is a romantic comedy, slice of life, and supernatural fiction story that has won a 2021 Crunchyroll award for best drama of the year. Tohru Honda thought her life was headed for misfortune when a family tragedy left her living in a tent. When her small home is discovered by the mysterious Soma clan, she suddenly finds herself living with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Soma. But she quickly learns their family has a bizarre secret of their own: when hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into animals of the Zodiac. This show was honestly a tearjerker at some events in the story with many heartwarming moments, definitely one of the best dramas.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Coming in second we have, Demon Slayer, a story which is adventure fiction with dark fantasy that has won anime of the year for Crunchyroll back in 2020. In the Taisho Period of Japan, Tanjiro, a kindhearted boy who sells charcoal for a living, finds his family murdered by a unknown demon. To make matters worse, his younger sister Nezuko, the sole survivor, has been transformed into a demon herself. Devastated by reality, Tanjiro resolves this by wanting to become a “demon slayer” so that he can turn his sister back into human and avenge his family. The amount of detail that was put into this story is insane, from the plot to the art to the music it’s absolutely outstanding definitely a must watch.

Blue Period

At third we have Blue Period, a coming-of-age story that takes place in high school. This animation has recently aired due to popular demand from the printed series. Yatora Yaguchi, a second-year high school student with excellent grades and many friends has always felt empty and tired, like something was missing. One day he wanders into the school’s art room and is captivated by a piece of art that was displayed. Yatora was inspired and dives into the world of art and is able to express his true feelings for the first time from what he creates. This story shows how art is a magnificent hobby to take upon since many pieces of art come with a story behind. Blue Period is also known to have a LGBTQ character who struggles to have people understand their designated gender which also happens in real life to many trans people, this character is by far the best with an amazing story behind them.

Jujutsu Kaisen

For fourth there’s Jujutsu Kaisen, a supernatural story that was awarded anime of the year at the 2021 Crunchyroll awards and also awarded for other features. This story follows ordinary high school boy Yuji Itadori. One day, to save his friend from being attacked by a curse, he eats the cursed finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares his body with said curse. Itadori is then guided by the most powerful sorcerers, Satoru Gojo to Tokyo Jujutsu High School where more strong sorcerers/fighters defeat curses. Jujutsu Kaisen is also that type of anime where the art and the storyline is outstanding, from the fight scenes to the end credits which is understandable to why it won many awards. Definitely another must watch series.

Given

Coming at number five we have Given, a slice of life, romantic drama that follows a high amount of LGBTQ characters and also carries a movie for their side characters. Average high schooler Ritsuka Uenoyama is the electric guitarist for a band maintaining himself, bassist Haruki Nakayama, and drummer Akihiko Kaji. One day at school Ritsuka encounters a shy classmate, Mafuyu Sato, who is withholding a Gibson guitar with broken strings. Ritsuka quickly realizes that Mafuyu’s guitar was previously owned by Yuuki, Mafuyu’s childhood friend and boyfriend who died in an apparent suicide. Ritsuka comes to the conclusion that with Mafuyu’s singing skills, he would be a perfect fit into the band once he also learns the guitar. This series is a huge tearjerker when their songs are presented, the whole soundtrack to this story is beautiful along with the storyline because it faces struggles of losing a loved one.

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

To conclude, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. is a slice of life comedy series that was very popular during quarantine even though it aired around 2016. This story follows Kusuo Saiki, a powerful psychic teenager who hates attracting attention to himself and aims to have an ordinary life where ignorance is bliss. Sadly, Kusuo couldn’t keep his peace for a mere second. Wherever he goes, as well as school, he attracts attention of many odd characters and is forced to deal with their craziness. Kusuo comes to the realization that the ordinary life he dreams of is a lot more difficult to achieve than expected. This series is by far one of the best comedy animations because the character storylines are off the walls and it’s a very comedic show for lots of laughs.