Share and discuss your anime 3x3!

Karyotype · March 25, 2025, 9:02pm

In order from left-to-right & top-to-bottom.

Ergo Proxy
Steins; Gate
Cowboy Bebop
Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind
Spirited Away
Psycho-Pass
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Serial Experiments Lain
A Silent Voice

I have varying opinions on these, but I am not enthusiastic enough to write about all of them. If curious, please respond with an inquiry.

Januz2501 · March 25, 2025, 11:16pm

Lycoris Recoil - Girls with guns!
Girls' Last Tour - I love its atmosphere, and how happy and calm it is (simultaneously to how sad it is)
_{(probably the closest thing to good Blame! adaptation we will ever get XD)}
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - Political drama, big robots and yuri. What more can you want?
Heavenly Delusion - I love the not nuclear-waste-gray post-appos. Also I love the visuals and how the parts of the story slowly connect._{_{(that’s definitely all, go to the next position please)}}
Frieren - I read the manga before so I wasn’t expecting anime to add much to that masterpiece. I was wrong.
86 - I have to finally read “All quiet on the western front”, I’ve been putting it of for too long
Ergo Proxy - If only the end was as good as the beginning. 10/10 regardless
Ghost in the shell - Requires far longer post, but in short first anime movie that I watched by choice and very influential for me (I mean I kinda made it a part of my name xd)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Favourite ghibli movie, and the first anime I have ever seen (tho not in full). I especially love the mechanical designs.

Only now I realise how much post-apocalyptic stuff is in there

I loved Psycho-Pass. The only reason it’s not on my 3x3 is that it was literally first anime series I’ve ever watched so I would have to rewatch it so give it a fair judgment XD

_{Honorary mentions:
Cowboy bebop
Princes Mononoke
Your Name.
Girls Band Cry
No Guns Life
The Witch and the Beast
Black Lagoon
Otherside Picnic}

Sarderah · April 12, 2025, 1:26am

.hack//Sign: this might seem strange, but... it's my lowest ranked anime of all time. But it has such a mystic to it - beautifully drawn scenarios, haunting soundtrack... but everything else is lacking. One of the first isekai anime out there, I think? Proto-SAO, I suppose.
Hajime no Ippo: one of my favourite series of all time. Bullied kid turns to boxing, a story about the meaning of strength, of burning passion and struggle, but also of family and friendship.
Little Witch Academia: cute, whimsical story about a klutz witch going about her magical school life.
Spice and Wolf: has one of the best openings ever, imo. Forgotten wolf god meets merchant and they set out to travel to the former's homeland, delving into the mercantile side of the world on the way.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: the absolute zenith. The greatest. Give me a clip and my blood will boil, I'll be standing up, screaming at my screen along with the characters, flexing and posing.
Toradora: Still to this day the quintessential romance anime for me. I think. Haven't seen that many in a while. BUT, still love this one.
Kekkai Sensen: there's something jazzy, mysterious, and truly captivating about this one. BUMP OF CHICKEN did an amazing job with the opening, it's on my "hype music to jolt me awake when driving" playlist.
Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katri no Nazotoki File: I'm a long time fan of Professor Layton; my mom and I would play the games together when I was a kid. Years later, I discovered this existed! A comfy blend of slice of life and detective cases.
Hunter X Hunter: The 2011 version was one of the first few anime I watched, I only watched the 1999 many years later, but wow. It blew me out of the water: the more somber feel, the look of the 90's artstyle and the insane animation made it that much more memorable for me. Don't start the Greed Island arc OVA. Beyond that lies only ruin and misery.

Amaria · April 12, 2025, 3:54pm

Have any of y'all checked out the new Gundam show tho? I am so unimaginably hype for a UC show directed by Anno, where they're clearly changing up the art style, having a vtuber sing the ed, (potentially learning that actually queer characters are a good idea after WFM?) just out here not stagnating. It's awesome.

Myna · April 14, 2025, 3:23am

Ooh fun! Here's mine

1. Revue Starlight - My favorite anime, hits everything I would want from a series. An incredible depiction of what it means to perform and be seen.

2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Incredibly creative, unique, and heartfelt expression of a varied set of neurodivergent struggles.

3. Monogatari Series - All over the place, some parts I'm not super big on, but ultimately an incredibly meaningful series to me.

4. Code Geass - Has no business being as good as it is but it's such a shockingly strong depiction of various political topics and explores the mindsets present within people at the core of great social unrest with incredible detail.

5. Neon Genesis Evangelion - Mainly for the rebuild films which are sooo incredible (though I do absolutely love the original series as well!). Never seen a series as thoroughly bare its own self to the viewer in such an unabashedly naked and critical manner.

6. BanG Dream! MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica - A new addition! Really wonderful set of shows that explores some very difficult topics with a lot of grace.

7. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Everyone knows it, but it is indeed really really good! One of the most consistent shows out there, means a lot to me personally considering when in my life I first watched it...

8. Talentless Nana - Kinda taking the manga into account for this one. A very heartfelt story of an indoctrinated person and how they reckon with understanding the abuse they've underwent, all in the setting of a My Hero Academia-like world.

9. Death Note - Another classic, and honestly I feel is a fantastically unique depiction of depression. One of the coolest watches ever, too...

GetSlep · April 28, 2025, 4:38am

Seeing a lot of Frieren, but has anyone else seen maquia?
it's also in the "immortals getting sad their human friends don't live long" genre

Aizen_Ritter · July 22, 2025, 5:52pm

in no particular order, anime 3x3:

Names & Opinions of each anime in the 3x3

Hunter x Hunter (2011): up there as probably my favorite technically-shonen anime. the worldbuilding is phenomenal, the character development is subtle but very well-done. oh and it's also part of my neverending quest to find interesting power systems
Space Brothers/Uchuu Kyoudai: genuinely one of the most wholesome stories i've ever watched, of a person doing his damnedest to reclaim a passion and dream he thought he had lost the chance for years ago. beyond that, it's also just a really interesting and surprisingly realistic depiction of the kinds of trainings/screenings that prospective astronauts can go through. (i can actually point to real life examples of some of it!)
Made in Abyss: this anime hurt me and i enjoyed it. jokes aside i would describe the anime as gut-wrenching child suffering for the sake of a greater goal. in a lot of ways there's also some very creepy and unpleasant things with the depictions of the children, seemingly due to tendencies of the original mangaka. i won't say more on that, but be wary of it for that reason.
that aside. it has some of the most amazing worldbuilding i've ever seen. and for that reason alone it enthralled me.
Log Horizon: this anime has lived rent-free in my head for years. it's arguably not great, but also not bad. i can't really think of any truly standout things about it compared to a lot of other shows. but i enjoyed it. i still do.
World Trigger: i am simply incredibly biased here. World Trigger is probably like my "ideal" shonen anime. and is more or less a very long-running comfort show for me. technically spoilers explaining why i love the show: Osamu, as a character who is routinely underpowered than every other character in the show, who has to work incredibly hard to even begin to measure up. actively needing to use his wits to make up for his flaws, because it's the only way he can even begin to operate on their level. and then still, in spite of this, sometimes it still goes wrong, and it falls to his friends and allies to help.
i dunno. i value the show a lot. i really enjoy it. i'm under no illusions of it being amazing though; i'm just biased =^=
Death Parade: one of my favorite anime of all time, very psychological and somewhat philosophical. there's... not much i can say without spoiling anything? or at least, not much that i'd want to say. if you've watched it you can likely figure why i like it. if you haven't, then i'd recommend watching it at some point if you can.
Soul Eater: what can i say? i like style. Soul Eater had and still has a lot of style. perhaps my favorite part about it is... well, the character development. it's a show that's completely about character development. even to start with, none of the protagonists are weak. but they have issues they need to work at. and so they do, while things progressively go off the rails.
beyond that, it's also a show which does a rather good job of balancing comedy and seriousness.
Air Gear: if i could remove all the ecchi from one show i would pick this one in a heartbeat. i love the aesthetics of it so much and always have, and i still think the OST Hideki Naganuma (under the alias "Skankfunk") put together for this anime is one of his best works. there's such a sense of style to it, and an overarching undertone of the desire for freedom, it means a fair bit to me.
i just wish it didn't have all the ecchi bits. like c'mon. and yet, the anime is STILL super toned down from the manga. "Oh! great" is kind of ridiculous. he always does this.
Dimension W: Last but not least; an anime i've been a longtime fan of, but found that it's rather underappreciated. it's hard to point to a particular single aspect of Dimension W that i enjoy. i suppose it could be chalked up to the cast; it's an array of fun characters and personalities, in my opinion.

Honorable Mentions: Ancient Magus' Bride/Mahoutsukai no Yome, Black Lagoon, Blood Blockade Battlefront/Kekkai Sensen, Claymore, Jormungand, Magi, K Project, and A Certain Magical Index
honestly there's way more i could yap about too, but yeah. if i watched anime a ton again this whole list would probably be way bigger anyways.

and... cause i don't watch much anime anymore anyways, but i do still read a fair few manga
how about a manga 3x3?

...my manga 3x3 is a bit of a different vibe, i think.

Names & Opinions of each Manga* in the 3x3

The Climber/Kokou no Hito: this is a manga about climbing. it starts off kinda like a generic sports shonen, but past volume 4, it takes on a wildly different tone. this is because from volume 4 on, there was no one writing the story aside from the illustrator.
it is a story about a person's fight with himself, with his goals, with nature, and the world.
there is little dialogue, and less as you get further into it. but as they say, pictures can be worth a thousand words.
Helck: there's not much i can say about helck without spoiling it somewhat. it's definitely one of my favorite manga of all time. please read it blind, and give it at least 5 chapters to decide if you want to stick with it or not.
I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year/Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen ni Tsuki, Ichimanen de: this is a depressing manga. the title alone should make that evident. there is not a happy ending here. this manga is bitter. it is unpleasant. there is some happiness to be found in it, but it's a kind of happiness that shines through only because of how miserable everything else is. it is relatable in many ways, at least to me. and at the end, it's a story about how life isn't something to measure the value of so rigidly.
i don't recommend this for everyone. if you are already depressed, reading this may help, or it may make it worse. it's also short, at only 18 chapters. i've said my piece, though.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer/Hoshi no Samidare: this is a manga that is simultaneously incredibly silly, and very serious. i love it dearly. it starts off with a guy comedically throwing a lizard out of his window.
...for similar reasons to Helck, i don't have much else to say, for fear of spoiling it.
Magus of the Library/Toshokan no Daimajutsushi: right! gem of positivity here. uh, quick thing to note: not only is this much more uplifting than the rest of these tend to be, it is also an ongoing manga. all the rest of these are finished, but this one is not. anyways,
this manga has one of my favorite settings, it's very clearly somewhat loosely inspired by arabian nights-esque fantasy, but it does have a lot of its own unique traits! generally, it's a fairly upbeat story about a young boy's goal to become a Librarian at the greatest library in the world! given the setting, there's more to this task than it first seems, but i think it's more interesting to learn about that on your own.
Holyland: back to the more serious/psychological stuff. Holyland is a manga about fighting. it is also a manga about troubled teenagers struggling to find their place in the world. i don't really agree with some of the messages it has, but i do consider it a very notable manga nonetheless. oh, and also, the mangaka, Kouji Mori, was best friends with the late Kentaro Miura. as a result there is a bit of influence from him within this work, for what that matters.
BLAME!: one of the most gorgeous manga i've ever read. the story isn't the main focus. the world is. the world of BLAME! is desolate, and empty, and actively inhospitable. it is alien. but there is beauty in this. the dialogue is limited, the story is limited, but the art is amazing.
All You Need Is Kill: kind of one of the earliest "time loop" style stories, and also the inspiration for many other works in that vein. it plays with the concept well, and it's very psychological. at the same time, it is about a quest of futility.
Vagrant Soldier Ares/Tteodori Yongbyeong Areseu: okay this one isn't a manga, it's a manhwa. in spite of that i think it's comparable, and it's rather unknown, so i wanted to mention it. it is a bit of an epic-style anime about fighting, warfare, and the drama and politics that involves. it follows the titular Ares throughout an era of armed warfare. i'm certain that for many, it would be decidedly uninteresting, but i greatly enjoyed it when i read it.

honorable mentions: Soul Eater, The Breaker, Oshi no Ko, Air Gear(this manga is way too ecchi though), Martial Artist Lee Gwak, Franken Fran, Good Night World, Deadman Wonderland, Jigoku no Alice
more besides, but yeah. also you will note that a couple of those honorable mentions are manhwa... i read all sorts; manga, manhwa, manhua, even comics too on occasion(though not very often, and mostly only webcomics...). but i have tried to be semi-restrictive.