Since my to-be-watched list of anime series is still really long, there’s a chance that at least some of the spots on my top 5 list will change as time goes on — but for now, here are my five favorite series!

5. Kamisama Kiss

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This series is one I’ve gotten into more recently — I’ve been watching through it casually when I have some spare time and am in the mood for something lighthearted. It’s a romantic comedy about a girl named Nanami who, through a bizarre chain of events, ends up becoming the Earth deity of a nearby shrine, taking over the post from the former deity, who has gotten tired of the job. A fox demon named Tomoe, a resident of the shrine, becomes her familiar, and is bound to her by — you guessed it — a kiss. Nanami’s feelings for Tomoe quickly grow into something more than gratitude and respect, but can a romance between a human and a fox demon ever work? Well…I’m still waiting to find out!

As I’ve said before when describing this series to friends, it’s like someone took all the best parts of Inuyasha and Fruits Basket and fused them together into a fun new anime that’s reminiscent of both of these, but that is still very much its own story. This series is an absolute delight for so many reasons — it reminds me of the series I loved when I first started watching anime, it has lovable characters whose interactions with each other are by turns hilarious and heartwarming, and it has just enough conflict to keep things interesting while still having plenty of fun, fluffy scenes to enjoy. I can’t wait to see the rest!

4. The Devil is a Part-Timer

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This is another recent watch for me, and one of two on my list that overlaps with Peder’s choices. We watched this one during the depths of last winter, when I was craving something goofy and fun to get me out of my annual February funk. It did the trick perfectly, let me tell you. I won’t go into the summary much, as Peder has already done the honors, but suffice it to say that as this series starts off, it behaves as though it’s going to be a high-stakes, high-concept fantasy piece, and then does a total heel-turn, becoming a silly slice-of-life story about an incarnation of the devil who’s stuck in our dimension and has to make a living as a part-time manager of a burger joint. Bizarre and hilarious doesn’t even begin to cover it, my friends.

My favorite parts of this show are when Sado (the devil) and his right-hand-man-turned-roommate are trying to figure out the ins and outs of everyday life in our dimension. They may look like normal humans, but just knowing that you’re watching two beings from a fantastical world try to set a budget for their meager income and deal with their overly eccentric landlady takes the absurd hilarity to new heights. It’s one of my favorite fish-out-of-water stories, and was exactly the kind of lighthearted fun I needed at the time I watched it.

3. Ouran High School Host Club

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This was one of the first anime to become a favorite of mine. It follows the story of Haruhi, a scholarship student at the elite Ouran High School. Early on in the story, she’s mistaken for a boy due to her androgynous appearance and clothing — not wanting to deal with the hassle of setting the record straight, she decides to just go with it. The members of the Ouran High School Host Club (a sort of flirty high society club that primarily caters to young women) take Haruhi under their wing, and before long, she’s the most sought-after member of the host club.

The premise of this show is pretty farfetched, and it takes at least a base knowledge of some aspects of Japanese culture to really get what’s going on in the story, but once you’re on board, you’re bound to have a great time watching this series. In my opinion, it’s shojo (anime aimed at teenage girl viewers) at its finest and most delightfully over-the-top, and watching it feels like reading a really fun yet really weird contemporary young adult novel. It’s a series I enjoy from start to finish, and one I’ll most likely end up returning to again and again.

2. Inuyasha

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When I was a fledgling anime fan, this is one of the first few series I really got into, and was also one of the first I watched all the way through (not too shabby, seeing as there’s over 160 episodes!). The story focuses on Kagome, a teenage girl who falls down the well in the shrine her family tends, only to be transported through time to feudal-era Japan. There, she meets a rough-and-tumble young dog demon named Inuyasha. He leads her through all sorts of adventures and scrapes as they fight off the other demons who are trying to get their hands on the shards of the Shikon no Tama, a sacred jewel that’s rumored to give great power to any demon who wields it.

This is one of those series with a premise that’s really hard to explain when talking about it, but which is really easy to get into when watching it. There are a lot of different opinions about this series — some (like me) find it really enjoyable and rewarding to watch, while others see it as too mainstream and formulaic. While it does fall into the monster-of-the-week rut fairly often, I love it anyway, and I can’t get enough of the great characters it’s filled with, or the unique settings and plot lines that set it apart from other anime I’ve seen. Regardless of others’ thoughts on this series, it’ll always have a special place in my heart.

1. Steins;Gate

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Soon after I started watching this series, I knew it was going to end up ranked among the very best anime I’ve ever seen. By the time we reached the end of it, it was my new favorite. As with my #4 choice, I won’t go into great detail with this one, since we’ve already talked about Steins;Gate quite a bit on this blog, but I can’t close out this list without talking about just how truly great this anime is. As we’ve noted before, the story of Steins;Gate focuses on the concept of time travel, testing the limits and possibilities therein, and finding out just how far-reaching and dire the consequences of messing around with it can be.

As we’ve mentioned before, Steins;Gate seems to almost transcend its own medium — more than being a great anime, it’s just a great story, period. The characters are masterfully rendered and feel so believably human, the themes the series focuses on are weighty and important, and the plot is (for the most part) tightly woven and emotionally satisfying. I can’t say I’ll rewatch this one often, as it’s pretty heavy (despite some humorous elements), but I know I’ll revisit it again someday. And regardless of how many times I do or don’t rewatch it, it’s a story I know is going to stick with me, no matter what.

To close–some honorable mentions: Bleach (so good, but so fraught), Soul Eater (just a good, solid anime with a great premise), Naruto (I loved it for a while, but it caused even more mixed feelings for me than Bleach did), Cowboy Bebop (space opera at its best), The Daily Lives of High School Boys (I’ve only watched a few episodes, but have absolutely loved what I’ve seen so far), Haibane Renmei (the definition of short and sweet anime), Little Witch Academia (just adorable and delightful in every way), and Fairy Tail (another I haven’t gotten far with, but am really looking forward to watching more of).

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Today I’d like to take you back on the anime timeline — both in terms of anime itself and my own journey with it. Back when I started watching anime and reading manga in high school, I mostly got into the stuff that was really popular at that time, like Naruto, Fruits Basket, and Bleach. But it wasn’t long before I discovered the anime that remains my favorite to this day — Inuyasha.

Inuyasha originally aired in 2000 in Japan, and showed up in the US in 2002. Really, this wasn’t long before the time I got into anime, but Inuyasha wasn’t as popular as some others among my fellow anime-watchers at that time, even though I was lucky enough to have it recommended to me. And now that it’s clocking in at 16 years old, it definitely qualifies as a throwback these days! And yes, that does make me feel super old, thank you very much…

Despite what the name of the anime might suggest, the main character is a 15-year-old girl named Kagome Higurashi, who lives with her family on the grounds of the Shinto shrine they tend. The story begins when a demonic centipede creature (the supernatural kind, not the kind that frequent my basement and nightmares) appears out of the dried-up well at the shrine and pulls Kagome in — this would be weird enough, but instead of finding herself at the bottom of the well, Kagome gets dragged back in time to feudal-era Japan.

Soon after she lands there, things get stranger still. She meets a belligerent, cocky young half-demon by the name of Inuyasha, who joins the struggle against the centipede demon. We learn that Inuyasha is searching for a jewel called the Shikon no Tama (as was the centipede demon — the jewel is what drew the centipede to Kagome in the first place) — Inuyasha believes the jewel can turn him from a half-demon into a full-fledged demon, thereby strengthening his already impressive supernatural fighting powers.

During the fight, it’s discovered that the jewel is inside Kagome herself — this is because Kagome is the reincarnation of a priestess by the name of Kikyo, who died protecting the jewel and was laid to rest with it. The jewel is extracted by magical means, but in the continuing fight against the centipede demon, the jewel is shot with an arrow and shatters into hundreds of pieces that spread across the land.

After the fight dies down, Kagome soon finds herself in league with Inuyasha. What follows next (and what drives much of the show) is Kagome and Inuyasha’s journey to find each of the jewel shards, and the battles they get into along the way with the demonic creatures that seek the shards for themselves. At first, Inuyasha’s only trying to regain all of the shards so he can put the jewel back together and use its power like he planned. However, Inuyasha and Kagome soon discover that Naraku, a nefarious half-demon megalomaniac, is trying to find the shards himself and use the power of the jewel to subvert the land under his evil control. The search for the jewel shards then becomes a race as Kagome and Inuyasha try to find them all before Naraku can carry out his diabolical plan.

As you can see, Inuyasha‘s plot is a convoluted one (as with most anime, let’s be honest), and there’s a ton more to it than what I’ve talked about here. You kind of just have to take the plunge before you really get what it’s all about. But be warned — once you do, there’s no going back, and you just might find yourself binge-watching your way through the series! At 167 episodes, it’s not a short anime by any means — you won’t get through it over a long weekend, but it’s certainly far more manageable than some series (I’m looking at you, Naruto…). And thankfully, the pacing moves along nicely to keep things from feeling draggy.

Due to the setup of the plot, Inuyasha can tend to have a pretty monster-of-the-week feel at times. Despite this, however, it mostly avoids a repetitive feel, and the story arc stays engaging throughout. Beyond that, the characters are fantastic. I’ll admit that the series falls into the common mediocre-protagonist-surrounded-by-fascinating-side-characters trap (which we’ve mentioned a time or two before on Nerdologists), but with such a well-rounded cast, this isn’t a big deal. We’ve got Inuyasha, who’s basically the anime version of Peter Pan (you kind of expect him to hop up onto a fence, point his thumbs toward his chest, and shout “Oh, the cleverness of me!” at any given moment); Shippo, a fox demon child who’s always getting himself and the other characters in and out of silly scrapes; Miroku, a womanizing monk (oxymoron much?) who has a wind tunnel in his hand that he uses like a vaccuum to suck up demons (and everything else within range); Sango, a demon hunter with a big vendetta and even bigger boomerang; Kikyo, Inuyasha’s undead ex-girlfriend who spends a lot of time hanging around and making Kagome feel conflicted; and Sesshomaru, Inuyasha’s older (and much more glamorous-looking) half-brother who’s trying to claim all the jewel shards as well. And that’s just for starters!

As I mentioned, Inuyasha is still my favorite anime after all these years — just writing about it is making me want to go watch it all over again! It’s still pretty much unlike anything I’ve ever seen, before or since. It’s got a storyline that’s serious enough to keep the stakes feeling high, but the episodes are sprinkled with plenty of hilarious moments to keep them fun. I can attest to the fact that it’s a great starter series for someone figuring out what this whole anime thing is about, and it’s also a great choice for an anime veteran who’s looking to mix it up a little bit.

So, have you watched Inuyasha? Would you add it to your list? What other older anime series do you love or want to try out sometime? Share with us in the comments!

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Cosplay as a concept came into being a long time before Comic Con was a thing (this article states that the first cosplayer donned his first costume in 1939), and it’s a pretty broad concept at that — essentially, anyone who dresses up in costume to attend a fan convention or other large fan event (like a movie premiere or a video game release) can be termed a cosplayer.

At its heart, cosplaying simply means dressing up as a fictional character — and that (very vague) definition allows for just as much variety and nuance as you’d expect. Cosplaying can be as simple as purchasing and wearing a pre-made costume, or as elaborate as creating a handmade one from scratch and putting your own unique spin on an existing character (Totoro-inspired ball gown, anyone?).

There are many hot topics when it comes to cosplay — what determines how good a costume is, how much work should go into one, whether or not you need to have made a costume yourself for it to “count,” what is and isn’t appropriate when it comes to reinterpreting a character according to your own vision, and many more.

But I’d advise those of you who are new to the cosplaying scene not to get too bogged down in all of that. That’s because the best thing about cosplay is that just about anything goes as long as you’re enjoying yourself and being respectful both of the character you’re cosplaying and of your fellow cosplayers.

Aside from the many and wildly varied opinions about it, cosplay can also seem overwhelming due to the sheer investment of time (and, let’s face it, plain ol’ money) it requires. It’s easy to see pictures of the awe-inspiring cosplays out there and just think, “That’s it…I’ll never be that good!” And maybe you won’t — but guess what? That’s completely okay! Cosplay is one of those things that you can work super hard at and spend a ton of time on, or approach in a more casual and lighthearted fashion, and have just as much fun with it either way.

But don’t sell yourself short, either. Maybe for your first cosplay, you stick with something simple and just get a feel for it before you throw more time and energy into it. But who knows — maybe as you get into it, you’ll find that you’re really passionate about it, and before you know it, you’re the next one to take home a 1st place award from your favorite con!

But again, whether you jazz up last year’s Halloween costume or decide to make your own chainmail, if you have a good time with it and dress up as a character you love, you can’t go wrong.

This is just a quick overview to give you a better idea of what cosplay’s all about, but as we know, there’s a ton more to talk about where cosplay is concerned! So be on the lookout for more articles from me about cosplay during the next couple of weeks — we’ll cover things like cosplaying on a budget, some of the cultural/historical aspects of cosplay, and more! And as always, let me know if there’s something in particular that you’d love to know more about, and I’ll add it to the docket.

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