Hanasaku Iroha
- A young Tokyo girl moves to the countryside to work at the inn of her stern grandmother. A beautiful, charming series guaranteed to make you smile.
- A young man,Himura Kenshin becomes an assassin during the Japanese Revolution, struggles with his ideals and the lifestyle he must lead as one of the most feared assassins in Japan. A jaw-droppingly beautiful, grim adaption, retelling the backstory of the titular Rurouni Kenshin. Widely considered one of the greatest adaptations and OVAs of all time.
Wandering Son/Hourou Musuko
- Takatsuki Yoshino and Nitori Shuichi bond at a very young age due to a similar wish; to have been born the opposite gender. One of the most genuine and sensitive looks at LGBT issues, anime or otherwise, this series deals with subjects like gender, transgender, homosexuality and puberty in a realistic manner that has not yet been matched by any other series in Japan. Highly recommended.
- By Yoshino Takako, who has impressively balanced working on two different series at once. Akira runs into a very dear childhood friend, Fumi, who has just gotten out of a relationship with her female cousin. An achingly beautiful romance, that develops at a natural slow pace and takes a mature approach to the topic of lesbians and high school relationships still unmatched by modern anime. Highly recommended.
- A young mother comes to realize that her son has severe autism and intends to help him lead a happy, productive life. While occasionally melodramatic, the series is incredibly informative, and extremely useful to anyone wanting to learn more about autism. The autistic characters are very realistic, based on people the author knew. Keiko Tobe devoted her life to educating people about autism, and unfortunately died before she could finish the series.
Detective Conan
