10 Anime That Have No Right To Be This Good

Everyone loves sharing their interests with friends, family and the world. This is, unfortunately, why being an anime fan can be a tough lot, as it can be a real uphill battle to convince people that the medium is worth their time. You'll end up like Sisyphus rolling that bolder if you're not careful, as the genre has a (mostly) unfair reputation for being juvenile, smutty and utterly bonkers.

Now, times have changed a bit, with anime becoming a far more mainstream hobby in the last decade or so. Still, even with that shift, it can be tricky to debate the perception of anime as a lesser medium. That goes double for these epic shows, as they have everything working against them.

The following anime did their best to produce something compelling, fun or emotional - or even all three in some cases. Yet, external factors made it hard to believe that they'd be any good at all. Whether it's the art style, the concept, the studio or any other factor, it's safe to say no one expected what they got when sticking these animated shows on.

It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge a book - or an anime - by its cover.

It makes sense to start this list off with something as bonkers as Assassination Classroom, as it's one of the most popular properties in the medium, yet explaining it to an outsider leaves you with a face redder than a baboon. Still, if you can get behind the wild plot, you'll be rewarded with something exceptional.

Assassination Classroom tells the story of a class of kids tasked with killing their teacher. However, far from being the wild fantasies of the average high schooler, their sensei is an uber-powerful, octopus-like alien who recently blew a hole in the moon and plans on destroying the Earth in one year. Thus, they've got a real task ahead of them, and a failing grade means planetwide annihilation.

Getting to know the alien teacher (Korosensei) might seem like a tough pill to swallow, but he sucks you in without a struggle. Despite his threat to the world, he's funny, quirky and genuinely cares for the kids, making him an ideal teacher. This, naturally, fills the show with a sentimentality you would never have expected. It's just like Dead Poets Society - if Robin Williams was an octopus monster.

The show is full of quirky humour, loveable characters, tense moments and a surprising amount of heart.