7 Anime Series For People Who Don't Get Anime

Unless you've grown up watching the likes of Dragonball Z or Naruto, it can be difficult to really get what the big hoopla about anime is. From the outside, it looks like a children's cartoon, filled with overly-extravagant characters, bizarre cliches, and a ton of weirdly melodramatic battles.

This is all true, but what's so brilliant about this beautiful style of animation is that its unusual conventions eventually come to be a big part of its charm. In many ways, you never really know what you're going to get with anime, and it's this unpredictability and distinct strangeness that makes it so endearing to watch.

But the medium's not just great for its eccentric tendencies. As a genre, it boasts some of the most expansive and compelling stories available to binge on your TV, often using its lengthy seasons to develop investable characters and establish gripping scenarios.

Find the right anime and you'll be up to the early hours of the morning telling yourself "alright, only ONE more episode", knowing full well that's evidently not true. But of course, to understand this feeling you have to find that one show which drags you in for good. So, if you're desperate to get what all the fuss is about, maybe you should check out these phenomenal series.

Although anime and horror have been an increasingly popular mix recently, there's little that can really match the surreal creepiness of Tokyo Ghoul. Finding its plot through a young boy's transition into a blood-hungry monster, this harrowing series is grotesque, unnerving and like nothing else you can really find in the medium.

But it's for this reason that Tokyo Ghoul is such an interesting watch. Unlike many other entries on this list, this is a series that shows how far the limits of anime can reach, disregarding the childish nature many associate with the medium and trading it in for a hard-R rating.

But it's more than just a great horror, it's also got a great story in its own right. Establishing the hardship of living life as a monster shunned by society, it's got a strangely effective emotional core that connects the audience directly into the struggles of its confused protagonist.

If you're looking to get into anime but want something with a little more edge than the likes of Naruto, then this terrifying show is exactly the initiation you need. It's darker, more twisted and definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you're up for some unnerving horror, there's little as effective as Tokyo Ghoul.