If you tell somebody your favourite anime is something like Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, or even oldies like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, they will understand.
There are plenty of animes that are wildly popular for good reason. They’re either well-made, have a great story, or they’re important parts of our history with anime. Or all of them. Or maybe even none of them, they could simply just scratch the itch.
Sure, to many people, liking anime at all is still to this day considered ‘cringe’. However, within the anime world, there are plenty of shows that are ‘good’, plenty of shows that are ‘bad’, and SO many shows that are just plain questionable in their content.
The thing is, sometimes there’s an anime that we enjoy or have enjoyed in our life that we could consider a ‘guilty pleasure’. One of those shows that if we do make the brave leap to tell somebody about it, we feel like we must immediately start justifying why we like it.
For me, that anime is Ouran High School Host Club.
There was always something that felt inherently goofy in Ouran High School Host Club. While I have been a fan of almost all of the anime that you would expect a teenage girl to be into back in the day, it was always Ouran High that ultimately felt like the one I felt the most embarrassed about.
All that being said, it has to be one of my favourites of all time. I loved how self-aware it was in all aspects, taking the concept of a reverse harem and overblowing each male love interest stereotype to one million while also giving each character depth.
I will admit that after watching it all in one sitting again as an adult, there are definitely parts of it that aged incredibly poorly. A few moments that were just… not good. On the other hand, there is so much to love about it. Ouran High School Host Club took itself seriously at the right times but was ultimately just so freakin’ silly.
I have a habit of showing my whole ass on here, so I implored others to do the same. Here’s what I got.
Fuck lol, that is mine too
— Mz.GIF (@MZGIF) October 18, 2022
The original Digimon anime is a masterpiece and I will die on this hill
— Radio Mike (@itsradiomike) October 18, 2022
Is This A Zombie?
…. come on, it’s funny! And that girl he is living with isn’t 12 years old, she’s 1,012 years old!…— Kitso (@MasaMotswagole) October 18, 2022
shokugeki no soma oh boy i love cooking
— moe (@moe9times) October 18, 2022
G Gundam is the only Gundam series I like and I’m also 11 years old.
— Duke (@bugliker) October 18, 2022
Digimon: The Movie in English Dub because even if I manage to get people to watch it, they absolutely lose it once Barenaked Ladies comes on
— リノ (@rinoaskyes) October 18, 2022
It’s ancient now but my guilty pleasure anime was Fushigi Yuugi. Appalling YA isekai romance novel gear and another reverse-harem style show about a girl named Miaka and her many Non Threatening Boys, but it was an important part of my bisexual awakening.
Unsurprisingly, not many people wanted to expose themselves here. I understand that, as there is so much anime that nobody would want to confess to watching. Trust me, I get it.
I am desperate to know, though. What is your favourite guilty pleasure anime? What is that one show that you either loved as a teenager or love now that maybe doesn’t align with the rest of your tastes, or makes you feel like you’re smoking a whole pack of cigarettes when you watch it? Let us know!