Xbox Game Pass has been lately adding many bonuses to subscribers not including games such as in-game free content and tie-ins with subscription services like Disney+. And lately subscribers have gotten the chance to enjoy 75 days of premium access to Crunchyroll, the most popular and highest-rated anime streaming service on the market, with over 30,000 anime episodes immediately available to watch at no additional cost.
If you claim this perk by February 8, 2022 (Which you should do), You will be able to stream anime without ads, have unlimited access to the Crunchyroll library, and the benefit of watching anime episodes simultaneously with their airing release date in Japan. However, just like many of us, it can be pretty confusing to start your anime journey with so many choices available, so we write for you today to help you get familiar with Japan’s most iconic and trending works.
Xbox Game Pass/Crunchyroll Premium Recommended Anime
Enter the Game World
A lot of players enjoy how they can establish some kind of authority over the game’s world. They have the means to choose how their journey will go, and can restart their playthrough from any point without having to suffer the consequences. Japan has succeeded recently in contextualizing that experience into actual stories to be enjoyed, and labelled them Isekai (異世界/Different World or Other World).
Most of these stories revolve around protagonists being transported into the world of the game, which usually have a fantasy setting like famous MMORPGs, but some of them tend to break from the norm and play some twists on the common tropes found in gaming. The protagonists have awareness about how the world is different from their own reality, and try to readjust to the new setting using the gaming skills they have honed over the years.
The most notable recommendations from the Isekai genre include: Re:Zero, which plays a horrifying twist on the concept of saving progress, forcing the protagonist to relive everyday he spends with the game in an eternal hell without a guide on how he should proceed, and My Next Life as a Villainess, where the player of a romance game gets transported into the world as a villain character whose role is to sabotage the protagonist’s romances. Many shows can also build amazing worlds from scratch like Tensura and Tanya of Evil.
Larger Stakes
Japan is always known for going beyond the conventional means of TV shows and Live Action movies, and presenting their concepts with unique execution and over-the-top animation quality, and also without disregarding the focus on characters. 86 Eighty-Six is a unique upstarting military sci-fi drama that combines the best of everything, and has amazing soundtrack as well by the same composer of the popular Attack on Titan.
A Certain Magical Index is also a world worth investing time in, as it creates a unique power struggle between science users and magic users. It takes its time to define each of these concepts in practical forms that are easy to learn and fun to witness, and you could say the world it creates has an infinite potential to create anything and surprise you at any moment, and with three seasons already available, you are bound to be occupied for a long time.
You should also never Sleep on Gundam. The Gundam anime series in general is one of the icons of japan, but a lot of its entries are standalone and can be enjoyed for their own sake. Gundam 00 in particular is one of our favorites as it tries to create political peace and understanding through creating a unified protection forces, and Iron Blooded Orphans also follows similar themes in a post-apocalyptic universe. Both of them has amazing budgets, sophisticated writing and breathtaking robot fights that will take you heart away.
The Inner Heart
Maybe we don’t want a break from reality, but instead want something to help us cope with the harsh days. A Place Further Than the Universe is a wonderful 12-episode journey that will allow you beyond your own comfort zone, and discover new things about yourself away from civilization. Orange is also a heartfelt story that will remind you why friendship and love can still exist, beyond the boundaries of time and space.
Kono Oto Tomare! is a proof that sometimes feelings need no words to be conveyed, as it relies on the power of the traditional Japanese music instrument: Koto to bring out the best in you in magnificent and high class performances unlike any other. Takt op. Destiny also takes a very adventurous approach to music and reshapes how we feel about songs and how they allow us to push forward and defeat all forms of sadness.
There are a lot of unique shows to sink your time into aside from the popular trending ones, and many of them could be life changing and mind expanding in various ways. It’s never too late to find your next favorite work of fiction, especially with how it won’t cost you any extra amount of money. Just remember to unlock the perk on Xbox Game Pass before next February as its a time-limited offer and enjoy everything we have recommended.