What are some anime that you found to be just "good"?

[Akito Kinomoto]

A common thread in many anime forums pertains to either the shows you consider the best, or the titles you believe to be the worst. With so much attention being directed towards your most valuable assets and the products you wish you've never come across, I think it's high time we bring our focus to the folks in the middle of our group. IE, the anime that you found good--as in not falling into that muddy "okay" or "meh" territory--yet didn't hit the mark for entering that "very good" area and beyond. The default entertainment zone, if you will.

That said, some noticeable examples for me are Naruto, K-On! and Shin Koihime Musou.

For Naruto, though I found the Wave Country, Konoha Invasion, and Sasuke Retrieval arcs quite good, the Chunin Exams and Tsunade/Itachi Returns parts felt somewhat lackluster by comparison. Probably because they were less like stories and functioned more as set-up arcs for the Konoha Invasion and Sasuke Retrieval sections respectively.

The deal with K-On! is actually quite easy: I found Hyakko to be better. By no means do I hate moe' anime, because one look at the shows I've watched will tell you otherwise. But rather, I'm kind of frustrated that it [K-On!] is "just good" for me when I know a show of a similar vein was a step above it and just aired two seasons behind it.

Shin Koihime Musou is actually pretty weird. All three seasons--Koihime Musou, Shin and Otome Tairan--were much the same content wise, yet for whatever reason only Shin was the weak link.

[Tsuyukusa]

Toaru Majutsu no Index. I loved it at first. In fact, I was really impressed by it for a short while. It ended up getting very, very boring though. The last bit was sort of a struggle to get through.
I enjoyed most of it, and it certaintly wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite amazing either.

Oh, and Nabari no Ou. I liked most of the characters, except the lead, who I actually couldn't stand. The beginning was very interesting and extremely enjoyable. It got really hard to watch in the middle. I mean, really hard. So hard I actually took a 9 month long break from it. It got a little better after that, almost as good as it was in the beginning. The end was a little anti-climactic, but not bad.
All that aside, the art was pretty great.

[JuGG]

The deal with K-On! is actually quite easy: I found Hyakko to be better. By no means do I hate moe' anime, because one look at the shows I've watched will tell you otherwise. But rather, I'm kind of frustrated that it [K-On!] is "just good" for me when I know a show of a similar vein was a step above it and just aired two seasons behind it.

Hmmm, I should get my hands on Hyakko because I found K-on to be absolutely amazing for the first series and then simply 'good' for the second (unless the last couple of eps change that). Simply things like the OPs and EDs being worse in the second series really did it for me and I found the plot also seemed to slip away from the continuity of the first series.

Overall though, I've still really enjoyed it.

Another anime I have watched that was simply 'good' was Hayate No Gotaku. It emulates the manga really well but I find the drawing to be a little off sometimes and it just throws me off the scent. Maybe it's just me though.

[Kotohono]

Shows I've found to be "good" include:

Mayoi Neko Overrun! - While I loved the characters, the direction the series went was really far too random at times which prevented the series from being better than "good".

Mahoraba: Heartful days - it had some really good moments later but I thought it started off kind of odd for few episodes with certain characters getting on my nerves until later in the series.

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora - Ugh so much right and wrong with this series .

Rozen Maiden - It was a bit enjoyable, but aside from Shinku almost all the characters annoyed me at some point so it got a "good".

[Garigari-kun]

OFF TOPIC: It's harder than 'Who wants to be a millionaire' questions..

[Sephrim1]

Hands down DBZ is going to be a classic forever. Following that would have to be Yu Yu Hakusho, Akira, and Astro boy. Now when we are talking about new school, it's none other than Naruto, Bleach, and I guess I'm going to also have to give it to One Piece. Oh yeah G Gundam is a classic also. More good new schools would have to be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Inuyasha. Not sure about Vampire Knight yet, but I've heard good things.

[mike.]

Brave Story (2006 movie) - Simple straightforward story, not much depth, but entertaining.

Darker than Black, first season - The two episode arcs varied in quality, but they had some charm to them that kept them entertaining and interesting. Managed to succeed (first season at least) at being set in a setting that is never explained.

[Chiibi]

Hmmmm

The first Full Metal Alchemist series

Bleach (people throw stuff at her)

Flame of Recca

Tenchi Muyo TV

Kaze No Stigma

Catgirl Nuku Nuku OVAs

Nightwalker

Sumomomomomo

Kyoshiro To Towa No Sora

Kannazuki No Miko

Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne

Rozen Maiden

Inuyasha

Ranma 1/2

Mahorabo

These shows all have their ups and downs. Despite a few of them being my favorites, I can admit not absolutely everything was "the greatest"

[KholdStare]

You know what, I find this to be an excellent topic. Sometimes you don't want to preach the obscure anime that you find to be "underrated" and "excellent," but it's good to agree with people once in a while about anime that are just "good." At least, I will find this thread very informative, more so than a thread listing people's "favorite" anime.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: To me it's an excellent anime that crosses the border of plot and slice of life. What people say are "fillers" in this anime are what I view as very close to what slice of life anime has to offer. It's just entertaining.

Shugo Chara!! Doki: I'm calling out the second season as being good, although you have to watch the first to know what it's all about. But I thought the second was a huge step up from the first.

Rozen Maiden: What a great anime that mimics the figurative literature style into animation.

Strike Witches: Both seasons, SW offers striking entertainment value but not very memorable. I haven't put SW as an "excellent" anime even though I thought it was the best thing ever when I watch it since I know I will forget about it later. That's why it's here.

Hayate no Gotoku!!: Once again, I'm calling out the second season because I thought it was great, and way better than the first. I realize that opinions vary on this subject, but I like the more plot-oriented second season.

Angel Beats!: This is...just "good."

Saki: Finally, an anime that may be better than just good, but it's still just good because...well, it's just that type of anime...

[RandySyler]

Just good...
Bleach was a fine anime, had it's ups and downs but overall positive
Strawberry Panic! was fine too.
Naruto was ok at parts.
One Piece has a relatively good plot, but I never really fully liked it.

That's a fast, short list of some positively-mediocre anime's.

[Kameruka]

Yosuga no Sora: First and probably last mainstream TV anime that had on-screen incest sex.

Ore no Imouto: Kirino reminds me my little sister, except she's more into music than anime.

[Neat Hedgehog]

Kannagi: Had some genuinely funny moments, and decent enough characters to make it something to watch every week. Nothing to knock your socks off, but pleasantly inoffensive and simple enough to have on your 2nd monitor while working on something.

Pumpkin Scissors: Had a cool, unique premise, and yet it squandered it with sloppy fillers with flaky animation. Still a good show, when it's good, though, so it evens out.

Kaze no Stigma: A swell magic / fighting series that never really did anything wrong, yet never did anything outstanding. Good enough to watch it all the way through, but it probably won't go high on the rewatch scale.

Buosu Renkin: For nearly the exact same reason as why I listed "Kaze no Stigma." Had some semi-original fight mechanics at times, though, so it managed to be good.

Mushi-Uta: Good enough action / sci-fi / bug series that I watched the whole thing in a day, but somehow I can't seem to remember what happened. It was entertaining, though, so I'll probably watch it again at some point.

Karakuri no Kimi: 40 minutes of end-of-the-90's bloody, action filled cheese, with an interesting enough idea (fighting with giant samurai puppets) to make it pretty fun, even if it doesn't exactly stimulate higher thought.

[LadyKikyo91]

Bleach
Naruto

[Archon_Wing]

Oh no, I read the post wrong... starting over again.

Ah, shows in the borders of my favorites, but not quite making it there. Usually they are the types of anime that I'd like to rank higher but can't because of some glaring issues.

The greatest example is probably Shakugan no Shana; it's a good show and has some pretty epic fight moments, but it also frequently descends into mediocrity and narm, though this is fueled by my intense dislike of a certain character. =p There's just too much downtime bogging it down to be considered a masterpiece, but for the most part it does well when it gets back to buisness. And damn their anime original endings.

Animes like FLCL and Full Metal Panic! are here because they are genuinely entertaining, but it doesn't leave me with much to say afterward or much rewatch value. But it was a fun run, to say the least. I'd say Death Note is kinda like this too, but better.

I'd also put something like Sola and Air in this category, for having some really unstable bouts during the series but managing to pick itself up at the end. They are usually remembered to me as entertaining messes that redeemed themselves. The Nanoha franchise as a whole is like this too, except the second season which was very solid. And indeed, there's a slightly lower tier of decent shows that are entertaining messes that failed to redeem themselves (Angel Beats,Umineko) but they're under the same classification to me since they would have been there if they had done something simple to save themselves. But, that's what makes the difference, and now they're not in bold.

[ChainLegacy]

Fate/stay Night (anime not the VN, which is much better by comparison): Good action, pretty good plot, overall entertaining but never outstanding.

Shuffle! Mostly standard plot (other than the angels/demons thing), mildly interesting characters, slightly above average enjoyment levels for me.

Zero no Tsukaima Fun plot, mediocre characters, interesting setting, bad execution. Unlike the above two, ZnT has contrasting great and bad elements that balance it into a 'good' series. The longer this one went on the worse it got, though. By the third season it was pretty bad.

Plenty more but those are some that spring to my mind.

[Hooves]

The greatest example is probably Shakugan no Shana; it's a good show and has some pretty epic fight moments, but it also frequently descends into mediocrity and narm, though this is fueled by my intense dislike of a certain character. =p There's just too much downtime bogging it down to be considered a masterpiece, but for the most part it does well when it gets back to buisness. And damn their anime original endings.

I wonder who that character might be. But I also agree on the bloody anime original endings... They just killed it for me... In fear that it might ruin a future process that is coming.

Zero no Tsukaima: I found the anime to be good with the characters and plot, but not going past it.

[Berlin]

Originally Posted by JuGG

I found K-on to be absolutely amazing for the first series and then simply 'good' for the second (unless the last couple of eps change that). Simply things like the OPs and EDs being worse in the second series really did it for me and I found the plot also seemed to slip away from the continuity of the first series.

I so feel you on K-on!! It's good but lacks in the story department and def the OP song was horrible and the ED song was just ok! The first season was hands down excellent with really enjoyable OP and ED songs!

I also found Eureka Seven to just be good but not on the level I expect in a mecha anime. Story wasn't bad but it dragged on. The action was lacking but at times it had its A+ moments. The main character was wishi washi to me to the point I almost gave up on the show but eventually he comes around when it was most critical. It's by no means a FMP or Gundam Quality but it was good enough for me to watch it through.

Another one would be Genshiken it your average slice of life with no major story but is just plain fun to watch. Nothing major happens but it can be hilarious at times but not to be expected every episode. it's just plain old good stuff.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Hooves

I wonder who that character might be. But I also agree on the bloody anime original endings... They just killed it for me... In fear that it might ruin a future process that is coming.

The ending of the first season was actually fine; problem was that it was basically incompatible with the next season's plot and led to some retcon. The 2nd season's ending was lousy because not only because it felt like a rehash of the 1st but also because I felt that it was tacked on-- the show's better off just ending it with the previous arc.

And I hate Yoshida, lol. But I've complained about it enough in that subforum, and I wouldn't want to turn this thread into that. Short story short, her character went down the crapper near the end of season 1/most of season 2. Later on again with a good amount of redemption only to get crapped on again near the end! I just have to keep asking the queston "what are you doing here??" But I also understand this is also the fault of the writers and Yuji being a jackass but I'll just stop here.

I could break the series into this:
Season 1 (first 6 episodes) decent, (next 10) great, (next 6~) poor, (last part) great
Season 2 (first 2 episodes) decent, (next ~10) poor, (next 4~) great, (next 6~) excellent, (last part) bad
So much more good than bad, but there's some really rough patches.

[SeijiSensei]

I have a pretty long list of "B" shows that didn't quite make my top tier. I'll just list them alphabetically without extended comments:

Aoi Bungaku
Chi's Sweet Home
Durarara
Genji Monogatari Sennenki
Hakuoki Shinsengumi Kitan
Hidamari Sketch
Higepiyo
Kurozuka
Lucky Star
Mnemosyne
Nijuu Mensou no Musume
REC
Rocket Girls
Saiunkoku Monogatari Season Two
Shion no Ou
Sky Girls
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Toshokan Sensou
Video Girl Ai
Windy Tales
Yomigaeru Sora - Rescue Wings

I'm sure there are more that I can't think of, but these are all worth watching even if they're not among "the best" anime I've seen.

[FlavorOfLife]

For me, good but not best shows in the last decade would be

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Macross Frontier
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed C.E.73: Stargazer
Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu
Lucky ☆ Star
Hikaru no Go
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Skip Beat!
Higashi no Eden
Gintama
School Rumble
Piano no Mori
Shinryaku! Ika Musume
5 Centimeters per Second
Kuragehime