Criminally underrated animes?

[EnderTheory]

Death Parade and Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san! Both are only 12 episodes.

I really love Death Parade's concept and it made me feel pretty emotional, while Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is a goofy anime about a skeleton guy that works at a bookstore, if you're looking for something lighthearted

[Rhymes with Witch]

I actually just re-watched most of Angelic Layer today with a friend. It's a shonen anime by CLAMP so the majority of its speaking characters are women. It's fun story about the popularity of fighting robot dolls with incredibly well animated fight scenes... focused heavily on the relationships, both friendships and rivalries, between women and girls. A separated mother and a daughter's bond being forged through the game forms the emotional heart of the plot.

It's also set in the Chobits universe and shares some of its characters, with two characters in particular having a big impact on the story of Chobits. Angels paved the way for persocoms in-universe AL is the happy kid sister to Chobits moodier, bittersweet older brother.

[Kibba]

Death Parade and Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san! Both are only 12 episodes.

I really love Death Parade's concept and it made me feel pretty emotional, while Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is a goofy anime about a skeleton guy that works at a bookstore, if you're looking for something lighthearted

Death Parade is SOOOOOOO GOOD

[alenka]

Thirding Death Parade, one of my partner's favorites. Loved the story and how it starts to twist into what the viewer isn't expecting, but still being satisfying.

Also, I saw Goddammit post about Petshop of Horrors, but I've got to expand on it a little bit. The anime is definitely more of an OVA in terms of a series vs special, but the manga went into so much more depth if you're up for it. Most of the chapters are stand-alone, and while there's an overarching plot, its very easy to read in bits and pieces instead of a bigger series that you HAVE to binge to remember all the weird plots. Let the anime draw you in, and if you're hankering for more, definitely try the manga. Its 10 volumes, and so so good. Plus I can't rant enough about how beautiful the art is. (Its a kind of old-school shoujo/BL style, but there's no actual BL, just kind of a handwave to the genre of the time.) ((And I can't comment on the sequels as I've only read the originals, so if you for any reason check them out, I can't say if they're good or bad.))

Now for the actual recommendation... I present Uta~Kata. I know its on Tubi for sure, for free. Its 12 episodes plus a bonus OVA episode, making for a total of a lucky 13. Uta~Kata takes the magical girl genre, coming of age/coming to terms with growing up and getting older, sprinkles a bit of queerness in, adds a whole shaker of depression, and then grinds it all up together to throw at you like pocket sand to make you cry. The series is both loving and bittersweet, while the end makes you have to think about both the choices you yourself have made and how they relate to the characters decisions in the end.

The only con I've received from recommending Uta~Kata was that one friend said the style was too cute for the mature topics covered in the series, so I feel that I should point out that its still magical-girl at its core, just... Amped up. But if I could get anyone to watch it, I'd be very happy as its been an anime I've loved for years. While its not my absolute favorite, it deserves its own spotlight nonetheless.