"Kiba" (51 Episodes)

Tags: Dark Fantasy, Isekai

A small summary of the main plot:

Kiba is the story of Zed, an angsty teenager that craves for his own "freedom". After a series of events, Zed finds himself transported to a new world.

In this new world filled with magic, he learns that there are special people known as "Shard Casters" (himself somehow being one of them), who can execute magic using spheres called "Shards", but more importantly, they can also summon magical allies known as "Spirits".

Now, there are 6 "Key" Spirits which are known to be much stronger than the other Spirits, and word is, that whoever gathers all 6 Key Spirits shall decide the fate of the world.

So Zed embarcs himself on a journey to become a Shard Caster, learning the rules of this new world, and meeting faces both new and old.

Little does he know, of the great adventures (and great pain) that he's about to endure.

My personal (spoiler free) opinion:

I was around Zed's age (15) when i saw this anime and it made a really big impact on me, just starting by the opening you can feel it's "different", i personally felt very connected to Zed due to me having to deal with similar personal issues.

I loved the pacing, (there are literally only 2 filler episodes) and while there may remain some questions about certain plotpoints, the action and storyline where so engaging that i just wanted to keep going.

Like the tag says, it's a Dark Fantasy setting.

There are magic elements all around, but there are also a lot of moments, setpieces and situations that feel "grim", now there is no blood, but you won't miss it (most of the time at least), as you'll get that the actions (and concequences) of the protagonists are more important than how much juice their bodies can splatter on the floor.

I was surprised to learn that this anime was made to advertise a trading card game in Japan (quite similar to Bakugan), but the producers and writters clearly put a lot of heart on this and made one of my favorite animations of all time (only rivaled by Saint Seiya).

Other people must have seen the potential of broadcasting this hidden gem, as i first saw it's Latin American dub on TV, and latter watched the entire series with English subs.

Sadly, as it is not popular, you'll have to either buy the DVDs or resort to piracy to watch it 💿🏴‍☠️✌️ Yarrr!!