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These Are Not Recommendations But Warnings

On a forum or in an online community, someone will occasionally ask for anime recommendations after getting into the medium and wanting to expand their horizons. People offer all kinds of answers, from must-watch staples to underrated gems. Plenty of articles cover the topic as well, ranging from thoughtful recommendation lists to the most obvious picks. Sometimes Crunchyroll or Netflix will surface a series that grabs your attention.

This list is not a recommendation guide but a warning.

The anime community has a running joke where someone misleads new fans with the worst possible recommendation. Most of these picks are shocking, cursed, or hit like a freight train because you are completely unprepared for what comes next. Several entries contain explicit sexual content, so consider yourself warned. If someone recommends any of these five titles to you, they are pranking you.

5. Boku no Pico

Boku no Pico has been the go-to “recommendation” anime fans use to trick newcomers for years. The joke has become a community staple, yet it is still worth flagging for those who do not know. Boku no Pico is an OVA hentai series following the relationship between Tamotsu and Pico, two young boys, over the summer. Tamotsu first assumes Pico is a girl. When it is revealed Pico is a boy, their friendship shifts into an explicitly sexual relationship. The prank works on two levels: the explicit content itself and the shock of a relationship between two young boys, which is where the shotacon and homophobia elements come into play.

While this entry is the most well-known troll recommendation, the others on this list are far less obvious.

4. Euphoria

Following the success of the HBO series, interest in the anime Euphoria has spiked. When it comes up in online forums or communities, someone will recommend it to newcomers. The two share nothing beyond the name. While the HBO series is a teen drama about addiction and self-discovery, the anime is a hentai. Based on a visual novel of the same name, the story follows Keisuke Takatō, who wakes up in a mysterious room where he is forced to perform humiliating sexual acts on his classmates and teacher, or they will be killed.

Unlike other hentai titles on this list, Euphoria leans heavily into sexual humiliation, incorporating extreme fetish content that most viewers will find deeply disturbing. Think of it as Danganronpa set in a kink dungeon. Not everyone is open to or familiar with this kind of content, and there are healthier ways to explore kink than stumbling into Euphoria unprepared. Anyone recommending it without context or warning, or claiming it is better than the HBO series, is pranking you.

3. Mars of Destruction

Not every troll recommendation relies on shock value. Sometimes the prank is the anime itself. Case in point: Mars of Destruction, recommended purely because of how terrible it is. Set in 2010, the first manned mission to Mars returns to Earth but breaks apart during reentry, scattering debris across the planet. Months later, creatures dubbed “Ancients” begin invading Earth. In response, a task force called AAST deploys a team of female specialists trained in swordplay, firearms, and intelligence. The key to defeating the Ancients, however, is Takeru, a high school boy and the only person capable of wearing the MARS power suit.

Mars of Destruction is a single 20-minute OVA ranked as one of the worst anime ever made and widely called a cheap Evangelion knock-off. It has an incoherent plot, no character development, cheap animation, and lore that makes no sense. Making matters worse is the notorious twist ending, which reveals that the Ancients are Earth’s indigenous lifeform, driven off the planet by humans. Yet its title and premise sound like a classic anime, which is why newcomers fall for the prank before realizing what it truly is.

2. Redo of Healer (Complete Recovery version)

Since most anime fans already know to avoid Boku no Pico, the Complete Recovery version of Redo of Healer has become the next go-to troll recommendation. Unlike Boku no Pico, this entry deceives you at first. It presents itself as a run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure before the shock value hits. The story follows Keyaru, a healer who spent his previous life being physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by his own party. Once he uncovers the full potential of his power, he travels back in time to start over and plot his revenge. His new journey begins with Princess Flare, where he uses his knowledge of the future to outwit her before sexually abusing her until her will is broken.

Redo of Healer feels like it was made by someone who studied the controversy around Berserk and Game of Thrones and concluded both were popular because of their gratuitous sexual violence. The series walks a thin line between anime and hentai. Most of it is rape porn, following its main character as he sexually assaults those who wronged him in his previous life. Keyaru cannot be called an anti-hero. There are lines a hero does not cross, and he crosses them before the second episode ends. The Complete Recovery version is cited here specifically because it is the uncensored cut and the only version where you can see what is actually happening.

1. Grave of the Fireflies

Unlike the other titles on this list, Grave of the Fireflies is a cinematic masterpiece. Roger Ebert called it one of the greatest war films ever made and later added it to his Great Movies collection. Akira Kurosawa named it his favorite film from the Ghibli Studios catalog. So how does one of the most highly praised films end up on the same list as Redo of Healer? Recommending Grave of the Fireflies to someone wanting to get into anime is like recommending Schindler’s List to someone just discovering Steven Spielberg. The story follows two orphans struggling to survive a war-ravaged Japan in the final days of World War II, facing rationing, relentless bombings, and illness they cannot overcome.

Grave of the Fireflies is not an easy watch. It is a film that pulls at your emotions as you witness two children paying for the mistakes of their government, suffering horrors brought on by a war they had no part in. By the time it ends, it feels like an emotional punch to the gut. What you have seen will haunt you for days. This is one of those films you can only watch once in a while because too many viewings will break you. It is a film worth recommending, but only after you have a broad understanding of the medium and are ready to explore more serious subject matter. Recommending this to a newcomer is a cruel prank and disrespectful to the gravity of the film.

Have you been recommended any of these five titles as a prank? Which troll recommendation did you fall for? Share your story in the comments below.

8Bit/Digi is an independent media outlet that provides an insight into the video game community and industry of the San Francisco Bay Area.