Lo-Fi means low fidelity and refers to music with imperfections, especially if they are related to the recording process. The entire goal of this genre is to make you feel nostalgia and give you that chill yet authentic sensation.
Anime feature some shows that are a master in reproducing a similar style, even though visually.
This short listicle will show you the best anime with Lo-Fi vibes based on our experience.
Table of Contents
8. Aria the Animation
A 2005 anime that is not very well known, but has a distinct relaxing and lulling atmosphere that is unlikely not to make you feel relaxed and cheerful while watching it.
The story of Aria is set on an alternate planet Mars in 2031, now terraformed and covered with water due to melting glaciers, thus ending up being renamed planet Aqua. Here stands Neo-Venice, an imitation of the Italian city aimed at making the planet habitable and touristic.
This is where the protagonist Akari, a young, cheerful and sunny girl who can make all the people around her happy, will move to. A light and entertaining anime with relaxed and calm tones, suitable for noncommittal viewing.
7. Yokohama Shopping Diary
If you are a shopaholic, then you have found what you need. As the title suggests Yokohama Shopping Diary, a work consisting of two miniseries of two episodes each, makes this its workhorse.
The story is set in a Yokohama now submerged by the ocean, in which survivors have established rural communities in the surrounding mountains.
The anime begins with the arrival in Yokohama of Kokone, an android working for a shipping company in Musashino, who will make the acquaintance of Alpha, another android working in the area.
The anime is based entirely on the daily lives of the two, without going into a specific theme or topic, but rather aiming to give us a relaxed and vintage atmosphere.
If you want to forget about everything for a while and relax, then let Yokohama Shopping Diary lull you with its atmosphere and soundtrack.
6. Mushishi
If you are looking for a lulling Lo-Fi anime in the true sense of the word, perhaps this is the best choice. If in the other anime on this list the Lo-Fi is an added element, in this one it is the real core.
The world is haunted by Mushi, strange creatures whose origin or habits no one knows. What is known is that coexistence with them is complicated for human beings, which is why there are Mushishi.
They are experts in the field who know how to deal with these mysterious creatures to preserve their coexistence.
Episodes are very slow, reflective, and if we want to use a misnomer, artistic. But the anime is deliberately so, going to create an atmosphere in you that is almost hypnotic and lulling, making you feel a lot relaxed and involved in the narration.
5. Serial Experiments Lain
The quintessential visionary anime that still to this day profoundly amazes with its forward-thinking. The dark and hypnotic atmosphere of this series is charming, almost creating a mood that facilitates to the fullest the comprehension of the message.
The plot tells the story of Lain Iwakura, a rather peculiar little girl partly because of a less-than-ideal family situation.
Lain comes into contact with Wired, a global network very reminiscent of our Internet, where she will learn a lot of information regarding this mysterious virtual network. But the Wired hides more horrific things than expected.
In this case, you will have well understood that the overwhelming threat is precisely due to Wired, but there is more behind that. Indeed, the message of this anime lies in the warning to keep an eye on technology, and the threats it can bring with it.
This strong and hard-to-understand message is accompanied in masterful manners by dreamlike and visionary atmospheres.
The soundtrack is always on the mark and capable of immersing you to the fullest in this quintessential visionary series.
4. FLCL
The series is set in a small Japanese town, characterized by a huge factory in the shape of an iron, where the young protagonist Naota lives.
His older brother has left for America to play baseball causing the protagonist to feel lonely and abandoned. This loneliness will be broken by his brother’s girlfriend, Mamini, who develops a strange attachment to him.
One day, while Naota and Mamini are together, Haruto, a girl riding a Vespa, appears to them and runs over Naota at full speed and then hits him in the head with an electric guitar.
The young boy develops from the impact a bump that grows larger and larger and from which a robot called Canti emerges.
This anime was born with a desire to experiment and differentiate as much as possible, entrusting the direction of each episode to a different person.
The Lo-Fi atmosphere is rich in color and very characteristic, thanks to the demential tone of FLCL.
3. Samurai Champloo
A great masterpiece of animation by master filmmaker Shinichiro Watanabe, former author of cult hit Cowboy Bepop, Samurai Champloo is a 26-episode work produced by Manglobe.
The work stars Mugen and Jin, two samurai warriors with opposing characters, and Kasumi, a girl who has hired the two warriors to search for the “samurai who smells like sunflowers.”
The story revolves around their adventures, and they are often self-contained, generally with a few elements present that drive forward the overall plot of the whole.
The anime also features a very relaxed and Lo-Fi atmosphere, which goes well with the dynamics and fighting of the series.
This is also due to the respectable soundtrack, which is apt at all times, and the plot of the episodes, which also includes drugs making all even more dreamy.
2. Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon is one of those works that needs no explanation given its vast prominence. In fact, the manga created by author Naoko Takeuchi, is one of the greatest expressions of Japanese pop culture in the entire world.
Usagi Tsukino, an ordinary eighth-grade student, meets a strange talking cat named Luna one day. The latter will inform Usagi of her fate as a Sailor warrior tasked with protecting Earth.
To do so she must first find the other Sailor warriors like her and track down with their help the Princess of the ancient lunar kingdom, Silver Millennium. Usagi thus becomes the heroine Sailor Moon, the warrior of love and justice.
The reasons why you should watch this anime are so many that one article would not be enough to discuss them, so we will focus on the theme of this list, which is the atmosphere.
Sailor Moon has a distinctive background and vibes that you will only find here and nowhere else. The bright colors that distinguish it weighed by the proper Lo-Fi atmosphere given mainly by the soundtrack create a mix that is more unique than rare.
1. Cowboy Bebop
Impossible not to mention this masterpiece by Watanabe, one of the best works in the entire history of animation. Cowboy Bebop shows a not-too-future world where interspatial travel is the norm and Mars represents one of the cornerstones of humanity.
Unfortunately, it does not change one of the big problems in the story, namely organized crime, which is fought in a rather extravagant way by placing bounties on outlaws. The bounty hunters are precisely called cowboys, hence the name of the title.
The reasons that make this anime the best choice for Lo-Fi atmospherics are many. The realistic deep friendship relationship between the crew members, the space setting and the legendary soundtrack are among the main reasons.
