Lurker > Robazoid

Minecraft was the biggest one I noticed missing

Lycoris Recoil

Mushishi

Grimmer posted...

Auto for Mushishi

For ZLS

I finished Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement. This was another isekai that was surprisingly decent. Mitsuha was a fun character, and I enjoyed watching her find creative ways to use her world-hopping power. Unlike most isekai, she could still return to Earth any time she wanted to, and she used that to go full capitalism on the fantasy world's economy. As far as isekai go, my favorites are the ones that explore a creative idea as opposed to being some generic power fantasy or whatever, and Saving 80,000 Gold definitely explored a creative idea!

I finished Farming Life in Another World. I've never been a huge isekai fan, but I've played enough Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley that I guess a farming gimmick can lure me in despite myself. I still went into this with low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. There was something soothing about watching a dude just plant crops and improve infrastructure. He also got a truly absurd amount of sexy ladies to move into the growing village. I'm not usually a harem fan either, but Farming Life handled it in a way I liked. Main dude wasn't a pervert at all, and he even had an official love interest, so there weren't any weird moments or drama. In fact, there wasn't much conflict in this at all. It was just a relaxing anime the whole way through. It really did feel like watching a chill playthrough of Stardew Valley. Obviously it wasn't amazing or anime of the season or anything like that, but Farming Life was surprisingly decent.

I finished The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague. I thought it was a nice anime. The main couple was always really cute together, and it was great seeing two stoic adults slowly grow closer. It was very slow-paced, but I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere. My only real complaint is that, with the amount of chemistry they clearly had together, it was kind of lame that their relationship didn't move faster or further. Still, I enjoyed this show a lot.

I just got back from a vacation, so I'm way behind on everything from this season. I'll still probably do my usual write-ups for upcoming shows sometime this week, and hopefully I finish the currently airing shows in time to give them a ranking near the end of the season.

Since I was visiting someone far more versed in pirating than I am, I also now have several shows that aren't available on streaming! In particular, I got Planetes, Kamichu, AKB0048, and the first three seasons of Hell Girl (S4 is the only one on Crunchyroll for some reason). I've always wanted to watch all of those, so I'm excited to finally have the chance.

Romantic Killer was a lot of fun, if you're at all into the romantic comedy genre

We've had a tough async so far. Some people (like me) breezed through pretty easily, but other people have been struggling! That's the nature of randomization, I suppose. Still, it looks like we're nearing the end.

I wouldn't call that a joke, it's just a cute thing he does. Like magical blushing. Despite having the comedy tag on MAL, I also wouldn't call it funny. It's just a slow-paced adult romance where two stoic people are cute towards each other, and I am here for it.

I'm still slowly checking out shows airing this season. At this point I won't update my season ranking, I'll just do a final one at the end of the season, but I'll give some thoughts on them.

Buddy Daddies is, as someone else described it, a solid Spy x Family knockoff. Of course, I didn't love SxF, so this show isn't doing much for me so far. I like the little girl the most. She's cute, but not in an obviously fake way like the crappy little girl from that awful Yakuza Babysitting anime. This show is fine, I guess.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague, meanwhile, is a nice and charming show! It isn't amazing or anything, and the slow pace wouldn't be for everyone. I'm just really enjoying the good feelings and cute moments between the characters.

I finished watching Selection Project. During my anime ranking topic, I watched and fell in love with Full Moon wo Sagashite, aka Searching for the Full Moon. It was about a sickly girl who became an idol and it was amazing. Well, Selection Project was also about a sickly girl who joined an idol competition! It sounded like a winner. Sadly, I thought it was merely okay. I liked the main girl Suzune, and there were quite a few touching moments in relation to her weak heart. I also liked the whole idol competition aspect of it, though they didn't do as much with it as I would've liked. In a lot of ways, though, this was just a typical idol anime, no different than something like Shine Post. I was happy while watching it, but Selection Project didn't become a new favorite or anything.

It's the second-best FF game of them all

I finished the first season of In/Spectre. It was a neat idea. Definitely a unique take on the mystery genre where the goal isn't to find the truth but rather to convince everyone of a lie. I also liked all the characters, especially the main girl. Sadly, the pacing was incredibly slow. There's a second season airing right now, so hopefully it fixes that and has more than one arc.

Speaking of the currently airing season, I also started watching Reborn to Master the Blade. It isn't terrible or anything, but my god is the main girl ever infuriating. There are legit moral quandaries going on around her and she's refusing to care. All she thinks about is fighting strong opponents. I want to like this show, but it's super lame that she refuses to actually engage with anything.

As for the rest of the season, I'm caught up on five shows. Kaina and Mononogatari are still my favorites, but I've also been pleasantly surprised with the isekai trio of 80,000 Gold, Farming Life, and Magical Revolution. As someone who usually hates isekai, these have all been a lot of fun in different ways. Farming Life especially feels like a show that should be terrible, but instead it just feels laid-back and nice. This has been a good season so far, aside from Reborn to Master the Blade.

https://archipelago.gg/room/z51Uj41bRiCXYqB7PhC3hQ

There's the room link, have fun everyone! Hints cost 10% now, I figure that's a good amount. If we ever start really having trouble, I can always check the spoiler log. I hope no one runs into any problems but let me know if you do. Remember to update to the latest version of Archipelago

Continuing my quest to check out airing anime, I watched the first three episodes of Farming Life in Another World. It definitely isn't amazing or anything, but it's charming so far. It has the usual dumb isekai stuff like the main dude having incredible abilities and getting a harem of sexy ladies for no reason. Still, so far he's just farming and slowly building structures and whatnot. I'm enjoying the slow pace and seeing the little plot of land expand.

When I watched that other crappy farming anime from last season, this is what I hoped it would be like. I'm pleasantly surprised with Farming Life so far.

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Reg (Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) yaml received
3- KommunistKoala (Super Mario World) yaml received
4- Alchav (Ocarina of Time) yaml received
5- JeffreyRaze (Link to the Past) yaml received
6- Mewtwo (Ocarina of Time) yaml received
7- Plasman (VVVVVV) yaml received
8- Plasman (Pokemon) yaml received
9- MrSmartGuy (Pokemon) yaml received
----
10- AriaOfBolo (Super Mario World) awaiting yaml

February 18th is coming ever closer!

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Reg (Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) yaml received
3- KommunistKoala (Super Mario World) yaml received
4- Alchav (Ocarina of Time) yaml received
----
5- AriaOfBolo (Pokemon) awaiting new yaml or just using old one

I started watching Blue Lock, and after five episodes it's pretty good! I'm not sure I agree with the rationale of the whole program, I feel like training strikers to take suboptimal shots rather than passing to an open teammate would be a really bad idea in an actual game, but it's still a neat show so far.

Slow going so far, but I'm guessing more people will join before the end!

1- Robazoid (Hollow Knight)
2- Reg (Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) yaml received

That time where Ross struggled to remember all 50 states

In addition to Kaina, I watched three episodes of two other airing shows. The Magical Revolution is decent so far, but it hasn't won me over yet. Anis is a bit much, and her relationship with Euphie has moved unrealistically fast in just three episodes, at least in my opinion. I also don't like how the prince is a turbo-asshole for seemingly no reason, and I'm guessing we haven't seen the last of him. I'm still enjoying it, but I expected this show to be an easy favorite and it ain't there yet.

In fact, it looks like Magical Revolution won't even be my favorite isekai of the season! Saving 80,000 Gold is great so far. I've always been a big fan of concepts like this. It's an inherently fun idea to think about how one could use modern items and knowledge to change a less advanced world. Couple that with Mitsuha, who is quite possibly the best isekai protagonist I've ever seen, and this show is looking like a winner. She can warp between the two worlds at will, and she's already finding creative uses for that power. I also like how she's approaching the whole situation, including getting firearms training and lying her ass off to integrate herself into the world. It also has a lot of solid comedic moments. I'm only three episodes in, but I'm loving this so far.

SEASON RANKING SO FAR:
Kaina of the Great Snow Sea (5 episodes)
Saving 80,000 Gold etc (3 episodes)
Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari (5 episodes)
High Card (3 episodes)
Ippon Again (3 episodes)
The Magical Revolution etc (3 episodes)

Still, this season has a lot of winners so far. I'd rank each of those shows at least above average.

The next async is February 18th! Either let me know your yaml settings or start sending them to me on the discord.

I let the last topic purge, whoops. Still, it might be good to have the opening post list some of the recent popular additions (like Pokemon and SMW)

Website: archipelago.gg
NOTE TO MODS: While some Archipelago games require emulation, they don't provide any of the hardware or information on how to get it. They're very careful not to break any laws so please don't delete this topic just for linking to them, thx

What is a randomizer?: Most games have a linear progression. Item A unlocks Area B, and Area B has Item C to unlock Area D, and so on. In a randomizer, these items are shuffled, so you might find Item C in the first area and can progress to Area D right away. How they work obviously varies from game to game, but most randomizers offer a unique progression path every time you play. Often this turns them into a kind of puzzle to complete. Randomizers use careful logic to ensure you can always beat the game, but it won't always be easy!

How can a randomizer be multiplayer?: With Archipelago, instead of a game's items being shuffled within itself, those items are shuffled between several different games. A Link to the Past player can find and send a Super Metroid player's super missiles, and then the Super Metroid player can find the LTTP player's hookshot, and so on. This turns the randomizer experience into one big puzzle split between ten or twenty or more games, and everyone needs to cooperate to complete it. This can be done with everyone playing at the same time, but Archipelago also allows for asynchronous play (or async), meaning your progress is saved and can be resumed later. Any items you send, other players receive when they start playing, and any items they send you will come when you resume.

LIST OF GAMES
A Link to the Past
ChecksFinder (a small Minesweeper-type game)
Dark Souls III
Donkey Kong Country 3
Factorio
Final Fantasy
Hollow Knight
Hylics 2
Lufia II Ancient Cave
Meritous
Minecraft
Ocarina of Time
Overcooked 2
Pokemon Red and Blue
Raft
Risk of Rain 2
Rogue Legacy
Secret of Evermore
Slay the Spire
SMZ3 (LTTP and Super Metroid combined into one game)
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
Subnautica
Super Mario 64
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
The Witness
Timespinner
VVVVVV
Zillion

How to Participate: If you're interested, that's great! Here's a quick breakdown of the steps you need to take, but feel free to ask any questions.

1: Choose your game from the list above. Remember, whatever you choose will be randomized, so you won't be playing it the usual way. Minecraft, for example, locks various crafting recipes behind checks for you to find or other players to send you. You won't even be able to craft a stone pickaxe until you get Progressive Tools. In Starcraft II, you can't build marines until the unit is sent, etc. With that said, no one should be wary of joining. Archipelago allows forfeits if you're having trouble or not having any fun, so feel free to try it out!

2: Make sure you can get your game to work. https://archipelago.gg/tutorial/ has setup guides for the various games, and most of them require the Archipelago client too. I've played a few games and others here have played many others, so hopefully we can help if you're having trouble. If you run into big technical issues, though, you might need to go to the Archipelago discord server and ask there. There are lots of knowledgeable people there who will be happy to help with any questions!

3: Decide on your game's settings and either let me know or send me a yaml file. A yaml is the name for the file that contains your game's settings. Each game on Archipelago allows various setting changes (found here: https://archipelago.gg/games under the settings link by each game). You can either export the settings on the website and send me the file (preferably through discord) or simply let me know of your changes and, as long as there aren't a whole bunch of them, I can happily create a yaml for you. If this is your first time participating, I'd recommend just going with defaults, but some games have some real quality-of-life stuff available so make sure to take a look!

4: Once I get all the yamls and generate the multiworld, the async begins! At that point all you need to do is join in and start playing. We're pretty laid-back here, so while each async will start on a Saturday where hopefully people can play, it's fine if you can't start right away or if you can't play all the time. Most asyncs we've done have taken between a few days to a week, so there's no rush. This is meant to be fun and low-stress for everyone!

Lastly, we have a discord server that we use during these. It's helpful to talk in real-time sometimes, and it makes uploading yaml files super easy. People read what's posted here too, though, so joining it isn't mandatory. The link is below and it should never expire, but if you try to join and can't just let me know and I'll generate a new one.

https://discord.gg/s5aZFEKTHz

Only other thing from them I've seen is Knights of Sidonia, and I thought it looked fine too. I'm generally pretty easy-going when it comes to animation, though.

I'm sad no one mentioned thoughts about Kaina of the Great Snow Sea. I think it's amazing after the first five episodes. I guess some people would be turned off by the CGI animation, but I think it looks fine. I'm a big fan of creative settings like this full of strange ideas (some sort of atmospheric canopy held up by gigantic trees, snow that clearly isn't real snow, etc) and all the strange insect creatures are giving me Made in Abyss vibes. I'm not entirely sold on the main plot just yet, but it still has time to come together and I'm hopeful that it will.

GavsEvans123 posted...

I enjoyed reading this too, and I've made note of some shows that I liked the sound of to watch them myself.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for following along!

pjbasis posted...

I may have put it in a way that seemed backhanded, but I do think it's cool to see someone enjoy the things that I don't.

And you have a pretty non-judgemental way of puttings things, even when the rankings seem harsh.

I didn't see anything wrong with your initial comment, don't worry! There are a lot of popular shows I know absolutely nothing about, after all.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I only intended to watch three episodes in each just to see what they were like, but Mononogatari was interesting enough that I already broke that promise and caught up completely. It has a lot of elements that really interest me (supernatural stuff, setting up what could be a cute romance, good mix of action and comedy) but I'm not completely sold on it yet. The next episode looks like it'll finally characterize Botan, which I think will make or break this show for me.

Otherwise, High Card has a lot of potential (neat powers are always great, and it's giving me Kingsman vibes). Ippon Again is cute girls doing judo, which isn't groundbreaking but that's also all it needs to be so that's fine too. As of episode three, I'm still not sure if their advisor is a man or a woman. Like I'm 99% sure it's a woman but the students are treating them as a sexy bishonen so I dunno. Main girl is a bit of an airhead, but she has the same VA as Arisa from BanG Dream so I'm willing to forgive her.

SEASON RANKING SO FAR:
Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari (5 episodes)
High Card (3 episodes)
Ippon Again (3 episodes)

I'll watch more new shows tomorrow!

Yeah I only ever count new shows for stuff like this. An anime has to be really terrible for me to not watch new seasons of it, and even then I usually feel bad and watch the crappy ones anyway.

Vinland S2, D4DJ All Mix, and Bofuri S2 are the sequels I'll be watching. I also started In/Spectre the other day, which has a S2 this season, but I'm still on S1.

Alright, I've made a list of stuff from this season I want to check out. I'm on the fence for Onimai and Tomo-chan, so if anyone is watching that and wants to vouch for it or warn me away, I'd appreciate it! Otherwise, I'll watch:

Farming Life in Another World
Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible
Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari
Kaina of the Great Snow Sea
Buddy Daddies
The Magical Revolution etc
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
High Card
Giant Beats of Ars
Ippon Again
The Fire Hunter
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale
Saving 80,000 Gold etc
Reborn to Master the Blade

This season certainly seems like it has a lot more going for it than the last few, but I guess it's finally time to see if any of this is actually good.

Well, Netflix cut me off faster than I thought! I was halfway through Kotaro Lives Alone, but I guess it'll have to wait. Luckily I'm visiting my brother next month, so I can connect my phone to the primary location and have another 30 days after that (as I understand it), but for now I guess that's that.

I'm actually kind of happy I won't feel obligated to watch a bunch of Netflix stuff right now. I'll get to spend the weekend finally watching shows from the current season! Magical Revolution girls here I come

KommunistKoala posted...

great topic(s) roba

SeabassDebeste posted...

thanks so much for the just!

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the ranking, thanks for keeping up with it!

Maniac64 posted...

FYI the new season of Bofuri is going now and I'm really enjoying it.

Now that I'm done recommendations, I have a few recent sequel seasons to catch up on (Iruma S3, Classroom of the Elite S2, etc), but Bofuri is one of the ones I'm looking forward to the most! First I need to watch as much as I can on Netflix before they get rid of password sharing, though. In any case, thanks for following along with the ranking, Maniac!

Netflix is getting rid of password sharing in Canada pretty soon, so I looked through their anime selection for anything to watch while I still have access to an account. I watched two episodes of Great Pretender (it was okay I guess, I might finish it if I have time) and one episode of Revisions (it sucked), but neither one grabbed me enough to the point where I'll be sad if I don't finish them. Thankfully, shows like Erased and Kimi ni Todoke are on Crunchyroll too because I want to watch them someday. Once I was considering shows that are probably junk like 7 Seeds and Cagastar of an Insect Cage, I realized Netflix's anime selection doesn't have much left for me.

After all of that, I decided to watch a movie. I watched Kiki's Delivery Service as a recommendation for my anime ranking, so I picked another random Ghibli movie, When Marnie Was There. It had a great atmosphere and a lot of nice moments. I'm a sucker for emotional supernatural stories like that. Still, by the end, I felt like the story was put together in an odd way. Like, I could see what they were going for, but it could've been a lot better to really drive the themes and relationships home. Still, it was a nice movie, a solid 7/10.

There are quite a few other anime movies that caught my eye (the rest of the Ghibli movies, Drifting Home, A Whisker Away, and A Silent Voice) but I don't know the exact date this password sharing thing goes through, so I might not have time for them all.

And with that, my anime ranking is officially over. We started late July, but I'd been finalizing rankings and doing write-ups in advance for a few months before that. Due to some long recommendations towards the end, this also wound up taking a few months longer than I thought it would. All told, this project took me almost a full year! The final word count on the Google doc is 177787. That's a lot of words spent talking about anime.

This whole thing was a lot of work, but I also had a lot of fun with it. I especially enjoyed watching so many different recommendations. Even the ones I didn't end up loving were still worthwhile experiences, so I hope no one feels bad if I gave yours a low score. (Honestly, there are very few anime that I outright regret watching. Even most of the 1/10s were still unique experiences). It was also nice watching a bunch of shows I might've never gotten to on my own. I like to think I went into each of them with an open mind. Also, in the end, we got a decent spread across my ranking, including a new 1/10 and a new 10/10.

More than anything, though, I hope everyone enjoyed following along with this ranking project as much as I did creating it. I appreciated every single comment along the way, and I hope at least a few people will be inspired to check out one or two of my personal favorites! Or you can just pick a random anime you've never even heard of and give it a try! That's how I found some of my own all-time favorites, after all, and even unpopular shows might turn out to be hidden gems that appeal to your tastes specifically.

I might do something like this again in a few years once I've watched another few hundred anime. Until then, I'll be heading back to the anime topic and posting my thoughts as I finish things in there. Hopefully I'll see all of you in there from time to time. I'll keep this topic bumped for a week or so just to ensure everyone sees it and posts any final thoughts they may have. I'd be interested in hearing about your biggest agreements/disagreements with my opinions, as well as any unofficial recommendations of other shows you think I might enjoy that I can save for later. I'd also appreciate any thoughts about the ranking that I can use to improve things in case I ever do something similar in the future. Were the write-ups too long, did you like the Premise/Good/Bad/Overall layout, did I handle the risk of spoilers in a good way, that kind of stuff. After we've had time for that, we can let this topic die.

For the last time, thank you to everyone who followed along with this big dumb anime ranking project! I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope all of you did too.

(STANDALONE MOVIES)
M1- Kiki's Delivery Service
M2- Bubble
M3- Starlight Promises
M4- Expelled from Paradise
M5- The Garden of Sinners
M6- Calamity of the Zombie Girl

(TOP 100 CHARACTERS)
1- Takeya Yuki (School-Live)
2- Yuki Yuna (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)
3- Tachibana Aiko (A.I.C.O.: Incarnation)
4- Kuroki Tomoko (Watamote)
5- Shirayuki (Snow White with the Red Hair)
6- Etou Kanami (Katana Maidens)
7- Jabami Yumeko (Kakegurui)
8- Kohinata 'Pikari' Hikari (Amanchu)
9- Mitsumine Mashiro (Engaged to the Unidentified)
10- Toyama Kasumi (BanG Dream)
11- Souma Sumire (Sagrada Reset)
12- Kouyama Mitsuki (Searching for the Full Moon)
13- Emilia (Re:ZERO)
14- Hanekawa Tsubasa (Monogatari)
15- Sakurajima Mai (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-Girl Senpai)
16- Ange le Carr (Princess Principal)
17- Tsuchimiya Asuka (The Girl in Twilight)
18- Takanashi Rikka (Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions)
19- Tsukishiro Hitomi (Iroduku: The World in Colors)
20- Miyazono Kaori (Your Lie in April)
21- Tachibana 'Angel' Kanade (Angel Beats)
22- Suzumiya Haruhi (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
23- Index Librorum Prohibitorum (A Certain Magical Index)
24- Amami Hibiki (Re-Kan!)
25- Kagamihara Nadeshiko (Laid-Back Camp)
26- Inami Mahiru (Working!!)
27- Ayase Chihaya (Chihayafuru)
28- Yotsuya Miko (Mieruko-chan)
29- Kobuchizawa Shirase (A Place Further Than the Universe)
30- Misakino Kukuru (The Aquatope on White Sand)
31- Koguma (Super Cub)
32- Swindler (Akudama Drive)
33- Hiiragi Nana (Talentless Nana)
34- Tokito Akari (The Executioner and Her Way of Life)
35- Kurokami no Onna (Death Parade)
36- Kuroi Souya (Planet With)
37- Riko (Made in Abyss)
38- Kagari 'Akko' Atsuko (Little Witch Academia)
39- Iki Hiyori (Noragami)
40- Sorami Kanata (Sound of the Sky)
41- Nagato Yuki (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
42- Nya-tan (Etotama)
43- Honma 'Menma' Meiko (Anohana)
44- Isla (Plastic Memories)
45- Konno Yuuki (Sword Art Online)
46- Squid Girl (Squid Girl)
47- Jashin-chan (Dropkick on my Devil)
48- Jahy (The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated)
49- Kurumizawa McDowell Satania Satanichia (Gabriel Dropout)
50- Kirishiki Sunako (Shiki)
51- Mishima Hitomi (Hinamatsuri)
52- Tsubaki Aoi (Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits)
53- Kitagawa Marin (My Dress-Up Darling)
54- Hoshino Anzu (Romantic Killer)
55- Akebi Komichi (Akebi's Sailor Uniform)
56- Matsuzaka Satou (Happy Sugar Life)
57- Azusagawa Kaede (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-Girl Senpai)
58- Shichimiya Satone (Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions)
59- Asagaya Minoa (Animegataris)
60- Shima Rin (Laid-Back Camp)
61- Togo Mimori (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)
62- Vladilena Milize (86 Eighty Six)
63- Makise Kurisu (Steins;Gate)
64- Otonashi Yuzuru (Angel Beats)
65- Zhuge 'Kongming' Liang (Ya Boy Kongming)
66- Eve (Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story)
67- Odokawa Hiroshi (Odd Taxi)
68- Liu Shouxue (Raven of the Inner Palace)
69- Nishikigi Chisato (Lycoris Recoil)
70- Tsumujikaze Koyori (Scorching Ping Pong Girls)
71- Asai Kei (Sagrada Reset)
72- Honjou Yuri (High-Rise Invasion)
73- Ayanokouji Kiyotaka (Classroom of the Elite)
74- Yagami Light (Death Note)
75- Yoshida 'Shamiko' Yuuko (The Demon Girl Next Door)
76- Azazel 'Ameri' Amelie (Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun)
77- Hanakoizumi Anne (Anne-Happy)
78- Komi Shouko (Komi Can't Communicate)
79- Sawabe Tsubaki (Your Lie in April)
80- Ooki 'Teko' Futaba (Amanchu)
81- Tsukuyomi Sasami (Sasami-san @ Ganbarenai)
82- Tsukimi Eiko (Ya Boy Kongming)
83- Yonomori Kobeni (Engaged to the Unidentified)
84- Inoue Narumi (Re-Kan!)
85- Ichigaya Arisa (BanG Dream)
86- Nakasu Kasumi (Love Live: Nijigasaki High School Idol Club)
87- Tsushima 'Yohane' Yoshiko (Love Live: Sunshine)
88- Kogami Akira (Lucky Star)
89- Yamada Tae (Zombie Land Saga)
90- Sakuranomiya Maika (Blend-S)
91- Miyamo Chio (Chio's School Road)
92- Hitori Bocchi (Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu)
93- Kagari Ayaka (Witch Craft Works)
94- Sugimoto Saichi (Golden Kamuy)
95- Soleil Yuki (The Price of Smiles)
96- Hoshimi Junna (Revue Starlight)
97- Chito (Girls' Last Tour)
98- Inubouzaki Itsuki (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)
99- Makabe Masamune (Masamune-kun's Revenge)
100- Nanbu Gansaku (Megalo Box)
101- Takahashi Megumi (A Place Further Than the Universe)
102- Chakuro (Children of the Whales)
103- Dee Ensy Stratmitos (Sunday Without God)
104- Ursula Callistis (Little Witch Academia)
105- Miyauchi Renge (Non Non Biyori)
106- Izumi Shinichi (Parasyte: The Maxim)

(10/10 PERFECT TIER)
1- Engaged to the Unidentified
2- School-Live
3- Searching for the Full Moon
4- A.I.C.O.: Incarnation
5- Akudama Drive
6- Sagrada Reset
7- Girls' Last Tour
8- Sound of the Sky
9- Snow White with the Red Hair
10- Squid Girl

(9/10 AMAZING TIER)
11- Laid-Back Camp
12- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-Girl Senpai
13- Iroduku: The World in Colors
14- Re-Kan!
15- Gamers!
16- Watamote
17- Love Live: Sunshine
18- Zombie Land Saga
19- Etotama
20- Dropkick on my Devil
21- A Place Further Than the Universe
22- Odd Taxi
23- Chihayafuru
24- Super Cub
25- Flying Witch
26- Made in Abyss
27- Kakegurui
28- Talentless Nana
29- Lost Song
30- Revue Starlight

(8/10 GREAT TIER)
31- Princess Principal
32- Planet With
33- Witch Craft Works
34- Yuki Yuna is a Hero
35- Re:ZERO
36- Hunter x Hunter
37- From the New World
38- Angel Beats
39- Plastic Memories
40- Anohana
41- Your Lie in April
42- Hinamatsuri
43- Working!!
44- Anne-Happy
45- Kiniro Mosaic
46- The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated
47- Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun
48- Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story
49- Keijo!!!!!!!!
50- Akebi's Sailor Uniform
51- Animegataris
52- Kakuriyo
53- Raven of the Inner Palace
54- Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
55- The Girl in Twilight
56- The Executioner and Her Way of Life
57- High-Rise Invasion
58- Mieruko-chan
59- Happy Sugar Life
60- Shiki

(7/10 GOOD TIER)
61- Golden Kamuy
62- Knights of Sidonia
63- Little Witch Academia
64- Children of the Whales
65- Sunday Without God
66- Noragami
67- Katana Maidens
68- Blend-S
69- BOFURI
70- D-Frag
71- The Demon Girl Next Door
72- The Little Lies We All Tell
73- Sasami-san @ Ganbaranai
74- Arakawa Under the Bridge
75- Lucky Star
76- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
77- BanG Dream
78- Ya Boy Kongming
79- Love Live! School Idol Project
80- Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions
81- Amanchu
82- My Dress-Up Darling
83- Romantic Killer
84- Scorching Ping Pong Girls
85- My Hero Academia
86- Steins;Gate
87- Death Note
88- Monster
89- Lycoris Recoil
90- Prima Doll
91- Harukana Receive
92- Anima Yell
93- Komi Can't Communicate
94- Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu
95- Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
96- Chio's School Road
97- In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki
98- Love Lab
99- Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness
100- Konohana Kitan

(6/10 ABOVE AVERAGE TIER)
101- Aria
102- Monogatari
103- 86 Eighty-Six
104- The Price of Smiles
105- The Magnificent Kotobuki
106- High School Fleet
107- Umamusume: Pretty Derby
108- WATATEN: An Angel Flew Down to Me
109- Uzamaid
110- Last Period
111- A Certain Magical Index
112- The Aquatope on White Sand
113- Celestial Method
114- Kokkoku
115- Land of the Lustrous
116- Love After World Domination
117- Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
118- Parasyte: The Maxim
119- Killing Bites
120- Vividred Operation
121- Castle Town Dandelion
122- Somali and the Forest Spirit
123- RPG Real Estate
124- Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood
125- Gabriel Dropout
126- Himouto! Umaru-chan
127- Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laughing 'til You Cry
128- Asobi Asobase -workshop of fun-
129- This Art Club Has a Problem
130- Nyarko-san
131- The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent
132- Actually, I Am
133- Masamune-kun's Revenge
134- My Love Story
135- Tsurezure Children
136- Tsukigakirei
137- Toradora
138- Sakura Quest
139- Non Non Biyori
140- Do It Yourself
141- Healer Girl
142- Carole & Tuesday
143- AKB0048
144- D4DJ: First Mix
145- Bocchi the Rock
146- Love Live: Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

(5.5/10 EXACTLY AVERAGE TIER)
147- K-On!

(5/10 BELOW AVERAGE TIER)
148- Attack on Titan
149- Goblin Slayer
150- Megalo Box
151- Claymore
152- Vinland Saga
153- Classroom of the Elite
154- Urara Meirocho
155- Spy x Family
156- Hina Logic: Luck & Logic
157- Girls und Panzer
158- Mitsuboshi Colors
159- Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
160- Is the Order a Rabbit?
161- Yuru Yuri
162- Hinako Note
163- Kemono Friends
164- Cells at Work
165- We Rent Tsukumogami
166- Magimoji Rurumo
167- Pastel Memories
168- Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
169- Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
170- Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches
171- Music Girls
172- Shine Post
173- Luminous Witches
174- Phantom of the Idol
175- Hanasaku Iroha
176- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
177- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
178- Sword Art Online
179- Overlord
180- Saga of Tanya the Evil
181- Kaiji
182- Cowboy Bebop
183- Bodacious Space Pirates
184- Yona of the Dawn
185- Ascendance of a Bookworm
186- Parallel World Pharmacy
187- Endro~!
188- Management of a Novice Alchemist
189- Three Leaves, Three Colors
190- Slow Start
191- GJ Club
192- Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
193- Hakumei and Mikochi

(4/10 MEDIOCRE TIER)
194- How to Keep a Mummy
195- Interviews with Monster Girls
196- The Ryuo's Work is Never Done
197- Kaguya-sama: Love is War
198- Magical Girl Raising Project
199- Magical Girl Site
200- Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
201- Chainsaw Man
202- Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
203- A Certain Scientific Railgun
204- Phantom in the Twilight
205- One Punch Man
206- Daily Lives of High School Boys
207- Sabagebu: Survival Game Club
208- Konosuba
209- Haganai
210- Monster Musume
211- Sankarea
212- The Tatami Galaxy
213- Wandering Son
214- RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time
215- Marchen Madchen
216- Record of Ragnarok
217- Aokana
218- Cinderella Nine
219- Asteroid in Love
220- Teasing Master Takagi-san
221- Comic Girls
222- Girlish Number
223- New Game
224- Red Data Girl
225- Nanana's Buried Treasure
226- After the Rain
227- Recovery of an MMO Junkie
228- Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
229- Beastars
230- Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan
231- Akiba Maid War
232- Re:Creators
233- Death Parade

(3/10 DISAPPOINTING TIER)
234- Devilman Crybaby
235- B: The Beginning
236- Assassination Classroom
237- Mob Psycho 100
238- Strike Witches
239- Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto
240- Cromartie High School
241- Aggretsuko
242- Servant x Service
243- Tada Never Falls in Love
244- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
245- Shirobako
246- Hyouka
247- Sound Euphonium
248- March Comes in Like a Lion
249- Violet Evergarden
250- The Ancient Magus' Bride
251- Code Geass
252- Scum's Wish
253- Classroom Crisis
254- The Devil is a Part-Timer
255- I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills
256- Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
257- How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
258- Seven Senses of the Re'Union
259- Island
260- Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion
261- Karakuri Circus
262- Heroines Run the Show
263- Release the Spyce

(2/10 BAD TIER)
264- A Sister's All You Need
265- My Master Has No Tail
266- Holmes of Kyoto
267- Angels of Death
268- Brave Witches
269- Call of the Night
270- The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar
271- Lord of Vermilion: The Crimson King
272- The Junji Ito Collection
273- The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious
274- The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting
275- School Babysitters
276- Kumamiko: Girl Meets Bear
277- Record of Grancrest War
278- Adachi and Shimamura
279- Golden Time
280- Taisho Otome Fairy Tale
281- Citrus
282- Vampire in the Garden
283- Frankenstein Family

(1/10 TERRIBLE TIER)
284- Symphogear
285- Hanebado
286- Neon Genesis Evangelion
287- Darling in the FranXX
288- Kinos Journey -the Beautiful World-
289- Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation
290- Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
291- My Little Monster
292- Maria the Virgin Witch
293- ID-0

103- 86 Eighty-Six
(Recommended by NBIceman)

This mecha anime had a lot of great characters and ideas, but was held back by being too heavy-handed with a lot of things, especially the whole racism aspect. I still enjoyed it enough to rank it near The Price of Smiles, another mecha anime that I thought had a lot of great ideas but not the greatest execution.

136- Tsukigakirei
(Recommended by KommunistKoala)

This tale of young love wound up landing in what I call the near-average rom-com section of my ranking, alongside anime like Tsurezure Children and Toradora.

138- Sakura Quest
(Recommended by pyresword)

This fun slice-of-life anime landed near shows that left me with similar feelings, such as Non Non Biyori. This section didn't resonate with me enough to rise any higher, but there's nothing wrong with being a nice near-average anime!

140- Do It Yourself
(Airing anime)

This anime was a unique slice-of-life club anime, and I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I didn't love it. It also landed near Non-Non Biyori, close to average.

145- Bocchi the Rock
(Airing anime)

This anime is a low 6/10 alongside a few other music shows like D4DJ and Love Live: Nijigasaki. I usually like shy girls, but Bocchi didn't quite do it for me (though I didn't hate her or anything, I just didn't like her enough to rank this any higher).

152- Vinland Saga
(Recommended by NFUN)

The high 5/10s have a lot of action anime that I enjoyed but didn't love, and Vinland Saga currently sits alongside them. I'm excited to watch the second season to see if this ranking will change!

176- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
(Airing anime)

As much as I disliked certain aspects of the story, this was still a decent anime with good production values. It landed near Madoka, another anime that had some ideas I liked and other ideas that I hated.

181- Kaiji
(Recommended by Reg)

This anime was held back quite a bit by its slow pacing and what felt like padding. The gambles were still interesting enough to rank it in the 5/10s. It sits right below Saga of Tanya the Evil, another anime that had a neat premise but also a lot of little things that bugged me.

182- Cowboy Bebop
(Recommended by Celo)

This anime was held back by my dislike for the more dramatic story-focused episodes. Still, the more episodic space adventures were a lot of fun, and enough to rank it just ahead of Bodacious Space Pirates, another space anime.

188- Management of a Novice Alchemist
(Airing anime)

This anime was held back by my dislike for the super overpowered protagonist, but it still had good aspects like exploring the intricacies of running an alchemy business. It landed under Endro, another fantasy anime with cute girls that should've been a lot better than it was.

197- Kaguya-Sama: Love is War
(Recommended by handsomeboy2012)

Watching the second and third seasons of this anime wound up raising it from a 3/10 to a high 4/10. It escaped what I call the mediocre rom-com section and rose all the way to sit below The Ryou's Work is Never Done.

201- Chainsaw Man
(Airing anime)

This anime had a tone that didn't jive with me, but I still enjoyed stuff like the setting and the idea of all the different devils. It fell into the bottom of a section of grim anime, including shows like Magical Girl Site and Grimgar.

212- The Tatami Galaxy
(Recommended by Sceptilesolar)

This show was interesting and unique, but the style ultimately wasn't my favorite thing. I ranked it near Wandering Son, another anime that I consider special and important but, ultimately, just not really my thing.

216- Record of Ragnarok
(Recommended by GavEvans123)

This anime was held back by its shoddy production and glacial pacing, but it still had fun ideas. I'm glad I watched it, and I hope to watch the second season in the near future! I ranked it near Marchen Madchen, another flawed gem.

229- Beastars
(Recommended by Bane_Of_Despair)

My opinion on this anime is fluid, because I really liked the main relationship but there was other stuff I didn't like at all. I wound up putting it below the mediocre rom-com section, but it doesn't really fit there because the romance was the best part about this. Beastars was difficult to rank.

231- Akiba Maid War
(Airing anime)

This anime had neat ideas but, in my opinion, really bad execution. I wanted to rank it a 3/10 but it wound up getting bumped up to a 4/10 alongside other shows I have significant problems with, such as Re:Creators and Death Parade.

237- Mob Psycho 100
(Recommended by Sheep007)

This anime, sadly, ranked far below One Punch Man, another show by the same author. I had mostly the same problems with both of them, but Mob handled everything in a way I liked less. They both still had high-quality productions and a lot of neat moments.

240- Cromartie High School
(Recommended by cyko)

There were parts of this anime that I enjoyed, such as Mechazawa and the Gorilla, but ultimately the style of humor just wasn't for me. It ranked alongside shows like Aggretsuko and Sakamoto, other comedies where I could see what they were going for but it just wasn't my taste.

244- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
(Airing anime)

I'm really hoping the second season of this anime saves it, because I find myself hating it more the more I think about it. This has so many elements I should enjoy, but none of them have come together in a satisfying way yet.

248- March Comes in Like a Lion
(Recommended by changmas)

There were parts of this anime that I enjoyed. In the end, though, it mostly just left me with bad feelings. It ranks alongside several other anime that most people love that just didn't sit right with me for whatever reason. Shows like Hyouka and Sound Euphonium.

251- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
(Recommended by Maniac64)

This was an anime with high highs and low lows. I liked the concept and several of the characters, but Suzaku remains one of the worst fictional characters ever. This ranks near Violet Evergarden, another show that had episodes I loved and other episodes I absolutely hated.

253- Classroom Crisis
(Recommended by Robazoid)

I don't know what the deal is with this Robazoid weirdo, but his recommendation sucked. It had a lot of things that should've appealed to me, but nearly everything was handled poorly. This ranks barely above the trash isekai section, and I'm sad I couldn't justify ranking it lower.

255- I've Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills
(Airing anime)

This show was a trash isekai, not much else to say.

265- My Master Has No Tail
(Airine anime)

There's nothing worse than an unfunny comedy, and this anime was unfunny on every level. I ranked it near Holmes of Kyoto, another anime with a kind of historical vibe. Both of those shows also failed at everything they tried to do.

286- Neon Genesis Evangelion
(Recommended by HBJDubs)

I feel bad for ranking this as low as I have, because I honestly don't hate it nearly as much as a lot of things ranked above it. This show simply felt like it was designed so that it wouldn't appeal to me at all, and in the end I can't rank it any higher than a 1/10.

294- Psycho Pass
(Dropped Recommendation)

I dropped Psycho Pass when it got so grim that it pissed me off. Looking back, though, I might've just been in the wrong mood then. I've been thinking about this anime lately, and there's a good chance I actually will go back and finish it at some point. For now, though, it's in the Dropped Tier.

M1- Kiki's Delivery Service
(Recommended by Xeybozn)

The only anime movie recommendation, and also easily my favorite standalone anime movie. That may not be a huge achievement since the movie list only has six entries, but reaching the top is still pretty impressive!

Before posting the final ranking, I want to go some stuff for anyone who might be interested.

I talked about this a few times during this project, but here's a reminder of how my ranking works. I always keep a certain number of anime in each tier. I'm very close to reaching 300 shows, which, when organized from 10 to 1, will have tiers of 10/20/30/40/50/50/40/30/20/10. This means that one third of the shows I've seen will be considered roughly average, and anything that reaches the top or bottom extremes is either really good or really terrible. Whenever I watch a new anime, I slot it into the list. I've kept up with this ranking ever since I first started watching anime. This might seem like a colossal waste of time, but I work a job where I often spend hours sitting at a desk with nothing to do. Stuff like this helps me pass time!

Shows often shift around in the ranking. Sometimes that's because a new one was added to the tier. Since there can only be ten 10/10s (at least right now), finding a new favorite means a current 10/10 needs to fall to a 9, and then a current 9 needs to fall to an 8, and so on. It isn't always the anime ranked lowest in the tier that slides down, either. I enjoy reexamining the various shows in each tier and trying to determine the weakest link. There are also times where I move anime around in the ranking because my opinions have changed, or for a variety of other reasons. It's a living document. This might not make sense to a lot of people. I mean, why should finding a new 10/10 retroactively downgrade my opinion of a completely different show? I imagine most people just rank something a 7 on MAL or wherever and then they never think about it again. For me, though, aside from giving me something to do to kill time at work, I enjoy shifting anime around. It gives me a reason to think about them again, even years later.

My way of ranking things also means that my true favorites slowly rise, my most hated slowly fall, and everything else slowly slides towards the middle. That's pretty much what happened as I put together this final ranking. I spent quite a long time writing up a post detailing every single change (including minor shifts like Re-Kan and Iroduku swapping positions or exactly which shows were bumped from a 7/10 to a 6/10), but I eventually realized no one cares about any of that except me. In the full ranking posted below, there will be some differences. Some are even significant, like Children of the Whales falling from a 9/10 to a 7/10 (I assumed it would be a 9, then, when I finally rewatched it, it was too late to rank it any lower than a 9. The same thing happened with Parasyte). However, I'm only going to go into detail for the 36 new additions listed below.

3- Searching for the Full Moon
(Recommended by Mega_Mana)

This was my favorite recommendation and it reached the coveted top 5. It mixed together so many different moods and genres, and it handled them all so well, that the result was something truly special.

28- Talentless Nana
(Recommended by Cody11533)

This show had a great concept and handled it well. It landed right below Kakegurui. The two aren't very similar, but they left me with similar feelings due to both having interesting protagonists who got into neat situations.

53- Raven of the Inner Palace
(Airing anime)

This anime had great supernatural elements and a lot of great character development. It landed next to Kakuriyo, another anime with those same aspects.

54- Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
(Recommended by CoolCly)

This anime also had a great concept and a super fun mystery. It landed ahead of The Girl in Twilight, another anime with a concept that really appealed to me.

69- BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense
(Recommended by WhiteLens)

This fun anime about an overpowered girl in a VR video game was both interesting and hilarious, which earned it a spot between Blend-S (which fell from the 8/10s) and D-Frag, another comedy about video games.

72- The Little Lies We All Tell
(Airing anime)

This comedy anime also landed near D-Frag and The Demon Girl Next Door. Much like those two, it had a style of humor that really appealed to me.

73- Sasami-san @ Ganbarenai
(Recommended by MacArrowny)

This anime was just so wonderfully weird, but also wound up telling a compelling story about interesting characters. It landed near Arakawa Under the Bridge, mostly because both shows left me with a similar vibe.

83- Romantic Killer
(Airing anime)

This anime was a wonderful rom-com that used the genre's expectations for a lot of great situations and humor. It landed right below My Dress-Up Darling, another fun rom-com that avoided the dramatic pitfalls a lot of shows in this genre fall into.

88- Monster
(Recommended by MartinFF7 and LordoftheMorons)

This was an interesting story, and I'm really glad I finally got a chance to watch it. It didn't wind up being one of my favorites like it did for a lot of people, but I certainly enjoyed it. It landed right below Death Note, mostly because both shows were about exploring interesting characters in deadly situations.

(This write-up wound up being pretty long, my apologies. I'll try to get up early enough to post the final ranking in the morning before I go to work)

BONUS. Mob Psycho 100
https://myanimelist.net/anime/32182/Mob_Psycho_100
Summer 2016 (12 episodes), Winter 2019 (13 episodes), Fall 2022 (12 episodes) plus 1 OVA
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.49/10 S1, 8.81/10 S2, 8.75/10 S3
Best Character: Dimple
Recommended by: @Sheep007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw-5Lka7gPE

Premise: Kageyama Shigeo, also known as Mob, is an incredibly powerful psychic. He works part-time with a fake psychic, Reigen Arataka, in order to learn how to control his powers.

The Good: Mob Psycho 100 is an action comedy about over-the-top battles between psychics with crazy powers. It mostly follows Mob, a boy who has been suppressing his abilities and has a pretty dull personality as a result. Sometimes emotions get the best of him, however, and then his powers erupt. Theres also a large cast of colorful characters, including the con artist Reigen and an evil spirit named Dimple. He wound up being my favorite because I liked the visual of a little green ghost dude hovering around, plus he got some good development in one arc. Tome, the girl with an interest in espers, was a fun character too even if she was minor. The anime followed the daily adventures of Mob, which included a lot of stunningly well-animated battle sequences. I imagine the sheer spectacle of this anime is a big reason why so many people love it.

The Bad: Mob Psycho 100 is another work by the creator of One Punch Man, and its becoming increasingly clear that his style just isnt for me. That author is a big fan of a few tropes that I dont enjoy. One of the big ones is setting up what appears to be a dangerous battle only for the hero to instantly win with little effort. It was funny in OPM (for most of one season, at least), but I didnt like how it was handled in Mob. Itd be like if Saitama needed to psyche himself up before he could deliver the one punch. It wouldnt really change the flow of the battle, it would just stretch it out a lot.

Almost every big battle started with other heroes fighting the bad guys and getting beaten back. Then Mob would show up and start fighting too, but his heart wouldnt be in it. Then, finally, his emotion counter would hit 100% for one reason or another, and only then would he instantly win with little effort. I know this isnt literally how every battle played out, they usually had a slight variation on the formula or took a detour for characterization purposes, but as a general rule I think it holds. Rather than basking in the sheer spectacle of the animation, I often found myself simply waiting for Mob to show up or for his counter to max out so the fight would finally end.

I know that opinion isnt fair. It would be like bashing OPM because Saitama wins every fight in one punch. Mob being insanely powerful and held back only by his emotions is literally the point of this story, and the battles are all about him coming to terms with some aspect of himself and growing as a result. I understand that. Like I said before, though, it just wasnt my thing. I think the reason is that I dont usually enjoy such insane power levels. Mob didnt appear to have any defined limit on his abilities, and most of the people he fought felt like they could do almost anything too. Mob would do a big psychic blast, destroying a barrier the bad guy had summoned. It was always amazingly animated and looked spectacular. I just couldnt get into it because its not like Mob has limited energy capacity, so that blast didnt cost him anything. And the bad guy can always just throw up another barrier, assuming Mob isnt in 100% instant-win mode. I guess what Im trying to say is, Im a big fan of battles where the fighters have clearly defined strengths and limitations. Mob Psycho 100 simply didnt have those types of battles.

I also wasnt a fan of a lot of the characters or their development. Reigen was a big miss for me. Sometimes he was a scummy idiotic con artist with zero morals. Other times he was a genuinely intelligent leader full of good advice. The two halves never fit together for me. Mobs crush on Tsubomi felt incredibly flat, too. Most of the other characters had goofy one-note personalities. Mob himself mostly felt flat and boring. It seemed like this anime was stuffed full of things that would be charming for people who were into it, but I just wasnt that into it. Also, one big battle destroyed a bunch of skyscrapers in the middle of the city and within a day nobody seemed to care. Again, that reminded me of OPM, specifically the episode where the meteor destroyed a bunch of the city and, again, nobody seemed to care. Its comedic and zany, and I understand why other people would enjoy it, but that narrative style just isnt for me.

Overall: The quality of the production of Mob Psycho 100 is certainly undeniable, especially the animation during the fight scenes. It was also full of charming details and creative ideas. Sadly, the whole thing wound up not being my thing. I prefer battles where I know what everyone is capable of so I can follow the back-and-forth while trying to predict whatll happen next. By contrast, Mob Psycho 100 focused on nebulous abilities that kept reaching newer and crazier heights. Aside from Dimple and Tome, I didnt love any of the characters either. I wont claim this anime is bad or anything. In fact, I can easily see why so many people love it! It just wasnt for me. Still, Im glad you recommended it, Sheep! Even if I didnt love the shows overall style, those fights scenes were all damn impressive and I was happy to watch it for that alone. This is also another case where its probably a good thing the show wasnt designed to appeal to my tastes. The sheer popularity of Mob Psycho 100 shows that theres a big market for this kind of thing, even if Im personally not part of it.

I apologize again for never reaching my promised goals, but I only have thirteen Mob episodes left! Pretty soon I can do the final write-up and post the final ranking.

Also some quick spoiler thoughts for the ending of Monster

I really liked the situation they set up in that town at the end, but in the end I felt a bit disappointed. That old couple handed out lots of guns, but each of the characters the story actually focused on (Wim, his drunk dad, the lotto couple) wound up resisting the urge to kill anyone. When the town began tearing itself apart, it felt like it was just Johan's lackeys led by Roberto who were doing all of the killing. Since it was set up as Johan simply setting up the opportunity for people's inherent darkness be the spark that would rip the town apart, not getting to see any of that from any of the characters the story focused on was a letdown. Thankfully, all the actual character stuff was great. It was neat having Tenma, Lunge, Grimmer, Nina, Roberto, and Johan all in one place finally interacting with each other and finishing the story off. The actual ending was great... until that sequel hook shot of Johan apparently escaping from the hospital! Maybe my opinion on that will change later after I've thought more about it, but right now I think that's pretty lame. I'm not sure how Johan going back into the world ties into the themes. Tenma told him the name his mother gave him, and maybe that will infuse humanity into Johan and he'll live a life of peace, which would point to one thematic conclusion. Or maybe he'll go back to sowing death and chaos, making Tenma regret saving him again, and that would point to a completely different thematic conclusion. I'm not sure how I feel about such a well put-together story having such an inconclusive ending, but oh well. Everything else about the last episode was solid.

BONUS. Monster
https://myanimelist.net/anime/19/Monster
Spring 2004 (74 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.85/10
Best Character: Wolfgang Grimmer
Recommended by: @MartinFF7 and @LordoftheMorons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msTB5r8nUHU

Premise: Tenma Kenzou, a skilled neurosurgeon, has his life changed forever after operating on a young boy. Johan Liebert turns out to be a monster who leaves a trail of death in his wake, which forces Tenma to go on a journey to try and stop him.

The Good: Monster is a drama/thriller anime. It began with Dr. Tenma saving a boys life, which turned out to have unimaginable consequences when its revealed that the boy is evil. Tenma is the protagonist, and the story mostly follows him after hes forced to go on the run and try to track Johan across Germany and beyond. Still, I really enjoyed how expansive this anime turned out to be. It would often introduce new side characters or even shift focus to a new group entirely for a few episodes before ultimately tying them back into the larger story. For such a large cast of characters, its impressive how memorable most of them are. I struggled to choose a favorite! I settled on Grimmer because he had the most interesting background and his role in the story was cool, but Dr. Reichwein and Nina were up there as well, and Tenma was a solid lead.

This anime did a great job setting up tense situations, and it always built up a solid atmosphere. I went into this expecting Johan to be a much more brutal murderer than he turned out to be, like I figured hed be massacring people on the street or something. Rather than killing a lot of people himself, however, he turned out to be someone who could awaken the darkness in others. Johan felt like an almost supernatural entity, like the personification of evil. Large parts of the story were dedicated to delving into how he came to be, which was interesting. There were also the larger thematic questions regarding life and death. Tenma is a surgeon who dedicated himself to saving lives, but now hes on a quest to kill someone. Monster examined ideas like whether people could go against their inherent nature, and I found a lot of it to be fascinating. For such a long anime, I was surprised at how smooth it was to watch. Aside from maybe one or two meh episodes, there was never a lull or a crappy arc or anything like that. It was a deep and interesting story from beginning to end.

The Bad: I had a few minor problems with the story. It relied a bit on coincidental meetings, like the several times characters stumbled across someone with a deep connection to the mystery. Also, while I liked Inspector Lunge overall, his initial conclusion that Tenma was the real serial killer was kind of stupid. Doctors in general are a profession known for working long hours, and Tenma in particular was portrayed as a workaholic who dedicated himself to saving people. If he was wandering all around Germany murdering people, I think someone wouldve noticed! None of this ruined the story, but they were my biggest complaints. I also didnt like one part of the ending, but overall if was a satisfying conclusion.

Overall: Watching Monster was a long journey, but, in the end, it was definitely worth it! I liked all the main characters, and lots of side characters were memorable as well. This anime excelled at setting up tense situations. There were countless interesting moments and it examined deep themes, and all of that built into creating a satisfying overall story. However, having said all of that, this wound up being a tough anime to fit into my ranking. I had a lot of nice things to say and I dont have any major complaints. Still, I couldnt justify raising it beyond a 7/10. I can see why this anime would resonate with a lot of people and rise into their favorites, but for me it was just a solid, well put-together story. In any case, Im glad I finally watched this! Thank you to both MartinFF7 and LordofheMorons for pooling your recommendations for Monster. I feel bad for not ranking it higher and I struggled for longer than I should have trying to find a way to justify myself here. In the end, though, perhaps theres nothing wrong with thinking it was just a solid, well-told story.

When I started my Funimation two week free trial, I thought I'd have time to finish the remaining recommendations and still watch another show or two there. Sadly, I've gotten through much less than I'd planned. I need to cancel my free trial on Friday, so I'm taking some time to quickly watch Classroom Crisis. It caught my eye because I'm a big fan of anime that put a twist on typical ideas (in this case, I figured it'd be like a school/club anime but set in a futuristic sci-fi world). Plus the premise said it was about students designing a new spaceship, which made me think of If My Heart Had Wings, a visual novel I really enjoyed that was about students designing an airplane. I'm four episodes in and Classroom Crisis hasn't been all that similar to either of my guesses, but oh well. I'll finish it tomorrow and then get back to Monster/Mob. I don't think anyone else here has seen or cares about Classroom Crisis, so I'm not sure if I should bother with a write-up and including it in the final ranking. I'll see how I feel once I finish it, I guess.

I feel bad for delaying the last recommendations, so I'll quickly type up some Monster spoiler-thoughts too. I finished up to episode 62.

I like it when Monster introduces new characters and focuses on their stories for a little while. Reichwein was cool and Grimmer was really cool. Having said that, I can't help but notice just how many times the characters have literally stumbled across someone with a deep connection to the story. I didn't like that one episode where Nina and Deiter spent a few months living with a weird puppeteer who just so happened to be the son of someone important. And then in episode 62 Tenma got hit by a car and was just randomly rescued by a guy with a grudge against Peter Capek? It felt like a lazy way to introduce plot stuff. Still, that's a minor complaint. It really feels like the plot threads are coming together now that it's nearing the end, and I'm excited to see the conclusion. Plus maybe this coincidental meetings were all engineered by Johan for some reason. He's certainly capable of it!

REMAINING: 46 episodes
Monster (62/74)
Mob Psycho 100 (1/13 S2, 0/1 OVA, 0/12 S3)
Classroom Crisis (4/13)

I'm really, really going to try to finish everything in time to post the final ranking on Sunday.

pyresword posted...

I prefer Death Note by a lot. Even the worst parts of Death Note are a league ahead of the best parts of Geass.

I don't know if I'd go that far. Death Note is easily the superior anime, but the highs of Code Geass were pretty high and the lows of Death Note were pretty low!

In any case, we're into the home stretch now! I'm going to really try to watch enough this weekend that I can do write-ups Monster and Mob on Monday and Tuesday, but at worst we'll be done sometime next week. After that, all I need to do is type up the final ranking. As always, thanks for being patient as I slowly watch stuff, and thanks for following along, everyone!

REMAINING: 69 episodes (nice)
Monster (30/74)
Mob Psycho 100 (1/13 S2, 0/1 OVA, 0/12 S3)

I posted quite a few spoiler thoughts for Geass, so I guess I can do it for Monster too since it's also a long show. This old psychologist doctor has turned out to be an awesome badass. He's beating up young thugs and making legitimate headway into solving the mystery all on his own. Episode 30 ended with him meeting Tenma and getting shot at, but I really hope the old dude doesn't die (which means he probably will).

I finished Code Geass S2, so I finally read Martin's spoilers from post 16. My understanding is that the Resurrection movie is an alternate timeline where I'd need to watch three recap movies with slight changes, which I really don't want to do, so I don't think I'm going to watch it. Still, I'm open to being convinced otherwise if people think the movie is worth it.

In any case, I'll do the Code Geass write-up tomorrow and just do spoiler-tag thoughts if I end up watching the movie over the weekend. Just to quickly respond to Martin's first two spoiler-tags:

I'm pretty sure Episode 22 was the Euphy massacre. I actually liked it! I don't usually enjoy darker story elements like that, but this was a good example of one where it was used well and not just for shock value. In Code Geass S1, I hated it when Cornelia killed a bunch of civilians. She did it to draw Zero out, sure, but her soldiers all mindlessly followed the order and mowed down mothers holding babies and whatnot. Not only that, no one reacted to it at all, not even supposed good guy Suzaku, so in the end it was just pointless shock value to make the viewer feel bad. She could've done literally anything else to lure Zero out and it would've worked just as well. That sucked. The Euphy massacre, by comparison, was a confluence of things that all made sense and created a legitimate tragedy. Lelouch didn't mean to do it. Euphy didn't want to. The soldiers were confused and not sure what to do, at least at first. Plus, the whole world reacted with horror and disgust. It was set up well, played out realistically, and had actual consequences. When it comes to dark/bleak story elements, I appreciate it when a story does it like this and not just 'lol here's sad stuff, feel bad now' like the Cornelia massacre from S1.

As for the Suzaku redemption arc, I disagree that he had one. Even in his last duel with Kallen, he was still whining that she didn't try to change things from within the system like he did. Motherfucker, did you really not learn anything during this whole story? Suzaku was the same piece of shit he always was from beginning to end. Lelouch really should've found someone better to leave his legacy to. That world is doomed with him in charge.

While I'm at it with spoiler thoughts:

From the Crunchyroll comments and reading about Code Geass elsewhere, I've seen a lot of hate for Rolo and Nina. Honestly, they were fine. Rolo is even on the shortlist for favorite character (I haven't decided yet, it's between him, C.C., and Kallen). I know he did the bad thing, but he was still a compelling character. Nina did the bad thing too, but her biggest flaw is just that she's an idiot who seemingly couldn't comprehend that her big fancy bomb was, you know, a bomb. I'd have respected her as a character a lot more if she stayed deluded and crazy all the way to the end. Having her snap out of it so quickly just makes her seem like a moron.

pyresword posted...

But it's more the type of show where you watch how the characters act in specific situations and (at least for me) by the end you're left with the sense that everyone has changed for the better. Very uplifting show to me at least.

That's a good way of describing it, especially calling it uplifting. That was nice, too, because it tackled a subject matter (rural decline) that could've been way more depressing if it was handled in a different way.

KommunistKoala posted...

Also first ED is a banger

It really was!

I'll probably need to give him at least two lines, one in the bad section and another one reiterating his badness in the overall section. Whether I need more than that will depend on if he does anything else that infuriates me.

For example, near the end of S1, he dropped the world's largest pizza on a tree in order to help Euphy at the school fesitval, and then it cut to C.C. looking sad because she was really looking forward to that pizza. Suzaku is a monster and someone needs to talk about it!

(A Sakura Quest screenshot I took because it made me laugh, but it's also surprisingly applicable to Suzaku now that I think about it)
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/1/2/AABz_zAAEHaA.jpg

I finally started my free trial on Funimation. I finished Sakura Quest and started Tatami Galaxy, along with making some progress with most of the others. I'll do the write-up for Sakura on Monday, Tatami most likely on Tuesday, then either Mob or Geass later in the week. Monster, as the longest anime, remains the biggest hurdle, but I'm still on track to finish this before the end of January!

REMAINING: 104 episodes
Monster (26/74)
Code Geass (1/25 S2)
Mob Psycho 100 (1/13 S2, 0/1 OVA, 0/12 S3)
The Tatami Galaxy (4/11)

(Write-up coming later today)
Sakura Quest

I could've finished Mob by Friday, but I resumed watching Code Geass instead so the write-up for it won't be until Monday. As an apology, I'll post some brief thoughts!

Code Geass S1 episode 20 spoilers

I know I complained about him once already back when I last made a post about CG, but Suzaku is one of the worst characters ever. I hate him so much. He's an unrelenting hypocrite and no one ever calls him out on it in the ways I want them to. Like in one mission he's killing enemy soldiers and has absolutely no problem with it, but when Zero shows up and starts killing enemy soldiers too, suddenly that's a war crime and Suzaku launches into a self-righteous rage. Shut the fuck up Suzaku. Then, in episode 20, he was finally going to die! He was out of power, surrounded, trapped! Yay! Then Lelouch saved him for some incredibly stupid reasons, ugh. It doesn't help that Suzaku is comically overpowered and has won every single battle he's gone into, including a 7v1 solo against literally all the elites of the Black Knights. Nothing about this goof is compelling in any way. This show has such potential to tell an interesting story, but Suzaku is constantly ruining everything in every way possible. And the way the narrative is treating him, especially with Lelouch randomly deciding to partner with him in episode 20, it's making me think that I'm supposed to sympathize with him. I'm afraid the ending will be something like "Suzaku was right all along" and if that's the case, this will be a new 1/10. I really hope the last 30 episodes aren't just more of the same old "Lelouch is about to do something cool, no wait here's Suzaku swooping in stop it while pretending he's the real hero" It's happened a dozen times now and I'm sick of it.

EDIT: Oh I also forgot, Suzaku has a princess for a girlfriend now. She fell for him even though he's the absolute worst person ever, which only further supports my fear that they're setting him up as the real hero of the show.