Board 8 > Tazzy Ranks 101 User-Nominated Anime with Write-ups

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah, sorry, was pretty distracted all yesterday.
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40. Death Parade (2015)
Koala (5/5)


Death Parade is an episodic story that takes place in a bar in the afterlife, where wayward souls go to determine whether they will be reincarnated or sent to hell. This purgatory is set up as a death game, where people compete at standard bar games, such as darts or billiards, to determine the results. There's always some unique feature to these games, where certain parts of the game will represent a body part or organ, and cause damage to the opponent when interacted with. This is, of course, an elaborate hoax, where the participants are being judged based on their actions during these games, rather than on who wins. It has the makings of something that could've easily had over-the-top levels of edge, but this is a Madhouse original, so they know what they're doing.

Death Parade isn't exactly about the games being played, rather, it's about the people playing them. In most cases, the two participants are connected in some way, and these games are meant to test how they treat the ones they supposedly love. You get some games that turn into brutal struggles, as the two slowly grow distant, showing their true colors and their own distrust for their partners. Other times, you get some bittersweet stories of forgotten love, and the game serves to strengthen the bonds. Though fleeting, these were my favorites. They're symbolic for how our relationships are generally taken for granted, and the last efforts of these characters being peaceful rather than stressful was a joy to see.

Though it's mostly episodic, the show does have it's own plot, which is.... not very good. Hell, I don't even remember much about the going-ons in the overarching story, since every part is dull. Decim serves well as a host of the games, but as a character, he has the same amount of personality as white bread. Intentional or not, there should at least be some intrigue. I don't even remember the names of the other characters. One of the most surreal parts was when it showed the deaths of two different characters suffering from freak accidents, showing them in a comedic light. I saw this episode less than a week after my best friend's brother died from a freak accident like them. I can't really fault the show for that, but it certainly made me feel sick, and it probably negatively affected my overall opinion if I'm being honest. Still, it's a great show.
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I was promised 5 top 5 shows this is an outrage
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How about 4 top 4 shows?
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Death Parade is one of my favorite anime. Had some objective problems, but it made a real impact on how I look at some things and I'll always be grateful to it for that.
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39. Wandering Son (2011)
Xeybozn (1/5)


Oh hey, this is a show from ages ago that I had forgotten most of, but I read the manga not so long ago, so I can actually talk about it! The show is about young preteens going through puberty and dealing with issues caused by gender identity. Shuuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. Obviously these feelings arent what society deems to be normal, so they struggle with their identity crises.

Not many shows are brave enough to explore gender identity, thanks to the industry treating the idea of transgendered individuals as a joke for quite some time. But Wandering Son gives thoughtful insight to the lives of the characters going through this. The show plays out like a typical high school drama, hitting all the boxes of romance, drama, comedy, etc., and I think thats what makes this a bit more special. I think these types of stories need attention, because it explores a lifestyle that is ostracized despite being perfectly fine.

I do think the anime ends at a good point, though incomplete. The manga loses focus after the anime parts, despite a great ending. Its an underrated show that never had much popularity, so hopefully I can get at least one person to check this out. Please?
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Great ending huh.

Anime seems like it'd be good stuff, though the first arc is my favorite part of the manga.
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Death Parade is a weird show for me because when I try and look at the show as a whole I don't really have a lot of good to say about it, but I do really like it on an episode-to-episode basis. I actually like almost all the episodes individually though, and it even manages to have 3 episodes that I'd count among my all-time favorites, which is more than most other shows. (Episodes 3 (bowling), 10 (Old Maid), and 11 (ice skating))

It's also weird because I'd say this anime stands out for amount of edge it puts it puts into many of its characters and games, but I think it's by far at its strongest when it goes the other route for a more sentimental story.
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tazzyboyishere posted...

so hopefully I can get at least one person to check this out. Please?

I'm done Love Lab now so sure, I'll give it a shot
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Mac Arrowny posted...

Great ending huh.

Haven't we had this discussion, like, 10 times?
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I thought we might've <_<
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Today I finished Noein, the sheer amount of techno babble will live with me forever, and the rest will certainly be forgotten shortly. Decent show, though.
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a few in a row i've got nothing on
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Okay phew that was a good break

38. Redline (2009)
Snake (3/5)


Redline is a movie focused on a race of the same name, notorious for it's high speed action and no-holds-barred competitive nature. It mainly follows JP, a human with a sexy pompadour, who makes a living fixing races, getting in solely due to a fan vote. Among him is an eclectic cast of other racers, with designs adnd backstories reminiscent of F-Zero.

The coolest thing about Redline is the visual direction. The art exudes more of a Western design, with thick shadows reminiscent of comic books over here. The animation is smooth, helping to bring the vibrant colors and designs to life. Seeing all the weird creatures doing weird things as you get bits and pieces of these blazing cars in between is some really fun stuff.

I do think the Yellowline is, unfortunately, the best part. It's a magnificent introduction, but afterwards, you get about an hour of character building, which is alright enough, but nothing special. The Redline itself is cool in the last part, but I was kinda sad most of it was hampered by the Roboworld government unleashing their weapons of mass destruction on the participants. It makes for really cool scenery, but after Yellowline, I wanted some more intensity akin to that.
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37. SKET Dance (2011)
Raka (4/5)


SKET Dance is a slapstick comedy revolving around a group of high-schoolers, who formed a club called the SKET Dan in order to solve the problems of their peers. It's not really a very deep show, relying almost solely on humor, but it gets the job done well for me!

The show hits most of it's quality in it's side characters and vocal performances. The main three have some incredible VAs backing them, and it more or less makes them work. I felt this pretty hard when I tried to read the manga, and none of them were all that funny. It's probably lame to let funny voices be such a huge factor in my enjoyment, but hey, comedy is comedy. The side characters are where the show hits it's stride. My favorites are Roman, an aspiring shoujo manga artist with awful artistic abilities, who sees everything through the eyes of a shoujo protagonist, and Shinzo, a guy with the mannerisms of a classic samurai, who can only perform well after eating a Friske Mint.

I did find the episodes where it covered the backstories of the three mains to be a little offputting. It can be difficut to remove characters from their purely comedic identities when the tonal shift is so massive without any kind of warning. Switch's is especially terrible, since it basically ends by showing that his computer speech is the result of trauma that he was never able to cope with, and it just immediately goes back to making a joke out of it. Thankfully, there are only about 8 "serious" episodes, and most of the other episodes are, at the very least, decent. It's hard to be on your game for 77 episodes, but I think SKET Dance manages quite well.
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36. Pokemon: The First Movie (1998)
Raka (3/5)


Pokemon: The First Movie was the massively popular franchise's first foray into film, with a US title so assured of their product, they went out of their way to state that this is only the first one of however many to come, plastered right on the poster. It tells the story of Ash, who wants to be the very best like no one ever was, and his quest to respond to an invitation to be the very best like no one ever was from an anonymous source. In order to do this, he has to prove he the very best like no one ever was by sailing across a massive storm with some "vikings". Of course, it was a trap laid by the best legendary Pokemon, Mewtwo.

This is a movie written for kids, literally by 4Kids. I've never seen t he Japanese version, but I can't imagine it's entirely different. That being said, it's an all-time classic nostalgia trip, not really meant to be viewed under a critical lense, because, come on, it was done for money, not for art. But even so, I love pretty much every part of the film. It's an easy, inoffensive watch, despite being plagued by tons of cliches and general bad writing. It was one of the first films I saw that really tried to humanize the villains. Mewtwo is portrayed as a tragic villain, who had to kill in order to avoid what was essentially torture. Most animated villains were always inexplicably chaotic, so it's kinda cool looking back on this, even though the tragic villain has always been pretty common.

When you're seven years old and see your homeboy, Ash, literally die, it hits pretty hard. It's played off so well with Pikachu trying and failing to shock him back to life, How can you witness that and not cry like a bitch? None of the Pokemon could hold back their tears! Yeah, the resolution is dumb, but it's a great scene all around.
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35. Hajime no Ippo (2000)
Ange (1/4)


Ippo is a classic tale about a bullied high schooler who is saved by a professional boxer, thus deciding to pursue a career as a boxer. While the premise is simple, it's a pretty epic tale, with an anime spanning over 100 episodes and a manga spanning over 1000 chapters. It also happens to be consistently great, with some really well-done fights.

Ippo isn't that deep. In fact, it's one of the most shallow shounens out there. It's extremely formulaic, and stays that way for it's entire run. It makes no effort to create behind the scenes drama, or to develop any of it's characters beyond whom they are initially. What it excels at is in it's pacing. Even with the formulaic writing, there's rarely a dull moment. While Ippo rarely loses, the fights are a ton of fun to watch unfold It's not exactly realistic, but you get a lot of cool scenes on display.

It might be for the best that Madhouse seems done adapting this. I don't know how far it got through the manga, but I can't imagine it's even halfway through where it's last chapter currently marks. There's only so much you can do with this style of writing, and since each new season of Ippo became less interesting than the previous, I can safely say it'd get dull if it lasted much longer. But hey, as is, it's great stuff!
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I saw Pokemon the first movie in theaters when I was 8 or 9 and thought it was dumb
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Wow guess that's another good use of the ignore feature
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Yeah sadly Ippo S1 was top tier and every season after got less interesting (But still pretty good) and I've heard lots of mixed things in the manga that happen after.

Would still like to see where it ends up though.
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I agree with both of you guys on ippo
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Eh, I thought S2 had some of the best fights in the series. S3 was definitely a step down though, yeah.
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So I would have Pokemon the Animated Series a lot lower, but there were tons of times when I did legit get hyped or have a lot of fun (gym battles mainly, plus clever one-offs).

But I'm truly baffled by the high placement of Pokemon the First Movie, which is just straight-up bad.

When I think of Ippo the anime, I think of the first "season" (76 or so episodes), which actually seems to have story arcs. As the sequel animes continues past that, they branch and become episodic and lack the strong structure and resolution of the beginning - they lack both beginning and ending, essentially.

I didn't know that we wouldn't get more anime. Makes me sad since I enjoy watching the fights animated. But the source material does become highly bullshit-y and doesn't appear to be moving toward a conclusion in the next half decade, so there you go.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

I didn't know that we wouldn't get more anime.

this isn't confirmed at all but there really isn't any indication one way or the other. madhouse seems pretty random with announcing sequels to their anime. there wasn't really any expectation for season 2 or 3 either iirc, it was just one day "we are making more hajime no ippo." this could just happen again for all we know.
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Fingers still crossed for that and various other things I want sequels for
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34. Aria (2005)
pyresword (3/5)


Aria is a slice of life about girls who operate gondolas for a living. It's primary motive is to provide a relaxing story without any drama or action to muck things up And it 100% achieves this goal, as in the 50+ episodes we got in the end, it never loses sight of what it is, continuing to create these slow-paced episodic plots from start to finish.

It's hard to describe Aria without making it sound boring as shit. Not a whole lot happens as far as story goes, and it's basically always cheery, with an occasional bittersweet kind of story to shake things up. It's longer than most series' of this particular archetype could ever really hope to be, but it never gets old watching the girls simply enjoy their lives in the utopia of Aqua. A lot of this lies within the characters, who function as both rivals and best friends. The main trio are all fantastic, with Alice being the best. I wasn't as big of a fan of the three teachers, but they were good in their own right. But the best character is Maa, who causes physical pain to the worst character, Aria, which is always a joy to watch. Honestly, Alice and Maa make up the majority of the show's best bits to me, and it sucked that they weren't as present in the recent set of specials they released iirc.

Honestly, this tye of show is pretty niche, and I haven't really been able to get into anything with the same feel, such as, most recently, Yuru Camp. Aria just feels like the kind of show to break that boundary, since I think most people end up liking it at the very least. It has beautiful setpieces, calming music, and wonderful characters. The writing in general is quite good as well. While there aren't really any significant events, the girls do get their fair share of development. But like the entire pacing of the show, it's slow and methodical, and man does it work!
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33. Assassination Classroom (2015)
Turnsniper (3/5)


Assassination Classroom (Shortened to AssClass) is a show about a super-powerful alien capable of destorying the Earth becoming a teacher for a group of misfits who've been demoralized by a highly stratified school for their poor academic performance, ostracized to a small schoolhouse in the mountains. This alien gives them the opportunity to kill him by the end of the semester, or else he will destroy the planet. All the while, he teaches the kids valuable life lessons, as well as boosts their performance on exams to brighten their futures, and throw a wrench in the toxic culture of the school.

AssClass is a pretty misleading show. The premise sounds really silly, and it very well is. The main character looks like some children's mascot, but they give him immeasurable power and some of the most bullshit abilities that generally only exist to keep him alive in the very specific circumstances where the kids seem to have the upper hand. The villains are all over-the-top to such a high degree, that the show manages to make an alien that wants to destroy the planet seem like a better option to help. But through all of this, I think the writing really shines. AssClass is basically a drama disguised as a battle shounen. The main crew of students are all normal kids who have to learn the art of assassination from notorious killers and government officials. Of course, since assassination is all about secrecy, most of the battles are about wits and methodology, rather than anything too crazy. Though some characters do jump in to have these absurd duels with Koro-sensei, most of the action lies with the kids using stealth, though never murder. Throughout this time, there is a ton of development for a lot of the class members. As they get better at assassination, Koro-sensei uses his superhuman capabilities to give them the knowledge they need to do well on exams. They go from this really loose group of kids who don't have much hope, to a close-knit bunch of friends determined to surpass the other classes. It's a development that's so much fun to watch.

The story does get a bit outrageous at the end, but I don't think it ever affected my opinion of the show. The concept alone was already absurd, so when these crazier plot points came into play, it felt genuinely interesting. Koro-sensei is a great character, and finding out more about him, as well as his motives, was touching. I love the direction the show ended up taken, and it was wrapped up quite well, without ever really dragging, a trait not usually present in these popular shounen stories. Getting a complete adaptation is always cool, and I'm glad it happened for this show.
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only read the manga for assclass but it was a fun ride. felt like the perfect length for what it was
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only saw the anime for AssClass but I really enjoyed it

felt like one of the few WSJ manga that ended on its own terms instead of overstaying their welcome
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I watched AssClass on a whim because I was in a mood to watch anime when it came out. I didn't think I would stick with it, but in just 2 or 3 episodes, I fell in love with Korosensei and to this day it's one of my favorite series. Like, I can't say it's really -good- or anything. It just touched the warm fuzzy feelings in my kokoro.
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I feel like I enjoy aria for different reasons than everyone else who likes it. I agree that the characters are great but the setting especially is fucking fantastic, maybe the best in anime period. I honestly don't quite get the "relaxing" element everyone talks about because basically any anime that is good ultimately relaxes me. that's probably why I generally don't care for slice of life.
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32. Summer Wars (2009)
Raka (2/5)


The first of three Hosoda flicks nominated to fall, Summer Wars is the story of a young dude who inadvertently cracks the security code for a massive global social network, allowing a virus to take control of essentially every electronic. He does all this while being thrown into a situation where he must pretend to be a classmate's fiance, for kind of dumb reasons. Of the four big motion pictures Hosoda directed, this is my least favorite, mainly because I don't have any emotional attachment to it. That being said, I obviously still think quite highly of it!

The cool thing about Summer Wars is how well it weaves this sci-fi narrative into a slice of life about familial bonds. It does a lot of cool things when combining the two as well. Like, for example, I love how the baseball games through the TV match the current going-ons in the web in tone and emotion. They also present hanafuda as this really silly, old game with confusing rules, but that ends up being what leads them to defeating the virus. It does a lot of really cool things, and all that can be attributed to excellent writing and direction. While the main conflict centers around cyberspace, you constantly see this family experiencing their own conflict, and the two end up joining together in the end for something really beautiful. I was never all that close to my extended family, so it didn't really hit me hard, but damn if it wasn't really cool to see everyone risk death by sticking together to provide moral support for Kenji as he saved their home.

A lot of people compare this to Bokura no War Game, which I'd say is fair due to the concept of a virus trying to destroy the world, but Summer Wars is so much more involved in telling a complete story, while Bokura no War Game was a very good offshoot of an established franchise. I don't know the history, but I wouldn't be surprised if Summer Wars is how Hosoda initially envisioned the plot, but he had to work it into the Digimon universe, so it's potential didn't foster until he got the opportunity to work on this. Either way, Summer Wars is a great time, even if the romance angle kinda blows. You should totally watch this, and also watch Bokura no War Game, because that's pretty good too. Also just watch everything Hosoda's done, including Boy and the Beast, which nobody nominated smh.
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Granny was the best
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I don't know why I've never watched summer wars
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War Game is the best segment in the Digimon movie.

Who wins in a fight between Love Machine and Diaboromon?

Almost 10 years later of being one of my favorite shows and i still dont know how to properly shill ARIA to people

I personally like using comfy/feel good over relaxing to describe it since the between the great/graphics, theres a subtle but very high amount of positivity and good vibes even with random one off characters
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31. Toradora! (2008)
pyresword (2/5)


Toradora is a romcom centered around a guy with a charming and kind personality, always overshadowed by his scary face, and a girl who looks like she's 10 and is kind of a little shit. The two team up together to get the other to fall in love with their friends, but oh jeez they start to realize they love each other instead. It's essentially a Hallmark movie disguised as a Japanese anime.

Toradora is mostly about comedy, and I feel it does it quite well. The constant misconceptions concerning Ryuuji's face and mannerisms are hilarious, and I remember Minori being pretty funny as well. It's one of those shows that I may have overranked and don't have much to say about, since I saw it a loooong time ago. I do think Taiga is a pretty low tier tsundere though.

Anyway, the show trends more towards a drama toward the end, and I think it's a love/hate kind of thing. I liked it a lot, but I was also in high school, so who knows if I'd think it holds up.
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30. Death Note (2006)
Maria (2/5)


Arguably the most popular anime to hit the West, Death Note is a pretty insane ride. You start off with this thrilling detective story told from the perspective of the evil mastermind. Its really damn cool to see L picking apart the mystery of the Death Note and the psyche of the man behind it. And Lights own brilliance in covering his steps while continuing to murder is quite a show as well. Its an intense, stressful show, and when the battle culminates with Light managing to kill L, its one of the most memorable moments in anime. Everything from the direction to the voicework in that scene is so perfect.

Then the second part hits, and yeah, its a bit of a mess. Light has essentially succeeded in being held up by the people as a God, and only a few people are really attempting to thwart him. He literally has entire governments at his whim. But every story needs an ending, so it simply decides to go off the fucking rails. It introduces a new detective who just knows everything for no real reason, and Light becomes so absorbed with his status that he forgets about any attachments that may have made him seem human. Its not exactly the slick, methodical battle of wits it started as, but its still damn entertaining, so I can forgive it.

Also, just feel I should note that when I was an edgy teenager, I thought Light had a reasonable view of the world. Fun times.
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I don't think anyone in the anime community does a good job of shilling Aria. I'm not totally sure how to do it either, but I agree "relaxing" is not the way to go about it. It's not an inaccurate statement, but I also really think it doesn't get at the heart of the series, if that makes sense.

Part of the problem is also that I think Aria is just not a show someone will enjoy if they're mainly/only watching because someone else tells them how great it is. I think it's something you have to interact with on your own terms.

Toradora 30 spots too low.
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Toradora probably not a top 10 anime romance.
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I think Toradora is just as much a coming-of-age story as it is a romance. (Well really more of a romcom, but that's more semantics I think)

Of course that's not the only romance like that, but what I'm trying to say is that the reason I like Toradora isn't just because of how much I like the Ryuji/Taiga relationship, or something.
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yeah I don't think the romance angle of Toradora is handled particularly well

mostly because it should've been Ryuji/Minori

but it's still a good show
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Sorry I should've said romance anime. Not talking about the quality of the romance in particular.
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I enjoyed the lighthearted parts of toradora but I didn't like the drama episodes very much at all.

death note is an all-time classic and I will always love it.

tazzyboyishere posted...

Also, just feel I should note that when I was an edgy teenager, I thought Light had a reasonable view of the world. Fun times.

also I remember you had an argument in an anime topic with someone about this once. I want to say mumei?
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heh, in the context of the show Light basically is right, since he has the superpower of never accidentally killing someone falsely accused of a crime.
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29. Tsurezure Children (2017)
Leonhart (4/5)


Tsurezure Children is a show about high schoolers in love. It's not a particularly deep dive into romanic drama, but it does use it's concept and diversity to create some really fun and cute plots. It's an episodic work, showing the relationships between multiple couples throughout a school.

Episodes are pretty short at around 12 minutes, and each episode has three or four separate skits receiving full attention for the period they're shown. The skits can range from hilarious to melodramatic, sometimes within the same episode. Almost every couple has their own unique charm, so I only found myself disliking one of them (Class prez and delinquent). I was always excited to see everyone else show up to advance their romances.

It's a simple show that I don't have much to say about. I didn't think the concept would have the ability to last much longer than two episodes after seeing the first, but it's one of the weakest first episodes I've seen from a show I ended up loving. I do wish some couples had more screentime, but overall, I think the writing was top-notch.
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Class prez/delinquent is one of the three best couples in the show

Takano/Sugawara and Gouda/Kamine being the two best

(although there's a secret power couple found only in the manga that didn't make it into the anime adaptation for reasons beyond me)

(come on season 2)
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28. Seto no Hanayome (2007)
Zea (3/5)


SnH is about a dude who is saved from drowning by a mermaid, and is forced to either be executed, or to marry her. He chooses the latter, obviously, but now must engage in wacky antics as she becomes a part of his life, trying his hardest to protect her true identity. It's a straight comedy, and there's no real drama involved iirc. It's also an ecchi harem, which is arguably the worst genre in anime. But SnH works as more of a parody than anything, since it never attempts to take itself seriously, and is highly tuned to cramming as many comedic circumstances into each episode as it can.

Like Shomin Sample, I feel like SnH was assuredly a right place, right time sort of show, just with way more nostalgia tagged to it as I was making the list. I was still in the phase where I'd just started regularly consuming anime, and this felt like my coming out party to becoming a fucking nerd. While Japanese animation was always more story-driven than Western animation, I never really noticed any key differences in things like animation and dialogue at that age. Anime just held more realistic drawings and that was that. But SnH destroyed my preconceived notions with it's total, purposeful disregard of cohesion. Just in one scene you could witness multiple animation styles churned out almost seamlessly. It was really cool to see something like this.

And then you have the controversial comedy writing. Comedy is pretty subjective, obviously, so I think I'm the only one in b8anime who actually enjoyed this show. Granted, it was also from the mindset of a high schooler, and though I've rewatched it a few times in my life, it's probably been about 8 years since my last time visiting the show. Would it hold up for me? Nah, I doubt it. It's reliant on this sort of random style, where character designs and scenery will swap around as characters just yell a lot. I can easily see it annoying me, but as is, I remember it as among the funniest things I've ever watched, and I don't really care to risk losing that feeling. Few other anime have actually brought me to tears because I was laughing so hard. Hell, only one other show has made me do that on this list, and it's coming up eventually. And SnH put me in that situation on multiple occasions, and really, isn't that all a comedy should need to do?
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I also really like Seto no Hanayome actually. One of my favorite comedies.
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I think there was one thing in SnH that I liked, but I can't remember what it was. Maybe Lunar? Mostly I thought it was terrible though.
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