Board 8 > Pyresword ranks his top 50 anime with quick writeups because he's bored

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hello everyone. I was bored today and decided to come up with a list of my top 50 favorite anime. This was mainly for my own sake, but now that it's finished it feels a bit weird to not share it at all, so here we are.

I don't want this to be a particularly high-effort or high-time-investment thing so the writeups would be pretty quick/short and I'd probably aim to finish in like 5 days to a week or something like that.

Let me know if this is something people would actually want to read because like I can also just post the list >.>

I guess some general comments about the list:

--Movies and standard anime series are eligible.
--Stuff listed as OVA/ONA or whatever is fine, but I've disqualified anything that has less than 10-minute episodes. I don't think any of these would have made the list either way.
--In general I've considered all series/seasons of a given franchise (that I've watched) together as a single entry, though there is one exception on the list. Possibly arbitrary, but it makes sense to me and it's my list.
--The list is not completely devoid of battle shounen, but in general if you are a fan of the genre then I would not get your hopes up for this list. It's not a genre that usually interests me.

ya go my anime

Tag

I had a lot of fun when I did my own anime ranking. It'll be fun following along with yours!

pyresword posted...

The list is not completely devoid of battle shounen

That still sounds like too much battle shounen.

Xeybozn posted...

That still sounds like too much battle shounen.

Ha, I guess no matter what I can't please everyone!

I'll probably post the first couple in a bit. None of these writeups are actually written yet so can't make any guarantees, but I'm aiming for them to be pretty easy to tackle.

One other thing I forgot to say in the opening post is just that I've watched a fair amount of anime. I haven't done a full count but probably something in the vicinity of 300-400. So everything that makes the list is a show I like a lot and there are also plenty of shows I like a lot that ended up missing the cut.

Random comment: I made a note of what year every show on the list started airing. The stats aren't as interesting as I'd thought and make some things easy to predict. However, I will say that the year with the most shows was 2011 with 7 when the second most only had 4. 2011 anime were just built different I guess.

anime!

50. Asobi Asobase
Genres: Comedy
Favorite Character: Olivia

Asobi Asobase is just a completely absurdist comedy. It doesn't have much going for it besides laughs, but it also doesn't really need it, and it probably made me laugh harder and more frequently than basically any other show I can think of. The show's punchlines are very creative and unexpected, and it was just a nonstop blast to watch. Several scenes like the pencil game in the 1st episode just live rent-free in my head. It's a shame I don't appreciciate pure comedy more, relegating this to #50, but alas.

49. Death Parade
Genres: Psychological, Thriller, Games, Drama
Favorite Character: Black Haired Woman

Death Parade can be a bit of a mixed bag for me personally, but when it hits it really delivers in spades. The show is in a pre-afterlife setting* and is about people reflecting on their lives and their impending deaths. Sometimes this causes the characters to delve into insanity, and it's a bit of a coinflip whether this results in thrilling death matches or inane nonsense. Sometimes the episode theme is more one of quiet, somber reflection though, and it's these moments that are just utterly magical to me. This show can really throw some emotional punches even with characters you've only known for 15 minutes.

48. The World God Only Knows
Genres: Harem, Romance, Drama
Favorite Character: Chihiro Kosaka

Note: I only saw the 1st 2 seasons of this show.
This is a very conventional vn-style romance show with a bunch of different girls, and the main character getting a 1-4 episode arc with each of them. That said, it's one of the best shows with this formula imo. This is a show I watched a long time ago so it's hard to comment on specifics, but what's stuck with me with this show was it going above and beyond on the production side. It really utilized the anime medium well, using the animation and music to make some very creative and engaging scenes. Several of the girls have very strong emotional arcs, and the MC's antics are quite amusing as well. Definitely not the most groundbreaking show here, but it turns out all you need to go the distance is the right mix of clever/inspired directing and strong emotional beats.

My own anime ranking wasn't that long ago so all my opinions are known. I always appreciated posts from people while I was doing it, though, so I'll comment anyway.

-Asobi Asobase is indeed a funny anime, though it's nowhere near my favorite comedy. It got too mean-spirited for me at times. I remember really laughing at the one DBZ joke where the supportive teacher played along with a fake Kamehameha and basically snapped his own neck

-Death Parade definitely has some awesome high points, but I also hated large swathes of it. The first episode in particular might be one of my least favorite episodes in all of anime, ugh. I know a lot of people really love it though. I just couldnt get into the over-the-top bad feelings in a lot of episodes.

-I haven't seen The World God Only Knows, but I've always been interested in it.

Mobilezoid posted...

The first episode in particular might be one of my least favorite episodes in all of anime

This one was probably one of my favorite of the "thriller" episodes, though I still stand by the somber episodes being much better.

Death Parade good stuff. I watched episode 1 of Asobi and assumed the rest would be similar, which wasn't for me

Last batch for tonight

47. Welcome to the NHK
Genres: Psychological, Drama
Favorite Character: Tatsuhiro Sato

A very harrowing show on the idea of NEET as a sickness. (I don't know what the right phrasing here is sorry.) The show is mainly about the main character who is pretty much in the process of destroying himself, but he's also a likeable and (unfortunately) relatable character. It's usually easy to see why he acts the way he does, and you also just want to root for him and hope that he can somehow turn his life around. It's really great to see how him and Misaki interact and help each other once they meet. The directing also has segments bordering on unhinged, which is really cool from a comedy perspective but also serves to hammer home that these characters are psychologically unwell.

46. Spice and Wolf
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, ...Economics?
Favorite Character: Holo

Spice and Wolf is a show that's a bit hard for me to understand or explain why I love it. Definitely the two leads are great characters with well-written dialogue, but I think the real secret sauce is somewhere else. I don't know exactly how, but the show has this way of convincing you and always reminding you that beyond the city walls its world is just larger and has more mysteries than anyone is capable of understanding. The show nails that "adventuring alone through the wilderness" vibe, and scenes like Lawrence and Holo chatting at night by fire- or lamp-light give off a feeling that I never quite got from anything else. Combine that with a rock-solid main duo and the element of humanism and mystique they each bring to the show, and the whole thing is just a treat.

45. Maria Watches Over Us
Genres: Drama
Favorite Character: Sei Satou

I don't have a lot to say about this show unfortunately. It's a very slow-paced drama show. The drama can feel a bit contrived, and it's a bit boring at the start, but as you get to know the characters it eventually becomes really good at pulling your heartstrings. At least for me it was. Sei and Shimako were easily my two favorite characters and any plotline involving them was basically always a smash-hit.

I haven't seen any of those either, but Spice and Wolf was one of the first anime to catch my eye! I really should get to that someday soon now that all of it is on Crunchyroll.

I remember you recommending Spice and Wolf to me at one point. I should get around to it.

I think you'd both probably like Spice and Wolf, though it's sometimes hard to predict these things.

I didn't really triple-check this list or anything but this is one of those shows that just looking at its placement it feels like it should be higher, even though when comparing it on an individual basis to the shows above it's harder for me to say that. The show is an absolute classic in my eyes though.

Having a top tier OP probably helps.

A few months after I started watching anime, I bought the first couple seasons of Maria Watches Over Us on DVD for some reason, despite not seeing it before. Enjoyed the whole anime very much. I read the whole novel series after (in Japanese) and it was quite good too.

Unlike the Spice and Wolf books, which I didn't like nearly as much as the great anime.

The World God Only Knows has the best OP so far. Particularly the full version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBgRDMyXzw

So epic.

MacArrowny posted...

The World God Only Knows has the best OP so far. Particularly the full version.

Despite just praising Spice and Wolf's OP it's hard for me to disagree with this >.>

They could both very easily be in my top 5 of all time though if I sat and thought about it.

I've always meant to check out Maria Watches Over Us considering all the yuri stuff I've read that takes inspiration from it. Maybe the novel, it seems like nearly all of it has a fan translation.

TWGOK show OP > Spice and Wolf full OP > S&W show OP > TWGOK full OP

also, Spice & Wolf is an extremely frustrating series because it hits a major lull immediately after the anime thanks to the addition of a third wheel, and it immediately gets better after he leaves

I had a bit more to say about these so I'll just drop a batch of 2 for now

44. Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Genres: Action, Fantasy, Shounen
Favorite Character: Kurapika

I think this series' greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, which is how unbeholden to any storytelling rules or conventions its writer seems. The story is constantly jumping around to whatever type of story Togashi feels like telling, and like one arc will get a fighting tournament; the next we'll get a thrilling mafia drama; and the next we'll get an isekai card game. Inevitably some of these hit and some of these miss, but on the whole I think the experience is quite good. This also applies within the arcs--conflicts are always ending in unexpected and unconventional ways. The upshot is that this is usually made interesting, and it's always done with a clear reason in the narrative because it's just what Togashi wanted to do from the beginning, and it's hard to understate how much that does for the overall quality of the series. Specific arcs are a bit hit-or-miss but overall I'm definitely a fan of the series. Chimera Ant is one of my favorite stories of all time, and the Yorknew arc is also very good. This is also a series that's stuck with me even years after watching it--even today I still occasionally watch Youtube videos about the series. And I can guarantee if more anime released or the manga approached any semblance of completeness I would be immediately on board. (Edit: Oh I meant to say something about the character design so I'll just say it's very good and leave it at that)

43. Mushoku Tensei
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Isekai
Favorite Character: Rudeus Greyrat

This show just has everything. From the fantasy/worldbuilding side, you could easily copy/paste some of what I said about Spice and Wolf--the show uses deliberate pacing and exposition to sell the viewers on its world in a way that other anime just can't quite seem to match. The animation and production is uncannily good. The bow that ties the series together for me though is the character writing. There are no static characters in the show, and there are no unflawed characters in show. Everyone feels crippled by their own shortcomings, but in addition to the main story it feels like every character is also on their own personal journey in overcoming their flaws for the sake of their friends. Just overall a gripping narrative with uplifting themes that make it hard not to cheer for the main cast.

There are of course some things about the main character that can be quite uncomfortable, but if you can stomach that then there's a lot else to love here. I can at least say that the story itself always treats these aspects in a negative light that I remember, and also it does go a little more into the background later on.

One last comment I'll make is that I can only hope the upcoming seasons of this show maintain the same level of production and direction quality that this season did, because if that's the case I can all but guarantee this series will end much higher on my favorites list when all is said and done.

pyresword posted...

I think this series' greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, which is how unbeholden to any storytelling rules or conventions its writer seems.

Reading again this is a bit misleading so maybe I should clarify...I think Togashi takes great care to follow the in-universe rules his own story sets up. What I was trying to refer to here was that he doesn't really seem to pay much attention to broader conventions for how stories are told and just does what he thinks is interesting.

both great shows, season 2 of Mushy Tenders about to start too, hype

I've finished one arc of HxH! That's the most so far

Some more shows!

42. My Hero Academia
Genres: Fantasy, Action, Shounen
Favorite Character: Idk. Bakugo? All Might? Mirio? ...Twice? There's a lot and characters are the series' strong point ok?

Note: I have seen seasons 1-4 and part of season 5 for the anime. I have read the manga up to a point a little after where season 6 of the anime ends.

I am not going to lie, with MHA I have a quite negative opinion of the direction the manga has gone with the most recent arcs, and it's certainly soured my opinion of the series overall. When this series was in its prime though it felt like it was unstoppable. The series has an unbelievable number of great characters with immediately appealling designs, even all the way down to random one-off villains. The fights are always interesting with a lot of stakes behind them, and they're often resolved more by how skilled the characters are awith their powers than by who can make the biggest energy blast or whatever. The constant theme of what different characters think being a hero means also adds some ideological intrigue on top of everything else. Just an all around great fun action series that has unfortunately fallen a bit by the wayside for me.

41. Kyousougiga
Genres: Fantasy, Surrealism
Favorite Character: Myoue

Note: I don't know if "surrealism" is really right here, but I'm using the term to describe the first of several shows on this list that heavily use bizarre, abstract animation and are largely allegorical in nature.

I honestly don't know what to say here, partially because trying to remember anything concrete about this zany, chaotic mess of a show (I mean this in a positive way) 8 years after the fact is borderline impossible. I think it largely takes after FLCL, in case that helps explain the vibe of this show. It was a fantastic watch though, and I do remember the resounding themes of family quite clearly even if lots of the details slip away. The ending was also very good and really wraps everything up in a nice bow. Combine that with some really unique, cool visuals and a killer soundtrack by literally Go Shiina, and you've got a show I'm incredibly sad has been largely forgotten by the community.

40. Odd Taxi
Genres: Mystery, Drama, Crime
Favorite Character: Hiroshi Odokawa

In stark contrast to the last utterly crazy show, Odd Taxi is one that feels unbelievably real, despite what the animal character design might suggest. The struggles of the characters just feel so down-to-earth because we can see a little bit of ourselves in all of them, and it's made very easy to understand who they are, what they want, and why they're doing what they're doing. The central framing of the mystery is also very thrilling and kept me on the edge of my seat even despite going into the show with the rational understanding that disparate plotlines were going to intersect in unexpected ways. I will say I was not as big a fan of the finale as a lot of others seemed to be, and I think if for me personally it had stuck the landing better it would have ended much higher. (To me, the ending feels like it loses some of that down-to-earth quality that made the rest of the show stick out to me)

Kyousougiga was awesome. So was Odd Taxi, really liked them both.

Hunter x Hunter's probably the best fighting shounen ever. Not sure anything can match that.

I did say not to expect much fighting shounen on the list and then very promptly dropped one of the most well regarded shounen series of all time!

Of course, then I dropped MHA 2 places after that so it's no guarantee, but it definitely seems likely that HxH is near the top of my shounen list as well.

HxH 2011 is definitely my favorite battle shounen as well.

Though Bleach will always hold a special place in my heart for all the memes.

Bleach is actually the big classic battle shounen I haven't seen a single episode of, so who knows maybe that will be the one to change my mind about the genre! (I doubt it. Also I doubt I will ever watch it to find out either way.)

I doubt it too LOL. It's more of a guilty pleasure though when it's good it is good, IMO. But there's just so much filler.

Some somewhat lesser known series here. A trend which it turns out will actually continue into the next update, but not for the entirety of the list I promise.

39. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
(AKA "Rumbling Hearts" but I hate that title)
Genres: Drama, Romance
Favorite Character: Mitsuki Hayase

This is a tearjerker drama anime through and through. There's honestly not a lot to say here. It's got good characters and a good plot, and it was able to make me cry several times over the course of its runtime. The music was also very good and added a lot for me. As with nearly all anime of this genre it does sometimes border on being a bit too cheesy, but otherwise it was a thoroughly enjoyable watch. Nothing unique or groundbreaking but I definitely think this is a good example of its genre, if that genre is something you're ever in the mood for.

38. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Genres: Thriller, Drama, Revenge, Sci-Fi
Favorite Character: The Count

Yes, the anime based on The Count of Monte Cristo set in the year 5053 (partially) in space. As expected, the Count and his intricate machinations are the highlight, and it's great to see him slowly close his grip around everyone he's trying to get his hands on. The Japanese voice actor also nails the role, and the Count is a really charismatic character as a result. The anime also makes the decision to tell the story from the perspective of children of some of the Count's targets--who are minor characters in the original story as I understand it. (I am not very familiar with other versions of the story; sorry if this is wrong.) It adds another interesting dimension to watch their world unravel despite not really being involved, and serves to hammer home how destructive of a figure the Count actually is.

37. Time of Eve
Genres: Sci-Fi, Robots, Slice of Life (...ish)
Favorite Character: Sammy

This show has a really cool premise and just runs with it. The short version is that it exists within a hypothetical future where android technology is relatively sophisticated, but androids are mainly used as a sort of housekeeping technology. The bulk of the story takes place in a cafe designed to serve humans and androids on equal footing, and the show is mainly about the main human characters learning about this place and becoming acquainted with some of the visitors. You sort of know the types of stories to expect from that premise, but the show does a great job telling them imo. The series overall has some very pleasant vibes, poses some interesting questions, and hits the viewer with a bit of drama to make things memorable when the timing is right. This sort of Isaac Asimov-style sci-fi involving robots is a story archetype I've always had a soft spot for, and this series scratches that itch better than any other anime I can think of. Very cool series.

Rumbling Hearts is vaguely in the same universe as and crosses over with Muv-Luv, which I have read, but if Extra is any indication as to the writers' ability to write a romance drama, I will pass.

Yeah, all the major characters in Gankutsuou are characters in the original book, although their roles and personalities might vary.

I can at least state confidently that Rumbling Hearts is much much much better than Muv-Luv Extra.

Most things are, to be fair.

Rumbling Hearts is definitely way better than MLE, though I'm not a huge fan.

Gankutsuou is pretty cool. The Count is fantastic. But I still like the book better. I prefer having it from his PoV. Plus the anime made the lesbian girl straight...

Last batch for tonight. I'll surely go a bit slower during the week, but I wanted to get a solid chunk out of the way today since it's a weekend, I'm still motivated, and I do still want to finish this topic relatively quickly.

36. Carnival Phantasm
Genres: Comedy, Parody, Fantasy
Favorite Character: I feel like this really doesn't apply here.

This is a comedic parody of various Type Moon works--most notably Fate/ and Tsukihime. If you're familiar with those, than you kind of know what to expect and it's hilarious; and otherwise it's imperceptible nonsense. As a Fate/ fan though I had an absolute blast with this series. The premise for the series is honestly a bit ridiculous, and Carnival Phantasm really knows how to run with it and make some clever and hilarious skits.

35. Flip Flappers
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Magical Girl, Surrealism
Favorite Character: Cocona

There was a stretch in the middle of Flip Flappers when I thought it might end up as my favorite anime of time, but unfortunately it ended up as an almost-masterpiece hamstrung by an ending arc I basically hated. Up until that point though the show was immaculate. Visually it's my pick for the most stunning anime I've seen. Not so much from a frames-per-second angle or something, but the set design and things like that are so wonderfully colorful and crazy and adventurous--the whole thing is gorgeous and its an absolute treat from start to finish. Even the final arc that I hated still looks amazing. Every episode feels different--jumping from genre to genre on a whim--but they're all wildly creative in their own way and don't really prevent the show from having its own identity either. It's also got strong themes with heartfelt characters, strong writing, and a compelling story (until the end...). One of the most creative anime ever imo and just an amazing show that regrettably stumbles a bit at the end. Also episode 6 was an emotional gut punch if ever I've seen one.

34. The Garden of Words
Genres: Drama, Romance...ish?
Favorite Character: Yukari Yukino

The first movie on the list. As a Makoto Shinkai film it should come as no surprise that it's visually beautiful, but it feels like a more down-to-Earth sort of beauty than his other films I've seen, and I do think it benefits as a result. Beyond that, the story is simple but very touching. The leads have great chemistry, and I like how the movie shows you that both of them are lacking something in their lives which the company of the other is able to provide. It's simple, short, and sweet, but I think it's very good at what it sets out to do and is well worth anyone's time to go out and watch it.

Basically agree on Flip Flappers, really fun show that made the unfortunate decision of turning into Evangelion. Never go full Eva.

That is not a bad comparison but I'm pretty sure I have a lot more respect for even the NGE TV series ending than this

By going Evangelion I think he might mean with instrumentality and stuff, which I hate in pretty much every anime/game/etc that uses it.

Garden of Words rocks. Best Shinkai movie. I like the She and Her Cat series slightly better, but I'm not sure how involved in that he was, and that has the cat advantage.

I won't make too much of a habit of list spoiling, but I also consider Garden of Words to be Shinkai's best film sorry Your Name fans.

The thing Mac said too, but I thought the whole plot was blatantly an Evangelion reference once the big reveals were going, the character dynamics around Cocona seemed to line up so well with Shinji's.

I fell behind, but I've only seen a couple of these. HxH, MHA, and Odd Taxi are all good anime

I was vaguely interested in Flip Flappers but if it's like Eva, I'm spoiler-tagging this because other people did then I probably won't like it

Of the other stuff I haven't seen, Time of Eve sounds pretty neat

(Flip Flappers stuff based on the prior discussion) I don't know if I'd compare Evangelion to Flip Flappers overall. There's definitely similarities in the endings (I don't disagree with what Scep/Mac are saying, in case it sounds like I am), but tone/style-wise I think the series are very different.

Certainly if you only take say episodes ~1-9 of Flip Flappers and episodes ~1-16 of NGE I'm willing to stand by that statement >.>

haven't heard of most of these. how many anime have you seen total, for reference?

Really quickly I can say that my MAL page (not counting plan-to-watch) has 471 entries on it, though the real number will be less than this because like shows with 2 seasons listed separately on MAL would be counted twice.

This area of the list is particularly dense with more obscure stuff, but the top half of the list has a lot more well-known shows.

Of course, I don't know if it will be the well-known shows you're waiting for, there's also a lot of highly popular well-regarded shows that didn't make the list at all D:

This block of anime were hard to make writeups on for various reasons, but I'm just going to post them and move on rather than agonize over it.

Next update after this will have a very popular show on it I swear. And actually that's arguably true of all the remaining updates if I were to continue in blocks of 3 (which I probably won't at the end but I digress).

33. Aria
Genres: Slice-of-life
Favorite Character: Akari Mizunashi

I feel like this is a bit of a weird show to describe its appeal to somebody who hasn't already seen it. There are no real specific points of drama or suspense, but the show doesn't really need them. Aria lives by the philosophy that it's possible to find beauty through people living their day-to-day lives (in fact this might even be a direct quote from the show), but after having watched the show it's hard to disagree. Every episode feels like its own little treasure to unpack, whether they're exploring a new area or meeting a new person or holding a new event or whatever. The cast has great chemistry and the setting is probably one of my favorites in anime. All-in-all a very peaceful and pleasant anime and it's just very easy to unwind and watch a few episodes of the characters giving it their best.

32. Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Genres: Historical, Drama
Favorite Character: Sukeroku Yuurakutei

Note: I only watched the 1st season of this show
Rakugo Shinjuu is a period drama about the Japanese storytelling art of rakugo, which also explains a fair amount of what I liked about the show. The characters are quite well-realized; the drama is interesting; and it's interspersed with great performance scenes. I appreciate that the show--at least to some degree--let's the performances breathe, because this is the sort of thing I wouldn't have had any feel for otherwise as an outsider. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending to this series (this might be why I never got around to season 2), but it also wasn't as much of a black mark as some of the other series so far where I've said that.

31. Blast of Tempest
Genres: Mystery, Fantasy, Action
Favorite Character: Aika Fuwa

I think a lot of my praises for this show are sort of style-over-substance, but at the end of the day this is just a show that was immensely fun for me to watch. I really like how the story uses a combination of present-day and flashback development to slowly reveal information about the characters and the story. It's done in a somewhat intricate way and it makes the ride incredibly suspenseful and satisfying, even if it's begrudgingly probably fair to say that at the end of the day the story ends up a bit nonsensical. The story also has this peculiar method of characterization where its characters will for some reason just devolve into these hot-headed philsosophical monologues and Shakespeare quotes and things like that. I could see people finding it annoying but in this case I ate it like candy. I do also love the characters of this series a lot, and the story does have a lot of emotional weight that it mostly delivers on. Overall a very cool and intricate series that was just a blast (of tempest)

pyresword posted...

Really quickly I can say that my MAL page (not counting plan-to-watch) has 471 entries on it, though the real number will be less than this because like shows with 2 seasons listed separately on MAL would be counted twice.

Update: I just very quickly tried to do a real count and the number I got was 313. There's probably mistakes in this.

Aria rules and is awesome and quite popular imo.

The sequel movies are solid overall too, with some of them being great, though none quite hits the heights of Origination.

I do not like Rakugo Shinjuu that much and S2's end is very bad. I also dislike every rakugo anime tho.

BoT is pretty good.

I really liked Blast of Tempest, and Aika was particularly good.

I like the idea of Aria but the last time I tried watching it I kept falling asleep. It's one of those healing type anime, but I'm already at full HP.