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

(+) Yeah! (+)

heck yeah Kaguya-sama

Ishigami's initial arc is what sold me on the show, so good

LeonhartFour posted...

Ishigami's initial arc is what sold me on the show, so good

I think this is what did it for me as well.

Also making me realize I changed my favorite character like 4 times over the course of this show. First it was Kaguya and then it was Hayasaka and then it was Ishigami and then it was Kaguya again >.>

Yay FMA:B! That's another favorite of mine!

Meanwhile FLCL is probably my least favorite anime that I didn't just drop.

o ya my kaguya. team miko and hayasaka imhotbqh

FMA:B is Top 10ish for me, I think. I have seen Promised Neverland S2 and while you have made the correct decision boy is it sure "something." OG FLCL is excellent. The sequels, as you say, are mixed. I want to say it was... Alternative?... that was the better of the two (one with the four girls as the mains) but still not near the original's level.

FMA:B one of the most overrated anime imo. I don't like Ed, Al, Mustang, or Scar, which holds it back a lot.

The Bradley episode near the end is 10/10 though.

MacArrowny posted...

The Bradley episode near the end is 10/10 though.

Bradley cutting into the rebel broadcast as he returns to the city after being thought dead is an 11/10 moment.

Bradley isn't quite at the top of my character rankings (though he is close), but he could easily be the most consistently entertaining member of the cast.

Bradley pulling a Michael Jordan with a simple "I'm back" was such a boss move

Two more rankings for today and I'll do the rest over the weekend.

12. Mawaru Penguindrum
Genres: Surrealism, Mystery, Drama
Favorite Character: Ringo Oginome

Penguindrum is certainly a show that exists, and despite how high I have it here it's a show that's really difficult to recommend. The show is completely and unapologetically bizarre, abstract, and bewildering. If that sort of thing is not unpalatable however, then I do believe this show is one of the best out there. The series has a very well-realized artistic vision and an earnest emotional undercurrent, which are always at the forefront of the series. The director is incredibly skilled and uses a ton of different clever techniques to communicate his ideas--the easiest to explain at least probably being the heavy use of repetition with slight variations to emphasize and contrast different aspects of the characters and story. The visuals are fantastic--from a literal standpoint they are vibrant and full of color, and from a thematic standpoint Ikuhara uses art and symbols skillfully to communicate thematic ideas in ways that you just don't see often from anime. And as I said before the underlying story and characters are just incredibly strong, and it's one of those shows that just feels like it's from the heart. A very artistic show that all but demands patience and active interpretation from the viewer, but if you're willing to give it those then this is a real treat.

11. Monogatari Series
Genres: Drama, Harem, Romance, Supernatural
Favorite Character: Tsubasa Hanekawa

When this show is firing on all cylinders, its one of the best there is. In particular, Second Season* is such an unbelievably good stretch of arcs and might be able to crack my top 5 considered in isolation. Unfortunately every arc doesn't hit quite as well as the strongest ones, but still the show rarely misses and is a fantastic experience either way. Monogatari is an infamously dialogue-heavy show, but I do really think it has the writing skill to back that up. The dialogue is always witty and engaging and is also willing to be serious when the situation demands, and the result is that the show probably has what I consider the most well-developed cast in anime. The actual supernatural events of the story are also very cool and strike an interesting balance of being themselves tense and exciting, and of being interesting allegories for the lives of whatever character is the focus of the current arc. The show is also quite stylized which adds a lot to the series overall, though I would be lying if I did not say that I thought this aspect gets somewhat weaker over the course of the series' runtime. Sort of like the last show this one's another very unique experience and one that demands your attention, but it's a fantastically well-written show imo.

*To clarify, I mean the arc called "Second Season", which hilariously is not actually the 2nd anime season because the "First Season" arc was split across multiple television seasons.

Monogatari numba one

Hanekawa best girl

Penguindrum was great, need to rewatch it at some point. Monogatari very good, and I struggle between Hanekawa and Kanbaru for my favorite. Hanekawa is the best overall but Suruga Devil is my favorite individual story.

Monogatari too good. Hanekawa maybe not a top 5 character.

pyresword posted...

it's a show that's really difficult to recommend

Is it? I feel like practically everyone who watches it likes it.

Momoka's my favorite character by a lot. Everything with her rules.

MacArrowny posted...

Is it? I feel like practically everyone who watches it likes it.

This might be. I mainly meant that just from looking at the show itself. Anecdotally I think something like 2/3 of people I know like it but I don't exactly have a large sample size

Dunno what I missed with Monogatari, but it never clicked with me

The main hit or miss thing with Monogatari is the protagonist. Some people who dislike Araragi really dislike the show because of him.

Araragi is fine if he's merely a plot device/side piece and not an actual character, which is not something I say commonly. I've also only seen Bakemonogatari

Good news: some of the later arcs are from the girls' perspectives! And one's from another guy's perspective! All of those arcs are excellent, IMO. And don't feature much Araragi.

Generically there's a lot of things I'd expect some people to not like about Monogatari, to the point that I'm a bit surprised it's as popular as it is.

Like the harem structure and the fanservice can be off-putting; not everyone is going to like the absurdly heavy focus on dialogue; and the overall vibe and style of the show is just a bit weird.

Harem structure isn't a problem I think, considering the popularity of Key stuff in general (and Clannad in particular), Steins;Gate, Fate/Stay Night, etc. I'd say having a unique vibe and style is a selling point too. Crazy that it was the best-selling anime ever for so many years though.

Into the top 10.

10. Chihayafuru
Genres: Sports, Drama, Romance
Favorite Character: Taichi Mashima

While not necessarily always a bad thing, I think most sports shows tend to fall into this mode where they're laser-focused on the sport itself and lose sight of or just ignore the broader world entirely. Chihayafuru sticks out in in my mind for not having done that. It always seems aware of the fact that the players are also people, and it allows the series to ask real questions about why the characters got into karuta in the first place and why they continue playing and what it represents to them--a fact which also adds much more weight to the storylines within the sport. It strikes a very good balance between exciting sports and character drama and ends up excelling at both, to the point that I wouldn't even hesitate to recommend the show to people who are fans of only one of the genres but not the other. (Side note: That the staff have managed to put together a production that makes literally karuta tense and exciting is no small miracle, but they have done it in a variety of ways and they have done it repeatedly.) This is true of most shows at this point, but the characters are very well-realized--they're very passionate for the game and have clear motivation, and it's always a joy to watch them always put that on display.

9. Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Action
Favorite Character: Sakura Matou

The peak of the Fate/ series and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. There's just something that's overwhelming compelling to me about the story of this route in particular. It's a very high-stakes emotional story, and the mix of beauty, tragedy, and desperation just completely resonates with me for whatever reason. I don't know how much more than that I can say, but maybe its fitting that my favorite anime are the ones where I don't fully understand why they work as well for me as they do. Sakura is a fantastic character who it's hard not to root for, and Heaven's Feel has my favorite iteration of Shirou, Rin, and Ilya (really most of the characters...) by a lot as well. Kotomine--who's also consistently one of the series' most entertaining wildcards is also at least at his best here since Fate/Zero. The action scenes are absolutely breathtaking as well, as one should come to expect from ufotable. I'm not sure what we did to be blessed with an adaptation of this caliber, but I'm certainly not going to question it.

I still need to watch Heaven's Feel one day

So do I.

I really like Chihayafuru

HF rocks. Best route, tremendous adaptation. Just a shame it didn't have more Ilya.

also Arata > Taichi

Ilya is the one character that maybe got the short end of the stick in the adaptation but who am I to complain when everything else was so good.

MacArrowny posted...

HF rocks. Best route, tremendous adaptation. Just a shame it didn't have more Ilya.

Agreed. Though I do like Fate/Zero the most out of the Fate stuff but in terms of F/SN, HF is where it's at.

8. Clannad
Genres: Romance, Drama
Favorite Character: Tomoya Okazaki

Definitely one of, if not the best romantic tearjerker anime. Many of the side-routes are actually quite good as well, but the real appeal of the show is the main relationship of Tomoya and Nagisa--especially once After Story starts. The two leads have fantastic chemistry; Tomoya in particular I think is just a great character; and it's really cool to see how the two of them change as they come to know one another. The emotional scenes themselves are also amazing--the writing and buildup are great, and the climaxes are well directed with some of the highest emotional peaks in the medium. There's not really much complicated about this show but it made me care about the characters; it made me cry a bunch; and did that better than almost every other anime out there.

7. From the New World
Genres: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Thriller
Favorite Character: Squealer

This another one of those morally ambiguous anime where it's hard to tell who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, and I think the show does a great job of it. It's hard to say much without a lot of spoilers, but the premise of the show is that humans develop psychic powers with military-like levels of destructive capacity, and it uses this idea to raise some very interesting ideas and moral dilemmas. The story itself is also one of the best in anime I think--it's always tense and exciting, and it has some quite strong emotional content as well. The setting is also one I like a lot. This is technically sci-fi, but the world feels more like an ancient tribal setting than anything. The whole world and tone of this show has this almost mystical feeling about it that I find compelling, and the show uses some cool directing techniques to emphasize that even more.

Clannad should just be called Emotion: The Anime

it'd probably be in my personal top 5

Oh oops that reminded me I totally forgot to complain about the ending to Clannad in the writeup. I basically don't like it at all but it doesn't even really matter because the ride there is so fantastic.

From the New World in contrast probably has my favorite last episode of any anime >.>

One more tonight and then I guess the top 5 tomorrow.

6. Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genres: Magical Girl, Fantasy
Favorite Character: Sayaka Miki

A modern classic in every sense. The story is exciting with compelling characters and a clear thematic thread tying things together from beginning to end. The production is amazing, with visuals that are both breathtakingly beautiful and uniquely creative, and one of the all-time great anime soundtracks from Yuki Kajiura adding to the otherworldly vibe of the whole show. In particular I'm still blown away every time I see the fight between Sayaka and the one witch that is done mostly using shadows, but the anime is completely filled with scenes of basically the same level of quality.

This show has a reputation of being a dark, edgy magical girl anime and is often credited with starting such a trend. But while at an intellectual level I can understand where this description is coming from and agree with it in some sense, I still can't help but feel like it misses the mark. To me, this is a story of hope, of light, and of love; and there's almost always a sense of the characters fighting for something rather than against something. This is also why I think the dark twists are able to land as well as they do and with such an overwhelming sense of tragedy--because the anime never seems to lose sight of the possibility for something better. (Ok, the bit about fighting for something is touching a bit directly on the themes of the story, and there are some instances when it's deliberately made not true in order to communicate those themes, but this is still the feeling I get from the show overall.)

Anyways this has been my rant about Madoka Magica, but yeah this show is very very good.

Didn't they say we were going to get like a sequel of either the anime or Rebellion? Did that just never happen? Or was that referring to Rebellion (though I could have sworn it was something distinct)

Madoka is good. Though I prefer Nanoha.

Well a sequel to Rebellion has been teased since Rebellion came out, but there have also been actual announcements that they were in production semi-recently I think--like this decade. As for when or if it is actually going to be released I have no idea.

I'm also in the minority that doesn't think Rebellion is nearly as good (it's fine...like a 7/10) so if they just want to completely forget about it I'm okay with that. (and tbh you can probably figure out why through my writeup with the understanding that I'm only really talking about the TV series)

Madoka rocks. I definitely don't like Rebellion as much, but most of the content in it is awesome, other than it's ending which still makes no sense to me. Madoka is the most hyped I've ever been for an original anime, and having it deliver on that potential was amazing.

I actually prefer the non-Nagisa parts of Clannad. Fuuko arc always makes me cry. It's a shame the anime did such a bad arc with Kotomi's route.

pyresword posted...

From the New World in contrast probably has my favorite last episode of any anime >.>

Heck yeah. Awesome finale saved the it from the last arc, which I greatly disliked.

The last arc of From the New World is definitely the weakest one. I pretty much like it overall, but there's a stretch in roughly episodes 22-24 in particular that's a bit suspect and doesn't really feel like the rest of the anime.

Had a bit more to say about this show so I'll just go with the 1 writeup for right now.

5. Made in Abyss
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Favorite Character: Vueko

I was really slow to pick up on Made in Abyss, in large part because it took me a long time to understand what it was actually going for. At first glance the show looks like a lighthearted adventure show, which of course couldn't be further from the truth since this is among the most unnerving and horrifying pieces of media I've ever seen. Even at a second glance and when I started watching, I was expecting a trite, edgy show about kids encountering horrific monsters and trying to escape, and this is honestly hardly any closer.

In reality, Made in Abyss is a show about the Abyss itself, and the stories of the characters who with eyes wide open choose to venture into or live there, in spite of all common sense and reason. And the abyss is just--well, it's an amazing setting. The artistic direction in developing the setting is also meticulous and focused. It's creative in a way that almost feels familiar but is also completely alien; it's covered in layers of mystery that refuse to let their secrets be known; and despite it's horrifying nature there's also a sense of beauty and serenity that permeates the entire world. It just has this way of drawing you in and holding your attention, which I suppose explains why the characters are so fascinated by it as well.

The stories within the show are also incredible, though it's sometimes hard to say much concrete. There's real human emotions on display, but the nature of the Abyss lets them be used and explored in ways that would be virtually impossible anywhere else. You do get your fair share of "monster escape" plotlines which are pretty straightforward, but some of the others are so far removed from the human experience as to be borderline beyond comprehension. This doesn't stop them from being gripping and heart-wrenching though. Especially season 2, which although I think it was less popular in general, to me it was one of the most harrowingly beautiful stories ever. The production here is also unbelievably good, with breathtaking visuals, an immaculate soundtrack, and even the voice acting consistently knocks it out of the park. Not sure what else to say but this show is just an incredible experience, and also a unique enough one that we may never see another anime that feels quite the same.

Made in Abyss rules. I loved S1, and S2 is even better, one of the best anime seasons ever. It helps that it's one of the best produced shows ever, yeah. The direction is unreal.

S1 by itself surely would have made the list (especially after seeing one of the recap movies in a theater...), but it would have been somewhat lower. Season 2 is definitely where it's at for me also

4. A Silent Voice
Genres: Drama
Favorite Character: Shouya Ishida

A Silent Voice is one of the best tearjerker anime out there, but it's also not one that just exists to play sad songs and try to play with your emotions. It's a film with an earnest and a very powerful message at the heart of it, at least to me. I don't really know to say much about specifics without sounding cheesy, so I will just say that it's a redemption story dealing with the need to listen when forming connections with others, and you will have to trust me that it really does work. The film does not shy away from the fact that people are capable hurting one another through careless actions and it can be a real punch-in-the-gut. The directing here is also very strong--sometimes in ways that are a bit too subtle for me to pinpoint specifically, but it constantly uses small things like musical cues and body language to add to the impact in ways that a lot of other anime would just ignore. A lot of the movie feels a bit understated (deliberately) which makes it hit a lot harder when suddenly it's not. Overall this is just a great movie with incredible characters though and the story in its entirety is something that's really special to me.

3. Toradora!
Genres: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Favorite Character: Taiga Aisaka

One of the classic anime romcoms. It is one of the first ones I watched, which probably has something to do with the high placement, but the show has always held a special place in my heart. The cast is diverse and entertaining, and I like how it's clear that they change and become closer to one another over the course of the show. (Taiga's introduction is obnoxious but she beomes a real character after that I promise). The antics of the first half of the show are a blast. As it goes on it does pick up the drama, but for me personally it all lands well and results in an extremely heartfelt story. There's also a bit of a coming-of-age theme here which I always have a soft spot for, and it's really heartwarming how the group of friends seem to give each other the strength to rise to meet the challenges of their lives. Just an all-around fun experience that put me through the entire emotional spectrum.

Toradora was my first anime as an adult, so I have fond memories of it.

A Silent Voice is excellent. I'm impressed they were able to compress the manga down into a movie and not lose TOO much of value. It's a really powerful experience.

I've read the manga for A Silent Voice also and I honestly consider the movie the definitive version. There's a few unfortunate cuts but I think for the most part they've gotten what matters, and the direction taken with the animation and music really adds a lot I think.

Toradora's quite well done, and benefits from being complete. There are many romance anime I'd rank above it though.

ASV benefits a lot from its 10/10 all-time great ending. Otherwise I think I enjoyed the manga more, but with that they're pretty even.

2. Steins;Gate
Genres: Sci-fi, Thriller, Romance
Favorite Character: Okabe Rintarou

Steins;Gate has basically been one of the top rated anime since it was released, and for good reason. The time travel plotline is just one of the best there is. The tension-building in the early parts of the anime is great, and once the plot kicks into high gear it's a nonstop edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that just absolutely refuses to let up. Along the way it delivers some of the best emotional scenes in the medium, and it wraps things up basically perfectly into a complete story, and it's just an amazing experience. And then to make matters even better, several years later they just decide to drop a prequel series even though it wasn't necessary at all, and it ended up being almost equally amazing. Despite the complete nature of the original, it manages to complement the series perfectly and feel like it was part of the story all along, while independently being more than capable of standing on equal footing with what was already one of the greatest anime series ever. I know visual novel fans have said the S;G 0 adaptation missed some things, but as an anime-only I have absolutely no complaints. The characters are also all amazing. Okabe's through-the-roof levels of charisma are the highlight, especially for his more triumphant moments, but there's like 5 other characters at least here who would have been the best character in their show for ~90% of other anime. They also have such fantastic chemistry every time they interact that I'm 100% convinced even a Steins;Gate slice-of-life series would still be good enough to appear on this list.

Oh and I also really appreciate that Steins;Gate has one of the more measured and deliberate takes on full-on, high-stakes time travel. It goes a long way in making the drama feel earned when it happens.

I think the main thing you miss out on from the VN is Okabe's inner monologue, which adds another layer of depth to his characterization.

I mean you miss out on extra endings too I guess but you can easily look those up on YouTube if you want to see them

Steins;Gate top tier. Don't think I will ever be able to watch it without crying.

Steins;Gate would probably be my #2 as well. Great adaptation as well.

i don't expect us to share #1 though lol. Mine would be Evangelion.

Thorn posted...

i don't expect us to share #1 though

You're correct, though that was one of the shows I was going to list as an honorable mention after the fact.

Maybe not a surprise for some people since I've definitely hyped up this show on the board before, but:

1. A Place Further Than the Universe
Genres: Drama, Adventure
Favorite Character: Shirase Kobuchizawa

Speaking rationally, I don't know if this is as universally a top-tier experience as some (admittedly not all) of the other shows high on the list, but this is a show that meant something special to me. And reading commentary about the show online I don't think I'm alone either. There's something about the show that just has a way of speaking to people. Every week I'd wake up early before work to watch this shortly before it aired and it would conjure up memories of my childhood, make me want to go out and see the world, and just without fail lift me up and make me feel like a more positive person.

The story itself is very heartwarming. It is not especially subtle about the fact that it wants to make you cry, but it still ends up doing a very good job of it. The bond the characters form over the course of the anime is also something to behold, especially considering they are basically strangers in the first couple episodes. There's this brief scene at the end of anime that sticks out in my headwhere they're all just like eating and playing shogi or whatever. It's really mundane and gives the sense that life in Antarctica is much like life anywhere else, but you also still have the feeling that everything has changed and that the characters are going to be all right. They all left on this trip to fill some emptiness in their hearts, but it's like what they needed to fill that up was each other's company. Something something the real Antarctica was the friends we made along way.

Anyways I completely adore this show. Fantastically cathartic experience and I think I was practically bawling at more than half of the episodes.

likely in my top 5 as well, love Yorimoi