Kyojin no Hoshi

Series that emphasise the presentation of struggle and dramatic event(s) through culminating the portrayal of the experience to that point visually or by some other means.

No. 67 is Let's Go COOKR'n and it started on April 1st, 2013 and ended on March 20th, 2015 with 196 episodes.

This is a part of a series of stacks that are about artistic tendencies in anime (and that border the fine line between sophisticated and pretentious).

This stack is a work in progress.

Bibliography:
Drazen, Patrick. “Bushido: The Way of the Warrior.” Anime Explosion. Stone Bridge Press, 2003. 120-125
LightSparker. “What is Spokon?” Forums – MyAnimeList.net. 13 May 2018.
Schodt, Frederic L. “The Spirit of Japan.” Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Kodansha USA, 1997. 79-87.

Anime dubbed in italian which aren't marked as so on the database (as far as I know), if you know of other like these, tell me and I'll add them

one per year, and once per licence (to the best of my abilities)

The top 50 of the top 100 anime gathered from TV Asahi's Japan-wide survey, conducted with multiple age-groups, into the best animated series.



(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-09-23/tv-asahi-top-100-anime-part-2)

In 2012, The Asahi Shimbun announced the 104 TV anime that they considered to be the most representative and memorable of all TV anime between 1963 and 2012. It's a good starting point for exploring general TV anime history, and the shows are all worth giving a shot. The list was not ranked, and ordered by release date.

Animes that first appeared on Weekly Shonen Magazine as manga and had an adaptation for TV.

This is the first part of a collection of articles where I aim to explore the evolution of anime related music. This part of the list attempts to collect a list of most iconic "Anime Songs".

The term "Anime Songs" used in this list refers to the theme songs that have a strong connection to the series demonstrated by their lyrics and the emotion invoked by the song related to the series. Essentially the song and the lyrics talk about the series or the characters in a direct manner forming a direct link between the performance and the series in question.

These types of theme songs were more common and popular before 1980s. The defining moment that can be said had influence on changing the theme songs away from this model is the popularity of the series "Urusei Yatsura" and how it used to promote a several "tie-up" songs that in contrast to "Anime Songs" by their nature don't necessarily have anything to do with the series, story or the characters.

I will write my thoughts on each of the entries on this list to further explain why I think the series and the theme songs included as a combined package have attained "iconic" status when it comes to the scene of "Anime Songs" in contrast to the "tie-up songs". I will also give a score related on how deeply intertwined I see the series and the performance related to the theme songs as a part of the experience as a whole. The series are ordered based on that score.

The term "iconic" in this list is defined by the popularity and how deeply established the meaning and the lyrical elements of the performance are in addition of them being intertwined with the series as a whole experience.

This list does not include iconic "tie-up songs" or other songs that by their lyrics or meaning do not establish a significant connection to the series, characters or the story.

More info about "Anime Songs" and "tie-up songs" and how they affect the performance from the perspective of the singer in this interview: https://www.cinra.net/article/interview-201509-horiemitsuko

Related stacks:

Chapter 1 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24451
Chapter 2 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24454
Chapter 3 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24455

The Four Kings:

Mitsuko Horie - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/9754
Ichiro Mizuki - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15851
Kumiko Oosugi - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24461
Isao Sasaki - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24460

Published in December of 2015, by the Video Research Ltd. (Japanese marketing research company, that conductes audience measurement for television and radio. Since its foundation in 1962), it shows the ten highest television ratings, that were recorded in the households of the Kanto Region (the most populous part of modern Japan), from since they begun online research on September 26 of 1977, plus four previously recorded high ratings that happened before said date. To qualify for the viewer ratings, a show must be a regular series with episodes that run for 15 minutes or longer.

Sources:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-12-30/chibi-maruko-chan-sazae-san-dr-slump-top-list-of-most-viewed-anime-episodes/.97077
https://gakumado.mynavi.jp/gmd/articles/28414

This is a list of the highest scoring anime title that premiered in each year (1950-1999). All titles are considered (TV, Movies, OVA, ONA, etc.).

This list excludes titles that are considered lost media.

Part 1 (1900-1949): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/26397
Part 3 (2000-2024): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/27236

For some reason, MAL doesn't display ratings in list view. If you are more interested in that, than my commentary, switch to tile or seasonal view.

A collection of anime released from January 1963 to January 2000 that still have something of an appeal. For better or worse.

These are sorted from newest to oldest.

Part Two: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30490
Part Three: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30498
Part Four: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/30811

Note: Moderators had taken down the stacks before, since it was not wholly information based. I will post this as a note as to why such series are essential in order to defend them all as a blanket statement.

Most of the series featured have some sort of significance in terms of first best or darkest for their era which can be categorized by decennium or part of a decennium (early, middle, late). These are mixed around in order in order to give those who subscribed to list a challenge. While I could give an individual breakdown, I think some research is better left up to those who have subscribed to the stacks, since this allows for additional cultural insight into what was popular in Japan at the time, which is sometimes disconnected from the United States, as well as the rest of North America and Europe in many ways. For example, the Crayon Shin-Chan that aired in the United States and Canada is different to the one that aired in Europe, is different to the one that aired in Japan. By recommending to seek out Japanese versions of series, it grows understanding. I am not the first one to have thought of this. In the United States, there used to be a channel called ImaginAsian TV which had the same purpose of informing people about Japanese popular culture through anime. The San Francisco and San Diego PBS stations did the same thing and NHK World Japan carries this on through series like Little Charo and previously Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san.

I think it is agreed upon that retro is a niche, but with handicaps on subject matter like availability.

Collection of series that focus on a professional on their field doing their work.

Sports series that have over 100 episodes! Episodes are all the usual 23 mins, and only includes actual sports that would be/are played in the real or a realistic world. Any shows with multiple seasons will only show the first season here. OVAs and one-off movies not counted in total count, but films that fit in the storyline count as single episodes.

* = i had to use the advanced search to find these, possibly not the most accurate result
! = no anime from this year have ratings, so i'm using the one with the most members
2001-2050: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/45933
Manga 1951-2000: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/45935
Manga 2001-2050: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/48905

i considered myself to be at an early-intermediate level in japanese studies--until i came to japan. though i suspected i would probably be have over-estimated my abilities, and i had heard plenty of common wisdom about how studying grammar and college-level japanese courses like the ones i had been in weren't ideal ways of actually learning japanese/languages in general. but i didn't truly realize just how little my study of intermediate grammar points would help me comprehend daily life in japan.

as many of the people reading a list like this will probably already know, linguists such as Stephen Krashen (pronounced: 言語学の神様) and Beniko Mason have insisted that SELF-SELECTED READING (or FREE VOLUNTARY READING) is key in the process of second-language aquisition. in (overly) simple terms, they believe that language acquisition begins with input (e.g. reading & listening), and that output, grammatical knowledge, and communicative competence come after an abundance of 'comprehensible' input. but as the qualifier 'free voluntary' suggests, Krashen, Mason and their cohort believe that input must be compelling to the learner--engaging and comprehensible (enough) to keep them interested and driven to keep going.

most of us language learners here on MAL probably have a lot in common when it comes to what we find to be 'compelling' input material/content. i honestly have my doubts about whether it is specifically reading that plays this massive role that Krashen and Mason suggest--i tend to work under the assumption that subtitled video, spotify's lyric function etc. have just as much to offer to language learners. im convinced that its most important that we find activities we enjoy and are likely to make routines of, and keep ideas like those of Krashen and Mason in the back of our minds as we choose from whatever activities our natural inclinations lead us toward. ergo: if you like reading hentai raw, in the name of haruhi-sama i implore you to read hentai raw!!

here are recommendations of anime i've found helpful for japanese study at around my current level or below. most of them use fairly simple language, are great for re-watching, and are probably pretty easy to get a hold of.

i'll order this by MAL popularity, for lack of a better idea.

as always, i would LOVE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THIS LIST! just dm me! and please take any and all information i share with an appropriate of salt--this is all more-or-less armchair linguistics/language learning, and i am by NO means fluent in japanese! lol.

also, while i won't put direct pirate links in the comments for each entry, feel free to message me if you want help procuring anything here, and i'll do my best!

OTHER RESOURCES:

for discovering content based on japanese language level:
https://learnnatively.com/

https://jpdb.io/prebuilt_decks


SOURCES & FURTHER READING:

https://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/pac5.pdf

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/4C7ADDDF7F10A600160D0505D99D0E85/S2058631019000126a.pdf/free_voluntary_reading_and_comprehensible_input.pdf


( AJATT / all japanese all the time / language learning / japanese language / matt vs japan / polyglot / self-study / JLPT / steven krashen / anki / jpdb / immersion / self-selected reading / second-language acquisition / free voluntary reading / comprehensible input / nihongo / 日本語 / 勉強 / 自習 )

A baseball is involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xETGvVi7n4o

A basic recommendation of anime classics starting from the important year 1963 when Astro Boy debuted. Only one anime per franchise allowed, and selection is partly based on watchability, so you can get right into what seems interesting.

This is the first part of five, this part covers 1963–1974

Part 2 (1975–1986): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57265
Part 3 (1987–1998): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57268
Part 4 (1999–2010): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57273
Part 5 (2011–2022): https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57279

In the first years of this part much anime was black and white. During all the years experimental and pioneering anime paved the way for franchises, companies, and the industry as a whole. 1969 was an especially strong year for anime (Sazae-san, Dororo, Tiger Mask, Attack no.1, Puss in Boots, Himitsu no Akko-chan, Moomin, The Flying Ghost Ship, Animerama 1).