Oct 5, 2018 7:04 PM
Top 100 Anime/Manga Series (2018 Update)
Anime Relations:
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
Over 2 years ago, I put together my first Top 100 Anime/Manga Series list. I watched a lot of anime over the last two years, largely encouraged by my participation in the 2017 and 2018 Anime Watching Challenges here on MAL. As a result, more than 30 anime have dropped off of the Top 100 on my working list, so I figured that it’s about time to update this thing!
As with the last one, this is a list of my current top 100 favorite anime/manga series, complete with an image and description of why I love the anime and/or manga for every entry on the list. I did re-use the images from my last list for all of the items that still make the cut and also may have only made a few minor changes to most of the descriptions, because I’m lazy. And again, as with last time, each entry represents an overall series/franchise. For example, the Suzumiya Haruhi entry includes both main sets of TV episodes, the Disappearance movie, the novels, and all of the side-stuff (Haruhi-chan, Yuki-chan, etc.). The link provided is either the most relevant entry in the series for why I love it or just the first part of the series. Now on to the list!
100. Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Book of Friends)
Barely squeeking in as my new #100, I watched the first season of Natsume for the 2017 Anime Watching Challenge. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it was able to clock in just two spaces over the similar but more mature Mushishi. I can’t quite put my finger on why it ranks higher, but it just barely does. I look forward to watching more seasons of this series once I am in the mood/have time. It will be interesting to see if it climbs up higher.
99. Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! (WataMote)
Almost more of a psychological study than a traditional slice of life comedy, this is a story that can be very compelling but could also hit a little too close to home for some people. I think Tomoko is a very easy character for a lot of people to hate. While she can be rather relatable for people who were/are socially awkward in school or other situations, she is also just so damn bitter about it! And the fact that she pretty much always blames her problems on others. However, even then, it can be a lot of fun to see her continually fail and get slight hints that she might be learning? In the end, if she doesn’t pull at least a little sympathy from you, this series probably won’t be for you. I’d really like to get into reading the manga to see how everything develops beyond where the anime ends.
98. Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish)
Speaking of socially awkward girls, now we have Tsukimi and her roommates who all exhibit some kind of obsessive-geek behavior and have next to zero social skills. This series has more of a grown-up shoujo/josei style to it than WataMote’s traditional shounen slice of life style. This story is all about how the lives of these women get shaken up when a beautiful crossdresser enters Tsukimi’s life.
97. Alien 9
Now for some truly weird stuff. I love Hitoshi Tomizawa’s style. Crazy creature designs, weird stories, and cute little girls. After a bit of a mediocre debut with Treasure Hunter Jubei, Tomizawa really found his niche from Alien 9 and onward when he mixed in the “cute little girls” portion of the equation. Maybe it’s a little screwed up to enjoy stories where young children are essentially traumatized and/or tortured, but it can give a story a rather interesting twist and kicks the emotional investment up a notch.
96. Detroit Metal City
And now for some good old-fashioned bad-taste comedy! If you don’t think the yelling of the word “rape” over and over again by a death metal artist can ever be funny, this series probably isn’t for you. But everything in this series is so over the top that it is just ridiculous in the end. The original manga comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome, but thankfully ends with the tenth volume. However, although I loved the series, I ended up selling off my copy of the manga as I honestly can’t see myself ever re-reading it. To experience the series again, the short anime version is perfect. And the soundtrack is amazing!
95. Binbou Shimai Monogatari
And here's just some cute sweetness. The title translates to “Poor Sisters Story” and follows two poor sisters who are essentially orphans, but make the best out of their situation in the most cheerful and loving way possible. It’s a great little series.
94. Aishiteruze Baby
And MORE cuteness with this nice shoujo series about a high school boy who takes care of his young cousin. Damn, Yuzuyu is so freaking adorable! The story isn’t particularly deep very often, but it is some great feel-good fluff.
93. Gake no Ue no Ponyo
Other than having more than 30 things falling off of my Top 100, one of the biggest changes in my rankings is my overall lowered love for works by Hayao Miyazaki. While the last version of this list had 5 of his movies on it, only two remain now, at much lower relative positions than they were at before. Now, I don’t hate his stuff or anything. I still appreciate them quite a bit. However, I’m beginning to just see them as nice, pretty films with little else to really keep me engaged. Anyway, Ponyo is still a rather cute and fun and touching movie. Please don’t hate me.
92. Minami-ke
This slice of life comedy follows three sisters and their lives together and at school. I don’t exactly remember where their parents are, but I don’t think they’re ever around for whatever reason. You know, parents are a bit of an endangered species in anime and manga (whether they’re dead, “disappeared”, or at work all the time). Anyway, yet another series that I need to watch/read more of.
91. Mitsudomoe
Ahhh, when cute meets crass. Sometimes I feel like Mitsudomoe is much funnier than it should be, but I still love it quite a bit. Probably not for everyone though.
90. Yuri!!! on Ice
The somewhat controversial winner of Crunchyroll’s first Anime Awards! I ended up loving this series. While it’s not my favorite TV anime from 2016 (I think there are 9 that are higher on this list), it was a lot of fun. Figure skating has always been one of my favorite events to watch in the Olympics and those segments were great to watch in this anime. The relationship stuff was also really good. Just an overall solid show!
89. Boogiepop wa Warawanai: Boogiepop Phantom
Boogiepop Phantom was one of the first series that really made me make the shift as a sub-only anime watcher. The series just worked so much better in the original Japanese for me. And as for the series itself, it is haunting and interesting. I had some of the original novels for a while but never got around to reading them. I really need to try reading more....
88. Suki. Dakara Suki
I used to read/collect a LOT of CLAMP manga doing my best to own everything they’ve made. However, a few years back I began to feel like I was just buying CLAMP manga just for the sake of buying it so when I was selling off a lot of my collection, well over half of my CLAMP stuff ended up going. Anyway, Suki was one of my favorites that made the cut to stay on my shelf and I consider it to be one of CLAMP’s most underrated titles. Some very charming cuteness.
87. Amanchu!
There is manga out there about damn near EVERYTHING! Case in point, Amanchu! is about scuba diving. Personally, I’ve only watched the two anime seasons so far and haven’t gotten a chance to check out the manga. At its core, Amanchu! is a slice of life series, kind of a “cute girls + activity” show, but without quite as much focus on moe cuteness. It also undoubtedly has an iyashikei (healing) feel. Which shouldn’t be a surprise as the manga was made by the original creator of Aria, one of the first major iyashikei anime. Anyway, enough of that tangent. Amanchu! is a very fun, calm, touching, and at times funny slice of life series. The lead characters are great together and the supporting cast is great. Great stuff!
86. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (KonoSuba)
Now going from one of the most lovable casts to a group of characters who are just wonderfully despicable. This comedy isekai series is all about a bumbling group of dip-shits who are just fun to watch as they make each other's lives miserable. I feel like anyone who is into fantasy can appreciate this anime.
85. Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch)
At the time of this writing, I am about half way through the anime version of Maria, but I have read the entire manga. The series is a very interesting story with great characters. So far, the anime is a very good adaptation of the manga. The concept itself can seem a little odd, as a witch who hates fighting gets punished for stopping too many battles in a rather odd way: if she ever loses her virginity, she’ll also lose her magic. While there is some comedy to the series, most of it is played pretty straight. It’s also done rather well and the short four volume manga series is self-contained with a nice ending. Hopefully the anime adapts the ending just as well.
84. Milk Closet
Shortly after Tomizawa finished Alien 9 he seemed to realize he found his style and made another series about young kids being terrorized by crazy creatures. While Alien 9 was confined to a school setting, Milk Closet went all over the place crossing into different dimensions to deal with these creatures. Great stuff.
83. Mai-HiME
This series was a fun action series with interesting themes. I had tried the Mai-Otome spinoff series, but couldn’t really get into it. I prefer the traditional school setting opposed to the generic fantasy world that the spinoff was set in.
82. Soul Eater
Great action, stylish, interesting concept, etc. Since the last list, I’ve finished reading the original manga and it was pretty good! My favorite and least expected part of going from watching the anime to reading all of the manga was that Black Star actually became my favorite character in the series! He just becomes so damn badass!!
81. Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop)
This series is kind of like Aishiteruze Baby but with a more serious tone to it. Instead of a single high school boy taking care of a young girl, it’s a single working man in his 30s taking care of a girl. The anime is very well done and the manga is really good too, but I haven’t quite finished the original manga and hear that it gets a little weird at the end. I should really get around to finishing it soon to see for myself.
80. Yuru Camp (Laid-Back Camp)
I have a bit of a soft spot for the subject matter of this series. My mom used to take me and my siblings camping all the time when we were younger, and I still enjoy going on camping trips and hiking when I have a chance. This slice of life “cute girls + activity” anime centers on camping and it is such a delightful experience. The characters are fun, the art is beautiful, and the comedy is always on point. It’s another “need to get into the manga” series for me.
79. Trigun
Other than the Berserk manga (see further down), this is the oldest new additions to my Top 100. I have a bit of a weird history with Trigun. When the anime was airing on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s, I somehow ended up catching the same episode THREE TIMES and never saw any more of the series. Trigun was always a major staple in the anime fandom when I was growing up. Red Vash trench coats were one of the most common cosplay items seen out in the wild at cons and such. At one point, I bought the entire anime on DVD, but never got around to watching it and ended up selling it. As part of my 2017 Anime Watching Challenge, I finally watched the entire series. I found the series a bit slow to get into (which kept it from ranking higher), but after we learned more about Vash’s past and why he refuses to kill, the series really fell into place and provided some very hard-hitting emotional punches.
78. Fruits Basket
This was one of the first really big shoujo anime releases for North America when I was getting deep into anime. Funny and emotional and just a great story with an incredibly lovable female lead. I need to finally get around to finishing the manga at some point as I only got about half way through it.
77. No Game No Life
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. While I’m sure that this can really speak to video gamers, I found a lot to enjoy about the gaming from the perspective of a tabletop gamer. So much so to the point that I’d say this is one of the most relatable anime for people who are into board games and such. With that aside, the characters are all fun and the world is interesting. However, while I’m usually not a major stickler for drop-off endings in anime adaptations, the ending of No Game No Life’s first TV anime season did hold it back a bit for me. It wasn’t all that bad, but with how it explicitly stated at the end that they’ve essentially just started what could be a very long-running collection quest kind of irked me. Hopefully they’ll make more of the anime eventually, but I’d also like to get into reading the original light novels.
76. Mob Psycho 100
A coming of age story centering around a kid with psychic powers, Mob Psycho 100 is hilarious, touching, and has some of the best animation to ever grace TV animation. However, the ART can take some getting used to as it could rightfully be described as “ugly” in most cases. But I loved the end result and I’m looking forward to the second season coming out next year!
75. Oshiete! Galko-chan (Please tell me! Galko-chan)
This was a bit of a surprise for me. While I liked the character designs before even watching the series (with such nice variety in the shape and style of the different girls), I didn’t expect to enjoy the interactions between the characters so much or for them to talk about a lot of the things they did. In this largely pure slice of life series, girls talk about some extremely girl-related things in some very explicit detail at times. I am honestly a bit surprised that the original creator isn’t a girl; he HAD to have had sisters growing up or something. Anyway, Galko is adorable and a wonderful subversion of expectations. Her two best friends and other classmates are also a lot of fun. I really need to read the manga for this.
74. Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar (A Little Snow Fairy Sugar)
This was one of the first really kid-appropriate series that I got into. It’s cute, calm, and packs an emotional punch when it needs to. Great stuff.
73. Moyashimon
A story about a guy in an agricultural college who can see microscopic organisms. Probably one of the most original concepts that I’ve come across for a series. It’s fun, interesting, and kind of educational!
72. Power!! (Girl Got Game)
A girl starts crossdressing to play basketball and falls in love with one of her teammates. Kind of a generic story that’s been done before, but it is executed very well. It has some of the most amazing facial expressions I’ve ever seen in a manga, at times on par with those in GTO.
71. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
And now my favorite Miyazaki movie. As mentioned in my Ponyo entry, I’m not as in love with Miyazaki as I used to be and Spirited Away solidified that somewhat recently. I went to see the movie in theaters as part of GKIDS’ Studio Ghibli Fest campaign, and I was honestly kind of bored during most of my viewing. And again, this is my FAVORITE of Miyazaki’s films, one that I loved from the very beginning. I guess at this point in my life maybe I’m not as into his “magic” anymore. I still like his stuff, just not on the same level as before.
70. Cardcaptor Sakura
The second and final CLAMP series on my list, Cardcaptor Sakura is a classic magical girl series. I originally watched the Americanized Cardcaptors version of the anime when I was a kid and then read the original manga later in life and the uncut anime. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a very big fan of the new Clear Card anime and that has caused the series to drop in my rankings. It was rather boring for the most part and has made me question how much I like the series as a whole now. I’ll have to read more of the Clear Card manga and maybe re-read/re-watch the original manga/anime stuff to see if I’ve really grown a bit tired of the series. Still good overall, though.
69. ReLIFE
How many people in their mid-20s or older haven’t fantasized about what it’d be like to re-live their younger years with the knowledge they have now? ReLIFE is based around a 27-year-old who doesn’t have any good prospects in life at the moment. He is then given a pill to change his body into that of a 17-year-old so he could go back to high school. I found this to be a very relatable story and a fun and touching watch. I haven’t gotten around to watching the sequel to it yet, but hopefully I will soon. I hope the final ending does the series justice.
68. Ojamajo Doremi
I watched a few episodes of Doremi back in the day, both in fansubs and during its short run on US TV as Magical DoReMi. I finally watched through all 51 episodes of the first anime as part of my 2018 Anime Watching Challenge and it was just delightful! It is adorable, touching, colorful, and made me laugh far more than it probably should have. I look forward to watching more of the series.
67. Toaru Majutsu no Index
The world of Index and its Railgun spinoff is a lot of fun and Touma and Mikoto are great lead characters. I’m a bit behind with Railgun, but I’m really looking forward to starting the new season of Index!!
66. NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the N.H.K.)
Similar to how WataMote gets rather dark and can be a little too close to home for some people in relation to their high school years, N.H.K. can do the same for your adult years. While it can be fun to laugh at while watching this at times, it can more often be sad and touching. It’s a very interesting journey to watch.
65. Texhnolyze
Speaking of dark, the world of Texhnolyze is just downright grim. But it is just so captivating and heartfelt in its dystopian society.
64. Escaflowne
And here’s another anime that had a heavily cut version air in the US in the late-1990s/early-2000s. Escaflowne has been considered one of the best anime ever made and it is rather great. I might need another rewatch to see if it’s held up over time or if I may even appreciate it more these days.
63. Byousoku 5 Centimeter (5 Centimeters Per Second)
From the wonderful creator Makoto Shinkai, this is one of the most realistic high school love stories I’ve seen in anime. Things just don’t always work out in the end. Sadly Shinkai’s first major work, Voices of a Distant Star, has fallen out of my Top 100, but his most recent work (further down the list) makes up for that in a major way. I still need to watch a number of his other works, all of which are sitting on my shelf....
62. Death Parade
An interesting look at humanity. What makes people tick? What do they value and regret in life? How deep and custom-made for older anime fans is this series? All joking aside, this is a very nice series. Although it hints at having more story to come, it seems a bit doubtful that we’ll get more of this cool original anime from 2015. But who knows! Either way, the series stands pretty well on its own as a self-contained work. Every little thing does not HAVE to be explored and explained in a series.
61. Zero no Tsukaima
The physical and verbal abuse of the male lead in a shounen romantic comedy can be off-putting to some people, but in all honesty Saito usually deserves the abuse he receives from Louise. As the series goes on from season to season, you really learn that the two of them just belong with each other; they deserve and even maybe enjoy what they do to each other. My favorite season in the series is easily the second, Futatsuki no Kishi, because I feel that was where the best development of their relationship took place. I’d finally gotten around to watching the final season since the last version of the list and it was a pretty nice closing of the series.
60. Patema Inverted
A very strange concept for a movie: two groups of people exist which have opposite directions for their gravity. A boy from the surface world meets a girl from below the surface who walks upside-down. It develops into a sweet love story and an interesting look at society. This is the most recent major work from the director and studio which made Pale Cocoon and Time of Eve (see further on the list).
59. Boku dake ga Inai Machi (ERASED)
One of the many break-out shows of 2016, ERASED has some supernatural slice-of-life elements mixed in with an intense thriller and crime drama. The mystery unfolds rather nicely and while some people didn’t really like the ending, I thought everything was done really well.
58. Flying Witch
Another iyashikei anime on my list and probably the most iyashikei of any anime in my Top 100. The series is just immensely chill. While it has the magical aspects of its world, everything is still so down to earth in its feel and presentation. Some parts are very funny, but it’s usually just an all-around relaxing experience. It also has a family with two very normal parents who are actually present in their children’s lives on a daily bases! That might be the most magical thing in this anime with how rare that is!
57. Angel Beats!
This series was a bit more difficult for me to rank than most. After watching the first six episodes of the series around when it first came out, I had the series on hold for more than 7 years before I finally got back to finishing it. I should probably re-watch it all in one go at some point. However, even with that in mind, the series is really great with a lot of nice emotion manipulation.
56. Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho (The Place Promised in Our Early Days)
The second major Shinkai work after Voices of a Distant Star, he really refined his skills with this one. Although other animation staff was brought in for this project, Shinkai still did the bulk of the work.
55. Orange
When it was announced that Orange was getting an anime adaptation and I kept seeing some very pretty key images come out, I looked into the original manga. After seeing a lot of praise for the work and that it was part of Crunchyroll’s manga library, I ended up checking it out. Then I read all 5 (core) volumes of the series in one night and cried like a baby. It was a powerful read and provoked one of the strongest responses that I’ve ever had while reading something. The themes hit really close to home. While I did enjoy the anime adaptation when it came out, it didn’t quite measure up to the original manga. They made some odd art direction choices and broke things up a little weird at times. It was still good, but I think I’ll re-read the manga whenever I want to experience it again. Now, I do need to read the additional 6th volume and watch the movie. It’s kind of annoying that the 6th volume of the manga was added to the original entry in MAL, but I guess I understand why they do that, so they don’t have 100s of thousands of manga entries on the site. But it doesn’t make it less annoying when my “completed” manga entries are no longer really completed.
54. Elfen Lied
Oh, Elfen Lied. Everyone’s favorite ultra-violent anime from the mid-2000s. The anime is a great stand-alone work, but the original manga is also rather good and adds a lot to the story if you can’t deal with the unanswered questions that the anime leaves behind.
53. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
While I was interested in video games pretty much my entire life, I didn’t really get into them heavily until I had the money to buy my own Playstation. A friend of mine let me borrow his copy of Final Fantasy VII until I got my own and the game holds a very special place in my heart. It’s not my favorite video game of all time or even my favorite FF game, but it was the first game (other than maybe Pokemon) that I invested over 100 hours into. I loved the Advent Children movie when it came out, but some of it felt a little off. Thankfully they later came out with the “Complete” cut which I felt was nearly perfect.
52. Hinamatsuri
A deadpan girl with telekinetic powers ends up dropping in on a yakuza guy and he ends up adopting her as his daughter. The series has a massive amount of laugh-out-loud hilarity but also a good amount of heart to go along with it. Anzu’s story arcs are especially touching and Hitomi’s can be painfully relatable for adult viewers. A great show all around.
51. Made in Abyss
A very intense adventure story about a young girl and her boy robot going deep into a giant hole filled with horrors in search for her mom. The series has many disturbing moments and hard emotional pulls (MITTY!!!!). I’m looking forward to the next season of the anime, but I might have to just get into the manga as well.
50. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
I’m a bit of a sucker for tragedy loop storylines, as is evident by my deep love for Higuarshi and a few other items on this list. Re:Zero turns the tragedy loop formula into a bit of a weird (and very painful) superpower for Subaru as he suffers great physical and emotional anguish as he dies and comes back to try again. It’s a fascinating journey to go along with and Re:Zero does end up having the honor of being my favorite isekai series. Good job!
49. My Hero Academia
A very nice shounen anime take on superheroes. Deku and his fellow classmates are all interesting and a lot of fun to watch. The series gets into many high-intensity moments with great action. Although some places drag a big as far as the pacing goes, I am so glad that they are doing this series broken up in seasons instead of trying to do the traditional constant stream of episodes that had been standard with shows like Naruto and One Piece. The pacing could have been so much worse if they went that route.
48. Berserk
One of the most acclaimed manga period (and the current #1 ranked manga on MAL), I finally got around to checking out Berserk since I made the previous version of this list. I’m currently 38 volumes in and it is the only entry on my list of which I haven’t actually completed anything from the franchise. I’ve heard mostly good things about the old anime adaptation, but also that it had a bad drop-off ending and didn’t come anywhere near close to capturing the art of the manga. Then the newer anime adaptations came out and I just gave up on watching any of the anime. I’ll just stick to the manga at this point. The art is amazing and it has an epic dark-fantasy story. It just sucks that the release of new material is so slow. Be nice if the creator picks up the pace and works towards finishing it off some day.
47. Clannad
This series has a very heavy emotional impact. However, I STILL haven’t watched the second season, After Story. I’ve heard that is even more emotional than the first, so I really need to get around to watch it soon, even though I said the exact same thing when I made the old list over two years ago. At this point, I feel like I should probably go ahead and re-watch the first season before going on to After Story, but I probably can’t afford the time....
46. So Ra No Wo To
Some people call this “Military K-ON!” and I don’t think that’s too far off. Thankfully for me, the military aspects of this series are rather underplayed for the most part since I’m not a huge fan of military themes. It’s mostly just a good slice of life series in a very interesting setting.
45. Nodame Cantabile
One of the most fun odd-couple anime pairs ever. Nodame and Chiaki are just great together and the music they make together (both figurative and literal) is wonderful.
44. Prison School
My favorite guilty pleasure anime! Seriously, I probably shouldn’t have loved this anime as much as I did. It has absolutely no redeeming artistic qualities other than being hilarious in its bad taste and being weirdly sexy in some very gross ways. But damn is it hilarious!!
43. One Punch Man
While I do love My Hero Academia, it is One Punch Man that is the perfect shounen superhero anime for me. A lot of that has to do with the focus on an adult main character and the themes of trying to live a fulfilled life. It also doesn’t hurt that it has some crazy awesome action and many hilarious moments. However, I don’t think I’ll ever read the original manga since I love seeing it in animation too much. I hope that they release as many seasons of the anime as possible because I don’t see myself ever getting tired of it. Also, Saitama is bald like me so someday when I’m more fit I can cosplay as him! XD
42. New Game!
Another delightful “cute girls + activity” slice of life series! This time around, the activity that the cute girls are taking part in is the creation of video games. The series mainly follows girls in the art and graphics department of the studio and they all have very good chemistry. As someone who works in an office and has dreamed about making video games in my youth, there is a lot of relatable content here. And it’s just really cute and funny.
41. Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi
This is probably the most explicit series on my list. Yes, more explicit than Elfen Lied. Sex and Violence sells and this set of six double-length episodes just has loads of it! The main female character is immortal and that allows her to be tortured in horrible ways, usually in some kind of sexual nature. This may make me sound like kind of a bad person, but it is very interesting, well executed, and has a very cool story which crosses multiple time periods (past, present, and future).
40. Little Witch Academia
Such a nice series. The sense of magic and wonder, the fun as hell characters; it’s all so great. A wonderful anime that can be enjoyed by people of any age.
39. Shakugan no Shana
Shana is an adorable and interesting tsundere and the series has an interesting story and great action. Unlike Zero no Tsukaima, I still have not gotten around to watching the most recent and final season since I did the last version of this list. Maybe soon?
38. Comic Girls
Oh boy! Even MORE “cute girls + activity” slice of life anime!! With the activity here being drawing manga, I found more to relate to than just about any other of these types of shows (other than maybe Yuru Camp). I’ve actually written a full review for this series, so I won’t go any deeper into it here.
37. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)
And now for some more standard formatted slice of life, but with a fantasy twist! Other than this series’ overall cute and funny nature and the nice fantasy elements, I think what elevates it to a higher level than it would have been otherwise is Kobayashi herself. Again, we have a lead character who is relatable for older fans like me. It really feels like there’s a bit of a trend going towards having characters in their mid-20s or older taking the lead these days, which kind of makes sense for the age of a lot of anime fans out there (both in Japan and foreign markets). Good stuff!
36. Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)
Ahhh, and now we have the first item from the 2016 Great Anime Movie Holy Trinity on my list! I haven’t gotten around to reading the original manga, but I felt that the movie was just amazing. Some people have dinged it for having side characters that are just there and not having the time to flesh them out like they were in the manga, but as someone who hasn’t read it, I didn’t notice at all. I felt that everything worked great and all of the characters made perfect sense. I mean, I get a sense that some stuff happened with some of the characters in the background that you don’t see in the movie, but as is life. We don’t usually get to see every little thing that goes on and the core story didn’t suffer at all for that during my viewing. Anyway, the movie is really touching and has some very hard-hitting emotional moments that hit close to home for me (much like Orange). It was kind of awkward crying as much as I did in the theater, so I’m glad that I went to watch it by myself. Sadly, this is the only one of the three great 2016 movies that hasn’t had a North American Blu-ray release; someone needs to get on that!! (Update: NA Blu-ray coming in April!!)
35. Gakkougurashi! (School-Live!)
Like with Kobayashi, here we have another slice of life series with a twist. This time around, the twist is a zombie apocalypse. Honestly, I’m kind of “over” zombies. I thought they were fun enough before. I enjoyed some Resident Evil games, I love Shaun of the Dead, and liked The Walking Dead at first. But I dropped The Walking Dead about half way through the third season and the stupid number of zombie-themed board games got annoying; my dislike of Zombicide in particular didn’t help. Despite that, I loved School-Live! It takes a bit of a standard moe “cute girls doing cute things” slice of life format and totally turns it on its head with the zombie apocalypse setting. The contrast between the cute girls and the trauma that they experience is very heart wrenching. How they band together and support each other through the situation can also be touching at points.
34. NANA
NANA is a great shoujo/josei series about two girls named Nana and how they meet and end up living with each other. One is a rock star and the other is a hopeless romantic girly-girl. It’s a very touching series which made me tear up at least once during almost every episode.
33. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (A Place Further Than The Universe)
I’d almost call this another “cute girls + activity” slice of life show, but summing it up in that way would probably offend some people. This series definitely has a bit more substance than those types of shows, while still largely following that kind of set-up. The big difference here from other slice of life shows is the scale of the activity and how they still keep it pretty well grounded in reality. Because these cute girls are going on an expedition to FREAKING ANTARCTICA!! While that kind of sounds crazy on paper, it’s done in such a manner that feels very believable. And man is it an intense ride! Possibly the best new anime of 2018.
32. Outlaw Star
My official first favorite anime ever. I just loved it when it was on Toonami in the early-2000s and it was the first anime that I ever bought on DVD. Just such a fun fantasy sci-fi series with great characters. Sadly, the art/animation is rather dated at this point so it may be a bit difficult for new fans to get into.
31. Tokyo Godfathers
While Miyazaki movies tend to get the most love from anime fans, I personally love Satoshi Kon’s work more. Tokyo Godfathers has become a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition. It’s a crazy story about homeless people who find a baby in the trash, but it’s so touching and fun.
30. Great Teacher Onizuka
Best teacher ever! Not much else to say about GTO. It’s so funny and has great characters. Love it! I just wish someone would do a re-release of the manga in English since Tokyopop butchered the translation when they released it.
29. Eve no Jikan
From the creators of Pale Cocoon, this series takes a deep look into robotics and artificial intelligence. This takes a very everyday life, non-threatening look at the subject matter.
28. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. (AnoHana)
Made by a lot of the staff from Toradora! (see further down my list), this original story tells an extremely touching story about friends, loss, death, and nostalgia.
27. Genshiken
Just about the most realistic fictional depiction of otaku. There is a lot here for otaku to connect with or for casual fans to be educated on the ways of hardcore fans. I still need to “finish” the manga again since the Second Season got lumped in with the first series on MAL, despite the gap between the sets. I bought all of the books though, so hopefully I’ll read them all soon. Still kind of annoyed how MAL does that.
26. Sennen Joyuu (Millennium Actress)
More from Satoshi Kon, this is a simple story about a Japanese actress’ extraordinary life told in a very creative way.
25. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
The main character of this series is a high school teacher who is obsessed with trying to kill himself. Sound like a great premise for a comedy? Well, mix in a crazy cast of female students and crank the ridiculousness to 11 and it all works!
24. Baccano!
An endless supply of style and fun characters set in 1930s America.
23. K-ON!
I liked the first season of K-ON! well enough, but it really came into greatness for me with the second season. A big part of season two is that Mugi became my favorite character in the show. She is just so silly and awesome! Aside from that, it’s just a great slice of life series with some really nice music (especially the ending theme songs). It pretty much started the whole “cute girls + activity” trend. I also finally got around to watching the movie since doing the last version of this list and it was a great end for the anime. I still need to get around to reading the manga, though.
22. Love Hina
And here we have my first ever favorite manga series. In the early-2000s I picked this series up along with Chobits. Is Love Hina a bit of a generic shounen harem rom-com? Yeah, but I still love it and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
21. Mousou Dairinin (Paranoia Agent)
More Satoshi Kon! This series goes pretty deep into psychological themes and my favorite episode is when a group of three people make a suicide pact together on the internet and meet up in real life to carry out their end. Funny thing is that’s probably the most up-beat episode in the series!
20. Kaleido Star
My absolute favorite “suitable for all ages” anime. The story follows a Japanese girl going to the US to join an acrobatic performance troop (think something similar to Cirque du Soleil). It’s a great series about determination and following your dreams.
19. Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World)
The second appearance from the three amazing 2016 anime movies and sadly the only of the three that I didn’t get to see in theaters. However, that’s probably a good thing as this World War II anime had some major soul-chushingly sad moments. The worst for me was Suzu’s reaction after hearing the news of Japan’s surrender. God, that was hard to watch. So yeah, I loved this movie and that’s really something coming from a guy who doesn’t typically like war stories. This movie succeeded for me in every way where Grave of the Fireflies just absolutely failed. Yes, I didn’t like Grave of the Fireflies at all, but man did I LOVE In This Corner of the World!
18. Paprika
My favorite Satoshi Kon movie and the last one he finished before his death. I don’t really know what to say about it; I just love the story, animation, and interesting characters. Great stuff and a wonderful legacy for Satoshi Kon to leave behind. I really hope someone is able to finish his Dream Machine project someday, though.
17. Black Lagoon
Do you like Hollywood action movies? Then watch Black Lagoon! This is pretty much my standard recommendation for people who aren’t really into anime but are interested in trying it out.
16. Steins;Gate
One of the highest rated anime on MAL and I can see why. It has a great story and fun characters who you really feel for by the end. A great and intense tragedy loop plays out in the time traveling plot. However, even saying that, I have to present the series with a caveat. If you don’t immediately get into the characters, the first 1/3 or so of the series can really drag. It did drag for me at first, but I was very happy that I stuck with it until the end. But if someone tells me, “well, I watched the first four episodes and just didn’t get into it.” I couldn’t in good conscious tell them, “just stick it out for 4 or 5 more episodes! It gets good, I promise!” Because you know what, I wouldn’t care if someone told me that, so I wouldn’t expect anyone else to do the same. Anyway, having already seen where the series goes, I feel like I’d probably enjoy it more from the beginning if I’d re-watch it. Maybe someday.
15. Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is my favorite traditional shounen action/adventure anime series. I liked the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime well enough, but the story of Brotherhood was just so much better in my opinion. Now I’m not saying that as a manga adaptation purist; I never plan to read all of the original manga. I just felt that the first Fullmetal Alchemist went off into some weird places when it started making its own story after running out of manga to adapt. It just felt weird when they connected to our world and all that. Just wasn’t my thing.
14. Cowboy Bebop
An anime that is largely considered one of the best of all time. It really is great. Great action, great episodic stories, great music, great characters; it’s pretty much the whole package and is an original self-contained story. Great stuff.
13. Kimi ni Todoke
My favorite shoujo series! Sawako and Kazehaya’s relationship is adorable and the supporting cast is great. I’ve kept up with the official English releases of the manga and recently finished volume 29, which was great! I love a good graduation arc. Just one more volume and I’ll be finished with the series! While I do love the series quite a bit, I’m very happy that it’s ending at volume 30 and not being stretched out any more. The anime version is also great. It doesn’t tell the “whole story”, but I feel like it stands on its own pretty well.
12. Evangelion
Yeah, Evangelion. The End of Evangelion really blew my mind the first time I saw it and was one of my most watched anime movies for a very long time. Some people get pretty annoyed by Shinji, but I’ve pretty much always maintained a sense of sympathy for his situation. He really got dealt a bad hand in life. And I kind of relate to him in many ways, a number of which I am not really comfortable mentioning....
11. Azumanga Daioh
My all-time favorite slice of life series! Just such a fun little series and, in my opinion, the most perfect manga-to-anime adaptation I’ve ever seen. Just wonderful.
10. Kimi no Na wa. (your name.)
The last of the three great 2016 anime movies and my favorite of them! This movie was just absolutely wonderful. Great characters, great interactions, touching story, really funny parts, really sad parts; this is my new favorite stand-alone anime movie. (Sorry Paprika!) This is also the most recent work from Shinkai and obviously I feel that it is his absolute best work yet. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next. Hopefully I won’t be too overly hype for it.
9. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
From here on out, my list is the same as the 2016 version as nothing new has quite been able to crack my top 9 in the last two years. But yeah, I still absolutely love Gurren Lagann for its purely epic nature, great pacing, fun characters, and ever progressing display of massive escalation; you know, EPIC stuff.
8. Katanagatari
Although I haven’t actually read the original light novels, I feel like Katanagatari is the most concise anime adapted from a light novel series. A finished series of 12 books was adapted into an anime with 12 double-length episodes. Perfect anime with great dialog, awesome and epic action, and some emotional twists and turns.
7. Haibane Renmei
For most of the first half of the 2000s, Haibane Renmei stayed strong as my #1 favorite anime. It’s touching, spiritual, calm, introspective, etc. The first time I watched it, it had provoked the strongest emotional reaction from me that had ever been caused by a piece of entertainment. I literally curled up into the fetal position and cried like a baby for about 10 minutes around the mid-point of the series. Just a wonderful series that explores some great themes.
6. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
The series that completely turned the Magical Girl genre on its head in a very serious way. It was probably the first series that did a deconstruction of the genre in a serious and dark way instead of a comedic way. Nanoha would probably be noted by some as doing it first, but I wasn’t able to get into that series and (as far as I know) it didn’t go quite as grim as Madoka. Since my last list, I did finally get around to watching the movies. Some people feel like the third movie ruined Homura, but I think it made perfect sense and worked very well. Great stuff!
5. Bakemonogatari (Monogatari Series)
This series has some of the most glorious moments of “nothing” that I’ve ever experienced outside of true slice of life anime and manga. While there are elements of actual plot, it usually takes a hard back seat to fun character interaction with crazy amounts of random ass dialog. And I love every moment of it! Araragi is an amazing lead and nearly all of the other characters are also great. I have a soft spot for Senjougahara, but Shinobu (Kiss-Shot), Hanekawa, and even Kaiki also rank among some of my favorite characters in all of anime. A great series that is totally worth the $1,000+ that I’ll be shelling out by the time I get all of those damn Aniplex USA Blu-ray releases.
4. Toradora!
My favorite romance story ever, across any medium. I’m a total sucker for a good tsundere and Taiga is the best! She is my favorite female character, period. She also makes a wonderful couple with Ryuuji. Such a wonderful series.
3. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
A crazy story with fun and interesting characters. Some people like analyzing mystery stories and trying to figure out the story before it ends, but I just like being along for the ride and Higurashi was a great ride. And what I think really makes Higurashi great in my eyes as a mystery is that I still love rewatching it. I’ve watched the series (the first and second seasons) all the way through at least three times already and would love to watch it again! If only I had all the time in the world and there wasn’t crazy amounts of other anime coming out constantly.
2. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
My #1 favorite manga. It’s a wonderful and lovely look at the apocalypse. Instead of being filled with despair and violence, the world of YKK has a sense of calm and hope in the future with new forms of beauty taking over the world. These 14 manga volumes are a quick read that I would recommend to anyone. I’ve heard that there are some people who can’t get into it, but you would know after reading the first volume if it’s for you or not so you’ve only got about 30 minutes to lose. For more details, you can read my review.
1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
12 years and still going strong, the Suzumiya Haruhi series remains my #1 favorite. Kyon is my favorite character in all of fiction and he is just the perfect narrator for my tastes. Nagato will always hold a special place in my heart and even though Haruhi herself is a total bitch sometimes, she is just so fun that I can’t ever get truly mad at her. Even my least favorite of core 5 members of the cast, Mikuru and Koizumi, only seem kind of lame in comparison with the other three; they are still very fun characters in their own right. And yeah, two more years have passed and the author still hasn’t released another book.... Someday please?
And there you have it! That’s my Top 100 list of my favorite anime and manga series as of late 2018. Hope it was fun and informative to read. I will continue to keep my running Excel spreadsheet updated and post a new version of the list ever so often, probably every two years or so. Until next time, laters!
As with the last one, this is a list of my current top 100 favorite anime/manga series, complete with an image and description of why I love the anime and/or manga for every entry on the list. I did re-use the images from my last list for all of the items that still make the cut and also may have only made a few minor changes to most of the descriptions, because I’m lazy. And again, as with last time, each entry represents an overall series/franchise. For example, the Suzumiya Haruhi entry includes both main sets of TV episodes, the Disappearance movie, the novels, and all of the side-stuff (Haruhi-chan, Yuki-chan, etc.). The link provided is either the most relevant entry in the series for why I love it or just the first part of the series. Now on to the list!
Top 100 Anime/Manga Series
100. Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Book of Friends)
Barely squeeking in as my new #100, I watched the first season of Natsume for the 2017 Anime Watching Challenge. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it was able to clock in just two spaces over the similar but more mature Mushishi. I can’t quite put my finger on why it ranks higher, but it just barely does. I look forward to watching more seasons of this series once I am in the mood/have time. It will be interesting to see if it climbs up higher.
99. Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! (WataMote)
Almost more of a psychological study than a traditional slice of life comedy, this is a story that can be very compelling but could also hit a little too close to home for some people. I think Tomoko is a very easy character for a lot of people to hate. While she can be rather relatable for people who were/are socially awkward in school or other situations, she is also just so damn bitter about it! And the fact that she pretty much always blames her problems on others. However, even then, it can be a lot of fun to see her continually fail and get slight hints that she might be learning? In the end, if she doesn’t pull at least a little sympathy from you, this series probably won’t be for you. I’d really like to get into reading the manga to see how everything develops beyond where the anime ends.
98. Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish)
Speaking of socially awkward girls, now we have Tsukimi and her roommates who all exhibit some kind of obsessive-geek behavior and have next to zero social skills. This series has more of a grown-up shoujo/josei style to it than WataMote’s traditional shounen slice of life style. This story is all about how the lives of these women get shaken up when a beautiful crossdresser enters Tsukimi’s life.
97. Alien 9
Now for some truly weird stuff. I love Hitoshi Tomizawa’s style. Crazy creature designs, weird stories, and cute little girls. After a bit of a mediocre debut with Treasure Hunter Jubei, Tomizawa really found his niche from Alien 9 and onward when he mixed in the “cute little girls” portion of the equation. Maybe it’s a little screwed up to enjoy stories where young children are essentially traumatized and/or tortured, but it can give a story a rather interesting twist and kicks the emotional investment up a notch.
96. Detroit Metal City
And now for some good old-fashioned bad-taste comedy! If you don’t think the yelling of the word “rape” over and over again by a death metal artist can ever be funny, this series probably isn’t for you. But everything in this series is so over the top that it is just ridiculous in the end. The original manga comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome, but thankfully ends with the tenth volume. However, although I loved the series, I ended up selling off my copy of the manga as I honestly can’t see myself ever re-reading it. To experience the series again, the short anime version is perfect. And the soundtrack is amazing!
95. Binbou Shimai Monogatari
And here's just some cute sweetness. The title translates to “Poor Sisters Story” and follows two poor sisters who are essentially orphans, but make the best out of their situation in the most cheerful and loving way possible. It’s a great little series.
94. Aishiteruze Baby
And MORE cuteness with this nice shoujo series about a high school boy who takes care of his young cousin. Damn, Yuzuyu is so freaking adorable! The story isn’t particularly deep very often, but it is some great feel-good fluff.
93. Gake no Ue no Ponyo
Other than having more than 30 things falling off of my Top 100, one of the biggest changes in my rankings is my overall lowered love for works by Hayao Miyazaki. While the last version of this list had 5 of his movies on it, only two remain now, at much lower relative positions than they were at before. Now, I don’t hate his stuff or anything. I still appreciate them quite a bit. However, I’m beginning to just see them as nice, pretty films with little else to really keep me engaged. Anyway, Ponyo is still a rather cute and fun and touching movie. Please don’t hate me.
92. Minami-ke
This slice of life comedy follows three sisters and their lives together and at school. I don’t exactly remember where their parents are, but I don’t think they’re ever around for whatever reason. You know, parents are a bit of an endangered species in anime and manga (whether they’re dead, “disappeared”, or at work all the time). Anyway, yet another series that I need to watch/read more of.
91. Mitsudomoe
Ahhh, when cute meets crass. Sometimes I feel like Mitsudomoe is much funnier than it should be, but I still love it quite a bit. Probably not for everyone though.
90. Yuri!!! on Ice
The somewhat controversial winner of Crunchyroll’s first Anime Awards! I ended up loving this series. While it’s not my favorite TV anime from 2016 (I think there are 9 that are higher on this list), it was a lot of fun. Figure skating has always been one of my favorite events to watch in the Olympics and those segments were great to watch in this anime. The relationship stuff was also really good. Just an overall solid show!
89. Boogiepop wa Warawanai: Boogiepop Phantom
Boogiepop Phantom was one of the first series that really made me make the shift as a sub-only anime watcher. The series just worked so much better in the original Japanese for me. And as for the series itself, it is haunting and interesting. I had some of the original novels for a while but never got around to reading them. I really need to try reading more....
88. Suki. Dakara Suki
I used to read/collect a LOT of CLAMP manga doing my best to own everything they’ve made. However, a few years back I began to feel like I was just buying CLAMP manga just for the sake of buying it so when I was selling off a lot of my collection, well over half of my CLAMP stuff ended up going. Anyway, Suki was one of my favorites that made the cut to stay on my shelf and I consider it to be one of CLAMP’s most underrated titles. Some very charming cuteness.
87. Amanchu!
There is manga out there about damn near EVERYTHING! Case in point, Amanchu! is about scuba diving. Personally, I’ve only watched the two anime seasons so far and haven’t gotten a chance to check out the manga. At its core, Amanchu! is a slice of life series, kind of a “cute girls + activity” show, but without quite as much focus on moe cuteness. It also undoubtedly has an iyashikei (healing) feel. Which shouldn’t be a surprise as the manga was made by the original creator of Aria, one of the first major iyashikei anime. Anyway, enough of that tangent. Amanchu! is a very fun, calm, touching, and at times funny slice of life series. The lead characters are great together and the supporting cast is great. Great stuff!
86. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (KonoSuba)
Now going from one of the most lovable casts to a group of characters who are just wonderfully despicable. This comedy isekai series is all about a bumbling group of dip-shits who are just fun to watch as they make each other's lives miserable. I feel like anyone who is into fantasy can appreciate this anime.
85. Junketsu no Maria (Maria the Virgin Witch)
At the time of this writing, I am about half way through the anime version of Maria, but I have read the entire manga. The series is a very interesting story with great characters. So far, the anime is a very good adaptation of the manga. The concept itself can seem a little odd, as a witch who hates fighting gets punished for stopping too many battles in a rather odd way: if she ever loses her virginity, she’ll also lose her magic. While there is some comedy to the series, most of it is played pretty straight. It’s also done rather well and the short four volume manga series is self-contained with a nice ending. Hopefully the anime adapts the ending just as well.
84. Milk Closet
Shortly after Tomizawa finished Alien 9 he seemed to realize he found his style and made another series about young kids being terrorized by crazy creatures. While Alien 9 was confined to a school setting, Milk Closet went all over the place crossing into different dimensions to deal with these creatures. Great stuff.
83. Mai-HiME
This series was a fun action series with interesting themes. I had tried the Mai-Otome spinoff series, but couldn’t really get into it. I prefer the traditional school setting opposed to the generic fantasy world that the spinoff was set in.
82. Soul Eater
Great action, stylish, interesting concept, etc. Since the last list, I’ve finished reading the original manga and it was pretty good! My favorite and least expected part of going from watching the anime to reading all of the manga was that Black Star actually became my favorite character in the series! He just becomes so damn badass!!
81. Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop)
This series is kind of like Aishiteruze Baby but with a more serious tone to it. Instead of a single high school boy taking care of a young girl, it’s a single working man in his 30s taking care of a girl. The anime is very well done and the manga is really good too, but I haven’t quite finished the original manga and hear that it gets a little weird at the end. I should really get around to finishing it soon to see for myself.
80. Yuru Camp (Laid-Back Camp)
I have a bit of a soft spot for the subject matter of this series. My mom used to take me and my siblings camping all the time when we were younger, and I still enjoy going on camping trips and hiking when I have a chance. This slice of life “cute girls + activity” anime centers on camping and it is such a delightful experience. The characters are fun, the art is beautiful, and the comedy is always on point. It’s another “need to get into the manga” series for me.
79. Trigun
Other than the Berserk manga (see further down), this is the oldest new additions to my Top 100. I have a bit of a weird history with Trigun. When the anime was airing on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s, I somehow ended up catching the same episode THREE TIMES and never saw any more of the series. Trigun was always a major staple in the anime fandom when I was growing up. Red Vash trench coats were one of the most common cosplay items seen out in the wild at cons and such. At one point, I bought the entire anime on DVD, but never got around to watching it and ended up selling it. As part of my 2017 Anime Watching Challenge, I finally watched the entire series. I found the series a bit slow to get into (which kept it from ranking higher), but after we learned more about Vash’s past and why he refuses to kill, the series really fell into place and provided some very hard-hitting emotional punches.
78. Fruits Basket
This was one of the first really big shoujo anime releases for North America when I was getting deep into anime. Funny and emotional and just a great story with an incredibly lovable female lead. I need to finally get around to finishing the manga at some point as I only got about half way through it.
77. No Game No Life
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. While I’m sure that this can really speak to video gamers, I found a lot to enjoy about the gaming from the perspective of a tabletop gamer. So much so to the point that I’d say this is one of the most relatable anime for people who are into board games and such. With that aside, the characters are all fun and the world is interesting. However, while I’m usually not a major stickler for drop-off endings in anime adaptations, the ending of No Game No Life’s first TV anime season did hold it back a bit for me. It wasn’t all that bad, but with how it explicitly stated at the end that they’ve essentially just started what could be a very long-running collection quest kind of irked me. Hopefully they’ll make more of the anime eventually, but I’d also like to get into reading the original light novels.
76. Mob Psycho 100
A coming of age story centering around a kid with psychic powers, Mob Psycho 100 is hilarious, touching, and has some of the best animation to ever grace TV animation. However, the ART can take some getting used to as it could rightfully be described as “ugly” in most cases. But I loved the end result and I’m looking forward to the second season coming out next year!
75. Oshiete! Galko-chan (Please tell me! Galko-chan)
This was a bit of a surprise for me. While I liked the character designs before even watching the series (with such nice variety in the shape and style of the different girls), I didn’t expect to enjoy the interactions between the characters so much or for them to talk about a lot of the things they did. In this largely pure slice of life series, girls talk about some extremely girl-related things in some very explicit detail at times. I am honestly a bit surprised that the original creator isn’t a girl; he HAD to have had sisters growing up or something. Anyway, Galko is adorable and a wonderful subversion of expectations. Her two best friends and other classmates are also a lot of fun. I really need to read the manga for this.
74. Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar (A Little Snow Fairy Sugar)
This was one of the first really kid-appropriate series that I got into. It’s cute, calm, and packs an emotional punch when it needs to. Great stuff.
73. Moyashimon
A story about a guy in an agricultural college who can see microscopic organisms. Probably one of the most original concepts that I’ve come across for a series. It’s fun, interesting, and kind of educational!
72. Power!! (Girl Got Game)
A girl starts crossdressing to play basketball and falls in love with one of her teammates. Kind of a generic story that’s been done before, but it is executed very well. It has some of the most amazing facial expressions I’ve ever seen in a manga, at times on par with those in GTO.
71. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
And now my favorite Miyazaki movie. As mentioned in my Ponyo entry, I’m not as in love with Miyazaki as I used to be and Spirited Away solidified that somewhat recently. I went to see the movie in theaters as part of GKIDS’ Studio Ghibli Fest campaign, and I was honestly kind of bored during most of my viewing. And again, this is my FAVORITE of Miyazaki’s films, one that I loved from the very beginning. I guess at this point in my life maybe I’m not as into his “magic” anymore. I still like his stuff, just not on the same level as before.
70. Cardcaptor Sakura
The second and final CLAMP series on my list, Cardcaptor Sakura is a classic magical girl series. I originally watched the Americanized Cardcaptors version of the anime when I was a kid and then read the original manga later in life and the uncut anime. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a very big fan of the new Clear Card anime and that has caused the series to drop in my rankings. It was rather boring for the most part and has made me question how much I like the series as a whole now. I’ll have to read more of the Clear Card manga and maybe re-read/re-watch the original manga/anime stuff to see if I’ve really grown a bit tired of the series. Still good overall, though.
69. ReLIFE
How many people in their mid-20s or older haven’t fantasized about what it’d be like to re-live their younger years with the knowledge they have now? ReLIFE is based around a 27-year-old who doesn’t have any good prospects in life at the moment. He is then given a pill to change his body into that of a 17-year-old so he could go back to high school. I found this to be a very relatable story and a fun and touching watch. I haven’t gotten around to watching the sequel to it yet, but hopefully I will soon. I hope the final ending does the series justice.
68. Ojamajo Doremi
I watched a few episodes of Doremi back in the day, both in fansubs and during its short run on US TV as Magical DoReMi. I finally watched through all 51 episodes of the first anime as part of my 2018 Anime Watching Challenge and it was just delightful! It is adorable, touching, colorful, and made me laugh far more than it probably should have. I look forward to watching more of the series.
67. Toaru Majutsu no Index
The world of Index and its Railgun spinoff is a lot of fun and Touma and Mikoto are great lead characters. I’m a bit behind with Railgun, but I’m really looking forward to starting the new season of Index!!
66. NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the N.H.K.)
Similar to how WataMote gets rather dark and can be a little too close to home for some people in relation to their high school years, N.H.K. can do the same for your adult years. While it can be fun to laugh at while watching this at times, it can more often be sad and touching. It’s a very interesting journey to watch.
65. Texhnolyze
Speaking of dark, the world of Texhnolyze is just downright grim. But it is just so captivating and heartfelt in its dystopian society.
64. Escaflowne
And here’s another anime that had a heavily cut version air in the US in the late-1990s/early-2000s. Escaflowne has been considered one of the best anime ever made and it is rather great. I might need another rewatch to see if it’s held up over time or if I may even appreciate it more these days.
63. Byousoku 5 Centimeter (5 Centimeters Per Second)
From the wonderful creator Makoto Shinkai, this is one of the most realistic high school love stories I’ve seen in anime. Things just don’t always work out in the end. Sadly Shinkai’s first major work, Voices of a Distant Star, has fallen out of my Top 100, but his most recent work (further down the list) makes up for that in a major way. I still need to watch a number of his other works, all of which are sitting on my shelf....
62. Death Parade
An interesting look at humanity. What makes people tick? What do they value and regret in life? How deep and custom-made for older anime fans is this series? All joking aside, this is a very nice series. Although it hints at having more story to come, it seems a bit doubtful that we’ll get more of this cool original anime from 2015. But who knows! Either way, the series stands pretty well on its own as a self-contained work. Every little thing does not HAVE to be explored and explained in a series.
61. Zero no Tsukaima
The physical and verbal abuse of the male lead in a shounen romantic comedy can be off-putting to some people, but in all honesty Saito usually deserves the abuse he receives from Louise. As the series goes on from season to season, you really learn that the two of them just belong with each other; they deserve and even maybe enjoy what they do to each other. My favorite season in the series is easily the second, Futatsuki no Kishi, because I feel that was where the best development of their relationship took place. I’d finally gotten around to watching the final season since the last version of the list and it was a pretty nice closing of the series.
60. Patema Inverted
A very strange concept for a movie: two groups of people exist which have opposite directions for their gravity. A boy from the surface world meets a girl from below the surface who walks upside-down. It develops into a sweet love story and an interesting look at society. This is the most recent major work from the director and studio which made Pale Cocoon and Time of Eve (see further on the list).
59. Boku dake ga Inai Machi (ERASED)
One of the many break-out shows of 2016, ERASED has some supernatural slice-of-life elements mixed in with an intense thriller and crime drama. The mystery unfolds rather nicely and while some people didn’t really like the ending, I thought everything was done really well.
58. Flying Witch
Another iyashikei anime on my list and probably the most iyashikei of any anime in my Top 100. The series is just immensely chill. While it has the magical aspects of its world, everything is still so down to earth in its feel and presentation. Some parts are very funny, but it’s usually just an all-around relaxing experience. It also has a family with two very normal parents who are actually present in their children’s lives on a daily bases! That might be the most magical thing in this anime with how rare that is!
57. Angel Beats!
This series was a bit more difficult for me to rank than most. After watching the first six episodes of the series around when it first came out, I had the series on hold for more than 7 years before I finally got back to finishing it. I should probably re-watch it all in one go at some point. However, even with that in mind, the series is really great with a lot of nice emotion manipulation.
56. Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho (The Place Promised in Our Early Days)
The second major Shinkai work after Voices of a Distant Star, he really refined his skills with this one. Although other animation staff was brought in for this project, Shinkai still did the bulk of the work.
55. Orange
When it was announced that Orange was getting an anime adaptation and I kept seeing some very pretty key images come out, I looked into the original manga. After seeing a lot of praise for the work and that it was part of Crunchyroll’s manga library, I ended up checking it out. Then I read all 5 (core) volumes of the series in one night and cried like a baby. It was a powerful read and provoked one of the strongest responses that I’ve ever had while reading something. The themes hit really close to home. While I did enjoy the anime adaptation when it came out, it didn’t quite measure up to the original manga. They made some odd art direction choices and broke things up a little weird at times. It was still good, but I think I’ll re-read the manga whenever I want to experience it again. Now, I do need to read the additional 6th volume and watch the movie. It’s kind of annoying that the 6th volume of the manga was added to the original entry in MAL, but I guess I understand why they do that, so they don’t have 100s of thousands of manga entries on the site. But it doesn’t make it less annoying when my “completed” manga entries are no longer really completed.
54. Elfen Lied
Oh, Elfen Lied. Everyone’s favorite ultra-violent anime from the mid-2000s. The anime is a great stand-alone work, but the original manga is also rather good and adds a lot to the story if you can’t deal with the unanswered questions that the anime leaves behind.
53. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
While I was interested in video games pretty much my entire life, I didn’t really get into them heavily until I had the money to buy my own Playstation. A friend of mine let me borrow his copy of Final Fantasy VII until I got my own and the game holds a very special place in my heart. It’s not my favorite video game of all time or even my favorite FF game, but it was the first game (other than maybe Pokemon) that I invested over 100 hours into. I loved the Advent Children movie when it came out, but some of it felt a little off. Thankfully they later came out with the “Complete” cut which I felt was nearly perfect.
52. Hinamatsuri
A deadpan girl with telekinetic powers ends up dropping in on a yakuza guy and he ends up adopting her as his daughter. The series has a massive amount of laugh-out-loud hilarity but also a good amount of heart to go along with it. Anzu’s story arcs are especially touching and Hitomi’s can be painfully relatable for adult viewers. A great show all around.
51. Made in Abyss
A very intense adventure story about a young girl and her boy robot going deep into a giant hole filled with horrors in search for her mom. The series has many disturbing moments and hard emotional pulls (MITTY!!!!). I’m looking forward to the next season of the anime, but I might have to just get into the manga as well.
50. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
I’m a bit of a sucker for tragedy loop storylines, as is evident by my deep love for Higuarshi and a few other items on this list. Re:Zero turns the tragedy loop formula into a bit of a weird (and very painful) superpower for Subaru as he suffers great physical and emotional anguish as he dies and comes back to try again. It’s a fascinating journey to go along with and Re:Zero does end up having the honor of being my favorite isekai series. Good job!
49. My Hero Academia
A very nice shounen anime take on superheroes. Deku and his fellow classmates are all interesting and a lot of fun to watch. The series gets into many high-intensity moments with great action. Although some places drag a big as far as the pacing goes, I am so glad that they are doing this series broken up in seasons instead of trying to do the traditional constant stream of episodes that had been standard with shows like Naruto and One Piece. The pacing could have been so much worse if they went that route.
48. Berserk
One of the most acclaimed manga period (and the current #1 ranked manga on MAL), I finally got around to checking out Berserk since I made the previous version of this list. I’m currently 38 volumes in and it is the only entry on my list of which I haven’t actually completed anything from the franchise. I’ve heard mostly good things about the old anime adaptation, but also that it had a bad drop-off ending and didn’t come anywhere near close to capturing the art of the manga. Then the newer anime adaptations came out and I just gave up on watching any of the anime. I’ll just stick to the manga at this point. The art is amazing and it has an epic dark-fantasy story. It just sucks that the release of new material is so slow. Be nice if the creator picks up the pace and works towards finishing it off some day.
47. Clannad
This series has a very heavy emotional impact. However, I STILL haven’t watched the second season, After Story. I’ve heard that is even more emotional than the first, so I really need to get around to watch it soon, even though I said the exact same thing when I made the old list over two years ago. At this point, I feel like I should probably go ahead and re-watch the first season before going on to After Story, but I probably can’t afford the time....
46. So Ra No Wo To
Some people call this “Military K-ON!” and I don’t think that’s too far off. Thankfully for me, the military aspects of this series are rather underplayed for the most part since I’m not a huge fan of military themes. It’s mostly just a good slice of life series in a very interesting setting.
45. Nodame Cantabile
One of the most fun odd-couple anime pairs ever. Nodame and Chiaki are just great together and the music they make together (both figurative and literal) is wonderful.
44. Prison School
My favorite guilty pleasure anime! Seriously, I probably shouldn’t have loved this anime as much as I did. It has absolutely no redeeming artistic qualities other than being hilarious in its bad taste and being weirdly sexy in some very gross ways. But damn is it hilarious!!
43. One Punch Man
While I do love My Hero Academia, it is One Punch Man that is the perfect shounen superhero anime for me. A lot of that has to do with the focus on an adult main character and the themes of trying to live a fulfilled life. It also doesn’t hurt that it has some crazy awesome action and many hilarious moments. However, I don’t think I’ll ever read the original manga since I love seeing it in animation too much. I hope that they release as many seasons of the anime as possible because I don’t see myself ever getting tired of it. Also, Saitama is bald like me so someday when I’m more fit I can cosplay as him! XD
42. New Game!
Another delightful “cute girls + activity” slice of life series! This time around, the activity that the cute girls are taking part in is the creation of video games. The series mainly follows girls in the art and graphics department of the studio and they all have very good chemistry. As someone who works in an office and has dreamed about making video games in my youth, there is a lot of relatable content here. And it’s just really cute and funny.
41. Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi
This is probably the most explicit series on my list. Yes, more explicit than Elfen Lied. Sex and Violence sells and this set of six double-length episodes just has loads of it! The main female character is immortal and that allows her to be tortured in horrible ways, usually in some kind of sexual nature. This may make me sound like kind of a bad person, but it is very interesting, well executed, and has a very cool story which crosses multiple time periods (past, present, and future).
40. Little Witch Academia
Such a nice series. The sense of magic and wonder, the fun as hell characters; it’s all so great. A wonderful anime that can be enjoyed by people of any age.
39. Shakugan no Shana
Shana is an adorable and interesting tsundere and the series has an interesting story and great action. Unlike Zero no Tsukaima, I still have not gotten around to watching the most recent and final season since I did the last version of this list. Maybe soon?
38. Comic Girls
Oh boy! Even MORE “cute girls + activity” slice of life anime!! With the activity here being drawing manga, I found more to relate to than just about any other of these types of shows (other than maybe Yuru Camp). I’ve actually written a full review for this series, so I won’t go any deeper into it here.
37. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)
And now for some more standard formatted slice of life, but with a fantasy twist! Other than this series’ overall cute and funny nature and the nice fantasy elements, I think what elevates it to a higher level than it would have been otherwise is Kobayashi herself. Again, we have a lead character who is relatable for older fans like me. It really feels like there’s a bit of a trend going towards having characters in their mid-20s or older taking the lead these days, which kind of makes sense for the age of a lot of anime fans out there (both in Japan and foreign markets). Good stuff!
36. Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice)
Ahhh, and now we have the first item from the 2016 Great Anime Movie Holy Trinity on my list! I haven’t gotten around to reading the original manga, but I felt that the movie was just amazing. Some people have dinged it for having side characters that are just there and not having the time to flesh them out like they were in the manga, but as someone who hasn’t read it, I didn’t notice at all. I felt that everything worked great and all of the characters made perfect sense. I mean, I get a sense that some stuff happened with some of the characters in the background that you don’t see in the movie, but as is life. We don’t usually get to see every little thing that goes on and the core story didn’t suffer at all for that during my viewing. Anyway, the movie is really touching and has some very hard-hitting emotional moments that hit close to home for me (much like Orange). It was kind of awkward crying as much as I did in the theater, so I’m glad that I went to watch it by myself. Sadly, this is the only one of the three great 2016 movies that hasn’t had a North American Blu-ray release; someone needs to get on that!! (Update: NA Blu-ray coming in April!!)
35. Gakkougurashi! (School-Live!)
Like with Kobayashi, here we have another slice of life series with a twist. This time around, the twist is a zombie apocalypse. Honestly, I’m kind of “over” zombies. I thought they were fun enough before. I enjoyed some Resident Evil games, I love Shaun of the Dead, and liked The Walking Dead at first. But I dropped The Walking Dead about half way through the third season and the stupid number of zombie-themed board games got annoying; my dislike of Zombicide in particular didn’t help. Despite that, I loved School-Live! It takes a bit of a standard moe “cute girls doing cute things” slice of life format and totally turns it on its head with the zombie apocalypse setting. The contrast between the cute girls and the trauma that they experience is very heart wrenching. How they band together and support each other through the situation can also be touching at points.
34. NANA
NANA is a great shoujo/josei series about two girls named Nana and how they meet and end up living with each other. One is a rock star and the other is a hopeless romantic girly-girl. It’s a very touching series which made me tear up at least once during almost every episode.
33. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (A Place Further Than The Universe)
I’d almost call this another “cute girls + activity” slice of life show, but summing it up in that way would probably offend some people. This series definitely has a bit more substance than those types of shows, while still largely following that kind of set-up. The big difference here from other slice of life shows is the scale of the activity and how they still keep it pretty well grounded in reality. Because these cute girls are going on an expedition to FREAKING ANTARCTICA!! While that kind of sounds crazy on paper, it’s done in such a manner that feels very believable. And man is it an intense ride! Possibly the best new anime of 2018.
32. Outlaw Star
My official first favorite anime ever. I just loved it when it was on Toonami in the early-2000s and it was the first anime that I ever bought on DVD. Just such a fun fantasy sci-fi series with great characters. Sadly, the art/animation is rather dated at this point so it may be a bit difficult for new fans to get into.
31. Tokyo Godfathers
While Miyazaki movies tend to get the most love from anime fans, I personally love Satoshi Kon’s work more. Tokyo Godfathers has become a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition. It’s a crazy story about homeless people who find a baby in the trash, but it’s so touching and fun.
30. Great Teacher Onizuka
Best teacher ever! Not much else to say about GTO. It’s so funny and has great characters. Love it! I just wish someone would do a re-release of the manga in English since Tokyopop butchered the translation when they released it.
29. Eve no Jikan
From the creators of Pale Cocoon, this series takes a deep look into robotics and artificial intelligence. This takes a very everyday life, non-threatening look at the subject matter.
28. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. (AnoHana)
Made by a lot of the staff from Toradora! (see further down my list), this original story tells an extremely touching story about friends, loss, death, and nostalgia.
27. Genshiken
Just about the most realistic fictional depiction of otaku. There is a lot here for otaku to connect with or for casual fans to be educated on the ways of hardcore fans. I still need to “finish” the manga again since the Second Season got lumped in with the first series on MAL, despite the gap between the sets. I bought all of the books though, so hopefully I’ll read them all soon. Still kind of annoyed how MAL does that.
26. Sennen Joyuu (Millennium Actress)
More from Satoshi Kon, this is a simple story about a Japanese actress’ extraordinary life told in a very creative way.
25. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
The main character of this series is a high school teacher who is obsessed with trying to kill himself. Sound like a great premise for a comedy? Well, mix in a crazy cast of female students and crank the ridiculousness to 11 and it all works!
24. Baccano!
An endless supply of style and fun characters set in 1930s America.
23. K-ON!
I liked the first season of K-ON! well enough, but it really came into greatness for me with the second season. A big part of season two is that Mugi became my favorite character in the show. She is just so silly and awesome! Aside from that, it’s just a great slice of life series with some really nice music (especially the ending theme songs). It pretty much started the whole “cute girls + activity” trend. I also finally got around to watching the movie since doing the last version of this list and it was a great end for the anime. I still need to get around to reading the manga, though.
22. Love Hina
And here we have my first ever favorite manga series. In the early-2000s I picked this series up along with Chobits. Is Love Hina a bit of a generic shounen harem rom-com? Yeah, but I still love it and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
21. Mousou Dairinin (Paranoia Agent)
More Satoshi Kon! This series goes pretty deep into psychological themes and my favorite episode is when a group of three people make a suicide pact together on the internet and meet up in real life to carry out their end. Funny thing is that’s probably the most up-beat episode in the series!
20. Kaleido Star
My absolute favorite “suitable for all ages” anime. The story follows a Japanese girl going to the US to join an acrobatic performance troop (think something similar to Cirque du Soleil). It’s a great series about determination and following your dreams.
19. Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World)
The second appearance from the three amazing 2016 anime movies and sadly the only of the three that I didn’t get to see in theaters. However, that’s probably a good thing as this World War II anime had some major soul-chushingly sad moments. The worst for me was Suzu’s reaction after hearing the news of Japan’s surrender. God, that was hard to watch. So yeah, I loved this movie and that’s really something coming from a guy who doesn’t typically like war stories. This movie succeeded for me in every way where Grave of the Fireflies just absolutely failed. Yes, I didn’t like Grave of the Fireflies at all, but man did I LOVE In This Corner of the World!
18. Paprika
My favorite Satoshi Kon movie and the last one he finished before his death. I don’t really know what to say about it; I just love the story, animation, and interesting characters. Great stuff and a wonderful legacy for Satoshi Kon to leave behind. I really hope someone is able to finish his Dream Machine project someday, though.
17. Black Lagoon
Do you like Hollywood action movies? Then watch Black Lagoon! This is pretty much my standard recommendation for people who aren’t really into anime but are interested in trying it out.
16. Steins;Gate
One of the highest rated anime on MAL and I can see why. It has a great story and fun characters who you really feel for by the end. A great and intense tragedy loop plays out in the time traveling plot. However, even saying that, I have to present the series with a caveat. If you don’t immediately get into the characters, the first 1/3 or so of the series can really drag. It did drag for me at first, but I was very happy that I stuck with it until the end. But if someone tells me, “well, I watched the first four episodes and just didn’t get into it.” I couldn’t in good conscious tell them, “just stick it out for 4 or 5 more episodes! It gets good, I promise!” Because you know what, I wouldn’t care if someone told me that, so I wouldn’t expect anyone else to do the same. Anyway, having already seen where the series goes, I feel like I’d probably enjoy it more from the beginning if I’d re-watch it. Maybe someday.
15. Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is my favorite traditional shounen action/adventure anime series. I liked the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime well enough, but the story of Brotherhood was just so much better in my opinion. Now I’m not saying that as a manga adaptation purist; I never plan to read all of the original manga. I just felt that the first Fullmetal Alchemist went off into some weird places when it started making its own story after running out of manga to adapt. It just felt weird when they connected to our world and all that. Just wasn’t my thing.
14. Cowboy Bebop
An anime that is largely considered one of the best of all time. It really is great. Great action, great episodic stories, great music, great characters; it’s pretty much the whole package and is an original self-contained story. Great stuff.
13. Kimi ni Todoke
My favorite shoujo series! Sawako and Kazehaya’s relationship is adorable and the supporting cast is great. I’ve kept up with the official English releases of the manga and recently finished volume 29, which was great! I love a good graduation arc. Just one more volume and I’ll be finished with the series! While I do love the series quite a bit, I’m very happy that it’s ending at volume 30 and not being stretched out any more. The anime version is also great. It doesn’t tell the “whole story”, but I feel like it stands on its own pretty well.
12. Evangelion
Yeah, Evangelion. The End of Evangelion really blew my mind the first time I saw it and was one of my most watched anime movies for a very long time. Some people get pretty annoyed by Shinji, but I’ve pretty much always maintained a sense of sympathy for his situation. He really got dealt a bad hand in life. And I kind of relate to him in many ways, a number of which I am not really comfortable mentioning....
11. Azumanga Daioh
My all-time favorite slice of life series! Just such a fun little series and, in my opinion, the most perfect manga-to-anime adaptation I’ve ever seen. Just wonderful.
10. Kimi no Na wa. (your name.)
The last of the three great 2016 anime movies and my favorite of them! This movie was just absolutely wonderful. Great characters, great interactions, touching story, really funny parts, really sad parts; this is my new favorite stand-alone anime movie. (Sorry Paprika!) This is also the most recent work from Shinkai and obviously I feel that it is his absolute best work yet. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next. Hopefully I won’t be too overly hype for it.
9. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
From here on out, my list is the same as the 2016 version as nothing new has quite been able to crack my top 9 in the last two years. But yeah, I still absolutely love Gurren Lagann for its purely epic nature, great pacing, fun characters, and ever progressing display of massive escalation; you know, EPIC stuff.
8. Katanagatari
Although I haven’t actually read the original light novels, I feel like Katanagatari is the most concise anime adapted from a light novel series. A finished series of 12 books was adapted into an anime with 12 double-length episodes. Perfect anime with great dialog, awesome and epic action, and some emotional twists and turns.
7. Haibane Renmei
For most of the first half of the 2000s, Haibane Renmei stayed strong as my #1 favorite anime. It’s touching, spiritual, calm, introspective, etc. The first time I watched it, it had provoked the strongest emotional reaction from me that had ever been caused by a piece of entertainment. I literally curled up into the fetal position and cried like a baby for about 10 minutes around the mid-point of the series. Just a wonderful series that explores some great themes.
6. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
The series that completely turned the Magical Girl genre on its head in a very serious way. It was probably the first series that did a deconstruction of the genre in a serious and dark way instead of a comedic way. Nanoha would probably be noted by some as doing it first, but I wasn’t able to get into that series and (as far as I know) it didn’t go quite as grim as Madoka. Since my last list, I did finally get around to watching the movies. Some people feel like the third movie ruined Homura, but I think it made perfect sense and worked very well. Great stuff!
5. Bakemonogatari (Monogatari Series)
This series has some of the most glorious moments of “nothing” that I’ve ever experienced outside of true slice of life anime and manga. While there are elements of actual plot, it usually takes a hard back seat to fun character interaction with crazy amounts of random ass dialog. And I love every moment of it! Araragi is an amazing lead and nearly all of the other characters are also great. I have a soft spot for Senjougahara, but Shinobu (Kiss-Shot), Hanekawa, and even Kaiki also rank among some of my favorite characters in all of anime. A great series that is totally worth the $1,000+ that I’ll be shelling out by the time I get all of those damn Aniplex USA Blu-ray releases.
4. Toradora!
My favorite romance story ever, across any medium. I’m a total sucker for a good tsundere and Taiga is the best! She is my favorite female character, period. She also makes a wonderful couple with Ryuuji. Such a wonderful series.
3. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
A crazy story with fun and interesting characters. Some people like analyzing mystery stories and trying to figure out the story before it ends, but I just like being along for the ride and Higurashi was a great ride. And what I think really makes Higurashi great in my eyes as a mystery is that I still love rewatching it. I’ve watched the series (the first and second seasons) all the way through at least three times already and would love to watch it again! If only I had all the time in the world and there wasn’t crazy amounts of other anime coming out constantly.
2. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
My #1 favorite manga. It’s a wonderful and lovely look at the apocalypse. Instead of being filled with despair and violence, the world of YKK has a sense of calm and hope in the future with new forms of beauty taking over the world. These 14 manga volumes are a quick read that I would recommend to anyone. I’ve heard that there are some people who can’t get into it, but you would know after reading the first volume if it’s for you or not so you’ve only got about 30 minutes to lose. For more details, you can read my review.
1. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
12 years and still going strong, the Suzumiya Haruhi series remains my #1 favorite. Kyon is my favorite character in all of fiction and he is just the perfect narrator for my tastes. Nagato will always hold a special place in my heart and even though Haruhi herself is a total bitch sometimes, she is just so fun that I can’t ever get truly mad at her. Even my least favorite of core 5 members of the cast, Mikuru and Koizumi, only seem kind of lame in comparison with the other three; they are still very fun characters in their own right. And yeah, two more years have passed and the author still hasn’t released another book.... Someday please?
And there you have it! That’s my Top 100 list of my favorite anime and manga series as of late 2018. Hope it was fun and informative to read. I will continue to keep my running Excel spreadsheet updated and post a new version of the list ever so often, probably every two years or so. Until next time, laters!
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pluvia33
| Oct 5, 2018 7:04 PM |
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