Categories
May 4th, 2015
My Top 100 Anime Update Nº2
Anime Relations: Mononoke Hime, Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World, Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster, Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Nanika wo Suru Tame ni - Life Goes On., Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Byouki no Kuni - For You, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Tou no Kuni - Free Lance, Anne no Nikki, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen
Welcome to the second update of my top 100!
I originally planned to make this updates just once per season, but I changed my mind after making the first one, as it was way too much work, and also, more updates means more activity.
Obviously, this update won't be even half as big as the previous one. This time I don't have even half the number of series I added in the first update.
Now without further ado, let's go with the updates:
Series leaving the top (previous rank in parenthesis):
- Seto no Hanayome (#100)
- Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (#99)
- Kokoro Connect (#96)
- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (#94)
- Darker than Black (#81)
That's 5 series leaving the top this time, wich means 5 series will be coming in! Of course, it will be edited in their respective entries, but to have easier access to the new content, I'll put the new entries here also:
New in the rankings!:
85. Mononoke Hime
This is the first and last Hayao Miyazaki movie you'll see in this ranking, though not the only Ghibli one.
While I'm not that much of a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's movies, Mononoke is definitely an exception. While I can praise most movies as something that's good for kids to watch, with some really nice fantasy settings and amazing visuals, I usually find their stories somewhat boring... except with Mononoke Hime.
First of all, like in any Ghibli work, Joe Hisaishi did an absolutely amazing job with Mononoke's OST, even by his standards, the quality of this OST is fantastic. Besides that, I feel Mononoke Hime takes a much more serious approach to it's story, and without never forgetting that "Ghibli magic", which I'll be the first to praise. The fantasy setting, the strange creatures, all along a symphonic BGM; it has all of those typical traits to Ghibli, but this time, we have a much better story with some very good main characters and a fantastic development in a "war" between species. Actions scenes are pretty good, by the way.
Mononoke Hime is different from the others. I don't feel like I'm watching a creative kids show. I really feel here I'm just watching an excellent movie, one that works for all the family (if you don't mind kids watching some violence).
A classic in the anime world, and one of those must-watch movies. I remember watching this many years ago, but I just recently rewatched it for the first time. It was definitely worth the rewatch, and I can see myself rewatching it again in some years.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
76. Anne no Nikki
Also known as "The Diary of Anne Frank". So yes, I'm willing to bet you've heard about it, it's highly possible that you've read the book... but very unlikely you've watched this film.
If you want to be strict about how the series follows the book, then you might not like this very much (it is perfectly faithful though, but there are some pacing issues), but if you can take it as something different, then you'll likely enjoy it a lot (probably the ones who haven't read the book will enjoy it for certain).
What I love about this movie is that, besides being a historical piece, the Amsterdam of those times is incredibly well shown. It looks just like it's supposed to be, people act the way they're supposed to act (and not like japanese dressed as europeans) and you could really call this a slice of life of some jewish families in WW2... which I think it's a pretty interesting concept.
The series shows us how Anne lived hiding from the Nazis, the reactions as the Nazis began losing in the war, the fear of being cought, how life in Amsterdam was getting more difficult as time passed and how people who didn't knew each other learn to live together in a very small place.
The original source is considered a classic book for a reason, and I think the anime does a very nice work putting that in a 1:45 hour animated film.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
71. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World
This is one of those relaxing type of series. I can definitely understand how I got to this as a recommendation from Mushishi, even if it has some clear differences with it.
What first stands out from Kino no Tabi are the amazing, creative setting the series has to offer. This is an episodic series that shows us a different "country" each episode, each with it's own unique rules, completely different technology and ideologies. Some can look like a paradise and others like hell, but whatever they are, they really are very creative, each and every single scenario presented.
Kino, a girl who travels will always end up involved in some kind of problem with people from these countries, and will usually do something to help, which lets us see the roots of those countries. Kino is not the justice league character who does good deeds and that's it. She can actually be pretty cruel, has her own rules from which she never strays. Little by little her character is developed, specially in a specific episode about her past and a movie (which you could really consider another episode by length). She's an interesting and very likeable character, and the only constant character along her motorad (her motorcycle that talks).
Dialogues are interesting, and the series keeps itself relaxing by never increasing the tension too much, even when there's actually some fights in it.
Only shame is that there isn't more material to watch. It really is a nice series which I would love to see more episodes of. Even if I watched it slowly, by the end, 14 episodes felt like too little material, as it's a series that has a potential to go on and on, pretty much like Mushishi, because there really isn't a plot progression in it.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
59. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster
This is my favorite Hideaki Anno work. Gunbuster is a very fun mecha show with some pretty impressive character development through six OVAs.
I thought Noriko, the main character, was a really fun character with a very nice attitude. The series starts with her training and sucking at controlling mechas, but thanks to Kazumi and coach Ota (voiced by the great Norio Wakamoto). Noriko is shown as a very energetic girl but goes through some big moments of depression. What I like here is that instead of keeping herself traumatized, she's actually able to overcome her depressions and move on with life, like normal human beings are supposed to do.
Actions scenes in this series are pretty good, with it being pretty good animated for it's time, and, of course, there's the jiggling breasts! Ecchi fans, thank Gunbuster for those!... Ok, that might be secondary, but action is fantastic.
This is a series that actually had a huge impact in the anime industry, it was the first step for Evangelion, and it paved the road for many other shows from the 90s and some more modern (you can see a lot of TTGL here).
As a short series, Gunbuster never overstays it's welcome, it does what it has, and it progresses quickly, as a lot happens in six episodes (this is for good and for bad, I wouldn't have minded a little bit more material, though not much more).
And now that I've talked about action and character development, I have to go to my favorite things in the series: Science! Yes, science. The first thing about Gunbuster is that, even is fake, it clearly did it's science research, and makes it's sci-fi as believable as it can be, considering what kind of technology they use. And with this comes time relativity. By this I mean the idea of some people aging at a different pace than others because of said relativity and space distances. The series dwelves a lot into this. Noriko sees friends from her school generation being already adults with childs while she's still basically a kid. I personally love this theme, but it's very rarely explored. Actually, the closest thing was Nagi no Asukara maybe, though they used criogenics instead of time relativity, and it didn't really succeed very well, while Gunbuster actually did a fantastic job at it.
Gunbuster is a great short work that it's hard not to recommend to anyone.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
56. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
When talking about anime classics, one of the first names to come up, if not the first, will always be Gundam.
The incredibly famous robot franchise created by Tomino has inspired a lot of modern and now-not-so-modern anime. While its not the first mecha anime, it is the first one that dwelved into the "real robots" genre, where mechas are not all-mighty indestructible machines, but just another weapon for war.
While of course the mecha is an important part of the story, Gundam is much more than that. It's a story about war, the development of characters forced to joined the war, and the development of a great rivalry between the main character, Rey Amuro, and the antagonist, Char Aznable. It's not a story about good vs bad, and just a story about two sides at war, mainly told from one side.
While I haven't watched the original series, the movies felt very complete by themselves, and I didn't feel I was lacking anything vital that the series might have given me (maybe a few small things).
I'm not really a fan of mechas as super robots, and I haven't liked a few Gundam series (Seed and Wing), but I decided to go with this as I wanted to explore the Universal Calendar world, which is the most extense and the better regarded. This was definitely the best Gundam stuff I've seen so far (and I did enjoy 00), and I'll soon be going into the rest of this universe.
Best thing about the series was Char Aznable, the antagonist. He was a really interesting character, extremely intelligent, talented and well developed, easily my favorite from this movie trilogy, though not because the main cast were bad, I actually liked Rey Amuro's development.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam get to a whole new level. Character development is much bigger in this one, and is much better with Tomino killing characters like there's no tomorrow. We get to see some characters from the prequel, but now as adults and much more mature, and while the new characters starts very annoying, they have some very big development (this is specially true for Kamille, the main character). It takes time, and the series is slow to start, but by the end, I could easily say it surpassed the prequel.
While I feared the newtype thing would not be too good, it's much better explored in this movie, and it actually didn't work that bad. Overall quality clearly improved and the OST was so much better.
Now, I know it's kind of a trend for Tomino to give weird names to it's characters, but what the fuck was he thinking when he named that-character-that-is-totally-not-Char-Aznable the name "Quattro Bajeena"... I mean.... you know what, I think I don't want to know what was he thinking.
Gundam ZZ is defintely a step back for the franchise. This series might actually be the father (or is it mother?) of the so bad it's good mecha series like Cross Ange and Valvrave, series that don't really take themselves seriously, which makes them fun (well, Valvrave actually tries and miserably fails to do it in it's second season). Problem here is that this is a direct sequel of Zeta, so as a viewer, you're not really looking for that kind of thing when you go into ZZ, which makes it quite a disappointment, and for me it was almost an ordeal to keep watching through the first half.
The second half of ZZ is much, much better though, as things start getting more serious, and the plot becomes something much more worthy of the prequels. But of course, waiting 23 episodes (aprox) for that isn't really great, specially in a 47 episodes series.
Char's Counterattack, which comes next, could almost work as a conclusion by itself. While I'm not a fan of the conclusion, the movie is very entertaining, has some really impressive action (and it's very rare for me to be impressed with action in mecha series, as I usually don't like it very much) and OST.
It was really nice going back to Rey Amuro and Char Aznable, which I still think are the best characters from the series, and the whole plot was overall pretty good.
Then comes War in the Pocket (chronologically situated a little bit after the very first series), which is, so far, definitely my favorite thing from this franchise. Good enough to make it's position in the ranking skyrocket.
War in the Pocket is a series that really explores the term of "real robots", as the mechas are really shown as weapons, it's perfectly shown the destruction a fight between them can cause in a city, and we're presented with the point of view of a simple colony and a simple Zeon pilot, not the ace pilots and leaders from each side. This is a fantastic war story, with some great character development, and some fantastic war drama. Truly a piece of art in the franchise.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
19. Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji
This is a series that, honestly, should be banned. It's probably even more addictive than heroin (no, I haven't tried heroin). Once you start watching, you just want to watch the next episode. Kaiji is one of the most thrilling rides you'll ever find in anime.
What I loved the most about Kaiji, mainly about season 1, is that the series invites the viewers to think with the series, to look for ways to solve the problems presented by Kaiji. Problems that may need some luck, but definitely need a lot of wits. If you're the kind of people who likes to think with a series, the ones that try to resolve the problems presented by the series, then this is definitely for you. Season 2 takes a huge step back in this though, which is really a shame. While it keeps the thriller element just as solid as season 1, season 2 problems aren't really the kind you can think along Kaiji, and more of the kind you just watch unfold.
You, the one who's running away because of the artstyle; come back here. No, really, don't run away because of the unusual artstyle. While it is definitely different, you'll soon learn to actually appreciate it when watching the series.
Kaiji is a series that can show human beings at its worst. Their most selfish version thinking only about themselves, but every now and then, Kaiji, who's honestly an incredibly good guy, will get to see a bit of the good side of humans. You just have to love Kaiji, and feel for him... he makes A LOT of mistakes, but damn, he really has bad luck also. And again, he really is a good guy (and a very intelligent man).
The story is nothing too complicated. It's really just Kaiji getting broke and being put in situations were he will have to gamble his way out from some serious situations, while trying to take down the evil rich guy who loves playing with human lives. It's simple, but it works perfectly here. You'll not be watching Kaiji looking for a complicated, deep story or anything of the sort, it's all about the thrilling sensation you get from the games.
I marathoned this series without stop (well, a small stop between seasons because I didn't have time for a few days). Each season 26 episodes, no stop at all. That's how much I enjoyed Kaiji.
Like many good anime, a problem with Kaiji is that it doesn't have a complete conclusion, the series is left unfinished (though it does properly finishes each arc it begins at doesn't end in a cliffhanger way), and it's hard to imagine we'll have a season 3 (though the time difference between season 1 and season 2 is 4 years, so, who knows).
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
The Top 100 BEFORE the update:
100. Seto no Hanayome
99. Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
98. Utawarerumono
97. Beck
96. Kokoro Connect
95. Ghost Hound
94. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
93. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
92. Level E
91. Usagi Drop
90. Jormungand
89. Kuroko no Basket
88. Durarara!!
87. Little Busters!
86. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
85. Blood+
84. Slam Dunk
83. FLCL
82. Akira
81. Darker than Black
80. Log Horizon
79. Seirei no Moribito
78. Monogatari Series
77. Hotarubi no Mori e
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
75. Dragon Ball
74. Slayers
73. Space Dandy
72. Katanagatari
71. Mouryou no Hako
70. Gosick
69. Lovely Complex
68. Ping Pong: The Animation
67. Serial Experiments Lain
66. One Piece
65. Clannad
64. Great Teacher Onizuka
63. Kanon (2006)
62. Air
61. Chihayafuru
60. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai
59. Welcome to the NHK
58. Death Note
57. Kyousou Giga
56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
55. Haibane Renmei
54. White Album 2
53. Sennen Joyuu
52. Toradora!
51. Zetsuen no Tempest
50. Tokyo Godfathers
49. Stranger: Moukou Hadan
48. Eureka Seven
47. Shiki
46. Hellsing
45. Fate/Zero
44. Full Metal Panic!
43. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai.
42. Kara no Kyoukai
41. Code Geass
40. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
39. Black Lagoon
38. Higashi no Eden
37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen
36. Terra e...
35. Samurai Champloo
34. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
33. Aoi Bungaku Series
32. Baccano!
31. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
30. Cowboy Bebop
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen
28. Banner of the Stars
27. Planetes
26. Hotaru no Haka
25. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
24. Juuni Kokuki
23. Gin no Saji
22. Nodame Cantabile
21. Sakamichi no Apollon
20. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
19. Now and Then, Here and There
18. Shinsekai Yori
17. Bakuman
16. Spice & Wolf
15. Kingdom
14. Mawaru Penguindrum
13. The Tatami Galaxy
12. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
11. Hunter X Hunter (2011)
10. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Ghost in the Shell
8. Steins;Gate
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
6. Ashita no Joe
5. Rose of Versailles
4. Mushishi
3. Detective Conan
2. Monster
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Again, I will say I actually enjoyed all of these series, they just missed the cut against other series.
Top 100 AFTER the update (rank change in parenthesis):
100. Usagi Drop (-9)
99. Utawarerumono (-1)
98. Beck (-1)
97. Ghost Hound (-2)
96. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (-3)
95. Level E (-3)
94. Jormungand (-4)
93. Durarara!! (-5)
92. Little Busters! (-5)
91. Kuroko no Basket (-2)
90. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (-4)
89. Blood+ (-4)
88. Slam Dunk (-4)
87. FLCL (-4)
86. Akira (-4)
85. Mononoke Hime (New)
84. Seirei no Moribito (-5)
83. Monogatari Series (-5)
82. Hotarubi no Mori e (-5)
81. Space Dandy (-8)
80. Katanagatari (-8)
79. Mouryou no Hako (-8)
78. Gosick (-8)
77. Lovely Complex (-8)
76. Anne no Nikki (New)
75. Ping Pong: The Animation (-7)
74. Serial Experiments Lain (-7)
73. Log Horizon (+7)
72. Clannad (-7)
71. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (New)
70. Dragon Ball (+5)
69. Slayers (+5)
68. Great Teacher Onizuka (-4)
67. Kanon (2006) (-4)
66. One Piece (-)
65. Air (-3)
64. Chihayafuru (-3)
63. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (-3)
62. Welcome to the NHK (-3)
61. Death Note (-3)
60. Kyousou Giga (-3)
59. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster (New)
58. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (-2)
57. Tokyo Godfathers (-7)
56. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC) (+20)
55. Haibane Renmei (-)
54. Stranger: Moukou Hadan (-5)
53. White Album 2 (+1)
52. Sennen Joyuu (+1)
51. Toradora! (+1)
50. Zetsuen no Tempest (+1)
49. Eureka Seven (-1)
48. Hellsing Ultimate (-2)
47. Shiki (-)
46. Fate/Zero (-1)
45. Full Metal Panic! (-1)
44. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (-1)
43. Kara no Kyoukai (-1)
42. Code Geass (-1)
41. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (-1)
40. Black Lagoon (-1)
39. Higashi no Eden (-1)
38. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen (-1)
37. Terra e... (-1)
36. Samurai Champloo (-1)
35. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (-1)
34. Aoi Bungaku Series (-1)
33. Baccano! (-1)
32. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (-1)
31. Cowboy Bebop (-1)
30. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen (-1)
29. Banner of the Stars (-1)
28. Planetes (-1)
27. Hotaru no Haka (-1)
26. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (-1)
25. Juuni Kokuki (-1)
24. Gin no Saji (-1)
23. Nodame Cantabile (-1)
22. Sakamichi no Apollon (-1)
21. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (-1)
20. Now and Then, Here and There (-1)
19. Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji (New)
18. Shinsekai Yori (-)
17. Bakuman (-)
16. Spice & Wolf (-)
15. Kingdom (-)
14. Mawaru Penguindrum (-)
13. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (-1)
12. Hunter X Hunter (2011) (-1)
11. The Tatami Galaxy (+2)
10. Gankutsuou (-)
9. Ghost in the Shell (-)
8. Steins;Gate (-)
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (-)
6. Ashita no Joe (-)
5. Rose of Versailles (-)
4. Mushishi (-)
3. Detective Conan (-)
2. Monster (-)
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes (-)
And that would be it for this second update... Damn, it was a lot more work than I thought it'd be... A lot more work than any entry. But anyways, at least it's done now.
I may (or may not) do a small update to separate Detective Conan and Monster and make one entry for each of those. I will think about that. If I do, that will probably be done soon. If not, I guess the next update will be in about a month.
<<Go to Introduction
<<Go to Update Nº1
I originally planned to make this updates just once per season, but I changed my mind after making the first one, as it was way too much work, and also, more updates means more activity.
Obviously, this update won't be even half as big as the previous one. This time I don't have even half the number of series I added in the first update.
Now without further ado, let's go with the updates:
Series leaving the top (previous rank in parenthesis):
- Seto no Hanayome (#100)
- Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (#99)
- Kokoro Connect (#96)
- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (#94)
- Darker than Black (#81)
That's 5 series leaving the top this time, wich means 5 series will be coming in! Of course, it will be edited in their respective entries, but to have easier access to the new content, I'll put the new entries here also:
New in the rankings!:
85. Mononoke Hime
This is the first and last Hayao Miyazaki movie you'll see in this ranking, though not the only Ghibli one.
While I'm not that much of a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's movies, Mononoke is definitely an exception. While I can praise most movies as something that's good for kids to watch, with some really nice fantasy settings and amazing visuals, I usually find their stories somewhat boring... except with Mononoke Hime.
First of all, like in any Ghibli work, Joe Hisaishi did an absolutely amazing job with Mononoke's OST, even by his standards, the quality of this OST is fantastic. Besides that, I feel Mononoke Hime takes a much more serious approach to it's story, and without never forgetting that "Ghibli magic", which I'll be the first to praise. The fantasy setting, the strange creatures, all along a symphonic BGM; it has all of those typical traits to Ghibli, but this time, we have a much better story with some very good main characters and a fantastic development in a "war" between species. Actions scenes are pretty good, by the way.
Mononoke Hime is different from the others. I don't feel like I'm watching a creative kids show. I really feel here I'm just watching an excellent movie, one that works for all the family (if you don't mind kids watching some violence).
A classic in the anime world, and one of those must-watch movies. I remember watching this many years ago, but I just recently rewatched it for the first time. It was definitely worth the rewatch, and I can see myself rewatching it again in some years.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
76. Anne no Nikki
Also known as "The Diary of Anne Frank". So yes, I'm willing to bet you've heard about it, it's highly possible that you've read the book... but very unlikely you've watched this film.
If you want to be strict about how the series follows the book, then you might not like this very much (it is perfectly faithful though, but there are some pacing issues), but if you can take it as something different, then you'll likely enjoy it a lot (probably the ones who haven't read the book will enjoy it for certain).
What I love about this movie is that, besides being a historical piece, the Amsterdam of those times is incredibly well shown. It looks just like it's supposed to be, people act the way they're supposed to act (and not like japanese dressed as europeans) and you could really call this a slice of life of some jewish families in WW2... which I think it's a pretty interesting concept.
The series shows us how Anne lived hiding from the Nazis, the reactions as the Nazis began losing in the war, the fear of being cought, how life in Amsterdam was getting more difficult as time passed and how people who didn't knew each other learn to live together in a very small place.
The original source is considered a classic book for a reason, and I think the anime does a very nice work putting that in a 1:45 hour animated film.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
71. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World
This is one of those relaxing type of series. I can definitely understand how I got to this as a recommendation from Mushishi, even if it has some clear differences with it.
What first stands out from Kino no Tabi are the amazing, creative setting the series has to offer. This is an episodic series that shows us a different "country" each episode, each with it's own unique rules, completely different technology and ideologies. Some can look like a paradise and others like hell, but whatever they are, they really are very creative, each and every single scenario presented.
Kino, a girl who travels will always end up involved in some kind of problem with people from these countries, and will usually do something to help, which lets us see the roots of those countries. Kino is not the justice league character who does good deeds and that's it. She can actually be pretty cruel, has her own rules from which she never strays. Little by little her character is developed, specially in a specific episode about her past and a movie (which you could really consider another episode by length). She's an interesting and very likeable character, and the only constant character along her motorad (her motorcycle that talks).
Dialogues are interesting, and the series keeps itself relaxing by never increasing the tension too much, even when there's actually some fights in it.
Only shame is that there isn't more material to watch. It really is a nice series which I would love to see more episodes of. Even if I watched it slowly, by the end, 14 episodes felt like too little material, as it's a series that has a potential to go on and on, pretty much like Mushishi, because there really isn't a plot progression in it.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
59. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster
This is my favorite Hideaki Anno work. Gunbuster is a very fun mecha show with some pretty impressive character development through six OVAs.
I thought Noriko, the main character, was a really fun character with a very nice attitude. The series starts with her training and sucking at controlling mechas, but thanks to Kazumi and coach Ota (voiced by the great Norio Wakamoto). Noriko is shown as a very energetic girl but goes through some big moments of depression. What I like here is that instead of keeping herself traumatized, she's actually able to overcome her depressions and move on with life, like normal human beings are supposed to do.
Actions scenes in this series are pretty good, with it being pretty good animated for it's time, and, of course, there's the jiggling breasts! Ecchi fans, thank Gunbuster for those!... Ok, that might be secondary, but action is fantastic.
This is a series that actually had a huge impact in the anime industry, it was the first step for Evangelion, and it paved the road for many other shows from the 90s and some more modern (you can see a lot of TTGL here).
As a short series, Gunbuster never overstays it's welcome, it does what it has, and it progresses quickly, as a lot happens in six episodes (this is for good and for bad, I wouldn't have minded a little bit more material, though not much more).
And now that I've talked about action and character development, I have to go to my favorite things in the series: Science! Yes, science. The first thing about Gunbuster is that, even is fake, it clearly did it's science research, and makes it's sci-fi as believable as it can be, considering what kind of technology they use. And with this comes time relativity. By this I mean the idea of some people aging at a different pace than others because of said relativity and space distances. The series dwelves a lot into this. Noriko sees friends from her school generation being already adults with childs while she's still basically a kid. I personally love this theme, but it's very rarely explored. Actually, the closest thing was Nagi no Asukara maybe, though they used criogenics instead of time relativity, and it didn't really succeed very well, while Gunbuster actually did a fantastic job at it.
Gunbuster is a great short work that it's hard not to recommend to anyone.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
56. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
When talking about anime classics, one of the first names to come up, if not the first, will always be Gundam.
The incredibly famous robot franchise created by Tomino has inspired a lot of modern and now-not-so-modern anime. While its not the first mecha anime, it is the first one that dwelved into the "real robots" genre, where mechas are not all-mighty indestructible machines, but just another weapon for war.
While of course the mecha is an important part of the story, Gundam is much more than that. It's a story about war, the development of characters forced to joined the war, and the development of a great rivalry between the main character, Rey Amuro, and the antagonist, Char Aznable. It's not a story about good vs bad, and just a story about two sides at war, mainly told from one side.
While I haven't watched the original series, the movies felt very complete by themselves, and I didn't feel I was lacking anything vital that the series might have given me (maybe a few small things).
I'm not really a fan of mechas as super robots, and I haven't liked a few Gundam series (Seed and Wing), but I decided to go with this as I wanted to explore the Universal Calendar world, which is the most extense and the better regarded. This was definitely the best Gundam stuff I've seen so far (and I did enjoy 00), and I'll soon be going into the rest of this universe.
Best thing about the series was Char Aznable, the antagonist. He was a really interesting character, extremely intelligent, talented and well developed, easily my favorite from this movie trilogy, though not because the main cast were bad, I actually liked Rey Amuro's development.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam get to a whole new level. Character development is much bigger in this one, and is much better with Tomino killing characters like there's no tomorrow. We get to see some characters from the prequel, but now as adults and much more mature, and while the new characters starts very annoying, they have some very big development (this is specially true for Kamille, the main character). It takes time, and the series is slow to start, but by the end, I could easily say it surpassed the prequel.
While I feared the newtype thing would not be too good, it's much better explored in this movie, and it actually didn't work that bad. Overall quality clearly improved and the OST was so much better.
Now, I know it's kind of a trend for Tomino to give weird names to it's characters, but what the fuck was he thinking when he named that-character-that-is-totally-not-Char-Aznable the name "Quattro Bajeena"... I mean.... you know what, I think I don't want to know what was he thinking.
Gundam ZZ is defintely a step back for the franchise. This series might actually be the father (or is it mother?) of the so bad it's good mecha series like Cross Ange and Valvrave, series that don't really take themselves seriously, which makes them fun (well, Valvrave actually tries and miserably fails to do it in it's second season). Problem here is that this is a direct sequel of Zeta, so as a viewer, you're not really looking for that kind of thing when you go into ZZ, which makes it quite a disappointment, and for me it was almost an ordeal to keep watching through the first half.
The second half of ZZ is much, much better though, as things start getting more serious, and the plot becomes something much more worthy of the prequels. But of course, waiting 23 episodes (aprox) for that isn't really great, specially in a 47 episodes series.
Char's Counterattack, which comes next, could almost work as a conclusion by itself. While I'm not a fan of the conclusion, the movie is very entertaining, has some really impressive action (and it's very rare for me to be impressed with action in mecha series, as I usually don't like it very much) and OST.
It was really nice going back to Rey Amuro and Char Aznable, which I still think are the best characters from the series, and the whole plot was overall pretty good.
Then comes War in the Pocket (chronologically situated a little bit after the very first series), which is, so far, definitely my favorite thing from this franchise. Good enough to make it's position in the ranking skyrocket.
War in the Pocket is a series that really explores the term of "real robots", as the mechas are really shown as weapons, it's perfectly shown the destruction a fight between them can cause in a city, and we're presented with the point of view of a simple colony and a simple Zeon pilot, not the ace pilots and leaders from each side. This is a fantastic war story, with some great character development, and some fantastic war drama. Truly a piece of art in the franchise.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
19. Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji
This is a series that, honestly, should be banned. It's probably even more addictive than heroin (no, I haven't tried heroin). Once you start watching, you just want to watch the next episode. Kaiji is one of the most thrilling rides you'll ever find in anime.
What I loved the most about Kaiji, mainly about season 1, is that the series invites the viewers to think with the series, to look for ways to solve the problems presented by Kaiji. Problems that may need some luck, but definitely need a lot of wits. If you're the kind of people who likes to think with a series, the ones that try to resolve the problems presented by the series, then this is definitely for you. Season 2 takes a huge step back in this though, which is really a shame. While it keeps the thriller element just as solid as season 1, season 2 problems aren't really the kind you can think along Kaiji, and more of the kind you just watch unfold.
You, the one who's running away because of the artstyle; come back here. No, really, don't run away because of the unusual artstyle. While it is definitely different, you'll soon learn to actually appreciate it when watching the series.
Kaiji is a series that can show human beings at its worst. Their most selfish version thinking only about themselves, but every now and then, Kaiji, who's honestly an incredibly good guy, will get to see a bit of the good side of humans. You just have to love Kaiji, and feel for him... he makes A LOT of mistakes, but damn, he really has bad luck also. And again, he really is a good guy (and a very intelligent man).
The story is nothing too complicated. It's really just Kaiji getting broke and being put in situations were he will have to gamble his way out from some serious situations, while trying to take down the evil rich guy who loves playing with human lives. It's simple, but it works perfectly here. You'll not be watching Kaiji looking for a complicated, deep story or anything of the sort, it's all about the thrilling sensation you get from the games.
I marathoned this series without stop (well, a small stop between seasons because I didn't have time for a few days). Each season 26 episodes, no stop at all. That's how much I enjoyed Kaiji.
Like many good anime, a problem with Kaiji is that it doesn't have a complete conclusion, the series is left unfinished (though it does properly finishes each arc it begins at doesn't end in a cliffhanger way), and it's hard to imagine we'll have a season 3 (though the time difference between season 1 and season 2 is 4 years, so, who knows).
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
----------------------------------------------------
The Top 100 BEFORE the update:
100. Seto no Hanayome
99. Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
98. Utawarerumono
97. Beck
96. Kokoro Connect
95. Ghost Hound
94. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
93. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
92. Level E
91. Usagi Drop
90. Jormungand
89. Kuroko no Basket
88. Durarara!!
87. Little Busters!
86. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
85. Blood+
84. Slam Dunk
83. FLCL
82. Akira
81. Darker than Black
80. Log Horizon
79. Seirei no Moribito
78. Monogatari Series
77. Hotarubi no Mori e
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
75. Dragon Ball
74. Slayers
73. Space Dandy
72. Katanagatari
71. Mouryou no Hako
70. Gosick
69. Lovely Complex
68. Ping Pong: The Animation
67. Serial Experiments Lain
66. One Piece
65. Clannad
64. Great Teacher Onizuka
63. Kanon (2006)
62. Air
61. Chihayafuru
60. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai
59. Welcome to the NHK
58. Death Note
57. Kyousou Giga
56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
55. Haibane Renmei
54. White Album 2
53. Sennen Joyuu
52. Toradora!
51. Zetsuen no Tempest
50. Tokyo Godfathers
49. Stranger: Moukou Hadan
48. Eureka Seven
47. Shiki
46. Hellsing
45. Fate/Zero
44. Full Metal Panic!
43. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai.
42. Kara no Kyoukai
41. Code Geass
40. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
39. Black Lagoon
38. Higashi no Eden
37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen
36. Terra e...
35. Samurai Champloo
34. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
33. Aoi Bungaku Series
32. Baccano!
31. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
30. Cowboy Bebop
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen
28. Banner of the Stars
27. Planetes
26. Hotaru no Haka
25. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
24. Juuni Kokuki
23. Gin no Saji
22. Nodame Cantabile
21. Sakamichi no Apollon
20. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
19. Now and Then, Here and There
18. Shinsekai Yori
17. Bakuman
16. Spice & Wolf
15. Kingdom
14. Mawaru Penguindrum
13. The Tatami Galaxy
12. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
11. Hunter X Hunter (2011)
10. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Ghost in the Shell
8. Steins;Gate
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
6. Ashita no Joe
5. Rose of Versailles
4. Mushishi
3. Detective Conan
2. Monster
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Again, I will say I actually enjoyed all of these series, they just missed the cut against other series.
Top 100 AFTER the update (rank change in parenthesis):
100. Usagi Drop (-9)
99. Utawarerumono (-1)
98. Beck (-1)
97. Ghost Hound (-2)
96. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (-3)
95. Level E (-3)
94. Jormungand (-4)
93. Durarara!! (-5)
92. Little Busters! (-5)
91. Kuroko no Basket (-2)
90. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (-4)
89. Blood+ (-4)
88. Slam Dunk (-4)
87. FLCL (-4)
86. Akira (-4)
85. Mononoke Hime (New)
84. Seirei no Moribito (-5)
83. Monogatari Series (-5)
82. Hotarubi no Mori e (-5)
81. Space Dandy (-8)
80. Katanagatari (-8)
79. Mouryou no Hako (-8)
78. Gosick (-8)
77. Lovely Complex (-8)
76. Anne no Nikki (New)
75. Ping Pong: The Animation (-7)
74. Serial Experiments Lain (-7)
73. Log Horizon (+7)
72. Clannad (-7)
71. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (New)
70. Dragon Ball (+5)
69. Slayers (+5)
68. Great Teacher Onizuka (-4)
67. Kanon (2006) (-4)
66. One Piece (-)
65. Air (-3)
64. Chihayafuru (-3)
63. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (-3)
62. Welcome to the NHK (-3)
61. Death Note (-3)
60. Kyousou Giga (-3)
59. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster (New)
58. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (-2)
57. Tokyo Godfathers (-7)
56. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC) (+20)
55. Haibane Renmei (-)
54. Stranger: Moukou Hadan (-5)
53. White Album 2 (+1)
52. Sennen Joyuu (+1)
51. Toradora! (+1)
50. Zetsuen no Tempest (+1)
49. Eureka Seven (-1)
48. Hellsing Ultimate (-2)
47. Shiki (-)
46. Fate/Zero (-1)
45. Full Metal Panic! (-1)
44. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (-1)
43. Kara no Kyoukai (-1)
42. Code Geass (-1)
41. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (-1)
40. Black Lagoon (-1)
39. Higashi no Eden (-1)
38. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen (-1)
37. Terra e... (-1)
36. Samurai Champloo (-1)
35. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (-1)
34. Aoi Bungaku Series (-1)
33. Baccano! (-1)
32. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (-1)
31. Cowboy Bebop (-1)
30. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen (-1)
29. Banner of the Stars (-1)
28. Planetes (-1)
27. Hotaru no Haka (-1)
26. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (-1)
25. Juuni Kokuki (-1)
24. Gin no Saji (-1)
23. Nodame Cantabile (-1)
22. Sakamichi no Apollon (-1)
21. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (-1)
20. Now and Then, Here and There (-1)
19. Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji (New)
18. Shinsekai Yori (-)
17. Bakuman (-)
16. Spice & Wolf (-)
15. Kingdom (-)
14. Mawaru Penguindrum (-)
13. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (-1)
12. Hunter X Hunter (2011) (-1)
11. The Tatami Galaxy (+2)
10. Gankutsuou (-)
9. Ghost in the Shell (-)
8. Steins;Gate (-)
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (-)
6. Ashita no Joe (-)
5. Rose of Versailles (-)
4. Mushishi (-)
3. Detective Conan (-)
2. Monster (-)
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes (-)
And that would be it for this second update... Damn, it was a lot more work than I thought it'd be... A lot more work than any entry. But anyways, at least it's done now.
I may (or may not) do a small update to separate Detective Conan and Monster and make one entry for each of those. I will think about that. If I do, that will probably be done soon. If not, I guess the next update will be in about a month.
<<Go to Introduction
<<Go to Update Nº1
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | May 4, 2015 9:32 AM | 0 comments
April 13th, 2015
Anime Watching Challenge 2015 -Completed-
Anime Relations: Inferno Cop
I decided to give this a try, not much left to complete it.
I accept recommendations for what's missing.
☆ Starting date: 1/1/2015
☆ Completed anime: 845 (at sign-up in 13/4/2015)
☆ Link to your list: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Akai_Shuichi
☆ Difficulty: Hard
☆ Challenge list:
Type
» Watch a movie - Nerawareta Gakuen
» Watch a short anime Detroit Metal City
i.e. 15 minutes per episode or less
» Watch an ONA Inferno Cop
» Watch an award-winning work Princess Mononoke
tip: check Wikipedia or AniDB for ideas
Creators
» Watch an anime with a character voiced by one of your favorite seiyuu Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -Norio Wakamoto-
» Watch an anime by a director/composer/studio you like Death Parade -Madhouse-
» Watch an early work of an established anime staff member (10+ roles) Durarara!!x2 Shou -Takahiro Omori-
Years
» Watch an anime that started the year you joined MAL or later Aku no Hana
» Watch an anime that meets the ½(your age) + 7 rule Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock
e.g. if you're 20 now: ½(20) + 7 = 17, so the anime must have finished in 1998 or earlier
Tags
» Watch an anime with a main cast (3+ characters) of only one gender Yuri Kuma Arashi
» Watch an anime that focuses on non-romantic relationships Terra e...
» Watch an anime with children in it Hadashi no Gen
» Watch an anime with a non-human main character Hotarubi no Mori e
» Watch an anime about food, music OR art Piano no Mori
» Watch a historical OR military anime Junketsu no Maria
» Watch a slice of life OR comedy anime Planetes
» Watch a horror, sci-fi OR fantasy anime Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season
» Watch an anime that is tagged with a genre you dislike Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata
» Watch an anime that does not take place primarily in Japan, but is still within our universe Canaan
» Watch an anime that has a main character that is a professional in his field (e.g. doctor, detective) Mushishi
» Watch an anime with an archetype as a main character (e.g. megane, tsundere) Monogatari Series 2nd Season -Lots of them-
» Watch an anime with a character/setting that you can relate to The Tatami Galaxy
Adaptations
» Watch an anime three-cours (or more) in length (hard) Rose of Versailles
» Watch an anime adapted from a manga with a score of 8.0 or higher Tokyo Ghoul Root A
» Watch an anime adapted from a novel, light novel or video game Seikai no Senki
» Watch an anime that has been adapted to live action Ashita no Joe
tip: check this club for ideas
» Watch an original anime Ergo Proxy
Stats
» Watch an anime with a score of 7.0 or below Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen
» Watch an anime ranked in the top 300 Redline
» Watch an anime that someone on your friends' list rated a 10 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
» Watch an anime with less than 10k completed members (hard) Anne no Nikki (2071 members)
Challenge related
» Watch an anime recommended to you by another Anime Watching Challenge participant Casshern Sins (recommended by _Dan_)
» Watch an anime that another user has watched for this challenge Perfect Blue
» Watch an anime recommended to a title you scored the highest for this challenge (so far) Kino no Tabi as recommendation from Mushishi
Miscellaneous
» Re-watch an anime Now and Then, Here and There
tip: preferably something you watched early in your anime career
» Watch an anime that starts with the same first letter as your username Akira
» Watch an anime that has a non-Japanese title Bartender
» Watch an anime that has a verb in its title Rolling Girls
» Choose a random trope from TVTropes and watch an anime listed under the trope Cleopatra -Bag of Kidnapping-
tip: feel free to spam the random button at the top or bottom of the page
» Watch a staff member's favorite anime Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi -Naruleach-
tip: and then comment on their profile about it, if you're not shy~
I accept recommendations for what's missing.
☆ Starting date: 1/1/2015
☆ Completed anime: 845 (at sign-up in 13/4/2015)
☆ Link to your list: http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Akai_Shuichi
☆ Difficulty: Hard
☆ Challenge list:
Type
» Watch a movie - Nerawareta Gakuen
» Watch a short anime Detroit Metal City
i.e. 15 minutes per episode or less
» Watch an ONA Inferno Cop
» Watch an award-winning work Princess Mononoke
tip: check Wikipedia or AniDB for ideas
Creators
» Watch an anime with a character voiced by one of your favorite seiyuu Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -Norio Wakamoto-
» Watch an anime by a director/composer/studio you like Death Parade -Madhouse-
» Watch an early work of an established anime staff member (10+ roles) Durarara!!x2 Shou -Takahiro Omori-
Years
» Watch an anime that started the year you joined MAL or later Aku no Hana
» Watch an anime that meets the ½(your age) + 7 rule Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock
e.g. if you're 20 now: ½(20) + 7 = 17, so the anime must have finished in 1998 or earlier
Tags
» Watch an anime with a main cast (3+ characters) of only one gender Yuri Kuma Arashi
» Watch an anime that focuses on non-romantic relationships Terra e...
» Watch an anime with children in it Hadashi no Gen
» Watch an anime with a non-human main character Hotarubi no Mori e
» Watch an anime about food, music OR art Piano no Mori
» Watch a historical OR military anime Junketsu no Maria
» Watch a slice of life OR comedy anime Planetes
» Watch a horror, sci-fi OR fantasy anime Aldnoah.Zero 2nd Season
» Watch an anime that is tagged with a genre you dislike Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata
» Watch an anime that does not take place primarily in Japan, but is still within our universe Canaan
» Watch an anime that has a main character that is a professional in his field (e.g. doctor, detective) Mushishi
» Watch an anime with an archetype as a main character (e.g. megane, tsundere) Monogatari Series 2nd Season -Lots of them-
» Watch an anime with a character/setting that you can relate to The Tatami Galaxy
Adaptations
» Watch an anime three-cours (or more) in length (hard) Rose of Versailles
» Watch an anime adapted from a manga with a score of 8.0 or higher Tokyo Ghoul Root A
» Watch an anime adapted from a novel, light novel or video game Seikai no Senki
» Watch an anime that has been adapted to live action Ashita no Joe
tip: check this club for ideas
» Watch an original anime Ergo Proxy
Stats
» Watch an anime with a score of 7.0 or below Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen
» Watch an anime ranked in the top 300 Redline
» Watch an anime that someone on your friends' list rated a 10 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
» Watch an anime with less than 10k completed members (hard) Anne no Nikki (2071 members)
Challenge related
» Watch an anime recommended to you by another Anime Watching Challenge participant Casshern Sins (recommended by _Dan_)
» Watch an anime that another user has watched for this challenge Perfect Blue
» Watch an anime recommended to a title you scored the highest for this challenge (so far) Kino no Tabi as recommendation from Mushishi
Miscellaneous
» Re-watch an anime Now and Then, Here and There
tip: preferably something you watched early in your anime career
» Watch an anime that starts with the same first letter as your username Akira
» Watch an anime that has a non-Japanese title Bartender
» Watch an anime that has a verb in its title Rolling Girls
» Choose a random trope from TVTropes and watch an anime listed under the trope Cleopatra -Bag of Kidnapping-
tip: feel free to spam the random button at the top or bottom of the page
» Watch a staff member's favorite anime Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi -Naruleach-
tip: and then comment on their profile about it, if you're not shy~
Completed
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | Apr 13, 2015 8:01 AM | 0 comments
April 1st, 2015
My Top 100 Anime Update Nº1
Anime Relations: Akira, Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam, Seikai no Monshou, Versailles no Bara, Seikai no Senki, Seikai no Senki II, Seikai no Senki III, Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Seto no Hanayome, Terra e... (TV), Ashita no Joe, Ashita no Joe 2, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei, Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen I - Haou no Tamago, Hotarubi no Mori e, Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen II - Doldrey Kouryaku, Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen III - Kourin, Kyousou Giga (TV), Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
Welcome to the first update of my top 100!
In this update, I intend to change a few things in order, that I think I didn't get right the first time (again, making a top 100 is quite difficult), add some series that I actually forgot the first time (I've seen over 500 series, so, yeah, it can happen, and it happened), and of course, add things that I watched since I began writing that I just couldn't add in the middle of the writing.
I imagine this will be the biggest update of the top. There'll be a number of changes, but this time it will be a lot more quick. In this post I'll list every change here, and of course, the entries will be edited accordingly.
Now without further ado, let's go with the updates:
Series leaving the top (previous rank in parenthesis):
- Sakura Trick (#100)
- Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! (#99)
- R.O.D the TV (#98)
- No Game No Life (#97)
- Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. (#96)
- Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (#95)
- Ouran Koukou Host Club (#93)
- Shakugan no Shana (#92)
- Angel Beats! (#91)
- Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (#87)
- Mirai Nikki (#82)
- Psycho Pass (#81)
That's 12 series leaving the top this time, wich means 12 series will be coming in! Of course, it will be edited in their respective entries, but to have easier access to the new content, I'll put the new entries here also:
New in the rankings!:
100. Seto no Hanayome
This series doesn't have much qualities besides the comedy, but the comedy is damn good. Actually, this might be the series I've laughed the most with. It was a non-stop through every episode and even OVAs. It's a very simple kind of humor, not really the smart type (which I usually prefer), but by keeping it simple and stupid, this series was a hit for me.
Characters were quite likeable. Stupid likeable mermaids and Masa-san <3.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
86. Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann
- Can it be bigger?
- Yes
- Make it bigger
- Can it be even bigger?
- I don't think so...
- Doesn't matter make it EVEN BIGGER
When talking about over the top anime. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is THE KING. Everything is exaggerated, but I'm saying this in a good way, it's definitely on purpose, and it works. It works really well.
Gurren Lagann is a series that manages to always be fun, it's entertaining, crazy things happen all the time and it's, well, awesome. It's a very simple series, there's nothing really new in the plot, nothing to make you really think or anything of the sort, but that's exactly it's charm, Gurren Lagann is at its best by keeping things simple and entertaining.
The series has some likeable characters, and of course, is very famous (well deserved) for the GAR (aka, manliness) shown in the series... actually, that's probably the main over the top thing in this series. Besides that, the series does manage to make a lot of character development in its main cast, specially Simon who's forced to grow with some of the events in the series.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is sure fun for almost any anime fan.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
82. Akira
There's one thing about Akira that definitely stands out for me, and that's the setting. The dystopian Tokyo after a WWIII, with a lot of cyberpunk to it, is just fantastic. Besides the ideas being pretty good, and even while being a pretty old movie, it looks good. The artstyle of Akira is fantastic, and that definitely helps setting the scenario where this movie is played.
Akira clearly has problems as an adaption. I've yet to read the manga and I can still see that much. The story felt rushed a lot of times, but that said, it was never boring, it did manage to be interesting through the whole two hours (maybe the second half a bit less). The whole thing with the psychological powers experimentation was really interesting, and the main character was quite likeable (can't say I like the "antagonist" though).
Akira is a classic in the anime industry, and it's really worth the watch, and it's hard to believe it was actually made in the 80s.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
77. Hotarubi no Mori e
This might just be the best 45 minutes movie I've ever seen.
Hotarubi no Mori e is pretty simple, but very well written. A very simple story about the encounter of a little girl and a youkai. It's about them spending time together in a relationship where they really begin caring for each other, but with the important rule that the girl can't touch the youkai (he would dissappear if she does).
This two only see each other through summer, when the girl goes to his grandfather's home to spend her vacations. What's really interesting here is watching the passing of time, how each year this girl is a little older, while the youkai remains the same. They just spend time together in the forest. The girls starts as a very little kid, but by the end she is a highschool student.
This is a very relaxing story, and has a pretty interesting ending. In some ways, this reminded me about Mushishi, and even more, Natsume Yuujinchou (and I haven't even watched it!). Definitely not as thought provoking as Mushishi, but still a great movie with great visuals and sounds, with a well thought story for the 45 minutes it lasts.
After watching this I really decided I need to watch Natsume Yuujinchou.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
When talking about anime classics, one of the first names to come up, if not the first, will always be Gundam.
The incredibly famous robot franchise created by Tomino has inspired a lot of modern and now-not-so-modern anime. While its not the first mecha anime, it is the first one that dwelved into the "real robots" genre, where mechas are not all-mighty indestructible machines, but just another weapon for war.
While of course the mecha is an important part of the story, Gundam is much more than that. It's a story about war, the development of characters forced to joined the war, and the development of a great rivalry between the main character, Rey Amuro, and the antagonist, Char Aznable. It's not a story about good vs bad, and just a story about two sides at war, mainly told from one side.
While I haven't watched the original series, the movies felt very complete by themselves, and I didn't feel I was lacking anything vital that the series might have given me (maybe a few small things).
I'm not really a fan of mechas as super robots, and I haven't liked a few Gundam series (Seed and Wing), but I decided to go with this as I wanted to explore the Universal Calendar world, which is the most extense and the better regarded. This was definitely the best Gundam stuff I've seen so far (and I did enjoy 00), and I'll soon be going into the rest of this universe.
Best thing about the series was Char Aznable, the antagonist. He was a really interesting character, extremely intelligent, talented and well developed, easily my favorite from this movie trilogy, though not because the main cast were bad, I actually liked Rey Amuro's development.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam get to a whole new level. Character development is much bigger in this one, and is much better with Tomino killing characters like there's no tomorrow. We get to see some characters from the prequel, but now as adults and much more mature, and while the new characters starts very annoying, they have some very big development (this is specially true for Kamille, the main character). It takes time, and the series is slow to start, but by the end, I could easily say it surpassed the prequel.
While I feared the newtype thing would not be too good, it's much better explored in this movie, and it actually didn't work that bad. Overall quality clearly improved and the OST was so much better.
Now, I know it's kind of a trend for Tomino to give weird names to it's characters, but what the fuck was he thinking when he named that-character-that-is-totally-not-Char-Aznable the name "Quattro Bajeena"... I mean.... you know what, I think I don't want to know what was he thinking.
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57. Kyousou Giga
Here's what I call a hidden gem. One of the best animes from 2012, and one that went really unnoticed from what I've seen. One of the best works I've seen from Toei Animation, which is actually amazingly animated and has some great OST.
What I loved the most about this series was that in the midst of a pretty alternative artstyle, and lots of abstract things, the series was really good at showing the concept of family. That's definitely the main topic of the series, and through the 10 episodes (plus an OVA) the family bonds between various characters are explored and developed in a great, crazy way (yes, crazy).
The characters in this anime are very likeable, and Rie Kugimiya does a great job as Koto, the main character (no, it's not a tsundere). Koto is a very energetic character, she's really a kid that likes playing around, and while she tends to be a bit destructive (well, this goes for pretty much all kids) she's extremely kind, enough to change the people around her. Her development, for a 10 episodes series is quite amazing, as she little by little starts feeling "at home" in this magical world with this people she got to know.
This series is bizarre in many ways, it' just not like every anime out there, it uses a lot of colors, and a kind of fantasy world full of things, a lot of things are always happenings, but it never feels like it's excess. It's a fun experience. The whole setting, plot and characters are all very crazy, but the inner message of the story couldn't be more coherent.
The series incorporates a lot from buddhism and japanese folklore, sometimes in literal forms and sometimes in more symbolic ways, and it puts everything together, seemingly without order, but that somehow makes complete sense. Again, the animation helps a lot in this. Toei truly made a magnificent job animating this series, definitely being the best work I've seen from this studio in terms of animation quality and, more importantly, creativity. This show is just incredibly creative in every aspect, something innovative, something that gets a little bit away from the clichés and tries (and succeeds to) bring something new to the table.
Kyousou Giga was a fresh experience, an amazing series that's only shame I've rarely seen it even mentioned. Damn, it's so rarely mentioned that even I forgot including it in the first edition of this top.
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56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
Kiseijuu came a bit as a surprise to me when it was first announced. Until I was relatively advanced in the series, I didn't know it was an adaption of an old manga, and I didn't expect much about the series, until I saw the trailer, which showed me some promise. Luckily, Kiseijuu delivered for me, becoming the best anime of 2014, and clearly the show I was expecting the most every week.
This is clearly an action show, but it's not just mindless action, as the series explores both Shinichi's and Migi's development (as well as their relationship obviously). I can see how Togashi took some inspiration from this series to write the Chimera Ants arc in Hunter X Hunter (admittedly, Hunter X Hunter does a better job than Kiseijuu).
While it doesn't dwelve much into it, Kiseijuu tries showing how humans are just another animal in this world, and Kiseijuu shows us the idea of a race that would be over us in the food chain, but in the end, they're not evil, they're just like us, only we happen to be their food, just like many things happen to be our food. If cows could think, we would definitely be worse than monsters, wouldn't we?
Kiseijuu is a series that kept me entertained from the beginning to the end. It was fun, some nice action, a little bit more mature than a shounen (well, duh, it's a seinen), and I actually enjoyed some fresh gore after going through the censorship hell from Terra Formars and Tokyo Ghoul.
The ending of Kiseijuu tends to be criticized, but I thought it was actually a proper conclusion to the series. While it might have not be surprising or flashy, it was definitely appropiate. I actually thought episode 23 was one of the strongest one of the series. I liked a lot how things played out, did give a few things to think about, and, the most important, didn't fail to give a proper conclusion to the story (last episode was more of an epilogue).
I don't know how this works as an adaption, but as a series, I think Madhouse did a great job animating this. Animation was overall pretty good and OST was fantastic (even if the ending has some of the worse engrish I've ever heard... actually took me some time to even know it was english). I loved the work they did, even if it didn't get to Hunter X Hunter quality (the series was done by the same people in charge of Hunter X Hunter 2011).
An extremely enjoyable series, and one that I would recommend to almost anyone.
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37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen
I'll start by saying this, I suppose: I haven't read Berserk manga nor watched the series. I may watch the series in the future, but I won't read the manga at least until Miura finishes it (if he doesn't die before...). Because of this, everything written here is based on the movies only.
First thing, Berserk brings some pretty nice memories because I actually watched this movie trilogy along with my mother (no, she's not dead, so it's not one of those happy-sad memories...she's perfectly fine). I was pretty surprised how much she actually enjoyed the movies and became quite the Griffith fan (aka the guy who looks like a girl).
When watching the movies, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the setting. It's not that common to see an anime with a medieval setting that's well done, but Berserk really pulls it off quite well. I love the different battles through the series, the sceneries and pretty much everything in that aspect.
While most of the cast is pretty forgettable, Guts and Griffith are definitely not. They were really great characters, and the friendship/rivalry relationship between these two was maybe the strongest point of the movies. I loved the interactions between the two, which will obviously be key for whatever comes after the movies. The constant development of both of them is pretty interesting, and I found Griffith to be specially interesting. He's quite an ambitious character (and the third movie shows it better than any), and I throughly enjoyed watching how he and his group kept climbing the ranks together, and of course, all the events that eventually happen when they get as far as they're supposed to get.
To be honest, the third and most popular movie was the one that impressed me the most. Until that point, there wasn't that much fantasy in the series, and that movie injects a whole lot of fantasy to the series which killed one of the things I loved the most about this series. But that doesn't mean it was bad, because the fantasy at least was interesting and helped giving quite a twist to this relation between Guts and Griffith... but again, I think I would've been better without all that supernatural things.
Anyways, I really enjoyed the movies, and production values were quite good also. Fights were fun, story was engaging and while I'm sure they must've skipped and/or rushed things, for me, as someone who doesn't know any other material, it wasn't much of a problem.
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36. Terra e...
Can't say this was much of a surprise, as I honestly expected something pretty good, but the good thing is it definitely delivered to my expectations. Terra e, also known as Towards the Terra, was a great series. A great story that was very well told.
First thing, I love the setting of this story. A world were humans abandoned Earth because it was no longer an habitable planet (of course, because of humans) and went to colonize planets. So far, this is a pretty common setting for space operas. It gets a little bit better when we learn that the way human lives is really controlled by one computer, and people live in some kind of utopia (which of course, we'll eventually learn that, in fact, it's just superficial). While none of this concepts is something really new, the combination of them makes a pretty interesting setting, specially when you add the fact that some humans are actually developing some psychic powers. This humans are called Mus, and humanity desperately tries to eliminate them. So far, some of them managed to escape, and they sometimes manage to save newly born ones (Shin, our main character, being an example) and right now they live in hiding, and could almost be considered aliens.
The story is told from both the human point of view (with Keith Anyan as main character) and from the Mus side (with Jomy as main character), but this is not like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, for example, where the series doesn't really have a good and evil guy, in this case, Keith is clearly put in an antagonic position with Jomy being more of a good guy but that said, the story does evolve into something were nobody is really evil per se.
Character development is probably the biggest strength of the series, as this is pretty much about how both Jomy and Keith development. How they both eventually become leaders and rivals, and maybe even more (no no, I don't mean love. This is no yaoi!). But it's not only those two, the series really manages to create a big cast of characters and give relative importance to each of them, something that's not easy to pull with just 24 episodes, but that they actually managed to do very well. A lot of years pass through the span of 24 episodes, and it was really interesting see each character grow.
Besides that, animation looked pretty good and the OST was impressive. Sometimes I wished this was more of a seinen instead of a shounen, but for a shounen, it's actually a pretty mature series that dwelves a little into politics, and again, has much more development in their characters than the usual shounen.
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28. Banner of the Stars
Took me long enough to actually watch this space opera. But at least I did, and it was really worth it. I actually watched this just a little before closing my top 100, so I always felt it was kind of a shame that I couldn't include it in the first edition, but it was just a little too late. Anyways, better late than never, and it was thanks to this series that I thought to myself "I definitely need to update this the moment I'm done with the first version."
If it's about romance in space, I've yet to see a series that's better than this one (not even Yamato, at least in that regard). Our main characters, Jinto and Lafiel are what this story really is about. As a difference from other space operas, here romance takes the center role of the story, yet at the same time, it nevers feels to invasive. That's because the couple feels natural, the progress of this relationship is never forced and the series never gets way too romantic. It's a main topic, but it's served in a good dosis.
The story starts with an OVA (Crest of the Stars: Birth/Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou), which is about Lafiel parents. This OVA was okay, but nothing really special. To be honest, it lowered my initial expectations of the series. But then Crest of the Stars/Seikai no Monshou began, and my opinion of the series quickly changed for the better. Crest served as an introduction to our characters and the beginning of their relationship. They're certainly different in many senses, but little by little they begin caring for each other. This whole first season is mainly centered in the forging of their relationship, and works as an introduction (a very good one, I must say) to what comes next.
The first Senki season is when things get really serious. There's a war going on, and the series focuses on the ship (led by Lafiel) our main characters are. The whole season is mainly centered in warfare and the actions our characters take during said war.
Senki II is probably the strongest part of the series, this time more focused in the political aspect of the series, as well as developing the relationship between Jinto and Lafiel much more. Our characters need to act as ambassadors in a prison planet that's divided in three factions, and where a war could easily break out. A lot of political stuff here, and eventually some really interesting events that lead to the relationship of our characters clearly acquire some kind of shape.
Finally, Senki III serves pretty well to give some kind of ending to the story. While obviously much shorter than the others, the story is pretty good.
Only shame with this series is that it leaves you wanting more. While it's not like it finishes with a cliffhanger or something like that, it is pretty clear that there's a lot more in that universe to be explored. And it couldn't be any other way, as the original source is a series of ongoing (to this day) novels. There are five in total and only three have been adapted (and again, they're not finished). Hopefully one day we get more of this series.
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13. The Tatami Galaxy
Tatami Galaxy really is an anime like no other. A very thought-provoking series that might just be about life itself.
Decisions. Life is full of decisions, some of them might seem very big and some might seem trivial to the point we forget them a minute after making them, but every single decision forges the path we take, and sometimes, the most trivial of decisions might actually become one of the most important in your life. For example, choosing to eat fish instead of pasta will probably end in you eating fish and resuming life, but sometimes, that fish might be bad for you, cause sickness, make you not go to work and just that they there could be an explosion were you work and you could be saved because you were sick. We can't just say that the fish saved your life, but definitely we can say that the decision of eating fish led to you not being caught up in the explosion. Maybe it's a stupid example, but you get the point (or maybe not so much, as something like that did happen to my mother, except it was with an airplane crashing).
Tatami Galaxy is about this, and in each episodes it shows us the infinite possibilites of our main characters that can change with each decisions. Because of this, the series uses a lot of repetitions, to the point that there are events that repeat every single episode, but while it might seem, well, repetitive, Tatami Galaxy never comes off as repetitive, it's an absolutely engaging story, even while having the quickest dialogues you'll ever see (you better not be doing anything while you watch this, because even blinking can make you miss something).
Madhouse went completely experimental while doing this anime, using a style of animation that I've never seen anywhere else... and I have to say the experiment was a complete success. The weird animation works extremely well with this series, it's not there just for the sake of aesthetics, but it does helps telling the story, as well as it helps to the comical aspect of the series (which is incredibly good).
The main character "Watashi" ("Me" in japanese) is a very relatable character, and it was clearly never given a name for reason, as the viewer is supposed to put himself in the shoes of this character. The story is always told through him, and everything in this series goes according what he sees. Then there's Ozu, the best friend and worse enemy. The biggest troll anime has ever seen, in my opinion. Ozu is like that devil that's always between you and your happiness. He's evil, he's manipulative... he's pretty much the antithesis of Watashi, and the one always ruins things for him. Yet, he's his best friend.
Every little detail in this series has some meaning (and there's a lot of them), every little thing can change the story completely, and Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei makes sure you understand this. The infinite possibilites are there, within our grasp (but we can't actually go back once we chose a road). So think very well about what you do, no matter how small, do what you think is right, because there is no going back afterwards, and you might end up regretting it. That which might seem small today, might be enormous tomorrow. Make use of your oportunities.
This is a series that gives you just way too much in just 11 episodes. I never would've though a series would be capable of so much with so little framework. But Tatami Galaxy does it. Tatami Galaxy is a unique experience, and while it might seem like those kind of anime difficult to get, it's actually not. Tatami Galaxy is actually pretty clear relaying it's message, the direction must've really make a point of emphasis to make sure this is a story people can easily understand, even if it looks like it's not. And that's what makes Tatami Galaxy so good. It's thought-provoking, but at the same time it's a very clear series, not something abstract were many people will get different opinions. I'm sure if you read or talk to another person about this series, he'll tell you something in the lines of what I'm writing.
Oh, and yes, at the beginning, the speed of the dialogues can be hard to follow, but I couldn't help but wonder how impressive the human brain is, because after a few minutes into the first episode, my brain was completely used to the dialogue speed, what seemed ridiculously quick at the very beginning, was pretty normal just after a few minutes. Was that actually made on purpose? If so, I can only tip my hat (again) to this series.
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6. Ashita no Joe
This 2015, I decided was going to watch a lot of old series that are supposed to be great, and thank god I did, because I'm quickly discovering gems, and Ashita no Joe is definitely one of them. We're talking here about a series that had its pilots made in 1969, a first season made in 1970 and a second season made 10 years after in 1980. Ashita no Joe was actually the oldest anime I had ever seen the moment I watched it (season 1, that is).
When I decided to watch Ashita no Joe, I knew it was going to be a great series. I just don't believe the title could survive so well through so much years just because of some good fights, so I was really expecting Ashita no Joe to become one of my favorite sports series, this was even before watching one episode... I was right, but it was much more. Joe didn't just become my favorite sports series (and there's quite a difference with Ping Pong and Chihaya, which were my favorite sports series before), it became one of my favorite series ever. I was impressed, very impressed with this series. Absolutely amazing experience, outstanding writing, something good enough to become a timeless classic. This could've been made in 1920 being just pictures with the story... I'm pretty sure I'd still enjoy it a lot.
Ashita no Joe is, well, a story about Joe. While this might sound (and is) totally obvious, I'm saying this because this is about Joe the person, not just the boxer. I'm not sure I can say I've seen a character as well written as Joe, there's certainly a few that can compete (Reinhard von Lohengramm, Yang Wenli and Oscar François de Jarjeyes are the only ones that actually comes to mind). Joe's development is just beyond fantastic. This is a character that starts from the lowest possible point in life, he's got nothing, he's a jerk, he's society scum, but little by little events and characters will lead him to grow up, and keep growing up through the series. To give an idea, there isn't a single match of boxing through the first 20 episodes or so, and an official fight takes even more to take place. The process of Joe becoming a boxer is something huge in this series, and the way the people he finds in the road help build what Joe finally becomes.
Joe, from the very beginning, is a pretty strong fellow, but thanks to old man Danpei, a man who casually saw Joe fighting and saw an inmense boxing potential. He becomes completely obsessed with making Joe a boxer. Their relationship probably really starts when Danpei beats Joe in a fight using boxing skills (this was actually helping the cops, which sends Joe to prison, which Danpei thought was the best so he could reform). From this point on, Joe and Danpei's relationship will develop to something that goes beyond coach and pupil, and something much closer to father and son. Danpei's seiyuu makes such a great job here, you can feel Danpei's emotion each time he shouts "Joe!".
Rikiishi is another character that's absolutely key in Joe's development. Meeting this man in prison is what finally gives Joe a goal in life. It's what makes Joe finally get to love boxing. Rikiishi is the first man that shows real respect for Joe. They become rivals, and at the same time, they become the best of friends. This is not showed by the two hanging with each other, it's that pure respect as rivals, that desire to compete with each other what makes them such good friends in a way that goes beyond words. It's something they just now. This relationship will change Joe forever, and will prove to be a key through the whole series.
Just like Rikiishi, through his way, Joe will meet a few other rivals that will make his flame burn red-hot. That's what makes Joe, Joe. He's a passionte man who once he sets a goal, nothing, and I mean it when I say nothing, will stop him to try his best to get to it. While Joe develops a lot through the series, you can definitely see that he never stops being who he is from the very start, which makes the character development that much better.
This might be a drama before a sports series, because the series might dwelve much more into some dramatic situations Joe has to go through, even more than the fights by themselves. The relationship between the characters are all very well forged. From the more important characters like Rikiishi and Danpei, to some little less important characters like Yohko and the kids (well, Yohko does become much more important afterwards... and no, this is never a romantic series).
The first season was made in 1970, so yes, animation can be bad at times and you can definitely see the limitations that there were at the time, but overall, I didn't think it affected much the story, and even with said limitations, the fights managed to be quite good. The OST was a bit limited, there were just a few themes that were reused a lot, but at least they were pretty good.
Through the first few episodes, I was starting to doubt season 2, as it had quite a long recap of season 1, which was probably fine considering it was made 10 years after, but as someone who watched it immediately afterwards, it was obviously a bit repetitive, even if said recap was done with much better animation (it's impressive how things changed from 1970 to 1980) and a much more varied OST (outstanding OST by the way). But this was just through the first episodes. When the last arc of season 1 came in season 2, I was instantly hooked and never let the series go until I finished. The final arc from season 1 was not a recap, it was actually much more detailed, and it was just so much better, and the series kept going from there, and by the end, I had to admit that not only season 2 managed to keep up with season 1, but thanks to one of the most memorable endings I've ever seen, it managed to even surpass season 1.
GAR? Manliness? In the anime industry, those things were probably born here. Joe is all about that, and it's actually the best of its kind. It's just impressive, to a point it's really hard to describe. What this series did so many years ago is something that I've yet to see any other series achieve. It's definitely a timeless classic. The flame of this series burn at its fullest through the whole run, to finally become white ash at the very end. Ashita no Joe was really amazing in every aspect.
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5. Rose of Versailles
Oh, I hate the artstyle in this series. But well, that's part of the pack when we're talking about a shoujo anime. Anyways, while I might dislike the artstyle, that's far from a reason to stop watching this series, the artstyle is something trivial in comparison to the story, character development, and history elements of this series.
Just like Joe, this is another of my 2015 project of watching old series... and just as Joe, it ended up being a gem.
I don't know if Rose of Versailles is the best shoujo or not. It's definitely my favorite, but that might just be because I feel the shoujo elements are just too secondary in terms of story and characters (they're certainly VERY present in aesthetics). But I can definitely say this is the best anime I've seen in terms if historic elements. Easily.
Rose of Versailles takes place before and during the French Revolution, and while it might not be 100% accurate (starting by the fact that Oscar didn't exist in real life... which is a shame), it's as accurate as it can get. A few details were changed to make the story more interesting, but every event is very well explained and true to history, to the point that I can really call Rose of Versailles a good source to learn a bit about how the French Revolution began, and what happened at the beginning of it (of course, you have to be smart enough to separate fiction from reality, but that's not really difficult if you know Oscar, André and Bernard are ficticious characters).
Oscar François de Jerjeyes, our main character, is one of the best characters I've had the pleasure to watch. She's a girl that's raised like a man and it's treated as such by everyone... well, and she really is like one, and a very GAR guy at that (not by looks, but by attitude). Her development through the series is certainly one of the main topics of it. How we little by little start discovering the girl she is, but without never losing her chivalrous persona. She's a born leader, a very intelligent person, and an extremely loyal vassal (maybe to a fault). In the series, she indirectly influences a lot of the events that lead to the French Revolution (to the best, actually, without Oscar it would've probably been much worse) and while watching the constant decay of monarchy, she grows, learns a bit more about the world (she starts as a noble not really aware of the real state France is in). The way her mentality changes through the series, the way she analyzes all the events of the series is absolutely fantastic.
As a series set in the 17th century, Rose of Versailles gives a heavy critic to a decaying aristocracy, and politics play a huge role in this series, in a way that's certainly like the Empire from Legend of the Galactic Heroes at the beginning of the series (and the Gaidens). This aristocracy is very well shown, using the prime example of Marie Antoinette as a main character of this story, a queen who became a symbol of the fallen monarchy of France. This is quite interesting, because Rose of Versailles actually depicts Marie Antoinette like a really good girl, but sadly, a very naive and stubborn person too, which proves to be completely fatal. The way Marie Antoinette is shown in the series is one of the most interesting themes of the series, which, while it doesn't defend all the mistakes she did, also doesn't try to put her just like the bad gal of the movie.
There's a lot of historic figures in the series, and as a whole, the way they're shown in the series is very faithful to the way they are described in history books, besides small differences. On the other hand, the few ficticious characters add a lot to the story to make it even more interesting. While watching Oscar, I remembered my times learning about the events from the series in history, but of course, this was much more fun (and this comes from a guy who enjoys history).
As I said before, you really can learn a lot with Rose of Versailles, and that's not really something I can say with other historical series. Sure, some series have a few things you can learn, but Rose of Versailles is very detailed about the historical facts, makes them a main point like no other anime has... at least none that I've seen.
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The Top 100 BEFORE the update:
100. Sakura Trick
99. Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!
98. R.O.D the TV
97. No Game No Life
96. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.
95. Suzumiya Haruhi Series
94. Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
93. Ouran Koukou Host Club
92. Shakugan no Shana
91. Angel Beats!
90. Blood+
89. Utawarerumono
88. Beck
87. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
86. Kokoro Connect
85. Ghost Hound
84. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
83. Mobile Suit Gundam (movie trilogy)
82. Mirai Nikki (TV)
81. Psycho Pass (season 1 only)
80. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
79. Level E
78. Usagi Drop
77. Jormungand
76. Kuroko no Basket
75. Durarara!!
74. Little Busters!
73. Slam Dunk
72. FLCL
71. Seirei no Moribito
70. Darker than Black
69. Monogatari Series
68. Dragon Ball
67. Slayers
66. Ping Pong The Animation
65. Space Dandy
64. Katanagatari
63. Mouryou no Hako
62. Log Horizon
61. Gosick
60. Lovely Complex
59. Serial Experiments Lain
58. One Piece
57. Clannad
56. Great Teacher Onizuka
55. Haibane Renmei
54. Kanon
53. Air
52. Chihayafuru
51. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai
50. Welcome to the NHK
49. Death Note
48. White Album 2
47. Sennen Joyuu
46. Toradora!
45. Zetsuen no Tempest
44. Tokyo Godfathers
43. Eureka Seven
42. Shiki
41. Aoi Bungaku Series
40. Stranger: Mukou Hadan
39. Hellsing Ultimate
38. Fate/Zero
37. Full Metal Panic!
36. Kara no Kyoukai
35. Code Geass
34. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
33. Black Lagoon
32. Higashi no Eden
31. Samurai Champloo
30. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai.
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen
28. Baccano!
27. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
26. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
25. Planetes
24. Hotaru no Haka
23. Cowboy Bebop
22. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
21. Shinsekai Yori
20. Juuni Kokuki
19. Nodame Cantabile
18. Gin no Saji
17. Sakamichi no Apollon
16. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
15. Now and Then, Here and There
14. Bakuman
13. Spice & Wolf
12. Kingdom
11. Mawaru Penguindrum
10. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
8. Hunter X Hunter (2011)
7. Ghost in the Shell
6. Steins;Gate
5. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
4. Mushishi
3. Detective Conan
2. Monster
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Again, I will say I actually enjoyed all of these series, they just missed the cut against other series.
Top 100 AFTER the update (rank change in parenthesis):
100. Seto no Hanayome (New)
99. To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (-5)
98. Utawarerumono (-9)
97. Beck (-9)
96. Kokoro Connect (-10)
95. Ghost Hound (-10)
94. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (-14)
93. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (-9)
92. Level E (-13)
91. Usagi Drop (-13)
90. Jormungand (-13)
89. Kuroko no Basket (-13)
88. Durarara!! (-13)
87. Little Busters! (-13)
86. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (New)
85. Blood+ (+5)
84. Slam Dunk (-11)
83. FLCL (-11)
82. Akira (New)
81. Darker than Black (-11)
80. Log Horizon (-18)
79. Seirei no Moribito (-8)
78. Monogatari Series (-9)
77. Hotarubi no Mori e (New)
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC) (+7)
75. Dragon Ball (-7)
74. Slayers (-7)
73. Space Dandy (-8)
72. Katanagatari (-8)
71. Mouryou no Hako (-8)
70. Gosick (-9)
69. Lovely Complex (-9)
68. Ping Pong: The Animation (-2)
67. Serial Experiments Lain (-8)
66. One Piece (-8)
65. Clannad (-8)
64. Great Teacher Onizuka (-8)
63. Kanon (2006) (-9)
62. Air (-9)
61. Chihayafuru (-9)
60. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (-9)
59. Welcome to the NHK (-9)
58. Death Note (-9)
57. Kyousou Giga (New)
56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (New)
55. Haibane Renmei (-)
54. White Album 2 (-6)
53. Sennen Joyuu (-6)
52. Toradora! (-6)
51. Zetsuen no Tempest (-6)
50. Tokyo Godfathers (-6)
49. Stranger: Moukou Hadan (-9)
48. Eureka Seven (-5)
47. Shiki (-5)
46. Hellsing Ultimate (-7)
45. Fate/Zero (-7)
44. Full Metal Panic! (-7)
43. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wa Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (-13)
42. Kara no Kyoukai (-6)
41. Code Geass (-6)
40. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (-6)
39. Black Lagoon (-6)
38. Higashi no Eden (-6)
37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen (New)
36. Terra e... (New)
35. Samurai Champloo (-4)
34. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (-8)
33. Aoi Bungaku Series (+8)
32. Baccano! (-4)
31. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (-4)
30. Cowboy Bebop (-7)
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen (-)
28. Banner of the Stars (New)
27. Planetes (-2)
26. Hotaru no Haka (-2)
25. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (-3)
24. Juuni Kokuki (-4)
23. Gin no Saji (-5)
22. Nodame Cantabile (-3)
21. Sakamichi no Apollon (-4)
20. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (-4)
19. Now and Then, Here and There (-4)
18. Shinsekai Yori (+3)
17. Bakuman (-3)
16. Spice & Wolf (-3)
15. Kingdom (-3)
14. Mawaru Penguindrum (-3)
13. The Tatami Galaxy (New)
12. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (-3)
11. Hunter X Hunter (2011) (-3)
10. Gankutsuou (-)
9. Ghost in the Shell (-2)
8. Steins;Gate (-2)
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (-2)
6. Ashita no Joe (New)
5. Rose of Versailles (New)
4. Mushishi (-)
3. Detective Conan (-)
2. Monster (-)
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes (-)
And that would be it for this first update... Damn, it was a lot more work than I thought it'd be... A lot more work than any entry. But anyways, at least it's done now.
I initially said I would update once every season... I think I'll make updates more frequent so that less work accumulates. This was way too much.
<<Go to Introduction
In this update, I intend to change a few things in order, that I think I didn't get right the first time (again, making a top 100 is quite difficult), add some series that I actually forgot the first time (I've seen over 500 series, so, yeah, it can happen, and it happened), and of course, add things that I watched since I began writing that I just couldn't add in the middle of the writing.
I imagine this will be the biggest update of the top. There'll be a number of changes, but this time it will be a lot more quick. In this post I'll list every change here, and of course, the entries will be edited accordingly.
Now without further ado, let's go with the updates:
Series leaving the top (previous rank in parenthesis):
- Sakura Trick (#100)
- Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! (#99)
- R.O.D the TV (#98)
- No Game No Life (#97)
- Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. (#96)
- Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (#95)
- Ouran Koukou Host Club (#93)
- Shakugan no Shana (#92)
- Angel Beats! (#91)
- Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (#87)
- Mirai Nikki (#82)
- Psycho Pass (#81)
That's 12 series leaving the top this time, wich means 12 series will be coming in! Of course, it will be edited in their respective entries, but to have easier access to the new content, I'll put the new entries here also:
New in the rankings!:
100. Seto no Hanayome
This series doesn't have much qualities besides the comedy, but the comedy is damn good. Actually, this might be the series I've laughed the most with. It was a non-stop through every episode and even OVAs. It's a very simple kind of humor, not really the smart type (which I usually prefer), but by keeping it simple and stupid, this series was a hit for me.
Characters were quite likeable. Stupid likeable mermaids and Masa-san <3.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
86. Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann
- Can it be bigger?
- Yes
- Make it bigger
- Can it be even bigger?
- I don't think so...
- Doesn't matter make it EVEN BIGGER
When talking about over the top anime. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is THE KING. Everything is exaggerated, but I'm saying this in a good way, it's definitely on purpose, and it works. It works really well.
Gurren Lagann is a series that manages to always be fun, it's entertaining, crazy things happen all the time and it's, well, awesome. It's a very simple series, there's nothing really new in the plot, nothing to make you really think or anything of the sort, but that's exactly it's charm, Gurren Lagann is at its best by keeping things simple and entertaining.
The series has some likeable characters, and of course, is very famous (well deserved) for the GAR (aka, manliness) shown in the series... actually, that's probably the main over the top thing in this series. Besides that, the series does manage to make a lot of character development in its main cast, specially Simon who's forced to grow with some of the events in the series.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is sure fun for almost any anime fan.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
82. Akira
There's one thing about Akira that definitely stands out for me, and that's the setting. The dystopian Tokyo after a WWIII, with a lot of cyberpunk to it, is just fantastic. Besides the ideas being pretty good, and even while being a pretty old movie, it looks good. The artstyle of Akira is fantastic, and that definitely helps setting the scenario where this movie is played.
Akira clearly has problems as an adaption. I've yet to read the manga and I can still see that much. The story felt rushed a lot of times, but that said, it was never boring, it did manage to be interesting through the whole two hours (maybe the second half a bit less). The whole thing with the psychological powers experimentation was really interesting, and the main character was quite likeable (can't say I like the "antagonist" though).
Akira is a classic in the anime industry, and it's really worth the watch, and it's hard to believe it was actually made in the 80s.
LINK TO ITS CORRESPONDING ENTRY
77. Hotarubi no Mori e
This might just be the best 45 minutes movie I've ever seen.
Hotarubi no Mori e is pretty simple, but very well written. A very simple story about the encounter of a little girl and a youkai. It's about them spending time together in a relationship where they really begin caring for each other, but with the important rule that the girl can't touch the youkai (he would dissappear if she does).
This two only see each other through summer, when the girl goes to his grandfather's home to spend her vacations. What's really interesting here is watching the passing of time, how each year this girl is a little older, while the youkai remains the same. They just spend time together in the forest. The girls starts as a very little kid, but by the end she is a highschool student.
This is a very relaxing story, and has a pretty interesting ending. In some ways, this reminded me about Mushishi, and even more, Natsume Yuujinchou (and I haven't even watched it!). Definitely not as thought provoking as Mushishi, but still a great movie with great visuals and sounds, with a well thought story for the 45 minutes it lasts.
After watching this I really decided I need to watch Natsume Yuujinchou.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC)
When talking about anime classics, one of the first names to come up, if not the first, will always be Gundam.
The incredibly famous robot franchise created by Tomino has inspired a lot of modern and now-not-so-modern anime. While its not the first mecha anime, it is the first one that dwelved into the "real robots" genre, where mechas are not all-mighty indestructible machines, but just another weapon for war.
While of course the mecha is an important part of the story, Gundam is much more than that. It's a story about war, the development of characters forced to joined the war, and the development of a great rivalry between the main character, Rey Amuro, and the antagonist, Char Aznable. It's not a story about good vs bad, and just a story about two sides at war, mainly told from one side.
While I haven't watched the original series, the movies felt very complete by themselves, and I didn't feel I was lacking anything vital that the series might have given me (maybe a few small things).
I'm not really a fan of mechas as super robots, and I haven't liked a few Gundam series (Seed and Wing), but I decided to go with this as I wanted to explore the Universal Calendar world, which is the most extense and the better regarded. This was definitely the best Gundam stuff I've seen so far (and I did enjoy 00), and I'll soon be going into the rest of this universe.
Best thing about the series was Char Aznable, the antagonist. He was a really interesting character, extremely intelligent, talented and well developed, easily my favorite from this movie trilogy, though not because the main cast were bad, I actually liked Rey Amuro's development.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam get to a whole new level. Character development is much bigger in this one, and is much better with Tomino killing characters like there's no tomorrow. We get to see some characters from the prequel, but now as adults and much more mature, and while the new characters starts very annoying, they have some very big development (this is specially true for Kamille, the main character). It takes time, and the series is slow to start, but by the end, I could easily say it surpassed the prequel.
While I feared the newtype thing would not be too good, it's much better explored in this movie, and it actually didn't work that bad. Overall quality clearly improved and the OST was so much better.
Now, I know it's kind of a trend for Tomino to give weird names to it's characters, but what the fuck was he thinking when he named that-character-that-is-totally-not-Char-Aznable the name "Quattro Bajeena"... I mean.... you know what, I think I don't want to know what was he thinking.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
57. Kyousou Giga
Here's what I call a hidden gem. One of the best animes from 2012, and one that went really unnoticed from what I've seen. One of the best works I've seen from Toei Animation, which is actually amazingly animated and has some great OST.
What I loved the most about this series was that in the midst of a pretty alternative artstyle, and lots of abstract things, the series was really good at showing the concept of family. That's definitely the main topic of the series, and through the 10 episodes (plus an OVA) the family bonds between various characters are explored and developed in a great, crazy way (yes, crazy).
The characters in this anime are very likeable, and Rie Kugimiya does a great job as Koto, the main character (no, it's not a tsundere). Koto is a very energetic character, she's really a kid that likes playing around, and while she tends to be a bit destructive (well, this goes for pretty much all kids) she's extremely kind, enough to change the people around her. Her development, for a 10 episodes series is quite amazing, as she little by little starts feeling "at home" in this magical world with this people she got to know.
This series is bizarre in many ways, it' just not like every anime out there, it uses a lot of colors, and a kind of fantasy world full of things, a lot of things are always happenings, but it never feels like it's excess. It's a fun experience. The whole setting, plot and characters are all very crazy, but the inner message of the story couldn't be more coherent.
The series incorporates a lot from buddhism and japanese folklore, sometimes in literal forms and sometimes in more symbolic ways, and it puts everything together, seemingly without order, but that somehow makes complete sense. Again, the animation helps a lot in this. Toei truly made a magnificent job animating this series, definitely being the best work I've seen from this studio in terms of animation quality and, more importantly, creativity. This show is just incredibly creative in every aspect, something innovative, something that gets a little bit away from the clichés and tries (and succeeds to) bring something new to the table.
Kyousou Giga was a fresh experience, an amazing series that's only shame I've rarely seen it even mentioned. Damn, it's so rarely mentioned that even I forgot including it in the first edition of this top.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu
Kiseijuu came a bit as a surprise to me when it was first announced. Until I was relatively advanced in the series, I didn't know it was an adaption of an old manga, and I didn't expect much about the series, until I saw the trailer, which showed me some promise. Luckily, Kiseijuu delivered for me, becoming the best anime of 2014, and clearly the show I was expecting the most every week.
This is clearly an action show, but it's not just mindless action, as the series explores both Shinichi's and Migi's development (as well as their relationship obviously). I can see how Togashi took some inspiration from this series to write the Chimera Ants arc in Hunter X Hunter (admittedly, Hunter X Hunter does a better job than Kiseijuu).
While it doesn't dwelve much into it, Kiseijuu tries showing how humans are just another animal in this world, and Kiseijuu shows us the idea of a race that would be over us in the food chain, but in the end, they're not evil, they're just like us, only we happen to be their food, just like many things happen to be our food. If cows could think, we would definitely be worse than monsters, wouldn't we?
Kiseijuu is a series that kept me entertained from the beginning to the end. It was fun, some nice action, a little bit more mature than a shounen (well, duh, it's a seinen), and I actually enjoyed some fresh gore after going through the censorship hell from Terra Formars and Tokyo Ghoul.
The ending of Kiseijuu tends to be criticized, but I thought it was actually a proper conclusion to the series. While it might have not be surprising or flashy, it was definitely appropiate. I actually thought episode 23 was one of the strongest one of the series. I liked a lot how things played out, did give a few things to think about, and, the most important, didn't fail to give a proper conclusion to the story (last episode was more of an epilogue).
I don't know how this works as an adaption, but as a series, I think Madhouse did a great job animating this. Animation was overall pretty good and OST was fantastic (even if the ending has some of the worse engrish I've ever heard... actually took me some time to even know it was english). I loved the work they did, even if it didn't get to Hunter X Hunter quality (the series was done by the same people in charge of Hunter X Hunter 2011).
An extremely enjoyable series, and one that I would recommend to almost anyone.
LINK TO THE CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen
I'll start by saying this, I suppose: I haven't read Berserk manga nor watched the series. I may watch the series in the future, but I won't read the manga at least until Miura finishes it (if he doesn't die before...). Because of this, everything written here is based on the movies only.
First thing, Berserk brings some pretty nice memories because I actually watched this movie trilogy along with my mother (no, she's not dead, so it's not one of those happy-sad memories...she's perfectly fine). I was pretty surprised how much she actually enjoyed the movies and became quite the Griffith fan (aka the guy who looks like a girl).
When watching the movies, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the setting. It's not that common to see an anime with a medieval setting that's well done, but Berserk really pulls it off quite well. I love the different battles through the series, the sceneries and pretty much everything in that aspect.
While most of the cast is pretty forgettable, Guts and Griffith are definitely not. They were really great characters, and the friendship/rivalry relationship between these two was maybe the strongest point of the movies. I loved the interactions between the two, which will obviously be key for whatever comes after the movies. The constant development of both of them is pretty interesting, and I found Griffith to be specially interesting. He's quite an ambitious character (and the third movie shows it better than any), and I throughly enjoyed watching how he and his group kept climbing the ranks together, and of course, all the events that eventually happen when they get as far as they're supposed to get.
To be honest, the third and most popular movie was the one that impressed me the most. Until that point, there wasn't that much fantasy in the series, and that movie injects a whole lot of fantasy to the series which killed one of the things I loved the most about this series. But that doesn't mean it was bad, because the fantasy at least was interesting and helped giving quite a twist to this relation between Guts and Griffith... but again, I think I would've been better without all that supernatural things.
Anyways, I really enjoyed the movies, and production values were quite good also. Fights were fun, story was engaging and while I'm sure they must've skipped and/or rushed things, for me, as someone who doesn't know any other material, it wasn't much of a problem.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
36. Terra e...
Can't say this was much of a surprise, as I honestly expected something pretty good, but the good thing is it definitely delivered to my expectations. Terra e, also known as Towards the Terra, was a great series. A great story that was very well told.
First thing, I love the setting of this story. A world were humans abandoned Earth because it was no longer an habitable planet (of course, because of humans) and went to colonize planets. So far, this is a pretty common setting for space operas. It gets a little bit better when we learn that the way human lives is really controlled by one computer, and people live in some kind of utopia (which of course, we'll eventually learn that, in fact, it's just superficial). While none of this concepts is something really new, the combination of them makes a pretty interesting setting, specially when you add the fact that some humans are actually developing some psychic powers. This humans are called Mus, and humanity desperately tries to eliminate them. So far, some of them managed to escape, and they sometimes manage to save newly born ones (Shin, our main character, being an example) and right now they live in hiding, and could almost be considered aliens.
The story is told from both the human point of view (with Keith Anyan as main character) and from the Mus side (with Jomy as main character), but this is not like Legend of the Galactic Heroes, for example, where the series doesn't really have a good and evil guy, in this case, Keith is clearly put in an antagonic position with Jomy being more of a good guy but that said, the story does evolve into something were nobody is really evil per se.
Character development is probably the biggest strength of the series, as this is pretty much about how both Jomy and Keith development. How they both eventually become leaders and rivals, and maybe even more (no no, I don't mean love. This is no yaoi!). But it's not only those two, the series really manages to create a big cast of characters and give relative importance to each of them, something that's not easy to pull with just 24 episodes, but that they actually managed to do very well. A lot of years pass through the span of 24 episodes, and it was really interesting see each character grow.
Besides that, animation looked pretty good and the OST was impressive. Sometimes I wished this was more of a seinen instead of a shounen, but for a shounen, it's actually a pretty mature series that dwelves a little into politics, and again, has much more development in their characters than the usual shounen.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
28. Banner of the Stars
Took me long enough to actually watch this space opera. But at least I did, and it was really worth it. I actually watched this just a little before closing my top 100, so I always felt it was kind of a shame that I couldn't include it in the first edition, but it was just a little too late. Anyways, better late than never, and it was thanks to this series that I thought to myself "I definitely need to update this the moment I'm done with the first version."
If it's about romance in space, I've yet to see a series that's better than this one (not even Yamato, at least in that regard). Our main characters, Jinto and Lafiel are what this story really is about. As a difference from other space operas, here romance takes the center role of the story, yet at the same time, it nevers feels to invasive. That's because the couple feels natural, the progress of this relationship is never forced and the series never gets way too romantic. It's a main topic, but it's served in a good dosis.
The story starts with an OVA (Crest of the Stars: Birth/Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou), which is about Lafiel parents. This OVA was okay, but nothing really special. To be honest, it lowered my initial expectations of the series. But then Crest of the Stars/Seikai no Monshou began, and my opinion of the series quickly changed for the better. Crest served as an introduction to our characters and the beginning of their relationship. They're certainly different in many senses, but little by little they begin caring for each other. This whole first season is mainly centered in the forging of their relationship, and works as an introduction (a very good one, I must say) to what comes next.
The first Senki season is when things get really serious. There's a war going on, and the series focuses on the ship (led by Lafiel) our main characters are. The whole season is mainly centered in warfare and the actions our characters take during said war.
Senki II is probably the strongest part of the series, this time more focused in the political aspect of the series, as well as developing the relationship between Jinto and Lafiel much more. Our characters need to act as ambassadors in a prison planet that's divided in three factions, and where a war could easily break out. A lot of political stuff here, and eventually some really interesting events that lead to the relationship of our characters clearly acquire some kind of shape.
Finally, Senki III serves pretty well to give some kind of ending to the story. While obviously much shorter than the others, the story is pretty good.
Only shame with this series is that it leaves you wanting more. While it's not like it finishes with a cliffhanger or something like that, it is pretty clear that there's a lot more in that universe to be explored. And it couldn't be any other way, as the original source is a series of ongoing (to this day) novels. There are five in total and only three have been adapted (and again, they're not finished). Hopefully one day we get more of this series.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
13. The Tatami Galaxy
Tatami Galaxy really is an anime like no other. A very thought-provoking series that might just be about life itself.
Decisions. Life is full of decisions, some of them might seem very big and some might seem trivial to the point we forget them a minute after making them, but every single decision forges the path we take, and sometimes, the most trivial of decisions might actually become one of the most important in your life. For example, choosing to eat fish instead of pasta will probably end in you eating fish and resuming life, but sometimes, that fish might be bad for you, cause sickness, make you not go to work and just that they there could be an explosion were you work and you could be saved because you were sick. We can't just say that the fish saved your life, but definitely we can say that the decision of eating fish led to you not being caught up in the explosion. Maybe it's a stupid example, but you get the point (or maybe not so much, as something like that did happen to my mother, except it was with an airplane crashing).
Tatami Galaxy is about this, and in each episodes it shows us the infinite possibilites of our main characters that can change with each decisions. Because of this, the series uses a lot of repetitions, to the point that there are events that repeat every single episode, but while it might seem, well, repetitive, Tatami Galaxy never comes off as repetitive, it's an absolutely engaging story, even while having the quickest dialogues you'll ever see (you better not be doing anything while you watch this, because even blinking can make you miss something).
Madhouse went completely experimental while doing this anime, using a style of animation that I've never seen anywhere else... and I have to say the experiment was a complete success. The weird animation works extremely well with this series, it's not there just for the sake of aesthetics, but it does helps telling the story, as well as it helps to the comical aspect of the series (which is incredibly good).
The main character "Watashi" ("Me" in japanese) is a very relatable character, and it was clearly never given a name for reason, as the viewer is supposed to put himself in the shoes of this character. The story is always told through him, and everything in this series goes according what he sees. Then there's Ozu, the best friend and worse enemy. The biggest troll anime has ever seen, in my opinion. Ozu is like that devil that's always between you and your happiness. He's evil, he's manipulative... he's pretty much the antithesis of Watashi, and the one always ruins things for him. Yet, he's his best friend.
Every little detail in this series has some meaning (and there's a lot of them), every little thing can change the story completely, and Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei makes sure you understand this. The infinite possibilites are there, within our grasp (but we can't actually go back once we chose a road). So think very well about what you do, no matter how small, do what you think is right, because there is no going back afterwards, and you might end up regretting it. That which might seem small today, might be enormous tomorrow. Make use of your oportunities.
This is a series that gives you just way too much in just 11 episodes. I never would've though a series would be capable of so much with so little framework. But Tatami Galaxy does it. Tatami Galaxy is a unique experience, and while it might seem like those kind of anime difficult to get, it's actually not. Tatami Galaxy is actually pretty clear relaying it's message, the direction must've really make a point of emphasis to make sure this is a story people can easily understand, even if it looks like it's not. And that's what makes Tatami Galaxy so good. It's thought-provoking, but at the same time it's a very clear series, not something abstract were many people will get different opinions. I'm sure if you read or talk to another person about this series, he'll tell you something in the lines of what I'm writing.
Oh, and yes, at the beginning, the speed of the dialogues can be hard to follow, but I couldn't help but wonder how impressive the human brain is, because after a few minutes into the first episode, my brain was completely used to the dialogue speed, what seemed ridiculously quick at the very beginning, was pretty normal just after a few minutes. Was that actually made on purpose? If so, I can only tip my hat (again) to this series.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
6. Ashita no Joe
This 2015, I decided was going to watch a lot of old series that are supposed to be great, and thank god I did, because I'm quickly discovering gems, and Ashita no Joe is definitely one of them. We're talking here about a series that had its pilots made in 1969, a first season made in 1970 and a second season made 10 years after in 1980. Ashita no Joe was actually the oldest anime I had ever seen the moment I watched it (season 1, that is).
When I decided to watch Ashita no Joe, I knew it was going to be a great series. I just don't believe the title could survive so well through so much years just because of some good fights, so I was really expecting Ashita no Joe to become one of my favorite sports series, this was even before watching one episode... I was right, but it was much more. Joe didn't just become my favorite sports series (and there's quite a difference with Ping Pong and Chihaya, which were my favorite sports series before), it became one of my favorite series ever. I was impressed, very impressed with this series. Absolutely amazing experience, outstanding writing, something good enough to become a timeless classic. This could've been made in 1920 being just pictures with the story... I'm pretty sure I'd still enjoy it a lot.
Ashita no Joe is, well, a story about Joe. While this might sound (and is) totally obvious, I'm saying this because this is about Joe the person, not just the boxer. I'm not sure I can say I've seen a character as well written as Joe, there's certainly a few that can compete (Reinhard von Lohengramm, Yang Wenli and Oscar François de Jarjeyes are the only ones that actually comes to mind). Joe's development is just beyond fantastic. This is a character that starts from the lowest possible point in life, he's got nothing, he's a jerk, he's society scum, but little by little events and characters will lead him to grow up, and keep growing up through the series. To give an idea, there isn't a single match of boxing through the first 20 episodes or so, and an official fight takes even more to take place. The process of Joe becoming a boxer is something huge in this series, and the way the people he finds in the road help build what Joe finally becomes.
Joe, from the very beginning, is a pretty strong fellow, but thanks to old man Danpei, a man who casually saw Joe fighting and saw an inmense boxing potential. He becomes completely obsessed with making Joe a boxer. Their relationship probably really starts when Danpei beats Joe in a fight using boxing skills (this was actually helping the cops, which sends Joe to prison, which Danpei thought was the best so he could reform). From this point on, Joe and Danpei's relationship will develop to something that goes beyond coach and pupil, and something much closer to father and son. Danpei's seiyuu makes such a great job here, you can feel Danpei's emotion each time he shouts "Joe!".
Rikiishi is another character that's absolutely key in Joe's development. Meeting this man in prison is what finally gives Joe a goal in life. It's what makes Joe finally get to love boxing. Rikiishi is the first man that shows real respect for Joe. They become rivals, and at the same time, they become the best of friends. This is not showed by the two hanging with each other, it's that pure respect as rivals, that desire to compete with each other what makes them such good friends in a way that goes beyond words. It's something they just now. This relationship will change Joe forever, and will prove to be a key through the whole series.
Just like Rikiishi, through his way, Joe will meet a few other rivals that will make his flame burn red-hot. That's what makes Joe, Joe. He's a passionte man who once he sets a goal, nothing, and I mean it when I say nothing, will stop him to try his best to get to it. While Joe develops a lot through the series, you can definitely see that he never stops being who he is from the very start, which makes the character development that much better.
This might be a drama before a sports series, because the series might dwelve much more into some dramatic situations Joe has to go through, even more than the fights by themselves. The relationship between the characters are all very well forged. From the more important characters like Rikiishi and Danpei, to some little less important characters like Yohko and the kids (well, Yohko does become much more important afterwards... and no, this is never a romantic series).
The first season was made in 1970, so yes, animation can be bad at times and you can definitely see the limitations that there were at the time, but overall, I didn't think it affected much the story, and even with said limitations, the fights managed to be quite good. The OST was a bit limited, there were just a few themes that were reused a lot, but at least they were pretty good.
Through the first few episodes, I was starting to doubt season 2, as it had quite a long recap of season 1, which was probably fine considering it was made 10 years after, but as someone who watched it immediately afterwards, it was obviously a bit repetitive, even if said recap was done with much better animation (it's impressive how things changed from 1970 to 1980) and a much more varied OST (outstanding OST by the way). But this was just through the first episodes. When the last arc of season 1 came in season 2, I was instantly hooked and never let the series go until I finished. The final arc from season 1 was not a recap, it was actually much more detailed, and it was just so much better, and the series kept going from there, and by the end, I had to admit that not only season 2 managed to keep up with season 1, but thanks to one of the most memorable endings I've ever seen, it managed to even surpass season 1.
GAR? Manliness? In the anime industry, those things were probably born here. Joe is all about that, and it's actually the best of its kind. It's just impressive, to a point it's really hard to describe. What this series did so many years ago is something that I've yet to see any other series achieve. It's definitely a timeless classic. The flame of this series burn at its fullest through the whole run, to finally become white ash at the very end. Ashita no Joe was really amazing in every aspect.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
5. Rose of Versailles
Oh, I hate the artstyle in this series. But well, that's part of the pack when we're talking about a shoujo anime. Anyways, while I might dislike the artstyle, that's far from a reason to stop watching this series, the artstyle is something trivial in comparison to the story, character development, and history elements of this series.
Just like Joe, this is another of my 2015 project of watching old series... and just as Joe, it ended up being a gem.
I don't know if Rose of Versailles is the best shoujo or not. It's definitely my favorite, but that might just be because I feel the shoujo elements are just too secondary in terms of story and characters (they're certainly VERY present in aesthetics). But I can definitely say this is the best anime I've seen in terms if historic elements. Easily.
Rose of Versailles takes place before and during the French Revolution, and while it might not be 100% accurate (starting by the fact that Oscar didn't exist in real life... which is a shame), it's as accurate as it can get. A few details were changed to make the story more interesting, but every event is very well explained and true to history, to the point that I can really call Rose of Versailles a good source to learn a bit about how the French Revolution began, and what happened at the beginning of it (of course, you have to be smart enough to separate fiction from reality, but that's not really difficult if you know Oscar, André and Bernard are ficticious characters).
Oscar François de Jerjeyes, our main character, is one of the best characters I've had the pleasure to watch. She's a girl that's raised like a man and it's treated as such by everyone... well, and she really is like one, and a very GAR guy at that (not by looks, but by attitude). Her development through the series is certainly one of the main topics of it. How we little by little start discovering the girl she is, but without never losing her chivalrous persona. She's a born leader, a very intelligent person, and an extremely loyal vassal (maybe to a fault). In the series, she indirectly influences a lot of the events that lead to the French Revolution (to the best, actually, without Oscar it would've probably been much worse) and while watching the constant decay of monarchy, she grows, learns a bit more about the world (she starts as a noble not really aware of the real state France is in). The way her mentality changes through the series, the way she analyzes all the events of the series is absolutely fantastic.
As a series set in the 17th century, Rose of Versailles gives a heavy critic to a decaying aristocracy, and politics play a huge role in this series, in a way that's certainly like the Empire from Legend of the Galactic Heroes at the beginning of the series (and the Gaidens). This aristocracy is very well shown, using the prime example of Marie Antoinette as a main character of this story, a queen who became a symbol of the fallen monarchy of France. This is quite interesting, because Rose of Versailles actually depicts Marie Antoinette like a really good girl, but sadly, a very naive and stubborn person too, which proves to be completely fatal. The way Marie Antoinette is shown in the series is one of the most interesting themes of the series, which, while it doesn't defend all the mistakes she did, also doesn't try to put her just like the bad gal of the movie.
There's a lot of historic figures in the series, and as a whole, the way they're shown in the series is very faithful to the way they are described in history books, besides small differences. On the other hand, the few ficticious characters add a lot to the story to make it even more interesting. While watching Oscar, I remembered my times learning about the events from the series in history, but of course, this was much more fun (and this comes from a guy who enjoys history).
As I said before, you really can learn a lot with Rose of Versailles, and that's not really something I can say with other historical series. Sure, some series have a few things you can learn, but Rose of Versailles is very detailed about the historical facts, makes them a main point like no other anime has... at least none that I've seen.
LINK TO CORRESPONDING BLOG ENTRY
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The Top 100 BEFORE the update:
100. Sakura Trick
99. Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!
98. R.O.D the TV
97. No Game No Life
96. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru.
95. Suzumiya Haruhi Series
94. Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
93. Ouran Koukou Host Club
92. Shakugan no Shana
91. Angel Beats!
90. Blood+
89. Utawarerumono
88. Beck
87. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
86. Kokoro Connect
85. Ghost Hound
84. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
83. Mobile Suit Gundam (movie trilogy)
82. Mirai Nikki (TV)
81. Psycho Pass (season 1 only)
80. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
79. Level E
78. Usagi Drop
77. Jormungand
76. Kuroko no Basket
75. Durarara!!
74. Little Busters!
73. Slam Dunk
72. FLCL
71. Seirei no Moribito
70. Darker than Black
69. Monogatari Series
68. Dragon Ball
67. Slayers
66. Ping Pong The Animation
65. Space Dandy
64. Katanagatari
63. Mouryou no Hako
62. Log Horizon
61. Gosick
60. Lovely Complex
59. Serial Experiments Lain
58. One Piece
57. Clannad
56. Great Teacher Onizuka
55. Haibane Renmei
54. Kanon
53. Air
52. Chihayafuru
51. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai
50. Welcome to the NHK
49. Death Note
48. White Album 2
47. Sennen Joyuu
46. Toradora!
45. Zetsuen no Tempest
44. Tokyo Godfathers
43. Eureka Seven
42. Shiki
41. Aoi Bungaku Series
40. Stranger: Mukou Hadan
39. Hellsing Ultimate
38. Fate/Zero
37. Full Metal Panic!
36. Kara no Kyoukai
35. Code Geass
34. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
33. Black Lagoon
32. Higashi no Eden
31. Samurai Champloo
30. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai.
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen
28. Baccano!
27. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
26. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
25. Planetes
24. Hotaru no Haka
23. Cowboy Bebop
22. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
21. Shinsekai Yori
20. Juuni Kokuki
19. Nodame Cantabile
18. Gin no Saji
17. Sakamichi no Apollon
16. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
15. Now and Then, Here and There
14. Bakuman
13. Spice & Wolf
12. Kingdom
11. Mawaru Penguindrum
10. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
9. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
8. Hunter X Hunter (2011)
7. Ghost in the Shell
6. Steins;Gate
5. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
4. Mushishi
3. Detective Conan
2. Monster
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Again, I will say I actually enjoyed all of these series, they just missed the cut against other series.
Top 100 AFTER the update (rank change in parenthesis):
100. Seto no Hanayome (New)
99. To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (-5)
98. Utawarerumono (-9)
97. Beck (-9)
96. Kokoro Connect (-10)
95. Ghost Hound (-10)
94. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (-14)
93. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (-9)
92. Level E (-13)
91. Usagi Drop (-13)
90. Jormungand (-13)
89. Kuroko no Basket (-13)
88. Durarara!! (-13)
87. Little Busters! (-13)
86. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (New)
85. Blood+ (+5)
84. Slam Dunk (-11)
83. FLCL (-11)
82. Akira (New)
81. Darker than Black (-11)
80. Log Horizon (-18)
79. Seirei no Moribito (-8)
78. Monogatari Series (-9)
77. Hotarubi no Mori e (New)
76. Mobile Suit Gundam (UC) (+7)
75. Dragon Ball (-7)
74. Slayers (-7)
73. Space Dandy (-8)
72. Katanagatari (-8)
71. Mouryou no Hako (-8)
70. Gosick (-9)
69. Lovely Complex (-9)
68. Ping Pong: The Animation (-2)
67. Serial Experiments Lain (-8)
66. One Piece (-8)
65. Clannad (-8)
64. Great Teacher Onizuka (-8)
63. Kanon (2006) (-9)
62. Air (-9)
61. Chihayafuru (-9)
60. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (-9)
59. Welcome to the NHK (-9)
58. Death Note (-9)
57. Kyousou Giga (New)
56. Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (New)
55. Haibane Renmei (-)
54. White Album 2 (-6)
53. Sennen Joyuu (-6)
52. Toradora! (-6)
51. Zetsuen no Tempest (-6)
50. Tokyo Godfathers (-6)
49. Stranger: Moukou Hadan (-9)
48. Eureka Seven (-5)
47. Shiki (-5)
46. Hellsing Ultimate (-7)
45. Fate/Zero (-7)
44. Full Metal Panic! (-7)
43. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wa Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (-13)
42. Kara no Kyoukai (-6)
41. Code Geass (-6)
40. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (-6)
39. Black Lagoon (-6)
38. Higashi no Eden (-6)
37. Berserk: Ougon Jidaihen (New)
36. Terra e... (New)
35. Samurai Champloo (-4)
34. Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (-8)
33. Aoi Bungaku Series (+8)
32. Baccano! (-4)
31. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (-4)
30. Cowboy Bebop (-7)
29. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuiokuhen (-)
28. Banner of the Stars (New)
27. Planetes (-2)
26. Hotaru no Haka (-2)
25. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (-3)
24. Juuni Kokuki (-4)
23. Gin no Saji (-5)
22. Nodame Cantabile (-3)
21. Sakamichi no Apollon (-4)
20. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (-4)
19. Now and Then, Here and There (-4)
18. Shinsekai Yori (+3)
17. Bakuman (-3)
16. Spice & Wolf (-3)
15. Kingdom (-3)
14. Mawaru Penguindrum (-3)
13. The Tatami Galaxy (New)
12. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (-3)
11. Hunter X Hunter (2011) (-3)
10. Gankutsuou (-)
9. Ghost in the Shell (-2)
8. Steins;Gate (-2)
7. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (-2)
6. Ashita no Joe (New)
5. Rose of Versailles (New)
4. Mushishi (-)
3. Detective Conan (-)
2. Monster (-)
Honorable Mention: Inferno Cop
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes (-)
And that would be it for this first update... Damn, it was a lot more work than I thought it'd be... A lot more work than any entry. But anyways, at least it's done now.
I initially said I would update once every season... I think I'll make updates more frequent so that less work accumulates. This was way too much.
<<Go to Introduction
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | Apr 1, 2015 7:43 PM | 0 comments
March 26th, 2015
My Top 100 Anime (1)
Anime Relations: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden: Ougon no Tsubasa, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Arata naru Tatakai no Overture, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999)
Hope you guys had a good laugh at least with the Inferno Cop entry before. I was originally planning to do that on April's Fool, but then again, I didn't want to extend this more than it needs to, and I've never really cared about April's Fool.
This time is for real (no, you won't get Utsu Musume Sayuri, Shitcom or Nami), because this entry probably doesn't surprise absolutely anyone (just giving a quick look to my profile should make it obvious) I decided to make the Inferno Cop thing to at least give one last surprise.
Again, while this might come as obvious, writing about it is one of the main reasons I did this top. I want to write about it with total subjectivity, not like a review, just give some love and recommend the series to anyone who hasn't watched it.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good.
—Yang Wen-li
For the people who have followed this ranking, the road has probably been a little bit unknown, but the goal was probably known to most. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu truly became a unique experience for me. I can't even scale how much I like it, as it would kill the other anime. This series had almost everything I love in a series, and done extremely well. This is definitely my favorite show.
"Legend of the Galactic Heroes"... To be honest, I hated the title before (when I hadn't watched the series). An anime from the 80s that's called Legend of the Galactic Heroes? Didn't appeal to me one bit... I mean, it just didn't. I've never had a problem with old anime, I will watch one if I think it's going to be good, but I'm not hipster enough to say I prefer old over new. I do appreciate what technology is able to do nowadays. What is this show about? I honestly thought it was going to be about some kind of super heroes riding super spaceships, mechas or whatever defeating evil.... Hoho, I was so wrong, but so wrong. One of the biggest heroes from the story wouldn't be able to shoot a gun to save his life! This was a story about true heroes, and ironically enough, by the time I finished the series, I thought no title could have been better for this series than "Legend of the Galactic Heroes."
Because of those stupid reasons, I never actually watched the series until August 2014, but while I'm ashamed of letting it go for so much time, I do think it was worth the wait, for Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is an anime full of references to real life history, both military and politically. While I would've still enjoyed watching this 7 years ago, I'm sure I wouldn't have appreciated half as much as I did. I was younger, I had less knowledge, less experience... those things might not matter that much for most anime, but in this one, it makes it a completely different experience.
First let's start with a tip for those who've yet to watch this: Watch it in chronological order! I've usually seen people saying to watch it in release order, but let me completely disagree with them. I think chronological order is the way to go. Yes, the best part is the main OVAs of the series, and yes, Overture to a New War is a movie that will give you really quickly what Legend of the Galactic Heroes is all about, but I still think that this story is much better being told in chronological order. The Gaidens will help you grow with some characters, will make you enter the main OVA series already knowing and loving a lot of the characters from the series, will make you appreciate them more, and well, grieve them more (this series is not afraid of killing characters). I watched this in chronological order, and I can say there's A LOT of things I wouldn't have appreciated nearly as much had I watched this in release order (I watched them in chronological order, but starting with Golden Wings, which I also recommend). Not only that, but watching it in chronological order will help you understand and appreciate much more Reinhard's position in the Empire (and Yang's in the Alliance, though to a lesser extent).
Now, where to start... Let's see.... This is not the first or last anime were a story is told from both sides of the battle. We could see it with Char Aznable and Rey Amuro in Mobile Suit Gundam before, and we could see it in Terra e... with Jomy Marquis Shin and Keith Anyan (of course, there are more examples), but in no case you can find the level of detail found in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and the impartiality found in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's for you to decide who you root for, there is no perfect good... or evil, there are just different stances colliding, both with a good amount of both good and evil (truth is, you'll likely change sides a lot through the story, or never actually pick one). Because of this, an impressive rivalry is born between Reinhard and Yang Wenli, a rivalry that will last a lot, a rivalry that I highly doubt anyone will forget. Easily the best rivalry I've ever seen in an anime. I mean, it's not even close, even though I've loved other rivalries.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has a huge cast though, and there is much more to it than just Yang and Reinhard, there are a lot, and I really mean A LOT, of characters that have a big importance through the series, characters that are quite developed by themselves and help a lot in the development of both of the main characters. Siegfried Kircheis, Julian Mintz, Oskar von Reuenthal, Dusty Attenborough, Wolfgang Mittermeyer, Walter von Schonkopf, Paul von Oberstein, Frederica Greenhill, Hildegard von Mariendorf, Alex Cazellnu, Ulrich Kesler.... you get the picture. There are a lot of characters that prove to be very important both in politics and warfare, and while Yang and Reinhard might be the most important, they make it a point the fact that they don't accomplish things just by themselves.
A democracy in decadence against an autocracy with a great ruler. That's a big point in this series (well, at the beginning, they're both in pretty bad shape), and a debate that the series never tries to answer, as there is no correct answer to it, but there are opinions about it, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes invites you to think about this situation... it does it quite frequently, actually. The series is always touching political matters in both sides, and it's quite detailed when explaining how things work... very detailed.
Actually, because of this, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is really a sea of quotes. I mean, there are so much great quotes in this series, that it's very rare to see an episode without at least two or three great quotes... and there are actually some episodes that have more than I can count. This series gives you a great perspective about what a democracy is, what an autocracy is and what are the good and bad things behind each.
By watching my profile, it would not be that difficult to guess that my favorite character is Yang Wenli, he's my favorite anime character of all-time, actually, and that's because besides his great development and knowledge, he's a character I can relate a lot to (I feel like I'm throwing myself flowers here). The black-haired (not too long, not too short) guy who loves tea, pretty lazy but intelligent, not a sports lover, very disorganized, extremely sarcastic, knowledgeable about history and awful at proposing. For the good and the bad things, I can relate a lot to Yang Wenli (though I don't drink alcohol and I'm a pretty good marksman). Yang is an extremely likeable character (Oh, I love myself!), and a guy who develops quite a lot without changing is way of being. I love watching this guy who only wants to live an easy life being forced to the military and going up the ranks because, even if he doesn't want to, he's too damn good at warfare.
On the other hand, Reinhard is a very ambitious guy, he has huge goals (become the ruler of the universe) and it's extremely talented at pretty much everything. He is the character with the most development in the series, the one that changes the most (and the one with the best hair, of course!). His development is nothing short of amazing. The way he goes up the ranks and how he little by little try to get to his goal while pretty much everyone wants him dead (of course, with a lot of help from his irrepleaceble friend, Kircheis). But while being extremely good at everything, he's far from being a character without flaws, with the main one being overly impulsive. He grows a lot through the series, and might just be the best developed character I've seen.
No, Legend of the Galactic Heroes doesn't really use very complicated tactics, but this is mainly because the series emulates tactics from history (real life), which are often quite simple. Effective, but simple. There is a lot of emphasis in this by Yang, who repeatedly talks about how important is knowing about the past for a strategist. Yang, who's shown as the best strategist in this series is always talking about how he relies in the past (lets remember this series is supposed to be set in our future, so we're that past) to see what his opponents are going to do and to decide what is he going to do... and it works. You can see a lot from some of the most famous battles in our history through the different battles shown in the series, and this includes the stupid actions some characters might take, or the typical case of overestimating someone by reputation. I'm sorry if a break someone's dream with this, but that's how real battles work, it's not a battle of super complex strategy. That just doesn't happen. Wars of attrition, cutting supply lines, stupid errors by incompetent generals, bad judgement of terrain... those are things that usually define wars, and most "brilliant" strategies are often actually quite simple things. There was a lot of research done in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, that is very noticeable in the flow of wars.
I didn't found the artstyle of the series particularly good, but neither particularly bad, the animation was actually subpar, even for its time, but the OST was magnificent. All the OST is classical music, famous pieces by famous composers like Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, Chopin, etc. If you like classical music, you'll love this, and if you don't really listen to classical music, you'll probably start listening after watching this series (that's just a bet, I already loved classical music before, though after watching the series I began listening even more, and some of the pieces used in the series have even more value for me now).
I honestly don't recommend this to everyone, at least not immediately. I honestly think this is a series meant for people a bit more mature... and I honestly don't want to insult people who don't like Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu with this. I said this at the beginning, but using myself as an example, I just know it would've just not be the same watching this as a teenager as watching it over my twenties. I know I would've enjoyed it all the same because I've always loved these kind of series, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes gets to a point that you don't really have to be a fan of things about war or space operas, it's just a good series, forget about the genres. But there is a lot that it's meant for people with more experience and knowledge. Again, not having it is quite fine, doesn't make you any less intelligent or anything. Actually, waiting a little bit is probably a smart move (for those who watched it early, I recommend a rewatch when they're a bit older, even if they already liked the series). I have a friend who's 29, and he'll gladly admit he wouldn't have enjoyed the series as much as he did had he watched it five years ago (and I can assure you, he's a smart guy, an extremely intelligent guy who was just as intelligent five years ago).
I don't expect to ever find an anime as good as Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I just don't (though I'd love to be wrong, I'd be delighted). I have a hard time imagining a project so ambitious being replicated. This is a series that took more than 10 years to be finished, and had to be done in OVA format because at the time people didn't want a full series about this series of novels. Luckily, at the time, Noboru Ishiguro, the late director, took quite a risk doing this, and paid off. But I just can't imagine something like this being replicated.
I've seen that the main problem with this series for most people are the "annoying fans", "elitists" or whatever. Please, I beg of everyone never to use that as a reason not to watch it (this actually applies to any series). Some fans might be annoying, some might bash your favorite series, which is not right, but please understand that if fans of the series talk so much about it and how great it is, it's because of something. This really is a great series, it's extremely enjoyable in many aspects, so please, don't hate on it just because of the people who like it.
I found this series to be good enough to sit a top everything I've put in this ranking, including something that means so much to me like Conan and something I thought was so good as Monster. Yet, Legend of the Galactic Heroes sits at the top, and I didn't even have a hard time choosing.
In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same..
Now we're really finished... at least with the first edition of this Top 100. It's been quite a long journey and I've enjoyed a lot writing about all of this series. Starting by my yuri spice in Sakura Trick to finally finish with my favorite anime in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. This has been great, and I can only say thank you to everyone who has actually read this top. I really mean it. At first I thought it'd be just me, and with some luck two more, but by watching the comments, both in the blog and my profile, I noticed there was a lot more people reading, I was honestly impressed, and I really feel quite humbled.
Hopefully, you don't go to far now that it's finished, because the first update (which will probably be the biggest one) will change a lot of things in the top... in the end, I believe there will be 12 new series, which also means 12 of the actual series will be leaving the top (all of that will be detailed when I post the update). Besides that, I did some fixing to some positions... and I'm overall more content with what the new version of the top will be.
I don't know for sure when I'll post the first update, and if I'm going to post it in just one entry or divide it into two entries. But it will most likely be done soon.
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
27/3/2015 2:20: Entry created
27/3/2015 2:26: Added links to previous entry and honorable mention
13/4/2017 19:40: Fixed image
<<Go to 3-2
This time is for real (no, you won't get Utsu Musume Sayuri, Shitcom or Nami), because this entry probably doesn't surprise absolutely anyone (just giving a quick look to my profile should make it obvious) I decided to make the Inferno Cop thing to at least give one last surprise.
Again, while this might come as obvious, writing about it is one of the main reasons I did this top. I want to write about it with total subjectivity, not like a review, just give some love and recommend the series to anyone who hasn't watched it.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good.
—Yang Wen-li
For the people who have followed this ranking, the road has probably been a little bit unknown, but the goal was probably known to most. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu truly became a unique experience for me. I can't even scale how much I like it, as it would kill the other anime. This series had almost everything I love in a series, and done extremely well. This is definitely my favorite show.
"Legend of the Galactic Heroes"... To be honest, I hated the title before (when I hadn't watched the series). An anime from the 80s that's called Legend of the Galactic Heroes? Didn't appeal to me one bit... I mean, it just didn't. I've never had a problem with old anime, I will watch one if I think it's going to be good, but I'm not hipster enough to say I prefer old over new. I do appreciate what technology is able to do nowadays. What is this show about? I honestly thought it was going to be about some kind of super heroes riding super spaceships, mechas or whatever defeating evil.... Hoho, I was so wrong, but so wrong. One of the biggest heroes from the story wouldn't be able to shoot a gun to save his life! This was a story about true heroes, and ironically enough, by the time I finished the series, I thought no title could have been better for this series than "Legend of the Galactic Heroes."
Because of those stupid reasons, I never actually watched the series until August 2014, but while I'm ashamed of letting it go for so much time, I do think it was worth the wait, for Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu is an anime full of references to real life history, both military and politically. While I would've still enjoyed watching this 7 years ago, I'm sure I wouldn't have appreciated half as much as I did. I was younger, I had less knowledge, less experience... those things might not matter that much for most anime, but in this one, it makes it a completely different experience.
First let's start with a tip for those who've yet to watch this: Watch it in chronological order! I've usually seen people saying to watch it in release order, but let me completely disagree with them. I think chronological order is the way to go. Yes, the best part is the main OVAs of the series, and yes, Overture to a New War is a movie that will give you really quickly what Legend of the Galactic Heroes is all about, but I still think that this story is much better being told in chronological order. The Gaidens will help you grow with some characters, will make you enter the main OVA series already knowing and loving a lot of the characters from the series, will make you appreciate them more, and well, grieve them more (this series is not afraid of killing characters). I watched this in chronological order, and I can say there's A LOT of things I wouldn't have appreciated nearly as much had I watched this in release order (I watched them in chronological order, but starting with Golden Wings, which I also recommend). Not only that, but watching it in chronological order will help you understand and appreciate much more Reinhard's position in the Empire (and Yang's in the Alliance, though to a lesser extent).
Now, where to start... Let's see.... This is not the first or last anime were a story is told from both sides of the battle. We could see it with Char Aznable and Rey Amuro in Mobile Suit Gundam before, and we could see it in Terra e... with Jomy Marquis Shin and Keith Anyan (of course, there are more examples), but in no case you can find the level of detail found in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and the impartiality found in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. It's for you to decide who you root for, there is no perfect good... or evil, there are just different stances colliding, both with a good amount of both good and evil (truth is, you'll likely change sides a lot through the story, or never actually pick one). Because of this, an impressive rivalry is born between Reinhard and Yang Wenli, a rivalry that will last a lot, a rivalry that I highly doubt anyone will forget. Easily the best rivalry I've ever seen in an anime. I mean, it's not even close, even though I've loved other rivalries.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has a huge cast though, and there is much more to it than just Yang and Reinhard, there are a lot, and I really mean A LOT, of characters that have a big importance through the series, characters that are quite developed by themselves and help a lot in the development of both of the main characters. Siegfried Kircheis, Julian Mintz, Oskar von Reuenthal, Dusty Attenborough, Wolfgang Mittermeyer, Walter von Schonkopf, Paul von Oberstein, Frederica Greenhill, Hildegard von Mariendorf, Alex Cazellnu, Ulrich Kesler.... you get the picture. There are a lot of characters that prove to be very important both in politics and warfare, and while Yang and Reinhard might be the most important, they make it a point the fact that they don't accomplish things just by themselves.
A democracy in decadence against an autocracy with a great ruler. That's a big point in this series (well, at the beginning, they're both in pretty bad shape), and a debate that the series never tries to answer, as there is no correct answer to it, but there are opinions about it, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes invites you to think about this situation... it does it quite frequently, actually. The series is always touching political matters in both sides, and it's quite detailed when explaining how things work... very detailed.
Actually, because of this, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is really a sea of quotes. I mean, there are so much great quotes in this series, that it's very rare to see an episode without at least two or three great quotes... and there are actually some episodes that have more than I can count. This series gives you a great perspective about what a democracy is, what an autocracy is and what are the good and bad things behind each.
By watching my profile, it would not be that difficult to guess that my favorite character is Yang Wenli, he's my favorite anime character of all-time, actually, and that's because besides his great development and knowledge, he's a character I can relate a lot to (I feel like I'm throwing myself flowers here). The black-haired (not too long, not too short) guy who loves tea, pretty lazy but intelligent, not a sports lover, very disorganized, extremely sarcastic, knowledgeable about history and awful at proposing. For the good and the bad things, I can relate a lot to Yang Wenli (though I don't drink alcohol and I'm a pretty good marksman). Yang is an extremely likeable character (Oh, I love myself!), and a guy who develops quite a lot without changing is way of being. I love watching this guy who only wants to live an easy life being forced to the military and going up the ranks because, even if he doesn't want to, he's too damn good at warfare.
On the other hand, Reinhard is a very ambitious guy, he has huge goals (become the ruler of the universe) and it's extremely talented at pretty much everything. He is the character with the most development in the series, the one that changes the most (and the one with the best hair, of course!). His development is nothing short of amazing. The way he goes up the ranks and how he little by little try to get to his goal while pretty much everyone wants him dead (of course, with a lot of help from his irrepleaceble friend, Kircheis). But while being extremely good at everything, he's far from being a character without flaws, with the main one being overly impulsive. He grows a lot through the series, and might just be the best developed character I've seen.
No, Legend of the Galactic Heroes doesn't really use very complicated tactics, but this is mainly because the series emulates tactics from history (real life), which are often quite simple. Effective, but simple. There is a lot of emphasis in this by Yang, who repeatedly talks about how important is knowing about the past for a strategist. Yang, who's shown as the best strategist in this series is always talking about how he relies in the past (lets remember this series is supposed to be set in our future, so we're that past) to see what his opponents are going to do and to decide what is he going to do... and it works. You can see a lot from some of the most famous battles in our history through the different battles shown in the series, and this includes the stupid actions some characters might take, or the typical case of overestimating someone by reputation. I'm sorry if a break someone's dream with this, but that's how real battles work, it's not a battle of super complex strategy. That just doesn't happen. Wars of attrition, cutting supply lines, stupid errors by incompetent generals, bad judgement of terrain... those are things that usually define wars, and most "brilliant" strategies are often actually quite simple things. There was a lot of research done in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, that is very noticeable in the flow of wars.
I didn't found the artstyle of the series particularly good, but neither particularly bad, the animation was actually subpar, even for its time, but the OST was magnificent. All the OST is classical music, famous pieces by famous composers like Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, Chopin, etc. If you like classical music, you'll love this, and if you don't really listen to classical music, you'll probably start listening after watching this series (that's just a bet, I already loved classical music before, though after watching the series I began listening even more, and some of the pieces used in the series have even more value for me now).
I honestly don't recommend this to everyone, at least not immediately. I honestly think this is a series meant for people a bit more mature... and I honestly don't want to insult people who don't like Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu with this. I said this at the beginning, but using myself as an example, I just know it would've just not be the same watching this as a teenager as watching it over my twenties. I know I would've enjoyed it all the same because I've always loved these kind of series, but Legend of the Galactic Heroes gets to a point that you don't really have to be a fan of things about war or space operas, it's just a good series, forget about the genres. But there is a lot that it's meant for people with more experience and knowledge. Again, not having it is quite fine, doesn't make you any less intelligent or anything. Actually, waiting a little bit is probably a smart move (for those who watched it early, I recommend a rewatch when they're a bit older, even if they already liked the series). I have a friend who's 29, and he'll gladly admit he wouldn't have enjoyed the series as much as he did had he watched it five years ago (and I can assure you, he's a smart guy, an extremely intelligent guy who was just as intelligent five years ago).
I don't expect to ever find an anime as good as Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I just don't (though I'd love to be wrong, I'd be delighted). I have a hard time imagining a project so ambitious being replicated. This is a series that took more than 10 years to be finished, and had to be done in OVA format because at the time people didn't want a full series about this series of novels. Luckily, at the time, Noboru Ishiguro, the late director, took quite a risk doing this, and paid off. But I just can't imagine something like this being replicated.
I've seen that the main problem with this series for most people are the "annoying fans", "elitists" or whatever. Please, I beg of everyone never to use that as a reason not to watch it (this actually applies to any series). Some fans might be annoying, some might bash your favorite series, which is not right, but please understand that if fans of the series talk so much about it and how great it is, it's because of something. This really is a great series, it's extremely enjoyable in many aspects, so please, don't hate on it just because of the people who like it.
I found this series to be good enough to sit a top everything I've put in this ranking, including something that means so much to me like Conan and something I thought was so good as Monster. Yet, Legend of the Galactic Heroes sits at the top, and I didn't even have a hard time choosing.
In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same..
Now we're really finished... at least with the first edition of this Top 100. It's been quite a long journey and I've enjoyed a lot writing about all of this series. Starting by my yuri spice in Sakura Trick to finally finish with my favorite anime in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. This has been great, and I can only say thank you to everyone who has actually read this top. I really mean it. At first I thought it'd be just me, and with some luck two more, but by watching the comments, both in the blog and my profile, I noticed there was a lot more people reading, I was honestly impressed, and I really feel quite humbled.
Hopefully, you don't go to far now that it's finished, because the first update (which will probably be the biggest one) will change a lot of things in the top... in the end, I believe there will be 12 new series, which also means 12 of the actual series will be leaving the top (all of that will be detailed when I post the update). Besides that, I did some fixing to some positions... and I'm overall more content with what the new version of the top will be.
I don't know for sure when I'll post the first update, and if I'm going to post it in just one entry or divide it into two entries. But it will most likely be done soon.
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
27/3/2015 2:20: Entry created
27/3/2015 2:26: Added links to previous entry and honorable mention
13/4/2017 19:40: Fixed image
<<Go to 3-2
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | Mar 26, 2015 6:20 PM | 3 comments
March 25th, 2015
My Top 100 Anime (Honorable Mention)
Anime Relations: Inferno Cop, Inferno Cop: Fact Files
This is it, the number 1, the series that trascends over every anime I've ever seen. The Chosen One, the one that rules over the other, the king of kings, the best thing in existance.
But let's not talk that much here.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
Honorable Mention. Inferno Cop
When making an anime, one would like every studio has high dreams, hopes for whatever they're making becomes something worth remembering for many years, something that will stay with their viewers, hopefully change their life, even if it's a little bit, for the better and become an epic tale grandparents will tell their children. Sadly, you rarely find anime that's even worth remembering, and most series are made just with the goal of milking some money, without thinking in the true art an anime can have behind. Inferno Cop is not the case. This is a series that went outside of every cliché to create a true piece of art in every sense, a story full of feelings, action and heavy philosophical themes while studying the psyche of probably the most complex character in any medium. Inferno Cop is the unquestionable leader, the best thing ever created, something that years from now will be talked like the biggest invention, even over things like the wheel, the lightbulb or the internet.
Inferno Cop is a series that inculcates values of justices and relentlessness like any other thing in existance, it should be what every human, alien and whatever use as a guide, Inferno Cop is the real messiah of this world, the one everyone should follow without asking question. Inferno Cop is the answer to all our questions.
But the series goes beyond that, it analyzes what goes through the mind of Inferno Cop while living in a very harsh world full of terryfing demons and babies that threaten the world. Inferno Cop values every life, and through each episode we see him struggling to create real justice, not just a superficial one, he thinks about justice and looks for an answer that can help everyone, for real justice is meant to be for everyone, and not just a few. Real justice has no enemies, but there are poor sheeps that haven't been enlightened.
While being tempted by nihilism thoughts, Inferno Cop's will and trust in the world never falters, and he always has friends like Hellfire Boy, he will keep being the hero the people didn't ask, but need. He knows hell very well, and won't let the world become one by the hand of the evil organization Southern Cross, and won't let himself be defeated by the imposing Mecha Cop (and his Sega Saturn CPU). A beautiful rivalry is born here, and the already epic tale becomes just something else, dwelving in the difficulties of having different opinion, but in the end, everyone is always looking for what they think it's best.
Inferno Cop comes from the depth of hell and isn't looking for glory, his solidarity is unprecedented, he just want the world to be a better place, he wants you, your family and friends to be happy even at the cost of his, and he doesn't even ask for a 'thank you'.
The series analyzes Plato's Theory of Forms, and one-ups Plato by introducing the hell world, a world were everything is the antithesis of their ideal state, the world humanity may one day selfdestruct itself into. Inferno Cop comes from this world, he's the last hope of everyone, he's comes to our sensible world not only to save us from the hell world, but to help us reach the intelligible realm, the only way to achieve true happiness and justice for everyone. And he just might make it, because he's Inferno Cop, he's our hero, he's a superior being with an unbending will and love for every living being. He's what this world needs, and what Trigger somehow managed to make real, while using an OST that might just bring a full pack of emotons from everyone who listens, and an animation full of realism, fluidity and beautiful art.
The series even manages to go into the science world, making an abstract portrayal of combustion, creating an exothermic redox chemical reaction between Inferno Cop's justice (fuel) and will (oxidant), creating the flames that sorround this magnificent character. Not only that, the amazing fight, while never failing to disappoint, it also teaches classic and quantum mechanics, because they just have that level of detail with every shot fired. They say he can control time, and with Laplace transforms, change it into complex frequencies. That is the level we're talking about.
Everyone should always follow Inferno Cop's example, and while it might be impossible for mere mortals to become like him, Inferno Cop teaches us that we must always aim as high as possible, so that even if we can't reach said goal, at least we will know we got as high as possible, that we did our best and probably contributed our grain of salt to the world. At the very least, we should always be thankful about Inferno Cop, because even if we can't see him (well, until Trigger released this anime, that is), he's there helping us, and he came from the depths of hell, which means he climbed much more than any of us to get to where he is. Inferno Cop is the biggest legend of this world, which makes this series, undoubtely the best thing in this world.
Well, we're finally finished with the top! I hope you guys enjoyed it!...... Okay, okay... Real number 1 will more than likely be up tomorrow, and by that time, I'll change the title of this entry to something else (I'll think about that afterwards).
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
26/3/2015 03:12: Entry created
26/3/2015 3:16: Added link to previous entry
26/3/2015 15:12: Fixed some minor grammar
26/3/2015 22:06: Changed title from 1 to Honorable Mention
27/3/2015 2:23: Changed link to previous entry
<<Go to 1
But let's not talk that much here.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
Honorable Mention. Inferno Cop
When making an anime, one would like every studio has high dreams, hopes for whatever they're making becomes something worth remembering for many years, something that will stay with their viewers, hopefully change their life, even if it's a little bit, for the better and become an epic tale grandparents will tell their children. Sadly, you rarely find anime that's even worth remembering, and most series are made just with the goal of milking some money, without thinking in the true art an anime can have behind. Inferno Cop is not the case. This is a series that went outside of every cliché to create a true piece of art in every sense, a story full of feelings, action and heavy philosophical themes while studying the psyche of probably the most complex character in any medium. Inferno Cop is the unquestionable leader, the best thing ever created, something that years from now will be talked like the biggest invention, even over things like the wheel, the lightbulb or the internet.
Inferno Cop is a series that inculcates values of justices and relentlessness like any other thing in existance, it should be what every human, alien and whatever use as a guide, Inferno Cop is the real messiah of this world, the one everyone should follow without asking question. Inferno Cop is the answer to all our questions.
But the series goes beyond that, it analyzes what goes through the mind of Inferno Cop while living in a very harsh world full of terryfing demons and babies that threaten the world. Inferno Cop values every life, and through each episode we see him struggling to create real justice, not just a superficial one, he thinks about justice and looks for an answer that can help everyone, for real justice is meant to be for everyone, and not just a few. Real justice has no enemies, but there are poor sheeps that haven't been enlightened.
While being tempted by nihilism thoughts, Inferno Cop's will and trust in the world never falters, and he always has friends like Hellfire Boy, he will keep being the hero the people didn't ask, but need. He knows hell very well, and won't let the world become one by the hand of the evil organization Southern Cross, and won't let himself be defeated by the imposing Mecha Cop (and his Sega Saturn CPU). A beautiful rivalry is born here, and the already epic tale becomes just something else, dwelving in the difficulties of having different opinion, but in the end, everyone is always looking for what they think it's best.
Inferno Cop comes from the depth of hell and isn't looking for glory, his solidarity is unprecedented, he just want the world to be a better place, he wants you, your family and friends to be happy even at the cost of his, and he doesn't even ask for a 'thank you'.
The series analyzes Plato's Theory of Forms, and one-ups Plato by introducing the hell world, a world were everything is the antithesis of their ideal state, the world humanity may one day selfdestruct itself into. Inferno Cop comes from this world, he's the last hope of everyone, he's comes to our sensible world not only to save us from the hell world, but to help us reach the intelligible realm, the only way to achieve true happiness and justice for everyone. And he just might make it, because he's Inferno Cop, he's our hero, he's a superior being with an unbending will and love for every living being. He's what this world needs, and what Trigger somehow managed to make real, while using an OST that might just bring a full pack of emotons from everyone who listens, and an animation full of realism, fluidity and beautiful art.
The series even manages to go into the science world, making an abstract portrayal of combustion, creating an exothermic redox chemical reaction between Inferno Cop's justice (fuel) and will (oxidant), creating the flames that sorround this magnificent character. Not only that, the amazing fight, while never failing to disappoint, it also teaches classic and quantum mechanics, because they just have that level of detail with every shot fired. They say he can control time, and with Laplace transforms, change it into complex frequencies. That is the level we're talking about.
Everyone should always follow Inferno Cop's example, and while it might be impossible for mere mortals to become like him, Inferno Cop teaches us that we must always aim as high as possible, so that even if we can't reach said goal, at least we will know we got as high as possible, that we did our best and probably contributed our grain of salt to the world. At the very least, we should always be thankful about Inferno Cop, because even if we can't see him (well, until Trigger released this anime, that is), he's there helping us, and he came from the depths of hell, which means he climbed much more than any of us to get to where he is. Inferno Cop is the biggest legend of this world, which makes this series, undoubtely the best thing in this world.
Well, we're finally finished with the top! I hope you guys enjoyed it!...... Okay, okay... Real number 1 will more than likely be up tomorrow, and by that time, I'll change the title of this entry to something else (I'll think about that afterwards).
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
26/3/2015 03:12: Entry created
26/3/2015 3:16: Added link to previous entry
26/3/2015 15:12: Fixed some minor grammar
26/3/2015 22:06: Changed title from 1 to Honorable Mention
27/3/2015 2:23: Changed link to previous entry
<<Go to 1
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | Mar 25, 2015 7:13 PM | 5 comments
March 24th, 2015
My top 100 Anime (3-2)
Anime Relations: Monster, Mushishi, Mushishi: Hihamukage, Mushishi Zoku Shou, Mushishi Zoku Shou: Odoro no Michi, Mushishi Zoku Shou 2nd Season
Ok, last minute change of mind, instead of making single entries to each of the top 3, I'll just do it with the #1, which means this entry includes #3 and #2. This is because we're already about to finish March, and I wanted to finish this before April (though I can't promise).
I think I've said this before, but the top 3 was a given thing for me. They were probably the only thing in this top that more clear than water. To this day, #3 has been the series that has been my #1 for the most time (it was for about 11-12 years), and it was replaced by #2, which managed to be the number one for about 6-7 years, so in many ways, both of this series are extremely special to me (and #1 will probably become something like that with time).
So yes, while with many entries before I could say something like "this could perfectly be X spots behind of ahead, this ones are set in stone (for now), and in their corresponding order.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
3. Mushishi
Mushishi is a series that is just unlike absolutely anything I've watched before. For about a month, Mushishi became a bit of a ritual for me. My day just had to end with an episode of Mushishi and a good cup of tea. It was the perfect way to relax myself, to think a little bit about life and to have a great time.
Contrary to a lot of series that have been at the top of my ranking, this series doesn't keep you at the edge of your seat and doesn't have a deep character development. I didn't really feel a necessity to watch the next episode. Almost sounds like a boring series, but make no mistake; Mushishi is one of the most compelling series I've watched, I was completely hooked to every episode, without exception.
I'm usually not that much of a fan of the episodic format. I can definitely enjoy an episodic series, but I'll pick a continuous series any day. For example, while I enjoyed Cowboy Bebop a lot (as you can see from it being very well ranked), I would've love it even more had it been something continuous. But I admit my thoughts changed after watching Mushishi. I wouldn't want Mushishi to be continuous, I want Mushishi as an episodic series. I just want to see many different cases involving Mushis for Ginko to resolve (or not).
Mushishi has a total of 48 stories (26 episodes in S1, Hihamukage, 10 episodes Zoku Shou S1, Odoro no Michi and 10 episodes in Zoku Shou S2); One would think that of 48 of them, at least one would fail to be good, but that's far from the case. While obviously some are better than others, every single episode in this series managed to be inmersive, each story managed to be fresh and explore different things. At least for me, that's absolutely astonishing.
Mushishi obviously has a fantasy setting, where this infinite kind of mushis coexist with life itself, but at the same time, it's one of the most realistic series out there. The story is set in a feudal Japan, around the 1800s, and because most humans can't even see and aren't even aware of the mushis existance, it really shows the way of life of that time. The characters seem extremely realistic, and the way they react to the adversities caused by the mushis is just... very human, sometimes for good, and sometimes for bad.
With every episode being a different story with totally different characters (except for Ginko), the series can explore completely different things depending in the story. Sometimes it may be some of the human relationships, the worst aspects that a human can show, such as greed, jelousy, envy or temptation, or some of the best traits like support, trust or love. Even more so, we can see how the good traits can become bad, and how the bad traits can be fixed.
Sometimes Mushishi can even dwelve into philosophical or psychological aspects (probably more of the former). Sometimes questioning life itself, as humans can seem like just such a little existance compared to this magnificent mushis that dwelve in the world, and sometimes going to a more psychological aspect involving the main characters of different episodes. Most of the times, Ginko is not really even a protagonist, he's just a witness, he's almost like the eyes (well, the eye) we use for learning about the different stories around this world, about how the mushis are heavily influencing the life of many, which sometimes can make for some really tragic situations.
I'm the kind of person who can really get hyped over series. Eventually, that hypes goes down for many series, though a few are able to maintain it, and there are even fewer that instead of dying down, they actually grow with me over time. Mushishi is one of those very few cases. As time passes since I watched the series (hasn't been much, I admit) I feel like the series keeps growing in me. I have such a good memory of it, and was so unique, that my opinion of it actually grows, even as it already was extremely high.
I have a hard time imagining me finding something like Mushishi, probably ever (I can't guarantee, but it's beyond the realm of my imagination). The series was so special. Though I do appreciate watching it while being a bit older. Had I watched it in 2006 when it aired, when I was just 16 years old, I don't think I would've enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. I don't think I've seen anything as thought provoking and as relaxing as Mushishi before. It really is a great work. A real masterpiece. Even writing this makes me appreciate it even more.
Finally, I would just love to praise the job done by the studio Artland and Hiroshi Nagahama, the director of all the series. Without them, this wouldn't have been the same. The impressive, soothing visuals combined with an impressive background music provided the absolute perfect atmosphere for this series. They weren't there simply helping, they were actually key elements. I just can't imagine this series done better. It really was an impressive work.
I just can't wait for the movie. We've never seen a Mushishi story to last more than the 45 minutes, and a 2 hours story could really become something beyond special. Could make this franchise become something even better.
2. Monster
Wow. Just wow. This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about Monster.
This is one of those series that really makes you reevaluate the anime medium for the better. This is what every psychology, mystery and thriller anime should aim for. Monster is a very detailed work that spans 74 episodes to go through some gigantic character development, oftenly dwelving into their minds and questioning what's good and what's evil, how evil is born, and how it's not that easily beaten. The series does this while going through a thrilling ride full of twists and turns that leaves the viewer just craving for more, without ever even getting close to becoming just a trainwreck. This is Naoki Urasawa at its best (yes, even better than in 20th Century Boys, which is no easy feat) when writing. Thinking about each and every aspect of the story, which is then magnificently brought to life by Madhouse.
While I have nothing against Japan, on the contrary, I think it has a lot of great things, I always appreciate when a series doesn't use Japan as setting when using non-fantasy settings (space, magic world, etc). This is not because I think the rest of the world is better, but because pretty much everything is set in Japan (which is pretty normal), so getting something somewhere else, and even better, a series that uses a lot of settings, well that makes it even better. Even better if you use some beautiful cities of Europe and at a very important time, as the Cold War has a very big impact in the events of the series, which story is mainly focused in the 80s and 90s, but also has events from the 60s and 70s. The Cold War, without even being directly mentioned, will be key in forging the most interesting personality in this series, which would be that of Johan Liebert, the villain of the series, which, to this day, it's still the best villain ever in my book.
And here is when we have to talk about the characters, which, in the end, are what make Monster so spectacular. We first have our main character, Kenzo Tenma, a guy who starts living the perfect life. He's got enough money, he's an extremely talented doctor, his engaged to the daughter of the hospital's director which meant he would eventually become the director of an extremely important hospital... until, out of morality, he ignored an order to perform surgery on an important guy and instead saved a little boy named Johan. Things would just get worse and worse from this point on for him. Tenma is an outstanding character, and there are not many main characters with a development such as his. While he was a genius surgeon, Tenma starts as a pretty innocent character, a very innocent guy with high values, a doctor that thinks every life weights the same and of course, is a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. That will soon change because of Johan. After some events, he will begin learning about how cruel society can be, about the injustice that there's in this world, and he will make a mission of his ending the Monster's life (I'll keep talking about Tenma in the next spoiler).
There is a long cast of characters in the series, and each can have a very important role in different moments of the series, but Anna Liebert is clearly specially important, as along Tenma, she'll also give the mission of killing Johan to herself, creating an interesting relationship with Tenma, who she really gets to appreciate a lot (and vice-versa), but there's also some kind of competition to killing Johan, as none of them wants the other commit murder. Here's another really interesting character in psychological development. Anna (Nina from now on, as it's more commonly used in the series) is obviously Johan's twin sister, and while she (luckily) skipped the (probably) worse part of Johan's upbringing, they both shared some pretty dark moments making quite psychologically troubled (I'll continue talking about Nina in the next spoiler).
I was actually going to go into detail with more characters and expand more on these ones, but I feel I'm extending way too much, maybe one day I actually write an entry dedicated to Monster
Let's end this character talk with Johan, because it's impossible to talk about this series without going into Johan. Johan is probably the most unrealistic character in the series, but he's portrayed in a very realistic way, at least as realistic as an anti-christ figure can get. Just like Nina, Johan had quite a hard upbringing, being born from Eugenics experiments, though up to some point, he was actually lucky... or he should have been, as that luck cost him quite a lot. A lot of events, through his past (see the Anna/Nina text above), made Johan quite messed up. To add up salt to the wound, when he was separated from Nina, he ended up in Kinderheim 511, where he really became a Monster, almost like the book he so much liked to read (A Monster Without a Name). The series uses Johan to explore a number of philosophical and psychological stuff, all while using a lot of historical things to make the story a bit more realistic, while providing a much better background to the creation of this monster (I'll continue talking about Johan in spoilers).
I feel bad not talking about guys like Grimmer, Lunge or Eva (among others), but I'll have to leave that for another occasion (maybe should've done like originally planned and make one entry per series for the top 3).
Monster explores a lot of psychological problems (dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, brain washing or selective mutism) along with philosophical questions about identity (yes, identity is the main theme in Monster), nihilism and idealism, and all of this while treating with social parties like communism, socialism and totalitarism, which has even more impact considering the period of time in which the series is set.
Now, because Monster explores all those seemingly complex themes, the series is far from being that complex. It's actually enjoyable to pretty much anyone (I do admit you'll probably enjoy it more if you actually have a little bit of knowledge in the historical, psychological and philosophical themes treated by the series, but it's not a must, as the series does explain things). It's, by no means, done in an abstract way, and things are pretty direct. Let's not forget this is a thriller, and a very good one. A perfect combination for me, at least.
I think Monster was probably the series that made me start looking for a bit more in anime. The series that actually made want to get a bit more informed about series and look for more things than just action, drama or plain stuff (mind you, I can still enjoy plain stuff quite a lot). For long time, I thought I would never again find a series that would impress me more than Monster (but I actually did, which is why this is #2 instead of #1)
Well, the goal is on sight already. There's just one spot remaining, which will probably be done by tomorrow. I've written about 99 animes, while I just wrote a few small paragraphs for some of them, it's still pretty impressive, never thought I'd end up writing so much, but I'm honestly glad I did.
Like at said through the text, I probably should've made three entries like originally planned (while both texts here are fairly long, I held back quite a bit, specially with Monster), but anyways, maybe in some future I make updates, separate the entries and extend myself to my hearts content with each series.
For over9000th time, I will post an update not much time after finishing the top 100 (I actually recently finish arranging the top 100 with the new things and changes. I think I prefer how it looks now, and you guys can judge that after I make the updates (every change in the top will be recorded in the history at the bottom of every entry).
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
25/3/2015 04:39: Entry created
25/3/2015 4:43: Added link to previous entry
26/3/2015 3:15: Added link to next entry
27/3/2015 2:22: Changed link to next entry
08/6/2015 4:??:
- Detective Conan taken out.
- Mushishi added.
<<Go to 6-4
I think I've said this before, but the top 3 was a given thing for me. They were probably the only thing in this top that more clear than water. To this day, #3 has been the series that has been my #1 for the most time (it was for about 11-12 years), and it was replaced by #2, which managed to be the number one for about 6-7 years, so in many ways, both of this series are extremely special to me (and #1 will probably become something like that with time).
So yes, while with many entries before I could say something like "this could perfectly be X spots behind of ahead, this ones are set in stone (for now), and in their corresponding order.
Now without further ado, let's go with the top
3. Mushishi
Mushishi is a series that is just unlike absolutely anything I've watched before. For about a month, Mushishi became a bit of a ritual for me. My day just had to end with an episode of Mushishi and a good cup of tea. It was the perfect way to relax myself, to think a little bit about life and to have a great time.
Contrary to a lot of series that have been at the top of my ranking, this series doesn't keep you at the edge of your seat and doesn't have a deep character development. I didn't really feel a necessity to watch the next episode. Almost sounds like a boring series, but make no mistake; Mushishi is one of the most compelling series I've watched, I was completely hooked to every episode, without exception.
I'm usually not that much of a fan of the episodic format. I can definitely enjoy an episodic series, but I'll pick a continuous series any day. For example, while I enjoyed Cowboy Bebop a lot (as you can see from it being very well ranked), I would've love it even more had it been something continuous. But I admit my thoughts changed after watching Mushishi. I wouldn't want Mushishi to be continuous, I want Mushishi as an episodic series. I just want to see many different cases involving Mushis for Ginko to resolve (or not).
Mushishi has a total of 48 stories (26 episodes in S1, Hihamukage, 10 episodes Zoku Shou S1, Odoro no Michi and 10 episodes in Zoku Shou S2); One would think that of 48 of them, at least one would fail to be good, but that's far from the case. While obviously some are better than others, every single episode in this series managed to be inmersive, each story managed to be fresh and explore different things. At least for me, that's absolutely astonishing.
Mushishi obviously has a fantasy setting, where this infinite kind of mushis coexist with life itself, but at the same time, it's one of the most realistic series out there. The story is set in a feudal Japan, around the 1800s, and because most humans can't even see and aren't even aware of the mushis existance, it really shows the way of life of that time. The characters seem extremely realistic, and the way they react to the adversities caused by the mushis is just... very human, sometimes for good, and sometimes for bad.
With every episode being a different story with totally different characters (except for Ginko), the series can explore completely different things depending in the story. Sometimes it may be some of the human relationships, the worst aspects that a human can show, such as greed, jelousy, envy or temptation, or some of the best traits like support, trust or love. Even more so, we can see how the good traits can become bad, and how the bad traits can be fixed.
Sometimes Mushishi can even dwelve into philosophical or psychological aspects (probably more of the former). Sometimes questioning life itself, as humans can seem like just such a little existance compared to this magnificent mushis that dwelve in the world, and sometimes going to a more psychological aspect involving the main characters of different episodes. Most of the times, Ginko is not really even a protagonist, he's just a witness, he's almost like the eyes (well, the eye) we use for learning about the different stories around this world, about how the mushis are heavily influencing the life of many, which sometimes can make for some really tragic situations.
I'm the kind of person who can really get hyped over series. Eventually, that hypes goes down for many series, though a few are able to maintain it, and there are even fewer that instead of dying down, they actually grow with me over time. Mushishi is one of those very few cases. As time passes since I watched the series (hasn't been much, I admit) I feel like the series keeps growing in me. I have such a good memory of it, and was so unique, that my opinion of it actually grows, even as it already was extremely high.
I have a hard time imagining me finding something like Mushishi, probably ever (I can't guarantee, but it's beyond the realm of my imagination). The series was so special. Though I do appreciate watching it while being a bit older. Had I watched it in 2006 when it aired, when I was just 16 years old, I don't think I would've enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. I don't think I've seen anything as thought provoking and as relaxing as Mushishi before. It really is a great work. A real masterpiece. Even writing this makes me appreciate it even more.
Finally, I would just love to praise the job done by the studio Artland and Hiroshi Nagahama, the director of all the series. Without them, this wouldn't have been the same. The impressive, soothing visuals combined with an impressive background music provided the absolute perfect atmosphere for this series. They weren't there simply helping, they were actually key elements. I just can't imagine this series done better. It really was an impressive work.
I just can't wait for the movie. We've never seen a Mushishi story to last more than the 45 minutes, and a 2 hours story could really become something beyond special. Could make this franchise become something even better.
2. Monster
Wow. Just wow. This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about Monster.
This is one of those series that really makes you reevaluate the anime medium for the better. This is what every psychology, mystery and thriller anime should aim for. Monster is a very detailed work that spans 74 episodes to go through some gigantic character development, oftenly dwelving into their minds and questioning what's good and what's evil, how evil is born, and how it's not that easily beaten. The series does this while going through a thrilling ride full of twists and turns that leaves the viewer just craving for more, without ever even getting close to becoming just a trainwreck. This is Naoki Urasawa at its best (yes, even better than in 20th Century Boys, which is no easy feat) when writing. Thinking about each and every aspect of the story, which is then magnificently brought to life by Madhouse.
While I have nothing against Japan, on the contrary, I think it has a lot of great things, I always appreciate when a series doesn't use Japan as setting when using non-fantasy settings (space, magic world, etc). This is not because I think the rest of the world is better, but because pretty much everything is set in Japan (which is pretty normal), so getting something somewhere else, and even better, a series that uses a lot of settings, well that makes it even better. Even better if you use some beautiful cities of Europe and at a very important time, as the Cold War has a very big impact in the events of the series, which story is mainly focused in the 80s and 90s, but also has events from the 60s and 70s. The Cold War, without even being directly mentioned, will be key in forging the most interesting personality in this series, which would be that of Johan Liebert, the villain of the series, which, to this day, it's still the best villain ever in my book.
And here is when we have to talk about the characters, which, in the end, are what make Monster so spectacular. We first have our main character, Kenzo Tenma, a guy who starts living the perfect life. He's got enough money, he's an extremely talented doctor, his engaged to the daughter of the hospital's director which meant he would eventually become the director of an extremely important hospital... until, out of morality, he ignored an order to perform surgery on an important guy and instead saved a little boy named Johan. Things would just get worse and worse from this point on for him. Tenma is an outstanding character, and there are not many main characters with a development such as his. While he was a genius surgeon, Tenma starts as a pretty innocent character, a very innocent guy with high values, a doctor that thinks every life weights the same and of course, is a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. That will soon change because of Johan. After some events, he will begin learning about how cruel society can be, about the injustice that there's in this world, and he will make a mission of his ending the Monster's life (I'll keep talking about Tenma in the next spoiler).
There is a long cast of characters in the series, and each can have a very important role in different moments of the series, but Anna Liebert is clearly specially important, as along Tenma, she'll also give the mission of killing Johan to herself, creating an interesting relationship with Tenma, who she really gets to appreciate a lot (and vice-versa), but there's also some kind of competition to killing Johan, as none of them wants the other commit murder. Here's another really interesting character in psychological development. Anna (Nina from now on, as it's more commonly used in the series) is obviously Johan's twin sister, and while she (luckily) skipped the (probably) worse part of Johan's upbringing, they both shared some pretty dark moments making quite psychologically troubled (I'll continue talking about Nina in the next spoiler).
I was actually going to go into detail with more characters and expand more on these ones, but I feel I'm extending way too much, maybe one day I actually write an entry dedicated to Monster
Let's end this character talk with Johan, because it's impossible to talk about this series without going into Johan. Johan is probably the most unrealistic character in the series, but he's portrayed in a very realistic way, at least as realistic as an anti-christ figure can get. Just like Nina, Johan had quite a hard upbringing, being born from Eugenics experiments, though up to some point, he was actually lucky... or he should have been, as that luck cost him quite a lot. A lot of events, through his past (see the Anna/Nina text above), made Johan quite messed up. To add up salt to the wound, when he was separated from Nina, he ended up in Kinderheim 511, where he really became a Monster, almost like the book he so much liked to read (A Monster Without a Name). The series uses Johan to explore a number of philosophical and psychological stuff, all while using a lot of historical things to make the story a bit more realistic, while providing a much better background to the creation of this monster (I'll continue talking about Johan in spoilers).
I feel bad not talking about guys like Grimmer, Lunge or Eva (among others), but I'll have to leave that for another occasion (maybe should've done like originally planned and make one entry per series for the top 3).
Monster explores a lot of psychological problems (dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, brain washing or selective mutism) along with philosophical questions about identity (yes, identity is the main theme in Monster), nihilism and idealism, and all of this while treating with social parties like communism, socialism and totalitarism, which has even more impact considering the period of time in which the series is set.
Now, because Monster explores all those seemingly complex themes, the series is far from being that complex. It's actually enjoyable to pretty much anyone (I do admit you'll probably enjoy it more if you actually have a little bit of knowledge in the historical, psychological and philosophical themes treated by the series, but it's not a must, as the series does explain things). It's, by no means, done in an abstract way, and things are pretty direct. Let's not forget this is a thriller, and a very good one. A perfect combination for me, at least.
I think Monster was probably the series that made me start looking for a bit more in anime. The series that actually made want to get a bit more informed about series and look for more things than just action, drama or plain stuff (mind you, I can still enjoy plain stuff quite a lot). For long time, I thought I would never again find a series that would impress me more than Monster (but I actually did, which is why this is #2 instead of #1)
Well, the goal is on sight already. There's just one spot remaining, which will probably be done by tomorrow. I've written about 99 animes, while I just wrote a few small paragraphs for some of them, it's still pretty impressive, never thought I'd end up writing so much, but I'm honestly glad I did.
Like at said through the text, I probably should've made three entries like originally planned (while both texts here are fairly long, I held back quite a bit, specially with Monster), but anyways, maybe in some future I make updates, separate the entries and extend myself to my hearts content with each series.
For over9000th time, I will post an update not much time after finishing the top 100 (I actually recently finish arranging the top 100 with the new things and changes. I think I prefer how it looks now, and you guys can judge that after I make the updates (every change in the top will be recorded in the history at the bottom of every entry).
Feel free to leave a comment in my profile or in this entry, it would actually be appreciated, as it's always nice to see that someone's reading what you write (at least when you put some effort in it).
History:
25/3/2015 04:39: Entry created
25/3/2015 4:43: Added link to previous entry
26/3/2015 3:15: Added link to next entry
27/3/2015 2:22: Changed link to next entry
08/6/2015 4:??:
- Detective Conan taken out.
- Mushishi added.
<<Go to 6-4
Posted by Akai_Shuichi | Mar 24, 2015 8:40 PM | 0 comments