Top Defining Moments in Anime (SPOILERS)

Banchou-sama said:
A lot of the series you've but as your Top 20 Defining Anime Moments are some of the same as mine, but I would probably put Grave of the Firefly or another Studio Ghibli movie on since they made some of the best animated movies ever. Another good bet would be Dragonball (not because I'm a fan of it, cause honestly I'm not), since its more or less the anime that defined shounen anime, and inspired to great shows like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach and so on.

FierceAlchemist said:
I just wrote a Top 20 Defining Anime Moments list for the college gaming/anime organization I'm a part of and it got me thinking of how my choices stack up to other fans. These are the moments that define a particular show for you or why you love anime so much. All of my moments are from the late 90s to today, but I know there are some older fans who love anime from the 80s and early 90s.

What are some of your guys' defining anime moments?

jsg said:
Great list honestly gave me goosebumps

You missed

Death Note spoiler:

elkensteyin said:
2 - Toradora! -

jal90 said:
As for my choices, well, some Ghibli moments would surely be there. Namely, the train scene of Spirited away. Or the dream sequence from Porco Rosso. Or "Why do fireflies have to die so soon?" in Grave of the fireflies. Or the ending credits/scene of Only yesterday.

Outside Ghibli, there's One Piece. I can reduce the moments to just two, but the series has brought too much to me. So let's say:

daintybiscuit said:
my immediate reaction is num-num time in Eva (unit 01 of course) and the epic ending of berserk anime

i'm not much for deep thought about this stuff, but these stick out for me. it looks like you worked hard on your list. congrats!!

YukinoAsakura said:
Clannad ~After Story~


Chrno Crusade


Death Note


Higurashi no Naku Koro ni


Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica


Evangelion
The whole End of Evangelion film :LOL:

I totally agree with Code Geass, Shingeki and Steins;Gate select moments. Specially Steins;Gate one, it was pretty touching, awesome, sad and romantic, all at the same time.

samishime said:
Well that list was shit (besides Cowboy Bebop...).

I'd say the Sacrifice scene from the Golden Age arc in Berserk, the ending to Texhnolyze, when you find out what Lain really is in Serial Experiments Lain, the fucking last scene in The End of Evangelion (why wouldn't that be on the list?), and the ending scene in Angel's Egg. I think all of these areas are quite defining, much more than the "moments" on the list the OP linked.

Akito_Kinomoto said:
Clannad After Story. Sunflowers.

LoGH. Somewhere around episode 80.

I don't need to explain. People who've seen either or both know what I'm talking about.

FierceAlchemist said:


Thanks for responding. I'll be the first to admit that my list is probably incomplete. There are still a lot of anime I haven't seen, especially from the 80s/early 90s. Of the one's you mentioned that I've seen:

Lain spoilers:


End of Evangelion spoilers:

samishime said:
Ah, I didn't quite realize it was your list, I just skimmed through your post. I would have been nicer if I knew it was yours.

As for what you said about Evangelion, the original is infinitely better than the rebuilds. It's that way because the characters in the original series are given much more depth and reason to them. The rebuilds focus too much on action, fanservice, and a quick pace. What made the original series so unique was that none of the characters were conventional, they acted realistically. Whininess? The character was portrayed as a teenage kid, who had everyone relying on him. Evangelion is, in the end, a story about its characters. The rebuilds do an awfully shitty job of characterizing, with such little depth. The End of Evangelion brings the whole series to an amazing close, satisfying all I wanted. It classified Evangelion as something more 'unconventional'. I'd recommend giving it another chance if you didn't finish it.

I also don't know where you're coming from saying Lain is ugly. There may be minimal animation, but the style and art in the show is truly unique and something else. Honestly animation isn't worth much of a damn in the end. It might make a show look more fluid, or pretty, but it can't hold something up by itself. Lain is held up by it's story, main character, questions, and ideals. It wraps it up to be something truly unique. It holds up alone based off of artistic merit. "Weird" is good in my eyes.

FierceAlchemist said:


Thanks for responding. I've heard nothing but good things about After Story and I know it's supposed to be the saddest anime ever, but I'm having a hard time getting through Clannad season 1. It's so obvious it's based on a visual novel with all the girls and their color-coded hair. What are your opinions of the first season/how important is it to understanding After Story?

MajinSaga said:


You've heard wrong.

FierceAlchemist said:
If you want the reason I don't have Lain on the list, I'd use a comparison between it and Paranoia Agent. Both are referred to as weird mindfuck shows by a lot of people. I'd argue that Paranoia Agent was every bit as deep and psychological as Lain, but it managed to keep itself entertaining throughout. Lain on the other hand built to some really good episodes later on, but was very slow paced and hard to sit through at times.

I completely understand why people love Lain, but for me I prefer an anime that has both meaning and entertainment to one that has more meaning but less entertainment value.

Polychrome said:

He mentioned After Story, not Cowboy Bebop. So nope, he is actually right.

You simply misunderstood him.

FierceAlchemist said:


I personally don't buy that Bebop is the greatest anime of all time. I think it's since been surpassed. However, it is one of the greatest anime ever. Still holds up well to this day.

samishime said:

I'll argue Lain is much, much deeper than Paranoia Agent. It's typical Satoshi Kon styling (not that that's bad), where it may be vague in some points it tries to put across, and some things may seem unclear. The thing with Paranoia agent is each story is through the perspective of the central character, which is why it might seem like a 'mindfuck'. It really has a very simple message at the end of it (not given that one of the main characters explains the entire thing at the end), and the story comes full circle. Lain, on the other hand has very many deep meanings and things to say about technology, civilization, and the mental state of people. It's something that can't be fully understood in one watch-through, it takes more than that. There's a deeper meaning to just about everything (i.e. use of color, time, character interaction, facial expression, etc.). There is much more to it and just many things can be interpreted differently. In example, the ending can be seen as a depressing or uplifting ending. Also keep in mind that the show was way ahead of its time, being released in 1998. Most of the things the anime touches upon with society, technology, and people are extremely relevant to this day. Given this, the anime is definitely a wrk of genius and ultimately a landmark in anime. You might not agree, but it's how I see it.

jal90 said:
@samishime, it's interesting to read your thoughts on The end of Evangelion. Because my view couldn't be more different. In this movie Shinji became an unrecognizable character unlike in the series. That is, his issues became so simplified and flanderized in here that I lost any track of likeability with him. It seemed to me that it was the result of somebody reading "Shinji is a depressive character" and making the most over-the-top fan fiction development around this premise, without any care to connect it to the actual history and psychology of the character. On the other hand the ending not only didn't solve anything that was actually raised in the series, but brought a scenario that I simply didn't find interesting. I guess I expected something more mundane, less focused on the religious imagery that was never given actual development in the series, and the big scale of events (I never cared about the many times the world was in danger in NGE, this was never the focus to me), and more in the quirks of the characters themselves and their reactions, precisely what made them look more realistic. Here, the story became more event-based and Shinji as a character turned hermetic.

I don't kind of agree with the "deeper = better" you seem to be defending in here either, though.

FierceAlchemist said:


Thanks for responding. I've heard nothing but good things about After Story and I know it's supposed to be the saddest anime ever, but I'm having a hard time getting through Clannad season 1. It's so obvious it's based on a visual novel with all the girls and their color-coded hair. What are your opinions of the first season/how important is it to understanding After Story?

daintybiscuit said:
I hated Shinji the first time I watched Eva (series proper) and then realized although he is painful to watch, the kid has been dealt a truly crap lot in life. no wonder he is so freaking whiny, he is psychologically fucked. so, i forgive him and have tried to put his character into a different context. lol.

MajinSaga said:


Guts from Berserk and Walter White from breaking bad have been through more shit but you never seem them acting like pussies.

fst said:
For psycho pass, I would argue that

.

jnw93 said:
Dam i wish I did not look
iv not seen all of psycho-pass yet

but it was too tempting lol

chrysalibun said:
These are for me...
when Vegeta was crying to Goku about Freeza.
when Unit 001 first went berserk in Eva.
when the song starts playing in Pale Cocoon.

I agree with Haruhi, Bebop, and Paranoia Agent on the list also. I'm super meh about Madoka so ... haven't finished watching SnK, but yet I was so shocked/happy when Eren (Shingeki no Kyojin spoiler:). Great topic.

FierceAlchemist said:


Shingeki no Kyojin spoiler:

elkensteyin said:
Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing. While Titan is OK, I believe that it would be better if Mikasa was the main character, as she's a strong badass type of character I like, where Eren still has yet to really grow up.

BasedToki said:
There is no defining moment in anime as this thread is merely subjective opinion.

Perhaps if you renamed the thread to "Most Defining Anime Moments In Your Opinion" this thread would make more sense.

FierceAlchemist said:


But I specifically asked "What are your guy's defining anime moments?". I think mine is a good list, but it's certainly not the only one that matters. A few people have brought up moments from anime that I either haven't seen or didn't think about. It generates good discussion, which is what I wanted to do with this post.

FierceAlchemist said:

fst said:


I will grant you that he was a pretty awesome dude.

samishime said:

I think in the movie it made Shinji as a character left with nothing. Which is why he had no motive, and seemed depressed. I guess I went into the final movie with different expectations than you. I think the movie gave closure to all three of the main characters, solving their problems in the series (even though this might not be something that's clear-cut). I think it gave closure in the end. I never said deeper = better, but it does really add a lot more to a story. I like it because it adds on the ability to rewatch, and adds more to characters and the story.

MajinSaga said:
I'm disappointed that you have Psycho Pass but not Ghost In The Shell. The moment where the puppet master reveals itself and the merging scene are two of the greatest scenes in anime history with one of the greatest pieces script writing. Powering up levels (Super Saiyan, Naruto juubi shit) and all that other BS is for children and shouldn't be included.

MajinSaga said:
I'm disappointed that you have Psycho Pass but not Ghost In The Shell. The moment where the puppet master reveals itself and the merging scene are two of the greatest scenes in anime history with one of the greatest pieces script writing. Powering up levels (Super Saiyan, Naruto juubi shit) and all that other BS is for children and shouldn't be included.

Insan3Heisenberg said:


It's hard to deny that the first time Goku goes Super Saiyan is pretty damn iconic. Also the idea something aimed for kids can't have "defining moments" is ridiculous.

lupadim said:
After checking all your list, my favorite moment was 11, but its a shame you OP didnt watch One Piece, it is full of awesome damn epic defining moments.