Favorite Anime

[LumRanmaYasha]

I should've figured set #3 would have Akane on the cover! Looks like the set is coming with a Ryoga card too, which is neat.

[LumRanmaYasha]

And Ryoga's on the cover this time! I thought for sure they'd use Shampoo next, but that'll probably be the next set.

One thing that interests me about this boxart is that it looks like Akari is on the spine, holding P-chan. But Akari never appeared in the anime!  However, considering her relationship with Ryoga, it's a cute little thing to put there. Though I bet some anime-only watchers or people watching/buying this series for the first time are gonna be confused at who she is and when she'll show up, though she never will (unless they go and read the manga, of course).

[LumRanmaYasha]

Partially inspired by the fact that I've found a lot of good new anime to keep up with this season, and the fact that I'm currently watching some other great series, and just the mere fact that I haven't posted one in a good while, I'm going to post up my updated favorite anime list. I'm now applying my top 10% rule to limit the amount of series I consider "favorites;" in this case, I've seen a bit over 200 different anime series, so my list is now a top 20. I know I've posted lists with more series than that before...and it became clearly too much for the descriptor to be meaningful, which is exactly why I created this new rule for myself; to distinguish between what I merely like and what I truly love. Anyway, enough blather. I'll post up my list in picture-grid format, since I haven't done that before with this:



1. Ashita no Joe 2
2. Maison Ikkoku
3. Trigun
4. Urusei Yatsura
5. Yu Yu Hakusho
6. Dragon Ball
7. Ranma 1/2
8. Cowboy Bebop
9. Kill la Kill
10. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
11. Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
12. Serial Experiments Lain
13. The Slayers Franchise
14. School Rumble
15. Mushi-shi
16. Kino's Journey
17. Great Teacher Onizuka
18.  Lupin the Third (series 1, 2, & The Woman Called Fujiko Mine)
19.  Detective Conan
20. Hunter X Hunter (1999) & Hunter X Hunter (2011)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Awesome list!

And there are a bunch of shows on there that I need to check out.

Ashita no Joe is one if my favorites as well, naturally. I'd still put YYH at the top of my list out of bias, but I literally do consider AnJ2 to be tied with it for my top spot, which I have already re-watched an entire time through, and it still holds up.

Looks like I really do need to get around to Takahashi's stuff. Perhaps I should stick to those anime over reading the manga, based on your list. It'd certainly let me get to them quicker, since my anime backlog is way lighter than my backlog for manga to read.

[Avaitor]

Hella list! There's plenty that I like, and quite a few series that I'm reminded that I should get to.

Especially now that Detective Conan is coming to CrunchyRoll and all. I really do remember liking the handful of episodes that I saw back on [as].

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks for the comments, guys. 

Looks like I really do need to get around to Takahashi's stuff. Perhaps I should stick to those anime over reading the manga, based on your list. It'd certainly let me get to them quicker, since my anime backlog is way lighter than my backlog for manga to read.

Both versions of Takahashi's best series are worth experiencing, in my opinion, especially since not all the content from the manga are adapted into the anime. But, I think the best way to get into Urusei Yatsura, specifically, is through the manga. The anime is fantastic, and I love it, but the first few episodes are done in a different style than the rest of the series, which isn't bad, but also not reflective of the rest of the series as a whole. The main thing, though, is that the anime adapts some things from the manga out of order, and takes liberties in some anime-only episodes, which makes the development of Ataru and Lum's characters not come across quite as well as it does in the manga. And since the development of their relationship is basically the heart of the entire series,  I feel the best way to appreciate it is reading the manga first, since it's the most "consistent" version, and then watching the anime, which works well since there are quite a few differences between them that makes them good for different reasons, and a lot of the anime's changes can be better appreciated after having read the manga and already understanding the nature of the characters. That's just my opinion, and that's also just the way I experienced it myself, but I really do think that's the best way to go about it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I enjoyed what I saw of Conan when it was on AS, it just seemed like such a daunting series to keep up with that after it left I never bothered. If it's streaming, then that's a whole new ballgame.

Great list, by the way.

[FinalGoji]

I have no fancy images but if I may:

1). Kara no Kyoukai (The 7th film in particular even though the 5th is "The best")
2). Serial Experiments Lain
3). Baccano
4). Fate/Zero
5). Ergo Proxy
6). The End of Evangelion
7). Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
8). Paranoia Agent
9). Sword of the Stranger (Do single movies even count?)
10). Casshern Sins

[LumRanmaYasha]

Great list, FinalGoji! I love many of those series and movies, and you remind me that I should get around to watching Paranoia Agent and Kara no Kyoukai sometime soon.

Great list, by the way.

Thanks. 

[goody2shoes]

KnK is very subjective, enjoyment wise. I dropped it after the 5th one, I consider the movies beautifully animated and scored non-stories, as they often throw important storytelling conventions to the wind.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I liked Kara no Kyoukai. I remember showing all the movies to Dalek, and they broke his brain.

[FinalGoji]

Paradox Spiral is probably the most confusing when compared with the rest with the way it goes about handling the story in an already out-of-order narrative. If you kept going though you could have seen a 1-hour long almost-filler movie about fairies.

[Foggle]

Kara no Kyoukai is the shit, and it definitely has a story, but you really have to pay attention and think about it. The movies basically demand marathoning; don't even try to watch them months apart like how they were originally released in theatres. Definitely not for everyone, though if you can get into the way they're presented, they become brilliant.

[FinalGoji]

The movies basically demand marathoning; don't even try to watch them months apart like how they were originally released in theatres.

That's an important point and I'm not quite sure how Japanese movie-goers didn't end up entirely confused with a wait that long between the movies, especially after the 5th movie where the points don't become relevant again until the 7th. I have the odd mental image of people taking notes.

[Avaitor]

Another great list, FinalGoji!

Wow, I'm reminded that I STILL haven't seen Lain, for whatever reason.