The Greatest Anime Episode Ever Tournament

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

Assassination Classroom: Second Season #16: "Past Time" - 10
Hunter x Hunter (2011) #126: "Zero × And × Rose" - 13
Kill la Kill #4: "Dawn of a Miserable Morning" - 5
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo #26: "Dengaku-Man: Pixie or Pit-bull? He'll Love You or Hate You!" - 12

"Zero x And x Rose" and "Dengaku-Man: Pixie or Pit-bull? He'll Love Your or Hate You!" move on to round 2! The next match will be up shortly.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Round 1: Match 10


Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine #10: "Ghost Town"

VS.


Urusei Yatsura #44: "After You've Gone"

VS.


Space Dandy #21: "A World with No Sadness, Baby"

VS.


Paranoia Agent #8: "Happy Family Planning"

[Pharass]

Let's see..

Happy Family Planning
Ghost Town
After You've Gone
A World with No Sadness, Baby

[LumRanmaYasha]

"After You've Gone" -

Spoiler

The most iconic episode of UY. In the episode popularity poll shown in episode 194, it was ranked no. 1. It's not hard to see why. This is the first time in the series that Ataru realizes he has feelings for Lum, and the series takes those feelings seriously, and it hits hard. I absolutely love the scene between Ataru and Shinobu in particular, and how it emphasizes that while they're still friends who care about each other, they're feelings now lie elsewhere. And of course, the "Kokoroboisona" sequence is just stunning. One of the most important and definitive episode of the series.

[close]

"Happy Family Planning" -

Spoiler

A cathartic episode to watch when you're feeling on the edge. Three people of different ages try their best to die, but slowly realize the pleasures of living while in each other's company. The old man in particular has a great arc about realizing that life is precious and having it taken away is a scary thing, and the ending with the three of them together as a surrogate family is very heartwarming, even though it's implied that actually have died and they're ghosts now.

[close]

"A World with No Sadness, Baby" -

Spoiler

Some nice existential ruminations on the nature of death, but more importantly a good character piece for Dandy that also sheds some light on the nature of his anomalous existence.

[close]

"Ghost Town" -

Spoiler

This episode used to be one of my all time favorites, so it's surprising that I'm ranking it on the bottom of this match. I do think that the above episodes are stronger character pieces with more interesting thematic commentary, but this is still a great trippy episode with a story that feels like something out of the manga, and sheds some light on the Fraulein Eule conspiracy and Fujiko's role in it.

[close]

[gunswordfist]

pass

[Spark Of Spirit]

Same as LumRanmaYasha.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine #10: "Ghost Town" - 5
Urusei Yatsura #44: "After You've Gone" -  10
Space Dandy #21: "A World with No Sadness, Baby" - 5
Paranoia Agent #8: "Happy Family Planning" - 10

"After You've Gone" and "Happy Family Planning" move on to round 2! The next match will be up shortly.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Round 1: Match 11


Rurouni Kenshin #30: "The Devil of Vengeance: Makoto Shishio's Plot"

VS.


School Rumble: Second Semester #3: "Beautiful Beast vs. Beautiful Beast! God of War vs. God of Warfare! Teacher vs. Student!"

VS.


Ushio & Tora #20: "The Demon Returns"

VS.


Cromartie High School #2: "Blade Runners High"

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

"The Demon Returns"
"Blade Runners High"
"The Devil of Vengeance: Makoto Shishio's Plot"
"Beautiful Beast vs. Beautiful Beast! God of War vs. God of Warfare! Teacher vs. Student!"

[gunswordfist]

I will HAVE to vote this match. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm going to go with the same as the doctor. Those are some great episode choices.

[LumRanmaYasha]

"The Devil of Vengeance: Makoto Shishio's Plot" -

Spoiler

The fight between Kenshin and Saito is masterfully directed, elevating what was an entertaining scuffle in the manga into something much more memorable both visually and emotionally. Kenshin slipping into his old Battosai ways is presented with great gravitas, really carried by how harsh his voice becomes as the fight goes on, and how violent and wild his eyes and actions become. He really might've been pushed over the edge if Okubo didn't intervene when they did.

But even the non-fighting part of this episode has so much going on in it. Thematically, there's also lot of great moments here. The contrasts between Kenshin and Saito, Kenshin and Shishio, and Kenshin and Okubo say a lot about their characters as well as how people involved in the Meji Restoration chose to move on. The remark that Kenshin may have been betrayed like Shishio was if things had been a bit different is a powerful note that reflects how morally grey the entire ordeal was and how no one came out of it without blood on their hands or a clean conscience. One moment that really strikes me as well is when Kenshin remarks how tired Okubo seems compared to the days of the revolution, and he tiredly winces how "it's easier to bring down an era than to build one from scratch." That line really resonates with Kenshin's character arc, the conflict between him and Shishio during the Kyoto arc, and is the thesis of the entire series as a whole. Start to finish, this episode is a great encapsulation of Kenshin's strengths both as an action series and contemplative story of redemption and changing times.

[close]

"The Demon Returns" -

Spoiler

Ushio's experiences meeting Giryou and Jie Mei make the creation of the Beast Spear and the weight of what he has to do all the more personal. While Jie Mei's sacrifice is a bit theatrical, it's a very moving scene, and the tragedy of her family and the legacy of the spear, why Ushio's mother must guard over Hakumen, and why Ushio was born, is fascinating and moving stuff that really puts a lot of events in the series into perspective There's also a nice bit of foreshadowing hinting at Tora's deeper connection to the Spear as well. A really great lore-building episode.

[close]

"Beautiful Beast vs. Beautiful Beast! God of War vs. God of Warfare! Teacher vs. Student!" -

Spoiler

I wrote about this episode a long time ago, and while I've rated the above episodes higher, I still really get a kick out of it. It's a great take on high school war-game plots as well as taking the romantic conflicts and tensions between characters to ridiculous extremes. The fight between Harima and Hanai at the end in particular is great, as well as the reveal that the whole thing was just a movie Akira scripted that went off the rails mid-way through. The after-credits bit about Masaru's origin story is a lark too. I don't know if this is still my favorite episode of School Rumble, but it's definitely the one of the most memorable, and the one I've rewatched the most.

Also, I love these comments from the youtube page:

[close]

"Blade Runners High" -

Spoiler

This episode is a great example of how to take a one-gag premise and really keep building on top of it to great comedic effect. Each scenario where people come so close to realizing Mechazawa's a robot and yet at the last minute say something completely off is more ridiculous than the last, and the episode puts you right in Kageyama's shoes waiting intensely for someone to finally just call him out.

[close]

[VLordGTZ]

"The Demon Returns"
"Beautiful Beast vs. Beautiful Beast! God of War vs. God of Warfare! Teacher vs. Student!"
"Blade Runners High"
"The Devil of Vengeance: Makoto Shishio's Plot"

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

After re-watching two particular episodes that I haven't seen in years, I'm changing my order to this:

"The Demon Returns"
"The Devil of Vengeance: Makoto Shishio's Plot"
"Blade Runners High"
"Beautiful Beast vs. Beautiful Beast! God of War vs. God of Warfare! Teacher vs. Student!"

While not necessarily the best as a stand-alone episode, as CX described it, there is so much rich characterization, world-building, and action going on here. I still find that Cromartie episode to be as hilarious as ever, but I almost forgot just how well directed and animated that RK episode was.

That said, even being the massive RK fan that I am, that pivotal Ushio and Tora episode still runs away with the victory for me. It's one of the best uses of tying in lore and mythology with plot and character development that I have ever seen in any animated series of any kind. And that kind of stuff is right up my alley.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Are you still planning to vote, GSF?