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arren18
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Following Saddles's suggestion in another thread, I want to ask everyone about their favourite anime series!

That means we're not including feature length films, and especially not Ghibli films. Otherwise do as you please. Feel free to group together a loose franchise into one thing, but don't worry too much about what does and doesn't count. If you can describe it as a series, it's fine.

I'll post my list later, but I need to give it a bit more thought first.


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In no particular order, I think this is mine.


Code Geass

D.Gray-man

Durarara

Fruits Basket

No.6

Ouran High School Host Club

Psycho-Pass

Kuragehime

Mushishi

Yuri on Ice


And please forgive me for squeezing in an 11th Tsubasa Chronicles


Honorable mentions include Vampire Knight and Kuroshitsuji. Also Junjou Romantica. <.<

It's been years since I saw some of these series, but I don't think my ratings would change much if I were to rewatch them. I tried to account for my teenage self's taste, so a couple of things I rated very highly back then didn't make the list, ha.


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These are probably in order from high to low but lower down things become a bit foggy, so its really a Top Five and Then The Rest:

Evangelion - I've talked about this series way too much before on the Tavern so won't bore you all again. I think its an unsurpassed work of art and one man's exposure of his deepest fears and agonies.

Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - high school romance/comedy is always high on my list as its so relatable but this series added two superb twists - the crazy plot about a high school girl possibly being god and the non-linear original broadcast sequence which made the entire thing almost impossible to understand but twice as easy to love. I think this is a magnificent work of clever entertainment.

Monogatari - While Shaft's magnum opus has had some low points on the whole I think this is a wonderful piece of art - clever settings, strange backgrounds and a witty deconstruction of just about every manga/anime trope, including the most fanservicey non-fansercive of all time while almost in the background, seemingly as an afterthought, a very simple but compelling plot holds it all together. The series if stuffed full of endearing characters, great style (Cowboy Bebop almost made my list in the basis of its stylish art and music but Monogatari just beats it on both counts).

Beck - something about the realism, the grittiness and the faults in the characters make this work so well for me. Its more like a live action soap opera than an anime. The dark attempt at a mafia backstory hanging over one of the characters is its weakness - it doesn't need that and in fact needed more stage scenes and more music. I also upvote this for being one of the earliest anime that meshed together 2D art and 3D CGI in a solidly convincing way without either looking out of place.

Usagi Drop - 100% heartwarming and adorable story about a little girl who is taken in to live with a boring salaryman who has no clue how to bring up a child, and almost no clue how to even live. What makes me love this series so much is seeing the man grow and learn as much, if not more than his six year old adopted daughter. Kleenex needed for this one.

Aku no Hana - Loved the manga and the anime worked as well, if not better because of the brave decision to rotoscope the entire thing. I have never felt such an oppressive and claustrophobic mood conveyed so well in an anime. The crushing boredom of a dead-end small town on the school kids imagination is compelling. I only wish the second season had not been cancelled but the art style used was just too artsy for the masses.

Kare Kano - my first ever manga and first anime I ever watched after a couple of Studio Ghibli movies It has many faults and few things to recommend it, in fact its riddled with production problems and that shows but this series will always have a place in my heart and I go all dewey-eyed whenever I get the word DVD cases out and watch an episode now and then.

Paranoia Agent - magnificent, dark, clever, artsy, beautiful, strange, compelling, sick, puzzling, bizarre, funny, moody, barking mad. That describes this series perfectly.

Serial Experiments Lain - I do like my strange settings and puzzling social commentary series. Given how many interpretations of what Lain means I have concluded that it has no single meaning and can be used to make it mean whatever you want it to. Its about people and how they (don't) relate to each other, much like Evangelion but beyond that, even after having watched it six or more times, I can never really quite work out what's going on - and that's its charm.

Time of Eve - this ran as a very short series - 6 x 15 minute episodes IIRC and was later assembled into a movie with some extra scenes and cuts but it did broadcast originally as a series and I like it for how it simply and effortlessly tells the story of what human identity is and how racism can so easily take root in innocent settings. Artwork is pretty with mostly CGI and likeable characters. Beautiful music as well.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - this had to be in the top ten and while I'm neither a fan of the art style nor the extremely repetitive nature of how the story unfolds, I do think its a classic of great storytelling with a meaning that is definitely deeper each time you watch it.

I have enough that could fill the #11 to #20 slots... Cowboy Bebop, Rideback, Last Exile, Haibane Renmei, Air, Hyouka, Koi Kaze, Steins Gate, Welcome to the NHK...


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No particular order and I'm certain there are some I'm forgetting!

Ouran High School Host Club - One of the first anime which I fell in love with
Psycho Pass

Tokyo Ghoul

Paradise Kiss

Lovely Complex

Ore Monogatari

Kimi ni Todoke

Kuragehime

Fruits Basket - not so much now, but for how much I loved it at the time.

Mushishi


These are just what sprang to mind and probably isn't a truly definitive list....

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Several in there I watched and liked very much - mostly the mushy school romances. Kimi ni Todoke was especially cute.


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quote:
Originally posted by Saddletank
Several in there I watched and liked very much - mostly the mushy school romances. Kimi ni Todoke was especially cute.



Yeah unfortunately my general anime/manga tastes definitely strays towards the mushy stuff!

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arren18
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quote:
Originally posted by Saddletank
Revolutionary Girl Utena - this had to be in the top ten


Not to nitpick, but you uh, did actually put it in at #11.


Now here's mine. I've tried to put them in order, but of course it isn't a perfect top 10 ranking. Even while choosing them they often moved up or down several spots.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - People on here don't talk about it nearly as much as elsewhere on the internet, but honestly it lives up to the hype. Then again, the hype is SO huge that I think a lot of first-time viewers now would be disappointed.

Revolutionary Girl Utena - I think most people know my feelings about this one.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Very nostalgic! I'm not sure what it'd be like rewatching it now, but I have very warm feelings about it - although it's another one that new viewers might not appreciate so much.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - A very funny and charming comedy with fun characters and great plays on well-worn tropes.

Mob Psycho 100 - This is very recent, but I really enjoyed it. It's creative, funny, and cleverer than it looks.

Hibike! Euphonium - Another pretty recent series. The characters feel very real and the themes really spoke to me.

Darker Than Black - Like Haruhi, this is another nostalgic pick. I often look out for new series that sound as exciting and cool as this, but I'm usually let down.

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt - I considered putting down the same director's more recent Kill la Kill, but I find this crazy, filthy comedy more unconventional and underappreciated.

Monogatari Series - I would actually rate each individual part of this lower than anything else on my list, but I think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In the past while especially I've been really into it.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - Choosing #10 was a bit tough, but in the end I went with this, simply because it's very very good. It's a (mostly) realistic, (mostly) serious drama that unusually gets even better in the second season.


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Oops, I lost count! Slip it in above Time of Eve then!


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I gave up trying to remember them all so I just pulled up a chair in front of my DVD shelves and started looking at each and everyone of my DVD's. Just the covers and whether I felt good about the story or not.

I have some bloodletting ones like 'Bleach' and 'Elfen Leid', but my likes go towards the 'coming of age' comedy genre like Kiki, Wolf Children, etc

Not in any particular order:

Fruits Basket

Clannad

Kino's Journey

His and Her Circumstances

Kimi Ni Todoke

Azumanga Daioh

Chobits ( I have a tattoo of Sumomo on my left arm as well as Totoro)

Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Please*Twins a heartwarming story...

Angelic Layer partly because of its tie-in with another movie on this list...

There are so many other serial's ('FLCL', 'Negima', 'Please, Teacher' etc) that could go on this list, I just included the ones that made me feel good just looking at the title.

(edit: spelling)


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Saddletank
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Husky, I think almost everyone counts 5cm per Second as a film, not a series. It was released in theatres in one showing, not on TV as 3 episodes.

The good news is you can pick something else!


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No prob, Saddles. The DVD I have shows it as three episodes which is why I posted it, but I can see your point. Therefore another title was added to the list...


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arren18
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Yeah, I'd consider it a film for sure. Anyway, thanks for joining in, husky!

By the way, if you tend to forget what you've seen, I recommend using MyAnimeList. It's useful for keeping track of what you've watched and what you thought of it. You can also look up information about staff and so on.


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makc
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just saw planetes last week, and it lands right in the top 10. somewhere.


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another series land somewhere in my personal top 10 today (erased). but, it is funny feeling how you watch something good once in a while and suddenly something you held as a golden standard is not really good any more in comparison. I wish I knew the names of all the best series in advance and not just tried to watch them randomly.

p.s. btw, I enjoyed that authors made an effort to understand the killer philosophy

I wonder if that's really how their mind works.


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It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so loving what - Stephen Fry.

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Planetes seems a curious one. I'd heard good things about it and bought the boxed DVD set - but found it really weak with 2D characters and really childish humour. There was no decent story and I abandoned it after 2 or 3 episodes.


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now that you bring it up, I can no longer pin point what was it about planetes that got me excited. I should write these things down or something. could it be because I identified with mc way too much (and, unlike what you might think after 2 episodes, the girl is not mc), I still don't have my spaceship here however, the ending of mc story was quite disappointing, so not sure that was it. some people praised planetes for scientific accuracy, but I wouldn't care about things like that, so... what was it... why can't I remember dammit


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It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so loving what - Stephen Fry.

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because you need to train your memory, dude))

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