Your Top Ten Anime Series (with words!)

[FLYmeatwad]

Great Teacher Onizuka is a really great series, it's one that I've watched start to finish.

[roujin]

Yeah, this is my second time through it. I've also seen the drama series and read a bunch of the manga. Good times.

[roujin]

hmmm, I've mistakenly deleted most of my episodes of Great Teacher Onizuka...

[roujin]

Honey and Clover + Honey and Clover 2 (26 episodes, 13 episodes)

This is one of those shows that knows its characters so well that it can have them go through everything from huge drama to incredibly silly slapstick comedy and still come out feeling totally genuine. Yeah, it's a pretty overly dramatic romance show but as soon as one of those damn pretty songs starts playing over the background, it becomes sublime.

I'm watching this again. It's probably the best thing ever.

[oldkid]

My opinon of this is a bit scewed, as I haven't seen many of the ones already mentioned, but these are ones I like:

.hack-- Legend of the Twilight:  Short series that is a bit slow at times, but is dramatic and funny.

Tokyo Pig-- Recent find, for grade schoolers, but wonderfully imaginative and funny!

Ranma 1/2-- It gets old after a while, but the first season is really funny.

[philip918]

1. FLCL - Definitely my all-time favorite.  Something about the beautiful animation, frantic energy and wildly imaginative style makes me feel like a I'm a kid again.

2. Cowboy Bebop - What everyone else said.  Fun and uber cool.

3. Neon Genesis Evangelion - It's a classic for a reason.

4. Haibane Renmei - Sublime melancholy.

5. Serial Experiments Lain - Weird, but the atmospherics and tone are great.

6. Trigun - Another fun Sci-fi Western.  Lots of humor with some great action.

7. Paranoia Agent - Cheating a bit because I haven't seen the whole series, but what I have seen is awesomely creepy and disturbing.

8. Gankutsuo - An intriguing re-imagining of the Count of Monte Cristo that's a bit slow at times, but features some dazzling animation.

9. Excel Saga - Over the top anime mayhem.  Loads of fun.

10. Requiem From the Darkness - I've only seen the first four episodes, but the creepy, classic Japanese horror stories are really cool.

[worm@work]

I've only watched FLCL and Haibane Renmei but completely agree on both.

[thatguy_sam]

i like your taste phillip918, from that list i have seen your top three, and want to check out most of the others, particularly paranoia agent

[pixote]

Golden Boy (6 episodes)

Possibly one of the funniest and most perverted anime I've ever seen. I would compare it somewhat to 80s comedies like Porky's, etc if I had actually seen those. It follows Oe Kintaro, a genius, who travels from town to town on his bicycle seeking to learn about life. In each episode he meets a single girl whom he desperately tries to get with and then he tries to accomplish a task to prove that he's worthy of her. It's a simple formula but it works so well and it delivers so many laughs that to ask for anything more would be wrong. Too bad that there aren't more episodes though.

★★★★1/2

Is the first episode fairly indicative of what to expect in the next five?

pixote

[roujin]

I'm pretty sure it's the same exact formula.

[roujin]

3. Neon Genesis Evangelion - It's a classic for a reason.

Yeah, just saw this again. It's definitely true. What I find the most interesting is how the series balances its tones (going from introspective misery to fan service central to hot mecha action). It's sometimes kind of too schitzophrenic but whatevz. I remember having problems with the last two episodes before but now I'm all over that. It's great for what it is. I also like the way that it hints at what actually takes place in those final moments without actually spelling it out. Well, I haven't seen End of Evangelion in a while, but I'm pretty sure that spells it out. And it spells it out gloriously.

Looking forward to rewatching that.

[Melvil]

pix, worm, and I have plans to check that series out (should pix ever come back!). I don't know anything about it, but good to hear some good things about it.

[duder]

pix, worm, and I have plans to check that series out (should pix ever come back!). I don't know anything about it, but good to hear some good things about it.

I want in on that.

edit: what's the overall running time?

[roujin]

26 eps
22 mins each

+ End of Evangelion which is essential viewing.

[roujin]

School Rumble
The New School Year! Be Still My Heart! Love Letter Mayhem! Warp Speed on a Bike!
Ep 1

Meet Tenma and Harima. Two idiots. Tenma is in love with Karasuma. Harima is in love with Tenma. That's the set up for one of the funniest of all animes. It's a typical high school comedy, I guess, but it's just done so well and the characters are so damn hilarious. Harima is probably one of my favorite of all anime characters. Just that damn goatee or whatever it is. Same with Tenma's little curls at her side. The show is about how stupid love can make you act... which is worse for our characters since they're already stupid. I also love how the show mixes these moments of supreme cuteness and then subverts by turning that cuteness into a hilarious joke. Just awesome.


School Rumble
Tough Test! Trapped in the Bathroom! The School Physical!
Ep 2

The first part consists of an inner monologue by Harima as he tries to alert Tenma that she hasn't written her name on her test. It's hilarious stuff. Love the part about Harima's aura. Then Tenma gets all embarrassed cuz Karasuma is right outside the girl's restroom and she can't leave if he sees her. Then everyone starts obsessing over the school physical and people decide that the only way to deal with it is to cosplay.


School Rumble
See and Sketch! Letter on an Arrow! Pajama Party Confessions!
Ep 3

Tenma has to draw Karasuma and she starts freaking out about the way she looks which leads up to a great joke about how Karasume sees Tenma. Then, in one of the freaking funniest things I've ever seen, Tenma decides that the best way to say "I love you" to Karasuma is by sending him a letter... on an arrow. Then there's pajamas and a little of fanservice though not to much and Yakumo proves herself to be the bee's knees. Well, what do you expect? Harima as a cop? CINECAST!ing genius.