I can understand the need to require substantiation for each entry in such a list yet, I am warning whoever may feel necessitated to complain about the lack of specific examples, that I have no intention of stating how a specific event/character buttresses my claim. I will simply list my favorite 10 and least favorite 5, give an explanation and leave it at that.
10 Most Favorite (In no particular order, mostly because I enjoyed each at the different time intervals I watched them; there was never a situation where I had to choose to watch one over the other, so I could never really put any claims to the test.)
1. Hunter X Hunter, and I am including the 62 episode TV series and the three following OVA's in this. I am not too much of a stickler with animation, so as long as it is passable I usually have no qualms. The series started off slowly, as I thought the introduction to the end of the third Hunter test was simply the fleshing out of the characters, and of course introducing the epic friendship that was Gon and Killua. It was after the third test that I truly became enamored with this series. Without spoiling anything, the tragic fate of Kurapica in his main arc, combined with the cute, impossibly powerful bonds of friendship forged by Gon between himself and the others both tugged at my heart strings. Something I also enjoyed was the clever nature of the creator of the Manga, Togashi, which manifested itself noticeably in the anime. I speak of the fact that none of the arcs, besides the Greed Island one, and that only on the basic level of finishing the game, were completely resolved. Each had a particularly poignant, unfinished aspect to it, giving room for even more in depth expansion of all the characters. In terms of a Shounen Anime, Hunter X Hunter's system of Nen was an effective tool for allowing the growth of strength in each character, and the system itself was in depth enough to leave room for improvement. I only hope Togashi decides to write more of the manga soon so that the fourth OVA can be released soon.
2. History's Strongest Disciple: Kenichi I don't have much to say on this, besides the fact that I appreciate the attempt to incorporate as many real life details as possibly in an obviously idealistic, slightly stereotypical martial arts anime. The techniques attempted by the main character, Kenichi, are all (besides a few of the Kempo ones, the Chi aspect is delved into some detail here) practiced in real life. The structure isn't anything new, as the main character must gain strength to get stronger and defeat stronger opponents of his first main enemy group, Ragnarok. However, what I appreciated instantly was the fact that the stereotypical "snake" or "demon" figure, Nijima, was not stereotypical at all, in fact siding with Kenichi. This coupled with the comedic element hooked me by the second episide, and I fervently await the subs every Monday so that I can see more of Kenichi's growth.
3. Yu Yu Hakasho Unfortunately, I have nothing substantial here. This anime just sticks to me like an endeared, drunken uncle (?). I didn't find it particularly innovative or its animation to be revolutionary, but I enjoyed every episode. I'm sorry I can't give more of an analysis on this one.
4. Dragon Ball Ahhh, Dragon Ball, such pleasant memories. My first anime, and therefore the one most dear to my heart. Goku's cute innocence, his unstoppable will to help others, and his indomitable determination were all extremely significant to the pre-teen me, though I couldn't stand a lot of the other characters. Bulma, Chi Chi, the pig (forget his name) and Krillen just irritated me, but Goku was the shining light. My absolute favorite "tournament" arc in any anime was the one Roshi and Goku fought in during the championship round.
5. Deathnote I'll admit it right now; I am a Light advocate. If the innocent could be protected from the guilty, and it was possible to weed out false accusations and extreme cases, I would have no problem delving through any law tomes to justify Light's actions, though I would come to the illogical justification of asking for justification for a government sanctioned capital punishment, which in turn would lead me to question the validity of government, which in turn would lead me to question the human condition, which would in turn would and did lead me to Shakespeare. That's right, Deathnote led me to Hamlet and Macbeth. Need I say more? Ok, how about an extraordinarily engaging duel between two genius', whose turbulence leads a path of innocents doomed (destined?) to death due to their relentless hunt for each other. I'll admit the show lost a bit of its luster once Light touched the Deathnote in the helicopter (my attempt at a masked spoiler), yet I continued nevertheless. One interesting, and particularly significant to me, aspect of the show was the idea of hubris, as ultimately it was hubris that dictated the actions of both protagonists, and ultimately both their fates.
6. Monster I'll say that I thought the connecting lines in this were extremely farfetched, yet considering the magnitude of the moral of the story, that is acceptable. Of course, as with any great piece of literature, the moral itself is ambiguous, possibly interpreted in lights completely opposite to each other. But what made this anime special was how atrocious the antagonist could be, and how nonetheless I would empathize, and secretly wish he would achieve his goals. I have always loved the Vegeta's, Boromir's and Macbeth's of the works I have watched/read, so the typical, goody two shoe's hero would probably go unappreciated by me. Still, Dr. Tenma was the exception. I exalted Goku, yet Goku, or Dragon Ball for that matter, was neither realistic nor feasible. Dr. Tenma was an example of a good human attempting to achieve a good cause, and never faltering from that path. Though as a young boy Goku might have been a model for stereotypical good, Tenma was the model for a young teenager, and a feasible one at that. His unrelenting determination to seek justice, when the entire world seemed to seek for anything but, was what kept me watching in spite of the various instances where I felt the anime stretched a bit too much. Also, without delving too much here, the detective caused me to travel the entire emotional spectrum. I went from abhorring his existence to setting him side by side with Tenma himself.
7. Code Geass: Lelough of the Rebellion Episodes 22-23. Enough said. Never have I come close to comparing the absolute desolution of King Lear to an anime, yet those episodes had me thinking. Lelouch wants revenge, and he is willing to use any means necessary to achieve it. I loved the character drawings, though they seemed a bit similar to Gundam Seed to me. Anyway, I really despised Lelouch's best friend, the pilot of Lancelot, and the hope that he might die at Lelouch's hands kept me watching until the end, when some of the middle episodes (most specifically that laugh of an arc relating to Mao) became bland. Unfortunately, for those who watched the end, I will have to continue watching until the next season, lol.
8. Dragon Ball Z What self respecting, suburban American kid didn't watch Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network? Comon, classics such as "power level over 9000?!!!" don't simply spawn from worthless works. Again, I loved that Goku, even when older, was the same shining beacon for good, yet, my sympathies changed when Vegeta's character was fleshed out. Vegeta became my favorite character, and to see him lose repeatedly to Goku was annoying in a satisfying sense, if that is possible. Also, episodes 222 (I believe it was this), the one where Vegeta hugs Trunks, was on par with the Code Geass' episode 22, but obviously for a different emotion. Whereas episode 22 in Code Geass caused sheer revulsion, episode 222 almost, and note I say almost because real men don't cry, brought a tear to my eye. Also, the alteration of Piccolo's character coupled with the surprise with Bulma and Vegeta were nice tidbits that ultimately affected the entire time line of the show, and anytime two of things that you were seriously hoping for occur and seriously affect a show's progress, you get happy. Very happy.
Ehhh, I can't think of many others that left the same impressions these did. I enjoy Naruto, Bleach, D. Gray Man, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rouroni Kenshin, Blood+ and Darker than Black, yet I only watch/watched them for amusement, and they remained that, amusement. I know Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered a classic, yet many of its subtle achievements are marred by the fact that I only watched it last month, which obviously affected my appreciation for it.
5 Most Disliked Anime
1. Flame of Recca God this was garbage. Pure, stereotypical garbage. The events occurred too quickly, and often without any explanation besides chance. Um, what would Recca have done if his "Hime" hadn't been right there at the end of episode 1? What I mean to say is, what if it had been another girl...Anyway, every damn fight besides 2, 2 out of freaking like 20, are the same. Good Guy gets in some trouble, digs deep, and wins. Nothing new, just the same, tournament style structure in everything. It got so bad that I sincerely was hoping for the woman who tries to finish everyone off to succeed.
2. Vision of Escaflowne Ehhh, this just did not stick with me. I didn't even finish it; I got to episode 20 and stopped. The whole "genes of luck" thing was just such a turn off, and I was just getting used to the main dragon rider too. I can see where this Neko phenomenon may have began, and I am disgusted all the same. Also, the emperor's story, especially his method of arriving on the planet, just annoyed me. Basically, everything, the main character notwithstanding, annoyed me about this.
3. Berserk Another fan favorite that I just did not appreciate. Again, it might be because I only started (and stopped) this at the beginning of this month, but everything seemed played out and stereotypical to me. Of course, I admit this will occur when you watch an old anime, but I just couldn't help shake the notion. Sure, it may have been the beginning of the stereotype, but I don't know that, and it certainly wasn't for me. Anyway, Guts/Gantz/Gudz, whatever the right romanization was, as my subs had all three lol, was a semi-interesting character for the 6 episodes that I watched. Of course, the fact that he was so easily and pathetically manipulated immediately turned me off, and what didn't help was how much of a bitch he was when it came to the black girl.
4. Zatch Bell *Shudders*
5. Sailor Moon *rolls eyes* Call me sexist, call me a pig, call me whatever, but a bunch of spoiled brats running around in school girl uniforms saving the world is akin to Floyd Mayweather's next opponent standing any chance against him. Spare me the bull, this thing annoyed me as much as Flames of Recca did.
There you have it.[/u]
|
Favourites
1. Twelve Kingdoms
This series is forty-five continuous episodes of amazing story, beautiful animation, superlative characters, and enthralling dialogue. I gave this series a Masterpiece rating right after watching it and even after rewatching it multiple times, reading the translated novel, and looking back upon my viewing of it, I still want to rate it higher. Fuyumi Ono created an expansive and detailed world that I have yet to see paralleled. The only possible way to improve upon this anime is to animate the unanimated novels along with the future novels to still be written. I can easily say this is not only the best anime I've ever seen but almost certainly the best t.v series/movie I've ever watched.
2. Eureka Seven
Having only recently (as in about a half hour of writing this post) finished this series I may be mildly biased in my rating of it but I don't want to undersell how amazing this show is. I originally dismissed it after seeing a few episodes on t.v which made me think it was some sort of weird clone of Gundam with surfing thrown in but I really couldn't have been more off. Aside from Twelve Kingdoms, this show has some of the most excellent characters I've ever seen. Ignoring the cliche of having a group of heroes that live like family, the way the expansive cast of characters interacts in this series builds the feeling that they actually are family rather than simply being told so. Everybody evolves throughout the story and even the ones that only get small amounts of screen time and dialogue are characterized with sub-plots and meaningful interaction with others. The romance between Eureka and Renton is also probably the most touching relationship I've seen, and that includes the ever growing list of shoujou I watch. The only other pairing that actually evoked such strong emotions in me was Yamato and Suzuka from Suzuka. Along with the masterfully created characters is an equally intricate story-line that both builds and thrives on the characters themselves. This show creates a near-perfect symbiosis between the story-line and the characters; not to mention the beautiful fight scenes and animation.
3. Monster
This one is a standby that any true anime fan will understand the constant love it gets from every angle. The animation, story, characters, music, everything is just perfect. There were times when watching this series that I was brought to the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next; just waiting for the next big plot twist to throw me for a loop. There were also times when I was just horrified at what was going on or had just been revealed. The show is capable of drawing out and dashing every emotion you could conceivably feel for a character. On the one hand, you'll be made to despise someone who will later do something so heroic you can't imagine ever hating them; or you'll find a character so absolutely puerile that you find yourself counting the episodes to their demise. Though the action scenes are fairly far between and never extend beyond almost completely realistic scenarios that simply adds to the tremendous impact the story carries. Anyone who has any interest in great story telling should absolutely not miss this series.
4. Suzuka
Yes, a shoujou managed to place higher on my list than heavy-hitters like Mushi-shi and FLCL. As much as amazing as Mushi-shi and FLCL are I cannot deny that romance gets me every time. That said, Suzuka is by and far my favourite romance anime. Not only is the relationship between Suzuka and Yamato both believable and touching, the show also has an excellent sports plots that runs alongside the romance. In many lesser anime juggling two plots at the same time (though they do frequently intertwine) results in a failed mess that is entirely unenjoyable. However, when it's pulled off as seamlessly as it is in Suzuka it makes for a story that is enjoyable for multiple reasons on multiple levels. My only gripe is that the anime doesn't give a true conclusion (in fact, it ends at the point where the two would be in a real relationship) and the manga won't be translated past the point where the anime ends until next year.
5. Mushi-shi
Mushi-shi has garnered a massive amount of attention with it's recent DVD release and anyone who paid attention to the hype knows how worthy it is. Episodic anime usually become somewhat tiresome for me if a plot doesn't develop but Mushi-shi is the exception that makes it a rule. The show might not have much connectivity but each episode is a contained story with a start, middle, and conclusion. Most of the episodes don't end with everyone skipping off into the sunset but they leave me satisfied and with the feeling that I just watched something very substantive and fulfilling.
Simply put, the animation in this show is breathtaking. It is easily the most gorgeous anime I've ever seen. Every frame of scenery leaves me wondering how it's even possible to create something that looks this amazing. Just watching Ginko scan the landscape makes me feel like I'm actually looking down from a mountaintop or across a forest. The music accompanying the scenery is also excellent. It's always gentle and rather quiet but it perfectly permeates everywhere it's placed.
Note: I'm going to add my other favourites later since I've working at this post for a while and it's getting late.
Most Hated
1. Full Metal Panic
I usually catch a lot of flak for hating this anime so I don't try and go out of my way to hate on it but, okay, twist my arm. I have absolutely no idea why so many people like this series. Everywhere I look I see people ranting about how funny it is and what a great hero Sagara is and I just want throw my computer out of the window every time they do. This show is an absolutely unredeemable piece of atrocious garbage that needs to be shot and cremated so that it won't come back to life. I can spend as much time hating this series as I can writing about my love for Twelve Kingdoms so I'll try and nail down the key areas.
Sagara is a shit character. There. I said it. He is a mindless, retarded, unfunny, asshole. He was funny enough at first but they ran his shtick dry after the 98th "accidental" boob grab and fake bomb scare, which was by the third episode. He's like Garfield; he only has one gag and everyone finds it so funny for no real reason. He's in the army, I GET IT! Putting someone into a situation where they're awkward is a standard in comedy but when you try and milk an entire series by having a stupid character's personality stay static for 26 episodes it goes beyond tiresome. Any time he seems like he might actually get some depth they just turn it into a f***ing boob grab or something equally played out and I just want to strangle whoever made him. It's unbelievable that they managed to take a cardboard cut-out that requires 2 and a half seconds to conceive, not change him at all for his entire existence, and have people like him.
Gauron is a shit villain. There. I said that as well. He's evil for absolutely no reason. It's not like he can even claim to be crazy or anything. He's clearly just a villain that is entirely devoid of a motive. I would've settled for a "This world is corrupt" excuse but they don't even give you something as bare bones as that. I swear, it's like the writers were just going for the biggest "F*** you" they could in terms of character creation. They left out anything important in all their characters and managed to pass it off successfully.
Can you describe FMP in less than 3 genres? I sure as hell can't (unless you can substitute expletives as genres in which case I can do it in 1). Even according to this site it's a: Comedy, Drama, Mecha, Military, Science Fiction, Shounen. It also has school life, action, slice of life, and romance aspects thrown in. I'll be the first to applaud a show for trying to stretch it's boundaries; one of the reasons I love Suzuka so much is that it managed to hold plots for two distinctly different genres. FMP however, manages to take a multitude of genres and fail at every single on of them.
At the risk of rambling I'll close with how great my dislike of the "story" is. The show has many things stacked against it in terms of being able to pull of a proper story; given that the characters are barely one-dimensional and the set-up is a mishmash of conflicting genres that were shoehorned into a single series. You've got to figure that if you failed at everything else you should be able to at least partly succeed at something though right? Not really. Full Metal Panic has a weak and convoluted story that barely holds itself together. It generally centres around "whispereds" but it never even actually explains what they are or really even why they're important (aside from giving the bad guys a stereotypical means to get more power).
|