And finally, it has come the time to talk about animation. Well, to be more precise, Japanese animation… yeah; anime. All this while that I have been gathering information and writing notes about my favorite anime this year, I have been thinking how tough it is to decide which will be number one. My biggest question so far is: what should I base my decision on?
If a new anime fan wants to know which are the best anime out there, all its needed is a google search and you will get tons of Blogs that feature top 10-100 anime lists. Its not surprising, since all hardcore fans are eager to share their opinion on what they consider to be the very best. What is surprising, is the fact that nine out of ten of these “top anime list” coincide with their first three spots; Naruto, Bleach, One Piece. Sad, since these three anime -although great in their own way- are most likely not the best three anime of all times. Hold on! I’m not going to say Cowboy Bebop is the number one, my opinion in this case should be as impartial as it can be… I’ll try my best.
The problem with most anime top lists is that it is largely based on viewership, which it might sound just like the right way to go about it, but when considering that nearly all greatest anime do not cater to the common anime viewer, you have to reanalyze your choices.
Do we rank a story based on its plot, soundtrack, character development, style of animation, etc? Or do we just simply do it based on our personal opinion? When making your list, you will definitely only mention those anime you have seen and consequently liked, wanting to make a point on why those anime are the best of the best, which defeats the purpose of giving an impartial and honest opinion on if those anime are or are not indeed the best. For example, I have never watched Ghost In The Shell. This anime will never be on my list of top anime of all times. It is, however, on the list of many other people and I respect that. I’m not entirely biased to say Ghost In The Shell is not an awesome anime, I just don’t care for it. I’m not very interested in cyberpunk, only anime I love which falls under the science fiction genre is Ergo Proxy. The same goes for Akira. The animated film Akira is one of the most recognized of all times, and this is not my personal opinion. It was the door for many on becoming hardcore anime fans. And I believe, it will continue to inspire many anime artists. For me, Akira means nothing. I have seen it twice (a “second chance” kinda thing), and I can tell you with complete honesty it is one anime I have no interest in, I don’t even recommend it to others because I don’t think much of it myself. Not that I don’t think it’s a good story, and with one of the greatest main characters in anime history… but really, not my cup of tea.
So, how should I rank an anime in a way that it is neither pressure nor personal opinion influencing my decisions? I think it is almost impossible. It could be done by a professional critic, but how much of it will be his personal opinion and how much will be impartial? Even for professionals, I think it is somewhat hard not to be biased by their own beliefs. After going over this repeatedly, I have decided I will stick to my own way of ranking. I always do it based on how much it managed to entertain me. After all, I am not a professional critic, nor am I writing for a magazine. I am, however, part of a more important critic, the FANS.
As an important critic, an anime lover, and an anime obsessive-compulsive-maniac-lunatic fan, I will now share my own personal top anime list of this year with links to the review and episodes for those interested. I will only comment on my number one since I thought the rankings makes it pretty clear on how much I liked it. Just that number one anime I can’t keep quite about.
Just a quick note before I start; Really, what is it about Naruto? Ninjas? Please…!
9- Katanagatari
7- Fairy Tale
4- Durarara!!
3- Kuragehime
1- Psychic Detective Yakumo; I was entertain completely. I love mystery, and this anime did not disappoint me in any aspect. The animation is good, the story plot is awesome, the characters are very well balanced. And its about a psychic detective, what more can I ask for? Nothing, its perfect.
Sine Cera 
Cool list. I like the idea of Anime, though I’ve not really watched any, or rather, I think I may have seen some stuff as a kid, but my memory is foggy. I know I used to watch other Japanese imports, such as Ultraman, which I loved and even goofy Pokemon lol.
Anyway, I am deeply interested in Anime, as I think it would help me visualise my own novel, you see, I have this inlking that Japan would love my boy. He’s got a little of that visual kei thing going on, along with kick arse skills.
Thank you for this list, Fairy Tale, Otome Youkai, Occult Academy and Psychic Detective sound like the ones I’d like to watch first.
P.S I’m not into Science Fiction either, so I’d not like those kind.
But Ergo Proxy is a must. Trust me on this one. Its about how androids or just plain robots get this sense of existence, and act completely on their own. Then there is this girl who is supposed to investigate about the cogito virus (which is what they call what the robots are getting) Then there is this weird nerd like guy who seems like a total idiot at the beginning but is highly significant to the whole plot (I love him, one of my favorite characters) He is being persecuted by the officials, and the girl sort believes in him when he says he is innocent. Anyway, he escapes the city and she goes after him, and their story begins. It turns into a psychological thriller.
Totally Gothic, in fact the girl was drawn after Evanescence’s vocalist.
I’ll send you pictures now. Hehehe. 🙂
Man, I haven’t seen any of these. I need to catch up on my anime-ness, I almost don’t feel like myself right now. Thanks for the recommendations *goes to watch them all*
You can’t possibly watch them all right now can you? Such an eager otaku! hehe.
Most likely no, but I can dream can’t I? 😀
😛
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