Top 10 Anime

Here's the list of anime I promised. 

Keep in mind I only recently got back into anime. Senior year of high school I started watching anime at the insistence of a friend after being out of the community for nearly a decade. So don't get up at arms if your favorite is unlisted. I may just have not seen it yet. 

#1: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Sometimes the Manga deserves a close adaptation. FMA Brotherhood hits all the right notes when it comes to telling an epic storyline. The magic in this world is a science, and the applications of said science are a great statement of Clarke's Third Law. 

FMA talks about alchemy, but a lot of principles like Equivalent Exchange and the Values of Substance actually helped me understand economics. The story is a different kind of epic, though. It's not so much Ed's coming-of-age as it is his being thrust into adulthood with absolutely no preparation. 

Ed I feel is one of the best kid characters ever written. He is smart and talented but never comes off as annoying or a Gary Stu. He is quite admirable in this regard. The entire cast is colorful and the magic atmosphere make for a great show. It's the kind of show I want to revisit every decade to see what it's like at different ages.    

#2: Trigun

Trigun was made on ALL the drugs. This is the weirdest concept for a Western anime I can think of, and I read Dark Tower. 

Vash is an idiot hero done right. He is not really a bad man, definitely not worth $$60M; he's just unlucky. However, this is another one of those shows that starts as a comedy but later becomes dense towards the end. It tackles issues such as gender politics, religion, mental disorder, and many more. But the charm of the series is the general wackiness of it all. 

#3: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

This won't be the only Giant Robot show on here either. Gurren Lagann is all about busting out of the shell and taking harge of one's own life. Much like BIONICLE, it's about realizing destiny, but not about the destiny of someone else, as we may be inclined to believe at first. The characters are great and it has one of the best theme songs of all time. 

I think this is a good piece to study for anyone interested in directing animation. There is direct use of contrast in colors. Every character has very distinct build and movements. I watched the dub, so I don't know about the original voice direction, but the American dub shows all the right inflections and vocal ranges.

Gurren Lagann is a work of art and a seminal giant robot story. 

#4: Clannad

Clannad is a bit hard to explain, but easy to feel. I don't know if I can spoil the plot here, mostly because there isn't much of a plot to spoil.

Still I feel this is the best written of the shows on here. If I were to rank them solely by narrative and approach to narrative, this would probably be at the top. Clannad is in many respects a postmodern approach to the classic coming-of-age story. It takes elements of theatrical presentation and other-world to craft a notion of awareness and childlike innocence. The title contains "clan", implying unity, which is exactly what Tomoya accomplishes.  

What did I think of After Story? I put off this list mostly so I could see it. It's fine, but I feel this one had a better story and more relevant themes. It can be a little slow, but if appreciated as a story more than a show, it proves a satisfying watch. 

#5: Cowboy Bebop 

This show is the one. Everyone knows this show. So now I have to say something sort of different. 

It is an East meets West work, though there is very little of the East. It takes all of Western film and television and makes a collage of space tropes and western tropes. The blend creates a piece of Japanese portrayal of American culture. My first time watching I was like "so this is how they see us".

There is a loose continuity, but aside from Episodes 6-14 and the finale, you don't really need to see them all in order. There's a few details here and there, but the stories are self-contained and explore a different concept every episode. 

Why is it not at #1 like with everyone else? Mostly because I never felt too challenged by it. I do lie the soundtrack and the visuals and the characters, but the Top Four were more gripping and brought more to the discussion. 

#6: Death Note 

If Breaking Bad were an anime, it would be called Death Note. 

Death Note is all about moral dilemmas. It takes the age old concept of the man who can get away with anything and elevates it to the logial extreme. Light can literally control life and death. As the story gets more convoluted and more characters show up, it's surprisingly able to keep focus and stay concise. I personally feel L sold the show. As the anti-Light, L was manipulative, devious, and their battle of wits made for great dialogue. I always felt like he knew the truth about Light, but it's impossible to prove. 

I got my inner lawyer out on this and went to town tearing apart the fine print. I don't know too muh about law, but the story was really fun and my arguing with the loopholes really meant I got into it. 

Despite some *ahem* questionable choices around the second half, I still feel its a worthy watch. To put it graphically, it starts at high on the y-axis and peaks around the front teens. After which, there is a steady negative slope, though it never bottoms out. At the bottom is a finale like a cherry on top a good sundae. 

#7: Neon Genesis Evangelion

I was almost hesitant to put this on here. I know how controversial the series is, how every character is love-it-or-hate it. But honestly, I couldn't leave it off, because THIS was the show that got me back into anime. The aforementioned friend started me off here. 

This is one of the few shows to go into detail about the implications of piloting giant robots. A common criticism is Shinji's really whiny, but you would be too if the fate of the world rested entirely on your hands. There are several problems like how everyone seems like a major tool and the mechanics behind the Eva could have been explained better, but I still feel the show was successful. I agree with JesuOtaku here. It's a "must-see but not a must-love". 

I'm trying to judge by the show's merits, but I would be remiss if I did not mention End of Eva or the Rebuild films. End of Eva is the bleakest alternate ending to what was a decent finale in its own right. The Rebuild films are great, too. They are far from perfect, but most of my issues with the series were resolved with these films. I actually liked 3.33 better than Kaworu in the show because there was mroe time to develop their relationship and you got a feel for how they felt. That was better told in a 90-minute film than just one thirty minute episode.  

#8: Zoids Chaotic Century 

On my Good Cartoon Ruler, many questioned my inclusion of Zoids with the big boys, but THIS, my friends, is the one I put on that pedastal! 

I remember watching this when I was eight and my brother and I would LARP episode summaries before my dad at a local park! To me, this show had some of the richest and most emotional storytelling I'd seen. It's no Avatar, but it tackled many of the same anti-war sentiments. There was even a tolerance allegory with the sentient zoid. Most of the stories in this are what kept it in the Top Ten. 

If I had one gripe, it would be the Final Four. Toonami didn't even saywhen they'd air, so I was lucky I just happened to tune in Saturday afternoon at the convenient time when they launched. Remember, there was barely an Internet back then. Thankfully, all the explosions in the finale made my little eight year old heart squee in delight. 

Yeah, it's an obvious toy ploy. But if something like Friendship is Magic could work, this can to. The Liger Saber was a toy I owned and one of my favorite anime robots. 

New Century was good, but not as emotional or deep as this was. I didn't really watch Fuzors or Genesis. 

#9: Soul Eater

This is a wacky one, but much like Zoids and Eva, the time at which I watched it played a role in its placement on the list. I saw it almost immediately after I graduated high school. What I saw I almost could not comprehend.

If Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman made an anime, this is about what it would look like. It has the wackiest concept but somehow makes it all work. The characters and interaction are spot-on. Knowing me, that's about twenty points instantly. The black comedy is also incredibly funny. I don't demand it be funny, but some of the stuff is so unbelievable I just can't help but laugh at it. 

On top of that, there is a good story. There are Lovecraftian elements of a mission without a goal and searh for control in a world without any. In short, Soul Eater is theater of the absurd for the Hot Topic crowd. 

Contrary to what it may seem, I don't read too many manga. I read a few here and there, but not really a whole lot. Therefore, while many fans were disappointed by the ending, I felt it made sense and was foreshadowed. 

Soul Eater Not! wasn't for me. I tried to like it, I just couldn't get invested. 

#10: Revolutionary Girl Utena 

It's a modern fairytale that throws its middle finger at every fairytale and magical girl trope in the book. 

It's no secret I love these kinds of stories. I ove anything that openly and proudly defies convention. Look throughout the list and you will see nearly every show on the list does exactly this. Utena goes by both male and female titles (in the sub), is fighting for a trophy who does not need to be won, has a prince who is not very charming, and is trying to contain an eldritch abomination. What I also like is how they are able to deal with gay subtext completely tastefully. 

My only perscription is that since it was made in the late 90s, it has a habit of showing stock footage and being recycled. There is the exact same battle theme every episode. It can be tedious to watch, but the show is still good. Also, don't skip the clip episodes. Two of them lead directly into the next season with shock reveals. 

Honorable Mention: 

*I recently finished Coppelion, and while I enjoyed it, it's too "new" for a Top 10 List. 

*I HAVE seen the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist, but I like Brotherhood better. I actually recommend watching the original first so Brotherhood does not tarnish your view of it.   

*Digimon Frontier & Tamers, Kill la Kill, and Space Dandy would have made a Top 15 List. 

*Madoka Magica was in a tossup for #10, but Utena sort of moved me more. 

*Pokemon is nostalgic but not really Top 10 material. Ditto for DBZ. 

*I'm a little burned out by Attack on Titan. Two years ago it would have hit the Top Five. 

*I don't normally have the patience for longer anime, so I never got into shows like One Piece and I cannot frikin' stand Naruto.

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