Top 50 Anime Series of All Time
50. California Crisis
California Crisis is on this list to represent my love of “terrible” 80′s OVAs– those 30-50 minute direct-to-VHS shows that cram a hell of a lot of plot into a minute amount of time. It almost always results in a story wrought with plotholes and inconsistencies, and I love that shit. This is the sort of stuff that made my love anime in the first place– where you have to make up half the story in your head in order for it to make the least bit of sense. I miss that sort of stuff, and I get annoyed by how many current series err in the exact opposite direction by over-explaining everything. Crisis also has an awesomely anti-climactic ending that does a hell of a job of symbolizing everything I love about these OVAs. It’s a shame that current trends don’t allow for more stuff like this to be made.
49. Macross: Do You Remember Love
I’m not a huge fan of the Macross franchise. I dig Macross Plus well enough, and I probably like Macross 2 more than most hardcore Macross fans (Although that’s not saying much since I just kinda tolerate it since I saw it at an early stage in my anime career.). I also never really developed a love for Robotech since I don’t remember it getting any kind of regular airplay on local stations when I was a kid. But I love the movie rendition of the story. I distills everything that’s good about the TV series, gets rid of all the tedious bits, and amps up the right things to ridiculous proportions. The final battle, set to Minmay’s horrifically cheesy and awesome pop tune, is one of the greatest anime action scenes of all time, and it still looks better than almost everything that’s come after it.
48. Ga-Rei Zero
If it weren’t for the first episode, Ga-Rei Zero would be a generic, if watchable, action show. But damn is that first episode brilliant. If you haven’t watched it, go watch it now. Yes, now. Done watching it yet? Whether you loved it or hated it, there’s no denying that it got your attention when everyone died. That first episode started to set everything up in a very traditional manner. We’ve seen this shit before (Although that one chick’s motorcycle with mantra treads was fucking awesome.), and we could see exactly where all of this was going– right up until when they got picked off one by one by the real star of the series. It’s like watching Star Wars if it began when Anakin killed all the younglings, except we actually got to see the slaughter after we got to know the kids. That episode ranks up there as one of the greatest single episodes of all time, and it’s that episode that earns Ga-Rei its spot on my list.
47. Read or Die
Crazy super hero spies tracking down a dude that’s resurrecting dead geniuses and using their zombified corpses to kill everyone on earth, and the main chick has the power to manipulate paper the same way Green Lantern manipulates “willpower.” It’s all sorts of over-the-top, and it pulls it off with a 60′s spy show flair rarely seen in anime. It’s all about style as substance, and that can be a beautiful thing when pulled off as awesomely as this. Shame the TV series is dreadfully boring until the last few episodes. But let’s pretend that doesn’t exist and heap all our love on the OVA.
46. Urusei Yatsura
Rumiko Takahashi is the greatest sitcom writer of all time. Lum’s scenario isn’t quite as awesome as Takahashi’s other series on this list, Ranma 1/2, but it may be even crazier than that shapeshifting martial artist mess. It has one of the first “magical girlfriend” stories in anime, with Lum forcing herself upon Ataru after a game of tag with planetary consequences. And in that first episode Lum managed to undermine every “magical girlfriend” anime before they were ever made. It may get a little tedious after awhile, but that’s easily averted by not marathoning the damn thing. Sitcoms were made to be watch an episode or two a week. It’s all about getting a few laughs in, not about engaging the viewer with characterization or storyline. And Lum’s one of the best when it comes to the sitcom formula.
[...] I finally got around to doing my all-time favorite anime list. [...]
I love the way Azumanga nearly always manages to make it into top lists even when most of the ones around it are violent bloody psychological storms. There’s something that show did so well that’s near impossible to explain and hasn’t been repeated since. Well, unless they made a Yotsubato anime. Then there’s the ‘romance that just got to you’ series. Yours was Maison Ikkoku, mine was Chobits.
Anywho, gotta check out some of these ASAP, especially Utena
wow… this list is good but not great… top of mind animes that i think should have been on the list – this is not by ranking
1) monster
1a) Last exile
2) planetes
3)12 kingdoms
4)berserk
5) Trigun
6)full metal alchemist
7)samurai champolo
8)hikaru no go
9)gungrave
10) legend of galactic heroes
11) elphen lied (maybe)
12) kino’s journey
13)haibane renmei
14) hunter x hunter
Gungrave was good, but obviously you haven’t seen enough anime to ACTUALLy want to put Gungrave on a top 50
Great list! I made a list of my 50 favorite series not too long ago and many of yours are on it.
Haha, that is such a badass Utena pic you chose for this post. Well done, good sir.
[...] Top 30 Anime Series of All Time [...]
Was worth it just to see Justy Tylor’s Incredible Adventures, but seeing Sunred and Bantorra on the list made my day.
No bleach, full metal alchemist,fist of the north star or naruto come on now get real will you!!!!!
yea Bleach,Naruto,and One piece is the Best.
I must agree that they can be good, but you need to see more anime series and I mean ALOT MORE to make that opinion, There are far more great animes out their in the world than the ones people catagorize as ‘popular’. Trust me, I’ve seen more than 250+ anime series and I’m only 15. ;3
actually im 23 and have been watching anime at a high level for almost a decade and i have prolly seen over a thousand animes and though naruto isent a ‘top’ anime i do find myself straming the new episodes :P i disagree about outlaw star being on a top list its not that great
Filler anime is shit
What about Code Geass????? So well done…
you sir win at life
There’s watching a lot of different series, and being able to hold a comparison between two series you’ve watched… I loved cowboy bebop, but it doesn’t come close to full metal alchemist or code geass to me, don’t blame the people for finding it weird that they’re not even in a top 50, while cowboy bebop is #2
Full Metal Alchemist is very good and I would say better than Naruto and Bleach but to say it’s better than Cowboy Bebop is anime blasphemy. Cowboy Bebop is a masterpiece.
hey what about. dragon ball, dragon ball z, dragon ball gt, pokemon, initial d, . you guys are talking about all time favorites? you guys are talking about your favorites. I saw dragon ball was translated even to some alien languages. in case in the future aliens take over this world. the can see and learn what ever single organism on earth really like…lol
Nah. Aliens don’t like Dragonball. They’re totally into Ojamajo Doremi. The lizardmen and grays love its disco opening song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkIkzq94O8s
Got a problem with Ojamajo Doremi?? It’s ‘effin awesome! >.<
Considering that I’m also an alien, following my logic I DO like Doremi.
anyone who includes Bleach or Naruto is just another bum allowing crappy anime to be made
BLEACH AND NARUTO ARE ONE OF THE BEST U LIL PIECE OF SHYT…. GO WATCH SUM FUCKING K-ON U HOMO!!!
Don’t be such a Ritsu Tainaka
Thats what im talking about dark naruto and bleach are the best anime i have ever watched.
what about code geass?!
i totaly agree..i cant stand naruto but i do luv watching bleach
i agree 100 and 10%
puh-leasse….bleach naruto and one piece r the best anime ever……i mean just look at the humour action and plot of the animes….they’re awesome
naruto and bleach both suck some of these animes are epic. But an example is needed i see. When I first saw Escaflowne about 15 years back it was amazing i spent 13 years trying to find it and bought it because that’s how amazing I thought it was. Some animes are just like that when they first come out they have such an effect on you and are so different they leave a print on you. See enough of those and you realize some things are just cheap immitations. Naruto, Bleach, One Peace, Yu yu Hakusho(pretty good series I thought) are just dragonball clones. Nothing different just following a formula changing little to nothing.
good sir yu yu hakusho is not a dragonball clone. Just cause u saw Dragonball first doesn’t mean everything after is a clone. these 2 r completely different anime
naruto is my fantasy husband. don’t talk about him like that
Main-stream ≠ good.
samurai champloo, elfen lied and gantz are good. arent they main stream?
Desperation to be anti-mainstream (AKA hipster of the anime world) ≠ good.
Assuming that anyone who doesn’t like mainstream stuff is “desperate” is pretty lame too.
Also, considering how non-mainstream ALL anime is outside of Japan (save for, say, Pokemon or DBZ), I don’t think there’s such a thing as an anime hipster. Once you go beyond what airs on cable TV, you’re just becoming various shades of non-mainstream.
BLEACH AND NARUTO ARE NOT REAL ANIME. STOP SAYING THAT.
Like anything thing else that gets too much hype haters begin to emerge. Naruto and Bleach or Japanese created animation. with everything that would need to be included to make a show (characters, plot, etc.) another obvious indicator its anime is It was originally a manga. therefore its is anime. I usually don’t feel the need to comment on these sorts of things, but your stupidity was calling out to be correct. you have every right to dislike or like whatever shows you want, but don’t go saying things that aren’t true because it makes you like stupid and starts unneeded controversy.
Bleach,Death Note,and Inuyasha are all good animae shows.
and naruto and soul eater
my faves are dragonball z bleach and rurouni kenshin
i totaly agree my fav are dragon ball z as number 1 samurai champloo an rurouni kenshine are my favs!!
one peice, bleach, naruto (sippuden), full meatal alchemist, code geass, soul eater, and death note are the best anime ever, you @#$%!!!!!!!!!
Your list is very comprehensive and one of the best I’ve seen however you left out a few choice series and I may dispute some of your rankings. Where was berserk and samurai champloo? Sure, Shinchiro Watanabe deserves two titles in the top 30 as he animates to music with such a meticulous touch.
Champloo’s teetering on the edge of my list and may enter it when I give the list a onceover later.
Berserk’s good and all, but it doesn’t quite “do it” for me the way it does for a lot of other people.
Berserk is amazing; wish Muira had made more than just the end though…
The end was amazing in berserk, the carnage and despair and sheer hellishness was everything i wanted to see haha. but yes, i totally wish they came out with more… berserk’s the only manga ive read
No Death Note? I know i sound like a rather rabid fangirl, but DN has to be one of the bests though. I love your list on the other hand, quite comprehensive. :)
I’m honestly not much of a fan of Death Note. It amuses me, but for all the wrong reasons.
Gah! You changed the list! I’ve been leaving this tab open recently while watching stuff because I’m just getting into anime and looking for good places to start. I know Here Is Greenwood, Welcome to the NHK (which I loved, so thank you for that, by the way), and Tenchi Muyo were originally on here. Is there anything else you took off? I don’t want to forget anything. And I’ll check out the new additions, too.
Ghost in the Shell dropped off as well to make room for the new stuff.
Ah, that’s right. Thank you.
Good list could u make a best anime comedy list please? I really like FLCL thx 4 Detroit metal city, also like dokoro chan and punie chan. Plz pick anime that have actual DVD releases
Great Teacher Onizuka or GTO, Lovely Complex, welcome to the NHK all seemingly different in plot and angle of the comedy though I’ve enjoyed all of them quite a bit, and I hope you’ll do the same.
i dont know any of these anime and i read their plots they have no transformations/blood/superpowers/monsters/vampires/demons in other words they all suck ass and wheres bleach “DBZ” yuyuhakusho case closed naruto/shippuden bleach d-grayman fullmetal alchasmist hellsing deathnote MAN I CAN GO ON AND ON
This is the best comment I’ve ever gotten.
Nice to know that there are people who wag their tails to anything these days.
This person or should I say expertise clearly knows more than we do.They even know what being respectful is and the meaning of transformations, blood, superpowers, monsters, vampires, demons. I’m impressed.
etto i don’t think he’s being serious…its a joke – i laughed at least
unusual and useful list landon – ill definitely check some of these out.
It’s true fullmetal alchasmist is a really good animu.
it’s true, full metal alchemist is the only show on that list that is truly amazing
I am a big fan of D. Gray-man and all the other animes you have listed but give these a chance. I watched Cowboy Bebop which is number three on the list and it blew me away. It replaced D. Gray-man as my favorite anime. Cowboy Bebop didn’t leave me hanging like D. Gray-man it ended with a ‘bang’.
WHERE THE FUK IS ONE PIECE NARUTO AND BLEACH WHAT THE HELL
In your mind, mister extinct bird. :)
I would not of known Occult Academy if it wasn’t for this site u got THANK YOU. Occult Academy was so beast especially the last episodes
What happened with Berserk, Claymore, and Basilisk? I believe that those series deserve more mentioning than the ones you mentioned here!
I think this was a great top 30. To be honest i like it that they are all animes that are not the usual ones. I have been following Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tail and even the world only god knows. Ive watched so many anime series in other “favourite lists” but none compare to the complexity and how well thought this list is. :) It was a great read and even though i disagree in a lot of the choices made i thank the author for adding new “must see” animes to my list!
good list i look for certain key anime to be present before i see if its even worth reading and you had some of those(bebop,baccano,etc ) and you didn’t have the terrible ones( bleach,naruto etc) so good job you showed me some anime i really enjoyed. As a thank you i will recommend you check out Ga-rei zero. One of the best i have ever seen aslong as you dont read anything about it because spoilers are everywhere. Amazing though.
thank you sir
Ga-rei zero i agree 110% one of the best
What hell!? No Robotech? mmm that one should be at least somewhere in the top 15
Nice comprehensive list of classics and modern anime. However, I would have added one (if not all) of the following:
Kino no Tabi
Serial Experiments Lain
Mushi-shi
Excel Saga
Galaxy Express 999
Monster
His and Her Circumstances
FMA (and no, I am not some sort of rabid Naruto, DBZ, Bleach, etc. fanboy)
Mushi-shi, yes yes yes yes yeeeeeeeeees,
the other ones too but what makes mushi-shi special is the perfection of the story telling in each and every episode, the brilliant sound track and this is one of those series like baccano where the dub is better the sub, and you can watch every episode legally on youtube! in very good quality too
thanks for the suggestion. and a big thanks to landon. you have named alot of animes i never heard of. but mushi-shi is pretty good. it took me a minute to get into it. but it is well written and the stories draw you in. this anime is example of what makes the difference between a movie and an action flick. i appreciate both. i don’t see why people bash shows like bleach or drangonball (i use to watch db since the begining). they are what they are. i honestly don’t know what guy doesn’t like over the top action. and most action films are predictable. it just comes with the territory. i agree shows like i mentioned don’t deserve to be placed among the top, especially when it come to originality. i for one can’t help but like them. oh well. once i am done with mushi-shi i will most likely start with cobra.
where the hell is CODE GEASS??
this list loses credibility without it.
you lose credibility with your wild punch throwing. I’ve seen Code Geass and while it has a comprehensive plot and good twists, it was ultimately a rather shallow anime and the shows he has chosen here are much more complex, and often more cynical/realist than what you like.
I agree too. I mean code geass is fun and all but you cant say the entire anime was good just because the ending rocked. it was kinda mediocre throughout the rest
THANK YOU :)
It’s a really good list, I will definitely check out some of these later.
I only missed (beside Samurai Champooloo and GITS, but these were mentioned above) Code Geass (one of my favorites) and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (those musics were great).
I love how this list is always changing! Some pretty awesome picks in here. I actually can’t wait to watch Cobra hehe
btw you have some pretty HILARIOUS comments up there XD
Sweet list man. I might even go as far as to put Bebop one higher…
what abt flame of recca, fushigi yuugi?
Good top 30.
Looking @ where Maison Ikkoku is, I would recommend you to watch Kimagure Orange Road and Hachimitsu to Clover. KOR can easily slip into your top 30 imo.
Well, it’s your top 30 :) … up to you.
Also, I just finished watching Kemono no Souja Erin recently. Highly recommended along with Juuni Kokki and Seirei no Moribito.
Have a look @ Banner of the Star series (Sekai no Senki) too.
Enjoy :)
I’ve liked what I’ve seen of KOR, but it hasn’t quite clicked with me the way Ikkoku did. It probably veers a bit more towards the romance end of the romantic comedy spectrum, hence the difference. Good stuff though.
Same goes with Banner of the Stars. Like what I’ve seen, but it skews more towards the Trek end of the sci-fi spectrum and I’m more into the Wars end. Helps explain my love for Cobra.
Couldn’t get into Moribito. I don’t mind talkiness, but Moribito wasn’t talking about anything I could get into.
Been meaning to give Erin a look, I just have no idea when that’ll be since I’m still catching up on some oldschool stuff I’ve been meaning to finish for years. Like KOR. Heehee
I’m happy maison ikokku is up there, i only read about 6 volumes of the manga. This was in middle school haha, and I loved every moment of it.
There are no real anime’s with simple interactions anymore.
the only recent anime that i have liked is really death note, soul eater, and mushishi.
Just so you know, I use your list whenever I run out of anime to watch. So far I’ve just been picking the most interesting-looking ones but I’ll have to start picking the not-so-interesting-looking shows eventually.
Sometimes the not so interesting ones end up being the most interesting ones
Seriously this one of the best anime list that i have ever come across. Kudos to you for being the anime guy with impeccable taste. i wish i could share this with the entire globe but i dont spend my entire day on facebook or twitter, so i’ll do what i can.
im seriously grateful that you dont have the typical crap on the list. i mean seriously just because an anime runs for a shitty long time with no plot structure, storyline and having forever evolving characters to suit the requirement of the moment, doesnt make it a good anime. you know the typical shit im talking about. this list seriously bring to light that anime is not just cartoons or some other kiddy bullshit , but its an extremely effective and dramatic storytelling medium.
thanks again for not putting in the “popular” bullshit and ill review this list over and over again untill i see each and every anime here.
Space Adventure Cobra!!!
Yes!!!
I agree, greatest ever!!!
great list, but you forgot the real number 1: Saint Seiya
3 Words : FUTURE BOY CONAN
what was the story about Future Boy COnan?
A wild Garen APPEARS!!!
You have an interesting favorites list, to say the least. To each his own, but I dare say that any list which does not acknowledge the likes of such excellent and truly game-changing anime series as, say, Full Metal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin, Berserk, Samurai Champloo, or even Dragonball Z… well, the author of any such list automatically becomes somewhat questionable in my mind.
Now, you’ve said this list is strictly your “personal favorites,” so more power to you. But still… Outlaw Star beating out some of these other mentionables? Though, I do love the cool blackhole-inducing bullets and trippy space opera stuff too. :)
Just wanted to say thanks for this list. I’m just getting into this genre and have been watching some of the more mainstream stuff and it’s ok but I just finished Baccano and it has to be one of the best shows i have ever watched, so thanks for that.
Glad you’re enjoying things for what they are, Baccano is one also one of my favorites. You can check out my personal list as well, perhaps you’ll find something interesting http://myanimelist.net/animelist/subemotion&show=0&order=4
Omg!!! Dis list is awesome n it is the first time I hav seen my fav anime X on a list!!
Interesting list and even though i have watched Bleach and co (you all know what I mean) i don’t miss them here :).
Now a few days ago I finished watching Durarara! I have to confess that I wasn’t trill from the first episode but i was sick then so i didnt have anything better to do, but after watching a few more episodes i was hooked and eventually addict to it :D Guess i really liked, that it rarely was able to predict exactly what was gonna happen next.
In any case I would like to hear other peoples opinion about it (why here? well here I found people who can breath to live outside the world of Naruto and Bleach)
Saw you had Bebop up there, but I think you are missing out on Trigun and one of my favorite’s, Gungrave
Gungrave was gooood
When mentioning FMA, you mean FMA:Brotherhood, correct? because that blows the first run-around out of the water.
Wheres Code geass? Wheres Naruto? I love X! I wish it was higher on the list….. Oh and please don’t ever put: bleach, chobits, one piece, d-grayman, or Gundam anything on this list trust me they all suck… my personal favorite is:
1)Big windup!
2)Berserk
3) Touch
4)Code Geass
5)Princess Nine
6)Naruto
7)DB
8)X
9)Claymore
10)DBZ
Give these a shot if you haven’t already:
1. Baccano!
2.Speedgrapher
3.Darker than Black
4.Samurai 7
5.Noein
I haven’t really watched that much anime but here is my top 10:
1)Big Windup!
2)Berserk
3)Code Geass
4) Naruto
5)Touch
6)X
7)DB
8)Princess Nine
9)Claymore
10) DBZ
Death note is the Best anime serie of all time hands down!!!!!
It should be # 1.
Death Note is the worst anime series I have ever seen hands down!!!!
It’s funny because I rank Death Note a 5 out of 10 on myanimelist. So if your average these two dudes together you get MY take.
On what basis did you give it a 5/10? there are some truly awkward series with no character/plot development and graphics of a 5 y.o. that suck the life outta you each second you watch it, and even those deserve 5 for effort.
Death Note had a solid storyline with plenty of attention grabbing twists, and clever moments to keep you watching. Its pretty high on my list.
5 is average. Totally middle of the road. Death Note looks nice and has a couple of neat ideas, but it’s also incredible repetitive and not nearly as smart as people like to claim. The banter between Light and L goes around in circles after awhile, with their dialogue boiling down to “I saw your plan ahead of time!” “No, I saw that you would see that so I did THIS instead!” “Oh HO! But I also foresaw that and everything else was a ruse!” and so on. After awhile it comes off as a bad sleight of hand act. And once L is out of the picture the whole thing kinda falls apart. So all that good stuff gets balanced out with the bad and it’s kind of a wash. Hence why I gave it an average score.
Niiiiice, Thank you so much dude, your list is awesome. Other lists have the usual mainstream stuff and it gets repeditive . Sorry to the people who like that but we all have our preferences.
You sir have a fantastic taste in anime.
I’m really glad to see cowboy bebop and baccano! near the top of your list as those are my favorite anime series of all time. And I also thank you for not including any of that inuyasha, bleach, or naruto crap.
A suggestion though, if you’ve never heard of the series speedgrapher, you should definitely check it out. I am certain that I’m gonna bookmark this list and check out some of the series that I haven’t seen.
Hardly any of my favorite animes were on there (inuyasha, full metal alchemist, death note) but I do like cowboy bebop:)
Very good list. there’s a lot on here I haven’t personally seen, but now plan to (if I can find them). Anyway, Now and Then, Here and There and Planetes are also great animes. Don’t really have a point, just throwing my two bits in there..
ranma is the best thanks for putting it. Also for lupin. but what knights of the zodiac, dbz, or samurai x.
Claymore. ‘Nuff Said
agreed
Nice list havent seen half of them thou, but whatever happened to code geass, death note or FMA, vampire knight was pretty good also
wheres naruto sure it has a lot of fillers and the fights can drag on to long . but it has an excellent cast, great story telling which is complex just like european movies thats one thing hollywood can’t do.
Fast paced action at the start. and funny as fuck.
tobi always cracks me up
oh wait it’s based on your sole opinion and threats from other people
I am so shocked that Clannad/Clannad After Story, Garden of Sinners, Death Note, Gankutsuo; Count of Monte Cristo, and Monster weren’t on the list… Maybe I should post my own?
Wah!No Chronicles of the Wings/Tsubasa Chronicles!No Fruit Baskets either! Case Closed ? Naruto ? Card Captor Sakura!!?? How very unfair!! :((
Great List Im going to get watching some of these straight away.
I know Berserk doesn’t do it for you but I really enjoyed it. Guts from Berserk and Spike from cowboy beebop are my favorite anime characters.
If they had some kinda strange love child he (or indeed she) would be my ultimate Anime anti Hero ever
What Naoki Urusawa’s Monster isn’t on the list?!
Naruto,Bleach,One piece these are the best anime’s i ever watched all you haters back off well i gotta admit bleach ismt all the shiz ppl make it out to be but naruto and one piece live up to their popularity ,lol and FYI this list is horrible
So, by using your logic, should I be telling YOU to back off? You know, since you’re a hater too.
too bad you can’t ban 12 year olds from commenting eh?
Greatest animes
1.Code geass
2.Death note
3.Full metal alchimest
You forgot Gurren Lagann
I have to say, my hat’s off to you for adding anime that’s not mainstream. This is the kind of well done anime that made me love anime to begin with, especially Cowboy Bebop (3rd anime I ever watched) and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I personally am a huge Clamp fan, so not seeing Tsubasa or Cardcaptor Sakura (first anime I ever watched) is a bit off-putting. But it is your favorites list, not mine. I’m directing some younger friends here, since these are the series that get people hooked.
Although, if you haven’t seen them already, may I suggest Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure, Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet(a drama/war/love anime that’s short but addicting), Kaleido Star (very girly and hyper, so it may not be for you, but give it a chance), and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann(someone else mentioned it, but I really love it!)
[...] are just the tip of the iceberg as far as great anime to check out! I found a list of 30 that I really agree with and recommend if you want to expand your anime horizons! [...]
Great list, thank you. Maybe I’m not an actual anime fan, but I can’t seem to get into Cowboy Bebop. I watched every episode but I felt like I didn’t really learn much about any of the characters and the story seemed to never really get involving enough. I’m wondering what I’m missing because every seasoned anime watcher loves that series.
What did you think of Trigun? It was kind of sad not to see it here but I understand.
whi is naruto not there?
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster was personally one of my favorites. If you haven’t seen it (Which i imagine most people havn’t xD) It’s really worth watching. It’s a long serious (72 or so episodes) but it’s a psycological roller coaster. It seems slow but that kind of just adds to the ambiance of the show as a whole. And Baccano was great. Just saying. Negima! is a pro show as well, just make sure you’re not watching Negima!? For they are different shows :| And i don’t know why, but i honestly enjoyed Outlaw Star more than Bebop, not that Bebop wasn’t amazing, just that Outlaw Star had a stronger nostalgic feel to it. I concede that i am only 16 and a late bloomer i guess you could say when it comes to anime, so i’m probably not the most reputable source! Watching Samurai 7 now which also ain’t half bad.
Samurai Champloo, at the least an honorable mention in with Cowboy Bebop. I like Samurai Champloo better… mo better…
Where is Gurren Lagann!
I know right! I LOVE Kamina! Like a bro of course!
I can see that there are a great many good animes I have yet to watch. Galaxy Express 999 was the one that got me hooked, even tho the first anime I ever watched was the brutalized Gatchakan – known as Battle of the Planets. Loved it as a kid, then I had the joy of watching it again when I was in my twenties… what a disjointed incomprehensible plot. ahh the memories.
FMA is good. No question. Is it good enough? Well, I’ve not seen everything on this list, and for some time I won’t. But, I do know bebop and baccano are better. So is Gankutsuo, the count of monte cristo (also not in list). I’m not complaining. The list is not mine.
My list would contain Initial D- Japanese subtitled version, don’t watch the English they mucked alot of it- I still love the show. And Last Exile- one of the more beautiful animes I’ve seen. I hear they are making a second series.
I was glad to see the rediculous and funny Ranma 1/2 on this list. That one is funny.
Finally, thank you for a terrific list. I look forward to watching many of these, though, threats aside, I think I might give detroit metal city a pass. It doesn’t look like my thing.
Where’s Great Teacher Onizuka???
Thanks for the list though, it’s introduced me to many great series
My only gripe against this list is that its got a buncha shit anime that i would never recommend or mention to others.. Black lagoon…!? Haruhi Suzu ? Azumanga ?? Genshiken ?? id easily replace these with Code Geass, GTO, Gantz, GITS, FMA …
Darker than black.. really? .. like wtf.. this list is fulla anime from when anime started get shit.. Wolfs Rain > DTB.. but thats not mentioned.. Theres no Basilisk here either.. wow..
If theres gonna be a top chart.. these anime MUST be on there. HunterXHunter, Rurouni Kenshin , Mushi-shi, Cowboy Bebop. missing 3/4.. so bah.
Anime “started get shit” in the 60′s. Or whenever the first TV anime series aired. Or maybe we can backdate that to the first theatrical anime. But let’s just stick with TV anime.
I hate to sound like a sourpuss but not even Dragon Ball? liek srsly. this blog is under 9000
does anyone remember a mecha anime about people who climb into giant robots and fight other people in robots?i watched more than 10 years ago and all i remember is that the lead character has a yellow lion like robot until he got another robot that activates when he uses a knife.and the good guys travel in a pink/purple spaceship………
i know its NOT voltron
um liek helloooo, sailor moon should be #1. deep plot, informative (you learn all the planets), and realistic
jeebus christ, talk about informative!!
Where the fuck is Death Note?
C’mon, where’s Code Geass?
Death Note should be #1
Gankutsuo. Bakemonogatari. Puella Magi. Code Geass. Tweeny Witches.
All missing. Gaddammit.
The only redeeming thing about this list is that it has Evangelion and Revolutionary Girl Utena properly ranked in the top 10.
Gankutsuo: Watched the first episode. Just haven’t seen the rest yet. First episode was decent, though.
Bakemono: Liked the first story arc. Then the series repeated it again with another girl. And another. And so on. Helping out one girl was cool, but after that it just got dull.They could have done so much more with the initial set-up than yet another “save the princess” storyline. That repetition was especially pointless since Senjougahara was the only girl in the series with an interesting story.
Code Geass: It’s OK and all, but it doesn’t really do anything for me. Hated most of the characters (and not in a “love to hate” sort of way, just in a “these guys aren’t all that interesting” sort of way) and the whole “giant robot show meets Japanese nationalism” was done better in Gasaraki back in the 90s.
Tweeny Witches: Cute series, but nothing that really got me excited.
Thank you for the reply, Landon. For a while I thought you would dismiss me as a troll because I damn near-spammed your blog posts with vagaries of my opinions in record time.
I note that not a mention was made of Puella Magi, so I’ll let this hang in the air like a silent but deadly fart.
Gankutsuo is basically one of the very finest adaptations of any classics I’ve ever seen – not that there’s stiff competition, mind you. But a great adaptation must not only honor its source, it must also revive or reinterpret the original with the strengths of the new medium, and Gankutsuo changed about 50% of the content and reset the original 18th century to a distant future with scifi technology. It takes not only grandiose ambitions to pull this off, but it also involves technical genius and innovative leaps of style. Gankutsuo is proof positive that anime isn’t just limited to japanese fetishes – it can also transcend the very medium itself.
I haven’t seen Gasaraki myself so I’ll check it out one of these days. But dismissing Code Geass on the strength of your tastes doesn’t do it justice, nor yours. It’s on way too many top anime lists to be summarily dismissed.
Tweeny Witches: I confess that I absolutely hate mahou shoujo genre. But after Puella I decided to give Tweeny Witches a shot and man, it’s exactly what Disney should’ve come up with. Far too imaginative and fascinating children’s show to be pooh poohed. I bet it is our adult cynicism that prevents most of us from really relishing the sheer whimsical delight that is Magical Girl Squad Arusu.
Now, your criticisms of Bakemonogatari is little more than one-sided — at the same time each story arc (tight, always investigating someone’s private suffering) is actually part of the protagonist’s make-up: he helps others to his detriment. Araragi is an incurable altruist to the point he’s his own worst enemy.
However, this anime actually plays against tropes — even the fanservice style shots appears mature. What I took from it was an anime that does NOT pander to the audience. I can go much further in depth but this ramble is long enough.
hafta agree with zammael about Gankutsuo. IT is a powerful and absorbing adaptation of “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Beautifully spun revenge tale, and a must see.
That said, I also hafta agree with Landon regarding Code Geass. I have seen several episodes, and while I’ll watch it, I also have no love for any of the characters and don’t really care about what happens to them, although the Freedom of the Japanese people would be a worthy cause.
On a side note, I’m most of the way through watching The Book of Bantorra. I don’t think you need to pre read the manga, you just need to sit through about three episodes before things make sense. I’m enjoying the character contrasts in the Librarians, especially as they differ between Hamy, Volken, Mirepoc and Noloty. Thanks for the tip, Landon.
Torggill, thanks for the reply. I may have to revise my earlier opinion about Code Geass. I accidentally watched season 2 a few years ago before I realized it was the wrong season.
Then I waited until now to watch the first season, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it fared to the second season. My opinions largely lie between Landon and a fanboy’s: pleased at the ambitions of the creators, the broad sketch of the characters, and disappointed at their incompetence at handling certain plots and the end of the season 2 (from what I recall).
As with every other mecha show, I consciously compared it to the greatest anime of all time (Evangelion) and found Code Geass wanting in certain aspects: dialogue was decidedly inferior, the plot arcs weren’t as tightly focused, and the animation was mediocre in spots. That said, Geass succeeded with the most important element: entertainment. Entertaining, not truly memorable like Puella Magi or Revolutionary Girl Utena. Geass did not deconstruct a genre, nor did it break new grounds. It belongs to the next tier, alongside with Death Note: anti-hero in the role of a protagonist. Oddly in both, the second season blows the potential of the first. Tsk.
A listen with no Dbz sucks
legend of the galactic heroes..
why isnt naruto on yur fffnn list
WHERE IS AVATAR!!!!???? WHEEEEERRRRRREEEEE!!!?????
Avatar the US-made Nicktoon? Or Avatar the James Cameron movie?
yeah! Avatar the last airbender!! <3
Wasn’t Avatar:TLAB made by non-japanese people? (aka animation, not anime?)
Any best-of-anime list that doesn’t include Bleach and Inuyasha is worthless.
If that’s the case, I’m worthless and damn proud.
You worthless scum. You’re not just worthless, you’re a liability.
Ghost in the shell: Stand alone complex? Thats my fav, but then thats the only anime series ive really got into, besides cowboy bebop :D
Great list, with a handful that are entirely new to me… looking forward to checking them out.
Based on your tastes, and the above comments, I’m surprised that there’s no mention of Hikaru no Go… Not only is it enjoyable as hell, it’s also one of my favorite series to introduce to an anime newcomer, or to a potential fan who’s always assumed that anime = tits ‘n tentacles.
How about Time of Eve?
just finished watching FLCL. What a ride. I love the way they took the piss out of everything. Enjoyed it immensely.
I agree with this list almost wholeheartedly. Record of Lodoss War doesn’t make it into enough peoples vision, and that is sad. It was the first series I saw after I saw Akira back in 6th grade, and I was tuned into anime ever since. To those Bleach fans: I love Bleach too, but fillers, nonsense, and the fact that every episode spends the first 5 minutes recapping the last episode pisses me the hell off. Naruto, I’m sorry, doesn’t even come close to touching any of these series, same with FMA.
One I just found this week that I watched in it’s entirety in about a day (13 episodes) is Deadman Wonderland. Sadistic, dark, and with animation that is completely breathtaking.
A few I felt you left off that I liked (once again love your list) that didn’t make it: Vision of Escaflowne (not the crap American version), Ghost in the Shell: SAC (the depth of that show is completely underrated), Hellsing (pretty much for the animation and main character alone), Samurai Champloo, and my all-time favorite Trigun. I actually have a gripe with you for leaving Trigun off, but I’ll forgive you slightly for the inclusion of ROTLW ^_^
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey ^^ Firstly, thanks for the great list, ’twas quite informative as I haven’t seen a few of these, including your number one. Secondly, I just love the shonen-jump fan boys on here, they make my day XD And lastly, have you ever watched Higashi no Eden? If not, I highly recommend it. It’s a brilliant mystery/thriller series (followed by two not quite as brilliant films) that engaged me more than many anime I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a fair few like yourself ^^ Anyhow, thanks again.
I dig Eden of the East, but in the end it didn’t really come together for me. Still, gotta give it credit for trying something different.
Hunter x hunter….. One of the best and it’s not even in there….. This list is shit.
Long-running shounen series = Landon stays away.
i cant beleive you left bleach out i think its the best anime ever
berserk berserk berserk berserk berserk berserk… best anime ever and i have seen a lot… gutz=best hero ever
hey!! wheres my fav. animes?
1. Detective Conan
2. Code Geass
3. Gundam Seed
4. Reservoir Chronicle
5. Special A
6. Inuyasha
7. Soul Eater
8. Fushigi Yuugi
9. Ouran High School Host Club
10. One Piece
11. Naruto
12. Hitman Reborn
13.Eyeshield 21
14. Mar Heaven
15. Pokemon (jejejejeje)
The below comment was a joke, by the way. As for your series:
Not a fan of Conan. Went on way too long for my tastes. Geass falls flat for me. Not a fan of Gundam outside of G Gundam. Haven’t liked anything CLAMP-centric since Angelic Layer. Had to look up Special A, so I don’t know anything about it. I like all of Rumiko Takahashi’s series, except for Inu Yasha. Soul Eater turned me off. Loved its style, Didn’t like anything else. Fushigi Yuugi and Ouran are good but not close to my top 30. One Piece is in the same category as Soul Eater. Love the Chunin exam storyline from Naruto, hate the rest of it. Eyeshield is decent, but another long series I didn’t keep up with.
And Pokemon’s awesome. It’s the one anime you listed that’s closest to making my list.
yuck!!! ninja scroll,., EEEEEEWWWWW!!!!
Yuck!!! Someone whose screenname might be based on Death Note. EEEEWWWWWW!!!!
I really liked your list, gave me alot of new anime to look up but whats with the Death Note hate? And your not one of those people who hate bleach simply because its popular are you? Because I’m a fan of it though I do see alot of flaws in it. Ether way love your list though to echo a few of the other people, i think Samurai Champloo is a good one too as well as Durarara!! It is really funny and if you liked Baccano you may like this one too.
Oh and Fooly Cooly is amazing too =) I’d also like your opinion on Black Butler. I recently got into it and it seems promising.
He prob hates Bleach and Naruto cause he hates fillers.
…Or they’re completely overrated, or just tried to take a top anime list to a new direction. IDK, maybe he’s insane for not conforming
I completely agree with Record of Lodoss War, straight forward D&D anime.
But i am completely saddened by your lack of Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai X.
You included great anime like Bebop and Outlaw Star, But I also don’t see Trigun.
I am sorry but the top thirty list must be appeased and these must be added before I will say your taste are wonderful.
Kenshin may be my least favorite anime character of all time, and Vash got on my nerves almost as much as Kenshin did. Both character brought down their respective series for me, and it’s a shame. Trigun especially. I love everything else about Trigun save for Vash,
That said, the Kenshin OVA is pretty great, since it happens before Kenshin’s shift in attitude. And the Trigun movie is great because it plays down Vash’s annoying tendencies.
i think you might like kino’s journey. it is a personal favourite of mine, after baccano, and the way it explores the plot makes me think you’d like it. great list, thanks
the Kemonozume anime series drawing is outragouesly beautiful
i must see
Hey, thanks so much for putting together this list. I’d never really watched anime before, until a friend showed me Cowboy Beebop, and I was hooked. I wanted to find more suggestions that were not so mainstream, and your list seems perfect as I’ve heard of almost none of them! (that was meant to be a compliment, not sure how it turned out) I’m watching Book of Bantorra right now… and its awesome.
Get real will ya..!! wat about Inuyasha , Fullmetal Alchemist ,Bleach, Samurai champloo, Ninja Robots , Get over your old list… :D
Detroit Metal City, Zetsubou Sensei, Sunred, Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Moyashimon, Genshiken, Haruhi, Tatami Galaxy, Occult Academy, Air Master, Baccano, Bantorra, and Kemonozume are all just as new, if not NEWER, than everything you listed. If anything, I should be telling you to get over your old list.
These comments are pure gold. Who knew you had such a diverse readership?
Finished watching the Book of Bantorra. I enjoyed the series and the concepts. My favourite character was Mattalast- his undivided loyalty to the library superceded any moral high ground he wished to take. I thoroughly enjoyed the concepts and marvelled at the creativity of the overall world design. As was pointed out though, the music was repetitive and limited. Probably to lower production costs.
Also recently finished Hajime no Ippo. I’m going to post a brief review here. First, let me say that I hate boxing. I do not watch or follow the sport whatsoever.
But…
I really enjoyed Hajime no Ippo. There was an excellent mix of characters, humour and drama that made the series extremely enjoyable. For those who don’t know, the story follows Makanouchi Ippo as he moves from bullied high school student to Professional featherweight boxer.
It gives the viewer an inkling the kind of dedication to training and hardships faced by pro boxers as they pursue the sport.
I wish they had given Ippo a stronger female love interest role, but given that she was the sister to the feared Mashiba, heavier involvement with her may well have been prohibitive.
It is obviously an older series as in scene you can see computers with 5 1/4 inch floppy drives. The music, like Bantorra, was also limited and really annoying at times as it sounded like several alarm clocks going off at once. Occasionally it took away from the scene.
I’m prepared to overlook it though, as the qriting was well scripted, the character development very strong (although they did limit Takamura’s development especially, probably to keep the humour value of the Lord of the Perverts).
I recommend this series if you haven’t seen it before. If you have, maybe its time for a romp down memory lane.
Also, A Brief note on FLCL (pronounced fleeclee)
A six episode blast. I laughed my ass off. The only other thing I’m going to say about it is “those eyebrows.”
I am currently watching Revolutionary Girl Utena and Battle Doll Angelic Layer.
I’ve seen a little bit of Ippo.I have a couple of friends that love the series and they’ve encouraged me to give it a try. It was pretty decent, but it’s one of those long-running series that I didn’t get into on the ground floor so I haven’t taken the time to catch up. May get around to it someday, but I have quite a few other longer series that I wanna get around to before that.
I gotta say a quick comment, i really wish that Eureka Seven had made it on your list. It was one of the most refreshing beginnings to a mecha i have ever seen and just kept getting better and better. Haters will hate but it is the best anime i have watched in recent months.
You know how they say “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Yeah. You’ll get complete silence from me when it comes to Eureka Seven. Sorry.
This is a great list Landon thank you for posting it. I do however think you should give gurren lagann a try. It is easily in my top three of all time.
Lagann’s decent, but it didn’t wow me the way it did so many other people. I’ve been watching anime long enough that its brand of superrobotness wasn’t anything new and it didn’t differ from the formula enough for it to strike a chord with me. And it didn’t have that nostalgia factor with me either. Other than Voltron, I don’t have much affection for the genre the way Macross and Gundam fans do.
One more thing i meant to say was that i just finished Claymore and i found it interesting but lacking in the story aspect by far. So i have been teetering over starting Darker than Black since it seems to be in many ways a similar idea, and seeing as i have enjoyed many on your list i’m going to start it tonight based on your list’s recommendation.
Yeah, Claymore’s pretty decent, but it didn’t quite do it for me. My partner in crime at this blog, Updatedude, loves it though. I should force him to write something about it sometime.
And I wouldn’t really compare Claymore with DtB. DtB is all about conspiracies and super powers and stuff, where Claymore follows fantasy tropes. They’re both fairly violent and action-packed compared to most stuff today, but that’s the only real comparison. I wouldn’t worry too much about DtB being too similar.
Just finished DtB and loved it and like you said the two weren’t really comparable. Either way though thanks for the recomendation.
just finished darker than black…it was awesome thank you for introducing it to me. Idk if you have watched these before or not but 07-Ghost and Blade of the Immortal are also two that i find really good.
Awesome. If you haven’t seen the second season of DtB just let me warn you. It isn’t QUITE as awesome as the first. Still has some great parts, but it leans far too much on a new character who kinda sucks.
I can’t bring myself to watch the Blade of the Immortal anime. The manga has such a distinctive style, and everything I’ve seen from the anime tells me it doesn’t really try to recreate said style. I’m usually not one to care about being true to the source material, but Blade of the Immortal is one of those situations. Haven’t seen 07-Ghost. May look into that one. Thanks.
Strange how greaat 1s like deathnote, ghost in the shell,or even the popular naruto or bleach dont appear..i can excuse all else but ghost in the shell??uh uh,i disagree with this list
GitS used to be on this list. Then I did a few revisions and it got pushed off. It’s a pretty cool series though.
what the…no deathnote, bleach or naruto. im not a great expert on anime, but im pretty sure they have to be somewhere near #1, unless this list is trying to be a bit different and not like what everybody else loves >>
You forgot the third possibility: that I listed the anime I like and never took into account popular opinions one way or another. I’m not here to regurgitate popular opinions and I’m not the least bit interested in trying to go against said opinions either. I’m just here to say what I like.
You were right in saying that the second season of DtB wasn’t quite as awesome as the first but it was still a very enjoyable series to the very end. I also just finished Baccano! and it was incredible though I did find the ending a little bit of a let down. I’ve watched a lot of anime and believed I had my list pretty much figured out but you have totally screwed that up…way to go:).
Side note- Watched Elfen Lied and I do not see what the big fuss is about. Sure it consists of gore, violence, and the supernatural but the plot isn’t anything knew imo. Anyone understand why so many people love this series so much?
Ao no Exorcist, Gurren Lagann!!!!!!!
i just want to know what you thought about FMA; Brotherhood(even the the first series does waaay better with emotion and it goes at a steady pace) im not saying its number one but to me top 15 anime hands down, just would like to see why you like it or dont like it
I agree with your comments on naruto (still watch it though, too many fillers), bleach (repeats itself too dang much), one piece (not super addicting), DBZ (just plain stupid), and so on and so forth
Can you plz make another list where it would list the best quality animes, i not a great fan of oldies (no need to be sorry). + i like watching modern style anime. Also you should put popular anime list so others stop complaining
Occult club go me interested. I saw bebop (only 1 episode on tv) i can understand why other people like it.
Good animes that i have seen(aren’t listed)
Full Metal Panic: fummofu (funny, no plot what so ever)
DeadMan Wonderland (tons of gore!warning!)
Oran HIgh School Host Club (funny, as in embarassing moments of poor girl dressed as boy around rich snob male hosts)
What a great list!
I’ve found most of the animes that I enjoy.
And some that I haven’t seen yet, but due to the real good selection of those that I know, I am sure to be watching the rest of them very soon.
And once again, thanks god there is no Naruto, DBZ, Bleach, etc…
I am not saying that you shouldn’t watch those, but you can’t even compare then with the ones in this list. There is a big difference between animes that are well written, designed and animeted and those made just for fun.
But I do have some issues…
I know that you can’t list all of the good animes series and there is no list that will satisfied everyone. That’s been said… Now I need to point the ones that I really missed.
Death Note – FLCL – Hellsing – Kara no Kyoukai – Kino’s Journey – Rurouni Kenshin (OVAS) – Samurai Champloo
Also, I saw that you mentioned one of my favorite anime movies “Ninja Scroll”, however as I said, that is a movie and not a serie. I had the impression that this was a list for series. And if we can talk about anime movies, we have a lot good ones that weren’t listed.
5 Centimeters Per Second – Blood – Ghost in the Shell – Laputa – Millennium Actress – My Neighbour Totoro – Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds – Only Yesterday – Kiki’s Delivery Service – Paprika – Perfect Blue – Princess Monoke – Tekkon Kinkreet – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Vampire Hunter D – Whisper Of The Heart – Grave Of Fireflies – Akira
Again, that’s a very good list for anime series.
And thank you for the ones I haven’t seen yet.
I am really looking forward to.
Well, I completed watching Angelic Layer.
Its a bit, shall we say, girlie. It is a girls anime, without doubt.
That said, I didn’t hate it. I even liked the concept. The idea behind the dolls was really cool. I still don’t believe she (the Heroine) could have got as far as she did without doing it for a few years first, but hey, suspension of disbelief, right? I enjoyed it, anyway. The visuals were good, and the characterizations enjoyable. So were the penalties.
I also finished watching the first 50 eps of Kintama- sorry, Gintama. This was very funny. It makes fun of everything, particularly anime series (like envangelion and Saint Seiya among loads of others) and the weekly JUMP (a serialized manga magazine in which Gintama originally appeared). It is about an aimless ex samurai who wears a wooden sword so as not defy the sword ban, an Alien uber-warrior girl, and the samuai wannabe straight man. This is a comedy set in the late Tokugawa Shogunate, as it might have become after being contacted by spacefaring Amanto (I recognize that to a large extent this is somewhat allegorical the opening of Japan by the Western powers).
The cast, as Ranma’s did, becomes ever larger. The Crazed ex assassin who wants Gintama to abuse her. The insane 3ic in the Shinsengumi who tried to kill the 2ic with cold dispassion. The stalking head of police who harasses the straightman’s lousy cook of a sister. And of course, the old hag landlady who lives downstairs, who never gets her rent. Also, there’s the stupid prince, the ineffective revolutionary, Sadaharu, the priestesses, the Madao, Elisabeth, and the mayonnaise
All of this sound confusing? Well, it actually isn’t, if you watch the series. If comedy with a bit of action it is your thing, you’ll love Gintama.
I am still trying to watch Revolutionary Girl Utena. I have to admit I’m having trouble with the series. I can’t seem to get into it. I’ll keep trying trying.
Meanwhile, I’m starting Black Lagoon tonight. First 2 seasons.
Can’t blame anyone for not getting into Utena. I think you gotta have a certain predisposition to get into that sort of thing.
Angelic Layer’s pretty cute. Like you said, it’s nothing special, but it’s pretty watchable.
Haven’t seen any Gintama. Mainly because I didn’t get into it from the get-go and can’t work up the motivation to try. Might give it a shot sometime.
I just don’t know why cowboy bepop is someones top list… Im trying to watch it from 3-4 years ago and cant finish it… i try and stop at first 4-5eps, last month i finally stopped at 18. Maybe im not ready for that anime. I just cant get the line.
Its about personal taste. You dont like long series… but i do… i feel sad when something which i m liking is going to end, now, iagree that naruto, bleach all those popular anime not beloging any top list, because they are full of garbage… naruto especially, was my fav anime but those flashbacks, fillers, slowpaced scenes i dont know what to call it, commercials, invented pieces of *** ruined the anime, naruto first 45-50 was awesome and after it, was decent till ep133/4… Shippuden is mix of some good things, some well made eps… but the others are just a total failure which makes me wish they better stop and cancel airing, its a shame. Bleach was unitll ep.62 epic after it is ****, i still watch naruto but bleach is not for me anymore i dont like it, which gave me some room to look for others animes, like tengen toppa Guren lagann and loved it, i dont like mecha(robotic right?) animes but this one will be forever one of my fav, same as not liking any sports type anime, but hajime no ippo OMGowd + the true challenger, holy ***im waiting for new saga. Darker Than Black for me was also good, different. My others top, but not in order, samurai champloo, lovely complex, hunterXhunter( slow at start but get better and explodes at the end of 62ep, till York shin Ova 8 eps. Now the manga is turning into a dragonball like, but its still interesting hope the writer can finish it on time lol, Trigun, Full metal alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin(ovas),GTO-Great teacher onizuka, One Piece(solid 500+eps wtf, not many fillers and those fillers are enjoyable, 1 2 eps at the end of an arc), and Death note( well i dont like the main personage being an dark side oriented character but we have to agree the anime was something diferent, and many people best anime. … Ive watched more 15 animes but not worth mentioning. Thanks for your list and will serve be well as a guide… Now watching im Gintama , then i will watch code gears, mushishi and after it maybe your first pick Cobra. Again thanks for the list.. sorry for my bad En.
ohhh so many mistakes… i cant edit now , and i didn’t want to reply there, so sorry.
Ok Maybe not DBZ it’s borderline acceptable, but Dragonball is a must have, that anime is the shit. and c’mon Trigun please.. Cinderella boy, Super Campeones (Captain Tsubasa) Love Hina (not a must have but i just love that anime ^.^) and please for the love of God, give Yu Yu Hakusho a f*cking chance…
okay, don’t completely disregard my last comment cuz of Trigun and Yu Yu Hakusho, but I do have to say that any list that doesn’t have Soul Eater is not a list to look up too.
I saw an episode of Soul Eater a few months back. I kinda hated it. Sorry.
You should watch Eureka 7, it’s really good
Wow, this list pretty much reflects my tastes in anime. The only thing I disagree with is that Bebop isn’t number one and that Champloo isn’t somewhere in the 20-30 range, great damn list regardless. Oh, and this list also introduced me to Black Lagoon, which is fucking awesome.
I dig Champloo, but yeah, it isn’t QUITE up there with me.
And I can’t describe how happy I am to see someone say “this list pretty much reflects my tastes in anime.” Heehee
^Agreed^ I love black lagoon now. Watched it a few times when i run out of other anime to watch.
Dude what the hell???? No Bleach!!!! No Vampire princess miyu!!!!!!!!!!
Dude, OMG! I know! I don’t have those on my list because I’m not into them! GASPERS!
I like that word.. GASPERS! Espers.. derpers..pervers… dervers… i’ma change my name to that :D Gapserrrr the Esperrr. NICE! It’s good too since I’m part mexican. If I was Proffesor Xavier i’d change my name to that. and yes! I know it sounds (soooo) lame but my GOD i love it!(I LOVE IT!!)
But that’s my opinion, like your list and the taste of many other n00bs and enthusiasts (not that you seem like a n00b or anything). I love your list, I keep catching myself coming back to this website! Why? (Because it’s awesome that’s why). but don’t get the wrong idea, i’m straight, bro (Thats’s right…. Imma guy) @_@
Keep up the good work, mayte!!!
You could really use some 1.TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN 2.Death note 3.eureka 7 4.dbz/db 5.gundam z 6.ghost in the shell shadow complex. It could reall add all these animes and if you havent seen ttgl then go see the english SUB and the ending of the second movie in the final battle. NOW!!
Seen all of those, save for Gundam Z. GitS is great, and was on my top list at one time, but has been pushed back as I’ve added things.
The rest of your picks? The one I like the most is Lagann and I just think it’s OK.
And funny enough, GitS re-enters my list with the latest update.
[...] Top 50 Anime Series of All Time [...]
I suppose I’d like to leave a comment as well. I’ve honestly been using your list for the better part of the past year to find new anime and I have to say, all the ones I’ve watched so far have been fantastic. However, I feel like I’m barred from completely loving your list mostly because I can’t stand seeing old anime where the characters are good-looking by old standards. I must also have weird tastes because I hate anime characters with short hair. You have the power to make all your main characters good looking! Do so please! But yeah, that ends my short tangent. I’m haven’t read through your newest list adds but I believe I still didn’t see Eden of the East on there or Full Metal Alchemist and Code Geass. Just curious as to why you didn’t like those. Also. I friggin love you for introducing me to Black Lagoon and leaving some of the powerhouses that are surfacing right now like One Piece, Bleach and Naruto. I come here for new ideas, not the ideas of every teen anime lover out there. Thank you so much for making this list!
Yeah, it’s a matter of aesthetics. I love the older styles moreso than most modern styles, but it’s all a taste thing. And I don’t mind seeing “ugly” characters. When everyone’s a hot stud or a bombshell it gets kinda monotonous.
Eden of the East is cool, it just didn’t floor me the way many of the series on my list do. As for FMA and Code Geass, I don’t dig them all that much. I don’t think they’re bad or anything, but they just don’t do it for me. Might be because they stretch out plots that could have been pulled off in about half the episodes, but that isn’t the only reason.
Well i’ll use this as an example. I just got through watching the first season of High School of the Dead a few days ago, and while the action sequences and the story line was okay, the characters really bugged me. They were all pretty good looking but the anime went way too far out of their way to make sure you noticed their extremely bouncy breasts. What i mean by ugly versus cute or good looking is that i want the characters to at least be appealing to the eye, not Bouncing-boobs Betty. That just annoys the hell out of me. And as for length of series, i suppose i just don’t like ending a good book, you know? It’s really hard to truly appeal to me when it comes to anime, so when a series that actually fits the bill ends, it’s breaks my heart a little bit on the inside. It’s always a sad day when i have to find an anime to follow up a truly wonderful show like Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop.
i think ur right as well so i am gonna suggest a really good one that has the third season comin out soon it is calle code geass :)
Hey there thanks for your list.
This is a totally honest question (I’m new to anime):
What do anime enthusiasts like you think of Sailor Moon?
Thanks!
It’s gonna depend on who you’re talking to. I haven’t heard too many people lately express any hatred towards Sailor Moon. Most peeps either remember it somewhat fondly (like me) or have never seen it since it’s pretty old by the anime fan community’s standards.
Great list. A few disagreements here and there, but that’s more due to personal choices rather than anime quality. Good on you for adding even more to your list.
I also like that, even though you expanded to 30 and then 50 anime, the url is still top-23-anime-series-of-all-time.
Yeah. I keep the url so links don’t get screwed up. I’m mainly paranoid that I’ll lose all of my Google hits if I change it. Glad someone’s paying attention enough to notice that.
Code geass, death note, one piece, bleach, clannad, naruto…there are tons of good anime that i don’t see u mention about, if none of the 6 i just listed above is in top ten then I think u have some problem with ur brain.
My opinions on the six series you posted, in the same order: Mediocre, Mediocre, Tedious, Terrible, Godawful, Extremely Inconsistent. If that means I have something wrong with my brain, I welcome more brain damage.
i think that code geass is the best anime of all time, i have watched it over and over again so many times that i know almost all of the details of each episode of each season because i love it so much, and i think that no. 6 should be number 2 because it is just so great even though it is new. i cant believe code geass nor no. 6 is in the list T.T
Not a fan of Geass and I gave up on No. 6 after a few episodes since I found it kinda boring. Sorry.
WOAH-OH-OH-AH-AH-AHAAAAAA! The Great top 30 list has magically grown into a top 50 list – which I am to study thoroughly, as it has so far, diverted me from many bad choices influenced by various colleagues and friends with questionable tastes. No one has given me such good references, as you have, sir, and I thank you for your splendid lists. Cheers!
Question for the author: I know that this list is for anime series, but what do you think of Miyazaki, specifically Studio Ghibli films? I think that Joe Hisaishi (the composer of the music behind much of Miyazaki’s films) really completes the artistic scenery while the somewhat simplistic plots creates a more diverse audience large enough for deeper analysis on the characters (like, Spirited Away’s “coming of age” archetype, or Princess Mononoke’s “Man vs. Environment” brawl). I know the journey of watching through a whole 15 to 50 episode anime series cannot compare to a two hour movie arrangement, but I always find myself looking back at how great Miyazaki captures the themes/archetypes/characters with his crew’s amazing art skills and putting them as a standard along with the other all time greats such as Cowboy Bebop (with Yoko Kanno’s amazing works) and Eva for how I should find them in an anime series. What do you think on that comparison? Is it fair?
Thanks!
Not a big fan of Miyazaki’s more “serious” stuff, since it comes off way too preachy for my tastes. I love Castle of Cagliostro, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Laputa’s pretty decent as well. But other than that, I’m not into this stuff. All of his movies look great, but they go in directions I don’t find all that appealing.
Great list, just asking, how many episodes of one piece did you watch ?
Don’t remember exactly. It was OK. Love the art style, but the series drags on way too long and never goes anywhere. I don’t care for that sort of stuff.
what happened to Death Note???
What happened to Death Note? It was made into a manga, then it aired on Japanese TV in anime form. Then people watched it. Then they made live action movies. And spin-off books. And spin-off movies. Then US fans started to get into it after they saw it on Adult Swim. Then it didn’t appear on my list. Then you asked this question. The End.
death note is great, by the way. it’s by far my favorite. :)) and people shouldn’t express much hate for an anime/manga, being tactless is uncool. that’s all.
Your list pretty much reflects my tastes in anime. You’ve introduced me to plenty of good-great series since I’ve found your blog a while back. Your snarkiness is always nice too, and what with the hoards of “omgz weres naruto & bleach xD xD lol” shit that come your way, it’s just peachy seeing replies to that nonsense. Carry on bro.
Yeah. I got no beef with peeps that like those series, but it does get a little tiring when twenty people ask the same question as if the answer has changed since the last time someone asked it. I’m down with someone asking me why I don’t dig something, but it’d be nice if they could form the question a little more articulately than “ZOMGDZ whre iss nArutu!!”
Just denounce naruto already :D i watched like 20 episodes when it first came out and then realized wtf am i doing? they are supposed to be ninjas? and yet they cant kill anyone…
You should read the latest update on best anime from people’s rating: http://shinigamilist.com/2011/09/07/all-time-top-5-mecha-anime/
You’d be surprised to read it :S
The problem with Myanimelist is that it separates movies and sequels and second seasons and the like. It’s kinda like making a list of the greatest sitcoms and then saying that the top ten consists of seasons 5, 6, and 7 of Seinfeld, seasons 1 and 2 of The Munsters, and the last five seasons of Night Court (completely false hypothetical situation there). So seeing both halves of Code Geass split up like that, along with the Lagann and Eva series and movies being separated, doesn’t really make sense to me.
That is true, but yet, it is one of the most visited and reliable anime and manga websites in the world. Naturally, not the only source, but it is a good research over what people’s opinion is, since I cannot give my own on the topic and I wanted to make something like a best of something…
I’d rather see what your opinion is when it comes to the best mecha series. I’m far more interested in seeing peeps’ opinions on that sort of thing than seeing someone try for something “objective.” Sure, your opinion might not match up with the statistics, and you might not have seen that many mecha series, but I’m all about the biased opinions. They rock.
Hey there,
Question: have there been more than one series of Space Adventure Cobra?
Or is this the 1980s series.
Thanks so much. Also, what do you think about the Space Adventure Cobra movie? Good to watch before or after the series?
Thanks!
There’s the 80′s series, the one from last year, the movie, and a couple of OVAs from a few years ago. They’re all awesome, but it was the 80′s series that pushed the whole franchise over the edge for me.
The movie’s pretty great. It a different interpretation of the first story arc seen in the 80′s series. They’re the same story but the details are different enough to make them different experiences. Doesn’t really matter which one you watch first.
Hey Landon –
I’m a sucker for SOME of the mainstream stuff – only Naruto because I haven’t watched enough anime to think the characters are stereotypical. I also get too sad when things end, so the never-ending plot is okay with me :). I used to watch DB/Z… I was embarrassed of that fact at school and didn’t have cable, so my friend would record it on VHS and give it to me before class, haha! Anyway, all this to say I enjoy anime that I feel are well rounded stories with actual plots and things I get to think about a bit. With that, off your list, what would you suggest as a series to watch that has a good mixtures of action, character development, romance… all those things? I’m just looking for something non-cheesy (NO comments about Naruto, I’m aware it is super cheesy at times lol) and well rounded. :) Thanks!
By the way, I LOVE all the kids who r h8ers that cantz evun spell but thiNkin there fav show is da bomz. like where the heck is that show about a stretzy pir8t kid??no show with the main character loud and stupid??????? like ur list sux!
Seriously. Lol, I’m glad these people are educated.
- I may talk like that in real life because I’m a 20-something girl, but to type like that makes me think the school system is failing.
Cowboy Bebop tackles a lot of that. Skews more towards action, but it has its share of development and romance. Same with Baccano.
Tatami Galaxy and Moyashimon skew more in the other direction. They have your romantic elements and character development but go more for comedy than action. But they cover a lot of ground despite being fairly short in length.
I’d recommend Bebop and Moyashimon first. Between the two of them you should get a lot of what you’re looking for.
These two series might be more of a personal taste, but I think the quality of the story and strong “human” element make them strong candidates for a top 50. Last Exile: it took me a few episodes to really get into it, but once I did I really enjoyed the story, action, and beautiful images. Initially, I thought it was a bit slow and hard to connect with the main characters but the action really picked up and felt more connected as the story progressed. I think it deserves consideration. Rumbling Hearts: if you’re into sad, romantic type movies, this is an Anime for you! Even if you’re not, I think it has a unique heart-felt story behind it which really draws you in. It’s the only Anime that made me cry, so for that alone I think it deserves attention in it’s genre. Any thoughts? Not sure if I missed it, but I didn’t see your comments about Last Exile?
Didn’t get into Last Exile for whatever reason. Watched a couple of episodes back in the day and it didn’t click. Might have to give it another try sometime soon.
And yeah, when people mention stuff like “heart-warming” I usually say “When someone mentions heart-warming I think of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” I tend to laugh at the moments that others find touching. Thanks for the recommendations though.
Glad you’re an Eva fan. ^^ I was wondering what you thought of Spice and Wolf?
Never watched it. When I heard it dealt with medieval economics I was kinda interested, since that seemed like a weird topic for an anime. When I heard one of the main characters was a wolf girl and that the bulk of the series dealt with her being a wolf girl, I lost what little interest I had in the series.
Its not as fan-service as you might think, (barring the first episode.), and the economics aspect is really cool. But yea, the whole wolf girl thing might not be your cup of tea.
I literally haven’t heard or seen any of the animes on this list. The reason I came to this site is that I’ve nearly finished watching the most popular anime’s. Since I can’t disagree with any of your choices yet, I’ll have to wait until I finish watching your list. ^^ Having that said, I do have an amazing passion for Naruto Shippuden. I know that most true anime fans hate my guts for this, but from the top anime’s, Shippuden deserves to be on top by far. The artistic gap between Shippuden and the rest of the top is HUGE. I actually stopped watching naruto after having finished the first series (‘Naruto’) because I considered it to be aimlessly depressing. It was my first anime to finish. Then I fell in love with One Piece, moved onto Bleach, saw Death Note, FMA, etc..
When I noticed that Shippuden had over 200 episodes already, and was still on number 1(which bothered me so much! I always thought One Piece deserved it!) I decided to give it a shot… It started out kind of sketchy. But boy, am I happy that I watched it. Out of all anime’s I’ve seen so far, it has the best flexibility in terms of switching from serious to silly. The humour sometimes becomes incomprehensible and it feels somewhat satirical at times. If you look into the artistic values of Shippuden, I’m sure that an anime-lover would find a lot. But I’m also a literature lover, so I might be the only one seeing that. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is, Shippuden isn’t that bad! But I can’t really judge either xD Well, that’s just another invalid argument then.
Landon doesn’t have the attention span to watch 200 eps of Shippuden. It’s not that shounen series don’t have their own merits. But they do have a historical tendency to flag after awhile. Personally, I like the Keroro Gunsou series, but after 150+ episodes and multiple movies, it gets tiring. That said, glad you’re enjoying Naruto.
But make some time to catch up on some of the shows on this list. They’re typically only 26 eps at most, so they’re hardly the same level of investment as a 200 episode shounen series.
If you can find the sub of Airmaster, I’d recommend it. Compare the fights in that with those in Naruto or Bleach. The pacing and choreography are quite different. The art and designs for Airmaster aren’t very pretty, and some characters are initially grating, but once you get pass that, it’s a great series.
If that one’s too tough to find, see if you can still find the first 4 eps of Bantorra (should still be available) or the Read or Die OVA (not the TV series mind you).
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend Landon’s top 5, nor most of his top 10, for those who are only just expanding their anime views.
You left out Death Note.
I never would have realized that had you and 20,000 other people not pointed it out for me.
Well, I reckon’ if this was the Top 117 Anime Comedy list, DN would be up there, a little beneath Code Geass.
Happy to say that most of the list that I’ve seen I agree with.
I’ll echo the recommendations I’ve heard for Last Exile and Kino’s Journey, and add my own: Heat Guy J.
Heat Guy is awesome. My only beef with it is the rushed ending. It needed, like, and extra episode or two so all that stuff that went down would have a little more time to play out.
First of all, Thanks for the list Langdon. I love to hear people’s opinions on the anime they have seen. While I have been watching the most popular anime for awhile know, I just recently started to devour series when I got Netflixx. It has only been a year since I have been streaming on Netflix and I have already seen (I don’t sleep much): Negima!?, High School of the Dead, Baka & Test, Queen’s Blade, Dance in the Vampire Bund, Demon King Daimae, Murder Princess, Needless, Rin, Sekirei, Witchblade, The Sacred Blacksmith, Master of Martial Hearts, Kaze No Stigma, Dragonaut, Kenichi, Vandread, and Girls Bravo. My top five favorites on this list are Sekirei, High School of the Dead, Kaze No Stigma, Kenichi, and Baka & Test. What’s your thoughts on any of these series?
Who deliberately misspells my name “Langdon?” I’ve seen that before at a certain website that will not be named. Very suspicious.
As for what you listed:
Negima, Queen’s Blade: Eww
High School of the Dead: Boring
Baka Test: OK
Dance in the Vampire Bund: Kinda dig it
Rin, Daughters of Mnemosyne: Pretty awesome.
Demon King Daimae (Daimao?), Murder Princess, Needless, Sekirei, Witchblade, Master of Martial Hears, Kaze no Stigma, Dragonaut, Kenichi, Vandred, Girls Bravo: Haven’t seen
I understand where you’re coming from with your description of The Tatami Galaxy, but the anime itself doesn’t draw you in and captivate most people long enough for them to pull away with that theory in tow. Also, Samurai Champloo and One Piece need to be put in for thought on this list. Both are awesome for their own reasons, and I hope sometime in my lifetime I’ll be able to see the end of the OP Manga :p
Sucks to be those people. Heehee.
I kid. But yeah, I’m not here to reflect on the opinions of the masses. Just my own. It may be that the vast majority of peeps find Tatami Galaxy a bit distant, but I rather like it’s approach. It’d suck if everyone saw things the same way.
Mentioned it elsewhere, but if I extended this list to 51 series, Champloo would probably be #51. But this isn’t a secret government base harboring aliens. We’re very open about our aliens.
And I’ve said my piece about One Piece several times in the comments. Only thing I like about it is the art.
What no trigun?
I hate Vash with a passion. Which is a shame because I love everything else about the series.
But yeah, Vash keeps Trigun from being a genuinely great series. It’s just “decent.” I think I score it a 7 on that Myanimelist thing, and all but two series on this list are 9′s and 10′s.
WHERES MADOKA
Madoka is in her heaven. All’s right with the world.
Thankfully this isn’t heaven. Mecha Guignol and it’s Top 50 List is firmly entrenched in anime hell.
I’m playing the Gintama game right now: I’ve just lassoed the elder and aquired the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon, Hahahahaha. Watch out for the swordfish trawler!
there’s a game?
Dude, I only recognized one out of 50 of your shows: cowboy bebop. You left out so much. For your own sake you need to see death note, Fullmetal alchemist, bleach… The list goes on.
For someone whose knowledge of anime seems to be limited to what’s aired on Cartoon Network (Everything you listed has aired on the channel.), I’m shocked you haven’t heard of Read or Die, Outlaw Star, Big O, Tenchi Muyo, or Ghost in the Shell. All of those series have aired on CN at some point in the past, and all of those series are on this list.
And if you had bothered to read any of the 100 or so people who responded before you, you’d see that I’ve seen the series you’ve mentioned AND have given my opinion on them.
It’s cool that you like different series than me. It ain’t cool that you apparently think your viewpoint is far more enlightened than mine and that my perceived lack of seeing certain series needs to be cured “for my own sake.” If anything, it’s YOU that needs to broaden your scope and see some different series. If you only recognize one series on this list, you haven’t seen much of anything when it comes to anime.
If I can make a suggestion: You should consider Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I loved it. At first it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be that great, but watch to the end of episode 3 and your perspective changes.
Nevermind, I see from your comments that you’ve seen it already. That’s cool, we all have different opinions; who’s to say any one person’s opinion is the correct one? Is there even such a thing as a standing “Correct” opinion?
Yeah, Madoka was one of those series that I liked initially, but one we found out what was REALLY going on it kinda lost me. That and I’m not fond of those sorts of “reset everything” endings. It has some great bits, but they all get countered by bits that really annoyed me.
And as far as I’m concerned there aren’t any “correct” opinions, just opinions that are backed up with understandable rationale. Peeps can like whatever they like, all I care about is whether they can express why they like it in a manner beyond “I LIEK IT! WHY DONT U!?”
I like how in Ga-rei zero, it starts setting up a story line, a main character with a tragic background, a revenge story surrounding the white-haired antagonist, a potential girlfriend later on in the story, friends who play key parts in running the base and helping the team out, and then EVERYBODY DIES. And by the way, one question. Why does the URL say top 23 anime series of all time…?
The list started off as a Top 23 list. I expanded it to 30 sometime last year and then updated it to 50 a couple of months ago. I didn’t change the URL to maintain links and whatnot.
I have not seen any episodes of any of the animes you listed, but I will automatically say you should have included Naruto and Bleach because I refuse to consider the possibility that there may be 50 animes better than them, even though I have never seen any of said animes and therefore cannot logically judge which is the best. Furthermore, I should point out how obvious it is that blood and monsters are what makes a good Anime; story line, battle choreography, art style, and soundtracks clearly have nothing to do with it. And don’t even get me started on how awesome filler episodes are; we need a break from those confusing story lines, after all-too much at once makes my head hurt! And besides, what’s an anime without a character dying and coming back to life? If a show has a character die and NOT come back, well, that’s just too realistic!
Awesome list, brought back a lot of good anime that I haven’t watched in years and many that I haven’t seen yet. Bebop is one of my all time favorite anime, has never failed me and is as great as the first time I saw it. I give you even more credit for not listing the popular crap like Naruto, Bleach, etc. I was a little dissappointed that I didn’t see Deadman Wonderland on the list.
I didn’t make it very far into Deadman. I liked the violence, but I couldn’t stand the main characters. The girl was like a jailbait Forrest Gump. Yuck.
This overall, if you like some gag and comedy, is a very good list. Don’t listen to the mindless fanboys about Code Geass, that stank worse than the trash I just threw out. However, I am wondering why, Gunbuster or Legend Of the Galactic Hero’s isn’t on here. Gunbuster is Hideki Anno’s first work, and it is a landmark for several reasons. Without, Neon Genesis, or Gurren Lagann would exist. Or a lot of shows for that matter. And If you haven’t seen LOTGH, then you need too, it is the best space opera ever conceived. Outlaw Star is pretty sick though, as well as Bebop.
I’ve seen bits and pieces of LotGH. Just haven’t seen the whole thing. I’m sure I’ll like it, but I haven’t had the patience to sit down and watch the whole thing.
And I haven’t seen Gunbuster. Saw an episode or two of the sequel that came out a few years ago and didn’t like it. It’s another one of those things I should get around to but haven’t.
I Love HOTD its different than the anime i normaly watch and of course DBZ is my show i watched many others that are my fave but these too would be in my top
You cant say Naruto, Bleach, and Dbz arent animes. they are, no question about that. they just happened to be the most popular ones. doesnt that deserve some credit. they became popular because MORE PEOPLE LIKED THEM THAN THE OTHER ANIMES. but they should top the list based on the fact that they are the most known animes out there. i do understand that some of these other ones can be very good but how can you list some of these animes as the best when so few people have even heard of them before?
Repeating this for someone.
Popularity is irrelevant when it comes to my top list. I got nothing against popular series simply because they’re popular. If that were the case then Bebop, Evangelion, and the like wouldn’t rank so high.
I certainly have an secret, evil agenda behind my actions on this blog, but they ain’t an attempt to rail against “mainstream” anime and the peeps who like those series.
At the same time, I’m not here to parrot back popular opinion and reinforce peep’s assumptions. No one at this blog thinks DBZ or Bleach aren’t “real” anime, but we don’t LIKE those series.
You know, opinions and all that shit.
i completely understand, i was just giving my opinion on the matter. i was mostly speaking out against the people who ragged on the popular animes because they are popular. so i do agree that the animes that didnt go mainstream could be the best ones out there and i should probably look into more of them in depth.
but what about one piece?!?!!! :O
or history’s strongest diciple kenichi and full metal panic??
Great List.
You should check out Death Note, Gantz, Highschool of the Dead, Ao No Exorcist, Vampire Hunter D and a couple others though (just a small list of my all time fav’s that were left off).
Ex: Death Note makes you think so hard about morality, your head will explode. It has quailty animation, an awesome soundtrack, and some of the best characters. Add a Psychopath Anti-Hero lead character with the power to kill with a book and you got a great (and fucked up) anime series.
Since you seem to have the same taste in anime as me, just thought I’d make the suggestion.
Enjoy:)
Are the people who watch Naruto, Bleach and the like, a horde of pre-teens or are they really just juvenile adults? Most shows over 26 episodes or so (notice I say most) are produced for children in Japan- as in the intended audience is for under 13 year olds. If you at some point decide to move over to the east and you are an anime fan, you will notice no adults (for the most part) in Japan/Taiwan/Korea, the epicenter of animation studios in Asia, watch these shows. They did when they were children. Goddamn children. That being said, good list. Bebop is where it is supposed to be, kindof, that’s all that really matters. Monster, Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, Gankutsuou, and Mushishi are deserving of a spot, too.
Well I was going to check and see if anyone posted anything about Haibane Renmei and Serial Experiments Lain, but you had too many Naruto, Death Note, Bleach, Code Gaess and etc etc posts here, so I eventually got tired of looking. So tired in fact that I couldn’t use the command+F to search myself.
Seriously though, you sound a lot like me. We have very different opinions about some things, and vastly different tastes, but the way you write and how you describe shows “clicking” for you sounds very familiar. Normally I disregard people with different tastes from me, but you sir, know what you are talking about. Hat’s off.
Haibane Renmei and Lain are pretty decent, but yeah, they don’t really click with me. I think I liked them more when I first saw them, but as time’s gone on they’ve lost their appeal somewhat.
Bleach,Death note,and Inuyasha are the best animae shows
TELL ME WHAT TO WATCH NOW!!!!
>:)
I don’t recognize about half of the anime on your list, and I looked a few and they look somewhat stupid, but thank the lord that you recommended Redline, which sounded really cool from the get go. I have never been blown away visually by an anime before (Story wasn;t bad either) if anyone wants to see the trailer look at it here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2H_FsmxWzc
Very interesting list. What did you think of Beyond the gungrave and Saint Seiya?
*gungrave/beyond the grave
Great list! To me Naruto/Bleach/DBZ are a gateway anime, you watch a few episodes and then get on with the real stuff :L
how could you
neon genisis was a master peace it should be 2nd
only just betten by what could be the best anime to have ever been writen elfen lied
the only reason i say “what could be” is because i dont count movies or long runing animes like bleach inuyasha or naruto people may thinke these animes are better but thats only because thay keep you watching. If neon genisis lasted longer it would most definetly had more fans than those long lasting animes. im glad you have seen this but i still think neo is 2nd and elfen lied is 1st
Evangelion is on my list, yet all you can do is complain that it isn’t higher? Lame.
Say what you want but growing up, Pokemon and Digimon were the best anime, and(now i am 19) still are THE BEST :)
Say what YOU want, but growing up, Voltron was the best anime. Except I didn’t know what anime was.
Yeah I know what you mean, everyone has their own opinion about eh best anime, so I will not try to verbally assault you.. :D
Voltron? What about Battle of the Planets? (I can’t remeber the Japanese name for it)
Gatchaman. I didn’t see it until I was an adult. I don’t remember ever seeing episodes of Battle of the Planets as a kid for whatever reason. And I only vaguely remember seeing tidbits of Robotech back then. I remember the toys more than the actual show. I was probably too busy watching He Man or something.
heh. I remember watching it as a kid as it aired in the late seventies. Uh-oh I’ve dated my myself…
The really funny bit was watching a single episode as it’d aired as an adult- a friend had it recorded on betamax- anyways the story made no sense. the dialogue was horribly disjointed and the plot vague at best. It probably made more sense in the original Japanese. I couldn’t believe what I loved as a child…still makes me laugh, though, thinking about it.
im really surprised death notes not on there….i know people were mad cause they thought the ending sucked but i dont think it sucked at all. in fact, i loved the ending. its the directing and music and the way its presented that make the scene more dramatic and amazing other than it just showing ryuk write his name in his death note and him dying, which for some reason most people see it as.
what the fuck is this??????
where is the great one piece
naruto
naruto shippuden
where!!!!!!!!!
To everyone asking why One Piece, Naruto, and so on aren’t on this list: They aren’t on this list because Air Master is on it. Once you see Air Master, you’ll never go back to lesser fighting anime. It’s a life-changer.
That’s the reason I haven’t seen it yet. Personally, I want to watch all the lesser fighting anime first before i watch that show. if it’s true what you say I want to get as many nueces under my belt as i can beofore going as far as watching (what you consider) the greatest fighting anime ever
Seriously no Reborn?! How’s that even possible! It should be one of the best animes ever made!
That’s the one about the baby mobster, right? Never seen that one since it goes on for too long. I rarely care much for those sorts of series.
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is a quality anime. Hawkeye and Mustang sell it for me.
I love DMC and Captain Taylor, but no Desert Punk?
I dig Berserk, and I know a lot of people who swear by it as an absolute masterpiece, but I could see how some people wouldn’t. It strikes a very narrow chord of emotion that some people love and others not so much.
Also, a little surprised that I don’t see Gantz or Claymore up there. Although, both of them are far better manga than anime.
Desert Punk/Sunabouzu, Berserk, Gantz, and Claymore are all pretty decent, but they don’t quite grab me the way all of these series do.
omg i can never find that show with the little puppet kid that can do wierd electricity magic with this guy and his magic book idk wats it called help if u noe -_-
Zatch Bell. I think the Japanese name was Gash Bell or something like that. It was cute for what it was. Loved Ponygon.
go n fu*ck ur self…
ur list contains no dragon ball series, death note, naruto or even bleach…F**k ur self
If you’re gonna self-edit, at least do so consistently. First you say “fu*ck,” then you say “F**k.” Which is it? You’re confusing me.
Also, those series are terrible.
And how about Saint Seya or even better Fist of the North Star. Kenshiro is a great character and the storyline is really decent for an anime series. Think Mad Max 2 with martial arts.
I haven’t seen enough anime for my opinion to be taken seriously (only about 25% of what’s on your list) but I’m a huge fan of 08th MS Team and I would put it on my personal list.
I’m just now kind of forcing myself back into Anime and this list was like a new world to me, I loved it! Some stuff on here looks absolutely great. Maybe I haven’t seen enough, but Death Note IMO was a really cool concept and I loved it. Also, Samurai Champloo… R&B And Samurais?! What more could you want? Finally, as I post this I am near ending Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Please all who post here do not hate on me. The characters are all truly likable to me and I feel like there is a certain grounding realism here. Not everyone is some insane crazy superpower. My next watch is Black Lagoon, though, I’ve heard some good stuff. Pleas reply to this I really want to hear some explanations of dislike towards FMA:B because I’m completely enthralled in it and LOVE IT.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but the reasons why I don’t like FMA are:
1: I find it kinda silly how they turn alchemy into a shounen action trope. Alchemy by itself is pretty fascinating and could lead to some cool storytelling things, but FMA basically equates it to being a ninja from Naruto or a saiyan from DBZ. I find it just as annoying as how Twilight butchers the vampire mythos.
2: It has a lousy sense of humor. There’s a difference between using humor to balance out the mood or to juxtapose situations, and then there’s throwing in a joke and ruining the mood. FMA does the latter.
3: I don’t care for any of the character outside of Hughes, and once he’s written out of the series all I was left with was a bunch of obnoxious characters I kinda hated.
your sh!t has no power. it’s all about vash the stampede. cowboy bebop can deep-throat a nasty pair. it’s like vanilla creme mixed with my yolk. btw. samurai champloo is winning.
I guess Vash is cool if you like obnoxious lead characters that ruin their own series.
you get props for placing lupin tho.
What an absurd list. I’ll list one anime that tops everything you’ve posted: TOWARDS THE TERRA! How could you miss that one?!
If you had said something like “Hey, go check out Towards the Terra, I think it’s good” I’d be like “Hey, cool, thanks.”
But since you decided to be an asshole about it I’ll forever hate it. Your favorite anime sucks. How could you like that shit?!
Okay, I’ve now been to this list three times over the course of a good few months and I swear both the content and the number of anime keep changing. Kind of obvious as the url says, “top 23 anime…”. Do you happen to have the older lists on hand, because I’m almost certain there are a few that I remember seeing on your older lists that I really wanted to check out that are gone from it now, and I can’t for the life of me remember what they were called.
The only one that I remember being on here that’s dropped off is Welcome to the NHK.
That’s odd, as I thought your list had had Kino’s Journey on it, plus a bunch of more obscure titles. A lot of these I do recognize, but perhaps it was from another list getting blended in my memories.
That being said, I’m curious if you have seen and what you thought of series like Wolf’s Rain, Princess Tutu, Monster, Speed Grapher, Gundam Wing, Street Fighter II V, GTO and Escaflowne. For one reason or another I found each of these to be truly excellent titles with most being no longer than 26 episodes.
All the same a great list you have here. Nice to see a rare instance of both old and new shows of all genres instead of the usual shonen bile and same mainstream titles that everyone feels compelled to include.
I also noticed that you don’t have FLCL on here. I recently watched the whole series in one sitting and i gotta say, it’s awesome. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but if you haven’t, i highly recommend it.
FLCL’s cool, but it’s all about a certain coming-of-age period that I was long past by the time I saw it. It didn’t have the same impact on me the way it did on peeps who saw it in middle or high school.
I don’t understand people that are way into anime. It’s like their all anime hipsters, they refuse to like anything that is popular, besides possibly Dragon Ball. Though I will have agree with them that Naruto was terrible.
You gotta appreciate the irony of “not understanding people that are way into anime” while your screen name is taken straight from an anime.
I don’t get the apprehension some people have towards people whose tastes don’t conform to the “mainstream.” If someone likes a series that isn’t popular and dislikes one that IS popular, people try to discredit their opinions by labeling them as “hipsters” or some other disparaging term that has long since lost its meaning. These people don’t grasp the concept that not everyone’s looking for the same exact thing out of their entertainment and don’t get it when someone digs something for reasons completely contrary to popular opinion. Some of us think Bleach and One Piece and Naruto are terrible for completely legitimate reasons beyond “OMG its popular so I hate it because I R hipster.” And if someone likes those series, more power to them. But that isn’t gonna change my feelings on the series.
I’m not saying it’s bad to be “way into anime”. I’m saying that all of the people that are just seem to hate popular series’ because they are popular. I mean, I like FLCL/Speedgrapher and Code Geass/Dragon Ball Z, is that such a bad thing?
Nope. Not at all. Like I said, I got no problem with people who like series I don’t like. It’d suck if everyone liked the same stuff.
And for the record, Speed Grapher is awesome. Just not quite on my top 50. Everything on this list, save for the Macross and California Crisis, are series I rate as 9′s or 10′s, and Speed Grapher is an 8 for me.
Yeah, I guess you’re right, but, yeah, Speedgrapher is great.
hmmmmm… i think i like your list better. but there are things i want answered: why cowboy bebop? outlaw star beats out spike and his posse in my book. from what i remember, i really hated the fact that the story behind spike was left very covert. maybe i need to watch it again. also the ending to it was very gaggy; the corniness made me poop weird. his character in general was very standoffish, and it felt like to me he was just trying to look cool the whole time. i don’t know. i want to see what you come up with.
i see your point with vash. but it was my first ever anime, so eat pennies. high five about kenshin; i totally agree with him being one of the most annoying characters ever. i stopped watching that anime right about the end where he is “defeated”. i just tell everyone that loves that anime, kenshin dies in the end because i hate him so much.
btw. have you seen mushishi? i’m thinking about watching it or reading the manga. i read more manga than watch anime…
Bebop reeks of style, especially compared with Star’s generic 90′s aesthetics.
I find Spike’s backstory interesting because of the fact that we never get the full picture. And the way he goes out is awesome since it plays off of the sort of things you see in Hong Kong action movies and Japanese yakuza movies. It’s very appropriate given the fact that Spike is basically a lead character from those sorts of movies thrust into a sci fi anime.
I’d say Bebop gets better the more you know about movies. It plays off all sorts of trends and the like.
Trigun’s a great series… if you ignore Vash. He grates on me just as much as Kenshin does. I love just about everything else about Trigun. But that damn Vash keeps it from being truly amazing. But I gotta give the Trigun movie props for easing up on Vash’s annoying aspects. If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out.
Haven’t seen Mushishi. It’s one of those series that doesn’t sound like something I’d really get into so I never got around to it. I’m sure I’ll see it eventually, like when I don’t have anything else I really wanna watch on hand.
I get a feeling you don’t like samurai anime too much with the lack of – Kenshin, Samurai 7, Bleach, Samurai Champloo and so forth, (Ninja Scroll doesn’t count) But, what about Sword of the Stranger? Traditional at its roots, but it features amazing choreography. Let me know what you think.
Don’t like Kenshin because his aggressive pacifism grates on me.
I never finished Samurai 7. I dug it, but never got around to completing it.
I wouldn’t even call Bleach a “samurai” anime. It has swords and dudes in “traditional” clothing, but it’s a stereotypical shounen action series at its heart. I liked it when it began, but once it introduced 10,000 new characters in the Soul Society story I gave up on it. I hear a lot of people say “Bleach got bad AFTER the Soul Society,” but it WAS the Soul Society that ruined it for me.
Champloo would be #51 if I extended this list further. I love it. And I don’t think I’ve seen Sword of the Stranger. I’ll have to check it out.
What a great list !! Of course I have my pieces I love, however your list opened me to more. I appricate your list, very well structured, and your expression on your picks- Fuck-Ing Great
I’ve been following your list for a while. Top notch, sir.
Just’d watched Mindgame and would like to throw out that it was AMAZING. I’d have to say it’s my favorite movie now, and I’d consider myself a pretty big film buff. Keep on rocking man.
Well, it’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been watching a few animes, ans you’ll find out. If anyone gives a shit.
Okay: Revolutionary Girl Utena- gave up. Couldn’t do it. Couldn’t choke down any more of it. There are some aesthetics I just couldn’t sit through any more.
Black Lagoon- Hell’s yeah. awesome, start to finish. Wish there was more. Enjoyed the soundtrack, loved Chinglish and Belalika- probably spelled that wrong. Even the second barrage. That Japanese war was brilliant. The action sequences were fantastic. If you haven’t yet seen this, you must.
Naruto Shippudden season 6- I do not understand why people think this series is excellent. No, I haven’t watched alot of early Naruto, but I have watched enough. I am familiar enough with the story to come in here. I didn’t see alot of new stuff, just the same tired storyline, but at least good guys die occasionally. Best part of the show was the ending credits. I have no idea why people consistently mention this series any more than the next-
Bleach- I hate it. Yuck. Putrid sap of a storyline, a kid’s anime without question. Sat through a dozen episodes, and quite frankly, I would rather sit through Utena. Nuff said.
Darker Than Black. Loved it. I love the storyline, and the politics. I enjoyed the action sequences and the display of powers. I liked the idea of a price paid, which was always something the character despised doing. I am surprised they didn’t get into the mainstream religious connotations more, as they referred to the gates as Heaven and Hell. They could do more with it. I wonder if they will? Even if they changed main characters.
Full Metal Alchemist: Good show. I enjoyed watching it, but I is still a kid’s anime, and that may be its biggest problem. The story was good enough to keep watching, and I did give a damn about the Elric brothers, and that’s probably why I kept watching it. I also enjoyed the way the technology was limited. I liked the twist regarding what the gate actually was. All in all, I’d reckon its decent. It doesn’t have the Black Lagoon wow factor though.
What do you reckon Landon? Have I said enough to generate some abuse?
Yeah, can’t blame anyone for not digging Utena. Definitely not one for everyone.
Glad you liked Black Lagoon and Darker than Black. You get to the second season of DtB? It takes a bit of a dip quality-wise, but it’s still very watchable.
I think people love Bleach and Naruto for the soap opera elements. Those sorts of shounen action shows are basically afternoon soap operas with punching as far as plot structure goes, and there’s something about that formula that appeals to a lot of people. And that “something” is completely lost on the rest of us. Heehee
Downloading the second season now. There is also apparently a 4 ep mini series I’m getting as well.
I’ve watched the first ep of kemonozume- definitely looking forward to the others, despite the animation of it being a little rough- I suspect it’ll add to the show.
I watched Maison Ikokku. I loved it though I thought that as many twenty episodes cold have been pulled from the series- there were points I thought the series dragged, but the characters were awesome. Thank you for pointing that one out. I’m making my way through your list one series at a time.
I love anime!
What’s funny about Ikkoku is that it’s the shortest of Rumiko Takahashi’s four major series (it, Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and Inu Yasha) and it’s the only one to get a proper anime treatment. Lum and Ranma just sort of sputtered out and it took years for them to go back to Inu Yasha and finish it. So while it definitely has some fat on it, it’s easily her most condensed series.
No Kenshin, no bleach or Naruto? no hellsing,. omg
I KNOW, like, what the flub man! Why the math aren’t those series on this list? What’s this dude thinking?!
Gatchaman. Right. U know, I had the pleasure of rewatching the show as it originally aired in English in Canada as an adult (it was recorded on a Betamax cassette). The dialogue made absolutely no sense, the plot was indistinct. It was horrible, yet I remember thinking as a kid it was “better than star wars”.
I laugh everytime I think about it.
i like sdf macross and higurashi no naku koro ni kai the most
Love your list. Its such a authentic thing, full of personality, unlike those randomic contests of popularity. Moreover Bebop is my favorite anime. I’m waiting for the next 50.
Yep. “Authenticity” is all that matters when it comes to these lists. I don’t give a damn about “objective” lists created by committee or polls, I wanna see one person’s favorites and their reasons why. That’s far more interesting.
I looked through this list searching for anime i had seen and was severely disappointed that the number was so few. I’m relatively new to anime, only have 55 that i’ve seen including OVA and movies (TY myanimelist.net) love that site. Anyway this list has made me re-up on looking for great anime that aren’t naruto bleach one piece etc any anime that doesn’t have a story to tell but money to make. Thanks.
Great list! Some I haven’t heard of for sure.
All these comments…I was hoping for one other fan of R.O.D. :)
I love that one. I guess I’m one of the few.
Never got the love of Naruto, DBZ, Inuyasha…etc.
And I watched them for a looong time before I made my opinion. I feel most of the popular anime would make a good 4 hour movie…after that…kinda bored. So I like the concepts…just not the execution of the plot.
Of course I was watching anime 15-20 years ago…so perhaps I’m too old to get that kind of anime. I come from watching anime from Korean and Chinese VCD’s ordered by online or mailorder only. I don’t know if anyone else has even used VCD’s or sent an actual letter for that matter. ha
But, I really liked Mushi-Shi, even saw the live action movie…and tell everyone about it…but I guess people don’t like it like I do. I guess I like anime that is normal and just a little weird at the same time.
I’m trying to add that odd Japanese feel to my webcomic http://www.dontprayforangels.com
I just started it up if you want to stop by. Thanks.
I never did the VCD thing, but I saw my share of Xth generation VHS fansubs. I miss those days, if only because struggling to get a hold of anime was just as fun as actually watching it.
And I gave your webcomic a quick look. Not bad. Can’t say too much since you’ve just started your initial story, but I’ll try to check it out every now and then.
Hey! Thanks for checking it out, I’m getting to more of the plot very soon. Hope you do stop by again or like it on Facebook if you have one. I lost this site, but glad I kept looking for it, I appreciate it. Keep up the great work!
For the most part an acceptable list, However it seems pretty heavily biased towards older anime. The mysterious absence of Samurai Champloo, FLCL, Beck, Death Note irks me especially since you included some anime such as outlaw star over them. However It’s all entirely subjective so I can’t tell you that your selections are wrong.
Nothing mysterious about the absence of the series you mentioned. I find Beck and Death Note to be pretty mediocre (I rank both as 5′s on MAL.). FLCL is cool, but as I’ve mentioned to other peeps in these comments, I was way too old when it came out to really “feel” it. And Champloo is unofficially the 51st anime on this list.
And I’d argue against there being a bias towards older anime, especially since numerous series on this list are newer than the ones you listed. I think I’ll have to break down the years of release just to prove that my list is more “balanced” that people like to believe.
Dragon Ball Z was the shit no doubt about it .___________________.
you’re right, it was shit!
Only one mention of Studio Ghibli in all these comments? Disappoint…
Your response is reasonable, but I disagree on the preachy aspect. I find Grave of Fireflies to be one of the best visions of WW2 in any genre – for it’s melancholy and bittersweet aspects to the eerie effect of having a cartoon be so bleak. His lighter stuff like Howl’s or Spirit’s Within all have that hearth-magic charm to them that feels so nice to snuggle up to.
The only other thing I missed from here (mostly for nostalgia, my first anime – or at least the first that made me go “You can do that with cartoons?!”) was Nausicaa. I saw one mention, but no reply.
You don’t like blue-eyed nuclear bugs?
I don’t really care, but I do believe DBZ deserves to be on here, DBZ is a world wide phenom…Unless of course this is “your top 50″ Which in that case you shouldn’t title it the way you did. Anyways Trigun and Death Note to me, are extremely good Animes, and I believe they should be on the list.
Part of the reason why I stick with the title is that such lists are always inherently subjective. Whatever criteria that’s used to formulate a “top XX of pop culture stuff” list is always going to be arbitrary, whether you use personal opinion, some form of public consensus, or some attempt to measure an item’s “importance” in the history of the medium. And by deliberately naming the list as such, it creates some form of discussion, especially since my list deviates from what most people expect. It’s far more interesting to see how and why people disagree rather than seeing endless comments agreeing, high-fiving, and fist bumping in agreement.
So yeah, I feel the current title fits perfectly into one of my intents with this list.
Oh yes, I also forgot about Champloo….I agree with Cowboy Bebop as a top 5 anime though. It is a pure masterpiece.
I read the majority of the comments others listed above (trying to avoid the repetitive congratulatory “great list” or “why isn’t my favorite there” posts), and noticed nobody mentioned Kenomozume. First of all, how in the world did you find that series? From what I read about it, the show only aired on one or two major Japanese stations. I’m not much of a fan for mainstream anime, or even anime in general, but Kemonozume struck me dumb. Here you have a plot based on the cliche “star crossed lovers” and “corporations will eat your soul” themes, and it manages to crap all over the conventional and mold it into its own incredible story. The ending was a bit too much of a drug trip for my liking, but that doesn’t take away from the rest of the masterfully crafted series. The additions of sketchy artwork, ninja monkeys, and the occasional graphic scene don’t hurt either. I also like how the rest of your picks aren’t necessarily action based; rather, most of them center around morality and self reflection. Oh, and thank you for continuing to feed the CodeNarubleachpiece trolls. It makes for good entertainment :D
DBZ and Naruto arent too bad when skip all the bullshit episodes which seems like 50% of the entire series. i bet if you add up all the clips of the first series that are in shippuden you probably have the entire 1st series in there. the filler in animes like that kinda ruin it. i couldnt get passed episode 10 or so in bleach. i thought FMA was awesome until the end, i thought the ending was so terrible it ruined the whole show for me almost like berserk. Except with berserk i still dont know if that was the ending or did they just cancel it before they were able to finish? i liked GITS quite a bit. ive been wanting to watch ninja scroll for quite a while and this reminded me of it. I just finished it and i liked it alot. It looks like you like morbid and dark anime. Everyone should watch Violence Jack once in their life. Uncut its kinda disturbing.
Im not trying to be like everyone thats like “where the hell is naruto!”, but where the hell is elfen lied and samurai champloo? I like gantz a lot but i can understand how its only for some
“The only criticism I can level against the series is the way it demystified Faye and turned her into a generic “lost little girl.”
I disagree here – I think they were trying to show how Faye’s tough persona was just a front, that behind all of that was a real person who cared for others. Same can be said for Jet – Jet and Faye sort of go through similar transformations in the end, trying to remain strong and tough but unable to hide their compassion and caring for Spike. Neither are generic in my opinion, just well rounded and “normal, caring humans” despite their rough exterior and chaotic lifestyle. Geez that sounds mushy…
And like many others, I think “Trigun” should have been on the list.
The difference is that Jet always showed both sides, while Faye 1) Didn’t show that other side until after we got her sob story and 2) she had a dramatic shift in personality that made her come off as downright weak. It didn’t feel like she was just opening up and showing some humanity, it just made her a weaker, less interesting character. She was far better off having that mysterious edge to her. She’s way more interesting being like Fujiko from Lupin the Third than she is being that sad little girl whose family and friends are all gone.
i guess this list only works for old pipol ^_^
And not the present generation ^_^
If u dont have One Piece, Death Note, Code Geass, etc, then I dont really agree with this list at all -.-
Kemonozume, Mind Game, Book of Bantorra, Ga-Rei Zero, Occult Academy, Redline, Azazel, Tatami Galaxy, Moyashimon, and several other series on this list came out at the same time as or AFTER all of the series you mentioned.
I guess my tastes are too cutting edge for your old sensibilities.
Nothing wrong with liking those anime but u have to expand what ur watching. I have read on piece and I can say I hate it. it is waaaaayyyy too long. The story should have ended a long time ago.
Relax honey, nobody’s asking you to be “old” enough to try to relate to this list, much more agree with it.
Btw, broadening your horizons is a good thing-nothing that present generation brains couldn’t handle :3
Darker than Black series 2- watchable. But the ending left me angry, actually. I felt I was being somehow let down in the writing, like they took the easy way out. The more I think about, the more it annoys me. I might have to delete series 2 from my library, and pretend it ended at series one.
I’ll be back next month with more on Kemonozume and hopefully Occult Academy.
Yeah, a lot of people didn’t care for DtB2′s ending. They chalked it up to your usual “Bones Ending.” I didn’t mind it and wrote about it here: http://mecha-guignol.com/2009/12/26/darker-than-obscurity/
Especially curious about what you’ll think about Occult Academy. There’s another divisive one.
Everybody knows DragonBall Z is the best anime :D
Whoever this “Everybody” guy is sounds like a dork.
Most kids here don’t seem to know that all opinions are subjective, and that your list of Best Ever is actually a List of Favorites. Nice list, while our tastes differ, I still want to know what you think of Gunbuster, otherwise known as Aim For The Top! It’s Anno’s first work, and without it, Evangelion would not exist, or shows like TTGL, Martian Succesor Nadesico, ETC….
Just a little of what I enjoy.
G Gundam
Cowboy Bebop
Gunbuster
TTGL
Berserk
Great Teacher Onizuka
Baccano!
I haven’t seen the first Gunbuster, but I saw an episode or two of the sequel and didn’t care much for it. Have yet to go back to the original because of that.
Nadesico’s cool. Been ages since I’ve seen it so I can’t say much about it other than “I remember it being good.”
Anyway i like the list! I can’t understand people ranting about Naruto, bleach etc. Ive watched them and i think they’re awesome but don’t judge this list without reading the NOTE! its a PERSONAL top 30 list. For goodness sake stop being a fanboy. WE GET IT! you like naruto! you like bleach! good for you!
PS
FINALLY GTO! lol
Good List!
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (When They Cry) is a great anime series too :)
First of all Great List, i have been watching anime for who knows how long and i gotta say the wide variety in your list was awesome. I have heard of all the shows on your list except maybe 3 or 4, but didn’t care to watch some them, but read your summary and opinions on a few of them, and gave them another shot and i gotta say that i was blown away by some like Baccano and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. So thanks for taking the time to create this list and hopefully it will keep growing. Also what is your opinion on Sword of The Stranger probably one of my favorite films of any genre. Oh and hell yes Samurai Pizza Cats, I saw that and instantly couldn’t get the theme song out of my head.
can’t believe that death note or samurai chaploo wasn’t on his list. those are amazing
To be honest I don’t know most of the anime on your list… but i will try to watch some of them.
Id like to know what you think of the shows Naruto, One Piece, Inuyasha, DBZ, FMA, and Fairy Tale.
I really like all of them but none are on your list so could you give me the pros/cons on each?
My feelings on Naruto are summed up here: http://mecha-guignol.com/2010/05/05/bloodsport/
One Piece has cool character designs, but it drags on way too long to keep my attention.
Inu Yasha is far too much of a mash-up of Rumiko Takahashi’s superior earlier series. If it’d been the first series of hers I’d seen, I might have liked it, but I’d already seen all of Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, and Ranma 1/2 by then and Inu Yasha did nothing better than any of those series.
Lots of stuff from FMA rubs me the wrong way.
Never seen Fairy Tale. Knew it was gonna be another long one and didn’t start.
yeah, he did that for me, too. I’ve got to find a copy of the Irresponsible Captain myself. Thats on my must see list…
Love the List! Watched most of all the amines listed and have got to say..where the heck is Naru… I mean Blea…jk
don’t worry I’ve read your comments on them not gonna poke a dead corpse for the 100th time lol. Just wondering how your take on Hajime no Ippo if u got to finish/like/dislike it. Also have you watched Hikaru no Go or Midori no Hibi?
Also recommend Initial D, Hikaru no Go, School Days, Golgo 13 to be on the list… wait nvm. You should just make a top 100 list for a 2012 Project :D
Gah! I could do a Top 100, but I think the list might start feeling a bit watered down by then. Right now I could probably add 10 or so series (maybe 20) to this list and still feel like I’m adding all-time favorites. After that it’d start being a list of shows I like but don’t necessarily have any real love for.
Then again, lists are fun to make…
hmmm… I’m not sure what to make of this list. Some I haven’t seen, but should be getting in to soon. Others I’ve seen, and didn’t really like. You’ve included some that I feel aren’t really good in anime form, but are epic in manga (like you, Ranma 1/2 was my first love, but the anime series kind of sucked). And then the majority of my personal favorites are not on here. No Fullmetal alchemist, rurouini kenshin, ouran high school club (which is surprising cause I find it to be somewhat like Ranma 1/2), claymore, bleach (with all the fillers I could understand, but the first 60-some episodes are beyond epic that I feel it has to be included on a top anime series list), inuyasha (rumiko takahashi fan but no inuyasha?), clannad, east of eden, samurai champloo (though it did get an honorable mention), fruits baskets, death note, wolfs rain, mushi-shi… there’s more, but my brain’s hit a bit of a wall…
Oh well, to each their own… Maybe you prefer less mainstream anime? Thanks for sharing. I’ll be sure to look into some of these titles.
Mainstream and non-mainstream doesn’t have much to do with it. I’m not too concerned with popularity one way or another. If my favorites align with other people’s, that’s cool, but I’m not actively trying to go against trends or anything.
As for the series you listed, I don’t care much for most of them. I dig Ouran, Eden of the East, Champloo (official #51 on my list), and Fruits Basket to some degree, but the rest are series I’m not very fond of. Save for Mushishi. Never seen it and don’t think I’ll get around to it anytime soon. People seem to love it, but all of the descriptions don’t make me too excited.
Mindgame.
WTF was that? I’ll spend the next 2 days sorting it out, and then maybe I’ll have to watch it again, and even with wiki, I doubt I’ll have the subtleties sorted.
I either think it is one of the best animated films of all time or its a complete fucking waste of time. Regardless, even as a waste of time, its the best 103 minutes I’ve spent in a long time. It is mysterious, ambiguous, and absolutely amazing.
It isn’t anime’s 2001, its 2001 squared, on acid.
As Landon said, watch it. Now.
Irresponsible Captain Tylor:
I’m a bit shitty because I’m having a devil of a time locating the tv series. I have the OAV ten ep miniseries, but after watching 4, I’m not sure I should continue until I’ve seen the tv series. I may have to shelve it for the time being- which leaves Occult Academy. I guess I’ll start watching it tomorrow.
I can’t really recommend the Tylor OVA even after you see the TV series. So yeah, definitely wait until you’ve seen the TV series before getting into that.
And I’ll get around to writing about Mindgame sometime. I just need to spend more than my usual 20 or so minutes blurting out something when I do it.
turns out that version of occult academy was Japanese only. I’m beginning to think it’ll be easier for me to learn Japanese than to locate a version with English in it…
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood= #1 of all time!!!
I have seen some of the anime on this list, but most of them I’ve never heard of, and can you tell what you have against Bleach; I mean, when it first started it wasn’t very good, but now it’s tatoly awsome.
I’m the exact opposite. I kinda liked Bleach when it first started, but then the Soul Society storyline started and I lost all interest.
Lots of fans tend to say “Bleach was good until the Soul Society story ended.” I lost interest when it started, since that’s when the series became like every other Shounen Jump action series. Lots of standing around and talking mid-fight, leveling up, and never-ending “confrontations.” Everything I don’t like about Naruto, DBZ, and the like.
Same here, it started good for me (though I wished it integrated all the little character extras). But the (manga) series went down the… toilet, once they started the Soul Society Arc. And alas, same deal with the anime.
It literally became like a parody of everything everyone complained about DBZ with long charge up sequences and arbitrary power levels and frightful auras etc.
DRAGONBALL Z?
As in “What is Dragonball Z?” It’s an anime from the late 80′s and early 90′s that cemented a lot of the shounen action series tropes that people love. Hope that cleared things up.
two words
SAILOR MOON
Those are two words. No arguing about that.
Actually, I kinda like Sailor Moon. I think I rate most seasons either a 7 or 6 on MAL. Those are solid scores from me, but far from being personal favorites.
What is Dragonball Z?
I think the Scots have a word for it. Shite.
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor-
Military Genius or Utter moron? Well, the series begins with a highly improbable kidnapping and rescue that leads to a stunning award of ship command for a lazy care free paper-pusher.
From there, things get interesting. Tylor’s overly flippant approach to problem solving and innocent attitude towards various things, allows his beat up destroyer, with its crew of misfits (including a drunk doc, android enemy spy, combative marines- they beat each other up- and unlikely fighter pilots) successfully destroy superior forces.
One encounter became an instant retreat for the destroyer, in the face of a vastly superior fleet, but chance and a revenge blinded enemy commander turns flight into victory. The success is as improbable as it is unstoppable.
Tylor’s lack of discipline of himself and his crew earns the eternal enmity of Admiral Mifune- the fleet commander to which he’s been assigned. The plots to demote, humiliate or execute Tylor by his own people end up being more dangerous to him then the enemy fleet.
The comedy is predictable- but even its predictability fails to stop one from laughing.
The soundtrack is great. The 2001 theme, and heavy use of other classical music is particularly effective. I enjoyed the show from beginning to end.
At the end of the series I reckon he’s a genius, because he is a moron.
I might even hunt for the books the show was based upon “the most irresponsible man in space”. His career is quite extensive and only begins on the Soyokaze.
On other notes, I am working my way through Neon Genesis and Kemonozume. I’m taking my time with the latter,. The series is so good I’m savouring each episode, chewing each bit slowly like it was a perfect steak. Find it. Watch it. That’s my best advice.
I am still chasing an English subbed version of Occult Academy. My inability to locate one is starting to piss me off- I may have to abandon the search temporarily in favour of other series. I may chase others from this list. There are still plenty I have yet to see.
Has anyone seen Myazake’s latest creation yet? Is it any good?
http://bakabt.com/browse.php?q=occult+academy
Haven’t seen Miyazaki’s latest. Haven’t been in a hurry since it’s based on the same source material as that old Littles Saturday morning cartoon. Don’t have very fond memories of that, so I’ve been avoiding Miyazaki’s movie version.
yeah funny that. I don’t remember seeing the Littles cartoon, so I guess the material might be new to me. It does, however, make me aware that the movie would well be a children’s one, which does knock it down on my priority list.
Still, I didn’t hate Howl’s Moving Castle…
You need to add Yakitate Japan! on the list. That anime is teh best
Yo, I’ve been a long-time fan of your lists. I’ve commented a few times up the line, you can ctrl+f me. Anyway, I’d just like to get some input here, in case you’re interested in pleasing my anime need. I think your list is a little lacking this time around (for me). After much deliberation, I’ve decided that it’s because you’ve included a lot of comedy series in here. I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions outside this list for some more serious anime? I enjoyed Darker than Black, Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop along with quite a few of the other action anime and dark/sinister anime. Also, I just recently(as in like 2 minutes ago) read your thoughts on the Naruto series. I’m not sure if you enjoy manga, but their is a series out call Bakuman, which is a manga about a boy writing a manga. I thought it would be a bit young for my tastes but I found that I rather enjoyed it. Anyway, if you’re interested in a sort of laid back manga(I’m not sure if they’ve made an anime of it yet) that enlightened me to the process of making and producing a manga and anime, then this is good. It’s a good relaxing read. But yeah, I’d appreciate any suggestions on anime.
how about listen girl iam ur father, highschool dxd, another anime, brave 10?
Did you just go down a list of currently-airing anime and write down random names?
I feel like the only person who’s seen Basilisk. If nobody has seen it, I highly recommend it. It’s about rival ninja clans battling it out to the death. It has a really gripping story and is rather quite brutal at times. There is almost never a dull moment. I usually only watch anime a couple of episodes at a time, but I found myself watching Basilisk five or six at a time.
It’s on my “I’ll get around to it eventually but it isn’t a high priority” list.
sounds interesting. I might have to have a look at it. You’re not the first person has recommended the anime.
I will admit however that the ending was kinda crap, but everything prior to that I loved.
I really like the list of course everybodies going to have there own fav. The people who say where’s naruto, bleach and one piece clearly have to look deeper in amine. If u haven’t seen this I would consider watching Durarara. It’s not finish but it has a really good story well developed character and the action is pretty good. I would definitely consider it one of the best animes of today
Seen Durarara and… I didn’t care much for it. Sorry.
i really wish claymore was on that list
The worst fucking list of all time!!! No Hellsing, naruto, fairy tail, death note, yu yu hakusho, soul eater, rurouni kenshin……..just 2 name a few
It’s these sorts of reactions that prove to me that I’ve done something right in the world.
Its your sort of reactions that keep me following the list and the blog!
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I’m not sure I can agree with the essence of your brief review. This series is beautifully done, especially with the new ending.
The idea that some small group of people believe that we are at the end of the evolutionary cycle and force start the next change seems very appropriate.
Shinji becomes a nexus, he gets to make the decision on the fate of humanity, and in truth, his decision isn’t a surprise as he is a self admitted weakling, a coward who hates himself. He chooses the familiar- for change is to be feared.
I have to reserve judgement on the old ending as I’m going to have to watch it a second time. There was an awful lot to digest- and it definitely became preachy (which makes it hard for me to watch)- but not in the beautiful image way of the second ending, but rather in harsh, less spectacular way of personal interaction- the personifications of the other characters telling Shinji what he should think and feel. I find that sort of thing hard to sit through, and no doubt have missed something.
Next time- for any who care- a review of Paranoia Agent..
dam u sad one piece & bleach no gud&clone ur shot minded one piece great ever tat y til now in japan kep going over tiz 10yer…if u c the al story how tat story line adventureos is awsme amazing n so touching n more2 element
I’m just gonna assume that English is your third or fourth language, because the only thing I understood in your comment is “one piece & bleach.” Sorry.
Paranoia Agent
I loved the way the series began. The mystery that starts with Shonen Bat. I also enjoyed the way all of the characters- a seemingly random collection- all become heavily linked to each other through the continuous attacks of the crazed kid on Roller Blades.
The plot twists and turns as the story moves between the characters keeping you wondering up until the third last episode. And even then, the mindbend that is Paranoia Agent only begins accelerate.
The truth in the fantasy world ultimately moves the case forward made for an awesome side story.
As always, I also enjoy the full circle advent behind the equations in the parking lot. Its happened before, and it’ll happen again.
This series is worthy of its position on Landon’s List.
Spoiler Alert!!
For any who think the ending is ridiculously far fetched, I remember seeing a show on the discovery channel about the power of thought- and its probable ability to affect reality. It makes the show wonderfully brilliant in scope and a little frightening.
I am so glad I watched it.
Tamala 2010:
Now I know why you called this show a fucking strike, Landon.
Watching it, I felt like I was involved in a Salvadore Dhali world sans colour. It was surreal, bizarre, and amazing. It is rare to have a fascinating story told to you with such a minimum of dialogue, I can only think of two films with less (2001: A Space Odessy and Samson and Delilah). I enjoyed it. Immensely.
I know in your comment you say that this great big conspiracy is uncovered, but no one really cares- then Tamala reappears and wanders off with a new companion. The whole conspiracy doesn’t mean shit. I like that.
I mean for example, the JFK assassination. Okay there was a guy on the grassy knoll. does it matter? No. Kennedy is still dead.
Bush Jr. wins Florida- suspiciously. Does it matter? No. You still had eight years of an asshole. Can’t change that.
Ultimately, all we can do, is go on doing whatever it is we do that hopefully makes us happy, whether we’re drop kicking dancing kittens or smoking till our lungs turn black. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Life goes on. And that’s one very powerful secret, I think.
I can officially close down my site now that I’ve gotten someone else to watch Tamala.
I won’t, because I get too much enjoyment out of watching people squirm at the sight of my opinions, but I could and be completely satisfied.
I like your list, Landon.
To a certain extent we think the same way, which is disturbing. It would be hard for me to even make a definitive top ten list, and there would be a few differences between yours and mine. In no particular order…
I know Dirty Pair would be on it somewhere- Nostalgia reasons, mainly, but even the memories of these two ridiculously big titted female cop detectives going on a horribly destructive spree throughout the galaxy and being completely flippant about it- kind of like what a police officer t-1000 would do if it had the personality of James Bond. Love the comedy and explosions, and I admit it, there are four other animated reasons as well…
I’d have to put Last Exile on the list too. This anime still remains one of the more visually stunning animes I’ve ever seen. Sort of like having a determined Victorian age warship captain on a quest to free his world from the dominion of the super teched Guild and its wonderfully psychotic leader. She bends the guild rules to suit her own whim, regardless of cost of lives to the surface dwellers. The technology differences between the Guild and the surface dwellers makes for the surface dwellers to be clear underdogs, and always makes for a good show. I was going to say it was like a cross between Star Wars and some other show, but the truth is, its not really like other animes or anything else I’ve seen. I love the way anime in particular creates a world with a mix of technology, myth and history and creates a living vibrant world. It does this infinitely better than any other entertainment format, with the exception (naturally) of Manga. And Last Exile is an excellent example of that.
So is The Book of Bantorra. It on my list too.
Gankutsuo: The Count of Monte Cristo. This deserves to be on my list as well. This updated and classic revenge tail is not only a visual feast, but how does one hate revenge tales? Imagine your life going on as normal until one day you run into someone who, at first appears to be a wonderful addition to your life even saves your ass, but then, as time goes on, you begin to realize that something isn’t quite right, and then just before the big finale, you realize that this person has been acting against you the whole time, and not just you, but your family and not just your family, but also everyone in your family’s circle as well. It is dark and it is absolutely captivating.
Kenomozume: Would have to be there. Wonderful story, and the visuals right through to the less clinical drawing style only serve to enhance the dark nature of this series.
Black Lagoon: Both series- look, there are first series equivalents (Darker than Black, for example) in writing, action and story; but none carry the quality, consistency and writing through to the second, with the exception of Black Lagoon. Just fucking watch it already.
Baccano!: I was blown away by this show. The characters, writing, the balance between complete psychotics and flippant heroes. The disjointed writing style only enhanced these elements, though I’d still like to smack the guy who named the train. It’s awesome.
Cowboy BeBop: Landon has said it better than I could. Watch it if you haven’t. Watch it again, if you have. Its probably my number one.
Hajime no Ippo: Read my previous review, its on the blog somewhere.
The last one is probably Macross Frontier. I have a weakness for good sci-fi, and I love the Macross-verse. I will say that frontier is my favourite of those, and so, it lands in my top ten.
Before any clowns come on and say anything about Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragonball (any), Ugi-oh…. I have a few words for you.
How fucking old are you? I’f you’re under twenty. Fine. Enjoy them. I understand why they might have place in your life, and I understand why you might even be fanatic. Enjoy that time of your life. It lasts not long.
If you’re over twenty.. grow the fuck up. develop a more discerning sense of taste. If you think about it, you should be able understand why they are not on my list, or on Landon’s. I want something different, less repetitive, and without the mid-combat impossible drivel that fighters wouldn’t have time to think or communicate in a real situation.
I will admit, I love classic themes.
Side note: Landon, have you seen Rock and Rule? It a bit formulaic, but as Villains go, Mok (voiced by Iggy Pop) is an enjoyably sinister one. Or maybe its my nostagia talking.
I THINK I’ve seen Rock and Rule, but it’s been so long I don’t remember much. I’ll have to check it out again sometime.
As for your list, I really need to give Last Exile and Monte Cristo another chance. I saw the first couple of episodes of each back when they first came out, but they didn’t do anything for me then. We’ll see if I like them better now.
Can’t blame you for that. The two Character highlights from Last Exile are the Captain of the Silverna and the Delphine of the Guild. Both are dark characters. We don’t get a look at the Captain until episode four- and the Delphine isn’t really introduced until the second half of the series – a shame because she is a very memorable villain. I still, though, enjoyed the imagery probably the most- they romanticized the vanship really well, like the early years of flight must have been. Last Exile spoke to me, and thats what the hobby is really all about.
Hi,
Love the debate going on for nearly 2 years : D
I am going to look at some of the anime of your list soon though I am more into manga.
Wondering if anybody has seen Skip Beat and what the think?
Nope. Haven’t seen Skip Beat. Sorry.
Skip Beat’s pretty good for seeming like a shoujo series but not really being one. I think Landon would probably dig it it.
where is rurouni kenshin (samurai x) and dragonball?????????
A) Japan
B) Namek
Hope that helps you.
Saw your twit, Landon. I can’t identify Gintama as being the anime simpsons. Its closer to Futurama, and better than either.
Space Adventure Cobra is my fave too with bebop 2nd aswel. Both the old 1982-83 series of Cobra AND the newer Cobra-the Animation series are both brilliant. Such a shame its so underground/unheard of, especially in UK and US.
i dont actually have an opinion about which anime(only having whatched fma& some other mediocre ones i dont even remember)is good and which isnt,so i have no clue about this list either, but what i want 2 say is …..WHY THE #%^%^ DON’T YOU COMPLAINING IMBECILES MAKE YOUR OWN LISTS? god dammit noone said this is the one and only.& for the ones than have watched (as i can see), bleach naruto & one piece(i dunnoif theyr bad or not just saying), as said only the “mainstream ones”, dont go on expressing an opinion. It is stupid. Apart from that the guys obviously more experienced here as well so quit whining and blaming him(-her)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh, and, given that you know &love plenty other anime why dont you extend your list to 100, or 80 positons? cuz the bubbling under thingie is a bit too weird…
i cant agree only 2 of my fav, anime was here Azumanga Daioh and Ranma 1/2 wer;s fushigi yuugi then ?
I liked Fushigi Yuugi back when it first came out, but I have a feeling my tastes have changed to the point where I wouldn’t have much patience for it. It’s one of those “best to leave it be” series. Kinda like where you’re better off retaining your memories of old Saturday morning cartoons rather than going back and realizing just how bad most of them were.
What do you think about Steins;Gate?
Stopped watching after the fifth episode. Nothing was happening plot-wise and the characters weren’t holding my attention.
Noo fuk’n Berserk?!?!?
Hajime no Ippo?
Hokuto No Ken?
Grappler Baki?
3×3 Eyes?
Salaryman Kintarō?
And too much more to bitch about
*huff huff* Ok ok ok I gotta calm down it’s your own personal list after all haa.
Yeah I have some sympathy for the Naruto/Bleach/One piece fan boys also, but I would have truly defended such titles if they all didn’t have massive amounts of shitty steamy fillers.
But wholly shit was I surpirsed too see Air Master @ 14!!!
Ok you have my respect seems as I never see this anime on one’s top list ha!
10. Air Master
9. Blue Gender
8. Gundam Wing
7. Blood+
6. Full Metal Alchemist
5. Rurouni Kenshin
4. Dragonball Z
3. Yu Yu Hakusho
2. Inuyasha
1. Cowboy Bebop
countdown style lol bebop is the greatest anime of all time.
For your comments on Black Lagoon and Cobra you have my respect. *bows*
Also I was wondering why Princes Mononoke isnt on here. Have you not seen it or did you not like it?
I’m really impressed with your list! Wasn’t expecting most of the anime on it but it does give me a whole new batch to check out, which is good since there isn’t much that’s currently airing that I like.
On another note, have you seen Ergo Proxy? It’s pretty damn good. Deep, dark, philosophical, unpredictable, with realistic, flawed characters… And it’s beautifully made.
Also, Persona 4? Highly doubt it’ll ever make it in anyone’s top 50 list but it’s a lot of fun. It’s got everything I hate (high school protagonists, formulaic, way too many filler episodes) but somehow manages to pull it off… I definitely have a good time watching it – and it’s one of the only anime since Ouran High School Host Club that has me laughing out loud.
I like your list .What do you think of genocyber? I ‘m planing to watch it. :0
Found this list from boredom. I didn’t recognize too many of the ones listed (I’m not huge on anime), but seeing Cowboy Bebop ranked #2 made me smile.
Hey, I’ve got some good suggestions for future viewing now. Thanks.
I just feel like Outlaw Star needs to be up there higher, that anime deserves some damn attention. It’s not particularly original, but it’s a classic.
I agree with what you’re saying about Death Note as well. Although the concept is intriguing, the characters are somewhat 2 dimensional and the plot becomes redundant pretty damn fast as well. I like your comment about Light and L going back and forth, it’s so true. It’s kind of like the HBO series Entourage, fun to watch for a few episodes than just predictable as hell.
Making my way (slowly) through your list. So far, I’ve watched: Read or Die, Cromartie High School, Cat Soup, (most of) Darker Than Black, Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san, and Redline. Having already watched Outlaw Star, Ninja Scroll, Cowboy Bebop and enough episodes of Lupin III to know how great it is, I went into your list with an open mind. So far, I haven’t been let down. These shows, though not new, were very refreshing to me. After a long break from anime, it’s nice to have a guide like this of shows I missed.
Imbeciles! This list is total rubbish. Best anime ever are as follows
1. Death Note
2. Yu Yu Hakusho
3. Dragon Ball
4. G-Gundam
5. Ruroni Kenshin
6. One Piece
7. Medabots
8. Full Metal Alchemist
9. Naruto (the plot is more complex than you impotent fools can comprehend) rivalry is used in many animes to build characters but its on a different level in Naruto.
10. Digimon Tamers
Honest question here:
Have you ever watched an anime that didn’t air on a cable network? Everything but Medabots and Digimon aired on Cartoon Network at one point, and those two aired on Fox.
You might wanna get a better grasp on anime as a whole before you start bashing people.
Also, the only good anime on your list is G-Gundam. (I think this is where I call you by an insult starting with the letter I.)
Saying Naruto has a complex plot is like saying Beavis and Butthead has subtleties.
Digimon Tamers…really?
LOL true that man, come on, one of the best aspects of some of the greatest anime series and what separates them from being straight up cartoons are adult themes. Not necessarily in the form of violence, sexual content, derogatory language etc., but i don’t feel that series has many, if any of the elements, that distinguishes it from a cartoon.
my favorites:
1. Ao no exorcist(blue exorcist)
2. Death note
3. Deadman wonderland
4. Pumpkin scissors
5. fullmetal alchemist
6. Sands of destruction
7. Bleach
8. Naruto
9. Basilisk
10. Chrome shelled regios
11 . One piece
12. Mushishi
13. Ghost in the shell
14. Desert punk
15. Inuyasha
16. Fairy tail
17. Soul eater
18. High school of the dead
19. Rurouni Kenshin
20. Dragonball (all of them)
best animie of all time
1) one piece
2) bleach
3) fairy tale
4) naruto
5) dragon ball z
Hey, man, what’s your opinion about Madoka Magica and Steins;Gate?
MY TOP 25 BEST ANIME EVER FOR ME
1.naruto why because it has the best fight and yeah its te long the series but still its one of the best series
2.one piece why one peace is awesome
3.book of bantorra the main characters are awesome the vioce
4.rainbow of seven RAINBOW- Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin omg the serie knock my heart out
5.Kurokami The Animation why the first episode that the girl got hit by that men with the base sooo awesome
6.air master that was awesome i like it
7.another hot horror damn
8.d-gray-man the last episode damn love it
9Toradora love this anime
10.deadman wonderland fucking awesome
11.Shakugan no Shana love that episode
12.Toaru Kagaku no Railgun + no index love that anime
13.Buso Renkin love this villian omg
14.Claymore love this one omg this story was one of the best
15.Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
16.darker then black
17.canaan
18.fma i cant choose between the old version en the new one
19.Tenjho Tenge this one is brutal
20.Shangri-la
21.pokemon
22.X-Men: The Animated Series 1992 that is the best anime of that time love xmen
23.canaan
24 The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
25.Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas
THAT IS MY 25 AND THERE ARE MORE ANIME THAT I LIKE BUT FOR MY THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST ANIME FOR ME
If it weren’t for this site, I would’ve never found Yondemasu. One of the funniest anime of all time, it’s definitely in my top 10 list. Frikkkkin hilarious!
I loved most of these animes but i must ask why there are none of the clamp series here since Tsubasa and Holic had the best intervening storyline out of any show ever.
I think I have X on here. That’s pretty much the only CLAMP series I really love. Chobits ain’t bad. Tsubasa and Holic… I won’t say much. We’ll leave it at that.
my top 5 are: (1) Mushi-shi, this anime blew me away the character developement of ginko was amazing. and the style of art is like no other. (2) Cowboy Bebop, the above says enough. (3) Trigun, this is one of the most well rounded animes ive ever seen, the art is perfect for it, and gives it a special charm. (4)Naruto Shippuden: naruto(the first series) was…fun, but not great. Shippuden brings out all the good parts of naruto and and adds all the darkness it was missing (5) Afro Samurai, its called AFRO SAMURAI what more do you need? Samuel L. Jackson you say, BAM! you got it!
[...] yardy ya ya” type lists, and been completely unenthused by any of them, until I read this one. I don’t know who the writer is, but to paraphrase Jerry Maguire “You had me at Cat [...]
Excellent list, nice to see some OLS love. I am actually thinking quite seriously about getting Gene’s star Tattoo. “A boy has the right to dream” intro/narrator quote is awesome, it also helps that it’s done by the voice of Jet Black from Bebop. I like when a series can make me reflect on my life a bit lol, like another poster said, anime is a pretty good medium.
How’d you find kemonozume? I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Some websites are showing it for free, but this anime is so underground, how in the what did you ever find it????
Check out BakaBT. http://bakabt.me/
thanks, although the other question remains on how you found it to begin with?
Oh, and i already saw the whole thing this morning, greaaaaat fucking series! Even if it was short
When Tatami Galaxy was airing back in 2010, I really liked its style. I looked into it and saw that the directed also made a few other anime, so I tracked them down. That’s how I found Kemonozume, Mind Game, and Kaiba (which isn’t on this list but is still pretty good).
mother fuckin darker than black too epic although second season blew it by completely fucking up heis character
Reading this comment section I now fully understand why people dislike DBZ/Naruto/One Piece fans so much. I’m somewhat new to anime, but this list has helped me greatly, Baccano has been one of my favourites. I also loved Trigun and a lot of Gainax shows. I was wondering if you enjoyed Planetes, or Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi? Thanks, Kris
Haven’t watched Planetes yet. Everyone says it’s good stuff but I haven’t gotten around to it. Abenoboshi doesn’t really do it for me, unfortunately.
Dude you are a dark sided hero, you kick ass for doing this list without being altered by whats the going thing. I’m sick of shit you watch, and you feel stupider for watching it because your just doing what everyone else is doing. HAHA samurai pizza cats nice… Its not always about the actual anime its about the times that surround while your watching and the crazy shit your mind plays on you, then you decide to get lost in the fucked up world anime is. Ever cause a massive drama on purpose cause you like conflict?
It’s funny because I have a reputation with my co-workers for being able to AVOID conflict through patience and diplomacy. Fortunately none of the people I train at work are Shounen Jump fans.
Whoaaaa, when did you start moderating comments, maaan? One of the reasons I come back here is to watch all the fanboys have a spazzing session!! What will i ever do with my life if I know there isn’t someone more pathetic than me D: D: D:
Only reason why I deleted that one comment was because it looked like you double posted the same thing. Don’t think I’ve ever actually MODERATED anything around here.
This is a really good list! A ton of my favorite anime are here, but I was kinda surprised not to see Code Geass or FMA. I know they’re really popular, but their stories are unique and the characters really interesting. Also, my favorite comedy Ouran Highschool Host Club wasn’t on. I seriously LOVE this list though. Awesome Job!
It’s not that Landon doesn’t dig “mainstream” stuff, he’s just seldom impressed with shows that claim to be smart or DEEP, because he’s a shallow, heartless Texan.
Ouran’s cool too. It’d probably be in my top 131 as well. I’m one of those who unreasonably compare it to Suzumiya Haruhi though, simply ’cause both their main characters are named Haruhi.
Anyway, Landon should increase the list to top 62, so Ouran can get in the list.
I’d have to make the list bigger than 62 to include Ouran. I like Ouran, but it’s further back than that.
And yes, I’m a shallow, callous, heartless, love-hating, mean-spirited, heathen Texan.
Oh I also forgot to say Clannad/Clannad After Story. It’s one of the most beautiful yet sad animes out there.
did you ever watch berserk?
I find it funny that whenever I point out your top list for recommendations, people think it’s a joke list or something. IMO people are way too often influenced by popular opinion to actually be able to “like” something. I think a lot of people would hate on this blog just because you don’t like what’s “popular”, such as Steins;gate, Geass, Madoka, the big 3 turds, etc. etc. It’s sad how people don’t understand “personal taste”.
And I’ve said this before like a babbling idiot on your MAL, but I’m surprised you haven’t seen Tetsuwan Birdy (Birdy the Mighty): Decode. It has some very good fighting scenes (even though the animation can get fucked up at times), and some pretty sweet (and corny) looking aliens.
I’m just amused by how so many anime fans emphasize how different the stuff is from, say, Hollywood movies or TV or whatever, but they turn around and create their own hierarchy that becomes just as narrow-minded and exclusive as the things they don’t like. Once you start telling people there’s “right” choices you’re becoming the very thing you supposedly ran away from when you became an anime fan.
I get what you mean. I feel like a lot of people characterize anime as being totally different, even superior to american cartoons/TV and will get all pissy if anyone doesn’t like the shit they consider better.
One of my friends is like that: he’s hellbent on rejecting anything that I recommend to him, because “nothing will ever be better than Bleach or Death Note”. I got him to shut up and watch Baccano once, but he actually started COMPARING it with Death Note. He’s more intelligent than the average 14 year old Shounen Jump fanboy, so I don’t get how people can be so close-minded like that…
Props for one of the more refreshing top anime lists of all time I have seen in a while. While I don’t agree with all of your choices I definitely agree with your justifications you really get the sense you choose them for more genuine reasons like art style, plot/character development, music and themes while still managing to keep a hint of personal taste. It is obvious you must have seen a bunch of good anime to form that list. I need to ask though if you have been watching the new lupin based series centred around Fujiko? Because you were asking for a new series in the description and although he isn’t the star I have to say from what I’ve seen it will turn out to be one best series of the year. Really interesting art style, standard kind of cool jazz music synonymous with the lupin series and very interesting themes for the series also.
Yep, I’ve been watching it. Absolutely loving it. Best series of the year so far and I doubt I’ll see better.
This is one of the best and most refreshing anime lists I have ever seen. I kinda hate it when everyone gets so angry when really popular anime series are not listed on a top anime list. There are some popular anime series that are good, but, for me, most of the time they are just extremely overrated. Thanks Landon for making such a great list! Oh and I just have one question if you don’t mind. What are your feelings about Clannad? Sorry I’m just kind of obsessed with this one and just curious about your opinion. Great list!
All I can say about Clannad is that I’m not a fan in the least big. Sorry
Once I saw that Berserk wasn’t on the list, I pretty much disregarded the entire thing.
Yes, the absence of one just-OK anime that doesn’t even have a proper ending is such a massive mistake on my end. I’ll be sure to remake my list in your image.
I get why peeps like Berserk, but I’ll never get how fanatical some people feel about it. It’s typical “dark” fantasy stuff.
Difficult to order these… in approximate order:
1. Death Note
2. FLCL
3. School Rumble
4. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
5. Desert Punk
6. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
7. Code Geass
8. Planetes
9. baccano!
10. Martian Successor Nadesco
11. Twelve Kingdoms
12. Vandread
Rats! I already forgot Redline.