I recently listened though ANNcast’s top 10 anime of the
80s, 90s, and 2000s. That got me thinking that my own top anime list was
extremely outdated, because I wrote that about a year and a half or two years
ago. And a lot can be watched in that time period. And, trust me, I have
watched a lot in that time period. I have several also-rans for each number,
either because they were similar to that particular show or because they
deserve to be mentioned in tandem with that particular number.
First, I want to explain a bit on how I ranked each of
these. First and foremost, on a personal level, is rewatchability. For example,
things like Buffy and Breaking Bad are really good. They’re
really, really good. But do I really have a desire to watch them again? Buffy, yeah, way down the line. Breaking Bad? Probably not ever again.
So the top shows on this list I’ll want to watch over and over again and I’ll
never get sick of them; or they’re shows that I finished and I immediately
wanted to start back over again, just to have that same feeling again.
Next in how I ranked these shows was, of course, simply how
much I enjoyed them on a personal level. This works in tandem with how
objectively good I think these shows are at
their peak. And that last part is extremely important, because some of
these shows can really drag at parts (*cough* One Piece *cough*).
Before I start listing off all these series, I want to
mention a few shows that just didn’t make the cut. They were ruled out before I
even considered the rest of the list.
First off is Rurouni
Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal. I watched this back in high school, when I was
going through that huge nostalgia phase where I watched everything I did back
when Toonami was on weekday afternoons (which included Rurouni Kenshin). At the time, I didn’t really like it that much.
Now, when I watched it again, I was really impressed. This show really captured
a lot of what I liked about the franchise as a whole, yet put it in a much more
serious manner. It’s also tragic to see Kenshin grow up like he did. The title
gives away what’s going to happen (spoilers: it’s betrayal). But it’s executed
in a way that you don’t 100 percent expect. But it just missed the cut because
it didn’t quite resonate with me. I loved Kenshin when I was a kid because it
had that ridiculous shonen-y feel to it. This was definitely much more adult
storytelling, but it wasn’t the Kenshin I knew. Perhaps if I watch the Kyoto
arc of the TV show, I’ll like it more. But pure personal preference threw this
off the list. Though that doesn’t mean it wasn’t really great, it was. If this
were a top 15 list, perhaps it would make it. Alas, I have no reservations
about leaving it off.
Next is Mushishi. Mushishi is a show that really took me a
while to finish, or even want to finish. Travis Willingham’s acting really put
it over for me, because it was a bore for me the first time around. That said,
this show has some really great singular stories that cannot be ignored. “The
Light of the Eyelid,” “Raindrops and Rainbows,” and “The Sound of Rust” are
among a few of my favorites. But the fact remains that I didn’t want to finish
this series at all when I first watched it. It’s only watching it a second
time, remembering with nostalgia the great stories that lay within this series,
that I began to truly appreciate it. It was around episode 17 or so that I said
to myself, “Ok, just power through the rest. Doesn’t matter how bored you are.”
Now, I still can probably only take these episodes in in moderation, and that’s
what puts it over the edge and out of top 10 territory. Again, if this were a
top 15 list, this would almost certainly make it. But alas.
Last, but not least, is Gurren
Lagann. I immensely enjoyed this show, and still do to this day. Kamina
crying out in episode eight still gives me chills whenever I think about it
(but that’s about all I can say without spoiling anything further for the few
who haven’t seen this series). Out of these three also-rans, I’d call Gurren Lagann my favorite by a fairly
wide margin. I’ve only heard snippets of the sub, but the dub is definitely top
notch, up there with Cowboy Bebop and
Baccano! as best dubs out there. This
one isn’t missing anything in particular…but it’s lacking in one compartment
compared to every other show on the list. I can’t justify placing it higher
than anything that’s already on my list and, thus, its regrettably relegated to
the also-rans.
Ok, that is the introduction. Next up, my #10-6 and the
also-rans for those. Read it here.
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