2004-06-29

Ranking time! (Anime that is...)

Not much to do at work this week due to Canada Day and all, so let's talk about anime! What's my favourite anime? It's really hard to pick just one since it'll be like comparing apples and oranges, so I'll give a list of all the anime I've watched and rank them, giving reasons and such. Here goes!

Masterpieces

Crest of the Stars
Genres: Sci-fi, Drama, Adventure
Best part: High sense of adventure
Moves too slowly for some people -- lots of dialogue, character interaction, etc. -- but I like it. It's the best space drama out there.

Spirited Away
Genres: Adventure, Supernatural
Best part: Captivating world
Probably would have liked it even more if I were younger. Very original characters and setting.

Azumanga Daioh
Genres: Shoujo, Slice-of-life, Comedy
Best part: Very memorable characters
I've just recently watched this, so I may be a little biased, but I think it's a classic :) This has some of the most memorable and lovable characters I've seen (Yukari-sensei, Osaka, Tomo-chan). Sometimes progresses quite slowly though, with some unnecessarily long scenes.

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genres: Drama, Horror, Psychological, Sci-fi, Supernatural
Best part: It's just so different from all the others
This anime is very different from all the others I've watched. Some of it is controversial, and other parts I just don't understand. It's difficult to explain, so just watch it if you haven't already. Just a little piece of advice: Don't watch the two movies until you've seen the series.

Haven't seen all the episodes but seems like a masterpiece:
Cowboy Bebop - Awesome music but seems to lack an equally awesome plot. Very entertaining though.
Full Metal Alchemist - Intricate plot and detailed characters. Has a certain suspense element. Looks promising.

Excellent

Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Nice story and great music. Everyone should see this one!

Love Hina
I think the best part of Love Hina is in its memorable characters and their interactions. That said, all the characters are pretty much predictable and not much development occurs, but this anime is highly entertaining and is regarded as a classic. Some episodes seem like filler though.

Kimi ga nozomu eien
This is a very serious anime with an emphasis on relationships and how they change over time. Very realistic but is emotionally heavy. A break after every 2 episodes is recommended.

Kare Kano
A very very good anime, but I think it has too many filler episodes. Excellent humour and great characters. Good job Gainax.

Serial Experiments Lain
I like its style. Very well made, but if only I can understand what's going on...

Planetes
Although this series picks up slowly, it eventually becomes quite interesting. Fairly complex story and universe.

Princess Mononoke
Excellent. Great adventure, good action, and fast-paced.

Gunslinger Girl
This one takes an interesting concept and does it well. I just wish this series is longer.

Good

Initial D
The general public is divided in opinion on this one. I consider it 'Good'. It's not outstanding nor is it a failure. I would have classified it as 'Excellent', but it is pretty cheesy and becomes predictable. Nevertheless, this is still a great anime, but you really only have to watch the first 5 or 6 episodes to get the gist of it.

Scrapped Princess
This one would have been categorized as 'Excellent' if not for its lackluster ending. It has its share of good moments but it starts falling short of excellence in the latter half of the series.

One Piece
I watched a few episodes in Japan, seems pretty interesting.

Naruto
see One Piece.

Tsukihime
This one has several "FROM WHERE?!" parts. It's a pretty compelling anime, but at the end of it all it leaves much to be desired.

Banner of the Stars
This is the sequel to Crest of the Stars. A very good series in its own right, but I miss the closeless and sense of adventure that were dominant in its predecessor. Everything here is on a larger scale, mostly focusing on the galactic war.

Gundam Wing
This is one of the first anime I've watched. The opening themes are quite nice and catchy. The space battles aren't bad either.

Not bad

Record of the Lodoss War
Might have been good for its time, but it's outdated. Plot moves slowly and some episodes recap too much. The overall story is good though.

.hack SIGN
Interesting concept, but has problems in plot development. I think it could have been done better.

Vandread
Sci-fi space comedy. This one is just a bit too silly for me I guess.

Pretty awful

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo - This is just way too weird for me.
Dragonball Z - This has some long and drawn-out scenes where almost nothing happens.
Digimon - I guess I'm just too old for this.
Pokemon - see Digimon.
Sailor Moon - see Digimon.

Whoa, this is my longest post yet by far! I'm being a bit harsh on some of the anime here, but I didn't want a disproportionate amount in the masterpiece and excellent levels. Tell me if I missed any! And feel free to express your opinion and/or flame me :P

6 comments:

Unknown said...

That was an entertaining read! Maybe I should write a similar post in the future.

I agree with your Initial D statements... it is excellent, yet pretty cheesy. Yet I still love it.

Jason Yu said...

Yeah, I agree Bao. Even though I don't rate it that high, it's one of my personal favourites. I really don't know why... :P

Ambrose said...

I agree w/ that the DBZ anime sucks total crap. They accomplish nothing in an episode. Any anime where you can watch only the episdoe where episode # (mod 3) = 0 and still understand fully the plot is no good.

Plus, the anime has so much crappy filller that's not in the manga. Bakas...

I like the manga though, it's kinda like what I grew up on...

Unknown said...

Speaking of which (reply to Jason), Initial D 4th stage is pretty good. But it annoys me that they only show Takumi's races, and not Keisuke's. You should come here and watch the first 4 eps.

Jason Yu said...

4th Stage? Cool. I should come over soon then, hehe :D.

Jason Yu said...

Alright, I'll try that one out :)