[Anime] Best anime of all time?

[Sorrior]

My guess is he/she didn't miss it, he/she just doesn't think it's worthy of a first place. It's more or less just another mainstream shonen-anime with comedic elements and a fantasy-highschool-setting. I believe it's called "a dime a dozen".

Yeah why it's been pushed down. But whoever said dime a dozen is always bad. When feeling down or just like a change of pace(for me this actually would be one if you knew what i've been watching lately mostly harem/ecchi/serious shows) but yeah been putting it off.

[Psykel]

OreImo, Kanon, K-On, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, AnoHana. I like the rom-com-dramas.

For movies, anything Studio Ghibli. Kiki's Delivery Service is my favourite tho.

[Sorrior]

Series:
Neon genesis evangelion: great story, interesting/deep characters, lots of symbolism.
Cowboy Bebop: the best characters, easy to follow yet interesting stories, lots of great humour.
Hellsing: the best art/animations (even more clear in the OVA). lots of dark humour.

The things they have in common are GREAT soundtracks and lots of action/suspense.
Wish there were more of these, and less of that cute chibi-stuff and high school dramas.

Try

Bokurano

Fafner

and

Rahxephon

All of those will fill your Eva fix

as for the latter Samurai Champloo Trigun and i dunno maybe .Hack all but .hack should be anear perfect fit. Oh and Welcome to the NHK.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 01:47 AM ----------

Refer to my Avatar as well (Both seasons).

What is this from probably on my wtach list but not sure will probably bump it up after getting the answer.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 01:48 AM ----------

Not all of us enjoys fantasy or sci fi themes...

ANd some enjoy all of it. Keep going for the light stuff man. Though i do wish we had more of the others nothing wrong with what you like.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 01:49 AM ----------

Just in case, I was Refering to Clannad/Clannad After Story. Thats my no. 1st, 2nd is kanon. I also like Kaze no Stigma, Soul eater.

Edit: Oh and Higurashi no Nake Koro ni (When they cry), thats good too.

LOL figures you emntion it a few posts down. Heh that ones on my watch when i get mentally better list.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 01:55 AM ----------

Wow, where do I even begin.

1.) At the time of its production, AKIRA was by far the most expensive Japanese animated feature film to ever be made. It used nearly 3 times the normal amount of single frames as other animated films, and used 327 colors in its palette, 50 of which were created specifically for the movie(to better reflect the night-time scenes.)

2.) The storyline deals with religious, social, criminal and political ideas of polarity shifts, and the overall question of how innocent an innocent really is. Compared to the thousands of "NEKO KAWAII UGUU~~~" pieces of shit out there, this was a pinnacle of literary genius.

3.) Because AKIRA pretty much single-handedly popularized Anime in western cultures, followed by things such as Ghost in the Shell and the Dragonball series, it also pretty much secured a financial and global future for the genre. Sadly it's been squandered on talentless shit that panders to weeaboo grease stains, but it's still impressive what AKIRA achieved, despite all the risks at the time of it failing.

You're a fool sorry to say.

and i'll counter pint by point.

1) Yes it may have done that but see Michael Bay a pretty picture doesn;t equate great story.

2) Yeah it does and so have MANY series before and after see Gundam for instance(and i mean the 1979 series though Zeta works well as well) for some serious shows with commentary. Macross has some of that as well. Trust me that is NOT unique to Akira even for the time. Also the manga supposedly fills in al the gaps and is FAR better.

3)Nope wrong the FIRST anime boom was caused by speed racer if i recall right while the second(the SAME one Akira entered into) was started by shows brought over to cash in on the space opera craze such as Robotech, Star Blazers(using american name on purpose) and even shows like transformers where the animation was done in japan. So no it didn't. In fact i'd say Fist of the North Star and Ninja Scroll have done more for the genre than Akira as far as western audiences go for the late 80s and early 90s at least.

[dodonpachi]

There's just too many to entitle one as the best of all time:

Code Geass
Berserk
Princess Mononoke
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Fullmetal Panic
Last Exile
Texhnolyze
Now and then, Here and there
Great Teacher Onizuka
Samurai Champloo
The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
FLCL
Darker than Black
Ergo Proxy
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

are just a few of the top of my head.

We have similar taste. Berserk would be my alltime fav followed by 5 centimeters per second. They are remaking berserk too which is scheduled to be released this year sometime. I am scared about how it will turn out.

I would add

5 Centimeters Per Second (movie)
Castle in the Sky (movie)
Grave of the Fireflies (movie)
Gunbuster (OAV)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV)
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (OAV)
Voices of a Distant Star (OAV)
Boogiepop Phantom (TV)
Detroit Metal City (OAV)
Toward the Terra (TV)

[-Ethos-]

Wasnt Astro Boy the first thing to explode onto the scene outside of Japan?

[Sorrior]

Azumanga Daioh.

Ive never laughed so hard over an anime nor have I ever cried so hard at the end of one. Wow, I feel really manly now... *Cough*
Love Hina was great too. I'm not that much into the action animes and such. I just like the mushy mushy romantic ones. And the bizarre ones.

Love Hina's target audience IS men same for ALOT of romance anime.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:01 AM ----------

I can't handle a single sad part or a cliffhanger in a Anime. It makes me either depressed or want to smash things.
The gore I'm fine with. Many late nights on 4chan hardens you... and rips your mind apart at the same time.

However, I will try to find it. Thanks for the heads up.

NP man and yeah NO cliffhanger if i recall right in the manga. THough it;s been awhile and it may have the whole hope thing but if i recall right don't count on it.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:02 AM ----------

YES Samurai Jack, I loved it, i watched it from the beginning when i was like 6-9 years old.

Too bad all Genddys shows get cancelled early well all his epic ones at least. I miss Symbionic Titan already and Samurai Jack as well of course.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:05 AM ----------

So you are around 15 years old? No wonder you like Ugguu moe that makes the animators want to hang themselves.

and everyone saying Code Geass.


It was either your first Mecha Anime or you have not watched Death note, because it's pretty much a shitty version of both.

I've seen both and code geass was great. The problem was that it got moved to a late night time slot and the director was forced to rewrite it to include mecha. They were literally added at the behest of the company as was most of the fanservice. Try reading the manga something tells me it;s much closer to the intended product.

[bofedy]

wach fate/stay night not the best anime but dam its so awsome

[Sorrior]

This.
God damn.

Ignorant people always presume anime is for children and straight up look towards One Piece, Naruto, Pokemon etc. When they belong to only a singular genre of the medium itself.

And seriously, @ people who vote for Code Geass and DBZ - expand your horizons. Are they watchable and entertaining? Yes. Are they "the best anime ever made?" No way in hell.

Agreed on your agreement as well as the ignorant but though we also get the exact opposite of it;s all hentai type response as well.

I DO disagree a bit on Code Geass. Looking past the fanservice and tacked on bits it is actually a very good story and relevant to almost any age in recent and even the forseeable future what with it;s commentary on humans and war. Oh and that WAS the intended message thing is sunrise forced mecha fanservice and plot changes thus deminishing the epic potential of it's story/message. I mean this si the same guy who made Infinite Ryvius and he said he intended that to be a message relevant for decades and Code Geass to be one for centuries.

Oh and i'm not the biggest fan of infinite ryvius but i can say without a doubt that it is a great series with a profound concept behind it.

However i will agree code geass is not the best. Just pointing out it gets too little credit for what it was at least trying to do and very nearly did. The second season was a mess the stories I've heard about the rewrites in that part were horrific.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:12 AM ----------

That was such a depressing show, only beaten by Saikano.

Try Bokurano or Narutaru THEN tell me that.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:14 AM ----------

I own it on DVD. So good. One of those random purchases, having no idea what it was that I am so glad I did. I think I found Slayers the same way. I know I found Nadesico that way, another underrated gem.

I found all 3 from tv and now own all of slayers and nadesico and am borrowing Now and Then here and There from a friend who i havn't seen or heard from in years so may as well be mine. STill plan to buy it for myself though.

Oh and in case your wondering

Slayers and Now and Then Here and There were on International channel/AZN back in the day and Nadesico was on CN for less than a week(giant robot week from toonami FTW) Also saw eva for the first time on that special week. Ah such a kid back then i had barely seen anything by that point.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:15 AM ----------

Bingo. Love that movie, watched it for the first time when i was like 11. GG parents.

LOL i really laughed man that is EPIC.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:16 AM ----------

To Aru Majutsu No Index is also a fun series imo. also Rah Xephon was pretty unique as well.

Agreed though i may prefer Zero no Tsukaima as far as light novel things go. Just wish we'd get more same for Index i KNOW shana 3 has been confirmed last season though and gonna have a custom ending.

Oh and try Fafner if you havn't seen it. Like Rahxephon it's similar to eva only ya know GOOD.

---------- Post added 2011-07-10 at 02:18 AM ----------

Wasnt Astro Boy the first thing to explode onto the scene outside of Japan?

That or Speed racer but i think speed was the first to get REALLY big and start a boom while astro boy was more like Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 and was viewed more as a regular american style series. Need to look into that though.But either way it was around the same time temporally speaking and still disproves more than a few of his accusations.

[Neichus]

Agreed i saw it years ago and realy enjoyed it. But something tells me the "lolis" may turn alot of people off and make them think it;s just another mainstream style moe series.

I think one of the biggest barriers is the name. "Gunslinger Girl" already sounds like a flippant loli series with nothing more to it than replacing the standard cadre of wild west characters with pubescent girls. I know when a friend first told me to watch it I arched an eyebrow because it just sounded stupid. Unfortunately the trailer for it also utterly fails to capture the essence of the series and makes it look like an action shoot-'em-up series (the trailer has about 75% of the action sequences from the 13-episode series). The only thing I can really offer up is to watch the intro on YouTube to get a glimpse of the melancholy nature of it.

I suspect the other big problem with it is that it's disturbing if you get it. Like, to compare it to Madoka Magika which came out recently they're both about young girls who end up as somewhat inhuman weapons with no future. They're both dark with plenty of death. Except that it was the choice of the girls to become Puella Magikas, they retain their normal sense of humanity, and in the end of the series Madoka "fixes" everything by keeping witches from ever being created so it ends the cycle of tragedy and allows the girls to just be selfless guardians of humanity.

Gunslinger Girl to me is on a whole other level with its darkness. It hits so close to home because the world they set it in is real; the only made up aspect of the series is the cybernetics put into the girls. Child soldiers, brainwashing, and the reality of people willing to do this to others are disgustingly real (Jean is a disturbing psychopath and arguably the most evil man in the entire series). The girls' backstories are horrendous but plausible. But their past tragedy is compounded further by what the Social Welfare Corporation does. It's not like their soul was just put into a little vial but they still feel fine. Their entire personality has been demented, crushed under the conditioned mental response. Yet the cruelest aspect is that there's still enough humanity in them to contemplate their situation. Also you can see the effects of this creeping into the trainers; they're forced to either run away from their emotions like Marco and Lauro or suffer incredible feelings of guild like Jose and Hilscher. And there's no way to fix it. No magic fairy at the end of the story that will make the girls whole again. Instead it ends on a strangely mixed note, swirling together a beautiful scene of tranquility with a very final shot identical to the first in the series, as if to say "but it continues."

I know it probably gets tiresome to listen to me talk about this series so much but I've never been so impressed with the power of anime as an expressive medium as in this series. It's not the kind of series that makes you cry but it's probably one that will never leave me either.

[Notalent]

Hellsing Ultimate/manga
Cowboy Bebop
Code Geass
Spice and Wolf
Black Lagoon

[Sorrior]

I think one of the biggest barriers is the name. "Gunslinger Girl" already sounds like a flippant loli series with nothing more to it than replacing the standard cadre of wild west characters with pubescent girls. I know when a friend first told me to watch it I arched an eyebrow because it just sounded stupid. Unfortunately the trailer for it also utterly fails to capture the essence of the series and makes it look like an action shoot-'em-up series (the trailer has about 75% of the action sequences from the 13-episode series). The only thing I can really offer up is to watch the intro on YouTube to get a glimpse of the melancholy nature of it.

I suspect the other big problem with it is that it's disturbing if you get it. Like, to compare it to Madoka Magika which came out recently they're both about young girls who end up as somewhat inhuman weapons with no future. They're both dark with plenty of death. Except that it was the choice of the girls to become Puella Magikas, they retain their normal sense of humanity, and in the end of the series Madoka "fixes" everything by keeping witches from ever being created so it ends the cycle of tragedy and allows the girls to just be selfless guardians of humanity.

Gunslinger Girl to me is on a whole other level with its darkness. It hits so close to home because the world they set it in is real; the only made up aspect of the series is the cybernetics put into the girls. Child soldiers, brainwashing, and the reality of people willing to do this to others are disgustingly real (Jean is a disturbing psychopath and arguably the most evil man in the entire series). The girls' backstories are horrendous but plausible. But their past tragedy is compounded further by what the Social Welfare Corporation does. It's not like their soul was just put into a little vial but they still feel fine. Their entire personality has been demented, crushed under the conditioned mental response. Yet the cruelest aspect is that there's still enough humanity in them to contemplate their situation. Also you can see the effects of this creeping into the trainers; they're forced to either run away from their emotions like Marco and Lauro or suffer incredible feelings of guild like Jose and Hilscher. And there's no way to fix it. No magic fairy at the end of the story that will make the girls whole again. Instead it ends on a strangely mixed note, swirling together a beautiful scene of tranquility with a very final shot identical to the first in the series, as if to say "but it continues."

I know it probably gets tiresome to listen to me talk about this series so much but I've never been so impressed with the power of anime as an expressive medium as in this series. It's not the kind of series that makes you cry but it's probably one that will never leave me either.

Try Bokurano man it should be RIGHT up your alley. In it the kids wind up getting forced to pilot a giant robot that is fueled by their lifeforce and they WILL die after ever time. HOWEVER if they don't their entire universe will be destroyed everything and everyone and the worst part most of these kids have had such horrible lives that they seriously consider giving up while the happy ones have to deal with how their loved ones will feel after their death. also they KNOW when it's their turn because they get a marking. Trust me amn this series is downright depressing but so great and it covers the kids emotions and problems in life in such a great way. Not at all in the classic "i'm happy to die for my loved ones" scenario or even the whole schtick with just moping each kid deals with it differently depending on their personality.

So yeah try it out man and i'm not spoiling even half the shit that happens trust me some of these kids have had lives that make the girls from Gunslinger look like american rewrites of fairy tales.

[Deleted]

Code Geass is by far my favourite. It has everything you would ever want in an Anime. Insane action scenes, epic mindfucks (not as much as Death Note but atleast Code Geass has action ), great story and lot's of emotions (& some fan service).

Second place is Neon Genesis Evangelion which I'll never consider the best anime because of how it ruined my life and raped my brain.

[heffalump]

Not into anime as much as I used to be. However if it has giant mechs, sign me up.

Best giant mech anime for me would have to be King of Braves: GAO GAI GAR

[Pollocritico]

FMA:brotherhood
Ghost in the Shell
Cowboy Bepop
Trigun
and every anime fan should love FLCL

[Linkhyrule]

Dragon Ball Z
Naruto
Bleach
Sailor Moon (I never admit in public I like this anime)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Blood Brothers
Death note
Gundam Wing/00
Code Geass
One peice
Tenchi muyo

My favorite characters in the order of animes on my list
Goku
Kakashi/Itachi/Sasuke (Kakashi if I had to pick one)
Ichigo/Toshiro/Kenpachi/Renji (Again Id would pick Toshiro)
Rei
Roy Mustang
Light
Heero/Setsuna
Lelouch
Zoro
Ryoko

An anime Im currently watching that Im starting to really like is called "Needless" Its funny and I love the music and the fighting that goes on in it.

[Poodles]

Also G Gundam was the best Gundam series.

Hellllllllll no. It's in a completely different timeline, isn't even close to the original feel, and is kiddiefied. SEED and 00 are far FAR better.

While I liked gurren lagan, I disliked the ending. Some parts of Code Geass pissed me off, but it was really good. Far from the best though on both counts.

I really should make a list of all the anime I own, as I'm forgetting a lot lol. Just remembered another good one, Trigun.

[Skizzit]

The thing about Akira that made it kinda unique as far as western audiences go, is it was the first adult anime shown in theaters in its unedited form. Sure Spped Racer, Astro Boy, Robotech, Transformers and the like all pre date it, but those were aimed at kids just like american animation and most were edited. Funny thing is I remember Ghost in the Shell having a much larger impact when it hit theaters here then Akira, of course I was 9 when Akira came out and 15 when GitS came out.

Akria is usually considered the starting point for the "second wave" of anime fandom in the west in the early 90's. I would guess Robotech and Speed Racer would be the first.

[Paladin0228]

Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, Cowboy Bebop probably round out my top 3.

trigun was also pretty good

[Poodles]

The thing about Akira that made it kinda unique as far as western audiences go, is it was the first adult anime shown in theaters in its unedited form. Sure Spped Racer, Astro Boy, Robotech, Transformers and the like all pre date it, but those were aimed at kids just like american animation and most were edited. Funny thing is I remember Ghost in the Shell having a much larger impact when it hit theaters here then Akira, of course I was 9 when Akira came out and 15 when GitS came out.

Akria is usually considered the starting point for the "second wave" of anime fandom in the west in the early 90's. I would guess Robotech and Speed Racer would be the first.

Keep in mind Robotech is an American bastardization of 3 animes (4 if you include the movie which was Megazone 23). Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada which all had very different stories. Macross has a much better storyline (especially once you see the other Macross series) and it's lore is much different.

Akira was just raw at the time and blew people away. It's violent, bloody, and a total mindfuck compared to anything Americans had seen at the time. Pretty much anything put out by Manga Entertainment (IIRC they originally had the rights to Akira) back then was some of the best stuff (already listed a few in my first post, namely M.D. Geist, Appleseed, Bubblegum Crisis, Fist of the North Star, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Macross II, Macross Plus, etc)

As someone mentioned, it's a medium. Akira is easily one of the best drawn and painted animes. Most modern anime is at least colored on computers instead of painted, and even more of them are using computers to do much of the animation (keep in mind, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, as it makes series look better and they don't have to reuse footage). So as an art form, many of the old animes are higher on my scale. Doesn't mean the stories are the best though lol

[MisterSoup]

Samurai Jack wasn't anime. But god damn, it was good.

(And yes, anime is a GENRE. It's not a medium.)