Yep, I’ve finally put together a top shows list. As I hopefully made clear in part one and part two of my critical biases post, this is obviously my list – it represents the things I think are most valuable in stories in the way I think they’ve best been articulated. It’s also just a list of shows I enjoy – there’s no hard criteria here, so I wouldn’t stress the numbers too much. Also, it’s a bit front-loaded – I only started watching anime seasonally about two years ago, so the last couple years are disproportionately represented. Incidentally, I’m not including movies here either – I think direct comparisons between shows and films are a bit of a stretch, but if they were included, this list would certainly be somewhat different. And finally, I’m absolutely (and thankfully) certain this list will change over time – there are still piles of widely beloved shows I’ve never seen, so I’m sure the current rankings will be filled out in the years to come. So with that all said, let’s get to the list – Bobduh’s Top 30 Anime of All Time.
-edit- I have now created a Top Shows Addendum for shows that have either fallen off or just barely missed this list. Please enjoy these additional almost-top shows!
Flip Flappers marries the blossoming artistic vision of many of anime’s most talented young animators to a story teeming with the rich psychological inquiry that anime does so well. Centered on a girl on the verge of young adulthood who feels too paralyzed by consequences to decide who she wants to be, Flip Flappers takes her on a wild adventure through a series of evocative alternate realities, all of which ultimately reflect back on the human interiority of her own world. Flip Flappers appreciates the inherent beauty of our distinct internal worlds, and pairs a wild tour through the human experience with a core character arc that reflects thoughtfully on the complexity of love, identity, and growing up. Slotting somewhere thematically between FLCL and Evangelion, it is a can’t-miss addition to anime’s coming-of-age pantheon.
Here’s my review of Flip Flappers.
Flip Flappers is available streaming on Crunchyroll.
Gatchaman’s a goddamn busy show – in the course of a 12-episode run, it covers everything from internet culture to crowdsourcing to the necessity of leadership to social responsibility to human nature to… well, you get the idea. And it explores all these ideas while also staying remarkably light and breezy – you could enjoy the show purely as a fun, visually interesting, musically brilliant adventure without even thinking about how identity is constructed in the digital age, or whatnot. And when you combine these two strengths, you get a show that proves you don’t have to be dry to be smart – you can make awesome points about how the internet will change the world without ever giving up a sense of fun and moment-to-moment excitement. Brain food and comfort food at the same time.
Here’s my review of Gatchaman Crowds.
Gatchaman Crowds is available at Amazon and streams on Crunchyroll.
Giant Robo is Bombast Incarnate. Featuring an epic clash between the Experts of Justice and Big Fire, there’s no room for subtlety in this production – it’s all massive robots and deadly superspies and fights for the fate of the world. It’s also a beautiful thing – a series of seven OVAs released over most of a decade, the show is a gorgeous ode to classic super robot storytelling, brought to life with strong animation and rich colors and epic orchestral scores. And yet for all its larger-than-life size, the show also tells a gripping story, full of fully-articulated characters and reflections on family and human ambition. Giant Robo essentially feels like the final act of the Greatest Robot Story Ever Told – it has absolute confidence, and earns the viewer’s trust through constant dramatic hooks and total polish in execution. Even if you generally like smaller stories, I’d give Giant Robo a chance.
Here’s my essay on Giant Robo.
Giant Robo is vaguely available on Amazon.
Bokurano manages the difficult feat of staying tonally downcast and even desolate at all times while simultaneously conveying an unflinching message of optimism, and belief in humanity as a species. Its premise is terribly arbitrary and cruel, and very few members of its young cast survive, but the stories they tell in their leaving reflect the kaleidoscopic spectrum of the human experience. Its compelling scifi narrative ultimately becomes little more than a stage for its young stars to shine, as they each take up an impossible mantel and fight on behalf of their species, their cruel guide mocking them all the while. But Bokurano does not believe in its guide’s cynicism; though the world it posits is harsh, its young heroes shine all the brighter for it.
Here’s my review of Bokurano.
Bokurano is available streaming on Crunchyroll.
Kyoto Animation excel at making quietly excellent little dramas, and Sound! Euphonium counts as one more feather in their distressingly pincushioned cap. The show is as gorgeous as you’d expect, the drama is understated but well-articulated, and the episodes are full of those alternately funny or poignant little moments that KyoAni’s mastery of animated storytelling always provokes. And Kumiko is one of the most fun people you could possibly follow around a story like this, with her snark and clumsy bluntness making her a refreshing and relatable protagonist. You can enjoy this show for its close viewing of the classic band experience, for its funny mess of jokes and characters, or for its well-articulated personal drama and reflections on goals and identity. It succeeds on all levels, making it one of the most impressive and fully realized high school dramas around.
Sound! Euphonium is available streaming on Crunchyroll.
As the only long-running shounen on my list, HxH’s a bit of an outlier. But HxH is not your typical shounen – directed by Madhouse (likely my pick for the best studio of all time) and adapted from a source by the writer of Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter is basically a master class in what makes adventure entertaining. Though it starts off “only” demonstrating it knows how to make challenge-based television entertaining (in lieu of actual fights, it generally sets up compelling puzzles of all shapes and sizes for its heroes), it ends up jumping from genre to genre, dabbling in crime thriller, tournament shounen, and even war drama. And through it all, the show’s fantastic aesthetics elevate it above almost everything out there – in direction, in sound design, in pacing, in animation, in basically every relevant aesthetic metric, Hunter x Hunter triumphs. That it’s been maintaining this level of quality for well over a hundred episodes is nothing short of astonishing – in fact, I’d say Hunter x Hunter has only gotten better over time.
Here’s a critical breakdown of HxH episode 116, and here’s an essay on the recently concluded (and breathtaking) Chimera Ant arc.
Hunter x Hunter 2011 is available streaming on Crunchyroll.
Mushishi is one of those strange, special shows that seem to just emerge confident and fully constructed, exude excellence for all of their running time, and then go quietly on their way. Its vignettes are dreamy and ambiguous, full of resonance and compelling ideas but never didactic. Its world is mysterious and enchanting, evoking both a more resigned and possibly more dangerous version of Miyazaki’s mystical forests. Its production is fantastic, with beautiful backgrounds matching a wonderfully understated musical score and a great sense of pacing to conjure its powerful, singular atmosphere. And all this works in service of a show that’s fundamentally just incredibly calming and sedate – a series of long, lazy afternoons spent enjoying the company of a master storyteller.
Here’s my essay on Mushishi.
Mushishi is available at Amazon and its sequel streams on Crunchyroll.
Grouped together because they really do feel like two sides of the same coin, both of Gainax’s Buster shows would also make this list independently. Flippant and heartbreaking, cynical and triumphant, personal and universal, each of these OVAs tells a story of humanity’s struggle against all the forces of the universe with style and heart. And each can stand alone, as well – Gunbuster is helmed by a pre-Eva Anno already exhibiting his unnerving style of direction, and Diebuster offers a very appropriate conclusion to the FLCL era of Gainax production. Only six episodes each, too – it’s pretty remarkable how much story each of these manage to tell.
Here are my essays on Gunbuster and Diebuster.
Both Gunbuster and Diebuster are available at Amazon.
Shinsekai Yori is basically tailor-made for fans of fantasy and scifi novels. Heavy on worldbuilding and questions of human nature, its story unfolds on a scale far greater than most anime, exploring a compelling dystopian society by following one generation from childhood through adolescence and well into adulthood. Though I often feel its characters fade into the background of its storytelling pretensions, it all works in service of an incredibly compelling central narrative, and its devastating conclusion justifies everything that came before. It’s a rare and valuable thing – few shows work on the scale of Shinsekai Yori.
Here’s my review of Shinsekai Yori.
Shinsekai Yori is available at Amazon and streams on Crunchyroll.
An idol show?!? I could actually go on for a while about what makes various idol shows great (and I have), but as far as Idolm@ster specifically goes, this show is just a solid episodic drama that succeeds in almost everything it attempts. It’s got a rich and well-developed cast of characters, lots of great little character stories, and a bunch of fun adventures like “the team runs a Sunday game show” or “one idol ends up as a runaway bride while another fights yakuza goons.” On top of that, Idolm@ster features one of the best creative teams in recent memory – a bunch of former Gainax staff and other great creators combine to make this one of the most beautifully directed and animated shows I’ve seen. Even if you don’t have any interest in idols, Idolm@ster’s combination of fun stories and gorgeous execution makes it a rare and impressive show.
Here’s my review of The Idolm@ster.
The Idolm@ster is available streaming on Crunchyroll.
Guys where is bleach, naruto and Samurai Champloo. Those are all pretty amazing anime’s
Samurai Champloo is the best of the best!!!
Yea and what about them fairy tail
Fairy Tail is good as a first anime because it starts off slow, giving you a nice period to get used to subs, and it also has themes that American watchers in particular might find somewhat closer to what they’re used to. However, go watch a good anime like Death Note Samurai Champloo or HxH or something and you start to see that Fairy Tail isn’t all that great
i’m sorry but FAIRY TAIL suck !
They missed out Code Geass. Def one of the best anime series of all time.
Bleach and Naruto arent there because it says best animes of all time, not most overplayed.
They are pretty overrated to be honest but Naruto and Bleach deserve top 10, some people are ignorant of anime other than the main stream ones *cough SAO * but there are hipsters that ignore the mainstream ones which are popular for a reason.
One Piece should be in here too
I think that is the best anime/manga
What about DBZ without it one piece naruto and fairy tail wouldn’t have been made
guys i dont understand where is naruto bleach and one piece.the best anime ever
You gotta watch more anime newbie, not the popular ones.
No I agree that one piece should be on here even though it is mainstream, but it is so good and is the best anime imo, and I’ve watched a lot of anime, including some of the ones on this list.
Too many fillers spoils my day. It just goes on year after year just like Call of Duty.
Dude honestly the fillers are amazing.. G8, rainbow mist, the ice family thing, spa island, the dragon filler with apis, ocean’s dream… These were all pretty damn good. The only bad filler imo was zenny and the goat island.. Plus there isn’t much filler in the current episodes tbh.. Not a single filler for long now. Compare the filler in One Piece to all other mainstream anime or non mainstream anime with filler and then you’re gonna come back saying One Piece is awesome.. I just wanna know until what episode you watched..?
Dude honestly the fillers are amazing.. G8, rainbow mist, the ice family thing, spa island, the dragon filler with apis, ocean’s dream… These were all pretty damn good. The only bad filler imo was zenny and the goat island.. Plus there isn’t much filler in the current episodes tbh.. Not a single filler for long now. Compare the filler in One Piece to all other mainstream anime or non mainstream anime with filler and then you’re gonna come back saying One Piece is awesome.. I just wanna know..until what episode did you watch..?
Naruto, Bleach and all that are popular BECAUSE they’re awesome. The minor ones are minor because few people watch them. Get with the programme.
This is bad logic.
Movies with the biggest gross collection are not the best movies…They are made to bring money. It should be noted that box office should never be looked at as an indication of the mainstream public’s thoughts on a movie
Wow you just called him a Newbie? because he likes different Anime’s then you? How pathetic…. He likes those Anime’s and you don’t so you call him a Newbie xD get a life….
I wasn’t mocking at his tastes, when someone tells that Naruto is the best anime out there, which is infact the very popular one/probably showing on his television, clearly he hasn’t seen a lot of anime.
Not sure why you went through all the trouble getting a pathetic nick like this?
Have u ever seen Stardriver or Blue Exorcist?? Those are good anime to ya know! Blue Exorcist should be on the list in my opinion.
Lol I liked Parasyte and Akame ga kill…. There the only ones I have seen so far XD but I think they were good…. Can anyone suggest any other Animes???
Hunter x Hunter is amazing if you want a shounen that progresses immensly well, since you’ve seen Akame ga kill early i’d say you were lucky it is in fact a very bad representation of the manga , the last few episodes that ended it (last 7 i think ?) completely de-railed eveything and turned the characters into undeveloped pieces of crud, anyway XD all that aside , i’d recommend nichijou for some epic comedy , death parade if you want something recently completed , death note is always a classic if you’re just starting out with anime , if you want any other suggestions just ask 🙂
With all the other cookie-cutter anime I imagine. Can’t say for Samurai Champloo, but as entertaining as the other two are, along with shows like One Piece, they’re basically soulless, copy/paste genre stereotypes with no real creative value other than in the studio’s ability to execute them in a way that is superior to their competition.
There is nothing interesting about either show, just evidence that mainstream Japanese anime is as formulaic as Hollywood movies.
Listen Arnold I’m sorry but you know nothing about anime. You’re saying one piece is not creative? Bullshit.. You think one piece is just there as a competition? You’re so weird I bet you haven’t even watched 20 percent of that anime it’s amazing. It’s so creative and idk what you’re talking about. Just give me one other anime that is like one piece. The answer is none. So come back when you’re thirty years older and talk to me, grasshoper.
I’ll be honest and say that One Piece hasn’t brought anything new to the table. Oda initially planned it to be an anime that would last 5 years, now we are in the 16th year, with it’s popularity it seems that Oda is going to milk it to the very end, around 10 years more. I think the last time I watched it was way back in 2006 and it just keeps on coming.
Am sure when you prepare a top 30 list it should be something that has a definite start and end to the story, something that doesn’t drag, something that makes every episode worth it, and not to make your viewer satisfied every week.
so that’s why you say that one piece is not good. the last time you watched it was way 2006. i commend you to watch it now! it became really amazing than before. the story really did great twists. the raftel, the poneglyphs, the will of D, the emperors. especially now that they are stronger than never before because of the time skip. i’m really excited about how the story will go. i’m even willing to wait for next episodes even if it will take long years!. i have watched several animes but nothing can top one piece for me.
Exactly!! Thanks for understanding me lol
yeah i think this list is just trying to promote other good animes that aren’t in your usual top 50 list that consist of popular mainstream animes. also they’re just one person’s opinion who, based on their writing, observe a lot more in anime than people do in general
While I love them, Bleach and Naruto aren’t that good, or ground breaking. They just kind of exist as a testament to the Shounen genre.
And yes, Champloo is great; but he’s already included both Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the Slope. And I agree with him, those are better shows
Guys those are all gateway animes. I agree they are very much amazing animes! But since they are the most popular and reputable animes the blogger probably wanted to give those who have been watching anime for a very long time a chance to look up some more original anime that they haven’t experienced before. These are all equally as amazing as Naruto, fairy tail, bleach, one piece, attack on titan, blue exorcist and more, but they are just a little less reconized unless you are actually kind of searching for them or live in an area where they promote a lot of anime or manga. 🙂
Also you guys should never tell someone they do not know what a good anime is. Anime and manga are loved by preference of the person. It is unfair to say someone has bad taste. If you do not enjoy the show then so be it, you can share your opinion, but to tell someone they have horrible taste is ignorant, we don’t all like that same things, doesn’t mean we have to be rude and bash each other about it. Be open minded and congratulate people on enjoying the show that you like and maybe run it by them that it wasn’t your favorite and maybe recommend them the anime that you did like so they can get a taste of the anime you enjoy, maybe they will change their mind about the crappy one ;P. But honestly not reason to be rude. We all like anime lets just be nice to each other.
dont forget about dragon ball z
are they ever going to make better anime books i almost read all of them but none of them intersest me and think people are lossing there touch in drawing.-_-
I didn’t find “Death note” on your list. At least it deserves top 10.
I looked at your list. And i cant believe that you haven’t watched naruto and death note. It gives us impression that you are living under rocks.
thats because naruto isnt that good
bite your tounge
Lol; if you’re upset that Naruto and Fairy Tale didn’t receive a place in the top 30 you have no idea what makes a good anime good. If naruto and fairy tale were condensed and the bullshit/filler was removed… they’d be much better.
Fairly good list, Evangelion of course… so surprised that gundam wasn’t mentioned though.
Agreed. I got 100+ episodes into Naruto before I realised that the whole thing is a massive grind. It has its moments but they are way too few and far between.
i think you should read the manga instead of seeing the anime. it is 100 times better
Naruto is great. It’s dieing off a little, but it’s AMAZING.
guys i also love naruto and i keep waiting for its episodes every week but i think it is stupid to say he should be in the list. this guy said what he thinks, which are for him the best animes ever, it doesnt mean he hasnt seen naruto and one piece and all that, it just means he has a different taste and maybe he is right, i bet the most of you who think it is unfair not to have those animes in this list hasnt seen half of the animes here posted, and i admit im one of those people, i have seen 4 or 5 animes (naruto, hunter x hunter, sword art online, air gear, attack on titan, oh and dont forget dragonball xD – i also started hyouka but i really didnt like it much..) and you dont see me here begging for them to be on the list.. u have to respect each other’s point of view and i’m sure that if you give this guy a chance and watch some of the anime he suggested you’ll probably like it 🙂
Wow!
Just when I’d kinda given up on the majority of people responding to this list, someone posts a great response.
Nice to see someone being so fair and mature for a change.
Great comment joao. 🙂
Just wanted to pass along how much I enjoyed your list.
We may not agree on all points, but I appreciate your well thought out synopses and they, coupled with your excellent writing style plus opening disclosure re: your rankings being your opinion more so than a statement of absolute fact (which is annoyingly common when reading “Top ____ ” listings ) immediately lent a substantial credibility to the entire process.
I’ll be making a point of checking out a few of your included titles going forward.
Thanks. 🙂
Where are bleach, naruto, naruto shippuden, inuyasha, shaman king, van helsing !? … of all you shown here, only cowboy beepop makes sense… the rest are stupid craps i’ve never heard of… i thought i can find out some awesome anime i didn’t see and have interest in watching… but only crap shown… BIG DISLIKE TO THIS LIST
I mean I half agree with you because one piece and death note and fma are not on here, but if you think Naruto is a top Anime you are still a beginner at anime watching. Cowboy bepop is one of the only good anime, true imo. However, it’s not the only one, there’s Gurren lagann, mushishi, hxh and some others. Naruto is just so bad at being an anime.
Wow…
Just, wow…
While it’s probably not my place to respond to this and my doing so may not be particularly appreciated by the page owner, when presented with this kind of posting I just kinda have to say something…
Julian…
I dearly hope that sometime in the not too distant future, or at least when you’ve reached your teen years, you’ll look back on posts like this and cringe, because this is indeed cringe-worthy.
“i thought i can find out some awesome anime i didn’t see and have interest in watching… but only crap shown”
” the rest are stupid craps i’ve never heard of”
If you only want to watch shows you’re already familiar with, why bother searching through review blogs?
And if you’ve never heard of a show, how on Earth do you know it’s “crap”?
While it may be true that the page owner’s tastes don’t exactly jive with your own, I suspect he’s no longer a tween and has moved on to shows that are a little more thoughtful and thought provoking as most folks do as they grow up.
You’ll probably do likewise when you get there.
In the interim, you might want to learn to type, punctuate, capitalize and conjugate properly before venting your spleen at someone with whom you find your opinions to be at odds.
It would at least give the appearance that your position is considered and worthy of a response from the page owner.
I totally agree Grey! It’s not right for someone to judge an anime by its cover! Think about the writer of this blog too. They obviously put a-lot of time and hard work into this! Just because we have our own certain taste in anime, it doesn’t excuse the fact that we shouldn’t be mean and rude to others about the anime that they choose to watch!
Even I agree with Ahmed. Naruto, Gintama, Bleach are undoubtedly most popular series. But not the best. They don’t even deserve to rank in top 100 best anime. For ex Sword art online is one of top 5 popular series. But it sucks to core.
If you’ve never heard of the anime just look it up, all of these are masterpieces in my eyes. You’ve got to look deeper into it not just watching dubs.
You are just an ignorant fuck 🙂 all you know about is about those big cmercial animes, not realizing that they are nothing compared to this list 😀 i watched over 15 of the animes in this list…and they are all MUCH better than naruto, shaman king etc. You watch shit for kids (except hellsing)…And its obvious that you are not into animes that much, cause you are searching via google.for them to 😀
As I said, they are big time anime/manga BECAUSE they’re AMAZING. Get with. the. Fucking. Programme.
So? The author didn’t have to follow your opinion. If you haven’t watch them why you don’t give them a try? Though I disagree with some part of this list (I don’t like Hyouka that much, but I agree the animation is gorgeous), I try to be polite. Its rude to say that anime aside your Bleach, Naruto, etc etc are stupid craps. Who are you to judge, anyway? Its not the author’s fault you don’t have any interest in any of these. These are not mainstream list IMO, maybe the author didn’t really into Shonen as much as you.
hey just wondering to you generate any money from this or is it simply through the rightstuff parter page ?
WHERE IS CLANNAD?!?!?!?!?
I was genuinely surprised it wasn’t on this list too.
The anime is nowhere close to the Visual Novel Clannad. Go play it and thank me when you are done
Best Visual Novels: https://vndb.org/v/all?q=;fil=tagspoil-0;o=d;s=rating
I have seen most of these and find your reviews to be almost identical to what I thought of them (especially “Hyouka” and “Katanagatari”). As for the rest, I’m going to watch them to see if they’re my type or not. Thanks for not placing junk like SAO, Naruto, Bleach, and even Clannad + Afterstory (which only tried to force certain emotional reactions with untimely events and then chickens out at the end, instead of smoothly having events develop).
Clannad is one of the best visual novels out there.
Best Visual Novels: https://vndb.org/v/all?q=;fil=tagspoil-0;o=d;s=rating
Although the anime didn’t truly live up to the expectations like the VN did.
I was with you right up until you labelled some pretty famous and beloved anime as junk.
I’ve watched a lot of the shows that the OP cites in his list, and I agree they were all excellent.
I’ve also watched a lot of the shows that folks are complaining about not being included (Naruto, Bleach, etc., ) and quite enjoyed them as well.
And yeah, while I wouldn’t say they were exactly landmarks with respect to innovative plot and character development, I certainly wouldn’t label them as “junk” either.
I mean let’s face it… those two shows are among the longest running anime in existence, so they must have been doing something right all those years.
Everybody has different tastes, and those tastes inevitably colour their estimations of a show’s quality.
I’m often guilty of the same thing.
But just because a show’s not to your taste, doesn’t mean it’s junk, and I have to admit I get a little ticked at people’s propensity for saying they are, although I do give you credit for saying why you thought Clannad & After Story (which I thought were amazing ) were bad, and I respect that.
I wish folks wouldn’t be so quick to make “hit and run” condemnations of shows they didn’t like and label them as “junk”, when in most cases, they just didn’t happen to fall into the genre they themselves like.
I think we’d see a lot fewer flame wars if folks took a moment to think through their comments before posting and consider that the show their trashing is quite likely to be one of someone else’s all time favourites.
Yeah, you’re right. That was hypocritical of me to label something as junk. I actually watched all of those anime myself and they were good enough for me to finish. I was way too emotional when I read those comments trashing the OP’s taste. You just reminded me of the best qualities that got me this far in life (open-mindedness and sympathy). Thank you. Although, I still do feel that there are better ways of making of making emotional story-lines than having important characters die. I found the movie “Interstellar” to elicit a larger emotional response than any anime thus far and it was not because anyone died. Another example is the anime movie “5 Centimeters Per Second”. But that is just my opinion.
I haven’t seen Interstellar yet, (I’ll get to it inevitably I should imagine 😉 ), but I did buy a copy of 5 Centimeters per Second maybe a couple years ago because it was one that kept popping up in every discussion I read where folks were discussing really great, emotion-charged stories.
And I didn’t see it.
To be honest though, because it was so long ago and just the one screening, I don’t remember exactly why I came away from it feeling so unimpressed, but I do remember kind of feeling it’s overall narrative was somehow “disjointed” and I wasn’t satisfied with how the individual arcs played out.
That being said, it’s still in my collection and I’ve watched a lot of anime in the last two years, so I should probably take another look at it and see if the additional perspective we’ve gained since then lends something to the story.
Where Clannad and After Story worked so well for me was not the crushing death scenes (although yeah… I bawled like a baby 😉 ), but how it managed to do so much so well.
It’s all personal taste of course, but I loved how those shows managed to so easily go from comedy to tragedy and fully tell so many different stories, all without feeling rushed or sacrificing what I felt to be the main “moral” of the story… just how important the people in our lives truly are.
We all undoubtedly view everything we experience in life based upon our own perspective, and that’s bound to colour our perception of it. Anime included.
So it’s probably only natural that people who feel a stronger, personal identification with a particular story are going to hold it in higher regard.
No question that Clannad and AS were manipulative in their story telling and never missed an opportunity to play the viewer’s emotions like a violin, but for those of us who like to be played in this manner, I still can’t think of a show that did it better. 🙂
It’s great, what u’re saying… Keep on helping people see the truth about things 😀
I liked your list but also think that if you like people striving despite their flaws on a backdrop of world turmoil and ethical dilemmas. Then it is clear you’ve never watched Code Geass or it would find a place on this list.
Check the addendum.
Honestly there’s a certain category of anime’s that OP likes, hence the reason why many feel the list isn’t as good as they expect. Can’t blame the writer, but there’s only so much that one can do.
I find Visual Novels to be more pleasing than watching Anime, many of which were adapted to anime’s.
Lots for me to checkout from that list. I think you’ve done good. Here’s some that I like and was surprised not to see,
Kaiba
Paranoia Agent
Haibane Renmai
Personally, I couldn’t not put Bebop at #1 of any list and nothing has come close ever since except Kaiba.
Very well said! We are all different; your number 1 being EVA tells me you understand that well. Right on for just laying it out, but more so for your explanation of reasoning. Sure Naruto (WHICH I’VE NEVER SEEN SO YOU ALL CAN EAT IT) and some other more popular ones aren’t up there but big whoop. Everyone already knows those; I’m after some fresh stuff.
Take Gunbuster. I bet fifty pesos that maybe less than 5-10% of anime goers out there have ever seen that show but it is AMAZING. Shiki. I’ve never seen it, but I want to now since you’ve set it up for success.
As far as ones that I believe other folk should know about I have a few to suggest/ add/ recommend to everyone including you amigo.
—The Future Diary—
—Sailor Moon— (recently released updated dub!!!)
—Strawberry Panic! (you like romance? This is just epic)
—The Vision of Escaflowne (just saw this one. Really good!)
—Serial Experiments Lain (very out there/ You have been warned but great
The rest you nailed man.
Following the Naruto comment. I never said I hated it or disliked it but everyone gives me crap for having never watched it so I’m kind of worn out on talking about it. I just pretend it didn’t happen like a fart in church
You need to watch fairy tail
I’ve been searching for good animes latley and al the list are the same naruto, bleach and all that shit. The list is really nice, also death note sucks balls big time
Death Note is amazing until the second arc. The M and N thing just does not compare to L by any means. I mean I get that they were supposed to triumph over him by pulling their abilities and knowledge together, but I would have rather watched him murder everybody and be king of the world. So if you haven’t watched Deathnote then sorry. Watch ep. 1-36. Don’t watch episode 37.
The director didn’t want to convey a wrong message that bad actions triumphs over good. Murdering does not make one a god. If that was the way it ended, I wouldn’t have had the same effect nor would it be a logical ending.
And please don’t post spoilers here and ruin the experience for those who haven’t seen it.
This list is amazing and beautiful. I have not heard about many of the animes that were listed but I am defiantly gonna try to watch most of them now! I like how this list was opinion based and how these animes relate to us as being humans. I definatly give this list a 10 out of 10
Can’t believe Death Note isn’t on the list!!!!
This anime is by far the best ever to be honest!
Yup. except for episode 37
The director didn’t want to convey a wrong message that bad actions triumphs over good. Murdering does not make one a god. If that was the way it ended, I wouldn’t have had the same effect nor would it be a logical ending.
And please don’t post spoilers here and ruin the experience for those who haven’t seen it.
HAHAHA, You need to see HXH, i liked death note, but damn! HXH it’s a masterpiece, and has the 20 position in this list.
Dude, I watched code geass and it made me want to cry at the second season. Code geass is the best anime of all time! I mean, death note is just too good, but code geass is exactly alike. These anime are just a one of a kind. Fairytail is the same thing over and over! No storyline at all! Naruto has way to many unnessary episodes considering they are showing episodes no one wants to see. They show flashbacks over and over now. Also, these two anime are just too shocking and new.
OMG, dude exactly how Im feeling as well!
Hey, i just wanted to tell you how much help your list is to me! I feel i have outgrown a lot of the popular stuff, now that i’m close to 30 and i was wondering if there still were anime that could engage me.
I don’t know how i found your Top 30 and why i started watching all the anime in it, but so far i really liked every single one of them! I guess i watched about 12 differents shows now and every time i think “Which anime should i watch next?” i just look here and pick one i haven’t seen yet. And it never disappoints.
So thanks a lot! You really helped me renewing my interest in anime!
dragon ballz and naruto are the top anime which are not shown here so that means this list is a gay
Take a break sweetheart. You are talking to anime pundits here..
I could never take a top anime list serious without DBZ on there. This list was clearly made by a girl.
RIGHT?! I agree (not the whole girl part) but this list deserved Attack on Titan, DBZ and Deathnote fersure
I didnt see death note or dbz. Oh well, i watched a few of these on this list, some of em were alright, others were just a big waste of time -.-
What about Sword Art Online, it deserves to be in at least the top 5.
The animation is amazing, but the storyline wasn’t that good. it kind of digresses into “Save me Kirito” and “You’re so cool”, which gets old. Otherwise, I liked it. I just don’t think it would deserve to be so high on the list.
i agree i really did enjoy the SAO series, and the games. Including all the action it contains and a little slice of life fun.
HxH, Toradora, Cowboy Bebop , Neon Genesis Evangelion <33333
great list. watch about a third of the animes on list already. will check out the rest. I think tri-gun should have made it into that top 30 of yours in my opinion
This..list..is..is..BULLSHIT!..where d fuck is Death note.. Naruto.. Bleach.. Attack on titan.. Parasyte the Maxim.. Even fullmetal alchemist..well these r head busting animes..they r too good to be here
just saying that some things might not be up because the list was made a year ago… also, this was just one person’s preferences.
Nice list!
This lovey dovey as anime where’s the action these aren’t even rated that high this list is shit
You should watch Tokyo Ghoul. The soundtrack and the animation are amazing, but it isn’t only that. The anime has commentary about self-preservation, morality, communication, and the ‘human nature’. It starts out with a seemingly simple (and common) idea: that there are two sides that you must choose from– the ghouls and the humans. The protagonists and the antagonists. But the character change and the exposition used within it reveals the gray area, which I don’t find very often in anime. It’s very beautiful.
If you really loved tokyo ghoul and are watching root a, you should really read the original manga and tokyo ghoul: re. However, root a’s promise of being an anime in a parallel universe different from the original series was a big fat lie. The only differences were that Kaneki entered Aogiri, and that Eto aka Sen Takatsuki’s identity was revealed in small spots during the series.
If you’re in for a spoiler (although I assume you’re not), Kaneki gets both of his eyes bored out (as in drilled out) by Kishou Arima, the first series ends, and then he gets reincarnated into a human version of the Quinque employed by the CCG. Touka creates a restaurant called :re with Yomo, and Seido Takizawa becomes a slave of the ghouls.
Gungrave is one of my favorites. I think that you should give it a look.
Why did you include other anime in your tags that you did not include in your top 30? I was looking forward to seeing Haruhi somewhere on there because of that.
Because anything that got pushed out into the addendum is still in the tags. See here:
https://wrongeverytime.com/2014/06/30/top-shows-addendum/
i’m surprised not to see one piece, attack on titan, death note, akame ga kill, tokyo ghoul here. this list is a joke! i bet the blogger is a hater of mainstream and shounen. there are many good animes better than animes in this list that isn’t here. Magi is good too :)) here is my list
one piece
Magi
Attack on titan
Hunter X Hunter
fairy tail
death note
tokyo ghoul
akame ga kill
Haikyuu
Nanatsu no Taizai
(i dont really like bleach, naruto, SAO so i didn’t put them here. )
Oh i forgot the FMA and DBZ and DBGT :))
I fully agree with your list but you should watch tengen toppa gurren lagann and fma. One piece is awesome!
agreed!! one piece is the best! lol. Yu Yu hakusho is good too!! also the flame of recca, detective conan and many more! i have already watched FMA. it’s great. i dont know the gurren laggan but i’ll watch it.
Awesome list man! Nice to see The Tatami Galaxy getting the recognition it deserves. 😉
Where’s Texhnolyze, Mononoke, Honey and Clover, Haibane Renmei, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Moribito, Shigurui, Time of Eve, and Mouryou no Hako???
FMA? :’3
I wonder why Monster isn’t in this list? Imo that’s among the best anime ever. It’s emotional debt, the way it’s presented, the complexities of human beings, ethical questions, for me Monster has absolutely grabbed me by the throat some years ago and I haven’t seen anything like it yet. I know, it’s a lot to do with taste, I’m just curious.
If it is your list then you should change the title to My top ten animes of all time, since you used your own criteria as stated in your blog. I think every person has their own feel for what they like but there is generally some creative work that ticks all the boxes and is favoured by consensus.
I love hunterxhunter, spice and wolf, ping pong and mushishi but I didn’t like evangelion because I lost interest in the characters and when that happens it is over, and I did not enjoy some of the gatari series because they were too high concept for me, (like an art show not sure if I am meant to understand it or not)
How about series like moribito, monster, kurau and natsume yuujincho to name a few, will you look at older anime?
P.S Although I did like Katanagatari.
Nice list! Though the FMAB is not there XD
To the guys who always asking “where’s Naruto, OnePiece, Bleach, DBZ?”,,
y’all just don’t really understand it. Naruto, OnePiece, Bleach, DBZ are really nice manga/anime, but here, is the list that listing “DEFINITE” anime.
Have you watched Angel Beats? Clannad? AIR? those are the animes that really touching and even i shed some feel when watching them.
If y’all asking for anime that we are all known, then dont even bother commenting or waste your energy. No shit sherlock, but it’s obvious.
I am not surprised to not see SnK on this list, the blogger must listing “non-mainstream” ones
I’ve not seen any of these. I will tell you the ones i have seen and feel they are the best of the best. First off, i prefer anime that has engaging story line and not just action with meaningless plot. I came here so i don’t waste my time looking for those types of anime but since i’m not seeing any of the ones i think deserves to be here, then i will take your list with a grain of salt. Although i will try them just to confirm my suspicion. The ones i have seen and have loved are: Berserk, Attack on Titans. Fate/Stay Night to name a few. These types of anime, keep me on my toes waiting for the next season because they are that good. I need something similar to them in plot and story line.
You are better off playing Fate/Stay night visual novel, because the anime doesn’t live upto the standards of the VN. It’s one of the top rated VN’s and the most popular VN
Best Visual Novels: https://vndb.org/v/all?q=;fil=tagspoil-0;o=d;s=rating
Just to confirm my what i just said above, I saw a similar top anime Claymore which i just finished watching recently. Check out the recommended anime for those that like claymore: http://www.anime-planet.com/anime/claymore
It is everything i listed above.
What about dragon ball z, Naroto, Fairytail, one piece, death note
honestly my favorites are Naruto/Shippuden Tokyo Ghoul Sword Art Online Noragami Blue Exorcist Black Butler Death Note and Soul Eater
This list was exactly the list I was looking for. I started out with what a lot of people call main stream anime such as Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach. They are entertaining but didn’t speak to me like some of the more subtle, less hyped anime that many people overlook because there aren’t explosions every 2 seconds.
A few of the anime on your list like Hyouka and OreGairu were anime that spoke to me on a personal level because of what they were specifically trying to convey and the brilliance of the writing, character development, and story line. When you can feel a part of yourself in the characters on a truly deep level it can teach you a lot about yourself as well as others. Anyways… I guess I’m just trying to say thanks and that I’m really excited to watch some anime I have never seen :)!
Attack on Titan? Where’s it at ha and death note? Tokyo ghoul?
average list only recognize a couple but surely you should have bleach, naruto, fairy tale, DBZ, death note and also one that is underrated is yu-gi-oh gx
Wow I love tokyo ghoul so good plzz watch it guys and sword art online
Hey! You should watch blue exorcist. It’s really amazing!
Where are Naruto, code geass, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on titans and Death note???
what the hell…
do you want to say that anime like hyouka chuunibbyo….. are better then naruto one piece tokyo ghoul and even attack on titan
but where are u living you must to be kidding with me this is the worst list I’ve ever seen…
I want to end up my life if there’s people thinking that stupid way
to the people wondering why naruto, one piece and the like are not on this list, try watching one of the recommended shows. you might see what he means. also, the point of this list is more to introduce people to lesser known anime. that’s what i was looking for when i found it.
Thanks for the list, Bobduh. Steins;Gate, Tatami Galaxy and Kyousogiga are some of my favourite anime i’ve watched, and i wouldn’t have discovered them without the recommendation.
An interesting list with plenty of titles I’d never heard of. It’s always nice to get recommendations.
Personally I lean more towards fantasy and science fiction, even though I have mixed reactions when it comes to Evangelion and couldn’t get into Steins;Gate. I loved Cowboy Bebop for exactly the reasons you stated and, more recently, I enjoyed Bokurano and Dennō Koiru.
Thanks.
Almost every reservation one can have towards writing an article containing the idea of what a list of top XX should contain makes absolute sense once you read some less than thoughtfully crafted chunks of text found above.
The comments under this post manage to prove everything Bobduh ever said about lists in general and sadly – internet culture itself.
Even though I doubt this will inspire anyone to do so, I would still suggest to anyone wanting to rise above the meaningless debate of who’s favorite anime is the best – and therefore the only possible candidate for spot nr. 1, to read some other articles on this site. Preferably the ones about taste and critical evaluation, which seems to be what most people struggle with understanding.
Now as for my actual comment:
I find this list priceless as it gives me a little insight into how someone with far more experience and a deeper understanding of anime views these shows.
I don’t necessarily agree with the ranking but that doesn’t mean it’s not extremely valuable to me as a tool for understanding the shows themselves and whatever message they might contain hidden within. The personally written synopses really help with that as they contain your interpretation of the content and not just the basic plot pasted from some website.
I find that having a description under each anime that explains in just enough detail why the series is placed where it is greatly helps with that process.
I strongly believe that reading your reviews of shows I have seen is helping me understand media on a deeper level and has increased the pleasure which I gain from consuming it, and for that I am truly truly grateful.
This comment should have probably been written the first time I went over the list, but back then it didn’t really seem necessary. However… With the recent influx of comments which seem to miss the point of this completely, I wanted to have my thoughts on this topic heard.
I thank you for all the hard work and effort that is put in to this website and its content.
A loyal reader
PS – I hope that starting every sentence with ” I ” will make it clear that everything written here is just my opinion and thus entirely subjective and possibly flawed. There is no need to start a flame war over one man’s opinion.
Make that two men’s opinions. 😉
Nice to see a measured and mature response to this list for a change because overall I’ve found people’s reactions to be anything but.
I guess it’s inevitable that you’ll attract a broad diversity of readers when you consider the enormous range of genres anime encompasses, but still…
Even as a mere spectator I’ve found the childishness of a lot of the comments left here to be galling and have found myself wondering why anyone above a certain intellectual and developmental level would even bother subjecting themselves to the seemingly endless barrage of adolescent outrage this well crafted and thoroughly thought out list has received.
Seems the internet needs a strict age-limit and a large and intimidating bouncer guarding the door to its sites so adults can discuss things without the kiddies running around and making a scene. 😉