Hello again, I guess this kind of article is long over due. I’ve been watching Anime ever since Gundam Wing has appeared on YTV, and probably even long before that with Sailor Moon and other kid shows that found it’s way into North American television. I’ve watched up to 300 series/shows/movies and still like what I’m watching. Now I’ll be trying to narrow down my completed shows down to 7 (Youtube embed limit) most liked Anime.
(Link – MySite)
What do I mean by favorites? I’m giving the word “favorite” is a long term meaning as something in the show or series managed to catch your attention. It could even go as far as inspiration and creativity, if you do want to go that far with the meaning. You like something so much that you will collect, support, create, and even use examples from the said series or show.
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1) Gundam
Gundam Wing started this whole Gundam phenomena for me as it aired on YTV for the first time along side Dragonball Z. The art work, the music, and the designs were enough for me to get hooked on the show and Anime itself. When I got hold of the first episode I literally watched it over and over again, replaying the battle music whenever possible.
I started to slowly acquire the American toy figures, a Giant Wing Gundam, a few miniature model kits, and a few slightly higher grade model kits. Even to this day I still enjoy Gundam and think it is a superior franchise. I only found out about the original Gundam series about 2 years after, Gundam X and all them years after. My first Gundam game was Journey to Jaburo for the PS2 with others coming later. The only games I want to play would be Zeonic Front and War Chronicles for the PS2, I’ll be all caught up with it after that.
I also enjoy looking at images of Gundam model kits and 3D max renders of custom mobile suits from the Gundam series. There are often new variants for the model kits which often impresses me, and probably others viewing the same images.
I like all the Gundam series equally. I don’t really hate any of them, but I do slightly dislike the mobile suit designs in Zeta. Hating any Gundam show is just narrow minded and pretty stupid as each has it’s own way of telling the story and it’s own target audience. If certain people disliked a certain Gundam series then that just means they weren’t part of the author’s intended target audience for that show. No need to bash one Gundam series to praise another. It is practically all the same when you look at the plot line and such. Bash one series and you bash the franchise as a whole. I also noticed the fans also go as far as to bash any tribute content as “ripping the show off”, while Macross does the same and doesn’t get bashed for it.
Gundam isn’t only about mobile suits or Newtype ace pilots, but the various hidden messages throughout the Gundam franchise. Many people with some form of superiority complex may simply shrug off Tomino’s hidden message, however, its something to take note of.
And if I had to choose my favorite Gundam series from the Gundam franchise? 08th Team, Unicorn, and MS Igloo would be up there.
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2) Fate/Stay Night
After a long Gundam hibernation from 2004, Fate/Stay Night re-awakened my interest for anything Anime and started my interest in the Japanese culture. Fate/Stay Night showed me that Anime wasn’t afraid of saying what it wanted, that it could get as dark or serious as the author wanted.
The music for the show was all dark and moody, the opening flowed like calm cool water, and the action was mostly serious. The city the characters interacted with is also a real city in Japan – Fuyuki. The author event went as far as to the the heroes with mythological heroes from all corners of the globe, even if the genders and bio are slightly twisted.
The trend is probably obvious that I also grew to like Saber, like any other fan of the show out there. Saber was cool before she started getting all these variants in fashion and openly milked. I have various Saber merchandise with a lack of any others from the same series. Figma Saber Lily is my most expensive Figma, sitting at $180 CAD with shipping and all.
Many people find Emiya annoying, which may be true, but I know far more annoying people in both our world and the digital world. Though, being serious, I do know Emiya is a whiny character but I found that justified as characters can’t be all the same from one show to the next. I was able to watch the series twice over in a short period of time without any problems with Emiya. Heck, even in the re-cap Emiya was tolerable.
If you’re interested then you can check out the real world map of Fate/Stay Night here – http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Knight/3492/ – Fuyuki!
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3) Wagaya no Oinari-Sama
The first humanoid Fox Anime show I watched and actually enjoyed. The series is half serious and half comical making sure the audience isn’t all that bored or overwhelmed with serious information. This show also got me to like mythological anime girls with fox ears and tails. No, no, I don’t mean actual girls trying to be cute but fictional girls that are actually cute and not forcing themselves to be cute. Actually, maybe I can allow exceptions as some gals can actually cosplay kitsune girls properly.
An added influence of the show would be the 9-tailed Arctic Fox (Kitsune = Fox) named Varsis who has similar abilities as the one from the show. Don’t worry, I made sure my character isn’t a copycat-sue. I’ll be keeping the background secretive, for now, as I don’t want people copying in boredom.
Kitsune Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsune
I don’t have any merchandise from the show as there weren’t many for purchase during the time I was watching the show. I’d recommend others to watch this as well as the show is amusingly hilarious.
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4) Spice and Wolf
(Sorry for the dub, best watched in Japanese – subbed.)
I actually enjoyed this show that I’m still waiting for more. The setting, the folklore tuned music, Holo (or Horo), Lawrance and his merchant ways, and the topic of economy is an interesting Anime to watch when molded gently into what it was shown as. The concept/plot alone is enough to make you watch Holo’s antics at being a cute wise wolf of the North.
Similar to Wagaya, I’ve been seeking merchandise but lucked out in purchasing any.
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5) Flag
(Opening instead, trailer was German.)
Flag? Flag is an Anime which merges photography with photo-journalism and mecha warfare. Everything is kept realistic and the story is told through a video blog style episodes. I enjoyed this Anime because of the tone, the photography subject, and the high mobility mecha unit within the show. I’d recommend people to check out Flag and to give it a bit more support as it really is a nicely told Anime story.
If we were to get a first prototype of Mechas then the unit in this story would be the one for those seeking to make mechas practical on the battlefield.
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6) The Book of Bantorra
Many semi-to-highly creative story writers/authors tend to compare human lives to books. Every human being on Earth is a book who enters many unique to boring chapters all depending on how they interact in life. Eureka Seven was the first Anime I seen to visualize such an expression or comparison to human lives; The Book of Bantorra being the first to do so in a full story and concept. The tone of the story tends to very serious and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Why? The story deals with human lives, slavery, death, and humans turning into readable books.
The basic story is that there is an archive storing these “books”, the Church doing cruel things to the humans labeled “meats”, guardians to the library who have special powers, and characters sharing their tales in this alternate world. The story is gloomy with a small sprinkle of light. And no, this story isn’t all “emo” (emotional) as bored Anime viewers say. If anything, it is a cruel slice-of-life type anime.
I’d love to expand on this but I’m just worried about hitting spoilers.
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7) Seirei no Moribito
A female spear wielder tasked with protecting a royal child containing a water spirit. I found this quite interesting and enjoyed the few traditional themed music tracks and the combat scenes. I also found this interesting as it wasn’t trying to be mainstream but itself. The author just wanted to tell the story of a female bodyguard without all the fluff needed to attract attention depraved individuals. The combat moves appear to be realistic but the world they live in appears to be based off some Southwestern part of China.
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Honorable mentions:
Just to mention a few other interesting Anime that almost got me interested over a long period of time. The list may be too big for Honorable mentions, though, these are the shows that I find make Anime Anime. Some were extremely close to becoming the top 7 on the above list.
– Shounen Onmyouji
– Speed Grapher
– Wolfs Rain
– Macross franchise
– Rosario + Vampire
– Shingetsutan Tsukihime
– Utawarerumono
– The Skull man
– Skip Beat!
– Kurokami
– Shikabane Hime: Aka
– Shakugan no Shana
– Pumpkin Scissors
– Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
– Kara no Kyoukai
– Last Exile
– Kannagi
– Initial D
– Jin-Roh
– Jigoku Shoujo
– Heroric age
– Great Teacher Onizuka
– Gantz
– Ga-Rei Zero
– First Squad
– ef – a tale of melodies.
– Kanon
– Clannad
– Ah! My Goddess
– Ergo Proxy
– Elfin Lied
– Crystal Blaze
– Chrome Shelled Regios
– Chobits
– Blue Seed
– Bamboo Blade
– Asura Cryin’
– Area 88
– Air
– 5 Centimeters per Second
– Eden of the East
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Wheres Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, and Dragonball Z? Over-rated. I would of added Death Note but you people know about it through Anime raping. I chose what I liked and some did with theirs. Feel free to share your top 7 here or somewhere else.
Alright, that should be it from the 300 shows I seen. If there isn’t anything of interest in the top 7 or the honorable mentions then I expect you’re one of those fake Anime Otaku’s stiring up trouble, using Anime as a popularity status, a spoiled individual, a troll, or simply narrow minded. Granted, there are those that can’t get into Anime due to preferences or they’re not into the certain style. I’m also aware there are horrid Anime out there, I simply drop them on the first episode and forget about them.