Anime Worth Watching: An Opinion

A comment from Hanny has me thinking about which anime I like and how to go about recommending them. The problem is the style and content varies so much that they are hard to compare to each other. If I were an otaku it would be so much easier because I would like every new piece of trash that comes down the pike. But since I am just an entertainment lover and anime is just a minor subset of what I watch, my likes are very different.

Then there is the problem of trying to rank TV series against theatrical movies, which causes my brain to melt down. But hey, I like tilting at windmills, so here goes. My top three TV series are tied at number uno, so things get messy right off the bat:

1. Fractale, Area 88, Kimi ni Todoke
2. Spirited Away
3. Summer Wars
4. Only Yesterday
5. Squid Girl
6. Princess Mononoke
7. Howl’s Moving Castle
8. Porco Rosso
9. Castle in the Sky
10. C: Control
11. Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth
12. Space Brothers
13. Bleach
14. Kiki’s Delivery Service
15. Tiger and Bunny
16. Whisper of the Heart
17. Bubblegum Crisis Toyko 2040
18. The Cat Returns
19. Denpa Onna
20. FLCL
21. Akira
22. My Neighbor Totoro
23. Nausicaa Valley of the Wind
24. Hellsing

There are some series I have not finished that might make the list eventually, including Tsuritama, Kids on the Slope, and Night Raid 1931. I have probably forgotten a few, since I did this off the top of my head. This also means the rankings are not set in stone, except for the trio tied at the top.

All titles are owned (if available) or on the to buy list except Akira and Hellsing. Those are on the list for nostalgia’s sake as my tastes have changed. There is one notable omission, Grave of the Fireflies, due to it being the most heart wrenching movie I have ever seen. Brilliant, but so depressing I do not think I could ever watch it a second time.

I will eventually get around to reviewing the remaining, but that will take a few years at the rate I write reviews. Fractale, Croisee, and Tiger and Bunny are all supposed to be out in the USA within the next year, but no word on C: Control and I doubt Denpa Onna will get a release since it never got a streaming engagement in the States. With Media Blasters going under, I doubt Squid Girl season two will make it out either.

Many of the TV series are available at legal streaming services for free, such as Hulu, Crunchyroll, Crackle, and The Anime Network.

After starting writing out why I like each one, I realized that would make for a gigantic post. Maybe I will get around to posting that later for people to ignore.