http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/opinion/06Cohen.html?ref=opinion http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MitadakeHigh http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/02/bush-oral-history200902?

printable=true&currentPage=all War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning Botepuri Kanda Family Havana Nocturne The Longest Journey (video game) A Preface to Morality -Erinyes -Uninstall (also piano version) -you (dai) Lisa Hannigan OMAMORI HIMARI: Finished: Chapter 5 NARUTARU: Finished: Volume 8 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: Finished: 14 MONSTER: will start from beginning at some point in time FIST OF THE NORTH STAR: Finished: 58 WTF Pokemon: Finished: Episode 16 Venom: Harry/Ginny (Veritaserum) Finished: Page 6 Patrick Rothfusss Blog Finished: July 2007 OST 2 - 03 OST 2 - 16 OST 2 - 21 (I reserve the right to update this depending on my current mood) (Also, ratings are relative to other animes, not entertainment products in general. There are several non-animes Id place above my #1 spot. After all, I may like anime, but its definitely not the Best.Thing.Ever. Its just really easy to legally download. ^_^) Top Ten: 1) Kinos Journey [Kino no Tabi] (best anime Ive ever seen. Not only that, but one of the best fictional projects I have ever seen. Why? I could say a lot. I could say a lot. But it all boils down to this: Kinos Journey is

the only thing Ive ever seen that is an artistic projection of Kegan Level 5 thought. Dialectic? Check. Inter-institutional? Oh yeah. Self-transformation? Holy fucking mother of God check ten thousand times. Kinos Journey is all about the main character [Kino, obviously] travelling around and observing how various ideologies end up completely contradicting themselves. And the best partthe part that makes this anime utter genius? It never tries to solve the problems it raises. It asks questions, kinda sorta gives solutions, but ultimately just throws its hands up in the air and says But in the end, I dont really have any fucking clue. That is the foundation of true philosophy, and Kinos Journey is like the only fucking fictional product that understands this. I love the shit out of this show, if you cant tell. Really really really fucking good. So good that Im even breaking my own rule of endings have to be the best partthe last episode is arguably the worst episode (not bad, just not up to the standards of the others), but I dont care. The OVA eps arent that good, but I dont fucking care. Sorry, Im kind of in the middle of intellectual ecstasy while writing this because I just realized that bit about Kegan above. When I calm down, the above will look kinda stupid, but still. Kinos Journey is far more brilliant than I ever thought it was. Holy shit is it good.) (rating: TEN OUT OF MOTHERFUCKING TEN) 2) FLCL (the main weapons are guitars. That alone gets it on this list. The fact that it has the best execution of a concept ever gets it the #1 spot. Oh, you want details? Fine. It has great, well-rounded characters that clearly develop and change throughout the series without beating you over the head about it. Its storyline, though cliched in parts, is very original in other parts as well and is actually quite interesting. It has a large amount of quite humorous scenes, as well as some fantastic action sequences. It has amazing animation, and one of the best musical scores in the history of anime. It even has a non-pretentious theme to it. And it does all this in six episodes, giving it more rewatchability than anything else on this list. Even the random craziness has its charm, and it can be fun trying to figure it out (that is, if you dont have someone tell you what the hells going on like what happened with me >_>); plus it makes any rewatches much more enjoyable than they would otherwise be. Basically, I cant find anything to complain about. There, are those enough details for you? Asshole. P.S.: Please unwind more often Gainax.) (rating: 9.98/10) 2) GIANT ROBO The Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still (This OVA both amazes and confuses me. Its ostensibly a mecha OVA, but most fights are between people! Its strongly influenced by retroness (the main characters are the Experts of Justice, for fucks sake), yet it has less of a clear good/evil divide than most! It was originally supposed to be the penultimate of a series of OVAs, yet nothing else in the storyline has been made!! And I cant decide if the ending is

the best ending ever or the worst!!! Aklkathsdlkfb!!!! (edit: I have now decided that it is the best ending ever made, precisely because of the fact that I couldnt decide beforehand. Any ending that produces such strong emotions is fucking incredible.) ...*ahem*, that aside, this perfectly-paced OVA is filled to the brim with great characters, an epic storyline, amazing fight scenes, terrific drama, multiple plot twists, an orchestral, operatic soundtrack, and...you know what? Fuck it. Just watch it. Damn.) (rating: who knows? Who cares? I dont even know why I put it here. I couldve put it in first or tenth just as easily. Fuck you all. Im going home.) 3) Planetes (the most realistic space story I have ever seen/read in any medium. Yes, you read that right. No giant mechas, no teleporters, no laser guns, no huge spaceship dogfights...you can actually imagine that the events in this anime could actually take place, which is quite amazing, really. Plus, its an actual SPACE storyits literally about space itself, which is also quite amazing. Anyway, the first 15 or so episodes are mostly fairly light space-stories-of-the-week fare, and while entertaining, would probably be rated at about an 8.5-9/10 (if only because its a realistic space story. I keep saying that because thats what pushed the series over the top, for me. The series brought out my inner space geek). Starting from episode 16, though, the space-stories-of-the-week stop being fluffy (although they were never really that, its a convenient term) and start being extremely dramaticin a good way. Then, starting at about episode 19, the series finally gets a plot...and what a plot it is. Episode 24, especially, contains one of my favorite scenes in any anime ever (which is incidentally also the climax of the series). From that point on, the show becomes 10/10. Great characters, great storyline, politics, drama, character development, and action. My only complaints are that the first 15 episodes were only good to great, and the ending was a little weak (specifically, one particular part of the ending was weak). Still, the anime is quite amazing. Goro Taniguchi, youre a fucking God.) (rating: 9.8/10) 4) Infinite Ryvius (Lord of the Flies in space + Evangelion + 20 plus main characters pulled off really well, and executed masterfully. Also notable in that it has one of the few anime endings Ive actually liked (only complaint is they forgot about 2 characters at the end...but with like 20 characters storylines they had to wrap up, this is forgivable). If you like Lord of the Flies, Evangelion, or drama in general, DEFINITELY watch it. Dont thinkwatch. Now. By the way: The OP is fantastic. Not to mention that it has an English version sung by the same person, with the exact same rhythm and meaning. Absolutely no Engrish, either (the singer is bilingual, and so is apparently the songwriter). Now thats impressive. Actually, the music as a whole is really impressive, considering theres absolutely no j-pop or j-rock. It serves the series really well (God, would j-pop ruin the

mood). Incidentally, does Goro Taniguchi have, like, the Midas Touch? Is he Japans secret weapon? Should we clone him? I, for one, support that endeavor.) (rating: 9.75/10) 5) Cowboy Bebop (approximately 1/4 of it is the best episodes ever animated (11/10). The other 3/4 is only good to great (7.5-9/10, depending on the episode). Would be higher than Planetes if it was more realistic (but then again, no space story will ever be more realistic than Planetes, so I guess thats an unrealistic (haha...puns) expectation)), and higher than Infinite Ryvius if it had less stand-alone episodes. P.S.: Watch the movie too. P.P.S.: Real Folk Blues and Gotta Knock a Little Harder = best anime songs ever. This cannot be debated, for it is fact.) (rating: 9.7/10) ***note: #5 is about where Id place most of my favorite American TV shows like Firefly, House, 24, Law & Order (the original), Bullshit!, Family Guy, Futurama, Daily Show, Colbert Report, etc. Just for your information.*** 6) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (And now for something completely different... >_> (seriously, Cowboy Bebop and Haruhi are different in just about every imaginable way). Anyway, school life + harem + comedy + fanservice + original good storyline + interesting round characters (well...at least a few of them are interesting and round) + action (in one episode) + fantastic animation + fantastic music + great voice acting + mystery + sci-fi + philosophy. And every one of those is done well. On the other hand, it can get a bit slow in places, and the actual plot only happens in like...4 episodes. And while the entire slice-of-life comedy thing is done very well and is quite entertaining...I still prefer drama and action. Which is why this is lower than the space operas.) (rating: 9.6/10) 7) Revolutionary Girl Utena (okay, so I was a little overzealous in placing this in the wildcards category. The Gainax Ending threw me off. So what is Utena, in three words? Deconstructed Shoujo Surrealism. Im not kidding. With an obviously low budget and made in 1997, this anime manages to be one of the most subversive things Ive ever seen. Apparently not content with merely implied interracial lesbians (which begins in the OP), the makers of this anime decide to include just about every possible sexual act that involves humans. Straight, gay, lesbian, pedophilia, incest, intraracial, interracial... Then, not satisfied with THAT, they decide to up the surreal factor of the anime in the last arc. While most of it is reasonably sensical, they just go for a complete mindfuck in the last arc. Think they were finished there? Nope, sorry. The creators of the anime then decided, well, now that weve come this far, why not deconstruct practically every

shoujo trope ever? Why not, indeed? Anyway, Im not going to tell you any details about the characters and the plot, because really, its way too complicated and convoluted to give a summary. Ill just say that the entire anime is really masterfully done, though also really fucking confusing. Really, the only reason its this far down is because almost none of the characters got proper endingsnot to mention the karma houdinis. Plus, it has a different insert song for every episode. Thats right: A. Different. Insert. Song. Every. Episode. P.S.: This is practically the only fiction thing Ive ever experienced that had unreliable flashbacks (arguable exception: Giant Robo). Go Utena. P.P.S.: The movies...interesting.) (rating: Fuck, just watch the damn thing/10) 8) The Vision of Escaflowne (I really enjoyed this series, and I really like the genre, toomainly drama, with some romance, action, politics, and philosophy thrown in, too. Oh, and fantasytheres not nearly enough fantasy anime. It was generally executed really well, with two complaints: 1. It left a little too much unexplained (such that the It looks like DEM now, but itll be explained later so its okay moments remained DEM) and 2. The ending, while not *bad*, couldve been done better, I think. Dont expect anything revolutionary or terribly original (even given it was made in 1996), and get past the kinda slow beginning, and this series is amazing. Oh, and I was completely blown away by the music, especially the OP. Worth watching just for that, IMO.) (Rating: 9.4/10) 9) Elfen Lied (made me feel sorry for a mass murderer...and pretty much everyone else in the show. While Planetes did the whole comedy + drama thing much better, this has gratuitous violence and nudity, so they somewhat balance out (with the advantage going to Planetes, since we always have Fist of the North Star for gratuitous violence and pornography for gratuitous nudity). Oh, and OP is the best OP ever. P.S.: There is a scene wherein four children are torn apart by invisible arms and thus killed. The general consensus is that this killing is not brutal enough. If youre anything like me, that will make you want to watch this anime.) (rating: 9.3/10) 10) Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series (this counts as anime, dammit. Anyway, this anime is fucking hilarious. LittleKuriboh is a fucking God. No, seriously. Ive shown this to many people, theyve shown it to many people, and the only person Ive heard of (outside the internet) who doesnt love this series is my mother. The sheer universality of the humor is really quite amazing. Also, this: From: Giru 017 | Posted: 8/8/2007 7:43:13 PM | Message Detail The thing is: Not only does LK imitate the voices perfectly, he spoofs the series

while also throwing TONS of memes, inside jokes and a number of things that make it funny. It's not because he was a first that SCREW THE RULES, I HAVE MONEY, IN AMERICA and CHILDRENS CARD GAME became memes of their own... it's because he simply does everything right and after 23 eps + movie + special eps, he continues to be the funniest (and one actually takes a liking and caring for HIS character versions of YGO) --Plus, even after 27 episodes, a movie, and other extras, the quality hasnt decreasedif anything, its increased. Its really incredible, if you think about it. If LittleKuriboh participates in any commercial work, Id buy it instantly, and Im pretty sure hundreds, if not thousands, of others would, too. If this series had a serious storyline or characters, it would be in the top 3. And all this from some random guy who lives in England. The internet is fucking amazing.) (rating: 9/10) Numbers 11-14! Why not? 11) Gunbuster (what can I say about this that hasnt already been said? This right here is a piece of anime history, so it seems kind of unfair to evaluate it by present standards. That said, even by present standards, its really good. Besides, its only 6 30-minute episodes. Watch. Enjoy.) (rating: I dunno...9.3/10, I guess. The first two episodes are a bit weak, considering they make up 1/3 of the storyline. The last two are really good, though. I think the main reason this isnt higher is that I personally enjoyed episode 5 more than episode 6, and the climax should always be the most enjoyable. Probably the best last scene in the history of anime, though.) 12) Paranoia Agent (psychological thriller with ethical issues!!! Its just missing something...dont ask me to be more specific. >_>) (rating: 9.2/10) 13) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex + 2nd Gig (extremely well-done. It just gets boring in parts. Still, politics!) (rating: 9.1/10) 14) Code Geass (I hear Code Geass was made when some people from Sunrise thought, What makes an anime awesome?, and then made an anime that incorporated everything they got from that brainstorming session. Im not sure if thats true or not, but it wouldnt surprise me. This anime has so much shit in it that its a little overwhelming when thinking about itbut its done so well that you dont notice it while actually watching the series. I credit Goro Taniguchi for that, myself. Anyway, at its heart, this series is just pure entertainment. While it has several interesting, deep characters and an intriguing storyline, those basically take second fiddle to entertainment. The best way I can describe it is a trainwreck that hasnt happened yetwhile the plot hasnt collapsed in on itself yet, its always teetering on the edge. In other words, it combines the best qualities of a trainwreck (entertainment) with the best qualities of a non-trainwreck (a good

storyline/characters). I mean, the mecha have fucking rollerblades, for Christs sake. How can the storyline/characters be remotely good!? The answer, by the way, is Goro Taniguchi. But I digress. Note: The series has an extremely strong start, with 1 and 2 being some of the best first episodes in anime history (as far as Im concerned). Unfortunately, it starts to slow down a bit after that, and while good, its not great again until about episode 14. 14-21 manage to get things moving again...and then we have episode 22. Never before have I literally gawked at my screen for 10 minutes thinking This cant be happening. They didnt actually do that, did they?, and it will probably never happen again. That until 25 was terrific, and episodes 22-25 by themselves definitely deserve at least a 9.8/10. Really, the main reason this series isnt in my top ten already is because its only half over. BTW, yes, it was a completely random and unexpected plot twist in episode 22. That was the point. What the hell do you think youre watching, Cowboy Bebop? Just be glad its so entertaining without all the characters and storylines going to shit. Note2: The Mao arc was actually pretty good, except for one really lame, badly explained, stupid plot twist. Which was really lame and stupid, but hey, no animes perfect...well, except maybe for FLCL. >_> R2: Okay, I guess I should explain in a fair amount of detail. Overall, R2 was quite entertaining. In some ways, it was more Code Geass than R1, in that it was more epic, had more insane plot twists, and MUCH more of Lelouch being incredibly awesome (Lelouch, at least, is definitely in at least the top 3 of best anime characters ever). It also, on reflection and in a vacuum, has a fantastic ending. But there are two major problems with it: 1) For some reason, most of R2 felt off for me. I dont really know whyI honestly cant put a finger on it. The Rossman (whose opinions I agree with more often than not) had the same impression. He put it on R2 kind of copying R1, but I disagreeR2's plotlines were (mostly) fairly distinct. But whatever the reason, this was a drag on the first half or so of R2. 2) The ending, while great, left about 9,001 unanswered questions and unresolved plotlines. A lot mightve been minor, but a lot were major too. The highlights: C.C.s real name, Xingkes disease, Suzakus spinkickiness, Charles and Mariannes history (including Bismarcks geass), the apparent made-up history of the world, Naoto (Kallens brother), Kanon... The list goes on. One or two, while annoying, is forgivable. 9,001 is bad planning on a massive scale. Which is fitting for Code Geass, which is a lot of things on a massive scale, but thats only good for positive qualities, guys. Now, I hear that Taniguchi was forced to change his plans somewhat because of asshole Sunrise executives. Myself being a certified Taniguchi fanboy at this

point, this leads me to conclude that the aforementioned two things (as well as everything else bad about Code Geass, and also possibly in everything Taniguchi has ever touched) can be attributed to the said asshole executives. If only Taniguchi would found his own animation company. Either that, or become the chief director/storymaker of Kyoto Animation. Best team-up ever? Well, no. But close. Maybe it would even convince KyoAni to make fucking Haruhi season 2 already grrr >:O.) (rating: R1: 9.5/10. R2: 8.5/10. In total: 9/10) Honorable Mentions (Great except for one or two significant flaws): -Neon Genesis Evangelion (if it could be fully understood without buying a bunch of supplemental materials, it would be in the top 10. As it is, its a fascinating concept, but the execution...yeah, the execution couldve been much better. Studios, take note: Budget management is *extremely important*. I cry for the Eva that couldve been. Maybe if Kyoto remade it...it definitely deserves it more than fucking Kanon. The movies should be interesting, but I dont think even 4 movies is enough time to truly give Eva what it deserves.) (rating: 8.5/10) -Samurai Champloo (its a lot like Cowboy Bebopeven made by the same people, I believe, or at least has the same directorin that its mainly stand-alone episodes and has a group of characters traveling together. On the other hand, it is worse than Cowboy Bebop in that it has worse characters, a worse setting (space > Japan, hip-hop or not), worse storylines usually, its main storyline only appears at the end (as opposed to every five or so episodes like Bebop), and most importantly, its ending is much worse. Now, this is not to say Samurai Champloo is badit is very goodbut Bebop had strengths to make up for its episodic nature, whereas SC...didnt. Then again, it has the baseball episode, which is one of the best episodes ever. Worth watching, but dont expect anything revolutionary, Utena or otherwise.) (rating: 8.5/10) -GunXSword (okay, first of all: Directed by Goro Taniguchi. Now that thats out of the way... GunXSword is a good series. It really is. The characters are all likable, the plot is interesting, the mecha battles are cool, and its overall very well-done. Plus, its very easy to watcheach episode flows naturally into the next, and each ends with you wanting more [even the series ends that way, although thats not to say the ending isnt satisfactoryit is]. In short, its quality is quite high; it now resides in my Great Anime folder. So why does it only get an 8.5/10? In the fourth season of House, the one where he does the pseudo-reality show, he gets confronted by one of the applicants he turned down. She didnt make any mistakes, she complainswhy was she fired? House explained that it was because, while the others made mistakes, they also took risks. She didnt, so she got fired. Similar reasoning is at work for my placement of GunXSword here. Its a high-

quality series that made little mistakes. But it didnt take any big risks either. It took a tried-and-true formula and executed it really well, but it didnt go that extra mile, it didnt take that extra risk to truly be one of the best. So its here, because not having any true really interesting original qualities is a flaw in itself. This is a higher-quality series than some ranked above it, and its definitely not badI highly recommend it. But like Samurai Champloo, dont expect to be particularly blown away.) (rating: 8.5/10) -Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (really entertaining. However, the 1st arc was kind of empty, the 2nd arc was a little boring/average, and the ending to the 3rd arc couldve been done better. Also, the first half had a little too many gratuitous Look at this! This is badass! moments (two were done very well, but the rest...). Plus, the whole character depth? Whats that? issue. It kind of reminds me of Code Geass, in that the main point is entertainment, except without the interesting characters (all of TTGLs characters are extremely flat, and theyre also all the same) and storyline. On the other hand, the 4th arc is one of my favorite arcs ever (right up there with the Planetes arc and the entirety of FLCL and GIANT ROBO), so thats a definite plus. Or, to be more accurate, the 4th arc is what made it get this far. Still one of the best super robot shows ever, so watch if you like that kind of thing. (The best super robot show is, of course, GIANT ROBO) P.S.: ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWAH!!! (that song is probably the best thing in the series, incidentally)) (rating: 8.5/10) -Akagi (This anime asks the following question: What if Light Yagami was a delinquent who was forced to play mahjong one time? It also answers that question: Awesomeness. Unfortunately, the weakest part is the ending, since it drags on a bit and well...lets just say that it ends RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOST EXCITING PART, and is a cliffhanger that rivals Code Geass R1's. At least its kind enough to show us the end result...sort of. v_v We all know how frustrated I am when the endings the weakest part. Nevertheless, its a really entertaining series. A little bit of mahjong knowledge is preferable, but not totally necessary. Still, watch it if you liked Death Note. It really is Death Note + Mahjong.) (rating: 8.5/10) (Japanese Mahjong info: http://mahjonginmame.nm.ru/index.htm) -Kaiji (you know how Akagi is Light plays Mahjong? Well, Kaiji is Matsuda with Xanatos Gambit abilities plays simple gambling games. Oh, and it also leaves open the very real possibility that Kaiji (the main character) will lose, because he DOES. Often. Its really fucking depressing, actually. Great psychological battles and Aesops, and also NEEDS A SEQUEL RAWR) (rating: 8.5/10) -Black Lagoon (hooray for post-ending euphoria reviews. :D This is another one of those pure entertainment series. Sure, it tries to make a few philosophical points (badly, I might add, but it tries)...but in the end, were

watching it for the action and the badasses (and there are so many of them too). What knocks it down a bit is that its a bunch of mini-arcs instead of one overarching story (I always prefer the overarching story), and the only character whos really round is Rock. Also, the best arcHansel & Gretelwas episodes 1315, and the best arc should always be last. Still, Revy and Balalaika = <3 <3 <3. P.S.: Yukio was a bitch. Balalaika lied and betrayed you? Who first tried to kill whom, here? Yeah, the leader of your group first tried to kill Balalaika. God, was Yukio a hypocrite. Plus, at the end, she wimped out and ended up killing herself after her boytoy died. Man, that last arc was mediocre. P.P.S.: Episode 15 was the best episode of the series, and Im sure Hansel and Gretel got about 100% of their inspiration from Elfen Lieds Lucy. I didnt think it was possible to have me almost throwing up after a characters actions, then being sad when they die in the very next episode. I mean, at least Hansel (Gretel? Whatever) got the honor of being killed by Balalaika in a badass way... Gretel (Hansel?) was sneak-attacked by Random Oneshot Old Dude. And there were so many storyline possibilities, too. ;_; Hansel and Gretel = among my most favorite villains ever. Of course, they did make Higurashi look tame by comparison. >_> P.S.S.P.: This is based off of a manga, so I assume theres more material. Heres to hoping theres a third season! Except apparently the studio went bankrupt, so... v_v) (rating: 8.5/10) -Fullmetal Alchemist (first of all, I want to say that I do think the second half of this anime gets a bad rap sometimes. Yes, it is worse than the first half, and yes, the plot kind of unravels in the last few episodes...but before the ending, its actually not as bad as most make it out to be. That said, the last 8 or so episodes contain certain plot points that...well, that werent really thought out at all. Oh well.) (rating: 8.5/10) NOTE: Apparently, FMA is getting a new anime that will actually follow the manga this time. This has a high probability of resulting in large doses of awesome. Stay tuned. -Death Note (Damn, if only it ended after Part 1. Its not like Part 2 was *bad*...but it was noticeably worse than Part 1. Anyway, this is basically shounen except with intelligence instead of fighting prowess, and the Xanatos Roulettes these characters pull off are really interesting to watch/read about.) (rating: 8.5/10) Other Notables: -Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (After much reflection, I think this is about the right place for Higurashi...probably. >_> Higurashis different. Its essentially a mystery/horror/suspense/drama show...not your typical set of genres, to say the least. Oh, and it has some comedy/slice-oflife too, I guess, but nobody watches it for that. Now, the reason why Im having so much trouble with Higurashi is the following:

First of all, it does some things extremely well. Going into it with phrases like killer lolis running through my head, I was expecting some kind of so bad its good B-movie type deal. Instead, I honestly found myself being dragged into its universe (though I may just have a much better ability to suspend my disbelief than some people...see Code Geass above). While the first arc was admittedly the best at this, I did find myself getting creeped out at a number of times. The suspense was fantastic, and as an outgrowth of that, so was the drama. The mystery was also quite fascinatingsort of a combination of a conventional murder mystery and the conventional ontological mystery. Second of all, it does some things pretty well; namely, the comedy/slice-of-life portions. It is true that I found myself wishing they would get this crap done with through most of those times, and move on to, you know, the parts we actually cared about. Still, they served their purposeI did find myself growing attached to the characters, especially Rena (though her crazy mode, outfit, and choice of weapon had a lot to do with that, as well). Note that, since I knew all these characters were going to die repeatedly, this is quite a feat. (Owned, Titanic) However, the main problem is that it also does some things extremely poorly. First of all, the mystery. While the mystery itself is really interesting, the payoffthat is, the answerwell, isnt. This is especially true of Kai (rant about Kai coming later), but it crops up in the first series as well. The best mysteries have fascinating answers, and Higurashi has boring ones. The second major problem is a general decline in arc quality. The first arc was really good, and remains my favorite part of Higurashi to this day. The second arc wasnt quite as good, but was still interesting and suspenseful. The third arc, again, got worse, and at times I felt like I was watching out of obligation; but it still had enough interesting facets that it wasnt horrible. The fourth arc was clearly background-setup, so while boring, was forgivable. The fifth arc...ugh. It was six episodes, but you essentially knew what would happen after, at the very latest, the third. The last half of this arc is the definition of how not to do drama (at least until, you know, Kai came along >_>). The sixth arc managed to be better, but never managed to quite re-capture the magic of the first, or even the third, arc. And, as you might know by now, a series going from good>bad is much much worse than one going from bad>good. So, why is it so high? In the end, its probably out of respect of the original material. Ive never played the original visual novel, but its apparently fantastic, and definitely better than the anime. In the end, it seems the problem lies with Studio DEENif a competent studio had been given the project, the results might have been much different. On reflection, most of the strength of Higurashi does come from its storyline, writing, and characters, as opposed to the animation and direction. Its really a shame.) (rating: 8/10, I guess. Ive never had as hard a problem rating a show as HigurashiI seem to peg it somewhere in the range of 79, which is of course a huge difference in terms of this list. 8 is the average, so

yeah. The rating might also change, depending on how I feel. (Edit: The only series I have a harder time rating right now, other than the Wildcards, is GIANT ROBO.) LOL KAI RANT (also lol spoilers): Higurashi is lucky that I grade its seasons separately. Kai took everything that was good about Higurashi, burned it to some evil god of Bad Fiction, and then kept everything that was bad about Higurashi. First, remember how I praised the suspense and horror aspects of the first series? Nope, not here anymore. No one goes crazy except Takano, which is unforgivable. Instead, for our villains, we have the Yamainu, who arent nearly as interesting or frightening as K1, Rena, Shion, or Satoko. This was literally the best part of Higurashi, and it just isnt there in Kai. Next, the mystery. I mentioned before how the mystery itself is fascinating, but the answers arent. That appears full-force in Kai. Kais job is to solve the mysteries of the first series, and, well, I suppose it does that. Unfortunately, the answer to almost all the mysteries is A parasite thats unique to Hinamizawa and makes anyone it infects crazy. No, really, thats the answer. I wish I was making this shit up, but Im not. Third, the slice-of-life/comedy aspect? Well, its still there, and I guess its about the sametheres just less of it. Instead, we get crappy drama. Oh, lord, do we get crappy drama. The only reason Kai isnt a waste of good money that couldve saved starving children in Africa is that its a perfect example of how not to do drama, especially that thrice-damned final arc. Oh, yes, having no suspense whatsoever is a perfect idea! Speaking of the last arc, remember how the arcs generally declined in quality in the first season? There are essentially three arcs this time (the first episode doesnt count as an arc). The first two arcs are roughly similar to the last two of the first series, in terms of quality. Then the final arc just takes a huge nosedive into an ocean of shit. Really, it was two episodes of fairly interesting Takano backstory, then 9 episodes that almost put me to sleep. It is simply unforgivable to take such an interesting concept as Higurashi and make it into...well, this mess. Oh, and to add insult to injury, Rena is a minor character in Kai. A minor character! I mean, yeah, they gave her a Crowning Moment of Awesome, but still... A minor character! Instead, they gave attention to Satoko (while I dont hate her, she does tend to be annoying), Rika (whos actually pretty cool, though Rena is better of course), Hanyuu (blatant, boring moe-moe), and at the end, Mion (the Queen of Higurashi Boringness who shouldve stayed a red herring). Its blasphemy, it really is. Kai gets a 0/10. I mean, to be fair, it would normally be about a 3 or so, but ruining the great mystery of Higurashi knocks it down to that. It should feel lucky Im generous enough to not give it a negative number. Fuck you, Studio DEEN. I hope you go bankrupt and donate all your money to

charity. Or better animation studios. P.S.: A happily ever after ending for everyone in the series? Are you serious? Are you fucking serious? -s-CRY-ed (also really entertaining. Unlike TTGL, it started off pretty bad, but slowly got better and better as it went on, until the second half began, which managed to maintain a consistent level of quality. Has better characters and storyline than TTGL, but is less of a pure adrenaline rush, and also less purely entertaining. Also, pure. Oh yeah, and the ending is much better. Plus, you know, directed by Goro Taniguchi. >_>) (rating: 8/10) -Claymore (The manga is the shounen fans wet dream. Great action, good plot, awesome characters, AND 95% of the characters are hot women. Unfortunately, the anime, well...kinda sucks. At least the last 6 or so episodes do. A shame, really.) (rating: read the manga/10) -Trigun (first half was a little slow, and Vash can get annoying sometimes. Still, the second half was very good, and contains one of the best death scenes in all of anime. Seriously, its in the top 3 at the least.) (rating: 8/10) -ef - a tale of memories (Just as is our children learning?, how do you make a slice-of-life comedy harem series good? is not asked often enough. Haruhi gives one possible answer: Stuff as much shit into it as humanly possible and do it all well. ef gives another: Cut out the slice-of-life part, the comedy part, and the harem part, and replace them with drama and a few interesting philosophical questions. Whodve thunk it?) (rating: 8/10) -Eureka 7 (This is a well-done, epic anime. However, I do feel it could probably have been ~10 episodes shorter. Plus, you know, deus ex machina and all that. Still, Rentons character development is some of the best Ive ever seen. Of course, those fucking kids shouldve died in the backstory. A homage to the kids from the original Gundam series gone horribly, horribly wrong.) (rating: 8/10) -Im Gonna be an Angel (Tenshi ni Narumon) (perhaps the most successful Cerebus Syndrome in the history of fiction. Too bad it had to go and have a happily-ever-after-ending...and various other complaints I havemostly about Saras characterization and Noelle having the mental age of a 5-year-old. Oh, and that Karma Houdini.) (rating: 7.7/10) -Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha + As (StrikerS excluded. As an aside, fuck you whoever decided to make most of StrikerS focus on the horrible new characters and horrible storyline. The point of action anime is ACTION); Mai Hime; Zatch Bell (all here because theyre entertaining shounens with bad plot and flat characters. Yes, Nanoha and Mai Hime count as shounen) (ratings: they all get 7.5/10) -One Piece (adventure doesnt get enough love. This is a good adventure series, thus it = <3) (rating: 7.5/10) WILDCARD ZOMG (in very approximate order of quality, best to worst):

-Legend of the Galactic Heroes (You know, its sad. I want this to be in my top 10 list, I really do. 110 episode space opera epic (and it is truly an epic). Engaging and really well-done storyline, characters, and political argumentation. Very welldone drama, and even some humor. In short, the anime version of A Song of Ice and Fire...IN SPACE! How could I not love it? Well...to put it succinctly, literature and anime are two very different mediums, and they require different things. Books can have pages of exposition and dialogue, and it doesnt feel out of place or boring at all. Anime, on the other hand, needs action, forward-movingness, in short, pacing. Without it, it gets...well...boring. LotGH could have been truly amazing, if it realized the differences between its original medium (literature) and its current (anime), and worked to correct them. I dont mean get rid of the dialogue or the tactical battles, oh no. But include some action in the dialogue, something for the viewer to do other than sit back and listen. Reading is an active activity, but watching is a passive activityLotGH should have realized this, and made the dialogue as interesting as possible beyond merely the content. Maybe cut back a bit on the length of the dialogue. Maybe have some music. Maybe have the characters walk, or fight, or...something while talking. Ideally, a combination of all of the above. Then we have the battles. Like I said, I love that theyre realistically strategic and tactical, but this also means theyre boring to watch. Come on, its fucking starships! Lets have some flashiness, some flair! Unfortunately, little shifting patters on a screen and rows of battleships firing little lasers at each other dont quite cut it. This is not to say I didnt like LotGH. I did. Hell, I watched 110 episodes of the damn thing. But I can tell the books are a hell of a lot better than the series. It couldve been my favorite anime of all time. Instead, it gets wildcards: Would be amazing, if its pace was faster than a snails. If, unlike me, youre perfectly content with an extremely slow pace in anime, youre almost certain to love this series. P.S.: Reinhard = win. I have a sneaking suspicion that Lelouch of Code Geass fame was based off of him. In any case, I rooted for him the entire time, from episode 1 (or close to it) to episode 110. Note that his goal is to take over the universe. Reinhards one of the major reasons I enjoyed this show as much as I did. P.P.S.: The best arc is the last one. Maybe its because the animes director had to speed things up to get everything to fit in 110 episodes, but the pace felt just right in Part 4. Obviously, the best part of the show being the last 1/4 is a good thing...but less so when the show is as long as LotGH was. I think it wouldve been very well-served if it was, say, 80 or so episodes. Still, the last 1/4 lets LotGH be in my Great Anime folder. So, congratulations...I guess. Now to learn Japanese and get the books...) (rating: ???/10)

-Serial Experiments Lain (first of all, dont go into this expecting an anime. You know what? Scratch that. Dont go into this expecting a story, or expecting to be entertained. Lain is not just unlike any anime Ive ever watchedits unlike everything Ive ever watched or read. I had no idea what the fuck was going on the entire timenot a criticism (well, kind of a criticism), but a statement about what the anime is. It isnt meant to be fully understood, or even mostly understood. Its meant to be experienced. Thats really the best way I can describe it. Damn, that was really fucking pretentious. Anyway, it also has the saddest ending of any anime ever made, and probably of any anime that will ever be made (BOKURANO UPDATE: LOL GUYS THIS IS FALSE. Lain still has second though). That counts for something) (rating: ???/10) -Bokurano (you know? The less I say about this, the better. Its in wildcards because, like Lain, you dont really enjoy it (I found the Please look forward to the next episode! thing at the end sadly ironic)you watch it because its really good, although really, really depressing. Why is it depressing? Simple. There are effectively 15 main characters. They are all 13-14 years old. After the third episode, you find this out about them: 1) They must each pilot a giant robot and defeat another giant robot. 2) If they lose the fight, the Earth is destroyed. 3) If they win the fight, they die. So each episode is basically Well show you each kids backstory to make them really sympathetic, give them a Crowning Moment of Awesome by having them defeat a giant robot, then die. Oh, and this will happen 13 more times (the above three facts are revealed after the second kid dies). And its always sad. Though to be honest, I only cried 4 times (about 3 times more than any other anime has made me cry, of course). (Those 4 times? For some reason, I cried when Chizu and Daichi died. I think its because Chizu wished for her sister to be happy, and they cut to Daichis siblings crying. I then cried two times during the last episode, when they summarized the entire series for you, just to make sure the tragedy of it all was rammed down your throat full-force. I was literally choking back my tears at the end of the last episode, which I have never done for fictional characters, to the best of my memorynot even for Tanabe in Planetes 24. Bokurano rules tragedy.) Titanic and Higurashi have nothing on Bokurano, guys. NOTHING. P.S.: Bokuranos OPUninstallis the best OP ever (with the possible exception of Elfen Lieds). Its one of my favorite songs ever, and definitely my favorite Japanese song ever (with the possible exception of Real Folk Blues). Its singer Chiaki Ishikawais now my favorite Japanese singer (with the possible exception of Yoko Kanno). So yeah.) (rating: ???/10) -School Days (ahh, School Days... You know how I said that Haruhi and ef give two different answers to the question

How do you make a slife-of-life comedy harem series good? School Days gives a third. Essentially, it takes the basic harem set-up, that is: A) A lead male character who seems to secrete some kind of pheromone that makes every female (and a few males) he comes into contact with fall in love with him either instantly or after he does something nice for them. However, despite the presence of this pheromone, he has absolutely no backbone and no understanding of other people, especially girls, whatsoever. B) A beautiful, timid, nice, weak girl who the protagonist falls in love with on first sight (i.e. because of her looks), and you just know theyre going to end up together. C) The genki girl who, even though shes in love with the main character (see the pheromone mentioned above), eventually takes it upon herself to set up the main character with the B girl because she just wants him to be happy. (It has other character archetypes too, but theyre much less important to the story) Then, the series shows what would happen if these completely unrealistic character archetypes were actually thrust forcibly into reality. Needless to say, the result is a bunch of assholes, insanity, betrayals, and deaths. Its very satisfying, really. (I actually got a little depressed, too...maybe because, by the end, Makoto finally stopped being an extremely royal asshole and realized the extent of his fuckups) Its in Wildcards because, well, it isnt really entertaining or enjoyable to watch in the traditional sense. Its only 12 episodes, and I would say its worth watching; but expect to continue watching only out of some sort of evil fascination with just how the characters are going to get fucked over next. At the very least, its made its mark on anime history, so you should probably watch it just for that. (Who DOESNT know nice boat by now?) Plus it has great music. I hear the ero-game its based on is actually a sadist game, and the point is to heap as much suffering as you can onto the various girls in the series. Honestly, its not surprising. P.S.: Setsuna is awesome. Im glad she, at least, came out unscathed.) (rating: ???/10) LOL OLD HIGURASHI PREDICTIONS (POST-S1) -In the third iteration, Satoko was crazy, not K1. K1 did kill Satokos uncle, but his body was moved by the Sonozakis. Satoko *somehow* killed everyone else. Ooishi ran away because he knew about the poisonous volcanic gas (see below). -Ooishi is, if not the mastermind, heavily involved in the entire thing. Im pretty sure he somehow chooses who goes crazy in each iterationhe talked to K1 in the first, wanted to talk to Satoko in the third, and talked to Rena in the fourth...and look what happened. -What triggers people to go crazy may or may not be an outside influence. Evidence both ways:

Outside influence: K1 (in Iteration 1), Rena (in the past, and in Iteration 4), and Photographer (always) all clawed at their throats. Too similar to not be a coincidence. Ooishi controls this influence. Not: From the way Rena and K1 act outside their Crazy Iteration arcs (and the way Shions madness was clearly explained), it seems the three of them are just naturally crazy. Maybe Ooishi knows this, and so subtly manipulates them in each of their Crazy Arcs. -Rika is Oyashiro-sama. Unlike my other speculations, this I am dead-certain of. -There are no clones. In Iteration 3, everyone just pretended K1 was at the carnival to give him an alibi. In Iteration 4, Ooishi gave a false lead that Rena was somewhere else to drive her more insane. As for how the nurse could walk around while being dead...the nurse is just fucking weird. I mean, she did have Photographers bike, after all. Maybe shes the mastermind? I think she faked her own death. Either way, shes also the mastermind or heavily involved. -That dead body at the beginning of the third arc? Satoshi. Seems he really was killed by the Sonozakis after all. Dunno if Mion knew about it or not, but my gut tells me she didnt. -That white van is also involved in everything. Most likely, its yakuza, probably under the direct command of Oni-Baba. The extent of her crimes and involvement is unknown, but like Ooishi and the nurse, shes either the mastermind or heavily involved in everything. Either that, or its just one fucking huge red herring. -The syringe also obviously exists, even though it was apparently K1's delusion in Iteration 1. But the real question is, if that syringe really was just a marker, how come it was taken away and his paragraphs about the syringe were torn off? The syringe must exist, and is filled with some kind of poison; probably the same type that killed Rikas father. As for taking off the marker...I have no fucking clue. -The Curse deaths were all likely perpetuated by different people. I think the chief of dam construction was killed by the Oni-Baba/Ooishi/nurse tag-team, to give a strong message that the dam is Not Okay. Satokos parents were killed by Satoko herself (NOT by the tag-teamtheyre useless as scapegoats if theyre dead). Rikas parents were killed by the tag team to further their power. Satokos aunt was killed by Satoshi, who the Sonozakis summarily let off the hook by providing a different killer; then was captured, tortured, and disemboweled for some reason. They are definitely not Oyashiro-samas curse, as again, Oyashiro-sama is Rika, and Rika clearly doesnt approve of the curse (as shes made clear multiple times). As for the tag-teams motive? To bring back Onigafuchi Village, Im pretty sure. The dam interfered with that, so they kidnapped the grandson, then killed the chief of construction to send a clear message to never build that dam. Rikas parents likely found out about the plan. -Come to think of it, even though Ooishi never talked to Shion (IIRC) in Iteration 2, the nurse did. The nurse also talked to Rena in Iteration 4. Yes, shes definitely

involved somehow. -Maybe the throat clawing isnt so special after all. If the nurse clawed out Photographers throat, that leaves just K1 and Rena, whove been shown to be insane. -Then again, something thats really bizarre is that Rena (in the past), Satoshi (in the past), Shion (in Iteration 2, and maybe also the others), and K1 (in Iteration 1) all experienced the same symptoms of Oyashiro-samas curse (footsteps belonging to no one, that isit seems only Rena and Satoshi experienced the being watched part). Or, if were really gunning for the The only supernatural element is Groundhogs Day and some potential revival of Onigafuchi Village strategy, we could say that they actually are being followedby agents of the tag-team. Which I suppose is possible. It doesnt explain why only Shion heard the steps in the Festival Warehouse, though. -Conclusion: The masterminds are Oni-Baba, Ooishi, and the nurse. Who the leader isif theres a leaderI have no idea. They want to revive Onigafuchi Village. For that aim, they stopped the dam project by kidnapping the grandson and killing the chief director. Realizing this plan, Oyashiro-sama incarnated itself as Rika, but still despaired as it believed the future was set in stone. Then, the next year, Satoko just happened to kill her parents; maybe by accident, maybe not. The year after that, Rikas parents found out about the Masterminds plans, and the Masterminds decided to take advantage of/start this curse myth and killed them. The year after that, also taking advantage of the curse myth, Satoshi trained for, and then proceeded to, kill his aunt. Maybe he was convinced to do this by the Masterminds. They gave him a scapegoat, but for some reason, turned against him and captured, tortured, and disemboweled him. That then brings us to the present day. For some reason, the Masterminds decided to bring out K1's insanity. The nurse killed Photographer, then faked her own death. Ooishi manipulated him against his friends. They further fed into his insanity by sending the white van out to pretend to try to kill him. Eventually, it payed off, and K1 killed Rena and Mion and then proceeded to kill himself. Ooishi put on a huge act for the police station. Completely unsatisfied with this ending, Oyashiro-sama finally decided to use its power and reset everything. However, the second iteration brought its own problems with it. For some reason, Shion wasnt in the first one, but she was in the second. However, Shion is also batshit insane. This time, it was the nurse who slowly manipulated her into it, with her research notes. Since Shion is crazier than K1, it took less manipulation.

Anyway, the fifth arc basically covered everything else here. Oyashiro-sama reset everything again. In the third iteration, it seems Shion is restraining herself (Phantom Manager, anyone?) (mayhap she kept her memory of the second iteration?). However, this time, Satokos uncle returned. K1 was not manipulated into killing the unclehe acted on his own. However, Mion/Shion found out about it, and convinced OniBaba to hide the uncles body, or maybe she did it herself. Or maybe Satoko did it. Anyway, Ooishi manipulated Satoko into killing the doctor and Rika, as well as trying to kill K1. They then all evacuated Hinamizawa and unleashed the poisonous gasquite possibly their true goal all along. Oyashiro-sama resets everything again. Theres not really much to explain about the fourth arc. It just shows the beginning of everything. I suppose it also gives more evidence that Rika was Oyashiro-sama (as if the final arc didnt make that blatant enough already). Not really much to explain about the fifth arc, either. Mions last talk with Shion before dying, about how she also liked Satoshi, may or may not be true; it doesnt really matter since Oni-Baba definitely killed Satoshi. The last arc is the fourth iteration. Both Ooishi and the nurse manipulated Rena (apparently Rena needs a cause to fight for to become truly insane, whereas K1 just needs suspicion and Shion just needs a prod or two). That white van was probably sent to keep an eye on Rena and make sure everything goes Just as Planned (maybe theyre the footsteps of Oyashiro-samas curse?). Oyashiro-sama realizes the way to end the Groundhogs Day shenanigans and achieve a truly happy end, then resets everything again. The beginning of the fifth iteration is shown at the end of the series, where the Masterminds try to manipulate Rika...the results of that should be interesting, to say the least. Now, assuming this is all true (which is a pretty big assumption), two big mysteries remain: 1. Why the fuck do the Masterminds want to manipulate people into becoming crazy? What do they have to gain by it? -like practically all motives in this series, this likely needs to wait to be explained. I mean, there was practically no way to tell Shions motive for craziness was Satoshi, except if you over-analyzed one throwaway line at the beginning of the third arc. 2. What causes the differences in the Groundhogs Day scenarios? -it seems that the main difference is who goes crazy in each one. Perhaps the Groundhogs Day shenanigans are the true goal of the Masterminds, and theyre

really trying to choose the Crazy Person that will let them bring about their true true goal. My gut tells me that goal is the destruction of Hinamizawa by the poison gasotherwise, why would that carry over into the fourth arc? I dont know why only Satoko being crazy would bring that about, though. And I dont know why they want it, eitherdidnt they try their hardest to stop the dam project? I have a feeling I wont be able to explain either of these under my current theory. Oh, well. :/ All these speculations shall last until the end of time. I havent watched Kai yet, so well see which ones are true and which ones arent. Tis exciting!! Also, I think I know why Higurashi became so popularspeculation is fun!!!11!1 Now I wish I was in time to speculate with other Internet Denizens. ;_; The fandom is likely infinitely more fun than the show ever was. Poor Higurashi. (In retrospect, these were pretty damn accurate, considering the information I had to work with at the time, and the fact that I never rewatched an episode. I suppose I shouldve realized that Oni-Baba and Onigafuchi Village were red herrings, though. I noted the possibility with the former, but still...) Series That Will Get Into Top Ten If Its Animated; alternately, Random Rant: -Highschool of the Dead. If its animated by Kyoto, top 3. Seriously, who the hell decided to animate ANOTHER hentai game? Good holy God. You have two very good (I assume Full Metal Panic is very good) franchises, and you choose to waste time and money on the most boring, unimaginative, crappy anime genre that exists (even the best ones (Shuffle! and Kanon) arent even notables on my list). And they keep doing it, because moe moe is in with all the lonely Japanese otakus, and they dont care if all the characters and shows are essentially the same. But I digress. Wait, no I dont. Those damn lonely Japanese otakus are the same people who give shows like StrikerS and SEED Destiny high ratings. Fuck them. Have we cloned Goro Taniguchi yet? Favorite Mangas -Narutaru. Yes. If you dont mind pitch-black cynicism, this is golden. (rating: Right now, 9.9/10. But Im only halfway through it, so take this with a grain of salt. Seriously though, this series is seinen at its finest.) -Kodomo no Jikan. Seriously. You dont have to be a lolicon to enjoy this mangaIm sure as hell not one. But it has the best drama in anime/manga-dom this side of Planetes. It also manages to be hilarious. Just give it a chanceif you dont like it after 3 volumes, go ahead and drop it. (rating: 9.8/10. Yes. This series

is consistently of very high quality. The only reason its not higher is because the really good drama starts a ways into it, but the longer this manga remains high quality, the higher the rating gets. At the current point its at, I truly have no complaints.) -Highschool of the Dead. Zombies and fanservicedoesnt get much better than that. Except for the other mangas on this list, of course. (rating: Its finally returned to its old groove. Normally that would mean a 9.5, but Saekos revealed sadism pushes it up to 9.6. A Saeko/Takashi ending would make it at least a 9.8, incidentally. We do need a major character death soon, though, for as A Song of Ice and Fire proves, one major character death means you get suspense forever.) -Angel Sanctuary. Again, seriously. Even if you dont like incest, read this manga. It is insanely over-the-top drama, but it all somehow works, even if the ending is a bit disappointing. (rating: Eh... 9.5/10. The ending knocks about .3 points off of the score. It wasnt that bad, but after the hyperdrama of the previous 20 volumes (which just keeps growing and growing until the climax, incidentally), it was a letdown.) -The World God Only Knows: When you need a break from the crapsack world of the previous 4 series (and yes, Kojika is a crapsack world despite first impressions. HSotD is admittedly more debatable), this is the perfect cure. Comedy at its best. (rating: 9.3/10. Its hard for me to give a series with a relatively poor plot and flat characters a higher rating than this, but it is still definitely excellent. Very enjoyable.) -Rivers Edge: Hard to describe this one, really. Its only one volume, so do yourself a favor and read it. Its the kind of thing everyone gets something different out of. (rating: 9/10. Honestly, I didnt like it very much on my first read, but liked it a lot more on the reread. Definitely seinen.) Seris That Will Probably Be in Top Ten When I Watch Them: -Crest of the Stars Other Series I Really Want to Watch: -Gungrave -Fushigi Yuugi -Mnemosyne Other Series That I Plan To Watch: -GaoGaiGar -Law of Ueki -Texhnolyze -Gantz -Sola -Tsukuyomi -Seto no Hanayome

-Darker Than Black (group: sudo) -Mushishi -Godannar -Gungrave -Midori no Hibi Manga That I Plan to Read: -Mirai Nikki -Gantz Genres of Top Ten: 1) Comedy/Action <Mecha> 2) Comedy/Drama <Sci-Fi> 3) Drama <Space Opera> 4) Drama/Comedy/Action <Space Opera> 5) Action/Drama <Mecha> 6) Comedy <Slice-of-life> 7) Drama/Romance/Comedy <Shoujo> 8) Drama/Comedy/Action <Mecha> 9) Drama/Action <Fantasy> 10) Drama/Comedy <dunno> Total: Drama: 7 Comedy: 5 Action: 3 Romance: 0.5 Mecha: 3 Space Opera: 2 Sci-Fi: 1 Slice-of-life: 1 Fantasy: 1 Shoujo: 1 Best Scenes Ever: 1) Planetesend of episode 24 2) Cowboy Bebopend of episode 26 3) FLCLend of episode 4 4) Infinite Ryviusend of episode 25 5) GIANT ROBOend of episode 7 TOP TWENTY LIST OF DOOM: (if forced to give numbers to everything. Keep in mind I am a very harsh grader when I am forced to give numbers to things.)

1) Kinos Journey [10/10] -Kegans Level 5. That is all. Overrides all the other flaws it has. 2) FLCL [9.9/10] -I still think this really really good; I just have an inordinate fondness for Kinos Journey. Non-philosophy nerds will probably like this better. Still only have like 3 very minor complaints. 3) Planetes [9.85/10] -Episodes 16 through 25 are just incredibly good, in just about every way its possible for drama to be good. Episodes 1 through 15 arent nearly as good, but are still very entertaining. Episode 26 is a fantastic ending, with my only complaint being a romance (but romances are almost always horrible anyway). To put it simply, its quality is just extremely high. 4) GIANT ROBO [9.8/10] -Entertainment. Good entertainment is easy. Great is hard. Fantastic is almost impossible. GIANT ROBO has its faults (the first two episodes, while entertaining enough, arent anything special), but episodes 3-6 are just about anything you would want from a piece of entertainment. Episode 7 is quite possibly the best ending episode ever. Code Geass on steroids. 5) Infinite Ryvius [9.7/10] -Like Planetesjust has a very high quality. It has a slower start than the 3 above shows, which is why its below them. Still very good. 6) Gankutsuou (The Count of Monte Cristo) [9.67/10] -Really really good. Not quite up to the level of the others, but I dont really know whymaybe its because Goro Taniguchi didnt direct it, or because it was made by Gonzo. >_> Still, some of the best drama Ive ever seen. 7) Legend of the Galactic Heroes [9.6/10] -After consideration, I feel this is the best place for LotGH/Gineiden. Very slow, yesbut its so worth it if you can slog through it. 8) Cowboy Bebop [9.55/10] -Probably of a higher quality than any show above it, really. Only this low because most episodes are stand-alone. 9) Bokurano [9.5/10] -Kind of episodic, and not really entertaining at all... But the concept is so intriguing, and its executed so well, its worth it. Plus, amazing final episode. 10) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya [9.4/10] -I really shouldnt have to say anything about Haruhi. Really, Chronological Episode 14 is the only reason its even this low. So many genres, pulled off with such aplomb. Comedy at its best. Knocked down a bit because I prefer drama to comedy. 11) Ookiku Furikabutte [9.35/10] -I feel kinda dirty having a sports anime be this high ranked, but it really is very

good. Even if you couldnt give less of a shit about baseball, you should highly enjoy this. 12) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex + 2nd Gig [9.3/10] -How many times can I say its of an extremely high quality? Boring and pretentious in parts, the quality usually more than makes up for its faults. 13) Angel Beats [9.25/10] -Okay, so its pacing is fucked upreally fucked up. Its kind of like Jun Maeda took all the ideas he ever had for an anime and threw it into one huge Frankensteinlike omelet and prayed it would come out well. And, I gotta hand it to him, it did. Just maybe, next time he should consider that sometimes less is more. And I really dont think the concept would work as a 24-episode anime. Most of the secrets and mysterieswhat exactly is the world theyre in, does God exist, what happens when you disappear, etc.are intentionally kept vague, and IMO, its better that way. So other than that, all the new episodes could really do would be either (a) plotless comedy (which would ruin the pace even more) or (b) more character backstory (which would get really old really quick). The problem wasnt the number of episodes; its that Maeda tried to do too much in too short a time. He had comedy, plot, music, backstories, a new plot, character development, mysteries, another new plotit was too much. Some of it should have been cut. 14) Serial Experiments Lain [9.2/10] -Really confusing, but eh. Definitely says something profound. What that is Im not sure, but... 15) Paranoia Agent [9.1/10] -Quality, sometimes boring, blah blah blah. 16) Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu? [9.05/10] -The best comedy Ive ever seen (unless you count Haruhi as a comedywhich you might). That and Sousuke is awesomereally awesome. Im an elitist so I dont place comedy as high as action or drama, but this knows what it is, and does it with aplomb. 17) Gunbuster [9/10] -Episode 5. The others are good, and the last ten seconds of episode 6 are amazing, but...really. Episode 5. At least watch for that. Just doesnt hold up as well on a second viewing. 18) Revolutionary Girl Utena [8.8/10] -Too original and subversive to not be somewhere on this list. 19) The Vision of Escaflowne [8.6/10] -Quality, starts out slow, blah blah blah. Just needed some more explanation of major plot points. 20) Elfen Lied [8.5/10] -Blood and nudity!? FORMER MEMBERS OF THE TOP TWENTY LIST:

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series [8.3/10] -Extremely funny. Code Geass [8.2/10] -Lelouch lifts this up despite a mixed showing from R2. Neon Genesis Evangelion [8/10] -The excellent concept lifts up the poor execution. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann [7.8/10] -Entertainment. Episodes 8, 15, and 24-27 save the mixed rest of the series. Of course, the Black Parade MAD takes all the good parts of the show and leaves out the mediocre/bad parts. So like, watch that or something. Black Lagoon [7.5/10] -Entertainment. Hansel and Gretel are the stars of this one, folks. (this is going to turn into a Top Thirty list eventually, isnt it) The only reason it went all the way down like that is that Im making this a relative numbering system (as opposed to an absolute one). Something like Samurai Champloo would be a 7/10. Something like Nanoha As would be a 6/10. Something like Shana season 2 would be a 0/10 (if Im feeling kind). Notes: -The Rebuild of Evangelion movies may very well appear somewhere in the upper half of this list. If they do, the regular series will be taken off. P.S.: LOL OPINIONS