Thread: Your top 10 anime series?

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To quote the Forum rules...

We are trialling the re-introduction of favourite threads. You can now ask about other's favourites, however you MUST EXPLAIN WHY IT'S YOUR FAVOURITE!

Simply posting a name/title and declaring it's your favourite is nothing more than a list post. List posts are still not allowed. That is, posts that comprise of no explanation as to why you chose a certain favourite.

GENERAL RULES

So as an example... Why 'Shuffle' when there are so many other 'Dating Simulation' genre series that are out there, (and some of them arguably better...) If you want other people to post their own top ten list, then you're going to have to justify your own choices...


Now for my own personal 'Top 10' (which does vary according to my mood, but the highest ranked series remain remarkably consistent...)

1. The top series I've seen would be a Baseball genre series shown on the NHK (Japan Public Broadcasting) called 'Princess Nine' the story of a all girl high school baseball team, formed with the intent of competing in the boys league for the national championships... This is still the best written series that I've seen. And its so good that I've lost hours of sleep finishing this series, and everyone I've loaned it to have lost hours of sleep to complete the series... And even if the series contains many cliche plot twists, they are plot twists that you would never expect to see in a baseball genre series... (And its quite unfortunate that the series is now out of print)

2. 'Gankutsuou', the Studio GONZO Sci-Fi remake of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' is easily the best Sci-Fi TV series that GONZO ever produced, (and also one of the most stylistic anime series produced in the last decade) The was also the only GONZO series to take a 'Notable' TV series award for its year at the prestigious Tokyo Anime Awards...

3. 'Gurren Lagann', is Gainax Studio's homage to the 'Giant Robot' genre. A real 'Over the Top' series, just when you think that they've had a scene that they can't top, they easily top it just a few episodes later. A major award winning series, and only 1 of three series that have taken awards at the anime industry sponsored 'Tokyo Anime Awards' for its year, as well as the Japan Ministry of Arts and Culture sponsored 'Japan Media Arts Festival'

4. 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' is still one of the definitive 'Action Cyberpunk' genre series, and was the first TV series to take awards at both the 'Japan Media Arts Festival' and the 'Tokyo Anime Awards', and still ranks as one of the best series to come out in the last decade.

5. 'Noir', the story of two professional women assassins for hire, searching for their hidden and forgotten past is one of those rare series that is 'Really Really Different', and has this wonderful sound-track ,and one of the best works of Yuki Kajiura

6. 'Death Note' was a major award winning series, taking a 'Notable' TV series award at the 'Tokyo Anime Awards' and has an exceptional well written story.

7. Cardcaptor Sakura was one of the most successful 'Magical Girl' genre series of the 1990s, and is the definitive work for CLAMP based anime series... The members of CLAMP cared so much about this series that they personally wrote the episode scripts themselves...

8. 'One Piece' is my favorite long running franchise. An advanture series that covers the story of 'Monkey D. Luffy', the teenage boy who's goal in life is to become the 'Pirate King'... A fabulous series, and contains some of the best anime stories ever broadcast. The series routinely beats the crap out of 'Naruto' and 'Bleach' in the TV ratings. (and is only routinely beaten by choice #9...) The first season also took a 'Notable' TV series award for its year at the Tokyo Anime Awards.

9. 'Detective Conan' (a.k.a. 'Case Closed') is my other favorite long running series. The anime first started in 1996, and continues to this day with both 15th anniversary TV and Theatrical Movie release happening this year. Its a bit hard to describe the events leading up to a first grader boy with the genius intellect of a up and coming high school detective. But its a wonderful series for gum shoe detective mystery fans...

10 The Slayers still remains as my favorite comedy franchise. The story of 'Lina Inverse', a 16 year old girl (and practitioner of Black Magic) who has earned the nicknames of 'Bandit Killer', and 'The Enemy of all that Live'