EHOL's "Greatest Anime"... 1 Year Later

[Wayne]

Technically 14 months, I think, but close enough. >_>

We had a competition here some time ago; where folks picked their ten favorite anime series and then Saucer tallied them up. El-Hazard winning was no surprise to anyone here, I'm sure; but some of the other choices were series that [at the time] I had never heard of-- like Azumanga Daioh-- or never watched (like Evangelion or Ranma 1/2).

Well... things change a lot in a year [or 14 months ]. Think about it as kind of a "then and now" experiment... talk about how your picks then were different from what they would be now-- if we had a competition this year, say-- and why.

I mean, here's my list, as of May 2004:

10. Full Metal Panic
09. Gundam [Wing]
08. Rurouni Kenshin
07. Ah! My Goddess [OAV]
06. Love Hina
05. Tenchi Muyo!
04. Bubblegum Crisis (Tokyo 2040 only)
03. El-Hazard (TMW/Wanderers only)
02. Crest/Banner of the Stars
01. Inuyasha

At that point I had only seen half of FMP! (12/24 episodes), hadn't seen the ending of BGC Tokyo 2040 (I think I was at #18 or something), and hadn't seen quite a few others.

Here's what my list would be now:

10- Crest/Banner of the Stars
09- Chrono Crusade
08- Rune Soldiers
07- Irresponsible Captain Tylor
06- Ah! My Goddess (OAV/TV)
05- Full Metal Panic! (includes Fumoffu, without T2R)
04- Tenchi Muyo! (includes Magical Project S)
03- Martian Successor Nadesico
02- Azumanga Daioh
01- El-Hazard (TMW only)

Five of those are completely new (Azumanga Daioh, Nadesico, Tylor, RS, Chrono Crusade), and my old #1 slot was knocked completely off (due to Rumiko Takahashi's typical "the plot must never move" style making Inuyasha unbearably boring), and #2 was blown back to #10. BGC had a wretchedly poor ending, and the Love Hina anime simply doesn't hold the charm it once did.

And instead of it being a challenge to think up ten spots, there were a bunch scraping the bottom of the list-- Love Hina, Fullmetal Alchemist, s.CRY.ed and Grenadier all being somewhat enjoyable in their own rights; and that's just a small sample-- this time.

The one trend that didn't change was that I seem to prefer older anime that I "discover" to newer ones that just come out... the only anime made in 2004/2005 on the list was the Ah! My Goddess TV series, and that's still #6; and I think Chrono Crusade (might've been late 2003, though). There's also quite a mix of comedy, drama, and action up there; no one genre really stands out [the total absence of "psychological"/mind-trip anime is a noted and deliberate lack, though, heh].

Again, it's really interesting how "the list" changed in the last year or so, mostly due to word-of-mouth recommendations of anime (since our anime club tended to play anime I didn't like (the only series it played that I was interested in at all was Gungrave; the rest were CLAMP bits like X and Chobits or "mind-trip" attempts of Soultaker, Paranoia Agent, etc.)) from folks online.

Anyway... how about the rest of you? How have things changed... or not? :]

[Saucer]

Good choice of topic. My list from last year read something like this:

1. El-Hazard
2. Kimagure Orange Road
3. Aim for the Top! Gunbuster
4. Scrapped Princess
5. St Luminous Mission High School
6. Voices From a Distant Star
7. Tenkuu no Escaflowne
8. Love Hina
9. Full Metal Panic
10. Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu

It's a tough call, as those really are (and always will be) some of my favorite anime of all time. A few titles however did get usurped.

1.   El-Hazard
2.   Kimagure Orange Road
3.   Aim for the Top! Gunbuster
4.   Scrapped Princess
5.   St Luminous Mission High School
6.   Voices From a Distant Star
7.   Tenkuu no Escaflowne
8.   Beyond the Clouds
9.   Juuni Kokki
10. Crest/Banner of the Stars

And even that was a tough call. We'll see how things shape up this year.

[smkviper]

Well, I wasn't here last year to post in the "top 10" list, so I'll just post my top 10 anime for this year (it's always really hard for me to rank them from 1 to 10... so take the rankings with a grain of salt ) And in some cases the anime has a few versions, so I include all versions I liked.

1. Mai HiME
2. El Hazzard (OVA 1, Wanderers)
3. Full Metal Panic (original, Fumoffu, and Second Raid, which is unfinished at this time)
4. Azumanga Daioh
5. Ah! My Goddess (OVA, Movie, TV series)
6. Elfen Lied
7. Tsubasa Chronicle (unfinished at this point... but very good)
8. Place Promised in Our Early Days
9. Scrapped Princess
10. Noir

[MrWhat]

1. Oh My Goddess! (tie) (unchanged)
1. El-Hazard (tie) (unchanged)
3. Azumanga Daioh (new)
4. Fruits Basket (was #3)
5. Tenchi Muyo! (was #4)
6. You're Under Arrest! (was #7)
7. Kodocha / Child's Toy (was #8 )
8. Photon (was #5)
9. Golden Boy (was #6)
10. Love Hina (was #9)

11. Hyper Police (was #10)
12. Saber Marionette J (was #11)

That was boring.  Only one new-to-me series, and all the other series just moved around a bit.  But it was a rough year for me personally.  I only saw AD, the new OMG!, and The Big O and Princess Nine (neither of those placed, obviously).

EH and OMG! are still essentially tied.  But I'm putting OMG! slightly ahead, as I type this, due to my interest in the new TV series.

And I still need to run Love Hina and Hyper Police again.  LH hasn't held up well 'in memory', and HP could squeek back into the Top 10.

[rowan_a._seven]

2004 List:
1. El-Hazard
2. Tenchi (including Magical Project S)
3. Slayers
4. Shingetsutan Tsukihime
5. Noir
6. Revolutionary Girl Utena
7. Kare Kano
8. Inu-Yasha
9. Ruroni Kenshin
10. Sailor Moon

2005 List
1. El-Hazard (tentatively)
2. Tenchi (including Magical Project S but not the two new series that I haven't seen yet)
3. Slayers
4. Revolutionary Girl Utena
5. Monster
6. Ruroni Kenshin (Seasons 1-2 and the 3 OAV episodes.  I haven't watched the rest)
7. Noir
8. The Big O
9. Vision of Escaflowne
10. Sailor Moon

El-Hazard, Tenchi, and Slayers retain their positions because, even though I haven't watched them in a while, they're the three series I remember viewing and enjoying the most when I was a younger anime fan.  They've generated a lot of good memories.

Revolutionary Girl Utena moves up because I've had more time to appreciate the subtlety and intricacies of the story and let the complexity of the characters and series soak in a bit more.

Monster is awesome.  I've only watched up to episode 30 or so, but I haven't seen an anime quite like this one before.  It has a dark, unique feel to it and compelling characters.

Ruroni Kenshin's Kyoto Arc and the OAV episodes are works of art, and the first season is good and does a reasonable job of introducing the characters.  I've heard somewhat negative comments about the rest of the series, though.

Kare Kano and Inu-Yasha were removed because I still haven't seen the entirety of either series and other productions have caught my attention.  Shingetsutan Tsukihime remains a favorite of mine, but I'm not quite sure that I'd place it in my top 10 anymore.

Noir exudes coolness and edge, and The Big O II builds upon the set-up of its first season and rises to a glorious climax.  I'm also a sap for the RogerxDorothy relationship.

An admirable combination of fantasy and mecha, The Vision of Escaflowne is a lovely series with interesting characters, surprises, and an ending that didn't leave me desperately longing for closure.

As for Sailor Moon, it was my anime "gateway drug" and is, arguably, an anime archetype.  To this day and despite several criticisms, it retains a fond spot in my memories.

Gankutsuoh (a futuristic retelling of "The Count of Monte Cristo") is also up there and may or may not belong on my fluctuating top 10 list, and what I've seen so far of the stylish "Samurai 7" leads me to believe it could usurp a rank.

[Saucer]

Ruroni Kenshin's Kyoto Arc and the OAV episodes are works of art, and the first season is good and does a reasonable job of introducing the characters.  I've heard somewhat negative comments about the rest of the series, though.

RK was awesome, and the TV series really should have ended after the Kyoto arc. But it didn't. I watched like 6 to 8 episodes into the Christian arc and got bored real quick. Fortunately, the final OVA ignores this extraneous arc all rogether and gets right to the tear-jerking end.

[js_morris]

Sorry I haven't been around. Busy busy busy and all that.

I went back to grab my list at the time:

1) Haibane Renmei
2) El Hazard
3) Neon Genesis Evangelion
4) Tenchi Muyo!
5) Trigun
6) Read or Die
7) Last Exile
Someday's Dreamers
9) FLCL
10) Noir

If I were to write it today:

1) Haibane Renmei
2) Full Metal Alchemist
3) El Hazard
4) Tenchi Muyo!/Tenchi Muyo GXP
5) Read or Die/R.O.D. TV
6) Ah My Goddess! (TV)
7) Azumanga Daioh
Neon Genesis Evangelion
9) Last Exile
10) FLCL

[wildweasel]

I obviously wasn't here for the original thread, and add to this the fact that I haven't seen enough anime to make a top ten list...but I suppose I could make a list anyway...just not as large of one.

1. El-Hazard (MW1 and Wanderers - didn't like MW2 that much, haven't seen AW)
2. Macross Plus
3. Ghost in the Shell
4. NGE

...um, crud. Looks like I'm all out, heh...

I need to buy more anime.

[theravenisunskill2]

Hmm.. What WAS my original list X_X

There it is..

1 ) El Hazard
2 ) Azumanga Daioh
3 ) Sakura Wars
4 ) Sentimental Journey
5 ) Love Hina
6 ) Twelve Kingdoms
7 ) Tenchi Muyo
8 ) My Dear Marie
9 ) Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
10 ) Real Bout High School

Hmm.. Today it would be:

New Dropped Rised Unchanged

1 ) El Hazard
2 ) Juuni Kokki (Twelve Kingdoms)
3 ) Sakura Wars
4 ) Shingetsutan Tsukihime
5 ) Rurouni Kenshin (OAV only)
6 ) Sentimental Journey
7 ) Azumanga Daioh
8 ) Record Of Lodoss War (OAV only)
9 ) Kino's Journey
10 ) Tenchi Muyo

Fell in love with Juuni Kokki, quickly rose to the top 3. Eh and SW basically stayed in the same place, while Kino and Tsukihime rose into the top 10, as well as the original Lodoss OAV. The RK OAVs were awesome too.

Next year, may be different