If You Were to Make a "Best Anime of All Time" Lis

[Eva Yojimbo]

...What would be on it?

To keep this from being completely subjective, please balance subjective tastes (titles you think merit high artistic distinction), with historical importance and influence as well. You may like X anime, but if X anime is uber-obscure, try not to rank it as highly as you would something you like less that was highly influential.

Here would be my current top 10:

1. NGE
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. Akira
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Cowboy Bebop
6. Ghost in the Shell
7. FLCL
8. Spirited Away
9. Gundam Wing
10. Lain

Just missing my Top 10 are Texhnolyze, Rurouni Kenshin, and Escaflowne.

[ThroneofDravaris]

1. Kare Kano
2. Neon Genesis Evangelion
3. Cowboy Bebop
4. Martian Successor Nadesico
5. Azumanga Daioh

These are the only titles I can think of that I've seen that were undeniably good. If I was feeling generous I might add The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid and Trigun to that list as well, but eh.

[Kaysow]

This is actually not hard at all. At least not the first seven


07 Princess Mononoke
06 Akira
05 My Neighbour Totoro
04 Ghost in the Shell (first movie)
03 Great Teacher Onizuka
02 Azumanga Daioh
01 Eva

[BrikHaus]

Here ya go, the definitive greatest anime (movies excluded) of all time list, in order no less. ;)

15.) Escaflowne
14.) Slayers
13.) FLCL
12.) Nadia: Secret of Blue Water
11.) Haibane Renmei
10.) Diebuster: Aim for the Top 2
09.) Full Metal Panic!
08.) Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden
07.) Trigun
06.) The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
05.) Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
04.) Berserk
03.) Neon Genesis Evangelion
02.) Fullmetal Alchemist
01.) Cowboy Bebop

[The Eva Monkey]

To keep this from being completely subjective...

9. Gundam Wing

It already is. There's more than one Gundam series that deserves credit as the "best of all time". Wing has the distinction of being a western gateway drug and one of the few that roped in a large female audience. But aside from being a favorite by those outside of the Gundam fanbase, it is one of the worst in the series.

Now, if this was a "Most important anime" list, it might contend with the original MS Gundam for its importance in the overseas fanbase. I remember Wing being one of the shows that hooked me, and Endless Waltz remains one of my favorites to this day. But let's face it, its only slightly better than the travesty known as G Gundam.

P. S. "G Saviour" lol.

[Eva Yojimbo]

It already is. There's more than one Gundam series that deserves credit as the "best of all time". Wing has the distinction of being a western gateway drug and one of the few that roped in a large female audience.

Large FEMALE audience? I figured it gained quite a big MALE fanbase during its airing on Cartoon Network back in the day.

But aside from being a favorite by those outside of the Gundam fanbase, it is one of the worst in the series.

That's highly subjective in itself. There's a lot of Gundam fans that consider it one of (if not the) best. And I doubt you could provide any "facts" to back this up that aren't based on subjective opinions.

Now, if this was a "Most important anime" list, it might contend with the original MS Gundam for its importance in the overseas fanbase. I remember Wing being one of the shows that hooked me, and Endless Waltz remains one of my favorites to this day. But let's face it, its only slightly better than the travesty known as G Gundam.

P. S. "G Saviour" lol.

The only Gundams I've seen are 8th M.S. and parts of the original series, so I'm certainly no expert. I still think Wing is a great series, but to each their own.

[The Eva Monkey]

Large FEMALE audience? I figured it gained quite a big MALE fanbase during its airing on Cartoon Network back in the day.

Dude, Wing was Yaoi in mecha. For every one male friend I had that liked Wing, there was at least two female friends that were obsessed with Wing. And having attended quite a few cons during its peak of popularity, I noticed that the vast majority of people into Wing were female. I remember the year Otakon had the Japanese VAs... I walked in and I swear I was like the only male in the room, it was scary. Wing's rabid fanbase was almost entirely female.

That's highly subjective in itself. There's a lot of Gundam fans that consider it one of (if not the) best. And I doubt you could provide any "facts" to back this up that aren't based on subjective opinions.

You've obviously never heard of Universal Century Purists.

[Eva Yojimbo]

You've obviously never heard of Universal Century Purists.

Every genre has its obsessed fanatics. But to be fair, I do need to see some of the original series for a good comparison...

[Ejinathan]

1. NGE
2. Eureka 7
3.Naruto
4. bleach
5.dragonball series (db, dbz, dbgt)

6. city hunter
7. gto
8. elfen lied
9. death note
10. onegai teacher



for the rest i cant really rate because tehy are almost as good as each other. I'm not even sure its my absolute top 10 >< but my 5 first i am

[The Eva Monkey]

You've obviously never heard of Universal Century Purists.

Every genre has its obsessed fanatics. But to be fair, I do need to see some of the original series for a good comparison...

I would equate Wing fandom with dub fandom. Most dub fans tend to not know any better, and when they start watching subs, they usually don't go back, even questioning how they could ever like the dub so much. It's been my experience that the same is true for Wing fans. Many of them who go back to the roots and watch the UC shows tend to have a later aversion to Wing.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I would equate Wing fandom with dub fandom. Most dub fans tend to not know any better, and when they start watching subs, they usually don't go back, even questioning how they could ever like the dub so much. It's been my experience that the same is true for Wing fans. Many of them who go back to the roots and watch the UC shows tend to have a later aversion to Wing.

Perhaps this is just a snobbish attitude toward non-UC centered Gundam shows? Because I really don't recall anything in Wing being objectionable to people who enjoy mecha type anime (and I'm usually not really one of them). The only flaw I can remember with the series is that the pilots weren't all that interesting. However, I thought this was made up for by the focus on the villains and the politics behind the entire series (which WAS interesting IMO).

I also found it interesting though as I was reading through some of the reviews for it, that there's quite a few people that make comments along the lines of "I didn't care for the Gundam series, but I liked Wing" and "I normally don't like mecha-animes, but Wing was great".... Maybe it's the Gundam and mecha-anime for people who don't like Gundam and mecha-animes?

Anyway, enough of this discussion. I'll try to check out the original series ASAP...

[ThroneofDravaris]

I've never seen any Gundam related series besides Wing and I thought it was pretty deplorable. Even Endless Waltz wasn't anything special. After watching the first episode of Seed and deciding it looked even worse, I pretty much gave up on the franchise. I'll probably hunt down a torrent for the original series at some point though, right after I hunt down one for Ideon.

[Mr. Tines]

right after I hunt down one for Ideon.

Shin-getter.net are the fansub group for that (the one that dragged me into this torrenting business by doing so).

I've not seen any Gundam at all. Lacking that and almost all of the standard fare from last century, I will otherwise sit out this thread.

[Reichu]

Maybe [Wing is] the Gundam and mecha-anime for people who don't like Gundam and mecha-animes?

I tried watching it once, and I fell asleep a few episodes in. I'm interested in seeing some of the older ones, though.

I've not seen any Gundam at all. Lacking that and almost all of the standard fare from last century, I will otherwise sit out this thread.

The Old Century anime comprise the majority of what I'm most interested in watching, incidentally.

I won't produce a list owing to the fact that I lack the qualifications. But NGE would be on there (natch).

[AuthenticM]

right after I hunt down one for Ideon.

I once downloaded the whole thing. But after seeing how crapy the animation was (since it's an 80's show) and how horrible the opening was, I deleted it from my hard drive. Since I have no intentions of re-downloading the whole thing again, I'll never find out if it was good or not.

[Ornette]

Picking just 10 or 20 would be too hard. You can click on the link in my sig for what I think are masterpeices.

I once downloaded the whole thing. But after seeing how crapy the animation was (since it's an 80's show) and how horrible the opening was, I deleted it from my hard drive. Since I have no intentions of re-downloading the whole thing again, I'll never find out if it was good or not.

That's too bad. OPs and animation like that is what 1980 was all about. A lot of really awesome shows from the time had corny OPs and dated animation (Macross, Future Boy Conan, Getter Robo G, Urusei Yatsura).

[Ejinathan]

i was rofl when i saw gundam 0079,

but gundam wing is good i admit :).

"How many more have to die "

[Reichu]

I once downloaded the whole thing. But after seeing how crapy the animation was (since it's an 80's show) ... I deleted it from my hard drive.

My impression is that the majority of shows these days technically don't have animation that is any better. The overall style is just different, and it looks more refined and sparkly because of computers and such.

[The Eva Monkey]

Perhaps this is just a snobbish attitude toward non-UC centered Gundam shows?

My take on snobs is that they know what they're talking about. The problem is that the knowledge they have makes them jaded to the point where they come off as opinionated and ignorant, refusing to acknowledge any inheirent value in something. It's the distinction between knowledge and wisdom.

[Zkh]

I'll put most of the UC Gundam series up there on my list, and most of the Wing hate isn't from people who think anything outside of UC sucks. In fact, I know A LOT of Gundam fans who LOVE G gundam and Turn A Gundam, both of those are outside of UC. I've seen G gundam and it's basically Gundams in a super robot show. Wing is just plain horrible, it's nothing but pretty boys and invincible mechs, I barely remember the Gundams having to get repaired at all during the series.

I can't say what the BEST anime list would contain, because each person has a favorite, and to that individual, that show = best.