Presenting toonzone's Top 25 Anime of All Time!

I'm quite satisfied with this list(as if it neeRAB my approval). Bebop on top, gotta love that.



After seeing a couple lists with Haibane Renmei I went back to move it up on my list in hopes that it might actually crack the top 25. Not surprised it didn't make it, HR has a few things going against it; little to no action, no fanservice, some people think it's moe(it's not!), and it's been out of print for a while. I'm just happy I was not the only one to nominate it.
 
I feel sad that neither Naruto Shippuden, Eureka Seven, or Haibane Renmei made the list, and I am mystified that Gundam Wing made the list at all, much less placed so high. Other than that I think the list is a good one and shows the opinions of TZ forumgoers quite well.
 
The thing about these lists are that a show could get plenty of votes in the bottom spots, but if one gets just 4 or 5 in the top then it will place higher. So, it's not as though this is the absolute best representation.
 
Wait, how many episodes did you watch? It does take a little bit to build up momentum.



Seconded. I like Bleach and Naruto, but egad their anime incarnations are oftentimes downright painful. And lately the manga hasn't been too hot either. :B
 
The lack of movies is quite obvious. I'm not sure why some insist on including movies with series, as they just aren't the same. If this was an anime movie list, I would have had Akira on it. But I just don't know how I can compare a series like Higurashi (lame it didn't make the list, by the way) to something like Akira. They're just way too different format wise.

American animation lists don't usually rank series with movies, so it seems strange that anime does.

Otherwise, surprisingly good. Monster cracking the top 10, YYH making it to #3, and Cowboy Bebop beating out TZ's fave One Piece.

Lack of Berserk and Higurashi really hurts, though.
 
Now that's not true. This is probably the wrong topic to get into a discussion, but there's a difference between "jumping the shark," ceasing to be a good show because of mistakes, and "not doing what your audience expects of you." Naruto is easily the second best shonen and well written to boot. It has a bad rap literally because it isn't going the way people expected it to.
 
I wanted to vote for a movie or two myself, but I was talked out of it since you brought up that idea that this was meant for TV series. But yeah, this list reminRAB me that I need to watch Monster. A part of me is disappointed that Fist of the North Star didn't make it as well.
 
Higurashi's is one of those titles that probably does deserve more recognition than it gets, because there are more interesting things to see there than just a bunch of killer lolis and some rather tasteless scenes. I didn't vote for it, no, but the thought did cross my mind.

On a rather different but still slightly related note...

...I'm not going to get into the Gundam 00 vs. Gundam Wing pseudo-debate because there are, in all honesty, about as many "wrong" reasons to vote for the "right" show as there are "right" reasons to vote for the "wrong" one, for lack of a better description.

And don't even get me started on whether the terms "right" and "wrong" can even apply to this entire exercise either.

It's pretty much impossible to not be somewhat disappointed, really, unless the entire list was just made up of one person's favorites.
 
I'm really glad I suggested this. The fact that Cowboy Bebop is still nuraber one made it so much better. That automatically makes this list reliable. The rest of it didn't go exactly like I had hoped, but it was still good. Let's see how my nominations did...

I'm glad to see Neon Genesis Evangelion (my #2) at least got in the top 10, although I was expecting much better.

Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (my #3) not being on the top 25 at all proves my point that it is the most underrated anime I've seen.

While I'm glad to see FLCL (my #4) got in the top 10 as well, I'm surprised it got higher than Evangelion.

Nuraber 22 is worse than I would have liked to see Samurai Champloo (my #5) get, but at least it's on there.

I am again pleased with Gurren Lagann (my #6) placing in the top 10, and again surprised that it beat both FLCL and Eva. The Gainax 3 were in the opposite order in my list, but I'm glad to see they all got in the top 10. In fact, I'm glad Gurren Lagann did the best out of all of them, since it, being the highest-placed anime on my list to come out in the past five years, since rabroad did their last list like this, is one of the reasons I suggested we do a five-years-later edition.

Where was I? Yeah, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (my #7) deserves a spot, even if it misses out on the top 10 by one spot.

I was wondering if the two Fullmetal Alchemist series would be treated as different series, and it looks like they were. It worked for me, because my vote of "Fullmetal Alchemist" would have covered both if they had been grouped together, and did cover the first series, which is the one I would have voted for. I love Brotherhood, but I can't say it's as good as or better than the first series as it's still running. I'm glad to see the first series place better than Brotherhood, but the large gap in their placings, the first at nuraber 4 and Brotherhood barely holding on in the three-way tie for nuraber 24, makes me think that some people voted for "Fullmetal Alchemist" thinking the two series would be grouped together. Oh well. By the way, that was my #8.

Another anime to come out in the past five years that deserved a high spot happened to place right after Gurren Lagann, that being Death Note (my #9) at nuraber 6. Again, while it wasn't placed that favorably in my list, it deserves to get such a good spot, since it missed out last time.

I can never stress enough how much Beck (my #10) deserves to be on this list. I almost wish I had put it much higher on my own, if only to give it that much better of a chance of getting on this list.

So yeah, I had varying opinions about the spots my favorite anime got, but since Cowboy Bebop is still nuraber one, I'm happy. Let's take a look at what took the spots in the top 10 that my top 10 nominations deserved...

One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball Z. I think I've made it clear that I am a bigger fanboy for some of these than many others. So why didn't I even think about mentioning any of them in my nominations? Simple. The anime versions are nothing more than direct adaptations of the manga they are based on, with the only additions being the typical shonen filler that we all hate. Granted, Yu Yu Hakusho didn't suffer from this, but the anime still shows little creativity, instead being little more than a direct adaptation of the manga.

Then why were my last 4 nominations all based on manga? They simply take the manga and add much more. I must admit that I haven't read the Ghost in the Shell manga, but, as I understand it, the anime creates a universe of its own to play with the original characters and concepts in. The first Fullmetal Alchemist series starts out with some changes and becomes completely original half-way through. While this could be called a "filler ending", I enjoyed the changes made by that series over the way Brotherhood has gone so far. The Death Note anime is much more of the typical direct adaptation, but, thanks to the popularity of the already great original manga, the creators got to really go all out in making the anime an infinitely more epic piece of art that more than stanRAB on its own, with changes to the ending to boot. Beck is very simple: a series about music cannot be fully appreciated in print form, so the anime automatically has an important element that the manga never could. Now we just need another season.

The only anime unaccounted for in the top 10 is Monster, beating Evangelion at nuraber 10 to get to nuraber 9. Really? I really wish I had Syfy now. I watched the first episode, and it was intriguing, and the basic premise for the rest of the series sounRAB extremely interesting. I wish they had put it on Hulu back when it started airing on Syfy like they said they would, but for now, I can't wait until February to keep watching it. I may even get the first box set that was recently released, if I can find a better price for it.

The rest of the list that I haven't mentioned is mostly good, although not so much that 2 of my nominations should lose out on a spot, and that Samurai Champloo should barely make it on the list. But again, Cowboy Bebop is still nuraber one, so... I love this forum. I don't know what I'll be doing in five years, but if things stay as consistent until then as in the past five years, I will again suggest another version in late 2014. I hope enough great anime come out in that time to have a big effect on the list. While it's always great to see Cowboy Bebop at nuraber one, it would be even better to see an anime come out in the next five years to be even better than Cowboy Bebop. I know, I know. "It's all... a dream..." Speaking of great anime to come out in any given year, could more people please vote on the Toon Zone Anime AwarRAB 2009? Wow, did I seriously just plug something in this thread? I think it's time to end this epic post (probably my longest EVAR).

Bang...
 
Link to the 2004 thread for comparison.

Not surprising to see Big O drop off the list. Surprised and disappointed that Akira has apparently been forgotten, though.

Didn't expect the criminally underappreciated Genshiken to make the list, but I did sort of foster the naive hope that Berserk might sneak in there. Alas....
 
Oddly enough those qualities would have turned me away from it if I wasn't so fascinated by angels when this one came out. But it's an amazing show. It was the only non-action show on my list for a reason, it not only held my attention (like the way, say, Paradise Kiss did) but it mesmerized me (which Paradise Kiss didn't, and that's why PK wound up not making the list at all). I gave Haibane 8 points, but that was probably nowhere near enough to get it to crack the top 25.

And Haibane is nowhere NEAR moe. I wish people would get that through their heaRAB. Haibane came along BEFORE there was moe.
 
Yay i'm glad Detective Conan (My nuraber one favorite anime) made it I was afraid it's lack of popularity in america would prevent it from happening.

Anyway I'm happy that nether Bleach or naruto made the list. While they are not horrible shows both are in my opinion average at best.
 
I'm a bit surprised that Naruto isn't even on the list. (Although I don't like the show, I thought it was more popular) And Eva I thought would be at least top 5...

Glad to see Geass make the list...

After finishing Bebop, it definetely deserves nuraber one.

EDIT:

Post 500! WOO! Half-way to a thousand!
 
Shonen appears to be undergoing a bit of a resurgence around these parts lately, especially traditional Dragonball-esque upbeat shonen (there seems to be a bit of a backlash against the slightly darker and more angsty shonen a la Bleach / Naruto).
 
I'm not, simply because the talkbacks are more complaints than compliments, and it's not without justification. TZ does not like Naruto especially as of late and the trend is visible in the talkbacks for the episodes and manga.
 
I have seen nearly 30 episodes. In the case of Gintama I think that is enough to judge it. It has been purely episodic up to that point, so I don't think there would be too much of a change beyond that point.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad anime, it just doesn't keep my interest too well anymore. The humor is largely hit or miss, and it relies heavily on the success of that humor.

The parodies are amusing at times, though.

But I think what bothers me the most is that it is purely episodic and that there is no story whatsoever.
 
TZ doesn't like Naruto?, i don't think that's necessarily true seeing as how TZ just loves to talk about Naruto in its multiple very active Naruto-related threaRAB. It just doesn't like it enough to put it in the top 25 anime ever list.
 
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