The Rough Guide to Anime's top 50

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sarawna

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It's that time again!

I've just got my hanRAB on the new Rough Guide book on anime, and a large chunk of it's takenup by a top 50 list. Here we go:

Akira
Astro Boy
Barefoot Gen
Castle in the Sky
Cowboy Bebop
5 Centimeters per Second
Fullmetal Alchemist
Gankutsuo
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence
Grave of the Fireflies
Gunbuster
Howl's Moving Castle
Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiraba the White Lion
Little Norse Prince
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Macross
Metropolis
Millenium Actress
Mind Game
Mobile Suit Gundam
My Neigrabroadour Totoro
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Night on the Galactic Railroad
Ninja Scroll
Only Yesterday
Panda and the Magic Serpent
Paprika
Paranoia Agent
Patlabor
Perfect Blue
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Puss 'n Boots
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Samurai Champloo
Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
Serial Experiments Lain
Space Battleship Yamato
Stearaboy
Spirited Away
Taro the Dragon Boy
Tekkon Kinkreet
Tokyo Godfathers
Urusei Yatsura
Whisper of the Heart
Wings of Honneamise

Any thoughts?
 
I agree with all of those except 5cm per a second & the SamuriX OVA's. I 5cm was just to angsty for my taste. & The way the Samuri X OVA's end just made me mad.

but overalll thats a great list!
 
Jeez, take out Miyzaki and it's only a Top 40. They're great stuff, but... wow. That's a lotta 'zaki.

Good list otherwise, though; from what I've seen, at least. All very good shows.
 
not a bad list. I'm surprised utena is on the list and not sailor moon considering how influential of a show it is. I really don't think many magical girl shows made it as successful as sailor moon so that is interesting to me. Besides packing miyazaki, it was a pretty good list
 
I agree with just about the entire list. I thought that Nausicca would beat Totoro, but hey....they're both great. It's good to see 5cm on there too. I took a chance on that movie since I'm not really interested with that genre in anime. I thought it was fantastic and I'm pleasantly surprised that other people think so highly of it as well.
 
I almost fully agree with that list. I noticed that much of the Shonen Jump line seemed to be ignored but I see it this way I think stuff like Rurouni Kenshin, YYH, One Piece, DB/DBZ, and yes, Naruto desreve a least one spot on an anime top 10 list. Same thing with the Sailor Moon issue. Because at least one of these series has been a major influence on the manga/anime/shonen/shojo genre. But the list was pretty comprehensive and a lot of what was there also was epic in it's own right.

At least I'm glad one of Rumiko Takahashi's series made it and it happens to be my favorite one.

O-chan
 
Mostly artsy fartsy stuff and not all of it good. Granted some all-time greats are on the list and Miyazaki a plenty along with legendary movies such as Grave of the Fire Flies but really this list... I don't care for it.

Not too many "fun" shows in that mix and they shouldn't include movies IMO. People don't tend to corabine American movies in with American cartoon top lists so why do it with Japanese cartoons and animated features?
 
Whoa.....thats an epic fail of a list, way to many movies, way way way to many movies and a lot of anime series that shouldnt be there. Samurai Champloo, Paranoia Agent, Serial Experiments Lain to name a few. Even some of these movies dont belong, Barefoot Gen, Whisper of the Heart, Night on the Galactic Railroad, there good movies but nowwhere near top 50 material. I mean seriously 5 cem per sec? Idk a very weird and terribad list imo.
 
You know, I collect these lists (let's not pretend you guys don't have weird hobbies too), and I don't think I've ever come across a "top American cartoons" list, let alone one that leaves out anything that's not a TV series. I think what you have in mind are "top animated TV series" lists which are compiled in America and therefore lean towarRAB American animation - this list's aleady restricted to a certain nationality, so I don't see why it should be restricted to a certain format too.

Bear in mind that the rest of the book looks at Japanese animation from a whole load of different angles - the history, the makers, the source material, the genres, international co-productions - and doesn't focus on any one format. Only makes sense that this list, which is the book's centrepiece, also plumps for variety.



So, what would you have included instead?
 
No I very much feel like taking movies out of the equation would have been wise. Certainly they should have been mentioned and perhaps be a seperate list but long form animated features and television series are completely different beasts and from a truely artistic point of view you'll find far more masterpieces among Japanese threatrical animation than you'll find among the broadcast.

For that reason I find it important to not lump theatrical animation in with the television shows but I can see why someone would do that.

And as for an American list uh... IGN had one just recently and I don't believe it included movies (I could be wrong about that however).

As for the list of shows themselves not terrible but somewhat lacking. You've got some old school which is appreciated but then you have the usual Bebop and Evangelion and the other "hip with America" anime that had much more public eye than some series I consider to be far more entertaining.

I would have liked to see Baccano, Gurren Lagann and BECK on this list and I'm surprised FLCL isn't and I truely believe One Piece deserves a spot but if any one Shonen Jump series deserves a spot it would surely be Dragonball or Dragonball Z. Though I feel both have been surpassed they are great shows that certainly have enough value to be on this list.

I like both Champloo and FMA but neither are qualified for being in the top 50 anime when so few TV shows made it and many TV shows far better than them (at least IMO) did not.

And don't even get me started on Evangelion. It's not that good and it never was. Its just shock value and that's worn off. Gurren Lagann and FLCL were robbed if only one Gainax TV show could make the list.

I think Paranoia Agent should be on this list cause that show was really something intriguing but I guess at least the work of the creator still got spotlighted with the films listed.

And while I'm glad 5 centimeter's made it I wonder why A Place Promised in Our Early Days didn't. I thought that was a marvelous movie.

The list also seems to rarely include any long series when some of Japan's most high profile, most successful and all around best shows have been on the air for over a decade.

It's a nice variety, I'll give it that but I still find it lacking. It doesn't "fail" but it could be better.
 
If ANY TV series deserves to be on this list, Paranoia Agent is it, Lain and Champloo being not too far behind.

I do figure the reason this list is so movie-heavy is that it's probably aimed at newcomers to anime as a "what you should see" thing. Gurren wouldn't make the list because even though it's great you really need something of an appreciation for the history that inspired it to fully enjoy it. Same can be said for Haruhi and other parody/homage/fanservice-type shows. Also I figure not just Shonen Jump but long series in general were avoided due to both the newbie commitment factor and their general inconsistency (One Piece at its best certainly is Top 50 material but is One Piece at its worst must drag it down a bit).

Of everything I've seen on this list, the only thing I absolutely disliked was GitS II. Also wasn't big on Whisper of the Heart but I understand why some would place it up here. Replace those two with FLCL and maybe Voices of a Distant Star or something and I can't really complain about the list.
 
Not sure about Mind Game. It's an experimental film that hasn't yet gone through the critical nails of many people. You can't anoint an obscure film to a top 50 just because it's hip to throw one in there.



This is an alphabetical list, my friend.

Anyway, I always get amused when fans get hot and bothered by lists. It's all subjective really. More than half the suggestions you guys posted in response to this list I don't even think are "all that" (let alone some of titles in this list).
 
...I don't follow. You're criticizing some of the series that are on the list for being "hip with America" and for being in the public eye...and then you go on to suggest series like Baccano, Gurren Lagann, Beck, FLCL, DBZ, and One Piece? Those series, in varying degrees, have all been hip with America. I enjoy a few of those series... in fact I love Baccano and Beck and FLCL, Gurren Lagann was fun too, but it doesn't make any sense to imply that stuff like DBZ and Gurren Lagann has somehow flew under the radar as opposed to say, Mind Game or Night on the Galactic Railroad--- which apparently have gotten more public attention.

And if you're trying to argue that more high profile and sucessful series should have been included, why are you denouncing Evangelion and FMA's place on the list? Now, you're really just arguing that since you don't like them (or at least Eva), they have no place being there. Longevity and influence of the Eva franchise alone guarantees it a spot on the list. The "shock value" obviously can't have worn off that much if a remake of the first couple of episodes was one of the best-selling anime DVRAB of last year. FMA is more recent but considering that it's been one of the hottest anime properties of the recents years and that generally people hold it in high regard, it's easy to see why it's on the list. A lot of long-running series aren't on the list, yes, but I figure that's because the quality of those series tend to be inconsistent.

Sorry if it seems like I'm picking on you, but you seemed to be contradicting yourself a lot. Either way, Leaping Larry Jojo is right. Lists are subjective, so it's probably best not to get too upset about them.
 
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