LogFAQs > #974562041

8. Clannad
Genres: Romance, Drama
Favorite Character: Tomoya Okazaki

Definitely one of, if not the best romantic tearjerker anime. Many of the side-routes are actually quite good as well, but the real appeal of the show is the main relationship of Tomoya and Nagisa--especially once After Story starts. The two leads have fantastic chemistry; Tomoya in particular I think is just a great character; and it's really cool to see how the two of them change as they come to know one another. The emotional scenes themselves are also amazing--the writing and buildup are great, and the climaxes are well directed with some of the highest emotional peaks in the medium. There's not really much complicated about this show but it made me care about the characters; it made me cry a bunch; and did that better than almost every other anime out there.

7. From the New World
Genres: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Thriller
Favorite Character: Squealer

This another one of those morally ambiguous anime where it's hard to tell who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, and I think the show does a great job of it. It's hard to say much without a lot of spoilers, but the premise of the show is that humans develop psychic powers with military-like levels of destructive capacity, and it uses this idea to raise some very interesting ideas and moral dilemmas. The story itself is also one of the best in anime I think--it's always tense and exciting, and it has some quite strong emotional content as well. The setting is also one I like a lot. This is technically sci-fi, but the world feels more like an ancient tribal setting than anything. The whole world and tone of this show has this almost mystical feeling about it that I find compelling, and the show uses some cool directing techniques to emphasize that even more.