Board 8 > Tazzy Ranks 102 User-Nominated Anime with Write-ups: The Top 20

(+) Yeah! (+)

FREE VIDEO GAME ALERT

I'm opening up predictions for my top 20, and whoever gets the best score can get a free game from Steam or any other platform that allows me to gift things. I could tie it thematically with something anime-related, but that shit's expensive. Just my way of saying thanks for sticking with this project with bad write-ups that's lasted nearly 2 months because I'm lazy.

THE TOP 20:
AnoHana
Attack on Titan
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Baccano!
Daily Lives of High School Boys
ERASED
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
JoJos Bizzare Adventure
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
My Love Story!!
One Outs
One Punch Man
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Penguindrum
Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
School Rumble
Scums Wish
Welcome to the NHK!
Wolf Children
Your Name

The List So Far:
21. Code Geass
22. ReLIFE
23. Furiko
24. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
25. TTGL
26. The Seven Deadly Sins
27. The World God Only Knows
28. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
29. Seto no Hanayome
30. Tsurezure Children
31. Death Note
32. Toradora!
33. Summer Wars
34. Assassination Classroom
35. Aria
36. Hajime no Ippo
37. Pokemon: The First Movie
38. SKET Dance
39. Redline
40. Wandering Son
41. Death Parade
42. Squid Girl
43. Akira
44. Pokemon
45. Kurokos Basketball
46. FLCL
47. My Hero Academia
48. Shomin Sample
49. Steins;Gate
50. Kinos Journey
51. Angel Beats!
52. 91 Days
53. Persona 4
54. Pokemon: The Origin
55. Fullmetal Alchemist
56. Love Lab
57. Higurashi
58. Made in Abyss
59. Durarara!!
60. Spirited Away
61. Orange
62. Clannad
63. Ace Attorney
64. WataMote
65. Naruto
66. Monogatari
67. Highschool DxD
68. Elfen Lied
69. Digimon Adventure
70. Bleach
71. Dragon Ball Z
72. Love, Chuunibyou, and & Other Delusions
73. Air
74. ef ~A Tale of Memories~
75. Hanasaku Iroha
76. Nichijou
77. Rurouni Kenshin
78. Kara no Kyoukai
79. Madoka Magica
80. Planetarian
81. Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
82. Highschool of the Dead
83. Free!
84. Inu x Boku SS
85. Dream Eater Merry
86. Yu-Gi-Oh!
87. Spice & Wolf
88. The Diary of Tortov Roddle
89. Kakegurui
90. Another
91. Honey & Clover
92. Koi Kaze
93. Konohana Kitan
94. Sankarea
95. Zodiac War
96. Rozen Maiden
97. Little Busters!
98. Madobe Nanami's Homemade Windows 7 PC Cheerleading Commercial!!
99. Mars of Destruction
100. Yosuga no Sora
101. Mayoiga
102. School Days
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Clannad is indeed still too low
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tazzyboyishere posted...

65. Naruto
66. Monogatari

the ultimate humiliation
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Took a look at your MAL and just randomly ranked them

1. ERASED
2. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
3. Ore Monogatari!!
4. Baccano!
5. Wolf Children
6. Attack on Titan
7. JoJos Bizzare Adventure
8. Your Name
9. Hunter x Hunter (2011)
10. Penguindrum
11. One Outs
12. Welcome to the NHK!
13. AnoHana
14. School Rumble
15. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
16. One Punch Man
17. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
18. Scums Wish
19. Avatar: The Last Airbender
20. Daily Lives of High School Boys

not buying the winner a complete blu ray set from aniplex of their choice smh

pretty much completely random

1 Wolf Children
2 Baccano!
3 My Love Story!!
4 ERASED
5 Hunter x Hunter (2011)
6 Attack on Titan
7 Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
8 One Outs
9 Your Name
10 School Rumble
11 Penguindrum
12 Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
13 Welcome to the NHK!
14 One Punch Man
15 AnoHana
16 Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
17 JoJos Bizzare Adventure
18 Scums Wish
19 Daily Lives of High School Boys
20 Avatar: The Last Airbender
---

Just gonna copy-past my old list and add Erased. Also not going to take out Code Geass even though you already ranked it because I am not a dweeb (a weeb yes)

Baccano!
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
One Outs
AnoHana
Code Geass
Erased
Penguindrum
JoJos Bizzare Adventure
Wolf Children
Welcome to the NHK!
Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
School Rumble
Daily Lives of High School Boys
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
My Love Story!!
Attack on Titan
Scums Wish
One Punch Man
Your Name
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
---

AnoHana
ERASED
Your Name
Attack on Titan
Welcome to the NHK!
One Outs
One Punch Man
Scums Wish
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
School Rumble
Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
Wolf Children
JoJos Bizzare Adventure
Daily Lives of High School Boys
My Love Story!!
Penguindrum
Baccano!
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Avatar: The Last Airbender
---

Same as my previous list, just adding ERASED where I had Code Geass.

1. Baccano!
2. Hunter x Hunter (2011)
3. Penguindrum
4. JoJos Bizzare Adventure
5. Welcome to the NHK!
6. One Punch Man
7. Attack on Titan
8. School Rumble
9. AnoHana
10. ERASED
11. My Love Story!!
12. One Outs
13. Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
14. Your Name
15. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
16. Daily Lives of High School Boys
17. Scums Wish
18. Wolf Children
19. Avatar: The Last Airbender
20. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
---

Bump

It'd be cool to get some more lists in!
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from top to bottom:

Baccano!
AnoHana
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Attack on Titan
Daily Lives of High School Boys
Welcome to the NHK!
JoJos Bizzare Adventure
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
My Love Story!!
One Outs
One Punch Man
ERASED
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Penguindrum
Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
School Rumble
Scums Wish
Wolf Children
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Your Name
---

not going to look at your MAL or anything and I don't know enough about you to accurately judge your tastes or whatever, especially considering I haven't seen most of the stuff left

so I just threw the list into a randomizer and this is what I got

1. School Rumble
2. Sayonara Zesubou Sensei
3. JoJos Bizzare Adventure
4. Avatar: The Last Airbender
5. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
6. Your Name
7. One Outs
8. Penguindrum
9. Welcome to the NHK!
10. AnoHana
11. Attack on Titan
12. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
13. Scums Wish
14. One Punch Man
15. Baccano!
16. Hunter x Hunter (2011)
17. My Love Story!!
18. Wolf Children
19. ERASED
20. Daily Lives of High School Boys

good work randomizer putting School Rumble at #1
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1. Baccano
2. Kimi no na wa
3. Snow and Rain
4. We still don't know the name of the anime we saw that summer
5. BokuMachi
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LeonhartFour posted...

so I just threw the list into a randomizer

ah, nice. i just moved some stuff up and dow nteh alphabetical list and then wound up getting lazy and leaving the rest in place
---

I'll let people do lists for another 3 hours or so
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1. South Pole Girls
2. Sword Gai
3. Death March
4. Killing Bites
5. Dagashi Kashi 2
6. Babysitters
---

Top 20 will start tonight. Gonna make it my goal to finish before I leave for a trip next Thursday.
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GranzonEx posted...

1. South Pole Girls
2. Sword Gai
3. Death March
4. Killing Bites
5. Dagashi Kashi 2
6. Babyshitters

Fixd
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20. My Love Story!! (2015)
Koala (4/5)


MLS is the story of a large, gorilla-like high school boy, who falls in love with a small, meekish high school girl, who's feelings are mutual. After thinking that she's actually in love with his best friend, and proceeding to fail at setting the two up, she confesses and the two begin dating. This isn't the typical anime romcom where there's some love triangle or melodrama, or the girl is actually sick and dying. This is just pure, innocent romance, with some great comedy mixed in to boot.

The two mains begin dating pretty quickly in. I think it's maybe the 5th episode when they finally get together, which allows for a lot of time for the two to build legitimate chemistry as a couple. It works pretty well despite the typical trope of never banging like a real couple/ Both of them are completely innocent, and their love for each other is true and pure without any sexual desire needing to drive them closer, which is really nice given the overall tone of the show. It's so mushy and sweet that you end up a type 2 diabetic halfway through, and your pancreas shut down by the end. But not a moment isn't worth it, since I spent all 24 episodes with a big, stupid grin on my face.

I know a lot of people don't like how formulaic his is, and how little the two actually manage to get as far as covering the bases go (I honestly don't even remember if they kiss by the end of it, tbh. Every episode is pretty easy to predict, since Takeo and Rinko are both awesome people who do awesome things. Even in the final arc where it just barely dips it's feet into something that approaches drama, it's soon rifled out in favor of having a more adorable narrative. I can't blame anyone for thinking this show is dull because of how safe it plays everything, but I can call them a monster.
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No perfects left smh
---

there goes bracket
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MAL was a lie

Now this was a show I never got the love for.

I don't know--shoujo romance and I just don't get along for some reason, which is weird considering how much I like romance in general. I don't really remember liking anything about this show after the first episode or two though.
---

19. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (2010)
kateee (1/2)


P&S is about two angels banished from heaven due to being vulgar and mischievous and their journey to work their way back into heaven by defeating evil ghosts, all the while continuing to be vulgar and mischievous. Panty is a nymphomaniac and Stocking has an addiction to sugar, and you will see them constantly indulging in such desires while making dick jokes. And it's fucking hilarious.

The first thing to note about P&S is that it is in no way a show for everyone, or even most people, to be honest. The humor is crude through and through, which creates some pretty low lows when it hits those. I think they're rare, but sometimes we'll spend a full half-episode on something that just kinda sucks (Like the fat one). The show's format is taken directly from Western animation classics from the 90s and 2000s, from the double episode runtime to the title cards to the short opening theme. As someone who grew up on those, the way this show handles itself, along with the unique character designs, made this one hell of a nostalgia trip. Of course, the cartoons were rarely this drenched in vulgarity, and when they were, they were usually terrible, like that Ren & Stimpy reboot.

The show also wanes a bit about halfway through, when it becomes less reliant on episodes where they blitz you with quick jokes and funny banter, and gear more towards conceptual humor, where the punchline is just the entire episode. A good example of this would be the episode where Stocking falls in love with a ghost, and there aren't really any funny moments, since it's just one massive grinding into of the otaku and waifu culture. That group of fans probably hated this show, really, since the writers basically never take themselves seriously, and always poke fun at the medium they work in. This leads to a lot of fans calling it "Brilliant", which I guess I can sort of agree with, but only because I know they were mainly just having fun with everything, rather than preplanning some epic philosophical narrative hidden within the many phallic references.

Panty was my favorite character in the show because dammit she is awesome. I love how she's constantly being slut-shamed throughout the show, then proceeding not to give a shit and being a total badass on top of banging dudes for fun. One of the funniest parts early on was when she debuts as an actress, but doesn't realize the difference between a traditional film and pornography, thus debuts as a porn star. The episode revolves around her trying to avoid her new career tanking, not because she's ashamed, but because she wants to make more money. I'm not saying the show is meaning to push a feminist narrative (In all likelihood it's not, intentionally), but I can still claim it is thanks to "Brilliance". Though I was pretty annoyed with how it decided to make it's funniest character a pedophile. It was railing the Catholic church controversy, but pedophile jokes are basically never funny, and it kinda ruined the character for me.

All in all whoops, didn't really expect to write this much about literally P&S of all things. It's not the funniest comedy out there, but I sure had a lot of fun with it, even when the animation budget would obviously be blown and entire episodes towards the end were built in flash. I was pretty iffy on checking it out because I didn't really want to see a show with shallow, raunchy humor. But when something plays with shallow, raunchy humor in fun ways, it's a great time! Also the soundtrack is one of the best in the medium.
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pyresword posted...

Now this was a show I never got the love for.

I don't know--shoujo romance and I just don't get along for some reason, which is weird considering how much I like romance in general. I don't really remember liking anything about this show after the first episode or two though.

Monster

But yeah, I'm not really super into shoujo romance in general either, but there are a few outliers, and MLS is probably the biggest one.
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18. Daily Lives of High School Boys (2012)
Granzon (2/5)


Arguably the funniest anime ever created, Daily Lives of High School Boys is a very misleading show. Yeah, its about some boys in high school living out their daily lives, but that premise has little to do with what makes the show so good.

There isnt much in the way of plot here, since its entirely composed of episodic skits focusing on character interactions. Nearly every guy is dumb, and nearly every girl is insane, and it puts forward some fantastic comedic moments. Generally speaking, Ringos interactions with the student council are probably my favorite continuing gimmicks, followed closely behind Hidenori and Yassans scenes on the riverbank.

Despite how much I loved it, its probably worth a rewatch, since Im having difficulties remembering a lot of it. Usually its hard to rewatch comedies, but now that everything would likely feel fresh, itd be worth a shot! The show also has one of my favorite EDs OF ALL TIME, even though it's intentionally bad singing, but hey, can't change my tastes!
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favorite skit was the boys cross dressing

and when they bought a bootleg model kit as a present for their friend

Literary girl was best girl
---

I've noticed my prewritten write-ups are usually significantly worse than the ones I write as I go, which seems really weird. I should probably be rewriting them, but every time I get to them, I think, "Ooh, I already did this! Easy update!" and then paste it in without reading it. Will look into this further...

LEADERBOARD (Points are based on differential. Lower scores are better)
TRE - 7
Eerieka - 12
Roba - 15
Leonhart - 19
handsomeboy - 21
Koala - 21
SeabassDebeste - 30
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Nice, my favourites bracket is leading after 3 rounds.
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GranzonEx posted...

Literary girl was best girl

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Would just like to continue off the previous topic to say that Sakura is definitely the best.
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17. ERASED (2016)
Turnsniper (2/5)


ERASED is about a guy who works as a pizza delivery boy getting the power to move backwards in time in order to prevent tragedies. After a particularly personal tragedy, he jumps back much further than ever before, all the way to his childhood. Here, he must intervene with fate in order to prevent a series of kidnappings involving elementary school girls. Of course, he must do all of this in the body of a grade schooler, but the mind of an adult. While the mystery of who the kidnapper is and how his plot unravels drives the narrative, I feel like people who go into this expecting some deep mystery would be let down by how obvious and shallow everything is. But I think the show works better when viewed as a personal tale of child abuse, and how helpless the victims tend to be.

The writing for the show is always pretty great. Even with a few blatantly obvious plot twists, it was really exciting to see everything unravel. Satoru being able to retain his adult brain makes for some pretty awesome confrontations with the adults. Kayo's story is one of the most heartbreaking I've seen, and it's completely satisfying o see her saved in the end. I also loved Airi, Satoru's coworker from the present day, but she gets shafted near the end, unfortunately, despite playing a huge part in the manga (Which I still need to read :/). Really, the first 75% of this show is perfect. It's got great drama, explore interesting concepts, and pretty much every major character feels fleshed out. But it starts to rush things toward the end, culminating into a joke of an ending. They literally catch the main villain using a trick taken straight out of something like Hey Arnold. They apparently tried to cram a fourth of the entire story into one finale, which obviously makes for some bad writing. It's just a shame such a good show failed to stick the landing in such an embarrassing fashion.

I do plan on reading the manga though. While I know the mystery and the overall conclusion, I'm still pretty interested to see things expanded on. I think the anime could've been top 10 material without the rushing, so I imagine I'll love the manga. Just some neat stuff to look forward to in the future!
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KommunistKoala posted...

GranzonEx posted...

Literary girl was best girl

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how many people saw the twist coming though

I was adamant it was that particular person from all the hints that were dropped
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16. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (2014)
Maria (1/5)


In a time of my life where finding legitimately hilarious anime has been getting harder and harder, Nozaki hit at pretty much the perfect time. Its a slice of life comedy about a high school guy who draws shoujo manga professionally, and a girl, who botches a love confession and accidenally becomes his manga assisstant. I guess its technically a romance, since Sakura's feelings remain present throughout the entire thing, but at its core, Nozaki spends most of its time around its eclectic cast and their interactions.

While you do get a lot of time focused on the characters as a whole, it typically splits them off into groups. You have the primary one: Chiyo/Nozaki and usually Mikoshiba when he gets focus. The secondary: Seo/Wakamatsu. And the one thats okay but you just kind of want to go back to the other two when theyre on: Kashima/Hori. Really, the entire cast is great, and the shows at its strongest when playing to the strengths that come about their interactions. Mikoshiba is probably my favorite. Hes a standard fujoshi-bait dude who gives really dumb one-liners and then gets embarrassed about it, which is an odd character trait to say the least, but it never gets old. Nozaki is great too, mainly because of how dense he is. He actually bases characters in his manga on his friends, but uses Mikoshiba as inspiration for his female leads. Its also hilarious to see his roundabout ways of storytelling to prevent inconsistencies within his manga. One of the most memorable gags to me was when he drew a page of the lead character stating how popular it had become to stand on boxes, in order to prevent issues with size scaling of his characters. I think thats how it went, at least.

Anyway, its a really funny show. One of the better to come out in the past few years, with a fantastic cast of characters. For a hot minute, it looked like the same staff struck gold with the similar Tada-kun Never Falls in Love, but they pretty much showed how inept they are at writing original comedy, holy shit Im still pissed about that show. Either way, a new season of Nozaki is necessary, please Doga Kobo.
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tazzyboyishere posted...

In a time of my life where finding legitimately funny anime has been getting harder and harder, Nozaki hit at pretty much the perfect time. Its a slice of life comedy about a high school guy who draws shoujo manga professionally, and thats pretty much the whole concept. I guess its technically a romance, since the main girl finds out about this secret life through a botched confession, and her feelings remain present throughout the entire thing. But at its core, Nozaki spends most of its time around its ecclectic cast and their interactions

While you do get a lot of time focused on the characters as a whole, it typically splits them off into groups. You have the primary one: Chiyo/Nozaki and usually Mikoshiba when he gets focus. The secondary: Seo/Wakamatsu. And the one thats okay but you just kind of want to go back to the other two when theyre on: Kashima/Hori. Really, the entire cast is great, and the shows at its strongest when playing to the strengths that come about their interactions. Mikoshiba is probably my favorite. Hes a standard fujoshi-bait dude who gives really dumb one-liners and then gets embarrassed about it, which is an odd character trait to say the least, but it never gets old. Nozaki is great too, mainly because of how dense he is. He actually bases characters in his manga on his friends, but uses Mikoshiba as inspiration for his female leads. Its also hilarious to see his roundabout ways of storytelling to prevent inconsistencies within his manga. One of the most memorable gags to me was when he drew a page of the lead character stating how popular it had become to stand on boxes, in order to prevent issues with size scaling of his characters. I think thats how it went, at least.

Anyway, its a really funny show. One of the better to come out in the past few years, with a fantastic cast of characters. For a hot minute, it looked like the same staff struck gold with the similar Tada-kun Never Falls in Love, but they pretty much showed how inept they are at writing original comedy, holy shit Im still pissed about that show. Either way, a new season of Nozaki is necessary, please Doga Kobo.

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Nozaki-kun good show

My favorite episode was the one where he and Mikoshiba play the VN and come to the conclusion that the protagonist's best friend is the real hero of the game
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GranzonEx posted...

tazzyboyishere posted...

In a time of my life where finding legitimately funny anime has been getting harder and harder, Nozaki hit at pretty much the perfect time. Its a slice of life comedy about a high school guy who draws shoujo manga professionally, and thats pretty much the whole concept. I guess its technically a romance, since the main girl finds out about this secret life through a botched confession, and her feelings remain present throughout the entire thing. But at its core, Nozaki spends most of its time around its ecclectic cast and their interactions

While you do get a lot of time focused on the characters as a whole, it typically splits them off into groups. You have the primary one: Chiyo/Nozaki and usually Mikoshiba when he gets focus. The secondary: Seo/Wakamatsu. And the one thats okay but you just kind of want to go back to the other two when theyre on: Kashima/Hori. Really, the entire cast is great, and the shows at its strongest when playing to the strengths that come about their interactions. Mikoshiba is probably my favorite. Hes a standard fujoshi-bait dude who gives really dumb one-liners and then gets embarrassed about it, which is an odd character trait to say the least, but it never gets old. Nozaki is great too, mainly because of how dense he is. He actually bases characters in his manga on his friends, but uses Mikoshiba as inspiration for his female leads. Its also hilarious to see his roundabout ways of storytelling to prevent inconsistencies within his manga. One of the most memorable gags to me was when he drew a page of the lead character stating how popular it had become to stand on boxes, in order to prevent issues with size scaling of his characters. I think thats how it went, at least.

Anyway, its a really funny show. One of the better to come out in the past few years, with a fantastic cast of characters. For a hot minute, it looked like the same staff struck gold with the similar Tada-kun Never Falls in Love, but they pretty much showed how inept they are at writing original comedy, holy shit Im still pissed about that show. Either way, a new season of Nozaki is necessary, please Doga Kobo.

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LeonhartFour posted...

Nozaki-kun good show

My favorite episode was the one where he and Mikoshiba play the VN and come to the conclusion that the protagonist's best friend is the real hero of the game

Ah yeah, this was a pretty fantastic bit too.
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GranzonEx posted...

how many people saw the twist coming though

I was adamant it was that particular person from all the hints that were dropped

Does it count if I thought it was being made so obvious that it had to be a red herring of some sort?
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Honestly, I reasoned it out as, "Literally no other character makes sense unless they bring in a new person"
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Also, I'm pretty tired, so that's it for tonight.
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tazzyboyishere posted...

Airi, Satoru's coworker from the present day... playing a huge part in the manga

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/018/489/nick-young-confused-face-300x256_nqlyaa.png

I fucking love erased though
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15. One Outs (2008)
Koala (3/5)
https://imgur.com/dZiB6Wf

The ultimate baseball anime, One Outs is the story of a gambling man who is undefeated in a baseball gambling game called One Outs. He ends up coming face-to-face with a professional player, but loses after that player kinda has to cheat in order to win. The result is that he must now pitch for that man's baseball team, with the end goal of winning the championship. But Toua will only pitch for the team if the owner agrees to his absurd salary proposition, where every at-bat becomes a gamble, with big money on the line.

This show is so much fun. I'm a bit biased, since basebal is y favorite sport to both watch and play, and seeing something that can take the classic game and turn it on it's head to make it into something so clever without completely changing the game is awesome. One Outs isn't the most realistic sports anime out there (Toua can literally control the rotation of his pitches with pinpoint accuracy), but I'd say it's the most exciting. One Outs rarely has a dull moment, with each game bringing some new obstacle to the table. Toua is one of the greatest main characters in the medium despite never really developing beyond being a guy who just wants to gamble. He's always calm and collected, playing 3D chess with his opponents, the front office, and sometimes even his own teammates. Even though the end result is usually the same, it manages to avoid falling into a formula by creating so many different scenarios that require different methods to overcome. One of my favorite moments was when the front office tries to get Toua to pitch three games in a row so they can put him in debt. He wins the first two, but he's obviouslsy exhausted by the third game. But he knew the weather forecast was gonna call for heavy rain, so he just gets lit up in the early innings, before it can be called an official game. After the downpour has started, they pull strings to keep the game going, but Toua has been roughing up the mound ever so slightly as he pitches in order to throw opposing pitchers' balances off. Long story short, this creates a dissonance in the opposing team, and we see the toxic environment the pitchers have to deal with on a power-heavy team. They essentially just start throwing the game, and, to save face, the manager forfeits the game to keep his pitchers' stats clean. It's such an awesome sequence of events using actual knowledge of how the game works to create drama and intrigue, even if no front office is as corrupt as the ones on display here (At east I think...)

It is a shame that the show didn't get a full adaptation. I don't remember where exactly it ended, since I picked up the manga immediately after I finished, so the lines are a bit blurry, but you get into some even more intriguing concepts. Though one of the more ridiculous ones doesn't really make sense if you think about it for a few moments, it's still fun to watch the team essentially take on Toua's ridiculous gamble themselves. While Toua never changes much, his teammates do, and the switch from a losing culture to a winning one makes for some wonderful development. I mean, the Lycaons are kinda like my Cubs in a way...
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14. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (2007)
Mac (1/5)
https://imgur.com/USdKNS5

SZS is about a chronically depressed high school teacher, who's driven to suicidal levels of despair over slight misfortunes. It's a black comedy without much of a filter, constantly poking fun at cultural norms and values. If I was so pretentious as to use the phrase, "Intelligent comedy", and I totally am, I would say SZS falls into that spectrum. Not really because it makes me feel smart or anything lame like that, but because it's capable of taking random thoughts one might have at the spur of the moment, and transforming those into worthwhile sketches that sometimes last 10 minutes. And it can do this while maintaining top-notch entertainment value thanks to it's charming cast of characters.

Obviously, Itoshiki is the best in the show, and probably the best character in all of Shaft's works. He's never not entertaining, and is perfectly capable of taking on the role of the initiator and the straight man whenever the particular joke calls for it. He's helped by Shaft's iconically distinct camera work and art style, as well as the VA, Hideki Kamiya, who always does an excellent job, especially with these types of characters. As far as the girls go, I think I enjoy all of them. They're mostly facetious interpretations of real-world issues such as a shut-in recluse, a stalker, an illegal immigrant, etc. My favorite, however, is Nami, who's trait is that she's completely normal, which, in this cast of characters, is probably the most abnormal thing.

It's cool that this actually got a ton of support from Shaft. I feel like this kind of show wouldn't have a chance in hell of getting 40+ episodes in this day and age. It feels very niche, and the style of comedy isn't likely to appeal to all. I dunno how sales go, but I wish this would have been considered Shaft's magnum opus, since I love it far more than I could ever love Monogatari. It truly is their masterpiece.
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been meaning to read the one outs manga. very fun ride the anime was
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bumpo
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I've decided I'm just gonna finish write-ups before I post anymore. That way I don't end up rushing through this and I can release them causally.
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SZS is still one of my favorite series. I believe my all-time favorite episode was from one of the later seasons, about the mystery train.
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Actually, I'm gonna knock it down to the top 10 and post an update tonight.
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13. Scums Wish (2017)
Roba (1/5)
https://nefariousreviews.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/scums-wish-featured.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1

Scums Wish is the story of a girl whos madly in love with her childhood friend/homeroom teacher, some really boring nice guy who just wants to be with the love of his life, the music teacher. The MC, Hanabi, is left with depressing loneliness, and forges a pact with another classmate whom loves the music teacher. The two of them perform sexual acts upon each other while pretending theyre with the ones they love, but never end up going all the way because theyre lame virgins. Scums Wish is not exactly a happy show. Its a somber look into what unrequited love can feel like, as well as the kind of gut punch it can be to see the one you love with another person, especially when theyre with heartless scum.

I think the main thing I loved about this show is how real it feels, to an extent. Aside from one character, nobody is really played up as incredibly good or bad, and the one that is played up exists as a reflection of Hanabis darker desires. Everyone here is represented as scum at nearly every opportunity, but it does a fantastic job at humanizing them. Aside from Hanabis romantic interest, who is basically a piece of toast, that is. Hanabi herself isnt given any kind of armor either. She essentially abuses two peoples feelings, though both consensual, in order to feel better about herself, with no romantic possibilities. Mugi, the guy she enters the fake relationship with, who both just continuously serve as reminders for their own loneliness, and her best friend, Sanae, who is in love with Hanabi, and Hanbi gladly sleeps with her despite both of them knowing nothing good will come of it. This all leads to some stellar character growth for our main character, as she learns to accept her shittiness, understand that theres no chance of being with her crush, and moving on a stronger person in the end.

I know the ending was pretty unpopular, since Hanabi and Mugi dont hook up and say goodbye to their dumb relationship for good. I guess people were upset about this? They had 0 chemistry, and both knew so, which is why they were using each other solely for roleplay. I thought the open ending where Hanabi walks out single and empowered was perfect. I think a lot of people were also upset with how the main villain won in the end, but I dont think thats how it meant to be interpreted. Yeah, she ends up marrying Hanabis crush after admitting that shes not in love with him, and will just cheat on him the entire time. But thats just the thing. This isnt a win for her, since shes marrying a dude she doesnt even like. All the while, Hanabi is finally able to accept and move on, heading towards a brighter future. Thats just whats so great about this show. It managed to turn the positive and negative outcomes on their heads to create an ending that felt uniquely sincere and powerful.
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