Board 8 > Mac Ranks 111+31 User-Nominated Anime - The Rankings!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bump.
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If I ever start reading manga, I'll definitely start with Watamote. It's already my favorite anime and a lot of people seem to think that the post-anime content is even better!
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51. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/4/26681l.jpg
@tazzyboyishere

PSGs pretty fun stuff! I dont even know what Id compare it to, anime-wise. Theres not really anything like it other than short stuff like Dead Leaves (also from Imaishi, coincidentally~). I very much appreciate the MCs both being super crude girls, contrary to the usual purity focus anime has. The humor is usually quite good, and when the show goes all out on action, it actually looks incredible. The music is also top tier. Might even be the best from an Imaishi show, and thats a pretty high standard, considering how good the KLK and TTGL OSTs are (Scanty & Kneesocks Theme is my favorite track). I think the main flaw of the show is how uneven it can be. The first few episodes are okay, with some good moments, but it doesnt really hit its stride until a few eps in. The Scanty & Kneesocks introduction episode is the highlight of the show, with some ridiculously awesome action scenes, and the episodes after that are great too...until they start focusing on the romance with Brief, which I did not like at all (thankfully the ending of the show is awesome, but the lead-up wasnt my favorite). I think Kneesocks couldve used some more focus too - Panty is definitely the main character of the show (probably the better character, but I like Kneesocks design better at least <_<). And I was never sure of the art. I get that having the simpler art allows them to go a lot crazier with the animation, but man that transformation sequence art looks fantastic. Still, very fun and unique show overall. Would be happy if more anime had MCs like these two.
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50. Death Parade
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/9/68237l.jpg
@NBIceman

I watched the Death Billiards one shot that came out a couple years before this did and quite enjoyed it, so I was definitely looking forward to DPs release, and it didnt disappoint! I think Id say that most of the stories here were better than that one, even. They could be a little bit silly or over the top sometimes, but usually they were still quite entertaining. I think the early ones are the weakest in general, but even they have some neat twists, and there are great ones like the bowling episode. After a few episodes, basically all of them are excellent. They have more interesting twists, and they go for more of an emotional connection with the employees. The episode with the old woman was my favorite in the whole show I think, since it made me cry and smile and was just awesome. Plot-wise, I especially like that Nona gets more important as the show goes on, since she was my favorite minor character. I found the whole plot of the show with Quindecim to be quite interesting as well, so when they shifted the focus to that for the last few episodes I was happy with the change.

And of course, we cant forget the glorious OP this show gave to us. Flyers so good.
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It sucks that the intense but entertaining and surprisingly deep psychological series Death Parade, Hell Girl, etc. don't get super popular but they're some of the best.
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Death Parade was too edgy for me. I loved the OP though
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Death Parade is kind of a weird series for me.

I found the overall plot to be extremely boring, but I think generally the episodes as standalones vary between "pretty good" and "top tier anime". It's also sort of weird because the series is apparently about death games, but I actually think the best episodes are the ones that don't have the sort of dark psychological drama you would expect from that label. (The bowling, Old Maid, and ice skating episodes are all absolutely fantastic)
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Again, I'm just a casual anime viewer, but Death Parade is probably top 3 for me, in large part because some of its themes really strike a chord with me.

My only real complaint is that they maybe left a little too much unexplained about how the whole judgment process works. I think a lot of the ambiguity contributed to the intrigue of the show, but it was toeing the line of going overboard.
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The episodic parts of Death Parade were the best imo. When it tried to build an overarcing story line, I think it fumbled a bit.
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Eerieka posted...

The episodic parts of Death Parade were the best imo. When it tried to build an overarcing story line, I think it fumbled a bit.

Absolutely this. Also yeah god tier OP too.

49. Tari Tari
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/10/83575l.jpg
@pyresword

For a while (until Angel Beats, which has a bit of a different feel from their other stuff), this was the best original PA Works show. It doesnt have a super unique premise or anything, its just about a group of girls in a choir club at school. But its very good. The drama is all good, the characters are good, the comedy is good, the horses are good, the animation is good, etc. The MC is one of those energetic girls whos actually good, one of the three is a cool tsundere, and the other is a just plain cool girl. I dont remember too many details about this show, other than that I just enjoyed the whole thing. The music was solid too, as I recall. Strong enough writing can make anything great. ^_^
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Tari Tari was good. Although, I can't remember too many details about it either.
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I remember Wakana starting off very aloof then getting really heartwarming character developmetn then being much more pleasant
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48. Overlord
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/7/88019l.jpg
@Reg

So I had Overlord ranked up here before I saw S3 (much like how I had SG0 ranked before finishing it), and S3 was not my favorite part of the series. The first arc was okay, the second arc was terrible, and the third arc was great, but overall it was the weakest season IMO. I think the main problem I have with the show overall is the lack of progression and Nazarick's awkward place in the world. S1 has a very neat way of making things interesting for the protagonists. In the first arc, Ainz has to test everything in the world, and is very concerned about running into other powerful enemies, so there's a neat sense of tension. In the second arc, he's discovering all sorts of new things about the world, and his power is relatively limited, so there are lots of cool discoveries, and the villains are a neat group to cheer against too. And in the third arc, he actually has to face a huge challenge, fighting someone more powerful than him. After that, there's not really anything interesting that happens to them. They never fight any powerful enemies, and we never find out anything about the greater truth of the world or other players. The overall plot of the series doesn't really go anywhere other than in the final arc of S3. Thankfully, the series addresses that by changing its focus in S2. It becomes more about the world itself and the other characters than just Nazarick. I like this stuff a lot. The world is quite interesting, and the new characters introduced in these arcs are good stuff. I especially like Princess Renner, and it would be great if she got more screentime than she does. The unfortunate thing is that Nazarick is still a presence in these arcs, and it doesn't really add much to them (honestly, they'd be better if Nazarick's existence were just completely ignored). By this point Nazarick's been established as way more powerful than anything else so its presence makes any conflicts totally non-compelling, and their evil is over the top in a not so fun way. I'm not a fan of some of the more important Nazarick characters either (Demiurge and Albedo are particularly lame). It feels like one of those series where the author just wants to keep it going forever without ever changing the status quo.

...anyway, that was far too negative for a series at 48. The comedy of the show is really good, the overpowered battles can be really fun when they're done right, and the cast is mostly quite good. When the show is good it's great. Just wish it focused more on the stuff I liked.
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Overlord is definitely a show about Come for the isekai, stay for the political intrigue. The politics are the best part, and I agree that Princess Renner is one of the best characters in the series.

Its fascinating to see Nazarick as more of an impending disaster than anything else and how it jolts everyone and everything around it.

How can you not love Demiurge though?
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He's totally one-dimensional. Most of the Floor Guardians have interesting characters flaws, but he has none. All of his plans succeed perfectly. Makes him pretty boring.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

and their evil is over the top in a not so fun way. I'm not a fan of some of the more important Nazarick characters either (Demiurge and Albedo are particularly lame).

I entirely disagree with both of these points, but it's a matter of opinion.

Mac Arrowny posted...

He's totally one-dimensional. Most of the Floor Guardians have interesting characters flaws, but he has none. All of his plans succeed perfectly. Makes him pretty boring.

Oh, well, yeah. Hes not as much a character as an evil force of nature. I just love seeing a good mastermind at work and watching Ainz struggle to maintain authority over someone who has him so outclassed is compelling.

Edit: He does actually have one glaring flaw, but its subtle: his communication skills are just terrible. He just assumes everyone on his side will keep up with him, and that can dash others plans in the long-term.
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I love Demiurge, but I'm a sucker for the suave noble demon archetype.
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Now I can say I really enjoyed PSG but thinking back about it makes me realize that there were a lot of not so good episodes as well, like you said. Though yeah at least the main characters are always good for a laugh or two. I adore the art style though. We've seen too many 'anime-style' Western cartoons so it's cool to see the reverse.
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Bump
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47. Paranoia Agent
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/7/10240l.jpg
@Shonen_Bat

My second favorite thing from Satoshi Kon! Number one is Millenium Actress, of course. This show has a lot of really cool episodes. It starts off mostly episodic, before kind of explaining the plot later on. I think I remember liking the first 6 or 7 more episodic episodes better than the rest, but it was all good. Im not sure if they were the best episodes, but the most memorable ones to me are the ones with Ichi (love all that shining) and the one where they all go inside a video game. The show has a nice artsy feel to it that actually succeeds, unlike some other pretentious stuff that just fails to have anything interesting to say. The story and characters are interesting in their own right, too. The twists and turns are pretty fun, and the series as a whole is just plain good. Feels quite unique, looking back on it.
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Paranoia Agent was good. I remember really liking the ending to the episode MHz. I don't even remember what episode that was (around the middle though, I think) just the episode title. >_>
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Happy Family Planning is one of the greatest episodes of anime ever.
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46. Summer Wars
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/10/18933l.jpg
@Raka_Putra

I think this was one of the first anime movies that came out after I started watching anime, and it was a great one! Pretty much everything about the movie is enjoyable. The family stuff is the highlight I think. Seeing the power of a big close family like this feels quite good, and it gives the movie an emotional power to it that other stories dont really have. The concept of the movie is a lot of fun to start with, with the online world and the math and the hacking and everything being the main characters fault but not in such a way that hes really to blame like how these stories usually go. Mixing in the card game doesnt make much sense, but its a way to get the family involved thats a lot of fun. All the characters are likable, especially the badass grandma. The movie as a whole just has a really good flow to it where things keep getting bigger and bigger in a way that draws the viewer in really well. Its funny that its basically a remake of the one Digimon movie the director did, but this versions definitely superior, so Im glad it was made. Feels like a perfect movie that non-anime fans would like too, other than the card game parts maybe.
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I loved Summer Wars, and I loved that it was basically a non-Digimon version of that Digimon movie so it could appeal to people who had never seen Digimon.
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Summer Wars was pretty good. I remember thinking the end/card game thing was a little silly. That's just a nitpick though.
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Summer Wars was a fun, light watch. It's very likeable and the visuals are well designed.
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Summer Wars was good. I've meant to look up the rules to the card game but never really got around to it.
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Bump
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Thanks TRE, I'll try to get back to this.
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45. Inferno Cop
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/2/47037l.jpg
@AxemRedRanger

Though I didnt like it quite as much as its spiritual successor, Ninja Slayer (which is super hilarious and something everyone should watch, IMO, though opinions on it seem to be a bit more divided than Inferno Cop), Inferno Cop is awesome and a whole ton of fun. Rather than suffering from its limited animation, it uses that animation as a feature, making ordinary acts hilarious because of the lack of animation used to make them happen. Even normal things become ridiculous, and ridiculous things (which is pretty much everything in Inferno Cop) feel totally insane. Of course, theres more to the show than just the animation making things funny. Inferno Cop is one of the silliest characters ever created, but hes also a total badass, so all the forced cool things he does both make him seem awesome and work as jokes. The rest of the cast is great too, like the reporter who looks exactly like April from TMNT, and Mecha Cop, whose processor is a used Sega Saturn. They all have their own over the top traits and backgrounds, and the episodes are only 3 minutes long, so you never really get tired of them. IC was the first short series that I actually appreciated, since it actually managed to use the format effectively, and if I hadnt seen it I probably wouldnt have checked out some of the other short series that I ended up enjoying (one of which is still to come!).
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44. Durarara
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/10/71772l.jpg
@Turnsniper

Expectations for Durarara were high after Baccano was pretty much the best thing ever, and unfortunately the series couldnt quite live up to them. I feel like it did for a while. The first arc was pretty cool with tons of shifting viewpoints, and the second arc was interesting for other reasons, but the third arc suffered from feeling like bad high school drama and focusing on characters no one cares about. The future seasons improve things in a lot of ways, but to me they suffered a lot from me watching them years after the original series. This is not a show you can casually watch: it expects you to know who everyone is, and what their relationships are. The content is quite good in these seasons (though it does have some flaws, namely Anri doing nothing in the final season despite getting tons of hype and Izayas sisters basically being non-entities after their introduction), I just wish I remembered the context better. Character-wise, the cast is great. There are tons of awesome and memorable characters, just like Baccano. Again, the flaw there is its focus on some less interesting ones. Mikado gets some cool development, but Kida is fucking terrible and Anri isnt handled as well as she could be a lot of the time. It might be cool to read the novels and get a better picture of everything that happens in the show. I think theyre all out in English now too? Or theyre coming at a good pace? Anyway, DRRR is mostly an excellent show, just with a couple flaws holding it back.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivd8I-lHi1A" data-time="

the best
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I always liked Durarara more than Baccano.

The Baccano anime tried a really ambitious storytelling style, but I thought the stories didn't have the level of intrigue required to back that up and ultimately ended up slightly worse as a result. Though, I admit part of it is probably just that I like the setting and characters of Durarara more than Baccano even if the events of Baccano had played out in a more conventional manner. I just felt Durarara did a really good job setting up all of it's different characters and the relationships between them.

I mostly liked the S2 stuff as much as S1, though I did feel season 2 really slowed down and dipped in quality a bit during the middle. The first and third cours were both great though.

I never liked Anri at all. Best characters are Mikado/Celty/Izaya imo.
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oh, Anri's not a big favorite. I'm just saying that in the final cour specifically, it looks like she's finally going to do something, and just...doesn't.

Izaya #1
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I really liked Durarara at first. I loved Shizuo and Celty especially. But as it went on and the cast became bloated, I started to care less. And then what you said about the next seasons taking too long also applied to me. By the time the other seasons aired, I couldn't remember who some of the minor characters were or why they were relevant.
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43. The Saga of Tanya the Evil
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/5/82890l.jpg
@TexWolf_1729

I still remember hearing about the LNs for this back in the day. I thought it sounded like pretty much the best thing ever (especially with the much cooler Japanese title, which translates literally as something like record of a little girls war). The art style looks really good in the LN art ( https://img00.deviantart.net/ec4b/i/2017/021/f/a/youjo_senki_hd_wallpaper_by_tammypain-dawagjb.png ), giving a good impression of Tanya being evil. I was somewhat let down when I found out that Tanya was a guy in a girls body, though at least that element isnt really focused on after the start. The animes art isnt quite as good as the LNs either, though it works quite well in action for the most part, with some excellent battles. And of course, Aoi Yuukis great VA work makes up for any art issues. The whole series is a lot of fun, mostly consisting of Tanya doing awesome and logical (but morally questionable) things. You both cheer for her because everyone else is so dumb and cheer against her because shes such a bad dude. Its the perfect combination for a story like this. Ive actually read a little bit of the LN for this, but its super dry and slow paced compared to the anime. I am looking forward to the movie thats coming outhave we heard whether thats original content or an adaptation of another book? Either way, the studio seems pretty competent in how they handled this, so it should be good stuff. In any case, little girls murdering people pretty much always makes for good anime, and hopefully we get more anime with similar premises as time goes on (youll certainly be seeing at least one more later on this list).
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Man, I loved Youjo Senki

finished the anime, then found out the manga hasn't even gotten as far
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The LNs are getting official localizations, so those are definitely an option! They have some cool stuff that's not in the anime too.
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Bump for now.
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Still bumpin'...
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I have not seen The Saga of Tanya the Evil so this is just a bump.
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Bump
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42. SDF Macross
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/1/2441l.jpg
@Turnsniper

For whatever reason, it took me a good while to watch Macross. I did watch some earlier Gundam series, since they were more popular, but that was something of a mistake, since Macross is much better. Despite being a very old series, the original holds up very well. Obviously the animation isnt on the same level of some modern series, and the songs arent quite as good as the best modern ones either (Information High and Lion and Ikenai Borderline are way better than anything from the original). But the animation does what it needs to, and actually looks amazing later on (episode 27 looks absolutely amazing, IIRC), plus the musics good enough that it enhances the show. The story progression throughout the series is very good. I think it had that thing happen where it got an order for a bunch of new episodes partway through the show, but they used that for a kind of sequel arc rather than adding filler in the middle, which worked much better than those other shows. All the details of the universe are very carefully considered, so I was always eager to learn more about the world and see what was going to happen next. The characters are quite strong as well. The main three arent the best in the world, but they do their job and generally arent annoying. The supporting cast is awesome. Roy makes for a great mentor-type, and Max is one of the best ideas the show had. Rather than making the MC the super genius pilot who easily defeats all the enemies, the had his friend fill that role instead, so the fights still stay interesting because hes not being focused on all the time. Milia was super fun as his love interest as well. Episode 27 has one of the coolest plot twists in a show Ive seen, and it always feels like the show is willing to take risks that might not be as common in modern anime. Its just a really well put together classic experience.
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that's some good macross hype
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Macross shows are shows I've been planning to watch for a while but never got around to. It's really just Macross Frontier I've seen a lot of.
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41. Mawaru Penguindrum
https://myanimelist.cdn-dena.com/images/anime/5/30238l.jpg
@Turnsniper

Sorry too kill two of your anime in a row, Turnsniper. Its definitely just a coincidence. I dont think Im as much of a fan of Penguindrum as a lot of people are. It has its slow moments, and some of the episodes later on could have their weird parts (like all the child broiler stuff. Wasnt into that at all). Theres some weird character choices as well, particularly with Kanba (IIRC). But theres a lot of fun stuff too. The ridiculousness of the early episodes is great, and every scene with the princess is awesome. Ringo is a ton of fun, the transformation sequence thingy is great, and the writing is top notch. There are a lot of fun side characters, who make for a good combination of both episodic and overarching plots. Yuri makes for a super interesting character. Mr. President Watch Out guy is one of those classic things that makes Ikuhara anime better than stuff by other people (Revue Starlight an eternal imitator). My favorite thing about the show, however (which most people dont seem to talk about much) is Momoka. Shes just amazing. We dont really get to see her outside of flashbacks, but those flashbacks were my favorite part of the show. Her voice is awesome, and the confidence with which she faces those who oppose her is just super cool. She was possibly my favorite anime character that year. While shes kind of the type of person you cant have around in a story too much because shed just solve all the problems, its sure fun to see her when shes around. Anyway, shes the best part of it, but the whole show is good. Ikuhara is great in general. Id rank Utena a good deal higher and Yurikuma in the same region. Hoping his series next year is great too!
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Bump
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Mawaru Penguindrum was alright. Although, I think I ended up getting lost on what the plot was about by the end of it. I think I remember liking Ringo a lot but not much else about the show.
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