Best Anime

A masterwork. So carefully crafted, the slower paced and seemingly inconsequential first handful of episodes made retroactively essential, its annoying characters and their quirks similarly endearing and amusing within just a few episodes. Steins; Gate undoes its own flaws, which you don't often see. The simple yet elegant music warrants a mention too, punctuating very well ('Believe Me' is a track that I could listen to for hours). This is a gruelling rollercoaster, examining the butterfly effect. The series ended after 24 episodes, which I consider a perfect ending. The team came back later with an epilogue, an OVA that some consider not part of the canon, which I agree with, mainly due to it being a little unnecessary (not bad per se, just not needed). So I can't really tie that to the season. For its consistency, how it will be even better on a second viewing by its nature, Steins; Gate is #1.

Unparalleled for its first 25 episodes (particularly those first dozen), and if it had ended there, Death Note would be #1. But the last third was quite underwhelming and sucked the life out of the series. Still, those 1st two-thirds are so impressive that Death Note averages out as better than nearly any other anime, and I can stop there on a rewatch. A cat-and-mouse game between two geniuses, one determined to rule the world in anonymity while the other, a detective, looks to hunt him down.

Such a solid range of characters between the heroes and the villains, lots of intrigue too. Repetitive dialogue would be the main flaw (I didn't need to be reminded of Edward's desire to get his brother's body back a hundred times over) yet other than that, few complaints. FMA:B is at the top of a lot of anime lists for good reason.

The supernatural elements are supposedly much more prevalent in the manga, where they're sparing in the anime and might leave you scratching your head by the end (the last 2 episodes being pretty wild and random). Hearing Guts' haunting theme got me into the series and the ethereal journey as well as the fate of one of the main characters is something that I'm unlikely to forget.

For just a 10 episode series, each episode being 20 minutes long, it certainly got a lot done. Exhausting, rather perverted (as so many anime bizarrely tend to be), it deserved more episodes to better smooth out the narrative in my opinion, however I was thoroughly impressed with it overall. Better to want more episodes than fewer. Considering its imdb score when compared to the others in my top 10, I think it's somewhat underrated.

1995 is ancient for tv, so I was pretty stunned with what they were doing back then, covering child soldiers, their understandable PTSD and depression as well as the indifference from the adults who need these kids to do their duty for the sake of humanity. Its characters became archetypes for so many in the following decades of anime. I will say that it couldn't fulfil its potential in terms of what they were setting up, the last maybe 5 or 6 episodes being pretty bizarre. Entire episode montages that were hugely jarring, some ludicrous character turns and the notorious final 2 episodes that saw the budgeting issues result in 20 minutes screenshots for the most part, punctuated by the creator's breakdown and sudden obsession with psychology.

With all series, anime in particular, you've got to weigh the good with the bad and rate it overall, and for what Evangelion was for the most part, I cannot not recommend it.

I found Parasyte to be refreshingly mature, reminiscent of Death Note in many ways; its setting, some of the music and other than one or two lapses, a steady sense of logic. It's also centred around a young man coming into his own, changing as the series goes on. While I liked the first half more than the second, it wasn't night and day by any means, the divide typically seen when a statement like that is made.

Tonally it's pretty light hearted, which makes its many savage moments quite stark. While it's not one that'll hook you on its story like the above series, the character interactions are engaging and when combined with the show's willingness to kill main characters, the overall impact of Akame ga Kill is much more profound than I initially expected it to be capable of. It's fun, very watchable, imaginative in its use of powers and I liked it more and more as it went on.

S1 showed potential, although it was a little shallow for my liking, bogged down with so much time wasting in an already short season. Still, it's optimistic, colourful, easy to watch and has good action scenes.

I've seen both films, which were quite refreshing after S1, feeling like extended episodes with some spectacular animation too.

S2 is a huge improvement over S1, fixing its flaws and showing me why this series is such a juggernaut. Almost twice as many episodes were made as S1 yet without any sense of filler. Characters were more developed, things got a little darker and it was action packed throughout. Highlights were the tournament and Stain especially.

On S3 and 4, definitely felt them padding out that 25 episode requirement; had they trimmed down to 20, cut out the fat, both seasons would be roughly on par with S2. Still, lots to enjoy, the pacing just isn't as strong. S5 was frustrating. The pacing was a mess, too many recaps, too much padding and exposition, lacking structure overall too. The Joint Training Arc was good and the villain arc eventually turned out alright but it wasn't enough.

Be wary of the impulse to give up too early; the first few episodes are its weakest, taking a little warming up as it figures out its style, though once it hits its stride? It's reminiscent of MHA, and not just because of the shared voice cast. Watch up to the 4th episode if you're struggling, that showed some of the potential, 9 and 10 if you're still flagging and if 14 and 15 aren't your thing then give up(!).

The pacing of its episodes did bother me, being as little as 15 minutes long because of how much time is wasted. Not one but TWO opening sequences, often a beginning and mid-episode recap (a post-break catch up that hasn't been edited out for streaming services, a minute long too where typically you'd expect 10 seconds) and then a goofy post-credits segment on top of that. Which results in individual episodes lacking time for depth. This is fine for multi-episode battles, which are thankfully frequent, though solo episodes suffer for it.

Still, positives: I like the magic variations, the different factions and class distinctions, the humour and a wide variety of affable characters who each receive focus. The animation's hit and miss (not a popular studio, as I gather) but has plenty of highlights. The consistency in the series' episodes is pretty noteworthy for such long seasons (1-3 are fifty episodes each), especially up to the 120th episode, barring the odd misstep. And while the first 20 eps of S3 were very action packed, the following 30 were mostly a meandering series low point, only 12 of them being notable. Bogged down with multiple recap episodes (why??) and the most inconsequential filler that served to really dampen my enjoyment of Black Clover. Luckily, S4 learned the lessons there.

The protagonist definitely parallels Light Yagami from Death Note again, what with the plotting, voice and general psyche. Albeit without nearly as much resistance, which admittedly didn't hamper my enjoyment. Definitely one of the prettiest anime in terms of the vibrancy of its colours.

S1- Definitely one to stick with, after the first 2 episodes failed to meet my expectations. It struggled to cement what it was trying to do yet by the end, I was pleasantly surprised about how good it had gotten. The premise is similar to One Punch Man.

S2- Only slightly below S1 but really, wasted potential. It took until two-thirds of the way through for Claw to reappear and because zero time was spent developing them, they were undercooked. The boss, the son's abrupt turn and supposed friendship with the brother (they only spoke for 30 seconds!), there was no depth. They had a chance to get really dark and interesting, but instead chose to have fakeouts. Got a bit talky towards the end too, all of the villains conveniently being convinced not to fight. They shouldn't have wasted time with two eps of Reigan being lonely and a fraud (1 would've sufficed), plus the faux-marathon (it was only a 5k! That's like 1/8th of a marathon!) and college student episodes were needless too. The fight scenes throughout were well done but with better pacing and plot/character development, this season could've been what people pretend it was.

S3- Definitely the weakest season. Felt somewhat aimless (the alien episode was peculiar). The broccoli episodes and the final arc were fine I guess.

S1- Really something else for roughly two-thirds of it. It sets up a good niche for the first 10 episodes, mature and surprisingly dark, before becoming disappointingly childish for the most part, over the course of the next handful of episodes. This is due to the introduction of two silly characters (one of them being pretty unbearable) but hold out; what follows is a 7 episode stretch that's even better than those first 10 episodes. And said annoying character has some of the best scenes in the entire season, shockingly enough!

I particularly like how they deal with character depth; it should be jarring to break up intense battles with extensive retrospective character insight but it works so well, particularly with the villains. Even as they're dying too, which adds so much more weight to the clashes. You don't often see this. The last 5 episodes are a mix of filler, childish again, fine enough and a return to creepy, dark form in the finale. Demon Slayer is all over the place, although it's generally worthwhile.

I have a number of complaints about S2. There were 3 eps that were undercover, but nothing was happening. No real investigating, getting to know or suspect people there. The 6 episode long battle had some real irritating pacing, barrages of exposition, lame flashbacks with terrible dialogue (siblings don't call each other "sister" or worse, "big brother", which a lot of anime fall into for some reason), one of the wives was about as annoying to listen to as Zenitsu was last year as well. And the mouth animation is abysmal, just yapping. Which doesn't make sense when you see how much effort goes into the general animation and action scenes. You'd think that making English dubs would involve making their mouths match the words. The battle itself, while bogged down by these factors, was well worth watching. But yeah, it was bogged down.

S3 had the excesses of S2 (needless immaturity, horrible pacing) with none of the heights (animation and impressive fight sequences).

S1- Despite stretching the limits of absurdity at times, particularly moments earlier on, it really grew on me. While Anya could grate with the screaming, her quieter moments were genuinely funny. There's an eclectic mix of ideas here that works quite well. It's also the first slice of life anime that I've enjoyed.

S1- Clearly low budget (particularly in terms of their mouths moving), although the action scenes were well done. It's like Netflix's heist version of The Boys and its first 3 or 4 episodes especially are particularly impressive. I will say that any time the old man was dominant in a scene, the pacing suffered for it, although gauging it as a whole, it wasn't a major issue. Super Crooks to me is what people act like Invincible was, with a fraction of the recognition.

This turned out to be more than I expected (I've only seen S1, for the record). I will say that for a series featuring protagonists no older than 11, it's not an easy thing to keep an older audience engaged, let alone handling their plotting without making said kids seem too grown up. That's quite the tightrope, and while I think it lagged just a little at some points in the middle, The Promised Neverland was a triumph. It was bookended by its best episodes, with its last 2 being particularly noteworthy.

Iconic. Everyone's heard of Evangelion but everyone's watched DBZ. It made an entire generation anime fans without even realising what anime was. Who can forget the Faulconer score, the tension (which notoriously led to a lot of filler), superb animation for the time, the iconic action scenes, characters and voice acting from the heroes to villains.

Better than expected, considering how GT failed comparatively. It has similar highs and flaws (filler) as DBZ, so you should enjoy one if you liked the other. The arcs are pretty decent, starting with Beerus, Frieza, the first tournament, Goku Black and then the last 2 tournaments.

The first romance anime I've watched. The 2nd half gets a bit drawn out and the ending is messy, regardless, much better than I expected. I can see why this features highly on others' lists. Some issues that I had with characterisation actually made sense in hindsight, so it would benefit from a second viewing as well.

Really enjoyed this when I was younger, probably one of the best theme songs as well. However I think it peaked after the first 24 episodes, meandering a lot after that as the journey to the tournament was way too elongated, before settling into a Gundam-style mould in terms of battles, which was fine enough. The ending wasn't too popular, if I recall.

More juvenile than DBZ, particularly to begin with, its second half or so being of a comparable quality to DBZ, specifically the tournaments.

S1- Incredible animation, memorable characters, great fight scenes and some funny lines.

S2- A step down from S1, sure, particularly in the animation but even then, being on par with typical anime doesn't make it bad. It's just not outstanding as it was in S1. There was also a hesitation to animate impressive fight scenes for the most part as well. Considering the negativity over S2, after finally getting around to watching it? It was fine, really.

S1- Unnecessarily sexualised (aren't all anime, right?) and a bit unbalanced but when it was at its best (episodes 8 and 9), I was taken aback.

A very frustrating watch, because it had so much going for it and so much that let it down. Hisoka was a fantastic villain, every word and look unnerving. Killua and the Phantom Troupe were similarly menacing. For a good chunk of Hunter x Hunter, it felt like greatness was ahead.

But narratively, it was crushingly disappointing. Many episodes end when it feels like they've just started. And any time that something smart happens, a character so thoroughly explains it that it takes most of the impact away. The worst thing about this series (and for a remake at that) was the unbelievable amount of exposition that got worse as it went on; for what took up most of the 2nd half of the series, the Chimera Ant arc, the further you get into it, even amidst the big battles (where in hindsight, next to nothing happens), maybe 80% of an episode can be a character or the narrator spouting exposition. It really is brutal. The series also becomes more like DBZ as it goes on (1 villain basically a copy of Cell, the aura, even the sounds when people move at super speed) and the power scaling becomes increasingly nonsensical.

Its best stretch, involving the arena and Troupe, ultimately ends anti-climactically with zero resolution for Kurapika, the interesting Chrollo (never seen again, despite teasing) and Hisoka, so even at its best, Hunter x Hunter disappoints. If you could get someone to remake it yet again, hack away at all of the filler and work on some character arcs, I could put this series in my top 10. But that will sadly never happen.

Eclectic, the most perverted and gratuitous anime I've seen to date (the writers/animators need therapy, sectioning arguably). Despite that, I quite enjoyed S1; it had a solid pace with practically every episode being packed with action. A few laughs here, a good twist or two there and a stream of challenging villains. While there wasn't much depth, it had a steady sense of direction. I particularly liked their 'styles make fights' sensibility, like how A might beat B, while losing to C. However C might lose to B.

The 2nd season was just 4 episodes, although their emphasis on much needed character work was welcome.

S3 depleted much of my enjoyment of Sins; the villains weren't a threat by the midway point and while character work saw much more focus, I wasn't a fan of the directions that they went in (the pointless resurrection that rendered a character/dynamic that they were building up to be pointless, the random foxman, Dianne losing her memory yet again etc.). Sidenote: for most of the season, every line from the pig was insufferably annoying. The plot too was aimless; at one point, while supposedly hunting demons, the heroes just entered the demons' tournament for no good reason, before remembering what they were supposed to be doing there(!). Between this random tournament, the bizarre use of power levels and their ridiculous increases, the sort-of hyperbolic time chamber, even the Saiyan-like auras, S3 was trying too hard to be DBZ.

S1- Clearly heavily inspired by Berserk, covering a scarcely known period in England's history. Be warned that it takes a few episodes to properly start, the pacing at times can be slow, particularly in the 2nd half and I was never as enamoured as everyone else seems to be. It was pretty decent at times though.

S2- I was fully on board with the first half, liking its low-key, deliberate approach but the second half lost me. Brutal pacing, very insubstantial (that 3rd quarter could've been thrown out and you'd lose nothing, the 4th quarter was wasteful too), totally lacking in subtlety with its constant monologuing.

Definitely skipped a few beats when it came to characterisation, making the series feel a little hollow, but the action scenes were pretty entertaining.

I only watched about 15 episodes, bored by a blatant filler episode and never getting back into it. I hopefully will once it's done; weekly watching is hard to do when you wait 7 days to see characters dust a castle for 20+ minutes.

I've only seen the 1st season, of which the second half paled in comparison to the first; I'll never understand why they didn't use that first half's concept to cover multiple seasons. Rather than dumping it way too quickly and instead focusing on fairies and incest.

A little bit undercooked. I also wasn't a fan of the truncated dialogue style, how everyone spoke in text messages.

I haven't seen enough to form a more solid opinion of it, due to licencing issues in my country. From what little I saw as a boy though, at most a few dozen episodes, I quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, with over 1000 episodes made, I doubt that I'll ever muster the commitment to continue watching.

Sort of like a PG Berserk with Hunter x Hunter vibes (similar music and the feeling of potential... that's never realised). It's all too random, like it's being made up as it goes along. Even the deaths, which make you think it's trying to be bold, are all undone, resulting in no real consequences. The further I got, the less that it made sense.

I've only seen the first season and it never really grabbed me. Narratively, I didn't find it too interesting, and it was dumb throughout; 'this character's dangerous and I should stay away from him, you say? Nah, I'll hang out at his place and see how that goes!' You've also got humans that are way overpowered, inexplicably able to use a ghoul's kagune better than the ghouls themselves, despite ghouls being far more powerful. You had a young girl effortlessly kill a man that executed her parents, both parents having refused to defend themselves (for no reason). Then there's the roommate of the protagonist's friend that tried to viciously kill both, only for them to act like nothing happened a couple of episodes later. Just bizarre characterisation. And being S1, this was when Tokyo Ghoul was supposedly at its best!