section in progress Alice in Borderland "Life is just a game we play together. You should try to enjoy it."
Ragnarok "I am with you."
BoJack Horseman "I’m happy for the first time in my life and I’m not going to feel bad about it. It takes a long time to realize how truly miserable you are, and even longer to realize it doesn’t have to be that way. Only after you give up everything can you begin to find a way to be happy."
Girls Band Cry "Whether my fingers tremble or not... There are people who decided to live because of your songs. Who you need to protect isn't yourself in your memories. It's your desire to have your songs reach people. You started the band because you wanted to express your feelings, your joy, your anger, your sadness."
Something in the Rain "For the first time, I've learned what love is, and how to love."
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo "I sometimes wish we met in a different time and place. It would have been so nice, I think. If only that happens, I won't have any fear. And my love... I can love you as much as I want."
My Liberation Notes "I once read a book about how to be a good writer to become a writer, and it said that a good drama is one where the main character tries hard to achieve something but can't do it. So I gave up. Why would I write something that's like life? It's so boring."
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (there's a season two) No, I don’t want to know! I - I don’t want to know how to have dreams! No! No!
Parasyte: The Maxim "Migi - handle the defense."
Death Note "I gained another friend."
Attack on Titan "I just keep moving forward. Until my enemies are destroyed."
My Mister “Because I’m happy. That among those close to me, there is someone like him.”
In the Name of Love "I don't want to go out into the real world."
"Choro, quit complaining already."
"But we won't change, right?"
"Of course not."
"There are things in this world that don't change."
[nods]
"We'll always be friends."
top 10 manga (always in progress), by importance
I.
Magus of the Library, Mitsu Izumi
II.
Blue Period, Tsubasa Yamaguchi
III.
Chainsaw Man, Part 1: Public Safety Arc, Tatsuki Fujimoto
IV.
One Piece, Eiichiro Oda
V.
Goodnight Punpun, Inio Asano
VI.
Umineko When They Cry, Ryukishi07
VII.
Vagabond, Takehiko Inoue
VIII. TO BE FILLED
IX. TO BE FILLED
X. TO BE FILLED
I tend to rate anime at first by enjoyment, but after a few episodes my Quality Meter kicks in, and I rate more objectively. I look at shows for the value they bring to storytelling as a whole. As anime tends to have visuals, and some anime look beautiful, often times we are biased by what we see. And so I apply a two-part test:
1. If the visuals were shit, is it still good
Anime being animation, we have to give credit to the talent behind what we see. But many anime look good and are written... well, not good. You can have something like Demon Slayer, which has some of the most beautiful character designs in shounen, and yet some of the most indolent plotting and forced humor in the genre. It's not impossible, in fact, it's always possible, to write something better, that already looks good. As such...
2. What does the story bring that no other does?
There Are More Isekai With The Same Kind Of Protagonists In Another World than I can count. I'm willing to bet that if you're still reading this, you can write most seasonal isekai better than they are currently written; that you can write your female characters as more than fanservice and for propping up the male MC and the viewer's fantasies; that you can come up with more worldbuilding than the same guild-medieval-goblins, elves, half-human half-animal world we see time, and time again. Isekai is a good example of a genre where each new work changes its affect primarily in the "kind" of protagonist, whether it's a smartphone, slime, or salaryman. Thankfully we are in an era with true fantasy anime... but as most stories descend from their predecessors, you have to look for the core element that it has, that only it has. And the better, more original stories have more of these elements.
And so...
1 - does nothing
Goblin Slayer. Besides being groundbreakingly boring, this show's only valuable element is a protagonist whose only purpose is to be boring. Everything else is superfluous and nothing we haven't seen before. These shows should never have been made. They are a waste of resources in an industry that already doesn't pay well :(.
2 - does something
One Piece Film: Red. Had some great moments. I really liked Uta and Ado's music. But the film as a whole was pretty terrible. You can just listen to Ado's album. Or just Ado in general, she's extremely talented.
3 - cream puff
(Mash reference) Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia. I can't even tell you what of substance this show had other than that moonlit conversation between Fujimaru and Ushiwakamaru where the hero's value to the present generation is affirmed. Sakuga wise we received many beautiful battles. But Gil could have had a story. I feel like this show also tried to be funny more often than was necessary. Just watch the fights on YouTube, and you really won't miss anything.
4 - rough draft
My Hero Academia. A lot of effort went into this series. The manga's art is really good at times and the villain arc isn't something you see often in shounen. But otherwise, as a whole it lacks the sense of 'something solid.' It has the things of shounen that make us watch it - flashbacks from childhood, the power of friendship, techniques you build, groups of antagonists, a protagonist whose motivation is unwavering - but - something just never felt right. Deku just kept getting healed. The sense of stakes was never really there. Read Worm if you want something from the superhero genre.
5 - both good and bad
Yuri!!! on Ice. This was compelling. A protagonist whose journey to self realization as a better athlete, and version of himself, until... they went all in on the older mentor-younger protegee romance. Only for the fans. That's why on AMQ you can type "Yaoi on Ice" and still get it right.
6 - has value
Many famous gateway anime. They're great watches. But I'm going to use Fate/stay night because it's the only anime route that treats Saber like an actual human being; has a sense of mystical romanticism that the others (UBW a bit) don't get (Kenji Kawai's OST especially), and doesn't just use the Holy Grail War as a prop for plotting, but something unfortunate for what is more desirable. That's valuable storytelling. In our lives, we often search for what we lack; and are at times astonished by the unexpected. This adaptation didn't need the level of fight sakuga like the others to tell a story; Archer died early, and it felt like an actual tragedy; and the farewell at the end was unforgettable.
7 - begins to be compelling
Garden of Words. There's already something lost from the beginning. It's gained throughout the rain season; and things return to as they were at the end. Stories happen at a juncture of a life; and many memorable seasons of our lives, even if they change our view, tend to move us like the wind - just enough to see the leaves hang trembling.
8 - perfection of the goal
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Still I think the best example of a longer than 2-cour anime that does practically everything right, from the score to the use of character, themes and even the dub. The ideas and schematics aren't anything truly "deep" and there aren't any artistic aims beyond what needs to be done; but, like the transmutation circle of Amestris, everything after episode 1 (which is filler) serves a purpose. Which in writing, is extraordinarily difficult to do... and is perhaps only surpassed in this medium by one of my examples of a 10.
9 - we see the pillars of the divine
Pluto, Redline, Mushishi. Whether through nonpareil achievements of art or writing that is very hard to come by, echoing of life and moving forward with thematic candor, to get a 9 it has to be something worthy of representing all that the medium is capable of. There are many robot stories that try to tell the same thing, but Urasawa's take is as empathetic as humanity. Sakuga throughout an anime is one thing, but when the entire movie is panache and cool, the score never lets up until the cathartic end, 7 years of craft and pursuit... very few things beat the first watch. Single episode stories that are so good and lasting that I see one episode a year, and feel equally satisfied, for they have captured what it means to live among others, and our common failings. These are works of art and after shooting through time and space to get away from the fluff, we've reached gold.
10 - story and art
There are three kinds of stories. Those that aim to please, and fail. Those that aim to please, and succeed. And those that aim for something higher, and end up giving pleasure. If the difference between 'art' and 'story' is that art - like the paintings in a museum - are there to look at, and maybe remember or collect in your home as worthwhile tokens of the stories behind them - and stories at their heart are to remind us of our lives, of what we have lost, and what we have yet to live - the story cannot merely be seen once and perhaps forgotten - it must be experienced over time, its characters felt, their inspirations somehow entering your life, beyond your wall where they are hung, or the shelves where they are kept. A 10 - for me - is something that holds great artistic value - as the story itself - and where the rites of art are so compelling - that they gain the weight you have to carry. It's very hard for many ambitious writers to move their story across, as bold and original as the way they are telling it. The 10 is the work that can be both read like a book you can reread over your entire life, only having pictures of its world in your head; and studied from a distance like the first painting that makes you cry, unable to fathom why those colors and shapes move you. For film - End of Evangelion, Spirited Away, The Boy and the Heron; for seasonals, Ping Pong the Animation; for long-running, Monster, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Maison Ikkoku. This is the dream of storytelling; and often gives you a feeling indescribable. A boy after finding his mother departs the land of the dead, herded by birds. A boy and a girl are left at the end of the world. Brotherhood, butterflies, and robots are all the same. The mind of a true villain is only understood by knowing every other mind that knew it. A college ronin and his landlady take seven years to become worthy of each other. The stars are moved by a cast of characters so realizable and reflective of the divides between us. A child is leaving her previous life behind; she enters a fantasy world to find herself again.
As Dream of the Endless once said, the Great Stories always return to their original forms...
1. The Sandman (comics & metaphor)
2. A Little Life (novel)
3. BoJack Horseman (Western animation)
4. My Liberation Notes (Korean drama)
5. Drive My Car (live action film, art)
6. The Boy and the Heron (animated film)
7. Blue Period (manga, coming-of-age)
8. Something in the Rain (romance)
9. Hamlet (play of character)
10. Ping Pong the Animation (anime)
WORKS and ARTISTS I RECOMMEND
All of Us Are Dead
Arcane
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Bastard
Beastars (manga)
Blue Lock
Blue Period
BoJack Horseman
Bone
Broker
Calvin & Hobbes
Chainsaw Man (part 1)
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared
Drive My Car
Dusklight Saga
Evangelion
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (dub)
Gantz
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Gone with the Wind (1936)
Goodnight Punpun
Gormenghast
Greta Gerwig
GTO (manga)
Hamlet
Hamlet (2018 Andrew Scott)
Hayao Miyazaki
Hunter x Hunter (2011)
I Saw the Devil
Jujutsu Kaisen
Kim Tae-ri
Lamb
Look Back
Lord of the Flies
Lucifer (2016)
Malazan Book of the Fallen
Magus of the Library
MAUS
Mushoku Tensei
My Liberation Notes
My Mister
NOPE
Oldboy
One Piece
Parasite
Park Chan-wook films
Peter and the Starcatchers
Ruri Dragon
Sandman (comics, Audible, Netflix)
Secret Sunshine
Solanin
Somebody
Something in the Rain
Sonny Boy
The Boys
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Legend of Korra
The Library at Mount Char
The Lord of the Rings
The Wailing
The Wasteland
Tower of God
Triangle of Sadness, and The Square
Umineko
Vagabond
Vinland Saga
Virginia Woolf
Weak Hero Class 1
Wheel of Time (NOVELS ONLY)
Worm
To be a weeb, or not a weeb -- that is the question:
Whether ‘tis weebier in the mind to suffer
The trash and fanservice of seasonal anime,
Or to brace eyes against a sea of sequels
And by opposing drop them. To stop watching --
No more; and by stop watching to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand sublime shocks
The mind is susceptible to: ‘tis a dream
Devoutly to be wish’d. To stop watching;
To stop, perchance to stand up -- ay, there’s the rub:
For in that absence of life what ennui may come,
When we have shuffled off this curse of Japan,
Must give us pause -- there’s the stigma
That makes calamity of so childish cartoons.
For who would bear waiting for next week’s episode,
Th’ studio’s indolence, the filler’s futility,
The pangs of romcom strife, plot armor’s delay,
The insolence of writing, and the spurns
That tasteless tard of th’ trash watches,
When he himself might his mind enlighten
With an intelligent eye? Who would elitists bear,
To critique and slander under self-righteous pomp,
But that the dread of something better than anime,
The undiscovere’d medium, from whose worlds
No former weeb returns, stymies the desire,
And makes us rather hear more “oi oi”
Than seek out others that we know not of?
Thus addiction does make weebs of us all,
And thus the puerile state of “need more pls”
Is tainted by the plan to watch list,
And commitments to other parts of life
With anime in mind their priorities fall away
And lose the name of action.
Glad you liked the Magus of the Library review and the series as a whole, not too often I encounter people online that have read it. It's definitely a gem, and with a quality and passionate adaptation, can be something even more special.
Haha, it was removed when I wasn't on here for a year+ because someone reported an image for NFSW. Have fun perusing it! Will be updating again in the near future.
Nah, I've seen it. Sorry to say that but I didn't like it. Not that I'm saying it's a bad show, it just that it wasn't for me I guess. You know, some ppl like something while others don't and vice versa.
Fate/Zero is definitely a greek tragedy, and it's a fantastic prequel to Stay/Night and it re-contextualizes not only Stay/Night but the entire series.
I could go on forever as to why it's my favorite anime tbh.
There are so many amazing scenes in the show, so it is definitely a difficult question. Kayneth and Lancer's death was so tragic, yet it really showed just how ruthless Kiritsugu really was.
I'm glad I inspired you to get back to it! Please give me your thoughts on it after your rewatch, as I would love to hear them!
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And yeah, seems we really like the same stuff, except Evangelion :P
I could go on forever as to why it's my favorite anime tbh.
I'm glad I inspired you to get back to it! Please give me your thoughts on it after your rewatch, as I would love to hear them!