It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with these “Decade Summaries”. I first thought of listing the most memorable moments for me during the past 10 years, and actually tried writing such a post, but eventually I got stuck with it: I just can’t to justice to those moments. In the end, I figured that I’m so often trying to pick out my Top 3 for each season, so why not show a compilation of my three favourite series for every season of the decade?
So yeah, this is obviously going to be a quick-fire post with a lot of one-liners. This post contains 40 Top 3s, so it’s mostly used to give readers a glimpse of the good shows that aired during the past decade (the ones I’ve watched, anyway). In the second half of this decade summary, I’ll go more into detail. You can expect it around the end of December.
Basically, every anime is only eligible during the season that it originally started airing. Spring is from March to May, Summer from June to August, Autumn from September to November, et cetera.
Winter 2000
#3: Mushrambo – Yeah, this season sucked. Dragged on for way too long in the end, but had its moment of creativity as a shounen series.
#2: Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran – Simple yet fun samurai comedy.
#1: Boogiepop Phantom – Unique mystery-series that really requires a user to think in order to actually understand it.
Spring 2000
#3: Love Hina – The first harem I ever watched, and pretty nicely done compared to the other shows of this genre.
#2: NieA Under 7 – Very charming slice of life series with awesome character-designs. I should have rated this one higher when I reviewed it.
#1: FLCL – Crazy, but well written and engaging little OVA.
Summer 2000
#3: Brigadoon – Marin to Melan – Sunrise Mecha with its own unique style. Very well developed characters.
#2: Jin Roh – The Wolf Brigade – Very intelligent movie (Mamoru Oshii was involved, so how could it not be?). Very well written with a great ending.
#1: Strange Dawn – Everything fantasy should be. Incredibly detailed storytelling with an incredibly strong cast of characters.
Autumn 2000
#3: Legendary Gambler Tetsuya – Very interesting look at Mah-jong and cheating. Never drags on.
#2: Sci-Fi Harry – Imaginative and deep mystery-series that may have bitten off a bit more than it could chew.
#1: Argento Soma – Seemingly average mecha at first, but becomes really good near the end with simple but well developed main characters and storylines.
Winter 2001
#3: Earth Girl Arjuna – Great graphics, nice characters, but way too damn preachy.
#2: Tales of Eternia – Interesting choice to go with a side-story instead of a full fledged epic rpg-storyline. Nothing special, but fun enough.
#1: Spirit of Wonder – Scientific Boys Club – Strange little OVA, but very imaginative slice of life.
Spring 2001
#3: Soultaker – Back when Shinbo’s style was still new and fresh. Very nicely written and layered mystery-series with plenty of nice action.
#2: Zone of the Enders – Dolores – Awesome mecha epic with a great emphasis on family values and probably one of the oldest protagonists I’ve ever seen in a TV-anime.
#1: Figure 17: Tsubasa & Hikaru – A truly excellent character-study that combines gentle slice of life with tense and intelligent battles.
Summer 2001
#3: Fruits Basket – Shoujo series done well. Great characters, but especially the dialogue stands out.
#2: Arete Hime – Very quiet but engaging medieval movie that really takes its time to show the lead character.
#1: Spirited Away – In my top 3 of favourite Miyazaki-movies. Lots of details and imagination in just about everything.
Autumn 2001
#3: X – Well executed character-study from Clamp.
#2: Kaze no Youjinbou – Wonderfully animated and detailed look at local Yakuza, combined with an engaging mystery-plot
#1: Millennium Actress – Satoshi Kon’s excellent homage to various movie genres. Absolutely lovable cast.
Winter 2002
#3: Full Metal Panic! – Successfully combines moe with a war drama.
#2: Voices of a Distant Star – A very impressive short by Makoto Shinkai. Awesome graphics and a sense of distance that only he can pull off.
#1: Hunter X Hunter OVA – Everything a shounen series should be. This story is imaginative, intelligent focused and very well built up.
Spring 2002
#3: Comedy – Don’t get fooled by the name: this 10-minute short is a beautifully animated short story about feudal Ireland.
#2: Full Moon wo Sagashite – Long build-up is long, but this idol mahou shoujo becomes truly heart-wrenching eventually.
#1: .Hack//Sign – A unique concept, focusing on character interactions inside MMORPGs. Awesome philosophical themes and characters, but not for those expecting action.
Summer 2002
#3: Sentou Yousei Yukikaze – Beautiful graphics. A bit confusing of an OVA, but the action and characters make up for it.
#2: Saishuu Heiki Kanojo – Perhaps not the saddest series out there, but the quiet scenes among the death and destruction are truly worth it.
#1: The Cat Returns – Fun, whimsical and charming story with great characterization for the various cats around.
Autumn 2002
#3: Overman King Gainer – Seemingly average mecha show at first, but it stands out due to its beyond awesome OP and incredibly creative ideas thrown into the setting and scenario.
#2: Hanada Shounen-Shi – The lead character is very, very hard to like. An annoying brat in every single way. And yet this series is really heart-warming.
#1: Haibane Renmei – I have hardly ever been so emotionally moved as with this series. A fantastic character-study and with incredibly well explored themes.
Winter 2003
#3: Wolf’s Rain – I’ve only seen three shows of this season. I didn’t quite like this one. The concept had potential, but the main plot and characters didn’t.
#2: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou – Quiet Country Cafe – I’m still wondering why they didn’t make a TV-series out of this, but ah well. Relaxing slice of life OVA.
#1: Ashita no Nadja – This is how good shoujo adventures can be. Really fun characters, and a surprisingly deep and well developed plot during the second half.
Spring 2003
#3: Kino no Tabi – The Beautiful world – Thought-provoking travelling series with a very likable lead character of Kino.
#2: Oseam – One heck of a tear-jerker of a movie. Korean animation at its finest.
#1: Kaleido Star – An anime about circus performers, and it’s a really well developed one. It makes optimal use of its long length to really show a memorable development for the lead character.
Summer 2003
#3: Narutaru – Shows what kids are really going to do when you give them a bunch of violent monster. Very disturbing, to say the least.
#2: Rumiko Takahasi’s Rumic Theater – 13 stories written by Rumiko Takahashi, all about random, ordinary adults who run into extraordinary problems. Very down-to-earth and the creators make every story count.
#1: Tokyo Godfathers – Satoshi Kon at his best. This movie is crazy, fun, adorable and deep, so that even a few deus ex machinas won’t prevent it from truly shining.
Autumn 2003
#3: Gilgamesh – Very interesting horror-series with an imaginative plot that breaks quite a few traditions. It’s got interesting themes, the fights are very tense, though it might be a bit slow for some.
#2: Gungrave – Ah, the character-development! An in-depth look into large mafia-organizations and some really good animation by Madhouse.
#1: Mermaid’s Forest – Rumiko Takahashi Again, this time her Mermaid Forest stories are adapted. Disturbing, and the individual short stories make optimal use of their time to make an as big of an impact as possible.
Winter 2004
#3: Maria-Sama ga Miteru – Takes a while to get going – even for a 13-episode series – but proves to be a very nice character-study with yuri elements in the end.
#2: Jubei-Chan 2: The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu – Has some of the best fight choreography out there. The plot itself is a bit predictable, but the characters and action totally make up for this.
#1: Paranoia Agent – Satoshi Kon yet again takes a number one-spot with this witty, paranoid, mysterious, diverse, intense, screwed up series of his.
Spring 2004
#3: Samurai Champloo – Manglobe’s debut, and what a well-directed debut it is. Even though this show is about nothing, it’s fun enough to see the three lead characters interact.
#2: Hi no Tori – Incredible adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s classic stories. Every arc stands out, among which are a number of true gems in terms of storytelling.
#1: Mahou Shoujotai – I still consider this to be my favourite anime ever. Experimental in every way, truly excellent characterizations, a great world for the story to play with and a very original set of graphics and animation.
Summer 2004
#3: Mind Game – This top 3 was rather hard, because I hardly saw anything in this season. Still, even though the movie underwhelmed me when I watched it, I do have to admit that that final scene in this movie is something truly unique and entertaining.
#2: Elfen Lied – The problem with Elfen Lied is that it tried to combine harem stupidity with very serious and depressing themes about mass murderers. They don’t mesh! Nevertheless, I really liked the good parts and the ending.
#1: Otogizoshi – Folklore, divided into two distinctly different arcs. The second one is quieter, but superior.
Autumn 2004
#3: Zipang – Very interesting concept about cause and reaction. Asks deep questions but unfortunately is a bit too short.
#2: Rozen Maiden – This is what I’d like to call a series in which everything went right. No second is wasted, and both the plot and characters went where they should have.
#1: Fantastic Children – An amazingly told series with a great cast of characters. It´s perhaps a bit confusing at the beginning, but the plot twists near the ending are more than worth it.
Winter 2005
#3: Kimagure Robot – Short but quirky comedy about robots (yeah, there wasn’t much else this season).
#2: Starship Operators – Space Opera done right. A huge focus on complex tactics rather than brainless action, with a powerful ending.
#1: Air – Starts as another one of those harems. Ends as a gripping and heart-wrenching story with some very neat ideas in its style of storytelling.
Spring 2005
#3: The Law of Ueki – I consider this both as one of the best comedies and shounens out there. It’s pretty silly, but you have to love all of the weird powers that these people have. Not to mention the huge amount of creativity that has been put in the different battles.
#2: Glass Mask – An incredibly in-depth look at acting. This series surely took that extra step towards developing its cast, and what a wonderful drama it turned into.
#1: Eureka7 – A bit of an unbalanced series, but where this series hits, it hits really hard. Renton and Eureka start out as a bunch of random mecha-piloting teenagers, but their development throughout the series is truly memorable.
Summer 2005
#3: Kamichu – Very charming slice of life series. Period.
#2: xxxHolic: A Midummer Night’s Dream – A Very interesting mystery-movie, despite being just a side-story in the xxxHolic franchise.
#1: Pani Poni Dash – Remains funny throughout the majority of its airtime, quirky style. A successful comedy.
Autumn 2005
#3: Jigoku Shoujo – Talk about atmosphere. The first season of Jigoku Shoujo was gripping, had some twisted episodes and a great conclusion.
#2: Mushishi – Episodic series can hardly get any better than this. Wonderfully subtle storytelling about deep and thought-provoking characters
#1: Noein – Fantastic action, incredible characters, awesome soundtrack, wonderful storytelling, I’m running out of adjectives here.
Winter 2006
#3: Yomigaeru Sora – Rescue Wings – An anime about the rescue forces. A really good portrayal of what these people can be up against.
#2: Ayakashi – Japanese Classic Horror – Especially Bake Neko was a triumph in storytelling, but Yotsuya Kaidan was also a very good and especially disturbing horror story.
#1: Ergo Proxy – Weird but very imaginative and complex story. There always was something interesting going on with this series.
Spring 2006
#3: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – When this series first aired, it blew my mind with its gripping mystery-story, characters and disturbing footage. All behind such a seemingly cute exterior.
#2: The Third – The Third has struck me as a very balanced show, with a bit of action, slice of life, science fiction and intrigue, but first and foremost it stands out to me because it features one of the best characters I’ve seen: Honoka.
#1: Simoun – This series is what I consider the best character-study ever. The creators took a very imaginative concept, a group of fascinating characters, and turned into one of my favourite series.
Summer 2006
#3: Otogi Juushi Akazukin – THE series for modern fairytales. It has lots of cameos, and a very cute style of storytelling that makes it a lot of fun to watch.
#2: Flag – A unique series. The entire story is told through the perspective of cameras and photos. The story itself is really slow, but very detailed, realistic and imaginative.
#1: Le Chevalier d’Eon – Despite a slow start, this series eventually turns into a well developed and very strongly directed epic in 17th Century France.
Autumn 2006
#3: Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto – On top of the action, this show was also a very nice history-lesson for me. Especially the first half had a very strong direction.
#2: Red Garden – Another show with a great cast of characters. What made this series stand out was the amount of detail that was put in their characterization, and especially the dialogue was phenomenal at times.
#1: Asatte no Houkou – Body-swapping: it’s often done for comedic purposes. This series showed how high a serious execution of this trope can reach.
Winter 2007
#3: Master of Epic – For this MMORPG adaptation, the creators decided that instead of creating a serious story like what would happen with most other shows of this kind, they would parody the heck out of it. The result is a very fun and successful collection of sketches that make fun of tons of MMORPG tropes.
#2: Nodame Cantabile – This series succeeded, both as a comedy and as a look at performing classical music and especially directing. Very strong cast of characters.
#1: Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – The revival of the World Masterpiece Theatre delivered an incredible series with memorable character-development for just about any member of the cast.
Spring 2007
#3: Toward the Terra – Space operas at their finest. Toward the Terra’s story is bold, imaginative and gets the best out of its cast of characters.
#2: Kaze no Shoujo Emily – An adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic. A really charming slice of life-character study, about living towards your dreams.
#1: Bokura no – I really have to praise Mohiro Kitoh for his truly thought-provoking ideas, but also the staff of the anime, who took an unfinished story, and managed to turn it into something memorable and gripping that perfectly fitted the 24-episode timeframe.
Summer 2007
#3: Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei – A really good comedy, full of nice references, subtle jabs and witty humour that didn’t turn stale within its 13-episode timeframe.
#2: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai – This sequel to the Higurashi series provided all of the answers we needed. The pacing was much slower, but that really allowed us to get a good view of the characters.
#1: Baccano! – You have to praise Baccano for the way it managed to weave so many different stories about so many different characters into just one series of 13 episodes. There’s always something interesting going on because of it.
Autumn 2007
#3: Mokke – Charming and heart-warming slice of life series about two sisters as they meet various people and supernatural spirits.
#2: Ghost Hound – A horror-series with an incredibly thick atmosphere and a huge focus on psychology.
#1: Shion no Ou – An awesome combination between murder mystery and shougi, thanks to a very snappy sense of storytelling and an awesome cast of characters.
Winter 2008
#3: Hakaba Kitarou – A very interesting combination between horror and comedy. It’s always a guess what this one will go for.
#2: Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino – Ah, who cares. I liked this. Completely different style when compared to the first season, but nevertheless it had a haunting atmosphere, and it did manage to catch the essence of this concept.
#1: Porfy no Nagai Tabi – An exceptionally well written and realistic travelling series, combining charming and relaxing slice of life with the dark and lonely parts of Porfy’s life.
Spring 2008
#3: Amatsuki – This show stood out with its really heavy emphasis on dialogue and very strong direction. Now where is that second season!?
#2: Himitsu – The Revelation – I personally loved how this series’ mystery knew exactly how much it should reveal. Suspense at its utter best: you’d never know what would happen next, or where an episode would focus on.
#1: Kaiba – An incredibly imaginative concept with a fantastic story to work with. Very haunting and thought-provoking.
Summer 2008
#3: Ultraviolet: Code 044 – A bold direction along with a very nice storyline to work with. What I loved about this show was its atmosphere and strong cast of characters.
#2: Natsume Yuujinchou – Natsume’s stories in which he’d meet various spirits is nothing new, but yet again it’s well executed, and Nyanko-sensei is a gem to watch.
#1: Bonen no Xamdou – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full fledged TV-series that was better animated than this gem. The action was fantastic, and yet this show also spent plenty of time in quiet scenes to flesh out its characters properly.
Autumn 2008
#3: Clannad – After Story – The first Clannad was very interesting, but still a bit formulaic. Then the second season came, and blew all stereotypes away with a heart-wrenching second half.
#2: Michiko e Hatchin – You can trust Manglobe to deliver an incredibly accurate portrayal of Brazil of a few decades back. With incredibly strong characters and an always fun scenario, Michiko e Hatchin really stands out among its season’s best.
#1: Mouryou no Hako – What an intense focus at dialogue. I don’t think that any other series has this much and complex dialogue as Mourou no Hako here, but everything is just so interesting and well detailed, not to mention that the plot is incredibly well detailed.
Winter 2009
#3: Shikabane Hime Kuro – Despite some initial hiccups, Hikabane Hime Kuro continued to raise the bar set by its predecessor, developing its characters and delivering ver exciting action-sequences into a great series.
#2: Kemono no Souja Erin – This really shows the power of long-running series. Throughout the 50 episodes of airtime, the creators are able to provide a very detailed portrayal of its lead character, Erin the beastiarian.
#1: Birdy the Mighty Decode 2 – The first season wasn’t really anything special, but the second season came and improved on it in every single way. The animation is incredible, the characters are really well developed, the story saves enough time to show a bit about the setting and how it dynamically interacts with the main storyline. A real gem.
Spring 2009
#3: Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood – For me, this one beats the original series by far. It has a terrific concept and a very well developed setting. (This was another top 3 that was hard too choose: so many series with place 2 and 3 potential).
#2: Guin Saga – Now this is what epic fantasy should be. A large focus on politics and slow character-development. The intrigue was what made this series really memorable.
#1: Phantom – An incredible soundtrack, combined with some really strong development for the lead characters. Phantom stood out with its bold execution
Summer 2009
#3: Spice and Wolf II – This series continued where it predecessor left off, and delivers two well written and intelligent arcs full of witty dialogues and character-development.
#2: Aoi Hana – A very interesting and especially very subtle character-study about a lesbian romance. And for once it isn’t filled with anime stereotypes of this genre.
#1: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – A depiction of what would happen if Tokyo were to be hit by an earthquake of the 8.0 on the Richter scale. Shocking, sad, and very emotional.
Autumn 2009
#3: Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini – This sequel went into a completely different direction as its predecessor, but still retains is incredibly strong direction and its message that people die when they fight to the death.
#2: Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra. – A breath of fresh air in the intrigue-genre in the way that it continues to defy expectations and twist around seemingly unconnected stories into a whole
#1: Aoi Bungaku – Not only is this series an example of really good storytelling, it also completely changes style for every of the six stories it’s animating. Each of the stories has this unique feel about it, all in their own way.
Great list! I’ve seen well over a hundred series…yet have only seen around half of these, so i’ve decided to watch everything on this list sometime in the next year xD
I’m surprised you were able to find three series you’ve watched from each season even with your incredible watched list.
Probably the biggest shock in there was you actually liked Love Hina!
Looks like I’ve lucked out on quite a number of occasions while picking anime series to watch , as I see a lot of my favourites among your top picks 😀 . Ashita no Nadja is up there too, weeeh :3.
Among the ones I haven’t watched I’m really intrigued by Flag, Otogi Juushin and Hasatte no Houku right now *adds them to to-watch list, hoping they’re all fansubbed * .
Seeing as you enjoyed Le Chevalier and Eureka 7 and Xam’d I can’t avoid suggesting you (again XD) to check out Rose of Versailles and Rah-Xephon 😉
Argh loads of series I need to watch some time.
Great list Psgels, I hope I get round to most of them.
This just became my personal check list for awesome animes! I’ve seen pretty much half but heck, I’ll watch them again.
Btw, where’s Fantastic Children? It’s better then all those from the autumn 2004 list.
Roldan: ack! To think that I have missed one. Thanks for pointing that one out.
Really, really nice list. If you can, try to track down Overman King Gainer manga, it is really gorgeous, and expand characters quite a bit.
But, no Planetes?
Wow!
With the help of this list, I’ll go watch some animes you picked that I hadn’t even given the time of day before! LOL
Thanks!
I’ll have to consult this for my future anime purchases 😉
It’s nice to see most of my favourite shows on here, including stuff you don’t normally see get mentioned on anime blogs.
(Although there are probably going to be a lot of confused people who download “Comedy” expecting some kind of historical epic and instead get….. well, Comedy).
You’ve never watched Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien? That is, according to myself, one of the best animes out there. One of the most sad too.
Wow, a decade summary. You just took this blog to an all new level. O_O
I know you haven’t seen it yet so you couldn’t include it but Princess Tutu definitely deserves a spot as one of the best of this decade.
I definitely agree on Princess Tutu. When I watched it, I called it “This decade’s Utena.” Given how much I like that show, that’s high praise, indeed.
Kind of surprised Seirei no Moribito isn’t on there. But great list!
I can’t help but emphasize that you need to watch Princess Tutu, psgels. It’s a prime example of anime you would like, in my opinion.
Monster, Monster, Monster, Monster. Imma gonna toss in Monster one last time. xD
Kind of disappointed to not see Seirei no Moribito in that list. If you ask me, it was one of the best anime from 2007.
*bookmarks for future watching*
No Dennou Coil? *Shock* That was mystery done right along with each episode building up and getting better than the previous one as it fleshed out its concepts very well. Shocked that didn’t make the list. Xam’d is something more questionable for me though seeing as the show went all over the place at the latter half, by that I mean when the main character loses his um… memory or thinking and just follows that odd black thing that we find out to be randomly the main villain. Or the fact that it got too side tracked with its minor characters, the death of the photographer and Ishu attacking the Xam’d king was arguably weak as there just wasn’t much attachment to either character. Or that the show did have distracting deus ex machina, main character and heroine reunion anyone? I could go on… but the biggest thing about the show is the wasted potential, it didn’t flesh out its concepts well at all and moreover it fell flat with whatever it tried to build up at times. Perhaps as you wrote more episodes could’ve helped the show but that didn’t happen.
Machi ,i too was shocked by the absence of dennou coil but that largly due to the fact that it aired in arguably psgel’s favorite season of the decade,with a 93/100 it probably would be in the top 3 in many (if not all?) other seasons,but not spring 07 , when he reviewed the 3 shows he listed he gave them 94-94-93.
For exemple if it had aired in summer 08 it probably would have been first considering the 3 shows psgels listed got 87,5-87,5-85.
My surprise is that i always considered psgels a bee train fanboy but i only see 2 bee train shows on here.
Was it .hack that made you like bee train or were you already a fan after watching noir?
Nice list psgels. A few comments though. A few of them were pointed out already but Imma iriterate them anyway. I’m sorry if this post is going to sound like the lost-&-found booth.
Shocked to see that you enjoyed Love Hina. It was the first anime I ever watched and that’s what made me an anime fan today. Thanks Ken Akamatsu, Itsudatte Santa sucked big time.
Even Elfen Lied was on that list. **oogles** Probably you know now that I enjoy harem, at the least. Hehe.
Where’s Gene Shaft and Noir for Spr01? I though you liked both of them. Also, Spr02’s The Twelve Kingdoms?
Surprised not to see Dennou Coil myself. Can’t blame you though, it aired alongside powerhouse anime. Actutally it aired midway through Spring and Summer 2007 (2007-05-12). Haven’t seen Seirei no Moribito myself, so I can’t comment on that.
I’m also kind of looking to see Real Drive on this list. I think it was aired Summer 2008 and I’d definitely put it above Natsume or Ultraviolet.
Wow, nice to see a lot of the animes I really liked back then on this list, well maybes it’s because i watched them because of you! haha Simoun will be my favorite all time, and its thanks to you that I watched it! Reading this list makes me want to re watch so many of these animes and movies!! ^^)/
Can’t wait to get started on some of these series. I know you haven’t seen it yet but Honey and Clover definitely deserves to be on this list as well. Another one of my favorites is Samurai 7- a remake of the classic Seven Samurai movie. Even though a couple of the main characters are annoying, the story more than makes up for it.
I agree with most of your lists(especially with Kaleido Star on 2003) since i can’t argue with you for not including some excellent series you haven’t watched…anyway this is a nice list.
By the way,if you get the chance to watch these series,you might want to change some lists:
Rahxephon(2002)
Princess Tutu(2002-2003)
Last Exile(2003)
Texhnolyze(2003)
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu(2003)
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien(2003)
Planetes(2003)
Gankutsuou(2004-2005)
Honey and Clover(2005)
Full Metal Panic!The second Riad(2005)
Nana(2006)
and of course,the best of them all: Naoki Urasawa’s MONSTER(2004)…
As for the series who didn’t make this list:
– Like Totoum said: Seirei no Moribito and Dennou Coil aired during what I considered the best season ever. There was just too much competition.
– Kimi ga Nozomu Eien also had its moments, but I liked Gilgamesh, Gungrave and Mermaid’s forest better that season.
– I’ve yet to see Planetes
– As for Bee-Train: I really liked El Cazador, Tsubasa Chronicle and Noir indeed, but they aired also during busy seasons. Popolocrois and Wild Arms also were awesome, but they aired in the nineties. I think I became a real fan of them after watching El Cazador.
– Real Drive started in Spring 2008, not the Summer.
– I also really liked Geneshaft, but I just ended up liking Soultaker better.
Yay Porfy and Red Garden made the list. I had forgotten how many series you’ve actually blogged, do you really remember them so distinctly or do you check out some of your blog entries for some memory refreshers?
I agree with most of your listed anime. Now I have many more series to catch up. BTW, I think including the movies into the list is not entirely appropriate because they are quite different in their nature and standard. Just a thought 🙂
Lots of good anime on that list. Many that I have seen, and some that I have not. I’ve been putting them off and should really get around to watching them…
Oh yeah, one of my favorite anime of all time – Monster. Have to include that one!
I sorry to say this, but you have missed too many important series that would have made it to the top to make this list significative.
Cowboy Bebop
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (and 2nd GIG)
Honey and Clover
KURAU Phantom Memory
Last Exile
…
I also thought, that some “important” series are missing, like Casshern Sins, which I thought psgels loved it like I did. But at the end, a list, which summaries a decade, also shows, that there are good and bad “seasons”, especially when you look at the smaller seasons like winter and summer, where sometime only the half of the amount of series is starting.
So let’s see this list not as a “best of 2000 – 2009”, it’s a list that shows the ups and downs of 10 years of Anime.
In my list there were definitely titles like:
– Honey & Clover I & II
– Dennou Coil
– Seirei no moribito
– Casshern Sins
– Welcome to the NHK
– Monster
– Death Note
– Eden of The East
– Shigofumi
– Noir
– Texhnolyze
– Ghost in the Shell – Stand alone Complex
– Koi kaze
– Azumanga Daioh
and as first entry “Now and then, here and there”, which started 1999 and ended 20.01.2000.
…and probably some of the older titles I didn’t remember right now. 🙂
Patrick:cowboy bebop isn’t from this dedade 😉
I indeeed loved Casshern Sins, but it just lost out to some of the other series that aired during its season.
Also, the reason that Ghost in the Shell, Honey and Clover, Kurau and Last Exile aren’t on the list is because I haven’t watched them yet. Really, I try to watch as many series as possible, but I don’t have an endless supply of time.
as for Cowboy Bebop: I also haven’t watched that one yet, and like Totoum said it aired in the nineties. 😉
wow nice list of animes..i hope you will include hunter x hunter though it’s recent enough but still the animation is the best ever!
This is awesome. I’d add in Monster and Last Exile, but I know you haven’t seen them yet. XD
I’m surprised to see Argento Soma on this list… I thought it was the biggest rip off of Evangelion I’d ever seen.
Other than comparing preferences by pointing out some overlap here and there, unfortunately not as much as I’d want, all I can do is congratulate you for taking the time to make such a list in the first place.
On the other hand, just for the sake of curiosity…I wonder how many of these series you actually watched during their respective seasons and not at least a little later. 😉
Sorry, when I meant that you missed some series I meant that you hadn’t watched them (from your my anime list). And those were series that tipically suit your tastes and quite a few would have made to the top.
PS: I thought “Cowboy Beebop” and “Now and then, here and there” were from this decade, I’m getting old.
How about Victorian Romance Emma? I thought it would be one of your choices, since it’s so different (in a good way, imo) from what we usually see in anime.
Sapphire: true, I liked Victorian Romance Emma. However, during the same season The Law of Ueki, Eureka7 and Glass Mask aired, which I consider to be a selection of stellar series.
Post No.33 @anime. Hunter X Hunter is on the list. Check Winter 2002.
You might be getting sick of hearing this already, but I urge you to watch Monster. At least try the first two episodes. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it. 😉
where is 5 centimeters per second =(
There are so much good anime in a decade of production that such a list is pointless. Thank you for the effort anyway.
I’m sooo happy that “Guin saga” has made it into your list!!! I’m actually learning japanese writing and all just to read the books! I mostly agree with your choices: I also have changed places to some of my favorite anime : which gives ” Guin Saga”, ” Maria- samama ga miteru” , “Code Geass” ( this one isn’t on your list ) , ” Simoun”, ” Phantom ” , ” Les Miserables – shoujo Cosette” and “Ashita no Nadja” ( great cast of characters , especially Rosemary , who is one of my most favorite character ever , mostly due to her acting skills and because she’s very different from all the characters I’ve seen, not just a bully brat, she impersonates Nadja and becomes her “double” , her ” evil twin” ( to Nadja, obviously, I don’t really see her that way either, her personality is so complex that it would take time to explain why, though) , that’s how I see her, she plays the role of Nadja better than the real one without ever making a wrong step or a miscalculated move!!! Anyway, this one widely deserves to be on your list! “Armed Librarians ” , “Darker than black s2″ and ” Aoi Bungaku” are also my favorite airing shows! ” X”, ” Full moon”, ” Glass mask”, ” Shion no ou”, ” Porfy”, ” Gilgamesh”, ” Rozen maiden” ( liked the two seasons equally, though , which doesn’t seem to be your case), ” Elfen Lied”, ” Higurashi”, ” Towards the Terra” , ” Bokura no” , ” Baccano”, ” Gunslinger Girl”,” Jigoku shoujo”, ” Chevalier d’Eon”, ” Mermaid Forest” ( so good but so gloomy!) are also incredible and are on my favorite anime list! But some of the best anime ever for me disn’t make it on youy list: have you seen ” Versailles no bara” or “lady Oscar” it is well known around the world and almost the first anime I watched. I have some others like: “Blood +”, “Basilisk” , Mermaid Melody “( a really good mahou shoujo series by the way, and a big range of characters, not all of them are special though, but some of them are.), ” Sisters of Wellber”, ” Saiunkoku monogatari”, ” Vampire princess Miyu”,” Monster”, “Oniisama ee”, ” Princess Sara” , ” Nana”, ” Uta – kata”, ” Romeo and Juliet”, ” Yakushiji Ryouko”, ” Super Gals” ( fun and cool!), and of course ” Noir”, “Madlax”,” El Cazador”. Those series are the ones I prefer the most! I didn’t like Love Hina, Air, Noein, The third, Hack//Sign at all! And ” the cat returns” and ” Tokyo godfathers” haven’t made a big impression on me.
Windy, Rose of Versailles is from the 70s. O_O
i dont see kurau phantom memory TT
I know , but “Versailles no bara” is still one of my favorite, there have been some very good anime released way before 2000, anyway. Like ” Princess Sara” in 1985 , “Shoukoushi Ceddie” in 1988, ” Little women” and some others. Mostly the old WMT series. That’s why it is worth to mention them.
Great list PSGels. Though some of the 2000-2005 stuff were pretty rote, as in that anyone calling themselves anime fans at least contended they liked those shows, but it’s nice to hear about them again.
Of course, there’s always the omissions around. For me, Aria just struck me as some of the very best an anime can be without the world being in peril or peoples’ lives being in jeopardy.
Narutaru being a good example. Yes, it was shocking and gossip-worthy, but I thought it was too weened onto its gimmick rather than anything else. Also, Alien Nine felt sorta similar to the show and was my favorite.
Congratulations on a very informative list. Plenty of titles I’ve seen and agree on and others I’ve yet to see but am intrigued by. Not to mention a few that might fall into the range of “are you out of your mind?” but also fit into “agree to disagree”. After all, it’s your list and not a publicly voted upon concensus. Still, kudos on what is still my favorite anime blog site.
I know that you don’t have limitless time psgels, but if you’re going to make a list like this…. well, it _does_ help to watch the seminal anime titles of the last decade. I _love_ Princess Tutu, but I could see how one could disagree about its “placement”, but to have not watched it, or GITS:SAC, or Monster, or Honey and Clover….. well, those 4 titles are often considered the best of the decade for their genre (or atleast are normally part of the discussion)– magical girl, hard SF, adult mystery/drama, shoujo, etc.
It’s sort of like having a best of the decade list for movies, and not having seen Dark Knight or Old Country for Old Men. It just feels incomplete.
What surprises me is not that you don’t have limitless time– I understand that completely– but that you often choose to watch pretty random currently airing shows that you don’t really seem to like much, rather than watching some of these shows suggested time and time again as the best of the best over the last 10 years.
As a side note, I’d love to see what your top 50 would be for the decade– as you’ve mentioned, sometimes titles such as Emma get put to the wayside in lists like this, but might make it on a top 50 kind of list. BTW– does anyone know of other anime blogs making top 10/50 etc lists for the decade? Would love to see some links. 🙂
Steve Berry: i see your point, but I don’t watch anime in order to be able to write a good toplist, I watch it for my own enjoyment. This list just seemed a nice thing for me to do. 😉
Basically, I’m someone who likes saving the best for last. Right now I’m about halfway through my to-watch-list, so I’ve just reached the shows that I’ve been looking forward to.
“BTW– does anyone know of other anime blogs making top 10/50 etc lists for the decade? Would love to see some links. 🙂 ”
You are free to visit my humble place if you’d like.
DON’T watch Monster, but read it instead. In fact, you should read all the works from Urasawa. They’re good. Very, very, very good.
And it’s nice to see that Seirei no Moribito isn’t as underappreciated as I thought it was. Although I want another season.
Aside from the fact that psgels can’t get into reading even manga he loves, Monster the anime is from Madhouse, who happen to be brilliant at adaptations. It’s a must-watch.
Urasawa’s other works I’ve found to be somewhat overrated-especially 20th Century Boys, which got lame around the halfway point. Pluto was better, and was even more awesome than Monster at times, but had a rather poor end.
Most definitely, Princess Tutu and Monster definitely struck me as some of the more ‘important’ watches in anime recently. That said, I respect that you can watch so many shows, most of which many viewers wouldn’t touch with a stick due to a lot of presumptions.
Great to see many shoujo and even magical girl shows in list. As a Shoujo/Magical Girl fan, I get a lot of crap from people who know NOTHING about those genres, no less the truly great ones of the lot.
bokura no manga does have an ending… altough just recently.
You LIKED Love Hina? This kinda warrants a review on it now.
What’s wrong with Love Hina? It’s probably the single best harem show ever made. Every character is well-developed, has a lot of personality, and is likable in their own way. I’d even say the anime does this BETTER than the manga, as Shinobu gets a lot more backstory.
-Tom
(Actually, to qualify: every character EXCEPT Sarah MacDougal. She’s utterly useless and unnecessary, and her inclusion in Love Hina contributes nothing whatsoever to anything.)
-Tom
Marvellous list — I admire your dedication and perseverance.
And now I have a list of titles to check out.
The thing that surprises me most about this list is learning (anew) how old some of these series are — has it really been almost eight years since Haibane Renmei came out? Six years since Mahou shoujotai? Ten since FLCL?
I’ll echo the recommendations of Princess Tutu and Gankutsuou.
I am very much impressed by your taste in anime. Ill be using this list in the future as a starting point whenever Im looking for new series to pick up. [Gotta get through a huge ”need-to-watch” list first though. Pffft]
I love it when you do posts like these because I always find good anime to watch in them. Love it.
Wow ty for your list, found a bunch of shows to catch up on.
omg wow! your list is HUGE!!! there’s some amazing and not so amazing choices in there 😛
Really nice list, kudos to you for splitting it up like that. It reminds me that I still have to catch up on Ashita no Nadja and Kaleido Star…
no code geass, no death note..i don’t get it..were you drunk?
Code Geass ??
Macross Frontier ??
Gundam 00 ??
The best 3 series’ of the decade are not here!! I may be a mecha fangirl, but I sure other ppl are looking for them thinking wth? too 🙂
oh, good choice with the Starship Operators tho 🙂 can’t seem to find them anywhere for none torrent dl :'(
Eh not that great of a list you left out a lot of good ones.. and i can’t believe you didn’t put the first season of gunslinger girl, claymore, Inuyasha, code geass r1 and r2, and you get the picture.. also if you were gonna throw in narutaru you might aswell of threw Alien nine and kiddy girl like honestly you missed alot of great anime OH YEAH AND WTH IS DEATHNOTE?