Keyblade King 12's Top 15 Anime

Keyblade King 12’s Top 15 Anime:
Japanese animation is something that is loved, obsessed over, despised and respected. People who learn about anime usually develop strong feelings towards it and I’m no different in this regard. Now personally, I both hate and love anime. Some animes are absolute shite that shouldn’t have been allowed to be made and given money towards and some are art pieces of the highest calibre, combining amazing art, clever story writing and impressive voice acting…for the most part. Anime has become a form of media that I’ve become enthralled with in recent years and it has inspired me in many different ways and changed the way I look at writing and film in general.  
So since anime is so important to me and it was one of the first things I started looking at in a critical way I decided it would be the best thing to start a possible series of short-ish countdowns in which I’ll just be giving my personal opinion and ranking on whatever topic I’m going to be tackling. It’s also just giving me some much needed practice back at typing, which I haven’t really done much of lately. Now this list is simply my own personal opinion and not the animes that I think are essentially the best out there; these animes are ranked on how much I enjoy them and not how good everything about them is but that will play a huge factor in making me enjoy them. So, without further ramblings from me; let’s start!

15: Starting off this list, we have a three way tie. Yeah, I know how that sounds but I was able to come to a decision on my top 15, it’s just with these animes, they’re sort of heavily linked and I really wanted them on this list but none of them, alone, were good enough really to make it so I decided to have them be joined. I’m talking about the three CLAMP series; Cardcaptor Sakura (pronounced sa-koo-ra, not sa-ka-ra; I know the latter’s correct but I was raised on the dub as a kid and I can’t stomach the change in pronunciation for the name.), Tsubasa Chronicles and xxxHolic. These three shows aren’t the best written, they don’t have the best animation and the latter two don’t even have all their seasons dubbed. But I really like how these shows tie in together and the universe…s they present to me. Now taking these one at a time, I’ll just come right out and say why I like them. With CCS, we’re dealing with a massive case of nostalgia and personal experience with the show. It was one of my first animes, although at the time I had no idea what that was as a kid and I remember having fond memories of it and it was those fond memories that a few years earlier led me to start searching for the series online. I learnt of the seasons that hadn’t released in the UK and I really wanted to watch them. This led me to start watching anime online and the rest is well…this countdown so I really found it fitting to start off this list with this entry. Also, despite my love for the dub, I have to say that I wish the dub had been brave enough to present the show as it had been originally intended, especially the relationship between Tori and Julian. Tsubasa Chronicles is definitely the most different out of the three, despite being the series that connects the other two. In it we see the familiar characters from CCS but they’re a lot older and the plot is completely different. The characters are very much related though and actually exist within the same canon as does xxxHolic. This is the most like an action adventure series which you won’t really see much of in this list but the relationship between the characters and the art style is probably what makes me think better of it although I would say it is my least favourite of the three. And now we can use that line to transition us to my favourite of the three, xxxHolic. Now, this may seem a little weird, especially given the other entries on this list and that’s because, I really like plot and good writing and xxxHolic…well, it doesn’t have much of a plot. There’s no antagonist for the most part and there are no particular stakes at hand at any point. The show is simply about how the main character, Watanuki, faces his new life as practically a slave under the mysterious Yuko, a witch of some kind who agrees to protect Watanuki from his curse of being able to see and interact with spirits…by sending him into situations where he needs to interact with dangerous spirits…yeah, I could never really tell if Watanuki was just an idiot as his deal was pretty much complete and utter crap as Yuko never really supplies her end of the bargain. Or maybe I was just missing something, I’m not sure. This series can be quite confusing at times. But the characters are great and bounce off each other immensely well and despite the fact there’s no conflict with an evil spirit every episode, the characters certainly provide enough conflict and create enjoyment through their arguments, usually at Watanuki’s expense. Honestly, the show just goes on to see Watanuki’s life and see just how far the guy is willing to go to protect the bonds that he starts to create with the people around him. It can get pretty emotional and there’s just an honest to god, warm fuzzy feeling inside while watching it, which is true for all these three and that’s why I had to put them together as my number 15.
14: Hell Girl. We say “Go to hell” all the time to people we hate and this is a show that delves into the idea that a young girl has the power to accept these requests of people and send other people to hell and all you have to do in return is go to hell when you die. Put off the idea yet? This show is a pretty damn impressive psychological horror. For a while, every episode is a different story dealing with the worst of people, the people that you would really want to see go to hell because they’re the ones behind; sexual abuse, bullying, abuse of power. This show goes to all lengths in its attempts to shock you and make you feel genuine hatred for the people that it presents, although it’s not always the people who are sent to hell that are the good guys. There’s no black and white in this show but there is a pretty damn dark grey involved. The show centres on the ‘Hell Girl’ Ai and her team of supernatural creatures. These characters start off as mysterious with nothing known about them but as the show’s course goes on, you learn more and more, bit by bit and they all have interesting backstories. For each season there’s an underlining plot amongst the usual story of someone getting sent to hell for each episode. These are the most interesting part of the show, especially the second season’s, which deals with a whole town sending people to hell and blaming on a young boy who they label a jinx. The show’s dark and disturbing atmosphere along with intriguing psychological studies every episode just make it one of the my favourite animes.
13: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt: Um…yeah…so my sense of humour isn’t exactly…intelligent all the time. I really enjoy pretty mindless crap from time to time. Just some flashy stuff, full of swears and crude jokes. Now add some plotline about two angels killing demons to gain heaven coins to buy their way back into heaven after being kicked out under the instructions of a gay m&s priest who used to be a pimp and was punished by god by making him immortal and then forcing him to live through the beginning of time…okay, that was actually pretty damn interesting. And along with the crude humour which makes me laugh without fail the show has a bunch of hidden gems like that which makes it even better in my eyes.
12: Skip Beat. This is where the entries in this list get a fair bit better written. While Hell Girl can be well written, it lacks a truly good sense of plot throughout to make it great in my eyes and I don’t know if it was just the lack of dub but I found myself getting confused probably more than I should have. That annoys me. Skip Beat is a bit different from the other entries on this list (why do I have the feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot?), possibly being the most light-hearted anime here and it embodies my romantic side. There’s honestly nothing particularly amazing about this anime. The twists are obvious and clichéd. The plot isn’t anything special and unfortunately the anime doesn’t go on to reach a proper conclusion before it ends but damn, the characters are fun to watch; both on their own and bouncing off each other. It follows Kyoko after she has her heart broken by the man she’s devoted her life to and as a result, she tries to find her true self and learn to live her life for herself instead of the other people in her life. It’s funny and it’s sweet and I just enjoy watching it and I’m all hoping for a dub but perhaps not a sequel as, in the manga, the show becomes more and more like a reverse harem and loses part of the edge that made the show worth watching. Personally I think that might be part of the reason why the show never received a second season.
11: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. So that’s what two magical girl anime now on this list. My masculinity is obviously at an all-time high as I admit to this but oh well, there isn’t a yaoi anime on here so I think I can escape being called too gay. This one is pretty well known for being not the average magical girl anime though. In case you haven’t noticed the trend, I love dark themed shows. This show on the outside may seem all cutesy, but watching even the first few minutes shows there’s something much darker underneath. Girls are approached by a strange being called Kyubey who asks them to make a wish in return for him to grant them the power to become magical girls; beings with the power to fight witches who cause car accidents, suicides and pretty much all the unexplainable human deaths you can think of. I really can’t say anything that hasn’t already been gushed over by tons of people. The music is spectacular, the art enchanting, the story has some genuinely surprising twists and turns considering just in how far this series really lets itself go on. Also, damn this show’s ending! There are two shows that make me cry without question and this is one of them.  
10: Accel World. This is the most recent anime on this list and I think it might get even higher if the creators were able to renew it for a second season, although it doesn’t look like that’s all too likely at the moment. Accel World deals with a futuristic world where children are fitted with nerve gear when they’re born. This allows them access to the online world at all times and people have become almost completely reliant on the virtual world but even this isn’t full emergence into the cyber world. That’s where the accelerated world comes in. People who meet certain conditions, such as having personal scars are able to install brain burst and become burst linkers. In Accel World, players fight each other in order to gain powers in the game world which they can use to accelerate their own minds and even bodies in real life. With a set-up like that; you know you’re in for a good ride and I have to say the show goes to some really good lengths in terms of action, psychological trauma, romance; it’s all in here and it all works. Better than I would have thought it would work as well, which is probably why I ended up liking it so much.
9: BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. One trend of the entries on this list shows that I like dark themed shows and another trend is that I really like character pieces. BECK is quite possibly the epitome story of teenaged rockers and just how life can evolve right in front of you, especially if you give everything you have to your dreams. Honestly, I find that watching BECK is somewhat inspiring and honestly just enjoyable to watch and listen to and get taken along for the ride that is the life of Koyuki and his band; BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. Honestly, this show is just great. I really want to exist in this show’s world and become friends with the band, despite how fanboy like that sounds. I can’t help myself, that’s just the sort of hold this show has on me, unfortunately it just won’t drag me in enough and the anime ends only a bit before the end of the manga which I always found annoying. Still, there’s not much I can bring myself to hate about this show. It is life on screen in animated form. Admittedly, despite the fact I love this, I could find myself getting way too relaxed when there wasn’t a main conflict going on and even falling asleep with it on sometimes but I put that in the show’s favour, in that it can both relax and excite me.
8: Digimon Tamers. I’m sure people will accuse me of having my nostalgia goggles on too tight and stopping the blood from reaching my brain for putting a cheap and cheesy show like Digimon so high up on my list. Well, if this was any other season of digimon, I would agree with you but this is Digimon Tamers; the fuel of nightmares in children for years to come. Digimon Tamers follows a group of kids and their digimon partners, but unlike every other season of digimon, these kids, at least at the start, aren’t focused on saving the world. Despite the fact that evil digimon do invade the human world, the kids all have different priorities in mind rather than just trying to save the world. Things start to change when the kids learn of the war that seems imminent between the human and digital world and they begin to realise that they aren’t the only ones affected by the digimon’s presence in the human world; their friends and family are in trouble too. They realise they have to go to the digital world and sort things out in order to try and save everyone and if you’ll believe it, that’s only about a quarter of the plot. Throw in a government organisation working with the adult human creators of the digimon making things worse for the kids until the halfway point and they start working together. A rouge computer programme designed to delete any organism it deems to be too evolved, including the entire human and digimon population and finally the seriously deep troubles that the kids all are tormented with and you’ve got something that may seem like a cute little kids’ show for the first couple of episodes which then evolves…or should I say digivolves…(ba dum tsh) into a compelling story of kids overcoming everything in order to try to become the best of themselves and armed with awesome monsters to boot! It’s an amazing show and seriously worth a close re-watch if you still think it’s just a little kids’ show because this thing had no right to be shown to little kids!
7: Another. It’s rare for horror to work well. Video games are probably the best medium for the horror genre as it actually pulls you into the world and makes you experience the scares and atmosphere present throughout. On the other end, books probably have the hardest time scaring anyone without any visual aids to really bring the point across. Because of this, books usually have to go for a more psychological horror sort of genre in order to make the reader begin to think more about the story and begin to scare themselves. Another originally started out as a novel and in shows in the writing but I’ll be damned if they didn’t go full out with the animation to make it a gory spectacle, fit for any horror buff and the expressions that the artists draw are brilliant and really create the sense of what the characters are feeling perfectly which is a weird thing for me to notice but they’re a pretty prominent part of the art. The story itself involves an old story about a popular student of Yomiyama North Middle School’s 3-3 class who died. When the class refuse to accept the student’s death, they unknowingly invite the dead into their class and bring every person to become part of the cursed class scarily close to death’s doors and the only way to stop death coming each year is to find the person who doesn’t belong in their class; the one who has returned from death. Honestly, the supernatural aspects of this show make more sense if you know more about Japanese beliefs in concerns to life and death. Basically it is the belief that death is very much a physical presence and exists in some sort of balance with life and when that balance is disturbed, living may not be so easy. Now, despite the fact that I do love this anime, I honestly prefer the manga, simply due to a simple change in the ending which I can’t really go into without spoiling it. And honestly I don’t want to say anything else about this show because if you’re gonna watch it you don’t want to know anything more than the premise or otherwise it will lose some of its great effect.  
6: Ouran High School Host Club. Oh man, now we’re getting into the ones which I’ve watched over and over. And this is what, the fourth shojo anime to make an appearance on this list. Better just get it over with and say that I fancy Mori now. OHSHC is just a seriously funny show. It’s satire of a lot of otaku and Japanese culture and I can’t think of a joke that doesn’t hit hard. The characters, while not receiving as much development in the anime as in the manga (which is why I would really love a second season of it but it’ll probably never happen) are each very interesting and different individuals who, for each a different reason have gone about playing host to the girls in their rich kid school, Ouran High. Judging from the manga, there was a decision to focus on the comedy rather than the character development, although there’s still plenty within the show. The downside of this is there isn’t an appearance of a main plotline, usually just having one every one or two joined episodes. I think this show could have been better but it’s just funny every time and the characters are made to appeal and I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t like at least one of the main characters in this show. They’re diverse enough to bounce off each other and never be boring. All in all, it’s definitely a show that I would recommend to anyone, especially girls who are into their anime stuff. It’s just a good bit of fun really.
5: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. First off, I don’t see much point in explaining the plot of one of the most popular animes around (but if you don’t want to have it spoiled, just skip this entry) and yeah, before we go any further, the regular Fullmetal Alchemist doesn’t appear in my list. It’s not that I don’t like it as much as some of the lower entries on this countdown but simply that I just wanted one version of the show on here and so I went for my favourite one. Why do I prefer Brotherhood? Looking at the entries on this list and my reasoning for why I like them, you should get a pretty good idea but I’ll explain anyway. Brotherhood has a far better story. There I said it. Let the fan army of the 2004 version break into my house and try to torture me to their ways if they wish but hear me out first. I don’t hate the original version. I think some of the ideas they put across were really good and worked into a well-told and constructed story with a lot of neat twists and turns but I also think some of the ideas involved were the most stupid things I’ve ever seen and threatened to ruin the entire thing. Yep, I’m looking at you parallel universe concept! The ending of FMA really ruined the show for me, which wasn’t hard to build upon since I seriously despise the character of Dante. She just isn’t impressive enough to me to be the main mastermind behind all of this and the way she dies is just…meh. Father is better in every possible way in my eyes. Speaking of characters being better in Brotherhood, all of the mains and even most of the supporting cast are just so much better developed in Brotherhood. And it’s not just all down to the less amount of time the original series had. The situations begin to differ in the second half and personally I think the characters show off more of themselves in Brotherhood’s second half than in the original series. This show looks great partly due to how much money the original series made. The voice acting is top-notch. Honestly this show is just high quality stuff. That’s all there is to it.
4: Persona 4: The Animation. The Persona series has always interested me but it wasn’t until I found this anime series did I start to get really involved in it. Basically, this animation is based off a game where you are the main character and control his actions and what he says. Now that would put concerns in motion for the main character of the anime in which it would be boring if the main character didn’t say anything but instead this show turns the main character into one of their biggest strengths, making him intelligent, understanding, a bit on the quiet side but extremely funny! The script writers just seemed like they had fun with this show and they really don’t hold back any punches for the jokes in this show. They’re on the mature side sometimes but nowhere near the disgusting mark. The characters and story are taken from the game and I’ll just go on a bit of a tangent and say that the game is noted as one of the best games of all time, at the very least in its genre and for the PS2. This is largely due to the game’s storyline and characters. Yet again, this is a show that presents a large selection of varied characters and in this show, the characters each have to overcome their deepest and darkest desires and try to learn the truth, both about the world they’ve stumbled upon in the TV and about themselves. It makes for an incredibly interesting story and characters that each have their own engaging and incredibly mature problems. Something I find really good and interesting about this show and game but something that I know a lot of people have distaste for the series for is that the characters have a weird way of not exactly fully dealing with the problems at least on the surface. Quite a bit of the characters’ development is internal as well as external. They seem to go back upon what seemed to be their original problems and this is because the characters are teenagers and more than that, human beings. In fiction, it seems that characters with problems know exactly what is wrong with them and come to complete terms with their problems; all living happily ever after. There are a few exceptions to this but that’s the main consensus of a lot of fiction so what I’m trying to say is that these characters are quite possibly the most human and thus the most identifiable. I always feel sort of empty after I finish the show or the game which just makes me want to relive it again and again. And then you add the action. Did I mention this show is also partly an action series along with a mystery of who is going around kidnapping and killing people by throwing them into a strange and savage TV world? Yeah, there’s a lot to this show.
3: Oh man, Death Note. Honestly this brings up the point in the countdown where I could just go on and on about the series I’m talking about so I’m going to try and keep it brief…try being the operative word. Death Note is the story of Light Yagami, a young man who comes into contact with the Shinigami (or god of death) Ryuk and his Death Note which he purposely dropped into the human world because he was bored and wanted to have a little fun. Light uses the death note’s killing powers to rid the world of criminals and try to become the world’s new God but since anyone who fights against God will be seen as a criminal in the eyes of that God, the police forces who want these deaths to stop become the next target of Light, which begins the shift of his righteous deeds into just plain, “I’m going to kill everyone I don’t like.” Death Note is also very well-known for its battle between good and evil and how much of a grey area they battle within and so, on the other side of this battle we have L. L is widely favoured as the show’s best character and is the cause of the show’s greatest moment in basically every genre this show has; comedy, drama, battles of mind and psychology. The chemistry between Light and L is pure gold and definitely the most entertaining part of the show. There’s also a lot of interesting philosophy tossed around in this show and it really just acts as food for thought and sets out the character’s beliefs and in some cases develops them. And the supporting cast do have characters in Death Note. I’ve seen a lot of people criticise Death Note due to its lack of character development and just basic characterisation in its supporting cast. I say that’s absolute bullshit. True Death Note doesn’t focus on its supporting cast much. With the exception of Mogi, who okay, I’ll admit does not seem to develop as a character and has a very uninteresting character for the most part, each of the supporting cast gets only one episode to work on their characters. Apart from that, the characters more so have little moments and the developments of their characters are gradual and are largely due to how time has moved on and they’ve had time to reflect on their lives and make changes to how they think and how they act however, I would never say they don’t develop; that’s going way too far. Personally I like the characters in Death Note and I respect how there are characters I’m supposed to hate just because of the way they’re written to be. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t recognise the problems with Death Note…well at least now I do. You see, not so long ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to call Death Note my favourite anime of all time. And for good reason; it is a good show and from what I can tell, it’s one of those animes that seems to be really enjoyed by people who would never call themselves anime fans. However, as I was re-watching Death Note for what must have been at least the tenth time, I couldn’t help feeling bored. Not by the first half though. The first half is still great to me and even though I could probably recite the script word for word, it’s still enjoyable to watch and pick up on little things you didn’t before but the thing I picked up about the second half is how much worse it is in comparison to the first. It’s not bad, per say but there’s a pretty big tonal shift. Oddly enough the first half appears more dramatic and interesting; despite the fact the second half contains larger stakes, less comic relief and the ending of the show. Surely the second half should have only gotten better. And some parts of it are and yet other parts are just really lacklustre. The second half is missing something and anyone who’s watched the show knows what that something is. But it’s still a good show but just nagging at me enough to put it as number three in my list instead of number one.
2: Bakuman. Despite what I just said, I love Death Note and since it used to be my favourite anime, I decided to learn a lot about it and I really liked the team behind it. While most manga are created by one person doing both the story and the art, Death Note is split between an amazing artist and story writer. And apparently I’m not the only one who found out about these guys and found them really interesting because Bakuman is another series made by the team of Ohba and Obata and it has many parallels with their own lives. Bakuman is a three season series about two guys who decided, while in high school, to try to become successful manga creators, in particular the artist, Mashiro wants his manga to become an anime as he admits his dream to his crush for many years, Azuki, who has her own dreams of a becoming a successful voice actress. The two have been in love for many years and upon admitting it to each other, they decide to marry when their dreams come true. When Azuki becomes the heroine of Mashiro’s anime, they’ll get married. Along for the ride is Takagi who tries to get Azuki and Mashiro together to achieve their dream as well as his own which is basically just doing what he loves and doing it well. Oddly enough for me, this show isn’t dark. Not in the slightest. These characters aren’t angst filled at all and only the character of Takagi gets any real sort of deep character revelation. The characters in this show are interesting though and incredibly fun to watch but more in the sense of these are people you might know and like in the real world. This show’s realism is incredible. Honestly, I’ll be shocked if this show doesn’t get a live-action release just because of how true to life, admittedly a pretty fun-filled life, it really is. I have tried to figure out why I like it so much and I think the reason behind that may be because I really liked the characters and I liked watching them grow up and achieve their dreams and I felt sort of empty inside when the show was over.
1: Code Geass. Oh man, oh man, oh man. We’re going to keep this short. Code Geass is a supernatural, psychological, tragic drama with lots of comedy…and mechas. Okay, I hate mech anime and originally I never touched this show because I saw a lot of posters with mechas and figured it was just another one of those without much of a likeable plot where I’m concerned. Damn, was I wrong! Code Geass may be a mech show but they’re hardly the focus. Actually they’re more or less insignificant plot points and the story while needing something similar to replace them could still easily be told without them. So why include them? The creators of Code Geass were looking to create something that would be liked by a wide variety of people. Now immediately upon hearing this, I have two problems with it. One, shows that are made to be popular are usually heartless and uninteresting but this show is different. It was made to appeal to a lot of people and includes many troupes and things that fans will latch onto. But Code Geass seems to have had a lot of work and passion put into it and it seems that the people behind it enjoyed themselves every moment and so rather than the usual money-grabbing douches that usually pull these sort of stunts, this show seems more like it was made by fans for fans. And then with two, well, it’s an extremely popular anime; maybe not as much as the likes of DBZ, Naruto, Death Note and etc, but extremely popular all the same. Having something like this be my number one seems sort of cheap to me and as if I’m just looking for a load of tropes in my anime but the inclusion of BECK and Bakuman, I think go against that as they’re both extremely unconventional animes. However, despite it all, I can’t resist this show. I’m meant to like and by God, I do. I love the characters, I love the story, I love the moral conflicts, I love the development, I love the goofy, crazy filler. I can’t help liking this show. It’s impossible to me. And remember when I said that Madoka Magica was one of two shows that could definitely make me cry every time without question. Yeah, this is the other one. And it’s not just the ending, although I do believe it is one of the best endings…in storytelling…ever. I cry repeatedly during this show. I can’t help myself. This show just does it to me. And it’s not just the story-telling that’s good. It has great animation, music and voice acting to complement the story perfectly. I just can’t resist this show and it has to be my number one anime.