I think I'll start things off here with my list of favorite anime. Now, I don't really like putting favorite things into a numbered list too much. But at the same time, I do have some rankings for the top of the top. So, if you're interested, or just want some anime to watch that you may not have seen, read on:
(edit: Bah, seems some minor formatting problems. Can't seem to fix 'em. I'll figure out how to blog as I go, I suppose)
7) REC
REC is a cute, rather short anime that I came across a few years back. One of the first things I noticed about it was that each episode is quite short (about 12 minutes, if memory serves). It circles around Fumihiko Matsumaru, who works at a company that makes snacks, and Aka Onda, an aspiring seiyuu (Japanese voice actress). Due to events, Aka and Matsumaru have to live together, and it follows them.
Now, yeah, I'll readily admit this sounds like any number of harem anime out there. And Matsumaru does fit the bill pretty easily. So why is it #7 for me? Because its cute. Its a fun, little story about two possible lovers. I'm a hopeless romantic at times, and this helps that part of me.
The anime (10 episodes in all) only covers the story from the first manga volume, and, as with other shows, the manga continues on. However, a warning should you go looking into the manga (available in scans-only at the moment): It does have some adult scenes. Nothing too graphic, but nudity and sexual innuendo. So if that turns you off, best stay away.
6) Clannad
Speaking of harem anime, Clannad kind of fits the bill. The anime is an adaptation of the visual novel of the same name by the company Key, who put out two other visual novels (both of which, I believe, are soft H [adult] games, for those curious. Clannad isn't. Its just a dating sim), named Kanon and Air, so if the style looks similar, you've probably watched one of those. Or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, as that was animated by Kyoto Animation, who also animated the three I mentioned above.
Anyway...yeah, Clannad is kind of a Harem anime. Main male lead has a number of girls after him. While that can be annoying, Clannad handles it well. The anime breaks into several arcs, each of which represents one of the story routes in the game, though it avoids the culmination where the lead, Okazaki Tomoya, ends up with the girl.
This happens with all the girls but one (which should be pretty bloody clear as you watch, heh). Still, it is a fun, cute, emotional ride. The animation is quite nice, and if nothing else the supporting male Sunohara Youhei, is good for laughs (especially when he sets his eyes on Sakagami Tomoyo [try not to get them confused. I love the show and I still mix up their names]).
Anyway, Clannad is fun. Starry and I marathoned it back this Spring, and we just kept going and going. I believe ADV has licensed it recently, so it should be making its way here. In the meantime, try watching Kanon or Air (I watched three episodes of Air, which did seem kinda nice). If you like either, you'll probably like this.
5) Code Geass
Code Geass. I'm pretty sure most of you (if not all of y'all) are watching this on the Fix. So I won't delve into spoilers. Episode 25, Zero, is up now, go watch it. This is the finale of the first season, and I have to say y'all are VERY lucky that R2 (second season) is only a week away. It was such a long wait for the rest of us.
Er...anyway...Code Geass is firmly in #5 for me. Why does it deserve a spot? It isn't particularly ground-breaking. It can be silly, over the top. So...why?
Because its fun. Because its unpredictible (able? whatever). Seriously, every week one of my friends and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning (4 am EST) just to get spoiler reports from Japan about the R2's latest episode. Now that its over, I find it odd not having to stay up that late.
Code Geass doesn't come from a manga (rather, the manga comes from it. And there are several of 'em. There's one named after the series, which is slightly different but overall the same. There's Suzaku of the Counterattack, which is from Suzaku's perspective and...I believe doesn't have Knightmare Frames. And there is Nightmare of Nunnally, where Nunnally gets a Geass), so I had no idea what was coming up. Sure, I could guess (and a number of my guesses were right), but there were twists I never saw coming (like with Euphie).
There is one other thing, too, something that I feel a lot of mecha shows don't do much anymore: The mechs are just bloody mechs. There is no sentience. There is no flesh beneath. They are not clones of an Angel that spawned humanity. They don't grow in a cave like some sort of metallic fungi. They are just mechs. Mechs mechs mechs.
And thank god for that.
4) Berserk
I went quite a while without seeing Berserk. Starry saw to it that I watched the first few episodes when she visited me once. We ended up marathoning it and ending it at around 3:30 in the morning.
Big mistake, that. But at the same time, my god, one of the best decisions.
Berserk revolves around one man, Guts, as he struggles against Fate and Life. Born from a dead body, he has had a very hard life. And it just keeps getting harder.
I won't go any further because you need to watch it for yourself to really do it justice. The animation is old, and the VAs are kinda old too (you will recognize some such as Rachael Lillis [Misty from Pokemon] and Sean Schemmel [Goku from DBZ]). But it holds up well, I think.
A major, MAJOR warning, though: Berserk is violent. Very violent. The anime is toned down from the manga, so it doesn't reach...say, Elfen Lied violence, but it is bloody. And there is sex (including rape). The anime, and ESPECIALLY the manga, is not for the faint of heart. Even I can't plow through it without wincing or even looking away at times.
Again, Starry introduced me to this. I forget exactly how (think she was really enjoying it and then sent it to me). I fell in love with it quickly, though. It is a really sweet and interesting story, and quite engaging. But to me, there is one real reason why I love this series and manga: It saved my life.
Seriously, it did.
I have a serious problem with anxiety. It runs in my family. My grandfather could work himself up so badly he wouldn't be able to do a thing. My father could worry himself so badly that he could power through sleeping medication that would've killed me. My brother breaks down. Me, I become like a gerbil stuck in its wheel, running endlessly. During my senior year of high school, I was worrying myself sick (literally). I hadn't been accepted into a college yet (and really, I had only applied to three). I was looking to the future and freaking out. One night, I was reading (as I often did, helps keep my mind off things) a volume of FB. I got to a part where the character Shigure tells the character Tohru (main female lead) how to deal with her worrying by using an example of her stuck in a room with tons of laundry. While she worries about how she could do all of it, more piles up. Instead, he tells her, she needs to take things one step at a time. Eventually she'll be done.
That has become my philosophy ever since. One step at a time. And it worked. I got accepted into my first choice (how, I'll never know. C-average, 1010 on my SAT, no extra curriculars). I kept going. And now you know one reason why I love it, heh.
2) Fullmetal Alchemist
Y'all know of this, I hope. FMA was one of the first anime I really followed in earnest. You should know why its up here, so I won't waste space on it.
1) Robotech
Robotech, aka Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada, all combined into one, Americanized, and plotted into a coherent story.
Robotech is the exception to my general rule of avoiding Americanized anime (i.e. Pokemon [though I did like the show when I was a kid...and wow, saying that makes me feel oh-so old], anything spewed out by 4Kids, etc). It was also my very first anime, and so holds the #1 spot, utterly uncontested.
I know now why the three arcs seemed a bit disjointed, its due to the combination of the three different series into this one. But I think it is a good job, and could've ended up far worse. One aspect of it that I love best is the music. Though I hate (hate) Lynn Minmei (the singer in the first part, Macross), I love the singing in the third arc, the Invid Invasion arc, by Lancer/Yellow Dancer (singing by Michael Bradley, talking voice by Cam-freaking-Clarke). It is deliciously 80's (I love 80's music, as bad as it can be. Someone help me.), and even listening to it now (I got the soundtrack when I bought the PS2 game, four years back), still brings up images of the battles. And some of the music is just plain awesome.
So there you have it. My top 7, more or less. Now and then they shift around to accomodate something new, but they generally stay the same.
