Top Anime - October 2009

I feel that my tastes in anime are getting much more defined, and are also changing slowly away from where they've been in the past few years. That being said, here's my top as of now...

1 > Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East)

I've gained an affinity for enjoying anime which are free-flowing, and all of my top anime follow the style of never really having any true pace to them other than the pacing of the story itself; there is never anything that feels like it's forced, or that it's extended to gain time or to just hit that right moment to break between episodes.

Eden of the East does this, but it does so much more. It's only convention is in it's core storyline, but it has a wide array of characters which are both explored and not overdone, especially in a 11-episode story. There are all sorts of "beyond belief" moments that are all realistic within the bounds of the story, and some of the best "owned" moments in anime.

2 > Kara no Kyoukai (Boundary of Emptiness: the Garden of Sinners)

This series combines variable-length episodes (which make pacing a non-issue and an enjoyment) with easily the best fight scenes of any anime I have seen, including Code Geass and excluding _the_ fight scene*. The pacing allows a complicated, powerful story to be told in a two-hour episode, and at the same time allows some good backstory episodes to occur in 45-minute episodes.

3 > FLCL

The original "pacing" series that I enjoyed, it's truly the series with no pacing whatsoever. It's also that great blend of action, comedy, and easily one of the best dubs in the business.

4 > Mushishi

The other series with very little pacing, the one thing that sets this series differently for me is how easy it's pacing is, to the point that it is a series that can be watched like Futurama: order doesn't matter, but many of the episodes are memorable and have a very loose story.

5 > Bakemonogatari (GhoStory)

The 3rd '09 anime in my top list, it feels like an evolution of the FLCL storyline brought into the modern times.


Outside the top 5: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Haibane Renmei, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Spice and Wolf, Elfen Lied


* The ending battle of Outlaw Star

The Current Watchlist - October

Even though school began, I really haven't started watching anything since. I've started getting back slowly at this point...


::: Finished

GANTZ
I waited two months to finish 5 episodes; it wasn't anything special, honestly. I liked it, but I wouldn't say anything amazing against it. The only real "against" I have on it is that it seemed to use a lot of vulgarity just for the sake of it, and not to advance a story or actually do anything.

Spice and Wolf
A good series; it's enough different that I would recommend it as something unique, though it kind-of falls into the same category as Elfen Lied on my lists of anime to recommend, as it really is something that is different, but I wouldn't feel it would be a suitable anime for someone just getting into anime. (They'd quit Elfen Lied in shock, and Spice and Wolf in boredom)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I liked season 1 better, but the final arcs relaying the story behind Episode 00 were surprisingly good, if not seemingly stretched. I know a lot of people are pissed that the "Dissapearance" arc got shifted to a movie.

::: Actively Watching

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Still watching - the only thing it's doing for me right now, though, is making me appreciate the original arc; it was a good deal simpler, and currently makes a good deal more overall sense than the current one. This one just feels like the beginning of Inuyasha.

Kara no Kyoukai
Holy crap. The action sequences and storytelling in this thing are insane. Now, if only the pacing was slightly better, this'd actually be better than Eden of the East. (I am to Eden of the East what Yahtzee is to Portal, and that is about as vague of a non-anime reference from me)

Darker than Black; Jing, King of Bandits; Welcome to the NHK; Eden of the East
The Fall 2009 anime list at the anime club I attend; I've seen the latter two, but the other two aren't really in my area of preferred anime, anyways.

Bakemonogatari
I'm finishing this quickly, though I don't quite understand the "extra" episodes I've been hearing about yet. The series is just about exactly the same as what I was first told about it: a slower FLCL that moves at it's own pace with good OP/ED. It's living up to that, and I'm liking it just about as much as FLCL.

::: Passively Watching / Stalled (nothing here has changed...)

Bleach (I haven't watched anything since the episodes broke from the manga, though I've heard good things about the filler arc so far)

Naruto: Shippuuden (I've taken a break from this before in the summer, but right now it's as much due to the lack of a solid, regular subbing group than impetus)

Ouran High School Host Club (I kept hearing about it and got a taste of it one evening, and I've been going through the series at a pretty slow pace. I like it to the extent a parody of a genre I don't watch warrants, and it's just a case of not getting around to watching more.)

Asura Cryin' (the only series from Spring '09 I haven't finished that I haven't either declared as dropped or finished; I liked the story initially, but it competed with K-ON and Higashi no Eden. I doubt even Evangelion could've competed with that.)