[Sauce]
I have two Top 5 lists in my head, both of which have entirely different criteria. Can you spot them on your own?
The first:
- Turn A Gundam
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes
- Giant Robo
- RahXephon
- Tekkaman Blade
The second:
- Eureka Seven
- Planetes
- Gundam X
- Honey & Clover
- Seirei no Moribito
The first list shows the kind of stories I love and aspire to write someday(!): intense character dynamics, sprawling worlds of wonder, epic battles on foot and machines, and heartrending rivalries. The second is a list of the most human anime for me. These are the shows that get me through the day and keep me from turning into a misanthropic shithead just by thinking about them. I know it’s a weird criteria, but this list is the main driver for me to watch more anime.
My MAL favorites would be a hybrid of these two lists, based on raw liking alone (#1 is #1 purely because I like it more than #2, and so on).
What do you think?
Related reading:
Continuing World 
If I were to build your first list, it would be something like:
1. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
2. The Five Star Stories (manga, or, should the anime contain more of the stories)
3. Cowboy Bebop
4. Crest/Banner of the Stars
5. Honey and Clover
If I were to build the same:
1. Nadesico
2. Manabi Straight (why is nobody talking about this?)
3. Simoun
4. Turn A
5. Shingu
I’ve done posts about the emotional impact Manabi had on me, and it comes up in all of my characer posts, but when I think of it, like most of my favorites, I haven’t managed to do a post on the show proper.
I will fix this, but not immediately, sicne I have a lot of other posts going on.
I’m halfway thru Giant Robo, other than that I haven’t seen any of those shows. So I can’t really comment. Have you been able to find people or situations like the anime on your second list?? If you haven’t, wouldn’t that reinforce your misanthropy instead of alleviating it??
My RL friend and anime mentor would probably have a similar list like my second one, since we virtually recommended these shows to each other. I know a few people who are into Gundam X as I am (and are girls to boot), and that never fails to keep me up despite seeing some of the absolute worst in Gundam fandom.
I can safely say that I’ve personally experienced more than half of the major themes/plotlines in those shows too…
Nobody’s talking about Manabi Straight because it’s been over for two years? It didn’t get licensed? It hasn’t had any successor OAVs?
I dropped it two years ago because I wasn’t into those kinds of shows back then, but you, omo and D-boy give me incentive to watch it again.
There’s more people talking about LOGH or Macross whatever crap anime that are much older. /shrug
Write about it dm! Save me the trouble from writing about again, if just for a few weeks! \o
Maybe in a couple of weeks? Well, maybe sooner. My disks are mere hours away from my doorstep, though I’m inclined to finish Yamamoto Yohko first.
As to your question, I’m afraid my first list and my second list would be the same — I’d aspire to create humane media in the same way that I enjoy watching them.
I find the epic stuff pretty wretched. For the most part, it only works when the epic story is merely a backdrop for a small, human story (Lord of the Rings is a good example of this: it’s Frodo and Sam’s story, not the story of the Ring — the kings and elf-queens are mere stage-setting, for the most part (Aragorn is more interesting when he’s being human than when he’s king)).
To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.
Well, I would like to write something inspiringly human but my hand is fundamentally bad on that kind of stuff, so I’ll leave it to the experts. 😛
The best of LOTR for me was Gandalf’s parts, and I think it says something.
I don’t think what made LOTR good was that it’s Frodo and Sam’s story, but rather it’s told from their perspectives. In a way what makes eternity in an hour and heaven on the palm of your hand “cool” isn’t that it took just an hour or it is your hand that is holding it. After all your hand is fairly mundane and an hour passes all the time; it’s still the epic, eternal and heavenly stuff that is compelling.
In as much as that is the essence of the first list–being able to tell these epics within the confines of yourselves.
>>In as much as that is the essence of the first list–being able to tell these epics within the confines of yourselves.
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I think that’s a better way of saying what I was trying to say, though I’m not sure that it is the epic stuff that’s compelling, unless seen from a human perspective.
I like your ORE NO RUURU quite a bit, Schneider.
Your second list is pretty much what my list is anyway, but if I were to build your first list, it would be…
1. Gunslinger Girl (manga)
2. Baccano!
3. Black Lagoon
4. Eureka Seven
5. Texhnolyze
Which is almost not reflective of my top 10 at all (though i cheated and used the GSG manga, which would be reflective of a manga top 5) Reason being, I am obsessed with creating incredibly dark and violent stories, and so they are a lot more influential to my writing than even my favorite shows.
Whoa E7 is a bit out of place, looking at the other shows alongside it. But well, it gets downright violent anyway!
I see Giant Robo and Eureka Seven. I care little about your criteria at this point, the mere fact you have those two is worthy of massive respect.
Thanks, I guess.
Anyway, I was looking through your criteria again, and figured it be pretty fun to do top 5 lists with them.
So with your first criteria:
1) Shin Mazinger Z
2) Gurren Lagann
3) Gravion
4) Air Master
5) Sengoku Basara
And with your second:
1) Shin Mazinger Z
2) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
3) Gao Gai Gar
4) Big O
5) Martian Successor Nadesico
Only counting shows I’ve watched start to finish, for me it’d be something along the lines of:
1) Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen!
2) Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
3) Giant Robo
4) Big-O!
5) The King of Braves Gaogaigar
Also cheers for the blogroll link!
1. Inuyasha
2. Deathnote
3. Welcome to the N.H.K.
4. Shakugan no Shana
5. Full Metal Alchemist
Welcome to the N.H.K…..only 3? What is wrong with me?
My top 5 needs re-arranging maybe.
Nah, fuck it.
Totally different list from what I would have.