Loved that one. Range Murata has some… questionable tastes, but I love his character designs in Blue Submarine No. 6 and Last Exile

A Certain Scientific Railgun yearly. It’s what got me into anime back in 2021, started a >4 year long streak of watching anime every single day. It’s not a set date, I just start the rewatch 365 (366 on leap years) days after I last finished it. I’ve seen it four times now: first subs, then dubbed, then again in '23, then again in '24.

Haibane Renmei roughly every spring. Part of a discord server that did a group rewatch in '24 and '25. Looking forward to next year

Gurren Lagann by a country mile. Both of the main antagonists of the show are great

I so rarely see other people rank FMA’03 over Brotherhood, but I really preferred it. The more serious tone, the origins of the homunculi, the much stronger ending (“better” is debatable, but it was definitely strong), and most of all, the Pride reveal. '03 revealing it like 2/3 of the way through the series made for a better twist. I’m so happy I was able to avoid that particular spoiler until I watched the show, because that blew my goddamn mind

An honorable mention to who actually killed Winry’s parents. Having us grow to like the guy for a while before revealing that particular sin was a stronger choice than just saying “yeah, the antagonist did it”

I hesitated to put Orb very high on my own list due to worries about recency bias, but it really was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I started it because, I mean, look at my username. A show about astronomers studying heliocentrism in 15th century Poland sounds like it’s tailor made for me. But it’s even better, because it’s not actually about astronomy. It’s about the anonymous contributors to history, whose names and faces were never recorded, and yet were instrumental to building their era, and by extension every era afterward.

Near the end of the show, a certain character makes reference to the fact that “when the people of the past or future gaze across the span of time, they’ll merely see us all as people from the fifteenth century.” Indeed, he feels that “we, who happened to live in this day and age, even if we hated one another enough to kill, are comrades who built an era together.” Even if your name won’t survive over the next five centuries, you still have laid a brick in the foundation of history.

Idunno, I can write a three page essay about this show, and it still wouldn’t capture all of my thoughts and feelings. It’s the easiest 10/10 I’ve given a show since Standalone Complex. Truly the only valid criticism of it is that it is physically difficult to watch if your room isn’t pitch black. They gotta go back and turn the brightness up on some scenes.

1. Haibane Renmei, Gurren Lagann, and GitS: SAC share first place. Ghost in the Shell changed how I rate shows, because I can’t rate a show 10/10 if it doesn’t stand up to Ghost in the Shell. Haibane Renmei and Gurren Lagann may lack the technical perfection that earned GitS its place, but they affected me on an emotional level more than any others. The quiet melancholy and ultimately positive resolution of Haibane Renmei puts it in first place for me, and Gurren Lagann’s unabashed bombastic glorification of Humanity and complete denial of despair is irresistible to me.

2. A Certain Scientific Railgun got me into anime, so it has to be up there. Since I started the show nearly four years ago, I’ve maintained a streak of watching anime every single day. The Sisters Arc remains my favorite individual portion of anime I’ve ever seen.

3. Mushishi is one of a very few series I would call a flawless masterpiece.

4. Shinsekai Yori led to a great many discussions with both myself and others about what constitutes a “human,” which is maybe my favorite philosophical topic

5. Last Exile perfectly captures my favorite world building technique of just plopping the viewer in the world and not explaining anything, plus Range Murata’s character design is peak

6. Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is a series focusing on astronomers studying heliocentrism in 14th century Poland. The basic concept was tailor made for me specifically. The actual show is less about astronomy, and more about the anonymous figures throughout history who never had their names or particular contributions recorded, but were nevertheless instrumental to building both the time they lived in and the future that came after it. It has the longest review I’ve ever written for a show—usually I struggle to come up with more words to say. Talking about Orb, I struggle to stop writing.

7. ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Department because I really like the deliberate denial of action. A show about a federal government auditor investigating a potential coup, and there isn’t a single action sequence

8. Read or Die (OVA and The TV), because Yomiko Readman is my wife I like the story and all the characters. I’ve never missed characters after finishing a show like I missed the Paper Sisters

9. Ergo Proxy, because it too raises questions about what is “human,” it too sparked a lot of writing from me, and it raises interesting discussions about theology. I struggle to think of any other shows with a decidedly antitheist vibe.

10. Megalo Box, because the whiplash between the first and second seasons was incredible. Never seen a show go from shounen to seinen like that. I found both seasons compelling, but the second season shot it up to 10/10 for me

I do not want Republicans deciding what constitutes cp in anime.

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That’s an interesting take. Personally, the Sisters Arc is when I got really enthralled by the show

I hope this installment finally explains the connection between the other two shows in the franchise, Gate and Steins;Gate

Oh no! I’ve tested those tags on the website (both SJW and feddit.nl), Connect, Sync, and Jerboa, so I thought they’d work everywhere! What are you using to browse Lemmy? I want to be able to tag spoilers for everyone

Belle really is a good movie with an amazing soundtrack, I was just ranting about one thing in it that bothers me

Padparadscha

I get the feeling you’re already familiar with my favorite anime OP

I’m just gonna copy and paste my comment from last time I answered this question on a forum. Most of these are just because they’re good songs that make the good chemicals go in my brain. Like, they’re the songs I throw on my playlist and listen to while I’m driving.

Land of the Lustrous’ opening, Kyoumen no Nami, is my #1 most listened to song on Youtube Music two years in a row, largely thanks to the fascinating polyrhythms

Aside from that, some top picks are (in order of best to not as best)

Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song

Samurai Flamenco

Gurren Lagann

Persona 4

Baccano

Akudama Drive (mainly for the visuals)

Sk8 the Infinity

Noir (also mainly for the visuals)

Last Exile

Akudama Drive was rad as hell. GitS is obviously a classic. Belle… is certainly a movie. By all rights it should be such a great movie. The soundtrack is amazing, even the dubs sound good. The animation is beautiful. But my suspension of disbelief can’t handle the game they’re playing. I’ll spoiler tag my main problems with both types of tag, so it should work no matter how you’re viewing lemmy

Other than that it’s so good. I just couldn’t keep my suspension of disbelief intact.

Land of the Lustrous’ opening, Kyoumen no Nami, is my #1 most listened to song on Youtube Music two years in a row, so probably that.

Aside from that, some top picks are (in order of best to not as best)

Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song

Gurren Lagann

Samurai Flamenco

Baccano

Akudama Drive (mainly for the visuals)

Sk8 the Infinity

Noir (also mainly for the visuals)

Last Exile

Dungeon Meshi is over. I only started reading a few months ago, but it’s still sad to see it go. Can’t wait for the anime next year, and I hope we get to see more of the universe in the future

I’ve been tempted to post an Old Anime Discussion thread. I don’t keep up with what’s new, because I like to watch an entire series at once before starting another one, so I mainly stick to older shows. I super don’t watch new episodes weekly unlike most anime fans.

I miss the other website, where I could read through years of discussions about shows like Shinsekai Yori and Mushishi. The more time passes, the more I feel like breaking the strike and posting there again.

Synchronicity! Months later, I’m listening to a video essay about Paranoia Agent, as I search Lemmy for any actual discussions about Haibane Renmei!