#i gave him all the manga and light novels. if i get the plays subtitled ge wants a copy + live action

[akasen-the-red]

And so here it is, nine anime series that are basically what calls out to me either over the years or in recent memory. These are the series that really move me, that excite me, that tickles me, or more.

There were many other series I had in consideration, a number at 35, then dwindled down to 26. None of these are in any particular order, although Maid Dragon is centered is the truly odd one out of all the others. Focusing on these for the moment, let’s try to describe each one and why they are here:

Kekkai Sensen: Kekkai Sensen was a series that filled me with joy every day I ever watched it. The OP, the series itself, was just a dazzling ride that you could almost watch without subtitles and still have fun. It’s just a really good series and I really am excited for the next season

Black Blood Brothers: The most unfortunate anime to ever be made. It’s slick, it’s well written, fully realized, and was totally banking on getting a second season. But then Studio TAC fell apart and I will NEVER see more Black Blood Brothers because nobody fucking cares about this series. Series was based on a Light Novel as well before Light Novel adaptations were such a red flag.

Hellsing (Ultimate OVA): The great thing about 3x3′s is the fact I don’t have to question whether Hellsing is my number one anime or not, thus removing the pressure a top ten list would bring and thus removing the question of whether anything may be better than Hellsing (in my eyes). The 13 episode tv series color my eyes red with blood lust as did the manga. The OVA series is just a masterfully crafted series overall based on Hirano’s highly influential series. Animation quality does skimp a bit in later OVA’s with the use of 3DCG in certain unimportant scenes, but it’s still a fantastic adaptation that does well where it truly counts.

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): This needs a very clear distinction here, I’m not talking about Brotherhood. I haven’t seen Brotherhood. However, even if I did, I don’t think Brotherhood would have the same impact the first adaptation has. What the first adaptation did was plant the seeds to an interest in anime in my head, sorta (Inuyasha is a little more to blame and AMV Hell 3 made the bamboo sprout). But even then, it’s a certain genius in writing. The series does not fully feel like it bullshits itself with the anime original writing, at least not fully. It still does an admirable job in continuing with what it can and giving us a fantastic anime series in its own right.

Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon: This anime nearly did not make the list. It was nearly sacrificed. However, as I was writing about the pain of removing it from the list, I realized something: I felt way too much regret in that decision. I knew I wasn’t making the right choice, one of the rare moments I was able to listen to instinctive reason in my life. It took down “Angel Beats!”, which while a great series, I felt I only kept it on because of the fact that it was such a feels trip. Kobayashi is like Kekkai Sensen in that I was in love with it every episode of the way. It was fun, it was engaging, and it was highly memorable. AND IT HAS NOT BEEN A FULL YEAR SINCE IT FIRST AIRED. It’s that good of a series.

Black Lagoon: This also accounts for Roberta’s Blood Trail as well, which is a fantastic addition, it doesn’t even feel like there was a gap of time between the second season and that. Black Lagoon is very well paced, well written, and well animated. There are moments of CG used in the series that is brilliantly blended with the 2D Animation that I can not complain about it at all. While it’s level of violence is in no way over that of Hellsing’s, it does have a way in its writing and character development that, I hate to admit, makes it leaps and bounds better.

Darker than Black (Season 1): Not a big fan of the second season to be honest. I do like the second season, but there’s so much changed. The musics changed drastically, something about the writing feels off, and I just don’t know. I’d kill for a third season. But the first season is just magical though. Well animated very interesting, and just a pleasure to watch.

Code Geass (Season 1): Another situation where I like the first season more than the second. But more so here. I kinda forgive the second season to a degree, but even still I wish they had kept the tone and age rating they had in the first season. Funny enough, I originally did not like Code Geass. I dropped it after the first episode. But then I gave it a second shot and was absolutely in love. I’m big sucker for military anime, watching small forces take on bigger forces with expert strategy and seeing the carnage set in as victory draws in closer. The second season sort of does this, but not as well as the first. Third season hype is real though.

Shingeki no Bahamut (Season 1): This anime was a pleasant surprise. It’s beautifully animated, but what’s more is that it’s writing is very well done. It’s based on a mobile game of all things and does a splendid job in just going from there. This basically plays out like a D&D game that I’d love to be in. I love this series ever so much, and the second season is just as good as the first so far.

Now with all that out of the way, let’s touch on some runner ups. This isn’t an exhaustive list, just ones that cross my mind or ones I feel I do need to mention. And they are:

Angel Beats

This series nearly made the cut. It was a beautiful looking anime with some gut busting comedy in it as well. But as I kept thinking about it on the list, I realized that to a degree, I was only putting it on here because of the fact it had a feels factor. Sure, I think of this series a lot, and certainly it has a major impact on me, but there’s something about it that brings it down. It could have been a potentially far greater series, but I feel like the writers were a tad all over the place when they made this series. They were lucky to have actually made it as good as they did.

Highschool of the Dead

It’s a favorite for sure, and it’s a series I am constantly defending and arguing the merits over cause everyone wants to simply complain about this series and the amount of sexual fanservice in it.

Or they bring up this scene

As far as I remember, that scene is not in the manga. The scene of a bullet passing through boobs is not in the manga at all. It’s anime original. Thus I’ve concluded that the series director, Tetsuo Araki, was doing what he could just to make this series more talked about. I’ve written a post on the matter before.

Put simply, I don’t give a shit or have much issue with those complaints. The series does well to have people killing zombies with gratuitously overpowered weapons. There’s a fucking character named after the author of Hellsing, Kouta Hirano (Hirano Kouta?). Fucking Black Lagoon names a bowling alley after him as its nod to influence. This series? They make him a character AND make him a Gun Otaku. The manga most likely knew its priorities though. The anime had marketing on the mind. And sex sells along with controversy.

Fate Zero and Fate/Stay Night: UBW

I like this series a lot. I remember just being so hyped to talk about Fate Zero every week on a forum I use to frequent. Sure, nobody actually TALKED to me, it was just forum posts really, but I loved just talking about it. I didn’t have anyone to talk to though. One friend was so detached from anime he’d have just talked about how he had a much better idea for a series twenty years ago. Another friend just kept calling the series “Fake Steak Knife”.

Zero is kinda understandable though for a drop. Good as it was, it was just a good addition. I had read F/SN earlier that year it began airing, so it was great to get more Fate in the form of prequel material. But the prequel isn’t astounding compared to my personal likes. It does a good hell of justice for Fate though, that’s for sure.

Then there’s UBW. This one is kinda painful, but not enough to justify putting it back on the 3x3. UBW is my personal favorite route in F/SN, so seeing it be the adaptation they used for the Ufotable adaptation was just amazing. But there’s something about the adaptation I have faults with, and in a way it’s those faults that make me feel that the original VN’s are much better works than the adaptations ever will be.

I watched this series recently some time last year on recommendation from a friend. That recommendation, among many, confidently put faith in this man as a man of cultured tastes.

Why didn’t this get on the 3x3 though? Good as it is, it’s not THAT good. It’s great, but not THAT great. What it is is a video game adaptation to anime that does an astounding job at being an adaptation of a video game. In fact, it probably would have been better if it wasn’t a video game adaptation and instead an original anime series about gangsters.

Honorable Mention

Kara no Kyoukai

There’s a lot of anime that could make the list of Honorable Mention for any number of reasons. These would be series that didn’t even get to compete on a check list, but was listed somewhere during the years

Kara no Kyoukai was so iffy of a movie series though that it didn’t even make the listing by years. It didn’t even get fully considered.

My opinions of this series has made an absolute 180 since 2015. Certainly though, I still love it. Yes, it has an impact on me. The movies are gorgeous and the music does well to support the visuals. But the writing is just questionable to the point of unsatisfying. Of all of Kinoko’s work to end, this is the one that is the most unsatisfying. So much so that I don’t even want a sequel to it because I feel that a sequel would ruin things from a logical perspective and be some weird pandering to hard core fans on another.

To reiterate, yes I still do love this series, but not as much as I once did. Ryougi Shiki is just an absolutely badass character, both in personality in design, and the music for when she fights is just spectacular.

But it appears something in Kinoko’s writing translates poorly to the screen that makes this series feel almost boring to me in certain films, while other films I’m far more engaged.

My favorite film is honestly the third one, “Remaining Sense of Pain”. I don’t know why, mainly because my memory of these movies despite a rewatch last year is hazy as hell. It may just be because the fight between Shiki and Asagami Fujino.

Although I have to admit, it would be interesting to see any other character from this series appear in some later part of the Nasuverse timeline. But by the time Fate/Stay night happens, Shiki’s a married woman leading a peaceful life. I’d rather let her have her peace to be honest, as with every other character in the series.

Really, I just want a proper Tsukihime anime series with every route carefully adapted to animation. But I can dream and sell souls, can’t I?