Behind The Nihon Review » Gankutsuou

Sorrow-kun’s List of 50 Great Anime of the Decade 2000-2009

Sorrow-kun — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:30:25 +0000

Our staff’s review of the decade continues, and today I’ll be taking on the massive task of trying to list the best fifty anime that came out this decade, as I saw them. As is fairly obvious by now, I can only list the anime that I saw, and I’ve taken the policy of not putting ongoing series on the list, even though there are a couple of gems that are still currently airing (such as Cross Game and Kemono no Souja Erin). Also, some of the series on this list started airing in 1999, but ending in 2000. You can find a collection of other lists that have been posted on the blogosphere here, and our good friend gaguri, from Ha Neul Seom (하늘섬) has posted his Top 50 here, which I highly recommend.

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By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 25 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Aria The Animation, Azumanga Daioh, Gankutsuou, Gungrave, Honey and Clover, Koi Kaze, Millennium Actress, Monster, Mushishi, Now and Then Here and There

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Zzeroparticle’s List of 20 Noteworthy Anime Titles

zzeroparticle — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:18:48 +0000

That period between Christmas and New Year’s always leaves me in a sort of limbo, where the future is just about there, but not quite, and the past still needs to be nudged on a bit further until it can finally be called the past. Because of that, there’s never really a whole lot to do, making it an excellent time to simply sit back and reflect. The imminent arrival of a new decade means that we look back a bit further than we normally would. After all, 10 years is a long section of road upon which one travels through life, and provided that you didn’t get carsick for most of the journey, there should be some rich memories that you’ll probably want to look back upon and cherish.

Hence, this series of “decade’s” posts by The Nihon Review Staff. If there’s one commonality that links us, it’s that this past decade saw our interest in the medium surge as we began viewing not only the classics of old, but following the shows currently airing in Japan. And despite the deluge of anime we’ve seen, there are those that have made such a deep impression upon us that we cannot forget them.

So in following the footsteps blazed by gaguri, and wishing to join those who have put their thoughts forward, I present you my list of twenty titles that made an impact upon me in this past decade. TV shows tend to leave a stronger image in my mind, so I opted to focus on those. So with that, here’s my list. Dramatic execution demands that I start from the bottom and build up towards the top to create suspense. I’ve always hated that, and so, I’ll start from the top and work my way down. It’s always seemed more natural that way.

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Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By zzeroparticle | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Aria The Origination, Full Metal Alchemist, Gankutsuou, Gunslinger Girl, Honey and Clover, Kino’s Journey, Monster, Mushishi, Nodame Cantabile, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

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Bakemonogatari and Other Anime With Great Dialogue

Sorrow-kun — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:28:53 +0000

Anime isn’t exactly a medium renowned for great dialogue. There are probably several reasons for this, most of them stemming from the fact that creative dialogue isn’t really seen as a requirement in most series for conveying story. Most series tend to take a very straightforward approach to explaining plot points, a consequence of the fact that, in most instances, the only objective is clarifying the important points, so being elaborate can come off as unnecessarily extravagant. The other place where one might expect great dialogue is in dramatic moments, but drama in anime tends less towards the theatrical and more towards the sentimental, so again there’s not a huge amount of time for dialogue that is bold or distinctive. There’s also a small matter of context. It takes a lot of care to set up an intricate and elaborate character like Senjougahara, who can believably spout out lines like “I mean, the only kind of girl who would talk to an unappealing virgin like you are late-bloomer crazy virgins like me!” It doesn’t take nearly as much effort to set up a once-and-done character that ends every line with “desu”. (This post contains mild spoilers for the tagged anime.)

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Copyright © 2009 Behind The Nihon Review. All licensed material are owned by their respective parties.
By Sorrow-kun | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Tweet! | AnimeBlips - vote it up!
Post tags: Bakemonogatari, Full Metal Panic, Gankutsuou, Kaiji

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