Top 50 Anime of All Time

Anime Insider magazine published its 50th issue this month and their cover story is the top 50 anime of all time. I'm all too familiar with Top __ video game lists, but this is the first time I've ever seen any kind of top anime list. They don't have any criteria for their list, just picking out the best anime, not the most influential or the most popular, but the best, as they claim. The team that decided the nominations consited of voice actors, editors, columnists, executives, scriptwriters and directors. The only people with some credibility to them are Kenji Kamiyama (director of Ghost in the Shell: SAC, Jin-Roh and other anime), Carl Horn (an editor for Dark Horse and well known for his knowledge of anime), and maybe some of the web site and magazine editors/columnists. Do we really care what some executive or some voice actor says is the best anime of all time? Not me. I want to hear what the anime directors, animators, manga writers, creators, artists, basically all the people involved in making anime think is the best anime of all time.

What I find really interesting is that they have anime movies, anime tv series and anime OVAs (aka OAVs) in this list. I think its kind of hard to put up a 100 minute movie against a 26 episode TV series or an OVA and decide what is better. Movies have massive budgets, so they can put in the best quality animation, sound, music and voice actors, while TV series have an extremely limited budget and more time constraints. OVAs have bigger budgets then TV series, but they usually aren't as big as movies. The list also has some glaring omissions. If you're going to put movies in the list they are missing Do You Remember Love?, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and the Wings of Honneamise. And what's with Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket being so high on the list? I'd easily put the original Gundam, 0083: Stardust Memory, Zeta Gundam or 08th MS Team in there. 0080 was good but that damned kid was so annoying (Al is his name). He could have prevented the death of his friend if he had just opened his mouth and told his parents or something. I really wished he would have died in that explosion. Probably my biggest issue with this list is Porco Rosso at #2. Yes that's right, number 2! Huh?! I'm all for Miyazaki films, but you couldn't pick a better movie then Porco Rosso? Castle in The Sky is easily better then that film and that's not even in the Top 50. Hell Kiki's Delivery Service, The Cat Returns or Whisper of the Heart would have been better. Porco Rosso is good and all, but not the second best anime of all freaking time.

50. Vision of Escaflowne
49. Saikano
48. Berserk
47. Kino's Journey
46. Cardcaptor Sakura
45. Fantastic Children
44. Irresponsible Captain Tylor
43. Giant Robo: The Animation
42. Twelve Kingdoms
41. Azumanga Daioh
40. Urusei Yatsura
39. Astro Boy
38. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
37. Fruits Basket
36. Night on the Galactic Railroad
35. Exel Saga
34. Trigun
33. Read or Die
32. Princess Mononoke
31. Gunbuster
30. Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal
29. The Place Promised in Our Early Days
28. Planetes
27. Samurai Champloo
26. Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
25. Princess Tutu
24. Serial Experiments Lain
23. Galaxy Express 999
22. Patlabor the Movie 2
21. Tokyo Godfathers
20. Gankutsuou
19. My Neighbor Totoro
18. Boogiepop Phantom
17. Paranoia Agent
16. Grave of the Fireflies
15. Haibane Renmei
14. Ghost in the Shell/GitS: Stand Alone Complex
13. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
12. Now and Then, Here and There
11. Fullmetal Alchemist
10. Macross Plus
9. Akira
8. The Castle of Cagliostro
7. Jin-Roh: the Wolf Brigade
6. Neon Genesis Evangelion
5. Revolutionary Girl Utena
4. FLCL (aka Fooly Cooly)
3. Millennium Actress
2. Porco Rosso
1. Cowboy Bebop