BroEl's Top Anime of 2009

Jay Gee's Top Anime of 2009


This was a tradition I decided I'd start last year with a note I wrote on Facebook, and with the growing success of this blog (and much, much more of a presence by me too boot) I've decided to move it over here.  Basically I've come up with what I think are the 5 best anime series of the year in 3 categories, those being series released in Japan, series released in the U.S., and series I personally watched over the course of this past year.  The first two were meant to avoid any confusion, considering anime does indeed release on two different fronts and all, and the last was one I personally decided to add as a nostalgic reflection back to my anime experiences over the past year.  I'll also write a short (or at least attempted to be short anyways, heh heh ^_^' ) review of my thoughts on the series, and will also be adding honorable mentions to each category as well.  Also added this year, being on this blog and all of course, will be ANN's plot summary and pictures to go along with the series being mentioned, so as to give you more of an insight to what I'm talking about.


I'm also going to try and play less favorites this year and try to focous more on what I really did think were the best series.  Of course favorites will still play a huge part in it, as they always do in lists like this, but I did feel like last year I got a bit too biased with my list in that sense, and I ended up not giving nearly enough credit to series that I really do feel like credit was due.


So, without further ado, let's get this party started!!

Anime Released In Japan

#5 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Plot Summary From ANN: Two brothers lose their mother to an incurable disease. With the power of "alchemy", they use taboo knowledge to resurrect her. The process fails, and as a toll for using this type of alchemy, the older brother, Edward Elric loses his left leg while the younger brother, Alphonse Elric loses his entire body. To save his brother, Edward sacrifices his right arm and is able to affix his brother's soul to a suit of armor. With the help of a family friend, Edward receives metal limbs - "automail" - to replace his lost ones. With that, Edward vows to search for the Philosopher's Stone to return the brothers to their original bodies, even if it means becoming a "State Alchemist", one who uses his/her alchemy for the military.

When this companion (rather than sequel, pretty much) to the all time classic original FMA series was first announced, there was part of me that was admittedly a bit nervous.  Of course being the all out FMA fan that I am, I had far more excitement and intrigue into the idea of it than I did doubts, and me being the ever most optimist wanted to believe I had nothing to worry about.  Basically I was as worried as others that it was going to be an actual sequel, which really is not necessary by any means whatsoever, considering how well even the original series wrapped up, nonetheless the completely unnecessary movie sequel Conqueror of Shambala.  But much to my pleasure of hearing, it instead was going to be a more to the T adaptation of the FMA manga.  Which, much like lots of FMA fans out there, had been something I was hoping for for a good long while.  I think it's when I found this out that I ended up having nothing but high hopes for it.

At first I wasn't too sure as to whether or not it would though, because of how horridly it was rushing through the first part of the series and really missing what made those parts so powerfully special.  But I guess when you think about it, it really comes down to the fact that the manga kind of rushed through all of that in the first place.  In a different sense mind you, because Hiromu Arakawa did indeed have more story in store for us latter on that would cover pretty much all of this stuff more in-depth, unlike the anime, which had to make every bit as compelling a story in a shorter amount of time.  In this case it was pretty much all a matter of skimming right through a brief introduction to all of those events to get to the stuff we don't know about yet, that of course being the manga material.  Of course none of this is to say that the rushed through material didn't have it's moments of brilliance as well (though no where near on the level of the original series), but about to the point where it started covering the manga material, that's where it started to get much, much more excellently well handled.  Unfortunately that's about where I ended up loosing track of following the series, but I did see enough of it and heard enough of what other people were saying about it to pretty much determine it was headed on the right track.  Now I guess it's all pretty much a matter of whether or not we'll have to worry about it catching up with the source material, which is still as far as we're concerned not yet close to completion, seeing as how we haven't heard a thing about it.

#4 Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Plot Summary From ANN: The premise of the project is the 70% or higher possibility that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake will occur in Tokyo in the next 30 years. The anime will depict what would happen if an 8.0 earthquake took place. The story will center on Mirai, a middle school freshman girl who goes to Tokyo’s artificial Odaiba Island for a robot exhibition with her brother Yutaka at the start of summer vacation. A powerful tremor emanates from an ocean trench, the famed Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge crumble and fall, and the landscape of Tokyo changes in an instant. With the help of a motorcycle delivery woman named Mari who they meet on Odaiba, Mirai and Yutaka strive to head back to their Setagaya home in western Tokyo.

You'll probably see a re-occurring theme in that I don't seem to have watched as far into most of these as I would have liked too, heh heh. ^_^' But that's pretty much been my anime watching habits since I started going back to school.  Nevertheless though, even though that's also true about this series, I was still able to tell enough about it as one worthy of recognition, if only for it's premise alone.  I had found it an interesting idea to explore the idea of an 8.0 Richter Scale earthquake in Tokyo in what seemed to be a more disaster movie-esque setting.  And with Studio Bones, my favorite anime company in charge of the whole deal, it was bound to be quite the excellent series.

It took a while to really get going, as pretty much all natural disaster-themed stories such as this one typically do.  I didn't really see enough of it to determine at what point it did start picking up more, or whether or not it did, but even in the early goings I saw a good sized amount of potential for it to delve into some pretty interesting themes and situations with the characters when it was setting up those situations in the very beginning.  Definitely set up some great promise for an excellent series, that's for sure.

#3 CANAAN

Plot Summary From ANN: Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. Now working as a cameraman, she reunited with her friend Canaan in Hong Kong. Canaan is an assassin gifted with synesthesia, and she's being targeted by the terrorist squad Snake. Meanwhile, numerous groups converge on Hong Kong, all after either Canaan or Maria.

Once again didn't see enough of this series to make a fair enough judgement of it, but I can tell you this: In the early goings, I was honestly already considering CANAAN to be one of the best, if not the best series of the year.  It was handled by Sword of the Stranger director Masahiro Ando, which based off of that fact alone could tell you that this was going to be one heck of an anime series.  And based off of what I saw of it, boy was it ever!  Much like Sword of the Stranger, it was a series full of some of the slickest, most amazingly well choreographed and well animated fight sequences you'll ever see, and Ando's direction style really added onto that as well.  If anything it was the most fast paced, most exciting and entertaining series of the year, no doubt.  I was also very impressed at just how well written this series was as well.  Especially in some of the more comedic dialog, which really exceeded the kind of comedy you typically do find in an anime series.  The story itself, at least at the time anyways, was shrouded too much in mystery and intrigue for me to tell much about it early on, but that in and of itself was what told me that it was already from that point bound to be a dang epic one.  It also had some very likable and very entertaining characters as well.  All in all what can you say, this is one of those series that just seems to have it all that makes for a good, highly entertaining series.

#2 Eden of the East

Plot Summary From ANN: On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as "Careless Monday," does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later... Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he's holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.

Essentially there was one name associated with this series that immediately told me this one was going to be a must see.  And that name was Kenji Kamiyama, who is also well known for his work on such series as Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.  Which, based on that track record, meant that his latest work was a sure thing to be nothing less than an excellent piece of work.  And it really was.  It was when I first saw the trailer to this series that I was in awe enough of it to have those high hopes for it confirmed, and right from the very first episode was I extremely impressed.  From the extraordinary realism of what Washington D.C. really is like to the actual use of English voice actors to portray American characters to what is undoubtedly, along with CANAAN and Kuchu Buranko, one of the most well animated series of the year, it was just oozing with promise.  Not to mention what is probably the best opening sequence of the year, nonetheless one of the best I've ever seen.  It helps of course that the song was done by one of my favorite bands in Oasis, but the actual animation sequence to it was extrodanarily impressive as well.  The whole OP was so much so that it most certainly requires me posting it on here:

This was also the only series on this particular list that I actually ended up watching from beginning to end as well, so I do have more of an assessment of how the story went.  The premise in and of itself was quite the interesting setup, with a very espionage, very Bourne Trillogy-esque idea going for it.  Which made for a very interesting development in plot week in and week out, as we only new as much about what was going on as the two main characters, Saki and Akira; one just an average Japanese teenage high school girl on her school trip to Washington D.C., the other some sort of agent for some sort of organization that he seems to have absolutely no memory of whatsoever.  And of course in the typical Kamiyama fashion, the plot ended in a very excellently satisfying way.  For the longest time, both this and CANAAN were constantly at odds end with what I would consider the best series of the year, until of course our number one series made it's way just this past fall:

#1 Kūchū Buranko (Trapeze)

Plot Summary From ANN: Irabu Ichiro is a psychiatrist who lives in a colorful alternate version of Tokyo. Patients would visit him to have a counseling on their problems. However each of the patients feel perplex about Ichiro's behavior. Ichiro wears a bear head mask & is able to change change his appearance from an adult to a kid. Despite Ichiro's zealous attitude, he does succeed in helping out each of the patients who come to his office.

Undoubtedly with the creators of the absolutely masterful work of art that is Mononoke, this was sure to be nothing less than the best series of the year, nonetheless one of the better ones out there altogether.  If there's any series this year that I regret not being able to follow through to the end, it is without a doubt this one.  Nonetheless, with it's episodic nature, it was easy enough to get the picture of what makes this series so special.  It has a very light hearted, very comical feel to it, and yet at the same time so very meaningfully deep and analytical as it explores the issues pertaining to each of the patients and the ways in which Ichiro provides for them to deal with them.  As a matter of fact most of the series bases it's ways in which it analyzes these depths through it's very comical and light hearted means in a very ingeniously innovative and symbolic way.  One of the things that really makes this series for me the most is the absolute visual masterpiece that it is, which you'd expect no less from the creators of Mononoke, which also has an animation style unlike any other I've ever seen.  It's always a refresher to see a series like this come out every once in a while, which unfortunately isn't as often as it really should be.

And even though I've already done it time and time again, I still feel the need to post both the OP and ED to this series on here, as they are without a doubt my favorites of the season! XD

Honorable Mentions: Natsume Yuujin-cho Second Season, Spice and Wolf II, Dragonball Kai, Shangri-la

Anime Released in the U.S.

#5 Sword of the Stranger

Plot Summary From ANN: Hunted by the Mings from China, young Kotaro and his dog meet a nameless samurai ("Nanashi") who is constantly being haunted by dreams of the past which lead him to seal his sword. Among the Mings is a fiercesome Western fighter named Rarou, who desires only to find a worthy opponent. When both groups clash with a Sengoku-era feudal lord, a proud general, and monks torn between faith and survival, the reason behind the Mings' pursuit tests the bond between Kotaro and Nanashi.

This year I've decided to not just include series, but movie releases as well, which I regrettably also did not open myself up to last year.  And with a dang awesome, dang impressive movie like this one, how on earth could I not? 8-) This movie marked my very first experience with anime in a theatrical setting back in February when it had it's one night theatrical showing nation wide, and it just so happened to be showing in a theater very close by and easily accessible from where I live.  With that said, and with the ravings about this movie in a created thread specifically for it a few years ago by someone who was obviously being an excessively exited fanboy, I obviously could not say no to the opportunity.  I will admit I wasn't expecting much at first, probably due in part to just how fanboyish the guy seemed but also because he was mostly going on about how extraordinarily well animated, well choreographed, and just how dang awesome in the first place this film indeed is.  I was mostly going into it expecting not much more than that.  But not only did I get all of that, and on a level I honestly wasn't quite expecting to boot, but even the story itself was very impressively solid and the scripting very impressively well written.  So much so in fact that a good portion of the enjoyability of this film had a lot to do with just listening to the dialog or watching certain sequences of events unfold.  There really isn't much more to say about this film as I already said about CANAAN above, because both being by the same director, naturally Sword of the Stranger is great for all the same reasons as it is.  It also has one of my more favorite soundtracks in an anime series/film I've ever heard as well, one in which I'd more than adore to have in my collection.  I'm glad I was able to pick up the DVD for this when I went to Anime Banzai back in October.  A definite must in any collection.

#4 Clannad/After Story

Plot Summary From ANN: Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and gambling. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya's shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction.  

After Story Plot Summary From ANN: A sequel to the recently wrapped anime based on the Key Clannad franchise. After Story is a path that opens in the original visual novel after all the other paths have been opened.  

Life continues on for Tomoya. A few months have passed since he confessed his love to Nagisa. Now entering the second semester, he continues to meet a variety of different people, expanding his own world in the process. As well, Tomoya and Nagisa's relationship begins to enter a level of intimacy unlike before. Through his relationship with Nagisa, and his various encounters, Tomoya begins to understand the meaning and importance of family. Unfortunately, as Tomoya and Nagisa begin their own family together, they are faced with many hardships and challenges along the way.

I decided to put both these series in the same spot because, well, quite frankly, it's the idea of the entire story as a whole that intrigues me about this series.  Unfortunately I've only seen the first two episodes of the first series, of which I actually haven't been very impressed at all.  It's mostly upon reading the plot descriptions a friend of mine posted on his blog about both the first series and After Story that makes me want to put this series up here.  Typically this isn't really the kind of series that fits my personal tastes.  In fact I usually do well to avoid these kinds of series because of this fact.  But I do believe that my friend has convinced me that this series is far from being the kind of experience you'd typically expect out of a series like that.  Especially considering the added aspect of the existence of it's sequel, After Story, who's premise in the first place is one of the more intriguing things I find about this series.  Basically it doesn't just go through the process of focusing on the idea of typical teenage high school romances and the whole "happily ever after" fallacy like most series of it's kind typically tend to do, but it focuses on the process of being in love as a whole, from the time you first meet, to all the drama surrounding who you'll eventually end up with, to the moment in which you actually do end up with them, to the life you have together afterwards all the way up until the end.  Just reading these plot descriptions in the first place made me come dangerously close to tearing up, who knows what actually sitting down and watching the series will do to me.........  Which is quite impressive, given how I'm not one who's known to cry during movies/TV shows/ect.

#3 Ghost Hound

Plot Summary From ANN: Production IG's 20th Anniversary Project, Ghost Hound is set in the modest town of Suiten, located in a desolate region in the island of Kyūshū. The story follows the experiences of three boys who have had traumatic experiences in childhood from which they have learned to transfer their souls to a parallel world known as the "Unseen World". The Unseen World is however undergoing a change, with its ghosts starting to appear in the real world, altering it in unpredictable ways.

Ah yes, good old Ghost Hound.  I have all sorts of fond memories of this series watching it back in it's fansub airing days, posting in it's weekly episode discussion thread on ANN with some of my good friends, getting bored when there wasn't a sub released for it yet and posting about all sorts of random crap.  Ah yes, the good old days.... *sighs nostalgically*

Well all nostalgia aside, this series essentially is one heck of an epic collaboration of the screenwriting of Chiaki J. Konaka (Texhnolyze, Serial Experiments Lain, Mononoke), the conceptualization of Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed) and the direction of Ryutaro Nakamura (Who both worked with Konaka on Lain as well as worked with Shirow's original concept in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, not to mention directed Kino's Journey as well).  Needless to say, the potential for this series to be something real special were astronomical.  And in many ways, it was.  Along with the best sound direction you'll hear in an anime, the execution of this series in art and animation, pacing, direction style, ect. were nothing short of spectacularly brilliant.  This series is essentially one of those psychological series that pretty much screws with your mind, something you'd naturally expect from two of the staff members of Lain on board.  As a matter of fact there was a lot about this series that was very comparable to Lain in the first place, in story, themes and style.  It isn't anywhere near as trippy, creepy or downright confusing as Lain is, but it certainly is very much so in it's own right.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to grasp it's complex concepts though.  In fact it's probably one of the more easy to understand series of it's kind out there.  And of course, to boot, it had one of the most likeable casts of characters in an anime series as well.  So much so that it compelled me and my friends to invent one epically awesome character out of the three main characters who we even created character designs for and everything. (Ah yes, Makotaruki, how could I forget! XD Anyways.... )

I did however have my fair share of disappointments about the ending of the series though.  So much so that it took a mega hit as one of my top 25 favorite series, and probably kept it from ranking higher on this list as well.  I completely agree with what JayGee said about it when he posted about it earlier, in that it really could have used more episodes to draw out it's ending quite a bit more, because it was just way too rushed to get any sort of a special or epic ending out of it that this series so very much deserves.  Nevertheless, I'm as glad as ever that this series was able to get licensed and released stateside, despite all of our doubts about it ever happening.  It'll definitely be on my long, long list of series I need to get in my collection sometime.

#2 Monster

Plot Summary From ANN: Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, had it all: incredible skill at his work, a rich and beautiful fiancee, and a promising career at his hospital. However, after becoming disenchanted by hospital politics, he chose to save the life of a young boy who got shot in the head over the life of the mayor. As a result he lost the support of the hospital director, as well as his position in the hospital and his fiance. A short time later, the hospital director and the doctors that replaced him were murdered, and once again he was catapulted back onto the top. But as the chief suspect of the murders, Tenma did not get a easy life. As a matter of fact, it seems that the boy he saved was much more than he had appeared to be... Now to clear his name and to correct his past mistake, Tenma must get to the bottom of these and other murders, and investigate the truth of the Monster who is behind all of this.

I was lucky enough that I started watching this series around the same time as it was announced that it would be not only released on DVD this fall, but also airing on SyFy.  So as it would seem you'll be seeing this series in both categories (I didn't spoil it for you technically though, you still need to find out what spot it got, ha ha! :P ).  I will probably reserve my comments on this series for then though, since there's not much I can say there that I can't here, and pretty much all of my memories from watching this series don't have to do with the fact that it was released stateside.  For now I'll just express the fact that I really am happy to finally see the long awaited license and release of this series.  Not only does it give me a chance to own what is now currently my #3 favorite series of all time on DVD (which I hopefully will be getting around to one of these times..... ), but it also gives more people a chance to delve into this extraordinarily compelling storyline via it's SyFy broadcast and realize the limitless potential anime really does have to tell a story of this caliber.

#1 Baccano!

Plot Summary From ANN: Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Immortal alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies.

I still remember to this day the day I found out this series was released.  I thought it was such an awesome phenomenon that I was just about brought to tears.  This series has enough obscurity about it that no one essentially could have ever dreamed it was possible for it to be licensed.  And with the first DVD having been released just barely back at the start of the year, it officially qualifies for this category.  And I couldn't think of a better spot to put it than at the actual number one spot.  This series is of just simply sheer high octane enjoyment unlike very many series out there are at all.  It's exciting, entertaining, funny, well animated and has probably the most interestingly unique story structures of all time.  Really, what more could you ask for from this series?  The only thing that it seems to be lacking in my opinion is a real emotionally empowering kick to it, but that's just one thing amongst everything else that makes this series rank amongst some of my all time favorites.  

It's 1920s american gangster premise is essentially one of the things I love most about it, but nothing intrigues me more about this series than it's plot structure.  Based on what is literally explained in the first episode, it's kind of structured in a way that's quite similar to a newspaper reporter putting together elements of a news story.  Events from different points of view from each of the characters, switching back and fourth between three timelines and a fourth for one episode, a first episode that is really more like the second to last episode and no real main character to grasp onto, but rather an entire ensemble of compelling and likable characters to follow.  It's quite a bit overwhelming and can be very hard to grasp and follow if you're a first time viewer.  But the more you pick up upon more multiple viewings, the more easy it is to make sense of all the insanity.  Which it in and of itself is part of the fun of this series!

Honorable Mentions: Ponyo, Spice and Wolf, Shigurui: Death Frenzy, D.Gray-Man

Anime I Watched as a Whole

#5 Ergo Proxy

 

Plot Summary From ANN: In a future where the world has been ravaged by a nuclear apocalyse, there exists salvation in a domed city named "Romdeau", where humans and their android servants, the autoreivs, live in. Under the implementation of complete management control, it is a paradise where feelings are literally discarded, and the governing council dictates the way of life the citizens should live. But this utopian landscape is soon broken by a series of mystifying murders. Real Mayar, a female inspector from the Citizen Information Bureau, along with her autoreiv partner Iggy, are tasked to solve the murder cases. She is soon attacked by a creature drawn to her which is neither human nor android, and learns about the mysterious phenomena called "Awakening", an event which draws her further into the case...and to the world beyond the limits of Romdeau.

Originally this spot was reserved for Rahxephon, but then I considered the fact that not only did I start watching it last year, and not only do I believe it to have made my list last year, but I also wanted to fit other series up in here that would have not been included otherwise.  So in which case, the otherwise #4 on my list gets pushed down to #5.  It is quite a shame though, as I was hoping to give at least a little more credit to this series than that.  It's a series that does have quite a bit of flaws, mostly in it's plotline, but also in the fact that it does tend utilize what I like to consider "psycho-bable" quite a bit too gratuitously.  Nevertheless, despite some of those issues, it still excels at telling quite the compelling, quite the interesting story with some pretty fairly deep meanings in some of it's main themes as well.  It's far from being quite the same psychological masterpiece that such series as Lain and Texhnolyze are, and it's not quite but fairly close to being the same kind of compelling epic masterpiece that Wolf's Rain, Last Exile or Fullmetal Alchemist are, but in and of itself it really is quite the compelling, interesting watch.  It is slowly but steadily moving up my list of favorites.

#4 NieA_7

Plot Summary From ANN: In the 21st century, aliens have arrived on Earth and live among humans. In sleepy Enohana, the dirt-poor student Chigasaki Mayuko finds herself living together with NieA, a low-caste ("Under Seven") alien. While Mayuko struggles diligently to make ends meet, NieA seems to be totally unconcerned with the consequences of her actions. As the odd couple throws off the expected sparks, the wrecked alien mothership looms in the background...


Technically, much like Rahxephon, this was actually a series that I started watching in 2008.  But unfortunately I ended up not liking the first four episodes of it that it ended up on my backlog of anime to watch in a very, very unfortunate position for it.  I actually did kind of find it an interesting coincidence though that I ended up watching and finishing this series at almost an exact year from when I first started watching it, as well as the fact that both times it was when summer was in full swing, given the fact that the summer season had a lot to do with the expression of the deeper meanings of this series' main themes, come to think of it..... XD But in any case, given the fact that it didn't make any list at all on last year's list, and given the fact that I pretty much didn't start REALLY watching this series until 2009, I make an exception.


This is one of four series done by legendary anime creator Yoshitoshi ABE (Lain, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei).  Of the four this one is probably the most mediocre, but given ABE's track record, that's really not saying much about that at all.  It still remains to be a very, very excellently well handled, very deep and meaningful series, and even though it's tough for me to denote Texhnolyze's ranking as my second favorite ABE series behind Haibane Renmei, I still can't help but put Niea there instead.  Because also out of the four ABE series, this one is far and above his most lighthearted, most comedic and all around his most laid back series as well.  If I were to compare it to any two anime series out there, FLCL would be one of them do to it's comedic nature and how it relates to expressing the deeper meanings of the series' main themes.  But at the same time, if anything, it's also more comparable to Haibane Renmei than anything else.  The premise of the main themes and the particular kinds of people experiencing certain things in their life that it caters to are in so many ways so very similar.  As I stated about my impressions of the first 4 episodes above, for about the first 6 or 7 episodes or so it is very slow to start, pretty much mostly focusing on the comedic aspects of this series in typical slice of life episodic fashion with the basic premise and main themes in their earliest stages if being set up.  But once everything is all set up, by the second half it really starts delving very deep into those premises and main themes and ends up being one heck of a powerful, meaningful experience.  And it's that aspect, as well as the specific aesthetics about it I mentioned above, that ranks it as high as it does amongst my favorites, and even gets it into the top 5 of this list.

#3 Monster

See Plot Summary Above.

Based on it's core storyline, Monster had every potential to be #1 on both this list and the series released in the U.S. list.  And considering that also based on it's core storyline it has attained the #3 spot on my all time favorite series, if this were last year's list, it would have.  Unfortunately one thing and one thing only keeps this series at both the spots that it does, and quite possibly probably the only flaw I see in this series in the first place.  And that one thing would be pacing.  This series really did not need to be 74 episodes long.  I spent a very good portion of the last half of my summer mostly flying right through this series at an incredible pace, and even today I am STILL six episodes away from finishing it.....  Normally a series' length doesn't bother me, so long as that length is not due to poor pacing.  But in this case, there were so many almost filler like things that happened in the plotline that I could have easily seen it going for at least 50 episodes, probably even a bit less.  Rest assured, there is no filler in this series.  It follows the manga pretty much right down to a T.  The issue lies in probably the one and only flaw within the geniusly thrilling storyline capabilities of manga-ka legend Naoki Urasawa.  And that is the fact that he seems to be a bit too obsessed with sending the main characters on all these "side quests" of sorts in which the only purpose is to strengthen the emphasis on certain traits of said characters.  In his other masterpieces he doesn't do this nearly as much as he does in Monster.  And that has mostly to do with the fact that in it's particular case, Tenma is a tortured conflicted enough main character that Urasawa apparently feels the need to restore credibility to his stronger, more positive traits via this tactic.

Nonetheless, the core plotline in and of itself far more makes up for this flaw in such a very compelling way, quite possibly making it one of the best, if not the best series I've ever seen in this aspect.  And it is in this aspect that Urasawa proves himself to be very well deserving of his title as one of the true masters of manga.  This series draws you right in immediately from the first episode and just never seems to let you go.  So much so in fact that I ended up watching the first 13 episodes in one go when I first started watching it.  The first 9 episodes of this series is so eventful and so compelling that it almost feels like it could be a 26 episode series all to itself.  Which essentially made me wonder how on earth there could still be 65 more episodes left of this.  Granted a good portion of it was due to what I already mentioned above, but this series is so full of geniously well placed twists and turns, so full of mystery and intrigue to be explored, that it keeps you glued to the screen for as long as it possibly can, drawing you in and never letting go.  In which case the fact that the basic setup of this series does indeed take 9 episodes to get through is by and far not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.  It's a style I've also noticed in another masterpiece of his, one of my current favorite manga series in 20t Century Boys.  You'd think that, based on the events of the first five volumes of that series, that would pretty much be the entire thing right there.  But from a series I understand to be quite lengthy, and that even has a pretty lengthy sequel to boot, one can only imagine how many epically compelling twists and turns it has yet to take.  He doesn't quite do that as much with another one of his masterpieces in Pluto, but given the fact that it is only 8 volumes long, that is kind of understandable.  But still contains the same kinds of epically compelling twists and turns as Monster and 20thCB.


Given between the manga and the anime though, it's by means of the anime that you want to delve into this one.  Not because of anything different that Urasawa already did himself, but rather because of a lot of the typical aesthetics you'd naturally expect an anime to bring to the table that the manga couldn't.  And in this case, it really does make a difference in the kind of experience you end up having with it.  Director Masayuki Kojima handles this series with so much mastery that a good portion of what makes this series so compelling to watch has to do with his vision of Urasawa's original storyline.

#2 Paranoia Agent

 

Plot Summary From ANN: An elementary school kid dubbed with the title "shounen bat" or "lil slugger" has been going around attacking people with his bent, golden bat. Now, two detectives are investigating so they can stop this kid from making any more attacks, but they will find out soon enough... that this case is much more than they expected.

This was a series I actually saw the first 2 episodes of way back when it first started airing on Adult Swim.  And it was just so trippy, so strange and so much of a mind-screw that I just could not handle it at the time and dropped it immediately as a series I had officially decided I didn't like.  But that was a time in which quite frankly, I just wasn't ready to take on a series like this.  But in all reality, this isn't anywhere near as much of a mind-screw as other such psychological thrillers as Lain or Texhnolyze.  And after I had seen those series and appreciated them for what they were, I was officially ready to take this one on again from the very beginning.

Essentially it's the fact that this series isn't nearly as much of a mind-screw as those other ones, and the fact that it's one in which I can easily grasp it's deeper meanings and it's plotline well enough hat actually does put it up into my top 10 favorite series.  However, this series still remained to be qutie the odd little acid trip that you can expect out of such directors as the legendary Satoshi Kon, and that is something in which I've had such a great appreciation for over the years that ended up basically becoming my favorite thing about it.  Probably the only strike I'd throw at this series is the fact that it probably actually needed to be longer than it was, given that there was much about the plotline and much about some of the ideas that Kon wanted to express that was just too much for only 13 episodes, and as a result the plot was a bit messier then it should have been.  But that's just one minor flaw in a series that ended up being such an incredible and compelling experience.  It's more psychological aspects is what keeps you not wanting to overload yourself with it, but the sheer amount of exciting and mindblowing twist and turns it takes is what keeps you wanting to watch more and more, even though you know you shouldn't if you don't want your brain to turn to mush, heh heh. :P It's final concluding twist at the end is one that's predictable enough that you can see it coming even from the first episode, but the experience of watching this series come to that point is what makes it so worthwhile.  Or in other words, "it's not WHAT happens, it's HOW it happens." ;)

#1 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Plot Summary From ANN: When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends.

It's movies like this one (and like Pale Cocoon, which regrettably didn't make last year's list because of my failure to open myself up to putting movies on it back then..... ;_; ) that makes me so very happy I decided to open myself up to it this year.  Though all time favorites like some of my favorite Miyazaki films (Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa, Spirited Away) as well as a wicked awesome psychological action thriller like Akira have such places in my heart that unfortunately I can't find myself putting this up there as one of my all time favorite anime movies, I most certainly acknowledge it as one of the all time best, that's for sure.

The kind of movie this is, as I've mentioned before, is one that I typically don't tend to show very much interest in, as it doesn't really fit my personal tastes all that much.  Which is why I'm so surprised I ended up loving it as much as I did.  I think it mostly has to do with the sheer fact that it's directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who just based off of this one film has me convinced he is one of the best out there.  It was just so beautifully well done in ways that really touched me with it's very profound main theme and made me feel for the characters in ways that I just couldn't help but fall in love with, and in the end proclaim it as the best anime I watched this year.  And as such I do feel compelled to make an effort to hunt down more titles from this director as well to solidify him as one of the best more so than I already have.

Honorable Mentions: Planets, Fruits Basket, Azumanga Daioh, Infinite Rivyus, Flag

Good grief indeed, that was so much harder than I thought it would be!!

Seriously.  You have no idea how much trouble I went through trying to get this thing done amongst a bustlingly busy past three days......  Now I have an even greater respect for JayGee for taking on his 50 greatest series of the past decade list, heh heh. ^_^' Nonetheless, it was definitely well worth it, and I loved every second of it.  Like I said before, I do hope to make this a lasting tradition of mine, and I look forward to doing it again next year.  But for now, I wish you all a happy and save New Year, and best of wishes for 2010.