Top Ten Anime Series Part 2 | Misc.

Beauty and the Best

Top Ten Anime Series Part 2

I hope you all enjoyed the first half of my Top Ten Anime Series.  Here's Part 2!
Number 5:  Urotsukidoji

Urotsukidoji
This is the only hentai anime on my list, and it deserves it.  While many otaku my age had Akira as their first real anime experience, this was mine.  Urotsukidoji is a story about cosmic rebirth and destruction.  In this story there are three worlds:  The World of Beastpeople, The Demon World, and The Human World.  A legend of the Beastpeople tell of the Chojin, bourne of the human world, who will recreate the three worlds and unite them into an eternal kingdom of peace.  Amano Jyaku is a beastman that believes it is his destiny to find the Chojin, and searches with his sister, Megumi, and Kuroko, his perverted imp-like minion.  While Amano seeks the Chojin out of the prospect of peace, the demons wish to destroy him for their own reasons.  Urotsjkidoji spans 6 parts in 16 OVA episodes, but really shines in its first 2 parts.  The story telling is thrilling and extremely erotic.  The art is some of the best art I have ever seen in my life, and is completely without CG due to when the first parts were made.  The movement of the characters is lifelike in all actions (I'll leave it at that.).  Lighting and sound effects are excellent, in fact, the THX tone from Lucasfilm actually comes from a sound effect from Urotsukidoji (hmmm...).  This was also one of the first, if not the first "tentacle hentai."
Other good anime in the genre include Angel of Darkness, La Blue Girl, Violence Jack, and Devilman.
Number 4:  Berserk
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Berserk is one of the manliest anime ever.  Berserk centers around Guts (sometimes erroneously referred to as Gatsu due to common phonic incompatibility between English and Japanese), who is also known as the Black Swordsman.  Guts is a battle-hardened one-man army on a mission of revenge against the established ruling nobility.  Berserk shows how Guts became the Black Swordsman, and his career with the Band of the Hawk.  The Band of the Hawk is led by Griffith, Guts's one time enemy and closest friend.  Caska is Griffith's lieutenant, and is the greatest warrior in the Band of the Hawk, after Griffith and Guts.  Tensions and attractions between all three ebb and flow to create a great back-story to the plot.  Berserk has all of the dramatic elements in it:  battle, love, betrayal, rape, murder, ambition, good, evil, and the question of the nature of man.  Berserk culminates in all of these elements in one act of moral depravity.
While I cannot really think of any anime that truly shares the same spirit as Berserk, Record of the Lodoss War is an epic fantasy anime with many of the same elements, but not as intense. Claymore is also a violent and bloody anime of revenge.
Number 3:  Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop - All Characters (Wallpaper - 1024x768)
"And the work which has become a genre unto itself shall be called: Cowboy Bebop"  These words were used in a prophetic commercial intermission bump for Cowboy Bebop.  Before Cowboy Bebop, never had space travel, bounty hunting, action, love, loss, philosophy, and unique story telling been married in such a perfect blend.  Even the filler episodes are delightful and add to the story, rather than detract from or derail  it.  Cowboy Bebop's characters are three "space cowboys," or interstellar bounty hunters, Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine.  They are brought together by strange circumstances from their pasts.  Edward the hacker(a girl) and Ein the "data dog" aid them in their pursuit of criminal bounties and provide comic relief to the series.  Working and living out of their mother ship, the Bebop, each of the crew tries to come to terms with the demons from his or her past that they can no longer run from.  The art is top notch and was one of the first anime to feature what I remember being termed "silver tone magic."
Anime series that share the spirit include Outlaw Star, Dirty Pair, Neon Genesis Evangelion,Trigun. Samurai Champloo, and Lupin the 3rd.

Number 2:  Bleach
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I have to start out by saying that Bleach is my favourite recent anime made.  To me, Bleach is like Star Wars because it combines ancient elements and seamlessly incorporates them with more modern ones.  Bleach's main protagonist is a teenager named ichigo Kurosaki.  Besides being bourne with bright orange hair, Ichigo also has the ability to see and communicate with spirits.  His life is completely changed when he encounters a shinigami, or soul reaper,  named Rukia.  Rukia is mortally wounded by a hollow and is forced to transfer some of her spiritual pressure to ichigo to fight the hollow because he has supernatural abilities already.  The interaction makes him a "substitute soul reaper."  Like most great anime series, Bleach has an eclectic group of characters that support and oppose Ichigo.  I also like the treachery that occurs throughout the series among many of the characters.  It is still being translated into English, but I have watched the entire series in sub, and it was a bitter sweet moment to watch it end.
Other spiritual adventure anime include , Death Note, Saiyuki, Kekaishi, Devil Hunter Yohko, and Yu Yu Hakusho.
Number 1:  Ranma 1/2
ranma anime
My absolute favourite anime of all time is Ranma 1/2Ranma 1/2 was written by Rumiko Takahashi, one of the most talented and well-respected anime artists and authors in the business.   Ranma 1/2 is a romantic martial arts comedy about Ranma Saotome who is betrothed to Akane Tendo.  Ranma and Akane's fathers, Genma and Soun, were students and sole heirs to the "Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," which prides itself on no holds barred brawling in which every style, weapon, or technique is considered fair play.  Akane  is a tomboy that does not like boys.  What complicates things even more is that Ranma is cursed by changing into a girl whenever he is splashed by cold water.  The only remedy is to be splashed again, but with warm water.  Most of the conflicts occur when other powerful martial artists arrive with crushes on Ranma, Akane, or each other, and all are forced to fight for love.  Many of the cast are also cursed with amusing transformations.    Ranma 1/2 has great awkward romantic moments.  The fight scenes are unique and action packed, and have more dramatic and cooler sounding moves than Street Fighter. The stories have to be seen to be believed.  Rumiko Takahashi raised the bar with all of her anime series, and has more favourite series than any anime artist or author.
If you enjoy Ranma 1/2,  you will most likely enjoy some of her other series like Lum, Maison Ikkoku, Rumic World, and InuYasha.  Tenchi Muyo!, Devil Hunter Yohko,  and Kenichi:  The Mightiest Disciple are also good series that are very similar.
In recollection, for
Part 1, there were some honourable mentions that I neglected to make:  Number 9- Star Blazers, The Transformers and Thundercats, and Number 8- Paranoia Agent and Shin Chan.
There are also some anime that never really piqued my interest, but have a good buzz, like
One Piece, Gantz, and Naruto.
So there you have it.  In my opinion, these series are the best in the business and the reasons that I love anime.  Some of them are not the best animated by today's standards, but this is also an age when every anime is showroom perfect but a toss-up under the hood.
I think if you give them a chance, you will definitely find something you like and possibly a new favourite.
Did any of these make your list?  What do you like?  Share it with us.  Share it with your friends.  We'd love to hear from all of you.

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