Best anime of the decade 2001-2010

[Pong]

So I guess it's time to sum things up for the first ten years of the century. So which anime were the best.


For me the one that stands out and for which this decade will be remembered is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Positively epic. Bright card in history of the mecha genre, nah anime as a whole.

So what's your picks?

[Nik Hasta]

I suspect that Ghost will nominate Baccano.

[Ghost]

I suspect that Ghost will nominate Baccano.

Well, Baccano is probably the best anime I've seen so far. So, yeah, I guess I do. Baccano for first place.

Mind, I don't watch that much anime to begin with so I'm hardly an authority in this matter. I'm sure there is a metric ton of anime I would have loved if I had actually seen it. (Plus, my memory sucks so I probably don't remember all the anime I've seen the last ten years either.)

For the record, TTGL is really good as well, and definitely deserves a mention on this thread. I did think it had it's low points as well as high points, though. (Far more highs then lows, of course, but still.)

In a similar vein, Kamichu was also pretty good, as supernatural slice of life goes, although some episodes were better then others.

Oh, and as usual I'd toss To Aru Majutsu No Index and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun in here as well. Also, Toradora. Not that they genuinely blew my mind or anything, but I honestly can't recall anything I didn't like about them. They were just really entertaining, high-class, more or less flawless anime series. (Shakugan no Shana is also great but falls a wee bit behind due to a few dragging, uneventful parts.)

Other then that... everything Hayao Miyazaki has done since 2001, I guess? Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle would be the major ones for me.

Oh, and Sword of the Stranger, which still needs more respect.

Those are the ones I can think of right now, anyway. But yeah, Baccano pretty much tops the list.

[wolvie616]

I'm a casual fan, so my knowledge isn't that great, but I'll nominate 3

Spirited Away
Code Geass
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Bad or Good choices?

[Robotech Master]

Honorable mention to Rebuild of Evangelion, which remains incomplete at this time, but 2 of its 4 films premiered this decade.

Picking a winner for this rather broad category would be difficult. Of my top ten anime series, the following would be from this decade:

Twelve Kingdoms (2002-03)

Seikai no Senki (Its prequel, Seikai no Monshou, premiered around 1999, but Seikai no Senki I was 2000, II was 2001, and III was 2005)

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (2002-03, 2nd Gig in 2005, Solid State Society in 2006)

Noein: To your Other Self (2005-06)

Eden of the East is becoming one of my favorites too, but I'll wait until I see the Movie Finales before making that call; in any case those are really recent too.

[MKTerra]

I'm a casual fan, so my knowledge isn't that great, but I'll nominate 3

Spirited Away
Code Geass
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Bad or Good choices?

Geass and Haruhi both lose points for their second seasons. Even so, Geass is one of my favorites.

[LordEd1976]

anything done by Miyazaki
Monster

[Aziz Abbasi]

Bleach is what I can think of mostly
Naruto follows

Oh, and Sword of the Stranger, which still needs more respect.

That is one great movie, glad it got a mention

[sun tzu]

A vote for Death Note from me (I'm more a fan of the manga than the anime, though).
With highly honorable mentions going to Monster and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan.

[AllisterH]

Planetes

That is all...

[jesse_custer]

The Cowboy Bebop film would count, though.

[Ghost]

IMHO I think Miyazaki's last period of greatness was the previous decade, ending with Princess Mononoke. Spirited Away and Howl's are brilliantly animated and are ok for the first watch, but I don't think they manage the same level of timeless, "I could watch this again and again" feeling that his earlier works reached.

It is very, very hard top Mononoke.

That said, Spirited Away is a beautiful story, and while my first impression of Howl was a bit reserved, I actually found myself liking it more and more as I rewatched it. Today it's easily in my top five of Miyazaki's work.

I consider Princess Mononoke a misfire, the point where Miyazaki started to resemble a boring, preachy old man.

Hence, I am quite thankful for Spirited Away and Ponyo. (I could take or leave Howl's Moving Castle.)

You know, I find that Miyazaki's movies are kinda like Terry Pratchett's books, in that everyone seems to have their own particular combinations of favorites and disfavorites.

It's probably the mark of a great creator when his work so diversely appeals to people of such varying taste.

Biggest let down of the last decade: Tales From Earthsea. Goro Miyazaki proves he's not ready to take over from his old man.

Haven't seen that one, actually. Though, my brother claims it's actually not that bad, and apparently very close to the original novel, IIRC.

[jesse_custer]

You know, I find that Miyazaki's movies are kinda like Terry Pratchett's books, in that everyone seems to have their own particular combinations of favorites and disfavorites.

It's probably the mark of a great creator when his work so diversely appeals to people of such varying taste.

Miyazaki reminds me of Spielberg in this regard.

[jesse_custer]

To be fair, Libaax has a point about my silliness. I should have looked up the quote in question anyway.

[Robotech Master]

To be fair, Libaax has a point about my silliness. I should have looked up the quote in question anyway.

My original read of it also came from a magazine or article of some kind where her quotes were pasted here and there. I just now looked up the original source of the quotes, which is like a fricken essay--seriously, she wrote like 10 paragraphs about her experience with Studio Ghibli.

Anyways, it seems most of her dissapointment with his coming out of retirement had to do with the fact that he retired while in the middle of negotiations with Ghibli and that both he and her were dissapointed that it would be handled by someone else, and without even his supervision. Then he unexpectedly returns after Tales was completed, so that probably felt like a slap to the face from chance.