Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2008-03-01 10:32 am
silverthunder) wrote2008-03-01 10:32 am
Top Five Anime Showdown!
This is entirely the result of boredom at work. I was looking at my profile on MyAnimeList and making sure my top five anime were up to date, and I just came up with the idea of doing a series vs series showdown between my top five anime to see which one was the ultimate favorite.
The contestants are as follows:
Hikaru no Go is an intensely character-driven series about growing up, dealing with loss, and finding one's place in the world. Almost every single character in Hikaru no Go has a distinct look and personality, and each evokes a different feeling from the watcher, despite the fairly mundane events in the series. You get pulled into their struggles and triumphs to the point where you start to care about what they care about, even if it's not something *you* would care about. You also find yourself grudingly letting go of original prejudice on characters who may have seemed nasty - or characters who may have seemed nice - because the show reminds you that they are not extremes or stereotypes, but humans like the rest of us.
Mushishi is not character-drive or story-driven, really, since it's a collection of short stories with only two constants (the mushi themselves, and Ginko the mushishi). I look on Mushishi as a collection of what one might call Ginko's case studies. He drifts from problem to problem, helping where he can and providing advise where he can't. Ginko manages to be both detatched and empathetic to the situations he becomes involved in. He's more of a doctor than an exorcist, although the problems he deals with have supernatural origin. This series manages to blend the paranormal and the down-to-earth very, very well. The mixture is just intoxicating; once you start reading/watching, you're hooked.
Princess Tutu is more story-driven than anything, and it manages this very well. The series is actually a story about a story, and it is well told. The characters express themselves mainly through dance, but this isn't about a passion for dance: it's about a fairy tale brought to life and characters who fight against the roles they are given and the endings designed for them. At the same time, the characters accept who they are and find themselves a place in the world where they can comfortably be themselves. All of this while defying the author who "created" them and building their own story.
The Twelve Kingdoms could be classified as a 'girl in a magical world' anime, but it really becomes more than that. Essentially, this is the story of a country, its politics and the peculiarities of its rulers. It evolves from the story of Yuuko's growth from a timid girl into a competent ruler, and becomes something a great deal more epic. The world in this series is extremely well developed, to the point where it seems strikingly real. The plot is well-wound, and characters are fleshed out nicely, even if they don't appear for long. I'd say that this series could continue indefinitely, a sort of continuing record of the history of the world.
Uninhabited Planet Survive has a fairly simple basis: seven teenagers living in a space age who are stranded on a primitive planet and must fend for themselves. The plotline proceeds as a series of seemingly unrelated events which the characters deal with as they come. The real strength of this series is its characterizations: each person is uniquely real, their reactions and their thoughts and motivations. The plotline ranges towards unbelievable; it is how the characters react to the plot that makes this series good. In addition to this, each person grows tremendously throughout the course of the series. Watching to the end of the series, you will experience a shock if you start again at the beginning. Character growth is endearing and realistic, and you feel like you've made some very close friends by the end.
Next update, I'll start comparing and picking my favorites. Just for fun.
The contestants are as follows:
Hikaru no Go is an intensely character-driven series about growing up, dealing with loss, and finding one's place in the world. Almost every single character in Hikaru no Go has a distinct look and personality, and each evokes a different feeling from the watcher, despite the fairly mundane events in the series. You get pulled into their struggles and triumphs to the point where you start to care about what they care about, even if it's not something *you* would care about. You also find yourself grudingly letting go of original prejudice on characters who may have seemed nasty - or characters who may have seemed nice - because the show reminds you that they are not extremes or stereotypes, but humans like the rest of us.
Mushishi is not character-drive or story-driven, really, since it's a collection of short stories with only two constants (the mushi themselves, and Ginko the mushishi). I look on Mushishi as a collection of what one might call Ginko's case studies. He drifts from problem to problem, helping where he can and providing advise where he can't. Ginko manages to be both detatched and empathetic to the situations he becomes involved in. He's more of a doctor than an exorcist, although the problems he deals with have supernatural origin. This series manages to blend the paranormal and the down-to-earth very, very well. The mixture is just intoxicating; once you start reading/watching, you're hooked.
Princess Tutu is more story-driven than anything, and it manages this very well. The series is actually a story about a story, and it is well told. The characters express themselves mainly through dance, but this isn't about a passion for dance: it's about a fairy tale brought to life and characters who fight against the roles they are given and the endings designed for them. At the same time, the characters accept who they are and find themselves a place in the world where they can comfortably be themselves. All of this while defying the author who "created" them and building their own story.
The Twelve Kingdoms could be classified as a 'girl in a magical world' anime, but it really becomes more than that. Essentially, this is the story of a country, its politics and the peculiarities of its rulers. It evolves from the story of Yuuko's growth from a timid girl into a competent ruler, and becomes something a great deal more epic. The world in this series is extremely well developed, to the point where it seems strikingly real. The plot is well-wound, and characters are fleshed out nicely, even if they don't appear for long. I'd say that this series could continue indefinitely, a sort of continuing record of the history of the world.
Uninhabited Planet Survive has a fairly simple basis: seven teenagers living in a space age who are stranded on a primitive planet and must fend for themselves. The plotline proceeds as a series of seemingly unrelated events which the characters deal with as they come. The real strength of this series is its characterizations: each person is uniquely real, their reactions and their thoughts and motivations. The plotline ranges towards unbelievable; it is how the characters react to the plot that makes this series good. In addition to this, each person grows tremendously throughout the course of the series. Watching to the end of the series, you will experience a shock if you start again at the beginning. Character growth is endearing and realistic, and you feel like you've made some very close friends by the end.
Next update, I'll start comparing and picking my favorites. Just for fun.