| Seen all▲▼ | Rating▲▼ | Comment▲▼ |
| Ai Yori Aoshi (TV) | Good | Good love story that unfortunately becomes a harem anime, but retains enough of the romance to be appealing, and ends fairly well. Nice juxtaposition of traditional and modern Japan. |
| Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ (TV) | Good | If you liked the original, you'll like this |
| Air (TV) | Decent | Another KyoAni production. Could have been much better with a more coherent story. Music and animation first-rate, characters engaging. |
| Akira (movie) | Very good | A classic of its kind, very well done |
| Animation Runner Kuromi (OAV) | Good | Not much to say here, other than that it's short and fun. |
| (The) Animatrix (OAV) | Good | Two or three really good stories; most of the rest were entertaining. |
| Aria the Animation (TV) | Excellent | |
| Azumanga Daioh (TV) | Excellent | Utterly fun and wacky--great characters, simple but effective animation, good music |
| Azumanga Daioh - The Very Short Movie | Good | Encapsulates the characterization of the series in five minutes--kind of fun |
| Blue Drop (TV) | Decent | Pretty good art and animation, decent story and characters, and a bit of yuri. Not a bad combination. |
| Bubblegum Crisis (OAV) | Decent | Fast paced, decent characters, good music |
| Canvas 2 - Niji Iro no Sketch (TV) | Good | The story is good, and the characters are very appealing. The ending really pissed me off, not because it was stupid, but because I didn't like what happened. |
| Castle in the Sky (movie) | Very good | Straightforward action/adventure. Not Miyazaki's best, but still great. |
| (The) Cat Returns (movie) | Excellent | Turned out to be better than I thought it would be--some nice references to Whisper of the Heart |
| Chrono Crusade (TV) | Good | Moves well, interesting premise, good ending. |
| Clannad (TV) | Excellent | KyoAni in another bishoujo story like Air and Kanon. I think it's the best of the three. Lighter-hearted, but still with a few tearjerkers here and there. Very likable characters, funny moments and a good story. Looks as if there'll be a second season at some point, yay! |
| Cowboy Bebop (TV) | Very good | |
| Cowboy Bebop: The Movie | Good | A good capsule introduction to the TV series, worth watching on its own |
| Demon City Shinjuku (OAV) | Decent | I saw this a long time ago and don't remember much of it. |
| Den-noh Coil (TV) | Masterpiece | This is beautifully animated and told. It's kind of slow for the first half while they develop the characters and the story, then ends up really moving along. It's up there with Haibane Renmei among my favorite TV series. |
| Don't Tell Mother Maria (special) | Good | Funny little "outtakes" from the various series. |
| ef: a tale of memories (TV) | Excellent | This was one of the really good series in Q4 2007. Lots of flashbacks, interesting art styles. Quite the tearjerker, too. Second season coming, yay! |
| Emma: A Victorian Romance (TV) | Good | Very accurate depiction of Victorian England, for a Japanese show :) |
| Escaflowne: The Movie | So-so | The TV show is apparently much better, but I haven't seen it |
| Fate/stay night (TV) | Very good | |
| FLCL (OAV) | Good | I watched this a long time ago, before I'd seen very much anime. I would probably get more out of it a second time around. |
| Fruits Basket (TV 1/2001) | Excellent | This is a really likable series. The main character is the Sweetest Person Ever. It's got a lot of really funny moments. Unfortunately, they Ran Out Of Manga (an all-too-common occurrence) and tacked on an ending that didn't work too well. The manga is fantastic. |
| Full Metal Panic! (TV) | Very good | I'm not a big mecha fan, but this has a great combination of action, humor, and a touch of romance. The characters are really memorable and the animation is very good. |
| Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (TV) | Very good | Good continuation of the first season storyline. As an added bonus, animated by KyoAni. |
| Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (TV) | Very good | Really funny short vignettes playing off the characters' personalities. The hot springs episode is one of the best I've seen. :) |
| Futakoi (TV) | Decent | A nice little story but nothing special |
| Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (TV) | Masterpiece | Astounding artwork. The story seems very well done. |
| Ghost in the Shell (movie) | Excellent | A classic |
| Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) | Very good | Visually stunning, dialog can be boring at times |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV) | Excellent | Visually beautiful (especially for a TV series) and a great story. Has the occasional tedious philosophical discussion that GiTS is known for, but they don't detract from the enjoyment. Both seasons are excellent; I think I like the second one a bit better. |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (TV) | Excellent | Slightly more coherent storyline than the first season. Topnotch. |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society (movie) | Excellent | Basically an extended episode set in the universe of the TV series (which is independent of the first two movies). Keeps up the standard of excellence. |
| Girls Bravo (TV) | Good | A more-ecchi-than-most pure fanservice comedy. Basically, good brain candy. |
| Gunslinger Girl (TV) | Very good | Surprisingly good, with a sweet, sad air--the Haibane Renmei of teenage-girl-cyborg-assassin stories |
| Gunsmith Cats (OAV) | Good | Fast-paced, fun, very accurate depictions of guns and cars |
| Haibane Renmei (TV) | Masterpiece | My favorite TV series, evar. It can't really be described in words. Watch it. |
| Hidamari Sketch (TV) | Good | Same general idea as Azumanga Daioh, but sweet and funny in its own right. Visually very interesting--it's set in an art school and the animation is very "artistic". The ED, "Mebae Drive", has turned out to be one of my favorite songs. Looking forward to the second season. |
| His and Her Circumstances (TV) | Very good | Not as good as the manga (which is extremely good), kind of peters out at the end, but definitely worth watching. |
| Honey and Clover (TV) | Excellent | Very good slice-of-life comedy/drama |
| Honey and Clover II (TV) | Excellent | Keeping up the standard of the original |
| Howl's Moving Castle (movie) | Excellent | I saw it once and liked it, but not as much as Spirited Away. I need to watch it a few more times; maybe it'll grow on me. |
| Kamichu! (TV) | Excellent | Very sweet and funny |
| Kanon (TV 2/2006) | Good | Basically a melodrama, with engaging characters and excellent animation (KyoAni). A lot like Air in that it's more focused on atmosphere than story. |
| Kiki's Delivery Service (movie) | Excellent | Nice to watch when you want a gentle story. |
| Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de (TV) | Good | It's your standard silly harem/fanservice show, but fun and touching in parts. |
| Kimikiss pure rouge (TV) | Very good | This nicely avoids being a standard harem-type story. Surprisingly good. The characters are very appealing and make you care about them, and the music is well done also. A very rewarding series to watch. |
| Kino's Journey (TV) | Excellent | Quiet, very interesting premise and imaginative places |
| Kite (OAV) | Bad | Violent, exploitative, with basically no redeeming features |
| Koi Kaze (TV) | Good | Disturbing, but well done |
| Kurau: Phantom Memory (TV) | Very good | Good story and characters, and a very satisfying ending. Definitely worth a watch if you like SF. |
| Kurenai (TV) | Excellent | Both of the main characters are interesting and the story just pulls you in. There ending has nuance. I hope there'll be a sequel! |
| Last Exile (TV) | Very good | Beautiful animation, good characters, great flight scenes, cool battleships, somewhat weak ending |
| Living for the Day After Tomorrow (TV) | Good | Shoujo with an interesting premise. Animation is nothing special but a good story. |
| Love Hina (TV) | Good | One of the definitive harem animes. Not for everyone, but has funny and touching moments. |
| Love Hina Spring Special - I Wish Your Dream | Weak | |
| Love Hina X'mas Special - Silent Eve | Good | |
| Lovely Complex (TV) | Good | This is quite funny and well-done. It pokes some fun at the standard shoujo cliches, and the two main characters are hilarious as well as sympathetic. |
| Lucky Star (TV) | Excellent | Slice-of-life like Azumanga, but with tons and tons of fan in-jokes. The more anime you've seen, the more you'll enjoy this, especially if you're a Haruhi fan. It starts off a little shaky but just gets better and better. My favorite series of 2007. |
| Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (movie) | Excellent | One of the classics of action anime, directed by Miyazaki. |
| Madlax (TV) | Very good | Noir redux, done mostly by the same people, and much better the second time around. The music is equally good, and I really liked the ending. |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (TV) | Very good | |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's (TV) | Very good | |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (TV) | Excellent | |
| Mahoraba ~Heartful days~ (TV) | Good | Simplistic story, quiet, ended well |
| Maria Watches Over Us (TV) | Very good | My first real exposure to shoujo-ai and I love it. Some of the situations are a bit contrived but the characters and pacing are very well done and appealing. |
| Maria Watches Over Us 3rd Season (OAV) | Very good | Five one-hour "extended episodes"--no real story arc here, but very enjoyable. |
| Maria Watches Over Us Season 2: Printemps (TV) | Excellent | More of the good stuff. They really develop the characters in this season. |
| (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) | Masterpiece | I think this breaks new ground in the way Evangelion did--it's a high-school science fiction mystery comedy drama romance that jumps around in time but ends up working extremely well--topnotch voice acting, stellar animation, and great music |
| Metropolis (movie) | Good | Had the potential to be amazing (very good animation) but the story was a little weak. |
| Millennium Actress (movie) | Very good | |
| Minami-ke (TV) | Very good | Very enjoyable slice-of-life. Has one of those Tomo-style characters that can be intensely annoying, but she's showing a little more depth. |
| Minami-ke: Okawari (TV) | Very good | This is just as good as the first season. I think the animation is a little better (it's done by a different studio). |
| My Neighbor Totoro (movie) | Excellent | I need to watch this a few more times, too--I loved it but I'm sure I didn't get everything out of it that I could have. |
| Myself; Yourself (TV) | Good | Another high school romance that nicely avoids the harem trap. A bit of drama and pain in the later episodes, and very likable characters. The last few episodes were especially strong. |
| Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (TV) | Not really good | Parts of it were fun, but it needed to be half the length |
| Naisho no Tsubomi (OAV) | Very good | |
| Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (movie) | Masterpiece | Not as good as the manga, but then again nothing is :) |
| Negima! (TV) | Decent | |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) | Good | This is an ambitious series that broke new ground but had a bad ending due to budget problems. If you haven't seen it, it might be worth watching. I don't have any desire to re-watch it. |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth (movie) | So-so | |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (movie) | Weak | |
| NieA_7 (TV) | Good | Nice, quiet, a little of the Haibane Renmei flavor, but doesn't really go anywhere |
| Ninja Scroll (movie) | Decent | |
| Noir (TV) | Decent | Good action, great music, story that ultimately disappoints, but entertaining |
| Oh My Goddess! (OAV) | So-so | A lot of people love this, but I couldn't get into it. |
| On Your Mark (movie) | Excellent | A really cool music video by Miyazaki |
| Only Yesterday (movie) | Excellent | Some of the same feeling as Whisper of the Heart, but not quite as good (which still means it's very good) |
| Otogi Zoshi (TV) | Decent | Story was decent, art inconsistent (especially in the second arc), characters not that well developed |
| Ouran High School Host Club (TV) | Very good | Over-the-top shoujo semi-parody. Very funny. |
| Piano (TV) | Good | Very quiet and sweet. Stars my favorite voice actress. |
| (The) Place Promised in Our Early Days (movie) | Excellent | Topnotch animation, a sweet, sad, slow-paced story, and a very touching ending |
| Planetes (TV) | Excellent | Realistic SF, great characters, good stories--topnotch |
| Porco Rosso (movie) | Excellent | |
| Princess Mononoke (movie) | Excellent | |
| R.O.D -The TV- | Good | Good lighthearted action-oriented fun. |
| RahXephon (TV) | Good | There are some interesting parallels between this and Evangelion, but I'm finding it much more watchable. The characters have their flaws, but they're not all completely tortured and twisted as they are in Eva. It has kind of a nice, measured pace to it. |
| Read or Die (OAV) | Good | Interesting premise, moves fast, doesn't try to do too much |
| Revolutionary Girl Utena (TV) | Good | Would have been great at half the length--insanely repetitive |
| Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie | Good | Most of the TV series, told in two hours |
| Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (movie) | Very good | |
| Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (OAV) | Good | |
| Samurai Champloo (TV) | Decent | Fun, amusing, good action scenes and voice acting, stupid ending |
| Serial Experiments Lain (TV) | Excellent | Very very trippy and good--cyberpunk at its best |
| Shakugan no Shana (TV) | Very good | This has a fairly formulaic plot (enemies, love triangle, tougher enemies, more love triangle, big boss fight at the end), but also has an imaginative setting, great voice acting, good animation, very good music (Kou Ootani) and is just a lot of fun to watch. Also, Shana is OMG moe tsundere. You have been warned. |
| Shakugan no Shana Second (TV) | Good | I have to rate this a notch lower than the first season, because the ending was rushed and felt really unsatisfying. I think they left too much stuff unresolved in hopes of making a third season. Not that I wouldn't enjoy one, but they did a better job making the first season stand on its own.
That said, Shana is still moe, and the fun is still there. |
| Shakugan no Shana SP: Koi to Onsen no Kōgai Gakushū! (OAV) | Good | I was a little surprised that the first season didn't have a hot springs episode. So here it is! It actually happens in the middle of the first season's story. Pretty much your standard "kids go to onsen, hilarity ensues" episode, but it's good fun. |
| She, The Ultimate Weapon (TV) | Very good | Wrist-slitting goodness! Episode #9 will break your heart, if you have one. |
| Simoun (TV) | Very good | This has very good characters and a well-done story with a strong ending. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out to be. The yuri elements are a nice icing on a good cake and definitely add to the flavor. |
| Sketchbook ~full color'S~ (TV) | Very good | This is kind of a combination of Azumanga Daioh and Hidamari Sketch, but is absolutely delightful. The main character is like a perfect cross between Osaka and Sakaki-san from AzuDai--spacey, quiet, long dark hair, loves cats. :) The artwork is gorgeous, too. |
| Someday's Dreamers (TV) | Good | Another sweet, quiet series |
| Spiral (TV) | Good | Interesting characters, good mystery plot that ties together the episodes very well |
| Spirited Away (movie) | Masterpiece | Probably my second-favorite movie (tie with Nausicaä)--worth watching many times |
| Starship Operators (TV) | Good | The name is pretty crappy but it's a pretty good story with fairly well-done animation. There are a lot of characters and it takes some effort to keep them straight at the beginning. |
| Stellvia (TV) | Good | Japanese high school in space--fun, great music, good characters. Pity there apparently won't be a sequel. |
| Strawberry Marshmallow (TV) | Good | Super-cute slice-of-life show. The one detraction for me is Miu, who is such an unrelenting jackass that it gets really annoying. Despite that, a good watch. |
| Strawberry Marshmallow (OAV) | Good | More of the same (Strawberry Marshmallow) |
| Strawberry Panic! (TV) | Good | It's like MariMite, but with more of everything! Three high schools instead of one, conveniently sharing a dormitory! Three absurdly powerful student councils! Horses! Actually it doesn't have a tenth of the depth of feeling and character development of MariMite; it's just pure yuri fanservice. There's definitely a place for that, but the series is fairly formulaic.
Verdict: entertaining, some twists in the plot but a fairly predictable ending, reasonably appealing characters (one or two of which I quite liked). Workmanlike and consistent animation, and the same for the voice acting. With more imaginative writing, this could have been a really fun show.
I hesitated to rate it Good rather than Decent, but I really did enjoy the show and the characters, and it kept me well entertained on my train rides.
|
| (The) Super Dimension Fortress Macross (TV) | Excellent | Started watching this from the beginning--it drew me in, despite the dated animation. It's a classic for a reason. |
| Suzuka (TV) | Good | Ordinary high-school story about ordinary people--successfully avoids turning into a harem or sports anime. Nothing groundbreaking but pretty well done and enjoyable. Animation decent but a little inconsistent. |
| Texhnolyze (TV) | Very good | Violent, disturbing, great animation and music, good characters, depressing ending, but still quite worth watching |
| Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ (TV) | Good | Shaping up to be your basic harem-type dating sim anime. The main character is a nice guy but annoyingly spineless and a bit whiny. The zany antics of the various side characters and the weird situations provide enough humor to keep me interested. The ending is somewhat predictable (as is a lot of the series), but it ends well and provides a good deal of entertainment along the way. |
| True Tears (TV) | Excellent | A really well-done high school romance. One of the best I've seen. The characters are very real and make you care about them. The OP is also incredibly catchy, and the animation is stunning. It's hovering on the edge of Masterpiece for me; I'll have to re-watch it and see if it holds up. |
| Voices of a Distant Star (OAV) | Excellent | An emotionally deep story told in an innovative way |
| Whisper of the Heart (movie) | Masterpiece | My favorite movie, evar |
| Witch Hunter Robin (TV) | Good | Fairly weak ending but the plot moves pretty well and I liked the characters. |
| Yotsunoha (OAV) | Good | Nice animation, cute girls, an interesting premise. I wonder if it's based on a dating sim. :) Pretty well done. |
