Recently I decided to survey members of the Capsule Computers staff to get their verdict on what is their personal top 5 favourite anime (series or movies) of all time. What I got was a lot of different views on anime as a whole and what we each as individual’s think is the pinacle of japanese animation. For the interesting results read on.
Philip ‘MasterAbbott’ Federico:
5. Love Hina – Something that totally grew on me, cool story and quite funny as well, yes it might more of a girly romance movie but u know what MasterAbbott does have feelings too you know.
4. GTO – Great Teacher Onizuka – One cool dude wanting to be the best teacher in the world, total FAIL but it was great watching him try.
3. Pokemon – The first series absolutely loved it, and I got to see cute little Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmanda in action 😛
2. Street Fighter 2 The Animated Movie – The Best Street Fighter movie ever made and does the game justice, wish they took that story and made a real movie from it.
1. ASTROBOY – THE BEST THE IS, the BEST THE WAS and the BEST THERE EVER WILL BE !! 😉 Nothing can beat this lovable robot boy.
Matt Vella:
5. Soul Eater – Soul Eater isn’t perfect. The plot as a few issues and it has a very unsatisfying ending. However, it makes my top 5 still for a few reasons, mainly based around its core. First off I’m crazy for the art style. It has a Tim Burton feel to it, but still has those bright, fun, Saturday morninganime-ish flavour to it, but it can get dark in unexpected and unusual ways. The character design is amazing. There is a focus on the bond between a weapon and a meister which spawns a deep character development throughout the series. During those 51 episodes, I found I wasn’t watching it was the anime itself and its storyline, animation and audio, but rather for the characters themselves and to appreciate the art style further. It’s really worth checking out.
4. Summer Wars – While I don’t watch Summer Wars everyday of my life, it has left a stronger lasting impression on me than most anime. You can check my review here. I really love how it seems they took a few different genres of anime and kind of blended them with each other. The action scenes are breath-taking, and it has this warm, loveable feeling of family honour which I really appreciate. There’s not much to say about it, just that its a really great film.
3. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion – I usually can’t stand anime based on Mecha, it really doesn’t appeal to me. However Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, hooked me and appealed to me in various ways. The plot of one high school student trying to bring down an entire international empire and leading a rebellion is really exciting, and the cast of characters are memorable and loveable. It has a great plot, with great character development and is animated splendidly. It has a pretty cool theme of comparing chess to war, and a healthy mix of politics and high-school drama and comedy to go with it. It’s sequel series, Code Geass: R2, has the best ending of all time. It blows my mind still to this day!
2. Death Note – Death Note feels like a Hollywood action movie every step of the way. It keeps you on your toes and has an amazing plot, filled with some of the most unexpected twists I’ve ever experienced in storytelling. It lives off suspense rather than action, which I love. The animation is outstanding, the soundtrack is perfect and flawless, as is the voice acting in both the English and Japanese translations. In fact I’d say the English dub is the best anime dub I’ve ever seen/heard. What I love most however is the character development with the main characters Light and L. It toys with your moral beliefs and makes you question everything you stand for. It has a lot of social relevance, and is a straight-up masterpiece. Many people who don’t even like anime, some who even hate it get hooked into loving Death Note. It’s just that good!
1. Dragon Ball Z – It’s an anime that has stood the test of time, and is still enjoyable today! Some of the most memorable and awesome character designs ever, very unique, origin of the over 9000 meme, a few nice plot twists, has a vast expanded universe that is equally interesting and along side Pokemon helped introduce anime to an entire western generation. The fact that it was around for 10+ years before it saw it’s first English dub and it still blew everyone away. I gotta say the english dub has a really catchy soundtrack as well. This one stood the test of time, so its gets the #1 spot!
Aura Redwood:
5. Chobits/Durarara!!!/One Piece – Ok I cant decide XXD Chobits was fucking adorable. Durarara!!! was thrilling and One piece is just so damn entertaining. I’ve finished both Chobits and Durarara!! But well One piece does go on for a bit so I can’t watch it all in one go like I did with the others.
4. Ghost Hunt – Quite unknown. I love this anime to death because it made me start obsessing over supernatural animes and all beliefs. I think the story is so well done and I love all the characters.
3. Black Butler – Sebastian = <3 and I’m not the only fan girl that thinks that. On top of course there is hilarious humour, a dark theme and some real deep concepts.
2. Air Gear – Ok I love this anime so much that once I started watching it I couldnt stop. I mean I was up to like 6am watching this before I nearly fell unconcious. I also am now obsessed with getting myself rollerblades because of it. I just love this anime, its just so damn cool.
1. Hellsing OVA – I just fucking love this anime to death and back. Alucard (the main character) is pretty much how I would have made a vampire, if I wrote a vampire anime. I love the gore, the supernatural parts and the black humour. I just want to cuddle this anime.
Ben “Linkage Ayexe” Webb:
5. Reach for the Top: Gunbuster – Look, this would been be a tie with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but I had seen this first and it has such an amazing storyline and somewhat closely follows real world physics when it comes to space travel. While the anime was made in the 80s (and the producers ran out of budget by the last episode, which caused it to have a tonne of still-frames and be fully broadcast in black and white), it is still largely enjoyable and is still widely renown by all anime fans that bother checking out older anime shows. Gainax revisited the series a few years ago with a movie Gunbuster vs. Diebuster and a series that came slightly before that, Top wo narae 2: Diebuster.
4. .hack//SIGN – This show is a tie-in to the pretty good PS2 games by the same beginning part of the name (.hack//). It is set slightly before the events of the PS2 games and features a player getting trapped within a game and other players trying to work out the mysteries surrounding him. The game is the largest MMORPG on earth and has a subscriber base as large as World of Warcraft. The story progresses quite well, though it is more drama than action based (even though it’s based on a game), and it’s the way this world was set up that really drew me in.
3. FullMetal Alchemist – Honestly, this is one of the few anime that I’ve seen where the voice cast is perfect for the characters that they portray. What really sold me on this series though, was the episode with Shou Tucker and his daughter. Such an emotional episode, it goes from fun and games to dead serious and really hits you in the side of the face with a wet smelly fish. Even though most anime shows that overtake their manga counterpart end up with weak in-house endings (or just stop completely without resolution), FMA remained strong the entire way through and that’s a part of what makes the show awesome.
2. Cowboy Bebop – Neon Genesis Evangelion was one of the first anime to make me into an otaku, this anime was easily also in that same category. The style, dialogue and freaking amazing action sold me on this instantly. Unfortunately I didn’t start with this series at the start, the episode I began with was Heavy Metal Queen (which was amazing). But I have obtained the entire collection in the fatpack that was sold by Madman during the anniversary thing a few years back, and I have to say that the series is amazingly amazing.
1. Neon Genesis Evangelion – Man, if you have not seen or heard of Neon Genesis Evangelion there is most certainly something wrong with you, ESPECIALLY if you’re a self proclaimed anime fan or otaku. Now the reason I love this so much is that it was the first anime that truly made me an otaku. The story was so unique, the gore was amazingly gory, the characters became more and more insane! My ten year old mind was wrapped! This was so good (and still is).
Luke Halliday:
5. Hunter x Hunter/Reborn! – It has to be a tie between these brilliant Shonen epics. Both are largely different but in their difference they are the same. Both of them are so very different to the normal standard for the shonen genre. Both shows are absolutely revolutionary, whether it be Hunter x Hunter’s unbridled darkness and sense of danger lingering across the series even in it’s lighter moments, or whether it be Reborn’s unqiue method of character development which is rivaled only by One Piece in the genre, they both completely revolutionised the genre and unfortunately were deeply unappreciated compared to lesser series.
4. Gurren Lagann – Never before has there been an anime series that has made me feel so proud to be a man. This show bursts of so much manly bravado and machismo that it’s hard to not get taken in by it, that is if you are of the male gender. It also tells a message that resonates long after viewing, that a little belief in yourself and who you are can go a long way. Also… ROW! ROW! FIGHT THE POWER!
3. Welcome to the N.H.K – This series is so unbelieveably and sadly relatable to my life that it makes me both depressed and filled with hope. It takes a brilliant philosphical view upon life and displays the vapidity of youth in a way not seen since the Perks Of Being A Wallflower. It is amazing from start to finish. Whenever a form of art can force you to reassess your own life, you know that it will resonate with you for years as that one show that changed your life, even if it were ever so slightly.
2. Cowboy Bebop – Like Welcome the the N.H.K this is another series that is what you would consider life changing, but in a more grander way. This series is all about carrying the weight of your past whilst trying to find your way through a world that is more screwed up than the past you carry. Cowboy Bebop can be considered a cautionary tale of the dangers of wearing your past too close to your chest as well as a question – is life but a dream? Cowboy Bebop was a series I watched as a young boy staying up late without my parents knowledge. I would watch it on Adult Swim in the early 2000’s and was captivated by every moment. Even to today, watching Bebop is one of my fondest childhood memories. It has resonated with me throughout my entire life and will continue to do so without a doubt.
1. One Piece – Never before has an anime series had absolutely everything that anime itself as a medium has to offer – Adventure, Humour, Friendship, Hope, Life, Death, Darkness, Pain, Emotion and even Heart. One Piece is the culmination of everything that the anime art-form has accomplished. It is the best selling anime and manga of all time in Japan and is considered an icon of the nation. The series is still ongoing with the anime at 507 episodes as of posting. It is a series that will resonate with you, change your life, make you believe in life, love and adventure. It is without a doubt the greatest anime series I have ever watched, it is more than just a show about pirates, it is a show about life and what it means to live free. If you have never seen One Piece, you are missing out on the greatest achievement anime has to offer. Do yourself a favour and come aboard.
And with that, I conclude my survey of the Capsule Crew’s TOP 5 ANIME. I will be holding many more anime related survey’s in the future, so look forward to those. What did you think of the Crews TOP 5’s? What is your personal TOP 5 ANIME? Let us know in the comments below.
