Greatest Anime - Vote!

[Alternative]

Not quoting lmao.

I think you're really misinterpreting what greatest really is. You're saying Astro Boy was great because without it we wouldn't have any other of these works like DBZ, Naruto etc. but then you contradict yourself by saying that it has a below-average story. That wouldn't make it great, but only influential. Similar to DBZ with some of the bigger animes today, it's just made a huge influence on the bigger animes today, that doesn't make it great. For all we know you could say Space Battleship Yamato or Speed Racer is also the greatest just because it came out early and have that impact on anime today.

The list is really crap tbh, none of those could even be considered the "greatest" anime because really they all have major flaws, no matter how good they are. The only real anime that could be a contender up there is Cowboy Bebop, and that's because it's got good art, story, OST etc. You could take elements from each anime to get the "greatest" but nothing up there really deserves it. One Piece has a flawed art style, same with Fullmetal Alchemist. Sword Art Online's plot was shoddy at best. Naruto is well, Naruto the only reason a lot of people still watch it is because they've stuck with it for so long and it's sentimental to them.

Personally I think the "greatest" would be Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's a beautiful piece of work, even if it is considered a deconstruction, with stunning visuals, great plot and character development, and overall difficult to fault. Even though it's finished, you can still question many parts of the anime which weren't really uncovered.

 

[Chakra Wizard]

You know, Cowboy Bebop didn't appeal to me as much as others have. It was a neat story. It's simple but yet complex because of their complicated back stories. Spike did have an awesome "death" too.

Now Evangelion, that is some crazy shit. It did have a big impact on the anime society when it was introduced, and it was very popular. So popular they remade the series again. It's just the ending for the anime was so bizarre, it turned me off. As a mecha series goes, it is one of the more popular ones with a great story, BUT is isn't the most well known. That goes to Gundam Wing or Voltron.

Both had such a huge impact and influenced many. Gundam Wing became so popular, there were at least half a dozen spin offs with the same theme. I think Voltron(next to Power Rangers) is one of the most known giant robot animes where 5 people fuse together and create a bigger robot.

Do you see a bit of what i mean by Greatest vs Popular. Popular is a sub set of greatest. It is part of the total package as to what makes something great. The length is also part of it which helps a series become popular and it influences other mangaka to create series based on a simple idea. Some other things would be what that specific anime/manga has achieved, or milestones. Like DB and OP are known for how many volumes they have sold world wide. Pokemon is known for its awesome games. Yu Gi Oh is known for its card game, but may not have existed if Pokemon didn't come along first. Digimon was also heavily influenced by Pokemon as well.

I just keep going off on tangents....

There is so much behind the word greatness that "my favorite" or "popular" can't even begin to describe.

I'm curious though, Have you ever watched Watanabe's other great work Samurai Champloo? It is one of my other favorites. If you haven't do it!

Single coolest scene in anime history, hands-down

Amen there. That pissed me off so much, I completely disregarded everything else about the show that was awesome. And maybe Gundam, but not Voltron.

Agreed, though "length" and "popularity" typically go hand-and-hand. A long-running series typically grows in popularity, but a series can't maintain its length unless it achieves some decent popularity in the first place. And I don't really consider "reception" and "legacy" to flow in unison. There are some pretty crappy series that have managed to influence others. The great ones are those that get strong acclaim, while also finding a rather large audience. Hence the reason Bebop is often considered the greatest, both cause it's a strong series and cause its diversity branches out to many different groups of viewers.

And yes, I certainly have Was in my Top 5 until I watched Eden of the East.


@Alternative - Thank you!! Right from my mouth, all of it! lol And yeah, Madoka Magica's a pretty strong contender, too.