let's do this gimme your top 5 animes and WHY

Everybody ITT so far besides applebappu SUCKS. I think I’ll leave out comedy and monster anime since those are just automatically good. Or maybe I can list them separateely. Also, there are animanga I have yet to experience, which I know I’ll like.

Kaiji
Basically if Yugi dropped out of high school and grew up. I love games, and this one makes even simple games exciting. The cliffhangers forced me to watch it all in a few days back around 2009. I think this show would benefit greatly from a dub, and it would be more popular. I can see it being difficult to follow everything via subtitles. No, I don’t like Akagi; too much unfamiliar terminology at Sonic speed.

Mushishi
Only read the manga, but I tried an episode and they did possibly the best job converting a manga to an anime. In the vein of “slice of life”, this anime is not ambitious, has aspects of paranormal and weaboo. I like hanging out with Ginko and traveling around finding yokai ghosty things.

Naruto
I was reading fan translations around 2005, and stopped around Jiraiya showing up. This is such a fun premise of a show, and the lore and battles are so fun. The art in the background while reading really brings the world to life. Recently I read some more and then stopped again for no real reason. Gaara just turned into a monster during a fight in the trees. Something that really struck me re-reading it: This world is freakin fatal. Yeah I knew they were looking to recruit new ninjas but they’re literally assassins with fascist leaders. When Avatar came out years later, that really bugged me. It’s literally just Naruto, like when A Fistful of Dollars copied Yojimbo. People should have just watched Naruto.

Trigun
Nostalgia. It has a lot of tropes but I love it and enjoy rewatching it. Vash’s positivity and attitude align with my own, indeed influenced my personality. I love the western combined with science fiction, the lore really works. Closest other thing are the Vampire Hunter D novels (the movie is worthless).

Death Note
I was reading fan translations before it became a Hot Topic meme. It’s really intricate and builds on itself well. I didn’t like the twins.

Runner up:
Paranoia Agent
This series surprised me. I’ll probably never watch it again, and I’ll re-watch/read the other stuff here. But I enjoyed watching this the first time. Also, I do not like the creator’s other works.

Pro post, Requiett. You should write for an anime site. I was just learning about Gilgamesh yesterday, but once again fell asleep doing so. Based on your descriptions, Maison Ikkoku sounds most intriguing. I’ll take a peek at it. Takarajima also sounds fun.