N-list Self-Diagnostics
Mentioned here via Ani-note–basically, your favorite anime say something about you. No brainer. But it’s fun. And I’m in the mood to write some no-brainers.
As corollary, any kind of list which exercises the arbitrary selection process (eligible for copyright?) is probably saying more about the entity that makes the list than the list itself. Which is to say most top-n-entity survey lists are pretty dumb because it’s put together by a mob of people. Or it’s probably worth pointing out that your #2-5s say more about you than your #1!
I’m due to redo my top-10 lists anyways, so here’s a glimpse.
Personal favorites:
- Nadesico (Mainly just the TV show)
- Magic Knight Rayearth (Season 1 mostly)
- Excel Saga (Possibly the only Nabeshin show I truly loved)
- Millennium Actress (It formed a personal connection with me)
- Cowboy Bebop (It’s here because it’s an easy pick, and it includes the film, surely)
Even as I say this, only #1 and occasionally #3 pop into my mind from time to time. #5 comes in a lot in the context of Yoko Kanno, and while it has some mainstream appeal, it’s the only timeless context that is relevant to me on any sort of day-to-day basis. Because I would rather it look like:
- Manabi Straight
- Utena
- FLCL
- Simoun
- RahXehpon
I suspect if I didn’t watch anime in the 90s, it would have looked a lot more like that. Well, wait, I might have dropped RahXephon and FLCL because those shows work more powerfully if you have context in terms of other anime you have seen, although they are both quite potent by themselves.
There’s room for more play, for example, top 5 favorite anime films:
- Millennium Actress
- Utena the movie
- Whisper of the Heart
- Porco Rosso
- 5 Centimeters per Second
I think it’s sort of self-evident what kind of second-gen fan I am. Need more help? Favorite comedies:
- Full Metal Panic Fumoffu
- Excel Saga
- Karekano (This is more a glimpse of how I think of this show than any statement about Karekano being funny)
- Ebichu (Just had to)
- Azumana Daioh
Favorite artsy-housey tee vee (getting really specific here):
- Koi Kaze
- Haibane Renmei
- Yamamoto Yohko
- Witch Hunter Robin
- Earth Girl Arjuna
To-Heart and Hidamari Sketch would almost qualify…
And that’s a wrap. So much exhibitionist tendencies satisfied in one single post. Yea, I’m kind of not in a mood to write. It’s like I poured all my motivation into 3 tl;dr drafts talking about the same thing in three different ways, but I don’t feel comfortable posting them orz. Forgive me for boring you with a post that I normally wouldn’t do.
Reading this prompted me to go check what I have listed as my top 5 on MAL. I have a similar sort of problem, in that the stuff I’ve listed is definitely stuff I loved watching, but I don’t think I’ve thought about any of them (12 Kingdoms, Boogiepop, Haibane Renmei, Banner of the Stars, The Place Promised in Our Early Days) in quite a while. I guess when you’ve been watching the stuff for a decent length of time, the older classics tend to fade into the background a bit.
I should put together an updated top 10 or something.
http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/brand/
And a recent follow-up of interest: http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/anime-is-serious-business-because-guilt-is-serious-business/
Another thing:
how my top 5 looks:
1. Eureka Seven
2. End of Evangelion
3. Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight
4. Serial Experiments Lain
5. FLCL
What I want my top 5 to look like:
1. Eureka Seven
2. Toradora
3. End of Evangelion
4. Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight
5. Serial Experiments Lain
Mine may not be as severe a change as yours, but holy shit. There must be something to do said about our favorites lists not reflecting our actual favorites.
I need to make a post about this.
thanks for the link digitaldude, but tl;dr as usual; personally I reject his premises in both of those posts, interesting as they may be.
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As to the points of having two lists, it’s mainly because I think the shows on my second list is also on my top 20 list.
It’s definitely easier writing these types of posts compared to the “why we like them” types of posts. Awesomesauce. \o
I think it’s definitely a problem to link me knee-jerk analysis of people’s lists. especially ones that go contrary against premises like “human beings are multi-motivational entities” and the like.
especially after I said I am not in a mood for crap like that XD
Lists.. lists.. lists… ^_^
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