Ugh, I need to take a quick break from Pokemon ...
So, The Mask has thrown down the gauntlet by asking people to name their top ten anime from the past decade, and I of course cannot resist such a challenge. Hoorah!
1. Monster (2004): Great story, great characters (including my personal favorite anime protagonist and antagonist), always pushes the viewer to consider the actions of each character and it actually takes the time to let its plot unfold at its own pace, which is pretty damn rare these days. For those of you watching Monster on SyFy, the next arc blows the first part of the series out of the water.
2. Eureka Seven (2005): I haven't seen enough mecha to crown this the best mecha series ever, but it sure as hell is my favorite. Amazing visuals, an always exciting and epic story and each character grows up in the most wonderful of ways. Plus, who can resist Renton x Eureka? (And for fans of second bananas, Dominic x Anenome.) Eureka Seven is everything that is great about mecha series.
3. Kaleido Star (2003): Only Eureka Seven can hope to top this series in terms of pure boundless energy and fun. Sora is one of those wonderfully rare protagonists who is completely optimistic and yet not annoying in the least because she knows her place in the world and isn't afraid to bear down and do some hard ass work. Her growth from scrub to star in the magical Kaleido Stage is an amazing experience through and through.
4. RahXephon (2002): It's often compared to Evangelion, but its greatest comparison to that series, I think, is how it goes different places with the time-tested mecha tropes it employs throughout the series, just as Evangelion did seven years prior. The story holds its cards close to its chest until the very end, making for a profoundly confusing plot experience for most viewers, but it makes up for that with an excellent cast of characters and a pretty damn solid exploration of race and identity in a medium that usually fails pretty hardcore at that sort of thing.
5. Gankutsuou (2004): Revenge never looked so wonderful before. Gankutsuou updates the classic story of The Count of Monte Cristo into an imaginative setting that combines a sleek future with the France of the past. Perfectly addicting storytelling with perhaps my favorite vocal performance of the decade with Jouji Nakata's smooth voice bringing the Count of Monte Cristo to life.
6. Clannad + After Story (2007-08): The first season of Clannad and the first third of After Story are basically Kyoto Animation perfecting the formula of its Key visual novel adaptations: Fun stories, good characters and solid drama, with dashes of comedy. The final 15 episodes of After Story are something else entirely -- a rare examination of family and married life in TV anime, with the main character struggling to find his place in the world through hardships both major and minor. People dismiss Key's works as moe melodrama, but that drama hits hard.
7. Honey and Clover (2005 + 2006): For anyone tired of high school romantic comedies, Honey and Clover is your series: It balances the romantic drama people have come to expect from the genre with interesting examinations of the lives of several characters who are at crossroads in their lives -- the everyman, Takemoto (who is painfully aware of his own limitations); the awkward artistic geniuses, Hagu and Morita (whose behavior and desires in life are often incomprehensible to those around them); and Mayama and Yamada, who are both trapped with feelings they cannot ignore but also threaten to hold them back forever. If this sounds depressing, do not fear, because Honey and Clover often strikes a light tone with its humor as well.
8. Toradora! (2008): The most clever high school romantic comedy this side of Kare Kano -- it takes a ton of tired tropes and character types and makes them into something fresh, exciting and irresistible. I've seen enough high school cultural festivals in the past year to make me want to hang myself, but what Toradora! does with it is both surprisingly funny and wonderfully touching. The story is also perfectly paced, climaxes at all the right moments and makes great use of its cast of interesting, engaging characters.
9. Saikano (2002): Billing itself as "the last love song on this little planet", Saikano is consumed with love, both bad and good. Love tends to lend itself to extreme feelings -- Saikano's feelings are as extreme as it gets, and it is unafraid to plunge down to the darkest depths of the soul to get its points across. The series gets a bit bumpy at times because of some plot contrivances (the show's most unforgettable moment is the end result of a plot contrivance), but Saikano is memorable because it goes as far with its love as it possibly can, for better or worse.
10. Air (2005): KyoAni's first adaptation of a Key visual novel is still one of its finest works. What I love most about the series is the running theme of maternal relationships; mother-daughter relationships are explored in several wonderful, touching ways throughout the course of this series. Also, Air's beachside setting is still one of the most beautiful in anime. Who wouldn't want to spend a summer in that town?
Honorable mentions: ef - a tale of memories, Maria-sama ga Miteru (all four seasons), Ouran High School Host Club, Black Lagoon, Wolf's Rain, Kaiji, Kanon (2006), Genshiken and Code Geass.
