Ultimate Anime

[Azure Ace]

What is the best anime EVER? I'm not putting a poll, because I expect a LOT of different answers. I am an anime fan, but never got around to watching enough, so I intend to make up for lost time =) If someone can suggest a good anime, I'd be very grateful.
Please, don't say Sign or Roots. Also, try to elaborate... Don't want this to be counted as spam...

Ty in advance... I hope.

[Retribution]

What is the best anime EVER? I'm not putting a poll, because I expect a LOT of different answers. I am an anime fan, but never got around to watching enough, so I intend to make up for lost time =) If someone can suggest a good anime, I'd be very grateful.
Please, don't say Sign or Roots. Also, try to elaborate... Don't want this to be counted as spam...

Ty in advance... I hope.

[Message erased for stupidity.]

He was asking about anime, that doesn't mean that he doesn't watch or read anything else. Don't be an idiot. Even if something is in here it doesn't mean you can't talk about .hack in here. Granted this topic is better placed in the anime section but it doesn't make much difference.

Now, back on topic: In my opinion the best anime ever is "Wolf's Rain". It does a good job of making its own world, without altering it to much from the real world. It also does a good job of creating a dramatic and mythical world with some philosophical and theological views. The writer does a good job of creating characters that the viewers can relate to and become attached to. The show has a good balance of action, suspense, romance and drama. Overall it is my favorite anime.

[shugo_lover]

Chrono Crusade

[Erranty]

FLCL

Predictions on what others will say...
AT: Haruhi
S1lentOp: Hellsing

[Azure Knight]

that and it wasn't made by a bunch of needle-dicked japanese guys with deep overly manly voices.

Are you being f*cking serious? Who the hell do you think you are? This little sh*t better be banned for this.

This should be in the anime section, but...

It's a tie between Haruhi/Lucky Star/Code Geass for me. It kinda depends what category you're asking.

Off-topic: What genre would Lucky Star be in, anyway?

[TheSorrow]

Are you being f*cking serious? Who the hell do you think you are? This little sh*t better be banned for this.

Never mind him, he's just Wander being Wander, the biggest troll i've seen in the forums.

Now at the topic....well, there will never be a "best anime EVER", only either a best anime for category or for season/year...an anime that is considered to be the very best by the time it was released, until another anime came, or simply when the hype of it calmed down. Probably Haruhi would be one currently considered like that, but i've never really liked it. The best anime ever for me would be either Neon Genesis Evangelion or Akira...so amazing and complex in story, events, and characters, and by the time they were released, they pretty much gave a whole turn to the anime as it was known.

Though....thinking about what i said, probably the "Ultimate Anime" would be Dragon Ball. Just think about it XD

[_Tri-edge_]

I find it odd that he flames about anime and yet he's on an anime-based site, posting.

Ultimate Anime? Hmmm......This question's impossible to answer but what the hell. I believe Black Lagoon is.
Revy and her Cutlasses FTW.

[Epitaph Of Daybreak]

Bleach
Trigun
Ruroni Kenshin
Wolf Rain
Gundam Wing
Cowboy Bebop
Naruto

[Erranty]

Bleach
Trigun
Ruroni Kenshin
Wolf Rain
Gundam Wing
Cowboy Bebop
Naruto

How about we BAN all anime that started off as Manga, since they aren't exactly anime, more like Manga put on screen. And I would like to do the same for Non-Original series, since Gundam Wing, while being the best gundam series IMO, was not the first gundam series...

Cowboy Bebop: It was amazing, if its not the best its certainly up there near it.

Wolf's Rain: I didn't get to see all of it, so my opinion is worthless.

Ruroni Kenshin: I really only liked the fighting and music. But I'm not one for filler anime's, since it doesn't help the storyline.

Naruto: 350 episodes and the main character hasn't reached his goal? No sir, this isn't even in the the top 10.

BLEACH: Its just as bad as naruto, will probably be as long as naruto, and just like naruto will get essentially nothing done. And of course, when even death wouldn't stop your main character (since he'll just go to the soul society) you've written yourself into a wall.

Trigun: The story was basically an uncool rip-off of Cowboy Bebop thrown into a western setting, and the main character is a magical tree, that wants to kill its magical tree brother for killing their human mom.

Gundam Wing: Nothing wrong with it, but as I said, its just not the first gundam series...

[Kuukai]

Gunbuster, and here's why:

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Exists because of it. Most of the aesthetic and lines of thought that went into creating Gunbuster continued directly into Eva.

FLCL

Influenced less than Eva, but it would definitely be different if Gunbuster had never been made.

No one's said Gurren Lagan yet, but that's definitely another one. In short, without Gunbuster, Gainax as we know it probably wouldn't exist, and a lot of the subculture they influenced would have probably been lost. Yes, I'd bet Haruhi would be different as well...

Obviously it needs to be more than just important, it needs to be good, too. And it is. Fanservice, wildly integrating serious scientific concepts into plot development in unprecedented ways, an epic plot with the very right of existence for life questioned. It's a tapestry of the best parts of what came before it, and the best things to expect from what followed.

Gundam is also a very revolutionary show, and Gunbuster was heavily influenced by it, but what sells me on Gunbuster over Gundam is how powerful its influence feels even now in the current generation of shows.

Trigun: The story was basically an uncool rip-off of Cowboy Bebop thrown into a western setting, and the main character is a magical tree, that wants to kill its magical tree brother for killing their human mom.

Uh, the Trigun manga came out like 3 years before Cowboy Bebop, and the anime came out at exactly the same time as Cowboy Bebop. If anyone was ripping anyone off, it was the other way around...

[Erranty]

Trigun: The story was basically an uncool rip-off of Cowboy Bebop thrown into a western setting, and the main character is a magical tree, that wants to kill its magical tree brother for killing their human mom.

Uh, the Trigun manga came out like 3 years before Cowboy Bebop, and the anime came out at exactly the same time as Cowboy Bebop. If anyone was ripping anyone off, it was the other way around...

Except that Bebop started production back in 94 over in japan, and went through three major story revisions before it was finished.

[Kuukai]

Are you implying Yasuhiro Nightow snuck in at night to rip them off? Because that's what I'm hearing.

[Erranty]

Are you implying Yasuhiro Nightow snuck in at night to rip them off? Because that's what I'm hearing.

No, im implying he watched a few too many Clint Eastwood films as a kid, then added anime filler love stories and physics.

On a side note, I think this is the first thing we've ever fought about!

[Ratsu]

Its pretty old but... Blue Seed for me. It was my first anime, and its... well it has an "old spark" about it that anime just doesn't have anymore. (I wonder if anyone here knows Blue Seed <.<; ) Maybe Slayers too thats another I really liked, Lets see... I would say Haruhi, but I feel its getting the Naruto disorder. (As in rabid fans that kill it, and before anyone gets mad at me thats just MY opinion ok. -.-; I really hate how when you state your opinion another person argues with you until you agree with theirs.) I HAVE to say Eva too because I love the movie so much, its really fun to pick apart all the meanings in it. My last pic would be Higarashi "When they cry" Its defiantly one of my favorite of the "newer" anime.

[Erranty]

Heh, here's an off mention from my sister, Kakurenbo.

[marthwmaster]

It's a difficult question to answer, because you're not asking what our favorite anime is. And anime is a medium, not a genre. You're asking what is the best EVER, as in it's the most essential piece of the anime canon, such that every fan has to go out and see it.

I wouldn't say my favorite anime qualifies as the best ever. We all have our tastes, and what is one fan's treasure may be another fan's trash. That said, my ultimate anime is Blood+, because while it's primarily an action series, it carries itself with strong characters and an intriguing storyline rather than on violence. The plot is slow-moving at times, but I know we can get past that here, since it goes without saying that most of us were willing to sit through .hack//SIGN (which I'm sad we can't mention here, because as much as it is a .hack series, it's still really, really good).

[Azure Knight]

Point is, it's almost impossible to say what the "best ever" is. For example, I think that Code Geass topples all other mech series I've seen (even though I don't really like mech shows), and many with disagree with me, but Code Geass loses in the romance category, since, you know,  all of the love interests get shot and die.

Speaking of anime genres, something just came to mind.
What genre does Lucky Star fall under?

[marthwmaster]

I would say, Comedy/Satire.

[Azure Knight]

I would say, Comedy/Satire.

Why didn't I think of that?
I guess because it has no storyline, I wasn't sure what to place it under... but I guess that's what's so great about the show.

[Kuukai]

I'd say Lucky Star and Azumanga are both "animated 4koma." By virtue of being anime adaptations they break the rigid nature of original format, but if you look closely you can still see the "frames."