Every day, I watch anime, and here are the top ten anime that I find intriguing, depending on my personal prejudice and judgment. By the way, I enjoy anime with anti-heroes. For more information about anime movies, please see the following article.
Attack on titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Season 1
Cos of the abrupt advent of “Titans,” humanity was on the point of extinction. The surviving humans constructed a 100-year-long triple wall and lived peacefully within it. However, when the protagonist, Eren, turned ten years old, his calm life was abruptly disrupted by the advent of a super-giant capable of breaching the 50-meter barrier. Armored Titans appeared as well, and a large number of Titans attacked the wall. Eren, whose mother was devoured by a Titan directly in front of his eyes, and whose home, dreams, and hopes were all torn from him, resolved to avenge the Titans by joining the 104th Training Corps with his childhood friends Mikasa and Armin. Eren and his buddies grew up there, training with like-minded individuals, until they lost Trost District and many of their friends to the Colossal Titan, who reappeared. The Titans, leaving his pals Mikasa and Armin devastated, preyed upon Eren.
Season 2
Meanwhile, within the walls, a great number of innocent Titans arise, and the troops are attacked. While their seniors were being devoured alive one by one, Yumir transformed into a Titan and fought back. Christa, Sasha, Ryner, and the others who were not armed were stranded in the castle of Urdgard, which they picked as a place to escape. They were able to escape thanks to Mikasa, Hanji, and the other reinforcements. During the retreat, however, Reiner and Bertolt revealed to Eren that they were the Armor Titan and Colossal Titan, respectively. Reiner and Bertolt transformed Eren and Yumir, allowing them to flee for the time being. Despite many sacrifices, they barely succeeded in getting Eren back thanks to Erwin’s deception and Eren’s ability to change into a Titan after waking to the “might of the Founder Titan” to control Titans.
Season 3
Historia is the daughter of a concubine, and she has lived in squalor since she was a toddler, having been told to live as someone else until now. The Central Military Police targeted Historia, including Kenny Ackerman, who was hired by her father Rod Wraith, who wants to control the world with Titans. Despite being captured once, Historia defied her father’s command to devour Eren in order to obtain the Titans’ strength, and destroyed him with her own hands. A coup d’état broke out in the city at the moment, and the existing false monarchy was deposed, and Historia was crowned Queen within the gates as the true king. The Scout Regiment intended to reclaim Wall Maria using Eren’s newly discovered hardening ability.
I’ll skip the synopsis of last season because it hasn’t been completed yet. The last season’s Part 2 was set to be released in 2022. I read the original manga because I was a fan of it, but I didn’t anticipate the animation to be as beautiful as it was. The tale is intriguing, and the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it and become engrossed in it.
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
Lelouch, a student at a private high school, is a prodigy with a talent for chess and frequently plays with the nobility. He got caught up in a skirmish between the British army and terrorists one day on his way home. In the midst of the commotion, he meets a girl named C.C. (Sheets) and acquires the “Geass,” a king’s power to subjugate anyone. Lelouch used the Geass to take the military weapon Nightmare and left with his classmate Karen who was also present. With the Geass he’s obtained, Lelouch decimates the Britannian army one by one. One of his mother’s opponents, Prince Clovis, was murdered by Lelouch in a single battle. Suzaku, on the other hand, was being probed for the crime. Lelouch rescues Suzaku, who is now his foe but was formerly his best friend. With Karen and a few others, he establishes the Black Knights, a resistance force that fights the British Empire.
The main character Lelouch becomes a villain himself in order to bring peace to the world, which is cool to say the least. The brainstorming and psychological warfare in the battle was remarkable.
Death Note
One day, the smart and athletic Light Yagami sees a notebook lying on the school ground. The notebook had the words “Death Note” written on it. The owner of the notebook was the God of Death, who had the ability to kill anyone, by writing the name of the person on it. In order to change the world where crime is rampant, the owner of the note book writes the names of criminals, and kills them one after another. Eventually, the world became aware of the existence of the person who kills criminals and began to fear him, they called him “Kira.” Fearing Kira’s existence, the number of crimes decreased and the world became the way Tsuki wanted it to be, but in order to stop Kira’s murders, the world’s best detective, “L”, starts working to secure Kira. Then, a fierce head-to-head battle between Kira and L took place.
The psychological and brain battles between Kira and L will make your hands sweat. The villainous nature of the main character, Light, is interesting to watch.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
In a world where half of the human race has perished due to the global disaster “Second Impact” that occurred 15 years ago, a red sea has been created where life is impossible. Shinji Ikari, a fourteen-year-old boy, is summoned to Tokyo by his father, Gendo Ikari, whom he has not heard from in three years. In the city of Third New Tokyo, which has become a land of constant summer. Soon after, he encounters a giant life form, the 4th Apostle, and gets caught up in a battle with the UN forces. Shinji is protected by Misato Katsuragi, a woman who was waiting for him, and heads straight to the underground space of the Third New Tokyo City, where the special operations organization “NERV” is located.
There is an anime version and a movie version, and I recommend watching both. It is a complex story that makes you want to watch it over and over again.
Ping Pong the Animation
Three childhood friends who grew up together through table tennis, Peco, Smile, and Akuma, clash at the Inter High School. Peko is confident in her ping-pong skills, while Smile, who says “ping-pong is just a way to pass the time until I die,” goes to Katase High School, and Akuma goes to Kaiou Gakuen led by Kazama, a prestigious ping-pong player with a promising future. The absolute champion, Kazama, aka Dragon, and a foreign student from China, Kong, stand in their way. They put their heart and soul into every single ball they hit, and their individual feelings about table tennis intersect. “Peko challenged Akuma with the conviction that she could win, but she lost. Will Peco be able to recover? What will Smile, who yearned for him, think of Akuma, who is still unfulfilled even after his victory? And will each of them face each other again at the Inter High School?”
The expression of hitting the ball in the anime ping pong is interesting because it gives you a sense of reality that if you ever played table tennis, you would know how to swing the racket. It has a very unique feel that is not found in other anime.
Fullmetal Alchemist
Edward (Ed), an alchemist with two names of steel, and his brother Alphonse (Al), who has a body of armor. The brothers violate the prohibition of human smelting and travel in search of the Philosopher’s Stone in order to regain their lost bodies. Ed and his friends obtain and decipher the material of the Philosopher’s Stone, but are shocked to learn that the material of the Philosopher’s Stone consists a large number of living people. Ed and Al meet with the father who created the homunculus and realize that a terrible conspiracy is at work. The civil war that has taken place in Amestris so far has been on top of a smelting camp that has been set up throughout the country, and the army has been seized by the homunculus Bradley, ready for the “Promised Day.” The Elric brothers, Scar, and the Mustang join forces to face that day.
The sibling bond between Ed and Al is inspiring to watch; not overly optimistic or pessimistic. This film expresses the exquisite emotions that human beings are capable of. It is very worth watching.
STEINS;GATE
The protagonist Rintaro Okabe discovers that every time he sends out a D-mail to the past, a world line shift (a transition to a parallel world-like one) occurs. Okabe is the only one with a special ability called Reading Steiner, which allows him to retain his memories even when the world line changes, and he creates a time-lapse machine by connecting to the LHC at SERN. As a result of this, he was threatened by SERN. In this world, no matter what he does, Mayuri is certain to die (Alpha World Line). Okabe scrambles to save Mayuri by doing multiple time leaps. Each time he makes a time leap, he is saved by Chris. Okabe is grateful and in love with her. He realizes that in order to avoid Mayuri’s death, he should return to the world where the world line fluctuation rate is in the 1% range (beta world line), which is the world before he sent the first D-mail. In that world, however, Chris dies. I’m not sure which of the two, Chris or Mayuri, I should choose to die. Encouraged by Chris, Okabe returned to the beta world line. In that world, of course, Chris is not there. Then Suzuha, who came from 26 years later, appears. She tells him to go back in time, and save Chris in order to avoid World War III. Okabe heads to the past in a time machine to save Chris.
This is a story where various world lines are intricately intertwined, and by using D-mail, a time leap machine, a time machine, and other time-jumping items, we arrive at the correct world line. I was impressed by the excellent composition of the work.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica)
The protagonist, Madoka Kaname, is living an ordinary life as a second-year student at Mitakihara Junior High School. One night, she witnessed a girl using magic to fight monsters during a natural disaster, and had a dream in which a mysterious white creature tells her, “I want you to make a contract with me and become a magical girl.” The next morning, the beautiful girl from her dream, Homura Akemi, transfers to Mitakihara Junior High School. For some reason, Homura knows Madoka well, and warns her not to become a Puella Magi. After school, Madoka takes a detour with her best friend, Sayaka Miki, and is led by a mysterious voice to a corner of a building, where she runs into Kyubey, the white creature she saw in her dream, and Homura, who is trying to kill her. Madoka and Sayaka are confused, but they save the injured Kyubey, but soon after, they were lost in another world. Surrounded by monsters who claim to be witches, the two are saved by Mami Tomoe, a third-year junior high school student who has made a contract with Kyubey. After being saved by Mami, Madoka and Sayaka are told by Kyubey that he would like them to become Puella Magi, and through their contact with Mami, who continues to fight for the safety of the people, they develop a strong desire to become Puella Magi. While Madoka’s feelings for magical girls waver after being confronted with this harsh reality, Sayaka makes a contract with Kyubey and becomes a magical girl in order to heal the injuries of her childhood friend Kyosuke, whom she loves.
From the characters that appeared in the story, I initially thought it would be like Sailor Moon, but it was completely different, with a very dark worldview. I was surprised by the gap between the appearance of this character and the world.
PSYCHO-PASS (Series 1 only)
The year is 2112. Tsunemori Akane is assigned to the first section of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Public Security Bureau as a newly appointed surveillance officer. Akane’s subordinates Kouga Mishinya who happened to be the enforcers and the others, who, like the surveillance officers, have been given the power to rule but have a high crime coefficient due to their ability to understand and predict crimes. From the very first day, Akane takes an unorthodox action that could be taken as a blunder, and while receiving harsh words from another watchdog, Ginoza Nobuchika, who grows up with the encouragement of Kogami.
Eventually, however, a bizarre murder of a high school girl that closely resembles the unsolved “Specimen Case” occurs. In all the cases that he and Akane have investigated so far, Kogami has sensed the existence of someone who supports criminals in the shadows, and he thinks that this person might be “Maxima” who was behind the Specimen Case.
The story draws you in with its intricately drawn worldview and fascinating characters. The worldview controlled by the Sibylla System (legal system) is very interesting, as it is a theme that makes us think about the real world in the near future.
Parasyte: The Maxim (Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu)
One night, an object the size of a tennis ball quietly rained down on cities around the world. Mysterious leech-like creatures hatched from the objects, invade and mimic human heads through their noses and ears, and replace the person without being noticed — a mysterious parasitic creature that takes the place of a human being. The protagonist, Shinichi Izumi, was one of those attacked by a parasitic creature. He was attacked by the parasite, and although he was able to prevent it from entering his head, it burrowed into his right hand. The parasite replaces Shinichi’s right arm, and it became independent and conscious. The parasite, which he named “Miggy,” forms a symbiotic relationship with Shinichi, and a strange communal life begins between the human whose right arm was stolen and the parasite that took over his right arm. In the meantime, incidents caused by the parasitic creatures that have taken the place of humans are becoming more and more frequent in the world, and they are getting closer to Shinichi and his friends. Shinichi and Miggy were inevitably swallowed up in the middle of these incidents.
The story is a rather common one about parasitic organisms vs. humans, but the main theme is a philosophical one about the global environment, and there are parts that will make you think about the value of human existence.
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