20 Awesomest Anime of the Decade (2000-2009)

I’ve seen me lots of animu in the last decade. I started watching this stuff in late 2001, and it’s ruined my life ever since. That being said, I felt it was my obligation to impart upon you the fact that there are good anime out there. It’s not all moeblobs and slice of life bullshit. So, as it’s so trendy to do right now, I’m giving you my list of the 20 Most Awesomest Anime of 2000’s. Keep in mind that even though I have ranked these, they are all equally awesome. My list probably won’t sit well with the pretentious arthouse goons or the moe-loving fapboys, but rest assured these anime are actually good shows.

20.) Boogiepop Phantom (2000) – This is one of those series where the fun comes in figuring out what the hell is going on. It’s a supernatural thriller, with each episode taking place from the point of view of a different character. I love the washed out color palette, the haunting music, the “realistic” look of the characters (i.e. no crazy hair colors), and the non-linear story. Instead of spoon feeding the viewer, it allows you to deduce what really happened on your own, although this may require multiple viewings. As the “angel of death,” Boogiepop doesn’t really have a name that would inspire fear in anybody, but if you watch this series late at night with the lights off, you might get a little freaked out.

19.) Paprika (2006) – A film from a true master, Satoshi Kon. While Millenium Actress is probably his most praised work, I find that there is something intangibly better about this movie. Kon continually plays with themes of identity and reality, and he does so to perfection here. In a future world where people can use technology to enter dreams, a doctor is attempting to use it to help psychiatric patients. She uses a persona known as Paprika. As the movie progresses, the line between what is real and what is the dream world blurs. Eventually, things spiral out of control, and climax in one of the weirdest and most incredible finales ever put to film.

Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid – an Allegory for Erectile Dysfunction

Talk to your doctor about Viagra today

Over the course of a week and a half, I watched the third season of Full Metal Panic, titled The Second Raid. I was stunned. It was a brilliant series. Never before had I seen an anime take on such an important, prevalent, and taboo subject. Kyoto Animation, the studio that helmed both the second and third seasons, are certainly a courageous bunch. It took a lot of guts to use anime as a medium to tackle this embarrassing, yet common problem. While it wasn’t apparent at first, it soon became clear that this series was nothing more than a thinly veiled allegory, a springboard meant to incite meaningful, intelligent discussion about a very important issue. That issue? Erectile dysfunction. The story of The Second Raid is one man’s struggle against ED, and his coming to terms with his shortcomings in order to solve his problem. Of course, this begs the question: Was this merely the pharmaceutical industry’s cheap attempt at making a huge commercial aimed at the otaku culture? Or was it truly meant to discuss the inner demons men must battle in their own individual fights against ED? Sadly, we may never know the truth. We can hope, however, that Kyoto Animation had the best of intentions.

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

The cast of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

I recently finished the second season of Full Metal Panic, and I’m happy to say that it’s a vast improvement over the first. As a whole, this series really shines when it focuses on comedy. When it veers into the dramatic, it really doesn’t have much depth to sustain an interesting plot. The characters are all right, but there really isn’t anyone interesting to root for, plus the villains are woefully generic. Fumoffu, however, jettisons all that needless plot stuff, and presents itself as a straight up comedy. Sousuke, the military fanatic, is unable to live a normal life in everyday Japan, and as a result, his mission to protect Kaname gets out of hand in every single episode. Whether he is detonating school lockers, or dressing up as a theme park mascot with a gun, he’s always screwing things up. But that’s where the humor can be found, and it works extremely well.

Full Metal Panic!

Full Metal Panic cast

I just finished watching the first season of Full Metal Panic! The first time I watched this series was about a million years ago when I hadn’t seen much anime. I wasn’t familiar with common anime tropes, and it seemed really fresh and original. Now that I have been watching anime for a number of years, I have seen a lot of shows that influenced this series, as well as those that used it for inspiration. I decided to revisit it because I recently picked up the third season on DVD, and wanted to go back and watch everything from the beginning. Also, I’m a huge nerd and have nothing better to do with my time. Maybe someday I’ll get a date, and not be forced to have virtual anime girlfriends.

The show comes from a really shitty anime studio called Gonzo. Pretty much everything they touch turns to garbage. They are kind of like the George Lucas of anime studios. They have managed to take a number of high profile manga series, and turn them into festering turds on screen. I’m not sure how they manage to pull off this feat so consistently, but they are certainly pros at doing it. Anyway, I remembered liking this show the first time I watched it, but I was kind of worried about returning to it and hating it.