After more than two years, I’ve finally updated (and expanded!) my top anime list! Instead of 20 shows, I’ve now got 25 on the list, with all new pictures, blurbs, and even some reordering! What a relief—it’s nice to feel my list fully represents my current tastes again.

If you want to get reading it right away: My Top 25 Anime List.

After the jump, I’ll be talking through the details of this overhaul: what’s new, what got kicked out, and what just barely missed the cut.

The Shows that Left

Although I expanded the list by five shows, not everything that was on the list before is still there. I’ve cooled on some shows since I first watched them, others have been outdone by similar anime, and others just haven’t passed the test of time. This all sounds very dramatic, but I actually only dropped four shows from the list completely. There were:

• Black★Rock Shooter: While I still like BRS and think it’s a good show, I was somewhat less enthusiastic and wowed by it during my rewatch a few months ago. It’s no longer a show I feel I want to hang my hat on as being one of my favorites, so it bids farewell to the top shows list.
• Working!!: A casualty of time, mostly. Although I adored the third season, the affection I felt for the show has faded over time. Comedies, I think, often struggle in general to occupy the headspace necessary to stay favorites, and Working!! sadly fell into that pattern.
• Durarara!!: Another show that timed out, and perhaps was a mild victim of the haplessness of the recent sequel. I still think the first season is pretty darn good, but I’d probably feel better about it had the characters all landed with more grace by the end of the story.
• Angel Beats!: Simply put—I think Princess Tutu hits a lot of the same thematic buttons as Angel Beats! and does so better. That being said, I could see Angel Beats! returning to the top shows list in the future, but for now, it’s taking a break.

This was an apparent massacre of exclamation marks.

The Newbies

And now for the really fun part, the nine shows that joined the list. Some of these have been in waiting for years, others are rather recent. That said, it’s rather fascinating that it took me two whole years to find nine more shows I felt like adding to my top shows list. It’s been fun getting to watch some older stuff in the past year or so, and I’m happy that I’ve been able to add some pre-2000 anime to my list of favorites. And now:

• AKB0048: (Debuts at #2) A no-brainer inclusion, this one, although it was only relatively recently that I realized it had become my second-favorite anime.
• Superdimensional Fortress Macross: (Debuts at #3) It was a bit of a struggle to figure out where SDF belonged on the list, but it’s just been such an event for me that I felt it deserved to end up where it did. Will the other parts of the franchise follow it? That remains to be seen…
• Turn A Gundam: (Debuts at #8) Long, old robots shows seem to maybe be a thing I like? Turn A was the first and while I doubt there will be many shows I encounter as good as Turn A, I’m happy that it’s opened the floodgates a bit, as it were.
• Hyouka: (Debuts at #11) Honestly, I wonder if Hyouka is still too low here. I sort of imagine we’ll see it after an inevitable rewatch.
• Concrete Revolutio: (Debuts at #13) Let me tell you guys about how happy I was that Conrevo turned out well enough for me to be able to get it into the list. Really Happy. I doubt it’ll ever make it into the top 10, but I never see it leaving the list.
• Martian Successor Nadesico: (Debuts at #17) The most recently finished show on the list, and I was a bit apprehensive about including it, but I really do have a ton of affection for this show and also expect it to be a favorite for a long time coming.
• Eureka 7: (Debuts at #20) It’s such a big show, and I’m really curious to see how it ages with me. A sale might convince me to jump on the new BDs…
• Princess Tutu: (Debuts at #23) Knocked out Angel Beats! to take this spot. Great show, one I’d like to share with friends, I think.
• The Eccentric Family: (Debuts at #25) Man, it’s been a long wait for this show. It missed the cut on the first version of the list, but rewatches and BDs will change your opinion on things.

Movement

For those of you who like numbers, I’ve compiled two lists of shows that stayed on the list, but moved around—one of those that rose, and one of those that fell. The big fallers were typically shows that I haven’t seen in quite a while (also keep in mind the big falls are exacerbated by new shows being added to the list).

Moved Up:

• Soul Eater (+3)
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (+3)
• Kyousougiga (+3)
• Bakemonogatari (+2)
• Kill Me Baby (+5)

Moved Down:

• Revolutionary Girl Utena (-3)
• Toradora! (-8)
• Silver Spoon (-2)
• The Devil is a Part-Timer! (-15)
• Haiyore! Nyaruko-san (-2)
• Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann (-14)
• Hunter x Hunter (-9)
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (-13)

The Ones That Were Close

There were five other shows (enough that I could have added them, since my rule is to expand the list by multiples of five) that were on the edge of getting in, but I just wasn’t sure about them. So, instead, I want to give each of them their due. You may see them added in a future update of the list!

• Macross Frontier: The fact that I’m always listening to the music means that this show is never far from my memory, and the characters are all icons on the level of Minmay, Hikaru, and Misa for me.
• Glasslip: I love to champion this show because of how drastic the difference is between what I see in it and what the general opinion of it is. Putting it on my top shows list would, really, be the ultimate endorsement I could give it, but I think I need one more rewatch to cement that feeling.
• Gundam Build Fighters: As I post this, I’m in the middle of a rewatch and it’s as fun and addictive as I remember. What a good show.
• Blood Blockade Battlefront: It’s been a while since I watched it, but I recently got the BDs, so a future rewatch will likely cement my feelings on it being an all-time favorite or not for good. Either way, I still like the show a great deal.
• Rose of Versailles: A prestige entry to the list? It’s certainly epic and grand enough to stand side-by-side with some of the other shows. I think I’d have to be sure it’s genuine favorite of mine and not just a show I feel like I should have on the list.