The Grand Search for the Best Anime of the 2000s

[Maokun]

Hello everyone again! After going back in memory lane we have established the best anime titles from the years 2001 through 2011 it's now the turn to choose which of them deserve the title of Best Anime of the 2000s (so far)!

So how are we going to do this? The top 2 of each year will pass directly to the first main round while the rest of the top 8 of each year will have to battle among themselves for a spot in that first round. The titles that qualify directly are:


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~ [color="DarkOrange"]Millennium Actress[/color] ~ [color="Red"]Spirited Away[/color] ~ [color="Yellow"]Haibane Renmei[/color] ~
~ [color="DarkOrchid"]Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex[/color] ~ [color="Sienna"]Kino no Tabi[/color] ~ [color="Magenta"]Princess Tutu[/color] ~
~ [color="Silver"]Monster[/color] ~ [color="SandyBrown"]Fullmetal Alchemist[/color] ~ [color="DeepSkyBlue"]Noein[/color] ~
~ [color="Teal"]Eikoku Koi Monogatari Emma[/color] ~ [color="RoyalBlue"]The Girl Who Leapt Through Time[/color] ~
~ [color="YellowGreen"]Paprika[/color] ~ [color="Wheat"]Baccano[/color] ~ [color="Lime"]Dennou Coil[/color] ~ [color="LemonChiffon"]Kaiba[/color] ~
~ [color="Plum"]Kara no Kyoukai[/color] ~ [color="Gray"]Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood[/color] ~
~ [color="RoyalBlue"]Cross Game[/color] ~ [color="PaleGreen"]Summer Wars[/color] ~ [color="Olive"]Durarara!![/color] ~
~ [color="Pink"]Puella Magi Madoka Magica[/color] ~ [color="PaleTurquoise"]The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya[/color] ~

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And here are the other series from the top 8 of each year which will be competing among themselves for a spot in the first round, in alphabetic order for your convenience:

12 Kingdoms
Angelic Layer
Birdy The Mighty Decode
Casshern Sins
Chobits
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Death Note
Digimon Tamers
Eden of the East
Ergo Proxy
Eureka Seven
Fantastic Children
Fruits Basket
Full Metal Panic!
Full Moon wo Sagashite
Gankutsuou
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
Howl's Moving Castle
Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu
Kuragehime
Last Exile
Letter Bee
Library Wars
Macross Frontier
Macross Frontier: The False Songstress
Michiko to Hatchin
Mononoke
Mouryou no Hako
Mushishi
Ouran High School Host Club
Paranoia Agent
Planetes
RahXephon
Read or Die OVA
Rozen Maiden
Samurai Champloo
School Rumble
Seirei no Moribito
Spice and Wolf
Sword of the Stranger
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Tetsujin 28-go (2004)
Texhnolize
The Beast Player Erin
The Diary of Tortov Roddle
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzuyima
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
The Tatami Galaxy
Time of Eve
Tokyo Godfathers
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Voices from a Distant Star
Welcome to the NHK!
Wolf's Rain
Xam'd: Lost Memories
xxxHolic

In addition, I'll give you guys the chance to nominate up to 12 series each that you believe should be given a chance to prove their worth against the series above. For reference and as a memory refresher, here you may find the best 32 titles of each year:

Year 2011 Year 2010 Year 2009 Year 2008 Year 2007 Year 2006 Year 2005 Year 2004 Year 2003 Year 2002 Year 2001

I encourage you to use as many of your 12 nominations as possible to get a better sample. You can (and should) nominate series that other persons have nominated. In a couple days I'll be closing this phase and the titles with most nominations will enter the qualifying round along with the titles above. (please make sure that your nominees are not one of those titles)

My own nominations:

FLCL
s-CRY-ed
Bakemonogatari
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
Angel Beats!
Mahoromatic 2
Saikano
The Animatrix
Black Lagoon
5 Centimeters per Second
Darker than Black
Lucky Star

[Neane]

My own nominations:

The 2007 TV Series of Towards the Terra
[B]Seikai no Senki MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES MINES
[/B]NANA
Brigadoon: Marin & Melan
Zegapain
Flag
Cat Soup
Ga-Rei:Zero
Ultimate Survivor Kaiji
Black Lagoon
Ano Hana
Koi Kaze

[Maokun]

Neane: Kino No Tabi is already among the 22 finalists, so you can pick another title.

[Vii]

I nominate...

Clannad: After Story
Natsume Yuujinchou San
Natsume Yuujinchou Shi
Soul Eater
Code Geass R2
Lovely Complex
Toradora!
Kimi ni Todoke
5cm/s
Romeo x Juliet
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
Chihayafuru

(I almost nominated Whisper of the Heart and Princess Mononoke, but then I remembered that they're from the 90's. XD)

Also, is "Kagurahime" supposed to be "Kuragehime"? Because if not, then I'll nominate Kuragehime in place of FMP:TSR.

[airichan623]

I nominate Birdy the Mighty: Decode and Full Metal Panic-Fumoffu?

[Maokun]

@Airichan: Birdy is there. It was under its japanese name but I fixed it.

@Neane: may I ask you to replace one of the titles that you very well know that you'll be the only one who'll vote for and help make sure that Black Lagoon doesn't miss its chance?

[AnimeGirl]

I nominate....

Angelic Layer
Rozen Maiden
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Time of Eve
xxxHOLiC

[AngelicTotoro]

(Hey, guys, aren't we only supposed to name off anime that isn't listed there? >>)
I nominate:

Lovely Complex
Steins;Gate
Toradora!
Clannad
Clannad: After Story
Seirei no Moribito

[Neane]

@Neane: may I ask you to replace one of the titles that you very well know that you'll be the only one who'll vote for and help make sure that Black Lagoon doesn't miss its chance?

Are we talking about the first season or the second season, because personally I like the second season more so than the first season. In my opinion, the Second Barrage is a lot better than first one - more action and that cool "vampire" kids sequence made me love it and the final fight is satisfying too.

[Maokun]

Animegirl: All of those but Angelic Layer are already in. Feel free to submit more.

@Neane: Roberta appears in the first season. Case closed.

[AnimeGirl]

Oh my gosh, how embarrassing! I must of read the post wrong ^///^

Then I nominate....

Steins;Gate (I am seconding this, actually)
Otome Youkai Zakuro
Rozen Maiden: Overture
R.O.D. -the TV-

(I hope I am doing this right this time XD)

[Neane]

Any other nominations?

[Maokun]

Waiting for everyone, seriously. This is the big contest and it won't do if only a handful people are going to participate (by the way, 'thank you' to that handful of people )

[Atria35]

I think that the Aria series deserves another chance.

Natsume Yuujinchou
5 Centimeters Per Second
Rainbow (even if it only gets one vote-from me!)
Bunny Drop

all are also quite worthy.

[Maokun]

So I'm guessing the first one? "The Animation"?

[Vii]

Waiting for everyone, seriously. This is the big contest and it won't do if only a handful people are going to participate (by the way, 'thank you' to that handful of people )

Well, one problem that I came across is that I misinterpreted the title as "Best Anime of the Year 2000" instead of "Best Anime of the 2000's i.e. The Entire Decade" until I actually opened the thread.

I think "The Grand Search for the Best Anime of This Millenia/This Decade/2001-2010" would be less likely to cause that confusion.

[Atria35]

So I'm guessing the first one? "The Animation"?

Let's go with Origination. While Animation is good, Origination is where all the bittersweet, nostalgic goodness is at.

[MangaRocks!]

I'll go ahead and throw in some more votes for Steins;Gate and Moribito.

[Maokun]

Well, one problem that I came across is that I misinterpreted the title as "Best Anime of the Year 2000" instead of "Best Anime of the 2000's i.e. The Entire Decade" until I actually opened the thread.

I think "The Grand Search for the Best Anime of This Millenia/This Decade/2001-2010" would be less likely to cause that confusion.

Good idea, thanks!

[Kaori]

.Hack//Sign - Even though Neane took it off his list, I will still nominate it. Good story and atmosphere, great music.

5 cm/s - How is it even possible that Voices of a Distant Star made it to the top 8 titles from its year and 5 cm/s didn't? I personally prefer Voices, but I thought that 5 cm/s was generally considered the superior film.

FLCL - I'll second this. The utter randomness is not really my thing, but the show did have meaning to it, and it also had excellent animation and music.

Metropolis - Didn't this make it pretty far in the 2001 contest? Not to the top 8, I guess, but it's an awesome movie that significantly improved on its source (Tezuka's manga)--compelling characters, great cinematography, and a sense that something is always going on.

Otogizoushi - Historical setting in Japan's Heian era + fantasy + a strong plot twist = winning combination for me. Yeah, it's an underdog that probably won't be voted for, but since I can't think of a full 12 titles to nominate anyways, may as well throw this one out.

[Zeldafan2]

I'm not voting because most of the titles on the list are the ones I plan to vote for later on. But I suppose I'll nominate:

Eyeshield 21 and

Super Dimensionial Fortress Macross.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

BTW, I'm not sure you've hit all the top eight. I remember Mawaru Penguindrum making it to the round of four last year before being defeated by Madoka, so I won't include it because it should already be on here. Same with Fate/Zero, Chihayafuru, Usagi Drop etc., I think.

Kamichu!
Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye
Ookiku Furikabutte
Ookiku Furikabutte: The Summer Tournament Chapter
Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto
Moyashimon
Bakemonogatari
FLCL
Darker than Black

[Neane]

Words cannot express how disappointed I am with all of you that Redline is not mentioned.

[FllMtl Novelist]

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~ [color="RoyalBlue"]The Girl Who Leapt Through Time[/color] ~
[color="PaleGreen"]Summer Wars[/color] ~

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Oh hey I could actually participate in that debate this time, maybe. =D

Actually there have been a lot of discussions I would've loved to join in on except I hadn't seen one or both of the anime involved, but I've seen a bunch of these titles so this should be fun. \o.o/

BTW, I'm not sure you've hit all the top eight. I remember Mawaru Penguindrum making it to the round of four last year before being defeated by Madoka, so I won't include it because it should already be on here. Same with Fate/Zero, Chihayafuru, Usagi Drop etc., I think.

Yeah, I just counted up the titles and got 57, so I'm guessing some are missing. xD]Words cannot express how disappointed I am with all of you that Redline is not mentioned.[/QUOTE]
Well... you could've nominated it. :p

But since I did enjoy it and I like to know the stuff I'm arguing about, okay, I'll nominate Redline.

[Maokun]

BTW, I'm not sure you've hit all the top eight. I remember Mawaru Penguindrum making it to the round of four last year before being defeated by Madoka, so I won't include it because it should already be on here. Same with Fate/Zero, Chihayafuru, Usagi Drop etc., I think.

Good eye, it seems I somehow failed to paste in 2011's top 8 (minus the finalists,) thanks for pointing it out. I cannot longer edit the OP so here are those titles for reference:

Fate/zero
Bunny Drop
REDLINE
Chihayafuru
Mobile Suit Gundam UC
Mawaru Penguindrum

Sorry about the confusion. Please everyone feel free to adjust your nominations as you wish since these titles already have secured a spot.


[quote="FllMtl Novelist (post: 1590602)"]
Yeah, I just counted up the titles and got 57, so I'm guessing some are missing. xD]

Now we have 63. The three apparently missing are the ones that got to participate in two years and made top 8 in each. (For example, Cross Game.)

[Atria35]

Eyeshield 21

Super Dimensionial Fortress Macross.

I am very sure that one of these anime does not belong.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Oh hey I could actually participate in that debate this time, maybe. =D

This is where I actualy plan on getting out of this thing.

OH CRAP forgot to mention Nichijou, that is totally nomination worthy.

[Vii]

I nominate...

Clannad: After Story
Natsume Yuujinchou San
Soul Eater
Code Geass R2
Lovely Complex
Toradora!
Kimi ni Todoke
5cm/s
Romeo x Juliet
Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid
AnoHana

Edit'd to reflect the changes to the list, as well as my failure to realize Natsume Yuujinchou Shi aired in 2012.

[GeneD]

Metropolis
Witch Hunter Robin
Natsume Yuujinchou
.Hack//Sign
Black Lagoon
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Hellsing Ultimate
Darker than Black
Bakemonogatari
5 Centimeters per Second
Steins;Gate
Seirei no Moribito

[Yami]

Angel Beats
Clannad
Bakemonogatari
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Summer Wars
Durarara