4/10/11 - 5 anime series that every knowledgeable anime fan must watch

[mjf314]

This week we'll vote for 5 anime series that you must watch if you want to call yourself "knowledgeable about anime."

If you think there's no anime series which is absolutely essential, then just vote for the most important ones (i.e. the ones that would contribute the most to your anime knowledge).

**Voting Closed**

Results:

1 Cowboy Bebop . . . 12 votes
2 Neon Genesis Evangelion . . . 11 votes
3 Monster . . . 5 votes
4 Mobile Suit Gundam . . . 4 votes
4 Azumanga Daioh . . . 4 votes
6 Fullmetal Alchemist . . . 3 votes
6 Dragon Ball Z . . . 3 votes
6 Dragon Ball . . . 3 votes
9 Serial Experiments Lain . . . 2 votes
9 Death Note . . . 2 votes
9 Rurouni Kenshin . . . 2 votes
9 FLCL . . . 2 votes
9 Escaflowne . . . 2 votes
9 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni . . . 2 votes
9 Kino's Journey . . . 2 votes
16 Legend of the Galactic Heroes . . . 1 vote
16 Macross . . . 1 vote
16 Berserk . . . 1 vote
16 Trigun . . . 1 vote
16 Kimagure Orange Road . . . 1 vote
16 Fist of the North Star . . . 1 vote
16 Gungrave . . . 1 vote
16 Kara no Kyoukai . . . 1 vote
16 Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 . . . 1 vote
16 Lucky Star . . . 1 vote
16 Welcome to the NHK! . . . 1 vote
16 Maison Ikkoku? . . . 1 vote
16 Rose of Versailles . . . 1 vote
16 Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood . . . 1 vote
16 Fushigi Yuugi . . . 1 vote
16 Astro Boy . . . 1 vote
16 Mushishi . . . 1 vote
16 Chobits . . . 1 vote
16 School Days . . . 1 vote
16 Toradora! . . . 1 vote
16 Spice and Wolf . . . 1 vote
16 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann . . . 1 vote
16 Baccano! . . . 1 vote
16 Haibane Renmei . . . 1 vote

[Pidjiken]

Wow, can this be done in 5?

All 5 should be a different genre for this to work I think o.o

[LinkSword]

Kino's Journey
Haibane Renmei
Monster
Azumanga Daioh
Cowboy Bebop

For example.

[eaper]

This will be very difficult...
Cowboy Bebop
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Baccano!
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Azumanga Daioh

This... was a hard one. It's hard to pick some of these and not a few others.

[Thrawn]

I don't think I can have three of my five Monster so:
-Wait, going to pick and choose at sort-of random:

1. Monster
2. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan (Need something manly and hammy)
3. Spice and Wolf (To see that even business can be fun)
4. Toradora! (Couldn't resist)
5. Ending to School Days

[CapnBaka]

Being knowledgeable about anime is not about how many series or which ones you have seen. Why should someone have to watch a show they don't like because someone arbitrarily decided it was important? There are shows that are useful for tracing the origins of character archetypes and genres, for example, but not having seen those doesn't somehow make a person less of a fan or less knowledgeable about the entire medium in general.

[randomredneck]

I don't like this poll. You can be knowledgeable about anime without having seen certain shows.

[MugiwaraMarius]

Bleach is the only show you need to watch to understand anime.

Okay now to be serious:

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
Monster
Chobits
Mushishi

[mjf314]

Maybe there's no anime which is absolutely essential, but still there are certain anime which are more important than others. If you don't like the "must watch" part of the question, pretend it says "should watch."

Edit: Ok, I edited the poll, so even if you think there's nothing you must watch, you can still vote.

[CapnBaka]

Originally Posted by mjf314

Maybe there's no anime which is absolutely essential, but still there are certain anime which are more important than others. If you don't like the "must watch" part of the question, pretend it says "should watch."

Edit: Ok, I edited the poll, so even if you think there's nothing you must watch, you can still vote.

I still feel like there needs to be some kind of time constraint on this sort of thing. *Shrug* I guess I'm just splitting hairs, but watching series from the 70s only helps you so much in gaining "knowledge" on many modern shows, and vise versa.

If limited to 5, it seems like they would all have to be older, something like:
Original Gundam
Dragonball
Some Tezuka work (Astro Boy or Kimba the White Lion, probably)
Some older Miyazaki work (Laputa or Nausicaa maybe?)
Akira

And even then it's hard to pick only five.

That being said, those don't really include the evolution of some of the more popular, merchandise-driven genres like harem and fanservice battle shows. It also depends on if you are looking at anime as a medium similar to film, or as a cultural movement--trying to understand modern anime fan memes and the like.

There's also the merchandising arm that is based around very specific sorts of shows that exist in near isolation from the sorts of shows that came from the stuff I listed above.

Furthermore, having a "classical" base like that is only useful if you then move forward watching newer things. it gives you a base of knowledge but still requires more watching before it actually grows into anything.