One Piece was my introduction to anime and a good introduction into how deep and complex characters and fictional worlds could be. This anime taught me how to write characters, and even now shapes the way I see storytelling. Even though I know now that the pacing is bad that doesn't changed that it got me into anime, got me back into animation, a new form and way to use it, and it really inspired me.

The anime that taught me anime can be pure stupid fun and still amazing, though I didn't realize it at the time or value it until I watched hundreds of boring-ass anime. What it did at the time is inspire me with its manliness and sheer scale and epicocity. This shit got realer than most things I had seen and had the creativity, and the balls, to go beyond what most things would into a realm of pure over the top epic.

Mob Psycho 100 solidified my love for animation, a specific type of animation, and gave it a name: Sakuga. I grew to respect everyone who worked on it as a project and got a new Idol and goal in life from it. I now aspire to make animation like the type seen in this anime whether plausible or not. The story also effected the way I see human emotions and how we deal with them.

Assassination Classroom anchored my love for anime and covered everything One Piece didn't. It taught me so many things that no work of art I've seen has really bothered to teach. Some may take it for granted but seeing these values implanted in an artform I love along with its charming comedic presentation, relatable awesome characters and action were as if custom made for me personally. This anime shaped much of my current identity and gave me a benchmark to measure all anime standards by for what I find good about the medium.

This was the first pure drama anime that really got into my soul. The emotional beats of this show set up the way I would see drama for years to come. I used to be purely an action boy, shrugging off even good drama and only getting an emotional reaction out of epic, loud stuff like TTGL or MHA. But the more I think about shows like Anohana, the one that started the transformation of my taste, the more I realize how much more value there is in a story that can tug on your heartstrings based on merit and feeling and soul alone, not relying on 'hype'.

Kino's Journey absolutely overloaded and blew my mind in the one day it took me to watch it. I've rewatched it many times since then and appreciated everything the series had to offer, because it's the one show that really makes me want to think about things the whole time I'm watching it. It gave me a love for episodic storytelling and more ambiguous writing that can have so much potential, and solidified my appreciation for androgynous characters.

Space Dandy, after charming me with its many funny, creative episodes that used space tropes in a flowing, entertaining way finally found me absolutely floored on season 2, episode 8. 'A World Without Sadness, Baby'. It had everything designed to speak to me, a melancholy bittersweet tone, a dark backdrop, everything felt sad yet sweet and it got me into a very specific thoughtful somber place in my mind that I don't usually visit. Since then I've aspired to create something like that episode. All the other episodes brought in talent from all around the anime community and created a truly unique project.

The first FLCL taught me about anime that were purely a labor of love for their creators. Something that they just genuinely wanted to make and let their creativity flow, not based on anything or enforced by fan hype, which inspired me to make something of my own like that.

The sequel downright solidified my desire for anime that were fun more than anything else, that used their creative energy for what it should be used for, to entertain and create something you love no matter what people want from you.

Kimi no Na Wa is the only anime that drew me in and enchanted me absolutely with its visuals and music. It seemed impossible that anything could be so perfect. I was immediately inspired once again to animate, even direct something, the first time since watching some disney movie that I had ever felt like I wanted to be a director.

Violet Evergarden impressed me so much with its presentation- attention to detail in its art and music, the tiniest little movement details, everything made me both notice the pure talent and love put into it as well as made me feel drawn in. This anime has a magical quality that's impossible to explain, but makes me feel a way most anime with actual principals of magic explained in them can never accomplish.

You could also put Mononoke or Serial Experiments Lain in this slot, but given that this is the first anime of this type I watched, this one makes the list. I had always been distainful of shows that try to be artistic by not making sense, but this anime showed me it's possible to have beauty and artistic expression in a style that breaks down traditional pacing, and disorienting atmosphere. Something I've come to love from many other anime after watching this one.

There's something mystical at the heart of this show that just makes every single event in it emotional. I don't know what it is exactly, the show is nothing complex, but the way it comes across is just consistantly endearing in every way. It holds the record as the show to make me almost cry the most times out of anything ever, despite how short it is compared to things like One Piece.

Anime seldom manage to create a world not unlike our own that feels completely plausible and fleshes out the world with detail so completely. But beyond this show's incredible worldbuilding, it truly inspired me in how it was able to develop a world that feels real, just by rooting it as much as possible in a version of scifi that feels like it could truly exist in a few years. It's genius. It makes me want to make a realistic and intricate world of my own. Not to mention the incredible characters, writing, story, and animation this show has, as well as its unique character designs.

No other series can make me feel every emotion this strongly. Love, happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, hate. Pretty much every feeling is activated in the process of watching this series, something that really inspires me.

This anime made me care about history and the benefits of studying it deeply for the first time in my entire life.

Call of the Night hit upon just about every thing they possibly could to be almost uncomfortably relatable. It's the anime I relate to the most out of any others I've seen, complete with a lofi synthwave visual aesthetic that makes it feel like it was made for me.