#top wo nerae 2

[gaynaxing]

Diebuster illustration by Shin Itagaki for gainax.net.

[therosecrest]

[v087]

Nono for /wwd/

[giantrobotfan]

[kaguras-art]

💫✨

[mityfresh]

AIM FOR THE TOP 1 X 2

[sonsan808]

[akudzava]

music: nullse - infinite nothing

[anime-cafeteria]

[stillinaincrad]

For the last few days, I've been putting together a post titled 'Masterpiece Theater', an idea I've had for a while - a list of the anime out there deserving of the title MASTERPIECE. I think it's a word that gets thrown around a little too lightly, and that it is actually quite rare that a show is deserving of it.

How I was going about qualifying them is by originality of the art, originality of the story and plot, the quality of the writing from start to finish, and the number of interesting characters in the cast. This was my criteria.

Which is funny, because when I started doing a little research, the interwebs apparently calls anything with a 9/10 rating or higher a masterpiece, which is laughable. Popularity by no means equals quality, which is pretty much all I've been whining about for the last few years. I mean, 5 of the top 12 rated anime on MAL are Gintama and its spinoffs and movies. Gintama is fantastic, but a masterpiece? I mean, come on - it's basically Airplane! in animated form. And as much as I love Airplane!, I don't think of it as a creative masterpiece. Funny as all hell, but just that. And, am pretty sure is all it was ever meant to be.

Anyways, I digress. I'm making this post instead, though, because I only came up with two very obvious choices that I couldn't argue against - Code Geass is, in my mind, probably the best definition by my microscope. It would be hard to call it anything less, is just 50 episodes of incredible (ironically, with a less than 9 rating on MAL, which means 86 is considered a better anime. I rest my case on the rating system!) After that, I personally would absolutely call Fate/Zero -> Fate Stay Night UBW one, but I can see where someone might argue that there's a lot of meaningless dialogue, etc. Still, given the story, the vast number of great characters, the music, and holy frijoles the artwork? Yep. I'll mince words with you that it belongs.

But then what? Star Driver came to mind, the art style is so one-off, the idea is totally original, it has a ton of character depth, music is so good, all that - but is it more than that? Charlotte has probably the slowest burn to ignite the payload but when it takes off it's such a thrill ride that no one saw coming which is what makes it incredible. But...? Even Diebuster, which I've always felt helped usher in a new generation of anime without abandoning the real heart & soul of creative storytelling which is what made me fall in love with anime in the 90s in the first place, is one I'd be very tempted to include but if no one else feels that way then it'd be pointless. Have said it before, taste is subjective, and what I love might not be what the next person is into, but there's something out there that makes them feel the same way, and that's what it's all about.

So after thinking about it and trying to curate an entire post dedicated to it, I think it's safe to say that there are many, many anime over the years that I think are top-shelf, high octane, unbridled quality shows and will watch again and again without losing interest.

But to call something a true masterpiece, and have everyone accept that uniformly across the board? Well, that's a class of its own, and am not even sure what fits into that column anymore.

[giltori]

Maid day - maid Lal’C

[kosemura]

[therosecrest]

[anidungeon]

Nono ya basta por favor

[giantrobotfan]

[kaguras-art]

Nono!