Because I promised it.
ROBBY'S TOP 20 ANIMATED SERIES LIST
Doing any top list of anything is hard. There's nostalgia, actual quality, quantity, how much of an impact something made in your life. At what point do you love a show because you grew up on it, and at what point because its actually GOOD? There's a fine line, and there the chance that something has just flat out slipped your mind while making a list. And also, what other values balance out others? Its really easy to figure out what the top couple and the bottom couple are, but the middle is iffier. Something in 15th place really isn't all that much different from something in 6th, its just sort of what you think of first, or you know needs to be higher up… but its just a random ranking all the same. Any given day a whole mess of them could rotate around, or something else could fill their spot if you think of a specific thing about it that you hadn't while making the list.
Honorable mentions right off- Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, Kim Possible, Zoids, Outlaw Star, Ranma 1/2, Samurai Champloo, Daria, Samurai Jack, Swat Kats, Tenchi Muyo, El Hazard, Oban Star Racers, Space Ghost:Coast to Coast, Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates, Spectacular Spiderman, Invader Zim, Kodomo no Omocha, Sealab2021,The Venture Brothers, The Real Ghostbusters, War Planets, and probably others I've temporarily forgotten about, that if you mention it, I will go "Oh yeah! That needs to be up there!". or if I was going purely on technical story qualities, instead of gut feeling. All shows I've owned, watched several times, that on a different day, might have made this same list. Great art, story, and characters in most of them, and a lot of fun, but for whatever reason, the other things I mentioned came to mind first.
Thundercats, Original Transformers, and the Legend of Zelda cartoon are no where on this list. I didn't forget them, I've just seen them more recently than the 80's. They may be childhood personified, but that doesn't make them good.
Anyway, without any further ado, my top 20.[hide]
20. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This one is really really hard for me to place. It is responsible for almost all that I am and should possibly be my number one…. but I actually don't like this show very much. I loved it when I was 5, but even I knew it was stupid long before it was done in its like, 12th season. But, it got me to buy comic books, for which I learned to read. It got me to draw, and inspired me and led me to picking up the other source materials and I sang the theme song like any other little kid on crack. Sheerly for where its gotten me, and the fact I can distinctively point to it as life shaping, its gotta be on this list. But the actual show itself is... pretty bad, very 80's, so influential or not, it goes to the back end. I'll settle for it being the first thing on the list.
The 2K3 is (was) WAY better, and I probably would have loved it if it were a brand new concept. But as it is a retread of the old Mirage books, turned into the shitty Fast Forward Show, and is basically my 6th or 7th go at the Turtles universe (and my favorite is still the Archie series) its mostly a nostalgia thing for me and hard to get truly involved, however good it may be.
19.South Park
It may not age well, but it usually has something to say, provides a few jokes, and commentary on current stuff in the media, and I usually try to catch it when its airing new eps, and have for years and years. It does a good job of showcasing the stupidness of some things by simply putting 8 year olds into cliche situation. Usually outrageous and messed up, and the movie is pretty much perfect. However, aside from the movie, (which I got for 5 bucks) I've never bought any of it and don't know that I would go out and buy it. If it wasn't airing on tv all the time, on one of the two channels I actually watch, I don't know that I'd miss it.
18. Sailor Moon
Guilty pleasure sort of thing. Actual show was stupid and the reused footage tiresome, but I saw it at a time when anime was new to me. That the characters actually had personalities, and continuity, and that they grew and changed, and other things that are so common to anime, were all largely new to a series for me and made up for the actual"plot" being pretty lousy. The plots were insipid, but the characters were real people with real lives. Plus, its a shared childhood horror/memory, so all the characters and plot points can be mocked and shared amongst other friends who also watched it. More on the list for the shared community experience than actual quality. The Japanese version is better, but… Also, it holds the honor of being the only series I've drawn/colored porn for. More than once, at that!
17. Exo-Squad
I watched this for a single run through back when it first aired in what… 1992? And I thought it was really good. I picked it up as a bootleg last San Diego comicon, and by about 3 episodes in, I'd decided it was going to be a new favorite. One of the greatest TV shows that no one remembers, and as if to prove the point, no one made any Exo-Squad jokes about Avatar, even though both contain mech suits and giant blue clone people. I watch this and can only conclude that no S&P executives knew this show existed. It had balls. This was a World War II allegory, and they didn't dumb it down. Genocide took place, and on screen. And it wasn't aliens or some other fantasy race being exterminated, it was human beings. The antagonist, Phaeton, well, to call him Hitler would not be invoking Godwin's Law. Probably deserves to be higher up, but as I've only watched it the once at this point in current memory and the nostalgia, familiarity and community experiance just isn't there, I can't place it any higher. Might rise up the ranks upon another viewing later this year.
16. The Disney Afternoon
Ducktales. Rescue rangers. Talespin. Darkwing Duck. Goof Troop. Aladdin. Mighty Ducks. (And Gargoyles in the middle of that, but that's a seperate entry) All amazing, all classic, form that era where Disney really knew what they were doing. Hundreds of episodes, great animation and characters and yadda yadda. I wish I had never rewatched them though, because the fond memories of a 5 or 10 year old just don't hold up upon repeat viewing 20 years later. Shows are still good, animation and music and stories and voice work are all solid… but the memories were better. I'm really tempted to revisit Aladdin, but I'm sure I'd just be annoyed by the lousy villains… and not as impressed by the good ones as I used to be.
15. Batman and Robin/Superman/Batman Beyond/Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
Not technically the same series, but it is the same universe with the same writers,animators, and voice actors pretty consistently throughout most, with continuity and nods to the other shows and even crossovers. It may have been a different name and different leads, but they were all good solid shows, easily THE best American animated product of the 90's pretty solidly. If you ignore the name changes, it was basically a Batman series that ran for like 17 years, and kept the quality up pretty much the whole way through. And though I watched them all regularly, over and over, none ever quite had the magic and draw me as Batman: The Animated Series… which I will give a slot much higher up on my list. I just wouldn't feel right giving 5 or 6 slots in my top 20 to what I feel in my mind, is basically the same show.
14. Looney Tunes
Yes, this should be much higher, but I rewatched some of them during the New Years marathon, and maybe its just having grown up on them and having seen them hundreds of times, they didn't quite have the magic for me anymore. But these characters have entertained how many generations? Our parents, and even grandparents, grew up with these characters. They still hold up well today, and have inspired countless spin-offs and sequels (almost none of which have been anywhere near as good.)
13. Animaniacs & Pinky and the Brain
Another case where I feel its the same show with two different names, particularly since one actually came from the other. Pinky and Brain was brilliant, but tainted by that season with Elmyra… and Animaniacs was always only half good. That half was brilliant, but it was horribly marred by Mindy and Buttons, Hip Hippos, and Chicken Boo, which I always only tolerated to get to the other stuff, and even Slappy and Goodfeathers were pretty hit or miss. It was a very mixed bag. The great stuff was GREAT, but the meh stuff sucked. This would be way higher on the list if a solid... half of it, didn't suck.
12. Pokemon
Another guilty pleasure getting in there more for comfortable familiarity than any actual quality inherent in the show. Its aimed at 5 years olds and extremely repetitive, but I've grown up on it and the games. Nothing ever happens but its safe and comfortable and familiar and 600+ episodes and 13+ movies long, so it also treads on that nostalgia/comfort thing.
11. Dragonball/Dragonball Z
Uhm, yeah. If I have to explain this one, you don't know me very well. Padded as hell, but at its base core its the best fighting combat series there is, and probably ever will be, with a lot of heart and lovable/memorable characters. It is at the core of the number 2 show on my list, but filler kind of kills it for me. Once Dragonball Kai, with its removal of all the filler has run its course, I may have a different impression, but the original content will always be burned in my brain.
10.One Piece
I know what you're saying. "Robby, how could One Piece possibly NOT be in one of your top three? Why is it so far down?" Well, I freaking LOVE One Piece. I read the manga every week before it even comes out, own many soundtracks, have watched the anime episodes in raw Japanese, and I spend a great deal of my free internet time on a certain message board dedicated to it. But this is my top animation list, and frankly, aside from a couple key episodes, I haven't actually watched the anime since Skypeia. Its the manga I love, but the anime has reached that point of padding that it starts to fall apart a little, and I've never been a huge fan of their super bright color choice for the show. You all already know the joys of OP. Its stupid and goofy, while at other times dramatic, or badass, but always full of surprises and a surprsingly light attitude. The fact that there's probably another 10 years in it makes me happy. I can't even begin to summarize all that I like about it. It is the guilty pleasure that is shonen, at its best, already longer than all of Dragonball, and with no sign of slowing down. Its my favorite current manga, but its just NOT my anime. Same applies to Dragonball, really.
9. Beast Wars
Speak of G1 all you want (but watch it without the nostalgia goggles first) This was my transformers series. Actual good plots, amazing (for the time) CG animation, GREAT characters and personalities, continuity, a competent villain surrounded by may stupid villains…. Scott McNeil's characters alone were all great, Dinobot is a truly great character with amazing depth, and Code of Hero is possibly the single most watched 22 minutes of my life. I loved this show and really need to pick it up on DVD. It would probably be higher up, bu most of my fond memories spin directly out of season 2. Season 1 was many many random escapades of filler and some really bad episodes, and Season 3... was missing the chemistry of Dinobot interacting with everyone. Black Arachnia and Depth Charge couldn't quite fill the void. (well, okay, it HAD Dinobot, but...) Waspinator is also one of the greatest most lovable evil characters ever made. That his place in life to be destroyed time and time again was an editorial fluke, original designed to get his slow speech pattern out of the way, which then turned into a running gag, was a lot of fun.
8.Reboot
Another one from Mainframe. Great characters, creative setting, the first CGI show. Great villains in Megabyte (RIP Tony Jay) and Hexadecimal, and the other stuff, the main cast was a lot of fun too. Loved Frisket. Bob and Dot's arguing love/hate relationship was great. Mainframe was AMAZING in those early years, and Reboot gets huge points for adding continuity in season 2, and the plot arc in season 3, holy crap that was FANTASTIC. Growing the cast up, making it all dark, paying off little things that were innocent in the first season, and just the actual arc in general, just… wow. Season 4 had the unfortunate problem of being packaged movies... and the last 4 eps never being produced.. Maybe if the series had simply ended on season 3, (and that great musical number) or if season 4 had finished, it would be higher up. But still, great, imaginative show. One of the best episodes of the series involved preparing for a birthday party which the main villain then crashed in order to play guitar!
7. Avatar: The Last Airbender
Amazing, amazing, amazing series. Superb animation, music, culture, fight scenes, story arc, characterization, comedy, easily the best American produced show this decade. If I had made this list a year and a half ago, this would be duking it out for my number 1 slot. First 2 seasons are nearly flawless, but the third suffers from uneven pacing, a horrendous airing schedule (not the show's fault, but still it affected me.) and an ending that feels like the writers thought they had another 15 episodes yet when they only had 4. Would be much higher on the list if the last act was stronger. And though its a completely personal bias, they should have at least ADRESSED Zutara, which they knew full well they were doing. One line is all I asked, one!
6.The Slayers
One of my first animes. 104 episodes, 5 movies, and a whole mess of ovas, books, and other special such things. Great comedy. Great drama. Great characters. I still love the art, and the end of NEXT is one of my all time favorite scenes of anything. Love love love the show, and I honestly don't even know what it is. It’s a comedy… except when it’s serious. It’s epic adventure… except when it wanders off to enter a cross-dressing tennis tournament. Lina’s an egotistical, somewhat self-centered bandit killer who blows shit up whenever she’s angry and has earned the unflattering nickname ‘The enemy of all who live’… Except she’s also saved the entire world three or four times simply because it was the right thing to do. Is she a heroine? An anti-heroine? Jack Bauer in a training bra? I don’t know. Slayers is a series where an episode can start with a knock-down drag-out argument over where to have lunch and end with the cast crossing swords and magic with a pair of demons across the rooftops of the same little village… And none of it feels odd or contrived. Throw in characters that trade the usual fantasy adventure black and white morality for a riot of color and myriad shades of grey, and the best I can come up with is: Slayers is a slice of life series about a tremendously interesting life, and best of all, it’s always open-ended, so you know all the characters you love are still out there, having more kickass adventures after the final credits roll. Slayers Revolution (the fourth season) wasn't all that great, but the music and characters and story were all full of great reunion and nostalgia. If season 4 had been as good as any of the previous seasons, this would probably be a notch up. If it had been worse, it would have knocked it back.
5.Lupin the Third
This is so much a part of my life I didn't even THINK about it when I started this list last night, even though it literally fills up an entire shelf with videos and dvds. 5 VERY memorable characters with distinct personalities and moments, hundreds of tv show episodes, dozens of movies, of which I've seen most. (Which are also hit or miss). I have a drawing pinned up on my wall, bought a bunch of manga, and my art style is alrered jut a little to match Lupin's wry grin. Sometimes terrible, sometimes brilliant, almost always at least a little fun, this franchise is iconic, and I love it to death. (Castle of Cagliostro is one of my all time favorite movies.) The downside to it is, there HAS been so much material, that some of it has been REALLY bad, and taking the good AND bad into consideration, it only falls into this spot on the list. But if it were just the good stuff? It'd be a contender for the number 2 spot.
4. Sonic SatAM
Great character chemistry, great premise, great voices, great animation for the time, this one truly holds up. Sonic and Sally's argumentive romantic love/hate relationship has rarely been matched, its just GREAT chemistry. Bunny is sweet. And Antoine is a total doof, but fun. Plus, I loved the games too. Shame the other versions of Sonic couldn't be as good. The games, the comics, or the other shows. I'd gladly give up 200 issues of comic for another proper single season of the show. This would be higher on the list if there were more episodes and might vie for my number 1 or 2 spot if it only had a third season. (And didn't end on a cliffhanger. Dangit shows, stop ending on cliffhangers! They don't guarantee you an extra season!)
3.Berserk
Dark, violent, incredible characterization, an awesome abridged series, insane plot twists, heartwrenching ending, memorable characters, my personal favorite story setting (midevil fantasy) , amazing music. This show was just sheer fantastic. It would be higher on my list if the story actually ended, or if the anime covered more of the manga's ground. But this was one of my earlier animes, and it was everything american cartoons were not, its no wonder I loved it so. Its still amazing, i own all the manga, and artbooks, and its just… really good, so it stays high on my list. The Golden Age storyline is just... amazing, pure and simple. Is it odd that I don't place the OP anime highly because I love the manga, but the Berserk anime gets ranking? I suppose, but as good as the manga is, to me, whenever I think of Berserk, I think of just that arc, just the stuff the anime covered. It was my first exposure to it, and even though the manga has run for 12 years more since then, and done a lot of interesting things, its never been quite as good as that one single, very HUMAN drama arc that the anime covered, and instead became a bit more monster of the week.
2. Batman: The Animated Series
This is the one that launched all the other shows earlier in my list, and for being the first ad best, it gets to be higher up. People still talk about this series today, it truly is definitive. Kevin Conroy is Batman, and no one argues about it. Mark Hamill will always be my Joker. The style of animation was ground breaking. It wasn't hyper detailed like many other previous action shows, but instead, we got actual animation. The people involved took 50 years of Batman material and hand picked the very best into one big juicy chunk. I don't know if this should be this high, but since in my mind I count all the series that spun off of it as the same, I feel as if it ran for 14 years, mostly awesome throughout. A classic for the ages.
1. Gargoyles
I have made more friends, written more fanfic, spent more time thinking about this show than any other. Went through forums for it… met my first girlfriend through it... I have WORKED ON THE OFFICIAL COMIC BOOK FOR A YEAR. And thats just the side effects of the show. Really, words can't describe how good it was. Everything Batman did right, PLUS it was original. Animation, actors, writing, etc. etc. etc. It had a really weak chunk in it during the world tour, and its been many many years since it aired so the original joys of it have long since faded into sheer familiarity, but I just can't deny the sheer level of influence it had on my life or the number of lifelong friends I made because of it. The show, and its fandom, have given me a lot these last sixteen years, friends, adventures, even love, and for that, along with being a truly great series in its own right, means it still gets my top spot. It rocks (pun intended) pure and simple. [/hide]
SPECIAL BONUS UNHONORABLE MENTION
[hide]Captain Planet
Seriously. Before I remembered Lupin I actually had this at number 5 on my list. The show is awful, but I've gotten more entertainment out of it than practically anything, including stuff that tried to be funny. I've mocked it endlessly, exaggerated character quirks, and think the animation, message, and cast are all terrible, i think all the characters are idiots, and just… every single last thing about it is BAD. Yet it amuses me and I bring it up often and its great for all the WRONG reasons. The stupid American and the bitchy Russian who is no longer Russian, and the kid from South America who has a pet monkey... these are all iconic, I don't have to even say their names. A show SO bad, its good. I would buy it on dvd for the right price, and then proceed to do commentaries on every episode. Hate the show... but its entertained me oh oh so much. Sheer unintentional entertainment value gets it on the list, sheer crapitude keeps it off.[/hide]
 
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