Top 50 Anime – 50 through 41

50: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

This one I have trouble placing on the list. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is fun, and I’ve watched a lot of it and I’ve read a lot of it. But it’s a lot, and it starts to feel a little bit the same over time. That said, it is a fun one. I like the main slime, and I like the world building. The story is an isekai, so that means that the main character is getting drops into another world . Well, this time it’s as a slime, not as a person, and which is a solid twist on it. Because it is focused on the monsters of the world versus the humans, dwarves, and elves.

Like I said, the overall story itself isn’t that unique. It’s a lot of the same thing over and over again. A group coming after them and then repeating the process, which is a fine trope to use. And the main character does branch out some and isn’t just a basic slime the whole time. And while that is nice, it also makes it a bit more traditional of an isekai that way.

49: Ancient Magus Bride

Now to one that I really need to watch more of. I’ve watched most of the whole first season and it is a gorgeous show. The Ancient Magus Bride is a cool and weird romp through the fey realms and fey characters. But it is very meandering. So while I very much enjoy the aesthetic the anime itself sometimes feels lacking. At the same time, the anime is enjoyable because you kind of float along with the main character Chise. She is very much at the whim of the world and kind of detached from everything and so you kind of feel like you’re with her going through it.

48: Kill la Kill

Now for something completely different. I’m going from more comedy to more serious and back again. We’ll see if this tread holds up. This anime is completely bonkers as two factions fight in a school over fashion and just do completely absurd battles with a nudist group hanging out in the story as well. It’s over the top, completely absurd, and has a ton of fan service to it. But with all of that, it tries to be somewhat serious in the messaging of the story. What that is, it’s been a while since I watched it, but it’s mainly just bonkers.

This is one for someone who wants to watch anime at the peak this is weird anime. But you’ll find yourself liking the characters and if you’re like me, enjoying the absurdity of the show. I think if the show was longer, it’d feel like too much, but it moves fast and doesn’t overstay the welcome.

47: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

For some people it might be a travesty that Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is this low. I know it’s one of the classics in the anime realm. For me, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of it. And it was a lot of it in a single day, so that was a fun time. Again a more serious anime, the pattern will stop, eventually. But I liked the depth of it and the intrigue of the world and everything that happened. All of that said, it feels now a bit paint by numbers where I’ve seen through. That might change over time, but some of that is because it is an influence on other anime out there.

46: Fire Force

Okay, the pattern continues,. Though this one is a blend of action and comedy and well a lot of fire and absurdity. I enjoy that about this one and I consider it to be one of those kind of keep on in the background and don’t pay too much attention to it.

Demons, I believe, are causing fires, but are they really and what’s going on with the world. There are people out there who fight fire with fire, but the whole thing is just over the top. And it’s one of those that blends a lot of things into a fast moving shonen anime. Nothing really stands out as being great, but the whole of it is a good time and a lot of fun.

45: Full Metal Panic

Then we break the pattern with another one that kind of goes between serious and absolutely absurd. Full Metal Panic is a grand time of serious episodes and then completely absurd moments. It reminds me of other anime that I’ve watched where you have your protagonist protecting someone who is a McGuffin that the bad organization wants. And if that person wants to be protected, probably not, they just want their own normal life back again. That’s pretty much painting by the numbers, the absurdity that you get a times in Full Metal Panic make it a fun and fast watch.

44: Our Last Crusade

This one might go up higher as I catch up on it. I didn’t get through all of the first season, but our first romance on the list. This one is about two factions who are fighting against each other. Well, the two main characters are on opposite sides. And they find themselves working together, and falling for each other, but neither of them can admit it. It’s a good premise, a bit of a Romeo and Juliet to it, without the death likely coming at the end, but we’ll see. Maybe it will play that the whole way through, but it feels like it’s going against the tone of the show.

It’s heartfelt with the main characters and their desire for the world to be a better place. Plus you mix in some humor as they try and keep it hidden. Plus there’s a whole crazy magical world where neither side is really truthful about what is going on. So both sides are finding out what is actually happening, which likely is how they’ll end up together in the end.

43: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Love You

I expect this one to go up over time as it’s really really really really goofy. See what I did there? But at the same time it works, it’s definitely got fan service and so many odd situations. But let’s just talk about the premise and you can decide if this is one for you. The main character has no luck with love, in middle school he is rejected 100 times. When he goes to a temple to pray the deity there says that he’ll find his true soulmate. And everyone is supposed to have one.

Well, clearly from the title, he has 100, so that is going on with that. Turns out the deity while filling out the paperwork on this guy, yup it’s that absurd, accidentally put down 100 because they were watching a movie that they considered just perfect. Yes, it is that absurd. And if your soulmate rejects you or you don’t fall for your soulmate they will die. So now so 100 people don’t die, or at least some don’t die, he has to have 100 Girlfriends who really really really really love him.

42: Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a Starter Town?

Let’s keep the humor train going with another really long title. This one basically says, what if a world has video game rules. Not an isekai, but say there were spots in the world that were more dangerous and harder to live. So the weakest kid from this part of the world, allegedly weakest, shows up in a town where adventurers are trained and head out to start adventuring. He wants to become an adventurer, turns out that he’s stronger than everyone already. It’s goofy, it’s fun, and while it definitely has harem elements, less so than the last one, it doesn’t spend too much time on fan service. It’s more about the absurdity of how strong the kid is.

The storyline itself isn’t anything that special. It’s a world where demons are attacking and there are groups trying to bring them back. If that sounds familiar, well, it’s because it’s really a common trope. But the play of comedy and action works for me in this one.

41: Fruits Basket

The final one for this ten is Fruits Basket. I’ve only seen the newer version and I have an episode or two to finish it. I need to get back to that and do it soon. But this one is much more serious in nature. A good hearted orphan gets brought into a family where everyone is one of the zodiac animals. And if they are hugged, I believe it is, they turn into that. Plus there’s a curse around it, and a whole lot of other weird family dynamics.

The main character is so earnest in what she does and who she is that she pulls everyone out of their shells. And I like how the story is built around that and how it’s about her finding out more about the Soma (zodiac) family members and what they are like. Almost all of them have good arcs throughout the show. And it doesn’t shy away from some heavier topics, so a good one for a more serious sit down and watch.

Final Thoughts

More coming up on my Top 50 Anime (of all time) 2024 Edition. Let me know which one is the most interesting to you? Is there one that stands out or one that you want to watch? What I notice from this section is that there are a number that I need to pick back up with and continue.

Though some of them, Ancient Magus Bride, Fire Force, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Our Last Crusade, I’m not running back to do that right now. Honestly, there are just enough anime out there that it’s a lot to try and keep up with everything and there are new ones coming out. But I do want to finish them up, and for Fruits Basket, we’re so close to the end, we need to wrap it up.

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5 – Sword Art Online
#5 was actually the hardest spot to fill, because I have a number of anime that I want to put here after a definite few that are some of my top ones. But Sword Art Online (SAO) is just a solid anime that has had multiple stories through it, regular SAO, Gun Gale Online, Ordinal Scale, and they are all solid. It tells an interesting story in the first season as well, where you have the main character (and a lot more people) who are going into a full immersion video game, like they’ve done before, but the creator of the game is making his masterpiece and legacy and traps them all in the game. And, if you die in the game, you die in real life, but if you can beat the final boss of the game, you can escape the game and free everyone from it. But that means clearing a lot of levels. SAO isn’t a show about clearing levels, though, it’s about how people adjust to living in this digital world and the problems that arise from it. Then the other seasons deal with more virtual reality or augmented reality, but not in the same way as the first season. There’s definitely fan service in this show, but not a ton, and the story can be simplistic at times, but the premise was interesting to me.

4 – Assassination Classroom
A silly anime, it actually ended up having more heart to it than I expected, which I enjoyed. Assassination Classroom is an insane premise, which most anime area, and from the sounds of it should be about a classroom full of assassins, instead, it’s about a class of middle school (maybe junior high) age kids who have been tasked by the government to kill their teacher, a weird yellow tentacle monster. That is an insane premise, but what you get is a classroom of misfits who eventually have to start working together and growing after getting in trouble previously, all of this being led by their weird yellow tentacle monster teacher. I don’t think this anime is for everyone, but I think it did a good job of doing what it was trying to do and tell a compelling story of the growth of the kids.

3 – Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Long title, good fantasy anime. This is one of the things that really got me checking out LitRPG on Audible, for better or worse (fairly often they were worse), but in Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeons (IIWTPUGIAD (not catchy)), it does a good job of creating an interesting world and an interesting story. And it does a trope that I enjoy, the clueless hero, he’s very earnest, and he wants to do the best possible after being rescued from this magical resetting dungeon by Aiz Wallenstein, this extremely talent female dungeon delver. Then there are a bunch of other characters who may or may not be interested in the main character. It has some of the harem anime feel to it, which isn’t a genre that I care about, but the main character is so earnest and caring that it doesn’t feel as gazy as some of them, but it does still have fan service in it. I also like how it ties in real world pantheons in an interesting way, so it’s not just a generic fantasy setting.

2 – Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is a very immersive space opera that pulls you in not just through the story telling, which is well done, but so much through the music. The music of each episode helps inform the story that is being told and draws you further into what you are watching. It also is really well done and the variety of music throughout the show, because each episode has it’s own feel, is really impressive. This is an anime that has good character depth as well, even with being thrown into the middle of their story, you start to get an idea of who the characters are, and what they have gone through in their lives.

1 – Steins;Gate
This has been #1 for me for a while, this time travel anime is just well put together with a good cast of characters. I really feel like they do a good job of developing those characters as well. And while there are definitely characters that can fall into various anime tropes, they do a really good job of keeping most characters out of them and even the tropy characters end up having more depth than it seems. The time travel is also really well done. Time travel is one of those things that I generally like in concept, but too many shows and movies end up having time travel become so convoluted that it doesn’t work, or too simple that you can poke holes in how they are doing things. Steins;Gate does a good job of making something simple enough that you can generally understand the concept of it, but complicated enough that it doesn’t feel like time travel can be easily solved.

As always there are some honorable mentions that I need to add in as well.

Honorable Mention:
Ghost Story
Fruits Basket
The Devil is a Part-Timer
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
My Hero Academia
My Roommate is a Cat
Dagashi Kashi

There are a lot of anime out there that I want to watch more of that I either can’t easily find on Funimation or just haven’t had the time for yet. But Ancient Magus Bride, Fairie Gone, and Afterschool Dice Club are all that I’ve watched a chunk of and want to watch more that could make it to my list eventually.

What are some of your favorite anime? Do any of the ones I’ve listed here sound interesting to you?

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1 Steins;Gate
I love this anime. It’s smart with well written and developing characters throughout the story. It’s also one of the few stories that gets time travel right. Too often you just end up with a convoluted mess, but Steins;Gate turns that mess into artwork. We’ve talked about it before, so go check out those articles if you are curious about it.

2 Cowboy Bebop
This anime is close to being number one with as much as I love Steins;Gate. Cowboy Bebop just has this lyrical beauty to it from the animation of the world and characters to the actual music which really drives the show. I feel like I’m about ready to go back and watch it again because of how well put together it is. It came out the same year as Firefly and in some ways I feel like there are a few similarities with them. But the show is just amazing and the music is the best use of music in any media that I can think of.

3 My Hero Academia
I believe that this one is a new one to the list, but I really dig it. It’s a world where a lot of people have super powers, some use them for good and some use them for evil. The main character, however, has no powers and he wants powers more than anything, so he can be like his hero All Might. He has a chance meeting with All Might which leads to some major changes in his life. The story has emotion and a bit too much crying at times, but they delve into characters and create something that has those super hero moments but also has so much heart.

4 Space Dandy
He’s a Dandy guy, in space. Another anime that uses music well, Space Dandy is just an absurd romp with an incompetent creature hunter. This anime is completely over the top and quite pulp like in how it’s created. The characters are bumbling and arrogant, but generally end up having their heart in the right place. Each episode stands pretty much by itself, so what happens in one episode doesn’t matter for the next. This is by far the goofiest of all the animes on the list, but it is so great.

5 Assassination Classroom
This was really tough for the last one, and I think last year this was my #2 anime or #3. Assassination Classroom is not that accurate a title, because it makes you think of lots of violence, and this is a goofy junior high school anime about  a bunch of misfit students coming together. With their teacher being a crazy yellow tentacle monster who is going to blow up the earth unless they can kill him. They take the time and look at each character and you get to see how the teacher helps them grow into better people.

There are so many options for honorable mentions as well, and animes that I need to finish watching that might end up cracking the top 5, but who knows. Soon I’m going to have to do top 10’s just so that I don’t have 20 honorable mentions.

Honorable Mention:
Sword Art Online
Ancient Magus Bride
Blood Blockade Battlefront
The Devil is a Part-Timer
Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon

What are some of your favorite animes? Are there any that you think I should watch?