Top 50 Anime – 10 through 1

10. My Senpai is Annoying

I like my romance anime and this is clearly not an exception. It’s one of my top anime, by My Senpai is Annoying is more than just a romance it’s also a really good comedy. And it’s different. Now, not completely different, two people from different walks or aesthetics fall for each other. That’s normal. They don’t want to admit it or don’t feel like they can, also normal. But it’s set in an office place which is not that common.

It changes up the feel with that setting. And I appreciate how it can handle workplace and just work life in general. Some of the comedy is around the romance, and some of it is around the workplace. And it has elements of the workplace that feel somewhat real as well, so for me as no longer a high school or college student, it’s a bit more relatable. And I appreciate what sometimes mirrors reality.

9. Space Dandy

He’s a Dandy Guy… in Space.

This is from the same creator who did Cowboy Bebop. But Space Dandy is way goofier and further out there. There are a lot of really fun and weird things that happen in this show. It’s about a space explorer who is looking to find a new and rare creature, somewhere in the galaxy so he can make it big, get rich, and enjoy his life. That is never going to happen. One reason is most of the creatures have already been found. Other reason, he’s just not that good at his job.

The supporting cast is great as well. There is a depressed cat creature and a robot. Both of whom really flesh out the crew with more randomness and weirdness. This show is one that’s great for just throwing it on in the background and watching it on repeat. I should come back to it soon as it’s been a while, and it’s not that long, so easy to watch.

8. Is It Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

The title is long, and it really doesn’t tell it all about the show. This show has a lot more going on than a kid who is trying to hit on girls in a dungeon. There is a complex world of gods on a planet where there is a tower that adventurers with the blessings of the gods, or support of them, can go adventuring. The gods lend the characters their expertise, and the adventurers support the gods.

Bell is a low ranked adventurer who is the only follower of the goddess Hestia. She’s kind of a secondary god in the grand scheme of things, but she tries hard. When he almost dies to a minotaur in the tower, because of another group, he comes into contact with Ais. She’s one of the most powerful adventurers. And it becomes Bell’s goal to level up so that he can reach her power level and he’ll feel worthy to ask her out.

The story, at it’s basic, isn’t that complex. There are some arcs to the anime that are just okay. But the first season, I’ve watched that several times. It’s just again a comfortable anime to watch.

7. Trapped in a Dating Sim

I almost feel like I have this one too low. But the other ones on the list are amazing as well. This one, though, I got obsessed with and binged it quickly. It’s an isekai, but instead of getting pulled in as a hero in a fantasy setting, the main character finds himself as a background character in an otome game that he’d just been playing. He knows the game well, so he starts to make a good life for himself as a background character.

Unfortunately there is another character that he didn’t count on showing up. It doesn’t make sense to him and it breaks the game world. So as he tries to keep the game and the story on the course so he can live a nice life, well, he keeps on messing that up as well. The main character has one of the most annoying voices, but it’s played perfectly for who he is. This is just a really fun anime and it feels different. It makes fun of some tropes, and the world building, surprisingly good.

6. Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun

What if one of your classmates in high school writes an manga that you read and like? Not only that, but he wants you to help him. And, of course, you have a crush on him as well, but he’s too oblivious to notice. That’s the plot of Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun. This one is just a light hearted and fun anime that looks into the world of manga. It’s again, one of those romance ones where, in this case, just one character is oblivious to the romance.

One thing that I really like about Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun is that it’s basically always a positive show. The main character, she’s extremely positive. And the show itself, with a few exceptions, doesn’t have too much drama. Even when there is drama, there is always a light heartedness and kind of hope or absurdity to it.

5. Rent-A-Girlfriend

If you’d asked me where Rent-A-Girlfriend would rank after, say, 10 episodes, I’d have said not high. But there was something intriguing about it. The story follows a college student who gets dumped and to make himself feel better gets a rental girlfriend. Just someone to go on a date with. Turns out, that person is his next door neighbor. And through a series of unfortunate events, involving their grandmothers, they now need to continue pretending, just for a little bit longer.

That doesn’t really even get you to the good part of the anime. As it continues and both of them struggle with the fact that they are gaining actual feelings for each other, it turns really good. And where as Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun is light, this one has a fair amount of drama and heavier situations. In fact, where I’m up to, it’s very heavy and emotional and written well. There still is sophomoric humor in it, but it’s less and the depth surprised me.

4. My Dress-Up Darling

Another one that after two episodes, I thought I’d skip. I like the premise, a nobody boy who works in his grandpa’s hina doll shop while he’s going to high school finds out that the most popular girl in school is into anime, manga, and cosplay. Things that he doesn’t really care about. But when she finds out that he knows how to sew, she immediately recruits him to help her.

The first two episodes kind of lean into the second hand embarrassment too hard. But as the show goes and as a romance starts to bud between the two of them, it lessens. But one of the highlights of the show, their relationship is the main one, is how it treats and normalizes cosplay for everyone. It’s not something that weird people do, and when people are treated as weird for doing it, or for making hina dolls, the female lead stands up to people. It has a really positive message throughout it while being completely over the top filled with fan service.

3. Shangri-La Frontier

Another one that might move up, though my top 2, I really do love so much. But this one is one that I’m further ahead in the manga. But the anime adaptation of the manga, so much fun to watch. Sunraku, the main character, loves to play the worst of the worst video games. Not just play them, but he masters them and beats them. But when the shop owner at his local video game store recommends Shangri-La Frontier as a change of pace, a top tier level game, he decides to.

The anime mainly takes place in that game. But we do see him some in the real world, and other times in some of the trash games that he’s played. For me, what makes this stand apart from a lot of video game anime is the attention to detail to the video game world building. A lot of them tend to be PvP games or a generic fantasy game. This one has a whole story that the writer clearly has created around the world. So that is unique and I really enjoy it for that.

2. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

A romance, drama all around two people who are two of the top people at Super Smash Bros (TakFam in their world) in Japan. One of them just loves the game and life is something that is a chore. The other, she puts the same effort into life as she does the game. To her, life is equally a god tier game. It’s one to be beat and conquered like any video game out there. When the meet in real life, they realize they go to the same school, and Aoi, the girl, is not pleased with Tomozaki. She looks up to him in the game because she can never beat him.

Aoi convinces Tomozaki to give life a try. He’s not convinced, some people have the advantages in life. But when she turns it into a game for him, something that he can attack like he does being the best at TakFam and how she attacks life, he begins to experience it more. And even starts to realize some things about life that he differs from Aoi on. This is an anime with a lot of heart to it. And I think it resonates at times. Sometimes life just feels tough or like others get all the breaks, but it offers a lot of different ways to look at life.

1. Sword Art Online

I’ve watched the first season of Sword Art Online so many times. I need to watch more of it, and I have, but that would probably require another rewatch of the first few seasons. So that’s likely to happen soon. But this is an isekai, kind of, but not really. It’s about characters, people, who are trapped in a video game. It’s a death game, you die in the game, you die in real life. But if you beat the game, everyone will be set free. Kirito is bound and determined to do that and clear all the levels of the game.

But the anime really isn’t about that. It’s about the people who are stuck in the game. Kirito tries to do it on his own. But he keeps on meeting characters who help him and who grow with him. And sometimes, characters who don’t make it. The first arc of this anime is amazing. Some of the subsequent ones, slightly less so, but a lot of them are just good. And the character developments and interactions really work. I like how the show is about the people, mainly, and the game secondly.

It’s one that is very popular. And I know some people look down on it because of that. Or think that it’s too over hyped. Yes, I love it, and I know it’s not perfect. Technically there are better anime, but for me Sword Art Online is just amazing and a great anime to watch again and again.

Final Thoughts

I could already add another anime to the list. Solo Leveling I now have watched enough that it’d likely hit the top 10. Again it’s one that I’ve read the manga or manwa technically for. And there are other anime that I’m looking forward to this year that I’m guessing will make the list. Kaiju #8 and Dandadan are two that I think are going to be great. And others that I should watch, like Frieren and Sign of Affection.

Let me know if there are some you think I should watch. Next year I might do a top 100 anime. This year I was just off from being able to do that. But I imagine that I’ll get through another 10-20 anime this year and be over 100. And at a point where I don’t think the bottom of the list is complete garbage as an anime.

What should I watch next? And which is your favorite from this list?

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The Story

There is a giant dungeon in the middle of the town of Orario. It’s a place where adventurers can go and test themselves and grow their stats. However, you don’t get stats and you can’t become an adventurer unless you are part of a familia. These familia are headed up by gods and goddesses who have come down from the heaven to interact with their children. Bell Cranel is one such adventurer who can only find one god who will work with him, the goddess Hestia, because he is too small and doesn’t look like a normal adventurer. Hestia, also doesn’t look like a normal god and doesn’t have a familia of her own until she brings Bell into the fold. Bell, in the dungeon, encounters Ais Wallenstein, a top level adventurer from the Loki familia when she saves him from a minotaur and he falls for her. This makes Hestia very jealous but grants Bell a skill which allows him to level up quickly.

The Show

Season 1 vs Season 2

So, there are a few things to cover with how this show goes. Let’s start with the first two seasons, since that is what I’ve seen. There is a big tonal shift between the two seasons. The first season is all about Hestia and Bell and how Bell is growing into a hero. The second season focuses more on how the gods interact with each other and I’m not really sure we end up going into the dungeon at all. It is a bit jarring, and while there are parts of it that are still well done, it feels much more scattered in focus, which is a shame, because the first season left more to be explored in the dungeon and with Bell growing. I’m not sure if season three is more focused or not, but I will check it out when it’s dubbed. Season 2 also leans more into the fan service in a different way, I’ll talk about that later.

Sub vs Dub

Before watching the dubbed version of the show recently, I have watched the subbed version as well. The dubbed version is better between the two of them. However, I wanted to watch the subbed version and will likely continue with that in Season 3 now that I’ve watched dubbed because I am working from home, so I can put it on in the background. The dubbed voice acting is good for some characters, but for others is a bit stiff, which is a shame.

Fan Service

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? is what is known as a harem anime. along with other things. Bell Cranel basically ends up surrounded for the most part by girls. However, he’s more of a clueless leader of the harem versus some anime where characters seem to realize that girls love him. Bell really only has eyes for Ais (pronounced the same) and a lot of the other girls have eyes for Bell. Hestia in particular wants Bell all to herself. And there is fan service because of that, Hestia wears small clothing and is buxom and the same can be said for other goddesses and adventurers as well. In the first season, there is a lot of fan service, but it’s done in a way that really highlights how Bell is such a pure character and only has his focus on Ais. In the second season, we delve into a story arc with Ishtar who runs the redlight distract of Orario and it is much more on display there in a way that is very different than season one. I felt like that arc really pushed it over the top in a way that it didn’t need to.

The Story

But with all of those things, is the story good. Season 1 is one of my favorite anime seasons of all time. They just do a great job of creating this main character who is so focused on becoming the best adventurer and becoming the strongest or catching up to Ais so he is worth her attention. And the interplay between Hestia, the other gods, and Bell is really good. The second season, like I’ve said before, loses some of that focus as the story expands. And the story jumps around a bit more. Now, the first arc in season two is quite good with the Apollo familia, but the subsequent two are less interesting. I want to spend more time in the dungeon and I want more of Bell and Ais, and Hestia complaining about Ais. I hope that season three, whether or not we go back to the dungeon feels like a more cohesive story.

Who Should Watch This Anime?

I do have some final thoughts on this. I have talked about how there is a fair amount of fan service. For that reason, Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? won’t be for everyone. I’ve enjoyed both of my watches of it, though, like I said, the second season wasn’t as good. I think that even with the fan service most anime fans will like season one. The anime has a heavy LitRPG type feel to it, and tells a good story in season one. If that season is just fine, then I’d skip season two. I’m not sure that I’ll ever go back and watch season two again, though I might depending on if more comes out for the anime and I feel like I need to catch up. But season one is good, season two drops off.

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