Over time we'll build a pool of the top 20 most recommended, loved and revered by our community. The anime listed here will be not only high quality content, but also entries that made us rethink the genre or added something entirely new to it. We will aim to have most of the top 20 reviewed prior to having the list complete.
Until further notice - top 20 Essential Anime is a misnomer. You'll notice we don't have ratings on our reviews and that's because it's something we don't really believe in. I think I speak for anyone with a brain when I say quantifying a series based on it's rank against every other series in a vaguely similar style of animation is ridiculous.
However...
On the flipside everybody wants easily digestible information. There's a wealth of information around why people want lists, so it makes sense to give them what they want. The problem with lists is that they tend to do their job too well, i.e. they pigeonhole an anime. You start needing lists for "top 10 fighting anime" and "top 10 old school anime" instead of just a top 10 list.
When you cast your eyes upon our list, please understand that every entry has had some love put into it, and the ranking is more of a rough guide...
Last reviewed: 26/6/13
- Death Note
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Steins;Gate
- Cowboy Bebop
- Code Geass
- Clannad
Honourable Mentions:
While Naruto, One Piece, Gintama and Bleach have all kept me on the edge of my seat at one point I feel that in this list they are not relevant. I say that as objectively as I can, because while they had their amazing bits, quite frankly, they also had a shit tonne of fillers and build up with them. I think that when you have anime that can do the same thing with more passion and in a shorter timeframe, it's clearly superior.
While Naruto, One Piece, Gintama and Bleach have all kept me on the edge of my seat at one point I feel that in this list they are not relevant. I say that as objectively as I can, because while they had their amazing bits, quite frankly, they also had a shit tonne of fillers and build up with them. I think that when you have anime that can do the same thing with more passion and in a shorter timeframe, it's clearly superior.