Top 25 Anime of the 2000s: #10-6
#10: The Big O
It used to be that Toonami (& to an extent Adult Swim) would air whatever anime those in charge at Williams Street wanted to, but it eventually became all business in terms of what would get air time. Companies would pay Toonami & Adult Swim for the rights to have their shows on TV. But before this practice took over, those execs at Toonami fell in love with a short-lived anime series called "the Big O" in 2001. So much so that, despite the fact that it was only 13 episodes long & ended in a cliffhanger, they aired the series on their famous action cartoon block. But since the series did pretty poorly in Japan, there seemed little hope of a second season ever happening. That is until Williams Street & Cartoon Network stepped in. If Japan wasn't going to fund a second season, they were. So against all odds, in 2003 a second season of Big O finally debuted in both Japan & the US- this time on Adult Swim. Those responsible for making anime popular in America were now directly funding production for a series that was never thought to ever get a proper conclusion. Cartoon Network was even credited as co-production on the second season, & Sean Akins & Jason DeMarco- the two guys in charge of Toonami- were credited as executive producers. It can't get much cooler than that for a fan of anime.
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#9: Death Note
Few anime titles can stir up a debate of ethics like Death Note can. Was Light's vision right or wrong? Was L the hero or the villain? What would YOU do if you had a Death Note? Based on the popular Shonen Jump manga, the anime adaptation was a monster title when it premiered in 2006. But the real big news came in early 2007 when Viz licensed the title & announced their unique plan for the series- they began offering official English subtitles while the series was still airing in Japan! While that's pretty common today, in 2007 such a thing was completely unheard of. Viz themselves even advertised this as an industry first. The episodes weren't really simulcasted, but Viz's subbed eps did appear online a few short months after they aired in Japan, & well before they came to American TV or DVD. The only downside was that the episodes weren't free, but that doesn't change how revolutionary this idea was.
#8: Tower of Druaga / Blassreiter
When the decade began, fansubs weren't really that much of a threat to the industry. Heck, back in 2000, most people still didn't have high-speed Internet yet. But as the years past by & more & more people were illegally downloading full anime episodes at lightning speeds, fansubs grew to be a serious threat. In 2007, ANN's Justin Sevakis wrote his famous open letter to the industry that things needed to change. While true that Viz started making history with their Death Note subs earlier that year, it still wasn't enough. But then in March 2008, history was made & the anime industry was changed forever. Arguably the biggest news story of the entire decade was illegal anime streaming site Crunchyroll announcing that they teamed up with Japanese anime studio Gonzo to simulcast two new series in the Spring of '08- the Tower of Druaga & Blassreiter. Anime with official English subtitles, legally available online within an hour after airing in Japan. It felt as if the sky was falling, but in a good way. Druaga & Blassreiter were just the beginning too. Gonzo then followed those up with Strike Witches & Linebarrels of Iron. By 2009, Crunchyroll had gone completely legit with dozens of legal simulcasts each season, & companies like Viz & FUNimation have followed with their own simulcasts as well. It's true though that simulcasted anime is still a young idea & it's uncertain if it will still be around 10 years from now, but this was without a doubt the coolest thing Japan ever agreed to let Americans do. & it all started with Druaga & Blassreiter.
#7: The Works of Makoto Shinkai
Makoto Shinkai is a name nobody knew when the decade began, but by the end of it he has become one of the greatest anime directors of all time, & is constantly compared to Hayao Miyazaki. His rise to stardom happened in 2002, when he released a short film called "Voices of a Distant Star"- a film he created all by himself. He wrote the story, drew the art, animated it on his MAC, & with his wife voiced all the characters. He literally did the entire thing all on his own, & it was amazing. Considering it was all done by one passionate fan on his home computer, the film looked absolutely stunning. The story was powerful with its strong emotions that touched all who saw it. After this, his amazing talents were no longer hidden & he was wanted by every anime studio out there. His next work, his first truly professional one, was 2004's "the Place Promised in Our Early Days." This movie had the benefit of a large budget to make Shinkai's true vision become a reality, & was once again an emotional tail about two estranged lovers. 2007 saw Shinkai's most polished film to date, "5 Centimeters Per Second." While it again dealt with a similar theme (as will his next film), it truly showed that the man is capable of making beautiful & engaging stories every time he goes out there. He represents a true Cinderella story for anime fans everywhere to look up to. Below is his first short film, 2000's "She and Her Cat."
#6: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
It is said that only once every 1000 years does a phenomenon like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya come around. Whether or not that's true, here is a title that, for whatever reason, took the whole world by storm when it premiered in 2006. & I mean that literally. The whole world. The sheer amount of passion & cult-like following that came out of Haruhi-ism shocked the anime world. No one is really even sure why this title achieved such magnetism, but somehow just the right amount of magic was there. Nobody really saw this coming, but Haruhi was an overnight sensation. Its ending theme song alone became an unstoppable Internet sensation, with videos coming from all over the globe of fans doing their rendition of the Hare Hare Yukai dance. Bandai Entertainment introduced a unique viral campaign in the form of the ASOS Brigade when they licensed it as well. But despite it's success, or perhaps even because of it, Kadokawa & Kyoto Animation teased us for three years about a second season before actually debuting. They even made it seem like they tricked us by saying we'd be getting new episodes... only to get reruns... only to actually get new episodes after all. Even in the final hours before the first season two episode aired, Kadokawa was mum about a new episode actually airing or not. How a company can get away with abusing their fans so much only to have them asking for more is a mystery for the ages. & then came their biggest stunt of all... Endless Eight. Showing essentially the same episode eight time in a row with only minor differences in story. While this move actually wound up hurting the franchise a bit, that doesn't change the fact that most fans still tuned & in eagerly every week like mind-controlled zombies, & the DVDs have been selling like hotcakes. Haruhi Suzumiya is a phenomenon that we may never understand, but it has made its place in the history books as one of the most infamous anime titles of all time. & with a movie on the way & plenty more light novel stories to adapt, this is just the beginning. Haruhi is your goddess, & you must obey her.
To be concluded! Up next, the top 5! Any guesses of what the top titles are?
[ Prologue] [ #25-21] [ #20-16] [ #15-11]