This is the ultimate Taped Reality favorite anime list. We took the time to research these, and we hope our opinion helps you gain some insight on these anime.
Starting of Taped Reality favorite Anime List: When They Cry
This was a tough call for us. This was probably our longest “watch” for an anime since we had to take a ton of breaks over the course of a year. But, it was still worth including on the Taped Reality Favorite Anime List. Sometimes we would make it through a whole story in a day, other times it took us months. The dread and uneasy feeling this show brings is unmatched to anything else on our list. Think Are You Afraid of the Dark but a ton more gory, this show is full of horrifying imagery and storytelling that sticks with you (especially that first story). With all of that said, we’re on our second time through this show with our friend, Umi, and we think this is a show that is worth enduring if you can stomach it.
Ranking: Above Railgun, below Stardust Crusaders
Angel Beats
We might be the most bullish on this show out of anyone we know. We really loved Angel Beats. We still manage to laugh and cry every time we revisit this one, and there is some grade A quality music to be found here as well. It is tough not to spoil anything when talking about what worked so well, but to give the best without saying much, we loved the character arcs and were moved by the development of the main character in particular. Such a shame it doesn’t always get the love we wish it did.
Ranking: Below Death Note but above Kill la Kill
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
We’ve wanted to be on this show a lot since we saw it originally because of being exposed to so much of ufotable’s other works. We originally perceived this to be much, much higher when we gave it thought…however after recently revisiting it, our opinion went from “revolutionary” to “yeah it is pretty good”. There is just enough in here for us to get the sniffing of bad Nasu writing, however the dub saves the writing. The action sequences are rather few and far between compared to what our memory of it was, however whenever things do kick off it is a fun ride.
Ranking: Below Psycho-Pass, above Saga of Tanya the Evil
Full Metal Panic!
This show is hysterical and brutally relevant to our life all at once. We would really like to think we are not so wired to be in the military that we are as bad as it gets in this show, but we’re sure our friends, family, and ex girlfriends would gladly chime in about how accurate this show is when looking at their troop turned student. It was a running gag. We would write about what was accurate and what was not one day, and we still might!
Ranking: Below GARO: Vanishing Line, above JJBA Stardust Crusaders
Kuroko’s Basketball Season 2
This was the best Kuroko season, bar none. 3 was wrapping things up and 1 was building the world. This is the season you get to see great plot-lines blossom and the best basketball games take place. Also, Kiyoshi is our favorite character in this series so seeing his big moment(s) here was something special. That opening still rocks, too.
Ranking: Below The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, above Death Note
Hanamonogatari
This is our favorite Monogatari anime, and it very well may be one of our favorite anime. Despite what it may look like, we try our best to keep our personal experiences away from our evaluation of an anime, but this wrecks us from every angle since there is a lot that we can relate to in this story and its characters. People in the Taped Reality community give us a hard time for how much we say we like Kanbaru’s character, and it is from this arc. We know liking a Monogatari character (and especially a female one) gives people the wrong idea, but the character portrayed here is somber and serious. If we never write another article in our life, we’d love to go into details on a deep dive over this. It is so good to me, we consider the novel to be adapted from one of our favorite books, too.
Ranking: Below The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya above Your Name. Very top.
Ajin
We wanted to try to give this an honest shot. We really did. We finished it after all! We always heard amazing things about the manga, but this anime was a mess. 3D animation is just so unnatural as it is, but this adaptation was so sloppily put together that it made it look even worse. Indeed, this is the horror story you reference when you bring up 3D anime.
Ranking: Very bottom of the Taped Reality Favorite Anime List.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (S2)
This is the first on the Taped Reality Favorie Anime List that has a far superior second season to a really impressive first season. This space epic may be predictable in some regards, the execution is beautiful. Despite knowing where fate is taking Tekkadan, the journey is extravagant. There are obviously bigger scale fights and more incredible Gundam to come and see here as well. What we loved the most, however, was seeing the antagonists’ character development. There were engaging characters, such as the enigmatic Vidar and the eager to please Julieta. The twists and turns are worth sticking all the way through this show.
Ranking: Below Bakemonogatari, above The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Little Busters!/EX
Our first exposure to the impurities anime can bring came after our first summer of watching shows led us to want to play the visual novel for this series…yeah you can guess what we ended up seeing. We were not happy. THAT ASIDE, we love this show. It is full of really colorful characters and there are a ton of slices of life moments bridging surprisingly heavy story-lines. Take note we didn’t put Refrain in here for a reason, since we loved the stories from EX with the original show much more.
Ranking: Below Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, above Saga of Tanya the Evil
Persona 3 Movie 3
Aniplex took forever for this one to come out, so our anime friend and we were not able to watch this one legally for quite some time. Thanks to Amazon Prime video, you can watch this one for much cheaper these days (and we were able to revisit the films that way too). Maybe we were way too hyped up for this and let down, but we found this to be the weakest of the four Persona 3 films. It tries to span the most amount of time, and the pacing suffers dearly for that. It is still animated beautifully, all of the characters are natural to what they are adapted from, and the music rocks. With that said, there are far better parts of this story to highlight.
Ranking: Below Patema Inverted, above One Punch Man
Plastic Memories
When we were gathering titles for this project, we saw Plastic Memories and paused thinking back on it. At the time we couldn’t really decide if we liked it or were indifferent with it. After further reflection, we think this was a really cute show that does well with its characters even if the drama was horribly done. It still managed to make us cry in the end, too.
Ranking: Below Toradora!, above Disappearance of Yuki Nagato
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion
We were conflicted on this series and the films. On one hand, we’re hard pressed to think up anything that could parallel the imagery and creative worlds the characters fight through in this franchise. On the other hand, we were never particularly won over with the story here. Rebellion was what retroactively won us over to the franchise. This is a tough thing to discuss since the ending itself was amazing to me, but the way things “wrap up” really hit home and made us realize the big picture importance of this franchise.
Ranking: Below JJBA Stardust Crusaders, above When They Cry
Owarimonogatari (First Season)
While the individual arcs of Monogatari Second Season had to be separated for the sake of fairness, we had to leave the three (four if you count Ougi Formula) stories for the first season of Owarimonogatari together. They weren’t bad by any means, but our feelings about these are less of a sure thing home-run than the other stories in the franchise. The Sodachi duo of stories were chilling, yet the real winner here is Shinobu Mail. There is so much character development from Araragi in this story and we learn so much about Shinobu as well. It also has our absolute favorite GIFs in the franchise (and our favorite screencap, too).
Ranking: Below The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, above Kuruko’s Basketball Season 2
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
On the short list of re-watches we need to do, we enjoyed a good chunk of this show in person with one of our writers, Messy. We finished the rest at home and enjoyed what we saw. It didn’t ring the bell the same way Psycho-Pass did for me, but it was still really entertaining. Definitely much better to us than the film was.
Ranking: Below When They Cry, above A Certain Scientific Railgun
Mob Psycho 100
We love the creativity of this show. It is full of character and fresh ideas whilst blasting boundaries in animation. Arguably one of the more intriguing anime we’ve seen, we wish we could revisit this one more often. It is such a shame we can’t watch the dub for this. The action is so clever and the comedy isn’t overreaching.
Ranking: Below Kill la Kill, above Kizumonogatari
Overlord
We weren’t wild about this anime, however it definitely was not a bad watch either. It really picked up towards the end to be satisfying. Unfortunately, we found most of the contents to be bland and lacking, but we would like to give the other season (seasons?) a watch someday.
Ranking: Below Plastic Memories, above Disappearance of Yuki Nagato
Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
Want a better alternative to the show we just talked about? Right here is a clever “other world” series that keeps things grounded and rational. Don’t get uswrong, Overlord has some cool visuals, but we are much more invested in seeing people struggle to battle low level enemies than some guy mowing down hordes of enemies with ease. Probably one of the more underrated gems on the list, Grimgar was a casualty of people thinking it was just another isekai.
Ranking: Below One Punch Man, above Garden of Sinners 6
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya
What irrelevant fun to be found here. This blitz of shorts is always a reliable pallet cleanse after a bad day or watching something like…Killing of a Sacred Deer. Yeah, let’s move on.
Ranking: Below One Punch Man, above Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
Cowboy Bebop
What a masterpiece. This is one of our most watched anime and every time we revisit it we end up loving it more and more. It is so good that even the people who don’t like anime we’ve seen enjoy it. Every aspect of this show is perfect and we don’t think there will be another anime as good as it, ever. We knew this would be at the very top of our list, but we’ve been wondering where we would put it. Well…
Ranking: Top of the list. Below Hanamonogatari
White Album 2
Ah yes, discount SNAFU. All kidding aside, this was a really good show right until the end. The ending was such a train-wreck to me, and we have a personal story to share about it. When we watched this, we were at an “anime party” which is just a viewing party with several people and…refreshments. WITHOUT US SPOILING WHAT HAPPENS, we will say there is a moment at the end that is rather sudden and way over the top. This scene involves two people and a third watching on. There were some people sobbing right before it happened, and the room was dead silent. Right when the…uh….action happens, we bust out laughing hysterically. Everyone stares at us angrily as we ruin what is most certainly meant to be an emotionally intense moment.
Ranking: Below Patema Inverted above Persona 3 Movie 3
K-On!
Chalk this one up as the top betrayal we’ve experienced thanks to the Internet. We love this show, and we love all of the music that comes from it. We were happily listening to it one day when we found out that, yep, the Internet is super toxic and gross about this show and its characters. This show is beloved by not just us but also a few of our mothers, so it was really sad to hear how gross people are about the characters in this. It won’t sway our opinion on it though.
Ranking: Below Mayoi Jiangshi, above Kanon (2006)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
We were really worried the hype would make us unable to enjoy this viewing. Thankfully, we were not disappointed with this journey and binged the whole thing within a few weeks (good for me, probably not for most). The story is incredible and the characters are really inspired. Before anyone gets mad about our ranking of this show, realize the single most expensive piece of anime related products we own is a statue of Roy Mustang.
Ranking: Below Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, above Steins;Gate
Clannad
While not our favorite Key anime, this was a really interesting introduction to the slice of life anime genre. We have more thoughts on the sequel, but this has plenty of good vibes and engaging stories that make it a memorable watch for all…unless your name is Umi, because she hated this
Ranking: Below When They Cry, above Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
Space Patrol Luluco
We want to call this our favorite Trigger anime on our Taped Reality Favorite Anime List, however we can’t reach it to believe it fully. Going through an intergalactic journey was something that was refreshing and wild. We went through one of our first loves and break-ups during this time, so we were really invested in this show and had a ton of feeling behind it. Probably too much of a bias, but hey.
Ranking: Below K-On!, above Kanon (2006)
Persona 4 The Animation
Another one of the anime we really enjoyed but was surprised to hear didn’t get a lot of love, this was something we adored and one of the few “collector’s edition” Blu-Rays we own. Bringing the cast (sans Tracey Rooney, who we really like as Chie, we don’t know why everyone doesn’t) for the dub is exactly what you’d hope for in an RPG to anime dub. It is a shame Persona 5 The Animation doesn’t have a dub.
Ranking: Below Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, above March Comes in Like a Lion (S1)
Steins;Gate Movie
We wanted to love this movie. It came and went and we were left feeling rather disappointed. It wasn’t bad, we just wished for more with a movie for Steins;Gate. It hits several of the boxes that makes Steins;Gate great but doesn’t stick the landing. Most people we know told us “Just play Steins;Gate 0″ when we first were interested in watching this, and we wish we took their advice. Granted it was still worth the watch.
Ranking: Below Garden of Sinners 6, above Fate Heaven’s Feel 1
Durarara!!
we get the feeling we will have a ton of blow back on this choice, but we did really like Durarara!! even if we didn’t like it as much our second time through. It is a fantastic show, but this first season was not as strong in hindsight. The second season was so much better, so look forward to that one whenever it comes up. Oh we love the OST to this entire franchise.
Ranking: Below GARO: Vanishing Line, above Full Metal Panic!
Danganronpa: The Animation
Remember your first anime? Yeah this was our first anime back. Wish it wasn’t.
Ranking: Below even Bloodivores at the bottom
Nekomonogatari: Kuro
This isn’t one of the best arcs in Monogatari, but it is still really good, and worth making the Taped Reality Favorite Anime List. The animation alone wins us over to give it a boost over a good amount of the field. The action is worth it, and the lore is as built upon as ever. There were moments when we checked out a bit watching this, but we think Nisemonogatari was to blame since we had just watched that before this. We definitely needed the second season of this series fast, but this was much better a second time through. We’re on our third time through the series so we’re looking forward to it.
Ranking: Below Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, above Persona 4 The Animation
Garden of Sinners 2
While this is one half of what we love the most from this franchise, this film really impacts us in a soulful way. The storytelling is everything we love, there is just enough uneasy atmosphere, philosophy, and character development that it put together with jaw dropping animation. We genuinely are moved every time we watch this, and this has been our fourth time through it.
Ranking: Below Hanamonogatari, above Cowboy Bebop
Ending Our Taped Reality Favorite Anime List: Gurren Lagann
The last on our Taped Reality Favorite Anime List is this gem. This was one of our first anime we’ve seen, so it was naturally in our “top five” for a long time. While it isn’t at the top anymore, we still love this series. A journey from the bottom to the top, a fall to the bottom, then to the stars way above. So over the top and a joy to watch, this is our favorite Trigger show bar none.
Ranking: Below Owarimonogatari (First Season), above Kuruko’s Basketball Season 2
Overall Rankings: Taped Reality Favorite Anime List
This is a list of our favorite anime titles in Taped Reality:
- Hanamonogatari
- Garden of Sinners 2
- Cowboy Bebop
- The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Your Name.
- Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Steins;Gate
- Fate/Apocrypha
- Bakemonogatari
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (S2)
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Owarimonogatari (First Season)
- Gurren Lagann
- Kuroko’s Basketball Season 2
- Death Note
- Angel Beats
- Kill la Kill
- Mob Psycho 100
- Kizumonogatari
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (S1)
- Mayoi Jiangshi
- K-On!
- Space Patrol Luluco
- Kanon (2006)
- Psycho-Pass
- Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
- Little Busters!/EX
- Saga of Tanya the Evil
- SNAFU 2
- Garden of Sinners Recalled Out Summer
- GARO: Vanishing Line
- Durarara!!
- Full Metal Panic!
- JJBA Stardust Crusaders
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion
- When They Cry
- Clannad
- Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
- A Certain Scientific Railgun
- Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
- Nekomonogatari: Kuro
- Persona 4 The Animation
- March Comes in Like a Lion (S1)
- Patema Inverted
- White Album 2
- Persona 3 Movie 3
- One Punch Man
- The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya
- Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions
- Garden of Sinners 6
- Steins;Gate Movie
- Fate Heaven’s Feel 1
- Toradora!
- Plastic Memories
- Overlord
- Disappearance of Yuki Nagato
- Tokyo Ghoul
- Children Who Chase Lost Voices
- When They Cry Kai
- Tokyo Ghoul Root A
- Ajin
- Bloodivores
- Danganronpa: The Animation
- Highest Riser: JJBA Stardust Crusaders (Four spots)
- Biggest Drop: A Certain Scientific Railgun (Four spots)
The median of the anime list started to fill up, and both of these were found on opposite ends of the filling. Railgun is fine, but with this many titles there. This part was a lot more challenging than last time since we had to decide on three of our absolute favorite anime and where to place them. We think a lot of people were surprised that we had Gun Gale Online so high last time, however we tried letting some of our other writers here at Taped Reality know that it was just on what will eventually be the upper half of the list. As things build we’d be curious to see what the same people think on where it lands on the board.
