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Friday, July 21, 2017

Anime Rankings Adjusted:

So much has changed since the last time I modified my rankings, it was necessary to get back in there and shake things up again.

This was a massive overhaul that favored complete series over incomplete series, giving even more importance to a show reaching a satisfying ending compared to anything else.  I also loosened the definition of 'adequately adapted' to include any series that had reached a satisfying conclusion, regardless of whether it really covered all the source material or not.

Just to give an example of how this changes things, Hayate no Gotoku, previously ranked 30th, is now 57th.  Why?  Because it doesn't have an ending, and that's not as satisfying as 27 other shows that did have endings that were previously ranked below it.

Sword Art Online was ranked 3rd, but now its 11th, because the top ten anime of all time, at least, should all have proper endings.  (which they now do).

Thanks to the new Fairy Tail season, Fairy Tail does have a proper ending, and is therefore ranked #1.

Naruto, One Piece, and Dragon Ball moved up to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, because their length plus having a proper ending is unrivaled.  Pretty Cure is 5th.  Precure has proper endings, and is very long, but the fact that it resets every 48 episodes means it's kind of cheating compared to the ones above it, who all managed to create one connected epic from start to finish.  That reset is what weakens Precure just enough to fall back down to 5th.

Fate/etc is an interesting decision at 9th.  By animating Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay night, Fate/unlimited blade works, and Fate/Heaven's Feel, it has created a continuous story from start to finish of gigantic length.  But is that really complete?  After all, Kaleid/Liner isn't totally adapted yet.  Nor is hollow ataraxia.  But I decided that since the core of the story, the original story, has now been fully adapted, that should be good enough to count, no matter which spinoffs are included/excluded.

There are a few series, by virtue of their great quality and enormous length, that have managed to stay high ranking despite lacking an ending.  SAO at #11, Nanoha at #12, Higurashi/Umineko at #14, Bleach at #16, Seikai no Senki at #18, Index/Railgun at #20, Full Metal Panic! at #21, Ranma 1/2 at #23, Major at #26 and Da Capo at #27.

After that, from #28 to #56, every series has an ending.  I've simply had enough of incomplete shows, they're the most frustrating existence in the galaxy and there needs to be some punishment meted down to them for all the torment they've put me through.

Shingeki no Kyojin moved up to #69 (previously #85) due to receiving a 3rd season.  Mononoke Hime and Spirited Away moved up because, as movies, they were complete stories.

12 Kingdoms moved down to last place, #191.  I decided the show was really unsalvageable as is and really just needs a complete remake, due to the two annoying filler characters the animators decided to insert into the story who disrupt everything.  Someday my rankings will reach 200, and then the next great show can kick 12 Kingdoms off my rankings entirely.  The source work of this anime is magnificent, but the anime really blew it.

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