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Throwback Thursday: BtT’s Top 10 Anime

Twwk

As we look back to ten years of Beneath the Tangles, it only makes sense to inspect the anime we’ve been analyzing all these years. I was interested in knowing which anime we covered the most, which were in effect our site favorites.

It seems like an easy task—just run through our tags and see which ones come up most. However, I set some conditions. The posts that “counted” would be those that were substantial in nature—no news articles or March Madness ones. And for a post to count toward a specific series or movie, that anime needed to be a major focus of the article; it couldn’t just tangentially be mentioned.

With those conditions in place, series like Rurouni Kenshin, Evangelion, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood just barely missed the cut. There were series which by word count may have made it—see Angel Beats, Noragami, and Kino’s Journey—but also just missed it by pure number of posts. Violet Evergarden and Fruits Basket will both surely make the top ten, maybe even as early as this year, but they’re too new to be there yet. And finally, a couple of those I assumed would make it did not, though they perhaps symbolize our site more than any other series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Haibane Renmei. As you can see, I did not cheat and include Magia Record along with the other PMMM post—otherwise, it would have ended up number four on our list.

Now onto the top ten!

10. Clannad / Clannad After Story – 17 posts (tie)

I mentioned in a previous tenth anniversary post that my very first article on Clannad was one that provided momentum for our blog. Whereas before that post, I was merely hoping to reach twenty hits per article, my musings on Clannad and fatherhood ended up garnering thousands of views. I was glad for that for reasons beyond the obvious, too, because After Story is so rich in spiritual and emotional content that I could probably write another ten articles about the series and how it remains a most unique look at relationships in the way only anime can do.

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10. Serial Experiments Lain – 17 (tie)

With its existential themes and moody aesthetic, Lain was a series we enjoyed covering before we did a 20 year anniversary, episode-by-episode breakdown of the show last year, paired with some other content like an interview with Boa’s lead singer. It’s amazing how prescient the series is, while remaining one that’s ripe for analysis regarding so many of the big questions in life, including perhaps the biggest of all: Who is God?

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8. Naruto / Naruto Shippuden – 19

For an entire generation of otaku, the answer to “Which series is more important for anime fandom?” is Naruto. It gripped the west like no anime before (and none since), and its emphasis on character development, the challenges and goodness of teamwork, and sacrifice made it an obvious fit for us as a variety of writers took their aim at the series. Oh, the memories!

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7. Toradora – 20 (Tie)

For many years, Toradora was my favorite anime series, and it still remains near the top. That seems to be the case for many of our other writers, too, both past and present. We’re still hammering out posts about this beloved series, which combines the fun of great shounen with unusual depth in its characters and development beyond what should be expected of a teen romcom.

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7. My Hero Academia – 20 (Tie)

Before all is said and done, we might post more about My Hero Academia than any other series. There’s simply too much good stuff to talk about in this show, particularly in how it presents its heroes, both in idealized version and flawed. And as a people that look up to superheroes, like its central protagonist, Deku, the content is ripe for commenting. In fact, we’re working on a brand new type of content with the first post being about this series. Stay tuned!

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5. Oregairu – 21

The influence from this series, and particularly from Hiki’s statement of desiring “something genuine,” has profoundly affected this blog. “Authenticity,” the central theme of Oregairu, is at the very center of what we’re trying to be here on Beneath the Tangles. And there’s no doubt that when the final season finally makes it to air, we’ll be digging into the show once again, and likely for years afterwards.

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4. Your Lie in April – 26 (tie)

Five years ago, Your Lie in April took the otaku community by storm and for many of us, stole our hearts as well. I wrote a post about each episode of the series, which contributed to most of count here, but we’re still affected by this show, as evidenced by our most recent TangleCast episode, which investigated what this wonderful series has to say about music and about love.

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4. The Promised Neverland – 26 (tie)

When The Promised Neverland was about to air, there was no doubt what I wanted to do with it. Take a queue from the fabulous series of posts by the AV Club on Game of Thrones, I asked TPN fan and or Tumblr admin, Thathilomgirl, to post weekly along with me; I would do the series from the angle of n00b, and she would approach it from a manga reader’s perspective. They remain some of our most visited posts.

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2. Sword Art Online – 27

Shock! I haven’t watched Sword Art Online in years, so I was surprised to see Kirito and company so high up on the list, but maybe I shouldn’t? The first cour of SAO remains one of my favorites in anime, and the relationship between Asuna and Kirito expressed in those episodes was magic (and even profound). Other writers, and again, our podcasters, have taken up the mantle in continuing the series, even as I haven’t.

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And finally, the top anime in our ten year history, the one that’s led to the most articles! You may not be able to guess it, but it’s the top one by a long shot.

Without further to do…

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1. Attack on Titan – 40

There’s a lot of things you could say in criticism against Attack on Titan—but unambitious is not one of them. The show has grown to become about something very unexpected during the course of its run, and I was never at a loss of what to discuss as I episodically covered much of the series. It hits that sweet spot of bringing out genuine emotion in its audience and giving us something to think deeply about, and that made for great content to chew on as I looked for topics on which to write. I can’t wait for the final season to get here!

I hope you enjoyed that little trip down memory lane! But as we look forward, I’d love to hear about which shows you’d love for us to cover! What haven’t we covered enough? What haven’t we written about at all? Let us know in the comments!

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