Anime Annual Squeeze 6 (2004-2008)

2004

The Good (11)
Monster
Koi Kaze
Mind Game
Diebuster
Bleach
Planetes
Kaleido Star
Princess Tutu
GITS: Stand Alone Complex
Naruto
One Piece

The Bad (20)
FMA
Elfen Lied
The Melody of Oblivion
Gantz
Samurai 7
Fafner
Ghost in the Shell Innocence
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
MyHime
Destiny of the Shrine Maiden
Beck
Rosen Maiden
Gungrave
Chrono Crusade
Divergence Eve s2
Gilgamesh
Peacemaker Kurogane
Gunslinger Girl
Gundam SEED Destiny

And the Meh (29)
Paranoia Agent
Samurai Champloo
Fantastic Children
The Count of Monte Christo
Steamboy
Genshiken
Re:Cutey Honey
Lyrical Nanoha
Uta Kata

2004 gave us Monster, one of the best psychological mysteries, Koi Kaze, the only anime to take incest seriously, Mind Game, a fantastic psychological comedy, and Diebuster, the sequel to Gunbuster which nobody seems to like although I found it to be fine. Bleach also began this year, and for awhile it was fine, until it became all about the damn bankais.

In the bad, we have a ton of shows with great concepts but terrible executions. The one toping them all is Elfen Lied, which brought a million edgelords into the medium and ruined anime forever. Also, FMA goes into anime original territory and becomes garbage.

As for the mediocrities, we get all these shows you see, which are not bad at what they are about, but don’t manage to explore their themes in a captivating way either.

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2005

The Good (7)
FMP: The Second Raid
Advent Children
Monster
Diebuster
Bleach
GITS: Stand Alone Complex
One Piece

The Bad (16)
Naruto
Shakugan No Shana
The Karas
Aquarion
Speed Grapher
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Basilisk
Trinity Blood
Solty Rei
Blood+
The Wings of Rean
Fafner
MyOtome
Beck
Rosen Maiden
Gundam SEED Destiny

And the Meh (40)
Mushishi
Eureka Seven
Aria
Gun X Sword
Starship Operators
Guyver
Akagi
Hell Girl
Noein
Paradise Kiss

2005 gave us The Second Raid, the only season where Kyoani wasn’t only about moeshit, and Advent Children, the best possible fan service fans of Final Fantasy could ever get. In the bad, Naruto went into filler mode and began its spiral decline, and Shakugan no Shana begins the terrible trend of chuuni light novel adaptations. In mediocrities, I place two titles most of you consider masterpieces, but personally feel nothing about. One is Mushishi, which has no plot or any sort of on-going theme exploration, and the other is Eureka Seven, which is one of the most boring adventures I have ever seen in my life. The only thing everybody was excited about was seeing the pussy protagonist kissing the main girl after 50 episodes.

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2006

The Good (12)
Welcome to the NHK
Death Note
Ouran Host Club
Zegapain
Black Lagoon
Hellsing Ultimate
Aachi & Ssipac
Code Geass
D.Gray Man
Diebuster
GITS: Stand Alone Complex
One Piece

The Bad (20)
Bleach
Fate/Stay Night
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Higurashi
Utawarerumono
Familiar of Zero
.hack//Roots
Planet of the Beast King
Simoun
Glass Fleet
Strain
Tales from Earthsea
Naruto
Shakugan No Shana
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Solty Rei
Blood+
The Wings of Rean
MyOtome
Rosen Maiden

And the Meh (40)
Ergo Proxy
Nana
Gintama
Paprika

2006 is full of surprises and it will drive you nuts if I don’t explain properly why the titles are arranged like that. For starters, there are the usual good stuff I always speak positively about, such as Welcome to the NHK criticizing the otakus instead of pandering them, Death Note being a great psychological thriller, Ouran Host Club being the only reverse harem that bothers to flesh out its characters, Zegapain being the last well made subversion of mecha, and some mindless but very well produced entertainment with the trio of Black Lagoon, Hellsing Ultimate, and Aachi & Ssipac. Why the hell are Code Geass and D. Gray Man there, when I clearly don’t like them? Because just like Inuyasha, they were good for a few episodes before becoming shit.

It’s the same reason I had Bleach in the good titles for some years, despite eventually becoming shit as well. Specifically, in this year. In the list of the bad, you see anything I consider a failure when it comes to exploring its themes properly. The ones most of you will recognize are porn game and light novel adaptations, which become mainstream from this point onwards and kill creativity. You can thank the delusional fandoms of Fate/Stay Night and Haruhi for that.

And now for the meh category which will give many of you epilepsy. Why is Ergo Proxy there, when it’s in my top 10 anime? Because I no longer like it as much, for reasons similar to Utena. It has way better theme exploration than Utena and Kino’s Journey, but it still has a very loose narrative amongst its episodes. What can I say to justify that besides modern cartoons spoiling me? My standards went up again.

Why is Nana there when it’s also in my top list? Because I lost all interest in slice of life of any kind. If the stakes are zero, I don’t care, end of the story. The other two are easy to figure out, Gintama is just shonen references and Paprika is very uninspiring despite its reality warping theme.

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2007

The Good (6)
Gurren Lagann
Dennou Coil
Kaiji
Sword of the Stranger
Hellsing Ultimate
One Piece

The Bad (19)
Death Note
Code Geass
D.Gray Man
Bokurano
Gundam 00
The Garden of Sinners
Heroic Age
Idolmaster Xenoglossia
Kiss Dum
Romeo X Juliet
Dragonaut
Night Wizard
Ayakashi
Bleach
Higurashi
Familiar of Zero
Naruto
Shakugan No Shana
MyOtome

And the Meh (54)
Towards the Terra
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei
Macross Frontier
Baccano
School Days
Mononoke
Claymore
Darker Than Black
Moribito

2007 had the most amazing super robot Gurren Lagann, the mature for a kid show Dennou Coil, the super exciting gambling of Kaiji, and the best swordfight choreography of Sword of the Stranger. In the bad goes Code Geass and D.Gray Man, along with post time skip Death Note. Other bullshit this year include more child victimizing with Bokurano, stopping war with war Gundam 00, and the super pretentious Garden of Sinners. In mediocrities I place a few more titles I no longer care than much about, and yes, Baccano is one of them. You think it’s better because it didn’t get five seasons like Durarara? If it did, it would be the same shit. It’s already confusing the way it is now.

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2008

The Good (7)
Soul Eater
Kaiba
Detroit Metal City
House of Small Bricks
Kaiji
Hellsing Ultimate
One Piece

The Bad (19)
Clannad After Story
Persona Trinity Soul
Gunslinger Girl s2
Blassreiter
Read Drive
Bounen no Xamdou
Tytania
A Certain Magical Index
Gai-Rei Zero
Chaos;Head
Code Geass r2
D.Gray Man
Gundam 00
The Garden of Sinners
Dragonaut
Bleach
Familiar of Zero
Naruto
Shakugan No Shana

And the Meh (54)
Spice and Wolf
Time of Eve
The Sky Crawlers
Casshern Sins

2008 ends the golden era of anime with Soul Eater, a very good fighting shonen, until the later half, Kaiba, a trippy road movie type of show, Detroit Metal City, a hilarious parody of death metal, and House of Small Bricks, a short but very powerful in storytelling movie that is not about time resets.

The bad include this huge list you see, with the leading title being a certain show about pretty colors, improbable melodrama, and time resets, establishing the death of good anime to this day, where people still love pretty colors, improbable melodrama, and time resets. Such as a certain movie everybody considers the best of all times.

And don’t go asking me why I am placing Spice and Wolf in mediocrities. Everyone call is it a deep analysis in economics while buying naked posters of the wolf girl. Yes, there is nudity only for a few minutes throughout the whole series, but guess what, those few minutes are the only thing that sells. You see anyone overthinking the trading methods they use?

So yeah, what I was calling the golden age all these years is actually the worst period for anime in terms of overall quality when you take into account every show that comes out instead of magically filtering out whatever you don’t like. Since it’s only going to get worse from here on, it’s already clear that the late 80s and the early 2000s are the true golden ages, for having a lot less titles coming out with far more quality control placed on each one.

Since there is not going to be much tension for the rest of the terrible years, I am going to conclude this project with one last video, where I go in a hurry over the titles up until 2015, and then I will give you a more analytical view of 2016.