School life has really drained all the time I used to have to collect data and write this blog. Who would have thought I actually had more free time when I was working! Anyway, here is a long-delayed post, just before the end of the year.

This post is the second part of my previous post about Ghibli. It contains a few more analysis and interesting tidbits from the data I have collected.

RATING VS. POPULARITY

The chart below is a scatter plot of rankings for rating and popularity for all Ghibli-related films. The cool thing about this chart is that it also indicates the overrated and underrate films.  For example, Whisper of the Heart is ranked 7th overall based on all the ratings but only 12th on the number of people watching and rating the film. This means that not as many people watch it as it deserves based on its rating

• 4 of the top five are right where they should be with only Grave of the Fireflies behind on the popularity by a bit
• Most overrated (more people saw it than its rating deserves) are:

1. Tales from Earthsea (2006) [+7]
2. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) [+6]
3. The Cat Returns (2002) [+4]

• Most underrated are:

1. Only Yesterday (1991) [-5]
2. Whisper of the Heart (1995) [-5]
3. Lupin: Castle of Cagliostro (1999) [-4]

• From this, it is relatively clear to see that more recent Ghibli films are way more popular than older ones but this is not backed up by its quality, at least on a relatively term in comparison to other Ghibli films.

SITE RATING ACROSS THE BOARD

This section looks at the average rating from each sources and how they stack up to each other. Standardized score refers to the conversion of source score into 1-to-10 score range.

• Interestingly (to me at least), reviewing sources have on average nearly a point higher rating than rating sources (8.73 vs. 7.93). This seems to suggest that the law of large number is in effect for rating sources and significantly bring down the average score of Ghibli films, relative to review sources (in which only fewer people have the chance to sample)
• Average rating (across all titles in that site) is consistently lower than Ghibli standardized score. At least this shows that Ghibli films are superior to your average offerings. What it does not show is by how much (of which I will need variance information, something I don’t have time to find out at this point in time!)
• Anime Verdict and THEM, two review sources, have the highest rating. AnimeNfo, on the other hand has the lowest score. For THEM and AnimeNfo, this is also reflected in the different between Ghibli standardized score and average scores across all titles. THEM has the highest difference, AnimeNfo the lowest

Note:

• Ghibli standardized score = average scores of all Ghibli films
• Avg rating = average rating of all titles for that site
• Diff = GSS – Avg rating
• Average rating comes courtesy of AnimeStat, a really nice website that I would love to do a comparison especially with my Anime 2010 list

DIRECTOR RATING

My friend shared with me this study from rottentomatoes data the other day. It contains rottentomatoes rating across time of different actors and directors. This gives me an idea to try to do the same for Ghibli film as a quick comparison.

http://www.slate.com/id/2296070/?wpisrc=obinsite

As

• Miyazaki is apparently to be the more consistent director overall. Does this strengthen the point that Miyazaki’s films are probably more accessible by Western audience. A look at the same analysis but from a Japanese-centric sources would be highly interesting as a comparison.
• Takahata has one highly-rated film and the others are so-so. This makes me wonder whether a Japanese-based rating website would have rated Takahata’s film as lowly compared to the sources I use
• Films from others are hit (Whisper of the Heart) or misses (Tales from Earthsea). If only Kondou (WofH’s director) did not pass away so prematurely…
• With more time, I quite like to revisit this comparison again but this time with other non-Ghibli directors

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BEST AND WORST

Rating

• Highest: Spirited Away – 8.99
• Lowest: Little Norse Prince – 6.37

Most seen:

• Highest: Spirited Away – Consensus most seen titles among the five sources I use (IMBb, Rottentomatoes, Anime Planet, ANN, MAL)
• Lowest: Little Norse Prince

Review counts:

• Least reviewed – All time: Panda Go Panda – 7 sources (All non-anime sources, Anime SOurce, AnimeNfo)
• Least reviewed – Ghibli-era: My Neighbour the Yamadas – 3 sources missing (MRQE, DVD Verdict, THEM)

% watched and voted by under-18 (based on statistics from AniDB):

• Most Spirited Away – 7.8%
• Least: Only yesterday – 2.5%

% watched by female (based on statistics from AniDB):

• Most: The Cat Returns – 17.1% (followed by Whisper of the Heart at 16.2%)
• Least: Castle of Cagliostro – 7.8%

% dropped (based on statistics from MyAnimeList):

• Most: Panda! Go Panda! – 1.51%
• Least: Spirited Away – 0.07%

• Most: Ocean Waves – 29.0%
• Least: Spirited Away – 3.9%

I guess anyone who plans to watch Spirited Away ends up watching it because it is so much more accessible. Ocean Waves on the other hand does not have a flashy synopsis nor is it well-known so lots of people put it off.

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Once Ghibli releases a couple more films, I would like to come back and refresh these analyses again. I would be really interested on whether there is any major change in trend between now and then. I also hope to put out more posts and not go on quite as long a hiatus as this one. Happy New Year everyone!

A decade on, Studio Ghibli still remains my favourite studio, anime or not. The movies from the studios are also among the first I would recommend to anyone that show the vaguest interest in anime. This particular post is my homage to the studio an a guide for those reading it to find out what the rankings of each movie based on all the English sources on the internet I can think of. This includes

Rating methodology

1. Collect all data: scour through the internet for al available information from various websites and blogs. I am only interested in those that contain at least half of the 21 films I made by Ghibli. Miyazaki or Takahata (MRQE and DVD Verdict has the fewest at 12. 5 sources (MAL, ANN, AniDB, Anime Planet and Blog) have the full compliment of 21
2. Convert the scores from each into scores ranging from 0 to 10, e.g. 96% is 9.6, 4 stars out of 5 is 8.0. Note that for ranking-based sites, I converted them into scores (the lower the rank the higher the score) and fit them into the same 0-10 score range
3. For blogs that give rankings instead of scores, I use the same methodology that I did for the 2000s anime ranking and convert rankings into composite scores. I then convert these scores into a rating 0 to 10, which means it can be used alongside othersources
4. Assign weight to each source The weights are based on a combination of how many raters/reviews each source has and how important I subjectively feel they are. For example, I prefer to weigh the anime-centric websites (ANN/MAL/AniDB) higher than more general sources (IMDB/Rottentomatoes) and also since MAL has the highest number of raters, I gave it the highest weight among the three
5. Sum weight to get the ‘Average rating’

For my analysis, I will include all pre-1986 films directed by either Miyazaki or Takahata, including ‘Lupin: Castle of Cagliostro’ and ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of WInd’ in there. Even though they are not made by Studio Ghibli (which only was formed in 1985 following the commercial success of Nausicaa), the mere fact that they are directed by the two founders of the studio should warrant their inclusion alongside other Studio Ghibli Classics.

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Title: Spirited Away / Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (千と千尋の神隠し)

Average rating: 8.99

Rating comments:

• Putting the score in perspective, most sources vote or rate this film at 90%
• Out of 14 different sources, only Anime Academy (13) and Anime Source (7) rate this anime outside of the top 3 of all ‘Ghibli’ films.
• Comes first in the most number of sources (7): IMDB, MRQE, DVD Talk, THEM, ANN, MAL, Blog – more popular among rating-based sources than review-based sources
• Based on the previous article I wrote on anime film award, Spirited Away is the most awarded anime in history. Most awards only came into existence since 1995, so that may not say say a whole lot, but it is still a pretty impressive tag to have

Awards won:

• 2002 Best Animation Feature – Academy Awards
• 2002 Best Animation Feature Winner – Annie Award
• 2002 Academy Prize Picture of the Year Winner – Japan Academy Prize
• 2002 Animation of the Year Winner – Tokyo Anime Award
• 2001 Animation Grand Award – Mainichi Film Award
• 2001 Grand Prize (Animation) – Japan Media Art Festival Award
• 2001 Feature Film Award – Animation Kobe Award

Released: 20-Jul-2001

Length: 125 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: A girl got stranded in a magical land and forced to work in a bathhouse for gods in order to free her parents who got turned into pigs as punishment for eating the food meant for the gods

Trivia:

• This is the first film to gross USD 200 MM before opening theatrically in the US
• The most awarded Japanese Animation film ever, both domestically and internationally
• Only Anime Oscars winner
• It has the longest running time of all winning films in the Animated Feature category
• Miyazaki crafted the film when he met his friend’s 10-year old daughter. He wanted to create something for her. What a mature film to aim at children!
• Chi (first character in the word Chi-hi-ro) and Sen both use the same Japanese Kanji, which means 1,000 but are different readings of the same character.
• More trivias here

In my own words: One of my favourite movies, anime or else. I just love everything abou it; the character, the atmosphere, the animation, the music. This is probably the first Ghibli film I would recommend to my friends. It helps the convincing that the film actually won an oscars also:)

Title: Princess Mononoke / Mononoke Hime (もののけ姫)

Average rating: 8.84

Rating comments:

• Comes first in 4 sources – THEM Anime, Anime Planet, Anime Source and AniDB
• This is the only movie that is able to keep pace with Spirited Away. The main differentiators between the two are scores from MRQE and more significantly blogs. Spirited Away is rated so well that it completely outshines even the 2nd place Princess Mononoke

Awards:

• 1998 Picture of the Year – Japan Academy Prize
• 1998 Animation Grand Award – Mainichi Film Award
• 1997 Grand Prize (Animation) – Japan Media Art Festival Award
• 1997 Feature Film Award – Animation Kobe Award

Released: 12-Jul-1997

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Spirits, wolves

Length: 133 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: A prince traveled to a faraway land to find the source of a poison that he contracted from a monster that attacked his village. He met the mining town, a wolf girl and the forest gods and was involved in a struggle to decide the destiny of all involved

Trivia:

• To date, I believe this is the only Miyazaki film that does not involve a flight scene (Miyazaki’s obsession with flying means he tried to stick at least a flight scenes in all his films.)
• Miyazaki had meant for this to be his last film before retiring. He made three films after that and counting
• With a runtime of 133 minutes (2 hour and 13 minutes), it is the third longest animated film ever made after The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010) (163 minutes) and Uchû senkan Yamato: Kanketsuhen (1983) (165 minutes) [thanks kadian1364 for the correction!]
• More trivia here

In my own words: I actually thought the English dub (the first version I watched in theatre) is pretty good. I still have to go watch it in Japanese again at some point.

Japanese title: Grave of the Fireflies / Hotaru no Haka (火垂るの墓)

Average rating: 8.76

Rating comments:

• Comes 1st in four different sources (MRQE, DVD Verdict, Anime Academy and THEM Anime) – Interestingly all these seem to be review-based sources
• Only Anime Sources (6) and DVD Talk (10) rank it out of the top five Ghibli films
• This is the only film by Takahata in the top 10 of my list (despite his producing about a quarter of movies). I believe this speaks to both the quality of the movie as well as the generally less accessible nature of Takahata’s films to non-Japanese audience. His theme tends to me more Japanese-centric vs. Miyazaki who worked with more universal theme

Released: 11-Oct-1988

Genre/Theme: Drama, Historical, Military, War

Length: 88 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: A boy and his 3-year-old sister tried to survive in a WW2 Japan with constant US bombings and famine all around

Trivia:

• This is the only Ghibli film not to be part of the Disney-Tokuma deal
• This film was initially distributed with Tonari no Totoro (1988) because it was the only way that Miyazaki could have been able to make “Totoro.” The reason being that the original film pitch for that film was rejected, so they pitched a double feature with “Grave of the Fireflies,” and the project was eventually backed financially by the original writer of the book on which “Grave” is based. It often was overlooked as a film because whenever “Totoro” was screened first, people were left happy and did not wish to be saddened by “Grave” afterward
• The movie was originally intended as a sort-of double feature with another Ghibli movie,My Neighbour Totoro. Ghibli’s parent company reasoned that Totoro’s tie-in with a movie with more educational merit would guarantee its inclusion in the list of summer’s recommended movies for school children
• More trivia here

In my own words: I feel like this anime is the only one that contains the only truly evil villain among all Ghibli works. The story itself is just a brilliant, edge-of-your seat action movie
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Japanese title: My Neighbour Totoro / Tonari no Totoro (となりのトトロ)

Average rating: 8.57

Released: 01-Apr-1988

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural, Magical creatures

Length: 86 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: While settling in to a new home with her father, two girls find themselves exploring the new town and neighbourhood and meet Totoros, the friendly mountain spirits.

Trivia:

• The distributor thought that releasing a show about two kids discovering monster would not sell, so what did they go and do? They paired it up with Grave of the Fireflies a s double-bill.
• Ghibli’s company logo is based off the titular character
• Mei and Satsuki were voiced by the Fanning sisters, Elle and Dakota accordingly. Pretty neat casting if you ask me
• Film was not a commercial success at launch, but it became a big hit on the merchandise from and is what keeps Ghibli profitable. If you go to any Ghibli gift shop, chance is that 90% of the merchandises is Totoro-related stuffs!
• The film is partially autobiographical. When Hayao Miyazaki and his brothers were children, his mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis for nine years, and spent much of her time hospitalized. It is implied, yet never revealed in the film, that Satsuki and Mei’s mother also suffers from tuberculosis. He once said the film would have been too painful for him to make if the two protagonists were boys instead of girls.
• More trivia here

In my own words: The ending song is one of the catchiest ever! It also proves to me that when a director is at the top of their game, plots, conflicts or bad guys are not necessary

Japanese title: Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind / Kaze no Tani no Naushika (風の谷のナウシカ)

Average rating: 8.55

Released: 06-Mar-1984

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Fantsy, Post-apocalyptic

Length: 116 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: Nausicaa is a princess of the peaceful valley kingdom. She grew up in the world ravaged by toxic waste. The invasion of the warring Tolmekian to the kingdom triggered a chain of event that threatens to destroy the whole world.

Trivia:

• Miyazaki and Takahata managed to generate enough profits from this feature to start Studio Ghibli
• The movie was adapted from the first two volumes of Nausicaa manga, which continued until 1992 and produces 7 volumes in total. If Ghibli is going to make a proper sequel to a film, I would love it to be Nausicaa!
• The first English-licenced version of Nausicaa was called ‘Warriors of the Wind’. Miyazaki was so horrified with the extreme butchering done to the film that he insists on a no-edit clause to any future licence given out
• More trivia here

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Japanese title: Whisper of the Heart / Mimi wo Sumaseba (耳をすませば)

Average rating: 8.48

Released: 03-Jun-1995

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Romance, Slice-of-Life

Length: 111 minutes

Director: Yoshifumi Kondou

Synopsis: Whisper of the Heart tells a story of a young girl, Shizuku, and her quest one summer to finish a novel she has started, work through various relationship issues and grow up.

Trivia:

• This is the first Japanese film in Dolby Digital
• Shown with ‘On Your Mark’ during its theatrical release
• Miyazaki was involved only in storyboarding and directing of the fantasy sequences
• This is Kondou’s first and only directorial feature. He passed away from aneurysm in 1998, 3 years after the film was released. His death was thought to have been caused from excess work and apprarently has influenced Miyazaki to work at a more relaxed pace after. It was also a huge loss to Studio Ghibli as many people speculated that the studio had earmarked him as the successor to the aging Miyazaki and Takahata. A decade on and any other suitable successor has not been found
• More trivia

In my own words: This is my co-favourite alongside Spirited Away. I had a Ghibli marathon at one point to watch all films after I watched Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away (Have never seen so many good films in a row before or since!). Whisper of the Heart was on the top of my want-to-watch list and it remains my favourite after. It is just so heart-warming and I love the ‘chamber music’ scene in the middle. One of the best sequence in all Ghibli films!

Japanese title: Howl’s Moving Castle / Howl no Ugoku Shiro (ハウルの動く城)

Average rating: 8.44

Awards:

• 2005 Animation Feature Nominee – Academy Awards [1]
• 2005 Excellence Prize (Animation) – Japan Media Art Festival Award [1]
• 2005 Best Animation Feature Nominee – Annie Award [1]
• 2004 Animation of the Year Winner – Tokyo Anime Award [2]

Released: 05-Sep-2004

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Length: 118 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: A young hatter named Sophie has her life changed when an evil witch transforms her into an old woman. She runs away in search of a way to become young again. Along the way, Sophie met a turnip headed scarecrow, a wizard’s apprentice Markl, a fire demon Calcifer, and eventually, Howl the Wizard himself. Sophie then becomes the castle’s cleaning lady in an effort to not only find the solution to her problem but to save Howl from his own terrible secrets as well.

Trivia:

• Mamoru Hosoda was slated to direct this originally but creative differences (or plain old Japanese Studio politics) forced him to leave the project and Miyazaki took on the mantle). He went on to other critical and box office successes including ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ and ‘ Summer Wars’. I would have loved for him to have succeeded as the studio’s next-in-line but we will have to wait again for someone else to emerge
• Upon seeing Spirited Away, Christian Bale immediately agreed to play any role in this film
• More trivia here

In my own words:I enjoyed watching this in cinema quite a lot when it came out in the UK back in September 2005. After Princess Mononoke about 5 years earlier, all my Ghibli fixes have been through dvd so it is really awesome to watch this on a big screen again!

Japanese title: Kiki’s Delivery Service / Majo no Takkyubin (魔女の宅急便)

Average rating: 8.32

Rating comments:

• Scorings for Kiki is very similar to Porco Rosso. Both are rated top equals by Rottentomatoes and THEM, but has average scores outside of those two (perhaps the score rating of 0 to 5 employed by THEM Anime just does not differentiate the films quite as much)

Released: 17-Jul-1989

Genre/Theme: Adventure, drama, fantasy, supernatural, growing up, witches

Length: 103 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: When an apprentice witch turns thirteen, she must leave her home in order to hone her craft. Kiki sets out for adventure with her cat Jiji. They settle in a charming seaside town, where Kiki establishes her own delivery service. As Kiki learns to balance independence with responsibility, her kind heart wins her many new friends in this coming-of-age tale.

Trivia:

• Kiki and Ursula are voiced by the same voice actress
• During the production phase, Hayao Miyazaki and his artists traveled to Sweden to research for the film. The photographs they took of Stockholm and Visby, formed the basis of the fictional city of Koriko. The city also contains elements of Lisbon, Paris, San Francisco, and Milan
• The story takes place in an alternative 1950′s Europe where WWI and WWII never happened
• At first, Miyazaki was only a producer for the film. The first script was written by Nobuyuki Isshiki, and Sunao Katabuchi was scheduled to make his debut as a director. But Isshiki soon left the project, as Miyazaki wasn’t satisfied with his script. Miyazaki then re-wrote the script, and eventually directed the film, with Katabuchi as an assistant director (why does this story sounds very familiar for many other Ghibli films?)
• More trivia here

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Japanese title: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea / Gake no Ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ)

Average rating: 8.07

Rating comments:

• This is the worst-rated Miyazaki film in the Ghibli era. Here is hoping that this is not a sign of future quality to come (at least statistically)…
• Any fim below Ponyo has scores that are below the average scores of all Ghibli films

Awards:

• 2009 Animation of the Year Winner – Tokyo Anime Award
• 2009 Animation of the Year Winner – Japan Academy Prize
• 2008 Oofuji Noburou Award – Mainichi Film Award

Released: 19-Jul-2008

Genre/Theme: Adventure, comedy, magic, mermaids

Length: 101 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: A young boy, Sōsuke, befriends a strange looking goldfish whom he names Ponyo. Unbeknownst to Sōsuke, Ponyo is a magic fish who has decided that she wants to live with Sōsuke and the other humans. Unfortunately, Ponyo’s decision to give up her underwater life creates a crack in an ancient magic spell, and places the world in danger. Together, Sōsuke and Ponyo must set things right. (ANN)

Trivia:

• This was the first animated film to be nominated for and win the Best Film Score prize at the Japanese Academy Awards
• Hayao Miyazaki stated at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con that he was inspired to create the film after watching Disney’s animated adaptation The Little Mermaid
• Hayao Miyazaki drew most of the sea and wave imagery himself, experimenting with making it as expressionistic as possible. John Lasseter said that he had never seen water animated so beautifully before.
• This received the widest release for a Studio Ghibli in the US when it ran in 927 theaters. Spirited Away opened in 26 theaters, Howl’s Moving Castle 36 and Princess Mononoke 38
• The titular song, sung by an adorable 8-year old girl and a folk group, was released 7 months before the movie. It reaches #3 in the oricon chart, spending an entire year in it, and was widely remembered by all who was in Japan at that time with its destructively catchy chorus
• More trivia here

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Japanese title: Only Yesterday / Omoide Poro Poro (おもひでぽろぽろ)

Average rating: 7.86

Rating comment:

• This is the highest ranking series with the most number of sites without scores (4: Rottentomatoes, MRQE, DVD Talk, DVD Verdict). This definitely shows a lack of recognition for this little gem among the non-Japanese crowd. This is no surprise considering its very Japanese them and setting

Released: 27-Jun-1991

Genre/Theme: Drama, romance, slice of life

Length: 118 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: Taeko, a middle-age office lady, took time off to visit her aunt in the countryside. During the trip, she reminisced about her childhood and comtemplated about her future

Trivia:

• Although the Walt Disney Company paid for the US distribution rights as part of its deal with Studio Ghibli, executives later decided that it could not release “Only Yesterday” in the US because the film contained references to menstruation (a clause in Ghibli’s distribution contract prohibited Disney from altering the scene to remove the references).

In my own words: I tend to see this film as a change of pace for studio Ghibli, a proof that it can also do a quiet, poignant film (outside of Totoro) and succeed. The most memorable part about this film is the ending. Very touching and perfectly wraps up the whole story. Although the theme is very Japanese, I really hope more people will watch this as it contains a lot of nostalgia and growing pain of adulthood which is all too familiar for everyone.

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Japanese title: On Your Mark

Average rating: 7.80

Released: 15-Jul-1995

Genre/Theme: Action, Science-fiction, angels, police

Length: 7 minutes

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis: Set in the future, a police force raided a cult and found an angel chained inside. Seeing that she would again be imprisoned by the government, two polices set out to rescue her and free her once and for all

Trivia:

• This is the first Miyazaki’s anime to include CG ‘cels’

In my own words:You will most likely have to download this as I don’t remember seeing this being part of any extra for any legitimate dvd releases in the east

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Japanese title: The Cat Returns / Neko no Ongaeshi (猫の恩返し)

Average rating: 7.78

Released: 20-Jul-2002

Genre/Theme: Adventure, fantasy, catgirls

Length: 75 minutes

Director: Hiroyuki Morita

Synopsis: A young girl, Haru-chan, saved a stray cat from being overrun by a truck. The cat who turns out to be a prince of the cat kingdom. She ended up having to marry the prince and has to team up with the Baron to prevent her marriage.

Trivia:

• This is a pseudo-sequel to Whisper of the Heart (Baron and co. returns for their second gig)
• The director went on to direct an anime series called ‘Bokurano’, whose theme is completely different from The Cat Returns (Think Grave of the Fireflies vs. Totoro difference)
• The film started when Studio Ghibli received a proposal from a Japanese theme park to make a twenty minute animation starring cats.
• This was originally going to be a short straight-to-video project, but Toshio Suzuki, Ghibli’s main producer, was so impressed with the director’s storyboard, and especially the main character of “Haru”, that he encouraged Miyazaki to give this cinematic release.

In my own words: This is a nice little story. Not quite on the level of Spirited Away (the film that came out before this) but pretty good compared to any other non-Ghibli films nonetheless. I remember this film pretty well because it is the first film that I got to have actual anticipation of whether it will be good or not. I got into Ghibli at around 2001 and any films before that I can get my hand on and read how whether they are any good online.

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Japanese title: My Neighbours the Yamadas / Houhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (ホーホケキョとなりの山田くん)

Average rating: 7.40

Rating comment

• The gap in average rating between The Cat Returns (at 15) and Yamadas is the second largest between two consecutive ranks (0.37). This is the first big drop in ranking

Released: 17-Jul-1999

Genre/Theme:

Length: 104 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: This is a story about a family that expresses various themes about living with father and mothers, husbands and wives, daughters and sons, and brothers and sisters. And sharp grandmas. The story is presented as a series of vignettes.

Trivia:

• This is the first 100% digital movie created by Studio Ghibli. no traditional ‘cels’ were used in the production. The studio wanted to experiment with the medium and it wzs incorporated in a few scenes in later films including Spirited Away

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Japanese title: Ocean Waves / Umi ga Kikoeru (海がきこえる)

Average rating: 7.34

Released: 10-Apr-1993

Genre/Theme: Drama, romance, slice of life, school

Length: 72 minutes

Director: Tomomi Mochizuki

Synopsis: Ocean Waves is a high school love story between two best friends, Taku and Yutaka and Rikako, a girl who recently got transferred to their school.

Trivia:

• This is Ghibli’s only movie TV production

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Japanese title: Pom Poko / Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ)

Average rating: 7.30

Rating comments

• Only Anime Academy gives it a decent rating (ranked 8, versus all other average of 17)

Released: 13-Jun-1994

Genre/Theme: Adventure, drama, comedy, magic, tanuki, yokai

Length: 118 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: Faced with the destruction of their habitat due to the growth of Tokyo, a group of tanuki try to defend their homes. They decide to use their transforming talents to try to hold back the new development. Two of them, especially skilled at transforming, are sent to Shikoku to enlist the help of three sages. Meanwhile, the rest of them do their best to disrupt the construction site, at first causing accidents, and then actually haunting the site. However, the humans are very persistent, and soon the tanuki are forced to use more and more extreme measures to save their home. (ANN)

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Japanese title: Panda! Go, Panda! (パンダ・コパンダ)

Average rating: 6.61

Rating comments:

• The gap between no. 18 and 19, at 0.68, is the largest. This shows a significant ‘drop-off’ in perceived quality from here on
• Only THEM anime rates this outside the bottom three

Analysis:

• Predictably, this film has the most missing scores with only 5 sources giving any scores for the film (AA, THEM, Anime Planet, MAL and Blog)

Released: 17-Dec-1972

Genre/Theme: Adventure, Comedy, Slice-of-life, Family

Length: 30 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: Mimiko lives with her grandmother beside a bamboo grove. One day Mimiko’s grandmother goes away for a while, leaving Mimiko to herself. A baby panda appears in the garden along with it’s father, Papa Panda. Mimiko asks if Mr. Panda could be her father too, and he agrees. (ANN)

Trivia:

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Japanese title: Tales From Earthsea / Gedo Senki (ゲド戦記)

Average rating: 6.59

Rating comments

• All sources put this film in the bottom half of the Ghibli films with only being so kind as to put it 12th. The film fares much worse among anime-based sources, with ranking in the 17-20 range (out of 21)
• This film actually fares worse, though only marginally, than Panda! Go Panda!, the debut film of Goro’s dad, Hayao. Is it too much to hope that he sticks around in the anime industry and have as illustrious a career 30 years on like his dad?
• Only Anime Academy gave it a decent acore (8.40). I wonder whether there will be another review for the film just to determine whether that original score is an anomaly

Released: 29-Jul-2006

Genre/Theme: Adventure, drama, fantasy, magic

Length: 116 minutes

Director: Goro Miyazaki

Synopsis: Something bizarre has come over the land. The kingdom is deteriorating. People are beginning to act strange… What’s even more strange is that people are beginning to see dragons, which shouldn’t enter the world of humans. Due to all these bizarre events, Ged, a wandering wizard, is investigating the cause. During his journey, he meets Prince Arren, a young distraught teenage boy. While Arren may look like a shy young teen, he has a severe dark side, which grants him strength, hatred, ruthlessness and has no mercy, especially when it comes to protecting Teru. For the witch Kumo this is a perfect opportunity. She can use the boy’s “fears” against the very one who would help him, Ged. (ANN)

Trivia:

• The movie marks the first Disney (produced or distributed) animated film to receive a PG-13 rating
• Hayao Miyazaki first wrote author Ursula K. Le Guin about adapting her book into a film. LeGuin at the time was unfamiliar with Miyazaki’s work and associated animation to be similar to Disney animation and turned the offer down. After she saw My Neighbour Totoro she loved it and decided to allow the movie to be made
• Hayao Miyazaki wanted to direct the film but was busy filming Hauru no ugoku shiro at the time. Producer Toshio Suzuki choose Goro Miyazaki to direct since he was impressed by Goro’s talent of making decisions quickly and properly while working in the Ghibli Museum, and his ability to draw pictures. Hayao was against Goro directing which made the subsequent production very tense

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Japanese title: The Little Norse Prince / Taiyou no Ouji – Hols no Daibouken (太陽の王子　ホルスの大冒険)

Average rating: 6.37

Rating comments

• This ranks in the bottom 3 at best among the six sources that bother to rate/review/rank this film
• This contains the worst individual rating score among all films and sources (4.20 from rottentomatoes)

Released: 21-Jul-1968

Genre/Theme: Adventure, drama, fantasy, magical creatures

Length: 82 minutes

Director: Isao Takahata

Synopsis: As a baby, Horus was saved by his father from their burning northern village, after the village was attacked by a powerful demon. Several years pass, and on his deathbed the father bids Horus to return to his people. Horus goes on a journey to save a village from monsters and a girl from the force that kept her imprisoned

In my own words: I actually felt a bit bored watching this film. The very old animation style put me off slightly and the stories just do not have the excitement or grand battles of the likes of Laputa

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That is it for now. The next post will delve more into any other trend or analysis with regards to Ghibli data I have collected (films that are over- or underappreicated, how each sources compare to each other), which will hopefully be posted online at a much quicker interval than this and the last one!

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1). HAIBANE RENMEI

Number of episodes: 13

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Slice of Life

Follow up?: None

Similar anime titles (if you like this, what else you should check out): Mushi-shi, Kino’s Journey, Someday’s Dreamer

Date shown: 9-October-2002

Studio: Radix

Director: Tokoro Tomakazu

Synopsis: Rakka, a newly born Haibane (Angel), awakens into an unfamiliar world with only a strange dream of falling from the sky as her only memory. Alone and scared of who and what she is, she is cared for by fellow Haibanes as they try and search for the meaning of their existence as well as what lies beyond their town’s imprisoning walls. [ANN]

Pros:  Rife with symbolism and metaphors; completely original setting; gripping in its oscurity; rich atmosphere; [Anime Academy] sountrack is very soothing and haunting

Cons: Nothing happens; Pace can be very slow

Excerpts:

• Haibane Renmei started off a bit slow, but it closed off with one of the strongest finales I have ever seen. It has both a very imaginative setting, and truly excels at its character-development. [Star Crossed Anime]
• Haibane Renmei sings of wisdom and beauty too elusive and immense for our comprehension. A truly special place is Haibne Renmei, where we can spend an eternity swimming in a pool of thoughts, or losing ourselves in its rejuvenating warmth. [Guri Guri Blog]
• This anime is, in a nutshell, a philosophical one that concentrates on character development. So expect no high octane, fast and furious action. At thirteen episodes, the focus, plot and pacing is just right. It neither drags nor contain unnecessary fillers or recaps [THEM Anime]

In My Own Words: Story is originally based on a doujinshi produced by Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiment Lain, Niea_7) Series was ranked FIRST 7 times (the highest frequency) and also rank in the TOP FIVE 14 times (also the highest). THis is also the only series on the list for Radix. I also love the soundtrack in this, especially ‘Ailes Grises’

More reviews: Anime Academy (87%);

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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2). MUSHI-SHI

Number of episodes: 26

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Slice of Life, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural

Follow up?: None

Similar anime titles: Kino’s Journey, Haibane Renmei

Date shown: 22-October-2005

Studio: Artland

Director: Nagahama Hiroshi

Synopsis: Ginko is a “Mushi-shi” who travels around to investigate and find out more about the “Mushi”, the primeval organisms whose existence and appearance in the world are unknown to many and only a limited number of humans are aware of them. In the process, he also lends a helping hand to people who face problems with supernatural occurrences which may be related to the “Mushi”. [ANN]

Pros: Perfect music; engrossing story; Wonderfully dream-like directing [Anime Academy]

Cons: There is no underlying plotline; very slow pacing

Excerpts:

• Mushishi has character, but most of all, it has a fascinating premise and lots of atmosphere. With a serene Eastern philosophy and beautiful landscapes, it’s easily the most distinct series from the last ten years. [THEM Anime - Bradley]
• The storytelling is always poignant and yet natural, and it always has a serene atmosphere. This is still a series that very rightfully established itself as a classic.[Star Crossed Anime]
• To watch Mushishi is to drift into lucid dream. The world is rendered strange and bizarre, yet everything feels so beautifully integrated as a whole, it can not be described as anything other than sublime. [Guri Guri Blog]

In My Own Words:Mushi-shi is also another firm favourites among the bloggers. It ranks SECOND 7 times (twice behind Monsters, once behind Haibane Renmei) but somehow never manages to get first place once. Despite the lack of action or plot, the series excels in its atmosphere and stirring humanity of all characters (mushis sometimes included). This is also Artland’s only entry in the top 50. Talk about striking a creative jackpot with this one!

More reviews: Anime Academy (94%);

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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3). MONSTER

Number of episodes: 74

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery, Psychological, Horror

Follow up?: None

Similar anime titles:

Date shown: 06-April-2004 to 27-September-2004

Studio: Madhouse Studios

Director: Kojima Masayuki

Synopsis: Kenzou Tenma, a Japanese brain surgeon in Germany, had it all: incredible skill at his work, a rich and beautiful fiancee, and a promising career at his hospital. However, after becoming disenchanted by hospital politics, he chose to save the life of a young boy who got shot in the head over the life of the mayor. As a result he lost the support of the hospital director, as well as his position in the hospital and his fiance. A short time later, the hospital director and the doctors that replaced him were murdered, and once again he was catapulted back onto the top. But as the chief suspect of the murders, Tenma did not get a easy life. As a matter of fact, it seems that the boy he saved was much more than he had appeared to be… Now to clear his name and to correct his past mistake, Tenma must get to the bottom of these and other murders, and investigate the truth of the Monster who is behind all of this. [ANN]

Pros: Thrilling story with gripping plot; characters with emotional depths

Cons: Occasional fillers, slow development, medical terminology issues [AA]

Excerpt:

• Overall, Monster is a new favorite, and is a series that I would recommend to just about everyone. Think the crap you’re watching now is better than this? Think again. [Anime Planet]
• While there probably has been many a great anime TV series before it, Madhouse and Masayuki Kojima’s adaptation of Monster is probably one of the very best. Ironically, much like the anime adaptation of another Urasawa work, Master Keaton, it’s the best show that no one watched [THEM Anime]

In My Own Words: The series came FIRST 6 times (only one behind Haibane Renmei). Original manga by Urasawa Naoki (20th Century Boy, Pluto).  The adaptation from manga form is meant to be ultra-faithful. I sometimes discuss this concept with my friends. If I am a doctor, am I willing to do the ‘right’ thing or succumb to the social pressure and give preferential treatment to more important person? I probably choose the latter, but after a lot of agony. I just love how much the story makes you think, all the dilemma the characters go through.

More reviews: Anime Academy (95%); 

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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4). TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN

Number of episodes: 27

Genre: Mecha, Real Robot, Action, Adventure, Drama, Comedy, Sci-fi, Fanservice

Follow up?: 2 movies (Gurren-hen & Lagann-hen)

Similar anime titles: FLCL, Eureka Seven, Code Geass

Date shown: 01-Apr-2007 to 30-Sep-2009

Studio: GAINAX

Director: Imaishi Hiroyuki

Synopsis: In their closed-off underground village, Kamina and Simon chafe at the limits imposed by the village elder. Yet all this will change, when Simon stumbles across a fantastic device – just as the village’s peace is broken by a violent intrusion. [ANN]

Pros: Amazing Story; Extremely Memorable Characters; Awesome Soundtrack [Anime Evo]

Cons: Takes An Episode to get Into [Anime Evo]

Excerpts:

• An unabashedly” giant robo” series that’s also easily accessible, and loveable, to even the most casual anime fan. The first half of the series is fully invested in being as cool and emotionally involving as possible for every minute it has your attention, and when the laughs give way to tears, then to triumph, you know you’re watching something great. And then the second half does the same thing, but on a much bigger and grander scale. [THEM Anime - Bradley]
• Gurren-Lagann treads familiar ground, but it understands the genre it inhabits and uses these cliches for a greater good. The ever-escalating battles, little-to-no filler episodes, operatic themes, and the simplistic message of “believing in yourself and others” all provide an entertaining drama. [93%, Anime Academy]

In My Own Words: A somewhat return to form for GAINAX, a studio that has produced amazing, genre changing series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion but has not done any spectacular series for the first 7 years of the decade (FLCL does not count since it is more an OAV). I still have not watched this series as of now but can imagine marathoning through it when I have the chance:)

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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5). FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST

Number of episodes: 51

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Steampunk

Follow up?: a movie (Conqueror of Shamballa in 2005) + a retelling of the whole story (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in 2009)

Similar anime titles: D. Gray-man, Bleach, Chrono Crusade

Date shown: 04-Oct-2003 to 02-Oct-2004

Studio: BONES

Director: Mizushima Seiji

Synopsis: After losing their mother, Alphonse and Edward Elric attempt to bring her back using the forbidden science of human alchemy. However, alchemy operates on the theory of equivalent trade, and breaking the human alchemy taboo carries a heavy price. Ed loses his leg, and Al loses his body. Ed is able to seal Al’s soul inside of a huge suit of armor, at the cost of his arm. Years later, Ed (now with two mechanical limbs) and Al (still trapped in the armor) leave their childhood home. Ed, who has a natural talent and skill for alchemy, becomes nationally certified and is soon known everywhere as the “Fullmetal Alchemist.” Their true objective is to search for any information on the fabled Philosopher’s Stone, hoping it will allow them to regain their old bodies. However, the brothers soon learn that they are not the only ones after the powerful stone. [ANN]

Pros: Wonderful characters; nice mix of drama, comedy and action; lovely soundtrack; animation never stops shining [AA]

Cons: Some untimely comedic moments [AA]

Excerpts:

• Nearly every aspect of this anime was well-executed, creating an epic with an ending that still gives me chills when I think about it. [THEM Anime - Bradley]
• Cinco estrellas. Five stars. Whatever you call it, it’s good. I’d debated giving it only four for the animation, but really, this show is enough fun to deserve all five [THEM Anime]

In My Own Words: I really enjoyed this series a lot while watching it with a great combination of gripping story and memorable characters. Mid way through, the anime deviates from the manga, for the worse according to a lot of people.

More reviews: Anime Academy (93%)

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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6). THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA

Number of episodes: 13

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Slice-of-Life, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural, School, Parody, Moe

Follow up?: Original Net Animation (Melancholy of Haruhi-chan in 2009); 2nd season (which is unmemorably marked by the ‘Endless Eight’ saga, that proved once and for all that if you can get otakus to like something, you can do anything and they will still buy your stuffs)  & a movie (The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Similar Anime Titles: Ouran High School Host Club, Lucky Star, Angel Beats

Date shown: 02-Apr-2006 to 02-Jul-2006

Studio: Kyoto Animation

Director: Ishihara Tatsuya

Synopsis: On the first day of high school a beautiful girl named Haruhi Suzumiya introduces herself as having “no interest in ordinary humans”. She asks for any aliens, time travelers, sliders or espers to join her. Watching her weird behaviour is Kyon who sits in front of Haruhi and is the only person who talks to her. When Kyon comments about Haruhi’s joining every club in school and then quitting he unwittingly gives Haruhi an idea to start her own after school club. Thereafter Kyon and several others find themselves dragged, literally, into the Save our world by Overloading it with fun Suzumiya Haruhi’s Brigade (the S.O.S. Brigade for short). [ANN]

Pros: Intriguing setup in all respects; brilliant comedy and parody; topnotch production value;  Unique storyline; Dynamic characters; interwoven plot structure [AA]

Cons: One storyline is not as strong as the rest; first episode can turn potential viewers away; [AA] Otaku-bait

Excerpts:

• breath of fresh air, a compelling series that seemed to have more ideas than it knew what to do with, and in the titular character Haruhi, the most compelling lady to ever grace anime [THEM Anime - Bradley]
• Ultimately, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi is anything but melancholy, but rather, a wild, imaginative journey through a world that isn’t as mundane as it looks. [W]hile the entire show is an exercise in making sure Haruhi isn’t (ahem) melancholic, this should do pretty well to cure the boredom of even the most jaded fan. [THEM Anime]

In My Own Words: There are two ways of watching this show, chronologically and TV order. I would advise you to stick with the TV order version. Although it is more confusing, watching it this way preserves the flow of the story the way the studio intended. It also makes more sense thematically (this is akin to watching Memento chronologically. It is less confusing but you are not watching the same film!). I also really enjoy that dance routine at the end too. For the record, the Japanese still does the best dance!

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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7). AZUMANGA DAIOH

Number of episodes: 26

Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-Life, School

Follow up?: None. A short Original Animation Video is released before the anime series in 2000

Similar anime titles: Lucky Star, School Rumble, Strawberry Marshmellow

Date shown: 08-Apr-2002

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Nishikiori Hiroshi

Synopsis: Azumanga Daioh is about 3 years of high school life through the eyes of six girls with unusual personalities: Chiyo (the 10-year-old genius), Osaka (the resident airhead), Sakaki (the shy one prone to cat bites), Tomo (the loose cannon), Yomi (the short-tempered one) and Kagura (the resident jock). [ANN]

Pros: Flawless comedic timing. Adorable characters that are surprisingly fleshed out, Who does not love Chiyo-chan!

Cons: Love-it-or-hate it anime; Gags can be hit-or-miss, A lot of cultural references that most will completely miss

Excerpts

• Azumanga Daioh’s excellent use of characters creates an experience unlike most others. The student body in Azumanga Daioh is one of its strongest assets. Their distinct personalities complement each another nicely, and the chemistry between both characters and seiyuu is exceptional. it’s also important to note that quite a few of the jokes rely heavily upon knowledge of Japanese culture and society [92%, Anime Academy]
• Azumanga Daioh is all about mood. A nostalgic character piece that succeeds in what it sets out to do [THEM Anime]

In My Own Words: This is the best high school comedy around. This also has very high rewatchability value. With the stories structured as a 3-4 short 8-minute minute episode, I can just go back to catch up with each of them very easily and it never fails to give me a good laugh. You should give this series a one-episode test however. It is a good enough litmus test to find out whether you will like the rest of the series.

Source: Wikipedia, Anime News Network

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8). HONEY AND CLOVER

Number of episodes: 26

Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy, Slice-of-life

Follow up?: 2nd 12-episode Season in 2006

Similar anime titles: Nana, Nodame Cantabile, Paradise Kiss

Date shown: 14-Apr-2005

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Kasai Kenichi

Synopsis: Takemoto Yuuta, Mayama Takumi, and Morita Shinobu are college students who share the small apartment. Even though they live in poverty, the three of them are able to obtain pleasure through small things in life. The story follows these characters’ life stories as poor college students, as well as their love lives when a short but talented 18 year old girl called Hanamoto Hagumi appears. [ANN]

Pros: Lovely character design; strong ensemble cast; realistic situations people can relate to; superb visuals and soundtrack [AA]

Cons: Ending may not satisfy everyone; loses a bit of steam towards the end; Cast doesn’t grow much; repetitious at time; No plot; nothing really happens at all [AA]

In My Own Words: I am still waiting for the dvd price of this to come down a bit for purchase. It is really high on my want-to-watch list for sure.J.C. Staff is also the only studio with two series in the top 10. This is also the only ‘josei’ series in the top 10.

Sources: Anime News Network;

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9). GHOST IN THE SHELL: STANDALONE COMPLEX

Number of episodes: 26

Genre: Action, Sci-fi

Follow up?: 2nd Season (GITS: SAC 2nd Gig)

Similar Anime Titles: Ergo Proxy, Jin-Roh: THe Wolf Brigade; Witch Hunter Robin

Date shown: 01-Oct-2002

Studio: Production I.G

Director: Kamiyama Kenji

Synopsis: In the future, life between the digital and physical world has been blurred. The boundary of technology and humanity has been stretched beyond imagination with lives being led in both the electronic and physical worlds. With the melding of man and machine, a new cybernetic level of existence is being created —an existence that continues to redefine mankind. [ANN]

Pros: Seamless animation of 2D and 3D, intelligent storytelling (that is not nearly quite as confusing as the movie counterparts); Jaw-dropping visuals; intense action scenes; Kanno Yoko knows what’s best! [AA]

Cons: Character issues; story goes off track at times [AA]; Only for mature audiences [Anime Evo]

In My Own Words: This is a follow-up to the original Ghost in the Shell manga and movie. I actually prefer this series (and its sequel) to the movie version. I find it so much more accessible and exciting, without the philosophical babbles I barely understand.

Sources: Anime News Network;

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10). BACCANO!

Number of episodes: 13 (+ 3 extras)

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Supernatural

Follow up?: None but I really hope there is a sequel to this. The original novel still has a lot of source material to product a good sequel!

Similar anime titles: Durarara!!; Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist

Date shown: 26-Jul-2007 to 01-Nov-2007

Studio: Brains Base

Director: Omori Takahiro

Synopsis: Each of the stories in the series involves several unrelated plots intersecting and crossing each other as events spiral farther and farther out of control. Alchemists, mafia operated speakeasies, and many other elements of pulp fiction mashed together for a world straight out of the movies. [ANN]

Pros: Great action, gore and violence, gripping plot reminiscent of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Amazing cast that is well-explored despite the short number of episode and its size, the opening sequence!

Cons: Possibly too violent and gory for some to get into; Non-linear storytelling and massive cast can be confusing;  Some definite weak spots in the animation, especially from the backgrounds [Anime Alberta]

Excerpts:

• It’s pure, undiluted and unashamed escapism. So is most of anime, but Baccano! is probably the only series to pull it off with so much flair and style, from the crazed violence to its large cast of memorable characters.  [THEM Anime - Bradley]
• The creators did manage to give every important character (if I had to guess, there’s about thirty of them) an identity, a clearly defined role, a small piece of development and an actual personality. the creators are able to plan the climaxes really well, and they turn into one huge success, with a near-perfect combination between comedy, drama and action. Overall, there need to be more anime like Baccano! It’s not often when you run into a series that’s as well-written as this one.[Star Crossed Anime]

In My Own Words: If you like any of Guy Ritchie’s gangster movies, you will love this series. It is a bit like Lock Stock as an animation in 13 episodes. This series is also best watched without reading any of the synopsis or even the back of the dvd box! The spoiler may not be too big but it is still fun to watch it without that.

Sources: Anime News Network; Wikipedia

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Next article, the next 10 in the list.

For those who may not be aware. Kamen rider shows are staple Japanese franchise that have been around since its debut in 1971, with 20+ series of sequels and spin-offs to date. The main story is the usual good guy in weird masked suits fights off aliens. More detailed description can be found here.

The reboot of the franchise can in 2000 with Kamen Rider Cougar. Each spin-offs ran weekly for nearly a year before the next one comes along. Here are the list in terms of popularity.

Note:
1). Kamen rider shows monopolize the Sunday 8.00 slot of EX, since Burn!! Robocon (the reboot of Ganbare!! Robocon) ended its run on 30-Jul-00. The only Kamen rider shows that did not run in this time slot are the 29 episodes of reruns of Kamen Rider Decade at 6.30 Sunday in 2010 and Late night showings of Kamen Rider Dragon Night at 1.40, which of course explains its dead last rating number, both with pretty high rating of their own (9.9 and 66.7 respectively)

2). There are no animes running in at the same timeslot on another network. Ojamajo Doremi and Precure are the shows that follow the Kamen shows on EX at 8.30

3). There is a pretty strong correlation over time of the decreasing popularity of Kamen shows. After the peak in 2001, which averages 11.60 rating per episode, the rating has gone down at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.2% to 2010. It shows that there were really strong followings at the beginning of the restart (Cougar) and that peaks with the next show Agito. The shows then trends downward since towards the average of around 7.00 as interest is slowly waning.
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As for sentai, this is also a long-running once-a-week franchise with yearly spin-offs. The series is part of the tokusatsu genre, with a typical story of good guys fighting bad guys. The premise is always a group of 5, typically, people gain magical/technological power to transform themselves into super-being with different coloured outfit. Once they beat the enemies once, they then proceed to board a gigantic robot and beat the bigger version of the monsters again. Check wikipedia page for further detail of this

I used to watch Zyuuranger and Jetman quite religiously during the weekend when I was in primary school. The former is the series that spawned Power Rangers in America and also was one of the series that got me interested in dinosaurs. (Zyuuranger’s theme song is still among my most nostalgic memories! It’s so old-school and the puppet animation at the beginning is so fake but I remembered it being the best thing ever back then.)

For Sentai shows, the information is below:

Note:

1). Super Sentai series certainly have a bit more histories than Kamen Rider, with one new show releasing every year for the past 30 years or so. Its popularity is also very steady, stabilizing at around. There seems to be a slightly higher rating number at the beginning of the decade but the difference is not as strong as for Kamen Rider

2). Similar to Kamen Rider, Super Sentai dominates the morning Sunday 7.30 timeslot with no competing animes.

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Interestingly, this decreasing trends are not only restricted to Kamen Riders and Super Sentai shows. Among the mainstream animes (think One Piece, Naruto, Sazae-san, Love Hina), there has also been a downward trend in average rating over the decade, to the tune of about 9% decrease per year. Unless I have sources for other non-anime program, I cannot say conclusively whether this is because of the diminishing popularity of anime or the rise of any other entertainment/information sources. One thing this piece of information may tell us is that fewer people are actually tuning in to watch live anime shows, preferring to download it from the internet or record it for later watch, both activities of which are not captured.

Any comment is most welcomed and let me know if there is anything in particular you are interested from this info:)

I have been doing analyses on anime rating and popularity for over a year now, using information from various blogs and websites that are primarily English-based. This begs the question on whether they really captures what an average Japanese audience really finds popular or worth watching. This is when I managed to come across this website which gives data on viewership rating of animes, Sentai and Kamen shows from most Japanese networks, covering the last 11 years from 2000-2010. This is exactly the type of information that will let me find out once and for all the actual popularity of each anime series on TV in Japan. I have listed below the top 10 shows based on average daily rating over the last 11 years.

In this post, I will make extended mentions of the ‘rating’. According to the Video Research explanation of their numbers, these ratings refers to  to average percentage of households in which any TV is on and tuned to a particular channel during a particular show. Numbers are based on meters installed in sample households. Meters register every minute, and the results are averaged over the length of a show. [EDIT: As kransom mentioned in the comment section, the Video Research data that I used for this analysis on comes from the Kanto region, which makes up about a third of the total Japanese population. It is a shame the data does not represent the whole of Japan as I originally thought but it should also give a good proxy for the whole country]

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TOP 10 MOST POPULAR SERIES IN JAPAN IN 2000s

1). Sazae-San (サザエさん)

No. Episodes: 5400+ [528 in 2000s]

Showing time: Sunday 18:30

Network: Fuji TV (CX)

Vintage: 05-Oct-1969 to present

Average rating: 19.4% (~7.89MM people in Kanto area watching) [Have changed the value to reflect only the population from the Kanto region where the data comes from. A rough estimate for the number of people watching for the whole of Japan would be three times this number]

Note:  “Sazae-san” is a national pasttime anime that has been on air since 1969. It started as a local newspaper comic just right after the war in 1946, by the late Hasegawa Machiko. The anime has been showing for 35 years, with over 5,400 episodes already being produced (the anime is a 30 minute program with three episodes each). The gap between this anime and the next best one over the last decade is quite staggering and I would not bet against it losing that spot any time soon.

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2). Kindaichi (金田一少年の事件簿)

No. Episodes: 148 [27 in 2000s]

Showing time: Monday 19:00

Network: Nihon TV (NTV)

Vintage: 07-Apr-1997 to 15-Sep-2000

Average rating: 13.7% (~5.58MM)

Note: Adapted from a manga, Kindaichi presents a detective story that grabs the national attention with its intricate murder mysteries and detective routine of the prodigious protagonist. It does not hurt that the series is shown on one of the golden slot in Japanese anime! The manga, with began serializing in 1992, is one of the earliest works in the mystery manga genre and no doubt lay groundwork for the likes of Detective Conan later on.

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3). Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo (こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所)

No. Episodes: 367 [188 in 2000s]

Showing time: Sunday 19:00

Network: Fuji TV

Vintage: 16-Jun-1996 to 19-Dec-2004

Average rating: 13.7% (~5.57MM)

Note: Another very long running series that comes in the top spot. The manga has been continuously serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump since Sep-1976. Accordingly to Wikipedia, it is the longest-running manga series in the history with over 1,600 chapters published (Golgo 13 and Doraemon began publishing earlier but neither has been in continuous serialization). The animation adaptation lasted 8 years, ending in in 2004 and had a brief rerun on the Sunday morning slots in 2007-9.

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4). Chibi Maruko-chan (ちびまる子ちゃん)

No. Episodes: 757 [528 in 2000s]

Showing time: Sunday 18:00

Network: Fuji TV

Vintage: 07-Jan-1990 to 27-Sep-1992 & 08-Jan-1995 to present

Average rating: 13.3% (~5.42MM)

Note: This is also a famous national iconic anime which started its airing in 1990. It is based on the manga by Sakura Momoko, serialized on Ribon Magazine. The anime is a satirical portrayal of the author’s life as an elementary school student in the 1960s. This anime became very popular for both adults and children alike as the series immerse them into a Japanese world during the 1960s. It also gives a reminder what has been lost due to rampant over-development (i.e. kids used to play outside until dark and local parks and open spaces. Now they stay at home partly to play computer games and go on internet, but partly also due to the fact that there are no more parks and open areas due to over-development).  Currently there are over 757 episodes available.

When the series was aired in Oct-1990, it attained a TV viewer rating of 39.9%, which is still the highest rating ever attained by an animated TV series in Japan! Interestingly, Masaaki Yuasa (of Mind Game fame) also animated the first season back in 1990s

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5). Detective Conan (名探偵コナン)

No. Episodes: 621 [450 in 2000s]

Showing time: Monday 19:30; Saturday 18:00

Network: Nihon TV

Vintage: 08-Jan-1996 to present

Average rating: 12.8% (~5.20MM)

Note: Another manga adaptation (5 out of top 5!), the anime series has been well received and ranked often in the top ten of Japanese TV anime rating. Taking one step back,  I always wonder how anyone in their right mind would want to get near this guy. Conan and his friends are like a murder magnet!

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6). Inuyasha (犬夜叉)

No. Episodes: 167 [162 in 2000s]

Showing time: Monday 19:00

Network: Nihon TV

Vintage: 16-Oct-2000 to 13-Sep-2004

Average rating: 12.7% (~5.16MM)

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7). Ghost Stories (学校の怪談)

No. Episodes: 20 [20 in 2000s]

Showing time: Sunday 19:30

Network: Fuji TV

Vintage: 22-Oct-2000 to 25-Mar-2001

Average rating: 12.2% (~4.75MM)

Note: To me, this one is the most surprising inclusion into the top 10. It is neither a long-running slice of life series nor is it a shounen adventure. Interestingly, its rerun in 2002 at a 16:00 timeslot only garners ~2.5% rating. That goes to show the amazing power of releasing a show in a good slot!

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8). Atashin’chi (あたしンち)

No. Episodes: 330 [117 in 2000s]

Showing time: Friday 19:30; Saturday 11:20

Network: TV Asahi (EX)

Vintage: 19-Apr-2002 to 19-Sep-2009

Average rating: 11.4% (~4.63MM)

Note: This series is directed by Akitaro Daichi, off the heels of Fruits Basket and Animation Runner Kuromi [EDIT: It does not seem like Daichi lasted long directing this series. Thanks, Lin for the info!]

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9). Doraemon (ドラえもん)

No. Episodes: [458 in 2000s]

Showing time: Friday 19:00

Network: ANB/TV Asahi

Vintage: 2-Apr-1979 to 25-Mar-2005 (initial 26-episode run in 1973)

Average rating: 11.3% (~4.58MM)

Note: Another favourite pastime anime from Japan. The titular character even attains the position of the cultural ambassador of Japan. This anime also starts its life as a manga published in 1969 by the late Fujiko F. Fujio before Shinei Animation began animating it in 1979. The simple story of a robotic cat travelling back in time to aid the great great grandfather (who was a schoolboy in the past) of its original owner shows the imagination and heart that has captivated the both Japanese and foreigners alike. I still believe that if there is one song an oriental person in their 20s and 30s would unanimously recognize, it is the opening theme of Doraemon. I am actually slightly surprised that it does not rank a little higher on this list.

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10). Ojamajo Doremi# (おジャ魔女どれみ#)

No. Episodes:  [ in 2000s]

Showing time: Sunday 8:30

Network: EX

Vintage: 06-Feb-2000 to 28-Jan-2001

Average rating: 11.3% (~4.58MM)

Note: This is the only show in the top 10 that garners such high rating despite being in a morning slot

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11).  ONE PIECE (11.2%)

12). Digimon Adventure 2 (11.2%)

13). Crayon Shin Chan (11.0%)

14). Great Teacher Onitsuka (10.8%)

15). Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi (10.7%)

16). Pokemon (10.6%)

17). Digimon Tamers (10.0%)

18). Black Jack (9.9%)

19). Dragon Ball Kai (9.4%)

20). Hikaru no Go (9.2%)

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OBSERVATIONS

- To put these numbers in perspective, the 2 shows that probably have the highest popularity in the West are Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist and these shows only score the rating of 6.5 and 6.1 respectively.

- The golden slots in the anime circuits based on these datas are listed below. These two time slots combine to account for 7 of the top 11 most popular anime in Japan

- Sunday 18:00 (Chibi Maruko-chan), 18:30 (Sazae-san) and 19:00 (Kochikame /ONE PIECE) slots on Fuji TV

- Monday 19:00 (Kindaichi/Inuyasha/Black Jack) and 19:30 (Detective Conan) slots on Nihon TV

- There really seems to be four clear types of anime an average Japanese tv audience tune in to watch:

1). The family-friendly, slice-of-life anime that everyone can gather around to watch (Sazae-san, Chibi Maruko-chan, Atashin’Chi, Kochikame, Crayon Shin Chan, Doraemon);

2). The drama/mystery type (Kindaichi, Detective Conan, Ghost Stories, Black Jack, GTO, Hikaru no Go)

3). The popular franchise series for kids (Ojamajo Doremi, Digimon, Dragon Ball Kai)

4). The adventure series (Inuyasha, ONE PIECE)

- 8 out of the top 10 (and 14 of top 20) are manga adaptations. The exceptions are Ghost Stories (books) and Ojamajo Doremi # (original franchise). This goes to show that manga is without doubt a big influence to provide exposure to general audience

- All series in the top 10, with the exception of Kindaichi, are categorized in Anime News Network as comedy (and 15 of the top 20).  Admittedly comedy is the most common genre for a series to be categorized but it is still amazing to see the complete domination and preference of a Japanese audience for these types of show. The next most common category (at 5 from 10) is drama

- This makes me wonder any popular series pre-2000 (Dragon Ball Z comes to mind) ever comes close to touching the height seemingly maintained by Sazae-san over any period

- On the other otaku, non-anime department, Kamen Rider Agito scores the highest rating (11.7%) back in 2001. The highest sentai show on the list is Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger at 8.9 again back in 2001. I may do another side-post on the popularity of Kamen and Sentai shows over the year in the future

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CONCLUSION

For the Japanese audience, series with the highest viewer rating tend to be a slice-of-lift, long-running, adapted-from-manga series that run either Sunday evening on Fuji TV or Monday evening on Nihon TV. In the 2000s, Sazae-san is also the undisputed leader of the pack with an insurmountable viewer rating others could only dream of. In the next post, I will run this list of top 10/20 series with the highest viewer rating against some of the Western rating websites to compare the makeup and preferences of each fanbases

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SOURCE

- Rating is based on avarage daily rating between 01-Jan-2000 to 31-Dec-2010

- Reruns of the series at later dates are excluded from the analysis

- The analysis cover all the 6 nationwide networks plus a few additionals. These are:

- Fuji TV (CX) – Nationwide commercial network

- NHK [Nippon Kousou Kyoukai]- Nationwide Public network

- NHK Educational TV (ETV) – Part of NHK

- Nihon TV (NTV)- Nationwide commercial network

- TV Asahi (EX)- Nationwide commercial network

- Asahi National broadcasting (ANB) – Former name of TV Asahi

- TBS [Tokyo Broadcasting System]- Nationwide commercial network

- MBS [Mainichi Broadcasting System] – Broadcasting station in Osaka; affiliated with TBS

- TV Tokyo (TX) – Nationwide commercial network

- Anime ratings segmented by males and females

- Anime ratings segmented by age groups

- Individual anime episode rating

- Anime ratings segmented by temporary (ratings posted by people who have not finished a series) and permanent (ratings posted by people who have seen the series) categories

This piqued my interest and after a few (10) hours collecting the data, here are some interesting results based on anime series in 2010 (I am working towards getting data from other year but that is still so far work in progress)

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COMPARISON ANIDB vs. ANN

First off, let us look at the break down and comparison of AniDB and ANN database. I have always held Anime News Network as the benchmark of anime ratings I have done so it is interesting for me to see how AniDB stacks up to ANN. I am limiting the scope to just anime series in 2010

- ANN has lower number of votes than AniDB. However, median and mean of numbers of seen are 422 and 539 respectively, which is very close to AniDB number

- Rating statistics is very similar. AniDB has marginally higher standard deviation which means that scores are slightly more extreme

- All in all, the voting pattern and composition of these two sources seem very similar. Any slight difference can potentially be chalked down to small sizes. It is good to see no particular skew or

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MALE & FEMALE

- for the 69  series, the median for male-to-female permanent votes ratio is 92:8. This can be easily interpreted that anime is a male-dominated hobby for the most part

- Segmenting this ratio down further into major demographic, it goes as planned that Shoujo and Josei have the highest percentages of female voters. Saying that, the percentage is still no more than 18% female

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Top 3 Male-dominated anime series

- All moe/fanservice dominated series

- Top ten series in this categories are classified as either moe, fanservice or ecchi, with the exception of Cobra the Animation

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Top 3 Female-dominated anime series

- The top three are unsurprisingly more Shoujo series. You can look at the pictures and get that vibe!

- Betrayal Knows My Name is the only series that has more female voters than males

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Voting comparison

- Males give rating of 7.36 for all anime series in 2010. Females give 7.56. Female is slightly more generous in term of rating but it is not a big margin by all means

Segmentation by demographic:

- Unsurprisingly, Shounen and Seinen has the highest male-to-female ratio

- Shoujo has the lowest. It’s value of 82% is heavily influenced by the fact it is made up of a sample size of 5, one of which has high male percentage and as many votes as the other 4 combined (Kaichou wa maid-sama; 86%; 872 votes). Ignoring this one anime, the other four has male-to-female ratio of 72%

- Interestingly, Seinen and Josei both have slightly higher male percentage than their younger demographic counterpart. Older women watch less anime?

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ANIDB 2010 TOP 10

I cannot finish this edition of post without showing the top 10 anime based on permanent rating on AniDB

- Similar to what happened in ANN votes, Katanagatari ranks first again. This series seems to do much better in a rating environment than polling

- Nodame Cantabile: Finale and Big Windup 2 are also a few more series that do better in rating scenarios (5th and 7th in ANN) versus in ranking scenarios (29th and 36th in my ranking-dominated best-of-2010 list). I can’t use the logic that they are more obscure so often miss out in the ranking though since Nodame Cantabile: Finale‘s number of votes come in the top 10 of my sample size.

- Hidamari SketchxH, Rainbow and Heartcure Precure! make it in the list on the strength of potentially a very small sample sizes (327, 206 and 37 respectively). If we remove these three, the next three up are Shiki, Kaichou wa Maid-sama and K-ON!!

- Bottom 5 worst rated anime series are Seikon no Qwaser, Blessing of the Campanella, Ookami-kakushi, Iron Man and Chu-Bra!! in that order. It takes too much effort to put nice pictures for them so name calling like this will do.

- Seikon no Qwaser also has the dubious distinction of being the worst rated anime series from both ANN and AniDB. The online voting communities seem to know what their favourite and least favourite series are!

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CONCLUSION

I can rather conclusively say that online anime rating is a very male-dominated world. Extrapolating this out a little bit, I can perhaps make quantitative case for suggesting anime watching is also of the same nature. I also love to see how well anime stereotypes track with actual data (moe anime is watched by male; pretty boys type attract girls). Not too difficult to predict but at least the numbers hold true:) It is interesting also to see how certain animes do better in rating vs. ranking and how consistent the rating is between AniDB and ANN. I definitely need to work on collecting more data for even more in-depth analysis!

Enough for now. I will dig deeper into age group and episode analysis in the next edition.

PS. I have included 83 series. Only 71 has information in AniDB database (Those without information are typically series which are still running, hence there is no way anyone could have finished them and give permanent ratings!)

I used the ~80 anime series that are ranked, divided them into season and sum up the rank and average score (based on the methodology described in the previous post). There are only 4 series from Winter 2010-11 season that are being released in 2010 and none is listed in any of the polls/ranking unsurprisingly; so I will only concentrate on the 4 main seasons in 2010. Some comments:

SEASONAL ANALYSIS

1). Each season have relatively good representation. Winter and summer got slightly fewer samples but not by much.

2). Winter has worst average ranking but Summer last worst score. Overall conclusion is unclear on which is the worst season

3). It is when one looks at the standard deviation (the measure of dispersal in the sample) and min/max score that one should realize that mean average is an inappropriate way of analyzing this data. SD for Winter is much higher than the other three and max score is also way higher. This points to the conclusion that a few good shows may have skewed the mean average results. Thus, median average (the middle value in the range of data of each season) is a better analytical measure

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MEDIAN

4). Median rank and score clearly show now Winter to definitely be the worst season in term of anime series quality based on my ranking. It ranks on average 20 places higher than other seasons and has half as many people voting for it.

5). The mean averages for Winter were heavily skewed by Durarara!! and Katanagatari (#2 and #4 respectively). The season as a whole is very top-heavy. The next Winter show in the list is Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (#13) and Nodame Cantabile: Finale (#27)

6). The other three seasons have very amazingly similar median averages for both rank and scores

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CONCLUSION

Conclusion based on this is that, yes, my ranking and analysis suggest Winter show is heavily underappreciated or the quality of the show is just worse than the other season. However, Spring, Summer and Fall all are being given equal credits and there seem to be no special favour for Fall (though it does have the lowest median rank and higher median score, but only marginally so).

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To substantiate or dispute the second claim, I went back and cross-check the results with Anime News Network data (the only information I have collected that is not based on year-end poll/ranking/ rating).

It looks like when we look at the average score given on ANN, they are very close across all seasons. Summer has a notch lower than the other three but not by much. Based on this, I can conclude that  Winter is most likely underrated in the poll more so than other seasons.

As is consistent with the previous years, there are more series released in Spring and Fall than Summer and Winter. he interesting thing is that the ‘Hit Rate’ (number of shows rated in my ranking over number of shows overall) is also much lower for Spring and Fall. I guess one conclusion to that that I can think of is that for a given season, anime watchers can only go through only so many shows. Therefore, there are more shows in Spring and Fall that are not watched or being ignored. Winter and Fall got fewer shows so watchers are able to go through more of the shows in those shorter seasons.

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Just for fun, top shows of each season are:

- Winter 2009-10: Durarara (#2); Katanagatari (#4); Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (#15)

- Spring 2010: Angel Beats! (#1); K-ON!! (#3); The Tatami Galaxy (#8)

- Summer 2010: High School of the Dead (#9); Shiki (#11); Seitokai Yakuindomo (#18)

- Fall 2010: Panty & Stocking with GarterBelt (#5); Kuragehime (#6); Ore no Imouto ga Kanna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (#7)

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Any comments on any of this is welcomed! I don’t watch shows as soon as it comes out so the whole seasonal experience while watching anime is completely lost on me (I tend to register anime series by year and not at all season). What do you feel is the standard/worst season in 2010? Is Winter 2010 as inferior as a whole as my data suggests?

This edition of my post will discuss the best / favourite / most highly rated anime of 2010. I have not actually seen any single series  myself (I still have a stack of pre-2010 anime dvds I have not yet gone through) so I am highly interested at what series are good and check out. I started off checking the ranking in Anime News Network and also the various blogs and posts around the internet that has ‘Best of 2010 topics’. To me it is exactly like collecting data for my first ‘Best Anime of the Decade’ post again! I have so far amassed data from 33 unique blog posts, 9 forums with over 200 unique user comments, 3 other polls and the ANN ratings. This should provide enough critical mass to judge what anime people around the internet really consider to be the best last year. I am also able to segment the results into different group of voters and have found some interesting tidbits which I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy finding  them out!

Note that I am defining a ’2010 anime series’ as ones that have come out in Japan in the year 2010.  Anything aired prior to that will be excluded.

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GROUP TYPES

Having amassed information from so many different sources, I feel it is necessary to separate them out into different groups for anaytical purpose. Each group should represent a community that has its own distinct characteristics and preferences. These different groups are:

a). Blogs: rankings as posted in blogs around the web. I am still of the opinion that this is the group whose opinion I value quite highly. It is one thing to post a comment on a forum, but it is entirely another to keep a blog and write regularly about it. Besides, a lot of the posts rank their favourites which give me more avenue to dig down into the trend. Besides, I based most of my post in this blog on the opinions of this group so I cannot turn my back on them now!

b). ANN ratings: Based on Baysian ratings as posted on each title’s page. The numbers of people rating varies from title to title but this is one of the biggest English anime website so my analysis will nto be complete without its inclusion. It also have other interesting statistics on each title such as standard deviation for me to go crazy and over-analyze on. Lastly, it gives ratings of every single anime in a year for me to find out both the best and the worst.

c). Something Aweful: Among the forums I have visited, Something Aweful’s posters provide the best explanations behind their choices (it helps that the very first post by Darkgray demands such description be included!) As with my rationale for the blogs group, this gives me certain assurances tat the choices at least have been throught through. The majority of the posts are also ranked which is useful.

d). MyAnimeList: Another community with huge number of posts on this topics. Not many provides commentary on their rankings though

e). Cruncyroll: Smaller community but still have enough size to warrant its division from other forum

f). Forums: Catch-all for other forums that I have come across (including The Subwire, Animea, Scandal-Heaven, The Colorless, Animeforum)

g). Dannychoo: Poll exists on one of the blog post

h). Akiba: Another site that also provides polling on the topic

i). Random Curiosity: Another poll. It has amazing number of people participating in the poll

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BEST ANIME LIST

1). Angel Beats!

Percentage share of total votes: 6.56% (Share of votes that goes towards this title over total votes)

Average ranking: 2.98 (weighted average ranking of all groups/sources in the analysis, e.g. Angel Beats is ranked ~3rd as the best anime of 2010 according to all these sources)

Number of episodes: 13

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, School

Studio: P.A. Works

Director: Kishi Seiji (Seto no Hanayome, Tentei Senshi Sunred)

Synopsis: In a world after death, angels fight for their fate and their future. Yuri, the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen, rebels against the god who destined her to have an unreasonable life. On the otherhand, Tenshi, the chairperson of the student council for the world after death, battles against the SSS members. SSS members utilize armed weaponry to battle it out against the angels harnessing supernatural powers. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Akiba (2nd in 5 other groups)

Comments: The score is very close to Durarara! helped by the high percentage of people rating it outstanding on ANN to surge to 1st place. Interesting also that despite it being ranked so high on a lot of lists, it is the anime which I can most readily find flaws being written. That has also got to speak to how amazing its strength is (or how weak the rest of the fields is)

Pros: memorable main cast, colourful visua; Good music; High animation quality

Cons: convoluted and disjointed storyline. THe majority of the supporting cast is also underdeveloped; too much for a 13-episode show. Feels rushed. Poor 2nd half, plot-wise

Excerpts: It created a fantastic setting and a pretty good story to go with it. (Anime Princess)

Despite numerous flaws with the execution of its story and a majority of the supporting cast being underdeveloped, Angel Beats! is probably the most creative project to be released this year. [It has] colorful visuals, a unique premise of students fighting against god in the afterlife, [and] the memorable main cast. The only thing that stops it from being higher on the list would be the fact that it’s only 13 episodes long, meaning that it isn’t given enough time to fully develop its supporting cast, leading to an amusing, if noticeably large amount of characters being quite forgettable. That being said, it still is one of this year’s best shows. (Janai Blog)

As the series progressed, I came to appreciate the depth to the main characters, even to the point of becoming emotionally attached to some. This series had me going all over the emotional spectrum. Still, the overall quality of the characters, plot, music, and art style is so superior that I think it outweighs these problems with much to spare. My only two complaints for the series are that there was far too much story to be crammed into thirteen episodes, and also that the switch from comedic to dramatic scenes was a little jarring at times. (Jake’s Anime Blog)

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2). Durarara!!

Percentage share of total votes: 6.44%

Average ranking: 5.75

Number of episodes: 24

Genre: Action, Romance, Psychological, Supernatural

Studio: Brains Base

Director: Omori Takahiro (Baccano!)

Synopsis: Ryuugamine Mikado is a boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro. Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Turbans will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will pushed to the breaking point. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Blog, Forum, Cruncyroll, Myanimelist

Comments: Despite being neck to neck with Angel Beats!, it ranks second primarily because of a relatively middling score from ANN

Pros: strong development and depth-buidling of the large cast of characters; unique style of story telling; humourous dialoge

Cons: Not as good as Baccano!; Weaker writing at the end of the show

Excerpts: When I talked to people, they mainly cited the effective handling of a wide cast of characters, with significant development amongst them all. Everyone here connected with the characters ona  deep, emotional level, bringing with it unbridled excitement from episode to episode (Japanator)

It told a story where it kept you interested right up to the last seconds while never missing a beat. The action was brilliant and it still remained extremely clever.(Anime Princess)

it definitely doesn’t even come close to matching up to the quality of Baccano!, Durarara!! presents an engrossing story, executed well with a unique style of storytelling and humorous dialogue. While it does suffer from some lazy writing towards the end of the show, it still remains an interesting show throughout. (Janai Blog)

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3). K-ON!!

Percentage share of total votes: 4.39%

Average ranking: 12.62

Number of episodes: 26

Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-Life, School, Music, Moe

Studio: Kyoto Animation

Director: Yamada Naoko (K-ON! & K-ON! Movie)

Synopsis: The story revolves around four Japanese high school girls who join their school’s light music club to try to save it from being abolished.(Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Dannychoo

Comment: Consensus seems to be that the second season is far superior to the first. The premise sounds a lot like Azumanga Daioh (one of my favourites) so based on that alone, I might be inclined to check it out at some point!

Excerpts: Brings closure to the story with great emotional impact. Series mixes good music, memorable humor and lovable characters all into one. Connects emotionally and visually with its audience (Ophanium)

Enjoyable with better pacing than 1st season (Otaku Dan)

It does not have a plot, there’s no conflict, just five friends having fun. It captures the spirit of being a carefree high school student. (Cartoon Leap). Many great chracter-driven humours (Anime Yume)

It has great characters and good music.  This season was better than the first even because it gave off this more realistic flare and ended up relating to the characters on so many levels. I don’t care what others say, I’ll always be a fan of this series! (Anime Princess)

Unlike a lot of shows, I actually CARE what happens to these girls. I want them to be happy and to succeed and while other people hate the show’s format, I do love seeing their everyday life. Never has an animated show, or show in general, shown girls just being girls. This season was about growing up and dealing with the loss of friends as we grow up and move on different paths but in the end it was about the strentgh of friendship. (Manuel’s Choice)

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4). Katanagatari

Percentage share of total votes: 3.79%

Average ranking: 8.60

Number of episodes: 12

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, Historical

Studio: WHITE FOX

Director: Motonaga Keitaro (Princess Princess, Yumeria)

Synopsis: This story takes place in the Edo era where Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts living in Fushou Island with his sister Nanami. With the order from a female samurai general Togame, he sets out for a trip to collect the twelve treasured swords created by a legendary swordsmith Shikizaki Kiki. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: ANN (#1 rated show on there. Not lower than 7 any where else)

Excerpts: Over-saturated and contained by sharp lines, the art stands out from many other shows and brings a strong level of emotion directly to the visual element. While at times overly talkative or reveling in its own exposition a bit too much, the characters hold the fabric of the show together surprisingly well. If you’re a fan of anime, you’ll catch the little in-jokes and references to tyopes in the medium, but if not you’ll get an entertaining character-driven about a cute tactician and her swordless bodyguard. (Japanator)

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5). Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Percentage share of total votes: 3.36%

Average ranking: 20.03

Number of episodes: 13

Genre: Action, Comedy

Studio: GAINAX

Director: Imaishi Hiroyuki (Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann

Synopsis: The Anarchy sisters, Panty and Stocking, are angels who were kicked out of Heaven due to their bad behavior. They are sent to Daten City, a place located on the edge of Heaven and Hell. Strange monsters called “Ghosts” besiege the city, and uUnder the watchful eye of Reverend Garterbelt, and with their pet zipper-dog Chuck, it’s up to Panty and Stocking to destroy these Ghosts, in order to collect enough Heaven Coins to return to Heaven. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from : Something Aweful

Comment: Very diverging view this one. Has the highest average ranking in the top 10 (19 series have betterranking), but it makes the list of the back of intense love from primarily Something Aweful

Excerpts: Probably one of the most controversial titles with a very distinctive art style.Random and unpredictable (Cartoon Leap)

It broke through the cookie cutter anime that we see each year by being unique and different. It always pushed the boundaries and didn’t care who it offended. (Anime Princess)

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6). Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish)

Percentage share of total votes: 3.14%

Average ranking: 8.00

Number of episodes: 11

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Parody

Studio: Brains Base

Director: Omori Takahiro (Baccano!)

Synopsis: Amamizukan is an apartment complex where no boys are allowed. Kurashita Tsukimi, a girl who adores jellyfish, lives there happily with her friends who all have nerdy obsessions of their own. Their peaceful lives gradually start to change when a beautiful woman helps Tsukimi out of a pinch. She stays overnight at the apartments — but it turns out “she” is really a “he. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from : ANN, Something Aweful

Comment:

Excerpts: it had too many one-dimensional characters and an unresolved plot for that, but Kuragehime consistently enjoyable throughout its entire airtime. Its characters were ridiculously addictive and its energy and acting made every episode a lot of fun to watch. It’s a great romantic comedy that was really well directed. (Star-crossed Anime)

Kuragehime is sure to steal your heart away with its overload of charm. It was so like-able. (Anime Princess)

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7). Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute / OreImo)

Percentage share of total votes: 3.04%

Average ranking: 14.58

Number of episodes: 12

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Moe

Studio: AIC

Director: Kanbe Hiroyuki (Viper’s Creed)

Synopsis: For several years, Kyousuke’s relationship with his younger sister Kirino has been cold, to the point that they only share greetings. But one day, Kyousuke finds a moe anime DVD fallen in their entry hall. His interest piqued, he looks for the owner, only to realize it belongs to Kirino. He’s shocked, but more surprises lie just ahead… (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Akiba, Dannychoo

Comments: The premise sounds so simple and unoriginal. The title just screams moe and fanservice. Somehow it manages to be pretty decent.

Excerpts: The show is colorful and pleasant to the eyes; the animation feels real and fluid; the sound design increase the reality of this world; and the characters feel like real people. Sure some situations seem forced or improbable but the show never really lost it’s “set in the real world” feel. The story was also touching and continues in being very engaging on the light novel front. (Manuel’s Choice)

its visual presence / execution alone is one of the best ever seen for this year, though at times oreimo too were as well plagued by aic’s inability to retain the consistencies between later produced episodes of its premium series. (Ophanium)

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8). The Tatami Galaxy

Percentage share of total votes: 2.88%

Average ranking: 14.31

Number of episodes: 11

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Studio: Madhouse Studios

Director: Masaaki Yuasa (Kaiba, Mind Game, Kemonozume)

Synopsis: A second year student from the Kyoto University finds himself entrapped amid a plethora of unsatisfying possibilities to change his life. Accompanied by Ozu, his mischievous best friend, and Akashi, a stern engineering student, the nameless protagonist trudges through each path as he tries to grab the opportunity that seems to dangle right in front of his eyes.

When the college dropout stops for a late night bite at a mysterious ramen stand, he crosses paths with a self-proclaimed deity of matrimony. This bizarre meeting sends the young man hurtling through a horrifying flashback to his not-so-glorious college days when the influence of a cruel new friend turned him from a hopeless romantic into a mischievous “black cupid.” (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Blogs, Forums ANN

Comment:

Pros: Arthouse show with unusual and visceral imagery and presentation style.

Cons: The aforementioned gimmick can be overdone; plot has tendency to go off on unnecessary tangent. heavy dialogue was too hard to navigate

Excerpts: The writing is god-tier in intelligence and, despite some of the gimmickry getting annoying, there were other moment that blew me away. (The Cart Driver)

Tatami Galaxy is an arthouse sort of show. Its abstract imagery and groundhog day presentation is as unusual for TV animation. Despite all these barriers, as long as I gave it a chance, I found the animation very compellling and moving. At first I was indifferent with the source material, but the various shapes and faces moving on the screen told a story in some visceral way that I couldn’t write off as anything other than that it was just great animation transcending the limits that bounded it. (Japanator)

God-tier level of writing intelligence; amazing gimmick. an excellent and fulfilling conclusion. It uses the old narrative of reliving your life/specific times indefinitely, but it approaches it in a new and inventive way. It’s really intelligent and the whole series sets out to make a statement, which is pretty much unheard of these days. (Atvcr)

its ground-hog day-esque approach to storytelling that comes together in a really excellent ending that ties the entire series together perfectly. I also love the incredibly fast dialogue and the relentlessly fast pacing of this show that at the same time never rushed. It’s a great example of a mature series that had its own visual identity and really needs to appear more in anime.(Star-crossed anime)

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9). High School of the Dead

Percentage share of total votes: 2.85%

Average ranking: 17.87

Number of episodes: 12

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Horror, School, Thriller, Fanservice, Ecchi

Studio: Madhouse Studios

Director: Araki Tetsuro (Death Note, Aoi Bungaku)

Synopsis: The story follows a group of high school students, the high school’s nurse, and a young girl as they fight their way to safety through the deadly streets of Japan during a worldwide catastrophic event known as the “Outbreak” that turn people into zombie-like creatures. Led by sophomore Takashi Komuro, the local group of survivors consists of six others and a small dog, and creating a gestalt team with one purpose: to survive. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from: Forum, Myanimelist, Dannychoo

Comment: If you like mindless action flick, this is definitely for you! You know exactly what you will get from the poster and the title and it seems to deliver in spade.

Excerpts: The animation is great and lots of action if you like blood and guts. (LaunchLevel)

Almost every single character in this anime was annoying. Distracting fanservice (Otaku Dan)

Tits. Guns. Tits. Zombies. Tits. Ass. Tits. Little girls peeing. Zombies. Ass. That’s just about what made up High School of the Dead. SOmetimes, you really need mindless action to have some fun, and High School of the Dead had that in spades. (Japanator)

The action was so entertaining and the overload of fanservice was sort of hilarious more than anything. (Anime Princess)

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10). Squid Girl (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)

Percentage share of total votes: 2.67%

Average ranking: 11.74

Number of episodes: 12

Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life, Supernatural

Studio: Diomedea

Director: Mizushima Tsutomu (Ookiku Furikabutte, Genshiken, XXXHOLiC)

Synopsis: A squid girl named Ika Musume vows to conquer humanity as revenge for its pollution of the ocean. Her first task is to make the Lemon beach house, owned by the Aizawa sisters, her base of operations. However, when she accidentally breaks a hole in their wall, she is forced to work as a waitress to pay off the damages. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from : Something Aweful, ANN

Comment: One of the biggest surprises of the year. The premise itself suggests the title is nothing more than a slapstick run-of-the-mill comedy but, similar to OreImo, it turns out to be something more.

Pros: Eminates cuteness without forcing anything; adorable main characters; funny and natural comedy

Cons:

Excerpts: can’t forget to mention that this anime is definitely cute without even trying to be, its cutness is just natural. Ika Musume is certainly one of  the funniest characters of 2010. This is a comedy series that everyone should watch. (All Nerd Things)

This environmentally friendly message goes hand in hand with slapstick hijinks in one of the year’s better comedies (Archaeon)

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11. Shiki

12. Working!!

13. Baka to Test Shoukanjuu

14. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

15. Arakawa Under the Bridge

16. To Aru Majutsu no Index II

17. Kaichou wa Maid-sama!

18. Seitokai Yakuindomo

19. amagami SS

20. Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai (The World God Only Knows)

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Honourable Mentions: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Percentage share of total votes: 6.00%

Average ranking: 6.07

Number of episodes: 53

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Steampunk

Studio: Madhouse Studios

Director: Irie Yasuhiro (Alien Nine, Kurau: Phantom Memory

Synopsis: The story follows a group of high school students, the high school’s nurse, and a young girl as they fight their way to safety through the deadly streets of Japan during a worldwide catastrophic event known as the “Outbreak” that turn people into zombie-like creatures. Led by sophomore Takashi Komuro, the local group of survivors consists of six others and a small dog, and creating a gestalt team with one purpose: to survive. (Source: ANN, Wikipedia)

Best ranking from : Random Curiosity, Blogs, Something Aweful

Comment: This is actually ranked 4th in my total ranking. However, since it comes out in 2009 in Japan, and that is my definition of year classification, the series is not really considered a ’2010 series’. However, since it seems that many US viewers became exposed to the series either on Adult Swim from Feb-10 or in 2010, hence why it pops up a lot in a lot of people’s ranking.

Excerpts: With it’s well fleshed out characters, unique and incredibly detailed fantasy world, amazingly animated battles and ultimately epic storyline (Sea Slug!)

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INTERESTING GROUP-BASED TREND

1). Poll results as seen in Dannychoo website shows a noticeable trend towards more moe titles. K-ON!! and OreImo got nearly a third of the votes. The more moeblob-preferred otaku types seem to frequent this website more heavily than any other groups

2). Something Aweful is the only group with very strong preference towards Panty & Stocking (#1 in ranking; it only features in the top ten anime in only one other group). It also rates Squid Girls and FMA: Brotherhood much higher than other groups. Its community seems the most ‘against the grain’ compared to other sources for me. This also brings me to another interesting point about this community. I also remember collecting ‘bes of the decade posts from Somthing Aweful forum and did a comparison against my blog-data. Gurren Lagann was by far the most heavily voted titles in the forum. I see a weak herding mentality potentially going on here where a few people in the community hoist one titles above others and everybody follows suit.

3). There are certain absence of a certain titles:

- Something Aweful: OreImo (The anti-moe group? K-ON!! is ranked the lowest among all forums and blog too), Bakuman. (Inclusion defniition of SA is series that finishes in 2010 hence Bakuman’s exclusion)

- Random Curiosity: Bakuman., To Aru Majutsu no Index!!

- Blog: Bakuman. (its absence from a lot of groups is most likely explained by the title still in the middle of its running and won’t be done until spring 2011)

- Akiba: Panty&Stocking, Squid Girl, FMA: Brotherhood, Katanagatari, Kuragehime (small voting size probably helps to explain so many absence

4). ANN rates Katanagatari much, much higher than any other sources

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OTHERS

- Have you noticed that the top three animes have ‘!’ at the end of their official titles. Do studios really need to put it in to show how exciting the show is?

- Even the worst rated anime of the year (Seikon no Qwaser; worst rated anime according to ANN and ranked 3,494th among all animes) still got some love (2 recognitions in Myanimelist, 13 votes in The Akiba and 88 votes in Random Curiosity). It does drive the point that any anime, no matter how bad the majority perceive it to be, can still appeal to some people and rank among their favourites.:)

- Surprised how low Nodame Cantabile: Finale is! It is the 5th best ranked anime series in 2010 according to ANN, yet there is no mention of it in forum, Something Aweful, Myanimelist. In another list, it ranks in the 30s and comes in at #29 in my ranking.

- Same for Ookiku Furikabutte -Natsu no Taikai-hen-. It ranks highly in ANN (#9); yet it is barely mentioned in two other sources (Blog and Forum) and ranked 36th overall in my analysis. Is this the curse of sports anime?

- Titles such as Bakuman. is not finished until Spring 2011; hence its absence from blog, Something Aweful and RC

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CONCLUSION

The general feeling about anime series in year 2010 seems to be that it is a very weak year. Whether it is due to the economic downturn resulting in cutback in innovative but more risky projects in favour of sure-fire cashcows like moe shows or just a one-year aberration, we will have to wait and see.

By far the two most highly rated shows of the year are Durarara! and Angel Beats. K-ON!! is a distant 3rd with FMA: Brotherhood in the mix if you are willing to count anime started in 2009. There are also good shows from each genre for example:

Action: Panty & Stocking, High School of the Dead

Drama: Tatami Galaxy, Kuragehime

Comedy: Squid Girl, OreImo

Slice of Life: K-ON!!

I will drill down into further analysis with regards to anime studios, directors and more. Hope this list will give a pretty comprehensive recommendation if you ever want to dig down and check out any anime from 2010! I know I have a few I will want to give a shot myself once they are released on dvds:)

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RANKING METHODOLOGY

There are many different ways I could have ranked the information. In the end, I use the following methodology described below because of its simplicity and appropriateness given the types of data I am dealing with

1). Separate data into groups. The groups I have chosen are detailed in the ‘Group Type’ section above

2). For each group, determine type of data available and how to convert them into scores that is comparable across all groups.

3). Determine weight of each group.

- I am assuming 25% for each distinct type (Blog, Forum, Poll, ANN) – I am very partial to give blogs a lot of weight. I also have relatively high opinion of ANN hence its high share

- For Forum and Poll, there is a further breakdown based primarily on the number of votes of each group (higher no. of votes equal higher weight) – RC got very high weight courtesy of its incredible number of votes

- I have however arbitrarily added more weight to Something Aweful to account for the more description and justification it has for most of its votes

4). For each group, convert the votes, poll, rating into percentage share of votes (e.g. if there are 2 votes for Angel Beats! and there are a total of 50 votes, Angel Beats! is given 4% score for that group). For ANN, I am using the share of votes as ‘masterpiece’ of each title to calculate % share of votes. This is to mimic how many times a voter vote a given title as a truly outstanding show. (I tried to use Baysian rating earlier but it does not give differentiated enough ranking between titles. Share of ‘masterpiece’ is a better proxy)

5). Cross-multiply the weight in 3). with standardized score in 4).

6). Rank titles from most to least

Note that I have played around with many other ranking methodologies including ranking it based on ordinal ranking (rank each anime based on their score and take weighted average of the ranking; simple but ignores the gap between each ranking). However, I decide that my methodology is the most appropriate without being overly complicated or simple. There is a lot of personal discretion made but it seems that this top 10 listed are pretty robust based on various changes in weighting or score.

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SOURCES

The following is the list and links of all the blogs and site that I have visited to compile the data. I may have missed some but I deem this a good enough sample for the genral preferences of the blogsphere!

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BLOGS

Star Crossed Anime Blog: 4 part 2010 summary with full list of top 20 animes and whole loads of other awards. Great read

Anime Princess: Top 10 anime. Noteworthy that her top 4 anime series here perfectly map the top three based on all rankings!

The Cart Driver: Top 5 series with decent comments

All Nerd Things:  Top 5 with good comments. The writer also puts a laundry list of anime series he/she enjoyed in 2010

Animenation News Blog: Answer to a question of what the best anime in 2010 is. Blog gives 6 distinct titles with a note of other caveats and exploration of anime in 2010 in general

Anime Yume: 5 favourite animes (series, movies) in no particular order

Archaeon: Top 10 plus further mention of best anime in various other category

Atvcr – Pandadice: Best anime plus 2 runner-ups with a bit of comments on each. Also has 2 worst animes

Atvcr – Atvcr: Best anime plus 3 runner-ups with a bit of comments on each. Also has the worst anime listed

Atvcr – Otaku Supreme:  Best anime plus 3 runner-ups with a bit of comments on each. Also has the worst anime listed

Cartoon Leap: 3 Best and 2 Worst with disappointment nomination also

Conspicuous Klux: Another obligatory top 10 post

FunBlog: 2 outstanding animes with a laundry list of noteworthy ones (including some comments)

Inside AX: Top 5 with no ranking

Jake’s Anime Blog – Scantling: Top 4 and a half with minimal comments

Jake’s Anime Blog – Jake W: Top 5

Janai Blog: Top 5 best and worst anime series with comments

Japanator: Top 10 with decent comments

LaunchLevel: Top 5 with comments

Manuel’s Choice: Best anime along with a whole host of other categories to rate the titles in 2010

Misty-Stix: Top 10 list with comments

Nichi’s room: Top 10

NKDS: Top 10 in no order with short comments

Ophanium – Hime: Top 5 with comments

Otaku Dan: Top 5 best and worst anime series with comments

Otaku in Review: Top 5 with comments plus 1 honourable mention

Sea Slug!: 2010 awards with picks from different categories

Sine Cera: Top 10 with lots of pre-rank notes but barely any on each title.

valeblog: List of awards with minimal explanation on rationale

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POLLS:

Random curiosity: 35,255 votes with at least 7,000 voters taking part

Danny Choo Poll: Approximately 3,000 votes based on my guess

The Akiba: The Best Anime of 2010 Survey: 234 votes as of 25-Jan-10

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FORUMS

MyAnimeList: 76 user posts; 6.8 titles listed per post; No rationale

Something Aweful: 52 user posts; 4.5 titles per post; decent explanation behind each comment’s decision

Cruncyroll: 39 posts

The Subwire: 2 posts

Animea: 2 posts

Scandal-Heaven: 43 posts

The Colorless: 17 posts

Animeforum: 1 post

I remember making a comment a while back at one of Behind the Nihon Review posts about doing a numerical analysis on whether moe anime series has become more prevalent in recent years or whether it seems that way because of popular series such as K-ON!. Having collected the data from 2000 to 2009, I am using that data to do the analysis below. As soon as I get around to collecting the comprehensive data before 2000 and in 2010, I will update the analysis accordingly.

The standard chart will show that particular genre of anime series as a percentage of total anime series in that particular period. For example, if a comedy show in 2000 has value of 20%, it means 20% of the show shown in 2000 is comedy

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0). SO WHAT IS MOE?

Quick background check for those not familiar, moe is a Japanese slang used to describe ‘something precious, usually (but not always) the ideal of youthful and innocent femininity’ (see Anime News Network explanation or Wikipedia). Anime series that contains to a significant degree these elements are by definition. I am using the list of anime with moe theme as provided by ANN as my basis for analysis. I admit this is not perfect but it si the best list I have at my disposal without having to go read every single blog and post and come up with my own distilled list!

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1). TREND BY YEAR

• Based on the yearly chart for Moe, we can see quite clearly that moe series has definitely gone up in term of its share over the decade.
• The first 4 years (2000-3), the share of moe show averages at only 0.3% (one show out of the 300 during that period).
• The next three years (2004-6), the average goes up to 2.3%
• The average reaches 6.0% in the last three years (2007-9).
• 2007 is so far the peak year of the moe shows. Such shows that you can find in that year are Bamboo Blade, Clannad, Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!, Hidamari Sketch, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Lucky Star, Moetan and Potemayo
• The lone moe show in the first four years of the decade is Azumanga Daioh in 2002. Got to give it to Chiyo-chan for blazing through the trail for the rest of the decade to follow!

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2). TREND BY SEASON

We can also look at this on a seasonal basis:

• The correlation obviously does not look quite as smooth but the trend is still there to be seen
• Summer 2007 has the highest share at 13% (3 out of 24) with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Moetan and Potemayo
• Summer 2006 is the last season with no moe show. Since then, 13 seasons in a row up until Summer 2009, there is at least one moe show during each of the season

Note that when I divide the results on a season basis, I assume the following month-to-season conversion. This should be true for the majority of the series and save me from having to do it more manually.

Winter: December, January, February
Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Fall: September, October, November

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3). SHARE BY SEASON

Just for fun, I now sum up anime by season and find out if any season tends to have higher share of moe shows

• Summer has nearly twice as high the number as any other seasons
• Due to the small number of titles, I don’t think this is that significant

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4). OTHER INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOE SHOWS

• During the last decade, there are 28 moe anime series released between 2000-9 according to my data
• Comedy is the most common genre with these 28 moe shows. 53% or 15 shows are designated as both genres. It makes sense that these twi seem to go hand in hand as most moe shows seem to play up the innocence and comedy aspects
• Slice-of life (9) and Drama (9) are the next two on the list
• Only one moe show is also action: ‘11eyes: Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo’
• Only one moe series is longer than 26 episodes: Hetalia: Axis of Powers
• Most series are 13-episode variety ( 18 out of 28 or 67%)
• A majority (14 or 50%) originates from manga. No surprise here as this is only slightly higher than the total average (all anime series) or 45%

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5). CONCLUSION

Yes, moe shows seem to be on the rise, especially during the last three years. No, they are not going to completely replace everything with size of only around 6% of all the show being released (1-2 a season, 7 shows a year). I will be interested to see how 2010 adds to this analysis, whether the current pace and trend of the last decade is going to accelerate or flatline at this current rate.

Main: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Mystery

Sub-genre: Mecha, Real robot, Sports, School, Magical girl, Harem, Fanservice, Moe, Yuri, Music

I have already talked about demographic in the previous post so that will be left out of the discussion here.

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Criteria for inclusion

- An animation studio has to produce at least 10 series to be included in the analysis. 26 studios qualify

- Average used for comparison is from all studios qualified in the analysis

- All genre categories are according to wikipedia with information from Anime News Network added when I need a second opinion

1). Absolute number – studio that tops this list shows a tendency to produce a high number of the show in absolute term

2).  Greatest percentage of total anime produced by that studio (studio produced 10, 7 of which is action, the percentage is 70%) – studio that tops this list shows tendency to favour producing shows of certain genre over other genres it can produce

Note that I will list the more interesting results at the beginning and the more ambiguous ones towards the end.

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1. ACTION

i). Gonzo – 23 (average = 6.0)

ii). Gonzo – 44% (average = 20%)

Relatively conclusive position. Notable action series are Tower of Druaga, Afro Samurai, Hellsing and Burst Angel

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2. ADVENTURE

i).  Gonzo – 19 (avg = 6.0)

ii). Xebec – 42% (avg = 18%; median = 17%)

With the categorization normally grouping action with adventure, it is not hard to believe Gonzo to come out on top in this category as well.

3. COMEDY

i). J.C. Staff – 28 (avg = 10.3)

ii). Shaft – 78% (avg = 22%)

Shaft really excels in producing series in this one particular genre. It definitely knows where its strength lies! Over half of JC Staff’s series are also comedy, the most among the top ten series-producing studios

4. FANSERVICE

i). GONZO – 6 (avg = 2.4)

ii). Radix – 20% (avg = 6%)

Listening to many podcasts or reading through blogs and reviews, I always seem to come up with an impression that Gonzo produced a lot of fanservice shows. This statistics at least proves that in pure number alone, Gonzo indeed has more shows categorized as fanservice than any other studio.

5. MOE

i). Kyoto Animation – 6 (avg = 2.2)

ii). Kyoto Animation – 60% (avg = 5%; median = 0%)

Is there any wonder that Kyoto Animation wins this category by quite a long way? It really seem to capitalize on the moe-niche corner of the anime market with titles such as K-On!, Lucky Star Clannad (original and After Story), Kanon and Air. This is even when Haruhi is not counted as a moe anime, according to ANN, and K-On!! is not counted (because it is released in 2010). Interestingly, its only other significant non-moe series are the FMPs (well, if you do not count Tessa and brand it also a moe show based on that one character).

6. MECHA

i). Sunrise – 17 (avg = 4.4)

ii). Sunrise – 41% (avg = 9%; median = 3%)

Sunrise conclusively owns this category. It produces by far the biggest number of Mecha series as well as the biggest share as % of its own production. Gundam series along accounts for about a third of its total Mecha production so that really partly explains its dominance.

7. REAL ROBOT

i). Sunrise – 7 (avg – 2.6)

ii). Sunrise – 17% (avg 2%; median = 0%)

This is a sub-section of the Mecha genre. The definition is from ANN. Unsurprisingly, Sunrise also comes top on this, with its Gundam series leading the way.

8. DRAMA

i). Studio DEEN – 14 (avg = 5.8)

ii). Radix – 60% (avg = 25%)

Studio DEEN is the drama queen here. For a genre this important, I actually have pretty little to comment…

9. ROMANCE

i). J.C. Staff – 22 (avg =  7.2)

ii). ZEXCS – 57% (avg 29%)

In the list I compile, whenever the genre is given as ‘romantic comedy’, I broke those two into romance and comedy. This may help to explain why J.C. Staff, which also has a healthy margin lead in comedy genre, also wins this category by quite a margin. In term of company production, Madhouse, DEEN, Gonzo and J.C. supply about 25% of total romantic anime output

10. FANTASY

i). Gonzo – 15 (avg =5.4)

ii). Bee Train – 42% (avg = 22%)

Fantasy is also another pretty vague genre. What do you really consider a Fantasy anime, one set in a fantasy land (Twelve Kingdoms and Fushiki Yuugi come to mind) or merely one that has some sort of fantasy elements that set it apart from actual reality ( Tentai Senshi Sunred and Elfen Lied). From the definition I use, it seems to suggest both and more… Nothing too revolutionary with regards to the result here. All top studios (Madhouse, DEEN, Gonzo, J.C., Toei) all produce about 10-15 fantasy series a decade. The next 10 produce about 5 on average.

11. SLICE-OF-LIFE

i). J.C. Staff – 19 (avg = 4.3)

ii). Kyoto Animation – 50% (18%)

J.C. Staff is single-handedly responsible for some of the most famous slice-of-life anime (in my book at least), including Nodame Cantabile, Honey Clover and Azumanga Daioh.

12. MYSTERY

i). Madhouse Studios – 8 (avg =2.4)

ii). Bee Train – 25% (avg = 5%)

Madhouse’s 8 is probably due to its sheer volume of production so it is bound to have a few titles of every genre. The list does contain some highly rated title though such as Texhnolyze, Paranoia Agent, Gungrave and Death Note. As for Bee Train, its most famous titles (Noir, Hack//Sign) are actually in this genre. Is it fair to say that they  should stick more to this genre? Also, out of the small number of entry in this genre that I have recorded (38), Madhouse and DEEN account for 30% of those titles, making it one of the most top-concentrated genre in the list.

13. SPORTS

i). Madhouse Studios – 8 (avg 2.1)

ii). Studio Comet – 17% (avg = 4%)

Our powerhouse studio takes the top sports again, responsible for the more obscure classics like Kaiji, Akagi, One Outs and Hajime no Ippo. Apart from Hajime no Ippo sequel, its other sporting shows come from completely different sports (Rideback – motorcycle; One Outs – Baseball; Akagi – Mahjong; Kaiji – Gambling in general; Hajime no Ippo – Boxing; Captain Tsubasa – Football; Beyblade – spinning tops). Some variety in that list!

14. SCHOOL

i). Studio DEEN – 3 (avg 1.5)

ii). Studio Comet – 11% (avg 3%; median = 0%)

With high shojo-themed anime, it also comes as no surprise that Studio DEEN may have its share of school-related

15. MAGICAL GIRL

i). Toei Animation – 9 (avg 2.6)

ii). Studio Comet – 33% (avg = 7%)

This is the only genre that Toei comes top in despite producing the 5^th most animation series, courtesy of the Pretty Cure and Ojamajo Doremi series (which are two of the more popular magical girl franchises this decade). Studio Comet is in the ranking on the strength of Onegai My Melody. No other studios really come close with any other series (other than perhaps Satelight’s Shugo Chara!). This makes me realize how little I know of this genre, since I have no idea how good or bad any of these shows are (the last big show I watched was Sailor Moon in the mid 90s).

16. HAREM

i). AIC – 8 (avg 3.5)

ii). ZEXCS – 50% (avg = 8%; median = 4%)

ZEXCS should be crowned king here with the like of Sister Princess and Da Capo in its offering. Other than that, no other studios really pull away with great number of series in this genre.

17. YURI

i). Studio DEEN – 4 (avg = 1.4)

ii). Shaft – 11% (avg = 2%)

DEEN unsurprisingly holds the most Yuri title (unsurprising since it does the most shojo which correlates extremely well with the Yuri sub-genre)

18. SCI-FI

i). Madhouse Studios – 18 (avg = 5.6)

ii). BONES – 40% (avg 19%)

The definition of sci-fi can be pretty vague, ranging from titles such as Chobits to Burst Angel or Ghost in the Shell. There is no standout trend that I can see from a surface look at this genre unfortunately…

19. MUSIC

i). Madhouse Studios – 2 (avg = 1.5)

ii). Kyoto Animation 10% (avg = 1%)

Yumeta Company, who is not included in this list,  is the studio with the most music anime with 4 out of 7 total productions

20. PSYCHOLOGICAL

i). Studio DEEN – 8 (avg = 2.5)

ii). Production I.G – 16% (avg = 5%)

Not too much to say here…

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ADDITIONAL ANALYSES

SHARE OF TITLES

Below is a bar chart to show the share of titles of each genre ranked from most to least. Note that there are some overlaps in genre as some titles have two or more specification, but this should still show the sort of number I am dealing with in this analysis. Essentially, the genre size can be divided into Large (Comedy on its own), Medium (Romance, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Adventure, Sci-fi, Slice-of life) and small (Mecha, Harem, Magical Girls, School, etc.)

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MAX-TO-AVERAGE CALCULATION

One measure to look at the studio that most dominates a genre out of the ones I have mentioned is to calculate a simple ratio of max/average. The resulting ratio shows how high above average the top studio can be compared. This shows the biggest tendency of certain studio to produce animes from certain genre in comparison to the industry as a whole

For absolute series production, J.C. Staff wins it in the Slice of Life genre with a 4.4 (11 produced compared to an average of 2.5). This means that J.C. produced over 4 times the average of a slice-of-life anime. The other notable studios that produced way-above-average anime of a particular genres (3.5 ratio or higher) are:

-          Madhouse in Sports (3.8)

-          Sunrise in Mecha (3.8)

-          Gonzo in Action (3.8)

-          Toei Animation in Magical Girl (3.5)

On the other hand, genre with the lowest multiples (the most homogenous where no studios really stand out and produce more series) are School (1.6) and music (1.3). Granted, the sample size for these genres are much smaller so that explain the low number. (among the more prominent genres, Drama has the lowest ratio at 2.4).

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HERFINDAHL INDEX

For each of the genre, a herfindahl index can be created in order to determine how concentrated the ‘industry’ is (see wikipedia explanation here. The easy way to read the index is that the higher the number (typically >0.1), the more the genre is dominated by a few studios. On the other hand, the low index indicates the genre is populated by many studios (i.e. it is more competitive). Here are the results:

1). Out of the more mainstream genre, mystery is the one with the highest index score (0.086). The genre is dominated by Madhouse and DEEN who produced 30% of mystery animes

2) Real Robot has the highest index of all the genres I cover (0.135). The fact Sunrise is responsible for 30% of robot shows goes a long way to explain this phenomenon

3). Other than Real Robot, only Music (0.125), Yuri (0.107) and Moe (0.102) exceed the 0.1 barrier, thanks to the prodigious output of Yumeta (25%), DEEN (23%) and Kyoto Animation (21%) respectively

4). The most competitive genres are Comedy (0.028), Romance (0.03) and Drama (0.03). I think that this may be because these genres are so vague that they are used to categorize all sort of series, whether it is correct to do so or not.

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MOST COMMON GENRE

This list shows what genre is the most common for that studio (i.e. that particular studio produces the most series with that genre as the theme)

1). Comedy – Madhouse, Studio DEEN, J.C. Staff, Toei Animation, TMS, Production I.G, AIC, Studio Comet, Shaft, Studio Hibari, ZEXCS, Group TAX, OLM, Nippon Animation,

2). Drama – Hal Film Maker, Radix, Brains Base

3=). Action – Gonzo, Zebec

3=). Fantsy – Satelight, Bee Train

5=). Adventure – Studio Pierrot

5=). Sci-fi – BONES

5=). Mecha – Sunrise

5=). Romance – Artland

5=). Kyoto animation – Moe

Something I learn from this list:

a). Comedy sure is a popular genre among all studios (as the Herfindahl Index analysis above also confirms)!

b). It really highlight sa few studios which specialize in certain genre (KyoAni, BONES, Sunrise for example)

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Things that may interest only me

- Shaft has by far the highest percentage of its series in one category. 78% of its production is comedy. Kyoto Animation is 2^nd with 60% of its production categorized as moe. Pretty amazing to see how far some studios specialize in certain genre.

- There are only 4 genres where a single studio takes first in both ranking. These are 1). Gonzo in action; 2). Sunrise in Mecha and Real Robot; Kyoto Animation in Moe. Gonzo and Sunrise make sense because they both produce a lot of shows during the last decade so it is much easier to top both ranking in at least one category. Kyoto Animation is the most notable amongst the list because although it only produces 10 shows, it still manages to top the list in term of quantity and share!

- Studios on average produce the highest proportion of comedy animes (40% of all studio production, the highest proportion by far). Second in the list is romance at 29%.  I guess a good laugh is always the surest way to profitability:)

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So what do I learn from all of this? Nothing groundbreaking but it is still fun to see some results to prove certain anecdotes I have heard around the nets (Gonzo is Fanservice heavy [yes], Kyoto Animation only does Moe [can't deny it]). Now I have a better idea what studio may be better at which genre:)