1980’s

So, those fools over at the ANNCast think they can just make up their own top 10 list and leave it at that, when we all know darn well any monkey in front of a computer with DSL internet can do the same. Regan from the Anime 82 Podcast wanted to go ahead and do a “Top 20” list just to one up them ( I would imagine that would be his reason, but I could be wrong), which where does that leave me you say? Well, getting back from hitting up the rec room while burning some calories off (but now finding thats pointless since a box of M&M’s is near me, darn it) and listening to those so called “experts” at the ANNCast ramble on (I wouldn’t say ramble, it was pretty good, but I didn’t finish the episode FYI) about their list of anime, I decided to put together a list of my own, IN A SOBER MOOD FOR ONCE!!

This took about maybe an hour I would say between thinking of what I have, looking at what I have, and cheating by looking up my Anime-Planet account to see what I have again, I was able to compile a list of my “notable” top 10 that I think most people can agree with. So with this, ill state the anime and give a brief piece of dialogue about the show. So, where we go!!

#10:

Macross: Do You Remember Love

I am not much of a Macross fan, I mean I like it an all, but it has never really been a big fascination for me. But, I do enjoy this movie quite alot, even after seeing both versions of it (The Japanese version and the “Celebrity JUST FOR KIDS ENGRISH HACK DUB of it” aka “Macross: Clash of the Bionoids”). I’ve only seen half of the original TV series (the Robotech version) so I knew the characters and the setting, but the movie is a retelling of the TV series, in which I have to say it did a really good job of it. The action, battles, soundtrack and characters are enjoyable to see, and this movie gets all the praise it receives from fans over the years. This was also directed by Noboru Ishiguro, who recently passed away, but will not be forgotten. Speaking of Ishiguro’s works…

#9

Megazone 23 OVA’s

With the passing of Noburo Ishiguro, this is one series (0ther than Macross) that fans have come to know and love over the years, especially fans that saw this in the Regan era. It is without question that of the 3 OVA’s made, part 3 is the black sheep of the series, and the other 2 are REALLY GOOD!! Part One is the classic for me, its enjoyable, entertaining, and overly 80’s in its own right. Part Two I have to say is probably my most favorite, but by a hair. It is more 80’s (no doubt) than the first one, but has that same energy as the first one in terms of story, characters, you name it. This does however tie to the first OVA and completes the story in a pretty good way I should say. So, lets move on to number 8…

#8

Gall Force Series

If you are familiar with 1980’s sci-fi anime as much as I am, this is something I could count as an “essential” to see. The Gall Force series is pretty much 3 movies-OVA’s-ish, followed by more OVA’s in separate series that depict a world where women fight aliens trying to destroy them in some galactic battle, and its totally kick-ass to see!! They each got their own character traits, problems, female bickering, you know, how girls really are, but all included in space with robots and aliens and stuff. I found this out by starting out as a Kenichi Sonoda fanboy (still am today) and I am glad I did. So, let’s move on to number 7…

#7

Project A-ko

Originally to be part of the Cream Lemon hentai series, this stood out as one big entertainment-fest of high action animation into 90 minutes of your time. With little inside jokes to anime series and movies along with giant robots, your typical cat-fight around a city wide Humans vs Aliens battle, it has everything you need to enjoy this piece of 80’s treasure to your hearts content. It is so wacky and crazy I just don’t want to spoil anything about it for you, just check it out yourself.

#6

Crying Freeman

There is no other anime I have seen so far that has made me cry in sadness over an almost naked assassin and his almost naked assassin “to be” wife fighting other assassin clans in this 6 part OVA series (based off the manga). When I finished this OVA, I wanted to cry out of sadness into a pair of boobs because this OVA taught me to cry when killing your foe when you really don’t want too. The animation and story changes per OVA (some of which has great animation and others kinda “ehh”) but my god, I felt so sad watching this, and it felt so great. You may take this as a depressing anime, when in reality its like every other action anime out there with knives and blood, only this time, you can feel ok to let your manly tears roll down your cheeks when seeing Freeman decapitate some guys head off, because he was doing it already. Not to spoil this, but go see it. Ok, so what do we got for our number 5…

#5

Goku: Midnight Eye

You know, in my last review, I have already stated my love of this OVA. To be honest, I only have this on here because I want to represent Kawajiri somewhere on this list. Sure, I could have added something else, but you know what, I didn’t want to.  If you read my last review, you know already know about this and how great it is. But for those of you who didn’t, this has CYBERNETIC-MOUTH-LASER-SHOOTING-MOTORCYCLE-HANDLEBAR-PINKHAIRED-EXOTIC-DANCERS!! Oh yea, and tons more stuff, that I kinda forgot, because the girl is all I can think about at this time. OOOOKAY, number 4 is…

#4

Gunbuster

Without a doubt, this has to be Gainax’s best OVA/possibly anime ever made. This was a project that Anno worked on, but guess what, it was not like Evangelion at all!! This is however, more of a somewhat prototype of what Evangelion would be one day, which some characters you see in this do resemble the personalities of Shinji and Asuka. But this ain’t Eva, because its in space, and with giant robots, and people find the courage to get their butt’s in gear and make a difference in their lives to save the freakin galaxy!! And there’s some nice boob bounces in this, just FYI. Yea, go see this, its 6 episodes, you can’t go wrong there. So whats for number 3…

#3

Golgo 13: The Professional

This is the man that should have won that stupid character battle that AAA podcast made up, heck, every list forever as matter of fact. It is said that if Golgo isn’t killing someone, he is having sex with tons of ladies, and if isn’t having sex with tons of ladies, he is killing someone. He is the man that make James Bond look like a pussy to the world (and with Roger Moore, more like an newborn at an infant ward), the man that has been involved in every major event in history from the past 40 years, and then man that can re-populate the earth after he killed everyone on it if he got paid too, of course with dozens of women ready to take his “special weapon” with glee. But none of that happens in this movie, when its about him taking down a bizillionare oil tycoon dude. So, number 2 is…

#2

Fist of the North Star: The Movie

Fist of the North Star can be debated as probably the second best story ever told (or maybe the best, who knows). This is really about a guy who was out to take revenge when his douchebag “karate master best friend” took his girl and left him for dead in the post-apocalyptic wastelands of the future year of 199x. The movie turns out to beso much more when our hero Ken”Mad (as hell) Max”Shiro has to fight his fellow brothers in arms of Hokto-Shinken to get his woman back (its totally different in the series). But if you want an introduction to the series, this movie is it. Its an hour and a half or so of your time well spent. So, were down to number 1, and I wonder what that could be…

#1

Bubblegum Crisis

I am not going to lie, this is my favorite anime series as of now and hope to be down the road. Call it favortism (shoot, it totally is) but this has had a soft spot in my heart to rock me to the grave. When the Japanese made this in the 1980’s, they thought the future would have betamax tapes, engrish letters on signs, and robots running amok in this cyberpunk future. Despite this series flaws (yes it has them ill admit), It is my true love, and I cannot hide that fact from anyone. The music, characters, fans, people, toys, other side series (that all depends really) has made this OVA series unique for me in many ways. I will get around to reviewing this on here one day, but that will come at a special time.

There are some honorable mentions, because this was a hard list. So here they are:

Zeta Gundam: It seems to be getting hate now, but it took me a long time to watch/collect/finish this series, and I was pleased how it ended. But truth be told, the 0080 OVA is the best Gundam out there (well until Unicorn finishes).

Armored Trooper Votoms: This is a great series and good OVA side stories to add with it to keep the series very engaging. I wanted to add Armored Hunter Mellowlink to this list, but it does belong with Votoms IMO, even though it has such great potential to be more well known.

Akira:”HOLD ON NOW, WHY DIDN’T YOU ADD THIS ANIME ON YOUR LIST ITS THE BEST ANIME EVER ARE YOU INSANE OR SOMETHING YOURNOTANANIMEFANBLALLKASSDLFHALSKDJFOALSSDFLWEUIRYUOIWQWHR,BNXV,HBHIUAYKJQBWERIUJ!!!!”

– My expected response from today’s anime fan.

If you are one of these people, shut up ok. Akira is something that is on everyones list, forever, till its forgotten about or till the world blows up. I like Akira, shoot I have the movie on BluRay and on VHS (from Pioneer) and have seen it a few times in the past decade or so. But this is my list, and adding Akira just seems so generic these days when it comes to “BESTAHNIMEZEVAR” list. But, the manga is better, so read that instead.

MD Geist: … its not that bad, honestly. If you have heard my comments on the bloggers review podcast I do on this site, then you know where I stand on this. I like MD Geist, I enjoy how bad it is, and I enjoy the entertainment I get from it. And there is nothing wrong with that in my book, because it’s not hurting you or anyone else.

Riding Bean: This is one of my favorite OVA’s out there when it comes showing people anime. I feel I could show this to people who don’t know to much about anime or think they can’t get into it to see that this isn’t any different from any other movie they have seen 1098798079876 times over. Its 45 minutes of an animated “exploitation” movie, that is all that it is. If Bean Bandit was black, it wouldn’t change anything other than the name to “Chocolate Bean Brown: Mutha of a Bandit”.

Dirty Pair: I haven’t finished this series, but this is something that is essential to anime fans from that time. From what I have seen, pretty good, its all about 2 girls that destroy more than what they can save while working for a company that hasn’t fired them yet. Hey, it makes the show even better, so check it out.

So that is my list, and I feel pretty good about it, and I got something in this month so that is always good…kinda. See yea guys next time!!