[Discussion] The 10 Best Anime Masterpieces of the 21st Century, Ranked
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The 10 Best Anime Masterpieces of the 21st Century, Ranked
Explore the greatest anime masterpieces of the 21st century, showcasing storytelling, animation, and character depth, from Mob Psycho 100 to Monster.
Descending order:
- Paranoia Agent
- Hunter x Hunter (2011)
- The Tatami Galaxy
- Orb
- Steins;Gate
- Attack on Titan
- Ping Pong the Animation
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Monster
- Mob Psycho
No Demon Slayer?
I wouldn’t describe Demon Slayer as a masterpiece. It’s visually stunning, not only in terms of the artwork, but also the animation and cinematography. It has spectacular sound design, in terms of its soundtrack, its ambient sounds, and its effects work.
But its writing is a haphazard mix of shounen and seinen tropes that ultimately leave its story boring and predictable and its characters drab and one-note.
Granted, I only watched Demon Slayer through Mugen Train, maybe it gets better after that?
Attack on Titan stands out on OPs list as a show that has all of the same issues. Both were really fun to watch for a bit, but ultimately failed to hold my interest.
I only watched until the Swordsmith Village Arc. I would consider the Entertainment District Arc its highest point by far.
I haven’t seen everything on the list, but out of the ones I have seen (Orb, Steins;Gate, Ping Pong, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Mob Psycho 100) not a single one is beaten by Demon Slayer in my eyes. Like CrazyLikeGollum said, the production quality is fantastic but the writing is just not nearly as good. Also the anime makes the pacing worse at times but admittedly the pacing in Steins;Gate is kinda ass too.
I didn’t mind the pacing on any of Steins;Gate, but maybe that’s me appreciating the slow parts as relatively cozy Slice of Life.
I found the whole ants in hxh to be way too long and drawn out.
Kimetsu no Yaiba is pretty, but shallow. The items on the list seem to at least be trying for some depth, although it’s arguable whether they all succeed. The list-maker didn’t include Jujutsu Kaisen either, which is another widely-praised show with similar problems.
I love me some Masaaki Yuasa, and The Tatami Galaxy certainly deserves accolades for commitment to the bit, but Kaiba is Yuasa’s best series and Mind Game is his masterpiece (so far).
Ping Pong? Really?
I know, right? I tried one ep and bounced right off, but I’ve encountered people who praise it to the skies. I suppose it’s one of those shows that gets described as “highly polarizing”.
If I wanted to pick one game/sports/mundane competition anime for a list like this, I probably would have gone with Chihayafuru, but the list-maker doesn’t seem interested in shoujo.