20. FLCL

Oh Gainax, how I miss your old self. Well actually, maybe not. Regardless, FLCL is about as experimental as you can get from anime. Pulls no punches and reminds us why anime is unique to any other art form.

19. Seto no Hanayome

Hysterical in its wacky craziness. That might sound like FLCL except Seto no Hanayome at least has a coherent plot. A plot that is quite charming to showcase how amazing all of these characters are.

18. Fushigi no Umi no Nadia

Despite the really terrible beach arc near the middle/2nd half, everything around makes up for most of it. It’s my favorite “old-school anime” thus far.

17. Mushishi

Tranquility and sublime beauty are two terms that can describe Mushishi.

16. The World God Only Knows

The ultimate harem anime, with all the charm and hilarity that comes with making an extraordinary one.

15. To Love Ru Darkness

Normally I include all of the seasons of a series as my favorite but with the case of To Love Ru, Darkness is the superior one.

14. Cowboy Bebop

A non-surprising one on the list, but it’s considered one of the best for a good reason.

13. Sora no Otoshimono

It has one of the most beautiful artwork in an ecchi show I’ve ever seen. That and it pulls no punches in being incredibly depraved with its humor and lewdness.

12. Kiss x Sis

It feels so wrong, yet so right. The series realizes this and is honest with what it wants to be, a raunchy, fun sex-crazed comedy that no one except 0.07% of the world’s population will love.

11. Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko

One of the most underrated anime shows ever. In fact, it depresses me that this show never got another season that it deserves.

10. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Definitely the oddest show that you would see in a Top 10 list. Not just because of how nobody remembers it anymore but because it drowns itself in the quirkiest of moe comedies. To me, this is where Shaft is at its best when doing these types of anime.

9. Princess Tutu

This is my favorite “Magical Girl” anime in that it doesn’t really feel like one. It has an atmosphere that you hardly see in the genre, or any other anime genre for that matter.

8. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

This has some of the greatest written arcs in any anime show. As someone who is a cyberpunk fanatic, this one really gets me a sci-fi boner whenever I start thinking about it.

7. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Just like Denpa Onna, it proves how Shaft is masterful at creating great slice of life by adding new strange elements to it to make it fresh. The only difference is how macabre some of the humor is, which is why I think it’s better.

6. Black Lagoon

As far as action anime goes, this one takes the cake in terms of high fidelity action with some great memorable characters that make this a re-watchable gem.

5. Kill La Kill

Trigger has become a new favorite studio for me, and this being their first full anime series effort proves that they have a lot going for them in the future.

4. Panty and Stocking

Full-on anarchy in pure anime form. Almost like if an anime studio was making a show for Adult Swim.

3. Spice and Wolf

Never has an “intelligent” anime could be this invigorating and cute.

2. Usagi Drop

The cutest anime ever; not in a moe sense, but in a human one.

Anime of All Time: Serial Experiments Lain

As I’ve mentioned that I’m a huge cyberpunk fanatic, this one is the granddaddy of all of them. Lain is God and the late 90s computation aesthetic speaks to me in ways that are indescribable to put to words.