How to Rank Your Top Ten Anime Lists (v.Fall 2012)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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A guide for the new aniblogger.

Why write a top 10?

  • It’s easy.
  • It’s really easy.
  • People read them.

 

Pander Pander Pander

anime mirror

The goal of any top 10 list is not to get your opinion across, but rather the opinions of your readers. After all, they’re not reading your blog for your fucking thoughts; they just want to look into that mirror called a monitor and smile when it shows what they want to see.

So how do you tap into that? Well that’s where the top-ten list comes in. The ultimate goal here is for your list to be so non-offensive that they can’t help but tolerate you. That’s how you find aniblog success! (Just ask psgels.)

 

Top 10? What about Top 11?

tehheck

Rookie question. Always do a Top 10. Any more than 10 and it feels like the “honor” of being included is insignificant. Any less and you stand the risk of offending the fans of the series you exclude.

Don’t think. Just do it.

anime_blogging

 

Narrow it down

sugoi kawaii anime swordgirl

There are way too many anime in a season to choose from for a Top 10 list, so you’re gonna have to narrow down your choices.

Make it clear in your top 10 that you’re not going to include short anime (3-minute shows, for example), second cours, or direct sequels to recently aired shows. This means that people can’t complain that you didn’t include their most favoritest show ever because, hey, you’re just playing by the rules. Super easy to cut shit out then.

Spoiler:

Aikatsu
Bakuman s3
Battle Spirits Sword Eyes
Btooom!
Busou Shinki
Cardfight Vanguard Asia Circuit
Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter
Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai!
Code:Breaker
Fairy Tail
Gintama
Girls und Panzer
Hayate no Gotoku 2012
Hidamari Sketch X Honeycomb
Hiiro no Kakera s2
Ixion Saga DT
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Jormungand Perfect Order
K
Kamisama Hajimemashita
Little Busters
Lychee Light Club
Magi
Medaka Box Abnormal
Muv-Luv Alt
Naruto
One Piece
OniAi
Psycho-Pass
Robotics;Notes
Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals
Saint Seiya Omega
Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo
Seitokai no Ichizon S2
Shinsekai Yori
Space Brothers
Sukitte Ii Na Yo
Sword Art Online
Teekyu
To Love-ru Darkness
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Wooser no Sono Higurashi
Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal 2
Zetsuen no Tempest

 

Narrow it down even more

cut me anime

Now cut out anything that has fewer than 3000 people scoring it on MAL. If people aren’t watching the show, nobody will have issues with you ignoring it.

Also get rid of the ecchi-focused shows. Fans of series like that are used to being marginalized — they won’t complain if you leave out their favorite shows.

Spoiler:

Aikatsu (471)
Btooom! (14397)
Busou Shinki (2100)
Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter (381)
Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai! (20361)
Code:Breaker (7090)
Girls und Panzer (3340)
Hayate no Gotoku 2012 (2951)
Hidamari Sketch X Honeycomb (1097)
Ixion Saga DT (3496)
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (3919)
K (13096)
Kamisama Hajimemashita (6860)
Little Busters (7285)
Magi (9808)
OniAi (4060)
Psycho-Pass (10271)
Robotics;Notes (6887)
Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo (9335)
Seitokai no Ichizon S2 (1262)
Shinsekai Yori (7722)
Sukitte Ii Na Yo (10757)
To Love-ru Darkness (3565)
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (17534)
Zetsuen no Tempest (9809)

 

Choosing the final 10

Top 3

idolblaster

I sure hope you’ve been keeping a pulse on what’s popular on 4chan, reddit, and MyAnimeList. The audience on each of these sites is pretty damn similar and your readers are likely culled from their ranks. If you avoid what each site’s hivemind has determined is good, you risk their internet wrath.

For Fall 2012, the hiveminds have determined you must like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Chuunibyou. If you don’t include them in your top 3, you may as well just shut down your blog now. Include an intellectual show as well, to show that you is so smarts.

Spoiler:

Btooom! (14397)
Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai! (20361)
Code:Breaker (7090)
Girls und Panzer (3340)
Ixion Saga DT (3496)
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (3919)
K (13096)
Kamisama Hajimemashita (6860)
Little Busters (7285)
Magi (9808)
Psycho-Pass (10271)
Robotics;Notes (6887)
Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo (9335)
Shinsekai Yori (7722)
Sukitte Ii Na Yo (10757)
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (17534)
Zetsuen no Tempest (9809)

You should rank them as follows: the most popular show, then the most intellectual show, then the show with the worst fanbase.

I mean, just look at this. Doesn’t it seem “right”?

Spoiler:

1. Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitanai!

2. Shinsekai Yori

3. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

 

Numbers 4-10

dem pokemon animes

Okay, the top 3 were easy. Now you have to fill out the other 7 spots. Gonna be hard, right? Wrong!

All you have to do is figure out which shows are the most enjoyed by fucknuts with no taste and even less shame. Yup, it’s time to pander to the lowest class of anime fan: the anime fan.

Spoiler:

Btooom!
Code:Breaker
Girls und Panzer
Ixion Saga DT
K
Kamisama Hajimemashita
Little Busters
Magi
Psycho-Pass
Robotics;Notes
Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo
Sukitte Ii Na Yo
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Zetsuen no Tempest

Now that you have what you want, let’s rank them by assumed popularity. 4-6 will be the shows that people would be most angry at for being ranked too low. Spots 7 through 10 go to shows whose fans would just be happy enough to see them on a list.

Spoiler:

4. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

5. Psycho-Pass

6. Zetsuen no Tempest

7. Robotics;Notes

8. Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo

9. Sukitte Ii Na Yo

10. Girls und Panzer

And there you have it! Your rankings are complete, so it’s time to put it all together. Feast your eyes on

 

Your Top Ten:

anime success

1. Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitanai!

2. Shinsekai Yori

3. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

4. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

5. Psycho-Pass

6. Zetsuen no Tempest

7. Robotics;Notes

8. Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo

9. Sukitte Ii Na Yo

10. Girls und Panzer

 

Sure, your list may have no personality or heart, but it is non-offensive. Watch the tepid responses masquerading as love flow in. And hey, even though the list may not match up with what you honestly feel the best shows were, doesn’t it just look good? You’d be forgiven for fooling yourself into thinking you came up with it yourself.

24 thoughts on “How to Rank Your Top Ten Anime Lists (v.Fall 2012)”

    • See, that’s what’s so great about aniblogging. You can make posts like top tens without even watching the shows. Just say something about the characters being good, visuals being interesting, and the story being touching and you’re good to go.

      Reply
  1. Is Jojo bad or something, it’s one of the best shounens I’ve watched in like a while. I mean I wouldn’t say it’s perfect or anything like that, I haven’t been paying attention to criticism or praise for the show, so I don’t know if there’s some kind of infamy or something surrounding it.

    Reply
    • I like it, but I don’t think the flattery surrounding it is honest. People go way out of their way to hype it and its characters up, and because of this it seems like every bit of praise is done tongue-in-cheek. The fanbase is almost entirely inorganic and it shows.

      Reply
      • Ah, well I haven’t been around the fanbase, but I gave it a 10/10 on MAL(laugh at me please) because it was pretty refreshing and I feel it did everything I feel like it set out to do from the first episode right.

        But eh , whatever, that sounds pretty bad though.

        Reply
          • I fail to see what’s so bad about its fanbase.
            The threads I visit are usually civil and fabulous (<- Look Mom, I'm doing it too!).
            Yes, they are exaggerating, but I prefer such a behaviour over constant shitposting any day.

            Reply
          • Actually it has one of the best fanbases, full of people who have been following the manga for ages. All the threads are great with no bullshit or serious shitstorms/flamewars. Yes, maybe we act over the top sometimes but that’s JoJo for you, if you can’t handle the FABULOUS it’s not our fault.

            Reply
            • I think one thing about jojo’s fans, especially the real ones that have read the manga and been waiting for so long for this adaption. Is that they’ve all pushed very hard for people to check the series out, and now that it’s finally got an adaption it’s even easier to get people to take notice and give it a shot. Also there are people who naturally get that jojo’s is unintentionally hilarious, but for some people it just doesn’t click and it’s hard to really explain that to new viewers now. Though I think it’s pretty easy to just bring up that it’s from the 80s and therefore it has and old shonen style that you shouldn’t feel bad if you think it’s hilarious.

              Reply
  2. Hey man, I mildly like your satire! Great job! You know what you should totally do? You should totally make a list! So I could mildly like that too. Cram it with personality and heart, like only some blogger somewhere could when making an anime top 10 list! I like it 60% personality and 40% heart, but different proportions are mildly okay as well! Don’t forget to forget HxH again in your list of ongoing shows! That thing has no fans anywhere! And of course, I must mildly demand that you mildly argue that SAO is the best show you’ve seen in the last decade!

    Keywords: mildness, list, personality, heart, bitching on the Internet, bitching about anime on the Internet, bitching about lists on the Internet, bitching about anime fans on the Internet, Internet on the Internet while you Internet the shit out of Internet, Internet, Internet.

    Reply
  3. So I’ve decided to see how things going on the other side and collected some information from pixiv:
    BTOOOM! 298
    Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai! 6590
    Code:Breaker 1344
    Girls und Panzer 1550 (original)
    Ixion Saga DT 692 (original)
    Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure 40939
    K 3927 (original)
    Kamisama Hajimemashita 1529
    Little Busters 12551
    Magi 45874
    Psycho-Pass 2417 (original)
    Robotics;Notes 663
    Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo 735
    Shinsekai Yori 357
    Sukitte Ii Na Yo 111
    Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun 1922
    Zetsuen no Tempest 733

    Reply
  4. But you can have a Top 11! Just wait until there’s any Code Geass release and cram it there. Apparently humor is appreciated in anime blogs.

    Reply

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