The Top 120 Anime:

It's the end of the summer season, and thus a natural time to update my rankings yet again to reflect the changes which have occurred during said season.  Here are the most up to date rankings of the best anime shows of all time:

1. Clannad (2007-2009) 
2. Pretty Cure (2004-2012+)
3. One Piece (1999-2012+)
4. Code Geass (2006-20012+)
5. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha/Triangle Hearts (2000-2012)
6. Naruto (2002-2012+)
7. Dragonball (1986-2011+)
8. K-On! (2009-2011)

9. Seikai no Monshou/Senki/Danshou (1999-2005)
10. Higurashi/Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (2006-2012)
11. Fairy Tail (2009-2012+)
12. Kanon (2002-2007)
13. Haruhi Suzumiya (2006-2010)
14. To Aru Majutsu no Index/Kagaku no Railgun (2008-2011+)
15. Angel Beats (2010)
16. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011+)
17. Da Capo (2003-2011+)
18. Katanagatari (2010)
19. The Idolm@ster (2011-2012+)
20. Full Metal Panic! (2002-2006)
21. Bakuman (2010-2012+)

22. Kobato (2009-2012)
23. Working! (2010-2012)
24. Record of Lodoss War (1990-1998)
25. The World God Only Knows (2010-2011+)
26. Hayate no Gotoku (2007-2012+)
27. Sora no Woto (2010)
28. Toradora! (2008-2011)
29. Basilisk (2005)
30. Saki (2009-2012+)

31. Galaxy Angel (2001-2006)
32. Major (2004-2012)
33. Vandread (2000-2001)
34. Inuyasha (2000-2010)
35. Ranma 1/2 (1989-2008)
36. Sailor Moon (1992-1997+)
37. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007-2009)

38. Air (2005)
39. Evangelion (1995-2009+)

40. Prince of Tennis (2001-2012)

41. Hanasaku Iroha (2011+)
42. Usagi Drop (2011-2012)
43. Rurouni Kenshin (1996-2012+)
44. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
45. Ef (2007-2008)
46. Ore no Immouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (2010-2011+)
47. Uuchuu no Stellvia (2003)
48. Utawarerumono (2006-2010)
49. Summer Wars (2009)

50. Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai (2012)
51. Angelic Layer (2001)

52. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (2010-2012)
53. Cowboy Bebop (1998-2001)
54. Battle Athletes (1997-1998)
55. Bleach (2004-2012)
56. Bake-(etc)-monogatari (2009-2012+)
57. 12 Kingdoms (2002-2003)
58. Strike Witches (2007-2012)
59. AKB0048 (2012+)

60. Nichijou (2011-2012)
61. Hunter x Hunter (1999-2012+)
62. Fate/Stay/Etc (2006-2012+)

63. Claymore (2007)

64. Macross (1982-2011+)

65. Amagami SS (2010-2012+)

66. Sora no Otoshimono (2009-2012+)
67. Card Captor Sakura/Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (1998-2009)

68. Shakugan no Shana (2005-2012)

69. Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai (2011+)  
70. Mononoke Hime (1997)

71. Berserk (1997-2012+)

72. Valkyria Chronicles (2009-2011)
73. Negima! Magister Magi Negi (2004-2012)

74. Samurai Champloo (2004-2005)

75. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (2011+)

76. Gundam (1979-2012+)
77. Martian Successor Nadesico (1996-1998)
78. Natsuiro Kiseki (2012)

79. Hyouka (2012+)

80. Read or Die (2001-2004)
81. Break Blade (2010-2011)
82. Kimi ni Todoke (2009-2011)
83. Spice and Wolf (2008-2009)
84. To Heart (1999-2012)

85. Bastard! (1992)

86. Mahoromatic (2001-2009)
87. Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka (2008-2009)
88. Fatal Fury (1992-1994)
89. Azumanga Daioh (2002)
90. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
91. Scrapped Princess (2003)
92. Steins;Gate (2011-2012+)
93. Ghost in the Shell (1995-2011)

94. Flame of Recca (1997-1998)
95. Shinryaku! Ika Musume (2010-2012)

96. Zero no Tsukaima (2006-2012)
97. Tamayura (2010-2012+)

98. Baccano (2007-2008) 

99. Lucky Star (2007-2008)
100. High School of the Dead (2010-2011)
101. Hikaru no Go (2001-2004)
102. Tari Tari (2012+)

103. Yuru Yuri (2011-2012)

104. Gunbuster (1988-2012)
105. Shamanic Princess (1996-1998)

106. Soul Eater (2008-2009)
107. Moshidora (2011)

108. Gosick (2011)
109. Akira (1988)

110. Guyver (1986-2006)
111. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

112. Spirited Away (2001)

113. Iria: Zeiram the Animation (1994)

114. Alien Nine (2001-2002)

115. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (2009)

116. Death Note (2006-2008)

117. School Days (2007-2008)

118. Ninja Scroll (1993-2003+)

119. Sword Art Online (2012+)

120. Saint Tail (1994-1996)

There are some significant changes in these rankings.  I dropped Howl's Moving Castle, RG Veda and Sora no Manimani as too weak for the competition.  In their place, I put in Saint Tail, which has been here before (and will soon drop out again once Little Busters begins), and two more noteworthy entries, School Days and Sword Art Online.

Sword Art Online is about halfway through, and it's only just now really hitting its stride.  With the new plot development of love and marriage between the two main characters, I feel like this story can only get better and its already doing a lot of uniquely good things.  Sword Art Online is the first realistic portrayal of MMO's in anime, it's the first positive portrayal of MMO's and the type of person who plays them in anime, and it shows how rapidly a person's worth can shift when put into the right environment.  In Sword Art Online, kids don't have to go to school to study arcane math formulas they'll never again use in their entire lives.  Instead, they have to put their lives on the line and battle lizardmen with swords in order to journey through an ever-more-dangerous world.  Suddenly what used to matter in the past, like education, manners, popularity or money, no longer matters.  The only thing that matters now is how you treat others, your courage and your skill at the game.  Losers can become winners, and winners can become losers.  It's all reset.  Who doesn't want a reset switch for the world?  But Sword Art Online is the first time such a fantasy has ever been embraced and written about, it's the first time the artificiality of our lives and how easily they could be changed into a completely different world order has been covered in a positive and approving manner.  Sword Art Online doesn't whine about how the real world is so much better.  In fact, the characters have grown fond of the world they live in and are thankful for the experiences they've gained in it.  The villainous game maker turns out to have not been so villainous after all, at least for the people who have survived his master plan so far.

I continuously hear that the light novels are much better than the anime, and maybe that's true, but I think A-1 pictures has added a lot to this series by having such beautiful art, animation, and music to accompany the story.  The production value of this series is right up there with Tari Tari or Fate/Zero.  When a company goes all out to make something appealing, the story is uniquely interesting, and the protagonists are likable from the very first time you see them, you have a ranking anime.

School Days is another uniquely interesting story.  It's the story of a guy who makes the wrong decision in romance every single time he's given a choice.  As a result, the lives of everyone around him continue to spiral downward, until the giant harem of girls he's had sex with simply implodes, one of his girlfriends killing him and the other killing her rival girlfriend in response.  Rarely do stories have the bravery to feature such a nasty, awful main character, and even more rarely does such a character get his just desserts.  The story clearly admits that if your goal in life is to get laid, you can be an asshole and achieve your dream, better than nearly anyone else can, but that the victory is hollow and the consequences swift and fierce.  Rather than telling the audience that nice guys get the girls, it admits readily that you can be evil and succeed, but that your decisions always come back to haunt you in the end.  It's more like, at least nice guys get to live, so think twice before you prioritize sex over love.  I would love to show this anime in high school health classes as the perfect Sex Ed course in virtue.  I'm sure it would be a lot more effective than droning on about what STD's people can catch (hint, most people don't get STD's and most STD's are treatable so everyone just ignores the warnings as a bunch of bullshit invented by adults just to stifle kid's innocent fun, and pregnancy is easily avoidable via birth control or abortion so who cares?)

School days is another classic that's well known in the anime world, like Death Note, Ghost in the Shell and Akira.  It's just one of those series everyone is supposed to watch and like, and there's something wrong with you if you don't.  As such, it deserves a spot somewhere in my rankings.  117 seemed reasonable enough.

Now for my reasoning behind massive shifts in my rankings.  Yuru Yuri, Tari Tari and Hyouka all zoomed up the rankings by virtue of their continuously good new episodes that have been coming out every week.  It's only natural they would improve as the series grows longer, and their competition isn't so tough in the 70-120 range as to bar advancement.  I also reconsidered how good Natsuiro Kiseki and AKB0048 were, in light of knowing they were better than Hyouka and yet ranking Hyouka so highly, so they shot up too even though they ended this spring.

Papa no Iukoto is slightly different.  Doki finally released the series in a blu-ray batch, and so I naturally rewatched it in the new, higher quality.  The story is just fantastic.  Even though I'd seen it before, it left me in tears not once but twice.  The story says so much in such a short amount of time, it has so many important things to say, and it concentrates on such a realistic setting and characters, that I simply can't praise the series enough.  It's the only series that features a 3 year old as a main character and does justice by its ambitious decision.  Instead of fighting aliens or robots, it battles poverty, sadness and separation.  And instead of rocket punches or lasers, the only tool any of our heroes has is love.  That's the only thing they can do to fend off every single problem in their lives.  And yet love is so strong, it's so amazing, that it proves up to the task every single time.  This is a story that people need to hear and understand down to their very bones.  As such, it easily deserved its new spot at #50.  That's right -- in 13 eps it gets to be #50 and Bleach, with 200 eps, could only reach #55.  But Madoka Magica is 16th with only 12 eps so it is possible to do even better.  If you write seriously and show a lot happening at once or extremely deep chains of reasoning in few words, twelve episodes is enough to say anything you want to say.  Maybe some other series should try to learn from Papa no Iukoto's example.  On the other hand, maybe Papa no Iukoto should be given another season already.  After all, it's not like the light novels that the anime is based off of ended.  They've continued telling the story of Sora, Miu and Hina while the anime randomly stopped and didn't.  It's such a bloody shame.  But then, the same was done to Full Metal Panic and The World God Only Knows, so why not Papa no Iukoto too. . .  Quality seemingly has no relation to whether a series gets a sequel or not in this world.

The rankings will keep changing with the onset of the fall season.  We'll be getting more Bakuman and Hayate, Little Busters will begin, and Da Capo will renew in January.  So long as anime keeps changing, the rankings have to keep changing too, to stay accurate and up to date.  34 of the top 120 series still have additions slated to come out for them.  As a result, the rankings are just an endless journey of updates.  Here's to many more rankings in the future, top 120 or 130 or more~