I didn't want to wait until 2023 to improve the accuracy of my rankings. I wanted to improve my rankings right now, now that I finally have a complete list of 200. If I surmise the quality of a show based on what I've seen already and project its total worth at the end I should be able to get something similar to its true worth, and that will be way more accurate than just leaving it at '#199' or whatever. Strike while the iron is hot, it's past time for a true top 200 anime rankings.
There were changes up and down the line. Even the #1 anime changed from Pretty Cure to Fairy Tail. I said I would rank Fairy Tail #1 if it were fully adapted, and then the announcement of '100 Years Quest' being adapted came through, so that's good enough for me. Also, the latest season of Pretty Cure is awful which detracts from the franchise overall, knocking it down to the low low rank of #2.
One Piece also fell from 5th place to 8th place. This is because its elongated natural form is unwatchable these days, while its compressed fan-made form is unreliable. One Pace makes One Piece good again, but it hasn't adapted any new Wano content in months. It's now ridiculously far behind One Piece, and it's not clear if it will ever catch up. If One Pace does not fully compress the remaining One Piece anime, it will never be better than the 8th best anime. If One Pace gets its job done and suddenly turns everything around, I will adjust One Piece's ranking back up again, but until then nope.
Utawarerumono fell from 13th place to 20th, because the third season I've been looking forward to so much wasn't quite as well done as I expected it to be. The budget seems to be lower than the previous seasons, some details from the visual novel have been skipped, and of course the wrong voice actor is playing Haku since the real voice actor tragically died before the show was recorded. It's still a great season just not good enough to sustain the insanely high ranking of 13th.
Likewise Love Live!'s ranking fell from 14th to 18th due to Nijigasaki's and Superstar's 2nd seasons not being as good as I expected they would be. Still good, just not good enough.
Macross rose a bit, from 31 to 27, because the latest movie was better than I expected it would be.
Spy x Family rose a lot, from #141 to #31, because it's phenomenal. The first episodes of the new season have also been fantastic. The only thing really holding Spy x Family back these days is the fact that it's a comedy and can never create a truly moving, serious drama like, say, Little Busters! Given the constraints of its genre it's perfect. This is the best new series since Kimetsu no Yaiba.
World of Witches fell a bit, down to 39, due to Luminous Witches being a flop.
DanMachi jumped all the way up to 61 from 142, due to an extremely good 1st cour of season IV and an announcement of a second cour coming this January. I suspect there will also be a season V sooner or later after that because this work seems to be quite popular and well supported. Everyone working together without Bell to survive in the dungeon was some very intense, tense stuff.
Basilisk moved up to #60 from #73 because I rewatched it recently and it was better than I remembered.
Edens Zero moved down to #68 from #42 because I rewatched it recently and it was worse than I remembered.
Shadows House fell from #41 to #92 because season 2 was a letdown. All it covered was the boring mystery of Maryrose instead of the actually important memories of the main cast before they reached Shadows House. And there was no season 3 announcement so apparently those memories will never be revealed.
Kanojo mo Kanojo moved up from #146 to #88 because a second season was announced, which will cover even better material than the first season.
BanG Dream moved from #128 to #102 due to the Morfonication oav's and new movies being really good.
Rocket Girls dropped from #77 to #105 because it's only a 12 episode comedy, it can't be that good. the same for Akaneiro, a thirteen episode comedy, it fell from #90 to #104.
Honzuki fell from #71 to #114 because my current rewatch of season 3 has been disappointingly boring. You literally have to watch ink dry.
Ken Tensei jumped from #198 to #108 based on how well done the first three episodes have been. The animation, art and voice acting are spot on. The plot we knew from the beginning would be good since it's following the manga.
Extreme Hearts jumped from #197 to #109 due to a great start combining pretty girls dancing, singing, bonding and playing sports (what more could you ask for?), but also because a second season was promised which should double the show's worth by the end.
KonoSuba rose from #131 to #110 due to the new Megumin exclusive anime season being announced.
Selection Project rose from #191 to #116 because I always feel happy and excited when I see the show or listen to its music, much more so than #191 would merit, but about right if it were ranked #116.
Bastard rose from #200 to #151 on the announcement of a second season, which will finally cover material the oav's never reached.
Prince of Tennis fell from #110 to #153 because the latest season was awful.
Ginga E Kickoff dropped from #173 to #199 because soccer is impossible to animate, too many people are moving too often for animation to afford to show the game in its true majesty. I'm positioning Ginga E such that sooner or later I can drop it from my rankings entirely and then the entire genre of soccer anime can be expunged.
The Eminence in Shadow, now that I know it isn't filler, and given that it's 20 episodes long, rose from #199 to #127.
Madoka Magica dropped from #65 to #103 due to Magia Record being sub-par.
Bakuman dropped from #27 to #38 because real life angst about drawing manga can't compete with fantasy angst like the world being at stake. (Sailor Moon, at #37, saves the universe multiple times. Bakuman struggles to submit a new chapter before the deadline. . .)
Gosick dropped from #157 to #178 because it's hard for a mystery to keep up with other genres.
Touch/Mix moved up to #66 due to a Mix Season 2 announcement.
With everybody else moving around so much, that of course slightly alters the rankings of all the series whose opinions I didn't change since last year. As a result only a handful of series are rated the same as before. The only way to get a perfect grasp of all the changes and what it means for each and every series is to check out the newly updated top anime rankings permapost: http://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2013/07/top-anime-rankings.html
Since my rankings are prophetic, taking into account any and all anime that's planned to come out as well as what's already come out, these rankings should be accurate for at least the next year. Now my decades long project is complete. I have 200 actual anime series and they're actually rated what they're worth.
My Apples to Apples rankings have also been updated, https://diamed-the-road-less-traveled.blogspot.com/2021/12/apples-to-apples-anime-rankings.html, which looks at shows in similar situations in terms of length and whether the series reach their endings or not. From these similar categories you can draw more fair comparisons (just like how heavyweight boxers only box other heavyweights). In these rankings Spy x Family is the #1 short, incomplete series of all time. The best medium length, incomplete show is K-On!, the best long length, incomplete show is Fairy Tail. As for completed shows, the best short length series is Kanon, the best medium length series is Clannad, and the best long length show is Pretty Cure.
For people who want to watch anime but don't have infinite time, my Apples to Apples guide is a good source. I'd suggest watching only the short, complete series first and then if you like them moving on to longer shows.
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