Hi! ❤

I’ve been away for a short while but I’m back now and today I am going to be looking back on my top 5 favourite anime from around 3 years ago, when I fully started exploring it. I thought it would be interesting to compare my opinions from then to now since I have watched more anime and I am more picky nowadays about what I will watch.

These will be ranked from 5th to 1st, 1 obviously being the very best. This will be based on posts from my old instagram where I have briefly mentioned numerous times what I think of these anime.

However, even if I disagree with my previous opinion, it does not mean at all that the anime I mention is bad. It just means it’s not my thing anymore. If you personally rank one of these in your top 5, then that’s absolutely fine and you shouldn’t feel bad for liking them!

Anyway, now that disclaimer is out of the way…

SPOLIERS AHEAD FOR DEADMAN WONDERLAND, MIRAI NIKKI, DEATH NOTE, TOKYO GHOUL AND BLACK BUTLER

#5: Deadman Wonderland

This anime follows a young boy called Ganta who is brought to a prison, where the prisoners fight each other to the death to gain support from an audience.

I can’t exactly remember how I discovered the anime but it ended up being one of the most enjoyable for me. I loved the concept of using blood as a weapon and the fight scenes were rather entertaining. I loved the character development of the main character and the mystery of Shiro kept me watching. The art style was similar to that of Mirai Nikki which appealed to me even more.

However, I would not rank it in my top 5 today. This is because the whole fighting thing in anime no longer really appeals to me, the main character can be argued to be too one sided and because it didn’t leave too much of a lasting impression on me. The only part I really recall is Crow losing a battle and losing his eye. Apart from that, I don’t recall much of the story and I don’t think it was as groundbreaking as I thought it was. The plot is pretty easy to forget unfortunately and it didn’t bring anything too new to the table.

Although, I wouldn’t say this was a bad anime at all. I loved the side characters and the opening is still absolutely amazing. I would recommend checking it out but I still wouldn’t say that this was absolutely groundbreaking.

My rating now: 7/10

#4: Mirai Nikki

In this anime, a group of strangers are forced into a battle royale type of game, organised by a god. They all share one thing in common: their diaries have an ability to help them win. For example, Yuno’s diary tells her what will happen to her crush, Yuki.

What I liked about the anime was that it had a very large cast and provided backstories for those characters so we were able to sympathise with them when their end finally came.

Yuno was also a great introduction to the yandere archetype at the time but looking back on it, I think it could have been done slightly better. She was slightly too unrealistic and there are other characters like Yuri from DDLC that present yanderes better. However, it could be argued that the slight wackiness of the anime is what defines it from the rest so Yuno’s ultimate yandere nature can be excused.

The story also included plenty of plot twists but was slightly predictable. For example, when introduced to a new character, we would know that Yuki and Yuno would end up eliminating them. Tension only started to build up towards the end, the conflict with Yuki’s parents and with glimpses of the backstory of Yuno as it hinted at her true nature.

I would also say now looking back that the plot was slightly rushed. Despite the backstories being provided to us, it didn’t go into too much detail which didn’t show us how these characters developed into what they are now and the conflicts they met on the way. This applies to Yuki as well as he slowly turns from a nervous cowardly student to a murderous tyrant of the game. This could be blamed on the influence of Yuno but I think the anime could be improved if it showed us more factors that contributed to Yuki’s new nature and gave him some more likeable qualities so he could still be relatable to the audience.

In conclusion, I am on the fence on whether or not I would include this anime in my top 5 in the present as I did enjoy it despite its faults and I did like the characters featured even though we didn’t get to see more of their backstory.

My rating now: 6.5/10

#3: Tokyo Ghoul

Ken Kaneki is a normal college student but when he finally gathers the courage to ask his crush, Riza, on a date, he becomes something neither ghoul or human and now has to find a way to deal with his newfound appetite for flesh and with the ‘doves’, who want to purge Tokyo of its ghoul inhabitants.

I still love this anime to be honest despite how overrated it has become. The fight scenes are absolutely brilliantly planned out and its cast is well developed. I also love how the theme of morality is explored through Kaneki battling with himself over what he is. The symbolism with Kaneki’s hair is also rather interesting and helps to show his mental stability throughout the series.

It is likely that this would still rank rather highly on my anime list.

However, there is criticism about the 2nd season. Some viewers felt like Kaneki had become more OP and thus made him less relatable to the audience. I agree partly with this as Kaneki no longer had this moral conflict that defined throughout the 1st season and made us question our own ethics.

However, I still enjoyed the second season and rooted for Kaneki. It also gave us the chance to spend more time with the side characters. Although, I do agree that it didn’t match the hype that season 1 had but it was still enjoyable (the 2nd opening wasn’t all that great though).

My rating now: 8/10

#2: Black Butler

Ciel Phantomhive is the head of the Phantomhive estate and the queen’s guard dog. He is only a child but his duty is to get rid of the criminal underworld. Fortunately, he has his loyal butler, Sebastian, to protect and assist him. However, he may not be as innocent or kind as he seems.

What first caught my eye with this anime was that it’s not sent in the present since it is based in Victorian England. I immediately thought it was unique because of this and I still think it is different to other anime.

The arcs were exciting and brought plenty of drama. For example, the Jack the Ripper arc had a good plot twist and introduced us to a new character which we had just assumed to be a useless side character. Its lighthearted comedic moments also worked well when things got too dark in the series and the characters are well balanced. For instance, Ciel is bratty and arrogant but also smart and mischievous, making him likeable enough for the audience.

My only problem with the series is the fandom. The Black Butler fandom is problematic as the most popular ship seems to be Sebastian x Ciel. It’s argued that the two have enough weird homoerotic moments to be considered canon and the fault of it being shipped is due to the author as they are the one that wrote it. However, the author herself has said that she doesn’t approve of the ship and the big issue is that Ciel is only thirteen and he is being shipped with a demon that is around 100 years old or even older.

It is argued that the fujoshis in the fandom are romanticizing gay relationships and making two men who are in love with each other a fetish for them. It doesn’t help that those into the yaoi genre tend to be straight women so it’s the same as a straight man fetishing lesbians, which is considered creepy. However, I believe it is okay to be into yaoi or yuri as long as you are not being weird about it and saying things like “gay ships are better than straight ones” and thus alienating lgbt characters from straight ones. Ship who you want but be careful about how you are reacting to it.

My rating now: 7.5/10

#1: Death Note

One day, Light Yagami, a high school student and son of a well known police officer, finds a notebook called the Death Note. He decides to use it to purge the world of evil but soon becomes corrupt and comes head to head with the detective, L.

I may be biased as this was the first proper anime I ever watched apart from Pokemon. It was an amazing introduction to anime and I loved the suspense the anime constantly had. The characters were well developed so it’s easy to empathise with either side (Kira or L). It was well animated and stayed relatively true to the manga. The opening music was also amazing and full of symbolism. I also enjoyed the bittersweet ending of the anime, which was rather emotional and felt just right for the ending of the whole series.

The only fault lies in the second part of the series. This is due to the fact of the new characters, Mello and Near, being introduced. There were high expectations for these characters as they were basically apprentices to L and while they were pretty intelligent and Near did end up defeating Light, they were like cardboard cutouts of the characters envisioned. There wasn’t much development with this two as there was with L so it was difficult to enjoy them on screen. We didn’t hear much about their backstory or their relationships with others like L’s relationship with Watari.

In conclusion, I still love this anime and I will rank it in my top 5 but I do think it could have been improved if Mello and Near had been fleshed out, even Misa could have been more developed as well.

My rating now: 9/10

With most of these anime, I have changed my opinion slightly on them and I think this is because I’ve watched more anime since and because my tastes have changed. I still enjoy these anime and like I said before, you are allowed to disagree and have your own opinions on them. I would still recommend someone to watch any of these.

Anyway, that’s all for now and I’m sorry for not posting in ages but I’m here now anyway. Feel free to leave a like or a comment