Talk:Essential Anime

One of the earliest OAVs, and one of the earliest non-TV-series anime to reach North America (granted in a Macekre), Megazone 23 deserves to be on the list. But under which heading?

"Magical Girl", obviously. <grin> More seriously, I think it qualifies for at least Mind Screw, Cyberpunk and Space Opera, depending on what part you've gotten to.

School Days is mentioned under "Harem", and at first glance, I can see why it's on the list (infamous reputation for its shocking ending and "Nice Boat" meme). Only, I don't consider School Days as a harem show. It just doesn't qualify as an example of Unwanted Harem, and calling it a Deconstruction is misunderstanding the show's actual premise (A Love Triangle goes wrong).

Makoto is being seduced by/sleeping around with other girls. Okay, and...? It's a plot point that comes up late into the series and is resolved three episodes later. (Sekai sabotages Makoto's affairs by faking a pregnancy and making a scene all around classmates. The girls then cut him off.)

I suggest deleting the example. School Days is just not important enough for the list.

Gonna have to concur. It's not so much a harem deconstruction as it's taking romance novel tropes and applying a liberal dose of dark reality to the consequences.

I've been in discussions with Dave Watson (the person behind Being Upfront), and he's offered these titles for addition to the list. Comments?

Remainder of this post is Dave's words, not mine, although I have added links to the pages we have for the works.

First of all, Cowboy Bebop needs to be represented. What category exactly? Good question.

Magical Girl Deconstruction: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Of course.)

Giant Robot Deconstruction: Bokurano

Mind Screw Trope Codifier: Angel's Egg

Shoujo Deconstruction: Ouran High School Host Club

Slice of Life Tragedy Trope Codifier: Clannad

Sports Anime Deconstruction: Yakitate Japan!

Let's try to think of some movies to add. I'm trying to do this without listing almost every Studio Ghibli movie, so I won't mention any. Yes, I'm cheating a bit by going through pages listing essential anime movies and going "Damn, how could that not come off the top of my head?":

• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
• Perfect Blue
• Memories
• The Castle of Cagliostro
• Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
• Macross Plus
• Barefoot Gen
• Metropolis (which I wish someone would put out here on Blu-Ray here)
• Night on the Galactic Railroad (which WAS put out here on Blu-Ray; should get my hooks on it soon)
• 5 Centimeters per Second
• The Dog of Flanders
• Dirty Pair: Project Eden
• Space Pirate Captain Harlock: Arcadia of My Youth

I have no problem with those. Though If I might add a couple:

Space Opera - Deconstruction/Reconstruction(?): Legend of Galactic Heroes

Though in that case, it could also be under Science Fiction or Political, depending on what is more appropriate.

Also, since there's no entry for Anthropomorphic Personifications:

Codifier: Axis Powers Hetalia

By no means was it the first, but it's definitely left something of a continuing mark.

I like those, and I'd love to see more suggestions. I'd also like to see reasons why particular anime should not go on the list. (Just because I'm on the list of mods doesn't mean I know everything.)