Living for Yourself in Precure

Episode 42 of Futari wa Precure tackle the simple question of "What is the meaning of Life?". Episode 42 starts with the girls eating Takoyaki outside of Akane's van and asking each other what they think the answer to the question is. The tomboy Nagisa jumps to "love", but upon questioning she finds she can't explain anymore than that. Her fellow Lacrosse team players come up with other vague notions such as "peace", "friends", "family", but none of them sound very convincing. In the end they resort to evading the question through comedy calling Nagisa out for her ultimate love of chocolate. When tackling important questions like these with no clear answer, comedy or irony is a common method to escape the question, and while some might see it as a dishonest coping mechanism, its often for the best to avoid these questions since usually the question is the one at fault for being unfair.

Then Honoka joins them and when asked she seems to misunderstand and explains the biological composition of life: water, proteins, amino acids and carbohydrates. The others dismiss this as just Honoka being autistic again, but who's to say if she's any more wrong than they were.

Meanwhile the agents of darkness are having a similar conversation in their evil lair. They decide that the only true meaning of life is themselves, and so they must only live for themselves rather than for anyone else. This is the tipping point to a major plot turn in the series, where the agents of darkness decide to rebel against the devil and work to gain the power of all creation for themselves, rather than for him. At this point they also free their pet parrot, symbolising their new freedom from their master. However this new freedom frightens them more than anything as they know the devil will now react kindly to this. And so they hatch a plot to defeat Pretty Cure quickly and decisively by splitting them up, and thus preventing them from using their special move.

The agents of darkness seek freedom

They move both girls into a sealed reality, and trap Honoka within a pocket dimension of chaos, which slowly degrades her form and will return her to chaotic matter. Nagisa tries for hours to find her, falling further into a despair and depression as she goes. The agents of darkness jeer at her, telling her she is truly useless on her own, and she will eventually fall into selfish despair just trying to save herself. She rebukes this saying that she wouldn't even be here looking for Honoka if she didn't care for Honoka's life even more than her own. The darkness laughs. "All you are really doing is trying to stop this feeling of helplessness. Everything you do is for your own sake." Personally, this expression reminds me of many conversations I've had. Where it's almost impossible to find a moral act that is not selfish in some way.

Honoka trapped and dissolving

Needless to say she rejects this notion and destroys the pocket dimension, rejoining with Honoka in and emotional scene. They join forces once again and, after probably the best fight scene of the series, unleash their ultimate attack: "Rainbow Storm" and send the demons back from whence they came. The girls live for one another and for the power of good, rejecting their Randian Objectivism in favour of a Romantic ideal of higher morals.

While that was a great episode, the answer put forward for the initial question is still vague, and really just a rejection of purely living for oneself. The next episode puts Nagisa back into the real world where she must put her new ideal to the test. Another girl admits to Nagisa that she has fallen for Fujimura-senpai (Nagisa's crush). Initially shocked, she eventually agrees to help the girl to confess her love as to align with her rejection of Randianism. Honoka realises what Nagisa is doing and confronts her about it. She calls Nagisa out for using a faulty moral premise as a form of escapism: rejecting her true feelings on the false pretense of altruism. Nagisa eventually agrees, learning that one cannot always reject selfishness and acting selfishly, or for your own gain at the detriment of others must sometimes be done and isn't inherently bad. Luckily before she needs to act the other girl is rejected by Fujimura.

Nagisa sums it up as the meaning of life for her is her own soul. To keep her own emotions as the most important thing, and make judgements based on her own feelings. While this may seem similar to an objectivist outlook, the difference is that she must avoid both ignoring her own emotions, which means often putting others before herself as to keep a clean conscious and avoid guilt. It is basically a codification of both Precure's actions so far, where in acting completely in line with their emotions they can never be in the wrong.

This nice revelation sets the stage for the final arc as the agents of darkness attempt to make themselves into God, while the Devil himself is soon to awaken also. Now that Pretty Cure has reached inner completion, they are ready to face evil without hesitation.

Generic Isekai Towns

As the internet has all heard by now, isekai anime and LNs seem to have a strange trend of having the same "unrealistic and uninspired" designs for their fantasy towns. Here are some of the examples I've seen floating around displaying the genre's lack of originality:

Classic exemplar from Konosuba [1]

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Strangling the Mother: Nausicaa and the River Leen

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a very raw film. It's a swirling miasma of Miyazaki's ideas and ideals out of which you can spot the core elements of almost all of his later works. The chaos is untamed however, with Miyazaki's technical skill in film direction not keeping up with his deeper ideas. This ends in a film that is captivating and intriguing in its aesthetics and themes, but without the fleshed out characters and strong story that brings together truly great art.

The driving theme of Nausicaa, and Miyazaki's works in general, is the relationship between mankind and the nature; with the world of Nausicaa being a representation of the relationship gone sour. Humanity has become too greedy and has left the Earth in ruins, great swathes of land have desertified, and the soil left so toxic that giant fungal forests have sprung up to feed on the toxic Earth. But we also see that life is possible living within nature, as the people of the wind valley portray. They also harness the power of the Earth, as all must do in order to live, but do so in a symbiotic manner: helping themselves through helping the Earth.

In the town of Nottingham, England runs the mighty Trent river. It's power so great that mankind has still yet to truly control her. A tributary of hers, the River Leen, runs South along the Western wall of Nottingham and into the Trent. The Leen is not such a big river and as such she has been greatly violated at the hands of man, but her place in our myths, both old and new, exceed her girth. I went for a walk along the Leen to follow her path, starting at the mouth.

The Trent and the mouth of the Leen

Instead of flowing freely, the mouth is covered with a sluice gate, used to help with flood prevention. I couldn't quite work out the mechanism behind it but I assume it's for restricting her flow at certain times of the year. The first hundred yards of the walk proved even less fruitful. The river flows under a road, a car park, another road and finally a power substation before I even got a glimpse of it. Here it flows deep in an artificial gorge, again for flood protection.

The first sight of the Leen

Walking up the seldom used footpath, signs of nature's action can still be seen even in this constructed environment. Lining the river is an area of disused wasteland, overgrown with thorn and bracken and now rendered completely inaccessible by foot. If people were to stop holding it back, this entanglement would spread just as the Sea of Corruption does in Nausicaa, both destroying what we have made and healing the earth beneath it. Despite looking like a chaotic mess, this area is far more complex, intricate and hardy that the man-made railings and buildings around it. Man-made systems are inherently unstable and require constant maintenance while natural systems are inherently self-righting and will return to a stable system by itself from almost any situation.

Travelling further up the way we get to the riverside town of Lenton, now a suburb of Nottingham. An important industrial, ecclesiastical and cultural settlement, Lenton in as old as Nottingham itself and has global importance and prestige. First the Leen heads up through an industrial area, disappearing for a while under a modern-style factory. This is the headquarters of Games Workshop, the creators of Warhammer. Standing in front is a collection of giant metallic statues of alien warriors, whose identity I don't have the interest to understand, but a friend of mine tells me this is in fact "Ghal Maraz", the eponymous Warhammer itself.

The Warhammer

Next is a subtle but amazing feat of civil engineering: the Leen is pushed down and underneath a canal, while keeping the flat level of each channel at the same height. As far as I can tell the river is pushed down through a subterranean tunnel while the canal is kept untouched. While this is quite impressive, the impact of having such a tunnel renders the utility of the river itself null. While in times of yore we would use her natural path to carry boats and resources, now we have created our own, more efficient river and discarded the old Leen. However, even if we no longer need her we cannot just get rid of her. We still must accommodate her path since we know that if we dammed her completely the Ghal Maraz of God would be brought down upon Lenton through flood, so although we've strangled our Mother, we cannot kill her.

The tunnel under the canal

Over the canal and into the residential area we now head. And here lies the Lenton Priory, a thousand year old Christian establishment founded by William the Conqueror. The great priory itself was destroyed by King Henry VIII under the Reformation and replaced by a smaller, extant Anglican church of Saint Anthony. There are many ancient tales of the priory, but the most important is that it lays claim to the grave of a Mister Philip Marc: the High Sheriff of Nottingham and nemesis of Robin Hood. Of course it is just a tale, but the area's connection to the tales of Robin Hood are strong and numerous.

The Priory Church of St. Anthony

Now the river flows up through seemingly endless suburbs and estates. It passes through tunnels and ditches, under bridges and buildings, split in two and rejoined. Violated beyond recognition. If Robin of Sherwood did walk along its modern banks he would surely not recognise its form or spirit. But yet it was vital for an array of human triumphs. During the height of British power the biggest factories for both tobacco products and bicycles in the world were built upon it, being Imperial Tobacco and Raleigh bikes. Today it flows through the world-class University of Nottingham, past Wollaton Hall (Wayne Manor in the Dark Knight films) and under countless small to medium businesses that hold the local community and town together such as the Rose & Crown and Johnson Arms pubs, Purple Frog estate agents or John Pye auctioneers. The area has seen better days, and with the fall of British industrialism many a old factory lays abandoned or on demolitionary death row. Here the sea of corruption has seeped in and built quite vast apocalyptic-esque landscapes locked off from the surrounding city.

The former Cussons Cosmetics factory: a common British household brand

As you leave the industrial areas of the city the factories give way to more residential areas like Bulwell or Hucknall. Here the river is not constrained so much and we start to see the harmony between man and nature. Here the streets and buildings are built around the river, rather than moving the river to fit our needs like further downstream. The river is still used by the people, but in a more respectful manner: fishing and feeding the ducks:

Fishing and feeding the ducks in Bulwell

Soon we have left Nottingham metropolitan, a more rural landscape appears with farms and forests. Here we have entered a new stage of human-river relation: one where the river has more power than man. Here the Leen's path is as nature intended, with fields and houses built according to her law. Paths and roads must obey her as they bridge and ford, I had to take longer than optimal routes to give way to her. Eventually I reach Newstead Abbey, a ancient and beautiful ecclesiastical property once home to both the laureate Lord Byron and the mathematician Countess Ada Lovelace. Here the Leen has been dammed to form a great reservoir lake upon which the stately home sits. Here in this romantic holy land I think is a wonderful depiction of the role of man in nature and our place.

A view across the reservoir to Newstead mansion (left) and Newstead Abbey (right)

Close-up of the abbey and the "Romanticist's Window"

Through empathetic stewardship, man is able to build upon nature in a way that is sympathetic to her needs, functional for ours and beautiful for God. The reservoir provides freshwater for the bustling city of Nottingham, while being a haven for waterbirds, fish and flora and fauna of many kinds. A pure conservationist may deride the destruction that creating a reservoir makes, but they fail to appreciate the base right of human survival. If we are part of nature then we have as much of a right to her treasures as any other part, and actions of disruption cannot always be seen as unjust. Such is the religious mindset: we have been given consciousness as gardeners of the world and we must love nature as nature loves us. Just as in Nausicaa, once the valley's woods become infected, the men must burn them down. Not out of selfishness or malice, but out of a mutual need to survive for both their village and the valley. They harness the wind for their power, but ride with it, rather than despite it. Nausicaa fears and trusts the Ohm, but act as their guides if they lose their way. I think this is the core message of Nausicaa, one to be not nature's oppressor or to be oppressed by her, but to act in unison as her guide and protector.

Nausicaa the gardener and Nausicaa the steward

If such matters of utility are met, a strong underlying order can be established upon which for man to truly shine as an aesthetic ape: from the chaotic but ordered natural beauty Newstead came the Romantic movement and the art of programming, and as such from Nausicaa empathy and action comes the saving of the world.

Nausicaa the Messiah

Map of Anime Studios

If you pay attention to the settings of your anime, I'm sure you will be aware that many shows are set in tried and tested real-world locations, there is a modern trend of making the show's world match onto a tangible setting. This is often done as a bonus to dedicated fans, or as a homage to locations that are important to whatever the show is about. For instance Yuru Camp's camping locations are all real-world places (mostly around Yamanashi) and as you can imagine, this will bring in customers to these places so really it's of mutual benefit of both artist and landowner. While this trend is exciting, many anime are set in set locations for a more concrete reason: proximity. Just as the majority of Hollywood films are shot within a days trip from Los Angeles, many anime are based on the area around where the production is happening. Why invent something new when you can use the real world around you for inspiration?

Here is my map of anime studio locations (ignore the dodgy formatting):

This utilitarian fact has lead many an anime to be set around the major hubs of anime studios. The most prominent and important of these hubs are the neighbouring Western-Tokyo cities of Suginami and Musashino. Suginami being one of the special wards of Tokyo proper and Musashino being just outside (but still within Tokyo prefecture). These two areas house the vast majority of modern (and historical) anime studios, and as such are by far the most common location for anime to be set (bar Akihabara/Sotokanda).

Even in the beginning, the first Tokyo animation studios were primarily located in Western Tokyo, with the three titans of the 60s/70s: Mushi Pro, Tatsunoko Pro and Toei, being located in Suginami, Musashino and nearby Nakano respectively. And when a tree spreads its seeds, the concentration will be highest just under its boughs, so every new studio that sprung up saw fit to set up shop in these areas too, generally studios were formed by older staff, and they would build their company nearby their parent, so the trend is for Mushi/Tezuka descended studios are built in Suginami (Sunrise, Madhouse, Shaft), while Tatsunoko descended studios are in Musashino (Production IG, JC Staff, Pierrot).

But there's something even more functional than that: and it's about taxes. Corporate taxes obviously function differently depending on where you are located, and the difference between being locating within the Tokyo special wards and without them includes a special prefectural municipal tax on top of the cities municipal tax. This pushes smaller companies out of the special area, while the larger companies can remain inside. But to leave Tokyo is to leave the forest, and so companies are pushed specifically to West of the city. This is because while the city of Tokyo may end, the prefecture extends West another 50 miles (but not any other direction).

Map of Tokyo prefecture. Special wards in purple. Suginami is 杉並区 and Musashino is 武蔵野市.

This factor means the animation divisions of super-companies will be often in Suginami (A-1 Pictures, AIC, Ultra Super Pictures), while smaller start-ups will be outside (Gainax, Actas, Science Saru).

Another, often mindblowing, realisation is that many studios are located literally within the same building as one another. Studio WIT and Tatsunoko Production are two of these, and are a mere 80m from a restaurant named "Kamavaki pizza". And the offices above Kamavaki are the HQ for Production IG. The most impressive of these is the imposing tower block of "Integral Tower" in Ogikubo, Suginami. It holds a total of four studios within its walls (Trigger, Ordet, Sanzigen and Liden Films). The building itself even played a central role in Trigger's Luluco.

There are of course outliers. As you can see from the map, there are a few studios located around the country, but these are few and far between. The two biggest are Kyoto Animation (Kyoto) and PA Works (Toyama). It is clear that these studios' strong individual styles, come from there relative isolation. The other out-of-Tokyo studios are GoHands (Osaka) and Gaina (Fukushima).

Gainax has recently been in the news for their fraudulent practises. Central for this was their use of facading holding companies to protect their assets. Looking at my map, these stick out almost comically. We love you Yamaga.

Nadia's OP: Determining Influence

One of Anno's less celebrated works, but certainly one of his best is the 1990/91 animated TV programme "Nadia of the Mysterious Seas", or as it's usually localised, "Nadia: Secret of Blue Water". Being loosely based around the works of 19th century French novelist Jules Verne, the story is set in the whimsical "La Belle Epoque", a Romantic period of the late 1800s hailed as the "end of history" by contemporaries and as a time of peace and prosperity in Europe.¹

The works of Verne are often seen as one of the primary aesthetic influences on history's most famous anime director, Miyazaki. His earlier works especially echo the traditionalist pull of a past where technology and nature could work in tandem. Nausicaa and Laputa are my favourite examples of his obsession with both the intricacies of mechanical contraptions and with the all-encompassing power of nature which I like to call "agrarian steampunk".

This article is free from spoilers so please read even if you haven't seen the show

Nadia was originally conceptualised by Miyazaki but never made it to production. A decade or so later the idea resurfaced and eventually fell onto Hideaki Anno to direct. Anno is known to have always been a acolyte of Miyazaki's, so I'm sure he was more than pleased to take the project on. While it is unclear how much of the show's material comes from which man, the distinctive footprints of all three men are clearly visible throughout, and nowhere so much as straight of the bat in the (truly excellent) OP.

[You can follow along with the OP here]

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Docchi mo Maid

 And now for something completely different:

I found the amazing "Docchi mo Maid" ONA while looking through some of the worst rated shows on MAL, because as my policy stands "all MAL scores should be inverted". And so this treasure, rated a 4.33, equates to a 5.67 in my books: pretty good!

There did exists awful meme-subs available for streaming, but nothing soft subbed and nothing watchable. So I took it upon myself to give the translation a go myself. It might not be perfect but I tried my best. Due to the nature of the production, a lot of lines are either muffled or just blundered, so sometimes I had to go with whatever my best judgement was.

The ONA itself is a treat. It's aesthetic and the focus of its parody are wholly attune to my own tastes and it reeks of early 2000 flash animations. I sure enjoyed it but it probably isn't up many people's alleyway.

[link]

The Easy Breezy Weekly Fan Newsletter Issue #2

This post is written by committee for the Easy Breezy Fan Club. We hope you enjoy!

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Episode 2! Sorry we're later this week, the committee had external important business to attend to. This episode, despite only being the second one, saw a downturn in the production quality, with the character animations suffering most obviously. However, the ideas were still there and this episode has solidly set up the basis from which the rest of the story will play out: the girls have gotten their own club, their own building and even the equipment they need to start animating! What luck! The story is still firmly in the first act right now, but hopefully the cogs are just starting to turn, or should I say windmills?

The shaping and alignment of the boxes around each character reflect their way of thinking.

I feel like the story is still trying to build the sense of cohesion within the club. Last episode it brought them together as friends, but now it is trying to bring them together as a productive team. It especially seems keen to justify Kanamori-shi as an important member. This makes sense since the other two girls' roles are more obvious to anime, while the role of producer is more ambiguous but nevertheless incredibly important, as this episode shows. Without Kanamori-shi's charisma and social finesse the bargaining with the teacher would never have gone well. Midori-chan is too awkward and ungainly, as seen in her attempt to strong-arm her way through negotiations, and Tsubame-chan seems hesitant in her abilities. We did get a glimpse into the strengths that Midori has in animating though, but I'm sad to say the visual execution under-performed in this regard.

Here is a frame from the improved animation Midori drew, imagining how the windmill would turn if only the wind could blow hard enough. This was in turn foreshadowed earlier when the girls are reminded that a storm is coming in the previous scene. This sets up quite cleverly the final shot: of the windmill now truly turning in the storm's gale, nicely tying up that particular object's arc.

Brilliant work by the episode writer, but while we noticed this and were expecting this payoff to come in the form of Midori's own drawings being used to animate the real windmill, this didn't happen for some reason. Instead the payoff shot is from a different angle, and even falls foul of the problem that they discussed right there in the episode! Who ever animated that deserves to not get paid...

On closer inspection, the central axle is actually misaligned too, double oops!

One thing that was excellent this episode was the architectural design. It seems every location in this show has to be weird in some way. The teacher's office being locating inside an old swimming pool, the interesting elevated monorail station design or the part of the school built atop a river. The latter in particular being a reflection of Midori's house in the first episode, showing Tsubame's relative sheltered innocence as an ojou-sama compared to the other girls as she has never seen this before.

You can even see the old ladder used to get in and out of the pool.

So although this episode saw some wobbles in execution (I put it down to the new-to-TV-anime studio Saru), the execution is still there and you can tell there is someone holding onto the reins (it's Yuasa-san). Let's hope we keep on seeing the innovative story telling on display, and the Eizouken can take us somewhere we've never been before. See you next week!

PS: The end-illustration this week was from Eureka Seven character designer Kenichi Yoshida. Neat!

The Easy Breezy Weekly Fan Newsletter Issue #1

This post is written by committee for the Easy Breezy Fan Club. We hope you enjoy!

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The new TV anime project from Masaaki Yuasa-san has finally arrived and it's as great as we'd hoped! Episode one was an exciting introduction to the characters, their motives and their interests. Here is an introduction and our thoughts on them:

• Midori Asakusa: Otaku-type. Specific interest in architecture, mechanical design and town planning. Small in stature and ego but highly passionate and eccentric about her interests. Kami-nihilist and mad scientist type.
• Sayaka Kanamori: Producer-type. Utilitarian minded with an eye for financial gain and project management. Awkward in stature but not timid, she has a hidden drive and disingenuous facade. Statistician and autist-wrangler type.
• Tsubame Mizusaki: Beauty-type. Upper class girl with a talent for human-form artistry. Attractive style and with a extroverted but open heart. Rebellious princess and repressed otaku type.

The OP is so catchy! I can't get it out of my head.

Tsubame-chan is my favourite. Her distinctive Yuasa-san style character design and ojou-sama archetype appeal to me a lot, she looks just like Yuasa-san's version of Miki-chan from Devilman! Midori-chan is the most relatable and as such acts as my main character, as I would guess was intended. However Kanamori-shi is the clear fan favourite! Her design is unique and striking, and as such allow for some fun poses. Her style is not my type, but I think she is a fun character that bounces off Midori very well. Her accent and verbal ticks feed into her moe appeal. All the voice actors are also refreshing, some voices you don't normally hear in anime.

The characters are all distinctive and have distinctive silhouetting, well done character designer Asano Naoyuki-san. With such talent on board I'm not even surprised the show is so good.

I want to join the Robot club! Cute zeon-type monoeye model in the background too.

My favourite part of the show so far is the setting design. The architectural design is dynamic yet consistent, fantastic but grounded. The juxtaposition of old and new architecture is usually an emergent phenomena in town design, with Japan's crowded cities and relaxed building restrictions being the perfect petri-dish for such seemingly bizarre hodgepodged constructions as shown in the show. It's Midori-chan's eye for such things and her ability to see the abnormal which intrigues me. Most people would think twice about the clock that cannot be seen for example. The city is built like a labyrinthine mansion, which is surely the best setting possible! I hope and trust we will see more intricate and clever setting design over the series.

We also got this nice end illustration from Aoki Toshinao-san of the girls in the style of his characters from (the excellent) Hisone & Maso-tan. Hopefully we get more art like this every episode.

Where will the story go from here? We here at the club are sure it must lead to the girls making their own anime, or so it seems. They will have to create a new school club (Eizouken) since Tsubame-chan cannot join the anime club, and with the girls working together as setting artist, character artist and producer we're sure it'll work out. They're just like Anno-san, Akai-san and Yamaga-san!

We here at the Easy Breezy Fan Club sure are excited to see what is coming up and will be sure to release issue #2 when the next episode comes out! Faito Yuasa-sama! Faito Eizouken!

Complementary Eyes in Koisuru Asteroid

The first episode of Koisuru Asteroid aired today, and the character designers at Dogakobo Studio are again showing their prowess. This time the animation is more subtle, with the emphasis being put on character action and colour design. In particular I noticed the eyes.

Images should be clicked to view in full.

Mira, right & Ao, left

First is the protagonist, Mira. Her genki enthusiasm for astronomy drives her character, she is a person driven by passion rather than analysis. Her love of stargazing is mostly aesthetic and her knowledge of the subject is small (for now), but the emotions she feels towards it are stronger than the more analytically inclined can muster. Her eyes are the most striking in the show, befitting of the main character. They depict the moment of the appearance of the first star over a sunset in a darkening sky, a moment of mystery and wonder. Immediately captivating but not complex, this is contrasted with her bashful counterpart, Ao.

Ao's eyes reflect a more subtle image. One of the deep-blue serene night sky and the possibility of a coming sunrise. Being complementary to Mira's colour-wise, her single highlight-cum-star is orange, possibly the final star of the night. The night sky is only truly visible when the sky has fully darkened, which her blue eyes depict. This more complex image is one of Ao's analytical mind and her vast knowledge base on the topic, one that Mira is sure to coax out of her.

Inose, left & Sakurai, right

Next are the two Geologists of the club, Inose and Sakurai. While their eyes are individually simplistic, together they form a married couple. Inose's are emerald with a maroon tint, while Sakurai's are inversed: maroon with an emerald tint. This is a beautiful little visual marker of the link between the two and their relationship as boke senpai and tsukkomi kouhai.

Other characters elicit less interest in their eyes, with more focus on colour as generic indicators of their types. The relaxed (ara ara) club president has relaxed, "boring" brown eyes, while the Tomoyo-esque over-protective best friend character has purple eyes; which in the world of anime often indicates a depraved insanity. But I would assume a suppressed version in this case.

The show really is something pretty to look at, and it's nice seeing Dogakobo keep building on their past works to become moe gods. The Dogakobo girl (and specifically eyes) will define the next few years's moe, taking the reins from the KyoAni girl of the previous decade.

Anime of the Decade: Preamble

Through extensive investigation of the psyche and intense discrete and statistical mathematics I have formulated my top 100 anime of the 2010s. While these are based entirely upon my own experience watching as as such pertain solely to myself, I think you'll find they are universally correct across the otaku egregore. This list is six months in the making and has gone through a dozen revisions to hone the nature of it however it is still incomplete, as I have not yet seen every anime from the decade and thus there may be some left out from this list undeservingly. I will have a list of anime I have not yet seen but I think may get on to the list at the bottom of this post.

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