I’m going to make a controversial statement here. I don’t think it’s wrong to make assumptions about people from their tastes. I do it all the time.
Let me clarify this statement. I do think it’s wrong, of course, to make negative assumptions about people just because of what they like. Threads like this make me feel very sad, even as I get a chuckle out of them. It’s not cool to be judgmental of others just because they disagree with you. In fact, calling someone’s taste “shit” in the first place is an incredibly presumptuous act – never mind what other personal insults you heap on top of that.
At the same time, I actually do think a person’s tastes says a lot about them, and I mean that in no negative sense. All sorts of factors ranging from cultural, social and even religious influences go into shaping one’s personal values, and these tend to reflect on one’s tastes in stories. I can’t speak for others, but when I look through other people’s anime lists, I tend to build up a picture of what they might be like, just from what anime they like and how they rate things. I guess it’s like judging people from how they dress or what their body language is like. You conjure up an immediate gut impression before the other person even opens their mouth.
Is making those sort of assumptions wrong from a moral standpoint?
I actually have no idea. If I am a bad person for doing so, then so be it. I can’t help but make an initial impression of other people based on various cues, and since interaction on the Internet is unnatural compared to real life, sometimes taste is all I have to go on. At the same time, I’m perfectly aware that taste should not be the only way of understanding another person and I’m under no illusions that my gut impression is always correct. In fact, I would argue the fun of getting to know people is having your assumptions challenged as you learn more about them. People always have a way of surprising you.
So, as a way of trying to answer the titular question of this post in an open-ended manner, I’ll walk you readers through the deductive process I use when I make my assumptions. With permission, I picked one of my MAL pals for a guinea pig for this experiment. Now you’ll all get to see what a bigoted pig I am as I cast my narrow-minded judgments, hurr hurr.
Draggle has watched a lot of anime. He also keeps a cool blog, which you should probably read. The first thing I did when I friended him was look at the five favourite anime he chose on the sidebar: Simoun, Haibane Renmei, Baccano!, Mouryou no Hako and Dennou Coil.
These are all seinen-oriented anime, which immediately suggested to me that Draggle is probably older than I am. (I personally tend to rate shonen anime very highly.) The second thing I noticed about Draggle’s favourite anime is that they show very strong internal thematic consistency and are driven by their setting and the ideas created from the setting. In short, they’re very intellectually engaging anime. For Draggle to like this kind of anime, I figured he must be a nerd. A literature enthusiast, perhaps? In my mind, he had to be someone with a university education, at the very least.
…But he must also be a nerd with a sense of fun, because why else would Baccano! be on his list of favourites? The thing with Baccano! is that there is a sense of intellectual engagement because the story is anachronological – so it is more than just mindless gore. At the same time, once you actually figure out the timeline, it turns out not to be that complicated after all, so Draggle probably likes Baccano! because of its strong sense of style and for being appreciable on multiple levels.
With that in mind, I turn to his actual list and try to figure out his personal rating system. His scores tend to cluster around the 6-7 range, with outliers. Considering that his favourites are considered “elitist” anime (I hate to use this term, though, it implies a kind of snobbery) he’s actually pretty lenient on anime that isn’t purely intellectual. For instance, he gave both Angel Beats! and Minami-ke a 9. My perception of Draggle as someone who doesn’t take himself or anime too seriously is strengthened.
The next thing I do is look up his ratings of popular and polarising anime. He gave Sword Art Online a 2. That means he’s a dickhead. I kid, what that really says is that he’s not the type of person to be taken in by hype. I observe that Guilty Crown is rated a meagre 3 and Cowboy Bebop has a surprisingly mediocre rating of 5. This latter score throws me for a bit, so I check out Samurai Champloo’s score. It’s a 6. Looks like Draggle and Shinichiro Watanabe don’t click, but he is capable of acknowledging objective merits. If Draggle were “just” a hipster, he would have rated these two anime much lower. It’s hard to tell this for certain from just a rating, though.
As for the anime which Draggle absolutely hates, we’ve got Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II, Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan (I got a good laugh from the title), Medaka Box Abnormal and Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, all of which were given a 1 by his rating system. It’s clear that (among other things) Draggle doesn’t like fanservice for the sake of fanservice. Well, that’s no big surprise. It also makes me wonder if he’s a feminist.
Final Thoughts
Okay, that should cover my thought process with enough detail. Hopefully, you could follow my logic there. Equally as hopefully, my assumptions about Draggle weren’t totally off-base and I didn’t step on anyone’s toes in writing this.
So, readers, if you’re curious what kind of person I think you are from your tastes, why not leave a comment with a short list of your favourite anime (between 5-10 titles would be ideal) and I’ll tell you what my assumptions are? Then you’d be able to see for yourself how right or wrong it is to make assumptions about people from their tastes. Even if I’m completely wrong, think of it as some kind of palm-reading exercise. It’s all just a bit of fun and part of my ongoing effort to get to know you readers a little better.
Alternatively, you could judge me from my tastes. I am no guardian of good taste, after all! I am simply me. Here’s a quick list of favourite anime:
Gundam Seed
Steins;Gate
Chihayafuru
Hunter x Hunter
Shinsekai Yori
Kuroko no Basuke
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Hikaru no Go
Hyouka
Code Geass
So what do you say? As long as you keep the discussion civil, learning about people from their tastes isn’t such a bad thing, right?
Frog-kun's Blog 
Not too bad. I probably am a bit older than you are. I am a nerd, like to read and do have a university education. You’re right, I just don’t like Shinichiro Watanabe. Not entirely sure why myself.
The only part you’re completely wrong about is that I have some feministic objections to fanservice. See my 9 for Isekai Seikishi Monogatari. I hate all those shows just because they’re terrible. :)
Drats! I’m wrong about you being feminist! I will now go hide my head in shame.
… I only watched Medaka Box out of the ones you hate and yeaaaah it was pretty bad.
This is a good topic. I personally have been a bit saddened to see how often some people will take something as harmless as “opinions on anime” so seriously that they will flat-out deride fans of the shows they happen to not enjoy. Criticism of an anime itself is one thing–you can even be merciless about it if that’s your style–but I don’t support the idea that you can malign and disrespect actual people just because they like a show you deem stupid. I’m glad that blogs (generally) tend to be civil in this regard, but needless name-calling seems to crop up constantly most everywhere else (forums, shoutboxes, Twitter). That said, there are some interesting debates regarding what constitutes “good taste” and whether or not a quality production is an entirely subjective matter. I’m ambivalent on the subject, perhaps because people’s interests vary so dramatically.
I think you did a good job analyzing Draggle’s anime list! (It reminds me that it’s been like half a year since I updated mine… which could probably use a ratings look-over for everything too.)
And judging by your favorite anime, it seems you like stories that involve competitions in some form (i.e. some clear shounen leanings, as you mention yourself), but there’s still a nice variety there. Certainly glad to see From the New World there; I kind of wish that was the anime that got the Attack on Titan-level hype. I’m looking forward to its English release, and hope the original novels may one day be translated.
Here’s a top 10 anime I can think of for myself: Pandora Hearts, Humanity Has Declined, Nichijou, Kino’s Journey, Mushishi, 5 Cm Per Second, From the New World, Ghost Hunt, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and Time of Eve.
… Are you a girl by any chance? Your favourite anime all seem to have a strong emotional slant, particularly Pandora Hearts, Ghost Hunt and Natsume, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if you were male since the list is fairly gender neutral.
I see you like variety, too (can’t think of much different than Nichijou and Kino’s Journey!). It seems you have a strong appreciation for art for its own sake. Are you by any chance a fan of poems and poetic prose? There’s certainly a sense of “poetic rightness” in many of the key scenes in your favourite anime.
That’s basically what I thought of off the top of my head. Personally, I tend to stay away from discussions of “objective taste” because I find myself more interested in individuals than in speaking for the crowd.
And you’re right, I do have a thing for competitions, maybe because I’ll always be a competitive person at heart no matter how much I try to deny it. Haha. And yeah, I do wish Shinsekai Yori could’ve caught on with the mainstream, but I do suppose it’s not for everyone.
Thanks for the well thought-out comment!
Great analysis! Yes, I really like stories with “heart” if you will. In the past few years I’ve found myself interested in how different mediums can present a story, and anime and manga are particularly experimental mediums IMO. I’m an amateur writer and majored in English; I appreciate classic literature and am familiar with genre and YA fiction. That said, I particularly enjoy stories that 1) manage to elicit a strong emotional reaction, 2) have topics, themes, or plots that provide a lot to think about, and 3) use their particular medium to their advantage in interesting and creative ways. (Looking at my favorites, I think most of my choices manage all three to varying degrees.) Luckily there’s such a variety of stories told in anime; just about every season there’s at least one show that really catches my interest.
Here’s what I see just looking at Draggle’s favorite 5:
– 2006, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2007. People’s favorite shows tend to clump in the years they began to heavily invest time into anime and cling to the most outstanding ones they saw in that period. I’d guess he dove into the hobby around ’07 or ’08.
– Most of those shows – Simoun, Haibane, Mouryou, Dennou – are not widely popular or even easily available in English in any official capacity. That means he’s follows the fansub circuit and likely watches new episodes weekly as they air. The fact that he even uses MAL to log his viewings lends credence to this hypothesis. He’s also really dug into the medium to find hidden gems, possibly seeking other educated opinions to discover these kinds of shows, though not necessarily engaging in sprawling discussion since these titles are quite niche.
– The content of these shows is as you’ve noted: unique, detailed settings providing rich intellectual and speculative content, and focus on complex, non-generic character dynamics. Even Baccano! was presented in non-chronological order to provide plot intrigue. In summary, a taste for refined artistry and high-concept in his foreign cartoons. The content also indicates his philosophies probably lean towards liberal humanism (general belief that humans are innately good and should value individual agency). It makes sense since many well-regarded literary critics are liberal humanists (e.g. Roger Ebert) and is a prerequisite of feminist thought.
Just from the 5 titles he’s enumerated above all else, I’ve guessed at when he started following anime, his consumption habits, and even a bit of his personal values. Obviously, reading his blog and following him on twitter allows us to better glean the quirks of his day-to-day personality better than a list with some arbitrarily assigned numbers can, but this exercise goes to show there is a wealth of information that can be learned if only one knows how to interpret it.
Thanks for writing up such a well-articulated and thoughtful comment! I didn’t consider the air dates of Draggle’s favourite anime too deeply but you’re right – people’s favourite anime tend to reflect the times when they get most heavily invested in the medium as a whole. That’s pretty true with me, too.
I feel like the kind of analysis opens up different ways of looking at people. People tend to leave a lot of hints about their personality in some of the smallest things they do. I wonder if Draggle himself knew about the liberal humanist slant of his favourite anime. It’s an angle I never considered at all.
I learned a lot from your comment, so thank you.
Crap, you know me better than I know myself! I actually did start watching anime in 2007 / 2008… although I don’t believe I actually watched any of those five shows in that time period except for Baccano, so perhaps this is a coincidence. Otherwise, spot on!
He watched Cowboy Bebop in Japanese. Thus he didn’t watch Cowboy Bebop (or Baccano or Hellsing or Black Lagoon).
Also u forgot to mention he likes anime where the dialogue (and sometimes voice acting) is absolute shite. King Gainer? Gunparade March? Anything by Type Moon? Deadman Fucking Wonderland (though the dialogue was the least of that one’s worries)? Quadruple puke!
Recently tried Shiki too and got annoyed by the slow pacing and the twist that everything was caused by vampires (really?). Top 5 wise, I dig everything except Simoun and I really only love Haibane and Baccano.
So yeah I don’t dig the stuff Draggle’s into.
I tried not to make subjective judgments about the quality of Draggle’s favourite anime with my analysis, though if I were to speak personally, I wouldn’t say our tastes are entirely compatible. I mean, I got kind of bored with Dennou Coil and I’ve had it on hold since forever.
The interesting thing comparing you and Draggle is that (from your list) you’re both into seinen anime, but you’re into less bookish things and you seem to dig titles with heavy Western influences, which leads me to suspect you had a strong background in Hollywood films and Americanisms in general before you got into anime. Perhaps you’re a bit of a movie buff? This also shows in your inclination to watch movies and OVAs over full-length TV series, I think. And you probably watch films much more than you read.
Eh, I just like to tease the guy. He can like whatever he wants. Besides, my taste differs from most people.
Anyways I’m planning a post later regarding my taste but while you are right on me being a movie guy and not a reading guy, honestly I didn’t get into movies until well after anime. Once I did though, most of my old favorites got the axe. My taste changed a lot after I started blogging as well b/c I dipped into more anime and realized there’s always more to watch.
And yes I don’t really like how anime these days have an interesting concept u could have told in a short time and stretch it out far longer than it should (yeah I disagree with u on the fact that we need more 2 cour stuff). One reason I love Bebop so much is that it only devotes a few episodes to the main plot and the rest is episodic. I think the Clannad movie is a thousand times more enjoyable than the Kyoani series because it’s forced to reinterpret the VN due to its length. Garden of Words is my favorite Shinkai movie b/c it kept the focus tight, although the message was kind of cliche. AND all of those don’t have to explain much on top of that. I like stories that leave u hanging whilst accomplishing something without overstaying its welcome and don’t have the patience to sit thru stuff like SSY or Penguindrum or Space Bros in the hopes that they’ll do something interesting.
But that’s just me. Most people like things explained to them and most of my favorite anime are long ones anyways, so I’m not automatically biased against them. But I don’t like the increased focus on padding content out in general. Which is probably why I’m not into books and prefer short stories. On the flipside though, I don’t like stuff that tries to cram in 12 different plots within a short timespan. Man did I dislike the F/SN movie.
OVVEEERMAN! OVVEEERMAN! KING GAAAIIINNNERRR!! Dude Overman King Gainer is a masterpiece just from the OP. Gunparade March is awesome, at least that episode where they walk through the snow. I actually hated Fate / Stay Night, Tsukihime, wasn’t a big fan of Fate / Zero, and haven’t even finished Kara no Kyoukai, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about there. Deadman Fucking Wonderland even I will admit I have terrible taste for enjoying.
I don’t dig most of the stuff you’re into either so it’s okay.
Oh gosh, interesting article haha! I’d like to see what you make of some of my favorites.
1. NANA
2.Death Note
3. Code Geass
4.Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
5.Gurren Lagann
6.Gankutsuou
7. Madoka Magica
8. Baccano!
9.HunterXHunter 2011
10.Chihayafuru S1
We have similar tastes!
Indeed we do have a lot of similar tastes! This makes me suspect we probably had a similar background when it comes to what titles we were introduced to and when.
I get the feeling that you might be pretty young. Most likely in your teens. You seem to have a strong inclination towards watching exaggerated action sequences with fist-pumping music because you rate Death Note, Code Geass and Gurren Lagann so highly.
The presence of Nana and Chihayafuru also tells me you have a sentimental side. Did you by any chance cry when certain characters died in Madoka? Or at what happened to Kamina in Gurren Lagann? There’s an undertone of tragedy in a lot of your favourites.
Thank you for the comment. I’m glad you found this post interesting!
You’re pretty accurate about my age! I’m in my late teens, but I watched anime since I was a kid, so many of these shows are actually up there due to them nostalgia feels! I’ve recently branched out to more serious, intellectual shows to ‘broaden my horizons’ with anime, and NANA was the first series I watched that really got me into Josei and Seinen anime and manga. And yes, I love bombastic shows that have lots of shock value, so maybe I’m just pretty shallow when it comes to watching anime I deem as ‘good’! Still, I think my tastes are still pretty undefined at this moment, I’m slowly warming up to shows like Mouryou No Hako and Infinite Ryvous too, so this list and my tastes are gonna undergo major changes once all my studying for college ends and I can go crazy with anime.
Great observations you made regarding Draggle’s taste in anime and all! I’ve followed his blog for ages, and I’m ashamed to say I don’t even make such observations!
I would like to be judged by my anime! :3 (Wow, sounds like I’m entering a contest :’D). These animes are in no particular order. I just know that out of the anime in my list, These ones stood out to me.
Baccano!
Full Metal Alchemist
Aria
Kuroko no Baske
Stellvia
Hyouka
Shin Sekai Yori
Hunter x Hunter
Magi
Lovely Complex
I’m not very good at “palm readings” for anime tastes because I think everyone is entitled to their own taste and can see some sort of merit in the anime they like otherwise, why would they like it? So as for what I can say about your list is that you’re pretty diverse. Even though most can be put under the Shonen (or similar), each of the animes are pretty different in their stories. i.e. Sakurasou, Kuroko no Baske, and Hyouka are more about slice of life yet other than that, they’re not similar at all (I mean, we have a Harem/RomCom, sports, and puzzle animes.)
Interesting post btw~! I laughed when Draggle said that mostly everything was correct except the feminist comment. (Is it really that bad to be considered feminist? :’D)
It’s not that I’m not a bit of a feminist, just that the shows I gave a 1 too have so many stronger reasons to hate them that that doesn’t even go into the calculation. :)
Aqua, I already know you too well, but from reading your palms – that is, your anime tastes – I would think that you have a SPLIT PERSONALITY and that we should all probably STAY AWAY FROM YOU. This is indicated through how you like Aria, Stellvia and Hyouka, which are very pleasant slice-of-life anime most of the time. But you also like Baccano! and Hunter x Hunter, which can only mean you have a very hidden violent side that you keep hidden underneath your plastic smile. I suggest therapy.
Jokes, your list tells me you have a very broad taste and that you probably do have two sides to you – a girly girl side and a tomboy side. That’s probably partly where you get your diverse appreciation from.
ALSO DRAGGLE IS A SEXIST PIG *dances*
As a whole, I think it’s silly to assume that a person have shit taste because they watch shows that someone else doesn’t necessarily like. Taste is very subjective, which is why I don’t judge them. As for me, probably people think that I’m a girl since I watch a lot of romanic comedies, magical girl shows, dramas and slice of life that has cute girls (just check the categories on my blog and you get what I’m talking about). I venture out once in a while, but it’s a good idea to have an open mind so that you won’t get bored watching the same things over again.
Overall, I don’t think there is a such thing as a bad or good taste… I think people are free to like whatever they enjoy watching as long they don’t berate people.
I actually did kind of think you were a girl until I saw your About page. Then I did a double take and screamed “It’s a Trap! It’s a Trap!” That had more to do with the pink fonts on your website than your actual tastes, though.
Agree with you on the matter of tastes. In fact, I’ve been trying not to tell people that I think they have good taste, even, because I’ve come to realise when people tell each other they have “good taste” it just means “same as mine” nine times out of ten.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/gedata
Judge my list
my favorites in no particular order:
FMA
Gankutsuou
Gungrave
Baccano!
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
I’m only going to judge you by your favourites because I don’t have the time to do everyone’s like Draggle’s, because Draggle is special~
First of all, your list makes me think you’re male. Gungrave, Baccano! and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are all very violent and appealing to the male aesthetics. More importantly, there’s a sense of offbeat storytelling in all of them, which indicates that you don’t appreciate sameness and stuff that I would call “dumb anime shit”. You watch anime for a bit of thrill.
The presence of Gankutsuou and Revolutionary Girl Utena also tells me that you also like stories with strong symbolism and intellectual engagement. My guess that you would be in your early-mid twenties.
turning 20 next month, you did a decent job
i want some palm reading too even though i find it a struggle to put fav anime together
no order because order sucks
anohana
sakurasou
code geass
darker than black
kuuchuu buranko
madoka
arakawa under the bridge
parakiss
kuragehime
hyouka
I know who you are and where you live, Yuuki.
The first thing that leaps out about your list is the split between slice of life / comedy and dark, abstract and very artistic storytelling. I think you must be a very artistic person and you probably paint, write or play a musical instrument in your free time.
There’s a strong emotional lean in all of your favourites. While each anime in and of themselves are gender neutral in their appeal, when put together, the overall picture is one that gives me the impression that you must be female with a taste for noir. I would think that you are in your late teens or early twenties.
….go away creepy stalker.
(you should take up anime palm reading as your side job, you’d be so rich!)
Gundam Seed: eww
Steins;Gate: doubleeww
Chihayafuru: tripleeww
Hunter x Hunter: eh, OK
Shinsekai Yori: megaformalisticeww
Kuroko no Basuke: eh?
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: ultraeww
Hikaru no Go: alright
Hyouka: zzzzz
Code Geass: depends
Based on our highly scientific eww-factor test, your tastes have been deemed unacceptable. Report to Facility 0053 for reprogramming.
I have very uneducated fanboy tastes when it comes to anime. Clearly, this means that I can only be a supreme idiot. The fact that I am an SAO fag means that I regularly go out and abuse people in forums and that in real life, I am just an impotent nerdling who only wishes he were as cool and awesomely sugoi as Kirito the Magnificent.
This also means WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS. Go back from whence you came, Landon!
Okay lets judge u on your faves:
Gundam Seed: Godawful
Steins;Gate: Decent
Chihayafuru: Awful
HxH: Decent
SSY: Zzzzzzzz
Kuroko: Never saw
Sakurasou: Megaawful
Hikaru no Go: Decent
Hyouka: Godawesome
Code Geass: Mixed bag
So yeah, a real mixed bag regarding your taste.
PS: Dammit. Landon beat me to this.
Read my comment to Landon.
But it’s okay, Mr. Flaw. You might hate my favourite anime but I don’t want you dead. Maybe just incapacitated and in a deathly coma, but certainly not dead! That way, you won’t be able to suffer!
kay I’ll try
Gundam Seed: Blaargh
Steins;Gate: Good
Chihayafuru: Decent
HxH: Good
SSY: Good
Sakurasou: Yuck
Hikaru no Go: Good
Hyouka:Good
Code Geass: Second season bombed
6.5/9= Good enough, no reprogramming required, but you should report to Facility 0053 for a touch up.
Heh, looks like Gundam Seed and Sakurasou are pretty contentious titles according to you lot. The former is easily explained if you note my fondness for shonen titles – Seed is pretty much a shonen but with giant robots and angsty teenagers, making it a very accessible mecha series to someone like me. As for Sakurasou, the GANBATTE theme is strong in that one, which is again a reflection of my idealistic shonen-loving heart.
Once you accept that I’m a little boy at heart, all of my choices actually make a lot of sense. Except for SSY. That’s the anomaly. But it’s also a recent addition, meaning that my tastes are starting to undergo a change. So who knows what I’ll end up liking in the future. This list will probably be moot in a couple of years.
Ohoho, this is interesting.
Here’s my Top 10:
1. Death Note
2. Steins;Gate
3. Puella Magi Madoka Magica
4. Code Geass
5. Mirai Nikki
6. Angel Beats!
7. Anohana
8. To Aru Kagaku No Railgun
9. Darker than Black
10. Elfen Lied
Good blog, by the way. :D
WHO’S THAT POKEMON???
So let’s see here. This is a very shonen-oriented list with mostly plot-driven “thriller” kind of stuff. Death Note, Code Geass, Mirai Nikki, Elfen Lied – I see you like your pulp fiction. All of these titles are targeted at teens (with the possible exception of Madoka), which makes it obvious to me that you’re a teenager.
I also think you might be a very emotional person, judging from how you like Angel Beats and Anohana, and this might reflect on your attitude in person. I think you might be the type of person who makes exaggerated comments in conversation with a tendency to blow things a little out of proportion. A lot of your favourite anime lean towards exaggeration in their action scenes and overall plots.
1. Shinsekai Yori
2. Hikaru no Go
3. Fullmetal Alchemist
4. Anohana
5. Gundam Seed
6. Kimi to Boku
7. Rurouni Kenshin
8. N-Naruto
9. Hyouka
10. Five Centimeters per Second
THIS WAS HARD
IF I THOUGHT ABOUT IT ANY MORE THAN I DID I WOULD STILL BE AT LIKE NUMBER FOUR
DKFGKFJGNDJKNKFDJGNDKGN
THERE ARE PROBABLY SO MANY SERIES I’VE FORGOTTEN BUT THIS IS IT RIGHT NOW AT THE MOMENT RAGH
What an interesting list you have here. There’s a clear dichotomy between the two genres you seem to like: there’s a lot of shonen here, but you also have a strong bent towards slice of life and/or philosophical anime. This suggests to me that you may have two sides to you – you have a very adventurous, boyish spirit at heart (most shonen fans do), but you also seem to have a quieter, more ponderous side.
It’s always been my personal opinion that no one can ever truly love a Makoto Shinkai film without being a poet at heart. 5cm Per Second is more a love poem than a love story, and there is also a strong sense of artistry in Hyouka and Shinsekai Yori. You’re young, I feel, but I also think you must read and think widely.
JUDGING YOU NOW~
We have some of the same shows on our lists, so I’m going to assume that you’re not too different from how I am. Even if you ARE an old fart (heh), you’re young and boyish on the inside, and I can see that mostly coming from Sakurasou and KuroBasu. You haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager. There’s a fondness, I think, you have for the artsy stuff too, like Hyouka and SSY. I recall there being a point when you would talk a lot about art when you were in the process of writing your Sakurasou fic, and I think that has a lot to do with it, too. THERE’S AN ARTIST SOMEWHERE INSIDE YOU, BRO.
For some of the shonen anime you have on your list, Code Geass and HxH and Gundam Seed- also KuroBasu – they’re all very action-y, and that suggests to me that you’re also very masculine. What that means, I’m not entirely sure but that was the word that came up. I’m not quite sure, but I think this also says something about you being competitive? You find enjoyment in a wide variety of genres, so you have many sides of you, methinks. You get excited about action and you appreciate stuff like Chihayafuru, where things are a little more about the emotion. You like da squishy feels. Yes you do.
OKAY I’M DONE I DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF PERSON YOU ARE YOU ARE A CONFUSING DORK AND I AM NOT GOOD AT ANALYSING THINGS
[…] Re: Is It Wrong To Make Assumptions About People From Their Tastes? […]
This is interesting! You’re going to be famous for this kind of things LOL. Anyway, I would also like to know what you think of me based on my tastes :)
– Natsume Yuujinchou
– Kimi to Boku
– Steins;Gate
– Hyouka
– Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
– Shinsekai Yori
– Code Geass
– AnoHana
– Chihayafuru
– Working!!
Heh. I hope you’re not yet tired of doing this thing over and over again. :)
Naw, I don’t get bored of this kind of thing. It’s fun for me too, seeing all sorts of people with all sorts of different tastes.
I think what your list says to me is that you’re into slice-of-life and fairly down-to-earth and relatable characters. Even Steins;Gate had a strong emphasis on day-to-day life in its first half. My impression is that you’re a very laid-back and easily appeased sort of person. It also shows in your sense of humour – you have Kimi to Boku and Working in your faves, which are extremely low-key by anime standards.
Code Geass is the only anime that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the list, being extremely over-the-top and fantastical. My guess is that it was probably one of the first anime you were introduced to and it stands out the most in its genre, which is why you still like it so much even today.
I don’t think it’s wrong to make assumptions about someone based on their tastes in media, such as in what video games or anime they like. As long as you don’t pass your assumptions off as fact right away, or make grandiose claims about what kind of person they are based just on that, I see nothing wrong with it. I draw the line when the hobbies they enjoy reflect something very immoral about them – for example, they like to kick puppies or bully children – then I can safely assume they’re assholes without needing to know them further =P
Interesting idea to see how you can assume things about someone based on their MAL list XD The most I’ve done is glanced at their favorite anime and characters, and thought things like, “Oh, they’re probably female because they like a lot of bishonen” or “They must be anti-moe because all their favorite anime and characters are from intellectually stimulating, plot-centered, non-otaku aimed anime.” I’ve never looked at someone’s whole MAL list and decided things about them based on how they rate things though. It sounds fun, so take a look at mine and see what you can assume XD I always thought my tastes were pretty diverse so it might be difficult: http://myanimelist.net/profile/Yumeka
Your tastes are indeed pretty diverse! I focused my attention on your absolute favourites, and even then, I was a little surprised to see someone who likes both Pokemon and Noir. The impression I got from that is that you are probably older than me, although I don’t know by how many years (I didn’t look at your biographical information). You either look back on Pokemon with nostalgia or you see it through an adult perspective and see the good messages for children in it. Perhaps it’s a bit of both?
As for the others… Wolf’s Rain and Angel Beats are both stories with tragic, melancholic undertones, while ultimately being hopeful. This makes me think you’re a very empathetic person and probably a good listener. I can also draw some similarities between Angel Beats and Haruhi Suzumiya. I think your sense of humour must be an affectionate one and probably something you only reveal among your close friends, since that was the kind of humour both series portrayed by making them very character-driven and focused on likable people.
I didn’t look at the rest of your list yet since I didn’t have the time, but I decided to add you as my friend :) Hope you accept my request.
Friend request accepted =)
Good insight – you’re right about me being older than you, being empathetic, a good listener, and about my sense of humor XD So yeah, right on there. As for Pokemon, I’ve simply been a hardcore fan of the franchise since the late 90s and have never stopped since. I’ve played all the games and watched all the anime episodes/movies that have come out over the years. So my listing the anime as one of my favorites is really listing the franchise in general as a favorite alongside anime in general.
1. Fullmetal Alchemist
2. Hyoka
3. Howl’s Moving Castle
4. 5 Centimeters Per Second
5. Spirited Away
6. Chihayafuru (YES I STARTED WATCHING DON’T SAY I DON’T LISTEN TO YOU GUYS)
7. …Slam Dunk
8. AnoHana
9. One Piece
10. …Cardcaptor Sakura *grumblegrumble*
Go. 8D
Very cute. A lot of your favourites seemed to be aimed at children and general audiences. Plus, there are two Ghibli films in your favourites. This tells me that you probably value nostalgia very highly and you’ve been liking the same things since you were a child. I can infer this from the fact that you like anime targeted at teenagers too – Anohana, Slam Dunk, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist – and there is nothing here aimed at mature audiences, so it’s hard to think you can be older than twenty.
I think you must also be a fan of art, literature and poetry. As I wrote in one of my other comments, I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to truly love a Makoto Shinkai film without having a poet’s soul, and 5cm Per Second is more a love poem than a love story. Hyouka and Chihayafuru are also very artistic and atmospheric shows that dealt heavily with classic literature and poetry respectively, so I think you must be a fan of literature too. Basically, I think you’re a young person, mid-to-late teens, and you’re a nerd.
Let me try:
1. Gundam SEED – Is this your first Gundam show? Is this your only Gundam show? I understand the popularity of SEED too well because it was my favorite for a few years. Unless you are baiting militant Gundam fans which I think you’re not, this is okay.
2. Steins;Gate – I never finished this, but it sounds like a good show with good use of time travel.
3. Chihayafuru – You like the competitive aspect of sports. Regardless of the sport, you like to watch people with varying approaches to it, and enjoy how they clash with each other.
4. Hunter x Hunter – You like fights that are settled by creative thinking and outwitting than brute force.
5. Shinsekai Yori – Um, the poster child for progressive science-fiction/fantasy?
6. Kuroko no Basuke – The only buzz I hear about this is from fujoshi. I am loathe to say anything.
7. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo – A show with a heart that crops up from time to time amidst infuriating light novel scenarios.
8. Hikaru no Go – COOL SPORTS
9. Hyouka – You like characters. Hyouka was never really about the mysteries.
10 . Code Geass – It was entertaining? And had something for everyone. I don’t know what this tells about you.
You have diverse tastes and aren’t unwilling to try new stuff. You like anime and are interested in learning more about it, and pushing the boundaries of your enjoyment.
Well, try mine. I should note that my ranking is really messed up.
Good insight! I’m actually thinking of kicking Gundam Seed off my absolute favourites since it’s mostly on there for nostalgia reasons, though I do still think it’s quite good as a gateway series and in no way am I ashamed of liking it.
As for your list, I see at once that they’re all science fiction and mecha series. You may like anime of other genres, but from just looking at your top faves, there’s a strong slant towards hardcore sci-fi over the softcore stuff. I generally think of people who are into hardcore mecha as being a little bit on the geeky side more often than not, and they tend to have specialised interests rather than considering themselves generalists.
With the exception of Eureka Seven, all your favourites are aimed at a seinen rather than a shonen audience, although E7 has plenty to offer to the seinen crowd, so I can only assume you’re older than me. Perhaps late twenties? (trying not to look at your biographical information.)
I was going to supplement my Top 5 with more but I got lazy. I also love City Hunter, Patlabor, Utena, Haruhi and Hidamari Sketch…
I have specialized interests but I’m branching out more and more, I’ve even gotten into yuri and magical girl shows! My six-years younger self would have said, eww. Course I’d give a lot to get more hard sci-fi, but I’ll be satisfied with what’s out today.
I’m 25.
This post is amazing! I’d like to be judged by my favorite anime! Here’s my MAL:
http://myanimelist.net/profile/kuroshin
I’m waiting to be told how much
shittymy anime tastes are.Thanks for the comment and the follow! And no, I don’t believe anyone’s taste in anime is shitty (except for mine ;D).
So, looks like you’re a comedy guy! School Rumble, FMP: Fumoffu! and Great Teacher Onizuka all made your list of favourites! These anime all have very strong elements in common, namely that they’re all character-driven. More than that, the comedy often focuses around a very charismatic lead character. Looks like you’re the type of person who is drawn to strong personalities and this may extend to real life as well. You’re probably the admiring type.
As for Neon Genesis Evangelion and Hunter x Hunter, they both have very strong deconstructing elements, so it looks like you could be the philosophical type. It’s actually hard to tell how old you could be just from your favourites, since you picked the kind of anime that can appeal to multiple demographics. It’s a pretty manly list, though, so I think you’re a guy. lol.
You’re right about me being a guy. People have a hard time guessing my age LOL.
Here’s my top 10 in no particular order:
Fate/Zero
Kino no Tabi
Mine Fujiko to iu Onna
Cardcaptor Sakura
Shinsekai Yori
Gurren Lagann
Chihayafuru
Black Lagoon (All of them)
Samurai Champloo
08th MS Team
As far as I can see by your favorites, you have variety in your favorites. I think that you like anime with great imagery as evidenced by Hikaru no Go, Hyouka & Chihayafuru. I think that you’re just starting in your mecha fandom, since CG & SEED are pretty recent titles as far as mecha is concerned. You like sports and slice of life anime as well.
As far as what your faves tell about you, it’s that you’re a person with wide tastes and you’re trying to expand your horizons in anime. You tend to be a thinker and philosophical at times, but for the most part, you’re a chill person.
I’m guessing that your ideal significant other would be the unique and expressive type? (This is just me guessing.)
How interesting! I love this sort of deduction exercise. Here are some of my favorites; I’m very curious to see what my tastes in anime seem to say about me!
Baccano!
Wolf’s Rain
Ouran High School Host Club
Death Note
Fullmetal Alchemist
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Durarara!!
Howl’s Moving Castle
Dennou Coil
Ergo Proxy
Sorry for the late reply! Thank you for the comment – it’s always a pleasure to come across someone new.
Now, it looks to me that you have quite mainstream tastes that cover a pretty wide variety of genres. The first thing I wonder is – how much anime do you watch? While there are titles like Ergo Proxy, Baccano and Dennou Coil which make me think you’re probably an older viewer, I also get the feeling that you’re not hardcore about anime as a medium. This doesn’t mean you’re not discerning, it just means your tastes are probably spread out across a range of different media.
I also get the feeling you’re a generalist, since anime like Ouran High School Host Club and Gurren Lagann are very representative of their genres and appeal to fans who don’t necessarily like shojo or mecha. Are you a multitasker, someone who finds it difficult to stay in the same spot all the time? Perhaps you find it difficult to just focus on one thing at a time.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my list and respond!
You’re pretty astute. I was a very hardcore anime viewer several years back, but have not been able to stay up to date with most of the newer titles due to life changes (ie: a job that has 10+ hour work days, etc.) I’m also not very into shojo or mecha, as you stated, though I can enjoy it when used properly within a good story. I did have a mecha phase that I went through a while back, but it didn’t last terribly long. I guess robots just aren’t my thing?
My main focus is always on the overarching plot and character motivation. While I may enjoy watching anime that is more slice of life or easygoing, most of those titles will not reach my top 10 if only because there is often a lack of a sense of purpose or journey from beginning to end. I like anime where the characters achieve some meaningful goal by the end or experience a lot of character development. (I’m a sucker for travel epics… oh, Wolf’s Rain, why must you end after only one season?)
Yes, I do tend to like some mainstream anime, but most of them weren’t mainstream when I was first interested in them (not intending to sound hipster, by any means.) I remember reading the manga for several of them when it was coming out chapter by chapter in Japan, then enjoying the anime that followed.
I’ve noticed that most of my favorite anime are in a realism setting but with fantasy or supernatural elements. While I’ve watched a lot of high fantasy, I just prefer hybrid fantasy/realism.
I am also very picky when it comes to art styles. I will watch most anything, but the ones that stick with me tend to be less cutesy… part of why I’m not terribly fond of shojo. Ouran tends to be the exception to that rule, but even the flowers and sparkles get to me in that one sometimes. I don’t mind vivid color and fantasy, but I want it to have an artistic purpose–not to just be kawaii for no other reason.
TLDR? I’ve watched a ton (many thousands of hours) of old anime, not much new. I just have a knack for liking popular stuff… or maybe lots of people just like what I like?
(I am a girl, BTW… not sure how obvious that was in my previous post. I’m a bit of a tomboy.)
The funniest thing is that this whole time reading your comment I was thinking about you, “HE said this, HE said that, blah blah blah” and then suddenly it turns out you’re a girl. My assumption was totally wrong! I was also wrong about how much anime I thought you’d watched, too. That’s really interesting, isn’t it?
You do have pretty tomboyish tastes. The anime you picked have pretty large female as well as male fanbases, but most of them besides Ouran are mostly male-oriented. And even Ouran has its fair share of male fans.
Thanks for telling me all that about yourself. It was pretty interesting hearing all that about you.
Some palm-reading for you :). Don’t mind me being all wrong.
With Kuroko, Chihaya and Hikaru on the list, it is obvious you have a thing for sports anime. It might be you play some sport yourself, but I’d rather wager you enjoy the kind of story where an underdog makes his way to the top through sheer effort. This shows an attachment to idealistic thought. However, your inclusion of Sakurasou suggests that life has already shown you hints that effort does not necessitate success. From this, and the high adrenaline levels of most of the shows on your list, I’d guess you are young – past high school, but not yet settled with a clear career path in front of you. Twenty, give or take a year or two.
With Code Geass, we see you value entertainment for entertainment’s sake. With Steins;Gate, we see that you can turn a blind eye to the weaknesses of a show if you feel the strengths make up for it. Both of those shows suggest you do not demand artistry or high concepts from your shows, but the inclusion of Chihaya, Hyouka and Shinsekai implies you can appreciate those things when they are present. All of this gives the image of a fan who does not keep to a few select genres, but is instead able to find something worthwhile in anything he watches.
As all the shows represent high art/animation standards in their own ways, I’d also say you have a thing for beauty in general.
You can do some palm-reading for me when you have the time. A quick list:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
Kanon (2006)
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Hourou Musuko
Chihayafuru
To aru Kagaku no Railgun
Girls und Panzer
Katanagatari
Saki
Denpa-teki na Kanojo
Wow, I’ve never seen anyone perform such an accurate reading of me. You’re right – I am young and only recently out of high school. I am nineteen years old. The other things you said were spot-on too.
As for your tastes, the first thing I noticed was a strong leaning towards mostly female casts: There’s a mix of genres here, but I see you have an inclination towards cute girls doing cute things – as long as they have an overarching goal and something they want to achieve. Railgun, Panzer and Saki all fall into this category. This tells me you like to watch anime to be relaxed, but you also want there to be “meaning” in the story. I think you’re the type of person who reads things for personal development and you try to take as much away as you can from even small, insignificant details. I also think you’re not concerned with measures of “objective” quality and you believe that it’s what you put into your investment that ultimately determines what you get out of it.
I also think you’re drawn to pretty art and character designs. Your favourite anime show a lot of visual artistry. I think you could be into drawing too, but I’m not too sure about that. Perhaps you’re fond of doodling your favourite characters.
[…] details they sometimes note down on their About pages or on their MALs, for instance. Secondly, it is possible to discern the worldview and maturity levels of people through their tastes (according to me). In any given season, compare the results of the APR rankings to what scores […]
Am I too late to get my personality tested, froggykun-sensei? :P
Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:
Hyouka (obvious from my avatar)
Chihayafuru 1+2
Millenium Actress
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Space Brothers (does it count although it’s still airing?)
Baccano!
Durarara!!
The Tatami Galaxy
The Garden of Words
Shinsekai Yori
Paradise Kiss
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
Kids on the Slope
From up on Poppy Hill
Let’s see if this list mirrors my personality. I can already tell it does :P
It’s never too late to get your palms read!
From the looks of it, many of your favourite anime are ones that have come out very recently. It’s a rather disproportionate number, actually: 8 out of 15 titles you selected got a general subbed release in 2012-13. This makes me think you’ve only got into anime very recently and a lot of what you’re watching is having a very strong impact on you currently. You’ve picked a lot of the intellectual and emotionally engaging anime on a rather subtle level. I think you might be a very impressionable person and that you tend to absorb details very easily, as well as be engaged by a lot of things you encounter in day-to-day life. I also think you might be a very precocious person, emotionally as well as academically.
I also think you watch anime more for the characters than for the plot. This shows even in the action-centric titles you picked, such as Baccano and Durarara, both of which are extremely character-driven. I think you probably engage in people-watching as a hobby and that you like having conversations with others.
[…] to have discerning or liberal tastes is moot to begin with. I get a lot of fulfillment out of appreciating other peoples’ tastes, so my guess is that no single approach is superior to the other. I also don’t think we need […]
Oooh I’d love to have my palm read!
Favourite anime (no particualr order):
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Shinsekai Yori
Kara no Kyoukai
Steins;Gate
Welcome to the NHK
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Code Geass
Kokoro Connect
Angel Beats!
Carnival Phantasm… erm not sure if that one should be there but it was hell funny so whatever.
Cheers :-)
Looks like you’ve got a taste for the dark side! All of your favourite anime, excluding Carnival Phantasm, feature tragedy as either a forefront or a driving factor behind the events of the story. This tells me two things: 1) you have a morbid sense of humour and you probably find yourself laughing your ass off at things other people don’t get (do your friends ever tell you jokingly that you’re so weird?) and 2) behind that sense of humour, you’re probably a very deeply sensitive person who is moved by sentimentality and tragedy.
Another observation I’ve made is that all your favourite anime, barring NHK, Eva and Code Geass, were made within the last three years. You’re probably fairly new to the anime scene.
You know, I never really noticed that all my favourite animes were on dark side. I think that’s funny as I would describe myself as a happy and satisfied person, but I like gloomy anime.. go figure :-). I’m not sure about the morbid sense of humor, but I will do some self-observation. Maybe I am sensitive or maybe not. I never cry while watching anime. Not even ones like Clannad After Story, I just feel sad. Is that odd?
Haha you’re right I actually started watching pretty much dead on three years ago. Spot on froggykun!
You don’t happen to work as a psychologist by any chance? :-P
It’s actually fairly common for happy and self-satisfied people to like dark and morbid stuff – it fills a niche that is not in their own lives. Now I don’t think your sense of humour is merely morbid and the truth is probably that you laugh at a lot of things. It’s just that you have an ability to laugh at the dark side of life, and this shows in how you like Angel Beats and NHK.
It’s also not odd not to feel like crying at anime that are sad because everyone has a different way of responding to emotional stimuli.
Anyway, I’m not a psychologist, just an anime fan who likes watching people too :)
Well that was very interesting thanks for taking the time to reply. I’ll be watching your blog :-)
I don’t think you are making an assumption, but an educated guess. Then again, one’s tastes in anything can be very contrary to what a person actually is. Anyway, I’m new to the anime scene (in terms of being a serious hobby) and would like to have you make an educated guess on me. My favourite TV anime in no particular order are:
Aikatsu! (This is the most favourite, though)
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
Danball Senki Wars
Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live
Cardfight!! Vanguard: Link Joker Hen
Servant X Service
Accel World
Senyuu.
Cross Fight B-Daman
Btooom!
Kin-iro Mosaic
Fantasista Doll
Senyuu. 2
Cross Fight B-Daman eS
Ixion Saga DT
As a side note, I like anything by Makoto Shinkai as well. I might follow your blog if I get a good (but not necessarily accurate) answer. After all, you said that “In fact, calling someone’s taste “shit” in the first place is an incredibly presumptuous act – never mind what other personal insults you heap on top of that.”.
You’ll follow my blog only if I give you a good answer? Looks like the pressure’s on!
I don’t think your tastes suck. What I do think is that your tastes, at this moment in time, are not very solidified. You told me that you have not been watching anime very long – this shows in how about half of them are still airing shows, with some only having had one or two episodes released so far. You probably haven’t yet worked out if there’s a particular genre or stylistic element in anime that appeals to you specifically. But you are very willing to try new things and give them a shot. The fact that all your favourites are splashed around different genres and tonal styles tells me this at least.
You like anything by Makoto Shinkai too? Interesting. He uses somewhat unconventional storytelling techniques and focuses heavily on the artistry in his work. My guess is that you’re very fascinated by the capabilities of anime because it’s different from a lot of other mediums. The shows you like already are ones that are conventional by anime standards but certainly unconventional by every other standard. I think you like novelty and spectacle and you’re drawn to potential over narrative completeness. I think you’re a “thinking” kind of person who is drawn to theoretics over pure practicality.
That’s all I’ve got for now. And you’re right – I am making educated guesses more than assumptions, but I suppose guesses, no matter how educated they are, are drawn from intuition and assumption.
That’s quite a spot on. Bookmarked and followed your blog.
I don’t think that my tastes will be solidified because I believe that nothing is because just because of the genre, thus willing to watch shows across genres. For some reason, I find immature shows are more enjoyable than mature shows. The list above is based on enjoyability. However, in terms of overall (high) quality, the TV anime list would be (again, not in particular order):
Psycho-pass (Despite having it on hold half-way due to time issues back then and can’t pick up even now.)
Suisei no Gargantia
Aikatsu!
Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live
Kakumeiki Valvrave
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
Cardfight!! Vanguard
Zettai Bouei Leviathan
Accel World
Danball Senki Wars
I am indeed fascinated by the capabilities of anime primarily because of its high diversity factor without actually sacrificing quality on any front, be it story, plot, characters or music. Makoto Shinkai’s movies always leave me think deeply even long after finishing them. My first anime that forms my current hobby was actually Engage Planet: Kissdum, which I was watching back in late 2011 and it made me get over with my bad life back then. Ironically, the anime that cements/solidifies watching them as a serious hobby is Aikatsu!, off all things, primarily because despite being marketed for little girls, its execution is on par with other maturer shows airing on the same time, leaving me wonder if this unusual development will be true in the future. So far, Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live and Danball Senki Wars have proven to me that I am correct.
I don’t think my current anime taste’s is conventional by anime standards because most of my favourite anime in the above list tends to be (but not always) thrashed by most anime bloggers, but I do see your point in a sense that I am not alone in my current tastes. I do admit that it is unconventional by other standards, though, Most adults (I’m 24 and male) won’t enjoy the anime on the above list at the same level as me.
I don’t get the “you’re drawn to potential over narrative completeness” bit. in a way, the anime on above list have higher potential in that how they will develop would be a complete mystery in the beginning and would only be clear after a significant amount of episodes. In terms of potential based on premise, however, they would be very limited by their initial premises instead of capable to shift out from them (Suisei no Gargantia is a good example). Also, what do you mean by narrative completeness?
You said that I’m “a “thinking” kind of person who is drawn to theoretics over pure practicality”. This is indeed a significant trait of mine, but I am interested on how you draw this conclusion. I bet that me liking Makoto Shinkai’s work has something to do with it.
Took me a long time to think and write this reply. I think I’ll be reading this blog for a long time.
I see you have a few questions, so I’ll clarify some of the stuff I said.
First off, when I described the anime you liked as “conventional for anime” I meant not in the sense that they are popular, just that they’re all from very densely saturated genres within anime. Aikatsu is an idol show, Vanguard is a card game show – they don’t attempt to break the mold of their genres, so they’re very much genre pieces.
By “narrative completeness” I mean something very simple: does the story have a clear beginning, middle and end? Does its ending have relevance to its key ideas? I guessed that you don’t necessarily prize this quality first and foremost in your anime because you picked anime that are still airing, for a start. They’re your favourite shows because of what you’d already seen and enjoyed, not because of how well their ideas tie together when viewed as a whole. The fact that you would count Psycho-Pass among your favourites despite not even having finished it is further indicative of this.
As for you being a “thinking” person, I came to that conclusion mostly because, while intellectually stimulating, many of your favourite anime are quite idealistic and don’t reflect reality. Take Aikatsu, for instance. On one hand, it’s quite down-to-earth and takes a slow-building approach to becoming an idol – on the other hand it’s quite fanciful through the use of its card and school system and in the nature of the characters themselves.
And yes, liking Makoto Shinkai does have a bit to do with it too. His works are, again, very much larger than life, concerned with spinning out a “what-if?” kind of story despite ostensibly grounding themselves in reality. You can see this in his nostalgic and thought-provoking yet ultimately idealised portrayal of love, a common theme across all his works.
From this I assumed you like to think about “what-if” situations a lot that are easy to imagine because they are close to reality but not quite, which is what stimulates the imagination. This is a prevalent theme in Accel World as well.
Thank you for following and reading my blog! Hope you enjoy the stay here. Be warned, I’m a huge dork about what I write and I cover the most inane of topics :)
Wow – this really took off! Let’s see if I can jump on the bandwagon here (although you might already be biased haha). So in no particular order, here’s a smattering of my favorites:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Kino’s Journey
Hyouka
Sakurasou
Death Note
TTGL
AnoHana
Millennium Actress
FLCL
5cm/s
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Bakemonogatari
Yep, your tastes really are a lot like mine, except exchange my shonen bias for your artsy seinen bias. As such, a lot of the stuff I’m going to say here applies very much to myself as well.
I think you’re an idealist. I don’t think it’s possible to love shows like Sakurasou, TTGL and Anohana and to not be an idealist. The fact that you also like very intellectually engaging and artsy shows at the same time like Kino’s Journey and Millennium Actress tells me you’re an intellectual as well – or at least a big nerd. So the two things together tell me you’re of college age: young enough to dream and old enough to be aware of the “real world” and to appreciate it for what it is.
There’s also a strong literary vibe among your favourites: Hyouka, 5cm/s, Bakemonogatari. They tell me that you read widely and that, deep down, you’re a rather sensitive and emotionally receptive person. But I think you like anime for the sense of adrenaline you get from it, too, which explains Death Note, FMA and TTGL. They’re masculine tastes, albeit with a strong slant towards right-brained thinking. Suggests you’re good at both English and Mathematics at the same time. (if that’s right, then you’re a lucky bastard)
You really should get a job doing this! You put Professor Trelawny to shame easy.
Artsy seinen is exactly it. I find that I tend to love artsy everything, which probably is tied to my idealism (which is definitely true). I love seeing a medium really explored and pushed to the limits in all directions, although that isn’t itself enough to make me like something. Plus ideals are a beautiful thing, aren’t they?
Right on with the literary stuff. The emotional side would also tend to be pretty accurate, except that I’m one of the only people I (and many other people) have ever met who wears his emotions “on his chest” per say. I’ve been told by multiple sources I make people uncomfortable because I’m so forthright about how I feel about things/people.
All in all though, you’re dead on the mark with that last point – I DO watch anime for the emotions I get from them. I want to experience THAT moment – that thrill of excitement and emotion – when I watch a show. I actually frequently rewatch scenes in order to experience it over again (I do this regularly to the last three shows lol, so good catch).
As for me being good at English and Math…well, I’d like to think I’m good at both of them (within limits), but I can definitely say I at least love both of them (exchanging Math for Applied Math and Physics; actual Math is another beast lol).
Ooh my turn! Again in no particular order haha.
Chrno Crusade
Blood+
Kemono no Souja Erin
Pretear
Romeo x Juliet
Ayashi no Ceres
xxxHolic
Death Note
Fate/Zero
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Couple of trends I noticed here:
You’re a romantic. Many of your favourite anime have strong romantic themes at the heart of them. But you prefer romance with a darker theme and atmosphere over the fluffy stuff. You seek substance and, ultimately, meaning in the relationships that you observe. This suggests to me that you’re mostly a level-headed person, the type who thinks with your brain rather than with your heart – despite most of these series being on the sentimental side. (especially Ceres lol)
There’s also a strong slant towards fantasy in general. I think you like being engaged in another world, especially ones that give you perspective on your own. Fate/Zero and xxxHolic, while in the fantasy genre, weren’t taken over by their world-building elements and instead dealt with human stories. It’s the blend of the “truth” and the “fiction” that draws you to storytelling. You like to think that there is meaning in everything that you observe. You’re a rationalist. You probably overthink stuff too while you’re at it.
Wow, that’s pretty spot on. My preferences in terms of romance are undoubtedly geared toward the darker side of the spectrum with more serious, substantial relationships. Also, I would definitely say that I’m an “overthinking” rationalist who sees meaning in everything (I was great at finding imaginary symbolism in Lit class haha).
I’m very curious what you’ll deduce (if you have the time):
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/veeaboo&show=0&order=4
You haven’t appeared to have watched very much anime and most of them appear to be from this year and last year. This makes me think you only got into anime last year or so, and you’ve really picked up the amount that you watched during the spring season this year.
In spite of the relatively small amount of anime you watch, you rate critically. This makes me think you have a background in critiquing art, film and literature in general before coming to anime. Your favourite anime (especially TTGL, Madoka and NHK) are critically acclaimed works. I think you’re in your twenties or older, educated, and very interested in the capabilities of anime as a medium.
Also, the fact that you like Idolm@ster and Chuunibyou tells me you find aspects of the Japanese culture exotic and therefore interesting. I can see from how you’ve rated AKB0048, Love Live and Tamako Market that you don’t necessarily like idols and moe in general when it comes to how they work in stories, but Japanese-ness fascinates you.
You seem to be pretty good at this. I’m interested in what you would think of my list.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/loozer&show=0&order=4
Also, a spreadsheet of the current season(this was created earlier for other purposes)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApoVpSRbOP6idDVGbUYzdTdNMjY3Rk9aNnVJSzNvWmc&usp=sharing
First thing that popped to mind: you like the unconventional. You don’t seem to like an anime just because everyone else says it’s good – you like it when it takes risks. Bakemonogatari, Penguindrum and Jinrui all fall squarely into this, but your other favourites show signs of wacky storytelling at times.
I’d say from this you’re not one of the “follow the crowd” sort of people. I think you’re an introvert (not necessarily a loner) and that you like to think things through privately and come to your own conclusions. You probably read books and you also probably engage in some kind of artistic medium (drawing, music, writing, etc.) Despite your introversion, having shows like Angel Beats and Idolmaster in your favourites tells me you like the kind of humour that revolves around close familiarity between the characters. It tells me you might have a snarky “in-joke” sort of humour which you don’t tend to show around people who aren’t that close to you in person.
I also looked at your profile and saw what your so-called “favorite anime” were and I got a good laugh out of that :)
I put tag descriptions on my MAL profile, which would spoil everything, so I can’t really link that and expect a fair answer. But I would like to see what you can garner from my list of favorites.
Baccano!
Cowboy Bebop
Crest of the Stars
Whisper of the Heart
Gankutsuou
Hourou Musuko
Katanagatari
Millennium Actress
Mushishi
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku-Hen
Sakamichi no Apollon
Shinsekai Yori
The Tatami Galaxy
Xam’d: Lost Memories
SO DEEP, MAN.
Looks like you’re an ideas and themes person. There’s a lot of stylistic variety among your favourites but they’re all consistently built around a specific theme. They’re all trying to express something. I think you watch anime the same way you read books. It’s not the genre or any particular element of a story that captures you – it’s the overall impression and “atmosphere” that appeals to your imagination.
You’re an academic. I can’t narrow down exactly what you study, but you seem to be used to looking for grey areas. My guess is you’re into something like law or humanities over sciences. I also don’t know if you’re still studying or if you’ve already graduated – but I think in one way or another, a university education or something very much like it has shaped you as an intellectual.
Also, because your favourite anime are those that don’t tend to have much of an interactive fandom, I’d say your primary engagement with it is through discussion and analysis. I don’t think you’re too into fan stuff and simulacra. No dakimakuras in your bedroom?
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Ugoki&show=0&order=4
Alright, hit me with your best shot.
I’m not sure if your list is comprehensive enough for me to do a full analysis (is it up-to-date with everything you’ve seen?) but I’ll do my best.
From your favourites, seems like your preferred genre is fantasy, with a lean towards high fantasy over low fantasy. A couple of the titles were actually really obscure, too, which I think tells me you’re probably the thorough type who digs to find what you want. The fact that you’ve rated down Red Data Girl and Arata Kangatari, both fantasies that are more appealing to girls, makes me think you’re male and, in person, probably a methodical person. You also have a strong imagination, though, that leads you to embrace high fantasy as an outlet. You like worldbuilding and interesting settings. You like looking at things from the ground up. You think questions like “How did it all come to be?” or “What thought went into this?” and sometimes to you that’s more interesting than what happens in the story. You watch anime to get immersed.
Oh, and your ratings: You don’t seem to rate very critically (not a bad thing!) I get the feeling you must like all the anime you watch and that you don’t worry so much about standards. You just tune in and watch. I think anime is something you relax to.
“Arata Kangatari, both fantasies that are more appealing to girls”
Well, it’s shonen (fighting and all that), but with fanservice for both sexes (has bishonens and bishoujos). I don’t blame you though. The anime is pretty much just a stepping stone for people to notice the manga.
But other than that, I’d say it’s pretty accurate.
And I just realized I forgot to enter all the Ghibli movies. Damn.
Hi! I would like to see what my favourites say about me too! Btw, is it okay if some of the series i list are more from my experiences with it from the VN or manga instead of the anime?
In no order of preference:
Sword Art Online
Gundam Seed
Clannad (The VN is so sosososo much better seriously)
Kuroko no Basuke
Shakugan no Shana
The world god only knows (Manga)
Accel World
Marchen Awakens Romance
Toradora
Boku wa tomdachi ga sukunai
I’m actually more of a manga person though haha.
The fact that you’re more into VN and manga than anime itself tells me quite a lot in itself. Looks to me that you’re a purist and you like seeing a franchise in its original form rather than in adaptation. Since you seem to be more into reading things than watching than play out onscreen, I’d say that you like to control your own pace and you probably reread a lot of the stuff you like and linger on the pages of key scenes.
All the stories that you like are very imaginative, especially with the concepts. Accel World, Shana, Clannad… the genres might all be different but what’s interesting is that all your favourites leave room for the viewer to extrapolate and speculate further. I think you’re the kind of person who likes to think up your own stories in your head. Whether you actually write yourself is unclear, though.
Finally, your favourite anime are all very teen-oriented and are generally character-driven, so I think you’re a teenager and that you’re the type of person who gets highly attached to a favourite character.
Wow you’re good. My friends often tell me not to set such high expectations when I watch the adaptations, and it seems I really do pick alot on the pace that the story develops. Often, I feel the characters in the adaptations are lacking, especially in the emotional aspect. Other than not writing my own stories, u pretty much described me there.
You would do really well in a job like this. Btw are u studying linguistics? Going into discourse analysis?
I am studying linguistics, yes. Did I mention that somewhere on the blog? :) As for what particular field I’d want to get into, I haven’t really decided yet – I’m still an undergraduate, you see.
And thank you for the compliments. They made my day.
You’re welcomed! I’m studying linguistics too but Idk why I just suck at it. Can’t grasp the concepts for some reason. Oh well, it’s still a rather interesting subject. Good luck with your studies!
[…] always been of the opinion that one’s taste in anime says a lot about you as a person, but I think an equally convincing case could be made about one’s viewing habits in general. […]
Hi there!
Is it to late for you to see my list too?
Sorry for sending it so many months later, I’ve just recently met the blog and I’m curious :P
I still haven’t seen a lot of your posts, but the ones I’ve already seen it I really liked it! I really liked your stuff! I shall follow your next posts. Anyway…
I don’t really like the whole “favorite list” thing. I like a lot of animes but I don’t like putting one on top of another. I like them individuality and I consider the ones I really enjoy to be on somewhat same level. But there is one that I consider it to be my favorite of all, probably because it was the one I watched the most when I was a kid and kinda influenced to my growth as a person (though it was not the only one that influenced me). And there are some animes that I like a lot, but I don’t really see me loving them so much to be able to put them on a favorite list, so there might have some animes that I really like that didn’t make it to the list.
Regardless of that, I made up a list here which is the following:
Rurouni Kenshin (Anime & Manga)
Yu Yu Hakusho
Dragon Ball Z
Digimon Adventure/Tamers
Hunter x Hunter/2011/Manga
Death Note
Angel Beats
Amagami SS
Kimi ni Todoke
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni/Kai (I want to play the games)
Corpse Party (Games)
Kami Nomi Zo Shiru Sekai (Manga)
Elfen Lied (Manga)
Hellsing (OVA/Manga)
There are no order of preference in there, I like them all a lot .Being Rurouni Kenshin the one I considered to be my favorite of all, before posting this list my favorite list wasn’t exactly a list, it was just Rurouni Kenshin and the others ones were just animes that I really like and love.
I’m curious to see your deduction, of course if that is possible to happen and if you have time to check it out.
Thank you very much!
Never too late to have your tastes checked!
So… looks like your taste is very “mainstream”. And by this, I mean you like very popular franchises that span across multiple mediums. I take this to mean you’re the kind of fan who gets really into each series and who probably only concentrates on watching one anime at a time.
You are probably the type of person who gets very immersed by fictional worlds or who gets very attached to characters/shipping. I figured this because you like long series that often have multiple seasons/spinoffs. Rather than considering yourself a buff who knows a lot about a lot of different anime, you specialise in your favourite series. You don’t like comparing one series with another because the genres are often very different. If an anime doesn’t “click” straight away with you, you probably simply don’t bother with it. You follow your instinct.
Wow you’re pretty good!
That’s right I like watching only one anime at a time and watch everything of it. I really immerse on fictional worlds but not only on animes/manga also on games and some movies. And yes I REALLY get attached to characters. There are some series that I thought they were bad but because of a character or two I’ve manage to watch it entirely.
Congratulations man, you got it all right!
Hello! I’m not sure if you’re still doing the palm-reading, but crossing my fingers!
In no particular order:
Hunter x Hunter
Shingeki no Kyojin
Evangelion (anime and Rebuild films)
Madoka Magica
Loveless
Card Captor Sakura
Wild Adapter
No.6
Shinsekai Yori
Spirited Away
Berserk
I get the feeling you like darkness and suffering in stories, judging from the fact you like Shingeki no Kyojin, Evangelion and Madoka. I think you like stories that are cathartic or it feels as if there is a strong meaning behind everything that happens.
The series that don’t seem to fit this trend as much are Card Captor Sakura and Spirited Away. Did you happen to watch these series when you were young, and so you attach a sense of childlike nostalgia to them?
Overall, I think you’re an introverted, reflective person, but you’re also calm and generally satisfied with what you have around you. The empathy you probably feel watching the anime you like extends to how you see others in real life. And this is why you like anime to feel “real” to you in some way.
Hi there. Relatively new to your blog. I must say I have enjoyed some of contents I’ve read so far. Interesting perceptive editorials. Keep up the good work. I hope I’m not too late to join the bandwagon. :)
Here’s my top favorites in no particular order:
Code Geass
Fate/Zero
Fruits Basket
Ano Hana
Mawaru Penguindrum
Honey and Clover
Howl’s Moving Castle
Rurouni Kenshin : Tsuiokuhen
Hunter x Hunter
Welcome to the blog! Hope you enjoy your stay here and glad you liked my editorials.
As for your tastes… I think you’re a girl, due to your choices having a very heavy emotional appeal (Fruits Basket, Anohana, Honey and Clover). The shonen anime that you’ve picked are also driven by relationships (Tsuikuhen, Hunter x Hunter). Nevertheless, I also believe that you consider yourself a tomboy and that you aren’t fazed by blood and gore.
If I would guess your age, I would think you’re older than 18. Early twenties would be my guess. The anime you picked are particularly appealing for college students because they are intellectually dense and portray more realistic interactions, especially Mawaru Penguindrum, Fate/Zero and Honey and Clover. My guess is that you like the type of anime that tells a story with a beginning and end, and since these are popular series which are frquently discussed, you like thinking about and discussing the ideas in it well after you’ve finished it. So I think you probably discuss anime a lot with your friends. In that sense, you’re an extrovert.
So I kind of uh, navigated around here and ended up on this post. Try judging me on my tastes alone? Ahahaha. Forget all of our discussions and everything I wrote.
Here goes, in no particular order: Rurouni Kenshin, Kuroko no Basuke, Shingeki no Kyojin, Natsume Yuujinchou, Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Major, Detective Conan, Skip Beat
I’m more of a lurker, so I don’t always comment on blogs I follow, but this time I’ll come out of the shadows and have some fun. ;D Your posts are interesting to read, and I must say that you have taught me on how to see things in another perspective.
I’m indecisive regarding my top anime list and my tastes change based on my mood, but here’s my current list:
(in no particular order)
Lucky Star
5 centimeters per second
Hyouka
Chihayafuru
Shingeki no Kyojin
Bakuman
Death Note
Natsuiro Kiseki
Summer Wars
Oh, and could you please tell me something that’s not too obvious? I know I love my slice-of-life and cute girls to pieces~ I haven’t watched that many anime shows yet, and my to-watch list looks pretty long to me, so I’m aware that I’ve only dipped into few genres, and that’s something I plan to change soon.
Judging by your love of Shingeki no Kyojin, you sure do love your slice-of-life and cute girls!
You know, for someone who claims to have only watched a few genres, there’s a lot of variety in your favorites. This, and the fact that your favorites include extremely casual-friendly titles like Shingeki no Kyojin and Death Note, tells me you’re the type who prefers to dip into anime without being hardcore about it. I think you generally prefer to watch things slowly to let them sink in, which would definitely be the appeal of Chihayafuru, Hyouka and Natsuiro Kiseki in particular. This tells me you’re probably a rather patient, contemplative person outside of anime.
I also think that you’re a romantic. 5cm, Chihayafuru and Hyouka are romantic shows, but I think you prefer romance that feels real and down-to-earth. You have a rather mature view of relationships.
Lastly, I think you’re the type who pays a good deal of attention to art because your favorites all have strong visual direction. I think you’re the type of person who likes to rewatch your favorite scenes, especially to admire how they look.
Hahaha! So the rumours are true afterall. You could earn a small fortune in palm reading. You’re quite spot-on on the attentive to art part. Since, as you’ve said, I’m a patient person(though I’m not sure if I really am patient outside of anime) having good art and animation to look at makes it harder to yawn and get bored. And the variety in my favorites comes from my reading habits. I try to expose myself to different genres, that’s why I want to watch anime shows outside of my comfort zone, which is slice-of-life+high school and my beloved cuuuuute girls. ;D I do have a mature view of relationships *cough* but am I really a romanticist? I’d rather think I’m a skeptical idealist, but maybe that’s just the same.
Now to return the favor, let’s see what I can read from your palms.
Uhm…let’s see…
I think you are of the ENFJ personality type. “ENFJs are idealist organizers, driven to implement their vision of what is best for humanity. They often act as catalysts for human growth because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charisma in persuading others to their ideas. They are focused on values and vision, and are passionate about the possibilities for people.
ENFJs are typically energetic and driven, and often have a lot on their plates. They are tuned into the needs of others and acutely aware of human suffering; however, they also tend to be optimistic and forward-thinking, intuitively seeing opportunity for improvement. The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place.”
But that’s just a bit of a wild guess. Am I wrong? How aboout ISTP? ENTP?
Thanks for the compliments! After doing these palm readings, I do notice patterns across my readers. Many of you lean towards introversion. Maybe it’s an anime thing?
As for me being an ENFJ, I can see why I would come across as such through my writing. I consider myself a strong idealist and I think it definitely shows through my fondness for shonen anime and sports. But as for whether I actually have the ability to inspire other people or change the world, that remains to be seen, eh?
Heh heh, I have to say I enjoy these sorts of discussions. You should comment more often, my friend!
‘Ello, I just read your post and was intrigued by it, so I thought of just giving you a short list of some of my favourite anime/manga/LNs just to see how it goes. List isn’t in any particular order, just so you know.
Lucky Star
Boku to Majo no Jikan
D-Frag
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Seitokai no Ichizon
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Maou na Ore to Fushihime no Yubiwa
Hyouka
Monogatari Series
Chunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai
Dare I try? I’m very interested in what you might glean from this list. Pulled from my MAL, though not in any particular order.
Code Geass
D.Gray-man
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Fullmetal Alchemist
Death Note
Hikaru no Go
Ouran High School Host Club
Black Butler
Stein;s Gate
The first thing I thought was that you have very mainstream tastes. You get into the big franchises, possibly because you get immersed by the large worlds and complex character interactions you can only find in these kinds of series. With Madoka and Steins;Gate, I also see you like twists and turns in plot and that if something makes a strong enough impression on you, you’re likely to forgive it for its flaws.
Given choices like these, I don’t think you’ve watched a lot of anime, but I think you’re good at finding the nuance in the storytelling with what you watch, which is something that more seasoned anime fans fail to sometimes do.
Not bad! Though I’m sure plenty of anime critics might criticize my mainstream tastes, I’m interested in why certain stories become popular and how such stories are more accessible to bigger audiences. Admittedly, more than 3/4 of the anime I listed were anime I watched relatively early in my anime watching career, so they’ve left a deeper mark of nostalgia on me, which I weigh more heavily than more recent shows. In fact, I actually avoided anime shortly after Code Geass R2 finished in 2008, firmly convinced that there wasn’t any more anime worth watching after seeing that ending) and didn’t pick up anime until 2012.
The advantage of big franchises is, of course, a richer and bigger variety of fanfiction (which I voraciously consume). It’s actually a habit of mine to seek out fanfiction after watching something and it’s the development of headcanon that makes me enjoy the original franchise even more.
I definitely haven’t watched as much anime as I should, though I’m working on that now. It’s really hard for me to be a passive watcher, since I love storytelling and figuring out characters.
You’re really similar to me, then! I used to write a lot of fanfiction before I took up blogging and I totally get how your appreciation is enriched after you develop headcanon. It’s hard for me to be a passive viewer, too, so I totally “get” your mainstream tastes and wouldn’t criticise them negatively at all.
I match with you on Steins;Gate and Chihayafuru. I like Kuroko no Basuke, but I wouldn’t rank it among my favorites.
how about me?
not in order
code geass
black butler
mirai nikki
death note
lovely complex
saiunkoku monogatari
fma
ranma 1/2
law of ueki
nura no mago
shingeki no kyojin
log horizon
btoom!
You have very mainstream tastes. There’s a blend of shojo and shonen among your favourites, which leads me to think you’re most likely a girl with a tomboy-ish streak. Judging by the presence of Log Horizon, Btooom! and Shingeki no Kyojin, all very recent series, you probably only started watching anime as they were airing last year or the year before.
I also think you’re young, possibly mid-to-late teens. You seek heavy drama in your anime and what you particularly like about your favourite anime is their ability to switch from a light to dark mood at the top of a hat. Finally, the inclusion of Log Horizon tells me that you also play games and take them at least somewhat seriously.
wow!!! thank you for the reply.. the only thing that’s wrong is that i’ve been watching anime for most of my life, the mc of old animes just dont suit my taste ( mainstream actually, because, when i was very young we didnt have internet connection, so i only watched animes from tv..)
hi frog,
no particular order
grave of fireflies
shinseki yori
nichijou
spice and wolf
wolfs rain
usagi drop
only fireflies and shinseki would score a 10/10 although the others are really close
some honorable mentions that i enjoyed very much but had less impact than the above (you might think of them as some genre favorites of mine)
kuragehime
black lagoon (mostly because of the magnificent dub (my native language) otherwise jormungand might take it)
mouretsu pirates
psycho pass
i would especially interested in your guesstimate of my age. is my inner child still shining through or have i finally matured enough to be recognised as an adult by some guy from the other end of the world.
It’s actually really difficult to tell how old an anime fan is past a certain age. It’s easy to tell the difference between a teenager and someone in their twenties, but it seems to me you could be anywhere between 20-40 or even older than that.
Grave of the Fireflies and Shinsekai Yori do show that you that you have an appreciation for tragedy and an understanding of human nature. But from Nichijou, you also have an ability to laugh at life and to be amused by silly things. This is actually pretty typical of highly-educated people.
As for Kuragehime, Black Lagoon, etc. it’s also clear that you do have an inner child who takes delight in action and adventure, but it’s also clear from Mouretsu Pirates and Psycho-Pass that you have a mind that’s fixated on details and you like to know just HOW the characters achieve the things they do. If I could guess at your taste in literature, I would suspect you like adventure stories like The Count of Monte Cristo and Robinson Crusoe, which occasionally read more like travelogues than as stories.
40 or even older kinda hurts, since i’ve reached an age (early 30s btw) i start to get more and more concious about me getting older.
i do indeed prefer the “go out and find something interesting along the way” stories to the “stranger comes to town to mess up the establishment” ones.
but i have to say you picked just the wrong examples to name, because robinson crusoe got ruined for me because of a mind dulling literary class back in my schooldays. monte christo on other hand never really appealed to me in the first place
because i didnt (and still dont) like the revenge theme as the characters main (and sole?) motivation. i still like the romantic and idealistic adventure which is why typical shonen do have a certain appeal for me (although not enough to top any of my lists). so i think 3 musketeers would have been the better dumas novel to describe my tastes.
beyond that im totally into epic worldbuild stuff, like you correctly pointed out i want to know how and more important why they act and succeed (or not, but im very much in favor of positive endings).
This looks fun! Here’s my favorites, in loose order:
Lupin III
Spirited Away
Secret World of Arrietty
Urusei Yatsura
Future Boy Conan
Castle in the Sky
Porco Rosso
Grave of the Fireflies
Princess Mononoke
Paprika
Haibane Renmei
Samurai Champloo
Cowboy Bebop
Serial Experiments Lain
Dennou Coil
Irresponsible Captain Taylor
Excel Saga
Aw, no response…is this because I hated on Bakemonogatari? I’m sorry! ;(
Argh, sorry for the late response! I actually forgot about your original comment until you reminded me of its existence, eh heh…
Anyway, it looks like you’ve been watching anime for a long time, probably for longer than a lot of the other commentors here. You have really “classy” tastes, if I’m allowed to put it that way, and it seems like you care about the history and development of anime as an art form.
One thing I noticed here is that very few of your favourites are adaptations. You enjoy works that take full advantage of anime’s distinct strengths as a visual medium. Studio Ghibli is represented a lot here, which makes me think that you were a) introduced to anime through Ghibli films and b) you remain in touch with your inner child. I think you tend to be drawn to nostalgia-charged things, even if they aren’t catered to you. I highly doubt you were watching Lupin III and Future Boy Conan when they were airing, for instance, but you find them charming because they remind you of a simpler time and place.
No worries, thanks for the response!
Wow, you’re almost right on the money! I do like old, simple, nostalgic stuff, and I certainly was introduced by the Ghibli films. I haven’t been watching anime very long, only 2 years or so. However, I have watched classic western cartoons for most of my life, so that probably shaped my historical interest and “classy” tastes.
I did enjoy Excel Saga though xD
Well, that’s interesting. I usually tend to stay my head away from commenting on forums and blogs and all but, I guess I’ll leave my list down here.
In no particular order, whatsoever…
1) Psycho Pass
2) Neon Genesis Evangelion
3) Guilty Crown
4) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
5) Aquarion EVOL
6) Darker Than Black
7) Welcome To The NHK!
8) Btooom!
9) Arpeggio Of Blue Steel -Ars Nova-
10) Fate/Zero
11) Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet
12) Jormungand
13) Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi
14) Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse
15) Valkyria Chronicles
16) Zetsuen no Tempest
17) Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru
18) Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
19) Monster
20) Texhnolyze
Sorry for having listing 20 _:(´□`」 ∠):_ , but these shows represent what I am very strongly.
An interesting list! Your tastes are very masculine and I also think they’re skewed towards plot-driven work, which makes me think you probably don’t like slice of life shows involving cute girls like K-ON! very much. There’s also a hint of you being an avid gamer what with the inclusion of Muv-Luv Alternative and Valkyria Chronicles.
OreGairu tells me that you’re probably in your late teens. You probably get irritated by people acting needy or attention-seeking and you don’t go out of your way to socialise. But this doesn’t mean you’re necessarily a cynic, because you do like Aquarian EVOL (although you seem like the type to laugh at its cheesiness as well as with it), as well as stories with a positive message about human nature like FMA: Brotherhood.
In general, though, you do seem to like gritty stories that show off the darker side of humanity like Fate/Zero and Monster. I don’t think you’ve been directly exposed to the kinds of horrible experiences these series display, but they feel more real to you. You also seem to like stories because of their unique settings, which makes me assume you think ordinary school/working life is not painful but boring.
I found your blog today, so I’m THRILLED (in an I-just-totally-squealed-out-loud kind of way) that the palm readings are still going strong. You may commence defining me!
Favorite “Oldies but Goodies”:
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Planetes
Lovely Complex
Toshokan Sensou (Library War)
Fushigi Yuugi
Touch
Favorite of the current season:
Nagi no Asukara
What I’m most interested in watching after reading everyone elses’ list:
Hyouka
Shinsekai Yori
Code Geass
Looks like you’re a huge romance/drama fan! Everything you like seems to play strongly on the viewer’s emotions. Shojo seems to be your sweet spot. I think you’re a girl and you probably enjoy fangirling, particularly whenever your favourite character makes an appearance or when your favourite couple has a cute moment. From Lovely Complex and Touch, it seems you have a preference for romance that is built upon the couple’s trust and familiarity with each other, which seems to indicate that you are attracted to kind and gentle boys rather than the “bad boy” stereotype.
I think you’re young, somewhere between 15-18. You’re young enough to still get carried away by your emotions but you’re old enough to have a deeper and more philosophical appreciation of human emotions. This shows in how you like Planetes and Touch, but even more so in the shows that grabbed your attention without you having watched them (i.e. Hyouka and Shinsekai Yori).
Hope the palm reading satisfied you and I hope you enjoy reading my blog!
Well, I guess my list didn’t present much of a challenge, but at least you can pat yourself on the back for astuteness. If I were you, I’d be keeping track of how many “palm readings” I’d gotten right, but I’m narcissistic like that. Alas, my fangirling does get ridiculous. Not to the point of writing hate comments on people’s posts about ships that aren’t mine (although I do think “Fucking moron!” while I read those), but to the point that I drop a show if my couple doesn’t get together, or I drop a show after they get together, because I don’t want to watch them get fucked up. I want my fiction to have the happiness that doesn’t always exist in real life, but that could be my Child of Divorce Issues resurfacing. Yes, I gravitate toward relationships built on honesty, trust and we-were-friends-before-we-got-together, because I figure if someone loves you on your worst day, there’s a good chance they’ll stick around. Also, bad boys must die! Take it from someone who hasn’t been 15-18 for about a million years: The way the object of your affection treats the people around him/her is a good indicator of how he/she will treat you, so, even if he/she is nice to you today, he’ll/she’ll be just as much of an asshole to you as he/she is to everyone else tomorrow.
In my real life, I aspire to be boring, but, as previously stated, I prefer my fiction to be the opposite of my real life, so I enjoy shows that aren’t about characters doing things that normal people do everyday. Besides being boring, I’m also pretty negative, so I like watching uplifting things. However, if everything is sunshine and rainbows, my pessimistic outlook rears its head and overshadows my suspension of disbelief, which means I can’t take a show seriously. Therefore, my list is mostly fantasy (Touch is the closest thing to a story about ordinary people, but not every ordinary person becomes the star of a baseball team) with a lot of darkness (there’s death, there’s almost being paralyzed, there’s war, there’s turning your child into a science experiment (*glares at FMA:B*), there’s an obsession with trying to rape Miaka (I’m pretty sure I’m right about this, but there’s a fifteen episode stretch toward the end of Fushigi Yuugi that always puts me to sleep.) and a feeling of hope.
Very interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t watched enough Great anime so it won’t be the most accurate. Lets see how skillful you are :)
In no particular order
1. Mahou shoujo madoka magica
2. Serial experiments Lain
3. Steins;gate
4. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
5. Nichijou
6. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!
7. Carnival phantasm
8. Clannad (both seasons)
9. Sayonara zetsubou sensei (the entire series)
10. Hyouka
I am also really loving Bakemonogatari (although I haven’t finished watching it yet)
I would also like to know the age group you would put me at.
Thank you and sorry for inconveniencing you.
My first thought: you’ve got a pretty random sense of humour. Nichijou, Carnival Phantasm and Baka Test all in your top ten can only point to one thing. The other thing I noticed was that, with the exceptions of Madoka and Lain, your favourites are all character-driven shows. You tend to get attached to characters and you probably like the wacky/quirky ones best of all.
I’m terrible at guessing ages, which you might have noticed if you read the other responses. But I’d personally put you somewhere in your twenties. Your favourite comedies tend to break the fourth wall and include a bit of social commentary (am looking at Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei in particular here) and in general your favourites have a sense of self-awareness about them that indicates you probably like thinking about tropes and storytelling. You are impressed when a story plays with cliches and the audience’s expectations. People usually develop that sort of way of looking at fiction in their twenties, but take that observation with a grain of salt!
I am actually 14 (most people think I am older than I actually am). You are very accurate about my humor! The only thing you missed is my interest in dark-humor.
On retrospect however, it seems quite easy to analyse somebody to this extent. Perhaps I should try it with somebody and try to get the ropes of it after all I like to understand people as well as possible.
Although I say it is easy you still need quite a vast knowledge of anime and well established analyzing skills.
Something I noticed about you analytic skills is that you avoid spelling out the obvious. Perhaps its either because you thought I and other are self aware enough to know it or is it possibly because you trust people too much?
In any case I applaud your knowledge and analytic skills. They are quite marvelous.
I’m impressed! Your tastes are quite mature for your age. I’m also embarrassed, because when will I ever get someone’s age right? :’)
The reason why I don’t like spelling out the obvious is because I think it’s boring. From my experience, readers like to be surprised by insights that come out of left field because it makes them think that their taste in anime reveals more about themselves than they realise. Which I think is the entire point of the exercise.
Don’t worry about age’s. I am already used to people thinking I am 18-20 :'( Although in the 20’s is a bit….
anyway more importantly, care to share some of your secrets? Yes I realize that having watched 117 anime series isn’t enough anime to be able to judge other’s taste in anime (simply because I might have not watched a large majority of what they like) but I will like to learn some palm reading on one of my favorite subjects.
If you do not mind telling me that is.
Thanks for replying BTW. Sorry if I have inconvenienced you in any way.
As you might have guessed already, it’s really difficult telling someone’s age just from what kind of anime they like. A lot of adults deliberately seek out really simple, light-hearted anime, while a lot of teenagers seek out complex anime with adult themes.
The secret to anime palm reading, you ask? I think the first thing you should know is that watching a heap of anime is not that necessary. Just knowing the genre of the show and what the reviews say about it is enough to get an idea of who might like it. What’s more important is spending a lot of time interacting with anime fans of different tastes. Fans with similar tastes tend to be drawn to each other. Often, people with similar taste also tend to have similar personalities and ways of thinking, so you start to see patterns. Ask people why they like their favourite show. Try to put yourself in their shoes.
For practice, why don’t you analyse some of my taste? I did put up a list of some of my favourite anime in the post!
haha this is very interesting. I’m curious about what your assumptions about me would be, if that wouldn’t be a bother to you.
Top 10 anime:
Steins;Gate
Death note
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Usagi Drop
Kimi ni todoke
AnoHana
Jigoku shoujo
5 centimeters per second
Higashi no Eden
Lovely Complex
Alright froggy-chan, let’s see if you can point out some things that I don’t know about myself. I’ll totally, like, subscribe to your channel and stuffs if you can.
1. Mushishi
2-3. Kyousougiga, Gintama’
4. Kuuchuu Burankko
5-10. Cowboy Bebop, Aquarion Evol, Baccano!, Haibane Renmei, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei
Whoa, way to pile on the pressure!
I think you have two sides to you. One side of you is very philosophical and emotionally sensitive (see: Mushishi, Kyousougiga and Haibane Renmei) and the other side of you loves crazy, humorous things that are dumb for the hell of it (Gintama’, Aquarion Evol).
You also seem to like anime that embody styles that are extremely rare to find outside the medium. This makes it extremely hard for me to guess what your taste in movies and books might be like. I think you respect auteurs, though, and when you get attached to a particular auteur’s style, you seek out all their work. You get interested in the person behind the production. You like interesting, quirky people.
Huh, that’s some amazing perspicacity you’re displaying. The first remark is obvious, but the second one with my fetish for auteurs is quite the observation, seeing as no same person has directed or created two or more works among the ones I’ve mentioned. I haven’t even taken note of it myself until you mentioned it.
Though being the critical thinker I am, I cannot but suspect that this might be some shady psychological trick at work. Since your site is named Fantastic Memes, and you’re a frog, you may be a hypnotoad using ambiguous statements and confirmation bias on us all! Don’t most people (who have a decent knowledge of anime) seek out other works by directors or writers that they like? Let me make a few assumptions about your personality as well.
Firstly, having a blog reveals significant chunks of your personality. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof, hence starting a blog and writing your occasionally controversial opinions for all to see and discuss. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. One of your blog’s major function is as an outlet for emotions you are often reluctant to share with your close ones.
Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. This is why you tend to analyze and occasionally overanalyze shows that you like but are not critically acclaimed by critics, fearing that your opinion may somehow be less valid. Because you tend to like a wide variety of anime, and prefers creativity and novelty over repetitiveness, I can see that you prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
Oh, what is the url for your WordPressTube channel which I can subscribe to?
Looks like you’ve caught me out on my SHENANIGANS! While it is common sense that seasoned fans seek titles by creators they like, I thought you might attach special significance to a creator’s particular style, rather than seeking out things you thought were competently done but not truly distinctive. Which led me onto the train of thought that you would like to see unique traits in the people you come across in general.
A lot of this stuff is just the basic people-reading tricks psychics and other scam artists (lol) have perfected. I didn’t necessarily go out of my way to study this, but I did notice that the vaguer and more general to life my readings were, the more likely they were to be true to someone. But hey, at least you can still learn something out of all this!
Your reading of me is scarily accurate, by the way. You’re quite good at this yourself! Then again, you’ve got my whole blog to look for hints about my personality. Most unfair advantage you have, good sir/madam. ;) Makes me think you’ve done a good deal of lurking before you wrote this comment.
As for subscribing to my blog, here’s my RSS feed: https://fantasticmemes.wordpress.com/feed/
You can also subscribe by email by clicking the follow button on the top right of the page. (This is the easiest way.)
Or if that doesn’t suit you, get a WordPress account and there should be a follow button at the top of the page whenever you visit someone’s WordPress blog.
Cheers!
[…] second point is really significant. You can actually see this in action from my anime palm-reading post. When I made judgments about my readers from their tastes, I wasn’t really decoding some […]
Since you’ve done one of these recently-ish, I thought I’d go ahead and see if I could get psychoanalyzed as well.
To make this easier for you, I’m actually going to deign giving scores to the things on my MAL page so this comment will seem small, but assuredly it took me a while to post it, because I’m going to have to come up with a scoring system. Usually I don’t bother to score things, I just use it as a place to chunk up what I’ve watched and things like that.
And done, profile can be viewed here: http://myanimelist.net/profile/Illuminary
Just took a quick glance at your rating system. Looks like you have a bit of trouble liking shows that are massively hyped, given the relatively low score (by your scale) for Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ouran High School Host Club. You also never finished Cowboy Bebop.
Now, looking at your favourite anime you’ve identified on your profile. Macross Frontier (plus your high score for AKB0048) tell me that you like pop music, and you also like dramatics. You also have a partiality for classical music, judging by Nodame Cantabile, and perhaps you may even play an instrument. My guess is that you enjoy singing.
Sailor Moon in your favourites… nostalgia, perhaps? Your profile tells me you’re female, but I would have guessed it anyway. I think you’re older than I am and you probably grew up with SM in your early teens, so you could be in your twenties now.
Finally, with Natsume Yuujinchou in your favourites, it tells me that you’re a rather laid-back person. For all your love of drama, what you really love the most out of your anime is heart-warming relationships. You have a strong appreciation for friendship and family.
I watched some NGE “back in the day” and it was okay, but I have a hard time matching my memories of the show with the hype train people have put it on. So yes, guilty as charged. With Ouran it doesn’t help that my youngest sister decided she liked it so much she’s watched it through about three times in the span of about a year. Not that I’m completely immune to the hype train. SAO’s first arc could very easily land itself in at least my top 20 if not higher. I might even have a poster of Asuna up on my wall as well as a couple figures from the show.
Cowboy bebop, like a few other shows some marked and some not, are shows that I was mostly introduced through them being on tv. I didn’t have reliable tv access over the years so a lot of toonami/AS shows were never finished. Of course I could finish them now, but a lot of them I’m not even interested in starting again. So I guess there’s something to make out of that too.
K-pop is one of my favorite types of music. Period. I listen to a ton of girl groups so my penchant for MF and AKB0048 does make a lot of sense in relative terms. (Such as my average to slightly higher score for Love Live and WUG, because I find the music in those shows to be not as enjoyable.)
Guilty! A pianist who happens to have a list of “dream instruments” to pick up that’s about as long as my arm. Sadly I don’t really have the cash to afford a new instrument at the moment so it’s hard to get around to picking one of them up. As far as hobbies go it’s damned expensive. Unlike my karaoke habit, that’s one’s pretty cheap.
Oh there’s definitely nostalgia there, but I do hold true to the fact that the show’s pretty damn good especially if you gloss over some of the more filler-y episodes. SM and I have a rough history, my parents used to be super conservative so I got a lot of flack for trying to watch that show growing up. So it’s pretty much an entrenched part of my life now for better or for worse. You’re right about me being in my twenties… at least for a few more years anyway.
I put off watching Natsume Yuujinchou for so long because I thought the art style was mediocre at best and I was under this misguided notion that it was going to be some sort of actiony show. Instead I got one of the most heart-warming shows I have ever watched. As people tend to put it, you could say that it was this giant feels train that I just couldn’t seem to stop riding. Which means yes, I agree with you. I’m all about the shipping – whether it’s relationships, friendships, or whatever. I’m all about them.
Which also brings me to another point that you may or may not have missed. I have a huge female character bias. I’ve had one.. probably since my Sailor Moon days actually. As a little girl I had this huge “Guy characters are so much cooler, being a girl is so boring” thing going on that Sailor Moon single handedly got me over. (So there’s more than one reason why Sailor Moon will always be “the show” to me. Baby’s first taste of third wave feminist idealism?)
Very interesting! I did rewatch Sailor Moon fairly recently, so I know what you’re saying that it’s genuinely good. It’s got plenty of well-written female characters, I agree. Glad it got you to root for female characters more ^__^ Are you looking forward to the Sailor Moon reboot coming out this year?
Exactly! Sure, it definitely suffers from the whole 90s gotta make the show last forever filler-itis, but that doesn’t make it bad. I think the fact that there’s still this huge fandom for an anime that’s been around for 20+ years should say a lot about the show.
Heh, am I looking forward to Sailor Moon Crystal?? You bet your blog I am! I’ve already persuaded both of my sister’s to watch it with me. Though I’m aware that probably means I’ll watch it once by myself to get all of my feelings out of the way and then watch it again with them later. That’s usually how that seems to work out anyway. Might even see if I can con my brother into it, I’ve already managed to get him watching Inuyasha with me so who knows. (Speaking of Inuyasha I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the show when it was first airing. I’m loving this nostalgia trip.)
Froggy-kun, would you mind to analyze mine too, please?
(in no particular order)
Jusou Kikou Dancouga Nova
Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster
Chihayafuru (S1 & 2)
Hidamari Sketch
Non Non Biyori
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Mazinkaiser SKL
Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku
Ai Mai Mii
It looks like you got into ongoing anime very recently, since a lot of your favourites are niche titles that were released only last year. It’s actually hard to pick out certain traits of yours, since your taste doesn’t seem developed enough to give me an indication of what you really value in storytelling. There are almost no patterns I could discern from this list. You do seem to be very open-minded and accepting, because you have very broad tastes. I think perhaps you lean towards anime with cute girls in them (HidaSketch, Non Non Biyori, Going Home Club). I’m not sure if this is for the girls or because you like the random sense of humour. It could be a little bit of both.
Overall, the only thing I could pick up from this is that you’re a person who just watches random things whenever and you probably have a random sense of humour, and you’re probably laid-back. Your taste in anime is ton too high a level for me to handle :) You have defied my powers!
Great article, I do think taste fits a lot with the people themselves and thats the parallel can be easily made. My friends are all a bunch of lefties boozer and they tend to only like comedies or show focused on delivering a spectacle.
Also, if your still doing this
I’d like a try too plz mister!
I’m curious
1. EvA
2. FLCL
3. Tatami Galaxy
4. Kemonozume
5. Katanagatari
6. Madoka Magicka
7. Cowboy Bebop
8. AIr Master
9. Utena
10. Shin Mazinger Z
Very refined taste you have here. Clearly, you’re the type of person who digs deep, or at least is very selective in what you choose to watch. Shows like Kemonozume and Air Master aren’t things the random anime fan has heard of or would recommend. You like art. You like interesting animation that takes risks. You don’t seem to be too fond of character-driven stories. I think you watch anime more for the presentation and for interesting stylistic choices than for the “feels” or for the characters.
You prefer brevity over long length. You prefer anime that doesn’t dally around and instead gets straight to the point. This might carry over to how you are in person in well. You’re blunt. You can tell when a story is full of pretentious bullshit or padding. You probably also know when people are full of pretentious bullshit. You respect intelligence and you like to be treated as if you’re intelligent, too.
By the way, are you enjoying Ping Pong the Animation this season? Yuasa’s style seems right up your alley!
Haha yea Ping-Pong first episode was a great start. I’m curious where it will go to since its a very down to earth premise for Yuasa.
For your reading you were very much in the right: I am very selective of what I watch. I don’t really end up caring about characters has persons much but more to what they contribute to the ideas or what they represent. So I treat them more has stories elements. Though I sometimes end up liking over the top and amusing characters like Satsuki Kiryuin or amusing shows like Air master. I’m easily touched by feels but it happen so often that I can’t count it has a criteria ahah (Penguindrum ending was the worst). The aesthetic side is also very important to me. And yea length is indeed a turn off. I respect intelligence but I also get mad (or maybe disappointed) at stupidity which can end up causing problems at times because I like to believe people can be and do better and some try their best to proves me wrong.
Late to the party and don’t watch much anime these days but I want to try!
-Urusei Yatsura
-Maison Ikkoku
-Inuyasha
-Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Cowboy Bebop
-FLCL
-Vision of Escaflowne
-Akira
-Death Note
-Fruits Basket
-Paranoia Agent
-Chobits
-Princess Mononoke
You’ve certainly watched the anime classics of the ’90s and the ’00s. It’s hard to get an exact grip on your taste since these are, well… generic choices, I have to say. It’s clear that you do have an appreciation for classics and a respect for directors and their artistic decisions, but it’s hard to tell how deeply you got invested into these series or for what reason you liked them. It seems you’re the kind of person who watches anime based on recommendation. I don’t think you actively seek out more shows to watch on your own.
The presence of Inuyasha, Escaflowne and Fruits Basket tells me you’re more likely to be a girl than a boy, but you could swing either way. But having Akira, Cowboy Bebop and FLCL on your list too means that if you are a girl, you probably don’t identify with the typical fangirl at all and that you don’t get carried away by things like bishonen characters and shipping or whatever. You come across as very calm and rational-minded, someone who likes to think things through carefully before giving them your approval.
Thanks and well done! Yes, I’m a chick and I like a touch of the romance, but I like it mixed in with either humor, paranormal, or weird stuff (if only there was a Buffy anime!) The anime I like, I really like, and if it doesn’t catch my interest after a couple episodes, I won’t waste my time (Fushigi Yuugi, K-On!, to name a couple).
Very late for the party. Hope you don’t mind some palm-reading :) These are my current favourites.
Trigun
Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier
Baccano!
Shigofumi
Fullmetal Alchemist/ Brotherhood (enjoyed both equally)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Read Or Die O.V.A.
Princess Tutu
Ouran High School Host Club
Black Jack (the OVA series)
Guess what, I just found your blog today via your “Kuroko no Basuke is not a Fujoshi Series” post and kudos to your good job. I will admit that I do ship some of these guys together and read a few shounen-ai/yaoi manga, but of course, plot and character development are my top priority. Forever and ever. I also checked your Kuroko character study out and I am impressed.
Therefore, I am so happy I stumbled across this post. It is interesting and after reading your previous KnB posts, I can say you don’t just go around making random guess, but you really analyze things. So if you don’t mind judging an anon, I would really appreciate it if you could do it for me. There is no need to rush, though. Whenever you have time. Here are my lists (ranked by favorite level and then in alphabetical order). Sorry they are long and I even included my favorite video games in there just in case… but I would like to give as much information about my tastes as possible and some of them might be the more obscure fandoms.
Love it:
– Bakusou Kyoudai Let’s & Go!! (anime)
– Captain Tsubasa (manga)
– Digimon Adventure/02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier (anime)
– Hana nomi zo Shiru (manga)
– Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns, Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (game)
– Inazuma Eleven (anime)
– Junjou Romantica (manga, now this might be a bit confusing, but in case you know about the series, I don’t find the storyline of the main pairing very appealing and read it for the other two, so I would give this love/like rating.)
– Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (manga)
– Kingdom Hearts (game)
– Komatta Toki ni wa Hoshi ni Kike! (manga)
– Kuroko no Basket (manga and anime)
– Natsume Yuujinchou (manga)
– Pokemon Special (manga), Pokemon (game)
– Prince of Tennis (anime and manga)
– Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (manga)
– Spiral ~Suiri no Kizuna~ (manga)
– Super Lovers (manga)
– Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (manga)
– Tsuritama (anime)
Like it:
– Ao no Exorcist (manga)
– Black Cat (manga)
– Cardcaptor Sakura (manga)
– Gakuen Alice (manga)
– Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED/Destiny, Gundam 00 (anime)
– Harvest Moon GBC 2, Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (game)
– K (anime)
– Karneval (manga)
– Pandora Hearts (manga)
– Seven Days (manga)
– Special A (manga)
– xxxHOLiC (manga)
– Yu-Gi-Oh! (anime and manga)
If you haven’t read it the manga version of these, but have seen the anime and would like to try judging me based on the anime version, you are welcome to do so. I actually have seen most of their counterparts, but I only listed my favorite version on the lists.
You’re never going to be free of this.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/jymmy
By the way, my reading of you is that you’re a good person because of our high compatibility.
When I read the title of the post, I was kinda overjoyed “Finally, a like-minded person!” Since it’s rather controversial, I admire how you’re not shy about expressing it to the world @@
I’d love to have mine checked, too… I hope you’re still interested in doing full analysis of my taste.
My favorites:
Silver Spoon
Aria
Chihayafuru
Natsume’s Book of Friends
Honey and Clover
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Ouran High School Host Club
Lucky Star
Hyouka
Kuroko no Basuke
Bakuman
Hunter x Hunter
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu
Fruits Basket
One Piece
Beyond the Clouds; The Promised Place
From up on Poppy Hill
Wolf Children
Spirited Away
Anime palm reading? Awesome! I’d love it if you’d five me an assessment from my top ten (in no particular order except for Baccano!, which is number 1)
Baccano!
Princess Mononoke
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Welcome to the NHK
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (particularly Part 2)
Steins;Gate
Dennou Coil
Monster
Princess Tutu
Mushishi
Code Geass
Gundam Seed
Kuroko no Basuke
Death Note
Steins Gate
Hyouka
Noragami
Chuunibyou
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
Digimon Adventures (1st series)
Hunter X Hunter
Ouran High School Host Club
Sakurasou no pet na kanojo
karneval
Fate/Stay knight
Darker than Black
Almost anything Studio Ghibli :)
This is a really interesting article! I’m going through your articles right now and I’m really intrigued with what you could say about my tastes. I hope you’re still interested!
my scoring system isnt the best but if you have any spare time see what you can get from it
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/YukiNeko_Touka
Here’s mine if you ever feel like it. XD
I probably rated a bunch of anime too high because of either hype or bias, though.
http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Pikangie
Hi, I just discovered your blog through your profile on NanoDesu. I see it’s been a year since you originally wrote this post, but you still seem to be checking it occasionally. I’d be interested in your take on my tastes. I don’t have a “my anime list” so this is all just off the top of my head.
I was going to try to divide these up between “Like” and “Love”, or “Shows I Enjoyed” and “Life Changers”, but I decided that might give too much away and/or sound pretentious. So I’ll just call these “favorites”. Incarnations in other media, like manga or LNs, noted where relevant. I hope those still count.
Another
Attack on Titan
Bakemonogatari
Black Lagoon (anime & manga)
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (LNs more so than anime)
Cowboy Bebop
Darker than Black
End of Evangelion
Ergo Proxy
Ghost in the Shell
Hellsing (manga)
Higurashi no naku koro ni
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Kara no Kyoukai
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei (anime & manga)
Toradora
Tsukihime (not sure if you count VNs but dang come on)
Welcome to the NHK! (manga more so than anime)
xxxHolic (manga)
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru (anime and LNs, thanks for your translation work)
Hi, I’m interested to know more this. These are my favourites.
Ghost in the shell Stand alone complex
Gundam Seed
Ergo Proxy
Psycho-Pass
Kuroko no basuke
Log horizon
Cowboy bebop
Thank you
This post is interesting. Maybe I’ll write a personal confession regarding this issue. Anyway, I wanna know what you can read about me from my favorites:
MAJOR (the whole franchise)
FMA Brotherhood
Steins;Gate
Gintama’ (this particular season)
Uchuu Kyoudai
Gin no Saji
Natsume Yuujinchou (the whole thing, yeah)
Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (if anime movie is fine)
Fushigi Yuugi
Hunter X Hunter (both the original and 2011 adaptations)
I have a lot more favorites I wanna add, but I just used the 10 slots you provided. So, yeah, there you have it. :)