Day 6 – Shirobako Taught me How Vital Rewatches Are

I promise this is the last poem.

[Script] Why Shirobako(And Its Best Episode) Works So Well

Shirobako is one of the most praised shows of the last few years, and it easily has the potential to become a cult classic. Its relatively accurate depiction of the anime industry has lead to an increase of interest in the production side of the medium and it manages to be a fun, fast-paced show that still has lots of heavier character drama. Those aspects are great and worth commending, but what I love the most about Shirobako is what it has to say about passion and art, in the anime industry and in life as a whole.

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Top 30 Anime

A little under a year ago I published a list of my Top 25 anime. While it was accurate at the time, it’s been a while, and my opinions have certainly shifted in that period. I’ve watched more anime now, so I figured I might as well raise the number, and here I am with a new and improved Top 30. Most shows could shift up or down a few points based on my whims, and there are plenty of shows that would likely rank on here if I rewatched them, but there’s no helping that. I’ll never watch everything I love within a few years. This is the most accurate list I can make for myself right now, and I hope you enjoy it.

Why I Love It – Shirobako’s Embrace of Anime

This is probably obvious, but I love anime. It’s a medium that’s had a major influence on my life, and I’m proud to call it my favorite artistic medium. It’s taught me new things about myself, about the world, and about what I want to do. If it weren’t for anime, I don’t know if I would have decided to seriously work on my writing. Anime is something I have an incredible passion for, and it’s something I love from the bottom of my heart.

I feel a sense of kinship with Shirobako in this regard, because Shirobako truly loves anime as well. Everything about Shirobako is set up to prove that anime is valuable, that anime is something which deserves to exist, and that those who love it are right in caring about it. Shirobako values those who create anime and those who watch it, it values anime made thirty years ago and anime made now. Shirobako wholeheartedly loves the medium, just as much if not more so than I do, and it shows that love in too many ways to count, but I’ll at least attempt to do so.

Do Genre Labels Hurt Viewers? (Yes)

Genres can be very useful categories to have. There are certainly flaws with them — the definition of Slice of Life is overly broad and used to describe dramas far too often for example — but it’s useful to be able to categorize things. Even if things don’t perfectly fit in boxes, it makes sense to describe a general collection of styles and tropes as a genre. But I think this “genrefication” can unfortunately lead to a large number of viewers totally passing over things they’d be into.

Top 25 Anime

This is out of date. Very soon I’ll be making a Top 30 post, so if you read it bear in mind that nothing here is still applicable. 
I’ve been a fan of anime for a while now, but I’ve never put together a post with all of my favorite shows, so here’s my first attempt. This is obviously all my opinion, as is everything else I write. I plan on updating this post whenever another anime makes it this far up my list. For the sake of this list, I’ll be consolidating all seasons, movies, and other parts of a series into one, assuming they’re in the same continuity. Without further ado, let’s start the list.