RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade – 70-61 – There’s Something Happening Here

Welcome to RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade, a comprehensive and hastily-researched list of the 100 best anime we watched from 2009 to 2019. We attempt to provide one brief statement about each show, based in some cases on very fuzzy recollection and possibly guesses. This list is final. No reviews, no appeals, and no Gintama (but only because we’ve never watched it).—RABUJOI STAFF

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70. Oregairu (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU)

Spring 2013

Not all high school harem rom-coms are created equal…this one’s pretty good

69. Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S

Spring 2013

We actually watched Railgun before Index…and still kinda like Railgun more due to the focus on Misaka

68. Working!!!

Summer 2015

The third season of the family restaurant sitcom finally resolved will-they-won’t-they situations with “they wills”—and did a really good job doing it

67. ReLIFE

Summer 2016

If you could go back to your high school days, what would you say and do differently? ReLIFE, the first 13 episodes of which released all at once, Netflix-style, brilliantly explored every facet of that question

66. Durarara!! x2 Ketsu

Winter 2016

The third and best of the Durarara!! sequel cours

65. Kill la Kill

Fall 2013

Studio Trigger dazzles the stage with a completely ludicrous action/sci-fi/adventure odyssey involving sentient—and often extremely skimpy—clothing

64. The World God Only Knows 3

Summer 2013

The third season that gave us hope that maybe the MC would actually end up with a real-life girl in the end. It wasn’t to be…maybe the upcoming Season 4?

63. Zankyou no Terror

Summer 2014

Two human experiments with numbers for names meet a neglected girl from a broken home, and as the title suggests, there is a bit of terrorism

62. KonoSuba

Winter 2016

One of the most consistently hilarious isekai anime ever made, KonoSuba commits to laughs like no other show in its genre

61. Kuragehime

Fall 2010

Squid. Princess. Any questions?

RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade – 90-81 – From Family Restaurants to Generation Ships

Welcome to RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade, a comprehensive and hastily-researched list of the 100 best anime we watched from 2009 to 2019. We attempt to provide one brief statement about each show, based in some cases on very fuzzy recollection and possibly guesses. This list is final. No reviews, no appeals, and no Gintama (but only because we’ve never watched it).—RABUJOI STAFF

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90. Knights of Sidonia

Spring 2014

One of the only full-CGI animes that works better because it’s CGI, owing much to its futuristic sci-fi setting. Gritty, bleak, and awe-inspiring, its characters don’t inhabit the uncanny valley, but the infinite void of space.

89. Mirai Nikki

Fall 2011

A cute but murder-happy stalker and a battle royale to determine who inherets immortality and omnipotence from a character literally named Deus Ex Machina…what’s not to like

88. Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Fall 2010

Notable for its distinctive American cartoon-style look and general raunchiness, this was the last great anime Gainax made before Trigger split off

87. Working!!

Spring 2010

An absorbing slice-of-life centered on the eccentric staff of a run-of-the-mill Japanese family restaurant, filled with wit, humor, and a couple will-they-won’t-they situations that would take three seasons to resolve

86. O Maidens in Your Savage Season

Summer 2019

Took an strong unblinking look at the lives of a group of very different young women and men approaching their respective sexual awakenings in different ways

85. Golden Kamuy

Spring 2018 and Fall 2018

Part treasure hunt using human pelts as maps, part documentary of Ainu life, culture, cuisine, and spiritualism, all badass

84. Inuyashiki

Fall 2017

The story of the world’s most depressing salaryman finally gaining the power to protect family and strangers alike (thanks to aliens) is full of body horror and black humor in equal measure

83. Knights of Sidonia 2

Spring 2015

Like Knights of Sidonia 1, only Sidonia-er. Things get a bit darker, a bit weirder, and, at times, a bit funnier. The only mark against the series is that it needed a third season

82. The World God Only Knows

Fall 2010

In one of the first harem anime we watched that we enjoyed, an dating sim expert must reluctantly date girls IRL to capture the evil spirits hiding in their hearts. It’s much better than it sounds

81. Saraiya Goyou (House of Five Leaves)

Spring 2010

An unglamorous but absorbing drama in which a timid ronin joins a group of bandits making their own way in gritty Edo-period Japan

RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade – 100-91 – The Worst of the Best

Welcome to RABUJOI’s Anime of the Decade, a comprehensive and hastily-researched list of the 100 best anime we watched from 2009 to 2019. We attempt to provide one brief statement about each show, based in some cases on very fuzzy recollection and possibly guesses. This list is final. No reviews, no appeals, and no Gintama (but only because we’ve never watched it).—RABUJOI STAFF

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100. Sword Art Online II

Summer 2014

Asuna is finally able to reach détente with her strict mother, and a terminally ill girl receives a fitting sendoff from her fellow gamers. A lot more happened, but that was some memorable stuff

99. Yuri Kuma Arashi

Winter 2015

Using heavy symbolism and vibrant iconography to promote LGBTQ advocacy and critique a nation notoriously weak in that area

98. Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil)

Spring 2013

Animating a popular manga with live action rotoscoping was bold as hell, but not too popular, crossing a boundary between anime and reality

97. Darling in the FranXX

Winter 2018

An admirable bid to bring Evangelion into the 21st century, depicting a harsh world where too heavy a weight is placed on the slender shoulders of the young

96. Sword Art Online

Summer 2012

Not the first, not the best, but the show that launched a thousand isekai, anchored by a compelling central love story that endures to this day

95. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata (Saekano)

Winter 2015

A witty and attractive self-aware harem rom-com that explored artistic talent, collaboration, and the practicalities of making a video game as much as cute outfits and compromising situations

94. Re:Creators

Spring 2017

An anime that brought colorful characters from anime, books, and games of many genres—all fictitious, in-world works—into the real world, resulting in an Avengers-style fish-out-of-water crossover epic, a tantalizing premise

93. Sword Art Online: Alicization

Spring 2018

Crippled IRL, Kirito dives deeper than ever before, starts over in a new virtual world utilizing tech coveted by governments and organizations the world over, and makes friends along the way

92. Kekkai Sensen

Spring 2015

In a premise that combines Men In Black, Hellboy, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, universes and realms collide in the former NYC in a stirring feast for eyes and ears

91. Akame ga Kill!

Summer 2014

A majority-female assassin guild-vs.-empire bloody slugfest that managed to became surprisingly emotionally resonant as it went on