Well, after witnessing the recent crunchyroll anime awards and laughing spectacularly how much loss potential that the award show was, I started questioning what makes a show great, let alone to be the best. Does it have to be a show that’s critically acclaimed by not only critiques but the general audience? A show with great animation, story and music, or something that is just dumb fun to watch and yet interesting not to get bored after a few episodes? I’m curious to hear your opinions on this topic.
One of the problems a topic such as this will inevitably face is the perennial 'Best versus Favourite' debate. All anime fans have their favourite films and/or series, so by its very nature favouritism is subjective and the same applies to what is 'great' or 'the best'. We can probably all name at least half a dozen websites and countless You Tube videos that list 'The Ten Greatest Anime Shows' or similar, but those are rarely, if at all, objective in their lists. Critics and critiques alike are no different - just take a look at the variance in reviews and critiques that appear on Rotten Tomatoes; what one critic will applaud another will pan and having a degree in 'Filmology' (sic) doesn't guarantee that critic has 'good taste'. Even popularity is no guarantee of quality so perhaps the only way to truly judge a show's worth is the test of time and how our opinions about it may (or may not) change over the intervening years. Do we perceive the show differently after 10 years have passed? Does it still seem fresh or even relevant or is it so hackneyed that we cringe at thinking how we once enjoyed it so much? That's just my two-penneth worth, but I'm sure others will have equally valid opinions; still, I'm going to add my approval and I'd be interested in others' comments. – Amyus6 years ago