Tied for 23^rd Place: Yu Yu Hakusho. Primarily popular in Japan and Asia, this series is relatively little-known due to lack of distribution in North America. However, Funimation has acquired this action series, which is often compared favorably (and correctly so) to Dragon Ball Z. Oddly enough, it's actually the girls in the club that like this one.

Tied for 23^nd Place: Di Gi Charat. This super-cute mascot series funded by the Gamers store chain is psychotic, over-the-top, and features silly shorts with badly animated extras and really bizarre characters. But the denizens of the THEM Commune love it, and couldn't disagree more with our review of the show. Clever, or just crazy? See for yourself!

22^nd Place: Mahoujin GuruGuru. Thus super-cute Enix-produced series, based on role-playing games intended for the younger set, is adorable and hilarious. Expect more of the same hijinks as featured in the movie.

21^st Place: Neon Genesis Evangelion. This series has fallen very far in popularity from its mid-90s glory days, as fans got jaded on its disappointing, nihilistic ending. However, it is still a very good series, despite its inconsistency and its creator's lack of sanity, and hardly deserves to be ignored.

20^th Place: Urusei Yatsura. The original manga series launched Takahashi Rumiko into superstardom. The TV series not only furthered her career, but proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that anime was no longer just for kids. Much like a Japanese I Love Lucy with its ubiquitous reruns on Japanese TV, this series uses aliens and hapless high-schoolers to lampoon Japanese culture, mythology, and social habit in a way no live-action series could possibly equal. Twenty years later, we still love Urusei Yatsura. Here's to another twenty years.

Tied for 18^th Place: Maison Ikkoku: Takahashi Rumiko's next series, featuring a ronin (college dropout) and his on-again, off-again relationship with a beautiful, widowed apartment manager, is less an over-the-top comedy than a romance series with some comedy in it. Perhaps too slow and aged for today's anime crowd, but a classic nonetheless.

Tied for 18^th Place: Magic Knight Rayearth. A shoujo fantasy series featuring three teenage girls who unexpectedly end up in a world straight out of a role-playing game and embark on a quest to save the world from evil. Cute, earnest characters, and a surprisingly hard-hitting plot make this one of our second-tier favorite series. (And who can't resist Mokona? Puu!)

17^th Place: Kimagure Orange Road. Another '80s favorite, this series has what is probably the seminal anime love triangle, between one boy and two girls, all junior-high-schoolers. All full of hormones, and all hiding secrets from each other. Don't dismiss this as sappy fluff, because you'll really be missing out if you do. But beware the aged animation!

16^th Place: Serial Experiments Lain. Thought-provoking and mind-blowing, this surrealist piece about a strange junior-high-schooler named Lain and her connection to the Wired is not for fans of action or shoujo romance. However, it is definitely a series made for people who want something to talk about the next day in Psych 101. Not your usual anime.

15^th Place: Fushigi Yuugi. A series possibly poised to go higher in next year's survey, this fantasy romance adventure in which two junior-high schoolgirls are transported to a literary version of ancient China is filled with romance and comedy, as well as war and betrayal, and is almost strictly for fans of shoujo-style character-driven anime and manga. And yes, we know full well about the bishounen. My roommates won't stop talking about them.

14^th Place: Rurouni Kenshin. Once, Himura Kenshin was a cold-blooded assassin who left trails of blood and bodies in his wake. Now, he's a goofy, silly man who loves to cook and do the laundry for his mismatched "family" of societal outcasts. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? Well, it's not. It's actually one of the darn coolest series around, and the integrity and honesty of a character so determined to change the world by protecting, and not by killing, is compelling and inspiring. And what could be a series muddled by endless action is rich in character and life. Well done, and highly recommended.

13^th Place: Irresponsible Captain Tylor. He joined the United Planets Space Force for an easy ride and a guaranteed pension. What he got was command of a space destroyer, and a central role in an interstellar war. But Captain Justy Ueki Tylor doesn't need to worry about it - after all, he's only the captain, right? What we wonder through it all, though: is he the luckiest idiot to ever travel space, or is he the greatest genius in the history of humankind? Even if we never know, the TV series is an enjoyable sci-fi ride that is a welcome rest from all those serious-minded Janeway types these days.

12^th Place: Vision of Escaflowne. Though marred by an abortive television dub, this series in its original form is a stunning colloboration of fantasy and giant robots, animated with a clarity that is rare among TV productions, with a well-realized world chock-full of memorable characters. Worth all the acclaim it receives.

11^th Place: Detective Conan. Though import only as of this survey, this mystery series about a young detective who is turned (against his will) into a child, but continues to solve crimes, is quite popular among THEM members. Though with the violence inherent in the series, we're not sure just how US distributors are going to handle this thing, as it looks like a kid's show, but deals with murder and conspiracy on a daily basis.

And now, continue on to the Millennial THEM Anime Awards Top 10 Television Series and Specials!

Or return to the Millennial THEM Anime Awards home page!