There's a few others I'd like to rip on, but I haven't completely watched them (couldn't stand them). If anyone has qualms with the above allegations, by all means speak up. There's nothing as refreshing as ripping on fankids.
And without further ado, in no particular order, my top ten.
Cowboy Bebop
Full Metal Panic
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
Gundam Seed
Basilisk
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Honey and Clover
Jin Roh
The allegations have merit, but it's not surprising that they make it on to many Top 10 lists -- for many people, those are among the first anime they've seen, so they leave a sense of nostalgia and a lasting impression. And for newer fans, those are some of the
only anime they've seen. So it's quite possible that people aren't declaring these to be "top 10" after seeing and judging 250 other anime. I would contend though, that there has to be
something good or at least significant about Evangelion to make people continue to watch and debate about it 12 years after it aired. Otherwise it'd just be forgotten in obscurity amongst other mid-90s anime like El Hazard, Maze, Gokudo, Generator Gawl, and Blue Gender. And since you decided to have a go at other people's favorites, I'm assuming you're putting yours out there as well...
*Cowboy Bebop: Overrated story that could've been told in about 6 episodes if they'd cut out all the random episodic "Bounty-of-the-Week" and shroom-eating stories. "We're hungry!" "Let's go catch this guy and get a reward!" "Oh crap we saved the day but we didn't get the money and we're still hungry. Roll credits!"
*Full Metal Panic (I'm assuming the first series here) : As a romantic comedy, it fails because the comedy is all one-note "fish-out-of-water" and "Look what that crazy Sousuke blew up now!", and the romance goes nowhere (in the first series, or the three anime series so far). As a mecha action series, it's merely okay because Gonzo's poor pacing made the episodes that should've been exciting drag, plus some of the mecha "tournaments" make G-Gundam look like a serious epic.
*His & Her Circumstances: Starts out decent, but has more recaps than Wolf's Rain and goes into a spiraling freefall after episode 18, in the animation, story, and character department, all towards a cop-out ending that resolves nothing.
Gundam Seed: Tbh I haven't actually seen it, but I hear tell it's a cheap rehash of the classic Gundam 0079 series, only with angsty emo teens. (Or maybe that was GS Destiny?)
Basilisk: Why are fighting anime so popular? They're all the same. The plots are all boring. Where's the point?
*KgNE: Poor excuse for a soap opera with one of the most spineless male leads ever and characters that stand around whining for four episodes straight and then do things that make no sense. Plus with all those random other girls, it's pretty much saying "Hey this is based on a porno game but we took out most of the porno so if you wanna fap go buy the game you loser otaku!"
*Honey & Clover: Bunch of emo hippie college art students complaining about how they can't get some guy or girl to like them, or how aimless their lives are because they're in a dead-end major. At least it gets the Pedobear Seal of Approval thanks to Hagu-chan.
Jin-Roh: Haven't seen, can't judge.
* In all honesty, I
do like these series myself; I'm just playing devil's advocate here.
