Wonderful artwork and complex stories of anime are appealing to many people. However, every year more and more anime becomes available outside of Japan. Choosing the next anime you will watch may become difficult, especially for those of us who have limited free time. I am no longer pursuing anime actively, but I have seen many works over the years and would like to recommend to you the ones that I enjoyed the most.
If I had to categorize the ratings it would be “Excellent” from 90 to 94 and “Masterpiece” from 95 to 100. I realize that my rating is biased. To help you make a little more objective assessment, I linked each title to the corresponding Anime News Network page with further resources and distribution of ratings from hundreds of people. You can also visit my resources page with links to anime review sites. I hope you enjoy these anime!
| Title | Rating | Genre |
| Grave of the Fireflies | 98 | War Drama |
| Serial Experiments Lain | 97 | Sci-fi, Spiritual |
| Cowboy Bebop | 97 | Adventure, Drama, Comedy |
| Mushshi | 97 | Drama, Spiritual |
| Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo | 96 | Slice of Life, Drama, Sci-Fi |
| Spirited Away | 96 | Adventure |
| Kiki’s Delivery Service | 96 | Slice of Life |
| Princess Mononoke | 96 | Adventure, Drama |
| Azumanga Daioh | 96 | Comedy |
| My Neighbor Totoro | 95 | Adventure |
| Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | 95 | Fantasy |
| Now and Then, Here and There | 95 | Adventure, Drama |
| Record of Lodoss War | 94 | Fantasy |
| ROD TV | 94 | Adventure, Comedy, Drama |
| Full Metal Alchemist | 94 | Adventure, Drama, Comedy |
| Millenium Actress | 94 | Drama, Romance |
| Princess Nine | 94 | Sports, Drama |
| Rurouni Kenshin OAVs | 94 | Action, Drama |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion | 94 | Drama, Psychological |
| Only Yesterday | 93 | Slice of Life |
| Whisper of the Heart | 93 | Slice of Life |
| Haibane Renmei | 93 | Spiritual |
| Castle in the Sky | 92 | Adventure |
| Ah! My Goddess: The Movie | 92 | Romance |
| Abenobashi Shopping Arcade | 92 | Parody, Comedy |
| Ghost in the Shell | 92 | Sci-fi |
| Perfect Blue | 92 | Drama, Psychological |
| Macross Plus OAV | 92 | Sci-fi, Romance |
| Cat Returns | 91 | Adventure |
| Akira | 91 | Sci-fi |
Kitsune's Thoughts 
Which season of Ghost in the Shell is rated 92? Or is it all of it? About a 1/3 of those listed here are on my “watch” list, and some I’ve only vaguely heard of. Overall I’d say the list is very well rated, shows that you know Anime very well~
The ratings for this list are quite old, but I don’t want to change them because they reflect my initial impression (May Exposure! Zetsuboushita! :P) I’ll update the list with some of the new shows soon after the end of the Spring 2008 season. Now I would probably rate some of the shows lower than they are currently on the list.
My entire list is very long actually. I tried to calibrate my scale against many other anime. The ones listed here are only those above 90.
Ghost in the Shell on that list refers to the original movie (you’ll see that if you follow the link). I saw this movie a long time ago. I seen some of the series, but I never completed watching all the episodes. I really like the episode describing Motoko’s background (first video on this linked page; it has great music too) 🙂
https://celestialkitsune.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/ghost-in-the-shell-hideo-and-matoko/
Thank you very much! And now I have nice lists of anime to be watched =DD
I’ve watched some of them, the nicest one for me was Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo..
Whew it made me cried pretty much =P
You are welcome 🙂
Indeed, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo was a very touching anime 🙂