By popular demand, I’m launching a new commissioned project. As the title says, it’s a retrospective of the 2000’s, similar to the one I did for the 2010’s. I don’t anticipate doing another of that length (the 2010’s one was about 10,000 words) but hey – maybe you’ll surprise me!
Details are in the Ko-Fi link– please go here to support the project. In brief, the more we’re able to raise, the longer and more detailed the final retrospective will be. I know based on prior commitments that we should get to the first threshold – we’ll see what happens after that. I plan to leave this open until March 30, and we’ll see how we do.
Eligibility would be the same as the 2010’s list – i.e., any series that finished airing from Winter 2000 through Fall 2009. I haven’t thought about what would be on there, but there are some obvious candidates (and I’d expect 2007 to be strongly represented). It was a hell of a decade in anime, and it would be very interesting to compare the two decades’ lists side by side.
As always, thank you sincerely for your support and please feel free to offer your comments and suggestions in comments. Stay frosty!
Update 2/23/23: Tier 1 has been reached, and we’re almost to Tier 2.
Update #2, 2/24/23: Tier 2 – mission clear!
Update #3, 3/16/23: We’re up to $148 raised, so Tier 3 is startling to look realistic.
Update 3/17/23: $160 raised, creeping close to tier 3.
Update 3/27/23: $190 raised, on the brink!
Update 3/28/23: $320 raised, Tier 3 4 get!
Nicc
February 22, 2023 at 9:38 amThe 2000’s, that’s when I got started with anime and back in the days of broadcast or cable/satellite television. I expect a lot of nostalgia from this era. For those growing up at a certain time, this was Toonami’s heyday. Granted, a lot of those shows on that programming block were from before the 2000’s, but were brought to an English-speaking audience for the first time. I can still remember how much of a smash hit “Gundam Wing” was back in the day. Cartoon Network did a terrific job with promoting the shows. I can still remember a lot of the promos from back then (They got Peter Cullen narrating the promos! I still watch “Space is the Place”, “Dreams” and “Advanced Robotics” every now and then).
Now, back on topic, it’s an era that I should really try watching more shows from. I only started becoming a full-time anime watcher in the 2010’s thanks to streaming (Being able to watch anytime, anywhere and on any device was the game-changer) and I’m sure there’s a lot of shows that I missed from the earlier decade. I do remember reading the post for the 2010’s anime from back in 2019 and I look forward to seeing your picks for the 2000’s.
Guardian Enzo
February 22, 2023 at 9:43 amThanks – let’s hope we get there and make it happen!
Otcho_Shogun
February 23, 2023 at 10:00 amMan the 2000s is such a goldmine of great anime. There is so much you could cover here. I’m personally hoping for some early-mid 2000s Gonzo, Madhouse and Ig. Works.
I’m not sure if you’re planning to cover tv shows along with movies, but there is so much tv stuff that covering movies in the same piece could be a bit too much, right? Like Satoshi Kon himself is worth a retrospective on his own.
Guardian Enzo
February 23, 2023 at 10:47 amI think I would be forced to leave movies out. I didn’t do them in the 2010s list, so that seems consistent. Who knows, if I hit a higher tier on the crowdsourcing maybe I can add a movie list too…
Otcho_Shogun
February 24, 2023 at 1:28 amI don’t know, if you plan to do more larger projects like this in the future, but If you didn’t do movies for the 2010s, then a retrosperctive of anime movies of the last 20-25 years or something could be very interesting!
No pressure of course. Stuff like this always has to be worth the time to justify the effort, but I feel like movies are sometimes a little undertalked in the anime community., where the seasonal pressure of dozens of dozens of TV shows takes up so much time and focus, that movies can fall to the wayside a little bit.
Even older classic movies aren’t often mentioned, when people ask for recommendations of older anime.
Guardian Enzo
February 24, 2023 at 8:37 amThat’s another good idea. I agree broadly speaking that anime movies get too little discussion, but that’s in part due to how much harder it is to consume them in English. And it makes no sense to rank them side by side with TV series (as you sometimes see).
I suppose it comes down to how much appetite their is to support such a project. I could always do another crowdsourcing project for it if it seems like there’s enough interest.
John G
February 28, 2023 at 10:11 amOh boy! Curious to see what all pops up here!
This is the period that got me into anime, but I think also the period I’ve saved the least from, because I was deep in the teen boy era watching hundreds of episodes of junk. So curious to hear about what I’ve missed in this era.
I have no idea what will make your list but these are the shows that come to my mind: FLCL, Samurai Champloo, Eureka Seven, Gankutsuou, Last Exile, Paranoia Agent, NHK, Death Note (I guess), Gurren Lagann, Mitchiko to Hatchin, Ergo Proxy, Wolf’s Rain?
Very curious though, because I didn’t follow you at that time, I think I only found your blog around 2010 or 11.
John G
February 28, 2023 at 10:41 amOh, and perhaps The Animatrix?
Guardian Enzo
February 28, 2023 at 4:41 pmWell, I started then so you got me pretty much from the beginning!
SeijiSensei
March 25, 2023 at 1:47 amhttps://myanimelist.net/animelist/SeijiSensei?status=7&order=-14
I went to my MAL list and sorted by year. Here are my nominees from oldest to youngest. I suspect most of them are already on your list!
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2694/Hidamari_no_Ki
https://myanimelist.net/anime/135/Hikaru_no_Go
https://myanimelist.net/anime/153/Juuni_Kokuki
https://myanimelist.net/anime/329/Planetes
https://myanimelist.net/anime/19/Monster
The Kusuriuri stories from https://myanimelist.net/anime/586/Ayakashi__Japanese_Classic_Horror and https://myanimelist.net/anime/2246/Mononoke
https://myanimelist.net/anime/584/Noein__Mou_Hitori_no_Kimi_e
https://myanimelist.net/anime/849/Suzumiya_Haruhi_no_Yuuutsu
https://myanimelist.net/anime/889/Black_Lagoon
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1210/NHK_ni_Youkoso
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1698/Nodame_Cantabile
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2152/Oh_Edo_Rocket
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1827/Seirei_no_Moribito
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2164/Dennou_Coil
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2152/Oh_Edo_Rocket
https://myanimelist.net/anime/2251/Baccano
https://myanimelist.net/anime/5420/Kemono_no_Souja_Erin
https://myanimelist.net/anime/5941/Cross_Game
Collectr
March 28, 2023 at 9:22 pmGlad to see a nod to Hidamari no Ki! More people need to watch it. But there’s not a bad show in the bunch.