Full Disclosure: I like making lists. This particular list is the result of an afternoon of me sitting down and trying to list all the anime episode titles I remember. This correlates pretty well with my actual favorite anime episodes, because I’ve seen most of them enough times to remember their titles. When making this one, I set myself a limit at 60 and reached it fairly quickly. After making the list, I actually ranked them. So yeah, had a lot of fun with this one.

60. Hanamaru Kindergarten-A Hanamaru Fishmonger

59. Neo Ranga-God of a Godless Land

58. Humanity Has Declined-The Fairies’ Survival Skills

57. Desert Punk-The Demon Revealed

56. Astro Fighter Sunred-Vamp’s Miscalculation

55. Humanity Has Declined-The Fairies’ Subculture

54. Onegai Teacher-Let’s Start from the Beginning

53. Aquarion Evol-A Hole New World for Boy and Girl

52. Akagi-Orbit of Wind and Lightning

51. Cowboy Bebop- Black Dog Serenade

50. Akagi-The Temptation of Murderous Intent

49. Irresponsible Captain Tylor-The Longest Day in Space

48. Honey and Clover- It’s Empty…

47. Amagami SS-Renai

46. Koi Kaze-Heat Haze

45. Legend of the Legendary Heroes-A Heart Not Filled With Despair

44. Desert Punk-A Raw Deal

43. Sakura Taisen-Cinderella

42. Legendary Gambler Tetsuya-The Last Tenhou

41. Nodame Cantabile-Kazuo na Chiaki

40. NieA_7-Group Date and Cloudy Skies Bath

39. Noein-To the Future

38. To Heart-A Tranquil Time

37. Madoka Magica-I Won’t Rely on Anyone Anymore

36. Law of Ueki-The Law of Sano’s Awakening

35. Kamisama Dolls-Portrait of Memories

34. Stein’s Gate-Being Meltdown

33. Tiger and Bunny-Blood is Thicker Than Water

32. ef-I’m Here

31. Kaze no Yojimbo-The Casino Train

30. Tiger and Bunny-All’s Well That Ends Well

29. Kare Kano-14 Days

28. To Heart-The Season of Emotions

27. ef-I…

26. Angel Beats-Graduation

25. Kare Kano-Everything Starts Now

24. Tiger and Bunny-Truth Lies at the Bottom of the Well

23. Kamisama Dolls-Kuga Kyouhei the Seki

22. Kino no Tabi-The Kind Country

21. To Heart-Admiration

20. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure-Qualifications of a Hero

19. Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji-Resurrection

18. Space Brothers-The Worst Possible Punishment

17. Kaiba-Everyone in the Clouds

16. Katanagatari-Entou Jyuu

15. Space Brothers-Heaven and Hell

14. Dai Guard-Shinjuku at Night

13. Scryed-The Lost Ground

12. Futakoi Alternative-Emerald Mountain High

11. Space Brothers-Brian

10. Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji-Dying Spirit

9. Space Brothers-Dear Hibito

8. Dai Guard- What Do You Want to Protect?

7. Melody of Oblivion-The Dawn of He Who Begins a New Journey

6. Sasameki Koto-Like a Sunflower

5. Hajime no Ippo-Sympathy for a Dream

4. Scryed-Dream

3. Futakoi Alternative-7 Dayz (and Happy Dayz)

2. Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji-Departed Souls

1. Hajime no Ippo-Hot Rod Era

That’s what my list is right now. If you’re curious about my reasoning, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to explain. To address some of the bigger ones:

-Dear Hibito is above Brian because while the latter represents Space Brothers swapping genres extremely capably, Dear Hibito is what the show does best. Namely, a conflicting message of hope and dejection. It also has the single best bit of body language in the show (Hibito’s wild gestures after he finally snaps at Mutta)

-Black Dog Serenade is on there over other Cowboy Bebop episodes because I’m a middle-aged man at heart. Y’know, exactly the type Jet said would enjoy the episode.

-Hot Rod Era is the best episode of the best TV anime ever made, featuring the best anime character ever made (Masaru Aoki), and uses the second best anime ending song ever (Paper Plane) as an insert song. The ost also has a track (Spread Ivy) designed specifically for the montage sequence in this episode. Of course it’s #1.

-The two Desert Punk episodes are part of one of the very, very few anime original endings that are any good. Specifically, the ending to that show is great because of of two incredibly in-character moments that bring the stronger personalities in the series to an appropriate resolution.

-If you’re keeping track of the final episodes on here, here they are in descending order: Dream, The Dawn of He Who Begins a New Journey, Entou Jyuu, Kuga Kyouhei the Seki, Graduation, Heat Haze, and The Demon Revealed. This is pretty much my list of favorite endings, plus/minus one or two.

-Only 20% of these episodes contain character deaths. I enjoy some of those scenes, but they’re far from the only way to create a great episode.

-The episode titles are as I remember them. Some might be a little different depending on which translation you use.