6)

All right, so because I'm the boss and I can, I'm going to cheat and make a number 6 out of all the series that I couldn't bear not to mention. Here they are:

• Last Exile

  I cried a little when making the decision to exclude this title from my top five. It's about as perfect a show as Gonzo will ever manage, telling the story of underdogs opposing tyranny, using both personal and wide-scale perspectives. The aerial setting is fascinating and the characters lovable.

• Magical Shopping Arcade Abe no Bashi

  This show set the bar higher for parody anime, by running a fantastic character drama in parallel with the comedy. It's the story of a couple kids who experience a bend in time and space when a family tragedy occurs.

• Princess Tutu

  Because what guy can't enjoy a cute little girl performing flawless ballet to save her fairy-tale beau's heart from the clutches of an evil bird lady? Besides, any anime soundtrack that uses Tchaikovsky is a winner in my book.

• School Rumble

  This title was a strong candidate for the top 5, but its jokes rely so much on the viewer having some familiarity with Japanese culture that I hesitated. That said, this romantic comedy is one of the funniest shows I've had the pleasure of watching these ten years, right up there with His and Her Circumstances (when it's funny). Even before the first season is over, the characters feel like family.

• Space Pirate Captain Harlock: Endless Odyssey

  This installment in the Harlock saga (not to be confused with Harlock Saga) is insanely addictive. It brings back Tadashi Daiba, a young man looking for his father's murderer, and rounds the old crew up for an epic confrontation with evil itself, to decide the fate of Earth.

• Wolf's Rain

  Watch this show for the experience of watching a world fall apart and give way to primal instincts. Or watch it for the experience of a primal beast nurturing human characteristics at world's end to shine a light of hope. Both apply.

5) Planetes

Space debris is a real problem which affects us right now. The NASA Orbital Debris program tracks close to twenty thousand objects larger than 10 centimeters, and estimates that there are tens of millions of smaller objects circling Earth. Any one of these objects could potentially destroy a spacecraft, so in the near future, there are astronauts who collect this space garbage or send it downward to burn in the atmosphere. Planetes tells the personal stories of a few of these astronauts, but also gives the larger picture of how much politics and petty corporate infighting rules the human presence in space — both in the show's time period and ours. It's a sci-fi that I could really wrap my head around, and for that, it deserves a spot on my short list.

4) Mushi-Shi (2005)

Mother Earth, or Gaea, or Mother Nature — despite the name, it's a concept that people are familiar with all over the world. In the world of Mushi-Shi, it is the paradoxical mushi, who exist but cannot be said to be alive, who form the stream of life — nature's arteries. Because mushi exist outside the realm of observable nature, it takes a special type of person (a mushi-shi, or mushi master) to perceive and study them, and protagonist Ginko is such a person.

This show is very Japanese in style — uncorrupted, it seems, by Western influence, and for that, I'd love to see more like it. That's not to say it has no familiar elements. It's a traveler's tale, and each episode sees Ginko restore the natural balance (or try to) and move on. The show is poetic in its telling, and the subject matter is fascinating.

3) X TV (2001)

There are two shows about the apocalypse that are awesome all around. Wolf's Rain is one of them, and tells a story of a natural upheaval and the degradation of civilization that goes with it. But for this spot, I had to give the honor to X, which approaches the apocalypse as a mystical battle between the so-called Dragons of Earth and Dragons of Heaven. Based on the manga by CLAMP, X nails what I'll call the rhythm of world's end, for lack of a better wording. It's everywhere; in the soundtrack, dialogue, artwork, characterization, and story progression appears the hand of fate, guiding character and viewer alike to the inevitable.

That's not to say there's no hope. The raw appeal of X comes in the notion that the battle lines will be drawn no matter what, and the victor determines the fate of the world. Kamui, the protagonist, is given the choice of which side to fight for, and the rest is decided according to that choice. The fights are emotional and tragic, and the characters are impossible to forget.

2) Banner of the Stars (2000, 2001)

I realize it's a bit unfair to list this series, being that it's a direct sequel and continuation of Crest of the Stars, and draws some of its awesome from its predecessor, but I can't live in a world where this show doesn't receive its just recognition. Hiroyuki Morioka's simultaneously personal and broad sci-fi opera chronicles the genesis of a second iteration of humanity — test tube creations with superior intellect and having a lifespan of twice that of their human creators, who use their abilities to gain independence and build a vast empire, the likes of which the universe had never seen.

Crest of the Stars introduced us to human Jinto and Abh Princess Lafiel — a classic world's collide story where the multitude of differences in their lives make each intriguing to the other. Banner moves the story to the next phase: the two are already friends, and they have to work together aboard Lafiel's attack vessel to fight a war. On a personal level, the story unfolds as it did before, with no shortage of cultural differences between Abh and humans to explore. In fact, Banner steps it up by showing the diversity among the two humans working the bridge of the Basroil, as well. The space battles are adrenaline-packed, and the show does a terrific job of letting the viewer in on tactics and strategies employed at all levels of the battle. It's an incredible experience, and has one of the highest repeat-view counts of anything in my collection.

1) Haibane Renmei (2002)

I don't know where to begin, other than to say that Haibane Renmei affected me in a way that no other anime series or movie could. In a nutshell, it's the story of beautiful, angelic girls who feel terrible pain and work through it together, but the whole of the series is so much more. It's about taking responsibility for what you've done without letting the guilt eat you alive. It's about getting help when you can't heal yourself, and reaching out to those who need you, and knowing you're needed. Haibane Renmei doesn't judge, prod, or pressure its characters, though there is a sense that none of them have an unlimited time to figure things out. The intense emotions in the series are met with profound relief, in what amounts to a spiritual experience. This is the one anime that I can say with certainty made me feel like a different person afterward.