Anime, a list of memorable stories

I decided to make a list of all the animes/ shows I enjoyed watching and some that I'm still watching. Many of these television series first came out as manga. For many of us, we enjoyed watching them on the television. And weirdly, the names we know the characters of these stories to have are sometimes different than their original depending on how the people in the country your from decided to change the names for televised viewing. This does not include all the anime's or cartoon series that I have seen growing up, or those I continue to watch even today, because...i've seen and continue to see lots which aren't included in this list. These are just my personal favorites that I grew up on. And yes, I haven't seen Naruto Shippuden even though people have told me how awesome it is, but I lack what all humans don't usually have enough of,... time.

1. Dragon ball Z: When did the obsession start? grade two. Dragon ball, is the story of a good young boy with a monkey's tail who goes off in search of seven magical balls that can grant 3 wishes. Goku, (the young boy with the monkey's tail and the hero of the story), heads off in search of these magical balls after his grandfather Gohan passes away leaving him all alone with the four star dragon ball. Luckily for him, he's super strong for some reason and was taught martial arts by his grandfather. He carries a magical stick that can extend to far reaches and meets lots of new friends along the way including characters that will remain with the story such as the naive and headstrong Bulma and the old horny master Roshi. The story continues with Dragon ball Z where Goku has grown up and has a son. The back story of his life unfolds when it is revealed that he is actually an alien who was sent to destroy earth and therefore the cause of his superhuman strength. But instead of destroying the planet, he hit his head as a baby so he becomes "good". The story then move on to where Goku and his friends must help defend the earth against various enemies who possess strength and powers beyond their own. Thus, the heroes of the story continually train to become stronger and surpass impossible odds to defend the earth and the universe time and time again. The story even continues with Dragon ball GT which was much less popular than it's predecessors although the ending may still leave many teary eyed for long time fans of the series.

2. Yu Yu Hakusho (Ghost fighter): "This series was popular when I was growing up. YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi, (who in the Philippines was named Eugene) a street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way. His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the River Styx, who ferries souls to the Underworld where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld's ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests. Yusuke succeeds with the help of his friend Keiko. After returning to life, Koenma grants Yusuke the title of Underworld Detective, charging him with investigating supernatural activity within the human world." Like dragon ball z, the series involves several characters, martial arts. The story also became popular in the Philippines for the love story (although in a more subtle way) between the main character and his friend (a girl but not technically his girlfriend), who we all knew as "Jenny".

3. Voltes V :(Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes Five") is a Japanese anime television series that was first aired on TV Asahi starting June 4, 1977. It was created by Saburo Yatsude and directed by Tadao Nagahama. Voltes V is the second part of the Robot Romance Trilogy of the Super Robot genre which includes Combattler V and Daimos. Voltes V story narrates the heroic exploits of the young robot pilots known as The Voltes Team and their trials against alien invaders from the planet Boazan. Armed with the Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V, the five pilots drive back the invaders one Beast Fighter at a time. The series is different from typical super robot anime of the time in that it illustrates human sentimentality and common values, with underlying themes such as the love of family, equality, selfless sacrifice, team work, and patriotism. Voltes V also revolutionized anime by introducing enemy characters with considerable depth. Voltes V's Prince Heinel (Prince Zardos in the English dub, Sirius in the Italian one) for example, sets a standard for anime villains with a back story and personality in an era when most anime villains were thoughtless formulaic characters with little beyond their menacing appearance and sinister laughter (Though Heinel bears a striking resemblance to Garuda in Combattler V, as do the rest of the main characters).

Voltes V is a work that has a heavy revolutionary undertone. The series ends with Voltes V's spectacular counterattack on planet Boazan to liberate the slaves from the oppression of tyrannical ruler, Emperor Zu Zambojil. After Voltes V, Tadao Nagahama directed the TV anime version of Rose of Versailles, which leaves speculation that perhaps Voltes V was influenced by Nagahama's research on the French Revolution for his future project. The theme of enslaved population rising up to overthrow an aristocracy lend support to theory.

4. Tosho Daimos (闘将ダイモス, Brave Leader (or Fighting King) Daimos) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Nihon Sunrise. Daimos is the third installment of the "Romantic Trilogy", following Chōdenji Robo Combattler V and Chōdenji Machine Voltes V. It ran from 1 April 1978 to 27 January 1979 and consisted of 44 episodes.

After the destruction of their home world, the survivors of the planet Baam (Brahmin in the Philippine dub) head towards Earth with the goal of negotiating the purchase of land for emigration. Unfortunately, during the negotiations, the Baam-seijin (literally, 'Baam Star People'; called Brahmin in the Philippine dub) leader, Leon, is assassinated by his second in command, Georiya, and the delegation from Earth is framed for the murder. In the ensuing chaos, Doctor Isamu Ryūzaki of the Earth delegation is shot and killed. Shortly after the disastrous end of the talks, the Baam-seijin (called “Valerians” in Starbirds) begin a campaign of terror against Earth, lead by Leon’s son, Admiral Richter, who deploys a variety of “Mecha Soldiers” against the planet’s defenses. The only thing standing between the Earthlings and annihilation is the transforming, karate-using super robot, Daimos and its pilot, Kazuya Ryūzaki (Richard Hartford in the Filipino English dubbed version). But that changes when he meets and falls in love with a mysterious girl named Erika, who turns out to be Richter’s sister. Over the course of their struggles to reunite, Kazuya and Erika each learn that the other’s people are not all evil... and that their own people are not all good.

5. Yaiba the master swordsman:

The light-hearted manga is about an adventuring samurai named Yaiba Kurogane (鉄 刃, Kurogane Yaiba) who knows how to be a samurai, and little else. Yaiba lives with his father, Kenjurou, in the forest. One day, while Yaiba was eating, a troop of gorillas came to attack. Yaiba and his father escaped and hid inside a box, but they didn't know that the box was full of pineapples and was going to be transported into the city. In the city, Yaiba finds out that he is a legendary warrior and has to fight the evil of a demonic looking high-school student named Takeshi Onimaru.

Yaiba adapted as an anime series that ran over 50 episodes, and encompassed the adventures Yaiba had in the first few runs of the manga. The show begins with Yaiba training to become a samurai in the jungle with his father and his two animal friends, Kagetora and Shonosuke. At a pivotal point, Yaiba's father announces that he is ready to return to Japan, and instructs him to find his old friend and rival, who just happens to be Sayaka's father.

The people that Yaiba meets along his journey to become a true samurai encourage him, train him, or inspire him to greatness, though at heart he is still a child, and his incredible skill with a sword is matched only by his kindness towards his friends. Though, he tends to leap before he looks, and his thick-headedness tends to turn potential allies into enemies, though his friends soon clobber him, and salvage the situation. This unlikely group embarks on a host of incredible adventures where they meet legendary figures from Japanese history, and finally overcome impossible odds, and put everything on the line, to save the entire planet from a threat not of this world. It's a story of love, friendship, hard work, and never giving up.

6. Roruni Kenshin (Samurai X): Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 明治剣客浪漫譚, Rurō ni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Rōmantan), also known as Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X. The story of Rurouni Kenshin takes place during the early Meiji era in Japan. It tells the story of a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin, formerly known as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai". After participating during the Bakumatsu war, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who was in the middle of a fight with a murderer who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai from her swordmanship school. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real Battōsai, she offers him a place to stay at her dojo as she notes Kenshin is a gentle person instead. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family; and a doctor named Takani Megumi. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including the former leader from the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi and his rival from the Bakumatsu Saitō Hajime.


7. Gundam Wing :

In the distant future, Mankind has colonized space (with clusters of space colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points), and, down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. However, the Alliance oppresses the colonies with its military power. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. In the year After Colony 175, Yuy is shot dead by an assassin (believed to be Odin Lowe), forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of the Zodiac, much more commonly referred to as OZ, to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese.

The story of Gundam Wing begins in the year After Colony 195, with the start of "Operation: Meteor," the scientists' plan for revenge against the OZ military organization. The operation involves five teenaged boys who have each been chosen and trained by one of the five rogue scientists, then sent to Earth independently in extremely advanced mobile suits, one designed by each of the scientists, known as "Gundams." Their mobile suits are called Gundams because they are constructed from a rare and astonishingly durable material known as Gundanium alloy, which can only be created in outer space. Each Gundam is sent from a different colony and the pilots are initially unaware of the presence of the other pilots.

8. Masked Rider Black: Kamen Rider Black (仮面ライダーBLACK, Kamen Raidā Burakku), translated as Masked Rider Black, is a tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the eighth installment in the famous Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu shows. After being kidnapped by the cult Gorgom on the night of their 19th birthday, stepbrothers Kotaro Minami and Nobuhiko Akizuki were submitted to a cyborg surgery with the purpose of becoming the candidates for the next Gorgom Creation King. Both of them are called Century Kings and are destined to best each other in a final battle - whoever wins will become the next Creation King. Kotaro escaped before getting brainwashed (which is the final step in the surgery), with help from his foster father, and turned against Gorgom. He soon finds out the horrific truth from his stepfather: Gorgom originally killed his true parents and, since both Kotaro and Nobuhiko were born on the day of a solar eclipse, referred as "Black Sun" and "Shadow Moon". Kotaro, taking on the name of Kamen Rider Black, was determined to rescue his stepbrother from Gorgom while protecting Japan. However, later in the series, Nobuhiko emerged as Shadow Moon to fight Kotaro with the survivor becoming the next Creation King.

9. Flame of Recca:

Flame of Recca follows the story of a teenage boy named Recca Hanabishi, who is interested in the ninja arts and claims to be one himself. He often gets into fights because he made it publicly known that the person who manages to defeat him will earn his services as a loyal ninja. Despite this, he eventually pledges his loyalty and services as a ninja to Yanagi Sakoshita, a girl with the innate ability to heal any wound/injury, because of her kindness and compassion. Recca soon discovers that he possesses the innate ability to control/manipulate flames, and eventually learns that he is actually the son of the sixth generation leader of the Hokage, a ninja clan that was wiped out by Oda Nobunaga in 1576, roughly 400 years before the series' present day.

The Hokage ninjas wielded mystical objects called madōgu (魔導具), which are referred to as "psychic devices" or "elemental weapons" in the English versions of the series. Madōgu grant their users special abilities, such as allowing their users to manipulate certain elements (as in the case of the Fūjin, which allows its wielder to manipulate the element of wind) and enhancing their user's strength/skills (as in the case of the Dosei no Wa, which increases its user's physical strength and the Idaten, which increases its user's running speed). Oda Nobunaga had invaded the Hokage in 1576 for the purpose of acquiring these weapons, and the series' main antagonist, Kōran Mori, is searching for a madōgu that will grant him eternal life. Recca and his friends become entangled in Mori's quest for eternal life as he initially attempts to kidnap Yanagi, believing that her healing powers will help him achieve immortality. This leads them to join the Ura Butō Satsujin, a tournament wherein the warriors that wield madōgu gather to battle each other. After successfully winning the tournament, Recca and his teammates discover that Mori was on his way to acquire the Tendō Jigoku (天堂地獄, Heaven and Hell), a madōgu said to grant its user eternal life, and once again attempt to stop him.

10. Ninku :

The story in Ninku is about an odd-looking 12-year-old boy named Fuusuke (Fuusuke of the wind (風の風助, Kaze no Fūsuke)) who is a powerful warrior from the Ninku school of martial arts, a style that mixes ninjutsu and karate.

It is explained that before the present time in the story that those who could use Ninku were targeted by an evil empire and the Ninku corps were formed to combat the menace. The names of the corps were taken from the twelve Chinese zodiac animals (干支 Eto) and each captain of the corps was called the zodiac animal Ninku master (干支忍 Etonin). When the war was over, the Ninku were defeated and almost all of them were killed (except for a few corps' captains) since they were useless and were also dangerous for the rulers. At the beginning of the story, three years later, Fuusuke, the young former captain of the 1st Ninku corps and controller of the wind and Hiroyuki (ヒロユキ), his flatulent penguin, start searching for the other Ninku captains, each of whom can control various elements. However, a new group of Ninku users has arisen and are trying to take over the world. Fuusuke and his penguin must defeat the new Ninku empire with the help of his old comrades.

11. Gensomaden Sayuyki :

Saiyuki is the story of four anti-heroes: the monk Genjyo Sanzo (or just "Sanzo"), the monkey king Son Goku, the half-demon Sha Gojo, and the man-turned-demon Cho Hakkai (formerly known as Cho Gonou). They have been dispatched by the Sanbutsushin (the Three Aspects of Buddha, who relay the orders of heaven) to travel to India to stop the possible resurrection of the Bull-Demon-King, Gyumaoh. Along the way they are beset by inept assassins, bad weather, and their own tragic personal pasts. Meanwhile, the villains, two unlikely confidants, Gyokumen Koushou (Gyumaoh's concubine, a demon) and a mad scientist, Dr. Ni Jianyi (a human), continue their attempts to restore the long-dead king. These experiments, a forbidden mixture of science and magic, spawn the "Minus Wave", infecting all of the demons in Shangri-La with madness, shattering the fragile peace that once existed between humans and demons.

More recent anime that I have seen:

12. Death Note :

Light Yagami is an intelligent young man who resents what appears to be a relentless increase of crime and corruption in the world around him. His life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a human's name is written within it, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, he realizes that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light plans to become a god and establish a new world order by passing his keen judgment on those he deems evil and anyone who gets in his way.

Soon, the number of inexplicable deaths of reported criminals catches the attention of International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as "L". L quickly learns that the serial killer, dubbed by the public as "Kira" (キラ, derived from the typical Japanese pronunciation of the English word "killer"), is located in Japan. He also concludes that Kira can kill people without laying a finger on them. Light realizes that L will be his greatest nemesis, and a nuanced game of psychological cat and mouse between the two begins.

12. Bleach :

The story opens with the sudden appearance of one of the Soul Reapers (Shinigami (死神, lit. "death god") in the Japanese version), a military order who escorts the souls of the dead, named Rukia Kuchiki in teenager Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a "hollow", an evil spirit who was originally a human soul. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu (霊圧, lit. "spirit pressure") to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society (尸魂界(ソウル·ソサエティ), Sōru Sosaeti).

In the sixth volume of the series, Rukia's Soul Reaper superiors find out about her giving her powers away (which is illegal in Soul Society) and send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia's capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper Captain Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military.

13. Gundam 00 : Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is the first Gundam series to be animated in widescreen and in high-definition,^[8] as well as the first to be set in the non-fictional Anno Domini era. The series is set in a futuristic Earth and is centered around the exploits of the fictional paramilitary organization Celestial Being and its efforts to rid the world of war and conflict with a series of unique and extremely advanced mobile suits known as "Gundams".

First season The series is set in 2307 AD. As a result of the depletion of fossil fuels, humanity had to search for a new source of power. The power was found in the form of massive arrays of solar power collectors orbiting the Earth, and supported by three orbital elevators, each one serving one of the three "power blocs" on the planet, namely Union, controlling the region surrounding North America, Human Reform League (Japanese: 人類革新連盟; Romaji: jinrui kakushin renmei; Pinyin: rénlèi géxīn liánméng), consisting of China, Russia and India, and AEU, which controls mainland Europe. This causes various conflicts throughout the globe, and it is Celestial Being's task to eradicate these conflicts through "armed interventions."

Second season Four years have passed since the final battle between Celestial Being and the UN Forces. Humanity, having established the Earth Sphere Federation, forms an autonomous peace-keeping force, A-Laws, separate from and above the formal Federation army. Given unfettered discretion, A-Laws is charged with the duty to further unify nations, enforce the will of mankind, and dispose of terrorist cells. Unknown to the general public, however, is that the A-Laws misuse their power and employ inhumane tactics to oppress freedoms, doctrines, and ideologies, all in the name of 'unity'.