Lately, I've been on a big anime kick. With the One Punch Man English dub recently coming on the scene, I've been thinking a lot about anime. Specifically, I've been thinking about which anime are my favorite. To that end, I decided to make a list of my favorite anime. As a note, I want to make it clear that this is a list of my personal favorite ten anime. This is not necessarily a list of the best anime, just my favorites. If a title that you love is not on my list, there is a decent chance that I haven't seen it. With that said, I would love to know what your favorite anime might be, and if you don't watch anime, I hope that my list might help you find some titles that could be fun to check out.

So, without further ado, here are my ten favorite anime:

10. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Okay, before any anime fans start kicking down my doors with pitchforks and torches, allow me to explain myself. I love this anime a lot, but I have never finished it. A few years ago, a couple of my friends introduced me to this show: Woof, who I've mentioned before, and a friend I will refer to as Cologne. Woof and Cologne got me to watch the show, but they were my only way of watching it. Without them, I couldn't finish the show, so I do not have a complete love for the show yet. For those who don't know, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (FMA:B for short) is about brothers Edward and Alphonse. At a young age, they lose their mother and decide to resurrect her with alchemy. The decision costs them Ed's arm and leg as well as Al's whole body. They then set out to restore what they lost, fighting evil along the way. This show perfectly balances light and dark themes. Humor and sadness interact; death and life dance together. I've never seen a show that was able to be so funny one moment and so serious the next. If I had finished the show prior to making this list, it might have been in the top three. As it is now, though, I put it here.

9. Bobobo-bo bo-bobo

This here is one of the silliest anime you will ever watch. Bobobo-bo bo-bobo is an anime where the titular character fights the evil Czar Baldy Bald IV. The czar seeks to force everyone to go bald, but Bobobo fights for follicle freedom. Using the power of his mighty nose hair, Bobobo and his friends lead a resistance against the evil ruler. I watched this show growing up, and I adored it. No show could get a laugh out of me easier. The sheer randomness of this program is a wonder into itself. If you want a laugh while understanding little to nothing about a show, I recommend this beautiful wonder.

8. School Rumble

My friend Woof has introduced me to several anime over the years, and many of them have been romantic comedies. He's a big fan of that genre, and sometimes, he drags me into it. This is just such a case. School Rumble is a show about Tenma Tsukamoto, a high school freshman trying to catch the eye of her crush, Oji Karasuma. All while she is seeking Karasuma's attention, a rebellious student named Kenji Harima is trying to get Tenma's attention for himself. The show sounds stereotypical in setup, but it is wonderfully executed. Tenma is a hilarious main character, and Harima is a perfect counter to many of her ignorant and light-hearted antics. Like Bobobo, this show uses random humor in a beautiful way to elicit much laughter. While slow at times, this show is simply a fun watch that can be enjoyed with a group of friends.

T-6. Yona of the Dawn

Warning: Some spoilers ahead.

Over the past summer, my friend Panda introduced me to this show. She was insistent on me sticking with it as the first several episodes made me want to stop watching due to its slow-paced start. I stuck with the show, though, and it has now become one of my favorite anime. Yona of the Dawn is about a young princess named, believe it or not, Yona. She has lived a pampered life, but the one thing she wants, the attention of her beloved Soo-Won, has eluded her. Her life is turned upside down when Soo-Won assassinates her father, the king. Yona is forced to flee with the help of her bodyguard Hak. Together, Hak and Yona escape. Yona begins to see her kingdom for the first time while running away from Soo-Won. Seeing the poor shape of the country, Yona and her small group of friends decide to start fighting to improve the country, avoiding Soo-Won's forces all the while. Like I said, the first few episodes of this show were hard to watch for me, especially because they were slow and incredibly sad. But after I kept watching, I became invested in Yona's quest. I became so enthralled with this show that I started reading the manga, something I've never really done before. This show, though slow at first, becomes very meaningful as it continues on.

T-6. Fruits Basket

I actually stumbled on this show through a passive mentioning in a Youtube video that had nothing to do with this anime. Curious about it, I looked the anime up and ended up watching the whole show in short order. The show is about Tohru Honda, a high school girl whose mother has recently passed away. In an effort to not be a burden on those around her, she starts living by herself in the woods. There, she stumbles on the house of one of her classmates, Yuki Sohma. The Sohma family accepts Tohru in, and she starts living with them. She quickly learns that the members of the Sohma family are cursed to turn into animals of the Chinese Zodiac whenever they are touched by a member of the opposite sex. Hilarious antics ensue, but that's not why I love this show. Tohru slowly helps each member of the show with each member's respective problem. She is persistent in caring for everyone in the family, even if she is hurt because of it. Her resilience and love for this family is beautiful to watch. I put this and Yona of the Dawn as a tie because both are very strong and emotional anime. They connect on a deeper level, and that is what I love about them.