Dragon Ball Z ranks 176th in NHK "Best Anime" poll.

[Bullza]

Considering some of the top highest placed anime on there include the likes of Madoka Magica and Love Live then it's pretty obvious that the kind of people voting in this poll were those weird basement dwelling weebs.

Dragon Ball was never going to make it too high on this list. It lacks the little cutesy school girl characters with rainbow coloured hair required for it to finish high up.

It's not "kawaii" enough.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Considering some of the top highest placed anime on there include the likes of Madoka Magica and Love Idol then it's pretty obvious that the kind of people voting in this poll were those weird basement dwelling weebs.

Dragon Ball was never going to make it too high on this list. It lacks the little cutesy school girl characters with rainbow coloured hair required for it to finish high up.

It's not "kawaii" enough.

I think you are making too many assumptions and putting too many people on the same bag to reach that conclussion.

[precita]

Madoka Magica isn't really a moe show, without spoiling anything the show is actually quite dark. It's basically a darker version of Sailor Moon.

[Bullza]

It's still that same kind of show with cutesy little girls with multi coloured hair.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

The otaku crowd eat that shit up more than any other kind of series for some bizarre reason. It's no surprise to me at all that these kind of shows rank so highly on a poll where mainly otakus would even bother to vote.

Something like Dragon Ball Z or Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against in a poll like this. I've seen first hand the sheer difference in popularity between shows like that and these cutesy girl shows.

[SaiyanGod117]

No one should being actually taking this list seriously just by looking at the #1 spot. Hunter x Hunter didn't even get top 200 and that's definitely wanna one of best anime adaptations I've ever seen. Not only that, but just by skimming through the list there's tons of critically acclaimed anime that didn't even make top 100. So I'm personally fine if didn't take make top 100 for this list, since I've seen it rate highly on several other list for anime or animated shows. It's one of the only anime that I've seen rate highly among, not just anime, but animated shows in general.

[Cipher]

Of the top 25 anime, only six began before 2000. In the top 10, only two began prior 2010.

The only series made before the '90s to get into the top 25 is the original Gundam.

Anyone want to hazard a guess what role newness may have played in this poll? Anyone? Bueller?

Then again, based on the very top results, the entire ranking could have been determined by some coordinated efforts from Tiger & Bunny and Love Live fans. I can't find anything on the methodology.

[Totamo]

The manga has always been more revered than the anime has even though the latter is more popular.



Thats what I get from most areas anyway.

[LightBing]

Considering some of the top highest placed anime on there include the likes of Madoka Magica and Love Idol then it's pretty obvious that the kind of people voting in this poll were those weird basement dwelling weebs.

Dragon Ball was never going to make it too high on this list. It lacks the little cutesy school girl characters with rainbow coloured hair required for it to finish high up.

It's not "kawaii" enough.

I think you are making too many assumptions and putting too many people on the same bag to reach that conclussion.

Doubling down on this. Generalization is usually wrong, like in this case. Even worse when you're looking at the cover(Madoka) and making a judgement when you don't know the contents.
It seems there might be some bias to the list, for example how recent an anime is. There's much better ways to point at them.

[Metalwario64]

This list is absolutely hilarious. No Dragon Ball or Hokuto no Ken, Sailor Moon is way lower than Dragon Ball (I like Sailor Moon, but that's quite the gap), Cardcaptor Sakura beat Cowboy Bebop, and Love Live is at number 4! The biggest sin is that Iron Blooded Orphans was beat by Gundam Seed.

[Bansho64]

This list is absolutely hilarious. No Dragon Ball or Hokuto no Ken, Sailor Moon is way lower than Dragon Ball (I like Sailor Moon, but that's quite the gap), Cardcaptor Sakura beat Cowboy Bebop, and Love Live is at number 4! The biggest sin is that Iron Blooded Orphans was beat by Gundam Seed.

Yeah.....this list is straight hot garbage. I'm not gonna label anyone, but this list has got way too many of those really empty "kawaii" anime on it. That part, I'll admit I agree with Bullza on. A lot of it's really horrible.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

This is a poll just like another poll. People enjoy what they enjoy. I can just as well point out to a poll in the West where DB ranked high and call it garbage and label the people who enjoy it as 12 year old idiots, but that's having a garbage attitude. This is a huge problem with fans of only popular titles.

I find it hilarious that some might think the shows featured high on the list are only liked because 'kawaii' as if they somehow know each voter's reasoning behind liking what they like.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Could someone explain me what's the exact problem with the japanese audience entertaiment sensibilities differing with the non-japanese fans? Which, from some posters here this seens like a problem.

As far as the list is concern, I only agree with the sentiment of Dragon Ball being ranked lower (#255) than Dragon Ball Z, as far as I am concerned the former is a much better adaptation than the later.

[sintzu]

I only agree with the sentiment of Dragon Ball being ranked lower (#255) than Dragon Ball Z, as far as I am concerned the former is a much better adaptation than the later.

It is but Z is more popular and had 95% of the manga's iconic moments so its not that surprising to see it ranked higher.

[VegettoEX]

Considering some of the top highest placed anime on there include the likes of Madoka Magica and Love Live then it's pretty obvious that the kind of people voting in this poll were those weird basement dwelling weebs.

Dragon Ball was never going to make it too high on this list. It lacks the little cutesy school girl characters with rainbow coloured hair required for it to finish high up.

It's not "kawaii" enough.

This is not an appropriate post on a variety of levels.

As others have stated, you're also making rash, surface level, uneducated judgments about shows you don't actually know anything about. Please refrain from making these types of generalizations.

[Kassavo]

I'm sure Dragonball as a series would score infinitely higher outside of Japan, anywhere outside of Japan for that matter, especially in North America.

Dragonball is the only reason I ever knew what anime was tbh.

[JulieYBM]

It's still that same kind of show with cutesy little girls with multi coloured hair.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

The otaku crowd eat that shit up more than any other kind of series for some bizarre reason. It's no surprise to me at all that these kind of shows rank so highly on a poll where mainly otakus would even bother to vote.

Something like Dragon Ball Z or Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against in a poll like this. I've seen first hand the sheer difference in popularity between shows like that and these cutesy girl shows.

They eat it up because it's good. Fun, varied, and vibrant characters, great music, animation and acting, and a grand narrative that makes it easy to consume and take ownership of. I'm in the middle of watching Madoka Magica for the first time. The characters are easy to relate to, but also had a great dynamic with each other that is fun to watch. Shinbou Akiyuki's students do a wonderful job directing each episode, presenting information in interesting ways. Cute girls are always a plus for Otaku, but now not only can they consume these characters on the usual personal level, they can consume them on a sexual level. Just look at all of the independently published fan books at events and Comic Market! As Saitou Tamaki once again, there are no child Otaku, because the Otaku's existence is rooted specifically in their sexuality. In the west, series and films aimed at men always star just men (with maybe one or two women characters who are basically just parodies of men), but because Otaku have no 'shame' they are able to create and consume entire works with nothing but women in roles of narrative and/or project importance. This, I argue, is a strength specific to the Otaku and something western media would do well to learn from.

I definitely suggest doing some reading on the subject. Beautiful Fighting Girl by Saitou Tamaki is a good place to start. The Moe Manifesto by Patrick W. Galbraith is another good source to learn the varied history of moe and Otaku-aimed works. You can check out his college papers on the subjects at Academia.edu, too. Galbraith also did a series of interviews with USC professor Henry Jenkins on the various subjects.

Anyway, a Dragon Ball fan of all people is nobody to be go around treating moe fans as beneath them. The entire original comic is nothing more than Toriyama Akira's incoherent masturbation without a hint of ambition to it as it is. It's just a skin you've convinced yourself is proper to consume. It's also factually incorrect to call Otaku 'basement dwelling weebs'. Otaku are not NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) nor are they hikikomori (shut-ins deathly afraid of human interaction due to traumatic events in the lives). A NEET or hikikomori could be an Otaku, but there's nothing inherently linked between them. Otaku are their own kind of unique social class, indeed, but they are nevertheless very able to take care of themselves. Many Otaku are doctors or lawyers (hence the having the money to afford their collections and other Otaku habits). For example, Saitou Tamaki mentioned that many of his psychologist fellows are big Shin Seiki Evangelion Otaku, which makes sense given the way the series tackles depression. Hell, even some politicians are Otaku!

I once saw 'Otaku' labeled as being 'performative' beings. They create fan books, art, costumes, music, figures or even animation and take it to Comic Market (ComiKet) to share and consume. Does that sound like some sort of 'basement dweller' to you? ComiKet attendance has reached the 550,000 attendees as of the Winter 2016 Comic Market. Even San Diego Comic-Con's 2015 attendance was only around 167,000! This is to say nothing of the various live performances they go to.

[8000 Saiyan]

I don't understand why people get offended by polls.

[Kamiccolo9]

I don't understand why people get offended by polls.

Because it's an extension of the "Someone on the internet is wrong!!!!" phenomenon. The only difference is that instead of individual statements, polls are conveniently displayed for criticism.

[Super_Divine_Genki]

Quality of the presentation of an anime series and legitimacy of any "Best" polls aside -- how many of the series on this list could reasonably be fondly remembered 100 years from now? Which one's possess a timeless quality that any generation could be reeled-in by?

[JulieYBM]

Quality of the presentation of an anime series and legitimacy of any "Best" polls aside -- how many of the series on this list could reasonably be fondly remembered 100 years from now? Which one's possess a timeless quality that any generation could be reeled-in by?

Nothing. Things changes. Things go away. All that matters is the now, what we like and why we like it.