This is the continuation of the list of the best animes released in what many consider the Second (and probably best) Era of anime.
You can check the past list here: https://steemit.com/anime/@lenin-mccarthy/the-most-notable-short-series-in-the-second-golden-era-of-anime-pt-i
Here are some othe anime:
SAIKANO (2002, 13 episodes)
Saikano is a weird anime in its own right. Pretty much like Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, it started as a school anime. Soon we learn that war is raging in the world and the city (probably located in Sapporo) where the action is depicted exists on a bubble, until one day a raid bombs a mall where Chise’s boyfriend, Shuji, goes with some friends. There, Shuji notices that Chise is actually a weapon of mass destruction and, while loving her, deals with accepting her as she is. The series has a narrative structure of flashbacks where Shuji tells the story through Chise’s diaries, so we as public don’t get to know who Chise is fighting, with who is Japan at war or why the war started although one enemy plane is shot and the pilot speaks English with American accent and the enemy is referred as “combined armies”.
Not much is explained on the series as it focuses more on how the relationship between Chise and Shuji develops, but a two-episode OVA, released in 2005, explores the origin story of Chise. An live action movie has produced and released around 2006.
COWBOY BEBOP (1998, 26 episodes)
The first work of Shinichiro Watanabe as a director, this anime helped expanded the popularity of anime outside of Japan. It is a blend of genres, but can be labeled as a western in an interplanetary setting. Telling the story of a group of rogues that basically are bounty hunters and the relationship between their leader, Spike, and his love rival and former friend, Vicious. According to Watanabe, every major character was meant to showcase a different side of him and use them as vehicles to ask philosophical questions.
Critically acclaimed, it is considered a hit in the U.S.A. and one of the main reasons that peer-to-peer fansub groups on IRC and bitorrent, a very 2000’s phenomenon, started to exist in the first place.
Watanabe accepted that animes Bubblegum Crisis and Lupin III were main influences for his work, and many has traced similarities between the main characters of the latter and Cowboy Bebop.
SCHOOL RUMBLE (2004, 26 episodes)
Probably the most successful comedy anime of all time, School Rumble is notable for the lack of fanservice, even if there were sexual innuendos. The first season, that is the one being reviewed, also avoided most of clichés used in the genre. The story of ‘school delinquent’ Harima, who has a crush on Tenma, who has a crush on Karasuma, has an autobiographical feeling even though creator Jin Kobayashi has stated it’s not, claiming instead that characters are a blend of real people and events aren’t real. Pressed, Kobayashi later accepted there was some real stuff on the manga and anime, but refused to clarify.
A second 26-episode season aired in 2006, less successful, and a third and final season was drawn but never animated, with the exception of the last two episodes.
Kobayashi has stated that he would like to return to explore the characters’ lives as adults.