In the world of Anime it's easy to point out the anime art style which most of the time has just improved from the old days but not evolved but this list celebrates those who dared to be different and succeeded.
10. Hetalia Axis Powers
Style: Soft color tones that give the characters such a unique appearance & glow.
Although Hidekazu Himaruya's art style is better known in Hetalia, when used in a different story it's almost as if you're reading a painting.
9. Princess Mononoke
Style: Miyazaki Hand Drawn Style that rely on epic scenery.
There's a reason why Miyazaki is considered the Japanese Disney, all of his works rely on epic scenery which is entirely hand drawn and Mononoke was his crowning achievement of this.
8. Redline
Style: Strong color scheme similar to pop art relying on exaggerated animation.
7 years and 100,000 hand made drawings show just how much effort this film took to make.
7. Pani Poni Dash
Style: Strong colors used in free flowing animation to demonstrate surreal & exotic imagery.
I'm not sure if this was the first title to use this type of art but Pani Poni Dash is certainly the best at using it. At times the quality fluctuates but it works well in the shows favor in order to show off some of the more surreal moments of the series. Negima has used this style as well.
6. Puella Madoka Magica
Style: Nightmarish abstract art which draws the viewers attention to the story.
Madoka Magica was ground breaking for the Magical Girl Genre by taking the happy parts and redesigning it into a nightmare world. Each witch resembles an abstract painting showing just how corrupt the mind can get.
5. Shamanic Princess
Style: 90s style at it's highest quality.
The short series Shamanic Princess really wanted to stand out and the 90s Anime style was set on strong color and high quality scenery and animation. I'd like to see how much money this cost to animate.
4. Panty & Stocking
Style: Western Cartoon Style based heavily on Adult Swim and Modern Cartoon Network.
If Americans can copy us then we can copy them and the result is the anarchy that is Panty & Stocking, a show that makes Excel Saga look normal.
3. Soul Eater
Style: Tim Burton Art Style.
It's been said in pretty much every review for Soul Eater that if Tim Burton ever did an anime then it would look something like Soul Eater and who can blame them when the moon is smiling with such a sinister grin.
2. Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls
Style: Wood Block Art Style using ink blots & brush strokes for action sequences.
An old printing technique used in Japan & China which became in the art world the official style of Japanese art. Samurai Girls is drawn in such a way that the animation looks as if it takes place on a wood block with ink blots & brush strokes to create unique action sequences.
1. Tiger & Bunny
Style: Evolution of the detailed art style used in Akira mixed with CGI.
The animation team behind Tiger & Bunny really worked for this series, it is one of the best anime worlds I've ever seen and really mixes well with the CGI parts. If someone took the time to reboot Akira it would look something like this.
