I'm somewhat surprised at the amount of exceptional anime that has been airing within the last year or so. Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Sword Art Online 2 (season 1) and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun have all been so good! To top it off, we recently watched the stunning Fate/Zero and it's made me reflect at not just the quality of what has been coming out, but also the high frequency in which it is being released.

When I sat down and thought about the rapid succession of amazing content, it seemed to me that there were periods in time where there were distinctly great times and lackluster ones; almost as if the muse in control of the most prolific work ebbed and flowed like the ocean, taking breaks when she needed to in order to gear up for the next great production.

Certainly there are usually great things being released rather regularly, but the times where there are big hits all next to one another it seems especially memorable. Cowboy Bebop, Princess Mononoke and Perfect Blue in '97/'98; Spirited Away, Read or Die and Millennium Actress all in '01; Full Metal Alchemist, Kaiedo Star and Kino's Journey all in '03; Paranoia Agent, Gunbuster 2, Howl's Moving Castle all in '04. It's years like these that give birth to new fans and help serve as a refresher on why we love the medium as a whole!