The final anime in the top 5 anime of 2005 is Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~. I wrote earlier that these anime are in no particular order, but I didn’t say that I couldn’t pick the best for last! This show is another slice of life anime following the story of Shiratori Ryuji and the other residents of his apartment complex. Most of the fun of this series has to do with the other residents dragging Shiratori from his homework and making him do things for them. In each episode you learn more about each character, and they’ve all got a backstory involved. I really love how Asami-chan is so poor that she has to water down her orange juice before she drinks it. Kawaii!
All of the character designs are unique and way cute (er, except perhaps the old man with a dog puppet). In fact, even the male lead is cute (and dresses in drag a few episodes too…)! Actually, one issue I have with this show is that the characters might in fact be too cute. Shiratori looks like he could pass for a middle school student. He really doesn’t seem like a college student at all.
The OP and ED are pretty standard fare here. They’re not the reasons I watch this anime, and they’re decent enough to do the job.
All things considered, it’s really the awesome character designs and character development that make this anime my favorite of 2005. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I would definitely recommend this. As a matter of fact, all of the anime in the top 5 that I listed are unlicensed and available right now at animesuki.com. You have no excuse, go forth and bittorrent!