I was looking up my favorite anime series, Touch, on animenfo.com the other day, when I was shocked to discover that it wasn't listed in their top 200 list. I searched the entire site, and when I finally found the stats for Touch, I realized why it didn't make the top 200:

Average rating: 9.2/10.0
Number of reviews: 14

Apparently, their ranking system is a function of both the average score and the number of reviews, so a high rating means nothing if the show isn't reviewed much. Now let's see exactly how much a total of 14 reviews stacks up against some other anime:

Naruto: 524
Cowboy Bebop: 421
Trigun: 264
Samurai Champloo: 152
Monster: 83
Gankutsuou: 55
Saiyuki: 37
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: 18

Holy shit, when I found out that Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo had more reviews than Touch, I ran outside and beat up the first bum I could find. The reality that more people could be aware of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo than Touch is an injustice beyond comprehension.

Why haven't more Americans heard of Touch? It only has 101 episodes, 5 movies, another live action movie, and it holds the Japanese record to the highest rated anime TV show ever with a 34% share. Even the Spanish, French, and Italians jumped on the Touch bandwagon. What did they see in Touch that we didn't?

1. Touch is an 80's anime. That automatically guarantees it's awesome.

2. Boxing. I've never been disappointed by a series that features boxing at some point.

3. It's a show about twins that doesn't suck. You may be hesitant to watch a show about twins if you've seen any of those shitty Olsen twins movies, but I assure you, Touch is good.

4. The characterization is the best I've ever seen. Each character has an entertaining personality, but at the same time, the characters are presented in sufficient depth to prevent them from becoming trite and predictable.

5. Hiroaki Serizawa. I usually don't care much for male singers with high-pitched voices, but this guy has a bunch of good songs, and he stuck around for all of Touch, including all the movies.

6. The dinosaur mascot. Dinosaur mascots kick ass.

Central-Anime was the only fansubbing group with the balls to sub Touch, and they did a brilliant job. Their wording was accurate without compromising fluency, the translation notes were informative yet non-intrusive, and best of all, episodes were consistently released every 3 to 4 days. Consequently, I was able to watch Touch regularly for approximately 1 year in excellent quality without overindulging or being held in prolonged suspense. If you don't watch Central-Anime's Touch subs, you're missing out on the greatest fansubbing project ever completed.

10386 people are still going to write reviews for Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo