So how are we going to do this? The top 2 of each year will pass directly to the first main round while the rest of the top 8 of each year will have to battle among themselves for a spot in that first round. The titles that qualify directly are:
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~ [color="DarkOrchid"]Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex[/color] ~ [color="Sienna"]Kino no Tabi[/color] ~ [color="Magenta"]Princess Tutu[/color] ~
~ [color="Silver"]Monster[/color] ~ [color="SandyBrown"]Fullmetal Alchemist[/color] ~ [color="DeepSkyBlue"]Noein[/color] ~
~ [color="Teal"]Eikoku Koi Monogatari Emma[/color] ~ [color="RoyalBlue"]The Girl Who Leapt Through Time[/color] ~
~ [color="YellowGreen"]Paprika[/color] ~ [color="Wheat"]Baccano[/color] ~ [color="Lime"]Dennou Coil[/color] ~ [color="LemonChiffon"]Kaiba[/color] ~
~ [color="Plum"]Kara no Kyoukai[/color] ~ [color="Gray"]Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood[/color] ~
~ [color="RoyalBlue"]Cross Game[/color] ~ [color="PaleGreen"]Summer Wars[/color] ~ [color="Olive"]Durarara!![/color] ~
~ [color="Pink"]Puella Magi Madoka Magica[/color] ~ [color="PaleTurquoise"]The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya[/color] ~
And here are the other series from the top 8 of each year which will be competing among themselves for a spot in the first round, in alphabetic order for your convenience:
Angelic Layer
Birdy The Mighty Decode
Casshern Sins
Chobits
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Death Note
Digimon Tamers
Eden of the East
Ergo Proxy
Eureka Seven
Fantastic Children
Fruits Basket
Full Metal Panic!
Full Moon wo Sagashite
Gankutsuou
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
Howl's Moving Castle
Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu
Kuragehime
Last Exile
Letter Bee
Library Wars
Macross Frontier
Macross Frontier: The False Songstress
Michiko to Hatchin
Mononoke
Mouryou no Hako
Mushishi
Ouran High School Host Club
Paranoia Agent
Planetes
RahXephon
Read or Die OVA
Rozen Maiden
Samurai Champloo
School Rumble
Seirei no Moribito
Spice and Wolf
Sword of the Stranger
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Tetsujin 28-go (2004)
Texhnolize
The Beast Player Erin
The Diary of Tortov Roddle
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzuyima
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
The Tatami Galaxy
Time of Eve
Tokyo Godfathers
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Voices from a Distant Star
Welcome to the NHK!
Wolf's Rain
Xam'd: Lost Memories
xxxHolic
In addition, I'll give you guys the chance to nominate up to 12 series each that you believe should be given a chance to prove their worth against the series above. For reference and as a memory refresher, here you may find the best 32 titles of each year:
I encourage you to use as many of your 12 nominations as possible to get a better sample. You can (and should) nominate series that other persons have nominated. In a couple days I'll be closing this phase and the titles with most nominations will enter the qualifying round along with the titles above. (please make sure that your nominees are not one of those titles)
My own nominations:
FLCL
s-CRY-ed
Bakemonogatari
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance
Angel Beats!
Mahoromatic 2
Saikano
The Animatrix
Black Lagoon
5 Centimeters per Second
Darker than Black
Lucky Star