P.A. Works (Progressive Animation Works) is an anime studio which has won the hearts of many through their various anime series which they have created over the years. Founded in 2000 by Kenji Horikawa, PA Works is best known for high-quality, beautifully crafted orginal anime such as the likes of Angel Beats, Shirobako or Charlotte and many more.
They have created such an immense amount of anime with diverse stories and settings such as fantasy shows like Fairy Gone, Sirius the Jaeger or heartwarming shows like Angel Beats, Maquia or Iroduku. Their works also includes popular horror show Another or Shirobako, which gives us a look at animation industry in Japan.
Recently Netorabo, a japanese ranking and Media website announced the results of their poll where they asked their Users about their favourite P.A. Works anime. The poll received a total of 8567, between the period of June 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020.
Here’s the top 10 P.A. Works anime as ranked by Japanese fans:
CONTENTS
- 1. Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea – 1600
- 2. Shirobako – 1319
- 3. Angel Beats! – 932
- 4. Hanasaku Iroha – 866
- 5. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms – 552
- 6. Charlotte – 547
- 7. Iroduku: The World in Colors – 536
- 8. True Tears – 482
- 9. TARI TARI – 482
- 10. Uchouten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) – 242
- 11. Uma Musume Pretty Derby – 199
- 12. Kuromukuro – 194
- 13. Sakura Quest – 133
- 14. Another – 132
- 15. CANAAN – 111
- 16. Glasslip – 68
- 17. Red Data Girl – 63
- 18. Haruchika – 41
- 19. Sirius the Jaeger – 25
- 20. Fairy Gone – 24
1. Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea – 1600
Long ago, all humans lived in the ocean. But some who longed for the land abandoned the ocean, casting off the special raiments granted to them by the sea god to adapt them to life under the sea…
Though mankind was divided into sea dwellers and land dwellers, each with different ways of thinking, they were all still fellow humans, and they continued to maintain contact as time went on.
Sakishima Hikari, Mukaido Manaka, Hiradaira Chisaki, and Isaki Kaname live in an undersea village, while Kihara Tsumugu lives on land.
When these middle school second-year land and sea dwellers meet for the first time, their hearts begin to undulate like the tides.
The youthful fantasy tale of these young people’s lives unfolds in a strange and beautiful world.
2. Shirobako – 1319
Shirobako begins with the five members of the Kaminoyama High School animation club all making a pledge to work hard on their very first amateur production and make it into a success. After showing it to an audience at a culture festival, that pledge turned into a huge dream—to move to Tokyo, get jobs in the anime industry and one day join hands to create something amazing.
Fast forward two and a half years and two of those members, Aoi Miyamori and Ema Yasuhara, have made their dreams into reality by landing jobs at a famous production company called Musashino Animation. Everything seems perfect at first. However, as the girls slowly discover, the animation industry is a bit tougher than they had imagined. Who said making your dream come true was easy?
3. Angel Beats! – 932
In a world after death, angels fight for their fate and their future. Yuri, the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen, rebels against the god who destined her to have an unreasonable life. On the otherhand, Tenshi, the chairperson of the student council for the world after death, battles against the SSS members. SSS members utilize armed weaponry to battle it out against the angels harnessing supernatural powers.
4. Hanasaku Iroha – 866
After her single mother decides to run off with a boyfriend to dodge debt collectors, the young and energetic Ohana is sent to live with her grandmother. However, her grandmother is the strict owner of a hot springs inn and requires her to work at the inn to pay for her living expenses. Although Ohana is unhappy about this situation at first, she decides to make the best of her situation and work hard. Ohana’s life is suddenly filled with fun, mischief, and drama!
5. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms – 552
The people of Iolph have a lifespan of hundreds of years and maintain their teenage appearances for life, but when the peace of this town is shattered by those who want the secret to their longevity for themselves, a young girl named Maquia is forced to escape. Wandering the land alone, upon finding an orphaned baby she chooses to raise him, but as this boy grows up so the difference in their lifespans is thrown into ever-sharper relief.
6. Charlotte – 547
Very few adolescent boys and girls have an onset of special abilities. Yu Otosaka is one such man who uses his ability unbeknownst to others in order to lead a satisfying school life. Then one day, a girl named Nao Tomori suddenly appears before him. Their encounter reveals the destiny for wielders of special abilities.
7. Iroduku: The World in Colors – 536
Set in the city of Nagasaki, the story takes place in a world where a miniscule amount of magic remains in everyday life. Hitomi Tsukishiro is a 17-year-old descendant of a witch family who grew up with stale emotions, as she lost her sense of color at a very young age. Feeling sorry for her granddaughter’s future, Kohaku, a great witch, sends Hitomi to past, the year 2018. Through exchanges with her 17-year-old grandmother and her club members, the story follows Hitomi’s growth as a person.
8. True Tears – 482
Living under the same roof with the girl he has a crush on should be a dream for Shinichirou Nakagami, but the reality is closer to a nightmare. At school, Hiromi is bright, academically successful, athletic, and popular. But at home, Hiromi is a completely different person; she’s cold, distant, and encased in the protective shell she’s erected around herself after a painful childhood.
At school, a strange girl named Isurugi Noe suddenly takes an interest in Shinichirou. Noe loves the school’s chickens, especially Raigomaru, who she’s convinced can fly. Thus begins a strange relationship where Shinichirou helps Noe resolve her problems, even as he tries to figure out his own feelings about Noe, Hiromi, and his childhood friend, Andou Aiko. All the while Shinichirou is also trying to find the key to unlock Hiromi’s heart, and to finish the children’s picture book he’s been writing. Surprisingly, it’s Noe who proves critical to both…
9. TARI TARI – 482
The last year of high school is always a time of both looking forward and looking back. Before you lies the future, alternately bright and scary. Behind you lie memories, both happy and sad. And somehow, in the course of one year, you have to reconcile those two and decide where your life is going to go.
For Wakana Sakai, who had started studying music, it’s time to face the tragedy that made her abandon that path. For Sawa Okita, it’s about her dreams of riding professionally. And for Konatsu Miyamoto, it’s about bringing her friends together through the magic of a song. Can something as simple as the formation of a choir club really help solve the hurts and pangs that come with growing up? Can music bring people together despite their differences?
10. Uchouten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) – 242
In Kyoto, there are three kinds of residents: humans, tanuki, and tengu. Shimogamo Yasaburou is the third son of the Shimogamo tanuki family. His father, Souichirou, had been the head of Kyoto tanuki community until he was eaten by the human members of “Friday Club”. While taking care of an old tengu, fighting with other tanuki, and playing with a psychic human girl, Yasaburou approaches the truth of his father’s death.
11. Uma Musume Pretty Derby – 199
This is a tale of a world where “horse girls” with glorious names and incredible running abilities live alongside humanity.
Horse girl Special Week has moved from the country to the city to attend Tracen Academy. There, she and her classmates compete to win the Twinkle Series and earn the title of “The County’s #1 Horse Girl.”
12. Kuromukuro – 194
An ancient artifact was discovered during the construction of the Kurobe dam, leading to the establishment of the United Nations Kurobe Research Institute. Intellectuals from all over the world gathered to study the object, and the children of those researchers attend Mt. Tate International Senior High School, including the institute head’s daughter, Yukina Shirahane.
The story begins in the summer of 2016, when a lone samurai once again awakens.
13. Sakura Quest – 133
Five young women have one thing in common—the careers they planned for themselves weren’t working out. Job dissatisfaction, trying to make ends meet, and personal insecurities lead each of them to start working at a local tourism bureau where their lives become intertwined. As the girls experience their first year on the job, they learn a lot about their town, their industry, and themselves.
14. Another – 132
When Kouichi Sakakibara transfers to his new school, he can sense something frightening in the atmosphere of his new class, a secret none of them will talk about. At the center is the beautiful girl Mei Misaki. Kouichi is immediately drawn to her mysterious aura, but then he begins to realize that no one else in the class is aware of her presence.
15. CANAAN – 111
Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Oosawa Maria was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. Now working as a camerawoman, she reunited with her friend Canaan in Shanghai. Canaan, an assassin gifted with synesthesia, is being targeted by the terrorist squad Snake. Meanwhile, numerous groups converge on Shanghai, all after either Canaan or Maria.
16. Glasslip – 68
The daughter of a glass artisan family, Fukami Touko, spends relaxed days at a cafe called “Kazemichi” at a friend’s house. On the summer vacation of her third year in high school. in front of them appeared a transfer student boy: Okikura Kakeru. He told Touko that he can hear the voices of the future. If someone knew in advance what their future would look like, what would they wish for? While feeling never-before-felt tremors in herself, Touko realises that she has started getting a feeling in her heart which she can’t leave alone…
17. Red Data Girl – 63
A modern fantasy based on Japanese Shinto legends. Suzuhara Izumiko is a 15-year-old girl, who has been raised and protected in a shrine deep in the Kumano mountains. She is quite shy and destroys all the electric devices she touches. When she begins to think about going out of the mountains and moving to the city, her guardian Sagara Yukimasa recommends her to enter a high school in Tokyo and forces his son Miyuki to serve Izumiko for life. Miyuki and Izumiko repel each other but their relationship begins to change when a terrifying accident occurs on the school excursion. Izumiko learns her fate as the last representative (yorishiro) of a Himegami goddess and Miyuki learns of his duty as a guardian Yamabushi of Izumiko.
18. Haruchika – 41
The original work revolves around two high school students named Haruta and Chika, who are members of a wind instrument club that is on the verge of being shut down. The two are childhood friends, and they spend their days practicing hard while also trying to recruit new members. When a certain incident happens within their school, they work together to solve it.
19. Sirius the Jaeger – 25
A strange group of people carrying musical instrument cases landed on Tokyo station. They are called the “Jaegers”, who came to hunt vampires. Amongst them, there stood a young man with striking serenity and unusual aura. His name is Yuliy, a werewolf whose home village was destroyed by vampires. Yuliy and the Jaegers engage in deadly battle over a mysterious holy arc only known as “The Arc of Sirius”.
With eternal affinity and spiral of conspiracy entwine, the highly anticipated action-thriller anime begins!
20. Fairy Gone – 24
The anime is set in a world where fairies possess and reside within animals, granting them special powers. By surgically removing and transplanting the organs of a possessed animal into a human, humans can partially summon the fairy and use it as a weapon. Eventually, such individuals were used for war, and were called “Fairy Soldiers.” After a long war, these soldiers lost their purpose, and had to reintegrate into society. From the government, to the mafia, and even becoming terrorists, each tread their own path.
The story begins nine years after the end of the war, and centers on the protagonist Maria. Maria is a fresh recruit of “Dorothea,” an organization dedicated to the investigation and suppression of fairy-related crimes and incidents. Even in peacetime, the government is still unstable after the war. Many criminals still have lingering wounds from the previous conflict, and there are terrorist groups bent on revenge. This is the story of Fairy Soldiers seeking their own justice in a chaotic postwar world.
