It looks like upgrading to WordPress 2.8 broke the poll widget. Nevertheless, I think there were enough votes to pick the first round winners:
Cowboy Bebop (42%)
FLCL (23%)
Haibane Renmei (23%)
.hack//SIGN (17%)
Aria (15%)
Last Exile (13%)
ef: a tale of memories (11%)
Death Note (11%)
Azumanga Daioh (11%)
Code Geass/R2 (11%)
These ten will advance to the final round of the best anime OST poll. I’ll post the second round once I figure out how to get the poll working again.
I wonder how many of those were based more on the perceptions of the series, because I can say that Azumanga Daioh does not impress, mostly because I found its music to be far too simple for my tastes. Did they work within the context of the show? Yes, though it’s hardly an eye-opener. Is it listenable outside the show? Not really…
The fact that Bartender and FMA didn’t get any votes is pretty surprising though.
The top 6, at least, should be about the music, and not about perceptions of the story/animation/etc. They’ve got amazingly good music. (I’d say for approximately 3 of them, the music is the best thing about them. heh.)
Then again, a few minutes of screen time for “adult-form Mikuru” did unreasonably well in the babe poll, so you might be on to something…
One nominee in this list just blows my mind: Princess Tutu. Getting to showcase a collection of the world’s greatest classical orchestral pieces is just patently unfair. Obviously, it should make it to the next round.