1. Mob Psycho 100
Pretty much every Mob review is going to bring up ONE's other, better known work One Punch Man. In fact I'm doing it right now. Both feature similarly overpowered protagonists and mess around with the conventions of shounen anime & manga. But that's really only a surface level examination as the two really couldn't be more different. While One Punch Man is more of a parody, featuring boisterous talkative villains who get cut down in a single hit for laughs, Mob Psycho is a character focused work about the insecurities of a middle school boy.
Many shounen works love to trot out the "I just want to be normal" line with their protagonists in regards to their totally awesome powers. For me, it almost always rings hollow. It's kind of a paradox because the awesome fight scenes and crazy abilities are what the fans like these shows. It's a huge part of the appeal, so it feels disingenuous for those characters to be like "nah, I don't really need these powers". Mob is one of the few characters in anime that I can believe honestly wants to be normal. Whenever he has a mundane problem, he looks for a mundane solution. The show does an excellent job of characterizing him as an insecure boy with few friends. The kind of person who's so bland and unassuming that people forget they exist. And this show is such a triumph because of the way it blends this story and dialogue with unusually stylized art and fantastic music.
Mob Psycho 100 follows the shounen playbook to a degree, frequently and continually subverts those expectations. In the beginning it's easy to peg each of their characters according to the expected tropes, but even as early as episode 3 or 4 these characters are being humanized and as such their arcs take unexpected turns. It's a show that's full of surprises because each time you think it's finally playing by the book it subverts your expectations. Truly a fantastic show, not just for the season it aired in or for 2016, but in anime as a whole.
2. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
It's no small feat when a show can take a dying, foreign art form I have absolutely no knowledge of or interest in and craft such a compelling show. The show is ostensibly about rakugo, a kind of one man performance theater that was once popular in Japan. The show isn't so much about Rakugo as it is a period character drama. Rakugo is of course ever present as almost all the primary characters are rakugo performers. In a work like this one of the first fundamental hurdles that must be overcome is getting the audience to buy into the subject matter and believe it is as important as the characters act.
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju achieves this with stunning ease for me. I think this is due in part to the protagonist Kikuhiko not actually enjoying rakugo for much of his childhood. His apprenticeship was a necessity to obtain food and shelter. His temperament and preferences vary greatly from his master and his fellow pupil Sukeroku, which makes connecting with the art itself all the more difficult for him. So the audience learns with him, and most importantly it happens in a way that feels organic.
For a show that isn't about flashy battles or psychedelic worlds, this show has good to excellent animation. Because rakugo is more than just storytelling, body language is very important and the animation captures subtleties that greatly impact the tone and quality of the performance. Unsurprisingly each episode generally has at least one performance and I think they struck the right balance with how much they show and what they omit. There's the very real danger here of boring the viewer with these long and fairly frequent performances, but thanks to the excellent voicework and animation I found most of them to be legitimately engaging. For people who bemoan the lack of mature anime in the industry, definitely give this a look. And there's a new season coming soon so now's a good time to jump in.
3. Thunderbolt Fantasy
I've seen that this one is contentious in the anime thread due to the whole "it's not really anime" thing, but since it's allowed I'm putting it here. Thunderbolt Fantasy uses puppets. Elaborately dressed wuxia puppets that shoot energy beams and decapitate other puppets. The first episode is pretty action packed and honestly I found these well choreographed and over the top fights to be kind of ridiculous because...well, they're puppets. But by the second episode it had it's hooks in me. And soon I was watching each week and before I knew it I'd bought into these characters and their adventure.
Thunderbolt Fantasy is a wuxia inspired fantasy adventure. The premise is fairly simple: There's a magic sword that's in several pieces and the bad guy wants it so the good guys have to go to his fortress and stop him. A tale as old as time, but much of what makes this show so interesting are the characters and their dynamics. Simply put, most of the party that they put together for this adventure is morally questionable. At least a few outright villainous. So our adventurers all have hidden agendas and secret pasts in this alliance of convenience. Every episode you have to wonder, "When does the sudden but inevitable betrayal happen? And who will it be?" On top of this there's the generally excellent dialogue which does a great job of fleshing out their personalities. Since this is puppetry rather than animation everyone has the aforementioned extremely elaborate clothing which wouldn't be possible in animation due to the high level of detail.
The show was a great surprise and filled a niche I didn't know I'd been yearning for. If I were to liken it to something else, maybe think of it as an asian inspired Lord of the Rings with an untrustworthy group. Frankly it reminds me of some of the D&D campaigns I've played in, but maybe I've just had the (unfortunate) luck to play with a bunch of untrustworthy schemers.
4. Jojo's Bizzare Adventure- Diamond is Unbreakable
Ah, Jojo. Every part has been pretty strong, though people debate where each season stands comparatively. For the uninitiated, each part of the Jojo series features a different storyline and protagonist from the Joestar family. So while most would recommend starting from the beginnning, each part is self contained and can be watched on it's own. Moving along, part 4 is as strong as anything that came before it, perhaps even better. I've heard people say Persona 4 took some inspiration from this part and I'd believe it. While completely different in terms of plot, characters, etc there's a similar feeling shared by the two and the underlying mystery of a supernatural killer lurking in a small Japanese town.
What sets
Diamond is Unbreakable apart for me is the strong ensemble cast. Parts 1 & 2 focused on Jonathan and Joseph Joestar respectively. There were other supporting characters, but the narrative and ultimately agency in the story lay solely with them. Part 3 also had an ensemble cast and introduced stands, but it's villain of the week format and length made it drag at some points. In Part 4 each of the primary characters is more fleshed out and tend to have their own stories which they deal with either on their own or with a subset of friends. Rather than the protagonists being one cohesive unit, it's more like a set of overlapping subgroups. In that way it seems more organic since everyone has very different personalities so anytime something happens the group makeup is different which leads to a lot of variety with how each episode plays out.
I found the first several episodes to be enjoyable, but things became infinitely more interesting once Kira was properly introduced. He makes for a wonderful villain. Once introduced the show makes no effort to hide his nature, instead giving us a game of cat and mouse as the protagonists pursue him and he tries to elude them. Stands are also a huge step up in DIU compared to Stardust Crusaders as now everyone has crazy powers so each fight is extremely inventive. In terms of visuals Jojo's more stylish than ever and there's some great scene transitions that make the whole presentation really slick. Speaking of presentation part 4 continues pulling from the horror genre's bag of tricks to make many of the confrontations especially creepy. There's a few neat fake outs too where David Production uses these tricks to make the viewer doubt the intentions of certain characters.
The best part however is the way the series continues to build as it wears on. Rather than finding myself occasionally bored as I did in part 3, each new episode made me want more. By the time the Bites the Dust arc came around I was utterly enthralled. And while that's probably my favorite part of the series, the ending does justice to everything that came before it and wraps up in an extremely satisfying way.
5. Erased
Erased is one of the few shoes that had me eagerly and impatiently anticipating each new episode. It's partially due to the fact that every episode ended on a GODDAMN CLIFFHANGER, but the show constructed an interesting mystery that was fun to mull over and discuss while watching from week to week. The premise is that the main character Satoru involuntarily rewinds time to before other people's deaths and he uses that chance to save them. However someone dies and he is framed for the murder. Rather than going back a few minutes as usual, finds that he has gone back 18 years to when he was 10. From there he has to discover how seemingly unrelated events in the past led to the present day murder.
The mystery is one of the big draws of the show and it does a great job with interesting revelations all the while using enough misdirection to keep people guessing. The voice work is excellent and helps to turn the setting and characters into a believable world in spite of a supernatural ability being part of the premise. In many ways it's much more subdued, Satoru especially, than most anime which is rife with overacting. The change of pace is appreciated.
Unfortunately the ending doesn't quite stick the landing. While it's not bad, it's nowhere near to quality of the build up. It's not so much disappointing as it is that I had high expectations for it. It's good enough however to sit this high up on my list whereas if the show had actually ended poorly it wouldn't be on my list at all. If a time travel/time loop murder mystery sounds interesting to you then definitely give Erased a shot.
6. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-
At first it seemed to just be another one of the many "modern otaku transported to a fantasy world" stories, but quickly showed itself to be a bit more interesting than the standard fare. It's another anime that has an interesting take on looping events, one of the strengths of this series is that it shows it's characters from multiple perspectives as Subaru tries a different approach on each loop. And through this they build an interesting world with intricate mechanics that makes it interesting to try and guess how each loop will be resolved. The characters themselves are only slightly above average and utilize a lot of fairly standard anime tropes.
What sets
Re:ZERO apart is the much talked about "suffering". Subaru goes through a hell of a lot even in the early loops. Around the middle of the series I kept thinking Subaru had hit his emotional and mental nadir only for things to somehow get worse. At that point I had to start interspersing my viewing with other, cheeier anime to counteract just how depressing it was. Things eventually turn around a bit, at least for a while, but all in all I have to give the show props for eliciting such a strong emotional response from me. My criticisms of the series would be that some points dragged a bit after multiple runs in the same loop. And while it seems to be by design that Subaru is a useless, petty piece of shit who only knows suffering as kind of a knock on the self insert nature of these transported to a fantasy world stories, I can't help but feel it's undermined a bit by the waifu aspect. This isn't merely a case of the audience projecting their own feelings onto the female characters as most of them (at least those Subaru becomes close to) strike the same notes a lot of anime hit with pandering characters, but unlike Subaru it doesn't seem those characteristics have a more sinister purpose. Or maybe they do, but if so that's beyond what was adapted for this anime. In short, tropey, flawed, but engrossing due to its mysteries and how outright cruel the universe is to Subaru.
7. Tanaka-kun is Always Listless
I'm not a huge fan of slice of life, but I generally choose at least one show every season that's a bit lighter so I can relax. For spring that was Tanaka-kun (and Flying Witch). It helps after shows like Re:ZERO drop my heart in a meat grinder.
Tanaka-kun is Always Listless is about highschooler Tanaka who will go to amazing lengths to be lazy. It manages to spin this central conceit into 12 relaxing and generally humorous episodes while still staying fresh. I wasn't sold on the first episode simply due to how low energy it was, what with Tanaka being a sloth wearing human skin and Ohta being an enabler. Things quickly turn around as the supporting cast is introduced and they work to counterbalance Tanaka's lethargy with their excitable antics. Once everyone's taken the stage the show becomes a fun romp with endearing characters who play well off each other. The show has a wonderful pastel color pallet which alongside the music make for an entertaining and relaxing show.
The reason Tanaka-kun made my list rather than some of my other choices is because I could watch the characters bounce off each other for dozens of hours. As the ending credits rolled on the last episode I couldn't help but think how much I wished there were 100 episodes of Tanaka. Any time I'm feeling down I'd love to have a new episode of Tanaka to put me at ease and that's something I've felt about very few shows.
8. Yuri On Ice
I'm not normally one for sports anime of any sort, but I gave
Yuri On Ice a chance as I've enjoyed most of MAPPA's output and found it to be pretty outstanding. The series opens strongly with its depiction Yuri as an extremely self conscious and depressed ice skater who, after coming in dead last is returning to his home town and family. While everyone in his hometown is proud of him for making it as far as he did, it only hurts Yuri more as he can't help but feel he let everyone down. This setup is different enough from most anime sports anime, which often focus on relative newbies rather than someone with experience facing the end of their career. When Victor appears and decides to be his coach the mood shifts substantially as he helps Yuri get back into the sport and helps him assert himself.
It's an enjoyable ride all the way through with fun characters, sometimes wonderful and intricate animation, and a decent soundtrack. On the downside, outside of Yuri, Victor, and Yurio most of the other characters are underdeveloped. This is fine for some of the supporting cast, but for some of the other competitors, JJ especially, I feel like they missed the mark. While sometimes the show can look great, there was obviously a troubled production as many scenes are lackluster and by the end of the show the repetition in the skaters routines can grow old.
9. KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world!
Another one of those "trapped in another world" things that are popular with the kids these days.
KONOSUBA is a comedy about a NEET named Kazuma who dies and is transported to a fantasy world. Only he's completely ineffectual and his party members each display varying degrees of uselessness, incompetence, and deviancy. So basically it's just a bunch of assholes making each other miserable and only succeeding by sheer chance or by tormenting their opponents instead of each other. The comedy's generally on point and it's enjoyable all the way through. The animation style is generally pretty loose which can sometimes look ugly in individual frames, but is generally pretty good and expressive in motion.
10. Kiznaiver
Ugly mascot characters kidnap 7 highschool kids who are then experimented on so that they can share each other's pain. With how the show opens I expected it to be about saw esque death traps and forcing the protagonists into difficult choices, but it quickly reveals itself to be about helping strangers make a lasting emotional connection with one another. I'm a big fan of the character designs in this show and in general all the art is top notch. There's plenty of small details in many of the scenes which help to convey the emotions visually. Be aware, this show goes heavy on the melodrama, but I found it pretty compelling. I personally found the series resolution to be a bit iffy. Not really bad, but it didn't have enough gravity compared to everything that came before.
OVAs/Movies
1. The Ancient Magus' Bride- Those Awaiting a Star
A fun short OVA. Doesn't really follow the manga, but does a good job communicating the same senses of wonder and dread. The front half shows Chise's somewhat serene life as the apprentice to an inhuman mage who lives in the English countryside among various fey and other supernatural beings. The other half is her unhappy origins and difficult childhood caused by her ability to see the supernatural. The creatures in this part are excellently and disgustingly animated. It's enjoyable, but due to the short run time very little happens and it ends just as things are getting interesting. If you're the impatient type I'd suggest holding off until more has been released.
I'll have to decide if I just rank it where S2 (which I have higher than S3) would be or combine.
