I had absolutely no problem with the end, myself.
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NeoGAF Anime of the Year 2013 - Voting Thread [Voting Closed]
- Thread starter BGBW
- Start date
- Status
I had absolutely no problem with the end, myself.
Jex
Member
I'll leave people to make up their own opinions, no matter how incorrect and misguided they may be!
Which is fine really. Anyone who watched the anime and showed some interest in it is doing themselves a huge disservice by not reading the manga. Shit hasn't even gotten started by the time the anime ends.
People had a problem with the ending? Really? They had a problem with that in a show that centers around EARTH REBUILDING A SUNKEN WWII BATTLESHIP AND SENDING IT INTO SPACE?
tensuke
Member
Shows
1. Attack on Titan: I don't speak Japanese so I didn't understand much of this show. From what I gather, there was some sort of nuclear event that turned some people into spidermen, and some people into giant monsters. The spidermen created walls to keep the giants out and the giants, out of anger for their rejection from society, do everything they can to make life a living hell for the spiderpeople, who arguably got the better end of the radiated stick. Pretty good.
2. Oreimo 2: Someone made an anime about my ex-girlfriend and pretty much copied her bitchiness exactly. They also copied her adorableness, but the bitchiness shined through just a bit more. I think this is the kind of anime King Joffrey would watch if he were to watch anime. Decently funny.
3. Aku no Hana: The main character really likes Baudelaire, which is the last name of the kids in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Aku no Hana didn't resemble that movie, but instead was more like Little Shop of Horrors. Not in a plot sense, they were both just pretty messed up if you think about it. Unique animation and good music.
4. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: The planet in this show was pretty much the exact opposite of verdurous, but I guess I can let that slide since I can't expect a Japanese show to have perfect English. Thankfully, though, the robot had a built-in translator and he was able to relay to me what was going on in the show. It got really confusing considering the main character and the Gargantia residents spoke different languages. I think it was sponsored by the fishing and whaling committee, which I hear is big in Japan. Excellent finale, kind of creepy backstory.
5. Gundam Build Fighters: Finally, a Gundam show not designed to just sell toys. I have to applaud Bandai for that one, they must be run by newtypes nowadays. 00 may have been the first series to include aliens, but this is the first to include magic genies, an equally impressive feat to say the least. I can't wait to buy a duel-disk in stores. Love the throwbacks to old Gundams.
6. Space Battleship Yamato 2199: A glorious retelling of the adventures I used to have in the bathtub as a child. Stars a young Banagher Links before he went on to star in Gundam Unicorn. I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit creepy how they knew what kind of bathtub games I used to play, but the animation is great and I really love the space-opera feel.
7. Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Basically a combination of Gargantia, Yamato, and waifus. What's not to like?
8. Kill la Kill: Supposedly some of the people wear Goku uniforms, but I've seen Dragonball Z, and I can say with confidence that is not what these are. A chilling anime written and directed by people who worked on Digga Doppa Diggen Ladig, and music by the guy who scored Spiderkong and Robot Unicorn Attack, I really "dig" pretty much everything about it.
9. Monogatari 2: It may be confusing for those of you who want to jump into monogatari, so I'll spell out the sequence. First, there's Bakemonogatari, about some cooking students and their otherworldy adventures (think yu yu hakusho with more girls). Then Nisemonogatari, which follows their ascension to etiquette school where they all learn to be nice and get along. Then there's Nekomonogatari, which is like a prequel where everyone's cats. And finally, we have Monogatari Second Season, which features that white tiger from Ronin Warriors. Always a great show, it's hard to find much fault.
10. Valvrave the Liberator: Awesome giant robots fighting. Features the Dyson Sphere, an upgraded Dyson Ball that cleans up the sun. Really insane mecha show, gotta love it.
OVAs
1. Gundam Unicorn 06: Graham Aker's really mad in this one. He has the cool lion Gundam, though, which is totally way better and cooler looking than the Unicorn. They're still looking for the Laplace's Box, but if you ask me, Banagher should really be looking for the Laplace's Box in his heart.
2. DBZ Battle of Gods: Easter takes a surprising turn when the Easter bunny decides to wreck everyone's shit. It's up to Super Saiyan Jesus and his pals to save the world and return the miracle of Easter to all the boys and girls of the world. Nice to see new DBZ even in 2013!
3. Wolf Children: T_T
1. Attack on Titan: I don't speak Japanese so I didn't understand much of this show. From what I gather, there was some sort of nuclear event that turned some people into spidermen, and some people into giant monsters. The spidermen created walls to keep the giants out and the giants, out of anger for their rejection from society, do everything they can to make life a living hell for the spiderpeople, who arguably got the better end of the radiated stick. Pretty good.
2. Oreimo 2: Someone made an anime about my ex-girlfriend and pretty much copied her bitchiness exactly. They also copied her adorableness, but the bitchiness shined through just a bit more. I think this is the kind of anime King Joffrey would watch if he were to watch anime. Decently funny.
3. Aku no Hana: The main character really likes Baudelaire, which is the last name of the kids in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Aku no Hana didn't resemble that movie, but instead was more like Little Shop of Horrors. Not in a plot sense, they were both just pretty messed up if you think about it. Unique animation and good music.
4. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: The planet in this show was pretty much the exact opposite of verdurous, but I guess I can let that slide since I can't expect a Japanese show to have perfect English. Thankfully, though, the robot had a built-in translator and he was able to relay to me what was going on in the show. It got really confusing considering the main character and the Gargantia residents spoke different languages. I think it was sponsored by the fishing and whaling committee, which I hear is big in Japan. Excellent finale, kind of creepy backstory.
5. Gundam Build Fighters: Finally, a Gundam show not designed to just sell toys. I have to applaud Bandai for that one, they must be run by newtypes nowadays. 00 may have been the first series to include aliens, but this is the first to include magic genies, an equally impressive feat to say the least. I can't wait to buy a duel-disk in stores. Love the throwbacks to old Gundams.
6. Space Battleship Yamato 2199: A glorious retelling of the adventures I used to have in the bathtub as a child. Stars a young Banagher Links before he went on to star in Gundam Unicorn. I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit creepy how they knew what kind of bathtub games I used to play, but the animation is great and I really love the space-opera feel.
7. Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Basically a combination of Gargantia, Yamato, and waifus. What's not to like?
8. Kill la Kill: Supposedly some of the people wear Goku uniforms, but I've seen Dragonball Z, and I can say with confidence that is not what these are. A chilling anime written and directed by people who worked on Digga Doppa Diggen Ladig, and music by the guy who scored Spiderkong and Robot Unicorn Attack, I really "dig" pretty much everything about it.
9. Monogatari 2: It may be confusing for those of you who want to jump into monogatari, so I'll spell out the sequence. First, there's Bakemonogatari, about some cooking students and their otherworldy adventures (think yu yu hakusho with more girls). Then Nisemonogatari, which follows their ascension to etiquette school where they all learn to be nice and get along. Then there's Nekomonogatari, which is like a prequel where everyone's cats. And finally, we have Monogatari Second Season, which features that white tiger from Ronin Warriors. Always a great show, it's hard to find much fault.
10. Valvrave the Liberator: Awesome giant robots fighting. Features the Dyson Sphere, an upgraded Dyson Ball that cleans up the sun. Really insane mecha show, gotta love it.
OVAs
1. Gundam Unicorn 06: Graham Aker's really mad in this one. He has the cool lion Gundam, though, which is totally way better and cooler looking than the Unicorn. They're still looking for the Laplace's Box, but if you ask me, Banagher should really be looking for the Laplace's Box in his heart.
2. DBZ Battle of Gods: Easter takes a surprising turn when the Easter bunny decides to wreck everyone's shit. It's up to Super Saiyan Jesus and his pals to save the world and return the miracle of Easter to all the boys and girls of the world. Nice to see new DBZ even in 2013!
3. Wolf Children: T_T
Movies
1. Wolf Children
2. Blue Exorcist movie
3. The Mystical Laws
Television
1. The Eccentric Family
A thoughtful, mature, joyous, heartrending, supremely well-directed magical realist urban fantasy that explores how different members of the same family come to grips with a shared loss and frustrates our value systems concerning the value of life, its relationship to the inevitability of death, and the priority given to human lives. The cast of endearing, complex characters, their highly-entertaining and witty interplay, rich and atmospheric art, and the wide gamut of emotion woven into the narrative easily make this my anime of the year.
2. Space Battleship Yamato 2199
3. The Flowers of Evil
4. Love Lab
5. Kyousougiga
6. Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen
7. No Matter How You Look At It, It's Your Fault I'm Not Popular!
8. Valvrave the Liberator Season 1
9. Gifuu Doudou! Kanetsugu and Keiji
10. Aikatsu!
subject to change.
1. Wolf Children
2. Blue Exorcist movie
3. The Mystical Laws
Television
1. The Eccentric Family
A thoughtful, mature, joyous, heartrending, supremely well-directed magical realist urban fantasy that explores how different members of the same family come to grips with a shared loss and frustrates our value systems concerning the value of life, its relationship to the inevitability of death, and the priority given to human lives. The cast of endearing, complex characters, their highly-entertaining and witty interplay, rich and atmospheric art, and the wide gamut of emotion woven into the narrative easily make this my anime of the year.
2. Space Battleship Yamato 2199
3. The Flowers of Evil
4. Love Lab
5. Kyousougiga
6. Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen
7. No Matter How You Look At It, It's Your Fault I'm Not Popular!
8. Valvrave the Liberator Season 1
9. Gifuu Doudou! Kanetsugu and Keiji
10. Aikatsu!
subject to change.
1. Girls und Panzer
This is the only thing I have watched in ages that was animated in Japan. I am voting for it because I enjoy participating in democratic processes.
I think it is eligible, but I don't let eligibility concern me when voting for who the next leader of the free world will be, and I don't particularly intend to start taking it into account when voting for the next anime of the free world.
It was more icecream-y than I was told it would be. icecream did not even vote for it. I am deeply ashamed of my presumptuousness.
Thus completes my vote.
This is the only thing I have watched in ages that was animated in Japan. I am voting for it because I enjoy participating in democratic processes.
I think it is eligible, but I don't let eligibility concern me when voting for who the next leader of the free world will be, and I don't particularly intend to start taking it into account when voting for the next anime of the free world.
Thus completes my vote.
Lollipop Dave
Member
Shows of the year.
1) Monogatari Second Season - My favourite writing of any show this year, I love it. Atmosphere and aesthetics are also some of my all time favourites.
2) Yuyushiki - Lighthearted comedy which I really needed at the time. Great characters, good chemistry and even better laughs!
3) Minami-ke Tadaima - On going tales of the Minami family, delivered in every-way I was expecting.
4) Oreimo 2 - Huge fan of the light novels and wanted to see the ending play out.
5) Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S - Huge fan of the first season and the manga. Animation was some of the best I've seen from J.C.Staff.
6) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet - Almost dropped this till the story started to unravel. Interesting concept and good designs helped this become one of my favourite.
7) Uchouten Kazoku - Beautiful. That's about all I can say to describe this.
8) Attack on Titan - Interesting story, good characters, but let down by the visuals, it had it's moments but was mostly pretty bad.
9) Kyoukai no Kanata - Surprise hit of fall season for me, wasn't expecting much but ended up falling in love with a good cast of characters
10)Free! - That ending.
Honourable Mentions
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - I got to this show a bit late so I'm keeping it of the list, but I feel like it should get a mention somewhere!
1) Monogatari Second Season - My favourite writing of any show this year, I love it. Atmosphere and aesthetics are also some of my all time favourites.
2) Yuyushiki - Lighthearted comedy which I really needed at the time. Great characters, good chemistry and even better laughs!
3) Minami-ke Tadaima - On going tales of the Minami family, delivered in every-way I was expecting.
4) Oreimo 2 - Huge fan of the light novels and wanted to see the ending play out.
5) Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S - Huge fan of the first season and the manga. Animation was some of the best I've seen from J.C.Staff.
6) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet - Almost dropped this till the story started to unravel. Interesting concept and good designs helped this become one of my favourite.
7) Uchouten Kazoku - Beautiful. That's about all I can say to describe this.
8) Attack on Titan - Interesting story, good characters, but let down by the visuals, it had it's moments but was mostly pretty bad.
9) Kyoukai no Kanata - Surprise hit of fall season for me, wasn't expecting much but ended up falling in love with a good cast of characters
10)Free! - That ending.
Honourable Mentions
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - I got to this show a bit late so I'm keeping it of the list, but I feel like it should get a mention somewhere!
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Same! Attack on Titan was the bomb!
I haven't watched much this year but:
1. Hunter x Hunter (2011) - With it's dynamic characters and fantastic writing, this show only continues to get better. Easily deserves the #1 spot.
2. Flowers of Evil - Started this after reading the comments in this thread and wasn't disappointed. They definitely took a strange approach with the show's art style but the plot more than makes up for it.
3. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - I haven't finished this series yet, but I currently rank it higher than KlK just for the sole fact that I've enjoyed pretty much every episode I've seen of this. I may edit this with a little synopsis of what made it so great once I finish, but I definitely believe it deserves a spot in my top 5.
4. Kill la Kill - What I originally thought was going to continue it's trend of more of the same took an amazing turn in the most recent episode. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
5. Attack on Titan - It's 6 minute recaps and lackluster 'filler' really made me not want to include this, but there wasn't much else that got my attention this year. The animation (during fights) is fantastic alongside some jaw dropping moments during the show, but between the sub par source material and horrible pacing I couldn't really get into it.
1. Hunter x Hunter (2011) - With it's dynamic characters and fantastic writing, this show only continues to get better. Easily deserves the #1 spot.
2. Flowers of Evil - Started this after reading the comments in this thread and wasn't disappointed. They definitely took a strange approach with the show's art style but the plot more than makes up for it.
3. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - I haven't finished this series yet, but I currently rank it higher than KlK just for the sole fact that I've enjoyed pretty much every episode I've seen of this. I may edit this with a little synopsis of what made it so great once I finish, but I definitely believe it deserves a spot in my top 5.
4. Kill la Kill - What I originally thought was going to continue it's trend of more of the same took an amazing turn in the most recent episode. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
5. Attack on Titan - It's 6 minute recaps and lackluster 'filler' really made me not want to include this, but there wasn't much else that got my attention this year. The animation (during fights) is fantastic alongside some jaw dropping moments during the show, but between the sub par source material and horrible pacing I couldn't really get into it.
Shows
1. Silver Spoon - This was a very pleasant show to watch, based on a manga from the author of Fullmetal Alchemist. Hachiken adjusting to farm life was filled with memorable moments. Season 2 is starting soon and I'm very excited to see more of the continued life of Hachiken dealing with Farm School.
2. Non Non Biyori - The best slice of life since K-ON!. Other SoL's should aspire to be this good.
3. Flowers of Evil - Blew my mind. Endlessly fascinating and atmospheric as hell, and gave me the willies watching it but I loved every second of it. Can't wait for more.
4. Devil is a Part-timer! - Surprisingly fun, I wash't expecting much given the premise, but it hooked me in right away and didn't let go. Chiho is the anime girl of the year.
5. Monogatari Series: Second Season - Focusing on other characters with different perspectives instead of Araragi did wonders. Although when he finally returned to the front, it reminded us that he is the greatest protagonist to ever grace the screen.
6. Attack on Titian - Few low points and dragged out moments, but the highs were ridiculously high.
7. Oreimo 2 - I love Oreimo. Like, more than a friend. S1 is one of my favourite things ever. This season however, was totally mediocre. Rushed, missing content, and shitty ending(to be fair, it was the same ending as the LN, but it still sucked). Ayase was the high point, the season shined whenever she was on screen.
8. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU - Watched it because it sounded like Haganai and NEXT was a bit of a bummer. It was different and much much better.
9. Watamote - Love the Manga. The show did it justice. Tomoko's voice actress was a perfect fit and pretty much exactly how she sounded in my head reading it.
10. Servant x Service - It was no Working!, but it was still fun. Would watch more, but not before a third season of Working!
Films/OVA
1. Wolf Children - Absolutely beautiful.
2. Little Witch Academia - 26 minutes of compressed fun.
3. Evangelion 3.0 - Plot twist no one saw coming, good action, and lots of Shinji being Shinji.
Honourable Mentions
Hagniai NEXT, Tamako Market, Beyond the Boundary, Golden Time, Kotoura-san.
Haven't seen a lot this year, but am getting around to it. Started on a few I hope to finish in time.
1. Silver Spoon - This was a very pleasant show to watch, based on a manga from the author of Fullmetal Alchemist. Hachiken adjusting to farm life was filled with memorable moments. Season 2 is starting soon and I'm very excited to see more of the continued life of Hachiken dealing with Farm School.
2. Non Non Biyori - The best slice of life since K-ON!. Other SoL's should aspire to be this good.
3. Flowers of Evil - Blew my mind. Endlessly fascinating and atmospheric as hell, and gave me the willies watching it but I loved every second of it. Can't wait for more.
4. Devil is a Part-timer! - Surprisingly fun, I wash't expecting much given the premise, but it hooked me in right away and didn't let go. Chiho is the anime girl of the year.
5. Monogatari Series: Second Season - Focusing on other characters with different perspectives instead of Araragi did wonders. Although when he finally returned to the front, it reminded us that he is the greatest protagonist to ever grace the screen.
6. Attack on Titian - Few low points and dragged out moments, but the highs were ridiculously high.
7. Oreimo 2 - I love Oreimo. Like, more than a friend. S1 is one of my favourite things ever. This season however, was totally mediocre. Rushed, missing content, and shitty ending(to be fair, it was the same ending as the LN, but it still sucked). Ayase was the high point, the season shined whenever she was on screen.
8. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU - Watched it because it sounded like Haganai and NEXT was a bit of a bummer. It was different and much much better.
9. Watamote - Love the Manga. The show did it justice. Tomoko's voice actress was a perfect fit and pretty much exactly how she sounded in my head reading it.
10. Servant x Service - It was no Working!, but it was still fun. Would watch more, but not before a third season of Working!
Films/OVA
1. Wolf Children - Absolutely beautiful.
2. Little Witch Academia - 26 minutes of compressed fun.
3. Evangelion 3.0 - Plot twist no one saw coming, good action, and lots of Shinji being Shinji.
Honourable Mentions
Hagniai NEXT, Tamako Market, Beyond the Boundary, Golden Time, Kotoura-san.
Haven't seen a lot this year, but am getting around to it. Started on a few I hope to finish in time.
TV Series:
1. Dokidoki! Precure
Best Precure yet. Woefully underrated. It's fun, aesthetically pleasing, and consistent in quality (a particularly notable achievement for a year-long series). Relative to other Precure series, it has a greater focus on lengthy plot arcs, instead of the usual episodic structure. It's no Sailor Moon or Smile Precure, in which the monster of the week and silly antics are the main focus; the battle sequences each week take a back seat to the development of the main characters and the plot, and the slice of life elements are more down to earth, with the comedy coming from witty dialogue rather than crazy situations. Doki stands out from past Precure series thanks to its shift in focus. Instead of the typical Precure style of treating the group as one entity, with only minor one-episode diversions into the lives of each character, Doki takes only one main character and one antagonist and crafts its episodes around them, using the other characters primarily as focalizing points of view. It's just a really interesting approach that took me by surprise in a very good way.
2. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 2: Battle Tendency
If you like stylish manly men being manly and stylish, this is the show for you. There's not much more to be said - every aspect of JoJo, from the visual design to the soundtrack, is perfectly crafted to elicit a "hell yes" or a "fuck yeah".
3. Monogatari Series Second Season
It's more Monogatari. It's more or less just like all of the previous Monogatari. It has witty dialogue, black scenes, and harem antics. The slight twist this time around is Ararararagi being mostly absent, and it worked out fairly well. It's always nice to see the ladies act without the lead being around. Gives them a bit more strength of character.
4. Pokemon The Origin
It's kind of painful to watch this show, actually, because it's everything I ever wanted in a Pokemon anime, but in the form of a 4-episode TV special that's never to be seen again. It suffered because of its short form, but it showed the potential of what could have been: a nigh-perfect recreation of an eight year old playing Pokemon Red. And that's something to be proud of.
5. Gatchaman Crowds
First things first: This is not a Gatchaman show. Not even close. For a fair while, I docked it points for that, because I had my expectations set in a completely different direction. But by the end, it has grown on me strongly enough that I'm willing to overlook the terribly misleading title and just appreciate the show for what it is. What it is, is a stylish, optimistic view of modern society and technology. It has its flaws - the CG is painful, and the ending was rushed for TV - but it's overall a significantly interesting show that made me think a little. And that's always a good thing.
6. Tamako Market
A cute, happy little slice of life show, with the KyoAni trademark unreasonably high animation quality backing it up. Tamako Market is a calm, healing show, and that's all it needed to be. I'm fairly sure that most people's disappointment with this show came primarily from misplaced expectations. Also, if the OP and ED categories wre a thing, this show would be a strong contender.
7. Senki Zesshou Symphogear G
Mecha musume: It's like magical girls, but with metal armor instead of frilly dresses. How can anyone in their right mind say no to a proposition like that? I sure as hell can't. I eagerly await the third season.
8. Vividred Operation
Mindless entertainment. There is significantly less punching in this show than in Symphogear, but it's still mecha musume, and it's still great. Laser beams and docking are cool too.
9. Rozen Maiden (2013)
I wish I could put this higher on my list, but unfortunately it had to be a real sequel instead of the alternate-universe diversion it really wanted to be. If this show was just How to Make a Girl all the way to the end, it would have been a really interesting look at depression and social anxiety, instead of a somewhat interesting look at depression and social anxiety mixed with super power magical girlfriend pokemon dream world nonsense. Oh well.
10. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
This show isn't great, but it's greatly underrated. It has some excellent cuts of animation, crazy almost-but-not-quite-thought-provoking plot developments, and that classic Shaft visual aesthetic. It's also really comfy, if that makes any sense. I just wanted to give it at least one point, because not enough people will.
Honourable mention to:
Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.
This show was a terrible failure of an adaptation, but it won my attention for a very long time despite that. I don't think it actually deserves to win anything on the basis of quality, but if we were ranking shows on notability, it would definitely make the list. Oreimo is the exemplar of modern otaku anime.
Movies / OVAs:
1. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's
Take a look a bit further up at my praises of JoJo, and replace "men" with "magical girls". The Movie 2nd is a rapidly-paced, action-packed retelling of the second Nanoha TV season, which cuts out all the fat and leaves in all the badassery, while adding more on top. It also has some key scenes with exceptional animation quality.
2. Little Witch Academia
LWA is cute, well-animated, and fun. It's also cute, well-animated, and fun. Those things are important, so I said them twice. And it's also about magical girls in the most literal sense. I mean, I like magical girls of all kinds, but there's a clear difference between this and the other magical girl shows on my list. There is no mecha or tokusatsu influence here. It's more or less Japanese all-female Harry Potter. The oldschool influence is strong. I can't wait for the sequel.
3. Precure All Stars New Stage 2: Kokoro no Tomodachi
This is a much more interesting movie than the previous four crossovers, because it doesn't waste any time with the fact that it is one. It sets up a plot using its crossover status as a premise (the Dokis have to save everyone because as the new team, they're the only ones the bad guy doesn't know about), but after that, it doesn't get bogged down by the usual problems of crossovers, like trying to distribute screentime between a gazillion characters. The past heroes still get a chance to shine in the climactic action scene in the end, so it doesn't feel like a waste of potential, either. I do miss Echo, but abandoning her probably led to a better movie than keeping her in focus would have.
Really though, I just voted for this as an extension of voting for Dokidoki! Precure.
1. Dokidoki! Precure
Best Precure yet. Woefully underrated. It's fun, aesthetically pleasing, and consistent in quality (a particularly notable achievement for a year-long series). Relative to other Precure series, it has a greater focus on lengthy plot arcs, instead of the usual episodic structure. It's no Sailor Moon or Smile Precure, in which the monster of the week and silly antics are the main focus; the battle sequences each week take a back seat to the development of the main characters and the plot, and the slice of life elements are more down to earth, with the comedy coming from witty dialogue rather than crazy situations. Doki stands out from past Precure series thanks to its shift in focus. Instead of the typical Precure style of treating the group as one entity, with only minor one-episode diversions into the lives of each character, Doki takes only one main character and one antagonist and crafts its episodes around them, using the other characters primarily as focalizing points of view. It's just a really interesting approach that took me by surprise in a very good way.
2. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 2: Battle Tendency
If you like stylish manly men being manly and stylish, this is the show for you. There's not much more to be said - every aspect of JoJo, from the visual design to the soundtrack, is perfectly crafted to elicit a "hell yes" or a "fuck yeah".
3. Monogatari Series Second Season
It's more Monogatari. It's more or less just like all of the previous Monogatari. It has witty dialogue, black scenes, and harem antics. The slight twist this time around is Ararararagi being mostly absent, and it worked out fairly well. It's always nice to see the ladies act without the lead being around. Gives them a bit more strength of character.
4. Pokemon The Origin
It's kind of painful to watch this show, actually, because it's everything I ever wanted in a Pokemon anime, but in the form of a 4-episode TV special that's never to be seen again. It suffered because of its short form, but it showed the potential of what could have been: a nigh-perfect recreation of an eight year old playing Pokemon Red. And that's something to be proud of.
5. Gatchaman Crowds
First things first: This is not a Gatchaman show. Not even close. For a fair while, I docked it points for that, because I had my expectations set in a completely different direction. But by the end, it has grown on me strongly enough that I'm willing to overlook the terribly misleading title and just appreciate the show for what it is. What it is, is a stylish, optimistic view of modern society and technology. It has its flaws - the CG is painful, and the ending was rushed for TV - but it's overall a significantly interesting show that made me think a little. And that's always a good thing.
6. Tamako Market
A cute, happy little slice of life show, with the KyoAni trademark unreasonably high animation quality backing it up. Tamako Market is a calm, healing show, and that's all it needed to be. I'm fairly sure that most people's disappointment with this show came primarily from misplaced expectations. Also, if the OP and ED categories wre a thing, this show would be a strong contender.
7. Senki Zesshou Symphogear G
Mecha musume: It's like magical girls, but with metal armor instead of frilly dresses. How can anyone in their right mind say no to a proposition like that? I sure as hell can't. I eagerly await the third season.
8. Vividred Operation
Mindless entertainment. There is significantly less punching in this show than in Symphogear, but it's still mecha musume, and it's still great. Laser beams and docking are cool too.
9. Rozen Maiden (2013)
I wish I could put this higher on my list, but unfortunately it had to be a real sequel instead of the alternate-universe diversion it really wanted to be. If this show was just How to Make a Girl all the way to the end, it would have been a really interesting look at depression and social anxiety, instead of a somewhat interesting look at depression and social anxiety mixed with super power magical girlfriend pokemon dream world nonsense. Oh well.
10. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
This show isn't great, but it's greatly underrated. It has some excellent cuts of animation, crazy almost-but-not-quite-thought-provoking plot developments, and that classic Shaft visual aesthetic. It's also really comfy, if that makes any sense. I just wanted to give it at least one point, because not enough people will.
Honourable mention to:
Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai.
This show was a terrible failure of an adaptation, but it won my attention for a very long time despite that. I don't think it actually deserves to win anything on the basis of quality, but if we were ranking shows on notability, it would definitely make the list. Oreimo is the exemplar of modern otaku anime.
Movies / OVAs:
1. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's
Take a look a bit further up at my praises of JoJo, and replace "men" with "magical girls". The Movie 2nd is a rapidly-paced, action-packed retelling of the second Nanoha TV season, which cuts out all the fat and leaves in all the badassery, while adding more on top. It also has some key scenes with exceptional animation quality.
2. Little Witch Academia
LWA is cute, well-animated, and fun. It's also cute, well-animated, and fun. Those things are important, so I said them twice. And it's also about magical girls in the most literal sense. I mean, I like magical girls of all kinds, but there's a clear difference between this and the other magical girl shows on my list. There is no mecha or tokusatsu influence here. It's more or less Japanese all-female Harry Potter. The oldschool influence is strong. I can't wait for the sequel.
3. Precure All Stars New Stage 2: Kokoro no Tomodachi
This is a much more interesting movie than the previous four crossovers, because it doesn't waste any time with the fact that it is one. It sets up a plot using its crossover status as a premise (the Dokis have to save everyone because as the new team, they're the only ones the bad guy doesn't know about), but after that, it doesn't get bogged down by the usual problems of crossovers, like trying to distribute screentime between a gazillion characters. The past heroes still get a chance to shine in the climactic action scene in the end, so it doesn't feel like a waste of potential, either. I do miss Echo, but abandoning her probably led to a better movie than keeping her in focus would have.
Really though, I just voted for this as an extension of voting for Dokidoki! Precure.
GuP was more icecream-y than you were told? It was barely icecream at all, despite appearances. The whole show was basically tanks pounding the shit out of one another! I thought it was gonna be K-on with tanks, honestly.
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
1. Gin No Saji
A story about agricultural student, with lovable character all around.
2. Uchoten Kazoku
A show about a family of magical racoon. A suprisingly down to earth despite all the fantasy element
3. Kill la Kill
A love letter to Go Nagai, it's insane in so many way
4. Jojo Bizarre Adv.
Wrryyyyyyyyyyyy!
5.My teen romantic comedy SNAFU
romantic comedy that actually potray good and almost realistic situation 8man is awesome, and saika is the best trap!
6. Monogatari 2nd season
NisiOisin and Shaft still being insane, and kaiki OLEV
7. Psycho pass
Blade runner esque show, good all around action and thriller
8. Hataraku maou sama
Devil king work in mcdonald, surprisingly fresh
9. Gargantian
awesome setting, though it feel a bit bland during the middle. Still worth watching though
10. Space brother
It still enjoyable and al that feel in character development
OVA/Movie
1. Wolf children
Mamoru Hosoda did it again with a modern fantasy coming age story, it's beatiful and have great character development
2. Garden of Word
Being Makoto Shinka film, this show is gorgeous.
3. Death Billiard
old and young man have a deathly match using billiard
A story about agricultural student, with lovable character all around.
2. Uchoten Kazoku
A show about a family of magical racoon. A suprisingly down to earth despite all the fantasy element
3. Kill la Kill
A love letter to Go Nagai, it's insane in so many way
4. Jojo Bizarre Adv.
Wrryyyyyyyyyyyy!
5.My teen romantic comedy SNAFU
romantic comedy that actually potray good and almost realistic situation 8man is awesome, and saika is the best trap!
6. Monogatari 2nd season
NisiOisin and Shaft still being insane, and kaiki OLEV
7. Psycho pass
Blade runner esque show, good all around action and thriller
8. Hataraku maou sama
Devil king work in mcdonald, surprisingly fresh
9. Gargantian
awesome setting, though it feel a bit bland during the middle. Still worth watching though
10. Space brother
It still enjoyable and al that feel in character development
OVA/Movie
1. Wolf children
Mamoru Hosoda did it again with a modern fantasy coming age story, it's beatiful and have great character development
2. Garden of Word
Being Makoto Shinka film, this show is gorgeous.
3. Death Billiard
old and young man have a deathly match using billiard
Not quite done preparing my list just yet, but let me just ask for a rules clarification: Which category would Neppuu Kairiku Bushiroad fall under?
Since it aired on TV (on the final day of the year, making it eligible…just!) I guess strictly speaking it should go into the TV series category, but in pretty much every other way (the single-episode format, feature-length runtime, production values and so forth) it seems much more natural to lump it in with movies and OVAs. Kind of the opposite of Yamato 2199, which technically belongs in the OVA/movie category since its original release was in cinemas, but seems to be a TV series by any other standard.
EDIT: Oh, and clarification would also be good for Pokemon: The Origin, which is a similar OVA-format show that happened to air on TV, and I see has already appeared on a few people's lists in both categories.
Since it aired on TV (on the final day of the year, making it eligible…just!) I guess strictly speaking it should go into the TV series category, but in pretty much every other way (the single-episode format, feature-length runtime, production values and so forth) it seems much more natural to lump it in with movies and OVAs. Kind of the opposite of Yamato 2199, which technically belongs in the OVA/movie category since its original release was in cinemas, but seems to be a TV series by any other standard.
EDIT: Oh, and clarification would also be good for Pokemon: The Origin, which is a similar OVA-format show that happened to air on TV, and I see has already appeared on a few people's lists in both categories.
pelicansurf
Needs a Holiday on Gallifrey
1. Attack on Titan - The show that got me legitimately back into anime and interested in all the shows mentioned below. Even though it hit a bit of a slow spot, it wouldn't have bothered me if I had watched it in "one sitting". The art/animations in most of the episodes was absolutely incredible and the fact that every episode ended in a killer cliffhanger kept my blood pumping for this anime. It was a tough choice, but most definitely the best anime this year.
2. Hunter x Hunter (2011) - I started watching this show from the beginning this year and the only reason it isn't #1 is because the episodes that aired this season were comparatively equal in enjoyment to Attack on Titan and AOT got me into Hunter x Hunter. Regardless, the animation, the story, and the characterization are absolutely incredible. I cannot recommend this anime enough to any Shounen fan.
3. Kill La Kill - Awesome art, non-stop thrill ride awesome, over the top transformations/battles, and the music is one of the best soundtracks I've heard in anime. Certain theme songs certainly pull me into the scene like nothing else ever has. Great anime.
4. Hajime No Ippo: Rising - More HD Ippo. Story keeps going, even though the pacing is a bit off, but Aoki's Title fight in this was one of the most amazingly awesome/hysterical string of episodes I have ever seen in anime. Truly amazing.
5. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - Animation, art, and fights are 10/10. Unfortunately, the story and the ending killed my enjoyability of the show. Would still highly recommend.
6. Kuroko No Basketball 2 - I didn't even know this was coming out last year and was pleasantly surprised. The Generation of Miracles all finally appear and the countdown to the biggest tournament of the year begins. The animation in this was a GIGANTIC leap from the first version and I am still stunned by how fluid the basketball scenes are. No super "big games" yet, but 2014 will have all of those.
7. Pokemon: The Origins - The anime Pokemon should've always been. A realistic approach as to how life with Pokemon would really be. Would've been ranked higher if they kept making episodes in the vein of Origins. Art and animation is top notch.
8. Psycho Pass
9. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Movies/OVA:
1. Little Witch Academia - This needed to be a show. I'm glad they got kickstarted for part 2.
2. Blue Exorcist: The Movie
3. Berserk 3
2. Hunter x Hunter (2011) - I started watching this show from the beginning this year and the only reason it isn't #1 is because the episodes that aired this season were comparatively equal in enjoyment to Attack on Titan and AOT got me into Hunter x Hunter. Regardless, the animation, the story, and the characterization are absolutely incredible. I cannot recommend this anime enough to any Shounen fan.
3. Kill La Kill - Awesome art, non-stop thrill ride awesome, over the top transformations/battles, and the music is one of the best soundtracks I've heard in anime. Certain theme songs certainly pull me into the scene like nothing else ever has. Great anime.
4. Hajime No Ippo: Rising - More HD Ippo. Story keeps going, even though the pacing is a bit off, but Aoki's Title fight in this was one of the most amazingly awesome/hysterical string of episodes I have ever seen in anime. Truly amazing.
5. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - Animation, art, and fights are 10/10. Unfortunately, the story and the ending killed my enjoyability of the show. Would still highly recommend.
6. Kuroko No Basketball 2 - I didn't even know this was coming out last year and was pleasantly surprised. The Generation of Miracles all finally appear and the countdown to the biggest tournament of the year begins. The animation in this was a GIGANTIC leap from the first version and I am still stunned by how fluid the basketball scenes are. No super "big games" yet, but 2014 will have all of those.
7. Pokemon: The Origins - The anime Pokemon should've always been. A realistic approach as to how life with Pokemon would really be. Would've been ranked higher if they kept making episodes in the vein of Origins. Art and animation is top notch.
8. Psycho Pass
9. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Movies/OVA:
1. Little Witch Academia - This needed to be a show. I'm glad they got kickstarted for part 2.
2. Blue Exorcist: The Movie
3. Berserk 3
First one is one episode long and is feature length so makes sense to be considered a movie. Pokémon Origins consisted of four episode so even if short compared to most shows it is still a series.
There was at least 2 group bathhouse sequences iirc.
There was a moment when Main Character Girl's hanging out in the bathtub with her posse and Should've Been Main Character Girl tells her to give a speech and she does. When that happened I detected a distinct taste at the back of my tongue. It was sweet, custard-y, and cold.
Now I ain't young enough any more to tell you why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but I'm pretty sure the ol' taste buds weren't steering me wrong on this one.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
1. Space Battleship Yamato 2199:
This shows came out of nowhere, partly because of it not being in the OT in the anime thread and partly because I am new to the series but wow what a ride. Believable characters who have their own ideals and change throughout the series, moments of intense action and tension on the space battles, unpredictable twists, amazing art direction and great animation, all tied into one epic 13 hour space odyssey. Bravo!
I don't even care about anything else I watched this year.
Movie:
1.Eva 3.0
This shows came out of nowhere, partly because of it not being in the OT in the anime thread and partly because I am new to the series but wow what a ride. Believable characters who have their own ideals and change throughout the series, moments of intense action and tension on the space battles, unpredictable twists, amazing art direction and great animation, all tied into one epic 13 hour space odyssey. Bravo!
I don't even care about anything else I watched this year.
Movie:
1.Eva 3.0
TV
1. Monogatari Series Second Season
I really love this series. This season we got a more in depth look of the life of the second best girl (Sorry Corvo), we got
, we got beautiful stills of best girls first "trip" to Japan, we got cute snake girl revealing herself as a crazy snake girl, we got KAIKI, we got Ougi (fuck you Ougi), we got comedy, we got drama (
) and everything was such a great ride.
2. Aku no Hana
This one was a good surprise. I heard about it, but never payed much attention to it. I decided to watch it now, and what a good decision. I really liked the rotoscoping, and together with the amazing sound design, what was created was a unique atmosphere that fitted perfectly with the story it tells. I'm only a little disappointed with the last episode, but aside from this minor problem I have, I feel it was one of the most amazing animes I've ever watched.
3. Kyosougiga
That was a really nice ride.Loved the Koto (child) relationship with Myoue. The characters were all pretty nice, but the tow stands out. The story was pretty interesting, but the info dump near the end was a little too much. They've should spread this info more evenly.
Now, I might add that, below this, I would skip a couple of numbers and put them lower. I haven't watched many animes of 2013 (I mostly "dug" trough my backlog) and thus I don't have many stuff to fill this list, and I'm putting these because I liked them although I don't think they even compare to the first three.
4. To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S
I friend of mine introduced me to this series trough Index, although I watched Railgun first. And IMO, Railgun is miles better than Index. This season gave pretty much what I love about Railgun, even though it didn't give me something along the lines of a giant fetus made of AIM Field (Or something like that), but still, more Biribiri is good.
5. Kill la Kill
I really didn't know if I should put this here. I have manly two problems with it: 1. Kill la Kill is still running. The way the story is going, looks like it will lead to great things, but I'm not convinced yet. I feel that there was a lot of filler, and the story only moved in the beginning and in the couple last episodes and that middle section was kinda boring to me. 2. Because of the humor. I loved episode 4 IIRC (the one where they had to pass trough traps and stuff to get in the class before the time "ended"), but lately it started to get in some territory I don't enjoy. It's like Panty and Stocking. I don't really find it funny, or even remotely interesting that Gamaoori is
for example. What I liked a the start was the over the top nonsensical stuff, like Mako, but then they started to focus a little on the "naughty" part of the comedy. And together with that the way they've toned down the "over-the-topness" made everything seems dull to me. The fights were boring, the characters gained little development (until the King of the Hill battle) and the story didn't moved.
But in the end Mako makes everything worthy. So this is for her.
Honorable Mention: Robotic;Notes
Honorable Mention: Kyoukai no Kanata
Now, I could've included those in the list but I decided not to because, although I enjoyed what I watched, they really doesn't deserve to be in this list.
Movies
1. Saint Young Man
This movie solved all the issues I had with the OVA and was an amazing watch. It was really good to see that people can still live along in these times where there's a lot of hate towards religion (and non-religious people). It was heart warming comedy that everyone should watch.
2. Ao no Exorcist
What a beautiful movie. I really like it was more of a character driven movie instead off action action action all the time.
3. Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu
I enjoyed this mostly because of CRISTIIIIINA, since the movie didn't bring anything new to the table (With or without the movie the situation is the same,
). Ad more Steins is always good.
Honorable Mention: Pokemon: The Origin
Basically everything I've wanted to see from a Pokémon anime. Shame it was only 4 episodes :'(
1. Monogatari Series Second Season
I really love this series. This season we got a more in depth look of the life of the second best girl (Sorry Corvo), we got
time travel
RIP Hachikuji
2. Aku no Hana
This one was a good surprise. I heard about it, but never payed much attention to it. I decided to watch it now, and what a good decision. I really liked the rotoscoping, and together with the amazing sound design, what was created was a unique atmosphere that fitted perfectly with the story it tells. I'm only a little disappointed with the last episode, but aside from this minor problem I have, I feel it was one of the most amazing animes I've ever watched.
3. Kyosougiga
That was a really nice ride.Loved the Koto (child) relationship with Myoue. The characters were all pretty nice, but the tow stands out. The story was pretty interesting, but the info dump near the end was a little too much. They've should spread this info more evenly.
Now, I might add that, below this, I would skip a couple of numbers and put them lower. I haven't watched many animes of 2013 (I mostly "dug" trough my backlog) and thus I don't have many stuff to fill this list, and I'm putting these because I liked them although I don't think they even compare to the first three.
4. To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S
I friend of mine introduced me to this series trough Index, although I watched Railgun first. And IMO, Railgun is miles better than Index. This season gave pretty much what I love about Railgun, even though it didn't give me something along the lines of a giant fetus made of AIM Field (Or something like that), but still, more Biribiri is good.
5. Kill la Kill
I really didn't know if I should put this here. I have manly two problems with it: 1. Kill la Kill is still running. The way the story is going, looks like it will lead to great things, but I'm not convinced yet. I feel that there was a lot of filler, and the story only moved in the beginning and in the couple last episodes and that middle section was kinda boring to me. 2. Because of the humor. I loved episode 4 IIRC (the one where they had to pass trough traps and stuff to get in the class before the time "ended"), but lately it started to get in some territory I don't enjoy. It's like Panty and Stocking. I don't really find it funny, or even remotely interesting that Gamaoori is
a masochist
But in the end Mako makes everything worthy. So this is for her.
Honorable Mention: Robotic;Notes
Honorable Mention: Kyoukai no Kanata
Now, I could've included those in the list but I decided not to because, although I enjoyed what I watched, they really doesn't deserve to be in this list.
Movies
1. Saint Young Man
This movie solved all the issues I had with the OVA and was an amazing watch. It was really good to see that people can still live along in these times where there's a lot of hate towards religion (and non-religious people). It was heart warming comedy that everyone should watch.
2. Ao no Exorcist
What a beautiful movie. I really like it was more of a character driven movie instead off action action action all the time.
3. Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu
I enjoyed this mostly because of CRISTIIIIINA, since the movie didn't bring anything new to the table (With or without the movie the situation is the same,
Okabe is still in the Steins taimeline
Honorable Mention: Pokemon: The Origin
Basically everything I've wanted to see from a Pokémon anime. Shame it was only 4 episodes :'(
Right, this is going to be a two-post deal. In this first post, I will cover the rankings that go towards the actual vote.
First, the movies/OVAs, which are easy enough since I only saw three of them!
1. Wolf Children - An incredibly touching tale of a mother trying to give her two unusual children the best life she possibly can. Yuki is the most adorable kid you ever saw. Everyone should watch this. Yes, I mean you. WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING IT RIGHT NOW.
2. Little Witch Academia - A simple but oh-so-enjoyable little story set in a school for witches. Based Trigger being based - this is what I call entertainment. It helps that the production values are great.
3. Neppuu Kairiku Bushiroad - A story long in the making finally arrives, and its a pretty decent watch. The main character is the mech-riding warrior princess Ame, but her male counterpart, the wild Suou, is the real standout here, holding his own with acrobatic on-foot fighting in a world where mechas and giant armoured monsters rule the battlefield.
And next up, my TV show top ten, which was significantly more difficult to decide on!
1. Jojos Bizarre Adventure
This show has barely any animation budget, and it shows. Yet its still number one on my list, because even with substandard animation, there is so much love oozing out of every frame of the production that every single episode is a joy to watch. It is manly, and it is fabulous, and above all it is ENTERTAINMENT.
The source manga is literally decades old, and probably felt cheesy as hell even back then, but theres a reason why it enjoys in its homeland perhaps the most enduring popularity of any manga. It embraces the cheese and makes it its own. It goes above and beyond. Its just plain awesome.
And the arc that was covered in the anime adaptation in 2013, Part 2: Battle Tendency, is perhaps the greatest embodiment of these elements. Its not my favourite of the series arcs (that would be Part 4), it doesnt have the creative and complex Stand abilities that come to define the series in later Parts, and it doesnt have the series most iconic villain, Dio, but what it does have is perhaps the series most entertaining protagonist in Joseph Joestar, and a beautifully-paced narrative that feels like just the right length, and wastes no time in cranking the did somebody say AWESOME?! factor up to maximum at every feasible opportunity.
2. Monogatari Second Season
The title is misleading (this is actually the fourth anime in the Monogatari series), but perhaps thats appropriate for a series that delights in toying with the viewers expectations. Suffice to say that anyone who enjoyed any of the previous entries in this supernatural saga (Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari Black) will not be disappointed by what this continuation has to offer. It devotes an arc to each of the characters introduced in the original Bakemonogatari (well, more or less), and tells a set of new stories that brings each of their character arcs to a conclusion of sorts. Some of these conclusions are straightforwardly satisfying, some are bittersweet, some are bizarre and completely out of left field, some are very final while others are more open-ended, but all are great viewing in one way or another.
And of course, the show provides plenty of animation studio SHAFTs trademark stylised presentation, author Nisio Isins trademark witty banter, and the over-the-top-but-never-outright-tasteless fanservice that both of them love dearly.
3. Hunter x Hunter
If it werent for the existence of One Piece, Id have no reservations in naming Hunter x Hunter the greatest shonen manga in existence. Where One Piece embraces shonen conventions and achieves greatness by telling a grand adventure story within their confines, Hunter x Hunter prefers to challenge conventions at every turn, very much doing its own thing. Oh, it still uses the conventions, but never quite in the way you might expect, and it has no qualms about being dark, with deaths relatively commonplace, and complex characters who cant be easily defined as simply good or evil among both protagonists and villains (though this only makes its villains seem more villainous).
The greatest weakness of the manga is the authors inability to stick to anything resembling a schedule, which results in continual hiatuses spanning years, and often substandard art when the series does sporadically return. Combined with the complex nature of some of the mangas arcs, this makes it remarkably difficult to follow and stay engaged with, as well as just painfully slow in general. This anime adaptation, however, suffers from none of these issues, having consistently excellent pacing that puts most other shonen adaptations to shame, and a standard of production quality that is extremely rare in shows of this length. Considering that the manga has currently progressed to a point where the anime will be easily able to reach a satisfying conclusion point without ever resorting to filler or original material, this adaptation is easily the best way to enjoy the series.
The first half of 2013 saw the anime cover the Greed Island arc, which I personally feel is one of the weaker arcs of the series due to having the least interesting villain, but theres a lot to love in there as well, such as the cute-on-the-outside, not-so-cute-on-the-inside mentor Biske, the rather unique rules of the game that serves as the stage for the arcs events, and a thrilling sporting contest which sees the protagonists teaming up with one of the shows most interesting villainous characters.
But the reason the show is so high on my list is the arc that was covered in the second half of the year (and is still ongoing) - the Chimera Ant arc. My favourite arc of the entire series, this arc is defined by its excellent villains, a colony of ants with the ability to assimilate characteristics of other animals, which suddenly become a threat to the entire world when they gain human intelligence. The way the ants natural instincts to consume and conquer interacts with their new human nature is wonderfully portrayed on many levels, and their King in particular develops into probably the most compelling character in the entire series, as well as being terrifyingly formidable as an enemy.
4. Kill la Kill
Kill la Kill is manic, over-the-top and bombastic. Hailed by many as a successor to the much-loved Gurren Lagann, its certainly similar to that show in visual style and in utter lack of restraint, but its quite different in many ways too. For one, there are no giant robots in sight, their role replaced by a hierarchy of school uniforms that grant special powers. For another, one of the aspects it chooses to dial up to eleven is the fanservice, with the aforementioned uniforms often being downright shameless, and none more so than the female protagonists. And then theres the pacing, which can seem outrageously fast at times, and at others perhaps not quite fast enough.
But at least in my opinion, all of these elements come together to form a very satisfying whole thanks to the shows great sense of humour. The best friend character, Mako, is generally the shining example of this, injecting hilarity into any scene she appears in with her lovably bizarre antics, but this sense of humour is really woven into the fabric of the show, with many elements of the plot being deliberately absurd, and lampshaded as such (I mean, the super-secret organisation helping the protagonist out is named Nudist Beach. Does anything more really need saying?)
5. Servant x Service
Dont be scared away by the title (as I understand many have been)! There are no creepy master-servant relationships to be found in this show; the servants in question are civil servants, and this is a simple slice-of-life comedy set in an office. Simple, but excellent.
The office setting is quite uncommon in anime, and feels decidedly fresh. The characters have entertaining quirks (the cosplay fanatic, the infuriatingly proficient layabout, the self-conscious girl with the unpronounceably long name, and so forth) but that never stops them from also feeling very human and relatable, and the show excels both in its low-key comedy and in its romantic elements. The real star of the show is Hasebe, the apparently-carefree womaniser who develops a serious crush on Lucy, the closest thing this show has to a protagonist, and the chemistry between the two of them is wonderfully sweet. But there really isnt a weak character in the cast, a weak episode in the run, or a weak moment to be found. Its just a beautifully-executed little series.
Oh, and the OP is incredible. So that helps.
6. Aku no Hana
This show is never going to be for everyone, and indeed most viewers will probably be tempted to turn it off and never come back after watching the first few minutes of the first episode, because its rotoscoped graphical style is nothing like any other anime out there, and its extremely offputting on a fundamental level. Add to this the fact that the first episode is largely uneventful and easily the weakest episode of the entire run, and Im sure the show must have lost a vast proportion of its potential audience right out of the gate.
But Id urge anyone who thinks they might be even slightly interested to stick with it, because as the series progresses, it quickly becomes apparent that these unsettling visuals are a perfect match for the shows subject matter. Its a deeply compelling look at teenage awkwardness gone wrong, in which the main characters life is slowly torn apart by his own baser desires and a frankly terrifying girl who is determined to manipulate him into facing them.
The whole experience is wonderfully put together, with the unsettling visuals and careful musical direction working together to build an atmosphere that draws you in and refuses to let you go. The narrative moves at exactly the right pace, delivering some truly mesmerising climactic moments that feel well-earned. And while an odd quirk of the rotoscoped style results in characters often having minimal or no facial features when viewed from a distance, it more than makes up for this by allowing for much more nuanced and expressive body language than ordinary animation generally achieves; there are many scenes in the show where no dialogue is necessary because the characters body language speaks volumes.
Oh, and nothing seems to embody the atmosphere better than the ending theme, which is unspeakably creepy and sure to make anyone do a double-take upon first hearing it - indeed, you might question whether its even music at all. But it quickly becomes strangely addictive, and the moment when it kicks in at the end of each episode can send shivers down your spine.
7. Shinsekai Yori
This is a rarity in the world of anime - an adaptation of a serious science-fiction novel set in a truly unique and well-realised world quite different from anything youll find anywhere else. Taking place in a distant future, it shows a human race which has come to possess powerful psychic abilities, which has resulted in huge changes in the way they live.
Over the course of the series, it explores the rural society of this future world through the eyes of a group of children as they grow older and discover more about the world they live in, and what they find is rarely pleasant. Its difficult to describe the series without giving away elements of the plot, but it has elements of mystery, horror, coming-of-age story and adventure about it, and excels in crafting an unsettling atmosphere in a quite different way from Aku no Hana above.
The series is not without its flaws - the pacing is variable, and can sometimes seem to drag a little, and there is a lot of inconsistency in the style and quality of animation and direction, with some episodes looking almost like they dont even belong in the same show. But its easy to overlook these small complaints thanks to the strong narrative, which has a very clear story that it wants to tell, and carries the viewer along on an intriguing ride from beginning to end.
8. Samurai Flamenco
This series excels on two fronts. First and foremost, theres the characterisation, which is what really holds the show together. Its two lead characters, Gotou the somewhat jaded policeman and Masayoshi the male model with childish dreams of becoming a superhero, have immediate chemistry and are incredibly easy to like. Masayoshis forceful personality and strong sense of justice is infectious from the very first episode, and I found myself revelling in every small victory he achieved.
And then theres the second front, which is the wildly unpredictable narrative. Always ready to catch the viewer by surprise, never staying in the same place for too long, very self-aware, and treading a delicate balance between the down-to-earth and the unrealistic, this show provides a real experience episode-to-episode. Were still only about halfway through the series right now, and I honestly cant say I have the faintest idea where its going to go next. But if the first half of the series is anything to go by, I know its going to be a wild and entertaining ride.
9. Gatchaman Crowds
I was initially hesitant to watch this show because its ostensibly a new entry in the venerable Gatchaman franchise, and I know nothing about that franchise aside from the very basic idea that it was a classic superhero team from the 70s. As it turned out, though, that was all I needed to know, because Gatchaman Crowds is a very different beast from the franchise it takes its name from, using that basic concept as a springboard for its own story deconstructing the superhero genre.
The result is a show that has a number of appealing elements. Theres the superhero action itself, which is still present and accounted for if perhaps not in the quantities one might expect, and the CG action actually looks pretty damn slick. Then theres the shows real hook, an advanced social network construct called Galax which promises to turn ordinary people into the real heroes, and its an interesting concept to watch the show explore.
Theres also the main character, Hajime, an incredibly energetic, optimistic and cheerful girl whos a bit (okay, a lot) of a cloudcuckoolander. She drags the plot forward through sheer force of personality and can basically do no wrong. Youll either love her or hate her, and personally I loved her. And theres the villain, Berg Katze, who is creepy, flamboyant, every bit as eccentric as Hajime and no less entertaining to watch. And of course theres the soundtrack, courtesy of one of the best anime composers, Iwasaki Taku, whos on his best form here. Hell, the show is worth it for the music alone.
Undoubtedly the weakest part of the series is its ending, which while thematically quite appropriate, feels a little underwhelming in terms of impact and sense of payoff. But its not certainly not enough of a flaw to dampen the incredibly enjoyable ride of the series as a whole. If the directors cut of the final episode (set to be included on the disc release) gives the ending a bit more flair, this show might deserve an even higher spot on my list.
10. Non Non Biyori
There have been an awful lot of good shows in the so-called cute girls doing cute things genre over the past year, and its painful to pick out just one as the best. But in the end, I think Non Non Biyori has to take the crown. The homely and peaceful atmosphere of the countryside setting is beautifully realised and helps to give this show its own distinct identity, while the relatively young ages of the characters helps to boost the cute factor.
While all the girls have their moments, in particular the youngest girl, Renchon, is nothing short of priceless in every scene she has, equal parts adorable and hilarious with her constantly deadpan face, childishly bizarre ideas and outrageous actions. She also takes centre stage in the shows two best episodes, 4 and 10, which complement the series usual humorous antics with some genuine emotional moments, the former masterfully tugging at heartstrings and the latter incredibly heartwarming.
Its also worth drawing attention to the shows ending theme, because the transition into it is always lovely, and its the perfect heartwarming tune to leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling after every. single. episode.
First, the movies/OVAs, which are easy enough since I only saw three of them!
1. Wolf Children - An incredibly touching tale of a mother trying to give her two unusual children the best life she possibly can. Yuki is the most adorable kid you ever saw. Everyone should watch this. Yes, I mean you. WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING IT RIGHT NOW.
2. Little Witch Academia - A simple but oh-so-enjoyable little story set in a school for witches. Based Trigger being based - this is what I call entertainment. It helps that the production values are great.
3. Neppuu Kairiku Bushiroad - A story long in the making finally arrives, and its a pretty decent watch. The main character is the mech-riding warrior princess Ame, but her male counterpart, the wild Suou, is the real standout here, holding his own with acrobatic on-foot fighting in a world where mechas and giant armoured monsters rule the battlefield.
And next up, my TV show top ten, which was significantly more difficult to decide on!
1. Jojos Bizarre Adventure
This show has barely any animation budget, and it shows. Yet its still number one on my list, because even with substandard animation, there is so much love oozing out of every frame of the production that every single episode is a joy to watch. It is manly, and it is fabulous, and above all it is ENTERTAINMENT.
The source manga is literally decades old, and probably felt cheesy as hell even back then, but theres a reason why it enjoys in its homeland perhaps the most enduring popularity of any manga. It embraces the cheese and makes it its own. It goes above and beyond. Its just plain awesome.
And the arc that was covered in the anime adaptation in 2013, Part 2: Battle Tendency, is perhaps the greatest embodiment of these elements. Its not my favourite of the series arcs (that would be Part 4), it doesnt have the creative and complex Stand abilities that come to define the series in later Parts, and it doesnt have the series most iconic villain, Dio, but what it does have is perhaps the series most entertaining protagonist in Joseph Joestar, and a beautifully-paced narrative that feels like just the right length, and wastes no time in cranking the did somebody say AWESOME?! factor up to maximum at every feasible opportunity.
2. Monogatari Second Season
The title is misleading (this is actually the fourth anime in the Monogatari series), but perhaps thats appropriate for a series that delights in toying with the viewers expectations. Suffice to say that anyone who enjoyed any of the previous entries in this supernatural saga (Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Nekomonogatari Black) will not be disappointed by what this continuation has to offer. It devotes an arc to each of the characters introduced in the original Bakemonogatari (well, more or less), and tells a set of new stories that brings each of their character arcs to a conclusion of sorts. Some of these conclusions are straightforwardly satisfying, some are bittersweet, some are bizarre and completely out of left field, some are very final while others are more open-ended, but all are great viewing in one way or another.
And of course, the show provides plenty of animation studio SHAFTs trademark stylised presentation, author Nisio Isins trademark witty banter, and the over-the-top-but-never-outright-tasteless fanservice that both of them love dearly.
3. Hunter x Hunter
If it werent for the existence of One Piece, Id have no reservations in naming Hunter x Hunter the greatest shonen manga in existence. Where One Piece embraces shonen conventions and achieves greatness by telling a grand adventure story within their confines, Hunter x Hunter prefers to challenge conventions at every turn, very much doing its own thing. Oh, it still uses the conventions, but never quite in the way you might expect, and it has no qualms about being dark, with deaths relatively commonplace, and complex characters who cant be easily defined as simply good or evil among both protagonists and villains (though this only makes its villains seem more villainous).
The greatest weakness of the manga is the authors inability to stick to anything resembling a schedule, which results in continual hiatuses spanning years, and often substandard art when the series does sporadically return. Combined with the complex nature of some of the mangas arcs, this makes it remarkably difficult to follow and stay engaged with, as well as just painfully slow in general. This anime adaptation, however, suffers from none of these issues, having consistently excellent pacing that puts most other shonen adaptations to shame, and a standard of production quality that is extremely rare in shows of this length. Considering that the manga has currently progressed to a point where the anime will be easily able to reach a satisfying conclusion point without ever resorting to filler or original material, this adaptation is easily the best way to enjoy the series.
The first half of 2013 saw the anime cover the Greed Island arc, which I personally feel is one of the weaker arcs of the series due to having the least interesting villain, but theres a lot to love in there as well, such as the cute-on-the-outside, not-so-cute-on-the-inside mentor Biske, the rather unique rules of the game that serves as the stage for the arcs events, and a thrilling sporting contest which sees the protagonists teaming up with one of the shows most interesting villainous characters.
But the reason the show is so high on my list is the arc that was covered in the second half of the year (and is still ongoing) - the Chimera Ant arc. My favourite arc of the entire series, this arc is defined by its excellent villains, a colony of ants with the ability to assimilate characteristics of other animals, which suddenly become a threat to the entire world when they gain human intelligence. The way the ants natural instincts to consume and conquer interacts with their new human nature is wonderfully portrayed on many levels, and their King in particular develops into probably the most compelling character in the entire series, as well as being terrifyingly formidable as an enemy.
4. Kill la Kill
Kill la Kill is manic, over-the-top and bombastic. Hailed by many as a successor to the much-loved Gurren Lagann, its certainly similar to that show in visual style and in utter lack of restraint, but its quite different in many ways too. For one, there are no giant robots in sight, their role replaced by a hierarchy of school uniforms that grant special powers. For another, one of the aspects it chooses to dial up to eleven is the fanservice, with the aforementioned uniforms often being downright shameless, and none more so than the female protagonists. And then theres the pacing, which can seem outrageously fast at times, and at others perhaps not quite fast enough.
But at least in my opinion, all of these elements come together to form a very satisfying whole thanks to the shows great sense of humour. The best friend character, Mako, is generally the shining example of this, injecting hilarity into any scene she appears in with her lovably bizarre antics, but this sense of humour is really woven into the fabric of the show, with many elements of the plot being deliberately absurd, and lampshaded as such (I mean, the super-secret organisation helping the protagonist out is named Nudist Beach. Does anything more really need saying?)
5. Servant x Service
Dont be scared away by the title (as I understand many have been)! There are no creepy master-servant relationships to be found in this show; the servants in question are civil servants, and this is a simple slice-of-life comedy set in an office. Simple, but excellent.
The office setting is quite uncommon in anime, and feels decidedly fresh. The characters have entertaining quirks (the cosplay fanatic, the infuriatingly proficient layabout, the self-conscious girl with the unpronounceably long name, and so forth) but that never stops them from also feeling very human and relatable, and the show excels both in its low-key comedy and in its romantic elements. The real star of the show is Hasebe, the apparently-carefree womaniser who develops a serious crush on Lucy, the closest thing this show has to a protagonist, and the chemistry between the two of them is wonderfully sweet. But there really isnt a weak character in the cast, a weak episode in the run, or a weak moment to be found. Its just a beautifully-executed little series.
Oh, and the OP is incredible. So that helps.
6. Aku no Hana
This show is never going to be for everyone, and indeed most viewers will probably be tempted to turn it off and never come back after watching the first few minutes of the first episode, because its rotoscoped graphical style is nothing like any other anime out there, and its extremely offputting on a fundamental level. Add to this the fact that the first episode is largely uneventful and easily the weakest episode of the entire run, and Im sure the show must have lost a vast proportion of its potential audience right out of the gate.
But Id urge anyone who thinks they might be even slightly interested to stick with it, because as the series progresses, it quickly becomes apparent that these unsettling visuals are a perfect match for the shows subject matter. Its a deeply compelling look at teenage awkwardness gone wrong, in which the main characters life is slowly torn apart by his own baser desires and a frankly terrifying girl who is determined to manipulate him into facing them.
The whole experience is wonderfully put together, with the unsettling visuals and careful musical direction working together to build an atmosphere that draws you in and refuses to let you go. The narrative moves at exactly the right pace, delivering some truly mesmerising climactic moments that feel well-earned. And while an odd quirk of the rotoscoped style results in characters often having minimal or no facial features when viewed from a distance, it more than makes up for this by allowing for much more nuanced and expressive body language than ordinary animation generally achieves; there are many scenes in the show where no dialogue is necessary because the characters body language speaks volumes.
Oh, and nothing seems to embody the atmosphere better than the ending theme, which is unspeakably creepy and sure to make anyone do a double-take upon first hearing it - indeed, you might question whether its even music at all. But it quickly becomes strangely addictive, and the moment when it kicks in at the end of each episode can send shivers down your spine.
7. Shinsekai Yori
This is a rarity in the world of anime - an adaptation of a serious science-fiction novel set in a truly unique and well-realised world quite different from anything youll find anywhere else. Taking place in a distant future, it shows a human race which has come to possess powerful psychic abilities, which has resulted in huge changes in the way they live.
Over the course of the series, it explores the rural society of this future world through the eyes of a group of children as they grow older and discover more about the world they live in, and what they find is rarely pleasant. Its difficult to describe the series without giving away elements of the plot, but it has elements of mystery, horror, coming-of-age story and adventure about it, and excels in crafting an unsettling atmosphere in a quite different way from Aku no Hana above.
The series is not without its flaws - the pacing is variable, and can sometimes seem to drag a little, and there is a lot of inconsistency in the style and quality of animation and direction, with some episodes looking almost like they dont even belong in the same show. But its easy to overlook these small complaints thanks to the strong narrative, which has a very clear story that it wants to tell, and carries the viewer along on an intriguing ride from beginning to end.
8. Samurai Flamenco
This series excels on two fronts. First and foremost, theres the characterisation, which is what really holds the show together. Its two lead characters, Gotou the somewhat jaded policeman and Masayoshi the male model with childish dreams of becoming a superhero, have immediate chemistry and are incredibly easy to like. Masayoshis forceful personality and strong sense of justice is infectious from the very first episode, and I found myself revelling in every small victory he achieved.
And then theres the second front, which is the wildly unpredictable narrative. Always ready to catch the viewer by surprise, never staying in the same place for too long, very self-aware, and treading a delicate balance between the down-to-earth and the unrealistic, this show provides a real experience episode-to-episode. Were still only about halfway through the series right now, and I honestly cant say I have the faintest idea where its going to go next. But if the first half of the series is anything to go by, I know its going to be a wild and entertaining ride.
9. Gatchaman Crowds
I was initially hesitant to watch this show because its ostensibly a new entry in the venerable Gatchaman franchise, and I know nothing about that franchise aside from the very basic idea that it was a classic superhero team from the 70s. As it turned out, though, that was all I needed to know, because Gatchaman Crowds is a very different beast from the franchise it takes its name from, using that basic concept as a springboard for its own story deconstructing the superhero genre.
The result is a show that has a number of appealing elements. Theres the superhero action itself, which is still present and accounted for if perhaps not in the quantities one might expect, and the CG action actually looks pretty damn slick. Then theres the shows real hook, an advanced social network construct called Galax which promises to turn ordinary people into the real heroes, and its an interesting concept to watch the show explore.
Theres also the main character, Hajime, an incredibly energetic, optimistic and cheerful girl whos a bit (okay, a lot) of a cloudcuckoolander. She drags the plot forward through sheer force of personality and can basically do no wrong. Youll either love her or hate her, and personally I loved her. And theres the villain, Berg Katze, who is creepy, flamboyant, every bit as eccentric as Hajime and no less entertaining to watch. And of course theres the soundtrack, courtesy of one of the best anime composers, Iwasaki Taku, whos on his best form here. Hell, the show is worth it for the music alone.
Undoubtedly the weakest part of the series is its ending, which while thematically quite appropriate, feels a little underwhelming in terms of impact and sense of payoff. But its not certainly not enough of a flaw to dampen the incredibly enjoyable ride of the series as a whole. If the directors cut of the final episode (set to be included on the disc release) gives the ending a bit more flair, this show might deserve an even higher spot on my list.
10. Non Non Biyori
There have been an awful lot of good shows in the so-called cute girls doing cute things genre over the past year, and its painful to pick out just one as the best. But in the end, I think Non Non Biyori has to take the crown. The homely and peaceful atmosphere of the countryside setting is beautifully realised and helps to give this show its own distinct identity, while the relatively young ages of the characters helps to boost the cute factor.
While all the girls have their moments, in particular the youngest girl, Renchon, is nothing short of priceless in every scene she has, equal parts adorable and hilarious with her constantly deadpan face, childishly bizarre ideas and outrageous actions. She also takes centre stage in the shows two best episodes, 4 and 10, which complement the series usual humorous antics with some genuine emotional moments, the former masterfully tugging at heartstrings and the latter incredibly heartwarming.
Its also worth drawing attention to the shows ending theme, because the transition into it is always lovely, and its the perfect heartwarming tune to leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling after every. single. episode.
And now for my second post, in which I will cover the honourable mentions. Except, I believe that every show I saw in 2013 deserves at least a mention (even the worst ones, if only so I can outline exactly how bad they were), so this will just be a continuation of my top-ten ranking, from the best of the rest right down to those shows I couldnt recommend to anyone.
11. Shirokuma Cafe - It hurts that this didnt make it into my top 10. Almost as much as it hurts that it ended. Panda love. Penguin love. Shirokuma love. All the characters in this are love.
12. Kiniro Mosaic - Adorable max. Karen is amazing. Ayaya is prime yuribait. Alice and Shino are just the cutest things you ever saw. And it ended with a goddamn pirate musical for Chrissakes. What more do you want?!
13. Golden Time - The chemistry between the leads is outstanding, the whole cast pretty strong, and the pacing remarkably brisk for a romantic comedy.
14. Suisei no Gargantia - A really fun fish-out-of-water story with twists, action AND cute girls! Not to mention the most bro-tastic AI mech you ever saw.
15. Tamako Market - I think this show stole all the charm that KnK was supposed to have. Between this and Kill la Kill, Im convinced its impossible not to love a character with Suzaki Ayas voice.
16. Love Lab - hnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhh. I dont think the girls get much cuter than NO, STOP, RIKO, THAT WASNT A CHALLENGE! FFFFUUUUUU
17. Uchouten Kazoku - That which is fun, is good!
18. Pokemon: The Origin - A brief but glorious nostalgia-fest that captures remarkably well everything that we loved about the original Pokemon games, doing that world justice in a way the long-running anime adaptation never did. Even the obligatory marketing tie-in to the newest entries in the franchise that was worked into the final battle felt cool and not too out-of-place (to me at least; I know some disagree, but since that segment was essentially an epilogue to the main storyline you can just ignore it if it really bothers you).
19. Nagi no Asu Kara - Incredibly cute girls, gorgeous world, plenty of emotion. Did I mention incredibly cute girls? Seriously. Manaka is a miracle, and some days I think Miuna and Sayu might be even cuter than she is. This show is literally outdoing itself here.
20. Stella C3-bu - Yuras character arc, which formed the meat of the shows narrative, was melodramatic in all the right ways while remaining eminently relatable, and the combat and antics were fun too.
21. Hataraku Maou-sama! - Team Chiho is the only correct team.
22. Kotoura-san - Best tone shift. Lots of heartwarming. Kotoura is adorable.
23. WataMote - I never knew cringing constantly could be so much fun.
24. Yuyushiki - you girls are crazy
25. Silver Spoon - Mmmmmm, pizza. Mmmmmm, bacon.
26. Chihayafuru 2 - naniwazuniiiiii sakuyakonoooohanaaaaaa
27. Shingeki no Kyojin - [insert obligatory comment about reaching basement here]
28. Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Ai is love. No seriously, thats actually what it means. It must be right. also-the-atmosphere-is-amazing-and-stuff
29. Gingitsune - Im pretty sure this would be higher if Satoru wasnt in it. Still want to marry Makoto.
30. Valvrave - A fun ride, had some seriously great moments, but overall not as great as it could have been.
31. Yowamushi Pedal - How is watching people riding bicycles this awesome?
32. OreShura - Chiwa clearly best girl, MC why you ignore Chiwa.
33. NouCome - ① Make second series ② Make second series
34. Outbreak Company - Needs infinitely more Myusel in real world.
35. Kyousougiga - What a dad.
36. Vividred Operation - Why do ALL shows not have amazing lolis in hot pants? Why?!
37. HenNeko - Dat OP.
38. Kitakubu - Many of the other shows on this list should be glad that Botan is stuck in this one. She would annihilate their power levels. Yes, even yours, Mondaiji.
39. GJ-bu - Hair brushing!
40. Zetsuen no Tempest - Seriously cool magical action, some interesting twists, and Miyukichi being godly. Screw the haters, the forest confrontation was great.
41. Oreimo. - I would probably have enjoyed this a lot more if I hadnt already read the novels, since I could then have appreciated the actual material rather than wincing at how badly the adaptation was mutilating it. Still had its good moments, though, largely towards the end.
42. YuuShibu - Unappealing boobs everywhere, but I can overlook that because Fino is so charming.
43. Yozakura Quartet -Hana no Uta- - Best pantyshots, some top-quality animation, cool abilities and interesting concepts. Also Ao is adorable. Kind of let down by a narrative that never really drew me in, and a lack of focus which made it difficult to feel particularly attached to any of the large cast of characters.
44. Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono - A winning formula for simple (if decidedly meta) comedy, made particularly enjoyable by the very natural banter thanks to the pre-recorded dialogue.
45. Symphogear G - A big improvement on the first season thanks to a hilarious villain voiced by Sugita and some great new frenemies in Shirabe and Kirika who have easily the best battle song in the show. Its a slight pity that far from bringing the Miyukichi character back, this season actually got rid of her even more conclusively, but I never thought that was one of her better roles anyway, so no big loss.
46. Date A Live - Entertaining harem hijinks. I liked Touka a lot more than I expected, Yoshino was fairly cute, and Kurumi was pretty amazing if rather underused. Looking forward to seeing how things progress in the sequel season.
47. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo - Suffers from a couple of fairly standard romcom issues (main girl is also worst girl, chronic status quo syndrome), but I nevertheless found it pretty enjoyable, with lots of the very Japanese If hard work doesnt work, WORK HARDER attitude and some very touching friendships and romances. Also notable for featuring one of the best graduation episodes ever.
48. Psycho-Pass - A pretty solid dystopian-future scifi cop show with a very nasty villain, some very interesting concepts, and a couple of truly heart-wrenching scenes. Suffers from feeling more drawn-out than it needed to be and a narrative that doesnt reach the climactic heights it feels like it should.
49. Tokyo Ravens - A godawfully mediocre magical action show wrapped in an amazing school romantic comedy. And trapped somewhere within all that is Kon, the most adorable character in the history of anything ever. Worth checking out if you can take the bad with the good.
50. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge - Shonen-esque action meets serial killers meets rampant fetishism. The chemistry between the scissors-wielding, hair-fetishising protagonist and the loli heroine is wonderful.
51. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai - A light novel series that feels like it was made for the purpose of being animated by Shaft gets animated by Shaft. Shaft-ness ensues.
52. Free! - Male upper bodies, friendship, and angst. A surprisingly decent watch nonetheless.
53. Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru sou desu yo? - A set of three gloriously overpowered protagonists wreak havoc in a parallel world. Has great potential, but suffers from a rather weak second arc and a disappointingly short episode count (CURSE YOU KADOKAWA). The dancing chibis in the ED are amazing.
54. Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou - I hate dogs. The protagonist of this show is a dog. Despite this, somehow I enjoyed it. That has to count for something, right?
55. Blood Lad - Another show that suffers from the trademark Kadokawa 10-episode count. A surprisingly fun pseudo-shonen-action romp.
56. Galileidonna - A fun tale of three sisters in a goldfish-shaped airship on a globetrotting adventure to recover the lost treasure of their ancestor Galileo Galilei. Barely manages to do anything with its villain, only really manages to give any focus to one of the three sisters, and ends rather abruptly, allegedly because executive meddling resulted in the show being compressed into half its intended length. Thankfully the one girl it chose to focus on was easily the best one, so theres still quite a bit to enjoy here.
57. Coppelion - Genetically-enhanced schoolgirls save lives in a ruined Tokyo where the air is poison thanks to some kind of industrial disaster. Consistently decent, but never quite grabbed me.
58. Kyoukai no Kanata - The worst show I have ever seen KyoAni make. Features their usual top-notch animation, and is sometimes worth watching just for the sheer spectacle, but the narrative is for the most part extremely dull and unnecessarily convoluted. Would be even lower on the list if it werent for a couple of legitimately good episodes (namely episode 5, which threw out the actual plot in favour of amusing comedy antics, and episode 10, which reveals the shows main twist in quite touching fashion and also features an amazing transition into the opening sequence).
59. Magi - A bad adaptation of a decent manga. Would be lower down if it werent for the existence of Mor, who is a strong candidate for the most gorgeous girl of all 2013 anime. Dem legs.
60. Machine Doll wa Kizutsukanai - A show with an interesting setting (a parallel early-20th-century England where magical scientists fight using sentient automatons) but a weak narrative that tends to feel too convoluted for its own good, and the overarching plot barely seems to advance at all within the arcs that this adaptation covers. Its saving grace is the extremely cute designs (and in a couple of cases, personalities) of its female characters. Oh, and the excellent ED.
61. Fantasista Doll - A show that seems to be trying to take the formula of standard magical girl shows with their dual preteen girl/older otaku audience and skew it heavily towards the latter, but hews a little too close to its inspirations and winds up feeling a little empty, with a narrative thats a little bit too generic, and not quite enough cuteness and fanservice to fully cement its otaku appeal. That said, its simplicity and its quirky sense of humour (with battles that are essentially a parade of non-sequiturs) can be quite charming, and it does have some very cute characters in the mix. Enjoyable, but nothing special.
62. Maoyuu - The tale of an evil overlord and a hero who realise that, actually, they cant end their war because its fundamentally necessary to both of their worlds economies, and so secretly set out to fix that in order to achieve true peace. An understatedly pleasant watch, but suffers from slightly awkward pacing and a narrative that doesnt really seem to get very far within the allotted number of episodes.
63. BlazBlue Alter Memory - An anime adaptation of one of my favourite videogame series, renowned for its slick fighting mechanics, stylish characters and in-depth narrative. An anime adaptation of BlazBlue should be all rights have been an excellent idea, but this adaptation rushed through the story so quickly as to lose any hope of being comprehensible to newcomers to the series, and suffered from a nonexistent animation budget that meant there wasnt a single decent-looking fight to be found. Which, in an adaptation of a fighting game, seems like a pretty big flaw. There are still bits and pieces good stuff to be found in here, but nothing that wouldnt be better experienced by just playing the original games.
64. Futari wa Milky Holmes - What do you get if you take the Milky Holmes franchise and remove everything that people like about it? Still not an awful show, apparently. This latest franchise instalment, which by all rights should never have been conceived, stripped the show of its iconic four main characters, as well as most of the beloved side cast and villains, removed any sign of the madcap comedy antics that defined the previous two anime series, and cut down the episode length to ensure that there would be no room for any of the actual mystery-solving that forms the meat of the original videogames. The result was a show that was inoffensive, but ultimately bland and hardly deserving of the Milky Holmes name.
65. Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou - What do you get if you take the magical girl formula and add copious quantities of angst and a dash of surrealism? An instant cash cow, the creators of this show obviously thought, failing to take into account that Madoka Magica also included such elements as a small, focused cast of excellent characters, a compelling villain and a well-written, masterfully-paced narrative. This failed imitation features a huge cast of largely irrelevant characters in an odd style that cant seem to decide whether it wants to be chibi, loli, or something else entirely, a villain who is all enigma with no substance, and a narrative that goes nowhere for three-quarters of its run before rushing straight into a clumsy mess of a climax. There were still some things to like in here, but for the most part it was just terribly conceived all around.
And last but (at least in terms of word count) by no means least
66. Danganronpa The Animation
This videogame adaptation has a lot in common with BlazBlue Alter Memory above. Like that show, its biggest merits are those that it lifts wholesale from its excellent source material, and its greatest flaw that it rushes through that source materials content far too quickly, leaving one to wonder why anyone wouldnt just play the original game instead. In the visual stakes, this adaptation actually fares better than the BlazBlue adaptation, since there isnt much action to be animated here, and the show actually does a pretty good job of reproducing the games distinctive visual style. The reason this show is at the bottom of my list while the BlazBlue adaptation is a few spots higher, then, is not so much due to the shows own merits (or lack thereof) but due to the nature of its source material.
The BlazBlue games narrative is designed to be fairly confusing and disjointed, with the pieces coming together as the player experiences different routes and becomes more immersed in the world. Its adaptation then, while substandard and by no means ideal, could be seen as a half-decent starting point to pique a franchise newcomers interest before they move on to the actual games for the proper experience. This adaptation, on the other hand, ruins the experience of the original Danganronpa game for any potential interested newcomers by presenting all of its mysteries and their solutions in heavily simplified form, not really enough to be enjoyable on their own but more than enough to spoil the heck out of all the twists and turns that the original game has to offer. Avoid at all costs.
11. Shirokuma Cafe - It hurts that this didnt make it into my top 10. Almost as much as it hurts that it ended. Panda love. Penguin love. Shirokuma love. All the characters in this are love.
12. Kiniro Mosaic - Adorable max. Karen is amazing. Ayaya is prime yuribait. Alice and Shino are just the cutest things you ever saw. And it ended with a goddamn pirate musical for Chrissakes. What more do you want?!
13. Golden Time - The chemistry between the leads is outstanding, the whole cast pretty strong, and the pacing remarkably brisk for a romantic comedy.
14. Suisei no Gargantia - A really fun fish-out-of-water story with twists, action AND cute girls! Not to mention the most bro-tastic AI mech you ever saw.
15. Tamako Market - I think this show stole all the charm that KnK was supposed to have. Between this and Kill la Kill, Im convinced its impossible not to love a character with Suzaki Ayas voice.
16. Love Lab - hnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhh. I dont think the girls get much cuter than NO, STOP, RIKO, THAT WASNT A CHALLENGE! FFFFUUUUUU
17. Uchouten Kazoku - That which is fun, is good!
18. Pokemon: The Origin - A brief but glorious nostalgia-fest that captures remarkably well everything that we loved about the original Pokemon games, doing that world justice in a way the long-running anime adaptation never did. Even the obligatory marketing tie-in to the newest entries in the franchise that was worked into the final battle felt cool and not too out-of-place (to me at least; I know some disagree, but since that segment was essentially an epilogue to the main storyline you can just ignore it if it really bothers you).
19. Nagi no Asu Kara - Incredibly cute girls, gorgeous world, plenty of emotion. Did I mention incredibly cute girls? Seriously. Manaka is a miracle, and some days I think Miuna and Sayu might be even cuter than she is. This show is literally outdoing itself here.
20. Stella C3-bu - Yuras character arc, which formed the meat of the shows narrative, was melodramatic in all the right ways while remaining eminently relatable, and the combat and antics were fun too.
21. Hataraku Maou-sama! - Team Chiho is the only correct team.
22. Kotoura-san - Best tone shift. Lots of heartwarming. Kotoura is adorable.
23. WataMote - I never knew cringing constantly could be so much fun.
24. Yuyushiki - you girls are crazy
25. Silver Spoon - Mmmmmm, pizza. Mmmmmm, bacon.
26. Chihayafuru 2 - naniwazuniiiiii sakuyakonoooohanaaaaaa
27. Shingeki no Kyojin - [insert obligatory comment about reaching basement here]
28. Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Ai is love. No seriously, thats actually what it means. It must be right. also-the-atmosphere-is-amazing-and-stuff
29. Gingitsune - Im pretty sure this would be higher if Satoru wasnt in it. Still want to marry Makoto.
30. Valvrave - A fun ride, had some seriously great moments, but overall not as great as it could have been.
31. Yowamushi Pedal - How is watching people riding bicycles this awesome?
32. OreShura - Chiwa clearly best girl, MC why you ignore Chiwa.
33. NouCome - ① Make second series ② Make second series
34. Outbreak Company - Needs infinitely more Myusel in real world.
35. Kyousougiga - What a dad.
36. Vividred Operation - Why do ALL shows not have amazing lolis in hot pants? Why?!
37. HenNeko - Dat OP.
38. Kitakubu - Many of the other shows on this list should be glad that Botan is stuck in this one. She would annihilate their power levels. Yes, even yours, Mondaiji.
39. GJ-bu - Hair brushing!
40. Zetsuen no Tempest - Seriously cool magical action, some interesting twists, and Miyukichi being godly. Screw the haters, the forest confrontation was great.
41. Oreimo. - I would probably have enjoyed this a lot more if I hadnt already read the novels, since I could then have appreciated the actual material rather than wincing at how badly the adaptation was mutilating it. Still had its good moments, though, largely towards the end.
42. YuuShibu - Unappealing boobs everywhere, but I can overlook that because Fino is so charming.
43. Yozakura Quartet -Hana no Uta- - Best pantyshots, some top-quality animation, cool abilities and interesting concepts. Also Ao is adorable. Kind of let down by a narrative that never really drew me in, and a lack of focus which made it difficult to feel particularly attached to any of the large cast of characters.
44. Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono - A winning formula for simple (if decidedly meta) comedy, made particularly enjoyable by the very natural banter thanks to the pre-recorded dialogue.
45. Symphogear G - A big improvement on the first season thanks to a hilarious villain voiced by Sugita and some great new frenemies in Shirabe and Kirika who have easily the best battle song in the show. Its a slight pity that far from bringing the Miyukichi character back, this season actually got rid of her even more conclusively, but I never thought that was one of her better roles anyway, so no big loss.
46. Date A Live - Entertaining harem hijinks. I liked Touka a lot more than I expected, Yoshino was fairly cute, and Kurumi was pretty amazing if rather underused. Looking forward to seeing how things progress in the sequel season.
47. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo - Suffers from a couple of fairly standard romcom issues (main girl is also worst girl, chronic status quo syndrome), but I nevertheless found it pretty enjoyable, with lots of the very Japanese If hard work doesnt work, WORK HARDER attitude and some very touching friendships and romances. Also notable for featuring one of the best graduation episodes ever.
48. Psycho-Pass - A pretty solid dystopian-future scifi cop show with a very nasty villain, some very interesting concepts, and a couple of truly heart-wrenching scenes. Suffers from feeling more drawn-out than it needed to be and a narrative that doesnt reach the climactic heights it feels like it should.
49. Tokyo Ravens - A godawfully mediocre magical action show wrapped in an amazing school romantic comedy. And trapped somewhere within all that is Kon, the most adorable character in the history of anything ever. Worth checking out if you can take the bad with the good.
50. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge - Shonen-esque action meets serial killers meets rampant fetishism. The chemistry between the scissors-wielding, hair-fetishising protagonist and the loli heroine is wonderful.
51. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai - A light novel series that feels like it was made for the purpose of being animated by Shaft gets animated by Shaft. Shaft-ness ensues.
52. Free! - Male upper bodies, friendship, and angst. A surprisingly decent watch nonetheless.
53. Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru sou desu yo? - A set of three gloriously overpowered protagonists wreak havoc in a parallel world. Has great potential, but suffers from a rather weak second arc and a disappointingly short episode count (CURSE YOU KADOKAWA). The dancing chibis in the ED are amazing.
54. Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou - I hate dogs. The protagonist of this show is a dog. Despite this, somehow I enjoyed it. That has to count for something, right?
55. Blood Lad - Another show that suffers from the trademark Kadokawa 10-episode count. A surprisingly fun pseudo-shonen-action romp.
56. Galileidonna - A fun tale of three sisters in a goldfish-shaped airship on a globetrotting adventure to recover the lost treasure of their ancestor Galileo Galilei. Barely manages to do anything with its villain, only really manages to give any focus to one of the three sisters, and ends rather abruptly, allegedly because executive meddling resulted in the show being compressed into half its intended length. Thankfully the one girl it chose to focus on was easily the best one, so theres still quite a bit to enjoy here.
57. Coppelion - Genetically-enhanced schoolgirls save lives in a ruined Tokyo where the air is poison thanks to some kind of industrial disaster. Consistently decent, but never quite grabbed me.
58. Kyoukai no Kanata - The worst show I have ever seen KyoAni make. Features their usual top-notch animation, and is sometimes worth watching just for the sheer spectacle, but the narrative is for the most part extremely dull and unnecessarily convoluted. Would be even lower on the list if it werent for a couple of legitimately good episodes (namely episode 5, which threw out the actual plot in favour of amusing comedy antics, and episode 10, which reveals the shows main twist in quite touching fashion and also features an amazing transition into the opening sequence).
59. Magi - A bad adaptation of a decent manga. Would be lower down if it werent for the existence of Mor, who is a strong candidate for the most gorgeous girl of all 2013 anime. Dem legs.
60. Machine Doll wa Kizutsukanai - A show with an interesting setting (a parallel early-20th-century England where magical scientists fight using sentient automatons) but a weak narrative that tends to feel too convoluted for its own good, and the overarching plot barely seems to advance at all within the arcs that this adaptation covers. Its saving grace is the extremely cute designs (and in a couple of cases, personalities) of its female characters. Oh, and the excellent ED.
61. Fantasista Doll - A show that seems to be trying to take the formula of standard magical girl shows with their dual preteen girl/older otaku audience and skew it heavily towards the latter, but hews a little too close to its inspirations and winds up feeling a little empty, with a narrative thats a little bit too generic, and not quite enough cuteness and fanservice to fully cement its otaku appeal. That said, its simplicity and its quirky sense of humour (with battles that are essentially a parade of non-sequiturs) can be quite charming, and it does have some very cute characters in the mix. Enjoyable, but nothing special.
62. Maoyuu - The tale of an evil overlord and a hero who realise that, actually, they cant end their war because its fundamentally necessary to both of their worlds economies, and so secretly set out to fix that in order to achieve true peace. An understatedly pleasant watch, but suffers from slightly awkward pacing and a narrative that doesnt really seem to get very far within the allotted number of episodes.
63. BlazBlue Alter Memory - An anime adaptation of one of my favourite videogame series, renowned for its slick fighting mechanics, stylish characters and in-depth narrative. An anime adaptation of BlazBlue should be all rights have been an excellent idea, but this adaptation rushed through the story so quickly as to lose any hope of being comprehensible to newcomers to the series, and suffered from a nonexistent animation budget that meant there wasnt a single decent-looking fight to be found. Which, in an adaptation of a fighting game, seems like a pretty big flaw. There are still bits and pieces good stuff to be found in here, but nothing that wouldnt be better experienced by just playing the original games.
64. Futari wa Milky Holmes - What do you get if you take the Milky Holmes franchise and remove everything that people like about it? Still not an awful show, apparently. This latest franchise instalment, which by all rights should never have been conceived, stripped the show of its iconic four main characters, as well as most of the beloved side cast and villains, removed any sign of the madcap comedy antics that defined the previous two anime series, and cut down the episode length to ensure that there would be no room for any of the actual mystery-solving that forms the meat of the original videogames. The result was a show that was inoffensive, but ultimately bland and hardly deserving of the Milky Holmes name.
65. Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou - What do you get if you take the magical girl formula and add copious quantities of angst and a dash of surrealism? An instant cash cow, the creators of this show obviously thought, failing to take into account that Madoka Magica also included such elements as a small, focused cast of excellent characters, a compelling villain and a well-written, masterfully-paced narrative. This failed imitation features a huge cast of largely irrelevant characters in an odd style that cant seem to decide whether it wants to be chibi, loli, or something else entirely, a villain who is all enigma with no substance, and a narrative that goes nowhere for three-quarters of its run before rushing straight into a clumsy mess of a climax. There were still some things to like in here, but for the most part it was just terribly conceived all around.
And last but (at least in terms of word count) by no means least
66. Danganronpa The Animation
This videogame adaptation has a lot in common with BlazBlue Alter Memory above. Like that show, its biggest merits are those that it lifts wholesale from its excellent source material, and its greatest flaw that it rushes through that source materials content far too quickly, leaving one to wonder why anyone wouldnt just play the original game instead. In the visual stakes, this adaptation actually fares better than the BlazBlue adaptation, since there isnt much action to be animated here, and the show actually does a pretty good job of reproducing the games distinctive visual style. The reason this show is at the bottom of my list while the BlazBlue adaptation is a few spots higher, then, is not so much due to the shows own merits (or lack thereof) but due to the nature of its source material.
The BlazBlue games narrative is designed to be fairly confusing and disjointed, with the pieces coming together as the player experiences different routes and becomes more immersed in the world. Its adaptation then, while substandard and by no means ideal, could be seen as a half-decent starting point to pique a franchise newcomers interest before they move on to the actual games for the proper experience. This adaptation, on the other hand, ruins the experience of the original Danganronpa game for any potential interested newcomers by presenting all of its mysteries and their solutions in heavily simplified form, not really enough to be enjoyable on their own but more than enough to spoil the heck out of all the twists and turns that the original game has to offer. Avoid at all costs.
Here's the stuff I watched from the past year. I think I only watched these 10 shows, don't remember anything else. 9 of the shows were watched this past month. I need a life.
1. Monogatari SS -I love this show and what it does with the characters you meet from the start of the series. Maybe its because I watched the whole series in a 3 days but this was a super strong season and I loved everything about it.
2. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet - Really enjoyed this show and went into it knowing nothing. Everything from episode 9 to the end was really really strong. Chamber is a true robro.
3. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - This show was a great ride. Loved all the different types of episodes, and if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be A Clockwork Prisoner.
4. Kyousogiga -Really fun show, I liked the interaction with everybody and how it focused on the characters in the beginning before bringing everyone together for the crazy ending.
5. Log Horizon - Such an awesome show with amazing world building and it really makes me want to play an MMO again.
6. Eccentric Family
7. Shinsekai Yori
8. Samurai Flamenco
9. Kill la Kill
10. Attack on Titan
Maybe I'll add more stuff when I'm not on my phone
1. Monogatari SS -I love this show and what it does with the characters you meet from the start of the series. Maybe its because I watched the whole series in a 3 days but this was a super strong season and I loved everything about it.
2. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet - Really enjoyed this show and went into it knowing nothing. Everything from episode 9 to the end was really really strong. Chamber is a true robro.
3. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 - This show was a great ride. Loved all the different types of episodes, and if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be A Clockwork Prisoner.
4. Kyousogiga -Really fun show, I liked the interaction with everybody and how it focused on the characters in the beginning before bringing everyone together for the crazy ending.
5. Log Horizon - Such an awesome show with amazing world building and it really makes me want to play an MMO again.
6. Eccentric Family
7. Shinsekai Yori
8. Samurai Flamenco
9. Kill la Kill
10. Attack on Titan
Maybe I'll add more stuff when I'm not on my phone
lazybones18
Banned
Shows
1. Valvrave: The Liberator
I'll be honest. The only reason I have this over KLK is because I've seen more episodes of this show. And to be even more honest, this show is fucking stupid. First three episodes weren't half bad. You could question a little bit of stupidity but you would probably just brush it off. Episode 4 and 5 on the other hand....yeah, this show is dumb as shit. And yet, I was laughing my ass off. I was getting a kick out of this show, something I didn't really expect to happen cause I don't bother watching anime subbed. Still not done with the show
, but I can't wait to see how much of a fucking mess this ends up being
2. Kill la Kill
I guess it's a good thing I watched Gurren Lagann like a year or so ago to get me interested in seeing this show. Another show that makes me laugh more than once each episode. I thought I would be put off by the initial fanservice, but now it doesn't even bother me. All the characters are great, Satsuki being the best of course. I'm glad I'm not all that overly critical of the fights and some of the episode material/pacing since I'm enjoying myself watching this. Can't wait to see how the back end turns out
Films/OVA
1. Little Witch Academia
Saw a topic on GAF about it, decided to give it a watch while I was banned at the time. Enjoyed it so much, I donated to the LWA 2 Kickstarter. Hope the sequel doesn't lose any bit of charm.
2. Wolf Children
Saw it a con two months ago, my first time watching a Hosoda movie. Missed like the first couple of minutes, but I was into it the rest of the way through. It was a great movie, and since then I've been able to see other Hosoda movies. Wolf Children may not be the best Hosoda movie I've seen, but it's definitely one of the better animated (US or Japan) films I've seen in a long time
3. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
This is a 2013 movie, right? Anyway, didn't know what to expect since I didn't read the synopsis of the beforehand (someone asked me if I liked ghost stories which I'm indifferent to). To be honest, the movie was mostly corny but it still had a little bit of charm to it. It's not really something I would watch again but I can say that I at least liked it enough to put it on my list.
1. Valvrave: The Liberator
I'll be honest. The only reason I have this over KLK is because I've seen more episodes of this show. And to be even more honest, this show is fucking stupid. First three episodes weren't half bad. You could question a little bit of stupidity but you would probably just brush it off. Episode 4 and 5 on the other hand....yeah, this show is dumb as shit. And yet, I was laughing my ass off. I was getting a kick out of this show, something I didn't really expect to happen cause I don't bother watching anime subbed. Still not done with the show
maybe if a certain someone stopped coming up with excuses for not showing this during a certain block, I could have been done with this show
2. Kill la Kill
I guess it's a good thing I watched Gurren Lagann like a year or so ago to get me interested in seeing this show. Another show that makes me laugh more than once each episode. I thought I would be put off by the initial fanservice, but now it doesn't even bother me. All the characters are great, Satsuki being the best of course. I'm glad I'm not all that overly critical of the fights and some of the episode material/pacing since I'm enjoying myself watching this. Can't wait to see how the back end turns out
Films/OVA
1. Little Witch Academia
Saw a topic on GAF about it, decided to give it a watch while I was banned at the time. Enjoyed it so much, I donated to the LWA 2 Kickstarter. Hope the sequel doesn't lose any bit of charm.
2. Wolf Children
Saw it a con two months ago, my first time watching a Hosoda movie. Missed like the first couple of minutes, but I was into it the rest of the way through. It was a great movie, and since then I've been able to see other Hosoda movies. Wolf Children may not be the best Hosoda movie I've seen, but it's definitely one of the better animated (US or Japan) films I've seen in a long time
3. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
This is a 2013 movie, right? Anyway, didn't know what to expect since I didn't read the synopsis of the beforehand (someone asked me if I liked ghost stories which I'm indifferent to). To be honest, the movie was mostly corny but it still had a little bit of charm to it. It's not really something I would watch again but I can say that I at least liked it enough to put it on my list.
TV
1 - Space Brothers - After nearly 90 episodes, Space Brothers has continued to astound me with its consistent high quality. While I would consider Mutta to be the main protagonist, the show tells wonderful stories about all of its characters, and the additional focus on Hibito over the past year means that the show finally feels like it is about Space Brothers.
2 - The Eccentric Family- A show with a genuinely interesting mystery and a tight plot.
3 - Gatchaman Crowds - A lot of people will praise the art direction, the music, or the bizarre use of the Gatchaman name, but Hajime, the lead character, is the real reason this show is so great. While she comes across as a complete idiot early on, she shows a surprising depth and ability to stick to her convictions that keeps her going and reinforces the philanthropic message of the work.
4 - Hunter x Hunter - Top quality Shonen Adventure.
5 - Chihayafuru Season 2 - I love this show. The tension during the later tournament matches is incredible. My eyes still get a little damp remembering some of those matches.
6 - From the New World - While the early episodes don't seem to be going anywhere, the slow build up of the plot in this show is fantastic, and seeing a well thought out Sci-fi story is a bonus.
7 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Another fine shonen action show, with a wonderful over the top style.
8 - Monogatari Season 2 - A return to form after the somewhat dull Nisemonogatari. Kaiki's arc was a standout here.
9 - Kyousougiga - The first half, about the various characters' issues, was fantastic. The second half dragged a little, but the finale really tied everything together into a nice little show about a family.
10 - Majestic Prince - Solid mech drama/comedy that manages to hit all the right notes, even if it never manages to be spectacular.
Honourable mentions:
Kill la Kill, Log Horizon, Samurai Flamenco
I don't feel right giving a spot on the list to any of these three until they're complete, so they can all go into the honourable mention category for now.
Film/OVA
1 - Wolf Children - I can't not pick this. Mamoru Hosoda makes good films.
2 - Little Witch Academia - Straight up good fun.
3 - Garden of Words - Makoto Shinkai made something beautiful, sappy, and bittersweet. That's what he's good at.
Honourable mentions:
Patema Inverted - I caught this at a film festival in November, and I don't think it's even eligible, but it was a fun watch. Much like Chidlren who Chase Lost Voices for Makoto Shinkai, this feels like Yasuhiro Yoshiura's take on a Ghibli film, and doesn't quite live up to that standard. It's still a solid film, and I'm glad to see him getting more exposure, but I would prefer another more philosophical production from him.
Pokemon: The Origin - Well, that's Pokemon.
1 - Space Brothers - After nearly 90 episodes, Space Brothers has continued to astound me with its consistent high quality. While I would consider Mutta to be the main protagonist, the show tells wonderful stories about all of its characters, and the additional focus on Hibito over the past year means that the show finally feels like it is about Space Brothers.
2 - The Eccentric Family- A show with a genuinely interesting mystery and a tight plot.
3 - Gatchaman Crowds - A lot of people will praise the art direction, the music, or the bizarre use of the Gatchaman name, but Hajime, the lead character, is the real reason this show is so great. While she comes across as a complete idiot early on, she shows a surprising depth and ability to stick to her convictions that keeps her going and reinforces the philanthropic message of the work.
4 - Hunter x Hunter - Top quality Shonen Adventure.
5 - Chihayafuru Season 2 - I love this show. The tension during the later tournament matches is incredible. My eyes still get a little damp remembering some of those matches.
6 - From the New World - While the early episodes don't seem to be going anywhere, the slow build up of the plot in this show is fantastic, and seeing a well thought out Sci-fi story is a bonus.
7 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Another fine shonen action show, with a wonderful over the top style.
8 - Monogatari Season 2 - A return to form after the somewhat dull Nisemonogatari. Kaiki's arc was a standout here.
9 - Kyousougiga - The first half, about the various characters' issues, was fantastic. The second half dragged a little, but the finale really tied everything together into a nice little show about a family.
10 - Majestic Prince - Solid mech drama/comedy that manages to hit all the right notes, even if it never manages to be spectacular.
Honourable mentions:
Kill la Kill, Log Horizon, Samurai Flamenco
I don't feel right giving a spot on the list to any of these three until they're complete, so they can all go into the honourable mention category for now.
Film/OVA
1 - Wolf Children - I can't not pick this. Mamoru Hosoda makes good films.
2 - Little Witch Academia - Straight up good fun.
3 - Garden of Words - Makoto Shinkai made something beautiful, sappy, and bittersweet. That's what he's good at.
Honourable mentions:
Patema Inverted - I caught this at a film festival in November, and I don't think it's even eligible, but it was a fun watch. Much like Chidlren who Chase Lost Voices for Makoto Shinkai, this feels like Yasuhiro Yoshiura's take on a Ghibli film, and doesn't quite live up to that standard. It's still a solid film, and I'm glad to see him getting more exposure, but I would prefer another more philosophical production from him.
Pokemon: The Origin - Well, that's Pokemon.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
1. Hunter x Hunter
This anime is like a precious natural resource. I know it's going to run out eventually, and I dread that day because of how much I've come to depend on it for entertaining me.
In many shonen I've watched, the Dragon Ball influences are obvious, but it's nearly impossible to discern any here. The new Chimera Ant arc is probably the closest the series has come, but the tension, attention to detail, and characterization is consistently fresh and impressive.
2. Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic / The Kingdom of Magic
I don't really like the art/animation for this anime, but the storyline is surprisingly good. The trials of Aladdin, Alibaba, and Morgianna as they go through their individual trials, all while the incredibly-rich world changes around them should be a case study in world building while still making individual story arcs seem incredibly important.
3. Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals
This show isn't for everyone, but I thought it was a breath of fresh air. The humor was right up my alley: cross-dressing Neji, laughably Team Rocket-esque Orochimaru and Kabuto, Lee being... Lee? Even better was the focus on characters that really didn't get a chance to shine in the series proper, Lee's the obvious example and a show dedicated to him (even, or especially, an SD comedy one) feels right. But Neji and Ten-Ten are great comic foils to Lee's overboard comedy, and the other teams all get at least an ep to shine too. The skits almost always make me laugh ("You're not a real man if you don't have a ninja credit card!", Hinata the creepy stalker, etc.) and the openings and endings put a dumb smile on my face. Best of all? There's only like three episodes with Sasuke!
4. Senyu
A short series will get a short description, but Senyu really surprised me. The episodes are like five minutes long and that's exactly the amount that makes me laugh enough for the episode to feel substantial without overstaying its welcome. Hilarious anime that I recommend to anyone looking for some quick laughs.
Hellsing321
Member
So many votes that won't count because they didn't read the OP 
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
dakkumauji reminded me about Senyu, adding it to my list along with Rock Lee.
So many votes that won't count because they didn't read the OP
The month isn't even half over yet.
shira
Member
I only watched 2 shows but i'll have to check out the other recommended ones
1. Hunter X Hunter: great little fantasy series - seems to be ending soon
2. Attack on Titan: super great graphics - can't wait for season 2 if it happens
edit
edit:
3. Little Witch Academia
Holy shit this is harry potter the anime.
reaaaaaaly good
1. Hunter X Hunter: great little fantasy series - seems to be ending soon
2. Attack on Titan: super great graphics - can't wait for season 2 if it happens
edit
edit:
3. Little Witch Academia
Holy shit this is harry potter the anime.
reaaaaaaly good
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
I've heard we're only 2/3 into the Chimera Ant arc, and there's another short arc after that.
Haven't watched any of the current ongoings but still need to catch up on a few series, so tentative list so far.
1. Space Battleship Yamato 2199
2. Aku no Hana
3. Uchouten Kazoku
4. Gin no Saji
5. SNAFU
6. Tamako Market
7. Yuyushiki
8. Non non Biyori
9. Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen
10. Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru - all the rest were pretty self explanatory but I felt this one required a comment (not intended), it starts of being overly cringeworthy but manages to rein it in after the first few episodes and it becomes funny, stupid, silly but funny. The pool episode with the teacher was one of the few, genuine laughs I got out of anime during 2013.
1. Space Battleship Yamato 2199
2. Aku no Hana
3. Uchouten Kazoku
4. Gin no Saji
5. SNAFU
6. Tamako Market
7. Yuyushiki
8. Non non Biyori
9. Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen
10. Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru - all the rest were pretty self explanatory but I felt this one required a comment (not intended), it starts of being overly cringeworthy but manages to rein it in after the first few episodes and it becomes funny, stupid, silly but funny. The pool episode with the teacher was one of the few, genuine laughs I got out of anime during 2013.
Are you going to send out PMs to remind everyone to read it before the end of the month then?The month isn't even half over yet.
Are you going to send out PMs to remind everyone to read it before the end of the month then?
Only for the votes I want to save!
1 and done. Hunter X Hunter. Best anime! Best Shounen! Best characters! Best character development! Best animation! More shit goes on/gets done/is said in even the slowest episode that any other anime looks lazy in comparison. If anything saves anime it's this! Anyone who hasn't watched it has been wasting their time. Seriously your time would have been better served watching nothing but static on a tv if you haven been watching this. It's the thinking man's shounen.
1st Course
Member
Films and OVAs:
1. Wolf Children: Very warm hearting story and awesome animation/art style. Best animated film I've seen in years.
That it for me (don't watch TV series anymore).
1. Wolf Children: Very warm hearting story and awesome animation/art style. Best animated film I've seen in years.
That it for me (don't watch TV series anymore).
This two catagory shit is dumb, you created an entire new catagory this year just so you could rig it so wolf children at leasts wins something, you should be ashamed of yourself, your no better then spike vga,Oscars,Emmy, or whatever award show your talking smack about each year.
I point the finger at you cause your the ring leader, a true real G mod would be above that.
Edit:darkside point this out earlyer.
- Status