Forum - View topicThe Best Anime of 2021
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KitKat1721
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Tbf, I definitely cheated with films like Pompo by seeing them at a convention - but otherwise I think the only ones I saw in theaters were Josee and MHA. Everything else was through streaming/digital release pretty much. Heaven's Feel probably actually went to theaters last Fall, but I didn't watch it until the blu-ray was out. |
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tintor2
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While I like Odd Taxi, I don't really see it as something groundbreaking in fiction. I mean, Durarara and Bacano were released a decade ago with a similar style of narrative.
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Gina Szanboti
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Good news! The Japanese dub begins 1/9 and they cast Takahiro Sakurai as Lu (Hikaru in the dub, I think)! :fangirl squee: So I'll be surprised if it doesn't make the list next year! My top five series, agonizingly chosen since there were so many great picks this year, were: Moriarty the Patriot This was a toss-up with Vanitas and Sk8, but I knew those would be getting some love, and Vanitas isn't not done yet, so yeah. I just enjoyed the whole shebang, silly as it often was. I'm also a sucker for its character designs, so sue me. Mushoku Tensei This season was so much more palatable than last, and dove into some genuinely heartbreaking territory, only occasionally backsliding into raunchy stupidity. Kinda like Rudy, I guess. I was so relieved when they didn't follow up the spoiler[reunion] scene with some crude joke that that alone earned it a lot of fresh good will from me. Re: Zero Not so much the critical darling this season, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't share the constant complaints from the manga fans and reviewers, so it was all good for me. Ranking of Kings Oh never mind that stuff I said about it not being finished, this ranks. Plus it got a performance out of Takahiro Sakurai my ears could not believe. 
Those Snow White Notes I'ma flip some tables if this doesn't get another season. Simply exquisite from start to unresolved finish, I loved the visuals, and how they made the music a key part of the whole, whether backgrounds or character development or simply telling the story. At the risk of repeating myself, Snow White Notes's music was my pick(s) for best music, but the real standout was the impromptu duet between the brothers. Sent shivers up my spine, it did. And where is the love for "BOY" by King Gnu? What an absolutely perfect OP for this odd series! It's got that cheery, Munchkin-chorus, 30s era Disney vibe all through it, which on the surface seems to fit with the retro-cartoon look of the animation. But you can't listen to it without it feeling like there's something off here you can't quite pinpoint, and it sets your teeth on edge. It's a little wavy, like a warped vinyl playback or a stretched filmstrip that's about to jam and melt in the projector. I just love it.
(How fun - I tripped my odometer with this post!) |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1524 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I think this is the first time since 2018 - hell, maybe even 2012! - that I've seen this much anime from one year in the very year it came out, either in entirety or in partial. And much like how 2021 overall was a solid year for me with notable low points - being unemployed 'til April wasn't too bad, but catching COVID the week of my 27th birthday was certainly the opposite of good - this year in anime was very much the same. Instead of doing a standard ranking, I will go through every anime I watched in 2021 from 2021, from what I thought was best to what I thought was worst. There will be disagreements, but at this point that's to be expected.
Ultimately, the "anime of the year" top prize in my personal book has to go to Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan. I went into this one for a variety of reasons - interesting plot, I liked the director's prior work - and while I probably would've enjoyed it had I stayed in retail instead of scoring a full-time position over 80 miles away a month and a half in, watching Uramichi as a working adult really made it click in a special way. Relatable in its commentary on the struggles of adult life, but alternately light-hearted and positively minded enough that no moment felt like a massive downer. It may not be an unequivocal masterpiece, but it's something special, so special that I actually bothered to watch the first episode of the simuldub just for kicks, and am continuing to work my way through said simuldub to this day! Any series that can manage that is a winner in my book, especially one that further supports my personal belief that Ray Chase is the MVP of anime dub actors for 2021. (Him breaking into legit cinema with roles in Malignant and Licorice Pizza does play heavily into that, I'll admit.) Three episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean aren't enough for me to make a solid judgement at the end of this year, but if anything is solid, it's those three episodes. The next nine should be just as fun and exciting, hence why it gets an honorary 1.5th best placement. Before I settled on Uramichi as my personal MVP, I was going to give first place to Dr. Stone: Stone Wars, which I found to be a very solid sequel to the first season which I highly enjoyed (and actually had someone question the 10/10 score I gave it on MAL in a Twitter thread that, expectedly, gained zero traction). The continued method of applied science in the show's unique beyond-modern setting continues to excite, both in the manner of process and execution. There were plenty of "eff yeah!" moments I got to take joy in reacting to, and episodes 6 and 10 are some of my favorites not just in the season, but the entire franchise, and perhaps the year as well. Can't wait to see what season 3 pulls out! It's no surprise that Attack on Titan: The Final Season would be high on this list. Beyond Isayama's perspective shifting which made the story in and of itself something truly special in the world of popular shounen manga, MAPPA did a solid job picking up from where WIT left off, offering up its own visual take while avoiding skewing too far off the reservation of familiarity. While there were plenty of hard moments to watch - no character this year can hold up to being a sink for my hate as much as the janitor from episode 15 proved in his one-scene wonder - there were also many moments of catharsis for both sides, helping make Titan's second-to-last animated offering complex in comparison to even its predecessor seasons, and worthy of being deemed a "revelation". Black Clover may be far from an overall "good" series, especially with its early adaptational choices and its annoying tendency to play its characters' gimmicks out to the point of complete decomposition, but goddangit, that final cour was fire, a set of episodes I found myself looking forward to, especially as the despair ratcheted up to avenues I never expected it to go even with all the spoilers I consumed - no amount of knowing spoiler[how badly the Golden Dawn would be decimated] could prepare me for spoiler[the fat one being among the permanent fatalities] - and an ending that, while not the most conclusive, was the best note a show like Clover could end on, a buffo finale to contrast its stinker beginning. Also the dub had Max Mittelman and Ray Chase voice two characters in a partnership, something non-hypothetical anime could use more of. Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut was a show I watched based mostly on its self-proclaimed descriptor which wound up becoming its localized subtitle, and as someone who has no desire to go into space for realsies - the barriers to entry made plainly obvious even in the show itself - it was fun, fascinating, exciting, and very sweet. I'm not actively hoping for a season 2, knowing how it's probably doing in its home country, but I would gladly welcome one regardless. I've only seen six episodes of Godzilla: Singular Point, and about half of them are incomprehensible even for a dual-master's degree wielder like myself. But it looks good, moves good, sounds good, follows good getting past the wall of knowledge that is Toh Enjoe's script, and is an enjoyable watch alongside my franchise-knowledgeable uncle every week we get the time to see it. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Prolly doesn't count, but Cosmo Samurai: A Non-Canonical Toonami Event was super fun, a neat alternate take on the Toonami universe and those within it, and proof that you don't need to do arthouse direction to make something pure Tsuru-kei. Just ask the microseries' director himself! To answer what my thoughts were overall on My Hero Academia Season 5, let me preface by saying that promoting the movie was just one reason I believe they chose to jumble the order of plots; the other was having "My Villain Academia" by episode 108, and you know how superstitious the Japanese are about that number in particular. But overall, while MVA was a deep dive into all sorts of audience reactions, and Endeavor's only partially successful quest in seeking atonement from his offspring was my personal favorite arc covered for the season (and the filler eps that were the opener and the barebones movie tie-in were fun for what they were)... by god did I not look forward to the Class A vs. Class B episodes every time Toonami aired a new one. Every time the beginning recap queued up that stupid background song and Monoma proclaimed "Let's see who's the best once and for all!", I absolutely hated it. Sure, it was important for all sorts of reasons, I and many others would argue, but having to deal with that B.S. for half the season was just frustration-enducing. It also makes me wish they gave MVA the amount of love and care it rightfully deserved. I'd say I'm hoping season 6 turns things around from that, but... you know what, I'll shut up now, just to keep my emotions in check. Even before some nobody on Twitter tried to force a surface-level controversy with it, I knew I was going to watch Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, if only because I remember back when it was new, if only in the form of Nanashi's original CG sets from his days as a shock artist on Pixiv. Enjoying it was no surprise either, 'cause that's just how I am. But the show still found a way to catch me off-guard, in the form of its loving background art and the surprisingly thoughtful direction and framing given to its first episode. You'd think a rom-com of the "aggressively teasing goblina" variety wouldn't be so artiste, but I have to hand it to Hirokazu Hanai, that decision really made for a good first impression. Granted, some of the comedy leaned a little more on the side of "forced", and the times Gamo and Yosshii teased Senpai when they were in "we come as a package deal" mode were even rougher than Nagatoro's straight-up bullying of him in the debut, but the show still works, I understand what it was going for and appreciate that all the much, and eagerly anticipate the arrival of season 2 (and not just because that's already been confirmed for my seasonly "content rating clips" creation). Another obvious watch for the year, and the only season 2 I watched that wasn't through Toonami, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X was fun like its first season, and with some rather engrossing plots to keep interest as well. I just wish the lawlharem antics weren't as blatant as usual, and that Bakarina was just a little bit smarter about the whole "my friends want to f*ck me" thing. All that said, I do plan on watching the movie, especially with the end-of-season teaser to take into consideration. Oh, and the dollhouse episode was positively hilarious with its creative dream worlds. And if Nicol's episode has anything to say, it's that Shuntaro Tozawa is definitely an industry name to look out for in the future. Redo of Healer. Yep. Blade Runner: Black Lotus is a good example of an "okay" series. The setting is appropriate and interesting, but a little too visually dark for my liking. The animation is some of Sola's best yet, but at the cost of robbing the characters of expressiveness beyond indifference and anger. (And even then, some of the less actiony moments just look off when in motion.) While the plot makes sense and the show is above watchable in the moment, it doesn't have the post-credits staying power that it should. And its handling of reveals is faulty, not because it involves characters we've never seen or heard of before, but by the predictability of what reveals they choose to handle. The seven episodes that aired thus far proved as such, and I expect the remaining six to be the same. At the very least, it got me to see the original Blade Runner, an easily iconic film even thirty-nine years later, so that's a certified win in its favor. I often watch anime without reading, playing, or in some times watching the source material. By all means, I should be just as disappointed as everyone else was in the failures of The Promised Neverland Season 2, cutting what's widely considered the manga's best arc and changing around what they did choose to forwardly adapt. Any show that's too ashamed to pull an Alan Smithee in its scriptwriting credits is clearly asking for all of the disdain. But even those final two episodes, as understandable as they were in collapsing what was left standing of one of my favorites of 2019, couldn't stop me from finding enjoyment in what I could. CloverWorks' animation and art were solid (exploitation of overseas talent notwithstanding), the visual direction still kept me on edge, and I was able to make sense of most of the things that would leave viewers asking the six basic questions. Far from perfect, perhaps the antithesis of it, but even so, Neverland 2 remains proof that I, as an individual, can find enjoyment even in the most critically panned of waters. Yashahime: Princess Half Demon's second cour, of which I have one more episode to watch (thanks, Toonami central command), is about what I expected it to be, but without all the rage everyone else harbored towards the episodes that it mattered toward. The best thing I have to say about it: I found myself liking Setsuna more and more each episode, which is amazing considering how much of a wet blanket she was at the start (and arguably still is). Four episodes in on Platinum End. Don't hate it. Don't really love it either. Knowing how far downhill it goes probably has something to do with that. But as with most works that are steeped in Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy (presently Too Bleak, Stopped Caring), looks like I'll be anticipating more of the journey than the destination. I promised myself I'd never watch Full Dive after reading up on how utterly mean-spirited it was towards its main character. Then Sound Cadence went and made Johnny Yong Bosch his English VA, which combined with his lawlharem of horrible lovelies was practically an invitation for me to watch it with my uncle like we did with Please Twins! before it. Five episodes in, and though we manage to laugh and comment on it without fail, I can't help but wonder if just ignoring this series was the right thing to do... Oh well, might as well keep going and see what happens. I really, really wanted this one to be higher on the list, but after seeing it play out in real time - especially those final two installments - there's no denying that Fena: Pirate Princess is my personal biggest disappointment of 2021. From the get-go, it felt like the show was trying too hard, from comedy that felt too wacky to villains designed to lack even the slightest obviously redeeming traits. Once it reached the halfway point, I could tell it was squandering its own potential by way of both ignorance and literal obliteration. And it might've been the beginnings of my Delta variant talking at first, but by episode 10 I just wanted it to be over. Then there's the ending, whose failings were so obvious this site went and called them out itself. In a perfect world, Fena would be among my favorites of the year. But this ain't no perfect world, and what else is there to do but live in it. But for all of Fena's failings, it had a few triumphs, one of which being the fact that it wasn't the worst anime I had the displeasure of watching this year! That prize goes to Pacific Rim: The Black. I've only seen the first Pacific Rim. Never watched the second; a smart if lazy choice. But no matter how much they screwed that one up, I think 2 would've been way more enjoyable than The Black. Sure, the Jaeger-on-kaiju action is cool, the worldbuilding is neat, and the plot is intriguing. I even plan on watching season 2! But not even watching this along side my PR fan of an uncle could save this show from having some of the most unlikable characters I've had the displeasure of witnessing this year. Whether it be through complaining, whining, being a jerk, being underdeveloped, being too quirky, being snarkier than a Joss Whedon script, or just being straight-up unrepentant evil, I can't say I ever warmed to any of the main cast. Except for Boy, who at least had the benefit of being mute and bulletproof. And don't get me started on all the death for the sake of drama... If there's a lesson to be learned from all this, it's that Hollywood writers have no business making anime of their own. Leave it to the professionals of the medium. I had made plans to watch B: The Beginning Succession this year, to the point of marathoning the first season in three-episode chunks as prep. The sudden cut from 12 episodes to 6 made me wary, and an online companion of mine, the chillest guy I know when it comes to opinions on bad anime, posting a Twitter thread about how bad it was, completely unprompted, scared me out of watching it. I made plans to marathon it on Halloweekend to protest Toonami's 5-digit marathon of Fena, but I wound up watching the finale of the Alice in Borderland J-drama instead. A wise investment. I also planned on watching SK8 the Infinity, but never got around to it for some reason. After reading everyone's "best of" lists, I can say with certainty that sometime in 2022, I will fit in both ODDTAXI and Sonny Boy. The fact that I know nothing about the twists and turns of either beyond one or two (maybe three) vague points should make my reactions all the more fresh! And that's it for this year in anime. Here's to hoping 2022 is both a blast and a gas. Last edited by Takkun4343 on Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Saeryen
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Best Songs: For OPs, it's Dreaming Sound by Anna Suzuki (from Waccha PriMagi!), hands down. It's so pretty and hopeful.
EDs, it's a tie between Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure's Akogare Go My Way and PriMagi's Magical Future. Go My Way has everything I want in a Pretty Cure ED and it's a great song, with great lyrics and an awesome tune. As for Magical Future, it's got a "fantasy-pop" vibe I really love, and again, wonderful lyrics. Insert songs, I would have to say I fell in love with Magi Waccha Parade from PriMagi more than others. Starlight from the same show is also awesome. I don't have a best film because I didn't watch any anime films that came out this year, and I ought to. BELLE sounds like something I'd love, and Sing a Bit of Harmony. I'm really bad at catching up on anime films, I still have yet to watch the Given movie and the second Natsume Yuujinchou movie too. |
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Dark Mac
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Sad Heaven's Feel: Spring Song didn't get any recognition in the movie section. Was my favorite by a lot.
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db999
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I thought this was a great year for anime. It's been a long time since I've managed to watch this many shows in a year. That being said I didn't finish every anime I watched because some of them just weren't able to hold my attention for their entire run.
Shows I never completed 18 Hortensia Saga, Winter. I ended up dropping it pretty quickly. It was completely average on every level. I only ended up watching 2 episodes. It’s the most standard fantasy story, but when none of the characters save for the main two are interesting the show becomes a chore to watch. At least the opening theme slaps 17 So I’m a Spider So What Winter The show was fun and the human side material intrigued me, but I did find myself getting a bit bored of the show in the latter half of the first cour. I ended up dropping the show around episode 7 because Kumoko’s side of the story was feeling repetitive and the human side just wasn’t all that interesting. Not to mention I hear the production value take a hit in the second cour, which makes me even less likely to come back to it. 16 The World Ends With You The Animation Spring I watched the first two episodes and while the animation and music are excellent its rushing of the source material stopped me from making it far into the show. I feel like this show either needed to be a full 2 cours or should have ditched the traditional 12 episodes for a 16 or 17 episode run. 15 Farewell My Dear Cramer Spring I was pretty excited going into the show given that it was written by the same author of Your Lie in April one of my favorite shows, but I ended up dropping it after the first major soccer match with a rival school. The problems with this show are 100% on the production side as the story is well written and the characters are charming and well-realized. However, the show just doesn’t look good. Most of the matches are barely animated slideshows and while I thought I could just focus on the good writing and characters, the animation just became a detriment to watching the show itself. 14 Winter Sk8 the Infinity was a fun sports show and it felt so nostalgic because when I was a kid I was massively into skateboarding myself, although I was never good at it. It's just a solid fun time, but I ended up dropping it after a few episodes. I might pick it back up later cause the English Dub is apparently fantastic, but for now, it’s a drop for me 13 My Next Life As A Villainess X Summer I watched the first season and really enjoyed it so I started watching the sequel. I watched until the end of the first arc, but then I stopped watching. This might be a catch-up later show for me but for now, it’s incomplete. Shows I completed 12 Winter The Promised Neverland Season 2. So far this is the only show I actually finished that I would say isn't great. I haven't read the manga but I do know roughly what has been skipped. It’s just so rushed that none of the emotional impact lands. Honestly, this season is 3 seasons crammed into 1. The first 4 episodes were good and I didn’t have any problem with them, but then they skipped a pretty big arc that apparently could have been the rest of a second season so they could try to take a full 12 episode season and shove the material into 6 episodes. And then the final montage could have been another season in and of itself. They clearly took a 24 episode story and attempted to cram it all into 11 episodes which didn’t work. Apparently, they even made the final arc even more rushed than it already was. It suffers from the exact same problem as the final season of Game of Thrones. The stuff happening in it isn’t necessarily bad and I do legitimately like the ending and where most of the characters ended up, but it’s just so rushed that it takes a show that could have been fantastic and relegates it to being merely disappointing. 11 Winter/Fall Yashahime was another disappointment I wouldn’t quite call it a bad show but it’s just so horribly mediocre. There are some good episodes but the connective tissue for the story and characters just isn’t there and the final episode of the first season was really bad. So far in season 2, it’s an improvement over season 1. It feels like the writers know where the show is going now and the story is moving at a good pace. It’s still not that good of a show, but it remains watchable. I’m still worried that the show will devolve into time-wasting nonsense again, but so far that hasn’t happened so I’m optimistic that the show can right itself next year. 10 Winter Mushoku Tensei was a show I was looking forward to that just massively ended up disappointing me. Just a note here I actually did like Mushoku Tensei quite a bit. The production values are fantastic, and the writing both for world-building, and character development is also good, but one thing continually drags the series down. The main protagonist. I know a lot of people just don’t see the main character being a pervert as being a huge deal, but that’s never been anything that appeals to me, and even if it was all being pointed at adults I still wouldn’t like it. But when the reincarnated adult is perving on CHILDREN is where I draw the line. Every time I think the character is improving or getting better, this element comes back. I have no idea why the author thought he should write the character like this because it is the one element that consistently stops this from actually being a good show. Now I do know from people who have read the source that this character trait eventually disappears and the show if we get enough of it, will redeem the character, but the author went too far with it. This show would definitely be in the top five if it wasn’t for the main character constantly objectifying children. If you removed every element of fan service towards children from this show it might have even been in the running for the best show of the year, but as it is now it stands as one of the most disappointing shows of the year. And I ultimately didn’t end up watching season 2 because of it. I might come back someday to watch the second season, someday but for now, I’m cutting it off here 9 Fena Pirate Princess Summer I had a really fun time with this one. Is it a perfect show? Not really, the first episode had too many comedy elements that didn’t work, the O’Malley pirates, despite being the coolest characters in the show, don’t end up playing a huge role after the halfway point, and of our main cast, most of our Goblin Crew are just broad stereotypes. However, despite being stereotypes most of them get enough character focus, and moments where they break out of that stereotype, to make them endearing, and Shitan and Yukimaru have some great character arcs. I also really like Fena. Am I a bit disappointed that our title character doesn’t really live up to the Pirate part of the title? Yes, but she’s written so well, that even if she doesn’t get cool action scenes I wanted to keep following her story. This was a fun rip-roaring pirate adventure, with excellent villains, fun historical nods, and very light supernatural elements, but unfortunately, the final 3 episodes, especially the final one, leave a lot to be desired, and that ranks it down a bit. In fact, I’d say that the ending is outright bad, with a final episode that is so poorly set up and executed that it nearly ruins what came before it. And unfortunately, because of that ending, it ends up being lower on my list than other shows. It would have probably been number 6 had the ending been good but even though I liked spots 6-8 less on an episode to episode basis they at least ended decently which makes them go above Fena. 8 Winter/Summer Higurashi Gou/Sotsu was really fascinating. I really enjoyed the final half of Gou because it was surprising. The first half had lulled me into a false sense of security only for this half to suddenly show 5-10 loops over the course of one to two episodes. It also got really gruesome with one episode. It also did a really good job of revealing who was behind it the entire time. I still am not sure how I feel about the culprit having been revealed to have been spoiler[a looping Satoko]. It was definitely well hinted at throughout the season, and after the reveal, the show did a decent job of explaining how it came to this point, but then the final 3 episodes stalled and became so uninteresting. I was interested to see how the show would finish via its second season but now that I’m finished watching Sotsu I’m confident in stating that the entire season is completely unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong it was still entertaining, but the whole season was spent spinning its wheels. Despite devoting a lot of time to answering the questions of what happened in each of the arcs in Gou, none of it really gave me any information I didn’t already figure out by myself. The final 2 episodes could just have easily been the final 2 episodes of Gou and we would lose absolutely nothing of value, except for the opening theme song. And in fact, if I ever rewatch this sequel I will be skipping Sotsu and just watch the final two episodes of Sotsu after Gou finishes. However, it’s not like I disliked the season and the ending was actually quite satisfying so it ends up a bit higher on my list. 7 Fall The Faraway Paladin was another show that I was anticipating going into the season, and for the first 4-5 episodes it fully held up to my anticipation. The story it told of Will and his family was compelling and heartfelt throughout the entire story and it ends in a satisfying place. However those episodes are only the prologue to a larger story, and it’s not quite as good as the earlier episodes. After the opening chapters, it becomes really standard fantasy fare, but all of the characters are incredibly likable and elevate the otherwise standard material. It kind of felt like it was an adaptation of a fantasy JRPG, when we made it to the city I had the strange feeling like it was the first big city you get to a few hours into a 50-60 hour game. The season isn’t finished yet, but it has been confirmed that we’re getting a second season and I’m looking forward to it. 6 Spring My Hero Academia Season 5 While I still really enjoy the show the first arc was definitely a low point in the story. It’s not that the story and fights weren’t good, but it kind of felt like it dragged on a little too much, like they could have told everything in half the time and the show would have been better for it. However, once the fight with class 1-B ended there was a massive jump in quality. The whole conflict with Endeavor and his family is incredibly compelling because he was so abusive towards them, but now that he wants to do better by them I was worried the show would completely absolve him of his action, but it doesn’t. I like how all three of the kids have different perspectives, the daughter wants to forgive him and go back to everyone being a complete family, the son wants nothing to do with him, and Shoto is in the middle as he doesn’t know if he wants to forgive his father or not. The conclusion they reached at the end was really satisfying because it showed that Endeavor really had grown and become a better person. Then we go back and focus on the Villains again. This part of the season was pretty good and we got some nice characterization for all of them. The standout episodes are the ones focused on Twice and Shiguraki’s backstories. Then we went back to focusing on our main cast after their internships and ended the story on a good note. Next season looks to be really good as it’s going to get into the war with the Liberation Army that the second half of the season spent most of its time setting up. 5 BEASTARS Season 2 Beastars is back and in top form this season. I’m not sure it’s quite as strong as the first season, but I liked it just as much. Louis arc this season was probably the best part. I thought it was really interesting to see spoiler[him become the head of the Shishigumi, and his character dynamic with them was really interesting to see develop]. We also finally get to explore the mystery that started in the very first episode with Tem’s death, and although the mystery is resolved rather anticlimactically, the story ends quite well. Also, this is Beastars which means that the constant tonal shifts are back, as is the show's penchant for being unflinchingly weird and bizarre at all times. The animation is even better than the previous season and it continues to have one of my favorite soundtracks. My only negatives this season is how sidelined Haru is, and how hastily everything is resolved after the fight between Legoshi and Tem’s killer. Season 3 has been confirmed and while I haven’t heard great things about the ending of the manga, hopefully, it will continue to be an incredibly odd story. 4 Spring Odd Taxi. This show is probably one of the most well-crafted stories this year and for a mystery, it’s top tier. It's funny and tense at the same time and the plot is also extremely well put together. Everything is connected even character’s that you think are going to just be minor or only appear a few times end up playing important roles. There’s also a ton of little details and foreshadowing that really improve going back to rewatch from the beginning. The ending was also completely satisfying. The only reason why it's only at number 4 instead of being higher is that while it is excellent, it's not able to reach the emotional heights that my top three elicited in me. And to be fair, it’s not trying to go for those types of emotional highs, but if something is going to top my list it has to do that. 3 Winter Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1. On a writing level I think that this is not only the best season of the show thus far, but probably the best or second-best of the year. Its story choices are just so incredibly bold and risky that it’s amazing that it’s able to pull it off. The only reason why it’s not at number one is that I think the animation wasn’t quite as good as previous seasons. Don’t get me wrong I really empathize with the staff who had a hellishly fast schedule to get this done in, but it does show and bring the show down a bit. However, this has been a fantastic adaptation of the manga and I can’t wait for the second half because the stuff that’s yet to come is even more insane and risky. 2 Winter Jujutsu Kaisen. The second half of the season didn’t quite live up to the Junpei arc, but it was definitely still incredibly fun, horrifying, and well written. Not to mention the absolute best production value of the season. On a narrative level it doesn’t do anything really that unique, it’s pretty standard shounen fare but executed to near perfection. It’s also the action series highlight of the year, and the second of 2 shows where I watched episodes 2 times in a row. It also has some of my favorite fight scenes in it that I watched multiple times in a row I’m really hyped for the prequel film to come out internationally presumably next year and am totally excited for the, as yet unannounced, season 2. 1 Spring Fruits Basket This final season was phenomenal. I understand some manga readers were disappointed that not everything got adapted but as an anime-only watcher nothing felt like it was missing. Every character gets a satisfying conclusion and it even surprised me with how Akito’s arc concluded. It was just so satisfying seeing everyone finally start the healing process from years of familial abuse. The real reason why it’s number one though is because out of everything I watched this year it was one of only 2 shows where immediately after finishing an episode, I wanted to go back and rewatch it. It was also one of the most emotionally rewarding series I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch which is why it’s at number 1. In fact, the entire Fruits Basket series with this season has probably landed a spot in my top 5 anime of all time. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
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I'd suggest you watch the rest of Full Dive if for no other reason than the performances of JYB and the VA for Kamui, but when you feel like it as the latter half slides slowly downhill until the last two episodes which are sub-par but wrap the story up. Sequel bait at the end. 
To your last statement, I'd challenge you to say that after seeing The Fruit of Evolution if you haven't already! Maybe you'd like it (MAL score 6.1), but I agree with everything James said and I haven't found a single reviewer that had a good thing to say. It is one of the most bland and unoffensively unenjoyable show I've seen in my life. And I really like "dull" iyashikei... @Ms. Szanboti, you're over Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein thousand!...Congrats |
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Piglet the Grate
 Posts: 655 Location: North America |
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My only real complaint was that Special Week got demoted to almost tertiary character status.
I think movies should be divided into two categories - movies that stand on their own, and movies that are continuations/wrap-ups of series. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time had the unfair advantage of something many have been waiting for nearly a quarter of a century to see - a real conclusion to the Evangelion story. The Fruits Basket, Quintessential Quintuplets, and Yuru CampΔ movies will benefit similarly in 2022 (I am awaiting all three).
And something we would never see from anywhere else, particularly Hollywood that likes to pander to the lowest common denominator audience, and also for this shift being a strong anti-war message (we see the main characters are fighting each other due to being manipulated by higher ups with both partial and false information - without that they would be friends instead).
A show that can even make us feel bad for Motoko Minagawa is doing something right.
Well no, the best character in Super Cub is of course the titular character, the green Honda C50 Super Cub aka "The Cursed Cub" that turns out to be anything but a curse. Which brings me to my 5 best anime characters of 2021: 1. Koguma's Honda C50 from Super Cub 2. "Shimarin's" Yamaha Vino 50 from Yuru CampΔ 3. Reiko's Honda Hunter Cub CT110 from Super Cub 4. The loaner Yamaha Tricity from Yuru CampΔ 5. Shii's Little Cub from Super Cub Shows that I was tempted to vote for just because they were overlooked or misunderstood: Azur Lane: Slow Ahead! - So much better than the worse than mediocre regular series, this was a fun school setting slice-of-life comedy. Girlfriend, Girlfriend - Hilarious if the viewer recognizes it as parody of the standard rom-com tropes and not a serious look at polyamory. Higehiro - People need to get over their infantile views of girls and sexuality and realize that a 17-year old is a far cry from a 7-year old. LBX Girls - More than a sales vehicle for fighting robot figures. Kyoka's actions during the Battle of the Kanmon Straits alone raise it above that level. PuraOre! Pride of Orange - All the negativity before an episode aired turned out to be misplaced. What I actually voted for in alphabetical order: Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time - fitting ending for the story. Fruits Basket the Final - Well, Fruits Basket. Laid-Back Camp (Yuru CampΔ) - Beyond all the obvious reasons, the way that Rin and Nadeshiko become friends and better people by developing that friendship. What iyashikei should be. Quintessential Quintuplets ∬ - Manages to make us care about the characters in a rom-com, despite them all (except Raiha Uesugi) being horrible in their own ways Super Cub - Can the 110+ million people who have bought a Honda Super Cub be wrong? Perfect slow pacing (something we would never see from Hollywood), and the genius of having Koguma repeat her narration about her life from the beginning of the first episode near the end of the final episode. |
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DeTroyes
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My top Five:
1) Odd Taxi 2) 86 3) Vivy: Flourite Eye's Song 4) Heike Story 5) Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro Honorable Mentions Lots of good shows this year, but here are the ones that I especially enjoyed: Attack on Titan s4, Horimiya, So I'm a Spider So What, Jujutsu Kaisen, To Your Eternity, Fruits Basket s3, SSSS Dynazenon, Sonny Boy, Lupin III pt. 6, Komi Can't Communicate, Banished from the Hero Party, Irina Vampire Cosmonaut, Sakugan, Star Wars: Visions. Worst: EX-ARM |
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Kicksville
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A lot of really great stuff this year. Plenty of the selections here are the same I would've made.
...although somehow I get the sinking feeling the other stuff I like is gonna end up on the "worst" list... 
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WizardOfOss
 Posts: 78 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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Well, since I've already made a sh*tload of lists for other sites, I might as well also dump them here
As a rule of thumb I only considered series that ended during this year, even when they might have started already in 2020 (and accordingly, Ousama Ranking moves on to 2022), or that are either so far (86) or of a kind (Ore, Tsushima) that my view on it (most likely) won't change anymore. And several series had two seasons or separate cours this year, I viewed those as one. It obviously was a rather stellar year for anime, especially the Winter and Spring seasons. And as a result I dropped anything I had my doubts about much quicker than I would have in other years. I mean, even when I roughly ranked all series I watched this year, even close to the bottom of the list were still mostly series I very much enjoyed, and just very little of the "why did I even watch this?" kind. A year of very few regrets. Well, at least when talking about anime 
Top 10 - 2021 - New series:
Honourable mentions: Wonder Egg Priority, Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, SK∞, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, and I could keep going.... Top 10 - 2021 - Sequels:
(I had planned to binge Re:Zero, but that never happened which explains that omission) Top 4 - 2021 - Shorts:
Fun 9 - 2021 - Not exactly top list material but much more enjoyable than they probably should have been. You might even call some of these guilty pleasures...
Meh 7 - 2021 - Not terrible, but I can't help but feel disappointed....
Flop 3 - 2021 - Trash I completed:
Drop 5 - 2021 - Trash of which I finished at least one episode before dropping it:
Top 8 - Pre-2021 (for convenience TV-anime, shorts, OVAs and movies all bunched together...):
(I could have made this a longer list but that would have resulted in a honourable place for Mugen Train....that was obviously not going to happen  )
Top 3 Trends & observations 2021:
Flop 3 Trends & observations 2021:
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2968 Location: Email for assistance only |
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And the last update is live, happy new year!
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I think the most damning aspect of wonder egg priority is that you can just cut content and make it into a much better show then it ended up being. Not only were they constantly short on time, they wasted some of it on content that only made the show worse.
Happy to see odd taxi topping poll, I don't think there's anything else to tell of the story so I don't see a point in making a sequel but I hope the team makes another anime. |
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killjoy_the
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Aw man I really wanted one of the picked worst anime to be in the top 5 or 10
If I count dropped anime, then Higurashi is definitely the worst thing of the year I tried. Legitimately got me off the franchise for good (I no longer have the visual novels in my wishlist) and turned me off of any of the author's other works. Yay! If dropped doesn't count then it'd be Re:Zero's part that aired this year. I've read the novels later in the year and they seem a little better, but it's still pretty bad |
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