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I really didn’t watch much this year. Pretty much everything I actually finished is on this list. I didn’t watch Jojos, but I am going to catch up with it over Christmas break. If nothing else, we got some of the most accessible shows in recent memory. 1. Space Dandy There were some weak episodes (boob monster and courtroom drama being my pick for the two worst), but overall this was just so much fun, and I’m always up for a nice animator showcase. The very best episodes felt extremely fresh and original, and not quite knowing what you were going to get from week to week made it engaging. Here’s hoping we get something like it again in the future. Luckily I got to see about a third of the show as it aired on Adult Swim, and I’ll definitely be buying the Blu-Ray sets as they come out. 2. Monthly Girls Nozaki A comedy that felt very sweet and good-natured, even as it was making a complete jackass out of every character. Speaking of, it had an impressively large and diverse cast as well, and the side characters were just as engaging, sometimes more so, than our main protagonists. It would be a crime if this didn’t get a second season. 3. Barakamon Hell of a year for comedy anime. This had some slow spots (appropriate since its about a city dude stuck in the middle of the sticks), but I could easily recommend this to someone looking for a light, cute comedy. Probably the most accessible anime I saw this year. 4. My Neighbor Seki Completely mindless and inconsequential, but probably the most consistently enjoyable show of the season for me. Funny as hell more often than not, especially whenever the robot family and their theme song showed up. The two full-length OVA episodes were absolute gold. I’d have to recommend people who liked this giving a show called “Hare+Guu” a shot. 5. Ping Pong Something I appreciated more than really loved, hence why its so low on my list. Fantastic animation (its Yuuasa so of course), several interesting creative choices (having the Chinese exchange student actually speak Mandarin throughout the entire show), but the super-dry characterization didn’t quite work for me. Even with that rather subjective caveat, its always awesome to see Yuuasa get work and he had a hell of a year with this, “Space Dandy”, “Adventure Time”, and launching his own animation studio. 6. Coffin Princess Chaika Not exceptional, not remarkable, but fun, solid, above-average fantasy-action fare with some clever comedy bits and decent set-pieces. I’m glad that they didn’t overuse the Frederica character, which made her sparse scenes a hell of a lot funnier (and gave us some of the best gifs of the year). This would have been higher, but its sudden descent into Ted Bundy territory at the end of the first season was really off-putting and unnecessary.
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Dec 20, 2014 20:02
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:32 |
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