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I absolutely cannot decide the order of the list for this year, so I guess I'll make 2 tiers: Tier 1: - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (Part 1) : It's loving Jojo, do you need any other explanation? (Technically, this show is not completed yet. Considering the entire season would be ~55 shows, I think just calling this first part its own season is ok.) - Mushi-shi 2 : It's more Mushi-shi, do you need any other reason? - Ping Pong : ...this was one of the best shows of the year. I couldn't deal with Kaiba when I first tried it, but having seen what Yuuasa is capable of I really want to go back and take a look at his earlier stuff. It't not just his visual style that's unique, it's also his approach to storytelling, which is reflected in his visual style. A great show, and not at all what I had been expecting. Tier 2: A gigantic list of things. Seriously, there was so much good stuff this year. For the sake of meeting the 5 show max: - Barakamon : For me, this was the Kyousogiga of 2014, and for those who have seen that show, you know this is some very high praise. It wasn't quite as wondrously imaginative with its visuals, but it was charming, heartwarming, and truly satisfying. I'd agree that Nozaki might have been the funnier show of the fall season, but taken as a whole I believe Barakamon deserves the spot over Nozaki. - Rage of Bahamut: Genesis : This show has no right to be this good, and yet it's impossible to discount how fun and well constructed everything about it is. Like Chaika, this is basically a D&D campaign in animated form, but with way more of a budget than it ever needed. Favaro is easily among the best characters of the year, and the rest of the main cast are all plenty of fun too. This really is a "see it to believe it" deal. - One show I have no regrets leaving off the list is Space Dandy, but it deserves at least a mention because I feel like it's a step in the right direction for anime as a whole. The industry will always pander to otaku, and I highly doubt otakus will disappear as a collective entity. But Space Dandy show the industry that making a show for the western audience is a viable endeavor, which, hopefully, will lead to less otaku pandering and experimentation. But Space Dandy itself didn't entertain me all that much. Yes it was creatively silly, well animated, and oozed charm, but for all that I never laughed. Smiled from mild amusement, yes, but never laughed. So many other shows I think deserve an honorable mention, but I'm not going write something for every single one. So, I'll just make a list: - Amagi Brilliant Park: KyoAni's return to form - Ald.Noah Zero: The Urobutcher strikes again - D-Frag: Second most entertaining bad idea of the year - Fate/SN UBW: ufotable continues to pretend they are not making TV sized movies - Haikyuu!!: Almost the best sports show of the year - Chaika: "Chaika?" "Yes, Chaika." "Chaika" - Psycho-Pass 2: A passable attempt to follow up one of the most unique and interesting shows in years - Sabagebu: A new standard for all generic adaptations - World Conquest Zvezda Plot: Most entertaining bad idea of the year - Tonari no Seki-kun: Most creative show of the year - Terror in Resonance: Not quite what it could have been - Silver Spoon 2: A drat good follow up to a fantastic show ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 21, 2014 20:44
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WickedHate posted:I've seen gifs of it, but aside from good animation it doesn't really interest me. Let me give a reason to watch this show: Yuasa is a competent storyteller. That already makes Ping Pong better than 99% of all anime. In a normal sport show, the drama would come entirely from the contrived drama of a match or training. Ping Pong was entirely unconcerned with who won or lost and was far more interested in the characters themselves. In fact, you don't see who won the final match until we see a framed picture of the podium shot during a flash-forward. Ping Pong is only partially a sports show; the character drama of its main cast is the real meat and, it does character development better than any show this year except maybe Mushi-shi. So unless you are so anime that you are allergic to quality storytelling, I would suggest watching Ping Pong. Also don't watch if you are prone to motion sickness, because, yeah, the animation can get pretty wobbly.
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Dec 22, 2014 04:08
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The Devil Tesla posted:A lot of people, when they really love an anime or manga, will completely overlook an aspect of it in order to get over their embarrassment about it. Attack On Titan isn't formula shonen but really a survival story, or Madoka isn't really a magical girl show but some kind of "deconstruction". "It's not about the sport but it's really about the characters!" ignores the fact that, even in great sports anime like Ping Pong or Chihayafuru, the characters themselves are shaped by the sport they play. I somewhat agree with this. Let me try to articulate why Chihayafuru and Ping Pong are actually rather different shows. Chihayafuru tells the story of how a group of highschoolers have their life shaped by this strange sport called karuta, but it is also about Chihaya's boundless passion for the game and how it affects the people around her. In short, the sport of karuta itself is a co-protagonist of the story. In Ping Pong, the sport is only a framework for the character drama between Kong, Smile, Peco, and Kazama. This could be tennis, or badminton, or squash, and the story wouldn't really change. But you couldn't possibly do that in Chihayafuru because karuta is as much a part of the story as the characters. That's the key different that I see between the two shows.
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Dec 22, 2014 21:18
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ZepiaEltnamOberon posted:You are the only other person to mention this anime and I love you for it. I liked it too, but it didn't leave much of a mark. I didn't think it was all that remarkable beyond being a decent show.
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Dec 23, 2014 04:32
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The Devil Tesla posted:Truthism isn't an anime, it's a manga. It's as anime as a manga could get.
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Dec 30, 2014 22:57
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ninjewtsu posted:A tough question. That op animation was absolutely mesmerizing and I fail to see how someone could dislike it except for people prone to motion sickness.
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Dec 31, 2014 01:35
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All these votes for Terror in Resonance... I really wanted to like it, and by all rights it should be one of the best shows of the year, but it ended up being kinda a hot mess. Some stuff just didn't make sense at all, and others were kinda pointless. It's a Kanno-Watanabe teamup so I can't hate it too much, but it's probably one of my biggest disappointments this year.
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Jan 2, 2015 01:44
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Darth Walrus posted:Also, I didn't include JJBA: Stardust Crusaders because I don't feel the first half was a complete enough piece to qualify without the impending second series. The first "half" is a full two cours long, how is there not enough content to judge it on its own merits? Even ignoring the main story arc, the episodic design of the episodes means, imo, that it can be judged as is despite the main arc being incomplete.
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Jan 2, 2015 22:39
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The Devil Tesla posted:Kick UBW off the list so Bahamut can get on the top, but leave Jojo because Jojo is good. I agree with this. Other than that, this is a pretty solid list. I still find it weird that Chaika made it in the top but not Bahamut, but  .
ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jan 3, 2015 |
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Jan 3, 2015 20:24
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Outer Science posted:edit: also if i kicked out ubw and not jojo, bahamut still wouldn't be on the list. the cutoff is at 11 because the last two are tied right now. Quick, someone unvote UBW so Bahamut can be on the list. In all seriousness, can we just throw Bahamut into the final listing as an honorable mention or something?
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Jan 3, 2015 23:20
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The list tends to be the gateway for a lot of new people on the forums, which is why I really want it to be on the list.
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Jan 4, 2015 01:07
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Hocus Pocus posted:Me too. It's obscenely good. Like, it's distressing just how good it is. Raises the bar. If only you could hear my cackling over the internet.
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Jan 6, 2015 03:13
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Khagan posted:The second half of this year had a strong showing than previous years, IMO. Though that may in part be due to the amount of sequels to goon favorites and forgetfulness. And also Barakamon, Nozaki, Bahamut, Parasyte, Sabagebu... This was a good year.
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Jan 6, 2015 15:49
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Hocus Pocus posted:I just watched episode 7... things... escalated quickly...  Please enjoy the ride, cuz there's no getting off now.
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Jan 8, 2015 20:23
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glomkettle posted:I jumped ship an episode or two into the Flamengers arc because it was garbage. Does it get better? It gets exponentially more insane and utterly ridiculous, a la Gurren Lagaan. The best is yet to come.
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Jan 8, 2015 20:55
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Hagop posted:Its kinda worth watching the later episodes just to see Mr. Justice and The Ultimate Prime Minister, but it doesn't really ever get better. See, it really depends what you mean by "better". Does it become a higher quality, more competent show? Absolutely not. Does the trainwreck becomes hilariously more bonkers in every way? Absolutely.
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Jan 8, 2015 22:40
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