|
seems like everyone counts these things down, just feels wrong. counting starts at 1 1. Sonny Boy - ignoring that this post will certainly collapse into some form of jerkoff fits, i won't pretend i'm a wordsmith and keep this particular ranking rather to a point. Sonny Boy earns top spot for being a messy and uncompromising show that left me with a pit of uncertainty and ambivalence just as much as it left me with beautifully-crafted worlds and moments full of characters to laugh with, cry for, and wish the best. as the sort of show you feel lucky to even see get made, let alone made well, and in a way that connects with you personally, it's just something i feel deserves acknowledgement. 2. Mushoku Tensei - the same-year split-cour was really kind to this show, letting it sink deep and wide into my 2021 Anime Experience. what most resonates with me is the atmosphere created in it, with a world that realizes itself deeply through accumulating the sorts of small moments that open each episode (glimpses of bustling markets, the start of a planting season etc) and elsewhere in the beauty and detail of the animation and backgrounds. for some reason i am now struck by the EDs' obsession with windows as symbols and feel like maybe it works to convey another part of the series charm. for Rudy, these windows open onto the excitement, adventure, and chances to better himself that this new world holds. however his past life and behavior remain as barriers to deeply connecting to and benefitting from his second chance, since y'know...a window isn't a door. as viewers we've got our own window in the form of each episode, where we can share Rudy's excitement minus the same barriers, easily making it to the other side of the window's "wall" to watch as he works his way through. now that latter bit is basically where we land back to normal review zone where i say it's understandably frustrating to watch the fits and starts in Rudy's attempts to improve. but his successes along with the lovely arcs for both Eris and Ruijerd really made the back half of these episodes for me and i can't wait for more. quick shout out to Uchiyama Yumi, would not consider myself well-versed in her work prior to this but she really nails Rudy. i'll be sad if they pull a Finest Assassin and replace her after a puberty timeskip. 3. RE-MAIN - any good vote should have some sports rep, probably. there are other strong contenders from this year but RE-MAIN delivers with a stellar execution of the often-gimmicky stock amnesia plot. the show cares much less about characters not named Minato but i enjoy the overall club dynamic and bits of arc given to Jo, Eitaro, and the whole weird alpha-beta poo poo going down with the rival team. it's also great to see an underdog team set and work for a more attainable goal than immediately reaching Nationals etc, so the show doesn't have to bend over backwards twice to accommodate that narrative. 4. Back Arrow - mecha is back, baby! i had misgivings with what seemed like Goro Taniguchi returning to the middling GunXSword well with CG robots to boot, but outside of some bumps in the first quarter this one was a joy to follow weekly. helped by simple but striking designs, the mech combat is much better than i expected, and the constant escalation of the conflict takes it to some laughably wild places. really all the best qualities of the show are reflected plainly in its protagonist: charming, bombastic, and stupid. 5. Kageki Shoujo!! - this is my cope vote because Act-Age got cancelled and i finished the original Glass Mask anime. when it comes to scratching that acting itch, this show was the perfect peg for the hole. you can feel it meandering in the way ongoing manga adaptations often do, but the characters don't lose their charm or humor and i enjoyed the Sarasa/Ai relationship as well as Kaoru's flashback ep. the teachers in this show are a loving mess though. Honorable Mentions Oddtaxi - what's this? the 2021 show i actually gave the highest rating to doesn't net a voting spot?? the show i'm spending several hundred dollars to import or w/e the deal is with the BD box??? for the record, this is the sort of contrarianism you should expect going forward. and anyway, this taxi's horn has been tooted quite thoroughly and it has grown up big and strong enough to dominate the vote without my help. i'm glad the prerelease hype Davincie and i had for this panned out as well as it did, and that it found as much success as it has. it's deserving in the same sense as Sonny Boy, just without the part where it has an active disinterest in being digestible. i'd like to thank the internet for creating a flood of Sekiguchi/Yano/Yamamoto art and making me kind of like the Daimons. i'd also like to thank Director Kinoshita for (finale spoilers)compromising his furry vision and giving me the human forms i had been hoping to see all season. 86 - it's hard to say if this would've earned a voting spot ever, but i did grow to like S1 quite a bit. the utter stupidity of San Magnolian leadership was a bit of a hangup for me, but S2 paid it off so i could mostly look back with fondness on the idea of this show when it was a complete-feeling arc. unfortunately S2 has been burning that goodwill with material that sags heavily in the middle and an unfortunate production collapse that only exacerbates that. The To Your Eternity/Kemono Jihen/World Trigger Award for Solidness in Adaptation - lumping these boys together to save time and energy, they're all stuff i've read and loved the manga of and found the anime to be pretty good companions to! didn't stick with Eternity the whole way through so i actually missed the big production struggles afaik, but s2 will inevitably reel me back in due to having my favorite arc(s). Kemono Jihen escapes uncommented upon except for the aforementioned Solidness of it. World Trigger may have netted a voting spot if S2 and 3 could be counted together, but as-is there was just too much fluctuation in quality in S2 and the slow nature of this series in general means it probably just won't ever make tops without two combined seasons/cours. Vanitas no Carte - an extreme non-end to this first cour means i couldn't in good conscience even consider it for a top spot despite the oozing style and sexy vampireness that makes it a joy to watch even as it is 24/7 queerbaiting me. The Heaven's Design Team/Slow Pharmacy Award for Breezy Anime - enjoyed both of these shows as soothing entertainment. there's a bit of fun you can have with guessing games for what is being made but for the most part, they are just a good time to vibe with and laugh, HDT also having the always-fun edutainment angle of stuff like the Kemofure eyecatches etc. The World's Best Assassin To Reincarnate In A Different World Aristocrat - recipient #1 of the 180-degree award. when this show was just people clutching pearls over it weekly in the seasonal thread, it couldn't be more of a bane to my existence. but then i heard something strange. one of the show arcs is about...the assassin inventing moisturizer to become a wildly successful cosmetics tycoon as a cover identity (and people try to kill him for the formula)??? it was stupid enough to sell me on the series and a short weekend binge later i had a wonderful time with it. i think too little credit is given to it when it comes to what is intended comedy, but won't sit here trying to argue a case. RightnesscorrodedRemainingregretDemolishthisstory!DARK SEEKS LIGHT Battle Athletes Victory ReSTART - recipient #2 of the 180-degree award, a show i had written off from PV alone. and then from ep1 alone. and then i just kept watching it every week because well, it had some of the trademark insanity of the original Battle Athletes series, just with none of the production chops backing it up. there's a charm to that though, rooting for a show out of its depth in every way by watching it. on the upside it cut out the cringe gay panic and transphobia from the prior versions, as well as the unflattering racial caricatures like the African catgirl (now you just meet her descendant who is a goofy cop and his theme song is a lovely royalty-free Axel F). Artiswitch - a show i basically picked up on OP song and character designs alone, but found enjoyment in doing stupid little episode writeups for. i've no idea of how in tune it actually is with the Harajuku culture it exists to promote, but the fashion felt real and there are several solid songs in the series even if i think some just miss. with half-length episodes in a fairy godmother format, there's not much depth or innovation in the stories but they are still well done and you even get some lesbian rep in there! of course my favorite is the misanthropic gothloli who pushes Nina into a crisis of faith with her wish to seemingly be wiped from existence, there's just style all over that episode and it sets up a great climax. haven't kept up with the post-S1 material but i will get around to it and hope they may return for another go. Nina's VA is also an amazing newbie performance so i hope to hear more from her as well. Fairy Ranmaru - the team behind magical girl sentai parody Cute High takes that and mashes it up with concepts of Buddhism, fairies, Madoka Witch domains, and Laughing Salesman-style indiscriminate karmic retribution. commentary is given on manga publishing, MLMs, abusive workplaces, adultery etc etc. the characters within the episodic plots are pretty thin, so you're mainly there for the mystery of what's actually up with fairy society and the backstories and relationships of the fairies. i'm mixed on whether that stuff comes together particularly well, the handling of fairy society's underbelly came off weak to me though i did enjoy the conflict between Chilka/Betelgeuse and especially Homura/Uruu. i pretty much entirely pushed this up to a full HM entry to post about Homura/Uruu. pictured: rushing in to save the man you hate (because his dad had an affair with your mom and you found her after she committed suicide)  pictured: after attempting to strangle the man you hate in his sleep and then breaking down and revealing your trauma to him, realizing that you're seeing in him the same qualities that made your mom have an affair with his dad https://files.catbox.moe/bqtsjw.mp4 and capping things off, the HM Lightning Round: Rumble Garanndoll - nice to see more SD mecha, and hear Shiori Izawa as a catgirl hacker. bummed that there is no Idol End since that ship was by far the best, but overall enjoyed the landing of this show even if it wobbled towards the end. Godzilla SP - i have literally never seen a Godzilla, wow! this definitely seemed heavier on hard SF babble than i expect they usually are, but the converging ensemble nature of it was fun to follow. Pelops II ftw!! The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace - love how this show just oozes Namek aesthetic and pairs it with OVA energy via crass humor and gore. cons: very ongoing manga vibe, bunch of sexual content beyond the line of aforementioned crass humor. Burning Kabaddi - beefcake show of beefcakes, it's also interesting to learn about a sport i had only heard of before. charming through its obviously limited production. Build Divide - cardgame show with nice stylistic flourish through 4:3 perspective shifts and the field mechanics, games come off fairly compelling despite being abbreviated, good dry humor and really goes for broke with the finale! S2 hype! Mars Red - in the glut of other vampire stuff this year, i've found this more appealing in retrospect as a somber and muted take on the concept. Nomad: Megalobox 2 - Megalobox is nothing if not consistent, offering me the same experience of S1 with a series i quite liked 75% of but felt it didn't cohere into a particularly insightful or good ending. Dynazenon - i enjoyed the ensemble shift to this contrasted w/ Gridman's narrower scope. Yomogi and Yume are both great and i like Chise. did feel like most of the kaiju stuff is superfluous, undercooked, and an active detriment to the show. SK8 - not much to add to what's already been said here, a lovely ensemble cast in a ridiculous skating world and the production stays pretty on point despite the news of struggles. glad to know we'll be getting more! 2.43 Seiin High's Boys Volleyball - another strong sports contender, i thought the character drama was well-done across the main cast and the animation surprised my low expectations. no big hooks to it though, just simple and straightforward. Super Cub - this one almost made the tops. i'm not yet a moe guy with words to say about moe, but for a show i picked up on the back of making fun of its "desaturation = depression" visual style, i really grew to love these girls and seeing their adventures. it's a god drat travesty that ossan Reiko isn't more popular. Super Crooks - everyone loves a good heist, and this show delivers with two. the chunk of it that actually adapts the comic is shockingly the better part, having a good grasp on economical pacing. the anime-original heist does have plenty of highlights but it's just a bit too thin when stretched over ~half the season. the soundtrack from Towa Tei is a nice cherry on top. Visual Prison - the overarching plot of this one didn't quite hit for me but i like the episodic plots. too much non-vkei music in here but when the songs hit, they do hit! also some surprisingly fun ships came out of this but i am content just stanning Hyde as the (histrionic) put-upon husband to idiot Dimitri and praying Mist someday gets that Saga dick he is so desperate for. Muteking - absolutely loved the style of this but a bit too much wheel-spinning and non-sequitur material really drag down the conclusion. i cannot pull out any interesting or coherent point from its mess, and the decision to have the adults roll out a bunch of unexplained contingency plans to solve 90% of the main conflict for Muteking is baffling. dogsicle fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Jan 15, 2022 |
#
¿
Jan 15, 2022 09:10
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 09:51 |
|
|
you can go anywhere on a super cub, except the top 10 of ADTRW AOTY 2021
|
|
#
¿
Jan 17, 2022 19:22
|
|
|
just one more way 4chan kicked this forum's rear end
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2022 00:56
|
|
|
they're also bigger, engage in review bombing, have overall inflated scores etc
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2022 21:09
|
|