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1. Bocchi the Rock - AOTS, AOTY, and I don't even think it's particularly close. 2. Kaguya-sama S3 - I stumbled into the whole series this year and have not laughed as hard or often at a piece of media in quite a while. The S3 finale was an 11/10. 3. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Managed to capture the aesthetic and themes of the genre better than the AAA game it is ostensibly a glorified advertisement for. Trigger is BACK. 4. Bleach TYBW - Kubo's golden glory finally returns to us with near-movie budget animation each episode. Enough was added that I have high hopes the next cour can wrangle the absolute mess that is the back-half of the TYBW arc into something satisfying. 5. Spy x Family - Extremely fun and wholesome, knocked down to #5 because S2 kinda dragged a bit imo. I realize this is more the fault of source material than the adaptation itself, but still. Honorable Mentions: Chainsaw man - Phenomenal visual design and direction but I just didn't really ever warm up to the CG. Made me finally pick up the manga though which is real good. Ya Boy Kongming - Very funny premise and definitely punches above what I expected from the description.
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Jan 2, 2023 09:36
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1. Bocchi the Rock 2. Cyberpunk Edgerunners 3. Chainsaw Man 4. Lycoris Recoil 5. Love After World Domination
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Jan 2, 2023 11:33
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This year was absolutely bananas. I watched so many shows, and a lot of them are gonna be on some Anime-Of-The-Century Lists. Anime of the Year 1. Spy X Family - An instant all-time classic. 2. Chainsaw Man - Lived up to all my expectations. I especially want to call out their creating a new ED every episode. They didn't need to go this hard, but I'm glad they did. 3. Kaguya-Sama: Ultra Romantic - No notes. 4. Bocchi The Rock! - Humor, music, visuals - hopefully the start of a great franchise. 5. Mob Psycho 100 III - A mostly perfect season. Suffered from a distinct lack of Reigen until the end. Not Eligible But It Would Be in the Top 5 Otherwise: My Hero Academia - This season has just been amazing, top to bottom. My favorite shonen since like, FMA. Would Be In the Top 5 In Any Other Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc - Not as good as the other seasons (or what's to come) but still great. Ranking of Kings - The back half kinda killed it. Such a shame since I otherwise *adore* this show. Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie - A wonderful high school rom/com with nothing new to say, but executed perfectly. Love After World Domination - High concept, fun, beautiful looking and funny. Ya Boy Kongming! - Only reason it's not higher is that it did drag just a little at times. My Dress-Up Darling - A true surprise. While it is definitely male gaze cheesecake, it has some genuine heart and looks spectacular. Komi Can’t Communicate - Only reason it's not much higher is the annoying red haired sex offender being used so prominently. 86 - I wanted more of the major. She was completely absent from the season. Obviously still amazing. Honorable Mentions: Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Do It Yourself! Pop Team Epic Season 2 Kotaro Lives Alone Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House Dance Dance Danseur Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness Heroines Run the Show Thermae Romae Novae Pokémon: Hisuian Snow Shows I Finished But Overall Disliked: Cyberpunk: Edge Runners - I love Trigger, and the show looks amazing. But it just didn't do it for me. I wish I liked it as much as y'all.  Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure - Hated that they got rid of the cozy, chill vibes of the original for this. Films: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero - Really, really liked this. Still not as good as BoG or Broly, though. Visuals were definitely positively surprising. Laid Back Camp - The Movie - 
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Jan 2, 2023 20:38
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1. Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken 2. 86 Season 2 3. Lycoris Recoil 4. Spy x Family 5. Ya Boy Kongming
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Jan 2, 2023 21:38
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ninjewtsu posted:Flawless tier The prologue was released as a product of its own, but unfortunately I think the end of G-Witch's first cour being pushed into January due to holiday programming disqualified it for 2022.
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Jan 2, 2023 21:42
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g witch prologue got on my honorables list because it absolutely got me ready for gundam-rear end gundam and i'm not at all worried about the show taking a while to put pieces into place
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Jan 2, 2023 21:58
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i'm loving gwitch but even if it was eligible i wouldn't ever vote for the first half of a split cour show unless it told a complete story and i would be satisfied to end it there (e.g. 86). it will be judged as a whole next year
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Jan 2, 2023 21:59
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Split cours lite
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Jan 2, 2023 22:08
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Ended up watching a bunch of stuff this year after mostly being out of anime outside of a show here and there for a decade. 1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: I went in expecting Trigger style and over the top gore/tits but I was pleasantly surprised when it told a well-written, heartwrenching tale about trying to make it in a horrifying, rigged society. Loved these characters. 2. Chainsaw Man: I get why some of the reaction is lukewarm on this, but taking the manga (which grabbed me and I enjoyed, even as someone who's not super into manga) and doing a more muted, film-like adaptation was exactly my poo poo. I live for stuff like lovingly animated, minutes-long sequences of a morning routine. 3. Bocchi the Rock: I loved how much of a love letter to rock music and the people that love it this is, and I was constantly delighted by the genre and medium breaking sequences. Consistently awesome and funny. 4. Akiba Maid War: I lucked out and went into this 100% blind on positive buzz, so they got me with the first episode. The deadpan commitment to the bit is funny, but this show lands on the back of strong writing that balances being a crime drama and a situational comedy incredibly well. 5. Lycoris Recoil: The plot in this is ridiculous, but I was invested because of the magnetic cast and wonderful fight sequences. Honorable mentions: Kaguya-sama S3, Birdie Wing, My Dress-Up Darling, Do It Yourself!, 86 S2
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Jan 3, 2023 01:43
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Tales of Woe posted:i'm loving gwitch but even if it was eligible i wouldn't ever vote for the first half of a split cour show unless it told a complete story and i would be satisfied to end it there (e.g. 86). it will be judged as a whole next year I would if I enjoyed watching it a lot Waffleman_ posted:The prologue was released as a product of its own, but unfortunately I think the end of G-Witch's first cour being pushed into January due to holiday programming disqualified it for 2022. Yeah I get why but I still think it's funny
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Jan 3, 2023 01:44
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1. Bocchi The Rock - Binged it, immediately AOTY, lived up to all the hype. 2. Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 - the emotional highs of this show more than carried it enough even if it didn't have as many animation insanity. 3. Lycoris Recoil - Wholesome show about girl cops with guns seems like an extremely wrong statement to make in this time of age, but it carried it well. 4. Pop Team Epic S2 - Somehow outdoing PTE s1 for most insane show ever. 5. Ya Boy Kongming - Eiko had heart, Kongming had brains and a powerful rapping game. Honorable mentions: Gundam G-Witch - not eligible yet The executioner and her way of life - held back by not showing enough and ending on a 'to be continued' scene. Trapped in a Dating Sim - didn't reach LN volume 3 in which most of the stuff are developed/concluded fully, LN volume 2 was a weird stopping point. My stepmom's daughter is my ex - prob best romcom of this year but year was really stacked.
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Jan 3, 2023 03:42
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1. Bocchi the Rock! 2. Lycoris Recoil 3. 86 4. Paripi Koumei 5. Spy X Family Honorable mentions: Birdie Wing, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These, Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru
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Jan 3, 2023 03:43
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1. Bocchi the Rock 2. Kaguya: Ultra Romantic 3. Chainsaw Man 4. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 5. Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen Rounding out the top 10: Spy x Family, Mob Psycho 100 III, LycoReco, Sono Bisque Doll, and Paripi Koumei.
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Jan 3, 2023 06:17
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My top 5 of 2022: 1. Ascendence of a Bookworm Season 3 2. Kaguya Season 3 3. Bleach: TYBW 4. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Season 2 5. My Dress Up Darling
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Jan 3, 2023 06:55
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gently caress it full effortpost again. So what did I watch this year: I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Bocchi the Rock! Chainsaw Man Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers. Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic- Kakegurui Twin Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2 Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - PROLOGUE Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc Love After World Domination Komi Can't Communicate Part 2 My Stepmom's Daughter is My Ex Romantic Killer RWBY: Ice Queendom Summer 2022 SHAMAN KING (2021) Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 My Dress-Up Darling SPY x FAMILY TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You ~Uniform~ Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Season 2 A Couple of Cuckoos Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs Jesus that's a lot of anime. That's 336 episodes in total! But given that I usually sit down and watch an anime when I have a meal it does make sense that I'd be able to get through this much. As ever I favour shounen and romcoms but we saw some variation this year with G-witch adding some Mecha and Bocchi providing me with a small fix of cute girls doing cute things. Perhaps I'm growing as a person. Ah probably not that likely. I said once before that I felt that the overall quality of what I watched in 2022 was higher than 2021. There are a lot more shows in contention for the top spots, but I feel like the peaks of 2022 don't really match those of 2021. If you asked me to compare my third runner up, Re:Zero S2 P2 from last year to my second place this year, I'd probably have Re:Zero winning by a nose. Firstly let's get to our outstanding achievement in a field of anime awards:  The Sword Art Online Award for Biggest Dumpster FireA Couple of Cuckoos Why did I start watching this? Well because the premise is incredibly stupid (kids are swapped at birth, then their parents arrange their marriage) and I thought it would be incredibly stupid. It turns out I was correct in all the wrong ways. A Couple meanders for its entire runtime, with almost no forward momentum with any of the characters. Nobody grows, nobody learns, nobody particularly gets better or communicates more easily. They just move from standard anime setpiece to standard anime setpiece. And this somehow keeps going for twenty four loving episodes. How? How is there this much? How did the anime team not think to just cut huge portions of just irrelevant crap? Probably because they knew that I'd watch everything because I'm an idiot.  The Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai Award for Anime I Thought Would Be A Dumpster Fire But Was Actually GoodMore Than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers 2022 was actually just a great year for romcoms and the trashfire genre. Trapped in a Dating Sim had everything I wanted. A stupid, stupid premise, a seemingly obvious plot and protagonists that both had agency and understandable issues, along with clear progression in their relationship. Somehow Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex managed something similar with one of the funniest side characters I've seen in a long time and what I felt was a genuinely heartfelt ending. But in the end they were just swept away by the loving tour de force of trash that was More Than a Married Couple. Starting out with the loving insane premise of Japanese students being made to fake marry each other and live together as part of a graded assessment on how affectionate they are with their arranged spouse, we meet Jiro. He's a man who alternates between being a complete loser who can barely communicate with women 90% of the time and a complete chad who's assertive and confident for the remaining 10%. He's been paired up with Akari, the incredibly popular and outgoing girl at their school. Turns out they don't want to be with each other. Jiro wants to be with his childhood friend Shiori and Akari with her longtime crush Minami. But shock horror, those two have also been paired together. It turns out, in an incredibly contrivance of fate that if you rank in the top 10 couples, you can choose to swap with anyone else in the top 10! And thus begins Jiro and Akari's quest to fake being the best possible couple so that they can get with the people they love. Of course the two of them both catch feelings pretty much immediately. What I love about the show is that the central conflict between Jiro and Akari lies around their communication styles and how consistently the show portrays that as an issue. Akari is extroverted and teases Jiro, who overthinks things and doesn't respond immediately. This gives Akari enough time to second guess herself and when Jiro finally resolves to make a move, she shuts him down, leaving both parties confused about what they want. The thing is, that whilst this central problem inhibits progression between our two leads, it also drives Jiro further into Shiori's arms. So it doesn't fall into the standard romcom trap of nothing happening. Every time Akari and Jiro gently caress up, Shiori is right there and she and Jiro get closer instead. And the climax of all of this feels like it was natural and earned. I'd be really excited to see a season 2. So yeah, if you can stand, or enjoy idiotic premises then go for this. Also a few of the jokes are genuinely on point:   The Akudama Drive Award for Best One and DoneCyberpunk: Edgerunners Honestly Cyberpunk gets this by default. The vast majority of shows I watched this year seem like they aren't completed stories and warrant further seasons. And NOW, for the top 5!  Fourth Runner UpChainsaw Man Yeah this had me from basically the second episode. It's been interesting as an anime only viewer to watch the complaints about the translation from the manga, because I just don't see problems with this. It's a show that I though immaculately trod the line between the natural and supernatural. Demons are real, but people are the same as they've always been. The effort it lavishes on scenes of characters just getting ready for work feels so important in allowing us to empathise with these people. The world they live in his horrible, almost all of them are just truly broken in some sense. And Denji just wants a nice home and some good food. The big twist mid season reminded me of the more serious end of Black Lagoon, which is an amazingly high standard for me. But I think that what really struck me were two moments. Denji thinks about a friend who died and wonders why he doesn't feel sad. Instead he worries about whether he's broken as a person. And Denji finally gets something he's been after for ages and it turns out, it wasn't what he wanted. And yeah, I just think the show really hit something special with that. And with this:   Third Runner UpKakegurui Twin I pondered whether to put Twin on this list at all. It's only six episodes, it barely has time to get steam. Should it even count? Then I thought about it some more and realised that I loving love Kakegurui. So we're starting here with a prequel. We're following Mary Saotome as she enters the insane gambling world of Hyakkao private academy where status is dictated by your money and your skill gambling. Twin is one of the few shows that ever made me go out and read the manga because I just needed more of what was happening. Mary is a very different protagonist to Yumeko from the mainline series. Where Yumeko is a lunatic with near unlimited wealth and no fear, Mary starts poor and genuinely fears loss. I always described the original as a series as not about gambling, but about magic. Where the enjoyment is not in the protagonist feeling risk, but in understanding the magic trick that's being played and seeing how our protagonists dismantle it. Twin is better, because it reintroduces the edge that something could go wrong. We know from the original that at some point Mary must fail and end up where she is at the beginning of Kakegurui. But we don't know when, or how that's going to happen. So now you want to see the trick pulled apart, not just for the fun itself but because you want to see Mary, a kind hearted girl, get out okay. Even though you know that in the end she has to fail. Plus it's gay as absolute hell and I am completely around for this poo poo right here.   Second Runner UpAttack on Titan: Final Season: Part 2 I feel like I'm doing AoT a disservice with number 3 here. I think that it being so early in the year has dulled my memory slightly. Last year it claimed my number 1 spot for the bravery of its new premise following a time skip and how well it adapted. This year it falls just a little because the novelty is gone and now we're in the meat and potatoes of what's going on in the new world. But it's still hard hitting, it's still action packed and mainly, it remains the incredibly pensive and thoughtful anime that I've come to love. It deals with the implications of genocide and counter genocide with a subtlety that I simply would not expect. Where people are justified in feeling as horrible as they do, but their feelings do not justify their actions. The formation of the Alliance to End Jaegermania was a long time coming and it's come together incredibly well, with characters who have real problems with each other trying to resolve them as best they can and at least attempt to move forward together. There's rumblings about the ending from last year that weigh on me, but for the moment I'm really happy with where the show has gone. And also in case people don't get it yet:   First Runner UpKaguya-sama Love is War - Ultra Romantic It is unbelievable that this stuck the landing as well as it did. Or perhaps not. Oddly, I was pretty sour on Kaguya at the end of Season 1. I didn't much care about the arc where an unbelievably rich girl laments being rich. But I'm glad I kept going. Season 2's exploration of the supporting cast helped round out the story a lot better and the subsequent expansion in Season 3, introducing us to Maki and getting deeper into best girl Hayasaka did even more to get me invested in everything there. It's helped by a stellar dub allowing me to watch the season twice with two really different takes on the comedy, the Japanese going for a deathly serious take about the war of hearts and the English nudging and winking at every opportunity. I think it takes number 2 because of Season 3, Episode 5. I think this is probably the best singular episode of an anime I've ever seen. The elevation of what must have been comedic gold already in the manga through animation and sound is sublime. It is a full 20 minutes of every single joke landing, of every unexpected twist and turn making me laugh even harder. And it caps out on one of the most sublimely animated EDs I've ever seen with an absolute banger of a song. Seriously who loving knew Ishigami had such swag:  I don't think the rest of the season holds up to this quality. I don't think, realistically anything could. But I was engaged throughout and the finale was a wonderful climax to something that has been so carefully built for so long.  Anime of the YearCyberpunk: Edgerunners It was always going to be this. From the moment I started watching I was taken in by the amazing animation. The top half had me with a near perfect romance between David and Lucy. The back half had me with the slow breakdown of everything David had worked to build. It's a near perfect story, with almost no fat to trim, set in a world that is absolutely enthralling. I loved the use of slang in conversation and calls as a way of both showing how different this world is but also establishing it as a world where humans are still humans. It's Trigger at their absolute best. Their wild sensibilities moderated to the exact edge of acceptable by both the setting and the plot. They can go wild with the animation, but this is ultimately a grounded story about failure, not an opportunity to send the final fight to space because where else do you have a final fight? David is just affectingly sympathetic to me. Someone who feels the constant weight of other's expectations and who pushes himself not to achieve his own dreams or ambitions but to achieve theirs. The poor boy in the rich person school with their parents barely making ends meet. That's me some 16 years ago now. The feeling that if I didn't succeed I'd be failing people who'd put all their love and time into me? Yeah that's me as well. It's hard not to believe that in a world as horrible as Cyberpunk's, I wouldn't end up on a path like his. Perhaps, well definitely, a lot less glorious, but one to an early grave none the less. That the one thing Lucy wants for David is for him to live is tragic enough. That it's the one thing David can't give her, because he so desperately wants for her dreams to come true is all the more so. It's backed up by one of the best supporting casts I've seen. Characters only shown through a couple of episodes feel realised and their respective ends are just important. A shoutout has to go to Rebecca here. She's so incredibly animated that she steals every scene she's in and again, she's just far more sympathetic than she has any right to be. Her unrequited love for David leading her down a path that she knows will end badly for her. And yet, it never feels like there's a moment where she should sever that connection. I could just go on forever about what I loved. Which would basically be me talking through every episode at length. So instead I'll leave you with this:  How Rebecca? How the gently caress did you do that? List for Julias' sanity HM: More than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers 5. Chainsaw Man 4. Kakegurui Twin 3. Attack on Titan - The Final Season - Part 2 2. Kaguya Sama - Love is War - Ultra Romantic 1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
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Jan 3, 2023 14:16
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1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. Lycoris Recoil 3. SpyXFamily 4. Chainsaw Man 5. Mobile Suit Gundam - The Witch From Mercury
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Jan 3, 2023 15:40
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1. Bocchi the Rock 2. Kaguya 3. 86 4. Chainsaw Man 5. Lycoris Recoil Honorable Mentions: Akiba Maid War, Bisque Doll, Spy X Family, Cyberpunk, Ya Boy Kongming, Attack on Titan
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Jan 3, 2023 17:40
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1. Bocchi 2. Lycoris Recoil 3. Akiba Meido Sensou 4. Do It Yourself!! 5. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai I didn't expect Aharen-san to make the top five when I started this list, but it's one of very few shows that got solid laughs out of me every week, so gently caress it. The next five, in no particular order: Yama no Susume, Chainsaw Man, Kunoichi Tsubaki, Yofukashi no Uta, Yuru Camp Movie. I still need to check out Edgerunners.
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Jan 3, 2023 20:18
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1. Spy x family 2. Kaguya Season 3 3. Chainsaw Man 4. Lycoris Recoil This is the most I watched anime in years, Gundam doesn't count because of golf and I mostly watch Bocchi off clips.
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Jan 3, 2023 23:58
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1. Kaguya-sama: Love is War ~Ultra Romantic~: The most consistently funny show I've ever watched. This season definitely solidified Hayasaka as my favorite character. Her and Shirogani's relationship is one of the best parts of the show. 2. Bocchi the Rock!: Unexpected hit of the year. Gains massive points by lifting the source material way beyond what anyone thought possible. I don't think there's much else I can say that hasn't already been said. Second season when? 3. Mob Psycho 100 III: A great ending to a great series. This was my anime of the decade for the 2010s, and there was no way this wasn't going to make my list this year without it massively making GBS threads the bed. 4. Attack on Titan - Final Season - Part 2: Years of build up leading to the endgame. I think this is hurting from being released so early in the year. That plus the final final final part not coming out until this year probably left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths despite the quality of the actual season. 5. Ousama Ranking: The shift in the second half didn't bother me nearly as much as it seems to have bothered everyone else. The characters are great, and it's obviously a labor of love for the studio. The funny part is I've seen a lot of hand waving for other well loved shows (like Mob and SPYxFAMILY) where people give a pass for manga content during the weaker parts of the anime, and I feel the same kind of pass should be given for Bojji's Friendtime Show. 5 (part 2). SPYxFAMILY: Would've certainly been top 5 in any other year. High quality all the way through, but at the end of the day, it just didn't leave as much of an impact on me as the above shows. 5 (part 3). Akiba Maid War: Would've certainly been top 5 in any other year. Another sleeper hit which didn't quite get there because I just don't enjoy Yakuza style settings as much as a lot of others despite the execution being on point. Honorable Mentions: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Magia Record: Final Season Things I just didn't watch that are on my list: Chainsaw Man Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War 86 Kakegurui Twin
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Jan 4, 2023 00:23
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1. Mob Psycho 100 III 2. Chainsaw Man 3. Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 4. Kingdom 4th Season 5. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: STONE OCEAN Part 2 (and 3) Honorable Mentions: Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Bleach TYBW Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Reincarnated as a Sword Overlord IV
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Jan 4, 2023 11:08
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1. Kaguya S3 2. Bocchi the Rock 3. Lycoris Recoil 4. Spy x Family 5. Birdie Wing
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Jan 5, 2023 17:28
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1. Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2 2. Yama no Susume: Next Summit 3. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic 4. Lycoris Recoil 5. Kunoichi Tsubaki no Mune no Uchi HM: Koukyuu no Karasu, Estab-Life: Great Escape (doing my yearly duty of providing my honest input, even though for this group they're statistical outliers, which should make the results graphs more interesting) Beato Believer fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jan 7, 2023 |
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Jan 6, 2023 05:59
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Honorable Mentions Spy x Family -- Watched the first cour of it and enjoyed it. I haven't watched the second cour so it stays off the top 5, and I've heard that it spun its wheels a bit in the latter half. I might continue watching, I might not, but it at least deserves a mention. Attack on Titan: The Final Season: Part 2: Revengeance -- A solid effort on Mappa's behalf, and a step up from Part 1. Sadly, I fall in the "manga ending sucks" camp, so that colored my enjoyment watching this anime crawl inexorably closer to it. Cyberpunk Edgerunners -- It's got style for days; Trigger brought their A-game to this one. While the plot bounced off me, for some of you this anime is going to hit hard. Kudos to the team lifting music straight from the game and crafting scenes around it that fit perfectly. A *very* close runner up to my #5. And now for the actual entries... #5: Paripi Koumei / Ya Boy Kongming One of the things I like about anime is that you get these absolutely out-there premises followed up by a story that hits far above its synopsis' weight. Paripi Koumei was bizarre, downright hilarious, and had an amazing opening act that left my sides in stitches. It's number 5 on my list because it's a music show and the music didn't impress me, but I have no qualms recommending it, even in a year that was packed to the brim with good anime. https://i.imgur.com/SY7VAko.mp4 #4: Sono Bisque Doll / My Dress-Up Darling You know, it feels like every season we get the requisite “horny” anime, complete with all the terrible characters, face-palm-worthy contrivances, leering camera angles, and absurd physics that you'd expect out of cynical producers pandering to the lowest common denominator for a quick buck. And we make fun of those anime, because it's deserved, easy to do, and matches the effort put into making them in the first place. Dress-Up Darling is the rare horny anime that actually puts in the effort. It's resolved to make its characters worth watching, with the animation chops to back it up. You could feel the passion the animators had for their craft in every scene. It's pretty shocking to see that NSFW anime can actually be good if someone involved cares about the end result, and that makes Dress-Up Darling special. https://i.imgur.com/mIGg2ca.mp4 #3: Summertime Rendering Man, what a thrill this was to watch. Best action / adventure anime of the year, imo. The most important question a storyteller can have their audience asking is, “What happens next?” That lesson was taken to heart here, and every episode will have you immediately wanting to go to the next one. The jaunt from one episode to the next was made all the easier by a genuinely great cast bouncing off of each other. STR looked great from start to finish, and it was a complete adaptation to boot! Other anime wish they had as solid adaptations as this one. Criticisms? Yea I can come up with a few, namely I wished that the mystery aspect was more prevalent, but overall this is some seriously good stuff. https://i.imgur.com/cC8w9kE.mp4 #2: Kaguya-sama: Love is War S3 Kaguya S3 was already on par with its phenomenal second season in the comedy department, making it one of the best anime romcoms ever made. Multiple episodes had me gasping for breath amidst my laughter. But you can't talk about Kaguya S3 without mentioned the amazing finale, which was hyped to hell and back by manga readers and then managed to live up to it! Yea, this isn't going to be the end of Kaguya, but honestly if it were I wouldn't mind. That's the kind of good note this season left off on. I would not be surprised to see Kaguya up there on late 2029's “Anime of the Decade” lists because of it. https://i.imgur.com/xehF19q.mp4 #1: Bocchi the Rock Going into the Fall season, this anime wasn't on my radar at all. “There's some cute girls, and, uh, they do some cute things” anime rarely cut it for me. What won me over? Well, I guess you could say just about everything. Tremendous visual creativity in an anime sub-genre known for its unwillingness to risk its cast's cute-factor? Done. Little flourishes of detail that could and would have been omitted in a lesser production, but weren't because it adds that much more character to the characters? Got it. Fantastic music? Paired with concert scenes that effectively showcase the musical ardor of the protagonist to a level not seen since Sound! Euphonium? Too easy. How about some of the year's most tense anime scenes as well? You needn't even ask, sir! But above all, Bocchi managed to be the *funniest* anime I watched all year, in a stacked year! And honestly? For me? Ever. For that, it gets my personal AOTY. https://i.imgur.com/iASywqx.mp4 Malsangoroth fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 6, 2023 13:23
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Dress Up Darling feels, I dunno, more honest on what it's about than other horny shows, and I appreciated that. Except for JuJu, didn't care for that introduction one bit.
Arc Hammer fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Jan 6, 2023 |
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Jan 6, 2023 16:05
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Arc Hammer posted:Dress Up Darling feels, I dunno, more honest on what it's about than other horny shows, and I appreciated that. Except for JuJu, didn't care for that introduction one bit. I think that's due to the original author/illustrator being a woman. Gojo is not the author's idealized self-insert. Instead, Marin is, and Gojo is her dream boyfriend. Kvantum fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Jan 6, 2023 |
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Jan 6, 2023 16:14
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you can tell its egalitarian because of all the intense closeups on gojo's extremely detailed hands
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Jan 6, 2023 18:27
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Arc Hammer posted:Dress Up Darling feels, I dunno, more honest on what it's about than other horny shows, and I appreciated that. Except for JuJu, didn't care for that introduction one bit. I hated the JuJu intro in the manga and I wish they had dropped it for the anime. Just an ugly blemish on an otherwise fantastic story.
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Jan 6, 2023 21:51
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5 healer girl: i like putting a shout-out lesser known show on my top 5 and here it is, really charming show and I really loved the musical interludes 4 86 part 2: now I can vote for 86 3 lycoreco: plot got pretty silly but still really liked it 2 bocchi the rock: would have been aoty if not for 1 kaguya-sama s3: nailed the festival arc, all. I could have asked for Honorable mention to chainsaw man for finally making me read the manga
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Jan 7, 2023 00:32
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1. Akiba Meido Sensou 2. Poputepipikku 2 3. Chainsaw Man 4. Bocchi the Rock! 5. Lycoris Recoil Honorable mentions: BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls' Story Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Fuuto Tantei
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Jan 7, 2023 01:31
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1) Bocchi the Rock! 2) Kaguya s3 3) Akiba Maid War 4) Birdie Wing 5) Isekai Ojisan Honorable mentions: Dress Up Darling, Healer Girl, G-Witch, Executioner and her Way of Life, Shadows House s2, Machikado Mazoku s2, and way too many others to list. Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Kongming would probably be up there as well but I haven't finished them. 2022 was 
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Jan 7, 2023 02:52
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1. Akiba Maid War 2. Bocchi the Rock 3. Lycoris Recoil 4. 86 5. Call of the Night HM: Chainsaw Man, Birdie Wing, Love After World Domination, inu-oh bunch of other stuff disney jail made me forget about it but it probably makes the list when i watch it: tatami sequel
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Jan 7, 2023 03:31
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1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Despite its origin as an advertisement for an overwhelmingly mid video game, this series deserves a top spot in this crowded year and a place in the canon of great cyberpunk works. Also, that song still makes me cry. 2. Pop Team Epic Season 2 - You will love it or you will hate it. For me this was even better than the first season. 3. Spy X Family - A fantastic adaptation of a great manga. The manga used to be my no-reservations recommendation for people, and now the anime is my no-reservations recommendation. It's just plain good. 4. Chainsaw Man - It's loving Chainsaw Man. Maybe you could switch its spot with Spy X Family, I dunno. It doesn't matter. These are all really loving good anime in my top five, as far as I'm concerned. 5. Birdie Wing - A guilty pleasure? NO! That is weakness! This is stupidly fun. Golf sucks; but golf lesbians, golf assassins, golf cyborgs, and an elite golf high school with maybe secret golf techniques, that's cool. Do you wanna see our heroine play golf to save her family from returning to a life of prostitution? Sure you do! Do you wanna see Char and Amuro go head to head via their golf prodigy students as a proxy? I bet you do! Honorable Mentions: Gundam Witch from Mercury (If it were eligible, it'd be on the list, I assure you), Dance Dance Danseur (Beautiful, moving, but...jesus the cousin romance plot WHAT?!), Dress up Darling (Extremely fun and good, if horny), Ranking of Kings (I feel like it would be on the list if like, I had seen it more recently than a year ago. Absolutely gorgeous show, work of art.)
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Jan 7, 2023 04:37
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1. Lycoris Recoil 2. 86 3. Demon Slayer Entertainment District Arc 4. Birdie Wing 5. Ranking of Kings Honorable mentions to Stone Ocean and Aoashi, which I enjoyed enough to mention but not enough to place over the above, and G-Witch, which probably would have taken a top spot if it were eligible.
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Jan 7, 2023 04:49
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Jomo posted:1) Bocchi the Rock! Just a reminder isekai ojisan isn't eligible because the last episode hasn't aired yet 
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Jan 7, 2023 05:21
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are we allowed to potentially change votes before the deadline? (would edit original post)
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Jan 7, 2023 05:28
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Cat-shaped Witch posted:are we allowed to potentially change votes before the deadline? (would edit original post) Yeah that's fine. The deadline is 23:59 on Sunday, January 15 PST.
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Jan 7, 2023 05:59
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1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Refreshing, grounded, painful, and poetic. Trigger's vision of Night City is brimming with style, color, and life, but its neon-colored exterior paints over an unforgiving system that is resistant to any and all change. There is no moustache-twirling villain, no single person or horror that can be blamed for Night City's brutality. Only the growth of a society whose hierarchy and balance of power has gained so much inertia that any one person who goes against it will be crushed under its unrelenting weight. The struggle of rising up in the classes is real, and I found David and Lucy's story about the duality of dreams extremely relatable, where the ambition of reaching some unknown, new height blinds us to the fact that somewhere along the way we've already found what we were looking for. That there is a gravity that pulls us in and convinces us that we must arrive at some milestone to earn happiness. The best life is the shared life, even if sometimes we need to let our dreams go for it. All coupled with stunning animation, an incredible soundtrack, and characters you can care about. Complete breath of fresh air. Was excited to watch Arcane after all the hype on the net that people thought it was better than Edgerunners. But despite the longer episode runtime for character establishment in Arcane, I was shocked at how shallow I found the characters and motivations vs Edgerunners. 2. Spy X Family - feel good. having a family can be awesome. 3. Chainsaw man - wonderful film directing. Couldn't get enough of the lingering shots of people going about their routines and simply existing. 4. Call of the night - hip hop music. Wonderful use of a vivid color palette (or lack thereof) to accent characterization. Love night life so it vibed. 5. Nothing else immediately comes to mind. Hopefully Mob Psycho after I get around to watching it. Disappointment - back half of Ranking of Kings. Checked it out cause of this thread last year and loved the first half. Been a while so hard to pinpoint exactly where it went off the rails Kcirev fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Jan 7, 2023 |
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Jan 7, 2023 11:20
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1. Chainsaw Man 2. Mob Psycho III 3. Spy x Family 4. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Willsun fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Jan 8, 2023 |
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Jan 8, 2023 07:26
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| # ? May 4, 2024 11:23 |
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i only watched like three anime this year but i feel strongly enough about 1. Bocchi the Rock! to cast a #1 vote for it. one of the best elevations of a source material i've ever seen and i haven't stopped thinking about it since i started it. the last 3 seconds of episode 4 is maybe the funniest joke i've ever seen in anime? absolutely superb in all aspects. please do a second season. HM to DIY and Spy X Family for being the only other things i watched that i can remember, but there's a bunch of stuff i read the manga of that i feel like i need to check out the shows (dress up darling, call of the night, summertime rendering).
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Jan 9, 2023 21:39
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