2016 was a pretty good year for anime; I ended up watching a lot of shows, maybe about ten or more compared to last year I think? Whatever.
To be on this list means that I fully finished the show, however there are a couple of exceptions this time around to that rule; I’ll make note of them on their way down the roundup. Regrettably, I didn’t get around to finishing Shokugeki no Soma S2 due to the fact that there was probably better things that caught my attention; although I will end up finishing it eventually. Another few shows which unfortunately won’t make the cut for this year are Long Riders, Drifters, Girlish Number, which I do intend to finish but either way would have ranked mid-way regardless even if included.
Once again, the criteria for mai ranking is based on a variety of factors which I deem of importance such as: quality of animation, character design, waifu material, levels of epic manliness, opening introduction sequence, effect on popular anime culture, long term fandom, artsy quality, meta jokes, original concept, watch-ability, background history etc.
Shows that might have started in 2015 but finished in 2016 will be counted as a 2016 show. Top mini-shows are listed in this other post.
Top Full Shows:
35. Planetarian
Planetarian might be considered a mini-show but I consider it a full show since each episode ranges from like 30-40 minutes I think. I played the visual novel many years ago and from what I remember, this short anime adaption is a decent one, you get the idea overall and the story is the same. The quality of the show is questionable at best, the animation is mediocre, the character designs are ugly in comparison to the source material and the story it just not suited for multi-episodes, inconsistent. It’s not bad, but not decent either. You might as well just “read” the game, it’s so short anyways and you get a better experience overall, still don’t understand why this was made in the first place, better as a movie. Maybe I’m being too hard on this, but as a TV anime, this was a waste of my time.
34. Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R
Honestly, I don’t really know why I watched this show. I think it was a dry season when it aired and there wasn’t a whole lot of shows worth watching so I ended up picking this up. It’s….pretty basic. Based off an old 90’s ova from Gainex, this anime is something of a re-imagining of the title character with the addition of other magical girls inserted as well, the end results are mixed at best. It’s mainly formulaic bullshit and it’s not even done well but I dunno, I just kept on watching this because some moments were so bad and cringe worthy, either because of the story or the lines that Komugi says are just like wtf did you really just say that? lol jokes. By the time I realized that no real story was going be be told, I had already watched half the show and was like fuck it, might as well finish what I started; it was a mild struggle to finish this show. As the show progressed the “yellow” magical girl ended up being the main character of the story with Komugi regulated to providing being dumb comic relief, very strange direction but regardless of what happened it was a mediocre experience at best. Pretty shit animation, lackluster characters and very dumb ass story that goes nowhere but because of those facts I got mild funnies and had decent op and ed songs. Yea, probably shouldn’t have watched this.
33. Tiger Mask W
I’m gonna call it, I’m breaking my rule here when it comes to the whole “must fully watch the show” in order to review. Why? Because as far as I am concerned, I’m done with Tiger Mask W. Oh boy, where to begin. So, I’d like to think that over the course of time, the Japanese must have manga and media to suit the interests of almost every possible niche subject matter. Professional wrestling? Fuck yea, count me in, it’s gonna be some hardcore battle shit. While indeed I did get some of that from this show, and make no mistake it was funny and enjoyable at times; SHIT TAKES TO LONG TO DEVELOP. The characters are funny and shit and do a decent job but damn, I don’t want to watch another like 24 episodes of this to end! Fuck “Yellow Devil” the main villain of the series, you’re too slow to get your shit done. I expected at episode 12 for Tiger Mask to end the battle with Yellow Devil; fucking battle hasn’t even started yet and is still in the “semi-final” tournament stage. Unique gritty/ghetto animation, funny ass character designs/ugly to a benefit, base revenge story which is comically hilarious due to the facts. Lol sorry Tiger Mask, I’m done here.
32. Dimension W
Based off manga of the same name that is still ongoing, I should have known what to expect with the end of this show, the standard “and our battles will continue…” kind of deal, which is exactly what I got. The concept of the series is nothing new, basically future and robot girl comes into possession of main guy who is pro but doesn’t remember past very well. A whole slew of battles and mysteries unfolds, I think the series got through about 2-3 story arcs, some better than others, and one story arc that is so wtf did I just watch, I kind of wiped it from my mind. It’s a shame how this show ended, I really thought I would get some better answers on the mystery about the main robot girl and shit but it only did so partway. Decent animation, fighting, main girl is ok, main guy is pretty damn cool and concept good but in all honesty, the only reason why I kept up with this show was because of it’s sick ass opening sequence, fuck the music was catchy and so well done, with the main guy dancing and shit in perfect sync. If it wasn’t for that I probably would have never finished this show otherwise.
31. Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga
This show was ok, but I expected much more funny out of this than what I ended up getting. Basic premise or rather title of this show is along the lines of “this art club has a problem!” based off a light novel and it’s fairly self explanatory. Club. Cast of a few attractive funny girls. Main girl likes dude who only wants to draw waifu anime girls. Funny happens because dude is totally clueless about the main girls advances and hints. I want funny. Not romantic-comedy-drama with feels. Remove the drama and feels and it should have been a formula for success but the show just got so sentimental and sappy I forgot at times what kind of show this was supposed to be. FUCK. FUNNY. NOT FEELS. Outside of story the animation was pretty good and the character designs are good as well, the girls are all cute/funny enough good, concept done before. There are some allegations from some anime fans that the main girl, Usami; I think her name was, is the “top waifu of the season”; well to that I don’t agree with, her self-imagined “rival” girl with orange hair is way better, so ya. whatever. Could have been much better, a disappointment overall.
30. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Diamond is Unbreakable
Motherfuckers. Fuck. This show. What a fall from grace. Jojo has fallen from being the top show of 2015 to the bottom lower section of this list. While it was a tough act to follow last year’s third story arc, Stardust Crusaders; aka the “best” Jojo story; what came after the events of that arc is simply ruinous. Diamond is Unbreakable, the fourth Jojo story is a horrible mess in comparison to it’s predecessor. Where to begin. First of all I have a problem with the new “main” Jojo character, Josuke; he is a hoodlum gangster that doesn’t do anything very gangster or tough at all; his power is godly to the point where it breaks the entire show; fucking dude can REPAIR AND HEAL ANYTHING as long as it isn’t “dead” and has super strong fighting ability and speed rivaling that of older Jojo’s. How you define “dead” is outrageously subjective and inconsistent in this show. See that picture above with the dude that says “BILLION” on his sleeve? THAT DUDE WAS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE TWICE; in two separate instances. Outside of the bullshit rules that the author has managed to fit in regarding stands and powers, he also added in the existence of ghosts, aliens, sub-human jew like characters and an entire town cast full of undesirable stand users which may or may not have any relevance to the progress of the main story at all. The first half of the show doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing other than for “character development”. Normally this is fine, but the problem here is that half of the characters that got “developed” ended up being completely ignored and useless in the second half of the story; instead opting to create new characters to further the main story line only to be killed or ignored shortly after their creation. Aside from it’s many faults, it did however have many classic OH SHIT jojo moments but far from the levels of stardust crusaders. The fact that the entire story is so limited in scope and regulated to a small town with the main villain being a simple serial murderer with a stand doesn’t help much. I wouldn’t say that this series was a waste of time, if anything watch this shit to further the jojo story until the next part comes out. The animation and production values of this show is very good, so I can’t ding on that; it’s just that story wise and character-wise it’s such a mess.
29. Handa-kun
A spin off of Barakamon featuring the title character in his high school days was fairly enjoyable but sometimes inconsistent. For what it is, it’s an interesting comedy show with Handa being a good guy that everyone admires and loves but is crazy-level introvert that feels everyone is against him. Handa’s level of cynicism, paranoia and anxiety is the source for most of the jokes and gags that come out of the show and it’s pretty good stuff usually. The best stories are when girls are involved with Handa, whether they fall in love with him (several different girls do this), want to fight him, teach him a lesson or outright love triangle shit, it’s always funny how at the end of the day, no matter what happens his followers and crew always sees his actions as divine god level behavior. See that picture above? That’s ERASER. She’s one of Handa’s admirers and one of the more funnier characters that develops throughout the show. Decent animation and character design, good concept and execution. Overall a good show but there are some crappy episodes sometimes.
28. Kuma Miko
Kumo Miko is a fun show about a miko that wants to live a cool ass life in the city but has a bear for a friend that talks and lives in the boonies. Problem is that her bear friend doesn’t want her to leave. Yea. Ok. This show is primarily funny slice of life fare with occasional reflections on living and friendship shit with the bear. Most of the funny comes at the expense of the main miko girl when she fails at things, either failing to go to the store, travel to the city, or at part-time job at a grocery store or simply talking to people and her utter embarrassment and failure to act like a social-able city girl, which is totally not what she is. Overall I found this show enjoyable but it’s not for everyone, the style and pacing of theshow makes it undesirable for some, semi-episodic with a longer story at play. The main girl is funny because she is so weak and pathetic, and only getting weaker and more pathetic as the show progresses which is contrary to her objectives. I am fine with this. It is funny. I like funny. The Miko is moderately cute and the op sequence and song is good, it’s a decent show overall.
27. Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari
A slice of life reflection anime which misses it’s mark on more than one occasion but manages to keep my interest for a variety of reasons. #1 reason why I continued this show: main character’s profession is a “WEB DESIGNER”. Nuff said. Relevant to self. Good enough. The overbearing theme of this show is basically, let go of the past and remember the good times with your family, despite the fact that your mom and dad are dead now and you regretted leaving your small village for Tokyo to become a web designer instead of inheriting the family udon shop. Yea, something along those lines. It’s funny and fairly sentimental at times but never too trope-y. The other reason I continued this show was that I wanted to know if the little tanuki boy, yes; little tanuki boy that lives with the main guy was going to die, run away, become a real human or continue living with him. The Answer: disappointment. The show is good but not for everyone and probably authored by a women so yea, there’s mild gay factor implied. Decent animation, character designs but done before concept. Good enough for me, not good enough for you maybe. Bias+
26. Sansha Sanyou
I never can remember the name of this show but it comes up in my mind once in awhile. It’s good slice of life comedy, more comedy than anything in a 80/20 percent ratio. There’s not much gimmick about this show, it’s about a former rich girl and her life adjusting to commoner life making friends and shit. Her friends are funny. Blonde braid glasses girl is the best and funny. The cast of characters is varied and is fairly funny. Everyone is funny. It is good. Good opening song and ending song, I can still remember it in my mind today…I just can’t remember the name of the show or even what it means; too lazy to look that up. But aside from my lack of interest in this show’s origins or even naming, it’s solid shit. Good animation, and at times, amazingly god level loop-able animation, perfect for gifs, done before story but gags and jokes easy to get. Good solid shit slice of life but nothing more than that, it’s not very popular and will probably get forgotten if not already forgotten by now. Heavy cat bias in this show.
25. Ange Vierge
I knew what I was getting into when I decided to watch this show. A ending where everything and everyone is ok and nobody is dead and life just continues. Based off a mobile game of the same name, I wasn’t expecting a story, honestly, if there was a story to this thing that would be a bonus, and fortunately there was a mildly recognizable story beneath the characterization and friendship battles between the cards characters. I am a simple man, I like cute girls, I like moe shit, I like good character designs and friendship talk downs and battles. It reminds me of Nanoha series to some extent but kind of crappier with less objectives. Never-the-less, I liked this show, it was easy to watch and always fun to enjoy, nothing serious or overbearing. Nothing to think to hard about, I just wanted a show where I can view eye candy and be on rails intellectually for a good 20-30 minutes or so. Yes. I enjoyed this show, perhaps more than most people would like to admit. But I did. Great ending song, op song, decent animation, base concept, money puller device but whatever, good shit. Not for you, just for me.
24. Bakuon!!
Watching this show combines 2 things. Cute girls and motorcycles. Wut. With that in mind, how can I resist not watching this. It also satisfies the niche of “I can’t believe there is anime of X” category so ya. The main girl wants to be pro biker but she shit, and the show is about her trying to be pro biker and learning how to ride motorcycles on the way getting friends and shit with similar interest and joining the motorcycle club where they do more shit and ride. Essentially k-on with motorcycles and funny, more funny shit really. I don’t know jack shit about motorcycles but the technical talk was always interesting and the disagreements between what motorcycle company is best between the girls is always entertaining. I enjoyed this much more than I probably should have, mainly due to the fact that the girls all had very unique personalities and funny backstories how they got involved with motorcycles. Best girl in above picture is Rin, hardcore Suzuki fangirl that believes Suzuki bikes are the best; not to mention voiced by Nao Touyma and sports the biggest boobs, thigh-highs, twin-tails and standard tsundere personality. How can you go wrong with that? Good shit. Great animation, character designs, concept and execution.
23. Sakamoto desu ga
Sakamoto is a women’s show, primarily authored for women which I thought was pretty good. With that said, the gay speaks for itself but outside of that it’s a great comedy slice of life show. In it’s most basic form, it’s essentially cool guy mary poppkins at school doing cool shit, helping people and teaching bullies/bitches a lesson. Sakamoto is cool in a perfectly non-homosexual kind of way. Well, at least all the men and male enemies in the show think that. The animation is good and the character designs are faithful to the original manga material which I read a bit of. Lots of lol wtf moments of outrageous and humor mainly coming from the frustrations of his enemies that try to bring Sakamoto down. Dude is basically god. The ending is appropriate and mary-poppkin-ish. Solid show overall.
22. 3-gatsu no Lion
This show is known to me as “I killed your dad” which is completely inaccurate but that’s the general vibes you get when you watch it. This is another show which I will also have to break the “fully finish” to review because of reasons, good reasons mind you. So I’m at like episode 11.5 here and it seems to me that the best outcome of the show is that the main dude should kill himself. I expect this to happen anytime soon now. I check wiki. It says that it’s only halfway done, and the second half of the show is incoming later. Ok. Well I guess he’s not going to kill himself then; at least not yet. At it’s onset I wasn’t quite sure what to categorize this show as it had so many elements of comedy, slice of life, drama, suspense, murder. Having gone through half the show, I think it’s safe to say it’s slice of life drama with mild, very mild comedy elements to a 75/25 percent ratio. The production value, animation style, scene framing and character design of the show is amazingly well done and captures the feel and tension at any given moment of the story, which in essence is a story about finding ones place in the world and trying to understand human nature and well, feelings through the eyes of a lonely and conflicted young professional shogi player. It’s authored by the same women that wrote Honey & Clover, so expect similar themes except much darker with considerable abstraction, metaphors and hyperbole in it’s literary style. A good show so far, worth a look if your looking to “reflect” on your life or existence.
21. Stella no Mahou
This is a solid slice of life type comedy about a bunch of highschool girls and their doujin games making club. Yea, that’s about it, nothing special, it’s been done to death from various other mediums and stories but Stella no Mahou does a good job of keeping the subject matter light and fairly accessible. Despite being about doujin game making and the struggles of meeting deadlines, creating artwork, music creation and story writing which each girl is responsible for, they never get technical, only very briefly touching the surface of what it entails for each role, which is cool. Some may not like that light aspect but for what it is, it works as great material for a funny comedy show. The character designs are however…a bit questionable, the girls look very round, skinny, short and petite; you won’t find any big boob busty girls in this show, all girls are universally almost all flat; which is perfectly fine. The color palette that the anime used is very different than what was used in the original manga panel art, as seen above opting for a more hazy pastel color and levels of abstraction, sometimes going on the level of jojo level of color distortion. But either way I really enjoyed this show and the jokes were there with the characters playing their part in the hijinks. Cool op sequence and insane strange weird ending sequence. Good shit.
20. Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan
Saiki Kusuo at the start is a pretty shitty comedy show that is hard to follow. However, for some reason if you manage to stick with it it starts to grow on you and you end up liking that shit as you get in tune with it’s pacing and style of humor. The pacing is extremely fast as all the characters have a tendency to speak extremely quick, making it a Saiki kind of original thing; I’ve never seen so many characters talk so quickly in such varying ranges as in this show. Make so mistake as the screenshot above will tell you, this show is animated pretty badly and has questionable character designs but I think it’s crappiness is somewhat intentional and it grows on you, actually adding to the humor and jokes of the show. Saiki is a psychic and has all of these powers and shit, yea but he just wants to do his own shit but he can’t, dude just can’t stop making friends; which he wants to avoid. The feel and premise is very very similar to Handa-kun, except the main difference is that Saiki actually really has OP powers and doesn’t give a shit; while Handa’s just a good guy with feels and anxiety problems. Like for a comedy show of this type, there is actually a surprising amount of backstory and character development to the show’s many many characters, all of which are very funny. We got butthead best friend who is super dumb but is strong, eigth grade syndrome friend, weakling player friend that can see ghosts, self-proclaimed perfect girl, hype justice sports bro, girl which saiki tried to setup with another dude but failed, poor girl with glasses that works, failed magician friend which he ruined, talking pimp cat, former gangster turned a new leaf; ALL of the aforementioned characters mom, dad, brothers, sisters, acquaintances. If you can stick with it, it’s a great show. Horrible first opening sequence and song, excellent second opening sequence and song.
19. Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku
Based on a light novel series of the same name, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku or “magical girl raising project” follows the longstanding trend of magical girl shows in the same vein as Madoka, basically meaning magical girls getting killed. This is not a new concept and has been done to death repeatedly in numerous other shows and media for the past number of years. However, this show has a few things which I think make it stand out against the sea of similar stories. One being the character designs are top notch, they are at it’s core very attractive and well done. The story makes use of mobile gaming as the model for the magical world and follows a very game like structure of a tournament, with phases, items and quest-like tasks which the characters have to do in order to survive. But probably the best part of the show is it’s unpredictability, you’re never fully hinted at where the direction of the show is headed, who is going to get killed and in which manner, the identities of all the magical girls, you never know for sure what’s going to happen. Much like Madoka, the battle scenes are appropriate but not excessive, I would have liked more head to head battles but I suppose that’s the nature of this show. The outcome of the show is decent but leaves much more to be desired, maybe S2 or alternate timeline/retelling? Good animation, character designs, plot but done before concept. Overall a great watch if you want something similar to Madoka but one may find the ending disappointing.
18. Boku no Hero Academia
Hero Academia at first glance is a pretty shitty show; it feels a bit like one-punch man in it’s themes and storytelling style but much less epic and with a main character that is outrageously undesirable and wussy at first. Normally I would have instantly cut this shit out due to the fag level of the main character, however, the main redeeming quality of this show is the main character’s “OBI-WAN” figure, ALL-MIGHT. Fucking dude just reeks of America and I love it. Full of justice, buff as superman and shit and the only truly manly character in this show. Seriously, if ALL-MIGHT didn’t exist in this show, I would have dropped it. But aside from my bias of manly epic shit, the show itself is really good but progresses at a snail pacing. Basically main kid wants to be hero and all that, ALL-MIGHT gives him power or something and he’s on his way with ALL-MIGHT being a teacher at his hero school and shit. It’s very shonen-ish, similar to Naruto or even bleach. The cast of other student heroes is interesting as they are all weird and shit. The character designs are a bit plain looking and simple but it works I suppose. This is getting a second season but I’m not sure how they can avoid the whole “and our journey will continue” type of ending since the manga is still ongoing. If your looking for some hero long running series, maybe try picking this up.
17. Keijo!!!!!!!!
The infamous boob and butt sports battle anime of this past fall season makes it’s arrival. This is a good show, however, it has some technical flaws which I will get into later. The basic premise of the show is that in this world a sport named Keijo was developed where girls need to knock each other off a structure into the water using only their boobs or butt. Yes. It’s easy to dismiss this show based purely on it’s premise as a super fan-service fest but ironically I was greatly disappointment in that it did NOT deliver enough fan service that the people were expecting. Surprise surprise, this fucking show actually flows like a normal sports anime; with the main characters training, finding their strength and weakness and battling it out with other schools for pride and whatever is done in sports shows; think Saki except for a made up sport. I am actually astonished at how tame this show ended up, it takes itself totally seriously; not a joke or gag anime; good shit. There are however a few problems with the animation, many times, I think every single episode the lines on the characters mouth when they talk appear pixel-y and shit. What the fuck happened with that guys? Major fail there along with other occasional fails in animation. The girls themselves are fairly likeable and good enough, but nothing super waifu level, nowhere near actually. One thing that I can’t get over however is how badly designed the girls school uniforms are. FUCK. AUTHOR YOU DROPPED THE BALL WITH THIS ONE. You are writing a series about cute girls but you can’t design a school uniform? WHAT THE FUCK. I know most of the time the girls are in swimsuits but come on, they are just plain ugly. Aside from my misgivings, I would recommend Keijo if you like fun mindless sports battle type shows. Good shit.
16. Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
So I heard you like sports anime with cute girls? I certainly appear to do so, so this is another one. “Scorching Ping-Pong Girls” is exactly as it sounds, a ping pong anime with cute girl in a club doing sports battle anime proud. The formula is here, happy/shy main girl that is kind of dumb but super pro at ping pong, tsundere purple hair twintail haired friend who is pro but feels threatened by main girl, several other side characters that are also good, happy cheerful girl, quiet girl, pink haired boob girl, senpai captain girl; the cards are in place for a good story telling of youth. Pair that with a rival school with an equally colorful cast of girls to battle against and we have a winner. In it’s purest sense, this is pretty much Saki ping-pong, meaning we got the hyperbole, the metaphors and the dank strikes of turnaround comebacks from behind; much more so than Keijo. All of the girls are likeable but the character designs I must say are…unique. They are very round looking and feel a bit weird because their faces are simple anime style but their bodies are very well realistically proportioned. It’s a different kind of look but I welcome it. They also visibly sweat alot and their clothes darken and shit when they are doing hardcore shit which I like. Being an ongoing series, it also falls to the “look forward to our next battle” ending, which hopefully they one day make. Like sports shit? Don’t want to watch Keijo? Watch this then.
15. Amaama to Inazuma
This slice of life show has become known to me as “At Risk” due to the main driving force of the father in this series is to avoid his daughter from becoming “At Risk” socially and mentally as a result of the death of his wife/her mother. Yea. That’s what this show is about at it’s core. It’s all packaged under the guise of a food porn/ food cooking show but at the end of the day, it’s a lesson on how not to ruin your child/make them hate you/become traumatized/prevent them from becoming bitches. Basic premise is that teacher dad and daughter miss home cooked meals, so they end up becoming friends with one of dad’s students who can’t cook but they all learn together because they are all lonely and want company. They do some good cooking shit in this show, from crash course guide to rice, curry, tempura, doughnuts, Japanese stewed veggies, hamburger steak; all the typical favorites that kids and adults like. It’s good shit and very relaxing and in a way therapeutic to watch. Fun times are always not a hand however as child-parent drama often unfolds before they ultimately use cooking/food to help remedy the issue. The daughter is funny and the voice actor does an outstanding job of sounding like a kid, probably because the VA is a real kid. The school girl cooking friend is also good, potentially waifu level characteristics but at the end of the day it’s a show about family, raising children and how food can unite them all. At times overly sentimental with feels but I suppose it balances out with the funny cooking segments. Good animation, character designs and concept, good watch overall.
14. Anne Happy
I liked this this show a lot more than others probably would like to admit. Not sure why, maybe it’s because of the solid selection of waifus, maybe because I have a thing for tsundere purple haired girls with thigh-highs, friendenemies or maybe the inherit yuri-gay overtone that the show has but yea, Anne Happy is solidly fun and jokes slice of life comedy with a fairly unique premise. So all of the girls have horrible bad luck, so bad that they are in a class specifically for students with bad luck and such. The purpose of this class is to make the students happy, whatever that means you can derive or make up on your own from the shows hijinks and gags. The blonde main girl is super dumb with bad luck, the purple haired girl is the best waifu, the pink haired girl is funny and weak with big boobs, the red-haired girl is friendenemies with purple haired girl and is pretty tsundere gay for white hair girl who is quiet and cool that makes all girls gay. Yea, this is a good cast. Some of the over the top stories involve real-life game of life boardgame, gambling game which somehow transformed into rpg fantasy battle story, town adventure story, side story of friendenemy and quiet girl and of course survival camping story and festival fun story. This is all good shit. Excellent character designs, very good animation and pacing is solid. This is just a really fun show to watch and zone-out for top tier moe comedy. Excellent opening song sequence and ending. Hope they make more in the future.
13. Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
To me this was a sleeper slice of life hit that nobody really noticed unless you were a super hipster anime snob such as myself. Tanaka is a lazy bitch, he’s just so damn lazy and yea, he just wants to live his life the most lazy possible all the while interacting with a very likeable cast of characters at his school. In a similar vein to Handa, Saiki and maybe even Sakamoto, this is a slice of life anime in it’s purest of forms done right. The tone of the show is extremely relaxing and chill; it would make DJ Tonkatsu question his understanding of how to “CHILL-OUT” if he knew Tanaka. Fuck. Tanaka is so funny because dude is so lazy and instead of people berating him for it, they just go along with it and further enable him to be even more lazy. Fucking dude is too lazy to walk home and gets his strong best friend to carry him sometimes. lolol wtf. While this show is probably authored by a women, the level of gay is very weak, if not non-existent between main guy and his best friend which is surprising. In fact, Tanaka is not gay at all and ends up involved with a bunch of girls at his school, one being pictured above; Shiraishi, the “best girl” because she tries so hard to be perfect in the public but is actually a lazy slob much like Tanaka; this is good shit right there. The character designs are well done and the animation is casually smooth and on point for a show of this nature. The opening and ed sequence are good. Excellent slice of life comedy, super chill tone and pacing.
12. Joker Game
There has been a strong lack of drama or “serious” shows on my list until now, well here is the first one I think is worthy of watching; Joker Game, fuck yea. So we got WWII coming up right, Japan needs spies and shit planted around the world in order to gather intelligence. This behavior is totally unlike the Japanese mindset of honor and fair fighting at the time, but someone has to do it. Fucking master Japanese spy named Yuki created “D-Agency” to train spies and shit. This is their story. Awww yea. While episodic in nature, each episode follows the story of a different Japanese spy and their duties/missions abroad, be it stealing foreign documents, assassination, transporting secrets, even simple survival in enemy territory, it’s here. The storytelling and narrative of each episode is different and extremely well done, with the characters taking the lead in their own little epic tale. The character designs in all honestly are a bit forgettable, they are all men and they all look very similar; I suppose it’s a spy thing. The color palette is very gray, brown black monochromatic, which is not surprising given the subject matter. But besides the somewhat anti-climactic ending, the journey and stories told in this show alone are worth the price of admission if your looking for dramatic spy tales. Really catchy opening sequence and music. Good concept and execution.
11. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Oh boy, here we go, one of the most anticipated and hyped anime events of the past year makes it spot just above #10 on this list despite my disdain for how the ladder half of the series was executed. So. You like trains? You like feudal Japan? Zombies? Snowpiercer? 1980’s Macross character designs? Steampunk? WELL THEN, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress has got you covered! Hyped due to the fact that many of the people who worked on the Attack on Titan anime were involved in this original work, many people had hoped for a epic new story which didn’t involve getting to some faggots basement. The initial impressions from the first episode to midway through the series was universally positive, shit was good. Excellent introduction and song sequence, likeable cast of main hero, heroine and even side characters, good music, excellent animation and pacing, great character design and premise. Everything was looking good. Then it happened. Fucking Biba was introduced as the main villain; marking the downward spiral in quality and direction for the show. What the fuck did Biba want? I don’t’ know, he just wanted to fuck shit up. That’s all. Wut? Really? FUCK BIBA and his lack of motivations. It just became another generic story of save the girl, beat the bad guy and yea, that’s it. No world exploration or information about the zombies, their cause and or origins, it literally was Titan anime all over again with even less insight because it was an original story with no manga to back anything up. They wasted a prime opportunity to build a strong backstory, a franchise that could be built upon. If it were not for the fact that news of a second season is incoming in 2018 and a chance for the directors to redeem themselves, this show would have ranked much lower on my list. However, aside from it’s lack of direction, suitable praise must be given for what they tried to do, it’s very difficult to create such an ambitious original anime project of such high quality so yea, props there. Not so much for Biba.
10. Brave Witches
Brave witches is Strike witches pretty much and I love strike witches franchise so there’s that already. It goes without saying that I enjoyed this show greatly and it has been a good number of years since the ending of the second season of strike witches and the subsequent movie. I am very glad and happy that this media franchise is still going. With that said, in terms of story, characters and overall execution of the show, I would say that the creators nailed it. The story takes place in northern Europe so Russia/Finland and hence the majority of the witches this time are from those regions, which is a good change from strike witches where they pretty much were a fully multi-continental force. The characters are all very likeable, mai favorite probably being Nipa, the funny Finnish-girl with the biggest boobs among the core 3 “main” characters. The main girl is pretty main, just the usual nice weak girl that just wants to be stronger in order to prove to her pro witch sister than she can be just as good, which is fine, her personality is base. The worst character is probably her “partner” the dog eared girl with the scarf as seen to the right of Nipa above, she’s just an annoying bitch that likes to punch shit, not very attractive in my opinion and always questioning main girl; it takes almost the entire show for her to trust main girl and her abilities so it’s kind of annoying their lack of chemistry. All characters were given sufficient character development and the main story itself was well planned and well executed, the final battle was not rushed or felt pressed for time. Excellent animation, air battles used 3dcg but never blatantly obvious or awkward, excellent character designs, good story/world. Good shit. Excellent cameos from characters from strike witches. Looking forward to more from the “World Witches Series” as they have started calling it now.
9. ViVid Strike!
Vivid Strike! is the latest spin-off story of the ill-fated Magical Girl Nanoha series and to be completely frank; I absolutely I enjoyed every minute of it. Fuck yea. Finally. I don’t know why but I think this installment is an excellent move in the right direction for the series which pretty much got ruined with the creation of Nanoha Strikers S, a sentiment which I have often repeatedly enforced. What is the Nanoha series all about? Friendship battles, both physical and mental between one girl and another for varying reasons. This show delivered big time as the entire plot is just that, one big giant story to make right a friendship between main character Fuuka and her former friend, Rinne via sports battle tournament. Another thing that Nanoha is generally known for is it’s main character philosophy of “I’m gonna beat you up until you understand my point of view”; which is working in full force here. There is no shortage of epic intense fighting, with very aggressive expressions and faces, although the fighting is only hand-to-hand combat, unlike the former glory days in A’s unfortunately, which is ok I suppose because the story makes up for it. I really like the character designs for the two new main characters Fuuka and Rinne; they look fantastic in their transformed state and are a throwback to A’s Hayate and something that a Saber would wear, excellent. Episode 4 of this anime has become somewhat legendary for those that have watched this series, it’s not every day that a main character gets to deal out sweet retribution for bullying; at least in such a violent manner. I did not watch the series that followed Strikers S, Magical Girl Nanoha Vivid because it was shit from what I watched early on; but after Vivid Stirke! I am considering watching it for backstory purposes. This spin-off story takes place one year after the events of the former installment and shows many, many cameo characters from it’s predecessor; most of which I totally don’t know about. That’s also a problem which they fucked up on in the past series,THEY MADE TOO MANY DAMN CHARACTERS which you don’t give a shit about; focus on a smaller number of girls is so much better. Hopefully the people in charge of the franchise get their minds straight and go back to basics using Vivid Strike! as an example for future stories. Good animation, character designs, voice acting, story, pacing, action, great op sequence and song; overall excellent show for those that are willing.
8. Dagashi Kashi
So I heard you like ghetto cheap junk food, big boobs and country living? Dagashi Kashi has got you covered for slice of life comedy and very mild implied romance, although you can dismiss that last part really. Basic premise is nothing new for an anime; main faggot wants to get away to tokyo to become a manga artist; however dad is all like, nope, you gotta take over our candy store son. Boy be like, shit pa? Why? There’s nothing here for me. Then all of a sudden a beautiful girl appears in the store and is all like bat shit crazy for all the goods in the store, with the boy be only like, wow, she has pretty boobs. Not surprisingly, the girl’s sole existence it to convince the boy to take over the shop because she wants her dad to work for her family’s company, which is a Dagashi or, cheap ass junk food company in order to sell shit or something. Shit sounds similar to poco’s tanuki dude’s show but but yea, it’s not that important. What you get basically is about 12 episodes of solid slice of life comedy between the main faggot, his dad, the main girl Hotaru, and the fags other friends in the small town such as his best friend that wears sunglasses at night and his sister Saya; the other potential love interest to main fag. The episodes are somewhat episodic in nature but does work in a linear fashion in the sense that older events that happened in the show are talked about later, which is fine. The kind of humor takes a variety of forms but most of it coming from Hotaru and Saya and their completing personalities/ physical attributes; depending on who you are, you will find your waifu is either Hotaru or Saya. I am on Hotaru camp because she is the funniest and because seriously, look at her clothes, design and boobs, how can you not? Saya is ok but for normal fags, this is anime; I want that which does not exist in real life. Besides waifu material, the show goes into great length and detail explaining many of the famous and more obscure dagashi in Japanese society and their history which is great. There are considerable sentimental moments when it comes to main fag and Saya, which I personally found to be forced and contrived, almost as if the author is trying REALLY HARD to push Saya, trying to balance the overwhelming superiority of Hotaru, realizing to himself, Fuck; I made this girl too good. Aside from that, the show has excellent animation, character designs, pacing and ace voice acting from Ayana Taketatsu. Excellent op sequence and song, excellent ed sequence and song, great slice of life comedy overall. Highly recommended.
7. Mob Psycho 100
This is not One Punch Man, make no mistake. This is not the second best show of 2015 but it’s still pretty darn good for what it is. Aside from me heaping praise on technically being the author ONE’s most recent main work, it’s a different kind of story that can hold it’s own while keeping a considerable amount of what made One Punch Man so great: epic fighting. First off, instead of the badass that is Saitama as a main character, what we get is an extremely wussy bowl haircut boy that is super timid and mild in his personality, MOB. Sure, it’s a change but a change that a lot of people coming into this show might be disappointing with, because shit man, fucking guy is so passive. In terms of direction, it’s similar to One Punch Man in that MOB just wants to live a normal life, but in contrast to Saitama, MOB doesn’t want to be a hero or use his powers at all, he resists at all costs to not fight, despite being the strongest psychic motherfucker around. I suppose that’s his character and shit. The story starts off kind of directionless but eventually moves onto a larger main story involving his little brother also wanting psychic powers and some organization capturing him and other kids to train or something like that. MOB befriends Reji, a fake “Psychic” that ends up becoming his “master” unknown to MOB that he’s full of shit and some other spirit ghost thing from a cult that he owned but ended up becoming his friend or something. Kinda eh, but you get the idea. MOB ends up owning a variety of people for different reasons and at the end of the show is more or less the same he was from the beginning, just a mild boy that wants to live a normal life. The ending of the show leaves much to be desired but I suppose is in line with the tone, pacing and direction that ONE wants to take with this story to make it different from One Punch Man. The show’s animation itself is outstanding and it’s character designs very true to ONE’s original manga, meaning pretty shitty and abstract, which is fine. There are a few episodes that are pure bullshit and forgettable and some decisions in story which I don’t agree with but I suppose that’s part of the charm of ONE’s works. Excellent and catchy opening op song and cool style too. I look forward to more from this series as the show’s ending pretty much implies that story-wise they have only skimmed the tip of the iceberg. Good shit overall for epic psychic battles and god-level talk-downs.
6. Love Live! Sunshine!!
I ended up watching the entire original Love Love! series when news came that a new story would be told in a new town with new idols girls, I was already kind of interested in love love with it’s mass popularity in Japan, so when this aired I was ready. This spin-off/sequel is pretty much exactly what I just mentioned and lives up to it’s predecessor is pretty much every way. When I mean lives up to it’s predecessor, what I really mean is pretty much better in every way. Original group was called Muse and was located in Tokyo, this time the group is called Aqours and is located in a small fishing town by the coast, I am not entirely sure if the name of the town is real but in any case this is another example of anime promoting small town life and culture. To put it simply; this is top quality idol anime slice of life comedy/drama with a wonderful cast of very cute, very moe animu girls which in my opinion are far more likeable than Muse. Muse had some really good girls but there are a few that are just whatever, in Aqours I think almost everyone is likeable. It’s kind of funny really, with Muse the best girls were the third years, having the most personality, backstory and overall attractiveness; for Aqours it’s the opposite, the first-years are the best and the third years the most boring; at least in mai opinion. The story starts out similar to the original Love Live but somewhere near the middle it changes it’s direction a bit due to past drama/failures and the main girl having a semi-breakdown in confidence as leader. However, this depression mode doesn’t last long; I think only an episode until the main girl realizes that in order to be successful, Aqours should stop following/copying Muse and do their own thing, no shit girl; but yea, that’s the revelation which was blatantly obvious. The show basically ends with the group resolving their internal issues and renewed commitment to win the top idol contest, Love Love! which pretty much sets up for S2 which I can only assume will air sometime this year or even early next year in 2018. Excellent animation, songs, opening sequence, tasteful and seamless use of 3dcg for dance sequences, excellent character design, solid story and tons of cute waifus in a slice of life action and humor setting. The sheer popularity of this franchise and it’s staying power in the anime/otaku industry cannot be underestimated, I’m sure for some in Japan this would have easily been the top show right off the bat. Best girls are Hanamaru, Yoshiko, You.
5. Haifuri
Unless you really look into it, no one would really know what the hell Haifuri is all about based off it’s title and even artwork such as the one above. Well if you didn’t’ get it, shit stands for “High School Fleet”, ok cool; what most people wouldn’t get right off the bat is that it’s really about a bunch of high school girls crewing WWII era boats and trying to battle/survive against other boats which for unknown reasons, have seem to gone black and out of control; in some kind of fictional future where the majority of the population live near or on water (waterworld maybe?). The premise and conception of this show can directly be attributed to the strong interest in WWII era naval warfare and the rapid rise and massively popular Kantai Collection, the shitty browser flash based game that I play and write event posts about because I only play for the waifus, which are strong; REALLY STRONG. But while kancolle is about girls as boats, Haifuri is about girls ON boats, which is the easiest way to sum it up. The story starts off with the main girls and friends assigned to a destroyer, the Harukaze, which did not actually exist in WWII but whatever; and the introduction to most of the female only cast. After a series of accidents, the crew of Harukaze is separated from the rest of the school fleet and left to fend for themselves, hinting at a bigger story at play. The show itself is split between solid slice of life moe cute girl moments and ship battle/maintenance/repair scenes which try to be as realistic and accurate as possible. The mystery to why ships and their crews have gone rogue is a little bit dumb, but at least not to the point of crazy aliens or sea monster girls taking over. The ending of the show is a little sad because for all the work that was done to develop the characters and their story, very little is further elaborated on about the world itself and why it is that the majority of the population live near coastal cities and on water, or even the existence of other countries other than Germany (of course, axis bros) that have high school fleets, what happened in the past that caused the world to unilaterally create the female only naval police force, the Blue Mermaids? So many unanswered questions that keep you wanting more. The main crew itself is akin to that of the starship enterprise, you have your captain, kirk, second in command and best friend, spock, and also mccoy, scotty and such of their respective fields. All of the girls are good and cute. Excellent concept, great character design, pacing, story; very catchy opening song and sequence; really enjoyed this one cause I like boats. I hope they make more as it’s an original series, I also welcome any cute moe girls in a military war setting. Shit’s good.
4. Flying Witch
Flying witch is an excellent example of a slice of life comedy done right that reaches the perfect balance of relaxation, comedy, moderation, and world building. In it’s simplest form it’s another slice of life show about living in the country with her distant relatives with the added spin being the main girl, Makoto; is a young witch in training. Yes, it sounds so anime and bait-y but the execution of this show and it’s written description is drastically different than what you might expect. The general tone and pacing of the show is so relaxing and chill, you might as well omit the fact the Makoto is a witch and there exists magic and shit, because she hardly ever uses it; and even when she does it’s so trivial and mundane it’s comical; making you ask “really, is that all that magic can do? lol” which is one of the many outlets for jokes in Flying Witch. At the other end of the spectrum are situations where Makoto does something magical or at least to her, routine tasks which are seen as fantastical or amazing to her cousins, primarily Chinatsu, a girl that because of Makoto ends up wanting to become a witch as well because it’s cool. There is also comedy in the animation framing and even pacing of how characters talk and interact, one being the mandrake scene in the first episode, very simple, very jokes but very effective. Other character such as Makoto’s sister, a pro witch, a seasonal guardian spirit, cousin’s normal friend that works as a shopkeeper, a ghost girl and her witch girl master that run a cafe, sister’s fortune telling friend that turns into a furry at night are great examples of world building; expanding on the world at large but still keeping the setting feeling very local and personal. Excellent animation, decent character designs, simple concept, god-like execution, pacing and tone, a really chill-lax experience that I always watched first when I had the newest episode available. Good shit.
3. Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
You knew it was coming, so here it is; “Erased” takes a very reasonably high spot on this list at #3. This show was a roller-coaster of a ride that just kept you wanting for more at the each of each episode, from it’s first episode to it’s last, you never knew what was going to happen to Satoru or if he was really ever going to save Hinazuki and his mother in the future. Fuckkkk, shit was intense and so dramatic. You knew at the very start of the first episode that this show had something that most others didn’t; a very strong personal narrative on the life of a failing manga artist, I suppose you can say even a reflection of the author’s own struggles and the dream of a second chance, a chance to change the past and make right those regrets that still haunt you. I’m sure everyone has at some point thought about that; “how would my life be today if I had done X instead of doing Y in my youth?” well this sentiment is the core foundation for building the intricate and detailed story of Satoru in Erased with the revelation that he has the ability to go back in time to relive his childhood but with the mind of his future adult self still intact. What we get then is a crazy series of time loops and repeating scenarios which is not unlike that of similar time travel stories but with a goal and urgency to change the past and hence himself far more personal than most other time travel stories. It’s not about saving the world, the city or even your dimension, fucking Satoru just wants to save Hinazuki, a girl from his childhood which was killed and his mother in the future; which was also killed as a side effect for not doing anything for Hinazuki. The show ended at approximately the same time the original manga ended which is cool but if you try to compare them, actually; even if you don’t compare them it’s quite evident that the anime was very rushed and condensed at the end. I went and skimmed through the completed manga’s ending and pretty much found an entire story arc was cut out from the anime which I think would have equated to at least another 3-4 episodes of content; but yea whatever. I understand the timing issue for an ending was probably hard so I am forgiving in that respect. As for the ending itself; I have mixed feelings about it’s outcome. It’s not a good ending, but not a bad one either for Satoru; more along the lines of “not the ending that he wanted, but the ending that he deserved.” Yea. Batman. Good character designs, excellent story line, pacing, concept, execution, flow, music. Good introduction sequence. Excellent drama show all-round, the journey and mystery itself well worth the price for admission.
2. Thunderbolt Fantasy
Y? BECAUSE I AM THE “SCREAMING PHOENIX KILLER.” HOLY SHIT. MOTHERFUCKERS. Yes. Thunderbolt Fantasy, a fucking hardcore Japanese-Taiwanse puppet show which may not even be considered anime is #2 on my list. Oh boy, where to begin with this shit. First of all, this is a puppet show, make no mistake, this is a puppet show, not a traditionally drawn 2d anime or even 3dcg production, yes; a puppet show. With that out of the way, something needs to be said about the sheer ambition, hard work and craftsmanship that was needed in order to produce this show, something which as far as I know, has never been done before on a broadcast television program, at least not to my knowledge in recent memory. Combine masterful puppet work, cool cg effects for energy and battles, a very formulaic but entertaining “journey” type of story, a cast of likeable and memorable characters, amazingly detailed and beautiful character designs/models and an extremely hype introduction music sequence and you get Thunderbolt Fantasy. Conceived by ace writer Gen Urobuchi, responsible for such influential anime works such as, Madoka, Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, Aldnoah.Zero and a slew of other popular visual/light novels, the series is produced in collaboration with Nitroplus, figure manufacturer Good Smile Company and Taiwanese puppet company Pili International Multimedia after the dude was walking around in Taiwan and saw some cool puppet shit at a convention and thought to himself, yea, I should do that, it’s cool. Well, it probably didn’t go exactly that way but you get the idea. The story is somewhat similar to Journey to the West in the sense that the main girl needs to find some magical sword that was stolen or something and ends up meeting a cast of colorful characters that help her along the way to beat the bad guy who just wants the sword for collection purposes and fuck shit up. Of course the premise is not that simple as obviously there is a lot of mystery and backstabbing/drama going on internally within the party so it’s always interesting to watch. However, one of the main gripes I had about this show was it’s localization style; this thing was apparently dubbed in numerous languages as the wiki will tell me Japanese, Taiwanese and Mandarin were all done. For the English subs, they questionably used the Chinese names as the basis for romanization with the end result being character names in the subs not matching what is heard in Japanese. Fuck it gets annoying. However, once you get over that initial handicap of comprehension, the show is exciting and full of drama, action and suspense; the ending itself is somewhat surprising as well as the direction it takes with the fate of some of it’s key characters, which I suppose you can say, is trademark of Gen Urobuchi’s shit. All in all, Thunderbolt fantasy truly is an animated experience worth watching, if not for the story, puppets or hype tone then at least for it’s pure novelty in the fact that there isn’t anything else quite like this on the market today. Excellent shit.
1. New Game!
And here we are at the end; Mai Top Anime of 2016 is New Game! Were you surprised? Did you have any doubt that this would be the #1 top rated anime of this year from me? No? Then I guess you know me well enough to understand why amidst the huge amount of shows that I watched, New Game! still takes the cake. New game follows the story of Sukukaze Aoba, a new high school graduate that has gotten her first job at a professional game company, a game company which happens to have made her favorite video game series that inspired her to get into game development in the first place. Throughout the series Aoba learns the ropes of what it takes to be in the game industry as a character artist; from simply knowing how to draw characters to learning how to create them using 3d modelling programs from scratch; it’s an experience that many new employees for any job for that matter can relate to. Even though you are supposed to be knowledgeable about your particular industry, skill or profession, in reality you don’t know jack shit until you’re actually working there hands-on; no amount of theory or book-learning can prepare you for that and Aoba’s experience’s in the show captures that development perfectly, from noob to competent to professional as well as the many challenges and struggles that come with working as a team on a big project like a video game. It also helps that she’s cute, optimistic and a hard worker; not to mention petite, has purple hair and twintails. Aside from Aoba’s struggles as a character artist, the show also focuses on her boss, creative director, Yagami Kou which she idolizes as a mentor and good senpai. Kou’s story is equally interesting as the show eventually tells of her history at the company, one of isolation and not fitting in when she first started and her reluctant rise to become a boss and the tension it caused between others in her team as a result of her high standards and perfectionism. At her core, Kou just wants to do good work and design stuff, not be a leader which is something that I can also sympathize and relate to. Aoba and Kou are the main characters of the show with their stories eventually intertwining at the end but that is not to say that the other characters are any less interesting, considering they are all cute girls. In fact, I really liked the programmer girl Umiko and other character artist Hifumi because they are so funny, with the ladder being more cute than anything. Aoba’s part-time QA tester friend is also funny too but should probably be beat up because she goofs off too much, against Japanese working culture and all that shit. From beginning to end, I thoroughly enjoyed New Game! in every respect; considering that I was also just starting my own new job, made the show even more memorable and relate-able still. In many ways New Game! is a shorter, lighter version of Shirobako except instead of anime, it’s professional game development which is great. Add to the fact that the manga story is still continuing with additional new characters, a spin-off prequel manga is in development and a visual novel is also being developed for the PS4, things are looking pretty good for the future of New Game! So let’s check the list again, so we have a meta show about game development? Check. Good story about struggles of working in the game industry? Check. Funny shit? Check. Good animation? Check. Great character designs for a cast of very cute and attractive moe girls with fun personalities? Double Check. Implied gay yuri relationship between bosses? Check. Excellent op and ed sequence with great music? Check. Mic drop that shit. I’m done.
Congratulations New Game, you are Mai Top Anime of 2016.
Source Images:
Too lazy to link, whatever.