Yes, I did it, I managed to finish writing this shit before January ends, I always fear that I would not be able to complete my summary before January and end up having to post in Feb, which is like what the hell is wrong with you, you know what I mean? Writing a yearly round up in Feb? Are you retarded? Pick up the pace old man, chop chop skreeete pop pop. This year I generally felt that I watched less anime although honestly it’s probably the same; not just because of Covid, no I can’t use that excuse anymore, it’s been like two years already so this time I’d say that it’s because of Hololive vtubers, I just can’t stop watching them and like most people in the popular anime culture sphere, I’m sure it’s the same, vtubers taking up the majority of their free watching time, which I totally don’t regret in the slightest. While it appears that the volume of shows has normalized and Japan has figured out how to make anime in a pandemic without too many struggles, with the few exceptions of course, there hasn’t been any major groundbreaking new shows, just more of the same, excellent more of the same but the same regardless. I suppose that is fine, especially now that Japan is done with then Olympics and can focus on more important things, like opening up so they can let everyone fucking in to travel, fuck.
Either way as per tradition, I’d like to recognize a few shows that I had every intention of watching but for some reason just fell off, due to interest, too much shit to watch in a season or whatever and include shows such as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu, Hataraku Saibou S2, Zombieland Saga S2, Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru, Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou., Hamefura S2, Go-toubun no Hanayome S2, Getsuyoubi no Tawawa S2. Once again I regret not being able to finish or complete them, but I’m going to be honest this year, the probability of me actually revisiting these shows is highly unlikely, there is just so much good new shit that it’s so easy to drop stuff, lest is the way unfortunately.
However, what I cam going to do this year different is give reasons why I didn’t finish/drop said shows or at least if I can remember why.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu – I am fucking tired of Rikka and Satoko‘s bullshit. This may be the end of the story, or maybe not until they think of some other bullshit to drag on this series.
Hataraku Saibou S2 – Too many fucking things to watch, Black is better overall, sorry I like boob white blood cell girl better and ruin than positivity.
Zombieland Saga S2 – I am sorry but the way you guys basically reset the show and had the idol zombie girls start from ground zero made me feel not watching anymore if you had to do it all over again, even if it would be funny, too many other shit to watch.
Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru – You were cool, until you became a little boy when you got reincarnated, should have been more old man in mind. Got too slow pacing for me, chop chop drop.
Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou. – The drama was getting too heavy, getting too real relationship, can’t handle real shit, I want to relax and chill and be happy with cute moe girls, not bitch hos, even if they are pure well intentions.
Hamefura S2 – Story should have ended with S1, I don’t know why they wanted to continue this? Didn’t she win already? It feels just so forced so lost interest after like first or second episode.
Go-toubun no Hanayome S2 – I am so sorry, even though the girls are so cute, or maybe it was just me but I think the animation/character design was worse in this season when they should technically be getting better. For such a relatively high profile series, I regret not being able to push through and finish this, maybe one day…or not.
Getsuyoubi no Tawawa S2 – With such little mini shows these days, I would have thought I might finish this, but ultimately lost interest and due to time/other things to watch.
Suraimu Taoshite Sanbyaku-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Reberu Makkusu ni Nattemashita – Too many things to watch, got kind of medicore after a few episodes in, slimes and a curte wizard can only do so much.
In total I completely finished and watched about 22 shows, when is down from last year where I watched 25, shit. Hololive and Guilty Gear Strive is where my time is at now. Fuck.
I normally rank mini-shows after the intro but because I only watched one mini-show this year, there is no point and I included it into the main ranking list so yea, without further ado, here’s the real ranking of shows.
Mai Top Anime of 2021:
22. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou
After a long hiatus of something ridiculous like over 13-15+ years famed murder mystery visual novel/game finally returns in anime form and for what it’s worth, it’s a decent sequel/semi-reboot. However, my main problem with this adaptation is that it just seems like it does whatever it can to avoid the horror/insanity moments with crazy faces and the out of this world voice acting which were so iconic of the original. Many a time I am waiting for the outburst from one of the characters/girls to go crazy but the effect is far more subdued with the use of off screen kills and momentary mentions of like “oh, btw, so and so is dead too”, which is such a waste in my opinion. The fact that I can barely remember the original premise of the story to begin with left not only me but many others to question if this thing was a reboot or a sequel, which only till late in the show, people realized that it was in fact a sequel. Shit man. While I did enjoy some aspects of this anime, and indeed there were some good parts; the fact that the story did not end after 24 fucking episodes left me feeling cheated and demoralized of my time; so when they announced Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu, apparently the sequel to this shit, I had no interest to continue my investment of time in this story any more, since the way things are going, this fucking story will never have a satisfying real ending. Ever. Fuck em. I don’t know the reasoning why they took so long to make a sequel for Higurashi, probably because the games were still being produced/written but even so, the years have not been kind to this franchise and in the +10 years of not having any real follow up to the original, most people have moved on or straight up forgotten about it, not to mention an ENTIRE generation of youth who don’t know what the fuck this is, at this point your only pandering to old people with memories of nostalgia, this franchise has no room for growth or renewed interest. As far as I am concerned, this is a dead franchise and while the show itself is not bad, I regret watching it as I didn’t continue it with Sotsu and thus was a huge waste of time for me. Fuck Rikka, Fuck Satoko, I’m done.
21. Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi
Every year in anime, there appears to be an anime that raises eyebrows and controversy to no end, while many anime tried their best to capture the outrage award this year, they were all no match for Redo of Healer by a large margin. Painted innocently in the opening sequence as some kind of fantasy show with the hero collecting a harem of cute girls which just so happens to have really strong healing magic, it quickly reveals itself as something far more degenerate and by the end of the second episode, you know for sure that this show is basically just a fantasy time-reset rape/revenge hentai/ero-anime with a bit more story and character development. Indeed, this show for all intensive purposes is basically just porn disguised as a fantasy anime and for what it’s worth, I applauded it for it’s bravery and upmost degeneracy for even attempting for it to be aired on mainstream Japanese television, which after the second or third episodes, was promptly pulled off air in Japan to only be accessed via streaming services for the remainder of it’s duration. While I admit the girls of this show are quite attractive and cute, the basic premise of this story is to say the least; questionable at best; however, as a man of Culture, I felt compelled to continue watching this show, for the sake of science and such. And so I did. Make no mistake, the only way to watch this show is the uncensored version, as the pitiful censored version is like trying to eat a burger with no beef patty and as such, I was rewarded with decently animated sex scenes with ample nipple and boob exposure to a wide range of situations; from loving consensual sex to as expected, revenge rape to varying levels of degeneracy that would make even the most extreme ero-anime’s clap in achievement. The show does a decent job of trying to justify the main guy’s revenge, with ample and frequent flashbacks of his targets/oppressors committing such crimes such as mass genocide, rape, torture and other such atrocities towards innocents/villages/cities just for their own twisted amusement. Lest to say the methods of revenge are quite creative, although the end results are usually that if they are girls, they become part of his party via charm or like the two princesses; via magic brainwashing and hence becoming their loving slave. If they are men, they simply are killed in a creative manner, although that is not to say that all women are spared from death. However, if you remove the erotic explicit content and the cute girls, Redo of Healer is just a decent fantasy revenge anime with little more to offer in terms of story, but honestly, with that said and I’d say it again from my original thoughts on this anime, at that point, they should have just made this entire thing a straight up ero-anime, at least then it could be more honest with itself. While the show ends with our main avenger collecting all said girls, he still has unfinished revenge business with the gay black priest gunslinger hero that molested him from before …yeah… I don’t know about a S2, but I am highly unlikely to continue watching even if they do. Only for the truly Cultured degenerates, but even then, hardly worth the time.
20. Azur Lane – Bisoku Zenshin!
After a disastrous ‘real’ attempt at an anime, the folks in charge of Azur Lane finally got their shit together and made the ‘right’ anime for Azur Lane, a slice of life comedy! Fuck yea boi. Although technically a mini-show of only like 10-12 minutes or so, those minutes were precious good times of chill comedy gold that were greatly absent in the later half of the original ‘real’ anime that aired previously. Everything about this show is well made, capturing all the characters that you know and love from the mobile game and putting additional fun stuff that further makes you want to play the game more. Good character designs and cute fun stories, none of that convoluted Siren war bullshit, no one knows what the hell the main Azur Lane story is about anyways besides the autistic lore folks who try their best to piece things together; chill out bro; just relax and enjoy cute boat girls doing cute boat things. While it feels a bit weird to put a mini show, the only mini show that I watched this entire year above Redo of Healer and Higurashi on this year’s list, I think it’s warranted considering Azur Lane didn’t get pulled off air in Japan and I am biased and like boats. Mai Opinion, after all.
19. Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai!
Jahy-sama is a show that on paper looks great, it has everything that it needs to be a great comedy slice of life gag show but for some reason it just falls flat and never reaches it’s full potential which is very unfortunate as I really wanted to rank this show higher but just couldn’t because everything else I watched above it I found more enjoyable. While the first few episodes of the show are great and set the stage/tone for the show, the pacing slows to a crawl and gets very repetitive as you quickly realize the formula for each episode goes along the lines of Jahy does some dumb shit and meets another character and as a result cries/complains about not being the best anymore/not collecting enough mana crystals as a result of some failed task or job and or feels inferior to her former subordinates. This formula in and of itself is fine but the pacing is drawn out and gets old quick if the entire episode is only focused on one story, which it usually does. The entire show is about 20 episodes but honestly, they could have packed everything in less than 12 if they really picked up the pace with their story-telling and it would have benefited the show in general alot more. It’s not very often that I say that a show is too long, but in this case, it totally was and you can feel it. The gags are decent but never reach comedy gold or the level of extreme absurdity or ace timing as seen in better comedy gag shows such as Asobi Asobase, Nichijou or even Non-Non Biyori. Jahy-sama herself is a likeable character and is voiced by the same voice actress from Gabriel Dropout’s Satania which is more or less the exact same kind of character but is severely handicapped by the pacing and writing of this show. Too bad, if they ever create a S2, I’ll definitely check it out, but I won’t hold my breathe to continue watching it unless the show gets drastically better in pacing and gags. Great Op and Ed song tho by Hololive members.
18. Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi
Also known as “My Senpai Is Annoying”, follows a green haired newly hired office worker who is very short so much so to the point that she is often mistaken for a middle school kid and her daily struggles of being that and her relationship with her giant business senpai who looks after her well. Positioned as a comedy/mild gag relationship slice of life show, the first few episodes were great as they focused on the newly hired girl and her struggles adapting to office life and her senpai but as the show continues and slowly introduces more characters, that focus begins to wane as the story begins to focus more on the other office workers and their relationships which is kind of annoying, I am here for green haired short girl and big buff man, not you fucking normie office guys, you fucking side characters both like each other already, just say so to each other’s face, what is this? Kaguya-sama love it war? The Office? Pam? Jim? It’s that kind of shit that just drags on and is nothing new which hinders this show greatly as almost padding/filler. It almost feels as if the author couldn’t think of any more interesting/funny stories involving green-haired girl and buff man to tell or they are too hard to write and just got lazy and started focusing stories around side characters since they are so generic and predictable, and totally not funny in the slightest. This show could have been great but sadly it falls short. While not a bad show, it’s just decent and in many ways, largely forgettable as many other shows do what this show does and for some, far better.
17. Horimiya
Honestly, I am not entirely sure why I watched this love romance relationship school life show targeted towards women. Maybe because I was influenced by the faggots from r/anime that praised and rated this show so highly, maybe because I wanted to watch something a bit different from standard slice of life or non-harem spin show, maybe I just felt I needed more variety and get in touch with my inner girl heart in my anime watching diet. I am not sure, but either way this show was not bad, nothing exciting out of the ordinary or particularly praise worthy, it was alright. The main draw to this show is that the main boy and the main girl are amazingly, not annoying or hate-able to the viewer, which in itself is an amazing feat alone. They seem like real people and could totally exist in real life and in many ways, all the characters, even the side ones can easily be compared to real life people in everyday daily life. This story can easily be translated into a live action korean/japanese school life drama and it would work just as good, if not better in fact, which brings to question sometimes why such stories are adapted to anime vs live-action; maybe the use of inner-monologue (which apparently some people don’t have) is better expressed through anime as opposed to live-action is my best bet. Outside of the fairly non hate-able main pairing, the other side characters and relationships that develop are also worthy of interest I suppose, but the greatest achievement of this show is that even though the story I am assuming is still being written, it reached a satisfying conclusion with the main boy and girl committing themselves to each other to get married in the future. Holy shit. That’s like unheard of in most anime’s and for that, this show is worthy of some recognition. Not bad, shit opening song tho.
16. Shadows House
Shadows House is what I would describe as the first on this list as the first ‘experimental’ anime, or rather; significantly different take on the genres of combining mystery/drama/paranormal/slice of life which in and of itself, kinda weird and an oddity in most anime shows these days. Half of the characters in this show are solid black silhouettes wearing clothes and the other, look normal which is all part of the story which is quite interesting and mysterious. Throughout the entire show I was largely entertained and had me engaged in the story, the continued questions as to what are shadow people and what are normal looking people to them had me wanting to watch the next episode which is good. The pacing never misses a beat with each new episode building upon the previous one, adding in a level of development and growth in characters that lots of shows fail to illustrate. In fact, in many ways, the entire show is all about character growth, in an almost literally sense to the point where it becomes a major plot point later on in the show. The main characters, Emilico and Alice, the main girls are nice and their interactions enjoyable as well as all the other boys/girls that live in the Shadow House, no one particularly hate-able, although some come close (Not Malfloy boi). The main flaw of this show is that it’s not fantastical or grand, meaning there is no adventure or battle here, just character development and human trials of the sort and some puzzles/games trying to get to the underlying reason for Shadow House’s existence and the bigger mystery of shadow people. Another flaw of the show is that does not end conclusively in any way, it’s another one of those anime’s which encourages people to pick up reading the manga which is unfortunate because who knows how long that will take to make into an anime, and may end up lost to time and forgotten about unless a S2 is produced in at least 1-2 years from now. Not bad, I was entertained.
15. 86 – Eighty Six S1
Eighty Six is a good mecha war drama show, probably the best one in recent years considering that mecha is more or less a dead genre by now but besides that Eighty-six has largely everything that you could ask for, decent ok non-hatable main guy, decently cute competent main girl, corruption/politics, secrets hiding from the truth, class/race caste system, discrimination, white people, nice battles, animation good story. The pacing of the show is fairly good and overall I don’t have any real complaints about the show other than the fact that while the mechas are cool and all, spider mechas isn’t exactly something you would want to buy a model kit for or built it, miss my bipedal giant robots yo that have a samurai head called gundam with beam sabers. The character designs outside of the empire and the main girl are somewhat lacking as well considering they are supposed to be rugged left for dead soldiers, I don’t really like that look, looks cheap but I think that’s probably the point. Main boy looks too plain in my opinion. S1 ended quite satisfactory in my opinion and to be honest, I would be perfectly fine if the show ended like that, however, to my surprise the existence of a S2 has thrown me for a loop and my failure to watch any of it other than the first-episode and the resulting giant reveal/revelation of the truth has me questioning if I really want to continue on with this show to the end. With that said, I’ll rank S1 regardless as it’s probably the best new action mecha drama anime in a long time worth something, but whether I’ll finish it is another question we’ll see in next year’s review.
14. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S2
After being delayed for quite some time after the tragedy of the Kyoto Animation arson attack in 2019, Dragon Maid S2 finally arrives and generally lives up to all expectations of the sort in terms of animation, story and even character development, if that was ever a thing for this kind of comedy/gag slice of life show. Just like the S1 that aired a number of years ago, the animation is top tier and the first few episodes makes that evidently clear that Kyoto Animation has still got it, at least in terms of pure animation. In terms of story, a number of new characters are introduced such as a huge boob dragon girl which is a welcome addition that adds another dimension to living with miss kobayashi’s gay yuri harem of dragon girls. Not all is fun and games however as later in the show it delves much deeper into the backstory of Toru and her reasons for coming to the normal human world and her relationship with the other dragon fractions, the world she comes from and the problems/baggage that she carries/inner struggle. It’s quite a bit more serious and well developed than what I would have expected from a show like this, which is a bit surprising and reminds me of last year’s serious backstory episodes from Kaguya-sama S2 featuring the blue haired guy, which while welcome, does put a bit of a damper on the general tone of the show and leans more towards drama. Despite that, Maid Dragon S2 is still a great watch for slice of life, it’s just that I didn’t think it would get all philosophical and all that.
13. Hataraku Saibou Black
I have mixed emotions about this show, not because it’s a bad show at all, it’s great; it’s just that because of this show I was unable to finish the ‘actual’ sequel to Cells at Work S2, since they aired in the exact same season. What the fuck guys? Covid delay maybe? I only have so much time to watch things and ultimately I ended up watching this spinoff show more than the S2 original, sad. But outside of my own regrets; everything about this show is a refreshing new spin/twist on the original Cells at work, which is interesting because from my understanding, this show actually follows closer to the original manga/stories it is based off of with the white blood cell being a cool big boobed girl and the red blood cell a wussy glasses dude. Hmm. The main pull of this show is Ruin, the body that they are in is dying and enjoys all of the illness and ailments that a person who is a middle-aged man or older experiences such as erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, alcoholism, drugs, fat/poor eating, stress and the likes which makes for a very different experience for the cells in comparison to a healthy body. The best part of this show is the constant doom and gloom, the impending ruin and destruction of the world/body that the cells face on a daily basis makes for great black comedy and the increased battle/violence when fighting diseases/viruses, the fact that all the white blood cells are big boob women now further aids to the appeal. On the downside, the red blood cell is a poster boy of wussy boys and although he does get better/competent over time, he more or less becomes a less annoying version of Shinji from Evangelion, which isn’t exactly a great accomplishment. The ending was satisfying and allows the characters to continue if they wanted to continue the Black series of Cells at Work but I am still eternally sad that they didn’t put Covid-19 into the show, they shit would be legendary, but atlas, it wasn’t so, too bad. I enjoyed this show, but would have enjoyed it more if it didn’t make me unintentionally sacrifice S2 of the original show.
12. Mieruko-chan
There has been a somewhat lacking amount of spooky anime worth watching in recent years, although I am not particularly fond of horror anime, I think it has value and what better way to get me to watch a spooky show than to combine it with cute high school girls and slice of life living. Mieruko-chan combines horror and cute girl daily living in a really weird twist that I haven’t seen in an anime since…probably ever, it’s very unique. Following Mieruko who suddenly awakens to the ability to see ghosts and spirits, she just wants to ignore the gruesome things and live her regular life, but she just can’t help it which puts her and her friends into weird situations which honestly end up ranging from comical to pretty intense. For a show that I expected to be largely episodic in nature, slowly but surely a bigger story arose and with it, character development for Mieruko and her friends, which I didn’t really expect from a show that could easily be passed off as a gag one off show. The introduction of the Wolf Temple gods, mini-story about the tormented teacher with a thing for cats was a nice way to end the show, although the larger world/story lore of the ghosts/spirits is largely unanswered. Mieruko-chan herself is cute and so are her friends and the ghosts are very spooky indeed, none of this Gegege Kitaro kiddie bullshit, real ghoul shit here. Combined with good animation and on point pacing you got yourself one of the more unique anime’s to come out this year and would definitely wouldn’t mind watch more if there is ever a S2.
11. Super Cub
How do you know that you are even alive? You don’t. Might as well kill myself…but that was until I discovered my Super Cub and rediscovered what it means to be alive, I can now see the world in brighter colors now, everything is so vivid and rich with life; without my Cub, I might as well kill myself. I love my Cub. Yes, this is essentially what this show is about, a girl that lives a boring ass life going to school only to discover that the world is alright once she started riding a Super Cub, a Honda light motorcycle and became a badass wheel ballerz and made friends that bike with her as well. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this show but what I got far exceeded my expectations in terms of slice of life chill anime/growing up story that hit all the right points between artsy, chill, dry comedy and mild melodrama. The fact that when the main girl rides her Cub the colors and animation of the show literally become brighter and more colorful compared to her normal day to day illustrates the message of this show loud and clear: You are not even alive unless you are driving a Honda Super Cub™. The show is almost perfectly balanced in a way that would make Thanos proud in that you don’t need 100% attention to understand what is going on and even if you do focus all your attention, it’s still not boring. Contrasting between near silent coffee time between friends after a near tragedy to sheer insanity of the girls riding in the winter in the snow doing tricks and shit, it just somehow works, I don’t know what, it just does, just like my Honda Super Cub™.
10. Wonder Egg Priority
After a significant amount of time since the last true revolutionary magical girl anime, most notable Madoka, the genre has been somewhat stagnate for quite some time, although many shows in recent years have tried to stir the pot up and bring some new fresh ideas and concept to the mix, they usually are mediocre or just fail outright. Wonder Egg Priority however, doesn’t fail and in many respects, definitely succeeds in bringing fresh new ideas to the magical girl formula that are both interesting and really cool, but at the same time, feels a bit rushed and incomplete, especially the ending episodes that literally don’t resolve anything in the much larger story that was heavily emphasized and elaborated upon. In fact, it just opens up more questions, more uncertainty and plot points and story progression elements that are completely open to interpretation to the viewer. When the last episode aired, nothing was resolved, the studio announced that it would take another couple of months to release a special final episode to end the show. With that anticipation, I waited, hoped that the story of the girl wanting to bring back to life a friend at school who killed herself and the drama/truth behind why she killed herself and if it was related to her crush on her teacher would be cleanly resolved. When I watched the 45-minute special, I was not exactly wowed, but rather slightly annoyed that still nothing had been resolved and in many ways was just a setup in the hopes of them having a S2. While the ending was ok, it left me unsatisfied, maybe this is intentionally because as an original anime production; fuck, the director/ writers probably didn’t know what the fuck they were doing either. However, despite it’s mediocre ending, the journey itself throughout this show was outstanding and definitely deserves praise in terms of animation quality, character design, voice acting and even pacing/general plot/story elements; very artsy and action based with lots of drama and relationships. Good shit. Had this show ended cleanly and met my expectations, it would have been bumped up at least 3 or 4 spots on my list, but at last, that was not the case, still worth a watch however.
9. Thunderbolt Fantasy S3
If Wonder Egg Priority was a great show with a lackluster ending, fucking Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 is the complete fucking opposite, holy shit motherfucker that the hell lol. As the third season of longstanding Taiwanese/Japanese puppet action show continues, you would think that this might have dropped a few spots compared to previous outings, like come on, this is S3 already, it’s only gonna get worse from now on right? Wrong bitch, Thunderbolt Fantasy S3 was a long grind and a long term watching investment that accumulates into some of the most what the fuck oh my god my mind has exploded lol endings that I have ever seen in a puppet show in my entire life. Yes, the show kinda drags on, yes, I don’t even know most the characters real names and call them by nicknames based on what I think their voice actor has worked on or what they are to the story such as: “Ragna”, “Athrun”, “Merlin”, “Eddie”, “Sword Girl”, “Demon Girl”, “Crazy Bitch”. “Justice Man”, “Little Boy”, “Bitch Face”, “Green Boy”, “Red Guy”; yes, S2 didn’t really make alot of sense, yes, there was no real backstory to Red man’s introduction in S2 and many other shortcomings from S3 in terms of plot as well along the way. However…. dat ending tho… all is forgiven, everything makes sense all of sudden, all the loose ends, questionable characters and plot holes magically are resolved so cleanly and so nicely that you just can’t help but be amazed, all the bullshit from S2 and even S1 came to fruition in S3. I am fully satisfied with the ending. If they don’t continue this show, I am OK, S3 has reach peak insanity, it can only get worst from here on…or maybe I’m wrong? Puppets are cool.
8. Non Non Biyori Nonstop
This being the third season of Non Non Biyori is somewhat bittersweet as it marks the end of a era at least for me in terms of slice of life chill shows as this anime co-coincided with end of the original manga it is based off of. With that said, Non Non Biyori has been a golden standard to me for many years in terms of slice of life anime in which I judge all other newer slice of life shows today. To think that it’s been almost a decade since the first season aired in 2013 is kinda crazy, I’ve been watching this shit for that long, and I have enjoyed every moment of it, it makes me sad that it has come to and end but I suppose that’s how it should be. Outside of my nostalgia for this show, everything about it is on point, from the characters, pacing and joke moments/gags, it’s been quite a ride. I’ve also been buying/collecting the manga of Non Non Biyori for many years as well and I think this coming summer will be the final volume released, sad. While the original has ended, from my understanding the author is just not ready to get away from the countryside and characters just yet and he/she will be making a spin-off prequel, which is great news. Non Non Biyori, you are good shit, you will be missed. Hope for the prequel is just as good though.
7. JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Stone Ocean
It has been quite some time since the last JoJo aired, I think the last time I watched JoJo, covid wasn’t a thing yet, oh my god, it’s been two years of covid already, fuckkk. But aside that yea, new Jojo is here and it’s Stone Ocean, the much anticipated first female Jojo in fact and overall it’s pretty damn good. Outside of being the first girl JoJo in the long running series, this was also the first to be picked up and funded/produced by Netflix and as such, was the first time in this series where all episodes were released and available all at once, primed for binge marathon watching consumption. I watched basically the entire thing in like 2 or 3 sittings over the holidays and while binge watching anime is fine, I somehow felt it lost something, I actually prefer episodes to be released on a weekly basis because it prolongs and spreads the longevity and attention of the show to at least 3 or so months as opposed to maybe a week or two but maybe that’s just me. Aside from it’s full release, the story itself is not done yet and it is primed to continue in S2 which is cool. As for the story, it’s quite different from previous JoJo stories, not just because the main character is Jolyne Kujo, the daughter of Jotaro Kujo, God of Stardust Crusaders Jojo Third Arc, but because everything about stands in this show got a major debuff and nerf in comparison to previous story arcs. Like, you went from Stands and guys that can stop time, erase space, bring dead people back to life from an arm alone, to basically; I can make string and attach it to things or, I can duplicate things, kinda. The nerf in stand power is quite evident which I suppose is necessary considering the setting is a prison, gotta make it hard you know. Either way, from a technical and flow perspective, everything about this show is to the upmost quality and standards of all previous Jojo shows am I am glad that Netflix didn’t’ fuck it up yet. Awaiting the next season…already…hmm.
6. Isekai Shokudou S2
This is honestly a show that I never would have thought would get a S2 but to my surprise I guess the first season was well received enough that it warranted a sequel, which is good shit. This fantasy Isekai cooking restaurant show continues more or less in the same manner as it did previously, largely episodic in nature with short stories of various travelers and fantasy beings visiting the restaurant from another world and eating some of it’s rare delicious cooked food; such as Pizza, Burgers, Curry, Ice cream, Tonkatsu and the like all detailed in much hyperbole and description by it’s patrons. What is different however this time aside from the introduction of more fantasy beings such as vampires, lamias and other folk, is the start of intermingling between characters, which is different from before, for example, burger kids all of a sudden start talking to teriyaki chicken samurai and they end up having a meal together having a new dish, teriyaki chicken burger and the like, or various cold dessert fans decide to sit together and try each of their favorites. Such interactions eventually accumulate near the end where the crown prince of the sand kingdom proposes to the daughter of the empire, united by their love of the restaurant and their love of cold-ish desserts. The restaurant has almost become a informal embassy of sort for the fantasy world, where it’s visitors range from warriors, diplomats, princes, princess and even the demon lord visit to have a good meal and maybe talk about diplomacy. The ending of the show was quite satisfactory as it gave further backstory on the origins of the restaurant and it’s purpose/history and it’s past and current owner. If the show were never to get a third season, I would be satisfied with this ending. Great animation, storytelling and pacing. Good shit.
5. Dr. Stone S2
As we begin to approach the upper end of the shows that I watched this past year, you knew that this would be up there eventually, and here it is, Dr. Stone comfortably is placed in mai opinion, the fifth best show of 2021 and for good reason. While it is not uncommon the have a sequel or S2 placed high in my list, Dr. Stone truly deserves it as it builds upon the first season and progresses the larger story in great strides from where it left off, literally from stone age to higher level technology. Many plot holes and questions about the world were answered in this season as it kicked off as they call it the ” Stone Wars” story arc between the crew of absolute primal high schooler followers and Senku and his science boiz, cause good civilization and all that. The show continues to do a great job of explaining the science of building things and how it can be used to fight in war and battle, they make gunpower, radios and all sort of stone age level stuff like glass blowing to make light bulbs and shit. The animation is clean and crisp and never misses a beat with the pacing and story telling just as good as if was in the first season. One point of contention that I have however is that feels like they rushed certain parts, especially when they were building their stone aged ‘tank’, they literally put that shit together in like 1 episode when it really feels like in the manga it might have been an entire season worth of material and stories, just to build the tank. I don’t know about the manga but it certainly felt that way for certain parts of the show, and while one may consider it cutting out ‘filler’, that’s filler content that could actually be entertaining/interesting, which is a shame since I wouldn’t mind more dr.stone regardless. As the show comes to a close, I am reminded that this show is not complete yet and Senku and friends’ battles/journey’s are just beginning which I suppose is a great since I can expect more from this series.
4. Yuru Camp S2
It feels like an eternity since Yuru Camp S2 aired…early on in the winter of 2021, like January, but much like it’s original first season, it’s memory of comfy winter camp times remains strong and has become a favorite for many slice of life chill show fans such as myself for good reason. S2 of Yuru Camp is so good, it more or less takes place where the original left off from their final Christmas camping trip but this time they focus more on the individuals and other sub groups outside of of the two main girls Rin and Nadeshiko. Highlights include more backstory on Rin’s family, a long line of camping fanatics, Nadeshiko’s first ever solo camp and other group camp activities but the most impactful was probably the “B” team camping trip. When I mean “B” team, what I mean is that all of the remaining side characters, not Rin or Nadeshiko, tried to go camping on their own, to much ill demise and possible absolute ruin, which was quite a thing to see on screen. They literally could have died because they were not prepared for the cold winter camping environment and make all the mistakes a rookie camper could make. Luckily they survived with the aid of a nearby fellow camper and their hospitality. If it wasn’t for that, they might have froze to death. Shit man. But outside of the mild panic of that story arc, the show maintains it’s well to do camping chill, albeit less focused on Rin and Nadeshiko which is not bad at all since all of their friends and other characters are just as entertaining and likable. With great animation, voice acting, chill pacing and excellent calming soundtrack, Yuru Camp has become the new hallmark of chill slice of life for this generation of anime fans and hopefully it will continue to do so in the future with more anime, movies and such. Great show all around.
3 . Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san
Last year a hyped showed called Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! was near the bottom of my list, featuring a big boobed short girl that had quite a thing for her senpai but unfortunately, due to poor boring pacing and lack of variety in the actual show’s characters depth and substance/comedy, it failed to live up to the “Sugoi Dekai” expectations from the wider anime pop culture sphere. Nagatoro comes from a similar vein of mild hype but unlike Uzaki-chan, does all the right things and then some to make it a very successful and entertaining comedy/romance/youth slice of life story far exceeding that of it’s predecessor, Uzaki-chan a year prior. Nagatoro is a tanned dark skinned gal girl and due to a variety of chance encounters and situations has come to grown fond of the local wuss boy that is the sole member of the school’s art club and makes fun and teases him constantly throughout the school day and after school. Unlike Uzaki-chan, Nagatoro reveals in bits and pieces here and there throughout the show the actual reasons why she teases the boy and actually kind of admires him/likes him, not that she would ever admit her real feelings, at least not intentionally. This is a thing that was greatly lacking in Uzaki-chan but Nagatoro gets right; you can’t just tease the boy for no reason, you have to show to the audience some of the dere as well; it’s why it’s supposed to be Tsun-Dere to begin with, if you don’t have the dere, then your just kinda annoying and a bitch; but Nagatoro is pretty top tier Tsundere, with like 80% Tsun/tease and 20% Dere/love, which hardly ever makes it’s appearance on screen but it’s very evident when it’s seen, the show makes sure you know. Combined with great pacing, ace animation worthy of being gifs, excellent facial expressions, excellent voice acting and the fact that Nagatoro herself is dark skin tanned and is quite cute/attractive, you got yourself a formula for anime pop culture success. Dark skin is in I suppose? Good shit.
2. Fumetsu no Anata e
Known as “To Your Eternity”, this anime truly was a joy to watch as it encompasses all of the great characteristics and attributes for a fantastic and engrossing journey adventure story with a very clearly defined goal and objective but a very long and hard path ahead for the main character. Known in my mind as “Take Him” due to the premise of the main character, Fushi’s ability to take on the form of those that have died close to him and or formed a bond/relationship/friendship with, the story starts out slow but very powerful. At it’s onset, Fushi starts off as some magic stone pebble thing but then eventually becomes a wolf and after the wonderful and amazing first episode bonding/storytelling with a random human boy, takes upon his form as the boy dies. I’m not going to go in-depth to summarize the first episode, I already did that in my initial thoughts of this show when I first watched it but it’s close to being a masterpiece on it’s own. If the show ended with the first episode, I would be satisfied. It’s that good. But luckily enough, the show does not end at the first episode and the journey of Fushi begins as he slowly learns to become a normal Human, as in many ways, he is Not Even Human to begin with, but some weird creature, a blank slate. Through a series of what can only be described as story arcs, he learns how to talk, how to eat, learn to use his abilities to transform to various animals/humans that have died that were close to him and by the end of the show, more or less knows how to act and live as a normal human being. But between the learning to be a human lessons and experiences, Fushi if faced with encounters with a mystical being that can only be described as his God, or creator, that speaks to him and provides him guidance and tells him the reason for his existence; to preserve information and experiences from humans of the world and to fight the Nokkers, a group of mysterious shapeshifting parasitic entities that attempt to thwart Fushi’s purpose and essentially fuck shit up for everyone/everything. Through gaining more bonds and connections, he can get more abilities and fight the Nokkers which seek to ruin everything. The storytelling of each of the arcs, while excellent overall are somewhat inconsistent, with some story arcs feeling like they drag on far longer than they need to be, namely Gugu’s and the prison island place filled with criminals. However, despite the mild criticism of some story arcs, the entire show is without a doubt one of the best journey shows to come around in a long time, not quite to the level of Best Show Ever Created, Mushshi but it’s certainly up there if the story of Fushi continues. With that said, I will definitely be looking forward to watching more of this show if there is ever more created, the story is just so grand and open that they could do anything, the possibilities are almost endless, but sadly, as hard as it is to not crown this show the best show of 2021, that title will without a doubt have to be…
1. Mushoku Tensei
Known as the “grandfather” of the modern day isekai storytelling, it’s not surprising that Mushoku Tensei, aka Jobless (homeless) Re-incarnation would be crowned as the best anime of 2021. At it’s initial onset, the story begins with a young baby boy being reborn into a new fantasy world, formerly a jobless mid-thirty something NEET, that bears a strikingly resemblance to myself, although not that I mind that since that man is going places baby! As he is reborn after getting hit by a car, he is now Rudeus Greyrat, the son of a well off former adventurer, his father a Swordman and his Mother, a Mage. As he quickly grows up and maintains his knowledge of his past life, he is quickly identified as a prodigy in the magic arts and hence begins the journey of Rudeus as a young boy. As you might expect from an isekai show, there is no doubt a good collection of cute girls/waifus for both the audience and Rudeus himself to fawn over, such as Roxy, the blue-purplish haired demon mage that for a time became his magic teacher, Sylphiette the green haired half-elf/beast girl childhood friend and Eris, his cute but fiercely tsundere warrior cousin and travel partner later on in the show. However, beyond the tried and true formulaic isekai of the reborn being inherently gifted with absurd power or abilities; Rudeus while indeed strong with magic; is not infallible and often can be defeated/bested which brings to light the strength of Rudeus himself as a character in that he is not an annoying cocky bitch but a well reasoned good thoughtful young lad; or at least he tries to present himself as such to others. Outside of his cordial behavior as a young mild mannered white boy, make no mistake, he is still at his core the same man he was before he got reborn and with that said, still an eternally cultured and perverted guy, always looking out for boobs, panties and any opportunity he can get to perv on girls, which is especially amusing as he is born, his inner monologue (good for him) says in his mind something like “wow, is this my mom? she’s pretty hot, great boobs” lol wtf. Outside of his very unique traits of perversion and the comedic aspects that come with it, Rudeus most importantly is a character that does not ever forget where he came from, he always remembers that this is his second chance at life and with it, always strives to do his best in his new life where he had failed or had huge regrets in the past; he actually wants to live a better life and improve and not become the same jaded, isolated sad NEET he ultimately settled on before his death. So many anime stories these days conveniently use the isekai trope to start telling a grand fantasy story with a overpowered main character, often forgetting very soon, sometimes within the first episode that they were reborn and that story point is often never brought up again if ever, such shows that fall into this trap for example are Overload and Slime; once they get settled into their world, it never comes up again and they forget. Rudeus and Mushoku Tensei doesn’t do that shit, he can’t forget; so much so that it becomes a re-occurring plot device in which he in some way or another, passes out or has a dream in which he appears in his original form, the old fat jobless NEET where he talks to the god of sorts that brought him here to begin with in a sort of self-aware reflection interlude segment which usually signals a change in direction or new story arc, which is very refreshing to the audience as it reminds you constantly, that Rudeus was once an old Japanese otkau guy that played Dizzy in Guilty Gear XX and collected figures. Am I looking into a mirror? Fuck. Am I Rudeus? Nevertheless, that is where the main strength of Mushoku Tensei resides in, Rudeus remembers. Combined with an engrossing journey story and plot with ample character development between characters that actually effect the story, Mushoku Tensei just does everything right and then some, exceeding expectations for an isekai show. The animation, pacing, flow and general direction for the show is just so well constructed and balanced it’s hard not to easily get engrossed into the story and characters. From a conceptual basis, the choice to NOT include an opening introduction sequence to this anime is something alot of shows miss out, as it prevents the audience from getting a sneak peak on what characters/arcs the show will cover and in some sense prevents spoilers for what is to come; by not having an introduction sequence and having the show just begin, as a watcher of the show, you really have no idea what’s going to come next, no hints on new characters, who will live who will die, which really makes Rudeus’s journey all the more interesting and surprising, Rudeus fucking doesn’t know what’s going to happen, so why should you either? However, despite it’s strengths and my high praise, Mushoku Tensei is not an anime that I would recommend to everybody as it does contain some potentially questionable sexual content as a result of Rudeus’s base level perversion and general preference for many loli-type girls and the occasional sex scene between characters here and there and while personally fine with me; may be quite off-putting to some that are far less cultured, but the way I see it, they are in a fantasy world so why should our worlds society and standards be brought into theirs? It’s fine by me, it’s literally a fantasy world bro, just chill. While the story is not compete and Rudeus’s journey will continue, hopefully sooner rather than later with a S2; Mushoku Tensei wasn’t always the top contender to be the best show this year, it was for awhile Fumetsu no Anata e, this years number two, but the more I watched the more I began to enjoy the story and the characters and by the time the second cour finished, I was sold, this was the best show this year, not just because the show was excellent but because of the long term anime culture popular impact it may/will have going forward, the merch, the cosplay, the games, the memes, that’s all part of what makes anime so fun in that it can extend to other platforms and mediums, something which I don’t think Fumetsu no Anata e will ever have, despite it being an incredible show in it’s own right.
With that said, congratulations Mushoku Tensei, you are the best anime of 2021, and for Rudeus, good luck to you in your future journeys; I look forward to becoming you one day.