This year has been a year in anime which I can largely describe as a continuation in many ways of 2023, both in terms of what shows are popular/established and also in terms of the type of anime shows that are made, for better or worse I guess. There hasn’t been any mega popular sleeper hits or out of left field shows that make it big like for instance Bocchi or any highly anticipated manga to anime adaptations like Chainsaw Man this year, it truly was a year of ‘more of the same’. With that said, the number of isekai anime that are released each season is so mind numbingly generic, I would be amazed if I can even remember even like 10% of them, considering that these days if a isekai show seems shit, I just skim it; it takes a lot to get into a brand new isekai show and it simply isn’t worth it most of the time. Of course that is not to stay there hasn’t been a number of hits that haven’t really resonated with me for one reason or another and quite a number of Korean shows that have been shilled as the biggest shit as pure Korean propaganda such as ‘Solo leveling’ which I don’t even bother with after the disaster of Tower of God S2, which aired this year and the revelation that the entirety of S1 story was a complete waste of time, not touching Korean shit anymore, just like China bootleg anime shit too. Anime continues to get more mainstream and popular on streaming services like Netflix and even Disney+, HBO which is actually detrimental to me since I have to go out of my way to get those shows and or I straight up forget about them, so end up just not watching them, ah-well. Still seems like a great lack of cute girls doing cute things and pastel color shows, and comedy in general, why everyone gotta be so serious or generic isekai shit these days? I guess just that’s how things go. Gundam Seed movie came out this year after 20+ years since Destiny and apparently it got mixed reviews, either people saying it was terrible and others just alright. I’ll need to see for myself when I get the time.
As per new tradition, I’d like to take the time to recognize a number of shows that came out this year but for whatever reason, I did not watch finish watching and ended dropping, even tho everyone else might think it’s the hottest shit still. I suppose you can say this is my list of failures/acknowledgment of notable shows that should at least have a sentence or two.
Noteworthy/Honorable mention shows that I did not finish:
Elf-san wa Yaserarenai – This show is basically about a fat elf girl and her growing list of fantasy creature friends who also end up fat who want to lose weight and do so by dieting and exercise. On debut I was sure I was going to finish this show, mainly because it had ample amount of naked uncensored fat elf boobs and the like and a jokes premise and the fact that it was like a mini show of like 15 minutes each, but for some reason it really fell off the more you watched it, it got boring and too generic/repetitive which when the new seasons came around I didn’t really go back to this for finish it, which is unfortunate but that’s how it goes sometimes. Maybe I will finish it, but the fact that I don’t have any immediate desire to do so, probably isn’t worth my time.
Delicious in Dungeon – I tried to like this show, this Netfix production anime by studio Trigger but it just wasn’t for me. I don’t know. It should have everything that I like, food, fantasy, journey and some comedy but for some reason it didn’t click with me. I found the character designs very plain and bordering on ugly and the pacing excessively slow moving and mind-numbing. People and vtubers I watch say this shit gets really good at like later episodes but I don’t know, I don’t think it’s for me and I like food anime, too bad.
Sasaki to Pii-chan – This show was really interesting and I was really entertained the first few episodes but then it got more and more weird, I was at like episode 4 or 5 and I still had no idea what the objective or purpose of the show was, nor it’s direction, it was trying to be like 3-4 different shows at once, isekai fantasy, magical action show, drama detective show, slice of life, you would think it would be great, but I feel this is an example of a show that doesn’t know what it wants to be to the determent of new audiences so I lost interest.
Hime-sama Goumon no Jikan des – This show about a captured princess who is to be tortured everyday for secrets by the demon lord and his servants with comedic affect on paper sounds good but after the first few episodes became very generic and routine, almost painfully so to the point where pokemon team rocket had far more creative evil plans and possible forms of torture. This should could have been great but it just got so lazy, maybe that’s how it is, maybe because it may be a 4-koma or something but I am disappointed that this show turned out so bland.
Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan – Gaining popularity because of meme dance and opening song clips on social media, I really wanted to like this show but what I saw from it was just a weak version of some other slice of life show that is probably done better elsewhere. The premise of the show is perfectly fine and the comedy and jokes should write themselves, but the problem is that the pacing is just very slow and bad to the point that gags drag on way to long they don’t even become funny anymore. It feels like they have enough content for a 10 minute mini show but they force it and drag it out for 24 minutes with great detriment to the source material. I feel if this was much faster a show it would be better and I wouldn’t had dropped it.
Dandadan – Just because something is popular doesn’t mean I’m going to like it, in fact, if something gets widespread acclaim, I’m more likely to be skeptical about it and for Dandandan, that pretty much sums up my experience. I don’t really like this show at all, neither the premise, the characters, art style or otherwise, it’s just not my thing and I don’t entirely see why people like it so much. It has this’ normies’ first anime feel about it because it’s a bit weird and at the same time so completely generic done before premise that makes me go ‘sure whatever’. Maybe the animation is good? Not that good in my opinion but even so, it’s not for me.
Overall this past year, I ended up watching 20 shows in full, which is pretty good, considering the large amount of trips I went to this year but then again, most of my trips were short trips, not like in 2023 when I went to Japan and pretty much disrupted and entirely seasons worth of anime watching ironically. So then, with all that said and done, let’s begin the ranking of the shows that I did finish completely!
Shows actually watched:
20. Uzumaki
Yes, I watched all 4 episodes of this ‘masterpiece’ based on Japanese horror mangaka Junji Ito and well, it certainly was an experience. While the first episode was great both in storytelling and animation quality, the next three continued to degrade and get worse and worse to meme level quality animation, which is unfortunate as it really could have been a masterpiece if they were able to manage the same level of quality from the first episode all throughout. Worth a watch but not nearly as bad as people say it is in animation drops, just manage your expectations and consider each episode done by a different studio and director and it won’t feel so bad.
19. Kimi wa Meido-sama
This show is alright and is mainly powered by the cuteness of the main maid girl and the art quality, or rather, how she is drawn, which is very pretty and shiny. The entire premise of this show feels like it can be very generic and formulaic but couldn’t further be from the truth. In fact, every episode is completely different from the next with no formula or reused set pieces, it was a a consistently linear story with fresh material each episode. While some may contest that this ‘fresh’ material has been done many a time in other shows, the show does a decent job of it as well as balancing action, drama, comedy and romance/cute times which not every show can manage. It’s main problem I think is that the ending is something of a cliffhanger and offers no suitable or satisfactory conclusion other than ‘read the manga’ to see what happens next, which is a terrible outcome if your only watching the anime.
18. Henjin no Salad Bowl
The premise of this show is alot better than how it ultimately turned out but I still enjoyed it even though it’s execution was flawed and it’s pacing somewhat questionable. This is essentially a reverse isekai show of sorts except the fantasy world people coming into modern Japan and them basically living here. The main girl is a princess that has powers but ends up being adopted by a detective guy but other than that, her role becomes largely secondary to her lady knight which for some reason ends up homeless and goes through several episodes about her trying to find her way to comedic affect. The name of the show unsurprising is called Salad Bowl and as we know, a salad is a bunch of random bullshit that kinda works and I think it’s a perfect analogy really for this show.
17. MF Ghost S2
MF Ghost takes up exactly where the first season ended, quite literally since the last episode of S1 ended, in the exact same race/time trials which is kind of odd but sure. While S2 is overall a slight improvement over S1, it still suffers the main flaws of it’s predecessor in that there is very little back story for the majority of the drivers in MF Ghost, they are just largely faceless bitches identified essentially by what kind of car they drive; this is not good. The execution of the show itself has been great and the sense of speed/racing has been improved greatly in this season over S1 as well as tidbits of history/lore of what became of some of the characters in OG Initial D and for some cases, even cameos of some of Takumi’s old gas station friends from the SpeedStarz days and other people he battled back in the day. However, due to the lack of backstory for most drivers and honestly no real progression on the main purpose of Kanata for even driving MFG in the first place, to find his father, it leaves much to be desired in that sense. There is however a considerable amount of relationship content with Kanata and Rin which for better or worse, is much needed in helping Kanata appear like a normal human character. An improvement over S1 but once again ends mid race with the news of S3 already announced, sure I guess? but is this really the best way to produce an anime in terms of flow?
16. Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita
This is a pretty nice cute show about a girl who was abandoned by her family because she has no ranked skilled in a fantasy world in which that’s the most important thing, her only skill is a rank 0 monster tamer ability which she uses to survive and tame creatures like slimes. While her rank is supposedly 0, it’s highly suggested throughout the show that her monsters taming ability is actually like 10 or something and she’s actually super good, she just doesn’t realize it nor do people do either. The show itself starts off really strong but midway though she begins to settle down and stay longer in towns instead of constantly on the move/journeying which kinda brings the story to a crawl as no other interesting characters are really introduced during her stays. I wish this show moved faster but despite this flaw, I would be willing to give this show another go if they ever make a S2, with hopefully more interesting characters and journeying.
15. Make Heroine ga Oosugiru!
This show is pretty jokes, especially the first few episodes as the show introduces you it’s characters but midway though it gets a bit too serious and filled with drama for my liking, taking itself too seriously. The show can be summed up as a dude and his semi-harem of ‘loser’ girls which have all been rejected in some way or form by their choice of romantic interest, which for some reason they end up hanging around the main dude, mainly because he is plain as fuck and they barely even consider him a man. The premise is good but the show focuses way too much on one girl at a time, they could have improved the pacing and spread the story/drama out a bit and at a certain point, there just wasn’t any jokes or gags anymore, just serious drama relationship shit, which is not exactly what I signed up for. Despite it being heavier than advertised, this was a good show but I don’t foresee this standing out long term in the wider anime cultural sphere.
14. Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san
This is another show that on paper is good and has a solid formula for success but like similar shows, it falls into the trap of taking itself to seriously and getting too filled with drama starting midway though the show. While the main girl, Alya who is Russian is cute enough on her own, it’s actually the main dude’s little sister which steals the show with her antics as a rival of Alya. Half-way through the show, the jokes kind of fall off and transitions into more drama, which is once again, not what I signed up for when I pick up a show like this. In many ways this show is basically a worst Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, that lacks jokes and more interesting likeable side-characters but in exchange, much prettier girls/character designs and a main girl who kind of falls flat.
13. VTuber Nandaga Haishin Kiri Wasuretara Densetsu ni Natteta
Oh boi a meta show combining one of my main interests together as one, anime and vtubers collide. As an anime about fictional vtubers, the show knows many of the tropes and the culture of the vtuber sphere, in particular the main girl who starts off as a princess proper lady but one day forgets to turn off her mic/stream and her crude strong zero drinking relaxed true personality is revealed to all on-stream and instead of disaster, becomes a viral hit and rockets in views/subs and popularity to her surprise. The show also does through the whole deal about artists also being vtubers and debuts of new gens within a company fairly accurately and meeting other vtubers she only met online in real life and such which is great. It’s main weakness however ironically is that it doesn’t have enough drama or conflict within the vtubers or the company, only near the end there is a slightly more serious story line but even then, I wished more of the show tackled more of the issues that vtubers face such as dealing with haters, doxxing, money/merch, keeping their identity secret and the such, they could have done so much more about this but they avoided all of it, which I suppose they wanted to since they want to make a more chill show which is fine but it could have been so much more. They could have also enlisted real hololive vtubers as guests or have cameos which they sadly did not do/have, wasted opportunity.
12. Yarinaoshi Reijou wa Ryuutei Heika wo Kouryakuchuu
One of the only shows that I watched this year that explicitly is targeted towards a women/female audience and it’s honestly not bad, but it has some flaws which prevent it from being a better show and gaining wider/mass appeal. The basic premise of this show is that this girl died in the future of this fantasy world but instead of dying, gets sent back to her 10-11 year old self in the same world but with the memories of the future events and her own demise. She basically ends up becoming engaged/becomes the wife of the dragon prince or something which is the guy who ends up destroying the world and killing her 6-8 years from now, hence by becoming his wife, he doesn’t go down that path. The dragon prince himself is typical otome bait perfect funny edgelord kind of guy which works, the main girl is kind of hot headed but also a bit funny and can be strong, so typical mary sue kind of character for this kind of story. The show has a number of questionable story plot points which kind of make me scratch my head and some elements like her being for some reason being ultra strong physically never really explained but it’s just taken for granted make me go wtf lol but sure. The ending of the show is surprisingly better than expected as it sets up for future conflict/story continuation as obviously this is one of those anime’s that is designed to get people to buy the light novel/manga. While not perfect and has some questionable plot points, I wouldn’t mind watching this again if there is ever a S2 or sequel in the future.
11. Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote
This is show that went well under the radar but I personally enjoyed it quite a bit about a couple of voice actors who are in high school that try to maintain separate radio/on stage personas from their real personalities but quickly get exposed but in the end they both decide to run with it and be themselves during their radio show, for better or worse. The main girl professionally is a cheerful and diligent girl but her real persona she is more of a chill gal, while the secondary blue haired girl presents herself as a super idol cheerful girl when in fact she is actually quiet and closed off/distant from people. The show goes through quite a lot of drama between the two because they are supposed to be friends professionally but personally they kind of hate each other, which is it’s own thing along with the main driving factor of the show is the rivalry between the two girls, because each think the other is better than themselves. While visually the show is nothing to write home about, I like the premise and gives a interesting take on the lives of voice actors. If you combine this with the vtuber show it would be perfect since there is significant overlap between vtubers and voice actors.
10. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War – The First Kiss That Never Ends
While not technically a show per say, I would still count this as anime I completed this year, even tho it’s basically just the Kaguya movie cut up into 4 normal sized episodes for tv consumption. I will never quite understand why they frequently do this, you know, make a movie then cut it up for tv format later but I suppose it’s to extend the relevancy of the media franchise as long as possible, especially if there is no immediate news or plans for another season or project. In the case of this Kaguya movie, it was quite enjoyable although honestly a little bit rushed, it could have been extend to even 5-6 episodes if it really wanted to if they wanted to make some filler shit, which I always welcome for Kaguya because it’s characters are so strong but either way this was a fitting continuation of the events of the previous season and in many ways, even if they decide not to finish adapting the entirety of the Kaguya manga, ending it here if fine to me. Good shit, hope they finish the story in anime.
9. Maou 2099
This is honestly a joke ass show that I enjoyed more than I really should have. The premise on paper sounds so basic and generic but the way it’s executed makes for a decently fun watch and most importantly, the show doesn’t take itself that seriously, which I like. With the main premise of some demon lord being resurrected some many years in the future into 2099 and the world has become something like bladerunner/cyberpunkish he wants to regain his power and fame and ends up become a streamer playing games and shit. Jokes. What I like also is that there is numerous cameos from Hololive’s Towa inserted into the show on big screens that serve as inspiration for the main dude’s path towards being a streamer. The action is decent and the world interesting and the characters, especially the main guy, is pretty funny/cool/not hate-able/not a wuss which I like. The show however does have major pacing issues, especially the last 3-4 episodes of the show where they super rushed an entire new story arc in like their life depended on it, it really should have been 5-6 episodes easily and the quality and storytelling of the show suffered significantly. However, despite this major flaw, I still enjoyed watching this show and maybe hope one day it gets a S2, hopefully one that doesn’t rush it’s story arcs as badly as it did in the first season.
8. Kimetsu no Yaiba – Hashira Geiko-hen –
Yaiba is back and this arc quite literally translates as the Hashira training arc. Oh boi, looks like this is filler shit if I ever saw it but despite what it is, is actually absolutely necessary to watch as key events and characters are introduced/killed off which basically move the overall story forward and I suppose closer to it’s final battle/conclusion. What is there to say about the majority of this story arc? Tanjiro and friends just train and train after being owned pretty badly from the swordsmith village arc and they try to get gud by training with the Hashiras, the elite sword master guys. While I like a good training arc as much as anyone because it usually brings more character development and such, this one surprising doesn’t have a whole lot with a few exceptions which is a bit strange. While the ending of this arc is just setup for the bigger battles/conflict in the future, it doesn’t really hold up with as a stand alone anime with a clear villain or even goal/objective, shit just happened while they were training and now everyone is forced to deal with the new changing circumstances, which is kind of bad from a storytelling perspective. While the animation and talent once again are top notch, this is probably the weakest Yaiba anime/arc story thus far which is unfortunate. Hope things get more interesting in the future.
7. Yuru Camp S3
It’s kind of hard to believe that Yuru Camp has has 3 seasons of anime and a movie. It’s been going strong for probably at least 7 years now since it’s first season aired in 2018 but I suppose it’s inherent nature of promoting Japan’s countryside and tourism via otaku visiting and encouraging people to try camping also helps. I actually watched the movie before starting S3 thinking it was needed for the show but I was wrong, the movie takes place in the distant future/alternate time where all the girls are grown up and working, which while good, is not needed for S3, ahwell. S3 picks up after S2, after their xmas camping trip and a increased focus on Rin and her new motorcycle friend she met via Nadeshiko as well as the ventures of the other characters and their own camping trips outside of the main crew; surprisingly, Nadeshiko doesn’t do a whole lot in this season and only appears for like a few episodes here and there which feels a bit strange, since she was after all along with Rin the main characters of this anime/story but sure, I suppose her story is kind of done, she likes camping now so what else is there to cover for her? The show itself is solid with all the chill slice of life points that I love, need more shows like this please. More.
6. Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru
The name of this show translates roughly as “My Wife Will Become an Elementary School Student” is pure bait trying to drive up interest and controversy for publicity sake but behind the wild title for this anime/story, is actually a very serious and heartfelt serious drama about loss and moving on, relationships and what is means to have a good life. Yea, bet you didn’t think that huh? The main premise is that the deceased wife of the main husband of the show has been reincarnated into a elementary school girl and suddenly she regains her memories of her past life and hence for reasons unknown to her at the time, wants to see how her old family/husband/daughter is doing after 10 years since she died. She finds them sad and depressed/isolated from each other and in a bad state and decides to try and help her old family be happy again, all the while dealing with troubles with her current mom as she tries her best to live in two different worlds and families, one as a daughter of a struggling single parent and her old life as the mother and wife of the family she left behind when she died. The character designs of this show are honestly ugly, no one looks great but I suppose that’s kind of intentional but the story is top tier drama shit as you never know what’s going to happen next. As illustrated above, there was apparently a live action adaptation of this manga in 2022 so that certainly was a thing that happened, interesting. Among other things, this story is complete at the end of the show, everything is resolved and cleanly done, there is no other stories to be told, no sequels (at least not directly, as apparently a new spin off of this series is being written in 2024), it is finished which is a huge bonus in my eyes and so few shows manage to actually end satisfactory after 12-13 episodes these days that it almost feels refreshing in a way.
5. NieR Automata Ver1.1a
I love the Nier games, I even went to Atlanta, a shit city in the US to attend a Nier Automata/Replicant concert because it’s music is so good. While this may be a biased take; I think the anime adaption was extremely well done, despite all of the production issues that it had. Originally started in Jan 2023, and was riddled with production delays and problems from covid and other sporadic release issues, the show was finally done in September 27, 2024, spanning 24 episodes. Was it worth the wait? Hell yea it was. The anime did a very good job of adapting the story of the game and even modifying it for the medium, since there are multiple ending and such in the game which could not really be covered in the anime. The show also provided more backstory on some characters which were much needed from Nier Automata and even further lore/story events that were brand new, exclusive to the anime which help to provide linking continuation reasons for all of the loosely related Nier universe/lore/history. Very good animation and pacing, good song and top notch voice acting, If you ever want to learn what Nier is all about but don’t want to play Nier Automata or don’t have the time, then the anime is a decent source to get the overall story and gist but by no means is a replacement for the game, which I would still highly recommend to anyone who hasn’t played it. Good shit all round, good shit.
4. Mushoku Tensei S2
While homeless reincarnation was considered the best show of 2021 and for good reason, it’s second season doesn’t really live up to to the expectations and the grandeur that were set in it’s initial first season. Make no mistake, homeless reincarnation is an excellent show and I thoroughly enjoyed this S2, it’s just that the drastic tonal shift and the current story arc to me just seem like filler shit, really creative and meaningful story driven filler shit but none the less filler shit in the the wider grandeur scale of things. After the ending events of S1 and the trauma he suffered with Eris and her subsequent leaving of him after a night in bed, our boy Rudeus just wasn’t the same anymore, he got the ED, erectile dysfunction, damn son, this boy can’s get aroused anymore no matter what or what girl, shame. Thus the entire core premise and reason for this S2 is for him to resolve this ED, by going to magic school, in which he does eventually does and on the way get more bitches, friends and allies, one even from his old world prior to reincarnation. The second half of S2 however picks up significantly as he is tasked to make a choice between staying at home with his new family/beloved or going to rescue his lost mom who apparently is trapped in a far away distant land. Least to say, the second half was quite good, with lots of drama, action and shocking outcomes/decisions made by our boy there is never a dull moment and the show always keeps me wondering what’s going to happen next. This season had a sappy opening song sequence, I don’t really like it, I would much rather they did the same thing with S1 and have no opening sequence, it’s brings more mystery in my opinion. Looking forward to the next season, whenever that happens, maybe in 2026. Despite my criticisms, I still think this is one of the best Isekai stories ever told thus far, there really isn’t anything quite like it. Good shit.
3. Oshi no Ko S2
The second best show of 2023 makes it’s appearance again for it’s S2 and honestly, it was really quite a feat to be this quite high up on the list despite in my opinion this S2 being overall worst than S1, but that kind of proves how strong this show is and it’s character’s regardless of it’s questionable story direction and focus this season. Oshi no Ko is a drama about a pair of twins trying to live their life after their idol mom was murdered when they were kids, Aqua has dedicated his life towards finding and getting revenge on his father, for allegedly being behind his mom Ai’s demise. Ruby just wants to be an idol and live her dream, following in the footsteps of her idol mom. Of course it’s far more complex than that as both were reincarnated and were both previous fans of Ai, with both sharing a connection to each other in their past lives. Sounds good right? Lots of story to be told right? Indeed there was slot of story but more than half of the entire S2 was dedicated towards Aqua and his live action play story acting arc, which while very well executed and giving focus onto the other female main characters such as Kana and Akane, Ruby and her idol antics were completely sidelined until the last fewf episodes where the show throws at you a considerably number of new revelations and plot curve balls which really get you going and thinking about what’s going to happen next. One of my main criticisms of this S2 is that they focused a bit too much on some of the side characters such as the manga author of the play and the story/director of the play, unless they play a larger part in the future story, their focus is completely a waste of time but only time will tell. I would have much rather a more balanced approached towards the story focus switching between Ruby and Aqua, not 80% Aqua focus then all of a sudden 20% serious Ruby drama shit at the end but who knows, maybe this is how the manga is so who am I to complain. Overall a great show but it was somewhat difficult getting through the acting play arc because it’s focus goes so off the rails of what this show is about at it’s core or at least what you expect, I am sure many viewers were thinking “what about Ruby?” during the like 8-9 episodes all about the stage play, while good, not exactly what I was expecting honestly.
2. Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete
I like magical girl shows; so if you have the main character of this show end up being a huge magical girl fan but somehow ends up becoming the villain of said magical girls she loves so much, you got yourself a recipe for success; combine with ample amount of uncensored boobs and yuri degeneracy with the main character having a tendency towards perversion and sadism and you have a cultural masterpiece in the works. Roughly translated as “Gushing over Magical Girls” or ” I Admire Magical Girls, and…” this shows delivers in everything I could have ever wanted for a degenerate anime about magical girls/magical villains. As mentioned earlier, Utena Hiiragi is a average shy/not confident school girl who loves magical girls, in this world, magical girls are real and are heroes, they also for some reason have merch and have movies/anime about them which is kind of meta/weird but let’s not talk about that. One day some Kyubee creature comes around and asks her if she wants to help the magical girls and basically tricks her to becoming a villain instead, giving her the ability to transform into Magia Baiser, the newest demon looking sadist villain of the magical girls. While in shock at the revelation, she eventually comes around and goes along with the Kyubee creature and does her job, fighting the magical girls. The key strength of this show is really Utena, the main character, she loves magical girls but discovers she also loves beating them up and torturing them too, often in lewd degenerate ways, and awakens her inner sadism to her own dismay. When Utena owns the magical girls, she owns them good, usually ending up ripping their clothes naked or having their bodies toyed with tentacle/shadow things using her villain powers and the joke part of it is that the magical girls end up liking it too lol. Especially he blue one, Magia Azure who actively ends up seeking her out and purposefully losing on purpose for her to ‘torture her’ which is jokes/sad. Throughout the show Utena ends up meeting up/joining up with other villains that are part of her evil organization which also add another dimension and considerable personality, of course they too being cute girls that goes to her school no less. In fact, all/most of the magical girls she fights also goes to the same school as her, which is typical but so jokes. Despite it’s heavy fan service jokes nature, this anime does have a story and isn’t really formulaic at all and may surprise you in it’s ending, I certainly was. This manga is still ongoing from my understand and I really hope they continue the anime of “Gushing over Magical Girls” as well, it’s probably the best jokes/degenerate magical girl show in years and in a way never takes itself too seriously which I like; I also appreciate the lack of fear of bare naked boobs and butts in this show, without it, it would be considerably weaker. I feel that this show can grow further in popularity, I mean, think of it this way, I wanted to buy a figure of Magia Baiser shortly after the show ended, but when I checked all were sold out online and saw that a few others were being prototyped/worked on, so this show definitely has the merch/figure industry on it’s side with it’s interesting/lewd character designs and wild personalities. Good shit, would recommend for a different take on magical girls but ultimately there can only be one true magical girl this year that takes the top spot and that is of course…
1. Sousou no Frieren
And for the second time, Sousou no Frieren gains the top spot of in mai opinion the best anime of the year. One may say, but man, that doesn’t count; Frieren was the best anime of 2023, how could it be the top again? Well, that’s because the show and story truly are that good. Spanning an unusually long 28 episodes, the show essentially went through several story arcs throughout it’s duration and pretty much every episode and story arc was excellent. At the end of 2023, we essentially got two or so story arcs, with Frieren and friends defeating Aura and the demons, in 2024, it was the magical test arc and the second part of the magical test arc trying to gain the rank of a first class mage. While the first main story arc was excellent, the magical test story arc was just as interesting, perhaps even more than the previous story because it introduced so many interesting and memorable characters that helped expand and flesh out the world/setting extremely well. Some shows do a very poor job of introducing new characters and telling their backstory, how they fit in the world and their motivations to where they got today and how they fit in with the world, Frieren does an excellent job of doing this. From the old mage wanting to visit his homeland, the crazy green girl who can kill anything, freezing ice magic girls, teacher that has hair like Millia from guilty gear, all of these seemingly not that important characters, seem important in this show because you never know when or if Frieren and friends might meet them again, which is one of the strengths of this show/story, every character may potentially appear again in the future and because of this, it makes you invested in them and they become inherently interesting because there is a certain level of mystery to all of the characters, nobody is one dimensional or single minded, which is why also I think people love the characters in this show, in many ways, it mimics real life, they change and evolve over time, just like real people; the slight but slow character development of this show is what drives this show. At it’s core, that’s really what Frieren is all about, savoring and living life, changing and learning new things and meeting new people and having new experiences, it’s relatable through the eyes of Frieren who seemingly has seen and lived everything in her many thousands of year of being alive still managing to be surprised and learning new things/having new experiences with her travel companions. From an execution standpoint, everything was top notch, the animation was outstanding and the pacing on point, never missing a beat, I was never bored watching any episode of this show because it’s pacing is so good. Even the cute funny joke moments are well crafted and never get in the way of the larger story at hand, only serving to help to further develop and make the characters interesting with depth. One minor weak-point of the second half of this show, the magic test arc is that Stark pretty much takes a backseat for the entirety of this arc, doing basically nothing, just chilling at the town while Fern and Frieren do all the work and have the action, which is kind of bad but I suppose what can you do, dude is a axe melee attacker, got no magic here, he sleb. In terms of popularity, Frieren maintains it’s strength with many figures and merch still being produced, especially prize figures as they are very popular as prizes for crane games in Japan. I too once again recently felt like buying a nice scale figure of Frieren but found that all of the ones currently available that I want are now sold out, which is a good sign of popularity with many other figures on the way/in development. That once again shows how popular this series is and as I said last year, Frieren has the potential to be a much long lasting anime cultural phenomenon if the manga continues for many more years. Season 2 of Frieren was announced a few months ago to much rejoicing by fans and I too am certainly looking forward to what new stories and adventures Frieren and friends encounter.
With that said, congratulations Sousou no Frieren, you are my best anime of 2024, the first ever anime be crowned that title back to back, two years in a row since I began writing yearly anime reviews.
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