So yep, we’re getting into the Top 10 anime listing game. I know, it can get a bit silly with lists like that, but people like’em, and it’s something that can possibly help people determine what anime was worth watching if they missed a lot of anime this year.
My list is set with anime I thought was pretty great to awesome, but as always, there’s a few that didn’t make it, for technical, personal, or random reasons. So I might as well use my 12 Days of Anime to highlight a couple that I at least think are worth your time, for good or bad reasons.
Hi-School Seha Girls
This 12 minute short revolves around three girls — Dreamcast, Saturn and Mega Drive — who have to take classes at Segagaga Academy and complete assignments given to them by at least an 8-bit designed bunny masquerading as their teacher. Needless to say, if you’ve grown up with video games, you know this involves Sega and some of their flagship franchises. So you’ll see some Virtua Fighter stuff, some Sonic stuff, even Ulala as well. And all of this told in 12 minutes? It’s pretty much a riot! Unfortunately, I did not finish it yet, but needless to say, if you’ve played games for a long time and you do play games now, you should check this short out.
Wooser’s Hand To Mouth Life: Awakening Arc
While I don’t think it’s great, it’s a short, and it’s not a complete waste of time. That said, the only reason I have it in this post:
You’ll have to actually watch the anime to get the full ending. But it is GLORIOUS. GLORIOUS I SAY!
Wizard Barristers
This show involves a wizard, humans, rules between the two, and law. Law? Trials? When’s the last time we got a show dedicated to just that? Too bad it didn’t work in this show’s favor, since I found some of the characters kinda interesting, in personality and design. But you should watch it only for Episode 11 alone, where you finally get to watch an anime that is completely unfinished. Where, you know, characters’s mouths don’t move, there are animation problems, etc. Sometimes you’ll see that in anime, but more often than not, you can’t always tell unless you have a trained eye. You’ll definitely notice in that episode. Either way, despite some of its nonsense, I was entertained, and if nothing else it’s a show you can watch once and then never watch again.
Yowamushi Pedal
I’m pretty sure I’m including this only because it finally got through the boring training camp and got into the actual bicycle races, which were interesting only because of the characters involved.
(Thanks Midosuji. Thanks a bunch.)
In the end, it’s still cycling, and there’s nothing completely crazy involving the cycling really. But if you can push past the training camp, it gets pretty intense, and it ends very climatically at the end of S1.
…Eventually I’ll tell you how S2 goes. When I get around to watching it at some point in the near future.
Amagi Brilliant Park
It only makes sense that the best KyoAni show since Hyouka would
A) Be done by the same staff as Hyouka
B) Not get simulcasted by any company like Hyouka and
C) Go terribly unfinished by me, so I can’t include it on the list.
Yep, I managed to not finish this one in time for the Top 10 list, so it’s not included in my list. But here’s my case for you to check it out:
- A show that doesn’t actually revolve around school? Check.
- A ton of interesting characters, including one named Muse? Check.
- Trying to save a struggling park from closing down by threatening the MC with a gun? Check.
- Looks fantastic? Check.
- Is actually not boring? Check.
Simply put, it sucks this wasn’t streamed anywhere, since I think this would get more of a reception than most of the shows that did air this year. And also because I wouldn’t have to take the effort to go download it, because laziness exists, I swear! But hey, maybe someone will license it (though with Hyouka still unlicensed, I doubt it), but whenever you choose to watch it, go do so.
