Ah, what a year it's been!

This year was full of great releases a-...no wait, that's for the list of metal albums released this year.

Yeah, I thought this year kinda sucked in terms of anime releases, but that doesn't mean there were no quality releases this year. Sure, there's an overabundance of moeblob anime with no originality these days, however, if you're able to filter through most of it, you'll probably find a few that you were not expecting to like, and that was the case for me this year.

So let's have a look at my lists for 2011, and I'm going to be dividing things into different categories.



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Action
I don't care who you are, it's hard to disagree that anime can have some really awesome scenes of action, and everyone loves a good epic battle. What made the list this year you may ask? Well here we go:

Honorable mentions:
Deadman Wonderland
Guilty Crown



HERP! MY SPIDY SENSES ARE TINGLING! AGH! KRYPTONITE! HERPADERP HULK SMASH! I'M THE GOD DAMN BATMAN!

Yeah, we've seen it before: superheroes that repeat the same cycle over and over, they fight the evil villain and save the world, uh-huh okay let's move onto something else...NO WAIT, THERE'S ACTUALLY A DECENT SUPERHERO CARTOON? AND IT'S ANIME?

Take THAT Marvel and DC!

Not only is this anime about people with superhuman strength, they also have power armor! I don't know about you, but power armor is not only more aesthetically pleasing, it's far more effective than a skintight suit.


HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

MANLY TEARS OF MANLINESS

And of course, what's a superhero without a villain to fight? Well, the villains in this are actually good, and I found them to actually be likeable and cool, unlike the typical villain where they're equally as imbecilic as their nemesis.

Magnetate's special ability is making shitastic sequel albums.

Okay, before I end up continuing this superhero hatefest, I'll just finish this up:

If you didn't like superhero cartoons before, or maybe you're a comic book fan that doesn't think too highly of anime (well then why the fuck are you even on this site), watching this anime will make you realize that you can have the best of both worlds, even if the plot does get pretty predictable near the end.





I know what you're thinking: How the fuck did this rank the 2nd highest on the list when it looks like the shit you'd see on PBS Kids?

Yes, that's exactly what I thought when I first saw pictures of this anime before I watched it. In fact, you can still find my post lingering somewhere in the anime section of the forum.

These girls look like they're made of fucking marshmallows or something, and the last thing I'd expect to see kicking tons of ass.


MAMEH-SAAAAN YEW SO KEWL

Upon the first few minutes of the episode, you're already shown that this will be no happy-go-lucky magical girls anime. Once the beginning scene ends, it takes on the shape of your typical high school anime, where the mysterious transfer student has some kind of connection to the main protagonist, except you know for a fact that they do indeed have some kind of connection. It suddenly takes a turn and becomes incredibly awesome, as if it was made of mondo burritos. I won't say anything else in regards to what happens in the story, even though this anime has been out for a while and there are spoilers everywhere, in hopes that maybe you haven't seen it yet or heard about what happens, and you will be left to anticipate what will happen to these magical girls.


Who needs magical girl powers when you've got modern ballistic weapons?




Who wouldn't love to see heroes and villains of the past being brought together in modern times to fight against each other? Sounds cool, doesn't it? When I found out about the concept for Fate/Stay Night, I was expecting some really awesome stuff. In the visual novel, I kinda got what I wanted, the anime.....................no, and that would be a huge understatement, but you can read more on that in one of my previous columns.

Gen Urobuchi not only wrote a prequel with servants that are actually...you know...cool, he pretty much saved a dying series (I'm sorry, but Fate/Extra fucking sucks, disagree with me? Bite me) and boosted it up to one of the greatest animes ever.

I mean, there's some of the most intense conflicts you'll ever see in anime, but there's also A LOT more to every character, and you can tell that Gen did his homework when providing the backstory to each servant. He not only got their history correct, he even made their personality seem realistic. Some characters are also awesome in the sense that you'd love to have them as a friend.


Iskander: ones of the biggest (both literally and figuratively) bros in the history of anime.

Yes, the first episode is nearly an hour-long exposition train with mind-numbing dialogue, but it does tell you pretty much everything that's going on before the war and what is planned. There is hardly any action scenes in the first episode to accompany the dialogue as a way to keep the viewer interested, so don't expect to see anything. However, it is quickly made up in episode 2, and it continues to build up as the series progresses (episodes 5 and 12 are shining examples on how great the action can be) and your patience is definitely paid off if you're able to sit through and actually pay attention to the dialogue in episode 1, and believe me: IT IS WORTH EVERY SECOND.


Berserker: so badass, he turns your noble phantasms into his own.

If you haven't watched this, but have heard of Fate/Stay Night, don't bother with Fate/Stay Night and just jump right to this. It's a prequel, so you're not missing out on anything too important, in fact if you watch Fate/Stay Night, the ending for Fate/Zero is already spoiled.

This anime not only makes one of the coolest animes you'll ever see, it's also a shining beacon of hope in a dark world of tedious fanservice and moeblob. If you think there's no hope for the future of anime, you MUST, and I mean MUST watch this and you will once again believe that there's hope for more awesome series to be made!

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Comedy
We all love to laugh, it's a simple fact of life. And there's countless ways to make people laugh, however it doesn't seem most of the anime industry has realized it yet, and continue to recycle the usual suspects in anime comedy, which usually involve tits and panties. Having a lack of moeblob humor is always a plus in my book, but at the same time I find moeblob humor appealing in small and controlled doses. Let's take a look at the highlights of this year, shall we?

Honorable mentions:
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Ni!
Mayo Chiki!



Woah woah woah...wait, why would I put THIS in my top 3 comedy anime of 2011?

Well, two main reasons:

1. It abstains from relying on any ecchi, and as I mentioned earlier: it's always a plus in my book
2. Being in the hospitality industry myself, the number of jokes I can relate to is high.

Now, this is no happy-go-lucky slapstick-fest where things are bouncing off walls and breaking shit (okay, stuff does break a lot in this anime), yes there are some parts with slapstick, but it's mostly chill and laid back. What did I do every Friday night when I got home after a tense and stressful day at work? Check out the latest episode of this since it did a great job of calming me down and bringing my spirits up, if I ever felt like watching anime that is. And then after being relaxed and falling asleep, I wake up on Saturday morning to get my ass kicked by the awesomeness that is Fate/Zero.

I really like the cast of characters in this, especially the ones I can identify at work:

- The boss who hardly does any work and constantly eats the food supply
- The cook who likes to annoy the servers and doesn't take crap
- The cook who likes to cause trouble
- The server who causes more trouble than help, constantly demanding praise


See: typical attitude of both coworkers and customers at my job.

This is no gut-buster, in fact the honorable mentions did a better job of making me laugh than this, but just the fact that this actually relies on real-life situations for its humor brought in extra points on top of the ones I gave because of how much I was able to say "oh god, I've seen that happen before..."

Now I'm not expecting anyone to check this out soon and enjoy it, I'm putting it in the list because I enjoyed it.




It's about a school of delinquents and the school's toughest guys, upon reading this I think "This sounds like Cromartie High School, and I love that anime". Throw in the son of Beelzebub being dumped onto the protagonist (named Oga), only because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and you've got some potentially funny stuff.


The same question I ask Banks about his baby with Mami but he refuses to explain because he's a cocknugget.

It starts out with plenty of slapstick humor that actually had me laughing quite a bit, and this anime was starting off strong, with a wacky cast of characters that contrast with the group of thugs in the school. From Oga's weakling sidekick: Furuichi, Alaindelon the transportation demon who transfers things between dimensions with his extra large body, Beelzebub's personal maid from hell: Hildegarde (a.k.a. Hilda) and several other characters.

Oga is forced to raise the hellspawn, and at the same time fend off any other thug that wants to take him down for the sake of their title. Not only does Oga have to try adjusting to life with two demons in his life, his friend Furuichi also needs to learn to cope with having another demon attached to him.


When the big guy says "I want you inside me", he's being literal.

If you like fast-paced humor where things get destroyed and people get the shit kicked out of them, then this anime is great...for only the first 20 episodes. Unfortunately, it does the one thing that annoys me when I'm watching something that's making me laugh: it becomes serious to the point where most of the humor is gone.

It falls into what I call the S.J.C. (Shonen Jump Cycle), I'd explain it again, but I'm too lazy and those who have seen/heard enough about SJ animes should know what I'm talking about. I know I've explained it somewhere on this site before.


PROBLEM?

With the good humor only lasting for about 20 episodes, why did this still place 2nd on my list? It's because those 20 episodes had me laughing so hard that I would sometimes end up laughing too loud at night and wake up the rest of my family.


OOOOOOOOOH HO HO HA HA HA





For those of you who know me, you know that I'm kind of a Type-Moon fanboy...okay, mainly a fanboy of the Fate/Stay Night franchise...okay, a Saber and Rin fanboy...but that's besides the point.

I heard about the doujin Take-Moon, that crosses Type-Moon's 2 main series Tsukihime, which I'm not a fan of, and their most popular series: Fate/Stay Night, and pretty much makes it a crossover comedy.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Well, if you're not familiar with Type-Moon series, or if you're just not a fan of stuff that isn't as revolutionary as the compact disc, then you will not like this and in some cases hate it.

For me? Well, before I answer that, I'm gonna explain something (like I always do): I'm a fan of the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, but I strongly dislike the anime (even though I own all the DVDs in the limited-edition box...hey I paid about $30 in total for it plus I wanted the free clock). With that being said, I really enjoyed this. It took the characters I disliked, which is pretty much every servant except Arturia (or Saber for those who've been living under a rock all their life), and every master except Rin, and pretty much made them what they're meant to be: idiots that aren't meant to be taken seriously and get put in situations where they usually fail.

I mean, just in the first episode; Shirou gets sent into the distance by being forced into a big rocket and being blasted to the fucking abyss, what better way to treat such a shitty character? I have never laughed so hard at a comedy anime this year than I have at the ending of episode one.



CARRYYYYYY MY SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUL

If you're familiar with comedy anime, then there won't be much of a surprise here, this anime pretty much pulls all the punches you'd see, minus the overkill on ecchi and replaces it with jokes only Type-Moon fans would understand, which is both a blessing and a curse. I mean I could enjoy a lot of the jokes since I'd get them, but the person sitting next to me who may be checking it out would probably rather get naked in a shower room full of firemen, instead of being bored by jokes he doesn't get.

Now, let's say you didn't like Fate/Stay Night because...well, let's face it: it pretty much sucked, but you got the gist of it, then this anime may be for you. As I explained earlier, it takes the characters who failed to be great, and pretty much uses them to their true potential. I mean if it was hard to take Fate/Stay Night seriously and easier to crack jokes at it, why not take full advantage of it?

Sure, I got my fill of fangasms when it comes to Arturia and Rin, but I enjoyed it overall and I await the next season. I encourage anyone who enjoys a comedy anime and Type-Moon fans alike to give this anime a shot. Oh, and for those who are wondering: this anime only crosses Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night, other series are not included.

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Drama
Oh boohoo, some guy has a failing relationship with some girl he likes, herpaderp blah blah blah dicks yadda yadda, we've seen it happen before and it just gets old really fast, not to mention boring on the first try. This is the second-highest genre I'm likely to avoid, slice of life being the first. Why is this a category in the column when I dislike it? Well, unlike slice of life, there's actually a higher probability of the anime redeeming itself, although it's rarely the case, but this year is an exception.

(No honorable mentions)




Like I said: I was not expecting much from this anime before I watched it. Not only did it excel in the action aspect, it also did so in drama. You can't help but be drawn to most, if not all of the girls as they all fight for their own reasons. You will see the struggles of each character, what they fight for and what lengths they will go to fight.

I put more thoughts into the spoiler because, get this: THERE'S ACTUALLY A SPOILER ALERT IN THE SPOILER THIS TIME!

Spoiler:

I will admit that I felt kinda sad for some of the characters as they fell one by one. I particularly enjoyed the depiction of Homura's numerous attempts to save her friend Madoka, repeating time itself whenever she failed. The friendships formed are eventually broken by the hand of death, and the girls continue to fight, not knowing (except Homura) their true purpose until the end.

Madoka was then sued by Kotatsu Lounge™ for unauthorized use of a copyrighted phrase by Banks.




A drama based on friendship, nothing new there. I started this one with low expectations, but then some curve balls were thrown in and kept me intrigued.

The concept of growing up is something that I have been thinking about often this year, with many events occurring that make me realize how fast time has gone and how much things have changed due to personal events. So I took that into account while watching this. The anime gives a glace as to what the characters were like as children playing together, so you can get an idea on how some have changed over the course of time. Now, that's not what made me enjoy the anime, it's the twist in the spoiler:

Spoiler:

The one friend that remains the same, named Menma, had actually died as a child while playing with her friends, and her spirit continues to linger around the main protagonist, and only he can see and hear her. The main character is given the task to reunite everyone from the past, and struggles begin to arise, especially with who's to blame for Menma's untimely death.

I can see how the ending would get someone emotional, especially when I had to say goodbye for good to one of my friends a while go myself.

The anime starts off as seeming laid-back, but then tensions begin to rise and emotions flare. Some begin to find reason to improve themselves, others begin to slowly lose their mind...


I like girls, I'm almost a girl myself.

Considering the anime was only 11 episodes long, there isn't much time that needs to be invested. So if you can spare the few hours and feel like watching something that may get emotional, then I suggest you give this a shot.


I rated your user 5/5, let's watch anime.



Okay, I know I already rambled on about why this anime kicks so much ass and you should watch it back in the action category, but I'm gonna do it again.

I couldn't help but want to root for every servant fighting the war, with the exceptions of Assassin (doesn't give much depth into their character considering how allusive he/they are) and Caster (I just want to see him kill as many people as possible). The servants are given a lot of depth and you can clearly see their ambitions to fight and their own philosophies on how to live life, some characters being way more likeable than others (once again: Iskander is a fucking awesome bro).

And then you'll see how well-matched the servant and master teams are, which is something Fate/Stay Night lacked. Okay, most of the servants and masters in Fate/Stay Night sucked and that was pretty much the only thing they had in common.

So yes, that's another reason you should watch this, if you don't, you're worse than a 10 piece cocknugget meal with a side of ass sauce.

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Miscellaneous Awards


Best Manga-to-Anime Adaptation
2. Deadman Wonderland
1. Mirai Nikki



Movie
2. Trigun: Badlands Rumble
1. Mardock Scramble: The First Compression



Things that should not have been released
2. THE IDOLM@STER
1. K-on movie



Most Overrated Anime
3. Kamisama No Memo-chou (Heaven's Memo Pad)
2. Shakugan no Shana III
1. Blue Exorcist

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U.S. Release (Blu-ray/DVD)


Honorable mentions:
Darker Than Black (Anime Classics)
Eden of the East: Complete Collection (DVD + Blu-ray combo)



Here it is, one of the most badass anime series to be released in 2011 to the U.S. in glorious Blu-ray for all to watch the awesome Gundam action in hi-def. The English dub is unfortunately lackluster (not exactly bad, but not exactly good either). It has beautiful animation, thus making the battles fluid and seamless.

Now why would this epic release be at the bottom for the list? Well for one reason: the price tag.

As much as I'd love to watch this in hi-def, I'm not gonna pay nearly $60 for only an hour of footage, even if that one hour is glorious.

If the price tag was lower, then this would have made it to the next spot on the list.



Full Metal Panic was one of the first series I saw when I started getting back into anime around 2009, I liked the first season, I didn't care much for the 2nd season, but the third season...it's in a league of its own.

Yes, it has some great action, a good story and likeable characters, but that's wasn't what made me love it so much, oh no my friends (and assholes I hate who decided to lurk here), it was the outstanding English dub that made me love this so much.

I've been wanting to get my hands on the DVD collection for a while, but at the time I did no have a regular income, so shelling out $40+ for some DVDs was out of the question at the time. However, after getting a job and having some extra spending money, I had the Blu-ray collection in my sights, but decided to wait for a bit. And that patience paid off with the announcement of the re-release of TSR, offering the entire season for about $15, with the magnificent English dub included.

I pre-ordered it instantly and started watching it again the second it arrived.



My favorite anime finally got its U.S. release, and I sure as hell wasn't going to pay nearly $100 for 2 episodes with the Japanese release, instead I was able to get all 13 episodes on Blu-ray for about $35. I don't care much for the English dub (I kinda dislike it to be honest), but it did give me a reason to watch the whole thing again.

I really don't have much else to say as to why this was my favorite U.S. release, I mean the fact that it is currently my favorite anime is reason enough.

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And before the main event, I'm gonna have a little fun with this next list:

Worst Anime of the Year



Generic ecchi shit that I slapped myself for deciding to see out of morbid curiosity as to how bad comedy anime can be nowadays.


Post apocalyptic anime with big-breasted girls and herpaderp generic fighting, all rectally-sprayed throughout by a stupid plot.


This is everything I hate in anime. Fuck you to whoever made this. I mean for fucks sake I was able to tolerate Lucky Star more than I was able to tolerate the first few minutes of this pile of shit, no, in fact it shouldn't even be called shit, it should just be called C3 since it's in a league of its own.
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I bet you're wondering "Where the fuck did this come from?" considering I didn't really go into depth as to why I placed it as to the number one spot of my favorite manga-to-anime adaptations. Future Diary is one of the few currently-ongoing manga that I actively follow and buy the latest volume as soon as it's available, it's a great survival game. Yeah, I bet you've heard it before, and I'm sure you've seen the character on the internet as a meme, but Yuno Gasai steals the show. Quite possibly my favorite character in the yandere demographic.

Not only did this anime do a good job of keeping the creepy vibe I got from certain scenes in the manga, it even added more to them, giving the scenes more suspense, which I think is phenomenal considering how much I already liked the manga.



You've seen this win awards and gain massive popularity over the year, and it's for good reason. I'm just glad I got over my concern with the art style and gave it a fair shot after Doug's recommendation. A anime that deserves the fame it has received.



Okay, if you weren't expecting this after how much I raved on how you need to watch this, then you need to be locked in a room and forced to listen to Lulu and eat cold McDonalds food for a week straight.

This anime is a shining beacon of hope in the anime industry, that we don't need more shit like K-on, and that anime can once again show the world how amazing it can be.

I've already explained why it's so awesome, and why you should watch it. This is definitely an anime you do not want to miss.



Well, that's it for this year!

I hope you all found this column enjoyable, and maybe even saw a few of these animes and liked them.

What's your list(s) for this year? Share in the comment box below!

And remember, kids:

Spoiler:

GEN UROBUCHI IS A GOD

See you all in 2012!