After sitting on the Gundam finale for a few days and finally having the time to write a proper post, I’m ready to share my favorite anime from last year! I’ll do a proper top ten since it’d be fun to rank them, but a lot of them are super close together! I really dug my favorites this year!
10 Love Live Super Star Season 2 - I really enjoyed continuing Liella’s story, though I didn’t warm up to the new members too much. Still, seeing them win Love Live was awesome and the episode beyond it was very interesting in the moment with where it went even if the resolution was odd. I think this one ranks lower mainly because Love Live stopped releasing songs on US itunes which is baffling and disappointing. Sort it out Love Live!
9 Kaguya Sama Season 3 - I really liked this one! I remembered a lot of big laughs this season as the characters have become so endearing and fleshed out which made payoffs for jokes and romance alike more satisfying. The big school festival at the end was my favorite part.
8 My Hero Academia Season 6 First Half- This was a very great and welcome return to form for MHA after the weak season 5 which was so rough I decided to read the manga for a while. This would have been higher if I hadn’t read ahead because they really elevated the source material here and the big moments all landed. I would have been glued to it week to week if I didn’t know what was going to happen.
7 Magia Record Final Season - So this one just means more to me more than it was technically good. Good chunks of the final ending were straight up bad actually, but parts of the journey were so interesting and memorable with animation and imagery so wild that I still consider this one of my favorites this year. I’m disappointed this was a bad ending version of Magia Record where characters evolved into different, often worse people entirely, but others had such cool moments and I valued seeing different sides of them and having a unique journey. I’m very excited to rewatch this alongside season 2 relatively soon since I have the Blu Ray release sitting on my desk.
6 Lycoris Recoil - I will at least check out any show with a ClariS OP/ED and yay this one was good! The main characters were a lot of fun and the action and animation for it was awesome! I’m generally not a fan of police shows where they stop crime before it happens, so I was very glad to find Lycoris Recoil dodged that by having the main character not a part of the organization. I hope we get a season 2 eventually!
5 Gundam The Witch From Mercury - My biggest Gundam experiences were with Wing and Seed on Toonami so I was very excited to finally watch a Gundam as it aired with the world for once and wow I picked an awesome one! I really dug the main characters and the school setting, though the darker elements and brutal action are what definitely have me the most excited now. I can’t wait to see season 2!
4 Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 - While there were a few weaker sub arcs this time which pulled it down a bit, all the big moments, the big goodbyes, the amazing action, and especially the absolutely perfect ending, all delivered. I’m so happy Mob Psycho 100 got an amazing full adaption filled to the brim with spectacular animation and heart from everyone involved. Some of the shows above might have made a bigger more immediate impact this year, but with season 3, Mob cemented itself as one of my absolute favorite shows. I’m looking forward to rewatching this show down the road for years to come.
3 Spy X Family - I decided to give this show the edge over Mob, because it was such a wonderful part of more of the year and I loved basically every episode! I didn’t know anything walking in, so I was really won over by the awesome premise and characters. There’s also lots of singular moments I’ll treasure like the goofy dodgeball episode and plenty of the awesome action with Loid and Yor.
2 Pop Team Epic Season 2 - I liked the first season of Pop Team Epic, but it wasn’t until the April Fools day episode that I adored it and season 2 maintained that amazing, creative energy and quality. You never knew what you were in for with Pop Team Epic, but I was always entertained with the segments both large and small. There were a lot of stand out segments this time like Chocobo, Biggus McHuge Guy, Shining Shoulder, Train Battle, The Dating Sim, and the live action finale, but my absolute favorite was of course the glorious return of Hellshake Yano! Also I have to mention the OP and ED are awesome with the latter being my favorite of the year.
1 Bocchi The Rock! - I could reorder this list a number of ways depending on the day, but I think nearly every time I’d put Bocchi on top. I just really adored Bocchi, the main character, right from the start, the ever shifting and wild animation, the great humor, and of course the awesome songs. I was a little let down with the ending at first, but I now consider the true ending of the show to be the release of Kessoku Band’s first album which I love from start to finish. I think it has a good shot, but I’m praying hard all the same we get a season 2 for Bocchi. I really want to see her journey continue.