×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Your Best of 2013 Awards.


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 9:23 pm Reply with quote
Well, its basically the end of the year and more or less everything from the current season has wrapped up. So lets talk 2013 in review!

Three things though:

#1) There's only one real hard rule I'd like people to follow: We're not gonna do "worsts". That's just gonna immediately turn into a giant bickering mess. I'll do a separate "worst of 2013" thread in a few days or something. But lets keep it strictly positive here so the worsts talk doesn't completely overwhelm the bests. No snide, backhanded "Best at being terrible" type comments either.

#2) I'm gonna focus on only anime released in Japan in 2013. People are free to choose to do North American releases if they prefer but I think most people are onto simulcasts now and talking about original release date is a lot less ambiguous. Although again, its up to you though if you feel differently.

#3) Feel free to add your own categories too if you feel you want to highlight anything I've missed. I'm just gonna lay out some basic ones but there may well be more. And of course don't feel you have to pick something for all of mine. Although (obviously) give reasons for your picks. Don't just list. Also, feel free to do a runner up or runners up!

Anyway, here we go:


Shows: Whole anime. Which did you like best? Which were underrated? Which surprised you?

Best Overall TV Show of the Year

Best Overall Movie of the Year

Forgotten Gem of the Year

Most Unexpected Surprise


Characters: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, who were your favorite characters this year?

Best Individual Character

Best Couple or Pair (Doesn't have to be romantic)

Best Villain or Antagonist


Moments: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, which specific scenes did you like best?

Best Individual Scene (Could overlap with one of the below or be something entirely different)

Best Plot Twist

Best Fight

Best Death


Art & Sound: Noises! Pictures! This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Best Visual Design

Best Music

Best Voice Performance

Best Opening Sequence

Best Ending Sequence


Anyway, I'll post my actual choices in a little bit in a separate post. But for now, go ahead and have at it.


EDIT: Also, there are two polls running right now for best completed TV series and best sequel TV series. Check them out if you like:
Best of 2013: TV- "New" and "Complete" [sic]
Best of 2013: TV- Franchise, Sequels, Continuing, and long running [sic]


Last edited by ikillchicken on Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:11 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:22 pm Reply with quote
Shows Even though it's not quite finished yet, I'd say the best show of this year is definitely Valvrave the Liberator. It's a pretty complex peice of science fiction with a lot of interesting commentary on warfare, the consumption of people as soldiers, and war crimes. The characters are interesting and the world building is done very well, with a scope spanning the earth, moon, and dyson modules, and a time scale spanning history. The idea of the runes and magius, and the creation of artificial magius, and building the mecha around them, using their power as an engine, I find pretty unique. The mood can range from sardonic, to somewhat light, to extremely dark. All in all, it's a very intelligent and complex piece.

I haven't seen any anime movies that are from this year.

The forgotten Gem of the Year is definitely Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta. Stellar, amazing, beautiful animation in a style that doesn't get much exposure, and is often unappreicated when it does. It's directed by animator Ryo-timo, and his style flourishes. Shingo Yamashita and Norio Matsumoto also are involved in this one, and their styles are along similar lines. The show's animation style is very rugged, with moving backgrounds, extreme speed, distorted objects in motion, and highly exaggerated momentum, mass, and gravity. The story isn't its strong point, but it's managed to get pretty compelling as of late.

Most Unexpected Surprise: hmm... Can't really think of anything that particularly surprised me.

Characters

Best individual Character probably goes to Koto (young) from Kyousougiga. She has an inquisitiveness and engagement with her surroundings, while at the same time being disinterested in bullshit. She seems to care about things that matter and not care about things that don't. Her attitude and way of going about things kind of reminds me of certain aspects of myself as a kid. At one point I told my friend I was watching it with, "You know, if I had a kid like Koto I'd be down with it."

Best Couple or Pair I'd say is Ledo and Amy from Gargantia. His developing affection for her that he doesn't understand, and her showing him their culture and way of life was one of the better parts of that series.

Best Villain or Antagonist is the couple who have a child who goes 'missing' in Coppelion. They don't want to leave the area because they're criminals and don't want to go back to prison, but they want to get the child the care it needs, but the woman and man have different views on what should happen. Ultimately, the show isn't very directed with how you're supposed to think about them, and lets you decide for yourself. The woman shows herself to be completely off her rocker, but it's all very nuanced and complex. It actually was this part of the show (the main characters visiting their house) that made me realize that a lot of people weren't going to like Coppelion. I personally found that moment fascinating, but I somehow knew, not sure why, that others would not like the show.


Moments

Best individual scene was definitely in Valvrave, the ever controversial spoiler[rape scene. It was very unexpected, and contrasted and jarring in mood with Shoko's inspirational speech about how the students deserved to be able to preserve their carefreeness and innocence, when that same neglect of solving their problems and discussing them led to them becoming much bigger than they could handle. This is where we are set up for what happened recently, the divide in the student body. The kamitsuki have very serious issues and that needed to be out in the open. They shouldn't have waited (both times) for something bad to happen to try to fix things. The scene itself was extremely emotionally intense, one of my top 5 anime emotional gut punches, and the only one that isn't a character death.]

Best plot twist: I don't really care very much about plot twists. I usually find them either stupid, contrived, or predictable. Revelations about the nature of things I guess could count, but I'd call them 'conceptual twists'. I'd say the best one of those was In gargantia, the revelation of the data archive about how the hideauze and Ledo's society came to be, and came to be in conflict. Very interesting stuff. Wish the show focused on that more than it did.

Best Fight: Yozakura Quartet, episode 7, when the main character posse all beats up on Ao's brother (or the other entity possessing him or whatever). Extreme animation all around, exquisite depictions of momentum and force.

Best Death: Valvrave: spoiler[Aina Sakurai takes it upon herself to help haruto fight L-elf, known to be extremely talented in all forms of combat. This little girl doesn't care, she knows she's the only one who can help her friend, because no one else knows what's going on. She takes a huge mallet and rushes into the hanger to fight, only to be killed as collateral damage from mecha gunfire. No one even realized she was in there until her disintegrated body was discovered much later, and no one but the viewer knows why she came.]


Art and Sound

Best visual Design: I have to give it a tie between Yozakura Quartet and Beyond the Boundary. Both have exquisite animation, storyboarding, and shot composition.

Best music: Valvrave. Mixture of operatic, heavy metal, orchestral, and electronic, with a very dark symphonic mood.

Best opening sequence: The first OP of Valvrave is an incredible piece of music, and the visuals support it well.

Best ending sequence: Coppelion's Ed has a lot of very cool imagery, such as the doll falling into the black oil, and the main characters being dragged out of it, and the song is very good as well. I like the segment of alternated speed talking while character events from the episode play contrasted wit sung segments of nature reclaiming the abandoned city.


Last edited by Galap on Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:16 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:00 am Reply with quote
Shows:
Best Overall TV Show of the Year
Chihayafuru S2

It wasn't quite up to the same level as the first season, but the second season still was enough to top the year for me. Initially I thought the new characters were rather terrible in terms of group cohesion but by the end they had found their own spot in the club. Chihaya steadily increased her skill and just about every character had at least one moment to shine. The tournaments themselves were quite tense even if they were a bit predictable.

Best Overall Movie of the Year
Asura

I watched this just after watching Letter to Momo and Wolf Children and boy was it ever something that I was hungering for. It depicts real tragedy and just how base humanity can get in the worst of situations. Even those who believed themselves to be 'good' could only steal and plunder when it call came down to it. A rather fascinating short film that was well worth the watch. The odd style of CG used was a bit jarring at first, but in the end I don't think it was a detriment.

Forgotten Gem of the Year
Love Lab

For me this show was a breath of fresh air. Sure, we've all seen cute girls doing cute things. But how many of those cute girls doing cute things feature the girls actually interested for once in boys (and not the same boy)? Actually wanting to devise plans and get advice on how to attract guys? The answer is pretty much zero, unless you've seen Love Lab. And by the time that the male characters do show up around halfway in the series, their presence only escalates the humor even more. Definitely one that most seem to have let slip past them.

Most Unexpected Surprise
Outbreak Company

I tended to avoid Feel shows in the past. They did a pretty good job with Minami-ke Tadaima and I enjoyed the author's previous work Scrapped Princess (though Polyphonica and Strait Jacket were pretty awful) so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. A lot of fun characters, writing that for the most part was consistent and the show never seemed like it was just peddling fanservice.

Characters:

Best Individual Character
N/A

To be honest, I don't really feel like there were any monumental characters this year, certainly at least nothing like Watashi from Humanity Has Declined last year. Sure there were lots of memorable characters but none that really stood out to me in the end. If I had to choose one, I'd go with Benten from Uchouten Kaizoku. When she was on screen she had the audience captivated. Or if I could just select the first half of Railgun S then I'd say Misaka Mikoto was the 'best'.

Best Couple or Pair (Doesn't have to be romantic)
Hato and Madarame from Genshiken Nidaime

I'm quite surprised at my own pick for this. Yet if Madarame and Hato's bond wasn't so amusingly awkward I'm not sure I would have even finished the show. Hato's internal conflict of gender identity is good for drama and his overbearing 'inner' fujoshi personality is great for comedy. Likewise Madarame not having any idea how to react also supplies ample of drama or comedy depending on how its framed.

Best Villain or Antagonist
Miyanaga Teru from Saki: Achiga-hen

I wish I could put the whole Shiraitodai team as they had been built up to be Kiyosumi's (and by proxy Achiga's) final boss. Sadly though, only the vanguard proved to be of any challenge. Still though, what a challenge she was, creating an illusionary turbine of wind with her arm and continuing to score higher and high point hands. She will truly be a match for... err... Tacos in the final match. For as much as Teru has been built up, I do wonder why she is in the vanguard spot considering nearly all the heavy hitters are the captains of their team.

Moments:

Best Individual Scene
Railgun S

Biribiri's exhaustive efforts to attempt to save her 'sisters'. There are way too many scenes to choose just one, but just about everything from when she rented a hotel room just to switch clothes to her desperate plea for help was on point.

Best Plot Twist
CARNIVAL DA YO from Arpeggio of Blue Steel

spoiler[After the sinking of the 401 and all that drama entailed, the perfect conclusion was the reveal that Kongou's last ally Maya was actually just a primitive surveillance program set up by 400 and 402. To see the despair in Kongou's eyes as her only source of communication for who knows how long could only brokenly (seemingly mockingly) shout out "It's a carnival" over and over was just a thing of beauty.]

Best Fight
Biribiri vs ITEM

I didn't watch too many action series this season. So Biribiri vs ITEM pretty much wins by default.

Best Death
Onjouji Toki.

Hah. No, really. Nobody stayed dead. There's a lot of people I'd like to put down but the whole cliche last-minute resurrection brought back nearly all the deaths that I would have otherwise selected here. I guess the slaughter of the sisters by Accelerator in Railgun S will have to do.


Art & Sound:

Best Visual Design
Nagi no Asukara

Colors are bright and vivid and the lovely blue eyes of the inhabitants of Shioshishio really do stick out in the crowd. The animation is pretty much always fluid and is easily the most consistent that I've seen this year.

Best Music
Chihayafuru S2

I wasn't too impressed with the music of what I watched this year. So I'll have to go with what I think was the most solid soundtrack of all I watched. While it's true that certain songs from the OST are played a lot more than some others, I feel that the sound director knows just where to put each piece. And for me, even though I may be hearing the 'main theme' in almost every episode, I'd be lying if I said that the swell of trumpets at just the right spot doesn't move me every time.

Best Voice Performance
Rina Satou as Biribiri

She had to run a gauntlet of emotion throughout the Sisters Arc and she gave an outstanding performance.

Best Opening Sequence
Nagi no Asukara

Other than the penultimate scene of Manaka staring out at the sea, there is always something moving in this opening theme. There are no stills and it just looks so darn gorgeous.

Best Ending Sequence
Tamako Market

To be honest, I wanted to put Non Non Biyori's ending theme here just because its lackadaisically cute quartet is pretty much the perfect representation of the series. Then I realized that there's basically only a handful of still images to go along with that song so I scrapped that idea. I always like Tamako Market's ending theme. The entire mystery of the song that Tamako remember her mother singing was honestly one of my favorite parts of the early series and so when we finally got that mystery solved it made me appreciate the ending sequence even more.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 3:07 pm Reply with quote
Shows:
Best Overall TV Show of the Year
Flowers of Evil and The Eccentric Family
It's quite hard for me to make up my mind.On one hand I love cynical,misanthropic portrayal of adolescence in Flowers of Evil,but I also adore the optimistic ,witty and emotional Eccentric Family.They are truly polar opposites in terms of tone,characters and themes,but when trying to think of the show that marked this year I really can't separate these two.One interesting thing to note is that they both provide a critique of traditional values and that they are also excellently directed.
Best Overall Movie of the Year
Aura: Maryūinkōga Saigo no Tatakai
I didn't watch Wolf Children,Wind Rises or any anime movie that came out this year.Expect for this one and boy was it a good experience.It depicts adolescence in realistic,dark and often brutal way but in the end it still remains very hopeful about characters inhabiting its world.Unfortunately the movie was very short,but rarely do I want a movie to last longer.
Forgotten Gem of the Year
Gatchaman Crowds
I am of course only referring to western audiences,the show was popular enough in Japan to garner a second season.It strikes me really as weird,Crowds might have had horrible production schedule,but for the most part it discussed the influence of social mediums in a thoughtful,intelligent way.Plus it had a cutesy character designs and not to mention that there is already a base of Gatchaman fans,so why did everyone(including the people it was targeted to) ignore this show?
Most Unexpected Surprise
Gundam Build Fighters
Honestly I just expected this to be stupid kids show made for selling toys and it is.BUT it is also amazingly entertaining and just generally awesome.It is quite obvious that this was made by people that are fans of Gundam franchise,it has great 2D mecha action scenes and some jokey references for older Gundam fans.I would really recommend this show to anyone.
Characters:
Best Individual Character
Benten from The Eccentric Family
Benten is an alluring figure shrouded in mystery,a femme fatale in true meaning of that word.In show populated with so many great characters,it is fascinating that she steals every scene she is in.Her dialogue is often playful and witty,but there is always some sense of danger deep beneath her words.Her voice actor does a good job too, Mamiko Noto understands her essence and gives her a voice that suits her personality perfectly.
Best Couple or Pair
Yakushimaru and Koto from Kyousougiga
It is weird pair,but these characters complement each other perfectly. Yakushimaru is responsible,pessimistic adult while Koto is childish and cheerful girl.There is a bit of father/daughter dynamic going on in their relationship,but it is more than that.They are sincere friends and they see each others destruction and salvation in each other.Simply said their relationship can be hardly described in words,it needs to be experienced.
Best Villain or Antagonist
Benten from The Eccentric Family
You may accuse me of being lazy,but she totally is the best anime villain this year.TRY AND DENY IT!
Moments:
Best Individual Scene
Flowers of Evil,episode 7
I consider this to be one the best scenes in entire anime history.It was cathartic experience for me,a moment of true brilliance.There is quite a contrast between kids who are having an euphoric experience and music in background that had melancholic and sorrowful tone.
Best Plot Twist
N/A
I don't remember any good one.
Best Fight
Attack on Titan
spoiler[When Eren and Annie are fighting in town.Eren is still unsure if he wants to kill her,but then he decides to cast away his humanity and says something like"I AM GONNA KILL HER! I AM GONNA KILL HER! I AM GONNA KILL HER! I AM GONNA KILL HER! I AM GONNA KILL HER!". And for the rest of that very well animated scene you had me jumping up and own,screaming around my room like an idiot]
Art & Sound:
Best Visual Design
The Eccentric Family
Flowers of Evil may have had the best scene,but The Eccentric Family was much more visually consistent.Just look at storyboards available,these are some of the most detailed storyboards for TV show I have ever seen.The entire show had great shot compositions,minimal off model art and truly beautiful colors which would change depending on time period the show was taking place in.In last episode every shadow of 30 people on the street was moving,and when Toshiyuki Inoue steps in everything becomes even better than it was before.
Best Music
Gundam Build Fighters
Yeah this show has pretty great electronic music.Much better than the weird dub-step shit Taku Iwasaki is now doing.Sometimes the music becomes so epic and good,that I think how it doesn't even belong in this show.
Best Voice Performance
Izumi Kitta as Tomoko Kuroki
Nobody can capture the utter lunacy and despair of Tomoko,while still sounding cute as hell like Izumi Kitta can.
Best Opening Sequence
Beyond the Boundary
Probably the best looking opening sequence KyoAni has ever done,that should tell you something.
Best Ending Sequence
Any ending song from Space Brothers
The only genuinely good pop songs that I hear in anime are from Space Brothers.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Generic #757858



Joined: 03 Nov 2008
Posts: 1354
PostPosted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 3:55 pm Reply with quote
Not going to bother with invidual awards, because it's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure all the way for me this year (with Kill la Kill and Kyousougiga as close seconds). It's a great show with bombastic, larger-than-life characters, plot twists and battles, particularly during Battle Tendency. David Productions did a stellar job with the adaptation and their use of art (okay, the animation was pretty much nonexistent at times), color, music and choice for vocal talent was top notch. Can't wait for Stardust Crusaders next year.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:09 am Reply with quote
In writing this I spent hours going through 2013, it was quite the year.

Shows

Best Overall TV Show of the Year:
The Devil is a Part-Timer!
By this is actually the last one I am writing, so at this point I have looked back over everything this year, and I have lots of fond choices. So as it I have not placed this show in any of the other categories, I was tempted but other shows beat it in individual areas, but the reason I think this the best is because I simply always looked forward to every episode, and I always felt fulfilled. It was very funny series, but that did not seem to make it feel too silly, even if the entire concept of an evil overlord working McDonalds sounds like it.

Best Overall Movie of the Year:
I did not really watch many movies, so I can't really say.

Forgotten Gem of the Year:
Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?
I am not entirely sure what to put here, but I thought to put down the series that I thought was the most fitting as a hidden gem, apparently did not get much attention, and was a measly 10 episodes long. I had a surpirisingly good time here with a hero who was super OP, something that actually worked due to his personality, the humour the show used, and in general actually being rather entertaining.

Most Unexpected Surprise:
Girls und Panzer
It sounded insane, but it just worked. A huge cast and nail-biting battles. The battles, the music, facts, cg that worked


Characters

Best Individual Character:
Plutia - Hyperdimension Neptinia the Animation
I can't even start to explain what it is about her without ruining the original surprise. At first I found her slow way of speaking kind of annoying, but all it took was one scene early on and I was her devoted fan.

Best Couple or Pair:
Akihito and Mirai - Beyond the Boundary
There are a few I could pick, but the reason I chose these two was that it was the one that made me feel the warmest inside when I type their names into Google and see pictures of them together. Some do not feel the chemistry, but I felt that by the end, with all their problems and resulting quirks, they deserved each other.

Best Villain or Antagonist
Kurimu - Date A Live
I might be acting a little unfair in that I am placing her here because I could not fit her in as my favourite character, but she was effectively a villain so I put her here. So sexy and yet definety tragic, as underneath her villainous acts is someone who cares for things that cannot protect themselves.


Moments

Best Individual Scene:
A Certain Scientific Railgun S - meeting Touma on the bridge
There are so many great scenes this year that there should be many that I want to say, but for some reason the part where Mikoto meets Touma just before she plans to take on Accelerator is the one that most sticks in my mind. We had already seen how this would play out Index Season 1, but for some reason how it was done here just felt amazing, we knew her motivations this time, we knew what had been going through her head. Music, animation, voice acting, it was just very well done.

Best Plot Twist:
Beyond the Boundary - the truth of Mirai
spoiler[The thing is that I wrote off several parts as kind of mediocre characterisation as maybe things did not fit quite neatly, although the twist of Akihito's power was a nice twist too. But at the end it was revealed that Mirai was actually sent at the beginning was sent to kill Akihito, and we were looking at some opinions backwards]. It really took me by surprise and changed my opinions of events for the better.

Best Fight:
Senki Zesshou Symphogear G - Hibiki vs Nephilim
Took me a while to choose this one, I kept rewatching lots of fights to see what stood out, but then I re-watched this one and I made my choice. Interestingly for how cool the fight singing is, this is one of the times that is absent. The real fun starts when Hibiki is getting confident and then gets her arm bitten off and eaten and victory looks assured by the enemy. At which point the despair of losing a limb turn to rage, Hibiki gets covered in shadow, regrows her limb, and begins savagely tearing her enemy apart. The enemy are then terrified at how much of a monster she is, the Nephilim tries to run away, at which Hibiki tears its heart out, and the crazy doctor runs like he

Best Death:
Monogatari Second Season - spoiler[Mayoi Hachikuji]
spoiler[Something I often have a trouble with is if you see a death suddenly happen it does not feel real, but this was not quick. Well technically she had already died, but this was her goodbye, it seemed quite sudden that she had to say goodbye that it took the audience and Koyomi it let us feel the desire to want to save her]. This can be made even more impactful if you remember an earlier conversation that foreshadows these events, and it is wonderfully made into a song called Courage to tell a lie, give it a listen if you have seen the show and heard the song. The reason I choose this one is that it is a beautiful death.


Art & Sound

Best Visual Design:
Vividred Operation
I would probably want to give it just for some transformations, but it was a very pretty anime. Some might have a probem with some of the focusses, but I found it one of the most visually appealing anime

Best Music :
Senki Zesshou Symphogear G
This was going to be a match between this and AKB0048's sequel, the act of mixing the battles with songs works well. But with the duet battle it stole the show, interestingly fans also created a mix of the two songs that became the duet. Symphogear was written by someone who knows music and likely with more freedom in the sequel it worked.

Best Voice Performance:
Izumi Kitta (Tomoko Kuroki) - Watamote
Tomoko's voice is what we hear for most of the series, so how she sounded was very important. She captured what seemed to be Tomoko's essence that is so different from almost every other character and just made it work.

Best Opening Sequence:
Attack on Titan
It is a bit hard to decide, there are multiple OPs that I loved, but this one has to have the best just from how awesome it felt, not to mention the amount of parodies of. Special mention to TWGOK 3's OP.

Best Ending Sequence:
Sunday Without God
I thought I would have a hard time choosing, but then I remembered this one, and knew I could pick no other. There is not even a lot happening in this song, but it was just so beautiful in sound and how they wove it into every episode that I would often have a tear as it was playing.

It is 1am now, I think I started writing this and looking over the year a little after 8:30. Anime dazed
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:43 am Reply with quote
It'll take too long to do it all in one go so I'll just do it categories in the order I feel like. First up: Characters!

Best Individual Character: Hachiman Hikigaya from My Teen Romantic Comedy Snafu. Part hero and villain, all scum, he's not really the kind of star you'd get in an anime, let alone a romantic comedy. He thinks he lives a life of high standards and at the same time, despises his own loner status but is unable to trust open friendliness. All you need to know about the guy as he starts the series is that he responds best to open threats and utter distain and he often gets both in equal amounts.

Best Couple or Pair: Lucy [abbv] Yamagami ... wait, there's more... and Yutaka Hasabe. The perfect slacker Hasabe meets his match in the well meaning but severely obsessive and somewhat delusional, very delusional, ok, she got a job as a civil servant in order to enact her plan of revenge against the person who ok'd her absurd name, not that she had a plan but she knew she wanted to find him. Guess what?

Best Villain or Antagonist: Berg Katz from Gatchman Crowds. Alien weirdness combined with a total lack of empathy and no regard for anything alive. Still, he knows how to have fun. Creepy, disturbing, violent fun...

...Best Hero or Protagonist?: Youto Yokodera from the Pervert Prince and Stony Cat. Surprised? Don't be, what he does, what he gives up and what he gets in return should come up again in my following entries. The most action heroes can offer is their lives and service, he goes beyond that...

Best Comic Relief: Mako from Kill La Kill. Examples? See any episode...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18135
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:53 pm Reply with quote
I would definitely be interested in seeing people post more "best ending sequence" thoughts if nothing else, as that's the one that I am having the most trouble pinning down for my own awards. (Expect them late next week!)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Generic #757858



Joined: 03 Nov 2008
Posts: 1354
PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 4:22 am Reply with quote
Sorry if I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but JoJo's had a pretty excellent ED, with great visuals and a classic song by Yes. They also used the intro fade-in brilliantly in many episodes, particularly ep. 6.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:02 am Reply with quote
Shows:


Best Overall TV Show of the Year

Eccentric Family all the way. It was very heartfelt and honest, the characters were delightful and the development of their bonds and relationships was beautiful to watch

Honorable mention to Attack on Titan because it was just really good

Best Overall Movie of the Year

Can't really say since the only one I've watched is Garden of Words, which, admittedly, was really beautiful

Forgotten Gem of the Year

Suisei no Gargantia and Kyousougiga. In spite of what anyone can say about Gargantia's middle episodes, I think the overall series was amazing, and the brilliance of the first and last couple of episodes episodes have few rivals this year. The dynamics around Ledo and Chamber's development were fantastic. I really loved the series as a whole. And Kyousougiga was just endearing in every sense. It delivered everything it promised: a story about family, love and rebirth; the way it was narrated was very smart and it was overall a very fulfilling and satisfying story

Most Unexpected Surprise

Yowamushi Pedal. I never expected a silly shonen sports series with goofy character designs to be so fun and have such likable characters. I'm completely sold on it.

Honorable mention to Meganebu because it had all the ingredients to be a trainwreck and it turned out really fun

Characters:

Best Individual Character
Yajiro Shimogamo from Eccentric Family. I think his tragedy was beautifully narrated and how his broken relationship with his family unfolded was one of the highlights of the show. Watching him start to overcome his trauma and find joy in life again was incredibly beautiful and touching to watch

Honorable mention to Rei Ryugazaki from Free! because he grew so much over the course of the series I felt proud of him

Best Couple or Pair (Doesn't have to be romantic)

Mirai and Akihito from Kyoukai no Kanata. In spite of how shaky the plot and world building for the series was, the chemistry between the two leads was lovely and very sweetly developped. They grow to understand each other and the pain isolation has brought them, and they become each other's healing. Their relationship was beautifully developped and had a lot of tender subtleties that I loved.

Honorable mention to Ledo and Chamber from Gargantia and Goto and Masayoshi from Samurai Flamenco

Best Villain or Antagonist

This is a hard one. There were many really remarkable villains this year, but I'll give it to Benten from Eccentric Family because she was so original and complex, yet so perfectly misterious

Honorable mention to the Female Titan in Attack on Titan because she put up one hell of a fight

Moments:

Best Individual Scene

Eccentric Family: spoiler[Yajiro crying in the bottom of his well as he confesses his involvement in his father's death to his brothers, and Yaichiro later crying because he understands his feelings.

Honorable mention to Samurai Flamenco: The reveal of Masayoshi's parents being murdered by some robbers in the past and Masayoshi's conversation about it with Goto, which was so humane and honest it's definitely one of the highlights of the show
]


Best Plot Twist

Samurai Flamenco: spoiler[Yes, I'm giving it to King Torture and Guillotine Gorilla. I just watched episode 11 and I'm convinced there's something behind all the cheese and ridiculousness. I'm counting on it,] and regardless of anything, it was one of the most (if not the most) memorable plot twists of the year

Best Fight

Eren vs Female Titan in Attack on Titan. It was just brutally fantastic

Best Death

Suisei no Gargantia. spoiler[Chamber's death/sacrifice. It's just a magnificent conclusion to Ledo's journey and humanization, Chamber sacrificing so that Ledo can leave his military duties behind and keep living as a human was the perfect ending to the series.]

Honorable mention to Sunday Without God. spoiler[Humpnie Humbert/Kizuna Astin's death and his rebirth as a Dead Man to enjoy at least one day with his daughter was the best moment of the series and brought me to hopeless tears]


Art & Sound:

Best Visual Design

Nagi no Asukara. Even if it's not finished it's hands down the most beautiful show this year, visually. The architecture of both the underwater city and surface city, the pastel look of everything and the visual distinctions between sea people and earth people have been handled fantastically. The Ofunehiki scene was incredibly gorgeous too.

Honorable mention to Kyoukai no Kanata. That's another show that looked gorgeous.

Best Music

If it refers to background music I'm going to ignore it because I never pay attention to it. If it's more about opening and ending themes then Eccentric Family. Both opening and ending were great songs that related a lot to the series's content, (Uchouten Jinsei talking about living an interesting life and Que sera sera about not worrying about the future but concentrating on the present -ersmthlikethat)

Best Voice Performance

Ledo (Kaito Ishikawa) from Gargantia. He did a terrific job in portraying Ledo's gradual learning of Japanese, his clumsy pronunciation sounded so real it was amazing. Just for that I think he deserves recognition. He's also relatively new in the industry, so extra kudos for that.

Honorable mention to Rei Ryugazaki (Daisuke Hirakawa) from Free! for all the emotion he put in the last quarter of episodes, which was glorious, and to Ren Jinguji (Junichi Suwabe) because his song for UtaPri2000% (Orange Rhapsody) has become one of my top three from the franchise

Best Opening Sequence

Guren no Yumiya from Attack on Titan. No questions, the most intense and addequate opening theme of the year. It definitely gets my heart pumping all the time

Best Ending Sequence

I'm going to give it to Splash Free! from Free!. KyoAni clearly knew to whom they were marketing it, I can play that video over and over forever

Gah, that took forever. Overall, 2013 has been a terrific year for anime, it took me a while to decide which series to reward since there were so many of them that were fantastic.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:45 am Reply with quote
Next up are the visual/aural arts.

Best Visual Design
Yes, Nagi no Asakura is good-ish, kind of. No, it looks fantastic but there's been too many times where I'm wondering where the characters are after a setting change. The show itself looks good and has beautiful animation, sure, but that's normal for that production company. So, for me, it's Gatchaman Crowds for being the only series that can combine otherworldly CGI and extreme character designs and get away with it.

Best Production Design
Why the difference? Because it's for Kill la Kill and its direction is its animation. Which leads to...

Best Animation
I don't want to pick Kyoto Animation, I don't want to pick Kyoto Animation, I don't...

Hell, Beyond the Boundary. You know, if they spent the time needed to make the dialogue natural, it'd be the best show of 2013. It looks fantastic, it sounds stiff. Now, a good dub with some liberal rewrites...

Best Music
Majestic Prince since it pretty much had music for every occasion, from comedy to action to tragedy. Pretty standard epic stuff, I suppose.

Best Voice Performance Male
Takuya Eguchi as Hachiman Hikkigaya. You can hear his sneer, you can hear his heart break and if you listen really close, you can even hear the truth out of his usual lies.

Best Voice Performance Female
Maaya Uchida as Hajime in Gatchaman Crowds. Hajime wasn't the show, her thought process was and it's fun just to listen to her ramble, get to a point and then make a declaration.

Best Opening Sequence
Beyond the Boundary. What can I say, it was either going to be Kyoto Animation or Shaft. This one is both passionate and precise, an actual prologue for the leads.

Best Ending Sequence
The Devil is a Part Timer completely animated ending, let's say this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg4ccqEaeAA
A wistful emotion of something lost which is never fully explored in the show as it's too busy being "straight ahead" entertaining.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Wrathful



Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 372
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:41 am Reply with quote
Best Overall TV Show of the Year

Oregairu - It was good but I really never expected to be superb as it was.

Best Overall Movie of the Year - N/A

Forgotten Gem of the Year - Super Seisyun Brothers seems to be nothing more than little romantic shows that only runs for 5 minutes. In that time, it managed to make all the characters charming. It was an endearing little show.

Most Unexpected Surprise - Minami-ke Tadaima, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prima☆Illya and Gotchaman Crowds. They should have been nothing more than pleasant watch and turned out to be something more and better for me.


Characters: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, who were your favorite characters this year?

Best Individual Character - Hachiman Hikigaya is top character for me. On the first impression, he looks like your typical non-conformist high school student but I feel he has good reasons to be.

Best Couple or Pair (Doesn't have to be romantic) Once again Hachiman and Yukino. They may not be a couple and will never be much more than friends but their bickering is some of the best lines in the show. I don't like Yukino that much but she does have a good chemistry with Hachiman.

Best Villain or Antagonist - The guy from Gatchaman Crowds


Moments: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, which specific scenes did you like best? The moment Hachiman and Yui are in the confession scene. It was a mixture of great emotions.

Best Individual Scene (Could overlap with one of the below or be something entirely different) When the main villain in Gatchaman Crowds finally meet Hajime.

Best Plot Twist - N/A

Best Fight - I guess the fight between Saber and Illya

Best Death - I guess the death of Bacon in Gin no Saji.


Art & Sound: Noises! Pictures! This one is pretty self-explanatory. - Fate/Kaleid Liner Prima☆Illya seemed to be pretty high budget on the presentation.

Best Visual Design - Gatchaman Crowds

Best Music Fate/Kaleid Liner Primsa☆Illya

Best Voice Performance I was never into his vocal work but Mamoru Miyano in Gatchaman Crowds impressed me a lot.

Best Opening Sequence - May I Help You? - Servant x Service

Best Ending Sequence - Aku No Hana ED - I didn't like the anime itself but the song was very unique and brilliant.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ChibiKangaroo



Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 2941
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 5:23 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:


Forgotten Gem of the Year:
Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?
I am not entirely sure what to put here, but I thought to put down the series that I thought was the most fitting as a hidden gem, apparently did not get much attention, and was a measly 10 episodes long. I had a surpirisingly good time here with a hero who was super OP, something that actually worked due to his personality, the humour the show used, and in general actually being rather entertaining.



I am in full agreement on this one. Mondaiji-tachi was a fantastic show. It was just so sad that it only lasted 10 episodes.

The characters were all so interesting and colorful. The "children" had such cool powers that were a joy to watch in action. The humor was spot on, often doing an awesome job of parodying various genres of anime. The fan service was PERFECT. I am not a huge lover of fan service (I can often be found criticizing it in fact), but the fan service in this show was funny, irreverent, clever, and still titillating. The world they were operating in was exotic, with equal part rules and equal part chaos. Also, the way that the stories seemed to play off of classic children's tales seemed smart and was a lot of fun. If I could get more of any particular show for 2014, it would most definitely be this one.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rheiders



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 1137
Location: Colorful Colorado :)
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 5:33 pm Reply with quote
Shows: Whole anime. Which did you like best? Which were underrated? Which surprised you?

Best Overall TV Show of the Year: The Eccentric Family
This is hands down the best show I saw all year. The characters are heartfelt and intelligent; their family dynamic was touching and believable. It has some of the best dialogue I’ve seen all year. The ending wraps everything up perfectly. The music and visual style are also top-notch.

Special Mention: The Devil is a Part-Timer was not only the best comedy I saw this year, it’s one of the best anime comedies I’ve seen, period. Lovable characters, laugh-out-loud funny, hilarious premise.

Best Overall Movie of the Year: Uhh…
Um…I guess Saint Young Men was pretty hilarious? The new Gintama one was pretty great too…I haven’t really gotten around to watching any other anime movies from this year yet. Tend to wait for R1 releases on those (SYM being an exception because nothing from that franchise will ever be licensed for US release).

Forgotten Gem of the Year: Senyuu
People forget about it because it’s a mini-series, but this was a fantastic little comedy series that had me in stitches for its entire 3-minute duration every week.

Special Mention: Beyond the Boundary—It’s not the greatest show I’ve ever seen or anything, but I found it fairly enjoyable. Mostly just mentioning it because the immense amount of hate it has received still baffles me.

Most Unexpected Surprise: The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke
I certainly wasn’t expecting anything from this series, and in fact had initially dropped it after the first episode. It seemed like a boring, ugly, no-effort action series with a lot of awkward fujoshi pandering jammed in. I’m glad I picked it back up, though, because it turned out to be a really fun little show with an interesting antihero (villain?)…and a lot of fujoshi pandering. Eh, not always a bad thing. It made me curious about the original Zettai Karen Children, though I haven’t gotten around to checking it out yet.

Runner-up: Did anyone actually expect Free! to be a good show? Much less one with actual swimming in it?


Characters: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, who were your favorite characters this year?

Best Individual Character: Hajime Ichinose, Gatchaman Crowds
I thought there were a lot of really good female characters in particular this year—Benten, Tomoko, Nakamura, Chihaya (of course), Mikasa…But I think Hajime is the one who stood out the most to me. She’s just so much the antithesis of everything you’d expect from an anime heroine or a sentai hero. She’s quirky, weird, and overly optimistic, but she’s also intelligent and incredibly perceptive. She was a joy to watch every time she was on-screen.

My favorite male character was probably Ledo from Gargantia. I loved watching him develop throughout the series.

Best Couple or Pair (Doesn't have to be romantic)
Do Rei and Nagisa count? No? Because they should.

I’ll go with Akihito and Mirai from Beyond the Boundary. Their romance was my favorite part of the series. I liked how their similarities drew them closer to each other. It was really sweet watching them try to help each other heal as well. It seems a lot of people very vehemently disagree, but I felt they had a lot of chemistry.

Best Villain or Antagonist: Benten, The Eccentric Family
danilo07 wrote:
You may accuse me of being lazy,but she totally is the best anime villain this year.TRY AND DENY IT!

Why would I deny something if it’s true? She’s awesome! Part of me really wishes we had gotten to know her a bit better, but at the same time it’s the mystery that makes her so intriguing. Her biting wit was a joy.

Runner-up: Berg Katze wasn’t a particularly deep villain, but just like everything in Crowds, he was just a joy to watch. I loved watching his banter with Hajime, especially since Mamo sounded like he was having entirely too much fun voicing him.


Moments: Putting aside the overall quality of the shows they're in, which specific scenes did you like best?

Best Individual Scene (Could overlap with one of the below or be something entirely different): Kasuga and Nakamura trashing the classroom, Flowers of Evil, and episode 8 of The Eccentric Family (tie)
That scene where Kasuga and Nakamura trash their classroom was by far the best part of that show and one of the most beautiful things I saw this year. It was nothing less than art and justified the rotoscoping all on its own (though I liked the rotoscoping from the beginning).

Episode 8 of The Eccentric Family, where spoiler[Yajiro confesses that he left their father alone after drinking with him on the night he died, and Yaichiro crying over his brother later] had me bawling. It was a beautifully executed expression of family bonds and gave a lot of subtle insight into how each of the four brothers felt about their father and his passing. The revelation in a later episode of Soichiro’s last words was the perfect icing on the cake.

Best Plot Twist:
Pretty much any of them from Attack on Titan. I couldn’t even get mad at the really predictable ones because they were still really, really good twists. I’ll go with the revelation right at the end that spoiler[the walls are made out of titans], because I genuinely did not see that one coming and greatly look forward to seeing what they do with it (I don’t read the manga).

Best Fight: Chamber v. Striker, Gargantia
What can I say, aside from spoiler[”Go to hell, tin can!”]?

Best Death: spoiler[Levi’s entire squad], Attack on Titan
This episode was definitely the death(s) that hit me the hardest. I didn’t expect it at all and the deaths themselves were just so brutal. Levi’s reaction to it and spoiler[Petra]’s father asking him about spoiler[her] was heart-breaking.


Art & Sound: Noises! Pictures! This one is pretty self-explanatory.

Best Visual Design: Nagi no Asukara
Just beautiful to look at. I get lost in the myriad blues and silvers of the seaside and underwater villages. The backgrounds and colors are breathtaking and evoke a uniquely haunting atmosphere. The animation is consistently good as well. There’s always something going on in the background, a school of fish passing by or a flock of birds in the sky. It’s amazing how expressive the otherwise generically “anime cute” character designs are in the hands of those animators, too. The eyes of the Shioshishio residents are particularly beautiful.

Runners-up: The Eccentric Family is a very, very close second to Nagi-Asu. Man, P.A. Works has been on a roll this year, huh? RDG was a crappy show, but even that looked fantastic. The vivid colors and detailed backgrounds in Eccentric Family are absolutely gorgeous. On top of that, I’m not someone who usually pays any attention to direction, but I noticed how beautifully animated Eccentric Family was every episode. Other runners-up are Attack on Titan for taking a limited budget a long way, and Gatchaman Crowds because Kenji Nakamura.

Best Music: Beyond the Boundary
I don’t pay that much attention to background music, but the BGM in this show built up a really nice fantasy atmosphere.

Best Voice Performance: Kaito Ishikawa as Ledo, Gargantia
I was very impressed by the way he was able to convey so much emotion despite Ledo being such a stoic character. I was particularly impressed by his performance before Ledo became more fluent in Japanese. “A…Arigatou.”

Runners-up: Takahiro Sakurai did a fantastic job (as usual) as Yasaburo Shimogamo, main character and narrator of The Eccentric Family. I was also impressed by Izumi Kitta’s performance as Tomoko Kuroki from Watamote. She lent a very unique quality to the character’s voice that fit her really well, very fragile and kind of pitiful.

Best Opening Sequence: Attack on Titan
No-brainer. There were other opening sequences I liked, but none came close to either of AoT’s fantastic openings. I liked the second one better than the first, but both are instant classics.

Runners-up: Gatchaman Crowds had a really stylish opener with flashy animation that introduced the show and characters really well.

Best Ending Sequence: Free!
I’ll be predictable here. Free!’s ending theme was the best part of every episode: campy, ridiculous, stupidly well-animated, and full of hot swimmer boys.

Runners-up: Beyond the Boundary—the song calms me down immediately whenever I hear it, while also having a slightly haunting feel to it. The imagery that goes along with it is beautiful and significantly better-executed than the show proper IMO. Also, Nagi no Asukara has a beautiful ending song with interesting lyrics. I’m happy that Nagi Yanagi will be doing the second ed for the show as well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
feuerwerke



Joined: 13 Jul 2012
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:10 pm Reply with quote
Best TV series of the year: I'm honestly going to have to go with Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. I really enjoyed the way it kind of spoofed standard JRPG class types, I felt like the characters were quite well-written, and it went into some pretty interesting territory, like how Yuusha feels useless after the war is over since fighting is all he knows. I haven't seen a lot of the big popular titles of the year yet, so that may be why I'm picking this, but I really loved it.

Best Overall Movie of the Year: Madoka Magica Rebellion. Don't care if it's too obvious. Also I for one loved the twist ending.

Forgotten Gem of the Year: Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren't They? was a really good little series, but it's one that most people not only skipped, but don't seem to even remember happening. It's far from groundbreaking, but it does a nice job telling a fun little story and I really hope it gets another season.

Most Unexpected Surprise Gonna have to go with Free! here. I didn't think it would be bad, but it was a lot better than I was expecting. It was also a lot different from what I was expecting. For one thing, Gou was a nice surprise. Also the extent to which it was actually about swimming.

--

Best Individual Character: Hm, this is hard. I may be biased since I'm working on catching up on Monogatari season 2 right now and just finished her arc, but I'll have to say Nadeko Sengoku. The Nadeko Medusa arc really fleshed her out into a really interesting and unusual character. I enjoyed watching her break out of her shell and transform into a very dynamic character, and she did so in such an unusual way that I just have to give it to her.

Best Couple or Pair: I'm just going to have to be an embarrassing shipper here for a minute and say Sakura and Aoi from Dangan Ronpa. Cute girls, one of whom is the strongest ever, forming an adorable bond in such an unlikely place? Yeah no can't say anything else.

Best Villain or Antagonist spoiler[Junko Enoshima] from Dangan Ronpa. She's just so delightfully crazy. It's pretty hard to not love a nutty embodiment of despair like her.

--

Best Individual Scene: Gonna make this a tie.

1. That huge battle in the end of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha. I love battles on a grand scale like that and you don't see nearly enough of them in anime.

2. spoiler[Witch Homura versus witch Sayaka] in Madoka Magica Rebellion because w-h-o-a

Best Plot Twist: Last 15 minutes of Madoka Magica Rebellion. Haters gonna hate.

Best Fight:
see the best individual scene responses

Best Death: Every single Dangan Ronpa execution, but I think of them all I liked spoiler[Celestia's] the best. Also spoiler[Sakura's] death.

--

Best Visual Design: Excuse me while I just give everything ever to Madoka Magica Rebellion

Best Music
: see above

Best Voice Performance: Eri Kitamura as Miki Sayaka

Best Opening Sequence: Dangan Ronpa's OP

Best Ending Sequence: Watamote's ED
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group