Forum - View topicYour Top 5 Anime of 2014 (And Ours)
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2445 Location: Germany |
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I don´t know if i love Watanabe blindly but i will always give him 2 episodes at least.
Macross Plus is my favorite ova after all but Kids on the Slope was not the adaptation(half the story and most of the ending were gone) the downright perfect manga deserved and Terror was pointless because of the second half. About Sailor Moon´s reception. I work in on of germany´s biggest libraries and the young girls here are in love with the show. The constantly in circulation manga had a bit of a upswing because of it so at least the target demographic in my country is behind it. If it is good enough to get them to read subtitles it is good enough for me and the old series is not the gold standard in my book at all. |
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secondkas
 Posts: 95 |
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Please let me share mine too!
5. I didn’t complete many but I did try a few. I would say Ping Pong, Fate/Stay, and Barakamon are among the good ones that I haven’t finished or regularly watched but for the episodes I did, they were impressive. I will also try the others that are mentioned. 4. Free! Eternal Summer- not so much the story per se, I was actually more amazed at how the production team handled and manipulated fanservice without being creepy or obscene, especially for a series where characters are given a convenient excuse to be shirtless. 3. Noragami- the character designs are beautiful and the world of the deities is interesting and engaging. 2. Space Dandy- it has mind-blowing visuals and stories; I like the spatial and temporal theoretical premises of its base humor. 1. Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun- I’ve never heard of the series until it was in ANN’s Spotlight and I was instantly hooked by its short summary. This is the series I enjoyed most watching so I hope there’ll be more. The series I listed also introduced me to some of the most attractive and/or likable characters I’ve ever seen in anime ( Makoto Tachibana for 4, Yukine-3, QT- 2, the entire cast-1) Regarding Nick Creamer’s take on Terror in Resonance (see his entry, won’t quote anymore): I agree: the series was bogged down by high expectations and hype because of the names behind it, but they were also the reason I stuck it out to the end. Had they not been there, I would’ve dropped it by episode 5 because my patience towards Lisa was already strained. And yes, the Motorcycle and Ferris Wheel scenes were memorable; they were exactly the only moments I’m reminded I was watching a work by Shinichiro Watanabe. For the issue with Watanabe, thus is the effect of meritocracy: you produce excellent works, people expect you to be constantly good, even giving you enough leeway to showcase your earned excellence, such is your prize. It can’t be helped, but it’s not blind faith either. I like Space Dandy but not Terror in Resonance and I would still look forward to his next work and judge it accordingly. Sometimes the favorability of every project just differs for every person, but don’t dismiss any as being illogical or biased. |
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Morning Blue
Posts: 62 |
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Sailor Moon Crystal was made for the same reason the recent Spider-Man movies are being made; so the companies don't lose the rights. Crystal looks cheap and zapped out all of the fun and cute moments from the manga whenever it could. And don't get me started on Mitsuishi's performance as Usagi.
I also really didn't care for No Game No Life at all, mostly for having a cheating asshat as its main lead and some uncomfortable tones of incest. I barely finished/watched any anime that came out this year, so I don't think I could even MAKE a list of five anime I really enjoyed. If I were to say anything at all, I'd say my favs this year were Encouragement of Climb Season 2 (great cast and decent arc set-ups for a show about "nothing") and Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, for being hilarious at times and having an all-around fun group of characters. I also remember enjoying World Conquest Zvezda Plot until I stopped watching it. |
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sharl
Posts: 24 |
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im just glad Log Horizon beat SAO, and its not even half way through yet!
my top 5 anime of the year 5. silver spoon 2 4. The Seven Deadly Sins 3. Aldnoah.Zero (terrible plot holes but it was enjoyable as F*ck) 2. Parasyte 1. Log Horizon (im biased because this anime as a whole has given me so much nostalgia from my online gaming days) |
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Kreion
Posts: 332 |
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It really doesn't, It has some impressive visuals but only sometimes - it's doing nothing new with stylistic elements it's just reusing older techniques. Don't get me wrong it still looks good, but it is not as much as a breath of fresh air as people claim - it's doing the same thing as Kill La Kill did, the studio are using a style of one of their older, popular works and people tout it as being new. The main difference Dandy has to Bebop is colour, which is nice but NGNL is also a very colourful series albiet in a very different style. I would point out here that I recognize that Space Dandy is more technically and visually impressive than other series, but I personally dislike that style for the most part. Space Dandy is also THE MOST inconsistent show of 2014, bar none. That alone kills it for me, the majority of the episodes barely jump above generic, with a few standout ones and a few 'worth watching because it's wierd' ones. This was overlooked in a lot of their comments despite it being the most glaring flaw of the show. It's an episodic show, so it's somewhat to be expected - but the characters and world fail to carry the show beyond vaguely interesting. In short, there are shows which would grab me and I could spend the day watching, there are comedys which have done that too, Space Dandy failed to grab me at all. This is just my opinion of course, but it also seems like many of the reviews like the series just for it's moments of brilliance, not for the mediocrity which makes up it's core. If I wanted truly interesting animation techniques I'd look at Ping Pong, not Dandy. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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The reviewers who listed the show didn't "miss" that, they don't agree with your opinion that the "core of the show is mediocre" or that it's "the most inconsistent show".
Ping Pong has Yuasa's style. Space Dandy also does, for one episode. Then it has the style of a bunch of other people. It's purposefully inconsistent; that's like the fundamental purpose of an anthology series that highlights a new creative staff in every episode. It's totally fine that you didn't like it and thought it was mediocre, or inconsistent in a bad way, but saying the reviewers screwed up because they somehow forgot to include your opinion in their reviews is silly. |
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Marzan
 Posts: 517 |
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So much for people being allowed to have different tastes, right? I loved Ping Pong too. But the eclectic tone of Space Dandy was just perfect for me. |
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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Just saved me some time. Space Dandy was great fun, and while I found some episodes better than others, I didn't find any mediocre. |
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mi575
Posts: 3 |
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1 Tokyo Ghoul / Parasyte / No game no life.
2 The Irregular at Magic High School / Log Horizen / Terror in Resonance 3 Barakamon / Haikyu!! / Nisekoi / Wolf Girl and Black Prince / Fate stay night. 4 Akatsuki no Yona / D-Frag! / I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying. 5 Witch Craft Works I couldnt place only 5 in the list, too many great anime this year. |
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feuerwerke
 Posts: 149 |
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Hm. Mine isn't too hard, really.
1. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 2. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san 3. Sakura Trick 4. Hanayamata 5. Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei As you can probably tell, I like yuri and Type Moon. I missed a lot of the acclaimed stuff that came out in the spring or fall, though. College makes it kind of hard. |
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Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
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I'm glad to see Space Dandy listed so highly on so many reviewer's lists! I thought it was more, i dunno, controversial I guess. And I share the sentiment that a few episodes didn't work personally for me, I suppose mainly the high concept space theory type ones, but I think that had more to do with different storytelling preferences than anything. And despite that, every episode was beautifully animated with innovative techniques. As a whole I loved it! Not knowing what to expect every week was so much fun, and it was a very unique new show at a time when most were too afraid to risk losing money, in exchange for artistic freedom. I hope to see more of this type of creativity in the coming years. Maybe we won't see something exactly like Dandy again, but that's not the point. The point is that it was something different. And that's all I want from the anime industry. I know there's always going to be a lot of terrible sludge produced every year, but that's inevitable in any medium. But almost every year there are always a few masterpieces to found in the midst of it all. I'd also love to see more simuldubs in the future. I don't know if it will become a common trend in the industry (probably not), but I love being able to watch a show in my own language when it airs. Especially if the dub is actually good.
Another show I loved (well, am loving) was Rage of Bahamut. If someone hadn't have told me beforehand, I would have never guessed it was based on a lame mobile app. I think what makes it so much better than it has any right to be is how much freedom the creators were given. They only used the basic lore and characters as a basis for the actual plot, instead of just shoeing it in and essentially making a 13 episode add in our faces. And the animation and music only add to that unnecessary, but welcome, attention and care the show was given. I should applaud MAPPA for their wonderful efforts. Definitely one of my favorites of the season. Everything about it is great, and it manages to be intriguing without also feeling like it's trying too hard. Also, Ginger Afro! And I can't forget Kaiser. It can't be a coincidence that two of my favorite anime of the year also happen to include characters with amazing pompadours. I think that might just be the key to making an amazing anime. I was surprised that Tokyo Ghoul ranked so highly in the users poll, I didn't think that show was very well liked. One of those "the manga was better" instances that happen a lot. Haven't gotten around to watching Parasyte or Fate/stay night yet, but they're on my list! Well, I need to watch Fate/Zero before I can watch the new one though, don't I? But Parasyte looks really great, especially because it's an adaption of a 90's manga. So bias be damned, I'm almost positive I'll love it. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Well, that's more coincidence of the reviewer's taste than anything else. Just looking at the current Bayesian ranking here on ANN which is rank #1117 (of 4589) shows that it's not particularly notable at all for a much larger cross section of the fandom. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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What I got:
Aldnoah Zero. It remains to be seen how this will turn out, since it's only half done at this point, but I've been really liking what I've been seeing so far. Shirobako is also not finished, but I really like the idea of an anime about making anime, and really like the personalities and issues that arise in animation production (which I'm sure are pretty strongly pulled from reality). As someone who animates myself, I have to say that the depiction of the drawing animation process and its difficulties is really spot on. I really want to see the rest of this as well. Glasslip has the audacity to be as obtuse as it wants to be. Really subtextual character dynamics (things like inside jokes, only getting half of conversations, and characters having just plain strange ideas) make it not immediately obvious what's going on, and I really like this. It's also got pretty esoteric elements, like chicken raising, glassblowing, references to M.C. Escher prints, and contact with parallel realities. I know that a lot of people didn't like this, and I think it was because it was extremely weird, but not weird in your face. And I liked that a lot too. Captain Earth Had some really cool animation of hand-drawn mechs, fun scifi elements, and some deeper themes that it managed to develop pretty nicely. At the end of the day, my Anime of the Year is Nobunaga the Fool. This had some really developed alternate takes on historical figures and ideas, and some intersting commentary on how different ideologies led to causing different aspects of our history. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5454 Location: Iscandar |
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My top 5 are:
1. Parasyte 2. Chaika (both seasons) 3. Noragami 4. Your Lie in April 5. Argevollen |
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Color2413
Posts: 49 |
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Did Hunter x Hunter 2011 not qualify this year because it was too long-running? In the last part of the Chimera Ant arc, there were two all-time great battle eps, a power-up episode that turned the usual triumphalism on its head by being wrenchingly horrific and tragic, and a death ep involving the Big Bad that squeezed a tear from almost anyone who watched.
I can't recall how many of these eps were in 2014, but even the Election arc was terrific--HxH is always pulling sleights of hand; it's truly the "thinking person's shonen." I would unhesitatingly put HxH in the top-3 this year. |
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