Forum - View topicThe Best Anime of 2021
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Saeryen
 Posts: 891 |
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Kudos to Christopher for recognizing how amazing Pretty Cure and Kageki Shojo are! And kudos to Mercedes for talking about aquatope, which has earned a spot on my faves list (anything I rate 10/10 on this site is a favorite of mine).
And I quite agree with Rebecca, that moment in the aforementioned Pretty Cure is…quite the moment. I love how the franchise can remain cute and cheerful while also interjecting some serious and thought-provoking moments, and I think this in particular is gonna give us some insight into the Witch’s backstory and why she became a villain. |
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Hal14
 Posts: 666 Location: Heart of africa |
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I can definitely pick my best moment from Ousama Ranking (and of 2021):
The scene in the royal court where Hiling confronts King Bosse in spoiler[Daida's body]. The VA's for Hiling and Daida did a fantastic job in that scene. The facial animation was also great. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 1820 |
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Seems like I am the only one who felt the ending of Gridman to be forced as heck. The character that we had been following ever since the beginning spoiler[gets stabbed by the villain. The villain is revealed to be suffering for some shutin issue, everybody decides to help her and she wins. We never even hear of the stabbed kid. It's just the guest from Gridman taking the help role. Kinda like the ending of Shaman King but at least Yoh is far more active.]
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18186 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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That was based on only three people, and sometimes that just happens. With six now available, repeats have started. I always do a summary of these once all are posted, and typically 1/3-1/2 of the entries on these lists are repeats by the time everything's done. For instance, last year we have 27 unique titles from eight different staff, with eight titles getting two or more mentions, and that was the most diverse list in several years. This is very spread out so far (26 unique titles out of a possible 30), but there probably won't be many more new entries. On other matters, I am somewhat surprised but very pleased to see Idoly Pride not only on someone's list but also at the top of it. I haven't finalized my Top 5 yeat, but it's certainly in the running. (Also interesting that three different idol shows have been mentioned so far.) |
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Abraham Omosun
Posts: 158 |
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Agree with Catlin Moore, the blood sucking scenes in Vanitas were sexy. My pick for best moment is the night assault scene from Hathaway Flash. The sequence really captured the scale and destructive nature of the mechs. A stumble crushes buildings, sparks from their beam sabers set fire where ever it touched and the sheer destruction that their guns unleash.. Also, the compositing work from Kentaro Waki really went a long way in making the scene how it was
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KitKat1721
 Posts: 953 |
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Okay despite the mess 2021 was in any other capacity, it actually was a pretty solid year of anime for me. It felt like there was a wide range of shows for any fan to find something to pick up and personally I really enjoyed so much. I even had a couple series that will undoubtedly still be favorites long after the mediocre seasonals are long-forgotten.
AOTY: It kills me to not only have a tie, but both be sequels on top of that... but I literally can't choose between Fruits Basket the Final and Megalobox: NOMAD. Please don't make me pick one over the other. Neither was as "perfect" as something like Odd Taxi or wholly unique in its artistry next to everything else as Sonny Boy. But no other series topped them in terms of emotional pull and impact (even though some like Heike Monogatari or Ranking of Kings came close at least). Fruits Basket's last season was a finale I've waited years to see, and while it had to cut some material for time, the biggest cut was one I was hoping for from the start anyway and was thankful to see not included. Its rare for shoujo to even get full adaptations, so I'm glad one that was super formative for me received a great one. If you've read any long essays on how impactful Eva 3.0 + 1.0 was in terms of closure for fans who grew up with NGE as one of their first beloved anime series - that was Fruits Basket's finale for me, and I know a lot of other people too. Megalobox: NOMAD on the other hand was WAY more of a surprise. I respected the original series more than I loved it, and didn't really have any desire to revisit it after it ended. It had some great characters, but I had a difficult time staying invested with the more formulaic story by the end. I wasn't even that excited for NOMAD (except for Joe having a beard on the poster which I thought that looked cool). That first episode of S2 grabbed me more than any in S1, and somehow it managed to stay strong throughout its run. I've re-watched the season with some family members, and it held up just as well. And as a nice bonus, the dub retained both its main cast and quality despite switching ADR studios, directors, and scriptwriters. I really don't think enough people watched this sequel and I really hope more do. Even if like me, they felt lukewarm on its first outing. As far of runner-ups, I have a bunch to round out a total top ten (as I said, its been a good year), so I'll just list some out (no movies or shorts yet): - Heike Monogatari: Don't let its large and complicated family tree scare you off, its absolutely gorgeous both in story and artistry and its finale made me cry. - Ranking of Kings: One of my favorite adventure fantasy shows in a long time, and I'm so excited to see the second half. Boji and Kage are precious. - Kageki Shoujo: If more female-centric school/sports/club shows had characters like this, I'd probably actually finish more of them. Episode 8 might be my favorite singular episode of the year. - SSSS.DYNAZENON: I already loved Gridman, and Dynazenon was just more of that with an even more rounded out supporting cast. All This Time was my insert song jam of 2021. - Odd Taxi: Mystery anime are super hit or miss for me, but this was 100% a hit. The gacha game episode alone is worth the price of admission. - Case Study of Vanitas: I respect what Caitlin said about Vanitas under the "Best Moments" section so much because it is way too accurate. Only new show of the year that convinced me to buy its corresponding manga volumes. - Sonny Boy: We just don't get anime like this that often any more, and whether you love it or just respect it, its existence at all is worth celebrating. - SK8 the Infinity: Probably shouldn't be on my favorites list considering some issues I had with it, but I can't deny I had more fun watching this than almost anything. |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 348 Location: Manchester, UK |
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The sheer disrespect Back Arrow is receiving from both the critics and commenters is powerful
Last edited by fathomlessblue on Tue Dec 28, 2021 4:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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Pleasantly surprised to see Umamusume S2 get so much respect so far; it really was an amazing sports anime, probably my favorite of the year.
Difficult for me to pick a top 5, since due to personal reasons I haven’t finished several shows that I fully expect to be on that list (Heike Story, Ranking of Kings, ODDTAXI), and there were a lot of good anime this year. Including stuff that I haven’t quite finished, my top 5 would be: Umamusume S2 Sonny Boy Ranking of Kings Heike Story SSSS.Dynazenon Honorable Mentions: SK8 The Infinity, Megalobox Nomad, ODDTAXI BTW, seems like Sonny Boy is the “best anime no one watched” so far; I heavily recommend it! It’s very good, if a bit of a downer at times |
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TexZero
Posts: 583 |
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Not really. This year just had so much that it became victim to being a good show at the wrong time amongst a sea of truly great shows. Being good this year just doesn't cut it. |
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DamianSalazar
Posts: 720 |
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Before December, I hadn't watched a lot of anime from this year. I had only watched Dr. Stone season 2, 86 part 1, Komi Can't Communicate, Super Crooks, Beastars, and Kemono Jihen. I was spending my whole time watching old anime and catching up to One Piece from where I left off spoiler[in Marineford.]
I ultimately decided to watch some anime before the year ended and decided on Shadows House, Vivy; Fluorite Eye's Song, Those Snow White Notes, The Case Study of Vanitas and Dragon Maid season 2. I just finished Shadows House. I think it might be my favourite of the year. Not far behind it is Komi Can't Communicate, Vivy and Vanitas. |
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DamianSalazar
Posts: 720 |
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Best moment huh?
So many imho, (Case Study of Vanitas spoiler) spoiler[Vanitas getting sucked by Jeanne], (Komi Can't Communicate, maybe?) spoiler[The chalkboard scene], (Shadows House) spoiler[The revelations of the Shadows and Living Dolls] stand out for me. [EDIT: Please indicate at least what title a spoiler is for, as it was impossible from outside context to determine what they referred to, and that defeats the purpose. Also, some of these aren't really spoilers. - Key] |
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Saeryen
Posts: 891 |
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It just didn't grab my interest. I'm more into shoujos and iyashikeis. I feel you about a fave getting overlooked, though. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2514 |
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The Best Moments dilemma mirrors that of picking only 5 of >10 great shows this year. I'll give the crown to Zombieland Saga Revenge because it was chock full of small but great moments, far more than the others that I saw and was a true banger fulfilling the series' many threads. From the Legendary Tae Yamada's Day Out and Yugiri's Saga Incident to the musical finale where Lady Lily sings "you can take pride in what makes you strange" and seeing "her" hulking dad in the audience crying and lots before and between.
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1499 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I dunno, Chris gave it a shout-out that implied that it was one of the more, if not the most underrated series this year. As someone who didn't watch Back Arrow, I'd go ahead and take it as a win, as minor as it is. My thoughts on the anime from 2021 I watched in 2021 coming in a day or two, possibly three. |
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Gnardak
Posts: 5 |
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Vivy, Shadows House, Sing a Bit of Harmony, Ranking of Kings, Komi Can't Communicate.
So many great shows slipped off the bottom of my list this year. Several because I just watched a bit and didn't get around to watching the rest like 86, Oddtaxi, Fena and Thunderbolt Fantasy. And some because they just had little niggles for me that normally I'd overlook but this time meant that they were pushed out by other things. Fruits Basket, though I loved it it seemed to have pacing issues towards the end and just didn't quite hit the beats that it should have to finish off the series. My Next Life as a Villainess, just wasn't as good as the first season. Those Snow White Notes, I loved the early episodes and I eventually got on board with the competition arc but it ended on such a downer. Sakugan, I loved the show but I Memempu kept being right and I wanted Gagumber to be right more often so they'd seem more like an actual team. Sonny Boy, I liked it but most of it flew so far over my head that I couldn't really tell what was going on long enough to actually pull meaning out of it. To Your Eternity, It was initially so good but the last couple of arcs didn't quite match up to the first few. My Hero Academia, I don't generally mind if a show diverges from the source material if it makes the show better for it but in this case it didn't pan out. Far Away Paladin, as much as I liked the initial episodes and it continues to be good the pacing seems a bit slow so it seems more dull than it should. Banished From the Heroes Party, much better than I was expecting, interesting world building and characters. But some episodes are paced really weirdly and they really pulled all that ancient futuristic technology out of nowhere in the last few episodes. 1 Million Lives, I love the show but the production values kinda drag it down so the characters and story have a lot of heavy lifting to do which the show doesn't always manage. The Deer King, I really liked the film but it was so long that my favourite film of the year has to go to comparatively light and enjoyable Sing a Bit of Harmony. |
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