Since 2008, I’ve been selecting my top 5 anime of that year and posting about them on the blog around New Year’s. This year however, I’m trying something new with Kiddtic’s AniBloggers Choice Anime Awards project. Instead of picking only five 2011 series, I’m picking twelve, as well as an overall series of the year and licensor of the year…
Before I get to the list, I just need to say that I tweaked some of the original rules for the project to better suit the usual way I do these lists. Instead of only counting anime that started airing in 2011 as eligible for the list, only anime that have completed their airing in 2011 count as a 2011 title for my list. So a fall 2010 two-cour series like Bakuman, that finished airing in March 2011, counts. Likewise, though not finished quite yet, Fate/Zero will finish airing before 2011 is over, so it also counts. On the other hand, the currently airing Mirai Nikki, which won’t finish airing until next year, does not count. Also, the project proposes that we pick our top three anime from each of the four seasons, but I’ll just be making a straight top 12 list regardless of season. I feel you’ll get a better sense of my overall 2011 favorites rather than limiting myself by season.
To start things off, here’s a list of all the 2011 anime I’ve completed (or, in the case of certain ones, will complete before the year is over):
-finished airing from 2010
Bakuman
Digimon Xros Wars
Gosick
Tegami Bachi Reverse
To Aru Majutsu no Index 2
-finished airing from the winter ’11 season
Fractale
Hourou Musuko
Kimi ni Todoke season 2
Kimi ni Todoke Katomai special
Madoka Magica
OreImou specials
-finished airing from the spring ’11 season
Baka Test Matsuri OVA
Baka Test Ni!
[C]
Digimon Xros Wars: Aku no Death General to Shichinin no Oukoku
Hanasaku Iroha
The World God Only Knows season 2
Nichijou
Nichijou episode 0
Steins;Gate
-finished airing from the summer ’11 season
Ikoku Meiro
Ikoku Meiro special
Kami-sama no Memochou
No.6
Usagi Drop
Mawaru Penguindrum
-finished airing from the fall ’11 season
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai episode 0
Fate/Zero
Working’!!
And so, out of those, here are my top 12. I’ll be brief on each since I’ve already written about most of them on the blog before.
12. Hanasaku Iroha
A great character-driven series with a nice mix of drama, romance, and comedy. Beautiful animation and a strong feeling of intimacy and warmth between the characters. Not every episode is good though, and the pacing of the show isn’t for everyone. But for me, it was very enjoyable getting to know the staff of Kissuiso!
11. Hourou Musuko
One of the most unique series this year, both in visual style and story. Hourou Musuko offers an engaging look at adolescent struggles with relationships and sexuality in a very mature, well-written way.
10. Tegami Bachi Reverse
The second season of Tegami Bachi, and better in my opinion. Although it’s classified as shonen, Tegami Bachi is unlike other shonen series in that it’s “lighter,” with more emphasis on adventure and atmosphere rather than fighting and action. Reverse had a lot of great character development and dramatic moments, especially for my favorite character in the series, Niche. If the somewhat whiny protagonist doesn’t turn you off, the show is just an all around good adventure/fantasy story that never gets too intense or violent.
9. Working’!!
With two more episodes to go before it finishes airing, I’m enjoying this second season of Working!! more than the first. Almost every joke was funny to me, and I feel more attached to the characters than I had before. It’s a great example of pure character-driven humor done right.
8. Fate/Zero
I’m one of the few who’s watching Fate/Zero without having seen Fate/Stay Night. I was immediately hooked by the series’ well animated, fantasy-rich first episode. Cool characters, great action, and an engaging fantasy world are Fate/Zero’s strong points. I also like the fact that the characters are a variety of ages and ample attention is given to each, despite how many there are. Looking forward to the final episodes.
7. Baka Test Ni!
This second season of Baka Test is on par with the first – great slapstick comedy with animation and characters that seamlessly shift from bright and colorful to wild and wacky when the mood arises. But what Ni! does that the first season doesn’t is take a break from comedy for a while and dedicate a couple of episodes to brilliantly written, heartfelt character development episodes, proving that the series can excel with both comedy and drama.
6. Ano Hana
A big favorite of the year among many fans, Ano Hana is a great drama with interesting characters, a good variety of relationship angst, and a nice touch of subtle supernatural-ism. The only reason I can’t rate it higher is that it really does go overboard with the angst and melodrama, especially when I watched it a second time. Still a good show if you like tear-jerkers though.
5. Steins;Gate
As I said in my thorough review of the series, Steins;Gate starts out witty, meandering, and only slightly mysterious in its first half, then suddenly shifts to dark, dramatic, and heavily goal-oriented in its latter half. I’d definitely say that the slow start is worth it for the amazing drama and sci-fi mind games of its later episodes.
4. Usagi Drop
I think just about everyone who’s seen this show agrees that it’s perfectly sweet, charming, and never insults one’s intelligence in spite of all its cuteness. Rin is a doll without having to shove her cuteness in our face, and Daikichi and the other characters are just overall likable and realistic. It’s not a very “anime-ish” anime, but that’s what makes it refreshing.
3. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée
One of the best iyashi-kei anime I’ve seen, Ikoku Meiro is great at being cute and soothing, but also interesting with its historical setting. Like the most famous iyashi-kei anime, Aria, Ikoku Meiro is all about creating a pleasant atmosphere through setting and characters, which it does very well. And unlike so many others, Yune’s moe is one I won’t soon forget! If you like this kind of gentle show that offers drama and comedy, without being extreme in either, this is one to check out.
2. Bakuman
Despite some misgivings people have about Bakuman, I find it an extremely well written series that doesn’t need fantasy and action to get its shonen story across. The characters are likable (not your typical bad asses or hyper loudmouths) and the unique premise about making manga creates great suspense as we follow our heroes through many successes and failures. And the currently airing season 2 is just as good!
1. (and Anime of the Year) Madoka Magica
I can’t say much more about this show that I haven’t said before. This series brought out so many emotions, from fooling us with a cliche beginning only to suddenly shock us before continuing to deviate from expectations, blurring the line between magical girl and horror anime. Drama, suspense, brilliant Shaft-animation, Yuki Kajiura music, an unforgettable animal mascot that become an Internet phenomena, shocks, twists, angst, and finally, ending on a beautiful message of hope – Madoka Magica gave so much to anime fandom this year. Out of all the anime that aired in 2011, I’m very certain that Madoka will be the most memorable in the years to come (especially with new movies on the way!) I definitely like it the most out of all the others I’ve seen this year.
*Licensor of the Year* I haven’t bought too much anime this year, but from what I have bought, I’d have to give this honor to Aniplex for their great OreImo limited edition DVD set. For less than $80 I got all 12 TV episodes plus the 4 specials, a mini artbook, sixteen beautiful postcards (with images from all the OreImo endings), and a two-sided poster. Very few R1 releases have those kinds of extra goodies for such a good price. Plus, Aniplex licensed Madoka and will be releasing the series on three BD sets, also with lots of extra goodies. More expensive unfortunately, but hopefully worth it. Thanks Aniplex for including nice character goods with your anime sets!
———-
So there are my picks for the 2011 AniBloggers Choice Awards. Be sure to check Kiddtic’s blog for results of the project, as well as an upcoming podcast. Since I won’t have to make a post about my top 5 anime of 2011 for New Year’s anymore, I’ll do another yearly post that day instead. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back with a regular post in a few days! ^_^
Other blogs participating in the AniBloggers Choice Awards:
2DT from 2D Teleidoscope
Kuuki from Enkuuki
Sam from The Otaku Study
TWWK from Beneath the Tangles
Marina from Anime B&B
Ephemeral Dreamer from Ephemeral Dreams
Judge from Moar Powah
AJ from AngryJellyfish’s Blog
Cytrus from Yaranakya
Nopy from Nopy’s Blog
Marow from Anime Viking
Akira from Moe Fundamentalism
AngeyJellyfish? I’m not deserving of such a cute nickname! :P Great list, though. :) I agree with you on most of these, aside from BakaTest (I found season 2 dragged a bit, especially in the whole girls bath peeping ‘arc’). Always nice to see Hourou Musuko get some love too, I get the impression it has been largely overlooked by the majority of fans.
I find it interesting how so many bloggers have different ways of deciding what series should qualify for a place on their lists – such as in your case, including 2010 series that run on to 2011, and excluding series that won’t end this year. In the past, I also favoured a list of just 5, but left out both series that started in 2010 AND ongoing series. Which may be a bit biased against Autumn series, in hindsight… I decided to stick to the rules as much as possible for the ACAA, but like you I couldn’t sort by season.
Derp… meant to say that in the past I left out series which started airing in the previous year, not 2010 specifically. Otherwise, last year’s list would have been pretty empty. :P
Ack, sorry about the typo in your blog’s name. I fixed it =P
Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled with that arc in Baka Test, but there were some funny parts, and I felt those dramatic episodes made up for it. And yes, I’d like to see more Hourou Musuko, though I don’t think it was a big enough hit to warrant a second season =/
Since most anime are ongoing stories, I feel I can judge them best when I’ve seen all the episodes, which is why I count 2010 titles that finish in 2011 and don’t count series that will continue into 2012. Just my personal way of doing yearly favorites, but everyone’s different ;)
Out of all the bloggers participating I was looking forward to yours the most, You have a rather…unique taste in anime so I was intrigued. Glad to know you love Bakuman just as much as I do and you picked Aniplex for the licensor award too. I really wanna get that Oreimo box it looked so good.
Thanks, I’m flattered you find me so…unique ^^,,, And nice to know another person who appreciates Bakuman.
I assume you live somewhere where US anime releases are hard to get? That’s too bad, but yes, that OreImo set is really nice. I wish more R1 releases had all those nice extras.
Sad not to see Penguindrum on this list. But I was kind of expecting it not to be.
I wholeheartedly agree with Madoka Magica as number one, which, of course, isn’t surprising in the slightest. Glad to see that Usagi Drop and Houro Musukou ranked in your top choices, too.
Only half of these would rank on my top 12. But you’ll see my top 10 of the year soon enough ;D Can’t wait to see your 12 moments!
LOL, I thought to myself when I was making the list “Myna’s gonna be disappointed that Penguindrum wasn’t one of my picks” XD I don’t hate the show or anything I just…have some issues with it. But rather than talk about it here, I plan to write a full review of the series when it finishes, so you can read that =)
I knew that Madoka would be among your favs too, and maybe Usagi Drop and Hourou Musuko. Looking forward to seeing what others you pick for your top 10 =D
Yes, you supposed correctly, I will be doing my 12 moments of anime for New Year’s instead ^_^
Emphemeral Dreamer, eh? Now that I’ve tried saying it out loud, it’s a bit of a tongue-twister, isn’t it? :P
I’ve seen half of your choices, and I’m glad to see that Hourou Musuko and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is on your list! Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a shoo-in for first place overall once the awards are over, I would think. ^_^
Ah, sorry about the typo in your name. I fixed it. I really was up too late making that list of bloggers XD
I wish Ikoku Meiro got more love, but then again, only certain people who like “soothing” anime can appreciate it. Hope to see Madoka get #1 out of all the results too =D
I haven’t seen a lot of the anime that you’ve listed – a time issue, for the most part – but I’m really glad that AnoHana, Usagi Drop, Hourou Musuko, and Working!! made your top 12. Those last two titles in particular don’t seem to have gotten as much attention as they deserve, and while I can understand why Working!! didn’t get a lot of hype, considering it was the second season, it saddens me a little that relatively few people seem to have watched Hourou Musuko all the way through. If there was such a thing as an award for the anime that presented sexuality and teenage angst the best, then Hourou Musuko certainly would have won it this year ’round. <3
Besides having pretty much no popular anime tropes and cliches, the design of Hourou Musuko is a bit…different too. I actually did have a bit of a problem with a lot of the characters looking too much alike. But still, it’s a very unique anime that decided to tell its story without utilizing cliches, which makes it great for some of us, but makes it lose popularity for many fans.
Anime lists based on enjoyability factor alone are as fun as they are hard to predict. I didn’t see that #2 Bakuman coming. I don’t watch the anime, but I do read the manga so I can understand the appeal though.
One note I’d like to make is that the “iyashi” in “iyashi-kei” ends with a single “i”. It kind of looks like an i-adjective, but it’s not: 癒す → 癒し. I just mention this because “iyashii” would be 卑しい or “vulgar/vile”, which is the one thing those series are not ;).
Oh, thanks for the correction. I fixed it. In my now seven years of studying Japanese both formally and informally, “iyashi” is one word I never came across until recently XD
I always enjoy looking at fellow bloggers’ favorites lists, preferably what they enjoy above all else. What anime someone prefers says a good lot about them as fans or even people, and I find that interesting ;)
Thanks for the pingback! :)
Very interesting list, it has a very personal touch to it which I like, even if I always don’t agree with the rankings~
And this list reminds me that I have yet to watch Ikoku Meiro…
You don’t happen to like Natsume Yuujinchou? I’d say you might love it judging from this list and some other posts. But of course, I might be completely wrong!
You’re welcome =D
Like Myna said below, I haven’t seen Natsume Yuujinchou. It has piqued my interest though, so we’ll see if I ever get around to watching it ;)
She just hasn’t seen Natsume yet. :)
Thanks for mentioning me! Appreciate it! Thanks to that, I was able to discover another awesome site! Don’t know your policy on link exchanges, but I’ll link to your site anyways :)
I haven’t compiled MY personal list yet, just a few of my writers’ picks. I’ll be posting my picks later today. I like your list, some very interesting choices.
Thanks, I’m glad you found my list interesting and you’ve taken a liking to my blog ^^,,, We can do a link exchange if you’d like. Just let me know =)
I’ll keep a lookout for your list =D
Saw that you commented on my list, thanks! Figured it would be easier reaching you on your site XD. I do love my Angel Beats! that’s for sure.
Anyways, would love to do a link exchange, went ahead and added your site to my blogroll :)
I added Moar Powah! to my blogroll too ^_^
I don’t think it’s my personal favourite of the year, but I definitely think Madoka should come near the top of any list.
And ooh, Fate/Zero is already over? I should really get on with watching it.
Nice to see kind words about Tegami Bachi, too. It gets much too much hate for something that’s only meant to be silly fun.
I’m surprised you didn’t watch Tiger & Bunny, and that No 6 didn’t make your list!
Fate/Zero isn’t over. More like only the first part of the series (which barely concludes anything).
Tiger & Bunny and No.6 are more of the rare nominees in this year top favorite ;D The most common ones are Madoka, Fate/Zero, Steins;Gate and Mirai Nikki, pwning every other entries D;
Yeah, Fate/Zero will end in a couple of weeks (it’s just gonna be a one-cour at 13 episodes though maybe a season 2 will follow).
I think Tegami Bachi is a nice family show – like I said, it has that shonen feel but more whimsical and touching rather than a lot of action and superpowers.
I watched the first episode of Tiger & Bunny but didn’t like it that much. After I heard all the praise it got later on though, I kind of regret dropping it ^^ I might watch it another time. And No.6 might have been on the list were it not for the rushed ending XP
Nice list :) Was not too fond of baka test, but I agree with your choices. Madoka was incredibly good, together with Usagi drop and Bakuman. Good choices there!
Thanks, glad you liked my choices. Madoka and Usagi Drop get plenty of praise, so I’m glad to know someone else who likes Bakuman =D
Wow, another person that thought Hourou Musuko was well-written. Glad I am not the only one that seemed to have watched it.