Last season's top 3

[Pandadice]

^it's good to see Shangri-La there, because i stopped watching at episode 2 (not by choice though), and i've been waiting to pick it back up because 1. i wanted a complete batch torrent, and 2. to hear how the ending fairs.

as for my picks.. trying to remember everything i followed.. whoa, there really wasn't many shows this season... maybe it just seems that way because there's about twice as many airing in the fall?

Tokyo magnitude 8.0 - it was an original and creative series that i thought was done really well. the animation was awesome, and i thought the ending was great.

(i think Sora no Manimani would go here, but i'm still waiting for the last episode :x)

Bakemonogatari - though i was really torn between putting this or putting Canaan because i felt super similar between them the entire season. they both intially got me interested with the premiere ep, but i quickly lost interest, only to find the ending of both to be fantastic.

but enough comparing them. now about why i chose Bakemonogatari. Even though there was literally only 4 episodes that i found to be more than 15% interesting, those four episodes were awesome. it was really hit or miss with this one, but when it hit it was a grand-slam.

[Kraco]

Hmm, counting only shows that just ended...

Bakemonogatari. Unique, graphically and story wise, this past season. Very interesting characters for sure, including the easily number 1 anime girl of summer 2009.

Tokyo Magnitude. Every now and then realistic series are very nice. This managed to feel quite realistic yet still have an excellent twist. Pleasant characters as well.

Spice and Wolf II. I wasn't actually as satisfied with this I had been expecting beforehand but it wasn't bad either and had lots of jolly good scenes. I was pondering whether to enter this or Umi Monogatari, but I think in the end Spice and Wolf has a bigger impact factor in the long run.


Ryllharu's Shangri-La I dropped after the first episode because of too many annoying elements. Too bad about Range Murata's character designs (which are good).

[Buffalobiian]

Princess Lover
Tears to Tiara
Valkyria Chronicles





-----------------------

No, really, it would be:

Bakemonogatari: Story integration was superb. The characters were all likable, so much that I can't think of a single one I didn't. SHAFT's one-of-a-kind sense of humour and animation style perfectly compliments a wacky story about ghosts and oddities. Highly recommended.

CANAAN: Another show with great visuals, this time in the form of fight choreography. The story throws a lot at you in the beginning, keeping you strapped in for a good part of the show with its mystery. The characters are excellent are well-thought out, though not as intoxicating as Bakemonogatari. It's a bit different from your conventional action series, so I'd recommend it for those looking for something a bit different regarding the story, but still want beautifully animated action scenes.

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom: A story about two brainwashed assassins and their lives in the American underworld. The female lead with a missing heart is by far the charm of the show, followed by the character interactions between her and the male lead. Thinking back, the twisted (yet brilliant) mind of a certain character plays a part in this show's enjoyment simply by making us anticipate his/her next move. It's a bit hard to place my finger on what exactly makes this show good, so I'll settle with "atmosphere".

[shinta|hikari]

I generally love shows that affect me emotionally and has a lot of impact, as opposed to shows that are simply very well done. Because of this, I will not include Canaan in the list. It was very well done, but did not really get me attached to any of the characters enough to actually care if they live or die.

Bakemonogatari - A story about supernatural beings brilliantly tied into a refreshing harem (yes I know that is usually an oxymoron, but not in this case). It has good witty dialog, and very interesting characters. Quite a lot of the jokes require a decent knowledge of anime or Japanese culture, so some people just may not get the appeal of the humor in most of the conversations. This is hands down the best show of 2009 as of now.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Realistic story that has a good twist that really grabs at the heartstrings.

Spice and Wolf II - Holo.

[Dark Dragon]

Bakemonogatari is the only anime from the summer season that kept me interested pass 3 episodes so it gets the vote. It's pretty much for the same reason as everyone else in this thread who put it as their favorite. .

[MFauli]

What, a whole season is over?!?
Eh, lets see....Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 was the only show I watched, so that one.

Shitty season, but got me the chance to watch some great older stuff, like:

Dennou Coil
Infinite Ryvius
Welcome to the NHK
Kodomo no Jikan (okay, not so great, lol)
Gintama (im at episode 17)

And just yesterday i started:

sCryed
Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka

[masamuneehs]

i only watched a few shows in their entirety, and have just glimpsed episodes here and there for most of the other shows. with my computer lagging to play mkvs, there isn't much available for me to watch, really.

1. Guin Saga
Guin is all that is badass. This is a show that doesn't try to overdo things, and I really appreciate that. They throw alot of characters at you, and it certainly isn't easy to like the two annoying ones, but the action is fantastic, and the good characters are excellent. Aldo Naris is fucking pimp nasty.

2. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
I love the manga, so this one would have had to have fucked up really bad to not get on this list.

3. There is no three. Everything else I watched was either forgetable, run-of-the-moe that couldn't keep me more than a few episodes in, or I just haven't watched it yet. I do want to get around to finishing Eden and watching Phantom, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is on my hard drive somewhere, but I have a feeling I won't be able to fluidly watch that one until I get a new computer.

[oyabun]

1. Bakemonogatari (KEWL)
2. Saki (I love mahjong and I love Saki)
3. Guin Saga (Although I don't like Naris..)

[Marik]

Hrmm, for me it was.

1. Bakemonogatari - Words don't do it justice.
2. Hayate no Gotoku!: 2nd Season - Something I looked forward to every week.
3. Saki - Yuri Mahjong. Taco Power!

[Yukimura]

Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom - I loved the story, I loved the the characters, I loved the music, and I even liked the ending (apparently I'm the only one though).

Guin Saga - Guin is BOSS, however there are several other characters who shine in their own way. Even characters who are crappy but on some occasions actually manage to improve the show because of their crappiness. The only regret I have about this series is that I is going to end prematurely.

Needless - Completely underrepresented on this forum and in the community at large is the slapstick retarded action/comedy genre where Needless fits in perfectly. If you want to just turn your brain off and go for a roller coaster ride of absurdity and action and fanservice this is the show for you. It's in the vein of Kamen no Maid Guy but with a more coherent plot or in the vein of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan with a less coherent plot.

Dishonorable Mentions
Bakemonogatari - I want to go on record as the only self-described anime fan I know who overall didn't like Bakemonogatari. This sentiment is largely based on my dislike of a particular character which grew in proportion to how much they were liked by the community at large. If not for that character's prominence in the show I think I would have enjoyed the show a lot more as it had several interesting characters and stories and offered plenty of food for thought NOT related to the character who fueled my disdain. This being said I recognize that the show probably would have been about 1/1000th as popular without the character in question since all anyone but me seemed to care about was this particular character.

[Pandadice]

Fall 2009

Blue Literature - A very fascinating series, with an anthology-esque presentation. The way they adapted 6 books, and each book got a different director/writer and were done in different styles, was cool. I enjoyed most all the adaptations, and they actually made me want to buy/read the original books they're adapted from.

Sora no Otoshimono - Great comedy, good characters, great ending. The series' humor was consistently funny, and i really enjoyed the series overall.

Seitokai no Ichizon - this one is the weakest entry.. it's more the "best of the worst" I guess. The humor was there sometimes and not other times. it tried to do a lot of serious parts, and again it was there sometimes, but most of the time I just didn't enjoy it. I also didn't like the animation. The ending was pretty good, and that's what gets it this slot, but if i was judging by any random ep, this probably wouldn't be on the list.

[shinta|hikari]

Hanasakeru Seishounen - This series has not ended yet, but it will end in the next few weeks, so I think this belongs to the fall season according to the rules of this thread. Really great josei series, with great characters even if it has tons of bishounens. The politics and plot really got me caught up in this show, and the minimal focus on romance is a really good aspect. It hasn't even ended, but they have to fuck up the last 2-3 episodes in epic proportions in order for me to remove this from my top 3.

Seitokai no Ichizon - This show is either hit or miss. Either the episode is fantastic, or boring. The boring parts are not nearly as bad as they may sound though, since it does push character development and back story to the forefront. The comedy is hilarious, and I have always liked shows that incorporate the 4th wall strategy for comedic effect. Also, Mokyu~ was so MOE (Marshmallow Over Evil). It is the contrast that clinches it.

Natsu no Arashi 2 and Sora no Otoshimono - I couldn't decide between the two, so I had to put them both up as a tie. Natsu no Arashi was a lot better this season, with more character development than the last, without sacrificing its own unique brand of gags and time trip shenanigans. Sora no Otoshimono, on the other hand, has awesome perverted jokes, and over the top episodes filled with utter nonsense, and that is what made it great. The nipple song and the flying flock of panties are things I will never forget. The fantastic action scene in the final episode, which rivals Railgun's episode 12, helps place it in my list.

[Ryllharu]

Nyan Koi - I might not be happy with the way the love triangles are going, but this series was one of the best this season. It had great animation that shifted nicely between detailed animation and super deformed shocked expressions. Also, a solid voice cast that could capture the range of emotions the series struck at. Even though I may have preferred one of the heroines over the others, I found it impossible to dislike any of them really. Each of them had hilarious quirks from being obsessed with gangsters to being a stalker that would put all others to shame. The cats also had personality, even if a lot of them were one-shot characters. The humor was always there, and the drama never spoiled the mood by being contrived or overbearing.

Kämpfer - This was a series I had one of lowest expectations I've ever had for a series. But it was damn funny. I laughed during every episode. This series kills brain cells, and it knew it. It played it up further by having the VAs often address each other directly or telling us to ignore the thin plot because it didn't really have any bearing. But where this series really excelled was at the art of the tease. It was charged with ecchi and sexual references, but they never showed anything, even for a moment. Everything was left up to the imagination, and it worked wonders. Perhaps the DVD versions will be a bit more overt, but it was very well executed. I'm sure it strays from the source material a great deal, but I found it to be very successful as the trash that it is.

Sora no Otoshimono - Rounding out the three is another comedy series. Otoshimono in some ways took the perverted jokes farther than Kampfer, but most were well below the depths that Kampfer took itself. The main character ended up completely naked a lot more often than I would have expected. The series also spent some time going for a serious angle, and while it was entertaining, the comedy was much better. This series also had great animation, and the voice cast was a great mix of rising talent, newcomers, and a few veterans. The characters and cute moments between them are what made this series successful.


I found most of the series that were trying to be serious to generally be letdowns. Some of them tried too hard, some of them just ended up being confusing, and others stumbled at the end when they appeared to be at their peak. These three were the most successful because most of them never really had a low point during their entire run (Kampfer's final episode was a side story and I'm giving it a pass).

[Buffalobiian]

Nyan Koi!

Kampfer

Seitokai no Ichizon / Natsu no Arashi S2

First two for reasons stated by Ryll, last two for reasons stated by shinta.

Half way through this season I was thinking that the top three would be hard to decide because of so many good shows. By the end of it, the Top 3 became hard to decide because so many of them ended up stumbling awkwardly over the finish line.

Had the endings not been lacking, I believe Needless and 11eyes would have made the list, but they lose out a bit on originality as well.

[masamuneehs]

Nyan Koi!
Ryl said it. For me, this was the biggest positive surprise of the season. I came for the comedy and silly premise, and I stayed for the love story and characters. And this is ME we're talking about. Great cast, ridiculous gags, fanservice, serious romance, believable characters, ample use of music and SFX.

Needless
It was good when it was mindless and it was hilarious when it was crack-head humor, but this show was just plain awful when it tried to get serious and give us an ending. The last five episodes of this show were boring, run-of-the-mill forgetable.

11eyes
I came late to this party, but I thought it was very entertaining, even with a bunch of flaws. This was one of the few series from this season that I thought could be longer, and I would have preferred the story to be less exposition, the bad guys a little more developed. Full of cliches and borrows just about everything from other shows/games, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. Except for the ending, which is a rather big letdown.

Others
I really lost interest in Seitokai, and Sacred Blacksmith was a severe letdown. I still haven't watched the rest of Sora wo Oto, but it was quite funny from what I saw. This past season of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was pretty mediocre, although still way better than most of the shows that finished recently. Letter Bee gets an honorable mention for having me, still, in no way, shape, or form, have any definite feelings on whether it's good or bad. Could not get into Kampfer at all.

[Archangel]

Nyan Koi!
Ryl said it. For me, this was the biggest positive surprise of the season. I came for the comedy and silly premise, and I stayed for the love story and characters. And this is ME we're talking about. Great cast, ridiculous gags, fanservice, serious romance, believable characters, ample use of music and SFX.

Needless
It was good when it was mindless and it was hilarious when it was crack-head humor, but this show was just plain awful when it tried to get serious and give us an ending. The last five episodes of this show were boring, run-of-the-mill forgetable.

11eyes
I came late to this party, but I thought it was very entertaining, even with a bunch of flaws. This was one of the few series from this season that I thought could be longer, and I would have preferred the story to be less exposition, the bad guys a little more developed. Full of cliches and borrows just about everything from other shows/games, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. Except for the ending, which is a rather big letdown.

Others
I really lost interest in Seitokai, and Sacred Blacksmith was a severe letdown. I still haven't watched the rest of Sora wo Oto, but it was quite funny from what I saw. This past season of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was pretty mediocre, although still way better than most of the shows that finished recently. Letter Bee gets an honorable mention for having me, still, in no way, shape, or form, have any definite feelings on whether it's good or bad. Could not get into Kampfer at all.

This, in every single word. I would like to thank masa for peeking into my mind and posting everything i was going to write before i did

I would simply like to add that Needless only got awful by the last 2 episodes and a few swear words when referring to Kampfer

[Yukimura]

My top there

11eyes - Relatively good subversion of the fairy tale story, interesting characters and good twists. The pseudo reset button ending was a let down but at least it wasn't a full reset.

Sora no Otoshimono - Plenty of laughs plus fanservice, plus sadistic class presidents, what more could I ask for?

Kampfer - Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri, Yuri,Yuri Delicious Yuri. Plus it was funny and seemed to be aware of how absurd its central premise was.

My Honorable Mention goes to Needless for being such a fun ride, it's too bad about the ending being underwhelming, but I had resigned myself to that early. Needless felt like it was geared towards being fun in the moment, it never seemed like it could pull off an effective epic ending to me.

[Kraco]

It's pretty tough this time. Not awfully lots of the kind of series I'd really prefer and some turning out to be disappointments. Nyan Koi might cut it because the main character actually knew which girl he wanted and worked for it. I'll also add here Kemono no Souja Erin even though I still have a few eps unwatched from the end, but I'm pretty sure it won't disappoint me. It started a year ago but ended in december so it belong here, technically. Let's add Darker Than Black 2 as the third one, even though it was a failure if compared to the first season.

[Pandadice]

Top 3 for the Winter 09-10 season.

Kimi ni Todoke - Easily my favorite series that aired. The characters were awesome, and the animation was stunning. Not much of an ending, But even without that it was still 25 solid enjoyable eps.

So.Ra.No.Wo.To - This one was interesting. Even if the stories or characters seemed boring to me, I was still consistently impressed and in awe at the animation. The backgrounds and landscapes were just fantastic. I really enjoyed the ending to this to

Ladies vs Butlers - This series was surprisingly really good. At first glance it was simply a heavily fanserviced uncensored "romantic comedy". That's what I thought I was at first though. However, once you get into it, the characters (the main 2 females at least) are really well developed and just awesome character. I think this could've been a lot better without the amount of nudity in it, but it was still a really great watch. Though the ending was questionable. The animation in this was surprisingly good too.

[MFauli]

My top 3 of the last season;

1.) Baka to Test to Shoukanju
Reeeally funny show. Should go on forever, felt to me like a japanese SouthPark at times.

2.) Cross Game
Didnt like it that much in the beginning, but the characters grew on me. Final episode was alright.

3.) Chubra
Because there wasnt anything else. I feel ashamed having watched this series :/