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Endorph
Jul 22, 2009
1) unlimited blade works: i like f/sn and this is a perfect adaptation of the second best route. it stays close to the original story, all the alterations/additions it makes are both justifiable and smart, and it's animated beautifully.

2) Stardust Crusaders: it's jojos

3) Parasyte: i didnt expect to like this as much as i did. the characters are pretty fleshed out, and the core mystery is interesting. Only real complaint is that the action scenes basically come down to a 3 second loop of blades moving too fast to be seen, over and over and over again. That's fine since fighting isn't really the focus, but it's still a little annoying. The mom's death was actually pretty sad, since unlike most anime mom deaths they actually built her up as a character before killing her off.

4) Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun: it was funny and for a gag series the main punchline (this person looks like they should be x but they're actually y mixed with :biotruths:) is pretty smart and leads to some likable characters. Paras is my favorite pokemon.

5) Gundam Build Fighters: pretty average toy schlock fare with enthusiasm as its only saving grace. Fortunately, it had that in spades. I could only really recommend it to fans of Gundam, but if you're a fan of Gundam it's an absolute blast from beginning to end, with some well-animated fight scenes, cute references/throwbacks, and the best mom.

honorable mention:

Sword Art Online II: needed about 6 less episodes but I had fun watching it.

Kill la Kill: i havent watched this show but it's brought me an incredible amount of joy.

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devtesla
Jan 2, 2012


Grimey Drawer

Outer Science posted:

I tried to watch Ping Pong but the animation made me so motion-sick I literally threw up irl after episode one so that idea didn't work out

Used to lovely anime like No Game No Life, when presented with good anime your body rejected it.

Outer Science
Dec 21, 2008

Daisangen

The Devil Tesla posted:

Used to lovely anime like No Game No Life, when presented with good anime your body rejected it.

help i need an intervention

darkgray
Dec 20, 2005

My best pose facing the morning sun!
So, well, just to make it clear, since people as usual are unable to read the rules: Parasyte is not eligible in 2014. Thank you for not picking it.

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

darkgray posted:

So, well, just to make it clear, since people as usual are unable to read the rules: Parasyte is not eligible in 2014. Thank you for not picking it.
3) RWBY

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
No Game No Life- This show was like Kaiji but with panty shots. Great job.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure- DIO is my enemy, for sure

Ping Pong- This was the best show of the year

Space Dandy- This one was good too

Homo Boys Bike Club- I like to imagine Onoda getting a hot gently caress from the team captain

devtesla
Jan 2, 2012


Grimey Drawer

Big Anime Fan Here posted:

Homo Boys Bike Club- I like to imagine Onoda getting a hot gently caress from the team captain

Same but Makishima and a bicycle.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
I'm going to say Kill la Kill just barely edges out Stardust Crusaders. It was kind of a weak year overall, in terms of number of great shows, but the ones that were good were spectacular.

WickedHate fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Dec 22, 2014

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH PING PONG THIS YEAR IS A REAL MORON

Good Listener
Sep 2, 2006

Ask me about moons
Fact #1 The Moon is really cool
In no particular order, these are my faves of the year!

Space Dandy - I love Dandy just so much. It was just full of stupid space junk and great episodes. Serious ones, goofy ones. So much Dandy love.

Engaged to the Unidentified - This one had a cute little romance story that I really liked and the characters and animation were really fun too.

Kill la Kill - I can recognize its faults but I got very invested in the ending, especially the big fight on the boat between Ryuko and Satsuki. I had fun and am glad it pulled off an ending I was completely satisfied with. Also Blumenkrantz.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - This show is just full of so many great characters and fun facial expressions. I was hooked after the dating sim segment. Just a genuinely funny and appealing show.

Amagi Brilliant Park - The dark horse of sorts. I wasn't expecting much out of it but I genuinely love this show. It has a great cast and I'm interested every week seeing what'll happen and see how horrible Tiramie is.

Honorable mentions!
Tonari no Seki-kun - A cute little show that had one of my most favorite recurring bits of the year: ROBOT FAMILY. Fun characters and really good for its 10 minute episode runtime.

Shirobako - Been watching this one as it came out and all and it's a fun look into the anime industry. It gets stressful sometimes but I really look forward to seeing how things will shape up each week.

Roobanguy
May 31, 2011

Big Anime Fan Here posted:

EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH PING PONG THIS YEAR IS A REAL MORON

agreed

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

WickedHate posted:

I'm going to say Kill la Kill just barely edges out Stardust Crusaders. It was kind of a weak year overall, in terms of number of great shows, but the ones that were good were spectacular.

Watch Ping Pong.

Big Anime Fan Here posted:

EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH PING PONG THIS YEAR IS A REAL MORON

I'm glad we have a big anime fan here to tell everyone that Ping Pong rules.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax

Srice posted:

Watch Ping Pong.

I've seen gifs of it, but aside from good animation it doesn't really interest me.

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

WickedHate posted:

I've seen gifs of it, but aside from good animation it doesn't really interest me.

I don't want to put you on the spot but I'm curious, why not?

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax

Srice posted:

I don't want to put you on the spot but I'm curious, why not?

I find the art style really off putting and I don't care for most sports anime in general that don't involve racing or direct fighting.

icantfindaname
Jul 1, 2008


WickedHate posted:

I've seen gifs of it, but aside from good animation it doesn't really interest me.

You watch double digit episodes of Mahouka without understanding what's wrong with it but don't want to watch Ping Pong? Are you like a golem of bad opinions or something?

ViggyNash
Oct 9, 2012

WickedHate posted:

I've seen gifs of it, but aside from good animation it doesn't really interest me.

Let me give a reason to watch this show: Yuasa is a competent storyteller. That already makes Ping Pong better than 99% of all anime.

In a normal sport show, the drama would come entirely from the contrived drama of a match or training. Ping Pong was entirely unconcerned with who won or lost and was far more interested in the characters themselves. In fact, you don't see who won the final match until we see a framed picture of the podium shot during a flash-forward. Ping Pong is only partially a sports show; the character drama of its main cast is the real meat and, it does character development better than any show this year except maybe Mushi-shi.

So unless you are so anime that you are allergic to quality storytelling, I would suggest watching Ping Pong. Also don't watch if you are prone to motion sickness, because, yeah, the animation can get pretty wobbly.

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

WickedHate posted:

I find the art style really off putting and I don't care for most sports anime in general that don't involve racing or direct fighting.

While that is fair, I do wanna comment that putting sports anime all under one umbrella can do it a disservice. Lots of different types are present in that genre (the bulk of which follow shonen tropes but not all of them are like that!) and Ping Pong is fairly unique among them! If it wasn't such an excellent character study and was just about dudes playing a sport, it would have its fans but it wouldn't be as critically acclaimed as it is.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax

icantfindaname posted:

You watch double digit episodes of Mahouka without understanding what's wrong with it but don't want to watch Ping Pong?

It was deceptively good for awhile before I read some of what people had been posting about future events in the books. :shrug:

ViggyNash posted:

Let me give a reason to watch this show: Yuasa is a competent storyteller. That already makes Ping Pong better than 99% of all anime.

In a normal sport show, the drama would come entirely from the contrived drama of a match or training. Ping Pong was entirely unconcerned with who won or lost and was far more interested in the characters themselves. In fact, you don't see who won the final match until we see a framed picture of the podium shot during a flash-forward. Ping Pong is only partially a sports show; the character drama of its main cast is the real meat and, it does character development better than any show this year except maybe Mushi-shi.

So unless you are so anime that you are allergic to quality storytelling, I would suggest watching Ping Pong. Also don't watch if you are prone to motion sickness, because, yeah, the animation can get pretty wobbly.

I'll watch the first few episodes before Christmas, then, and see how I like it.

Srice posted:

While that is fair, I do wanna comment that putting sports anime all under one umbrella can do it a disservice.

I don't like most sports, though. Like I don't wanna be snobbish about it but if I can't get my head into the game a show is centered around it probably do much for me. ViggyNash's description sounds like that isn't a problem with Ping Pong, though.

WickedHate fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Dec 22, 2014

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
You won't regret watching Ping Pong, the best anime of 2014

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

WickedHate posted:

I don't like most sports, though. Like I don't wanna be snobbish about it but if I can't get my head into the game a show is centered around it probably do much for me. ViggyNash's description sounds like that isn't a problem with Ping Pong, though.

The open secret about a lot of sports anime is that you don't even have to be interested in the particular sport at all to enjoy it. All of my favorites I enjoy for their strong cast and they could be doing any sort of activity and I'd still watch 'em. I am sure a lot of the people that post in the sports anime thread would agree on that.

Srice fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Dec 22, 2014

Roobanguy
May 31, 2011

ping pong is probably the best anime i have watched in a very long time. its right up there with legend of galactic heroes imo.

ZepiaEltnamOberon
Oct 25, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022
Top 5

1. Gekkan Shoujou Nozaki-kun: I was hyped as gently caress when I heard about the animated adaptation, and it didn't disappoint at all. I seriously wish this had gone on for at least one more season, but then again given how popular it was it probably will return soon enough. Every character except Maeno (loving tanukis) was the best character, though Seo was the best among even them.
2. Kill la Kill: A ha ha. This loving anime. So loving divisive. I loved the wackiness, the music, the fourth-wall shenanigans, the music, the fights, and so forth. There were a lot of things that it could have done without, but even so I consider it to be one of the best this year. Also I really liked the music. Like Nozaki, every character was the best character and Senketsu was the best bro.
3. Unlimited Blade Works: ufotable always delivers. The fight scenes are amazing, and I'm enjoying even the talky episodes. I guess ufotable + Type-Moon is a just a naturally winning combination. Given that I've never actually read the Fate series (I mostly just read wiki articles, fan comics, and watched the Deen Fate/stay night and ufotable's Fate/zero), it's really interesting to see how stuff actually happened and why. Makes me want the Heaven's Fall version sooner so best Servant Rider can finally stand in the spotlight.
4. Is the Order a Rabbit?: I started watching this because someone said there was a talking rabbit voiced by Norio Wakamoto but it pretty much became my chill-time anime. No drama, just girls talking about coffee and rabbits. It's interesting to watch Chino grow as a character under Cocoa's influence, and I just like how the characters interact with one another. Also, Chiya is the best.
5. Barakamon: Charming, funny, and quite heartwarming. Handa's evolution as a character and how he comes to accept Naru and the rest of the island was pretty sweet. The voice acting for Naru was also really good.

Honorable Mentions and Other poo poo

Inou Battle: Hatoko's outburst against Andou was pretty much one of my favorite moments in anime. Hayami Saori was loving amazing when voicing Hatoko and now I actually care about voice actors.
Engaged to the Unidentified: I don't remember how I found this, but I was glad I did. When Chu2 S2 failed to satisfy my craving for anime romance, this was here to make up for it in spades. It wasn't really something amazing, but I liked the characters and the relationship between the main couple. I think of it as the hidden gem of whatever season it aired in, since I don't think I saw anyone talking about it.
Sabagebu: Bitches be crazy. In an amusing way.
Amagi Brilliant Park: Came for characters named after rappers, stayed for theme park shenanigans with mascots. Probably the first KyoAni thing I've seen since Lucky Star, and I liked it quite a lot.
Puchim@s 2: Wait, this was this season? I loved the first season, and I liked what I saw of the second. I also binged through the manga. Mindless short fun.
Rage of Bahamut: I tried the smartphone game way like 2 years back and wasn't particularly impressed. I took a look at the ADTRW thread for it and thought the gifs were awesome, so I gave it a try and got hooked. This may be the only anime to use 3D/CGI dragons and not be poo poo?
Hunter x Hunter 2011: Pretty much the best adaptation of a shounen manga that I've seen. No stupid fillers, a total of 1(!) recap episode waaaaay early on, and fantastically animated. It helps that Togashi is really good at creating a manga. If only he'd come back from his hiatus.

Stuff I should watch

JoJo: Seriously, the gifs look amazing. I want to know why the mustache guy was punching that frog flat. I need to know.
Hanamonogatari: Also Nekomonogatari, why haven't I watched that yet?

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009
I watched pingpong and found all the characters really boring. I don't mind the idea of it not really being about the wins and losses, but the characters weren't enough to carry it for me.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
You are wrong, and also bad.

Obscil
Feb 28, 2012

PLEASE LIKE ME!
1. Ping Pong: Some of the most realistic and good characters I have ever seen in an anime.
2. Mushishi: Every episode is has a wonderful mystical feel to it.
3. Jojo: One of the best mangas ever finally gets a good adaption.
4. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun: Crazy characters misunderstand each other and hilarity ensues.

Blhue
Apr 22, 2008

Fallen Rib

Endorph posted:

I watched pingpong and found all the characters really boring. I don't mind the idea of it not really being about the wins and losses, but the characters weren't enough to carry it for me.

I'd emptyquote this if I could. its a boring story carried by good direction.

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
I'm salty about it.

devtesla
Jan 2, 2012


Grimey Drawer

Blhue posted:

I'd emptyquote this if I could. its a boring story carried by good direction.

Clearly inferior to the average visual novel, that's for sure.

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

The Devil Tesla posted:

Clearly inferior to the average visual novel, that's for sure.
Yeah, exactly.

planetarial
Oct 19, 2012
1. Mushishi Zoku Shou: I checked the first season a few weeks before this one aired was impressed, marathoned it in a week. And doubly impressed on how they managed to make the second season just as cool as the first one several years after the fact. If you're interested in nature, folklore, and more down to earth short stories you should watch this cause its super cool.

2. Space Dandy: Had tons of fun with this one. I can imagine the creators did too! They did whatever the hell they wanted to do which meant throwing a bunch of ideas/settings/genres. One episode its a bunch of homages, the next its a ghibi inspired fest, next its racing. Some of it didn't appeal to me that much but most of it did.

3. Ping Pong: Yuasa being Yuasa again. Also nice to see a sports story that is short but sweet and doesn't drag on forever.

4. Shingeki no Bahamut -Genesis-: Kind of cheating since I need to catch up on the last two episodes I think. Lots of fun. Cool high fantasyish story with angels, demons, and a charming rag tag bunch of heroes

5. Kill la Kill: Basically junk food the anime and had a bunch of problems but since the only other good stuff I watched this year isn't technically finished I'll list it here. It's Trigger/Imashi's weakest work of what I've seen so far but still a decent action fest show.

Fate UBW and Jojos get stuck in the honorable mentions corner since they aren't finished yet. Not even sure if I'd list Jojo anyway since the good chunk of Stardust Crusaders isn't as enjoyable to me as the rest of Jojo is.

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
In a surprise twist, the best anime of the year is actually printing out the One Punch Man redraw and flipping the pages before your eyes very quickly

GloomMouse
Mar 6, 2007

Srice posted:

The open secret about a lot of sports anime is that you don't even have to be interested in the particular sport at all to enjoy it.

See Chihayafuru with it's eXtreme card slapping action

HiveCommander
Jun 19, 2012

Big Anime Fan Here posted:

EVERYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH PING PONG THIS YEAR IS A REAL MORON
Ping Pong is a sport anim and I am a Goon. Goons and sports are like oil and water.

Lucy Heartfilia
May 31, 2012


1. Ping Pong
I especially liked the unconventional visual style and the animation, but what makes this anime stand out as the anime of the year is the unusual theme and the great characters as well as their development.

2. Mushishi S2
Ghost stories that are actually about people. Atmospheric and touching. At least as good as season 1.

3. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
Comedy Anime of the year. Brilliant character interactions, fun with both parodying shoujo manga as well as gender conventions.

4. Chaika
Best fantasy anime of the year. Fantastic story with believable, rational characters as well as great action.

5. Kill La Kill
I have to say that the second half was a bit disappointing and that I almost replaced it with one of my honorable mentions.

Honorable mentions:
Barakamon, Tonari no Seki-kun, Yuki Yuna, Sabagebu

Lucy Heartfilia fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Dec 22, 2014

laplace
Oct 9, 2012

kcab dneb smra ym semitemos tub ,reh wonk I ekil leef I
1. Ping Pong: The Animation: Yuasa and Choi working on an adaptation of a Matsumoto Taiyou Manga. This was literally enough of a pedigree to make it the best show of the year before it even came out. Fortunate for literally everyone on the planet earth it was better than expected, had excellent voice acting and a great soundtrack, and the animation maintained Yuasa quality the entire time.

ViggyNash posted:

Let me give a reason to watch this show: Yuasa is a competent storyteller. That already makes Ping Pong better than 99% of all anime.

2. Mushishi Zoku Shou: Artland made a second season of one of the best shows ever made and it was.... more of one of the best shows ever made. Had some animation hiccups but featured some excellent direction and consistently great writing.

3.Space Dandy: Yuasa and Choi worked on this too and, what a surprise, it was basically 26 episodes of Slapstick that then bends into itself to become a self-aware, self-referential sci-fantasy animator's showcase. Every episode is technically interesting and unique without alienating the whole, and by the end the entire show comes together to form a funny and cohesive arc that is so much more than its flavortext lets on.

4.Barakamon: Okay, if you told me that a show about a moeblob 7 year old hanging out with Daisuke Ono would be one of the best shows of the year I would have pointed you in the direction of the Umineko adaptation and then punched you in the face. It was, thankfully, the complete opposite of the Umineko adaptation and instead was an incredibly heartfelt, fun, pretty show that spins a 'learn to not be an autistic rear end in a top hat' narrative into something actually kind of heartfelt.

5.Haikyuu!: A super fun, genuine shounen sports anime that actually maintains relative animation quality and storytelling ability by grounding itself *somewhat* in the reality of its characters and their desire to play sports. The show lives and dies by its volleyball, and while it definitely has character drama it doesn't get caught up in everything besides its volleyball. Definitely reminiscent of Chihayafuru and Ookiku Furikabutte in the best ways.


Shingeki no Bahamut gets a shout out for having a relatively pretty and well paced first few episodes before the writing and art take a huge nose dive because it's a mobile cash in. Yoshino also puts in quite the performance as Guy With Vaguely Spaghetti Western Sounding Name. KlK Gets a shoutout as well for managing to surpass its first 12 episodes and become something a little tiny bit different than the same loving coming of age story Gainax has been telling since Eva. Also I know that Shirobako isn't on the list but it deserves nods for being hilarious and enlightening for people who don't really know much about the industry.

laplace fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Dec 22, 2014

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

GloomMouse posted:

See Chihayafuru with it's eXtreme card slapping action

Yes exactly! It's a game that's impossible to play without being fluent in Japanese, but were that a barrier to enjoying it then it wouldn't be as adored as it is.

ninjewtsu
Oct 9, 2012

1. Ping Pong - Best Anime of the Year

2. Chaika the Coffin Princess - Best Fight Scenes of the Year

3. Monthly Girls Nozaki-Kun - Best Comedy of the Year

4. Gundam Build Fighters - Best Toy Commercial of the Year

5. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Best JoJo of the Year

Chaika gets extra special mention for being an anime where it doesn't feel like literally every character has some kind of mild mental disability

ninjewtsu fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Dec 22, 2014

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
It's less about the sport than it is about the characters. Ping Pong and Chihayafuru have excellent characterization, with arcs that are well fleshed out on both our heros' sides and their rivals which ultimately don't directly require simply winning or losing their matches. There is a clear distinction in my mind between shows like those and what I guess I'd call hyper-shounen burning passion training montage content like Ippo, Prince of Tennis, or Eyeshield.

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Dick Spacious CPA
Oct 10, 2012

great job promoting rape culture by putting Kill la Kill on your "The Best of 2014" lists everyone. i thought we were better than this in ADTRW

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