Hey everyone, and welcome to part 2 of my media retrospective 2022. I do also have a part 1 going over some media experiences which I considered interesting or noteworthy in some way despite not being favorites of the year, which you may read here if you've missed it. But one look at the content of this blog will tell you that I've not written very much about film or games, because anime has been my primary interest. I'm now entering my 8th year of anime fandom, and although my relationship with this medium has changed drastically over all that time, my love for anime's creative ethos, rich tradition of stories, and wealth of interesting creators has only grown over time. In fact, it's grown so much that I find myself curious to keep learning as much about what comes out of this medium as I can, and that has resulted in my seasonal anime first impressions posts. As each anime season starts to kick into gear, I try out at least one episode of nearly everything that comes out, in order to see the state of the industry and to have at least some opinion and understanding of the modern anime landscape. And the result of trying out that many shows is that I drop a hell of a lot of stuff, but I also find a hell of a lot of gems. And so, I want to share some of those gems with all of you here, where I will be ranking every single anime that I completed (or otherwise saw a hugely significant amount of) which came out in 2022.
The "rules" for this list are simple. If I completed a 2022 anime, it will be eligible for this list. Sequels will also be included here (noting that they must be sequels to shows I have already seen). In the rare case of a show which has not yet completed its run by the end of 2022, I will be including it only if I feel I have seen a significant enough amount of it to be worth mentioning (though this really only applies to the year's Precure and maybe one or two other shows). I must mention that while I do try to get to everything, some things inevitably fall through the cracks, and that mostly came to Netflix batch releases and series that released in the middle of a season. Unfortunately, this means that shows like Kotarou Lives Alone, Tatami Time Machine Blues, The Orbital Children, and Romantic Killer will not appear on this list, simply because I have not seen them. This list will be ranked to some extent, but as always, I want to warn everyone to not place too much stock on my number choices, as they are representative of my "in the heat" decision making for the sake of this list, and most things that are close in rank to each other are relatively equal in my eyes. I recommend focusing on what I have to say about each of them more than their rankings. Please also don't take my first impressions lists into account, as my thoughts on many of them have changed significantly over time. Some I loved then have been dropped, and others I had low or mediocre opinions of have managed to surprise me. Finally, I want to do something a little fun for this list. I love awards, but don't want to make this a big awards show. Nonetheless, I want to give some shows that aren't necessarily my favorites (and many that are) special mention for qualities I feel stand out. As such, I will be "shouting out" certain shows for qualities I want to give special recognition too, to celebrate some of the strong creative endeavors that may not get attention otherwise. And finally, also for fun, I will be giving my best boy and best girl for each entry. And unlike my actual rankings and opinions, I need everyone to understand that my choices for best boy/girl are objectively correct. Anyway, with that out of the way, these are all of the 2022 anime that I completed.
58. Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World
Ah, the things I do for horny. I said it in my first impressions list, but I figured this show was gonna be bad and I was gonna stick with it anyway for the promise of some juicy sex scenes. Well, I did exactly that. It was... mildly worth it? This show's biggest problem is that it doesn't have enough sex scenes, which seems like a damning flaw for straight up pornography. The first one doesn't even come until 4 episodes in, and it's often a guess as to weather the next episode will have one. Any time not spent indulging in this series horny delights is spent watching our protagonist and his hot slave girlfriend slowly meander through blandly designed dungeons and defeat generic JRPG enemies to collect stuff. Michio and Roxanne don't have nearly enough personality or chemistry to carry these segments, and the action and direction have nothing going for them, so these moments are a total slog. Unfortunately, this is most of the show.
What sort of makes up for it is that this show definitely goes above and beyond whenever it actually rewards me for sulking through all of that with a sex scene. Those sex scenes are lengthy, titillating, and leave little to the imagination. They're the only time the show has nice artwork and good animation, and the characters actually do everything I'd expect them too. There was one moment in which Michio had Roxanne suck his finger, an obvious stand-in for a blowjob, and I figured that perhaps TV standards would not allow her to actually suck his dick and that this would have to suffice. The scene was titillating enough to satisfy me anyway, but then Michio directed her to do the same thing to his penis and I couldn't believe it. When the show does horny, it does all the horny, and it's very appealing horny to anyone who might not be turned off by its particular isekai sex slave fetish. So that's this show, a mostly boring dungeon crawler that intersplices literal porn sometimes. That makes it below average as fetish material, but skipping to the sex scenes might be worthwhile to anyone looking for a good horny time.
I am going to shout out Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World for having the best sex scenes of any show I watched this year. That really isn't saying much considering it has literally zero competition (I miss you Interspecies Reviewers), but anyone looking to anime to satisfy their horny cravings will genuinely find effective work here.
Best boy: Michio
Best Girl: Roxanne
57. Irodorimidori
Sometimes, it's nice to have a show that exists solely to pad out three minutes where your brain just needs to get back into the groove after a long day. Irodorimidori is a cute girls anime that I practically forgot I watched before looking to make sure I included everything I completed, but now I remember enough about it to say that it was thoroughly average. It's an inoffensive short that I used almost exclusively when I felt too burnt out to watch anything long or thought provoking, and it served its purpose admirably enough for that. The show is mildly pleasant, it has cute character designs and light-hearted humor that never impresses but is also thoroughly watchable given the 3-minute episode run time. It's also a painfully transparent K-On! clone, for whatever that's worth. But surprisingly, it doesn't completely fail to capture some of K-On!'s charm, and I actually thought it had potential to be decent were it given more run time. Its gags could land better, its characterization could be fleshed out more, and its plot lines could be given the emotional weight they were attempting. I can genuinely see some potential in this one, but it's held back by its unfortunate production and lack of run time, and thus will have to resign itself to being a forgettable experience I'll probably never think about ever again from here on out.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Nazuna
56. Bibliophile Princess
Bibliophile Princess had a tepid start, but set itself up to be a charming and low-key little romance, and one of the refreshing few targeting young girls at that. But nothing about the show ever changed. Its first conflict centered around Elianna realizing that Prince Christopher was not actually hiding things from her, but in fact fiercely loved her, and she was too absorbed into her books to realize anything that was going on. Elianna is a passive protagonist here, but her personal insecurities made for a nice hook, and the conflict gained a bit of weight as it went and concluded satisfactorily. And the second conflict was... exactly the same thing. And so were all the other ones. There are little bits of development here and there, as Elianna realizes the value that her unique thirst for knowledge and lack of bias in world politics brings to the table, but the show continues to hinge its drama on Elianna's passivity and insecurity over the Prince's feelings for her. It quickly loses steam and becomes simply a mildly pleasant and watchable show. I do thoroughly enjoy Chriostopher's very open flirting, and I wished the series would lean into that more, but Elianna never seems to take it to heart in realizing why he actually does this, which makes later romantic happenings lose some impact. It does manage some pretty solid worldbuilding with a few genuinely interesting little cultures we get bits and pieces of, but it doesn't dig into that quite enough to be worth watching the show for. None of the conflicts are actively badly written, they simply lack the bite for long-standing appeal, and the show's less than stellar artwork and animation takes out another avenue of engagement. The result is a show that I enjoyed enough to complete, but will not recommend strongly or watch again. It's a fine enough time, and that's really it.
Best Boy: Christopher
Best Girl: Elianna
55. Extreme Hearts
If you read part 1 of this retrospective, you'll have seen my fascination with the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise, which I watched for the first time this year. Although I found the quality of most franchise entries to be dubious, I ended up captivated by the barrage of strange and bizarrely specific ideas, as well as the sheer heart and charisma with which it tells its ridiculous stories. Nanoha writer Masaki Tsuzuki has brought most of those same talents to this years sci-fi idol coming-of-age sports dramedy Extreme Hearts. Combining incomprehensible worldbuilding full of specific details that make no sense with a heartfelt story about a team of misfits working to become professional musicians by playing sports with androids, Extreme Hearts is an absolute clusterfuck of stuff. Trying to think about the logic of making singers learn to play literally every sport using body enhancement technology in order to make it big, or considering the implications of how androids are presented in this world, made my head explode. But Masaki Tsuzuki pours his blessed heart into everything he makes, and tells this insane story with so little cynicism and so much charisma that I couldn't help but be endeared to it.
But it also shows how much this writer has grown at his craft in comparison to his previous series. Extreme Hearts is often tightly paced and solidly written. It's characters are instantly likable and easy to root for, it sets up and pays off drama in a satisfying manner, and it sets up group camaraderie in a super charming way. The major thing holding this series back is its production. A sports series probably benefits from strong animation and editing more than most genres, but the constant panning still frames and awkward motion completely ripped whatever potential hype or tension existed in the story. It's hard to feel anything at close buzzer beaters when the big shot is just the camera panning up a still image. The performance sequences were given most of the animation resources, but that unfortunately led to the detriment of the thing that most drove its story. Maybe Extreme Hearts is simply competent in its writing and below average in most other areas, but what saves it is the fact that it lives up to its name. It is bursting with an extreme amount of heart that kept me happy to watch it every week, so it's definitely doing something right.
Best Boy: Yukino's Dad
Best Girl: Saki
54. Onipan!
When I first watched Onipan!, I mentioned that my interest in the series lied mostly with wanting to see all the new original projects that Wit Studio was giving to talented and/or up-and-coming creators. Onipan! does feel amateurish in most ways, it strikes me as a project conceived from a single gag and its voice actors give performances that instantly let me know that this is their first role. I was ready to write this one off, but the more it went on, the more it grew into itself. Onipan! is rarely hilarious, but it slowly becomes charming and amusing, and its gags continually get more creative and unexpected. Its voice actors may be obvious newbies, but there's a charm to their unpolished performances and it was satisfying to watch them slowly start to grow into their roles. Its animation doesn't impress too often, but the moments in which it does want to show off are jaw-dropping, with it looking like the staff learned a lot from working on Attack on Titan and utilizing the ambitious camerawork and CGI integration that made that series so engaging. And the one thing that never let up is its character designs. The oni of Onipan! are just so fucking adorable, and the series exists practically just for the excuse to see them in a variety of outfits, meaning it capitalized strongly on the appeal of its designs. Onipan! is short enough to be inoffensive and charming enough to be watchable and enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing what this team works on next.
I'd like to give Onipan! a shoutout for having some of my favorite character designs of any show I saw this year. The titular oni are seriously fucking cute and their designs match their personalities perfectly. The charm of seeing these designs in a variety of situation and in numerous different outfits is undoubtedly one of the series biggest appeals, and I hope to see the original character designer on more projects in the future.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Tsutsuji
53. Yurei Deco
Yurei Deco is definitely one of the more disappointing shows I watched this year. It started off capturing me with big ideas and a creative aesthetic, but ended with a pretty lukewarm story, likable but unremarkable characters, and still a pretty awesome and creative aesthetic. The world of this show is really neat, a dystopia hiding its worst attributes under VR decorations that affect your senses. Identity and appearance can be fluid, anything and everything can look, smell, or taste good via technology, everything is purchased with social media attention and conformity, and those left behind by society rot in a world where nothing gets to be faked. It attempts a fascinating story about authoritarian control of information and the necessity for people to face reality; a world where everyone is disconnected and it's discouraged to see what's actually true. But for all of these ideas and its crafty metaphors, the story doesn't come together with grace. Its villain is an apathetic women in the sky rather than anything relevant to the conflict, and it transitions into individual stories that are intriguing but don't really tie perfectly into its larger themes. The biggest appeal of the show ended up being the chemistry of its band of misfits, and their episodic capers. This (along with the visuals) was enough to keep me engaged with the show even while I stopped caring as much about its larger ideas, and they're solid enough to make it worth having finished. Yurei Deco may not have ended up as the high concept sci-fi drama I'd hoped for, but it's an admirable attempt by one of anime's more interesting writers.
Best Boy: Finn
Best Girl: Berry
52. Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc
Demon Slayer exists at two extremes for me. On one hand, any time characters aren't swinging swords at each other, it's a pain to watch. I truly hate half of its main cast, Zenitsu and Inosuke continue to be some of the most insufferably annoying characters I've ever seen, and following them when they're not conked out is painful. It constantly tries to be humorous and fails 99% of the time, and its antagonists tend to be far too gross to feel any sympathy for in spite of how depressing the series makes their backstories. My enjoyment of Demon Slayer tends to directly correlate both to how much Zenitsu and Inosuke are conscious, and what percentage of any season is made of fight scenes. And Entertainment District Arc thankfully dedicates most of its run time to action, and mercifully has Zenitsu asleep the entire time. As such, this season allowed me to indulge in the series greatest strengths: how instantly likable Tanjiro is as the series emotional center, how beautiful its design work is, and how epic and flashy its action scenes are. When the series indulges in pure spectacle, it's a sight to behold, and is utterly engrossing. I may have some issues with the stop-and-start nature of how they're paced, or how often time will slow down as characters monologue about how the situation seems inescapable but barely manage to get out of it anyway, but then the special effects start flashing and Yuki Kajiura's soundtrack starts kicking up and I'm like a baby staring at jingling keys.
Demon Slayer indulges in a flurry of nonstop action for most of its run, but then the action stops and it attempts some pathos, and I start to remember why I could never truly love this series. After Tanjiro and co. defeat the bad guys, a duo of demon siblings meant to parallel Tanjiro and his sister, and disgustingly evil bad guys who gleefully abused children and and the elderly before mercilessly murdering many hundreds of people, the series layers on their ultra tragic backstory. After their defeat, they reflect on their actions and remember what led them down the path of demonhood. But it falls so flat as to be frustrating. I simply don't have it in me to feel bad for these inhumanly evil beings who only choose to realize how bad they were because they're about to die. And this is indicative of the series general attempts at telling a poignant story, but it was particularly bad this season given the atrocities I was meant to see past. That is the whiplash I get while watching Demon Slayer. This season spends so much time on action scenes that I enjoyed it a lot anyway, but I would kill to see a season of Demon Slayer that ironed out all of its most frustrating elements. I truly think that season would be a special shounen battle series.
I want to shout out Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc as a contender for having the best action scenes of any show I saw this year. It's the one thing I struggle to fault it for, it's the ultimate action spectacle and it's not only gorgeous but also incredibly tense.
Best Boy: Tanjiro
Best Girl: Hinatsuru
51. Tokyo Mew Mew New
Unfortunately, Tokyo Mew Mew's big reboot ended up another disappointment, given my excitement for it in my seasonal impressions post. As an adaptation, it absolutely blazes through its source material to the point of losing a lot of impact. Only two of its charming characters get explored or utilized in any meaningful way, while the other three feel like accessories just so we have a team to get together (and maybe a plot device on occasion). It is not particularly well animated, and its backgrounds and layouts are incredibly disappointing. Even the character arcs it does have feel watered down and lacking in impact. Protagonist Ichigo ends the season on a big, dramatic realization about how she's learned to consider life as precious, only for me to question when she ever thought life wasn't precious. Moreover, the series conceit about protecting endangered species goes totally underexplored.
Maybe it's just the rarity of cutesy magical girl anime that aren't Precure, but I still had a fun time with this one. Its design work is outstanding, perfectly cute and personality rich character designs and iconic magical girl outfits make it a joy to look at in its most spectacular moments. It delights in an unabashedly 2000's shoujo vibe, it's got a bit of edge and "problematic elements" that make it fun to watch. Although the romance between Ichigo and Aoyama is undercooked given the latter's total lack of personality, the fact that it actually makes a ton of progress (in spite of some very frustrating roadblocks) is incredibly refreshing. Its antagonists are so delightfully easy to hate that there's an inherent satisfaction in seeing their plans foiled, while the girls natural chemistry make the slice of life aspects of the show plenty charming. Tokyo Mew Mew New feels like a "best of" anthology of memorable moments sometimes, but those moments are memorable and still ultimately form a coherent story. And I'll always support more traditional magical girl anime for young girls, it's truly a shame how few of them we get. In spite of its rough patches, Tokyo Mew Mew New is a cute and fun time, and I'll certainly be checking out the second season when it comes out.
Best Boy: Shirogane
Best Girl: Ichigo
50. Immoral Guild
Immoral Guild only has one major problem as an ecchi series: it's main joke is "look, the monsters sure like raping all the girls." Regardless of weather that joke is funny and/or turns you on or not, it's really fucking repetitive. It's so overplayed (and imo, not very funny anyway) that it singlehandedly brings the show down a significant amount. But honestly, besides that, I think this is surprisingly solid. Its strengths as a fanservice vehicle are impressive, it has incredibly memorable character designs which are all sexy and contain a wide range of body types to appeal to anyone. No matter if you prefer the thiccest thighs to the cutest loli, your preferences will be met with an appealing design that will end up lewded in many tantalizing ways. Outside of its biggest gag, the series finds ways to creatively present fanservice, be it the payoff of a well timed and executed visual gag or the bizarre and hilarious circumstances of any individual adventure. And the series has no qualms about being a fanservice show, it's over-the-top and proud to be lewd which is what I wish all fanservice shows were like. I truly have to respect a show that introduces a femboy 3/4ths of the way through and instantly lewds him the exact same way as it lewds all the girls, and even does more with him than it does with the loli. Truly the mark of a great ecchi series.
Beyond that though, the series has a number of other avenues of appeal. While it's half a fanservice show, it's also primarily a sex themed manzai comedy, and its character archetypes play off each other well and its (non-monster rape) jokes are well timed and tend to land. The characters themselves are actually incredibly endearing, more than enough to carry any slice of life outings, and the series is also a harem where each of the girls has great chemistry with the male lead. Most of my favorite episodes were the ones where Kikuru spent time with only one or two of the others, and it genuinely managed to invest me in his relationships with most of them. It even manages a few genuinely heartfelt moments, a feat that most ecchi anime would kill for. I also find its bizarre fantasy setting fascinating. It's an anachronistic modern MMO-esque world, where adventurers apply to guilds and fight monsters and use magic for daily living, but there's also cell phones, computers, televisions, Roombas, and all manner of modern technology. It's revealed at the end that the guild pays everyone monthly, and ties insurance from the church of white magic to the job (with the party's white magic user gets paid by the church instead of the guild); this bizarre worldbuilding detail kind of brought it to life for me. This series is strange and interesting, and also just a mostly solid fanservice vehicle. Just a real shame about all the monster rape jokes.
Best Boy: Kikuru
Best Girl: Tokishikko
49. My Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex
I like schlock with heart. Though this show isn't nearly trashy enough to be considered schlock, but it's nonetheless a silly, trashy rom-com that actually does a decent job of building up its central relationship. Buried under all the pseudo-incest chicken mind games and push-and-pull romance is a pretty moving story about two young people who innocently formed a relationship, got into a fight, were too stubborn to address things, and then regretted their actions. It's a story about the struggles of one's first love, about the necessity of honest communication in relationships and the journies of two insecure teenagers trying to figure out how to talk to each other again and rekindle things. When it doubles down on this, it's genuinely poignant and cute. But of course, we wouldn't have a story here if Yume and Mizuto weren't forced to become step-siblings against their wills and be forced to hide their past relationship from their parents anyway or else break them apart with the power of incest.
In this regard, the series is relatively entertaining, though generally unremarkable. The sexual tension between Yume and Mizuto is plenty palpable already, but it takes on a new dimension given this premise that may or may not be up your alley. The series isn't generally fanservice heavy, but it has its moments to remind us exactly what we're here for. The side characters are a bit of a mixed bag, Minami and Kawanami barely add anything to the story, and the latter is just kind of annoying. But Higashira, well she's just excellent, and I think the show is always at its best when it focuses on her. While the characters may have interesting stories and likable personalities, the dialogue is pretty awkward for the most part, and the whole thing feels like it's obviously been written by a man with little experience desperately trying to write girls. But both within the trashy soap opera elements and the innocent romantic drama, lies enough heart to have kept me watching the entire way through. TsureKano can be an entertaining show in the moment and it has a few scenes and characters I still think on fondly, and I can't ask for much more than that.
Best Boy: Mizuto
Best Girl: Higashira
48. In the Land of Leadale
Land of Leadale may not blow anyone away, but it's a show filled with really cool ideas that make it stand out from the pack of bland isekai we're drowning in. Following a girl who gets transported into the MMORPG she used to play, but 200 years into that world's future, it tells a light-hearted and funny comedy story full of over-the-top slapstick and goofy combat. Setting the world 200 years in the game's future provides an intriguing dynamic to the story, as Cayna must adjust her familiarity with the world to account for events she never got to play through. Things she did in the past have been told as legends in the world, her avatar and other fellow players are known names, and objects she left places or people she interacted with have either stayed in place for centuries or just straight up died. One interesting aspect of the show is simply that Cayna is a girl, which is not only refreshing given the norms of isekai as a subgenre, but also lets the show do things that I'm not sure it would have with a male protagonist. For example, rather than having a harem, Cayna used a feature of the game that let her have kids, and we get to see those kids all grown up 200 years in the future (since they are elves/dwarves who can live for that long). Cayna rejects the idea of romance because she had kids and just wants to have fun adventuring, which I think is pretty neat.
The core of the show is generally slapstick, as Cayna's over-the-top reactions to her children's over-the-top affection for her, and her crazy overpowered abilities allowing her to pull off ridiculous feats, drive the show. It has this very old-school style to its slapstick, it's unabashedly violent and physical, which I always enjoy. Actually, the whole aesthetic of the show feels fairly retro, the general vibe reminds me of early 2000's MMO's and some fantasy anime/games from close to that time, and I find it a pretty appealing aesthetic. While the series does flirt with some weighty ideas regarding Cayna having to come to terms with the fact that she's not playing an MMO anymore and that this life is real, meaning all of her kills are on real people and not NPC's or other players, it generally pushes it to the side. I do think this aspect of it is interesting and I'd love to see it explored, but the series sets itself up to remind us that it is a comedy first and foremost, so I don't consider it to be a big deal. Overall, In the Land of Leadale is a very fun isekai that generally put a smile on my face. Sometimes, you don't have to blow me away to be a blast.
Best Boy: Kartatz
Best Girl: Cayna
47. Delicious Party♡Precure
A Precure entry is at a baseline good so long as it can maintain likable characters and solid episodic stories. DeliCure meets that standard. It doesn't particularly seek to go beyond it, it's definitely not very ambitious the way something like Hugtto Precure was, but this franchise is inherently just pretty good and so I have a fine time with any "pretty good" Precure. DeliCure's main theme is food, which is far less specific than many other Precure series, and that allows it to come up with all sorts of ways that food can be used as metaphor. Be it for sharing in quality time with others, having something you're passionate about, having something you're good at, and all variety of other potential subjects children might face (and problems relating to them), DeliCure deftly comes up with interesting ideas to get those lessons across using the idea of food. Its episodic stories are typically at a baseline good quality, but multiple individual stories are standouts that allow the series to reach nice dramatic heights, and it likes to inject a surprising amount of variety in the conflict and focus characters to keep things constantly moving.
Everything about DeliCure is just simple. Its characters are simple and likable, its conflicts are simple and interesting, its main concept is simple and flexible, and its tone is simple and pleasant. But nonetheless, it knows when to add a somewhat more complicated element to ensure it doesn't get stale. The strange obsession Precure has gotten with babies growing up has been something to behold, but Kome-Kome's arc is genuinely one of the show's most impactful bits of drama, and episodes focusing on her once she reaches a certain point of maturity (enough to have a prominent speaking role anyway) mark some of the series highest points. I think perhaps the most interesting aspect of this series are its villains, who actually play substantial roles in the story and are given motivations beyond being the basic baddies of a kids show. But while all these things slowly play out, what keeps this series stable on its base are just its likable characters, cool fights, flashy costumes, and likable stories that teach important moral lessons to the kids of its target audience. That Precure is so popular with Japanese children make me incredibly happy, the franchise is just so pure, honest, and overall morally good that it makes me glad kids get to take its lessons to heart. That positivity sucks me in too, and DeliCure was wonderfully fun to follow.
Best Boy: Takumi (by virtue of basically being the only option)
Best Girl: Ran
46. RPG Real Estate
A genuinely smart premise can often get you very far in life, and RPG Real Estate manages to reach its heights of intrigue just by virtue of delivering on the one it comes up with. Video game inspired fantasy settings are a dime a dozen in Japanese media, and one thing anyone who plays such games will realize is that their worlds are ethnically diverse. Humans, monsters, animals, spirits, and all manner of sentient beings often live in harmony, even in large cities. So this show asks the important question: how the fuck did these guys find a place to live? Finding appropriate housing as a mole creature, a Pegasus rider, a sea monster, or a ghost isn't as easy as you might think, as being any of those things presents a unique set of challenges in your selection of land. Some creatures may hate daylight, some might need to be near water, some creatures might have preference for oddly specific conditions, and some people might need to find a place big enough to accommodate the giant flying horse they've kept as a pet since they were a child, and thus the main characters of this anime must find a way to meet these tenants accommodations while ensuring they stay within their budgets. With this as its main premise, it more than succeeds at exploring the unique challenges that come with fantasy house hunting, and pulls out plenty of very creative dilemmas and explanations. Interesting worldbuilding is basically baked right into the premise. I think that anyone who enjoys JRPGs and MMORPGs will have a fun time with this show, or at least get a kick out of what it comes up with.
But RPG Real Estate keeps things light and fun, as a fluffy Kirara-kei story. Thankfully, this show does manage to also have some pretty likable and adorable characters, and while it's rarely ever hilarious, it does a great job of maintaining a constantly high level of "pleasant vibes." I found it very easy to just sink back and lose myself in the feel-good atmosphere of this show. If you watched My Dress-Up Darling in Winter and remember the scene in which Marin and Gojo read a slice of life manga at a manga café, my reaction to this show as basically just that. The only really distracting feature of this show is that it can occasionally be obnoxiously horny. I don't really mind the skimpy outfits when the show doesn't call attention to it, but it starts to get a bit more overt with fanservice in its later episodes and those moments are when the show begins to lose me, as they feel out of place with its typically light and fluffy vibe. The melodrama and utterly contrived resolution of the final episode is also a bit of a sore spot for me, unfortunately a bit of a negative note for the show to end on. But nonetheless, it's a fun time when it's good, and that's what ultimately matters. The show is unique, creative, and healing, definitely among the more underappreciated anime of the year.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Fa
45. When Will Ayumu Make his Move
Ayumu had initially captivated me as a romance with its unabashed, open flirting and instant sense of progress. But it unfortunately started to spin its wheels quickly after this point. The flirting managed to stay around often enough, but perhaps not consistently enough to continue as the main appeal. A bit of a shame, given that I found Ayumu's and Urushi's relationship to be outshone a bit by a set of side characters, but that probably says more about the side characters than about them, because flirty or not, they're just fucking cute. Souichirou Yamamoto has basically perfected the art of this particular brand of cute, teasing romance, and while Ayumu may not shine as an adaptation as much as a certain other work of his you'll find appearing later on the list, that appeal still makes itself abundantly clear.
That appeal is remarkably simple though, so I may not have too much to say about this one. It just takes good characters with cute, endearing chemistry and enough interesting episodic scenarios to be consistently pleasant, and SoreAyu has that. And it also has enough variety, given its focus on a few side characters and its willingness to showcase each main character's other relationships, that it never really gets stale in spite of how much of the show is spent on shogi matches that the viewer is given nowhere near enough information about to actually understand. That's a testament to the strength of "if I win, I'll confess" as a source for drama, it's a classic trope because it works. It probably would have been higher on this list if not for its one sore spot upon the introduction of Rin, a side character who appears about 3/4ths of the way through and is completely, instantly unlikable. It kind of takes the sails out of the show's trajectory, as it spends two episodes working an uphill battle to make me accept her as a part of the main cast, and while she does manage to somewhat redeem herself by the end, I'd have still been fine without her presence at all. But again, that's just a sign of the show's core strengths, as I simply wish I wasn't interrupted from them. SoreAyu is a fine rom-com, a show who's awkward, honest, and cute adolescent shenanigans I was always happy to return to every week.
Best Boy: Ayumu
Best Girl: Sakurako
44. The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting
Is it just me, or is anime consistently weirdly good at making cute and relatively realistic child characters? It seems to me that the medium has had a good track record with stories about people raising kids or otherwise having role model relationships with kids, and The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting is the next in this surprising trend. The series follows a yakuza guy who's known as a monster for his lack of consideration for human life, and is instructed by his group's leader to work as his daughter's caregiver in order to foster a greater sense of humanity within him. Kirishima quickly finds himself pretty good at the job, and his relationship with the adorable Yaeka is the heart of the series. What I love about these two is that their relationship feels surprisingly evenly matched. Kirishima is very honest with Yaeka when answering questions or giving advice, but he always finds ways to word it that are appropriate for a little girl. It helps her to work through complicated feelings, such as fears related to her comatose mother, or her fear of making new friends. But on the other hand, Kirishima is also just the type who can't leave her upset, and so Yaeka occasionally gets good at pushing his buttons so he'll spoil her. And on top of that, she helps him to gain a greater sense of humanity, and since they both help each other in their own ways, their relationship feels important for both of them and their close bond feels believable.
While Yaeka is initially nervous about meeting other people, she starts to open up a lot as the series goes, and it allows there to be a greater variety of scenarios. She gets curious about Kirishima's past and interacts more with other yakuza members, so her chemistry with just about anyone is lovable as heck once she opens up to them. This character driven edge makes it an effective slice of life show, but it also manages some surprisingly poignant moments of drama, especially when touching some delicate issues for individual characters, particularly grief. However, the series main crux comes in how it attempts to contrast its lighter and more poignant moments with the darker criminal underbelly of yakuza dealings, and this is where it unfortunately falls short. Its portrayal of the yakuza is laughably cartoonish, and its darker moments just don't land the way they're intended too. Kirishima's character arc is particularly impacted by this. We're told that he's changing into a more human and person with greater value for life, but we never actually see this change occur, at least partially because of how tepid its portrayal of violence is, though also because Kirishima never really has any moments where he decides to not do something he would have in the past. I find this to be a pretty significant flaw of the series, but I'm happy to report that its focus is generally on the cuter slice of life aspects, and thus this issue often just pops up as a minor annoyance. A mediocre crime drama it may be, it's definitely a wholly charming slice of life venture that easily served as a nice pick-me-up each week.
Best Boy: Kirishima
Best Girl: Yaeka
43. Reincarnated As a Sword
Damn, it's crazy how easily you can get away with almost anything just with a premise as simple and appealing as "adorable tiny cat girl wrecks everything with oversized sword and then gets overly excited for food." Its first episode spent mostly on watching our sword protagonist grind for levels and abilities definitely pushed some of this appeal back initially, but even then, I knew I couldn't avoid the inherent glee of "tiny cat girl, giant sword." Reincarnated As a Sword more than capitalizes on this animalistic appeal; Fran is simply as precious and adorable as they come, but contrasted with the surprisingly gritty presentation of combat and her ferocious desire to fight strong enemies, she ends up being relatively multifaceted and perfect for a show of this variety. I want to protect her, and thankfully so does the titular sword, who I've seen dubbed as "sword dad" since he wants to protect her as well. And honestly, can I even ask for anything more from a show like this? It has solid production values, it's decently paced, the characters are likable, it even has a few intriguing worldbuilding details, it's a show with a very simple avenue of appeal that just does its job effectively.
Because this show is so simple, I think it's pretty easy to recommend. If you don't mind isekai but are sick of how slaves are often fetishized, you may find this story about a protagonist who has escaped from slavery and has it out for slavers a bit refreshing; especially given that its protagonist is female. It's not exactly out of the ordinary for its genre, but it's mostly family friendly and is among the easiest of its kind to recommend. It's exceedingly pleasant and has decent action scenes, and I can respect a show that doesn't aim for the stars in terms of ambition but fits its niche as strongly as this one does.
Best Boy: Sensei
Best Girl: Fran
42. Estab-Life: Great Escape
Those who saw my first-impressions post for Spring will remember that I had high hopes for this series intriguing high concept sci-fi setting and potential themes. Unfortunately, I kind of misread what this one was going for. But nonetheless, the series we did get was hella fun. Estab-Life is a silly, over-the-top heist show mostly set to come up with weird and goofy individual settings, and then come up with creative and fun ways to present its human heists. It coasts strongly on its insanely lovable characters, the chemistry of its Extractors allows it to do almost anything and still be entertaining. But it becomes truly likable just due to the bizarre concepts it comes up with, be it a man desperate to escape so he can become a magical girl, or a slime girl losing the slime cells that keep her sane and letting loose her worst disaster lesbian intrusive thoughts. It's a rollicking good time full of solid action sequences and silly banter, a show that always put a smile on my face.
Its biggest barrier to entry is simply its status as a full CGI show, but rest assured that it looks pretty good. Polygon Pictures has improved significantly over the years, and Estab-Life gives personality to its characters not only through their fun personalities and banter, but also through lively expressions and character acting. It's also got a rockin jazz/rock soundtrack from Yoshiaki Fujisawa, a man who has consistently proven himself one of anime's finest modern composers. Though show definitely has its lamer episodes (looking at you underwear episode), but that's simply the nature of anything episodic. Not everything can be a winner, but more than enough of this one is fun that the sum of its parts wins my cold dead heart.
Best Boy: Ulala
Best Girl: Martes
41. Raven of the Inner Palace
In my Fall seasonal impressions post, I said that Raven of the Inner Palace is kind of like Hyouka if it were set in a fantastical ancient Chinese setting. I think that ended up being an apt description by the end. Each episode of Raven of the Inner Palace focuses on a mystery of sorts, in which the titular raven consort is given a request and searches for clues that can help her complete the task. Through these mysteries, the series fleshes out its complicated political landscape and world history, crafting an intriguing and well realized setting with enough complicated family/political relationships that a lot of it definitely went over my head. These mysteries present intrigue on their own, as each is typically about some kind of spirit or dead person, and they often carry an ethereal and melancholy atmosphere with them. And I very much appreciate the way the art style shifts to a scroll-like aesthetic as details of each mystery are relayed to the viewer.
However, the mysteries of this series are a bit undercooked on their own, and wouldn't serve as a strong enough foundation for me to have enjoyed this as much as I did. But those mysteries serve their purpose as a lens into two interesting characters and their sweet, endearing relationship. Shouxue's and Gaojun's slowly budding friendship is the heart of this series, slowly building as the former breaks out of her shell and learns to let others into her life while the latter becomes more adept at communicating with people. It is the declaration that relying on others is a sign of strength, and that weakness isn't something to be ashamed of, which gives this series such a poignant core. And alongside an awesome setting and lovely character designs, this all makes Raven of the Inner Palace an extremely solid little drama.
I'd like to shout out Raven of the Inner Palace for having one of my favorite relationships of the year. Perhaps one day Shouxue and Gaojun will grow more explicitly romantic chemistry, but it's their enduring friendship that gives this show its heart and leads to its most powerful moments. Every interaction they share is a joy, I love just watching them talk, exchange gifts, and figure out how to do basic friend things more than anything else in this show.
Best Boy: Gaojun
Best Girl: Shouxue
40. Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2
Another season of PriConne is another season spent desperately trying to not give in to temptation to play the gacha game. One gacha game is enough dammit, I will fucking die if I have to dedicate time to another one. That temptation only serves as a testament to how impressive the Princess Connect Re:Dive anime is though, because god do I ever want more of these characters. This year's return to the dorks of the gourmet guild came with all I loved about the first season. Yuuki, Pecorine, Kokkoro, and Karyl continue to be astoundingly lovable characters with perfect chemistry, and the series comedic timing is on point and its scenarios are both silly and awesome. I love it when this show just lets us bask in silly adventures in a genuinely kind of cool fantasy world, just watching these characters try random food and meet bizarre new people is a reward in its own right, so the prevalence of scenarios like "there's an idol group who's performances attract monsters and now they defeat those monsters as part of their show because they couldn't perform otherwise" instantly puts this one at a high level of base quality.
Compared to the first season, this season takes a more overtly story driven approach, which has its strengths and weaknesses. It's definitely nice to see Karyl's and Pecorine's stories evolve and to have more info about Yuuki's past, but the story is also messy and a little ass-pully. I'd have probably been more content with silly episodic capers, even if the epic final climax is kind of awesome. Far less ambiguously great though, is the visual presentation, which has somehow gotten even better than the already impressive first season. PriConne's background art and compositing already makes every shot gorgeous, but this season provides some of the craziest animation highlights of any show this year, while its general character acting adds even more charm to its cast. If you liked the first season, you'll enjoy this second season as well. I, for one, am always happy to have this show to put a smile on my face each week.
I'd like to shout out Princess Connect! Re:Dive for having the most impressively produced single episode of the year. The episode in question is its 4th episode, an utterly insane animation showcase that quite literally never stops moving. I honestly don't think there's even a second of rest in it, its character acting bursting with personality and its major action sequence lasting over half the episode and being absolutely jaw-dropping. The episode was essentially just a bunch of the biggest A-list animation talent in the industry all told to go buck wild, and the result is probably more impressive than that sounds. If you're an animation nerd, I absolutely implore you to watch season 2's fourth episode even on its own just to see the nonstop barrage of ridiculous animation on display.
Best Boy: Yuuki
Best Girl: Pecorine
39. Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation
Every year there always seems to be one weird CGDCT show that everyone else thinks is mediocre or disappointing but I think is pretty cool. Last year it was Pride of Orange, and this year it's Smile of the Arsnotoria. Arsnotoria's pitch is simple: it's about the conversational dialogue and daily interactions of a group of girls who attend a magical academy that teaches them how to "be ladies" and helps them blossom into maturity. Imagine K-On at Hogwarts, the girls even spend most of their time having tea parties rather than doing anything educational. The overall attitude of their school is lax and prefers to teach through letting the characters explore and do things personally, and that carries into its overall exceptionally pleasant tone. Arsnotoria isn't reinventing the wheel, but it's adorable, pleasant, and has likable characters, and the magical setting allows a surprising amount of variety to their activities beyond watching them talk about nothing in particular at tea parties (though that still comes with all the intimate familiarity of close friends). It also has pretty awesome character designs who are posed and animated with very cute details that bring them to live.
But of course, I'm leaving out the elephant in the room with this one, that being that it's adapting a pretty bizarre gacha game and seemingly includes elements of that game's dark and violent story. At some point each episode, a red "warning" screen flashes and the scene transitions to that of English colonists violently spreading their rule and religion, and seemingly hunting for the girls academy which has been hidden somewhere. The girls themselves can fight low level "bugs," but are explicitly told by school staff that they will die if they fight knights and that they should instantly run away if they hear one. I think that this dark undercurrent played a role in many people's intrigue towards this show initially, and thus it caused disappointment when that story didn't actually go anywhere and ultimately served more as a way to intrigue us into seeing its completion in the phone game. Personally though, I never expected it to go anywhere beyond providing a neat dark undercurrent to the cute story. Seeing the girls go on an adventure out in the "real" world was made extra interesting with the implication that knights could be after them, and I honestly don't think it needed to serve any other purpose than that. Simply put, this show was my dose of pleasant and relaxing slice of life for the summer season, and it always managed to make me smile. I really like the girls, and if that's not the sign of a solid slice of life title then I don't know what is.
I'd like to shout out Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation for having some of my favorite character designs I saw this year. Although the designs themselves are plenty adorable, it's the details that really make them stand out to me. Tori's most noteworthy quality is how quiet/shy she is, her incredibly long hair, and her abnormally strong sense of smell. Thus, her character is often drawn slouched over and covering her nose with her hair, presumably as a way to kick back a smell that she perceives far more strongly than others. By contrast, Mel is carefree and energetic, which not only shines through in her bright green hair and clover shaped pupils, but also in how she loves walking with her arms folded behind her head. When contrasted with Tori as they walk the halls together, the differences in their personalities are clear to see, and each character is treated in a similar manner. I love Little Al's black nail polish and Pika's fashionable clothes and parasol for similar reasons. The designs just have a ton of personality, which in turn gives the characters personality, and I appreciate that in a show with appeal so strongly tied to how likable and interesting its characters are.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Little Alberta
38. Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Second Season
What a shame that Nijigasaki seems to the Love Live's black sheep, because I always have a blast with it. It might not be quite as vibrant and earnestly cheesy as the main series, but its characters are delightful and its conflicts are always solidly executed, not to mention its constant stream of stylish music videos. This series second season mostly provides more of the same, it's just fun and I can watch these girls personalities play off each other all day. While I was initially worried about the inclusion of three more main characters in a show that already has 10 protagonists, they ended up all being super likable and well integrated by the series end. In order to facilitate their inclusion, the series paired characters up and gave them group performances. At first, I had thought it went against the series most interesting attribute of having them all become solo idols who find their own style, but the group performances don't diminish that in the end. Instead, the girls each bring individual creative ideas together to form something fresh, each performance serving as a natural extension of all their individual personalities layered on top of each other. It's also refreshing to see the group performances, and the group drama that inevitably leads to them.
The series is weakest in its integration of Lanzhu's story, which frankly just doesn't have the stakes it thinks it does and feels a bit nonsensical. Thankfully, Lanzhu herself is still an interesting character who brings a sense of urgency to the series, and the intertwining stories of Shioriko and Mia are much more well done. And as I said above, all of the performances are just excellent. Nijigasaki's varied music videos are always the episode highlights, and Love Live CGI has seriously gotten a lot better over time. Perhaps it's a running theme that a lot of these shows put a smile on my face, and I'm sure I'll be saying some variant of that often, but it's just the truth. Watching Nijigasaki each week just made me happy, probably because Kazumi is still the cutest gremlin.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Kazumi
37. Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie
The next in a string of very solid romantic comedies to have come out this year, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie captures the joy of sweet, adolescent romance in an imminently charming manner. Its initial episodes begin as low-stakes comedy ventures, generally defined by the ridiculous gimmick of Izumi being so comically unlucky (which is somehow a genetic trait). It's over-the-top enough to be funny and always ends on cute moments of Izumi and Shikimori being lovey-dovey, while all of its stupidly lovable side characters often join in on the fun. While I know some complained about this section of the show, I personally found it incredibly charming as is given the chemistry of its doofy teens. But the series evolves into something noticeably more ambitious and dramatic as it goes, eventually genuinely looking into the nature of Izumi's and Shikimori's relationship and their complicated feelings towards each other. It makes their characters a lot more interesting and adds depth to the relationship, both implying understandable reasons for them to be in love and introducing a theme that had always been alluded to but not truly explored until the second half: the nature of appearances and gender roles.
What I think most intrigued me about Shikimori was that it actually did explore its premise beyond the base appeal of "haha, she's more like a boyfriend than he is." Shikimori and Izumi both have genuine anxiety over their role in the relationship, and eventually work to realize that gender norms aren't so neatly defined. Izumi may be physically weak but his strength of mind and endurance makes him far more masculine than many people would be. And likewise, Shikimori working through her love of sports and her interest in being more girly ends on the notion that neither can define who she is at her core. In the end, these realizations deepen their relationship and lead to tons of intimate romantic moments. And that's kind of just the start of it, as there are many other avenues these relationships are compared too. Much like the roles the characters play in this relationship, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie has more to it than you'd think.
Best Boy: Izumi
Best Girl: Hachimitsu
36. Healer Girl
The art of the musical is woefully underexplored in anime, and simply having a show dedicated to characters break into song in the most mundane moments is immensely fun and refreshing in its own right. That was my hook into Healer Girl, even with a first episode I had found to be a mixed bag. Indeed, the biggest appeal of the show to me was its dedication to breaking into song in remarkably silly but also totally understandable ways, like singing about musical concepts to study for a test in the style of vocabulary they're trying to learn, or competing in a school festival and running track. Of course, the entire concept of doctors healing through song is already ridiculous enough in its own right, and it also nails its biggest set pieces of medical surgery and the like. I love the theater (and frankly desperately need to go see more plays and musicals) and this show captures the joy of singing in that manner. Naturally, the music itself is also excellent.
Outside of its strange artistic medicine, the story is ultimately a cute girls sitcom, and it's a very solid one. Kana, Hibiki, and Reimi have really fun chemistry and work in any combination, and each of their individual personalities, struggles, and goals are compelling in their own right; a group of genuine friends working towards an intriguing career path and struggling with it in different ways. Although the concept of song doctors is silly, the show goes the extra length in fleshing out how it actually works in a logistical sense. Healers can't heal everything, they're typically used as compliments to traditional medical treatment. Nonetheless, it comes with risks to the patient and can negatively effect their health if done poorly. It's treated as a legitimate field of study, though not without skeptics; it makes for surprisingly thorough worldbuilding for a show of this type. And it's backed by a sturdy production, strong layouts and art direction, and expressive and adorable character designs animated with purpose lend the series that much more personality, it's visual excellence can be subtle but it's still a treat. Healer Girl can be ambitious sometimes, and it doesn't always land in the way it confidently thinks it will, but watching it try these bizarre ideas is as compelling as watching its characters try their best to improve their medical skills and move towards their futures. Healer Girl is a delight, and if you're looking for a great musical then there's few things in anime attempting what this show is doing.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Kana
35. Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness
Deaimon is a show that feels distinctly Japanese in a lot of ways: in its tone, its subject matter, and its general approach to things. Following the relationship between 30 year old Nagomu and 10 year old Itsuka as they both navigate their messy lives, the series is a warm slice of life as bittersweet as the desserts Nagomu's family makes. Nagomu and Itsuka have essentially both spent many years of their lives wandering aimlessly, Nagomu in search of a dream he might be able to achieve on his own and Itsuka for a family she can call home. In a sense, these characters complete each other and help each other to grow, as Itsuka helps Nagomu gain a sense of responsibility and stability that he was sorely lacking, while providing Itsuka with a guardian she can truly love as family in the face of her own awkward situation. The series has a knack for interesting characterization, with Itsuka's utter distaste for immature adults stemming from her own frustration with her deadbeat father, and Nagomu's aimless quarter life angst feeling true to my own experiences. And these two are surrounded by an interesting array of side characters who tie it all together, from Nagomu's ex-girlfriend and the complicated relationship they share to the sweet and lovable Mitsuru who's unrequited feelings for Nagomu adds the drama while serving as another female figure for Itsuka to look up to. The show's humor can occasionally be a bit mean spirited but the cast remains likable anyway.
In my eyes though, the series mostly shines in its atmosphere. It has a melancholy to it that fits with the aimless angsts of its protagonists, and the inclusion of symbols and proverbs related to the confections at the center of the setting give a spiritual quality of sorts that only adds to the wonder. The series sits somewhere between happy and sad, it's heartwarming but it's also unmistakably bitter. It's a unique space I find a bit difficult to describe, perhaps because, as I said, its one I typically find in Japanese stories more than anywhere else. Deaimon's gorgeous art direction helps set the mood perfectly, it's light and painterly but with attention to the colors, it just looks lovely. Deaimon isn't necessarily the most consistent show, but its high points are unmistakable and remarkable. In its best moments, I felt myself drowning in its bittersweet angst, like sitting in a coffee shop and listening to a melancholy record.
34. My Dress-Up Darling
We've started to approach the part of the list where all of the shows are a step above, beginning to transition into the ones that almost reach greatness. Dress-Up Darling's enduring popularity is a testament to how much it's resonated with people, and the series hits such a particular set of experiences in such a poignant way that it's easy to understand why. As someone who's typically been more interested in both niche hobbies that aren't socially accepted but proudly proclaims it anyway, and as a guy who often prefers feminine sensibilities and aesthetics and has been made fun of for it on many occasions, experiences that I'm sure are very common among most people reading this, both Gojo and Marin were instantly completely relatable to me. Some have complained about how unrealistic it would be for these characters to have the relationship they do, but given their circumstances and the depth to which they care about their niche hobbies, I strongly disagree with that sentiment. The two share a very real bond through things they can reasonably only share in with each other, and their chemistry speaks for itself. Gojo may be unconfident but he's also both an interesting character and total husband material, and seeing Marin slowly fall deeply in love with him while he starts to move out of his comfort zone is incredibly satisfying and heartwarming. And although the series is fanservice heavy, it's typically implemented with purpose, as the sexual tension between the characters is vital to the story and both of their personalities. These factors create a relationship that feels real and intimate, their feelings develop naturally from their circumstances and their intensity makes perfect sense. A romance where the main characters complete each other is always the most compelling, and Dress-Up Darling nails that extremely well.
And as someone deep into a particular niche subculture, it's too easy to appreciate the series dedication to and research on the art of cosplay and otaku culture in general. I love how it explores different reasons and philosophies towards cosplay, and doesn't seem to consider any form above any other. Some people want to be as realistic to their characters as possible, and others want to embody them in their own unique way, but at the end of the day, it's all about people with the same passions sharing their love for them together. And not only is costume making itself presented with incredible detail, but I learned a thing or two about the art of hina doll making as well, something I was only vaguely familiar with before this show. Moreover, I find it incredibly refreshing to have a female lead who is unabashedly interested in horny media, so many romances downplay the girls interest in sex but girls are horny too. In general, all of the otaku media that inspired this series fictional works are presented with clear love for their inspirations, from an insanely hype in-universe magical girl show based on Doremi and Precure, to a Kirara-kei slice of life manga with iconic chibi designs. I suppose this is the result of adapting a story from a female cosplayer, that's how all of this gets treated with tact. And speaking of adaptation, producer Shouta Umehara, director Keisuke Shinohara, and the team at Cloverworks did an incredible job adapting this work. Beautiful, detailed design work, lived in backgrounds, and nuanced, intimate character animation bring the whole thing to life, with direction that sells every emotional beat. It's obviously an outstanding adaptation from ridiculously talented staff. Admittedly, the early episodes didn't capture me as strongly as the second half of the show did, but as an unabashed nerd, I'll always appreciate a celebration of nerd culture as rich and detailed as this, especially with an adorable romance laid on top.
I'll shout out My Dress-Up Darling for having some of my favorite character and costume designs of the year. Marin's design is just an instant classic, just the perfect gyaru look that's the perfect ratio of sexy and cute for the show's needs, but Gojo and the Inui sisters are also perfectly conceived and generally adorable. Of course, the show's costume design is its real standout, its dedication to showing every part of the cosplay is incredible, and also educational. A show about dressing up better have some damn fine clothes and models.
Best Boy: Gojo
Best Girl: Marin
33. Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department
Another show from the year I seemed to appreciate more than others, Kuroitsu-san definitely had me rolling with laughter more than almost any other show this year. It's a satire of tokusatsu media following the development team who makes the monsters the villains send to fight the heroes, detailing their attempts to find the perfect combination of monster traits to vanquish their local hero while struggling to keep their concepts reasonable to create, manage, and budget. Treating the ridiculousness of these monsters as a genuine business endeavor is an incredibly clever comedic set-up. Since monsters in most tokusatsu shows are meant to be seen as real in-universe despite looking incredibly cheap as a viewer, the idea that they look like men in rubber suits because the villains concept for it was too high concept to stay within their budget and thus they had to compromise is a completely sensible explanation. And the series isn't content to just run on any basic vague idea, as each of its monsters are explained with perfect logic that's equal parts hilarious and entirely reasonable.
Actually, the series general worldbuilding is bizarrely detailed. There's not just one hero and one villain, both sides are entire industries with competing businesses, and not just Kamen Rider type businesses but magical girls too. The actual logistics of these businesses is shown with bizarre amounts of detail, every aspect of them is fleshed out and hilarious. Of course Agastia has to also run an amusement park where failed monsters work as mascots to keep their business afloat, and of course the magical girls can change out of their magical outfits after transforming so they can be in disguise while maintaining their powers, it gives perfectly reasonable explanations for nearly everything it presents; business meetings, how to move up the hierarchy, the personalities of every manager and higher-up, it's actually crazy detailed. But it comes from an adoration of the genre, even going as far as to feature real life local hero performers in the show. I'm barely even familiar with tokusatsu outside of having liked the Power Rangers as a kid, but even I could tell just how much adoration the team has for all of the goofy, bizarre things that define the genre, and that's the key to great satire. Honestly, the only reason I don't have this one higher is because its production issues are readily apparent, and the final three episodes suffered drastically as a result. But even the god damn episode titles of this show had me rolling, it's a damn fine comedy.
Best Boy: Megistus
Best Girl: Kuroitsu
32. Do It Yourself
There's something so satisfying about when a show feels like it lives in the spirit of its title. Do It Yourself is a scrappy little show, not only because of the show's subject matter, but also because of how it feels like it was put together. Do It Yourself understands the joy of making things by hand better than anything, the detail with which it presents the process of crafting a DIY project is astounding. As someone who's never really done this type of handy work, it feels like it's true to the process. From watching the girls sell smaller projects to collect money, to their journey to collect spare materials, both the weight and creativity of such an endeavor can be deeply felt, and as such it's immensely satisfying to see each step start to come together, and to see each character bring their specialties in creative ways. While the show sets up a dichotomy between technological progress and personal handicraft, I appreciate that the show doesn't write off the wonder of technological advancement. Things like AI and automation are good and incredibly cool, but they simply cannot replace human ingenuity, connection, or artistry. To lose the satisfaction of building something yourself would be sad. Serufu may be a space case, but she occasionally accidentally says profound stuff, and "if I didn't have to do anything anymore, then what would I do" has definitely stuck with me as a thought provoking line.
The series production feels similarly scrappy, both the writing and visuals feel to me like they were put together by the hands of a group of very different but very passionate and talented creators. The result is a mishmash of ideas that may even seem strange or awkward, but come together to create a whole, cohesive product that ultimately works, human flaws giving it a charm. The characters perhaps feel a bit too gimmicky to feel like people, but they're still incredibly charming and come with interesting chemistry. The visual style is fluid, and it excels at everything from creative dream sequences to highly technical mechanical animation. Characters in the show are from a variety of countries, run the gambit in personality, and live under different class structures, and the show's own production captures something similar, at least for me. Do It Yourself has messy parts I can feel different people's input all over the place, but it's charming and adorable, highly detailed, thought provoking, inspirational, and gorgeous. Truly the essence of DIY.
I'd like to shout out Do It Yourself for having my favorite character designs of any show I saw this year. While many other shows are definitely worthwhile competition, Yuusuke Matsuo's work on this show is just perfect. The girls of DIY are absolutely adorable, individually stylish, and are bursting with personality. One thing I particularly love is how they all run the spectrum of femininity, with Yasaku and Jobko having more overtly masculine designs, Takumi and Purin being more stereotypically feminine, and Serufu landing somewhere in the middle with a more androgynous look. These designs are also just incredibly animation friendly, and lend themselves to the series incredibly expressive and constantly moving character animation. The show is generally one of the most aesthetically excellent of the year, and its character designs are one of the biggest reasons. I've also got to mention that this cut is probably my favorite single animation cut of any show this year.
Best Boy: Yasaku's dad
Best Girl: Serufu
31. Love After World Domination
The next of the year's very solid romances, and somehow also the second super sentai parody, Love After World Domination probably has the simplest avenue of appeal compared to its contemporaries but my god is it ever charming. Following the forbidden relationship between the adorable himbo leader of this world's Power Ranger squad and the equally adorable "sadistic" fighter of the villain squad, the series follows these newbies at love as they navigate this unknown that is their first relationship, and chronicles their attempts to make memories with each other while hiding their love from the world. That's really all there is to it, but it has its finger right on the pulse of what makes a show like this engaging. In a lot of ways, the super sentai stuff feels like extra, because the show is really about the cuteness of two naïve teenagers trying to figure out how to go on dates. Despite their responsibilities, Fudou and Desumi are teenagers and they act the part, they make a great couple because they're weirdos and dorks in nearly the exact same way but the burden of societal expectations weighs on them even outside of their roles as hero and villain. And this show isn't a bunch of wishy washy "will-they-won't-they," the characters are in a relationship and make progress. I love the physical intimacy in particular, they hug, cuddle, hold hands, and generally just do stuff that couples might do. As a romance, it's saccharine and adorable, and they feel individually fleshed out while also completing each other. Even with just that, the show would have been a delight.
But since both leads are part of a larger organization, even more drama gets involved, and it's genuinely quite interesting. Seeing who gets involved with the relationship, how they hide from their peers, how they contrive ways to go on dates during battle, seeing the nature of their connections to their organizations, all of these elements add layers to the drama that keep its storytelling fresh, while also making for obviously funny avenues of comedy. The result is a story that never feels like it's spinning its wheels. It's a romance that constantly makes progress, set in a world where people actually figure things out about their peers. Goofy and saccharine though it may be, it's a well thought out story that I found consistently satisfying to watch. It's simply a good romantic comedy, and its hero aesthetic is more than a gimmick.
Best Boy: Fudou
Best Girl: Desumi
30. Uncle From Another World
It seems like some isekai have actually begun experimenting with their premises beyond changing up the gimmick, now to the point where their creative workarounds are to just stop being an isekai altogether. Uncle From Another World is a creative little comedy starring a disgusting teenager who actually went on a special isekai adventure while in a coma, and now having woken up a decade later, has to adjust back to both real life and missed time. Rather than experiencing the titular uncle's adventure in another world as is, we instead see bits and pieces of it that he shows his nephew using the isekai powers that he kept. The resulting show is a surprisingly diverse comedy, mining humor not only out of the hilarious misadventure our titular uncle epically failed at over the past decade, but also his adjusting to modern life, and tons of references to classic games and anime. Isekai Ojisan is a 90's gamer's paradise, and anyone nostalgic for that period of nerd media is going to have a blast. At the same time, its satire of modern isekai gives it tons of modern appeal too, making it a work that can appeal to all manner of nerds and otaku.
But Uncle From Another World is more than just references and satire. It rests on the laurels of an incredibly likable cast of idiots, each of who is given a fully fleshed out life history, set of interests, etc.. Just watching them bounce off each other and reacting to uncle's wild video footage is fun on its own, and the series wild, intentionally gross art style gives them a ton of personality. Uncle's adventure is also just genuinely fun on its own merits, to the point that I understand the casts interest in constantly watching it. Uncle From Another World is creative and varied in its humor. It's a show by nerds for nerds, the kind of work that could only exist in this modern era, and it's likely among the best of its kind. The circumstances of its production are truly unfortunate, because the show itself deserves so much more.
Best Boy: Ojisan
Best Girl: Elf
29. Sasaki and Miyano
Yet another of the year's excellent romance offerings, Sasaki and Miyano is a saccharine, adorable feel-good romance starring two beautiful dorky guys and their disastrously gay feelings. It's a simple story about two guys navigating their complicated feelings towards each other, and it works because it consistently makes progress and ultimately coalesces into an incredibly satisfying conclusion. Miyano's interest in media about romances between gay men provides a solid and intriguing backbone to compare his feelings to, ultimately highlighting the differences between the love of tropes in such media and his and Sasaki's more complicated feelings. Neither character falls perfectly cleanly into a seme or uke archetype, the relationship is much more real than that and the characters attractions are also more complicated than that. Sasaki's overbearing desire to be affectionate with Miyano, and him forcing himself back to leave Miyano space to think, provides an interesting conflict as well, pushing the relationship forward and giving us insight into Sasaki's headspace as he waits for Miyano to figure things out. The dynamic between the openly pushy Sasaki and nervously thoughtful Miyano is simply precious, and seeing Sasaki happily partake in Miyano's interest in yaoi media despite having no interest prior is very sweet, but each of them is flawed enough to add a layer of emotional and moral complexity. It's not only cute, but thought provoking in some ways.
And then, it isn't content to just have them end ambiguously. I obviously won't spoil things, but the direction the story heads in is incredibly satisfying. I honestly don't even think the upcoming movie is needed, but I'm not complaining about getting more of this adorable, heartfelt romance. Boys love romances might have a bit of an odd rep with some, but I assure you that this one is simply a good story in the way that any romance is, and even overtly picks apart and explores the appeal of some of the more unsavory tropes associated with the genre, with the characters not falling into any of them. The series visual presentation is rather unremarkable, but it does have a delightful soundtrack and is pretty well directed, so the presentation is also pretty solid. Definitely don't miss out on one of the sweetest and most interesting romance shows of the year.
Best Boy: Miyano
Best Girl: N/A
28. More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers
For sure the show that was my most pleasant surprise, FuuKoi comes off as a trashy rom-com and it delivers a surprisingly intimate and moody romance story... with a lot of trashy rom-com hijinks. Look, this show comes from staff who left the now defunct studio Xebec, a studio known for some of the horniest content out there, having now found a new home at studio Mother. Much of the same crew who worked on shows like To-Love Ru also came to this series, so you know it delivers on the fanservice. But what shocked me about this show is the level of thought it puts into its sexy scenarios. If you're gonna have a fanservice heavy high-school romance, you might as well make teen sexuality an important aspect of the characters involved, and in this case it actually helps flesh the girls out and is implemented in an extremely thoughtful manner. Akari is a gyaru who is wildly misunderstood by those who don't know her as promiscuous, but she's not the type who gives herself to anyone. Nonetheless, she desires to be seen as sexually desirable by the person she loves, and so she ends up in control of the camera. She's sexually forward only in scenes that call for it, and only around specific people who she wants to be seen as sexy by, meaning fanservice involving her is not typically (just) for the sake of the viewer and is motivated by her desire to be seen in a sexual manner. The other half of the love triangle comes from the sweet and innocent Shiori, who also wants to be sexually desirable but is far more coy about it, and so fanservice involving her is far more subtle, typically involving sensual voice acting and innuendo in dialogue rather than the overt shots of Akari's boobs and ass, since Shiori doesn't want to be seen. It's nice when a fanservice heavy show actually puts some nuance into its presentation of sex, and the ways these characters desire to be viewed sexually makes their feelings more complicated and human.
Ultimately, FuuKoi isn't an ecchi comedy, but a genuine, heartfelt romance story. Sure, it's set-up is contrived and silly, but it's all in service of some rather interesting ideas. Narratively and thematically, FuuKoi is almost like the little Toradora that could. It's about the way that love isn't something like grand confessions or huge feelings, but more about the mundane, effortless comfort you find around a person. To that end, the premise of being fake married to another person makes sense, since living together helps to develop that comfort, and it can be contrasted to other relationships. The series is very genuine about exploring the characters' feelings, and spends just as much time being moody, contemplative, and poignant as it does being goofy and sexy. It's also the rare love triangle where I love both love interests equally, and couldn't be disappointed with either of them winning. And its surprising sense of tone is amplified by its gorgeous, stylized background art, and each important moment is very well directed and animated. This show isn't just sexy, it nails uncomfortable and ambiguous sexual tension, and it's not just romantic or poignant in its best moments, but whimsical and intensely intimate. FuuKoi is what you see on the cover, but it's about the most thoughtfully crafted, nuanced, and poignant take on that story that I can imagine. If you want some meat on the bones of your high quality horny, More Than a Married Couple is a very endearing romance that will also fulfill your desire for titillation.
I'd like to shout out More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers for having some of my favorite background art of any show this year. Probably not the first show many would think of for this award, but the colorful, stylish artwork is beautiful to look at and is also narratively versatile. It's a style that works for both high strung comedy and for moody lighting, and the overall art direction nails both aspects. It's one of the elements that kept me watching when I was unsure if I wanted to keep up with it, but it was not only strong enough to give me confidence that the series would end up as good as it did, but also ended up as part of its strength of storytelling.
Best Boy: Jiro
Best Girl: Fuck you, this is my list and I don't want to choose, Akari and Shiori are both great
27. Shine Post
Shine Post is a generic idol story, through and through. It's exactly what it looks like on the tin. But if there's any director who knows how to make a show stand out through execution alone, it's Kei Oikawa (of Oregairu Zoku/Kan, Uma Musume, and Hinamatsuri fame). One of the most underappreciated directors in the industry, Oikawa's directorial prowess and stylistic quirks elevate Shine Post into an absurdly endearing and heartfelt dramedy that was an absolute joy to follow each week. It immediately establishes each member of TiNgS as a wildly likable character bursting with personality, selling them through a barrage of personality rich, constantly moving character animation and expressive visual comedy. Its jokes land almost every time and the girls build a hilarious sense of camaraderie, while the story slowly sets up each of their flaws. From there, the series goes about exploring each of them individually, and building on what they can each do to add to the larger team. Its in these character focused vignettes where Shine Post truly shines. Its character arcs come one after the other, but are still placed sensibly in the overall narrative. These arcs each tell incredibly satisfying stories all on their own, exploring the girls insecurities and ending as they come to poignant realizations and start to make improvements.
But what makes Shine Post special is the little details. The story is not content to just have the girls realize things in their arcs and then end things. Their growth can regress or improve slowly, and their realizations bleed into other characters stories. They get multiple opportunities to show how much they've changed outside of their dedicated arcs, which only makes it more satisfying in the long run. Moreover, the girls' growth never fundamentally changes who they are. Their issues all relate to facades they put up to hide insecurities, and their growth is satisfying because they grow into those facades, the acts of confidence slowly transforming into genuine confidence that is no longer an act. And when the series wants to deliver a performance, oh man does it ever deliver. The series character animation is already consistently impressive, but its consistent array of amazing 2D dance animation makes it a standout among its idol anime contemporaries. Performances on the big stage dazzle like no other, most of all the huge moment that starts all the girls on their journies, but I also love the small scale performances for dedicated idol fans eager to judge the newbies before they might become big. Even the stylish casual outfits add life to the show, it's not just the frilly idol clothes that stand out. Shine Post doesn't rewrite the book, but it's funny, poignant, well animated and directed, and generally just full of heart; one of the year's most underappreciated gems. I know I can rely on Kei Oikawa to come up with this kind of quality, and bring out the best points of even the strangest or most standard stories.
I'd like to shout out Shine Post for having my favorite insert song of any show this year. Unfortunately, this show's music is for sure overshadowed by a certain other music related anime I'll be talking about later, but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to gas up the genuinely great music of TiNgS. And not just in terms of the quality of the music itself, but in terms of its use in the story as moments that emphasize the catharsis of characters making progress. In particular, Rio's performance of Yellow Rose is one of the most cathartic moments of anime I watched in 2022 and is my favorite insert song of the year. It's such a beautiful track, and it's played for one of the most heartwarming and emotional moments of the show. TiNgS is my second favorite fictional anime music group in 2022, and it's absolutely worth a shoutout.
Best Boy: Manager-san
Best Girl: Kyouka
26. Summer Time Rendering
Summer Time Rendering is the ultimate YA drama. I think it's the kind of show that appeals near perfectly to just about any teenager interested in stories full of thrills, action, and intrigue. It's a mystery story that takes place on a small island town, but it makes progress quickly and constantly, a story full of twists and turns to keep you engaged; the opposite of a slow burn. It's a bit convoluted but not so much as to stop feeling smart or well thought out, it's edgy but not so edgy as to stop being cool, it has a little bit of fanservice but it's not distracting, and it has the perfect amount of romance without feeling overbearing or saccharine; it's a show designed from the ground up to be appealing to a particular age group and it does a pretty great job of it. It's well paced, it has solid characters, it's visuals and direction are excellent during climactic moments, I could keep going. I think of this show as one almost scientifically designed in a lab to be appealing to people, but it's still built with enough bizarre, crazy ideas and absurd plot moments that it doesn't feel robotic at all. Sometimes it can get a little stupid, but those moments are bonkers in a way I can get behind. I certainly won't be forgetting episode 23 any time soon.
Summer Time Rendering's biggest faults largely come down to inconsistency. I could feel its production constantly crumbling as it went on, it showed in moments of awkward, poorly conceived direction. The show occasionally presents tense moments as if they're action scenes, full of speed lines and characters yelling about their next moves. The story more generally starts to lose some of its horror and thriller elements as it goes, and ends up becoming more of an action series, and it ultimately works but I found to be a bit of a shame. Nonetheless, the show always delivers on its climaxes. Its romance pays off in some of the most magically romantic scenes I've seen in a show that isn't a romance, and its ultimate conclusion is as tense and exciting as it needs to be. Summer Time Rendering capitalizes on mass appeal, executing a broadly appealing story with gravitas and intrigue, so it's no wonder to me that it spread surprisingly far through word of mouth in spite of living in Disney+ jail. It's a very entertaining show, and definitely one that I'd feel confident recommending to a lot of people.
Best Boy: Ajiro
Best Girl: Ushio
25. Ya Boy! Kongming
These kinds of "famous historical figure finds themselves in modern times" fish-out-of-water comedies always seem to have a good track record for some reason. Ya Boy! Kongming instantly delivers on that promise with a funny, ridiculous premiere, but then manages to escape all expectations with a surprisingly heartfelt story about the struggles of musicians and their love for the craft. Kongming using ancient war tactics to move Eiko up the musical latter is hilarious on its own, but it's not just a gimmick and the show takes it and Eiko's and Kabe's ambitious seriously. As a whole, this show is a celebration of music and the powerful effects it can have on people, a promise which it delivers on both through heartfelt experiences with music itself and through the struggles of its characters working through obstacles that seek to get in the way of their childish love for music. It seems to understand and respect the business of music, accurately portraying the atmosphere and attitude of concerts, which only makes the contrast of Kongming's ridiculous strategies all the funnier. This extends to the series absolutely killer fashion sense, the characters wearing distinct, appropriate, and downright stylish outfits whenever possible. I think musicians will definitely have a great time with this show just for its presentation of music.
However, it's the relationship between Eiko and Kongming that make this show so damn endearing. The two find instant chemistry, and Kongming's unflinching support of her and his immediately accepting the oddities of the modern world is incredibly heartwarming right off the bat. He always finds ways to connect things back to things he's familiar with, like seeing rap as an extension of poetry and trying his hand at it, a kind of open minded thought I'd love to see more of in this world. Seeing these characters slowly start to move up the ranks, and being with Eiko as she gains more confidence in herself, gives this show its beating heart. Ya Boy! Kongming is silly and ridiculous, and also a pure and honest look into the power of music. The only thing preventing this one from being higher up is honestly that I just don't find its actual music to be very impressive, Eiko's songs sung solely in broken English just aren't as good as they might be expected to be given their use in the story itself. It's honestly a pretty major issue, so that I've got the show up here in spite of this should make it clear how much fun it is on the whole.
Best Boy: Kongming
Best Girl: Eiko
24. My Master Has No Tail
Another of the year's most underrated gems, My Master Has No Tail is a testament to the power of pure and utter charm. Its story is bare bones, its characters are simple, its animation never impresses, but through the sheer charm of its protagonist's go-getter attitude and honest hard work, it manages some of the year's most inspirational moments of growth and success. Mameda is the perfect dumbass tanuki of a protagonist to make the show work, her passion and attitude are infectious and instantly endearing as hell while her failures are goofy and hilarious, and the straight-faced and mysterious Bunko is the perfect counter balance. The characters are all simple, but they're not boring or lacking in characterization, each admirably serving their role in the story well and their dynamics bouncing off of each other playfully and snappily. Antagonistic characters are rarely truly evil (the few that are always get their just deserts), and so Mameda's successes usually come solely out of her own heart and realizations, making all of the series most emotional moments incredibly satisfying.
The series pure charm extends beyond its lovable characters though. The historical setting, alongside its magical elements, add a sense of whimsy that always draws me to stories like this. That tinge of whimsy highlights the series climaxes, adding an additional emotional layer to these scenes beyond their inspirational, feel-good natures. It also adds just a touch of melancholy, as Mameda's motivation is essentially to save one dying aspect of the culture of her people through modern means. As a story centered around rakugo, the performances aren't quite as electrifying as the likes of those in Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, but they do have touches in the direction that make them engaging, particularly in regards to showing characters slowly getting more invested in the story through how the camera presents their point of view. It's simple stuff but it's good. And that can describe this show in general. It's a simple show, but it's a feel-good show of high order. My Master Has No Tail ended up being one of the shows I was most eager to keep up with week-to-week, not just because of its quality but because its dose of charming hilarity and inspirational emotional climaxes was always the perfect mood maker. Sometimes, the raw power of working hard and succeeding can be as poignant as anything.
Best Boy: Utaroku (this guy is literally just Kiku from Rakugo Shinjuu)
Best Girl: Mameda
23. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
The long-awaited return of the Gundam series to television, The Witch From Mercury enters the fray in style as an intriguing and theatrical take on the series classic war story. I have to admit that this series is my very first entry into the Gundam franchise, so it's hard for me to talk about what it adds to the series, what it expands on, or how it fits into its legacy. I can say that it's a politically intriguing show, but the story has really on just just begun for the moment. I feel more comfortable commenting on it as a drama, of which it is an extremely poignant one. The series main duo are what carry it into success, as the relationship between Suletta and Miorine is its beating heart and they're just so gosh darn lovable. Suletta is an awkward dork who can muster strong conviction in the right scenario, and I just want her to be happy dammit, while Miorine is the perfect counter balance with her no-nonsense attitude and easily flustered persona. They've got great chemistry, and their romance has definitely been my hook into the story for the moment; an extremely strong hook.
G-Witch generally has a ton of style and theatrical flare. Its story clearly plays with Gundam's well known themes of space colonization, war, capitalism, etc., but with influences from the likes of Shakespeare's The Tempest and Ikuhara's Revolutionary Girl Utena playing into the mix, the story and tone is distinct. It's a mix of endearing school hijinks, political melodrama, and epic giant robot fights, each written in distinctive ways that slowly blend together as these aspects of the story merge. Its dialogue can have flare to it, and the more dramatic aspects play off of Suletta's straightforward and naïve personality to great effect. I won't get into spoilers, but the ending of this part 1 wrecked me, and I am immensely excited to see where this story is going now that its disparate parts have really merged. Whether it's dramatic, violent, or goofy, I've always found something to enjoy about the series, and although this early section of the story is only just beginning, it's already proven itself to have chops. I can't wait to see where it goes. As my introduction to the franchise, I definitely need to watch more Gundam now.
22. Chimimo
A lot of people like to say that our problems don't really matter. If you're not starving, not in poverty, or not in poor health, then you have no reason to complain. Other people are living in hell, your crowded commute and broken phone aren't really problems. This attitude ultimately helps no one though, because frustrations are valid and these small, first-world problems do negatively impact our lives and mental health. Chimimo comes in to validate all of our first world problems, because sometimes the burden of existence can feel like living in hellish conditions, and that's just a truth of the world no matter what kinds of problems you face in your day-to-day. Chimimo's incredibly charming family of three sisters, an emissary of hell, and his pet hellspawn all suffer the same kinds of problems, ultimately proving that the first world and hell aren't really all that different when you get down to it. Chimimo is special because it recognizes the burden that comes with small frustrations constantly beating us down, and it's a show about finding ways to live with them anyway. It's empathetic in that way, the perfect show for the modern person.
Mei, Hazuki, and Mutsumi have the kind of biting chemistry you only get with people who are intimately close to each other. They all hide things from each other, each with different worldviews and problems, but nonetheless live together and care for each other in only the way that close sisters can. Jigoku-san and the titular chimimo just add to the fun. The series is like a kids show for adults. The simple designs and animation work for it, and the endlessly adorable chimimo are perfect mascot type characters. That simplicity contrasts the biting, almost edgy adult jokes in a way that is genuinely incredibly funny. It caricatures first world problems in a painfully accurate way, convincingly arguing for the hellish torture of having to live with someone eating the last pudding, or waking up early for school, or having to act kind to your shitty boss. There's no need to send anyone to hell because we're all already living there, so I guess we might as well try to get along and make things work while we're here.
Best Boy: Jigoku-san
Best Girl: Hazuki
21. Teasing Master Takagi-san 3
With every season, Takagi-san has slowly been making improvements on its formula. While "smug girl constantly teases her crush at silly games he can't win" is already a pretty surefire premise, small tweaks and innovations have made each season and episode stronger than the last. Season 3 continues that trend, but in a much bigger way than previously. Takagi-san season 3 is not only its most cathartic season, full of progress and payoffs that never really got to happen previously, but also its most creative. What puts this third season so far above its first two for me largely comes down to an increase in the breadth and scope of its gags. It can dedicate half an episode to a series of silent Looney Tunes style sneaking sequences, pull out a big and satisfying contest, and end in either character making some realization or progress. This season had by far the most moments of Takagi's vulnerability, and the most of Nishikata's biggest steps forward, and nearly all of its most fun gags and contests, proof of how polish is the key to making something engaging.
Takagi-san never changed anything about itself fundamentally. It's still a series of short gag stories and light romance, still largely unambitious in its direction and animation, but it takes what it knows its good at and just makes it better and better with each episode. It restructures the source material to create a more engaging ongoing story, and it paces its gags and climaxes better than ever, and the result is just cathartic, hilarious, and adorable. Anime loves these simple rom-coms, and Takagi-san is surely among the strongest of them given its impressive progress over time. Simplicity can be the most effective, and Takagi-san has transformed from a pretty endearing little romance into one of the year's most delightful anime offerings.
Best Boy: Nishikata
Best Girl: Takagi
20. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Studio Trigger just don't miss. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is stylish, intimate, epic, and tragic, a rock solid dystopian with all the raw style, violence, and sex you'd expect from such a gritty setting, and with crushing emotional impact. It starts as somewhat of a slow burn, but each episode fleshes out each individual element just the right amount until my investment becomes total. I'd initially felt the setting, mechanics, and characters could use fleshing out after the first episode, and the next four set out to solve all my issues. Episode 4 was a particular standout in this regard for me, near singlehandedly carrying my investment in the cast with its intimate look into the casts daily lives and a series of sweet 1-1 interactions that sold their chemistry in a way previous episodes never did. Spending this overtime to make sure I'm invested in each individual element paid off when the plot kicked into high gear, leading to an inevitable tragedy as all of what I cared about was slowly and surely taken away. It's a gripping, emotionally resonant look into a future society that traps people into destroying themselves and their relationships for the sake of power and money, an ugly capitalist dystopia that I couldn't help but see traces of in my own daily life.
Cyberpunk's storytelling both confident and stylish, and Hiroyuki Imaishi's outstanding direction and the talented team at Studio Trigger really brought the setting of Night City to life, and elevated the drama significantly. It's a claustrophobic setting, that grunge and dirt always feeling vivid. At the same time, it's undeniably colorful in the way that Imaishi's previous work is. The combination of these make it a quintessential cyberpunk aesthetic, as well executed as anything. And when it needs to kick up for a climax, oh boy does it ever. In particular, Kai Ikarashi's work on episode 6 is just ridiculous, turning already powerful material into one of the most memorable and heartbreaking episodes of the year. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a boldly told story, familiar in its beats but nailing the them in a unique and stylish way only possible with this particular team. The past few years have had a string of excellent adaptations of video games, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners seems to stand with the best of them.
Best Boy: David
Best Girl: Lucy
19. The Demon Girl Next Door 2
This year marked the return of Shamiko and the gang's hilarious shenanigans, and I couldn't be happier for it. Season 2 simply continues where the first one left off, maintaining the same irreverent and snappy sense of humor, still just as gay as it always was, and still expressively directed and with fun expressions. The first season was charming as heck and this one is just more so. New characters like Lico and Shirasawa are welcome presences that already have great chemistry with everyone, and old characters continue to get new material to make them even more lovable. Demon Girl is a surprisingly complicated show in its execution and I perhaps struggle a bit to describe it here, but suffice it to say that if you're familiar with the first season's snappy gags and brief magical girl commentary, the same draw exists in this sequel.
What this sequel does bring new to the table is its greater focus on the surprisingly good overarching story. Multiple major mysteries are solved and longstanding plot points are brought into greater focus, while Shamiko and Momo gain new designs and new powers. This greater plot focus particularly helps give more time to the relationship between Shamiko and Momo, and leads to some of the series most poignant moments yet, as they start to shed their socially enforced roles in order to protect and be with each other. But all of these things only land as hard as they do because of the strong foundation this series has built, and which it continues to build from and add layers too. Here's hoping that the adventures of these lovable dorks gets to continue from here.
Best Boy: Manager Shirakawa (magical tapir demons count as boys, right?)
Best Girl: Shamiko
18. Spy x Family
2022 was a year full of anime surprise hits, but Spy x Family firmly in the opposite camp as a widely hyped Shounen Jump property that immediately became an instant classic. Having experienced the joy of the show myself, it's really no wonder why this was the case, as Spy x Family is built of nothing but pure charm. It's the kind of show that I struggle to imagine anyone actively disliking, a sweet, funny, and heartwarming family caper with more than enough action to give it broad appeal. It's a show I feel I can recommend to anyone, and I am more than happy to do that given its quality. It's a sturdy production that nails every element, only occasionally truly blowing me away but which maintains such a consistently high quality that I can't help but be impressed. Gags are delivered snappily and with effective timing, dialogue feels natural and rarely lasts too long, and it knows exactly where to put a heartwarming family moment or a tense spy caper. It's also always thinking about how to include all of its characters, and makes an effort to ensure that even the ones who aren't relevant to the current story are having their own worries or getting something to do. It's constructed with the kind of thought that lets me know the creative team wants to make something great, and it shows in the final product.
Of course, I can't mention Spy x Family without talking about the titular family, since Loid, Yor, and Anya are the series lifeblood. These three are proof of how little blood matters in a relationship, even a mismatched fake family of spies, assassins, and espers can feel more real and familial than my own family. I do think that mismatched is the correct word to describe them, but every step of the way they all work to figure each other out, try to be better at their familial duties, and build a household as intimate as any. When their national duties and their personal values begin to clash, I'm confident that family can win out in the end. Although the series is centered around war tensions, the stakes are personal, and more than anything, I want to see peace so that Spy x Family's dorky trio can continue to give me those warm fuzzies as a true family.
Best Boy: Loid
Best Girl: Anya
17. Call Of The Night
I love me some vibes, and no show from 2022 vibed with me quite like Call Of The Night. I'm a night owl to the unhealthy extreme, consistently getting to bed between 4-7 in the morning, so the central idea of the show is more than familiar to me. While my daytime problems aren't the same as Yamori's, the idea of being unable to sleep due to unsatisfying waking hours is intimately familiar to me. I have work or school during the day, and on the days I don't, I have to contend with the family I have an awkward relationship with, so night time is freeing. I adore the quiet atmosphere and I also adore the unique sounds of wildlife and the ambience of night life. The cooler temperature, the ethereal feeling of being lonely in the dark, the beauty of lights far in the distance, I find the night time beautiful. It's a time where I can be myself, not worry about other people, personal responsibilities, or time, and it just feels nice to exist in its atmosphere. Call Of The Night's biggest appeal is its effortless ability to set this kind of vibe, playing into the eerie and haunting yet calm and endlessly tempting nature of its draw with the inclusion of vampires. Its aesthetic is quintessential urban fantasy, and director Tomoyuki Itamura uses all he learned heading the Monogatari series to bring that vision to life. Alongside the series ambient music, Call Of The Night was just an easy and engaging show to watch due to how perfectly it captures this specific mood.
But of course, I recognize that being like me isn't healthy, and so does the show. Getting tempted too much by the night's siren song means you ignore the very source of the problem, and so Yamori must contend with his daytime problems as well. Yamori is a great protagonist, someone who feels detached in a believable way but who isn't lacking in personality in the slightest. As someone with trauma, he's accepting of all the unique scenarios people go through, and the story recognizes that living with a "sickness" is normal' not something to be ashamed of or run away from, but to try and improve through meeting likeminded people and working through issues together. And his relationship with Nazuna is hopelessly charming, as are the friendships he reignites with school friends Akira and Mahiru, and the other vampires. I wish I could be a vampire in at least some sense, and although the night is for sleeping, Call Of The Night's recognition of all that draws us to the charm of slumbering hours makes for an intimate and poignant coming-of-age with loads of charm and overflowing with atmosphere.
I'd like to shout out Call Of The Night as being a contender for having my favorite original soundtrack among 2022 anime. The visuals already do a fine job of capturing the unique allure of the night, but Yoshiaki Dewa's soundtrack is what really makes it work so perfectly. It's the sound of hazy 3AM vibes distilled into ambient melodic noises, the allure of the night captured sonically. And Creepy Nuts' contributions to the soundtrack are just pure bangers, I'll need to check out more from this band. Dewa has composed a number of excellent soundtracks before, but most of them are sweeping orchestral scores with hints of setting-related instrumentation, but Call Of The Night shows his skillset is varied, and I will continue to look out for this composer in the future.
Best Boy: Yamori
Best Girl: Nazuna
16. The Executioner And Her Way of Life
If you may remember from my episode 1 preview, although I generally enjoyed it and thought it had potential, I had some mild misgivings about the tone and pacing of this show's first episode. I guess the show didn't like that very much, so it decided to just stop doing those things and fully live up to that potential. Shokei Shoujo is my favorite new isekai in many years, which is perhaps weird to say given the series transparent commentary on the genre and active desire to not play into its usual tendencies. But it's the complicated and epic fantasy story I've been craving from this saturated subgenre forever, and its fake-out opener sets up far more interesting ideas than just being a cool twist. The series has incredibly thoughtful worldbuilding, its world feeling like the natural outcome of its premise and fleshed out with unique and specific details. Said world is expansive and has many factions and competing players, with each individual setting providing its own satisfying experience just in seeing Mennou and Akari explore mundane daily attractions. When the plot does kick up, the world feels fantastical, and it's not afraid to be raw and let the horror of its monsters speak for themselves.
I feel like I've said some variant of this a lot, but the heart of the show is the unique relationship between Mennou and Akari. But it's not quite so heartfelt or poignant, given both these characters and various others have so much baggage and so many secrets to hide from each other, under the guise of their friendly and playful banter. They both have many layers to them, and those layers seep into each other, slowly changing each of their outlooks as Mennou starts to find personal agency and Akari... gets progressively less crazy? Maybe? She's an enigmatic character in a really compelling way, so don't take this as an insult. Her double sided persona is one of my favorite things about the show. And although the relationships are complicated, the show is still full of playful banter and fun moments of down time, not only between the leads but between various other characters as well. Everyone seemed to hate Momo, but I like her, so fuck you, and you're lying to yourself if you don't think her relationship with Ashuna is a highlight of the show. Executioner is a jack-of-all-trades fantasy show, there's not really a single area it stands out in but it's stalwartly great in every area, not only its story, world, characters, and themes, but its visual presentation and music as well. This is a grand story in the making, and definitely one of the shows from this past year I most hope to see a second season from.
Best Boy: There's only one male character and I won't spoil it
Best Girl: Akari
15. Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit
The long awaited fourth season of this cult hit, I've been waiting for this for a long time. Yama no Susume is a favorite of mine, and this season looked to pay off one of the series longest lingering plot points stemming from its most compelling character arc. And given the increase to 24 minute episodes, it seemed poised to be special. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to those lofty expectations. The double length run time was used for small mini stories instead of building up to this important moment, so the appeal of the series rising drama was dampened. But that the show is still this great is only a testament to the strength of its base material. Each of its mini stories is stylistically unique and compelling on some level, and many of them are some of the series best episodes. The chemistry of this absurdly charming cast hasn't lost a beat, and the gorgeous scenery of its hikes through the mountains only stun more and more. And in the end, it still pays off that plot point in a satisfying two-parter, wrapping up two seasons worth of build-up in an incredibly poignant and satisfying way. Yama no Susume at its weakest is still charming as heck, and this is still very, very far from its weakest. Even without the pull of its drama, the series contains some of the most impressive slice of life outings you'll find.
And of course, the drama is almost secondary here, which says less about the drama (which is top notch) and more about how absolutely absurd the animation staff are. Yama no Susume is just one of the best looking anime of all time, it's among the industry's most ambitious productions and it's backed solely by top tier talent, the kind of show that draws huge names to want to contribute to it. The joy of having 12 different EDs from the legendary Kou Yoshinari is already insane enough, but every episode, and even every scene, brings a new style from someone who's worth looking out for. And it's not just for show, the animation is always tailor made to bring us into the story, the character acting rich in personality, the backgrounds immersive to the location, the comedy always on point. I really want to shout out other shows in the visual department, because this one would take nearly every award otherwise. Encouragement of Climb is a landmark production from passionate staff, and the final product is exactly as engaging as you'd expect to get with that.
Best Boy: Hinata's dad
Best Girl: Aoi
14. Ao Ashi
Right from the start, Ao Ashi seemed an extremely promising sports drama, and despite a few problems it never failed to deliver. It did a great job of conveying the unique skills and thought processes necessary for soccer, delivering them in such a way that even a total soccer newb and general hater of irl sports like myself could understand. It had interesting characters, constantly driving drama, propulsive pacing, a lot to offer, and I was always engaged by it. But about one third of the way through the story, something strange happened. Main character Ashito was struggling but a fire was being lit under him, and a fire was lit under the show at the same time as the drama just... got better. A lot better. I actually can't even pinpoint what happened, but somewhere along the line the series writing quality just jumped drastically, and I went from consistently engaged to consistently engrossed. I suddenly couldn't wait for the next episode each week. Nothing fundamentally changed about it, but it's like it understood its material better, paced itself more effectively, and started to tear into the cast in an extremely compelling way. As big twists and revelations started to pile in towards the midsection, I suddenly couldn't pull myself away from the screen.
Everyone has a unique view towards the sport and their role, built from a youth of nothing but immersion into the sport and a unique study of what it takes to become a professional. Ashito's self-doubt was always grounded by his more humble background, and his unique perspective plays off of the rest of the team and his coaches in such a compelling way. Those who are more knowledgeable than him end up pushing him to the limit but he always comes through in not quite the way you'd expect. Most of all, his relationship with Hana is perfect and grounds him and the larger conflicts beautifully, making for one of the year's most endearing romances to boot. And yet despite focusing almost entirely on Ashito's point of view, it doesn't neglect a large cast of teammates, coaches, and other important presences. And it manages to be so compelling in spite of a clearly struggling production. Ao Ashi is another show I most want to see get a continuation, preferably with Production I.G. bringing the same level of production as they do for their other sports classics like Haikyuu. Ao Ashi gets incredibly good when it hits its stride, and given more time and a stronger production, I think it could stand among the very best sports anime.
Best Boy: Ashito
Best Girl: Hana
13. Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3
Executioner may be my favorite new isekai in years, but Bookworm is why it's not my favorite overall isekai in years. Ascendance of a Bookworm is a robust story that almost seems to change focus with each season, but without ever losing sight of itself and its central goals. The story just expands in scope, and this season continued the trend with Myne's overturning the economic order of society drawing attention from the wrong crowds. But the new inventions take a backseat to the personal drama this time around, and this season serves as the series most intense and emotional entry yet. Given that this is the third season of a fairly plot driven series, I find myself struggling to talk about it without spoiling it, but there's so much I want to say about it. It furthers the interesting relationship between Myne and Ferdinand, while Myne grows into bigger roles in her business. It pays off Delia's story in an incredibly satisfying manner, introduces some solid new characters, pays off church related politics, and has the series most shocking and poignant finale to date. If you've seen previous seasons, I think this one is about as good, if not a little better.
Where this season shines is in being more personal than those of the past. Myne's relationship with her family was always at its heart, and that intimacy shined most this season where it was so important to the story. Certain things about it could be absolutely heartwrenching, with some moments between them containing the warmth and love of a million suns. Familial relations were generally at the core of this season's story, making it feel like the most personal arc to date, and I love that about it. Ascendance of a Bookworm is an ambitious fantasy story, but it's always been one to celebrate people's bonds and closely examine people's personal experiences and motivations, and that's what makes it special to me. What it lacks in aesthetic excellence and tightness of craft, it makes up for with ambition, creativity, and an uncynically loving heart. Each season has had fewer episodes than the last and perhaps we were lucky to even get three of them, but I very much hope to see more of this genre staple and its lovable cast.
Best Boy: Sylvester
Best Girl: Myne
12. Mob Psycho 100 III
It was very strange to see Mob Psycho 100 have a new season and it get completely overshadowed by other shows with impressive productions. I've always considered Mob Psycho to be one of the most visually impressive animated TV shows of all time, but this season did feel like a step down in that regard, though not a huge one. As a whole, this final season didn't feel as tightly constructed or perfectly paced as the previous ones did, and it only once reached the heights of season 2. But Mob Psycho 100 is one of those special shows that is still leagues above everything else at its weakest moments, and one of the best action series of the last decade just reached the insanely poignant conclusion I've always wanted from it, so I'm not complaining. It pays off nearly every character's personal hang-ups, wraps up loose ends from relationships, and reaches the logical endpoint of its overarching thesis. Mob Psycho is about perceiving your own talents and what it means to better yourself, and to see all of these characters who struggled with their egos come to be as humble as they are is just poignant as hell. And most of all, it gives Mob and Reigen the endings they deserve. The final episode is just incredible, and I was a blubbering mess starting about half way through. I love this cast of doofuses, and seeing where they end up was satisfying in the exact way most stories in this medium dream of being.
And sure, maybe the animation wasn't as consistently amazing as previous seasons, and maybe the pacing dragged in too many places, but to say it was actually bad is just flat out wrong. To be airing in the same season as Do It Yourself, Yama no Susume, and a certain other show I'll talk about later, you have to be bringing your A-game to not be overshadowed. And yet even then, Hakuyu Go's work on episode 8 is absolutely mind-blowing, a barrage of stunning character animation, gorgeous set design, and an absurdly memorable and haunting final moment; and it's not the only episode I'd say that about. Mob Psycho 100 is a modern classic, and given that it has one of the most satisfying endings I've seen in ages (or having any ending at all for that matter), I think I'll be recommending it for years to come.
Best Boy: Reigen
Best Girl: Mezato
11. Akiba Maid War
Akiba Maid War is what you get when a diehard maid otaku hates that their friends can't seem to also be diehard fans of Hollywood cinema. A love letter to Akiba maid culture through the lens of a Scorcese style mafia story tinged with Tarantino's love for raw violence, this satire understands the unique appeal of both these interesting subcultures, and manages to blend them seamlessly, delivering on what makes both of these narratives interesting. I love that Akiba Maid War is just a fundamentally good mafia story. Nagomi gets caught up in the criminal underworld against her will, and struggles to maintain her naïve innocence in the face of all this violence, seeking to keep herself sane while also needing the power to change the system at its core. At the same time, characters try to escape the clutches of the tight knit underworld, and lose themselves or die trying. It's a classic Hollywood mafia tale told more than competently, but the contrast of this story being played with utter seriousness as cutesy maids do their "moe moe kyun's" before mercilessly murdering people at a café called "wuv wuv moonbeam" makes it an unflinchingly funny comedy to boot. I don't know if I'd call this show the outright funniest show I saw all year, but it definitely had the most memorable and hilarious individual jokes for sure. I was cackling like a maniac more than once, and the first and last episodes live rent free in my head forever.
But while it pokes fun at the absurdity of maid otakudom, these characters fights are ultimately about protecting the purity of that very culture, and allowing what we have today to exist. It's a love letter to maid cafes and to moe, to the unique environment of home and belonging that these places provide. Cafe maids are silly and ridiculous, but they're also awesome, and kinda badass in their own way. Even a 36 year old lady can be an amazing maid, even people in wheelchairs can be. Akiba Maid War is raw in its violence in a way few anime are, but it never gets overwhelmingly dark. It's a master of manipulating its tone, and it creates a heartfelt and loving experience for nerds of all kinds, regardless of how strongly your tendencies lean towards Tarantino flicks or adorable pig themed idol waitresses.
Best Boy: Suehiro
Best Girl: Nagomi
10. Akebi's Sailor Uniform
One of the traits I most identify with in stories is a sense of intimacy. I find myself most in love with stories that dedicate themselves to placing us as deep inside of the headspace of its cast as possible, using every avenue of its storytelling to capture their unique mood, emotions, and point of view. Akebi's Sailor Uniform is a lesson in intimacy, working overtime to capture unique, lived-in moments of the lives of its characters is as vivid detail as any show could possibly muster. It's more than looking through a metaphorical camera at this cast in their most vulnerable moments of mundanity, we see it through the eyes of a person with a vivid imagination, a huge heart, a love for people, and an impossibly lovable and unstoppable spirit. Given that Komichi's perspective is like this, its heartwarming and happy slice of life stories are shown at close range, and pay as much attention to every emotional detail it can latch on to. I've seen some call the series uncomfortably voyeuristic, and although I struggle to find myself understanding this perspective beyond two isolated episodes that land in the realm of erotic, I have to guess that this dedication to intimacy is where it comes from. Komichi pays attention to every aspect of these characters, every detail of their expressions, their clothes and their bodies, their feelings and words. Komichi's titular sailor uniform is presented with a level of detail so high that it's fantastical in its beauty, since that's how she ultimately perceives it. It's almost an overload of sensory information, and that is exactly what draws me into it so deeply.
This style of storytelling works because the production works overtime to achieve it. The amount of absolutely incredible visual showcases this year is ridiculous, and Akebi's Sailor Uniform is absolutely a contender for the year's best looking show. It captures the vivid, intimate detail that it does because it captures every fold of clothing, every subtle shift in expression and body language, and a world of extremely vivid, saturated colors. Moments of intimacy between the characters don't just feel close, but often outright romantic, given the nature of our protagonist and how the show conveys it through its direction and style, thoughtfully shot and with moments where the music lines up perfectly. Yet it doesn't maintain a single aesthetic, and is more than happy to change the look if it needs to, like with Moaaang's stunning cut of a character playing the piano in episode 7. And this vivid detail lets us into the heads of one of the most lovable casts the year has introduced me to, with every episode seeming to add to an endless onslaught of endearing classmates I came to love perhaps even more than Komichi does. The show has moments where it falters, but in a lot of ways, it's everything that draws me to slice of life storytelling.
I'd like to shout out Akebi's Sailor Uniform as a contender for best animation. The show is not only an absurd spectacle of insane character animation, but it's also easily the most consistent of any show I've considered as a contender. Where others I have or will eventually shout out for this falter in places due to unreachable ambition or production issues, none of that ever shows in Akebi's final product, and it manages to do this despite a ridiculous amount of detail in the designs and clothing.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Very hard choice, but I'll say Usagihara
9. Slow Loop
When it comes to these Kirara cute girls shows, there are typically two things that separate the ok ones from the great ones: a strange and memorable sense of comedy, and pathos. They are traits that are shared among all of my Kirara faves, and Slow Loop joins them as another heartfelt and hilarious slice of life offering. To start with the pathos, Slow Loop is about grief and change. Hiyori and Koharu have both lost parents and spend the series adjusting to unique, specific changes. Losing a loved one is hard enough, but turning a brand new family into mundane daily life presents an extra difficult challenge. No matter how much you like a step sibling, in some way, you shouldn't be living with them, giving the relationship an extra layer of baggage. It starts off awkward at first, but through bonding over shared, related hobbies, the two grow into inseparable family, uniquely capable of supporting and lifting each other due to their similar experiences. Moreover, Koi's long-standing relationship with Hiyori adds another poignant layer of intimacy and support to the story. Slow Loop is often as intimate as Akebi, but less through vividly realized method directing and tactile visuals, and more through specific dialogue and shared experiences. Slow Loop lingers on moments of grief, weakness, and difficult emotions. It's not content to just be a light-hearted and cozy fishing show, it's a poignant story about the difficulties of working through change, dealing with grief. and opening up to others. This only focuses on the main cast too, but other characters have similarly poignant stories, and I adore seeing the families involved grow closer.
But Slow Loop has a bizarrely morbid sense of humor, so it never gets too dark. Every member of the cast is introspective in their own way, but Koharu is the joyful presence that allows the series to have a dynamic sense of tone, given her unique sensibilities and lack of fears. This show that carefully deals with grief and change also has tons of jokes about the gory mess of cutting up fish or how disgusting bait can be, and Koharu even makes her class school festival exhibit a museum about parasites. Mixed alongside more traditional cute gags and character driven situational comedy, I do think the operative word for the series tone is indeed "dynamic," as it effortlessly transitions between these comedic modes and its more contemplative and poignant aspects with perfect pacing. Slow Loop is exactly what I look for in these kinds of shows, and although it went under the radar this year, I haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished it almost a year ago.
I'm going to shout out Slow Loop as my choice for the year's most underrated show. It's a really excellent cute girls sitcom, executing everything that draws me to such stories at a high level, and being dynamic in its tone. It's intimate and poignant, and funny and ridiculous, and I love it. And it's also a hobby show, with a similar level of detail in its presentation of fishing as other genre staples like Yuru Camp. I'd sell the show in general as a mix of Yuru Camp and Tamayura with Domestic Girlfriend's basic premise, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something comforting, healing, and funny.
Best Boy: Koharu's dad
Best Girl: Koi
8. Lycoris Recoil
I've praised many previous entries for their intimate qualities, and LycoReco has some of them too, but fuck that shit, this show is just fun as hell. LycoReco revels in the ridiculousness of its premise and just lets it run wild. High school aged orphans given a chance to realize unique talents if they become government assassins who work to hide terrorism from the public for a police state by blending into the populace using school uniforms while hiding guns? Who cares if it makes sense, it's awesome. LycoReco has rightfully been described as "John Wick starring cute girls," and the appeal of energetic high school girls in school uniforms pulling off badass acrobatics and gunplay is universal. Mechanics don't need to hold up to scrutiny of you present it with style and technique, and especially if you make your characters so utterly charming that their struggles hit no matter the context. Besides, the appeal of this show doesn't lie in its sci-fi oddities or even necessarily with its action scenes, but with the heartfelt relationship shared between Chisato and Takina, as Takina regains agency through Chisato's empathetic prodding, and Chisato assesses her idealistic goals in the face of societal issues and her more pragmatic partner. Their relationship is incredibly sweet, and alongside the presentation (Shingo Adachi has a fantastic directorial debut and Imigimuru's character designs are already iconic), renders any of the bullshit moot, or even goes so far as to make it charming instead.
But Lycoris Recoil isn't content to just be a balls-to-the-walls action show about teenage assassins, I find it's story genuinely interesting. The Lycoris essentially work for a police state, and their explicit goal is to hide the truth about terrorism from the public. Interestingly, neither protagonist particularly takes a side in that idealistic conflict, but their unrelated goals either work for or against that system and call its value into question. If Chisato only cares about the problems of the local everyman, she is complicit in the system despite not actively participating in it. And the series antagonist is blatantly against that system, and in his chaotic "the-ends-justify-the-means" fight against it, each character is forced to reckon with what its existence means for the world at large. Likewise, Chisato's pacifistic mindset is challenged at every turn, and her desperate struggle to hold on to her purpose makes for more compelling conflict. What I'm trying to say is that the show has a lot of ideas, and it does a very solid job of presenting them and paying them off without making them dominate what is ultimately an absurdly fun action vehicle starring one of the most lovable duos out there. The ending is a bit ambiguous, but in a way that just makes me want to see more of this world, and all the strange details it alludes to but never reveals. And with the series quickly becoming a surprise hit, I think we'll get to see that, and I can't wait to return to this world again.
I'd like to shout out Lycoris Recoil for having the best voice acting of any show I watched this year. Chika Anzai and Shion Wakayama completely blew it out of the park as Chisato and Takina respectively, it is astonishingly expressive voice work that would have single handedly brought these characters to life even if the script were lacking. Nearly all of the show's most memorable moments stick out in my mind thanks to their incredible performances more than everything. And those two are just the main stars, but Misaki Kuno as Kurumi, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Majima, and everyone else does a stellar job in their roles. Other shows had individually great performances, but the amount of them stuffed into this one is astounding, so props to whoever directed the performances.
Best Boy: Majima
Best Girl: ChisaTaki (or I will not choose between my children)
7. Chainsaw Man
In my Fall impressions post, I was pretty harsh on Chainsaw Man, and a bit nervous about the pushback I might have received for crapping on it. But I don't think I've ever seen a bigger jump in quality between a show's first episode and its second episode in my entire life. Simply put, everything I complained about back then nearly went away in episode 2, which I've literally never seen happen a single time before in my entire anime fandom. It turns out, when your characters aren't constantly talking over quiet scenes and you don't have the script of a bland shounen battle anime, your best qualities actually get to shine through, and oh boy do they ever shine. The theme of the past few entries here has been "intimacy," and Chainsaw Man matches or even exceeds the intimacy of Akebi and Slow Loop thanks to its extensive character animation and love for lingering on the most quiet and vulnerable moments of these characters lives. Chainsaw Man is about struggling under the weight of existence, and taking in the small pleasures it sometimes allows us, and its approach to character acting, focus on daily minutiae, and contrast of its loud and quiet moments emphasizes the weight of this aspect. Maybe for some, it was the big action setpieces that sold them on the show, but for me, it was the detailed cut of Aki's morning routine at the end of episode 4 where I knew the show would be special.
Chainsaw Man's dedication to a vision of live-action style cinematography works in its favor, further emphasizing the reality of daily living while contrasting the fantastical aspects of devils and gory battles. It also just makes for a consistently visually interesting experience, a dedication to its artistic vision that most series don't match. And its tied together by an incredibly lovable and interesting cast of characters. Each of them have dorky elements, but are fundamentally broken people, beaten down by the ills of capitalism and the manipulation of those with more power. These small rewards of food and shelter are fickle and not in their control, meaning their situation is not a solution for their problems. Seeing these characters start to find meaning and control is uplifting, even when I know how these things can be taken. The joy of watching Denji and Power act like dumbasses is just that great. And Kensuke Ushio's outstanding soundtrack is just the icing on the cake, truly amazing work. Chainsaw Man is ambitious as hell, and despite clear issues with its production, it executes on that ambition better than most, making for one of the year's most intimate introspective dramas, and also a pretty sick action show on occasion.
I'd like to shout out Chainsaw Man for having my favorite antagonist of the year. I could also highlight its music, direction, and animation, but the thing that most sticks with me about the show is Makima's constantly unsettling presence. Manga readers appear to interpret her as some kind of dominant force, but for me, her calm, unchanging demeanor seems far more terrifying. She's simply impossible to get a reaction out of, a character who is always in control no matter how unpredictable things get. She's a master manipulator who effortlessly grooms Denji into becoming dependent on her, and everything she does seems preordained to go her way, all as she works with an emotionless expression and a tone of voice so apathetic that it screams confidence. A fascinating and unsettling character who I can't help but be drawn to for her charisma, Makima is definitely one of the year's most intriguing and scary characters, and a big factor in what makes Chainsaw Man such a compelling drama.
Best Boy: Denji
Best Girl: Makima
6. Dance Dance Danseur
Despite all the attention Mappa has gotten recently, one of the very best shows to have come from the studio went sorely overlooked by its loudest fans. Perhaps its subject matter of men's ballet doesn't come off as the most immediately striking topic, but don't let it put you off and miss one of the year's best dramas. In fact, the show anticipates some audience members finding the subject matter uninteresting and addresses it outright. Ballet, as it turns out, is an intense and fascinating sport, and Dance Dance Danseur uses the lens of men's ballet to explore the nature of masculinity, and the ways that people perceive gendered expression. Junpei is a complicated and not always entirely likable protagonist, shaped by the expectations of masculinity placed on him by his father and his friends, and it is both highly relatable and very fulfilling to see him become more confident in expressing his masculinity even through an art form seen as so stereotypically feminine. Masculinity, as it turns out, is more complicated than such superficialities, and societal expectations of what a man should enjoy and act out affects everyone in ways we don't realize. Dance Dance Danseur is about tearing down some of these stereotypes, and the joy of being yourself, as expressed in perhaps the most expressive form of art.
Of course, ballet itself is more complicated than it seems on the surface as well, and similar to society, the world of ballet has many expectations and pressures that performers must meet: certain kinds of acceptable performances, necessary body types, and personal compatibility. Same as with masculinity, many characters contort themselves to fit into the society of dancers, which is every bit as compelling. If ballet is an expressive art form, why is it that being fully expressive is looked down on? I find its meditations on the nature of artistry equally as interesting as its meditations on manhood, making for a robust and emotionally rich story. The story itself is structured like a ballet melodrama the characters would be performing, creating an additional layer of depth and parallels that make for a perfect coming-of-age melodrama, complete with a tragic love triangle just to drive it home. And although the presentation gets worse as it goes, the visuals remain impressive throughout, even when production issues shine through. Despite the production issues, Dance Dance Danseur is a fascinating and emotionally resonant drama that combines intimate personal drama with the intensity of classic sports anime, and the result is a fantastic show that I hope to convince more people to give a look.
Best Boy: Junpei
Best Girl: Miyako
5. Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story
There is a difficult line between being stupid and being campy. Stupid media is impossible to engage with, it doesn't even want me to take it seriously. But camp is an art form rich with its own history and techniques, and Birdie Wing has mastered that art form. Birdie Wing is the anime that people who think anime is all over-the-top nonsense see all anime as, and it's absolutely fucking awesome. I never thought golf was boring in the first place, but if you did, then how does ridiculous over-the-top sci-fi mafia golf matches full of absurd skills and golfing styles, bizarre social commentary, insane technology, and lesbian angst sound? It's the kind of show where a character can say "I'll kill you with golf" with a completely straight face and it somehow come off as the most epic, badass line possible in context. There are two things that make it work. One is its visual presentation, which isn't particularly high fidelity or sakuga laden, but the show is directed with a keen eye for timing and flare. It takes from some of Osamu Dezaki's playbook, elevating its absurd melodrama through preposterous zoom effects, triple takes, and post-card memories, as the music kicks in at just the perfect time to accentuate the drama at hand. A mafia leader's special randomized golf course opens with a transformation sequence as mechanically detailed as any transforming robot show, and even the character designs facilitate their personalities and abilities in ways that can serve as foreshadowing to their capabilities. Although the show is silly, its technical execution is driven by precision, each moment finely tuned to elevate the dramatic and comedic beats of the story as much as possible.
But at the core of all this mafia golfing nonsense is a surprisingly human core. That's always what makes this so-called "stereotype" of anime ridiculousness so appealing on the occasion that an anime actually attempts that. This golf anime may be more of a Gundam show than the actual Gundam show we got this year, but Eve and Aoi have a legitimately compelling relationship, each of them selfishly motivated solely to play on equal footing with each other, their love of the game ignited by each other. Their drive to see each other as the world itself seeks to separate them just works somehow, with even a virtual reality golf session serving as a poignant mid-season climax you wouldn't expect from a show that opens on a girl hitting a golf ball through the cars of a moving train and onto a rake. And the human drama extends beyond that, as Eve works to save immigrant children from urban crawl that threatens to make them homeless, and deals with her own history and background with the mafia. Yes, it's fucking hilarious that there's seemingly randomly a scene where a guy shoots a car with a rocket launcher, but it also sells the high stakes, and contrasts the perceived mundanity of golf being the deciding factor. Birdie Wing is tightly executed camp, and is genuinely the most pure and outright fun I had watching a show this year, and easily the one I most looked forward to each week.
Best Boy: N/A
Best Girl: Eve
4. Attack on Titan the Final Season: Part 2
The discourse Attack on Titan has caused over the past year has been as tiring for me as it probably has been for you, so I'll try to not play this out. I watched all of Attack on Titan this past year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Final Season part 2 just feels like more Attack on Titan to me, and I feel similarly about it as I do nearly every other part of the show. Yes, the story has gotten more complicated and nuanced, the tone has shifted to something a little less campy, the visual style has changed completely, and its themes are much more politically intriguing now, but to me, that was never what made Attack on Titan so god damn addicting. Attack on Titan is a bombastic action story at its core, and few shows know how to make a huge, epic setpiece feel so powerful and adrenaline pumping quite like Attack on Titan. This season makes for some of its biggest plot twists and biggest payoffs, and every episode had me on the edge of my seat the same as season 1 did. Propulsive pacing and epic staging are the name of the game, and it is glorious to behold, with even its somewhat lacking dialogue feeling like a nitpick in the moment of its engrossing climaxes.
This still underplays it though. This is nearly 80 episodes worth of build-up paying off as the story rumbles to its conclusion, so all the strengths of its early segments play into this. I love these characters and seeing them in such a perilous predicament makes for a hard watch. I love the new characters too. Everyone in this story has sinned, and seeing them work through systemically engrained propaganda and delicate alliances just makes for compelling drama on its own. This season doesn't only contain amazing climaxes, because one of my favorite episodes consisted almost entirely of the core cast sitting in front of a camp fire and working through their differences just by talking to each other. This is the season where everyone cuts into the root of a millennia old conflict, so the human element is still here. And so is the horror element, as this season has some of the most harrowing moments of the series yet. Attack on Titan is messy, but its central conflict is messy, and its characters are messy, and that makes it interesting. I was able to get through the entire franchise so quickly because Titan is consistently compelling and addicting. It's a modern classic for a reason, one who's appeal is not at all lost on me.
Best Boy: Jean
Best Girl: Hange
3. Bocchi the Rock
When I say this, I do not say it lightly: stories like Bocchi the Rock are the reason I come to animation. Bocchi is a playground of pure, creative energy, a production with a bounty of creators who are all passionate about what they're creating, who have every possible manner of conceivable way to present the happenings of the story and were never told "no" when asking to do their thing. Bocchi the Rock is about a character who expresses herself (or fails to express herself) in ways both recognizable and alien to the human mind, but wholly applicable to the human experience, and the staff used every tool possible to ensure that we "get" what she feels with the most evocative imagery of anything I saw this year. And that doubles as some of the most consistently laugh-out-loud comedy too. I love the way the show plays with the characters forms, they will shapeshift into blobs, angles, or even giant godzilla monsters, and yet still be completely recognizable due to visual cohesion among their designs. Bocchi's barf will be conveyed with live-action footage of water bursting from pipes, she'll transform into a T-Posing 3D test model, she'll play out interactions as puppet shows in her head, and sometimes the show just does amazing cartoony expressions. Bocchi the Rock is an animation showcase, stylistically diverse, full of unbound creative energy, and it feels like everyone involved had a blast making it. I live for media like this.
But true to the pattern of my top picks, Bocchi the Rock is a human story. Bocchi the Rock is an exercise in building empathy towards introverts, and understanding people with different social boundaries. As a coming-of-age story, Bocchi's growth into a more functional person is real and rewarding. The show doesn't always let her bask in her victories, but she does in fact have victories, and her failures are only what you'd expect from someone like her. Working through anxiety is a slow and arduous process, and this series gets that. Thankfully, the overall cast is as supportive and thoughtful as she needs them to be, and also just as nuanced as characters. The quartet of Kessoku Band have astoundingly good chemistry, both comedic and dramatic. Nijika's desperation to realize her dream, Kita's growing understanding of Bocchi and own personal insecurities, and Ryou's uncompromising desire to be herself make each member of this cast unmistakably well realized, perhaps making for my favorite cast of the year. And not only are the characters personal growth believable, but the series detailed understanding of the struggles of an indie band are also pitch perfect, and Kessoku Band's music is easily my favorite of the year, nothing but pure bangers and all unique in style compared to the generic J-Pop you'd expect. It's the kind of math-rock adjacent music you'd expect to hear at a place like Starry. Bocchi the Rock is hysterical, poignant, and uncompromisingly creative. Every aspect fires on all cylinders, making for a new favorite of this year or any other.
I'd like to shout out Bocchi the Rock for two things. The first is for having my favorite insert songs of any show this year. Kessoku Band is just a great band, full stop. I've had If I Could Become a Constellation and That Band playing on repeat constantly since the show has ended. They're not just catchy tunes, the compositions are layered and have really strong instrumentation. It's just good music, anisong or otherwise. But more importantly, I want to shout Bocchi out for having the best direction. Bocchi's claim to fame is its unbound creativity, enabled by Keiichirou Saitou's attitude towards the production and the staff's dedication to ensuring that they commit to each and every joke as much as possible. The commitment to visual comedy is what makes this show special, but its dramatic and triumphant moments, and its mundane slice of life aspects, are framed purposefully and with just as much technical precision. It's the direction that makes the show shine in every area, and I can't wait for Saitou's next production.
Best Boy: Bocchi's Dad
Best Girl: Bocchi
2. Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun
Made in Abyss has made a name for itself as one of anime's most memorable, excellent, and horrifying fantasy stories. The show's first season already established it as an instant classic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it accomplished. But I'd never truly connected with it on the level that so many others seemed to, at least not until the final few episodes, and I had took issue with its pacing. I'd describe it as lacking focus in a sense, and it had a gamey quality to it that I was a tad immersion breaking. Whatever problems I had then have been destroyed here, this new installment is completely and utterly captivating from start to finish, and delivered on everything I've always wanted from this story. Although I love the unique layers of the abyss, I think the decision to focus on fleshing out a singular area worked to its benefit, allowing it to hone in on a singular setting, tone, and culture. Where the first season felt like many adventures, this one is a season long tension build, and to call it "tense" is an understatement. What's special about Made in Abyss to me is just how raw it is, how little it won't show you. It morphs the shapes of bodies without hesitation, shows human vulnerabilities, sicknesses, and pain without censorship, and this season goes as far as to commodify body parts themselves as part of magically enforced capitalism, all while characters treat it as an everyday occurance. The way it normalizes the vulnerability of bodies makes it stomach churning, a subtle kind of body horror that doesn't scare me for its shock value or feel gratuitously gorey, but which puts me on the verge of throwing up every second of watching the show for fear of how things will contort next, and that is a powerful experience largely unmatched by most media I've seen.
As for the story, this season introduces a bevvy of fascinating new characters, and its overarching mystery had me completely engrossed, with each new realization more horrifying and exciting than the last. Characters like Vuelo, Wazukyan, Belaf, and Faputa are definitely among my favorites in the series now, and their stories add so much wonder and horror to the history of the abyss and how it's changed over time. This season's climax may not be as explicitly horrifying as that of the first season, but as a send-off of a slow burning build-up, it's extremely poignant. All the worldbuilding prowess that I've come to expect is condensed to a single setting now, with the addition of an entire economic system, set of festivities, careers, and even a conlang and writing system making the titular golden city the series most memorable location. The animation is conservative but well utilized, and the art direction and music continue to be top tier. For me, Made in Abyss has this unique ability to instill stomach churning horror that I cannot look away from, while making that very fact a thematic point in its own right, and this season's tighter focus and slower build made it doubly more effective on me. The horrors are even more horrid, but this time I couldn't look away for even a single second.
Best Boy: Reg
Best Girl: Faputa
1. Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic
Kaguya-sama was always a contender for my favorite of the year for each of its previous seasons. Its creativity, relatability, consistently hilarious humor, endearing character interactions, surprising thematic and worldbuilding depth, and Mamoru Hatakeyama's outstanding direction made it a worthy choice every time. But this year, it's not a contender, it's the clearest choice. Everything that the series has always done well, it continues to do well, but this season just came with the series on its A-Game every step of the way. Half of the series most creative, hysterical, and memorable skits are found in this season alone, with episode 5's rap shenanigans probably being my outright favorite episode of anime from 2022; and certainly the funniest. This season pays off multiple sets of long-running gags, furthers plot points 20 episodes in the making, and shows new sides of previously beloved characters. Meanwhile, new characters like Maki have instantly become some of my favorites in the series, the onslaught of personalities just being more lovable than the last. When Kaguya fires on all cylinders, it's one of the most impactful comedies and the most endearing romances.
But most of this isn't new to Kaguya. It's been paying off gags forever, introducing lovable new characters each season, and there's always at least one standout episode (though perhaps none as incredible as episode 5, one of the most gutbustingly hilarious episode of a TV show possibly ever). Likely to no one's surprise, what puts Ultra Romantic as such an easy choice for me is its insane, epic, five episode final arc, which is not only a series of incredibly satisfying and poignant individual stories, and which adds tons of relevant character details that recontextualizes some of their relationships, but which might just be the very best and most satisfying burst of progress I've ever seen in a romance show. I obviously don't want to spoil anything, so I won't give any details, but it's densely layered, perfectly paced, as hysterical as always, and left my heart twice as full as you'd expect from a festival where hearts are an explicit symbol. This is somehow not the end of the story, and yet I'm more satisfied with it than nearly every other piece of media I saw this year. It's astounding what it was able to pull off, and I hope the lack of detail isn't underselling it. Kaguya-sama was always a special show, but Ultra Romantic is ultra special, and my easy choice for anime of the year. If you've not gotten on board with one of the most beloved romantic comedies of the modern age, don't miss out on this deserving modern classic.
Best Boy: Shirogane
Best Girl: Kaguya
Epilogue:
This took me forever to write, and it's coming out a quarter of the way into the next year, and I still want to write part 3, so I guess I'm never doing a list like this ever again, lol. Nonetheless, I hope that this list could help give an impression of the wide variety of interesting and worthwhile anime coming out nowadays. I love keeping up with as much as I can, and knowing about the landscape of modern anime. So many people complain about a lack of quality or variety, but as someone who tries out everything, I'm confident in saying that we lack neither. 2022 is definitely not one of my favorite years of anime, but it's also one with a consistent amount of solid quality shows, many of which I wasn't even able to finish due to a lack of time. I'm bothered by some "fans'" constant negativity towards this medium, and wish the sentiment of "ironic" love and "lovingly" calling anime "trash" would just die. I come away with the same conclusion every year, but anime is good, actually; I hope that I could convey some of that to you. And perhaps I've convinced you to check out one of the near 60 anime that I found solid enough to be worth finishing, in which case, I hope you enjoy. I will definitely not have the time in 2023 to keep up with so much, given personal events happening in my life, but here's to another great year of anime.
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