RazorDan's Anime Blog: 2012 Anime Review

[† RazorDan]

So in a bid to get new content in the anime section, I've decided to post a series of 'blogs'. This'll be my first one and I'll also be posting reviews of other years, as well as articles about the industry itself. I'll produce a list of categories and give 'awards' to a show based on those categories. Hopefully, I'll post the 2011 review tomorrow, with an article outlining my dismay at the lack of Zombie themed anime to be posted in a few days. With that being said, the presentation will be both simple and sparse. Anyway, let's get started!

 

Note: I'll admit that whilst I watched a decent amount of anime that aired in 2012, I could've definitely watched more. If I miss any of your favourites, post a comment and I'll definitely check it out! Oh and any recommendations for more categories will be accepted as I'm only going with basics for now!

 

1) Best Character

 

Category is pretty obvious, but I'm splitting it into male and female.

 

Male:

Archer, Fate Zero- I wont reveal his actual identity, but Archer is one of my all time favorite characters. He's arrogant, he's a jerk, he thinks he's better than everyone but I loved it. The best way to describe him? BAD ASS! He in my mind is a true King, he completely thinks he's above everyone but he's also immensely powerful and very wise, especially shown by the effect he has on the other characters. In a show that prides itself on being both an action and a talking series, Archer is the true epitome of that ideal.

 

Female:

 

Inaba Himeko, Kokoro Connect- This may be a bit of a surprising pick, but I loved Inaba. She gets an award purely because of her brilliant development throughout the series. She's intelligent, cunning and strong willed. Sounds cliched but she's actually the most interesting character in the show. No spoilers, I must resist. 

 

 

2) Best Opening- Psycho Pass Op 1 Abnormalize- Ling Tosite Sigure

 

For this, I kind of have to apologise. Truth be told I've seen so many generic, dramatic J-pop tracks, that I honestly struggled to select a best OP. Luckily, I remembered this gem. It's different to the typical opening  but to me it sounded epic! Plus, it perfectly encapsulated the mood and atmosphere of the anime, so I think it's fully deserved!

 

Psycho Pass OP1- Abnormalize by Ling Tosite Sigure

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8Pvu-Liwo

 

3) Most Disappointing Series

 

Btooom!

 

Now this might be a bit controversial as I gather this show has a quite a few fans. It's premise promised a lot and I heard many good things about it. However, to be frank, it was boring. Boring, boring, boring. It wasn't terrible, but it was so predictable. It was in essence a Battle Royale/Hunger games like show, but it tried to ask questions about morality and human nature and the like and it honestly seemed a bit silly. That being said the main character and Himiko were both good and developed well. In short, could've been great, but was just alright.

 

4) Most Surprisingly Great Show

 

Kuroko no Basket

 

I saw this show because I was bored and it looked pretty. I never ever expected it to be as great as it was. I knew it was popular but I'm not much of a basketball fan and I automatically assumed this would be a typical shounen. Now, I was kind of right but I was stunned by how epic it was. Truly, it was an amazing anime, I loved the characters, the art, the story, pretty much everything! So it went from a random pick, to placing in my top 20. Not bad at all!

 

 

FINAL CATEGORY-  ANIME OF THE YEAR

 

So I've decided to do a top 5 anime of 2012 list, the likes of Hyouka and Bakuman just missed the cut. Without further ado, let's check them out...

5) Sword Art Online- I loved it tbh. I know it's got a lot of hate but I truly thought it had a great setting, a good story and good characters. I'm actually mystified as to why it's hated so much.

 

4) Kokoro Connect- This was a great story.  Sure it was set in a clubroom, with a school club full of people who don't really fit in society (in other words cliched), but it was a refreshing and unique take which I really enjoyed. Plus, in terms of character development, it's very impressive.

 

3) Kuroko no Basket- Like I said before, an amazing and surprisingly good series. The whole Generation of Miracles thing is great, and I'm genuinely excited for more.

 

2) Fate Zero- This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Hugely popular due to its great art, mostly great characters, intriguing characters and, most importantly, it's depiction of famous heroes from the past. It's vastly superior to Fate Stay Night and I especially loved the dialogue in the series.

 

1) Kingdom- Huh? Some of you may be wondering what this show is and if that's the case then I'm afraid you're missing out on one of the greatest shows I've ever seen. It covers the Warring States period in China and so there are a lot of great battles and, more importantly, a lot of political and tactical battles, factors that really appeal to me. The only real fault is the poor use of CGI earlier on in the series but it's not a major fault, and they fix it as the series progresses. Highly recommended!

 

 

Well that's the end of my first post, any shows, characters, songs I've missed then please leave a comment and we can DISCUSS! Also, please keep in my mind what I said before, I could've watched more anime last year. 2011 will be posted next time!

 

[lemmingllama]

I can say that there are some series here that I will now put on my to watch list due to your recommendations and some research immediately afterwards. However, I was disappointed that some series didn't make the cut to be mentioned in the list. I am not sure if you didn't watch them, or if you just didn't like them as much, but I will point out some of them just in case.

 

First off, the most suprisingly awesome series of the year would go to Binbo-gami Ga! in my opinion. I went in expecting just some terrible ecchi comedy series. What I got was a surprisingly hilarious parody series that actually had funny jokes and used its sexuality only for humor rather than "herp derp boobs watch our show haha same bounce physics as Gainax". If you haven't watched, I would recommend it.

 

I would also argue that Koko Hetmatyar from Jormungand was the best female character of 2012. Although I haven't seen Kokoro Connect so I cannot compare, Koko is just a fun character who pulls the entire show along and keeps it interesting. This I would love to hear your reasons for or against if you have watched Jormungand, also if you prefer dub then that should be out soon with Funimation.

 

For most disappointing series, I would nominate Sword Art Online. I haven't seen BTOOM so again can't compare, but Sword Art had such a great premise and huge promise after the first two or three episodes. It could have easily been a 10/10 if they kept up that passion and energy. Instead they spent the next half of the series with filler series from later books that didn't even occur in the first book, then sped through the actual plot part of the story so they could do the entire second half of the series (wont spoil but there was a pile of filler). ALO should have been it's own 26 episode series seperate from SAO. Either way, it was still decent but not nearly as awesome as the first episodes promised, as well as anyone who had read the books or manga before.

 

Another disappointing series would be Muv Luv Alternative. Started out as a cool battle mecha realism one, turned into ecchi with no budget. Won't really argue unless you watched and disagree with these comments.

 

Finally, I would like to propose the "Best and Worst Ecchi Hijinks series" category. My nominations would fall as Hagure Yuusha no Esoterica as the best Ecchi Hijinks series due to the manly main character, and Muv Luv Alternative as the worst due to its insistence for both ecchi and mecha while not having any budget whatsoever.

 

Anyways, I look forward to seeing more blog posts and I hope you have seen these series so I can argue. Others that deserve honourable mentions include Shin Sekai Yori, Black Rock Shooter, and Dusk Maidens of Amnesia for being good and Queen's Blade and Campione (woot skip an arc then reference to it...) for being bad.