Top Ten anime of 2014

I did a list of my favorite anime of 2013 and since I am still writing on my anime blog I decided that I should make a list for 2014.

Like all list of favorite stuff I have to put in the warning that it is of course only my opinion. I will continue with the condition that the show must have concluded in 2014. This is my reason that Parasyte, Fate Stay Night, Shiro bako or Aldonoah Zero are not on the list. Also the other condition is that I finished the show as well. This my reason Bahamut isn't on the list either even though it is fun to watch. So in no particular order of quality(although I am progressing through the seasons as I make this list) here is my list of the best 10 anime shows of 2014.

1. Hajime no Ippo the Fighting Rising

Hajime no Ippo is my favorite sports anime of all time and I was glad there was another season of it. Even if you haven't seen the previous two seasons this show is a mixture of fun characters and intense fighting.

2. Silver Spoon

My conditions prevented me from putting this show on my list so I will do with this year. This show is a insightful and makes you think while still being an overall fun show.

3. Inari Kon Kon

This story of a girl and her forays into the supernatural was my favorite winter 2014 show. I found this show to be a nice character focused show.

4. No game No life

This story of two Otaku transported to a fantasy world run by games manages to be really fun simply because of the verve and audacity of the main character.

5. One Week Friends

This is a subdued kind of show that felt like it had some of the romantic elements I sort of liked in anime without being too heavy handed with them.

6. Hunter x Hunter

This show is one the best shonen shows of all time and the fact that it ended this year guarantees it a spot on my top 10 list.

7. Barakamon

This was an interesting slice of life show that had a bit more intellectual and emotional meat to it while still being true to the genre.

8. Monthly girls Nozaki Kun

While I technically don't have any shoujo anime on this list this comedy is the closest thing I have and it makes me not regret my lack.

9. Hanayamata

This tale of five girls learning to perform a dance was one that I found really fun to watch and one that really struck me as well animated.

10. Yuuki Yuna no Yuusha

This magical girl show is one that shows you can follow the ideas presented in Makoka Magica and still make a good and original show.

Review The fruit of Grisaia

See shaft, we can do that too.

Yuuji Kazami was a young man with a mysterious past and one wish, to be an ordinary student at and ordinary school. His wish was halfway granted, he was allowed to study in a special school with five other students, all of them girls with tragic and shady pasts. The question is just what will happen to Yuuji and his classmates in this new environment?

So many clothing options

The Fruit of Grisaia is an adaptation of a visual novel of the same name. Although it does have it's dating sim elements the show is much, much darker than your average show of the genre. While the show isn't horror it is quite grim in many of it's episodes. The show also has a strong action element to it as Yuuji is some sort of highly trained secret agent, and one that get's to make use of his skills more than you would expect in a visual novel adaptation.

Secret technique #22 Loli headbutt

While the show does have it's appeal in being original to some extent it also has quite a bit of flaws. Most notably the pacing of the show is rather jarring as it tries to cram in five story arcs into thirteen episodes taking a hacksaw to four of them. Also this show has a fair amount of fan service and what I saw was a bit more shocking than in many anime shows.

Overall I found the Fruit of Grisaia to be a very weird diversion of a show that is mostly worth watching for spectacle and novelty.

Rating the Sosuke (Full Metal Panic) for being a show most interesting because of it's deadly but socially awkward protagonist.

Review Jellyfish Princess

Yeah I have the best man boobs in town

Tsukimi was an awkward lady who loved jellyfish more than anything. Even though she could confront beautiful people (She and the other women of the dorm refer to them as the stylish) she ends up entangled with a cross-dressing guy named Kuranosuke.

I am not the secret love child of Jigen and Goemon!

Jellyfish princess is an eleven episode shojo anime. It is an interesting show in that is one of the few that deal with female geeks and not in a fetishistic sense. However I found this to be a double edged sword as on one hand it is an interesting hook but on the other hand the other members of the dorm are one note human jokes who eat up too time causing pacing problems in the rest of the show.

Despite the title on the cover there is oddly no Yaoi in that sketchbook.

The rest of the show is a love triangle between Tsukimi, Kuranosuke and his brother, as well as a couple of episodes later in the show that deal with Tsukimi embarking on a possible new calling. I found Kuranosuke to be the most interesting and unique character in the show, especially if you have seen some of the less savory male leads in shoujo media. However none of this is well developed in enough in the running time of the show and given the show's age a proper ending will probably never be animated.

Overall I found Jellyfish princes to be a nice concept that was unfortunately cluttered with unnecessary material and poor pacing.

Rating the bronze  Hideyoshi (Baka to Test) for a series made decent by cross-dressing.

Review Barakamon

Tsundere in training

Seishuu Handa was a notable calligrapher but one who's temper caused him to punch an old man who criticized his work. As punishment he was exiled to a rural island. However Handa is a city boy who is completely out of his depth in this new environment. However could this change of scenery and the people that he now lives with be a catalyst for change in Seishu?

Rpg jokes go with everything

Barakamon is a twelve episode slice of life show. The show is rather different from most of the genre as it is not a four girls do nothing type of show, but a show focusing on the slow personal transformation of a man. It is the kind of show that shows that you can tell a more personal and substantial story while still using the slice of life format.

And they say his calligraphy was going to the toilet

While it isn't the usual type of slice of show it doesn't mean that it is without moe. The other main character in the show is Naru, a totally adorable seven year old girl who is really attached to the main character. It is different enough from most shows of the genre that it feels fresh and a bit more real to life than 

Overall I found Barakamon to be a fun and unique slice of life show that should be a fun watch even for those that typically don't like said genre.

Rating the Silver undine (Aria) for being a really nice and well above average slice of life show.

Review Hunter x Hunter Phantom Rouge

Secret attack #37 Double friendship punch

One day Gon, Killua received a call from Kirapika. Kurapika supposedly found someone from his clan, who were supposedly all killed except for Kurapika, but it ended up being a trap and his eyes ended up being stolen. Will Gon and friends be able to get Kurapika's eyes back even though the culprit behind the deed is powerful and mysterious Nen user who has another connection to his past?

Some more back story for your

Phantom Rouge is a franchise movie using the Hunter x Hunter setting. As such it is an original story that doesn't exactly fit into the overall story although it does seem to happen between the York Shin and the Greed Island arcs. The first minute and a half is spent getting new viewers up to speed so this is a movie I could recommend to general audiences.

Add a goth loli in for good measure

This movie has an antagonist that exists only for the purposes of the movie just like almost every other franchise movie in existence. Phantom Rouge also has a strong focus on Killua and the conflict between his friendship with Gon and the conditioning he received from his family (fans of the franchise will notice how this comes up early in the Chimera ant arc), making this movie a bit better than most movies like it, although not enough to warrant an award upgrade.

Overall I found Hunter x Hunter Phantom Rouge to be One of the better franchise movies and something that would be good fun for any fan of the franchise.

Rating the bronze mewtew (pokemon) for being a completely decent franchise movie.

Review Hunter x Hunter Last Mission

No let's discuss my fee

One day (probably in a break between the Greed Island and Chimera Ant arcs) Gon and Killua decide to revist the heaven's pillar battle arena to see their old friend Zushi fight in the battle Olympia. However they pick the wrong day to come as the arena is taken over by a group of powerful people who are able subdue the fighters and even capture the Hunter association president Netero.

You need a couple more minions to be a threat to them.

The Hunter x Hunter Movie is pretty much like most any other Franchise movie that is not based off of any previous material. It is a movie only for those familiar with Hunter x Hunter anime or manga. There is a new set of villains that have never been mentioned before and will never will be mentioned again after the main characters defeat them.

Not just a poor mountaineer, trying to keep his family fed

The main focus of this movie is a collection of things that most Hunter x Hunter fans would like to see and tossing them into a plot blender. I found that the plot to the movie to be decent and one that fits the Hunter x Hunter somewhat although one would have to wonder if the Hunter organization will let a psycho like Hisoka join what need they would have to have a secret section of the group.

Overall this movie tries to be a little bit of a treat to fans of the franchise and does nothing more than that.

the bronze mewtoo (pokemon) for being a totally standard franchise movie

Review Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles

The gang's all here

Syaoran was a young archeologist in the kingdom of Clow and was also friends with the country's princess Sakura. One night the two of them sneaked into some ruins and some strange to Sakura in that she grows wings and which scatter and leave her unconscious. To recover the feather which are made of her soul Syaoran and Sakura will have to embark on a journey through various worlds, along with two other travelers and an adorable mascot character.

Winged mascot

Tsubasa resevior chronicles is a an adventure show that lasts more than one season but the first twenty six episodes are what I will be reviewing in this article. Even though I said it was an adventure show I found this anime show to be a little light on the fighting for the most part the mood of the show does change a bit depending on what world the characters are currently in. The first season consists of four story arcs after the story is set up as well as three one episode stories.

A new outfit for every world

It is worth mentioning is that this anime is an adaptation of a manga by CLAMP who have taken the opportunity to jam the material full of cameos of characters from their other works and those that are familiar with said works (particularly Card Captor Sakura, Rayearth and X) will get more out of this show than other people.

While I will certainly call Tsubasa a shonen show I would also remind people that it is only sort of one in the way that isn't bound to the tropes of said demographic and genre so that people that are turned off by another Naruto or Bleach clone could still find this show entertaining.

Overall I consider Tsubasa to be only a decent show but something that looks like it has a broad appeal and would probably be worth showing at your local anime club.

Rating the bronze Mokona for being the ultimate CLAMP show but only an okay adventure show.

Review Aldonoah Zero

Your super advanced prototype is no match for my mass produced training unit

Fifteen years ago there was a short war between the people of Earth and the Vers Empire who lives on Mars. Then the princess of Vers went to Earth to have a more formal peace between the two peoples. Suddenly an assassination attempt on the princess not only wrecks her plans of peace but ignites a new war between Vers and Earth as the orbital knights almost immediately launch an attack on Earth.

Don't do it. There is a second season to live for.

Aldonoah Zero is a mecha show that is made up of two twelve episode seasons. This review only covers the first season. The story of a war between the Earth and space is a well worn trope of the mecha genre but I feel this show does breathe new life into the tale. This show has considerable strengths to it, primarly it's rather tight pacing and inventive fight choreography.

Slaine, in the middle of shooting someone

There are some more controversial aspects to the show as well. Most of this has to deal with the characterization of the two main leads. One of them (Inaho) is mostly emotionless, and the other (Slaine) seems to have little point in the show, other than to throw a major wrench into the plot at episode 12. However It has been a while since I enjoyed a mecha show as much as Aldonoah Zero and good mecha shows are hard to find these days.

Overall I found Aldo Noah Zero to be a welcome take on old story tropes and exciting action scenes.

Rating the Silver Zeon medal of Merit (Gundam) for being one of the best mecha shows in recent years. 

review Rail wars

Okay I admit the fan service does get in the way sometimes

In an alternate world where the railways of Japan were never privatized Naoto is a young man with the dream of becoming a train engineer. He ends up as a trainee in the security program for the national railways. He is partnered with three other trainees and together they have railroad adventures.

getting fresh with the harem aren't you, minor character?

Rail Wars is a twelve episode long television show that has a bit of action as well as quite a bit of fan service. While there is a couple of multiple episode arcs later in the series it is a generally episodic show. The main cast consists of the main character as well as his two primary love interests (this show is a bit of a harem show with minor characters filling out the cast) and a poorly characterized wing man.

Childhood friend Maid but not a ninja, passable I guess.

While I am not universally dismissive of fan service shows I found that the fan service in Rail Wars is used to Spackle over often shoddy plots and other weaker aspects of the show. Other than the fan service it is not to say that the show is entirely without merit but it doesn't have enough merit to be considered even average.

Overall I find Rail Wars to be a weak action show that is disguised with panty shots.

Rating the Tin

Love live school idol project

I have not yet begun to look ridiculous

When Honoka Kosaka learned that Otonokizaka was going to close it's doors in three years she was almost beside herself. She then learned about how school idols are becoming popular she decided to form a school idol group in order to drum up some popularity in an effort to save the school. But with no previous musical experience can Honoka and her friends become a successful school idol group?

I have you now my pretties.

One of the more popular trends in anime today is to make shows about idols and Love Live School idol project is one of the most popular shows of this wave. I think that is not entirely happenstance, Love Live does a good job of creating memorable and likable characters, especially given that there are nine main characters in the cast. Another thing about this show is that idol shows are about music and this show delivers quite a few catchy tunes.

A picture like this is pretty much required for a review like this.

However this is not say that Love Live is some artistic masterpiece. While the characters may be fun there is little time to develop them beyond a basic personality for each of them. However how much of this matters is up to the individual. Idol shows might be nothing more than artistic junk food but I can say with some assurance that Love Live is perhaps one of the best bags of potato chips in this aisle.

Overall I think that Love Live tries to be nothing more than simple idol entertainment and succeeds well at being that.

Rating the Bronze Minmay (Macross) for being a nice show that is all about the music.

Review Sola

this cake better not be a lie

Yorito is a young man who loves the sky and taking pictures of it. One night he runs across a mysterious girl named Matsuri who has never seen the blue sky before. As she has nowhere to go Yorito takes her in. As it turns out Matsuri has ties to both Yorito and his bedridden sister that could only be guessed at.

Loli in a box

Sola is a thirteen episode long romantic drama about a boy and a magical love interest. It is also a bit of a tragedy in the vein of the adaptations of KEY visual novels or EF. It also contains a bit of fighting in it but not enough that it would be considered an action series.

dude this guy is like a sky Otaku

I consider Sola to be servicable but generally unremarkable anime show. It has a decent enough premise but had some problems knowing what to do with it's characters. This is mostly because they are defined by their inherent nature rather than a goal and there isn't much to propel the plot forward. The animation is also only decent and any comparison to something like Clannad or EF really cast Sola in the role of looking like a cheap knock off.

Overall I consider Sola something that is worth watching if you are looking for a romantic drama that is more of a tearjerker than a panty shot fest but I will admit this show isn't for everyone.

Rating the bronze Dango (Clannad) for being a decent but forgettable romantic drama.  

review Nanoha the movie 2nd

Hammer time!

It is about six months since Nanoha had her first adventure and finally she gets the chance to meet Fate again. Quickly enough a new threat appears in the form of four warriors hunting the magic of other mages. Their motives are unknown at first but they connect to their relationship with a young paraplegic girl named Hayate.

Don't worry he only mauls some of the children

The Nanoha 2nd movie is the movie adaptation of Nanoha A's. As you can't break a thirteen episode series down to less than half it's length without some cuts the movie can feel slightly disjointed at times, even more so if you haven't seen either the first movie or the original Nanoha series.

Never mess with a nine year old devil

However what this movie wants to deliver to the audience is high intensity battles with lots of energy beams, explosions and little girls and it does it very well. There is also a decent amount of character development in the movie, particularly the antagonists, who have one of the more memorable motive deconstructions in anime. However this is sandwiched in between the four extended fight sequences in the movie.

Overall Nanoha the movie 2nd is a nice action packed magical girl movie that has a bunch of bright imagery and good characters.

Rating the bronze

review Magical Warfare

This show has to resort to threats to get viewers

Takeshi was a boy who lived in a broken home and longed to get away from where he was. His wish was granted by a girl named Mui who introduced him to the world of magic and enabled to not only use magic of his own but study magic in a magic school in a magic world. As luck would have it his two best friends also gain magic and are able to study alongside him. However this is a dangerous world with two factions of wizards battling and Takeshi could easily get caught up in the conflict.

Not so badass, are you?

Light novels adaptations are pretty much a staple in anime these days and just from looking at it Magical Warfare is clearly one of those shows. Even the main girl feels like she was she is just Shana from Shakugan no Shana just aged a bit and given a gun instead of a sword. This also has the problem a lot of speculative fiction suffers from; front loading a lot of world information in the first few episodes.

This is not to say that this show is entirely without merit. However most of this comes in the form of crazy magic fights that become increasingly common as the show wears on. Also I found the side characters to be a bit more compelling than the group of four main characters but no real stand outs.

However in the end there are only little bits of the show that are good and this overstuffed genre has many sweeter fruits so to speak.

Overall I found Magical Warfare to be a very generic modern fantasy show that can work if you are looking for a brainless action show

Rating the tin Melon bread (Shakugan no Shana) for being the bare minimum of an urban fantasy light novel adaptation

Personal metrics 2 the good and bad of ninja scroll

It has been some time but I have felt that it has been to long since I posted a personal metrics post. It is partially because I think these posts make my usual reviews more worthwhile and partially because it gives me something else to post about other than reviews and the seasonal preview.

A long time ago there was a time called the nineties and everything was extreme to the max. Anime was new and one of the few anime movies we could get from a mystical place called a video rental store (it was like a redbox you could walk into) was a movie called Ninja scroll. It was a movie with a bunch of sex and violence and a bare-bones plot. It was the beloved classic of everyone's inner teenage boy. Then years later there was a thirteen episode television show done about ninja scroll and that tv show wasn't so well beloved. The question is why.

My belief is that ninja scroll was never really anything significant in terms of plot or character and was never intended to be. The difference in a movie is only about an hour and a half long and it only needs enough plot to string fights together. The pacing of a television show simply can't work with the simple diet of adrenaline the way a movie can as television has the natural cool down point that an end of an episode is. However as fun as a movie that is mostly only battles with a little plot for glue might be I tend to only give out bronze awards to them. 

Review Monthly Girl's Nozaki

sailor suits, not for everyone

Chiyo was a high school girl who had a crush on one of her classmates, Nozaki. One day she gathered up the courage to confess her feelings to him. However her confession came out a bit off and she ended up learning for that Nozaki is actually a popular shoujo manga artist and he thought that she was simply a fan of his work. Chiyo is quickly drafted into being one of Nozaki's assistants and learns about the strange little world that surrounds him.

Some times this show is a real wild ride

Monthly Girl's Nozaki is a comedy that parodies shoujo manga (comics that have teenage girls as prime demographic). Like most good parodies the show works best if you know a bit about the genre and itself isn't too hard on it's source material. In fact if you kind of tired of the whole jerk with a very well hidden heart of gold trope that exists in many shojo anime you might find this to be a good alternative.

the blandest bento

There is a fairly broad cast of characters in this show and since of them has their own quirks the show does come with a fairly broad range of jokes. Most of this centers around three would be couples so there is also a good variety in episodes. There are only twelve episodes so don't expect the relationships to go anywhere.

Overall I found this to be a really funny shojo satire show that has a wonderful cast of characters.

Rating the silver host club (Ouran) for being a really nice shoujo flavored comedy.

Fall season overview part eight Gotta try everything

While the post title isn't entirely true I am clearly above two dozen titles tried out for the season and this should be my last post of the season (only eleven weeks until this whole thing starts again) because I need to actually stop watching new shows so I can watch the new shows that I enjoyed watching.

A good librian is a good shepard

is a boy who never really paid attention to school functions but always loved reading more than anything. He gets drawn into some happiness project and it might turn out that he is the school's chosen one. This show feels like your bog standard harem show with a slight library flavoring to it.

Gundam build fighters try

Seven years after the first season the school gunpla club is down to only one member. Cue the mysterious transfer student looks like a dead ringer for Reiji to show up. This show feels as thought it could be a show as good as it's predecessor and even then it was a show that depended heavily on gundam fandom and being ridiculous in a funny or amazing way.

It's got to be twin tails

Soji is a boy loves girls when they wear their hair in twin tails fashion (what we call pig tails in the USA). One day he is approached by a mysterious woman who asks him to become a hero to save the world's twin tails. This show is ridiculous and and a bit fan service oriented but it clearly knows it is being ridiculous. Also the fact that the loli type heroine character is actually a guy makes me smile in an odd way.

Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha

Yuna and her friends are the members of what is known as the hero club. One day they are whisked away to a strange land and are made to fight monsters as magical girls. I can't tell much about this show from the first episode but I liked the visual cues in the show as well as the alternate world which felt kind of like a pastel version of a bones mecha show.

Parasyte the maxim

One night Shinichi is attacked by a creature from space and his hand is infested by an alien parasite. He soon finds out that there are other alien creatures and they are murderous. I found this show was a bit bloody but it didn't feel as gratutous as some other shows. I also like the character of the alien in the main character's hand. 

Fall 2014 season overview part 7 Hulu world

If you know me and this blog by now you know that I start with the crunchyroll shows first and then start reviewing the funimation shows about a week later when they start being available to non subscribers. It gives me some spacing so I am not overwhelmed (even when my timing is a bit more on point). I found some interesting shows in this batch that I hope you might like.

Rage of Bahamut

This is world of fantasy and in that world there are bounty hunters like Leone Favare who are out to take any adventure that offers them enough money or hot women. I saw the first episode of this and it felt like a good action movie with really nice animation. I feel this is for the people looking for another Samurai Champloo or Space Dandy.

Lord Marksman and Vandis

Tigre is a nobleman who is phenomenal with a bow but even is skill wasn't enough to keep him from being captured. However instead of a life in a cell he caught the attention of his captor the war maiden Ellenora. This show is a fan service laden fantasy show but one with enough action and characters to make this more than just a show with boobs.

Selector Spread Wixross

Ruko thought she was going to get her wish with her last Wixross battle but things went horribly wrong. Still she is saddled with her fate as a selector. When just about everyone first looked at Wixross they dismissed it as a Madoka clone but it was at least passable show. With a second season I wonder where this show will take viewers.

In Search of the lost future

Sou was a normal high school boy who had feelings for a normal girl Kaori.  One day Kaori gets hit by a bus but then the hands of time reverse and Sou is holding some strange naked girl. I know the ending of the first episode was supposed to hook me on the show but the characters felt incredibly generic and the show leaned on Cg way too much for no real reason except to be cheap.

Fall 2014 season overview part six pieces of the past

As the season overview wears on I start grouping a bunch of shows in that I think even remotely sort of look interesting. I can't really think of a theme to this group except for fantasy but I already used that this season and there are a couple more fantasy shows that I plan to look at in the next group. It must be the flavor of the season like the anime equivalent to pumpkin spice or something. Anyway as for my feelings I think there are two show I will not be following, a sequel that I probably will and another show that has caught my interest.

Hi-scool Se ha girls

This is the story of three anthropomorphic sega game systems who are going to a video game school. This is a twelve minute long show that revolves around jokes and references to old sega games. Not to mention the show is entirely done in CG so this is easily not a show for everyone.

Chaika Avenging battle

It has been a month since Chaika and her companions had their battle in the floating fortress and they are continuing to search for the remains of Emperor Gaz. Anyway this is pretty much the same Chaika that anybody who has watched the first season has come to know and you should probably know by now if you want to follow through with a second season before you watch it.

Akatsuki no Yona

Yona is a sixteen year old princess who has no bigger problems then her unruly hair and who she was going to marry. However her peaceful life is about to be turned upside down. This show is a fantasy show with set in an Asian world (it appears to be a blend of Japanese and Chinese elements) although there aren't any supernatural elements in the first episode. Many of the characters that aren't the main character are attractive men so feels like something in the vein of Fushigi Yugi. It looks like it could be an interesting show so I will be following it for a few episodes at least.

Girlfriend Beta

This is the story of several girls in high school including Kokomi who is in the gymnastics club and spends most of episode one trying to return a photograph to a french exchange student. Honestly other than looking at the character designs I have trouble seeing the point in a show like this as it lacks even the simple humor that even most slice of life shows usually go for. The thing is shows of this genre are about a dime a dozen and you will probably find a few better shows for one's ten cents worth.