Your Top Anime 2021

As long as its pictures moving made by an asian dude somewhere xD. Also, pretty sure we can say its under anime category kek.
Well Chinese animation isn't anime, it's called donghua. Yeah. Donghua. So technically link click isn't anime at all under any definition, but hey, it's your list.
:balloon:
 
Aw yeah, end of year ranking time. Just like last year there will be a little list of recommended shows at the end for a TL;DR. Just on the off chance that you don't want to read 54 different mini anime reviews from some random guy. But differently from last year, I'm not going to overcrowd the post with a million images. I'll just put images with the shows I really loved.

This year, I took my own screenshots for all the shows I watched this year, so I'll be using those for my favorite ones on this list.

Worst to Best: Anime of 2021
[Personal Opinion]

55. The Case Study of Vanitas

In a steampunk world, one guy named Vanitas has a magical book and wants to save all vampires. I really don't like the, you know, rapey element of vampires. This anime had it in spades. Specifically the main character. Even worse, it portrays sexual assault and sexual blackmail as comedy. If you need proof go see my comments on the thread. Most disgusting and revolting anime I have ever seen.
1/10

54: Horimiya
An emo dude and a girl get together, and the rest of the show goes on from there exploring their relationship and the different people they know. Unsurprisingly, I hated this. There wasn't a single thing about this anime I liked, and I regret every second I spent watching it. I have had enough of watching Hori being a possessive manipulative asshole to last a lifetime.
1/10

53. Mother of the Goddess Dormitory

In a word, gross. It's like ten episodes of grown women sometimes "accidentally", sometimes purposefully sexually assaulting a little boy.
1/10

52. Tesla Note
You know how it is, just your typically horribly animated CGI anime. The only reason this isn't a 1/10, is because the story is actually strangely... well, it isn't good or anything, but it's oddly competent. I suspect if it had better animation it would make it to at least a 5/10 or something.
2/10

51. Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

That was the one with the two really manipulative girls who are joined by an unspecified other number of girls, all fighting over this one guy who used to be a child actor, and the animation is really bad, right? Or was this the one with the one manipulative girl and the main dude who was like, just acting like he was normal but was actually a douchebag. Was that last year? All of these extremely terrible romcoms really blend together after a while.
3/10

50. The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat

It was made by the same guy as Redo of Healer. I don't think I need to say anything other than that, although, I will add that if the show was about the dude's life BEFORE he was reincarnated, it may have ended up higher on this list. I would love a show about an old assassin fighting against his former employers... oh wait, john wick.
3/10

49. Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun 2

I don't know if I'm just super jaded, but I found this to be completely miserable. Even more miserable than the first season. I only picked it up because I thought the whole Evil Iruma storyline would be like, him ACTUALLY being evil, but it turned out to just be him acting like a stereotypical anime "bad boy" for a few episodes and it went back to the same old stuff that just isn't for me.
4/10

48. takt.Op Destiny

There's some great action, but on the writing front, it just gets worse and worse as it goes on, way past how bad you think it can get, and takes a nosedive into being genuinely bad. I wrote a whole review on it you could read, if you wanted.
4/10

47. Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

This thought it had something to say about taking advantage of women, especially young girls, and how that's a bad thing. But it turned out very melodramatic as well as morally questionable, especially how they handled the actual rapist in this show, treating him like just a guy who's a little wacky.
4/10

46. Platinum End

A guy attempts suicide but is saved by a guardian angel, who signs him up for a battle royale involving other people with angels. On one hand, it's disappointing that this is by the Death Note writers, but on the other hand, it sure is hilarious how edgy and terrible it is. It holds the same level of brooding mixed with over the top junk as a lot of stuff we all used to rag on back in like 2017.
4/10

45. My Hero Academia Season 5

It was at least better than the last slog of a season this show had, but only by a little bit, by virtue of expanding on the show's best villain, turns out. Though it did have a lot of, you know... training, and ... another tournament arc... and more training. Really going nowhere, but at least it wasn't as dumb as season 4.
4/10

44. Moriarty the Patriot 2nd Season

The first season of this show was a little weird, but it had the spirit of a good mystery/revenge crime show and a neat twist on the character of moriarty, despite some bad character designs. This second season however, took everything bad about the show and exacerbated it, playing out like a bad crossover fanfiction.
5/10

43. Fena: Pirate Princess

Yikes, what a load. Sometimes Anime originals can be really good, and sometimes they just have a meltdown in the writing department. This was one of those times. It almost seemed like they had a different kind of story set up, and then made the title and retroactively tied it in, because, my main problems with this show can be summed up in four short words: there are no pirates. Seriously. There are hardly any pirates at all. It's basically a ninja anime, with pirates in the background of two of the episodes. How does this happen?
5/10

42. Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

Just not for me. I could see how this would be relatable to... total wimps that want to get pushed around by women? Or... appealing to people with a sense of humor that makes jokes at the expense of those people? Yeah, I actually don't even understand who this was for. but for me, I didn't really get it at all. I didn't absolutely hate it, but I couldn't find anything to like about it either.
5/10

41. Peach Boy Riverside

This... is a weird one. The director for some reason decided to put the episodes out of order, and scramble around the events of the story, for reasons that are a mystery to even god himself. But that's not the core problem with this anime, that would be the general story and aesthetics. The artstyle is super generic, and the character designs don't fit the setting nearly at all, not to mention the message is extremely contrived and also doesn't fit anything. It's like... don't be racist? Or do? Or something? I don't know.
5/10

40. The Promised Neverland Second Season

I think everyone knows why this is in this place, I probably don't need to explain much, but since I never read the manga, I really felt this show's problems in how absolutely rushed and crazy the last few episodes were, with such an abrupt ending. Clearly mistakes were made.
5/10

39. Blue Period.

Dude learns the wonders of art. But why does a show about art have such dull and crappy animation?
5/10

38. Edens Zero

Despite the obvious problems of the author not able to write anything that isn't fairy tail/rave master/the same exact thing with the same exact characters again, this also has the problem of being waaay too contemporary to be enjoyable. For some reason the characters are youtubers? Social media influencers? Fighting people in space? I just don't get the appeal at all.
5/10

37. SSSS.Dynazenon

I wish, man. I wish I could say this was a great follow up to Gridman, and was an innovative and different sequel to it while retaining the same charm, but I can't. They took that vibe that Gridman had, and instead of building on it, decided to really tame it down, because apparently there was just too much going on in gridman, they had to really dumb it down and make it more slow paced, as well as cutting production values to the point where a lot of the action parts looked super rushed. Man. Super disappointing.
5/10

36. Komi Can't Communicate

So far, it's just not getting to me. I don't really buy it, especially with how over the top dramatic and emotional they made the first episode, it feels like they REALLY want me to feel something about this, and I just don't see it.
5/10

35. Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town

I know it isn't technically isekai, but it feels like one, you know? Besides that, it was harmless. Just a regular old... gah, right, I can't say it's isekai. Um... show that has literally every same trait as an isekai, but isn't one. You know. Those. Power fantasy with an RPG world.
6/10

34. SAKUGAN

Oh how disappointing this one was, right? They set up a great character dynamic between father and daughter in an interesting world of mechs and kaiju on a made in abyss style adventure... and had it devolve slowly until it lost all charm and became an obnoxious waste of time. Oh well, for those first couple episodes of promise, and the jazzy soundtrack, I'm going to keep it at this score.
6/10

33. Mushoku Tensei

It had some promise, good animation, an interesting world to explore, but then suddenly you realize that it's been an isekai from the beginning, and the main character is a disgusting pedophile, thus ruining anything good about the show that it had going on in the first place. Le sigh.
6/10

32. Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc

It's demon slayer. Tanjiro is a mary sue, nezuko doesn't do anything until she pulls out an asspul powerup, zenitsu is pathetic and inosuke is loud. They all try their best to keep you from enjoying the great animation and setting. Moving on.
6/10

31. Super Crooks

If you've seen Invincible or The Boys, then just skip this, and if you haven't... just go watch those instead. And watch Great Pretender while you're at it. Seriously, this is the most skin deep take on superheroes being not so great I've ever seen, combined with a truly middle of the road heist action thriller.
6/10

30. Tokyo Revengers

I retain that this anime would have been a lot more fun if the whole gang plot was playing out in real time, rather than just being "the past" for a time travel story. Also, almost every character in this is autistic. It's actually amazing.
6/10

29. Cells at Work!!

Somehow a bit better than the first season. I don't know why, it just is. Wait, I'm getting deja vu...
7/10

28. Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Season 2

It focused on completely different characters than the first one, and brought a new emotional element into the story. I liked it well enough but I just couldn't take it seriously, much like the first season.
7/10

27. Re:ZERO Season 2 Part II

It's okay. I just wish they would get out of the god damn sanctuary already. It's not exciting.
7/10

26. Odd Taxi [RECOMMENDED]

I didn't love this as much as everybody else, mostly because I just value different things in anime, such as emotional elements and visuals, and this just didn't have much of that, even though it was brilliant as a noir, and had plenty of great dialogue and twists.
7/10

25. Thunderbolt Fantasy 3

This show is ever so slowly losing steam. It was a neat novelty back when the first season came out, made a good sequel, and now, the story feels like it's continuing just for the sake of continuing. Still some great action though.
7/10

24. Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan

A depressed children's show host tries to deal with everyday life. Funny and relatable, as well as a bit nihilistic and jaded, but had a few jokes that would have been unacceptable even ten years ago.
7/10

23. Zombie Land Saga Revenge

I don't even care if it's an idol anime, this season had some hilarious episodes.
8/10

22. The Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon's Judgement

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this anime is actually great. But it's nice to turn off my brain and enjoy it, kind of like dragon ball. I just think of it as basically medieval fantasy dragon ball. As the last season, it was a good wrap-up, but should have ended a couple episodes early. That last arc was... yeah. Not good.
8/10

21. Pretty Boy Detective Club

This anime is exactly what it says on the tin in the best way, exploring the meaning of its own existence with panache, and Shafty Shinbo style. It's all aesthetics, and that's the point. Not many complaints here, except that... well it wasn't exactly deep.
8/10

20. Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

Wheatley from portal goes back in time to help robot hatsune miku try to stop the robopocalypse. Wit studio is definitely my favorite anime studio now, so you just know I'm gonna be fully on board with anything they put out, and this was no different. As it drew to a close, there were definitely some missed chances to make this all it could be, but otherwise it was highly enjoyable and touching.
8/10

19. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

I could easily watch countless seasons of this and never hate it, no matter how little progress was made in the story. I do not care. I just like its vibes. So stuff it, everybody ever. IT'S ENJOYABLE.
8/10

18. The Faraway Paladin

A warrior priest raised by undead tries to spread his doctrine throughout a dark fantasy world. I'm just going to completely ignore that this is technically an isekai, and pretend it's just a fully good original fantasy anime. Just... just let me pretend. I mean, it might as well be! The isekai stuff hardly EVER gets brought up!
8/10

17. Beastars 2

A good continuation to a good anime, with some fantastic characters introduced and good side plots. The only problem is how it wraps up in a completely ridiculous and shonen-y way.
8/10

16. 86: Eighty Six
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For some reason, I was reluctant to admit I liked this show when it first aired earlier this year, and I think the reason was the character designs. So now, I can fully admit that I do love this show. It's like a more melancholic, contemplative, and purposeful version of Attack on Titan, but with crawly spider mechs. Very cool, and very week-to-week anticipation kind of anime, with some surprisingly artistic presentation to it.
9/10

15. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean
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Only the first twelve episodes of this show are out, but having read the manga, I already know where this ends up in my rankings. Though the anime has improved a lot of the show so far, so who knows? Also, my god that OP and theme song are kickass!
9/10

14. Kemono Jihen [RECOMMENDED]
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Such great designs, and supremely dark stories to tell, just like a good shounen with horror elements should be. I appreciated this show more than most shounen I've seen in the past couple of years, just for being so god damn interesting and portraying Japanese monsters so excellently.
9/10

13. Sk8 the Infinity
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I usually am not one for sports anime, but I don't know if this really counts. It's one part skateboarding, and one part CRAZY skateboarding, with a JoJo esque villain and amazing animation. What's not to love? There's even some real passion for longboarding and the effort that goes into it.
9/10

12. Shadows House [RECOMMENDED]
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CloverWorks may be messing up a lot recently production-wise, but this show ended up remarkably unscathed, and that wasn't the most remarkable thing about it. No, that would be this anime's excellent sense of atmosphere, worldbuilding, mystery, and character. It's both charming and gripping, and super unique to nearly everything I've seen. I loved it.
9/10

11. Mieruko-chan [RECOMMENDED]
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The biggest surprise of its season. This was such a sleeper hit, that it even started like, you know, a trashy crappy show would, with tons of ecchi shots and low effort story going on, but slowly, gradually, it came into itself. The ecchi stopped, the story expounded upon itself, and I found myself looking forward to watching it each week just to see what happened and how all the interesting story threads would converge. It made excellent use of the idea of a girl who can see spiritual action going on around her, but not interact with it, or else she might die. As a horror, it wasn't very scary, and as a comedy, it wasn't very funny, but goddamn was it cool as all hell to watch.
9/10

10. Laid-Back Camp 2nd Season
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More laid-back camp! This season puts the girls in situations outside their comfort zone to bring us even more comfort, and focuses on the side characters on their own endeavours. There's never any complaint from me for this anime, it's just perfect in every way I can think of, I just can't bring it to a 10/10 because that's reserved for stuff that REALLY makes me feel deeply.
9/10

9. Fruits Basket Final Season
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God knew that the second this show started focusing more on the romance, it would lose me, so he sent me Akito. God, yes Akito. Thanks to them, this show retained the dignity it had as a great character study and drama amidst some of the worst content the show had to offer, like Yuki's story being full of obnoxious characters and going nowhere, ect. I was completely satisfied with this season despite that, though it wasn't as good as the first season.
9/10

8. Ranking of Kings [RECOMMENDED]
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Not often does an anime come by that picks the previously set bar for storytelling up off the floor, and puts it up on the rung where feels like it should have been all along. The way this show messes with your preconceived biases about archetypes and story flow is staggering, and it's all completely genuine, not a single tongue in cheek element inside. It's just a great story, one that you will never, ever be able to predict and every episode will be unexpected, and in today's hyper saturated culture of hype, that's a rare gift indeed. I do feel, however, that the story stumbles in the end, which for me is a big deal since I'm very forgiving if shows hook me.
9/10

7. Backflip!!
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It's just a sports shounen, but pretty much polished to perfection. It focused on both a unique sport for anime, and some of the struggles those athletes face, like all the pressure being on them, sharing responsibility, injury, and all the nuances of gaining skill at the sport itself. IDK man, I just loved everything about this show, it even almost made me cry, the level of character progression and development was outstanding. Not to mention how incredible the gymnastics sequences were, especially for being CGI. It was a masterclass in CG action in anime. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it technically didn't do much new.
10/10

6. Wonder Egg Priority
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This hit very close to home for me. As someone who has family members who struggled with being suicidal, self harm, ect... this hit hard in every way. It's kind of a magical girl flip flappers thing, but with very serious well-handled themes, and downright ambitious animation. It's too bad it never really ended though, and there was never a last special episode to end it all off. Nope. Not at all. And you can't convince me otherwise.
10/10

5. Dr. Stone: Stone Wars
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Dr. Stone has everything I like in a shounen. Uniqueness, hilarious comedy, well developed characters, expanding the premise in new and interesting ways with every episode, and strong intentional audience outreach with something real and substansial to say about science, all while being some of the most fun and wacky shit I've ever seen. And the second season takes it a step further, throwing you for a loop with the writing of its flawed yet fascinating characters. I think I can finally consider this an shounen in the spirit of Assassination Classroom. One that might not be for everybody, but for the people it wants to reach, it REALLY reaches, and that's what makes it special.
10/10

4. The Heike Story
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This anime is breathtaking, heartwarming, tear-jerking, beautiful, cultural, educational, original, just everything good an anime should be. The only problem for me is that it's better experienced than talked about, it just speaks for itself so much as a work of art, and a history lesson that I just can't fully describe to you exactly why I love it so much. Science SARU really kicks ass when they want to though, I'll say that.
10/10

3. Sonny Boy [RECOMMENDED]
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Jesus. What can I say about this one. I'm always going to have a tough time reviewing it, because like, I can only be so straightforward in my thoughts with it. It's so unbelievably beautiful and a visionary work, that encapsulates a lot of social aspects and themes of loss, the meaning of relationships between people and why they matter, just, all this stuff that you can feel while watching it. And the presentation is so unique. Hardly any insert OST, so that when a song DOES happen it feels super special, abstract backgrounds and imaginative worlds... and...

Oh, did I forget to mention its an isekai technically? Yeah. But you've never seen one like this. Seriously. It's just hard to boil this one down into a few words, so I won't try anymore. It's just amazing. Watch it.
10/10

2. Megalo Box 2: Nomad
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I didn't think a sequel to Megalo Box would be that good. I don't consider myself to be a pessimistic person by any means, I just felt like the first one wrapped it up just fine and nothing more could be done with the characters or setting. Boy was I wrong. This sequel was so full of love and care, raw unfiltered emotions of grief, family, ect. It surpasses not only the original, but most anime I've seen, and brings megalo box to an entirely new level of special. It redefined what an anime sequel could be, exploring avenues you never would have expected after the first season, retreading no old ground, and leaving no stone unturned, taking on a completely different feel and type of story from the original. I adored every second of this masterpiece.
10/10

1. To Your Eternity [RECOMMENDED]
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I don't think any anime that is considered to be lesser than this one should be ashamed. In fact Megalo Box did amazingly, to even be a runner up to this one, because this was the year I found my new favorite anime/manga. Yep. Better than Assassination Classroom. Better than One Piece. This right here perfectly represents in every way the art that I want to create in my real life, it's so inspiring. The epic scale and scope of this anime is something all on its own, taking place over a long period of time to follow the life and experiences of an immortal being, with plenty of time to add personality, diversity, and comedy into the world and characters. The themes are just amazing, as this is essentially a great experiment to explore the meaning of life, mortality, ect. So basically, to me, this anime is everything. It's a pure expression of what it means to live, and to die, and the meaning and value each life has, in the form of an epic fantasy tale exploring the vastness, loneliness, endlessness, and at times, depression of immortality and how generous and warm yet cruel and cold the world can be, and that the experience of living is what life really is about. Consider me well and truly moved. I've never seen an anime better than this in any regard. Well done. Can't wait for more seasons.
10/10

[RECOMMENDED ANIME]

 
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This year I shockingly ended up rating SIX different shows at 9/10, which is an a huuuuge amount for me. Sticking to a top 3 format however here are my picks

1) Uma Musume S2: An absolute joy to watch every single week that became my go to anime to show how a s2 should be made, pick the best parts of season 1, ignore the weak parts and introduce a new element that works well with everything else. I could go on and on about how much I loved it but.. I already have in my review: https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/uma-musume-pretty-derby-season-2/reviews#80494
2) Yuru Camp s2: I'm a fan of Yashikei SoL and this is the best one. Is there anything else that needs to be said? It improved on the animations of season 1, had better direction and a few new characters that had some great interactions within the cast. While this was airing I was waiting each week for the next episode thinking about having a nice hot cup of tea while bundled up in my blanket while watching it. As I said in the forum discussion and my review, this show was unironically therapeutic.
3) Pretty Boys Detective Club: For anyone that thought I was a huge fan of the bakemonogatari series for the ecchi aspect and all the hot girls... well you're not wrong, but it's also mainly for the writing and visuals. NisiOisiN and Shaft once again delivered an incredible show that was fast paced, vaguely philosofical without being pretentious blabbering and stuck to its theme of beauty from the first scene to the last. With a colorful (like, literally) and intriguing cast of characters every "mystery" and its little arc got me stuck to the screen trying to figure out if the whole thing was going to end up in a simple and literal answer, an absurd and completely unrealistic one or unironically just a simple pun. But regardless, I knew that any of them could have worked perfectly fine in the framework of the narrative. Only one thing left to say... season 2 when?
 
@Rascal you really set the bar with that post didn't you?

act hard to follow, my motivation came and went just like that....might do a top 3 just for the heck of it..........but lord knows when I start typing where it COULD end up.

I'm seeing some things listed I never heard of, which is always good, some good shows just don't end up getting noticed by the masses........
 
#1 Jobless reincarnation BOTH SEASONS - In recent years the isekai genre has become quite popular, oversaturated even. Making me more or less reluctant to even start new ones because they got so formulaic and lazy. But THIS series, I don't know if I've ever seen world building quite as good as this. They actually created like 2 languages. It has some of the best action/fight scenes in the genre, and even when there is no fighting it still manages to be extremely captivating in it's entire air time. Speaking of air time, I should mention that similar to re:zero it uses most or all the time it has in it's given time slot and doesn't piss 3 mins of it away with cut and paste OP's and ED's like most other shows use only for the majority of viewers to end up skipping.

#2 Odd taxi - It's rare to find well written shows these days with a strong sense of foresight with snippets of clues sprinkled in each episode that both makes the payoff at the end feel more rewarding, and makes you feel like watching it all over again from the beginning.

#3 Bottom-tier Character - Ah yes, the mandatory introvert show where all relatability starts to shed the more the episodes roll by. It's a personal image recreation show that is good because of the believable way the strides were approached and made. It really did not feel like anime ass pull, now you're a chad bullshit.

#4 Shadows House - This one is bitter sweet. This happens often though, a show buys a single season's worth of episodes but had so much more story to tell than the allotted time allowed for. This is where eliminating 3 mins per episode (OP/ED) like Jobless does could have gone a long way to flesh out the plot a bit more. it may not seem like much but that would amount to almost 40 mins which essentially is roughly 2 extra standard episode lengths of story substance. I loved the ED song and all, but I think that sacrifice would have been worth it....even better if they did a 2 cour honestly. It was a show I looked forward to, was never bored watching, but at the end obviously felt the time constraints and ended abruptly.

#5 Miss Nagatoro - A gag show that didn't feel painfully repetitive and actually had some feeling of progress occurring. Nothing too deep, but was entertaining each episode and I'd jump on a 2nd season in a heart beat.

Still watching quite a bit of stuff, though I don't know if any would reach the top 5 by completion, in fact I'm certain none will other than perhaps ranking of kings
 
Not doing a massive list like Rascal but I'll stick with the 4.5/5 and higher. In parentheses I'll put my rating and the current rank on my ULTIMATE ANIME RANKING.

4. Pretty Boy Detective Club (4.5/5, #70) - A bold venture into the question "what is beauty?" I wrote a full review of this show here, and didn't really expect it to be one of my favorite shows of the year. Still trying to figure out where this fits into the Monogatari watch order.

3. Laid Back Camp (S1/S2, 4.5/5 #69 and 68) - Best camping tutorial ever. If this show was meant to advertise the Japanese tourism industry, it certainly succeeded. At the very least, it inspired me to make the most of my camping opportunities this year and find incredible vistas at home in the US.

2. The Heike Story (5/5, #18) - Anime of the year in most other years, I've written several paragraphs about this anime already in my review and the forum thread. I think the barrier to entry is just high enough that I couldn't put it above my #1 but otherwise you owe it to yourself to check it out!

1. Odd Taxi (5/5, #13) - What can I say that hasn't already been said? Incredible story, characters, and soundtrack. Snappy witty dialogue. Perhaps the anthropomorphic elements would keep people away but like with other great anthropomorphic anime like Beastars and Wolf Children, the most human of tales can be told using animals. Now that I have 3 antrho anime with 5/5 though I need to somehow convince myself I'm not a closet furry or something. :hamster:

TBD:
Komi Can't Communicate (4.5/5)
Ranking of Kings (4/5, likely to go higher)
 
1) Uma Musume S2: An absolute joy to watch every single week that became my go to anime to show how a s2 should be made, pick the best parts of season 1, ignore the weak parts and introduce a new element that works well with everything else. I could go on and on about how much I loved it but.. I already have in my review: https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/uma-musume-pretty-derby-season-2/reviews#80494
Come to think of it, it feels like una musume and megalo box had similar ideas of what a season two should be, but for some reason I just liked the latter's take way more, probably just coming down to aesthetics, music, setting, ect. Guess that goes to show that story and characters isn't my biggest priority, presentation has a LOT to do with it.

@Rascal Holy heck, what a massive list! Major kudos to you for putting that together, it must have taken a while. It was a good read, too!
Thanks!

@Rascal you really set the bar with that post didn't you?
More like set the bar for tryharding, but really I just do that every year because it's fun for me, and feels like a way of settling everything anime-wise each year. Might be my OCD.

3. Laid Back Camp (S1/S2, 4.5/5 #69 and 68) - Best camping tutorial ever. If this show was meant to advertise the Japanese tourism industry, it certainly succeeded. At the very least, it inspired me to make the most of my camping opportunities this year and find incredible vistas at home in the US.
Gee I wish I had incredible vistas, in washington we just have... well actually I have no idea. Haven't looked into it much because I'm too busy trying to find a job. Sheesh.

Not doing a massive list like Rascal but I'll stick with the 4.5/5 and higher. In parentheses I'll put my rating and the current rank on my ULTIMATE ANIME RANKING.
Pretty sick ultimate anime ranking plug bro, I really like the commentary in all the entries. If only I had something similar I could also plug for no real reason.
 
Of what I actually could be bothered to watch...

1) Laid Back Camp 2nd Season ~ it's been covered enough already
2) Link Click ~ A very strong show with an interesting take on time travel
3) The Way of the Househusband 1 and 2 ~ hilarious
4) Backflip!! ~ boys learn to fly
5) Aria the Crepuscolo ~ great atmosphere lives on all these years later, but pretty far below the series for me

Those would be my top 5...of the 16 I saw

Special shoutout to Netflix, which gave me Record of Ragnarok, Yasuke, and High-Rise Invasion this year....but....since you gave me Arcane, I won't bitch too much.
 
I took the task and read through everyone's list here and at the very least have been influenced to add these shows to the "want to watch" list:

*household husband
*pretty boy detective club
*Kemono Jihen

have also been reminded that layed back camp even exist. The truth of the matter is....I DID start the 1st season of that show, enjoyed each episode I DID watch, and eventually stalled it. It's the drawback of "nothing happens" shows, even if you enjoy the ride when you're on it, nothing calls you back to when when you drift away from it.

And I was tempted to add Meaglo Box, since it showed up quite a few times, but in the end, I'm really burnt out on sports anime. when I reflect on sports anime I enjoyed, they all roll together after time with hardly anything separating them from each other. The get "sports feels" from the same themes, just under the context of their specific sport, and in the end I wonder if I gained anything watching those same events play out with a different wrapping over it.

Looking at Rascal's list, I think it tells a somewhat clear story of someone's taste when so many entries are listed in order. I'd guess he gravitates to artistic shows, if it has an unclear, open to interpretation or just plain inconclusive ending doesn't hurt the show for him, it actually might help it? Where as for me, stuff like that definitely hurts a show. Take Sonny boy for instance. I found it interesting, but it's unclear nature and random non chronological scenes hurt the show for me. This and other shows with similar elements found their way higher on his overall list than they would on mine. Also Wonder Egg.......

With that I can guess you probably like stuff like Penguin drum, yuri kuma, Utena, and Tengan gurren lagan.............or PROBABLY would like them if you watched them......as those shows all give me those same sort of vibes I get from Wonder Egg, Sonny Boy. Just an observation.

In hindsight, there were lots of things worth watching this year, no 5/5's from me this year though.........though I haven't handed one of those out in 5 years.....

I guess I may as well post the bottom 5 of the year while I'm at it out of things I actually managed to complete that is, cause there were damn sure a lot of trash I couldn't bring my self to watch all the way through.....

#1 Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose - forgettable show, so I'll quote my finals thoughts on it posted in august: "In fact I recently finished it and ALREADY can't even remember WTF happened in the last episode. This show was shit.........1/5"

#2 Redo of Healer - All you need to know is the subject matter is revenge, but the MC ironically doesn't know the definition of revenge.

#3 Horimiya - This one is disappointing because before it started I looked forward to it. I did so because of the OVA version that came before it. I really loved that version, and this adaptation did nothing but put a bad taste in my mouth for the series. It'd be better if it did not happen.


#4 Wonder Egg Priority - Another disappointment. I can say way more about this than I should say here, so I'll summarize with word. asinine plot, wasted about 45 mins of air time doing recaps for a damn 12 episode show! The cringiest name drop in anime history & it was done for the sake of it, and made zero sense at all. Some of the best animation for the year though, I'll give it that.

#5 Battle game in 5 seconds - By the end we still don't know why it happened in the 1st place. it's a wannabe strategy-based anime but it doesn't really do .........you know what scratch this........as I wrote this I remembered Platinum end - it's not over yet, but I'm thinking it'll probably be worse than THIS show for the same reasons. wannabe strategy show that doesn't do a great job selling the characters as analytical strategist. In fact in platinum end, it sells damn near every character off as idiots. In the battle show, I wouldn't say they're idiots, just not as smart as the show would like you to feel they are........So unless platinum end ends up being a 2-cour show and ends in 2022, it probably gets this spot.....
 
And I was tempted to add Meaglo Box, since it showed up quite a few times, but in the end, I'm really burnt out on sports anime. when I reflect on sports anime I enjoyed, they all roll together after time with hardly anything separating them from each other. The get "sports feels" from the same themes, just under the context of their specific sport, and in the end I wonder if I gained anything watching those same events play out with a different wrapping over it.
Megalo Box is not similar to any other sports anime you've seen, I can promise you that. It's more of a survival/drama with some hardcore cyberpunk boxing, and retro styled.

Looking at Rascal's list, I think it tells a somewhat clear story of someone's taste when so many entries are listed in order. I'd guess he gravitates to artistic shows, if it has an unclear, open to interpretation or just plain inconclusive ending doesn't hurt the show for him, it actually might help it? Where as for me, stuff like that definitely hurts a show. Take Sonny boy for instance. I found it interesting, but it's unclear nature and random non chronological scenes hurt the show for me. This and other shows with similar elements found their way higher on his overall list than they would on mine. Also Wonder Egg.......
Yeah that's pretty accurate. I get that just doesn't work for some people but for me, endings don't have a hard effect on my scores, it's about the journey, not the destination.

With that I can guess you probably like stuff like Penguin drum, yuri kuma, Utena, and Tengan gurren lagan.............or PROBABLY would like them if you watched them......as those shows all give me those same sort of vibes I get from Wonder Egg, Sonny Boy. Just an observation.
That is sadly not accurate, as I have specifically avoided penguindrum, utena, and yuri kuma, since they were directed by Ikuhara, who I severely dislike due to his work on Sarazanmai. I do love gurren lagann though.
 
That is sadly not accurate, as I have specifically avoided penguindrum, utena, and yuri kuma, since they were directed by Ikuhara, who I severely dislike due to his work on Sarazanmai. I do love gurren lagann though.

So you haven't actually watched them? I know it's strange as hell coming from me, someone who doesn't even like the aforementioned shows much to suggest you may as well watch em.

I wouldn't avoid shows mainly because of the people behind the shows. I'm not a fan of his artsy shows, but skimming through everything he directed I see Nodame Cantabile & Kokoro Connect. Two 9/10's for me. I think every one in the artistic field that have some success are capable of hits and misses. I'll bet I can browse the work of directors behind my favorite stuff and I'll be bound to find some turds.............Just saying......
 
1st place - Fruits Basket The Final

Watching Fruits Basket felt like riding an emotional rollercoaster full of bittersweet moments, and valuable life lessons. Natsuki Takaya really uses meaningful quotes to encourage people to live, and overcome life's difficulties.

2nd Place - My Next Life As A Villainess All Routes Lead to Doom! Season 2
The whole cast has colorful and likeable personalities. It has a good mixture of romance and comedy.

3rd place- The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated as an Aristocrat
If you had a second chance of life, how would you use it to the fullest extent? The main lead is gifted with wisdom, knowledge, and talent. His beautiful silvery hair shines in the brilliant light.

4th Place - My Hero Academia Season 5
The tag team battles between class 1A and Class IB were really interesting to watch. The 2021 season really showcased the super powers of both classes.

5th Place - Dr. Stone: Stone Wars
In Dr. Stone, the characters transition from a civilized world to a prehistoric world devoid of technology. Senku uses his mass wisdom to create scientific inventions that the Stone World lacked. As Tsukasa's team and Senku's team clash in a battle between strength and science. This show really teaches you a lot of scientific knowledge.

Honorable Mentions for Music Anime:

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From left to right:
Mashiro no Oto (Those Snow White Notes): Fantastic traditional Japanese music featuring the shamisen
Show By Rock Stars - A tremendous cast of musicians, and singing bands.
Idolish7 Third Beat - Idolish7 has really grown a lot. There's actually tremendous character development as the male idols from Trigger, Idolish7, and Re:Vale learn to overcome lots of obstacles and challenges in the idol world. After I watched the second season, I realized this anime has a lot of potential. But it's often neglected because people only see the idol tag. I really see all the characters mature, and grow up so it's like embarking in a journey watching them grow up.

Other Honorable Mentions

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From Left to Right:
The Way of the House Husband - This anime was really funny and entertaining to watch. The male lead looks rough around the edges. Even though he was a former yakuza, he is an excellent housekeeper. He has a lot of practical knowledge, and can even build furniture.

Sk8 - The characters are really well drawn. It was really fun watching them skate board through the rocky courses. It felt like watching a racing game.

Re:Zero - The sequel really was fun to watch.

The Quinessential Quintuplets 2 - The main cast has really likeable personalities. There's the cheerful, athletic, and optimistic Yotsuba that lightens people's moods. There's the older sister type named Ichika Nakano. There's the stubborn, strong willed and fierce tsundere named Nino. There's the hardworking Ichika, and the history fan named Miku. Miku might be silent and introverted sometimes but she is also a fan favorite.

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Yuukoku no Moriarty 2 - An anime version of the Sherlock Holmes mystery and detective novels.
Top 2 Suspenseful and Thrilling Ongoing 2021 Anime:

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Overall, the year 2021 was full of so many sequels for anime. I got introduced to quite a few anime that look promising.
 
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Before is start off my maybe uninspired listing, mad respect for the work @Rascal must have poured into his list.

2021 was a weird anime year for me. Less because of the shows but because of external factors. I was quite unproductive in this year (little bit because of the big C, but more because of myself) and sitting down to "just" watch anime often felt bad. Couldn't do anything on the side since i need to read subs, so....
Most of the time wasting time on games felt better, since it felt like doing something actively lol. This resulted in kind of rollercoaster-ish spikes of high anime activity and afterwards weeks or months of watching nothing at all.
But enough of my whining, on to my top picks (in no particular order) for this year:

- SK8 the Infinity: is it a sports show ? Or just an over the top show involving skating ? It was fun either way with some great soundtracks
- Mushoku Tensei (both seasons): Top notch world building for an isekai. And every episode went by so fast, it felt like only 10 minutes per episode
- Fruits Basket final season: A worthy ending to the journey. Even though Romance usually isn't my cup of tea, i'm really glad i gave Fruits Basket a chance and stuck with it to the end
- To Your Eternity: very unconventional MC and an interesting story. Hitting in the feels department a couple times
- Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san: in one word: Noodletoro. It's great. (If you dislike the first, maybe the 2nd episode: Fight through them! Everything coming afterwards is worth it)
- Megalo Box Nomad: melancholic and depressing, but the message it conveys resonates very strong
- Vivy: visually some of the most impressive scenes this year, and the story is great too. PS: it's not an idol show ;)

Can't say much about Fall 2021, since i've just started the season now when shows start finishing.
 
What I enjoyed the most this year...
  • Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation I & II
  • Wonder Egg Priority
  • SSSS.Dynazenon
  • Sonny Boy
  • Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

Still watching (or going to watch) The Heike Story, Ranking of Kings and SAKUGAN. I can see 1 of them getting added to that list.

And you're getting my fav mangas I'm currently reading for free...
  • Boy's Abyss
  • New Normal
  • Dandadan
  • Sono Bisque Doll Wa Koi Wo Suru
  • 5 Minutes With You At A Convenience Store
 
Well, I don't think I have the gumption to attempt a list as comprehensive as Rascal's, instead, I think maybe I'll just do the extremes.

And this is surprising to me: based on my ratings, the second worst anime that I didn't drop is actually this year's Precure. To quote my review of the show: I seriously considered, for the first time,...dropping a Precure show.

But, much less surprising is the worst un-dropped anime on my list: Fena: Pirate Princess. Aoi Yuuki saved Precure, but she couldn't save this pile of trash. It opened well enough, but the story meandered non-sensically here and there and then decided to do a handstand while simultaneously soiling itself.

As for the best, well, that's a pretty hard thing to choose. There were lots of shows I really enjoyed. Lots of shows pulled a 4.5/5 rating out of me, and some of them, I have to think about whether to just go ahead and bump them up...or down. I mean, Vivy was great and all, but is it really on the same level as Zombie Land Saga Revenge? Should Promised Neverland share the same space as them?

But wait -- there are two which I've already given a full five stars to: Mushoku Tensei and Re: Zero S2 Part 2.

Re: Zero is undeniably awesome, and especially in this latest installment everyone is turning in great performances. Feels to the max.

But despite that I think I have to give it to Mushoku Tensei, because it engaged me like no other. I've spent more time thinking and writing about this one than anything else. I'll remember this one, long after I've forgotten things like Vivy, Lupin pt 6, or even Re Zero.
 
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