Fixed to put Vanitas in last place, now that I'm finishing it up. It's funny, I guess this year has given my my new favorite and least favorite anime of all time. Interesting year :P
Best: Mushoku Tensei 86 Vanitas Worst: Kanojo mo Kanojo I will update this after watching some more anime from this year.
I haven't seen that many anime from this year as I was mostly catching up with stuff I missed out on but from those I did see Castlevania Season 4 was easily the best, absolutely amazing finale. Honorable mention to Kemono Jihen, Mushoku Tensei, Mieruko-chan and Miss Nagatoro, all of those were a fun watch.
Since people are doing worst I may as well include mine (shows rated 2 or worse). 8. Vivy: Flourite Eye's Song (2/5, #321) - Wrote a review about how much of a mess the story ended up being. While the production was excellent, by the end I was left wondering what the point of it all was. 7. The Great Jahy Will Not be Defeated (2/5, #328, dropped after 3 eps) - Even after 3 episodes the jokes got rather shallow and repetitive. Just didn't have the time or patience to stick this one out. 6. Way of the Househusband (2/5, #329) - I feel like I'm being too generous with this show, although the comedy was above average. I just cannot tolerate the low effort slideshow that they tried to pass as animation. It's a bad precident for the industry. 5. Otherside Picnic (2/5, #334) - Also wrote a review of this one, while the show had an interesting premise, it ended up being rather boring from a story/character perspective. 4. Drugstore in Another World (2/5, #351, dropped after 3 eps) - Similar to Jahy, the jokes got old really fast and it was just too hyper to be a true iyashikei. I had just finished watching Killing Slimes which has essentially the same premise, and while it's not a great anime either, I liked the execution better. 3. The World Ends with You the Animation (1.5/5, #354, dropped after 5 episodes) - I really tried to stick this one out but it was just so uninspiring and the animation was so mediocre that I couldn't find any reason to continue. 2. Platinum End (1.5/5, #361, dropped after 3 eps) - I should have heeded the warnings of the reviews of the manga. Despite being from the creators of Death Note, this was not one of their better works. The premise was ridiculous and the characters were so unlikable that there's nothing really to see here. 1. Takt.op destiny (1.5/5, #372) - The only reason I didn't drop this was because by the time it had gone completely off the rails with no hope of being good I was already too deep into the show to not finish it. I'll write a review sometime this week, but it was one of the most disappointing anime I've ever seen. The first couple episodes showed incredible potential which was almost entirely wasted.
I’ll have to add more of my top pics later, but I’m just gonna post my AOTY and this has been set in stone from the end of Winter 2021 when it first aired: Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure This anime has been so joyful and sincere since its first episode. It’s simply so…kind. I love all the magic and sparkles that are formulaic for Pretty Cure, and the characters are amazing. But one thing that just gets me about this show is that I feel like it really cares about its audience and wants to heal them. I’ve gotten that vibe from all of Pretty Cure that I’ve seen so far, but I think this year in particular to have an anime air that’s about joy and hope and connections, an anime that wants you to keep going and to find your passion in life, and above all just enjoy life and be true to you, is super, super important. It’s especially an important message for its young target audience. Highly, HIGHLY recommended!
It's Odd Taxi for me. I didn't watch a ton of anime this year, but of the things I did watch this was the one that felt like appointment television where I just had to pick it up and watch each week as soon as I could.
I didn't watch a lot of seasonals this year. I would have to say Megalo Box 2, Ranking of the Kings, Sk8 the Infinity, Kemono Jihen, To Your Eternity, and Shadows House were my favorites.
I'll edit/add more to this post when I have more time, and when I watch more stuff from this year, but Castlevania season 4, Odd Taxi, Way of the Househusband, and To Your Eternity are among my personal favorites from 2021. :) Edit: I'm not gonna rank this, so it won't be in any particular order, but imma list all the stuff that I enjoyed the most from 2021 thus far. It's a work in progress, so again, I'll edit/add more when I can. Odd Taxi. Way of the Househusband. Castlevania season 4. To Your Eternity. Dr. Stone: Stone Wars. Laid-Back Camp 2nd Season. Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku OVA. Night World. Thunderbolt Fantasy 3. (I don't wanna hear that it's not anime, so just lemme have this. ) Idolish7: Third Beat. Fena: Pirate Princess. (Despite its flaws, I still liked it.) Restaurant to Another World 2. I thought about posting my faves from 2020 too, but I can't recall if there's a thread for that or not that's similar to this one.
Like a lot of others here, I didn't watch much 2021 anime. If anything, this was the year of me catching up on good 2020 shows with Moriarty the Patriot S1, Akudama Drive, Appare-Ranman being some of my favorite watches this year. As for 2021 shows, I had a great time with Vanitas no Carte and Kemono Jihen (season 2 WHEN?), but far and away my favorite was Dr. Stone: Stone Wars. Amazing follow up to an already amazing show. It still holds up all of the first season's strengths (effective pacing, balance of action/comedy/sentimentality, incredible and meaningful OST), pays off on the characters and plotlines that've been built up throughout the entire story, and brings its own endearing characters + ideas + moments to the table. (Dis)honorable mention to Cells at Work!! for being the most disappointing thing I watched this year. Not the worst, just disappointing. Casting your charming main character aside in favor of the least entertaining, bland, nothingburger character in the series is a decision I'll never understand.
Moriarty the Patriot Fruits Basket The Final Season My Next Life as a Villainess X ReZero Season 2 Part 2 Horimiya
It's too early to create the top 2022 anime, but it's not too late to summarize 2021 1) Odd Taxi 2)Fruits Basket 3)86