I feel like it was a pretty good year for anime. And definitely for anime theme songs. Tier list below not ordered within tiers.

Excellent

• Kowloon Generic Romance stands out because I had never heard of the source material before, so it was a lot of fun theory crafting while watching it weekly. I was satisfied with the ending, although there were some plot threads that seemed abandoned, but it makes sense since the manga is still ongoing. Which makes it even more interesting, I thought we were over the days of anime original endings. I’m kinda curious about the manga, but maybe I’ll wait to see if it sounds like it has a dramatically different ending or not.
• I’m pleasantly surprised by the Gnosia anime. While I got frustrated with the game, it’s really nice to see non-generic dialogue from the characters. So it’s a really nice experience, although I don’t know how fun it would be for people who haven’t played the game. I gotta admit though I’m a little weirded out how the anime is making the game seem like a harem one, when it isn’t like that at all haha.
• I really liked the arcs animated for My Dress Up Darling this time, as they really focused on the acceptance of self aspects a lot.
• I was super excited for The Summer Hikaru Died, I had just bought the first volume of the manga and then the anime was announced, so have held off reading it so I can experience it via the anime first. And definitely will be buying the rest of the manga.
• Apothecary Diaries has finally reached a point where I haven’t read the manga yet, so it was really interesting. And very sad too.
• Takopi’s Original Sin was as expected, many many tears. I liked how the anime really captured the unique art style.
• DanDaDan was fun. Of course the animation was amazing. I enjoyed it a lot even though I didn’t care that much for the particular story arcs covered. I guess a highlight was seeing the visual kei exorcism scene in motion haha. And Chiquikita’s song when hosing down the fire from the UFO lol. Things that don’t come across in manga because of the reliance on sound.

Good

• Dr Stone was good. It’s fun watching it with my husband as he tries to guess what scientific things they are gonna tackle next. Honestly, I didn’t remember that much of this arc so it was a good refresher.
• Witch Watch was good, but it did some weird things in terms of pacing. I’m thinking of the really awkward slideshow they did of Nemu and Keigo to pad out an episode haha. Miharu doesn’t come off as cute/funny in the anime compared to the manga for some reason. But the source material is good and the voice acting helps deliver the jokes well.

OK

• I like Gintama but so far Ginpachi Sensei is just a little…lame? I feel like the school setting restricts the zanyness rather than augmenting it. I’ve only watched 3 or so episodes so far though. But I feel like you can tell the source material is a side light novel.
• City is just not really my kind of thing
• I’m realising with Spy x Family that as popular as Anya is, I actually enjoy it least when the focus is on her. The best parts of Spy x Family for me are the stuff that touches on the past. And honestly the Melinda stuff is good too. I’m glad they animated Loid’s past. I can’t wait til they cover Martha and Henry’s backstories. I guess the best thing about the anime is it makes me more excited for the manga, I’m eagerly awaiting the Handler and Head Gardener’s backstories.

Bad

• Poor Sakamoto Days. It made me realise the only thing I really like about it is the stylish fights which are totally butchered by the anime.

Dropped

• I didn’t mind Nyaight of the Living Cat. I liked the cat trivia. Maybe one I’ll watch on my own at some point.
• We tried Sanda because it was animated by…Wit Studio I think? Or Mappa? Science Saru? One of the good ones. But either way it was such a weird premise we couldn’t get past the first episode.
• The Dinner Table Detective had terrible cringy mysteries. And it didn’t even have the guts like Kamonohashi Ron for people to actually get killed for stupid reasons (the first case the victim didn’t even die).
• Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl – we watched this because my husband likes game centres, but it was really hard to get though. The English was awkward and it made no sense how sometimes the British characters would speak Japanese. Make up your mind please, it’s inconsistent. And it was just a bit icky…even though the main character didn’t seem interested in the middle school girl (THANK GOD), it kinda felt like the premise was aimed at people who might be? They were leaving things too open with the main character going along with the girl’s crush. Basically since we weren’t learning anything interesting about game centres and it was uncomfortable watching it got dropped hard.

On a side note I still haven’t finished Madoka Magica Side Story haha. I thought I was done but there were 3 more episodes of which I’ve only watched one…maybe I’ll finally finish it in 2026…

Categories: Anime & Music

Tagged as: Yearly Anime Summary

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