As 2012 finally comes to an end, I felt that this year is rather subdued for Anime. Although there were some Anime that received some rave reviews that I didn’t watch, I was still satisfied by what I have already watched. Not only that, I only dropped one show this year compared to two in 2011. Still, there were some disappointments, which I want to go over.
For now, I will list my top whatever lists of best Anime in 2012 along with some disappointing/worst ones. (Image Source)
8. Chuunibyou demo Koi Shitai
While people complained about the melodrama going over the top in the last few episodes, I concede that this show is pretty good, but at the same time, its not Kyoto Animation at their best. They rammed down the romance rather quickly since there wasn’t enough episodes to develop the relationship between Rikka and Yuuta gradually. Even so, it’s still enjoyable despite its flaws.
7. Natsuiro Kiseki
Believe it or not, I had some unreserved feelings about the first episode, but it surprisingly became an enjoyable show about friendship all thanks to that wishing troll rock. Not to mention, I do like Sphere quite a lot, so this is a given.
6. Papa no Ikuto o Kikinasai
Although a few people didn’t like this show, I enjoyed it not because the girls were adorable (Hina is probably the cutest and has a slight resemblance of Hibiki) but the drama surrounding Yuuta’s difficulty of raising all three daughters while going to school and working at the same time was good. The only thing that really bothered me is Shuntarou, which is a creeper who prefers underage girls opposed to ones his age. Otherwise, it’s a rather fun show with some adorable moments.
5. Dog Days 2
The second season of Dog Days was a vast improvement over the first one as its more lighthearted and adventurous with a lot of awesome moments rather than out of place drama. Heck, I think they did a better job at the age regression and body swapping than Kokoro Connect. With a third season coming next year, hopefully they will continue this trend as this show continues to be popular.
4. Tari Tari
Compared to Hanasaku Iroha, which became a slight disappointment for dragging on the story and brought unnecessary crossdressing to the show, I thought Tari Tari did a better job. While the whole shutting down the school and canceling the festival went a bit too far, the slice of life moments was enjoyable. Also, I liked the cast even though they should have spent some more time developing the male characters.
3. Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Basically, this is the first season, but with the insanity cranked up to 11. Like you would expect, it’s probably one of the best comedies for the year.
2. Hyouka
Despite the mundane mysteries in this show, I liked how they used it to develop the character’s relationships, especially between Eru and Oreki, who desires a low-energy lifestyle and at the same time, had that dream crumble in front of him. Not only that, this show has the most visually stunning animation seen in any anime. Combined with a great soundtrack, it even rivals Fate/Zero.
1. Fate/Zero (Part II)
While the first half didn’t have much excitement, the second season did not disappoint. The second season had more tragic deaths, especially for Kritsugu when he loses Shirley, Natalia, Maiya, and Irisviel. This makes me wonder if Urobuchi doesn’t want him to have any women or not as he keeps killing off the ones Kiritsugu has a close relationship with. In addition the battle between Archer and Rider was emotional as Rider was the most enjoyable servant in the show in my opinion. Then again, at least he died happy while Weaver got spared shortly after despite his loss.
Either way, Fate/zero is an excellent prequel to Fate/stay night. After watching this, I kind of wish that Ufotable would remake Fate/stay night as Studio Deen’s adaptation of it look kind of mediocre.
Honorable Mentions
A Channel Smile (OVA) – It’s a fun short and cute series.
The Idolmaster (OVA) – Episode 26 – More idol stuff filled with fun sketches.
Worst/Disappointing Shows
Although 2012 was a decent year, I have seen some that disappointed me. They are Shining Hearts, AKB0048 and Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret ~Finale~
Shining Hearts ~Happiness of Bread~
This show pretty much shows what not to do in a role-playing game adaptation. While game adaptations in general are difficult to make since there are many ways to play the game, there is no excuse to make it that bad. To me, it was a mindless drugged-up bread anime with some to little resemblance of the source material. Basically, it’s 10 episodes of nothingness with three episodes to wrap things up. It’s such a shame since the animation is good. Sadly, it completely goes to waste.
AKB0048
AKB0048 is mind-blowingly stupid. Besides my general dislike to Asian Idols for the general lack of talent and a focus more on cute looks. I eventually dropped it after two episodes since I couldn’t stand Nagisa’s ear-bleeding voice and the mindless war on idol entertainment involving robots. If I want to hear good music with robot action, I would watch Macross Frontier instead, not this garbage. Heck, I think Lyrical Nanoha does a better job at fighting others than this show.
In short, this show is essentially there to promote AKB48 and their music, nothing else.
Nogizaka’s Haruka Secret ~Finale~
The second season of Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret tugged me in the wrong way with disgustingly bad fanservice and more kiss teasing. Now, the finale brings those things back to wrap things up and I’m not too thrilled by it. Believe it or not, I enjoy this even less than the second season, which says a lot. However, if we actually see them kiss without interruption or any obstruction, this is when I will become happy since it’s finally over.
This wraps up my best and worst shows of 2012. I hope everyone have a great new year. Please stay tuned when I reflect back on my blogging in 2012 on New Year’s Eve.
oh god…don’t remind me about shining hearts…the bread is too much
Why not, I loved drugged bread!
(Not really, but still… it’s pretty bad)
I agree that Fate/Zero did an excellent job with all those characters and their subplots, and the many tragedies that ensued were indeed quite heart-wrenching.
Only other show on your list I enjoyed was Tari Tari, which was a nice and simple show to watch for fun. I guess you could call it camp since it was rather goofy at times, but I feel that’s kind of what it was going for.
In comparison to Madoka, I think they are both heart-wrenching… I think Urobutchi is good at those type of stories. Still, I haven’t watch the Madoka movie yet, but probably will sometime in the future.