And this is why I present you with my own list of 12 anime, movies and OVAs that marked, for me, the year 2011. Probably ranked. Or not. It's always pretty hard to rank things.
Damn do I have the feeling I'll be quite alone in some of my choices.
12) KamiNomi II (Spring)
Because this is probably the only harem anime I genuinely like. I don't usually like the genre and get bored pretty soon. It didn't happen. Not only that but the second season was much more enjoyable than the first.
11) Mawaru Penguindrum (Summer)
Only reason as to why it is so low in the ranking is that it's not finished, and, knowing the kind of anime it is, it can take a turn to have a disappointing ending pretty quickly. Even the risk exists, at least it was a very fun ride.
10) Usagi Drop (Summer)
Heartwarming and adorable piece of fluffy feelings. And realistic. And pretty.
09) Yondemasu yo Azazel-san (Spring)
I think more people should give a chance to that very short (one episode is only 10 minute) anime, it's totally nuts, crazy and over the top in every way (and a bit trash too, considering the favorite "food" of one of the main character).
Nyorin~
08) Hellsing Ultimate 8 (Summer)
It did something very difficult, making me cry for the death of a character. At least one character dies per episode you think I'd be used to it by now but nope, that one was horrible. Beautiful in a very sick way, but horrible. (Yes that's the only thing I remember about the episode, I'm not even ashamed of it. At all.)
And, since I'm talking about it, every character voiced by a seiyuu I really like die in that series. I'm glad he lasted that long.
07) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (Winter)
Because I didn't think they'd dare to behead Mami. And because Kyubey is adorable. And because I really liked the story and the visuals and the music. (I didn't quite like Madoka the character but that's another story)
06) Level E (Winter)
That was hilarious. I love trolls. Especially alien trolls.
05) Working 2 (Spring)
This is the only reason you need :
04) Fate/Zero (Fall)
That's, for me, the second great surprise of the year. I'm not a fan of Fate/Stay Night. Not at all, so I didn't even consider watching this until I heard Yuki Kajiura was doing the music, and then I saw the first episode.
And I think I completely fell in love at the whole Sakura in the insect pool scene.
Anyway, I'm enjoying myself immensely while watching every episode and I just love the characters.
03) Natsume Yuujinchou San (Summer)
It's Natsume. It's adorable, peaceful and it has yokai.
02) Steins;Gate (Spring)
It took me off guard a bit too, it's something I heard about quite some times before it aired, so, as usual, I was a bit wary of the hype and expected nothing out of it, especially since I did see Chaos;Head before and thus assumed Steins;Gate had the same crazy themes and thus would be as hard to animate.
I was wrong, I'm glad I was wrong. Steins;Gate was amazing, I understood what they were talking about (since I'm not a scientist I'm sometimes lost, especially when it concerns time travel), I wasn't bored, even when re-doing the same days over and over, I loved the characters, felt sorry for them, supported them, didn't want them to die, wanted them to be happy. I loved the plot, I loved the surprises, the plot-twists, the romance. Everything.
01) Tiger&Bunny (Spring)
That is the first surprise of the list, I found no other interest in the first episode than the main character, I honestly thought the whole thing would be boring, hell, I wouldn't even be the slightest bit interested if Narita Ryogho didn't mention he was watching it on his Twitter. (Shallow, yes I know, though I can't really help to feel like I might be interested in something the guy who wrote Durarara!! likes ^^)
I expected some generic super hero show and it's exactly what I didn't get.
In the end I don't think I have cried more at any other show but this one, because I didn't relate to any characters more than I related to these two. (Crap, I outed myself as screwed up)
That's, I guess, part of the reason why I love it so much and obsess over it so much, but even speaking objectively the characters are really well written and realistically well written. Hell, even the seiyuu surprised me, upon seeing one of the main character was voiced by Morita Masakazu I sighed, thinking said character would be another fighting maniac without depth, I was wrong. Everyone else too was perfectly spot on and it showed me once again how perfect Tsuda Kenjiro is. If I had one complain to voice it'd be about the predictability of the story (because I honestly don't care much about the quality of the animation and saw worse anyway). But even with a predictable story it caught me in, and you had to actually think to predict it, I don't care much anymore at this point anyway, pretty much everything is predictable. (And I was wrong, I thought someone would die)
Still, the end of the series actually feel like a closure even if it's not, it leaves room for more thoughts and they keep on adding more depth to the universe. It's almost like an interactive story and I think it's great.
(Should probably stop before I write a novel about why I liked that anime ^^)
