No feature this week because it is time to announce the winner of the reader’s choice for Best Anime of 2017. Still, first I’ll share my personal picks now that I’ve had a couple of weeks to think, consider, weigh up and re-evaluate. I even had time for a binge of one or two of these shows just to double check that my opinion hadn’t changed. And now it is time. Time to announce the shows I felt were the best and worst of the year that was. I’m giving my lists of top 10 best and worst for 2017 and finally the results from the reader’s poll.
My rules:
- I need to have watched the whole series (or as much as has aired in 2017 – I know some of these are continuing on).
- My judgement is entirely based on the entertainment I got out of watching the anime (so I already know some shows are actually objectively not very good but I enjoyed them – or they are on the worst list even though they are pretty quality but they didn’t appeal to me).
- Feel free to suggest your own top 10 best or worst in the comments.
Starting from the best.
- March Comes in Like a Lion (Season 2)
- My Hero Academia (Season 2)
- Natsume Yuujinchou (Season 6)
- March Comes in Like a Lion (Season 1)
- Girls’ Last Tour
- Land of the Lustrous
- Princess Principal
- ACCA
- The Ancient Magus’ Bride
- The Eccentric Family (Season 2)
March Comes in Like a Lion made the list twice due to the first season finishing in the Winter season and the second season starting in the Autumn season, however the show just continues getting better and better. While I feel bad that Natsume is only sitting in third place, that is probably a sign of just how much I enjoyed some of the shows this year and I couldn’t drop My Hero Academia season 2 any lower because it blew any expectations I had away and delivered a very solid season.
Some surprises on the list include Girls’ Last Tour and Land of the Lustrous. Both of these came out in the Autumn season and I was very surprised by how attached I became to these shows given neither really fits my usual style. Princess Principal was another surprising show that kind of won me over earlier in the year. Meanwhile, I’m kind of happy that ACCA held out out because I genuinely loved watching it even though I know it isn’t the kind of show everyone will like. I feel it really deserves a place on this list and I’m glad it didn’t get bumped off. I also feel bad that KADO did get bumped off. If I was judging these shows based on their first halves only it would have been number 1, but then it all just went so wrong.
Starting from the worst.
- Hand Shakers
- Dies Irae
- The Silver Guardian
- Chronos Ruler
- Knight’s & Magic
- Clean Freak Aoyama-Kun
- Katsugeki Touken Ranbu
- Tales of Zestiria the X (Season 2)
- Akashic Records of a Bastard Magical Instructor
- Granblue Fantasy
No surprises that Hand Shakers stayed at the top of the worst list, though Dies Irae was definitely fighting for a chance at the top spot for worst anime of the year.
The Silver Guardian and Chronos Ruler both ended up being fairly pointless with every little positive (they weren’t trainwrecks by any means but they aren’t exactly good). But, given I have to have watched the show for it to find a place on my list even though there are worse anime out there they don’t get on the final list.
From Knight’s & Magic on, the main criticism I would give all these shows is that by the end of the season I wasn’t enjoying them and was pretty bored. While they all had something that could have been really good and a lot of potential, they just never delivered an overall satisfying viewing experience.
The Reader’s Poll
This has been a twisty ride though the leader did keep its lead throughout. At one point there were only 4 points between the top 5 anime on this list but then a couple of shows got a boost in the last few days.
Right, no further delay.
The winner of the reader’s poll is…
There it is: Made in Abyss.
It definitely got a surge toward the end and I think people being able to access in on Amazon probably helped it along in the last couple of days. Still, My Hero Academia and The Ancient Magus Bride did fairly well for themselves. Poor Princess Principal kind of got overlooked for most of the poll and March Comes in Like a Lion and Girls’ Last Tour didn’t make a lot of headway.
Still, the reader’s have spoken and this poll received the most votes so far with 155 people participating. Compare that to last years best of 2016 which received only 55 votes and this one is probably starting to be a bit more reflective of the community. Thanks to everyone who voted and left comments and hopefully your choice came out on top but if it didn’t, there’s always next time.
With that I will say goodbye to 2017, but as you’ve probably noticed, my top 5 lists at the moment are covering some of my favourite characters, themes and visuals from 2017. This will continue until the first week of February and then I’ll finally come up with some new content and stop milking 2017 for every post I can get out of it.
Over to you: Which anime was your favourite or most hated from 2017?
Thanks for reading.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
