It’s the first day of the year so let’s look back at the year that was. I know that at the end of Summer I did my first reflection post looking back at the anime I’d watched and I purposefully left D Gray Man and Sailor Moon Crystal 3 off the lists because nostalgia was strong with those two. But now we are at the end of the year and I’m not playing nice anymore. I’m giving my lists of top 10 best and worst for 2016 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 2016 – I know some of these are continuing on).
- My judgement is entirely based on the entertainment I got out of watching the anime.
- Feel free to suggest your own top 10 best or worst in the comments.
Starting from the best.
- Yuri on Ice
- D Gray Man Hallow
- Natsume Yuujinchou
- Assassination Classroom 2nd Season
- Snow White with the Red Hair Season 2
- March Comes in Like a Lion
- My Hero Academia
- Alderamin on the Sky
- Erased
- Sailor Moon Crystal 3
Yeah, I can’t believe it either but Yuri on Ice actually edged out D Gray Man Hallow on anime I enjoyed watching. Neither anime is perfect (and I’ll happily admit to the flaws in both) but when it came to pure enjoyment I couldn’t beat either of these and in terms of the anime I’ll rewatch the most from this year, these 2 are the top picks. So why Yuri over D Gray Man? D Gray Man Hallow always had the advantage of nostalgia, but if I take that away, while I would have still enjoyed Hallow (assuming it made sense) it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as the viewing experience for Yuri. In terms of the anime I sat waiting to the minute for the episode release, Yuri on Ice definitely won out.
However, for everything you enjoy there is a show that you watch and wonder why. Once again, I know there are worse anime out there, but these are the anime I watched all the way through and really wonder why.
Starting from the worst.
- Taboo Tattoo
- Big Order
- Lost Village
- Hitorinoshita
- Divine Gate
- Dimension W
- Nazotokine
- Norn 9
- Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
- Bloodivores
What was pleasantly surprising was how few of the Autumn season found their way onto this list. Mostly the shows I watched in Autumn were more boring than terrible (though I did avoid a few shows that I knew were going to end up in this category so they didn’t count on the having watched them criteria).
The Reader’s Poll
I was surprised by some of the results and not surprised by others. Probably the biggest issue is there were only 54 votes total so from a data point of view this probably isn’t the most valid survey. Anyway…
- Yuri on Ice (7 votes)
- Assassination Classroom 2 (6 votes)
- Mob Psycho 100 (6 votes)
- Tanaka-kun is Always Listless (5 votes)
- Bungo Stray Dogs (3 votes)
- Erased (3 votes)
- March Comes in Like a Lion (3 votes)
- Kiss Him Not Me (3 votes)
- Flip Flappers (3 votes)
- Grimgar of Fantasy of Ash (3 votes)
With that I say goodbye to 2016 and welcome in 2017 for a whole new year of watching anime.
By the way, over the next 4 weeks my Tuesday’s Top 5 post is going to do a recap of 2016. Top 5 Female Characters of 2016 is up first, followed by Top 5 Male Characters of 2016, Top 5 Visually Interesting Anime of 2016 and finally Top 5 Opening Themes of 2016. Then I will move on to something different but I felt January was a great time to recap the previous year.
Over to you: Which anime was your favourite or most hated from 2016?