From a secret location in a nuclear submarine with a Q-band satellite uplink the ballots are being tallied for the most important awards show in anime history. The powerful and reclusive Hisui and Narutaki take time away from solving the greatest mysteries in the world to weigh in on the best and the worst of anime and manga this year. Shows given the thumbs up will become international best-sellers and titles that are ridiculed will become pariahs to shun for all time. So sit back and relax as we process the HAIPE encryption on the signal and announce the results.
NOTE: Hisui did not pick certain green-eyed blonde-haired swordswomen as to give other characters a chance to shine. Otherwise he might just pick her every year and eventually force Narutaki to take action.
Best Anime of 2012
(Proof Anime is Not Dead … For Now)
Fate/Zero Season 2 by ufotable Look. If you expected anything else here you have just not been paying attention for the last 5 years. Fate/Zero season 2 built on everything from last year and had it all come to a very satisfying conclusion. Everything ties together leading into Fate/Stay Night which means that most (but not all) of the character’s fates were set in stone. Despite that much of the conclusion was preordained there was still fun and a little heartbreaking to see how exactly it all wrapped up. Also I LIKED Fate/Stay Night so it is not like I was sad to see Shiro at the end.
We finally get Saber on a motorcycle so all is right with the world. Now all we need is a Fate/Hollow Ataraxia anime. And maybe a remake of the original series by ufotable.
Runner up: Kids on the Slope by MAPPA American anime fans have wanted to see Shinichiro Watanabe direct a new anime but he has always been far more popular in the West than he has ever been at home. This series has a unique setting that combines the nostalgic feel of 60s Japan with a rebellious undercurrent of jazz. But the heart of the story is three friends who come together due to a mutual appreciation of music and drift apart due to various circumstances. It is not as energetic as Samurai Champloo or as western as Cowboy Bebop but it is a touching story that has a good chance of being an anime that remains a part of the lexicon of fandom of western fans for years to come.
Space Brothers by A-1 Pictures Space Brothers is a show that warmed me from the inside out, as it presented us with a very special type of dream: the lost kind, the kind you thought you had given up on. Each episode pulled (and continues to pull) my heart-strings as characters pursued their aspirations and made us all part of their dream of space exploration. My desire is so great for Mutta, Kenji, Seirika, Hibito, and many others along the way to succeed that each triumph makes me exhale a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Space Brothers is quiet but powerful.
Runner up: Tsuritama by A-1 Pictures Talk about a show that took me by surprise, if anyone told me I’d fall in love with a fishing anime I wouldn’t have believed them. But no one told me, it happened all on its own because the friendship between these four guys is irresistible. These guys are each quite different from the other, but, as the saying goes, defending the earth from an alien that causes people to dance uncontrollably make for some strange bedfellows.
A-1 Pictures clearly impressed me this year.
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There are certain artists who you can assume by default create things worth looking into unless advised otherwise. One of those people is Naoki Urasawa. Pluto, Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Yawara! are all critically acclaimed series with near universal praise. So in general you can bet good money that if you see a new series by him it might be not be worth buying the whole series sight unseen but it is always worth checking out the first book especially when Takashi Nagasaki is involved as well. And his current ongoing series (alongside Master Keaton Remaster) is Billy Bat.
Reverse Thieves 