[A Year in Anime] 2017 Archi-Anime Awards

2017 has come to a close! And that means another year of blogging has been completed. I will probably do a 2017 review of what the blog has been up to as well as announce some awesome stuff this week! Sorry I’ve been MIA over the holidays, work shut-down for the week and I have found myself enjoying reading and watching, and inadvertently took a small break from blogging. But, I digress. Let’s get down to what I’ve found to be the best of the year!

A few of the rules:

• It had to have aired in the year of 2017.
• I have finished watching these shows 100%.
• I’ve split this up into categories, much like last year’s and again I modeled it after the Oscars and ripped Leth’s (for the most part)
• There may or may not be runner-up’s/close-calls for every category.

Here we go!

 

 

CHARACTERS

Best Supporting Female

Froppy (Asui, Tsuyu), My Hero Academia. She was actually a contender for Best Female, but in the grand scheme of things, Froppy was a fantastic support character, and also a great support hero. She does well under pressure by maintaining a level head that allows her to maintain a level head through it all.

Best Supporting Male

Koiwai, Homare, MMO Junkie. Koiwai = best wingman. Overall, he was just such a fun character on the show. Despite his annoying and teasing antics, you could tell he wasn’t doing it out of spite but to get the two out of their comfort zone by giving them the push they needed to bring them together. I especially loved how he sets up Sakurai and Moriko later on in the series. It’s a testament to his caring personality despite his silly obnoxious ways.

Best Villain

Stain (Chizome Akaguro), My Hero Academia. When it comes to people following to their ideals to a Tee, Stain definitely hits that mark. His ideals resonate with others, that bring villains out of the woodwork and want them to team up with the league of villains, despite him not agreeing with what they stand for.

 Best Hero

Todoroki, Shouto, My Hero Academia. We learned a lot about Todoroki this season. Deku says it best, “He’s like a comic book character, a hero with a tragic backstory, fighting to rise above it.” We got to see a lot of his backstory and why the way he is, and we also got to see him start to make progress on these issues, and open up to his classmates and actually make friends. Not to mention he’s trong and powerful, and his quirks are pretty cool. The strong silent stoic types seem to be my jam. I was supposed to do a genderbent Todoroki for Halloween, but alas I had wig issues, which bring us to who I ended up cosplaying as in the next category!

 Best Female

Uraraka, Ochako, My Hero Academia. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering..I’ve featured her on WCW recently. I even dressed up as her for Halloween! But Uraraka was my favorite of the year. She’s family-oriented, strong, and independent. She didn’t start off as those things, but she continues to pursue those aspects to become a well-rounded hero. Her tenacity is admirable in the face of adversity. She can be silly and not take school too seriously, but when it comes down to it, she’s got her own motivations to being a hero, despite not having a tragic backstory, she has a practical ideal for becoming a hero.

Best Male

Sakurai Yuuta, MMO Junkie. The sweetest guy of the year, despite his stalking tendency. Just Kidding. He didn’t really mean to stalk her. He was just concerned because she got her date wrong, and he wanted to kill two birds with one stone: to confirm her identity, and to make sure she wasn’t stood up. Sakurai has seen the good and bad sides of Morioka, and has supported her and been attracted to her no matter what. He accepts Morioka for everything she is! So yes, he’s best boy of the year because of his unwavering feels towards Morioka.

Runner up: Tatara Fujita, Welcome to the Ballroom. I had a proud team mom moment when Tatara realized his passion for competitive dancing. The kid put the work in even though he’s somewhat also naturally talented at reading movements. Not to mention he has such a precious and contagious smile!

 

SCENES

Saddest Scene

screenshot via Crunchyroll

Hannes-san, Attack on Titan S2. Yeah, it was rough to watch this character just because of the history that he had with Eren, Mikasa and Armin. While Hannes-san was able to act instead of react this time around and tried to make up for his cowardice in season one, his death was still a grim reminder of how no one is safe.

Most Heartwarming

 Tatara Fujita’s final performance with Chinatsu, Ballroom E Youkoso. Call me a sucker for emotional scenes, but there was just something  that made me so teary-eyed in the last few episodes of Welcome to the Ballroom. But nothing made me tear up more than watching Tatara’s internal monologue about his journey from zero to where he was at this point. All his hard work had awaken his unknown love for dance, and it really shone. This scene was beautifully directed while the musical composition just fit the scene well.

Best Fight

screenshot via funimation

Uraraka Vs. Bakugo, My Hero Academia. This was a close call, but it was indeed the best one in my opinion because of Uraraka. She really fought with all her heart and strength, and wanted to keep going except she passed out due to exhaustion. I found this to be at a higher level than the runner-up because of two things that occur within this fight. Uraraka demonstrates her tenacity and her own way of strategizing because she didn’t want to rely on Deku, which she had during the cavalry battle. Second. is how Bakugo’s subtle change in attitude towards Uraraka. Bakugo didn’t know who Uraraka was when he was reading the brackets, and even gave her the nickname “round-face” right before their battle began. However, after her failed attempt at overpowering him with the deluge of debris from above, he recognizes her as a formidable opponent, therefore acknowledging her by using her given name: Uraraka.

Runner-up: Midoriya VS. Todoroki.

 

GENRES

Action

 My Hero Academia. This season was not lacking in the action department. With the sports festival to the villain stain and the final exams, there were a lot of fights to look forward to for this show.

Psychological

ACCA-13. MAL doesn’t list this as a psychological anime, but in my mind it is. There’s a lot of intrigue and inner workings that are going on behind the scene that causes me to believe it is of a psychological nature. 

Drama

 Attack on Titan S2. While AoT is typically action, this particular season brought on more of the drama. We got a lot of backstory on Ymir, Krista and found a bunch of other shifters. There were a lot of definitive moments for these characters. The season felt like it went by fast, but 12 episodes was a good stopping point as the next arc in season 3 is a tad bit longer.

Fantasy

Isekai Shokudou (Restaurant to Another World). For a show that didn’t offer too much in terms of conflict/resolution; it was an easy watch that you didn’t have to think too much, which was a nice break from other shows. Seeing the characters indulge in guilty pleasures of Western Food was highly enjoyable.

 Sports

Welcome to the Ballroom. This one is going to be a controversial pick. I didn’t watch many sports anime’s this year (I didn’t finish Yowapeda S3 or Dive) it was a sparse year for sports. But I did thoroughly enjoy this particular show.

Comedy

Clean freak Aoyama-kun. As rigorous as it was in terms of how each episode was set-up, I found some of the elements surprising which caused me to laugh. It was a hybrid of Sakamoto desu ga? and Tanaka is always Listless. 

Romance

Recovery of an MMO Junkie. It’s hard to choose between this one and Tsurezure Children. But I went with MMO Junkie because it focuses on one particular couple and the awkwardness and the insane coincidences that occurred in order for the couple to meet, to come together. It’s definitely a slow burn type of romance, but hey, I love that kind of stuff. LOL.

 

MUSIC

Best OST

My Hero Academia. I really liked the OST for Hero Academia. It had a good mix of upbeat and melancholy. Composed by Yuki Hayashi, whom also has done the OST for Haikyuu! You can kind of see some similarities in tone but, each OST is a standout on its own. Jet Set Run and Chikara no Endeavor are a few of my favorites. The saddest track would have to be Ingenium. The OST offers a wide variety of upbeat tracks, emotional tracks and tracks that gets you pumped up for certain scenes. Above I’ve linked Jet Set Run, its the first track of the playlist it’s apart of.

Best Song

Tatara, Shuuchuu. Welcome to the Ballroom. Of the songs I’ve listened to over the year, I think this track is my favorite. The translation of Shuuchuu, I believe is “concentration” which is exactly what occurs in this scene. It’s the scene when Tatara is matched up with Mako-chan in the park for their first pairing. There’s something about the piano and the violins that really appeal to me in this track. It almost feels like Tatara is on the breakthrough of some discovery through this song, and that’s why I like this track. It sounds hopeful, determined. Yuki Hayashi also was a composer for Welcome to the Ballroom.

Best OP

Peace Sign, My Hero Academia, Kenshi Yonezu, It was the best OP that got me hyped for an episode this year, hands down.

Best ED

Keshin no Kemono, Juuni Taisen. Do as Infinity. Juuni Taisen’s OP & ED were favorites of mine for the fall season.

Runner-up: Cinderella Step, DAOKO, Shingeki No Bahamut: Virgin Soul. I wanted this to be best ED, but I felt like I was cheating because I haven’t finished the series T_T. But I have and still am obsessed with this song.

 

PRODUCTION

Best Art/Animation

Touken Ranbu/Katsugeki. While the story was completely and utterly lacking, at least it was animated beautifully. We all know I love my bishounens and Ikemen, but the fact this was pretty boys + swords + historical references I was all about it. This would’ve been promising if a story/plot would’ve been developed. But then again, I’m a ufotable fangirl. I love the art style – though it may be jarring sometimes, I feel like it’s a reference to the fact its based on a visual novel like game on a web browser.

Best Short Form

Tsurezure Children. Ah, young love. So cute, so sweet, so innocent. Yet, so freaking hilarious. I loved the different types of relationships that were featured on this show. The prim and proper class rep with the notorious delinquent. A nice guy that (kinda) finishes first for once! Childhood friends crossing the boundary of friendship (lol and then parents busting in at inopportune moments). Another pair of childhood friends that just can’t get their sh*t together and confess properly which ends in a misunderstanding. The stoic dude that you can’t get a read on, so the shy girl has to take charge. All of them were diverse and so sweet in their own way, yet some where also relatable. This really was one of my favorites of the year! (I also made a mention of it on the first episode of the Podcast).

Runner-up: Kenka Banchou Otome: Girls Beat Boys. A girl poses as a boy to become the best in an all-boy school. Literally a girl fighting her way to the top of the school. It’s so silly and ridiculous, but I freaking love it. LOL. I really wish they would localize the otome that this was based on!

Surprise Hit

Isekai Shokudou. This one took me by surprise. For a show that lacks a plot, and is every bit of a slice of life, I found myself drawn in each episode. Once again, another anime showcases deliciously animated food.

ANIME OF THE YEAR

My Hero Academia S2. Are you surprised, because you shouldn’t be lol. I blew through both seasons of MHA this year, I started season 1 midway through season 2 and caught up realllly fast. This had just about everything I needed from a show this year. What I absolutely love about MHA is that all characters come from varying backgrounds. They are all striving for the same goal of being a Hero, but their journey to becoming one is different. Seeing everyone find their motives and passions for heroism in this coming-of age type tale is really great, and so far has been rewarding. 

Close-call: Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Attack on Titan S2

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That wraps up my 2017 anime bests! Again this is my opinion and were based on what I really enjoyed. I know there are quite a few that I missed out on that should’ve been on this list, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to include it since I didn’t finish it. So if this list seems somewhat unvaried that’s probably why.  What were some of your favorites from the year? Did you agree or disagree with some of my picks? Let me know in the comments!