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I’m sure you remember my look back at 2012 and everything it had to offer, but here we are again nearly a year later, and I have four more seasons of fresh meat to drill down and tell you what I thought was good, and what sucked the big one one. Rather than wait until the end of the year, I think I am poised to knock this out early, just in time for the holidays. Cause otherwise, I will forget.
The drawing for these comes from all of the shows I have personally watched this season from Winter until Fall. If your favorite show isn’t on it, it either sucks, or I just didn’t get to it. It’s not like this thing is universally representative of anime or every fan ever so don’t get your panties in a bunch. It’s just clean fun.
You can view the full list of nominees (usually five per group) here.
Anime of the Year
The best anime of the year from new series in 2013 that are not sequels/seasons of a previously-aired series
“Anime of the season. Don’t even give a shit what you think. End of sentence.” -Sixth Sense
This was a bit difficult, because given the other four shows I chose for this, it came down to the fact that the other four were largely devoid of a real story. Gargantia brought me back to the feeling I got watching Overman King Gainer, in that it was a mecha that could easily not be, because it was tucked behind a much stronger front-end story, with seemingly brighter characters than most mecha shows that depress their characters in favor of mobile suit combat. GJ-bu and Non Non Biyori had great characters, but that’s all they had, great characters. Gargantia had the total package, without pretense.
Not to mention Ridget and Bellows. Now that’s a symmetrical dock I want to be jammed in.
Runners Up: GJ-bu, Non Non Biyori
Character of the Year
The best character from any show that premiered in 2013, original or sequel
“Lucy is just too simple-cute in this show in her mannerisms and nativity towards everything and everyone.” -Reach for the Stars
This was a blow-out margin of victory in my book, Lucy was literally the girl that saved anime this season, just being plain Lucy. Besides being short, busty, and cute, she is also terribly naive to the point where you want to just give her a hug even if she is dazed and confused by it.
But Linda gave her a good run for my money, exhibiting many of the same qualities. Unfortunately, one came before the other, and in Linda’s case, come on girl, indecision hurts.
Runners Up: Nana “Linda” Hayashida (Golden Time), Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi (Henneko)
Franchise Anime of the Year
The best anime from a sequel/season of a previously aired series, regardless of original air date of the series, but having aired in 2013
“DEEN actually did a very excellent job not only preserving the character animations of the dolls, but dare I say exceeding them to where I can’t even watch the old Nomad shows without wanting those seasons to be redone with such sharp faces and animations.” -A Thousand Words in One Space
After so many years off the air, for Rozen Maiden to come back, and under the helm of Studio DEEN of all people, I was skeptical as to what they were going to do. I knew it would be based on the second Rozen Maiden manga, and focus around Kirakishou, but I was completely unprepared for the level of detail DEEN put into this show. When you go back and watch what Nomad did in 2004, you really wish DEEN went the extra mile and re-animated everything. I almost want to invest in BDs for this just to see the quality on my TV. Animation aside, they executed the manga material very well and set up for more down the road as the manga is still ongoing. It’s good to have DESU back in the modern age.
Runners Up: Minami-ke, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Best Season of the Year
The best group of shows watched in one season, does not necessarily take into consideration the full list of shows in a season
“Except Valvrave.”
Spring and Summer were close months in terms of shows aired and raw enjoyment from them. Spring had Railgun that didn’t suck, Aiura, Yuyushiki, Henneko, Gargantia, and Hataraku Maou-sama. The rest were passable, like Ore no Imouto and Shingeki no Kyojin, but nothing that defined the moment. Summer has Symphogear, Highschool DxD, and Rozen Maiden, so as you can imagine, it was a close call.
Runners Up: Summer, Winter
Worst Show of the Year
The worst show of the season. Period. End of story.
“I’m not sure what I found more appalling about this show, the fact that it has the worst plot since Kampfer, or the most one-dimensional characters since Maken-ki, and both got second seasons.” -There’s No School Like Old School
The sad part about Tsukaiyou is it could have tried, but instead it tried to straddle the world between Bakemonogatari and anything else. I get it, scissors are serious business, and the number of crossover drawings with Natsuno, Kill la Kill’s Matoi, and Senjougahara should be much higher than I would think, but any attempt to distant her from those characters failed, and one of them hadn’t even come on the scene yet. The only amusement I got was that he was turned into a long-haired dachshund, and according to my wife, we will never own a long-hair dachshund, nor name it “Kazuhito”. I was okay with this.
Runners Up: Ore no Kanojo, Infinite Stratos 2
Hottest Anime Girl of the Year
The hottest anime character of the year from any show that premiered in 2013, original or sequel
“A Gentleman’s Monday”
Akeno won my hot girl award for this year just being a goddamn cock tease. I mean, seriously, this was one of many compromising positions she found herself in with Issei, and he is a motherfucker for it all the same. Plus when she gets real mad over having her identity revealed, she hauls ass. But it was a narrow field, honestly I could have easily handed this to Amy or Chiho. I was careful to distant this award from plain MAI WAIFU material, because that list was way too long.
Runners Up: Amy (Suisei no Gargantia), Chiho Sasaki (Hataraku Maou-sama)
Shittiest Male Protagonist of the Year
The shittiest male character of the year from any show that premiered in 2013, original or sequel
“What the actual flying fuck, Ichika?” -So Unpleasant: A Mid-Season Teardown
You might think this was a a run-away victory for Ichika, but Haruto’s asshatery made this a close race, with Ichika winning the crown because he is a dense motherfucker who doesn’t realize he has six (or more) girls wanting his dick each episode. Haruto at least has the excuse of being a space vampire, Ichika is just spineless. Akihito was my third choice, and frankly I can hear some people saying “BUT HE IS TEH BEYONDS THE BOUNDARY IMMORTAL SHADE”. Right, and he has done nothing all show except get fucked up and ogle glasses. The fact he has a glasses fetish actually helped save him here, because I do too.
Runners Up: Haruto Tokishima (Valvrave), Akihito Kanbara (Kyoukai no Kanata)
Best Ship of Arpeggio of Blue Steel
A completely bias fill-in category for telling you that Hyuga will be the winner.
“IONA-NEE~”
I mean, last year was favorite Gundam AGE episode, but I couldn’t justify using the same topic for something this year. So, you know, as the description said. Bias.
Runners Up: Haruna, Iona
Worst Hard-On For a 2D Anime Girl
The worst hard-on I’ve ever had for a 2D girl, and I don’t normally have– oh yes I do. (orz)
“Not a coincidence. Nope. *Whistles*”
I mean, come on, I named my fucking computer Hyuga. I dunno, because the monocle, lab jacket, wry smile, and one-sided love for Iona, she managed to beat Tachibana and Yukine for my affections this season, and trust me, it took a lot to clip those two. I even had Lucy in this running, if you can imagine that four-way clusterfuck.
Runners Up: Hibiki Tachibana (Symphogear), Chris Yukine (Symphogear)
Best Opening Theme
The best OP of the year
Oratorio – Gold Only Knows (Kami Nomi Megami-hen)
“I know it’s not a game anymore”
I’ve always enjoyed the Kami Nomi OPs, because they pair so well with the animation OP. But the singles always have twelve minute tracks that go all over the place, and the OP for Megami-hen was no except, complete with a callback riff to the first OP at the end of the track. Obviously Symphogear was behind it, but I actually put Guren no Yumiya in third. I know, >Shingeki, but the OP was good, even if it has been beaten to death on the internet.
Runners Up: Mizuki Nana – Vitalization (Symphogear), Linked Horizon – Guren no Yumiya (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Best Ending Theme
The best ED of the year
ChouCho – Sora to Kimi no Message (Suisei no Gargantia)
/me waves a lighter
Paired with the ED animation, it is pretty damn magnificent, but even alone it is just catchy, a balance between being poppy enough to tap your fingers to, but not so dull as to put you to sleep. It was a close decision between this and the runners up, because Alternative and Next Destination were also excellent EDs.
Runners Up: Annabel – Alternative (Rozen Maiden), Takagaki Ayahi – Next Destination
Dark Horse
The underdog show of the year.
“It’s the kind of minimalistic feel in a show I appreciate, where writers and animators don’t go far out of their way to introduce crazy elements into something they shouldn’t and keep it flowing.” -Titanfall
Yuyushiki wasn’t particularly unique in its genre, but it stuck out as being a show that I actually enjoyed quite a bit, and I think flew under a lot of people’s radars. A lot of those sort of shows can bore me if they aren’t modernly interesting about their nothing, but Yuyushiki tried to make something from that nothing, even if it was spending ten minutes googling it, and putting it on a whiteboard. Pretty much every stand-up session ever at my old job.
Runners Up: Tonari no Kaibutsu, Gin no Saji
Total Trainwreck
Maybe not the worst show of the season, but a complete and utter trainwreck, through-and-through.
“It’s infuriating, because I want to just say “Yeah, it was okay, space battles and such”, but the last few episodes have just been good.” -Valvaraged
Guilty Crown was last year’s winner of this award, and compared to Valvrave, the latter is much, much better, but still suffers from many of the same moments that GC had, mainly a male protag who is just dumb as shit about everything and somehow blunders his way into becoming Jesus. Of course, for Haruto, the Ghost of Christmas Yamato has him covered, but regardless, it’s all plot armor and bullshit.
But then Valvrave goes and becomes good, and that’s the problem, how can everything that is so bad be so good? It’s the Code Geass S2 effect all over again, for all time.
Runners Up: Aku no Hana, Shingeki no Kyojin
Back In Time
Take me away. I don’t mind. But you better promise me I’ll be back in time.
“What we’re getting is in fact something much closer to the manga and less of the first two anime seasons.” -This is the Year of Our Discount Boat Lights
After its long hiatus from television, Rozen Maiden came back, and it came back well. I’ve already covered most of this above in the franchise award, but as the quote I used here means, DEEN did very well in pairing the series to the manga both in story and in art direction, making it a near-perfect experience for manga fans, but still a great watch if you haven’t read the manga, or seen the original seasons.
Runners Up: Minami-ke, Genshiken
To finish off, a few statistics from the year:
Most Blogged-About Show of 2013
- Kakumaki Valvrave (12)
- Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (9)
- Symphogear (7)
- Ore no Imouto (7)
- Boku wa Tomodachi (5)
Most Popular Posts of 2013
- I Can’t Hold All These VividColors (3966)
- Manufactured Feels (3659)
- The King’s Order (3614)
- Somewhere I Belong (3553)
- A Place to Call Home (3419)
Most Popular Keywords of 2013
- sora no otoshimono (1026)
- facesitting (918)
- anime facesitting (767)
- facesitting anime (306)
- sora no otoshimono ikaros (291)
- omamori himari hot (156)
- panty and stocking with garterbelt (130)
- anime facesit (129)
- ikaros sora no otoshimono (115)
- sora no otoshimono forte (113)
- eucliwood hellscythe (82)
- strike witches (82)
- panty and stocking hentai (81)
- misato katsuragi (79)
- sexy facesitting (78)
What is with this site and facesitting? I wrote it for Ladies x Butlers way back and people keep coming back for it.
Most Popular Referring Domains of 2013
- Google (All of them)
Some day, I’ll get real traffic.
That’s 2013 in a nutshell. I am off five days starting Thursday, so I plan to spend some of that getting the chart for this winter finished. Then kick back and let the holidays commense the jigglin’. Or something.
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