Back for the third year in a row, the 2014 Anime Year in Review. Like last year, I spend this post going over my personal list of what I feel works, and doesn’t work, out of 2014’s four seasons of anime. Once again, the raw list used to compile this post may be found here, and you’re free to complain about the selection list on Twitter to your heart’s content, my shit taste, etc. I yawn in your general direction.
Anime of the Year
“Rino does it for free.” -Off the Rails
The simplest of stories always turns out to be the best of stories, and a simple show about three girls giving differing advice to randomly-submitted questions just worked. Subtle comedy, blatant comedy, standard gags, and a pinch of fanservice, and it was easily the best show of the season. There were many close contenders though, had Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de not been about supernatural powers, it might’ve taken it all.
Runners up: Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou, Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen
Character of the Year (Female)
The best female character from any show that premiered in 2014, original or sequel
“Glamorous Hiyori” -When it Was a Game
There is something about the scarf and jacket that makes a female character shine, and Hiyori was that character, but besides the look, she also composed herself better than most rookie male protags in more action-oriented shows, likely in part to her love of professional wrestling. She may even give last year’s winner Lucy a good run, though I’d likely pick Lucy out by the chest
Runner up: Lautreamont Silvia (Seikoku no Dragonar), Hio (Denki-Gai no Honya-san)
Character of the Year (Male)
The best male character from any show that premiered in 2014, original or sequel
“DxD: Season Three”
If we’re gonna talk confident, straightforward male character in anime, we’ve gotta acknowledge DxD-Lite’s Arata. Compared to Mahou Sensou’s Takeshi, it’s like night and day. I mean, seriously, if you’re gonna make with the magic with power female mages, at least enjoy their company instead of brooding over your crazy homicidal brother.
Runners up: Kazami Yuuji (Grisaia no Kajitsu), Acura Tooru (Hitsugi no Chaika)
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 2014
“THE CLOTHES THAT PIERCED THE HEAVENS” -The Threads of Fate
That review didn’t quite do the show justice really, but then it’s something you have to watch more than read. After a sort of rolling start that just kinda spun around on itself, the second half exploded and went Full Lagann on us, and you never go Full Lagann. I found myself eagerly awaiting the next episode, but not willing to get RAWS to watch it all before words. That hasn’t happened since Symphogear.
Runners up: Log Horizon, Seitokai Yakuindomo
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 Space Dandy”
In terms of collective enjoyment, Winter and Fall were close contenders. Winter edged out on the account of Seitokai Yaukindomo S2 and Wizard Barristers being especially good, not to mention Tonari no Seki-kun and Noragami. I actually decided to tie up Spring and Summer for third because both were about equal on good/bad shows, fielding more duds together than separate.
Runners up: Fall, Spring/Summer
Worst Show of the Year
The worst show of the season. Period. End of story.
“Magic: The Fuck This I Am Just Going to Bounce” -The Laws of Selecting
Of the two seasons, I only stuck around for one, and it was bad. It tried to pull you in to this wholesome card game world, but then tried to Shamalyan-twist you into this alternate universe of wishes and curses, players and avatars, and whatever else that frankly didn’t seem to matter in the end. Jinx covered the second half, if you care, but pretty much came to the equal conclusion that it was shit. There were many bad shows this season, but this was a JC STAFF show. They’ve put better bad effort (COUGHRAILGUNCOUGH) into other shows than this. Prove me wrong.
Runners up: Sabagebu!, Space Dandy
Hottest Anime Girl of the Year
The hottest anime character of the year from any show that premiered in 2014, original or sequel
“Character-wise though, Stephanie Dola tits, along with shameless little Jibril was worth the price of admission.” -The Laws of Selecting
NGNL was pretty bad, but you couldn’t help but laugh at how useless and yet somehow endearing Stephanie Dola was in the story. She was sidekick eyecandy, and while I did actually find that somewhat depressing from a character development perspective, she at least made the show fun. But since we’re judging male gaze and not character, Stephanie takes the cake.
Runners up: Esdeath (Akame ga Kill), Yamana Mira (Trinity Seven)
Shittiest Male Protagonist of the Year
The shittiest male character of the year from any show that premiered in 2014, original or sequel
“The Littlest Engine that Could” -Off the Rails
Man, I had a hard time deciding on this category. I mean, there were not as many names as I thought, but the tops were pretty bad. I ended up with a tie for second because I couldn’t not avoid mentioning Rentarou and Takeshi. The only thing that kept Magic Jesus from the top was the fact that Naoto outshined him as Rail Jesus. Better luck next time, bud.
Runners up: Shiba Tatsuya (Mahouka), Satomi Rentarou (Black Bullet), Nanase Takeshi (Mahou Sensou)
Best KyoAni Series SAVING ANIME in 2014
A completely bias fill-in category for reminding you what is SAVING ANIME this year. Hilariously, you only have two choices.
“The ride sometimes ends.” -This Old Park
Call me surprised, KyoAni actually pulled off a show that wasn’t completely horrible deserving the finest of fires, or the sad state of my boxers after my dog gets ahold of them. Not only did they manage to not completely screw up this show, they pretty tongue-in-cheek explained exactly what anime needs. More explosions, more girls, more guys, and skydive-ironing.
Runner up: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
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)
“She blinded me. With science.”
I didn’t name a computer after her, as opposed to last year’s winner, but Rino was certainly on the top of my list this year. It was close though, because Akatsuki man. Akatsuki. Dem ninja.
Runners up: Akatsuki (Log Horizon), Shibata Mizuki (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei)
Best Opening Theme
The best OP of the year
“Won(*3*)Chu KissMe!” by SAKURA*TRICK (Sakura Trick)
“YURI DANCE PARTY!”
I was down to this and Kill la Kill, and I gave Sakura Trick the win, mainly because the song goes extremely well with the OP. I got a lot of actual mileage out of this song. May have been a few times the windows were down. Zero fucks given. Power level maximum.
Runners up: “ambiguous” by GARNiDELiA (Kill la Kill), “Kindan no Resistance” by Nana Mizuki
Best Ending Theme
The best ED of the year
“aLIEz” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki (Aldnoah.Zero)
“I tend to prefer dem robots.”
Aldnoah swept my speakers with ED themes this season, with both aLIEz and A/Z, but I bumped Black Bullet’s ED in there because despite the show being terrible, that ending was pretty catchy.
Runners up: “Tokohana” by Nagi Yanagi (Black Bullet), “A/Z” by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:mizuki (Aldnoah.Zero)
Dark Horse
The underdog show of the year.
“Still not saving anime, but it’s a start.”
I have to give Amagi the win here, it may have not been the best show of the season, but it managed to actually break my expectations, which is slightly impressive. But compared to my other picks, it edged out slightly on the various characters depicted. But the war maidens did put out a good show, just so we’re clear.
Runners up: Madan no Ou to Vanadis, Nobunagun
Total Trainwreck
Maybe not the worst show of the season, but a complete and utter trainwreck, through-and-through.
“HURR HURR”
I had to do this, I mean, the category was “Total Trainwreck” and the show was about trains. It’s so obvious it hurts. But for some reason, I kept watching it thinking something interesting would happen. Nope. Nothing. Just like the runners up. I originally did not have Yuki Yuna in there, but after that ending, man alive, that was bad.
Runners up: Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, Space Dandy, Selector Infected WIXOSS,
Back In Time
Take me away. I don’t mind. But you better promise me I’ll be back in time.
“Momo panties. Juicy on the inside.” -Mad Science
Seeing new Tenchi on the screen for the first time in a number of years was pretty awesome, even if the episodes were short and the animation style was a bit weird. By the time it looked normal in the final episode. I felt like I wanted a new Tenchi series with the classic cast, maybe even Kiyone. Didn’t care particularly much for the extras this time around, but it’s what you’re gonna get for Tenchi in the moe era.
Runners up: Saki Zenkoku-hen, Log Horizon
And now for some stats:
Most Blogged-About Show of 2014
Most Popular Posts of 2014
- The Superior Sister Complex (63214)
- Symphogear StrikerS: Good Idea or Bad Idea? (5877)
- You Can Do Magic (5428)
- A Dandy by Any Other Name (4842)
- Whose’s Trigger is it Anyway? (4587)
Most Popular Keywords of 2014
- sora no otoshimono (1050)
- facesitting (978)
- anime facesitting (797)
- facesitting anime (313)
- sora no otoshimono ikaros (313)
- omamori himari hot (162)
- anime facesit (142)
- ikaros sora no otoshimono (132)
- panty and stocking with garterbelt (131)
- sora no otoshimono forte (113)
Most Popular Referring Domains of 2014 (read: Google)
- google.com (22350)
- flavors.me (4923)
- google.de (4574)
- google.fr (2304)
- google.com.br (1840)
Well, thanks for making 2014 another decent year in anime. For 2015, look forward to even way less posts, more pictures of Sanya V. Litvyak’s ass, and whatever else I care to post. The ride never ends.
