2017 in retrospect: A few personal yearly top 10s

As with last year, eligibility is determined by when I first encountered the thing in question, not when the series started.

The relatively few new things this year means that some of the awards have relatively low thresholds to get on. It also means I’ve skipped out on a few sections. That and the fact that some data has disappeared due to computer troubles over the course of this year and I’m either unable or unwilling to get it back.

Top 10 new female characters:

10. Kusanagi Yuma (Soushin Shoujo Matoi)
9. Kouro Hotaru (Black Bullet)
8. Kanna Kamui (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon)
7. Kokonoe Yae (Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni)
6. Kaneshiro Sora (Tenshi no 3P!)
5. Re=L Rayford (Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records)
4. Toriumi Sakura (Tenshi no 3P!)
3. Nephren Ruq Insania (Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka?)
2. Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell (Gabriel DropOut)
1. Nina Alexandrovna (Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic)

 

Top 10 new male characters:

10. Kamisama (Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni)
9. Halter Vainney (Clockwork Planet)
8. Sasajima Gakuto (Nana Maru San Batsu)
7. Goblin Slayer (Goblin Slayer)
6. Riku Dola (No Game No Life)
5. Fafnir (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon)
4. Kashimura Zouroku (Alice to Zouroku)
3. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka (Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e)
2. Heine Wittgenstein (Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine)
1. Glenn Radars (Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records)

And back down to zero male characters in the top 10 overall. Only 2 in the top 20 in fact.

Top 10 pleasant surprises (anime only):
This is a list for series that most exceeded what I expected from them. Thus low expectations are as important as high results.

10. Eromanga-sensei
9. Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka?
8. Princess Principal
7. Akiba’s Trip The Animation
6. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (TV)
5. Soushin Shoujo Matoi
4. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
3. Isekai Shokudou
2. Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic
1. Kemono Friends

Of course Kemono Friends is top of this list.

No drop rankings this year due to some key data having been lost.

Top 10 new manga/light novels:
Series are not counted as read if I am less than 20 pages in.

I did quite a lot of reading comparatively this year, but it was mostly reading stuff that I had already started in previous years. When there are only 9 new things between both manga and light novels, why separate them? There are no manga adaptations of light novels (or vice versa) on the list, but I marked the manga entries anyway to make it clearer.

9. Psycome
8. Anne Happy♪ (manga)
7. Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku
6. ReLIFE (manga)
5. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica: Homura’s Revenge (manga)
4. Goblin Slayer
3. Gakusen Toshi Asterisk
2. Rokka no Yuusha
1. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!

Top 10 new anime:
Sequels excluded.

10. Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic
9. Tenshi no 3P!
8. Isekai Shokudou (AOTS Summer 2017)
7. Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel
6. Soushin Shoujo Matoi
5. Gabriel DropOut
4. Youjo Senki
3. Kemono Friends (AOTS Winter 2017)
2. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
1. Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? (AOTS Spring 2017)

There is no AOTS for Autumn 2017 as I didn’t watch any Autumn anime.

Summer 2017 watching intentions

A couple of the series on this list may not actually be watched until Autumn, most likely those on HIDIVE.

Continuing from current season: (4)
100% Pascal-sensei
Aggressive Retsuko
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen
PuriPuri Chii-chan!!

Will try: (22)

Sequels: (3 2)
Musashino! – no longer coming out this season.
New Game!!
Teekyuu 9

High Expectations: (3)
Battle Girl High School: Battle Girl Project – placing hopes onto this one. This should be good. It could be great. Don’t let me down, please?
Nana Maru San Batsu – At first sight my instinctive reaction was that this series would be rather meh. But then I got to thinking – you know, this could actually be really good. Only if it’s done right, though.
Tenshi no 3P! – Probably the series that I’m most looking forward to out of the upcoming new series. If it’s done right, this will be at the very least a strong contender for Anime of the Season.

Medium Expectations: (9)
Action Heroine Cheer Fruits – looks fun, but not quite enough information to put in high expectations.
Aho Girl – potential to be great. But not sure if it will get there. Should be worth a watch at least. Probably.
Gamers! – a series I’ve had half an eye on for a while. But only half of one.
Ikemen Sengoku: Toki wo Kakeru ga Koi wa Hajimaranai – this could be (unintentionally) funny
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. – this should be fun.
Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu – curiosity about this title from the mass of fanart and stuff, but it also sounds as though it could actually be good.
Koi to Uso – if this turns into an actual love triangle, consider it dropped.
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (TV) – the setting does indeed sound very similar to BakaTest. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, though, and this series will depend a lot on the characters.

Low Expectations: (7)
Hajimete no Gal – Several of the side characters look awful from the PV. Otherwise this would be higher.
Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic – mmm worth a try I suppose.
18if – looks like a very fast drop, but I’d rather make sure of that myself than just not bother.
Isekai Shokudou – I just can’t see how this can be an enjoyable watch. However I’m more than curious enough to give it a try.
Knight’s & Magic – not much of a fan of mecha generally.
Made in Abyss
Piko Tarou no Lullaby Lullaby – Taniguchi Takashi means this is at least worth a shot. Even though this doesn’t sound like one of the better ones of his works. But then again, they never do.

Won’t watch: (27)

Sequel/related series of unwatched/unfinished anime: (10)
Fate/Apocrypha
Hitorijime My Hero
Jigoku Shoujo: Yoi no Togi
Kaito x Ansa
Mori no Yousei: Kinoko no Musume
Musekinin Galaxy☆Tylor – not sure if this really belongs in here or in the “other” category. Either way I won’t be watching.
Owarimonogatari 2nd Season
Saiyuuki Reload Blast
Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ (although I do intend to watch the previous seasons)
Yami Shibai 5th Season

Other: (17)
Ballroom e Youkoso – amazon exclusive and I wasn’t particularly eager to watch it anyway.
Centaur no Nayami
Clione no Akari – murdered by amazon.
Dive!! – yeah. From that synopsis it’s easy to tell what will happen, and it’s utterly implausible.
Jikan no Shihaisha – much as I like that jazz music in the PV, I don’t think I’ll have the time to watch this series in the coming season. Maybe if I turned back time at some point I could, though…
Kakegurui – the whole tone of this series seems like something I wouldn’t like.
Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun – sports anime. And football -the most boring popular sport in the world- as well. No thanks.
Konbini Kareshi – Doesn’t sound interesting in the slightest.
Mahoujin Guru Guru (2017) – PV either presents the characters badly or the characters are bad. The same could be said about the comedy, the art, the contents… All in all, no thanks.
Netsuzou TRap – Why the hell would anyone want to watch NTR? It’s only purpose is as a torture device
Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart
Princess Principal
Shoukoku no Altair – murdered by Amazon
Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. – not for me, thanks.
THE REFLECTION – if I had the normal amount of time I would give this a chance. I don’t, though, so I won’t.
Tsurezure Children – “the near-psychotic girl that pours her own blood into her homemade chocolate” – YUCK.
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan – just doesn’t appeal.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 week 10

Episodes watched this week:
100% Pascal-sensei 10
Aggressive Retsuko 62
Hinako Note 9
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 11
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 10
Clockwork Planet 8
Clockwork Planet 9
Clockwork Planet 10
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 12
Love Kome: We Love Rice 12
Hinako Note 10

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Eromanga-sensei
3. Clockwork Planet
4. Alice to Zouroku
5. Love Kome: We Love Rice (up 1)
6. Hinako Note (down 1)
7. Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine
8. Puripuri Chii-chan!!
9. 100% Pascal-sensei
10. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen

 

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records – one of those “We’re ending where the real story begins” endings, huh? Still, this was comfortably my favourite of the series I watched this season.

Love Kome: We Love Rice – Puns galore. I like puns. Thus I like this anime.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 weeks 7-9

In case you didn’t notice, I haven’t posted one of these in a while. The reason for this is simply that I didn’t have a computer for about a week and a half, and have spent a lot of the time since then either catching up on things or sorting out stuff for my new laptop. Thus there wasn’t much time for watching anime or for making these posts.

Episodes watched the past 3 weeks:
Aggressive Retsuko 60
Aggressive Retsuko 61
Love Kome: We Love Rice 9
Love Kome: We Love Rice 10
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 8
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 9
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 10
Hinako Note 8
100% Pascal-sensei 7
100% Pascal-sensei 8
100% Pascal-sensei 9
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 9
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 7
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 8
Eromanga-sensei 8
Eromanga-sensei 9
Eromanga-sensei 10
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 9
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 10
Akiba’s Trip The Animation 10 BACKLOG
Akiba’s Trip The Animation 11
Akiba’s Trip The Animation 12
Akiba’s Trip The Animation 13 END
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 11
Love Kome: We Love Rice 11

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Eromanga-sensei (up 2)
3. Clockwork Planet (down 1)
4. Alice to Zouroku (down 1)
5. Hinako Note
6. Love Kome: We Love Rice
7. Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine
8. Puripuri Chii-chan!!
9. 100% Pascal-sensei (up 1)
10. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen (down 1)

 

Akiba’s Trip – Fun and entertaining satire, though the series was at its best while it was episodic – the last few episodes were somewhat weaker, but still enjoyable.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 week 6

Episodes watched this week:
100% Pascal-sensei 6
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 6
Sekai no Yami Zukan 5
Sekai no Yami Zukan 6 DROPPED
Hinako Note 6
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 7
Hinako Note 7
Alice to Zouroku 4
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 3
Love Kome: We Love Rice 8
Aggressive Retsuko 58
Alice to Zouroku 5
Eromanga-sensei 7
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 8
Alice to Zouroku 6
Hand Shakers 6 BACKLOG
Hand Shakers 7
Hand Shakers 8
Hand Shakers 9
Hand Shakers 10
Hand Shakers 11
Hand Shakers 12 END
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 4

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Clockwork Planet
3. Alice to Zouroku
4. Eromanga-sensei
5. Hinako Note
6. Love Kome: We Love Rice
7. Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine
8. Puripuri Chii-chan!!
9. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen
10. 100% Pascal-sensei

Dropped:
Sekai no Yami Zukan

Sekai no Yami Zukan – some of these were gripping at first, only to then be total let downs later. Others never got that far. Finally dropped the series after a particularly bad case of the latter.

Hand Shakers – the music was rather out of place at times, but other than that this was a reasonably decent series. Characters were likeable, even if some of them were overly repetitive in their speech.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 week 5

Episodes watched this week:
Hand Shakers 1 BACKLOG
Hand Shakers 2
Hand Shakers 3
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 6
100% Pascal-sensei 4
Aggressive Retsuko 57
100% Pascal-sensei 5
Kochinpa! Dainiki 24 END
Hand Shakers 4
Hand Shakers 5
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 7
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 5
Hinako Note 3
Hinako Note 4
Clockwork Planet 5
Eromanga-sensei 4
Clockwork Planet 6
Love Kome: We Love Rice 7
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 1
Alice to Zouroku 1
Eromanga-sensei 5
Eromanga-sensei 6
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine 2
Hinako Note 5
Alice to Zouroku 2
Alice to Zouroku 3

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Clockwork Planet
3. Alice to Zouroku (new)
4. Eromanga-sensei
5. Hinako Note
6. Love Kome: We Love Rice (down 3)
7. Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine (new)
8. Puripuri Chii-chan!! (down 2)
9. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen (down 2)
10. 100% Pascal-sensei (down 2)
11. Sekai no Yami Zukan (down 2)

Kochinpa! Dainiki – This started well, and ended decently enough I suppose. But there were way too many segments with those random old men. That stopped being funny almost immediately and I really wish they’d come up with something – anything – else. Although the last episode wouldn’t have worked, devoting about a third of the entire series to a single gag? No thanks.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 weeks 3 and 4

I pushed the two weeks together as during the first I hardly watched anything, while during the second I watched quite a bit.

Episodes watched the past 2 weeks:
Eromanga-sensei 1
Eromanga-sensei 2
Aggressive Retsuko 55
KochinPa! Dainiki 22
Kenka Banchou Otome: Girl Beats Boys 1
Kenka Banchou Otome: Girl Beats Boys 2
Clockwork Planet 1
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 4
Hinako Note 2
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 5
Love Kome: We Love Rice 5
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 3
100% Pascal-Sensei 2
KochinPa! Dainiki 23
Aggressive Retsuko 56
Clockwork Planet 2
Clockwork Planet 3
Clockwork Planet 4
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 5
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 6
100% Pascal-sensei 3
Kenka Banchou Otome: Girl Beats Boys 3 DROPPED
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 4
Love Kome: We Love Rice  6
Eromanga-sensei 3

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Clockwork Planet (new)
3. Love Kome: We Love Rice (down 1)
4. Eromanga-sensei (new)
5. Hinako Note (down 1)
6. Puripuri Chii-chan!! (down 1)
7. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen (down 4)
8. 100% Pascal-sensei (down 2)
9. Sekai no Yami Zukan (down 2)

Dropped:
Kenka Banchou Otome: Girl Beats Boys

Kenka Banchou Otome: Girl Beats Boys – dropped as soon as the brother came in. The series doesn’t have enough value to compensate for the awkwardness. Didn’t like the fact that they kept breaking up important scenes with fragments of the OP either.

Still got 10 things left on the intend to watch list, which is more than I’m actually watching. Why does this always happen?

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 week 2

Episodes watched this week:
Sekai no Yami Zukan 1
Sekai no Yami Zukan 2
Sekai no Yami Zukan 3
Sekai no Yami Zukan 4
Love Kome: We Love Rice 1
Love Kome: We Love Rice 2
Love Kome: We Love Rice 3
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai 1 DROPPED
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 1
Puripuri Chii-chan!! 2
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 1
Kochinpa! Dainiki 21
Aggressive Retsuko 54
Love Kome: We Love Rice 4
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 1
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 2
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 3
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 4
Hinako Note 1
Gin no Guardian 1
Gin no Guardian 2 DROPPED

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
2. Love Kome: We Love Rice
3. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen
4. Hinako Note
5. Puripuri Chii-chan!!
6. 100% Pascal-sensei
7. Sekai no Yami Zukan

Dropped:
Gin no Guardian
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai

Still to watch:
Everything else

Well that’s finally started the season properly. It was a rather disappointing start, though, broken only by the captivation provided by Akashic Records.

Sekai no Yami Zukan – Some of the early plot twists were almost comically badly done. Still, I feel a slight attachent towards this series right now, although I have no idea why.

Love Kome – This is hilarious, although starting to fade already.

Gin no Guardian – I don’t get what’s going on here at all. The first episode left me confused and the second only made things worse. There’s nowhere near enough interest for me to want to find out what on earth is going on.

Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai – Just mindless fighting mixed in with crappy lines and (admittedly rather amusingly) censored porn. Nothing worth watching here.

Weekly Watching Roundup – Spring 2017 week 1

Bugger all.

Okay, that’s not quite right. Everything watched was a short, though, and all watched on the same day (yesterday). I’d been far too busy to watch anything up to that point.

Episodes watched this week:
Aggressive Retsuko 53
Kochinpa! Dainiki 19
Kochinpa! Dainiki 20
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 1
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen 2
100% Pascal-sensei 1

Spring 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen
2. 100% Pascal-sensei

100% Pascal-sensei – this managed to deteriorate rapidly in the course of a single 12 minute episode.

Weekly Watching Roundup – week before Spring 2017

Posting a day earlier than usual as I will be away over the weekend. This also means next week’s light novel release post may be later than usual.

Episodes watched this week:
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 8
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 9
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 10
Aggressive Retsuko 51
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon 12
Demi-chan wa Kataritai 8
Youjo Senki 11
Youjo Senki 12 END
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon 13 END
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 11
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 12
Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel 13 END

Spring 2017 Status:

Not started anything yet.

Winter 2017 Status:

Series rankings:
1. Kemono Friends
2. Youjo Senki (up 1)
3. Schoolgirl Strikers: Animation Channel (up 3)
4. Gabriel DropOut (down 2)
5. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 (down 1)
6. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (down 1)
7. Demi-chan wa Kataritai
8. Masamune-kun no Revenge
9. Akiba’s Trip The Animation
10. Rewrite 2nd Season
11. Kochinpa! Dainiki
13. Piace: Watashi no Italian (up 2)
14. Nyanko Days (up 2)

Placed on hold:
Idol Jihen
Chain Chronicle: Haecceitas no Hikari

Youjo Senki – Gripping and exciting more than anything else. I’m not usually one for overly action-packed stuff but I really liked this one for some reason.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon – Didn’t like Lucoa at all, but the other characters were all good and the series had some good interactions between them. Kanna was my favourite, of course. Might try out the manga at some point.

Schoolgirl Strikers – Whenever you are in the shower, the oblis will invade. Perhaps there’s some magic feature of those showers? Anyway, great fun series with some great characters. The ending was a total deus ex machina but oddly I think that fits with the tone of the series. Satoka best character of the season.

Idol Jihen – placed on hold as I hadn’t watched any since the first episode.
Placed Chain Chronicle on hold as I was really not getting into it. It felt like a poorly done adaptation.

I still intend to finish the other four series (Demi-chan, Masamune-kun, Akiba’s Trip and Rewrite). Along with various things from earlier seasons. I have 23 things still on watching at the end of a season with just 2 things continuing.

Some good episodes of Kochinpa! over the last few weeks, incidentally.