Once more, with feeling: Finding the Best Anime of 2012

[MomentOfInertia]

[align=center]GROUP A
Library War: The Wings of Revolution

GROUP G
Bodacious Space Pirates

[FllMtl Novelist]

Meh, most of the stuff up against titles I've seen this round are things I'd probably enjoy so I don't feel right voting for much. :<

GROUP A
Library War: The Wings of Revolution

[Maokun]

Results for the last day of the knock-out round:

GROUP A
Library War: The Wings of Revolution 8
Mysterious Girlfriend X 3

GROUP B
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo 5
Kids on the Slope 4

GROUP C
Moyashimon Returns 6
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies 2

GROUP D
Jormungand 0
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) 8

GROUP E
Psycho-Pass 4
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo 3

GROUP F
Kuroko no Basket 2
Shin Sekai Yori 7

GROUP G
Zetsuen no Tempest 7
Bodacious Space Pirates 5

GROUP H
Nekomonogatari: Kuro 6
Mirai Nikki (TV) 3

Well, JoJo may have missed its chance to advance but it had the distinction of being the only title to ever defeat another X to naught in this tournament! Let's see the last score table:

Even with the rather surprising defeat of Kids on the Slope, it still manages to get in, thanks to total positive points, while SnPnK didn't have enough to surpass Chuunibyou! The other groups resolved as expected. I'm rather surprised Evangelion did so poorly. I haven't seen it yet (it will be showing up in cinemas in two weeks) but after the quality of the first two Rebuild movies I cannot see how the third can fail to be amazing as well.

I'll be posting the structure of the next round some time later, and tomorrow, we'll get started with it.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

I think Sakurasou is the only defeated show that I'd have like to see make it to the next round, but really that was a hella strong group so it's not surprising that it didn't. Everything else I was gunning for made it, well, Space Pirates would've been nice too but not over Monster-kun or Tempest.

[skreyola]

Ah, well. Mouretsu was a fun show, but I would've had to vote against it eventually, so I guess that's okay.

[Maokun]

Just leaving this here.

[Vii]

Slope Kids vs. Tempest and Natsume vs. Shin Sekai Yori right off the bat. :'(

[GeneD]

A good amount of those match-ups already have me nervous or cringing.

[Maokun]

Alright! Time to get started with Round 2 of the 2012 tournament! This is the first direct elimination round, so whichever title lose in each match-up is automatically disqualified! Let the tears flow freely!

First match of the day:

Wolf Children

VS

Persona 4 The Animation

Second match of the day:

Tsuritama

VS

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

From this round on, I'll be asking everyone to provide a little explanation for their votes, so the people who haven't seen one of these titles can hear what is it so great about them and why they do deserve to win. I'll post the results and two new match-ups tomorrow.

[skreyola]

[quote="Maokun"]
First match of the day:

Persona 4 The Animation
My reasoning isn't very inspiring. It's the only one I've seen, and it wasn't a bad show. A bit weird, but not bad.

Second match of the day:

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
Again, not very inspiring, but I couldn't get into Tsuritama, and I'm sure it has enough support without me to progress. This one has been sounding a little interesting, so I may watch it if it gets very far in this tourney.

Sorry, but a lot of my votes are going to be reasoned like this, because I've seen very few of last year's shows, and my favorites have already lost.

[MangaRocks!]

Wolf Children

This is a really beautiful movie in both its visuals and its story. And even though it has a fantasy element to it with the wolf-people, it is actually incredibly realistic. Hana is also one of the strongest women I've seen portrayed in any story (not just anime). In other words, this movie is wonderful.


Tsuritama

I love every bit of this series, from its bright and beautiful art, to its quirky (and hilarious ) humor, to its endearing characters (and their quite touching friendships), to its fantastic character development, to its very satisfying ending, to the way it just makes you feel good... this is a truly awesome series, in my opinion, and is indeed still one of the best series I've seen to this day.


Both of these titles got a full 10/10 rating from me on MAL, and I believe that both 10's were very well deserved.

[ForeverInspired]

Darn, I haven't seen any of these titles. That's what happens when the final round includes only four that you have actually watched (so far, I'm lucky that they aren't matched up against each other). Some of these are really interesting though. I hope to get around to them soon. For now, I'll just have to go by first impressions/storyline/clips.

Wolf Children
This seems like a really touching story with great visuals. Why did it beat Persona 4? Well, it seems like it has the making of a classic for the anime industry.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

I'm voting for this one because it looks the more interesting of the two. It seems dark, mysterious, and different. Maybe I've watched too many light high school stories and so want a change. Who knows.

Don't worry, longer (and better) explanations will be provided once we get on to the four that I've seen(which are all 4 to 5 stars out of 5 in my opinion). I could talk about them all day.

[Vii]

Wolf Children

Wonderful Hosoda movie. Superb animation, excellent plot, great characters, just great all around.

Haven't seen Persona 4, but video game adaptions ehhh.


Tsuritama

Love the bright color pallet and character designs. Very good story, especially for only 12 episodes. Characters were very fun. Great OP too. ENOSHOMA DON~

Chuu2 was cute and embarrassing and of course had great animation, but I think I wanted more cutesy romance stuff and didn't get much until the OVA, which isn't part of the show proper. I do hope the second season will be more romance-centric.

[KazeShiki]

Wolf Children

Persona was a decent adaptation but nothing more than that. Wolf Children may not be a masterpiece, but it was still an amazing family-orientated film that really impressed me with how the plot progressed in terms of character development and a simple yet successful depiction of its themes. While I do have my complaints, it's definitely a movie I can see myself recommending for some time and probably Hosoda Mamoru's best work yet.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

I haven't necessarily been voting honestly as I've been trying to manipulate points as best as I could. I could argue either way but I don't care which one wins, so I'm voting for Chuu2 because I think it'd be the weaker opponent in the long run. (That said, Jinsui vs Tonari is the real semi-finals of the right half)

[Crossfire]

Edit: Voting withheld. I don't have any particular reason for voting these two, as I have seen very little of either show/movie.

[John_Smith]

Well, now I'm officially out of the voting, because I can’t offer constructive reasons for anime I haven’t actually seen. I felt bad because I steamrolled Kokoro Connect and Tsuritama in the earlier rounds (though it's not like it worked out well for the anime I was actually going for). So I'm cheering these two anime on. Vote for them! DO IT! I mean that in a completely friendly way, and not obnoxious. So if you find yourself with reading this without intending to vote, would you mind spending a little of your time to do so miss or sir? If you do so, I will give you a cookie. Your choice of peanut butter, white chocolate, or with M&M's. Or melon bread.

[Maokun]

Wolf Children

An extremely beautiful movie that used a clever supernatural layering as a lens to bring out all the big and little challenges of motherhood.

Tsuritama

Checked it out for it's gorgeous palette, stayed for the intelligent metaphors about anxiety, fitting in and finding your place in the world.

[goldenspines]

Not the hardest match-ups yet, but I guess this is a enough to get us all warmed up for the cringing later on.

Wolf Children

Persona 4 was actually pretty lucky to get this far, so I tip my hat to it. I'm actually surprised at how many people saw it. Sure, the game was way better, but out of all video game adapted into anime, P4 did a pretty excellent job at it.
Plus great music~ (*A*)

But why am I voting for Wolf Children? I don't necessarily want it to win in the long run, but I believe it deserves the recognition it's receiving, so I'm going to continue that.
While not quite to the epic proportions of any Miyazaki films, Wolf Children was a movie stepping in the right direction of story telling. Leaps and bounds ahead of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time but not quite as awe inspiring as Summer Wars, Wolf Children was a softer side of Hosoda's (the director) story telling style, but also one that contained harsh yet rewarding lessons about growing up, but more importantly, learning to adjust to change.
One small thing I liked the most in the movie is that the story focused more on the mother than the actual wolf children.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

Now this one was a hard choice. I'll shoot for the underdog this time since while I'm sure Tsuritama is going to win, I don't think it has such a commanding presence to overshadow Chuu2 by too much.
Tsuritama was magnificent, least anyone thing otherwise. XP It's animation style, color palette, and even "water stained" texture added an atmosphere you seldom find in any other anime. It was a wild variety of colors in the show, but none of them were too overpowering. The story was solid, but I sadly didn't find much of it overly remarkable. But it was a gorgeous show to watch.

But now, onto why I'm voting for Chuu2. I pondered at Vii's comment for "not enough cutesy romance" as the reason for not voting for it, but that's actually one of the reasons I really enjoyed Chuu2 (and other KyoAnim shows!), the lack of outright romance. O:
I mean, hey, I like shoujo romance (see: Sukitte ii na yo), but Chuu2 was not a love story, it was about growing up (man, if this had gone against Wolf Children, that would have been an interesting battle), but more importantly, learning to accept yourself and changes that come along the way. And what I enjoyed about this series was that each character had to come to terms with who they were, who they are now, and who they may become in the future.
Overall, it was an adorable and heart warming series.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Wolf Children - I'm pretty sure I would've been willing to dub this anime of the year when I saw the first promo image (even though I'm gunning for Hyouka because Hosoda already has two wins >.>). Wonderful wonderful wonderful, except for the headache I got from bawling at the ending.

Tsuritama - Incredibly accurate depiction of social anxiety and an incredibly heartwarming and excellent depiction of it being overcome, tsuritama is also hilarious and incredibly colorful and nice looking and just makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. It's the dudes version of Tamako Market, I suppose.

[GeneD]

Wolf Children

This is a beautiful movie and while it isn't flawless it handles it's topic with such gentleness and grace that it doesn't becoming unrealistic or over-dramatic at any point.


Tsuritama

Chuu2 was cute, but didn't touch me to the core like Tsuritama did. The look and feel of it is original and fresh and it's one of the happiest things I've ever seen. The soundtrack is amazing and fits the show to a T. I literally listen to the OP or ED songs whenever I feel down and it instantly helps me feel better.
Each of main four have different challenges that they need to face and they all undergo unique character growth and learn something about themselves and the people around them. For example the loud, somewhat obtrusive/obnoxious character not only gets called out on some of his behaviour in the first few episodes of the show but actually makes the effort to take these lessons to heart and correct his behaviour, which doesn't happen in very many shows I've seen.
I loved the close community of the island, like everyone was one big family and the show is a great example of one that has interesting and believable minor characters, with their own stories moving forward alongside the main one. Also greatest granny since Summer Wars.

[Maokun]

Let's take a look at the results for the first day of Round 2:

First match:

Wolf Children 8
Persona 4 The Animation 1

A landslide, as expected. However, I'm surprised to see that among the praise, some people seem to have reservations about WC. I look forward to hear about that.

Second match:

Tsuritama 5
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! 4

This one was a much closer match and our first heartbreak of the round. Things will only get more difficult as the competition goes! Let us see our matches for Today:

Zetsuen no Tempest

VS

Kids on the Slope

and

Humanity has Declined

VS

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Please remember to provide a brief justification for your votes!

[skreyola]

I think I'm actually going to sit this one out. I didn't expect to do this, because I like to participate as much as I can in the tourney, but I really don't know much about any of these titles, and I don't feel like trying to game out which ones are the underdogs.

[MangaRocks!]

Abstaining from the *first* of these two matches because for one thing I haven't seen KotS, and for another ZnT-- while it was certainly good-- was not *quite* as great as it could've been (IMO) because they unnecessarily messed around a bit with the source in a few spots. Anyway, I'm actually fine with either of these advancing.

As for the *second* match, though:

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Now, granted, I haven't seen HHD, either; however, Tonari was such a great adaptation (and great show in and of itself, of course! ) that I have no problem voting for it even so (especially since I suspect this might end up being the underdog in this match). TnK is an excellent shoujo featuring an amusingly (and lovably) weird/socially awkward cast (all with great/interesting personalities), very funny humor, and romance that has a bit of a unique flavor to it due to the aforementioned personalities of the people involved. Plus, while the anime only adapted the first few volumes, and there's certainly lots more great stuff in the manga afterward, what the anime did cover it adapted very well indeed. What is there not to love?

[ForeverInspired]

Zetsuen no Tempest

I'm sure this was a surprise.

Anyway, I absolutely loved this anime. Granted, I haven't read the manga for this series so my vote is only based on the anime itself. Yes, there were some slow moments and plot holes, but in my mind, the overall awesomeness of this story makes it a winner. To be able to execute a plot that mixes sci-fi, some of Shakespeare's plays of revenge, and a beautiful romance is amazing. Zetsuen no Tempest had beautiful artwork and music with great voice actors. Not all the characters are developed, but the ones that matter are. Even Aika, who isn't alive during the series, is given a great characterization. She's the perfect mix of playfulness, seriousness, and charm. Finally, I really liked the ending to this series.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Okay, after watching Watamote, I have an even higher respect for this anime, Kimi ni Todoke, and Sukitte Ii na yo. TnK is able to present some socially handicaped people and actually get them to develop realistically as people. They have common sense and can tell eventually that things are not going right (yes, I am talking about you,Tomoko). This series is fun and funny at times (without being ridiculous). On the side, the love story is really sweet between the two main characters, and I can't wait for the ova to be subbed!

[KazeShiki]

Kids on the Slope

I think I might be the only person who really didn't like Zetsuen no Tempest, which makes this an easy choice for me. I did the read the manga first, but I kept enough track of the anime to confirm it was an accurate enough adaptation. From the beginning, I had my reservations about how the plot would turn out. It started off okay enough but then it jumped into a seemingly endless battle of "wits" that was more like very poor plot twists that just wasted a lot of time. The author spent a lot of time on back and forth arguments that constantly involved new twists that may or may not have been actually true which came at the cost of any actual plot. The entire story is really contrived and the latter half was sort of better but in the context of the story, it was just another classic case of authors never ending a dead story.

So with that said, Kids on the Slope was a surprisingly good show. I probably like this less than most too, but I can definitely acknowledge how good the characters made the show. Perhaps I'll have to make a more detailed argument later, but for now, it's more a reason of considering the alternative far worse.

Humanity has Declined

I was quite surprised to see how popular this show is on this site. I'm really sad to see it and Tonari no Kaibutsu in the first round. Both are great. Tonari had really great character depictions and development as well as a plot that actually moved forward at just the right pace. I've come to find that shoujo romance tends to be in the extremes: either really bad or really good and this falls in the latter. It's funny, cute, romantic, and even heartwarming, all things I would want from a romance. But at the end of the day, it's "just" a romance. A great one, definitely, but Humanity has Declined (aka Jinsui) is superior.

With the Jinsui anime, Romeo Tanaka's name finally reaches the anime medium. To be honest, everything I've read from him is simply amazing, and, at least from what I've seen, he always seems to write something different (unlike say, Jun Maeda's repertoire of tearjerkers). In the case of Jinsui, it's full of amazingly witty mini-stories in the form of sardonic commentary on societal, political, economical, well, pretty much everything. Plus adorable fairies. I won't say the show was perfect, and I'd imagine it's not for everyone. However, it has so many hilarious jabs at so many things in the world (even the manga industry hehe) balanced by aforementioned adorable fairies (who also contribute to the comedy) that I can't help but love it. Maybe it doesn't have fleshed out characters or an exciting plot, but it does have hilariously absurd situations that still make very realistic points on how the world has developed which makes it really stand out as a unique anime compared to a simple, albeit very good, romance.

[Maokun]

Kids on the Slope

This title is a spiritual brother of sorts to Tsuritama (funnily enough they aired in the same season.) It's all about how a newfond hobby/skill can be the catalyst that help wildly different people come together as equals and little by little leave behind fears, prejudices and stigmas until it becomes a bonding passion that help the individuals grow up. I actually liked Tsuritama a bit better but I'll leave further comments on these series for the following rounds.

Humanity has Declined
In all honesty I haven't watched this one beyond the first episode but I loved the premise and treatment and I'm positive that I'll enjoy it when I get around to finish it. I hadn't heard of Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun before this competition which usually means that is not something that would be picked up by my "anime I'll like" radar, so I feel fairly confident to give my vote to HHD instead. (also there's the thing where it DQ'd NMonogatari ><)

[GeneD]

Kids on the Slope

I think Zetsuen no Tempest was a good show but I think it's flaws outweigh those of KotS. I'm not the biggest slice of life/drama fan nor know anything about jazz, but somehow this show totally pulled me in. I like the realistic design of the characters, how the relationships played out and of course loved the soundtrack. I'm not one for love triangles/other shapes either but I thought the show handled them really well. Also bonus points for having a decent and respectful portrayal of Christian/Catholic characters, which is (understandably) a very rare thing in anime.

Humanity has Declined
Creepy-cute fairies, clever writing and an interesting design and colour palette are all reasons why I really enjoyed this show. Most of all it was not what I expected at all and continued to surprise me at every turn with its weirdness while losing none of it's charm. "One small candy for humanity, one giant candy for new humanity!"

[Maokun]

Hmm slow voting day, only six people have voted! I'll leave this up for a little bit longer.

[Vii]

Kids on the Slope

Uuuurgh, this was hard to pick.
Zetsuen was a great shonen series, and I particularly liked how the second half got more lighthearted and comedic. I also really liked all the characters. However, I completely enjoyed Slope Kids from the get-go. It was a great drama, and I adored the jazz music.

Basically, though I am casting my vote for Slope Kids, I highly recommend both, go watch them.


Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

Hella fun cast of characters and a bright color pallet I adore. The biggest downside is that, like every other shoujo anime, it has an inconclusive ending because the manga continues on.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

Zetsuen no Tempest wins my vote basically because I was incredibly hyped for it from its announcement (Ando doing an action show at Bones!) and it basically exceeded my expectation on every level imaginable in terms of being far more clever than I expected and also hilarious. Kids on the Slope might be better but at this point I think I'm more attached to Tempest.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun does not have quite the special place in my heart as Tempest, but has a wonderful cast of hella awkward and hilarious people and it's really hilarious and touching and I want the freaking OVA to get subs.