Ani-bloggers Choice Anime Awards 2011
Following Kiddtic’s call for submissions of ani-bloggers’ top anime of 2011, I thought it would be a good idea to participate. While it may not be entirely fair to rank anime that haven’t finished airing yet, I think I’ve seen enough of them to make a call. My list will follow the original rules of ranking the top 3 per each season, followed by the best overall.
Winter 2011 (January – March)
3rd Place: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?
Unlike your typical harem anime, this series not only has a bunch of cute girls, but zombies, masou shoujos, vampire ninjas, necromancers, chainsaws, cross-dressing zombie masou shoujos with chainsaws, and Dyson air multipliers. Ridiculous and funny are the two words that best describe this series.
2nd Place: Kimi ni Todoke Season 2
A lot of romances make relationships that are too-perfect and lack any real emotion, but KnT2 knew how to deliver. The “d’aww” moments and the way it portrayed the complexities of teenage love made it more than just another love story.
1st Place: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
I don’t think there’s any explanation needed here. From beginning to end, Madoka kept me glued to the screen.
Spring 2011 (April – June)
3rd Place: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
The sparkly blue hair and annoyingly addictive opening song in Denpa Onna had me entranced.
2nd Place: Ano hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
The execution was near perfect in this series except for the ending, which I found to be a bit corny. Overall, I thought it was very emotional, and any anime that can tug at your heartstrings deserves some credit.
1st Place: Steins;Gate
Few anime manage to weave such a complex story without losing the viewer or forgetting vital information. Excellent planning, direction, voice acting, and production values all contributed to the series’ success. A captivating plot with just enough comedy to balance it out makes it one of the best anime of the year.
Summer 2011 (July – September)
3rd Place: Mayo Chiki
Ever since Love Hina, I’ve always enjoyed watching a few romantic comedies each year. Mayo Chiki was in my opinion, the best of them this year. While it did not have the conclusion I was hoping for, it was well-paced and the silliness was enough to make me laugh, but also believable enough (for anime) for some drama to develop.
2nd Place: Usagi Drop
To say that “family” anime are under-represented in anime is an understatement. Usagi Drop proves that you can get everyone interested in a series without fanservice, slapstick comedy, mechas, swords, or magic.
1st Place: Mawaru Penguindrum
I expected good things when I heard that the director of Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena was working on his first big anime since the 90′s, and so far I have not been disappointed. The amount of symbolism and references in this series is just absurd. From ancient Greek plays to holy texts and modern literature, not to mention throwbacks to Sailor Moon and Utena, the complexity of the story-telling is mind-boggling. I love anime that challenge you to think, and Penguindrum has certainly done that, though I think it has me beat.
Fall 2011 (October – December)
3rd Place: Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Hilarity around every corner plus really nice character designs make Haganai a joy to watch.
2nd Place: Fate/Zero
The dark atmosphere and high-quality action scenes are awesome *cue fanboy raving*, as expected from the prequel to the series that spawned the term “GAR”. Unfortunately, there’s far too much talking.
1st Place: Mirai Nikki
I <3 Yuno.
The Best of the Best
Looking back, 2011 is one of the best years for anime in recent memory. While previous years had me struggling to find series to watch, this year I actually had too many series that I wanted to watch and could not get to all of them. In the end, I had to make some tough decisions and that has led me to what I found to be the best anime of 2011: Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
PMMM challenged the conventional view of what a mahou shoujo series should be and twisted a predominantly innocent genre into a white red-eyed alien that we will never see in the same light again. It also had a few similarities in plot development with my favourite series of all time, Martian Successor Nadesico. Time travel, the episode 3 death, “emo” mode, and a forgotten martyr helped to bring the story together. Steins;Gate and Mawaru Penguindrum were close runner-ups.
Nadesico, I remember that one <3 I was very young when I watched it, so I'm pretty sure I didn't get it as much as I would've today.
Sweet list!
1Marow recently posted..Christmas Calendar 2011 -Toradora 03 – Feelings
You should rewatch it if you get a chance, I’ve seen it several times now :)
2Man, I really need to get to finishing Steins;Gate. It’s on so many people’s top anime of 2011 lists! I’m only around episode 7, so I have quite a ways to go.
And you’re the second or third person I’ve seen choose Madoka for the top spot. It amazes me how much that anime impacted the blog community. Nice list!
3If you’re on episode 7, then it should start picking up very soon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Madoka turned the entire mahou shoujo genre upside-down, I think it deserves to be recognized for that.
4Agree with most of them even if the order would be a bit different…:P
5feal87 recently posted..Cube X Cursed X Curious – Alice is totally crazy. Kuroe is a troll!
I’m sure a number of people would change the ordering of my list.
6Definitely agree on Kimi ni Todoke, Steins;Gate, Usagi Drop, Mawaru Penguindrum and even Mayo Chiki!
7Hoshiko recently posted..UN-GO Episode 9: Rinroku Kaishou’s Crime
Mayo Chiki was one of the under-appreciated anime of the year, but I found it to be enjoyable.
8You have really, really good taste. Every show on this list with the exception of the ones I have yet to watch would be picks.
Over all I think 2011 was a good year, except the summer… since I ended up not watching any show from that season at all. I wonder why.
9Miette-chan recently posted..It’s Working!! time Yamada!
Thank you :)
2011 was indeed a good year, too bad not every year is like this one.
10I agree with the usagi drop points, I love the anime! It was a nice refreshing change from the usual fan service or horror genre animes I’ve been seeing as of late.
11Dreaming artemis recently posted..Mistakes and lessons while traveling
Usagi Drop was definitely different, I was impressed at how well it drew my attention without any of the usual action scenes or plot twists.
12All excellent choices. 2011 is a great year for stories to be told. And I really should watch Steins;Gate and Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko…
13Ephemeral Dreamer recently posted..Twelve Days of X’mas: Prologue ~ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
I’m sure you’d like Steins;Gate judging from your taste in anime.
14Interesting choices and most of which I watched ;D Except for a very few like Mawaru Penguindrum, I heard lots of goods things about that series so perhaps I’ll try it out soon.
It seems like Madoka, Fate/Zero and Steins;Gate will be pwning 2011 ;D
15Kai recently posted..Ani Bloggers Choice Anime Awards – Kai’s Top Anime of 2011
Yep, those three titles were the heavyweights of the year, though Penguindrum looks like it might bump a couple of them down depending on how it ends.
16Looks good XD I have heard some pretty good reviews on all of them. Go Kimi Ni Todoke! Usugi Drop! and Madoka Magica! ^0 I still need to watch Kore wa Zombie Deska hmm…
17Great Choices there!
Cely_belly recently posted..A Black Friday Thanksgiving Weekend~
If you haven’t seen some of the other anime I picked for top of the season, I suggest watching those before Kore wa Zombie Desu ka.
18I haven’t really finalized my top picks, but certainly Madoka, Ano Hana, Penguindrum, are on the top of my list. As for winter, Mirai Nikki is around my third/fourth-ish spot.
19SnippetTee recently posted..5th Day of Anime: Cuteness Galore of Ikoku Meiro No Croisée
All good choices. I look forward to seeing what you’ll decide on for the rest of your list.
20Great choices I think. Madoka and Kimi Todo were probably my pick of that season, and Usagi and Penguindrum mine for the next as well. Now I wonder if my picks for the fall season will be the same.
21Yi recently posted..Life, Love, and Things in Between – An Usagi Drop Approach
Well, judging by everyone’s reactions, I’m sure you’ll have a similar list for the fall season as well.
22Nice list! That reminds me, I need to get around to watching Denpa Onna. I have it on my hardrive, but never actually watched it. Also, nice to see someone appreciate Penguindrum for all of its complexity and symbolism, rather than being discouraged because of it.
23Denpa Onna was good, especially with the nice animation. It’s upsetting that people avoided Penguindrum because of its complexity.
24Shame on me, I’ve only seen one anime on this list, but I can say I’m at least reading the Kimi ni Todoke, Usagi Drop, and Mirai Nikki manga. I’m curious at what point the Mirai Nikki anime left the story. I fell behind in the manga when Tokyopop wasn’t able to release anymore Mirai Nikki. The rest I’ll add to my ever growing “To Watch” list.
I’ll def try Steins Gate soon.
25lovelyduckie recently posted..My Wall Scrolls
I really think you should check out more, 2011 was one of the best years for anime in a long time. Steins;Gate is a good choice if you were to pick only one though.
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