One last hurrah for the best and brightest of 2015.
Did you miss out on Part 1? Fear not! You can click here for the year in review and the bottom half of the Top 10, including honorable mentions. Or, if you’re ready to check out the cream of the crop, you can hit the jump and read on for more.
Ringing in the new year with a loving look back at the old.
This was my kinda year, both in terms of the types of shows and the way they were executed. Lots of bleeding cool action, entertaining fantasy, charming shoujo, and some ambitious projects from both up-and-coming and seasoned directors/writers made the year not just a fun one, but at times downright stunning.
While there were still plenty of bad or just forgettable titles floating around this year, the industry as a whole seems a lot more financially comfortable than it used to be (thanks in part to international simulcasts), which has led to studios not only releasing more titles, but taking greater risks with some of them, too. Not to say that niche passion projects like Maria the Virgin Witch or animation-fests like One Punch Man would never have seen the light of day in past seasons, but with greater economic stability, big-name studios like Production I.G. and Madhouse (and my darling BONES, who would have positively dominated this list if I’d allowed split-cours) can produce these titles with a little less reticence than they might have in the past. And that’s always a good thing.
Beyond that, two things really stand out after putting this list together: First, that the year was front-loaded like nobody’s business, as half these titles aired during the winter; and two, that it featured a lot of smart, character-driven series, and some particularly well-written female protagonists, which is a huge bonus for me. All-in-all I had me a very good 2015, and am excited to talk about some of its standouts.
This ain’t the same old bad boy love song.
Speaking in the broadest of terms, fiction can serve two primary functions: As a way to reflect reality, or as a way to escape it. Some people describe this as “art” versus “entertainment,” which never quite sat right with me because it suggests a certain lack of value to the latter, which is (to use a fancy lit-crit term) silly. Escapism absolutely has value. Have you lived in the world? Reality is stressful and messy. While it’s a bad idea to flee it altogether, it’s perfectly healthy, even necessary, to take a break from it sometimes.
The autumn colors were certainly on display, I’ll give Fall that, at least.
This was a slim season for me in terms of overall series completed, and would have been a pretty disappointing one if not for a couple happy surprises and a pair of standout shows from the ever-reliable Studio BONES. Still, there’s good variety here, with a strong focus on action/adventure titles, so there’s a pretty good chance something out there will speak to everyone’s tastes.
One thing Fall did have in droves was plenty of style. From the jaw-droppingly dynamic animation of One Punch Man, to the ’60s comic book-inspired design of Concrete Revolutio, to the painted landscapes of Seraph, the glowing monsters of Noragami, and even the washed-out color scheme and bursts of acid-trip weirdness in Perfect Insider, a lot of creative teams threw themselves into making the shows this season visually striking, and they by-and-large succeeded.
While ultimately I’m the kind of viewer who needs a developed set of characters and a meaningful (or at least entertaining) narrative to keep me invested in a story, that should by no means take away from the sheer amount of hard work and talent on display this Fall. Animation is art, and (narrative content notwithstanding), these creators have made that abundantly clear.
Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.
“Those who do the right thing, not for themselves or their country, but for a single…”
“A single what? Justice? Peace? Freedom? Defending my freedom disturbs the peace! Pursuing your justice violates my freedom! There is no single answer!”
—Jiro and Jin; Concrete Revolutio
Concrete Revolutio is an alternate reality, a blending of pop art and fiction with historical events to create a sensationalized truth. It’s an attempt to make sense of history through fantasy, to find causality in the real world the way we would in a fantastical one. And, in so doing, it reminds us that history itself is written like a fiction, and that (much like fiction) the same general narratives and tropes continue to play out in multiple times and places, despite our best (or perhaps worst) efforts.
Yes, I’ll have one order of Season Three, please?
Noragami gets back to basics as it returns the focus to its central cast and wraps up its second (but hopefully not final) season with an emotionally satisfying finale and a big teaser for what comes next.
As usual, I’ll spend the first part of this post providing a specifics-free review and the second part discussing the episode itself. I’ll be sure to let any newcomers know when to close the window to avoid spoilers, so don’t hesitate to hit that link and read on for more.
The Three Wise Men ain’t the only ones following Stars tonight.
I’ll be off holidaying it up with the family this weekend, hence why this post is going out a day early (my Noragami post may be delayed for similar reasons). As I mentioned last week, thanks to Viz’s awkward release schedule, I’ve got a whole trio of Stars episodes to cover this time around, and h’oh man, did this season waste no time in diving right into the fracas. Hit the jump to say hi to some old friends and some even older plot points.
A god by any other name…
After last week’s bumpy ride, Noragami is back to doing what it does best: Character-driven storytelling, slick-looking battles, and moments of simple yet profound emotional resonance. And if there appears to be a little mist in my eyes, I assure you it’s just from the dust our battling gods kicked up this week. Definitely just that.
Now that’s how you end a season!
Viz rolled the SuperS finale and the Stars premiere into a single week, but I want to include a season retrospective like I did for R and S, so I’m going to just focus on the finale this time and knock out the first three episodes of Stars in a single post next week. It’s not ideal, but I think it’s the best way to handle things.
Our old friend Ikuhara shows up for one last spin in the director’s chair, and makes damn sure to go out on a high note. As rough as SuperS has been at times, this is a visually stunning and thematically satisfying finale, tying up loose ends and setting the stage for potential future conflict. Say what you will about this season or its series director, but the guy knows his way around a tight narrative and striking imagery, and that’s on full display here. So let’s all go out with a bang together.
A God of Fortune always pays her debts.
I spent a lot of the Bishamon Arc praising Noragami for its tightly woven, character-driven narrative, where every scene fed into the next and every plot point developed naturally out of individuals acting in ways true to their (limited) perspectives and experiences. This—I guess we’ll call it the Ebisu Arc—hasn’t been as strong structurally: There are gaps in the cause-effect between one event and the next, unexplained motivations, and sometimes people behave in ways that seem designed solely to move the plot or another character’s development forward rather than out of an organic extension of their own personality, desires, or what have you.
The hodgepodge plotting has been mitigated and at times hidden entirely thanks to great production values, strong emotional beats, a good sense of comedic timing, and some fascinating character details (particularly where Yato is concerned), but it really comes to the forefront during the first half of this episode, which I can only describe as a nonsensical way to mark time before the finale.
The Josei Next Door 