Anime Awards 2014

We had an Anime of the Year thread for 2013, but I've not seen one for 2014. But since I find random awards funnier I wrote it like this instead. And since I have a lot of notes from what I write about the series I watch, I can go through them quite extensively to pick out lots and lots of stuff. And it amuses me. So here goes, in the specific order I want them to be. (A few entries are added more recently, because I get new ideas and I'm never satisfied with the list if I can think of more.)

Retro Award: Sailor Moon Crystal. So retro it hurts. But it's not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. The series, that is. It's at least as retro as people claim it is.

Least Dialogue Award: Tonari no Seki-kun. Almost the entire thing is in Yokoi's head as inner monologue. Very little is actually said in the series, and most of it is between her and smaller characters, at least in relation to the time she spends with them.

Least Animation Award: Tonari no Kashiwagi-san. This one is a Motion Comic, so you get pretty much that. The exact same panels as the manga, but with colour, mouth flaps, and voices. Not high-quality animation, but it's not pretending to be anything it's not. Also, as a more Romantic Comedy or Slice of Life story, it works well enough with Limited Animation.

Biggest Reality Check: Shirobako. Way too many details that are just too real, too much like what people actually see in their workplaces.

Game-Like Award: Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky. I felt like I was watching a Let's Play at moments. It even beat out Log Horizon and Sword Art Online, both of which have games and virtual worlds as their settings.

Shaftiest Award: Mekakucity Actors. If you know what "shaftiest" means, you'll understand exactly why this series gets the award. If you don't know what it means, watch an episode or two of the series, and you'll understand.

Chuunibyou Award: Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei. This year, we had Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De and Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai Ren, both of which delved into the topic of chuunibyou heaviuly. However, Mahouka is exactly what a chuunibyou author would write, to an even greater extent than Sword Art Online, which share that characteristic. In this case, the meta has to give way for the real thing.

Bellisario's Award: No Game No Life. If you watch this and expect everything to make sense, I'd guess you'd be disappointed. If you on the other hand take logic with a grain of salt and just lean back to enjoy the show, it's not bad at all.

Invasive Award: Rokujyouma No Shinryakusha. An Unwanted Harem where the girls are really forcing their way into the protagonist's room by any means necessary. Also one of the better harem animes of the year, but not quite the best one.

Accurate Title Award: Strange+. It is.

Most Yuri: Sakura Trick. The yuri is thick with this one, to the point where it obscures the rest of it.

Naming Award: Amagi Brilliant Park. Characters are named after some, let's say unexpected people. The other option was Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?, but those puns are a little too mundane.

Most Unexpectedly Gruesomely Twisted Humour: Wake Up, Girls!. This probably needs some explaining. This is basically an idol series (and surprisingly interesting at that) with the expected drama from that. Then, in a comedy non-canon OVA, there are random girls dying. Played for laughs. Maybe. I'm not sure.

Surprise Award: Super Sonico. So, an anime based on a company mascot of a company that makes eroges and visual novels. Doesn't give you much hope, does it? Well, here we have a relaxing Slice of Life anime with a pleasant atmosphere you can't help but enjoy. There's not much tension, but that's not why you're watching. It's a great anime if you're looking for a Healing Anime, and one of the best overall for the year.

Most Disappointing: Sanzoku no Musume Ronja. Honestly not a bad series, and probably great if you're looking for something relaxing and slow-paced. But being familiar with the original, it just doesn't measure up. I simply got bored of it.

Redundant Supernatural Elements Award: Glasslip. There were some slight supernatural elements that added a bit of mystery to the series. If you removed them, absolutely nothing would change in the plot, with the only rewriting required being removing references to it. All it did was adding expectations that went unfulfilled and stole time from what was actually relevant.

Petty Problem Award: Celestial Method. Good and cute series, but there are some serious issues with how petty some of the problems are, and how much plot is built around them that could easily be solved otherwise.

Worst Format Award: Pupa. Horror does well with good tension and immersion. You don't get that with shorts anywhere near as good as with full-length episodes, so trying to get invested in a series set up like this is an exercise in futility.

Dumbest Narrator: Sabagebu!. He had the occasional joke that were actually funny. But for the most part, he was as annoying as people claim Navi is, and mostly just ruined whatever pacing and timing the actually funny jokes that appeared in the series had, often by explaining the jokes. The series would've been better without him.

Cheapest: Nobunagun. I'll admit to giving up on it very quickly, but that's because it was the cheapest anime I've seen. Sure, there's stuff like Kill la Kill and Fuuun Ishin Dai Shogun (which aren't in nearly the same quality class), but they have points that make them less cheap, such as the art quality of the latter and the creativity and audacity of the former.

Swing-and-Miss Award: Mahou Sensou. The setting is interesting. The characters aren't bad at all. The execution? Terrible.

Single Flaw Award: Saikin Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga. The series is about a girl who moves in with her new step brother, and they struggle with how to relate and treat each other. Or rather, that's what it would be about if not for Hiyori. Almost everything about her and what she does to Mitsuki can be summed up with "what ruins the series". If you have the capacity to ignore that side of the series, it's actually not bad. If you don't, stay far away. The runner up for this "award" is Engaged to the Unidentified, in which Benio's abusive streak lowers the enjoyment of the series. However, it's not quite as much of a deal-breaker, and with more interesting characters, so it's only a runner up.

Jarring Fanservice Award: ZX Ignition. It doesn't have a lot of fanservice. For a harem series, it's practically absent. Except when it comes to Rigel, since every time she shows up you can expect egregiously gratuitous boob and butt shots.

Worst Fanservice: Maken-ki!. Since I first saw it, it's been my to-go comparison for how bad fanservice can get. There is worse. Probably. I think I've mentioned it once, somewhere, but I don't think it's recent. Maybe the To Love Ru Beach Episode.

Worst Animation: Fuuun Ishin Dai Shogun. Little more than stills with motion, which really doesn't suit the action of the series. Doesn't help that there's nothing else of the series that makes it worth watching. I should note that the art quality isn't actually bad, just the animation of it.

Worst-Yet-Strangely-Watchable Award: Seirei Tsukai No Blade Dance. Bland, predictable, cliché, stereotypical characters, and yet, somehow, I found it watchable. I've yet to find an explanation for that.

Most Underrated: Jinsei. Very little attention, yet it's a great random school club anime. There might be other underrated anime out there, but none I've seen. Isn't that surprising?

More Episodes, Please Award: Rokujyouma No Shinryakusha. While there are other better shows that can certainly benefit from more episodes, this one is a good and solid harem with unsolved threads left that seem more interesting than the told plot. Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin is a solid runner up.

Hardest Adaptation Done Well: Madan No Ou To Vanadis. There's a truckload of exposition regarding armies, strategy, and various other political issues that's plain needed to understand the plot, and that's not something that's easily handled in an anime, especially if you want entertainment value from action and character interaction/development. Yet, the show crammed the necessary information into small planning sessions and illustrative troop-movement graphics to the point there were surprisingly little confusion about what was going on, as well as giving much more weight than usual to the common troops, compared to the heroes. And this while still keeping the characters, action, and plot interesting. A job well done.

Mythology Award: Hoozuki no Reitetsu. I've heard people say, "I didn't realise Touhou taught me so much," after watching this series. That game series and this manga/anime are among the most mythology-heavy series I know of, with references to just about all aspects of Japanese mythology. If you're interested in that, it can probably still be enjoyable even if you don't like the dry and sometimes violent humour.

World Building Award: Log Horizon. I find this the most interesting setting of the year. The series also explores the world itself, rather than having it as a backdrop for the events of the heroes. That makes it come alive much better than what you usually see.

Fanservice Award: Super Sonico. I thought about tying this together with the Surprise Award, but in the end I decided to give it separate credit for this too. As I wrote there, the company specialises in eroges and visual novels, so they should be experienced with fanservice. Well, they are. The fanservice is tasteful, and the characters are very much aware of the fanservice they provide, so it's part of them rather than detached from them as it usually is. The fanservice simply made sense in the context of the story and characters, and it was beautifully done. Two other details that help are that the characters are both college-aged and not terribly skinny.

Best Yuri and Best Short: Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san. Also the funniest yuri. Just a short, but it does the job well. For the length, it's one of the best series of the year, actually.

Best Magical Girl Series: Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru. A Magical Girl series where comparisons with Puella Magi Madoka Magica are inevitable. To put it in as simple terms as possible, I thought Yuuki Yuuna was better than Madoka, which should probably explain most of it, as I like Madoka. Yuuki Yuuna is an excellent show of what happens to the Slice of Life aspect when the Magical Girl side of life comes with repercussions and the two aren't isolated.

Best Adventure: Coffin Princess Chaika. It was either this or Log Horizon, but the adventure aspect of that one wasn't quite as good as in the first season, while Chaika was good over the entire series.

Best Comedy: Seitokai Yakuindomo. Almost never not funny despite the very high number of jokes and reliance on puns (which are rarely good when translated), and beating out funny series like D-Frag!, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. ^note Should note that I broke my own rule of not copying someone else here in an edit, since I completely derped up and failed to include this one, despite how obvious it was.

Best Harem: Trinity Seven. Almost entirely thanks to the great cast, but also thanks to how they all interact, and the great protagonist who by design is at the centre of most events. Special mention goes to the ninja, who managed to shine even relative to the others. There are a few runners up, such as Rokujyouma No Shinryakusha, Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De, Kanojo Ga Flag O Oraretara, and D-Frag! that are also good, but this one wins out in the end.

Best Romance: Nagi no Asukara. I enjoyed the romance in this series. While most series I watch have some kind of romance in them, this one wouldn't work at all without it, and it did what it did well.

Best Shoujo: Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii. I was hard-pressed between this and Akatsuki no Yona, both of which are great, but since the latter hasn't ended and is thus in a greater limbo, I have to give the award to the former one. It has a great proactive protagonist with a great affinity with the rain. Which is always a good thing.

Most Villanous Heroes: Robot Girls Z. The "heroes", and I use the word lightly, are worse than your average villain. Actual villains are all over the scale, better or worse. It avoids Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy due to simply being funny and playing it all for laughs.

Strangest Most Reasonable Characters: Golden Time. The characters are weird and occasionally psychotic. And yet they make sense and feel surprisingly realistic. It takes skill to achieve both, which is probably the greatest strength of the series.

Best Dressed: Rudy of Log Horizon. Maybe not normally, but he always looks better than everyone else when dressed up.

Best Hair Letdown: Mirei Kudou of Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De. Takao is a great contender here, but as awesome as that was, I'll have to give it to Mirei here. That scene wasn't even meant to be anything special, and yet it was so striking.

Twintail Award: Tama-chan-senpai of D-Frag!. Stylish, yet functional.

Troll Award: Chiya of Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?. Such a cute troll has rarely been seen before, and made the series much more interesting to watch. Naturally, there were others competing for the position, such as Tick-Tock, Ayaka, and Fianna. Still, it bears mentioning, none of them holds a candle to Xelloss.

Best Hair: Matcha Kobayashi of Go! Go! 575. Several strong contenders here, such as Futaba, Kiriha, Konoha, and Miou. Matcha does stick out, both with an unusual hair colour, the skull adornments, and the only slightly unusual looking cut.

Tsundere Award:: Michiru Matsushima of Grisaia no Kajitsu. It's a bit of a spoiler, but she's basically three different types of tsunderes all wrapped into one package. If that doesn't make her win this award, I don't know what would.

The Worf Award: Fredrica of Coffin Princess Chaika. Okay, not exactly as the trope prescribes, but what we have here is a bloodthirsty dragon who's one of the most fearsome magical creatures out there. So what happens every time we need a fight with some tension? Take out Fredrica first. Every single time. I've not seen someone get skewered/maimed/perforated/killed so consistently since Kenny.

Best Looking Background Characters: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. For some reason, I always took note of the background characters in this series, and they were often well-drawn with interesting designs. Many of them could easily have been part of the main cast with no change in design.

Dance Award: Mega Drive of Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls. For the uninitiated, she's the blonde. Just watch the video. I don't think I need to explain more.

Master Detective Badge: Tensai Ikkyuu of Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin. Badge comes free with the nicest hat. She introduces herself as a Master Detective. Then she spends the rest of the series demonstrating exactly why she's justified in calling herself that. Without her, the series would've been far more mediocre.

Character Most Like Myself Award: Rino Endou of Jinsei. She's basically as I would be in an anime. I don't wear glasses, and I'm not entirely unathletic, but other than that...

Cameo Award: Miss Monochrome. She's appeared in Golden Time, Wooser No Sono Higurashi, and Girl Friend BETA. Possible more, but those are the ones I can verify.

Rant Award: Hatoko Kushikawa of Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De. Like that's a surprise to anyone who's heard about it, given the award name. Either way, that rant was awesome: emotional, fast-paced, detailed, and right on target. Four things too many rants miss out on.

Voice Award: Kurumi Tokisaki of Date A Live. Delightful character, delightful voice. Also got to give honourable mentions to Nonon and Nureha, two other characters with lovely voices.

Best Couple: Demikas and his wife of Log Horizon. Okay, they have very little screentime, but we have here a (previously) dog-kicking villain who with his awesome wife manages to show off a cute and loving relationship. That's pure win in my book.

Cast Award: Trinity Seven. Runner up is D-Frag! (just like with Best Harem, imagine that). The latter has great characters. The difference is that the former doesn't have any bad or uninteresting characters, unless maybe if you dig through the bit characters. Not sure I've ever seen such a solid cast.

Best Character: Takao of D-Frag!. This is probably the award with the toughest competition. There have been a lot of awesome characters over the year. Tick-Tock, the ninja, the lazy, cowardly, melancholy twilight princess, Suzu, Suzu, Suzu wait, wrong year, Elen, Akane, Linca, Chisaki, Tensai, Nike, Hatoko and Mirei, and last year's winner Laura (qualified thanks to the OVA) all competed for the title (Rino is automatically disqualified because I'm not that narcistic, but would otherwise also be a runner up if not more), but in the end, I'll have to give it to Takao. She's plain awesome in several ways (much like all characters on the runner up list), and just stands out to me. It also helps that all of the others are already involved in other awards, so she deserves something at least (but that's a minor consideration overall).

I was going to have a Best Anime of the Year Award, but I just couldn't settle on one. It basically ended up as a tie between several series best in their own categories, so this award wouldn't add anything new. And genre is more important than which of several hard-to-compare series is the absolutely best one. Besides, I think the year has been a great one for anime fans.

Now that I'm done with this short post, what about everyone else? What awards would you want to give out?

edited 12th Oct '17 11:19:23 PM by AnotherDuck

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Best animation award: Rage of Bahamut: Genesis.

Also known as the holy shit best budget award.

Watch Symphogear

Plotless mess 2014

Did Glasslip ever go anywhere? 'Cause I don't think so.

Worst waste of a plot

Sora no Method is about a magical saucer that grants magical wishes. This is interesting! Nevermind, it's about bullshit over the top forced drama that goes nowhere. Also, have some moeblob for moeblob's sake because why not.

How could they have fixed it: Give the story a good dose of Backstory Horror. Say that the saucer screwed shit up real bad. Say that it made the town a police state for years. Say that it fucked with the minds of people and made it some sort of cult to itself. Say that bluehair moeblob is actually really the enforcer of said cult to itself. It could have given the characters really good motivation for their seven year long grudge against MC. But no, it's some petty shit that did nothing but sink my opinion of the characters.

Musashi Gundoh Award for Most shittily animated anime

Dai Shogun: Dear J.C. Staff: anime is short for animation, not Power Point Slideshow.

Runner-up: Enduring the final episodes of ARGEVOLLEN was a sad task. The show generated zero buzz, sales projections were abysmal and staff were jumping ship as soon as possible. And the animation quality suffered for it.

Hayao Miyazaki Award for Most beautifully animated anime

Rage of Bahamut: Genesis is beautiful. Everything from its CG, to its fluid movement, to its fight scenes, you can see the painstaking work MAPPA puts in every single frame.

Runner up: Mushishi Zoku Shou: Artland is a really under-appreciated studio. They clearly have many talented fellows on board, yet they get like 10 less than the amount of praise they deserve. Oh well.

Serial Experiments Lain Award for Best Atmosphere

There’s a certain charm about the existential dread about being constantly threatened by brutal cosmic death at the tentacles of interstellar abominations beyond our understanding. This atmosphere of constant danger is what made Knights of Sidonia such a masterpiece from beginning to end, and it's what made the budget-guzzling mech battles so much more satisfying.

edited 3rd Jan '15 6:21:09 PM by Logograph

Speaking of Power Point Slideshows, I did watch one that was even closer to being a manga.

Least Animation Award: Tonari no Kashiwagi-san. This one is a Motion Comic, so you get pretty much that. The exact same panels as the manga, but with colour, mouth flaps, and voices. Not high-quality animation, but it's not pretending to be anything it's not. Also, as a more Romantic Comedy or Slice of Life story, it works well enough with Limited Animation.

I'll add it to the list above.

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No, Dai Shogun is "Power Point Slideshow", whereas Tonari is more "Anime Puppet".

I dunno; I'd say Mahouka flew right past chunnibyou and fell straight into pure narcissism. Sword Art is often just self-centered wish-fulfillment, but at least it's pretty and somewhat imaginative. Mahouka somehow managed to make magic thoroughly boring and mechanical, on top of all of its other problems.

I guess I lacked the patience to watch a whole lot this year, but Coffin Princess Chaika gets my "best surprise" award. I don't know why I started watching it, and the OP made me even more confident it would suck, but fortunately I was wrong. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru would have been a contender, except I started it only after reading a massively gushing comment about it (ironically they probably hate it now because of ableism or something).

Also Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was great, because I was starting to think good anime comedies didn't actually exist. It squeezes some good shipping in there, too. One Week Friends was also a nice (serious-er) romancey thing.

No Game No Life gets my "most personally offensive" award which I shall not discuss further.

Yeah, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is a good comedy, but to me, comedies don't stick out as much. Likewise, One Week Friends isn't bad, but it's not great either. I liked it better when it was just relaxing than when they tried the more dramatic plots.

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Best Action: Nanatsu no Taizai! Jolly rowdy asskicking in spades.

Best Superpowers: Mekakucity Actors, especially since they're not all combat-related.

Atypical =/= Good: Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen. Still worth a watch for mecha fans looking for something different from the usual fare, though.

Best Cameos: Tokyo ESP. The artist really had fun designing his characters: see Leonidas-dad, or better, Yoda-sensei.

Holy Shit A Sequel: Mushishi was a pleasant surprise.

Most Disappointing Sequel: Psycho Pass S2 eschews any semblance of subtlety the first season had, and that wasn't particularly subtle.

Most Shoehorned Loli: Seikoku no Dragonar. He could have had a badass dragon, writers. A badass dragon!

Cutest Cancer Patient: Sword Art Online has Zekken. Totally cute girl who has... not really cancer, but close enough for story purposes. Runner up is Black Bullet. If the bugs don't kill them, the virus will.

Most Enjoyable Suffering: Tokyo Ghoul. The torture-focused final episode made watching the rest of the series worth it for me.

Best Trap: Log Horizon. It makes so much sense.

Clark Kent: Magic Kaito 1412. His Paper-Thin Disguise is so foolproof even Detective Conan couldn't identify him.

Best Mascot: Amagi Brilliant Park, of course! See the cute fairyland creatures act like dirty old men.

Best Shojo: Toss-up between Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii and Akatsuki no Yona. Going to reward it to the former because Nike is a fantastic gal, and I mostly like the latter for its action instead of its shojo elements.

Best Mahou Shoujo: {{Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 2wei!}}. The action scenes are amazing. Yuuki Yuuna Wa Yuusha De Aru is a distant second.

Best Toy Anime: Gundam Build Fighters Try. The action scenes are amazing. Wait, didn't I already say that?

Best Rant: Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De. Copying off Handle here; it's really just that powerful a scene. Second place is Golden Time, where said rant is arguably 2d-kun's best scene.

Best Use of Time Travel: Buddy Complex: Not kidding. It utilizes time travel to perfect synchronization between the two Buddies, had to give it points for originality, even if the show falls flat as a whole.

Best Use of Time Skip: Nagi no Asukara. The time skip is important to the themes of the series.

Best Use of Telepathy: M3 The Dark Metal, where it's used to maintain one's bearings in an eldritch ruin of a city.

Best Use of Split Personality: Grisaia no Kajitsu. First time I saw the explanation for it I thought it was a trollsub screwing around.

Most Ineffectual Villains: The bad guys in Robot Girls Z are really just there to get beaten up.

Best Harem: D-Frag: TWO adorable gamer girls and unholy gift to men Tama-chan-senpai? Sweet deal. Very close runner up is Trinity Seven, and now that I mention it...

Best Harem Lead: Trinity Seven: Kasuga Arata isn't a drooling lust-beast, but rather a guy who just enjoys the fanservice that falls on his lap. He also has no problem abusing his chosen one status. One of the very few harem protagonists that I like just as much as most of the haremettes!

Most Unique Harem: Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara. It's secretly the Matrix. {{Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!?}} also has a fairly interesting set-up, though unfortunately it seems that much of the interesting stuff is only hinted at in the show proper.

My Logic is Better than Yours: No Game No Life. Logic is Blank's superpower.

Best Otome Game Adaptation: Kamigami no Asobi. The heroine is thankfully not some timid girl subject to the whims of her guys.

Worst Transitions: Hamatora. Those screeching transitions, ugh.

Best Anime-Original Content: Akame ga Kill. The final battle was ace. It also had no problems killing off the main character.

Best Sakurasou Replacement: Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou does good for that classic story of that one sane guy hanging out with a bunch of weirdoes. The lead guy is also the rare proactive kind of romance anime lead!

Most Contrived Plot: Mahou Sensou. Massive fridge logic concerning the central conflict. Runner-up is One Week Friends which is at least good.

Most Petty: Sora no Method. Talk about contrived drama.

Cultural Enlightenment: Hanayamata for a really pretty depiction of traditional dancing.

Marty Stu: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. All weaknesses are only meant to make him look better.

In Lesbians with You: Sakura Trick. Duh. Genderflipped version of this award goes to {{Free!}} obviously.

Most Fun Jerk: Momoka of Sabagebu is self-centered, narcissistic, green-eyed and an all-around jerk, and that's what makes her so fun to watch!

Hypercompetent High Schooler: Aldnoah Zero. Everyone else on Earth is dumb, apparently.

Welcome to the Industry: Nobunagun. Not half bad as the first entry in a fledgeling studio's portfolio.

Best BGM: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. I sometimes watch the show again just to listen to that lovely piano.

Best Video Game Adaptation: {{Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis}}. A card game anime that eschews the card game in favor of fleshing out its mythos.

Best Yaoi Fangirl: Barakamon. Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere is in full force.

Best Power Up Chant: Hitsugi no Chaika. "I am a weapon to destroy thee."

Most Cringeworthy: Saikin Imouto No Yousu Ga Chotto Okashiinda Ga. Hard to avoid when dealing with a cursed chastity belt... Close runner-up is Mangaka-san no Assistant to, which shares a fondness for bathroom emergencies.

Best Workplace Show: Hoozuki no Reitetsu. Since the workplace in question is JAPANESE HELL.

Best Mecha: Knights of Sidonia. More "sci-fi" than the norm, dealing with cloning, genetic engineering and even a third sex.

Best Mecha Design: Captain Earth. Complete with badass transformation sequence.

Weirdest Mecha: Daimidaler the Sound Robot, where our lead uses his libido to combat penguins with gag penises. ...yeah.

Indicative Non-Indicative Title: Mikakunin de Shinkoukei. Engaged to the unidentified really did mean unidentified.

Worst Creature Design: Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance. That's not Fenrir, that's just standard RPG fodder.

They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: {{Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil}}. Could have been a fantastic magical lawyer drama. Instead it turned out to be a poor action fantasy show.

Best Music-Themed Anime: Your Lie in April, showcasing not only great music but also fantastic art and masterful direction.

Best Retro Show: Parasyte. Updated for modern times, without losing what made the manga so good. Close runner-up is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

Please Do Not Smoke: World Conquest Zvezda Plot. Smokers are the true villains. Literally.

Best Sports Show: Ping Pong. It's something non-sports-fans might like. It doesn't delve too much into the technical details, preferring to utilize the competitive aspect of the eponymous sport as a vehicle for character development.

Best Nobunaga: Nobunagun. Here, Nobunaga is a girl with a big friggin' gun which she uses to mow down alien arthropods. Ohh yeah.

Most Underrated: Nobunaga Concerto. Hell, it's a red link. Expected it to be just another Nobunaga anime, pleasantly surprised to discover a quirky comedy (I will always love the Achievements in Ignorance trope) with some surprisingly badass moments. Runner-up is Jinsei, which is a pretty good romance/slice-of-life with an extremely cute nerdy girl.

Most Creative Gags: Space Dandy. It might not have made me laugh as much as other comedies, but it sure as hell revved the gears in my brain. Except for that one musical episode.

Needs More Episodes: Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin. Would love to see the story fleshed out. Second would Madan no Ou to Vanadis, which could have used the additional episodes to better pace the worldbuilding.

Biggest Mess: Glasslip. In desperate need of direction. Speaking of which...

I Don't Care About These People: Glasslip is on a roll! The story's such a mess even the characterization gets shafted. Runner-up is selector infected WIXOSS and its sequel, which at least had the twincest girl.

It Really Grew on Me: Shirobako. Found it dull a first, but now I'm enjoying it a lot.

Best "I Have a Girlfriend" Reveal: Denki-gai no Honya-san. Waifus are serious business.

Brotherhood: Stay Night. Much better than the last one.

The Plot Is Strong With This One: World Trigger. Utterly lousy execution didn't stop me from looking forward to a new episode every week. I really should just read the manga...

edited 3rd Jan '15 7:14:53 AM by fillerdude

I didn't watch a lot of anime, but here's what I get:

Anime Episode of The Year: Gundam Build Fighters episode 21. The reasons are spoilers, though.

Most Underrated: Tribe Cool Crew. I really like the dances by the characters along with the music used. The characters are unusually likable are a bonus. Too bad that it is dismissed as kiddie junk almost everywhere.

Most Satisfying Wait: Shirogane no Ishi Argevollen. Despite the very weak early episodes, the buildup of the plot and character relationships happens almost non-stop, something that usually reserved for action oriented kids' anime, makes it a satisfying watch to its ends, even with the sequel hook which isn't likely to be addressed.

Best Opening: Wimp feat. Lil' Fang from FAKY by BACK-ON, 2nd opening of Gundam Build Fighters. So hot blooded and epic that could give JAM Project a run for its money.

Best Ending: Faith by Sachika Misawa, 1st ending of Shirogane no Ishi Agrevollen. Catchy, clear vocals and the ending animation as depicted shows what the anime really is about.

edited 3rd Jan '15 7:51:12 AM by murazrai

Well, there's a few I missed.

"Best Harem Lead" is one I skipped because I already had it at both best harem and best cast. But yeah, probably the best male character of the year, actually.

I should've noted the time skip in the Best Romance entry. That's a remarkable use of time skipping that makes full use of both time frames.

I watched most of Kamigami no Asobi, but unfortunately I got out of it due to time constraints, and while it's a great series in the genre, there were several better shows I was watching at the time. I didn't want to add something I hadn't watched all of (that didn't continue into this year).

Momoka should definitely have had her place, though. A complete arse, but hilarious to watch.

"Needs More Episodes" was one I had in the other thread and forgot to add here. Well, "edit" is a thing (and this one isn't just a copy).

More Episodes, Please Award: Rokujyouma No Shinryakusha. While there are other better shows that can certainly benefit from more episodes, this one is a good and solid harem with unsolved threads left that seem more interesting than the told plot. Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin is a solid runner up.

Sure you got the right name there?

edited 3rd Jan '15 7:43:26 AM by AnotherDuck

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Third best anime

One day will CG in anime be good beyond making visually striking battle sequences. Yes, the characters in here look like really sad fish (except for some instances of things like pouting). But the battles are so well done that I’m willing to forgive the fish faces (and also, the manga had this problem so I can't complain a whole lot).

But the charm of Knights of Sidonia is more subtle.

There’s something about the existential dread about being constantly threatened by brutal cosmic death at the tentacles of interstellar abominations beyond our understanding. It creates an unique feeling of hopelessness that humanity's last stand being slowly but surely being killed off. And because it is so goddamn effective at conveying this, Sidonia creates a quite unique atmosphere that makes the victories so much more satisfying.

Best Fight Scene

ZORO vs. KIBA, in GARO: The Animation. What went wrong in the making of this fight? Nothing. From the awesome CGI animation, to the emotional gravitas of the scenes previous, to the sheer awesomeness of this fight, to the music. It made Gurren Lagann look like two five year old children fighting in the schoolyard in comparison.

Runner up

The entire Sidonia army vs. Gauna Planet in Knights of Sidonia. Largely, too, because of the emotional gravitas behind the battle. I've already said that Sidonia has a truly unique atmosphere of dread and hopelessness, and seeing a victory of this scale was truly satisfying.

Second best anime

I've never seen another anime that saying that it is the personification of joy and energy without it being completely hyperbole. It is a wildly creative ride of 26 episodes, none of which are like anything I've ever seen in an anime. It is unpredictable because absolutely anything and everything is on the table. You could have a zombie apocalypse and have the next episode be High School Musical. And, to my surprise, they tied it all up together in the end.

But most importantly, Space Dandy is a rollercoaster of laughter from beginning to end. It is love, it is life.

Best worst anime

Samurai Flamenco gives zero fucks about tone, plot development, characterization or production values. And it's endlessly entertaining as a result of this.

Best anime of 2014

It's the best anime of all time, so it was shocking to me that Mushishi Zoku Shou was able to maintain, and in some ways surpass, the incredible quality of the first season, eight years later.

edited 3rd Jan '15 7:48:08 AM by Logograph

Best Short Format Series: Tonari no Seki-kun - a simple, yet powerful concept that it explores for both comedy and some drama. One of the best short series I can think of actually. Runner up: Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls - Another series that was waaaay more entertaining than I expected. Runner up bc the name is stupid.

Best Anime Based on a Game Award: VN's don't count as games for this catagory. Anyway, it was easy: Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. I was expecting Wixoss to win this for most of the year, but....nope.

I would totally watch the series this is a fan-fic of award: Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei - I imagine there is a good series set in the Mahouka universe that this is a fanfic of.

Retro Animation Award: Gundam: Reconguista in G - This is the first series where I can actually see the sprites while watching it that wasn't actually made in the 70's.

Series that was screwed over by a poor adaption job award: Date A Live - I forget if I did this last year, but it would have won that one also. The first season had brutal pacing which made everything more cliche than it was originally but at least managed to preserve the drama fairly well. The new studio couldn't even do that right, and one of the new girls was miscast. Kinda a shame. I wanted to see DEM's awsome Crazy-Prepared evil plan and the karma train pasting Origami.

Ugliest Art Award: Knights of Sidonia - does everyone have to look like they have a spotlight on them all the time? Everyone thing was so washed out all the time like there was a nuclear explosion behind the camera or something ALL THE TIME. I guess it was supposed to be edgy or something, but it was just bad. I think they were trying to replicate the managa art style, but the problem is, the manga is black and white, so it works better. When you colorize it for anime....it just looks horrible. The fact that it was decent despite that was kind of impressive actually.

Whatever appeal this had is soley due to one chcarachter award: Sakurai in Rail Wars. Other characters who were waaay better than the rest of their cast would be Tensai in Ryuugajou Nanana No Maizoukin, and Masahiro in Engaged to the Unidentified.

Worst Ending Quality as compared to the rest of the series: Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru - to be fair, it felt like the end was rushed and they basically had to cut out all the parts that would have made it make sense. Runner up: Aldnoah.Zero. Loses out due to it only being the first cour ending and winning the next award.

Fake Drama Award: I.e. the series that has the most end of episode cliffhangers that turn out not to mean anyting in the next episode. Winner: Aldnoah.Zero. One character has survived being killed twice....three times if you include the finale and promotional materials for the next season.

Drugs. Drugs would help: Mekaku City Actors. Anything by Shaft has aspects of this, but this one more so than most.

Best ED: Witch Craft Works. There were a bunch of good ones, but I went with this due to the way they kept adding people to the field, which takes advantage of the hilarious character designs.

I have no clue what this studio is thinking Award: Sunrise, who seems to just be all over the place unless "Gundam" is in the name. Their original shows include

• Buddy Complex - tacking on some homoerotic undertones and time travel can't hide the fact that this is like a tutorial on how to write a mecha anime. It's amazing how generic this is once your remove those two obviously tacked on things
• Cross Ange - I've never seen a thread get locked before when people stayed on topic.

Apropriate Title:Soul Eater Not! - not sure what it is, but it's spot on about what it isn't.

Most Ridiculous Transform Sequence: Captain Earth - that's the weirdest way I've ever seen a mecha assembled.

Best (mis)use of historical figures: Given to the winter 2014 season for Nobunaga the Fool and Nobunagun

edited 3rd Jan '15 9:28:39 AM by kiukiuclk

And here I go.

Most Yurilicious Anime: Sakura Trick

Best Yurilicious Anime: InugamisanToNekoyamasan. Short, but it's super effective! Need to watch it's OVA already.

Most Psychological Anime: selector infected WIXOSS, with M3: That Black Metal in second.

Best Harem Anime: Inou Battle wa Nichijoukei no naka de. The cast is cool, and it finely showed what happens when people with superpowers don't get involved in the bigger picture. Manga/Trinity Seven comes in a close second. This one had fights, but they weren't that actiony most of the time.

Best Comedy: DFrag. I just loved how the show made mundane games and techniques so awesome. And funny.

---

SPECIAL AWARDS:

Blockbuster Bomb Award: As we all know, there were many anime that got a lot of praise this year. Hype, if you may. Like Terror in Resonance, or Sword Art Online II. Out of these blockbusters, one managed to be very...unimpressive. That one being...

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. Also wins the Yawn-Inducing One-Side Massacre Award. One-sided battles are inevitable. It's just that this show made it so boring...

Creed of Awesome Award: "I am steel. Steel knows no doubt. Steel knows no fear. When faced with my enemy, I hesitate not. I am a weapon built to destroy thee. Iron-Blood Transformation!"— Coffin Princess Chaika

Intense Gamers Award: Hmmm... There were some shows with intense battles. No Game No Life in general. The duel between Shun and Sora in Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V. And just about anything in D-Frag and Gundam Build Fighters Try.

However, this award goes to...

Saki: The Nationals. I got goosebumps whenever mahjong powerhouses activate their abilities. Then there's the rise of Demon Eyes Saki...

Expressions Impressions Award: Expressive faces are a spice of anime. The one that especially used it's expressions well was...

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru. I just loved the faces the girls made during comedic moments. They also show nice emotion during calm and depressing moments. Their voices were also the right pitch for these moments to be so wonderful to see(especially Fuu. Happy Fuu. Hammy Fuu. Joker Fuu.) Which is why YuYuYu also wins the Perfect Pitch Award. The voice cast was just right.

Sweet Kiss Award: Obviously Sakura Trick! More kisses than a lot of anime.

Bloodthirsty Award: The mascots of Amagi Brilliant Park, Momoka Sonokawa from Sabagebu, or Fredrica from Chaika the Coffin Princess. I say...

Momoka Sonokawa from Sabagebu!. Her comedic brand of vengeance and apathy is unmatched. Well, Fredrica comes close, but the show went out of its way to hinder her 95% of the time...

Happy Harem Award: It has remained unchanged ever since I said it on that thread.

Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara. The energy and zeal put into rallying around Souta felt impressive to me. And they're just so...happy.

Friendly Harem Award: Why, it's none other than...

Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha. Everyone's relatively nice to one another. More so than some other harems.

Unimpressive Superpower Premise Award: *Sigh*. I wish it didn't come down to this, but...

Tokyo ESP. While I managed to watch everything and enjoyed some bits, I just felt that it got worse as it went on. It had superpowers! Superpowers! XEBEC... How could you make such a premise fail so badly!? Also wins the Worst Manga Adaptation Award.

Random Bouts of Laughter Award: Gundam: Reconguista in G. Really, the funniest Gundam I've seen.

Surprise Ending Song Award: Ping Pong: The Animation. It's so calm and nice, and I still think it's one of the best songs of the year.

Ending Song Fun-times Award: Gundam: Reconguista in G. The staff must have had a lot of fun with this one.

Show with the Best Ending Song Award: None other than...

selector infected WIXOSS. Realize and Undo are so good!

Finally(for now, anyway):

The Triad of Moving Moments: In no particular order...

• Inou-Battle: Hatoko's rant. One of the best performances by Saori Hayami ever.
• Sword Art Online II: Yuuki's farewell...
• Yuna Yuki is a Hero: Karin's shining moment.

edited 3rd Jan '15 6:56:48 PM by Diamite

Oh, right, I forgot her too.

The Worf Award: Fredrica of Coffin Princess Chaika. Okay, not exactly as the trope prescribes, but what we have here is a bloodthirsty dragon who's one of the most fearsome magical creatures out there. So what happens every time we need a fight with some tension? Take out Fredrica first. Every single time. I've not seen someone get skewered/maimed/perforated/killed so consistently since Kenny.

Going to add one more.

Hardest Adaptation Done Well: Madan No Ou To Vanadis. There's a truckload of exposition regarding armies, strategy, and various other political issues that's plain needed to understand the plot, and that's not something that's easily handled in an anime, especially if you want entertainment value from action and character interaction/development. Yet, the show crammed the necessary information into small planning sessions and illustrative troop-movement graphics to the point there were surprisingly little confusion about what was going on, as well as giving much more weight than usual to the common troops, compared to the heroes. And this while still keeping the characters, action, and plot interesting. A job well done.

edited 3rd Jan '15 9:59:59 AM by AnotherDuck

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This are some of the awards in my arbitrarily created categories. I'll add later.

Anime of the year: Fate Stay night. Easily. This year it just wasn't a fair fight.

Best fight of the season: Saber vs Berserk. Holy shit, Ufotable outdid themselves.

Worst Adaptation: Mahou Sensou, it's like they brought a hacksaw to the source material.

Best Manga adaptation: Nisekoi not only managed to convey the charm of the manga and all it's strong points but SHAFT even managed to incorporate it's signature style into it flawlessly. Big applause.

Most original premise: Amagi Brilliant Park. I don't think something like that was done before.

Best Twist Ending: Akame Ga Kiru for killing Tatsumi, the main character. That took balls.

Worst Twist Ending: Nobunaga The Fool for... well I'm still not sure what happened there but it was stupid.

Salvaged the unsalvageable premise: Onee-chan ga Kita managed to take the incest-based premise and make it funny instead of cringe worthy. Big kudos for that.

Biggest disappointment: No Game No Life. What could be very interesting about games and using your brain was instead and obnoxious, NEET's wish fulfillment courtesy of the infallible Gary Stu protagonists and games with nonsensical and vague rules.

Best Short Format Series: Tonari no Seki-kun - a simple, yet powerful concept that it explores for both comedy and some drama. One of the best short series I can think of actually. - - Copied from kiukiuclk because he hit the nail on the head.

Most straightforward: Momokyun Sword is as basic and straightforward action/fantasy/comedy as you can get. You won't get surprised by anything but it's enjoyable nevertheless.

The Blandest Award: Seirei Tsukai No Blade Dance is all the bad LN cliches put together and left to fester. It can't be even assed to be bad in an original way.

Most Self aware anime: Inou Battle Wa Nichijoukei No Naka De" this show knows exactly what's it's making fun off, and does it in nice, affectionate manner.

Wackiest Comedy: D-frag. You'll never guess where the jokes are going and it's glorious.

Most funny jokes per episode: Seitokai Yakuindomo＊. This show never let's go even for a minute.

Best Mundane made awesome anime: Rail Wars. Because trains are awesome!

Best Slice of Life: Mikakunin de Shinkoukei. A really, really cute series.

Better Than Expected Award: Super Sonico was the most pleasant suprise of the year.

Best Harem anime:... Well shit, this one's hard. This is a tie between Nisekoi and Trinity Seven for me.

Best Adventure anime: Another tie, between Madan No Ou To Vanadis and Hitsugi No Chaika. Both were excellent and a proof that LN adaptations don't have to be shit.

What were they thinking award: Saikin Imouto No Yousu Ga Chotto Okashiinda Ga has all the stupidity a cringe factor of a hentai withouth any actuall pay off. I'm still suprised someone green-lighted that.

edited 4th Jan '15 3:21:25 AM by Shlugo_the_great

Have some more!

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Contagious Ending Song Award: ''Witchcraft Works. So catchy and awesome.

Awesome Miniboss Crew Award: Team Tanpopo from Witchcraft Works. Tanpopo and pals were so ineffective, yet it's their ineffectiveness that makes them awesome. And funny, let me not forget that.

Colorful Award: Once again, Witchcraft Works. Honorable mentions to No Game No Life, Hanayamata and YuYuYu, especially the Jukai. Wonderfully colorful.

The Award Worthy of Genius: Who else but Tensai from Nanana's Buried Treasure. Her genius is next to none.

I'm the Cutest Award: Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?. Girlfriend (BETA) is second.

Most Unique Crossdresser Award: Daruku, Tensai's maid, from Nanana's Buried Treasure. I haven't seen a dark-skinned crossdresser before, and he's pretty convincing.

Trivia Trooper Award: Rail Wars, with Yama no Susume 2 in second place.

Grandmaster Snark Award: Shougo from One Week Friends. He's not one to mince words.

The Glasses Douche Award: In a year filled with a ton of jerks who happened to be wearing glasses, one stood out. One dared to be different. He is...

Doctor Natsuiri from M3: That Black Metal! Oooh, he was quite the jerk. A jerk who was pivotal in the making of this story, a jerk with points, a jerk with a good plan but a horrific execution... Yep, no other Glasses Douche this year could ever hope to match his brilliance in being a jerk.

edited 3rd Jan '15 8:21:43 PM by Diamite

• Best Girl Award:Shichimiya Satone, for ALL THE HUGS. Asuna loses this year for not being proactive enough with Kirito. Speaking of hugs...
• Best Intimacy Award:Sword Art Online, for Yuuki and Asuna's relationship, although it's simultaneously disappointing in that the same show really, really downplays the relationship that's supposed to be the most prominent.
• Best Comedy:Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun, hands down. I would say Date A Live instead, but the anime makes it a lot less hilarious by excluding too many details. Speaking of which...
• Most Obviously Rushed Adaptation:Date A Live II, which also wins the most disappointing art award. Ore Twintail Ni Narimasu may have it worse, but the way DALII tries to be simultaneously more faithful to the original material also screws it over.
• Most Diappointing Comedy:Ore Twintail Ni Narimasu, mainly due to the masochist taking up too much screentime and Drag Guildy not being around to make it THE BEST one.
• Best Harem:Also Date A Live II. Not because of who the characters are(I don't like most of them), but because of their relateable(to me anyway, other than Mana's) relationships along with the antics that result, as well as it being Wish-Fulfillment in that these relationships do not lead to tragedy because of the main character.
• Best Fight Scenes:Akuma No Riddle. FSN may have more flash, but there's something strangely more substantial behind the ones done here. I think I heard people mention that it uses real knife techniques or something? I'm not normally one for realism enhancing the show that much more, but it's fairly rare to have fight choreography fashioned in such a way, so it earns novelty points.
• Best BGM:Cross Ange, even without me having any narrative background for me to associate it with. Sword Art Online II has a few songs I like more, but Cross Ange gets all of them done right outside of their situational purpose. Date A Live II also had some nice ones, but again, overall quality.
• Best Death Award:Akame ga Kill!, episode 24. And, by extension,
• Best Villain Award:Esdeath of Akame Ga Kill!, the only show that has ever made me care so much about an evil character, because of her innocent heart and soothing enthusiasm.
• Most Disappointing Setting Award:Is The Order A Rabbit? for not actually being at a rabbit cafe. Akame Ga Kill also comes close for basically making where they live perfect for being Monster Hunter and then trying to be actually serious and political about crap.
• Worst Fight Award:Episode 14 of Sword Art Online II, purely because I hate watching Kirito be incompetent in grave situations, although in this case it really has more to do with who he's incompetent in comparison to. Not that this will stop anyone from saying he never loses ever no matter what and that he's the most overpowered person in the entire universe.
• Why Did I Even Stop Watching This Award:Log Horizon 2. I mean, there's a lot of shows that I ditch mid-way, but I can't even tell what makes this one so unengaging in comparison to the other ones, and its best point, the world building, feels underwhelming (at least as far as I've seen before unconsciously stopping.)
• Anime of the Year:The one that's most likely to start a flame war and aggravate my misanthropy as a direct result.

I'd include Best Food and Best Backgrounds if I had a better memory.

But anyway, geez, and I thought I watched too much anime. How do you guys find the time for all that?

edited 3rd Jan '15 6:18:30 PM by YuukiAsuna

MMORPGs are serious business.

Keiichi Satou Memorial Award for Best Bromance

Kaisar and Favaro, Rage of Bahamut. Because it had a really nice development over Bahamut's 12 episodes.

Logograph's a Rotten Dirty Fujoshi Award for Yaoi Ship 2014

I'm really tempted to give this award to Masayoshi and Goto from Flamenco, but it's way too blatant for me to enjoy the subtext. I'd also love to give this award to Hak and Ki-Ja (or is it Kija? Or Gija?) from Yona of the Dawn. But since it's not over yet, I can't give it to them. So, I'm settling on, once again, Kaisar and Favaro.

Logograph's a Fetishistic Weirdo Pervert Award for Yuri Ship 2014

I really have not a whole lot to back up this ship (or maybe I do), but Ryuko x Mako from Kill la Kill takes the cake for my favorite yuri ship 2014. I guess I just like the character dynamics of the two.

Tsukune Aono Award for Best (and by best I mean craziest) Harem

Nagate Tanikaze's harem include: a genius girl, a third gendered person (who manages to be best girl despite not being a girl), clones, an immortal ship captain, a bear. Automatic win.

edited 3rd Jan '15 6:28:58 PM by Logograph

Okay some more.

Best Battle Couple: Koujou and Yukina from Strike The Blood for fighting as a pair all the way through the anime.

Most Realistic Romance: Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou is way more honest about ups and downs of young love than most anime.

What is actually going on award: Blade And Soul for never explaining anything about what's going on.

@ Duck Oops, sorry! I always mix you and Handle up for some reason. I also agree that Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha could have used more episodes. I've seen some LN spoilers and wow, the situation is more epic in scale than I thought.

Fredrica also wins the Most GIF-able Character award, now that you mention it.

@ kiukiuclk and Diamite Going to agree on Tonari no Seki being the Best Short Format Series.

@ Shlugo Agreed on Nisekoi for Best Manga Adaptation. And Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance being utterly generic crap.

@ Yuuki Asuna I would also like to give Shichimiya Satone the Saddest Heartbreak award. Kyo Ani knows how to depict a pining romantic.

@ Logograph Oh yeah, {{Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis}} definitely gets Best Bromance. Screw {{Free!}}.

---

Date A Live seems to get a lot of love around these parts, is the source material that good?

---

I seem to have missed some 2014 anime? Should have had an award for Strike the Blood somehow. Oh well.

Meh, I completely forgot that Seitokai Yakuindomo had a season last year. I misplaced it to just before the year. And it even if it had an OVA as late as December. As I said, comedies don't stand out to me. Guess I proved myself right. Pretty much have to add this one to my long list. Definitely Best Comedy. Almost never ceases to be funny.

Derp Award: Another Duck.

For Best Short, I would've given that to my pick for Best Yuri, and I thought it was a little redundant. Could mention it, though. I didn't at all like the pacing of Tonari no Seki-kun anime. It could've been done shorter.

I almost forgot the ending to Witchcraft Works. And by that I mean I forgot how it went until a few moments ago. Good and catchy, but not great.

All of the hugs to Shichi.

Definitely agree that Asuna and Kirito have a good relationship, but as mentioned, it was so underplayed and out of focus. Shame, since when the season began I thought them actually being a couple rather in a Will They Wont They type of deal be very refreshing.

I had Strike The Blood struck from the list, since I had it on previous year. Maybe that was a mistake, maybe not. Great anime, nonetheless.

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I'd like to make an addition to the Trivia Trooper Award. Actually, Hi sCoool SeHa Girls is second best, while Yama no Susume 2's third.

Yeah, Satone's a pretty cool girl. Her spunky personality, her romantic trials... Mmm, she's the Best Romantic Love-Interest.

Most Adorkable: Rurumo. She trips a lot, and she's a slow learner. Doesn't stop her from being earnest in things outside of her craft. And she's adorable.

Most Soul-Crushing Episode: Magimoji Rurumo Episode 6. Its pet adoption episode was quite effective compared to other pet adoption episodes. ...I've never felt a tinge of sadness after watching them, at least...

Atmosphere Master Award: Mushishi. The scenery's simply amazing and breathtaking...

Awesome Outfits Award: Nobunaga the Fool. That show had a lot of cool clothes. Especially Da Vinci's. Oh, Da Vinci also wins the Most Awesome Dude Award. From the beginning of the show, to how he exited the stage(especially how he exited the stage), he was just a fun guy.

Most Pathetic Character Award: Gekkou from Magical Warfare, or Mika Shimotsuki from Psycho-Pass 2...

...You know what? Both of them win. Gekkou's extreme pettiness and Mika's general incompetence irritated me way more than any other.

edited 4th Jan '15 9:51:58 AM by Diamite

Nobunaga The Fool had this weird thing where it made all the clothes look like liquid plastic.

But I did love Caesar's design.

MMORPGs are serious business.

Miaka Yuki Award for Worst Character

There were many shitty characters this year, but none more than Headphones Girl (that's how little I cared for that character) from Sora no Method was one of the worst characters I've ever seen in a while. The thing is, she was supposed to come off as someone who doesn't go near others for fear of getting hurt. The impression I got, however, was that of a self-centered stuck-up asshole with no empathy for others. (The entire cast has this problem, really).

Shu Ouma Award for Escaping My Hate Via Ridiculous Amounts of Misery

Mika Shimotsuki was technically a bad character, but by the end she went through so much shit at the hands of Tougane adn Sybil I can't help but feel sorry for her.

Dokuri-chan Award for Most Hilariously Offensive Character

The thing with Inugami is that by all objective measures, I should hate this character. Her fetishistic, stalker obsession with Kohina is, by all means, morally appalling. Her behavior should also be grating. Her cheapening of moments that could've been emotional moments should be enraging me. Generally speaking, everything about her should've pissed me off.

But then she goes into a long-winded, heart-felt and simply epic rant about how much she suffering while she was a dog and how much she literally hates everything that is not Kohina and then announce her intention to bang Kohina (who is, by the way, like 10 years old), and when rejected, turn into a woman and offer the Yuri route and why am I laughing so hard goddammit my coffee just went through my nose.

Sounds realistic to me.

MMORPGs are serious business.