With the end of the year come year-end lists, talk about favorite anime, favorite seasons, and the like. But, in all the flurry of closing out the old year and moving into the new, it can be easy to forget some of the smaller things that made the previous year what is was.
This post is dedicated to those small things. The individual efforts, the little pieces of goodness, the solitary shining spots.
These are TV Anime 2015’s best moments…
Aoi Miyamori Appreciation Paragraphs
In a year where I once again found many new anime characters to love and revisited man old favorites, one young woman—courageous, dedicated, hard-working—who stood above nearly all of them: Shirobako‘s Aoi Miyamori. I don’t really relate with Aoi all that much. My job is nowhere near as stressful as hers is, I don’t work in a field even remotely similar to hers, and my coworkers are all exceedingly competent and capable. But that doesn’t matter. I still love everything about Aoi Miyamori. I admire how she struggles against exhaustion, frustration, and worries over the future—and still gets her job done. I’m as dazzled by her amazing fashion sense as I am by her weaknesses and immeasurable strengths.
Some people have told me Aoi doesn’t have time for a boyfriend in her busy life. That’s fine. If all I can do for her is make her lunch and dinner and give her hugs to help her be less stressed, that’s good enough. (Disclaimer: yes, I realize Aoi Miyamori is a fictional character, let me dream of being a nice waifu for her, okay?)
Studio 8-Bit EDs
The very sensation of looking back at a studio’s yearly output and thinking, “You know what 8-Bit did well? They had a lot of really great ED sequences,” is a rather odd one. But it’s true! The two Studio 8-Bit shows I watched this year, Absolute Duo and Comet Lucifer, each had multiple EDs—and all of them were varying levels of good to great. From Absolute Duo:
- “Believe x Believe,” ethereal and lovely. Beautiful visuals.
- “Apple Tea no Aji,” bouncy, cute, and fun. Apple rabbits!
- “2/2,” (NSFW) nicely directed, some unique instrumentation.
And from Comet Lucifer:
- “Oshiete Blue Sky,” reminiscent of “Apple Tea no Aji.
- “Hadashi no Mama demo Kowakuni,” scrolls are fun!
- “Hito Tsuninaritai,” featuring Orange’s cool CG work.
It’s not a coincidence, by the way. Atsushi Nakayama directed both productions, and was the Unit Director for the EDs of Absolute Duo. So, good going, Nakayama. This is a cool thing you’ve got going. (By the way, the show’s first promotional MV is awesome, too.)
Michiru Oshima and Masahiro Ando Make Beautiful Music Together (Again)
The first season of Akagami no Shirayuki-hime saw composer Michiru Oshima and director Masahiro Ando reunited for the first time since their phenomenal joint effort on 2012’s Blast of Tempest, and somehow their work together this time was even more magical. Many good anime soundtracks are good just because they work well within the context of the show or because they have some standout songs. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime‘s OST is not like that. Oshima’s score is comprehensively brilliant and, guided by Ando and sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (who served in the same role for Tempest), becomes an marvelously essential piece of the show’s success.
The music swells at the perfect moments. The backing tracks create impossibly resonant moments between music and scene. Just as some visionary directors have that ability to make their direction a noticeable part of their storytelling without it being a distraction, Ando, Oshima, and Wakabayashi have elevated the musical element of Shirayuki-hime without it ever taking over the show to the point of imbalance. It’s marvelous.
BONES Revives Good Male Protagonists
Everyone knows that male protagonists in anime are kind of a crapshoot, especially as of late. Even the ones that manage to keep their heads above the most intolerable level of magical high school genericism are often crowded out by far more compelling, engaging, and generally likable female characters. So, for a couple of male anime protagonists to come out of this year, not also as best of their respective class, but also as some of the best characters of the year is stunning. The fact that they’ve both come from shows produced by the same studio, even more so. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Leonardo Watch of Blood Blockade Battlefront and Jiro Hitoyoshi of Concrete Revolutio, both of whom have fascinating, emotional personal arcs within shows that allow them to really bloom. These guys aren’t just lynchpins of their respective shows; they’re quality characters in their own right. Leo often rides along on his everyman charm (and his interrogation of the “nice guy” trope), while Jiro’s idealism and fortitude make him a fantastic tragic hero.
Now, I know crediting BONES for these two guys isn’t quite proper (good job, Nightow, Aikawa), but I just cannot avoid the fact that this studio—however it happens—continues to produce characters and shows that I adore. It’s just how things seem to go. So, for today, send some love to the management of Studio BONES, to their producers, and to all the people who continue allow this studio to be one of the shining lights of modern anime through acquisition of good IPs. You guys rock. And thanks for giving us two of the best male anime protagonists of the year.
The One Show I Swear I’ll Come Back to
It’s Wish Upon the Pleiades! A show I started, dropped, tried again, and dropped again, Pleiades hasn’t exactly had the best viewing record with me. Why do I want to come back to it, even so? Even having heard from many people who have completed it that it’s not really a standout show, as a genre piece or otherwise? Because it was pretty. Because of space. Because of the cute character designs. Because I decided I wanted to watch it. When? I don’t know? In what fashion? I don’t know. But I’m making a promise to you right now, 2015 Gainax car-commerical anime—I will return for you.
Mari Okada “Destroys” Gundam
https://twitter.com/iblessall/status/621163184657805312
https://twitter.com/iblessall/status/679096730025984001
https://twitter.com/iblessall/status/679097218620522497
Wataru Uekusa Makes the Best ED of the Year
As you might note from my avatar and (if you’ve heard me talk about it before) my love of Japanese kawaii music band Karasu wa Masshiro’s MVs, I’m kind of a bit fan of director Wataru Uekusa’s work. He’s got an incredibly distinctive design and animation style, as well as kind of a trademark type of thing he likes to make. All of those strengths came together along with idol group Ayumikurikamaki’s “Honey Honey Honey” to put together what was the best ED sequence of the entire year. Best song. Best visuals. End of story. Go home, you “Sugar Song to Bitter Step” mainstream plebs.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m8ofb_punchline-ed_music
Nyarko and Mahiro Finally Kiss
Okay, so this one isn’t technically a TV anime on its own—but it’s the finale to a TV series, so I’m counting it. Haiyore! Nyarko-san has been one of my favorite anime for along time, and this year finally saw the release of the OVA that brought the show’s two seasons to a close. Sure, it was somewhat non-committal, but with Nyarko-san F giving us a Mahiro-Nyarko kiss both in a dream and as real canon, I’m not complaining one bit. Frankly, an actual, generally satisfying conclusion like this was one thing I never had hung my hopes on to ever see, but here it is in the year 2015, folks. Dreams come true, after all.
The Year of Nao Touyama
Let’s start by making a quick list of good and important roles Nao Touyama voiced in 2015: Lelei la Lelena from GATE, a reprisal as Karen Kujo from Kiniro Mosaic, all of the Kongou sisters from KanColle, a reprisal Yui Yuigahama in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!, and another reprisal as best girl of best girls Chitoge Kirisaki from Nisekoi.
This is not the full extent of her activities, but despite that… this is an alarmingly good rate of voicing characters who are the best thing about their respective shows (in some cases, beating out some really solid competition). With my mainstay favorites Yui Horie and Kana Asumi generally sticking to side characters these days, it’s a joy to hear Nao Touyama’s lovely voice leading the way in these shows. While her genki roles are definitely her trademark, it’s been a pleasure to get to hear her show off other parts of her range with roles like Lelei and in scenes like the more dramatic moments of Oregairu.
Here’s hoping for much more Nao Touyama in 2016!
Push…and Push…and Push!!
Blood Blockade Battlefront‘s fifth episode was the single greatest episode of any anime—airing or not—that I watched this year. An explosion of ridiculous visuals, ridiculous music, and one hell of a vocal performance, the episode was like a reprise of Kyousougiga‘s episode 00, one of my all-time favorite episodes of any anime ever. Those are a lot of big superlatives to fling at an episode that was sound and fury and sound and fury, but all you really have to do is watch it and experience it for yourself. The glorious thundering of Aligura’s absurd vehicle. The high-pitched squeaks of Aligura herself. Leo’s hapless tumble through it all. The gut-bustingly funny tomato sequence. I cried watching this episode. Not because it moved me or anything like that, but because I was just so darn happy that something like it existed. I watched this episode on one of the worst days of my final semester of college, and let me tell you what—I felt ready to take on the world after it. “Hello, doumo, bokura wa koko,” indeed.
The Best Character in a Show I Disliked
Annnnnnd it’s Ezekiel from Junketsu no Maria (and not just because she was voiced by Kana Hanazawa). I had big problems with Maria, as some of you may remember. However, the biggest redemptive factor in the show (besides Maria’s pluck) was Ezekiel’s character. Putting aside the fact that she was supposed to be an angel of the heavens, Ezekiel wound up being Maria‘s truest exemplar of what real Christianity looks like. As she actually experiences the reality of Maria’s existence, as she enters in with Maria and walks beside her through her life, Ezekiel starts to put aside her certainty in dogma and learns to see and understand Maria where Maria is at. It’s a beautiful example of learned empathy, and yet despite that Ezekiel never entirely justifies Maria. She simply acknowledges Maria’s perspective as a valid one.
I’ve got assorted kinds of issues with how things ended up with Ezekiel, but nothing is ever going to take away her standing between the well-intentioned, naive Maria and cold justice from the heavens. It may not have been the real Christian God that Maria showed, but we caught a glimpse of that reality through Ezekiel. I’m grateful.
Sakuga Shout-Out(s)
2015 was the year I really started to appreciate sakuga (that is, “good animation,” for lack of a better definition). While I’m still certainly in the earlier phases of this growing interest, I feel I’ve learned enough to be able to say point out some of my favorite cuts of the year:
- After showing up in a few different place in 2014, Ryouma Ebata basically disappeared during 2015 (presumably for Dimension W‘s pre-production), but he still managed to put out a beautiful effort for Absolute Duo‘s OP.
- Highlighting Yutaka Nakamura’s work feels a bit cheap, but his efforts on Blood Blockade Battlefront and Concrete Revolutio are things I’m seriously happy wound up in some of my favorite shows of the year.
- More BONES. Show by Rock!! was a show I dropped, but eventually came back to. And I’m thankful I did, because it meant I got to see Yoshimichi Kameda’s cool-as-heck cut of Grateful King’s entrance.
- Takahiro Shikama’s Nakamura-homage fight in the second half of Garo wound up being my favorite fight scene of the entire 2015 year. It’s a phenomenal bit of animation, but it also carries the emotional weight of the few preceding episodes in a way most fights could only dream of.
- Sadly, no one’s been able to source this final cut to a specific animator, which comes from Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic. It’s proof that sakuga doesn’t have to be serious. It can be silly and fun, too!
Even more than normal, I’m curious what you guys might have in your back pockets on this topic! Take some time to share some of your own favorite moments/characters/scenes/episodes or whatever from this past year in anime—no full shows allowed!
Mage in a Barrel 
Mari Okada was the director of your number one favorite show of all time, remember that!!
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Actually, she was in charge of series composition (writing) for Blast of Tempest. It was directed by Masahiro Ando.
And everything I wrote here about Okada is very tongue-in-cheek. I love her work & think she’s doing a solid job with Gundam!
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Favorite moment from this year’s anime has got to be Yui + Hikki’s scene in Episode 4 of Oregairu S2. I remember reading the scene in the light novel and not thinking too much of it, but the adaptation did an absolutely fantastic job displaying Yui’s selfless yet selfish desire, Hikki’s understanding and confusion, and the underlying romantic tension. Nao Touyama’s voice acting, the music, and the lighting and colors also complemented and enhanced the scene, making it my favorite and most memorable scene of 2015.
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Ah, man, there are really a ton of scene out of Oregairu S2 that could qualify on these terms, but yeah… Yui scenes, especially this one, are hard to get over. ^_^”
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Great stuff, love the Okada tweets in particular xD Some from me:
-Decim cracking a beautiful smile in my favorite finale of the year
-“They look like normal people in love” – from episode 9B of Osomatsu-san, a brilliant episode with a cracker of lightning fast slapstick sequence, effortless swings from ‘hilarious’ to ‘heartbreaking’, and one hell of a train station scene. Painful, but also extraordinarily kind.
-“Senpai, there’s no one here.” – Gakkou Gurashi playing around with dissonance and sudden tonal shift, producing the best audio moment of the year.
-Ema cuts down her former lover to cap off a breathtaking aerial dogfight – People could rave about OPM fireworks all they want, but I’ll take Garo’s fight scenes choreography over it. Also, just a really good second cour in general.
-Miyuki Sawashiro delivering a virtuoso, one-woman show, performance as the dry and amusing as hell Wakako.
-Takeo Gouda and Makoto Sunakawa, looking after each other. Also, all those rejections & dashed hope in the second cour of the series, and how the kids pick themselves up and continue to treat each other w/ kindness nevertheless.
-“It’s only you who I want to call me ‘Princess’. I want you to remember my father, to remember I am the Emperor’s daughter. Even if the entire country forgets, I don’t want you to forget” -from Akatsuki no Yona, a wonderful character-defining moment in a show full of memorable scenes.
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Haha glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for sharing some of yours! I had the good fortune to witness most of these myself, so it’s nice to get to relive them.
Cheers for the Garo and Gakkou Gurashi shoutouts—two standout moments in very solid shows.
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Voice act of the year must be Hirano Aya as Migi in Parasyte. Not only did she deliver a stellar performance as the slightly off-kilter alien; she made his development so gradual that didn’t notice while watching, but go back to the early episodes and the difference is plain as day.
This year was full of pleasant surprises: Rolling Girls, Junketsu no Maria, Show by Rock, Concrete Revolutio… all shows I either dismissed or missed outright. The most pleasant surprise goes to Hibike! Euphonium, though. After Hyouka, KyoAni hasn’t made a single anime I liked, and only one I didn’t dislike (Tamako Market). So not only did I dismiss the show, I was actively biased against it. And yet, here it was pushing through all my preconception and delivering one of the best, while simultaneously giving me hope that KyoAni isn’t quite dead yet (for me).
Also, the first half of the year I seemed to be out of tune with anime fandom like never before: For example, I loved Rolling Girls (to the extent that it’s probably my favourite of the year), I wasn’t that impressed with Death Parade (I could write pages on what’s wrong with the story; pity because the execution is stellar). I was especially out of touch when it came to romance, preferring Jitsu wa Watashi wa and Yamada + Witches to Oremonogatari and Shirayuki hime.
Kagewani deserves a prize for proving that you can make simple go a long way. (See the seasonal review thread.)
Shokugeki no Souma was excellent at making food look tasty, but it was the curry episode that left me lamenting the fact that the nearest good Indian restaurant is about 60 km away from where I live, and the nearest great Indian restaurant is even farther away… But, boy, did I want a good curry! (I’m not usually suceptible to that sort of suggestion.) [Aside: Megumi’s success at the autumn elections must have been one of the most satisfying “victories” of the year; sooooo heartwarming.]
Junketsu no Maria suprised me with its portrayal of war: chaotic and scary rather than epic tragedy.
There were lots of very good sequels, with Non Non Biyori being actually an improvement of a very good show. Working!!! delivered satisfying conclusions to serial jokes years in the making (watched Lord of the Takanashi yet?). Noragami went from excellent to merely great. There was a lot of Monogatari with me generally preferring the OVAs. Durarara goes back and forth between being decent and great. And Yuru Yuri would have been better if it hadn’t tried to be Yuru Yuri.
There were a surprising amount of ecchi shows I liked this year, with Shimoneta and Monster Musume taking the top spot, being good in part because of the ecchi elements rather than despite of them (as is usually the case). I’d add Shokugeki no Souma‘s foodgasms to that, too.
Overall, it was a pretty good year; there were lots of great shows, but nothing truly outstanding (the last one I can think of was Ping Pong last year). There were also a lot of middling, but entertaining shows, too. Sadly, it’s also the year I dropped my first PA Works show (Charlotte). Oh, PA Works, you had such a good record! Looking forward to the new anime year.
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Ah, I do remember hearing a ton of good things about Aya Hirano in Parasyte. Just wasn’t a show for me.
And yup, I have seen “Lord of the Takanashi” and enjoyed it a great deal. Working!!!‘s whole existence in the anime industry is something of a miracle, and a glad it was the show that it happened to.
On the whole, I’d almost agree with you in terms of nothing being truly outstanding—I think Concrete Revolutio fits that bill (although it’s still not done).
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Houkago no Pleiades was my Pet Show of the Year. Not good enough to be called great, but nowhere near bad enough for me to call it a “guilty pleasure.” As an anime fan it had a pleasant vibe to it and some of the best background artwork I saw all year, and as an astronomy nerd I loved the (mostly accurate) astronomical and astrophysics stuff it delved into. I expect to buy it if Sentai gives us a DVD release someday, and there weren’t many shows this year I could definitively say that about.
It’s funny you bring up Studio 8-Bit, because for my “nighttime relaxation” watching since I finished up Non Non Biyori, I’ve been re-watching Yama no Susume season 2. That was also an 8-Bit series (albeit a different creative team than AD or CL), and I’d forgotten just how much I enjoyed the openings and endings for that show too, especially the first opening and the second ending (which unfortunately they only used for three episodes before changing it again). But I really like how they’re not afraid to experiment with cut-and-paste and mixed media techniques, like in the third Comet Lucifer ED and both of these YnS clips.
Favorite OPs/EDs:
My favorite opening of the year was “Dream Solister” from Euphonium, but that’s the easy/safe choice. It’s KyoAni, you can usually count on them for good work. The one I really liked that was a little more non-traditional was “talking” from Perfect Insider – the dancing character sketches were a really clever creative concept and I liked the song too. Too bad it was the best part of the show.
On the flip side, I still maintain that Koufuku Graffiti‘s “Egao ni Naru” ( http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2g0mhk ) was the best ED of the year, and no one is going to convince me otherwise. I don’t care how many Punchlines, BBBs, or Gundams people throw at me…I will not be budged on that opinion. It’s cute girls and food with some creative visuals, a catchy song, and really nice animation. What more could I possibly ask for?
Favorite Characters:
Megumi Kato is the runaway winner here, as her totally ordinary “normal” character and razor-sharp wit were the perfect (and necessary) counterpoint to a cast that was otherwise full of loud, screen-hogging anime archetypes. Saekano was my second-favorite show of the year, but without her in the cast I probably would’ve dropped it after the first or second episode. She was the only character this year to claim a place on my MAL top ten characters list, and she probably won’t fall off that list anytime soon.
Reina was my favorite Euphonium character, and Kumiko wasn’t far behind. I thought both of them were exceptionally well-written and developed over the course of the series, but Reina was the one I related to more, as someone who clearly found it much easier to express her feelings through her music than in words.
My favorite thing about Food Wars was watching Megumi Tadokoro blossom, growing and changing from a girl at the start of the series who had lost all her confidence and was drowning under the pressure at hyper-competitive Totsuki, to someone who eventually finds her true strengths and is able to achieve success on her own terms with her own culinary style, even if that style goes completely against almost everything Totsuki stands for. It was a wonderful character arc to follow every week, and the series handled it pretty much perfectly.
My favorite male characters this year all somehow came from shows I still haven’t finished: Suna from Ore Monogatari, Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom, and Genos from One Punch Man.
Favorite scenes:
Euphonium: Reina’s trumpet solo (ep 3), Kaori giving up the solo role (ep 10), Kumiko shutting up her sister by admitting that she actually likes the Euphonium (don’t remember the episode), and of course the final concert, which was just a phenomenal piece of animation and performance.
Saekano: Aki and Kato’s trip to the mall together (ep 5), and Kato and Eriri’s scene at the end of ep 6, the first time in the series proper that Kato’s “nothing fazes me” mask slips and we get to see an uncontrolled emotional reaction from her. And pretty much every time Eriri calls Utaha by her full name.
Food Wars: Souma’s frustration after his and Megumi’s shokugeki against Shinomiya (ep 12), Megumi butchering a huge monkfish by herself (ep 21), and Aldini after his first battle with Souma in ep 9 dramatically promising, “We’ll meet again!,” immediately followed by a cut to the bus ride back to school where they’re stuck sitting next to each other.
Danmachi: The minotaur battle (ep 8), the group battle against the Goliath (ep 13), Lili’s tormenters getting their just desserts (think that was ep 7), and of course, moe toothbrushing.
Hacka Doll: Their client’s mother walking in at the wrong moment (ep 4), a timely donut delivery during the making of the “Kurobako” anime (ep 7), the ending of ep 11, and the Dragonball Z parody fight in the last episode.
Others: Takeo rescuing Yamato from the train molester (Ore Monogatari ep 1), the journey to Saturn (Houkago no Pleiades ep 5), Goodbye, Kisaragi (KanColle ep 3), and Okuda’s attempt to poison Koro-sensei (Assassination Classroom ep 5).
And my “great episode in a terrible show” award is shared by eps 11-13 of The Disappearance of Yuki Nagato, the one brief space of time when that series elevated from its usual doldrums into something that wasn’t just watchable but was actually legitimately good. I could see myself re-watching these three episodes (and the lead-in episode 10) in the future – the rest of the show I’d rather forget that I ever wasted my time on.
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Ooh, how could I forget Megumi Kato!!!
There’s quite a lot in your post that brings up fond memories. Heh.
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I am still kind of sad I was just an episode away from getting to the episode 10 lead in of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan; maybe I’ll go back and watch 10-13 someday (probalby not).
I will say, that while I am standing strong on my pick of ED of the year, I have listened to the Koufuku Graffiti ED on loop a few times…
I get the feeling I would have liked Kato a lot, but I found the rest of the show too insufferable, sadly. I also really like Eriri in the first episode, for what it’s worth.
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I’m glad someone else here praises Bones; people seem weirdly hesitant to mention them this year. I didn’t know that the composer for FMA did Shirayuki, but I do acknowledge the soundtrack there as great, though maybe not as good as Tempest’s or FMA’S. I feel that Bones best protagonist this year was Yato from Noragami, and he seems to have much more to him than those two you mentioned. Yui from SNAFU was absolutely better this year than in season 1, finally deserving to stand alongside Yukinoshita and Hachiman.
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As long as BONES continues to basically make only shows that I like (how long has it been since I watched something from them I didn’t like at all??), they’ll continue to be my favorite studio and I’ll continue to talk about them.
I think Tempest‘s OST is better musically than Shirayuki-hime‘s, but in my opinion Ando and Wakabayashi did an even better job of utilizing Oshima’s music in Shiryuki-hime than they did in Tempest. A matter of execution within the show, rather than strictly a statement on the music itself.
I think Yato definitely could have stood with Jiro and Leo had his show as a whole been strong, but I didn’t really feel we got to explore all the nuances of his character, sadly. Had we, though…he might have been here, too.
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Hibike! Euphonium was my abolsute favorite of 2015.
I really liked the Characters, especially Kumiko and Hazuki. Gladly, I ignored the “Yuri, Yuri” yells on forums and Twitter and thanks to this those 2 Scenes where Kumiko and Reina are climbing the Mountain and right before the Trumpet Solo Decision were some of my most loved Scenes of 2015.
Close 2nd would be Owarimonogatari, where the VAs did an outstanding Job.
Especially Sodachi where you could really feel her desperation, that gave me the chills. And the Shinobu x Kanbaru Dialogue was intense. Plus the OP for Shinobu Mail was probably the best of 2015.
3rd got to be Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry.
Liked the Animation and thank God it was not a Harem. The Ikki x Stella Relationship was good and made me start reading the LNs.
But there were a lot of good Shows too in 2015.
Koufuku Graffiti made me hungry all the time watching it.
Saekano was great, thanks to Kato.
Oregairu 2 was good too and my Favorite Character was Iroha.
Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo was my favorite romance Show.
Shimoneta and Gakkou Gurashi were Underdogs for me, but I loved them both. Shimoneta was funny as hell and I almost dropped Gakkou Gurashi after 10mins, but did make it to the end of ep1 and loved it (did not read a summary of the Show, so I was really surprised).
KanColle, K: Return of Kings and Plastic Memories were good Shows too.
Best ED for me was “Waiting for the rain” by Maaya Sakamoto from Gakusen toshi no Asterisk.
All in all 2015 was not a bad Year. It had some very good Shows.
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Well, you’re a new face around here! Welcome!
Always glad to hear what people favorite shows of the year were—I’ll hopefully have my own list out sometime this week!
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Thank you.
I am reading your Blog for about a Year now and finally decided to write some Comments here and on Twitter.
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🙂 That makes me happy. I will do my best to keep making stuff you enjoy reading!
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I’m glad to see Shirayuki-hime’s lovely OST get mentioned. From what I’ve seen, the show seems to have been mostly forgotten, which makes me a bit sad. It’s so pleasant to watch.
Regarding sakuga, how do you find out which animators did what cuts? I’m really curious about who did some One Punch Man scenes and what else they’ve done, but I’ve got no idea where to look it up.
And my favourite moments this year probably mostly came from Japan Animator Expo. Bubu and Bubulina was perfection. There was also Death Parade’s skating scene, the conversation between Reina and Kumiko during the festival which tugged at my heartstrings a lot, and Yuri Kuma Arashi’s fourth episode. All in all, a pretty good year.
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I haven’t forgotten it! Greatly looking forward to S2 in a few days!
There are two main places I go to source sakuga cuts: one is Twitter users (like @Yuyucow) who follow this kind of stuff, the other (and more frequently used one) is Sakugabooru, which is where all the cuts I linked are hosted. If you go to most cuts’ pages (like this one), you’ll see a list of tags on the left side of the screen. The animator is usually in yellow text (in this case, it’s Ikuo Kuwana).
Just search One Punch Man on the site’s search, and then look at the tags on individual cuts.
I could have made an entire post just about cool Animator Expo things. ^_^”
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Thanks! I’ll check out Sakugabooru.
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