As in years past, I have compiled my end of the year selections for my five favorite anime that I viewed in 2014. Not all of these anime were in fact released during 2014, though each was released and aired within the past couple of years, and a few of these saw a run that carried on through 2014. As with my top ten video game selections of the year, my rankings for these five best-of-the-best anime bears little correlation to the ratings I gave to each in my full review posts - rather, they are the five anime that I enjoyed most, and the five which left some noteworthy impact on me as a viewer.
#5)
Knights of Sidonia: Offering a more gritty and dire take on the mecha genre
than many of its bigger-name contemporaries, Knights of Sidonia knows how to
get from point A to point B in a timely manner, while still exploring enough
individual stories that branch out from the core plot. The scientific advancements made since
mankind took refuge among the stars are curious and compelling, if not mildly
inconsistent, but the way in which these play off the otherwise outdated tech
and cramped living conditions for what are, in all likelihood, the last
remaining humans, does well to balance the thriller, drama, adventure, and
classic science fiction components. If
only the basic motions of the main cast members’ character models looked half
as good as the Garde Unit mechs did when battling the parasitic and
ever-adaptive Gauna, this series might have ranked a bit higher on this list.
#4)
From the New World: Often times, the whole ‘post-apocalyptic’ subgenre gets
stuck in a routine of desolate worlds decorated with litter more than
ruins. How much a breath of fresh air,
then, was From the New World, which depicted not only a prospering society, but
one which had performed an odd return to ancient technologies and
lifestyle. The strict, often shady rules
of this future-past culture incorporate dystopian themes, while the science of
the world is largely centered around the esper humans reserving their powers
for practical uses that will better the whole community. From the New World is very smart in its
scripting, even though the emphasis on certain plot points might not make their
importance known until many episodes later.
Other contemporary science fiction and fantasy anime would do well to
learn a thing or two from this series’ careful planning.
#3)
Puella Magi Madoka Magica: I admit, I was quite skeptical going into this
series. A number of people had talked it
up as being a real game-changer for the magical girl genre – a genre that I was
not particularly fond of – but Madoka Magica is much more than that. Its twelve episode run delivered just the
right number of twists and turns to keep me hooked from start to finish, and
was fueled by some of the most genuine and raw emotion I’ve encountered in an
anime yet. It’s a dark and depressing
tale, but in a similar fashion to Evangelion, it is multi-layered in its
themes, yet ever-mindful of tying the narrative threads together for an
impactful endgame. Sometimes the saddest
stories deliver the best development for both plot and character, as evidenced
by Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
#2)
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders: While the first season adapted
the first two parts of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga impeccably well, they
were, to a certain degree, always serving to set up the most popular Jojo’s
story arc, Stardust Crusaders. It’s no
surprise why Stardust Crusaders has been so well-received since its debut
twenty-five years ago – the cast of Jotaro, old man Joseph, Avdol, Kakyoin, and
Polnareff makes for quite a raucous crew.
Regardless of how dire the circumstances or rotten the foe, Jotaro and
company always manage to turn the situation back to their favor, with plenty of
intense action and hilarious shenanigans along the way. The Stardust Crusaders arc masterfully
handles just what a long-running action series should be about – having fun,
balancing the action and comedy, and knowing how to properly pace the story for
fans new and old.
#1)
Mobile Suit Unicorn Gundam: Unicorn Gundam is both a return to form and a push
forth into bold new territory for Bandai and Sunrise’s long-running
franchise. I’ve stated in the past that
I find the Gundam OVAs are typically among the most high-quality offerings from
the franchise, and Unicorn Gundam is unquestionably among the best Gundam
projects of all-time. It has a large
cast to juggle, and yet it handles each individual appropriately, shaping them
as pieces of a more complex puzzle over the course of its seven (approximately)
hour-long episodes. It’s a love letter
to Gundam fans new and old – one that is certainly among the most easily
accessible for new viewers who have little understanding of the chronology of
the Universal Century, but one that is also chock-full of references and ties
to previous Gundam works like Char’s Counterattack, ZZ, and the
original Mobile Suit Gundam that kicked off this definitive mecha franchise way
back in 1979.
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