Because you love lists and retrospectives.

Top 9 Bestest Animes of the Fall 2012 Anime Season

Every now and then there comes about an anime season that airs in the fall of 2012.

This is that then. …and that now.

 

 

9. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

So we’re gonna act like threatening to rape someone makes them the ideal romantic partner if the person making the threat is smart and hot, right?

Okay, just wanted to clear that up before I launched into the enjoyable parts of the show.

 

Yep, the enjoyable parts…

 

Hold on, they’re around here somewhere…

 

…

 

Hm.

 

Just gotta keep looking, I guess. I’m 12 episodes in and I haven’t found them yet, but I’m sure I will.

Consider this rank a placeholder in the interim. I mean, there’s gotta be a reason everyone likes this show so fucking much, right?

 

 

8. Ixion Saga DT

If you like seeing guys get kicked in the nuts, you’re gonna love this show. If not, avoid. Me, I’m quite partial to this sort of highbrow comedy.

I’d like to say more, but that’s really all there is to the show.

Anime!

 

 

7. Teekyu

A laugh a minute for a two-minute show is still pretty good.

The comedy comes from the show being intentionally ADHD, which is because it only has a minute-thirty of actual content per episode and it wants to get as much in there as it can.

It’s some crazy shit, but I fucking like it because I can’t pay attention to

You can finish the entire series off in 20 minutes with your brain completely turned off. That’s not a diss, though. Unlike every other super short anime out there, there is value in watching this besides just padding out your MAL “animes seen” score.

It’s genuinely entertaining and that’s why it gets my seven spot.

 

 

6. Kamisama Hajimemashita

A legitimately good shoujo? Oh Japan, you did get me what I wanted for Christmas!

Shoujos are generally built on the strengths of the main characters’ relationships and that (usually) requires good characters that you wanna root for.

Speaking of~ Tomoe and Nanami: best couple.

Wait a sec…

Fuck!

I’ve fallen into the trap that all shoujos lay: it’s impossible to praise them without turning the praise into a fucking tumblr page. All right, let’s fix that.

 

 

6. Kamisama Hajimemashita (for realzz this time)

So this cock-conquering lass is Nanami Momozono. A woman on a mission to get more balls under her control than a Pokemon master.

By the end of this season, Nanami has three sluts lined up, all begging for her to peg them like a goddamn Battleship board.

But this lady deity ain’t got time for that shit.

She’s too goddamn busy being a goddamn god to care about having some meat for supper. And as she gets more humans and demons to pray for her protection, she becomes stronger and stronger, steadily increasing her harem size.

Cuz that’s just how she fucking rolls.

And that’s pretty much it. Kamisama is a slice-of-badass-life anime which is why it’s #6 on my list.

 

 

5. Psycho-Pass

It’s all about that cour-1 conclusion.

Fucking top-tier.

…Wait, am I supposed to be convincing people who haven’t seen the show that it’s supposed to be good? Is that the objective of these top-X lists? I always thought they were just literary masturbation of the lowest form.

But fine. It’s good. If you aren’t convinced by that explanation, that would be a shame. Cuz you’re probably missing out on something enjoyable. Probably~

 

 

4. Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai!

Chuu2 doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a disapproving glance at the concept of “growing up”? Is it a subtle dig at its fanbase of otatard manchildren who are stuck in a Peter Pan fantasy land?

Whatever it is, it’s entertaining.

Excellent visuals, generally enjoyable character interactions, and instances of high-quality comedy and drama underscore just why this anime is so goddamn popular.

But unfortunately, Chuu2 has issues deciding what it wants to say. And it’s this confusion of purpose that prevents Chuu2 from really… saying anything at all.

 

…Wait, I can’t end it there? But… that was such a great stopping point! Aww fuck, you’re right. I forgot about the Chuu2 hXc fans that will be reading this.

 

Okay, let me fucking explain why “purpose” is important for an anime. Even the most vapid shows say something, even if that something is nothing. Too hard? Fine, lemme examplify this shit with some other high school comedies.

Azumanga Daioh has no real plot, but at least it has a description: it’s a charming high school comedy focused on a group of schoolgirls. That’s what it’s about.

FLCL is a lolrandombanzai darling of 30-year-olds the world over and they will swear to their graves that it’s “a super fucking deep coming-of-age story”. If you believe them, that’s what FLCL stands for.

(Go ahead and vomit:)

 

Point is that with most anime, you can at least pick out something about what its overall message is, even if it’s not a particularly intelligent one. Chuu2 doesn’t really have a cohesive message though, and that’s its main problem.

(This is your cue to tell me I “don’t get it”. Entertain me.)

 

 

3. Jormungand – Perfect Order

If the first season was a pointed attempt at being a boring Black Lagoon, then the second season shows exactly why that was such a great decision.

Building off what season 1 started, we start to see how well the cast fits together and exactly what elements make up the world of Jormungand that Koko and her merry band live in. There are significant character developments and the plot starts ratcheting toward its conclusion at a breakneck pace. And it feels right.

Though the final episode has yet to air, with the way Jormungand has been reinforcing its characters, any goddamn thing could happen and it wouldn’t affect the core quality of the show. Many anime live and die by their endings, but Jormungand is so good at its core that it doesn’t fucking matter what happens. It’s so sure of itself — so filled with purpose — that the final episode could be a moe high school girl comedy and it would fit in perfectly.

Taking the first season into consideration, Jormungand is a very slow burn, but Perfect Order reflects its name accurately.

 

 

2. Shinsekai Yori

If you want to see world-building done right, this is a great example. Shinsekai is part of what I’d call the “broken utopia” genre. Much like Psycho-Pass, society in Shinsekai is organized around a central tenet. In Psycho-Pass it was “objective justice”, and in Shinsekai it’s “threat prevention”. Shinsekai is told from the perspective of adolescents who have to deal with the dangers their own society presents, moreso than anything else.

Shows like Shinsekai live and die by their plots and world development, and Shinsekai ain’t got nothing but life in it. There aren’t many series that are filled with the creativity and thought put into Shinsekai, and that’s reason enough for anyone to give the series a shot. Each episode builds on the last, presenting a very intriguing and interwoven plot.

Going on and on about why Shinsekai is good would only be doing the show an injustice — it represents itself well enough (except for the animation though, cuz they cut the budget after the first few episodes).

It’s not your typical anime, and that means a lot of people won’t enjoy it (for valid reasons), but if you can stay on the ride you’ll find yourself being whisked away on a trip well worth the fare.

 

Now, Shinsekai is a fantastic anime, but there’s only one other anime this season that can top it, and I’m sure you’ve already guessed what it is.

 

 

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