Well, now that the global nightmare of 2016 is finally behind us, it’s time for me to look back and review the anime I watched.

Erased

僕だけがいない街

Erased started off well and kept me watching every week. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really left a lasting impression. It’s a little too straightforward for such an interesting premise.

Assassination Classroom 2nd Season

暗殺教室 第２期

Ever since the first season, I was hooked on this series, and the second season did not disappoint. There’s a few things I could criticise, but that would just be nitpicking. I enjoyed it enough to buy the manga, and it gets bonus points for introducing me to Great Teacher Onizuka.

Dagashi Kashi

だがしかし

A nice, relaxing series to look forward to every week. The only downside is that it doesn’t really have a lot of substance, which is not surprising, but it does leave you kind of unsatisfied when it’s over. Somewhat like cheap sweets…

Konosuba

この素晴らしい世界に祝福を!

Konosuba is stupid fun. There really isn’t any better way to describe it. Even the fanservice was dumb enough not to bother me. Well, except for that episode. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next season.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ダイヤモンドは砕けない

You either love JoJo, or you haven’t watched enough JoJo yet. Diamond is Unbreakable was just another fantastic chapter in Araki’s ongoing fever dream.

My Hero Academia

僕のヒーローアカデミア

So I’m not a huge fan of comic books, but I was willing to give Academia a shot anyway. In the end, it wasn’t bad at all, but it’s definitely not without its flaws. Hopefully the second season won’t have as many flashbacks and recaps.

Re:Zero

Re：ゼロから始める異世界生活

Let’s forget the hype for a minute (and the cynical, excessively long essays). This was a genuinely enjoyable series that wasn’t afraid to show its protagonist at his worst, and didn’t take any short cuts when redeeming him. I was hooked, and I’m ready for more. Also, Ram is better than Rem, fight me.

New Game!

This was required viewing, since I’m a game developer myself (though I’m a designer, not a character artist). It was a nice change of pace to watch something set in an office instead of high school, and it was the perfect way to relax after the more stressful episodes of Re:Zero.

Danganronpa 3

ダンガンロンパ3 -The End of 希望ヶ峰学園- 未来編/絶望編/希望編

There was a lot to like about Danganronpa 3. It managed to be a prequel and a sequel at the same time, it introduced a whole new cast of interesting characters and it even tied up all the loose ends. Sure, it can’t stand on its own, but it works well as a conclusion to the Danganronpa story.

Sound! Euphonium 2

響け！ユーフォニアム 2

The beginning of this season was a little rough and didn’t feel as focused as the first season. Luckily, it came together at the end for a satisfying conclusion. As always, KyoAni puts in a mind-boggling amount of detail. I particularly enjoyed the complete performance of “Crescent Moon Dance” in episode 5.

Flip Flappers

フリップフラッパーズ

Flip Flappers certainly stands out as one of the more creative anime released this year. Trying to describe it is like trying to describe a rainbow. Just… go and look at it first, then we can think about how it works. What I can say for sure is that it has fantastic ED.

Next, I’ll be looking at some of the games I played in 2016. Which ones were stars, and which ones were demoted to dwarf planets?