Year in Review 2016: N-listing

I’m putting this out first because the other post can stand by itself, introspection or not. Hey, it’s not March yet.

12 Random 2016 notes:

• I still miss Matsuki Miyu
• Yamakan is still the same guy, LOL
• IDOLM@STER Master of Idol World 2015 Blu-ray bonus disc is the best bonus documentary I’ve seen for a property.
• Don’t anisama and event in between guys. It’s really rough.
• There were some good shows in 2016 but overall I feel a big meh. I think this is because there wasn’t anything as good as Shirobako.
• I watched Nigehaji too. It’s just OK, but given I finished it, that probably means most people will like it, as I’m generally not a fan of Japanese mainstream TV dramas.
• I made a lot of effort to catch up on back titles. Still, Couldn’t take on Concrete, or the CG Berserk. I guess they’re just not good enough. Still haven’t given up on Dimension W yet…
• I also started to miss Taneda, even when earlier in 2016 I was getting too much of her, right around the time when Shokugeki no Soma was airing.
• Still really glad to see Aoi Eir for her one-man show in NY.
• Taiwan was a lot of fun, and it’s nice to reconnect with a part of my past that I ignored for a long time.
• Work is really busy…
• Million Live 3rd tour changed my life.

12 reasons why anime is dead:

• Your name. – If this is the work by the Next Miyazaki I will…LOL.
• Teekyuu – It ended. Clearly anime is dead.
• Sword Art Online – This continues to exist is fact enough.
• One Punch Man – You can watch 2 eps of this and get the whole series, it’s the ideal anime. Let’s all go home now.
• Saki: Live Action – Who needs anime when you can watch this?
• New Game – The most sobering take of game development is the most harmless, toothless one.
• Thunderbolt Fantasy – It’s not even anime, and yet it’s promoted like one? Also, it’s better than most anime this year.
• Re:Zero – Who needs this anime when you can just enjoy all the wife art
• Joker Game – This was so bad, like you had to entertain a Japanese power fantasy to enjoy
• 91 Days – Time to use Netflix to watch actual TV shows about actual mobs that makes sense to Americans
• Showa Genroku Rakugo – Why animate this when you can just use actual Rakugo actors
• All the CG shows – People actually like BBKBRNK huh. Then again I liked Narnia Girls…

12 anime as to why anime is saved, in no order:

• Gundam Origin movies – A little less gluttonous than Unicorn, definitely way classier than Unicorn but just as good. If I watched Thunderbolt maybe it may replace this.
• Sound! Euphonium – Kyoani’s done it again.
• Your Name. – Finally people can move on from that old jerk Miyazaki hopefully.
• Keijo!!!!!!!! – It’s not Air Master good, but it gets close.
• Yuri on Ice – Finally Yamamoto Sayo makes something people really enjoy.
• Mob Psycho 100 – Basically better than OPM in every way.
• Kizumonogatari – It was actually enjoyable, and the silver screen means Shimbo’s narcissistic style doesn’t bother anyone who wants free TV.
• Girls und Panzer der Movie – I guess this is 2015 technically, but it was worth a mention.
• Haruchika – Most progressive anime ever. Like, ever ever ever.
• Shelter – Damn it Porter I’m watching you.
• Flying Witch – I didn’t expect this show to outdo Amanchu but it did, and it was good.
• Osomatsusan – Probably my pick of best anime 2016.

12 top anime 2012 (I’ve seen), in order:

1. Yuri on Ice
2. Osomatsu
3. Euphonium
4. Mob Psycho 100
5. Keijo
6. Your name.
7. Re:Zero
8. Tanaka-kun
9. Rakugo
10. Erased
11. Flying Witch
12. Sacred Slayer Matoi

Other notables include Dia no A, Soma, O;9, Flip Flappers, Gundams (all of them this year), Amanchu, Ping Pong Girls, and a bunch I don’t remember. Osomatsu was a shoo-in for first place all year but nope, Yuri on Ice was just as good if not better. Kind of want to watch Koe no Katachi and Katabuchi’s new movie, I guess we’ll figure out some way to do it. It’s funny, I was in Japan when Koe no Katachi was still doing its general run in Tokyo, but none of the showtimes worked for me. In the end I watched Your name only because it was so popular, so it stayed in theater for a long time and had a lot of showings that fit my schedule.

12 anison artists I cared enough to buy from in 2016, in no order:

• Machico
• Mia Regina
• fhana
• AOP
• iRis
• WUG
• Uchida Maaya
• Garnidelia
• Tadokoro Azusa
• Ohashi Ayaka
• Trysail
• Hara Yumi

Sure is IM@S. Maybe that last year-in-review post will touch on these.

12 female characters that I liked? No order. No girl of the year this year from me. Maybe Mumei if I watched that show?

• Rem
• Amelia (Have a hard time getting to 12 spots)
• Tanaka Asuka
• Karasuma Chitose
• Yayaka
• Mei-chan, the torpedo girl in High School Fleet
• Galko
• Tobisawa Misaki
• Retoree
• Niiyama Nico
• Liko-chan
• Shraishi (Tanaka-kun)

Random awards

• Best Nazi Represented in Anime: Schwarzsmarken – Nice Germany.
• Takagaki Kaede Award for Most “Rock”: Sekko Boys – Maybe instead, Best Anisama Gag award.
• Takagaki Kaede Award: Dagashikashi
• Tada Riina Ogami Tamaki Award for Most “Rock:” Show By Rock
• Best Mediocre Anime: Ping Pong Girls – Better than Saki I think.
• Best Not Anime: Thunderbolt Fantasy – It’s very Butch, in a Fate/Zero kind of way.
• Best Being Live Action Instead: ReLife
• Best Post-K-ON Anime: Bakuon!! – Totally worth watching. Also the Best 2016 Ueda Reina Award winner.
• Best Use of Ohashi Ayaka before BanG Dream: Narnia Girls – That is the most hego episode ever.
• Best Throwback Anime: Matoi the Sacred Slayer – This show belongs to the 90s, but it exists perfectly better than its 90s self
• Best Anime that Deserves No Awards: Rakugo. It’s great fun to watch but should this be even animated?
• Best Use of Historical Sports Achievement: Erased – Just had to name drop this somewhere.

Random non-awards: because they’re not all good things–some could be construed as a good thing?

• Worst Milking of Popular IP: She and Her Cat – Not only the execution is terrible, it didn’t even happen after Your name.
• Most Shameless Sequel: Love Live Sunshine
• Most Letdown Story due to Length: Occultic;9
• The Most “I Expected More Gay”: Touken Ranbu
• Most Shameless Trend-cashing-in: High School Fleet
• Most Cool Japan: Idol Memories
• Most Misunderstood Anime: MahouIku
• Second Most Misunderstood Anime: Girlish Number
• Most Regressive Representation of Foreigner: Abigail Martinez from Active Raid (but she’s hilarious)
• Least-plausible Right-Wing Fantasy: Joker Game. Drifters is a runner ups, and worse than Gate…and Kumamiko…
• Least believable portrayal of foreign characters: 91 Days.
• Most Bad Bad anime: Ninja Slayer – So close to become good, but yet so far

I’m in the mood to hand out more awards? Let’s. In no order:

• Best Romance: Tanaka-kun
• Best Action: Mob Psycho 100
• Best Yuri-kei: Euphonium
• Best BL-kei: Yuri on Ice
• Best Eroge Adaptation: AoKana
• Best Music: Amanchu
• Best Kuuki-kei: Flying Witch
• Best Cute Girls Doing Cute Things: Haifuri
• Best Mystery: Erased. Probably should put Lost Village here if I’ve seen it.
• Best Animation for a TV series: Mob Psycho 100
• Best Comedy: Osomatsu-san
• Best Drama: Euphonium

Twelve anime I wanted to watch/finish but didn’t:

• Arslan
• Grimgar
• Haikyuu
• All noitaminA anime other than Erased because Thanks Amazon
• Komugi
• Lost Village
• Macross Delta
• Love Live Sunshine
• Ajin
• Netoge
• Bungo Stray Dogs
• Magi

Almost making the lists are shows I want to watch so I can shittalk, like Nanoha, SAO, etc. I would add to it march Comes Like a Lion and Sweetness and Lightning, but that’ll just be cruel. I just don’t have time to be cruel anymore, unless it’s really urgently needed.

Twelve anime industry/news things:

• Amazon and Noitamina get in bed. I guess also Anime Strike (2017).
• CR streamlines offering, FUNi calls it quits.
• Netflix begins its Japanese stuff, licensing more anime to it – goes towards the increasing growth of online streaming for Japan’s domestic market. More and more shows like ReLife will happen.
• The Most Chinese season of anime was Autumn 2016. This trend will continue for a while yet.
• UO ramen poisons Korean liver–but this is just a sign that UO + food consumption will go asymptotic soon! Time to invest.
• Brexit further complicates the licensing game in the long run and confuses in the short run, for the UK.
• Trump as US President probably means a more status-quo for trade with Japan. The TPP probably will not go through the way it is, however, and it’s hard to say how the copyright lobby will strategize to in order to push its agenda through next Congress.
• The 2015 Janica report indicate major growth in the event space again, and this trend still has a while before it can plateau. Japanese domestically speaking, I think we’re not too far from that point. I think if I was running Cool Japan that’s the one thing I want to get rolling overseas before anything else, mainly because it directly allows you to extract value without being at the whims of middlemen and localizers (too much).
• To that extent, the first oversea LisAni happened. Do people want, like, stage shows? It’s not impossible… The Anison Matsuri in AX this past year was a landmark in a similar way. I think behind the scenes we’re talking more or less the same sets of people trying to do the same sets of things. USA needs more cons that can take up the mantle for that sort of things, at key locations. The lack of a persistent NYC con really hurts…
• The Mobage Divide manifests itself in the largest sort of way in 2016, and that gap will grow as F/GO, Chaincro and GBF continue the media assault as mixed-media projects. Yep, more content gated behind hard-to-localize “cash grabs” that “nobody” in the west cares about.
• Your Name was a big deal and it will slow some gossip about the next Miyazaki. But more importantly it’s validation of Shinkai’s/Comix Wave’s methods so that should encourage people to follow suit.
• Crowdfunding will continue to make an impact for independent and semi-indie creators, I believe it’s on track to kick some butts in 2017, if cat porn is any indication.

Twelve “sports-style” anime in 2016…and they’re all different sports? And if you think I’m cheating you can probably find 2+ more different-sports anime to replace them. Is this peak 1-cour sports year or what?

• Haikyuu – Volleyball
• All Out – Rugby
• Ace of the Diamond – Baseball
• Hibike! Euphonium – Band
• Shokugeki no Soma – Competitive cooking
• Bakuon!! – Motorcycling
• Prince of Stride – Parkour
• Long Riders! – Bicycling
• Amanchu – Diving
• Ani Tore – Weight training/conditioning
• Teekyuu – Tennis…well…film appreciation?
• Cheer Boys – Cheerleading

Well, that’s 12 lists of 12 items! I hope you enjoyed your 144 points of nonsense. Certainly I think you would have enjoyed them more than I enjoyed writing them…

Year-in-review 2016:

• Introduction
• Eventing
• Seiyuu music
• N-listing