Ask John: What Were 2010’s Best TV Anime?

2009 was an especially good year for TV anime, bringing viewers outstanding series including Kimi ni Todoke, Canaan, Aoi Hana, Cross Game, Higashi no Eden, and Kemono no Souja Erin, to name a few. 2010, however, saw a slight drop in total number of TV anime and a bigger decline in number of exceptional TV anime. 2010 seemed to be a year heavily dominated by fan service and shows obviously constructed to exploit certain tropes and appeal to select otaku niches. While narrowing down a list of last year’s best anime was difficult for me, choosing the best of 2010’s television anime seemed to be an effort in selecting the best candidates among a field without obvious peaks.

Answer:
As a result of circumstances and major changes in my personal lifestyle during 2010, I’ve been able to sample a tremendous number of this year’s ongoing anime series, but I’ve watched far fewer of this year’s OVAs and movies. I’ve annually compiled a list of the year’s best anime, focusing primarily on television series. This year I’ll strictly limit my analysis to only TV anime. I haven’t watched every new show this year to completion, and I’m aware that passing judgement on series without comprehensive knowledge of them is a bit unfair. However, I’ll rely on my experience and informed impressions and presume that my observations aren’t too drastically misinformed. Among the 125 new TV and web anime specials and series to debut this year, I’ve been fortunate enough to have watched at least one full episode of 116 of them. My list of 2010 TV & web anime may not be entirely complete, but it should be fairly comprehensive. I counted any debut series or special, and new seasons of established shows that began with a new episode one or had a new, updated series title. Japanese broadcasts including Card Ou Mix Master, Saikyo Bushoden Sangoku Engi, and Transformers Animated were excluded because they’re not Japanese animation. OVAs that got a TV broadcast premiere, including Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, Gundam Unicorn, and Tamayura were also excluded from consideration. Finally, my evaluation is not based on popularity or what I personally enjoyed most. My aim is to objectively recognize the anime TV series of 2010 that exhibited the most creativity, uniqueness, and artistic integrity. Simply because I can’t rank this year’s shows with clear teirs of quality, I’ll nominate them alphabetically.

Durarara!! ultimately suffered from a variety of loose ends and a subtle but very impactful mid-series shift in tone and narrative focus. The ambitious series was weakened by its over abundance of irrelevant characters and numerous sudden plot twists that stretch credibility. However, the series also enjoyed attractive art design, an engaging primary cast, and a convoluted, engrossing narrative that dared to reject the seemingly mandatory conventions and tropes of contemporary anime. Although not entirely successful, Durarara!! deserves praise for being a fun show that dared to be complex in a year dominated by simple and straightforward anime.

In recent years, anime including Suzumiya Haruhi, Seitokai no Ichizon, Sengoku Basara, OreImo, Angel Beats! and Bakemonogatari have earned praise and popularity for satirizing and deconstructing the foundation of otaku anime. But no anime thus far has achieved that goal with the incisive artistry of Katanagatari. Unlike Suzumiya Haruhi, Angel Beats!! and their kin that have taken a sledgehammer approach to being satirical, Katanagatari was magnificently deft at consistently undermining convention and viewer expectation, so much so that countless viewers probably didn’t understand what the show was actually doing. Dialogue jokes recalled months later, intentionally misleading next episode previews and spoilers mentioned specifically to unbalance the viewer, unexpected plot twists that make absolute sense within the context of the narrative, and anachronistic themes and character personalities that still seem plausible within the narrative all contribute to making Kanatagatari possibly the most post-modern of all the contemporary post-modern deconstructive anime.

Otome Yokai Zakuro similarly did a number of very subtle things right. During an era concentrated on making characters identifiable and marketable, Otome Yokai Zakuro concentrated on making its characters individual. Subtle artistic nuances like frequently tilting character’s heads slightly to express emotion and periodically illustrating Zakuro with a completely different than usual hair style are small, practically unnoticable things that most contemporary anime carefully avoid doing for marketing concerns. In a stronger year of anime, a show like Otome Yokai Zakuro would probably go unnoticed. But in a relatively weak year like 2010, attractive art design, a strong focus on narrative, and effective character development allow Otome Yokai Zakuro to rise to the top.

Despite a great deal of fearful anxiety prior to its premiere, the first and subsequent episodes of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt proved to be the most unabashed and shameless fun that anime has been in a dog’s age. Panty & Stocking consistently and frequently demonstrated the creativity and aggressive vitality that typifies the very best anime. The show took viewers on a wild and breathtaking ride. Its climax may be shamelessly manipulative, but that’s precisely what viewers have come to expect from the show. The series also serves as a dynamic reminder that Gainax remains the anime industry’s foremost innovator and developer of landmark, groundbreaking anime that defy and establish new conventions.

With 2010 dominated by teen characters and otaku pandering, Sarai Goyou was a breath of fresh air: a graceful adult historical drama that prioritized character personality and relationship development above all other concerns. Remaining steadfastly realistic, the show refused to ever concede to viewer or even cinematic convention, remaining understated and honest even when liberal action scenes seemed due. Saraiya Goyou earns praise for being an interesting looking and engrossing narrative that chooses to stay faithful to its story, characters, and situations rather than cheapen itself by giving in to the pressures of viewer expected dramatized sensationalism.

I’ll say outright that I did not like the Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei television series at all. I think it’s a grossly self-indulgent and perposterously pretentious production that aims to, and to a large degree succeeded in hoodwinking viewers and critics into thinking that it’s more artistic, literary, and substantial than it really is. The show is painfully repetetive and redundant and concludes with an insubstantial and unsatisfying denoument. However, the mere fact that the show is able to convince viewers and critics that it’s exceptional is, itself, exceptional. Once again, in a year dominated by Angel Beats!, K-On!!, High School of the Dead, Mitsudomoe, Seikon no Qwaser, Ika Musume, Sora no Woto, Index II, and OreImo, the mere existance of a show like Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei that dares to be unconventional and challenging makes it noteworthy.

The silver lining of 2010’s leaden cloud is the fact that this year was not rife with especially bad anime. While there were fewer total TV anime series this year than last year, there were also fewer bad anime in 2010 than in 2009. Rather than cite the worst of the year, I’ll select the year’s biggest three disappointments. Anime studio Shaft and director Akiyuki Shinbo have been riding high recently with successful titles including Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei, Hidamari Sketch, Bakemonogatari, and Mariaholic. So Dance in the Vampire Bund should have been good, but it wasn’t. Original series creator Nozomu Tamaki encouraged Shaft to create an original Vampire Bund anime story. Shaft went half-measure by creating a show that evenly mixed adaptation with original story. The result was a schizophrenic narrative mess that never felt cohesive nor resolved. Furthermore, the show suffered from grand ambitions and a production budget clearly inadequate to realize those animation goals.

Launched as the second of TV Tokyo & Aniplex’s “Anime no Chikara” programs, Senko no Night Raid was supposed to exhibit and reinvigorate the “spirit of anime.” Unfortunately, the dull, unfocused, and uninteresting show was merely a ghostly shadow of a substantial and appealing anime.

2010 seemed to be an especially favorable year to horror and horror-themed anime, bringing viewers Dance in the Vampire Bund, High School of the Dead, Kuroshitsuji II, Nuraihyon no Mago, Okamikakushi, Otome Yokai Zakuro, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuen, and Haiyoru! Nyaruani. But among them, Shiki stands out as possibly the year’s most ridiculous and frustrating show. Ridiculous character design totally at odds with the setting design, an entire disregard for consistent or appropriate costume design, a large cast of entirely unpleasant and unlikeable characters, and a steady progression of inexplicable character actions and plot developments that seem dumb even by horror movie standards made watching Shiki an excersize in self-flagilation. While last year’s Umineko no Naku Koro ni seemed to realize and relish its absurdity, Shiki insisted on taking itself seriously although its characteristics made doing so impossible for viewers. However, the show isn’t all bad as its second half is more interesting that its first, and its production values and art design clearly demonstrate a lot of effort.

On a final, self-indulgent note, the shows from this year that I’ve most enjoyed watching have been: B-geta H-kei, Giant Killing, Heartcatch Precure, Hakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, Katanagatari, Mitsudomoe, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuen, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, and Working!!

For reference, the 2010 TV & web anime considered for this list are as follows. Itallicized titles are ones that I haven’t watched.

Amagami SS
Angel Beats
Arakawa Under the Bridge
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge
Asobi ni Ikuyo
B-geta H-kei
Baka to Test to Shokanju
Bakugan Battle Brawlers: New Vestroia [Japanese version]
Battle Spirits Brave
Cat Shit One [web anime]
Chisuimaru
Chu-Bra!!
Cobra
Dance in the Vampire Bund
Densetsu no Yusha no Densetsu
Digimon Xross Wars
Doubutsu Kankyou Kaigi
Duel Masters Cross Shock
Durarara!!
Fortune Arterial
Giant Killing
Gokujo!! Mecha Motte Iinchi Second Collection
Haiyoru! Nyaruani: Remember My Love (craft-sensei)
Hakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
Hakuouki
Hakuouki Hekketsu-roku
Hanakappa
Hanamaru Yochien
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3: Owari Naki Unmei [TV special]
Heartcatch Precure
Heroman
Hetalia World Series
Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimitsu
Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimitsu Tokubetsuhen
High School of the Dead
Hime-chen! Otogi Chiku Idol Lilpri
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaoh
Ichigo Ichie ~Kimi no Kotoba~
Ikkitousen XX
Iron Man
Jewelpet Tinkle
K-on!!
Kaicho wa Maid-sama
Kaito Reinya
Kakko Kawaii Sengen!
Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai
Karl to Fushigi na Tou second series
Katanagatari
Keroro Gunso Otsu
Ketsuinu
kissXsis
Kuragehime
Kuroshitsuji II
Kuruneko Season 2
Ladies x Butlers
Lupin III: The Last Job [TV special]
Magic Kaito [TV special]
Major sixth series
Marie & Gali ver. 2.0
Masuda Kousuke Gekijou Gag Manga Biyori +
Mayoi Neko Overrun!
Metal Fight Beyblade ~Baku~
Mitsudomoe
Miyanishi Tatsuya Gekijo: Omae Umasou da na
MM!
Monhun Nikki Girigiri Airu Mura, Airu Kiki Ippatsu
Motto To-Love ru
Net Miracle Shopping 2nd Season
Nintama Rantaro 18th series
Nodame Cantible Finale
Nougyou Musume
Nuraihyon no Mago
Okami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi
Okamikakushi
Ookiku Furikabutte ~Natsu no Taikai-hen~
Omamori Himari
Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
Osaka Hamlet
Otome Yokai Zakuro
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Peeping Life -The Perfect Emotion-
Pocket Monster Best Wishes
Rainbow – Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin
Ring ni Kakero 1 Kagemachi-hen
Rita to Nantoka
Robin-kun to 100 nin no Otomodachi
St. Seiya: The Lost Canvas
Sarai Goyou
SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors
Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~
Seikimatsu Occult Gakuen
Seikon no Qwaser
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Sengoku Basara 2
Senko no Night Raid
Shiki
Shimajiro Henka
Shin Koihime Muso: Otome Tairan
Shinrei Tantei Yakumo
Shinryaku! Ika Musume
Shoka [TV special]
Shokupan Mimi
Shukufuku no Campenella
Sora no Otoshimono Forte
Sora no Woto
Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru
Star Driver
Stitch ~Zutto Saiko no Tomodachi~
Strike Witches 2
Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector
Tachumaru Zukan
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes
Tegami Bachi Reverse
Toaru Majutsu no Index II
Togainu no Chi
Tono to Issho Ippunkan Gekijou
Unko-san Junjo-ha
Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteru
Working!!
Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei
Yorinuki Gintama-san
Yosuga no Sora
Yumeiro Patissiere Professional
Yume-Miru Anime on-chan Season 2
Yutori-chan [web anime]