Normally I'd start off with my year's favorite books, but I somehow managed to not finish any last year, and I wanted to wait a week on the video games since there are some extras I still need to play through for one of them and it might impact my Top 3 picks. So we're starting with anime for my favorites of 2023!
Attack on Titan finished last November, which means I finally get to include it! Normally I don't like including anime that are likely to get additional seasons since there are a number of series that I'll end up dropping as they go on, making them something I'd rather not recommend, so all of the anime listed below have either wrapped up so there will definitely be no future seasons, or they have not announced any further seasons so I feel I can evaluate them based as they are.
The nine series below are the ones I liked enough to finish, presented in the order I completed them. My top three picks of the year are marked with an asterisk (*).
Summer Time Rendering *
This one was a sleeper release in the US, being that it had been a Disney Plus series in Japan but is definitely not a good fit for Disney Plus in the US, so it came out on Hulu with no fanfare whatsoever, which is too bad since this a fantastic time loop thriller, where the loop restarts a little further in time each time our hero dies, leaving him less and less chance to make any changes, and the villains are aware of the loop as well. I found this an extremely bingeable ride, and finished the entire series in less than a week, which is incredible for someone who usually can't sit through more than a half of TV at a time (which is part of why I like anime and its shorter episode structure).
Psycho-Pass: The Movie
Thanks to the Funimation-Crunchyroll acquisition, I finally got to watch Psycho-Pass: The Movie which takes place after the first two seasons of the anime. It's a stand alone story covering what happens when someone tries exporting the Sybil System to another country and also covers what Kagami has been up to since he left Japan. Much better executed than the second season, but lacks the philosophical punch of the first.
Tomo-chan is a Girl
Romantic comedy about a tomboy who tries to confess to her childhood friend that she likes him as more than a friend, only for him to reply that he loves her too, but clearly in "I love you man!" bromance way as he seems to have never realized that she's actually a girl. At least that's what she thinks, since as the series moves on it's apparent he does realize she's a girl, but is afraid of how their relationship would change if it turns romantic. Both Tomo and Jun are not the sharpest tools in the shed, so most of this is played up for comedy, but that's part of what makes it appealing. We don't have many romances involving two dumb jocks.
My Home Hero
Modern day crime thriller starring an unassuming husband and wife who will do anything to protect their college aged daughter, even if it means committing murder to preemptively stop their daughter's abusive boyfriend from killing her. But when the boyfriend is the son of a prominent yakuza boss, and the police can be dissuaded from offering assistance, the two parents have to get creative to keep their family life intact. Lots of cliffhangers made this a must-watch every week, and I love that even though the husband is usually our POV character, his wife is part of the team and quite capable in her own right, so they can complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. The only thing I don't like is when Tetsuo gets the occasional lone wolf streak and tries going solo since Kasen's escapades are thrilling in a different way from his and I want her along for the ride.
My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999
College student Akane gets dumped by her boyfriend after she started playing an online game just to spend more time with him. Angry, but still interested in playing the game, she ends up meeting a guildie, Yamada, at an IRL event. Yamada initially seems like he couldn't care less about her, he's blunt, he doesn't seem to care about people's emotions, but over time she realizes it's not that he doesn't care, but that he has a different way of looking at things. They are very close in age so in a few years the difference won't matter, but fair warning Yamada is still in high school.
Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Manor *
This is the one I fervently wish for a second season, as manwha readers have praised this thing to no end ahead of the anime's release and the release did not disappoint with the exception of the choice in the season ending. Given that there has been no announcement of a second season, it would have been nice if we hadn't ended in what appears to be the start of another story arc. But that said, this is one the best reborn as another person in a game/book/other world series that I've ever watched, as there is a mysterious reason for why Raeliana was reborn in this world and why the heroine of the book itself has yet to appear, leaving Raeliana in love with a man that she knows belongs to another woman in the "real" story. You've got mystery, politics, murder, and romance. What's not to like?
Undead Murder Farce
As the title suggests, this is pretty much a case of interlopers jumping in and showing a bunch of baffled people how there's all this fakery going on in the mystery currently plaguing them. Aside the first episode, which is all backstory setup, the season is divided into story arcs covering one particular crime that our protagonists Aya and Tsugaru work together to solve. Since Aya is a disembodied head, Tsuguru serves as her arms and legs as they unveil thieves and murderers and continue their search for Aya's missing body.
Gene of AI
Interesting anthology series in a setting where humanoids are robots that are virtually indistinguishable from biological humans. Think Blade Runner, but in a society that accepts humanoids as regular citizens. Each episode focuses on a moral quandary when the person involved is artificial. Is restoring a backup personality a form of murder/suicide when the humanoid's brain is reformated? If a humanoid has feelings for a particular person that isn't reciprocated, is it okay to remove that part of themselves to move on? The execution is not always perfect, and the animation is just okay, but the premise of some of the episodes are quite good.
Attack on Titan *
The 800 pound gorilla for the past 10 years has finally ended. Was it perfect as a series? No. But it would have been impossible to meet the standards of so many fans after such a long time. The final special episode was good though, and with creator Hajime Isayama's input, smoothed over the bumpiness that came with the manga version of the final chapter. I usually don't prefer the ending of the anime to the manga, but I think the anime stuck the landing. It may not have been what we expected when Titans first broke their way into Wall Maria, but all the characters remained true to who they are and did what they could to secure a better future.
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