#spice and wolf gif

[a-titty-ninja]

[belldandies]

[apparently-artless]

[senjo]

[jetstream-mat]

[sailor-arashi]

[metalandmagi]

The Real Anime Awards of 2024 (part 2)

Ever since Crunchyroll started doing their Anime Awards, I've made it my personal mission to make my own awards that represent the actual year in anime!

I already posted my silly awards list (with the truly important categories such as: prettiest boy and biggest trainwreck) so here are my serious picks. Don't take anything too seriously. These are just something fun I like to do every year. I can't watch everything.

Anime Of The Year

Dungeon Meshi

Dandadan

Go Go Loser Ranger

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Re: Zero (season 3)

Ranma ½

Best Comedy

Mayonaka Punch

Konosuba (season 3)

My Deer Friend Nokotan

Ranma 1/2

VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream

Acro Trip

Best Drama

Jellyfish Can’t Swim In The Night

Senpai wa Otokonoko

Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction

Girls Band Cry

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

If My Wife Becomes An Elementary School Student

Best Romance

A Sign Of Affection

Blue Box

Cherry Magic- I’m not typing the full title

Kimi ni Todoke (From Me To You) (season 3)

Tasogare Out of Focus

365 Days to the Wedding

Best Slice Of Life

Mr. Villain’s Day Off

Welcome Home (Tadaima, Okaeri)

The Yōkai Next to Me

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi

Negaposi Angler

Dungeon People

Honorable Mention: The Magical Girl And The Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Arch Enemies

Best Action

Wind Breaker

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War (part 3)

Brave Bang Bravern

Bucchigiri?!

Kaiju No. 8

Dragon Ball Daima

Honorable mention: Viral Hit

Best Fantasy

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End cour 2

Dungeon Meshi

Re: Zero (season 3)

Spice And Wolf

Isekai Suicide Squad

Dandadan...more of a sci-fi than fantasy but oh well...

Best Boy

Asamine Matakara (Bucchigiri?!)

Yuichi Kurosawa (Cherry Magic)

Buchio (The Yokai Next To Me)

Shion Yoshino (Tasogare Out Of Focus)

Natsume Takashi (Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi)

Keisuke Niijima (If My Wife Becomes An Elementary School Student)

Honorable Mention: Nukumizu (Too Many Losing Heroines)...this poor guy deserves some love but everyone else edged him out just a little bit 😅

Best Protagonist

Sakuna (Sakuna: Of Rice And Rain)

Masaki (Mayonaka Punch)

Fighter D (Go Go Loser Ranger)

Hibino Kafka (Kaiju No. 8)

Ciel Phantomhive (Black Butler Public School Arc)

Lawrence Kraft (Spice And Wolf)

Honorable mention: Mao Mao (Apothecary Diaries cour 2)...I love her so much but I already nominated her last year so I felt like it wasn't fair to do her twice

Best Antagonist

Sirius Romanée-Conti: Sin Archbishop of Wrath (Re: Zero season 3)- There are 3 great villains this season, but I could only pick one to represent and Wrath was my favorite 😅

Red Keeper (Go Go Loser Ranger)

Mika Hanaoka (Senpai wa Otokonoko)

Melon (Beastars Final Season cour 1)

Nowak (Orb: On the Movements of the Earth)

Chika Shiraishi (If My Wife Becomes An Elementary School Student) I know she’s only an antagonist at the beginning of the show, but dang, she’s a good one.

Best Girl

Holo (Spice And Wolf)

Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)

Sawako Kuronuma (Kimi ni Todoke season 3)

Harley Quinn (Isekai Suicide Squad)

Koshi Torako (My Deer Friend Nokotan)

Hina Chouno (Blue Box)

Best Supporting Character

Senshi (Dungeon Meshi)

“Youko Satou” (The Fable)

Kouji Shigemoto (Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.)

Peeps (Sasaki and Peeps)

Chrome (Acro Trip)

Nyanko Sensei (Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi)

Best Character Design

Delico’s Nursery

Oshi no Ko (season 2)

Isekai Suicide Squad

Dungeon Meshi

Beastars Final Season cour 1

Ranma 1/2

Best Score

Girls Band Cry

Spice and Wolf

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi

Kaiju No. 8

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War (part 3)- I will keep nominating it every year until it wins the actual award!

Honorable mentions: Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Best Animation

Oblivion Battery

The Elusive Samurai

Blue Box

Beastars Final Season cour 1

Too Many Losing Heroines

The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians

Honorable mention: Shoushimin Series (I guess I’d categorize this as “most cinematic” over “best animation”), also Wind Breaker's animation deserves a shout out too.

Best OP

(BASED ON BOTH SONG AND VISUALS! so, sorry Viral Hit and The Fable...)

Dandadan (“Otonoke” Creepy Nuts)

Go Go Loser Ranger (“Preview of Me” Tatsuya Kitani)

Beastars Final Season cour 1 (“Into The World” issei)

You Are Ms. Servant (“Otozure” tricot)

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (“Kaiju” Sakanaction)

Tower of God season 2 OP 1 (“Rise Up” NiziU)

Honorable mentions: *This is the hardest category every year for me, so I just have to shout out some others*

Yuru Camp season 3 (“Laid Back Journey” Kiminone)

Oshi no Ko season 2 (“Fatal” GEMN)

Wind Breaker (“Absolute Zero” Natori)

Mashle season 2 (“Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” Creepy Nuts)

Best ED

Isekai Suicide Squad (“Go Getters” Mori Calliope)

Brave Bang Bravern (“Sounen no Shouzu” Ryota Suzuki and Yohei Azakami) There was no way in hell I was leaving this off the list. If you watch no other anime endings this year, please watch this one 😆

Go Go Loser Ranger (“Sekai wa Iranei” NANAOAKARI)

Ranma ½ (“Antanante” riria)

Frieren Beyond Journey’s End cour 2 (“Anytime Anywhere” Milet)

Too Many Losing Heroines ed 2 (“Crazy For You” Shion Wakayama) *I love the other 2 endings as well, but I could only choose one*😭

Best Japanese VA Performance

*I'm terrible with this category. I really don't know how to judge good voice acting performances at all*

Hasegawa, Ikumi as Masaki (Mayonaka Punch)

Ueda, Hitomi as Yoshino (Yakuza Fiancé)

Seki, Toshihiko as Muzan Kibutsuji (Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc)...This arc may have sucked, but he acted the shit out of it.

Inoue, Kazuhiko as Nyanko Sensei (Natsume Yuujinchou shichi)

Nagase, Anna as Harley Quinn (Isekai Suicide Squad)

Fujita, Saki as Koshi Torako (My Deer Friend Nokotan)

*I don't watch enough dubs to do nominations for English voice actors, but I want to shout out SungWon Cho as Senshi from Dungeon Meshi and Abby Trott as Ayase from Dandadan. They understood the assignment.*

So there you have it! My picks for the real anime awards of 2024! Don't take this seriously at all, it's just something fun I like to put together every year. I always try not to nominate the same things, but it's so hard to include a variety sometimes! 😅

[ydotome]

I am not shameless enough to eat your food without doing anything in return. I am the Wise Wolf Holo, an honorable wolf! By the way. It is quite cramped with the two of us sitting here. Hey, now... Wha?! Hey! Hey! Don't get too close! A male should be happy to be touched by me. No, not really... Oh? It seems you are embarrassed... - Ookami to Koushinryou: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf - Episode 1

[waifubuki]

[sleepy-edits]

[elbiotipo]

I’ve been watching 2008 spice and wolf (por culpa tuya) I can’t believe they tricked me into actually caring about económics with the lure of wolfgirl :/

SHE KEEPS GETTING AWAY WITH IT

[a-titty-ninja]

[belldandies]

[jjs-brainrot]

2024 is coming to an end, all my anime from the current season finished up and next season has yet to be begin. it's time for me to actually sit down and figure out what my top 10 anime were for this year!

God damn was this an amazing year of anime for me. Every season had multiple shows I was hardcore obsessing over with a surprising amount of them outright entering into my top 10 of all time. I'd say I'd be surprised if 2025 can match it, but a lot of the shows I was obsessing with are getting continuations next year so I might end up with back to back peak years.

10. Yuru Camp S3

The greatest propaganda camping has ever received is back again to try to convince you that you should totally buy some camping gear and drive out to the nearest camp ground. You will surely not regret both of these decisions!

Yuru Camp feels like it's the platonic ideal of the iyashikei genre. It has just the right mixture of beautiful scenery, slow and chill vibes, the right amount of goofy humor and some really delicious looking food to make you feeling rejuvenated (and a bit hungry) every episode.

Season 3 has been particularly notable as its the first season being handled by Eight Bit instead of C-Station. While I'd say it's still as strong as previous seasons, the environmental backgrounds definitely felt like a step back compared to the previous 2 seasons and movie. It wasn't bad enough that it put a damper on my enjoyment of the series but it was a noticeable downground. The rest of the animation was pretty solid though with some of the later episodes (7 and 8 in particular) being incredibly creative and fun.

It's Yuru Camp. You should watch Yuru Camp if you haven't already…. You will not regret any purchases you make after watching Yuru Camp…

9. Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

The classic medieval fantasy/economic/romance/drama series has returned to once again lure unsuspecting otaku with the promise of a cute wolfgirl, only to lock the door behind them and reveal that they've been signed up for an econ 101 class.

It's an updated adaptation that's much more faithful to the light novels then the first anime was. Not too much to say until we get season 2 as it covered a lot of the arcs the first anime covered. The one exception being that it actually animated book 3 which the first anime skipped over in order to cover book 5 (or rather 90% of book 5… I'm still salty about that…)

Holo is still a complete charmer, Holo and Lawrence still have excellent chemistry together and the economic drama is still top tier.

8. Dungeon People

Dungeon Keeper Yuri or the other show from this year from a mangaka thinking long and hard about how a fantasy dungeon would actually work. Though Instead of looking at it as an ecosystem like Dungeon Meshi, it approaches the idea as a workplace with its own logistical and management issues that need to be addressed in order to function.

It's mostly a pretty chill series but it also doesn't shy away from exploring darker topics like how the dungeon management deals with sexual assault and murder amongst adventurers.

Both of the protags (Clay and Belle) are fairly morally grey characters with neither having any qualms about killing when the job calls for it. There's also some strong coworkers yuri going on between them as well.

Kinda got overshadowed by Dungeon Meshi, but it's another really interesting examination on the idea of fantasy dungeons with some light yuri elements on top.

7. 'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess

The princess will be pampered, cared for and provided more friendship then she's ever experienced in her life until she divulges state secrets of frivolous quality.

An extremely chill little comedy that manages to be both extremely funny and incredibly relaxing as the same time. The closest series I can think of to compare it to is Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (and maybe The Helpful Fox Senko-san to an extent). Just a nice series of skits about a character getting pampered.

Each of the "torturers" having the own niches (i.e. the titular Torture Tortura (yes that's her name) being a foodie, Krall being an animal lover, Youki and Inki basically playing around as the princess' best friend, etc) does a good job of making skits varied enough to never get stale.

Very good series to chill to after long day at work. Also has a season 2 on the way.

6. Dungeon Meshi

It's Dungeon Meshi, one of the best fantasy and foodie series to come out in decades.

In truth, the fact that I've been keeping up with and recommending this series for like 8 or 9 years now kinda does lower it a bit on my list since most of the novelty has faded over the years and most of the stronger moments of the series will be in the second season.

That being said, this adaptation has been fantastic so far with it easily being a contender for one of Studio Trigger's best works.

5. Mayonaka Punch

Desperate simp vampire girl wants to suck a cancelled youtuber girl('s blood) dry, the cancelled youtuber wants to reach 1 million subscribers. Win-win!

An absolutely hilarious comedy that also manages to pull out some pretty strong emotional guy punches when it feels like it and has an absolutely exquisite cast of girls who suck (pun intended).

Easily up there with Shirobako and Ya Boy Kongming as one of PA Works' best anime.

4. Shangri-La Frontier

A trash game loving birdman plays an actually good game for the first time in his life. Alternatively: LetMeSoloHer the anime.

One of the very few VRMMO anime that's… actually about the joy of playing an MMO? Honestly it feels weird to say but it feels like almost ever other anime that takes place in an MMO is either an isekai or a romance where the MMO aspect is just a forgettable backdrop. The only other series I can think of that did something similar to Shangri-La Frontier is Bofuri. So it's weirdly an untapped aspect of the genre.

Shangri-La Frontier really does nails every aspect of enjoying an MMO excellently though. The fun of first loading into a game and trying to figure out the basics, gushing about the game to one of your old gaming buddies and getting them interested in it, finding another old gaming buddy you didn't realize was also playing the same game as you, learning and mastering a raid with your friends, getting real into the lore of the game and even taking a break from your main game to play other games to recharge your love for the main one.

The entire cast is a wonderful collection of gamer cryptids with the main 3 protags being up there as one of my all time favorite trios as they're just as easily likely to help each other out when it counts as they are to stab each other in the backs for the laughs. They absolutely nail the "gaming buddies who've known each other for years" vibes.

It easily has the most stellar fight scenes this year with The multi-episode Weathermon fight alone absolutely deserving to top everyone of those "top x anime fight scenes" lists people put out there.

It's painful how under talked about this series seems to be for how good it is.

3. VTuber Legend

Lesbian VTuber gets drunk and loudly talks about how much she loves to fap to women. Proceeds to awaken a new fetish in every one of her coworkers (never the same one).

Hilarious, unhinged, gay af, probably the second kinkiest yuri this year and is the gold standard all future VTuber anime must be compared to. It gets it. It fully understood the level of unhinged insanity it needed to be to represent what watching VTubers is actually like and does so with flying colors.

Awayuki Kokorone is my oshi of all time. May she forever suffer the consequences of being a human lightning rod of fetishes by becoming a chew toy for every woman in her life.

Easily the one of the funniest comedies to come out this year and is well worth watching even if you have 0 interest in VTubers.

2. Gushing Over Magical Girls

Girl who really, really, really, REALLY loves magical girls gets black mailed into joining the evil organization that fights them. This turns into an unexpected positive for her as she finds out that she really, really, really, REALLY loves domming magical girls.

As wild as "the extremely smutty, borderline pornographic bdsm yuri magical girl show was one of the most compelling and interestingly written shows this year while also being the most hilarious" is to say… The extremely smutty, borderline pornographic bdsm yuri magical girl show was in fact one of the most compelling and interestingly written shows this year while also being the most hilarious.

It's easily one of the most kink positive anime series I've seen, and I think out of every anime from this year, this one might well have had the biggest impact on me. The general themes of self-accepting ones own perversions and kinks genuinely got me accepting and being way more open with my own and others'.

The bdsm magical girl show made me a better person which is a hell of a thing to say.

1. Girls Band Cry

RAISE YOUR MIDDLE FINGERS WITH ME! (or at least you pinkies as we sadly can't have the actual members of TogeToge flipping their audience off every live show…)

Hands down the best band anime yet, easily a rival to Studio Orange's work as one of the best 3DCG anime out there and without a doubt the best completely original anime released this year. It's writing was consistently strong from beginning to end with a few episodes outright being some of the best 20 minutes of anime this year (episode 8 and 11 in particular). The entire cast was super fun with Nina in particular being an incredibly interesting protagonist. And god the music is some of the best out of any band anime with Togenashi Togeari easily being up there in my top 3 bands of all times and I've basically not gone a single week without listening to every one of their songs on repeat.

Girls Band Cry might be the most near perfect anime in years and is easily the series I'd most recommend everyone pick up from this year (now that you can actually do so legally cause god damn was it a crime that this one wasn't picked up by streamers when it aired).

[senjo]

[angel-9mm]