Ranking Anime I Watched in 2024
The Apothecary Diaries (Fall 2023, Winter)
Where’s the Replay button?; Jinshi is boy wife material; I love him! Maomao is also beast FL I’ve ever seen. Her sarcasm and sudden happy moments make me laugh every episode. I think we finally found a mainstream anime that is actually worth the name of anime of the year. Characters are actual characters instead of tropes or stereotypes. The stories are unique to themselves. The animation is beautiful. What more could you ask for? I also watched this anime under the English dub, and it’s actually pretty damn good. Whoever voices Maomao was destined to be that character. Furthermore, the animation itself is straight up gorgeous! Studios OLM and TOHO animation really did a number on this one, especially in the last episode. They announced a season 2 and I’m stoked for it.
Where's the Replay Button?; I originally had no interested in watching this show at the time, but then the English dub came out and I found out that Damien Haas voiced one of the main characters, so I changed my mind super quickly. Hell, when I found this out, I even surprised my boyfriend with the revelation. As far as the show itself is concerned, I think this is the best anime of the year, and I can’t believe it was released so early. While we’ve been returning to the traditional fantasy settings without the help of reincarnation or isekai, we’ve also been blessed with a hilarious and dramatic show involving cooking monster meat. I never thought I would be interested in a show like t his, but all of the characters and the plot are so intriguing.
A Sign of Affection (Winter)
They Got the Bag; I’ve seen a lot of comments about Yuki being infantilized for her disability, and when I see those comments from both the anime and manga pages, I thought people meant Itsuomi was the one doing that, but that turned out not to be true at all. In fact, Itsuomi is the dreamiest ML in any shojo romance I’ve ever seen. He does everything to make sure that Yuki was both seen and heard throughout the entire show. You know, like normal human beings? The only person who seems to infantilize Yuki is that son of a bitch childhood friend of hers, Oushi. He wasn’t written great in the manga either, and the anime seems to continue the tradition. I think what the series is trying to do is show the audience that Oushi is a tsundere who secretly has a crush on Yuki, but all it does is show the audience that Oushi feels that Yuki being deaf is a burden to everyone rather than just a condition she has, which Itsuomi does the complete opposite of. So for people who still think that this series is disability bait, actually look into this and think again.
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (Winter)
Good For What it Was; I watched the drama before jumping into the anime adaptation. Perhaps it has to do with the timing and how many episodes because this anime is way more funny and better paced than the drama was. The only thing going against it is how not great the animation is. I mean, it was a BL, so I wasn’t expecting much, but in more recent years, BL anime have been better animated as if they were mainstream series. After doing quick research, I found out this series was animated by Satelight. You might be familiar with their previous works: Shuga Chara, Macross, partially worked on Fairy Tail, Log Horizon, Nanbaka, and the AKB48 anime series. The majority of the series this studio worked on are unknown or they didn’t do so well in gainly public praise, so maybe I should’ve seen that coming. However, if you look past the animation, the show is actually very heartwarming. Adachi and Kurosawa are adorable together. So were the side couple Wataya and Tsuge. If I had to compare this anime to the live drama, the side couple were a lot more appealing in the anime because they had more chemistry expressed, and I highly appreciated that. THAT ENDING THOUGH! I ACTUALLY CRIED!
Nijiyon Animation Season 2 (Spring)
Good for What it Was; Still just your typical mini series to the main Nijigasaki girls. Nothing special, but the fluff was fun.
I’m Home, Welcome Home (Spring)
Where’s the Replay Button?; This is the first time that anime has tackled an Omegaverse manga story. If you don’t know what Omegaverse is, it’s way too much to explain it here, but I will tell you that this is the most wholesome of the Omegaverse stories you’ll ever find in the entirety of Japanese manga. I’ve been wondering when I’m gonna find the cutest anime of the year, and Tadaima, Okaeri is it. For some reason, I was surprised that this anime was made by Studio Deen, but at the same time, I should not have been because this is the same studio responsible for Sasaki and Miyano, one of my favorite BL series of all time.
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (Fall)
Wanted to like but it has eh?; This is my very first villainess isekai series, so perhaps I should treat this as a villainess isekai for beginners type of series. It doesn’t specify much about the main character’s life before becoming Alicia, but it pretty much describes the world of the game the MC played prior to being isekaied into the world. While the setup is how you expect the game’s story to go and how Alicia will change up some things, we also start realizing that the game is not following the script not only due to Alicia’s decisions, but because everything is not exactly what it seems in the game. This story had a lot of good elements that could’ve worked in the story, but I think Alicia’s two plots in taking Liz down and helping out this poverty-stricken village don’t seem to mix much at all. Perhaps I’m missing something because this show is based off of a series of ongoing light novels, and this is supposed to be the season one of the whole thing, but even with that being the case, I feel that some characters, especially those who are supposed to be the meat of the plot, are not crafted well, and it’s very hard to tell what Alicia actually wants to do and who she wants to be. I know in game logic, the character of Alicia is supposed to be stubborn, passive aggressive, and confident beyond belief, and there’s only a few moments in which we see the MC actually falter at times. We don’t really see what MC’s end game is supposed to be. Like why is she doing this after being isekaied into the game? Yeah, she wants to be the best villainess in the world, but what exactly does that mean? Again, maybe that’s the point as the source material is still going, but I would like to know more than just that. As a first season, it definitely solidified that I wouldn’t watch the next one if it ever comes around.
Good For What It Was; This series had all the amount of cornball that I needed out of a magical girl parody. I don’t think it’s the perfect parody of the genre, but it was enough its own story to keep me invested in Chizuku, Chroma, and Berry’s character arcs. Chroma is MegaMind levels of hilarious, and I love him so much. I feel that with more episodes that this show could’ve been expanded more, but considering how long it took for even the show to get made in the first place (I think this thing was announced back in 2022!), this was probably the best we were going to get. I found out before posting that this was Studio Voil’s very first series, so it kinda makes sense why it took so long to make. Animation quality is pretty good for a first show though. The first episode did indeed get me invested, and the show kept me invested.
Love Live Superstar Season 3 (Fall)
Where's the Reply Button?; I don’t know what the producers took but the music for this season is a vast improvement compared to season 2. It makes me feel like I’m reliving season 1 all over again. The member plot points feel more fleshed out now than they did last season. The biggest improvement was Natsumi, who we finally get her reasons for why she acts the way she does now that her sister, Tomari, is in the picture. Also, thank you show for writing Keke less like a dick. All of us at the Love Live fandom appreciate that. Shiki is still best girl. The songs are at their peak this season, which is a massive improvement from Season 2, thank the lord.
