Talking about all the Anime I watched this year [2022] - Part 1

What a year it's been. From being an adamant brat who refused to engage with any form of visual media to being someone who has consumed an absurd number of them since July. I have found so many beautiful works of art and experienced an absurd array of emotions doing so. Staying up late binging shows and crying myself to sleep as I break down emotionally from the weight of it all. The comfort and happiness I felt while watching a piece of media I loved with friends and talking about it and having discussions. It would not be an understatement to say that I have grown as a person and found a far better appreciation for art and what it means to me. What I thought would be a momentary hyper fixation that would gradually go away has taken roots into something more concrete. It's become a part of me in a way I wouldn't have imagined at the start of this year. 

That being said I would like to look back at these last few months and catalogue and write even a little about every piece of anime I watched this year. 

Looks at the list of anime.

Oh boy, we are gonna be here for a while. 

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  Neon Genesis Evangelion - Arguably what started it all. I had started playing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim back in August and I was thoroughly enjoying my time with it. Readers who are aware of the game may know of it's distinctly anime style and presentation. I started Evangelion on a whim on a particularly hot august afternoon. What followed was a 2 day marathon as I was consumed by the fascinating piece of art that was NGE. It opened my eyes to the wide spectrum of things anime as a medium was capable of. Thanks soup, if you are reading this.
  

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  End of Evangelion - A brilliant follow up to the series that made me appreciate it a hell of a lot more. It's one of my favorite movies and quite a significant part of it is because how messy and traumatic the whole ordeal is. Oh also, Komm, Susser Todd.
  
  
  

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  Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - Oh man, what a show. I was unaware of studio Trigger and their work prior to watching this show but I could tell from the first few episodes that I was in for an absolute treat. The visual spectacle, the attention to detail to the most minor things, the distinct character designs and the writing- it all just worked. Having played Cyberpunk 2077 on launch and liking it despite it's horrendous state I was very excited to watch this show and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. Is it flawed? Yes. Does it suffer from pacing issues and a slightly rushed storyline? Yes. Do I think it could have been executed better? Yes. Do I regret watching it? Hell fucking no.
  

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  Lycoris Recoil - A show about cute girls doing very dangerous and cute things. A show that I rewatched thrice since it aired. I don't think Lycoris Recoil is a must-watch, I wouldn't even recommend it to a lot of people but it's undoubtedly a show that appealed to me on a level most shows this year haven't. It's comfy, cheerful, an absolute blast to watch and Chisato Nishigaki is a cinnamon bun of happiness and cuteness. 

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  Princess Principal - Coming off of Lycoris Recoil, I had high expectations from this show and suffice to say that it not only met them but it also surpassed it in a lot of aspects. The steampunk alternate reality depiction of London, the tone and atmosphere of the whole show as well as an excellent cast of characters came together to form something that's very distinct to it's contemporaries. Particularly of note is it's two protagonists- a cold, pathological liar that is Ange Le Carre and an easy going princess Charlotte. The way the whole story unfolds with them at the center is very well executed. 

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  Princess Principal: Crown Handler Movie 1 - Follows up on the story of the original series with a very distinct tone and atmosphere. Depicting the more darker parts of it's world and exploring what it meant to survive in an innately corrupt society- the narrative fleshes out it's characters and world even more whilst providing an interesting mystery to go with it. 
  
  

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  Mob Psycho 100(Season 1,2,3) - The first show I finished watching together with a bunch of friends in what would become a weekly tradition in a discord server I frequent in. The purpose of the party originally was to watch the new RWBY anime (which we never did finish because that show unfortunately turned out to be a fucking mess despite having a somewhat decent start). At any rate, Mob Psycho is endearing, funny, engaging and an absolute spectacle to watch. Blending it's slice of life segments with batshit insane action segments, the show became a joy to watch as a group. As we near the final season finale at the end of the year, I can't help but feel melancholic about the fact that this weekly tradition of watching mob is coming to an end. I can only be thankful of the fact that it got us together in the first place, I suppose.
  

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  Spy x Family - I don't really have a lot to say about this show. It's just a fun, campy ride through and through. The novelty of it's concept and all the hilarity that ensues because of it makes it an easy recommend to basically anyone.
  
  

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  Your Name - When a friend in the server told me to watch a movie and added that he became an emotional wreck watching it, I was immediately interested. I am an emotional masochist through and through after all. 2 hours later I was left a sobbing, broken mess as I lay on my bed trying to come to terms with what I had watched. Your Name is my favorite kind of drama because it tells a simple story with a unique twist. Readers who have watched the movie are aware of what I am talking about. Regardless, Kimi no na wa is absolutely gorgeous, beautifully animated and is very well written. It's one of my favorite movies from this year.

• The girl who leapt through time - Another movie that became one of my favorites of this year. There's not much to be said about something so universally beloved but this is yet another example of a simple concept executed so beautifully. I loved Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo for how it chooses to tackle it's themes and motifs through it's unique narrative premise. 
  

• Garden of Words - Another movie by the director of Your Name, Kotonoha no Niwa is fascinated with rain. The director's love for the rainy season has become evident over the years as his projects all seem to carry this love. The movie's tight focus on it's two characters as they bond over the course of a season is heartwarming to watch. It's shorter runtime works against what could have been a more developed second half but the visuals, atmosphere and music more than make up for a lot of it's shortcomings.
  

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  Violet Evergarden - Even now as I think of the show while I write, I feel my heart tighten up. This show made me cry on every single goddamn episode in it's second half and I never want to watch it ever again. Violet Evergarden is an exploration of a character that has known nothing but war and violence. Violet's struggle to find her purpose in a world that doesn't really need her whilst doing a job that wants her to connect and understand what the people want to say but can't to the people they love is something truly special. Watching this character grow out of her cold, mechanical self and learning to care and love the people around her made me realize again the strengths of the medium of anime. Kyoto Animation's spectacular animation work, beautiful soundscape and direction all come together to create this absolute gem.
  

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  Summer Ghost - Summer Ghost is a perfectly fine movie that is more suitable as a visual experience than for a narrative analysis. It's a story about the last summer, or moreso, the want to not let the final moments of someone's life slip away. The movie does most of it's story telling with it's excellent visual direction and what comes together is a competent but flawed movie about the impermanence of life with a lackluster mystery as a backdrop.

• Weathering with you - Another of Shinkai's work... it's fine. I don't really care for it beyond it's visual presentation, atmosphere and soundscape. Even now, I can't really think of anything notable to say about it. It's a very adequate film. 
  
  
  
  
  

• Gunsmith Cats - A 4 episode OVA centered around the fun romps of two single women who sell guns for a living. It's absurd, very 90s in both good and bad ways and just a fun time in general.
  
  
  
  
  

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  Made in Abyss(1st Season, Movie, 2nd Season) - Making the executive decision to consolidate it into one entry because fuck you it's my list. Made in Abyss is fucking brilliant because it's core theme is literally just "the indomitable strength of the human spirit against the unimaginable horrors of the unknown". Describing this show is futile because more than anything it's a journey of our protagonists as they venture deeper and deeper into the unfathomable depths of the abyss that calls to them. It's grotesque, it's fantastic, it's horrifying and yet even through it all it's characters struggle and venture deeper. It's a one-way ticket after all.
  

• Belle - It's alright. I think this movie wasn't really *for* me because it's a movie centered around it's visual presentation and music first and foremost. And while the visuals were definitely stunning, the music and the narrative centered around it definitely didn't do it for me.
  
  

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  Ghost in the Shell - A seminal work of early cyberpunk media and definitely a classic. I had expected to like it going in as a fan of the genre but I was still surprised by the atmosphere that was oozing from the whole thing. The haunting soundscape works succinctly with it's world and narrative to create something truly special.
  

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  Dance Dance Danseur - If you asked me if I would enjoy an anime about ballad, I would have looked at you and questioned your sanity. I did enjoy this show however. A studio MAPPA show, the same studio behind the recent Chainsaw Man adaptation, Danseur knows how to have fun and tell a good story to go with it. This is what Your lie in April (more on that later) hopes to be. Tackling the themes of growing up and living up to other's expectations and finding meaning in what you do, the 11 episode show shows a messy cast of characters with their own struggles and shortcomings as they deal with their problems in their own way. Faced with a choice between his dream and the people around him he has come to love and care for, our protagonist chooses the former and I think that is what made this show so poignant to me.
  

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  Call of the Night - Ah to talk about an anime with vampires and romance, a recipe for disaster. I like Yofukashi no Uta. I like it quite a bit. It's an absolute vibe to watch as it showcases the night time in a way I have seen very few pieces of media do. It portrays the night like it's an otherworldly place with it's own set of rules and people. It's drenched in such strong atmosphere that you could practically swim in it. The soundscape is excellent and each of it's characters come with their own insecurities to them that led them to seek the refuse of the night in the first place. Is it always questionable talking about the romantic subplot that ensues between a 14 y/o teenager and a 36 y/o vampire, despite the show making a point that she's mentally a teenager as well? Yes. But Call of the Night avoids crossing the line from questionable to problematic. And that, I think, is an important distinction.
  

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  Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari - This is the biggest franchise I have tackled this year and as such is impossible to condense into a single entry thus I have decided to tackle it in bunches of one or two shows interspersed with other entries. Bakemonogatari made me fall in love with Shaft as a studio. The visual flair, avant-garde presentation, excellent writing of each of it's unique and interesting cast of characters and an over arching narrative that runs through each individual entry of the series- Bakemonogatari tells it's narrative through 5 different character arcs that server to introduce the main cast and their problems. A strong narrative throughline of the series as a whole is that "the only one who can help you is yourself" and as such our main character, the ever dubious and sometimes despicable, Araragi Koyomi is but a storyteller as he seeks to help, or rather, help each of the characters help themselves. The excellent soundscape and voice acting complement the brilliant writing and dialogue of and between the entire cast. Nisemonogatari is a continuation telling the story of Araragi's two sisters. It also has some... very problematic bits that makes it very hard for me to ever recommend monogatari to anyone.
  

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  Komi can't Communicate(1st season, 2nd season) - A fun slice of life romcom about a very pretty girl with such absurd levels of social anxiety that she is unable to speak a single word to anyone. Komi-san is a fun show first and foremost because yes it's funny to see someone absolutely fall apart when trying to buy an ice cream. All of it's side character are reliant on surface level gags and the only long form character arc that the show goes through with is between Komi and certified giga-chad Tadano, the very average boy who is very good at reading people. Over the course of it's two seasons, it's heart warming to see Komi grow as a person and learn to make friends as well as seeing the relationship between the protagonists deepen.
  

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  Summertime Render - I fucking love this show. It's a murder mystery that takes place in the course of 3 days with the main hook being the fact that it's a massive elaborate time loop. I don't want to say too much about it because understanding how well thought out all of it is, is part of the joy in watching it. Suffice to say however that it's one of the more well executed pieces of time travel media I have watched. It's complemented very well by an excellent cast of characters, well directed action sequences and music by the composer of the Nier series. Perhaps my one one criticism of it would be how it sort of becomes a borderline shounen battle anime in the final few episodes.
  

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  Horimiya - I started reading Horimiya while I was on my trip to Nepal. Little did I know that I would end up reading my favorite piece of romcom in recent memory. Watching the anime thereafter was a beautiful experience because it manages to encapsulate 14 volumes of the manga into a well paced, tightly executed 12 episodes. Horimiya is so good because it manages to capture what I like about the genre the most. The fun back and forth of the couple, a well written cast of characters with good chemistry and the very grounded way in which they solve misunderstandings and come to term with their own shortcomings. It's a story where instead of a jealousy arc taking a dramatic several episode long arc, it's resolved by the girl... just asking the boy about it. Perhaps I am jaded by the sheer amount of romcoms I have read over the years but Horimiya was just such a breath of fresh air that I can't help but think of it as one of my favorite things of this year.
  

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  Nekomonogatari Kuro, Monogatari Second Season - The former of this is the start of the multi season arc centered around second best girl, Hanekawa Tsubasa and her personal struggles of not belonging anywhere and trying to pretend to be a studious upstanding person despite living in an uncaring cold household full of people who wouldn't even notice if she was gone. I think what monogatari does so well is take these sort of scenarios and push them to their logical extreme with it's supernatural elements. What we get as a result, is some of the most emotionally resounding character arcs in all of anime. Second season later on starts setting up the seeds of the overarching narrative that will take centerpieces in the subsequent entries. 

This concludes the first part of the blog series that I will try to put up in the next few days. We still have several entries to work through so bear with me here, alright? See you in the next one!

PART 2