I realize I haven’t written anything here in a while, even though I (weakly) purport this to be a podcast and a blog of sorts. After I switched to podcasts just this year for our Anime Secret Santa reviews, there’s not much reason for me to write anymore. I got another blog (that I still need to write a first post for) and ever mounting Fandom Post work to do instead of writing here.
But here I am. Writing for the Taiiku Podcast, a thought to be extinct blog, yet still thriving podcast. But you were wrong. The words shall be shed. Here and now.
We do a now yearly (I can call it yearly, right? I’ve been doing it for three years now…) round up with a bunch of folks about our top anime of the year and top movies of the year. It’s the anime I’ll focus on here, because something happened this year that hadn’t before: There was consensus. Never before in the Taiiku Podcast’s history had all of the guests coalesced around one show so strongly. But 2016 did. Fitting that we did, in a year we should be more together than ever.
It got me wondering, though: What was the consensus every other year? Love had to come through for a particular show, even if it wasn’t as strong as this year. I thankfully still had my list from this year and last year, but I had to skip around 2014’s podcast to find what all our tops were.
Compiling this list, I gave a simple 1-5 number value to each show. Number ones got 5 points, and number fives got 1 point.
2014
- Space Dandy*
- Ping Pong the Animation*
- Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun / Aldnoa.Zero
- Mekakucity Actors / Yamishibai / Silver Spoon / Hunter x Hunter
- The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior / Tonari no Seki-kun / Love Live / Kill la Kill / Barakamon / Samurai Flamenco
- Nisekoi / Mushishi The Next Passage / Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
- Witchcraft works / Gundam Reconguista in G / Short Peace / Hi-sChool! Seha Girls
For those that don’t remember, I brought Camellia, Chris, Kyle, and Tony onto this podcast. It’s the only one with five people, and the diverging opinions we had are really showcased in just how many shows are packed in the last for slots.
The list here is also a little complicated, since Chris and Kyle pulled a few audibles at the last minute. Chris specifically had a list of 18 shows and he was just gonna talk about whatever no one else was talking about, but also that he loved.
* Given the above, Chris also said Ping Pong the Animation was his definitive number one of the year, but he chose Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun to talk about instead since no one else talked about it.
2015
- Shirobako
- Yowapeda / Yuri Kuma Arashi
- SCHOOL-LIVE! / Gundam Reconguista in G / Prison School
- Ushio and Tora / Maria the Virgin Witch
- Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders / My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO!
- Digimon Adventure tri / Gatchaman Crowds insight / Your lie in April
- My Love Story!! / Sound! Euphonium / Food Wars! / Wakakozake
These anime were compiled by me, Chris, Tom, and Patz. Chris had, around this time, become the de-facto co-host of the show, and I’ll always have him on these top list podcasts.
This list also shows the beginnings of coalescence between our lists. The top was decisive, but close (Yowapeda and Yuri Kuma Arashi both received no first place votes). It also shows what a weird year 2015 was. There was no real consensus over what stood above. It either means it was a lot of great shows and none broke through to excellence…or there were a lot of good, but not great, shows.
2016
- Yuri!!! on Ice
- Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
- Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable
- Mob Psycho 100
- Ace of Diamond / Love Live Sunshine / Keijo!!!!!!!!
- Food Wars! The Second Plate
- Haikyu / Lupin III Part IV
- Sweetness and Lightning / Re:Zero / To Be Hero / Erased
This year’s podcast featured the returning champ and now-official co-host, Chris. And joining us were the Oldtaku no Radio crew, Ink and Jared. This year also revealed something that never happened…coalescence. Our top four shows didn’t tie with anything else, but one stood above them all. Yuri!!! on Ice appeared on all our lists, and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu would have been number two on my list had it not been for the fact that I knew it would be on Ink and Jared’s (which would plop it decisively behind Yuri!!! on Ice and kick Sweetness and Lightning out entirely).
But never before had we all loved a show enough – or more accurately, all watched a show – that it would appear on all our lists. 2016 was a special year for particular anime, and both Yuri!!! on Ice and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu stood above them all.
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I’d love to do a podcast on the top anime of 2013, because it was such a strong year for anime. Alas, I haven’t watched many of those anime since 2013 and the memory is rusty. But I’d like to see how it compares to the rest of the lists, and see how strongly opinions come out fighting in it.