Okay, so this year more than any other I've searched out anime. In the past I hit up the favorites (Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun) and took some suggestions (which is how I found Mushi-shi and Elfen Leid), but this year I really dug deep and tried to find stuff on my lonesome. I think it was a fairly successful year! I thought I'd use this thread to show the good and the bad and get others' opinions on my goods and bads while others posted their own goods and bads for the year and we discuss those.

Note: I know it's strange to start this list at the beginning of March, but that's when I started Netflix 'round 4 years ago, so that's where I start my viewing year on the internets.

Anyway! Here's my list:

Darker than Black -- An enjoyable watch about a shift in the world's physical properties, filled with good action and dark stories, but I must admit the anime didn't stick with me much. I watched it a year ago, and I'm having trouble coming up with major plot points, let alone details. I wasn't driven enough by the first season to seek out the second. Not bad, but I don't think it will ever be on one of my top lists.

Hetalia Axis Powers -- Irreverent fun in bite-sized episodes. . A I loved this one, and it helps to be a tiny bit of a history nerd.

Moribito -- Gorgeous animation, classical setting, a grounded story, distinct characters that felt "real". I want to read the original novels, I liked this so much.

Ouran High School Host Club -- One of the funniest anime I've ever seen, with one of my favorite female characters. A definite win.

Black Butler -- Okay, it was terrible. I watched every bit of it, and I don't know why. Maybe the voice actor for Sebastian? The dub was just frightful, the story was lame, the baddie was okay but not really memorable. blegh.

Eden of the East -- By far my favorite of the year. I loved every minute of it, which is good since it was so damn short. I liked the mystery, I liked the ending (still need to watch the movies for a full ending, I suppose, but the series was fine), I liked what they were trying to say about the youth in modern Japan. It was just a cool story.

Baccano! -- My second favorite for the year. Pure fun, with gore, a billion characters, silliness, and three stories that wrap around each other fantastically.

Princess Tutu -- Cute, sometimes dark, great music, nice subversion of the magical girl series. I think I'm giving this to my niece when she gets a little older. Perfect for kids.

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World -- No. I refused to finish this boring, poorly animated, poorly dubbed...thing.

Angel Beats -- Fun! Also, about purgatory. But Fun! I don't think it'll stick in my head, though.

Last Exile -- I haven't finished it yet, but I'm already giving this my thumbs up.

Anyway, anyone else have a list?

Everyone, whether a fan of the mahoshoujo genre or not (that's magical girls, like Sailor Moon) should watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica through at least Episode 3 (if it doesn't grip you then, it won't). It's a brilliant deconstruction of the genre.

I haven't been watching a lot of anime this year, but I wanted to suggest Madoka before Ruan got here to do so.

The sad thing is, I -was-, too... and I do agree with FB. It's a great deconstruction of mahou shoujo. And you do pretty much have to watch until the end of ep 3 before you're allowed to actually make a decision.

...I didn't even have to watch the first episode. When you have Kalafina doing the music and the writer for Saya no Uta for the story... yeaaah.

Alright, other suggestions. Specifically from this season:

Bakemonogatari->Nisemonogatari - I know people who swear by this anime, and from what I've seen it does have its points. It's Shaft, so expect odd graphics, and it's pretty wordy. 2nd season is currently underway.

Amagami SS->Amagami SS+ - Probably the closest thing to a pure love school eroge - and I mean in the 'pure love', less eroge - that I've seen in anime form, as it involves the protagonist going to high school and falling in love with heroines - what I enjoyed about it is it actually does different routes, with several episodes devoted to each girl's routes. SS+ is essentially the equivalent of a 'fan disk' - extra episodes expanding on the individual routes. Obviously, romance comedy - not actually really high on ecchi, though it is there.

Ano Natsu de Matteru - by the same creator as Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins. Once again, romance comedy, but this one's more serious with some drama. Very well done - I've liked it a lot better than Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins - not that those were bad, its just that this is good.

Daily Lives of High School Boys - Slice of life, boys in high school. Pretty funny. It's essentially this season's Nichijou, but sadly lacks the character equivalent of the Professor and Nano.

Sousei no Aquarion->Aquarion Evol - first of, the series has a fantastic soundtrack. Secondly... it refuses to take itself seriously, particularly this season with Evol (two separate storylines, possible reincarnations of characters?). It falls under the category of unintentionally hilarious for most of Sousei, and intentionally hilarious with Evol.

Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku - adapted from a light novel series about a girl who inherits a space privateer ship. Been enjoying the anime as a good change of pace... it seems to be fine with taking things nice and slow, development wise, and really reminds me of more old-school sci-fi anime.

Rinne no Lagrange - I'm also enjoying quite a bit. Mecha series, really like all of the characters. A bit odd at times, but good.

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Outside of this season...

Hellsing OVAs - dark, bloody, gory, very well animated, follows the manga exactly... pretty much everything the original Hellsing anime did not do, this does. Excellent manga adaptation.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood - the first FMA series was... good. Prior to seeing Brotherhood, I would have said great. But Brotherhood is just... better. All around, extremely well done. If you haven't watched Brotherhood, and liked the first FMA series, you should really watch this.

Let's see... Anime I've been watching since last we had a thread about anime.

Toaru Majutsu No Index. It takes place inside Academy City where research into Psychic abilities is performed. All students that reside within Academy City are Espers, capable of phenomenal cosmic power to some degree or another. The series follows a young boy named Kamijou Touma. He possesses the Level 0 ability Imagine Breaker which can be used to cancel out all other supernatural abilities.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. It's about a group of social rejects who band together in an attempt to figure out how to make friends and be popular. Mostly they just sit around playing video games but every now and again they'll come up with a ploy to try and learn how to fit in with the people around them. The younger sister of the main character is a Gothic Loli Vampire Otaku who frequently gets into fights with the twelve year old nun who supervises activities for the group.

Seitokai No Ichizon. The student council for the school in question elects its members entirely by how popular they are with the student body, except for the blue chip position which automatically goes to the student with the highest grades. Needless to say, all the student council members are Bishojou (beautiful girls) except for one. The blue chip position is held by Ken Sugisaki, who loudly and publicly declares that every last one of the girls on the student council will be part of his harem. They spend the first five minutes of the first episode debating whether or not the source material their show is based off of should have even been developed into an anime in the first place.

Seto No Hanayome. The protagonist is forced to marry into the mermaid mafia or die. Most episodes revolve around the protagonist trying to keep safe the secret of the existence of mermaids while simultaneously fending off assassination attempts from his would-be father-in-law who doesn't want him marrying his daughter.

Anyone watch anything they would not recommend? Something to avoid?

I tend to have really broad tastes in anime, and they generally have to be pretty bad for me to recommend against someone watching them. That said, depending on a person's preferences, I can probably tell them about anime that they probably won't like.

For instance, those who don't like crying should probably avoid watching anything based off a Key game.... Clannad, Air, and Kanon.

Essentially, if you can tell me anime that you have not liked, I can probably extrapolate a few more that you probably would not like due to similarities between anime.

Now and Then.

It is one of the most beautiful Amine I've ever seen and I won't recommend it to anyone. As the end credits roll by, you will feel dead inside.

Do you mean Now and Then, Here and There? I remember seeing that on CN, but I don't think I watched the whole thing.

Um ... Yes I do. Sorry. My brain stopped half way through. From memory it doesn't turn really dark until past the half way mark. Maybe even past the three quarter mark.

I've started watching the anime called Another. It's... kind of freaking me out, actually.

Currently watching Nodame Cantabile, which is a slice of life/romantic comedy about an eccentric piano student and an arrogant aspiring conductor. Well-written, good character development, and surprisingly educational in terms of music.

Nodame Cantabile actually has a pretty good live action adaptation as well.

Now Kea and I are watching Mawaru Penguindrum. It's weird, to say the least.

And my friend got me to start watching Heartcatch Precure. Wait, wait, hear me out: the animation is amazing, and it's genuinely funny for a kids' magical girl show. Because they went with a more cartoonish and gesture-friendly design, the animators rarely do shoddy work, and the action animation is top-notch a lot of the time, more so than the average Precure show. If you have a high tolerance for frilly princess clothes and the colors pink and aquamarine, or watched Sailor Moon instead of Dragonball Z in the 90's, I recommend it.

Bonus trivia: the nun from Toaru Majutsu no Index and the nun from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai are voiced by the same voice actress, hence the reference in the latter show.

Finally getting around to Monster! Yay!

*shudder*

Also, Last Exile was perty good :D

Finally getting around to Monster! Yay!

*shudder*

Also, Last Exile was perty good :D