A Love Letter to 2016, postscript: the list…and a brief look at what’s in store for 2017!
January 6, 2017 5 Comments
And so, that was my 2016 in Anime. I definitely have not enjoyed a year in anime this much since at least 2010—and to be honest, I’m not even sure I enjoyed that year as much as I did this one. I should probably admit that most of it comes down to one anime, and one anime alone. When I started following figure skating a couple of years back, and dove even deeper into it over the 2015-2016 season, I honestly did not expect that I’d be able to marry these two hobbies of mine so soon. So Yuri!!! on ICE was a huge revelation for me, even though I soon found myself in the tiny group within the fandom that loved it primarily as a show about the sport. Despite the production issues that ultimately prevented the show from surpassing Rakugo Shinju as my top TV pick, I will never stop praising Yamamoto-san and Kubo-sensei for the story they set out to tell. But I’ll spare you any more gushing at this point—in exchange for the warning that there’ll be several more thousands of words over the next few months!
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Looking back now, I think I definitely spent quite a few more hours on this hobby this past year compared to the previous one. Although I cut down a lot on my forum participation—the frustrations I started feeling in 2015 only got worse in 2016, though that’s a rant for another day—it wasn’t difficult for me to fill that space. Besides my two trips to Japan, I also found myself translating a whole lot more, what with the On ‘Anime Writing’ project that I launched in April and, more recently, all the Yuri!!! on ICE stuff has been posted both here and elsewhere. I hope you’ve found them useful and, in some cases, fun and amusing!
Many thanks to those of you who’ve read my stuff and left comments and feedback! This kind of effort would not be worth it if you were not around, and I hope you’ve found my posts useful or interesting in some way or other. Thank you especially to the other bloggers and translators I’ve been working with (you know who you are). Translating behind-the-scenes material to share is something that I’ve loved doing ever since I started back in 2010/2011, and I’m incredibly grateful that you’ve helped me get even better translations out there this year. And thank you also to everyone else who’s interacted with me on Twitter and Tumblr, where I’ve had many an interesting discussion. I’m still something of a small fry in this little corner of the fandom, so I’m a bit stunned at how many people followed me…especially since I have some rather unpopular interpretations of a number of popular or critically acclaimed shows! But if you don’t mind that, then I hope to see you around in the coming year as well!
Looking ahead, I do have some rather ambitious plans on the translation and blogging front, including several more editorials about how screenwriting ‘fits’ into the anime production process. Some of it will have to wait until I’ve sorted the non-anime side of my life out over the next few months. But in the meantime, you can expect more YOI stuff…as well as an interview with a pair of veteran voice actors about a show that’s returning to our screens tonight!
And of course, as usual, the list is under the cut!
Series/Shows that ended in 2016 (season/s)
Daiya no Ace 2nd season (Spring 2015—Winter 2016)
Osomatsu-san (Fall 2015—Winter 2016)
Durarara!!x2 Ketsu (Winter 2016)
ERASED [Boku Dake ga Inai Machi] (Winter 2016)
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (Winter 2016)
Bungou Stray Dogs (Spring and Fall 2016)
Joker Game (Spring 2016)
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Spring 2016)
Macross ∆ (Spring—Summer 2016)
91 Days (Summer 2016)
orange (Summer 2016)
Battery (Summer 2016)
Food Wars: The Second Plate (Summer 2016)
Sweetness and Lightning (Summer 2016)
The Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance (Summer 2016)
Yuri!!! on ICE (Fall 2016)
Sound! Euphonium 2 (Fall 2016)
The Great Passage (Fall 2016)
WWW.WORKING!! (Fall 2016)
Feature length anime/OVAs seen in 2016
A Silent Voice
The Ancient Magus’ Bride episode 1
Anthem of the Heart
Classmates
Kizumonogatari: Tekketsu
Kizumonogatari: Nekketsu
Sound! Euphonium (film)
your name.
ACG-related Live Action seen in 2016
Chihayafuru 1 & 2
Orange
Older films/series that I watched or rewatched
From the New World [Shinsekai Yori]
Commentaries
Knights of Sidonia S1
Say “I love you” [Sukitte Ii na yo]
Sound! Euphonium film
Continuing
March Lion (Fall 2016–Winter 2017)
Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans S1 (Fall 2015—Winter 2016)
Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans S2 (Fall 2016—Winter 2017)
Dropped (episodes watched — quick comments)
HaruChika (2 — this was difficult to watch after the sublime Eupho)
Sekkou Boys (1)
Twin Star Exorcists (1)
Mayoiga (3)
Kiznaiver (3)
Tanaka-kun (3)
ReLIFE (3 — it’s funny, and probably addresses some key questions about contemporary Japanese society…but there were far too many other interesting shows I wanted to watch…)
Mob Psycho 100 (3 — this show looks amazing…I don’t know, I may try it again one day.)
Izetta the Last Witch (3)
Western Film
Captain America: Civil War
Arrival
Rogue One
About karice
HOT CHOCOLATE IN A BOWL 
Oh, thoughts on Chihayafuru live? Pretty much just a faithful adaptation of the first season, but I was really into it once I got past my initial casting nitpicks. Watched this in my country’s annual Japanese film fest, and read some interesting insight from the director from the program booklet (particularly in regards of visual effect and choosing which narrative parts to highlight/cut).
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I’ve still got several pages of notes on those two movies… orz. Actually, seeing it the second time, it became clear that they adapted parts from both seasons of the anime, to the point where you might regard the live action films as a separate retelling, a compressed retelling, perhaps… I’m still not sure how I feel about it, and it may well depend on what happens with how they wrap the story up with the next film(s).
Out of curiosity, which of the cast in particular were you a bit nitpicky about at first?
Oh? The director had some interesting things to say about techniques and narrative choice? I’ve got to check out the pamphlets I picked up from Japan then.
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Ah, yes… 2016 was a good year in animation and how YOI captured everyone’s lives (especially the female audience) with its hype and character development~
You should try Mob Psycho 100 again! The show is actually really great and Mob is super duper cute and the animation is baller (probably one of the best shows with sakuga moments). I’d def rec trying Flip Flappers too (the dimension traveling with 2 magical girls is pretty awesome plus 100x more sakuga moments).
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It’s funny, because I’ve seen so many people claim it wasn’t a particular good year. I suppose one explanation is that two (three) of the shows that I’ve enjoyed the most are ones that I’ve convinced most of the Western fandom have misinterpreted to varying degrees…? Oh, and also because it was a great year for anime films, but there’s absolutely nothing that can be done about that, unless Western licensors are somehow able to bring them over more often!
Maybe one day! I very much suspect that Mob and Flip Flappers are the types of shows that I can appreciate for great animation etc, but which I’ll be like “yeah, not quite my kind of story.” For better or worse, story and characters are still some of the most important aspects of any show for me, no matter the medium. But I’ll give Mob and Reigen another chance at some point, hopefully!
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