Remembering 2017 part 8: Blast from the past!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that this year brings you great success and happiness, however you define them!

For me personally, that might actually involve returning to the past, as least, going by what happened in 2017. I couldn’t quite believe the figure either, but I watched just SEVEN cours of seasonal anime over the last 12 months. Part of the reason is that I did not pick up a single show during the summer season…but another important factor was that I wound up watching a number of older shows. Granted, it says a lot about the nature of the fandom today that, aside from My Neighbour Totoro, the oldest of the shows I watched this year dates from 2011. Nevertheless, whilst this year’s anime gave me a lot of drama and headache, with a touch of comedy, it was definitely the shows of yesteryear that gave me most of my cheer.

First up was Tamako Market. I think I was just enjoying it as an average show produced at Kyoto Animation, trying to pay attention to the visual feasts that that staff at that studio continually put before our eyes. And then episode 9 hit…it took me several weeks to get “Koi no Uta” out of my head after that. In the midst of a figure skating season that has seen the return of my favourite program ever, that is no mean feat! But the highlight of this show for me will always be Tamako Love Story, which was the first story in a very long time that had my heart throbbing in pain at certain romantic developments. It came out on the right side for me, however, which means that Tamako and Mochizou have joined Shaoran and Sakura and Seryou and Yuzuru-sempai as my favourite couples in anime and manga!

Then came the Studio Ghibli showcase, with Princess Kaguya, My Neighbour Totoro and Whisper of the Heart all sticking with me as incredibly powerful experiences. But I’ve already written about how they touched me, so let me move on to the last title that really brightened my year:

Yup, a show that I avoided back when it first came out ended up becoming one of the highlights of my 2017 watchlist, to the point where I’m now hunting for the High Speed and Timeless Medley BDs to add to my growing collection of discs that I don’t yet have the proper viewing equipment for! I’m not sure when I started avoiding sports anime, to be honest. But one thing I realise now is that the three years I spent teaching at a Japanese high school and following one of its better performing sport teams to all the tournaments they took part in is a major reason behind my enjoyment of the Free! franchise, Ace of the Diamond and yes, Sound! Euphonium. One day, I’ll find a way to write about this without revealing too many details about the students I taught, but until then, I’m very much looking forward to the day I have those films in my greedy little hands!