2017 was the year the Anime industry went into overdrive.
I mean, I hope I'm not the only one who feels this.
You have the big boys just fucking pouring in money trying to get a piece of that pie.
More anime coming out than any of us could ever conceivably watch,
and the medium itself starting to break out to the mainstream consensus.
In terms of the actual anime that came out, however, I'd say, overall,
it was OK.
We have the usual standouts in Action, Slice of Life, and Romance.
Isekai shows no sign of slowing down,
to the point where a piece of my soul gets transported to another world
every time have I to say, "transported to another world."
[applause in the background] But we're getting to see the revival of traditional fantasy again!
[applause in the background] Who would have thought?
Mecha fans, though, unfortunately, once again were left in the dust.
I'm sorry, mecha fans!
2018 is gonna be your year, I swear to God!
But I think what was really missing this year
was that new big breakout hit to really capture the community.
Alright, enough bullshit.
Crunchyroll are, once again, hosting the Anime Awards and
well, I know our memories are still fresh about what happened last year.
But they've had time to listen to...
[arguing in the background] The small amount of criticism that they got,
and have an entirely new award system.
It's not perfect, but just looking at the nominations, it's already a hell of a lot better.
Your votes still matter,
but judges hold equal power over the outcome, to avoid this being the 'Yuri!!! on Ice' season 2 Awards.
They've asked me to give my opinions of the best things to come out of Anime in 2017.
For full disclosure:
I am not being paid to make this video,
but they are flying me out to the event cause it's gonna be a live show this year,
which should be very interesting.
And, without further ado, here we go.
It's no secret that CG and Anime have not had the best relationship.
For years, it's like the two have been put into an arranged marriage that neither side wants to be in.
For every small step forward Polygon Pictures took with their work,
we got a 'Berserk (2017)';
taking us so many steps back, we moonwalked back to the Jurassic Era.
And the best we could ever hope for was something like all 10 episodes-
Yes, count them, *10* episodes of 'KADO: The Right Answer'
That could give us a story interesting enough that we could look past the CG.
For me, though, the worst thing is a show like 'Inuyashiki',
where the CG is not bad, but it's the constant switching from
2D to 3D to 2D to 3D to 2D again,
oh, no, wait we're 3D again to
God, just make up your fucking mind already!
Being incredibly jarring in any scene that just makes you want to scream:
"Jesus Christ, just get a divorce already!"
"It is painful to see you two try to force this and make it work!"
But this year, 'Land of the Lustrous' came along and told us:
♪ Land of the Lustrous OST - Phosphophyllite ♪
"You know what?"
"Maybe all those years of marriage counseling finally did you some good."
[ ORA ORA ORA ]
Action is judged by the quality of their action scenes.
Which, in Anime, of course, is dominated by
[echoed yelling] the good old Anime fight scenes!
Which, you know, I'm a bit of fan of.
And 2017 was no exception.
'Boruto' came out carrying Naruto's torch
of putting all your year's resources into one amazing fight.
'Fate/Apocrypha' had some fantastic looking fights, but
God damn, do I not give a shit about this series
or any of the characters involved to let these fights have an impact.
And even Kyoto Animation were flexing for the hell of it with these one or two little moments.
They were just like:
"Hey, that's a cool fight scene."
"I mean, we're just here making a cute little moe show, so there's nothing we can do to really compet-"
[INTENSE GRUNTING NOISES]
[clearing throat]
"Sorry, don-don't know what came over me there, but uh"
"nice, nice fight scenes."
"They're cute."
In terms of singular big fights, though,
factoring in overall build up, writing, execution, and animation
'My Hero Academia' just took the piss, competing against itself for the top spot
with Deku vs. Todoroki and Stain vs. the U.A. Alliance.
Then, somewhere over here
is Eren vs. the Armored Titan for its fantastic technical choreography of a Grappler vs. Striker fight.
I'll also put Kiss-Shot vs. Araragi somewhere in the middle
for its technical prowess, and just how fucking fun and ridiculous it was.
Now, for those wondering where Goku vs. Jiren is:
I haven't actually been watching 'Dragon Ball Super', nor do I feel like marathoning a hundred episodes right now,
and for a fight of that magnitude I'm not just gonna watch it out of context,
but from the reaction I've seen, it'll be a contender for the top spot.
That being said, in terms of overall action the show that most consistently put the biggest smile on my face was
'Re:CREATORS'
Which isn't even a nomination, by the way.
Now, how can I be arguing this over other contenders,
which are probably, technically, better executed?
Well, you know what?
As great as everything else was
I've seen Yutaka Nakamura cuts,
I've seen brilliantly choreographed fights,
I've seen well written and well built-up stories concluded with fists.
Do you know what I haven't seen?
Fucking magical girl versus fantasy knight.
'JoJo's' characters versus visual novel villains.
Harem love interest getting powered up and combating fighting game characters.
A small mech with a big mech versus small mechs with big mechs and a small little girl an-
What is even happening?!
These scenes were the rule of cool on steroids.
It's a full-on wet dream for anyone who likes meta media, and is a fan of Anime.
It's not perfect, it's not completely polished,
but God damn is it so much fucking fun.
Rei Hiroe is a bloody madman for writing this concept,
and I salute him for it.
[old film projector noise]
In recent times, Anime films have had a different treatment internationally.
Before, no matter how excited you were for a film, there'd be no way for you to watch it,
unless you invested years of your life learning Japanese and had a fresh plane ticket to Japan.
Or, alternatively you could've watched cam-rips,
which, I'm sure none of you did because we're not fucking savages.
In contrast, 2017 was the year we could start seeing Anime films regularly.
Largely thanks to licensing companies being on the ball,
with international releases quicker than we've ever seen before.
If a film was announced there was actually a chance you'd see some screenings
if you live near a populated area, which was amazing!
Even though America with their 'Your Name.' release was more like
[from the other side of the room] Well...
[from the other side of the room] Well, at least we got there eventually.
But thanks to that, 'Your Name.' is up for nomination for Best Film this year.
So of course there was only ever gonna be one pick for my favorite Anime film to get an American release:
'Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale'
[holding back laughter]
[bad flute sounds]
Music in Anime is important to me -
if you didn't already know -
but there weren't many shows I watched this year
that actively made me want to go back and listen to the tracks, over and over again.
'Re:CREATORS' continued Hiroyuki Sawano's legacy of composing the same five awesome songs
in his latest attempt to induce pure, unadulterated soundgasms by blowing off your eardrums,
and I still fucking love it.
I mean, I went into this show completely blind and when I first heard the tracks my first thought was jokingly:
[yelling] AYE AYE, IT'S JUST A BIT LOUD ISN'T IT?
[yelling] YEAH YEAH, I-I-I-IT'S JUST A TAD LOUD
Do you think, by chance, we're about to hear a Sawano drop?
Hahah
Ahahaha
Uh-
[Sawano drop]
Wait, are you fucking kiddi-
[really loud] ♪ Re:CREATORS OST - Layers ♪
But, to me, there were only two clear contenders for the top spot,
and they were both Fantasy shows.
'Magus' Bride' consistently had pieces that would leave you in awe of the natural beauty of the world it was in.
They'd fit right in with something like the documentary 'Planet Earth,'
that makes you just want to sit back and reflect on Nature's beauty,
while setting the tone of this magical, fantastical place.
And I think with all tracks considered, it has the strongest OST, overall.
But in terms of individual tracks that blew me away, I have to go with
Kevin Penkin's work on 'Made in Abyss.'
I mean, I've already used this drop so many fucking times already,
but fuck you!
This is my video, and I want to hear it again.
♪ Made in Abyss OST - Hanezeve Caradhina ♪
I could be mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, or doing anything else,
but if I hear these tracks time stops, and it just immediately transports me to another world.
Oh, no, wait-
Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!
Huge credit to Kevin Penkin for composing it all.
Who, surprisingly enough by his name, is not Japanese!
Who could've known?
Yes, he's actually an Australian bloke,
though, there's absolutely no way you'd be able to tell that just by talking to him.
♪ "I come from a land down under" ♪ ♪ Men At Work - Down Under ♪
When I first watched 'Made in Abyss,' I wasn't looking forward to it.
I took one look at the poster and thought:
"Man, I don't wanna watch another stupid-ass loli-adventure-slice of life-nothing show."
But as soon as that first big song hit, I was absolutely blown away.
I marveled at the beauty and scale of the journey I was about to undertake
that enveloped me into this new world.
I was ready to explore.
I was ready to feel.
And just with one track, it had sold me on the entire series.
[instruments stop playing]
Last year, 'Rakugo' was the underground breakout hit, that all the critics were praising as
the one, amazing, overlooked, Drama masterpiece.
With 'March comes in like a lion' and 'Fune wo Amu' left in the back like:
[from the back of the room] Hey, you know, we were-
[from the back of the room] we were pretty good, too.
This year, 'Rakugo' came back in full force
as the auteur pick of the Anime that really gave us the masterclass of
a beautifully written, delicately crafted Drama series.
And, once again,
'March comes in like a lion' season 2 was there in the back like:
[from the back of the room] Yeah, you know, still-
[from the back of the room] still pretty good, too.
And as much as I'm joking about this,
I'm one of the people who never got back to it, despite thinking it had an amazing first episode
and hearing from a few people, who did watch it, that it was, indeed, amazing.
So, with that in mind, I don't think I'm fully equipped to judge this category,
as I feel like it's a contest between these two shows.
Since, as great as the drama in 'Made in Abyss' and 'Magus' Bride' was,
their strength lies in other places, too.
And the award really needed its own Fantasy Genre Award,
so that these two shows can duke it out
over the corpse of every Isekai show that have come out in the past few years.
[laugh track]
I don't usually like Anime Comedies.
It's hard for me to find a show that doesn't rely too heavily on Anime slapstick,
or that one joke being beaten over our heads, continually.
And, any that I do like usually are only able to get a small chuckle out of me, at most.
So, I normally look over Comedy Anime compared to other genres
But, despite that, I found the show this year that continually had me rolling around laughing.
Every episode had something new, it did not overstay its welcome,
and it was an experience I could not stop laughing at, for one reason or another.
And that show was:
'KonoSuba' Season-
'Neo Yokio.'
I am not joking.
["sexy" music playing while Gigguk slowly says "sakuga"]
When talking about animation, it's very easy to focus entirely on Action and Fight scenes,
which we've already covered.
So, I wanted to take this time to talk about
some miscellaneous things that've just stood out to me visually,
like 'Land of the Lustrous's' amazingly dynamic fight scenes!
Which, were not actually my favorite shots in this show,
as that belongs to this long shot of Diamond - this girl - trying to hide from a monster.
I love the way the camera follows her around to build that tension, and really get you into her shoes
giving that sense of claustrophobia.
And a shot like this is something that fully takes advantage of doing a 3D Anime,
which, *mmph* brilliant cinematography.
Okay, not so much animation, but speaking of not-animation
the Ghibli inspired landscapes in 'Made in Abyss' were just
*mwah*
absolutely breathtaking.
I could stare at panning shots of these landscapes all fucking day long,
cause these were the sexiest things to come out of 2017.
"Draw me like you draw one of your 'Made in Abyss' backgrounds."
[furious breathing] "Oh yeah"
For real though, my favorite animation this year came out of 'A Silent Voice',
specifically for the character animation.
Yes, I know It's unfair to compare movie animation to TV series,
but tell that to the judges.
To express emotion without any words is a hard enough skill for professional actors to convey in live-action,
so it blows my mind how Kyoto Animation were able to do it so well with a fucking drawing.
Which is something we don't see so often
in a medium that has no problem expressing itself through dialogue and exposition.
['Fate/Apocrypha' characters all talking over each other]
Gigguk: "Can you repeat that please? I'm not quite getting it."
In contrast, this girl says more saying nothing than 90% of Anime characters who can talk all fucking day long,
through the nuance of her facial expression and body language.
Never before have I seen so many complex emotions, so subtly conveyed in a look, or an action.
And, all I can say is I feel no one could have tackled this better than Kyoto Animation.
Who, for all these years, were just training - levelling up, so now they have reached their absolute final form of:
Cute Girl Animation.
But, if I can't go with movies,
even though I could never get into 'Little Witch Academia,'
even I have to admit how breathtaking some of the cuts were.
If 'Magus' Bride' was able to give a magical atmosphere,
'Little Witch' was magic in motion.
Now, if only there was something more I could actually latch on to-
♪ Gurren Laggan OP - Sorairo Days in the background ♪ Ohohohoho! Wait! Wait! Shit!
♪ Gurren Laggan OP - Sorairo Days in the background ♪ Are they doing the reference I think they're doing?!
Slice of Life feels like a bit of a cluttered category,
as it looks like the Awards have combined Slice of Life and Romance,
so I'm just gonna split these up myself.
Slice of Life was an easy decision for me,
because aside from what I'm sure is most people's pick being in Comedy,
'Girls' Last Tour' was a show about cute girls doing cute things,
and I actually liked it.
Yes, that's right. Cute moe girls have finally broken down Garnt "Motherfucking Tea" Gigguk
And I'm not sure exactly why.
But, the juxtaposition of cute girls exploring a desolate, bleak, post-apocalyptic world
with such an innocent charm, sprinkled in with some life philosophy,
created this atmosphere that was the perfect balance
of light-hearted goodness and thought-provoking moments.
Romance, on the other hand, had some very strong contenders.
I loved 'MMO Junkie's' take at relationships formed via online interactions,
even if it did end up becoming 'Coincidences: The Anime.'
And I really, really enjoyed the comedic look at different couples in
[trying to say 'Tsuredure Children' and failing]
[wheeze laugh while hitting the desk]
FUCK! I can never pronounce the fucking name!
so much so, that if I can't put 'Neo Yokio,' this can also be my pick for Comedy.
But, for Romance, the show I want to talk about is "Tsuki ga Kirei.'
It's rare to be able to find a Romance series that feels so grounded.
It's a series that explores teenage relationships in a way you don't normally see in Anime.
For one, the characters in this Anime don't particularly feel like Anime characters, in the typical sense.
Nothing is overdramatised, nothing is overplayed,
it just feels real.
If you're looking for a show that portrays the innocence of genuine teenage romance,
this is your show.
But that's all I want to say, as I don't really care too much about every other category,
so let's just get to The Big Boy Award.
This is it, the Big One.
And this was a tough decision.
I mean, on one hand,
I had my shounen-trash side loving just how much 'HeroAca' is bringing the genre back to its roots,
or 'Made in Abyss' completely blowing me away,
or 'Rakugo's' beautifully crafted series.
Hell, I only talked about the phenomenal CG in 'Land of the Lustrous,'
but it was just a great show all around.
And, God, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who had as much fun with 'Re:CREATORS' as I did,
despite everything.
But, there can only be one winner,
which is why, my pick for Anime of the Year 2017 goes to:
♪ "You'll never see it coming" ♪ ♪ Persona 5 OST - Last Surprise ♪
♪ Persona 5 OST - Last Surprise ♪ Persona 5, for being the best Anime I played all yea-
It's 'Made in Abyss.'
'Made in A'byss' was my favorite Anime this year.
♪ Persona 5 OST - Life Will Change ♪
Voting is now open for the Awards at theanimeawards.com for some of the categories,
so you can go there to vote, or check out the nominees.
I trust you all to make the right decision, and not to be swayed by my opinions at all.
[whispering very soflty] When Best Action is open,
[whispering very soflty] you can put a write-in vote for 'Re:CREATORS.'
But aside from that, thank you very much to:
[reading out Patreon supporters]
and everyone else on Patreon for helping to support me for this month, and making this video possible
I'm really hoping I could say goodbye to 2017 Anime now, and start completely fresh,
so until then, quick outro today:
I've been Gigguk, and I will see you all next time.