Award seasons are funny. It’s hard to avoid getting swept up in the hype of a big show,
but it’s just as hard to avoid feeling disappointed when they’re over. Occasionally we get upset
over an objective snub, like the fact that Psychonauts 2, one of the most ambitious and
cohesive works of narrative design in video game history, lost best narrative at this
year’s game awards to a fun marvel action RPG with some good writing and branching dialogue.
Like, okay, I get it, Guardians made you really sad, but does it express the wallowing, isolating
sorrow of alcoholism through its platforming challenges? What do its combat mechanics SAY
about its protagonist? Does it understand how It’s a Small World
is a perfect metaphor for the self-aggrandizing delusions of a despotic narcissist? Does it
make you FEEL, through the art of tutorialization alone, the dehumanizing existence of an unpaid
intern? What do its collectibles tell you about a man’s SOUL? This is like giving
Best Animation to Yuri on Ice!!! the same year Mob Psycho 100 premiered. Which… I
guess would have been a more accessible example for most of you, but I’m still mad about
the Psychonauts thing, and damnit, I’m gonna use my platform to bitch about it and soft
sell you on my personal game of the year. That is just a personal preference, though,
and while 2021’s game of the year does also upset me, that’s for the far more common
cause of Award whining: that I wanted a thing that better suits my tastes to win instead.
In most years, at most awards shows, in most categories, there are multiple nominees that
could be valid winners, depending on what the voters value in art – be that widespread
community impact, emotional complexity, clever plot structure, raw technical excellence – could
be anything. And when the people making the decisions emphasize a different subjective
anything than the one you care about, that sucks.
But people disagree with each other all the time, and we all just… have to learn to
live with that. And that’s not the problem that prompted
me to make this video. Picking anime of the year 2021 isn’t impossible
because there’s no way to reach a real community consensus on what series truly deserves it
– that’s always been the case. What’s different this year is I can’t even reach
a consensus with myself. I can’t even narrow it down to a top 10!
Should I care more about one of the greatest living anime directors teaming up with a legendarily
innovative studio to masterfully craft her own unique interpretation of the Japanese
equivalent of Shakespeare? Or is it more notable that the animation GOD behind one punch man
has finally gotten the chance to channel that incredible talent into a philosophically rich,
experimentally ambitious story entirely of his own creation?
Is it more significant that one of the most beloved and influential epic fantasy light
novels of all time has finally been given the Peter Jackson-tier adaptation it always
deservedor that one of the most exciting, boundary-pushing epic sci-fi light novels
in recent memory has been put in the hands of a visionary new director and is already
shaping up to be one of the next decade’s biggest franchises? Or does the brilliant,
emotionally affirming conclusion of Re:Zero Season 2 trump them both?
Should we pay tribute to the fandom-shaping Eras that are ending with the final seasons
of Fruits Basket and Attack on Titan? Or those just beginning with Komi-San and Jujutsu Kaisen?
Does my heart ache more for the endless sorrow of To Your Eternity’s Fushi? Or the deeply
personal pain, inextricably tied to the American Immigrant experience, of Megalobox 2’s Nomad?
And speaking of sequels to my favourite underdog anime, what’s more deserving of a signal
boost? Iruma Kun? Zombieland Saga: Revenge? Dynazenon? Or should I disregard my current
cult faves, reach for the conclusion that all my Cowboy Bebop research lead me to, and
finally get into Lupin The Third? Of course, I gotta call attention to Link
Click somewhere too; the donghua revolution ain’t gonna fight itself. But also, I can’t
NOT rehash my Avatar is an Anime argument when there’s a western anime as excellent
as Arcane on the table. Is my artist soul more stirred by Vivy’s
century long search for the meaning of meaning, or by Yatora Yaguchi’s late but life-changing
discovery of the power of personal expression? As a theatre kid, do I relate more to the
vicious, animalistic status competition of Beastars Season 2… or Kageki Shoujo? Or
should I underdoggedly cheer on Mars Red for giving me the closest experience I’ve had
to going out and seeing a great play since Lockdown began?
And, perhaps most importantly, as an avid scholar of advancements in anime artistry,
am I more in love with the meticulously engineered narrative clockwork and delightful dialogue
embellishments of Oddtaxi, or the heartbreakingly, breathtakingly gorgeous and evocative visual
storytelling in Ranking of Kings? How could I, or anyone, ever possibly choose between
my two beloved, round sons, Odokawa and Bojji? *
I haven’t even had time to watch more than an episode or two of all the shows I think
have the potential to earn the crown, and watching anime is literally my job. I mean,
I kind of did that to myself by taking on several huge retrospectives this year, investigating
a cult, and committing to seasonal work in the trash mines, but even if I was only watching
good stuff, I still wouldn’t be through with all the quality content 2021 has had
on offer. We shouldn’t place too much stock in aggregate
review scores, but there are THIRTY anime this year with an MAL rating over 8.0. that’s
Ten more than 2018. Nine more than 2019… not even the eternally legendary years of
2006, 2009, and 2011 come anywhere close. I don’t think it’s even a debate at this
point that 2021 represents peak anime. You could argue for an asterisk next to that record,
since COVID pushed a lot of 2020’s most promising shows back and gave their creators
more time to polish them. But even if you count Ex-Arm against 2021… I mean, it does
get a lot closer, but it’s still not even close.
I’d… very much like to find an answer to this conundrum I’m in. And I don’t
think I’ll find it making apples to oranges comparisons between a bunch of shows I love
for wildly different reasons. Like, yeah, I could do the gun to my head thing and make
a snap decision that ODD TAXI’s the best anime of the year but -no no Bojji stop crying
you’re my favourite I pro… ah, what am I doing? That Walrus is my bro for life! But…
if we’re talking bros for life, can anyone top the majesty of Aoi Todo?
See, that’s getting us nowhere fast. I’m Phoenix Wright fanboy though, so I know the
secret to answering questions that seem impossible – you just gotta turn em on their head.
Instead of asking what should be anime of the year, what I should be asking is… what
even is an anime of the year? Before we get into that, though, a quick word
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Now back to the topic at hand. One of the trickiest things about figuring what Anime
of the Year really means is that the definition changes depending on who’s handing out the
title. When a youtuber like me declares our anime
– or game – of the year, for the most part it’s just an excuse to recommend a
list of personal favourites. We can put in more effort to judge and rank shows based
on semi-objective criteria, like Under the Scope does, and I used to do with my weird
best opening of the year videos no one watched, but even if I’m coming up with a list of
titles that accomplished something I find artistically or technically impressive, my
ranking will still be shaped by my limited technical knowledge and what I personally
find to be impressive. to bring things back to the 2017 Yuri on Ice
Awards, that was VERY OBVIOUSLY the wrong choice for Best Animaton. But whether the
right choice was Flip Flappers, Mob Psycho, or even Kabaneri is ultimately a question
of tastes and priorities. And that’s just trying to balance all the ways an anime can
excel in one specific field – with Anime of the Year, you’re trying to weigh every
single aspect of a production against every single aspect of every single other production
that aired the same year. And that calculus is very different depending on if you’re
a story gal, an animation guy, or a sound design ascended being.
Hell, it’s different depending on if you’re a story gal who prizes tight plotting or one
who prefers excellent dialogue and deep characters. I mean, most years it would be. This year
ODD TAXI’S the top contender either way… but again, only if writing is your top priority
by a wide margin. Ranking of Kings has an excellent script in its own right, and obviously
runs circles around the Taxi Show’s more limited animation style. Though that simpler
animation of course has its own charms, and cinematography that…
Damnit, I just promised myself I wouldn’t do this.
And that whole discussion assumes that “Anime of the Year” means “best anime of the
year” – which seems self-evident… but… is it really?
Sure, with awards handed out by larger enthusiast outlets, or expert panels like, say, The Academy,
determining that is often the stated goal. But… in my experience, having worked for
game blogs through a few award seasons, those discussions frequently devolve into bargaining
between contributors who all want to shine a share of the spotlight on their personal
faves, with the biggest awards chosen to keep the audience happy.
And in The Academy’s case, “Best Picture” more often than not means “movie from the
person who actually made the best picture 5 years ago but didn’t get it because we
had to give it to the guy we snubbed in 1993,” or, failing that, “historical thing that
we, as baby boomers, can vote for to feel a little better about totally failing to live
up to the greatest generation.” There are exceptions, of course. The D.I.C.E
Awards panel is by and large filled with people who actually know their shit about the ins
and outs of making video games and are generally good at zeroing in on a game, be it AAA or
Indie, that significantly moved the conversation around games forward that year. But even they
fuck up sometimes and give it to Fallout 4 the same year Bloodborne, Undertale and The
Witcher 3 happened. Which is actually exactly what you’d expect
to happen in a year like that, or the one we anime dweebs are in now. when there’s
so many potential winners that are all so clearly deserving of accolades on their own
distinct merits, the segment of the voting block with truly refined taste gets split
between the equally excellent choices, while a big mediocre thing with a ton of marketing
behind it picks up a majority share of votes through name recognition alone.
That is also what happens almost 100% of the time with any award that’s based 100% on
audience voting. In some, rare cases, one particular work – like, say, Made in Abyss
– will be self-evidently exceptional enough to overcome the popularity contest inertia
and beat the My Hero Season 2 in its bracket. And, having been backstage when that happened,
I know firsthand how thrilling it can be to see a community come together in support of
something truly GREAT. But at the same time, the excitement we felt
backstage that year was a direct result of the mounting dread we were all feeling beforehand
as My Pico Academia swept through seven of the nine other awards it was up for. And,
lest we forget, the year before that, Yuri On Ice!! Went 7 for 7 converting nominations
to wins. Even though Rakugo Shinjuu and Mob WERE RIGHT GODDAMN THERE! COME ON!
If only all this Salt inside me could melt that ice…
Anyway, because they had two years of results like that in a row, Crunchyroll decided to
switch to a hybrid system, where audience votes count for 50% of the total scores in
each category, while the other half is determined by a panel of expert judges that also selects
the nominees. The output of this new system… still leaves a big chunk of the community
displeased each year, but the biggest sweep since it was implemented was 4 wins, and a
much more diverse set of shows gets multiple nominations each year, so it’s definitely
been an improvement. But why keep the audience votes at all?
Partly because in the age of social media people tend to care more about awards they
have a say in, as Geoff Keighley’s proven year after year in the gaming space. But also
because what the audience has to say does matter, especially when it comes to Anime
of the Year. Because the category isn’t just about which
anime is the best – if that’s even a question anyone’s capable of answering. As soon as
more than one person is involved in the choice, it’s also about the anime that made the
biggest impact; that did the most to define the great conversation this year for a majority
of folks who watch anime. Or movies. Or play games, depending on the award we’re talking
about. And we need only look back to that time Star Wars A New Hope lost best picture
to Annie Fucking Hall to see how bad expert panels can be at understanding that side of
this equation. You need a degree of expert curation, particularly
during the nomination process, to ensure an award doesn’t just reward efficient pandering
to the lowest common denominator. And it’s important for expert opinions to count toward
the winner, too – excellence in craft matters; you need judges who can make an informed…
judgement of each nominee’s technical qualities. But at the end of the day, we’re talking
about art here, and there’s no fixed, technical method for identifying what truly moves people.
If you wanna know that, you gotta go to the crowdsource
The big point I guess I’m rambling my way toward here is that “Anime of the Year”
is at once an extremely loaded term, and also fundamentally undefinable. It means “Best-made
anime in the last 365 days” and “most popular anime of the year” and “most likely
to influence other anime from now on” and “The anime that most affected me personally”
and “The anime I couldn’t stop watching” and a bazillion other things depending on
who you ask and what context you ask them in. Usually, one show will fit enough of those
things better enough than other shows that I’m able to land on a definitive enough
answer for all intents and purposes. But in 2021, that’s just not the case. For
the writer in me, Odd Taxi’s the anime of the year. For the part that’s a fantasy
fiend, it’s Ranking of Kings. For my inner tech dweeb, 86 takes the crown. The musical
part of my heart wants to give it to Vivy. And the sugar high hybrid 90s kid deep in
my soul rejects any answer that’s not Sk8 The Infinity. Does every choice being valid
mean that none of them are? or is even trying to pick a winner an exercise in futility?
I don’t know. At the end of the day, I’m just happy I
got to watch a buttload of great anime this year. And that I made it through this whole
discussion without having to talk about Time Magazine or Elon Musk!
Ah, fuck. I’m Geoff Thew, Professional youtuber, signing
out from wherever the comment section on this video isn’t.