So once again the end of the year is upon us and is time we can finally
reflect back on all the anime we got to see,
but before that, how about we look at all the great things that happened
in the past yea... eh... eh...
*static sound* *Sad laugh of someone who saw many orrible things*
Remember back in the day
when memes were just stupid macro images about cats that were passed around the office to be laughed at?
Well those simple days are unfortunately long over as 2016 mark the year
that real life became a meme and
the whole world was laughing at itself. *Just do it*
Britan start things off with the mid-season twist by actually
rage-quitting out of Europe because it got tired of picking up
all the tabs at the EU pub,
giving solace to millions of brits as they finally had a topic to talk to each other about
other than the weather,
but of course those attention-seeking Americans, not wanting to be outdone by anyone,
hosted the biggest PRANK GONE WRONG of all time
by letting the Annoying Orange as president,
leaving Hillary supporters completely dumbfounded regretting that she probably
just didn't dab hard enough to achieve victory.
It was a year of a shock with no exceptions to those we lost
we unfortunately had to say goodbye to such influential figures as:
David Bowie,
Prince,
Alan Rickman,
Muhammad Ali,
recently announced Carrie Fisher
and people using the word "literally" and "cringe"
the way they were actually intended,
so should come as no surprise that the biggest most moreover lost
felt by anyone throughout the world was for that
of a fucking gorilla.
But hey, enough of real-world events,
we're here to talk about anime and all the weird and wonderful moments that matter to us
of course I can't cover everything but this is everything that stood out to me
and with that we rewind back to January and the start of the year
as we start things off with the hottest new show of the winter season.
*Re: Re: stars playing*
Hold on a second this isn't the right show
*BITES ZA DUSTO*
No, that's still not right
Dave! Hey Dave!
Dave: What?
Did we get the wrong opening for this show or something?
Yes, the go-to animate that started everyone off this year was of course Erased
which had a stranglehold on the entire community for a brief period.
This murder mystery thriller follows the story of a dude who has the innate ability
of being sent back in time before major accidents occur in order to prevent them.
After being wrongfully accused of murdering his mom
he's sent back to his childhood where he tries to prevent a series of child murders and
find out who the real culprit was all those years ago,
in Netflix's
MAKING A MURDERER BUT WITH TIME TRAVEL BULLSHIT COZ IT'S ANIME
This genuinely interesting concept had the community gripped every week waiting for new developments
even if there are some small things off with the writing
several of the kids acted and talked like mature adults instead of being, like, you know
annoying as fuck kids.
Leading to some genuinely awkward moments of a mentally 29 year old guy having romantic tensions
with an 11 year old kid.
*laughs in the background* Huh huh huh
It's probably not pedophilia cause is cute right?
But it can sometimes be overlooked when you remember the dark themes of the show
and the events that the kids have to endure.
*ONE PUNCH!!!!*
However the show lost a massive steam when the corporate reveal
ended up being more predictable than an average fucking episode of
of Scooby-Doo.
Which led to a rather weak and cheesy ending compared to the great build-up
we're riding on for the majority of the series,
also I don't know why I'm the only one who apparently has a problem with this opening
for sounding more like a bloody Naruto opening
than one for a time-travel murder mystery thriller.
Yes, I know it's by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, but come on,
this opening sounds nothing like the general tone of this series.
Elsewhere in the season Dagashi Kashi gave us our resident best girl debate
in a show about candy!
I mean who doesn't love watching shows about the sweet sweet taste of candy?
Rock hard candy,
soft candy,
and who can forget delicious cream pies
Hey Sydney, do you want a nice warm creampie?
Sydney: What? Gigguk: What?
Gate continued for a second season showing the absolute might of the Japanese military,
valiantly cowering at nothing,
striking terror into the hearts of some medieval peasants armed with pitchforks.
Because of this it was discussed as being possible propaganda
with the Japanese government and SDF been painted in an overwhelmingly positive light,
while the country's having an almost cartoonish level of villany
such as the way the presented the american president
as an egotistical, power hungry blonde guy with no regard to public opini..
Hey, wait a minute!
Parkour and freerunning finally got an anime in Prince of Stride: Alternative
which sounded like a really cool anime in concept if you based it on all the sick videos found on YouTube,
but the anime itself basically bore down to a bunch of dudes running around
trying to find most convoluted way possible to high-five each other at top speed.
Dimension W gave the biggest plot twist in anime history
by having a girl walked in on while taking a piss
*deep voice with eco* without losing her fucking mind.
In a pretty average semi-episodic sci-fi show that didn't really do much standouts
top having the protagonist do a very out of character dance in the opening
as if this anime was actually about someone auditioning for some sick dance crew or something
*some sick dance crew or something kind of music*
Grimgar of Fantasy and Aaaaaaaassssss
gave us a totally original premise by throwing an unwitting group of individuals into
*creepy voice* a fantasy world
*creepy laugh*
but the catch this time is that is grounded in reality and everyone is weak as shit
heavy emphasis was put on the most insignificant of battles and was a valiant attempt
at creating a more serious addition to the concept.
This year latest attempt show us that not all CG anime's bad
came from Polygon pictures Ajin
a show that got largely overlooked because
ANY ANIME CG EQUALS BAD ANIME CG
which is a shame because once you look past the visuals
this is one of the most compelling slickly written thrillers to come out in recent years
complete with a villan who is basically Psycho-Pass Makishima if he were a Stand user
Kyoto Animation stepped out of the comfort zone with Myriad Colors Phantom World
showing us that when they're not dangling yuri bait in front of us or moe pandling
they are not above good old fashioned tasteless fanservice,
featuring more accidental trips and panties,
a girl who can probably deepthroat a titan
and of course the classic anime boob physics rave party
*rave party music*
Thou the sleeper hit this season definitely belong to Kono Suba
a show about a guy who is transported to a...
OOOHHHH GOD DAMMIT
But actually surprises you by being a genuinely funny and charming take on the genre
there were several things the show just did right
but the one who stole the show and our hearts was of course
The adorable mage who refuse to learn anything but explosion magic
bringing new meaning to the phrase:
Who here wants to blow me?
Girl 1: I'm good thanks
fukboi69: Are you sure?
Miss Galaxy Note 7: EXXXPUROSIOOOONNN
As spring rolled around everyone was just getting over the disappointment of the Erased ending
we all had enough of stupid time-travel gimmicks to draw us in
and we were looking for something new to latch onto
or at least we thought we were...
Subaru: Emiliaaaaa!!!!
Yes this year anime undoubtedly belong to Re:Zero
the time looping show
that took over the community,
essentially just thousands of people watching the longest most emotionally draining
let's play of Dark Souls in anime form,
as viewers tuned in weekly to watch some poor soul get tortured physically and mentally
creating the entirely new genre:
but out of all the moments, the most talked-about part had nothing to do with suffering
but was of course the "I love Emelia" moment
triggering unprecedented scenes of an entire community
declaring a character undeniably worse girl
for doing absolutely fucking nothing!
Yes Rem ushered in the biggest wave of salt this community has seen since
the dark Oreimo Wars of 2013
in response the scene of what is commonly known as
a massive dick move
but I've already covered Re:Zero extensively in my review and parody of it
so instead of repeating myself, let me take this time to talk about my actual favorite show of the season.
In a time when the only way shonen battle series
would get notice will be by adding a darker twist to it
or subverting the tropes in a clever way
or by being JoJo's
it was nice to see a shonen that just went back to its roots and doing it really fucking well
Boku no Hero Academia was nothing more than a celebration of the tropes you've seen many times before
but refined to a T(?)
demonstrating to us that you don't always need to do something overly original off the cuff(?)
if you just get the basics absolutely right
Deku's pure childlike desire to become a hero
make him incredibly sympathetic to any person who's cheered for the heroes as a kid
and All Might was one of the most likable characters I've seen in anime,
humanizing the charismatic mentor type in a way that you looked up to him yet related to him at the same time
the charm of the series made it incredibly easy to get behind the characters and moments
no matter how cheesy or predictable they were,
giving you back your gitty(?) childhood excitement of the best of times
so i highly recommend it for any shonen fans or if you're just looking for something fun
also not to mention next season we're getting a tournament arc
TOURNAMENT ARC
YEEEEEAAAAAAAA
*in the distance* aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
Elsewhere in spring Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
gave us the back muscles we never knew we had the boner for in:
HEY WIT! I THOUGHT THIS WAS MEANT TO BE ATTACK ON TITAN S2 YEAH?
Studio Trigger gave us a show about a group of quirky individuals becoming friends and
developing feelings for each other
written by Mari Okada so you know what that means:
*Friends opening*
LOVE TRIANGLES
Yes, this of course ment yet another group of friends falling for each other
without getting their feelings return,
but looking past that, it ask the question of
what would happen if humans could totally empathize with one another
in a way that I can't see being explored anywhere but in anime,
it even had a character which was
*deep voice with echo* Mako form Kill la Kill done right
and i also need to mention this great original opening that looks so trippy and cool
it makes you wonder what kind of a genius person could come up with imagery like this
*rave music and sleepless nights*
*and drugs, lots of them*
*and alcool, I almost forgot that*
A whopping 31 characters were introduced
*dab in the background* in the first episode of Lost Village
a show about a group of people running away from their problems in order to
meet the biggest problem anyone can face:
BEING AN AWFUL SHOW
it was so awful in fact there were actually discussions on whether it was being intentionally bad
my personal take is that it was the planned lovechild of
Higurashi and Lord of the Flies
but along the way got drunk tripped over and thought it was meant to be a sitcom.
Bakuon!! gave us a cutsy fanservice show that tried to appeal to the motorhead too
not saying they didn't succeed but they just needed to introduce their characters the correct way,
like this:
*Top Gear music starts* some say he's seen every episode of One Piece a hundred times over,
and can block a punch from One Punch Man
all we know is:
HE'S
HE'S CALLED
HE'S CALLED THE
HE'S CALLED THE STIG!
*Stig why?*
Big Order gave us our annual dose of EDGE
giving us a completely trashy show that I somehow couldn't find myself hating.
Imagine the death game starring Lelouch and his yandere sidekick,
but every enemy was a stand user with the most ridiculously OP ability you can think of,
like a Geass or immortality or predicting the future
it was like if Mirai Nikki,
Akame ga Kill,
Code Geass
and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
had a drunk and coked up orgy one night and decided to livestream it.
You're not proud of the fact you watched but it was still kind of entertaining.
Joker Game gave us a World War II espionage drama which sounds like a really cool original idea for anime,
until you realize how this would actually work in real life:
Blonde Guy: All right chaps I've just had Intel that one of us is a spy working with the Japanese
Obviously a Japanese spy girl: I keep telling you it's not me
Blonde Guy: That's exactly what a Japanese spy would say!
Obviously not a Japanese spy asian dude: She's a veuly suspicious.
Blonde Guy: I completely agree with you random asian person in Europe who speaks broken english!
Sakamoto desu ga showed us how to transcend the limits of cool to a whole new plane
no human has ever reached before
in SWAG the anime.
Phoenix Wright gave us a true to the game anime adaptation that was faithful
but ultimately had little to no reason for any newcommers to choose watching this over playing the games
unless they didn't own a DS or a pair of hands.
And finally this year Jojo yet again returned to us in the form of part 4
what a beautiful Duwang! *chew*
And I mean is JoJo's what more can i say about it,
it's gotten to the point now where I don't even know if liking Jojo to death is something genuine
or has become a meme in and off itself
so here you go:
Jojo's
it's an anime that's good
*ROADO ROLLA DA* it's really fucking good
*the memes...* you should watch Jojo's
Jojo is love Jojo is life!
*memes overload* Oh man it's JOJOOOOOOO
*Roundabout starts playing* And that's it for part one this year,
join me next time when i talk about the CG that just keeps giving
and of course a bunch of gay people...
on solid water.
*more Jojo memes*
Hey guys Gigguk here, hope you enjoyed the video.
Thank you very much this month to
Thomas B, Vincent Mooney, Merederai, Laioken
and everyone else on patron for helping support me and making this video possible.
Once part 2 is out you can click on the link here,
but until then if you want to see see all the previous Anime in year reviews you can also click on the link.
Now I have worked my ass off to get both parts done before year's end
so hopefully they'll come to fruition and you'll see me again in a few days,
but until then I've been Gigguk and i'll see you all
not in March 2017...
probably.