Top 10 Anime of the Decade

I started to watch anime around this time back in 2012. Seeing that yesterday marked my birthday and I want to make special posts for my birthday, even if I did feel a little lazy and took a bit longer than intended. And of course, seeing that it was recently the start of a new decade, I think it would be a good idea to talk about some of my favorite shows that aired in the last decade. At the time of writing this introduction I have the intention of all shows being ones that I watched as they aired. Some may have been watched at a later time. I will not be counting shows that I watched that aired in a different decade, so, for example Fairy Tail, despite being one of my favorites, it started back in 2009, despite ending last year. It is not on this list. Index, season two aired in 2010, however the first season aired back in 2008, so it too is not on the list. So, if there is any show on here, its first season would have had to of been in the last decade or have started in the last decade to be on this list, I am also putting franchises in this list too to make it a bit more interesting, so no Fate and Gundam series since that was prior to 2010. I am going at this 50/50, being a mixture of “because I enjoyed it,” but also “because it has a good plot, animation, and seeing it in a more critical approach.” So, with that long-winded intro out of the way, let’s get started.

Number 10: Izetta the Last Witch

Man, when was the last time I ever thought about this show, probably shortly after it finished airing back in…..wow, 2016. It is hard to believe this show is almost 4 years old, seeing it started in October 2016. As I was looking through the list of airing anime, this one caught my eye. I remember very much so enjoying it, the drama, the war setting, and honestly it was a very enjoyable anime as it mixed in the magic aspect. The princess who honestly just wanted to love the last witch, made it for a nice ending. Still, I don’t remember too much from it, as the last time I saw it was back in 2016, so, I will leave it at that.

Number 9: Golden Time

Despite being way older than Izetta, this show I remember more. I did not really like the love triangle aspect, mostly since the other girl was much more forgettable and did not get as much focus as Koko. I still did enjoy watching this one weekly, and this was just shortly after I was watching shows as they aired. In fact, this was probably the first season of airing anime where I watched more than 5 shows at once for ongoing series. Still, it feels like it hasn’t been that long since I seen it despite being almost 7 years ago. Time sure flies, and among the next one on the list, I have certainly had some thoughts about going back and watching it again.

Number 8: Kill la Kill

As I just said, this is one show I would not mind seeing again. This is partially due to the fact that, despite also being about 7 years old, this show still somehow makes its way onto my twitter feed every now and again. I do not remember it as much compared to other shows, however it was still rather fun, enjoyable, and had some good action. The art style when I first saw it kind of bugged me, but after getting used to it I thought it fit well for the series. It worked well for the action, the color choices, and overall the flashy nature of the series. It certainly is still up there, maybe not Top 10, but 20 anime that I have enjoyed since starting.

Number 7: Concrete Revolutio

I honestly watched this show maybe a year after it aired. It was one of the two shows I did a few years back for a series of posts where readers could recommend a show to me where I would then watch a few episodes and talk about my thoughts. Honestly, I really enjoyed it, and I think at the time I posted that article I think I was almost done with the first season. I did try the show prior but did not get into it. I did enjoy it a lot more the longer the season went on, season two, that was a different story, despite being original and both seasons being split I remember enjoying the first half over the second. I did somewhat like the ending, it was alright. It certainly was a good original series.

Number 6: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

This is when it starts to get tricky. I had to really think hard about the remainder of this list. All the ones that follow honestly feel like they could replace another given more thought. But anyway, Dragon Maid was easily a highlight the year it aired. I was so glad they announced a second season, despite now the manga being done, well, the anime was announced a year ago with still no real word on it. I do hope it comes out later this year, but I also don’t want it to never come out.

As for the show itself, I loved the comedy, the calming feel it gave, and the last episode certainly was a major highlight for the show. It did what I wish more anime would do, give a conclusion, or at least what could feel like an ending point. I am trying not to spoil it, but the ending really had the main character think about her life, and the impact on the people she met since the start of the series. It helps show what we could take for granted and not realize it until it is gone. It had a much deeper meaning than previous episodes, but also had some nice humor. The final episode here honestly is making me think of bumping it up way higher on this list, since I enjoyed it that much.

Number 5: Konosuba

This series was easily my favorite in terms of weekly reviews. I had just as much fun writing about it as I did watch it. Honestly it feels like I haven’t had that much fun since the second season aired two years ago. Still, this show honestly got better as time went on, season two did its own thing, had few reoccurring jokes, but still had plenty of humor on its own. Granted I did not watch it, but this show now has a spin off with several others in a short little comedy that is going on for two seasons. Still, as much as I would love to see a third season, it is nice to see the franchise is not dead yet.  So, this is certainly on this list due to how I felt when doing reviews and how much I enjoyed it.

Number 4: Mob Psycho 100

Both seasons of this show I liked for very different reasons. Season one I liked for the coming of age aspects. The action towards the end felt a little out of place. Season two I liked more for the action, the coming of age aspects were still there, but felt less relevant. But the ending was rather satisfying, while there is still more for the story, and I would still love to see another season, I did enjoy both seasons very much and would say that it help put Mob in my Top 10 anime. The moral was there, the drama, the action, the humor, the likable characters, and so much more, the series was certainly great, and honestly it really hurts me putting it this low on the list at Number 4. Still, if anything, this point forward any of these I would dare say belongs at the number 1 spot.

Number 3: Steins;Gate

Fun fact this is the only show on this list I saw both subbed and dubbed. I saw it originally back in my first year of watching anime back in very late 2012. Once the sequel was announced, and despite not finishing the sequel I watched the series again and still found it as enjoyable if not more so than I did the first time. This is the only show on this list where I did not have the chance to watch it as it was airing, primarily due to the fact I wasn’t into anime at the time. Still, the mystery, the drama, and well, all the little funny bits in between, made this show a series I found myself binge watching for the first time in a long time in my second viewing. It has been rare when I watch shows for a second time. Sometimes I would watch them a second time a few months later, Date a Live and Index are prime examples of it, since I did that a lot when I first got into anime. This was the first show I did that for in a very long time. As I said at the beginning with the first few shows, there are some I do want to see again, I just never get around to them. Still, I am glad I got around to watching this series a second time, now if only I continued with the light novels.

Number 2: Princess Principal

Princess Principal is easily my favorite original series of the past decade, mostly since it was one, I found myself nearly watching all of it in two sittings. I honestly had to tell myself to stop watching episodes, since I did not want to forget about the series. Man, I am glad I listened, because it was just that good. The drama, the mystery, and I did love the fact the series was told out of order. I certainly would not mind coming back to it someday and watching the episodes in order. I wish more series, more specifically, mystery series, would do that since it gives even more of a thrilling storytelling, and does give more questions while still seemingly giving away too many answers. I certainly would not mind seeing a future season as they could have it take place in that first season while still doing some things that could serve as a sequel. But, never mind that. Either way, this was an amazing series and one I still would recommend to people to go see.

Number 1: The Ancient Magus’ Bride

Out of all the ones on this list, this series felt like it was going to be an obvious one. I still really love the manga, and I still really loved the anime. I loved seeing the story telling, the world, animated, and given more life than what it already had. The manga is beautifully drawn and seeing that as an anime was certainly a treat. The drama, the romance, and character building were nicely done, it wasn’t something that was instant, or even in just a few episodes. It took a very long time to build up and even when it did happen, it wasn’t apparent even to the characters until they realized it for themselves on how much they changed. It had a nice progression to it and did not come off as rapid and not too slow where it is obvious. But the little changes are what made the development of the characters bloom more than anything, and that is really where I enjoyed the anime the most.

I am going to wrap it up here. I am very interested into hearing some of your anime of the decade, feel free to comment. If I haven’t seen it, I might just want to check it out. If I did, I certainly would like to hear your opinion on it.