Sweet Dreams

Welcome to 2020! I meant to make a post before the end of the year, doing my usual year-end fanfiction reviews and making a list of my top fifty favorite anime of the past decade, but, oops, I forgot! Well, better late than never, right?

First off, Top 50 Favorite Anime Series Of The Decade!

1. Yuri!! On Ice (2016)

2. Fruits Basket (2019)

3. Shirobako (2014)

4. My Love Story!! (2015)

5. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2016)

6. Bakuman (2010)

7. Space Brothers (2012)

8. ReLife (2016)

9. Oh, Maidens In Your Savage Season (2019)

10. Chihayafuru (2011)

11. Sailor Moon Crystal (2014)

12. Card Captor Sakura Clear Card (2018)

13. Tiger & Bunny (2011)

14. Bloom Into You (2018)

15. My Roommate Is A Cat (2019)

16. Yamada’s First Time (2010)

17. A Place Further Than The Universe (2018)

18. Yona of the Dawn (2014)

19. Zombie Land Saga (2018)

20. Death Parade (2015)

21. Your Lie In April (2014)

22. Major 2nd (2018)

23. Sound! Euphonium (2015)

24. Amagi Brilliant Park (2014)

25. Snow White With The Red Hair (2015)

26. Haikyu! (2014)

27. The Promised Neverland (2019)

28. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (2014)

29. Hinamatsuri (2018)

30. Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits (2018)

31. Orange (2016)

32. Given (2019)

33. Free! (2013)

34. Recovery of a MMO Junkie (2017)

35. Ancient Magus’ Bride (2017)

36. Sakura Quest (2017)

37. Love Stage!! (2014)

38. My Hero Academia (2016)

39. School Babysitters (2018)

40. Kaguya-sama: Love is War (2019)

41. Hanasaku Iroha (2011)

42. How To Keep a Mummy (2018)

43. Interviews With Monster Girls (2017)

44. Idolish7 (2018)

45. Flying Witch (2016)

46. Kiss Him, Not Me (2016)

47. Another (2012)

48. Bunny Drop (2011)

49. Tanaka-kun is always listless (2016)

50. Golden Time (2013)

Honorable mentions go to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Kimi ni Todoke - From Me To You, Natsume's Book of Friends, and Kobato. I only counted series that started between 2010-2019, so these didn't make the cut, despite airing partly between those years.

Now, fanfiction reviews! I answered three different year-end review questionnaires on my Tumblr, so I'm just going to link to them instead of copy and pasting. This entry is already getting long enough!

Set One
Set Two
Set Three

My review of the fall anime season and my choices for the Top Ten Anime of 2019 will be posted sometime in the next few days...hopefully.

I still have one more episode of Sound Euphonium to watch, and Classicaloid and March comes in like a lion are continuing into next season, but I think I've seen enough to give my opinion of the shows I watched this season:

Yuri On Ice - No surprise that this takes the top spot! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! It wasn't totally perfect -- twelve episodes wasn't enough time to really develop a lot of the characters, and despite paying lip-service to the scoring system, the scores were basically made up and unrealistic(Yuri would have almost certainly won Cup of China and the Grand Prix Final in reality)-- but it was still pretty amazing. I especially loved that three real-life skaters (Takeshi Honda, Nobunari Oda, and Stephane Lambiel) had voiceover cameos. And it seems very possible that we may be getting another season (or at least some OVAs), so YAY!

Classicaloid - I'm surprised I like this so much, but it is just so. much. freaking. fun! I mean, who wouldn't want to live in a music-themed mansion with a bunch of famous composers with mysterious Muzik powers? Well, besides poor Kanae... Okay, so maybe not, but still, her pain is the viewers' gain. (The modern remakes of classic pieces, though, can be a bit hit or miss.)

Sound Euphonium - Not quite as amazing as the first season, but still very good. I felt the first half was kinda weak, focusing on characters I did not care a bit about and a problem that would have been resolved a whole lot faster if the people involved would have just talked to each other. The second half, however, was great, especially since I'm a big Asuka fan. Also, the mid-season performance was just incredible.

Magic-kyn Renaissance - This was so...sparkly! And it was great to watch a reverse-harem show where the main heroine actually had some personality and you could see why all the boys fell in love with her.My one minor complaint is that they made a big deal in the first episode about the two best students being named Prince and Princess Artista, yet that never happened? The only prince and princess that were chosen were roles in a play, so that was kind of strange that they seemed to forget about that.Maybe another season is planned? I don't know.

Izetta: The Last Witch - A lot of people seemed to dislike this show for some reason, but I liked it just fine. Princess Fine, in particular, was a pretty awesome charcter.

March comes in like a lion - I would say this show is good, but uneven. It doesn't help that the shogi parts are really boring since it's impossible for somebody who doesn't know Japanese to understand what is going on in the game (although I appreciate the adorable cat song that attempts to explain the rules).

Miss Bernard said. - An amusing short. That's pretty much all I have to say about it.

Though not from the current season, I also finally got to watch the second season of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, which was very good. As for next season, I don't think any streaming announcements have been made yet, but if I can watch them, these are the shows that's I'm considering: second season of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga, Fuka, and Scum's Wish.

And since the year is ending, I'm starting something new and picking my ten Best Anime of 2016:

1. Yuri On Ice
2. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
3. Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3
4. ReLIFE
5. Flying Witch
6. Classicaloid
7. Sound Euphonium
8. Dance With Devils
9. Sweetness & Lightning
10. Orange