Personal best anime of 2011

Less than 48 hours until 2011 close its curtain, thus its time for the customary end of the year ranking post. At first I had planned to do my usual top 10 series for video games and dota (like I did last year), but since I didn't play them as much this year, I decided to proceed with just doing the ranking for anime I've watched this year. With some of the Fall 2011 anime series ending this past week (while some still have some way to go until next year's Spring), I had a rough idea of which series made it into my top 10 of 2011 anime. But before I made my top 10 entry, I decided to list down my favorite 2011 anime in various categories. Do note that all of these are solely based on how I perceive and enjoy the anime.

Best Winter 2011 anime: Gosick!
Honorable mention: Level E

Best Spring 2011 anime: Steins;Gate
Honorable mention: Ano Hana, Denpa Onna, Yondemasuyo Azazel-san

Best Summer 2011 anime: Usagi Drop
Honorable mention: Yuruyuri, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Best Fall 2011 anime: Mirai Nikki
Honorable mention: Bakuman 2, Fate/Zero, Persona 4, Haganai

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Best Comedy: Yondemasuyo Azazelsan
Honorable mention: Mitsudomoe 2, Yuruyuri, Nichijou
Comment: Normally I would put Mitsudomoe 2 easily as the best comedy I’ve watched this year, but the jokes in Azazelsan was on a whole new level that it guaranteed me a good laugh in every episode. I thought Mitsudomoe was closer to Dokuro-chan, but I was wrong. On a side note, how I wish Ika Musume 2 was as entertaining as season 1.

Best Slice of Life: Nichijou
Honorable Mention: Yuruyuri
Comment: For me, Slice of Life is best when served with comedies, and Nichijou was exactly the kind that I like, despite the random scene and jokes that came out of nowhere. I thought Usagi Drop was also a bit of a slice of life series, but seems like it's not.

Best Drama: Usagi Drop
Honorable Mention: Hanasaku Iroha, Ano Hana
Comment: The likes of Mirai Nikki, Persona 4 and Bakuman 2 all have elements of drama in their story, but I feel it is not their strongest point/genre.

Best Action: Fate/Zero
Honorable Mention: Shakugan no Shana Final, Seikon no Qwaser II

Best Sports anime: -
Honorable mention: -

Best Mecha Anime:
Honorable mention: -
Comment: Can’t nominate. I don’t think I watch any mecha or sports series this year, at all.

Best “Detective” series: Gosick
Honorable Mention: Un-Go
Comment: This year somehow saw the influx of detective series centered around lolis…well at least Un-Go didn’t, and that’s a good thing.

Best OVA series: Valkyria Chronicles 3: Taga tame no Juusou
Honorable mention: -
Comment: I want to put Koe de Oshigoto ep2 on the list, but since the first episode was originally released last year, I thought I shouldn’t put it in. What a shame, that was the OVA I enjoyed the most this year. Also, I thought it would be best not to include a TV-based OVA (Amagami SS, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Infinite Stratos, Shiki, Deadman Wonderland etc), thought if I include one, I'd pick Amagami SS OVA, for Mai Kadowaki's Risa.

Best Movie (based on DVD release and fansubs): Sengoku Basara: The Last Party
Honorable mention: K-ON!
Comment: Pretty much the only subbed movies I watched this year.

Best Sequels: Bakuman 2
Honorable mention: -

Best adaptation: Persona 4 the animation (video game)
Honorable mention: Steins;Gate (visual novel), Mirai Nikki (manga)

Comment: P4 the animation is truly what I call an almost inch-perfect literal adaptation catered totally toward those who played the game.

Best story: Steins;Gate
Honorable mention: Mirai Nikki, Bakuman 2
Comment: Each and every episode of Steins;Gate kept me on my seat, that said a lot about how much I love the story (and the element of science used in the story).

Best ending: Ano Hana
Honorable mention: Gosick
Comment: That final episode of Ano Hana made me cry, really. It’s a shame that I couldn’t consider the likes of Bakuman 2, Persona 4 and Mirai Nikki for this category, for obvious reason.

Best Male characters of 2011: Okabe Rintarou (Steins;Gate)
Honorable mention:
Comment: El Psy Congroo. Maaaaaad scientist. HUUAAAAGHAHAHAHAHAAAH.

Best Female Characters of 2011: Gasai Yuno (Mirai Nikki)
Honorable mention: Makise Kurisu (Steins;Gate)
Comment: Nobody is even close to Yuno’s insanity. Nobody.

Best OP song: Kuusou Merosogii (Yousei Teikoku) – Mirai Nikki
Honorable mention: Light My Fire (Shakugan no Shana 3), OS-Uchuujin (Denpa Onna), Hacking to the Gate (Steins;Gate), Kagerou (Sengoku Musume), Daydream Syndrome (Yumekui Merry), Magia (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica)
Comment: See that coming, huh? Obvious winner is obvious. Seriously Yousei Teikoku never failed to amaze me with her high energy song. By the way, how did I come to like Madoka’s song, I wonder?

Best ED song: Yes Prisoner (Marionnette) – Dantalian no Shoka
Honorable mention: Watashi no Ki-Mo-Chi (Haganai), I’ll Believe (Shana III), Aoi Tori (IDOLM@STER ED3), Metaphor (Seikon no Qwaser II), - Atsuki ya no Gotoku (Sengoku Otome), Resuscitated Hope (Gosick), Blood Teller (Mirai Nikki)
Comment: Dat song won because of the intro and the creepy video, nuff said.

Best anime OST: Persona 4 the Animation (Shoji Meguro)
Honorable mention: C3 (Jun Ishikawa), Shakugan no Shana 3 (Ko Otani), Fate/Zero (Yuki Kajiura)
Comment: I always enjoyed Shoji Meguro’s music composition particularly for P3 and P4, and truth be told, the BGMs (most which were directly taken from the game) was one of the reason I really enjoyed P4 anime.

Best insert song: -


MISC AWARDS
Fav 2011 male seiyuu: Mamoru Miyano (Okabe Rintaro)
Fav 2011 female seiyuu(s): Asami Imai (Makise Kurisu, Kisaragi Chihaya), Kanae Ito (Matsumae Ohana, Kashiwazaki Sena)
Fav Quote(s): “SELAMAT PAGI” (Nichijou), “my TRIAL OF THE DRAGON” (Persona 4)


Overall, 2011 had many anime series that I enjoyed a lot, although there are even a lot more series that I couldn't enjoy after giving a few episodes a try, or just didn't have the time to spare to watch. I'm looking forward to series to be aired in 2012!