In going through the full list of what Sentai Filmworks released this year, I found myself really having to figure out how to pare this list down to ten. I kept coming up with more than that which I wanted to really recommend and find a place for on the list. I even thought of doing a list of re-releases/upgrades in order to make sure some titles got the attention they deserved. With a good bit of variety overall, a solid mix of old and new and just a lot of great shows in general, the distributor had a really good year with their offerings. There’s so much out there that appeals to so many different people that folks like myself with wildly diverse tastes can get overwhelmed. But in the end, I walked away from this year with Sentai in really loving these new releases/first time releases from the company the most.
You can pretend the #0 on the list would be the High School of the Dead collector’s edition box set. That show would just rank high for me year after year with every re-release.
10) Watamote: Complete Collection [Review]
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Watamote the first time I watched it but I fell in love with it as I kept hoping that Tomoko would find her way in some form. You don’t expect her to become popular, but you do expect her to make a few friends. That she can’t even do that is such a radical change from how these shows usually operate that you really do get taken in by it since it’s not playing to the usual formula. With great looking animation, solid parodies along the way and fantastic performances all around, Watamote delivers the kind of painful, honest and close to home kind of school age drama-comedy that we could use a few more of each year in order to balance out all the slapstick. When shows take chances, they tend to stand out more for good reason. Watamote takes some good chances here and the results are definitely worth all the risk.
9) MAOYU: Complete Collection [Review]
Maoyu is a kind of really specialized anime series and one that I’m not surprised didn’t light of the fans out there when it aired.This one goes for a much larger view and brings in a lot of different elements and has different goals. This is very much a big picture approach to the world and the kind of story it wants to tell, so the characters do suffer and never truly become accessible and easy to connect with. But looking at it from the big picture point of view, seeing the changes to the various nations over the course of a couple of years and the way small things become ripples to larger ones is really quite engaging for me. I like the characters and would love to see it expand to make it something more, but for what we do get here, well, it left me very pleased as a kind of rare show that doesn’t get made often. It’s flawed in a few ways to be sure, but it delivers on what it actually wanted to do and challenges the viewer to think through consequences and more.
8) Nadia – The Secret of Blue Water (TV): Complete Collection [Review]
For me, Nadia – The Secret of Blue Water most assuredly stands the test of time so far. The series has its flaws to be sure, but as a whole and with the core work itself, it’s a hugely engaging show that wants to go big, achieves it in many ways but feels like they were still unsure in some regards how to pull it off. There’s a lot of different things going on here and it’s the kind of series that’s, sacrilege to say, begging for a proper cable network live action adaptation in order to explore more of the themes in a deeper and more engaging way. I really enjoyed this show the first time around at four episodes every six weeks or so, but marathoning it over the course of three days gives you a somewhat different perspective. With this Blu-ray release, we get a striking show in with the animation quality, the detail and the fluidity of many scenes. It’s a fantastic package in total and one that looks great from top to bottom. For fans of the show, it may not have a big, flashy Japanese style box with tons of bells and whistles, but it delivers a hundred percent in terms of content and presentation.
7) Diabolik Lovers: Complete Collection [Review]
This series was definitely a treat the season it aired as it’s one of those shows that just won me over from the start with its approach and what it did as well as the visuals. Cruel, ugly, violent in certain ways, Diabolik Lovers was bound to offend and certainly did so for many. But what I saw here was a fascinating power dynamic playing out in a way anime often fears to tread with most series. While I don’t want a lot like this, more would be good just to see something different from the norm and to explore more types of relationships.
6) Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Complete Collection [Review]
The whole Fate universe is one that has a lot going for it as there are lots of good stories to tell with intriguing characters, situations, politics and danger. With the Prisma Illya series, it may sound cute and fun by throwing a magical girl aspect to it, but in a lot of ways it plays just as serious as Fate/Zero. And that works in its favor as they do find a decent balance to work with when it comes to that. The characters are engaging and fun to watch as they interact, the magic aspect is definitely well done and the whole Class Cards is a good reworking of the main storyline in a new way. With alternate universe storylines, it’s easy to be dismissive of them and what they do since a lot are corny. With this one, they find a really good approach to use and work it in a fantastic way. There’s a lot to like here and it has me hugely enthused for the second season while hoping for more beyond that.
5) Gatchaman Crowds: Complete Collection [Review]
Gatchaman CROWDS is very much its own being. It’s not trying to duplicate what came before in a new way. It’s going all in on something new with a few trappings of the past. And ejecting the nostalgia and what you think it should be is the hardest thing. When you do get past it, and take in the show for what it is, it really does try to go big and reach for some lofty concepts and offer a view of how it could unfold in this kind of setting. The idea of putting the world through an upgrade is an interesting term to use, one that fits first world culture in a lot of ways, and you can see that taking hold in a neat fashion if it could gain traction in the real world. I really liked what the show wanted to do once I got into its rhythm and cast and I found myself really thinking about the application of GALAX and its concept and how it would really work, something that you usually don’t think about with most anime because it’s so bland and doesn’t try to get you to think. This one does and the payoff for it is pretty good overall depending on how open to it you want to be.
4) Flowers of Evil: Complete Collection [Review]
I had no idea what to expect with this series overall as I didn’t watch the simulcast and avoided a lot of chatter about it because I simply wanted to experience it. And what an experience it is. This thirteen episode series, an opening arc really of a larger story apparently, stands very well on its own as a deconstruction of what certain kinds of middle school kids are like and the struggles they face within themselves. The seeds of evil are certainly within them and seeing it blossom slowly here is saddening but hugely engaging to watch. While there are “outs” that you can see along the way, especially if you’re outside of the social culture that exists within it, it may be a bit frustrating from that regard. But when you look at what it wants to explore, how it does it and how it draws the pain to the surface to be dealt with, you can look past that. A series like this is one that really needed to be produced the way it was. I can’t imagine it having half the impact if it was animated like most other shows, no matter how high quality the designs and animation. This has more life to it, more meaning to it, than pretty much the majority of shows out there because of the acting, the story and the presentation. This is definitely the kind of work that can start some seriously great if difficult conversations and is worth exploring, even if only for yourself.
3) From the New World: Collection 1 & 2 [Review]
While we usually see a lot of light novels adapted into anime form that fit that term well in that they’re lightweights, From the New World is not a light work. It’s a dense piece that deals with a lot of issues of society, sociology, psychology, politics and the dark side of doing what’s right to protect the population at large. And questioning whether it should be. Evolution, advancement, fall and decay and the quest for knowledge that excites some and frightens others. There’s so much in this series that it really is the type that requires that episode by episode breakdown to talk about what’s going on, the larger themes in context to the moments and the unfolding of the real storyline that builds across it. This series captivated me when I watched it in weekly form and there was so much going on that it was surprising. In this form, with a great high definition transfer and a very well done dub from what I listened of it, we get to see these threads pulled together more clearly and in just as engaging a way. This is one of those shows that fits in the must-see list, especially when people say there’s nothing good out there that deals with real issues.
2) Golden Time Collection 1 [Review]
Golden Time is one of those series that comes along once or twice a year that reminds me why I fell in love with anime in the first place. There are issues to be had with the series as there are with any series, but what the show does with its characters, motivations, interactions and emotions is fantastic. So few shows make you think and feel beyond the show itself, to make you think about your own relationships, the things that drive you and make you feel, that you can probably count them on a single hand. Golden Time is one of those shows. In dealing with its character issues, it can make you dredge up your own and connect you to the characters in a fantastic and frightening way. Marathoning this half of the series reminded me exactly why I fell in love with this show the first time and it has me excited to see the second half again as well. With beautiful character designs, great character arcs and fantastic set design across the board, Golden Time is a crown jewel for me that I know I’ll revisit every couple of years.
1) I couldn’t become a hero, so I reluctantly decided to get a job.: Complete Collection [Review]
I had little idea what to expect going into this series, having missed out on the simulcast, but I was already afraid of it in a way because of the title and the implications of it. What I got was a workplace comedy set in a magic/tech world that introduces a lot of really fun characters, silly situations, serious moments and a look at how life can be disrupted in so many ways – as well as dependence upon things. While Raul is the main character and our window into the world, the real heavy lifting is done by Fino. If the catalyst character is annoying, overdone or flat out doesn’t work, it’s hard to be invested in it. But over the first few episodes, I found myself really enjoying her character and seeing the way she immersed herself in everything and how Raul had to deal with her and what happens because of it. I came away from this show with a really positive feeling that’s stuck with me in the couple of days between watching and writing about it. With the light novel series having finished this past summer at ten volumes, I doubt we’ll get any more of it. But what we get here is certainly complete in its own way while still have more than enough avenues to explore that I’d love to see more. And I find it harder to say that with a lot of shows these days.
