The Sun has again completed about 1/250 millionth of its journey around the galactic center while the four seasons (feels more like 2) have come and gone here on Earth. Must be time again for the editors and the review staff of The Fandom Post to gather in the large conference room of our vast office complex and decide upon the Best of the Year for anime and manga in 2015.
I’m Greg Smith (G.B. Smith), your regular host for this lavish affair where we hand out lots and lots of praise…and perhaps a dash of criticism here and there. One can ask what kind of year 2015 was for anime and manga and get a lot of responses. A lot. That’s apparent in our staff picks for many categories where there was little to no consensus or overlap in what was highlighted as best for the year. This is perhaps a reflection of the increasing output of anime from Japan now streamed to us simultaneously and the continuing broad licensing of manga by North American distributors, which has resulted in an abundance—maybe an overabundance—of titles in many genres, catering to most tastes.
Our eligibility rules are very simple: all anime which had a first-run broadcast in Japan and legal stream in North America between January 1st and December 31st of 2015 and all manga which was officially licensed and released in North America during that same period were considered eligible. Any other criteria creates illogical inconsistencies or unfair favoritism. All reviewers were asked to submit their top three picks for most categories with comments and if there is a clear consensus, I have highlighted that fact. If there was little to no agreement…then no “winner” is declared.
Please Note: While some reviewers have put further spoiler notices in their comments, you should assume that all commentary in this article is based upon full knowledge of the shows discussed. Further, a couple images may not be entirely safe for work.
Special thanks to Kate O’Neil for design work on the heading banners and to Brian Threlkeld and Darius Washington for assistance in gathering pictures.
And without further ado, the best of 2015.
Our Editorial and Review Staff:
AA: AJ Adejare
MPA: Matthew Alexander
CB: Chris Beveridge
KC: Kory Cerjak
DJH: DJ Horn
KO: Kate O’Neil
GLP: Gabe Peralta
GBS: G.B. Smith
KS: Kestrel Swift
JT: Jairus Taylor
BCT: Brian Threlkeld
MvP: Mastilo von Plume
MW: Matthew Warner
DW: Darius Washington
