The Top 15 Anime of 2015

I feel that I’m somewhat late getting here but I have beaten the APR Top Anime of 2015 list so I can’t say that I’m late. 🙂 I’ll repeat what I said last year because it still holds: 2015 was a good year for anime. It’ll take several years to see how things settle out before one is able to compare it to earlier years but I think it’ll rank just fine in comparison.

I didn’t feel like splitting the countdown into two or three parts like I normally do, so, this post runs a bit long but it’s all here in one post.

Day 3 – I Didn’t See That Coming – The 12 Days of Anime

I think I’ve discovered what my aim for this year’s 12 Days of Anime will be; namely, to pick moments that were the “best” or the “most” or my “favorite” in some way. (Sorry, I couldn’t think of a fourth adjective to include, blame it on my public education.) These moments are something I’ve wanted to include in my yearly review of anime but haven’t because there’s just too much overlap. Hopefully, focusing on it this way will also spread the love around a bit more to series I wouldn’t include otherwise.

Further, I feel like covering something lighter (as opposed to say, the moment that was the biggest emotional gut punch of 2015, which will come at some point). So, for today, I’m picking the moment that I saw the best reference in an anime this year.

Early Season Impressions: Spring 2015 – Seven Layer Cookies

Seven layer cookies, aka Magic Bars, are traditionally made up of seven ingredients that are laid down one at time into a cooking pan before being baked. The result is not a cookie with seven layers, but, if properly done, a cookie that has melded together into a very delicious treat. A good season of anime offers up many different types of shows that, when combined, sort of melt together and provide a satisfying experience to the viewer.

With the remaining series I’ve yet to cover, I thought I’d try to build a seven layer cookie of anime series and hope it would blend together into a first-rate treat. Of course, this wouldn’t be the best seven layer cookie that could be made with this season’s series because I’ve already covered many fine ingredients in earlier posts; but, I think there’s still plenty of noteworthy series left to choose from.

So let’s move to the first ingredient.

Poll: Which New Anime Series Has the Prettiest Cherry Blossoms?

I’ve noticed before that anime series seem to often air at the same time of the year as when the viewers would watch it in real life. For this spring season that means these anime series would feature the Japanese staple – beautiful cherry blossoms and more cherry blossoms. I’m not complaining, though I’m more of a fall colors person myself; however, I was curious to see just how many series had cherry blossoms in their first episode.

The end tally was 10 series out of the 23 I started watching this season had at least one blooming cherry tree somewhere in the first episode. Curiosity sated, I realized I found my next poll question. (The recently current one about the best anime of 2014 is so last year). This poll can be found to the right. Below are examples of the cherry blossoms found in those ten anime series which one can peruse to make an informed choice.

Spring 2015 Anime Preview and Predicting The Top Anime of the Next Season

The Spring 2015 anime season is just around the bend and there’s a ton of new series on the way to hopefully fill the holes in our hearts left from all the great winter series.

Instead of a dry listing of all the various anime series that will be coming out, I’m going to take a stab at guessing which series will be the top anime series of season. Last summer I did a preview like this and it was funny to see what I got right and what I didn’t. I failed to include Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Futsuu no Joshikousei ga [Locodol] Yatte Mita, Ao Haru Ride, and Sabagebu! on my countdown. I also had Sailor Moon: Crystal picked to be my #6 anime and Glasslip as my #9.

So, I guess the takeaway is that the following list will probably be wrong, hilariously so, but that’s okay. I’ll laugh at myself later as well. And to lead this countdown off is …