Anime Overload 2015: The Anime That Hamst3r Watches: My Conquest Is The Sea of Anime

It's January already? 2016? Huh. Alright then, well I guess it's time for another one of these...

If you missed the first one, it's over here: How Anime Consumed My Life in 2014

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In short, 2014 was the start of a big endeavor for me. The plan: Watch ALL the anime. How much? ALL OF IT. Okay...not actually all of it, as that seems nigh impossible, but I wanted to at least watch a lot of it. Like a Costco parking lot full.

Why do this though? Why even start this task? It started because I wanted to know what shows all these anime memes, funny GIFs, and forum avatars were from. I wanted to know if i was missing out on anything, having only seen a whopping 3 of the Top 50 on MAL. I wanted to know, what's all this fuss about Jojo? What's Haruhiism? Why does Gintama hold 5 of the top 10 highest rated anime positions on MAL? Why was Kenshiro hiding in a haystack? Why would you choose, not tits, but asses? Did Homura really do nothing wrong? Where did Nina and Alexander go?

These were questions I needed answers too, and for the most part I got them. I know things now. Anime things.

The Current State of These Anime Things:

With another year of intense anime watching under my belt, what have I learned? What was different about this year from the last? What have a still not done yet?

Well, the Chimera Ant arc is the best part of Hunter x Hunter, regardless of what anyone else says. The Madoka Magica movies are totally just as good as the series. The first season of Clannad could have been compressed into 5 episodes slapped onto the front of After Story. One Outs isn't even in the same league as Kaiji. Welldone the Pussyhand is my favorite character name. I don't know which is worse, the Bakuman or the Rurouni Kenshin OP song. Your Lie in April felt like the Evangelion of music anime. Tsundere* are still the worst, sports Anime is way better than real sports, and Garzey's Wing is the most magnificent piece of anime trash I have ever watched. Oh and your waifu is shit.

*What even is the plural of Tsundere? Tsunderes? Tsunderii?

As for what was different this year, this year I tried to watch more older anime: Lupin III, Rose of Versailles, Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie, The Wings of Honneamise, Fist of the North Star, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Gunbuster, to name some pre-90's stuff. 16 total, up from only 4 the previous year.

I also learned who best girl is. It's Pandemonium-san and I found this amazing fan art that reinforces that fact:

Speaking of which, now that I'm all caught up on it, Gintama has become one of my favorite shows. It was a rough start though. I really didn't care for it at first, and by at first I mean like the first 70 episodes. I considered putting it on my dropped list a couple times during that span of 70-ish episodes, but kept chipping away at it and I'm glad I did.

Oh, and speaking of 70-ish, I was able to watch Katanagatari with my dad, who had just undergone knee surgery at the time and needed to keep off his leg for a few weeks. I flew out to California to spend some time with him during his recovery. I wasn't sure what he would think of all this anime nonsense, but he enjoyed it, as did I.

Another thing I did this year was re-watch some of the movies that got me into anime in the first place, as well as movies I had watched long ago, a few of which I had rated poorly. This lead to various scores being shifted about.

Akira, Ninja Scroll, Kite, Grave of the Fireflies, and Cromartie High School all went down a point. Whereas Millennium Actress, Paprika, Mezzo Forte, Castle in the Sky and Attack on Titan all went up a point.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 went up a whole bunch of points. Turns out, being less grumpy about the fact that they brown-ified and ugly-3D-ified everything allowed me to enjoy it more. A lot more. I still prefer the original, but 2.0 isn't a bad version of GiTS.

Armitage III stayed where it was, as ultimately just okay.

In regards to what I haven't done yet: I still haven't watched an "Idol" anime. So far the idea of doing so just hasn't clicked with me, but I'll probably end up watching one anyway. Perhaps 2016 will be The Year of The Idol for me. Or probably not. Okay, I'll watch at least one.

I haven't watched a cooking anime. Outside of the first episode of Yakitate!! Japan, at least. The clips I've seen from that show are really funny though, so I'm looking forward to jumping back into that one.

Lastly, I haven't watched a "Card Battle" anime, or really any monster battle anime outside of a few episodes of Pokémon back when I was a kid. Perhaps the time for me to watch this sort of series has past (it hasn't…), but I feel I should watch at least one, just to do so.

All Caught Up:

Here are some stats from my 2015 anime rampage:

• 103 TV Series.
• 63 Movies.
• 30 OVA.
• 8 ONA.
• 26 Specials.
• 2 Music.

• First of the Year: Code Geass
• Last of the Year: One-Punch Man
• Longest series: Gintama (303 episodes, 3 movies, 7 specials)

Most Enjoyed:

• Gintama (in its entirety)
• Monster
• Now and Then, Here and There

Least Enjoyed:

• K-On!
• Nisekoi 2nd Season
• Sailor Moon Crystal

Tearjerkers / Made Me Cry The Most:

• Clannad: After Story
• The Dog of Flanders (movie)
• Your Lie in April

Biggest Surprises / Didn't Think I'd Like That:

• Princess Tutu
• Hajime No Ippo
• Hunter x Hunter

Most Disappointing / The Hype Is A Lie:

• Code Geass
• Lupin III (1971)
• The Garden of Sinners (Kara no Kyoukai 1 - 7)

Started but not finished in 2015:

• Dragon Ball
• Dragon Ball Super
• Assassination Classroom
• Yakitate!! Japan
• Pretty Cure

Dropped:

• Pani Poni Dash
• Hetalia Axis Powers

I Watched It Because I Heard It Was Bad:

• Garzey's Wing
• Dark Cat
• Psychic Wars

I also watched some great Not-Anime:

• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Rick and Morty: Season 2
• Bojack Horseman: Season 2
• Gravit Falls

And lastly..

Series of Particular Note / Did You Watch ____________?! (this year):

Full list here: Hamst3r's MyAnimeList

Phew.So much. I've seen over 70% of the top 100 on MAL now (and over 60% of the top 200), which feels like real progress in this anime-watching pursuit. So, what's next?

To defeat anime, I shall become an even greater anime:

Next up, I'm thinking I should tuck-in to some Space Brothers, The Seven Deadly Sins, Wandering Son, and Kids on the Slope. After that, give some of the newer iterations of Lupin a shot…perhaps I'll like one of those more than the original 1971 version. I also need to finish off what's left of the Studio Ghibli movies. I've seen 15 of them, and there are at least 4 more important ones to watch.

Since I've been watching the original Dragon Ball, I should probably start the never-ending pirate show, One Piece too. My total days watched on MAL is a mere 100-ish days, as so far I've only watched 7 series with more than 100 episodes, but I think I'm ready to watch more long-running series now.

Anyway, last year I thought my anime rampage would slow down towards the end of the year, and it did, but not as much as I anticipated. 2016 and the rampage is still going strong. I think it'll continue for straight through to 2017 at this rate. I'm not bored of this pursuit at all, and I've still found time to write music, go outside, and do other things. So, I think I'm good for at least another year of rapid anime consumption.

Also, even though my Plan To Watch list is already a parsec long, and I'm pretty on-top of this shit - or at least, I think I am - I'm always open to suggestions. Hit me with your best shot, duder-kun.

…and with that, I'm done.

I 100% agree about the Chimera Ant Arc. Yeah, it's pretty slowly paced but the pay-off at the end is just so good.

Ippppoooo!

Also I love One Piece but I stopped watching it years ago. I only read the manga now. For a while I did both but the anime has become really slow. But it's definitely worth it at least until Marineford. That's only like 500 episodes.I think I watched most of the next arc as well though. I would start watching it again if I wasn't like 150 episodes behind.

PS: none of the filler episodes are worth it..

You gave Tatami Galaxy a 9 and you are thus officially OK in my book WELCOME TO YOUR WELL-EARNED WEEB-SMUGGERY, FRIEND, I SALUTE YOU

Totally with you, interestingly, on the "Kara no Kyoukai not worth they hype" bit. I came to that series not knowing anything about it (and high on the post-FSN VN Type-Moon experience) and absolutely adored it, but trying to go back after just hyping it for *myself* was kinda... meh. I still think it's an interesting series (and has some of my favorite Kajiura Yuki work to date), but it's one of those things that REALLY can't be hyped. Not like Fate/Zero, that is. In a pre-Fate/Zero world, KnK was king of the Type-Moon 2deep4u hill, but man. F/Z just did so much of what KnK did but better.

For your yet-to-watch stuff, I'd give Eve no Jikan a pretty high recommendation - it's total length is about a movie's worth and it's one of my favorites currently on Crunchyroll. Oh, and welcome to Gintama. You are far more diligent than I was - I still haven't seen most of the early stuff and just skipped straight to the current seasons about a year or two back :x

Garden of Sinners is amazing you monster.

Lots of anime.
I watched the fewest shows this year than probably in the last 5.

Hope to watch some more in 2016.

+1,

Could not agree with you more about the Chimera Ant arc in HxH. The visual story-telling on display and the intentional slow pace of the arc made it so incredible. That arc just blew me away in every regard. Really glad to hear you dug that and Hajime no Ippo! :D

whoa whoa whoa, you can't use a Love Live gif and then not have it on your list!

Seriously though, that's a lot of damn anime. I can't even focus long enough to watch 26 episodes of something I like, much less 300.

Dog of Flanders is motherfucking dope

OK SO THAT'S MY ANSWER!! Skip 70 episodes of Gintama. I too found it hard to watch Gintama and I wanted to get to the good stuff (I knew there was good stuff) as I had clips thrown at me of Gintama being super funny when it was being funny, not like the first batch of episodes where it is funny a bit however also tried to tell stories....which...made not so fun to watch. Which was Weird.

*Nods furiously over these.*

Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie, The Wings of Honneamise, Fist of the North Star, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Gunbuster

*Nods a little making that's pretty fair face.*

Armitage III stayed where it was, as ultimately just okay.

As for the Lupin III issue I would suggest just watch more of the movies like Secret of Mamo, Goodbye Lady Liberty and such. However Castle of Cagliostro still remains as the best for obvious reasons.

Your watching of Katanagatari is a lot like me and my father with Legend of Galactic Heroes, I delved into it only to have my mind blown on how great I found it and also I knew this was up my dads alley in terms of anime...cos he introduced me to it, no he was an anime fan instead he saw it late night and recorded an episode showing me anime, that anime is Cyber City Oedo 808 ( I was the one who sent that copy to GB ages ago) and I watched a bunch of these early animes with my father. With Legend of the four kings and Heroic Legend of Arslan being our top animes....well guess what Legend of Galactic Heroes is? It is also from the same creator so of course we loved it and LOGH is my top anime of all time after seeing, It hits me so emotionally just by everything of the characters and that is long before I add on that my father passed away this late June. I will cry hard when watching/listening the opening and intro songs of LOGH as I not only remember the much loved characters in the show but also my father.

I can't think of Yang Wen-Li and not imagine my father as they are very alike in character and this makes me think of myself as Julian.

Overall I have no clue how you can have the fortitude to sit through so much anime...well its not that much anime before 2005 I had seen 400 anime. Yet after that.....it crashed. I am not keep on the vast majority of anime between 2005 and onwards and for yourself to drip into the ultra modern stuff (which 90% to me is utter utter trash) seems impossible. However as long as you're enjoying yourself as I cherry pick and try to get into stuff (like Gintama) I am glad your getting yourself quit rounded by watching older stuff as well, something not a lot of anime fans seem to do. Its Oldtaku like myself that seem to be only ones lols.

The Chimera Arc of HxH made me question why I even liked the show. It was such a huge shift in tone that I kinda gave up on it. It was also the last show I watched super seriously, up until I guess One Punchman.

Also Monster is great all around, gets slow like a lot of those long-ass shows ,but man does it deliver.

I watched Psycho Pass this year and I thought that was good... I'm a real anime fiend in case you couldn't tell.

@akyho: Haha. I think it was the Fuyo Arc in Gintama where my opinion of it started to change, which according to this is episode 69-71 - and even now, just looking at the images for the arcs before that one make me cringe.

Cyber City, Four Kings, and Arslan will definitely get watched this year. Since I'm nearing the end of the highest rated stuff overall on MAL, I've been thinking about going at it by year, and just watching the two or three highest rated things of each year back to like 1970. I've also been looking at some other sites, as they've got some unique top lists. SakuhinDB with Kaleido Star and Yu Yu Hakusho in their top 3, so I gotta watch those.

@slowbird: Yeah, I've gotta watch Love Live. That GIF was just too good though. The full title has Idol in the name, so it counts as an Idol anime, right? Maybe that'll be my first one of those.

@peregrin38: Yessss, I shall be watching Time of Eve soon. It looks really interesting! Perhaps even watch the movie version too just to be completionist.

@sogeman:I was thinking about checking out the Funimation Dub of One Piece as they've got like 433 episodes dubbed so far, and it looks like they'll certainly be to the 500 episode point in 2016. I think that'll make it easier to get into for me, and if I'm really diggin' it I can continue it subbed.

Some of you guys have bad taste. Gintama was rad since the first episode. HxH chimera ant arc was stellar.

I can't for the life of me understand what would make someone watch 70 episodes of something because future episodes might be good. Sounds like complete insanity.

@amafi: I chalk it up to an adventurous disposition and the desire to not be a quitter with things. Like, it's the same with food. I think Sushi is trash, but I keep trying sushi every time it's offered, because maybe it'll be good that time. Maybe that'll be the good sushi that everyone else is so into. Same with crab, beer, wine, oysters, durian, and a bunch of other foodstuffs. I'll also return to restaurants I've had awful meals at, and even order the same thing, because maybe it was just bad that one night. I've been pleasantly surprised by the results (Blue cheese, liver, brussel sprouts, beef tongue, olives, pickles, rocky mountain oysters.)

I approach a lot of things in this manner, I wanna give everything a shot, see things through to the end, or try them again, even if the first or even several experiences with it were bad. So for me, 70 episodes of a show isn't too bad of a price, for what is now one of my favorite TV shows.

So, if you started watching Doraemon and hated it, would you still keep going for all 1800 episodes in the hopes it'd stop sucking eventually?

I'll give something an episode to prove itself to me, if it's tedious or boring or dumb I don't go back to it unless I hear overwhelmingly positive things about it from people I trust. Does have potential to cause problems as well, for instance I loved the Lost pilot enough to watch two whole seasons of it even though it was blindingly obvious it was going off the rails by the end of season one.

Kudos sticking with it though, glad it worked out for you and you liked it in the end.

@amafi: I haven't watched Doraemon yet, but I think I'd stick with it! It's episodes are only 11 minutes, so it's really more like 900 episodes. I'm not above dropping a show though, I've totally dropped shows, even in the last year. Some shows just really don't click. I intend to go back to those though after I clear out my on-hold list.

But with Gintama, it holds 5 of the top 10 highest rated slots on MAL. That's quite a thing, so I really wanted to go as far as I could into that show. Doraemon does not hold this distinction, but it is a classic and referenced a lot in other shows, so I might stick it out just for that. The short episodes help too.

@hamst3r: I didn't like the first seven episodes of Gintama° (2015), does it change or are those first 7 episodes the same level as the rest. Cos' its random weird bits of disparate comedy reminds me of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' and it could be great.

EDIT: Its probably that the Comedy doesn't really come across well with subtitles, for me at least.
EDIT EDIT: I've only started watching anime in the last 3 months so I've only just realised an hour ago how many episodes there have been in past.

@cirdain: If you wanna see the show doing something else entirely, I would watch episode 14 to 16 of Gintama° (which is episode 279 to 281 in the grand scheme of gintama things), the Reaper arc.

And if you're willing to go back to older episodes, maybe check out 129-134, 139 to 146, and 151 to 152. That's like 19 episodes total, some comedy, some serious, some both. I'd give those a shot as I think they're some of the better bits of the show.

The show has quite a range, which is difficult to boil down to a couple episodes. Like, man, like going from 177 to 184 is really something. The Red Spider arc followed by the Popularity Poll arc. They're like totally different shows, but they fit together and I think the show is improved by going both directions. Anyway, I think I'm rambling.

It's 100% true that the Madoka movies are as good as the series. Rebellion is incredible (just rewatched it yesterday) and it brings the series to exciting places.

Also, I'll be taking that Nico gif.

Sounds like an idea however you will probably find yourself in the OAV boom of the 80s a lot watching odd films and short series. Also that website lists Scryed as Strathclyde....Strathclyde is an area in Scotland. However other than that it does list some interesting stuff I agree with needing to see even if I haven't seen it, like Yu Yu Hakusho I need to watch that, or Slayers. Well so far I am soon to delve into the 1997 Berserk and if I like it the modern Berserk after.

SOLD.

I liked the Berserk stuff, but I wish they'd do a proper series for it. Basically do what David Prod is doing with Jojo right now. Start from the beginning and cover everything. The movies are okay, but even those don't start from the beginning. I WANT IT ALL, man.

Aren't there several years of nothing but filler in the comic? Like more filler than actual content?

As someone who has never seen any anime shows, only a small handful of old 80's movies, and has started to think about watching some. What service should I subscribe to? Hulu Plus, FUNimation, Crunchroll or something else? Or is there a good place to start on Netflix? And what is a good starting show/movie in general.

@amafi said:

Oh man haha, I have no idea, I've never read it. Hadn't heard anything about it being fillertastic either, I just know that it's a highly regarded series. It's #1 on MAL, so whatever rad stuff is happening to put it up so high, I wanna see that animated.

If you like mind games and mystery, I'd start with Death Note on Netflix. They've also got Samurai Champloo and Attack on Titan which might also be good places to start.

As for the other services, those are all good options. I'm subscribed to all three as they have quite different offerings. I've been using because.moe to figure out where things are available. While Hulu does have a lot of stuff, the numbers are inflated, as some of what they offer is incomplete. Offering 26 out of 148 episodes of Hunter x Hunter is lame. Crunchyroll has all 148.

Hulu does have all of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex though, dubbed even, which is my preferred method when watching anything GiTS.

I haven't watched Gintama for a while but I'm still buying the manga. And the german version is only like 30 volumes behind! :)

The Death Note parody episode was probably when I realized I really liked Gintama.

I hope I didn't hype up this scene too much on twitter a few months ago.

Just watch One Piece however you want to watch it. I started with the german dub but once I was old enough to realize that they cut that to shit (like the first english dub) I switched to subs and one I hit the end of the Water 7 arc I couldn't wait a week anymore to see more and started the manga. Still cry every time I watch that particular episode in that arc.

But again, those fillers...waste of time. Like all shonen anime filler.

They stuff being done with Jo Jo is amazing and it sounds like Berserk should have gotten that treatment as well.

The OAV Boom of the 80s is a great thing for amazing anime to also trash anime that is just wonderful to know it exists. Like Lily C.a.t which is an anime movie if John Carpenter and James Cameron made The Thing and Alien into the one movie. It is not the best and neither is it the worst yet it is wonderful to know it exist. Just look at the intro!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUkwiRUgFRQ

To really prepare you for some of the weird and wonderful stuff that you may find in your own journey and I give you the Intro to Blue Sonnet with a little bit of the first episode which is worth seeing.

The intro shows you what you should expect and that is fucked up, it's a dark story with weird tone shifts and many trappings in bad storytelling, yet that opening guts punches you with the most depressing events of raped....raped/almost killed....revenge....revenge. ALL IN 1 MINUTE you now know what's up with Blue Sonnet! To a pretty rocking tune.

Nothing graphic aside from head explosion but we all have played Fallout, Blue sonnet is not at all a hentai so no need to fear there....its just like many anime of the OAV it has quilty...but no one knows what to do with it....and you end up with these wonderful trashy messes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXZGD9QMsJc

The intro Desert Battle just reminds me of Madox 01 90 minute movie about a engineering college kid who gets a hold of a personal mech suit and cannot get out of it with the miltary on his ass and a date with a girl he cannot miss. Cmoooooon how can that not be cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuez06x4DnQ

Then you have some of the good stuff like Riding Bean which is just a 90 minute ride of awesome, this is the trailer yet it just shows scenes...LIKE THE COOL SCENES!! They knew they couldn't tell you anything about Riding bean and just had to show you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9cDV7ZM-Cc

I can go on, however Id think it would be cool if you went down your own journey off the beaten path for your 80s education, like check out the Manga video archives and you'll find the stuff that's watchable to great.

@akyho: Those looks great, and they're on my list now. I watched Riding Bean last year and enjoyed it, it's got some great animation. I also watched Baoh the Visitor which was fun. This year, I intend to go through the Manga Video trailer that was at the start of every VHS tape I rented back in the day and finally watch those shows: https://youtu.be/cCbUMEooHhI

The Guyver, Macross Plus, Mad Bull 34, Devil Man, Giant Robo, Dangaioh. That's stuff I gotta see.

@sogeman: No way, Gomen Jerry is a great moment in the show. The Peth Note episode was also really good.

Speaking of filler though, I think I'm almost out of the woods with this Red Ribbon stuff in Dragon Ball. Goku is fighting ninjas in Muscle Tower. :P

Guyver 80s series is an all time fave of mine, Macross is a masterpiece of anime, Devil Man is one fucked up action packed horror fantasy ride and Dangaioh is what introduced me to super robots,I do not like super robots mostly, however I do like Dangaioh.

You have an excellent floor plan watching those trailers however make sure Dominion Tank Police/New Dominion Tank Police is bumped to the front as the name alone should tell you what shenanigans is in that anime, more so I would suggest the Dub since they put alot more effort on the sound with the Dub than the Sub even better music choices in my opinion as well as love that dub....

Also Venus Wars which was pegged to be a big blockbuster so high budget and was the most expensive anime so far, then Akira dropped....and Venus wars still was to be finished. I was a flop however it can still be appreciate for Monobikers going to war to save Venus from Earth.

A cool scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXY1Otlu0NY

Naoki Urasawa's "Monster" is one of the greatest pieces of fiction I've ever put into my face.
Up there with HBO's "The Wire" and 3DS's "Virtue's Last Reward"

Though I've only read the manga, and haven't seen the anime. I don't have time for the bullshit pacing most anime have.

@hamst3r: if only RRA was filler

Have you watched Parasytes or either Tokyo Ghoul series? If not, you are doing yourself a great disservice.

wait so... you completed cowboy bebop this year, gave it a 9 out of 10, and did not put it in this list?

@katpottz: Haha, yeah. If I were to list more than 3 "Most Enjoyed", it would certainly be in there, in the top 5. If I were to list all of the 9's I gave out this year it would be 31 titles long.

@jakob187:They have been witnessed! I watched Parasyte as it aired. It was good.

@hamst3r: Parasyte was so fucking good. I mean, I don't watch a lot of anime...like, at all. I don't care for 95% of it, honestly. I actually have a friend that filters through anime while he watches it and lets me know what I'd enjoy. He has a really good sense for it. Every time I pick an anime to watch, it turns out to be something super weird or dumb and I end up hating it (i.e. Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Owari no Seraph).

Also, Terra Formars. I fucking LOVE Terra Formars. I need another series of that so goddamn bad that it hurts.

Yet...you did not say you had watched Tokyo Ghoul or its follow-up. If you haven't, you should. Excellent series.

I am glad to see Parasyte getting some love. That show is great. Seriously, watch it, especially if you like horror.

I just remembered I mentioned Heroic Legend of Arslan to you and I forgot that their a new series. I was talking about an old series.

Heroic Legend of Arslan

Legend of the Four kings/Legend of the Four Dragon Kings/Souryuuden. UK opening which shows off clips of the show. Legend of the four kings is a sort of slice of life anime set in modern day Tokyo if your life was the descendants of Dragons, the Ryudo brothers just want a calm a normal life, other people do not want that. If you see this intro, don't worry YOU did get the right anime......

I might aswell throw 3x3 eyes at you about Pai an immortal being last of her kind wishing to be mortal and live like a human. Yakumo a boy who is thrusted into this by his deceased father who made a promise to Pai to maker her mortal, all the while summoners throw monsters at them to stop them recovering the artifact they need...I MEAN THEY THROW MONSTERS LITERALLY AT EACH OTHER on a number of occasions.