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.