"This is what is known as a weeaboo that has ascended past a weeaboo. Or, you could just call this a weeaboo 2." - Naruto

Well it's that time of year again. Time for my yearly anime checkup and you're my anime therapist. Just sit there, nod, and utter disinterested noises of acknowledgement as you digest these fractured thoughts that I have compiled for you.

2017 was yet another year of intense anime consumption, in which I tore through 252 anime, bringing my total up to 954. And yet I still found time for other things, like producing music, motion graphics, and dank memes. I even moved into a new house, cooked a bunch of beef curry, and played some 60+ hours of fighting games.

But anyway, back to the anime. Here's where I imagine you asking me a question that you're not actually asking as a way to propel this blog to the next section.

"Yeah, but how much of that anime was released in the 80's and 90's?", you ask smugly, glancing over at your collection of anime tapes.

\ ˈmäŋ-gə ˌen-tər-ˈtān-mənt \

In a continuation of my VHS Playlist initiative from last year, in which approximately half of what I watched was release before the year 2000, about half of what I watched this year also fits that criteria. I even ventured out of the realm of OVAs and movies to watch a few older TV series, namely: Speed Racer, Casshern, Gatchaman, Patlabor, GoLion (Voltron), and The Littl' Bits.

Speed Racer sure was something. I thoroughly enjoyed every time they explained who Racer X was. In fact I wish they had done it more, like literally every time Racer X is on screen. Just make, "Racer X who is secretly Speed's older brother Rex" his actual name. Also, having watched the series, I guess I'm ready to watch the 2008 Speed Racer movie now.

As for The Littl' Bits, it's one of those shows I watched on TV as a kid, the theme song permanently etched into my memory. Confident that I never finished anything as a child, I felt compelled to pick it up after all these years and give it a proper viewing. Was it worth revisiting as an adult? I'd say so! I found it quite charming. Which has my hopes up for Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, the next series from my childhood that I plan to revisit.

Oh, and I was also pleasantly surprised to recognize one of the music cues as being an instrumental version of the Maya The Bee theme. From the English language version by Saban, specifically. It was a bizarre, "wait, why do I know this song? And why do I feel like there are lyrics to this song?!" moment.

In The Name Of The Moon

This year also saw me consume an anime diet rich in magical girls, such as the decidedly meaty Pretty Cure series. Go! Princess Precure and Heartcatch Precure! are both excellent, reaching exquisite levels of hypeness and emotional resonance, with the latter being my favorite of the two. Watching them has certainly got me excited to watch more Precure, which seems fully capable of fulfilling my every mahou shoujo need.

The Crying Game

There were numerous series this year that wrung the liquid out of my tear ducts. Well, wrung may hold too strong a connotation, it's more like they looked at me funny and I didn't know how to respond, so I cried. Some sad crying, some happy crying—just a lot of ocular dampness in general.

Heartcatch Precure!, Space Battleship Yamato 2199, My Hero Academia, Pom Poko, Major, One Piece, and Chi's Sweet Adventure all got me good in one way or another. Major was without a doubt the most emotionally affecting series I watched all year; even just the opening credits for it was making me cry after the events depicted in it had passed.

As for movies the top spot goes to My Sister Momoko. It only takes about a minute of rewatching it to get me full-on sobbing. I need to watch it again.

King of the Pirates

So, I've got a special tag for long running series on MAL, and this year's selected LRS was One Piece. I'm 241 episodes in and this show sure goes places. Like a child spinning a narrative yarn on the spot, one moment you're fighting a crooning orangutan-man and the next you're being carried up a cloud river by a sky lobster. It's all over the place, like a collage of every adventure story before it, and I like it. I like the characters, I like the villains, I like the mystery, and I like the world.

Screw-Moi? Screw-Ya!

Speaking of crazy. Heybot! That's a show that exists.

I have nothing more to say about Heybot.

Housekeeping

I also made an effort to clean up my list, by which I mean deplete the number of anime on my Hold and Dropped lists, starting with Cat Planet Cuties. I watched an episode of Cat Planet Cuties sometime around 2011 and pretty quickly deemed it not for me. It was cutesy, and ecchi, and just so damn anime. I ended up watching Claymore instead, which I also didn't manage to finish at first. It took me a few years to get back around to that one, and this year I finally got back to Cat Planet Cuties. The me of today thinks it's a good show and thinks the me of the past was a bit quick to judge.

I also got around to K-ON!! The double exclamation marks mean I'm talking about the second season. Seeing as I didn't enjoy the first season when I watched it back in 2015 though, I decided that if I was going to watch the second season I'd first need to revisit that first season with fresh eyes. Fresh eyes verdict? K-ON! is good. Yet again, me of today isn't so sure about the me of the past.

Anyway, let's close the door on this blog with some numbers!

Some stats from my 2017 anime rampage:

• 81 TV Series.
• 46 Movies.
• 93 OVA.
• 11 ONA.
• 19 Specials.
• 02 Music.

• First of the Year: Samurai Shodown The Motion Picture
• Last of the Year: Land of the Lustrous
• Longest series: One Piece (241 episodes so far, 3 movies, 2 shorts, 1 OVA, & 1 Special)

Most Enjoyed:

• Attack on Titan Season 2
• Heartcatch Precure!
• Space Battleship Yamato 2199
• One Piece
• Made in Abyss

Least Enjoyed:

• Gantz
• Pani Poni Dash

Tearjerkers / Made Me Cry The Most:

• My Sister Momoko
• Major (Season 1)

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

• High School DxD
• Gatchaman Crowds
• Heybot!

Most Disappointing / The Hype Is A Lie:

• Your Name.
• Kizumonogatari
• Hyouka

Started but not finished in 2017:

• One Piece
• Fullmetal Alchemist 2003
• Magical Circle Guru Guru
• Delinquent Hamsters
• Mr.Osomatsu 2
• A Sister's All You Need
• Henkei Shojo
• Maya the Bee

I Watched It Because I Heard It Was Bad:

• Abunai Sisters
• Dog Soldier
• The Dark Myth
• Sword for Truth

I also watched some great Not-Anime:

• Batman & Mr.Freeze: SubZero
• Batman: The Killing Joke
• Moana
• The Iron Giant (rewatched)

And lastly…

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

Full list here: Hamst3r's MyAnimeList

---

And this is to go even further beyond

So now what? Well, I want to continue picking away at my On Hold list, starting with Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, Shin Cutie Honey (especially since I saw a trailer for a new Cutie Honey thing), and Ushio and Tora I think. Also gonna keep riding the One Piece sea train.

I'm also pretty interested in starting Toriko, Sgt. Frog, and Crayon Shin-Chan, which have been on my list for a long time. So I think it's time to finally watch them.

I also have a whole set of anime adaptations of classic books to watch, and I see Tales of Little Women has recently been added to Amazon, so I'll probably start there. The Legend of Snow White and The Story of Cinderella are also on Youtube legally through MondoWorld, so those also get a priority boost.

Oh man, and that Yuasa Devilman thing goes up in a few days. !!

With that, I'm out. Until next year!

---

My Annual Anime Recap Blog:

• Anime Overload 2016: The Number of Anime I've Watched Can't Be This Many
• Anime Overload 2015: The Anime That Hamst3r Watches: My Conquest Is The Sea of Anime
• How Anime Consumed My Life in 2014: Hamst3r's Bizarre Adventure

My Youtube Playlists: Anime Video Essays | Favorite Anime Songs

Also, Anime Buttholes is still a thing.