And so we (almost) wrap up another year in anime on LiA. It was a fairly solid year on the whole. Not as good as 2023, which was probably the best in four or five years, but at least average I\u2019d say. Especially given the strength of the #11-20 list, which was on the whole a rather strong one. That\u2019s not as important as the strength of the first ten (which was about average) but it\u2019s certainly important.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s never easy to guess what the coming year in anime will be like at the beginning of January. But you do get some sense, based on the overall pool of shows that have been announced (and increasingly, leaked). And based on that my vibe is that 2025 is going to be a weak year. With some exceptions (there are always<\/em> exceptions) it\u2019s a pretty uninspiring pool of series at this point. Winter is often a middling season anyway, but we have a decent picture of spring by now, and it\u2019s not a pretty one to my eyes. But it\u2019s barely January – there\u2019s plenty of time for anime to prove me wrong. As for 2024, the Reader Poll is below – please vote and share your views on the year in anime.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the breakdown on the 2024 Top 10 list:<\/p>\n By Season:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 Fall 2023: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 Winter 2024: 3<\/p>\n \u2013 Spring 2024: 3<\/p>\n \u2013 Summer 2024: 2<\/p>\n \u2013 Fall 2024: 1<\/p>\n A pretty even distribution, which is exactly what it felt like. But 4 of the year\u2019s top 10 airing in winter is an indication that it was an unusually strong season by winter standards.<\/p>\n By Studio<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u2013 Bones: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 White Fox: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 SynergySP: .5<\/p>\n \u2013 Trigger: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 CloverWorks: 2<\/p>\n \u2013 OLM: .5<\/p>\n – TOHO : 5<\/p>\n \u2013 Shuka: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 Pierrot: 1<\/p>\n \u2013 Shin-ei: 1.5<\/p>\n The only carryover from 2023 are Shin-Ei (who are increasingly a notable studio for quality adaptations), Bones, and Pierrot. But then, Pierrot just about never seems to miss a year – they have an incredible track record. Bones reputation speaks for itself – they\u2019re deservedly regarded as one of the best in the industry. That\u2019s not how Pierrot is perceived but if you focus on overall quality rather than sakuga, they should be. As for CloverWorks, they’re the only studio with two solo efforts to their credit and on the whole, they had a very impressive year.<\/p>\n By Source Material<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u2013 Manga: 8<\/p>\n \u2013 Novel 1<\/p>\n \u2013 Light Novel: 1<\/p>\n After a clean sweep in 2010, manga cedes a little ground this time. Obviously at 80% of the list manga is still the dominant source material for quality anime, but it\u2019s nice to see a LN adaptation crack the Top 10 for the first time in 12 years. Novel adaptations are always a good bet for quality when they happen, but they don\u2019t happen often enough to be a major player. And this is now two years in a row without an original series in the top 10, which is kind of disappointing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As always, my sincerest thanks to everyone for sticking with me this year.\u00a0 I’m grateful to everyone who reads and comments (“like, comment, subscribe” on the YouTube channel helps out, too), and especially those of you that help out financially on Patreon, Ko-fi or PayPal.\u00a0 The LiA Oscars will be coming up in a couple of weeks as usual, and again, the reader poll is below – please take a moment to share your picks for the best anime of 2024.<\/p>\n Finally, the Top 10 contest! It seems to have been a tougher year than normal to peg this, which aligns with what I see as a pretty deep list of series that isn\u2019t too top-heavy. Red, Red Hat, Stephen and Darrel all notched 8\/10 from my Top 10 – congrats! As always the tiebreaker is the total displacement of the shows correctly picked, so the overall nod goes to Darrel, who came closest to the final placements with his guesses. Congrats Darrel, your prize is a haiku or top 5 list of your choice – let me know in the comments.<\/p>\n Thank you again, and here’s hoping 2025 is a better year than 2024.\u00a0 Stay frosty.<\/p>\n \u6709\u96e3\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3059!<\/p>\n Enzo<\/p>\n <\/p>\n