#NI PUT DIME DAMN CLOTHES ON WHAT THE SHIT

[okcoolthanks]

I hate this blond guy

Put a damn shirt on

[rieshon]

Winter 2017 Power Rankings

Pretty late with this but what else is new.

1 Gabriel Dropout: A classic cute girls doing cute things comedy courtesy of none other than the comedy god himself Oota Masahiko. As you might expect from an Oota/Douga Koubou production, the show is pretty similar to Yuruyuri in tone. Satanya is already going down as one of the best girls of the year. This might be a surprising AOTS pick for some, but in the end, comfiness wins out over all else.

2 Youjo Senki: An incredibly smart war drama, maybe actually too smart because my illiterate ass had a hard time following some of the political chicanery going on at times. Nonetheless, Youjo Senki makes itself stand out in a crowded field of 'fantasy WW2' works with both the verisimilitude of its plot and its cynical view of warfare and humanity viewed through the lens of the brilliant protagonist, for whom Yuuki Aoi puts in in my opinion the best performance of her entire career.

3 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2: Yep, it's Konosuba. I haven't posted by Best of 2016 yet because I'm a lazy shit, but there's a reason this series came in in the top five. It's still a sharp and witty takedown of the isekai tensei genre as ever with some of the best comedic writing I've seen in an anime. Hai, Kazuma desu.

4 Kobayashi-sanchi no Maidragon: Are Kyoani finally getting their sea legs back? I know some people didn't really like the second season of Euphonium, but for me it marks two consecutive really good shows from the once vaunted studio who have been in a four year long slump. Maidragon is finally a throwback to the days when Kyoani made the best cute girls doing cute things anime -- if you ignore the terrible final episode there's no shitty melodrama to be found here, just cute dragons and a cute Kobayashi. Also, Kanna.

5 Little Witch Academia: The much ballyhooed LWA finally gets a TV anime and, as expected, it's pretty good. Yoshinari You's love of Western animation is clearly on display in this series, even if it's not as pronounced as his most famous example, Panty & Stocking. The result is a unique visual style and overall feel to the series that comes across as a kind of East-West fusion... Chumlee from Pawn Stars even makes a cameo appearance.

6 Urara Meirochou: The latest Kirara anime unfortunately seemed to get lost in the shuffle this season. Despite a great cast of girls and a flawless production courtesy of J.C.Staff, it seemed like Gabriel beat it at its own game while delivering better comedy, and this show ended up being overlooked. It's not the best Kirara anime by any means, but it has a unique premise, an interesting look, and actually even an interesting story -- the idea that divination is actually a mystical and potentially dangerous art is played up very well and adds a neat twist to the standard Kirara formula.

7 Akiba's Trip -The Animation-: A show by nerds, for nerds. Okay, I know the Mizaki Man says that's all anime nowadays, and he's right to a degree, but Akiba's Trip is really a show about being an otaku, and not in the shallow way that a million shows about dudes who play video games are. Akiba's Trip, surprisingly not all about stripping clothes off girls, is actually all about that feeling of discovering something new and then throwing your body and soul into it because, damn it, it's just so cool. I couldn't help but grin at every episode because it really captures so well that feeling of nerdy obsession, the kind that you pursue to the point of regret, that we've all experienced.

8 Piace ~Watashi no Italian~: A really cute short that needed to be a full length anime. Cooking shows are a dime a dozen nowadays and Piace doesn't really do anything unique, but what can I say, the character art is really good, and it has a comfy tone.

9 Demi-chan wa Kataritai: This is a show you would think I would like more, but despite Hikari's cuteness it didn't really click with me. Hikari's faces aside, I think the character designs really left something to be desired for me. Honestly, I'm not sure I really even liked anything in the show that much outside of Hikari and her relationship with sensei.

10 Kuzu no Honkai: I expect this is going to be a pretty polarizing show. I've seen rave reviews gushing about how it handles adolescent sexuality, blah blah, etc. For me, it was kind of a miserable experience filled with awful people who really needed a hobby other than trying to fuck each other's boyfriends all the time. Do people really have this much drama in high school? The drama was compelling at first, but the 64-dimensional love chess got to the point where my suspension of disbelief was being strained. At least it was lewd.

11 One Room: Speaking of lewd... I guess you would call this an experimental anime, because I've never seen anything like it before. Another one I'm sure that will be polarizing; I know some people hated this for being too weird but first person romance with a 2D loli is all I could ask for in life. The first heroine was really week, but the Rieshon girl was godlike.

12 Schoolgirl Strikers Animation Channel: Something about this show kept me watching it all the way through the end and I'm glad I did. Was it the high quality lewd character art from J.C.Staff? The surprisingly wacky sense of humor that shines through in some truly quality gag episodes? Saitou Chiwa literally ripping off chunks of the scenery and eating them in her performance as Odir, the best frenemy of the season? The show has charm, but unfortunately it can also be really boring at times so I don't blame anyone who dropped it.

13 Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitenshabu: Bakuon remains the best show about two-wheeled means of transportation. I really liked the comfy tone and beautiful art in this show, but in the end it's a little too boring even for a comfy show.

14 Masamune-kun no Revenge: This show has completely incomprehensible levels of popularity in the West, apparently. The premise was cute at first (I liked the idea of a "dame ikemen" protagonist in this kind of show) but after a few episodes it becomes a stock-standard romantic comedy with little to differentiate itself from the pack other than maybe that funny face Aki makes sometimes. The plot really went off the rails toward the end, too, and the final plot arc & twist don't even get a resolution before the final credits roll.