Let’s get back to Top 5’s of 2023. And this time we’re going to look at anime. And I watched a fair number for the first time throughout the year. So let’s see which ones made the list. As I put together this list, I realize that I might not be able to do a TV show list. Most of what I watch as TV shows is now anime, but we’ll have to see, I think I’ll be able to piece together TV shows to start next week.

Top 5 Anime of 2023

It’s worth noting before I get into some honorable mentions that these are anime I watched in 2023. It doesn’t mean that the anime had to air in 2023. It might be something I stumbled across for the first time.

Honorable Mention

A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special – This is one that I just started watching and it’s actively coming out or at least actively getting dubbed. It’s about a character who when the world ends gets sent back in time with his knowledge to try and save the world. It’s a fun trope that I enjoy in manga and anime recently.

Jujutsu Kaisen – Jujutsu Kaisen is probably one of the more talked about animes where sorcerers are fighting demons. The main character, well, he’s a bit of a special one with the cursed energy that he has and how much he cares. This is mainly an anime with an okay story and some cool fights.

My Love Story with Yamada-Kun and Lv999 – You’ll find a few romance anime on this list, and I like this one a lot. It’s a cute story of a girl who joins an RPG only to get dumped by her boyfriend who got her into the game. Swearing off gamer boys, she finds that she accidentally might be falling for one again.

I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too – Ah, the classic long title. This is the story of the zero to hero over night. As the main character is a nobody in the real world, and then when inheriting a portal to another world from his grandfather, he levels up there and well, levels up in the real world too.

5. Mashle

To start the list we have Mashle. This is one that I already talked about on the manga list. In fact, you’ll find a few that overlap. A lot of that is that I’d stumble across something and then hear that it’s coming out as an anime later. Mashle though, I think maybe makes a better anime than a manga. And I really enjoy the manga.

The story is pretty simple, it’s a non-magic user in a magic users world. In fact the world leans so heavily on magic that it shuns and throws out of society anyone that can’t use magic. So how is Mashle able to survive in a school for magic users? Well, that’s where the action and comedy come in as this story parodies other anime and manga out there.

This is one for people who want a pretty simple plot but a lot of dumb fun action and a dumb fun character, Mash Burnedead. In fact, all of the characters could qualify as dumb and fun. It’s just a good time.

4. Rent-A-Girlfriend

Now onto another one of the romance anime that I watched this past year. Rent-A-Girlfriend is an anime and story that I’d heard about but never really drew me in as a concept. A guy is down on his luck having been dumped by his girlfriend, so as a way to gain confidence he goes on a Rent-A-Girlfriend app and has a date with a rental girlfriend.

And I think that Rent-A-Girlfriend gets much better as the seasons go on. The first season is a bit rough. You don’t feel that sad for the guy and the relationship between the rental girlfriend and him is odd. But eventually, through some decent writing and plot, the story really develops into something meaningful. The main character never fully wins you over, at least he didn’t for me, but the rest of the characters and heart of the story work well.

3. Shangri-La Frontier

Another one from the manga list, Shangri-La Frontier is just one that I really enjoy. The main character loves his trash games. Video games that are so bad that they are almost unplayable. His goal is to beat them all and he has beat most of them. When he goes in to commiserate with a video game store owner about the last bad game, she recommends a break to a great game, and a new game Shangri-La Frontier.

I like this show as just a fun romp of a game. The most interesting part is probably the world and the complexity of the world being created. The main character is very good at the game, he should be since he’s really good at bad games. But that doesn’t take away from the wild but deep world and make it less enjoyable. Instead, you get to appreciate him appreciating something that is actually good. And sometimes dipping into appreciating something that is bad as he plays other games.

2. Spy x Family

Now we have one of the bigger anime for 2022, I believe. I just didn’t get around to watching it until 2023. In fact both my #2 and #1 are 2022 titles that I watched this year. Spy x Family is the story of a spy who has to pretend like he has a family in order to infiltrate a school and get close to one of the enemy countries leaders.

That’s the plot, but it’s really about how a spy, an assassin (they don’t know each others jobs) and a psychic daughter that he adopts all can live together and they grow together. Is it just a job or are they starting to have feelings for each other? Well, the daughter definitely loves them both, but what’s going on. It’s a story with a lot of cute little stories in it and sometimes some action and adventure as plots are uncovered and stopped. But all of that has a family backdrop to it.

1. My Dress-Up Darling

And my favorite anime of last year is My Dress-Up Darling. This one I really didn’t think I was going to like. I think my wife and I started watching it in 2022 and the 2nd episode is just tough to watch. It’s all of those cringy awkward things that I feel like you get in some comedies. It reminds me of Meet the Parents or 40-Year-Old Virgin awkward and kind of dumb writing.

But the show quickly moves on past that into a show still with some of that awkwardness, but not to the point where it’s the point of an episode. And it becomes more charming as you meet the characters more in depth and they grow. My Dress-Up Darling is really a great romance and story of characters growing together and bonding over cosplay. It’s also a dive into the world of cosplay and the people who go head over heals for it.

I know that it is a raunchy anime. There is a lot of fan service. And while I find that it doesn’t push itself too far, it definitely pushes itself a ways. That is going to be enough for some to skip it. But while it has all of that, it is, without doubt, the anime with the most heart that I’ve seen in a long while. It is just adorable and heart warming with how the characters interact.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun year of watching anime for me. There are some that I want to get back to and finish because I liked them, but it wasn’t the right time to watch.

Shy, a superhero anime, definitely interested me in what it was doing. As it felt like a different take, kind of, on superheroes, but it also hits some tropes.

Beast Tamer also almost made the list. A story of a character who seems underpowered or like his skills aren’t that great. But when the adventuring party doesn’t have him, well, maybe he’s worth more than they thought.

Didn’t I say to make my abilities average in the next life is another one that I kind of want to dabble in a bit more. An isekai, the main character wants to just be average and live a normal life in their next life. While, when they get dropped into the world, they are given the average of an ant (or something like that) and the most powerful ancient dragon. So they are on the high end of magic users and people in the world.

Plus a lot of fun ones are coming out in 2024. I’ll be doing a list looking forward soon. Which anime did you watch in 2023 that you really liked?

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