Top 10 Anime of 2024

10. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

This was one of the bigger anime during the summer season, I believe, because it was a cute romance anime with an interesting premise. Alya has feelings for the protagonist, but she also doesn’t really want to say anything. So she says them in Russian, all of that makes sense from the title, unknown to her, her happens to speak Russian. He had learned it as a kid because he had a childhood friend for a few years who spoke Russian as well, but he can’t remember who it was. Turns out it’s Alya’s older sister, but this is the pretty standard, but cute, high school romance anime.

9. Tower of God

Now, I will caveat this and say, I haven’t caught up on the second season yet. But the first season was really enjoyable. I read the webtoon/manhwa for Tower of God and enjoyed that as well. And I think the story is very well translated to the screen. I’ve heard that the second season maybe doesn’t have as good animation, but the first season is really good. And the premise of this anime, this getting out of the dark and climbing the tower to find the person you care about, it’s well done. The characters have complexity and the whole story is just enjoyable.

8. Oshi No Ko

Now we go to an anime that feels very anime like, but also different. It’s different in that there are elements of this show that’s a mystery. And of course, it’s odd that because the two main characters are reincarnated as the twins of the Idol that they love. I like how the anime and manga don’t really hide from the more questionable sides of the Idol industry and the entertainment industry as it tells the story. And the mystery element is interesting as well and offers some good challenges for the main character.

7. Horimiya

Horimiya is one of my favorite manga that I’ve read. I really enjoy the dynamic between the couple and just how wholesome the whole thing is. And they do a good job of translating at into the anime. They do some odd stuff with the anime in that they condense it and skip arcs and storylines in this teen romance again. But I appreciate that the main characters fall for each other quickly and there isn’t a ton of back and forth of will they won’t they nor is it a harem where all the girls like the main character. It’s just that good wholesome romance.

6. Sign of Affection

And speaking of a good wholesome romance anime, Sign of Affection is amazing for that. The story is of a deaf girl and her falling in love with a guy, and the guy falling in love with her. But it’s just this heartfelt story for them, and it feels like a real relationship. Yes, there is some jealousy and an attempted love triangle in it, but for the most part it’s just this great story about a wholesome relationship. And the male lead, they do a good job of creating a character who puts in so much effort, like learning sign language, that it’s just even more wholesome.

5. Solo Leveling

Now we move into action with Solo Leveling. I am pretty sure that this was my most anticipated anime of 2024 and it really didn’t disappoint. I like Solo Leveling a lot, but there are a few that make it higher that I watched. The animation for this show is great and it stays true enough to the story. It really gives you some iconic moments from the manhwa and it does a good job with them. I enjoy the premise as well of that weaker character becoming strong, but not becoming an edge lord in the process.

4. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War

The final romance on the list is an anime that’s been out for a little bit, but I love this one. It’s so fast with the characters spitting back and forth insults and romance at the same speed. All because the two most popular and powerful kids in the school are in love with each other. But if either of them breaks and admits it to the other, it’s a sign of weakness and the other will have power, that’s their worry anyways. It’s really fun and funny and Ian Sinclair as the narrator is amazing in this, he goes so hard on being over the top and comedic.

3. Shangri-La Frontier

The top three are all ones that I assumed that I’d like because I like the manga lot for all of them. Shangri-La Frontier is no exception, clearly, and I appreciate this one as a video game anime. I love how the video game is highly developed in this anime as well. It makes it feel more immersive, and you get little bits of the real world and real world elements affecting the game, but it’s much more focused on the game itself.

The main character is fun as well, I appreciate as well that he just wants to have fun. It could be a serious gamer, but not. He is a trash gamer, plays bad games, and now he’s just trying out an amazing game. And his two gaming friends are entertaining as well as they give each other a hard time. Even the NPC companions that he has are great.

2. Dandadan

Dandadan is so close to being my top anime of the year, it was really a coin flip between two for me. But I enjoy how absurd this one is, and then how it had an amazing heartfelt moment in it as well. The premise is just goofy. Ken believes in aliens. Momo believes in spirits. They don’t believe in the thing the other believes in. They both challenge the other to go to spots where aliens and spirits are seen. And, well, they both turn out to be right. And it gets crazier from there. The animation is amazing, and like I said, it has some beautiful moments as well. This is romance, comedy, adventure, supernatural all in one.

1. Kaiju No. 8

Finally, my top is Kaiju No. 8. I love this one because Kafka is a dummy but a great character. He’s washed up just fine with working in kaiju disposal. He takes one last crack at the defense force and, well, with a little bit of help from being infected by a kaiju, he’s able to make it. It’s all about his challenge and striving to be a hero and be able to be at his friends side. Of course, his friend is the most powerful kaiju hunter out there.

The cast of characters is a blast as well in this anime. Kafka, like I said, is a dummy, but he has this heart of gold. Mina is stand off-ish but it’s a tough shell. Reno I love as a character because he wants to be tough and cool. He thinks that he can do it all but develops such a soft spot for Kafka and helping him along and worrying about him, as one of the people who knows he’s infected, it’s amazing. And Kikoru is the prodigy that everyone is chasing down. But also is a character with more depth. It’s just such a fun show with everyone, plus great kaiju fighting action and gross kaiju clean-up.

Final Thoughts

I made it through 10, and I should be able to skip honorable mentions. But I want to talk about a few more that I really enjoyed as well. Both Mushoku Tensei and Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy are fun isekai to checkout. And I found some enjoyable comedy romances with things like The Quintessential Quintuplets, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You and My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Those three are all just good fun with The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You having such an absurd premise.

What is your favorite anime that you watched in 2024? Based off of my tastes, at least from this list, are there any that I should really checkout?

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Manga Round-up

Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu!

This one reminds me a lot of Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro but it’s even more sexualized. Not nudity, but more fan service as a degenerate sort of character, Miss Akutsu has descended on the main characters apartment. And, well, she’s made it her hangout spot which is driving the main character up the wall. He has no idea of what she’s going to do, and I’m not convinced that she does either. But either way, both of them kind of like the other or are growing to like the other.

You can see how that kind of matches up with Don’t Toy WIth Me, Miss Nagatoro. And it’s enjoyable to see it again. The stories are very short and vey slice of life as different things happen to both Miss Akutsu and the main character. But mainly, she just doesn’t want to leave his place and won’t no matter what he tries.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Magilumiere Magical Girls is a new manga that I stumbled across. It’s a world of magic girls with magical powers who work at companies and defeat monsters for them. It’s kind of a business, though how the companies get paid, I don’t fully understand that.

Sakuragi is a recent college graduate who is failing at a job hunt. She over prepares and over thinks everything as she is looking for work. She helps a magical girl take out one of the monsters with her knowledges of the monsters. So the company that that magical girl works for recruits her.

The story is fun and different from my normal fantasy manga reading. The main character is a lot of fun. And the company that she goes to work for is a start-up magical girl company with an interesting cast of employees. It is more going to be about them, or at least it will be a lot of the time, than the magical girl fighting.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Now we’re to fantasy manga and Isekai. Our main character is brought to a fantasy world and, well, he doesn’t get what is considered a cool power. Nope, instead he gets healing magic. Turns out, healing magic is pretty rare. But the top healer, she is a bit eccentric in her training of healers looking for someone like her.

What is like her? Well, the main character is basically broken down and learns how to use healing magic on himself. He is a tank, not for combat but for being able to heal on the front lines. The last time the demons attacked, the other healer is the only reason everyone survived. So she wants other healers like her to keep the demons at bay next time they attack.

I enjoy this type of story. The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic is pretty standard in what is does. A fantasy world with demons attacking is what I expect from an isekai. It is just enough different and I haven’t gotten into the “let’s fight” portion of the manga that I’m enjoying it thus far.

I Want to End This Love Game

Now time for a cute manga. I really enjoy cute manga, and I Want To End This Love Game is a fun cute one. To me, I think of Kaguya-sama: Love is War as a comparison. Mainly it is two characters who love each other, but neither is going to fold to be the first two admit it.

How did we end up here? Yukiya and Miku make a bet as kids or more of a dare. They tell each other “I love you” and the first to have their heart flutter is the loser. Well, for both of them, the time of their heart fluttering has long past. They now love each other but neither of them dare admit it because that will mean that they lose the game.

The manga is the story of them trying to get the other to break. Because, once the other breaks, they now confess their love and their heart fluttering is fine. The story is just really cute and enjoyable.

Overgeared

Finally we have Overgeared. According to what I looked up, I haven’t written about this one. I thought maybe I had because I’m book three of this webtoon turned manga or manhwa. And it is back to fantasy with Overgeared.

At the moment he dies, our main character, in a video game, unlocks the secret new class of a master blacksmith. He rebuilds in the game from being a top character to now even a more powerful character, but one who has no idea of how it all works. It is less of a fantasy romp of fighting monsters and more of him figuring how to make it in his career as a blacksmith. And in real life how he is able to help support his family now through the video game. Though, half the battle is convincing his parents that is even possible.

It is a fun fantasy story. I like the ones with kind of an underdog character. I say kind of because he is powerful. But also I like the story of the unlikely skill being used to come up as a big time hero. Overgeared is that type of story, so I like that element.

Final Thoughts

I like all of these manga. Normally, I think there is one or two where I look at it and go, I won’t get more of them. In this batch, I want to read more of them. My investment with Overgeared is already there. The one that I think I might end up dropping is The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic but I want to read a little more of it first. Mainly that is the most generic of the manga in the group.

The one that I like best is easily I Want To End This Love Game. The premise is just so much fun, and the characters aren’t mean about it. They tease each other to get them flustered. But they both want the other character to get flustered and fall in love with them. So the idea of being too mean and antagonizing the other person is a real concern which means, they need to be sweet.

Have you read any new manga lately?

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Top 50 Anime – 20 through 11

20. Steins;Gate

Like I said, this is one that was on the top of the list for me for a long time. I still love it and have fond memories of staying up late and binging it because it’s that good. It’s one of the best time travel shows I’ve ever seen and one of the best time travel things period. It’s up there with something like Primer in terms of time travel.

But to do it that well, you need part of it to be that time travel goes wrong. And it does in this show, and because it does, there are some heavier moments with it. One that I probably should watch again, it’s not that long, but it’s that good.

19. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War

Now for one of them that I watched the most recently, this one is amazing. It’s a super fast paced comedy that I love. I saw the first episode or maybe two, in Japanese a bit ago. And I thought it was great, but it’s a lot of reading. Well, turns out that he dubbed version is amazing as well. Ian Sinclair is able to overact in it as the narrator and it really sets the tone for this fast, smart, and absurd romance. The two characters who should fall in love and do love the other can’t admit it because it would be losing. So it becomes a battle to get the other to admit their feelings.

The reason it didn’t work for me in Japanese is that there is so much reading, like I said. This reminds me of witty slapstick comedies where it is a mile a minute dialog. Bringing up Baby is a great example of that. This is way more sarcastic and still as over the top. One that I really think will appeal to a lot of people, even if you don’t like romance anime.

18. Ghost Hunt

I like to find horror anime to watch, from time to time. You’ll notice not a ton on my list, though. Mainly because a lot of them are just okay. Ghost Hunt, however, really was a ton of fun. And I like how it worked as well. It didn’t do the thing where it was one massive horror/ghost hunt that happens. But it’s also not monster of the week. Each case that the team investigates takes a few episodes. That time to breath lets them build up the horror and build up the lore. Each case wraps up quickly enough though so it doesn’t drag.

17. Mashle

I expect Mashle to move higher over time. It’s an anime that doesn’t set itself apart as something that is completely unique. In fact, a lot of what Mashle does, the main character who is the chosen one to bring balance to a corrupt world that looks down on those who can’t cast magic, it’s pretty normal. It’s set in a school, also normal. But it then makes fun of those tropes.

The main character, Mash Deadburn is a moron, how he will bring balance who knows. He also is insanely strong, that’s how he makes up for not being able to do magic. But it’s not that he overpowers everyone, he has to use it to pretend to be doing magic because otherwise he’d be cast out from society. This is a good action and comedy anime storyline.

16. Bofuri

We’ll see were this one lands, I need to watch the second season of Bofuri. But the premise is a fun one. A girl takes up playing an RPG. But she’s afraid of dying and getting hurt in the RPG. It’s her first time playing one. So she maxes out her defense, that’s part of the long title. And as she does that, this sweet RPG player comes up against more powerful, more cutthroat players, but can she overcome them just with her defense? And will she lose her sweetness? That’s the biggest part of this pretty wholesome feeling anime.

15. Assassination Classroom

Assassination Classroom is another one that was higher on my list, and it’s dropped some. This is an absurd anime again. The main character is an “alien” who needs to be killed before they destroy the world. Well, they take up teaching a remedial class of students who need to learn but also are tasked with coming up with a creative way to take him out. Because he knows he needs to die, but he’s not going to make it easy.

The whole thing is really built around the emotional stories and growth of the students. But it’s done with one of the weirdest backdrops ever. Assassinate your alien teacher is not where you’d expect to get character development and growth stories from.

14. A Returners Magic Should Be Special

I’ve found a trope that I really like which A Returners Magic Should Be Special is one of. What do you do when you know how everything ends. You know that in the end, everything is for not because you fail. But now you’ve been sent back to where you started at, how do you do it differently. That’s the question that is being asked in this action and adventure anime. Where there are portals opening up and a dragon at the end of them destructs and destroys the world. The main character’s mind is thrown back into his body when he started out training. So what is he going to do different.

I like the story, I like the overpowered nature. And I really appreciate that it is a fun character as well. This could be dark, and there are some elements or some ways where it feel like it is. But overall the story is handled pretty lightly, there are fun moments, and I want more of it.

13. Horimiya

This is one that we, both my wife and I, read first before watching. I think that helps build it up some as an anime and as a romance. The books are great, and the anime, while it bounces around and basically wraps up the whole story in a season, and then goes back, it’s weird. But the heart of the story is great. Two highschoolers fall for each other, but both of them kind of live a different life in and outside of school. It’s just a good heartfelt and funny romance anime.

12. Spy X Family

The biggest hit in the past few years. I mean, you can say Attack on Titan, but that had it’s start before the past few years. Spy X Family is about a spy who needs to set-up a family to get close to a political leader. Turns out, you can lie about that, and he creates a fake family. It has some spy stuff, it has some assassin stuff. But it’s really about that family element. How does the spy, and their fake spouse an assassin, keep their hidden lives hidden from each other? Plus, how do they actually act like a family?

11. Komi Can’t Communicate

This anime is just adorable. Komi Can’t Communicate is about Komi, a girl who has severe social anxiety and can’t communicate with anyone. She comes off as cold and aloof because of that. But when one of her classmates actually spends the time to reach out to her in a way that she can handle, they start to form a bond. And she doesn’t want to be cold and aloof, but wants to make 100 friends. So how can he help her do that when she can’t talk. The anime is adorable, and it’s a good romance, and there are a lot of funny moments. It’s one that is just easy watching in the best way possible.

Final Thoughts

There it is, the penultimate last. Next week, and I will remember to write it for next week, the Top 10 Anime for me. Don’t expect a ton of heavy hitters on the list, though a number of them are quite popular. I have my type of anime that I like, though I will watch most.

Based off of what I’ve written about thus far, which anime do you think will make the top of the list? And which anime do you think I should continue to checkout that maybe I haven’t. Let me know down in the comment section below.