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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Crowdfunding Honorable Mention

So many different ones much like that Board Games, see those here. Tiny Turbo Cars because it just like so much fun. Real time little bit and then everyone races around a map trying to avoid other people. Canvas, an amazing looking game of making pictures by layering cards. Spire’s End: Hildegarde a solo story game. Really, I’m excited for everything in my Crowdfunding round-up, here, but let’s get to the Top 5.

5. Primal: The Awakening

Primal, aka Monster Hunter the Board Game, though there was a Kickstarter for a Monster Hunter board game, so Primal isn’t that, but it is? And it got there first, and I think looks cooler. So many massive monsters to fight and campaign but you don’t need to do campaign.

I also like that this isn’t your typical boss battler game. But it is purely a boss battler. Normally you pull out some tiles, get them set-up and move around the board counting how many hexes or squares you can move in that type of game. I love that, but I don’t always need that. In Primal there are four zone, front, back, left and right. You need to play where you attack from to do damage, but isn’t not counting spaces.

Plus, did I mention that this game has amazing minis? And there are 13 different monsters in the base box. That’s a ton of content. I didn’t go all in on the expansions to get even more monsters, though I was tempted. 13 will last me a long time.

4. Chronicles of Drunagor

Oh hey there massive dungeon crawling game. Chronicles of Drunagor looks really interesting for a few different reasons. Firstly you don’t see all the map. You see doors and those doors tell you what to set-up next. I like unfolding maps, granted it does cause a pause in the middle of the game.

The other things is the action system. You play down colored cubes to activate things. When you are out of them or when you want to, you pull them back. But you get a black cube that you need to cover up one spot with. So the longer a session/scenario takes the more you limited in what you can do. It’s like an exhaustion taking over.

And finally, I like that you don’t need to win every battle. Sometimes the monster needs to be defeated, and sometimes it’s just there to see what you do. And later it might be a villain who will show up again and remember your first encounter. I love it when games give the campaign a memory of what has been done before.

3. Marvel United X-Men

First of two Marvel games, this one I already know I’m going to like. Why, because I already really like Marvel United. Now you are going to give me the X-Men, I’m here for that. Marvel United is a simple cooperative game where you are a team of heroes trying to defeat a villain.

But before you can deal with the villain you need to deal with their henchmen or rescue enough civilians, or deal with their schemes in some way. And each villain does different things, some of them might just run around and try and smash you. Whereas MODOK, for example, is messing with the cards you’ve played. And the Green Goblin is more chaotic and doesn’t start with schemes on the board.

Beyond all of that, though, with the villains and with the heroes, I like that this game is so easy to get to the table. I pull it out grab some heroes and a villain and start playing in a few minutes. And if I want to play as Thor instead of Spider-Man, that’s a very fast swap. Plus, it’s Marvel.

2. Marvel Dice Throne

Hey, here’s more Marvel. And this one I rank higher because, again, it’s a game system that I know I love. In fact it’s very high on my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2021 Edition. Dice Throne works well for me as a head to head two player fighting game, or a free for all with the king of the hill rules.

Now they are going to give me the game with Marvel characters. This is a game that when it shows up, I’m going to try and get someone over that day to play it. Thankfully with shipping notifications and tracking that can be done. Why, because I have a number of friends who already know the game, at least regular Dice Throne. That means we can pull it out and get it to the table without needing to look at rules, and that’s rare for a crowdfunded game.

1. ISS Vanguard

Finally the first one I backed in 2021. Well, technically, I think I backed it in 2020, but the campaign didn’t end until 2021, so it counts for this year. ISS Vanguard is not the latest game for Awaken Realms, they did Lords of Ragnarok a month or so ago, but it is my most anticipated.

I’m not even going to talk about mechanics, just about the theme of the game. A message has been picked up by satellites around Earth. It’s coded and when it is decoded it’s coordinates to a spot in space that looks like nothing. A crew is put together to travel out there and a sphere is discovered.

The story unfolds from there, and I know a bit more about what might be going on, but how cool a premise is that. And the game, said I wasn’t going to talk about mechanics, but one thing, is played in two parts. There is a ship phase where you can upgrade your landing craft or deal with problems on the crew, or research new technology. And there is a planet phase where you go down the planet, explore, and try and figure out what is going on.

2021 Crowdfunding Finale Thoughts

There are a ton of great games that likely will be coming soon for me. I believe from my Round-up that I did Project L, Aeon’s End Legacy, and Joan of Arc are all getting close to shipping. And by that, I mean shipping to me, not getting on a ship. Not a Kickstarter, but one that I picked up because of one, Spire’s End – I backed Hildegard – is also waiting to get off a boat to to me.

I’m going to need to play a lot of games this upcoming few months just to see what I want to keep and make room on the shelf for other games. And there are a few games that maybe could go into fewer boxes. I’m looking at you TIME Stories and taking up a whole cubby by yourself, or you Aeon’s end and your giant boxes.

What games that you have backed this year are you most excited for?

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5. Bill And Ted Face The Music

I’m not going to lie, movie watching was done this year. If I didn’t have a lot of December year end and year beginning articles to write, I might not even have Bill and Ted Face the Music on the list. I fully expect that Spider-Man No Way Home will push this off the list. But I haven’t seen that yet.

Bill and Ted Face the Music is a fun film, it’s a good end to the Bill and Ted “trilogy” that didn’t need to be a trilogy. It follows their kids as they try and find the music again before the world ends. Because Bill and Ted haven’t written the song that is going to save the world as the first movie predicted.

In my review, and I still stand by this, I’d watch the original two over and over, but Bill and Ted Face the Music just is fine. You can see some brief thoughts on it here. The movie just seems to lose some of the heart that the other ones have, which makes sense because it’s a long time later. But the year has slim movie pickings for me.

4. Dune

Another one I’m not sure would make the list in a normal year. Granted, I think it would because it’s such a gorgeous movie. Dune is a movie a Dune fans in the best way possible. It’s also a movie for Dune fans in the worst way possible. It tells the story and stays true to the first book too a fault. I like the book, but the first part is extremely dry and it’s not even on Arrakis yet.

But they get the look right, the casting is solid, and the music is great. Once the action kicks in, the last 30 minutes of the movie, it’s really fun. I want to see the second part because even more happens there. But I’m not going to be jumping for joy for the first part. I think if I watch both together, it’ll be very long, but I’ll appreciate it a lot.

3. Black Widow

I won’t lie, it’s Marvel from here on out. Marvel is a soft spot for me, but they did a good job on all their movies this year. I don’t think they messed up any of them. Black Widow is the lowest just because it was a nice Black Widow story, but after Endgame, I don’t need more Black Widow story. And while it sets up some characters, I don’t think it sets up enough, but I do like Yelena a lot.

This is my favorite Marvel spy movie, it’s more Bond like and more my style as compared to something like Captain America: Winter Soldier. Some of that is that it has more humor in it. Some is that Winter Soldier tries to be Bourne, which I thought was just okay and isn’t my style and Black Widow tries to be classic Bond which I like more.

2. The Eternals

The Eternals might not make some people’s lists, but I really enjoyed it. You can hear my thoughts on it on the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast here. But this is a different type of Marvel film. It is building a new team. And it builds a team in a very different way. It also creates a much larger world/universe to be dealt with within the MCU.

I think that the story plays out well. While I kind of get why it can feel rushed, I think the character motivations all make sense. And when they divide as to who they stand with, it makes sense. The acting was very solid as well in this movie. Gemma Chan and Lia McHugh really steal the show, but so many of the roles are well done.

1. Shang Chi And the Legend of the Ten Rings

My Top Marvel film and top movie I saw in 2021 is Shang-Chi. Disclaimer, this is before seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I don’t know what to expect from that. But Shang Chi blended so much together really well. It felt most like a Marvel film for the new character introduced. And the humor in the movie is a lot of fun. I think the humor is better than the Eternals.

Plus, the action in the film is so nice. Clearly taking inspiration from the style of other movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is some of the best action I’ve seen. There is such artistry in how it is done and there are also some nods to anime in the fighting style at times as well.

That’s my list for 2021. The only other movie I could even consider, that I remember is the Addams Family animated film, my wife and I rented and watched the first one of those. It is a perfectly fine movie. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but I’d also not tell people to skip it. It’s just a fun, pretty straightforward, movie without many twists are great jokes.

What are the best movies you saw for the first time this year?

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