As 2014 draws to a close, it is once again time to look back, reflect, and reduce all our experiences into ranked “best of” lists. Whereas often the year is dominated by one major blockbuster, 2014 was a somewhat eclectic year for anime, featuring a smattering of very good shows (and very bad ones), stunning displays industry talent (and incompetence), some very pleasant surprises (and rather unpleasant disappointments), and, alongside the annual prophecies of doom, a few reminders of how imaginative, innovative, and beautiful the medium can be.
So, without further ado, here’s a list of my ten favorite shows of 2014.
Knights of Sidonia / Sidonia no Kishi
This gritty space opera marked a first this year when it was exclusively licensed for distribution in the English market as a Netflix Original Series. Set in a bleak future where humanity is forced to fight an alien menace known as the Gauna, Knights of Sidonia drew us in with its cool scifi world-building (generation ships! a third gender! bears!), space politics, and high-stakes action, which had a touch of the same humanity-is-at-stake, no-character-is-safe desperation and suspense of last year’s mega-hit Attack on Titan. Unfortunately I can’t say that I was as enthusiastic about the visuals as I was about the plot: while the full-CG animation worked well for the dynamic mecha action sequences, the character acting felt consistently doll-like and unnatural, leaving us cold during some pivotal non-robot scenes. Despite these pitfalls, we appreciated the ambition of Sidonia, and will be looking forward to a second season in 2015.
Missed it? Watch it on Netflix.
Noragami
Though certainly not the most ground-breaking entry on this list, Noragami stood above other supernatural action shows this year with its strong source material and stylish, crisp visuals. Following the exploits of Yato, a broke minor deity on a quest for fame, and Hiyori, a schoolgirl whose soul has trouble staying in her body, Noragami presents a supernatural world that is intriguingly morally ambiguous. While the show was sadly too short to really do the manga justice and got bogged down a bit in the second half with a somewhat annoying character arc, great chemistry between Yato and Hiyori as well as some pretty nifty action sequences (as expected from Bones) still made Noragami one of our favorite watches this year.
Missed it? Watch it on Hulu or Funimation’s website.
Hozuki no Reitetsu / Hozuki’s Coolheadedness
This dark supernatural comedy won me over with its sadistic humor and bizarre setting. Chronicling the daily tribulations of Hozuki, an ultra-competent bureaucrat in Buddhist hell, Hozuki no Reitetsu provided plenty of laughs with a healthy mix of high- and low-brow humor, not to mention a few lessons on the finer points of Japanese mythology. Director Hiro Kaburaki and Wit Studio brought hell to life with sumi-e watercolor-style backgrounds and consistently polished visuals, but the real star was Hozuki himself, whose no-nonsense attitude, strange hobbies, and deadpan delivery (thanks to a great performance from Hiroki Yasumoto) never failed to amuse. Though a little obscure at times for western audiences, Hozuki no Reitetsu stood out as one of the most original comedies we saw this year.
Missed it? Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu.
Kill la Kill
Studio Trigger’s first foray into TV anime, Kill la Kill came heavily burdened with expectations from fans expecting another Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. What we got was not quite that, but it was an incredibly entertaining twenty-four episode romp featuring creative fight scenes and larger than life characters. This action comedy was, as expected from director/writer team Hiroyuki Imaishi and Kazuki Nakashima, bombastic, frenetic, crude, and heaps of ridiculous fun. Although I can’t say that Kill la Kill was a masterpiece, I will say that I was never, ever bored while watching it, and gosh darn it if it doesn’t feature the best friendship between a girl and her school uniform that anime has ever seen.
Missed it? Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu.
Space Dandy
2014 saw not one, but two shows from much-beloved Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe. While Terror in Resonance, after a spectacular first few episodes, crashed and burned in a fiery wreck of bad writing, Space Dandy developed from a mediocre scifi comedy into one of the strangest and most wonderful shows of the year. Saying that Space Dandy is episodic is a bit of an understatement; in fact, it’s more helpful to think of the show as an anthology of some of the best talents in the industry working around a theme than as any kind of cohesive narrative. Consistent Space Dandy was not, but it did put out some amazingly imaginative and visually stunning episodes over its twenty-six episode run.
Missed it? Watch it on Hulu, Funimation, or Adult Swim’s website.
Gundam Build Fighters
Sure, Gundam Build Fighters is basically an extended toy commercial, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t the best and most enjoyable toy commercial I’ve ever seen. Revolving around an international tournament where participants battle with Gundam plastic models (or gunpla, as the cool kids call them), the magic of this show is that it whole-heartedly embraces its premise while never taking itself too seriously to have fun. The creators took full advantage of over thirty years of Gundam history to stage creative battles featuring some great mecha animation, but the real draw was the diverse and colorful cast of characters. With plenty of winking references for hardcore Gundam fans and enough unbounded enthusiasm to draw in those who have never even thought of touching the franchise, Gundam Build Fighters was a winner for us in 2014.
Missed it? Watch it on YouTube. Finished it? The sequel is airing right now.
Haikyu!!
2014 was chock full of sports shows, covering cycling, baseball, basketball, swimming, ping pong, and, yes, volleyball. This Jump adaptation is a fairly standard sports story in many ways, focusing on an underdog team and an energetic protagonist with dreams of rising to the top. Where Haikyu!! stands out is in the execution: snappy direction, a lively score by Yuuki Hayashi, consistently above-average art and animation, a goofy sense of humor, and a ridiculously likable cast led by reluctant teammates Hinata and Kageyama made this show a pleasure to watch each and every week. Haikyu!! represents classic sports anime at its best—you just can’t help but want to cheer for the Karasuno boys.
Missed it? Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu.
Ping Pong the Animation
If Haikyu!! represents the typical sports anime, Ping Pong is about as atypical as you’ll find. This show came with a considerable pedigree, based as it was on a manga by Taiyo Matsumoto (Tekkonkinkreet) and directed by art-house favorite Masaaki Yuasa (The Tatami Galaxy). Though Ping Pong was not quite as polished as some of Yuasa’s other work and utilized an art style that some found off-putting, the show’s greatest strengths were its compelling, well-realized characters and thoughtful narrative about friendship and the price and rewards of ambition. It is not often that we are treated to such a unique vision as Yuasa’s, and thus Ping Pong easily made its mark as one of the most interesting shows of the year.
Missed it? Watch it on Hulu or Funimation’s website.
Barakamon
This slice of life comedy earned its place here by being exceedingly and unrelentingly charming in its depiction of a neurotic young calligrapher’s life in the remote countryside. Balancing the rural exploits of an endearing ensemble cast (led by talented child-actress Suzuko Hara as the precocious Naru) with an exploration of Handa’s struggle to grow as an artist, Barakamon reminded us that beauty and inspiration can be found in the simplest things. Despite straying a few times into somewhat syrupy territory, Barakamon at its best was funny, heartwarming, and sincere, a combination that had us from episode one.
Missed it? Watch it on Hulu or Funimation’s website.
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun / Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
It’s hard to say what exactly is so great about Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. Perhaps it’s the way it lovingly parodies shoujo manga tropes by flipping expectations and gender roles on their head. Perhaps it’s the smart direction and impeccably-timed visual comedy from Mitsue Yamazaki and studio Doga Kobo. Perhaps it’s the diverse cast of wacky, lovable characters, or the winning performances from Yuichi Nakamura, Ari Ozawa, and the rest. Perhaps it’s Mikorin’s gentle smile. Whatever it is, it made it easy to pick this ensemble comedy as our favorite show of 2014. There wasn’t a single episode of Nozaki-kun that didn’t make me laugh—my only complaint is that it had to end.
Missed it? Watch it on Crunchyroll or Hulu.
Didn’t see your favorite show from 2014 on here? Tell us what we missed in the comments, or check out all 210 anime from 2014 in this AMV:
*NB: To qualify for this list, the titles were required to:
- End in 2014 (split-cour shows were counted as one season)
- Be legally available in English
- Not be a movie (still waiting to see Princess Kaguya)
- Not be a sequel (but for the record, the second seasons of Mushishi and Silver Spoon were both excellent)
- Not have started earlier than 2013 (for those looking for Hunter X Hunter and Space Brothers)
Kelly Quinn is sorry that anime you liked isn’t on this list. She can also be found on Twitter.
My wife and I were incredibly turned off by the first episode of Kill la Kill. The tone seemed wildly uneven (a student is crucified for laughs), rape-y, and misogynistic. I also thought the big fight in that episode was incredibly boring. There wasn’t any choreography, it was taking turns seeing whose suit was more powerful. Yet it got quite a big following over the course of the year. What did we miss?
I loved watching Space Dandy, I going to miss watching it since it ended it’s run
Where’s Sword Art Online 2???!!!
Most of your list matches mine. I missed a few of these, like Noragami, but most of those I missed were adored by my partner on the site I do reviews for. I’d definitely have to add Nagi no Asukara and Black Butler: Book of Circus to that list though. The latter in particular was just a phenomenal self-contained tragedy, and along with Ping Pong the Animation and (surprisingly) Gundam Build Fighters rounds out my top three from the year.
Hihosilver28: Kill La Kill had its ups and downs. It started off as a madcap comedy, and despite a few unfortunate rape jokes early on it did manage to sell that tone fairly well. It developed it a manic action series, with the spirit of the earlier comedy segments carrying the storyline forward, and eventually surprised everyone by becoming extremely dark.
That’s when the pacing slowed considerably, and I probably wouldn’t include it in my list primarily because of that. The light-speed pacing of the first two thirds of the series were what charmed me in the first place, and even if I didn’t hate the final story arc, I felt betrayed by the sudden change in tone.
But on the other hand, the final episode – not the climax, the bonus episode that was released after the series finished – was phenomenal, so if I consider that the true ending maybe I can forgive it.
@1. hihosilver28 – KLK was a pretty polarizing show, so it’s definitely possible that it just didn’t work for you. Imaishi’s style is often something people really like or don’t like at all. I really enjoyed it as a cartoony action comedy, but like ZetaStriker said just above, the drama aspects were definitely the weaker portions. And I do think that the female fanservice is a valid reason to feel uncomfortable with the show, but personally I didn’t feel the show to be misogynistic (though that is another polarizing topic). If you liked the style of KLK but couldn’t get into it, I’d try another of Imaishi’s project, particularly Gurren Lagann.
@3. Lancer – I did enjoy SAO 2 more than the first season, but I chose not to include sequels since they didn’t feel representative of the year.
@@.-@. ZetaStriker – I quite enjoyed the first half of NagiAsu but for me it kind of lost its way in the second. I wasn’t a fan of the timeskip, thought it took too long to get moving while waiting for Manaka, and felt that it didn’t deliver on the relationships and backstories set up in the first half. I can be a bit of sucker for Okada’s particular brand of teen melodrama, but here it just didn’t work for me all the way through.
As for Kuroshitsuji, I would definitely agree that the circus arc is some of the strongest material in the franchise. Personally I was hoping that A-1 would adapt it with a bit more flash, but I’m happy that we got it at all! And now that I think about it GBF was probably the biggest surprise of the year. I’m watching the second season now and somehow it’s still super fun – truly one of the best things to come out of Gundam in years.
“No Game No Life” was a very pleasant surprise; it reminded me a lot of the logic puzzles that Isaac Asimov inserted in-between short stories in his eponymous magazine.
“Log Horizon” debuted this year IIRC, with its second season now airing in Crunchyroll. IMHO, it’s a lot better than SAO in the “trapped in a game” genre, as it’s written with a much better knowledge of how MMOs work, including the social aspect of guild politics, party and raid tactics, and it posed a lot of much better worldbuilding questions.
No Game No Life was great, but I don’t really consider it finished. It ended with a victory, sure, but it also set down so many plot hooks for a hopeful continuation that it felt like a breaking point rather than a finale. It looks somewhat unlikely that we’ll get a season two at this point, although with Durarara! getting renewed after four years of waiting it’s certainly possible.
@6. Al-X – I really enjoyed No Game No Life, and it was definitely up there in my favorites this year, though it didn’t make it onto this list. Like you said, a very pleasant surprise for what looked to be just one more NEET/games/imouto LN adaptation! Afraid Log Horizon didn’t grab me at the start, though I’ve heard many good things about it since. Perhaps I’ll have to go back and give it another shot.
@7. ZetaStriker – I would actually be mildly surprised if we didn’t see a second season of NGNL; from what I recall it boosted LN sales hugely and did fairly solid disc sales as well. I do feel like anything is possible with Mushishi and DRRR!! both getting sequels recently!
I’m glad to see Gundam Build Fighters on the list- I’m not a hardcore Gundam fan (or even an anime fan in general), but I absolutely fell in love with this show. Pokemon with Gundam toys, essentially, but it WORKS.
Then again, I’m one of those fans who adores G-Gundam as well. So, y’know, not a purist.
I just want to add the show that ended in 2014.. Hunter x Hunter 2011 is a definite masterpiece that no one should missed. It is just great.
@9. TumbleCoyote – Glad to see yet another Gundam BF fan! It’s hard to sell people on this show but it’s just so good.
@10. peeyaj – Thanks for bringing up Hunter X Hunter. I’m still working through it myself, but I hear is gets amazing. I tried not to include shows that started before 2013 here since I wanted the list to be really representative of this year.
I watched all of Hunter x Hunter this year. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I was going to force the first three episodes down. It hooked me instantly, and it was amazing. Some parts were better than others, but I fell in love with the characters, even some I probably shouldn’t have, because the characterizations were just that good.
I’d add Free! into my favorites. They’re graduating so I don’t expect another. I also really came to love Tonari no Seki-kun. And The World is Still Beautiful was a favorite. I also liked The Irregular at Magic High but I know a lot of people disliked the pacing. It did have issues with that.
I would have put in Magi, but it looks like we’re getting more. Same with JoJo.
I’m one of those who didn’t like Kill la Kill. I also didn’t like Gurren Lagann. I don’t get why they’re considered masterpieces. I watched all of the latter. I think it gained its rep because of a certain happening around ep 8, which was a great move, but the rest of the series just felt like everything was thrown in including the kitchen sink and I got bored with it. And that’s what happened for me with Kill la Kill, I just didn’t think it was fun or entertaining, and usually had a headache after it ended. Though I did think that schoolgirl friend of the MC was hilarious.
And poor Sailor Moon. I so wanted to like that.
(Oh and big YESs to Ping Pong and Barakamon. And even my husband liked Knights of Sidonia. Though it’s getting a sequel too I think.)
Seeing lots of things on here that will be on my list too, as soon as I get out of this 12 days of anime quaqmire I committed to (and yaaaaay more GBF fans here in the comments, I’m honestly so surprised that this show has any fanbase at all but without it I’d never have tried it!)
Norogami is on Netflix in Canada…just FYI.
@8. KellyQ
I don’t think there will be a second season of NGNL because, as you said, it boosted the LN sales tremendously. When it comes to LNs, unless they are already highly popular (a la Fate/Zero), it’s usually the publisher side who paid to make the anime so that it would boost the book sales. And since it worked, there’s not much of a reason to do so again, unless it become somewhat iconic, like DxD did.
Gundam Build Fighters… honestly, it was good before the whole “Aryan” thing came in. It started really good, as a story about a boy who have a hobby and trying to fun with it, then moving on to story about winning, losing, and personal stakes… it would have been even better if the “sick little brother” plot from GBF Try was put in here, perhaps replacing the old man’s motive a little bit. Honestly, it’s the persistent fantasy elements that ruined the show for me, because it just grows further than the basis and premise of the show at the start and just plain hard to swallow with how the world was presented at the start of the series.
Hozuki no Reitetsu… just isn’t for me. I tried watching the first four episode. I got the references, at least some of them, but… it just felt too flat for me. I didn’t laugh a single time during watching it. Same with my friend. Dunno why.
Gekkan Shoujo was pretty amusing, but it didn’t really capture my attention, maybe it’s because of the characterization doesn’t feel real and more of the usual “Hey I’m not a real life person but an anime character,” thing, which I’m not really fond of.
Ah, Barakamon. Love the show. Couldn’t stop gushing about it in the entire season. It’s just briliant, especially since I could genuinely understand and empathize with the situations, of which I have somewhat experienced one way or another. I especially like Naru, she reminded me of myself as a kid, and Handa himself reminded me of the current me – it’s more personal with me, and I’d probably put it on top 3 of the year just for that reason alone.
Haikyu… didn’t capture my attention at all so I never picked it up. Noragami too, failed to hold my interest so I dropped it after three episodes. I somewhat enjoyed Kill la Kill, but the second half wasn’t as good as the first, and the ending was downright cliched and felt forced with me, so I wouldn’t put it in my top 10. I am planning to watch Ping Pong, but I had been busy this year (transition from High School to College, you see) and this season, when I am not particularly busy anymore, is a little… packed with many good stuffs.
Still, I believe this list is still too early as there is still one more month in this year… I mean, no Shirobako? Me personally, I found that to be one of the most mature, realistic, and down-to-earth anime that is genuinely relatable to real life. Saying that all that matters is only being good enough to pass the standards so that you can eat… but also saying that dreams and willpower does matter in the working society… it’s just awesome. I couldn’t stop gushing about it since the start of its airing. Then there’s Shingeki no Bahamut, which is just all around great – with good directing, nice animation, great aesthetics, excellent VA performance, and good storyline to boot – it’s probably going to be the top 5 at least for me. Though admittedly, I don’t know if they’re going to be 2-cour or not, but I like them at least.
Overall, nice list, but there are some I disagree with, but that’s to be expected as we all have different interest, standard, and taste.
Barakamon is my #1 favorite of the year. It was just so charming and funny, and the voice actors were excellent.
Haikyu is the first sports anime I’ve ever watched from start to finish. Generally, they’re so formulaic that I get bored after a couple of episodes. I think the focus on a bit more realistic sports might have helped (nobody had volleyball-superpowers), as well as good characterization.
I would also put Zankyou no Terror on my list, though the writing was not always the best. Its style alone was enough for it to earn a spot for me, though I still enjoyed the story most of the time.
These were the only ones that really caught my attention this year, though I know I probably have very abnormal taste in anime :).
@12. shellywb – It seems I’ve really got to get back to watching Hunter x Hunter! It feels like every day I hear again about how good it was. I enjoyed the second season of Free! as well, and I’d be surprised if there’s not a movie announcement sometime soon. I was definitely one of the people that couldn’t get into Mahouka because of the ridiculously overpowered MC, though I have a friend that loved it. And yes, looking forward to finishing out Stardust Crusaders in January!
Re: KLK and TTGL, I’ve found that people either go in hard for Imaishi’s stuff, or it just doesn’t work for them at all. I enjoy his style a lot, but I can certainly see why it wouldn’t be for some. Ah, Sailor Moon. So sad that it ended up such a hot mess after all that buildup.
@13. wanderingdreamer – I hope you’re still doing a biggest disappoitments list!
@14. MamaBoadicea – Thanks for the heads up!
@15. Feng Lengshun – Re: NGNL, you may be right that the publisher is happy with the boost already and will not fund another season. Since NGNL is an ongoing series though, and the anime was likely profitable on its own, they may choose to do more. We’ll have to wait and see!
I am actually loving Shirobako, but it’s 2-cour so it will finish in 2015. Hopefully it will stay good enough to qualify for this list next year, because it’s been a hugely pleasant surprise this season, and it’s a great peek into the industry for those nerds (like me) who find anime production really interesting. Bahamut is ending this season, but it’s sadly been losing it’s charm for me in the last few weeks. I still really enjoy it, but I wish they’d get back to more swashbuckling and less politics. Had it stayed strong it probably would have been able to edge out some of the entries on this list for me, but we’ll see what the finale brings! Thanks for commenting!
@16. tethysdust – Yes, though I enjoy Kuroko’s brand of magical basketball for it’s own sake, I do tend to like more realistic sports shows like Haikyuu and Diamond no Ace. YowaPeda would have made this list as well, but it’s still going, fortunately! ZanTero was a huge disappointment for me this year (probably that and Psycho-Pass 2 have been the biggest), because it started so strong and devolved into quite a mess, and I think I still feel a bit bitter about the whole thing. It definitely had a great visual style and some wonderful scenes though, so I’m glad you were able to enjoy it. Also re: the Barakamon voice actors, those little kids were so good! Having real child actors really added to the atmosphere and charm of that show.
The Irregular at Magic High was amazing and easily one of my favorites of all time now!
If you’ve never heard of Argevollen, I don’t blame you, since there’s almost nothing in its premise or its presentation that will make you take a closer look. The show looks like another generic giant robot anime. Unlike Valvrave or Gargantia, there’s no “hell yeah” moment that you can point to as a quick encapsulation of the show.
And yet, if you do actually give the show a chance you might end up surprised at discovering you’ve watched several episodes in a row. Its first season is a full one of more than 20 episodes, which gives it something that half-cour series tend not to have: breathing space.
The deliberate pace of the narrative may turn off some people, but those who stay around discover a surpisingly old school type of war story. One country invades another, a great war unfolds, and a small team of soldiers on the losing side stumbles upon a secret weapon that may help even the odds. Despite the special destiny angle, though, the war always feels greater than the part of it that we see, and I feel like I’m watching a WWII movie about the exploits of one unit during the war. The show makes explicit the very impersonality of war, most exemplified in the artillery which causes the anonymous death that terrifies the soldiers.
What I especially enjoy is that unlike many giant robot anime, this one acknowledges that other soldiers exist besides officers and pilots. Everyone is important, from the mechanics that keep the war machines going to the scout who may never fire a gun but whose reports keep people alive. They also serve who stand and wait (and clean engine blockages and fix software inefficiencies).
It’s hard to explain this show. I just like it, is what I’m trying to say.
@KellyQ Clarification. Was Aldnoah Zero not here becasue it was split up? If you did not like, that’s cool, just making sure.
@19. sarapen – Thanks for commenting! Argevollen lost me around episode 3, but I know there are still some people who are really enjoying it. After your rave review, I may have to take another look.
@2o. RainbowWarrior – Correct: Aldnoah is split cour, so I counted it as one season that will finish in 2015. As for liking it, my feelings at this point are pretty mixed. I thought the show lost a lot of momentum in the second half, and then hit us with a shocking ending that it didn’t really earn. I was interested to see if they were going to stick to their guns on that one, but the promo art for the second half suggests otherwise, which already feels like a bit of a cop out. I’ll be watching the 2nd half, but warily.
@KellyQ Fair enough. I rewatching the show before the next season and just saw the first 8 episodes. We will have to agree to disagree on this one. At least so far I am still enagaged. Becuase of your post I saw some the teaser trailer and art for the next season. Again I understand your feelings and wish they went for something edgier but at the same time I am interested of where they are going with this. When I am done with the rewatch I am going to check out the shows on this list I did not watch.
We absolutely loved Hozuki no Reitetsu, and would really like more . . . but I suppose they wrapped it up. What about the latest season of Mushi-Shi? Still hauntingly beautiful, still emotionally evocative.
Brynhildr in the Darkness was one of the best shows of the year.It started off great but had some pacing issues mid-way. But still it should have been atleast mentioned. Also No Game No Life.
@23. RuthM – I wouldn’t rule out more Hoozuki down the line; there’s more material and it sold surprisingly well. The last season of Mushishi was wonderful, of course! The only reason it’s not on the list is that sequels were disqualified – it hardly seemed fair.
@24. Animefan546 – I actually really enjoyed NGNL; it probably would have been number 11 if this list were a bit longer. Really unexpectedly fun despite all its generic baggage. Personally I didn’t care for Brynhildr, but different strokes, as they say.
No Game No Life? Black Bullet? WTF.
I’ve been delighted with the shows I’ve watched so far from this list.
Noragami was indeed too short and I would have liked to see more. Kill la Kill had aspects that made me cringe, but it also had moments where I was genuinely surprised. Space Dandy does get better with each episode and Hozuki and Monthly Girl’s were both hilarious.
@27. Iron Sun 254 – It’s great to hear that you’ve been enjoying them! If you need some more recs, I’m always happy to help out here and on Twitter.
nice list, but I think Tokyo ghoul devserves a spot, at least the first season was good, and zankyou no terror wasn’t bad either. Here’s a review of Zankyou no Terror https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZDnArFnQNY