Because there’s nothing like a listicle to close out your year.

Should’ve – 5 Anime I Should’ve Watched in 2023 But Didn’t

Note these are just 5 anime I still had on my PTW at the time of writing, the 12th of December 2023. The fact they are here is not meant to be a slight against anyone except maybe myself and things I say here may purely be from fandom hearsay and other secondhand sources, so I may be wholly incorrect about them.

• Oshi no Ko: I like the manga of Oshi no Ko, but don’t love it. That’s why it fell to the wayside when the anime started.
• Hirogaru Sky PreCure: Knowing what happened with Healin’ Good put me permanently behind on simulcasts has made me rather hesitant to start a new PreCure.
• Death Mount Death Play: This anime has a small but rather pleased fanbase and I’d definitely like to see Yuki Sakakihara, who voices the protagonist, in more roles than just Jyushi to see how far he can vocally stretch himself.
• The Yuzuki Family’s 4 Sons: After that whole “these subs stink!” debacle at the start of the fall 2023 season, no one’s really touching this anime with a 10 foot pole…which is a shame, because it did seem to have some decent things to say.
• Technoroid Overmind: On the other side of that, COVID kicked this anime down the road to 2023 and now no one’s touching it with a 10 foot pole…but as far as I can remember, no one’s said anything but “the characters are pretty”.

Could’ve – 5 Anime I Started in 2023 But Didn’t Finish

Likewise, these anime being here aren’t a slight towards anyone except maybe myself. I will take my sweet time with getting back to them if I ever bother.

• Helck – To my credit, I got about halfway with this one, but honestly? Being stuck on an island with the shrill Vermilio stinks.
• Paradox Live – See this post for why I ditched it.
• Frieren – After the debacle that was its chunky multi-episode premiere, it…still caused a big kerfuffle in the anime world, sure, but I think the buzz has now kinda died down more than I was expecting.
• Ron Kamonohashi’s Deranged Deductions/Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri – A middling entry in a packed season, plus it tries too hard to be quirky.
• Jigokuraku/Hell’s Paradise – To my credit, this is on my watching list and not my paused list as I write this. It was probably my favourite upcoming adaption going into 2023 and I’ve talked about the manga before, so it’s probably the biggest absence from my completed list.

Would’ve – 5 Anime on my Winter 2024 Hype List

This will deserve its own post soon enough, but here we go anyway…(Stop by at the usual time tomorrow for a proper winter 2024 hype list.)

• Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen: Ooh…I read a chunk of the Blue Exorcist manga back in the day, but I only got around here before I stopped entirely.
• Hime-sama, Goumon no Jikan Desu/Princess, ‘Tis Time for Torture – It’s time for y’all to meet the princess and Ex, her talking, snarky sword!
• Majo to Yajuu – I have a copy of the 1st volume on Bookwalker. Hopefully it’s good.
• Gushing Over Magical Girls/Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete – On the one hand, magical girls. Yay! On the other hand, this magical girl fan becomes a dominatrix…Nay.
• Yubisaki to Renren/A Sign of Affection – I feel like The Amazing Race is good about championing how deaf people can do the same things hearing people can (see: Margie and Luke, Rob and Corey from the current season as of writing this post), so seeing an anime romance spin on it almost seems like something that should’ve been done already but hasn’t. Also, has anyone ever said the pun in the English title is great? Because I feel like no one’s said that yet…

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Feel free to steal this format for your own end of year posts…I just literally came up with it while struggling to go back to sleep one summer morning.