It’s that time of year again! Crunchyroll is asking us, the users and viewers, to choose what anime are worthy of awards in a large span of categories. I thought I’d write up what I’m voting for and why for your amusement. This post covers the second group, which we’ll be voting on next week (01/29-02/04).
Hit the jump, and let’s dive right in!
My notes & votes – the Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2018
Part I – Part II – Part III
Here’s the categories we’ll get to vote on this week:
Let’s run ’em down category by category!
Best Continuing Series
- March comes in like a Lion.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2
Dragon Ball SuperCase ClosedALL OUT!!Naruto: Shippuden
Of all these, I’ve only seen March comes in like a Lion and Gundam:Iron Blooded Orphans 2.
Of the two, this is honestly a no-brainer. As good as IBO 2 was, it wasn’t as good as IBO and nowhere in March‘s territory. So, March comes in like a Lion gets the nod.
Best Comedy
- Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Mr. Osomatsu Season 2Little Witch Academia- KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Season 2
GAMERS!- Tsuredure Children
Of these, I’ve seen MaidDragon, KonaSuba, and Tsurdure Children.
Of the three only KonaSuba 2 seems to me to be a true comedy. It wasn’t a very good one though as week on week it relied on the same stale sheaf of gags. Tsurdure Children had a number of very funny moments and they were shared out between all the couple at various points in the series. MaidDragon could be hit-or-miss, but when it’s comedy was on it was on. It also had a well-rounded mix of ROFL, chuckles, and wry grins.
It’s sounds like I’m building a case here doesn’t it? I guess I kind of am… Both shows are worthy, but I just can’t bring myself to call Tsurdure Children a comedy. Though it too was so much more than just a comedy, MaidDragon gets the nod.
(After writing this yesterday, spent a good chunk of the evening re-watching various episodes of MaidDragon… That kinda tells me I was on the right track.)
Best Slice-of-Life
- Recovery of an MMO Junkie
- TSUKIGAKIREI
- Girls’ Last Tour
Kemono Friends- Sakura Quest
- Interviews with Monster Girls
I’ve seen all of these but Kemono Friends. I did watch the first four eps, but couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about and didn’t care for it much.
This is… A really tough category to make a call in. Kemono Friends is ground ruled out because I dropped it. Since Sakura Quest was so uneven plot wise, I think I’m going to pre-emptively toss it just to get the number of choices down. All of the remaining shows are pretty strong and any of them would be a reasonable choice.
It doesn’t help any that slice-of-life is such an amorphous category with broad and fuzzy borders.
My gut tells me the moe-blob awesomeness that was Girl’s Last Tour will win in this category, but my heart tells me I have to vote for the incredible Tsuki Ga Kirei.
Best Action
- My Hero Academia Season 2
- Land of the Lustrous
Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2
- Attack on Titan Season 2
Fate/Apocrypha
I’ve seen all of these except Blood Blockade and Fate. And it’s interesting that all except for Land of the Lustrous are sequels or part of a franchise (essentially, a sequel).
My vote in this category was instinctive and immediate…
My Hero Academia 2 by a country mile – only Iron Blooded Orphans 2 and Attack on Titan 2 come close, and even then not very.
Best Drama
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Season 2- March comes in like a lion Season 2
- Made in Abyss
- The Ancient Magus’ Bride
- Scum’s Wish
ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept.
I’ve seen all of these except Descending Stories and ACCA:13.
Because both are still airing, I’m going to ground rule out March comes in like a Lion 2 and Ancient Magus’ Bride. In my opinion you can’t honestly rate-and-rank a show that hasn’t run to completion. That leaves me with two choices – and one show stands clearly above the other.
I might have felt different about Scum’s Wish had it not blown the ending… So Made in Abyss gets the nod.
Ok, Ok, I can hear you all out there… but Derek, you positively LOATHE “our battle goes on” and “read the manga” endings! Why yes, as a general rule, I do. But that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize when they’re done well – and that’s certainly the case for Abyss.
So, what anime will you be voting for this week? Tell us and maybe explain a little why down in the comments!
I’ll be back next week with the last set of categories and my notes & votes.
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
It was nice reading your thoughts! I do agree that Maid Dragon is a wonderful comedy.
As for Made in Abyss’s “the battle goes on” ending, at least they’re going to have a second season, so the battle does really go on in anime form. As long as that happens, I’m still totally hyped for it!
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Thanks!
We didn’t know it was getting a second season when it ended though… so I tried to judge based on that. But I agree, I can’t wait for the next season!
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Best Continuing: March Comes in Like A Lion without a doubt (it’s the only one I watched, but even so.)
Best Comedy: I have trouble viewing Little Witch Academia as comedy, though it definitely has comedic elements. For me, the winner here is Tsuredure Children – funniest show I’ve seen in a while (I have no problem accepting it as a comedy). Mostly good nonimees, here.
Best Slice-of-Life: Girl’s Last Tour. (Tsuki ga Kirei and MMO Junky aren’t slice-of-life – too much plot).
Action: Out of those, Land of the Lustrous is my favourite show, but not for the action, so I won’t count it. It’s a toss-up between Fate/Apocrypha, which I’m surprised to find I liked, and Blood Blocade Battlefront & Beyond, which was also good fun. Not my favourite genre, so I don’t care too much.
Best Drama: Rakugo – there’s no serious competition (and that’s even if I include Lion).
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I don’t know that plot takes a show out of the slice-of-life category…
I knew you’d pick Rakugo, you’ve been a huge fan of that series.
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Plot doesn’t take a show out of the slice-of-life category; there wouldn’t be many slice-of-life shows if it did. Certainly every single one of the nominated shows has plot. But the problem is that tight plot might run counter what slice-of-life is about. The term slice of life was coined around the tern of the 20th Century, with respect to drama, and it’s a presentation method. It’s about how scenes are structured: if you have anything like a rising action that works towards a climax it’s not really slice of life. In comedy, for example, compare punchline centred humour to the presentation of friends just goofing off. It’s not an easy distinction to make, but with shows like Tsuki ga Kirei or MMO Junky scenes have a focal point, a sort of tension that needs to be released.
That’s present in nearly ever show ever, though, so the question isn’t one of simple presence; it’s one of focus. Personally, I don’t even consider shows like Sakura Quest slice of life, but I can take that, because the plot and structure can be seen as a gimmick to show off – in this case – life in the country. Sort of a metaphoric usage of the original term. However, if Tsuki ga Kirei and MMO Junky count as slice of life, then romance is in effect a subgenre of slice of life, and I’m unsure where to draw the line. The genre loses its meaning.
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I’ve already cast my votes this time.
Continuing series: 3Gatsu no Lion. I still haven’t finished the first season, but I got a lot further into it than I did with IBO, I got fed up with Shippuden almost a decade ago, and I didn’t watch any other long runners. So it was either vote for Lion or pass, and since this category (unlike Best Drama) covered both seasons, I felt like I saw enough to justify voting for it.
Comedy: Gamers. Oh, so much. The writers for Love Live Sunshine should watch this series and take notes, because the comedy writing was fantastic. Almost every episode had me in stitches (if there was a category for best comedy episode of the year, I’d have a very hard time deciding between Gamers’ episode 6 and episode 8). For me this is the easiest vote of the entire ballot.
Slice of Life: Only watched Girls Last Tour and Sakura Quest (albeit, again, haven’t finished either one), but GLT was clearly the better show.
Action: Pass. The only 2017 anime I watched that even had much action were Yuki Yuna and the Heaven’s Feel movie, so I suppose I could’ve written in one of them, but in both of those it didn’t really feel like the action was the big selling point (as good as some of it was), if that makes sense. I am working myself up up to watching MHA at some point, though, which includes peeking at some YouTube clips, and I like the action that I’ve seen there, so I probably would’ve voted for that if I’d actually watched it properly.
Drama: Cast a write-in vote for A Silent Voice, since it was by far the best drama I actually watched this year.
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Someday you need to finish that first season of March so you can get into the second! It just keeps getting better.
I figured you’d go for Gamers…
Yeah, I know I said last week I’d be doing more write-ins myself, but there was really no need this week.
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