The Best Anime of 2013 According to Caly’s MAL

This post was written by Calyrica. She is not Dark_Sage.


Rather than sleeping to get over my cold, I’m writing you guys this. You should feel honored!

For the sake of making a decent list, I’m excluding OVAs and movies from this, so it’s just the normally airing weekly shows.

You know what? I’m too fucking tired and sick to put pictures and opinions in this and make it a decent post. Just deal with it.

Anime that I gave a 10 on MAL:

Yeah, right. Nothing was that good.

Anime that I gave a 9 on MAL:

AKB0048: Next Stage

Coppellion

Danganronpa

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi

Shingeki no Kyojin

Senki Zesshou Symphogear G

Anime that I gave an 8 on MAL:

Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Love Live! School Idol Project

Non Non Biyori

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai

Suisei no Gargantia

Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

 

41 thoughts on “The Best Anime of 2013 According to Caly’s MAL”

    • Okay, admittedly, I haven’t finished Coppellion yet. I’m waiting for Evetaku to catch up, so I think I’m three eps behind? Something like that. But I do really like the premise of the show, and it’s visually very unique and interesting.

      Reply
      • It’s genuinely interesting. I understand why everyone hates it. A little too much moral ambiguity and passive setting and character development in the beginning I think. I personally loved all that stuff, and it became a little less interesting in the final third because of too many fight scenes and things happening, not enough time to be pensive.

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  1. The only anime I’ve given a 9 to this year is Railgun S. I gave an 8 to Bakuman 3, Index: Endymion no Kiseki, and AKB0048 Next Stage. J.C. Staff’s been pretty fantastic this year.

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    • I thought Railgun S and Bakuman 3 were half 2012 and half 2013. I didn’t include shows like that in my list, else they’d probably both be on it.

      Reply
  2. Here’s my Top 10:
    (For the record, I’m not going to include “short” anime, second cours, or direct sequels to recently aired shows)
    1. Kyoukai no Kanata
    2. Kill la Kill
    3. Kyousougiga
    4. Log Horizon
    5. Samurai Flamenco
    6. Nagi no Asukara
    7. NouCom
    8. Golden Time
    9. Non Non Biyori
    10. Yowamushi Pedal

    All of these shows had the best characters, the most interesting visuals, and the most touching stories.

    Reply
  3. >Danganronpa

    I didn’t like the ending. While most of the show was based on logic, the ending was just about “there is hope!”, and it felt out of place.

    >Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi

    The beginning was good and promising… and it got worse every episode. Not really bad either, but probably not worth 9/10.

    >Love Live! School Idol Project

    <3

    Reply
  4. You forgot all the good shows. Salami-san, Chihaya 2, I can’t believe I slept with my sister 2, Valvrave 1 & 2, Kyousogiga, and Uchouten Kazoku. Mostly the latter two.

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  5. Agree with a lot of your list with a few additions/exceptions.
    Additions:
    Mondaiji was great fun for all it was mostly ignored and the best material doesn’t come until later. KlK has been great. 2nd half of Shinsekai didn’t let me down, Jormungand turned out to be a decent adaption, F/KL was pretty fun also despite the low low budget. Otherwise your list is close to mine. Kamisama had probably the best ED of 2013. Symphogear G had the best insert song.

    Exceptions:
    >Shingeki no Kyojin
    Pacing was terrible, it was painful how much they wanted to stretch the show out for maximum eps. And then they went animuoriginal at the end for no clear reason (not like they aren’t doing an s2) and in a pretty disruptive way. Given the strength of the material and music it still worked, but I’d give it a 7 tops.

    >Arpeggio of Blue Steel
    Awful, awful adapation. Easily my biggest disappointment of the year since I’ve been looking forward to an Arpeggio anime for ages. Fuck you SANZIGEN.

    >Suisei no Gargantia
    One of the strongest starts I’ve seen that then just sort of died out. Interesting world building but didn’t feel like they really knew what to do with it. Guess I’d give this a 6/7 too, it wasn’t terrible, but it should have been great.

    Reply
    • I agree with you about the pacing for Shingeki. However, it had the best OP/EDs of the year, and the visuals were top tier. That + it had unlimited promise (that they wasted near the end) made me look forward to it every week, hoping that it would improve. Maybe I inflated the score, but I do take into account how much I look forward to a show each week.

      Arpeggio of Blue Steel is an odd show for me. I really, really like it, and at the same time, I really don’t know why. I think I’m just really intrigued by their choice to do full CG.

      And as for Gargantia, I’m a sucker for Urobutcher!~

      Reply
      • I really wish they’d bothered to animate Arpeggio better; I’ve seen porn with smoother animations. There’s other little quirks too, like Iona’s eyes being oddly far apart half the time. I liked the show overall, even with the half-assed 3D, but I’d like to see someone else take a crack at a 3D show that can do it better. Besides Advent Children (which was beautiful) the only thing that comes to mind is Appleseed, which is old and shows it. Also, both are movies, not shows.

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  6. All that matters is that Love Live! is on there. Can’t wait for season 2 <3.

    Also, no Kuroko no Basket? Granted, only half of the second season aired this year, but.

    Reply
      • Then don’t let retards trick you into calling it “Basket” or “Kuroko no Basket”. It’s “Basuke”, which is short for “Basukettobooru”. “Basket” is not short for “Basketball”, and “Basuke” is not “Basket” (one is Japanese, and does not have a T sound in it).

        “Kuroko no Basket” is a toxic, bizarre mix of weaboo and wrong. Also, I’m not sure you didn’t watch anything that wasn’t some of the best anime ever made this year.

        Reply
        • Right. Actual alternatives include “Kuroko no Basuke” and “Kuroko’s Basketball”. Or you could replace “Basuke” with an actual abbreviation of “basketball”. I like “Kuroko no B-Ball”.

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  7. I’d put Railgun S’ first half as the best ride of the year.
    Best cross 2012-13 being Zetsuen no Tempest.
    AKB0048 Next Stage: 2013 best overall
    Valvrave gives the best mind-blows
    Also good/great mention to:
    Suisei no Gargantia, Yahari…/Oregairu and Gin no Saji.

    Reply
  8. 2013 is all about:

    1 Shinsekai Yori
    2 Aku no Hana

    *** NOTHING FOLLOWS ***

    The rest of the shows this season is shit. (Or perhaps, I just can’t desensitize myself of the intense nosedive in quality between the first and second Railgun S arcs.)

    Reply
    • Shinsekai Yori was half 2012 so it doesn’t count. Else, it’d be WAY UP THERE ON MY LIST.

      Also, I haven’t finished Aku no Hana (YES ARCHDECO I PROMISE I WILL QC THOSE EPS ONE OF THESE DAYS LIFE IS BUSY AND I AM SICK GOD).

      Reply
  9. Not to get into a long drawn-out discussion on this, but I actually am a little curious.

    Why not include shows that began in 2012?

    I mean, they still aired in 2013. Sure, they also aired in 2012, but that doesn’t change the fact that they aired in 2013. And in 2013, the series ended, so you only have the complete image of the show in 2013. Counting it as a best of 2012 show instead makes no sense, because it was only half over in 2012 (assuming its a 2 cour series). It wasn’t until 2013 that the show as a whole can be looked at.

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  10. I have to admit, I really like Arpeggio of Blue Steel. But an 8? That’s a little too high IMO. I believe the show would have been much better had it been a 24 episode series, that way the characters could have had more time to develop. There was practically no character development between the crew members. That really disappointed me.

    Reply
    • if you imagine it correctly, you’ll imagine yourself enjoying those shows, and thinking your taste is bad. nothing different from what you’re doing now

      Reply

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