by Stephanie H., Staff Writer, Inside AX- Anime Expo
2010 has now come and gone, and viewers have seen many different anime series premiere throughout the months. These series’ genres ranged from “slice-of-life” to romantic comedies, and even going as far to the “downright bizarre and interesting” category (Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt anyone?). 2010 has been a wonderful year for anime and with over 100 different new series that aired in Japan there are a lot of choices to choose from. Now we have whittled down the list to see what series have made it to the “Best of 2010” list!
Note: This includes only the series that premiered in 2010 and does not include longer running series like Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece.
Angel Beats!
Genres: Action, Dramatic Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
A boy named Otonashi awakens to find himself in the afterlife with no memories of his life in the living world. He is “enrolled” into a school which acts as a Purgatory and meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the SSS—an organization she leads which fights against God. The SSS fight against the student council president Angel, a girl with supernatural powers.
The main storyline of this 13-episode dramatic comedy series was originally conceived by Jun Maeda from the visual novel brand KEY. Maeda wrote the screenplay and composed the music with Anant-Garde Eyes while the original character designs are provided by Na-Ga of the same visual novel brand. The animation quality provided by P.A .Works is pretty high and looks amazing to boot. The music from Angel Beats! is still very popular, with the series’ fictional band Girl’s Dead Monster having released several singles that rank high on the Oricon charts.
Durarara!!
Genres: Action, Supernatural, Comedy
Ryuugamine Mikado complains that everyday life is boring and seeks a life filled with excitement. After receiving an invitation of his childhood Masaomi Kido , Mikado transfers to a school located in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. However Mikado finds that the streets of Ikebukuro are home to many peculiar people such as headless motorcyclists, men with herculean strength, katana-wielding demons, and black market doctors.
The anime is based off of the Square Enix-published series of light novels written by Ryohogo Narita, who wrote the light novel for Baccanno. The animation studio behind Baccanno also did the animation for this series which is a real treat for fans of the Baccanno series. Although, Durarara!! has an fairly large cast, it manages to give all of them significant and deep character development.
K-ON!! (2nd Season)
Genres: Comedy, Music, Slice of Life
This is a continuation to the first anime series aired in 2009 under the name of K-ON!, and as such continues to revolve around the five Japanese highschool girls who are members of the school’s light music club and their day-to-day activities.
The first anime series was a hit in Japan, with the songs produced by the fictional band Ho-kago Tea Time topping music charts and merchandise flooding the stores of Akibahara. The overall success of K-ON! is due to the fact that the series mixes good music, memorable humor and lovable characters all into one.
Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Yōsuke Kōsaka, a normal 17-year-old high school student living in Chiba, has not gotten along with his younger sister Kirino in years. However one day Yōsuke finds a DVD case of a magical girl anime which had fallen in his house’s entrance way. Upon finding that the culprit was in fact his sister, he becomes Kirino’s confidant for her secret hobby.
Also called Oreimo for short, this series is an adaptation based on the light novels written by Tsukasa Fushimi, with illustrations provided by Hiro Kanzaki. The title actually translates to My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, and this comedic series is filled to the brim with anime references that many hardcore anime fans and otaku alike will be able to recognize. The animation style is very bright and vivid, making it very appropriate for the series.
To Aru Majutsu no Index (2nd Season)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Kamijou Touma is a student living in Academy City, a highly advanced place in terms of technology. Despite being gauged as a level zero esper (no powers), he possesses on his right hand the Imagine Breaker, an ability that negates any power whatsoever. In the first season, Touma finds a young girl named Index who is trying to run away from Necessarius, a powerful magic organization that she is member of. Index is has the skill to memorize any sort of information, as such she holds 103,000 forbidden magical books within her head. Touma must face several dangers amid espers and magicians who appear in order to obtain the forbidden magical books within Index. In the second season, Index is still a fugitive being targeted by various individuals. However, heated wars between different organizations are also starting to emerge as the anime continues where the first season left off.
The first 24-episode series covered the first six light novels of To Aru Majutsu no Index which was written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. The To Aru series has also gotten several manga adaptations including To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, which has also been adapted into an anime series. The most interesting aspect of this particular series is the concept of magic vs. science (mages vs. espers). The character designs are well done in both the creativity aspect and in design, making them memorable and easy to recognize. The concepts of each of the characters’ different powers are creative and thought out as well.
So what were your favorite anime series of 2010 and why?
------Tags: Angel Beats!, best of 2010, Durarara!!, k-on!, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai, To Aru Majutus no Index
What happened to Inuyasha it should be considered the best anime of the year.
For me it has to be high school of the dead or the legend of the legendary heroes, both were fantastic!
High School of the Dead and Angel Beats! were my two favorites this year…
I wonder why ;p But I actually enjoyed Legend of the Legendary Heroes a lot. Animation quality was pretty awesome.
More anime revolving around school children. That’s all we need.
Yeaaa Inuyasha is epic
but i gotta say Death Note is still amazing
Typo: It’s “Baccano” not “Buccano” in the Durarara! paragraph.
And what happened to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood? It’s a solid series whose quality is consistent from episode 1 till the end?
“This includes only the series that premiered in 2010″
InuYasha is soooo low quality. you can pretty much watch it without voices and know they are going “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” and “HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” and “WIND SCAR!!”
lol
I think three of the five up there are right, that would be Angel Beats ( Anything made by Key in terms of Anime is usally a hit), Durarara, and Ore wa Imouto would be the best. I think continuation series tend to be overhyped and cause others to overlook other great titles like The World Only God Knows or Bakuman. Heck I’ll even say Star Driver Takuto deserves a place up there. I think overall good picks, but it could be reworked.
P.S For all of you who keep saying Inuyasha or crap like that, we know they were good anime titles BUT THIS IS FOR THIS YEAR NOT 10 OR SO YEARS AGO.
I seriously thought that HOTD (High School of The Dead)
Shakugan No Shana I-II, Angel Beats!, and Baka To Test To Shokanjuu stood out the most…well im my opinon
[...] All Nerd Things: Top 5 with good comments. The writer also puts a laundry list of anime series he/she enjoyed in 2010 [...]
FINALLY They have given Durarara! justice. I may fangirl in peace now =3=
[...] Top Five Anime Series of 2010 —Angel Beats! —Durarara!! —K-On!! (K-On! ‘s second season) —My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute (“Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai”) —A Certain Magical Index (“To Aru Majutsu no Index”), second season [...]
Agree with 4/5 of these and the only reason for that is actually because I haven’t watched one of them haha. These were a few shows that had me crying, laughing– hell sometimes even both and they were just beautifully crafted out. Loved them so much!