Just to start out, this is a list of my opinion. It is not meant to be taken as the definitive top ten list in anime of 2012. So if you have issues with my list, feel free to pop it in the comments or post your own.
The year of 2012 has been a pretty nice year for anime and I've been watching quiet a good share of them as well. Despite having a quiet summer, mainly because of me moving, I think I've watched enough anime this year to compile a nice list that I would recommend watching. So without further adieu lets start with the tl;dr version and end with the longer explanation.
For the Lazy
Top 10
- Kokoro Connect
- Bakuman 3
- Sakamichi no Apollon
- Shinsekai Yori
- Sankarea
- Suki-tte Ii na yo
- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
- Accel World
- Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
- Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
Honorable Mentions
- Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
- Nazo no Kanojo X
- Another
Explanation
Another
A horror anime that I would consider more gore than horror, Another is one of those anime that isn't for the faint of heart. There is a lot of death, blood, and people going utterly insane in this series. The curse of the calamity wasn't that scary to me, but maybe I'm just desensitized to all this crap. Regardless the anime is a great watch if you like the horror genre in any sense and if you just love bloodbaths with characters losing their minds.
Nazo no Kanojo X
A pretty strange romance revolving around tasting other people's saliva to experience their true emotions. Nazo no Kanojo X had a older type of art style to it with such a odd plot to it, giving it this interesting contrast that stood out from all the other romance anime. Nazo no Kanojo X doesn't take itself seriously and yet I wouldn't consider it a comedy, despite that it was defiantly an anime worth noting if you like romance, ecchi, or just something weird to shake things up.
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
An unconventional romantic comedy that was really funny in the first few episode. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun lost that initial flare, that drew me into the series, and really quickly became more focus on a getting Shizuku and Haru's relationship rolling. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but the charm it had as a comedy was the main reason I was drawn to it and now it has pretty much dropped most of that humor.
I would still recommend watching the anime if you like the two genre's it is in, but if you're only in it for comedy, you might want to reconsider.
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
I had mt initial concerns about Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! when the first few episodes aired, mainly thinking this would be a substance-less moeblob. However it did give me a well deserved surprise from the second half onward, with the anime talking on more serious topics like figuring out who you truly are.
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo
Another anime were I had my doubts in the beginning. However in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, it was more of a feeling of it being a low risk and standard romance comedy, but it was a shock to see it get much better right around the third episode.
The series gave a good look at human nature and how people react in the face of what they perceive as perfection. Even without it being a completed series yet, I would say this is a anime that is at least mentioned in a list of anime this year.
Accel World
First time in a long time we have a non-standard male protagonist in both appearance and personalty. Accel World was one of those anime this year that felt really refreshing to watch. It had nice setting around the Accel World and a survival element of keeping the Brain Burst program installed while fighting to see what is at the max level.
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
A decent romance ghost story with not that much romance. Tasogare Otome x Amnesia at its core was focused mainly on Yuuko, who had a dark back story. However as noted in my review her love interest, Teiichi, was very bland and served more as a story telling device for Yuuko.
It was still a great story to follow and was the first anime I wrote about on this blog. So that alone can be merit to the anime's ability to convey an interesting enough story for me to write about it.
Suki-tte Ii na yo
A nice look at the female side of the romance genre, Suki-tte Ii na yo came out pretty strong from the first episode. The roller coaster that is Yamato x Mei, really does keep me entertained each week it airs. With the addition of Kai you can see the attention to detail the had when it came to men in a dispute over a female they like.
Lastly Megumi and several of the other girls in Suki-tte Ii na yo, have issues with not being able to trust people, which is similar to Mei, so you can see the constant theme being astonished as Yamato and Mei's relation becomes stronger and they become more close.
Sankarea
A very novel idea of a romance with supernatural elements and still being a better love story than Twilight, more lame jokes please. I had fun with this series and the anger that ensued when the information about Rea's father came to light, it really did make Sankarea memorable.
Shinsekai Yori
Despite the issues I've had with Shinsekai Yori, this anime had the strongest setting that even had me wanting to look out for more information about it. Although Shinsekai Yori didn't have that many interesting character to speak for, the world and cantus back story was good enough for me to stick around far past my three episode anime gate.
Sakamichi no Apollon
There really hasn't been any good anime with music as it's main focus or even somewhat a focus. Sakamichi no Apollon had a great balance of music and character interaction that pulled me in quite early.
Another thing to add was how wonderful that animation of this series was. Being a amateur drummer I was quiet impressed by the accuracy of motion when Sentarou played the drums. And of course that really intense style when both Sentarou and Kaorou get into the music and just jam, really is something to watch, even if its just for the art.
Bakuman 3
By the third season of any series, you would think it would loose some interest, but Bakuman did really well in keeping it appealing. So having a good foundation of the last two season and staying pretty stable in level of entertainment, it quite easily made it to the higher ranks of my list.
Kokoro Connect
I might just be me, but I was extreme attached to Himeko in this series. So when we saw a big step in her character progression, I got a bit misty eyed and that just made the series so much more enjoyable for me.
The series as a whole isn't as pretty, artistically compared to other anime this year, noted in my review, but Kokoro Connect is probably the only anime this year to move me, and that is saying a lot for me. I really enjoyed the interesting story and characters in the series, even with my initial issues of the rather dull art style.