The 10 Best Anime Series of 2011
10.) Hanasaku Iroha
[Source: Wikipedia] Hanasaku Iroha centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old
teenager living in Tokyo, who is left in the care of her estranged
grandmother, following her mother's elopement with her boyfriend. Ohana
arrives at her grandmother's country estate to realize she is the owner
of a Taishō period hot spring inn
called Kissuisō. She begins working at Kissuisō, at her grandmother's
request, but finds herself at odds with many employees and customers at
the inn. Initially feeling discouraged, she decides to use her
circumstances as an opportunity to change herself for the better and to
make amends with her deteriorating relationship with the Kissuisō's
staff for a more prominent future. Upon returning from school one day, Ohana Matsumae learns that her mother is going on a moonlight flit with her boyfriend to escape from debt and they are sending her to live at her estranged grandmother's hot spring inn
in the country. When her best friend, Kōichi Tanemura, hears of this,
he confesses his love for Ohana before running off. As Ohana arrives at
Kissuisō, she makes a bad first impression with one of the employees,
Minko Tsurugi, before being informed by her grandmother, Sui Sujima,
that she is to work at the inn to earn her keep. She is shown around the
inn by the head mistress, Tomoe Wajima, and another employee, Nako
Oshimizu. When Ohana notices the hard work Minko has to do, she tries to
do something nice for her by airing out her futon,
but it ends up falling off a ledge and landing near some customers.
After Minko is slapped by Sui for Ohana's mistake, Ohana demands to be
slapped even harder, though Minko still tells her to 'die!'.
9.) Ao no (Blue) Exorcist
8.) Persona 4 The Animation
7.) Mawaru Penguindrum
6.) [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
5.) Kamisama no Memo-chou
3.) Mirai Nikki (Future Diary)
[Source: Wikipedia] Yukiteru "Yuki" Amano is a loner who never really interacts with
people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only
companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of
Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is real when he
makes Yuki participate in a battle royal
with eleven other people. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are
given special diaries that can predict the future, with each diary
having unique features that gives them both advantages and
disadvantages. Within the next 90 days, the contestants must try to kill
each other and survive until there is only one person standing, the
winner becoming the new God of Time and Space. In order to survive, Yuki
tries to find allies, with one of them being another diary user named
Yuno Gasai, a girl who is madly in love with him. As the game continues,
Yuki soon learns that not everyone can be trusted, not even Yuno, whose
obsession to keep both of them alive no matter the cost terrifies him.
Yet despite her faults, Yuki continues to trust Yuno since he manages to
survive the game thanks to her. Originally, Yuki had no desire to win the game and stoop as low as
the other contestants who either cheat, lie, manipulate or kill in order
to win. However, that all changes when, late in the game, Yuki's
parents are killed. Yuki suffers a breakdown over his parents death
until Yuno seduces and convinces him that if he becomes the new God of
Time and Space, he can bring his parents back to life. Now having a
reason to win, Yuki becomes a ruthless, backstabbing and manipulative
terrorist who causes the deaths of thousands of civilians and
destruction throughout the city in order to kill the other contestants.
Yuki's actions shock his friends, in particular Aru Akise, who has
suspicions about Yuno and her motives. By the time Yuno and Yuki become
the last contestants, Aru and the rest of Yuki's friends chastise him on
how he has become just as bad as the other contestants. Aru tries to
warn Yuki that Yuno is manipulating him and that she has an ulterior
motive. Refusing to accept the truth and wishing to bring his parents
back, Yuki kills them until Aru manages to stop him and gives Yuki a
clue over Yuno's true identity before he is killed by Yuno herself. Eventually, Yuki learns that the Yuno he knows is actually from a
parallel universe. In Yuno's universe, she and Yuki were the last
contestants and both of them agreed to commit suicide, but Yuno faked
her death in an attempt to resurrect Yuki. However, Yuno became
distraught and more insane when she learned that while she can resurrect
the dead, she cannot bring back their souls. With the help of Muru
Muru, Deus' servant and now Yuno's after she won the Diary game, both of
them travel back in time to Yuki's universe and killed the Yuno of that
universe, taking her place so she could play the game again and find a
way to bring back "her" Yuki. As Yuno is about to kill him, Yuki is
saved by Minene Uryu, one of his allies and the 9th Diary user who he
believed died in the game but was initially turned part God by Deus (who
had suspicions that the Muru Muru working for him is not the one he
knows but the one from the parallel world working with Yuno), knowing
that he would live long enough to stop them. Their plans foiled, Yuno
and Muru Muru travel back in time to another universe to start over
again but are followed by Yuki and Minene, who are trying to stop them.
Finally, Yuno and Muru Muru are stopped when the former learns that, in
this new universe, all the terrible things that happened to everyone in
the previous universes never happened, including the fact that Yuno's
parents never were abusive and lead to her insanity, due to Minene
tampering the past, causing many events to change its course, including
the Diary Game never initiating. With Yuno's Muru Muru stopped by Yuki's
Muru Muru that Yuki had freed, Yuki convinces Yuno to come to her
senses and surrender as he loves her, requesting that she kill him and
return to his universe to create a better world for herself. Regretting
her mistakes, Yuno instead kills herself as she loves Yuki too much,
ending her life and making Yuki the new God of his universe. In the end, 10,000 years have past since Yuki became the God of Time
and Space, but he refuses to rule his world as he has lost everything
that he ever loved and cared; his friends, parents and Yuno. In an
unexpected Deus ex machina,
though, the Yuno of the new universe breaks through time and space,
recognizing Yuki, and invites him to her universe. The Muru Muru of
Yuki's universe reveals that she contacted her new universe counterpart
and together, they both implanted the Yuno of the new universe with
memories of her past universe, hence why she recognizes Yuki.
Furthermore, the Deus of the new universe also invites Yuki to his
universe and makes both he and Yuno his heirs. The series ends with Yuki
reuniting with Yuno, his friends, parents and the Diary users in a new,
happier universe.
[Source: Wikipedia] Fate/zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night, detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.
The War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven
Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the "Holy Grail,"
which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive
Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences. Founded by the Einzbern, Matō, and Tōsaka families centuries ago, the
Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three successive
failures, no matter the cost. As a result, they have elected to bring
the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his
methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary and a hitman
who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals. Though
Kiritsugu had once wanted to become a hero who could save everyone, he
has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one
person comes at the cost of another's life. For the sake of humanity, he
will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of
others. However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has
found for his new family - his wife Irisviel and their daughter Illya -
and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu's
greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a priest who
cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and sets his sights on
Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.
2.) Fate/Zero
1.) Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Note: This anime series is a true tearjerker. The final episode has become legendary for its emotional and dramatic climax. Prepare to cry.
My list is pretty similar too, you can read about my final comments on each of them at this link --- http://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=667503
ReplyDeleteBut here's the basic rundown:
10.) Persona 4 The Animation
09.) Hanasaku Iroha
08.) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
07.) Mawaru Penguindrum
06.) [C]
05.) Mirai Nikki
04.) GOSICK
03.) Gundam Unicorn Episodes 3 & 4
02.) Ano Hi Mita Hana...
01.) Fate/Zero
(#1 & #2 are practically a tie for me)
With honorable 2011 mentions going to: Blue Exorcist, Star Driver (2nd half aired in '11), Guilty Crown, Level E & Carnival Phantasm.
Also I really wished God's Notebook would of turned out to be a better show and had some really great ideas but I more thought it was more average than most other shows.