Anime 2010 – My Favourites
It is time for the long-awaited and LAST post I will be making for all Anime that aired for 2010 – that is unless I watch an Anime from that year that I want to share with ya’ll. As the title suggests today, I will be introducing to you my favourite Anime of 2010. As I’ve already given my opinions on all the Anime listed here, I will only be providing the synopsis of the Anime – provided by MAL of course! Without further ado let’s get to it!
Number 1: Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei – (Post found here)
Genres: Mystery, Comedy, Psychological, Romance
One autumn evening at a mysterious ramen stand behind the Shimogamo Shrine, a lonely third-year college student bumps into a man with an eggplant-shaped head who calls himself a god of matrimony. Meeting this man causes the student to reflect upon his past two years at college—two years bitterly spent trying to break up couples on campus with his only friend Ozu, a ghoulish-looking man seemingly set on making his life as miserable as possible. Resolving to make the most out of the rest of his college life, the student attempts to ask out the unsociable but kind-hearted underclassman Akashi, yet fails to follow through, prompting him to regret not living out his college life differently. As soon as this thought passes through his head, however, he is hurtled through time and space to the beginning of his years at college and given another chance to live his life.
Surreal, artistic, and mind-bending, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei chronicles the misadventures of a young man on a journey to make friends, find love, and experience the rose-coloured campus life he always dreamed of.
Number 2: Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin – (Post found here)
Genres: Drama, Historical, Seinen, Thriller
Japan, 1955: Mario Minakami has just arrived at Shounan Special Reform School along with five other teenagers who have been arrested on serious criminal charges. All assigned to the same cell, they meet older inmate Rokurouta Sakuragi—a former boxer—with whom they establish a close bond. Under his guidance, and with the promise that they will meet again on the outside after serving their sentences, the delinquents begin to view their hopeless situation in a better light.
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin follows the seven cellmates as they struggle together against the brutal suffering and humiliation inflicted upon them by Ishihara, a sadistic guard with a grudge on Rokurouta, and Gisuke Sasaki, a doctor who takes pleasure in violating boys. Facing such hellish conditions, the seven inmates must scrape together all the strength they have to survive until their sentences are up; but even if they do, just what kind of lives are waiting for them on the other side?
Number 3: Katanagatari – (Post found here)
Genres: Action, Adventure, Historical, Martial Arts, Romance
In an Edo-era Japan lush with a variety of sword-fighting styles, Shichika Yasuri practices the most unique one: Kyotouryuu, a technique in which the user’s own body is wielded as a blade. The enigmatic seventh head of the Kyotouryuu school, Shichika lives quietly in exile with his sister Nanami until one day—the wildly ambitious strategist Togame barges into their lives.
Togame brazenly requests that Shichika help in her mission to collect twelve unique swords, known as the “Deviant Blades,” for the shogunate. Shichika accepts, interested in the girl herself rather than petty politics, and thus sets out on a journey. Standing in their way are the fierce wielders of these legendary weapons as well as other power-hungry entities who seek to thwart Togame’s objective. In order to prevail against their enemies, the duo must become an unbreakable team as they forge ahead on a path of uncertainty and peril.
Number 4: Kaichou wa Maid-sama! – (Post found here)
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shoujo
Being the first female student council president isn’t easy, especially when your school just transitioned from an all boys high school to a co-ed one. Aptly nicknamed “Demon President” by the boys for her strict disciplinary style, Misaki Ayuzawa is not afraid to use her mastery of Aikido techniques to cast judgment onto the hordes of misbehaving boys and defend the girls at Seika High School.
Yet even the perfect Ayuzawa has an embarrassing secret—she works part-time as a maid at a maid café to help her struggling family pay the bills. She has managed to keep her job hidden from her fellow students and maintained her flawless image as a stellar student until one day, Takumi Usui, the most popular boy in school, walks into the maid café. He could destroy her reputation with her secret… or he could twist the student council president around his little finger and use her secret as an opportunity to get closer to her.
Number 5: Seitokai Yakuindomo – (Post found here)
Genres: Comedy, School, Shounen, Slice of Life
On his first day of high school at the formerly all-girl’s Ousai Private Academy, Takatoshi Tsuda is called out for his untidy uniform by the student council president Shino Amakusa. In apology for delaying Takatoshi for his first class—and stating that the group needs a male point of view to accommodate the arrival of boys at the school—Shino offers him the position of vice president of the student council. Though unwilling, Takatoshi finds himself appointed as the newest member of the student council having yet to even step foot inside the school building.
Takatoshi soon realizes that the other student council members who are more than a little strange: President Shino, who is studious and serious in appearance, but actually a huge pervert, fascinated with the erotic and constantly making lewd jokes; the secretary Aria Shichijou, who may seem like a typical sheltered rich girl, but is just as risque as the president, if not more so; and finally, the treasurer Suzu Hagimura, who may act fairly normal, but has the body of an elementary school student and is extremely self-conscious of it. Surrounded by these colorful characters, the new vice president must now work through a nonstop assault of sexual humor and insanity.
Number 6: Durarara!! – (Post found here)
Genres: Action, Mystery, Supernatural
In Tokyo’s downtown district of Ikebukuro, amidst many strange rumors and warnings of anonymous gangs and dangerous occupants, one urban legend stands out above the rest—the existence of a headless “Black Rider” who is said to be seen driving a jet-black motorcycle through the city streets.
Mikado Ryuugamine has always longed for the excitement of the city life, and an invitation from a childhood friend convinces him to move to Tokyo. Witnessing the Black Rider on his first day in the city, his wishes already seem to have been granted. But as supernatural events begin to occur, ordinary citizens like himself, along with Ikebukuro’s most colorful inhabitants, are mixed up in the commotion breaking out in their city.
Number 7: Bakuman. – (Post found here)
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shounen
As a child, Moritaka Mashiro dreamt of becoming a mangaka, just like his childhood hero and uncle, Tarou Kawaguchi, creator of a popular gag manga. But when tragedy strikes, he gives up on his dream and spends his middle school days studying, aiming to become a salaryman instead.
One day, his classmate Akito Takagi, the school’s top student and aspiring writer, notices the detailed drawings in Moritaka’s notebook. Seeing the vast potential of his artistic talent, Akito approaches Moritaka, proposing that they become mangaka together. After much convincing, Moritaka realizes that if he is able to create a popular manga series, he may be able to get the girl he has a crush on, Miho Azuki, to take part in the anime adaptation as a voice actor. Thus the pair begins creating manga under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, hoping to become the greatest mangaka in Japan, the likes of which no one has ever seen.
Number 8: Angel Beats! – (Post found here)
Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, School, Supernatural
Otonashi awakens only to learn he is dead. A rifle-toting girl named Yuri explains that they are in the afterlife, and Otonashi realizes the only thing he can remember about himself is his name. Yuri tells him that she leads the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and wages war against a girl named Tenshi. Unable to believe Yuri’s claims that Tenshi is evil, Otonashi attempts to speak with her, but the encounter doesn’t go as he intended.
Otonashi decides to join the SSS and battle Tenshi, but he finds himself oddly drawn to her. While trying to regain his memories and understand Tenshi, he gradually unravels the mysteries of the afterlife.
Number 9: Shiki – (Post found here)
Genres: Mystery, Horror, Supernatural, Thriller, Vampire
Fifteen-year-old Megumi Shimizu dreamed of a glamorous life in the big city; however, her unexpected death in the quiet village of Sotoba marks the beginning of what appears to be a ferocious epidemic that turns the hot summer into a season of blood and terror. A young doctor named Toshio Ozaki begins to doubt the nature of the disease and comes to understand that to discover the truth, he must abandon his humanity. Meanwhile, Natsuno Yuuki, an antisocial youth from the city, is haunted by the sudden death of Megumi and must realize the pain of friendship in the face of his own tragedy. Toshio and Natsuno form an unlikely pair as they work together to save Sotoba before it transforms into a ghost town of vampires.
Shiki, adapted from the horror novel written by Fuyumi Ono, goes beyond the average vampire story. It tells the tragic tale of survival in a world where one cannot easily distinguish between good and evil. Abandoned by God, the Shiki, as the vampires call themselves, have only their will to live as they clash with the fear of the paranoid/unbelieving villagers. Shiki explores the boundary that separates man from monster.