Best of Anime 2023

well it's that time again another year has passed us by and with it has gone another year of anime we got good shows we got bad shows but the real question is what are the moments that are going to be remembered 2023 was a year dominated by absolute heavyweight shows just completely taking over anime seemed innoc capable whether you were a fan or not successful liveaction adaptations legendary series coming to an end memes so many memes it feels like the influence of a handful of shows have truly seeped into mainstream pop culture and only continues to grow from there but there were still some other things happening around our little sphere anime fans continue to find any opportunity to complain about CG this time even Demon Slayer was catching Strays with viewers complaining about how these fishes look like an absolute joke how dare any Animation Studio consider this acceptable quality they cried meanwhile in e gu land this is what Peak CGI looks like Tashi drew two lines and got 44 million views 400k likes and 100,000 retweets meanwhile I'm out here drawing at least eight lines and I'm still waiting for shown and jum to hit me up with that manga Deal One Piece defied All Odds by giving us a liveaction adaptation that didn't suck while the Jiu-Jitsu fan base came together to collectively say nah I'd win which is what I think they say when they ENT a contest of who can more effectively spoil their [ __ ] series but they would probably win against this random dude from mashall I am RADS Amos I mean look at him he last like 2 seconds who the hell would play a character like that probably some dumbass hack for real though it's been 10 years now since I've been doing these yearly anime Recaps I have gone through a bloody decade of anime and a lot has changed during that time I can only imagine the wild things that were happening in 2013 back then hay Miyazaki finishes his latest feature film The Wind Rises just before before announcing his retirement from film making at the ripe young age of about 197 years old so that was a [ __ ] lie there are a lot of shows that didn't make my list this year not because they weren't good but because I didn't have much to say about them other than it was good hell's Paradise was fun so was mashall so was Undead unlock one day I'm sure the West will appreciate um mus as much as Asia does today is not that day M kense continued my favorite isekai story of all time by having its main carrot to go I cannot get it up people have been trashing Rudy left right and center but I think he's Prov he's a real gentleman by showing that he never ever raises his sword at a girl all right let's get to my favorite shows of the year but before we do a quick word from my sponsor thepoke post thepoke post is a monthly membership club delivering a box of awesome topshelf good from under the radar Brands every month they introduce their members to cool new products based on a preference quiz they fill out they've got awesome clothes cool stuff for your house camping and cooking gear basically just high quality stuff in every category 90% of their products come from small Brands based right in the US they're now offering new membership program where you can get really great deals all year round I'm talking 30% off or more sometimes and it's totally free to join you can also previe your membership right before it's sent you can decide if you want to keep it swap it out for other products or skip this month entirely for no charge you only pay what you want this month but fol sent me their H show box and they must have been listening cuz not only do I have everything here to make a legitimate Taco I also haven't make my own hot sauce kit and I have been missing spicy food in Japan for so much it's so hard to find good spicy food here so you know what I'll just makeing my myself they also sent me that Checkmate box with this really cool chess set and scorecard exactly what I need to remind myself of my chess victory over Conor to get a free mystery gift with your first membership purchase just click that link in the description and enter gig up gift at the checkout or go to bespokepost.com gigg thanks for Miss spoke post for the sponsor and now back to the video the zombie genre is probably one of the most saturated and overdone genres you can find in any entertainment me medium about 10 years ago yet somehow in 2023 we still got an entirely fresh and original take on it in zom 100 Z 100 tells the sad story of mapper employees overworked and undervalued by the company overlords that run their lives it takes an entire zombie apocalypse for a k attender to start living the life he should have this show felt like a personal call out for anyone who's ever worked a dead-end job in their lives and has daydreamed of something anything happening to take away their responsibility out of their hands even if that thing is the end of the world Akira personifies that feeling of pure Freedom we all secretly wish we had that feeling that breaks the shackle of responsibility of having to go to work of having to wake up for school the next day Arin Jer looks at him and goes [ __ ] that guy which is embodied in one of the most impressive opening episodes all year where you could feel that every single person working on it Channel their passionate hatred of all the previous employers that had ever wronged them unfortunately it felt like a lot of the hype got taken away largely due to episode releases being plagued with constant delays because of time slots and supposed production issues oh hey would you look at that even though the show Lost some steam as it went on and was erally a bit all over the place at times it was still a fun little show I think anyone could enjoy because in this day and age where it feels like people are fighting tooth and nail just to survive I think a lot of us could use a story about one man reminding us all how to live the most respected genre in anime but this year we saw the 100 girlfriends who love you come along and personally made sure that it never will be this is the story of a man who got rejected so many times who had such negative rizs God took pity and gave him a hundred different girls he had to date or they'd all die this was like watching someone dying of thirst in the desert and then God goes all right I've got a solution I'm listening just [ __ ] drown him but what God didn't plan for is that he chose someone who could chug the ocean dry and still have room for more 100 girlfriend has a concept so dumb it would need to be as batshit crazy as his own premise to even have a chance at making it work and that's exactly why it does it's stupid it's unhinged it knows exactly how how insane it is and then runs with it 10 km past where it needed to go by all means this show shouldn't have worked if we didn't have the greatest Haron protagonist to bring it all together yes we were Grace with the Apex of boyfriends the partner she tells you not to worry about he may look like the most unthreatening guy possible but watch him be like don't worry I come in peace hi what's your name peace it's rare for me to laugh at a comedy anime and even rarer when it comes to low brow Haron romcoms but 100 girlfriends was a Showcase of how to do a parody correctly reinforced by Biber Animation Studio doing a bang up job selling all of these jokes in the anime adaptation they went above and beyond and I can't wait to see how they adapt the manga beyond the whoa whoa wait what what why are you running [Music] [Music] away in the minds of of anime fans 3D animation comes in two tiers there's the berser 2016 tier a show so disastrous it has scarred the anime Community from 3D anime to this day and then there's this the aesthetic that looks like one of those games I apparently won't last 5 Seconds playing the real ones know though that studio Orange has been out here creating their own tier every project they seem to continually push themselves one up themselves and Trigun Stampede is their best looking show yet not just with some of the jaw-dropping action sequences and camera work but small micro expressions and Camera animation they give their work just a bit more life they are still continuing to push the boundary of what is possible in a 3D anime in every way possible when I got the lucky opportunity to talk to a producer at Studio orange he called themselves the hentti of the anime industry and well that's pretty accurate because what they've done with tri gon stamped has got me bricked up all right but how's the show Trion is one of the most beloved anime from the old school Adult Swim era and when you take on the mantle of rebooting a franchise like this you always have to contend with picky fans comparing each and every little change in detail vash's Bounty is way smaller he has a different haircut different gun character designs that looked like this now look like this huh now where have I seen this aesthetic before Oh The Spaghetti Western Field takes a backseat to fully flesh out a hard sci-fi story it's more dark more gritty one of my favorite things from the original being vashan wolf Wood's epic buddy cob Dynamic feels a tad more intense I'll skin you alive and play with your bones until your begging to die you got that straight W make no mistake this is an entirely new try gun but one thing I can always respect is when a reboot tries to do something different that the original didn't already do and by the end of the season it becomes abundantly clear what all these changes were leading up to and God damn did it leave me wanting more in a time where I feel like we're getting starved of good hard science fiction anime this has to be one of the most unique and interesting sci-fi worlds we've seen in years and I honestly think the way things are set up he has the chance to do even more than the original did if it gets future Seasons when people remember trygon they say oh yeah TR gun I freak loved TR gun but if you asked them before that what they recommended we go back and watch Cowboy bbop Full Metal Alchemist Tri gun has always been on that second or third echelon of recommendations behind the classics and I fully believe that with what studio orange have set up with this season it has the potential to go up to this [Music] [Music] tier there were a few anime last year that exploded onto the scene as fast as Oceano did our hearts were Torn To Shred in a tragic 90-minute opening episode a new metal was formed as anime company saw the featurelength opening Premiere and said wait you can do that it's free real estate the opening song became the very first Japanese song to top the global Billboard 100 charts the people of my anime list came together and went [ __ ] you for Metal Alchemist this is the greatest anime ever made then everyone remembered there was an entire rest of the show you needed to watch describing the plot of voko is like all right so there's a Doctor Who's a huge fan of this one Idol really traumatic so it's an idol anime no sometimes OKO is a victim of his own insane premise like I don't even know if I fully understand this main character a grown ass Idol obsessed man who gets reincarnated as the son of the girl he idolized and grows up being obsessed with his now Mom and any other girl who even remotely reminds of her like if I call him a [ __ ] is he more likely to say [ __ ] you or yes please here's a feed of Sigman Freud's grave right now but behind all that the show shines as this interesting no [ __ ] Instagram filters off look at the Japanese entertainment industry showing you what really happens behind those closed doors when the cameras are turned off I hate the media this was the show that tricked everyone into thinking they were watching another Idol anime when in reality it was almost the complete opposite and the real ones know the true thing single-handedly elevating the reputation of Idol fans in 2023 is the sheer existence of AI Toto with how popular this Gods I find it interesting how much I heard this title being thrown around last year when most people saying it probably didn't even know what an Oshi noo is see in Japanese Oshi means a person who I support and in Idol culture is normally used to refer to someone's favorite Idol so the term osoko has a clever double meaning that could be my favorite Idol or my Idol's children which both perfectly describe the show basically what I'm trying to say is oshi's are worshiped in Idol fandom in the same way that Taylor Swift has become the Jesus for white woman I am at saying you're a fan of isi feels a bit like saying you're a fan of British food people think you're consuming the most Bland tasteless piece of garbage the world has ever seen but sometimes I have a friend come visit and they have a taste of a proper full English breakfast a perfectly cooked Sunday roast they try some of our Cornish pasties our crisps and it's like damn this is pretty good actually that is my Eminence in Shadow this takes every single trashy cliche tropes you scoff at in isekai and wears it like a badge of honor edgy main character an army of girls in his Haron blatant power fantasy nonsensical plot lines cheesy dialogue boobs you know it shouldn't work but it wears it all so proudly you start getting convinced that it's actually cool it's not that it isn't stupid it is stupid but it doesn't give a [ __ ] if you care or not and I thought this would eventually run its course until I kept watching and realize that this has a more interesting plot and better World building than 90% of eai out there which actually says less than you think for a self-aware as it is it spares no expense in building up this fully fleshed out world with so many moving Parts every new arc you see the Domino's being perfectly laid out it's all set up for Sid to come in and top with them on the biggest stage possible and even though you know it's happening when the moment comes it delivers every single time this was the most fun I had with any show all year and just when I think the plotters know where else to go season 2 ends with a world shaking development that made me go [ __ ] why more isai doing this I guess what I'm trying to say is I really miss Gregs one man's freedom is another man's genocide Aaron jger probably Attack on Titan ended this year and the internet had opinions if you already browse Twitter you might have thought half the people either think this was a masterpiece ending no flaws 10 out of 10 we all won we all lost Aaron is a bird or the sending ruin the series ruin the characters the entire show pointless spat on the legacy of everything he had done no one's going to remember Attack on Titan now Aaron is a bird today we're going to talk about how to stop smoking crack now with real people I've actually talked to the consensus seems to be that this was a satisfying conclusion that did everything it needed to do I had my slight nitpicks with the execution of this ending but absolutely none of it took away from my love for this series as a whole what Attack on Titan has achieved and the impact it's had on the global reach of anime is something that will go down in history as one of the defining shows of this era this this might not be my favorite ending of all time but it is certainly the ending to one of my favorite anime of all time so for one last time thank you attack on Titan only those around now will know that feeling of after years of waiting through final seasons of final parts of final episodes 2023 was that time we could definitively say that this was the final bit of Attack on Titan will ever get to sell God damn it [Music] sometimes you just need a dose of wholesomeness to brighten up your day but being a dude watching anime can sometimes feel like so what anime have you been watching oh I'm watching this anime called Skip and Loa and it's just one of the most cute and adorable yo you catch the latest episode of Judit kis at all there was nothing in 2023 that made me come out of every episode feeling as good as Skip and loafer did this [ __ ] was a weekly injection of sunshine into my veins I mean just look at this opening alone the colors The Vibes the catchy song This godamn Dance it's it's enough to make any grown ass man internally scream this is so cute [ __ ] yeah violence am I right Lads skipping loafer is about as straightforward as you can get a country bumpkin moves to the big city and adjust to her new high school life it doesn't need any complex plot because it exudes this air of authenticity that makes you feel so godamn good it's rare to find an anime as genuine as this one because when I say high school life I don't mean your typical cuty anime high schoolers that are like these are teenagers real teenagers just enjoying their lives to the fullest no melodrama no overly anime [ __ ] this is Youth and Adolescence that is most pure without feeling like it's been put through some MOA anime filter and there's just something so endearing about thata come why would I be interested in teenagers look as a certified man wait that line sounded really wrong look as a certified man baby pretending to be a grown-up let me tell you adulting sucks we have jobs we have responsibilities we have godamn taxes sometimes you yearn for a time when life was simpler and more straight forward and maybe that time is romanticized maybe you're looking back at that time through Rose tinted glasses but whether you are or you aren't you'll never know because we'll never be able to get that time back again ever and it's those little moments those simple times you cherish and reminisce about that this show encapsulates perfectly like there's this one scene where our main girl comes home for the first time during her summer break she stayed up way too late catching up with her friends and slept in but it's all right her mom's taken the day off and she has the whole summer ahead of her so on this boiling hot day her mom slices her up a watermelon and the episode slows down to a crawl as we see her just taking a moment to enjoy this watermelon while the sounds of Summer ring on in the background and she just stops and just appreciates and just like that her summer was over when anime wants you to know one of its characters is crazy it goes when anime is trying to hint at something important it's like H there it was me all subtlety in anime is using a chainsaw to dice an onion but what happens when a show comes along that treats you like you have the IQ that Rick and Morty fans say they do you get Heavenly delusion here is a show that doesn't take you by the hand and leads you but leaves you to discover the story on your own it drops you into this insane World gives you a handdrawn scribble of a map and says figure it out yourself it's episode 1 boom we see a Duo exploring a ruin into Tokyo that gets in some kind of altercation with some Bandits all right you get the idea it's some post apocalyptic world people are fighting for survival and uh would you look at that oh I am and I like what I see what are you ladies doing you're praying this doesn't have the ugly bastard tag on it the girl brings out a gun that looks like this and immediately gears start turning wait is this some sci-fi World [ __ ] or is that a damn Fisher Price Toy you think the baners start attacking anyway and they fight back so you're like ah okay maybe she was just bluffing so this is just a normal World After All oh that's a gun gun in a single scene the show us set up its World got you asking questions played with your expectations answered your question left you needing more answers or without directly telling you a godamn thing this is Heavenly delusion for all 13 episodes this had one of the most intriguing worlds of any show this year but trusted you to piece everything together yourself there is no wasted scene no outof character moment everything is a possible puzzle piece that Clues you into the bigger picture what happened to this world why are there nightmares creatures that are eating people what kind of sick experimentations is going on behind the scenes were you paying attention even now cuz you just saw a random drawing of a fish with legs that looks oddly like this horrific thing and the real question is did you see a connection without me saying anything only by watching intently do you realize how many Crumbs are hidden in plain sight you get given enough to get a rough idea but never enough to see the full picture and it's that unknown that makes this world as intriguing as it is godamn terrifying by the end we've only just seen a slice of the larger hole but it's so refreshing to see an anime that will have your neurons firing in a way where you don't have to worry about watching with headphones on for once you know most of the time and I don't want to watch these Chinese cartoons but in 2023 anime went all right but what if we had Chinese cartoons Japan Apothecary daries is an anime that takes place in ancient China not China in a palace setting that immediately reminded me of these badly dubbed Chinese soap opos I sometimes walk into my mom watching as a kid at the beginning I didn't fully realize what the big hook of this show was was it the House MD style medical detective stories was it the historical drama surrounding the palace politics yes but on top of that he has simply put the best female character we could find all year and sometimes that's all it takes for far too long anime seems to think we want only one thing and it's this no how about nothing more than just a well-written believable compelling female protagonist and this Mal ma is a character that deserves to be in the running for one of the best protagonists we saw in 2023 and was such a breath of fresh air to see her presence was overpowering without conforming to what a lot of shows seem to think a good female character is it's not that she's not like other girls or premium wfu bait or a strong female character trademark she's just a girl a well-written believable one that doesn't forget that she's a person first before being just another girl she doesn't have to be unfeminine to find the overly flirtatious attitude ude of some pretty boy unappealing she cannot be your typical Wu bait and still absolutely slay when she needs to she's not strong because she can beat up 100 guys but because she's headstrong in her own values and beliefs here is a clever realist to acknowledges her place in the palace hierarchy but isn't afraid to throw hands when [ __ ] needs to get done God damn my girl just factory reset that [ __ ] seeing Malu passionately solve these medical Mysteries while asserting her [ __ ] dominance all over the palace politics made this such a compelling watch and hopefully more shows will be able to take note of great characters like [Music] this appreciating the statue of David up close getting to see Lono Messi dribble pass five players watching Jack Nicholson command every scene he's in it doesn't matter what the subject matter is it's always enthralling to see an absolute master of their craft at work and that's the exact feeling I get whenever I get to see anything written by nauki osawa and Pluto was absolutely no exception I once created a robot that was perfect the realest robot the world has ever seen there are only a few manga that can boast such a legendary status as uraro himself when you have a track record of titles like monster an absolute Masterpiece with arguably the greatest villain anime has seen 20th century boys not just my favorite manga of all time but one of my favorite pieces of fiction to exist Pluto is meant to be one of his weaker Works according to Die Hard fans and godamn this is him operating at his lowest potential this is like sending in your weakest fighter and that fighter turns out to be Gojo [ __ ] saturo and wait yeah that allergy checks out this has all the calling cards of a classic urosa tale he sets the stage a Sci-Fi world where humans and robots coexist a series of unsolved murders a detective that is missing part of his memories a robot that has done the impossible and taken a human life he hooks you into his world and leaves you with a single question when the first episode ends just how deep does this Rabbit Hole go the man's ability to construct a mystery and Captivate an audience through his Mastery of suspense to me has the same level of craftsmanship as seeing a master blacksmith make a legendary sword every episode is so dense with emotion a plot that will keep you guessing through all the twists and turns sitting on top of the sheer thematic depth of the story that every single character carries on their back and by the end of it all he'll leave you with these ideas that you'll be thinking about far after the credits role this is some of the finest storytelling you can find anywhere if I had to make a guess why this didn't make as big of an impact as it probably should have well this was an adaptation of a Sci-Fi manga that was written 20 years ago that was originally a reimagining of asteroid boy a manga that came out 60 years ago so inevitably there might be some aspects that feel a bit dated what's this a war involving the invasion of some Middle Eastern country predicated on the possible developments of robots of mass destruction H oh hey there's a guy called Adolf he's a bad guy I couldn't agree with you more my dear Adolf but along with a slightly lukewarm ending this doesn't take away from the legacy of one of the greatest mangas alive right now so I have one question left are we ready to attempt a 20th century boys anime domain [Music] expansion when you watch an action you normally go through a season where you might see a ton of great action but you know it all builds up to this one or are most two episodes where the production value Skyrocket and you're treated to this insanely animated fight that will drop your jaw to the floor these are the scenes that everyone remembers and defines the top fights of the Year jiujitsu Kon went how about we do that for every single episode I don't think I've ever quite experienced the collective adrenaline field ride J Tyson season 2 has given me youron on an episode and be watching some of the sickest [ __ ] that's ever been put on screen and you think to yourself there's no way they could ever top this and it's at that moment the show will look you dead in the eye and go I'll [ __ ] do it again and then it does again and again and again and again and again and again so many amazing moments so many sick ass scenes Midway through the season the hype got to me and I excitedly tweeted out it should be godamn illegal for an anime to go this hard that was the same day all this came out one of the biggest talking points has been mappis treatment of their animators during the season and I think it's a testament to The Blood Sweat and tears poured into this that we got a product this fantastic despite the hellish working conditions they were going through Demon Slayer mob psycho this may not have gotten the opportunity to be as polished as shows like that but it is unmatched when it comes to its raw stylistic flare every single fight has a unique identity not constrained to one genre of action we got gritty hand-to-hand combat Citywide disaster level brawls insanely unique powers idle dance beatdowns there was a mecha fight a [ __ ] Mecha fight in a Shonen anime the amount of hype the amount of [ __ ] sheer disrespect we got [ __ ] rabbits throwing hands this was one of the greatest showcases I've ever seen of for lack of a better term [ __ ] cool [ __ ] this felt like the purest celebration of fight scenes and choreography we were in the audience they got to Marvel at a symphony of some of the coolest set pieces you can find in the medium The shib Arc may not have been Peak storytelling or the peak of all Shonen arcs but right now this is the peak of action spectacle the way elves see this world is a mystery I thank you freen it's solely because of you that this retired hero could have one final [Music] Adventure freen opens on the story of an elf girl who takes for granted the time she has with the people around her decades pass in the blink of an eye her companions age and before she has the chance to fully get to know them they're gone it's a regretful poignant taale that shoots straight to your godamn soul and then the opening is [Applause] [Music] like the show took a different approach to Fantasy Adventure while encapsulating everything that the genre is about there might not be any Demon Lord to defeat or world to save but instead we have a journey about appreciating the smaller things in your life the beautiful things you might have missed if you forgot to look for them I showed this to a mate and he was like freen you mean side quest the anime and I bloody ate him because of how [ __ ] accurate that is yet it's through those detours you take along the road to your destination that freen absolutely shines it's the type of show that grips you without ever needing to hit you with any flashy high-intensity action scenes to keep your attention and then hit you with these flashy high intensity action scenes this series didn't need to go hard in this animation in any way shape or form but chooses to do so anyway this is what it's like to watch a fully polished product but like fren's own Journey these are not the moments that stick with you for the world saving Adventure she went on the slice of memories we get are those small moments that really defined the time she spent with her party and as she forms new bonds you start to see those small pieces she begins to pick up from the people around her that slowly become a part of her this is what every fantasy tale aspires to be it's shows like these that somehow make you nostalgic for an experience you've never had friends you've never made but at his heart it's a gentle reminder to cherish the things in your life that really matter to make the most of the time with the people you truly [Music] value an I have killed so many people I will be reborn and I will atone for all LIF that's all we've ever won want it something in this world that can give us a reason to keep going when I was a kid my father would read me bedtime stories that my childish mind would always be absolutely immersed in accounts of hungry hungry caterpillars rainbow fishes ugly ducklings these were the greatest stories I'd ever heard cuz they were but it would always end off with a message a seed that got planted in my head that would hopefully Sprout into a less that would stick with me and as you grow older start learning new lessons by experiencing real life you forget the effect that stories can have on you a good story can not only Entertain You it can move you give you a new perspective teach you something you never knew you could learn that you can take far beyond the confounds of watching some piece of entertainment that is the power of a great tale and that is everything that villain Saga season 2 encapsulates I cannot begin to describe the sheer effects this show had on me season 1 was a compelling Adventure filled with tragedy Vengeance and violence so to anyone coming into this season blind you probably would have been taken back the violence takes a backseat to a pure methodical character drama Vengeance has been replaced by a saga of redemption and acceptance honor glory sacrifice all left by the wayside and All That Remains is people just trying their best to find their place in this merciless World While most series would cower at the thought of Shifting Gears this drastically it is that strong ju position that gives villain saga's message the weight it has exemplified by possibly the greatest character development we've ever seen in this medium thorin's transformation is something that transcends entertainment a man who starts off as a shell of a human broken empty Unworthy of redemption but through every person he meets every relationship he forms he starts to learn to pick up the broken pieces of his former self that slowly but surely fill his soul up as you see him encounter conflict you'll secretly wish for that instant gratification that he will revert back to his previous Savage self but as you witness this journey of a man fighting so desperately to find peace who learns that it's okay not just to forgive others but to forgive himself as well it becomes an experience that will lingle with you and invites you to find your own Solace watching Vinland Saga feels like I'm getting read the greatest bedtime story ever told by my dad it'll grip you with the pi of tales packed with nothing but raw human emotion that will leave your heart filled to the brim and by the end of it all it gives gives you something a message a lesson it earnestly hopes you can take with you it reminds you that change isn't just something that exists in the boundaries of a fictional story it doesn't come easy it's a long hard unforgiving road but you can get there even if every day you only take one small step at a time we will always find a reason to fight each other no matter what time period we are in weapons we can use or tools we have at our disposal but no matter how broken you think the world is there is still meaning in in trying to build a better tomorrow maybe tomorrow I can make a brighter day come maybe tomorrow I can be just that little bit Kinder maybe tomorrow I can become a slightly better version of myself you are capable of letting go of that hatred even if that hatred is towards yourself you have no [Music] enemies

Channel: Gigguk

Views: 2,271,816

Keywords: Anime Zone, Gigguk, Top Anime, OP, ED

Id: JhVPJ2J0sz8

Length: 32min 28sec (1948 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2024