Quote:
Originally Posted by Arturia Polaris
Accel World Fighting animes, as I said, didn't really interest me. The whole concept of a futuristic world that seems plausible simply hooked me up very well. Same goes for Sword Art Online
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Yeah, this is actually the same for me for both of these shows. I wasn't sure about these shows going into them because, for whatever reason, I was under the impression that they'd be shounen action/fighting series, and those generally aren't up my alley. (The popularity among the English audience was actually a warning side for me, since my tastes don't always align.) But I quickly found myself engaged by the worlds presented in both these stories, interested in many of the elements and just generally entertained. I know that both shows have their fair share of detractors because they either wanted different things from the shows or consider certain factors more important than I apparently do, but to me these two would probably be my "pleasant surprises of the 2012" because I would never have guessed that they'd be the shows I feel most compelled to watch/re-watch.
I'll also nominate Hyouka to this list for a similar reason: I'm just generally not interested in mystery anime. But, Hyouka was actually much more of a character study, and consistently presented interesting situations/dilemmas that were much more important than the mystery that served as an illustration. The pacing and production values of course also helped tremendously, along with the many thoughtful and artistic touches in the presentation. The debate we had during/after the second arc was epic.
Definitely a show that was way more than I expected.
And along the very same lines (because I don't generally like anime about ghosts, mysteries, etc.), Tasogare Otome x Amnesia was a beautiful and "haunting" (
) romance story that, to me anyway, was just really beautifully told. The use of colour through the series was striking (reminds me of the ef series, perhaps unsurprisingly), and I loved the development of the relationship portrayed. The OP and special insert song were particularly memorable.
There are of course other shows that I enjoyed and am enjoying, but they more-or-less matched my expectations for them. I guess all this probably shows that I shouldn't stereotype so much based on genre, but I deliberately try to limit the amount of anime I watch so that I won't want to collect the Blu-Rays (a very expensive hobby indeed...). That excuse probably doesn't make sense to most people who aren't me, but anyway...
Okay, and last, my less-serious doesn't-really-count nomination but that doubles as a confession. Earlier this year, the forum was exploding with a massive seemingly-insatiable (mostly teen male) audience going crazy over High School DxD, which had all appearances to me of being a sort of dime-a-dozen action/fanservice show that don't typically catch/hold my interest. But because of all the mod work that was involved with this show in particular, I finally got curious and said "I've got see what it is that people are going so crazy about" and decided to give it a chance. And... well, the fanservice was definitely immature and pretty silly, along with some aspects of the plot. And yet somehow, despite it all, the characters still managed to be pretty compelling, and I found myself cheering for them. So I left with a "hey, that actually wasn't bad" impression overall, despite the many disclaimers I'd have to apply before recommending it, and will probably check out the second season to see what happens next. Perhaps it was only a surprise in the sense that I was so heavily set against it in the first place based on the tone and nature of the forum discussions that ensued...