Most Surprising Good Anime of 2013

[AbZeroNow]

I guess I'll do this thread as a counterbalance to the Most Disappointing. Which 2013 anime exceeded your expectations. For my picks(and I am avoiding 2 cour Fall 2013 series since those will go into 2014).

4. Rozen Maiden(2013). Despite the very terrible first episode, this is the best Rozen Maiden anime yet. Suigintou and Kanaria manage to both get their best portrayals yet and the antagonist is one of the most creepy I have ever seen. Having gone back and watched the previous anime, this is definately a step-up that managed to have a protagonist that the audience could relate to in Jun and the dolls feel more real in this than the others.

3. Love Live! School Idol Project- I thought this was going to be a cheap attempt to make an Idol franchise to rival Idolm@ster, but Sunrise really gave it some great production value, it managed to work in the CG well, and it had a great story, great characters(Yeah, I'm a sucker for Niko. I know others love Honoka or Maki). It would up being my favorite of the Winter 2013 season

2. Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko(HenNeko). This would up being one of my favorites from the Spring. The main character would up really charming me. The Oscar Wilde references were interesting and the main cast were all complex and wonderful characters. The twist near the end was a great one too.

1. Gatchaman Crowds. I had heard the director was pretty good going in, but I had never seen one of his shows before. Despite the fact that they will have to fix the ending on home video, this was quite a ride with Hajime being one of the most insane but irresistibly lovable protagonists ever. The OP and ED were both outstanding too. Berg Katze as the villain also has the seiyuu giving one of the best anime performances of the year.

So what would you chose as the shows that surprised you with how good they were in 2013?

[Flower]

Just as in the other thread it seems that this thread is not necessarily about the series that were the best, rather the ones that were the most unexpectedly enjoyable.

I guess I will add in three of them:

Mushibugyou, Gatchaman Crowds and Gingitsune.

Mushiugyou is not the sort of series I usually follow, but I gave it a try based on someone's recommendation and found myself unexpectedly liking it.

Gatchaman Crowds was one of those series that raised a big question mark over my head when I read the previews, and after hesitating a bit gave it a try - I was unexpectedly floored by how much I enjoyed it.

Gingitsune had no expectations from me whatsoever, but I was hooked after ep 1. So much so that it is probably the most surprising series of the year for me.

[Ithekro]

I am not sure if surprising counts, but Space Battleship Yamato 2199. It was as good or possibly even better than the orignal form 39 years ago. And having a as good as or better than remake is very surprising.

[Ichuki]

I have to say Love Live, NouCome, Outbreak Company, Date A Liveand Zettai Bouei Leviathan.

Love Live- I thought it was going to be another K-On or a Pretty Rhythm but it turns out it had good characters and the plot was execute well.

Noucome- I felt like it was going to be a generic harem series but it turned out to be something very unique.

Date A Live- Same reason as Noucome pretty much.

Outbreak Company- The way it portrayed the otaku culture was very well and it was funnier than I expected.

Zettai Bouei Leviathan- I thought this series was the type to be generic all over the place but the plot and the characterization turned out well.

[Traece]

Hataraku Maou-sama is definitely my number one choice here. This may be partially my fault for never looking at previews, trailers, and otherwise, but before I watched the first episode I really had no indication of just what I was getting into. Even more so, the first part of the first episode was a dramatic narrative about the war they had. Now, Maou-sama is easily one of my all-time favorite comedy anime. Period.

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince, although average in writing, was such a technically excellent show that I absolutely loved watching it. Majestic Prince in all of my years was without a single doubt, the most well-animated action anime I have ever seen.

Servant x Service, like Maou-sama, vastly exceeded everything I wanted in a comedy in every way. This is now another of my absolute favorite comedy anime without a doubt.

I'll also second Rozen Maiden for being exceptionally good. The way that they portrayed things in Rozen Maiden was just fantastic. They did a very large amount of things right in regards to telling the story, and it made it compelling because of it.

[Joyce_Steele]

Love Live! School Idol Project without a doubt. I going to think it going to be a K-On! rip-off since it had similar setting/premise but I was wrong. It was completely different show than K-On! and in fact it also where K-On! should have been.

[Triple_R]

Love Live! is definitely this for me. It ended up being one of my all-time favorite anime shows, and it was a show I may have missed entirely if not for a fellow AS member having a Maki avatar. The show had a marvelous blend of heartwarming drama, suspense, fun colorful characters, a compelling story, and truly great moe.


Other mentions...

Love Lab is the comedy of the year, at least out of what I've seen this year. Not bad for a show I went into without any set expectations at all, really.

Majestic Prince had a nice story, good characters, and some insanely good mecha action scenes. It was definitely a pleasant surprise for me.

Railgun S, particularly the Sisters Arc, was excellent. I couldn't get through the original Railgun (until Railgun S renewed my interest in the series), so Railgun S being this good was certainly a pleasant surprise for me personally.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA was a show I was looking forward to, but it was frequently even more entertaining than I thought it would be. Episode 6 in particular was amongst the very best anime episodes of the year, which is not something I thought I'd be saying about a Prisma Illya episode before the anime aired.

Nagi no Asukara has thus far been a truly gorgeous show with wonderful character development and an engaging narrative. My expectations for it had not been that high, so I basically ended up with an excellent show where I expected just passable entertainment.

Tokyo Ravens is a show I went into almost entirely blind, and it's been a very nice watch.


As for other lists, I liked Rozen Maiden (2013), but then I expected to. My reasons for liking it were a bit different than I thought they would be, but the show wasn't surprisingly good to me. However, I definitely found it to be a very good show, so I agree with the compliments its getting on this thread.

[paraalso]

The most surprisingly good anime for me was Zetsuen no Tempest. I wasn't originally impressed by the first episode, and delayed watching more for some time. When I picked it up again about 10 episodes in, it turned out to be a great show.

There were interesting plot twists, great characters, and some of the most dramatic scenes involving nothing but dialogue I've seen in anime. The music was often perfect for atmosphere. It lost some steam in the latter half, but still finished as one of the best of the year.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

I am not sure if surprising counts, but Space Battleship Yamato 2199. It was as good or possibly even better than the orignal form 39 years ago. And having a as good as or better than remake is very surprising.

I second Yamato 2199, as good as space opera gets.

[mistress_kisara]

I'll be seconding Zetsuen no Tempest because I was just expecting an a shounen action show, but I was surprised how engaging the story is
Another one is Hataraku Maou-sama I thought this was just your usual LN, but it ended up being really funny.

[Arturia Polaris]

Pokemon Origins

Nuff said.

Cheers

[Kanon]

Hataraku Maou-sama, hands down. The premise sounded very silly and it's a light novel, so my expectations were very low. I would have never imagined it would be so good. The comedy and the chemistry between the characters were excellent, and what little action there was was amazing. It's one of the very best show of the year.

Can't think of any others.

[Houreki]

Noucome at first when I saw this, I thought it was going to be just another harem, but it turned out to be really funny.

[Sheba]

Hataraku Maou-sama: I didn't know what I was going to witness but I don't regret to make the jump and watch it. Easily one of the best comedies of 2013.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199: With all those remakes that have been more miss than hit, it's only natural for me to come in with very low expectations, especially when the legend is handled by a studio that I have otherwise known because of its mediocre rom-coms or forgettable harem anime. But it exceeded all my expectations, it blew them away. Without a doubt the best sci-fi show of the year.

I'll withold my opinion on Noucome and see how the final episodes will turn out.

[Guy Incognito]

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru.i thought it was going to be just a generic harem anime. i was way wrong.now its one of my favorites

[ThereminVox]

I can't argue with Hataraku Maou-sama. That was fantastic.

Most of my "surprisingly good" choices are such because I had no knowledge of what I was getting into.

Blast of Tempest was tremendous. Tokyo Ravens is still running, but so far it's been better than I was expecting.

Love Lab and Kotoura-san were both more entertaining and endearing than I had anticipated.

[Akito Kinomoto]

No love for Sasami-san@Ganbaranai? I never thought so much randomness could make so much sense, it looks gorgeous, and the characters are a riot. But I guess flying under the radar's a good thing sometimes.

Honorable mention for AKB0048 Next Stage. The characters peaked in ability during season one, and building any tension looked difficult with all (or most) of them at "that" performing level. The writers made it work though.

[ReinZwei]

Spring

Hataraku Maou-sama

Summer

Love Lab

Autumn

NouCome

Same Reason for all of them, they made me laugh more than I expected to.

[wontaek]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

I am not sure if surprising counts, but Space Battleship Yamato 2199. It was as good or possibly even better than the orignal form 39 years ago. And having a as good as or better than remake is very surprising.

I agree. It also fixed many "problems" from the past as well.

[Reverzer0]

Hajime no Ippo Rising - Pestering is over ~ all over the internet hehe~