Quite a few fantastic anime aired in the year 2010! These are my favorites! Note: This list doesn’t count any movies or OVAs– it’s TV anime series only! Let’s Rant!

#7. Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Panty and Stocking are earth-bound Angels who fight ghosts to win Heaven Coins to get back into Heaven. Why were they kicked out? Probably because one of them (Panty) is a sex fiend, and the other (Stocking) is stripper. This is one of my top 15 funniest anime ever. Panty and Stocking contains some gross type humor, potty humor, and very adult, sexual humor. Everybody swears like crazy, and in the English dub, they even throwi around f**k and c**t. I prefer the dub, because I can better appreciate all the “adult language.” Check out Panty and Stocking if you’re 17+ and looking for something vastly inappropriate and funny.

#6. K-On! (Season Two)

(Here you can see MAL’s synopsis and ranking.) This show can be described as: cute, innocent girls doing cute, innocent things, including playing music on occasion. If you’ve been reading long, you know I like dark stuff and anything psychological. I also enjoy shows that look deceptively cute, only to turn into violent bloodbaths. But that never happens with K-On. The show stays funny, cute and innocent all through. There’s not even any real drama, since it’s Slice-of-Life. What’s the deal? Why do I like this anime? Well, take it as evidence that I actually do have a heart and soul, haha! Even I like something sweet on occasion.

#5. Durarara!! (Season One)

I only saw Durarara once, but I absolutely loved it, watching all seasons (60 episodes) within 4 days. Then, I completely forgot all of it, the result of– and just punishment for– getting super baked while still on my anxiety medicine. Never do that. All that to say, telling you why this anime amazed me so much will be impossible until I rewatch it. All I can say is that I remember enjoying the hell out of it. I put it at 9/10 on MyAnimeList, something I rarely do. Anyway, the show is set in Ikebukuro and is about many different characters whose stories all intertwine in weird ways. Here is the MAL synopsis.

#4. The Tatami Galaxy

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei or The Tatami Galaxy is another one of those weird and wonderful works by Masaaki Yuasa. You can read about it in my post about 10 obscure anime. Basically, a college guy tries to win at college life but keeps losing on an epic scale, half because of the influence of his youkai friend Ozu, and half because of his own naivety and the stupidity of youth. What will it take for him to start making use of the good opportunity in front of him? It’ll take a very strange experience, indeed.

#3. Arakawa under the Bridge

This anime is a masterpiece comedy if you love absurd humor, over-the-top reactions, some repeated gags, and an overall atmosphere of “what the f**k am I watching?” Give it a try if you’re a fan of Shaft works like Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari. It’s got the exact same kind of cinematograhpy, with close-ups, unusual angles, occasional frames of text, and those dramatic, funny head tilts. There’s no sexual humor and not a lot of crude humor; the comedy is brought solely by the bizarre situations and characters. If you’re easily “weirded out,” maybe skip this one. Otherwise, watch it! Here you can read the MAL synopsis.

#2. Angel Beats!

Angel Beats doesn’t quite make it into my top 20 favorite anime, but the show features a character, Yuri Nakamura, who is in my top 20 favorite anime characters. To me, Angel Beats is a 9/10 anime and masterpiece of art, story, and sound. I can’t understand it when people criticize those aspects of the show, but then again, I still have a lot to learn. The anime is about Otonashi, a young man who wakes up in a strange world in the afterlife, but can’t remember how he he died. Kanade is a beautiful girl that everyone calls Angel, and according to what they say, she causes the souls of people to disappear forever. Otonashi reluctantly joins a group of students (led by Yuri) who try to fight Angel.

~Honorable mention: Katanagatari~

Katanagatari is the story of the amazing journey of Shichika the humanoid sword and his dear companion Togame. Genres include Action, Adventure, Historical, Martial Arts, and Romance. The art style threw me off at first, but it slowly grew on me, so to speak. Now I adore it. The soundtrack is also something I relish, and the voice-acting is impossible to forget. Maybe the best thing of all is the character interactions and dynamics. Check out Katagatari if you like unique stories and unusual artwork in anime.

#1. Shiki

This is definitely my favorite of the 2010 anime, and as of now, it’s in my top 20 favorite anime ever. Shiki tells the story of the conflict between humans and vampire-like corpse demons in a rural, isolated mountain village. Unlike many stories and anime, Shiki handles the vampire myth in a very satisfying way, giving them the right balance of “unforgivable monster” and “sympathetic creature.” The characters and their psychologies are fascinating; my favorites are Muroi the Monk, Ozaki the Doctor, and Sunako the Shiki (corpse demon). This is a thought-provoking anime with interesting themes such as how humans can be driven to become as monstrous as demons.

This is Anime Rants. I sincerely thank you, readers, for reading today’s Sunday Select 7! I hope you’ll come back next week, if not before. Take care of yourself and get in some good relaxation time if possible. Bye now!

PATREON

(All images were found by searching the internet and I don’t own any of them.)