Welcome! This is is a list of my personal favorite anime series that aired in the year 2014. Said list does not include films, OVAs, or series continuing from the previous year(s). It’s important to note these are ranked in order of personal enjoyment and not how objectively well-made and crafted they are, nor my overall series rating for them. You should also be aware that I’m unusual and generally I like a lot of anime that’s less popular than the big hits of the year. You won’t find Noragami or Tokyo Ghoul on this list, for instance. Well then, let’s look at the entries.

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Akame ga Kiru / Akame ga Kill

Personal Enjoyment Score: 7/10.

Pros: Tons of death and violence, an abundance of strong, hot female characters, a gay character whom I love, some interesting and emotional themes and content, great action sequences, good villains, and an unusual story conclusion.

Cons: Tons of death and violence, leading many to believe there is no point to the characters’ stories or to the story overall.

Other Notes: Do NOT watch the censored version. It’s horrible. They tried to make an extremely violent anime into a PG-level show.

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Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Enjoyment: 7/10

Pros: It’s a high-budget and amazingly well-made anime with beautiful art, some terrific actions scenes, and a positive overall message. If you’re like me and you disliked the preachy nihilist themes of Fate/Zero, you’ll enjoy this as great sequel that sets things to rights and features main characters who pursue their morals and follow their hearts.

Cons: For being an action show, sometimes the plot moves slowly, and there’s a lot of talking during fights. Male protagonist Shirou is despised by many people, especially those who only watched Fate/Zero and didn’t see the Fate/Stay Night movie in 4 years prior.

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Akatsuki no Yona/ Yona of the Dawn

Personal Enjoyment Rating: 8/10

Pros: It’s been a while, but I’ll try to remember. A reverse harem action/ adventure story with historical elements, nice music and artwork, and memorable characters. There’s a very understandable female protagonist who starts as a spoiled princess and slowly, over time, toughens up into a spirited, courageous woman capable of fighting and killing.

Cons: It’s been a while, but I’ll try to remember. There are some problems with storytelling and plot structure that annoyed me slightly, and if you play Otome games or watch a lot of reverse harem anime, the male characters may seem unoriginal or too “typed.” Also, I know this makes me an anime heretic, but I don’t like Hak. He gets on my nerves.

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Akuma no Riddle / Demon’s Riddles

Personal Enjoyment Score: 8/10

Note: the “official” English title is stupid and completely botched, but I should include it. It’s “Riddle Story of Devil.”

Pros: Shoujo ai /yuri presented in both “fanservicey” ways and in serious ways in loving relationships between characters. Fun music, good animation, and high action, including some of my favorite fight scenes in anime. Most characters are interesting in my opinion.

Cons: There are too many characters to satisfactorily explore and explain in only 12 episodes, there’s minimal exposition of important facts, and the super “happy ending” in the last episode was irritating or disappointing to many viewers.

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Mushishi Zoku Shou / Mushishi Season 2

Personal Enjoyment Score: 8/10

Pros: beautiful art, an intriguing main character, and many fascinating and well-made stories about the mysterious creatures called Mushi and how they affect humans.

Cons: If you don’t like purely episodic anime, you probably won’t like Mushishi.

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Psycho-Pass 2/ Psycho Pass Season 2

Personal Enjoyment Score: 9/10

Pros: It’s the direct sequel to Psycho-Pass, and features many of the same elements as the first season such as violence, crime, psychological content, plot twists, mystery, and a fascinating antagonist. There is further character development for Akane and there are also interesting new characters.

Cons: Kogami does not appear in this season, the scale of the show is not as epic as the first season, and many fans disliked the antagonist, Kamui, compared to the villain of last season, Makishima. This show also puts a lot of more of the “fiction” into “science fiction,” occasionally bordering on supernatural.

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Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu / Parasyte: The Maxim

Personal Enjoyment Score: 10/10

This is one of my top 5 favorite anime ever and has had a huge impact on my life and thinking. I love everything about it. I’m too biased to give pros and cons since I don’t believe there are any cons of significance.

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Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful Sunday! See you next time!

PATREON

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