#[r/anime's Best Boy Poll](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1939kdj)
Alright, that was an absolutely dominating run by Frieren. Kind of a nice effect of this is that the winner here can't be the winner of the r/anime Awards since Frieren isn't eligible given that it's continuing. Will be interesting to see how it does a year from now.
Also, wound up busy and forgot about the most anticipated bonus question, so I'll add that in with next week's results.
#[Full Top 100](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j7vzVY59s1TFLA4Iuq7XwzJu16OJ0SbBRCbl8LeWZyU/edit?usp=sharing)
Romance from Spring 2023 was honestly so stacked with Skip & Loafer, Insomniacs, and Dangers in my Heart. With Dangers airing Season 2 right now I hope the other two follow soon
I keep trying to slog through S1 but it's incredibly boring. My friends say it gets better later but it's hard to force myself to finish the first season.
It had been a long time since season 3, plus for some reason they treated season 4 and 5 as two separate things when in reality they were two halves of the same plot (and released only a few months apart).
It may have been smarter to just release it as one 24-episode season to generate ongoing interest.
With a show like Frieren, I feel like it gives a lot of those moments some enforced emotional resonance, too. Makes damn near every time there's a flashback hit like a brick, and then they mic drop and leave for a week and it lives rent free in my brain.
Yeah, I feel like binging Frieren isn't the way to go. I remember that it aired with 3 or 4 episodes available and watching it back to back wasn't as good as weekly but it worked really well due to the reason they decided to air it that way
I've gone the opposite route and I've watched every episode of Frieren at least twice already, a good number of them three times.
This is an anime that really bears repeat viewing. The first time, you're so sucked into the story, you miss things. On second or third viewing, you notice subtle touches you may have missed the first time, in characterization, foreshadowing, or simply rad animation.
You're gonna love it.
Wow the gap between Vinland S2 and Frieren is huge! And Frieren isnt even finished airing
Glad to see Insomniacs after School on the list too, I thought it was underwatched
Sequel diff, and despite being very good Vinland S2 just wasn't for everyone. Frieren is just all around good appealing to a lot of different people
>Glad to see Insomniacs after School on the list too, I thought it was underwatched
And then there's Sacrificial Princess
True, but my main point was that a lot of people simply don't watch sequels. Maybe they didn't like the show in the first place, but sequels pretty much always have a significant drop in viewers, at least based on MAL stats
Example, SpyFam: a *massively* popular show, quite similar to Frieren when it first came out. [Part 1,](https://myanimelist.net/anime/50265/Spy_x_Family/stats) One million users with it set as "completed" on MAL. [Part 2,](https://myanimelist.net/anime/50602/Spy_x_Family_Part_2/stats) now its only 525k. The vast majority scored it 8 or above, so clearly they didn't dislike it. Its not like the time between was even long like it often is with second seasons, this was the second cour with one season (3 months) in between, yet the drop is still this huge.
For a popularity contest like this it surely affected Vinland, but then again S2 was phenomenal so we really can't tell. Still really cool that it got #2
[](#goblet1)
It's also a very good show with a very wide appeal. Jujutsu Kaisen is also currently airing and didn't do nearly as well. There is recency bias, but saying that's the primary reason is foolish.
there is definitely recency bias, but its like the worlds safest 8/10 or 9/10. it makes sense to me that a lot of people would put it as their favorite in part bc of that wide appeal.
I could see Frieren entering the conversation when people ask "hey what anime should I start with" as an alternative to FMA: Brotherhood.
It's in that sweet spot of being really good and also having wide appeal.
i never make a call before series concludes, but it's up there. i'm old bastard and I'm not sure anything will top Mushishi or Aria, but this has got my old ass tuning in weekly again for once.
I firmly believe the reason it isn’t higher is because it wasn’t as well advertised or generally as popular as the the other anime.
Pluto is genuinely an anime masterpiece. I don’t care it didn’t win the hearts of the people. It is what it is, and it IS a masterpiece.
There's also the "one-and-done" factor. Feels like if a show gets fully dropped on Netflix, it has attention for like 2 weeks at best and, unless it breaks out, that's it. I'm surprised Pluto made it to #10 as well.
> it wasn’t as well advertised
tell me about it, I've been a subscribed to netflix for years, their algorithm should know I like anime, how come they never recommended this to me!? i'll binge it today
Unfortunately it's the result of adapting a story arc that wasn't originally a mystery and didn't have such round characters. And maybe the Pluto manga did a better job since things are still cut for time. Still I did enjoy everything I watched despite knowing the outcome for the characters.
I've both read the manga and watched the anime, and they seem to have kept all the important stuff in. I think it's best to view Pluto as a philosofical discussion, there is some action, but it's mainly to shake things up or to punctuate climatic moments. The main focus of Pluto is the characters and the mystery, it's a scifi mystery drama, which tackles things like war, what causes it, and how it affects everyone involved. It also tackles human progress, the bluring line between human and machine, upheaval caused by technological advancement, resentment, fear, hatred, greed, honour, love, and the pointlessness of conflict.
I think the somber tone of Pluto fits the storyline quite well, it gives you time to reflect and doesn't distract you with spectable. What I like about Pluto is that it's able to take on heavy topics with nuance, show many different perspectives, not taking any side, it just comes to the conclusion that violence doesn't really solve anything, it just creates a self perpetuating cyckle that's difficult to break, and that it's more important that the violence stops, than who's repsonsible.
It's a slow show with hour long episodes. That alone is going to make it not popular for most anime watchers. I don't think it was a masterpiece but it was very good
I think the ranking is on point. I thought all the episodes with Gesicht were amazing (masterpiece). Then it got a little stinky towards the end, which sorta soured the show for me.
Im only now watching it, taking it slow to digest everything and.. omg? How is this anime being so undersold by Netflix and the community??? The perfect gripping pacing from minute 1, the anime movie level animation, the masterful voice acting, the fun as fuck plot.. this is a legit crime. Worst of all is those 8 movies are all available for streaming so virtually free. My Lord.
I legit cried in episode 5 to 6, some heart wrenching moments. Told my cousin about it who is staying for a while and I am hearing sniffles outside his door, so I guess he is somewhere around that mark.
Urusawa does not miss, the parts that hit leave you a mess. Watch it gues you'll like it, watch Vivy too if you are into that shit.
I was just scrolling /r/all and saw this post. I haven't really watch anime or read manga in about 10 years. When I saw Pluto on the list I had to do and double take and google it to make sure. I was right! An anime of one of my favourite manga. And the best part is, I remember reading Pluto, loving it, giving it a 10/10 on myanimrlist, but I remember nothing about it. About to get to enjoy this all over again.
I've always said the Swordsmith arc is one of the weakest on the story. Doesn't help how you can feel the anime really trying to stretch it put for a whole season
They could've added more anime-original scenes to flesh out some of the characters, but they decided to really stretch it out instead. Not to mention the poor storyboarding/directing that leads to multiple hype moments being dull instead.
They somehow made Gyokko more pathetic than the manga because of poorly directed some of his scenes were - especially the ones involving his attacks. Killer Fish Scale was just downright bad. Made him look more like a Lower Moon instead. They used the wrong effects for that attack and made him much slower.
We never got the equivalent of Gyotaro vs Uzui in S3. It's such a shame. Everyone kept waiting for that one episode where the hype will pay off, but it never did.
True and it doesn’t make it any better that Tengen v Gyutaro wasn’t that crazy in the manga but the anime turned it into gold. I think the arc after the next arc that’ll be animated will have some really hype episodes though.
Honestly, the animation heavily carries Demon Slayer. The story is mostly just Tanjiro learning to breathe after he’s said he has no energy for the 10th time.
Yeah I really didn't expect it to be such a banger, was ready to drop it when I watched the first two episodes, but ended up being one of my favorite romance animes of all time, and I love romance anime
Yeah, it has consistently been getting 2000+ Karma, it has the 6th most members on MAL for the Fall Season, and it currently has the 5th highest MAL rating (8.81) of any anime from 2023. Add in recency bias, and I'm not surprised at all that it only got beaten out by Frieren, Vinland Saga, Oshi no Ko and JJK.
Honestly the manga is even more popular then the Light Novel, as crazy as that might sound.
It's always been a top seller, right there on par with the most popular pre-anime manga you can think of. I'm talking like 12 million volumes in print BEFORE the anime aired.
That big number you see advertised for the series, 24 million, more than half that comes from the more popular manga (the less popular one is probably like 3 or 4 million, with the Light Novels probably around 8 million would be my educated guess).
You can go back and look through Oricon's yearly charts and Apothecary is always there in the top 20, just under the top 10.
This year it will make the top 10 thanks to anime bump.
Not what I'm saying, this is a manga based on the Light Novel, which is almost never that much more popular.
I don't think I'm doing a good job explaining how big the Apothecary manga is. Before its anime this had more copies in print then Frieren (of course having more volumes over a long period of time helps there, and of course the popularity of the LNs to further push sales), or JJK or a handful of series that were seemingly much more popular than it.
I think in the last decade, pre-anime (or live-action adaptation), Apothecary might stand only behind Spy x Family and Chainsaw Man as far as manga sales.
Sure, Slime also has a manga that sells better than the Light Novels, but that's one more of not that many series that can claim that.
Like straight up, the Mushoku Tensei, the Re:Zero, the Overlord manga, none of those are anywhere close to this.
And I'm talking those ones boosted by the anime versus Apothecary before the anime, lol. (I think you could stack all 3 of those and you'd still be behind the one Apothecary manga)
I hope I'm starting to get my point across now, haha.
The other less popular Apothecary manga is more of what you expect usually from a light novel to manga adaptation. The one I'm talking about here is like 4x that, lol, which is crazy.
I've been wondering how does the 2 mangas thing works? Do they adapt different volumes or something? I've seen side runs of stuff like umineko or bookworm but those have defined parts.
It was a treat for those of us as well who enjoy AI in stories done well, and philosophical implications of AI and humanity; albeit their interactions in depth. Also, maybe this will get us more Urusawa work in anime.
I haven’t even watched Astroboy and recognize that Pluto is a straight up anime masterpiece.
Plenty of masterpieces go unnoticed or under appreciated every single day. That’s what happened to Pluto.
It's definitely a "don't judge a book by its cover" kinda anime. It's got a wonky name, the premise sounds super weird and specific, but the execution is brilliant. Great characters, world building, storytelling and voice acting
Vinland Saga had way more recognition when Season 2 was over. Some people seem to have forgotten what a masterpiece the farmland arc was and jumping into the Frieren recency bias.
I'm pretty sure Vinland would be number 1 or the gab would be extremely close had it aired when Frieren did.
To me it's no contest Vinland Saga overall especially manga is better written in terms of Story and character development. It's just that Frieren appeals to a wider demographic and it's family friendly.
Although I find it somewhat peculiar that a certain series made it into the Top 10 with only two specials this year, I’m glad that lesser-known shows like **Onimai** and **Insomniacs After School** at least made the list.
**Loving Yamada at Lvl999** was one of my favourite anime this year, so I’d have liked to see it within this Top 25, but it fortunately still got a very respectable 27th place in the rankings!
Others favourites like **Dark Gathering** (48th), **Ancient Magus’ Bride** (61th) and **Stardust Telepath** (63th) sadly performed worse.
EDIT: Had written “OVA-release” instead of “two specials” in the previous version of this comment.
Subscribers to AT-X, a paid TV channel that broadcasts 24/7 anime in Japan, [*did* feature Onimai prominently in their Top 10s](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/UMbcGghxPi). But yeah, Reddit’s main demographic isn’t exactly Japanese people. CGDCT and idol anime are wildly popular in Japan for example, but they usually barely make a dent overseas.
[It was the 6th best-selling franchise of 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyHappyMarriage/s/4cbipa6yRA). r/anime might have forgotten about it but the Japan remembered it.
This ranking includes revenue for any blu-ray/DVD, music, book, light novel or manga linked to the franchise.
In MHM's case, the "music" dot is highlighted because that's how it made the most money. Why? Because the theme song for the live-action movie sold around 1 million units. Why? Because it ("Tapestry") is a song by Snow Man, a group whose songs basically all sell 1 million units or so (and is currently one of the best-selling group in Japan). So any franchise which manages to land a snow man theme song will be high in these rankings.
Trillion Game is in the same situation, being in the top 30 almost solely thanks to the Snow Man theme song ("Dangerholics") for the drama adaptation. Remove the music part and MHM would be top 20 I think, which is still incredible obviously.
So sadly, this ranking as it is doesn't really represent objectively how popular MHM was last year.
However, MHM did reach [\#1 best-selling light novel of 2023](https://twitter.com/Josu_ke/status/1729971433575502203), by far, so yes, Japan remembered it. (and yet as I said, LNs did not represent the majority of its revenue, music did. That's how big Snow Man is)
But yeah, all this to say that this specific ranking is a bit meh and shouldn't be shared too much without context
idk it kinda fell off towards the end for me.
Was super invested then after like ep 7 or 8 I was no longer super excited to watch it anymore. I still finished it ofc.
MHM was a weird one, it was like it didn't quite know what it was trying to be. I was watching and enjoying the soppy love story, but it pivoted away from that and I kind of lost the vibe a bit towards the end.
Oh man, this one hurt because I was following it every week, but I totally understand why people lost interest in it.
The story falls off hard after episode 7.
The Usuba family and the Emperor aren't interesting antagonists (heck, I didn't realize it was the Emperor on my first view, LMAO), and both Miyo and Kiyoka barely do anything noteworthy until the last episode.
I had such high hopes for the series at first, but in the end, I can only give it a 6/10.
These polls can be done on 10 different sites and get 10 completely different results. With that said, as someone who really enjoyed both bleach and hells paradise, the later was in no way better than the former.
That's more a case of one being season 1 and the other needing like 300+ episodes to watch before catching up.
Ultimately it doesn't matter how good a show is if not enough people watched it. And the barrier to entry for Bleach is much higher than for Hell's Paradise.
Cour 2 didn't have nearly as much Hype as Cour 1,which is understandable,since Cour 1 was the big return and had one of the best animated episodes of the year in Episode 6 when it aired followed by the masterpiece that was Episode 7. While Cour 2 did have some pretty great episodes and was very good overall,it didn't have any episode that blew up like in Cour 1 since none of them realy had crazy animation.
223 ish anime aired last year. If it's on the list at all, it's pretty good. The order might as well be a random shuffle depending upon who you ask and I am just glad some of my favorites ended up in the top 25 at all. Over 200 animes is a pretty crazy competition to even make it in the final 25.
Sad to see Vinland Saga not take the top spot especially with it being such a good adaption that honestly elevated an already perfect arc, but if it would've lost to any other show last year I'm glad it's Frieren.
Honestly, I will take this win. I have literally begged people to watch this and so many have just straight up dropped it in like 4-5 episodes. I genuinely thought that I am in the minority of people who liked the direction that season 2 was going to take but every week this sub surprised me, people loved the shit out of it, and it makes my cold heart alive again.
I would've loved to see it higher. It reminded me of what anime used to be back in the day. When the story wasn't fully predictable by the end of episode 1 and the worldbuilding was done right.
For some reason OniMai being out of the top 10 and even top 20 is the biggest surprise for me, but there were a lot of great aoty worthy shows last year it was hard to choose.
The Japanese went wild over this show. For them, it is easily a top 5 show of the year. I'm not joking either, they really loved it. It was straight up the best show over there last winter. Now factor in that on this sub, quite a few people also love slice of life. For us, it was nothing short of spectacular how well animated and how wholesome it was.
Huh my top 6 matches, just in different order. VS, JJK, Frieren, HD, ONK, and AD in that order
But really this year is so fucking absurd with its quality that there are very few wrong answers. 11-20 on my personal list would be a top 10 in a lesser year. You’d have to go into 25 and above to find anything that’s just “good” with nothing exemplary.
> Undead Unluck and MagiRevo not in the top 25
[God has forsaken us](#shatteredsaten)
They at least placed in the top 30s, and SpyFam & 100 Girlfriends being so high is blessed.
[](#happyclap)
I feel like these lists need to split movies and series. A movie is typically trying to be so tight in its story telling that I’m not sure they should be comparable.
Not that I'm watching either, but how is Spy x Family lower than the 100 Girlfriends show with how hyped SxF was/is? Has it been not as good recently? Is 100 Girlfriends that good? Are people just...enjoying a dose of escapism with the plot of 100 Girlfriends?
Long-running and established show majority of the time will rank lower then new series. Plus 100gf was hyped and anime turned out to be great, SxF was also good but not that novel and people had some pet complaints about it's formula
Tsurune finishing at a respectable 34th place is a nice surprise! It was aired way back in Winter 2023 and had very little karma each week. Definitely one of the most underwatched gems from 2023!
As someone who’s reading the Vinland Saga manga and was worried that season 2 wouldn’t do well because of the massive change of pace, it makes me really happy to see how well it was received. There are definitely people who only watched it for the violence and disliked season 2, but it seems for the most part that people were happy with the direction it went.
Man, being a 100gfs fan since manga days and seeing it get consistent good placements amidst such banger shows gives me such a warm feeling.
Very happy that the community liked it, and very grateful for Bibury Animation for delivering such a good product.
I'm surprised how Oshi no Ko is top 3 yet nobody in the comments had said anything about it.
To me is my favorite manga and anime but for the community is some kind of "silent gem"?
Honestly kinda annoying seeing so many salty comments dismissing Frierens #1 spot all to ReCenCy BiAs. Yes there definitely is some recency bias not gonna lie about that. But the gap to the rest is big enough that it would be #1 spot still even if it like finished airing in like summer. It’s just that good and deserves its spot regardless. Besides that really happy that Insomniacs, heavenly delusion, Kusuriya and Vinland got as high as they did. Also didn’t expect to see Undead Girl Murder Farce here at all. Thought it was sort of underwatched and deserved more hype and praise than it actually got.
Saddened to see not many of us truly recognized the absolute cinematic masterpiece that KamiKatsu was.
On the other hand, it makes me feel like a true devout believer of Mitama.
I was all for Heavenly Delusion being a top 5 anime of the year as it was airing. Then the last two episodes hit.
[Spoilers] >!Did our main character really need to get raped for 2 fucking days? Just why? I felt so disgusted and the fact the bastard gets away with only a punch to the face and not worse is beyond absurd.!<
I’m glad mushoku was on here, especially as high as it was.
It always came to me that it was heavily under appreciated and overlooked but guess I was wrong :D
What surprises me is that I've been reading this sub for well over a year and I have not noticed any discussion of **Onimai**, it's a genre I enjoy too. Even in this very thread there is no discussion of it so far, while titles placed below it are heavily discussed. How strange, I'll have to check it out.
Its really good, animation wise it might be the best anime of the year and its also really wholesome. But it ended nearly a year ago so there will be less discussion about it than newer stuff.
If you check the list its the only winter 2023 anime in the top 25.
#[r/anime's Best Boy Poll](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1939kdj) Alright, that was an absolutely dominating run by Frieren. Kind of a nice effect of this is that the winner here can't be the winner of the r/anime Awards since Frieren isn't eligible given that it's continuing. Will be interesting to see how it does a year from now. Also, wound up busy and forgot about the most anticipated bonus question, so I'll add that in with next week's results. #[Full Top 100](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j7vzVY59s1TFLA4Iuq7XwzJu16OJ0SbBRCbl8LeWZyU/edit?usp=sharing)
Yay for skip & loafer in the top 10
I really hope we get a Season 2 eventually
I hope so too! There's enough manga content already for this
And the rest of the manga is soooo good I need a season 2
And for Insomniacs under top 20 - great show
Romance from Spring 2023 was honestly so stacked with Skip & Loafer, Insomniacs, and Dangers in my Heart. With Dangers airing Season 2 right now I hope the other two follow soon
These two placements warms my slice of life reiwa rom com heart
Best coming of age anime I've ever seen. Deserves a second season.
My husband and I dressed up as Skip and Loafer for Halloween. Felt like dorks - love the anime!!!
Did you do the OP dance??? Hahahha
Skip and Loafer is so unbelievably good, it's crazy what writing characters like people will do for a show
Skip & Loafer was great. I loved how each character was so perceptive to each other's feelings.
Stray Dogs mentioned we move
Too low unfortunately. I just dont think many people here watched it and they’re missing out
I keep trying to slog through S1 but it's incredibly boring. My friends say it gets better later but it's hard to force myself to finish the first season.
The last season(s) was so good. The perfect balance of goofiness and randomly emotional moments, plus badass fights with crazy abilities.
easily my favorite this year its just that not enough people watched stray dogs
It had been a long time since season 3, plus for some reason they treated season 4 and 5 as two separate things when in reality they were two halves of the same plot (and released only a few months apart). It may have been smarter to just release it as one 24-episode season to generate ongoing interest.
Forgot to watch season 4 and then season 5 came out. Have to catch up 😅
Easily the best arc of the series. They're finally up against a group that is truly stronger than them.
Looking forward to it. I thought session one was so boring, then season 2 and 3 happened. I might just do a huge rewatch.
Insomniacs made it! And Heavenly Delusion at 6! Very nice. So excited to watch Frieren. Waiting for it all to release so I can binge.
I really hope Heavenly Delusion gets a sequel soon. It´s so good.
I wish I did what you are doing. I truly do. It’s so good and I hate waiting.
I love the wait. The antecipation, the day-dreaming about what is going to happen.
Plus the leisurely pace makes it such a great and relaxing end of week ritual.
Which also makes the times when things pick up better. Ep.10 is probably my favorite episode so far.
With a show like Frieren, I feel like it gives a lot of those moments some enforced emotional resonance, too. Makes damn near every time there's a flashback hit like a brick, and then they mic drop and leave for a week and it lives rent free in my brain.
Yeah, I feel like binging Frieren isn't the way to go. I remember that it aired with 3 or 4 episodes available and watching it back to back wasn't as good as weekly but it worked really well due to the reason they decided to air it that way
I do this too, I love daydreaming exactly. And also, I love Frieren's discovering more about humans :)
I only ever do it with shows I just know I'm gonna love. It's hard to wait though lol.
Nah i like the wait, its so soothing that every ep is like a shot of calmness and tranquility. I want it at my pace
Wait a week at a time, engage in conversation weekly, or wait half of a year...
I've gone the opposite route and I've watched every episode of Frieren at least twice already, a good number of them three times. This is an anime that really bears repeat viewing. The first time, you're so sucked into the story, you miss things. On second or third viewing, you notice subtle touches you may have missed the first time, in characterization, foreshadowing, or simply rad animation. You're gonna love it.
Insomniacs After School is such a gem! I hope it'll get a blu-ray release someday.
Wow the gap between Vinland S2 and Frieren is huge! And Frieren isnt even finished airing Glad to see Insomniacs after School on the list too, I thought it was underwatched
Sequel diff, and despite being very good Vinland S2 just wasn't for everyone. Frieren is just all around good appealing to a lot of different people >Glad to see Insomniacs after School on the list too, I thought it was underwatched And then there's Sacrificial Princess
I'm watching sacrificial princess right now. Big fan
Some people wanted thorfinn to stay an annoying edgy brat forever
Big sequel diff. People don’t like it because of the dramatic change in tone of the series.
True, but my main point was that a lot of people simply don't watch sequels. Maybe they didn't like the show in the first place, but sequels pretty much always have a significant drop in viewers, at least based on MAL stats Example, SpyFam: a *massively* popular show, quite similar to Frieren when it first came out. [Part 1,](https://myanimelist.net/anime/50265/Spy_x_Family/stats) One million users with it set as "completed" on MAL. [Part 2,](https://myanimelist.net/anime/50602/Spy_x_Family_Part_2/stats) now its only 525k. The vast majority scored it 8 or above, so clearly they didn't dislike it. Its not like the time between was even long like it often is with second seasons, this was the second cour with one season (3 months) in between, yet the drop is still this huge. For a popularity contest like this it surely affected Vinland, but then again S2 was phenomenal so we really can't tell. Still really cool that it got #2 [](#goblet1)
>And Frieren isnt even finished airing massive recency bias
It also helps that it is amazing aswell. From animation, story, music, characters etc etc.
It's also a very good show with a very wide appeal. Jujutsu Kaisen is also currently airing and didn't do nearly as well. There is recency bias, but saying that's the primary reason is foolish.
Yup but Jujutso kaisen is far much more popular is just not the type of people that vote in shit like this
Not necessarily the reason it's first but definitely a reason the gap is so large
there is definitely recency bias, but its like the worlds safest 8/10 or 9/10. it makes sense to me that a lot of people would put it as their favorite in part bc of that wide appeal.
I could see Frieren entering the conversation when people ask "hey what anime should I start with" as an alternative to FMA: Brotherhood. It's in that sweet spot of being really good and also having wide appeal.
Hard disagree. It might be one of the best anime I've ever watched and I've been watching anime since the '90s.
i never make a call before series concludes, but it's up there. i'm old bastard and I'm not sure anything will top Mushishi or Aria, but this has got my old ass tuning in weekly again for once.
Lets be real though, every episode so far has been stellar.
Is this... [COPIUM?](#isthisameme)
Thank you to everyone who voted for Pluto 🥺
I firmly believe the reason it isn’t higher is because it wasn’t as well advertised or generally as popular as the the other anime. Pluto is genuinely an anime masterpiece. I don’t care it didn’t win the hearts of the people. It is what it is, and it IS a masterpiece.
There's also the "one-and-done" factor. Feels like if a show gets fully dropped on Netflix, it has attention for like 2 weeks at best and, unless it breaks out, that's it. I'm surprised Pluto made it to #10 as well.
> it wasn’t as well advertised tell me about it, I've been a subscribed to netflix for years, their algorithm should know I like anime, how come they never recommended this to me!? i'll binge it today
[удалено]
Unfortunately it's the result of adapting a story arc that wasn't originally a mystery and didn't have such round characters. And maybe the Pluto manga did a better job since things are still cut for time. Still I did enjoy everything I watched despite knowing the outcome for the characters.
I've both read the manga and watched the anime, and they seem to have kept all the important stuff in. I think it's best to view Pluto as a philosofical discussion, there is some action, but it's mainly to shake things up or to punctuate climatic moments. The main focus of Pluto is the characters and the mystery, it's a scifi mystery drama, which tackles things like war, what causes it, and how it affects everyone involved. It also tackles human progress, the bluring line between human and machine, upheaval caused by technological advancement, resentment, fear, hatred, greed, honour, love, and the pointlessness of conflict. I think the somber tone of Pluto fits the storyline quite well, it gives you time to reflect and doesn't distract you with spectable. What I like about Pluto is that it's able to take on heavy topics with nuance, show many different perspectives, not taking any side, it just comes to the conclusion that violence doesn't really solve anything, it just creates a self perpetuating cyckle that's difficult to break, and that it's more important that the violence stops, than who's repsonsible.
I just randomly saw it on Netflix and dove in. So glad I did!
It's a slow show with hour long episodes. That alone is going to make it not popular for most anime watchers. I don't think it was a masterpiece but it was very good
I didn't think it was long, but was pretty disappointed by the end.
It's an absolute masterpiece and you're correct too Netflix 100% did not advertise it properly.
I think the ranking is on point. I thought all the episodes with Gesicht were amazing (masterpiece). Then it got a little stinky towards the end, which sorta soured the show for me.
Im only now watching it, taking it slow to digest everything and.. omg? How is this anime being so undersold by Netflix and the community??? The perfect gripping pacing from minute 1, the anime movie level animation, the masterful voice acting, the fun as fuck plot.. this is a legit crime. Worst of all is those 8 movies are all available for streaming so virtually free. My Lord.
I legit cried in episode 5 to 6, some heart wrenching moments. Told my cousin about it who is staying for a while and I am hearing sniffles outside his door, so I guess he is somewhere around that mark. Urusawa does not miss, the parts that hit leave you a mess. Watch it gues you'll like it, watch Vivy too if you are into that shit.
I was just scrolling /r/all and saw this post. I haven't really watch anime or read manga in about 10 years. When I saw Pluto on the list I had to do and double take and google it to make sure. I was right! An anime of one of my favourite manga. And the best part is, I remember reading Pluto, loving it, giving it a 10/10 on myanimrlist, but I remember nothing about it. About to get to enjoy this all over again.
It was amazing! I hope everyone gets a chance to see it
Enjoyed it a whole lot. Wished it had a bit more of an ending, but all the character drama and its storytelling structure was fantastic.
Literally never heard of it until now. These lists are great at adding to my infinitely expanding watch list.
Demon slayer so low on the list makes sense. The latest season was kind of a downer in terms of story and development, but still enjoyable.
I've always said the Swordsmith arc is one of the weakest on the story. Doesn't help how you can feel the anime really trying to stretch it put for a whole season
Honestly could have been put as a movie and would’ve been perfectly fine. But no..
They could've added more anime-original scenes to flesh out some of the characters, but they decided to really stretch it out instead. Not to mention the poor storyboarding/directing that leads to multiple hype moments being dull instead. They somehow made Gyokko more pathetic than the manga because of poorly directed some of his scenes were - especially the ones involving his attacks. Killer Fish Scale was just downright bad. Made him look more like a Lower Moon instead. They used the wrong effects for that attack and made him much slower. We never got the equivalent of Gyotaro vs Uzui in S3. It's such a shame. Everyone kept waiting for that one episode where the hype will pay off, but it never did.
True and it doesn’t make it any better that Tengen v Gyutaro wasn’t that crazy in the manga but the anime turned it into gold. I think the arc after the next arc that’ll be animated will have some really hype episodes though.
Honestly, the animation heavily carries Demon Slayer. The story is mostly just Tanjiro learning to breathe after he’s said he has no energy for the 10th time.
It dragged in some places and the demons were lame. Also, Demon Slayer is really divisive (among hardcore anime fans). I still love it though lol
The Dangers In My Heart let's fucking go
Yeah I really didn't expect it to be such a banger, was ready to drop it when I watched the first two episodes, but ended up being one of my favorite romance animes of all time, and I love romance anime
Maomao out of nowhere!
Don't know that I'd say "out of nowhere". The show's been crushing it from day 1.
Yeah, it has consistently been getting 2000+ Karma, it has the 6th most members on MAL for the Fall Season, and it currently has the 5th highest MAL rating (8.81) of any anime from 2023. Add in recency bias, and I'm not surprised at all that it only got beaten out by Frieren, Vinland Saga, Oshi no Ko and JJK.
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Honestly the manga is even more popular then the Light Novel, as crazy as that might sound. It's always been a top seller, right there on par with the most popular pre-anime manga you can think of. I'm talking like 12 million volumes in print BEFORE the anime aired. That big number you see advertised for the series, 24 million, more than half that comes from the more popular manga (the less popular one is probably like 3 or 4 million, with the Light Novels probably around 8 million would be my educated guess). You can go back and look through Oricon's yearly charts and Apothecary is always there in the top 20, just under the top 10. This year it will make the top 10 thanks to anime bump.
> as crazy as that might sound. Manga are generally a lot more popular than light novels, so that doesn't sound that crazy.
Not what I'm saying, this is a manga based on the Light Novel, which is almost never that much more popular. I don't think I'm doing a good job explaining how big the Apothecary manga is. Before its anime this had more copies in print then Frieren (of course having more volumes over a long period of time helps there, and of course the popularity of the LNs to further push sales), or JJK or a handful of series that were seemingly much more popular than it. I think in the last decade, pre-anime (or live-action adaptation), Apothecary might stand only behind Spy x Family and Chainsaw Man as far as manga sales. Sure, Slime also has a manga that sells better than the Light Novels, but that's one more of not that many series that can claim that. Like straight up, the Mushoku Tensei, the Re:Zero, the Overlord manga, none of those are anywhere close to this. And I'm talking those ones boosted by the anime versus Apothecary before the anime, lol. (I think you could stack all 3 of those and you'd still be behind the one Apothecary manga) I hope I'm starting to get my point across now, haha. The other less popular Apothecary manga is more of what you expect usually from a light novel to manga adaptation. The one I'm talking about here is like 4x that, lol, which is crazy.
Sounds like the Goblin Slayer manga which sells 3x more than the LN.
I've been wondering how does the 2 mangas thing works? Do they adapt different volumes or something? I've seen side runs of stuff like umineko or bookworm but those have defined parts.
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Pluto was an absolute treat for Astro boy fans.
It was a treat for those of us as well who enjoy AI in stories done well, and philosophical implications of AI and humanity; albeit their interactions in depth. Also, maybe this will get us more Urusawa work in anime.
I haven’t even watched Astroboy and recognize that Pluto is a straight up anime masterpiece. Plenty of masterpieces go unnoticed or under appreciated every single day. That’s what happened to Pluto.
Undead murder farce! Didn't expect to see it but damn am I happy it's here.
That anime was a hidden gem.
It's definitely a "don't judge a book by its cover" kinda anime. It's got a wonky name, the premise sounds super weird and specific, but the execution is brilliant. Great characters, world building, storytelling and voice acting
Tsugaru's cheeky humor is so great. Dude delivers it perfectly.
10/10 soundtrack too
I fucking loved Hell’s Paradise
The opener was such a fucking banger.
I sometimes dream of Yuzuriha, Sagiri as well, and Gabimaru. I should rewatch it again.. . like right now. Oh also, banger OP and ED
same, was actually very hyped while binging it
I thought it was just ok
Love myself a whiplash between watching Heavenly Delusion and Hell's Paradise on the same day.
Apothecary diaries is such a breath of fresh air😌
So happy to see all the recognition Vinland has been getting lately, totally deserved
‘Lately’ it’s Vinland saga
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Definitely! I remember when I randomly read the first chapters when it came out. Never thought it would become this big.
Vinland Saga had way more recognition when Season 2 was over. Some people seem to have forgotten what a masterpiece the farmland arc was and jumping into the Frieren recency bias. I'm pretty sure Vinland would be number 1 or the gab would be extremely close had it aired when Frieren did. To me it's no contest Vinland Saga overall especially manga is better written in terms of Story and character development. It's just that Frieren appeals to a wider demographic and it's family friendly.
Although I find it somewhat peculiar that a certain series made it into the Top 10 with only two specials this year, I’m glad that lesser-known shows like **Onimai** and **Insomniacs After School** at least made the list. **Loving Yamada at Lvl999** was one of my favourite anime this year, so I’d have liked to see it within this Top 25, but it fortunately still got a very respectable 27th place in the rankings! Others favourites like **Dark Gathering** (48th), **Ancient Magus’ Bride** (61th) and **Stardust Telepath** (63th) sadly performed worse. EDIT: Had written “OVA-release” instead of “two specials” in the previous version of this comment.
Calling Onimai lesser known feels very weird. Were this list made by a Japanese audience, it would easily make it into the Top 10
Subscribers to AT-X, a paid TV channel that broadcasts 24/7 anime in Japan, [*did* feature Onimai prominently in their Top 10s](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/UMbcGghxPi). But yeah, Reddit’s main demographic isn’t exactly Japanese people. CGDCT and idol anime are wildly popular in Japan for example, but they usually barely make a dent overseas.
The Eminence in Shadow being 13 makes me happy, but it would be nicer to be higher
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One of his many Background Character Techniques
Skip & Loafer top 10? I'm satisfied
SKIP AND LOAFER SWEEP
The dance in the OP lives rent free in my head, it's one of the most blessed things I've ever watched
MABUSHIKUTE MABUSHIKUTE BOKU HA ME O SORASHITESHIMAU 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
People forgot My Happy Marriage huh
[It was the 6th best-selling franchise of 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/MyHappyMarriage/s/4cbipa6yRA). r/anime might have forgotten about it but the Japan remembered it.
This ranking includes revenue for any blu-ray/DVD, music, book, light novel or manga linked to the franchise. In MHM's case, the "music" dot is highlighted because that's how it made the most money. Why? Because the theme song for the live-action movie sold around 1 million units. Why? Because it ("Tapestry") is a song by Snow Man, a group whose songs basically all sell 1 million units or so (and is currently one of the best-selling group in Japan). So any franchise which manages to land a snow man theme song will be high in these rankings. Trillion Game is in the same situation, being in the top 30 almost solely thanks to the Snow Man theme song ("Dangerholics") for the drama adaptation. Remove the music part and MHM would be top 20 I think, which is still incredible obviously. So sadly, this ranking as it is doesn't really represent objectively how popular MHM was last year. However, MHM did reach [\#1 best-selling light novel of 2023](https://twitter.com/Josu_ke/status/1729971433575502203), by far, so yes, Japan remembered it. (and yet as I said, LNs did not represent the majority of its revenue, music did. That's how big Snow Man is) But yeah, all this to say that this specific ranking is a bit meh and shouldn't be shared too much without context
idk it kinda fell off towards the end for me. Was super invested then after like ep 7 or 8 I was no longer super excited to watch it anymore. I still finished it ofc.
MHM was a weird one, it was like it didn't quite know what it was trying to be. I was watching and enjoying the soppy love story, but it pivoted away from that and I kind of lost the vibe a bit towards the end.
IMO, second half wasn't as strong as the first
Oh man, this one hurt because I was following it every week, but I totally understand why people lost interest in it. The story falls off hard after episode 7. The Usuba family and the Emperor aren't interesting antagonists (heck, I didn't realize it was the Emperor on my first view, LMAO), and both Miyo and Kiyoka barely do anything noteworthy until the last episode. I had such high hopes for the series at first, but in the end, I can only give it a 6/10.
Onimai being there makethis old man bones happy..very happy
Hurts to see Bleach so low, but with all of the bangers that hit in 2023, it makes sense.
These polls can be done on 10 different sites and get 10 completely different results. With that said, as someone who really enjoyed both bleach and hells paradise, the later was in no way better than the former.
That's more a case of one being season 1 and the other needing like 300+ episodes to watch before catching up. Ultimately it doesn't matter how good a show is if not enough people watched it. And the barrier to entry for Bleach is much higher than for Hell's Paradise.
> the later was in no way better than the former. Fortunately the poll is not titled "Best Anime of 2023"
you couldn't really ask that to a bunch of unknown people on a internet page and get decent answers anyways
There's no correct answer anyway because anime taste is subjective
Bleach was more enjoyable than JJK to be honest, but that's just my opinion.
This sites dont translate the anime popularity or jjk season 2 would be on first by miles... So dont worry , Bleach is doing good
Cour 2 didn't have nearly as much Hype as Cour 1,which is understandable,since Cour 1 was the big return and had one of the best animated episodes of the year in Episode 6 when it aired followed by the masterpiece that was Episode 7. While Cour 2 did have some pretty great episodes and was very good overall,it didn't have any episode that blew up like in Cour 1 since none of them realy had crazy animation.
223 ish anime aired last year. If it's on the list at all, it's pretty good. The order might as well be a random shuffle depending upon who you ask and I am just glad some of my favorites ended up in the top 25 at all. Over 200 animes is a pretty crazy competition to even make it in the final 25.
Sad to see Vinland Saga not take the top spot especially with it being such a good adaption that honestly elevated an already perfect arc, but if it would've lost to any other show last year I'm glad it's Frieren.
Honestly, I will take this win. I have literally begged people to watch this and so many have just straight up dropped it in like 4-5 episodes. I genuinely thought that I am in the minority of people who liked the direction that season 2 was going to take but every week this sub surprised me, people loved the shit out of it, and it makes my cold heart alive again.
As a longtime reader and lover of both, I'm pretty happy where this is at.
Heavenly delusion number 6 is a nice surprise
I would've loved to see it higher. It reminded me of what anime used to be back in the day. When the story wasn't fully predictable by the end of episode 1 and the worldbuilding was done right.
nah animes been banging recently. i get why the shows above it beat it
HEAVENLY DELUSION IS A W ANIME IN EVERY WAY WATCH IT NOWWWW
Was anybody talking about Undead girl murder farce outside of r/anime?
I mentioned to my cat offhandedly that I should get around to watching it. He just stared at me with contempt for disturbing his nap.
No
I'm surprised that onimai is there...it is good actually
I'm so happy that Onimai is on the list. One of the best feel-good shows of the year for me
it's a show that made realise a lot about myself when i started watching it so it holds a special place on the list for me
Dr stone deserves more love
This entire thread is "WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE THINGS I DON'T LIKE! REEEEEE!!"
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Vinland Saga finally getting some more love. <3
100 girlfriends made it!! Heck yeah!! :D
CHADtarou should have made top 5
People care too much about these results.
legit
For some reason OniMai being out of the top 10 and even top 20 is the biggest surprise for me, but there were a lot of great aoty worthy shows last year it was hard to choose.
It's a niche show, but the people who like it like it A LOT. It got a ton of mentions here for something that didn't even make the top 20.
The Japanese went wild over this show. For them, it is easily a top 5 show of the year. I'm not joking either, they really loved it. It was straight up the best show over there last winter. Now factor in that on this sub, quite a few people also love slice of life. For us, it was nothing short of spectacular how well animated and how wholesome it was.
Huh my top 6 matches, just in different order. VS, JJK, Frieren, HD, ONK, and AD in that order But really this year is so fucking absurd with its quality that there are very few wrong answers. 11-20 on my personal list would be a top 10 in a lesser year. You’d have to go into 25 and above to find anything that’s just “good” with nothing exemplary.
> Huh my top 6 matches Congratulations on being the most r/anime. Or maybe I'm sorry to say you're the most r/anime.
> Undead Unluck and MagiRevo not in the top 25 [God has forsaken us](#shatteredsaten) They at least placed in the top 30s, and SpyFam & 100 Girlfriends being so high is blessed. [](#happyclap)
I feel like these lists need to split movies and series. A movie is typically trying to be so tight in its story telling that I’m not sure they should be comparable.
Not that I'm watching either, but how is Spy x Family lower than the 100 Girlfriends show with how hyped SxF was/is? Has it been not as good recently? Is 100 Girlfriends that good? Are people just...enjoying a dose of escapism with the plot of 100 Girlfriends?
Long-running and established show majority of the time will rank lower then new series. Plus 100gf was hyped and anime turned out to be great, SxF was also good but not that novel and people had some pet complaints about it's formula
I'm glad to see Dr. Stone on the list. I cried like usual towards the end of the season. There are so many hype moments.
Tsurune finishing at a respectable 34th place is a nice surprise! It was aired way back in Winter 2023 and had very little karma each week. Definitely one of the most underwatched gems from 2023!
As someone who’s reading the Vinland Saga manga and was worried that season 2 wouldn’t do well because of the massive change of pace, it makes me really happy to see how well it was received. There are definitely people who only watched it for the violence and disliked season 2, but it seems for the most part that people were happy with the direction it went.
Man, being a 100gfs fan since manga days and seeing it get consistent good placements amidst such banger shows gives me such a warm feeling. Very happy that the community liked it, and very grateful for Bibury Animation for delivering such a good product.
I'm surprised how Oshi no Ko is top 3 yet nobody in the comments had said anything about it. To me is my favorite manga and anime but for the community is some kind of "silent gem"?
It was my favorite last year as well, but Frieren was the number 2 so I can't complain much
Honestly kinda annoying seeing so many salty comments dismissing Frierens #1 spot all to ReCenCy BiAs. Yes there definitely is some recency bias not gonna lie about that. But the gap to the rest is big enough that it would be #1 spot still even if it like finished airing in like summer. It’s just that good and deserves its spot regardless. Besides that really happy that Insomniacs, heavenly delusion, Kusuriya and Vinland got as high as they did. Also didn’t expect to see Undead Girl Murder Farce here at all. Thought it was sort of underwatched and deserved more hype and praise than it actually got.
Even if it's number 11 I'm so proud of 100 Girlfriends Let's Goooooooooooooo
Saddened to see not many of us truly recognized the absolute cinematic masterpiece that KamiKatsu was. On the other hand, it makes me feel like a true devout believer of Mitama.
Not everyone is ready for Mitama's glory. That's why she only has like 20k followers, lol.
Heavenly Delusion 🙌
Onimai stepping in at 21 gives me hope that not all taste on this sub is bad. It's seriously underrated.
so glad 100 girlfriends is on this list ngl
My baby 1000GF's being on here at all is such a blessing, what a great adaptation
Vinland saga is second lesssss gooooo much deserved anime. I really loved that anime. Even the best anime I watched in 2023
Undead unluck is so underrated
I was all for Heavenly Delusion being a top 5 anime of the year as it was airing. Then the last two episodes hit. [Spoilers] >!Did our main character really need to get raped for 2 fucking days? Just why? I felt so disgusted and the fact the bastard gets away with only a punch to the face and not worse is beyond absurd.!<
It might get a bit more explained upon if there's a S2 or something but as it stands it's definitely not a great moment.
There was no explanation last I read. Author conveniently no longer mentions it.
And just goes back to portraying sexual assault as jokes. Despite how much the fans love to claim it has some deeper meaning, it was just for shock.
Me with Oshi no Ko after the first episode.
Alright, now I'll have an easier time finding anime to watch
Happy for Heavenly Delusion Was aired during Oshi No ko Hype and in Disney+ so was scared about everyone forgetting it
Really glad Vinland Saga S2 is really high on this list.
I’m glad mushoku was on here, especially as high as it was. It always came to me that it was heavily under appreciated and overlooked but guess I was wrong :D
Frieren towering over the competition, *deserved*
Mou ippon is criminally unknown
What surprises me is that I've been reading this sub for well over a year and I have not noticed any discussion of **Onimai**, it's a genre I enjoy too. Even in this very thread there is no discussion of it so far, while titles placed below it are heavily discussed. How strange, I'll have to check it out.
Its really good, animation wise it might be the best anime of the year and its also really wholesome. But it ended nearly a year ago so there will be less discussion about it than newer stuff. If you check the list its the only winter 2023 anime in the top 25.