2021 Anime Year in Review

Hi everyone I’ve returned with my regular yearly round-up! For those who are new every year, I go through all the anime and manga I consumed and discuss my top favorites! This year was such an adventure for me as I truly found my love for all things mahou shoujo! I’ve also begun to dive into more mecha series and lots of older OVAs. This past year I really increased my respect and appreciation for genres and eras that I never really dug into before. So without further ado… let’s get into my favorites of 2021!

Series I rated 7+ in 2021:

Favorite Series of 2021:

Top 5:

Ojamajo Doremi Season 1 (9/10)

For those who followed my 2020 year in review, this little series might look familiar as it made my top 5! However, it has made its return because at the time of writing the 2020 post I had not finished the season! Doremi pulled me in immediately with its adorable cast of girls and amazing witchy setting that brought me back to being a kid again but don’t let this show fool you, it packs a major emotional punch. Ojamajo Doremi follows 4 elementary school witches in training through their trials and tribulations both as witches and as children. The show does a brilliant job of accurately showing the real-life hardships many children have to face such as divorced parents, living up to the expectations of your parents, poverty, working towards your dreams, and making friends. Each of our main girls has a struggle that is presented in both highs and lows just as they would be in real life. Our protagonist Doremi Harukaze comes off as aloof and silly but we learn she has dreams that she once had to part with for the sake of her parents and being a role model for her younger sister Pop. Hazuki, her first friend introduced, comes from a wealthy family where she is expected to be proper and talented in many fields of academics and extracurriculars but is also quite lonely as her parents are often very busy and she is raised by her nanny. Aiko, a new student at the girl’s school lives with her single divorced dad who works 24/7 to help them make ends meet. The last girl introduced this season, who became my personal favorite, Onpu Segawa is a child actress who has to work a rigorous schedule, she enjoys being at the top but we also learn that she is working herself so hard to live out her family’s dreams and make her parents proud of her. Throughout the season these girls both face their own hardships and help others face theirs as well all through their training to become witches. It’s a beautifully crafted series that brought me to tears numerous times but also makes use of a very unique comedy style that brought me to the floor laughing! It is definitely one of my favorite anime of all time. I’m excited to continue with the next season for 2022!

Little Witch Academia (9/10)

Bit of a theme here already huh? If you couldn’t already tell I love all things witch related which is why I have fallen deeply in love with the mahou shoujo genre and this series is no exception. I watched all 24 episodes of this series in one sitting, I could not put it down! Little Witch Academia pulls you in with its amazing animation and mystical presentation of magic! The story follows Akko, a girl who can’t use magic but is going to witch school regardless to follow her dream of being a witch like the famous Chariot. Every character in the show is very well-written and weaved into the universe wonderfully. The best way to really describe this series is heaping amounts of fun. It has the whimsical mystery and fun of magic like Harry Potter but is more grounded in our real-life understanding of magic. It preaches the message that anyone can be a witch if they truly put their heart into it and I always love wholesome themes like that. The world is very interesting in the series and is built up really well with fun yet intriguing slice of life episodes packed in between the overarching mystery of the season (which I don’t want to spoil since it doesn’t become clear early on!). This show was just such a blast and is certainly near and dear to my heart now.

The Twelve Kingdoms (9/10)

This series took me by beautiful surprise in the summer of 2021 as another one that I heavily binged, this time in 2 sittings as it is over 40 episodes. The Twelve Kingdoms is an early 2000s iseaki series with a female protagonist based on a popular light novel series! It is more traditional fantasy and I think that’s why I loved it so much as I have never really enjoyed the settings for many modern isekai. We follow Youko who was snatched from the real world by Keiki, a mystical being, and dropped into the world of.. well Twelve Kingdoms. She can speak the native language and is being led around by a sword given to her by Keiki and so Youko must figure how to navigate this universe. The people hate foreigners and Youko herself is indecisive and cowardly. This series develops beautifully both building an insanely interesting world and building up one of the best protagonists I’ve come to experience. She must conquer her own fears and character flaws in order to take charge and help the people suffering in this world. Her progression is natural, and soon she crosses paths with two other girls where together they will guide this universe to better things. It’s a brilliant series and despite being unfinished has left a significant impact on me. I think one day I will pick up the novels as I’m dying to see where this story goes but I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Skip Beat! (9/10)

We are hitting another trend of amazing female protagonists with this list it seems… Skip Beat had been on my list for years but because it is so long I never quite took the jump into reading it but I wish I had sooner. Skip Beat follows Kyoko Mogami a high school girl without any goals or thoughts for herself who went all the way to Tokyo with her childhood friend she is in love with… only to be dumped off by him. Kyoko decides she needs to take charge of her life and become someone special to take revenge on how he treated her after all these years. She becomes an actress and we follow her journey as she makes her first real friends and meets the first man to ever truly care about her. Kyoko is truly one of the most dynamic characters I’ve ever met. She’s both kind to her core but can be terribly brutal and dark due to a very traumatic past not just involving the boy who ditched her. She works herself to the bone to perfect everything she does and she is truly an inspiration to those around her. This series is of course a romance and I can’t forget how brilliant a male lead Ren Tsuruga is but what truly pulled me into this series was Kyoko and the intensity of her journey as an actress. It’s an amazing shoujo and I wish more people would get on it!

Honey and Clover (8.5/10)

Not only was this series beautiful and refreshing but I also watched it at just the perfect time. Honey and Clover is about a group of college students at varying levels finding themselves and where they wish to take their futures. I watched this early in 2021 in my last semester of college before entering the real world and it hit me more than anything else on this list probably. It is a comedy at times that made me burst out laughing and other times an intensely emotional journey about finding love, passion, direction, and acceptance. Each character’s arc and journey is handled with care but I found myself loving Yuuta Takemoto’s the most. Unrequited love and someone without direction Yuuta goes on a journey (yes a real one actually! on a bike!) to find purpose and confidence in himself. His insights and thoughtfulness struck a lot of emotions in me and I think this series can be really special to those of us in early adulthood who are scared and stressed about the future. It’s truly beautiful and I’m glad to have experienced it.

Now let’s get into some “awards” as I call it, I’m going to talk about my top openings, episodes, art, animation, and characters from all the anime I was blessed with watching this year!