2016 Anime Awards and Analysis

I have conducted a thorough analysis of anime from the year 2016. The primary purpose of this analysis is to identify works which have artistic merit, and to classify the nature of that artistic merit. Secondarily, my intent here is to rank the works in terms of their superiority in various categories. This will allow for comparison with other surveys of 2016 anime. This analysis is an expression of my own personal opinions and did not involve input from anyone else. I did this for my own intellectual and personal satisfaction, but I also hope that others may find it interesting or useful. At the very least, maybe this will generate some interesting discussion. Additionally, if you're looking for anime to watch, you can peruse through the specific categories I've provided to identify works that are likely to suit your tastes.

Only anime which started airing in 2016 are considered here. Meaning that anime for which the first season aired before 2016 are not considered (ex. neither Hibike Euphonium nor Love Live are candidates here). The considered anime are evaluated on the basis of all seasons that have aired (not just the first season in 2016). Movies are not included unless they are related to a TV anime (ex. Bungou Stray Dogs). I am conducting reviews for other years using this same system. Annual reviews are typically done as soon as the year ends, but I believe my methodology here is superior for conducting reviews of years retrospectively. Furthermore, classifying the year's best works only by season/genre I find is an ineffective method for identifying meritorious works, so I've included more-specific categories.

Attached: 2016_Anime_Highly_Scored.png (3284x5128, 613.26K)

Categories and their results are listed below. Winning titles for each category are separated by commas, with the superior titles being listed first. For the genre categories I've provided two answers (the winning title followed by the runner up). However, polls for anime of the season and anime of the year typically list many top candidates in their results, so I've followed a similar procedure with my results here. For the anime of the season and year results, I've listed the top-5 candidates in order of superiority, with the winning title listed first and the progressively lesser titles listed afterwards.

Regarding the genre results, there are a couple important details:
Note: titles are classified by their superiority with respect to the stated genre alone, not overall quality (for example: x anime is a good sci-fi anime regardless of the writing being terrible, y anime is a good romance anime even though the comedy is unfunny, etc...). For classifications according to overall quality, please see the best-in-season and best-in-year results, or the list of highly scored anime that is provided much further below as well as in the attached table(see OP image). Keep in mind that some highly rated shows don't necessarily fit neatly into a genre. Conversely, excelling in a genre category is not necessarily an indication of overall quality.
Note: the romance genre here refers exclusively to conventional hetero romance; shoujo ai and shounen ai are provided here as separate genres.

Attached: 2016_Seasonal_Awards.png (6233x920, 138.7K)

>flipflapper
>10/10
>drifters
>7/10
discarded
your opinions and conclusions are therefore shit and should not be taken seriously or worthy of discussion

Best for the entire year: Flip Flappers, Sangatsu no Lion, Prince of Stride, ReLIFE, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume

Best by season listed below.
Winter: Prince of Stride, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Koukaku no Pandora, Norn9, Reikenzan
Spring: Sakamoto Desu ga, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, Shounen Maid, Kuma Miko, Sansha Sanyou
Summer: ReLIFE, Amanchu, Dream Festival, Tenkyou no Alderamin, Orange
Fall: Flip Flappers, Sangatsu no Lion, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Yuri on Ice

Best for each genre listed below.
Action: Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Bubuki Buranki
Adventure: Flip Flappers, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
Comedy: Sakamoto Desu ga, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
Drama: Sangatsu no Lion, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
Fantasy: Re Zero, Drifters
Historical: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Joker Game
Military: Tenkyou no Alderamin, Drifters
Music: Dream Festival, Magic-Kyun Renaissance
Mystery/Psychological: Flip Flappers, Joker Game
Romance: Norn9, ReLIFE
Sci-Fi: Koukaku no Pandora, Flip Flappers
Shoujo ai: Amanchu, Flip Flappers
Shounen ai: Yuri on Ice, Shounen Maid
Slice of Life: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Shounen Maid
Sports: Prince of Stride, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
Supernatural/Magic: Reikenzan, Bungou Stray Dogs

Strongest genres of the year: Drama, Adventure, Sports, Shoujo ai, Comedy
Weakest genres of the year: Fantasy

Attached: 2016_Genre_Awards.png (4755x3234, 449.61K)

Categories which evaluate other noteworthy characteristics are listed below, separated into 5 general sections. Some of these categories refer to characteristics that are ubiquitous to all anime, such as audiovisuals and story. However, other categories evaluate characteristics that are only relevant to a smaller subset of anime, such as humour or suspense. To reflect the differing amount of potential candidates in either case, three winning titles per category are provided for ubiquitous characteristics, whereas only two winning titles are provided for characteristics that are less consistently relevant. Again, winning titles are listed first and the runner(s) up are listed afterwards ordered by superiority with respect to the specified category. In other words, this template is used:
[Category]: [best title], [second best title], [third best title]

Visual Characteristics
Best art style: Flip Flappers, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Prince of Stride
Best animation: Kiznaiver, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Flip Flappers
Best cinematography: Orange, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Yuri on Ice
Best character designs: Yuri on Ice, Drifters, Amanchu
Best outfits: Yuri on Ice, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Amanchu

Audio Characteristics
Best soundtrack: Norn9, Planetarian, Prince of Stride
Best voice acting: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, ReLIFE, Bungou Stray Dogs
Best OP music: Flip Flappers, Dimension W, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
Best ED music: Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Sangatsu no Lion(S1ED1&3), Flip Flappers
Best character songs: Dream Festival, Magic-Kyun Renaissance

Attached: 2016_Audiovisual_Awards.png (6403x1848, 355.51K)

Writing-Related and Directorial Characteristics
Best direction: Sangatsu no Lion, Prince of Stride, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
Best writing: Flip Flappers, Sangatsu no Lion, ReLIFE
Best plot: Reikenzan, ReLIFE, Orange
Best script: Sangatsu no Lion, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, Drifters
Most creative: Flip Flappers, Koukaku no Pandora, Sakamoto Desu ga
Best character development: Sangatsu no Lion, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, ReLIFE
Best character interaction/chemistry: Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, Koukaku no Pandora, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru
Best setting: Flip Flappers, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, High School Fleet
Best atmosphere: Flip Flappers, Amanchu, Planetarian
Best world building: Tenkyou no Alderamin, Drifters
Most wasted potential: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Norn9, High School Fleet

Viewer-Experience and Genre-Specific Characteristics
Most likable cast: ReLIFE, Dream Festival, Shuumatsu no Izetta
Best humour: Sakamoto Desu ga, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
Most fun: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Koukaku no Pandora
Most emotional: Sangatsu no Lion, ReLIFE
Most suspenseful: Joker Game, ReLIFE
Most exciting: Prince of Stride, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
Most romantic: Amanchu, Norn9
Most relaxing: Amanchu, Amaama to Inazuma
Most cute: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Sansha Sanyou
Most wholesome: Shounen Maid, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari
Best 'page-turner': ReLIFE, Bungou Stray Dogs
Best escapism: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Tenkyou no Alderamin
Best human contact simulator: ReLIFE, Sangatsu no Lion
Best rewatch value: Flip Flappers, Yuri on Ice, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

Reputational Characteristics
Most underrated: Flip Flappers, Prince of Stride, Koukaku no Pandora
Most underwatched: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Koukaku no Pandora, Flip Flappers

Attached: 2016_Writing_Awards.png (7014x1860, 359.38K)

Finally, here is a list of all titles considered in this analysis that I rated at least 6/10. Respective overall scores for each title are indicated in brackets (/10).
List of anime rated ≥6/10: Flip Flappers(10), Sangatsu no Lion(10), Prince of Stride(9), Amanchu(8), Hai to Gensou no Grimgar(8), Koukaku no Pandora(8), ReLIFE(8), Sakamoto Desu ga(8), Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume(8), Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge(8), Dream Festival(7), Drifters(7), Hina Logi(7), Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru(7), Kuma Miko(7), Norn9(7), Orange(7), Reikenzan(7 [S1=6, S2=8]), Sansha Sanyou(7), Shounen Maid(7), Shuumatsu no Izetta(7), Tenkyou no Alderamin(7), Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari(7), Yuri on Ice(7), Bungou Stray Dogs(6.8 [S1-S3=7, movie=5]), Bubuki Buranki(6), Joker Game(6), Long Riders(6), Magic-Kyun Renaissance(6), Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai(6)


Total number of anime viewed for this analysis: 105 (including dropped series, NOT including shorts or movies, NOT counting donghua, NOT counting sequels – ex. all of Bungou Stray Dogs is counted as 1 anime total)
Among those 105 viewed anime, 58 were dropped (not watched to completion, likely due to their low quality from my point of view). Therefore my completion rate was 44.8% (47 of 105). My average score (/10) among completed anime was 6.36. Dropped anime were not considered as candidates in any category. I should mention that although my drop probability is mainly a function of enjoyment, I will sometimes complete disliked shows for idiosyncratic reasons, such as curiosity or cultural interest. For this reason, my completion rate and average score are somewhat arbitrary. Furthermore, a year having a lot of bad shows doesn't diminish the artistic value of its best works.

Attached: 2016_Experience_Awards.png (6800x3188, 557.5K)

Why 2016?

I did not evaluate the shorts as rigorously as other anime. Nevertheless, here is the list of shorts that I rated at least6/10(specific rating in brackets): Shelter(10), Honobono Log(8), Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko(8), Omoi no Kakera(8), Gakuen Handsome (7), Sekkou Boys(6), Sushi Police(6), Tabi Machi Late Show(6)

For various reasons, I tend to enjoy movies less than the average person. However, I am still providing a list of my favoured 2016 movies, but please be mindful of my lack of enthusiasm for movies in general. For this list, only movies which are not sequels and not associated with TV anime are considered (ex. Initial D Movie - Legend 3 is NOT a candidate). The list of movies that I rated at least6/10(specific rating in brackets): Da Yu Hai Tang(6), Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai(6)

To more thoroughly identify and map out the meritorious attributes of 2016 anime, I have also completed a survey for ‘honourable mentions.’ This survey follows the same format as the sections above, except that there are no winners included here – only titles which merit recognition in the specified categories but didn’t make it into the awards already provided above.

Honourable mentions for each genre listed below.
Action: Bungou Stray Dogs
Adventure:
Comedy: Kuma Miko, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru, Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai
Drama: ReLIFE
Fantasy: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
Historical:
Military: High School Fleet
Music:
Mystery/Psychological: Kubikiri Cycle, Re Zero
Romance: Orange, Magic-Kyun Renaissance
Sci-Fi: Planetarian, Dimension W
Shoujo ai: Shuumatsu no Izetta, Koukaku no Pandora, Hina Logi
Shounen ai:
Slice of Life: Amanchu, Sangatsu no Lion, Sansha Sanyou, Hina Logi, Amaama to Inazuma, New Game
Sports: Long Riders, Yuri on Ice
Supernatural/Magic: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku

Visual Characteristics (Honourable Mentions)
Art style: Sangatsu no Lion, Magic-Kyun Renaissance
Animation: Yuri on Ice, Sansha Sanyou
Cinematography: Prince of Stride, Flip Flappers, Amanchu,Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Kubikiri Cycle, Bubuki Buranki
Character designs: Flip Flappers, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Sangatsu no Lion, Bungou Stray Dogs,Prince of Stride, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
Outfits: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Hina Logi, Magic-kyun Rennaissance

Audio Characteristics (Honourable Mentions)
Soundtrack: Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Bubuki Buranki, Kubikiri Cycle, Re Zero, Drifters, Koukaku no Pandora, Yuri on Ice, Bungou Stray Dogs, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Tenkyou no Alderamin, Dream Festival, Amanchu, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
Voice acting: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Dream Festival, Bubuki Buranki, Sansha Sanyou, Kuma Miko, Hina Logi, High School Fleet
OP music: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Sangatsu no Lion(S1OP1&2, S2OP1), Bungou Stray Dogs(S1,S2&S3), Dream Festival(S1&S2), High School Fleet, Bubuki Buranki(S1), Prince of Stride, Norn9, Re Zero(S1&S2), Long Riders, Tenkyou no Alderamin, Reikenzan(S1&S2), Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Magic-Kyun Renaissance, Kiznaiver, Amanchu(S1), Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai, Shounen Maid, Idol Memories, New Game(S1&S2)
ED music: Kubikiri Cycle, Drifters, Dimension W, Bubuki Buranki(S1), Bungou Stray Dogs(S1&S2), Prince of Stride, Tenkyou no Alderamin, Norn9, Dream Festival(S1), Reikenzan(S1&S2), Planetarian, Re Zero(S1&S2), Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, ReLIFE(ED1&3), Idol Memories, Magic-Kyun Renaissance, New Game(S1&S2), Amanchu(S1), Amaama to Inazuma
Character songs: New Game, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Prince of Stride, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Girlish Number, Norn9(Nagi Yanagi only)

Writing-Related and Directorial Characteristics (Honourable Mentions)
Direction: Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru, Dream Festival, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Amanchu
Writing: Shounen Maid, Amanchu, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge
Plot/story: Drifters,Re Zero
Script: ReLIFE, Amanchu, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Kuma Miko, Kubikiri Cycle, Planetarian, Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai
Creative: Bungou Stray Dogs, Bubuki Buranki, Norn9, Kuma Miko, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Planetarian
Character development: Dream Festival, Bungou Stray Dogs
Character interaction/chemistry: ReLIFE, Shuumatsu no Izetta
Setting: Norn9, Amanchu, Magic-Kyun Renaissance,Shuumatsu no Izetta, Bubuki Buranki
Atmosphere: Bungou Stray Dogs
World building:
Wasted potential: Orange, Kiznaiver, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Drifters, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, Dimension W, Bakuon, Anne Happy, Girlish Number

Viewer-Experience and Genre-Specific Characteristics (Honourable Mentions)
Likable cast: Shounen Maid, Bungou Stray Dogs, Prince of Stride, Bubuki Buranki
Humour: Kuma Miko, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru, Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai
Fun: Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru, Bubuki Buranki, High School Fleet, Yuri on Ice, Time Travel Shoujo
Emotional: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar
Suspenseful: Re Zero, Bungou Stray Dogs
Exciting:
Romantic: ReLIFE, Shuumatsu no Izetta
Relaxing/comfy:
Cute: Hina Logi, High School Fleet, Kuma Miko
Wholesome: Amanchu, Amaama to Inazuma, Long Riders
'Page-turner': Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Re Zero
Escapism: Long Riders, Norn9, Re Zero, Planetarian
Human contact simulator: Long Riders, Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, Girlish Number, New Game, Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai
Rewatch value: Prince of Stride, Amanchu, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Norn9, Long Riders

Reputational Characteristics (Honourable Mentions)
Underrated: Sangatsu no Lion, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Amanchu, Kuma Miko, Norn9
Underwatched: Hina Logi, Amanchu, Dream Festival


>but what about my favourite anime??
I'll answer questions ITT and I invite feedback from you. I'm happy to hear suggestions and criticisms towards both my methodology and personal tastes. Feel free to respond with your own answers to my categories.Comments regarding the formatting and design of this analysis are also welcome. If anything is unclear or poorly explained then please don’t hesitate to ask me to clarify.

I watched more 2016 anime than are actually named above. Unsurprisingly, the best shows excel in multiple categories and so the results are dominated by a small subset of the total considered sample size. I'm not particularly fond of action as anything more than a side dish at most, so action/shounen/mecha series are possibly undersampled or underappreciated in this analysis. The same applies for ecchi and harem series. I also tend to be less fond of sports, comedy, and psychological series relative to the average person, so anime of these genres may also be underappreciated.

Takeaway thoughts on 2016:
Give shows the benefit of the doubt even if you think you can judge things before watching. I was pleasantly surprised by some shows, and also found that many things did not match their descriptions. 2016 was a pretty strong year for female-target-audience stuff as well. As for the best anime of the year, both Flip Flappers and Sangatsu no Lion are deserving of the award, but for different reasons. Ultimately it depends on which aspects (see categories listed above) you value more. Similarly, whether or not someone considers 2016 a good year for anime will depend on their genre preferences. My thoughts on this are already summarized in the strongest and weakest genres categories, and I think that comparing those answers with the seasonal and genre-specific results is fairly self-explanatory.

Among the common staple genres, I was somewhat disappointed by slice of life. Despite the large number of works and my affection for the genre, only a few slice-of-life anime were particularly noteworthy or even merited any recognition at all. Fantasy was similarly disappointing. Admittedly, fantasy is a more subjective genre, but regardless I found creativity in this realm to be lacking. There wasn't any show that used fantasy elements in a notably unique or compelling way. Most 2016 fantasy shows didn't bring much to the table beyond the classic cookie-cutter fantasy setting we've all seen countless times before. I've named Re Zero and Drifters as the best in the fantasy genre only due to lack of better options. Drifters' anachronistic spin on things is at least somewhat creative, although otherwise it is a fairly typical dark fantasy story. These observations aside, I think 2016 had strong representation across different genres. Most common genres had at least one above-average title, which is not something I expected when I began this investigation; this is another indication of the strong performance of 2016 anime as a whole.

Analyzing things by season is somewhat arbitrary in my view, but this is how anime discussions are often framed so I'll offer some brief commentary here (within the context of the already outlined constraints of this entire analysis). The Fall season was by far the strongest of 2016, followed by Winter. If I had to pick the weakest season, it would be Spring.

From my perspective, 2016 was a great year for anime overall. I think this is best demonstrated by there being 10 shows that I rated at least8/10. Another metric to consider would be my average rating among my top-5 anime-of-the-year candidates, which is 9. 2016 was also a surprising year for me in that the distribution of scores did not reflect my usual genre preferences. In fact some of my top shows came from genres that I am typically less fond of, such as sports and comedy. When I peruse the catalogue of shows that aired in 2015 and 2017, the year 2016 looks like a comparatively better year for anime overall. Of course I can't say that with certainty because I have not evaluated those years as thoroughly as 2016, and a more exhaustive analysis of those years could lead to the unexpected discovery of anime that I value highly. I look forward to making more-robust comparisons between years.

Some numerical metrics are provided below in the following format.
[Time period]: [# of shows rated ≥8], [average score of the top-5 shows]
Entire year: 10, 9.0
Winter season: 3, 7.8
Spring season: 2, 7.4
Summer season: 2, 7.4
Fall season: 3, 8.4

A few other assorted footnotes:

I did try to watch 2016 donghua as well, but many of them do not have any subtitles available. The donghua that I did find subtitles for were typically unremarkable at best, so I doubt I'm missing out on much. The only donghua I did not drop was Nuwa Chengzhang Riji (although I was forced to stop watching due to subtitles not being released).

If you're wondering about why I included Hina Logi, it's a spinoff of Luck & Logic (2016) so I decided to include it in this analysis even though it aired in 2017. I treated it as a separate series from Luck & Logic because they were practically entirely different anime.

There was a small amount of music content I was unable to find and so could not evaluate. The following music content items related to completed anime were not considered as candidates due to content unavailability: Hina Logi(OST), Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge(character songs)

At the time of writing (March 2022), I have not yet seen the following sequels: None

This evaluation was last updated on: March 26th 2022

OP here. I finished posting my analysis.

Somebody else post please so I don't slide off the board. Goddamn that character limit is brutal.

It was the optimal year in terms of the timing of content availability (i.e. Blu-ray rips and music) when I decided to begin doing this, and I had also already seen a fair bit of shows from that year. I'm working on a 2017 analysis right now.

I'd wager there are many who agree with the relative ranking of those two shows.

Attached: [Coalgirls]_High_School_Fleet_Movie_(1920x1080_Blu-Ray_FLAC)_[62E767C9].mkv-2021-05-23-10h39m22s452.png (1920x1080, 2.77M)

Attached: laughing girls.gif (445x247, 2.85M)

>I'd wager there are many who agree with the relative ranking of those two shows.
only if you have pedophilic tendencies

Is this rating autism?

Is this a shitpost?

You have zero taste and even less knowledge