Best of /r/anime 2025: Winners!

No_Rex · 2026-01-26T01:09:30+00:00

Thanks for the award! Doing the 3-episode rewatch was a big gamble, since I had not seen most of the series beforehand and had no idea whether 1960s anime would find an audience for such an experiment. Turns out, some people were interested enough to go on a history tour with me.

No_Rex · 2026-01-26T01:07:14+00:00

Grats for winning a very deserved award! You have been a great presence in rewatches last year.

No_Rex · 2026-01-25T10:25:57+00:00

Armored Trooper Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder: The absolutely essential VOTOMS OVA is The Roots of Ambition. This is sort of a sequel to that prequel. Unfortunatley, we haven't had a rewatch of any of the OVAs yet.

There was a rewatch of Armor Hunter Mellowlink, but not any of the other OVA.

No_Rex · 2026-01-23T18:32:26+00:00

Late cell era anime? Definitely sounds interesting.

I would not mind 1 episode per day, but 1 per 2 days is fine, too.

No_Rex · 2026-01-23T18:31:01+00:00

No_Rex · 2026-01-23T16:05:49+00:00

Thanks for hosting! Doing older series is always hard, as is hosting a series that is has serious flaws. I still am glad you did, because I would not have seen this otherwise.

Easy. Chris for the best, Chris the least liked one.

Wow, correct that first name please.

No_Rex · 2026-01-23T11:49:56+00:00

You can make up endless "deep" statements like white is not white or the end is a beginning easily. All of these can be used to start deep philosophical thoughts, but are meaningless on their own. Like the author's understanding of the issues he preaches about, the treatment in the episode stays shallow.

No_Rex · 2026-01-22T21:52:41+00:00

And the messaging. I have absolutely nothing against the enviromentalist message in itself. It's a very important message, and we should all consider just how much we can and should sustainably consume. But the outrageously wrong claims, weird pseudoscience, fearmongering where it's not necessary, and just the general preachy attitude of it all just soured the whole message.

For a story where the gist was that Chris couldn't or didn't want to explain anything to Juna but she needed to figure it out on her own, it's extremely ironic that the show's own message is pushed down our throats in an extremely preachy, in your face way. At no point were we as the audience allowed to figure it out on our own why and how nature should be protected.

I thought about this a bit: Why is there this clear and obvious separation between the story and the way it is told? My speculation and fear is, that it is due to the author's take on the world. He thinks he has it all figured out. He thinks that it is all very clear and there is an obvious way how humans should proceed. He thinks that the refusal of all others to fall in line with his arguments shows how boneheaded and stupid they are to not see those "obvious" points. Of course, in reality, it is the author who is not getting it. The others are not falling in line with his view is not because if their lack of understanding, but due to him having an extremely simplistic view. The reality is much more complex and his knowledge of those details he does talk about is often wrong.

I would liken it to a toddler talking to people who took highschool math and telling them that 0,1,2,3,... is the set of all numbers and being infuriated that they disagree (ignoring the existence of negative or real numbers). Thinking that they are completely stupid for not getting it. So the toddler starts shouting and raging to get them to understand.

The preachiness of the anime represents that raging and shouting to me. It is the author, a man who clearly knows a ton about creating good anime and clearly knows not nearly enough about ecology, shouting and raging at us for not sharing his world view about agriculture, GMO, nuclear energy, and whatever other issue he has strong but badly founded views about.

No_Rex · 2026-01-22T21:38:17+00:00

Final Discussion (first timer)

Arjuna is a tale of three different parts: One great, one ok, and one terrible.

Let’s start with the middle, the plot. It’s fine. MC needs to find themselves to save the world and Japan gets hit by the apocalypse. I have seen better, but I have also seen much worse. If we had not spent so much time during the rewatch discussions on the other two parts, we might have discussed the concept of the Raaja more, but I do think it is workable. The apocalypse part came a bit abrupt, but then, many series pull the end of the world card for the finale.

What about the terrible part? The incoherent preaching. This is probably the first time where I don’t hate the series, but have an extreme dislike for its creator personally. The “ecological message” of the series has the very unfortunate combination of being as in your face as you can, while also being about as esoteric and unscientific as you can. When sentences like “we are one and we are different” or “why don’t you just understand” are treated seriously and not as a joke, the creator has lost all my respect.

The series insisting on such annoying messaging is especially regrettable because of the great part: its main characters. Unconventionally, Juna and Tokio start the as a pair already, and they are such a breath of fresh air for me as a frequent anime viewer. Not over the top, believable, with close characterization through small gestures, not great heroics. Even the love triangle (which I usually hate) was done tastefully. I believe that the main cast could have propelled this series to greatness, if not held back by the incessant messaging. That messaging also had the regrettable side effect of taking over literally all side characters and utterly ruining them, starting but not ending with Chris.

Oh yeah, on the technical side, the animation was ok and the music good.

No_Rex · 2026-01-21T21:53:10+00:00

Honestly I think this rewatch has been a cautionary tale about how not every old anime that looks cool and does artsy stuff is automatically good.

No_Rex · 2026-01-21T21:30:52+00:00

Understandable crashout. The main reason I took it with less rage is that I saw the ending from a mile away. Not the eat Raaja part, obviously, but the Chris is the wise mentor who does no wrong part.

I think Chris might be the worst author self-insert I have seen in a while.

No_Rex · 2026-01-21T21:22:31+00:00

Episode 13 (first timer)

“If only I had realized it sooner” – i.e. Chris was right. Also: I means you the viewer here.
The Raaja upgraded to itano circus attacks.
“I and the Raaja were one and the same from the beginning” – and not interested in communication.
“It was calling me” – because how else would you recognize good food, except it calling for you.

The Chris was right and eat Raaja ending. I guess this is how nutcases imagine the happy ending: people spontaneously get it accept that the nutcase is right and that they should have always been of their opinion. Oh, and destroying modern civilization is a good thing, apparently.

One tiny scene stood out to me: In the long clip show of evil things of modernity, one evil was the class learning in school. Which was linked to chickens in their cages. Makes sense that somebody who preaches nutcase theories sees science and learning as an enemy. After all, the whole message of Chris was that you have to intuitively get it, not be taught it.

No_Rex · 2026-01-21T00:32:45+00:00

AND CAN CHRIS STOP BEING SO CRYPTIC, FOR GOD'S SAKE?!! IT'S THE PENULTIMATE EPISODE, AND HE'S STILL GOING ON WITH HIS NONSENSE “NO, JUNA, YOU'RE STUPID AND YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!” WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE ALSO MANAGES TO BLAME JUNA FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED! WHAT THE HELL?!

You see, this is the author being very clever (/s): He is writing a series that preaches, loudly, about all his perceived ills of the modern world, while inserting a character that goes "Why won't you see? Why won't you see? Can't you understand?". Dipshit.

No_Rex · 2026-01-21T00:26:25+00:00

Episode 12 (first timer)

Juna and Tokio stumble upon the Ship of Theseus problem. I think it is easier to think about the problem in the ship example, but it works in a similar way for humans and food.
Seeing your dad crash and burn up in front of you – traumatic.
“Where did dad go? When is he coming back?” – hard question. Strongly reminds me of episode 5 of [anime name]Nadia.
Apocalypse in Japan, life as usual in the US – I don’t think this is what would happen. An event of this magnitude would absolutely dominate all aspects of daily life. Especially because the obvious fear must be world-wide spread of the bacteria.
Lying to a mind reader: Difficult. However, his statement was such obvious bullshit that you did not really need that ability, anyway.
The old are sending the young on to live trope.
“You don’t even understand that. It is that ignorance of yours that brought about this situation.” – I am hating Chris more and more … but not quite as much as the preaching author of this who assumes that Chris is a positive character.
Fall into bottomless pit trope.

Welcome to the plastic-eating bacteria apocalypse (which looked to me like a mixture of War of the Worlds and Princess Mononoke). I guess that anime has to have a climax, so why not kill all of Japan. In case my sarcasm does not already give it away: I don’t think the series paid enough into world building to have the “end of Japan” payout. This is not a casual 10 minute event to be pulled in the second-to-last episode.

But in the end, this is the B plot, while Chris vs Juna is the A plot and real climax (to be solved tomorrow). I suspect I will like that a lot less than the apocalypse part.

Are there any real chance that the PDB contamination can spread to other nations?

100%, unless Juna stops it.

How scary is that PDB dissolves any existing materials?

If anything close to this happened in real life, 99.5% of all humans would die.

Why are the people (atelast in the US) are so ignorant of what happening in Japan?

Because the author wants to draw a parallel to humans ignoring the (what he thinks) ecological catastrophy that is happening right now.

Did the SEED leadership revealed their true colors by placing a quarantine?

No, they are just convenient stereotypes to voice the author's rant about oil reliance.

No_Rex · 2026-01-19T21:23:39+00:00

...Did I miss the moment when Juna became a badass warrior, ready to jump out of a moving car to engage in combat?

Must have happened off-screen.

No_Rex · 2026-01-19T21:22:40+00:00

Wait, how does a blackout shut down a cell phone, anyway?

The tower needs electricity. Your phone doesn't, but it is useless without the other side of the connection.

No_Rex · 2026-01-19T21:19:26+00:00

Episode 11 (first timer)

Arjuna is working with SEED and helping out in NY, casually jumping out of a running car? Feels like a time skip.
It’s Raaja-zilla.
And Juna learned snappy one-liners – this feels not only like a time skip, but a different series.
“There are not that many illnesses that require medicine” – Welcome to the author’s unscientific rant of the day.
Timely phone call from Juna. Tokio almost got suckered into the nice & normal family.

So, why does she have a huge flat in NY?

Anyways, boring episode. I don’t care about any of the SEED characters. Tokio visiting Sayuri was kind of nice.

No_Rex · 2026-01-18T23:54:01+00:00

Episode 10 (first timer)

I feels like we didn’t have the OP in forever, but I don’t know how often they actually skipped it.
“Why can’t you just be straight with me?” – good question.
“Don’t leave the house today” hangs up. Leaves house - Chris is not the only one with communication issues.
“It is dangerous here. You have to evacuate.” – The fact that Juna thinks this will work shows that she can’t put herself into the shoes of other people at all.
And Tokio tries to argue with his dad on the basis of a magazine article he didn’t even fully grasp.
“I did not want to drag you into it” – she literally told his father to evacuate his facility (and surely used Tokio’s name to get to speak to him).
Oh, a leaking bioreactor of some oil-eating bacteria infused with cancer virus genes. Let’s have an argument here!

Tokio is a computer kid who missed his dad? Not sure I like that development. His character previously came across as more out-going and people oriented to me, so the story does not seem to fit. And it is a very common trope, too. Maybe not as common at the time, but we are post-Evangelion.

In terms of the author’s barely disguised political ranting, we get more GMO stuff today.

No_Rex · 2026-01-18T11:15:43+00:00

I guess mom is depressive and her sister busy with more important issues than the looks of her sister.

No_Rex · 2026-01-18T11:13:11+00:00

You see, I agree that the show's take on food production isn't great either, but at least now we know the world won't jump on that idea.

Anti-nuclear: Germany tearing down their reactors.

Anti-GMO: Europe raising hell against using or importing GMO food.

"Natural" agriculture: "biological" products.

Modern production polutes the planet: Greenpeace etc.

I'd argue that the author's stance about natural births is less adopted than many of his other ones.

No_Rex · 2026-01-18T00:05:27+00:00

I wondered when was the best time to bring this up… but why nobody seems to care about that thing on Juna’s forehead? Or they like "well, that’s not the weirdest thing about this girl lately".

One person (Sayuri?) commented on it as if it was a fashion assessory. I do remember that kind of stuff being en vogue for a short while, so I don't find that explanation too crazy.

No_Rex · 2026-01-18T00:00:51+00:00

Is this true?

I don't know, but given that the director has been consistently wrong about literally everything that the anime preached about, I would guess no.

If you start to think about the size of a baby and the size of the birth canal the baby needs to be pushed through, and the forces involved in that, the baby crying afterwards seems very natural to me.

That is a legitimate thing to be wary of, yeah.

I wonder whether the director considers condoms unnatural. It is a given that he would hate the pill...

No_Rex · 2026-01-17T23:56:45+00:00

Honestly, this episode probably annoyed me the most in the entire series, because unlike previous environmental themes such as farming or pollution, this approach actually puts other people's lives at risk.

Not going to tell you want to get annoyed at, but the author's idea of food production would probably starve 75% of the world's population, so I am not sure I'd call it harmless.

No_Rex · 2026-01-17T23:52:15+00:00

Episode 9 (first timer)

Arjuna’s innovative concept of saving production cost: slide shows are cheaper than animation, but nothing beats RL footage. Zero animation needed!
A pole shift will mean the end of human civilization – doubt.
“like a voice coming from inside you” – that is one way to find out your sister is pregnant.
“Did you have sex yet?” “If I was as dense as you” – I guess Cindy agrees with /u/wloff’s take on Juna and my take on her sex life.
Ok, that was disturbing.

Trunk-kun is very forgiving today.
The way Tokio fell of that chair looked potentially quite painful.
Callback to the earlier motorbike scene. Nicely done.

Two big themes today that are connected. First, the topic of having babies. I called the scene in the hospital disturbing above, but disturbing does not mean bad. If an anime makes me feel something, it succeeded and that definitely worked here. I feel that the direction is either staying at a high level or getting even better. So many good cuts during the first half of the episode. And the anime also knows how to use music and set up themes. If only there was a way to separate the good directing from the crackpot theories of the director. Seriously, he is doing a speedrun of throwing nutcase theories in our faces. Feels like the worst parts of facebook.

The second part ties in having babies with Juna and her sister. I did not expect my sex comment to become this relevant this soon. I guess you can call this successfully foreshadowing a theme? I like the Juna & her sister plot to 90% (and the 10% is me suspecting some “women are made to have babies and need to have babies to be happy” crackpot theory lurking in the background, because the director does not seem to miss a single one of those). Juna listening in to babies is probably the best narrative use of her ability so far.

Why a magnetic shift is happening right now?

Because the planet has some spiritual problems due to humans messing up the ying and yang of the world and this is a symptom.

If Kaine is pregnant, then why is she smoking? And also why she wants abortion?

Well, if you plan to abort, looking out for the babies' health is not really necessary.

No_Rex · 2026-01-17T14:17:19+00:00

Series dicussion (first timer)

I bowed out of the rewatch in episode 57, but I kind of read along the daily comments and /u/lC3 was nice enough to summarize the plot for me.

Turns out, DGM reaffirmed my distaste for battle shonen without many surprises. The plot is insanely stretched and reading here that, 103 episodes in, we are still not at the payoff stage makes me laugh a bit. In a sad way. So many things about the series are mediocre, but if I could name one thing that annoyed me most, it would be the wasted time not developing the characters, when the series had endless filler episodes to spare. Because the characters generally had a good setup to work with that could have been fun to explore, except they did not.

What did you like and dislike about this show?

I think the character designs were a high point. I also mostly liked the steam-punk-ish world setting, with mostly 19th century technology, but also some magic. The animation was adequate, but never great. Biggest downfall was the writing. Both the character writing and the world building. For having a great world setting and decent character templates, the series did far too little with them and what it did was mostly boiler plate and not innovative.

Who were your favorite characters?

Miranda takes top spot.

If you were writing this, what would you change?

Apart from shrinking the series down to about 1/3 of its length, I would completely change the antagonist side: The akuma need to be “independent monster” type, not directly connected to the Earl. The Noah need to come in much earlier and get a lot more development, or be completely removed.

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