Every season I host a little award show where I say what anime was the best in multiple categories. You know? It’s literally an award show. The difference is I’m the only judge, and anime is limited to what I’ve seen, which obviously won’t be everything. So, really, it may not hold the most power out there, but I still think it’s professional. What do words even mean, am I right?

 

Regardless, I watched way too many anime this Spring, so expect a decent spread. Just know I’m never watching this many ever again. It was insufferable, but I do it for you. Anyway, let’s start. Also, I do it mostly for me because I’m stubborn, honestly.

 

Best First Episode

 

Kicking off the list with the best first episode, I’m giving it to Don’t Hurt Me, My Healer! This series probably wouldn’t have gotten much else, but I wanted to give it something, and this works well. The series was constant nonsense. It was just two people yelling at each other for 2o some minutes every episode, and we learned that right from the beginning.

 

We get to meet Karla and Alvin, our two wonderful morons, right at the beginning, and the entirety of the episode is them just screaming bloody murder at each other while a random bear oversees their argument. It’s stupid. It’s crazy. It makes no damn sense, and I absolutely loved it. It was a very good first episode that showed you exactly what to expect.

 

Best Last Episode

 

Maybe I’m giving this to Shikimori just because I predicted what part the series would end on quite a bit before it aired. Shikimori was very cute and full of nothing but sweet moments, but perhaps the boat ride at Disney Not Disney was better.

 

It was not really the most intimate Izumi, and Shikimori have gotten to that point, I don’t think, but there was something about the atmosphere that made Izumi’s simple kiss on the cheek so meaningful. Probably because it wasn’t for him or for self-fulfillment, but because he felt he needed to reassure the one he loves instead. God, it was sweet.

 

Best Story

 

What do you think of when you think of a great story? You think of golf, right? Oh, you don’t? Well, this season had an anime about girls playing golf called Birdie Wing. It’s ok. To be honest, I didn’t watch all of it, but I wanted to give it some credit for being a fairly interesting anime about golf, of all things that seemed to keep most people’s attention. I just had to drop it because I watched too much.

 

Most Thought-Provoking

 

Cue was such an interesting series to me, as I said in the review. It was somehow incredibly mediocre yet almost always managed to have interesting plot lines in one way or another. The series wasn’t great, it was just good, but I feel like the staff did a great job with what they were given.

 

For being a simple story about up-and-coming voice actresses, it was actually solid. Did exactly what it said on the box and managed to always tackle that premise from different angles that, for some reason, kept me thinking about it in ways I never would have before. Weird, but it deserves this spot.

 

Best Boy

 

I’m pretty surprised at how many people didn’t like Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie. I know the series isn’t anything wild, but it was cute, adorable, and even cuter than that. Look, it was super wholesome and sweet, ok? It was a simple love story, and that’s all it needed. The characters were a tad one-dimensional, though.

 

With that being said, I still give Izumi best boy as he needs some love. The amount of disrespect this beautiful man got was so strange to me. He’s sweet, handsome, an amazing boyfriend to Shikimori, a good friend, and just kind in general. How do people not like him? I’m a little mad. Who cares if he’s not that “manly?” He’s great.

 

Best Girl

 

You know Anya was going here, ok? Spy x Family was huge. It was great, honestly. Do I think it deserved the top spot of My Anime List like it was fighting for only a few episodes in? No, but at the end of the series, quality-wise, at least, I think it deserves a pretty damn high spot. Production-wise the anime was honestly perfect. Beautiful, well-paced, funny, interesting, it has everything.

 

And somehow, for a series with all that, a little girl that can read minds and make stupid faces is what people remember the most. Anya is great. I promise you’ve seen at least one of her faces somewhere before or at least saw her punch that kid. I won’t say she’s the only reason Spy x Family is good; she’s not. She’s a small fun part of an outstanding whole, but people would riot if she wasn’t best girl.

 

Best Characters

 

I loved Aharen-san. It was so stupid from beginning to end, it really was. It’s another of those shows about nothing, but the main cast was just so good this time around. Raido is a moron. Aharen is also a moron. You throw the two together, and you get moronic moments that are somehow actually cute. This is a series that mixes adorable with stupidity in a very good way, and I appreciate it a lot. It’s really fun. Go watch a clip of this show, and you’ll see why it’s here. Also, I didn’t know what else to give it.

 

Best Couple/Ship

 

I’m not going to say that Karla and Alvin would make the healthiest couple. They would probably argue constantly, but there’s something weirdly sweet about their interactions, despite constantly dissing each other and sometimes causing harm. The show also knows this and makes little moments to show that they still care about each other, and it makes you realize that without all the abuse, they’d actually be pretty sweet.

 

Best Art

 

Healer Girl is so good, it really is. I honestly think a masterpiece in a lot of ways. The whole anime is essentially a musical where it randomly breaks out into song at the most mundane times. It’s colorful, has an interesting world built around music, and is just beautiful. One of the most beautiful moments is during the singing too.

 

Usually, when the girls have to heal with their voice, the anime will break out into this battle sequence, I guess, where the characters will sing their way through some representation of the person they’re trying to save. Like during a surgery they may cut through a rock that is a representation of a scalpal cutting flesh, that type of stuff. It’s trippy but just really pretty and coupled with the music, it’s just wow. It’s honestly stupendous a lot of the time.

 

Best Opening

 

Spy x Family does a lot right, and the music is certainly there too. I love this opening a lot. Besides the fact that Mixed Nuts is just a fun name, the art is downright beautiful. It changes from sweet, wholesome art to badass spy stuff flawlessly, which really reflects the actual anime itself. It’s very fitting, and it’s super nice.

 

Best Ending

 

Shikimori has such a cute ending. For some reason, they decide to be inspired by a rhythm game with Shikimori performing a bunch of quick moves to keep Izumi from danger. Very fitting and cute with the art, but my favorite part is how at the end, Shikimori takes her eyes off Izumi for one moment, and he then jumps in front to protect her, getting hurt in the process. As dumb as it sounds, this scene is their relationship in a nutshell. Shikimori has Izumi’s back always, and Izumi can pick her up when she needs it. Cute. Very cute.

 

Best Soundtrack

 

Did you read the best art? Just go watch one of the scenes. Do yourself a favor. Healer Girl deserves this spot.

 

Most Disappointing

 

Shield Hero season 2 was honestly a big mess. It had plenty of memes making fun of it. It was also paced pretty poorly, but overall it lost some of that magic. I won’t explain much here because I already wrote a whole post about that. Regardless of the why, this was a big letdown for a lot of very hyped people, even if I thought it was decent in the end.

 

Worst Anime

 

The Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody isn’t bad. It’s really not. I even made a post here about it not being that bad. But it still very much skirts the line of being a super generic isekai and was by far the worst thing I personally watched this season, so here you go.

 

Standings: 

Aharen: 1

Birdie Wing: 1

Cue: 1

Greatest Demon Lord: 1

Shield Hero: 1

Spy x Family: 2

Don’t Hurt Me, My Healer: 2

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie: 3

 

Best Anime

 

I have to give this probably to Healer Girl. It would have been pretty easy to give it to Spy x Family, and even though I think it’s very deserving, I want to be a little more unique, and that’s what Healer Girl was. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen an anime like this before. It’s more akin to a musical, as I mentioned before, but being an animated medium really lets them run wild with it.

 

Granted, I’ll say the world is a bit odd, with the only fantasy thing being that singing heals people and the rest of the world is completely normal, but it helps get their point across, and for some people, music does kind of heal the soul. And that’s basically what Healer Girl is trying to say, just in a very on-the-nose way.

 

It’s the type of series that’s hard to explain why it’s good, you just need to watch some and see how all the different parts come together, but it’s without a doubt worth your time. Unless you’re somebody that can’t stomach musicals, which I know those people exist. Then probably go watch Spy x Family, honestly.

 

Thank you very much for reading

I’ll see you for the next one, that I will hopefully be more prepared for