WTK

What were your best and worst anime series for 2010?

Let's try to keep it under the criteria for 2010 U.S. releases for both DVD, Blu-ray, theatrical releases, or anything originated from legal streaming. For U.S. anime DVD / Blu-ray 2010 releases: you can reference to this thread: LINK

WTK

...a quick list for right now. I will have to think about the streaming one later on.


Aniplex of America

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • The Gurren Lagann movies almost made my list. It was very good, but not enough new material.
• 2011 - Looking forward to Durarara!!, R.O.D (BD), Kara no Kyoukai - the Garden of sinners (BD import),...

Bandai Entertainment

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 | I really loved how the series wrapped up. A fantastic series that took too long to release.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler! | Another great series marred by delays and just really poorly planned release.
• 2011 - After a fairly lackluster 2010 and a cluster of release delays, how well BEI fair in 2011? I know I'm looking forward to K-ON! and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Buena Vista Home Ent. / Disney / Ghibli

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Ponyo almost made my list. It's just not in my upper tier of Ghibli movies.
• 2011 - None. I already have Nausicaä in JP BD. Tales from Earthsea wouldn't really count.

Discotek / Eastern Star

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Lupin the 3rd: Episode 0 - The First Contact | What's not to like about Lupin (in this case the beginning of everything started). It's unfortunate that the franchise doesn't really perform / translate well in sales in the states here.
• 2011 - Galaxy Express 999 movies. A pleasant surprise license from 2010. I'm looking forward to what else they license this year.

FUNimation Entertainment

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Bamboo Blade | Sport themed series filled with fun moments and likable characters.
  • Casshern Sins | Unique designs and artwork used for this post apocalyptic series. Storytelling style may not be for everyone
  • D.Gray-man [Incomplete] | Started off slowly, but latter part of first half got much better. FUNi needs to license the remaining part of the series.
  • Eden of the East | One of the best series for 2010. The storyline premise was very intriguing to me. Looking forward to the movies.
  • Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone | Watching Evangelion in HD is great and yet nostalgic.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood [Ongoing] | Loved the original series. I love the manga adaptation even more.
  • Oh! Edo Rocket | After much delay for this series, it was worth the wait. What a wacky, fun series filled with comedy gags.
  • RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ | One of the darker themed series that FUNimation has released in recent years. Plenty of gore, sex, yuri action,...
  • Slayers Revolution (Season 4) / Slayers Evolution-R (Season 5) | It's great to see more Slayers (and Lina Inverse) after all of these years.
  • Soul Eater | Despite the lackluster ending, it's still action packed series.
• 2011 - The Geneon Universal Ent. (JP) licenses...when will they be released (likes of Black Lagoon S3, Hellsing Ultimate Vol.5 - Vol.7, Shakugan no Shana: Season 2 / Movie / S,...). And also the full treatment of the LEs (chipboard artboxes, external bonuses, and such,...)

Manga Entertainment

• My favorites / Underrated: NONE
• 2011 - Redline and First Squad. Redline is a pretty good over-the-top racing movie set sometime in the future. Storyline isn't particularly deep, but it's very entertaining.

Media Blasters

• My favorites / Underrated: NONE
• 2011 - They just need get their release schedule straight and license more anime. It was a very lackluster 2010.

NIS America

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Our Home's Fox Deity [Ongoing] | Really fun series thus far. Very enjoyable to watch. Looking forward to the 2nd half.
  • Pandora Hearts [Ongoing] | If you can get past the intentional grain, the series itself is very good thus far. Definitely looking forward to this.
  • Toradora! | One of the best series for 2010. One of the best school romance anime that has been made. Great pick-up by them.
• 2011 - Being a newcomer at all. NIS America did all right. The packaging and the external bonus was something refreshing for 2010. Looking forward to Wagnaria!! and whatever else they will license.

Section23 Films / Sentai Filmworks

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Eyeshield 21 [Ongoing / Incomplete] | A fun, entertaining football oriented series. It works well that it can be unrealistic.
  • Hell Girl: Season 2 & 3 | It's awesome to this franchise rescued. Each season builds on what has started with Season 1.
  • Ghost Sweeper Mikami [Ongoing] | Older animation style that I actually miss from time to time. It's rather to fun to watch too.
  • Glass Mask [Incomplete] | The rest of the series needs to be licensed.
  • Golgo 13 [Incomplete] | Duke Togo, manliest of all men. What's else is to say about it...
  • Hidamari Sketch: Season 1 & 2 | Slice of life series with bits of art elements mixed in. It works for me.
  • Kimikiss - pure rouge | High school relationships and first time loves...the series does a solid job for the most part (and how it evolves).
  • Shigofumi - Letters of the Departed | The different elements works well with this series in particular dealing with human nature.
  • Taisho Baseball Girls | Baseball themed series seems to always work for me.
  • The Skull Man | Dark, mysterious, and violent at times.
  • To Love Ru | Ecchi, fanservice,...what else can say about this series. It was surprisingly enjoyable.
  • Tytania | Space opera anime releases are few and far in between. It's too bad the story here is incomplete.
  • Utakata | An intriguing series involving the deconstruction of the whole magical girl concept.
  • Xam'd - Lost Memories | Great animation and music. The
  • You're Under Arrest: Season 2 & 3 | It was great to see both seasons getting picked up. More YUA is always good in my book.
• 2011 - Nothing specific. Each month, the solicitations bring out intriguing possibilities.

The Right Stuf International / Nozomi Ent.

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Aria the Origination (with Arietta OVA) | My favorite release of 2010. It wraps up the Aria franchise. It really does feel kind of sad to not seeing more...
  • Dirty Pair (TV) [Ongoing] | Lovely Angels...it's really great to see this getting licensed.
  • Maria Watches Over Us: Season 4 | Another very solid season of which wraps what Japan has created/released. Really wish there is more...
  • Rental Magica | It does feels like this has been done before. But the different elements flows right for me.
• 2011 - So-Ra-No-Wo-To and whatever they will license in the near future.

VIZ Media

• My favorites / Underrated:
  • Honey & Clover II | I actually like how the series wrapped up. The whole set-up can definitely be disliked by some.
  • NANA | A great series (even though it's incomplete). The ups and downs of both Nanas. Choices in life...
• 2011 - Nothing. They can stick with manga and streaming services.

davidh777

I'd probably go with Evangelion, Brotherhood, and Eden of the East