One country’s-hits is another country’s-next-year-hits.  Anikore recently released their list of top anime titles based on their user prescribed points. So today we are going to look at Japan’s top 10 anime from 2013.  Although Japanese taste differs greatly from those series which are profitable in America, this can still give you an idea of some titles that may cross-over to the American market.

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10. Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya (Animated Movie)

Gintama was originally a popular comic in the Shonen-Jump manga magazine.  Gintama is an animated series based in an edo period which is attacked by aliens.  The samurai decide to battle the aliens, however the shogun surrender to the aliens after realizing their power. This is the second movie in the series, however Gintama Final Chapter (which may not be the last movie in the series) involves a bit of time travel.  So if you enjoy samurais, aliens, robots, and giant saddled cats you may want to check this out.

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9. Chihayafuru 2 (TV Program)

Chihayafuru 2 is the second season, consisting of 25 episodes, of the popular anime Chihayafuru. A school girl, Chihaya, tries to get new members to join her competitive card game, but the potential members only want to join because of Chihaya’s cute guy friend Taichi is on the team too.

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8. Monogatari (Series) Second Season (TV Show)

Monogatari is usually known as Bakemonogatari in the western anime market.  Monogatari is about a countryside highschool student, Koyomi, that briefly became a vampire after helping a dying vampire. The series follows Koyomi as he meets other paranormal people and helps them with their problems.

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7. Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion (Animated Movie)

This third film in the Puella Magi Madoka Magica series was nominated to receive the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The series is about magical girls and their friends. The third movie in the series takes place after the main cast of magical girls wake up after fighting creatures born out of peoples negative feelings, Naitomeas. The girls have no memory of what happened and begin putting the pieces back together in order to save their friends trapped in another dimension.

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6. A Certain Magical Index (TV Program)

This show takes place in a world where magic powers are the normal. In this world eighty percent of the population are students and each student is assigned a power level (0 to 5) and there is a power struggle between magic and science for control of the world.

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5. Oreimo aka. Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (TV Program)

Based on the manga (roughly translated as “My sister shouldn’t be cute like this”), Kyosuke is a 17 year old high schooler that has a difficult relationship with his sister Kirino. One day Kyosuke finds an anime case for a magical girl anime (much like Sailor Moon), and inside he finds an erotic animated game. He later learns that it belongs to his sister, and she is secretly an otaku (Japanese geek). He begins helping her deal with her personal life and her secret hobbies while at the same time mending their broken relationship.

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4. Haganai aka. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT (TV Program)

Haganai NEXT is the second season of the popular anime which first received it’s start in the Jump SQ manga. Transfer student Kodaka has a hard time making friends because of his brownish blonde hair and blue eyes which he inherited from his English mother. He makes friends with Yozora who is equally outcast because she often talks to her imaginary friend “Tomo”. They start an after school club for people who have a hard time making friends due to their over anxious attitudes. The second season follows Kodaka as his club continues to grow and gain new members.

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3. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (TV Program)

Based on another manga comes My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU.  The story follows loners who have different personalities and ideals, however they help and offer advice to others as part of their extracurricular club activities. The show focuses on different social situations that teenagers and highschoolers must deal with, and it dives into the psychology of these interactions.

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2. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! (TV Program)

The Demon Lord and his generals escape through a portal and end up in modern day Tokyo. They realize there isn’t much magic in the modern world so they disguise themselves as regular humans and take up regular human jobs. The Demon Lord then meets a girl and falls in love with her, not realizing the girl is actually the Demon Lord’s enemy.

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1. Attack on Titan (TV Program)

Attack on Titan takes place in a midevil type world. Giants roam the free world, and enjoy eating humans just for the sake of eating them. Mankind has enclosed themselves within three gigantic fortress walls set to keep the titans at bay. Within the walls humans have lived their daily lives in peace for the past one hundred years, sometime sending scouting groups out into the world. Everything changes when a giant sixty-meter Colossus Titan appears outside the outer most wall, and breaches the security the humans had grown to rely on.

If you see no other anime on this list you should watch Attack on Titan. The anime has been picked up with international acclaim and even has a live-action film in production. The live-action film is planned to begin filming in the summer of 2014, with a 2015 release date.

So what do you think of the list? Do you agree or disagree? Are there some anime you wish had made it on the list?

-F

Sources:

http://www.anikore.jp/chronicle/2013/

https://en.wikipedia.org/