5 Great Anime series of 2011

I was planning to do a top ten list of my favourite anime series of all time, but quickly found that there would be too many "Honourable mentions"  so instead I'm just going to show 5 anime series from this year that I found particularly good to watch.

In no particular order:

1.
Fate Zero

This is a great new anime that just started a few weeks ago.  The animation quality is top notch, especially during the action sequences.  The world is very interesting, modern day tokyo where magic exists, and is learned by only the most prestigious families with magic bloodlines.  The story is about a war between 5 parties over the holy grail.  The holy grail grants 1 wish to the victor.  The 5 groups each summon one legendary warrior to fight for the grail.

• well animated violence
• interesting dynamic characters
• Interesting world.

2.
GOSICK

This is a great anime, a mix of serious storyline, subplots, and bits of comedy.  The world takes place in the real world just before world war 1, in a made up European country called Sauville (were people speak Japanese for some reason).  The main characters (A Japanese exchange student, and a girl with special deductive reasoning powers) go around this country solving mysteries.  All of the characters are a lot of fun.

• Interesting well realised world
• Fun Characters
• interesting 1-2 episode sub plots

3.
The World God Only Knows

Despite the strange title, this anime is about a dating simulation game obsessed student, who enters a contract with a demon (see those cute girls in the picture?  yup demons)  The main character Keima has to get girls to fall in love with him so that the evil soul in their hearts is released, and can be captured.  Its a strange story, but its all about the characters, who are lots of fun to watch.

• Funny strange characters
• Relatable(if you are a gamer) main character
• Adorableness

4.
Iroha, and Hanasaku Iroha

First non-fantasy anime in this list.  This anime is more of a character driven drama.  It takes place in a very traditional Japanese style inn (ryokan), and follows the life of Iroha.  Iroha moves from Tokyo to a small town to work in her grandmother's Inn.  The story is about her life; making friends with the other workers, cooping with a life of hard work while going to school, and dealing her feelings about her friend she left in Tokyo.

• Interesting Characters
• Good comic moments
• Authentic look at Japanese life

5.
Wagnaria

Another non-fantasy anime, somewhat similar to Iroha but less serious, more comedy.  This anime is about a bunch of people who work in a restaurant, and how they interact.  Each character is strange in their own, funny way.  This is a great anime to just jump into and watch an episode just for a good laugh. 

• Fun characters
• Funny situations

Extra Anime

Oreimo

This is another funny anime.  The main characters are a middle school girl with an obsession for litter sister eroge (porn video games), and her older brother.  The story is about how this girl deals with her embarrassing secret hobby, while trying to keep her social life as a popular middle school girl, and part-time magazine model in tact.








The Mystic Archives of Dantalian

This anime has a similar artistic style to GOSICK, but more fantasy based.  The characters go around killing monsters that are summoned by phantom books.  The fighting scenes were a little underdeveloped, but It was still fun to watch.  It too bad this anime did not get the second season it needed.