jnik

May: HUGPUNX, Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, Shin Sekai Yori anime, Mikagura School Suite, Ultimate Otaku Teacher, Tale of Princess Kaguya, Elementary season 3, Castle season 7, New Girl season 4, Big Bang Theory season 8, Gotham season 1.
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These things sit around in draft form far too long. You can tell I was sick a lot in March. The Grey King, Silver on the Tree, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chaos:Making a New Science, Network Security Through Data Analysis, Spice and Wolf 11 and 12, Matplotlib for Python Developers, The First Three Minutes, How to Write A Lot, The Last Three Minutes, Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Flag, Testament of Sister New Devil, Sailor Moon, Rumbling Hearts / Kiminozo, Akatsuki no Yona, Saekano, ALDNOAH.ZERO, Bicentennial Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Last Man on Earth, Shin Sekai Yori manga 5-7.
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Writing getting ahead of the posting again, I did want to put up the best of last year. If you skip the rest, do skim this one.

The best read this year, hands-down, was Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation saga. Not every volume is fantastic, but none is bad, and the sum is impressive. I admire Asimov's ability to grapple with big ideas while keeping a great story going, rarely degenerating into Philosophical Position as Character. Other standouts include Reading the Forested Landscape for nonfiction and The God Engines in really disturbing short form.

Best manga: A Town Where You Live. I don't know what nonsense keeps Crunchyroll from sharing the first eleven volumes, but it needs to be fixed. Volume 12 picks up after a huge turning point that's heartbreaking and makes everything following so much more significant. I keep harping, but it's both the high point of the series and an example of the greatness that permeates the entire: nothing's storybook perfect, but people find their way.

I couldn't call In Search of Lost Future the best anime of the year. But it got under my skin, and is particularly anime rather than a story that would work well in another medium or with a different cultural background. It's not quite a love-it-or-hate-it series, more of a love-it-or-meh, but man. It's the one I'd most recommend people give a chance if they're on the fence. And I've got to throw in Encouragement of Climb for simply making me smile every time a new episode came up. Really high honors as well to Space Brothers, Silver Spoon 2, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, all three worth a watch. It was a very good year for anime (of course, I watch a lot, so there's bound to be good stuff in there somewhere.)

Wreck-it Ralph wins for movies on the makes-me-smile basis. It's funny, it's cute, it's heartwarming without being (too) smarmy, and yes I saw the twist a mile away but so what? Honorable mention to Argo for keeping me completely engrossed from start to finish.

Elementary Season 2 continued an excellent show. It's a remarkable balancing act: updating the character and situations, not simply copying the stories and premises, yet feeling true to the spirit of the original. And such, such good chemistry between Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. I think it helps that both have stage experience. Archer gets an honorable mention for being so funny and making me inhale the whole series in very few days.

Video games are a short list again this year, so Metroid Prime 3: Corruption wins with little competition. The series is a great combination of exploration and shooter, with controls (on both platforms) that brought the console shooter to excellent refinement. I don't intend to replay, though, because of the occasional teeth-gnashing frustration.

The Stars, Like Dust, Pebble in the Sky, Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, The Science of Running, Galaxy Railways, Coyote Ragtime Show, Sword Art Online II, In Search of Lost Future, Encouragement of Climb Season 2.
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Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, Mountain Voices, Linux Security Cookbook, Your Lie in April, I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, Karen Seki, Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, Girl Friend BETA, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd, Celestial Method, KimiKiss, Plastic Little, Archer (S1-4), Selfie, My Wife is Wagatsuma-san (81-), Coppelion (1-30), Boys Be second season (1-17)
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Ben and Me, Homeland, How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story, An Election, Judge Sn Goes Golfing, The Tale of the Wicked, The God Engines, You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop, My Own Kind of Freedom, Voogie's Angel, Barakamon, A Town Where You Live, Looper.
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Y: The Last Man, The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids, Learning CFEngine 3, Codex Born, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Cosmos, Manyuu Hikenchou, One Week Friends, Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate.
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Yes, I need to come up with something else interesting to post (doing short stuff on Diaspora now). And apparently focus is on the "post" button when you're doing tags...oops.

The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Little Brother, Stories from the White Mountains, Reading the Forested Landscape, Office Space, Idiocracy, Veronica Mars movie, Thor: The Dark World, Wall-E, The Big Bang Theory season 7, Elementary season 2, New Girl season 3, Castle season 6, High School DxD New, The Comic Artist and His Assistants, Black Bullet, Blade and Soul, Tonari no Seki-kun, Kanojo ga Flag wa Oraretara, Captain Earth.

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I've been keeping up with the writing of these, but not the editing/posting, so catchup time!
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Space Dandy, Sakura Trick, The Competitive Runner's Handbook, Spice and Wolf 4-7, My Wife is Wagatsuma-san chapter 1-80, From the New World v. 1-4, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Septerra Core.
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