I didn’t watch as many anime this year as I did in previous years. I ended up watching only a little over 50 new shows in 2023. That’s not a lot at all, but this was a year of high quality so there was no need to watch a lot of shows. Having said that, there’s definitely shows that I missed so if I don’t mention your favorite show in this list, please let me know in the comments down below. I might just not talk about it but I also might not have watched it. With that out of the way, here are the 2023 anime that are most memorable to me, in no particular order.

Vinland Saga Season 2

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I didn’t enjoy Vinland Saga all that much when it first came out. As a matter of fact, I ended up dropping it during the first half. I heard from manga readers that the second season would slow down a bit and change the pace and that definitely piqued my curiosity. So I finished the first season and to my surprise I enjoyed the second half of season 1 more than the first half. Then when season 2 came around, I watched it every week and I was fully invested. The slower, more human storytelling of this season was a stark contrast to the violence of season 1. The focus was much more on the quiet moments, on healing and on becoming the person you should be. We follow Thorfinn on his journey of self discovery and by the end of the season he is a much wiser person. If the story itself didn’t do enough convincing, then the opening and ending themes would definitely do the trick. LMYK’s song Without Love haunts my dreams in how beautiful it is and Anonymouz’ River is also a very good track. If you haven’t seen Vinland Saga yet, or you stopped after the first season I do think this is a great one to check out, it definitely switches things up but in my opinion it does so in a good way. And at its core it’s just vikings beating the crap out of each other, so at least there’s that.

Attack on Titan

It’s been a hell of a journey, hasn’t it? From the very first time the titans breached the walls and turned our lives upside down until now, when the story has finally come to a conclusion. If you haven’t heard of this anime by now I honestly don’t know what to tell you. There is a lot to love here. From the music to the intrigue to the action to the world shattering events coming into a thrilling conclusion in this final season. Although I do think the show was hurt by some of the weird release schedules it had, I still found myself really enjoying this show. The ending sort of confused me, but I didn’t hate it either. I’ll miss these characters and there’s a good chance I’ll watch this show again in the future, just to get everything refreshed in my memory. If you love action and intrigue, this is one of the most memorable anime of the last decade so don’t miss out on it if you somehow have.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

The second season of one of Shonen Jump’s most popular manga has concluded and with it my favorite part of the story has also come to an end. Jujutsu Kaisen is a darker take on the shonen genre where the story is much less linear and things seem to happen more at a whim compared to other big shonen shows. THe animation is great and the action is solid. There’s a lot to love about this show but it’s also polarizing as the author often makes decisions that I don’t like. Obviously that’s an objective thing, others might really like the direction the story takes. Right after finishing the anime I did go back and reread the manga to refresh my memory on what happens after Shibuya finishes. What’s more interesting to look at when it comes to Jujutsu Kaisen is the production. Several of the people working on this season have come out and called out the inhumane working conditions at MAPPA and in the industry in general. Although I hope something changes in the near future, these problems have been around for ages and I have very little hope that good changes will come. I for one would rather wait longer between seasons to allow the people who create these wonderful series some more dignity, but that’s not how you make more profit. Support artists and the people that work hard, and don’t be harsh on them when the quality is low.

Zom100: Bucket List of the Dead

Speaking of production issues and poor working conditions, let’s talk about Zom100 next. I was considering writing a separate review on this series, but after writing it I figured I could just include it in this post, so I’m doing that instead. Zom100 follows Akira as he’s stuck in a dead-end job. He’s miserable and finds no joy in life until one day he wakes up and realizes there’s a zombie apocalypse. Instead of despair, Akira feels immense freedom. He doesn’t have to go back to work now.  The rest of the story follows Akira as well as several people he encounters on the way, as they try to make the most of life after this disaster. Akira has a bucket list of things he wants to do and a lot of them are very silly. This show is very silly at its core. There’s some heartfelt moments but personally I think they can be a little bit shallow or rigid at times. I much prefer the more comedic moments which is why the final three episodes felt a little bit like a letdown compared to what came before. It did have a very hard to watch depiction of abuse and fear of someone that was pretty well done. This is studio Bug Films’ first anime ever and unfortunately they couldn’t finish most of the episodes on time. This led to a few delays and eventually the final three episodes were delayed for a few months. Luckily the final product was of decent quality, but I hope they get a better schedule for their next project, so they can work on it with less stress.

Otaku Elf

I’ve already talked about this show on my blog before so I’ll make sure to keep this short. Otaku Elf tells the story of an elf that’s being revered as a god. The people know she’s an ancient elf, but they still uphold the traditions nonetheless. The core of the story focuses on Elda’s relationship with the young shrine maiden and how both of them care for each other but also need to keep each other in check. If Elda is left to her own devices she’ll never do her duties as a god, and will just play video games all day. This show has a lot of heart and I really like the dynamic between the different characters. I also find Elda to be very beautifully drawn when the show wants her to look beautiful. She does have that ephemeral quality that you’d expect from a deity. That or I just have a thing for elves. Don’t judge me. If you like slice of life shows with some fantastical elements to them, I highly recommend this one. If you need more convincing, give the opening song a listen. It’s probably my favorite song to come out of anime this past year, and that’s in a year where both Yoasobi and Yorushika have been prevalent in the anime scene, so that’s saying a lot.

Skip & Loafer

Sometimes you come across a show that feels like it was made for you personally. Skip and Loafer was made for me. Slice of life and romance have been my favorite genres for many years now and the combination of the two is just pure bliss to me on days I’m tired. Mitsumi moved from the countryside to the big city to become an important politician and really do something meaningful with her life. Here in the big city, she realizes life moves at a very different pace. Luckily for her, she quickly meets some great friends that help her get settled and before we know it she’s right at home in Tokyo. She also quickly becomes friends with Shima, who reminds her of her family dog in how kind he is and how fluffy his hair is. When she accidentally reveals this to Shima he doesn’t get angry at all, instead he thinks it’s really funny. What makes this story so unique is that the drama that does happen is never drawn out. The children communicate when they need to, but not so much that it’s not believable. Mitsumi and her classmates run into problems and then talk it out. Sometimes this requires an adult to push them in the right direction, but you never feel like things drag on just for the sake of keeping some drama going. A lot of this show feels peaceful and I found myself fully immersed from start to finish. I liked this show so much that I bought the manga, which I will admit I have yet to read, but you can’t blame me, my backlog is crazy. If you like Slice of Life shows, this one should be at the top of your list. This isn’t a best of 2023 list, but this show is definitely in my top 3.

Mononogatari

This one is for the people who like a show that is a little bit slower in its buildup but gets going after the characters are fully set up. Mononogatari follows Kunato Hyoma as he moves into a household of Tsukumogami. This is set up by his grandfather so he can get over his intense hatred for them. A Tsukumogami killed his brother and sister in front of him and Hyoma never fully got over that. At the Nagatsuki household, where Nagatsuki Botan lives alongside her Bridal Trousseau, a group of Tsukumogami, he slowly learns to understand the differences between the different Tsukumogami and his hatred for them slowly wanes. Of course, there’s more going on as Botan is the vessel for an ancient Tsukumogami god and many of the people around her want that power for their own. It’s up to Hyoma to make sure she stays protected. This story has a really nice pacing to it in which things are progressing slowly, but constantly. We got two seasons in a year for this, which was a good decision because otherwise it would have felt a bit bare. The second season really complemented the first one and built upon what it had already set up. If you like a good action show with some more depth than your average shonen, this one should be near the top of your list.

The Ancient Magus Bride

One of my favorite manga of all time finally got its second season. Divided into two cours, this season covered most of the manga, all the way up until volume 19. This is coincidentally also everything that has been translated to English, so I ended up reading volume 19 the day before I watched the final episodes, to make sure I read the manga first. Chise is a Sleigh Beggy, a human with almost infinite magic power that’s slowly eating away at her. She has a miserable youth which results in her selling herself into slavery. An ancient magus named Elias Ainsworth buys her for a very high amount and asks her to be his bride. Although the alarm bells should start ringing here, a lot of it also comes from the fact that Elias does not understand human culture all that well. What he really wants is a companion that he can teach magic to while his companion teaches him how humans work. That’s the strange teacher-student relationship the two of them end up having. Season 2 covers the college arc, which sees Chise and Elias at the sorcerer college where they meet a ton of new people and get involved in a dangerous mystery where a magic book gets stolen and people start getting their magic drained. The Ancient Magus Bride season 2 is also a contender for anime of the year, if you haven’t seen it at all yet, I highly, highly recommend both seasons. Some of the best fantasy anime I’ve ever watched.

Honorable Mentions

I would be remiss not to bring up a few other shows. Most of these were popular in their own right, but I didn’t think they were as good as the other shows listed here. Hell’s Paradise and Heavenly Delusion each stand out in a season with many good shows. Hell’s Paradise is a fun shonen that reminds me of early Attack on Titan at times with its suspense and how high the stakes are. Heavenly Delusion is a mystery that really explores human emotion. It does have some difficult to watch scenes which include sexual assault, so keep that in mind if you’re uncomfortable with that.
Bungo Stray Dogs had another season this year, which really amped up the stakes once again. I really enjoyed it, and recapped it every single week when it was airing, but it definitely requires some suspense of disbelief. A lot of it is people outsmarting each other repeatedly, and if that’s not your thing, then maybe skip this one. I really enjoyed it though.
Lastly, I want to mention a show that hasn’t finished airing yet. It’ll likely be my anime of the year for 2024 once it’s completely finished airing, but I can’t really count it yet as it’s not done. I’m talking about Frieren of course. Frieren follows… well… Frieren. She’s an elf that’s lived a very long time by human standards but not all that long for elves. She traveled with the hero’s party to the end of the world to defeat the demon lord and they saved the world. That was more than 50 years ago. The rest of the hero’s party is now old and dies shortly after the show starts. It’s now up to Frieren to reconcile the fact that she didn’t spend more time with her friends, even though their time together was “a mere 10 year journey.” Accompanied by Heiter’s adopted daughter and Eisen’s apprentice, she travels the same route once more, running into adventure on the way. It’s gorgeous, it’s emotional, it’s funny, it’s through provoking and it’s well on its way to becoming my favorite anime of all time. I even bought the manga right after I watched the first episode. That’s all it took to convince me.

And I think that covers everything. I know that The Apothecary Diaries is supposed to be really good as well, but the reason it’s not on here is because I haven’t watched it yet. It’s one of the few shows I still want to watch at some point though. I hope you got some ideas on what to watch from this list and if there’s a show you’ve watched that isn’t on here, please let me know and I might check it out if I haven’t yet. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!