Favourite Anime I Watched in 2022 (they could have come out years ago)

Posted on by Irina

Sorry about putting this here guys. There’s this new site that has been stealing all my content (and content from a lot of other great bloggers) called Anime Sensai. They really suck. But I figure I might as well use the opportunity for some advertising. So if you actually came across this post on Anime Sensai, please know that 1 – they did not write it and 2 – although their bots are doing a pretty good job at stealing posts from all over as soon as they are published, they don’t seem to do to great at lifting al the awesome screencaps I collected or all the extra material bloggers put into their content. So make sure to go visit the source link you see on top of posts and as for this one, just come visit my blog: I Drink and Watch Anime. I post daily and actually have awesome readers to interact with. I’m going t be posting this paragraph on top of my posts for a little while. I hope it doesn’t annoy you guys too much.

One of the few traditions I have on this site is an annual look back at the anime I have watched over the year. At first, I thought it was just a fun post to write and a chance to highlight what my fellow bloggers thought about the shows I loved. But after a while, it became something more.

Look at me making it sound all grand and stuff! Here are those past posts by the way:

I just mean that I found this post oddly therapeutic to put together. It reminded me of all the fun I had watching anime and how the medium still speaks to me even after all these years. It gets me all excited about another year filled with great shows!

I mix up my anime watch time by following both seasonal shows that are just airing and binging some classics (and not so classics) so just because I watched something in the past 12 months, doesn’t mean that it aired this year.

I have made a pretty big dent in the classic anime I had been wanting to see for years so there are less of those marquis titles everyone recognizes but I still find little gems now and then that flew under my radar. This is what I enjoyed in 2022.

Blue Period

I had already read and loved the manga so I knew Bleu Period was likely to make the list but I was a little scared to watch the anime. There’s a vulnerability to this story that could definitely be lost in the wrong hands.

It wasn’t.

If anything, the anime heightened the emotions of the manga. I remember watching Yatora go through his little nervous break during his exam period and I was suffocated. I had read these scenes before yet they hit so much more in anime form. This was a show that truly celebrated and elevated the source material while remaining very faithful. I’m still reading the manga, and still enjoying it.

Here’s what some of my fellow bloggers thought of Blue Period:

School Babysitters

Unlike Blue Period, I went in completely blind when I picked up School Babysitters. On paper, this is not my type of show at all. I’m not a big fan of little kid characters (I wasn’t but 2022 did something) and although I do like sweet stories, they can get too saccharine for me quickly. One look at School Babysitters synopsis and I was thinking I should skip it.

But I watched it anyway. And I’m glad I did. I’m pretty sure the surprise of how much I enjoyed it created a better and longer-lasting impression in my mind but here we are. Almost a year has passed and I still have nothing but good memories of the show. (Because I buried the really creepy one)

I’m also planning to pick up the manga. It’s too cute to pass up. Although without Kotaro’s voice actor, there’s bound to be a loss.

But don’t take my word for it:

Den-noh coil

I guess I lied when I said I didn’t have any big classics left. Maybe it’s just that Den-noh Coil was not on my radar before I watched it the way shows like FMA were. And watching it was a mixed experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, but there’s an edge of pain in this story. I cried more than once. The sad cry, not the sappy happy cry I do all the time.

So when I reviewed the show, I let some of that pain seep through in my post as well. And I think that’s fair. That does genuinely represent the experience I had with Den-noh Coil. But the thing is, time heals all wounds.

I find myself thinking back to Den-noh Coil quite a bit and what I remember isn’t how it made me sad at times. I remember the animation and art style I loved. I remember the honestly interesting sci-fi concepts it brought forth. And I remember the devastatingly poignant moments that made me feel sad and happy at the same time. I always thought that it was a good show, and with close to a year of hindsight, I think I’m ready to say it’s a great show.

Link Click

I described Link Click as the anime Quantum Leap. And you know what, I loved Quantum Leap. I don’t actually remember much at all about the show but I know for a fact I loved it. To this day anything with a time travel element will immediately get extra points from me and I think it started with Quantum Leap. (Back to the Future solidified it)

I find that I enjoy Chinese animation a lot. There are two entries this year and I have had some in the past as well. I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky or if I simply have an affinity for Chinese fiction. In any case, I couldn’t look away from Link Click and if the streaming services I have access to don’t pick up the second season, I will pay for an extra one. I think the show is worth it!

Ranking of Kings

Ok, so the end got weird and divisive among fans. But up until then, it was hard to deny that Ranking of Kings offered something completely fresh and hard to find in anime. It’s a classic fairy tale with modern sensibilities. It was both harsh and soft at the same time. It curled and coiled its morality is ways that made it difficult to know who was a friend and who was a foe only to leave you surrounded by friends. We’re so used to Top 10 Greatest anime betrayals but Ranking of Kings turned that on its head. What’s the opposite of betrayal? When someone is unexpectedly kind?

I can’t quite explain what makes Ranking of Kings a great show. It’s something you have to see for yourself. And if you read my review, you know I struggled to explain it there as well. And for the record, the ending did nothing to diminish my love for the rest of the show.

Since this was a new show, it’s easier to find posts:

The Case Study of Vanitas Part 2

This is what I wrote about the first cour of A Case Study of Vanitas in my favourites of 2021 post: it’s campy, silly once in a while surprisingly earnest and unfailingly delightful to look at. I didn’t think a soapy show about vampires would be this enjoyable but it is. The second part was even better if you ask me. It’s actually a tough call, all of Vanitas is really fun. If you enjoy gothic vampire stories with lush designs and extravagant animation all brought together with some wry humour and an impish sense of fun, you should watch Vanitas. It’s a good time!

Unfortunately, the manga is on hiatus and we might not get any more of this show for a very long time which makes me sad. But let’s appreciate what we do have! I also have a short with Murr’s face on it and everyone that has seen me wear it has commented on how cool Murr is. Most of them don’t watch anime. If only they knew just how correct they are. Murr is the GOAT.

Kotaro Lives Alone

Oh my, I was not prepared for Kotaro Lives Alone. I think no one could have prepared me for Kotaro Lives Alone. It’s an insidious sort of anime in its own way. I was getting ready for a comfortable little goofball slice of life with a cute kid thrown in for good measure and before I know it, I was emotionally devastated. In a good way. Is there a good way to be emotionally devastated?

That was a trick question. There is and Kotaro Lives Alone proves it. A misleadingly thoughtful exploration of trauma and loss, framed in hope and faith for mankind. It’s a show that made me appreciate both the best and worse that life has to offer.

Kotaro is certainly not alone anymore…

The Daily Life of the Immortal King

I won’t lie, when I looked through my own aniList profile, I was extremely surprised to see that I watched the first season of The Daily Life of the Immortal King in 2022. I also watched the 2nd season. The third is airing as I write this and I can’t wait to watch it. I love this show.

I don’t use the word romp enough. Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure what it means. Regardless, I feel very confident in saying that The Daily Life of the Immortal King is a delightful romp. I hope many more seasons are ahead.

SPY x FAMILY

I had been waiting for the Spy x Family adaptation for over a year. Here’s a little story for you. Whenever I know anyone who enjoys manga and they ask me for a recommendation, or I have to get them a gift, I go straight to Spy x Family. I bought volume 1 about 6 times before the adaptation came out. And so far, everyone I have recommended it to has gone on to get everything available. It’s a 100% success rate. That has never happened before or since.

As such, when the anime was announced, it had some enormous shoes to fill. I wondered if it was even possible to live up to the hype I had created in my own head. It was, it did and it blew me away. I want to watch this show forever!

I’m writing this before the first season has even wrapped up but I’m sure there are tons of episode reviews and upcoming series reviews!

Chainsaw Man – Honorable mention

Why is Chainsaw Man an Honorable Mention? That’s because the season isn’t over as I write this. They could still screw it up. It’s a one-in-a-million chance but I like to live in a world where nothing is impossible.

Much like Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man was an adaptation that I had already read and loved the source material for. But where Spy x Family is a lovingly faithful adaptation that adds little moments here and there to really round off the story. For me, the Chainsaw Man adaptation changes an ineffable quality of the core of the story. And although I still can’t tell you if it’s actually an improvement, it is fascinating and it makes it worthwhile to experience both iterations for yourself.

Chainsaw Man can be challenging work to take in if you let it be. But it can also be mindless fun if that’s what your in for. How can I call that anything but brilliant?

12 thoughts on “Favourite Anime I Watched in 2022 (they could have come out years ago)”

  1. Thanks a lot for the link to my Vanitas review even though I haven’t resumed it in a while. You’re always so nice to a small anime blogger like me.

    Reply

  3. Ooh, so many good anime memories (I haven’t watched Immortal King or Link Click [yet?], but I enjoyed all the others a lot). I wonder what my fave is on this list. Probably either Dennou Coil or Vanitas; they’re so different and for different moods that it makes them hard to compare.

    It was a pretty good year for me; if I made top lists this year, I’d probably split out sequels for their own list, because there were so many good ones of them. I couldn’t make a list of shows I watched this year, because I can never remember what I watched when. I’d have to stick to new shows.

    I tried making a top list just for fun, but something strange happened: I wanted to put lesser shows on the list just because a lot of the ones I really enjoyed were hits and don’t really need my promotion (Spy X Family and My Dress-up Darling come to mind, but also Chainsaw Man, and even Ranking of Kings).

    I think the surprise of the year would have to go to Ao Ashi. I often try soccer anime, and I always drop them. And the first episode was really good, but it was also of the type that suggests a show I usually end up dropping. Did I drop it? No. Instead I actively want a sequel (and it’s already been a two-cour). I certainly didn’t expect that.

    With the exception of summer, this was a fairly strong year for me.

    Reply
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  6. You watched more anime than me this year, which is not a surprise, since you probably can handle subtitles.

    I on the other hand, cannot. So the difficult path for me it is, learn Japanese, and then try to understand anime characters who speak so bloody fast sometimes.

    Until then, make up with English dub. I’m quite lucky that dubs for many anime exist, though I kind of see a drought of sorts when it comes to early 2010s.

    Reply

    1. Yeah, I watched about 112 anime last year but I watch aime whil working out and also it’s the only thing I watch. And I probably watch too much…
      It’s great that English dubs have gotten readily vailable. Everything on my list can be found in English.

      Reply

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