I don’t think you bury the headline, and the headline with anime in 2022 is pretty clear-cut.  It was a better year than the last couple have been.  The best since 2019 for sure – a year which coincidentally also saw Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san creep into the 10th spot and had 12 series which I wish I could have included.  As I look at those two Top 10s side by side, I think I’d still give the nod to 2019, largely on the basis of that year having three masterpieces as opposed to two.  But after that it’s pretty even, and since 2019 was a modest reversal of an overall downward trend, I think it’s fair to say 2022 was too.

It’s certainly valid to speculate on whether an uptick – even a modest one – signifies another blip or the start of a bull market.  Honestly I’m still bearish, because the production committee system’s hold on the industry has strengthened if anything, and we’re seeing more (and a higher percentage of) cookie-cutter LN adaptations and CGDCT shows than ever.  But it can’t be denied that there are a sizable number of really elite manga slated to be adapted in 2023, just as happened in ’22.  We seem to be seeing a stratification of the system – and a weakening if the “middle-class”.

Why is this happening?  Who knows – if I had to guess, it’s because manga remains creatively very healthy.  Digitalization of the manga industry has made it easier than ever for series to be serlialized with limited financial risk, and as a result you get more creative risk.  Lots of fantastic manga are being published and read, and some of them are finding enough popularity to convince the risk-averse production committees to greenlight them.  That’s the levee against the flood of homogeneous mediocrity flooding every schedule.

Here’s the breakdown on the Top 10 list:

By Season:

– Winter 2022: 3

– Spring 2022: 4

– Summer 2022: 2

– Fall 2022: 1

By Studio:

– Bones: 1

– Kinema Citrus: 1

– MAPPA: 1

– Production +h.: 1

– Lidenfilms: 2

– Production I.G.: 1

– OLM: 1

– Pierrot Plus/Signpost: 1

– Shin-ei: 1

It’s interesting that Fall 2022 – which looked like the strongest season in years on paper – landed only one series in the top ten.  Of course there are a couple of multi-cour shows which will strongly contend in 2023, but on balance I think you’d have to say the season didn’t quite match the hype.  Spring has tended to dominate over the years (it had 60% of the 2021 list) so seeing it come out on top again is no surprise.

On the studio front, it’s only Bones and Pierrot/Signpost who carried over from 2021.  And again, that’s no shocker as they’ve both been fixtures of these lists since I started doing them.  Bones is an elite studio period (and have tended to choose their franchises very well), and little old Pierrot – often derided – has probably had more top 10 shows for me than any other studio.  What they lack in flash they make up for in the quality of material they adapt, and their ability to deliver materially faithful adaptations.  As for Lidenfilms (another underrated outfit), kudos to them for striking gold twice – and they could have a very good 2023 as well.  They seem to be a studio on the rise, and even their much-maligned visuals are definitely leveling up.

By Source Material:

– Manga: 9

– Original: 1

That, dear readers, is exactly the same breakdown as 2019-2020 – and 2021 was only different because it had one staged reading adaptation (Mars Red) crash the party.  Manga is where it’s at as a source for good anime – it’s been that way pretty much forever and honestly, it probably will be for as long as anime exists.  To be blunt the quality of “original” anime has dropped a ton in recent years – Netflix at least is spicing the soup there, and an auteur like Iso Mitsuo can certainly buck the trend (with Netflix’ money).  Originals used to be manga’s main competition but not so much anymore, and it’s always going to be unusual to see light novel or game adaptations of sufficient quality (and novel and theatrical play adaptations produced at all).

And with that, we wrap up another anime year at LiA.  My sincerest thanks to everyone who reads, comments, and supports the site – I certainly couldn’t do it without you.  Things were looking pretty dicey for a while, but the fundraising drive this summer just managed to keep LiA above water – I’m deeply grateful.  As for 2023, we have the LiA Oscars coming up in a few weeks and above and I plan to continue utilizing the YouTube side of things as much as realistically possible.  And of course I’ll be looking for new and creative ways to generate much-needed support for the site.

Now – please go vote in the year-end reader poll below!  As for the Top 10 contest, three of you made the cut by correctly naming all ten series – Samu, Eugene T., and Skidda.  Outstanding work, congrats.  Samu was the closest to picking the correct order (he missed six total places), so hew wins either a haiku of top 5 list of his choice.  But because he and I have worked and podcasted together, I feel he has a bit of an insider advantage there, so I’m going to give runner-ups Eugene and Skidda (they tied at 12 places) the same prize.  Be patient if it takes me a while!

Thanks once more, everyone, and may 2023 be a better year for all of us (I really, really mean it this time).  Stay frosty.

有難うございます!

Enzo