Ah, the second 10. A very important group in assessing the year as a whole, as I note every year. In the end I always think the quality of the best series tells us more about the year than anything – were the top few shows really deserving of that? But #11-20 probably tells us more about the depth than the first ten does.

By that measure 2024 comes out looking pretty good. I’m usually not sure until I start compiling, but this time around I was a bit surprised by how good the second ten was. The top 10 is probably about average, I would say – this group a bit above. There were a couple of series on this list that were very serious candidates for the top 10, and I think you go about 15 or 16 deep with really good shows – shows that might have cracked the big list in weaker years. After that the dropoff is pretty steep, but I’ll take that kind of result with no complaints.

Let’s roll out a pretty strong group of anime:

11. Kingdom Season 5 – Kingdom is as reliable as it gets (the newest manga volume just released and is doing the usual gangbuster sales). It was very close to cracking the top ten, as a few earlier seasons have – and the ones that missed did so barely. I’d say this was about an average season by Kingdom standards, and that means it was very good indeed.

12. Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka – 365 Days to the Wedding likewise barely missed. In fact it was probably a slight favorite going into the final weekend, but I don’t think the ending was up to the level of the series best stuff – not a disaster by any means, just not wholly satisfying. And as we all know, endings are important. Still, a very solid showing in a weak year for romcoms (with a very notable exception, of course).

13. The Fable – It took a while for The Fable to really hook me, but when it did I was fully hooked. A series that got consistently better over the course of its run, which is always something to celebrate. Pretty cheap on the production side but had a few interesting stylistic flourishes, and an outstanding voice cast. Akira was one of the more interesting and strange protagonists of 2024, and the overall take on the yakuza struck me as about the most realistic (not that I’d know) we’ve seen in anime in recent years (and that covers a lot of shows – it’s a popular theme).

14. Ooi! Tonbo 2nd Season – It’s technically not over – there’s a recap ep airing this week which some think is a precursor to a third season – but that’s a formality, it’s a 2024 series. The second season was just as good as the first, which was great. But what was really remarkable is that it was completely different. A sports anime that went from zero competition to almost nothing but, and didn’t lose a step – that’s impressive.

15. Negaposi Angler – It’s always nice to see original series make a splash, and this was an excellent one. It was a strong year for series about working adults, especially the fall season. This one really did stick the landing, too. I don’t care much about fishing but the human story here was excellent (and it made fishing kind of interesting too).

16. Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! – Two light novel adaptations in the first 16 – one cracking the top ten – makes this a strong year for LN series in my eyes. I really liked Makeine, especially its smart take on introversion and the myriad ways in which it can manifest itself. While it does so with cleverness and a wink, this show still works within genre and medium tropes – and as long as that’s the case, its upside is slightly limited. But for a romcom LN, it’s a true gem.

17. Sousou no Frieren – 2024’s biggest commercial breakout was certainly ticketed for a higher finish for a while. But the seemingly endless mage exam arc was to a large extent a whiff as far as I’m concerned – a how-to on how not to riff on the Hunter Exam arc. Still, the best moments here were excellent, most of them when the show was reflective and melancholy. And as with Too Many Losing Heroines, it’s only a question of time until we get a second season (though the manga’s increasingly serious hiatus situation is troubling).

18. Ramen Akaneko – This one already got its S2 announcement at Jump Festa, and it was very much welcome. A thoroughly delightful series, and with cats and ramen as its center it always had a leg up with me. Now if only the place really existed – I’d be there three times a week.

19. Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid 3rd Season – The fact that Shingami Bocchan’s adaptation was a cheap CGI affair shouldn’t bother me in the context that this modestly popular romcom got a full and faithful adaptation at all. But it does, a little. Be that as it may it’s a charming story with a loveable main pair, and the third season was the best since it had the best material (including a banger ending) to work with.

20. Tensui no Sakuna-hime – Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin certainly came out of nowhere in the sense that I didn’t cover it. That happens sometimes – a show will sneak up on me and into the second 10. Who knew rice farming games even existed, much less ones getting anime adaptations? But Sakuna really grew on me, especially when it was fully slice-of-life and focused on the rice cultivation stuff rather than conventional conflict-resolution plot. Happily – and surprisingly, at least to me – a sequel has been announced.