One anime you won’t see in this list is Gintama. It’s not because it’s a bad show, oh far from it. Gintama is one of the greatest and most consistent anime comedies in existence. The problem is I’m stalled at episode 70 and I haven’t gotten a Crunchyroll membership yet. What’s stopping me is the fact that, thanks to region restrictions, I get only a fraction of the anime an American would get for exactly the same price! But I’m starting to give in. I really want to watch Gintama again.
Source
A Grade: One of the tops of the year. Get ready for some fanboying here
A- Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Sorry, even with episode 19 it’s still not as good as the first season. But what an episode 19 was! Mustang’s ‘I sealed it with fire’ was quite possibly the single most manly line I’ve ever heard. That had to be one of the single greatest episodes of anime I have ever seen. Come to think of it, the first season never produced an episode of that quality. More of the same please FMA.
B Grade: Hugely entertaining stuff. Not amazing but definitely worth watching
B+ Bakemonogatari
With Bakemonogatari, Shaft have finally stopped being the studio I know I should like and have become the studio I fucking love. OK, maybe not quite that much or else this would be an A, but Bakemono is by far the best Shaft production. However I do wish Shinbo would calm down a bit. Do we really need real life arms getting stapled gradually across the screen? It doesn’t add anything Shinbo, please calm down a bit.
B+ Spice and Wolf
I was a bit annoyed at the end of Amarty’s arc. It made the earlier freak-out by Horo have a lot less significance. Probably a good thing all the same, this show would be nothing if Horo and Lawrence weren’t together, flirting at every available opportunity. Wonder if there will be another season of this?
B Pandora Hearts
It will never reach the dizzy heights of sheer brilliance thanks to Xebec’s lackluster directing, but as this anime draws ever closer to it’s ending, I’m realising just how much I’ve been enjoying this. Alice, Gil, Oz, Break. I’m really going to miss those guys when this anime ends. BTW, I heard that the last 3 episodes will be anime original so that screws any chance for a second season.
B- Cross Game
Just because it’s legal to marry your cousin doesn’t mean incest suddenly becomes acceptable. Why oh why Japan are you so accepting of incest? I don’t think it should be illegal or anything, but you get weird inbreeding results. Aobaneeds to shove that guy off a mountain ASAP. Otherwise it’s just another week in the good old reliable Cross Game.
B- Hetalia Axis Powers
Hetalia is never going to be the great comedy I hoped it would be at the start of it’s airing, but as far as spending 5 minutes of your day goes, I can certainly think of worse ways. Plus my Hetalia posts consistently get mountains of hits every week and it’s pretty fun to blog. I’m still waiting to hear Russia’s version of the ending song though.
C Grade: It’s good enough to keep watching but it’s not that memorable
C+ Sora no Manimani
I’m being a bit harsh on Sora no Manimani but I don’t think it’s on the same level as Cross Game and Hetalia. It’s still fun though although I’m having to accept that Hime will never have any luck in her romantic capture of Saku. Somebody please give Hime some love! She bloody well deserves it.
C+Umineko
Look, it’s badly written and Deen’s directing has always been a bit suspect. Still, I really want to see where they’re going with Umineko, although I just don’t understand Battler’s train of thought. How can he not believe in a witch that is in the process of changing history and make red words spin around him? I must be missing something in all this…
C- Guin Saga
According to ‘Scampstotallyaccuratestatcounter.com’, Guin Saga has only produced one quality episode out of the last 8. Heck, this anime just hasn’t been the same since the Nospherus arc ended. The main reason for this is how completely hopeless this anime is at making believable romance. Yes, Istovan and Rinda, I’m looking at you two. Sorely needs more Guin, and quick.
D Grade: I’ve lost interest in this anime. If it’s a D then I’ve probably dropped it
D Tokyo Magnitude
Before Tokyo Magnitude, I would be all for realism in my anime. It’s funny what one series can do, I really wish there were some wackier characters or random shit or anything else happening in this anime. In the end I dropped it. I just couldn’t care for what happens to the characters anymore.
D- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya
I was never that big of a fan of Haruhi but the Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody episode managed to get me excited or this new season. Humph, even this new arc isn’t great. Thing is, Haruhi is undroppable, if you want to stay in the otaku-in-crowd and get all those random references. Meh, I guess Kyon makes this anime worth it.
E Grade: Unlike D grades where I drop out of disinterest, E grades are dropped in Disgust.
E+ Canaan
Do you know when you see this girl who looks really hot from behind? You spend ages waiting for her to finally turn around until you suddenly realise she has this dog-ugly face? Canaan is the girl in question and the ugly face is the plot. What sort of retard made that crap up? I mean really.
F Grade: Any F standard anime I would only watch 1 or 2 episodes of so god only know how an anime could last to the end of the month and still get an F but I’m sure it will happen some day
I watched Texhnolyze recently. That was pretty bad but even that was only worthy of an E-. F grade anime just don’t come along that often.
blindability
Brian
Poro
jGLZA
Loba
TeamZer0
thaivuN
Bokutachi no BLOG 
wow really nice site!
Nice roundup, if you’re curious about Russia’s ending the preview has been released.
If you don’t mind spoiling yourself with Russia’s Marukaite Chikyuu before it’s used in the show, click on website.
Bah, late. :p
I will catch up with the new FMA sometime soon. I swear.
Yeah, Guin Saga is carried by Guin and Guin alone, well maybe some Uematsu music, but has glaring weakenesses everywhere else. Which is why I dropped the show at the end of the Nopherus arc. In the eternal words of Jim Rome, “[when the cat is] lighting up suckers”,“knocking out chumps”, and “smoking fools”, Guin Saga’s a lot of fun.
God, Haruhi blows. The new material isn’t actually new material, just going over stuff that already happened and stuff. Sounds like glorified recap episodes to me. And they’re stretching the material so much while they’re at it.
A little bit of hint for Umineko:
The box has not yet been opened, why are you so sure that the cat is dead.
@blackcatme
Umm…thanks? Try to say a bit more next time you comment though
@moeronpan grunty
Nooeeesss, don’t ruin it for me!
@kadian1364
You probably picked the best time to drop Guin. Some of the episodes at the start of the next arc are good, but really you’ve seen all the best bits.
As for FMA, my best advise would be to ignore the angry commenters on random sites. It’s kind of frustrating if all you get is either ‘nowhere near as good as the original’ or those stupid manga fanboys who complain that it’s not an exact adaptation of their holy scripture, usually spoiling you in the process.
@Veldril
Cryptic hint is cryptic
Funny thing you mention Texhnolyze since I was just about to start it (okay, I started it, but got distracted through the first episode…)
Have you finished watching it?
I don’t want to spoil the fun so I try to make it as cryptic as possible. But you will see why Battler can deny magic later on.
@Fai
Nah, I only watched 2 episodes. The soundtrack was amazing but as you can see from the score I gave it, I didn’t like it at all. It’s hopelessly boring.
@Veldril
Ohoho, I’m looking forward to that. Although no more hints please. I’ve had to stop reading Umineko blogs thanks to spoilers.