First Look: My Top 12 Favorite Anime from 2024 (and more!) (Patreon)

We had a lot of good anime in 2024, so here's the list of my top 12 favorites and some bonus great anime as well. If you get tired of clicking the review links, check out my anime overview collection for all of them here.  

(There are a couple anime on here I never gave an official review due to not watching during the season they were airing, and their sections are a bit longer)

Dungeon Meshi

Dungeon Meshi  is one of my favorite stories period, and easily my top anime of the year.

You've likely heard of it, but the basic premise is that a group of adventurers need to rescue a member of their party who's stuck in the bowels of a dungeon, and rather waste precious time earning money for food, they decide they'll just eat the monsters in the dungeon as they go.

The story combines cooking and adventure animanga expertly, it has meticulous and fascinating worldbuilding, top-tier character design, a great plot, it's funny as hell, it has and I love its characters dearly. It's not just about food, but the cycle of life and death, hunger of all kinds, ecosystems and societies and finding solace in the monstrous...there's a lot cooking underneath it.

While the thought put into the world is jaw dropping, and the way the plot slowly unfolds is a pleasure, the characters are always the biggest draw for me and Dunmeshi has some the best. They're eccentric loser weirdos who slowly form a strong bond, that's the good stuff, and even the characters who have five minutes of screen time feel like you could watch a spin-off series about them. The characters deepen as they go on, and as I discovered how complicated and messy and human they all are, the series really became special to me.

So, go ahead and eat up! And read my review here for more!

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 7) 

Anime's sweetest boy and his horrible cat (affectionate) are back, and it's time for more yokai adventures! I’ve already talked at length about how this series is special–check out my series review/ Rec post for the series here. I also did a professional article titled The Courage to Speak: Mental Illness and Recovery in Natsume’s Book of Friends that goes into more in-depth analysis. The story is sweet and charming and sometimes heartwrenching and very important to me.

It's yet another season of heartwarming, bitter sweet yokai tales that tug on your heartstrings, the characters continue to heal and grow in slow but satisfying ways, and it just feels so nice watching this series again and letting the love, comfort, and catharsis wash over me. See my review here.

Girls Band Cry

After being bullied, Nina drops out school and ends up starting a band with four other girls, including the woman whose music "saved" her at her darkest moment. Nina's determined for the band to be successful, hoping they can stick it to the people who looked down on them. But the girls have a lot of baggage to deal with.

GBC features some wonderfully messy and entertaining teenage girls, actually incredible CGI animation and great music. Nina, the lead, is a rare female lead who's allowed to be angry and obnoxious and powered by spite, but the narrative sympathizes with her and loves her spirit, even if she sometimes messes things up. All the girls have rough edges, but rather than sand them down, the show lets those broken pieces fit together. They also flip people off a lot. Truly, they are rock n' roll.

It was kind of screwed over by streaming, but don't sleep on it! See my review here!

Mayonaka Punch

Canceled YouTuber, Masaki, meets a pathetic lesbian vampire, Live. Live agrees to help Masaki launch a new YouTube channel, but in exchange, Masaki has to let Live suck up all her blood when they reach 100 million subscribers.

 This is the kind of stuff I watch anime for. This is what dreams are made of.

Do you support women's wrongs? Are you craving some women who are loveable shitheads? Do you want a great ensemble comedy about five disaster vampires wreaking havoc and a cynical human along for the ride? This show has all that, plus some down bad vampire lesbian shenanigans! But there's also a lot of growth for the main character, and the show has a lot of pathos in how it explores how the internet and its outrage train can do a number on one's mental health.

It's a ton of fun! See my full review here!

 Dead Dead Demon's DeDeDeDe Destruction

A giant mothership is hovering over Tokyo. The aliens have done nothing, not even leaving their ship, but Japan and America are already trying to blow that UFO up, and show off who has the best weapons, causing many civilian casualties along the way. While all this happens, two girls are just casually living their lives. But are they as normal as they appear?

This anime goes hard on criticizing the military industrial complex, Japanese nationalism and imperialism, American imperialism, xenophobia, mistreatment of immigrants, rich people, and conspiracy theorists. It has a LOT to say politically. That means it's often devastating and visceral, but it also follows some fantastic weird girls and their ride-or-die soul bond among the other charming, likeable, funny teenagers who are just trying to live in a world falling apart around them. You can also look forward to some plot twists that recontextualize everything you know!

(One thing I want to say is if you watch this anime and care about being intensely spoiled, do not watch “episode 0” until you’ve finished episode 16. It actually slots chronologically between episode 16 and 17, but for some unknown reason the anime did it out of order)

You should also see my review for some content warnings and more detail, you can read it here.

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

In this world, people have the ability to shapeshift into yatagarasu, the giant three legged ravens from Japanese mythology. Prince Wakamiya, who's next in line for the emporer, is thought to be an incarnation of the powerful "Golden Raven", so the four women chosen as his bride candidates (each who carry the hopes of their respective provinces) compete fiercely for his hand. Yukiya, a canny young boy, has been pulled into being the prince's attendant, and both Yukiya and the women soon find themselves pulled into a deadly web of mysteries and political machinations.

Yatagarasu is a tightly woven tale of political intrigue, featuring lots of palace folk plotting against each other, multiple assassination attempts, spies, fascinating worldbuilding and use of mythology, well executed plot twists, and complex characters. Yukiya is a very likeable little trickster with a heart of gold, and he works well as an audience surrogate who has to keep up with all this weird court drama. In the first season story focuses a lot on on women contending with rigid roles and how that leads to both enmity and empathy between them. But disappointingly, most of those characters are all pretty much dropped in the second half of the anime (except for one) which is a shame. One male character says shitty and condescending things sometimes (even if he's helpful to them overall), and while I don't think the show condones it, it can get annoying. It doesn't happen super often though.

Overall, this anime is a story that hooks you with it's story and never lets go. It has a deliciously dark atmosphere and it keeps you thinking. It's just plain good, and pretty underrated, so I'd suggest checking it out!

 Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

 Being a magical girl is no longer the domain of teenagers, and has evolved into an actual career dominated by adult women. Kana becomes a magical girl for a scrappy start up company, and tries her best to navigate working life.

It's the magical girl story about adult women I've been craving for years. Magical girl media often explores the struggles adolescence and growing up, but this show uses the same to explore what it’s like to be a young woman entering the working world. The focus is one Kana struggling to grow her confidence and receiving support from her workplace, but it also has a lot to say about companies exploiting their workers, prizing efficiency and growth over actually taking care of their customers, and uses Magilumiere company to show how the world could be better than what it is right now. Check out my review here for more detail!

Senpai is an Otokonoko 

Makoto is an "otokonoko" ( a term that means crossdressing boy) and he's struggling with his relationship to gender. A girl named Aoi confesses to him, thinking he's a girl. But he reveals the truth, she's ecstatic about it, much to his shock. Meanwhile, Makoto's best friend is a deeply closeted gay guy harboring a crush on him, and things are getting complicated.

It's tough to be a queer kid in a world full of rigid gender roles and insidious homophobia, and this anime shows the unfairness of that struggle. But it also shows the joy of finding those who accept and understand you, and of slowly becoming comfortable with who you are. The show knows how to make you really roots for these kids and their happiness, and it's really good at tugging the ol' heartstrings. See my review here for more!

A Sign of Affection

The anime follows Yuki, a shy girl who's been deaf since birth, and Itsuomi, a world-traveler and polyglot, fall in love. They both live in very different worlds, but as their romance blooms, they're eager to learn more about each other.

A Sign of Affection is shoujo romance at its sweetest, with soft colors, gentle blushes, tender moments, and plenty of warm fuzzies. The animation is beautiful and the story treats Yuki's perspective with care and delicacy as the story goes on. It also have a great focus on communication and consent in a relationship. Read my review here! 

The Apothecary Diaries (Episodes 13-24)

The second half of The Apothecary Diaries was somehow even better than the first half, crafting a compelling ongoing mystery and delving into MaoMao’s backstory. There were quite a few big thrills that made me gasp aloud. MaoMao pulled off some show-stopping feats as detective and hero, and she remains an incredible, endearing character. Especially now that we’ve learned she has a killer evil laugh. Check out my review of the first part of The Apothecary Diaries here and slightly more detail on this run of episodes here.

Dandadan

 Another one you've probably heard of, it's the story of two kids- Momo who was abducted by aliens and Okarun, who was cursed by a yokai. Now aliens and yokai are after them both while they try to break Okarun's curse.

Dandadan is an anime bursting with absurd action and humor, and it has a boppin’ soundtrack and amazing animation from Science Saru. It’s wildly weird in the best way, and the characters are hilarious lovable losers. It's also the rare example of a battle shonen that actually treats its female lead as an equal to her male partner, in screen time and in battle. I adore Momo with all my heart- she's fun, she's bombastic, she's badass, she's everything.

However, the main problem I have with the show is its pattern of putting her in sexual peril. I go into more detail about this and the show in general in my review here.

Train to the End of the World

 A story about four girls and a dog traveling across a weird, warped version of Japan to find their missing friend, Train to the End of the World is wild. I absolutely adore bizarre anime about equally bizarre girls, and this delivers. We see the girls encounter a cult with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen and even zombies on their journey. The dynamic between the different characters is great, and the dialogue is snappy. If you appreciate wild and weird zaniness that also has a lot of heart, give this show a try. My full review is here.

Bonus Anime:

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Despite an extremely goofy title Cherry Magic quickly became a surprisingly grounded, thoughtful and heartfelt BL romance worth watching. See my full review here.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!

Rishe has lived seven lives, had lots of adventures, and in every single one of them, she has been killed as result of the world war started by the emporer of a neighboring kingdom. Each time Rishe dies, she's sent back to the moment the crown prince broke off their engagement (he wanted her to be devastated but she's actually pretty happy about it). But in her seventh life, the future emporer is instantly smitten by how cool she is and proposes to her immediately. Rishe decides she might as well enjoy life chilling in the palace before things inevitably go to hell.

7th Time Loop is a fun concept for a story, and it features a vivacious, badass heroine who's a joy to watch. It sets the tone for what kind of person she is and how the story's heart is in the right place one of her first acts is going undercover as a maid (having experience thanks to a previous life) so she can help out a girl who's being bullied, and she arranges for the servants to learn to read. Whether it's beating up kidnappers or politically maneuvering, she's just very cool. While her love interest is too stoic and icy for me, I do deeply relate to how Rishe's badassery clearly turns him on. It's just a neat little story, even if the plot is sometimes silly (mostly the antagonist in the last few episodes made no sense), it's always a good time. A josei anime about an awesome gal is just what the doctor ordered.

Acro Trip

A silly show about a magical girl fangirl who's recruited to an evil organization by an incompetent villain,  Acro Trip is a lot of fun, and I recommend it to any magical girl enjoyer. I also recommend it to anyone who loves pathetic failguys and girls. Our "villain" Chrome is the most hilariously pathetic of them all. You like bad boys? Well this man is literally bad at everything. See my full review here.

Whisper Me a Love Song

 I have to give a shoutout to the only textual yuri anime that came out this year--it's production basically completely collapsed, but it's still watchable and the story is a sweet and solid girl band romance. At least consider giving the manga a shot if nothing else! See my review here!