The Year that was 2017

As the hours tick by, creeping closer to the end of the year that was 2017, I would like to make this post as a moment to look back on the year that was 2017 and what a year it has been. One of my biggest highlights blogging wise for me came near the end of the year when I finally decided and was able to join the OWLS blogging group. I had read too many to name amazing blog posts from this group throughout the year and found myself wanting to take part. In doing so I have met some of the most amazing anibloggers and I want to send out a big thank you to all of you for accepting me into the group!

2017 was an awesome year for anime for me and even though I did not get a chance to review all the awesome anime from this year that I wanted to, the ones I did manage to review I loved how they turned out. It is because of that, that I have ended up with two favorites this year out of my posts.

The first is my review of Hitorijime My Hero . This was one of the anime I had the most fun watching this year and as soon as I finished watching the final episode I was already planning out and began typing up my review of it. Though I have seen some hate from the fujoshi community for it not be an accurate adaptation of the source material I still loved this series. I also stand by what I said in the review about this being an awesome gateway anime for boys love newbies.

Now my second favorite post this year, was one that I put a lot of research into and that research was into some very disturbing subjects, that being child sexual abuse and mental issues that can arise from that kind of trauma. I am of course talking about my analysis of Boku no Pico. Not one of my most popular posts I know, but it was something I had been wanting to write about for a long time. I wanted to go beyond the anime community meme that it had become and take a serious look at the OVA series. The end result was a post that I was so proud of.

As for my favorite anime of the year, well that is a really tough choice. I loved season 2 of both My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan as well as the third season of Food Wars. The new season of Laughing Salesman titled Laughing Salesman New was one anime I absolutely adored and that theme song? I still hum it to myself. But found myself disappointed there were not many people talking or writing about and I cannot forget Quan Zhi Gao Shou / The King’s Avatar , this was the E-sports anime I had been waiting for and I loved every minute of this show, plus it was the first Chinese anime I had ever watched. The Ancient Magus Bride still has me absolutely absorbed in its world, but if I had to choose one stand out anime for me this year it would be the series that I honestly was not expecting to enjoy and be enthralled with as much as I was.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie was not what I was expecting it to be. Looking back I don’t know what I was expecting from it, except maybe that it would hold my attention for a couple episodes and then I would grow bored and move on. I was kind of worried this would turn into another trapped in the gaming world type stories except maybe the main character was just an addicted gamer so they were not physically in the world but still addicted to the game kind of, I hope that makes sense. What I got was a series that looked at why people become obsessed with these types of games as well as a very sweet little touch of romance, I mean look at Morioka and Sakurai’s interactions together it is way beyond adorable. In fact they are my favorite couple of the year!

The year outside of anime, was a scary one for me. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before but I live in Australia and my partner lives in England, in the London area and you probably already know where this is going. 22nd of March, the Westminster terror attack. 22nd of May Manchester Arena bombing at an Ariana Grande concert. 3rd of June, London Bridge and Borough Market attack. June 19, van hits pedestrians outside of a Mosque. September 15 Blast on London Underground train. It got to the point this year that my heart sank every time I heard London mentioned on the news. So many times I wished I had the money to fly to London and be by his side or have the money to bring him here to Australia just to know he is safe. The world grew a lot scarier and darker this year and I’m not even going to touch what as been going on between President Trump and North Korea.

I also saw the most disappointing movie I was anticipating this year and I knew when the end credits rolled that this would be the worse movie of the year for me. It was a muddled train wreck that seem to shit on the old school fans of the franchise and I am not talking about Ghost in the Shell. Transformers The Last Knight was a complete fucking train wreck and this is coming from a transformers fan who had been enjoying the live action movies as there own stand alone fun I can even pin point the moment I realized this movie was going to be shit. A cybertronian scrap dealer arrives where the Autobots were living I think and offered to sell them Starscream’s head. This felt like a big fuck you to the fans like me that wanted to see him back. The movie just went downhill from their with barely a flowing plot, and calling a plot feels too much and they gave Hotrod a french accent? Really? The only good thing in the movie was Cogman. I’m done with the live action Transformers movies. I’m sticking to the comics from now on.

Ghost in the Shell for a long time this year was in the running for my favorite movie of the year. Yep I said it. I loved the live action Ghost in the Shell movie. I enjoyed the different take on the franchise and felt that though it was a different story being told it still held true to the themes of the original series, something I know a lot of other people don’t agree with. I first watched the movie at home with my mum who also loves a good scifi story. I went in as a fan of the franchise and she went in not knowing anything about the series and we both loved it. If I had written this post a week ago, Ghost in the Shell would have been my favorite movie of the year. Last weekend changed that for me however as me and my mum once again sat down and watched a movie we had both been wanting to see since we saw the trailer for it months ago. We sat down and watched Victoria and Abdul.

I’m not going to go too much into the plot of this one because this is a movie you want to go in kind of blind, but if you enjoy stories of friendship that go beyond class you need to watch this movie. Judi Dench is absolutely brilliant as Queen Victoria and brings some of the best humor in this movie. You will laugh, you will cry and you will get angry as well and you will leave this movie deep in thought.

I want to end this rather long post on a happier note. My favorite song to listen to this year was not released this year. It was released all the way back in 1999 and it is ‘Bring it All Back’ by S Club 7. The positive lyrics and just plain fun of it has helped me smile throughout this year. It has been a rollercoaster of a year but like every year before it I feel like I have learned a lot about the world, about anime and yaoi and about myself. This was my 2017 and I am looking forward to a good year next year in 2018.

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