Here are my favourites, and I've included a short description to explain what it is that I like about them. Starting at the top:-
Mysterious Girlfriend X ・ 謎の彼女X ・
なぞのかのじょえくす2012, 13 episodesRomance about a boy falling in love for the first time. The series tries to explore the boy's emotions and to that end uses allegory, metaphor and unlikely storylines. If the allegory, metaphor and unlikely storylines don’t work for you, this series will probably just seem like it's being deliberately weird; but if it
does work for you, it's all rather lovely and--if you're old enough, anyway--very nostalgic. I'm especially fond of the voice that seiyuu Ayako Yoshitani gives to Urabe, the mysterious girlfriend of the title.
Wandering Son ・ 放浪息子 ・
ほうろうむすこ2011, 12 episodesDrama about a young boy who wants to be a girl. Transgendered characters occur regularly in anime, but this series gives the subject serious treatment rather than using it as a quirky plot device. This is a sensitive and thoughtful production, with beautiful animation and a great theme song (
For You by Rie Fu).
You and Me ・ 君と僕 ・
きみとぼく2011, 12 episodes; 2012, 13 episodesComedy about everyday life for a group of five boys who have hung around together since kindergarten. Nothing very extraordinary happens and the story remains rooted in reality: the boys hang around together, try to think of ways to entertain themselves and bicker constantly. Funny, with plenty of deadpan humour.
Durarara ・ デュラララ
2010, 26 episodesFantasy about various improbable characters living in modern day Ikebukuro, following how their lives get drawn together and intertwine largely as a result of the scheming of a manipulative information broker. Each episode tends to focus on how the unfolding plot appears from a single character's point-of-view, a potentially convoluted and ponderous way of telling the story that actually works very well. The biggest drawback of this series is that it doesn't have a very satisfying ending, but this is easily forgiven as the twenty-odd episodes leading there are inventive and very entertaining.
HanaSaku Iroha ・ 花咲くいろは ・
はなさくいろは2011, 26 episodesDrama about a teenage girl who moves out of Tokyo to live with her grandmother at the traditional hot-spring inn that she runs. The first two or three episodes are a bit shaky, but then it finds its feet and settles down into an upbeat, slice-of-life story. It can drag a little at times, and the series would have benefited from being a little shorter; but the traditional setting is very appealing and, for me anyway, made up for the occasional slowness.
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