I'm pretty sure I've still seen more Anime from 2017 then any other single year. It was in late 2016 I started following Seasonal Anime. So even 2017 shows I actually didn't watch till last year I still usually did in part because of the impact 2017 left on my memory.
The various Anime of 2017 will be having their Seventh Anniversaries this year which makes this a good time to revisit stuff from that year. Both what objectively stood the test of time and what seemingly only I still think about.
You don't need at least a full Decade to start becoming Nostalgic for something, I started feeling oddly Nostalgic for 2017 during 2020. And in 2022 we started getting unexpected sequels to seemingly forgotten 2017 shows suggesting it wasn't just me.
The first time I devoted a post on this blog to talking about how I'd seen so much of 2017 was in 2019 where I talked about ranking Anime from that year with presumably less of a recency bias then the usually trend of talking the immediate prior year. In hindsight that year still had a bit of a recency bias at least in my mind. Now we are truly in a time when 2017 can be considered too old to be current but not old enough to be Retro.
But I've also realized I don't like ranking things, most things I like I like about the same and/or for different reasons which makes me not like comparing them. I'm also way to easy to please for my assessment on whether something is worth watching or not to be considered all that credible to anyone who even slightly agrees with the sentiment that most seasonal Anime is forgettable mediocrity at best. There is rarely anything I Completed I will not consider wroth recommending in some way, or even much of anything I dropped I can't see redeeming qualities in.
So instead I want to comment on shows from 2017 I watched with more of a focus on what kind of appeal they have so readers can try to guess if it'd appeal to them or not.
I'm also torn between trying to cover all of 2017 in this post or just focusing on the Winter Season and saving the rest for future posts. I decided to compromise, the last section of this post will try to cover everything from Winter 2017 I've seen, but first I'll comment on a couple from later seasons at the top of my mind right now, with the option to revisit them in a post more properly about their season later.
Unless said otherwise everything should be on Crunchyroll (except the movie they're rarely streaming anywhere). Also there is probably an English Dub unless I say there isn't or it's a PreCure.
First of all the last post I made in 2023 included a comment on the second season of In Another World With My Smartphone, which I found mildly disappointing for perhaps unfair reasons, but I still stand by season 1 as a perfectly fun show that doesn't deserve how often it gets dismissed as the posterchild for generic disposable Isekai. If you're one of those people who've become more tolerant of Isekai over the last few years rather then less you should maybe give it a second chance. Land of Leadale had the same director so if you enjoyed it you'll probably have some fun with Smartphone. If in general you like more Slice of Life Isekai that are not even pretending to be about some Epic adventure then Smartphone might be for you. And it was the first Isekai to openly take a Poly resolution to it's Harem long before even that became a trend.
Re:Creators has been on my mind a lot since I finally watched it. It's most remembered among followers of AniTube for Mother's Basement declaring it an "Instant Classic", and I now agree that it should have been. I blame the fact that it was behind Amazon's double Pay Wall at the time and also how it still doesn't have a Dub, the later is the reason I didn't watch it till last year. I've already talked about it on this Blog in the context of Kuudere being Stoics and Auteur Theory, and I added it to one older post where it's be a spoiler for me even say it was relevant to that. If you are at all into Meta Anime, Anime about Anime, it's one of the best of the last Decade. If you are a fan of the Magical Girl Genre is has a character who should definitely check out. I as a DC Nerd also compare it to Crisis on Infinite Earths in a few ways. It's still only legally on Amazon PrimeVideo but fortunately now it's included in the standard subscription, same one that gives you free shipping and a bunch of other shows.
Classroom of The Elite is perhaps worth commenting on now since it's season 3 is airing this season, I mentioned that show already in my first post of 2024. I plan on waiting to Binge season 3 till all of it is Dubbed and may rewatch seasons 1 and 2 right before then. If you like shows that more revolve around characters trying to outsmart each other then action it's a decent entry in that genre, I think it holds up better then say Talentless Nana.
And now to breaking down the Winter of 2017.
There is one carry over from Fall 2016, Trickster, which I Dropped after 16 episodes, so I saw at least some from 2017, but yeah the middle of the show bugged me. But I clearly enjoyed something if I got that far. It's a Detective Show with some ambiguous Yaoi and at least one supernatural element.
Akiba's Trip is one of the shows I didn't watch till last year, and shockingly I don't think I even recall hearing about it at the time. It was perhaps the last time doing an Anime about being set in Akiba could work, in some ways it feels like a product of an older era. It should NOT be considered a Vampire show though a couple weird details of the Pilot might trick some into thinking it is. It's a fun show I think anyone who self identifies as an Otaku should watch.
Masamune-Kun's Revenge is a show I'd watched some of at the time but didn't finish till years later and still haven't watched it's recent second season. It's a RomCom who's MAL plot description is pretty accurate. It sticks in my memory mainly because a few scenes setting up the Female Lead in the Pilot I find actually quite Sexy in a way this genre of Anime rarely is, however if you too start to like her because of your Femdom Fetish you will be disappointed by the rest of it.
The Saga of Tanya The Evil gets grouped in with Isekai on a technicality but it's vibes and appeal are very different. If you are into Fantasy or Sci-Fi with a WWI inspired setting you should check it out. The main protagonist is someone a Leftist should not ideologically agree with but is fun to watch anyway.
Fuuka is definitely an underrated hidden gem of this season. It's a good Romance Anime about characters starting a Band. The issue is the first 2 and a half episodes contain some Fanservice the likes of which the rest of the show will not have, I ask people interested in the premise to trust me on this, most of the show will not be like that.
Little Witch Academia is one of the two 10/10s in the Winter season. It's Harry Potter but good actually, but in truth more comparable to some of the Magic School stories that predate Harry Potter being an All Girls School. I also recommend it to people who like My Little Pony Friendship is Magic or TumblrCore Western Animation. I do kinda recommend seeing the OVAs first even though they are a different continuity. This one is a Netflix Exclusive.
Gabriel Dropout doesn't have an English Dub but that's fine, it's the kind of show that is easier for me to watch Subbed then something like Re;Creators so I watched it pretty close to when it aired. It is a comedic Slice of Life show that produced a lot of funny Memes at the time.
ACCA: 13 Territory Inspection Dept. is a show a lot of people found boring at the time but I enjoyed it. It's a show about Bureaucracy but has some interesting world building and politics. However it will never be an action show.
ChaoS;Child is the other 10/10, it's a SciADV show that does get Dark but is also worth it. Now on CR the first episode will look like it's hour long because they crammed into the same video file Episode 0 which is really a recap of ChaoslHEad, I've always skipped that part on the rewatch. I've talked about Chaos; shows on this Blog before.
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid was a very funny well animated Yuri show that doesn't need me to explain it's appeal. I wasn't able to enjoy season 2 but season 1 regardless is still a classic.
Scum's Wish is a fun sexy show about people being emotionally messy, not unlike why I like Rumbling Hearts. This one is on HIDIVE.
Monster Girl Quest doesn't have a Dub and isn't on CR since it's a Hentai, a rare Femdom Hentai which I recommend even though I found the ending disappointing. It's not the only Hentai I've seen from the Winter of 2017 but the others aren't worth mentioning.
I've seen only a few episodes of KiraKira PreCure (I only list one on MAL since I add only what I've seen consecutively from the beginning there), it's one of the PreCures I struggle to get into even though I do like it's HaruMi inspired couple. I did also see the Dream Stars movie but don't remember much about it besides Red Haired Haruka flirting with some Go Princess background characters. The series is on CR now but the movies aren't. Also not on CR is Mahoutsukai Precure which ended during this season and which I did see more of, it's gimmick was kind of Precure Harry Potter.
Speaking of movies, I enjoy SAO Ordinal Scale but wouldn't recommend it to anyone not already into SAO as a series. Lupin III Geomon Ishikawas' Blood Spray is a very cool movie just like the other films in the Koike Trilogy.
And the Washio Sumi movies are probably the better way to watch the Washio Sumi story of the Yuki Yuna Is A Hero franchise, but they aren't Dubbed.
Napping Princess is a very good stand alone movie I watched Dubbed on Tubi.TV but it's not there anymore, it isn't on any Streaming App now but can be digitally purchased on PrimeVideo, VUDU or Apple. I'm not sure how to describe this kind of Anime film, if you enjoyed The Girl Who Lept Through Time or the last three Makoto Shinkai films you should probably check it out.
Update January 6th: Since I first wrote this I just watched Tales of Zestiria The X the second season or cour of which aired in Winter 2017, though the last episode was in late April for some reason. It's a pretty good show, Fantasy and not even quasi Isekai, some may complain about how it uses CGI but it's nothing compared Luminaria or Chainsawman. My favorite character is Princess Alisha who's one of those Anime Princesses that is basically Padme Amidala but better.
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