15 Best Anime of Winter 2017

2017 started off with a bang of new anime shows that had captivated every anime fan’s eyes. However, it’s hard to decide what to watch and what to not, when you have about hundreds of new shows with clever titles and plots that most of us, not Japanese, don’t understand. But fear not, here we are to cater some of the best anime shows that clearly needs some affection from us, anime fans.

With that, we head to our winter seasonal anime list where I enumerate fifteen of the best anime that I’ve seen so far. Meaning, this will be my personal list of favorites on this season; thus, you can freely add your favorite anime in the comments section below right after reading this article. Furthermore, numbers beside each title are for navigational purposes and stand no meaning. So, without further ado, we will start our list, beginning with:

On our first entry, here is “Konosuba.” Short for “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!” which in English means “God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!”

The much-awaited comeback did not disappoint me as the second season is consistent with the story and quirkiness of our leads, Megumin, Aqua, Darkness and Kazuma.

Konosuba is a story where Kazuma, our main hero hilariously died when he tried to save a girl from a farm tractor. He then wakes up in a purgatory where he meets Aqua, a water goddess that gave him two options to continue his forsaken life. One, go straight to heaven or two, transfer into the parallel world where he can defeat a dark lord - a realistic setting from a fantasy game. Kazuma takes the second option but getting Aqua as a tool on the conquest. To summarize, Kazuma and Aqua needs to form a guild, get members and level-up so that they can defeat the dark lord. However, things turned out not as planned as they recruited two weird cuties: Megumin, an explosion-obsessed wizard, and Darkness, a masochistic knight. The second season describes what happened after they defeated the “Destroyer” from the first season.

Going to our second entry is “Akiba’s Trip,” which was set on Akihabara, a place in Japan full of anime stores, anime fans, and cosplayers.

One day, a group of villains known as “Bugged Ones” begins terrorizing the marketplace, clinging to every patron’s social energy and life force. However, Bugges Ones had a weakness; when exposed to the air, they vanish. The only thing one can do this is by stripping off their clothes.

Tamotsu Denkigai, our male protagonist, is a regular at the place but in an unfortunate event, he encountered Bugged Ones, which eventually killed him. But he was revived by our female lead, Matome Mayonaka, a half-human half-Bugged One. Together with their friend Arisa Ahokainen, a girl with extraordinary strength, and Tamotsu’s little sister, Niwaka Denkigai, they fought the villains calling themselves as “Electronic Mayonnaise.”

Fun fact, though, the title "Akiba's Trip" is a wordplay of "Akiba" short term for Akihabara and "Strip" which apparently means to strip off clothes. Therefore, the title itself tells the basic plot of the anime, in two ways.

Our third entry, the “Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga” is the new addition to the ever popular “Blue Exorcist” franchise. In this season, our main lead, son-of-Satan Rin Okumura, and his exorcist friends go to the Kyoto division to protect the biggest embodiment of evil in history from being stolen.

Despite being the son-of-Satan himself, Rin does good deeds. However, when his friends found out about it, they’ve developed fear and distanced themselves from him. Nevertheless, Rin struggles to keep his cool as he practiced controlling his Blue Flames under the supervision of Shura Kirigakure. Secrets will unveil and more powerful monsters await our exorcists in this much-awaited season!

Acceptance and respect to demi-humans are portrayed in our fourth entry “Interviews with Monster Girls.”

It is a story wherein; demi-humans or monsters are accepted by the society and even given welfare. However, there’s so much lack of information about them, and that is the mission of our male protagonist, biology teacher Tetsuo Takahashi. He spent his studies on demi-humans but never had the chance to talk to them. Fortunately, as the new semester starts, he meets some “demis” Hikari Takanashi, a vampire; Kyouko Machi, a dullahan (a creature where the head is separated from the body); Yuki Kusakabe, a snow-woman, and his co-teacher the erotic succubus Sakie Satou. Tetsuo is keen in knowing their real biology, how they reproduce, how they perceive love and other things, but ends of up on a different road as his interviewees show affection to him.

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Going down on our fifth entry is a perfect example mixture of cuteness and comedy “Gabriel Dropout.”

Angels are creatures supposed to show the responsibility of doing good deeds, but that is not the case of our main heroine, Gabriel Tenma White. She became so attached to life on Earth that she became a lazy and old shut-in. However, things are about to change when Vignette Tsukinose April, her devil friend that she would be put back in Heaven if she continues her misdeeds, so she attended school. But, things are not so different since Gabriel tends to dislike human existence and adding to ordeal is her self-described rival Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell, which annoys her every day.

Fighting through our sixth entry, here is “Gintama.” Every typical anime fan knows Gintama and knows how hilarious this anime is. For those who don’t know Gintama, it is an anime where main characters, Gintoki Sakata, Kagura and Shinpachi Shimura, accept every job that pays them. But in this season, things are a little bit different as their organization “Yorozuya (Odd Jobs)” gone out of business. The reason is that a crisis had arisen and Gin takes on a mission of killing his former mentor, which became a monster. However, Gin needs help, so his former colleagues Kotarou Katsura, and Sakamoto Tatsuma joins forces to exterminate the evil that roots through the "Harusame," a group taken over by their former mentor, Yoshida Shoyou.

Gintama once again will amaze and make us laugh out off our butts with their new addition. If you are willing to follow through this season, you must watch episodes 1 to 316 first. That would take some time, but it’s worth it.

Flying on our seventh entry is “Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.” This cunning anime sets dragons and its powers on a different scale of being a household maid.

Kobayashi, our main protagonist, lives alone in her apartment when one day a mysterious dragon appeared in front of her apartment then turned into a human. Despite being shocked, she lets her inside her apartment. There, Kobayashi was told that she made a promise to live with Tooru, the dragon when she was drunk. However, Tooru is different from humans; she’s a beast; thus her values vary considerably from us. To repay Tooru’s debt to Kobayashi, she learns human traits and lives with her. Again, things got a little bit out of hand whenever Tooru unleashes her tantamount dragon prowess.

We’re in our eighth entry, and we’ll turn up the heat with “Scum’s Wish.”

Our main hero and heroine, Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya, both 17-year-olds share a common secret; they are in love with someone who unfortunately doesn’t romantically love them back. Besides, that someone we’re talking about seems to be infatuated with each other. Hurt by that reality, Hanabi and Mugi formed a pretentious relationship wherein; they develop delusions of their true loved-ones in the shape of themselves. Lovesick and depresses, they lean into each other, exchanging kisses and hugs but with the absence of real love. How far can they go in this state? Will it be that their play turns into something serious? Find out as this anime is still on-going and I would love to see how things will work.

Our ninth entry “Youjo Senki: Saga of Tanya the Evil,” re-imagines war times with magic.

Tanya Degurechaff is not your average cute little girl. She is a monster. She seems to be the reincarnation of a Japanese salesman who challenged “Being X,” the God. From her previous life, she is a man. A man who can fire employees with ease. A man who can do whatever evil, just to live. However, this was about to change when Being X changed his destiny, killed him and reincarnated him as Tanya. Now, Tanya possessed the ultimate power of magic. The imperial army recruited Tanya as one of the elites. Even though she is 9-years-old, she was put on the front lines. She will prioritize efficiency over relationships and will kill whoever stands in her way.

If you are into magic, then our tenth entry “Little Witch Academia” suits you.

This Harry Potter-like anime is a story of Akko Kagari, an ordinary human who successfully enrolled into a famous witch academy Luna Nova Academy. Akko was inspired by Shiny Chariot, a famous witch with extraordinary abilities than an average witch. However, years passed, and Shiny Chariot went missing. Her known magic staff appeared out of nowhere when Akko and her friends were stuck in a mysterious forest.

Despite being an average human, Akko is keen in making her dreams come true, competing with real witches and making friends in the academy.

Sweet vengeance in the making are the best words to describe our eleventh entry “Masamune-kun's Revenge.”

Masamune Makabe is once a chubby little kid with many bullies and a rich female kid, Aki Adagaki saved him once. But, Masamune doesn’t know that the salvation was a façade. He does not know that his once sided feeling leaves him traumatized for life and earned him the nickname “Pig’s Foot.”

Now in high school, Masamune changed his lifestyle and developed a hot bod. Confident about his new appearance, Masamune plans to extract his revenge on his nemesis Aki. With the help of Aki’s assistant, Yoshino Koiwai, Masamune begins to build his relationship with Aki, intending to break her heart when the time is right. But things get out of hand when Masamune starts to question his real objectives and what his heart truly desires.

Our twelfth entry “Urara Meirochou” is best described as a supernatural slice-of-life anime. Urara Meirochou's fantasy setting shows Japan’s rich culture of fortune-telling.

Chiya used to live in the wilderness. Now that she is fifteen, she wanders into the Labyrinth Town to pursue fortune-telling and finding her mother. But being grown outside the town, she’s clueless of what to do. Chiya then receives help from fellow fortune-telling aspirant Kon Tatsumi. Later the two meets Koume and the shy Nono. Now, their simple life of fortune-telling training starts and can Chiya truly finds her mother? Find out in this cute and refreshing anime.

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From the makers of Amagami SS, here is our thirteenth entry “Seiren.”

Seiren is a story of Shoichi Kamita, a high school student who struggles to pass the college entrance exam. As previously said, this anime relays the same format as Amagami SS, meaning the protagonist Shoichi shares different mutual relationships with multiple heroines but not at the same time. Each story is unique and does not overlap, so this anime can’t be considered harem.

We will now go to our fourteenth entry, “Fuuka” a romance anime with a twist of musicianship.

Yuu Haruna, our male protagonist, is a simple high schooler who love to use Twitter. His life changed when he bumped into a girl named Fuuka Akitsuki, who unfortunately accuse Yuu of taking a picture of her panties. Fuuka’s rage leads to the point of destroying Yuu’s phone, his primary device in accessing Twitter. Later, Yuu grabbed a replacement phone and met Fuuka again at the school’s rooftop. He tries to settle the misunderstanding, but, Fuuka accused him again of pervasive actions and threw his phone from the roof.

Fuuka then realized that what she did was too much and tries to reconcile with Yuu. She helped Yuu, find his phone but to no effect. But, this event leads to an even greater relationship between the two of them. They became close but when Yuu’s childhood friend, an idol, Tama entered the scene, what will happen to their developing relationship?

Let’s go into the world of politics with our fifteenth anime, “ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department.”

Dowa is a kingdom that is divided into 13 states, and ACCA, an independent inspection department, manages all of it. ACCA has this elite named Jean Otus, with his signature as the “Cigarette Peddler.” In this anime’s setting, cigarettes are an expensive commodity, due to its high tax rate.

ACCA is supposed to be shut down, but when Jean uncovered an illegal cigarette trade from one of its departments, the decision was reversed. Now, with the series of arson incidents, a sinister plot and rumors are growing that could probably oust Jean from ACCA. Secrets would probably uncover as the story progresses, but this time, we can only guess.

So here it is! This time I decided to make a 15 list (I usually do 10) because I couldn't resist putting some anime on the list. But, every anime fan has their opinion so you can freely suggest an anime on the comments below. Furthermore, this article will be updated once one or all anime on the list finished airing.

Thanks for your time reading this article and I hope that you'll find this list useful. Happy watching!