Top 10 Favourite Cuts (Animated Sequences) of 2013

This is the start of a new yearly tradition here guys. Every year from now on i'll be listing my top 10 favourite sequences of 2d animation mostly from anime and western cartoons. The list will be only sequences from shows i've watched so since i have yet to see Wakfu, sadly thats not in the running. Rules for this generally are:

• I have to have watched the show.
• The show must have aired this year (only episodes of a continuing show that aired this year also).
• One sequence per show.

Also there will be spoilers for shows that aired this year including Psycho Pass, Hunter X Hunter and a bit of Naruto. And that is it. From there lets move onto the first one that you can see below:

10. Psycho Pass: Kogami VS Makishima

This sequence is most definitely a good way to start off this list. After weeks and weeks of build up to this confrontation, it really didn't disappoint. The fight was bloody, kung fu was shown off and overall it was pretty memorable. Makishima taking Kogami on himself was a nice change of pace from other intellectual big bads also. The show overall was my favourite show of the year but the animation was only decent overall with better CG than your average show. This was one of the highlights though besides the finale episode which was the best looking of the shows run as you'd expect.

9. Legend of Korra: Dark Spirit Ambush

You can see the layers upon layers of effects and work that went into putting this sequence together and the end result is simply fantastic. Though Korra herself is off-model, the fluidity with which she moves is stunning. You can see every piece of clothing on her move wildly as she flings herself around and the wind blows harder. The effects animation for the water, the ice, the fire and snow is all unique and detailed and make the scene stand out quite a bit from the rest of the animation in the episode.

8. Hunter X Hunter: Kites Entrance

This year Hunter X Hunter continued to be the best long running shounen with an incredibly consistent level of quality for both the story and the animation. The best of the animation directors currently working on the show being Tomoko Mori whose episode this sequence was featured in. Animated by Hidehiko Sawada, the unnervingly haunting way in which Kite shambles out of confinement was one of the best examples of character animation i saw this year. It was really the most memorable moment watching Hunter X Hunter this year for me.

7. Kuroko's Basketball: Season 2 Opening

Watching this opening was such a shock the first time i saw it. The extreme detail in the clothing, the movements, the effects animation and the character art was incredible. Thats what we've come to expect from Samurai Champloo character designer/animator Kazuto Nakazawa. The expert use of smears and the great integration of CG and the bright and vivid colours make this one of my favourite pieces of animation this year. Watching this makes all the previous openings look like shit by comparison.

6. Attack on Titan: 3D Maneuver Gear Sequence

This sequences is my personal favourite of all the 3D Maneuver Gear sequences because you can tell this was a bitch to animate. Why it works so well is because of the flawless way in which the CG backgrounds are integrated and the fact that they move around so wildly as Eren moves around and it all looks natural makes me so impressed. Technically speaking, i have some idea of how it was probably put together but i can't fathom the amount of work that went into it. Its also funny because this sequence comes out of nowhere so as to shock you because the preceding episode is so stiff with the animation. Nevertheless i think they accomplished a better looking web slinging sequence than any spiderman show to date has managed.

5. Naruto Shippuden: Madara Returns

Well after the Chikara episodes gave us some pretty good consistant animation over 6 episodes we all expected the episodes after to be complete shit and for the most part they were until episode 322. This episode was really the best naruto episode of the year with good animation throughout from all the regulars including Hiroyuki Yamashita, Masayuki Kouda, Ken'ichi Fujisawa and so on. Kouda was most likely the man behind this sequence and it is a fun sequence to watch and the highlight of the episode for me. It shows you just exactly why everyone feared Madara's return and the detail that goes into animating one man plowing through crowds of enemies is just delightful to watch.

4. Star Driver The Movie: Dat Yutapon Action

There's just something about Yutaka Nakamura's animation thats so damn cool. It just seems like he's always given really dynamic storyboards to work from that allow him to produce such magnificence. Then theres all the awesome poses and effects animation he does. The way he animates the characters as well just feels oldschool as in he's making the character move around very expressively but in a different way to how Hironori Tanaka does it because his is a more surrealist take on human motion. and that explosion at the end was just gorgeous. Really anytime i see Yutapon cubes i just instantly fall in love.

3. DBZ: Battle of Gods: Epic Action Sequences

There was only one thing i got excited about when i heard about the new DBZ movie being in the works and that was the action. I couldn't give 2 shits about the story as long as the action was awesome and by god i was glad that both turned out quite good. The plot was interesting enough and added something new to the DBZ world and the action scenes were ridiculously awesome as you can see. One thing of note is that i found it interesting that when Goku and Bills fight in the city Goku made sure not to hurt civilians while in his newest big screen adventure, Superman was such an asshole that he was snogging Lois while the ashes of dead innocents rained on their faces.

2. Yozakura Quartet Hana no Uta: Action Scenes

This show is exactly the kind of show that i envisioned Ryo-Chimo directing after his work on Birdy the Mighty: Decode. While the plot isn't as engaging as that show, the animation is generally just as good and in Hana no Uta each episode is introducing me to animators i've never heard of with the main one being Yuki Hayashi. This particular sequence just looks fly as fuck. The show tends to be really fun to watch besides the excessive panty shots but i can ignore them. The show is full of little moments like this and great animation and i'd say its definitely the best animated show of the year in terms of both motion and style. The consistency is also amazing as every episode just looks great so far. However it never got me as giddy as my number 1 pick.

1. Space Dandy X Yasuyuki Okamura MV

There's not much else to say besides that this whole music video made me more giddy watching it than anything else i watched this year besides maybe Kill la Kill. The songs awesome and so is the animation and thats all there is to say. There's no better way to get hyped for a show than a video like this. The gif above says it all. You can watch the video below.

Now that you've seen my picks, let me know yours in the comments and look forward to my next post. Gonna be my top 5 favourite animators of the year.