There were a few things that exceeded my expectations:

• CITY THE ANIMATION was the only anime to ever overwhelm my ADHD to the point where I felt like I was looking at too much stuff rather than not enough
• DAN DA DAN Season 2 elevated one of my least favorite fights in the manga (the one in the music room) to the same incredibly high level as all the others in that wild show
• SANDA delivered the highest “what the fuck” to runtime ratio out of anything I’ve ever seen
• Takopi’s Original Sin made me sad
• The Summer Hikaru Died proved to me that it is possible to make a good horror anime
• Apocalypse Hotel solidified Cygames as one of my favorite studios of all time
• bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood gained my respect as a project that was made with the goal of making something cool even if they lost money doing it
• Medalist only had a good adaptation (as opposed to some of the incredible ones above), but it had such a fun story and characters I found myself loving it anyways
• Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux redesigned the guncannon to not look dopey (before/after)
• Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express made the banter in every other show feel stiff and unnatural by comparison
• Umamusume: Cinderella Gray delivered a horse girl idol performance that actually had me laughing and enjoying myself rather than wondering why they bothered

Honestly there was a lot to love this year. I’ll be delighted if next year is just as good.