Once more, with feeling: Finding the Best Anime of 2012

[Crossfire]

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest ★
Little Busters!
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen ★★
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi ★
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione! ★
Psycho-Pass ★
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies ★★ (Sarabaaa, chikyuuu yoooooo...)
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Kokoro Connect

[blkmage]

GROUP WHITE
★Zetsuen no Tempest
★Little Busters!
Another
★Fate/Zero 2nd Season
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
★Kuroko no Basket

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass
K
★JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
★Teekyuu
★Wolf Children
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo.
★Kokoro Connect

[Vii]

Now, for the last batch of contestants.

Wait, I didn't see Shin Sekai Yori yet. Does it not count as a 2012 anime or...?


GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest ★★
Little Busters!
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss ★
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass ★
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★
Kokoro Connect ★

[skreyola]

GROUP WHITE
Little Busters! ★
Kamisama Kiss ★
Area no Kishi ★
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK
K ★
Wolf Children ★
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★★
Kokoro Connect ★

I've seen about 3 of today's titles.

[KazeShiki]

wow Jinsui so popular here. Now if only Romeo Tanaka would write faster.

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest
Little Busters! ★
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★★
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange ★
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi ★
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass ★
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) ★
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies ★★ (also voting Ai no Hoshi as best ballad of all time)
Teekyuu ★
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★
Kokoro Connect ★

Of course after struggling to think of 4 for every group, the last one has all the ones I want to vote for.

[drill]

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest
Little Busters! ★★
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi ★
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass ★
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu ★
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Kokoro Connect ★★

[goldenspines]

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest ★
Little Busters!
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen ★
Kamisama Kiss ★
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box ★★
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket

Interesting fact, I had to decide whether to give two stars to Medaka Box or Zetsuen no Tempest, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit, except I loved the first season of Medaka and disliked the second season, yet I disliked the first season of Zetsuen no Tempest but adored the second season.
In the end, I just went with the underdog for now.

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) ★★ (I'd give all the stars if I could)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★
Kokoro Connect ★

[MangaRocks!]

Wait, I didn't see Shin Sekai Yori yet. Does it not count as a 2012 anime or...?

^ This. Also, pretty sure someone did mention that it was missing from the original list back on the first page...? (EDIT: Yep, Hat did.)


GROUP WHITE - While the anime's adaptation of Kamisama Kiss kinda failed at the end, IMO -- and the manga is much better (especially in the later arcs)-- I still liked it enough (and really like the manga enough) to give it a vote in respect. I also did not yet finish the adaptation of Zetsuen no Tempest, because I'm waiting to finish the manga first, and, again, the manga is better; however, what I've seen of the anime's adaptation so far was mostly pretty decent, give or take a few annoyances, so it gets a vote of respect as well. I cannot comment on the adaptation of Little Busters! since I haven't yet played the VN, but being an anime-only viewer of it I've enjoyed its story so far, and since I kinda doubt that many others will give it two stars, that's where my second one will go. The last vote is based on reputation only.

Zetsuen no Tempest ★
Little Busters! ★★
Kamisama Kiss ★
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK - And no-- while I *liked* it, I definitely do not believe that Psycho-Pass is better than Wolf Children, LOL (...understatement!). However, since I *do* believe that the latter will (quite rightfully) get more stars, I'll give my second one to the former instead, since I want it to make it through. And the other two votes are just reputation-/interest-based again.

Psycho-Pass ★★
009 Re:Cyborg ★
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies ★
Wolf Children ★

[Falx]

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest
Little Busters!
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★ ★
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV) ★
Campione!
Psycho-Pass
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)
009 Re:Cyborg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★ ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Kokoro Connect

Ugh hardly anything I've seen in this group.

[GeneD]

I'll be back later with my vote for this round, but I wanted to say I found some vote tally errors.

GO TO REPECHAGE ROUND
Eureka Seven AO ★★★★

I counted 5 stars:
ForeverInspired
Mr. Hat'n'Clogs
MomentOfInertia
Maokun
Me

GO TO REPECHAGE ROUND
Ixion Saga DT ★★★

I counted 4 stars:
ForeverInspired
Crossfire 2 stars
Me

I've found some others but I ignored them since none of them would have made a difference in the standing of those series, while I thought these might. I guess it could also be that people changed votes between when Maokun counted and when I counted.

EDIT: Back with votes.

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest ★★
Little Busters! ★
Another
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen ★
Kamisama Kiss ★
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box ★
Area no Kishi ★
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass ★
K
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) ★★
009 Re:Cyborg ★
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies ★
Teekyuu ★
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★
Kokoro Connect ★

[ForeverInspired]

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest ★★ ...If I could put more stars, I would. I loved it!
Little Busters!
Another★
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen
Kamisama Kiss ★
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box
Area no Kishi★
Shakugan no Shana Final★
Kuroko no Basket ★

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass★
K ★
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012)★
009 Re:Cyborg ★
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season★
Sukitte Ii na yo.★★
Kokoro Connect ★

[Maokun]

Wait, I didn't see Shin Sekai Yori yet. Does it not count as a 2012 anime or...?

^ This. Also, pretty sure someone did mention that it was missing from the original list back on the first page...? (EDIT: Yep, Hat did.)

Oops, I entirely missed that! I guess that I stopped reading once I saw it was a case of premature voting (sorry Hats!) I'll put it in the Repechage Round to try to make amends.

@GeneD: Thanks! It may be miscounting or mistyping of stars, but the truth is that I usually have to run out right after I post the thread so there's little time to proof; I do my best to not do mistakes, but they always sneak in. Thanks for that, and feel free to point the others you noticed for historic accuracy!

Anyway, my votes:

GROUP WHITE
Zetsuen no Tempest
Little Busters!
Another ★
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★
Gintama': Enchousen ★
Kamisama Kiss
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone
Utakoi
Rinne no Lagrange
AKB0048 First Stage
Medaka Box ★
Area no Kishi
Shakugan no Shana Final
Kuroko no Basket

GROUP BLACK
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2
Black?Rock Shooter (TV)
Campione!
Psycho-Pass ★
K ★
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) ★
009 Re:Cyborg ★
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies
Teekyuu
Wolf Children ★★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Kokoro Connect

Results and Repechage round will be posted soon!

[Maokun]

Results for Day 4 of the pre-qualifying round:

PASS TO NEXT ROUND
Fate/Zero 2nd Season ★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Zetsuen no Tempest ★★★★★★★★★★★★
Little Busters! ★★★★★★★★
Kuroko no Basket ★★★★★★★★
Kamisama Kiss ★★★★★★★
Gintama': Enchousen ★★★★★
Area no Kishi ★★★★★
Medaka Box ★★★★

DISQUALIFIED
Another ★★
Utakoi ★
Rinne no Lagrange ★
Shakugan no Shana Final ★
AKB0048 First Stage
Inazuma Eleven Go: Chrono Stone


PASS TO NEXT ROUND
Wolf Children ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Kokoro Connect ★★★★★★★★★★
Psycho-Pass ★★★★★★★★★
Sukitte Ii na yo. ★★★★★★★★
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) ★★★★★★★★
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 movies ★★★★★★
009 Re:Cyborg ★★★★★

GO TO REPECHAGE ROUND
K ★★★★
Teekyuu ★★★★

DISQUALIFIED
Black?Rock Shooter (TV) ★
Campione! ★
Hiiro no Kakera 2nd Season ★
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2


Now let's see the titles that will have a last chance to make it to the next round. There are only 6 spots left! Please vote for up to 6 of the following titles (a minimum of 3):

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

Results and the beginning of the next round will be posted the Monday at the usual time.

[drill]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! ★
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi ★★
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero ★
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna ★

[goldenspines]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu ★
Shin Sekai Yori ★★ (I have not actually seen much of Shin Sekai Yori because it wasn't really my cup of tea, but it's getting two stars since it got forgotten in the last few rounds. :< )
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear ★
Wasurenagumo ★
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle ★
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[Vii]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K ★
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori ★★
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi ★
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe ★
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[ForeverInspired]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K ★★
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori ★
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! ★
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle ★
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero ★
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna ★

It was hard to decide whether to give the two stars to K or Shin Sekai Yori.

[blkmage]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
★Teekyuu
★Shin Sekai Yori
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
★★Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
★Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[MangaRocks!]

REPECHAGE GROUP

Shin Sekai Yori ★★
Acchi Kocchi ★
Shirokuma Cafe ★

[KazeShiki]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu ★★
Shin Sekai Yori
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear ★
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna ★

[skreyola]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K ★
Teekyuu ★
Shin Sekai Yori ★
Shirokuma Cafe ★

I haven't seen anything in this group that I want to progress, so I'll vote for things I haven't seen that seemed in cursory passing to possibly be interesting... and hope none of my votes breaks a tie.

[Vii]

I haven't seen anything in this group that I want to progress, so I'll vote for things I haven't seen that seemed in cursory passing to possibly be interesting... and hope none of my votes breaks a tie.

It's not like it's mandatory to vote every round, feel free to skip one if you're worried about your votes being tie-breakers.

[skreyola]

I haven't seen anything in this group that I want to progress, so I'll vote for things I haven't seen that seemed in cursory passing to possibly be interesting... and hope none of my votes breaks a tie.

It's not like it's mandatory to vote every round, feel free to skip one if you're worried about your votes being tie-breakers.

No, but it's fun to participate!
Have I mentioned how awesome it is you like both Cross Game and Ender's Game?

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu★
Shin Sekai Yori ★★
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo ★
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle★
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[Maokun]

My votes :

K ★
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori ★ (to make amends)
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae ★
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle ★
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[Vii]

No, but it's fun to participate!
Have I mentioned how awesome it is you like both Cross Game and Ender's Game?

Nope, but thanks! I've actually been contemplating switching out my signature quotes since I've used them for so long.

[Falx]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu
Shin Sekai Yori
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae ★★
Acchi Kocchi ★
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo ★
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby ★
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[GeneD]

REPECHAGE GROUP
K
Teekyuu ★
Shin Sekai Yori ★
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!
Thermae Romae
Acchi Kocchi
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear
Wasurenagumo ★★
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead
Shirokuma Cafe
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
Kill Me Baby
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

[Maokun]

Results for the Repechage Round:

PASS TO NEXT ROUND
Shin Sekai Yori ★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Teekyuu ★★★★★★★
Acchi Kocchi ★★★★★★★
K ★★★★★
Wasurenagumo ★★★★★
Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle ★★★★

DISQUALIFIED
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna ★★★
Thermae Romae ★★★
Shirokuma Cafe ★★★
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero ★★
Kill Me Baby ★★
Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! ★★
Senhime Zesshou Symphogear ★★
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead


And so, the first pre-qualifying round ends. We've filtered out the chaff and the pretenders and now are left with 64 titles actually worth of entering the competition... but that's not good enough! In this second pre-qualifying round, we'll make sure that only the cream atop remains and only half of these titles will be able to enter the tournament proper.

In this round, we'll have 8 groups of 8 generated with a randomiser. For each group, please order the titles it contains from 1 to 8, 1 being your favourite of the group and 8th being the one for which you care the least. Feel free to arrange the titles you haven't seen in any order at the bottom of each group. Let's get started:

TEAM JOHN
Shin Sekai Yori
Robotics;Notes
Jormungand
Tari Tari
Zetsuen no Tempest
Wasurenagumo
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Kimi to Boku. 2

TEAM ROSE
Little Busters!
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Acchi Kocchi
Kuroko no Basket
Bakuman. 3
Hyouka
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb
Eureka Seven AO

Voting will be open until tomorrow at this time. Have fun voting!

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

TEAM JOHN
Zetsuen no Tempest
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Shin Sekai Yori
Wasurenagumo
Jormungand
Robotics;Notes
Tari Tari
Kimi to Boku. 2

TEAM ROSE
Hyouka
Kuroko no Basket
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb
Eureka Seven AO
Sukitte Ii na yo.
Acchi Kocchi
Bakuman. 3
Little Busters!