Dean’s favourite anime of 2022

A yearly tradition at MobileSyrup is going over our favourite things of the year. 2022 has probably been the best year since 2019, considering how the pandemic has eased up; of course, it’s not gone, I caught COVID three times, but it’s definitely gotten better.

I’ve travelled to Turkey, NYC (I even like the city now) and Hawaii, and I’ve played awesome games like God of War: Ragnarok, Elden Ring, Weird West and Cult of the Lamb. I’ve even managed to keep a boyfriend for longer than three months.

However, one of my favourite things to do this year was just get stoned and watch TV — specifically anime.

So this year, let’s discuss my favourite anime of 2022. These are not in any order, and I’m not saying these are the best anime, either — they’re just my favourite.

Ranking of Kings

Let’s start with probably the cutest anime on the list, Ranking of Kings.

This anime was better than it had any right to be. The series stars a little giant boy name Boji who can’t speak and is incredibly weak, and an orphaned shadow named Kage. The show talks about loss, facing your fears, and overcoming incredible odds. And while I thought the animation initially looked like garbage, it grows on you, and the fight scenes are amazing and much better than I’d expected.

I don’t want to give too much away (which will be a theme in this list), but if you want your heart to sink, follow a great story and see some fun and cool fights, give Ranking of Kings a shot.

Blue Lock

One of my favourite anime series is Haikyuu!, a volleyball series that’s all about the intensity of the sport, teamwork and friendship. Blue Lock, another sports anime, doesn’t have the same teamwork characteristics as Haikyuu!, but it’s fun all the same. Blue Lock is a soccer anime, but instead of a team of full players in every position, Blue Lock focuses only on strikers, the person on the team whose primary role is to score goals.

The premise of the show is 99 strikers are placed in a training facility and put on teams with one another, but they’re all aiming for the same spot on the Japanese Olympic soccer team.

As someone who played soccer for more than ten years and loves anime like Haikyuu! and Yuri on Ice, Blue Lock piqued my interest, and I’m happy it did; it was incredibly fun. It’s got a lot of cool scenes, and the main character is a mastermind, so that’s always great to watch.

Attack on Titan: season 4, part 2

I’ve been watching Attack on Titan since 2013, and I’ve seen little Eren Yeager grow up from the strong Attack Titan into the monstrous Founding Titan.

In the latest season, Yeager initiated a coup, betrayed his brother, became the Founding Titan, now controls an army of Wall Titans and is on his way to get revenge for the people who’ve treated his race like worthless cattle.

It was an insane season with unsuspected twists and turns, and seeing enemies who were once friends become friends again (I know, weird sentence) was a beautiful sight, and I loved every moment of it.

I can’t wait until the end of the series when part three comes out.

Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War

While I’ve been watching Attack on Titan since 2013, I’ve been watching Bleach since 2006, before we could even imagine how much Aizen was a badass.

Bleach was on a six-year hiatus and while I’ve read all the manga, finally seeing the final arc on the screen has been incredible.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but this season has had so much badassery so far. Seeing Captain Commander Yamamoto use his Shikai and Bankai (his sword abilities), watching all the Quincies take on the 13-Seat Captains and seeing Kenpachi Zaraki take on Unohana was similarly amazing.

Unfortunately, the second part of this season won’t air until July 2023, but when it does, get ready for even more action and Bankais.

Chainsaw Man

Of course, I couldn’t make an anime list without Chainsaw Man. This show has taken the anime world by storm with its amazing fighting scenes (of course, the studio behind this animation is Mappa, also responsible for AOT season 4 and my favourite anime, Jujutsu Kaisen).

Since the show was released in October, I’ve planned many Tuesday nights all around this. Aki and Sasuke are so cool, Power is such a loveable character who wants to take over human society and Denji, the main character, is so relatable to heterosexual men. Usually, I hate that, but for a 16-year-old who was homeless his whole life and can now turn into chainsaws, it’s just so loveable that his purpose in life is to touch boobs.

Chainsaw Man is incredibly fun and surprisingly hilarious. Anyone who likes anime like Jujutsu Kaisen will get a kick out of this one.

If you want to watch any of the above anime, head to Crunchyroll, except for Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War, which is on Disney+.

Honourable Mentions: RWBY Ice Queendom (Crunchyroll), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Netflix), Tomodachi Game (Crunchyroll), Vampire in the Garden (Netflix), Spy X Family (Crunchyroll), Classroom of the Elite season 2 (Crunchyroll), Demon Slayer season 2 (Crunchyroll) — hopefully I’m not missing any.