With the end of the year less than two weeks off, it's about time we started casting our eyes back across 2011's spate of releases and started singling out the real stars of the year. Here's the first of those overviews: my selections for the best newly-premiered anime of 2011.
The criteria are pretty simple: these are the best of the shows that premiered in Japan in 2011, and which were offered in the same timeframe to an English-speaking audience. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of such shows were made available via streaming services like Hulu or Crunchyroll, rather than being offered on physical media.
This isn't just because streaming affords the distributors a much faster way to get product to its target market, but because by and large that's becoming the way anime is being offered to English-speaking audiences. Physical media isn't completely vanishing, but it is taking a backseat to streaming as being the number-one way to get anime to audiences (with any luck, paying ones!).
A few shows didn't make the cut, if only because I didn't have the chance to see them (Madoka Magica) or because they didn't show up in a legitimate streaming version in English yet (Mawaru Penguindrum). If your favorite show isn't listed here, don't panic -- there's plenty of opportunities for it to show up in future lists.
Check out our Best New Anime Premieres Of 2011 list, and speak your mind in the comments below.
Image: [C] - Control. © C-Committee. Image courtesy FUNimation.
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