I never thought of myself as a rabid television watcher, but when I sat down to take stock of everything I consumed in 2021, it was clear that I had taken in my share of serialized shows. I’ve never been shy about my opinion that, compared to movies, TV is my preferred medium. I love how the best television shows can explore longitudinal stories and prolonged character arcs, showcasing the nuances in human behavior and evolution in ways that I don’t think shorter pieces of media are capable of doing. I’ll go to the grave with the opinion that The Eternals would have been WAY better served as a television series on Disney + rather than the ambitious, confused work that graced the big screen in November.
Initially, this was going to be some sort of ranked list cut off in an arbitrary order, similar to what I wrote about video games earlier in the year. However, after looking through all of the shows I wanted to discuss, I actually opted to go in a different direction. Each show on this list had one incredible quality that deserves special mention, a trait that I want to see carried through to any content that is released in 2022 and moving forward. I’m going to give each program its due and, while they’re roughly ranked in order of which shows stuck with me the most vs. which shows missed the mark, I do recommend all of them to anyone. There may be some light spoilers in here but I bold them where I can.
Also, roughly half of them are anime - not as many as I thought, honestly, but we have things to say.
These are the Fourteen Traits I Value in Television. Let’s go.
Stakes - Squid Game
I read that it took the creator of Squid Game ten years for his show to be fully realized, and it was worth every moment. From the intricacies of the built world to the nuances in character backstories and reactions, Squid Game gripped everyone who watched with the existential dread of living in this hyper-capitalist microchasm of our world, where the characters are given the option to leave it and yet return, submitting themselves to the whims of the bankrolling gods orchestrating their bloody death game.
Squid Game and Succession have many similarities in my mind, namely in the fact that they’re positioned as tragedies where all characters submit to the terms and conditions willingly. The reason why Squid Game is such a cogent critique of capitalism is because its very premise is a two-way street.
However, the reason why the show gripped viewers initially are the stakes. Battle royale/survival games inherently provide drama given the insecurity of each competition’s participants, and Squid Game scratches that same itch. The fact that the players voluntarily choose to take part in Squid Game is a wonderful twist that entrenches the story as a great capitalist critique, and the diversity of the characters in weaving this tragedy ensures that it delivers. Squid Game wasn’t my favorite television show this year, but in a culture where not a single Marvel movie has tangible stakes (since even if characters pass on they ALWAYS come back to life) and television greenlighters are terrified to let their characters die, it was very refreshing.
Earnestness - Sk8: The Infinity
This will be brief - Sk8: The Infinity is a silly, yet emotionally resilient sports show wherein redhead Reki Kyan meets half-Canadian bluehair Langa Hasegawa and they bond over skateboarding, pushing each other to succeed and becoming great friends in the process. They’re joined by a wonderful cast of characters and all of them work together to defeat the Big Bad in the final race of the show. It’s a simple plot, but it works because of its earnestness - these characters just love skating, and they love each other, and it’s simple and wholesome. The villain annoys me because of how weird he is, but otherwise I had zero complaints for this show given my low expectations.
I’m not good with earnestness, generally speaking. I’ve developed an ironic detachment from actually liking things as a defense mechanism, and it’s something I’m working through. So, when a show pierces through that cynicial facade, it’s worth recognition. Sk8 was my chicken soup of the winter. I knew it would warm me up no matter how bad my day or cold the weather. It recently got a Season 2, a play, and more, and I’m looking forward to see how the Sk8 universe continues to expand. It’s cotton candy, and sometimes we all need something sweet in our lives.
Unpredictability - Beastars Season 2
I’m not sure why Beastars Season 2 got so much less shine than Season 1 (may have been due to timing upon release) but the plot of Beastars Season 2 is so incredibly tight. It manages to subvert expectations while also being coherent and consistent with every single character’s motivations. As someone who has read the entirety of the Beastars manga, this was my favorite arc of the story, and much of it was paid off on screen. Legoshi comes into his own as a vigilante, we learn so much more about the intricacies of Louis, and new characters like Pina (the pretty boy Dall sheep) join the cast. My biggest complaint is that the season needed one more episode to pay off the final twist (which, when I read it, actually made me drop the book because of how absolutely perfectly it ties everything together), but the twist itself is something I’ve never seen in a story before.
Beastars often gets relegated to the corners of the “weird” internet because of the character models and the furry stuff, but at its heart it’s an incredible story of societal expectations, duty, and self-discovery. It’s is not a perfect story, mind you (honestly, mainly because of Legoshi’s on-and-off again relationship with Haru), but it’s ballsy, and in a world where authors tend to stick to five-act structures and stress closure it cuts through the noise. Season 3 introduces more cool characters but, honestly, I think the best days of Beastars are behind us all. It deserves one more mention. Thank you, Paru Itagaki, for creating something truly unique and subversive.
Positivity - Dr. Stone: Stone Wars
There is no show that makes me happier than Dr. Stone, and Stone Wars continued that trend.
The concept of Dr. Stone is awesome - what if, one day, all humans turned to stone and stayed that way for 3,000 years? How could we rebuild as a society? Thanks to the superpowered mind of Senku, a genius teenage scientist, we might have a fighting chance. Dr. Stone takes the typical “power shonen” story archetype and turns the “level ups” into scientific discoveries rather than Deus-ex-machina upgrades. Discovering electricity is like going Super Saiyan. Creating a telephone is like activating the sharingan. It’s such a unique concept, and it works thanks to the overwhelming aura of happiness that the manga exudes. Senku could be an arrogant asshole of a protagonist, but he has a surprising amount of humility that makes him eminently rootable. One of my favorite moments of Season 1 (light spoiler) was him telling Chrome, a primitive villager with incredible curiosity, that he was the embodiment of human ingenuity, and even if Senku died that spark of discovery and creativity would live on through Chrome. It’s just hard to watch this show without smiling and remembering the best in people.
Season 2 hits some of the same notes as Season 1 but introduces new allies and enemies (including a bad cop) and wonderfully wraps up the multi-season arc while propelling the story forward. All of the good characters get moments to shine. It also provides exposition and understanding to the main antagonist’s thought process, which was something I felt was lacking in the previous season. Now, post Season 2, his motivations are clarion and the audience understands him way better. Dr. Stone Season 3 is set to release in 2023, and I cannot wait for more.
Atmosphere - Arcane
I work with Riot a lot for my day job, and even I didn’t expect Arcane to be THIS good. Kudos to them for proving every single doubter wrong, investing a ton in making this show and creating something pretty incredible. If not for Invincible, Arcane would have been my top American made animated show of the year - and even then, it was close between the two.
Arcane is staggering in terms of how much ground it covers - each released set of episodes could serve as a movie of its own. The first three, specifically, ended in such a spectacular fashion that it sold me on the rest of the show regardless of what happened next - and honestly, I think that was the weakest trio. Jinx, Vi, Kaitlin, Ekko, Viktor, Jayce, Medarda…these characters all felt grounded and realistic, pushed by their circumstances and morals to do good and falling short way too many times to count.
Where Arcane won most, for me, was the broad diversity of locales and the textural nuances each place conveyed. From the dingy Zaun to the shiny Piltover and everywhere in between, the locations felt nuanced and set the scenes for incredible fights and set pieces. I was a bit nervous that the locations would feel trite, but even though Zaun leaned a little too hard into the “East Village meets Golden Gai” aesthetic that every vaguely slummy cyberpunk story nails, the intricacies made up for it. I cannot wait for more Arcane - especially since there is a TON of League’s world we have yet to explore. I trust this staff to steward this ship expertly.
Creativity - Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean
You either get Jojo or you don’t. I’m not going to try to relitigate or explain anything. Just know that, in Part 6 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, which takes place in a prison in 2011 Tampa, Florida, this is your core team (light spoilers ahead):
A 19 year old prisoner, Jolyne, who kicks an incredible amount of ass
Hermes Costello, who can duplicate any object with her stand, Kiss (yes, we use the real names here) - she is also awesome
A sentient crocodile occupying the body of a human
A ghostly child named Emporio who constantly has a baseball glove and ball and wears a Chicago Cubs hat
Weather Report, pictured above, who walks on his tippy toes, talks in hushed whispers, and is honestly the best new character I met all year
I went into Jojo Part 6 thinking that there was no way I’d enjoy it more than Part 4, my personal favorite. I was wrong. The scenarios in Part 6 are something that only one human being, Hirohiko Araki, could conceive. The most harrowing episode of the season is an entire 23 minutes of playing catch. The designs, the puzzles, the solutions…every single one of them surprised me. Jojo is unbridled creativity and Part 6 is the apex.
I cannot wait for the next batch of Part 6 episodes to be released.
Nuance - Blue Period
Once every year or so there is a manga that I love so much that it wriggles its say into every pore of my body. I become obsessive, gobbling up as much content as I can until satisfied. Previous occupiers of that headspace for me include My Hero Academia, Haikyuu!, Shimanami Tasogare, and Beck. This is a hallowed space.
In 2021, I inducted Blue Period to that special collection. From the moment I picked it up, it grabbed my heart.
Blue Period follows Yatora Yaguchi, a high achieving honor student who does well in school but has no hobbies nor passions. He goes through life as a people-pleaser and is generally affable. He could be happy staying down this road - but, one day, he views a painting. It speaks to him - the brushwork, the colors, the style. He wants to know how to do that. This initial interest in art grabs him, pushing him to work and improve and achieve as he fights to get accepted into one of the most difficult art schools in the country, finding his voice as an artist in the process.
Blue Period is incredibly relatable for anyone who has a passion about…well…anything, but especially scratched my itch as another former honor student who felt pretty listless about academia despite succeeding in it from a numerical standpoint. Yatora’s journey is fantastic, where every moment feels earned and his growth as an artist and a person is tangible. The purest way this is encapsulated is through his relationship with Ryuji “Yuka” Ayukawa, a nonbinary former friend who serves as a foil to the straightlaced Yatora.
At the beginning of Blue Period, Yatora simply doesn’t understand the complexities of Yuka. He filters everything Yuka does through his own lens, not understanding their struggles. He cannot understand why they strive so much to break the status quo, nor what they must feel like on a day-to-day basis. Throughout the anime, the two come to understand each other better, culminating with Episode 10, with one of the most tender, nuanced portrayals of mutual understanding I’ve ever seen on a TV show, live action or animated. Tsubasa Yamaguchi, the author of Blue Period, puts Yatora through the ringer. She forces him to tackle his “by the book” way of living and deconstruct it. The result is Yatora, from Episode 1 to Episode 12, becomes a more sensitive, empathetic protagonist, and someone who’s growth is tangible.
My biggest critique of Blue Period is that the manga is SO good. The anime doesn’t quite live up to it. I’m still hopeful we get a Season 2, though, because we deserve to know what Yakumo’s voice sounds like. Netflix, I don’t ask for much. Please.
Character Arcs - Succession
It took a while for me to get into Succession, but I’m ecstatic that I gave it a second chance. Season 1 heated up after a few episodes, and Seasons 2 and 3 served as fascinating character studies into a complicated familial web of bad people. I personally find some of the praise of Succession a little overblown (the dialogue, specifically, is so overwrought at times, although that may be by design, and I’m not a fan of Sarah Snook as Shiv) but the holistic character development for each member of the Roy family help to exemplify the vision executed by Jesse Armstrong and the rest of his team. Spoilers follow.
Kendall, Shiv, and Roman are young magnates who each hail from one of the ruling classes of modern day society: Kendall is tech, Shiv is political, Roman is a self-branded influencer. Each of them want to leverage their own strengths to prove that they’re worthy of taking over Waystar-Royco upon the death of their father, Logan, but they’re locked in an eternal game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Shiv is lacking Roman’s decisiveness and populist instincts, Roman does not have Kendall’s work ethic or independence, and Kendall is not blessed with Shiv’s gift for optics (every scene Kendall’s in he looks like he’s been doused by a pail of water, no matter how well-dressed he is, he is a schlub). Additionally, all of them are cosseted rich kids so NONE of them are self-aware, which makes for great television.
In Season 3, each of them took major steps forward to try and rectify their issues, which led them all on paths of self-discovery. Kendall’s impudent shot fired at his father fizzled out with a whimper, so he began to consider what’s really important about life, and how he could be a better, cleaner person and father. Shiv was forced to finally make a decision on whether she could allow her principles to be subsumed by the toxic brand of Waystar-Royco. Roman, my personal second least favorite character on the show, finally began to realize how his faux-rebelliousness wasn’t a personality. Then, just as they joined forces, Tom Wambsgans happened. Tom, the quiet man, learned from all three of them, combined their best traits, and took action to undermine them. He connected the dots in a way the siblings could not.
The end of the season was great, and even though all of these people (except for Gerri, who I’ll fight for) are detestable, their journeys are intricately planned and I cannot wait for what is next.
Polish - Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisen, as a manga, never grabbed me. I went into the anime with minimal expectations and it blew them out of the water.
The story is simple - protagonist joins a group of sorcerers and they fight together to defeat a curse - but despite its well-trodden premise it feels tangibly modern. The core trio of Idatori, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki feel like leveled-up versions of their predecessors (Team 7 and the Harry Potter kids, for example). They have fantastic chemistry and feel like a cohesive friendgroup. The comedic timing in this show is sublime. The antagonists are interesting and hateable, and the side characters are fantastic. The women of JJK are kickass and powerful, each with their own stories and relationships that make them feel fully realized. JJK is a level-up in every facet.
Most importantly, though, the polish on this show is absolutely incredible. Mappa did not skimp on a single dollar when it comes to animation. The final episode literally has an animated music video cut to a crazy battle. It blows Demon Slayer’s fights, while still fantastic, out of the water. There are too many compliments to bestow on JJK’s fight scenes. Just watch them. They’re awesome.
More JJK is coming, but Mappa also has Chainsaw Man set to drop next year. If it hits the same notes as JJK, my prediction is that it will be even more popular.
High-Concept - WandaVision
WandaVision, quite simply, is the most interesting idea that Marvel has ever executed.
From Episode 1, this concept felt like a natural maturation of what Marvel COULD be - an absolutely bonkers premise that created a grounded, yet fantastical, superhero story with blurred lines and awesome twists. I don’t have a lot to say about this show other than Elizabeth Olson, Teyona Parris, Kathryn Hahn, and Paul Bettany nailed their characters, and I would love to see more wild ideas like this in the Marvel metaverse.
Watching Loki, Winter Solder, Hawkeye, and Shang-Chi after WandaVision felt like mediocre entrees after an incredible appetizer. I’m hoping that we see more shows like WandaVision in the future - given the show’s reception, I’m cautiously optimistic.
Acting - Invincible
Acting feels like a weird award for me to bestow upon Invincible, but honestly this is what set the show apart for me. Invincible is what adult animation SHOULD be, but what sold me on the concept was the natural voice acting of Steven Yeun, JK Simmons, Gillian Jacobs, Sandra Oh, Jason Mantzoukas, Zazie Beetz, Andrew Rannels, et al. There have been ample dark superhero shows before, but none of them feel as much like “a nice kid trying to do well but fucking up at every turn” than Invincible, and that’s a credit to the way Mark Grayson and his cohorts comport themselves. Steven and Sandra, specifically, are standouts in the way they portray their characters - both of whom have their worldviews shattered and are forced to pick up the pieces while preventing the most important person in their lives from destroying the planet. The animation, the action, the plot, the twists…all of this would feel trite if not for the portayals of the characters going through these travails. Invicible’s cast sold their source material better than the cast of any show this year.
I have heard that the Invincible comic isn’t great, but Robert Kirkman himself is working on making edits to the story so the animated show ends up better than the source material. I’m cautiously optimistic. If this show continues on the same path in future seasons, the sky is the limit.
Holistic Message - White Lotus
Hot take of the year: White Lotus was the best live action show of 2021. It was forgotten in the wake of Succession, but it’s a better show and conveyed the same message of Succession in a third of the time.
Every element of White Lotus was meticulously planned, all surrounding the frivolity of the lives of the upper class and how they impose upon those beneath them, trapping them in a cycle where they are positioned to fail. Each individual storyline ended up intertwined, all working toward the final culminating moment of the incident teased in Episode 1 - and it only ever could have ended in one, single way.
I could go on for hours on this show, but I’ll leave with two bullets, because this is one experience that should be viewed unspoiled:
Sydney Sweeney is going to win an Oscar someday, I’ve seen what she can do in Euphoria and now it’s happened again. She’s tremendous. This may have been my favorite acting performance of the year.
I cannot wait for Season 2 and I’m happy that it’s going to be a new group coming to the resort.
Concision/Ending - Odd Taxi
Just think of Odd Taxi as the Coen brothers doing an homage to Scorsese. That’s really what it is - it is not an anime. Don’t let its disguise fool you.
Odd Taxi is a show following a walrus taxi driver, Odokawa, gallivanting across his city and picking up a number of characters for rides. Similar to The White Lotus, each of these characters have a unique arc to follow and a story to tell - and they all get tied up in the final episode. The characters, by and large, are intersting and delve into different elements of modern culture. Dating apps, idol culture, viral fame on social media, student loans and debt - each of these subjects are analyzed through this unique lens.
Odd Taxi is Chekhov’s gun, the show. Every single puzzle piece and Easter egg, on second watch, is necessary to the story. This show is going to age like fine wine. It’s one of the most ambitious anime I’ve ever seen, with great characters and a plot that will keep you guessing until the end, when it resolves in the most cathartic possible way. I was skeptical coming in but by the show’s conclusion, I had it marked down as something unforgettable that I could enthusiastically recommend to anyone, even non-anime fans. They do something with diagetic sound in this show that I’ve never seen before. It’s brilliant.
Too many shows are scared to conclude, but ending is critical. Sometimes, it’s best to let characters slip into the aether. I’ve heard that Odd Taxi Season 2 may be on the way, and while I’m not totally opposed to it, I really hope that it isn’t rushed. This was an almost perfect tale that deserves to stand on its own.
It wasn’t the best show of the year, though. Buckle up.
The Best Show of The Year - Megalobox NOMAD
After it was released in 2018, Megalobox, by all metrics, was a flop.
Sure, the visuals were stunning. The style was sublime. The soundtrack was elite. However, in Japan, it faltered. Megalobox got tied up too closely to Ashita no Joe, a more by-the-book boxing story. Viewers found the aesthetic jarring and the story’s conclusion strange. It was, in Japan, considered a failure.
Most shows like Megalobox would be consigned to the wastebin of history, a chance taken on IP that was ambitious but failed to gain mass appeal. However, internationally, something strange happened.
Megalobox was a hit in North and South America. This story was global, not local.
So, Season 2 was greenlit. The creative team came together and decided that, despite Joe’s triumphs in the past, his journey could not end with a shared Megaloboxing title. He was going to have to drop back down to rock bottom, his inability to keep his burgeoning found family together causing him to flee them in shame, and instigating his descent into addiction and destitution. His journey, in Season 2, was to try and reclaim what was important to him - and this story was executed perfectly.
Megalobox: NOMAD feels more global than even the “international” anime created by the likes of Shinchiro Watanabe, some of which have noble intention but stumble in their understanding of how the world outside of Japan actually works (see: Carole and Tuesday). The politics of this story are great - and inspired by the experiences of the writers. There’s a fantastic interview where Anime News Network’s Lynzee Loveridge interviewed the staff, where they go into more detail about how their individual experiences shaped the story. I recommend reading it in full, but the gist is that these staff members came from communities where they saw the discrimination harbored by immigrant groups to Japan, and they wanted to reflect that experience in their story. This, unfortunately, isn’t normal in ANY piece of media, anime or live-action: the empathy with which the plight of immigrants in Megalobox Nomad is orchestrated is deftly done.
Good politics are not limited to just immigration, though. This show has GROUND TO COVER and it makes headway. It discusses classism, the politics of combat sports, police brutality, the mythical exemplar, the way hero worship corrodes self-worth and relationships, racism…there’s SO MUCH HERE. Some elements are more subtle than others, but EVERY element is well-executed. It’s rare for an anime to have good politics, but it’s even rarer for any show to execute them so effortlessly. Megalobox Nomad does that.
The characters are phenomenal, too. Some of them have now had two seasons of development, and their journeys are incredible to behold. Sachio, especially, treads an incredible path that emotionally impacted me upon culmination. Minor antagonists in past seasons, like the double-amputee war veteran Aragaki and the scientist Mikio, return in NOMAD as allies to Joe. All of them seem so different from when we first met them. They developed. They changed - and we got to view it all. The new characters are compelling as well, including the antagonists, namely an Elon Musk-analogue who literally dances while the world around him burns.
The style from Season 1 is dialed back a bit but Mabanua still knows what he’s doing with this soundtrack. It’s fantastic - he is truly the heir apparent to lo-fi king Nujabes (may he rest). The aesthetic stays on-point. There aren’t quite as many incredible visuals as in Season 1 but it’s still gorgeous. Combat scenes hit hard and fast. Punches feel weighty.
And then…it ends. Perfectly. The ending for NOMAD is a wonderful conclusion, to the point where I’m fine with the story simply stopping forever. Joe, Sachio, everyone else…they get what they deserve. They earn this ending.
For some reason, Megalobox and Megalobox NOMAD slipped through the cracks. Not enough people have watched either show, but I cannot recommend them enough. NOMAD, the perfect sequel, is my show of the year, and I hope that we see this writing stuff tackle more material with the same empathy and care as they wielded here. They made a masterpiece.