End of Year Fandom Meme 2016

I'm taking prillalar's excellent suggestion and stealing borrowing this! Though, some of our experiences this year are so parallel it's going to seem like I'm stealing some of her answers too. ^_^

1. Your main fandom of the year?

God, sports anime came back to get me so hard this year. Between Haikyuu, Prince of Stride, Prince of Tennis, and the miracle that is Yuri on Ice I feel like I rediscovered everything I always loved about sports/team bonding stories.


2. Your favourite film watched this year?

Kubo and the Two Strings. Hands down, no contest. I could gush about this film for hours, probably. I loved every single thing about it: the old-fashioned stop motion animation, the details, the colors, the aesthetic, the STORY. It made me cry within the first ten minutes. It's so good and So. Damn. Beautiful. Mythical Historic Japan is my preferred aesthetic up one side and down the other but everything else in the movie from the dialog to the music stood up to that same level of excellence. PLEASE WATCH THIS MOVIE. It's wonderful, with heavy emphasis on the wonder. <3

Honorable mentions for Ghostbusters which was SO funny and well-acted and perfect, and Moana which I can't wait to see again.


3. Your favourite book read this year?

Hang on, gotta go check my Goodreads page. <.< I tend to read a lot and I don't want to miss something! Man, I read a lot of great stuff this year, it's hard to choose.

I'm going to have to do categories.
Favorite stand-alone book: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Favorite book in a series: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Favorite graphic novel series: The Wicked + the Divine
Favorite non-fiction: Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World by Anne Jamison (very meta for me but VERY good!)
Favorite translated novel: A Midsummers Equation by Higashino Keigo (I am SO addicted to his mystery novels)


4. Your favourite TV show of the year?

Hmmmm... Let's do regular live action and anime separately.

Favorite anime: Yuri on Ice, NO CONTEST. I haven't been so emotionally invested in and effected by an anime in... maybe ever. It just makes me so happy for so many reasons.

Favorite live action show: I quite enjoyed The Magicians - based on Lev Grossman's The Magicians series. I found the characters in the books to be kind of depressing and juvenile but the changes they made to the characters and the story were really good. And it was So cool to see the magic come to life.


5. Your favourite online fandom community of the year?

As far as platforms go, these days I spend most of my time on Twitter. I miss LJ but can't ever see myself going back to that style of thing, really.

I finally finished moving all of my old fic over to AO3 so I've really been enjoying the mechanics and ease of use there.

As for people! I met some REALLY amazing people doing SASO this year so I'm very grateful for that. Honestly, this year has been kind of tough for me personally so making these great new friends and having things (TeniPuri, HQ, YOI) to bond over has really helped me get through. <3<3<3


6. Your best new fandom discovery of the year?

See above re: SASO, as a fandom event and Yuri on Ice as a fandom subject and thing in general. They are both incredibly bright spots in my year. I mean, it's mostly due to SASO that I went to my first anime convention since 2009!


7. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?

SUPER SHORT HQ SEASON 3! I am SO looking forward to the Tokyo matches that happen right after the Miyagi finals. I understand why they did it that way but I haaaaaaate waaaaaiting. And I desperately need more Kuroo/Bokuto interaction in my life.

Also, I guess Daiya no Ace? I'm Really trying to get into it. I've somewhere around ep. 30, the characters and team dynamics are good but so far they just haven't grabbed me. Not giving up entirely yet, so we'll see.


8. Your TV boyfriend of the year?

Kuroo Tetsurou, no doubt. ^__^ (unless it's Bokuto Koutarou. Dammit, why is it so hard to choose~)


9. Your TV girlfriend of the year?

Going to sub in my best Web Comic girl for this one and go with Lardo (Larissa Duan) from Check, Please! She is the best. I want to be her AND date her. <3

Though, yeah, same with Dr. Holtzmann. DAMN.


10. Your biggest squee moment of the year?

Ummm... just about every episode of Yuri on Ice? I watched every week just gobsmacked waiting to see what amazing things they would give us next. I didn't think it could get better than the kiss. Then we got the ring scene. Then we got the BANQUET PICTURES. Then we got the heartfelt confessions and the pair skate that completely wrecked me. I mean, I said to someone around ep. 8 or so: The thing I most want to see at the end is a romantic pair skate but that will Never Happen. And then it did and I still kind of can't believe it.


11. The most missed of your old fandoms?

Gosh, my favorite old fandoms are kind of coming back with a vengeance. (Hello, Prince of Tennis!) I'm going to try to bring back Gundam Wing and Weiss Kreuz next! ;)


12. The fandom you haven’t tried yet, but want to?

I've been slowly making my foray into YowaPedal. I'm still not 100% sold on the art style but I have gotten interested in a few characters specifically. We shall see!


13. Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?

I moved to Japan for a few years and shifted all of my fandom energy away from anime and into J-Pop. In that time, I wrote A LOT of J-pop fic. Now that I am moving back to anime fandom in general, I want to write a lot more for anime fandoms! I've already gotten a nice start into Prince of Tennis and HQ fic, thanks for SASO and new friends. I think it would be a hoot to try my hand at some of the older anime/manga that I loved but never tried writing.


2016 was the year I came back to fandom after several years hiatus. It's one of the best things I've ever done. I love you all so much. <---- I am just leaving this hear from prillalar because it Perfectly describes my experience this year. I'm really grateful for all of you. <3