Top Five Anime “Families” of 2017

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone is having a joyous and wonderful holiday. Maybe even received a gift that you really wanted, even though that’s a commercial propaganda thing, and spend time with your family and/or friends that you love. That’s what this holiday really is about, spending time with your family. Thus comes the lead into anime.

Family is one of many major things that I saw permeate throughout anime this year. Maybe that is a something that happens every year, but I don’t care. My blog, my rules. Families are important, whether they are through blood relations or non-blood and forged through fire and friendship. Both count as families to me. This is my criteria for this list. As long as a group of people function like a family, that works for me. This is Christmassy, right?

In no particular order:

The Queen and her cabinet – Sakura Quest

Even if the character work behind this anime isn’t as good as it could be, there is a feeling of comradery and friendship between the five of these girls that goes beyond the norm. These five are Yoshino the outsider, Shiori the insider, Ririko the socially awkward one, Sanae the tech genius, and Maki the Actor. These five girls worked hard together to start saving the small town of Manoyama from irrelevancy. Maybe they didn’t do that today, but they all became friends with long lasting bonds just by attempting it.

Tekkadan – Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans S2

This is a second season, so what do I have to say about this show’s characters that wasn’t prevalent in the first season? Tekkadan is a group of misfits, former slaves, and orphans that worked together as one part of a security group. This all changed with the introduction of Kudelia Bernstein. With them working for her, this group changed into Tekkadan. Through their various misadventures and the chaos of their adventures in space, this huge group of people became a family. Nothing about this has changed in season two. In fact, I think their bonds have only grown stronger.

Class 1A – My Hero Academia Season 2

I could have gone the easy route and talked about Izuku and his mom or Todoroki and the reunion with his mom. Nothing wrong with either of those, because they are just pure good, but this is about “family” as a whole right? Through the tournament arc, the exam arc, fighting villains, and just everyday interactions, Class 1A became a lot closer as a family unit. Maybe these things weren’t always in the foreground because the class got separated a lot, but it was a concept that has permeated through the show as a whole so far.

The Master and Guests – Descending Stories: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Yotaro becoming a member of the established family between Bon and Konatsu was one of the major plot elements in the story. One of the many elements that went with some not as important stuff like finding rakugo and becoming a rakugo master. Pssh. First Yotaro is the complete stranger to this strange eco system, but then he becomes a member of it. He sees Bon as his dad and technically marries Konatsu who he has children with. Perfection.

Rei and His Adoptive Families – March Comes in like a Lion

When I mean families, I mean all of them. The most obvious one is the relationship between Rei and the three girls: Akari, Hina, and Momo. Those four-people become a pure bonefied family in season one and even more in season two. Then there is Rei with Shimada and his adopted younger brother Nikaido. Shimada is like another older sibling to him and Nikaido is his younger brother.  While two are amazing at Shogi, they both have their own variety of health problems. Then there is that one particular teacher and some other shogi players Rei has found comradery with. The only people that don’t feel like a family in this show are members of his adoptive family.

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Once again, Merry Christmas everyone. These five are the five families that spoke to me the most this year. What about all of you? What anime families spoke to you the most?