best of 2023: animation

- Not all of these were first released in 2023, but that's when I first watched them.

- These are in random order, though I did make note of my favorite.

- We watched all of these on Netflix except for #1 and #5, which we watched on Crunchyroll.

-  All of these are anime except for #2, which is actually hanguk aeni (Korean).

- As always, your mileage may vary.

1. Chainsaw Man:  Denji is a broke young man whose best friend is a demon dog named Pochita.  When Denji is on the brink of death, Pochita fuses with his heart to save his life, meaning Denji can now transform into, you guessed it, Chainsaw Man!  He's recruited to fight devils using his new ability, leading to buckets of blood and gore.

2. Lookism:  A plain-looking high school student suddenly develops the ability to switch into a new, super hot body.

3. Darwin's Game:  Kaname Sudou gets an invitation to play a mobile game (no prizes for guessing its name!) that turns out to be an actual game of life or death.

4. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead:  Akira Tendo is completely exhausted and on the brink of a nervous breakdown thanks to his job.  When a zombie outbreak ravages Tokyo, he's positively gleeful because it means he doesn't have to go to work anymore!  He resolves to take advantage of the situation and complete his bucket list.

5. Spy x Family:  Loid Folger is an elite spy who's ordered to build a family to serve as cover for his mission.  He adopts a little girl named Anya and marries an office worker named Yor, but he doesn't know that Yor is actually an assassin and Anya can read minds.

To be honest, the first two episodes didn't bowl us over, but we decided to stick with it, and we're glad we did!  It starts to find its groove in episode 3.  The characters are fun (especially Anya), the animation is beautiful, and it's delightful.  It's my favorite anime of the year.