The Con Artists’ Color Awards 2024

Happy New Year, everyone! 2024 marked the 15 Year Anniversary of the Con Artists’ formation. Guys…what?! How did we even manage this?! Thank you for following along with us here on our little site, and we look forward to another year of hopefully great anime and games.

Scott – Red Awards

Best of 2024	Dungeon Meshi It was a tight race between this and Frieren, but Dungeon Meshi ultimately took the prize. The show has a great concept and executes on it well. Add in a cast of well thought out characters to root for, even better thought out monster ecology, and the quality of Trigger’s animation, and you’ve got something really special here.
Most Pleasant Surprise of 2024	Negative Positive Angler I never expect too much from an anime that’s about a hobby – there’s always something holding it back. It could be that we don’t learn much about the hobby, or the characters are too flat, or it’s so over-the-top in its hype of the hobby that you get turned off. NegaPosi Angler avoids these pitfalls, putting together a show with solid characters and a good amount of information about angling, It’s also got some emotional range, from the funny debt collector squad to the deadly serious backstory of two of the leads.
Worst of 2024	Train to the End of the World I had a pretty good 2024 for anime, so despite winning the prestigious “worst” award, Train to the End of the World isn’t terrible, it’s just kind of mediocre and forgettable. The situations the girls find themselves in are varied, but never all that engrossing. There were some high points (“sexy violence” and the manga artist battle come to mind) but there’s really nothing here to recommend a watch of the show.
Most Disappointing of 2024	Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 For some time, Reincarnated as a Slime has been the example I hold up of what a good isekai can be. Season 3 isn’t outright bad or anything, but the way the show tells its story is showing signs of strain. There are way way waaaay too many characters, locations, and organizations to keep track of and so many more that are being hinted at. The cardinal sin of the season, though, is an arc where Rimuru decides to build a mystery dungeon for adventurers to go into. Guys, entire other shows have this as their main conceit. I don’t need to watch you roll your own and pat yourself on the back the whole time.
Most Beautiful Animation	Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End There are a lot of strong aspects of Frieren, which will easily be a landmark show alongside Dungeon Meshi. The quality of the animation really stood out to me even so. Beautiful backgrounds, quality character designs, cool magical effects, incredible fight sequences, and that one time Stark put on his coat – there’s a lot to feast your eyes on.
Worst Slide into Underwhelming	Saijaku Tamer This show started off strong – A very weak protagonist on the run for their life, an even weaker slime buddy to journey with, a surprisingly brutal and dangerous world, and a novel take on how isekai usually works. About 2/3 of the way through, though, all of that stuff is old news and the show falls into the same trap as so many other isekai – the main character is too powerful, there are no interesting restrictions on their abilities, and there are no real challenges for them to overcome. Oh well.
Steadiest Slide into Underwhelming	Goodbye, Dragon Life I really enjoyed the first episode of Goodbye, Dragon Life. It was really setting up to be a slow-moving, somewhat thoughtful story about a slightly superhuman but still very grounded protagonist living a country life in a fantasy world, plus a bit of adventure. By the end he was singlehandedly stopping a demonic invasion and killing fallen war gods with contempt. Everything in between just felt like a slow slide away from what I’d enjoyed in the first episode without any local peaks.
Most Surprising Ending	A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics I really liked the way the story was told in this show – set up a bunch of interesting characters and then turn them loose, following one or more of them each episode and seeing what happened when they collided with each other. No one really felt like the main character and while the various plots did progress, it didn’t feel like there was anything particularly momentous being built up to. Even so, I wasn’t ready for the ending, which, far from concluding any major plotlines, opened up some big new ones instead! It really felt like you were just getting a short window of time in a much larger story, but in the best possible way.
Lowest Stakes	Acro Trip With the setup being “bumbling magic girl repeatedly fights incompetent villain”, I wasn’t expecting this to be a dramatic high stakes show. Even so, I don’t think words can do justice to just how low the stakes are in this show. Spoiler alert, the last episode has the big bad taking all the characters on a hot springs inn vacation… before everyone returns home to continue fighting each other. Sometimes this was a little disorienting, since it could be hard to understand what motivation the characters had to keep fighting each other when it mattered so little, but mostly I found it cozy and funny.
Best Isekai	KonoSuba Season 3 There isn’t much more to say about Konosuba that I haven’t already – it’s very funny and all the characters are great. What’s really remarkable is that the show can still be this good after so many seasons.
Good Despite Every Indication	Maou 2099 Sometimes a show comes along that leans into every trope, embraces every overplayed genre stereotype… and, magically, inexplicably, is still fun to watch. Maou 2099 has it all – a reawakened, ultra powerful, undefeatable demon lord. Tsunderes that came from central casting. A real middle school boy trapper keeper combo, with swords, guns, giant robots, magic, and hacking all munged together somehow. And yet… and yet I enjoyed it. I liked the weird cyberpunk/magic fusion, the stupid fights with exploding blood knives, heck, even the arc where they go to generic anime magic school. I can’t put my finger on why (the breakneck pace? The surprisingly likeable characters?) but I was always entertained.

Su – Green Awards

Best of 2024	Dandadan I wasn’t even remotely prepared for how incredible this show was. Science Saru has really outdone themselves with this one. What looks like it’s going to be a dumb high school show about two weirdo teens falling for each other due to their shared interests turns into… A superpower(ish) show about two weirdo teens falling for each other amidst incredible action sequences, beautiful writing, stellar humor, AND there’s a hot grandma if you are into that. Have I used enough positive adjectives for you yet?! In all seriousness, this show is one of the best things I’ve seen in years. It has so much heart and creativity, the likes of which I swear I only see in anime. July 2025 is a long time to wait for more!
Most Pleasant Surprise of 2024	Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night If I told you to watch a show featuring four high school girls who are trying to start a band, what would you say? If you didn’t roll your eyes at me, I’d be a touch concerned about you. Shows like this are a dime a dozen these days and most of them are varying degrees of dull or filled with grating idealism. Jellyfish accomplishes more in its first episode than I’ve seen most shows do in twelve. All four girls come together to strive for a common goal but separately fighting internal battles. I was rooting for all of them to succeed and find their voices (literally and figuratively). The show touches on themese of friendship, dreams, accepting yourself, and even gender. It’s well written, looks good throughout its run and has very catchy insert songs. Its a solid show I wouldn’t mind revisiting someday.
Worst of 2024	Shūmatsu Torein Doko e Iku? (Train to the End of the World) I don’t like to leave categories blank and looking back at my meager watch list for 2024, this is unfortunately the one I would rank the lowest. While the premise is creative and the setup is ripe to be rich with metaphor or the metaphysical, it accomplishes neither. It never decides if it wants to be a girl’s trip romp, or an allegory for guilt for lead character Shizuru. All four girls are fine in their own right but three out of the four have no reason to be on the train, and I could not have cared less about the journey overall. Couple that to uninspired locales on the train that are just blown past, weirdly dark moments that begged to be expanded, and slapstick humor I didn’t connect with much and you’ve got yourself what the kids call “a hot mess”.
Most Disappointing of 2024	Shūmatsu Torein Doko e Iku? (Train to the End of the World) See above. I wanted so much more out of the show, and the first episode promised a metaphorical adventure it never truly delivered on. At least I got Episode 10 and a few instances of Sexy Violence.
Best Squad of 2024	Delicious in Dungeon This show almost took my stop spot for the year (but damn Dandadan was just so freaking good). I love the cast of our dungeon crawling band. I could with a little less of Laios’s optimistic aloofness but he’s still loveable. Marcille and Chillchuck are equal parts my spirit animals as they deftly put up with shenanigans and Senshi is just a beautiful soul. Also I want to eat all of his cooking…NOW. Heck, even when they added a cat girl of all things (Izutsumi), I happily accepted her gruff attitude an episode or so post introduction. This group plays off each other brilliantly, and manages to balance top-notch humor with gut-punching drama. They are there for each other in times of need and they all possess unique skills that help move them from one crazy dungeon floor to another. I was so in love with this group that I got actively angry when we had two episodes that followed a different one (I’m sorry Kabru…you and your squad are not interesting and I simply don’t care).
The Best Worldbuilding	Sousou no Frieren (Frieren, Beyond Journey’s End) This show aired its second half in Winter 2024 so it counts! I never cease to be in love with the world Frieren and her companions inhabit. The magic system fascinates me and the skillset of Übel of all people pushed me to a point of wanting to dive deep into its structure. While I wasn’t initially in love with the First Class Mage tournament, it grew on me and I felt the need to want to learn more about all the participants. Where did they come from and how does the economy, social structure work in their respective kingdoms? How have they been affected by demons and what are they striving for? Seriously, can I have that spell Fern has that make clothes instantly clean? In a world that feels endlessly full of wonder, I could wrap myself in the incredible narrative of Frieren and live there for an elvish lifetime.
Su’s JPop Playlist of 2024*	“Otonoke (オトノケ)” by Creepy Nuts (OP – Dandadan) “TAIDADA” by ZUTOMAYO (ED – Dandadan)
My Husbando’s 2024 Platinum Bonus Award!	Dandadan “I don’t consume and critique anime with the depth and panache of our illustrious Con Artists, but my gracious wife has allowed me a moment here to rhapsodize ala Anton Ego… To say ‘DanDaDan’ S1 took this sporadic viewer completely by surprise is the understatement of the decade. From Ep 5 on, I was wholly invested in the chaotic adventures of the most organic, hilarious, maddening, and relatable coupling I’d encountered in fiction since Scott & Ramona back in college. Subsequently, I pulled the ol’ Freshman Prerogative and consumed all three years of the manga in a day or two. Sit-rep: I was not disappointed.  It bursts with ‘Venture Bros’-esque worldbuilding (i.e. everything sci-fi/fantasy genre seems to exist), outrageous slapstick, complex frenemies, genuine horror, a-little-too-real heartbreak, and quiet, vulnerable moments of aching subtext. Viewed weekly alongside the precious but preterit ‘Blue Box’ as well, it revealed just how creatively and honestly it comes by its subversions. The ‘Momokarun’ hype is real…and wholly earned. Science Saru produced one of my favorite shows ever in ‘20 with ‘Eizouken!’, disappointed with ‘YuRei Deco’ in ‘22, but have roared back by absolutely nailing what is poised to become another core favorite series for this anime outlander. S2 cannot come fast enough.”

Dan – Blue Awards

Best of 2024	Delicious in Dungeon After the high bar set by Frieren at the end of 2023, another western-style fantasy anime inspired by tabletop and videogame RPGs takes the top spot. Its ability to transition smoothly between goofy comedy, intense action, and grim storytelling give it my top spot for the year. Few shows have captured the feeling of a D&D game like this one, and I am beyond excited for the second season coming in 2025.
Most Pleasant Surprise of 2024	The Elusive Samurai Loosely-based on the life of an actual 14th-century samurai, this one caught me off guard with its skillful use of animation and compelling storyline. After being disappointed by other shows where a young leader is constantly shown up by their retainers (lookin’ at YOU, Heroic Legend of Narsus Arslan), it was good to see one where the protagonist’s skills complement their comrades’ and everyone more or less gets equal time in the spotlight.
Worst of 2024	The Witch and the Beast I’m really grading on a curve here, because I made a point of not spending time on shows I didn’t enjoy this year. The Witch and the Beast isn’t a terrible show at all, but it was definitely the one I was least interested in as it dragged on. It had some strong episodes, but I found the main cast dull or annoying enough that I was annoyed when they took the stage over the more interesting side characters.
Most Disappointing of 2024	Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc The only reason this one isn’t getting Worst of 2024 is because the animation remains technically strong and the final episodes come this close to redeeming the rest of this boring mess. For a series that started off lean and focused, this season was unbearably slow and uninspired, contributing nothing of value to the story until the explosive ending that kicks off the next major arc.
Best Opening/Ending Theme	DAN DA DAN – “Otonoke” by Creepy Nuts / “Taidada” by ZutoMayo Not my usual style, but these tunes definitely stuck in my head. The fantastically animated and stylized opening blends wonderfully and makes for an unskippable OP, and the ED is catchy. They make great bookends to a wonderful show.
Standout Episodes in a Mediocre Show	The Witch and the Beast – “Beauty and Death” (Episodes 4-5) While the overall show is kind of forgettable, these two episodes really stuck with me for how they build out the world and rules of this show, moving away from investigative action and towards more of a supernatural thriller vibe. It presents a frightening look at the afterlife within the universe, and presents a pair of much more engaging characters than our main protagonists. You could probably watch these in isolation and have a decent experience.
Best Use of Animation as a Medium	The Elusive Samurai While the quality ebbs and flows between different episodes, there are moments in The Elusive Samurai that are just fantastic to watch. From a climactic escape in the show’s first episode to a dazzling fight that uses Coyote vs Roadrunner-style visual tricks in a deadly serious battle, the series leverages the unique tools of 2D animation to emphasize the main character’s dazzling speed.
Least Representative Title	The 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy After a decent start, this show quickly starts to stumble as it betrays almost every promise of its name. First, the protagonist can’t even vaguely be called a villainess. Secondly, her life is a constant series of training, negotiations, and kidnapping attempts – probably the least carefree you can get outside of an active warzone. Thirdly, she only gets betrothed in the first season, so marriage is some ways off. I get that we’re still deep in the era of overly long anime titles, but rarely are they so… deceitful.

Brendan – Beige Awards

Best of 2024	Sousou no Frieren (second cours) You can taste the meticulous research that went into every bit of worldbuilding for Delicious in Dungeon, but it was Frieren’s world that felt magical. Dunmeshi may be a more consistent experience overall, but, for my money, it never quite hit the highs that Frieren managed. Even if most of the second cours of Beyond Journey’s End was spent slogging through the first two tests of the first-class mage exam, it was all worth it for Frieren and Fern’s final tests.
Most Pleasant Surprise of 2024	Brave Bang Bravern From several of the people that brought us the incomparable Akiba Maid War, and directed by industry veteran Oobari Masami (who’s been working on mecha and other sci-fi anime for as long as I’ve been alive), comes Cygames’ attempt to make a weird mecha show, possibly conceived after getting drunk and accidentally watching Battleship (2012) (not necessarily in that order). I feel like it’s paced a little wonky, but man, when stuff does happen, it’s very often well outside the realm of whatever my expectations were, and I respect it.
The Only Show of 2024 that I Dropped Mid-Episode	Orb: On the Movements of the Earth Each season, I try to watch the first episodes of anything that I think I might like or am unsure about – these are generally filed as “Eh, not for me”, added to the list of shows that I intend to watch when I get the energy (an increasingly rare occurrence due to my hellish work schedule), or actively followed. I think you can tell a lot about how a show will function based on the way that the first episode is put together, and, extending that principle, I just did not have it in me to continue watching something whose first scene with dialogue is three minutes of genuine physical torture.
Most Disappointing of 2024	Train to the End of the World It was fun and all, but it didn’t really have the oomph that it felt like it was trying to lead up to.
Most Unexpected Source of Official English Subtitles	Pon no Michi French Youtube? Really?
Most Bizarre Worldbuilding	Tonari no Yokai-san Author be like: “You know what the many existing ‘yokai openly living with humanity’ stories don’t have? Full-on multiverse shenanigans.”
Worst Roman Numeral Abuse Since Noein	Blue Archive the Animation Despite the fact that Aru’s mercenary organization, Problem Solver 68, is indeed spoken as “Benriya Sixty-Eight” (I don’t know if the game ever explains what the number means or why it’s spoken in English, but the show sure doesn’t), the insignia in their office is stylized with VI VIII instead of LXVIII. America has the Super Bowl and weird copyright practices, but I guess modern Japan doesn’t have very many Roman numerals that aren’t on old clock faces.
Most Replayable OP/EDs	Sleep Walking Orchestra (DunMeshi) Moon In the Midday Sky (BluAca) Deer-Colored Days (Nokotan) Bump of Chicken also made an amazing music video for Sleep Walking Orchestra. I love Moon in the Midday Sky – I am also baffled as to why the ED to an anime adaptation for a Korean gacha game decided to bust out the synths in an apparent attempt to appeal to people who (like me) grew up around 80s media. Is that the age range with the most whales? The youtube scrape has less than a third of the views of the OP equivalent, which is the only metric I can be bothered to judge their relative popularity with (both are performed by the voice actresses themselves – I think Archive of Youth is fine, for the record), which makes me wonder what their goal was and whether they achieved it. I didn’t even make it a minute into the hour-long Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan meme loop, but the entire song (also sung by the voice actresses) is actually pretty catchy, and this official lyric amv is a delightful recap of the show’s madness.
Most looking forward to getting around to finishing	Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction I’m watching it with a friend and our schedules don’t line up well, all right? Gonna have to watch it again after we finish, too, because there is a LOT going on in this show about living in the shadow of a violent campaign against mysterious foreigners.