I'm back at it again with two lists this year! This list rundown will be ranking some of my favorite things I've watched this year. I've been looking forward to this one because there's some stuff in here I guarantee you've either never heard of or you probably forgot even came out this year. So let's get into it.

9: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always

Starting out the list, we Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always, the special made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original series and the franchise as a whole. This special features the return of most of the original cast reprising their roles to face off against old foes. It's also chock full of easter eggs and nods to other shows and teams throughout the history of the franchise. What makes this anniversary celebration truly special is seeing David Yost and Walter Jones taking prominence as the mentors and caretakers of Minh, daughter of the original and departed Yellow Ranger. The three give incredible performances that show both the connection the characters had to to their departed friend and mother, but also the cast's love for their former friend and colleague. It all comes together to form an incredible celebration of the Power Rangers franchise and honoring one of the original team who helped start it all.

8: Castlevania: Nocturne

Nocturne is the highly anticipated followup to the original Castlevania series on Netflix and it definitely delivers in the anticipation. Watching a significantly less experienced Belmont come into his own to find his inner warrior was a great journey and seeing the arcs of his allies and those around them was incredible. The animation is as incredible as ever, the soundtrack is next level, and it ends on such a strong note, I'm getting excited for season 2 all over again.

7: The Legend of Vox Machina: Season 2

The cast of Critical Role return with an incredible second season of the animated adaptation of their D&D live show. While the core cast is naturally great, the vocal work of everyone is just as impressive, especially the late and great Lance Reddick as Thordak, the Cinder King. The writing was stellar as members of the party began their individual character arcs that'll be carried out over the next few seasons. And, as always, Titmouse brings their A game with the animation making this an all around fantastic fantasy adventure to come back to.

6: The Final Owl House Specials

Before we continue, I'd like to say screw Disney for canceling this show. This show was incredible. Which is exactly why its final two specials are on this list. While clearly having to deal with a smaller run time due to The Mouse being The Mouse, they made it work to deliver one of the most emotional and satisfying conclusions to a TV show I've ever seen. It took me longer than I should have to finally start this show, but I'm so happy I was there when it all came to end.

5: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Yeah. I'm surprised that this wound up here. Now I wanna get something straight first. I'm not gonna drop some weird hot take or something and call the movie mid. It's still one of the best superhero movies ever made. I don't really have anything to say about it because everything positive that could be said about this movie has already been said. So why is it number five? Because I knew going into this that I was gonna love it. The next four are things that I went in with modest expectations and got some of the best television of the year out of them.

4: My Adventures With Superman

So I've said this in a few places before but I feel it bears restating. While Spider-Man is the favorite superhero, my first superhero was Superman. Like, I remember having DVDs of the Max Fleischer cartoons when I was kid. I've always been a ride or die Superman fan so when this show was announced, I held my breath in anticipation, not only because the Superman content from recent years has been... lacking but also because WB Discovery loves shelving projects before they even see the light of the day. Shout out to the Batgirl movie we'll never get to see.

So imagine my utter joy when this show not only survived the Zaslav purge, but went on to be one of, if not my favorite iteration of Lois, Clark, Jimmy, and Metropolis as a whole ever. I mean, one of the first things Clark does on screen is saving a cat from a tree. That just textbook Supermaning right there. I'm beyond excited for the second season and if you want a Superman that actually feels hopeful again, look no further because it's right here.

3: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Okay. So I'mma be honest. There are certain things that I just automatically assume that I'm not the target demographic for and Moon Girl was well in that list for a long time. So when they announced she was getting her own animated series, I thought nothing further of it for the longest time until I saw this sneak peek before it released and made me realize that this was going to be something special.

This show is one of the most colorful, funny, action packed, and thoughtful shows I've seen in years. And the soundtrack is out of this world. From incredible licensed tracks from artists like Childish Gambino and Bill Withers to original songs written for the show, every episode has an memorable set piece set to a great song. And the world of the show is amazing. Lunella's NYC is full of diverse people as both voiced side characters and background people. The show doesn't lean on it to much but makes it clear that Lunella lives in a larger Marvel universe with direct references to Captain America, Black Panther, and even the appearance of some other Marvel characters throughout the series. This show went from being a show I knew existed to being the single best thing Disney has done with the Marvel brand I've ever seen.

2: Scavenger's Reign

So before I start this one, I wanna say screw WB Discovery for not promoting this more. I discovered this because someone I follow on Twitter retweeted something from one of the show's crew and I got kinda interested. I started it thinking it'd be just something to have on while doing other stuff. What I got at the end of this 12 episode series is one of the most thought provoking, surreal, otherworldly things I've ever seen.

If you're just hearing this for the first time, Scavengers Reign is a show following three groups of survivors of a crashed spaceship as they try to reach it and find a way home. This show delves into themes of what it means to alive, how grief and failure can twist your intentions, and other things I can't even fully explain. All of this takes place on an alien planet that looked at the dictionary definition of alien and said "Let's redefine this" because every episode had another new piece of flora and/or fauna that clearly has its own complex role in the ecosystem and we're treated to just a small glimpse into this terrifying and fascinating environment. I'm not usually the kind of person who buys stuff like art books from TV shows and movies, but this is one where I would buy several copies just to give the others to random people if that meant more people knew about this absolutely captivating series.

Time for the intermission before the top spot with...

Honorable Mention: Dropout (The entire streaming service)

So when I first thought about making this list, I knew I wanted something from Dropout on here. But I could figure out what I wanted to use. Do I list Dirty Laundry, a comedic drinking game where contestants spill their most outrageous secrets or the fun trivia show, Um, Actually? Should I hype up Play It By Ear, a show where the cast has to completely improvise a musical each week or Make Some Noise, a show that takes charades and impressions to the extreme? I could've gone for the safe choice of Dimension 20 but then I have to choose between which of the five incredible seasons I liked the most. So I took the easy way out and put the whole streaming service on here. Seriously. Go check out Dropout. It's probably the service I use the most nowadays because literally everything they make is good. And moving away from the dope stuff we have...

Most Disappointing: Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury

So Hasbro earlier I mentioned that this year is the 30th anniversary of Power Rangers. Well, Cosmic Fury was also meant to help celebrate it and ugh. Talk about going out on a whimper. For starters, CF initially was supposed to be a 20 episode series but Hasbro cut it down to 10 and you can really feel the pacing suffer because of it. Next, for an anniversary celebration, the only really anniversary stuff we saw was the return of David Yost as Billy, the return of Lord Zedd as the main antagonist, cameos from a few of the characters from the recent seasons, one brief scene in the penultimate episode, and mentions of characters and places that we don't get to see. I think the thing that really bugs me about CF is that Hasbro is planning on canning the current Power Rangers continuity and starting from scratch. So this otherwise lackluster season serving as a mediocre anniversary season is also the last we'll see if many of these iconic characters and that really saddens me.

But enough about that. The best thing I've watched all year was...

1: Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire

I've already said screw Disney once for canceling a show so lemme say it even louder this time for not promoting this because this is the single most visually impressive thing I've watched all year. If you're just now learning about or remembering what this is, Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is a 10 part Afrofuturist anthology series where each episode is created by a different African animation studio. There's always this thing with anthologies where one or two might be lesser than the others but every single episode in this series is absolutely fire. Pun entirely intended. No two episodes feel the same, both in terms of narrative, aesthetics, or style. From an episode about a kid street racing aliens to save his home that looks like something out of Studio Trigger to a stunning reinterpretation of the African folk tale about Queen Moremi, every episode is something special. If you walk away from this list interested in checking out anything in here, I implore you to make time for this one. It's a journey you won't forget.