Hogan Reviews

Another year, another Top 10 TV series / seasons list! Although I’ve been enjoying Season 2 of What If…? It failed to make the cut, which makes this the first list since Disney + started that an MCU show hasn’t made it on here somewhere, which is a shame, but there you go. At least anime and Star Wars had me covered! Let’s take a look…

A few shows were hovering around the number 10 spot but I decided to give it to the Live Action One Piece show almost purely because the fact I was even considering putting it in my top anything still blows me away. I would’ve put good money on it being a colossal failure in every way so the fact it ended up being a surprisingly fun few hours of TV deserves special praise. Let’s hope they can continue that momentum whenever Season 2 materialises… (You can read my review of the season by clicking HERE)

Although the Thousand Year Blood War Arc has reached the point where plot is thrown out the window in favour of a whole lot of fighting (though Kubo has retroactively added some plot at least…) Season 2 makes it to Number 9 purely based on two episodes: the one featuring Rukia facing off with As Nodt and the final episode, which featured an unexpected new Bankai not featured in the original Manga. Both were top-grade stuff both animation and voice acting wise, so even though the other episodes floated from average to very good, those two episodes knocked this just into the Top 10 for me. (You can read my review of the season HERE)

The Mandalorian’s third season at times felt epic and important and at other times felt quite slow and meandering. Thankfully there was a lot more of the former, especially if you like the animated shows like I do and so getting to see Mandalore in live action and seeing a big fight between Mandalorians and Imperials was great fun. That being said a stronger year might have knocked this out of the Top 10, which for a show that previously hit the number 1 spot that says a lot, but it was still a fun time. (My review of the season can be viewed by clicking HERE)

The Bad Batch Season 2 had a good mix of good episodes, filler-like episodes and some real standout episodes, especially ones featuring the good-guy-turned-bad-guy-turned-fed-up-guy Crosshair, plus the final double bill was excellent as well. It’s due to those episodes that it ranks higher than its live action counterpart from earlier in the year, but it also isn’t the last Star Wars show to feature on this list… (You can read my review of the season by clicking HERE)

Attack on Titan finally, actually ended this year with two specials that were also later broadcast as several episodes (so this sort of counts as a TV season!) and I breathed a sigh of relief that despite the actual airing of the final season being a mess the actual final episodes managed to stick the landing and give a fitting send off to the once golden poster child of anime. (My review of the first special can be found HERE, and my review of the second and final one HERE)

Vinland Saga’s second season is something I’ve enjoyed savouring over the course of the year, dipping in and out when several episodes had dropped and then doing something of a mini-binge. The focus on not just our lead protagonist Thorfinn but a new, more sympathetic character in Einar was a great move and seeing the story go full circle across medieval England and back to Iceland was a treat to watch. I’ll review it at some point but the disjoined way I watched it made it awkward, but trust me, I’m not unhappy with the prospect of a proper re-watch down the line!

Ahsoka was a hard show to judge overall because there were times, particularly early on, where it felt like it was treading water as it introduced the live action only fans to the cast of Rebels, but when it got going boy oh boy it went! As soon as the story reached both Thrawn and Ezra I was hooked and the mysterious Baylan character / plotline was among the best things I watched this year in general. Really looking forward to where this particular part of the Star Wars timeline is going in the coming years. (My review of the season can be viewed by clicking HERE)

Doctor Who is sort of cheating this year as it only aired four episodes but given in my opinion they were Very Good, Great, Very Good, Average the overall “season” ended up ranking quite highly in my opinion! Reuniting David Tennant and Catherine Tate was a given for great chemistry and fun banter but “Wild Blue Yonder” in particular brought the fun high-concept sci-fi thrills and “The Giggle” was… a good laugh, fittingly. Doctor Who bias? Possibly, but oh well… it is my Top 10 after all! (My reviews can be found HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE!)

Always happy to see an anime series hit home with me as hard as this did, but the fact it’s a Gundam series makes me even happier. The Witch from Mercury Season 2 ramped up everything I loved about the first one to such a degree that there were weeks I was actively looking forward to watching the next episode at the end of the week, the characters and storyline had engraved themselves in me that much. I’m disappointed this particular Gundam timeline appears to have come to a close, but at the same time it did at least cap everything off well, which some shows never get to do at all… (My review of the Season can be viewed HERE)

Good Omens is a show that just feels like it’s a given to win this award based on its cast and head writer alone. In fact even if the supporting cast or the plot weren’t as good as they are just a show with David Tennant and Michael Sheen talking would probably rank high on this list by itself. Season 2 wasn’t quite up to the heights of Season 1 but given how good that was falling short still meant Season 2 was my favourite show of the year. (My review of the season can be viewed HERE)