2012 in anime

This is a list of the events of 2012 in anime.

In Japanese polling, Newtype's best releases of Autumn 2011 to Summer 2012 announced the best anime series as Fate/Zero, The Idolmaster, Nisemonogatari, Tari Tari and Hyouka. For movies, the poll named only three awards for the K-On! Movie, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie and Wolf Children. Another series debut was Sword Art Online. Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis praised Sword Art Online, even before the series conclusion, for its complex and genre-crossing storyline and intelligent portrayal of sociological and psychological issues. Eisenbeis would also pick five different movies for top film of 2012, including The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki, Evangelion 3.0, Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker, One Piece Film: Z and Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles as his top five movies.