More really good romance with canvas shoes anime

2012 had a lot of very good romances, actually. Sukitte Ii na Yo was the same as Nazo no Kanojo: before the start hand painted canvas shoes of the series I had seen it described as smut, but it is not smut at all. In fact, it's a genuine look at a shy teenaged girl's first romance as she learns to accept herself more for who she is. This is what Kimi ni Todoke should have been: it just cuts right through the crap by having its characters actually talk about their feelings, rather than padding out incredibly long. It's a great example of angst done right, and I love how it takes care to develop all of its characters in its short airtime of 13 episodes.
More really good romance with canvas shoes anime Kokoro Connect that I initially wrote off. In this series we have this alien thing that toys with the main cast by forcing all sorts of powers on them and observing how they react. Unlike the above Sukitte Ii na Yo it did not have full control of its angst, which sometimes got a bit out of control (especially in its second half), but it definitely made up for this with its really sharp dialogue that really delved deep into their minds. It's a bit of a shame that the best arc was the first one so the rest of the arcs did leave a few things to be desired here and there, but still it was a very interesting watch.
Robotics;Notes will probably end up a lot higher on the list next year, but so far I really like what it's doing so far. It has believable character and a ton of subplots running right through each other that all try to Anime Canvas do… something. It's spending a lot of time on building up and it's still unclear what it really wants to do, but that's what makes it compelling. The pacing is a tad too slow for my liking, but even then this series has already delivered a lot of interesting climaxes.