It’s the final Showdown of the year, and before we enter the world of tomorrow we want to celebrate the very best in independent animation. Leaving the big guns aside for a minute (Disney, Pixar, yes, even Ghibli—we’ll celebrate all the anime on another beautiful day), gather up the raw data on your favorite, small-scale indie animation, stop-motion magic, pencil textures, watercolor effects, 2D delights and other hand-made wonders from this fantastic planet of ours. From one-person projects to small production houses, shorts or features, bring out the memorable tale of tales, snails, monkey’s teeth, idiots and angels, and hedgehogs in the fog. PS: if anything happens, I love you.