A quick comic I made based on a conversation I had with @hania-chan in the comments of one of my previous Dr. Stone and Toilet-Bound Hanako Kun crossover drawings.
Also, we stand tired spider dad in this household.
A quick comic I made based on a conversation I had with @hania-chan in the comments of one of my previous Dr. Stone and Toilet-Bound Hanako Kun crossover drawings.
Also, we stand tired spider dad in this household.
I have a backlog of anime that I haven’t reviewed, so here’s a quick rundown.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Complete
Mushi-shi,Gonkutsuou, and Violet Evergarden – The gold standards. Great stories, wonderful characters, excellent music and amazing art. Up there with Back’s The Man Who Planted Trees as some of the most beautiful examples of animation ever made. On my short list of things I rewatch to cheer myself up. Now, when is Mushi-shi Season 2 getting put on disc?
Fruits Basket - I find myself nicknaming anime based on Golden Age movies. This is “Pollyanna Meets the Magnificent Ambersons”. An exemplary portrayal of mental health problems and dysfunctional families.
The Wind Rises - both a beautiful bio-pic and a meditation on the intersections of art, war, and commerce.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ongoing
Ascendance of a Bookworm - engaging characters in an engrossing story whose complexities unfold in a natural progression. Started a little slow, but rewards patience.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Complete
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - This story really got off on the wrong foot in terms of bad story decisions and poor art. Eventually develops into the compelling story it should have been from the start, but the first few episodes are inexcusable.
Stein’s Gate - another one that starts slow but rewards patience.
Death Note - This show has an intricate, compelling, almost constantly surprising plot – and that’s all. In order to enhance the shine of the plot, the characters are either repellent or boring, while the art and music are deliberately dull – which works in context but limits the rewatchability. It’s worth seeing once for the plot, twice for the details you missed the first time around, but no more than that. I can’t help contrasting it with Gonkutsuou, which managed to combine an intricate and compelling plot with engaging characters and stellar art and music. Unlike Gonkutsuou, the universal feeling of my family at the end of Death Note was relief that it was finally finished.
Cowboy Bebop - an experimental show that needed to be made to improve the field, but uneven in quality except for the outstanding music.
My Roommate is a Cat - nice plot and characters, clever conceit with the joint POV, my terrier loved the plastic bottle trick, but the whole thing comes off as a bit too neoliberal. The main character’s decision to become a hermit is treated solely as a bizarre and negative personal decision that hurts his family. Excuse me, but doesn’t that phenomenon have roots in wide-spread social conditions? Some problems really do extend beyond someone’s head.
Mirai - imaginative family study.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ongoing
Dr. Stone - Great first season, lackluster second season.
My Next Life as a Villainess - also had a great first season and a lackluster second season. Thrilled as I am to see a good screwball comedy I came away with the impression that maybe the audience didn’t understand the genre.
⭐⭐⭐
Sweetness and Lightning - lovely slice of life that’s a bit lacking in character development.
Somali and the Forest Spirit - a beautifully decorated cake only three-quarter baked. Why couldn’t the story have been as good as the art?
Orange - I admire the writer’s commitment to making a story where all the characters were bland. I admire my commitment to finishing it.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower – Nice but dated children’s fantasy. Did we really need a revival of the “put everything back where you found it” genre? I don’t think so.
Dropped After Four Episodes
Re:Zero Starting Over in Another World - Subaru is just way too annoying and immature. Yes, “jerk learns lesson” is one of the oldest tropes around, but not this jerk, not this time.
The Promised Neverland - Beautiful art, compelling plot, likeable characters, but as high as the bar is set, this story is either going to engage in some serious hand-waving or get very bloody. I don’t see how they can thread this needle. And then there’s the racism, serving as the icing this cake doesn’t need.
Dropped After One Episode
Kagome Love is War - “Oh yeah, I remember people like this from high school, the ones smart enough to be the kings and queens of the box, but not smart enough to think outside the box. They were an irritating nuisance. I suppose it would be fun to laugh at them.” And so it was – for about 15 minutes. Then they got too irritating.
The Flying Witch - it’s lovely, but it’s hard to believe that someone would be taught to wield such power but not be taught how to be more responsible.
One Punch Man - a show that needed to be made, that I am so glad was made, that hopefully will benefit the entire industry from it’s biting takedown of overused tropes, but not a show I found enjoyable to watch.
It’s that time once again for me to list my favorite stuff from the year, and oh boy, what a year it has been. It sucked, okay, let’s just cut to the chase. The anime I watched the most this year was probably One Piece, like I discussed just the other day in my media binge reviews. If you wanna see my thoughts on some stuff that isn’t from 2021, check it out, if you don’t give a crap, and really who can blame you, just keep scrolling down. I am once again going to include sequels and long running animes in my ranking this year, and yeah, the list is just in alphabetical order so there isn’t really a number 1 to say, although if you ask me, it’s Muteking! Muteking is my favorite anime from 2021, that was the best show. Well, you can read why down below, but let’s get started.
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside
You can tell this one is based off a light novel with that title, for simplicity sake let’s just call it Banished from here on out. Banished is a somewhat interesting concept, instead of being about the classic JRPG Yusha (Hero) character it instead focuses on a temporary party member. If you have played a decent amount of JRPGs I am sure you know what I am talking about, Red the main character isn’t a permanent party member, just someone that joins the group temporarily then leaves at some point. Red, being a former companion of the hero’s party, makes him worldly and interesting but he’s also down to earth and just wants to live a quiet life with his adventuring days behind him. When he meets Rit from his old adventuring days he is initially worried that his cover will be blown but she instead decides to settle down with him. What follows is pretty standard fantasy anime schlock but it’s held together really well because of the great chemistry between Red and Rit that make an adorable couple. It’s refreshing to have two adults actually openly dating with no “will they or won’t they?” antics.
Black Clover
Of all the things for 2021 to take, it had to be Clover! How cruel! I kid of course, and with the current state of anime I have no doubt it will one day return, hey even World Trigger did and I never would have believed that. For now though, Black Clover is over, and it ended pretty well for what it was. We got absolutely fantastic battles towards the end, Asta and Yami vs Dante is a true highlight of the entire series and really shows how much Asta has grown up now in the time skip and how important he has become to other people in his life. Hearing Yami finally call Asta by his name gave me goosebumps, it’s a beautiful moment. It hurts to have this one leave, it became a pinnacle of my Saturday nights on Toonami for some 4 years but Asta will return to save his friends again, I’m sure of it.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Last year Boruto began delving into manga content, both adapting story arcs from it directly and creating new content around it that further elaborated on material left vague in the manga. It was a great year for the series and it’s awesome to see that it pretty much kept that momentum for the entirety of 2021 as well, adapting almost the entire manga by this point. It was this year that finally revealed the secret behind Boruto’s curse mark and the cruel fate that awaits the youth as well as finally bringing the secondary protagonist into the series, Kawaki. Kawaki really shook up the status quo, a misunderstood youth that was being chased by a criminal organization, he had the same curse as Boruto and took crap from no one.
Over the following story arcs we watched both Boruto and Kawaki grow a lot and share a deep brotherly bond because of the dark fate they have been given. And the battles, holy crap, the fights were incredible. The Boruto staff truly outdid themselves, animating some incredible fights that went above and beyond spectacle into almost cinematic quality fights. And it was absolutely earned, as these fights were tied together nicely with some really great story telling. Overall, I know the following year will probably be a bit slower since the anime has more or less caught up, but I don’t even care, it was one hell of a great ride these past two years, and I can’t wait to see what comes in the future.
Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress
Last year the third series of Vanguard finished after a nearly two year long run and 2021 has seen the start of Overdress, the new fourth series that celebrates the ten year anniversary of the franchise. OD is both something new and a return to form, and it was kind of an odd start to me; much of the first season simply did not click for me like I hoped it would. And that is one of the big differences OD has over past entries as the series has shifted to a much older demographic and airs late at night and in single cours. Gone are seasons that last 50-65 episodes and instead in their place are beautifully animated 12 episode seasons. The series having such a smaller episode count however didn’t vibe well with the same old kind of slow pace storytelling Season 1 presented and often had to sacrifice the titular card fights of the series in order to tell plot. I’m watching a card battle anime because I want card battles, that shouldn’t be too complicated to understand, right?
Season 2 thankfully delivers in many ways and made me realize that a lot of the former season was all done for set up and finally getting this pay off felt great. Card fights become much more regular and said fights in general become really enjoyable with great strategy and wonderful animation. The story really picks up in this season and the cast finally feels like it all has fallen into place. Overdress was a rocky transition but I think Bushiroad has managed to bring a really great and well crafted card battle series to an older demographic. I’m looking forward to future seasons of the series now.
Dr. Stone: Stone Wars
Season 2 of Dr. Stone picks up right as the war between the two different factions of the stone world, Senku’s Kingdom of Science and Tsukasa’s Empire begin their war and it wastes no time in getting to the good stuff. Old characters return, Senku unleashes some great science on us, and most importantly the chemistry of the entire cast is top notch, even for the villain side. Every character is really well realized and written. It says a lot when the end of the season makes you empathize with the villain just as much as you did with the main characters. It’s sadly hard to talk a lot about Stone Wars since it is just one story arc of the series, going into details is pretty much just spoiling the story arc, but it’s a great continuation of a really fun and different Jump manga.
Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020)
Toei’s modern adaptation of Dai no Daibouken is a dream come true, and one I never thought I could get. It brings back the same feelings I had when Madhouse began a new Hunter x Hunter adaptation in 2011, and I simply love that so many beloved 90’s Jump series are finally getting their due. This year the anime finally surpassed where the original 1991 anime left off, and seeing these story arcs get animated is incredible. And the animation is top notch! The staff working on the series really bring a lot of talent and creativity that brings the fights from the series into new light. Most importantly, I’m just having so much fun watching this series every weekend like I’m a kid again. Dai no Daibouken at one time in my life I considered my favorite manga, and to this day it really holds up so strongly. The anime finally entering into the second half of the manga has been one of the most exciting things for me this year!
Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life!
For me it’s kind of hard to do a comedy isekai (another world) series nowadays. It’s probably just because of how dry the isekai well is in general but there’s also just some really great competition, like Konosuba kind of already did everything and did it so well it’s hard to find any more humor from this. But then Full Dive came along and oh boy, I usually don’t find mean spirited comedy that funny but this is gold. The series really takes the piss out of so many power fantasy series, making a VR fantasy world that is too realistic, meaning that if you are weak IRL you are weak in the game, and it’s such a one trick pony but it works just so incredibly well. Watching the main character constantly fall over and over again because doing even the simplest of things in a JRPG is herculean for real life people. Hell, I think one of the funniest jokes is that he doesn’t even leave the starter town until the very end of the season! The thing that usually happens in a couple of minutes in an actual JRPG.
Girlfriend, Girlfriend
Speaking of great comedies this year, Girlfriend, Girlfriend is another one. Instead of the usual “will they or won’t they” love triangle, the series protagonist Naoya is way too pure and doesn’t want to cheat on anyone so he somehow ends up in an utterly bizarre three way poly relationship with two other girls that is way too hard to explain to normal people and often leads to fairly funny outcomes. It’s just your regular high school romance between one dude and his two girlfriends. The humor is often really absurd, and the characters are sometimes too stupid to even function. The whole thing is held together by just how pure and sincere Naoya is in being the perfect two-timing boyfriend.
Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
“Hey, that’s me!” is pretty much how I describe Uramichi-oniisan. Do you hate your job? Is life in your thirties depressing? Is your body starting to age and fall apart? Have you given up on ever achieving personal happiness? Are you going to be single forever? If you answered yes to all these questions then this is you too! We are all Uramichi-oniisan! The fact that this show aired on mondays too was way too perfect, I think it had to be intentional; vegging out to work time blues and your depressing 30s on the harshest day of the week really helped to get me through.
Muteking the Dancing Hero!
In what is probably the most creative and ingenious reimaging of a classic property I have ever seen, Muteking the Dancing Hero, takes an old cheesy early-80s Tatsunoko superhero show and transforms it into a modern spectacle that still pays homage to the era of origin. It’s such a clever idea that I can’t get over–poaching one of their many, many, dime-a-dozen Gatchaman clones and transforming it into … well pretty much an old school goofy rhythm game. Anyone familiar with the classics like Gitaroo Man, Rhythm Heaven, PaRappa, and the like, will know what I am talking about: Muteking the Dancing Hero is pretty much just one of those games if they were an anime. Gone are the mechs and the toyriffic gadgets, and in their place are epic dance battles against kaiju that seek to destroy the city.
The music is phenomenal in the series, naturally, the dance battle portion of every episode is just so much fun, and way too enjoyable, but the soundtrack brings a lot of weight to it outside of just those tracks and there are even some old school classics from the era of the original Muteking; I nearly lost my mind when the show played the legendary (or maybe infamous now) Plastic Love, and somehow made it work for one of the saddest scenes in the series. Then there is also Aurorathe most popular celebrity in the city and a dark idol that Muteking just can’t seem to beat for most of the series. Their dance clashes bring some of the best music in the series.
Besides the great idea to take a cheesy old property and reinvent it, and besides the great music that came with this new dance battle aspect of the series, besides all that, my favorite thing about Muteking the Dancing Hero is just that it’s loads of fun. The series is one of those rare shows that every episode feels insanely fun, the characters have fantastic chemistry with each other and no matter how small a role everyone gets something to do, the world is so well defined and cartoonish enough to seem magical, and 25 minutes just go away in a blink of an eye. This was the most fun I had watching anime all year, and easily my favorite show of the year, I will forever go up to bat for this weird, creative series. Two best buddies really can save the universe with the power of dance!
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
I originally watched this show because a lot of people were dunking on it for being super pervy and dumb, and hey, oh shit, a stupid perverted dumb isekai series, sign me up, bro. This wasn’t what I was led to believe, as it slowly became a really well written and heart wrenching series, I guess the twitter mobs never know what they are talking about, oh well, at least I watched a great show for once. Mushoku Tensei is a really interesting beast though and I can see why people might be grossed out at the start, it feels like the author probably played a lot of eroge back in the day before writing this series, and hey, me too, so it didn’t ruin the experience for me personally. Eroge, or erotic game in laymen, is probably the best comparison I can think of for Mushoku Tensei, as just like many famous eroge (think Yu-No or Fate/) the horny content is there but an incredibly deep and well articulated plot is just under the surface (and the boobs) too.
Remake Our Life!
This show I really felt on a lot of levels, being a burned out 30-something with a dead end job. There are a lot of fantasy titles in Japan now that seem to focus on escaping to another world or redoing a pivotal part of your life and it makes me imagine there’s a good chunk of the population there just as burned out as me. Remake really did a great job at not only making me extremely jealous of protagonist Kyouya for getting such a great opportunity to follow his creative dreams again in his youth, but also made me feel insanely inspired again every episode. Anybody struggling to become an artist in their adult life can relate to this series, and it really shows how the best of intentions sometimes can lead to the worst results. Nobody ever said second chances are perfect but I can’t help but to think how great it would have been to chase more of my dreams in my college years.
Tokyo Revengers
Tokyo Revengers feels like it might be the last big title from Crunchyroll and that made it extra special to me. We had this big 2-cour long mega popular show with a fantastic Crunchy commissioned dub in the vein of their other prior major gems like Jujutsu Kaisen before it. Now that they are owned by Funimation I had no clue going forward what will happen so this may really be the last of its kind. I can say though, it was a damn fun series to end on.
Just like Remake Our Life! Tokyo Revengers features the protagonist time traveling back into his middle school self, on a mission to save his childhood sweetheart from a cruel fate in the present. The time travel aspect originally threw me off a bit, as it is kind of poorly written but after a while I came to actually really appreciate it for what it is. This is not a hard sci-fi fantasy series, at its core this is a fun yankii battle manga: the time travel aspect is just a narrative device that helps set stakes and creatively gives you exposition. We know why Takemichi has to succeed so badly because we get glimpses into what will happen if he doesn’t.
TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy-
This is a guilty pleasure of mine. Tsukimichi does nothing extraordinary nor is it really that well made but there is just something there that I can’t quite put my finger on that makes me enjoy it a lot. Perhaps it’s that the series has a somewhat older feel to it, the original novels it is based on do date back to about 2012. For whatever reason this show makes me nostalgic and I really don’t have any prior experience with it. Feels like something I would have watched in high school. If you told me it was from 2006 I would believe you, as it firmly feels like Zero no Tsukaima to me. Anyways, guilty pleasure, but I would be remiss not to mention it since I spammed my friends with screenshots from this one quite a bit over this year.
World Trigger (Season 2 and Season 3)
Seeing World Trigger return like it has is honestly something that still surprises me. I was there, eight years ago, I watched since episode 1 aired back in 2014, and never could I have imagined that we would get past that cliff hanger the original first season ended on way-back-when in 2016. Seeing the anime finally finish the story arc it left on is really satisfying in a lot of ways but seeing how much care and effort was put in these new seasons is even more satisfying. It’s no secret the original first season had a rocky start and was right at the peak of Toei being kind of a disaster so seeing them have such an amazing output recently is a true underdog story, Dai no Daibouken and World Trigger are some of the best animated series around right now. Beyond the stellar animation (seriously this is the best I’ve seen in so long) World Trigger always holds a special place in my heart as the best Jump series from the 2010s. To me World Trigger is just where it is at for that decade, and this isn’t some diss on the many other great Jump titles of that era, I just think this is my favorite one; it has the sharpest writing, uses real world combat tactics, a huge roster of amazing characters, and is just a fun sci-fi series all together.
The Vampire Dies in No Time
The Vampire Dies in No Time is a really great “buddy cop” kind of comedy, where world class Vampire Hunter Ronaldo somehow ends up partnering with the most fearsome and powerful vampire of them all, Draluc–except all that is total bull. Draluc’s legend is greatly exaggerated and despite his best efforts to be the stereotypical Dracula kind of vampire, he’s completely harmless, if anything he only hurts himself not humans. Pretty much even the smallest flick of your finger is enough to kill Draluc, who thankfully can revive endlessly but that’s about all he’s good for. Ronaldo and Draluc bicker constantly, are a terrible vampire hunter team, and each try to betray the other at every chance they can get–but somehow they are stuck together. It’s never a dull moment with these two idiots.
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun (Season 2)
Iruma-kun is back and this newest season covers some of my favorite content in the series like the Evil Iruma story arc and the Walter Park arc. It’s nice to be able to settle down more into this series and see it continue, and knowing there is a season 3 in the upcoming future makes me hopeful we might get the entire series animated one day. Iruma-kun really fills in that void that Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Left in my heart after its ending. It’s funny, has some great small character moments, and can also handle battle manga material very competently. Watching young Iruma and his friends of demon misfits grow to rise above their misfit labels and become the most respected class of the titular Demon School is just too much fun.
This is the second half of my Favorites list for 2019. If you wanna see my video game picks then refer to the prior blog entry.
This year had tons of wonderful and great animes, and really reminded me again why I love the medium so much. While my game play time did suffer quite a bit this year I was mostly able to keep up with every anime season of 2019 and really soak up as many shows as I could. There aren’t really any major rules to my list other than avoiding long-running anime a la Black Clover or Pokémon and the like. The only reason for this is so I can focus on the seasonal shows that may get swept away with the passage of time. If I included all the never ending shonen animes I love this freaking list would be crowded to the brim with it after all.
So without further ado, let’s check out some great anime.
Ahiru no Sora
The main character Sora Kurumatani is an incredibly short high school freshmen with dreams of joining his school’s basketball team. Unfortunately the school’s basketball club is comprised entirely of dangerous delinquents who have all taken over the club and use it as their hang-out because of the school’s policy that every student has to join a club. Undeterred Sora tries his best to get into the club and stand up against the delinquents who run it, and maybe just hopefully help them turn over a new leaf and become actual basketball players in the process.
This has been a pretty fun sports anime, that also veers somewhat into the “yanki” genre of manga and anime too with tons of fist fights, blood, and beat-downs in-between the times the characters do play b-ball. The series really gives off a lot of 90’s anime vibes despite its more modern aesthetic (a great opening theme from the Pillows certainly helps in that regard too) and I’ve been having tons of fun with this one each week. It is scheduled to run for a total of 4 cours so it’s taking its time and really establishing the entire cast so well. And watching Sentai’s dubcast of the anime has been delightful too, I love they really ran with the delinquent characters and aren’t afraid to swear up a storm and drop F-bombs regularly, it’s just tons of fun to listen to.
Astra Lost in Space
The newest series from Shonen Jump alum Kenta Shinohara, Astra Lost in Space is just what you would expect from the creator of SKET Dance: a hilarious romp through space with a great group of characters that all carry heavy emotional baggage. The series really does remind me tons of SKET Dance, except set in outer space instead of high school, and I am all for it. I laughed, I cried, and I racked my brain behind the main mystery of the series. Just who stranded these kids in space, and why did they want them dead?
The mystery element is perhaps the most unique twist on Astra that sets it apart from most of Shinohara’s earlier works in Jump, and while no Sherlock Holmes or anything, it is still fairly a fun component of the series that pushes the adventures of the young crew of the Astra beyond just being episodic romps. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys comedy and space travel stories.
BEM
The newest entry in the longrunningHumanoid Monster Bem (Yokai Ningen Bem) franchise that started life in 1968 during the yokai boom largely created by GeGeGe no Kitaro’s huge success. The series has definitely played second fiddle to its clear influence Kitaro, but is a fairly beloved franchise that has still gotten multiple iterations of its own.
What largely separates Bem from Kitaro is its more science fiction based monsters over the old fashion folklore creepies from Kitaro, and the three protagonists of the series: Bem, Belo, and Bela. These three “humanoid monsters” appear almost human enough but are still freaks in a conventional sense and do not fit into society. Despite being shunned by humans they still choose to protect humanity from other monster attacks in hopes that one day if they do enough good deeds they can be reborn as human too and finally fit in.
This newest series places a lot of narrative focus on the titular Bem, the leader of the group, who honestly was never all that fleshed out in part iterations and sometimes even played second fiddle to the younger member of the trio Belo who probably connected to the younger audience more. This really separates Bem from pasts series as it’s a lot darker and more mature. I would really love to analyze all the animes at some point in the future.
Boogiepop and Others
The previous Boogiepop anime series from over 20 years ago now, Boogiepop Phantom, is one of the all time great A E S T H E T I C animes, with absolutely chilling horror, downright mystifying and confusing plots, and a heep ton of gore. It’s one of my favorites and it’s also entirely non-canon to the original light novels and is instead a stand alone original anime series. So how does the actual adaptation of the Boogiepop books far then? They’re all right.
Boogiepop and Others lacks much of the aesthetic nature of the original Phantom series, and keeps a tone that is more consistent to its source material. It’s a series that starts a lot slower and is much more down-to-earth in the beginning before revealing all its pieces and getting into the supernatural aspects. Once it gets going however I found I really enjoyed this more accurate Boogiepop adaptation. Shingo Natsume is a fantastic director and the anime is incredibly gorgeous with his adept work on the series, and the general atmosphere is strange and creepy, and fairy creative without ever going full on horror anime.
The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku)
When I read the initial synopsis for this anime; “a young girl wakes up to discover she inherited demon powers and must now fight against magical girls in order for her clan to be lifted from its curse” I almost downright dismissed it and passed on it because I thought it was being played straight. However I gave the first episode a shot out of curiosity and quickly discovered it was actually a comedy series. A huge spoof on the Magical Girl genre if you will. And a damn good one.
What really separates Machikado Mazoku from the rest of the millions of Magical Girl comedies is how sincere its protagonist is and how low stakes the relative series turns out. Yuko, or Shadow Priestess Yuko, or Shamiko for short (a nickname she despises) is such an airhead and klutz. She can’t accomplish anything and instead of fighting magical girls she ends up befriending the only two she meets. This is such a relaxing and fun series and most people probably missed it because of the Hidive exclusive streaming rights.
Dr. Stone
Dr. Stone was always one of the newer Shonen Jump hits I was curious about but never got around to reading–largely thanks to my rule to not touch anything in Jump until I am certain it won’t be axed. So many bad memories. So many manga I loved dying. Ah-hum, excuse me then. Anyways I heard incredible things about the series, especially from one friend in particular and once it got an anime announcement I was so excited. TMS did a fantastic job adapting everything as far as I can tell too, and the anime has been wonderful.
Perhaps the most impressive thing to me about the series so far is how it isn’t reliant on battles or typical power scaling escalations like a lot of Jump titles are known for. Instead this is a fun adventure series, that largely focuses on science and the power of friendship and I can really get behind that.
Fire Force (En'en no Shouboutai)
Fire Force came on the scene and dazzled everybody early on in its run with amazing production values and insane fight choreography and animation but as the series went on it got a sort of reputation for being fairly bland and not nearly as gorgeous as when it started. And I kind of hate that. I actually thought the series has looked great throughout its entire run–sure maybe some episodes aren’t action packed exploding set pieces, but the general direction and story-boarding in the show is always beautiful and great looking. There’s an expert eye on the lighting, and each scene flows into each other wonderfully. I also greatly respect and love the slower and more somber pace of the episodes–it really lets all the drama soak in, and you get a feeling that this world the characters live in is not great; it’s fairly suffocating actually, even without all the fires.
As far as the plot goes, well I suppose that is more subjective; I certainly cannot argue that it is a wholly original story with groundbreaking characters, but I will argue that for what it is it works well and is enjoyable. The cast is fun and interesting, and all have great chemistry with each other, especially Shinra and Arthur who easily carry a lot of the show with their constant bickering despite being allies. I am really happy to see it getting a second season next year.
Fruits Basket (2019)
This is the second adaptation of the popular shoujo manga and a very accurate one at that. Pretty much any fan of the series will easily tell you how the original 2001 anime infamously upset the creator so much because of the changes it made from its source material (both big and small) that she denied any attempts at a sequel. It is definitely no surprise that this anime plays its cards incredibly loyal to its source material and it works great because of it since the source material is so good too.
Watching Fruits Basket again was like talking to an old long lost friend. It was such an enjoyable series to have back in my life and hearing Funimation’s almost entire original cast reprise their roles, even Laura Bailey as the protagonist Tohru, was just magical. This is very much a healing series and every episode felt like a weight was being lifted from my soul. I can’t wait for the future seasons, and I love they are going to adapt the entire manga this time!
Gundam Build Divers Re:rise
Another new year, another new Gundam Build series. These entries have really started to become a regular part of Bandai’s release schedule and I am not complaining. Re:rise is a semi sequel of sorts to last year’s Build Divers, a show I put on my favorites list a year ago too. Despite this you thankfully do not need to watch the previous show to fully understand Re:rise, as it is largely just set in the same world and instead has its own original characters and disconnected plot.
And what a plot it is! Re:rise’s plot is fantastic, and its characters are so much fun with great chemistry. Re:rise’s cast is the oldest group of protagonists we’ve really seen in a Build series which gives it a much more mature tone than all the previous entries, with higher stakes that mean more than they ever have in a Build series. This show honestly on par with the main Gundam series at times and it drew me in so much. I loved every episode and want more, and hate that it ended up being split cour and we have to wait! The last two episodes of Re:rise particularly are huge gut punches that push the show beyond all expectations and really stick with you. This might just be my love for Gundam but this was easily one of the best animes I watched all year.
Gundam The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet
So is this cheating? Technically speaking Advent of the Red Comet is just the original Gundam The Origin OVA series (2015-2018) sliced into a 13 episode TV show format. And I watched most of the OVA back when it was released already too (I still needed to catch the two Loum Arc episodes before this came out though). But goddamn, rewatching all of Origin again in TV show format was so excellent. So I don’t care! This was one of my favorite shows to catch each week, and don’t at me. YAS’ contributions on the Gundam universe simply cannot be overstated, and his work with Origin was so excellent and talented that it gives the entire series a feeling of true cinematic sophistication–something the original cast and crew all desperately wanted when they first created Gundam!
Also, it gave us the greatest Opening theme of the year and honored the 40th year anniversary of the legendary franchise while doing so. You can’t beat that.
Kemono Michi - Rise Up
In this isekai parody series the protagonist Genzo is a pro wrestler and animal lover aficionado summoned to another world to save it from the Demon King. When told that in order to do so he would have to slaughter countless magical beast he refuses and german suplexes the very princess who summoned him! There’s no way Genzo will ever harm any animal, they are far too precious. Trapped in a fantasy world Genzo makes the best of it by capturing and training all the magical beast and opening up a pet shop so they can find their forever homes. Even more hijinx ensure.
Kemono Michi is notable for being a new series by the creator of the beloved Konosuba, and it both shows and doesn’t show. Kemono Michi is another isekai parody series but it’s largely its own thing and a lot of humor is pretty different from what you would expect from Konosuba. People coming into the show looking for more Konosuba will probably be disappointed but for anyone just looking for a good laugh and don’t mind how different it really is they will have tons of fun. Genzo and crew are hilarious and the series’ genuine disinterest in the classic save the fantasy world plot is really refreshing. Sure the Demon King is out there slaughtering millions, but that’s not Genzo’s problem, somebody else can get on it, he’s busy trying to run a pet shop of his dreams.
Unfortunately said pet shop only sells the typical JRPG monsters you encounter and not real animals …
Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
So this might be another cheat as Sunohara-sou did indeed originally air in 2018 however it was locked up in streaming prison and nobody could legally watch it until this year thanks to Funimation’s newest deal with Bibibili. I ended up really enjoying it this year and watched every episode back-to-back with Fruits Basket. As I mentioned earlier Fruits Basket is a healing kind of show and I felt the same for Sunohara-sou. It was a really relaxing and cute show that made me super comfortable and chilled out before I had to go in to work for my worst shift of the week. .
MIX Meisei Story
Mix is the newest anime adaptation from the legendary manga-ka Mitsuru Adachi and also a sort of sequel to his seminal work Touch (1981-1986). Set thirty years after Touch and with a largely different cast of characters but still in the same town that Touch took place in, this series is fairly easy for anyone to get into but also extra rewarding for long time fans who will pick up on more smaller things that while not important are there in the background.
The brotherly relationship between Touma and Souma is what drives the core of the series and much like the twin protagonists of Touch Tatsuya and Kazuya their ambitions to make it to Koushienand play in the Nationals and love for baseball is unmatched. Touma and Souma aren’t just rehashes of the original two protagonists and by in large this has to do with Mix not incorporating a certain major plot twist Touch is famous for but I will refrain from talking about. With all that said you get a lot more interaction with these brothers than the original series and it is simply delightful.
Mix brings in the classic great character writing, and sense of youth that Adachi is always known for, and he is a true master at writing high school romance and sports manga by this point. It’s been an actual decade since his last anime Cross Game and the wait was worth it. Man, now I just need a Season 2!
Mob Psycho 100 II
MOB IS BACK!!! Need I really say more? The entire staff that worked on Mob is phenomenal, and really Bones is showing the best of the industry with both seasons of this series. But what lies at the core of Mob even more so than the amazing and unique art style and fluid animation is the wonderful character driven writing of indie writer ONE who started his career online and not with a major publisher. ONE is a master at not just comedy but characters. Watching all our best boys grow and learn in Mob has caused me to literally cry. Just the first episode of this season has shown how much Mob has grown as a person and how he is maturing. Mob you’re becoming cooler and cooler every episode, you little adorable awkward dork.
One Punch-Man Season 2
Man, OPM2 was thoroughly destroyed when it came out earlier this year. I largely definitely understood why though as the production of this season is such a major downgrade in every regard to the amazing work the crew did on the first season and it seems shifting from Madhouse to JC Staff really did harm the series in the long run. I didn’t even bother when it aired in Japanese because of that and have only just recently started to watch it after it got dubbed and put on Toonami. And I have to say … it really isn’t thatbad.
Maybe the dub version is using the more finished home video release footage over the original TV airing but I don’t think it’s really at a level of horror story (if anything look at Arifureta from this year too). Is it worse than Season One? Yup. Does that fact suck? Oh yeah. But the same heart is present from the original series in this season. I am surprised how badly it went because I am really loving this. ONE is such a talented writer and seeing his work animated never disappoints, I guess.
Outburst Dreamer Boys (Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy)
This is another fairly funny series that seemed to fly under everyone’s radar and I assume that yet again the main culprit for this is because of the Hidive exclusive streaming. It’s a shame the platform is easily missed by so many considering its plethora of great content and tons of exclusives it’s been snagging up lately. *ah-hum* I promised I was not paid for that shill just now, sorry.
Anyways, this is a comedy about a young girl Mizuki Hijiri who just transferred into a new school. All she wants is a normal high school experience but she is unfortunately adopted by the local Hero Club at the school more or less. Now the Hero Club is nothing more than a bunch of chunniboys going around doing all sorts of crazy and hilarious things and hijinks ensue. This is a fairly straight forward premise but largely carried by just how funny the characters are. It’s nice simple laughs that lead to feel good conclusions at the end of almost every episode.
The Promised Neverland
Everything I said about Dr. Stone I can pretty much repeat about Neverland as well. I was so impressed with this series although it started off fairly simple it really grew into something far more sinister and ambitious. The ending of the season I did not see coming, and the creative team behind the manga’s bravery to move past the status quo instead of just milking it for all it is worth is applause worthy. Really looking forward to the next season. Speaking of–if you don’t mind the tangent–this must just be the year of Shonen Jump or something, though, am I right? Dr. Stone, Neverland, Astra, wow Shueisha really is killing it this year.
The Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Toubun no Hanayome)
On the surface the Quints (as fans call it) is nothing more than a basic cut and dry harem set up where one guy has to tutor five beautiful girls who all just happened to be sisters. Like damn I think I might have played this game in high school and it was naughty! But Quints is surprisingly deep and a lot more than just that. It’s by no means a masterpiece in anime romance story telling but I was thoroughly blown away by how restrained it really was and how well written each of the heroines are. This is a really cute series that’s just easy to watch and appreciate it for its simplistic but well crafted story.
Radiant (Season 2)
Radiant is back and is having a much better start than the first season ever did a year prior. This current season has had significantly less filler and is much closer to the manga in its story which makes for an improved viewing experience and is noticeably a lot more mature now. The original season of Radiant struggled with how much filler and changes to the plot and characters it piled on in its early run. That really made the series seem more cliche and simple than it really is and because of that it had a lot of difficulty in finding an audience early on who may have (rightfully so) dismissed it based on those early fumbles. Early Radiant anime somewhat reminds me of the start of the Black Clover anime in this regard, actually.
It wasn’t until the first season moved on to one of the earlier big picture story arcs in Rumbletown that it really started to come together and let the source material shine through. Seeing season 2 maintain this relatively same quality since its very first episode is promising. The character interaction is much improved, and Seth’s journey only gets more complicated from this point on in the story as he learns more about nemeses, magic, and his own past. It’s a great battle manga finally given some real justice with its anime and I really have been digging season 2.
RobiHachi
RobiHachi is Diet Space Dandy and in a world where Space Dandy is only 26 episodes and that’s it, that’s a good thing! We need more Space Dandy!!!
While not even close to the animation powerhouse of Dandy, or the experimental nature of how it changed directors constantly, RobiHachi is very close in the same sort of style and humor of Dandy. It’s essentially a buddy series where two men Robby and Hatchi end up on a voyage through space together and get into all kinds of crazy adventures along the way. It’s a nice little series that helps fill in the void that Space Dandy left after it ended in 2014.
Run with the Wind (Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru)
Run with the Wind, based off a novel of the same name is a series about a disheveled track and field team trying to run the Hakone Ekiden, a world famous (or infamous) race that is extremely grueling and has destroyed many young athlete and potential Olympic runners sports careers in the past. Despite all this team leader Haiji pursues his dream of racing down this grueling track and will stop at nothing to run it, even if he has to make an Olympic quality team out of rejects and losers. He often butts heads with protagonist Kakeru who views the world very differently from Haiji and thinks he needs to accept reality already and give up this pipe-dream.
Run with the Wind is utterly fantastic, and a show so many people slept on. I honestly don’t even know why! Because it’s about running, I guess? Really, there is no excuse! What are all of you guys doing missing this show?! What separates it from a ton of the other sports anime peers is a few things, on the surface level there is the University setting and older cast. All the characters are young adults, and plenty of them are 20-somethings at the phase of their lives where they need to find their first real career and figure out how to live. But at the heat of Run with the Wind is a far more serious dialogue about being an adult and facing reality vs pursuing your dreams and what the limit of hard work should mean. This is far more than just a series about running. It’s about the weight of the dreams we all carry with us and the weight of the friendship and bounds we all form. And what weight we should carry and what we should let go.
This was an incredibly emotional and impactful anime series and I am super happy to see it receiving an upcoming dub next year from Sentai, it deserves it!
Senryu Girl
This series of short 12-minute episodes was one of the most adorable series in 2019 and always managed to make me smile. Senryu Girl stars Nanako, a girl who because of her incredible shy and introverted nature never speaks and only communicates through senryu poetry she writes. Nanaka hangs out with Eiji, a local delinquent that most of the school fears but is in fact a huge softie and a major fan of poetry–he even belongs to the same poetry club as Nanaka. Together the two write poetry with each other, go on dates, and get into all sorts of adorable situations.
True Cooking Master Boy (Shin Chuka Ichiban!)
In this semi-remake, semi-continuation of the classic 1997 Cooking Master Boy anime we follow the youngest super chef in all of China Liu Mao Xing, as he takes on the dark Underground Cooking Society who seek to control the entire world through their cooking and beat them at their own game.
I think this series is best described as Food Wars!/Shokugeki no Soma but instead of being incredibly horny it’s a martial arts film. I didn’t really follow the original anime series but definitely plan to get around to finding it after watching this newest series. I really enjoyed all the cooking battles that have been shown and the characters are all excellent.
Vinland Saga
Vinland Saga is an artistic marvel and this anime adaptation fully lives up to its legendary manga’s reputation.
Every episode of Vinlad was so damn compelling, and this feels like what the previous Berserk series should have always been like instead of the infamously janky CGI animation and knife to the page cutting scripts it got. Vinland is such an emotionally powerful series that can be carried by its own characters alone even during long stretches of episodes that lack the adrenaline fueled action fests for the eyes that it has. Honestly the less said about Vinalnd the better, as it’s an experience you should go into fresh without knowing too much about it. But oh boy, I am still reeling for that finale, it was downright terrifying and therapeutic.
This is easily a major highlight of the anime industry in 2019.
Wasteful Days of High School Girls (Joshi Kousei no Mudazukai)
I’m starting to notice a pattern where I talk about comedies a lot, but I guess that just is my taste in entertainment, huh? This series is also another pattern too, the Hidive exclusive nobody watched. I know, I know, let’s just get on with a few words about the show.
Wasteful Days is downright the most hilarious anime of 2019. I guess I ended up saving the best for last, as every episode would have tears rolling down my eyes from laughing too hard. The basic premise of a classroom full of a bunch of weirdos is super uninteresting, and on the surface if you read the description it doesn’t sound like anything special but don’t be fooled. The whole damn series is constantly hilarious and ludicrous. There isn’t a single minute of screen time where you aren’t falling over and laughing at the stuff happening on the screen.
Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun!
While not as funny as Wasteful Days, Iruma-kun is also another great comedy of the year, and I would be remiss not to mention. The series has a more fantastical element what with it being a demon school in the Netherworld, and poor Iruma, the only human boy in the school is trying his hardest to not stand out and get eaten by all the demons but he just can’t stop being incredible at everything in the demon curriculum somehow. This is a great little funny series, and the dub made by Curnchyroll is equally hilarious. I really recommend it especially for anyone who is a fan of Disgaea.
