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A Not So Serious Analysis of the Top 150 Anime Fandoms in Fanfiction
(This was originally posted on /anime for an essay writing contest they were doing. I've made some edits, removing or rewriting the dumber jokes and adding some content that was cut out of the original post due to wordcount constraints) This is going to be a numbers focused essay, as words are for squares. Alas, we’ll have to use words to get some disclaimers out of the way on the limitations of this analysis. If you want to skip this, there’s a TL;DR below.
First, special thanks to ToastyStats and http://fandomstats.org/ who kindly posted some of the data gathering tools online.
I’m getting all this data from AO3. This isn’t representative of all fandom or even all English speaking fandom. There’s a pretty significant differences between the major fanworks sites, which can be further read about here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1428631
All the tags are tagged by the authors and thus rather unreliable, there’s wild variation on what different people consider different ratings or even relationship categories. Also there’s volunteers going around wrangling tags to make sure that different wordings for the same concept point to the same tag. Why must AO3 be designed to be easier to find things rather than easier to do statistical analyses with? Clearly the AO3 webdevs have mixed up priorities.
I can make mistakes. Also the tools I used to gather this data, but it’s honestly probably going to be me that’s making any mistakes.
Certain tags can overlap, e.g. the relationship categories. I didn’t get the data on how these overlap.
I only got data on the top 150 most popular fandoms categorized in the Anime & Manga category (which also includes a handful of video games and media that isn't really anime or manga. I don’t know how these are categorized).
The categorization of different adaptations of the same story are not consistent. Some fandoms have separate tags for the manga and anime versions, and some are combined.
TL;DR: DON’T TRUST THESE NUMBERS Anyway: Now the numbers. First: Here’s the top 20 anime fandoms on AO3 and the number of fanworks for each, just to give you an idea of what fandoms we’re looking at.
Fandom
Total Fics
僕のヒーローアカデミア Boku no Hero Academia My Hero Academia
114178
Haikyuu!!
70838
Naruto
57134
Shingeki no Kyojin Attack on Titan
43560
Hetalia: Axis Powers
37108
Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
36462
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
31794
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
One Piece
20817
文豪ストレイドッグス Bungou Stray Dogs
20465
Kuroko no Basuke Kuroko's Basketball
20216
Free!
16629
Bleach
15064
Fairy Tail
13223
Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
11440
New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
10321
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
9939
Kuroshitsuji Black Butler
8916
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
8494
Dragon Ball
8320
An interesting illustration that the anime community on Reddit isn’t representative of the anime community at large. AO3 isn’t either, but the fact that there are thousands of works written about anime that rarely get talked about on anime is illuminating. Those were some cool numbers, but we can do better. How about the top 10 gayest fandoms? Or, more accurately, the 10 fandoms with the highest proportion of fanworks tagged with the M/M category.
Yuri on Ice? More like Y- Anyway, somewhat unsurprising, a lot of yaoi anime and sports anime. Let’s look at the top 10 Yuri-est anime fandoms AKA the fandoms with highest proportion of fanworks tagged with the F/F category. AKA my new ‘to watch’ list on MAL
A lot of yuri anime don’t have large enough fandoms to make it to the top 150, F/F fanfics being much less popular than M/M in most fanfic communities. A truly tragic state. I guess we’ll also have to do the straightest fandoms. Or, to be annoyingly accurate, the fandoms with the highest proportion of fanworks tagged F/M
Fandom
Total Fics
F/M
赤髪の白雪姫 Akagami no Shirayukihime Snow White with the Red Hair (Anime & Manga)
935
79.04%
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
70.64%
InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
7024
70.33%
Diabolik Lovers
707
67.19%
月刊少女野崎くん Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
600
64.83%
七つの大罪 – 鈴木央 Nanatsu no Taizai The Seven Deadly Sins - Suzuki Nakaba (Anime & Manga)
1291
63.44%
Hakuouki
754
63.13%
約束のネバーランド Yakusoku no Neverland The Promised Neverland (Manga)
1637
62.92%
Princess Tutu
703
62.02%
Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
636
61.32%
There’s probably some logic here, but I’m not too familiar with any of these. Probably tells you something about me. –- Anyway, let’s look at the least romantic fandom. Proportionsfanworkstagged Gen
The low percentages across the board tells you something about AO3. Although, people are notoriously inconsistent with this tag. Let’s look at the most polyamorous fandom. I could be more accurate, but let’s not be!
Fandom
Total Fics
Multi
Lupin III
630
13.81%
Ranma 1/2
925
13.73%
Diabolik Lovers
707
12.16%
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
7639
12.03%
Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 The End of Kibougamine Gakuen End of Hope's Peak High School
2052
11.65%
Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
696
10.49%
Shoujo Kakumei Utena Revolutionary Girl Utena
1143
10.32%
Digimon Adventure tri.
586
10.24%
New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
10321
10.01%
Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
1172
9.64%
Large casts of both male and female characters seems to be the common element among all these fandoms. And the most ‘Other’ relationshippy fandom AKA the 10 fandoms with the highest proportion of works tagged with Other relationships
Fandom
Total Fics
Other
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
691
57.45%
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
1867
8.57%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
8.10%
おそ松さん Osomatsu-san (Anime)
6908
7.96%
Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
696
7.61%
Ranma 1/2
925
7.46%
Hellsing
1541
6.88%
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
1749
6.69%
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
681
6.31%
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
1696
6.25%
Land of the Lustrous takes the massive lead, all of it’s characters being attractive rocks. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are both on this list multiple times, showcasing the difficulties that come with categorizing and analyzing fandoms. It also showcases other things, but we won’t talk about those implications. Let’s look at fanworks rated as appropriate for General Audiences. Both the top ten proportion-fanworks-tagged and the lowest ten
In general fanfic tends to be less smutty than it’s perceived to be. Even on AO3, the most free-speech-y/adult fanfic archive, General Audience and Teen ratings make up the majority of works written and posted. What is most popular, however, is a different story. Skipping the statistics on Teen and Mature and going straight to the juicy stuff, let’s look at statistics on Explicitly rated fanwork proportions!
Fandom
Total Fics
Explicit
ゴールデンカムイ Golden Kamuy (Manga)
671
33.08%
Promare (2019)
2061
31.20%
Devil May Cry
6317
30.20%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
28.71%
Finder no Hyouteki Finder Series
1997
28.44%
Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
3064
25.59%
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
31794
24.34%
Junjou Romantica
823
24.06%
Diabolik Lovers
707
23.90%
Dr. STONE (Anime)
1171
23.40%
...
...
...
月刊少女野崎くん Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
600
5.00%
Pocket Monsters SPECIAL Pokemon Adventures
1226
4.89%
Servamp (Anime & Manga)
1088
4.78%
Natsume Yuujinchou Natsume's Book of Friends
1351
4.59%
xxxHoLic
1341
4.25%
プリキュア PreCure Pretty Cure Series
697
3.73%
Princess Tutu
703
3.56%
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
691
3.33%
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
3.04%
BanG Dream! (Anime)
1521
2.96%
Fun fact! Psycho-Pass has a lower proportion of Explicitly rated works than Love Live, which makes me suspect that there’s a typo or something somewhere. Although there is an adage that fanfic writers write what’s missing in the original work, something that I will refer to in the future to explain any other possible errors. To finish off the ratings section, we’ll look at the fandoms that are worst and best at rating things, that is, most tagged as ‘Not Rated’. Unlike most other tags, a work has to be rated and can only have one rating tag - it’ll default to this one if there are no others.
Fandom
Total Fics
Not Rated
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
Land of the Lustrous makes some amount of sense. How do you categorize rock-on-rock or rock-on-mysterious lunar entity violence or romance? I can’t find a pattern with the rest of the list. It clearly doesn’t have anything to do with the big-brainedness of the fandom, otherwise we’d see more yuri fandoms with flawless rating skills. Let’s look at some content warnings to finish this off. This next table may have the possibility of leaning into spoiler territory, being a Major Character Death tag, but I’ll let you decide if stats on proportions of fanworks with this tag constitute spoilers.
[1]Being meguca is suffering, even in fanfiction Graphic Depictions of Violence tagged proportions top fanworks
Fandom
Total Fics
Graphic Depictions of Violence
Hellsing
1541
24.85%
Diabolik Lovers
707
22.77%
Tokyo Ghoul
6993
18.00%
ビースターズ BEASTARS
830
17.23%
Psycho-Pass
1358
16.57%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
15.34%
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
7639
15.29%
Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 The End of Kibougamine Gakuen End of Hope's Peak High School
2052
15.20%
Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
1122
14.97%
Dragon Ball
8320
13.82%
And there’s Psycho-Pass. I was expecting you earlier. What a weird fandom, mostly due to quirks of what people write about and nothing to do with any errors on my part. Underage tagged fanwork proportions:
A common theme among these appears to be canonically very young characters who aren't portrayed as particularly young, either in appearance or behavior. Sort of the opposite of the classic 'she's a 1000 year old dragon who just happens to look like a child' justification. And Rape/Non-con fanwork proportions:
Fandom
Total Fics
Rape/Non-Con
Diabolik Lovers
707
11.32%
Finder no Hyouteki Finder Series
1997
7.71%
Promare (2019)
2061
7.18%
Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
1172
6.83%
闇の末裔 Yami No Matsuei Descendants of Darkness
1190
6.55%
Devil May Cry
6317
6.06%
Fate/Zero
1556
5.98%
Kuroshitsuji Black Butler
8916
5.96%
鬼滅の刃 Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)
6672
5.92%
Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
2622
5.53%
A pretty high degree of overlap with the Explicit rated fandom proportion table. A notable outlier is the Golden Kamui fandom, which is at the top of the Explicit table, but 57th in this one. I will say that one is one of the smaller fandoms, so a larger amount of quirkiness among that data is to be expected. Dr. Stone is also a similar outlier in this trend, but is a much bigger fandom. I can't explain that one. Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings: Yet another confusing table:
Fandom
Total Fics
Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
FAKE (Manga)
1197
86.97%
約束のネバーランド Yakusoku no Neverland The Promised Neverland (Manga)
I looked into the FAKE fandom because I was certain that I had made an error there, only to find that a good 976 of the now 1206 fics there were written by the same person. Who, from the look of it, tags all their fics with both the 'Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings' and the 'No Archive Warnings Apply' tags. They've also written 900+ Torchwood fics. Who are you? What is this dedication? I am 80% impressed, 10% frustrated that they messed up my numbers, and 10% frightened of the power they possess.
Fandom
Total Fics
No Archive Warnings Apply
FAKE (Manga)
1197
89.31%
Hikaru no Go
1968
79.42%
Princess Tutu
703
77.52%
月刊少女野崎くん Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
600
74.33%
Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
3064
71.21%
Natsume Yuujinchou Natsume's Book of Friends
1351
71.13%
BanG Dream! (Anime)
1521
71.01%
Cardfight!! Vanguard
775
69.55%
A3! (Video Game)
1804
69.24%
xxxHoLic
1341
68.90%
There's FAKE again. The rest of this table is General Audiences 2.0 Anyway, that's about it. Before I go, let me say that I hope this analysis was entertaining and maybe gave you an anime to look into. Analysis like these are pretty fun to do, let me know if you want to see more of this stuff.
[Essay Contest] An Analysis of the Top 150 Anime Fandoms in Fanfiction
This is going to be a numbers focused essay, as words are for squares. Alas, we’ll have to use words to get some disclaimers out of the way on the limitations of this analysis. If you want to skip this, there’s a TL;DR below.
First, I’m getting all this data from Archive Of Our Own (AO3). This isn’t representative of all fandom or even all English speaking fandom. There’s a pretty significant differences between the major fanworks sites, which can be further read about here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1428631
All the tags are tagged by the authors and thus rather unreliable, there’s wild variation on what different people consider different ratings or even relationship categories. Also there’s volunteers going around wrangling tags to make sure that different wordings for the same concept point to the same tag. Making things easier to find and harder to statistics.
I can make mistakes. Also the tools I used to gather this data, but it’s honestly probably going to be me that’s making any mistakes.
Also, certain tags can overlap, e.g. the relationship categories. I didn’t get the data on how these overlap.
I only got data on the top 150 most popular fandoms categorized in the Anime & Manga category (which also includes a handful of anime video games, I don’t know how these are categorized).
The categorization of different adaptations of the same story are not consistent. Some fandoms have separate tags for the manga and anime versions, and some are combined.
Special thanks to ToastyStats and http://fandomstats.org/ who kindly posted some of the data gathering tools online for attractive, big-brained individuals like me to use for interesting and sexy statistical analyses.
TL;DR: DON’T TRUST THESE NUMBERS Anyway: Now the numbers. First: Here’s the top 20 anime fandoms on AO3 and the number of fanworks for each, just to give you an idea of what fandoms we’re looking at.
Fandom
Total Fics
僕のヒーローアカデミア Boku no Hero Academia My Hero Academia
114178
Haikyuu!!
70838
Naruto
57134
Shingeki no Kyojin Attack on Titan
43560
Hetalia: Axis Powers
37108
Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
36462
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
31794
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
One Piece
20817
文豪ストレイドッグス Bungou Stray Dogs
20465
Kuroko no Basuke Kuroko's Basketball
20216
Free!
16629
Bleach
15064
Fairy Tail
13223
Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
11440
New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
10321
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
9939
Kuroshitsuji Black Butler
8916
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
8494
Dragon Ball
8320
An interesting illustration that the anime community on Reddit isn’t representative of the anime community at large. AO3 isn’t either, but the fact that there are thousands of works written about anime that rarely get talked about here is illuminating. Those were some cool numbers, but we can do better. How about the top 10 gayest fandoms? Or, more accurately, the 10 fandoms with the highest proportion of fanworks tagged with the M/M category.
Yuri on Ice? More like Y- Anyway, somewhat unsurprising, a lot of yaoi anime and sports anime. Let’s look at the top 10 Yuri-est anime fandoms AKA the fandoms with highest proportion of fanworks tagged with the F/F category. AKA my new ‘to watch’ list on MAL
A lot of yuri anime don’t have large enough fandoms to make it to the top 150, F/F fanfics being much less popular than M/M in most fanfic communities. A truly tragic state. Also, shoutout to the Little Witch Academia fandom. Sorry about abandoning my daily posts about LWA fandom statistics on the rewatch that’s going on. I guess we’ll also have to do the straightest fandoms. Or, to be annoyingly accurate, the fandoms with the highest proportion of fanworks tagged F/M
Fandom
Total Fics
F/M
赤髪の白雪姫 Akagami no Shirayukihime Snow White with the Red Hair (Anime & Manga)
935
79.04%
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
70.64%
InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
7024
70.33%
Diabolik Lovers
707
67.19%
月刊少女野崎くん Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
600
64.83%
七つの大罪 – 鈴木央 Nanatsu no Taizai The Seven Deadly Sins - Suzuki Nakaba (Anime & Manga)
1291
63.44%
Hakuouki
754
63.13%
約束のネバーランド Yakusoku no Neverland The Promised Neverland (Manga)
1637
62.92%
Princess Tutu
703
62.02%
Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
636
61.32%
There’s probably some logic here, but I’m not too familiar with any of these. Probably tells you something about me. –- Anyway, let’s look at the least romantic fandom. Proportionsfanworkstagged Gen
The low percentages across the board tells you something about AO3. Although, people are notoriously inconsistent with this tag. Let’s look at the most polyamorous fandom. I could be more accurate, but let’s not be!
Fandom
Total Fics
Multi
Lupin III
630
13.81%
Ranma 1/2
925
13.73%
Diabolik Lovers
707
12.16%
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
7639
12.03%
Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 The End of Kibougamine Gakuen End of Hope's Peak High School
2052
11.65%
Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
696
10.49%
Shoujo Kakumei Utena Revolutionary Girl Utena
1143
10.32%
Digimon Adventure tri.
586
10.24%
New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
10321
10.01%
Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
1172
9.64%
Large casts of both male and female characters seems to be the common element among all these fandoms. And the most ‘Other’ relationshippy fandom AKA the 10 fandoms with the highest proportion of works tagged with Other relationships
Fandom
Total Fics
Other
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
691
57.45%
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
1867
8.57%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
8.10%
おそ松さん Osomatsu-san (Anime)
6908
7.96%
Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
696
7.61%
Ranma 1/2
925
7.46%
Hellsing
1541
6.88%
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
1749
6.69%
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
681
6.31%
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
1696
6.25%
Land of the Lustrous takes the massive lead, all of it’s characters being attractive rocks. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are both on this list multiple times, showcasing the difficulties that come with categorizing and analyzing fandoms. It also showcases other things, but we won’t talk about those implications. Let’s look at fanworks rated as appropriate for General Audiences. Both the top ten proportion-fanworks-tagged and the lowest ten
In general fanfic tends to be less smutty than it’s perceived to be. Even on AO3, the most free-speech-y/adult fanfic archive, General Audience and Teen ratings make up the majority of works written and posted. What is most popular, however, is a different story. Skipping the statistics on Teen and Mature and going straight to the juicy stuff, let’s look at statistics on Explicitly rated fanwork proportions!
Fandom
Total Fics
Explicit
ゴールデンカムイ Golden Kamuy (Manga)
671
33.08%
Promare (2019)
2061
31.20%
Devil May Cry
6317
30.20%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
28.71%
Finder no Hyouteki Finder Series
1997
28.44%
Saiyuki (Anime & Manga)
3064
25.59%
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
31794
24.34%
Junjou Romantica
823
24.06%
Diabolik Lovers
707
23.90%
Dr. STONE (Anime)
1171
23.40%
...
...
...
月刊少女野崎くん Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
600
5.00%
Pocket Monsters SPECIAL Pokemon Adventures
1226
4.89%
Servamp (Anime & Manga)
1088
4.78%
Natsume Yuujinchou Natsume's Book of Friends
1351
4.59%
xxxHoLic
1341
4.25%
プリキュア PreCure Pretty Cure Series
697
3.73%
Princess Tutu
703
3.56%
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
691
3.33%
Miraculous Ladybug
31326
3.04%
BanG Dream! (Anime)
1521
2.96%
Fun fact! Psycho-Pass has a lower proportion of Explicitly rated works than Love Live, which makes me suspect that there’s a typo or something somewhere. Although there is an adage that fanfic writers write what’s missing in the original work, something that I will refer to in the future to explain any other possible errors. To finish off the ratings section, we’ll look at the fandoms that are worst and best at rating things, that is, most tagged as ‘Not Rated’. Unlike most other tags, a work has to be rated and can only have one rating tag - it’ll default to this one if there are no others.
Fandom
Total Fics
Not Rated
宝石の国 Houseki no Kuni Land of the Lustrous (Anime & Manga)
Land of the Lustrous makes some amount of sense. How do you categorize rock-on-rock or rock-on-mysterious lunar entity violence or romance? I can’t find a pattern with the rest of the list. It clearly doesn’t have anything to do with the big-brainedness of the fandom, otherwise we’d see more yuri fandoms with flawless rating skills. Let’s look at some content warnings to finish this off. This next table may have the possibility of leaning into spoiler territory, being a Major Character Death tag, but I’ll let you decide if stats on proportions of fanworks with this tag constitute spoilers.
1 Graphic Depictions of Violence tagged proportions top fanworks
Fandom
Total Fics
Graphic Depictions of Violence
Hellsing
1541
24.85%
Diabolik Lovers
707
22.77%
Tokyo Ghoul
6993
18.00%
ビースターズ BEASTARS
830
17.23%
Psycho-Pass
1358
16.57%
Devilman (Anime & Manga)
815
15.34%
Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
7639
15.29%
Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 The End of Kibougamine Gakuen End of Hope's Peak High School
2052
15.20%
Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
1122
14.97%
Dragon Ball
8320
13.82%
And there’s Psycho-Pass. I was expecting you earlier. What a weird fandom, mostly due to quirks of what people write about and nothing to do with any errors on my part. Oh look, I’ve reached the maximum wordcount for this essay contest thing! And before I was going to talk about the more controversial content warnings! Darn, I guess I'll have to avoid a bunch of arguments. Oh well, before I go, let me say that I hope this analysis was entertaining and maybe gave you an anime to look into. I know fanfic has a bit of a bad reputation, but I think it’s really cool that it exists, that people like an anime or manga so much that they write their own stories within that universe. And that they are willing to share their hard work online for free. Pretty cool stuff.
Welcome to the OST category of the /anime Awards 2019. This is part of a series of polls where the community will decide on the best anime of the year in a variety of different categories. In this poll, you will select the show you thought had the best original soundtrack from 2019 from a list of 8 nominations. You can find a full list of all nominations here. The nominations decided by public vote this year are:
Googleauthenticationrequiredtoavoidvotemanipulation. This is a daily voting thread. Every day, nominations from a different category get announced. You can vote for every announced category at any point you want, but voting for all categories closes by February 17th. The winners will be announced in the livestream on February 22nd.
Just like last year, we're streaming the final awards results! Tune in Feb 22nd to get the first look, as well as insights from our special guests and jury! Our OST guest for the livestream is Shabu, That Music Nerd! Shabu has to be the singularly most overlooked content creator out there. We specifically sought him out and brought him in to guest the Original Soundtrack category, because we value his wealth of knowledge and easygoing demeanor. You can check it out for yourself, and we have no doubt you’ll be blown away by his eloquence and depth of musical knowledge. We’re lucky to be able to harness that for the stream!
r/anime Awards 2019 Public Voting Day 7: Thriller/Mystery
Welcome to the ThrilleMystery category of the /anime Awards 2019. This is part of a series of polls where the community will decide on the best anime of the year in a variety of different categories. In this poll, you will select your favourite thrillemystery anime from 2019 from a list of 5 nominations. You can find a full list of all nominations here. The nominations decided by public vote this year are:
Fate/stay night: [Heaven’s Feel] II. lost butterfly
Googleauthenticationrequiredtoavoidvotemanipulation. This is a daily voting thread. Every day, nominations from a different category get announced. You can vote for every announced category at any point you want, but voting for all categories closes by February 17th. The winners will be announced in the livestream on February 22nd.
Just like last year, we're streaming the final awards results! Tune in Feb 22nd to get the first look, as well as insights from our special guests and jury! Our guest for ThrilleMystery is Glass Reflection! Here’s a mystery for you. Red vest. Slick tie. Glorious hair. What comes to mind? Well, if you just uh, read above, hopefully Arkada! He’s one of the bedrocks of the Anime YouTube community, being one of few to kick it off almost a decade ago. His reviews have brought entertainment to (and saved the time of) many, culminating in his annual “Review Week (of Awesome)”—where thousands of users vote on what shows to review next.
Consider It The supernatural and the normal collide in Boogiepop wa Warawanai, an anime about an ephemeral spirit who watches over the populace, a “witch” who does the same from the shadows, and the realistic (and not-so-realistic) chaos which ensues nearby. Based on its first arc alone, the plot demands maximum attention, what with its non-chronological series of events and the bevy of characters it touts. This setup helps and hinders. Helps because it creates an interesting mystery to watch unfold; hinders because it can cause unnecessary confusion. The fact that the second episode released simultaneously with the first episode to explain its (purposefully disjointed) start should be argument enough. This unfortunate duality seems to be a common thread in all that the project tackles. The off-kilter cuts in the music up suspense, but they come off too jarring. The setting makes sense, but the artistic direction leaves much to be desired. The story and the characters have a meaningful claim to stake, but they both lack substance. To its credit, the underlying theme on the nature of humanity does not lose its focus, and those two main players have individual statuses and a clear connection worthy of larger exploration. For now, though, these traits and others are best viewed with an eye of caution.
Watch It “As much as I wish to explain the synopsis, I can’t—and shouldn’t. Boogiepop starts off, and continues to be a confusing story. But it’s because of this confusion that I find myself captivated by the duties of a possessed girl (voiced by a smug Aoi Yuki) in a purple pipe hat. So be warned: this show is not for everyone, and many may be distracted by its non-linear storytelling. But, its interchanging character perspectives continually change your own understanding of each previous episode and the overarching storyline. Every week, I found myself surprised and gripped by the clever effects of this disjointed narrative as the show builds on its themes. Directing and storyboarding can seem absurd initially, but when you piece everything together, you’ll want to rewatch to pick up on the details you overlooked the first time. For a Madhouse production, though, its character designs are lacking because its art style is nondistinctive from any other light novel adaptation. Characterization becomes so shrouded in the show’s mystery genre that sometimes, the cast comes off as undeveloped and neglected by the creators. However, if you’re contemplating or even more confused about this show, I suggest binge-watching the first 3 episodes.”
Watch It Ahh, romance. A fickle creature not quite that easy to have thanks to its numerous obstacles. Crushes on those seemingly out-of-reach. Empty feelings behind actions. In Domestic na Kanojo, Natsuo finds himself in this exact situation with his female teacher named Hina and a girl named Rui. And after an impromptu remarriage, these sisters become his (step-) sisters, brewing up a volatile triangle ripe for craziness. Setting aside the pseudo-incest angle as an excuse to get the story rolling rather than the driving force behind it already gets at what the anime prioritizes most: Drama with a capital “D”. It stems from Natsuo, Hina, and Rui with their respective troubles and thoughts on love and lust, giving rise to the ever-changing relationships between them. And it works. This shlocky, grounded soap opera takes its ridiculous setup in stride with other notable elements. The two heroines have received clear character arcs to follow. Solid production values, such as the nice character designs and the passionate opening track, keep everything in good spirits. A couple of supporting characters add realism and helpfulness. And it isn’t afraid to get a tad more risqué than the norm for this medium. If nothing else, the juiciness of the unfolding events makes domesticating this anime not just a possibility but a fun experience outright.
Drop It “Domestic Girlfriend is yet another entry into the endless pantheon of 'not-incest' anime where the romantic interests end up under the same roof. And it's bad. Dear god, it's so bad. Natsuo's love troubles went from bad to worse: he had a crush on his teacher (Hina), and then a strange girl (Rui) took him to her house and had sex with him. And now he's come to learn to that the two of them are sisters, and their mother is marrying his father. Does that sound wacky? Because it isn't. This show is largely a drama centered around Natsuo, Rui (who is a human version of the 'emotionless sex' tag), and Hina, the obligatory big titty onee-chan. At least in Kiss X Sis, there was an appreciation for the silliness of the premise. Here, the comedy and ecchi is shoved off to the side, only to pop up in bizarre places. From tense nude bathroom conversations, to a make-out session mid-adultery confrontation, to borderline surreal play-acting in class, nothing flows and nothing fits. It's really hard to overstate how incompetent Domestic Girlfriend is, and lest you think there might be some redeeming value, the music is rarely fitting and there's some off-model/under-animated parts. This is the first show I've seen from Winter 2019, and it's already a contender for worst show of the season.”
Must Watch It One rule must always be remembered when dealing with demons: Everything has a price. For Hyakkimaru of Dororo, the price for his unfortunate exchange arrived steep and not of his own accord. But that doesn’t stop him from surviving without the barest of bodily essentials and teaming up with a kindhearted kid who looks out for him as much as possible. Slated as a multi-cour show, the story has a lot left to get to, yet its beginning already packs potential. Hyakkimaru’s inevitable development from a visceral doll to a fulfilled human gives him a very strong character arc to follow, and the supporting cast members have their parallels and connections for even further clout. The samurai motif and the religious subtexts likewise paint the narrative in a mature light, granting it the chance for thematic ideas on purpose and fate and tenacity of the soul. Other elements perform well as well. Darker, somber colors and a historical setting create a fitting mood throughout the events. Intriguing music exists from start to finish. And the action sequences, while somewhat brief, act as a good interlude in-between the general seriousness of the plot. With everything ready, this project may just steal the spotlight for those who permit it the chance it certainly deserves.
Watch It “If I had to describe this series in one sentence it's Berserk meets Rurouni Kenshin. The original series aired in 1969 and the first thing you'll notice is that it's darker than most modern anime. Hyakkimaru was born without eyes, ears, skin, or even a nervous system, because his father, a lord of Feudal Japan, traded them to 12 demons. Now he travels Japan killing the demons, and recovering his organs, with a child he meets named Dororo. The show uses color sparingly to show that the world is bleak. As sad as Hyakkimaru's story is, it might not even be the saddest. If you're not ok with blood and death then this show probably isn't for you. Each episode feels like its own arc with new characters and a satisfying resolution. It's amazing how much they manage to cram into 20 minutes, that said my main gripe with the show is that the episodes are too short for the amount of information they're trying to show. The main characters are great. Dororo's cute playful nature is a great contrast to Hyakkimaru's inhuman lack of emotion or speech. I really want to see Hyakkimaru evolve from a killing machine with swords for arms to a normal human. The animation quality is solid; fights are short and involve little monologuing. Worth a watch if you have time.”
Must Watch It “Subaru, 23 year old social-phobic author whose parents are recently deceased, is followed home one day by street-smart stray-cat, Haru. What ensues are simple little stories where the inability to understand each other drives some tender development. My Roommate is a Cat is a story of a 20-something that needs to learn some life lessons and learns them in such wholesome ways. With episodes about Subaru trying to remember to feed not just himself but his new roommate, as well as figure out what the hell is bugging Haru, he learns a lot. But it goes further - episodes are divided to give Haru’s perspective. This feeds into the show's fun sense of humour, but also does something very important to show how the issue looks from another side and punctuate the inherent difficulty in understanding one another (cat or otherwise). While different perspectives aren't the most novel solution to this theme, it’s extremely elegant in practice due to one perspective being, well, a cat, but also the way in which Subaru's understanding of his own problems changes throughout the show. Anybody looking for something quiet yet powerfully resonant will gain a lot from the huge gamut of emotions this show runs. It'll have you laughing, crying, and always, smiling.”
Watch It “My Roommate is a Cat captures a lot of the same vibes as shows like Barakamon, She and Her Cat and Poco's Udon World. While the show's premise delivers on the promise of cute cat moments, it also mixes in some serious themes as it relates to its protagonist, Subaru, who struggles with severe social anxiety and loneliness. In many ways, the show is a love-letter to pet owners and the pets that bring them comfort.The show's main strength is that it does a good job of conveying the support that Subaru's cat provides him, even if they can't directly communicate with each other. Somewhat uniquely, each episode also contains a retelling of events earlier in the episode, but from the cat's perspective. This leads to some funny misunderstandings but also shows that their friendship is genuine and mutual. The show appears to be headed to a place where Subaru's world grows as he begins to open up and meet new people, but so far it is content to rely on the interactions between Subaru and his cat as its strength. Overall, if you just want fluff with a dose of feels on the side, this one's a good bet.”
Must Watch It “The Price of Smiles is the tale of a girl named Yuki, born on a planet far, far away. A girl who happens to be the princess of one of the two kingdoms on that planet, and, despite losing her parents early in her life, is surrounded by love from all sides - her childhood friend is always there to make her smile, and her advisors have always been there to bear the brunt of the responsibility that comes with running a kingdom. They've been successful in their efforts - Yuki grew up (well, not really, she's 12) to be such a fine genki girl that you'd think her favorite pastime was drinking tea with cake after school. If everything up until now sounds great to you, you might also want to check out Endro~!, because the ominous title of this show seems to be strongly against it turning into the seasonal CGDCT. The strongest point of this show is that once it gets going - it doesn't pull any punches, and so far each episode has kept me on the edge of my seat better than the previous one. The Price of Smiles does indeed stay true to its title - smiles have a price, and although I can't tell you what it is since they won't accept my writeup with spoilers in it, I highly recommend that you give this show a try and find out.”
Watch It “Egao no Daikia - The Price of Smiles - is trying something interesting. We're introduced to a young and innocent princess of an advanced society in Yuuki, with many advisors and friends to help her happily lead. But as conflict grows between two kingdoms over an advanced power source, we learn this is not the cute slice of life I was thinking it was. Rather, this is becoming a series about war and what it means. A few episodes in we are introduced to Stella, the secondary protaganist on the other end of the war. Where Yuuki grew up happy and sheltered, it is made clear Stella has not had that luxury. The series thus far has had nice, if not entirely unpredictable, turns on expectations. It's not totally clear where it's going and with a focus on both sides of a conflict, some cute moments but a heavy amount of "fantasy reality" it has gone from a barely-on-my-watch-list to one of my most looked forward to series this season. If an anime original featuring a mixed bag of action, mechs, slice of life and likely coming-of-age and politics sounds even a bit intriguing, I'm confident that the first 3 episodes of this won't disappoint.”
Must Watch It “Endro is the cute show of the season, likely the whole year, and one I look forward to each week. If ever it were possible to get diabetes from a TV show, this would be the one to do it. The voice acting is top quality. Seems that's what happens when we combine the main actors from Comic Girls, Gochiusa, Nozaki-kun, and Monster Girls, then tell them to make an adventure show as cute and enjoyable as humanly possible. The character dynamics give off some Konosuba vibes, but instead of comedy they ooze cuteness, with relatively little fanservice. Animation is solid too, like if KyoAni created a magical girl show with cute original character designs. The story follows a party of 4 female adventurers in a fantasy RPG world, each with their own distinct melodramatic quirks but adorable in their own ways. Things don't quite go according to plan for the heros (or teacher), but they always stumble right into success just by being cute, and it feels natural. If you dislike cute things, this might be the thing to change your mind. If you do, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot by skipping this.”
Consider It “After an intense fight, the Hero's party finally slay the Demon Lord and bring peace upon the world! Or so it should have been. Except we can always count on Namori to be tied to projects filled with silliness, fun and cuteness, and this one is no exception. Unlike last season's more serious and action-oriented Release the Spyce however, Endro takes a much more lighthearted and satirical approach to its RPG setting, freely throwing jabs at its genre, pointing out tropes and toying with them. The Hero and his friends are actually all cute moe girls, all with familiar personality traits. Mather, the mage is a massive nerd with a deadpan humour (very reminiscent of Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou's Chii-chan especially thanks to Minase Inori lending her voice to both characters), Yuusha the Hero is the pink haired airhead, Fai the warrior is the genki (cat-like)girl who eats far too much, Seiran the Elf is the straightman of the groupe with a weird obsession for horned gorillas. And obvously, our good old Demon Lord is a loli... It wouldn't be complete without this! There is nothing groundbreaking in this, but if you want to have fun watching anime and your weekly fix of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things on top of some RPG satire/parody, Endro is definitely your best pick this season.”
Consider It Where Lou Bega of “Mambo No. 5” fame had Monica, Erica, and the like by his side, Uesugi of Gotoubun no Hanayome instead has Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki. The former is a studious dude without any money, and the latter are quintuplets whose failing grades contrast with their immense wealth. He needs them, and they need him. Thus, a new rom-com harem begins. At its core, the show is rather simple: Uesugi supports one of the five girls (per episode) and kindles his relationship with this next stubborn girl. Which leads to the positives. Voice-acting performances are swell. Cute moments pop up now and again. And the characters and vibe of the anime are likable and wholesome due to him encouraging and listening to the women and how they in turn individually respond to his presence. Many negatives within this show counteract such positivity. The artistic quality dips too low too often to ignore. The comedy lands in a poor spot as well when its timings and its jokes often fail to hit the mark. And while an end is obviously obtained, the actual romance doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon. Altogether, only a little bit of “quintessential” is all one needs.
Watch It “I initially passed over Gotoubun no Hanayome due to its harem tag. Rom-coms are extremely subjective, and this season already had Kaguya-sama. Then I was asked to review it. With some trepidation, I started the anime, and was immediately greeted with an opening marriage scene.. what?! As it turns out, both the anime and manga start off with a flash-forward, planting the seed that Uesugi, the protagonist, will eventually marry one of the titular quintuplets. Which one exactly, is unknown. Back in the present, he meets the five capricious identical sisters that all require his tutoring. But they're simply not interested, and hilarity ensues as he struggles to figure them out while they circle him, eyeing him warily. I warmed up toward the show because Uesugi isn't a stereotypically incompetent harem MC, and the sisters share a fun chemistry. While there hasn't yet been much romance, Gotoubon no Hanayome's unique premise opens the door to potential situations that can set it apart from other rom-coms, and I hope it continues to explore this avenue well. Several side plots have already reared their heads, and it's obvious that the show cannot possibly resolve the marriage mystery within this season. Yet, the first episodes have at least convinced me of its potential, so I'm curious where the story will go from here!”
Must Watch It “All is fair in love and war,” but what if love was war? That’s the question Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen posits to the audience in hilarious fashion as Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane commence a battle of wits. Their skirmish tests their mettle and their hearts as they attempt to usurp each other in snippets. Nothing is off the table: trickery, mind games, deflection, suggestion, planning. In a way, the ends justify the means here, creating comedy filled with funny payoffs by visual gags, reactions, meta humor, catchphrases, darker jokes, cuteness, and extended ideas. It only gets better from there. A mostly centralized setting allows the artistic direction to go all out with imagination and style galore. The audio elements, from the great voice acting to the amazing ending track featuring the adorkable Chika, improve the presentation again. And it can even showcase a more worthwhile side of itself when it reels in the comedy in favor of sincerity. The only foreseeable issue is the looming sense of repetition that could settle in if the anime rests for even a second. That doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, though, so it’s pretty safe to confess that this war is downright lovable.
Consider It “Kaguya-Sama is a rare case where it's faithful to its source, but the problem is that it does not adapt well into an anime. The manga is over the top, has a hilarious WWE announcer, and for its psychological games has a lot of romantic cuteness to it, and I enjoy it immensely. The anime is much the same, sounds great, right? Instead, it ends up showing its shortcomings. It's more apparent that they barely have a change of scenery, at full episode length it's tiring to listen to the narrator and over the top style over and over again, and there's a certain desire with all these stories sort of connection to show some progression. The problem stems from is how it tells the manga story. It's not an uncommon episode format way to do multiple short stories within an episode, like with Asobi Asobase, Mitsuboshi Colors, or Nichijou. What I find it lacks compared to those is its variety. Save for the last story of episode 3, there's little variety, it's all over the top psychological mental fights, and little time to warm up to the characters.”
Watch It “Kemurikusa tells the story of a group of sisters and their quest to find water on one of the various islands present in their world along with the threat of bugs that pose a danger whenever they’re around. However, they are aided by a leaf known as Kemurikusa that provides them powers and other abilities. Oh great, another generic plot with nothing much to showcase. However Kemurikusa throws in a curveball: the emergence of a new character, Wakaba, who threatens the mere existence of these gi— oh wait, is he even a bug? With Wakaba, the girls soon wonder where he came from, what his intent is, and more importantly, whether he is a human or a bug: is a human what the girls are, or is it was Wakaba is? Soon, Kemurikusa becomes a journey to find water while at the same time exploring the past of all the characters — especially Wakaba. Three episodes in and Kemurikusa has done a damned good job at world building, detailing the struggles the girls have had just trying to get more water, describing the purpose of the bugs, and how their world came to be. Honestly, it feels akin to Girls Last Tour, and while it is CGI, it isn’t bad at all and exemplifies the eeriness of the world with a soundtrack that further cements the idea of the desolation at hand. Watch Kemurikusa. While definitely not AOTS, it is already shaping up to be this season's underrated show.”
Consider It “Kemurikusa follows a family of girls with who fight weird ‘bugs’ and survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Kemurikusa is being produced by Kemono Friends' former anime director and studio. With that however comes a level of CG that will turn many away from this show. The strongest point of this series is the interesting world and characters. Both are tied well into each other. Similar to the likes of Girls Last Tour, the show makes good use of its post-apocalyptic setting, taking its time to reveal atmosphere and mystery elements. The OST is good and this benefits the setting and atmosphere. The pacing of the show is slow, but progression is consistent. The male lead has been more of an audience insert and plot device than his own character so far. The other characters feel unique and have an interesting mesh of abilities that tie well to into the mostly unknown world. This series is carefully going to dish out information in a show don’t tell manner. If you enjoy slower shows that focus on world building and characters, can stand CG and are not satiated by everything else this season has to offer, consider giving Kemurikusa a try.”
Consider It Cars dominate the land, and boats rule the sea, but, in the air, planes reign as king. Or perhaps more relevantly for Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai, they reign as queens. Kirie, Reona, Zara, Kate, Chika, and Emma are the ace pilots of the sky, defending towns and stopping pirates as a tightknit group. Saying that this anime “contains planes” belies how much it embraces them. A large chunk of the story to date has focused on the high-flying skirmishes that the crew and the evildoers take part in. The aerial dynamics. The multiple perspectives. The detailed sound-effects. All of which combine to make these segments impressive and exciting to watch. Not to mention that a post-apocalyptic setting of sorts adds another layer to the narrative, the script has a not-so-serious angle that boosts its appeal, and the heavy CG use has its own charm. Yet two problems persist. First, a tad-too-fast pacing affects the flow of events. And second, both the story and the characters lack a lot of weight in a writing sense, so its current course remains a mystery. Even so, these skilled ladies may just obtain magnificence over the horizon.
Watch It “From the brilliant minds behind Shirobako comes a story about the adventures of six fighter pilot girls in a barren wasteland. The premise is rather simple, there's a client, there's a job and under their gorgeous superior's orders, the Kotobuki Flight Corps are on it and in the skies fighting to get the job done. The show's main appeal is its characters. Each scene (especially ones with our main cast) is made upbeat with enjoyable back and forth and witty banter. The girls have distinctive personalities that make for good interactions, be it Kylie and Chika arguing about who is more impulsive and careless, Kate on the side spouting trivia, Zara's ability to handle her liquor and Reona's shtick about working out. The interactions are so fun you could go an entire episode without a single dogfight. That isn't to say the dogfights aren't interesting, because they are. The aerial battles are reminiscent to Girls und Panzer. There's the standard militaristic OST in every aerial battle scene, but it's made light and whimsical enough to remind you that this show isn't quite about war, it's about six young fighter pilot girls and how they outmaneuver their opposition and learn to work together as a team. If you’re looking for a fun show with a good cast, then give Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai a try, it’s as good as pancakes!”
Consider It As some in the community may know, being a magical girl isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, what with the occasional tale targeting dark forces and even darker results. This twisted approach contrasts with the happy optimism the subgenre normally touts in the moment. But what about after all is said and done instead? In comes Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka, a project that follows a young woman named Asuka who desperately desires to leave her magical-girl past behind her. By going with this approach, an exploration on fear, PTSD, and other psychological trauma manifests as Asuka refuses to go back to her old life and as new events grip the supporting cast members too. The extreme violence and the “cutesy” enemies exacerbate these sorrowful thoughts and fall in line with the mood of the narrative. An intriguing concept for sure, but the rest of the anime has a tough time keeping up. The artistry is low in quality, the music perhaps relies on a singular piano tune overly so, the infrequent comedy bits come off as out-of-place, and the meat of the plot has yet to solidify into a concrete shape. Still, the underlying motif and relevant themes have enough to operate within a special niche.
Watch It “My introduction into the magical girl genre is one of the more well known entries in it; Madoka Magica. A show famous for its shocking twist and ultimately becoming a deconstruction on the genre. Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is not afraid to put its true intentions on its sleeve of being a very dark deconstruction. By the end of episode 3 themes of PTSD, murder and torture are on full display. This show is unflinching in its desire to stare down reality of a world with magical girls in it. A world where they are not a secret but heroes. Relationships are in full swing with a predictable cast setting the stage for strong archetype breakdowns and subversion. The world building is coming along at a brisk but controlled pace, letting us speculate and be surprised. I definitely recommend this show. The show is promising us with another look into a world of magical girls with a dark realistic spin. I don’t think it could ever top Madoka Magica but could very well become a classic magical girl deconstruction, in its own darkness light.”
Consider It Most people are no strangers to high fantasy. Magic, dragons, princesses. Well, take these three traits, mesh them together, place them in a medieval university, and frame it as a slice-of-life anime. The outcome will be darn close to Manaria Friends. The existence of this show has been known about for a while, but the wait is over, and the outcome may or may not coincide with expectations. Fifteen-minute episodes put this story as neither short nor standard in length but rather somewhere in-between. It features two ladies – Anne the prodigy wizard and Grea the shy dragon girl – as they share an unlikely friendship amidst unlikely scenarios. That’s the crux of the show; not a whole lot more can be said about it. Whatever drama or action it instills cannot be deemed engaging, and deeper writing will probably be avoided throughout its run. Nevertheless, the varied background art and the yuri undertones are at least appreciated in their consistency. It’s simply an average, solid project from the get-go that one can also be friends with if he or she so wishes.
Watch It “Manaria Friends is a long time coming. Initially announced in 2015 for release in 2016, it was a series many thought was scrapped. The extra time since announcement shows with vibrant and detailed backgrounds along with animation work reminiscent to that of Kyoto Animation. Manaria Friends, at its core, takes a fantasy world and uses it as a backdrop for a slice of life that details the interactions between two princesses, Anne and Grea, and their races, human and dragonborn, respectively. With such a unique setting, it is a character unto itself, as you have all of these races with their own cultures and tastes coupled with magic. Putting this all together leads to a very different sort of show, unlike many in recent memory. While the series is based in the world of Shingeki no Bahamut, there is no need to be familiar with them to be able to enjoy this. Since the episodes are half-length, it is a definite "Watch It" should the premise interest you.”
Consider It Underdog stories are the cornerstone of audience-cheering events, and Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari argues for this near-truth once again. Starring Naofumi Iwatani as the titular Shield Hero, he finds himself whisked away to a world where he and three other weapon-centric men must save its people from imminent doom. Unfortunately for Naofumi, doom rears its ugly head closer than believed, forcing unwanted infamy onto his journey from the very beginning. Controversy aside, this project has its fair share of interesting facets. Bringing on Raphtalia as his sidekick, the sword to his shield, has made for a cool dichotomy in their personalities and their fighting habits. The small amount of world-building towards the society, the land, and the underlying video-game aspect has been no doubt beneficial. And, in general, it’s just a ton of fun to root for Naofumi’s success as he “sticks it to the man”. The rest of the anime lags behind. Weak writing from low buildup, quick backstories, and lame reasoning plague some of its areas. The artistry and the music are not the most noteworthy as well. Plus, its fighting scenes rarely shine. All that being said, with a theme on “actions speak louder than words” in full effect, this project has a shot at rising to the top sooner rather than later.
Must Watch It “The Rising of the Shield Hero is one of shining instances of the isekai genre done right. Naofumi (the Shield Hero) is a great and doesn't follow suit with the clumsy or ignorant oaf trope that most tend to in this genre. He leads a great example that being a good hero isn't just about being physically strong, but having quick wits and the will to fight for others regardless of what they think of you. The world isn't all that unique either outside of one small trait and the animation is nothing spectacular, but it is at least a fitting setting for its somewhat dark tone. Not to say the animation is bad though. The art direction can be pretty good at times (mainly the more action oriented scenes). The Shield Hero’s journey so far is an engaging one with a interesting story, some great action scenes and characters that will most likely leave you wanting more.”
Consider It “Shieldbro Naofumi is summoned in your average isekai world. This new world is not as good as you would expect though and Naofumi will find himself in a spiral of darkness that will test how strong his mind is and how long he can uphold his morals. The good: from the same studio as Made in Abyss (Kinema Citrus) and the same composer (Kevin Penkin), you can expect quality music and art. Naofumi is a great character, he changes quite a lot and plays the role of the Byronic hero (kinda) pretty well and kind of carries the show. Raphtalia is pretty good too. Now the bad: Aside from the two MC, the other characters are mostly bland, some feel like nothing more than plot devices to trigger Naofumi. The author does a good job at telling the story she wants and setting up a world to accomodate it, but kind of fails to give depth to it: She shows us a good event and then time-skips to the other one, which prevents us to see the charactrs grow with our eyes. Plus, we only get to know the bare minimum about the world for the story to make sense. I would consider it since it brings a refreshing story compared to other isekai and pretty good MCs, also the art/music are great, but don’t set your expectations too high: the writing sometimes falls flat.”
Watch It In Yakusoku no Neverland, Emma, Norman, and Ray live with a bunch of other kids at an orphanage. They eat hearty meals, they have classes in the afternoon, and they play outside without much care. Mother looks after them all the while, making sure her flock never strays too far. A quaint life for everyone involved from what can be gleaned. But an ominous atmosphere, a foreboding sense of dread that things aren’t quite right lingers in the air. With its first episode, this project establishes its main trio, its thrill-filled direction, and its writing strength, letting the audience understand immediately what’s in store. This empowered state carries into the following episodes, too, as the art and the plot developments up the ante ever further. Not that everything goes its way. The characters tend to speak their thoughts aloud despite the secrecy demanded of them, and the suspension of disbelief required for the “game” the kids must win borders on impossible. Being so nitpicky, however, does a disservice to the great voice acting, the distinct moments, and the fairness of the narrative displayed. That is to say, this home-away-from-home tags in as a promising outing.
Drop It “Anime and Horror doesn't have the best of relationships. As a big horror fan this saddens me, so when people said that this was going to be great I was extremely excited. This is exactly why it pains me to give this a bad review. The show takes a tried and tested concept and does exactly what you would expect it to do. If you have even seen a few horror movies, you will be able to quite quickly figure out what will happen, and there was nothing I didn’t see coming in the three first episodes. At the same time all the character designs make the characters look wierd. Their faces have been squished, and there is something with the geometry that feels awfully off. Even though this is the case, you can feel that there has been a lot of love put into this show. The production values are great, and there is still a lot of potential to make something great out of this. Unfortunately, as it stands with the current story I just can’t recommend anyone to pick this up knowing there are more fun subversive shows out there that doesn’t just stick to the same tried and tested formula” Banjo's Top Three Picks: 1 Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen 2 Dororo 3 Yakusoku no Neverland Volunteer Consensus: (General estimation based off every potential volunteer and their feelings across all anime) Tier 1 (Mostly “Must Watch It” Range): Dororo Yakusoku no Neverland Tier 2 (Mostly “Watch It” Range): Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen Endro~! Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue. Egao no Daika Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai Domestic na Kanojo Manaria Friends Tier 3 (Mostly “Consider It” Range): Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Gotoubun no Hanayome Boogiepop wa Warawanai Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka Kemurikusa
[Writing] My experiences across my first two years of seasonal anime
I started watching anime in 2013. Well, technically I saw a few Ghibli movies long before that, but I had no idea what anime was at that time and made no effort to find out. Thanks to a recommendation from someone I met through being a fan of Homestuck, in the summer of 2013 I finally got through Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, and shortly before the school year started my roommate made me watch Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, which I adored, and still do. Even so, for quite some time after that I remained selective. Starting an anime felt to me then like a commitment, and I only watched classics and the odd seasonal show along with my friends. Then at the end of 2016 one friend came up with the idea that we could watch just the first episode of every show of the following season. He would abandon the project after looking at about ten episodes; I stuck with it and more - across nine consecutive seasons, from Winter 2017 to Winter 2019, I watched more than a hundred shows. During the same period, I got my first “real job”, moved across the country, quit, lived in a hostel for six months, worked at an ice cream store and a coffee shop, walked a dog through a blizzard, and in the end felt like I was going in the right direction for the very first time. (Note: While I marked any images I linked with their source episodes to be safe, none betray any serious plot twist, so don't be afraid to look unless you want to be extra careful.) Winter 2017 Most of the shows I watched won’t stick with me, but even so I definitely disagree with the common saying that 90% of anime is shit; even for the shakiest shows I watched there were elements that meshed with me and made me think and feel. Urara Meirochou, the first pure CGDCT I finished, had a single moment that made being somewhat bored at times worthwhile Urara Meirochou But there was a single show without which I may not have continued this project past one season. That show was Kemono Friends. Like so many others, I watched the first episode of Kemono Friends and dropped it. My impression was that I was three times the age of the target audience. I did like some educational games and books as a kid, but at 22? Eh. But something about it must have stuck with me. Over the next few weeks I mentioned it to several friends and at one point decided to watch the second episode; something distracted me, and I did not watch it then. Instead, it was a Reddit poster who hardly knew how thankful I would later be - who made two separate posts on the show, each with the message of “hey, don’t tell anyone I recommended this, and I’m not saying it’s, like, good, but it’s kind of fascinating?” Neither gained a lot of traction, but the second one, posted just after Episode 4, finally got me to watch that episode, and then the rest of the series to that point. Two days later, the series’s popularity in Japan exploded. In Western animation (or just television in general), comedy tends to be a deeply cynical medium. The standard set by South Park and the like (or even less extreme examples like The Simpsons) is for fast-paced, biting humor and a cast of characters who aren’t the best sort of people. Through their failings we see what we don’t like to admit about ourselves. And then there’s Kemono Friends, which is as unabashedly optimistic as anything can get. (From Kemono Friends Ep. 1) Kemono Friends Kemono Friends Not long after the end of this season, I moved across the country. The combination of a new start with this show that meant so much to me led me to start going to anime conventions for the first time in years, since back when my main fandom was Homestuck. At one of them I cosplayed Kaban, and one of the two people who recognized me became a good friend. Spring 2017 I drifted from place to place in April and May, staying with my sister and in different hostels before I found a place for the summer. I did not adjust well at first, and maybe as a result was distracted and less into what I saw this season. With Sekaisuru Kado, I at least adored the way it started, but then it slowly slides off a cliff. The only two shows that didn’t disappoint me in some significant way were Fukumenkei Noise, which was merely a pretty good shoujo romance and earned AOTS by default without feeling like it; and Eromanga-sensei, which I had zero expectations for in the first place. Maybe there were shows I should have stuck with; I dropped Tsuki ga Kirei early, feeling that if it turned out to be good I’d just feel sad about myself, especially given how the rest of my life had been going. Summer 2017 In advance of this season, the friend who got me to start the whole project had the idea of looking through the descriptions and guessing which shows would be worth watching. It was pretty fun, and I think it made me more interested after an unmemorable spring. Not that our guesses were remotely accurate. I really liked the premise of Vatican Kiseki Chousakan, a show about religious scientists investigating claims of miracles. And for a couple of episodes it seemed uneven but still interesting until it veered off the deep end. One terrible show that I did finish was Netsuzou Trap: NTR. I refused to admit I was watching it until Netsuzou Trap It was the first show I had seen (there are now four) where its finale was the unambiguous highlight. (From Made in Abyss Ep. 1) But the second such show, Made in Abyss, ended not long afterwards. Made in Abyss But though Made in Abyss was my favorite show of the season, and even of the entire period, there was one show I found myself talking about even more, which would be Tenshi no 3P!. I watched it hoping for a trainwreck along the lines of Eromanga-sensei, and in the end I only gave it a 6.5/10. However, a single supporting character I adored, and a single scene involving that character I loved, made me remember it well. Without Made in Abyss, Sakura Toriumi would have been my favorite character of 2017, and Episode 4 of Tenshi no 3P! would have been my favorite episode, despite the show as a whole being focused on loli fanservice and so-so jokes. (From Tenshi no 3P! Ep. 4) Tenshi no 3P! Ep. 4 I'm sorry I have no idea how to spoiler dialogues There had been a bit of a lull in July, but in August I found myself meandering again. I was unhappy at my job but had no idea what I’d do if I quit; my sublease was to end at the start of September. A long time ago, I had thought of trying to become a teacher. But I felt then that I was precisely the wrong person to be giving anyone younger than me advice. Tenshi no 3P! Ep. 5 Fall 2017 Anime is very much an escapist thing for me much of the time, and that was certainly true with my favorite seasonal shows to this point (Kemono Friends and Made in Abyss). Both explore worlds where civilization and humanity are far distant; it was a given that I’d like Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou a whole lot. The future has always given me anxiety; therefore I guess the ultimate escapist fantasy is a world with no future. In any case, the mundane nice things we take for granted like a warm bath and a nice dinner together, are genuinely the nicest and loveliest things that exist in Chito and Yuuri’s world. And that makes every moment feel so meaningful. At one point I was planning a January road trip with a friend through the north of Canada with a friend, and had the idea of watching this show of cozy nothingness together while stuck in the middle of snow and darkness. Two other shows I liked this season were built on decidedly non-empty worlds; the dark and violent one of Juuni Taisen (which had some strong moments, and I felt it was criticized a lot based on people having the wrong expectations), and the epic, bright, varied world of historical-political shounen Shoukoku no Altair . And nothingness was hardly my only focus in this period. At the end of August I’d tried to quit my job, and had decided to stay on a while longer; but just the fact I’d managed to try gave me comfort. In return for staying I travelled to Ireland for a month, and lived through a hurricane. Winter 2018 At the start of the year I reset – quit the job I’d had for most of 2017, visited home in California, and then moved into a hostel for what would turn out to be a six-month stay. I think I was under the impression I would be watching fewer shows this year… at least I tried to keep myself in check. (From Darling in the FranXX Ep. 3) I loved Darling in the FranXX after initially trying not to, particularly for its beautiful setting. Darling in the FranXX Kokkoku had its own sort of inhuman world, the world-frozen-in-time. Kokkoku But while interesting, the show’s characters and plot were a bit rough. Violet Evergarden’s tenth episode was also wonderful, but the show overall, while very pretty, struggled to hold my interest. (From Sora Yori Ep. 4) After my previous AOTS was a fairly grim take on a world of nothingness (as cozy as it was), the Antarctica in Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho was much brighter, much more idealistic, and full of hope for the future. Somehow, despite how obvious it was that I should have been hyped about this show, I didn’t fall in love with it until I found myself crying during the third episode. All of the characters, but in particular Hinata were so, so well done, and their friendship with each other felt quite real. Spring 2018 Like the previous spring, this was a time of change, but this time for the better. I found a job working at a restaurant in May, was fired, and then found a more permanent job selling ice cream of all things - the awkward kid I was in high school would have been aghast. Shortly into the summer season in July, I would leave the hostel for the last time and move into an apartment once again. As with a year before, I was a bit distracted, and only a couple of shows stuck with me. Anzumatsuri Hinamatsuri, and various parts of Steins;Gate 0, particularly those involving Maho Hiyajo. Even if the show wasn’t as strong as the original, her character alone made it worth watching. Steins;Gate 0 Summer 2018 Banana Fish started this season, and I could forgive the at-times strange pacing and subpar villains just because I was so excited about watching a show set pretty much right where I was living (one scene is right by an apartment where I lived in 2017!) . I finally achieved my goal late in the season of watching the show while sitting in downtown Manhattan, surrounded by lights. Revue Starlight was another lovely show, more than anything for its music. It would have been good anyway, but the insert songs used during each fight are just beautiful and really fitting. With anime I’m always biased towards pure aesthetic elements, but what I care about and notice is mostly music and art style (not animation quality, for example, or I wouldn’t have been rambling on and on about Kemono Friends a few pages ago). But my AOTS – and AOTY, for that matter – was a show whose premise I initially laughed at for about five minutes. Namely, Happy Sugar Life. (From Happy Sugar Life Ep. 9) Happy Sugar Life Happy Sugar Life Fall 2018 Near the beginning of this season, while I was still trying to learn Canaria from Happy Sugar Life by heart, along with starting a new job at a coffeeshop and a volunteer thing teaching at a senior center, I somehow ended up watching Shinsekai Yori. While that led to a near mental breakdown, I’m writing about seasonal anime, so I won’t talk more about it, but it’s relevant because it took until the second half of this season for me to get back into caring about seasonal shows. But the fall season had a lot of shows I really liked. Yagate Kimi ni Naru was a really solid romance that often felt similar in tone to the winter’s Koi wo Ameagari no You ni. Bunny Girl-senpai was good but a bit up-and down; Bunny Girl-senpai Ep. 3 Golden Kamuy’s second season was what I’d hoped the first season would be. After having started in the spring with bad CGI bears and not-entirely-fitting tonal shifts between comedy and drama (though even then, the exploration of Ainu culture was fascinating and the characters were more than good enough), I really loved the middle and later episodes in the fall. It made me realize that after I began caring about Sugimoto, Asirpa, and so on as serious characters, the comedy sequences worked better – and vice versa. But for the second season in a row my AOTS was completely unexpected, and in this case I didn’t even realize it until several months after the season ended. That show was Akanesasu Shoujo. For more than half the season, it was kind of a mess, albeit one with a lot of heart, and much more imagination put into it than typical seasonals. Akanesasu Shoujo (From Akanesasu Shoujo Ep. 8) On the day the eleventh episode aired, I woke up at three in the morning to walk out into the dark, cold night. Not too far from Jersey City there is a rock about 200 feet high which overlooks the freeway. It’s supposed to be off-limits, but is climbed pretty often; I had decided to climb it on a whim. Several times I didn’t think I’d make it up; near the start of the climb I heard footsteps nearby, and higher up was a rock face that seemed impossibly steep. But I made it, and with the cold invisible wind and distant city lights in every direction, I have never felt so strongly that there was no place I’d rather be. After how awful the previous spring and summer had been; after having been halfway homeless for half a year; after having felt entirely overwhelmed and in despair only two months earlier; even now, working for just above minimum wage and spending most of my time alone, I was happy where I was. Akanesasu Shoujo And, surrounded by all of the stars and the starlike lights, I realized I was moving on whether I wanted to or not; and finally, for the first time, I did want to move forward. Both due to what this show meant to me and due to how much of a commercial flop it was, I felt more compelled than usual to bully my friends into watching it; two finished it. I searched for every piece of fanart and promotional material the show had (which was not much). I also started buying needless quantities of chikuwa. In any case, I adored how Asuka’s arc, and the show, ended, and wound up happier I had seen this than perhaps any seasonal show – outside of Kemono Friends. Winter 2019 By the time this season started, I already had an end date set for my life on the East Coast. At the start of April I would spend a week travelling slowly back across the country by bus and by train, stopping to stay with a couple of friends. Then, in early June, I would leave for Africa to teach English. Maybe not the path I’d dreamed of taking, but at least the fog had lifted a bit, and I knew where I was going next. As such, while nothing was quite on the level of the previous two seasons, I did love Yakusoku no Neverland and its OP in particular; despite being tonally opposite to the first ED of Shinsekai Yori both have this feeling of the human spirit being unbreakable. Yakusoku no Neverland There were an unusually high number of shows this season with strong moments. Kaguya-sama Girly Air Force Egao no Daika Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai Boogiepop wa Wawaranai; Endro; Domestic na Kanojo And I managed to watch My Roommate is a Cat with my mom over Skype (she hadn’t seen an anime before, not counting Ghibli movies). Another show I watched during the season was W’z, the sequel to everyone’s favorite Hand Shakers from the first season I did this whole thing. Despite how bizarre the cinematography choices along with so much else were for this series, I genuinely felt there was a sort of magic to Hand Shakers. I loved the glittery, maximalist, 3DCG art in spite of myself, and the OST had this lovely and very specific atmosphere that made me go back and listen many times. The plot made no sense, the dialogue made even less, the characters acted in incomprehensible ways - but I definitely remembered Hand Shakers, and I was no less than delighted when I realized a few minutes into W’z that it was a sequel. In the end, W’z sacrifices a little bit of the dreamy, magical atmosphere of Hand Shakers in favor of making slightly more sense (meaning not a lot). The soundtrack reflects this, being slightly more jazzy than the uplifting piano that characterizes the Hand Shakers OST. W'z (From Kemurikusa Ep. 6) The final show that was important to me was Kemurikusa, and with all my focus on atmosphere and imagination, this one absolutely had both. Kemurikusa Tatsuki knows better than anyone how to build atmosphere with silence, something most 12-episode shows rush too fast to do. I guess now I’m going to have other things to do with my time. I knew all along that few people stick with seasonal anime as they get older, though maybe that’s changing. But I didn’t realize I’d stop until I stopped. It makes sense, I guess. It isn’t about free time and responsibilities, even. I don’t think there’s a point to responsibilities if you’re bored and unhappy with them. But I’m not bored anymore. Maybe anime was just passing time for me. But I don’t really believe that. As long as you remember what you see and take it into the rest of your life, fiction is anything but lost time. I’ll decide that over the years to come. Favorites by season (or tl;dr) Winter 2017:
