Anime UK News Review of 2020 Part 2: Anime

Haven't finished the current season, but Eizouken is still my favourite of the year for new and Kaguya-sama for sequels.

@Sarah
After the Rain here before, first when streaming in 2019
cough*2018*cough In fact nearly 3 years exactly. Winter 2018 was the first season I went full on into seasonal. I don't know if it was because of that 'nostalgia' or whether it's universally agreed, but still the best season in those 3 years. After the Rain was 3rd behind A Place Further Than the Universe and Yuru Camp in my list:
  1. A Place Further Than the Universe
  2. Yuru Camp
  3. After the Rain
  4. Hakumei and Mikochi
  5. Mitsuboshi Colors
  6. Violet Evergarden
  7. Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
  8. Devilman Crybaby
  9. A.I.C.O. Incarnation
  10. Karakai Juozu no Takagi-san
  11. Citrus
  12. Killing Bites
  13. B: The Beginning
  14. Kokkoku
  15. Dagashi Kashi s2
  16. Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen
Plus the first cours of Katana Maidens and Darling in the FranXX (ie the good half). Every one of them had something to offer, even the bottom of the list one and nothing has topped A Place Further... since.
Whoops rambled a bit there.

@Joshawott
and it’s honestly really rare that we see an anime character in a wheelchair (Nunnally from Code Geass and Haruka from Sarazanmai are the only ones that immediately spring to mind for me – but they’re both minor characters).
2 more for you:
From Yuki Yuna is a Hero, and whilst not the main character was pretty important in the plot:

And from Guilty Crown (as mentioned by @Neil.T when I talked about the above in the viewing journal):
 
Last edited:
My favourite new series of the year didn't even get mentioned! Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater

I haven't watched much this year though and I've been only been watching stuff after they've finished airing, so literally nothing from this season yet. The main one I need to get round to is Eizouken because I know I'll love that.
 
Yeah my fav got a brief mention Great Pretender, Eizokuen I liked in Jan-March but more time has passed less I like it it’s good still top 5 but won’t be a show I feel I will ever revisit. UK BD wise easily PROMARE, US Tsurune.
 
Alas I forgot to mention Breakwater in my section of the article! Definitely a great series and one I hope to see a home media release of soon.
 
@Ditchdigger: I stand corrected ! (And I will correct it - thank you.) :) (And looking at your list, that was a good season!)
 
Yeah my fav got a brief mention Great Pretender, Eizokuen I liked in Jan-March but more time has passed less I like it it’s good still top 5 but won’t be a show I feel I will ever revisit. UK BD wise easily PROMARE, US Tsurune.

Yeah I admit, I liked Eizouken but with series like Deca-Dence and Kakushigoto, it just isn't good enough to stay memorable beyond the animation. I probably would watch it again, but not in as much of a rush.

Also Netflix not releasing Great Pretender's second half until fairly recently means I haven't even finished it yet. 😅
 
For me this has easily been the worst year of me simulcasting anime. ReZero is best sequel probably as Haikyu felt it like slowed to crawl like the 10 ep s3 was far better paced and let’s not forget the outsourced episode. Balance Unlimited was good till it got convoluted and the queer baiting in the OP and ED really annoy me now 3 months on. BNA I’m not gonna talk about yet. Ofc Magica Record my new worst anime also exists this year so yeah thank god for ReZero being good and Great Pretender saving Wit for me as my hatred of AoT S3 part 2 is well known (how is that 5th on MAL god) also how is S4 highly rated it’s been awful like this week was my fav chapter of this arc (and since) and it was stiffly animated.
 
As for non sequal anime I think this has been a pretty bad year. While there have been some good new anime there are non that really blew me away. As far as the best new stuff (not counting sequals) I would probably say Eizouken, Ishuzoku Reviewers and Kakushigoto are the ones I though were best and while I think they are good series they are far from what I normally would consider a contender for best new anime of a year.
 
Eizokuen is about the only show I watched this year (unless MHA season 4 counts, I don't actually know when that aired as it took me ages to get through due to it being an absolute slog) so it's kinda my favourite thing by default lol that's not to say I didn't love it, because I doubt anything would have beat it anyway. It's been a weird year man, barely watched anything but I guess that just means I have a lot to catch up on...
 
I feel like the 'this is the weakest year for streaming' argument pops up every year and frankly this year, even discounting sequels, was far more interesting than 2019 for me. Last year I enjoyed Slime, Given, O Maidens and a few Jump adaptations but not a lot made my 'I need to own this right now' list.

As D1tchd1gger said earlier, 2018 was a far better year than 2019 when it came to anime with shows like Place Further, Banana Fish, Wotakoi, VE, Rascal and Magical Girl Ore (although I suspect I am alone in my love for that).

It all comes down to what you're looking for in anime and I feel some of us are getting fatigued with how many samey series exist, but that doesn't mean it was a bad year it just means it was a bad year for some of us. Although 2021 looks just as exciting for me as 2020 has been though, so I don't share in the sentiment that we've had a bad year this time around at all.
 
Last edited:
Yes I think it’s more I’ve just got bored of Shonens and Isekai and kind of non KyoAni SoL and there’s not much else even TRIGGER’s shows like BNA it felt the same as say Little Witch and I was bored of that by the time that even finished. Because I don’t know if my Haikyu fatigue it’s the problem of the show or my problem with the genre as yes the match this cour felt like paint drying at some points which happens in most shonens.

My other problem is yes the shows I like won’t get a release Given from 2018 doesn’t have a release yet, so why should I bother as if I do want to rewatch shows I don’t have the buyers remorse to help motivate me to watch it. Great Pretender doesn’t for example and now FUNi owns CR that problem I feel will just grow.
 
Haven't finished the current season, but Eizouken is still my favourite of the year for new and Kaguya-sama for sequels.

@Sarah

cough*2018*cough In fact nearly 3 years exactly. Winter 2018 was the first season I went full on into seasonal. I don't know if it was because of that 'nostalgia' or whether it's universally agreed, but still the best season in those 3 years. After the Rain was 3rd behind A Place Further Than the Universe and Yuru Camp in my list:

Plus the first cours of Katana Maidens and Darling in the FranXX (ie the good half). Every one of them had something to offer, even the bottom of the list one and nothing has topped A Place Further... since.
Whoops rambled a bit there.

@Joshawott

2 more for you:
From Yuki Yuna is a Hero, and whilst not the main character was pretty important in the plot:

And from Guilty Crown (as mentioned by @Neil.T when I talked about the above in the viewing journal):
I admittedly haven't seen either of those (would you recommend either?) - I once knew a guy who was super obsessed with Yuki Yuuna though.
 
I admittedly haven't seen either of those (would you recommend either?) - I once knew a guy who was super obsessed with Yuki Yuuna though.
Yuki Yuna is Madoka inspired magical girl show. Starts off pretty light with the girls in a school club by day and fighting large monsters at night later in the day (the monsters are akin to the enemies in Noein/Land of the Lustrous/Planet With), but gets darker. I still haven't got round to watching Madoka so I can't say how much like it, it is but, if you see MAL as any kind of indicator, it scored almost exactly 1 point lower. I enjoyed it fine had a pretty interesting twist.
You have to ask @Neil.T about Guilty Crown.
 
I admittedly haven't seen either of those (would you recommend either?)
You have to ask @Neil.T about Guilty Crown.
I'm no expert on it; I've only seen it once (but then, there's a reason for that).

The only things I remember about it are that I liked it less and less as it went on, and also this weird Evangelion rip-off bit where it started raining Spears of Longinus(?!).

I checked my MAL, and it turns out I rated it 4 out of 10, which equates to "bad". I like Redjuice's character designs, though. (You might be familiar with his designs from the Project Itoh film series of Empire of Corpses, Harmony and Genocidal Organ.) The first OP is really very good too, in my view. And that's about it. 😬
 
Um - I reviewed Guilty Crown for AUKN when it first came out; the reviews are still on the site here (although the images didn't make the transition to the new website). I can only agree with @Neil.T.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top