Anime and Manga in 2020
Manga
Didn’t pick up anything new this season. Hinamatsuri and
Beastars ended their runs during this year, and though I didn’t read either
one, their first seasons as anime were both solid enough to recommend them.
Anime Movies
Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul (9.5/10)
I’ve already talked about my love for this series. The
slow-building dread that the series evokes is part of what makes it so
affecting. This movie manages to ratchet up the tension even further, though
the threat goes from the unknown, supernatural creatures around them to a
consistent threat from another human, one that our heroes consistently struggle
to comprehend. This movie ratchets up the fights to a whole new level with a
villain that should rate as one of the best in any series. Like the series, this
is an emotionally draining watch that will wreck you at times, but it’s worth
every second.
Burn the Witch (8/10)
This is produced by Tite Kubo, the man behind Bleach, and
despite my issues with that series, I am here for this one. For those who don’t
know, both stories take place in the same world, except this one incorporates a
distinct branch of the supernatural world set in London and particularly in the
hidden side of the city, referred to as Reverse London. It has some of the
trappings of Bleach, but deals less in the afterlife and more in dragons of all
shapes and sizes, utilizing similar magic borne out of very different sources
than those found in bleach. The animation looks like it was ramped up to its
absolute best and the story is kinetic. I don’t find myself connecting with the
characters and I’m not seeing a strong plot thread forming yet, but it is young
yet, and I’m excited with what else will be produced for it.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train
(9/10)
Another series with a very solid movie entry from this year,
this one builds directly on the story of the series and easily puts on one of
the best fights in anime, especially in terms of how it is animated. It’s a
good choice for arcs to make into a movie, and while I find that it eclipses
the series in terms of grandeur, it does so with a movie budget, which
automatically gives it a leg up. It’s a worthy follow-up that has me excited
for the second season of this show.
Anime Series
Winter 2020
Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story (5.5/10)
I wanted to like this series so badly. Puella Magi Madoka
Magica is by far my favorite magical girl anime and an excellently written
story with great animation, awesome fights, and deep and well-written
characters, and a story that is incredibly riveting (I’d give it a 9/10). This
side story includes some of those characters, but strips out some of their best
elements, introduces new characters that simply don’t live up to their
forebears, and has a story that starts out interesting, but ends up far too
convoluted. It still has the solid animation and some solid fights, but this
just adds to a story that didn’t need nor benefit from the additions. It’s got
enough of the previous series to keep it in slightly in the positive, but
that’s about it.
Id: Invaded (7/10)
This anime has an incredible hook. A detective is
investigating a murder and doing so by plunging into the mind of their victim.
That wouldn’t differentiate it by itself, but for two intriguing elements. One,
the main character is a detective who apparently has a checkered past of his
own and is basically conscripted into doing this. Two, he forgets who he is and
what he is doing every time he enters another person’s mind, which means that
every time he enters a new mind, he has to first puzzle out what his goal is
and determine his basic abilities within that mindscape. Each mind is very
different and comes with its own eccentricities, which makes each instance of
it diverse and intriguing. I feel like continuing with this in an episodic
manner could have worked very well, but the story being told here tries to go
much deeper, and in doing so, it falls into the Inception hole and gets very
convoluted, introducing elements that left me scratching my head through the
finale. There was a lot of strong potential here that got delivered on in part,
but I think their ambitions were a bit too big for this series.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (9/10)
I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of slice of life
anime, but I have a couple of exceptions, and this is one of them. It’s a story
about three young girls who want to make an anime and start a club to do so.
Each fulfills a different role in that process – a director and background
designer, a character artist and animator, and a ruthless businesswoman. All of
them are amazing, though particularly the last is one of the best written
characters I’ve seen in a while. They face all kinds of obstacles and
difficulties getting their films produced, but that struggle is only part of
what makes this show great. The kinetic animation, which includes animations
depicting the imaginations of its characters, is breathtaking despite the
characters being rather simple. The results of their work are inspiring and
awesome, but you get to see them build each piece from scratch, including the
eventual addition of sound editing. If you’re interested in the process of
producing anime, this is a must watch, but for everyone else, it’s just a great
time all around.
Bofuri (7.5/10)
I love this show. It’s stupid fun. A young girl decides to
join up for a VR RPG game with her friend and has no clue how she should create
a character. So, she creates a character with maxed defense as its sole stat.
Can’t move fast, can barely attack, just a meat shield. And, apparently, no
one’s ever done this before, which means that what happens as she goes out into
this world is untested by game devs and players alike. Long story short, she proceeds
to unintentionally break the game and win hard when she knows next to nothing
about it. She also becomes really good at just gathering other people around
her and inspiring them to become extra broken in their own ways. It does not
make a lot of sense at times, and the main character is a bit of a Mary Sue,
but damn is it ever a fun ride. Can’t wait for the next season.
Dorohedoro (8/10)
To put it simply, this show is an acid trip. From its OP to
its ED, there’s little about this show that you’re meant to make sense of, and
that’s part of the fun. The main character is a man with a lizard head who is
somehow immune to magic. He’s also got a sorcerer in his mouth that is looking
for the man who turned his head into said lizard. This world has many sorcerers
who come to the non-magical world to screw with the people there and either
kill them or turn them into something gruesome, so our MC aims to kill a lot of
them and get his head turned back to normal, working with a female partner who
kicks all kinds of ass. It’s a violent melee from there forward, and so much of
it doesn’t make sense, but I’m hooked on the slick CG animation, awesome
fights, and strange, surreal story.
Scissor 7 (S1) (8.5/10)
Actually came out in 2018, but since its first release on
Netflix was in 2020, I’m doing it here. Scissor 7 is one of the truly great
comedy anime (technically South Korean, but still) out there, and it’s just a
lot of fun. You have a hairdresser wielding psychically-controlled scissors in
his side job as an assassin, which he is both terrible at doing and somehow
manages to survive all kinds of ridiculous fights anyway. His partner is a
talking blue chicken with sunglasses, he meets all kinds of crazy people from
his town and among the other assassins as the seasons go on, and it’s just a
comedy powerhouse throughout with some real heart at the center of these
characters. A distinct animation style and pretty fun fight scenes help elevate
it, even if it isn’t the sharpest in either department. Well worth the watch.