2019 has been really difficult year for
me. But more difficult year for anime in general. Anime in 2019 has been in
some way solid and yet it felt a bit hollow. Following a great year that is
2018, anime companies really trying to capture that euphoria of that year. But
what we got is a good year but not a great one. And that can contributed to
oversaturation of isekai shows, nonexistant presence of yuri anime,
disappointment in shounen genre, and most tragically the arson attacks at
KyoAni studio that killed a lot of their staff.
From all of that though there’s some
beacon of lights that maybe anime can unite us all and really drives force on
how we see media as we knew it. Despite the absence of yuri anime, anime that
centers or mentioning LGBT topics are being made each and every seasons and
spoilers there’s one on this list. A big surprise boost of Harem anime which
again one of them will be on the list, moe or CGDCT anime market is still
strong as ever, big return from acclaimed directors and even some good
surprises along the way.
Now I wanna make a top 10 like many of
you people here. But, after some thinking I decide to make it as an essay on
why these anime meant so much for me or why I love anime in the first place.
The reason for this is really down to me not watching anime until it ends.
Since I’m busy with national exams, getting to college, college stuff and of
course watch list of older anime. Don’t worry these anime I will list is one of
the kinds and all of them will have some overarching characteristic that will
tie into the reason why I love anime so much. Rules are the same as last time I
made this list, The anime has to be aired its first episode between Winter 2019
– Falls 2019 so sorry Tensura. Anyways here’s my best anime of the year.
THE BEST ANIME OF 2019
2019 has been a hectic year for your
girl here. The constant works I have to put to get into best college that
ultimetely meant nothing when you are applying for private uni. In another word
it has been rough year for me. So I turned to anime for my relaxation and I
just need some light anime that I can watch to heal my soul. And Spring 2019
gave me just that with one of the best CGDCT anime ever.
HITORI BOCCHI MARU-MARU SEIKATSU
Hitoribocchi is one of those anime that
seems innocuous enough with the presentation. It’s about Bocchi trying to get
friends in middle school to keeping promises of her only friend to get friends
of her own. She eventually met some friends along the way and each of the
character’s name represent the characteristic based on the Japanese names
meaning, kinda like pun in a way. Hitoribocchi which is loneliness, Sunao Nako
is like honest child which not matched her appearance. Honshou Aru is “has a
hidden character” with her real personality of being clumsy is being buried by
her sociability. Sotoka Rakita despite being written in Katakana has a meaning
of coming from outside 外から来た. All of these four characters
are the backbone to why this anime worked in the first place. The animation is
actually pretty solid with taking cues from slapstick animation like Looney
Tunes. Very fluid and rightly timed as well.
The anime itself isn’t particularly
special but these characters interaction makes up for it. Even though this
anime looks cute it has some exquisite moments where you can see how emotional
this anime can be. What I love about this anime however is the way this anime
represent and the messages behind this. This anime might be a bit tongue and
cheek with its humor but the biggest strenght of this anime is the message of “no
matter how many times you failed, you have to try it again” and this sentiment
echoes throughout episodes. Its accessability combine with witty humor really
makes this anime such a gem one of the best of the year.
Even before I’m watching anime regularly
I’ve always love comedy genre as a whole and spoiler there’s gonna be more on
this list. Now that I’ve talked about one comedy anime setting around Japanese
school I might as well talking about this gem of a comedy anime.
JOSHIKOUSEI NO MUDAZUKAI
Joshikousei is probably one of the most
underrated anime this year. I has the same vibe as Daily Lives of High-school
Boys and highlighted the other trend in anime that are welcome and that is
taking inspiration from older anime and recontextualize it and make it your own
story. This anime took that same idea of Danshi no Kokosei, flip the gender,
and give the characters nickname and basically you got this anime...okay this
is more than just rehashing older stuff, isn’t that right Boogiepop? The vibe
that I can describe from this anime is chaotic neutral. There’s like a lot
happening in this anime but they don’t feel slapdashed or anything like that.
Instead the pacing of this anime which is amazing by the way make this already
funny anime feels so earned you know especially episode 4 or 9. To be honest I
don’t have anything to say but to just watch it for yourself and see if you all
like it. One of Passione best anime and added great performance from Toyosaki
Aki made this anime so much fun. Definitely visit this whenever you wanna get a
laugh.
But now some honorable mention and anime
that’s good but I haven’t finish it. Starting with
DUMBBELL NAN KILO MOTERU
Dumbbell nan Kilo Moteru is this year
Hataraku Saibou, and that it’s educational show masked as anime show in this
case an ecchi anime. Great animation, character design and the opening is one
of the best of the year bar none.
THE PROMISED NEVERLAND
Yeah even though I haven’t finish this
anime yet. I have bought the manga for it and wow it blew the anime right out
the park. Now that’s not to say the adaptation is bad, far from it. The
characters are compelling, the story is some of the best in anime, and the
soundtrack is perfect. Definitely worth the acclaim
GO-TOUBUN NO HANAYOME
This is a late entry on this list
considering how much I crave this sort of wholesome harem anime that’s also
tongue and cheek. But again this anime strength has always been the cast of
girls and the fact that Gotoubun has the best idea of making all of the
siblings made the stake even higher. Couple with great OP even though it’s a
late bloomer but I still welcome it. And now that’s done let’s continue this
list
Now like I said before I’ve been craving
harem anime since I realized I was lesbian. There’s something about seeing all
of these beautiful girls being the tug of war of the protagonist really makes
me wonder if there’s one for yuri. But I’ll just stick with the winning formula
and this entry is the most basic out of these list. But hey it was worth it in
the long run.
WE NEVER LEARN
Now this is probably my most contentious
pick out of the entire list and y’all probably going to burn me to the stake
for saying BokuBen is better than The Promised Neverland, but I do have my
reasoning and that’s likely due to when it was came out. Imagine this scenario.
There’s a young girl student who are getting stressed out because of the test
she had to go through to get into college. Then suddenly there’s anime about
three girls who want to get into the college they want but their interests are
the opposite of their talents. Naturally this girl who watches the anime can
relate to their struggles and that girl was me. This anime really lifted my
spirits when I’m going through my test and it really the best power that anime
can gives while other didn’t have.
That’s not really all the reason why I
love this anime because the show itself is good in its own right. The character
design while kinda basic but it makes all of them look cute even the boys, all
of the girls are excellent in their part especially Ogata Rizu who’s my best
girl for me because I could relate to her problem. The jokes are great, and the
plots are kinda clever and their facial reaction are golden. Now look I know
this anime is essentially a junk food but still once in a while you need those
junk food and to me that’s enough of a reason why this anime is in this list,
great stuff.
Another contentious inclusion on this
list...Although I’d argue that it shouldn’t be. Yes this anime released right
after one of the worst anime they ever produced and yeah the first impression
made people roll their eyes. But let me my case for this one.
WATASHI NI TENSHI GA MAIORITA
Yeah I know that the first episode of
Wataten really isn’t everone’s cup of tea especially with the implication that
this is yet another anime made by Doga Kobo where pedophilia is being
tackled...but couple episode later that didn’t happened. Yeah I’m as shocked as
everyone but this anime isn’t really pedo as I would thought it would be. But
instead it’s the story of Mya-nee overcoming her social anxiety with her little
sister’s friends. Yeah she got some affection towards Hinata and it can get
into that uncomfortable territory, but this anime is smarter than that. Instead
her affection towards Hinata is what helped her to drive away from her anxiety
and it really hit hard especially in the final episode.
Another thing I love about this anime is
the sense of acceptance of what Mya-nee or anyone here is doing or what they
are representing themselves in the public. Every time Mya-nee is outside she
always get helped by our trio. We got the relationship between Kanon and Koyori
that are being handled masterfully especially Episode 5 which is my stand out
episode because it captured how and what this anime trying to say which is just
be who you are and you’ll get the result you really wanted. Oh and the
animation here is great, the opening is fantastic, the character design are so
moe and it doesn’t dragged too long. Look I get why you get turned off by some
of the early episode but please re-consider this. Good stuff. Now let’s get
into the last batch of honorable mention before we get into the two last anime
starting with...
MY ROOMMATE IS A CAT
This is the best cat in anime ever. This
anime didn’t pull any punches on how hard it is to own and take care of their
pets and to me it’s enough to get a spot on this list.
ASCENDANCE OF BOOKWORM
Ascendance of Bookworm is the best
isekai series of the year and you can see why. Stunning animation especially
the ED, great dialogue, intriguing plot, and one of the best performance from
Yuka Iguchi and she has done Tsukihi.
DR STONE
Dr. Stone was in contention for my list
for the longest time. But the third part is dull and I wished that they put
more into making of stuff in this stone world rather than bankrupt politics
stuff and pointless wars. Other than that, the great chemistry (hehe) between
Senku and the rest of the gang are fantastic, the science stuff is great and
the twist is also great. Definitely the best shounen of the year.
GIVEN
Given is one of the best anime that I
couldn’t finish because the story of this anime really hit home especially when
I’m still discovering who I was in this society so I left off the list. But
what an anime this is. The animation is great, music is impeccible, and the
best character design of the year bar none. Definitely revisit this. Great
stuff.
Okay that all done now let’s get into
what stuff I consider great again.
These two anime really shows how the
emotional side of anime that has been beaten to death but I still love it, and
that is romance. Romance anime has been a staple of this art form because you
can convey so much with this genre. From drama, comedy, thriller or even
horror. No genre has this kinds of diversity than romance which is why I love
this genre and these two anime is the reason why. We are going to talk about
the big one later but for now we are gonna talk about small scale stuff. Now I
could choose O Maidens but that’s very much a can of worms I don’t want to
visit right now. Then we got the subtlety of Sarazanmai which is saying a lot
considering this anime is very over the top. But I think I’ll go with the big
forehead.
KARAKAI JOUZU NO TAKAGI-SAN
Small stakes anime usually doesn’t get
enough credit that they deserved. While I can appreciate some big high concept
anime about existential of the human being can be intriguing. Sometimes you
gotta take it back and return to the basic which is why I love Skilled Teaser
Takagi-san. I put the first season on my honorable mention of last year because
while I’m enjoying it a lot, there’s a ton of romance anime that blew this
anime out of the park especially in concept and execution. But this year I
decided to put the second season to the list because it represent what anime
this small scale can do to become greatness.
There’s a sense of vibe from this anime
which is chill. The animation here isn’t top notched by any means but it
succeding on what this anime trying to do which is creating the sense of vibe.
The soundtrack is miniscule but enhancing the relaxation that the anime is
trying to do. The plot is flowing like a calm river current that will give you
warm and comfort. All of this together make this anime a delight to watch and
the ending is one of the most cathartic ending you will ever seen even if the
payoff is small. But again the reason why this work so well is the muted vibes this
gives off and in a year as chaotic as 2019 where transphobe being mad and all
that, this is what I’ve always wanted to relax me up. Great stuff. (Also
Takahashi Rieri is a goddess)
Even though my list isn’t in particular
order but this anime is my number one. Because it combined all of the elements
of all the anime I’ve talked about prior and doing more with it. The school
settings, the ridiculousness of JK no Mudazukai, small stakes romance anime
like Takagi-san heck even the mind game of that anime, carefreeness from
Wataten, the comedy of Hitoribocchi it has everything that I love...and more.
See while most of these anime has flaws that can be overlooked or just being a
nuisance, this anime doesn’t have that. It’s one of those 10/10 anime that
could rival the legacy or even the hype that some of the best anime ever have.
This anime understand the balance between humor and romance that could rival Nozaki-kun
and hell you know that it is from the first anime meme of the year...
KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
A-1 Picture has had some complicated
history in anime fandom. When they’re great they’re some of the most inovative
and creative studio, when they’re bad they’re so desperate and stink of non
effort. But this anime isn’t two of those, instead what we got is meticulously
crafted and earnestly made anime that have heart and soul that you wouldn’t
seen ever in the mainstream let alone from A-1. The director Omata Shinichi has
actually done some great stuff as a storyboard for Madoka Magica, Hidamari
Sketch, and maybe you even known him as Mamoru Hatakeyama aka
the director of Showa Genroku series so you know you are in good hand here. And
made no mistake about it but this is one of the best directed anime of the
year. Every scene from this anime is great especially that ED in third episode
which is how the budget are getting abused for something that can cure every
known disease.
These elements that are in the anime are so good that I could
make five paragraph on how every elements are great but I’ll just make it
brief. The animation here are stylish and refined from the manga, The
characters are some of the best in anime ever especially how complex they are
in terms of characterization and what their background is like, the dilemma
here somehow have bigger stakes and made for intense viewing, the jokes are
some of the most clever I’ve seen ever, brilliant writing and dialogue, fantastic
and well timed soundtracks I mean it has everything and more. But what makes
this anime so good is that there’s passion and effort put into this anime which
is lacking in this day and age even stuff I love can feel a bit hollow, however
this anime has some genuine passion put into it from a great director, star
studded cast, and great production team making it. This anime is something
really special folks and without a doubt my favorite anime of 2019, let’s hope
that the sequel lived up to the hype this anime generates.
So yeah that was my list, let’s see what’s your favorite
anime of the year. And also check my other post below and I’m gonna plan on
making YouTube video soon so stay tuned for that. Until then see you in 2020.
