Labels

My Favourite Anime of the Last Four Years 2019 - 2022 Part 1

It's more than halfway through 2022 when I write this.  When I started this article, I really didn't think there were too many anime that really stood out for me from the last four years.  I went through Crunchyroll and Wikipedia to see which series had aired during that time and compiled a list of anime I watched all the way through and liked.  It doesn't include everything I saw, including a number of isekai shows (there's dozens), and it was fairly short as expected.  Now, I'm not a big fan of most shonen shows so I don't watch shows like Black Clover, Orient, Naruto / Boruto, or One Piece generally, so these would not make the list. Finally, this is a list of shows I like, so it would be unique to me, but there might be something that appeals to you on the list too.

I am a big fan of well made mecha anime, but there hasn't been much mecha anime in the last four-five years.  In the last year or so there was Muv Luv Alternative which was really nice to see, Sakugan, which was okay, and Amaim Warrior on the Borderline which is okay too.  Biggest thing missing would have been the next season of Full Metal Panic! and a new Gundam series other than Build Fighters. Fortunately in the fall of 2022 the new Gundam series Witch From Mercury will be streaming!  86 is a really good action sci-fi action anime that isn't humanoid mecha, but it is a solid show. Other mentions would be Megaton Musashi, Revisions, and Sakura Wars.

So here is the list of anime I watched and enjoyed with some omissions.  The full list would be more than 80 shows.  This still isn't a lot for four years of anime as 2018 had 36 shows, but 2018 and 2016 were abnormally good anime years.
  1. **86 Eighty Six
  2. *Aggretsuko
  3. Arte
  4. *Ascendance of a Bookworm
  5. Amaim Warrior on the Borderline
  6. Assault Lily Bouquet
  7. *The Aquatope on White Sand
  8. *Attack on Titan
  9. **Chihayafura Card Game 
  10. *Deca-Dence
  11. **Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
  12. **Dr. Stone
  13. Dungeon of the Black Company
  14. *Fire Force
  15. **Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma
  16. *Fruits Basket
  17. Girls Frontline
  18. *Goblin Slayer
  19. **Golden Kamuy 
  20. **Heroines Run The Show
  21. How A Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom
  22. In/Spectre
  23. *Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon
  24. *Iwakeru - Sport Climbing Girls
  25. **Jujutsu Kaisen
  26. Komi Can't Communicate
  27. *Konosuba - God's Blessing On This World
  28. **Laid Back Camp
  29. *Legend of Galactic Heroes
  30. *Lycoris Recoil
  31. Megaton Musashi
  32. *Mob Psycho 
  33. *Muv Luv Alternative
  34. *My Hero Academia
  35. *My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom
  36. *Only My Railgun
  37. Orbital Children
  38. *Otherside Picnic
  39. Quintessential Quintuplets  
  40. **Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai
  41. **Re:Zero - Starting Life In Another World
  42. *Remake Our Life
  43. **Reincarnated as a Slime
  44. Rent a Girlfriend
  45. **Restaurant to Another World
  46. Revisions
  47. **Rising of the Shield Hero
  48. **Saga of Tanya the Evil
  49. Sakugan
  50. Sakura Wars the Animation
  51. **So I'm A Spider, So What? 
  52. Sing Yesterday For Me
  53. Spy x Family
  54. *Strike Witches: Road to Berlin
  55. **Sword Art Alicization
  56. **That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
  57. The Executioner and Her Way of Life
  58. The Faraway Paladin
  59. The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
  60. *Tokyo Revengers
  61. *Wonder Egg Priority
  62. *Yashahime

Out of this list of 62 I gave them a rough rating of no *, one *, or two **.  Just showing up on the list means I enjoyed the show.  Getting one star means I enjoyed the show quite a bit, while two stars means I would fork out money to buy DVD/Blu-ray - so it is worth a rewatch.  I'll only talk about the two star shows, of which there are 18.  This is a decent number it turns out, with a distribution of four or five shows per year that are either new or continuing series.  There are also a fair number of isekai shows on the list too that stood out from the crowd.  Tokyo Revengers came close to making the ** list, but I dropped it off as it was too hard to re-watch the protagonist go through all their angst / self-doubt again.  Self-doubting protagonists who just don't act or step up is unfortunately a common trope (see  Rent A Girlfriend).

  1. **86 Eighty Six
  2. **Chihayafura Card Game 
  3. **Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
  4. **Dr. Stone
  5. **Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma
  6. **Golden Kamuy 
  7. **Heroines Run The Show
  8. **Jujutsu Kaisen
  9. **Laid Back Camp
  10. **My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom
  11. **Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai
  12. **Re:Zero - Starting Life In Another World
  13. **Restaurant to Another World
  14. **Rising of the Shield Hero
  15. **Saga of Tanya the Evil
  16. **So I'm A Spider, So What? 
  17. **Sword Art Alicization
  18. **That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

86 Eighty Six

This is a gritty show about teen pilots of spider-mecha called Juggernauts.  These pilots are battling to the death against a relentless robot army trying to invade the Republic of San Magnolia.  The catch here is that the pilots are deemed "86" an expendable minority within the republic who are now living in internment camps if they are not fighting on the front lines.  The 86 are like the old slang term 86 to ditch something. 

There is a good back story to this show, pretty good military tech (sans air power which is typical of mecha shows), and it has a great cast of characters.  Even the motivations of the characters are well done and you do want to root for them, even though they constantly face death and some die.

I'd watch this show again for the great action scenes and the gritty survival stories of the main characters.  You also learn more about this world of war against a relentless robot enemy in season 2.

Chihayafura

Ever hear of the card game karuta?  You'll know all about these poem cards and the crazy card slapping game that Chihayafura has at its central core after this show.  The anime is about a teen girl, Chihaya Ayase, who ends up loving the game and becomes a master player of competitive karuta. The show makes the card came quite exciting and there is plenty of color in the kimono that the players wear.  The show is about the development of the players both personally and as card players.  There are all kinds of obstacles to success, rivals to beat, and a love triangle to solve between Chihaya and two other card players Arata and Taichi.

I'd watch this show again for the excitement of animated karuta games and lovely character development.  The love triangle is a typical one with the heroine being oblivious about the affections of the boys towards her, but I do like her character and how the strong character stories for everyone in the show.

For more information on Japanese card games check out this link.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Anyone who watches anime has heard of this show as it is just that famous.  It became a huge sensation in Japan and world wide, and the move made a mint in the middle of COVID in Japan.  A young boy, Tanjiro Kamado, becomes a demon slayer in Meiji-era Japan to try and find a cure for his demon-infected sister and to stop demons from wreaking havoc.  Tanjiro is a great character that has fantastic sword skills, great compassion even for his foes, and an sensitive nose for smelling out demons.  Fun characters, including nasty demon villains with all too human foibles, and good stories make this a standout show.

There's quite a bit of world building in this show, amazing animated sword battles with magical powers, and the relationship between him and his surviving sister is very touching.  A great shonen story with well defined characters and relationships that needs more than one viewing.  The show isn't exactly light on the gore, but I think its other positive aspects more than compensate for that.

Dr. Stone

Every human on Earth was turned to stone by a mysterious energy wave that sweeps over the planet.  3700 years in the future, almost all traces of civilization are gone and the world is lushly wild.  Our protagonist, Senku awakens from his stone slumber and strives to reawaken mankind and restore a technological civilization.  Senku has a pretty unique character design as his head of hair resembles a green onion, but this doesn't affect his massive intellect that has to deal with enemies who wish to rule as a dictatorship of physical violence or wild animals.

The premise of this show is pretty stupid, but I still really like the animation and how it portays science.  Senku rebuilds technology from raw materials and creates contraptions like MacGyver / Gilligan's Island. I find the show pretty fun and would watch it again for the basic science and entertainment of the storyline.

Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma

I like cooking shows! Food Wars doesn't disappoint with amazing animated depictions of delicious and often exotic food.  The hero of the show, Soma Yukihira, attends the elite Totsuki Culinary Academy where he learns even more cooking techniques and participates in cooking battles with his classmates.  The action is like a shonen battle with cooking knives, frying pans, and crazy ingredients.  Tasty dishes elicit amazing reactions from the diners and there is plenty of male and female fan service with clothes being blown off by the reactions to food.  The plot is pretty good for the first two seasons then it starts to just get crazy in the last three seasons with the school being taken over by an evil principal intent on global cooking domination.  Still fun though.

I'd watch this show again just because it is fun, has great food porn, and it is a good way to distract yourself from your troubles as no one dies.

Golden Kamuy 

Unlike Food Wars, lots of people die in this one.  Golden Kamuy is set in Hokkaido, Japan during the  early 20th century.  During this time, Hokkaido was Japan's equivalent of the wild west in the USA, and the story is about a quest for a lost treasure hoard of gold.  The hero, Saichi Sugimoto, is a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, and he teams up with a young Ainu girl, Asirpa, to retrieve the treasure.  There is a great cast of foes working against them that range from former samurai, mass murderers, robbers, and renegade Japanese troops.  The show explores the the culture and food the native Ainu people of Hokkaido and has a great depth to the plot and background. This is a very well done historical anime with an unusual setting.

The show and manga are just plain good and I can't recommend this show more highly to be watched and rewatched while having some tasty Japanese food!  Same goes for Food Wars!

For more information about Golden Kamuy and food foraging check this out.

Heroines Run The Show

You know you really like a show when you look forward to seeing the next episode every week.  I quite like Heroines Run the Show for Hiyori Suzumi, the spunky and just plain nice main character who just wants to compete in running.  The show also has some great JPOP tunes, many based on songs from HoneyWorks for the in-show idol group LIP x LIP.  Hiyori becomes the manager in training for LIP x LIP and complications ensue as the two stars are fellow students in her high school class.  While the story isn't truly original, it is well done, and I did like the character interactions and plot in general. 

I'd watch this again as it is a pleasant distraction with nice music like Love Live!, but not as intense or with as many idols.

Jujutsu Kaisen

This is the other anime that was a breakout hit in the last few years like Demon Slayer.  I was very pleasantly surprised by this anime which also has a deep magic / combat technique system like Demon Slayer.  Yuji Itadori is a good hearted teen who wants to help other people and he inadvertantly becomes a sorcerer who fights Curses which are composed of human negative energy.  Yuji begins to attend Tokyo Jujutsu High School to train his magical abilities which are boosted by him swallowing a cursed finger from a powerful and evil ancient sorcerer.  He then fights Curses along with his classmates, and I like the tough-chick Nobara who uses hammer and nails to cast her spells.  The sorcerers all have special talents and so do the monstrous Curses they fight.

Lots of light horror, lots of world building, great fight scenes, villainous characters who keep coming back, and good characters make this a wonderful show to watch and immerse yourself in a world of sorcerers fighting Curses.

*****

This concludes the first half of the 18 favourite anime.

To My Favourite Anime of the Last Four Years 2019 - 2022 Part 2.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

My Tokyo Guidebook Now In Print and Ebook

My Tokyo Guidebook Now In Print and Ebook