Fall 2020 Anime in Review

This season is going to be hard to rank things, but it was a very good season to me. Especially regarding a lot of its unique content. Not necessarily because of actiony things, even though that is a main feature to a lot of the stories, but all of the creativity and uniqueness that comes from them. There is only one show that is on the bottom of my list on a seasonal capacity and even then, it wasn’t a bad show at all. That is something I don’t say that often considering I sometimes just watch shows to fill space sometimes.

In a non-seasonal capacity, I could say the same sort of things too. I liked all of them. There is one obvious weak link too, but that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy my time with it even if it’s not necessarily my thing but I can see myself diving into that genre a little more in the future. I originally thought that I wanted to do more non seasonal shows in the future, but I don’t think I will actually do that for the moment. Especially since shows are not as affected by covid right now. We will see in the future.

For now, let’s talk about some anime things I suppose!


A Handy Guide for how I feel about shows:

Solid: Seasonal Favorites, Highly Recommend.
Good: Maybe not as high quality as the first category, but still pretty enjoyable.
Ok: What it says on the tin. Maybe preferable for those who are into the genre the show is from.
Bad: I’m not even sure why I am still watching it besides maybe learning something from it.


Seasonal Anime



Golden Kamuy Season 3

I don’t know what else to say here other than this anime is very good. All of it is very good. The ending of this show was the payoff for the good, but somewhat detached adventures along the way to it. Sugimoto finally caught up to Asirpa again and seeing that happen was heartwarming. Also, a lot of things in this season just work for their own natural reasons or just indulge themselves into being realistic and awkward instead of pure and I think that works very well.


Akudama Drive

This one is very much the same as Golden Kamuy Season 3. The first half of this story was ok and what you expect it to be, a heist anime with some very flimsy characters. The second half was messy, but it was exceptional in what it was trying to do. Breaking down the executioners, breaking down the Akudama who you learned to care for, even a little bit, as they are striped to their very essences, and providing some good spectacle while doing it. The last episode is why this show is up here, but it was surprising and subversive enough to make it to this level right here.


Adachi and Shimamura

I can’t say anything besides Adachi and Shimamura ended up on a spot that felt right. Adachi and Shimamura have circled each other over the series for a wide variety of reasons, mainly personal failings, and they got closer and saw how authentic they are together in this world of false impressions and pretenses. Ok, that part is a high school edgy thing where everything feels normal, but it feels right for them. The two got closer and actually understanding each other and that’s great because I never expected the two to kiss in the end of this show in the first place, but they have held hands, cuddled next to each other, and even hugged. Very good yuri romance story.


Good Rating Picture


Jujutsu Kaisen (First Cour)

I think this shonen series is still a bit disjointed and threw a lot of things at us in the beginning segment of the show, but it’s very honest, very creative in a lot of ways, and has a lot of really good gags balanced by some good drama and horror elements. Itadori has gotten a lot more focus recently by going on his own adventures while his two teammates are training for an upcoming tournament arc. That’s my main complaint right there, because otherwise, I have been enjoying what the show has been tossing out quite a bit here.


Moriarty: The Patriot

This season was the set-up season for what is coming out in the spring and I think it did a decent job of it. It started out pretty safe and not as interesting, but gained some intrigue as the cases got more stakes and Sherlock Holmes made his appearance to go against Moriarty. Maybe the first few episodes were mundane parts of Moriarty’s life until Sherlock brought energy and intrigue into the case, with some shippable energy too, so there was more life? I am very intrigued in season 2 now.


No Ok or Bad Ratings


Non Seasonal Anime



Dai-Guard

Spoiler for Mecha March, but you know it’s here and it’s great. I think the midway point was where this show put in a low point where an arc was solved and another one was being built on? The final arc tied a lot of it’s elements together regarding public security with it’s robot, it’s dealings and relationship with the military, and the life of the heterodyne with how they are attached to nature. It’s really well done and I can’t wait to say more about it.


Bamboo Blade

This show is really good. It’s very funny, very emotional, and can get into your own emotions because a lot of the character conflicts in this show are very relatable. There is some fanservicey moments and angles, but the characters themselves are treated with a lot of respect and are realistically made. The finale cour of this show was a lot more drama filled where even the invincible Tamaki dealt with a conflict that she never has before, losing. Oh, and there is kendo matches too. It’s really good, can’t recommend it enough.



Love Live! Sunshine!!

This show is effectively my first idol series and I had a good time. It’s not perfect and relies on a lot of musical logic, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Not every episode is great, but the second season was very well put together compared to the first half, had some very good and honest moments, and I liked a lot of the performances. I will have to search for the movie to watch somewhere and possibly even watch the latest Love Live as well. I think that means this watch was a success.


No Ok or Bad Ratings


And that brings this season to a close. Time for an end of the year list and to look towards the future of the Winter 2021 season very soon. See you then!


8 comments

  1. Adachi and Shimamura took it’s own sweet to arrive in the middle of nowhere, stopping short of any sort of resolution or conclusion… But, DAMM if it wasn’t the absolute perfect ending for this series. Sometimes, I want to cry “MORE, MORE”… but not this time. Let’s slide out the door quietly, without disturbing them, and leave them alone with each other.

    Liked by 1 person

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