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To say 2020 has been a disaster would be an understatement. Even aside all the usual shit with natural disasters, political drama, and celebrity deaths, the outbreak of COVID-19 threw pretty much all of everyday life into disarray. Any potentially crowded event was indefinitely cancelled or banished to web, classes shunted to Zoom out of fear, people had a hard time seeing their families across flights, quarantining meaning you were under constant fear of the infection and the worry that any activity in which you’re even near one stranger could have deathly consequences. It’s a test of our evolving world no one was prepared for. But while movie theaters have shut down to push back much of interest, pop culture has done its best to try and produce results even amongst inevitable delays, leading to some pretty quality video games to pass the time, and of course, animation, benefitting in abundance from being remote by nature.

I will start with this; regardless of the placement of the entry on this list (but particularly the ones that came out in mid to late year), I commend the production teams for being able to adjust to the environment and get the work done as needed. Animation is a painstaking process, to put it very very very lightly, but that’s partly why I love it so much; the extensive production times can lead to some truly breathtaking work at the best of moments.

This list is mostly anime, but I will include 7 animated series from outside Japan, provided they are anime enough, in terms of elements like themes, continuous plot and the presentation style not being dissimilar from watching an anime in how it plays out. In addition, as a means of wanting to cover far more content, I’ll include the Best, Worst and Blandest lists in spirit. Under specific entries for anime series, I’ll specify where that series would go on any of the three lists, and the writeups will reflect that opinion. With that said, I’ve got a lot to cover so let’s get started!

Bottom Tier

These were the worst shows I watched this year. The ones that left me the most disappointed, angry, depressed, bored out of my mind, and generally really dispirited. As a positive person I typically try to think of redeeming qualities or authorial intent, but these shows just completely missed the mark……by miles.

34. Gibiate. This show was so incredibly horrible, even compared to the ones just above it, that it deserved a tier of its own, fittingly the letter G. It’s barely an anime; it’s congealed failure. I say without hyperbole that releasing this entire series as a series of Amano illustrations with blog post style introductions of what happens in each episode would’ve been less of a mistake. Speaking of, his design sensibilities feel horribly interpreted; so almost every character gets ugly colored lips and edges on their faces which look ugly, and to replicate the watercolors there’s this GoHands esque blue green filter over every character which does little to mesh with the environment. Action scenes are honestly pretty funny at times; given that they have to try and move between a handful of frames without the budget to have transitions, so you’re stuck with constant zooms, dragging key art and missing transition frames so no hits have any impact. Characters are made incredibly stiff and unexpressive, even when emotional revelations come about. A production nightmare from top to bottom. Plot wise, it’s every bad zombie show in lieu of The Walking Dead where characters travel in vain to find a cure for an apocalypse of ugly CGI monsters with an extra dose of no resolution. Sometimes cast members die, and viewers have no reason to care when any and all backstory is presented from each character literally telling you what their deal is in front of a camera. I could go on about things like the ludicrous plot twists, but I’ll just say I would say shows like this prove just how bad Crunchyroll Originals can be, but Crunchyroll decided to break their own speed record for shittiest anime in least amount of time with EX Arm this season, which I will not dignify even in next year’s list. Without a doubt, this is the #1 WORST anime of 2020.

33. The Irregular at Magic High School Season 2. I already made a review of this one explaining what made this season of this already awful franchise a failure, but I’ll just share the cliffnotes here. This season fails to create a credible threat in any capacity, with new character American agent Angelina Shields being made into a complete joke just to uplift its incestuous overpowered protagonist pair. It fails to sell that threat when it can easily be sidelined for a valentines’ day episode. Its attempts to add complexity feel tone deaf when paired with oogling the female bodies. No action scene stands out. And the last two episodes do a terrible job creating a new threat (protestors fighting against systemic corruption) that’s just as easily a non-issue that causes no questioning or status quo upheaval of anything. Again, see my review, but this season did little to convince me that Mahouka wasn’t written along an algorithm that took good story advice backwards. 2nd WORST anime of 2020.

32. Babylon. Just because this show started in 2019 doesn’t mean it can’t qualify if it finished this year, and Babylon certainly proved itself to be a steaming dumpster fire in the end. It’s one thing to fail at being a fun action show, but when you’re trying to be serious and profound about important topics such as the right to suicide, it’s extra insulting. Its attempts at being a serious political thriller falter when the villain more or less runs by magic to fuel her psychotic sadism. When not needlessly cruel, any attempts at comedy (like with the WACKY president man) just come off as inane. The direction seems strong early on with the production values just managing, but don’t worry! Those go to shit by the end so you’re left with boring characters talking boring subjects with almost zero flair or actual awareness. What really leaves a sour taste in my mouth is the ending, which did everything possible to clear any sense of goodwill I had for it or its author. 3rd WORST anime of 2020.

31. The Day I Became God- Jun Maeda’s status in the anime community as of late is honestly pretty sad. It’s a real shame that after peaking in 2009 with the final quarter of Clannad After Story, his original work has been on a steady decline ever since. Angel Beats isn’t terrible, and can even be enjoyable in the right mindset despite more to do with the concept and a weak ending plot twist. Charlotte was a pacing tire fire, trying to do so many ideas in only 13 episodes leading to execution that was scattershot at best and horribly contrived at worst because no one idea had focus. And this show is somehow his worst one yet. It gets you going at first with its innocuous concept leading to speculation on the show’s direction, but it proved itself to have absolutely zero respect for time management; only making the viewer cry. What could’ve been an ensemble cast learning to embrace their current lives in light of an incoming apocalypse turned into a sob story with too much useless filler and boring side characters, leading to a massively fluffed up plot twist over the last three episodes showing potential for a much better story if it actually cared to explore its characters. Any attempts at trying to make you feel sad for these guys is let down by not focusing on important aspects like the MC’s basketball friend or hacker boi’s parental abuse. The protagonist especially is a massive letdown, without any development to make his selfishly irrational actions work to narrative growth like Tomoya in Clannad. The last few episodes could make a far more interesting plot if told retrospectively with all the fluff gone, but we’ll never see that; just a hollow shell of manipulative broken promises. Congrats Jun Maeda! You made the 4th WORST anime of 2020!

30. Our Last Crusade or the Rise of the New World- Pay no heed to the title; it’s blatant false advertising. There are no crusades and no new world that ever rises. As generic as it seemed given the character designs, there was still some potential here for an enjoyable dual narrative showing the difference between a magic focused society and a technology driven one with a love story on the side. But watch as, aside from some cute banter between the romantic leads, it does absolutely nothing for 12 episodes straight. This is one of the most first draft anime scripts I’ve ever seen, with constant “as you knows” early on, the city in between literally being called “Neutral City”, throwing in a brief beach episode because why not, and having numerous female characters clinging to the obvious Kirito knockoff MC, including a loli captain in her 20s with big boobs and a shrill voice in constant need of rescue. Even more interesting seeming characters like a traitorous witch and a robot assassin man are little besides easily overcome obstacles. Obstacles is the key word here; any character introduced after Episode 1 is a footstool for the lead protagonists; nothing less and nothing more. And it’s not like the basic idea of a Romeo and Juliet story is impossible to work with in anime; Romeo x Juliet and Boarding School Juliet (from what I’m aware) had a far more developed take on the concept, or a lightness of tone to better excuse the lack of consequence. When the best thing I can say is that the female lead is kind of hot, that’s no good. While I could consider it on the worst list, it’s more notable for how interminably boring and ambitionless it is despite the conceit of its premise, therefore it is the #1 BLANDEST show I watched in 2020.

29. The God of Highschool. This one really depressed me with its lack of quality. Early episodes showed promise. Incredibly exciting fight choreography in an all killer no filler fighting tournament with a creator who clearly loves classic fighting games? Sign me up! Unfortunately, the ever-increasing attempts to add plot between these action scenes fall embarrassingly flat. One of the three main characters, Han, has a fairly decent arc, but it’s over way too fast and that character has nothing going for them afterward. As the show goes on, it gets burdened by needless subplots that’ll have you scratching your head, like an evil cult, corruption on the executive board, a magic system that has any exclamations stricken, and so much stakes raising despite the low episode count; from inside a ring to apocalypse level in only a few hours. The longer it went on, the less I cared about the action scenes; they might look great but any attempts at personal stakes are ill developed considering the massive cast bloat, a magic system that’s horribly underexplored and an overpowered MC who never has to lose or struggle despite supposed tournament bans. If you don’t care about the characters within your story; the fighting animation no matter how good can’t help. The production clearly cared, even if the Rudolph character design and animation ain’t much outside of action, but it’s a horrible rushed narrative disaster that’s the 5th WORST anime of 2020.

Low to Mid Tier

Compared to the shows in bottom tier, there are elements I enjoyed from all of these shows. Are they great recommendations? Hell no, they’re still glaringly flawed for one reason or another that often overpowers the strengths, but in general, aren’t nearly as contemptible, and the strong points get better and better the higher up on the list I go. Let’s continue!

28. Assault Lily Bouquet- Likely the most boring Studio SHAFT show ever made, the premise wasn’t exactly booming right out the gate, but there was still fun to be had in a show where girls train to fight giant monsters with massive, oversized weapons…….it didn’t make the most of anything. Unlike the shows below it, Assault Lily Bouquet doesn’t feel outright incompetent…..it’s just really boring. It has…ideas I guess, regarding purple haired girl’s guilt complex, building teams of partners in some cute little episodes, and leading to mourning the death of a small girl, but none of these plots really stick much, and the guilt complex idea tends to lead to the climaxes being on repeat each time they happen. There’s lesbian pandering, I guess: only one actual relationship attempting to be there but loads of spicy scenes elsewhere. But whatever, you’re just here to see cute girls use oversized weapons to fight monsters, how does that go? Not well. The characters constantly turn into CGI any time action starts, which becomes even more jarring as it constantly cuts to still images of 2D characters explaining what’s happening during the action. There’s not the flow to make it work. Assault Lily Bouquet is pretty harmless and for the most part not incompetent, but the dullness is too much to take, making it the 2nd BLANDEST anime of 2020.

27. The Idhun Chronicles. I’m probably the only one who even knows what this is. Essentially Netflix animated a Spanish young adult book series from 2004 into a series 16 years later with cheap visuals and a Spanish voice cast so bad that most Spanish viewers swapped to the competent if wholly unexceptional English dub. It stars Jack, a humble earth boy chosen one who ends up in a fairly nondescript fantasy setting after his parents get murdered by the brooding bad boy prince character, and joins a scrappy resistance to protect the world from the villains. It’s a case where tries to overcome its dated source material and does exactly…………………..not that. The first season (second season came out this year) is only 5 episodes but it felt wholly rote in its exception the entire time; I adore strong fantasy but there’s not enough to make this story stand out in any way, aside from a surprisingly high major character body count by the end of the season. There’s also implications of a love triangle the one female character has caught between the boring main character and the edgy broody prince character who murdered Jack’s parents and has continually stalked her if that does happen then yuck. While there are series that adapt older source material in compelling ways for modern audiences, this one is thoroughly stuck in the past.

26. Magia Record- I wrote a review on this one and in hindsight I think I might’ve been a smidge too harsh. The visuals did a strong job capturing the flavor and the animation similarly hits a solid mark throughout. I do like the costume designs; they tell me almost nothing about their personalities this time, but they are distinct. And after all, they just wanted to make a show based on a gatcha game that isn’t tense like Madoka Magica, tightly focused like Madoka Magica or held by the strong characters of Madoka Magica, but call it Madoka Magica anyway. The main angle I took in my review was that it’s neither a compelling standalone series nor a strong companion piece to Madoka the original, which is the biggest indictment a show like this could get. It’s almost impressive how the show could be so visually varied yet utterly boring at the same time. Its characters lack chemistry with each other, the show too quick to get emotional over ones that don’t matter to anything instead of the important ones. Its magic cult isn’t very threatening. An entire episode is spent giving exposition with all the flair of a college lecture. And the main character has nothing to go off of but a goal pursuing a relationship we never had any time to be invested in. It’s the ultimate mediocrity of the year, for me, only being worse off because of its failure to live up to the core series. 3rd BLANDEST of 2020.

25. Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld Part 2. After watching this show weekly with my cousin Alex as we continually banged our heads against the wall with all the disappointment, I wrote a review talking about all the problems I had with the War of Underworld arc while still being hopeful that future work could be better now that they’re finished with the series’ feedback free web novel phase. But this season still mostly blows; War of Underworld Part 2 is so incredibly annoying because it decides to take every issue that has been lambasted in a previous season, and amplify them. Thought that Kirito was too overpowered and stealing the spotlight before? The plot will literally be at a standstill until he wakes up and hastily solves every problem himself; Alice and Asuna do not get to win anything and attempts to pull at Kirito’s character don’t get the time they deserve for his importance. Thought that having one or two rapey villains making crazy faces was bad? Here’s FOUR of them, one of them starting off the season with needless rape, one of them being little more than a footnote, and one of them having one of the worst executed villain backstories I’ve ever seen. Thought that computer programming having magic in the system was bad before? Here it is in full force, one of which being in the real world. The list goes on; I go further in my review. How about the fights? To its credit, there are three really sick action setpieces. The two ones with the most emotion in them fall into the plot standstill issue, but they’re still fairly impressive. It’s clear Yuki Kajira and the animation team put their all into the series even if the awful storytelling holds it back. Some attempts at sentimentality are actually heartwarming, others aren’t. Personally, I’m just glad this incredibly ambitious yet messy arc reached an end to hopefully lead to better stuff, even if SAO still remains an example more interesting to learn from than anything else.

24. Tower of God- Remember when everyone thought this show’s success was going to usher in a new age of strong WebToon anime? Yeah I do too. It starts with a uniquely ethereal feel as the main character is introduced to the weird wild world of the Tower, but it quickly turns into Hunter x Hunter but worse in every way. Its characters feel like a grab bag of designs and powers that hardly feel cohesive at all; the constant shifts in focus ensures very few of them (exception to the two orange clad girls) had anything really going for them beyond a single trait. The limited worldbuilding calls into question a lot of their purposes and motivations. Its cast adds little but fluff to make the boring simp protagonist covered in plot armor get through whatever challenges are decided. The music’s far from Kevin Penkin’s best yet shines in spots, but the MS Paint look poorly conveys impact whenever an action scene starts. Even individual episode endings can be off because of how their endings poorly lead into the next episode. To be fair though, it’s not all bad. With shows like these I do enjoy the concept of the various challenges; they’re easy to catch you offguard and can lead into fun moments from time to time. Character designs lack any sort of world consistency, but there was clearly effort to come up with all their distinctive looks. There’s also Rachel; of course most fans hate her because of what she did to the potato protagonist, but I thought that action, and her pursuit of a desperate ambition to see stars in a world where such a design is foreign was actually fairly interesting and could lead to incredible ironic punishment later on. Too bad that was at the very end of the season. Tower of God does have its moments of enjoyably creative fun and a neat atmosphere, but those are clearly papering over a lot of cracks the series needs to work towards fixing if it wants to get out the hole of mediocrity. 4th BLANDEST

23. RWBY Volume 7. Oh RWBY, how you get so close to achieving something every year only to juuuuuuuuuuuust miss the mark. Having followed the show for 5 years now, I can say it’s a series that’s full of exciting highs and incredibly deafening lows ripe with missed potential (except Volume 5, 95% of that one is just a shitshow). I’ve enjoyed the character dynamics, the action, and curiosity at the story’s direction enough to keep going, but that’s not without a lot of issues. Volume 7 fares pretty similarly along the RWBY course. To start with the good. Atlas as a setting is fairly well realized visually; lots of oranges and cool blues help to make the different parts of it pop. It’s nice to see Winter return to prominence. The Ace Ops, design wise, are great and fit well for their roles as top lapdogs. Watts, after years of doing nothing, has a strong showing here. Ironwood’s mettle continually being tested throughout the season progresses fairly which leads to an epic Episode 11. All the fights (with one jarring exception) look great visually, and the big hits in the soundtrack like Hero and Fear do well to add tension. On the other hand…………….the decision to bring back a certain character feels ill considered for the majority of the overly inflated ensemble, Episode 12’s fight resolutions come at the expense of horribly out of character flubs, some new designs like Weiss’s and Blake’s don’t fit their colors or fighting styles well, the election plot and its aftermath feel very pointless for how much time they take up, and the protagonists’ role in the trust debacle isn’t given the proper exploration to see their motives. RWBY’s tendency to play duck duck goose with what characters/arcs deserve focus leads to a lot of plot crowding and vague pointers that don’t so much “go” as wait until the next turn. The season is a very mixed bag to put it lightly: has its moments but doesn’t soar in any particular regard beyond having the best general presentation of the series at that point.

22. BNA. BNA (Brand New Animal) really could’ve been something, instead of having exciting energy that collapses in on itself by the end. It’s not bad all the way; the first few episodes are enjoyable enough. Individual episodes like the baseball episode are cute, self-contained stories when not considered under plot scrutiny (although episode 4 has a glaring plot hole). It’s got a nice artstyle with a lot of well-designed expressive characters and a cool comic filter in the first episode I wish stayed for the rest of the show. However, once the show realizes it has a plot………. everything falls apart. Lead character Michiru loses her agency to do whatever the plot needs of her, and this plot tries to cover everything from racism, to fascism, to eugenics, to activism while also covering a cult, government conspiracy, estranged friendship and superpowered escapades within 12 episodes where a quarter at least is wayward filler. It wants to do so much in so little time that any sort of message or allegory is completely lost in the shuffle, especially compared to contemporaries like Zootopia, Beastars and one other show I’ll talk about later. And of course, every issue gets instantaneously solved against an obvious strawman villain. There’s passion but I wish it was placed on a story that was able to properly create a point for itself. It’s the 5th BLANDEST by process of elimination, and the lack of any strong ethos to call its own once you finish.

21. Hypnosis Mic. This one got a review from me mainly because I was curious how such an utterly batshit concept would play out. The answer? In pretty funny ways. Hypnosis Mic’s an odd duck that’s partly enjoyable just for how camp everything about it is. The production’s pretty weak when not in the raps and the storyline is pretty ridiculous, missing a lot of key context, but this show being so bizarre really hooked me, watching various crime conspiracies get solved with the power of rap. Pretty much every rap in this show is either awesome or hilariously stupid, take your pick. It’s a mixed experience; you’re looking for enjoyment in consideration of the writing flubs for the enjoyable camp, but if you’re curious I’d say go for it. See my review for more.

20. In/Spectre. This is a show that has one particular thing going for it that’ll really make or break it for you; its plot concept. As I explain in my review, the commitment to the idea of the concept is pretty admirable on paper. A mystery story designed not around solving a mystery, but creating a LIE to dissuade the internet is pretty sick conceptually. Its adorable main character helps to string you along with her theories. I also appreciate that unlike say, Bunny Girl Senpai, it doesn’t drop the flippant façade by begging your emotions; it just lets the debates play out, if doing so for an overly long time. The extent with which the debating is stretched could potentially annoy some viewers greatly, but it’s interesting to see a show which above anything else rides off of an interesting plot hook. With a second season announced I’m left wondering where it will go from here though, continue on overlong debate plots or keep viewers hooked some other way. In/Spectre’s the type of show you’ll either appreciate or despise, so have at you.

19. My Next Life as a Villainess. This show’s the perfect example of a series that feels like it could’ve done a lot more with itself but doesn’t fall apart because of that pressure so much as be fairly content with adequate quality. It’s essentially about a girl in the real world isekaing into the romantic rival character in a dating sim and trying to avoid that character’s inevitable murder. It’s fun at first, but plateaus when you realize she doesn’t really get to embrace being that rival character and instead ends up getting everyone on her heels instead. This leads to passable, if wholly unremarkable moments, not done great favors by the animation. This a show that probably could’ve done with more introspection on the real world side of things, more playing into the villain type, and more varied comedy, but as is, it’s still a fine enough time that has its moments of cute jokes and decent structuring.

18. Castlevania Season 3. After two great seasons………..Season 3 feels like a step back in almost every way. It felt like a really slow-paced setup season with a lot of exposition scenes to culminate in some exciting action at the end. The drama regarding Carmilla’s sisters and the nature of the climax felt really bizarrely paced between all that setup, and Alucard’s plot really lulls in this season, taking him out of the strong dynamic with Trevor/Sypha, with an ending that even for a show like this felt needlessly dark. A lot of this season was basically just well put-together filler; pretty much all the characters are in the same place at the end as they were at the end of season 2 which is odd to put it lightly, but it still has its moments. It’s still well acted and full of sarcastic wit from the whole cast. The battle in the final two episodes really is an epic culmination of the show’s style kicking into high gear, and there are other exciting fights, like when the character Issac fights against Legion, a boss from the games. There’s enough compelling in Castlevania to guide through a noticeable weaker season than the previous two, but it still leaves you hoping season 4 will have that compelling drive back once again.

17. Dorehedoro. By all means Dorehedoro should be a great show; a really unique chaotic city setting with distinctive character designs and taking multiple viewpoints, showing the protagonists and the villains in similar light trying to make headway. The CGI animation ain’t bad either, especially after the abysmal integration in Inuyashiki. But for some reason it didn’t really hook me enough to really get into it. Maybe because the show feels like constant noise. When you’re in a state of constant chaos, no matter how controlled, it’s hard to really place yourself in it. Dorehedoro has a lot of things happening all the time, some of those things are fun escapades, some of them are pretty forgettable after you view them. I like what it’s trying to do in creating a distinctive world, but the reason to be invested in the characters within it just isn’t there for me personally.

High Tier

From this point on, every show I consider to be at least good. These are shows that left me with a pretty positive impression, if not an exceptionally transformative one. With the asterisk of watching previous seasons for the sequels, I recommend every show in this tier and above to be given a shot. Specific placements are disagreeable, but a lot of these hit a similarly commendable, if somewhat flawed note.

16. Re:Zero 2nd Season Part 1. With maybe one or two exceptions, Re:Zero is probably the most divisive show on this list. Some people think the series is a masterpiece that must be given due praise for how much it breaks the mold, while others think it’s a tediously pretentious mess that’s too adherent to what it’s trying to subvert. Where do I stand? I enjoyed this season. It felt more focused on a particular point than the mixed bag Season 1, does a compelling job with atmosphere, and fleshes out the unique perspectives of characters like Roswaal with Rem out of the picture. This season is predominantly a Subaru character study though. It’s what the entire series seemed to be about, but it’s more prominent here. One episode goes well into what his experience in the real world was like prior to this, which pretty illuminating and unlike a similar moment in SAO, has the due justice to help. His desperateness is amplified this season, and it’s easy to similarly want the plot to move forward from its forced standstill by learning the same way. I get that it’s for drama, but you’re still left for 13 episodes in a relatively stagnant plot sphere. Of course, sometimes the author gets a bit horny and introduces a surplus of new waifus in order to deliver plot, which can feel pretty tacky at times in tandem with the worldbuilding. There’s still some shock factory deaths to it which won’t make it for everyone but can occasionally be interestingly justified. I still take issue with certain parts of it, but Re:Zero’s on a better track I hope continues in what’s left.

15. Steven Universe Future. Oh boy, this one. So, after the incredibly rushed ending to the original series and a really good follow-up movie, the Crewniverse decided to make an epilogue series to tie loose ends and bring everything together. There’s some really strong episodes here, like the one that focuses more on Greg, the show’s best character, a cute episode with Steven and Peridot bonding over their favorite show’s bad reboot and a really effective episode where Pearl connects with another Pearl to better affirm her own growth throughout the series. Much like the original series though, it’s filled with exciting ideas and great highs surrounded by a lot of plateau, and bad pacing. It’s a 20-episode miniseries where at least a quarter of it feels like filler, one of those episodes treating Steven’s anxiety as a joke before it gets to be super serious as it goes. It’s nice to see characters like Lapis Lazuli again even as her episode has a painfully obvious moral; it’s not nice to see the Diamonds again because they’re awful characters who had all culpability striped from them to toss it on a dead character Steven now should have more reason to emphasize with. The background music is still excellent and the artwork very eye-pleasing aside from the occasional scaling issues. I do enjoy the core of this story a lot; Steven learning that it’s okay to not be everyone’s anchor and fears of growing up with how his life has gone gradually bubbling up, even despite the arc’s initial impetus feeling like a harsh slide from the previous series more than sensible progression. The ending is………. alright, a bit too focused on showing Steven’s support system caring for him being the big solution when it’s really the lack of self-love that’s the big problem, and that was never the problem to begin with. Pacing problems and mismatched focus do hurt Future, but I still see it as a solid coda to an enjoyably flawed story with its heart in the right place.

14. Akudama Drive. My review of this series goes into more depth on what made this show so enjoyable. Despite potentially falling into the “edge show” pantheon that’s doomed a number of other series, Akudama Drive gets by with its exhilarating energy and incredibly self-conscious cast that make up for limited depth with strong presence and adaptability to the growing plot turns. There’s some pretty strong ways it manages its worldbuilding; with the setting being gorgeously realized and assisted by a lot of slick stylistic touches in line with Kauztaka Kodaka’s previous work on Danganronpa. It’s one of the series that uses ambient lighting to great effect, particularly in episodes 2, 4, 6 and 12. It did become a bit shaky with maintaining its ride along the edge, especially in Episode 9, but it culminates in a strong ending that’s a satisfactory sendoff to the darkly comedic yet also unexpectedly detailed setting it works with. If you want a show that’s just balls to the wall insanity without a lot of the typically annoying anime trappings, this show is for you.

13. The Owl House. This one I actually reviewed for my college’s newspaper. Disney’s new animated series asks “what if Gravity Falls meets Little Witch Academia”, to an at times blatant extent. It hasn’t reached the heights of Gravity Falls yet; personally speaking it’s not nearly as funny and the show is divided on whether it wants to focus on the wider world or the magic school setting. In my review, I said Owl House had seeds of prospective greatness and that’s in large part because this is just as easily a show that can soar to new heights or completely faceplant by the end. Some of the one-off stories aren’t great and the season climax feels like it really should’ve been two episodes instead of one, but it’s got a lot of fun potential with the settings and dynamics. Its characters are a compelling bunch to carry the show forward. Luz is an adorably effervescent protagonist through and through with potential for a further arc about considering her weird aspects when trying to bond with other people. King’s a fun comic relief character, and Eda, while perhaps overly similar to Stan, still has her moments. Really though, it’s Amity Blight and her character development that stole most fans’ heart, but like a lot of show, calls into question where to go from where the season left off without merely coasting. The Owl House is a really good show I’m excited to see more of, in the hopes it doesn’t embarrass itself in time to come.

12. Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. This anime-inspired cartoon from Studio MIR managed the impressive task of airing 30 episodes in one year which is pretty damn impressive against everything else. But Kipo is a very enjoyable story, despite some flaws. Its highlight is easily the setting. It’s visually incredibly well-realized and well-built, with very strong color theory leading to some beautifully purple buildings at night, and main characters who fit incredibly well with their muted color tones. Animation as a whole is consistently styled and can lead to some exciting action (regardless of how well the hip hop songs fit, it varies). It’s able to go much further than BNA in building its setting, with different animals occupying specialized roles like thespian otters, lumberjack cats, punk skunks, wolf astronomers, bees communicating entirely in dubstep, the list goes on. It’s really fun to see the show introduce these various species for worldbuilding as well as illustrating Kipo’s optimistic character in spite of their pessimism. The show provides a decent main cast to carry forward, Kipo being a sweet protagonist who always sees the best in people, and characters like Benson and Wolf providing fair complements to her particular personality. Plot wise, it peaks in Season 2. Season 2 focuses extensively on Kipo herself finding inner peace and the lingering feelings hinted at in Season 1, with a very heartwarming musical number and a strong foil to the main villain, who seems more interesting than he first appears. Season 3 is a bit iffier. It’s probably the funniest season and some of the character arcs culminate fairly strongly, but others like Wolf feel like their arc resolutions were caught in the middle, Benson’s relationship with Troy deserved more screentime to not be satellite at best and like BNA it falls into the trap of resolving the issues through the defeat of a strawman villain relying on Cassandra Truthing, but the journey up to that point and the subsequent epilogue are still enjoyable enough all around. I could do without Dave though; his antics are comic relief were never funny. Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is a very good series with a lot of heart, even if some of its components don’t fit together the best in seasons 1 and 3.

11. ID: Invaded. Shows like these are really fun to see as original sci-fi. Director Ei Aoki always goes for Hollywood influence within his works, and this time he’s clearly eying Christopher Nolan with the use of mind bending sci-fi. Some may find the plot details messy, but for me it was really compelling to follow all around as it built the weird mysterious dream logic it has a focused mystery towards. Most of the character development in this is on the shoulders of Akihito and Hondoumachi, which admittedly might turn off those who think plot-driven shows don’t have a place, but Aoki did well to keep me guessing at the weird wild logic in these mental realms while still hitting the emotional beats. I can’t recommend this show enough if you love Nolan-esque sci-fi thrillers. Even if you don’t love it, the scale and scope of the story are pretty admirable all around.

10. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. In terms of pure cutesy comedy, this is definitely one of the year’s highlights. It’s so consistently sweet while still hitting you with unexpected hilarious gut punches at the actions of the titular princess. You’d think a show that’s entirely about a little princess wanting to get to sleep would get boring after a while, but no. The author was able to consistently come out with unique setups each and every episode to really push the limits of this concept. Nearly every character added provides an effective punchline or two, and it manages the unique balance between being comfy and rocking your seat with the comedy. That fantasy aesthetic is incredibly vibrant and feels almost like a pop up book come to life at times, and Inori Minase’s kuudere voice for the princess fits perfectly. This is a really fun comedy all around I can’t help but recommend. Give it a shot; hopefully you’ll find it either comfy or funny.

9. Keep Your Hands of Eizoken. This show was an early runner for anime of the year, and while I don’t quite think it’s that great, I still have a great amount of appreciation for this series’ ambitions. I’m glad we have a series that explores the influences behind animation. Ask the most renowned auteurs out there and they’ll tell you tons of places where their influences come from to drive creative passions, including in everyday life. Eizoken doesn’t mock those wanting to pursue creative careers; it encourages them that they’ll be an audience if you put enough care and time into your work, which even outside of anime is a very helpful message. It does start to get repetitive, with the final episodes not having quite the same spark as the early ones, but I still think is a really good show for its message intentions and fun bouncy main characters. Plus, Easy Breezy became a meme for good reason, real catchy stuff.

8. Kakushigoto. Kakushigoto is a consistent delight through and through. Much in line with series such as Barakamon and Usagi Drop, this is a show that rides on the strong bond between a struggling father figure engaged in a passionate career with his adorable daughter. It’s able to hit a strong note of being incredibly sweet while also being shockingly funny. The jokes come out with great frequency and with adorable visual accompaniment. Watching the dub, Howard Lang really sells Kakushi’s desperate nature to get his job done while still wanting the best for his daughter. The final episode’s turn might seem forced, but it’s carried by its heartwarming characters and affectionate sweetness. It’s all around consistently wholesome and a delight to think about. #5 BEST series of 2020.

7. Great Pretender. On a purely artistic level, this is probably the year’s greatest anime achievement. So many strong color choices; nearly every background is like a painting frame, with incredibly strong and expressive character animation carrying that presentation even further. Plot wise, it’s an incredibly loving to tribute to Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh films, with exciting multi-episode heists driven by the strong personalities of its leads. Edamura is a bit on the basic side compared to everyone else in the early run, and I wish Abigail got more focus for how awesome her character seems, but it’s a really strong main cast that’s well animated and (in the dub) very well voiced as well. I suppose the ending of the final arc isn’t quite as tight as the show thinks it is, but it’s such a fun time that’s artistically expressive and engagingly thrilling. Worth watching for the animation alone but I think there’s plenty to like about most of the writing as well. 4th BEST of 2020.

Top Tier

Here we go. Top Tier. My favorite animated stuff of the year. These are the ones that are gonna really stick with me once the year’s over and reminding me why I love what animation and strong storytelling can accomplish. These come at my highest recommendation for how much they do well.

6. Fruits Basket Season 2. While on the surface, Fruits Basket is more or less the forefather of modern Shoujo anime, a genre with which I’ve had very mixed feelings on, the first season of its remake did a strong job hooking me on the various emotional, intimate dramas of the characters, even if a lot of time had to go into introducing a massive cast and parts like Tohru’s extended family fell flat. With Season 2, Furuba has fully given into the emotions it set forth in the first season. The cast is trapped in a perpetual cycle of abuse they have to work through the best they can under the circumstances. It gets uncomfortable at times, but it’s in service of a strong narrative lined with emotional empathy. Does a future exist while trapped in the seemingly perpetual now? But I still love Tohru as a protagonist; one of her monologues made me cry and her determinism is consistently admirable even if she deserves her own therapist as well. Yuki had a well-realized arc of independence and Rin's emotional drama especially really hits thanks to the strength of her voice actress. Other arcs had various degrees of affect, but the dramatic thrusts this time are more focused and pervasive. It makes me curious for what's to come, but it also means that listening to the bombardment of soliloquies can make going from one episode to another tedious and overbearing in terms of drama; characters like Ayame and Kimi feel like sharp disconnects from the dramatic side of the series, but I can’t help but hold respect for what this story has to say about trying to overcome ongoing intensive turmoil in a strongly determined way. It might be sappy at imes, but Fruits Basket shows how well it really means in this season, to hopefully finish just as compelling and heartbreaking. 3rd BEST anime series of 2020.

5. Moriarty the Patriot. Against my early expectations, this show managed to be a compelling thriller all around as well as an excellent Sherlock Holmes tale. Its production design, despite some light CGI bits, is wonderfully lavish, and the series’s focus on Moriarty adds a compelling spin to his motivations. It’s very exciting all around, getting even better as it goes instead of worse. Its characters’ motivations really line up with a setting, and it’s a promising spiritual successor to Death Note. Literaturenerd made an excellent review of the series that encapsulates what makes it so strong, so I’ll not go further, his arguments really carry its excellent work. 2nd BEST anime series of 2020.

4. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Season 5. This show was my most pleasant surprise of the year by a longshot. What seemed at first like a fairly inoffensive reboot of a hilariously dated toyline aimed at little girls had one of the most compelling emotional thoroughlines for a story I’ve seen in a long time. Noelle Stevenson takes the template of the 80s show and uses it to build an incredibly tightly paced story about emotionally molded, beautifully flawed female characters learning to make authentic choices in light of external perception or expectation. Its emotional core, between Adora, a hero caught in the tightrope of destiny to think of everyone but herself, and Catra, a character desperate to form a place of importance and connection, both held back by instilled toxic parenting, really caught me from beginning to end. But there’s a ton of beautifully heartwarming character moments that surprised me, in addition to a lot of really funny moments assisted by how expressive all of the characters are and how well-cast all their voices are. I have a lot of respect for series that can make me laugh AND cry, and this show definitely hits that for me. As each season of the show kept improving on the last, Season 5 is an almost perfect coda to the series. Some character tensions definitely could’ve been better hashed out and giving its villain a breakdown was wholly unnecessary, but it’s still an excellent testament to the show’s strong work at building an ensemble. Its focus never feels out of line; events get just enough time to breath before the series moves on, and the emotional moments really hit, even rewatching them because of the series’ strong motifs. It’s not quite Avatar TLA amazing; its animation quality ain’t much even if the expressive characters do their best to make up for it, with worldbuilding that’s more subservient than anything else. It feels inspired from the best of Mahou Shoujo (thematically shares some breadth with Princess Tutu in relation to roles) and from what western cartoons have learned over the decade and will likely find some place to sit with you; just give it time. Don’t listen to the neckbeards who act like this series is a travesty because the main character doesn’t have visible boobs and the show is pro-queer. It’s flawed in parts, but great stuff I’ve been trying to shill ever since finishing to at least give it a shot.

3. Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul. Made in Abyss was tied for my favorite anime series of 2017, and I’m happy to report that the movie that continues the story is an incredible follow-up to its legacy. Like, what the hell did I just watch great. Oh, I mean, it's gorgeous. Gorgeously animated, scored, presented to extensive detail and feels fully uncompromised as a vision. I love Made in Abyss's world; one that actually encourages viewers to think about all the possibilities it holds and puts us in the mindset of the characters, instead of just shitting out a generic RPG fantasy world and calling it a day. Regrettably, this approach does mean that the middle of the film is afflicted by a lot of ass pulls, whereupon plot points and devices get introduced only the second they become vital to get characters on both sides out of situations, which is the main reason I don't rank it higher (you get used to the alien approach to phallic stuff if you've seen the show), but it's still glorious to look at and uncomfortably visceral to experience in the best way. Bondrewd is a fantastic villain through and through, strong presence carried by an incredible performance from Toshiyuki Morikawa, and a thoroughly consistent demeanor from beginning to end. No punches are pulled, and his drive to explore the world’s secrets, no matter the cost, creates a compelling foil to the protagonists. This film really helps show what anime CAN be capable of if given the opportunity, and I’m so glad the series was respected to such a level. Can’t wait to see what’s next for this series.

2. Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 2. I talked a lot about the first season last year, and somehow, by some measure, Season 2 managed to be even better than the first. There’s even more crazy humor, and it all feels genuine to who the characters: Kaguya, Miyuki, Chika, Ishigami, Hayasaka, and new character Miko, actually are. It’s not just that the phenomenal comedic timing, adorable expressive cast, fantastic voice acting and even occasionally emotional moments like with the student council election and Ishigami’s character arc are shown with such aplomb, but that, much like early Simpsons, the story feels fully engrained in the characters rather than just random lol scenarios. Each one operates on a set of conflicting beliefs and motivations that continually seem more multifaceted from every type of joke. I firmly believe that Kaguya-sama, with its second season, proved itself a masterstroke of comedic potential and adaptational aplomb in anime comedy, and feel firm to call it the #1 BEST anime series of 2020.

1. Fate/stay night Heaven’s Feel III: Spring Song. But of course, my favorite anime of the year was one you literally couldn’t watch without going to a limited release in the midst of COVID-19. To be clear, there are issues I have: the plot stopping to deliver the necessary lore does halt the pacing in the middle for information that’s not present in other iterations of stay/night and Zero, and light touches of the ending go by too fast to follow, but in every other regard this is a phenomenal closer to the weird wild and confusing Fate lore. This film managed to close off Shirou, Rin, Sakura, Illya, Rider and Kirei, on a highlight for each of them. So much palpable emotion seeps through in this film, and unlike in ufotable’s Unlimited Blade Works series, the dialogues feel impactful without needlessly spinning their wheels. Kirei even gets the two funniest moments in the film, which certainly caught me off guard. Despite its issues with lore delivery, ufotable continually proved just how adept they were in bringing out the best of Fate over the years. To call this film gorgeous would be a massive understatement. Even the basic talking look gorgeous, but every action scene blows you out of the water with how much animation can do, combined with excellent sound design and music. A beautifully bittersweet finale to Fate/stay night, Spring Song shows what an incredibly passionate director and top of the line team can do to bolster the strong feelings of a compelling story in the best way.

Here is what the final tier list looks like: