Forum - View topicThe Best Anime Of 2019
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Javergara05
Posts: 2 |
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Best anime of 2019 is Demon Slayer with its incredible animation and great characters backstory it had the best fight and level up of the year by far the best, honor mention to Dr Stone with its great story, I would also include Vinland Saga and Shingeki no Kyojin 3 part 2
Last edited by Javergara05 on Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5510 Location: Iscandar |
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Best 5 anime series on technical merits
1. Dororo 2. Carole & Tuesday 3. O Maidens in Your Savage Season 4. Vinland Saga 5. Astra Lost in Space Emotionally favorites 1. Astra Lost in Space 2. O Maidens in Your Savage Season 3. Carole & Tuesday 4. Domestic Girlfriend 5. Dr. Stone |
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Jefcat
Posts: 107 Location: Palm Desert |
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1. Vinland Saga
2. Given 3. Dororo 4. Mob Psycho 100 season 2 5. (tie) Dr.Stone Sarazanmai Honorable mention: 1. Mob Psycho 100 OVA. Because any Mob Psycho 100 is a good thing. 2. Fafner The Beyond. Would rank higher but I’ve only seen the first three episodes. Frustrating as can be: Ace of Diamond Act 2. I love Ace of Diamond, but despite some good stretches and decent new characters, the narrative is choppy and there are big chunks that are a chore to get through. Edited my original list because I forgot Mob Psycho season 2 was released this year. Slotting it in with my original Top 5. Last edited by Jefcat on Mon Dec 30, 2019 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Chrono1000
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The top 5 anime of the year were Demon Slayer, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files, Fate/Grand Order, and Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka. An honorable mention goes to Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun for being a creative kids show with a lot of heart. The best character of the year would be Raphtalia though that is partly because I have read the light novels.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11612 |
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A small errata: the main character of Vinland Saga is based on Thorfinn Karlsefni Thordarson, not Thorfinn Snoresson (Karlsefni's father was Thord Snorrasson). I'm not sure if he's given a surrname in the anime.
Pleased to see Amy put Iruma-kun on her list. I'm not sure I'd say it's a top five best, but I've enjoyed every minute of it and the OP is a killer earworm. And Jefcat, I'm with ya on AoD. The slide show is killing me (especially after watching the tennis animation in Stars Align), but they're still my favorite good boys right now. My best of 2019 would include: Kono Oto Tomare! A simple and fairly by-the-numbers school club series, but with surprising heart and the ability to bring tears to my eyes more than once. Plus some koto music that'll blow your hair back. Given An emotional wallop from the first scene, skillfully leavened with enough humor to keep all the angst bearable. My kind of show. Promised Neverland Nothing to add to James' reasoning. Mob Psycho 100 II Ditto. Kemurikusa This is the sort of thing you love or hate I guess, and I loved it. Wonky, lovable CGI and all, that only adds to its charm and deeply emotional storytelling. There's just nothing like it. Best characters I guess would be Mob's Reigen, the "internet sex symbol" (Chris nailed it with "a money-grubbing con-man who nonetheless has enough of a heart of gold to be seen as one of the very best examples of the humanity that Mob fights for"). That a con-man like Reigen actually is a positive role model is a testament to the genius of characterization in this franchise. Self-Defense Rush ftw! Vinland's Askeladd, who is just a bundle of callous self-interest to match the world he lives in, is also fascinating to watch scheme. You really want him to get what's coming to him just as much as you don't want to see him brought down. I'll also give a shout-out to Clara from Iruma-kun. She's often annoying, but that's intentional as she annoys all the characters too, but she's also always hilarious in the off-the-wall things she does to have fun, like roasting marshmallows in a fellow demon's flame barrier, or riding in carnivorous pitcher plants pretending they're a gondola. |
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DavetheUsher
 Posts: 505 |
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Ditto. I don't think anything else comes anywhere close to be huge phenomenon Demon Slayer was this year. Boosted the manga sales like crazy and the anime itself pretty much topped the charts and sales everywhere in it's own right. Easily the breakout show this year. |
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joeydoa
Posts: 121 |
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Best anime of the year - a difficult proposition as I could easily list about twenty. I won't even go down the road of honorable mention because once I started with only two - I wanted to add ten more.
1. Fruits Basket - Wow! This is absolutely fantastic roller coaster - I never read the manga or watched the original series - but from what I gather this remake is considered better than the original. 2. Bang Dream! 2nd Season - A triumph in the cute girls doing cute things genre, a standout in the after school girls band sub genre. Although the CGI can be a little off putting, the songs more than make up for it. I am unfamiliar with the game it is based on so this is based solely on its merits as an anime. 3. Ascendance of a Bookworm - Although it was given negative marks by a couple of ANN reviewers in the preview guide: "...it's just too slow, dull, and visually bland to truly recommend" - I found it to be absolutely riveting and packing an emotional wallop - definitely not to be missed for the slice of life fan. Thankfully, this is only first cour. 4. My Roommate is a Cat - A touching heartwarming piece about introverted writer who finds his way to re-connecting with people and the outside world as a result of caring for a stray cat. This one avoids the cliches and really pulls the viewer in. I really wish this had a second season. 5. Kono oto Tomare! - I was initially skeptical about this after school club of misfits but the characters really grow on you and as a lover of music - there are some really moving performance episodes. It is in the second half that this anime really takes off by delving into the backstory of the side characters. |
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Dark Mac
Posts: 323 |
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Is there not going to be a top Fall anime article?
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18493 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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There will be, but since the Best of 2019 piece is spread out over five days, Zac apparently decided to get it started first. I expect the piece you're talking about will be up before the end of the week. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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My personal favorite of the year was Dororo a strong thematic series about what it means to be human. The relationship between the two main characters Hyakkimaru and Dororo warmed my heart. And I admit I have a weakness for journey and youkai stories and this was a great combination of them both. Glad to see a few others mention this wonderful series
My runner up would be Vinland Saga . Love the history, political intrigue and complex characters. As for best character of the year that would absolutely be Askeladd. Certainly one of the most complex and human characters in anime. The two series I think deserved more attention would be Astra Lost in Space and Kono Oto Tomare. Both had a great cast with strong character development and heart warming moments and were solid examples of their respective genre. I am not exactly surprised Kono oto Tomare got overlooked (an anime about a Koto club is going to be on the niche side) but was surprised a fun Sci-Fi like Astra Lost in Space wasn’t a bit more popular. It’s also one of those rare series that get to cover the entire manga. Kono Oto Tomare didn’t but it also ended in a perfect spot. Rounding it out would probably be Kimetsu no Yaiba though unlike my previous two choices I find this series very much on the overrated side. That being said I still think it is one of the best recent shounen Jump series. Ufotable should be praised for a fantastic adaption. And I love the perfect mix of action, humor and drama. Finally honorable mention is Fruits Basket. This is a very special series to me as the original anime was my first Shoujo. It was very exciting to have it back . That being said it’s the next season I am really looking forward to when this anime will start adapt all new material not covered by the first anime. Last edited by Maidenoftheredhand on Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:04 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1462 |
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I’ll echo James’s comments on Carole & Tuesday, which was also my favorite show of the year. I honestly think it could have been an international phenomenon if people all over the world were allowed to stream it legally while it aired weekly in Japan, instead of having to wait three months after each half of the show finished airing over there. Netflix’s binge-viewing model really doesn’t work for some shows, in my opinion.
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HannoX
Posts: 200 |
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I think best character should have been broken into best male and best female. Best male Askeladd from Vinland Saga. Best female Chika Fujiwara from Kaguya-sama.
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Jefcat
Posts: 107 Location: Palm Desert |
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Karlsefni is a byname rather than a surname. Like a nickname - Scandinavians didn’t really use surnames as we know them at that time. Pretty certain Vinland Saga hasn’t mentioned his byname at all. But then again, I’m pretty certain he actually earned that byname much later, when he was an adult explorer. Still a great show. And a BIG shoutout for Kensho Ono’s outstanding voice work as Canute. A lot of great voice work overall this year. Yuma Uchida and Shogo Yano both stood out in Given and Takahiro Sakurai’s performance as Reigan in Mob Psycho goes a long way towards humanizing our favorite internet sex symbol. And yes even with my grumpiness, AoD still is my favorite sports anime. Great characters, great voice work and a real feel for the sport it portrays. I’ve come to expect more from it but it’s still entertaining. Last edited by Jefcat on Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:18 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Lactobacillus yogurti
 Posts: 857 Location: Latin America |
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This year didn't have as many series to love as the past two did, but I still have a top 5 of sorts
5- My Roommate Is A Cat. I'm a cat loving lactic acid bacterium, and as people in the forum saw, this series struck a chord in my heart. 4- The Promised Neverland. It was a good series, and the psychological content in it was what got me hooked. We'll see how the second season moves on. 3- Dr. Stone. Man, now I understand the hype. It's definitely not your average WSJ manga, and the fact that it's teaching you something in the meantime is satisfying. 2- Beastars. Orange is doing a really good job, and seeing that dorky wolf mope around makes me grin like an idiot. Never change, Legosi. 1- Vinland Saga. Masterpiece. I was unsure of it because I'm not good with gore, but it was IN-CRE-DI-BLE. I hope there's a season 2! Best Characters (in no particular order) Thorkell (Vinland Saga): Goofy and amicable in one moment, a psycho killer in the next one. Loved him from the first moment. Legosi (Beastars): He's much more complex than what he seems, to the point where when you think you know him... Something new happens. Also, shout out to Legom the Chicken. Suika (Dr. Stone): THE WATERMELON MUST BE PROTECTED. This cutie patootie is one of the usual exceptions I have regarding characters: I usually prefer non-humans (NOT A FURRY. Call me one and I will find you and make your milk go sour). Haru (My Roommate Is A Cat): How can I not love a character who's willing to give her crispy crunchies to her human because she's worried about him?! HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT LOVE HER?! Pusu-pusu and Mera-mera (Enen no Shouboutai): They're adorable. 'Nuff said. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Best of 2019 is 3 days this year, with the final installment going up on Wednesday. Thursday we'll have Best of Fall 2019, Friday will be Most Anticipated Winter 2020, and then Saturday we'll begin Winter 2020 Preview Guide. |
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