Anim… er… non-Western series of the Year
- Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū.
An original ‘fictional biopic’ kind of story in an evocative setting of the pre and post war Japan, focused on Rakugo performers, with deep but ‘natural’ characters that engage your and trap into their lives, in their little successes and dramas. All with a very correct direction, visual production, and great voice acting. I wanted the end of the story, and we got it (season 2 starting in a few days).
2 Thunderbolt Fantasy.
Consider this basically tied to Rakugo, it isn’t a true ‘2nd position’. A good wuxia adventure, which turns into something great in the last episodes, with twists and a hidden depth I didn’t see at first. And man, dialogue is really tight here, Urobuchi really shines here. For what it tries to be, it’s almost perfect.
3 Mob Psycho 100.
A great adaption that enhanced the original, Bones shone here with both animation and great imagination in how to adapt the look, the pace, the humor. A series that surprised me with its quality, as I didn’t like the manga so much.
4 Haikyuu!!
(Second and third seasons). Very solid and engaging sport series, with at the third season is starting to feel too long in the tooth, but it’s still recommendable.
Mind the gap!
(gap in quality here)
5 The Great Passage. A very low key story about the road to create a new dictionary, about normal people and their mundane lives. Relaxing and with moving ending that pushes it up at 5th position.
6 JoJo’ Bizare Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. An entertaining and original, if flawed in execution, series.
7 Erased. Yeah, it fell flat on the final sprint, but let’s remember it was a very decent mystery/drama before that.
8 Space Patrol Luluco. Fun little crazy short series.
9 March comes like a lion / 3-gatsu no Lion. Yeah, it’s too literal of an adaption and the conflicting parts of the series (fluffy vs edgy) are too jarring, but still has some nice qualities.
And that’s it, I couldn’t find 10 remarkable series. Honorable mention to Kiznaiver, which wasn’t bad, but the story left me totally cold. I thought of putting it here, and just couldn’t muster to evoke ANY feeling whatsover, positive or negative, about the series. I took that as a signal it shouldn’t be here.
