2019 has come and gone, the last year of the decade is officially at its end. 2019 wasn’t the strongest year for the medium–certainly nowhere near the showstopper that last year was–but it still had more than its fair share of strong shows. Here are our favorites, some that’ve been covered here on GGA before, and a few new faces.
6 – Outburst Dreamer Boys
Studio: Studio DEEN
Key People: Kazuya Ichikawa (Director), Midori Gotou (Series Comp.), Yusa Matsuura (Character Design)
There were a lot of good to great comedies this year. It was admittedly hard to whittle it down to just two for this column. OUTBURST DREAMER BOYS was one of the best, though. A bright color palette and surprisingly fluid animation combined with a sentimental emotional core that celebrates what often gets derided as “cringeworthy”. Outburst Dreamer Boys is a comedy about the most embarrassing parts of being a teenager, and it revels in it. Having a highly relatable main character doesn’t hurt either.
5 – Star ☆ Twinkle Precure
Studio: Toei Animation
Key People: Hiroaki Miyamoto (Director), Akira Takahashi (Character Design), Isao Murayama (Series Comp.), Yuuki Hayashi (Music)
The Precure franchise will absolutely never stop. Star ☆ Twinkle Precure is one of two new faces on this list. Most other major studios seem to have given up on magical girl shows that are genuinely for kids, but not Toei. The powerhouse knocked it out of the park this year with a sugary science-fantasy aesthetic that’s just absolutely killer.
Let’s not forget that the writing is surprisingly sharp too. Arcs for the main cast have touched on serious issues while keeping it kid-friendly, and the Mexican/Japanese Cure Soleil is the first POC Pretty Cure. Rounding it all out are the beautiful hand-drawn transformation sequences the franchise is known for. Some episodes have some truly spectacular fight scenes too, a pure treat from start to finish.
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4 – Boogiepop & Others
Studio: MADHOUSE
Key People: Kouhei Kadono (Original Novel Author), Shingo Natsume (Director), Kouji Ogata (Character Design), Tomohiro Suzuki (Series Comp.)
Boogiepop & Others was the first great divisive anime of 2019. You either loved its bizarre, dark atmosphere and weird, circumspect storytelling, or it didn’t vibe with you at all. That’s without mentioning the controversy on how compressed the show makes the storylines it pulls from the original novels. Speaking personally? I wouldn’t change a single thing about Boogiepop & Others. It’s a stark throwback to an era where brain-scratching mystery shows were the genre du jour, and it helps that this is a pretty darn good one.
3 – Kaguya-sama: Love Is War!
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Key People: Aka Akasaka (Original Mangaka), Kei Haneoka (Music), Mamoru Hatakeyama (Director), Eiko Hirayama (Video FX), Nichika Ono (Ending Animation)
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War! was, in contrast to Boogiepop up above, the first hit of the year. It’s not hard to see why. The show’s visually interesting with an extremely strong central premise, it’s not just the best romcom of 2019, it’s one of the best the medium’s seen in years. The constant back-and-forth between the main characters is backed up by a rock-solid supporting cast, including Chika, who we can thank for the most memorable end-credits sequence of the year.
On top of that? It’s not afraid to get genuinely sentimental when the occasion calls. As the only entry on this list with a confirmed sequel on the way (Season 2 premiers this coming April!), it looks like we’ll be enjoying Kaguya-sama for some time to come.
2 – Symphogear XV
Studio: Satelight
Key People: Noriyasu Agematsu (Series Creator), Katsumi Ono (Director)
Let’s get one thing out of the way: the only reason Symphogear XV was not covered every single week on this column is that I prefer not to cover sequels to shows we haven’t covered earlier seasons of. The Symphogear franchise started 7 years ago as a showcase for voice actress talent. A combination of the very best aspects of the magical girl and super robot genres, plus, of course, the series’ signature: the characters belting out songs as they fight. XV was the perfect capstone to one of the defining anime sagas of the 2010s. Ridiculous, but gloriously so, to the very end.
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1 – O Maidens In Your Savage Season
Studio: Lay-duce
Key People: Mari Okada (Script Writer, Original Mangaka), Takurou Tsukada & Masahiro Ando (Directors), Kaori Ishii (Character Designer)
You knew this was coming if you’ve been following this column for any length of time. O Maidens In Your Savage Season isn’t just the best anime of 2019, it’s one of the best of the decade. It’s not just a capstone on Mari Okada’s run of form in the 2010s that goes back at least as far as Black Rock Shooter. Nor is it just a tour-de-force for the promising young studio Lay-duce. It’s one of the most brilliantly-conveyed portraits of the insane messiness of youth that this writer’s ever seen.
You can’t pin this show down, it’s every aspect of youth–the good, the bad, the ugly, but ultimately, the brilliant. It’s fitting that its opening theme (by CHiCO with HoneyWorks), is one of the most beautiful of the year. There are a lot of good anime, but there aren’t that many that make you actively optimistic and hopeful about the future of the medium. For that reason, O Maidens takes the top spot.
And that’s all for 2019. See you next year, anime fans!
Catch up on my weekly anime columns for GGA here!
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