Ironically, despite having more time to watch things in 2019, I actually watched less. I think that's because anime is usually a thing I'd watch after coming home from work, and ends up part of my daily ritual, but since I was sick so much of last year I didn't come home from work nearly as much. Most of what I watched was from the winter season (pre-cancer diagnosis), and I'm including season 2s and 3s as long as they finished their run before the end of the year.
Anime listed are not ranked, but presented in the order I watched them. My top three picks of the year are marked with an asterisk (*).
Run with the Wind *
I'm not a sports anime fan, even though I'm told people normally watch them for the characters and not what they're playing. But for me, I need at least some part of the sports element to catch my interest. Run with the Wind does that with running. The characters are a motley bunch that by rights should not even be trying to place in the Hakone Ekiden (a grueling relay marathon), but the training they go through is highly relatable for anyone who's ever done a bit of track and field, as are the moments they share along the way.
Dimension High School
This a completely zany series about puzzle solving which involves a group of students and their teacher from our world (depicted in live action) being sent into a 2D universe (depicted in anime) where they have to solve puzzles presented by a series of sphinxes in over to save the world. The puzzles are incredibly difficult and for the most part impossible for someone not fluent in Japanese to solve, but the whole premise is so screwball that it's entertaining from a camp perspective. They do explain the logic behind each of the puzzles when they solve them, so you can still follow along even if you can't participate.
Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka
There have been a lot of darker spins on magical girls ever since Puella Magi Madoka Magica became a hit, and Magical Girl Asuka's take is: magical girls in the military. The interesting thing about this one is that the international team of magical girls actually won their war a few years ago and are now trying to move on with their lives, some of them more successfully than others. The early episodes in particular deal with the fact that Asuka is still suffering from psychological trauma from having lost her parents and several friends during the war, but unfortunately the introspective parts fall by the wayside later to focus on more combat and some fairly graphic torture.
The Promised Neverland *
The Promised Neverland was my must-watch every week that it aired. I couldn't get enough of the twist in the first episode and how that impacted everything to come. There's a real sense of peril and helplessness since the protagonists are so young and they live in an orphanage so you know they don't have family looking out for them. But despite their age they're also extremely creative. Though the odds are against them, they earn every victory they get along the way. I also really like Emma, who gets to be such a tomboy and the face of the series, despite being in a manga that is ostensibly marketed to boys.
Real Girl Season 2
Though I really liked Real Girl's first season when I watched it in 2018, I found the second half much weaker, even though it eventually deals with why Iroha has to leave after six months. I don't know if the reason was planned at the start, because it feels rather contrived, as does the extended epilogue that follows. There are still aspects of the show I enjoyed, but it's better when the series is grounded in experiences that a teenager could realistically expect to go through.
Attack on Titan Season 3
Season 3 probably would have been one of my favorite views of the year, but they butchered my favorite story arc, most likely because political theater is not as visually interesting as fight scenes, and fight scenes are what the series sold viewers on when the manga made the transition to animation. As a result the first half feels rushed and some things don't quite make sense. The second half is a different arc and recreates the manga fairly faithfully. I'm also happy it's finally out because it makes the series much easier to talk about with people who have only seen the anime, now that one of the biggest twists is out of the way.
Psycho-Pass Season 3 *
It's no secret that Psycho-Pass is one of my favorite series, so I was quite happy to dive into the third season. It's a little shaky at first since it has an unusual hour long runtime instead of the standard half hour, and I don't know the writers were prepared to pace for that, but in the end that actually gives us sixteen episodes' worth of story. Though the on-screen violence has been dialed back, the storytelling is much improved from the second season and I really like our two new leads. The meat of the plot is surprisingly topical too, dealing with immigration, particularly of refugees, and those who will or will not welcome them. My primary knock on the season is that it's incomplete and will be wrapped up via a movie.
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