Winter 2020 Anime Awards

Hey guys! So this week was the last week of the Winter 2020 Anime Season so I thought it would be fun to shout out some of the my superlatives for the season!

(Original) Anime Of The Season

ID: Invaded is my pick for best anime of the season cause it was able to keep me interested from beginning to end! I loved the concept for this show and how unique it was despite taking cues from other anime like Psycho Pass and it left me scratching my head almost every week. It was able to make me question what's right and wrong especially with the way it endeared me to serial killers but also at the way it looked at society. Each weekly case was super fun to watch and I was always curious to see how each new id well would look like. I enjoyed being able to play along with the overarching mystery which kept me coming back for more cause the show gave you all the information available to the detectives making the audience able to figure things out alongside the characters in the show. The world this show built was incredible and I liked the way it all ended even though it left me craving more! Click here to read more of my thoughts about this anime.

Runner Up - Jibaku Shounen Hanako-Kun

Hidden Gem 

In/Spectre is my pick for hidden gem of the season. I really actually struggled to decide which of the anime I watched should go here cause I did watch so many this season that I feel like no one talked about but in the end I went with In/Spectre cause it was the one that I feel like practically no one talked about. I loved the way it looked at the supernatural and the way it treated it's plot points and characters so uniquely despite treading pretty common ground. Both of the leads were so incredible in their own ways and I loved that everything happened in the show based on intellectual battles rather than psychical ones. It was able to balance some truly horrific things with humor so that even if the tonal switch was severe from one scene to the next, it never took away from the heaviness we were supposed to feel by cutting it with comedy or making it seem like it was less important than it was.

Runner Up - Smile Down The Runway

Best Sequel 

7 Seeds Season 2 is my pick for sequel of the season. Once again I went back and forth between two anime this season and I debated if 7 Seeds should even count cause it was released all at once on Netflix at the end of last week but in the end I decided that I had to listen to my heart! This second season will always have such a soft place in my heart just cause of how soundly it switched my opinion about this show! I wasn't the biggest fan of season 1 and the characters that it chose to focus on so the fact that season 2 was able to make me glued to the edge of my seat and make me crave more episodes once it was all over was everything. This anime like ID: Invaded made me want to like some truly horrible people and pity them while also adoring every single member of the crew we got this season and seeing each one for their strengths and weaknesses! Click here to read my full review.

Runner Up - Haikyuu!!: To The Top

Greatest Animation/Character Design

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-Kun is my pick for best animation/character design for the season. There was no debate for this one cause the first thing I think of when I think about this show is the incredibly unique way it's animated. I love that it feels so much like reading a comic book (or a manga in this case) when you're watching this show even if you don't like reading them in real life! The thick lines, bright colors, and chibi figures really stand out especially when you think about how dark the story beats in this show can get and it keeps you coming back just for the curiosity of what will happen next!

Runner Up - ID: Invaded

Best OP 

Mr Fixer by Curse from ID: Invaded is my pick for best opening song of the season. Once again there was no other pick than this one for best OP cause every time Mr Fixer came on, I was jamming along and I even went as far as downloading it on Spotify so I can keep listening to it. I love the upbeat nature of the song and the lyrics are fun too and I also want to shout out this anime for having the best OST of the season too with Butterfly and Samurai 45 by Miyavi being standouts.

Runner Up - Mononoke In The Fiction by Uso To Chameleon from In/Spectre

Protagonist Of The Season

Sudou Kaname from Darwin's Game is my pick for best protagonist of the season. Kaname was so fascinating as a protagonist cause he went through this amazing character arc throughout the anime but I think the most interesting part of him is how he subverted my expectations. I went into this show thinking that he would be the typical anime death game protagonist in that he would place his emotions above his reason and do anything for his friends while avoiding killing at all costs but instead I found that he was much more than that. Though he did care for his friends and allies, he never went into a scenario without a real plan to save them and he ended up being okay with killing as long as it protected his loved ones. He went from this timid character who wanted nothing to do with Darwin's Game to being the badass leader of the Sunset Ravens and ruler over the city so much so that he even worried the creator of this game.

Runner Up - Iwanaga Kotoko from In/Spectre

Antagonist Of The Season

Rikka Sakuragawa from In/Spectre is my pick for best antagonist of the season. This one was a little hard cause most of the anime I watched didn't exactly have antagonists and if they did, they weren't anything to write home about. In the end I think I chose Rikka cause of what a strong impact she had on the characters of this show and their actions without even being a main cast member. She preferred to plot in the shadows and was able to give our leads a run for their money and it was only by the skin of their teeth that they were able to defeat her. We got a backstory for her that allowed us to pity her but at the same time see her as somewhat of a sociopath for how little she cared about the pain she was leaving behind as long as she got what she wanted!

Runner Up - Ayano Too from Smile Down The Runway

Ship Of The Season

Nene and Hanako from Jibaku Shounen Hanako-Kun are my pick for the ship of the season though it was fairly hard to pick them cause there were so many ships I loved this season. In the end though I went with these two over the runner up and the ship from Darwin's Game cause I felt like Nene and Hanako actually really did love each other though of course at this point in the show the love is more platonic with hints of it turning romantic. I love that both are so protective of each other and that they trust each other more than others believe they should. Nene sees that Hanako is lonely and wants to help him with that while Hanako though he's constantly teasing Nene knows when to back off and just be there for her.

Runner Up - Kotoko and Kuro from In/Spectre

And with that I'll see you all in the Spring 2020 Season!

xoxo Allie