Fall 2023 Anime Awards

Hey guys! The Fall 2023 Anime Season has officially come to a close this week and I'm excited to shout out my superlatives for the season!

(Original) Anime Of The Season

Apothecary Diaries is my pick for the anime of the season and I love the fact that there's so much more of this show to go! Once again part of me wonders if maybe I'm jumping the gun here by choosing this show to be my favorite of the season given that it's only halfway over but the rest of me thinks that it was leaps and bounds better than any other seasonal anime that isn't a sequel so I can't help but choose it anyway. By now you probs all know that I love romance anime but I also love detective shows and period dramas so the fact that this anime has all three plus an amazing protagonist, a fun cast, and beautiful world building really just makes this show built for me! I love that the show is so dark given that this story exists in a world with extremely harsh circumstances for anyone who was born poor or a woman and yet there's comedy in the way our protagonist interacts with the world with her sense of pragmatism. I'm so curious to see where this story takes us.

Runner Up - Tearmoon Empire

Hidden Gem 

Tearmoon Empire is my pick for hidden gem of the season. I am truly such a sucker for villainess anime the way most guys are suckers for power fantasy isekais (which always makes me laugh when people complain oh no there's another villainess show when literally we get one a season whereas there is always at least two or three isekais a season!) so I'm always up to check out a new one whether I finish it or not. Fortunately this one ended up being my more favorite of the two airing this season and the kicker is that it's not a typical villainess anime because it actually involves time travel where this anime's version of Marie Antoinette goes back in time to try to save her life by fixing all the problems that led her to be beheaded. The comedy in this show is fantastic and so tongue-in-cheek and I love the romance that blooms in this show but the thing I love the most is the slow burn mystery in discovering who actually was behind her original downfall.

Runner Up - MF Ghost

Best Sequel 

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is the best sequel of this season and though it had a bit of competition especially at the start of this season honestly after the Shibuya arc I can't think of any other sequel I enjoyed more. Now I will be talking spoilers from here on out so if you're not caught up in either the anime or the manga step away now. Okay? Okay. So seriously I did not expect as many deaths as happened or for the show to go as dark as it did! I mean I grew up on shounens like Naruto and Fairy Tail and even My Hero and Demon Slayer recently and through all of those shows I've basically been trained to believe that the power of friendship and goodness with defeat all so our protags never really have to go through that much darkness or lose people that aren't mentors or part of their backstory! Here we have not only two mentors taken out (though one isn't dead) but also one of the people who I really thought was one of our main trio! I love that Sakuna took over and slaughtered so many people and left Itadori reeling over how he failed to save so many people. This show does a fantastic job stripping down a character who starts out the typical shounen protag who's just excited to be here and help out to realizing the world is hard and that he can't just snap his fingers and fix things! I can't wait to see more.

Runner Up - Spy x Family Season 2

Greatest Animation/Character Design

Apothecary Diaries had the best animation this season and seriously this show had no right to go as hard as it did! From the beautiful animation style that switched from ethereal to chibi to the saturated color palette made it such a pleasure to watch!

Runner Up - Rurouni Kenshin

Best OP 

Special Z by King Gnu from Jujustu Kaisen is the best OP of the season. It's so haunting and lovely to listen to and the scenes that playout really make you want to watch it every time!

Runner Up - Hana ni Natte by Ryokuoushoku Shakai from Apothecary Diaries

Protagonist(s) Of The Season

Maomao from Apothecary Diaries is my protagonist of the season because she really was the most interesting character to follow this season. I did have a bit of trouble choosing between her and Itadori but in the end I went with Maomao cause I feel like Apothecary Diaries did more this season to give her character than Jujutsu Kaisen did with Itadori (he was more rectory.) I love that Maomao isn't the typical "not like other girls" protagonist of a period drama in which the character is basically a woman from the modern world fighting against the rules of the society cause seriously there's no way those kind of characters would do anything in one of these period dramas but get killed! Maomao actually feels like she's grown up in this world where society is not good to those who are poor and those who are women. She doesn't like to get involved in other people's business unless she has to cause she knows that commoners can be killed for less. She hides her beauty behind freckles in order to keep men away and yet she's still so kind and caring even if she tries to hide it under her hard exterior that she's built to survive. 

Runner Up - Itadori Yuji from Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

Antagonist(s) Of The Season

Mahito and the Curses from Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 are my antagonists of the season cause they seriously accomplished things in this one season that most shounen antagonists can't achieve across like 100 episodes! They are so dark and twisted and part of me still doesn't exactly understand their motivations outside of wanting to cause harm to humans and sorcerers but the rest of me has trust in the writer of this show to slowly tell us what they want later. I love that they had such a great plan from the start and also had multiple back ups in case Plan A failed but more than that they were actually able to achieve their intended goal. They wanted to capture Gojo and cause havoc and they accomplished both. All the deaths they caused were added benefits!

Runner Up - Bastard Children Of Sabaramond from Dead Mount Death Play

Ship Of The Season

Mia Luna Tearmoon and Abel Remno from Tearmoon Empire are my ship of the season cause they're honestly so cute! Mia having traveled back in time to save herself from being killed for being a tyrant is still very selfish and really only thinks about herself despite circumstances honestly conspiring around her to make others think she's this benevolent and wise ruler. Abel is a playboy with a chip on his shoulder and a boatload of insecurity towards his older brother and Prince Sion who's the model of what a prince should be. It's only once these two are together that they start bringing out the best in each other. Abel wants to make Mia proud and work hard to prove to her and himself that he can be good. Mia starts to put his wants and needs first rather than her own in both a metaphorical and physical sense. And that's not even mentioning that their blushing and embarrassing scenes are totally precious on their own!

 

Runner Up - Kaoru Kamiya and Kenshin Himura from Ruroni Kenshin

So now that concludes my Fall 2023 anime awards and I'll definitely see you all at the end of the Winter 2024 season but do keep an eye out for my Year Ends Awards which starts tomorrow with my Top 10 Movies Of 2023!

xoxo Allie