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Season Preview

Winter Preview 2021

Ahh winter. Snow; festivities; hectic family get togethers: it truly is the most wonderful time of the year, and while global pandemics (and 2020 in general) may be giving the venerable Chevy Chase a run for his money when it comes to overall holiday insanity this year, rest assured that anime is here to help smoothen out any seasonal wrinkles. This season is absolutely jam packed, as culture-defying Shingeki no Kyojin continues its march towards full adaptation, the critically acclaimed isekais Re: Zero and Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken return for their latest sequels, and shounen staples Nanatsu no Taizai and Dr. STONE jump back into the ring with new and eagerly anticipated material. Not to be outdone either are the surprise (and heavily anticipated) appearances by isekai legend Log Horizon and genre defining romcom Horimiya, while Yakusoku no Neverland emerges for its next kick at the horror can. And the fun doesn’t stop there: besides a couple of intriguing anime originals in Back Arrow and Wonder Egg Priority showing up for some spice, fantasy and isekai further reinforce their presence thanks to revenge tale Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi, isekai progenitor Mushoku Tensei, and the spider-gone-isekai Kumo Desu ka, all the while the bodily Hataraku Saibou, wholly healing Non Non Biyori, and anthropomorphic Beastars help round out the showcase. It truly is a season of plenty – and the above is only half of the offering! This is Random Curiosity’s Winter 2021 Preview:

Best of Anime / Miscellaneous

The Best of Anime 2019

Now that 2019 is officially over, it’s time for our annual foray into annoying everyone with our questionable opinions, the Best of Anime 2019 post! Unlike last year, and serving as a throwback to previous iterations, this will consist of a collaboration between writers. That would be me (Zaiden), Choya and Pancakes. We didn’t quite manage 100+ shows this year, but we heavily focused on watching entries that made a serious clamour within the anime community. This is a first for us and we’ll inevitably get things wrong. So please feel free to be brutally honest while giving us constructive feedback.

Continuing from last year, there are numerous categories in the following areas: Production, Miscellaneous, Genre, and Notable Others. Due to lack of series candidates, and/or the belief that we may not have watched enough shows to make an informed decision about specific genres, some categories have been omitted from previous years. Though in the outro, I’ve attempted to explain the reasoning behind their removal. And added back to this year’s post are the Studio, Plot Twist, Mystery, Sport, Underappreciated, and Exceeded Expectations categories. And we’ll welcome four new entries: ‘Betrayal’ being a reference to the online community meme, ‘Isekai’ and ‘Supernatural’ as their own separate categories from fantasy in recognition of their standalone popularity and noticeable differences from traditional fantasy, as well as ‘Greatest Trainwreck’ – which distinguishes itself from disappointment by being a hotly anticipated mess of epic proportions. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Disclaimer: As always, disclaimers abound. Please keep in mind that “best” is subjective. What’s best for us isn’t necessarily best for you, and that’s perfectly fine. This list shouldn’t be taken as some kind of inviolable truth, but rather the opinions of three chaps who had too much time on their hands and spent it conjuring up a list of picks based on all the anime they watched. Naturally, our choices will be influenced by our own tastes, experiences, and personal impressions. Before you go bashing one of our choices, please make sure you’ve at least seen it and know where we’re coming from. Finally, all we ask is that you respect our opinions and the opinions of others in the comments, just like we respect yours. Thank you.

Disclaimer #2: The choices in this post are not reflective of the opinions of all Random Curiosity writers. They are solely the opinions of myself (Zaiden), Choya and Pancakes, save for where otherwise noted. Thank you for your understanding.

Note: For a show to be considered, it has to have met the requirements outlined in the Reader’s Choice Poll. For OVAs/movies, the additional requirement is that it’s been either released on BD or DVD, so that viewers outside of Japan have had a chance to watch it.

**This will be up top for the next few days, so don’t forget to scroll past for new posts!

First Impressions / Season Preview

Winter 2020 Preview!

As the decade comes to a close—a statement I lead with primarily to annoy the pedants among us, who will insist that the decade actually ends on Dec 31, 2020 … Hi, Passerby! (proofreader’s note: I love you, boss)—it’s a time to reflect back on not only the year that has passed, but the entire decade. But not here! Here we focus on the marvellously shiny future, where the anime is fresh and all our problems go away. At least if those problems involve a lack of new anime. So what do we have in store? Several popular franchises are making their returns, including the hot-blooded volleyball action of Haikyuu!!: To the Top, the scientific(?) action of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T, the silliest isekai around in Isekai Quartet 2, and the five sisters love-melee of Go-toubun no Hanayome 2nd Season. There’s even a spin-off of the there’s-nothing-but-frills-and-despair Madoka franchise in Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden. There are a ton of excellent adaptations as well, including the uber-stylish anime-making adventure of Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!, a beautiful stroll through a ruined world in Somali to Mori no Kamisama, a shounen fashion anime in Runway de Waratte, and a dark horse you should pay attention to in Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun. There are even a few originals, such as the anime world’s re-introduction to rugby in number24 and the fascinating sci-fi mystery of ID:INVADED. Let’s ring in the new year with a fresh batch of anime! This is Random Curiosity’s Winter 2020 Preview.

Miscellaneous

Introduction – “My chariot will blaze a path anywhere you wish!”

Hello hello! I’m Iskendaris and it’s lovely to meet you. In true anime fashion, I blushed when asked to join RandomC – someone pinch me, is this real? My heart went dokidoki like a shoujo protagonist under sakura flowers on the first day of spring. “Ah,” I thought, “this is the moment when senpai notices me!”

As the middle child of a large family, anime was one of the few things that bonded us siblings together. Souryuuden, Gundam Wing, Flame of Recca and other typical shounen series were our daily staple, I’d watch them with my older brother every day and we’d play-fight the best action scenes with armour made of blankets and pillows. Later when my younger sister was born, we got her right up to speed with Macross Plus, Ruroni Kenshin, Visions of Escaflowne and more.

3pm – 6pm was the sacred time slot that we all lived by. It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of a sibling quarrel; time stopped. We’d stop fighting and tune in to AXN anime.

As a kid, I was watching anime regularly, but so was everyone else. Anime is different in East/Southeast Asia, almost everyone watches it. It’s not a big deal to watch anime or read manga as long as you weren’t too deep into it. Trains regularly advertise Pokémon collaborations, and even my mother knows what Card Captor Sakura is.

First Impressions / Season Preview

Fall 2019 Preview!

It’s been a crazy year in the real world and we’re headed toward quite an exciting (albeit chaotic) conclusion, depending on your outlook. And what a decade it has been! Times ahead seem uncertain and we must be prepared for a brave, new world, one where I’d encourage all of you to challenge your fates. But in the course of seeking a reprieve from the banalities of daily life, let us dive into the world of anime, which is about to roll over into autumn. NANJA KORYAAA?!? We need to get down to business. Wake up y’all, this is the Random Curiosity Fall 2019 Preview! We will guide you through the good, the bad and the ugly – our destination depending on whichever of these so happen to tickle your fancy.

First Impressions / Season Preview

Spring 2019 Preview!

The time has come again when the flowers bloom and the rain cascades upon the majestic, terrifying world of Outside. For those seeking the comfort and protection of the great indoors, however, you’re in luck, because spring has sprung in the most phenomenal way in this season’s anime. Want some of the most hotly-anticipated sequels of 2019? New seasons of One Punch Man, Shingeki no Kyojin, Zoku Owarimonogatari, Touch, and Bungou Stray Dogs have the proper hookup for you. Does Shounen Jump tickle your fancy? Then the supernatural action of Kimetsu no Yaiba and the comedic romance of Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai will give you everything you’ve been clamoring for. Did you grow up adoring any anime with the names “Watanabe” and “Ikuhara” attached to them? Then you’ll be happy to hear that they’re back with Carole & Tuesday and Sarazanmai respectively. Ever have a war with your friends at the usual hang-out spot about whether Yuki or Kyou was the best boy? The reboot of Fruits Basket can help take you back to those days of yore. And that’s only scratching the tip of the iceberg because spring 2019 has over two dozen anime hot enough to melt the winter snow faster than you can shout “Purification!” That was an Isekai Quartet reference, by the way. But I digress, because spring is sure to continue the long-standing trend of delivering some of the year’s best anime all in one season. This is Random Curiosity’s Spring 2019 Preview.

Miscellaneous

Introduction – Reach For the Stars!

Mou daijoubu, nazete? Watashi ga kita! For those of you who don’t know me yet, you can call me Stars. After following RandomC’s posts for years and years, I’m joining the RC crew as a shiny new writer. Since I’m going to be taking my position here very seriously, it’s important to know that I am fluent in Vine, anime, and movie references. Please feel free to converse with me in my native language at any time. It’s an honor to be here among such a talented group of people and I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of what makes RandomC so amazing.

My exposure to anime started in the 90’s with Sailor Moon, but really hit its stride with Inuyasha, Dragonball Z, and Naruto in middle school. At first I was pretty adverse to watching them, but a friend of mine had a Sesshomaru plushie in her room that stole my heart, as well as copies of Inuyasha: Affections Touching Across Time and Inuyasha: Swords of an Honorable Ruler, which combined were more than enough to set me on my current path. Later on, thanks in no small part to RC’s recommendations, I expanded from the shonen genre and magical girls to include science fiction and mysteries like Steins;Gate, or the works of Gen Urobuchi, namely Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass.