Spoiler alert ahead!
Violet Evergarden (2018-2020):
Genre: Josei, Historical-Drama, Coming-of-Age, Fantasy
This anime is probably one of the most beautiful, most heart-warming animes of 2018. She was the character I first cosplayed as at the Singapore comicon in 2018 and one of the rarest Animes that made me cry. Violet Evergarden tells the story of an orphaned young woman named “Violet Evergarden” who was raised by the Military officials of “Leidenschaftlich” (A fictional country set in the early 1900’s).
Despite Violet’s beautiful and feminine appearance she possesses the ability to have extraordinary fighting skills and was treated as nothing than a sort of human machine by the army. After the war Violet is kicked out of the military.
Because of her upbringing, Violet has a lack of understanding of human emotion and saw herself as an object of the military. Nevertheless, her beloved fighting mentor cared for her and treated her as an absolute equal. When he was about to die, his final words to her before his death was
“I Love You” and “Family”.
However, Violet found it difficult to comprehend what these phrases meant.
So, she decides to work as an Auto Memory Doll in an an organisation of intelligent young women whose job is to write and send letters and telegrams from clients who are not able to reach their families and lovers. She takes this job because she thinks this could help lack of understanding of human emotions.
Re: Zero (2016-2020):
Genre: Seinen, Dark Fantasy, Black-Comedy, Thriller, Adventure
This series is one of the most mainstream light novels and series of the 3rd-4th generation anime.
It’s second season is one of the most anticipated animes of 2020.
The series follows Subaru, an introvert first year college student who mysteriously gets transported into a fantasy world filled with magic and fantasy creatures such as elves, cat-girls and witches. After exploring the bizarre kingdom for some amount of time, situations and mishaps start to occur in Subaru’s adventure.
In the first chapters Subaru ends up getting killed multiple times in rather gruesome ways. However, he finds himself alive, back in the same place where he started his journey, the very place where he arrived.
Subaru comes to realise that he is cursed and trapped in this endless death cycle with no escape. The curse comes from a group of ancient mages who each represent a type of sin or curse.
He is determined to destroy the cycle and the curse. He starts to befriend the citizens of the kingdom such as the elegant silver haired elf Emilia, the feisty yet adorable twin maids Rem and Ram, the street smart pick pocketer Felt and the charming knight Reinhard, to hunt for fallen ancients to end the curse once and for all.
Kakegurui (2017-2019):
Genre: Shonen, Psychological Thriller, Drama
Kakegurui or Compulsive Gambler in English is probably one of the ground breaking animes of the 3rd-4th generation. It is also one of the darkest and the most intense animes to ever air on Netflix. It is one of my personal favourites due to it’s spine-chilling plotline and it’s eccentric, chaotic art style and acting skills.
This bleak thrilling series takes place at a fictional college school called Hyakkaou Private Boarding School. It is a college for the wealthiest of students who come from extremely powerful families. Just like any other school and college this particular campus in fact does follow the traditional school system of students studying various subjects. However the student hierarchy in this school is not determined by academic performance or athletic ability, but rather by gambling. Students are ranked by their contributions to the student council, which fuels an intricate gambling system where students freely bet their fortunes against one another after class. If they are lucky, they gain popularity and power. If they are unlucky they fall under “Ownership” of another powerful gambler. However after the arrival of a mysterious transfer student with a passionate hidden talent, Yumeko Jabami, the school’s ruthless hierarchy begins to crumble down.
Carole and Tuesday (2019):
Genre: Shojo, Seinen, Sci-Fi, Coming-of-Age and Music
Carole and Tuesday is one of the most popular, most spoken about and ground breaking animes of 2019. It is also one the first animes to have multiple characters who are people of colour. It was praised by the audience for it’s outstanding visuals, vocals and music genres such as Classical, R&B, Jazz, Soul, Pop, Rock, Dubstep and Rap. This harmonious story takes place in the future where humans have established a civilisation on planet Mars.
Here, culture is produced by AI, and people are content to be passive consumers. The story focuses on Tuesday Simmons, a young teenage girl born to a wealthy yet strict family whose dismissive mother is a politician. She escapes her hometown into Alba City were she meets Carole Stanley, an orphaned young teenage girl. They instantly develop a powerful bond with each other and try to pursue a career in singing and music.
Attack On Titan (2013-2020):
Genre: Shonen, Action, Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller and Dark Fantasy
Attack On Titan is one of the most best-selling mangas and one of the highest mainstream animes of the 21st century. It is one of the few animes to have multiple seasons due to its complicated plotline and complex character arcs. The final season is one of the most hyped animes of 2020.
The franchise centers around an apocalyptic time on Earth where cities are surrounded by walls that protect them from Titans, gigantic humanoid creatures who devour humans. The main protagonist is Eren Jaeger. Other important characters are his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackermann, and their childhood friend Armin Arlelt, whose lives are changed forever after the appearance of a colossal titan which brings about the destruction of their hometown and the death of Eren’s mother. Vowing revenge and to reclaim the world from the Titans, Eren, Mikasa and Armin join the Scout Regiment, an elite group of soldiers who fight Titans outside the walls.
Love Live (2013-2020):
Genre: Shojo, Musical, Coming-of-Age, Slice of Life and Comedy.
Love Live is a multimedia musical project which has been treasured by Japan since 2013 to this very day. It is also one of my personal favourites due to the characters relatability and personalities. The project revolves around a total of 27 young early teenage girls divided into 3 girl groups that consist of 9 members, “The U’s (Muses)”, “The Aqours” and “NHSIC”. The groups are inspired by different regions in Japan. The main series is about these different girls using their strong passion for the dramatic arts, dancing, singing and music to pursue a career as a idol girl group. However the Serie’s main focus is the psychology of young teenage girls and their struggles of being adolescents.
Darling In The Frannx (2018):
Genre: Shonen, Romantic-Drama, Sci-Fi, Mecha
This Anime is one of, if not the most Iconic, and the first anime of the 4th generation of anime. The series takes place in a dystopian future where youth are artificially created and indoctrinated solely to defend the remnants of civilization. The story follows a squad of ten pilots, particularly focusing on the partnership between Hiro, an esteemed former prodigy, and Zero Two, a mysterious beautiful hybrid human and elite pilot who aspires to become entirely human. The series features symbolism relating to the Mythological Jian, an imperfect bird with only one eye and wing and thus may only fly when paired with another.
Assassination Classroom (2015-2016):
Genre: Shonen, Sci-fi, Coming-of-Age, Comedy
Assassination Classroom has become a classic favourite ever since its release and is one the most iconic animes the 3rd generation of anime. This series is a hilariously funny teen series with quirky humour and sketchy animations.
The central character is a strange new teacher who is introduced to Class 3-Eat Kunugigaoka Junior High School. The teacher is a bright yellow round-headed, tentacled octopoid creature capable of moving at speeds of up to Mach 20 (dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics), and whose colour changes depending on his mood. He managed to carve out a large chunk of the moon to become a permanent crescent moon. In a year, he plots to destroy the earth but decides to teach a junior high school class in the meantime for an unknown reason. With this strange creature having effectively taken over the world, the government reluctantly complies with his request on the condition that he does not harm his students. Despite being a malicious creature, he somehow treats his students with a huge level of respect and kindness. Affectionately, the students of Class E call him the nickname “Koro-sensei” (Which translates to “Unkillable-teacher”).
Steins Gates (2011):
Genre: Seinen, Sci-fi, Psychological-Drama
Steins Gates is fact one of the most famous, iconic, popular and most complicated series of the early 2010s. Steins Gates was originally a Visual Novel series which gained praises and popularity worldwide. Steins Gates is an utterly complex, philosophical series about a self-proclaimed “Mad Scientist”. His name is Okabe Rintarou but he prefers to be called by his so-called villain name “Hououin Kyouma”. He and his lab members create a microwave device that can transfer messages to the past. Without getting captured, they must get it working in order to beat the evil organization, SERN and stop their evil plans.
Beastars: (2019-Ongoing-If You’ve Seen My Other Blog Pages I’ve Talked About This Series)
Genre: Shonen, Drama
Now I’m finally ending this list with the one and only manga series “Beastar”. If you don’t know what “Beastars” is, It is the show that took the internet by storm last year in autumn which managed the captivate the eyes of many viewers worldwide, people from the anime community and people from outside the anime community that Netflix was enforced to add the show into their show collection.
The franchise focuses on a lot of major mature themes such racism, sexism, classism and extreme politics. So this is definitely a show for the mature ones and the ones that are okay with explicit content. The series takes its place in a fictional version of the world where humans are replaced through the minds and physical appearances of anthropomorphic animals.
This fictional world of animals is divided into two powerful groups “The Herbivores” and “The Carnivores” and for many years have managed to live in peace and harmony. However as we go deeper we find out about the actual society and how much tension and discrimination there is, such as The Herbivores discriminating The Carnivores for not being able to control their instincts for the taste of flesh. The main story focuses on the forbidden love between “Legoshi”, a shy introverted grey wolf and “Haru” a lively and feisty white dwarf rabbit. This series has received such fantastic criticism and I must say that this anime deserves an Emmy award due to its acting skills.
