Top 10 Movies of 2020

For quite some time now, I’ve done a “top 20” list of my favorite movies each year in this blog.  However, I’m only doing a “top 10” for 2020, since I didn’t get to see that many movies.  The amount of 2020 films I saw by December 2020 is just about half of the amount of 2019 films I saw by December 2019.  A huge reason is that many scheduled releases were cancelled and theaters were closed for most of the year because of the pandemic.  Another reason is that I wasn’t as enthusiastic about watching a whole lot of movies in 2020 as I was in previous years (same case with TV, actually).  So, even though there were still a lot of new movies that became available digitally, it wasn’t very often that I was in a movie-watching mood.  Thus, with me having a smaller pool of seen movies in 2020, a “top 10” list feels more apt than the usual “top 20.”

10.) Ride Your Wave

“…my most favorite Masaaki Yuasa anime to date.  It’s not only a smart, gorgeous, entertaining, and moving film, but it can also stir you to reflect deeply about your life so far, your present relationships, and your legacy.”

Click here for the full review.

My First Impressions on 6 New Anime Series of Winter 2021

I initially told myself that, other than the first title in this list, I won’t be watching any new anime this Winter 2021.  I already have a lot on my plate.  Winter 2021 has a plenty of returning favorites – Beastars (season 2), Cells at Work! (season 2), The Promised Neverland (season 2), That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (season 2), Log Horizon (season 3), Dr. Stone (season 2), Re:Zero (second cour of season 2), and The Quintessential Quintuplets (season 2) – and I was already committed to watching all of them on top of Fall 2020 carryovers Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan: The Final Season.  But in the end, I couldn’t help adding a couple of new shows into my watchlist.  Here they are, arranged in the descending order of how much I enjoyed them:

Cells at Work! Code Black

In a nutshell:
A spin-off of Cells at Work!, it basically follows the same premise as the original, but with the red and white blood cell characters gender swapped and set in a body with an unhealthy lifestyle.
Number of episodes as of writing: 4
My initial thoughts:
I’ve never read the manga, but I’ve been looking forward to an anime adaptation ever since I learned of its existence (which was also around the time I was watching the first season of Cells at Work!).  This spin-off is as fun and informative as the original.  But since it deals with more mature health issues (those that relate to stress, vices, and sex), it makes more room for dark comedy, tension, and poignant drama.  Watching Cells at Work! Code Black side by side with the second season of the original Cells at Work! (new episodes from the two usually come out in the same day) has been a great weekly treat.

'Soul' Ponders on the Meaning of Life

Like Onward, the Pixar film that was released in 2020 prior to it, Soul also has death as a major theme.  It follows Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a music teacher who is passionate about jazz and has his sights on becoming a professional jazz pianist.  Soon after landing his dream gig, he accidentally falls down a manhole and dies.  Refusing to pass over to the “Great Beyond” (i.e. the afterlife) when his big break is on hand, he goes the opposite direction, and eventually finds himself in the “Great Before” – the spiritual realm where unborn souls are prepared before they start life on Earth.  There, he sees an opportunity to gain passage back to Earth by passing off as a mentor to 22 (Tina Fey), a cynical, adamant unborn soul who doesn’t want to start a life on Earth.

'Tenet' Is Confusing, but Very Rewarding Once Unlocked

Tenet is a must-watch by mere virtue of being made by Christopher Nolan, whose distinctive brand of cerebral storytelling, imaginative story ideas, and technical filmmaking brilliance has resulted to some of the most incredible movies of the century.  And Tenet turned out being exactly the kind of mind-bending film that you would expect from Nolan.

'Wonder Woman 1984' Is the Worst DCEU Film So Far

I first used the title above for my review of Birds of Prey.  But, as it happens, I found its DCEU successor to be worse than it.  Yep.  For me, Wonder Woman 1984 is the worst among the nine DCEU films so far.

Wonder Woman 1984 is set in, well, 1984 – several decades after the first movie.  As Princess Diana of Themyscira continually fulfills her heroic duties as Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), she also maintains the civilian alter ego of Diana Prince, who works as an antiquities expert at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.  One day, an encounter with a mysterious, ancient artifact triggers a series of events that causes Diana to be somehow reunited with her late lover Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and to clash with supervillains Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) for the fate of the world.

Top 10 Anime Series of 2020

2020 didn’t feel like a particularly strong year for anime – at least, when compared to previous years.  A big reason for this is likely the ‘rona, which pushed the release schedule for many big-name titles into 2021 (and that’s why Winter 2021 is pretty loaded.  In fact, it’s looking like I will be watching at least 15 anime shows this season).  Nevertheless, 2020 still delivered a couple of notable anime, and here are my most favorites.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, The Misfit of Demon King Academy, Aggretsuko (season 3), Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Fire Force (season 2), Smile Down the Runway, Haikyu!! (season 4)

10.) Fruits Basket

I liked season 1.  But season 2 I utterly loved.  This anime, as I wrote before, is a melodrama masterwork.

Anime of Fall 2020, Ranked

I was not able to make a “first impressions” article for the new anime of Fall 2020, so for this I will also mention here the new anime that I ended up dropping after watching just a few episodes.  These are once again arranged from worst to best, per my opinion, and are color coded as follows: purple for the new series I got into; green for old, returning series; red for carryovers from Summer 2020; and orange for the new series that I checked out but eventually dropped.

Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle

Curiosity for this got the better of me because of the whole “shonen + rap” nature of its premise.  But the pilot immediately lost my suspension of disbelief because it failed to sell the aspect where women have taken over the world and banned weapons and physical conflict.  How is that rule enforced?  How come men, especially criminals, somehow consented with it and have continued to adhere faithfully to the rules of the only sanctioned way of resolving conflicts, which is through rap battles?  Further episodes may have answered those questions, but the pilot was so tawdry and boring that I lost every drop of interest in giving another episode a shot.

Top 10 TV Shows of 2020

Compared to previous years, I didn’t watch that many TV shows in 2020.  Also, I wasn’t able to watch all the shows that I had meant to watch.  I intended to get into Dark and Money Heist – at least, one of the two – but I never got around to catching up with either one.  I also intended to watch the K-drama Start-Up before the year was over, but failed at it as well (I’m still determined to do so this month).  But from the stuff that I got to actually watch in 2020, here are my favorites.

10.) Star Wars: The Clone Wars

“Star Wars: The Clone Wars – or at least its essential episodes – has long been a splendid, must-see chapter of the Star Wars saga.  However, season 7 absolutely doubled its repute.”

Click here for the full review.

2020 Recap in Pictures

Here are the highlights and lowlights of 2020 that got retained in my mind...

'Noblesse' Is Pretty Basic, yet Somehow Magnetic

Noblesse tells the story of Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, the eponymous Noblesse.  Raizel belongs to an ancient and powerful race of immortals called “Nobles”, who have taken it upon themselves to become humanity’s guardians.  And being the Noblesse, Raizel is considered as the most powerful and important Noble, as he’s not only the protector of all other Nobles, but he also has the authority to pass judgment on Nobles who commit malevolence.  However, one day, he disappears from the Nobles’ island nation of Lukedonia, which lead to a number of Noble leaders considering him a traitor.  As it turns out, due to reasons still unrevealed in the anime, he’s in hibernation for 820 years.

2020 Holiday TV Specials Roundup: 'The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special' and Two Others

I actually watched these three holiday TV specials early last month.  But I wasn’t able to write proper reviews for them since, first, I got busy (especially with producing our school’s virtual caroling video), and then, lazy.  Writing individual reviews for them at this point feels too late already.  However, for the sake of having a complete listing of every 2020 TV program I’ve gone out of my way to watch, I still decided to review them, but only briefly and in one place.  Thus, this roundup.

The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special

An allusion to and a satirisation of the infamously goofy Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is set after Rise of Skywalker (non-canonically, of course), and follows Rey, who bows out of her Life Day duties so that she can travel to an ancient Jedi temple that is only functional during Life Day, where she hopes she can gain more wisdom as a Jedi.  There, she sets off a mystical crystal that begins to threaten galactic history.  Meanwhile, Poe Dameron, Finn, Rose, and Chewbacca’s preparation for Life Day gradually devolves into chaos.

'Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle' Is a Hilarious, Creative, and Delightful Fantasy Slice-of-Life Comedy Anime

Arguably one of the most humorous short stories ever written is “The Ransom of the Red Chief” by O. Henry.   In it, two small-time crooks kidnap the son of a wealthy man.  However, the small boy actually enjoys being kidnapped.  Spoiled, hyperactive, and mischievous, he ends up driving his captors crazy.  The kidnappers become so miserable that they begin lowering the amount of ransom.  It even arrives at a point where the kidnappers are the ones who ironically have to pay the father money so that he’ll take back the boy from their hands.

I’ve seen cartoons and comedies borrow this amusing concept from “The Ransom of the Red Chief”, and it was what first came to my mind when I learned of the premise of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.  Because of that, I immediately checked out this anime, expecting it to be a riot.  And it is!

Despite Having Bland Visuals and Unimaginative Ideas, 'By the Grace of the Gods' Manages to Be a Fairly Feel-Good Isekai

By the Grace of the Gods tells the story of an unhappy, overworked salaryman named Ryoma Takebayashi who unexpectedly dies in his sleep.  Since he was kind and diligent when he was alive, he gains the favor of three gods from an alternate fantasy world – Lulutia, the goddess of healing and love; Kufo, god of life; and Gain, the god of creation.  As a gift to him, they reincarnate him in their world as an 8-year-old boy blessed with various attributes and aptitudes.  Living alone in the forest in the next three years, he polishes his abilities to become a “jack of all trades”, adept in many aspects of combat, magic, and craftsmanship.  He especially becomes an expert in taming and raising slimes, and has amassed an army of slimes of all kinds.

'Iwa-Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls' Is Mediocre, but Not Boring

The second half of Haikyu!! season 4 aired during fall 2020.  However, while it was great, the sports anime of fall 2020 that actually got me to anticipate each week was Iwa-Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls (for the record, I did eventually get around catching up to Haikyu!! season 4 before the end of the year).  It’s actually pretty mid, both in animation and narrative.  Yet I got invested.