'Start-Up' Probably Has the GOAT of Second Leads (A Very Late Review)

I was greatly looking forward to watching Start-Up ever since I learned that it was being made – which was way back in 2019, when it was still under the working title of Sandbox (in my opinion, Sandbox is a more interesting title.  They should have stuck with it).  But it wasn’t the casting and pairing of Suzy Bae (While You Were Sleeping, Vagabond) and Nam Joo-hyuk (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo) that hyped it up for me.  It was because Park Hye-ryun – my favorite K-drama writer, by virtue of writing some of the best I’ve watched (I Hear Your Voice, Pinocchio, While You Were Sleeping) – wrote the script.

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.

'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.

'The Queen's Gambit' Is a Grand, Masterful Chess Drama

The Queen’s Gambit has ended up becoming one of the hottest TV shows of 2020.  And, of course, I had to watch it.  Not only is the buzz for it considerable enough to amply fuel my curiosity, but it revolves around a topic I find interesting: chess.

'Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!' Is a Masaaki Yuasa Masterpiece

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! ran earlier this year, during winter 2020, but I didn’t get to watch it.  I knew it was good, but I guess I wasn’t in the headspace to get into it then.  However, I finally got around to watching it recently.  One of the reasons that pushed me to do so was my disappointment with Japan Sinks: 2020, the most recent offering from renowned director Masaaki Yuasa.  I needed a good Yuasa anime to counter that disappointment, and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, which he also directed, was fortunately on hand.

Anime of Summer 2020, Ranked

This is a bit late already, but here’s the recap of all the anime from summer 2020 that I watched – arranged from what I liked the least to what I liked the most, and their titles color coded for new series, returning series, and carryovers from spring 2020.

Ahiru no Sora

I stuck with it through its 50-episode run only to watch the main characters lose every game they played.  If only the action during basketball games were more hyped and visually striking, I would have been fine with the endless losing.  But the animation and direction during matches were pretty basic.  Thus, following it through four cours was mostly a tedious experience for me.  But as I mentioned a season back, I had decided to go all in with this.  So, yeah, I’ll hate-watch season 2 when it comes.

'Great Pretender' Is Cool

Appare-Ranman! was my favorite anime watch last summer 2020.  But a very close second was Great Pretender.  It’s a crime comedy anime about a group of con artists who perform elaborate hustles against rich and powerful scumbags from across the globe.  It has 23 episodes (I don’t know if there’s going to be more), which are divided into four story arcs for four different con jobs – “Cases”, as they are referred to in the episode titles.

'The God of High School' Starts Off with a Bang, but Ends Up Being All Over the Place

The God of High School is the second Korean manhwa to have an anime series adaptation after Tower of God.  It follows the teenage trio of Jin Mori, who is proficient in Renewal Taekwondo; Han Daewi, an expert in Full-Contact Karate; and Yoo Mira, a master of the geom beop (Korean swordsmanship) discipline called Moonlight Sword, as they take part in “The God of High School”, a martial arts tournament for high schoolers wherein the winner will get his or her wish granted by the shady corporation sponsoring it.

'Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!' Is Mediocre, but Cute and Chill

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! is a slice of life comedy anime series about a college sophomore named Hana Uzaki who, well, wants to hang out with her senpai, Shinichi Sakurai.  When Uzaki steps into college, she’s glad to discover that Sakurai, who was her senpai in the swimming club in high school, is also attending the same college as hers.  However, after observing him for an entire year laze around, she’s startled by the fact that he has seemingly turned into a pathetic, lonely introvert.  She becomes worried that he’s wasting away the prime years of his life.  Thus, in an attempt to force into him an exciting and active college lifestyle, she decides to badger him regularly into doing fun stuff together.  While her nonstop teasing and loud personality would persistently get on his nerves, a part of him comes to appreciate her companionship.

'Deca-Dence' Has the Best Anime Plot Twist in Recent Memory

Deca-Dence was not among the new anime series from summer 2020 that I initially watched.  However, it was something I always felt I would end up watching anyway.  And since the things I had been hearing about it indicated that it was seemingly something I would be interested on, I picked it up sooner than later.

Deca-Dence is set in a post-apocalyptic future wherein Gadoll, monsters that come in all kinds and sizes, had demolished human civilization and are now in dominion over the land.  Meanwhile, the remnants of humanity are now living in a gargantuan mobile city fortress named “Deca-Dence.”

'Rent-A-Girlfriend' Pairs a Top-Tier Waifu with an Obnoxious MC

As a nation that tends to push the envelope, Japan has been a world leader in innovation.  However, the same distinctive culture, attitudes, environment, and ethos that stimulate efficiency and improvement are also what precipitate some pretty weird creations and institutions.  Hence, as it is with anime, Japanese products and services range from the imaginative to the novel to the bizarre.

One of the industries that can only be established and thrive in a place like Japan is the “professional stand-in service”, in which clients can hire actors to serve as their platonic companions during a certain period of time, pretending to be their friends, family members, or even lovers.  Rent-A-Girlriend is the first anime I’ve ever encountered that use this real-life trade as premise.  And that’s the main reason why I checked it out in the first place.

'The Misfit of Demon King Academy' Is Peak Power Fantasy Anime

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History's Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, or just The Misfit of Demon King Academy for short, is my favorite new anime series that debuted in summer 2020.  It isn’t really great; I feel that it’s an undercooked adaptation, in a way.  But it executes certain things well enough to show its distinctive merits and be effectively addicting.

'Appare-Ranman!' Is Awesome

Appare-Ranman! has been my favorite anime to watch during the recently finished summer season.  Technically, it isn’t really a summer anime, as it debuted last spring and was supposed to run in that season.  However, after only a few episodes, its production was interrupted by the pandemic, so its run was postponed.  It restarted itself back to episode 1 for the summer season, wherein it finally got to complete its 13-episode run.

'Japan Sinks: 2020' Isn't Quite a Disaster, but It's an Utter Mess

Japan Sinks: 2020 is the latest anime from renowned director Masaaki Yuasa, whose past works include Devilman Crybaby, Night Is Short, Walk on Girl, and Ride Your Wave (one of my favorite movies of 2020).  It is a 10-episode mini-series wherein, well, Japan sinks in the year 2020.  Devastating earthquakes begin to periodically ravage the archipelago, making it progressively crumble to the ocean.  The plot follows a nuclear family and their friends as they trek across Japan, hoping to get to a safe place.