2020 has been a great year for anime so far. Despite the setbacks in the industry because of the pandemic, which meant that productions of several series went on hiatus and therefore delayed the premieres of new episodes of their shows, a lot of anime came out swinging anyway.
Some new series debuted, while other beloved and long-standing anime came through with new seasons and story arcs. Many different genres, from action to sci-fi to fantasy to slice of life were all well-represented, and a lot of the arcs of the year have gone above and beyond in telling incredible stories.
10 Food Wars
Food Wars returned this spring with its fifth and final season, finally wrapping the story of Soma Yukihira as he works to prove himself the best chef at Totsuki Academy.
The BLUE arc, the series’ final arc, sees Soma and many of his friends and classmates competing in a world youth cooking competition. His father Joichiro has asked him, officially, to take over the Yukihira Diner, and Soma feels he’s only worth to do so if he wins the BLUE. It’s an exciting arc and a perfect wrap-up for the series.
9 Listeners
Listeners was one of the biggest and most exciting releases of the spring 2020 anime season. A mecha anime at heart, it’s also something of a musical, with one of the main characters being a mysterious girl with amnesia who has an auxiliary port on her body, signifying that she’s a Player, a kind of mecha that is used to fight a threat called the Earless.
The 12-episode series follows a young man who learns to pilot this Player in an attempt to get rich and famous.
8 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War
Kaguya-Sama is a deeply funny romantic comedy series that has only ramped up its jokes in season two. More characters are added, and the central conflict between Shirogane and Kaguya, who both refuse to be the first to admit their feelings for each other, is left by the wayside a bit during the school sports festival arc.
The characters form relationships with new friends and the series delves into the backstories of beloved side characters. It’s such a satisfying story that it almost doesn’t matter whether or not Kaguya and Shirogane ever get together.
7 My Hero Academia
My Hero Academia has any number of amazing arcs throughout its long run as an anime, but the U.A. School Festival Arc is one of the strongest in the series so far.
It’s a welcome respite from some of the heavier things that happened just prior in the story, like Mirio losing his Quirk and the death of Nighteye, not to mention the clear trauma present in Eri, just a little girl in the series. It also allows some characters who often fall by the wayside a stronger presence in the show, even if it’s just for some fairly silly fun.
6 Appare-Ranman!
Appare-Ranman! follows a pair of Japanese men from the early 20th century, Kosame and Appare, as they try to make their way in Los Angeles after accidentally ending up on a ship there. Appare, an amateur engineer, is excited by the prospect of participating in a transcontinental automobile race while Kosame just wants to make enough money to get home to Japan.
The first arc of the series, as the characters put together their car, figure out how to earn enough money to buy food, and meet all of the important characters is a really fun and high energy set-up for an exciting series.
5 Wave, Listen To Me!
Wave, Listen to Me! follows a young woman who works in a curry shop as she’s recruited to work as a radio talk show host. The entire series is incredibly funny and relatable, as this broke woman in her late 20s tries to figure out what she wants out of her life, but the ending arc of the season is especially great.
At this point in the series, she is learning exactly what kind of content to include in her show and figuring out just how good she is at it, especially in the case of an emergency.
4 BNA: Brand New Animal
BNA: Brand New Animal is the newest anime from Studio Trigger, best known for series like Kill La Kill and films like Promare.
As with many of their other works, the anime is bizarre, brightly colored, and chaotic, following the story of a young woman who suddenly becomes a tanuki beastman, a humanoid animal creature, and her journey to figure out how and why. The first season is a blast and definitely one of the standout stories of the anime season.
3 Fruits Basket
The reboot of the Fruits Basket anime has definitely won over a lot of fans of the original series as well as a lot of new fans. The second season, with its story focus on the summer break spent at the Sohmas' home, where Tohru has begun living, gives viewers a lot of opportunities to spend time with the characters.
Without the school setting, they’re able to further the plot around family secrets and the actual feelings the characters have for each other.
2 Ascendance Of A Bookworm
Ascendance of a Bookworm’s second season picks up where the first left off, with main character Myne doing her best to exist in a world where books are hard to come by.
Here she decides to join a monastery, partially to rid herself of her extra mana but also because that’s where the books are. As a priestess, she has to contend with the realities of life amongst the nobility and how the world is even more different from her own than she thought.
1 Sing “Yesterday” For Me
Sing “Yesterday” For Me has been one of the sleeper hits of the season. It’s a melancholy story about trauma and wanting to forget one’s past, even as one is obsessed with it and can’t move on from it.
The characters are very real, and it lacks some of the more over-the-top and dramatic tropes that some anime have. It’s likely that the season is a complete story as it has covered most of the material from the manga, and its strange open-ended conclusion makes it an even more intriguing series.