In the world of anime, 2019 will forever be known as the year of Demon Slayer.
Crunchyroll announced the winners of their fourth annual Anime Awards this weekend in a live event hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods (AKA Austin Creed), and in a victory that likely came as a surprise to absolutely no one, Demon Slayer took home Anime of the Year. Demon Slayer's kind-hearted protagonist, Tanjiro, also won the coveted Best Boy Award, and Tanjiro & Nezuko vs. Rui won Best Fight Scene. Considering all of its major category wins with over 11 million global votes cast this year, it's clear that Demon Slayer has taken the anime community by storm.
Shueisha
But while some anime fans might balk at the idea of a battle shonen winning the ultimate accolades, it's worth considering the fact that Demon Slayer stands as a testament to the power of anime–specifically, as a medium. After all, Demon Slayer's success story is somewhat atypical.
Normally, shonen anime series that achieve massive popularity are backed by extreme levels of manga-reader hype. This is because shonen anime series are almost always based on already popular manga, meaning that their core fanbases are essentially built in from the get-go. As an example, manga volumes of My Hero Academia had been selling out in Japan before the anime ever aired.
Demon Slayer, however, didn't enter the anime scene with those same levels of fan excitement. In fact, the Demon Slayer manga––which began publication in 2016––was considered by many to be just okay, and a lot of readers of Shonen Jump (the Japanese manga magazine where Demon Slayer is published) expected the series to be canceled early into its run. So when the Demon Slayer anime started airing in April, 2019, most people didn't have high expectations.
Studio Ufotable didn't let that stop them. They went all out on Demon Slayer, crafting brilliant fight animations that gave the impression of woodblock prints come to life. Every battle in the show, from the smaller Zenitsu scenes to the Best Fight-winning Rui brawl, played out in spectacular fashion. The anime performed so fantastically that fans began clamoring for the manga, with new volume sales in Japan even giving One Piece a run for its money.
Shueisha
So yes, while someone might personally think that Attack on Titan Season 3 deserved every single award ever (Tetsuro Araki and Masashi Koizuka did rightfully win Best Director), Demon Slayer's big win was the right choice within the larger context of the medium.
The full list of Crunchyroll 2020 Anime Awards winners can be found below:
Anime of the Year: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Animation: Mob Psycho 100 II
Best Opening Sequence: Mob Psycho 100 II, ♪ 99.9 - MOB CHOIR feat. sajou no hana
Best Ending Sequence: KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR, ♪ Chikatto Chika Chikaa♡ - Konomi Kohara
Best Boy: Tanjiro Kamado, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Girl: Raphtalia, The Rising of the Shield Hero
Best Score: Mocky, Carole & Tuesday
Best VA Performance (JP): Yuichi Nakamura voices Bruno Bucciarati in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Best VA Performance (EN): Billy Kametz voices Naofumi in The Rising of the Shield Hero
Best Director: Tetsuro Araki, Chief Director and Masashi Koizuka, Director – Attack on Titan Season 3
Best Character Design: Satoshi Iwataki, Original Character Design by Hiroyuki Asada, Dororo
Best Protagonist: Senku, Dr. STONE
Best Antagonist: Isabella, The Promised Neverland
Best Fight Scene: Tanjiro & Nezuko vs. Rui, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Best Couple: Kaguya Shinomiya & Miyuki Shirogane, KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR
Best Drama: Vinland Saga, WIT STUDIO
Best Fantasy: The Promised Neverland, CloverWorks
Best Comedy: KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR, A-1 Pictures
Even though anime has made its way into the mainstream over the past few years, negative notions about the medium persist.
With the exception of a few mature animated comedies (some of which are fantastic and thematically complex, like Bojack Horseman), animation in the US is still typically viewed as a medium for children. The idea that cartoons are kid sh*t, while perhaps understandable for someone who has only ever been exposed to Western media, is ignorant of the broad range of animation in other cultures.
In a similar vein, a lot of people insist that they just can't get into anime, or they stigmatize all of it because they don't like the "schoolgirl stuff." But it's important to remember that anime isn't a genre–It's a medium.
Individual anime series fall into every genre under the sun, just like movies and live-action TV shows. Saying you don't like anime because of the schoolgirl stuff (which is a very valid thing to dislike) is kind of like saying you don't like movies because of slasher films. You're writing off an entire medium of art over a genre that you can easily avoid.
So let's say you are open to watching anime, but aren't quite sure where to start. Or, more likely, maybe you already love anime and you're trying to find a series to convince your SO that the $200 action figure in your room was a totally reasonable thing to buy (it was, and your life choices are perfect). Just check out any of these gateway anime series that serve as perfect entry points into the medium's diverse offerings.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Kodansha
<p>Few series have ever come close to crafting a narrative as perfect as <em>Attack on Titan</em>. The premise is high-concept: The last surviving humans live in a walled off city surrounded by giant, humanoid, man-eating monsters called Titans. </p><p>One day the walls are breached, and three surviving children — Eren, Mikasa, and Armin — set their sights on joining the military in order to fight back for the sake of humanity. But what could have been a simple, straight-forward action-horror show, turned out to be so much more. Nothing is ever as it seems in <em>Attack on Titan</em>, and the plot continually twists to turn everything you thought you knew on its head. </p><p><em>Attack on Titan</em> is thrilling, terrifying, tragic, and emotionally resonant, oftentimes all at once. It's a show about the horrors of war and the lengths humans will go to protect the things they hold dear to them. If you only watch one anime ever, make sure it's <em>Attack on Titan</em>.</p>
Funimation holds an awkward, complicated position within the larger anime fandom.
Best known for licensing and dubbing the Dragon Ball franchise in the US, Funimation is a powerhouse entertainment company that played a large part in changing the American anime market from an uber-niche medium into something close to mainstream. They continue to license, dub, and simulcast (airing subtitled episodes of current anime series at the same time that they air in Japan) popular series like My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan, all of which are available through their massive anime streaming service. The vast majority of anime fans, especially the heathens who prefer dubs over subs, will inevitably interact with Funimation.
Considering how vocal the anime community tends to be, that also means Funimation seems to be under constant scrutiny. Some faction of fans are always angry at Funimation for one reason or another, be it a poor translation, a botched merchandise release, or their failure to understand that their favorite voice actor was fired because he actually did make women feel uncomfortable, regardless of whether or not he realized what he was doing, and his countersuit failed in a court of law. Point being, people are always looking for a reason to jump on Funimation, and most of that criticism is undeserved.
But when it comes to Interspecies Reviewers, well, there's kind of no excuse.
Interspecies Reviewers is a new anime series that asks the question: What if there was an entire show centered around a group of men who have sex with giant-tiddy monster girl prostitutes in the red light district of a fantasy world...and then post their reviews of the sex?
So yeah, that's the show, and each episode is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. The main characters go to a different monster prostitute, have sex, and then review the experience.
Technically, Interspecies Reviewers isn't hentai. While the monster girls' boobs are drawn in full detail, genitals are never explicitly shown. Categorically, it's billed as shonen (manga for boys) with a strong ecchi (anime with sexual overtones) bend, meaning its main draw is fan service. But let's be clear here: It's closer to hentai than a lot of hentai.
Not that there's anything wrong with liking that. We're not here to kink-shame, and people are welcome to enjoy whatever gets them off (presuming it's consensual and doesn't hurt anybody, of course). But Funimation is not an adult content streaming service, and while they do have a good number of ecchi shows, none of it comes close to Interspecies Reviewers––again, a show that is explicitly about men reviewing monster prostitutes.
Funimation's decision to not only license and simulcast the first three episodes, but to actually dub the first episode in English, was a little bit jarring. Then, after three episodes, they pulled the show, stating:
"After careful consideration, we determined that this series falls outside of our standards. We have the utmost respect for our creators so rather than substantially alter the content, we felt taking it down was the most respectful choice."
The title of this article is a bit of a misnomer. The real question isn't why Funimation removed Interspecies Reviewers,but why Funimation acquired Interspecies Reviewers in the first place when it so obviously "falls outside of [their] standards."
We're not talking about a show that buries the lead. The very first episode revolves around the two main characters, a human man and an elf-man, ragging on each other for having sex with older women of the opposite species. The human man has sex with a 500-year-old elf who looks like a 20-year-old, and the elf man has sex with a 60-year-old human woman. Both think their partner is hotter and a better lay, and they proceed to debate the women's qualities.
This is the episode that Funimation dubbed. They brought voice actors into a studio to say lines like, "If you think of them like plump orc girls, older humans are pretty damn sexy, plus they're way softer than orcs, which is a big time boner bonus."
Oh, and there's also a manga which is significantly further along than the anime, and if anyone at Funimation did any vetting, they would have realized that yeah, it only gets worse. A lot worse.
All of this begs the question: Did Funimation actually acquire a series that they didn't know anything about?
On one hand, it's understandable that Funimation might be scrambling for content. They have more competition than ever before, with Crunchyroll still standing as the most prominent anime streaming platform and Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu setting their sights on anime audiences, too. But if they're going to claim they have standards, they really should have someone at least reading a series' description blurb before acquiring it.
When winter winds howl through the air and the snot dribbling down your nose starts to freeze into tiny icicles, that's how you know that the most hallowed time of year is upon us once again–the time of year when anime fans gather round and vote for which anime bishounen is truly "Best Boy."
But how do you possibly choose between Mob and Bucciarati? And if that's not hard enough to decide as is, what do you nominate for "Anime of the Year?" Don't worry. I gotchu' fam'.
Anime of the Year
Shueisha
Upfront, I placed my Anime of the Year vote with a major caveat––my real top anime of 2019 (not to mention, my top TV show period) was not on Crunchyroll's shortlist. That show is, of course, Attack on Titan. Season 3 was a genuine masterpiece of storytelling, character-building, tension, and animation, and Crunchyroll's failure to include it in their top 2020 category will forever be a stain on their record.
That said, of the options we do have, it really comes down to Demon Slayer and Mob Psycho 100 II. The Promised Neverland, and Vinland Saga––both great shows––didn't quite make the cut for me (although I'm sure Vinland Saga will as it catches up to the manga).
Mob Psycho 100 II, the phenomenal second season of Mob Psycho 100, easily solidified the series amongst the best shows of the entire decade. It's ridiculously wholesome with a solid emotional core and gorgeous battle sequences. I'd go so far as saying it's better than Demon Slayer on every front short of actual animation.
But to me, "Anime of the Year" isn't necessarily reserved for "the best" anime of the year, so much as "the most definitive." And in that regard, Demon Slayer gets my vote. The series went from a decent manga that most people didn't care about to one of the most talked about shonen series of the decade. Ufotable's incredible battle animation is largely to thank, but Demon Slayer also has a lovable cast of characters that keeps me wanting to come back. I'm hoping the next season will live up to the hype.
Best Protagonist
Shueisha
Keeping in line with "Anime of the Year," Demon Slayer's Tanjiro is an easy choice for "Best Protagonist" category. He shirks a lot of the traditional shonen hero tropes, displaying unprecedented levels of empathy to even his most evil opponents. As a result, despite the fact that Demon Slayer marches to the same tune as plenty of past shonen fare, Tanjiro makes the series feel like a nice change of pace.
Best Antagonist
Shueisha
As horrendous as Isabella was in The Promised Neverland, my vote for "Best Antagonist" could only ever possibly go to Garou from One Punch Man. A great antagonist is one who believes that they're the protagonist of their own story, and in Garou's story, he's a beacon of hope for monsters who get a bad rap. That doesn't stop him from saving kids or being a big dweeb. Dude just wants to be a monster.
Best Boy
Shogakukan
Ah, "Best Boy." Always the hardest category. A "Best Boy" isn't just "nice" or "likable." He's husbando material, your one and only. Tanjiro is nice, but he's not "Best Boy." Mob, on the other hand… Well, he's the kind of guy you'd need to lift up out of the dumps every now and again. But at the same time, he's loyal to a fault and would always support you in following your passions.
Bucciarati, on the other hand, would straight up die for you. He's a bad boy with a heart of gold, the kind of person who would join the mafia with the goal of getting drugs off the street. I love Bucciarati, and if the real world was as bizarre as JoJo's, I'd give him my vote. But I'm looking for a boyfriend, not a martyr. As hard as it is to reject Bucciarati, my point goes to Mob.
Best Girl
Shueisha
Nezuko. No question. Come on.
Best Director
Kodansha
Finally, we get a category with an Attack on Titan Season 3 nomination. Tetsuro Araki's direction of the Return to Shiganshina arc was absolutely unparalleled. From its full display of the sheer terror leading up to Erwin's charge to the incredible shots throughout the Levi/Beast Titan fight, and everything beyond, it's hard to imagine a more perfect season of anime. This one is a no brainer.
Best Animation
Kodansha
Again, Attack on Titan Season 3 takes the cake. Demon Slayer certainly had the more beautiful battle animation, but the animation in Attack on Titan Season 3 served a greater goal that enhanced the narrative. For instance, the POV ODM gear shots placed viewers directly into Levi's shoes as he sped through the streets in his life-or-death fight with Kenny. The animation in AoT wasn't just badass; it was immersive.
Best Character Design
Shueisha
As far as new character designs go, it's hard to top Dr. STONE. With his crazy green-tipped hair and tan robe-coat, Senko Ishigami truly feels like a young anime Bill Nye, assuming Bill Nye existed somewhere in the JoJo-verse.
Best Score
Kodansha
I'm just going to keep saying it: Attack on Titan Season 3 was perfect. The score exacerbated the intensity of every scene, and the gorgeous, haunting opening of the first half of the season perfectly set the mood for the rest of the show.
Best Fight Scene
Kodansha
Oh man. Levi vs. Beast Titan. Did you really think I'd pick anything else?
Best Couple
Kodansha
Yes, I picked Ymir and Historia.
"Attack on Titan again? Really?" you're thinking.
Yes. Really. I'll admit, there are strong arguments to be made for other entries here. Baki Hanma & Kozue Matsumoto was a strong contender. But the beauty of Ymir and Historia's relationship was its subtlety––an unrequited LGBTQ+ romance that took a backseat to everything else happening in the story (as one would expect of any romantic relationship in a world as brutal as Attack on Titan), while ultimately influencing and changing both participants' actions and character development in major ways. It's not just a great romance. It's an amazingly written one.
Best VA Performance (JP)
Shueisha
Yuichi Nakamuro killed it as Bucciarati. No contest.
Best VA Performance (EN)
LOL Dubs. Nah, I'm good. I abstain from voting.
Best Comedy
shueisha
KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR had an especially clever take on the romantic comedy genre, so it's hard to pick anything else as the standout comedy of the past year.
Best Fantasy
Kodansha
Attack on Titan Season 3. Shut up.
Best Drama
Shueisha
I have to give it to The Promised Neverland. While Vinland Saga will, no doubt, reign supreme in later seasons, the first season of The Promised Neverland was simply more consistent.
Best Opening Sequence
Shogakukan
Since, again, Attack on Titan isn't listed, Mob Psycho 100 II is the clear winner. "99.9" is super fun, catchy, and high-energy. I didn't even skip it once––what better compliment can one give an opening sequence?
Best Ending Sequence
Kodansha
Sorry to end on a bit of a fizzle, but none of the listed ending sequences were absolute knock-outs. I did enjoy "Torches" from Vinland Saga, but it's not a passionate choice like a lot of my other votes.
Ultimately, when it comes to the Anime Awards, it's best to vote with your heart. But if your heart says anything other than Attack on Titan, I'm here to inform you that you're wrong.
Thanks to streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, it was suddenly possible to watch multiple episodes of a single TV series in one sitting without the interruptions of commercials. As the way we watched TV changed, so too did the kind of shows we watched. Gone was the overabundance of vapid, sugary-sweet sitcoms, and in came the era of political satire, dramatic comedies, and searing commentaries on everything from abortion to Hollywood. Summarily, the 2010s saw a golden age of television. Here are our 50 favorites, with the top 25 and bottom 25 listed in alphabetical order.
The Top 25 TV Shows of the 2010s
Atlanta
Atlanta first aired in 2016, with Donald Glover's Earn learning that his cousin Alfred has released a hit song under the stage name Paper Boi. Since then, the show has followed Earn's struggle to navigate different worlds as he takes over managing his cousin's burgeoning music career while also trying to be a good father to his daughter, Lottie, and to prove himself to Van, his ex-girlfriend and Lottie's mother. The show uses varying perspectives to flesh out the city of Atlanta and the complexities of being black in America with surreal touches that highlight the real-world absurdity. Yet despite the heaviness of much of its subject matter, it frequently manages to be among the funniest shows on TV.
Barry
For anyone who ever wondered whether or not SNL-alum Bill Hader could carry a serious TV show, Barry answers with an overwhelming "yes." To be clear, Barry is technically a dark comedy, or perhaps a crime comedy-drama, but Bill Hader brings a level of unprecedented seriousness to his titular character that oftentimes makes the show feel like a straight tragedy.
Playing a hitman who wants to leave his life of crime behind in order to pursue a career in acting, Bill Hader imbues Barry with an earnestness that makes us as an audience truly want him to succeed. This likability serves to make Barry's violent acts all the more disturbing. Barry's greatest success is its ability to effortlessly fluctuate between the quirks of life as a struggling actor in LA and the violent inclinations of a man who murders for a living and can never really escape that truth. It's one of the best character studies currently on TV and is sure to cement Bill Hader as an extremely versatile A-list talent.
Baskets
Baskets premiered on FX in 2016, telling the story of Chip Baskets, an aspiring clown played by Zach Galifianakis, who is moving back to Bakersfield, California to live with his mother after a failed stint at clown school in Paris. Galfianakis' talent for melancholy slapstick makes the show by turns hilarious and touching, but it's his mother Christine Baskets—artfully portrayed by Louie Anderson—whose simple enthusiasm for small-town life makes the show one of the best of the decade. Watching Christine, Chip, and his twin brother Dale (also Galifianakis) heighten relatable family drama to exquisite absurdity never gets old.
Black Mirror
Nothing would be the same without Black Mirror. Though its later seasons have been inconsistent in quality, its earliest contributions were digital horror at its finest, with some of the episodes being downright visionary in terms of how accurately they predicted the near future. From the nostalgic visions of virtual afterlife in "San Junipero" to the eerie foresight of "Nosedive" and its digital ranking systems, Black Mirror made an indelible impact.
Bob's Burgers
Whatever you've heard about Family Guy or South Park, Bob's Burgers is the true successor to the golden age of The Simpsons. The Belcher family offers an update to The Simpsons' satirical view on middle class family life that reflects how America has changed since the 90s—slightly more urban, with less overt child abuse and a lot more economic precarity. And just as with the best seasons of The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers maintains a touching core of familial love and solidarity amid the absurd hijinks and veiled political commentary. Throw in the added value of the frequently hilarious, occasionally moving musical numbers, and Bob's Burgers easily secures a spot as one of the best shows of the decade.
Bojack Horseman
In terms of the quality of its writing, BoJack Horseman outdid itself season after season. What began as a parody of Hollywood's excesses quickly turned into a searing, and boundary-pushing meditation on depression, addiction, and what it means to change (or to be unable to). Increasingly self-aware and conscious of its hypocritical tendency to obsess over the misadventures of an evil but sympathetic celebrity, thereby glorifying them while criticizing them, BoJack Horseman is the political, devastating, timely, often hilarious show about an animated horse that none of us knew we needed. It's buoyed by the strength of its secondary characters, from the workaholic Princess Carolyn to asexual Todd to self-loathing Diane, and altogether the show takes deep-rooted fears that many share and refracts them in a funhouse mirror that's impossible to look away from.
Broad City
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson began producing an independent web series about their struggles to "make it" in New York City in 2009. Soon, Amy Poehler took interest in the series, and it moved to Comedy Central in 2014. The smash hit comedy was not only laugh-out-loud funny, but a beautiful portrait of a genuinely healthy, supportive female friendship—something TV has historically seen little of. Broad City can be credited for helping to usher in a new generation of female comedy creators and has become a cultural touchstone for millenials.
Catastrophe
Catastrophe, created and written by the show's stars, Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan, is one of the realest, grossest, and funniest takes on love and the mess of life. Two people entering middle age meet and hit it off, they spend a reckless night together, and when she gets pregnant, they decide to make things work—not realizing how complicated that will be. It's a simple enough premise, but the cutting dialogue and the absurd comedy that plays out as two near-strangers build a life together make Catastrophe one of a kind.
Fargo
Anthology series like True Detective and American Horror Story can be really hit or miss, but in the three seasons that have aired on FX since 2014, Fargo has been consistently great. Maybe it has to do with the leisurely production schedule, the all-star cast, or the near-perfect movie that forms the basis for its tone, but whatever the cause, Fargo delivers murderous midwestern tragicomedy better than any show on TV—and nearly as well as the original. Season three, which followed the rivalry of the Stussy brothers—as played by Ewan McGregor—deserves a particular call-out, with season four due next year and featuring Chris Rock, Timothy Olyphant, and Jason Schwartzman.
Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's stage-play-turned-two-season-TV masterpiece took the world by storm at the end of the 2010s. In the series, the viewer is made into the protagonist's (an unnamed woman played by Bridge) confidante as she uses sex to cope with grief and complicated family dynamics. As the show progresses, the closely protected inner life of the protagonist begins to reveal itself. Many consider the second season to be an essentially perfect season of television, in large part because of the hot priest (played by Andrew Scott). Fleabag is a funny, searing commentary on what it means to exist as a sexual, complicated being in a world with ever-changing expectations of women.
Grace and Frankie
70 is the new 30, or 20, or whatever arbitrary year of life we as a culture are deciding to glorify for no reason, because age is just a number. If you weren't aware that Jane Fonda glowed with money or that Lily Tomlin is our collective spiritual mother, then Grace and Frankie enlightened you. When two septuagenarian women are told that their husbands are gay and in love with each other, the best phase of their lives begins.
Haikyu!!
It's almost 2020, the world is upside down, and yes, an anime about high school volleyball is genuinely one of the best shows of the decade. Haikyu!!, literally "Volleyball" in Japanese, is about the trials and tribulations of the Karasuno High School Boys Volleyball Team. Unlike pretty much every other high school sports anime out there, Haikyu!! takes a relatively realistic approach to...well...high schoolers playing sports. In doing so, Haikyu!! translates the genuine passion that goes into high school sports and the real dynamics of teamwork, better than any other show I've ever seen.
The protagonist, Hinata, isn't a superpowered Volleyball God; he's an extremely short boy who can't reach the top of the net, but works his butt off because he loves the game. Likewise, all the other boys in Haikyu!! have realistic strengths and weaknesses (both on and off the court) that they work to overcome with help from their teammates. Haikyu!! is an exercise in wholesomeness––there are no villains, just other kids at other schools who love the same sport our boys do––and in a decade full of so much bitterness, it's a much needed dose of medicine.
Hunter x Hunter
For anyone who likes long-running shonen anime, Hunter x Hunter is, without a doubt, the pinnacle of the genre. While the original manga began publication in 1998, and a previous anime adaptation ran from 1999-2001, the 2011 adaptation re-started the series from scratch and, most importantly, covered the Chimaera Ant arc (or season––kind of––for you non-anime watchers).
The entirety of Hunter x Hunter is fantastic, featuring likeable protagonists, dastardly villains, and a brilliantly creative power system called "Nen." But there's a reason the Chimaera Ant arc is often considered the greatest shonen arc ever, and that's because it's a total deconstruction of the genre's tropes and conventions. Everything from the "always optimistic protagonist" to "the ultimate evil villain" is turned completely inside-out. The Chimaera Ant arc is intensely brutal and ultimately poignant, making us question the very nature of what makes us human.
Killing Eve
Phoebe Waller-Bridge can do no wrong, and even if she could and did, I'd probably still clap. The combination of Waller-Bridge's cutting wit and Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer's flawless performances makes for a TV show that never quite lets you find your balance before sending you spinning again. It's dark and surreal, while managing to still be deeply human.
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Being a professional stand-up comedienne is hard, but being Midge Maisel is wrapping chaos in a designer dress. Created by the fast-talking husband and wife behind Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel created a stage for Rachel Brosnahan to showcase her comedic timing and Alex Borstein to be a solid, deadpan pillar within Mrs. Maisel's world of quippy, fast-talking, energy. Also Michael Zegen (Joel) is dead cute.
Mob Psycho 100
While One Punch Man might be manga artist One's best known series (and is fantastic in its own right), his other series, Mob Psycho 100,is profound in a way quite unlike anything else I've seen. The show revolves around Mob, an awkward, unconfident middle school boy with god-like psychic powers. Any other shonen anime would use this premise as a gateway to epic battles (and there are a few, and their animation is absolutely incredible), but Mob Psycho 100 focuses far more on the coming-of-age angle instead.
See, Mob doesn't like his psychic powers because they make him feel weird. So instead of focusing on the one thing he's innately talented at but doesn't like, Mob tries to improve himself in the ways he actually cares about improving––making friends, talking to girls, working out with his school's Body Improvement Club. If anything, Mob's incredible psychic powers are a backdrop for the show's larger message––that no person, no matter what natural abilities they may have, is better than anyone else. Mob Psycho 100 shows that everyone has their own struggles, and that the only person you should ever hold yourself up in comparison to is the person you were yesterday.
The OA
Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij's labyrinthine show only ran for two seasons, but it managed to earn a cult following during that time. Deeply weird, profoundly earnest, and full to the brim with observations on the connections between the environment, parallel universes, and technology, the two seasons that we do have are irreplaceable and paradigm-shifting examples of what TV could become, if we let ourselves believe.
Orange Is the New Black
Piper Kerman's post-grad rebellious stage went from a felony to a cultural touchstone. As Netflix's most-watched original series, OITNB boasted a female-led cast and cutting commentary on race, class, and the industrial prison complex.
PEN15
Those who didn't have a gruelingly awkward middle school experience are, by scientific evidence, simply inhuman. Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle tell it best in Hulu original PEN15, which co-stars the real-life BFFs (who also wrote and executive produced together) as 13-year-olds. Here, there's no sugarcoating the calamities of tweenhood, whether they're as trivial as thongs and AIM messaging or as weighty as race identity. All delivered with Erskine and Konkle's razor-sharp wit, it's absolutely hysterical to anyone who's lived past the seventh grade.
Rick and Morty
"To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head."
Okay, so first things first, we need to separate Rick and Morty from the Rick and Morty fandom. The Rick and Morty fandom is so annoying that memes making fun of them are barely distinguishable from the things they actually say. But, to be fair, Rick and Morty really is a great show full of smart writing, surprisingly deep characterization, and the exact kind of bizarre, abstract humor that lends itself perfectly to endless memes. No doubt, Rick and Morty will be the defining animated comedy of the 2010s.
Russian Doll
This tightly-wound and big-hearted thriller stars Natasha Lyonne as a jaded New Yorker who gets caught in a loop in time and has to relive the night of her 36th birthday party over and over again. A perfect blend of humor and seriousness, and riddled with quantum leaps and profound connections, it's as satisfying as it is provocative.
Shameless
We fell in love with the trainwreck family the Gallaghers when it debuted on Showtime in 2011. William H. Macy brought so much toxic charm to the abusive and neglectful father Frank Gallagher that we actually found him, if not likable, then good television. Emmy Rossum managed to cause tears and laughter within the same scene, and the entire cast was as impressive as their characters were appalling.
Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan)
After the first season of Attack on Titan premiered in 2013, it received so much hype that even people outside of the anime community were raving about it. The show featured an incredibly high-concept premise, following the last surviving humans as they tried to fight back against giant, man-eating monsters called Titans. Had Attack on Titan stuck to that premise, it would have been top-notch action-horror, albeit not necessarily one of the best shows of the decade.
But Attack on Titan turned out to be so much bigger than its initial premise. As the seasons progressed, Attack on Titan reshaped itself time and time again, leading viewers through an increasingly complex, expertly plotted narrative featuring some of the most compelling characters and intensely emotional moments that I've ever experienced in fiction. At its core, Attack on Titan is a deeply thematic contemplation on war, othering, and humanity's will to survive against impossible odds, alongside the moral sacrifices they oftentimes make to do so.
Shrill
It shouldn't be revolutionary for a show to feature a fat female lead, but it is. Shrill, the brilliant Hulu adaptation of Lindy West's memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, gave audiences a badly needed narrative about a woman who is actively seeking to change her life for the better, in ways that have nothing to do with her body. It's funny, it's heartfelt, and it shows a woman getting an abortion and finding it empowering. Woah. Hell yes.
Steven Universe
When Steven Universe first aired on Cartoon Network in 2013, it was a light-hearted and silly children's show with some super-powered action from the Crystal Gems and a lot of silly jokes from their sidekick—the childish titular character. Since then an entire galaxy has been fleshed out around the boardwalk of Beach City where much of the show takes place. Along with the alien gem creatures and their elaborate history, the show has introduced us to a cast of characters that have grown and changed—overcoming insecurities and facing complex questions of love and identity. While Steven matured and developed into a hero worthy of his last name, the show evolved to become one of the best of the decade.
Borrowing their name from a shapeshifting cat yōkai (or supernatural creature in Japanese folklore), LA-based alt J-POP duo Bakénéko effortlessly blends genres and languages in their first single, "Remember."
Much like a cat that can turn into a human, Bakénéko also excels at dualities. "Remember" opens with an upbeat guitar/synth track in the tradition of legendary electronic artists like Porter Robinson and CHVRCHES. Then the vocals cut in and "Remember" transforms into something familiar but also wholly original. Singer/songwriter M performs the main verses in Japanese and the chorus in English, but her voice remains constant—pretty, soft, and drenched in melancholy. The dissonance between the upbeat composition and downbeat vocals conveys a deep sense of pained nostalgia. "Remember" would fit in effortlessly amongst some of the best anime ending themes.
Bakénéko Blends
Centered around a personal reflection on fighting within a relationship built on genuine love, "Remember" aptly expresses themes of duality through its lyrics, too. The first pre-chorus translates to: "If the world sees only black or white / Then lets mix a grey zone together." This message of blending black and white into grey lies at the very core of Bakénéko's identity. "Until the viral growth of anime, I grew up shunned by two cultures," said M. "Wielding both languages is me finally embracing my Japanese heritage and American upbringing. Both have flaws, both have wonders, and that's okay. I'm okay."
Bakénéko Blends
While "Remember" marks Bakénéko's premiere, both members of the two-person group (composer/producer, B, and M, who did the sound design along with vocals and songwriting) have been working in the TV and film audio production industry for years. Their work can be heard everywhere from E! Network to Facebook Watch and Amazon Prime. We look forward to hearing what they'll put out next, but in the meantime, be sure to follow them on Instagram and Twitter for some "otaku trash" opinions.