With Winter 2019 packed full of fantastic anime, it can be difficult to find the best series to watch. While 2018 delivered many fantastic anime series, 2019 might top it if the quality keeps pace with the shows released during the first few months of the year.
Despite the anime streaming world beginning to feel the effects of the momentous split between Funimation and Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll’s streaming slate proved to be hard to beat. All but one of the shows on this list streamed via the platform. Future new releases this year might present compelling arguments for viewers to migrate to other platforms, but for now you can stick with Crunchyroll for almost everything new coming out this season.
To help sort through the incredible amount of anime this season, we’ve put together a list of the six absolute must-watch anime series released during Winter 2019. Here’s what’s worth watching while cozied up from the cold during your precious free time.
- This Page: The Price of Smiles and Dororo Page 2: The Promised Neverland and My Roommate is a Cat Page 3: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and Mob Psycho 100 Season 2
6. The Price of Smiles
What is it: Uncontroversial statement: War is awful. However, despite the truth of that simple statement, anime can often approach war in a way that makes it look fun or exciting without lingering on the aftermath. The Price of Smiles focuses on a war between The Kingdom of Soleil and the Grandigan Empire. The kingdom, led by Princess Yuki, struggles to survive as the war drags on. The empire advances through Soleil’s territory episode after episode as the princess and her retainers attempt to counter their moves, teach the princess how to lead, and the basic costs of war in lives, territory, and morale. It’s an anime about growing up and learning to live in a hostile world.
As a foil to Princess Yuki, the audience gets to know Stella, a young woman belonging to a unit of mecha pilots fighting for Grandiga. Stella lacks social standing, has experienced devastating loss, and constantly wears a smile. This portion of the anime deals more with the effects of the larger scale conflict on the ground for troops and refugees. Hers is the story of someone lacking agency, who, given few choices in life, makes the decision to smile through the pain; her smile being one of the few things she can control.
Why it’s great: The Price of Smiles earns its place on this list by consistently subverting expectations. What starts out as maybe an idyllic and otherwise generic anime about conflict with a focus on mecha battles quickly turns into a more thoughtful series with ideas about compassion, loyalty, and moving forward during dark times. Major characters die unexpectedly as a result of the war, their ghosts lingering with the characters they leave behind. Actions done out of kindness quickly turn sour when the bitterness of the destruction war leaves behind sinks in. Noble sacrifices turn into meaningless gestures, and heroes are the first to pay the price of smiles. All of this happens under the deft direction of Toshimasa Suzuki, previously directed the underrated anime The Pilot’s Love Song, so viewers can be confident that the narrative’s crescendo actually has an end goal in mind.
5. Dororo
What is it: Dororo was originally created by the legendary Osamu Tezuka, the man often credited for the creation of what would be recognized today as anime and manga. If you have an idea of what an anime eye looks like, that would be a small contribution from his distinctive work. Tezuka is best known in the West for his creation of iconic figures like Astro Boy and films like Kimba the White Lion, but he also created Dororo, a story about a young man whose body was sacrificed to a legion of demons as a baby and left for dead, only to be raised by a kindly doctor with powerful healing magic.
After growing up and learning to cope with his disabilities, the nameless warrior begins traveling the land to kill the demons that stole his life from him, reclaiming the various parts of his body in the process. That puts him on a course to cross swords with his father, the man who sacrificed him in the first place. Early in his journey, he encounters the charismatic Dororo, a child who claims to be the best thief in the world. The two bond and journey the land together, fighting a wide variety of imaginative demons that have taken hold throughout the land. Oh, and because his body was taken, he possesses magical prosthetic limbs with swords for forearms with a fighting style that has to evolve as he regains limbs, skin, and organs with each demon killed. It’s a unique take on the “learning to be human” trope that feels fresh over 50 years after the original anime released.
Why it’s great: The original Dororo anime ran from 1967-1968 and it was loved at the time, but hasn’t necessarily held up. The cute art style Tezuka developed for Astro Boy didn’t really apply as well to Dororo’s darker story. However Dororo 2019 alters its style to fit the material, offering a look at a gorgeously realized world crushed under the thumb of darkness and evil. The nameless warrior makes his way through a world where there are no easy answers. One of the early episodes deals with a town controlled by a demon and the townspeople support the demon because without it, they wouldn’t be able to survive. By killing the demon, the Dororo and his companion essentially doom the town. It’s a complicated and clever reimagining of a classic with inventive fight scenes, dramatic visuals, and a high production value that makes sure to present very few moments where there’s clear cut right and wrong. The singularity of the warrior’s vision makes him a compelling figure in a world full of people willing to compromise and negotiate.
Page 2: The Promised Neverland and My Roommate is a Cat
4. The Promised Neverland
What is it: To be honest, The Promised Neverland is an anime best experienced with little to no foreknowledge. The series is a dramatic thriller about a group of children who inhabit a walled orphanage in an idyllic rural area. Each child possesses a serial number on their neck and they’re taken care of by a benevolent woman who they all call mom. They spend their days playing, studying for tests, and generally just being kids. However, three of the children, Emma, Norman, and Ray, discover a disturbing series of hidden truths about the orphanage and begin making plans to run away.
The intriguing premise of the series was placed in the hands of director Mamoru Kanbe. Kanbe made a name for himself directing the critically acclaimed anime series Elfen Lied and contributed storyboard work to a number of prominent projects like Your Lie in April and A Place Further Than the Universe. Toshiya Ono tackled The Promised Neverland’s adaptation from its manga roots, bringing her talents from writing episodes of DIVE!! and Gatchaman Crowds to bear on this well-written thriller. To top it all off, it’s being animated by CloverWorks, a studio recently formed out of A-1 Pictures. The studio animated the surprisingly eye-catching DAKAICHI –I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-, Ace Attorney Season 2, and contributed to PERSONA 5 the Animation.
Why it’s great: While The Promised Neverland isn’t horror, it certainly knows how to infuse itself with the dramatic flair of horror. Few anime do tension as well as The Promised Neverland. Scenes of children frolicking through green fields have never been as full of dread. Sometimes just seeing characters smile or attempt to open doors can be an absolutely haunting experience. To an extent, the show takes on elements of The Great Escape, but the stakes feel much higher because it’s told from the perspective of children trying to comprehend and overcome a hostile world. Certain scenes, bits of dialogue, or even off-screen events haunt the viewer almost as much as the characters themselves. It’s one of the best dramatic rides in all of anime and should not be missed.
3. My Roommate Is A Cat
What is it: Mikazuki Subaru lives a quiet, anxious life on his own. Despite being a successful mystery author, he sees almost no one save for his editor and annoyingly persistent best friend. The first episode reveals that Mikazuki has been living on his own since the death of his parents only a few years ago. The isolation took a toll as he shut himself off from the world to read and write alone. That is, until he crosses paths with a stray cat one day and inadvertently finds himself taking it in. In the process of caring for the cat, Mikazuki learns how to better care for himself and connects with people in his community.
Part of what makes My Roommate Is a Cat special, though, is that each episode tells the perspective of not only Mikazuki Subaru, but also his cat. We get to learn what kind of personality the cat has, it’s tragic past, and even why it does the seemingly fickle and silly things that cats love to do. The shifting perspectives hammers home humorous moments, touching pieces of character development, and wonderful bits of catharsis as both human and animal slowly bond and begin to heal from their respective losses.
Why it’s great: If you’ve ever owned a pet, especially if it was a cat, you need to watch My Roommate Is a Cat. Certain episodes can make you laugh, cry, and feel real anxiety for this budding friendship between man and cat. Each episode is surprising in the simple sincerity of its premise and execution. If you have a problem with anxiety, situations like panicking about having to do something simple like dealing with someone at the door or going on a run to the pet store will be familiar. Small touches like that elevate the show and give it that tinge of realism that a slice of life show like this needs to make it feel genuine. As a nice cherry on top of this show sundae, it has a delightful episode intro song that absolutely slaps.
Page 3: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and Mob Psycho 100 Season 2
2. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
What is it: As the saying goes, all is fair in love and war. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War takes that saying to the next level with the relationship between high schoolers Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane. Kaguya comes from a world of wealth and privilege that has led her to the best school in Japan and a seat as vice president of the student council. Meanwhile, Miyuki comes from poverty and worked his way up to the school via his academic achievements and discipline. The friction between the two eventually blossoms into something more.
Hopelessly smitten with one another, they begin to scheme. Unfortunately, both Kaguya and Miyuki have developed a perspective on love where the one who admits feelings first gives up their power. To confess their love would be to lose the respect of the other, so the two begin a war of small words and actions all designed to get the other to admit their true feelings. The scenarios they put one another through range from hilarious to incredibly sweet and some of them turn out to be incredibly complex. As the show slowly expands its cast of characters, more pawns are put into play for Kaguya and Miyuki to use in their games. Often these pawns get caught in the crossfire between the two in humorous ways. Chika in particular tends to insert herself between the two warring parties and inadvertently ruin one or the other’s plans by doing simple things like handing a friend in need a spare umbrella.
Why it’s great: It’s impossible to understate the incredible comedic execution of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. Every episode is laugh-out-loud funny as Kaguya and Miyuki spar each other in mental battles where they feel everything is riding on the line. The show visualizes these moments with all of the weight and importance a teenage would give them in the real world. A single stray word from one might send the other’s thoughts racing as they contemplate their next move, putting all of their heart and soul into the process. It’s in those moments where the show, for all of the exaggeration, nails the experience of liking someone but being too nervous to come right out and ask them on a date. Also, the James Bond-like intro for each episode of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War rules.
1. Mob Psycho 100 Season 2
What is it: Mob Psycho 100 tells the story of middle schooler Shigeo Kageyama who goes by the nickname Mob. Though seemingly an ordinary kid excelling at nothing in particular and looking as nondescript as possible, Mob possesses extraordinary psychic abilities that explode when he can no longer control his emotions. He’s able to see spirits and exorcise them, a talent he puts to use in the service of Arataka Reigen, self-professed psychic master and con man who lacks any psychic ability whatsoever. Mob’s journey through the first season largely brought him to the conclusion that he needed to improve himself and change without the use of his awesome abilities.
The second season, then, is where we learn how Mob has changed and grown. A major arc halfway through the course of the show deals with Reigen failing to recognize the growth Mob has worked so hard to cultivate. That failure damages and alters their relationship. There’s not quite as much psychic conflict in Mob Psycho 100 Season 2, sidelining battles in favor of quieter moments, like Mob reassembling an unlikely friend’s ripped up short story or Mob forgiving someone who has done nothing but act petty and cruel toward him.
Why it’s great: Mob Psycho 100 was already an all-time great in its first season. The writing and direction were top notch while also delivering a viewing experience that you just can’t get many other places. Animation styles ran the gamut from oil painting to watercolor to traditional animation. However, Mob Psycho 100 Season 2’s shift towards highlighting how Mob has developed with character-driven moments firmly solidifies its place in the pantheon of great anime. When Mob Psycho 100 Season 2 goes all out, it becomes awe-inspiringly beautiful in both its visuals and narrative. Mob’s enduring and believable kindness in the face of people who use and abuse him and the way the show presents that kindness with a purpose simultaneously breaks and mends your heart. Nothing this season has been so consistently surprising, rousing, and profoundly good as Mob Psycho 100 Season 2, so do yourself a favor and go watch it right now.
