Fall 2019 – Week 2 in Review

Alright folks, we’ve got a ton of anime to discuss and not nearly enough time, so let’s get to work. In addition to catching up on all the second episodes I missed due to preview week’s never-ending nature, I also spent much of the last week tying up various loose ends from the summer season. I spammed through what remained of Vinland Saga, have nearly caught up on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, concluded Carole & Tuesday, and swore a blood oath to catch up on O Maidens at the first possible opportunity. With only a single season left in the anime year, it’s time to start thinking about 2019’s best shows, and that discussion kinda demands actually having watched the year’s best shows in the first place.

Meanwhile, the fall season itself is proving to be full of treasures, packed with strong continuing productions, excellent sequels, and some genuinely stunning new productions. Both Blade of the Immortal and Stars Align have immediately established themselves as top shelf 2019 productions, while steady favorites like Legends of the Galactic Heroes and Chihayafuru remain as compelling as ever. It’s a genuinely kickass anime season, and I’ve got a heck of a lot to talk about. Let’s break down the concluding stars of summer, and the new favorites of the fall season!

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Fall 2019 – Virtually Every First Episode Retrospective

Hello folks, and welcome to hell. Having fought my way through nearly every premiere of the fall season, I’ve weathered injustices and disappointments both familiar and entirely new, all to bring you the freshest possible anime delicacies. There were a huge number of new releases this fall season, but with so many of the season’s high-profile shows being sequels, separating the strongest newcomers from the pack seemed even more arduous than usual. I succeeded, though, and I return to you with arms full of alluring new cartoons. Additionally, many of the shows that are either continuing into the fall or commencing new sequels are also really darn good – if you’re not current on them, I’d highly recommend supplementing your viewing schedule with something like Vinland Saga, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, or Chihayafuru.

As usual, I wrote full length reviews for all of the premieres I’ll be summarizing here, which you can check out over at ANN’s preview guide. I’ll also be including links to each individual review below, as I run down the season’s new prospects from best to worst, and separate them into loose tiers of view-worthiness. Returning to help me define those tiers will be an array of representative Chaika gifs, because everybody loves Chaika and it’s easier to describe gifs than to write funny descriptions anyway. Without further ado, let’s break down the fresh premieres of the fall anime season!

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Fall 2019 Season Preview

You folks enjoying this summer season? ME NEITHER. FUCK this summer season, we deserve better than this, we’re throwing it out and starting over.

Seriously though, this summer season’s actually been pretty great, but time’s cruel grinding of gears creaks ever onward. With only three weeks left in our current season, it’s time once more to turn our gaze forward, as we examine the approaching highlights of the fall season. Some anime seasons are defined either by larger-than-life creators or ambitious new productions, but for Fall 2019, the biggest stories for me are a pair of long-awaited sequels. My Hero Academia’s fourth season will finally be arriving, and even more importantly, friggin’ Chihayafuru is at last getting its third season! Chihayafuru is one of my absolute favorite recent anime, and having never gotten the chance to watch it as it was airing, I’m absolutely thrilled to experience season three alongside all of you.

Those two shows are likely the biggest stories, but as always, there are plenty of other properties with strong potential or talented creators attached, and every season ends up offering some welcome surprises (like the excellence of this summer’s Granbelm). Per usual, I won’t be summarizing every single upcoming show here – you can check out a site like anichart for something like that. Instead, I’ll just be highlighting the shows that actually catch my attention, with an explanation of what element of their production team or source material or whatnot caught my eye. Without further ado, let’s preview the top prospects of the upcoming season!

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