Aw shit you guys, the season’s over! It was all epic conclusions and goodbyes this week, as everything from Kemurikusa to Run with the Wind turned in their final assignments. The strengths or weaknesses of those final episodes were as diverse as the shows themselves; Kemurikusa attempted to switch gears for a genuine action spectacle, The Magnificent Kotobuki decided to hone in on all the things it does best, and Mob Psycho balanced its absurd animation feats with a lengthy and well-deserved epilogue. It’s been a pretty excellent anime season, and though some shows have had their ups and downs, I’m still astonished that both Mob Psycho and Run with the Wind were as consistently terrific as they turned out to be. Let’s run it all down in one last Winter 2019 Week in Review!

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Closing time is approaching, friends. With only one real week left in the winter season, all my seasonal contenders were wrapping things up for the endgame this week, offering a mix of climactic battles and shocking reveals and various other animated delights. The Magnificent Kotobuki sent like five hundred goddamn planes into the air to blow each other up, while Kemurikusa finally unveiled the true nature of its world, and Run with the Wind simply maintained its signature excellence. It was a week of winter 2019, in short, and I’m happy to move beyond the general vagueries and get down to the details with you all. Let’s run down one more week in anime!

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This was not the greatest week in anime, I am afraid to report. All the shows I’m watching that are apparently capable of weaker episodes ended up producing one, with JoJo in particular offering what was almost certainly the worst Golden Wind episode so far. Fortunately, even if all the stragglers faltered this week, both Mob Psycho 100 and Run with the Wind excelled with their usual grace, offering an encouraging counterpoint to their so-so compatriots. Pretty cool that for this season, even a particularly lousy week of anime still offers some of the best spectacles of the year!

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We’re arriving at the turn, folks! With the season nearly three quarters done, we’ve reached that brief sequence of around two weeks where it feels like every story I’m following is catching fire at once. As reliable as verse-chorus-verse-chorus, stories tend to put their characters through the toughest ringer at around the three-quarters mark, all leading into the triumphant rise towards the final conflict. Whether it’s Run with the Wind’s Hakoden trials, Mob’s Claw attack, or Kemurikusa’s final journey into the fog, our heroes are currently suffering through that ringer, and doing their best to entertain us all the while. Let’s celebrate their journeys as we run down one more week in anime!

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As we enter the second half of winter, this season’s diverse anime titans only continue to impress me. I actually don’t really know if there’s anything I’m missing – I normally desire a pretty balanced mix of fantasy/action, thematically rich stuff to dig into, and psychologically compelling character drama, and this season is offering all of that in spades. To be honest, even if nothing were airing but Mob Psycho 100, this season would still be filling out all those categories with ease. Basically the only category I care for that it doesn’t shine in is “goofy, warm-hearted palate cleanser,” and as it just so happens, this season also features a Tsutomu Mizushima show. The anime is fun, the anime is great, I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing me stretch for preamble. Let’s dispense with the formalities then, and get right to breaking down another week in anime!

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Well folks, we’ve finally arrived at the winter season’s halfway point. Last year’s winter season turned out to be that year’s best by far, and though I don’t think this year is quite measuring up to that standard, it’s still been a terrific season by any metric. The crown jewel of the season is clearly Mob Psycho 100, which has actually improved substantially from its already-terrific first season, but we’ve got great continuing shows, great anime-originals, and a pretty diverse genre distribution on the whole. For better or for worse, the age of CG has arrived, and though shows like Kotobuki and Kemurikusa aren’t necessarily the most visually impressive, they’ve consistently demonstrated that fundamentally strong storytelling always shines through. I’ve personally fallen off The Promised Neverland for the moment, but that’s not really a knock on its quality – its production just seems pretty specifically aimed at new viewers, with its focus on cliffhangers over atmosphere making it a little slow for someone who’s already experienced this story. And with JoJo powering through one of its strongest segments altogether, I’m basically guaranteed that any given week in anime will at the very least not be boring. It’s a bumper crop this year, and I’m happy to take stock of the highlights so far. Let’s get to it!

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Terrific news, everyone – the anime wasn’t universally great this week, and so for once, I actually have something to talk about in this opening blurb. It’s frankly gotten harder and harder to come up with new ways to say “these cartoons kick ass, everything is awesome” every week, so I’m grateful for a little inspiration courtesy of this week’s contenders. While Run with the Wind and Kemurikusa pulled off a pair of their strongest episodes yet, Mob Psycho took a narrative turn that seemed weirdly out of sync with its prior material, and The Magnificent Kotobuki basically coasted on its fundamental strengths. Neither of those are particularly serious Anime Crimes, but in a season that features three of my favorite directors and JoJo besides, I’m going to take whatever quibbles I can get. Let’s get on with the grumping then, as we run down another week in anime!

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