Welcome weebs, otaku, and fans alike, to the 2020 You Can’t Know Anime Awards! On this special Otaku Thursday, we’re going to be bringing you our favorites from a rather unfavorable year! This year has been a tumultuous one in all aspects–from real life events, to anime getting pushed back and delayed, to somewhat lackluster anime seasons. But there were still good ones–some that you would call–gems in the mix, and today we’re here to highlight some of the best, some of the worst, and some that we just can’t get out of our minds!
So here’s to the YCK 2020 Anime Awards! — (Brought to you by Sohma men–ruining expectations for all men since 1999).
Not sponsored but wishing we were sponsored by: Webtoons and Crunchyroll
IT’S TIME TO D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL.
2020 Anime Awards – The You Can’t Know Edition
Best Drama anime: Somali to Mori no Kamisama
Nominations: Runway de Waratte, Sing Yesterday for me, Somali to Mori no Kamisama, Arte, Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei
Best Multi-Seasonal anime: Great Pretender
Nominations: Great Pretender, Fruits Basket season 2, Digimon Psi, Haikyuu!! To the Top, Fire Force season 2
Best Slice-of-Life anime: Kakushigoto
Nominations: Kakushigoto, Maujo de Oyasumi, Houkago Teibou Nisshi, Heya Camp, Koisuru Asteroid
Best Comedy anime: Ishuzoku Reviewers
Nominations: Ishuzoku Reviewers, Kaguya-sama: Love is War! season 2, My next life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Wave, Listen to me!
Best Action anime: Jujutsu Kaisen
Nominations: Dorohedoro, Tower of God, God of High School, Deca-Dence, Gleipner, Jujutsu Kaisen, Akudama Drive
Best Romance anime: Fruits Basket season 2
Nominations: Fruits Basket season 2, Adachi to Shimamura, Tonikau Kawaii, Uzaki-chan wa Asobatai!
Best Psychological anime: ID: Invaded
Nominations: Pet, Higurashi no Naka Koro ni Gou, Munou no Nana, ID: Invaded, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden
Best Sports anime: Haikyuu!! To the Top
Nominations: Haikyuu!! To the Top, Major 2nd, Taisou Zamurai, Appare-Ranman!
Best Sci-Fi anime: Deca-Dence
Nominations: Darwin’s Game, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T, Deca-Dence, No Guns Life 2nd season
Best Historical anime: Arte
Nominations: Arte, Yuukoku no Moriarty, Appare Ranman
Best Supernatural anime: Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun
Nominations: Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Burn the Witch!, Kyokou Suiri, Jujutsu Kaisen
Best continuing series: Kaguya-Sama: Love is War! season 2
Nominations: Haikyuu!! To the top, Fruits Basket season 2, Kaguya-Sama: Love is War! season 2, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season, My teen romantic comedy SNAFU Climax, Kingdom season 3, Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara
Breakout anime of the year: Great Pretender
Nominations: ID: Invaded, Akudama Drive, Millionaire Detective, Great Pretender, Deca-Dence, BNA
Best spinoff/sequel: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon
Nominations: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, Digimon Psi, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou
Better than I expected award: Yuukoku no Moriarty
Nominations: Arte, Yuukoku no Moriarty, Noblesse, Wave, Listen to me!, Gleipner, Akudama Drive, Kakushigoto, Runway de Waratte
Best Animation: Akudama Drive
Nominations: Appare-Ranman!, Pet, Burn the Witch, Akudama Drive, Sword Art Online
Best boy: Khun (Tower of God)
Nominations: Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun), Ikuto (Runway de Waratte), Hatsuharu (Fruits Basket season 2), Khun (Tower of God), Appare (Appare-Ranman!)
Best girl: Hime (Kakushigoto)
Nominations: Arte (Arte), Hime (Kakushigoto), Chiyuki (Runway de Waratte), Natsume (Deca-Dence), Rei (Taisou Zamurai)
Best couple: Adachi & Shimamura (Adachi and Shimamura)
Nominations: Iska & Alice (Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World), Adachi & Shimamura (Adachi and Shimamura), Yukino & Hachiman (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Climax), Rin & Hatsuharu (Fruits Basket)
Best Duo: Ikuto & Chiyuki (Runway de Waratte)
Nominations: Kambe & Kato (Millionaire Detective – Balance: Unlimited), Ikuto & Chiyuki (Runway de Waratte), Sherlock & Watson (Yuukoku no Moriarty), Appare & Kosame (Appare-Ranman!), Natsume & Kaburagi (Deca-Dence), Ninny & Noel (Burn the Witch), Richard & Seigi (The Case Files of Jeweler Richard)
Best Villain: Nana (Munou no Nana)
Nominations: Moriarty (Yuukoku no Moriarty), Sukuna (Jujutsu Kaisen), Akito (Fruits Basket season 2), Black Cat (Akudama Drive), Nana (Munou no Nana)
Best Hero: Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Nominations: Sherlock (Yuukoku no Moriarty), Eliana (Wandering Witch), Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen), Shirou (BNA), Tai (Digimon Psi)
Best Sound Mixing: Millionaire Detective-Balance: Unlimited
Nominations: Appare-Ranman!, Taisou Zamurai, Millionaire Detective- Balance: Unlimited, Wave, Listen to me!, Kaguya-sama: Love is War! season 2
Best OST: Fruits Basket season 2
Nominations: Jujutsu Kaisen, Arte, Appare-Ranman!, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, Fruits Basket season 2, Listeners, Taisou Zamurai
Worst anime of the year: Plunderer
Best Old Dude: Billy Banx Jr. (Burn the Witch)
Best cinematic direction: Twittering Birds Never Fly (movie)
Guilty Pleasure anime: Millionaire Detective- Balance: Unlimited
Luna’s Personal Favorite: Taisou Zamurai
Refreshingly unique anime: Dorohedoro
Studio of the Year:
A moment of silence for the dearly delayed:
SAO season 3 original air date, Boruto, The Promised Neverland season 2, Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon’s Judgment, Digimon Adventure: Last Kizuna U.S. premier, Given the movie, Violet Evergarden movie, Love me, Love me Not movie, The Misfit of Demon Academy, Millionaire Detective-Balance: Unlimited, Digimon Psi, A Certain Scientific Railgun T, Black Clover, No Guns Life, Appare-Ranman!, Akudama Drive, Re: Zero season 2, Log Horizon, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh! sevens, Major 2nd, and many many more. Thank goodness we still got almost all of these in 2020.
In Memoria:
Itadori’s grandpa, Itadori (jk he comes back), Junpei, Natsume’s dad, Arte’s dad, all the people Nana killed, Bercouli, all the deaths in Akudama Drive, Selena (Wandering Witch), Sakaido’s wife & daughter, Fukuda (ID: Invaded), Jou’s wife, and many more I’ve certainly missed.
Funniest scene: Shoujo Vision (Kaguya-sama: Love is War! season 2)
Best Fight: Bercouli vs. Dark God Vecta (Sword Art Online Alicization: War of the Underworld)
Most heartbreaking scene: Kureno’s Curse (Fruits Basket season 2)
Best Anime Opening: “I got it!” by Mia REGINA (Appare-Ranman!)
Best Anime Ending: “Ame to Taieki to Nioi” by Mili (Gleipner)
Best Anime of Winter 2020: ID: Invaded
Best Anime of Spring 2020: Tower of God
Best Anime of Summer 2020: Fruits Basket season 2
Best Anime of Fall 2020: Yuukoku no Moriarty
Anime of the Year:
As always, for anime of the year I am taking into consideration all four of our seasonal favorites, but also nominating four extra anime from the year that I simply didn’t get to watch in the season they aired, or believed were good enough to give a second thought to. For anime of the year I look at artwork, direction, story, characters, popularity, OST, originality, and overall appearance. I carefully consider each anime to see which one exemplifies outstanding anime qualities. This year our nominations were:
ID: Invaded, Tower of God, Fruits Basket season 2, Yuukoku no Moriarty, Appare-Ranman!, Great Pretender, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Kakushigoto
And this year’s best anime of 2020, the anime that stood out above the rest and shined like a diamond amidst all the other for this year is…
(Written by Ryota Kosawa, Illustrated by Daichi Marui, Directed by Hiro Kaburagi, Produced by Song Jingzhou, Masaya Saito, & Noriko Ozaki, Music by Yutaka Yamada, a Wit Studio production)
Thanks so much for sticking with the blog for 2020! I can’t wait to get into 2021 anime and hope you all join us for what will surely be an amazing year of anime.
Stay weebtastic,
xoxo
Luna
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