For someone who delights animes and watches a lot in every season, it’s a little hard to choose only three and put them in rank, but I think I made it without regrets (or not). Especially because in this list are not include the continuing animes, like “Boku no Hero 4th Season” and “Nanatsu no Taizai: Kamigami no Gekirin” (these two were very amazing).

Anyway, it’s just a personal opinion, but the top three best new animes from last season were:

N. 3 – Somali to Mori no Kamisama
(ソマリと森の神様)

Synopsis: A little girl called Somali and your “father” Golem set out on a journey to search for other humans besides Somali, although humans are considered extinct in this world. The detail is the Golem’s life is close to the end.

Just watching the trailer, this anime drew attention with the exceptional beauty in all characters’ traits and the sceneries (the cruelty of seeing Somali chained and lost in the forest early in the anime also draws attention). Although the narrative is about a fantastic world with magical creatures, there is a certain drama, a complex quest and adventures in slow steps, enough to contemplate the beautiful art.

These styles are very similar to Ghibli’s movies, Makoto Shinkai’s movies, and others, where is an emphatic application of the Japanese concept called Ma. Just out of curiosity, this concept is about the reflection of the time, space and void. In a few words, Ma is an empty space, an interval of contemplation, which is important in our daily lives.

At first, “Somali to Mori no Kamisama” seems to be just a very relaxed anime, but the characters go through increasingly difficult challenges and they develop more and more, making us reflect on the decisions they made and what decisions we would make if we were in their place.

Initially, Somali is just a little cute girl, energetic, curious and funny, that loves your father most over anything. But throughout history she grows up and learns about life, maintaining her gentle and sweet characteristics. And the Golem, who knows about a lot of things, realizes he has a lot more to learn to take care better of Somali. It’s lovely to see them together on their adventures and hope that everything goes well.

If you like fantasy animes with magical creatures, beautiful scenery and well-designed characters with a touch of adventure, even with slow steps, then you will like “Somali to Mori no Kamisama”. Among the anime that I know and that most resemble Somali is “Udon no Kuni no Kin’iro Kemari”, but it is not the same. If you know and like “Natsume Yuujinchou” or “Mahou Tsukai no Yome”, you will probably also like Somali.

The cons: (1) the trailers are very revealing; (2) “Somali to Mori no Kamisama” Season 2 release date depends on the manga creator, because the anime end in volume 6 of the manga (the last published) and apparently only one or two volumes come out per year; and (3) in some episodes, there are times when the characters get too emotional and cry a lot (great seiyuus work), enough that the people in my house thought that I or someone was feeling bad. That was funny to me.

See the official trailer:

 

N. 2 – Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu, or simply Bofuri
(痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います)

Synopsis: Kaede starts playing the game ’New World Online’, after being encouraged by her best friend Risa, and creates the character Maple, adding all the status points only in VIT (Vitality), in another word, “Defense”.

For anyone who enjoys an RPG, adding all the status points just in VIT sounds crazy. What can you do with this? That’s the fun part of Bofuri. The name of the anime itself is hilarious “I don’t want to get hurt, so I’ll max out my defense”. Even Maple focus only on defense it is impressive what she can do in the first event of the game, a PVP. Watch the trailer and you’ll be curious how did she can do that. Anything else will be a spoiler.

Of course, everything is a great utopia, but it is very fun to imagine if we were as lucky as she was in a game, with the same infinite possibilities (that reminds me of the anime slogan Infinite Dendrogram is “the possibilities are endless”, however Maple seems to overcome it). And when we think “there is no way she can be more incredible”, than the anime deceives us. This is a very relaxed anime to laugh and have fun in a universe without evil and neither ecchi.

I think the anime most resemble Bofuri’s story is a mix with the “Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari” and the “Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken”. However, these both animes are in the isekai category and there isn’t the same intrigue as the RPG animes with the character stuck in the game, like “SAO”, “No Game No Life” and “Log Horizon”. And the Bofuri’s cute characters call to mind the “.hack//Legend of the Twilight” (with less SD), if I’m not forgetting some other.

The cons: (1) everything seems too perfect to be true and only Maple seems to get the most amazing skills; (2) I wish the other characters had more prominence in history and managed to surprise us more; (3) the story focused more on the events of the game, but it would be nice if they had more fights with the spawned bosses because they were very good.

The good news is the season 2 has already been announced!

See an official PV:

 

 

 

runway-1

N. 1 – Runway de Waratte
(ランウェイで笑って)

Synopsis: the story is about how two students will turn a top model and a top fashion designer, although they both face many unfavorable conditions such as the non-ideal appearance, financial and familiar problems.

This slice of life anime has all the elements for an attention-grabbing story and has two protagonists, creating a diversity in a well-harmonized history. With delicate strokes and light humor, the story takes us to the fashion world (on the side of models and the fashion designers) and seems to approach reality, considering the challenges faced by young people, the stressful working conditions, competition, the demands, and the deadlines.

Starting the anime with the traditional “this is the story of how I became a top model/fashion designer”, little by little you will be involved by the innovative and unexpectedly exciting storyline. No matter how big the obstacles may sound like, the story focuses on the character’s features, capable of surpassing any difficulty in reaching dreams.

This is a story about achievement and success, so nothing better than enjoying the “journey” before the “destination”. Just look bellow at the first outfit made by Tsumura Ikuto and worn by model Fujito Chiyuki that you will be enchanted enough to want to see what else they are capable of doing and after you will get more excited to see some fashion shows.

Untitled

With such a creative history, it’s hard to make references to other anime, but about the fashion context we have “Paradise Kiss”. For me, the competitiveness and creativity in overcoming challenges remind me of “Shokugeki no Souma” (culinary). And thinking about the originality of the story keeping the ‘slice of life’ style (without magic, superpowers, yokai, etc), reminds me of “3 Gatsu no Lion” (shogi), “Barakamon” (shodo), “Yuru Camp” (camp), and I think you’ll remember some other animes.

The cons: I don’t have 🙂

See a official PV:

 

 

Extra

The last season we have other goods animes, with a well rating and very popular, like “Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!”, “Id:Invaded”, and others, but I liked more those 3 animes chosen above.

And “where’re the MagiReco? Yes, it’s hard to say, but the “Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden” is the N. 4 for me, because I really love Madoka. I was so anxious to watch the MagiReco a long time ago and, in the end, I liked, but not like the first Madoka in 2011 (difficult task for Madoka’s fans), but I’m sure the 2nd Season will be more interesting.