The (other) anime of the year
A little addendum to a big list.
by Kambole Campbell
In December last year (or rather, last month), my yearly anime round-up for Vulture was published in full. Picking a top ten is always a little brutal and the timing of publication makes it so that there's always a handful of things that slip through the cracks. Such is the way of things, but as my lovely editor Eric Vilas-Boas pointed out: I have a newsletter now, and I can exploit such a thing! These are a couple of the blurbs which I couldn't include in the final piece, plus a new one I wrote up following a more recent release which snuck in on the literal last day of the year – but it's also one of my favorite series, so I refuse to leave it out. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Stairway to Adulthood
Likely the best anime rom-com in recent memory, Kaguya-sama: Love is War began by subverting a battle of the sexes premise by making it a symptom of thinly veiled insecurity by both parties. That premise has since evolved: Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane finally swallowed their pride and confessed their love in the third season, and a subsequent film then saw them navigating the emotional maze of relationships. This new two-part special released on Crunchyroll on December 31, so well after the publishing of the end-of-year list, but it's delightful enough to deserve a little spotlight.
Told through the framing device of a little box of memories held by Kaguya – presumably setup for the upcoming movie which will likely conclude the series – it's a bunch of stories from the early days of Kaguya and Miyuki dating. It remains hysterically funny even while leaving room for earnest (and very nervous) romance where both parties are trying to figure out the rules of engagement while also racing against the clock. Its vignettes are told with manic energy, tempered by laser precise timing as well as a canniness about living through a digital age. It's not made with the lavishness of, say, a CITY the Animation, but that is balanced out by incredibly sharp direction and well-placed homages to pop culture history as well as its contemporaries – like characters suddenly turning into figures from Uzumaki when confronted by surprise, for one wild example.
It's a fun way to fit in little stories which didn't fit into the rhythm of the previous movie and season, and a joy to check in with these characters and their supporting cast once more (like how Miyuki's father mixes almost textbook perfect understanding of his children with bizarre antics and the voice of Dio from Jojo). It's a little bittersweet to see one of anime's finest comedies beginning to wind down, but also exciting to see the drastic departure it's taking from its source material on the way to its ending, while staying true to its spirit.
Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26
The work of Tatsuki Fujimoto has hit stratospheric popularity over the past few years, with the adaptation of Chainsaw Man opening doors to other more esoteric work by the manga artist. First was 2024's heartbreaking Look Back, now the anthology Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26, where different directors and studios adapt short stories written between the ages listed in the title. It's a fascinating project, one which in places feeds back the stylings of something like Chainsaw Man into older stories, but also goes beyond the familiar. The production often smooths over the kind of flaws expected from such early writing, and elevates some to a point beyond mere curiosities for those interested in how his embrace of certain themes has evolved over time.
Spy X Family Season 3
An obvious choice perhaps, but props have to be given to how Spy X Family has embraced rather classic sensibilities. It's almost reached Lupin III-levels of existing in a frame that allows it to hit familiar episodic beats without feeling repetitive, Spy X Family begins to raise the emotional stakes incrementally – namely through its exploration of the stoic spy Loid's past as well as an arc that puts Anya in perhaps the most threatening peril so far. Still incredibly funny, and wonderfully produced.
/out of frame
🐀 Kambole: Not much animation other than work stuff at the moment, but games are animated, so: I've been playing through A Plague Tale: Innocence while I wait for another game order to arrive. I've been more taken with it than I anticipated, even as it strays into the territory of Medieval French Last of Us. That could be through how you direct companions to open doors and whatever for you while fending off an apocalyptic virus and cruel humans making power grabs amidst the chaos, all orbiting a rather paternal bond (here a girl and her baby brother, rather than a grizzled smuggler and his cargo). The millions upon millions of rats is rather delightfully horrifying and weird, though.
🏃 Rollin: It's Awesome Games Done Quick week! I'm just getting back to work this week, so I've not done much beyond prep for that, but the regular speedrunning competition is a highlight whenever it's on and I can't recommend it enough. You don't even need to know the games being run to enjoy it; in fact, I might recommend watching ones you don't.