It’s no surprise that Anime, like everything else in the
world, has taken a massive blow thanks to the impact of the global pandemic
still going on around the world. The
entertainment industry as a whole is in a strange state with countless films
and tv shows being delayed or sent straight to streaming. And yet, while we continue to weather the
storm, plans are being made to get back to work when the world is in a safer
state. This goes double for the Anime Industry. There have been a mix of delays along with
announcements of projects still forthcoming in 2020 and it feels right to go over
five of them today. So, please enjoy my Top
5 Forthcoming Anime Projects in 2020 and 2021 and know that when we establish
the new normal post pandemic, we’ll all have something to look forward to.
#5-Attack on Titan Season 4-The Final Season
It shocked the hell out of me to hear about that end of
Season 3 announcement for Attack on Titan.
Right now, it’s still confirmed that the forthcoming 4th Season
of the megahit Anime will be the last one.
Not sure if that means it’s caught up to the manga or if the manga
itself is ending but still, while it might not be in the Anime zeitgeist as it once
was with Season 1, when Season 4 airs, Attack on Titan is going to be a big
deal. There’s also the matter of the big
creative shakeups behind the scenes. Wit
Studio is handing animation reigns over to MAPPA Studios (Yuri on Ice) and Jun
Shishido and Yūichirō Hayashi are replacing Tetsurō Araki and Masashi Koizuka
as chief director and series director respectively amongst other major
changes. It’s a questionable move for
sure. But hey, while I haven’t been
watching it, I’ve heard Season 2 and 3 of the show have blown Season 1 out of
the water so there’s a chance the journey of Eren Jaeger and the Survery Corps
will finish strong.
#4-Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen
Train
Demon Slayer was the most talked about, breakout hit of
2019. Studio Ufotable brought it’s
action Anime magic to a Shonen Anime and somehow managed to take the Shonen
spotlight away from My Hero Academia and Boruto for a little bit. While we’re still waiting on confirmation of the
inevitable Second Season (hopefully the wait wont be Attack on Titan levels of
excruciating), we’ve got the direct theatrical follow up to Season One coming
right at us in October. Tanjiro, Nezuko,
Zenitsu and Inosuke team up with Hashira member Rengoku to investigate
disappearances on a train. Guess this
arc is short enough it could fit into a bridge movie between seasons. Still, Ufotable’s powers are not to be underestimated. If they can make TV shows look like big
budget movies, imagine what Tanjiro and crews feature film debut will look
like.
#3-Yashahime: Princess Half Demon
This one caught everyone off guard. A little more than 10 years after the
conclusion of Inuyasha: The Final Act, we’re returning to the Feudal Era for
what’s essentially Inuyasha: The Next Generation. The new quest will see the titular daughter
of Inuyasha and Kagome Higurashi teaming up with her cousins, Towa and Setsuna
the twin daughters of Inuyasha’s Brother Sesshomaru. Not only that but we’ll likely see the
descendants of the rest of Team Inuyasha joining in the fun too, we’ve already
gotten a good glimpse of who could be one of Miroku and Sango’s kids. While it’s been over a decade, the fact that Inuyasha
hype skyrocketed again as soon as this was announced shows just how much the
series still matters in the hearts of fans.
Personally, I never finished Inuyasha and I feel bad about that. But I’m def willing to give it’s follow up a
chance and depending on when and where I can watch it, you might get a First
Impression pretty quickly (since it’s airing on a Thursday I think).
#2-Untilted Free Sequel
It was such a different time back in 2018 when Free: Dive
to the Future hit the airwaves. After a season
of repairing fractured friendships and the boys of Iwatobi and Sumezuka getting
their asses kicked by the strongest opponents they’ve ever faced, we were given
the promise of following up the season with some kind of new story in 2020,
most likely to coincide with the 2020 Olympics in Japan. It really sucks to bring this up but between
the pandemic and the tragic arson attack on Kyoto Animations HQ last year,
there was likely no way whatever was planned would’ve happened on time
anyway. However, hope has been sparked
again. KyoAni is continuing to work strong
on all of its projects and Free is back in production. Is it a Movie or a 4th Season, I think
it’s the former actually. All I know is
that Haru, Rin and the boys are gonna hit the pool next summer for their biggest
challenge yet and it’ll be a return celebrated by all.
#1-Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon A Time
GOD FRAKING DAMMIT WE WERE THIS CLOSE!!! Ahem…sorry but the wait for this one has
become the stuff of legends. Originally,
the Rebuild of Evangelion Series had a ambitious but simple release schedule: Evangelion
1.0-September 2007; Evangelion 2.0-January 2018; and Evangelion 3.0 and
Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 back to back in Summer 2018. You Are (Not) Alone came out relatively on
time but You Can (Not) Advance didn’t arrive until 2009, followed 3 years later
by You Can (Not) Redo. It has been an
agonizing 8 year wait and were it not for the pandemic, the wait would have
been over back in June. Still, the grand
finale to Hideaki Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion series continues to be seen as
one of the most anticipated releases of all time. The series has had its ups and downs and even
Anno himself had to step back for a bit and go direct a dream Godzilla movie
before coming back to finish his tale.
The pressure is on and whether or not Thirce Upon A Time delivers or
not, it’s Neon Genesis Evangelion…we haven’t stopped talking about it for over
25 years and we’re not about to stop now.
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