If you haven’t already jumped on the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure train then it’s finally the time to make the plunge, especially with it turning into a mainstay on Adult Swim’s Toonami block. Each season/series of the show looks at a different generation of the Joestar lineage as fantastical battles take place that mix with addictive storytelling in a way where that’s purely unique.
It honestly feels like “JoJo” should be a genre on its own. The latest season, Golden Wind, moves the story to Italy and focuses on Giorno Giovanna as he infiltrates a dangerous gang with hopes to reform it from the inside out. Golden Wind’s story goes to much crazier places than mere gang reform and it makes for one of the most surprising and satisfying seasons of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The characters are memorable, their stands and special abilities don’t disappoint, and the animation and music continues to play by their own rules. Watch this “torture dance” and you’ll instantly be hooked.
Vinland Saga
What’s It Like?: Game of Thrones meets Boyhood
Where Can I Watch It?: Amazon Prime Video (Sub only)
Vinland Saga is the type of anime that’s pure bliss for not just fans of brutal action, but also of historical dramas. The anime is set during the height of conflict between warring Viking nations and the series does not hold back from the violent nature of these battles. The anime centers on Thorfinn, a child who is forced to come of age during this conflict after his father meets his end courtesy of the enemy. What follows is an impressive look into Thorfinn’s gradual evolution into a warrior as he matures. It’s a grueling saga that’s both epic and personal and Vinland Saga manages to make its antagonist, Askeladd, just as compelling as Thorfinn and a complex anti-hero in his own right. With all 24 episodes now available, it’s the perfect series for anime fans who want something a little more adult.
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
What’s It Like? Frasier meets The Big Bang Theory
Where Can I Watch It? Crunchyroll (Sub and Dub)
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It is a love story between two incredibly dry scientists who get more out of scientific formulas than they do from human interactions. However, their worlds are rocked when evidence suggests that they’re in love with each other. The anime gets clinical and analytical over something as instinctual and emotional as love. It reduces relationships and romance to empirical evidence, hypotheses, and statistics. It’s an incredibly unusual way to deconstruct something like love, but these characters are so well defined in their staunch scientific natures that it’s the perfect juxtaposition of extremes. In spite of how these two characters realize that they’re in love with each other, they’re less excited over that discovery than they are over the fact that something as nebulous as love can be reduced to numbers and science.
Even though the show’s two central characters are so similar and are equally caught up in their sterile natures, there are still outside perspectives from other characters who help properly put their ridiculous experiments into context and get more mileage out of these characters’ extreme personality types. The two are extremely intelligent, but their commitment to science continually causes them to miss the simple answers that love provides. Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It isn’t just a unique spin on romance anime, but it’s also incredibly funny and properly understands how to get the most comedy out of the absurdity of the show’s premise.
Honorable Mentions: Fire Force, Carole and Tuesday, ID: Invaded, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, My Hero Academia Season 4