Autumn 2019 Anime Awards

The end of the season is upon us (or rather, was upon us a little while ago), so once again I shall be taking a look back at the stuff I enjoyed most from the anime I have watched over the past few months.
Ask me to sum up the autumn 2019 season of anime in one word, and I shall opt for ‘delays’. This season might have been subject to the most delays I’ve ever experience from a single season of anime, but most shows did manage to reach a conclusion in the end. In the spirit of delays, this post ended up being delayed as well.
Anyways, here’s the list of the shows I watched during the autumn 2019 season of anime:

• After School Dice Club
• Aikatsu on Parade!
• Azur Lane
• BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS
• Chidori RSC
• Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!
• GRANBLUE FANTASY: The Animation Season 2
• Kandagawa Jet Girls
• My Hero Academia Season 4
• Null & Peta
• One Piece
• Star ☆ Twinkle PreCure
• Z/X: Code Reunion

There’ll potentially be spoilers for any of the shows listed above.
Best Opening Theme
“Smile Skill = Suki Skill!” by Akaki Chikai

The opening theme for Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! is particularly notable for a rather catchy refrain that runs throughout the song. The animation that goes along with that in the opening credits is also pretty cute, too.
Runners-up: “Stay With Me” by Seven Billion Dots (GRANBLUE FANTASY: The Animation Season 2); “BULLET MERMAID” by Rin Namiki & Misa Aoi (Kandagawa Jet Girls)

Best Plot
Null & Peta
At first glance, Null & Peta is just a cute series of shorts about a genius girl and her robot sister (or something along those lines). However, there are hints dropped that something is not quite right, and the way in which it was done reminded a lot of Kemono Friends.
Runners-up: Jet racing (Kandagawa Jet Girls); An average girl being an average hunter (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!)

Best Protagonist
MileJust a totally average girl, with totally average abilities. Naturally, none of that is actually true, but there is a lot of joy to be had from watching Mile just try to act average. It never goes well for her. She’s also full of references, which always go over the heads of the other members of the Crimson Vow.
Runners-up: Hikari Kokura (Chidori RSC); Rin Namiki (Kandagawa Jet Girls)

Best Antagonist
Kaido
Looks like I’ll have to turn to the shonen anime for this one, and this season saw Kaido come face to face with Luffy in One Piece. Kaido, one of the emperors of the sea, and supposedly invincible. That’s not bravado; his appearance in Okobore Town demonstrates just how fearsome he is.
Runners-up: Urashiki Otsutsuki (BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS); Kai Chisaki (My Hero Academia Season 4)

Best Female Character
Hikari Kokura
As ever, plenty great female characters in the shows I chose to watch this season. Hikari is just one of many, but it was an utter delight to watch her. Easily one of the most fun characters of this season.
Runners-up: Rin Namiki (Kandagawa Jet Girls); Mile (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!)

Best Male Character
Mirio Togata
Miro Togata, or Lemillion, to give him his hero name, has a Quirk that allows him to pass through solid objects – which means he is the first to reach the objective on a rescue mission. He never wavers as a hero, even when his back is against the wall.
Runners-up: Jiraiya (BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT); Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

Best Cast of Characters
Chidori Rifle Shooting Club and rivals
The girls in Chidori RSC are just a fun group of characters who brought a smile to my face with every new episode. Then they started competing on a national level, which meant we were introduced to even more rifle athletes – and they all continued to be just as fun.
Runners-up: The Crimson Vow (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!); Jet Girls (Kandagawa Jet Girls)

Cutest Character
Unicorn
This could have probably gone to any of the smaller ships in Azur Lane, but Unicorn happens to be one who gets to appear a little more – and I might have a bias towards the girls based on British ships. Regardless, she’s cute.
Runners-up: Null (Null & Peta); Eri (My Hero Academia Season 4)

Most Badass Character
Mile
A totally average hunter with totally average abilities, I swear. Of course, that’s not actually true, and her true strength tends to come to the fore more often then she intends. Then there is what happens when she gets angry…
Runners-up: Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia 4th Season); Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

Best Couple
Rin Namiki & Misa Aoi
The relationship between these two girls is the focal point of Kandagawa Jet Girls, and we see their affection for each other develop over the course of the series.
Runners-up: Azumi & Rigel (Z/X: Code Reunion); Hikari Kokura & Izumi Shibusawa (Chidori RSC)

Best Battle
Luffy vs. Kaido
Luffy just watched Kaido seemingly obliterate most of his crew, so there was no way he was just going to sit around. Luffy’s confrontation with Kaido sees Luffy pull out some of his most powerful techniques, but Kaido is considered immortal. A very impressive battle.
Runners-up: Katalina vs. Vira (GRANBLUE FANTASY: The Animation Season 2); Boruto, Naruto & Jiraiya vs. Urashiki (BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS)

Best Soundtrack
Aikatsu on Parade!
This show is simply about celebrating all things Aikatsu, and that includes the various songs that have come out of it over the years. We have the newer stuff from Friends!, but also older songs from the original Aikatsu and Stars.
Runners-up: Kandagawa Jet Girls; Chidori RSC

Best Finale
Kandagawa Cup Final
Of course, it is only fitting that Kandagawa Jet Girls ends with a race featuring the six teams we met throughout the season. There is some impressive Jetting and Shooting on display here. Just as important as the race is the pay-off of Rin and Misa’s developing relationship over the show.
Runners-up: Mile takes on an elder dragon (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!);

Best Ending Theme
“RIVALS” by Azusa Tadokoro

Any ending theme that encourages its listeners to “kick ass” is all right by me – and in English, no less. Also happens to be a very good match for Kandagawa Jet Girls, given the competitive nature of the sport it focuses on. The video embedded above is the music video for the full version of the song.
Runners-up: “Wish on” by LONGMAN (BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS); “Yuuyake Friend” by Rifling 4 (Chidori RSC)

Best Anime
Kandagawa Jet Girls
What a blast this show was, and that comes down to it actually being about the blossoming relationship between Rin and Misa. The jet racing is fun as well, and there are plenty of fun characters.
Runners-up: Chidori RSC; Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!

There we have it. Somehow, we managed to make it through the autumn season of anime, despite many delays. OK, I’m still waiting for the finale of Chidori RSC and the last couple of episodes of Azur Lane at the time of writing, but for the most part it is done.

Let’s do this again at the end of the winter 2020 anime season.