One thing about the Japanese: they really love appreciating the changing of the seasons, and celebrate each by eating different seasonal foods and doing different representative activities for that time of year. Because many Japanese have only visited California, they often believe that Japan is the only country in the world that has four seasons, and will potentially stop a foreigner on the street and say something like, “How are you enjoying your time in Japan? And did you know that Japan has four distinct and differentiated seasons?” Seasons are important in anime, and since the final cour of 2020 starts soon, I thought I’d write a post about what J-List will be watching during the fall 2020 anime season!
Our Fall 2020 Anime Season Picks
The COVID-19 has placed stress on the anime industry, causing delays in some shows a re-shuffling of some schedules, but in the end, there’s still way too much anime for even the most dedicated fan to reasonably watch. That’s why I’ll do my best to watch as many of these series as I can and pick the ones that are worth your attention. Enjoy the J-List fall 2020 anime season preview!
Strike Witches 3
We hope you like sequels and continuations of past anime seasons because continuing seasons are going to define the current cour. One I’m extremely excited about is Strike Witches, the legendary anime from Fumikane Shimada that took WWII mecha and famous historical names from the conflict in Europe and remixed them into cute girls showing their panties while they do battle. We hope this season continues the dramatic writing and high quality of the first two Strike Witches series, which wasn’t quite there in Brave Witches for some reason.
Golden Kamuy 3rd Season
One of the freshest and most fun anime in years, Golden Kamuy is about a survivor of the 1905 Russo-Japan War nicknamed the Immortal Sugimoto who befriends an Ainu girl named Asirpa and learns many of their customs. Golden Kamuy has great storytelling, a clear goal (the Ainu gold all the characters are seeking), and an outstanding enemy (First Lieutenant Tsurumi, a soldier wounded so badly he has to strap a plate to his head to keep his brains from spilling out). Read my separate blog post about Golden Kamuy here.
When They Cry – New
I’m both excited at the project of an update to the classic psychological horror thriller and nervous that modernizing such a classic will somehow ruin the magic. But I’ll certainly be tuning in to this one!
Licensed by Funimation.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III
Sometimes anime studios can take so long to get the next season to you that it can be frustrating for fans. Other times we get the next seasons so quickly it can be hard to keep up. I’m sure a lot of will be enjoying more Hestia, Bell, and all the others very soon!
The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc
I’ve always loved the character designs of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, and will be following the new fall 2020 anime. Will you?
Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? 3
The anime that pretty much defined the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things genre, now we can get more cawfee vs. gween tea.
TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You:
It’s odd that I can get excited about an anime before I know anything about it at all, but somehow the emotions flowing from the official visual above have me thinking this will be a hit. It’s about a boy with the peculiar name of Nasa (星空 in kanji, meaning “starry sky”) who meets his future wife after a bizarre accident.
One Room 3rd Season
I’m a huge fan of Kantoku, which you can probably tell by the high number of his doujinshi and figures on J-List. The short series about the main character interacting with cute girls from his personal POV (making the main character in the series “us” basically) is charming and relaxing to watch, and J-List will be following the new season for sure!
Hang On! Climbing Girls
Where did the boom in rock climbing in anime come from? Suddenly we’re getting rock climbing scenes every season. I imagine this show will be something like the Harukana Receive of the sport, and naturally I’ll be tuning in.
Kamisama ni Natta Hi
What would you do if you were told that the world was going to end in 30 days before, until that time, you were God who could do anything you wanted? I’ll certainly check out The Day I Became a God by P.A. Works.
Assault Lily: Bouquet
I don’t even need to do any research on this show to guess the plot. The Earth is under attack by some terrible enemy, but don’t worry! A unit of Battle Maids has been trained at a special high school set up for that purpose, who will defend us. Also, Battle Maids is my favorite word for today.
Yuukoku no Moriarty
I guess the genre of bunkei anime (stories for fans interested in literature and books) is growing, thanks to popular series like Bungou Stray Dogs and Bungou to Alchemist. This show, Moriarty the Patriot, tells a story around the famous antagonist to Sherlock Holmes, and basically the first super-villain in history.
Rail Romanesque
A short fall 2020 anime in which trains are piloted by cute female human avatars called Raillords, and are in competition with a new transportation technology called “aerocrafts.” If you love trains and cute girls, you should watch it!
Otona nya Koi no Shikata ga Wakaranee!
One of those hybrids “near hentai/full hentai” shows that tell censored stories for broadcast, then distribute the full versions through streaming services, this is the story of two adults who haven’t been in relationships in years, and are having trouble getting back into the groove of sex and dating.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club
An anime about a bunch of cute girls who seek to become idols in order to keep their school from being closed. What a fresh, new concept! Whether the newest generation of the Love Live series will be a hit will depend on the charm each girl exerts on fans. Going by my “Pixiv-o-meter” method of judging future popularity based on how much naughty fanart exists online, it doesn’t look good for Nijigasaki so far.
Dogeza de Tanondemita
A fall 2020 anime about a boy who does dogeza (basically where you apologize by groveling on the ground) to cute girls in under to look up their skirts. This premise is so ridiculous, that of course, I’m going to watch.
Thanks for reading this post on the top fall 2020 anime series we’ll be following. Did we miss any good upcoming shows? Let us know below, or on Twitter!
We’ve got great news for hentai fans: there’s a great new nukige called Kanosen: My Girlfriend is a Naughty Teacher, a brand-new game that’s being published by JAST USA in English and Japanese, in a worldwide release! It’s available in an awesome digital game + dakimakura set too. Order it here!
